Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Xmas

Xmas celebration at Top Deck in Aberdeen - Siyuan initially won't go near the dragon cravings, but later lost his fear. Lunch turned out to be a lot more expensive after Sihuai's palms were covered with splinters from playing on the deck. 
We spent almost a whole day at medical clinics as doctors referred us to all over the place.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Birthday

Booked a small cinema to celebrate Siyuan's 4th birthday by watching his favorite movie - Toy Story 3.
Sihuai's new boyfriend :)

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Trophy Husbands

At the pool at the Westin in Macau, a family of three came along.
The mother, wearing Paris Hilton sun glasses, was soon busy snapping pictures of their 14 months girl with one of those elaborate cameras so popular with parents here in Hong Kong. She worn heels to the pool.
Chatted a little with the husband, who was from Sydney. The girl showed little attachment to the mother.
The whole situation just screamed: trophy husband.

Monday, November 1, 2010

My ice-cream

The minute Sihuai saw the scoop of choc ice cream, she went after it with the single-mindedness of an adult, which is rare for kids easily distracted. Forget about the banana or the strawberries, and the waffle were a no go at all.
Here's her going at the ice cream with both spoon and fork.

Halloween pictures

Just a couple of pictures from Halloween.


Friday, October 29, 2010

Stanley Beach and Halloween Party

At the party organized by Siyuan's school at Stanley Beach. Siyuan went as Peter Pan, joining an assortment of Spiderman, Batman, Bob the Builder, Astronauts, Skeletons and a Ghost.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Outgrowing

Birthday dress, but she's outgrowing it

Yellow Spider

Saw a whole bunch of them at Sai Kung

Sai Kong

Little walk in Sai Kong,strangely the first time we went.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Can I have them back now?

Sihuai's favorite soft toys getting a bit of sun :)

Goldfish

Sihuai loves to eat. There's this little dance she would do, when eating. She would spin away from us with the food in her mouth/hand, and then come running back with a wide smile as she attempts to get another bite of whatever it was.

 When she's had enough, she would start spitting the food out of her mouth. She's always that way, even as a baby. Then she would spit milk out and refuse to open her mouth even one little bit. Whereas Siyuan would allow us just to give him a little bit more food.



Bad Hair Day

Sihuai imitates us a lot more. She has a little bag, with a panda bear design, she likes to carry around.
She likes to use her mom's comb to brush her hair, and would also try to brush her brother's hair.
If her brother is sitting to watch TV, she would sit with him for a little while as well.
She wants to feed herself, esp if all of us have our own bowls or plates (she generally makes a mess, but it's part of the process.)

This is a picture of her on a bad hair day!

Friday, September 17, 2010

Get off my chair you invader!

I think the face drawing was part of his school activities.


Friday, September 10, 2010

I love my pandas

For some reason, Siyuan loves the panda mascots but not the gold fish mascot at Ocean Park

Sunday, September 5, 2010

It's better with friends

We went through a phase when we would keep going to Ocean Park. Went a couple of times with a schoolmate of Siyuan, and the two boys enjoyed it more.


This happened sometime in June/July before we all caught that horrible bug.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Kids Saying

Get out of my way, you silly man! Siyuan said to me one day.
He's starting to get more bossy :)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Grown up

Bangkok was when I realized my baby girl is now a toddler!
She was happily running around, playing in our apartment, swimming pool, her great grandma's house and at the airport.






Lux calls her my sassy girl :)

Monday, August 23, 2010

June Bangkok Pictures

We went to Bangkok for a 5 day break in June - where the grandparents also saw Sihuai for the first time.
For the first day, we went to a restaurant that Lux went to as a child. It's still standing, high roofs, old fans and tables, and staff from another era. And yes toliets that you can fall into (the male toliet is really a hole in the floor and i was holding onto Siyuan tightly as he went)

Here's a picture of the kids running wild while we were literally chewing the fat after dinner.

Breakfast

Me: Let's go to Cafe de Coral for breakfast
Siyuan: No, I want Macdonalds!
Me: I have money, you have no money. So we're going Cafe de Coral
Siyuan stands stunned. He mulls over that for a 10 seconds. Then standing up, he jabs his fingers in the air and uttered: Mom must give me money!

Friday, August 20, 2010

First Drip

There was a gorgeous salt water pool at the hotel, where Sihuai had her first dip :)
This is post her swim.

