Children's Musical Talents

I have never wondered how it would be, until i am a parent of 2 little ones. This phase of my life has changed me tremendously and my whole world now revolves around God and my family.

As Samuel and Jesse are both 4 and 2 years old now, they start to show interest in the things they like. From a very young age, Samuel has been very interested in music. He is extremely sensitive to sound and particular about the "right and wrong" about different tune of music.

Jesse on the other hand has been attending baby music classes since she was only a few months old.

Now, Jesse is already 2 years old, she is still attending her music classes. She started 2 terms of child music class and simply loves it.

Comparing Jesse to Samuel, i noticed that Samuel seems to be alot more confident and talented in music. However, Jesse enjoys the music more than she shows how good she is in music. :)

Samuel attends another music school now. To our surprise, the teachers approached daddy last term to let him know that Samuel is the 1st child his age to be identified to be perfect pitch. Initially, daddy was kinda sceptical but being a parent, he was very happy and thanked God for His blessings.

Being an asian parent of 2 little ones, i believe strongly that if we have the means to do so, we will definitely let our children attend child music education at a very young age.

Now, I can see how excited Jesse is, everytime we get her ready to go for her music classes.

Being parents to our little ones, when our children pursue something that they love, we will encourage them and feel a warmth feeling in our hearts.

Her Favourite Hanky

Since baby, Jesse prefers hanky than pacifier. Her soother will be her hanky. She likes and will do with any type of hankies. When she was 1+, she started to like only a certain specific type of hankies. There are a few occassions that she wakes up middle of the night crying for that particular hanky. Only after that incident, we realised that she only like those specific hankies.

We only have 4 of them. We bought these hankies when Samuel was 1 years old. We kept some of those and only started using it when Jesse was born.

If we ever loose these hankies, it actually means we're waiting for a disaster to happen... anytime... There was one occasion when we were swimming with Samuel & Jesse in the clear waters of Manukan Island, we lost one of Jesse's hanky. It was so precious we literally had to snorkel and dive to look for that hanky. (Not exegerating at all)

Now, only 1 of it is in good condition, the rest should be thrown away into the dustbin. We can't throw it away until we find the new replacements. I think we got it from Carrefour Subang about 4 years ago. These are simple "made in china" type of hankies and I don't think that they still have it. We have been hunting for these hankies when we were back in KL recently, but we couldn't find it.

One of my friends who came over to visit us while we were in KL saw her hanky and I told her about it. After I returned to Brunei, she told me that she saw her niece holding a similar hanky. She told me that her sister bought it from pasar malam. I never thought that pasar malam sells hankies :p Without thinking, I got her buy some for me.

About a month ago, not long after we came back from KL, we went to Giant for grocery shopping. Before we started shopping, we went and check if we could find Jesse's favourite hankies.

To our biggest surprise, daddy was so jumping for joy to find some similar hankies. The picture in the hanky is slightly different from her favourite ones and it is smaller in size as compared to hers. We showed it to Jesse but she doesn't want it and still prefers her old hanky (she was holding her hanky at that time). We decided to buy a pack (6 in 1).

We are happy that she now likes her new hanky, if she doesn't see her old ones. If given a choice, she will still choose her old hankies. Since she is happy and will do with the new hankies, daddy quickly bought another pack for stock keeping :)

These days she is no longer as attached to her hankies as in the previous months. At times, she can sleep without holding her hanky but sometimes she will wake up middle of the night asking for her hanky.

Jesse's Precious Hanky

Pool Fun With Friends

Since our big pool's filter malfunctioned, we started to set up a smaller swimming pool for our little ones.

Today we invited some friends over to play with Samuel and Jesse.
Uncle Chad & Aunty Misty brought Grace over while Aunty Siew Ping brought Shireen and Shanice over to our place.

They came over at about 3.30pm and it was too hot and sunny. The children played in the playroom and Samuel's room while Daddy and Mummy was spending some time with Uncle and Aunties.

Daddy set up the pool and the weather today was perfect. The water was nice and warm, just right for the little ones to play.

The children started to play in our little swimming pool at 4.30pm.

Jesse, Shireen, Grace & Samuel

Samuel & Grace Busy With the Watering Cans While Jesse Watches

Jesse Having Fun in the Pool

Samuel & Friends

Samuel has 4 very close friends from school and 4 of them are girls! He has been asking us to invite his friends over to our home to play with him. I told him to invite them by himself and he did it. He told me that he invited 4 of them over but I was in doubt until one of the parents told me about it.

