Merry Christmas

A belated greeting to all, that's is.

Christmas eve, we made a trip to visit Sue Lin and Cayden for an exchange of presents before they fly off the next day. It as quite a tough moment to say goodbye as we know we are going to miss each other badly, think the mummies more than the kiddos by the way. We gave each other a hugand I had to run before teary scenes start. All the best wishes to the Chiam family and hope to see you back real soon!

Next up will be our x'mas party at TJ. As it was a potluck party thus we had to go grab some fried beehoon and greens. We are the earliest to arrive there once again which is pretty rare for our family, haha. It was a tough night as Zethan vomitted twice and ran out of extra change of clothing for him. Culprit must be the strawberry Pediasure milk he drank in the afternoon. Had a fantastic party with loads of yummylicious food coupled with great company and roaring good time of games. Zethan is so blessed and well loved to be showered with many presents, in fact he should be the big winner with most presents. Thanks once again to the lovely aunties and uncles for the nice presents.

Next year, Zethan will have another 2 playmates for the party, no longer the only kiddo!

X'mas 2010

The babes had an early Christmas party on 11 Dec 2010 which was planned way in advance. Planning started way back in end Oct to identify a date since everybody would be really busy over the festive period and the Chiams will be flying to the states on Christmas day so it was crucial to book everyone ahead.

Each family had to be present with 3 gifts for the mummy, daddy and child. It was a potluck party and I had to volunteer the drinks aspect since I will be busy and away for more than a week so it will be a safe choice, do not wish to fail fulfilling. Mind you, the drinks are purchased much much was in advance, like early Nov for fear that the busy schedule will result in procrastination.

Food was great with pasta, nachos with various dips, cheese metlz, salad, some tasty blueberry dessert, and a beautifully roasted turkey thanks to ophe.

After the yummilicious spread of food, we played a few games. Rolling the dices to get a double and tearing off newpaper wrapped present with a pair of mittens (yeah, I am the winner!), pictionary (all clues related to christmas carols) and next the gift exchange. Supposedly we are to snatch each other presents to our preferences, however we are so nice to each other and satisfied with the presents that all else are not neccesary.

Our second christmas party together and definitely hope for many more to come though high possibility 2011 party might have to give it a miss since the Chiams and Angs will be abroad. Nontheless all the best wishes to everyone and hope that 2011 will be a beautiful year for the families.

Retreat

the yearly affair of year end meeting followed by a short retreat and we are heading to Shanghai, Hangzhou and Wuzhen which had the exact same itinerary as 2005 thus I was not very excited about the trip.

Left on a sunday morning when the little guy is still in bed which is might as well as it is still very hard to say goodbye, got all emotional with tears filling my eyes!

Had 2 days of meeting in KL and how can I missed the opportunity to take the time for some shopping even though there is nothing fantastic but yet managed to grab Christmas cum birthday gift for the daddy and lots more for the little guy.

Flew to Shanghai on 1st Dec and started our 5d4n packaged tour. The only thing I enjoyed lots will be the nice weather, cool of between 7-15 degrees. Bought more clothings for Zethan from Oshkosh and H & M. For the whole trip, the only things bought myself is so pathetic, a pair of shoe, a knitted top from H&M and some cosmetic from Etude House and Face shop! Enough said, let the photos do the talking.

Courtesy

Before I forget, had better jot it down.

Not sure since when, Zethan starting saying Xie Xie (Thank You in mandarin). He said it when he want us to carry something from him as well as when he need us to fetch anything for him. However when he ia taught to say Thank You, he will sign instead. This is a major headache for me now as apparently we have used the wrong word when we reinforce the sign langauges to him. We are used to saying "Can you say instead of can you sign" so now he seem to be confused over it.

My mum teach him to say Working when she ask for our whereabout in the morning.

Mum ~ Zethan, where is daddy?
Zethan ~ Parking (when he meant working)

The she taught him to identify himself by pointing to his nose.

Mum ~ Where is Zethan
Zethan ~ Point to his nose (meaning here)

Another hilarious action of Zethan.

Mum ~ where is Ah ma?
Zethan ~ point to his nose (mum taught him by pointing to her own nose which made Zethan imitate her action accordingly! haha)

Mum asked Zethan in my presence

Mum ~ Zethan, where is mummy? Working?
Zethan ~ No (smile and point at me!)

He can indicate his response by answering Yesh and No when asked.

JG

The last lesson of the term at JG ended with a very early Christmas party and we brought cocktail sausagesto the potluck party.

The day was pretty eventful as it rained as we were leaving the house so imagine having to carry Zethan, umbrella, my bag and his present & food in another carrier!

Although the theme of the week was animals costumes but seriously it is very tough to find one and being the very uncreative mummy, Zethan was only cladded in a simple animal T-shirt, about all.

