I had adopted a new method to punish ZQ when he misbehaves. Instead of physical punishment I had tried out to make him stand on a piece of paper. I learnt this from a friend who saw her friend who did that to his son and the son was so scared that he immediately behaves.
ZQ oso dislikes to be punished that way. Sometimes when we have to do it, he's still quite obedient to stand on the paper while still whining or sobbing away. It kinda work with him. Sometimes I'd threaten to make him stand on paper if he misbehaves and he'll tend to behave a little better. It's a good method as there is no physical punishment and a good way to get the idea across to him. Furthermore, I can always bring out the piece of paper anytime anywhere!
One joke I wanna pen down is that one of the days, I was chiding my #2, Kai that he cannot do certain things like putting certain object into his mouth but Kai as a baby, still continue to do it. Next I heard ZQ telling me jokingly, "Mama, I think Kai Kai wants to stand on paper". I thought it was quite funny. He really understood that standing on paper is a kind of punishment.
On the other hand, he is also able to comprehend that if he does not do the right things, he'd get the punishment.
I am happy cos he will not learn that physical punishment is metted out whenever one misbehaves. At least now there are other methods - standing on paper(taking away freedom) and other times I'd tell him he will not get his bedtime stories which he treasures alot.
Actually I love to read to him as well. It's a time for bonding and small talks - sharing of Qiao Qiao Hua. It's really nice and as he grows, his thoughts are changing as well. I hope I am there throughout his growing stages and not miss any of that. It's a really wonderful experience.
As for Kai, I must admit that he does not enjoy so much of my time as ZQ is demanding most of my waking moments. I have to attend to him most of the time when I am home until he sleeps and by then, Kai would have slept too.
I guess when Kai grows up a little more, he'd be able to demand my attention more. In the meantime, I am still trying to give him the little time I have left.
I always thought that my hubby will have favourtism towards ZQ but it seems that through action, I seem to be giving him more time. That does not mean favourtism but it's because he demands the attention all the time and it's hard to ignore cos he is really persistent and quite cute in his own ways that I don't mind either. Poor Kai is still small and unable to articulate his needs except to make noises to get my attention.
Kai will be so excited and happy to see me - as if he had not seen me for ages. It makes me feel a little guilty at times and glad that he still likes to see me alot.
Both kids are a joy to the family and I must say we've enjoyed them very very much. It's a wonderful thing to have kids .. really. If it's guaranteed that I'd have a girl for my next pregnancy, I'd go for it but well, this is something that no one knows. So well, for now, I am happy with 2 boys.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sunday, July 12, 2009
A frightening experience on extended stay at Bali
After we got settled down at the hotel, we went for a walk at the beach. It was low tide then and we could literally walk on the seabed. the sea level was about ankle length and we saw alot of adventurous people walking out to the seabed towards the sea which was KMs far away.
We started walking, it was not easy as it's not flat, it has slopes and we had to find ground which are not so deep to walk on. We walked and walked for a long time until we were so far away from the shore. Soon, I realised that we were the only 2 tourists, apart from 2 locals who were harvesting some sea urchins. I wanted to get back but hubby says that he wants to go further as he can see dry ground further but I was tired and i felt unsafe since most locals were already off the beach and sun was setting. So i got mad and refused to walk further, but being him, he carried on. Shortly, he returned and i told him that the tide is coming in, I could see that the sea level was rising.
Suddenly I panicked and I was wondering if we could make it in time back to the shore. I am not a good swimmer and the last thing I want to do is die in a sea mishap. We couldn't swim back as there are alot of sea weed on the sea bed and if it rises to the level which enables us to swim. it means the waves would be too strong. Hubby was still calm (or at least appears) ... and i said, let's get back as fast as possible.
We were still trying to walk sideways, finding shallow grounds but I found that the tide was rising quite quickly, I decided just to bash through directly inward towards the shore. Although the sea behind us was still far away but I saw that the water level in front of us was higher than behind us .... which means that it was filling in from the sides and not behind. I was almost suffering a panick attack and told hubby "Let's get in there ASAP" and I did not wait for him and just bashed through towards the shore myself. AFterall, he is much taller than me and a much better swimmer.
