Teething around Christmas...

I have never seen didi so miserable until the beginning of this Christmas break. He has a major flu going on which means he has a inflamed tonsil, congested nose and constant fevers. Poor kid is teething at the same time...All these equal to tempter tantrums on a regular basis, and all of these are making mami very miserable too.

On a happier note, didi seems to be more willing to talk and let's hope he will catch up with kids his age in no time.


This was taken about two weeks ago. didi was enjoying the succulent BBQ rib...

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Another year flew by! Merry Christmas everyone!
May your 2008 a super, duper happy one!

Good progress!

It has been pretty tough in the past month. My father is not feeling well so I had to go home and pay a quick visit. Into the second month of my new job, work has been crazy because four magazines will have to be published by the end of this week...

Engough about mommy. didi has been making good progress in speaking. He is responding more to the questions. I am sure with proper training, he is going to pick up the pace.

Echo Machine

didi is making good progress in terms of speaking since last week. He is more willing to speak up when you ask him to say something.

Previously, when I ask him to say things such as "thank you"and "please", he would just ignore me totally and only said those things whenever he liked. These days, it's like when you push the "say" button, he will say it for you. Sometimes he understands what you ask him to repeat, but there are still times when he just simply repeating. I can see that his pronunciation is not yet perfect but at times he does put in the effort in trying to say them more correctly. I would request him to give me a "mami bao bao" before I pick him up. He says it every time when I ask him now. Next step, I'd love to hear him say all those things he know voluntarily without me pushing the button any more!

I have been concerned with didi's speech progress, but may be it is just like what my helper has told me, his talking days is "coming soon". Yeah, hopefully. I am imagining this voice of a movie trailer guy in my head saying: " A talking kid, in a home near you this Christmas!"

On another note, didi is a not big fan of "holding hands" when we walk on the street. These days, I could get at least 5 minutes of "holding hand" time with him when we go out. That was something I longed for before and now it's like a dream come true!


Disneyland felt very magical with the lights and snow!

Potty Train Didi

We tried to potty train didi in August when it was warmer. It didn't really work so we gave up. I got to give the school some credit here. Two months after he goes to school, he is getting the idea of peeing in the potty. I think they are having all the kids doing it at the same time during breaks. Didi is a quick learner and I think he picked up peeing standing up from his fellow 2-year-old classmate.



Now, his pull-ups stay dry during the day. We just take him to the toilet every hour and he manages to produce wee wee every time we take him there. Poo poo is going to be much harder...we will work on it.



didi is catching up with his morning papers.

K1 Interviews

We have been to a few K1 interviews in the past two weeks. The results have yet to come back. We have been true to ourselves, and didi has done his best and that's good enough!

We treat each interview as a play session, it is also a good opportunity to check out other schools because you don't often get the chance to get inside a school unless you study there.

Anyways, we have had fun so far and I am happy that didi has demostrated what he is capable of. I am surprised that how casual I am towards all these and haven't freaked out in any way. I guess having faith in the kid and myself is important.


Went out to TST for dinner last Sunday night, can't believe Chrismas tree is out on display this early.

Meltdown

Didi goes to the playgroup at Fanny's Workshop. This morning, they organized a rehearsal for K1 interview. The place, around 800 sq ft, was packed with kids and parents. There must be around 70-80 people all together.

We were one of the those people who arrived early and didi was doing OK then. After an hour, his patient was wearing thin and started to play up. Boys, including didi of course, were fighting over toys. Moms were supposed to stop the fight while wearing big tender smiles on our faces because this is what we are supposed to do during the interview. I was having a very hard time practicing the smile while I have to stop didi from snapping the red car back from another boy.

We were all supposed to sit properly and wait because sitting around and wait actually is a big part in K1 interview. I consider this "wait and do nothing in peace" thing a "Mission Extremely Impossible". didi didn't want to sit down, and wouldn't listen to my instruction either because he was there doing nothing interesting for too long. He is not a "sitter" at all. He bursted into tears while I was trying to get him to sit and wait, and all other parents with kids were sitting nicely by their tables looking at us... I wanted to leave so much because it was no fun for any of us at all. We went through agonies during the second half of the session.

I am not holding high hopes for these interviews that are coming up. I just want didi to be true to himself and I will be proud of him anyways!

又發燒

上了幼兒園之後，didi幾乎每兩個禮拜就會燒一次，而且幾乎都是週末開始燒，難道是週末狂「熱」的魔咒？ 今天是禮拜六，晚飯前又被我發現稍烘，量體溫的結果是37.9度，唉...希望可以快點退燒啊...

