Didi's love story

Read the captions of the first few photos and uncover didi's first love...



Under this tree, didi met his first love Sumei...


He wants to see her again.


That day, Sumei didn't come.


So didi screamed "sumei, where are you? i miss you so much. see you next time!"


After that, we left...

OK, I was trying to be lazy. Since I am not a fee paying user of flickr, I better quickly write down didi's love story.

About two weeks ago, dadi took didi to Clearwater Bay and in the park they met a girl called Sumei. She was very nice to didi and they spent a lovely afternoon together in the park. There was a tree there and they pretened it was a Christmas tree and they "decorated" the tree together. didi remembers that particular very well and kept going back to that tree when we visted the park again last weekend.

He said he wanted to wait for Sumei by the tree...such tender love, which is making mami very jealous! haha, no, just kidding...

Anyways, Sumei didn't come of course. So I asked didi to shout into the air about how he felt. This is what he shouted before we left: "Sumei! Where are you! I miss you so much! See you next time!"

oh...I have tears in my eyes...pure love is so so sweet...

Sweet talk

Didi may not be an angel all the time, but when he says these things to get his way, it is hard to discipline him...I guess these are situations when it gets so difficult for parents to be firm with their little devils...

'"You sleep with me because I LOVE YOU!" <--When he does not want to go to bed and sleep alone.
"Don't go to work because I MISS YOU SO MUCH!" <-- When he wants mami to stay home and not go to work.

Talk to the teacher

Today is the day when the parents of new K1 kids have a talk with the class teachers. Our session took place at 9:30am and we had a good twenty minutes with the class teacher.

I sent in a few questions beforehand so she had a pretty good idea on what we wanted to discuss. My first question was on didi's language development. The teacher thinks that he is age appropriate in his language development and she is not too worried about his language ability. didi does talk to her in complete long sentences although there is room for improvement in terms of articulation, which I also agree.

She said the only thing she would like to draw our attention to is didi's ability in transition time. What she meant by transition time is when didi is asked to move from one activity to another at school, he would refuse to corporate. We still need to help him built that sense of routine and he needs to comply with the rules and instructions given to him. In other words, he is a tough cookie and we need to soften him up a bit. She said home and school cooperation is needed to show didi who the boss is how to behave in the ways that he is expected of. I agree with what the class teacher has said, didi is not going to have his own way for the rest of his life and it is time for him to learn that he lives in a society where he needs to work and cooperate with other people or else he won't be able to survive.

So, first thing tomorrow, I am going to draw up a list of five house rules with didi and make sure he is aware of what his is expected of at home. Wish us luck.

Tearless Monday!

Yes, we are definitely on our way to stress-free mornings!!!! No tears this morning and he even waved good-bye to AJ right before he went inside the school building!

I actually introduced a bribery reward system and came up with the following chart starting last week. If he goes to school without crying, then he can put a stamp on the happy boy column. If he cries either before or after school, he would have to put a stamp on the sad boy column. If he manages to put 5 happy boy stamps on the left column, then he is rewarded with a special toy on Saturday.

Last week, he had three happy boy stamps and 2 sad boy stamps. I asked him if he deserved any toy, he voluntarily said "No". I encourage him to try harder this week and let's see if we will have a fruitful week, for everyone!

Kids, do this at home

Discovered this lovely pancake recipe and decided it's a must-share! It's simply adorable and kids would love it. You can do it with kids too.



INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups Original Bisquick® mix
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• Fresh blueberries, chocolate chips or raisins

or substitute with your own pancake recipe, such as:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour, stirred or sifted before measuring
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

DIRECTIONS

• Heat griddle or skillet or frying pan over medium-high heat or to 375 degrees F. In medium bowl, stir Bisquick mix, milk and eggs until blended.
• Lightly oil griddle. For each pig face, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter onto hot oiled griddle. Pour scant tablespoonful batter onto griddle for snout and another scant tablespoonful for ears.
• Cook pancakes until edges are dry. Turn; cook until golden.
• To serve, place large pancakes on individual serving plates. Place 1 small pancake in center of each face for snout; poke 2 holes for nostrils with end of handle of wooden spoon. Cut second small pancake in half for ears; place at top of face. Use blueberries for eyes.