It took us quite some time before we reached the shore and I was really so relieved that I made it. At that point the sea level was already half way toward my knee (i think). If it had reached my knee, it'd be vv hard to walk back. I had to raise my leg each step and i was wearing sandals. Not to mention that there were lots of starfish and some sea urchins , etc.
When we reached shore, I spoke to hubby for a minute or two and at the end of the speech and video session, the dry ground we stood on the beach oredi rose to my ankle. It was really fast.
Thank God that we are both safe and sound and one thing I learnt - Trust your own feelings cos we know when we feel danger approaching.
Also, what we see is may not be what it really is. We saw alot of "dry" ground but later we concluded that it is not dry ground but due to the reflection of the sun as it was setting, it created that illusion. Furthermore, it looks safe cos the waves are really far behind us BUT little did we know that the water level is rising higher nearer the beach than further away from the beach.
With this experience, it makes me even more paranoid about sea activities really. But well, as the saying goes, " When we grow older, we become more Kia Si" .. which i totally agree cos i know why. Perhaps it's smarted to be more cautious? rather than taking uncalculated or ignorant risks right?
We started walking, it was not easy as it's not flat, it has slopes and we had to find ground which are not so deep to walk on. We walked and walked for a long time until we were so far away from the shore. Soon, I realised that we were the only 2 tourists, apart from 2 locals who were harvesting some sea urchins. I wanted to get back but hubby says that he wants to go further as he can see dry ground further but I was tired and i felt unsafe since most locals were already off the beach and sun was setting. So i got mad and refused to walk further, but being him, he carried on. Shortly, he returned and i told him that the tide is coming in, I could see that the sea level was rising.
Suddenly I panicked and I was wondering if we could make it in time back to the shore. I am not a good swimmer and the last thing I want to do is die in a sea mishap. We couldn't swim back as there are alot of sea weed on the sea bed and if it rises to the level which enables us to swim. it means the waves would be too strong. Hubby was still calm (or at least appears) ... and i said, let's get back as fast as possible.
We were still trying to walk sideways, finding shallow grounds but I found that the tide was rising quite quickly, I decided just to bash through directly inward towards the shore. Although the sea behind us was still far away but I saw that the water level in front of us was higher than behind us .... which means that it was filling in from the sides and not behind. I was almost suffering a panick attack and told hubby "Let's get in there ASAP" and I did not wait for him and just bashed through towards the shore myself. AFterall, he is much taller than me and a much better swimmer.
It took us quite some time before we reached the shore and I was really so relieved that I made it. At that point the sea level was already half way toward my knee (i think). If it had reached my knee, it'd be vv hard to walk back. I had to raise my leg each step and i was wearing sandals. Not to mention that there were lots of starfish and some sea urchins , etc.
When we reached shore, I spoke to hubby for a minute or two and at the end of the speech and video session, the dry ground we stood on the beach oredi rose to my ankle. It was really fast.
Thank God that we are both safe and sound and one thing I learnt - Trust your own feelings cos we know when we feel danger approaching.
Also, what we see is may not be what it really is. We saw alot of "dry" ground but later we concluded that it is not dry ground but due to the reflection of the sun as it was setting, it created that illusion. Furthermore, it looks safe cos the waves are really far behind us BUT little did we know that the water level is rising higher nearer the beach than further away from the beach.
With this experience, it makes me even more paranoid about sea activities really. But well, as the saying goes, " When we grow older, we become more Kia Si" .. which i totally agree cos i know why. Perhaps it's smarted to be more cautious? rather than taking uncalculated or ignorant risks right?
Saturday, July 11, 2009
My recent Bali trip
I had gone for a romantic two of us trip with my hubby in June to one of the famous places call Bali. hhaa. to Singaporeans Bali is so ... so ... so ....... conmmon. To us, yes it is but to people from the other side of the globe, it's a heavenly place. So hubby planned and booked for everything.