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Something for Everybody

Siyuan is always looking for something to eat, and Sihuai is always looking for something to eat. That's what my helper said.

Sihuai is about 14-15 months, and she is teething and having separation anxiety. Not a great combination for Lux.

Sick

We've been sick for a while. Somebody brought a sick kid to the playgroup Lux was hosting and infected everybody. It's taking a while to get back to normal. Just a note here to mark it.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Moments

Me: Siyuan, you need to wash your hair.
Siyuan: No, I washed in Bangkok!
Me: That was a month ago!

Sihuai was happily saying allo to the birds and the turtles in the garden. She even smiled and said allo to the two teenagers in the lift. When we ran into our neighbour,a kindly grandfather figure, who tried to chat with her, she got so shy, she hid behind her pram.

Kids are a constant surprise.

Friday, July 2, 2010

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Tantrum Series -- Part Two

Yup, Sihuai's at the age when she's starting to throw tantrums!
So here's some of the tantrum pictures :)


Monday, June 14, 2010

Fighting Back

Siyuan as a toddler had a mild personality - he was happy to do anything (so long as it looks fun), and eat just about everything. He didn't seem to have an aggressive bone in his body and was constantly bullied at playgrounds till he learnt better.

Sihuai has learnt fast, having to compete with her brother for toys and attention right from the start. As she gets bigger and can now walk, she's a fierce competitor! Sometimes that just means sitting down and crying for attention, but she can also push and grab. The other day, during a playground session, another kid wanted to climb onto Sihuai's favorite bed, and our little girl was busy tagging on the other kid and trying to put a stop to that.

Yesterday, I was trying to feed her when she noticed Lux feeding Siyuan. She suddenly refused her food and wanted Lux to feed. So Lux ended up with the kids, one on each lap, eating from the same bowl. It is just amazing.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Not Foggy or Raining or Sunny

Saturday morning, and we were wondering what to do, with Siyuan sitting idly on the couch.
Let's go Ocean Park, Lux said.
Siyuan lept up, looked outside of the windows, and did a little dance, shaking his head and wagging his fingers.
``It's not foggy. It's not raining. It's not sunny!"
Then he ran to the door and pretended to pull the handle: Let's go Ocean Park!

:)

Thursday, June 10, 2010

World Cup and Liverpool

Okay, so Liverpool had a crap season but they still have some very good players. Here's wishing Torres a good World Cup!


Saturday, June 5, 2010

Climbing

Following in the development path of her brother, Sihuai is now progressing to climbing.
She loves to get to the window ledge in the master bedroom, where she will look out of the window or play peek-a-boo behind the curtains. Previously reliant on us helping her there, she can now climb onto the bed, and from there cross to the window ledge.


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Speaking

From worrying about Siyuan's ability to speak, we're now amused by his ability to communicate and asset his demands. Just six months ago, his favorite words were upside down, no more and playground for 3-year old. His class teacher and principal had said the problems lie with him and not with school, though they couldn't suggest what we should do other than bring him to a clinic to check for autism and other problems. He was a withdrawn kid each time he attends school, and clamped up whenever he sees anybody associated there.

We suspected something was wrong with the school but becos the school didn't allow visits during classes, couldn't tell. But other parents were noticing similar issues. This was the same school that suggested single word books for him.

We spoke to other parents, teachers at other schools, brought him lots of books, and Lux brought him out to other playgroups. Slowly, things changed over the holiday season. And then he went back to school after CNY, and it was like back to square one. Clearly the problem was related to his school.

We pulled him out, and changed schools. Within two months, he was rattling in English and singing Chinese songs. Within one week, he knew and was happy to talk about his teachers, whereas at his old school, he didn't want to speak their names despite attending it for 18 months. Within a month, he had at least 6 friends in class that he could talk about. He had 2 in the old school after two years. It was ridiculous how bad his old school was for him -  ranging from trying to force him to use his right hand, chiding him for saying Good Morning loudly and happily, or forcing him to look at the teacher's eyes by gripping his shoulders and narrowing the distance to less than a feet.

Now, he's constantly rattling away (which can be irritating, I'm hungry Papa, I'm hungry Papa etc etc), can make little jokes, and assert himself. :)

Here's one example:
Me: Siyuan, we'll go and buy a coffee for Papa, do some shopping and then we'll go to the playground.
Siyuan: Noooo. We'll go Quarry Bay playground first, play, then buy coffee for Papa, then shopping. All right?