Credit: this recipe is borrowed from http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Piggy-Pancakes/Detail.aspx

Another one borrowed from all recipes.com.

Fluffy Canadian Pancakes

Submitted by: W King Rated: 4 out of 5 by 138 members

Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 10 Minutes

Ready In: 20 Minutes Yields: 4 servings

"Separating the eggs and folding the whipped whites into the batter makes for some fluffy pancakes that melt in your mouth."

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup all-purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1 cup milk

3 egg yolks 3 egg whites

DIRECTIONS:

1.	In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Stir in milk and egg yolk until smooth.
2.	In a large glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold 1/3 of the whites into the batter, then quickly fold in remaining whites until no streaks remain.
3.	Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Cook until pancakes are golden brown on both sides; serve hot.

Drama free!

Yesterday, I wrote how I longed for a drama free morning. My dream came true over just one night! G gave me a lollipop before I left work on Thursday. I thought, why don't I use it as an incentive for him.

So, on Friday morning, I told didi: "This lollipop is yours if you are a happy boy today, that means you have to walk to school on your own without crying and you will do the same after school too." He agreed and that was it, we had a drama free day!

According to AJ, the first thing he said when he walked into the door after he got home, he said: "Where is my lollipop?"

Can you believe this kid? Anyways, let's see what happens on Monday.

Not-too-picky eater

I probably need to re-write didi's hates and loves soon because he has been eating more sensibly for the past two weeks at least. He used to hate green vegie and meat but has recently started to eat more of them. The ST said it was probably because he can now chew better with a stronger jaw.

Another reason is probably because I told him that if he doesn't eat his greens, his poo-poo will turn stone hard and when he goes poo-poo it would really hurt. Let's just home he put on some weight because he is no longer on his top percentile for quite some time already.

Still crying

OK, so didi did not cry BEFORE he went to school this morning. He cried AFTER the school because he didn't want to leave school!!!

I am just so confused, so does he love school or hate school? Or is he just simply trying to confuse the hell out of us. Even the teacher was puzzled today while she saw him crying before leaving school.


Look at him, does he look like someone who would dread school in the mornings?

Schoolday...

School resumed after term break on Monday. First day, maMi took didi to school with her on the MTR and he was not willing but still managed to hold class teacher's hand and walked into the school building.

Tuesday, he rosed and shined but thing went pretty ugly outside the school gate. He was picked up and carried by class teacher because she didn't want to hold up the line. We took dadi's car on Tuesday...he said he didn't want to ride the car and wanted his stroller instead...

Today, mami stayed at home to work on some translation stuff while dadi and AJ took him to school. He didn't want to put on his shoes before they left the house. They were late so was not able to meet with the rest of the kids infront of the school gate. AJ told me he was whiny but eventually got on his feet and walked upstairs holding onto class teacher's hand.

How I long for a drama free morning...

Sounds to work with didi

didi's ST has suggested that didi is gradually catching up with peers and in order to help him improve we should work with an English speaking ST or we do at home training ourselves. As a Cantonese speaker, she does not feel comfortable continuing the training since didi speaks mainly English at this stage.

I have been looking for an English ST, but I think home training is going to be more effective than the once-every-three weeks kind of traning.

Here are some of the sounds we need to help him with immediately. I am sure he will be fine without a ST.

p as in open, please
l as in clap, cloud, clock

maMi's bad hair cut

maMi had a hair cut and it was really short. maMi was not very happy about it and went home with a long face. didi certainly felt the vibe, the following conversation took place...

didi:maMi are you very sad?
maMi: yes, I am sad...
didi: why are you so sad? Don't be sad, I will give you a kiss.
maMi: bcoz my hair is so ugly. Is it ugly?
didi: Not ugly, beautiful!
maMi: Really? Is it pretty or ugly?
didi: pretty!

arh...that made my day and I felt much better after that sweet boy gave me his words of encouragement!Me, beauty in the eyes of my little boy, everyday, who cares about a bad hair cut? hahahaha!