Few days before the trip, I had developed high fever and I tried to call up the agent who arrange our trip to check if we could postpone it to a few days later. Afterall H1N1 is getting more serious and I was afraid that I may not pass through the temperature scanning machine and denied to go on board the airplane.
Was feeling a little better and we set off on the planned date.
To our horror, the hotel said that my agent cancelled the booking and we had to start scrambling for another hotel - Continental Hotel at Jimbaran. which we did and paid alot more but I must say it is a really nice hotel. Family friendly, etc .
Then we wanted to book a driver to drive us around for the few days in Bali but the contact I had was not free to take the job ..... nonetheless, i still called him to ask if he has any lobang to recommend. And he sent his cousin who is a vv down to earth nice chap.
Went to quite alot of sight seeing places and enjoyed ourselves alot. Even contemplated to extend another day but due to the admin, missing the kids, we decided to return as planned.
As for this trip, the most memorable experiece (not a vv plesant one) was when we had the extended day and when we tried to walk out to the sea bed cos the tide was so low that we could walk KMs away from the shore!
On our scheduled return date, we reached the airport, bid my nice driver pal Gede goodbye and was about to check in, we were slipped a note to say that the airline had been overbooked. We can choose to return on the next day should we choose to take up an offer to provide free accomodation in a 5 star hotel, be given USD50 each and fly business class home ...
To us, it was like a dream come true ... and still be given shopping $$. Not bad. About missing the kid? suddenly it was not in the decision equation at all. So we took the offer to fly business class and extend our extra day -which we planned to enjoy chilling out at the 5 star hotel since we had been travelling for sightseeing for our entire trip.
Few days before the trip, I had developed high fever and I tried to call up the agent who arrange our trip to check if we could postpone it to a few days later. Afterall H1N1 is getting more serious and I was afraid that I may not pass through the temperature scanning machine and denied to go on board the airplane.
Was feeling a little better and we set off on the planned date.
To our horror, the hotel said that my agent cancelled the booking and we had to start scrambling for another hotel - Continental Hotel at Jimbaran. which we did and paid alot more but I must say it is a really nice hotel. Family friendly, etc .
Then we wanted to book a driver to drive us around for the few days in Bali but the contact I had was not free to take the job ..... nonetheless, i still called him to ask if he has any lobang to recommend. And he sent his cousin who is a vv down to earth nice chap.
Went to quite alot of sight seeing places and enjoyed ourselves alot. Even contemplated to extend another day but due to the admin, missing the kids, we decided to return as planned.
As for this trip, the most memorable experiece (not a vv plesant one) was when we had the extended day and when we tried to walk out to the sea bed cos the tide was so low that we could walk KMs away from the shore!
On our scheduled return date, we reached the airport, bid my nice driver pal Gede goodbye and was about to check in, we were slipped a note to say that the airline had been overbooked. We can choose to return on the next day should we choose to take up an offer to provide free accomodation in a 5 star hotel, be given USD50 each and fly business class home ...
To us, it was like a dream come true ... and still be given shopping $$. Not bad. About missing the kid? suddenly it was not in the decision equation at all. So we took the offer to fly business class and extend our extra day -which we planned to enjoy chilling out at the 5 star hotel since we had been travelling for sightseeing for our entire trip.
Wild Wild Wet
We went to wild wild wet today ie Kai's first time. The last time we visited was months ago and ZQ had been bugging me to bring him there. He always tell me he wants to go Wild Wild Wet but I'd say, "Let mama go get the tickets first ok?" .... and since i am not vv ON .... I never manage to book the weekend slots in time.
This time I am vv lucky again. My collegue could not make it for hers and she had changed the date to the following month and mentioned to me that she cancelled her booking and told me to go book if I am interested. I only booked it 2 days after she told me and it was strangly still available.
So .... we went to Wild Wild wet today.
Kai was put on a float and he seemed to have enjoyed himself very very much!
He was making attempts to swim and smiling alot and he is also not scared of the water going into his eyes or onto his face.
last measured KAI, he was 10.5kg@74cm..... he's still of good weight though he still refuses solid food (ie cereal, porridge) ... so we're thinking of giving him on solid rice grains instead. He also likes bread.
