April & May Update

Beautiful spring continues.

C has been enjoying art so much. He asks for it 3-4 times a day. 'Do-ing Arrrttttt! Mama! Doo-ning Artttttt!' 'Mama, Sit down!' Doo-ning Artttttt!'. He has learned how to draw lines 'top-to-bottom' and 'dot, dot, dot' thanks to brilliant Ngen Ngen. He has since learned how to draw 'left-to-right' and 'waves'. We use art time to recap the activities and whatever we learned in the day too. 

C had a splendid time with Ye Ye and Ngen Ngen. He misses them so and remembers them fondly. He loves Ye Ye's cooking and they taught him the ingredients in his food- he says them in his dreams too: 'Hong lo-bok, chicken meat, pork meat, fish meat, spinach etc'. His favourite food is 'hong lo bok'. 

They brought him on fun trips to St James' Park where he chased pigeons with glee. He enjoyed the train rides too.

C always associates activities with the person who introduced them to him.  Ye Ye taught C how to play 'Yea, Yea, Pom Pom, Yes Sir, No Sir, 1...2... Tali...Som!' This is one of his favourite things to do with Ye Ye.

Ngen Ngen taught him beautiful songs with actions from the New Catechism for Kids by Kathy Keller. He has learned so many words along with good snippets of the gospel. Eg: 'What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not our own but belong to God.' Ngen Ngen also did Bible time with C and 'bookmark' memory verses. Ye Ye and Ngen Ngen are so creative when it comes to inventing new games for C too. They have taught C how to 'aim at bottles' and even how to enjoy the game when he misses the target! 

His other top favourite of the month is the sticker book of construction machines from Ye Ye and Ngen Ngen. C doesn't really enjoy new things when we introduce them but once we find a hook with the activity, he can't stop doing it. The hook for the sticker book was a machine called the 'telescopic BOOM!'. Ever since I bounced him high off my lap and made a boom noise, he was hooked onto the book. He has learned about 'dump trucks, excavators, backhoes, trailers and more', and so has mama! He is a very sweet helper which always grabs the second mop when I mop the floor. He also has taken to bringing us our shoes (correctly each time based on which shoe we wear last) when we are preparing to go out. Excited little boy.

We started taking C to swim again after the long winter filled with colds and coughs has passed. His first time back in the pool was as expected. A little reluctant and trepidated. Now, he asks for it all the time. He brings the swimming pool slippers to us and says 'Mi-mming pooooo'.....'kick kick kick!'. He is slowly getting more and more confident so he can now jump in from the side and walk up and down the stairs in the toddler pool.

We joined our friends to celebrate another trip around the sun. C enjoys eating tau-foo-fah- that's the taufoofah face on the bottom-right. Just like his papa, he also loves coconut water. Can't wait to bring him to Malaysia and have him drink it straight out of a coconut.

He played tug of war for a few seconds here and there. He also loves only calling the ladies' names: Auntie May, Che Che Abigail, Asa, Layla, Sabine... but no guys names. Sorry lads..... the only male name he has ever uttered is Ying Khai. :) Such a Boy with a capital B.

He has also learned how to stack the precarious numbers tower. The hook to get him to love this game was a play on the word 'wobble' which he enjoyed doing to little wooden rings with Ngen Ngen. When we came back from our trip, he was going on and on with 'wobble' so we built on that and called this 'topple'! The hook to get him to love his numbers was a 1,2,3 Mr Men book. Since then, he absolutely loves counting and of late, has managed to count to 20 albeit still green on his pronounciation. :)

 C has been very wonderful at doctor visits. The nurses and health workers are besotted with his antics. He listens well and smiles a lot. He also says 'Good morning' and 'Thank You' to the doctor. He is so much fun to have around these days. 

We have been taking advantage of the sunshine and going out lots to new parks and having picnics. C always says 'kick a ball in the park!' The other night, he said it in his dreams along with 'chicken meat'. :D 

 The amazing view from the Royal Observatory. C enjoyed counting the cranes.

It's wonderful to see C grow. He learned about pinecones back in Christmas when he helped me decorate the tree. He would play with them every evening and say 'Puh-K-' for pinecone. The other day at the park, he suddenly said 'A pine-cone' and since then has been bringing some to us whenever we are having a picnic. He is starting to speak more and more. 

The story of the simple red windmill from Ye Ye and Ngen Ngen that started C's huge love of windmills which led to the whole family's obsession with windmills. We brought C to see his first old-fashioned windmill. We also explored a fellow church member's backyard where C got to watch in amazement as his windmill spun ever so fast. He also learned the word 'waterfall' there and saw his first fox up close.

More parks- Holland Park was next. The Japanese garden had a gorgeous waterfall which C went bananas over. He also got to see his first peacock mating dance and feed squirrels with some peanuts provided by a kind stranger. Because of mummy's 'good' grammar, he ended up throwing a peanut 'at' a squirrel hitting it on its head. It was quickly remedied and he learned to throw them 'to' the squirrel instead. :P

More exciting summer days lie ahead!