Jared finally can read!!!! @4 yr 3mth

still on the super simple book though..But at least we have managed to help him overcome that phobia..When he had that phobia, even there's only 2 word on each page he will refuse to read.
These are the fruit of our 3mths effort..

Now he is on daddy's primary times book..Pri 1 Level1, 2,3.
P1 L1: The naughty little monkey
P1 L2: Bang
P1 L3: The snake

I've heard a lot of good reviews on Peter&Jane Lady Bird's Keyword series..and guess what? I grew up with these books..and I had the whole collection, but now all thrown liao :(...so i find it extremely heart pain when needed to re-purchase the set lor. Then daddy suddenly recalled that those books he had ..so we started on them instead..while waiting for my items to arrive w online purchase.

But he is still very very weak on words like they, there, you, your..when its put together he will blur..Thats why I thought peter&jane series would help quite a bit!

And regarding phonics, since we are so weak in it..we have not really teach him how..and a bit reluctance to send him for school , since right now just violin alone already make all of us so bz and tired.

On flash cards..now we are on 50% of the card, thats probaly 80-100card. I'm only showing him about 20 newer cards..and the rest of cards i try to do revision with him once a wk.
Hopefully with all these effort, we can help him overcome the phobias. and finally don't need to send him for lesson which waste $..The kids at our area went for so many tuition already..kind of kam cheong when heard..hehe.

Looking forward, we hv to start him on spelling before the school dwell them in and he get too stress up with spelling.

Happy 18mth to our lovely gal!

I recalled that we did a small celebration at hm bought a small cake for Jared's 18mth day..

but nah..nothing for Kaylen..and in fact I scolded her for playing w food during lunch..heheh


Pics taken on the way back fr lesson..finally her face is clean from all kind of bumps, scars..and she is now 9.3kg...a wk ago, when she was having the worst teething period, she was only 8.7kg then..the 3 side mollar really made her suffer so much, cry every hr at night, refused all food..mouth so sensitive if accidently touch, will cry so hard..and finally when all the 3 molar cut out..She is now the most glutton gal..eating non stop, all the forbidden cny goodies like bak kua, pineapple tart, love letters started to be her favourite food!





I heard her saying take picture when she found the camera today..also she was singing along with the car CD for so many songs already..


I'm working on the rail road, My fair lady, baba blacksheep..though the lyrics is not clear..but she followed the song pretty well


While I'm bz with work at night, she sang auld lang sign to sleep following the hp...wow..




Pics taken by waipo +/- 1-2wk prior to 18mth

Home trip 7Feb to 17Feb

Had a good home trip and its the 1st time we ever gone back for CNY. Few yrs ago each time there's something on...1st we got married and used up all the leave so could not go back on 2005 for CNY, then on 2006-Jared was only 2-3mth old too young to travel, 2007 we went back in Jan for Kun's wedding instead...2008, we booked but didnt go back as dear daddy went overseas, 2009 Kaylen borned and young..so didnt go back..finally we all go back for CNY 2010..when both kids are decently big hehe.

We went Kapit the next day after arrived. Kapit is not assessible by road, so we had to take the express boat for 3hr..Jared been there when he was 13mth old ..so he could not recall anything related to the boat ride or Kapit. There, we visited da yi and family, 2 yi & 4 yi and 2 beh and family. Kapit was jared's fav place as ying rui has so many toys.

After we came down from Kapit, we spent another night at Sibu and dinner with TingTing who just got back from Australia. Only on the 10th we finally managed to come back to Sarikei..the feeling is definitely home sweet home..I love my bridal bedroom back in Sarikei..everything belongs to us and look brand new lor hehe..

But sarikei house don't have aircon in the living room..so it get pretty warm in the day..even at night. We ate suan chai noodle, s'wak laksa, ko lo mee, kam pua mee, chao pek kue and all the local food..it has been 2 yrs since I ate these food..miss the suan chai noodle most! The food there are basically w lots of ajinomoto...for eg, to make kam pua, they used 1 teaspoon of ajinomoto lor. Managed to do some shopping, got Kaylen a pair of new shoe, Jared a white shoe for next yr at Rm24, a belt for myself and few home shorts for Jared..

For CNY reunion dinner, MIL cooked 10 dishes..we started eating at about 4pm..after finish we went to hv a car ride around in town..and I'm always hv to rush with time on the eve, to get the kids bath, and ourselves bath ...take out all the CNY goodies and arranged on table..then Kaylen would come and disturb..i don' t remember we had so much prob be4 w Jared!..Then made them sleep...and finally woke Jared up at 12am again to watch the fireworks.