We then started to invite his friends over to play with him. His close friends from school are Shireen, Grace, Tania & Min Sze. Out of the 4 of them, so far we have invited 3 to our home. They are Shireen, Grace and Tania.

We are thinking of inviting some boys over to play with him too.

It is good to invite friends over to play with our little ones because we are an expat family who doesn't have any family or cousins here in Brunei. It is good to let our little ones grow up and play with friends :)

Jesse's Trial Ballet Class

Both daddy and mummy has been excited to send Jesse for ballet classes. Jesse has been very enthusiastic about dancing, daddy and mummy thinks she will enjoy ballet classes and will be cute little ballerina.

Last Saturday, daddy & mummy brought Jesse to Regina Ballet Studio for the baby ballet trial class. Most of the little girls are about 4 years old. There are only 4 little ones who are 2-3 years old.

Looking at the moves and ballet steps the little girls do at ease, Jesse still can't do most of it. I guess she's still too young compared to the seasoned little girls. hehe.

Some of the photos of Jesse in her first ballet class.

Jesse in Kindermusik - Then... Now...

Its been almost 2 years since Jesse joined Kindermusik. Taking a look at the photos reminds me of how little Jesse used to be...

And now... when i look at Jesse's photos... she now looks like a little girl... In daddy's heart, she's still daddy's sweet little baby girl...

For that reason, daddy still puts up a sign behind daddy's car "Baby on Board" hehe :)

Yes she IS... She still is daddy's little baby girl :)

One of the things that Jesse looks forward to, every week is to attend her Kindermusik classes... She simply loves it...

Lets take a look at the photos of Jesse when she first started Kindermusik..

And some photos taken of Jesse recently... during her Kindermusik class...

Jesse Dancing

Cakes for Our Little Ones

Over the weekend, we brought our little ones to a cakeshop/cafe not too far from our home. Both Samuel & Jesse were so excited running everywhere. :)

Jesse Holding the Menu

Samuel & Jesse Choosing their Cakes

Jesse's Elephant Choc Cupcake

Samuel's Oreo Cheesecake

Jesse Eating her Cupcake

Samuel and his Oreo Cheesecake

Fun Time - Swings

Every Saturday, both daddy and mummy will bring Jesse along when we send Samuel to school. When we reach Samuel's school, Jesse will be all excited to run into the school. Her first love in Samuel's school is the swing. Ever since she met the "swing", she will not be able to resist it. Daddy wonders how will Jesse be when she starts school next year. :) hehe

Samuel's Funny Faces

Its been awhile since daddy has blogged about Samuel and Jesse. Recently, daddy took some photos of Samuel. Some of which daddy would like to share with Samuel are his funny faces photos. Boys will always be boys. hehe :)

White Hair

Bringing Samuel to cut his hair is so much better than in the past. He used to cry pitifully when he has his hair cut. Not only it was difficult for him, it was also difficult for us, seeing him crying throughout the whole session.

Last Sunday, we brought Samuel to the barber for a haircut. While cutting his hair, I spotted a white hair, a strand of white hair on his right side. He is only 4 years+. Daddy only started to have white hair when he's in his 30s. I hope I will not see any white hair on Samuel.

Mother's Day Dinner

Jesse, Mummy & Samuel

Sweetcorn Crab Soup

Steam Seabass in Soy Sauce

Lettuce with Garlic

Braised Lamb Shank in Special SauceFried and Steamed Mantou (To dip into the Special Sauce)

Honey Dew, Sago Dessert

Daddy brought us to Emperor's Court, Manggis Mall for dinner on Mother's day. When we arrived there, brought our children to play in the indoor playground beside the Restaurant, at Sugarbun. They have fun playing with the balls and slide for 20 minutes before we had our dinner.

Daddy pre-ordered our food before the day. Once we were there, most of the food were almost ready. We do not need to wait for long.

We had soup, fish, lamb shank and vegetable for 3 adults and 2 children. Jesse, the vege lover kept asking for the vege. After we had our dinner, we had honey dew sago as dessert.

New Member In The Family

No, no, no ! I'm not pregnant :)

Our sponsored child, Yang Mei Ying, born on 10th May 1998, lives in China. Mei Ying lives with her grandfather who is old and struggles to provide for the family.

Mei Ying comes from a small family and is an only child, Her parents have disappeared. Her family is not able to trace them. Mei Ying lives in Yongsheng, a district in south western China.

We hope by sponsoring Mei Ying, we can help lift Mei Ying and her community out of the vicious cycle of poverty.