為了增強didi的抵抗力，上次發完燒之後我已經強力執行每日要給didi喝一湯匙的Scott's Emulsion。didi從一開始的反抗到半推半就到現在可以合作的喝下去，頗有進展，不過抵抗力到底有沒有實際上的增強，得看這一波狂熱到什麼樣的程度才能判斷這款老牌營養劑的功力。



說起狂熱，didi對於火車也是十分的狂熱呦。

Do-it-myselfer

These days, didi is becoming the true believer of "I can do it."

After school, the second he enters the door, he will try to take his socks and shoes off all by himself. We cannot offer any help even when he struggles with the socks, no no, he brushes us off and insists that he does it all by himself. I once helped him by releasing one of the socks, he got quite upset with me. He put the sock back on again and do it all over again all by himself.

We sing "Clean up" song whenever I want him to pick up after himself. If I offered any help with the "important" tasks, he would protest and then makes sure stuff picked up by me are put back on the same spot so that he will be "the one" who does the cleaning up.

I am seeing a true Virgo shining through these days...oh boy.


didi and cousin yan yan had a blast in Disneyland the other day! Halloween is almost here!

總算適應學校了

第一個月除了第一個禮拜有新鮮感之外，真的是每天都哭哭啼啼的去上學，但是進入第二個月的第二個禮拜，終於可以和maMi說再見，然後自己一個人走出家門，和helper姐姐一起去學校了。

maMi故意不送上學，因為很怕離開教室時didi會哭，不過現在應該已經進入適應期。今天見家長的時候Miss Lau也說didi有很大的進步，不過依然是全班中最坐不住的，這方面有待改進啊。其他各方面，都算有進步吧，點名時叫中文名字也會很大聲的喊「到」，老師也很開心呢，因為這傢伙廣東話實在是太弱了，所以有時候比別人不聽話也許是聽不懂吧......老師說有看到進步就不要太擔心，再觀察幾個月，希望能漸入佳境啊，didi要加油喔。

不過上學的副作用好像是很容易感冒...現在還在發燒呢，兩個禮拜前才剛剛感冒，現在又中招了...唉...


和dadi還有mami去Disneyland湊熱鬧，還碰上好兄弟南瓜頭喔。

好危險啊！被熱咖啡燙傷！

事情是這樣的...

禮拜天一早，大家在客廳吃早餐，媽媽想去沖杯咖啡，烤土司，爸爸在看電視，didi到處胡搞瞎搞。

媽媽先沖了杯咖啡，完全沒有危機意識的放在餐桌上，轉頭又回廚房去烤麵包，爸爸專心看電視。這時候的didi應該是聞到香噴噴的咖啡味而走到餐桌去的吧...

媽媽回到廚房後不到十秒的時間，聽到didi極為淒慘的嚎啕大哭聲...從他出生到現在，從來沒有聽過比這次還悽慘的叫聲。媽媽馬上衝出來，熱咖啡已經灑了一地，didi也應該是痛到倒地的吧。

媽媽第一個反應是馬上抱起來去浴室沖冷水。可憐的didi哭得鼻涕直流，爸爸緊隨在後...沖了大概五分鐘吧，重災區是左手的手肘，左大腿上方一小塊，還有左邊肚子上一小塊，以上是依照嚴重性所排的順序。

砌而不捨的一再沖水，打定主意要送去醫院，台灣教的燙傷金句「沖、脫、泡、蓋、送」媽媽我可是記得很清楚。沖水大約沖了20分鐘吧，手上的患處看起來不像燙傷的樣子，怕didi著涼，先包起來穿衣服。不過在穿衣服時發現大腿和肚子上的患處還很紅，馬上回盆再沖。

沖完後，爸爸說，擦點東西吧，媽媽毫無主張，說：「擦什麼好？」爸爸想起上次去泰國度假有一瓶 sun burn後專用的蘆薈 Jelly，涼涼的應該可有效降溫。於是，媽媽替didi塗了大量的綠色蘆薈 Jelly在didi手上、大腿和肚子上，兩三分鐘就補一次。涼涼的蘆薈 Jelly擦在身上，didi竟然還有心情笑，可能覺得涼涼的很好玩吧。

過了半小時後，患處看上去感覺良好，沒有任何水泡或創傷，於是決定暫緩送醫。

之後的didi，活力滿點，搞怪力一樣旺盛，他娘親我...已經完全無力...