The fireworks were simply beautiful..and they got so close to my head, till i find the ashes drop on my hair! Its not sold openly in the market nowadays..but still so many put fire cracker & fireworks... The next few days were spent visiting all the relatives.


Express boat to Kapit..its a 3hr journey!


Leaving Kapit..

Reunion dinner

a family pic before we start!

a matching pyjama on new yr eve

Happy CNY 2010

The siblings pics together..

Chu 2..at Da gu's place

Chu 3 woke up looking like zhu tau peng! got bitten by just a mosquito..can spread till like this! The night before while bath him, daddy realised he got a super big baluku...after we got back from 3 yi po's place...and yet we don't know how it came...super sueh of Jared

But of cos we no fret, cos with their previous experience, I knew he only needed the magic hydrocorte..hah

At aunty theresa's house for lunch at the hospital quarter..and after application of hydrocorte!

Back in Sarikei, this is how Kaylen bath everytime..she enjoyed so much!

Chu 4 at airport ..coming back to SG

Trip pics

Police

I get headache everytime Jared mentioned the word police
He yearned to be a police..so much so that when we go visiting during CNY, and go for gathering..he would go up to anybody to say, hey, I'm a police.

or I'm a fake police..

and if you asked why he wanna be police? He say cos he would have gone to shoot bad ppl..and if you say something he don't like, he would start to bang bang..
real headache.

and I tried to change his mind to be aspired to be a doctor instead..
so ocassionally he will say..Sometimes i be a police, sometimes I be a doctor ok.

Jared @ 4yr 3mth

Flash card reading
- We are now at 50words already..Yooohooo
Hmmm i bought the cards when he was only a few mths old, together with the words cards there still dots card. The dots card are completely wasteful cos I don't even know how to use them.
He is very slow when it come to reading..he got phobia himself. Good thing is now after some training, he has finally able to overcome the fears for flash cards..and its not that hard to get him to start reading the cards..or intro new cards.
But when it comes to reading books..he still say he cant all the time..

Maths
I like to do maths work book with him as it is easier to explain..and since he had some basics on abacus simple adding is not much a problem.

Writing
Nos are in general quite good, but sometimes still he might writie it slanted or the opposite way
For alphabets he is quite good with capital..but when it come to small letter there seemed so much trouble.
He could only write his name in capital letter.
We also realised he had problem writing in the 3 lines worksheet. So we had to go back to train all the alphabets again...faint!

Violin
much more a headache..*haiz*
the 1st 3 mth, he said he dunt want to practise at hm..so we let him be and do it during lesson only
after a while, I read that kids need to practise everyday..so since this Jan10..we started him on daily practise..
Still he is slower compared to other kids, and couldnt really concentrate in class..haiz.
But he can now picicato twinkle star, play The train and I'm a little monkey...Though not much consistensy..and Prof Thanh, always said not good..I can still see he is still improving just slow lor...
We just have to make him able to learn seriously during lesson and concentrate..then he will be able to progress faster. He played at hm much better than in school.

Study schedule
7.30-8pm: Violin
8.00-8.30pm- Writing alphabets
8.30-9.00pm- Worksheets (english, maths)
9.00-9.30pm-Cards (his favourites)

In the noon time, he will learn bi3 hua4 chinese from waipo..and write / read a few chinese words lor.

Happy Birthday-by Kaylen

22 Feb 2010- Kaylen 17mth 2 wks
-While trying to struggle with her growing molar pain..she still managed to sing new song
Happy to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to Jared

For her mah mah's bday over the phone!
wow this is definitely faster than Jared..Jared could only sing happy birthday close to 20mth bah.

Kaylen is 17mth

Blurr me thought she is still 16mth and told everyone during CNY that..
She's actually 17mth already..What a petite gal!

Spoken Language: She can say quite a no. of words but some can be not that clear as compared to Jared at the same time. I read that at 18mth she should be able to say 50 words, that's why I bother to record down what she could actually says now.

no
I
Bear
Cat
Mao1(cat)
nai3(milk)
gao1 (high or cat)
dog
horse
boy
star
car
ball
house
frog
duck
bird
clock
bao4(carry)
nana (banana)
cousin
mummy
daddy
ah yi
gong
mah mah
koko
meimei
egg
yu2
fish
lai2 (come)
bye
go
out (there’s 10 little one on the bed, and 1 roll of bed and say "Out")
all (the wheel on the bus go round and round, "all" through the town)
bus
moon
cow
pig
pee
kai kai (go out)
shoe, shie2
butterfly (learnt fr Jared's book during cny since no other book available)
violin
rabbit
i-cream
mum-mum (anything related to food)
o-len (for orange)

She sings a lot now..though the lyric is still not clear, but she can follow the songs pretty well. The best songs ever:
Twinkle star
shi4 shang4 zi3 you3 ma1ma1 hao3
Teeth
4 front teeth at upper deck + 1 side molar (new!)
2 front teeth at lower deck + 2 side molar just cut through (new!)