ZQ. He's afraid of water running onto his eyes and on his face. This is due to the fact that my ex-maid bathes him asking him to look up into the ceiling while she tries to wash his head (full of shampoo).
For Kai, i ask my current maid to let water tricle down Kai's face while bathing him.
This time I am vv lucky again. My collegue could not make it for hers and she had changed the date to the following month and mentioned to me that she cancelled her booking and told me to go book if I am interested. I only booked it 2 days after she told me and it was strangly still available.
So .... we went to Wild Wild wet today.
Kai was put on a float and he seemed to have enjoyed himself very very much!
He was making attempts to swim and smiling alot and he is also not scared of the water going into his eyes or onto his face.
last measured KAI, he was 10.5kg@74cm..... he's still of good weight though he still refuses solid food (ie cereal, porridge) ... so we're thinking of giving him on solid rice grains instead. He also likes bread.
ZQ. He's afraid of water running onto his eyes and on his face. This is due to the fact that my ex-maid bathes him asking him to look up into the ceiling while she tries to wash his head (full of shampoo).
For Kai, i ask my current maid to let water tricle down Kai's face while bathing him.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Kai @ 10 months
Kai is now 10 months old and going 1 yr old in 2 months' time. He is now more responsive and he seems to understand things quite well and trying to respond, react to it.
1. We'd read books for him and when he sees the fish in the book, he'd tutrn to the fish tank.
2. He'd "return" the cordless phone to where it belongs. Once, he took the cordless phone from another room and then crawl quickly to my bedroom and attempt to put it back to it's original position, which he can't yet. But the fact that he remembers where it is supposed to be is amazing.
3. He'd get vv excited when I bring him in front of the animal series of paintings which we bought back from Bali.
4. He loves to swim, bathe .... water basically. After bathing, he'd refused to be carried out of the bath room and always struggle and scream when it ends. When we bring him to swim, he is also very excited and likes to splash the water. So unlike ZQ who absolutely hates to have water running over his face and quite scared of it.
5. He is generally the more quiet type as compared to ZQ. But I told hubby that it is becos he cannot really speak as yet. We'll wait and see.
I told papa that Kai is a beachboy sort.
1. We'd read books for him and when he sees the fish in the book, he'd tutrn to the fish tank.
2. He'd "return" the cordless phone to where it belongs. Once, he took the cordless phone from another room and then crawl quickly to my bedroom and attempt to put it back to it's original position, which he can't yet. But the fact that he remembers where it is supposed to be is amazing.
3. He'd get vv excited when I bring him in front of the animal series of paintings which we bought back from Bali.
4. He loves to swim, bathe .... water basically. After bathing, he'd refused to be carried out of the bath room and always struggle and scream when it ends. When we bring him to swim, he is also very excited and likes to splash the water. So unlike ZQ who absolutely hates to have water running over his face and quite scared of it.
5. He is generally the more quiet type as compared to ZQ. But I told hubby that it is becos he cannot really speak as yet. We'll wait and see.
I told papa that Kai is a beachboy sort.
Been 4 months ...
Oh my, time flies and I am oredi feeling older.
Since my maid(L) left for her home country, 4 months had passed and lots happened. She has since came back in Apr and now my life is much better.
In the interim, we employed a new maid but she just could not adapt to us and she cannot fit into our lifestyle. We've learnt to appreciate the old maid(L) more and in fact, we give her alot more off days than agreed. She is happy and so are we. It might be more troublesome on her off days but we've learnt to be self-sufficient during her absence.
ZQ
*****
Now about ZQ. He's now in N1 and has grown alot. He's a really sweet boy and is protective towards my #2, Kai. Once, ZQ was sleeping and we found it hard to get him to wake up. THe moment he heard Kai crying, he immediately jumped off his bed and said "Mama, didi's crying" and was vv uneasy and disturbed. Shows that he cares about his didi's well being, which is a nice thing.
ZQ has now learnt my hp number (almost), he just misses out 1 number. Good thing or not, he will call me after he returns from school and say "mama, which station are u?" "Mama, don't come back to late ok?". Imagine he is telling me not to come back too late from work and in years to come, I will be telling him "Son, please don't come back too late after school" - Irony isn't. haha.