Picky Eater

didi越來越挑食，最不愛吃飯和青菜，但卻最愛喝湯以及與蛋有關的料理。我和helper姐姐常常兩個頭四個大，不知道怎樣才能讓這個挑食的小傢伙什麼都吃。

這次回台灣，我們和外婆去逛Tokyu Hands 的時候看到有賣人家做飯糰的工具，當場買了一包三個造型回來。看看用食物的「美色」可不可以拐到didi多吃兩口飯。

昨天中午，helper姐姐突發奇想，將鮭魚薯泥變成小熊和兔寶寶，就像這樣...

結果didi這個「好色」之徒果然吃得津津有味，胃口大開，就像這樣...

Separation Anxiety

This morning, didi was his cheerful self again but when we wanted him to put his school uniform on, he resisted. So, I started to introduce him to the school name on the back of the shirt, spelt it out for him, then I moved on to the cute little duckie on his sport pants. After that, he was willing to put them on.

To encourage him, I put on my shoes before he put on his and told him that mami is going with him. He then happily put on his shoes and carried his school bag on his back. Off we went without any problem.

However, he just wouldn't walk on the street, not even one little bit, I carried him all the way to school. He probably was worried that I might escape or something. The second we reached school gate, he wouldn't let me put him down and started to develop into a "cry". For the first time in the past two weeks I had to carry him to his classroom and handed him to his teacher. A "real" cry started so I took him to the play area where there is a toy kitchen and started to play with him until his teacher took over. I left after that.

First week went well, this second week just went down hill everyday...

Crying at school

didi was crying for an extra long period of time at school this morning, he was pretty attached to me even before we went to school.

He was up very early this morning and I asked him to catch some more sleep and of course he did not listen to me. I was mad at him and he knew that. When I came out of the bedroom to greet him, he had this guilty look on his face. At the same time, he glued to me and wouldn't let me go out of his sight. I think that's why he cried for so long after I left him at school - he probably was thinking "mami is mad at me and now she is leaving me here all by myself...". His sense of security was out of the window when I left his class and he was probably thinking mami is leaving for good. Kids these days are not just smarter, they are extra sensitive too.

While I picked him up, there were kids there who were still crying but didi was himself again. When he saw me, he was not too excited but was happy to see me with his Thomas the train bottle. Of course, I filled it up with the Yakult drink (mixed with lots of water) that he loves just to mend what happened this morning.

School will last three hours starting tomorrow. I hope he really settles in and be really happy there.

Open Box

This will has to be didi's first two-word phrase: open box!

We got a parcel today from Taiwan and I was saying to him " What's in the box, what's in the box?" and out of the blue he said "open box" with excitement! This is a big breakthrough because that means he is starting to join words together to create something that's meaninful, an important milestone in language development! He says "open the door" for quite sometimes now but I think he learned that phrase the way like he would with any other single word so it does not really count as a phrase. That's what I think anyways.

I am over the moon about this, yeah~~~


Captain Jr. is handeling it in Ocean Park.

Happy 2? Terrible 2?

didi turned two one day before he started new school and that was two weekends ago!

We had a small family gathering to celebrate his birthday and he clearly knew what was going on too. I was singing "Happy Birthday" while I was decorating the living room and he sang along with me. When he saw his birthday cakes, he sang "Happy Birthday" automatically!

didi is around 30 pounds and around 90cm tall on his birthday. In terms of his language development, he is saying a lot more words and showing us that he understands perfectly almost all the time. He is friendly most of time and will give out his trade mark "bear hugs" when he is in a good mood. Those hugs are usually saved for pretty girls and it is usually quite obvious. Ask three adults to line-up and he will definitely hug the one who looks the prettiest. Imagine what he will turn out to be when he grows up.

A lot of experts warn parents that when a child turns two, one may really strive for independence and become very hard to deal with sometimes. Let's hope didi's difficult moments don't last too long...

Ocean Park

didi's new mate Ryan and his mom was nice enough to invite us to join them for a day out in Ocean Park yesterday. The boys had fun in the park and so did moms!


Watch out, the September boys are here!

We were all delighted to see the amazing jelly fish, it certainly worth a visit. Five-star recommendation from mami, a must-see! Too bad that didi had fallen asleep in his stroller at this point.


And of course, we met Mr. Panda too!


This is where didi learned the word "seal".

More on new school

As much as didi loves his new school, he started to realise that mami is not going to be there through out the whole time, so he started to cry on Monday morning.

At first, my "good-bye" triggered this reality that moms are all leaving and that's probably why all the other kids are crying. He looked really sad...What a reality check for him!

I did not say good-bye this morning and he still cried because he remembered this from yesterday. Actually, just before we entered the gate, he started to show hesitation and did not look excited at all where as last week he was really excited and headed for the slide in the playgroud the second we passed the gate.

