Conversations with my sons

At the shopping mall car park 

Me: Bryant, do you want to sit in the stroller or walk?
Bryant : mummy carry


On the way home from school

Joshua : Mummy, did ah ma (paternal grandma) go to the hospital to give birth to a baby?
Me : yes she did
Joshua : where is her baby now? She doesn’t want it? She gave it to people?
Me : Josh, her baby is all grown up now
Joshua : so where is the baby?
Me : Josh ar...... Didn't mummy teach you that daddy 's mummy is your ah ma? Ah ma is the mother and your daddy dearest is the son. Her baby is your daddy!
Joshua : (thinks for a while).....    Hmnn, so I am right. She doesn't want her baby.
Me: huh?
Joshua : she doesn't want her baby!! She gave her baby to us, mummy.

B self feeding.

Bryant likes to feed himself. At times he would get angry if I don't give him the spoon to feed himself. I prefer him eating finger food by himself but not wet messy food like porridge or cereal. However, I just close one eye and give in to him as I know it is good for him to develop his motor skills.

He also prefers our food, thanks to his beloved brother who introduced him to tasty food, as compared to his bland toddler food. In the picture above, he was eating my lunch, my bolognese beef wrap and he really liked it a lot.

He can get really cheeky during mealtimes. After he has spilled water on the table (many times on purpose), he would say 'wet' and gesture for the cloth or tissue to wipe his mess.

When he is not creating a mess, he would request for books by pointing to the bookcase and saying 'book'. His favourites are the Nursery Rhymes and Noah 's Ark. He can play Pat-a-cake round after round. And he can correctly tell us the sound that these 3 animals make, the duck, the sheep and the cow. I am so proud of his love for books and pray that this will continue.

PE open lesson

Today was PE open lesson in Joshua's school. Parents were invited to stand in during the class. 

First, they played a warm up game known as Stuck Mud. It looked really fun. It was something like tag actually, but with some more exciting features. 

Here is J running during the game. 

Next was gymnastics. Here is J rolling down at one of the stations. 

And the balancing station. Instead of obediently balancing the bean bag while walking on the elevated platform, Joshua and his friend Frederick was fooling around. Boys will be boys. 

We ended by doing the Hokey Pokey with the kids. 

Happenings in Joshua's school

Couple of weeks ago, parents were invited for Chinese open lessons. We sat through the 30 minute Chinese lesson and had a rough idea of what our kids learn. It was a good opportunity for me to observe how Joshua behaves in class........(he wasn't paying attention all the time, haha) and also to gauge the level of Chinese taught.

Here is a picture of Joshua and his classmates. They were waiting for the Chinese teacher to arrive. Pictured below is their class teacher. 

Chinese lesson. The kids took turns performing for the parents to see. They sang a Chinese song with actions. 

And a week later, it was Pirate day in school. Children and teachers were encouraged to dress up as pirates. As Josh had outgrown his pirate costume, I borrowed one from a friend. Here he is, with his parrot :) Behind him is the assistant teacher. 

Little pirates having a discussion.....hehe.

H F M D

Yup, both my boys got it. Bryant had a mild fever last Monday, followed by Joshua on Tuesday. I thought it was just the usual Upper Respiratory Tract Infection. Actually I brought Bryant to see the paed on Monday. I was told that his throat was red, but as it was still very early, no ulcer had surfaced yet. I only suspected HFMD after checking Joshua's throat on Thursday night after he complained of sore throat the whole day. I saw ulcers in his throat and upon checking his body, found some spots on his inner thighs. The next day, he had a red spot on his wrist. 

As for Bryant, I only managed to check him on Friday morning. No chance of checking his throat so I focused on his body and limbs. Found a blister on his big toe. So off we went to the paed who confirmed that both boys have HFMD and are to be quarantined till Tuesday. I felt really guilty as Josh had been going to school. He only had a mild fever on Tuesday afternoon and was all good after that. Thus, I packed him off to school on Wednesday. Being responsible, I informed the school and apologised for not suspecting anything earlier. Thank God there were no further cases of HFMD in school.....or else I'd feel even worse. 

Blister on the big toe. 

Unfortunately for me, my dear hubby was down with a high fever, body aches and sore throat on Friday and Saturday. And my maid had similar symptoms to my hubby on Saturday. Did they contract HFMD from the boys? I have no idea. They had no blisters on their bodies. My maid saw a doctor who said it was tonsilities though........ But seems such a coincidence that all of them are down with different viruses at the same time. Thank God I was spared. 

Generally my boys coped very well. Perhaps it was because theirs was a mild strain. Their only discomfort was being quarantined. It was easier for Josh than for Bryant. At least he could entertain himself with toys and tv. On the other hand, Bryant kept wanting to go out. He kept bringing his shoes to the door and cried when we carried him away. So I had to rack my brains and think of ways to entertain him. For eg, playing under the covers. That kept them happy and occupied for quite a long time. Hehe.

And some artwork on the face......hehe.

Both boys were all good by the end of their quarantined period. Blisters dried up. I even checked Joshua's throat again and was relieved to see no more ulcer. =)

We were all grinning from ear to ear when the boys finally stepped out of the house.........Freedom, yay!!!

B talks

He is such a cute chatterbox. In this picture, he took Joshua's pants and tried to aim his legs into the pants opening. I had a good laugh looking at his attempts. I then decided to let him wear it, just for laughs.

At 14 months, these are the words that B can say.

Mama
Dada
Koko
Back (meaning put back)
Ba-bai (meaning goodbye)
Arg (meaning hug)
Top (meaning stop)
No no
Pop pop (meaning he wants to play the Balloons Popping app on ipad)
Baba (meaning bubbles)

Besides all these words, he babbles a lot throughout the day. Cuteness to the max. And I am treasuring every moment of it.

Disciplining Bryant

B can be really naughty at times...........For example:

1) Hitting / punching his brother (no prize for guessing where he learnt that from);

2) Crying and stomping his feet on the ground when his demands are not met; and

3) Attempting to climb out of the high chair most of the time (very dangerous, now we need to request for high chairs with safety belts whenever we dine outside).

So, I had to discipline him. Sometimes, I beat his little hand, and sometimes I put him in the naughty corner. He seems to understand the naughty corner concept, maybe from observing his brother. He would stand there most of the time. Rarely would he escape.

Parenting is not easy. I feel it is easier to discipline and punish when they are older, as they have the ability to understand and question you. At this tender toddler age, I sometimes wonder if Bryant knows what he is being punished for.