It is a day where everything single thing seem to go wrong. First of all, Zethan was not very cooperative this day, being rather sticky initially when lesson starts which soon worsen to not listening and not following instructions. Come to snack time, we start to dig in the yummy spread of food. Mi sat Zethan down in a seat and placed my camera on the table top, running off to get some food for him. Upon returning, he is no where at where he is supposed to be, camera still remain but with another child and parent seated. Found him and had to drag him to another table which is a terrible choice. Already bad that he is refusing most of the food, refusal to sit still, the super duper kiasu parent crowd around the child including the helper which add up to 3 cramping the whole table and space. I was so damn pissed that I brought Zethan to the side of the classroom, he stand while I feed!

As you may have guessed it right, Zethan was roaming around the whole classroom during story, music time and art & craft did not interest him a single bit. The timid boy is so scared of the Santarina that made him ran close to me upon the sight of her. The Santarina gave away the presents that parents have prepared and wrapped for their child together with the certificate for completing the term. I was a little upset that they had spelt Zethan's name wrongly, ZATHAN!

Just when I thought that the worst is over and we are all ready to go, the silly milk powder container gave way in my bag spilling its content all over my bag and there goes Zethan's milk feed! argh.

Anyway we will be back for the new term starting 8 Jan 2011 with Teacher Safina but the two chinese teachers will not be back due to some transferring.

23 months

Overwhelmed with his recent tantrums, I have totally forgotten about Zethan's turning 23 months old yesterday. If not for Aunty Ophe's reminder in Facebook (thank god Zethan and Caleb shared the same birthday thus it's great for the reminders to get both ways), I would not have any clue today.

Yes, although most people claimed that it is perfectly normal for the toddlers to step into their "Terrific TWO" or "Terrible TWO" depending on how lucky you might be, I am still having a tough time trying to cope with it. You would have guessed it right that what is thrown at us are the terrible twos and the challenges can seriously drive one mad.

Zethan does not really scream alot (crossed fingers and toes seriously) but he get on our nerves with his cries when things do not work his way for one reason or another. In particular he does it more to the daddy than to myself which can be a blessing depending on which angle you are looking at. For one I am not pleased as personally I feel that this tantrum throwing antics of his can throw the daddy off balanced which resulted in lots of giving in from the daddy which could be a big concern in the long run. We have not got round to having a discussion on the consistency in discpline methods which look hazardous. Well, will find the right time to get down to it. If caught at wrong timing, major metldowns from the parents will be anticipated.

More improvement in his speech, no signs of string of sentences as yet. He has shown much more interest in repeating after me the various words such as Duck, Quack, mouse, jump, dog (including Gou Gou, mandarin for dog) etc.

He showed his affection much more readily be it a cartoon character he love e.g Mickey or kissing us especially so when he knowwe are angry with him thus he try to reverse the situation by pouting his mouth and go Hmmmm...... He can identify and read our facial expression very well, quite an expert he is. These few days he is unseperable with a stuffed toy dog of his. He will always remember to pick up his companion and leave the house together.

If you might have recalled, we bought him a Ikea chair during Children's day for him to put on and removed his shoes. Well he has developed the habit, sitting on it before leaving the house and upon returning home. He is not taking very well the habit of brushing his teeth in the morning and night which worried me as I have observed plague forming on his lower front teeth.

Recently he has developed a unique palate with a liking for crispy foodstuff. Just earlier over dinner he requested for onions rings over mashed potato, enjoyed it lots. He goes for crispy crust of curry puff, crackers, youtiao for snacking purpose. As for main meals, he would still revert back to porridge, easy for swallowing. It is becoming a challenge trying to get him to chew his food when necessary and not swallowing everything that goes into his mouth. Gagging on food did not teach him a lesson despite constant reminder and nagging to chew.

One more month to the Big Two but I am still 2 minded about having a party or no party as we will be going away for a short trip in Jan 2011 in celebration of our wedding anniversary. Time is running out...party, no party???

Catching up

this time round, it's the mummy who has got lotsa catching up to do as Zethan's blog is growing cobwebs in every single corner possible.

By and large, December is always a very busy month for me especially the first 2 weeks of the month preparing for year end sales closing and our annual year end meeting with our colleagues in Malaysia.

This year, we are having it much earlier like 2 weeks early thus towards end of November, it's the crazy time of the year again. Leaving on 28 Nov to KL and our retreat to Shanghai commence on 1st Dec. Shall blog seperately.

It certainly does not help when upon returning to realise that my notebook adapter died on me which further aggrevate the lack of updates. In fact I have not got round to getting a new adapter, crossing my fingers and toes it is the adapter which have been put to rest for good and nothing else. So for the time being there will be very minimum photos sighted as most if not all of them are stored in the notebook.

Some updates coming up shortly, hopefully. The last lesson of JG term 4, the Shanghai trip, early X'mas party with his buddies and his 23 months updates!