I just wish he settles in soon and be this happy little boy who fears nothing again.

At school with his new mate Ryan.

Slam Dunk

First day at pre-nursery

didi loves his new school. we walked there and was about 15 mintues early. after everyne joined in, didi was in this party mood that he started to hug everyone, the kids, the adults who were there to accompany their kids for the first three days, and of course the teacher. Some adults received his hugs with delights, some were kind of shocked to be hugged...haha, I just hope he does not scare too many people off.

Was going to use the new video function offered by blogger, but did not work, so cannot show everyone the hugging boy in action.

Bye bye Taiwan

We are back in HK and our flight back to HK was definitely a surprise because it was a Kitty Jet!



There is a waiting area in the airport for kids with lots of Kitty goodies such as slide and toys. didi had a great time running around and of course I had a "great time" chasing him around too..


Guess what, Kitty Nursery~


Kitty Boarding Pass

There was a Kitty Meal Box for didi too...wait till I take a photo of it later.

Went to the zoo today

uploaded by maMi.

didi and maMi are still in granny's house and we went to Taipei City Zoo today. We had a lot of fun and didi said "elephant" and "zebra" when we saw them today. He was so much in love with the animals he would want to stay in one area for ages and not wanting to move on. When maMi tried to remove him from the spot and get him to move on to the next one, he would really give a fit and not wanting to leave! He really really enjoyed today!

Superman Didi

Last day at playgroup today and we had a big party! Kids dressed up as super heros, tons of fun.

See didi fighting crime...err...playing nicely at school today!

No more poo poo blues...

What a relief! Today's record: 1 poo only. Texture: soft and creamy with thick consistency. Result: No need to consult doctor.

haha, if you are surfing while eating, excuse my language above.

Poo Problem...

didi的poo poo 向來「有條有理」，但是自從上禮拜五，他開始製造「綿細」的poo poo，而且次數更由向來一兩天一次暴增到三四五次，本來就後繼無力的戒尿片計畫更從此腰斬。

不過這小子活動力絲毫不減，能吃能睡能跳舞能搞亂，還有本事禮拜六在九個阿姨一個北鼻妹妹面前狂舞YoYo第八集近一小時，賣力到小襯衫全濕...今天禮拜天，照拉不誤，雖然戰鬥力依然滿點，但是阿母我換尿片換到手軟，又痛恨房間裡經常洋溢著的poo味，明天下課後要抓去看醫生，看這個poo法是什麼症頭...


為阿姨們勁歌熱舞之前在茶聚的餐廳拍的，這顆小頭還真圓...

看照片學說話是媽媽新發現，只要開flickr的相簿讓它slide show，didi可以全情投入的看，又說又笑又跳，我發現他記憶力挺不錯，其中有去上廣東話playgroup第一堂的照片，好像是六月底的事情，他那天簡直當場就愛上了那曲「蝴蝶真美麗」以及老師借他穿的閃閃藍色亮片蝴蝶裝，一個半月後的今天，只要他看到那幾張照片就開始哼「蝴蝶真美麗」，看來小子記憶力挺好，對自己愛的東西都會牢牢記住呢！

再說說語言能力，從小到一歲半時媽媽都是和didi講國語的，但是當時擔心didi學說話的進度慢，家裡又是粵、國、英三聲道，didi應該學到很茫然吧，我擔心到個不行。老師說你怕didi進度慢的話就暫時只說英文好了，一來可以和學校配合，二來老師認為英文的音調及發音都比中文的好學，於是在當時媽媽就接受了老師的建議，扭開英文頻道開始和didi說英文。五個月後的今天，didi雖然不是同齡中的寶寶說話最多的，但跟他自己相比起來媽媽覺得他已經有很大的進步。至少他在一歲半時媽媽擔心的理解能力問題在今天已經有很大的改善，很多指令都可以聽懂並去執行。didi其實懂得的字彙比他說得出來的要多，在說的方面雖然仍然還只是說單字，但是可以看到他天天都在學新的東西。(不過不曉得bye bye train 和 bye bye dog 算不算是片語？如果算，他應該是開始往單字以外的領域進發了？)

這幾個月來，作為媽媽悟到一件事，那就是對著didi要多話，什麼都要介紹一番，簡單來說就當作是把地球上的人、事、物介紹給這個外星人didi，然後不要有任何的期待，也就是說不要期待可以馬上聽到他說出你教給他的東西。基本態度就是抱著把知識往黑洞裡面塞，但不要期望黑洞可以給你一個金牌做回饋的心情。總有一天小朋友腦裡面吸收知識的黑洞可以將你輸入的東西吸收及運用時，他自然而然會給你一個surprise，他會讓你知道其實你的付出並不會沒有回報，而只是時候未到。哈，這應該也是另外的一種「不是不報，只是時候未到」吧！