Interesting conversation with Jared @ 4yr 3 mth

(4yr 3mth Jan 2010)
Jared: mummy, why you send me to drama class? You think I will like it but I don't like!
daddy* burst into laughter*

(4yr 4mth Feb 7 2010)- I didn't know I have to face this situation so soon!
Jared: Yixuan love me you know, mummy. She told me when we at the swing
Mummy: How about you ? do you love yixuan?
Jared: I love her, but she run away.
Mummy: How about anabel, do you love anabel?
Jared: I never talk to anabel.

p/s during our dec09 jap trip, Jared mentioned yixuan quite frequently especially after Kaylen took bath, he always burst into laughter saying Kaylen's hair look like Yixuan.
Then he also asked me, Mummy, how come Yixuan never come to our house?

Interesting Conversation with Jared @ 4yr 2mth

Jared: I'm not scared of mummy angry,but I'm scared of daddy angry...I'm a poor boy
Me: What happen daddy? What did you do to him?!

This boy is getting such a handful nowadays..he likes to bring his loud mouth everywhere, lazy, and tired & sleepy immediately when do school work times.

The moment you say finish studying, his eyes would be brighten up and jumping around everywhere..no longer sleepy.

He had the best holiday ever for the Dec09 holiday..we were busy shopping, ah yi's wedding, the japan trip..and more shopping..finally he did not learn anything during the hol.

Luckily we are back in tune ever since the school started, we got him to start writing again...(no choice, this boy had forgotten all the alphabets!), some colouring, or tracing..all back to square..haiz..

This yr, school has also started to let them bring homework every fri. Jared is never eager to get them done..so we have to balance between outdoors trip vs homework..quite sian..but that's life hehe!

Kaylen is 16month old

The glutton gal
At 16 mth old, she already eat all sort of our food!...When she refuses porridge, and if offered koko's food..she sure to open mouth big big.
She can take 2-3 fries when eating together with us. Jared would take none though.
I don't remember Jared taking so much of forbidden stuff at her age..in fact Jared only started to take outside food after 3 yrs old. But the PD said at this age, it's ok to give her food with seasoning, ketchup, soya sauce..all are ok. PD commented she was light weight 9.2kg at 16mth, so must let her eat more solid.

Teeth
still 6. 4 on top, and 2 on lower deck....But when she bite koko, she would bite so hard that the 6 teeth is clearly visible on Jared's hand. Jared on the other hand, stupid like to play biting with meimei..though he had more teeth but he wont bite all the way..
Dancing
She loves dancing a lot, now she would stand up, wave her hand, bend the legs
Talking
A lot more words..
Brown bear is her fav book. So she knew some words inside.
purple cat
brown bear
duck
frog
She can call almost everyone at home now, mummy, daddy, gong, po, gong gong, mah mah, ah yi, ko ko, be4 be4(daddy's bro), nani(neighbour)

Pee & Poo
Starting to tell us when she need pee...She would come whisper pee pee..

15mth 16day She called me mummy!

Today she call me so clearly..Mummy! (maybe sound a bit like ma me)
Heard from my mum she also call "Wai gong" today

Another wedding in Dec

This is another relative's from my dad's side wedding.

Bought the dress during lunch time at Metro causeway pt hurriedly cos I've got nothing nice to wear!

I did the make up by myself not bad huh..like got improvement..hehe

As for Kaylen, she absolutely cannot take pics now..she had to mi mi her eyes everything the camera is near her..aiyo

Japan trip Hotel Review

Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku

Thumbs up for this hotel (anyone coming to tokyo should just stay here!)
Location is a 5min walk from South Exit of shinjuku station.
The twin room we had, was bigger than what we thought.
The bed was super single..so it was very comfy to sleep in with 2 ppl on each bed. Of cos sometimes Jared would prefer to sleep horizontal or kick daddy away. hehe
The room came with a full length bath tub, which Jared had a good time soaking/bottle there. He was always the one rushing to bath after we got back hotel..really know how to enjoy himself well.
It is still small comparing to hotels in other countries. But I believed this is one of the bigger ones in Tokyo.
Cost: Sgd200+ per night
6 night stay cost total 1.2k


Ichinoyu Honkan

Food and outdoor private rock decorated bath was fantastic. (private outdoor bath meant you can wear nothing and dip in the bath yet nobody can see you!.)
The yukata provided is also good.
But not the room. The room and bathroom was a little run down since it is a 100+ yrs ryokan. The bath tub looks so scary and antic like nobody hv use it for years!
So highly not recommended to stay there.
Cost: Y12500 per adult, Y4000 per child.
Total cost Sgd450 for the 1 night stay with 2 meals
Ex ex ex..What can I say?