We're trying to speak more mandarin with him so he can learn it better. Afterall, in school, they speak English all the time and it's hard not to master it. We had also stopped letting him watch TV cos he gets hooked and all you see is a little boy staring at the TV and even if u wave your hands in front of him, he is oblivious. To do him good, we told him that the TV is spoilt (it really was) .... and after it was fixed, we did not inform him.
Recently we did turn it on to watch our own home made videos but he did not seem to want to watch TV anymore. It's a good thing cos he now spends more time with his little brother and also he gets to sleep early.
The newest thing we've done is to get him to go to bed at 8pm. It works wonderfully cos if he gets to sleep by 830-9pm, I get all the time free to myself after that. Comparing to previous when he sleeps 10-11pm, I would be a walking zombie after that.
ZQ has also started to eat more vege and once, he even told my maid to give him more vege cos mama told him to eat more vege for nice "Da Bian".
Brushing teeth. He now has mastered how to brush his own teeth.
Diaper. He is still on diaper for the nite and cos he drinks loads of milk before he sleeps, I dare not try to toilet train him for the nite at the moement.
Milk. He is still drinking a big bottle before sleep and sometimes in the middle of the nite and another feed in the morning when he wakes up.
His current favourite song is Faye Wong's "Ming Yue Ji Shi You" and since his memory is good, sometimes i sing the wrong lyrics, he'd correct me "Mama ...... no .... it's wrong ..... ".
Since my maid(L) left for her home country, 4 months had passed and lots happened. She has since came back in Apr and now my life is much better.
In the interim, we employed a new maid but she just could not adapt to us and she cannot fit into our lifestyle. We've learnt to appreciate the old maid(L) more and in fact, we give her alot more off days than agreed. She is happy and so are we. It might be more troublesome on her off days but we've learnt to be self-sufficient during her absence.
ZQ
*****
Now about ZQ. He's now in N1 and has grown alot. He's a really sweet boy and is protective towards my #2, Kai. Once, ZQ was sleeping and we found it hard to get him to wake up. THe moment he heard Kai crying, he immediately jumped off his bed and said "Mama, didi's crying" and was vv uneasy and disturbed. Shows that he cares about his didi's well being, which is a nice thing.
ZQ has now learnt my hp number (almost), he just misses out 1 number. Good thing or not, he will call me after he returns from school and say "mama, which station are u?" "Mama, don't come back to late ok?". Imagine he is telling me not to come back too late from work and in years to come, I will be telling him "Son, please don't come back too late after school" - Irony isn't. haha.
We're trying to speak more mandarin with him so he can learn it better. Afterall, in school, they speak English all the time and it's hard not to master it. We had also stopped letting him watch TV cos he gets hooked and all you see is a little boy staring at the TV and even if u wave your hands in front of him, he is oblivious. To do him good, we told him that the TV is spoilt (it really was) .... and after it was fixed, we did not inform him.
Recently we did turn it on to watch our own home made videos but he did not seem to want to watch TV anymore. It's a good thing cos he now spends more time with his little brother and also he gets to sleep early.
The newest thing we've done is to get him to go to bed at 8pm. It works wonderfully cos if he gets to sleep by 830-9pm, I get all the time free to myself after that. Comparing to previous when he sleeps 10-11pm, I would be a walking zombie after that.
ZQ has also started to eat more vege and once, he even told my maid to give him more vege cos mama told him to eat more vege for nice "Da Bian".
Brushing teeth. He now has mastered how to brush his own teeth.
Diaper. He is still on diaper for the nite and cos he drinks loads of milk before he sleeps, I dare not try to toilet train him for the nite at the moement.
Milk. He is still drinking a big bottle before sleep and sometimes in the middle of the nite and another feed in the morning when he wakes up.
His current favourite song is Faye Wong's "Ming Yue Ji Shi You" and since his memory is good, sometimes i sing the wrong lyrics, he'd correct me "Mama ...... no .... it's wrong ..... ".
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