My darling Rafa

Rafa was looking at Gabe putting on a new t-shirt. In the most earnest tone he said, "You look very nice, Ge-ge,". We were pleasantly surprised. And it also brought a huge smile to Gabe's face.

We've been reading a book called "Thank you, Wonderful Mummy!" for quite a while now. It has rubbed onto Rafa, cos now he says "Goodnight my darling Ge-ge" and "Goodnight wonderful Daddy".

I'm so proud of my baby. And he cracks me up with the things he says. :)
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Conversation with Rafa @ 27 months old

While trying to nap today, he looked at me earnestly and said, "There's a lot of booger in my whole nose. Help me to take it out, Mummy". LOL

And finally, no more "Mummy, carry you please?" or "Mummy, give you some cheerios please?" or "Mummy, give you the toy." He has finally understood who "you" and "me" are and using them correctly!! Yay!!

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Parenting woes

To scold or not to scold. To shout or not to shout. To cane or not to cane. Being a parent has never been so challenging. Sigh.....

But thankfully there are many a times when I feel that all the heartaches are all worth it.

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My lovelies

Blowing bubbles while waiting for dinner to be ready - 17 Oct 2011.

Aye aye Daddy!!!

Photo - 21.10.11

"Can you take a picture of Raphael sitting on the balls, please?"

Conversation with Rafa @ 25.5 months old

R: I went to (the) playground.
M: Really? What did you do there?
R: (I) sit on the swing.
M: Ok. What else did you do?
R: Rafa didn't go on (the) slide.
M: Why?
R: It is wet.

Not too bad for a little baby ya? :)

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Photo - 4.8.2011

2 weeks before he turns 2. :)

First formal haircut

22 June 2011

Rafa's first haircut by a barber at 22 months. He wouldn't let me. Gabe had his first when he started Nursery at 3.5 years old.

Finally,

my 22-month baby has perfected pronouncing some more challenging words.

Ayam is now 'orange' (since March)
Bam-bam is now 'ba-woon' (balloon)
Ter-ter is finally 'water'

What an achievement!! I'm so proud of him.

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Outsourcing

Children are expensive. In trying to give them the best we can, it's even more expensive. We always believe in exposing them to things that we feel will benefit them. Whether or not they carry on with the interest later in their life is secondary. We'll never know unless they try it. Who knows they may excel in it and maybe, just maybe we may have a future Rafael Nadal or Richard Clayderman in our family.

Gabriel has tried Kindermusik, Art, Lapbooking earlier on in his life. Last year, he had an after school activity everyday, including Saturday. He dropped out of many of them this year, some because he was losing interest and complaining too much. Some was just too tedious and tiring to continue, due to timing and distance. So this year, he only had Piano class and Chinese class. These are the two which we do want him to continue, plus he seems to be doing quite okay with his plink-plonking.

I am quite hopeless in helping to keep up with these two enrichments that he has. I have zero knowledge in music and the only part I play is to nag him to practise and nag Fred to help. I'm a little better in Chinese. I can read and write some really simple words, but that's it. So besides the time in school and at the Chinese enrichment class, he doesn't do anything Chinese at home. No practice reading nor writing, only simple conversation in Chinese.

Photo of the day 17.05.2011

Favourite thing to do on a hot day.

Photo of the day 13.05.2011

Our little bed-heads. :)

Photo of the day 5.5.2011

Spider watching

Photo of the day - 25.04.2011

Good Friday

Gabriel drew this during the Good Friday service, Jesus on the cross.

Direct translation

This took place last night just before he dozed off.

G: Mummy, I love the 'yu dan gao' that you bought for me today. Can you buy for me again tomorrow?
M: What??!! What is that?
G: 'yu dan gao'! Fish cake!
M: ??? LOL

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Photo of the day 16.04.2011

Laughter

One of my favourite pictures of my babies. Rafa was about 4 or 5 months then.

Father and son

walking hand in hand.

In Daddy's shoes

and thoroughly enjoying the moment. :)

Rafa speaks

My baby is growing up fast. He's speaking in sentences and phrases these days, mostly to let us know what he wants. On a typical day, we'll hear

Mummy, I want bread. Mummy, I want (to) eat apple. Mummy, I want (to) roll ball. Daddy, I want (to) watch vee-vee (tv). Daddy, I want (to) drink Milo.

He's a little parrot too. He tries to imitate things we say, most of the time quite successfully with accurate pronounciation.

We, including Gabe, love talking to him as it is so entertaining and hilarious.

Sent from my iPhone

Sweet...

I'm loving the bond they have over books. :)

You ain't heavy, you're my brother..

Their favorite way of getting around these days. This puts a huge smile on my face. Love it!

Gentle Observations

A few days ago, whilst waiting behind a lady to wash my hands at the sink at Texas Chicken, I noticed how she scooped some water and poured it over the tap to wash off the soap she had left behind whilst pressing the tap down. Okay. It's something I would do too. Not leaving a soapy tap for others.

Watching over Gabriel as he washed his hands a few days later, I noticed how he did the same. He scooped water a few times as his little hands couldn't get too much water. As I watched him do it, I had to ask him. "I have to wash off all the soap on the tap.", he said. "Mummy taught me."

 

He does learn!

The Point Is...

Whilst getting Gabriel to brush his teeth today..

G : So just the other day, I was using my Lio against Ge-'s (his cousin) L-Drago and *dssh* *dssh*... my Lio attacked his L-Drago and I won.
Me : Gabriel, it's not all about winning. In any game, you play to have fun as well. Do you understand?
G : Daddy, Daddy, my point is, can you buy me a Storm Pegasus?

(Btw, this is little-boy-speak. He was talking about Beyblades.)

Overheard today

Whilst Gabriel was practicing his piano pieces today, lil' Rafa came by and started rummaging through Gabriel's stationery box. Gabriel turned around, opened up a glue stick and said in a stern voice,

"Rafa! Put it back. Do you want Ge-ge to put glue on your face and stick you to the wall?"

I totally burst out laughing, at the same time trying to scold him for saying that.

Sandwiched

Fall

(backdated post from 17th Nov 2010)

This is just for the record, in case he forgets.

New hobby

Watching his fish and his tadpoles, to grow legs probably.

Gabriel's Excuses

This evening before dinner.

G: Mummy, I'm not ready for dinner yet.
M: Why not?
G: (thought for a while and spoke in a serious manner) Mmmm... It's because I finished one whole plate of chicken rice during lunch and I'm still full.

Truth is, he wanted to watch 'Despicable me'.

Just now, he took a while to sleep and was tossing and turning. He came to me in all seriousness again..

G: Mummy, I can't fall asleep.
M: Why not?
G: Hmmm... There is not enough air in this room. (touching his chest) I am feeling hot and I cannot breathe really well.
M: * slap forehead* Do you want to sleep outside then?
G: No... I don't want.

He immediately went back to bed and fell asleep within a minute!

Talk about lousy reasoning. :)