Toilet Trained

Yes, didi is officially toilet trained. Now I really understand what it means "when the kid is ready, he is ready and you cannot rush him into it when it comes to toilet training." When he is physically and mentally ready, it comes effortlessly, you don't need to do anything. But if the kid is not ready, no matter what you do, now matter how stressed out you are, you are just wasting your time and giving the kid unnecessary pressure.

Before last week, he'd wet himself a little bit before he runs for the toilet. This week, he is so ready that he goes to the toilet before he wets himself. Also, he has learned a trick that allow him to pull down the pants a little bit only so that it gets stuck underneath his "you know what" before he wees. He used to pull his pants all the way down to his knees and sometimes he couldn't do it fast enough and he'd wet himself. Now, he does it like a pro and I am so impressed. I think he was trained at school, got to give the teachers some credit!

Clue...

maMi: didi, how come you don't want to go to school?
didi: bcoz i am scared.
maMi: scared? scared of WHAT?
didi: bcoz i want to see maMi, go to China, TST, NTK, YAC...

Conclusion: the boy does not hate school and isn't scared of anything...but scared of missing out fun while he attends school!

I don't want to go to school!

Friday...
maMi: let's go inside, your teacher is here!
didi: no, i want to look at boat, i want to look at boat...wah~~~~I don't want school

Monday...

At home
maMi: didi, we are going to school
didi: no, I don't want to go to school, I want to go to China.
maMi: We don't go to China that often and not on Monday. Let's get ready for school.
didi: no, I want to sleep. I go to bedroom to sleep.

Outside front gate at school...
maMi: didi, look, the gate has opened, let's go see your teacher.
didi: no, no, no, I want to look at boat
(maMi dragged the truble maker to a line of kids in front of his teacher)
didi: no, no, I want maMi, I want maMi, I want maMI~~~


What's going on? This boy has turned from some one who loved school so much that he didn't even want to leave school to someone who does not want to enter the school gate... I hope this is a thing that will pass soon...I have no energy to deal with this boy every morning like this...

On another note, I did try to ask him what's going on. He said he is scared of school and wants to go to China, TST, stay home...apparently he wants to go anywhere else but school. He also said once that someone from the class would laugh at him...I don't know if this is true. So, I wrote a note in the communication book and hoping to find out what's going on. I hope the teachers will be able to share some info that will probably help us to stop all these madness.

Cooking for maMi

Didi and daDi cooked tonight. maMi was a bit concerned when I saw the hot red pan. Didi was standing on a stall while daDi was holding onto him but it still made me very nervous. didi kept saying: "maMi go over there, its so hot.", exactly the kind of stuff that we said to him while he was trying to mess around in the kitchen while we cook everyday. After all the steaks were put in the pan, maMi thought that was enough for his first cooking lesson, I asked him to leave the kitchen.

Tada, the steaks looks a bit burned on the edges but tasted pretty good. Thank you so much didi and daDi. didi is not a big fan of steaks but he had a few bites before he gave up.

The doctor's appointment to take didi's stitches off is scheduled at 3pm tomorrow afternoon. I hope everything will go OK and really hope that it is not going to leave too big a scar...

Accident at school

While maMi was typing away in the City Hall Library, a phone call from the school teacher got maMi worried. maMi hurried her way back to kindy and found a cut wide open on didi's right cheek. oh, boy, that's a big cut alright.

Apparently, didi tripped and fell onto the corner of a table. When I got there to pick him up he has stopped crying for quite some time already and was quite calm. School nurse wrapped it up with a white cotton square but one can see the big clog of blood stain on the cotton.

AJ and I hopped on a taxi with didi and we arrived at the hospital near our place. The doctor took a look and suggested stitches done on didi's cheek because the cut was really quite deep and the way to minimize scarring is to stitch it up.

So, didi was partially sedated so that the doctor and nurse could do the stitching. The whole treatment procedure was the most traumatic experience for both didi and maMi. didi was screaming in pain and I think he was terrified too as maMi was chased out of the room. About four nurses were there to wrap didi in a blanket and hold him down so that the doctor could perform the procedure. maMi decided to stay with him for the rest of the day because didi obviously needs tons of love and comforting after his ordeal. We were talking before the afternoon nap and didi tole maMi: "Doctor hit me." Oh, boy, there goes his trust for the doctors...how do we fix it so that he can trust doctors again because we are supposed to visit the doctor again for a follow up on Monday...