Overall impression for Tokyo
The Japs like to wear black suits, and black winter coat for work. So when we cross the road, or enter into train station..it's kind of scary to see a hugh crowd coming towards us in black.
They don't talk in hp in the train..so train ride is always very quiet..There comes our Kaylen & Jared whom made much noise, which made us so pai seh all the time.

But they are less courteus as what I expected on train. They don't give up seat to needy ppl like me..unlike Taiwan, who shun immediately when they see us needy ppl.

The trains and shopping center are with heater turn on..so It's very warm& uncomfortable when we took train with our winter clothing on.

They are hard working ppl, they eat so fast (so fast that the waitress will come and see why Jared & daddy always take so long to eat)..and some restaurant provide standing table for ppl to eat.

They worked late @ 9pm+ they are still a lot of ppl just off office.
If you asked me if I like Japan? I can say we don't quite like the place becos of the crowdness..I would much prefer holidaying in Australia with lesser ppl and self drive holiday, even in US except disneyland..the rest of places is quite quiet and not so many ppl.

Then again, food was nice lor..Just that ramen were much oily and salty, the dessert are much too sweet. They have heavy taste bud.

Day 8 [14 Dec Mon] Nice sushi and home sweet home!

Supposedly to wake up earlier for Tsukiji market, but could not, cos we pack back till 2am the nite before..

Still we made the trip there..and reach there around 9am+..It was an eye opener to see so much seafood, the hairy crab, the super fat clams...

There was 1 or 2 sushi shop that seemed real popular..So many Singaporean were queing there, so that sushi shop was out!..We found another shop which is more queit and had a great time having sushi there.

The raw fish was so fresh that daddy who never eat them, find it ok to eat! We order another grilled fish which tasted very nice too!..(at first i thought it was eel, but turned out not)..still at 600yen it was a steal.

After got back from Tsukiji, we had not enough time to eat ramen at the no.1 shop at Shinjuku..What a pity! But never mind, we will certainly go back to Japan again! hehe..since I still got enough points to buy 1.5 ticket to Tokyo..and next time, we shall try to go w/o the kids..so that we can eat non stop. hehe

This round, we only had 2 x sushi, 2x ramen, 1x jap spaggeti for proper meals..The rest were mainly disney meals or bento or we go hungry after feeding kids their porr..cos we need to rush for time..haiz..

We missed Tokyo Metropolitan Tower, Tokyo Tower and Imperial palace which were planned. At the airport, Jared kept asked us why do we need to go back to Singapore? He said he is very sad to leave Japan. We told him we had to work..

Tsukiji Market-fresh seafood and tuna

Yummy sushi

super tasty grilled fish

outside the sushi shop

In the plane flying back to SG!

Trip pics Part 1
Trip pics Part 2

Day7 [13 Dec Sun] Harajuku, Shibuya

We started the day with Harajuku's Meiji Shrine..there was so many couple wedding that day..at least 5 couples we saw during our short stay..

Then after that we went to Harajuku in search of those ppl wear funny clothes..I always thought they would stay by 1 side for display so that we can take pic with them..But in fact they were walking around, so we could only catch a glimpse. On that day, quite many fat fat gals was wearing the lolita clothes..so not that nice lah ehhe..

After shopping at Daiso, we went Shibuya..Oh dear, the place were full again!..We got even problem crossing the road...and the stuff sold there, not suitable for us...So we went back to Shinjuku instead! Since it was still early we went to shop at Tokyu Hands at Takashimaya..and bought some of cooking stuff there.

Trip pics Part 1
Trip pics Part 2

Day 6 [12 Dec Sat] Disneysea!

We took the disney train to disney sea from Mahaima..Oh dear, since it 's a weeekend, the place was so crowded. we had to queue for close to 1hr just for the entrance ticket. When we finally got in, the kids were already both tired and hungry..so they slept.

Disneysea's theme is totally different from Disneyland..its very much the replication of Venice. But the queue was really bad each ride would probaly be more than 1hr queue..even for food! The queue for the gyoza bun was never ending..crazy.

We only managed to take 2 rides there...and its time for dinner..We were lucky to find a nice place for dinner, w food purchased, we ate while watch live performance of donald duck, chip munks!..That was a real nice place to eat dinner..But they serve burgers, and fries..which Jared hardly takes.. So on the way back, we bought him curry rice...