今天發生一件讓媽媽蠻感動的事，didi是個小男生，和媽媽手來腳去不小心弄痛媽媽是常有的，廣東人不是常說小朋友的「無情力」這個說法嗎，不小心吃上一記didi的無影腿，或是讓他用腳掌意外的「揉」過媽媽的大腿可是會讓人痛到流眼淚的。以前我都會認為他還小就算了，不會糾正他，但他越來越大，每次的不小心阿母我就越來越痛，所以我現在都會教他要在不小心弄痛媽媽時給媽媽親一下然後說sorry。今天就是「時候到就會報」的收成期了，下午他又不小心踩到我好痛，在我絲毫沒有心理準備下，他用小手幫我呼呼秀秀，然後用很進化的太空話說了一句sorry，我還以為聽錯，但他在重複兩次後阿母我確認這個小傢伙真的是在跟我道歉，當場感動到不行啊。

所以說，總而言之一句，該教的還是要教，不要以為太小就什麼都不懂，其實根本很多都已經懂得很，精到個不行呢。

Happy Birthday Treeson

Treeson turns two this summer just like didi will be in September~

We went to treesion's birthday party and if any one of you out there wants to check out treeson's story and go visit this birthday exhibition, click here for detail.

Got wet in Disneyland!

On Thursday, we went to Disneyland and got wet wet wet! This new parade was really "cool" as everyone was there ready to get wet. didi loved it so much he did not want to leave while it ended. I had to keep saying "the end, no more, all gone" before I was willing to stand up and move on to other things. That was fun!

didi and phone

Night Out - TST

禮拜天晚上，去尖沙嘴看夜景去囉。

School Trip - Botanical Garden

Off we go to the botanical garden this time, but how funny we see more animals than flowers in the botanical garden in Hong Kong?!!

Imagined Train

didi愛上火車之後，就愛把書排成一排然後一直說 chu chu train，還會推來推去，推遠一點後還會說bye bye...，玩具果然不用多，只要有想像力，任何東西都可以變玩具。

Fun Packed Weekend

We all had so much fun this past weekend. Blue sky and white cloud make a perfect summer weekend, but it was so hot, we waited until around 4pm before we headed outside.


We went to visit Peilin and her little girl Christie. Christie has grown so much and now speaks very well! She is a confident toddler with joy and I think Peilin and Iain have done a great job in raising this adorable one.


Christie made sure I take another one from the back while didi looks very puzzled, ha!


Peilin now runs a Mandarin School for kids from 2 to 12 in Sai Kung, and this is a perfect fit for her teaching and linguistic background. didi was so happy when he was there, so hard to drag him out for dinner. If any of you are interested in sending kids to Mandarin lessons, make sure you check out Peilin's school first.

http://www.jumpstartmlc.com/

On Sunday, we met up with grandpa and went to Mega Box in which there is a nice section for kids to run around with joy. There are slides and this platform in the shape of honeycomb where kids jumps up and down. You can see didi joins the party straight away without any hesitation!

Bad Hair Day?

Bad hair day? haha, I think it is about time didi gets his second professional hair cut from the uncle of the Shanghai barber shop.

最愛系列之banana!

Need I say more? didi太愛吃香蕉了，所以英文banana榮登他會說的水果名榜首，yoyo家族的香蕉哥哥應該會甚感欣慰。

不管肚子飽不飽，看到香蕉的didi可以一個人吃掉一大條，我說的是L號的那種喔，從來不會對banana say no。

至於戒奶嘴這件事，第二天就破功，到了睡午覺時十分的煩躁不安無法入睡，嘴巴的吸允狀讓maMi覺得自己太過殘忍，忍不住又給他了...現在「嘴嘴」依然是上床睡覺的代名詞。

Car Lover

Car Lover, uploaded by maMi.

What can I say? This little one loves cars so much, look at that smile on his face! A big happy laugh cracks up the second we put him in the driver's seat!

When we put him in his car seat in the back, he looks at cars passing by and keeps says "car, car, car" as if he is counting how many of them have gone passing by. maMi cannot wait to hear didi say"taxi", "bus" and "van"!