Let's hope this won't leave too big a scar on didi's face, pray for didi.

Switch to Mandarin?

These days, you can carry a conversation with didi in English so the idea of maMi introducing Mandarin in our everyday life starts to emerge. This morning, didi and maMi had the following conversation...

maMi: didi我們講國語好不好？
didi: (shakes his head)唔好啊！
maMi:說「不好」。
didi：不好，how about English?
maMi：講國語啦，好不好？
didi:不好啦，how about English?

It looks like his preference is clearly English for now and don't know how much he can differentiate between Mandarin and Cantonese...

Happy Mid-autumn Festival

The Moon Festival Carnival of our apartment complex took place tonight. Everyone had a great time. maMi got LUCKY with the LUCKY DRAW! We won a coffee maker! hee hee...I am happy.


didi and yanyan both had a great time with their lanterns and at the carnival. We lost count on how many times they actually got onto the gigantic inflated hopping pit. That is a very good piece of exercise machine for kids, highly recommended.


After the carnival, we all walked back to our flat. Up high in the sky, maMi caught the full moon of this year's full moon festival. Actually, didi was the one who discovered the full moon today. He pointed to the sky and exclaimed:"maMi, look, its a moon!"

Happy holidays everyone.

Insect - Sesame Street Podcast

didi is going to love this Podcast from Sesame Street. He has learned the word "Insect" and has been telling me all sorts of insect. He told me on Saturday: "Mommy, ant is a insect, butterfly is a insect, mosquito is a insect..." I was impressed!

Sesame Street Podcast - Insect

Quitted School Bus

We have to say goodbye to school bus. Out of the three times didi was on it, he threw up twice and the only time that he did not throw up he looked "green" and tired. We have decided that he is not ready for the multi-pickup, hour long bumpy ride yet.

So this week AJ will take him to school on Wednesday and Friday. Starting next week, I will take him to school on the days when I work morning shift. It is about time that I pick up driving again so that I can drive him to school on the days that I work the afternoon shift.

This way, didi gets his full breakfast and get some excise done while we all walk to the MTR station. Taking the train has now become a healthier option for didi. I am sure the crowded MTR is not going to be too much fun either but that's the most viable option for us now.

What did didi do on first day at new school?

maMi got on school bus with didi on the first day. Everything went pretty well for the first half of the journey. It took about an hour to get there and there were quite a few stops because they have to pick up 7 other kids on that day. So, he got a bit light headed and vomited. We had to borrow a clean set of school uniform the second we got into his class room. didi only had to attend two days (Tuesday and Thursday)of school last week and he will be attending three days (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) this week. It will probably take longer on the road once all kids are going to school everyday on the third week.

didi likes his new school not because he told me so, but also because he likes the idea that he can move between at least 5 stations where he gets to do art work or paintings or just play with sand, water or play dough for about an hour! I like the teaching staff too as they do let me feel that they do care about the kids instead of pretending that they care. The teacher asked one of the K2 kids to show didi the stations and those two boys actually held hands and giggled together while they first met! I hope didi do get along with his new friends and will eventually tell me who his best friend is and what he does at school everyday. Here on the left, didi was working on his first master piece at his new school! I asked him what it was when he brought it home with him, he said it is a jungle!

We need to submit 4 recent photos of didi. We tried to take ID photos for didi at home but he kept making all sorts of funny faces and as of now we still fail to get a proper photo of him to send to school yet...

He is now a boy with strong mind of his own and does not do what he is told like when he was younger. It takes a lot of time and persuasion to get him to do things that you want him to do these days. Terrible Two had never really left us, and now Horrible 3 is here already!

Saturday@TST

didi and maMi spent a wonderful Saturday in TST. We set off for TST Library and after spent around an hour in the library we left for Hong Kong Science Museum nearby and spent a couple of hours there. This was where didi discovered the dinosaurs on the sidewalk. There were different types of dinosaurs and although he does not know them by names yet, he was excited about his discovery.