Took a while to tell the staff we want to takeaway..hehee..Order food was not much a problem as it works based on a ticket vending machine.

Disneysea by the night..so beautiful..

Day 5 [11 Dec Fri] Wonderful ryokan breakfast and Ginza

The breakfast provided by ryokan was again very very nice and special..We had a good time eating...We had fish, rice and miso soup. The half boiled egg with the sauce provided really tasted so special and nice..Its good feeling to eat at the restaurant with river and yellow leaves tree as backdrop

Since it was raining the whole day, so we did not try our luck with Mt fuji again..Went back to shinjiku to our fav hotel..We all bathed, and went to Ginza for a walk.

The 7 storey toy park was so so only I thought..it was not what I expected though.
And for dinner, we had bento set from 1 of the shopping center..oh dear, it cost 1000yen for a cold bento again. With this price I could buy hot food from shinjuku lor..But over at Ginza, cos it was raining, and we could not find a cheaper place to eat. When we got back to Shinjuku we got lost after exit...We walk at least 1-2hr to get back to South exit ..and really amazed how big was the shinjuku station.

Trip pics Part 1
Trip pics Part 2

Day 4 [10 Dec Thur] Hakone and Ryokan Stay

Checked out for Hakone 1 night stay..We took the earliest Romance car train..and Jared ordered a bento for breakfast..He chosed the train bento and train biscuit. I'm surprised to know these bentos were cold and ex!..Doesn't taste as nice as it looks! ..

We took the hakone loop but no mt fuji in sign even though weather was fantastic! what a pity.
The black egg at Owakudani was Kaylen's favourite. Each egg is supposed to increase the life by 7yrs..and I think Kaylen ate 3 eggs! hehe..

We spent the night at a traditional ryokan stay Ichinoyu Honkan. Me was frighten by the dark, old feel and the smell of the ryokan..and didn't know both the kids were scared too..It took us a while to convince Jared to enter the ryokan as they required shoes off and changed to their slipper..and don't know why he suddenly loved his green shoe so much and refused to take off.

When we got into our room, the smell of the matted flooring was even stronger, and after exploring the room..wow the bath room was the antique type...to bath, one have to go into a deep hole..How scary that was!..So i decided i should bath at our private outdoor onsen hehe..After we showed Jared the bathroom..he too decided to join me at the onsen hehe. But it was too hot for him to dip inside..so he sit outside while I bath him, same w Kaylen..finally even daddy bath outside only.

But dinner was good..(of cos, minus the trouble maker Kaylen)..we had shabu shabu pork..while Jared had beef patty w salad.

That night, Jared cried to sleep..kept asking to go back to Sunroute plaza shinjuku, and why we have to stay overnight there..hehe..

Trip pics Part 1
Trip pics Part 2

Day 3 [9 Dec Wed] Disneyland!

A day spent at Disneyland! We got to Shinjuku train station at 9am..which was their peak timing..there were so so many ppl in the train station..and we observed how they try to squeeze themselves into train..really frighten us..as we were with stroller, backpack and 2 kids..The staff was kind enough to help us get into the train and gotten me a seat..We took the train from Shinjuku station to Tokyo and then change train to Mahaima...the trip took about 1hr.

In Disneyland, we were able to take a few rides..and watch 3 parades..but missed the fireworks, cos both the kids were exhausted.

Xmas mood was good, the Jap were all dressed up with the nice head bands, wearing the disney pouch or holding the soft toys, and the parade were based on xmas theme. We found our long lost "food" the turkey leg..it was smaller version and much tender than the one at LA disneyland.

Day 2 [8 Dec Tue] Ueno, Asakusa and Odaiba

Stucked at Ikebukoro station due to train service down for 1hr. Kaylen cried so badly cos of sleepy, and we thought she fall sick with the cold weather?

When we reached Ueno park, both of them were asleep..By the time they woke up was lunch time already..thankfully Jared was willing to take the porridge we brought along..so he felt much better under the cold weather.

After that we continued to Asakusa temple...and finally Odaiba. We met up with ah yi & wei ming for dinner and the ferris wheel ride..It was good, cos someone help to take care of the kids hehe. They had good time at the Toyota Mega Web driving the auto car.

Today Jared told us he didn't like Japan, as it was too cold. And asked us why we are always outside? and when are we going back to Whampoa?

Ah yi heard Kaylen singing twinkle star song while carry her back to hotel..she was singing like a diamond in the sky..

Trip pics Part 1

Trip pics Part 2