最愛系列之AFV

大概在didi才七、八個月時，maMi就介紹他看maMi最愛看的America's Funniest Home Video這個電視節目，那個時候還是「一舊飯」的didi就已經相當具備幽默感，在該笑的笑點上都會呵呵笑呢。最近這個節目改在禮拜天晚上播出，didi似乎記得這個他「童年」時看過的節目，一看到節目播出就興奮到個不行，廣告時段一出來還會捨不得的小發脾氣，maMi還要一直按奈他說「wait, it will be back」。

看節目的時候，這小子還會適時的加上配音「唉呀」、「oh-o」，積哩瓜拉鬼叫亂笑也少不了。maMi現在可以斷定小子的幽默感一流、選電視節目的品味和maMi也著實差不多，但小擔心AFV裡面的意外鏡頭會不會成為錯誤示範，還有...這節目可以培養小朋友產生同情心嗎？當媽的還真是什麼都能操心一番啊......

戒奶嘴

對寶寶來說，戒奶嘴這回事不曉得有沒有像大人戒菸那樣難「改」，不過就今晚來說，首日的成績似乎不錯。

刷完牙之後，maMi直接跳過到廚房去拿奶嘴這件事，didi似乎覺得睡前routine尚未完成，拖著maMi的手往maMi的書桌上面移動，嘴裏面模糊不清的嘟嚷著類似「嘴嘴」的聲音，maMi當下決定裝糊塗，假裝聽不懂，小傢伙並沒有太大的堅持，在房間裡晃前晃後之後又好像大夢初醒，拖著maMi的手去開門，門打開後直接往廚房進攻。

本來以為他又要喊「嘴嘴」，但看不到「嘴嘴」之後他也似乎沒有太大的堅持，看到水瓶的maMi於是施展打蛇隨棍上的招數，一邊問「do you want some water」，一邊找個杯子倒水，就這樣母子倆你一口、我一口開懷暢飲了兩杯開水後，didi滿意的帶maMi回房間睡覺。

就這樣，關了燈，不看書的說了睡前故事後，didi慢慢的睡去，雖然嘴巴有吸允的動作，但也沒有煩躁不安感，沒多久就睡著了。往後「嘴嘴」這兩個字將會在maMi口中消失，希望也能很快在didi的腦海裡刪除！

chu chu train

Boys are always in love with cars and all sorts of vehicles, aren't they? Whenever didi sees toy cars of any sort, he would just play with it for as long as he likes and if you try to take them away from him, he would put up a fight and won't let them go easily.

Today, on our way home from school the KCR train passed us by in the car park and didi said "chu chu train" gently. I was so happy because I think this little one actually says and knows a lot more things than I think. So, speech delayed or not, I know I need not to worry...he is just taking his time in growing up.

This photo on the left is very blur but didi was so cute that I cannot just keep this one to myself. We attended a Cantonese playgroup the other day and one of the songs was 蝴蝶蝴蝶真美麗, one of my old time favourite too! didi was the blue butterfly and he was so adorable I could eat him right up! hee hee

Press the letter that sounds like...

This past week, didi has been saying all these new words and started to echo back what I say to him more often, which are all very encouraging signs. Apart from his first action word "go", and his two new "accident" impressions - "aiya" and "o-oh" which he absolutely loves, he says "OK" quite often and now "No" is starting to come out of his mouth...a big "O-Oh" for maMi!

Another game we like to play with didi is something that we have learned from the Elmo Alphabet Bus, which is a electronic interactive toy to help kids learn new word and alphabets. I think he remembers the instruction "Press the letter that sounds like...", after we have said it, he will say "Ka" and we would all laugh, it really is very funny. I can't wait to have a real conversation with him but at this stage, this is amusing enough. =D

I also love the idea that he is now less aggressive towards other kids, which I was quite concerned with before. I think didi has grasped the idea of "sharing" and feels more at ease while other kids are around. However, we start to let him go to a Cantonese playgroup two days a week to prepare him for the school life in September. Some kids there are still very "territorial", who would just scream and attack while fighting for toys... didi won't initiate any attack himself but while attacked, he would scream and grab too. I know this is only fair because a kid has to learn how to protect himself and while his vocabularies are still limited, and fighting back seems like the only logical way he would resort to. He is probably just standing up for himself by doing so. I just hope seeing other kids doing this again won't make him regress to the appalling behaviour that maMi was terrified of before.

In the picture, didi was sitting on grandpa's lap and was "acting" surprised while maMi snapped the shot. What a cutie! Oh...yes and he is MINE! hahaha

Going to school in September

We have finally found a school for didi. He will be going to school when he turns 2 in September everyeay for three hours. The original idea was to let him enter school when he turns three next year but we changed our mind hoping that sending him to school early will help him with his speech development.