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Walking Picture

Just a picture of Sihuai toddling!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ocean Park and Panda

Bright sunny morning, blustery wind to blow away the smog. The first day in at least a month that we saw clear sky. We brought the kids to Ocean Park to see panda and other animals. The panda this time round was awake and Siyuan was able to see it eat bamboo, run, poo, excercise and clamber all over the rocks.

We bought a glowing panda key chain for Siyuan, and he insisted on sleeping with it. The next morning, he couldn't find it. Lux asked him if he had fed the panda last nite.
Shaking his head, Siyuan pipped:"Panda took taxi to Ocean Park to eat bamboo!"

:)

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Sihuai Walking

Sihuai has started toddling, from one or two steps, she is now able to take 5 steps or more. Still crawls a lot. But just as often she would stand and look around. She likes to help Siti hang clothes, and will get pissed if she's deprived of the opportunity to at least mess around with a shirt or two.

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Multicultural Singapore

Visited Singapore for CNY, and we dropped by at a neighbourhood playground.
It's funny when we were there, and the term multicultural Singapore seems a bit like government speak.
Yet, that morning, there was a mini cultural melting pot and all the kids were happily playing with each other, ditto the parents speaking with each other.
It's a little different here where we stay in HK, where people tend to mix only with their own.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Lions Eat Little Boys

``Roar, roar,'' Siyuan went during dinner. So we started talking about lions, about the color, the mane, and what they eat.
``Lions eat deers, pigs and chickens,'' I said, pausing, before adding "and little boys!"
``No!'' Siyuan said, with a laugh.
``Yes,'' I said seriously.
He stopped, thought about it for a while, clearly alarmed.
``Close the gate!'' he said.


Thursday, April 15, 2010

New School

We moved Siyuan to a new school at Tam Tam in Repulse Bay. Nestled in the mountains, just above a reservoir, it's a beautiful location. The air is crisp and fresh enough that you can smell the diesel when a car roars by. Big contrast to Wembley near our place, where kids breath in air from the exhaust of a nearby hotel.
We've been debating a new school for months, as we realized that he just wasn't learning or enjoying his time there. The teachers who we liked had left, and the new ones weren't particularly communicative or clearly favored a few kids. Siyuan, like some others, who were independent were pretty much left alone.
After a year there, he still doesn't want to say the names of his teachers. Wasn't picking up much new vocab in school and there are days he dreaded it.

We checked out a few and settled on http://www.woodlandschools.com/Index.php?_function=AboutSchool&_subFunction=Location&browsePub=
because the teachers impressed us with their expertise and love of kids.  It's expensive though!!
But we were faced with the choice of Siyuan stagnating and not conversing and ultimately failing to make the cut for primary school or paying now and ensuring he gets into an english-based primary school later for his interview in January (yes, HKschools interview kids when they're just 4 for primary school.)

We loved the new place so far. And so it seems does Siyuan. He knows the names of his teachers in two weeks, and came back happy with activities such as Kids in Motion and Library Day. He loved learning Putonghua and can now sing a few songs. The other day, he saw a plane fly by and said Fei Ji.

One day when Siyuan was about to enter school, he jumped when he saw a praying mantis. Before you knew it, a teacher was out there letting the mantis crawl all over him, while gathering the kids around him and telling them about the creature. I guess that's what you're paying for, teachers who enjoy teaching and can react on the spot.
This was in contrast to the principal at his old school, who insisted that we do things her way and wasn't keen to change.


Tuesday, April 6, 2010

papa's short cut

Goodbye Kyunghee

Reading

Auntie Hwee Hwee

Uncle Heng

Window Pane

Sleeping in the Corridor

Grandpap's Nose

Helping Grandmother With the Plants


We went back to Singapore for CNY, the first time the grandparents get to see Sihuai.

Siyuan by now can remember visiting Singapore a year ago, and his grandparents. He was all excited about taking an airplane to Singapore and behaved himself on the plane. Lux was teaching him how to say happy chinese new year in Teochew at least a week before and he did all right :)
This is a picture of the first morning after arrival, when he helped grandmom water her plants.

Drinking With a Straw

PlayingTogether

Funny Face

Sihuai Stands With Aid

Narong Visits

Series of Pictures

We've been busy, hunting for a new kindergarten for Siyuan (with an eye to primary) and checking out possible new places to stay. So here's just a series of pictures taken in the past three months.