"Wan Ai"

For the past few nights before his bedtime, I tried to teach Samuel to speak in mandarin. He has been taking chinese lessons privately on top of a weekly mandarin class in school for the past two years but he can hardly speak any chinese. I tried speaking to him in chinese a few times but he doesn't understand what I say. So, now every night, I will try and speak to him few simple words.

One of the words that I taught him was "wan an", good night. I took the opportunity to teach Jesse at the same time but she has some difficulties in speaking in mandarin. One of them is, wan an.

Mummy : Say wan an to kor kor
Jesse : Wan ai
Mummy : Wan An
Jesse : Wan ai
Mummy : An
Jesse : An
Mummy : Wan an
Jesse : Wan ai

She can say "an" when its just a word by itself but she can't say "an" after "wan" which I find it rather funny :p Samuel used to be like that when he was her age.

Elephant !!

Last week, Samuel was learning mammals in school and the school requested us to bring a can for him for art purposes. This is what he did, an elephant!

Today, I put on my new grey shirt and when he saw me in the grey shirt he asked,

Samuel : Mummy, you look like who?

Mummy : Look like who? I don't know.

Samuel : Elephant

Mummy : Huh? Elephant? I'm not an elephant.
Samuel : (Giggling) Yes, see, you are wearing grey.

I thought he wanted to tell me that I look pretty on my new shirt (that is what he usually tells me). LOL

Com Ting Ting

Jesse has been trying to play with my MacBook recently. Whenever she has the chance, she will keep typing on the keyboard.

More than a week ago, I took out Samuel's "laptop" for her to play. She likes it so much especially when she sees us using our laptops, she will request for her computer which she calls it "com ting ting" (computer).

Spot's Camping Trip

I bought this sticker story book few weeks ago while I was on leave but did not give it to Samuel until yesterday night. He was so happy to see the book and immediately he wanted to read it. He has a few Spot's book collection. He can read almost every word except for few. Although he can read pretty well, he does not understand what he reads fully.

Samuel requested to put the stickers at the correct position but I did not allow him to do so. I told him that he can do it today as it was getting late.

This morning, Samuel brought the book along with him when daddy sent him to school. On the way to school, he played with the stickers. He sticked them at the correct places in the book. When they reached the school, he just left the book in the car.

I went and picked him up after school. He was so excited when he saw me with his library book. Can you guess what book he had borrowed? Yes, is the same book that he was holding while he was on the way to the school - Spot's Camping Trip. It is a smaller version book with no stickers.

He read to me while on the way home. He finished the story before we reached home. Once reached home, he wanted to read it to me again. I asked him to read to Jesse instead :p

As of today, he had read the book at least 4-5 times.

Fever Not

With this Influenza A(H1N1), most people are taking precautions. School resumes last Monday, after another week of extra holiday due to the outbreak. We have been hesitating to send Samuel to school on the first day but since we checked with the school and they are taking some preventive measurements, we decided to send him to school.

The attendance dropped tremendously, probably 50% or more. Yesterday, as usual daddy sent him to school and before he enters his class, the teacher took his temperature. He was alright before daddy left.

At about 10.40am, daddy called. He said the school contacted him and the teacher told him that Samuel is having fever, 37.8. I started to get worried although he didn't have any cough or flu. Before I rushed home, I called his swimming coach and informed him that he wouldn't be able to attend his swimming lesson later in the evening.

They came back 5 minutes later after I reached home. He looks perfectly fine, with abit of sweat. I tested him few times but no, his temperature was only 36.4.

I called the school and his Malay teacher answered. I asked about Samuel's condition while he was in school. She told me that they were asked to monitor the children every hour and should the children have fever above 38 degree with cough or flu, they wil be sent back. Excuse me, Samuel's temperature was 37.8 (on the forehead, according to her) and not 38 and he doesn't cough or have flu.

Since it started to rain in the evening, I decided not to bring him for his swimming lesson.

Samuel & Jesse Dancing Hip Hop

Daddy went to YouTube and checked out Britain's Got Talent. When daddy checked out some of the hip hop dancers on YouTube, Jesse came along. When Jesse saw the dancers, she started dancing. I called Samuel to come along, and he too joined in.

When daddy put it on the TV in the living room, both of them started dancing together. :)

Glass Deco, Drawing & Colouring

One of those unplanned school holiday mornings, we got Samuel to do some drawings and paintings. As Jesse will usually take her nap in the morning, we will need to isolate him from her. We put him in his room and get him to do these while the maid puts Jesse to nap.

This is the first time he tried glass deco and he has so much fun painting the glass deco.

Samuel the ArtistDrawings & Colourings

Glass Deco (Before & After)

Monopoly Town

As Samuel started to enjoy board games, we bought him "Monopoly Town" about a week ago. He really enjoys playing with it.

He will be thrilled with excitement when he wins. On the contrary, he will also be very upset and even cries when he looses. He is always very concerned with who will win while playing the game. In summary, he just want to win or else he cries and wants to play again.

Dinner with the Children

Most of the time when we're invited events, we need to plan ahead whether to bring our little ones along. As much as we would want to go out for dinners (just daddy and mummy) we usually feel guilty leaving our little ones behind at home with our domestic helper.

Last Saturday, we were invited to a friend's wedding dinner and daddy decided to bring our little ones along.

We dressed Jesse up in a white dress and Samuel is in the usual shirt and pants :) Daddy took a few photos of us and here are 2 of the many photos. Daddy is usually the photographer and is not in the photo.

Extra 1 Week

The students are supposed to start this week but with this H1N1 virus, Ministry of Education declared another week of school holiday. With this unexpected holiday, we did not plan anything for Samuel. So, this week most of the time, he's at home watching television. But I guess it is better than going to school and might get himself infected with the virus.