We only started looking for a school about 3 months back while most parents had done so in last November. The first school we applied has suddenly become extremely poplular in the past two years and his counsin Jovi goes to that one. After two attempts of interviews, the school decided not to take him on. I suppose they want older boys who are relatively more mature in a classroom situation compared to kids who were born later in the year, someone like didi. We then tried a different school which is just next door to Jovi's school and got a confirmed place for him just on Thursday. Dadi and I went to the Parents' Meeting this morning. daDi seems very pleased with the school as he thinks not only the staff and teachers there are nice, the school also offers better support in terms of the building, amenities and teaching resources compared to the playgroup didi is attenting right now. I agree with him. I really hope didi will be happy there.

That will be a new chapter for didi as he will be entering the proper local scholl system where Cantonese will be the medium of teaching and I hope he can then quickly pick up his Cantonese as so far I haven't heard him say a word of Cantonese yet.

I am so glad to see his language skills improving everyday too. It looks like he understands more than I think. Before, I had to use gesture to give him hints on stuff that I want him to do, these days, I can just say "go wash hands" and he'd head towards the bathroom! His first action word "Go" has emerged and I am sure he will soon be a little chatter box with words meaningful to us adults!

最怕系列之媽媽生氣

如果要說didi最怕聽到的一句話，目前應該是「馬麻生氣」。

有一次換尿片，didi硬是不聽話的扭來扭去，maMi累到個不行，於是忍不住打他的小屁屁，然後大聲說，「馬麻生氣」。小子終於知道要聽話，聲淚俱下之餘也肯乖乖躺好，之後每次maMi幫他換褲褲也不敢造次。

現在只要一調皮，「馬麻生氣」咒語一出現，小子就會表演硬擠眼淚這招搞笑戲法，不曉得是真的想裝哭搏同情省被罵，還是在走諧星路線，讓人好氣又好笑，好小子，算你厲害。


didi參加旻澔哥哥的生日party，小丑哥哥還送他一個小狗氣球喔

Let him be who he is

Didi will be 1Y9M by tomorrow, just 2 more months to go before we celebrate his 2^nd birthday. Although he is still a guy of not-so-many-words, maMi does see improvements in his vocabularies and compression skill. He is so in love with the expressions “oh-oh” and “ai-ya”, sometimes he pretends to be clumsy so that he will get an opportunity to say them. He would drop his toys on purpose and says “ai-ya”, I think that’s cute but when he pretends to fall over and say “oh-oh”, that’s not so funny if he does that repeatedly.

He can obviously understand instructions such as:
“Give me/dadi a kiss”
“Give this to mami/jiejie/dadi.” He knows jie jie is usually in the Kitchen and dadi is usually in the study so he just heads directly to these two places after he got this instruction.
“Close/Open the door”
“Sit down and put socks/shoes on”
“Put this/toys away”

Didi went to another interview for pre-nursery school on Friday and this time it looks pretty promising because the teacher was actually quite positive about didi’s behavior and I think that’s more reasonable for a kid his age. He is an explorer and that's perfectly normal for him to investigate places he visit. After all, how could you really expect a 1.5 year old toddler to sit and listen all the time without wondering around? Let kids be kids and I think I can wait for him to grow up in his own pace, because a person can only a kid once!

最愛系列之英文字母篇

從小就很愛圓形物體的didi最愛的英文字母理所當然就是"O"，很巧的是他的血型剛好也是"O"型的。

二十六個字母中，maMi最肯定didi認得的是"O"，因為一有機會他一定不會放棄指給我看的機會。商場的指示牌上面只要有英文字裡頭有"O"，小子肯定會指出來給你看。

也許因為特別愛圓形吧，所以didi連長的像圓形的"O"先學會，看來並不是巧合喔。


didi在IFC Mall疾走，當時daDi在後面煲電話粥

First Diploma!

Didi's first term of school will end on this coming Friday and because it will be a field trip day so we received his first diploma today at school!

Thanks very much to Jessica's mami for taking the lovely picture!