Inside the Science Museum, there were different types of equipments that show kids how electricity is produced. didi was having so much fun pushing all sorts of buttons to light up light bulbs. Then we went upstairs where he got on flying and driving simulation rides. Although he does not know the reasoning behind how electricity is produced or the logic behind functioning of a yellow submarine, he really enjoyed his visit.



After a quick lunch at McDonald's we went to StarWalk at the water front. In the picture above, didi pressed his hands on Andy Lau's hand prints. His first taste of star dust~~

maMi was so happy that didi walked most of the time and maMi did not have to carry him for too long. I wanted to be firm and let him know that he is a big boy now and he needs to walk all by himself. On Friday, we had an episode outside YMT MTR station where he wanted me to pick him up but I insisted not to. The five minutes walk turned into a 30 minutes stand off... I was being really firm in not carrying him and I guess that paid off and the result was an enjoy outing that maMi did not turn into a human-stroller for didi!

On school bus alone

didi was on the school bus all by himself this morning. There is a bus mom onboard to look after the kids of course but this was the first time that he traveled on his own. I got teary and was a bit concerned because I was on the bus with him on the first day of school and he vomited on the bus.

It was a very long bus ride which took about an hour to reach school...He was doing very fine during the first half hour but then I guess the motion became too much for him and he vomited.

didi did not have any milk for breakfast, so if he got sick by any chance it won't be too much an "eruption" as suggested by the bus mom. We sent AJ to wait for him by the school gate so that she could meet didi when he got off the bus. I called to find out if he got off the bus OK, AJ said he looked a bit disorientated but was doing OK. What a relief!

I hope didi gets rid of his motion sickness soon and really gets to enjoy his school life everyday!

Happy 3!

Happy 3!, uploaded by maMi.

didi turns three today! Happy happy happy birthday my love! I don't know if you made any wish, but maMi's wishes are for did to be healthy, be happy, be wonderful, be smart, be a confident 3 year old!

Sleep Patterns for Kids

How many hours should your kid sleep everyday? According to this site, a three year old should sleep 10-11 hours per night and a nap for around 1 to 2 hours.


AGE Approx. amount of sleep needed:
Newborn 16 to 20 hours per day
3 weeks 16 to 18 hours per day
6 weeks 15 to 16 hours per day
4 months 9 to 12 hours plus two naps (2 to 3 hours each)
6 months 11 hours plus two naps (1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours each)
9 months 11 to 12 hours plus two naps (1 to 2 hours each)
1 year 10 to 11 hours plus two naps (1 to 2 hours each)
18 months 13 hours plus one or two naps (1 to 2 hours each)
2 years 11 to 12 hours plus one nap (2 hours)
3 years 10 to 11 hours plus one nap (2 hours)
4 to 5 years 10 to 12 hours. Usually no nap.

didi starts school tomorrow and we want to get his sleeping pattern back on track. We threw him a birthday party on Sunday and he was so excited that he did not go to sleep till around mid-night although he was tugged in at around 10pm. He work up at 10am this morning! I was bascially panicking because he is supposed to be picked up by the school bus at 7:40am every morning!

To make sure we don't miss school bus, we decided to move dinner time to 6:30pm so that he can be bathed at around 7:45pm and go to bed by 8pm. If he wakes up at 7am then he will have 11 hours of solid sleep.

I really hope this plan works...fingers crossed!

Summer School

didi attended three weeks of summer school at Kid's Gallery. I signed him up for Story Smart for the first and third week. At the end of each week, he brought home a piece of creative artwork which are beyond our expectation!



On the first week, they did a story called "The rescue party".The story is about a rabbit got trapped in a well and then the kids created a well and a rabbit based on that story.



Peter and the wolf was the book they read this week and didi brought home this lovely master piece today! On our way out after class today, I talked to the teacher briefly and she told me that didi is a talented little boy who managed to do all of the artwork by himself! I am one proud mom today!

Second week was the Musical Movement week, but he attended only three classed and we missed the performance on Friday because of the typhoon, what a pity.