It would be good if you can help one of them. I'm sure if you are willing to, you will be able to help as well.

For more information, please go to www.worldvision.org

Slide Fun on Mother's Day

Mummy didn't play with the slide on Mother's Day. However, mummy was very happy looking at Samuel and Jesse having fun on the slide.

A mother's joy is when they see their little ones being happy :)

8 inches taller

No, Jesse didn't grow 8 inches taller. I just didnt know what these 2 little green things are called. I can't call them slippers, shoes or upside down pails. They indeed made Jesse 8 inches taller. hehe

Jesse initially doesn't know how to play with it. She has been seeing Samuel run everywhere with it. When she started trying, she didn't dare to stand up. After awhile, she started cruising with them. :)

Happy Mother's Day

Yesterday evening, both the kids came to me after I had my shower. Samuel was holding a bouquet of flowers made in school and Jesse was holding a basket with 2 teddy bears and some chocolates (bought by daddy). They took turns to greet me Happy Mother's Day. Samuel gave me the flowers after greeting me but Jesse refused to let go of the basket :p

Besides the flowers, Samuel made a Mother's Day Card from his Art Class as well.

Sleeping Alone

Samuel sleeping in his own room (3 years old)

Samuel has been sleeping on his own, in his room before he turns 3. We will only allow him to sleep with us in our room when it rains heavily as he is afraid of loud sounds.

Most of the nights he asks me, "Why I cannot sleep with you?", or "Can I sleep with you?". About a month ago, I decided to let him sleep with us once a week, on Saturday nights. I feel that he can sleep soundly and he will feel more secure sleeping in our room.

Now, he looks forward to Saturdays. He will remind us on a Friday or Saturday that he will be sleeping in our room. Two weeks ago, I found out that not only he wants to sleep in our room, he actually wants to sleep with mummy. He wants mummy by his side.

Sunglasses

About a month ago, while we were on our way home after we picked Samuel from his music class he said, "Mummy ah, I cannot see you. See, I cannot see you. I cannot open my eyes, afterwards my eyes spoil. Then I cannot see mummy, daddy, Jesse and kakak (maid)."

So, I have to sacrifice myself. I offered him my sunglasses. I put it on for him and he was grinning ear to ear.

A week later, we decided to get him a pair of sunglasses. We brought the kids to Mothercare to choose a pair of sunglasses each. Both tried on a few different sunglasses happily looking at the mirror. We chose 1 each and asked if they like it. Samuel was happy and wanted the sunglasses we choosen. Jesse, being the choosy one doesn't like any. Since she said no to all of them, we decided not to get her any.

When we left Mothercare, while in the car, I asked Samuel to put on his sunglasses. Jesse then started to make noise wanted to take Samuel's sunglasses. She wanted it just because "it is his" and not because she wanted the sunglasses. I offered mine, she doesn't want it. We let her cry and she got over with it.

School Family Day - Part II

There were lots of games during this family day. Samuel really enjoyed the games.

1. Egg and Spoon Game

We have 6 children at each end. One child will hold the egg on the spoon and walk from one end to the other end and transfer the egg from one spoon to another, without any help or using hands. But of cause, some used their hands :p

2. Jesse, Mummy and Samuel playing the 3 legged race

I partnered Samuel for this 3 legged race. As Jesse was very attached to me, I have to carry her while Samuel and i were practicing walking with 3 legs. During the race, I asked daddy to carry Jesse. It was such a relieve that she was ok with daddy.

3. Balloon Race

Daddy played the balloon race. Samuel will have to bring a balloon and run to daddy at the other end. Daddy will then blow the balloon and then sit on it till it burst.

4. Throwing balls into the bucket

Daddy volunteered to catch the balls with the bucket for our white team. The children will take turns to throw the balls into the bucket. Daddy was asked to stand on the newspaper and was only allowed to move within the newspaper to catch the balls. Samuel was so happy throwing the balls into the bucket.

5. Filling the bottle

The children were asked to take the sponge from a bucket full of water, run to the other end, then squeeze the water out from the sponge to up fill the bottle. After each game, all the children were given a smiley sticker. At the end of the games, Samuel has 7 of them, 5 from the teachers and he found 2 on the floor.

Daddy brought Jesse back with the maid after the 4th game, as we stay 5 minutes away from home. Jesse fell asleep between the games. Although she did not play any of the games, she still got 5 smiley stickers :)

It was fun yet tiring Sunday morning. By late afternoon, I can feel that my biceps are in pain. I have been carrying Jesse for long in the morning.