最愛系列之Elmo

介紹完電池小兔之後，又豈可不介紹didi最愛的Elmo？

didi喜愛Elmo的程度是，當頑童徵狀慢慢出現時，愛蕃愛盧的症頭還沒嚴重化之前，媽媽只要說let's watch elmo!這小子馬上會雙眼發亮，直向maMi的筆記型電腦進發。

elmo potty time算是互動式的遊戲，小子會說的話不多，但一玩起elmo卻好像完全理解裡面的情節劇情，我懷疑他都在偷偷背對白，除了邊看邊念念有詞，音調給我學得一模模一樣樣，連該按按鍵的時機都抓得奇準無比，這讓媽媽之前對於他的理解能力較弱這點也稍稍安了心。

雖然是不太好的示範，但是當小少爺不想吃飯時，搬這個elmo出來，小子碗裡的食物會突然間變得挺下飯的，媽媽餵起來也比較順手...慚愧，這招懶人餵飯不要學...

didi最愛廣告明星

介紹一段didi愛看到不行的廣告，點我。

是的，Duracell的小兔是didi的最愛，裡面兔寶寶沒力掉下來的時候didi還會笑個不停，然後說 oh-oh，很搞笑。

昨天晚上，媽媽以為didi被豆腐噎著，結果didi的喉嚨被媽媽用力戳了兩下，沒撈到豆腐卻差點把didi的喉嚨拔出來，害媽媽擔心到不行，不過一直到現在，快過24小時了，didi並沒有異樣，看來媽媽可以放下心頭大石！

Last night and the weekend

maMi was giving didi some tofu by cutting them into small cubes and put them in didi's plate so that he could feed himself. Obviously, the cubes were a bit too big then, before mami knew it, didi was coughing up chocking. maMi got so neverous and start to pound on didi's back trying to get the cube out of this throat but it didn't seem to work, so she poked her right indext finger into didi's throat trying to get the cube out. When she reached something round in didi's mouth, she gave it two big pull trying to get it out but suddenly realized that it wasn't tofu, it was didi's throat! ai ya ya... by this time, didi was crying very hard and maMi felt mega guilty. maMi does not have long nails and did not think she scratched didi's throat though.

I hope this didn't do any damage la...ai...My biggest worry is now he will wake up with a sore throat...What a scary thing that has happened...

Last weekend and yesterday...

maMi took didi to central on the MTR for the eye check up performed by daDi on didi. Went to the ifc mall and ran around like nobody's business. visited pacific coffee because didi was dozing off but the second we reached there and put him on the sofa he was awake! so, we had to share our coffee with didi, haha, he sipped and sipped and sipped but most of the time it was just air!

took the mtr ride home with dadi and mami, and didi of course did not miss the opportunity to check the mtr train out, the people, the overhead screen, the hanging holders...so busy and so much fun.

yesterday, didi went to a mall with mami and dad to meet jessica and her mom. while we waited, he had a flight simulation lesson with great success although mamai didn't enter any coins, haha, that's why we call it a success!

Which school?

It has come to the time when we must seriously consider which school system we would like didi to be in: local or international.

After quite a few sessions at the playgroup, maMi noticed that didi is probably the happiest kid in his class because he screams and dances to the music all the time. However, this also means it can be difficult for the teacher or me to get him to sit still like other kids in the class since they are all older than didi. didi doesn't like art class that much but enjoys his music class tremendously that he runs around and does his funky dances when he is up there in the music room.

Time is almost up and it really is about time for us to make our final decision now. The preliminary idea is that we will most likely send him to a local school as we think the ability of a kid in reading/speaking/writing Chinese will be far more important than having him speaking English with a perfect British or American accent. I mean, language is a medium of communication and as long as you can speak it fluently, it really doesn't matter what kind of accent you have. After all, this is a global village and I am sure he will be a confident guy who knows to look at this world with an open mind and be kind to people of different races, and speaking different languages.

On the other hand, some might tell me that kids from international school system are trained with skills to think and solve things more independently and more confidents than kids from local school sytem. I am sure that's true but I believe that with proper assistance, we will try our best to help didi in gaining those positive attributes too. It will involve a lot of thinking and work, but definitely worth trying.

Sweet little boy

didi has showed us how sweet and gentle he is today...

cousin jovi came to visit and you know kids, a second ago they are giggling and playing, the next second they could be fighting over toys. didi got knocked over by accident and this has resulted in crying (didi's part) and told off (jovi's part by her mom). Poor jovi felt sad because I think she probably didn't mean to knock didi over, so she cried as well. At this point, didi has already stopped crying and I carried him over to jovi to comfort her. Guess what didi did? He raised his little right hand and gave jovi a little pat on her head, attempting to calm her down.

That was one of the sweetest things that didi has done so far, he tried to cover mami and dadi with blankets in two separate incidents while we were resting on the sofa. This little guy has a little tender heart all inside him...


While jovi was getting a Chinese Kongfu lesson from dadi, didi was busy running around, but he got a few poses right by observing. Too bad it wasn't caught by the campera. Just while Jovi was thinking "boy, this kongfu stuff isn't easy", didi was busy playing with his plastic pumpkin head.