To the Zoo to Meet Dora

Zoo was having an event with Dora as their guest. I am sure all the guests were disappointed when they knew that it was actually only a photo shoot (a group one, not one by one) with Dora.

[The flyers and the advertisement was saying something like “doing adventure with Dora at the Zoo….”]

Oh well….

But for kids, seeing Boots who was carried by Dora, and her Backpack and the Map were already quite overwhelming.

I was surprised to know that Caden wanted to take pictures with Dora, as usually he would get so scared of anything that big and moving (whatever it is) that we are not supposed to get close it, especially at less than 1 feet away.

Caden’s eyes were hooked on Dora and her friends while we were waiting for our turn to be on stage.

At home, he told Oma (grandma), the maid, and the nanny what he did and what Dora did on the stage. He also told them that an auntie (a lady who was assisting Dora) was fixing Dora’s backpack.

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And of course he didn't forget to tell everyone about his adventure of driving the Zoo boat for a few minutes. ^_^

He has tooo manyyy stories too tell nowadays….

Something that happen very very rare....

Caden actually have been eating almost NOTHING for the past 1 week.

Of course he still drink his regular milk as usual.

[a few times he can drink close to 1000ml from 7pm-7am]

*I am speechless*

First day at Term 3

The school official day to re-open after the one week break is next week.

But, this term, there are going to be 2 public holidays that fall on Fridays, so the school decided to give one of the make up today.

The theme was orange, so we came to school as orange as possible. Look at Caden’s orange shirt, it has his name printed on it. ^_^

Praying

I has been teaching Caden to pray before he eat since he started his solid. Now, he can say it himself.

"Thank you, Lord for the food. AMEN!"

A Happy Day is...

...when he could swim with Mommy on a bright sunny day that the pool water is a bit warm.

Berries World of Learning School

I decided to try out Berries school last Tuesday. It’s quite well-known for their Chinese program.

The reason for me trying out this class is that, first, I would just like to know their program and the method of their teaching.

Second, as Berries is a one-and-a-half-hour drop-off class program, I thought it would be a great idea for Caden to start slowly in his independence at school with only once a week by himself in a class structure.

My goal is I hope when I decided to send him to an everyday drop-off class (weather it will be this year or next year), there will be so significant tears on him.

Last Tuesday, I was in the class for 50 minutes. I tried to just sit a few feet away from him and see how it goes. When I saw that he looks quite alright, I decided to step off the class by telling him that I was going to the restroom (but never come back until the class ends in 40 minutes). ^_^

And he was fine!!! Superb!!!

I asked him 3 times if he likes the Lao Zhi and if he wants to come back again every week and he said YES! So I paid his class for the rest of the term that day.

Today, I was planning to stay in the class for 15 minutes or so, but when we arrived, I thought I saw him that he was ready to be drop-off from start. So I let him in the class by himself.

I waited about 15 minutes outside the class, peeking through the small window again and again to check if he was alright. I believed the receptionist must thought that I was a very worried mother who had a very ready child to be drop-off. Hehe…..

Then after I thought he was okay, I went out from the school. Then, I was confused on what should I do. I wasn’t planning to be outside the class today. I thought Caden would still need me. [Oh well, maybe he is really a big boy afterall…. *a little tears…*]

This is still new for me. Him being inside the class by himself, without me knowing what he will be learning in the class today. I wonder if he would fight in the class, if he will be sharing his things with his friends, if he will pay attention to the teacher, etc.

*Sigh*

But this is part of growing up. I should let him go for a little bit. Let him explore this world with social knowledge from home that we have thought him again and again everyday.

I am sure he will go through it just fine. I am sure God will watch over him and lead him all the way.
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PS: Caden came out from class after one-and-a-half-hour alone in the class looking very happy and excited. He was blubbering so fast as he was trying to tell me the whole story of the class to me. ^_^
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By the way, I really like the class structure. Berries emphasizes a lot more on the characters of the words while Julia Gabriel is not. I think both classes are complementing each other.

Holiday at the Zoo...

Oh my goodness….I never been to the Zoo this crowded ever!!! But we did had a lot of fun together with our friends.

Thanks for joining us, guys!!! Let’s do this again some other time.

Counting from 1 to 20

Caden has been able to count from 1 to 20 since January, but how come he always miss the number 15???

*Scratching my head*

A Date with Erin

We went to McDonald breakfast today...
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Caden had his usual scrambled egg and milo, while Erin had her usual pancake...
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...then afterwards we showed off our McDonald ballons together. ^_^

A Motorcycle from Oma

As Caden had his report card with flying colors, Oma (Grandma) decided to buy Caden a present! And it was a police motorcycle.

Caden was soooo excited for it.

Thank you, Oma!!!

Last day of Term 2 at Julia Gabriel

Caden received a report card with flying colors today. ^_^

...and we are going to have a fun one week holiday next week.

Underwater World Singapore

The last time we were here was when Caden was only 18 months old. Now at nearly 2.5 years old, Caden was a little different.

For one, he looked more excited to see so many marine animals around him.

He was more curious in exploring the place by himself, touching here and there, pressing every buttons that he found, and

He was so talkativeee….asking every single thing about everything….

This time, Caden likes the travellator ride around the big aquarium so much that we circled it 4 times, only to stop when I told him that we are going to the dolphin lagoon to see the pink dolphins.

At the pink lagoon, his eyes were glued at the dolphins; compared to a year a go when we have to point to him all the time where the dolphins were to catch his attentions.

At Mandarin Class

Looking at the inside of the magic box which has very interesting new things at every class.

Pretend Play -- "I am Zack!"

Caden loves his guitar. He loves it even more because one of his assistant teachers, Zack, at school plays it at singing/music time.

Last Monday, we bring his guitar to school so that he could play it together with Zack.

Then last weekend, he pretended to be Zack. If we call him Caden, he would acted angry, stomped his feet and say, “No Caden…..ZACK!!!”

He also call mommy, Ariel (the name of the other assistant teacher), and shouted to daddy, “Hi Eliza!” (his teacher name) right after daddy half-sleepily went out from his room to play with him.

[Can you imagine how surprised was he that he was suddenly called by a girl’s name with his son?]

What I am surprised is that, Caden is able to say the correct word almost the whole time over those 2 days. He would say, “Zack wants to eat. Ariel feed Zack.” Or “Zack play with Eliza. Ariel in the room.” Etc.

He was really into the character that we were laughing a lot the whole time.

The tricky part is that when we say I love you. I usually say, “I love you, Caden” and Caden usually answer, “I love you, Mommy” right before he went to sleep.

But this time, we were pretending to be Zack and Ariel and it sounds really weird to say it, although in the end, I said it anyway as Caden insist that I should say it 'correctly'!!

He was so engrossed with the whole pretend play that he murmurs Ariel’s name instead of mommy when he sleeps (this happens a few times during nap and night time).

It is truly amazing to see him grow. From a tiny 2.9kg baby who couldn’t do anything, to a 16kg little boy with his own growing thoughts and mind.

First Experience: At The Dentist

I decided to bring Caden to the dentist last Tuesday as his brushing habit is not good at all. Though his teeth now looks fine (i.e. no cavities), I am afraid of the prolong outcome of not brushing properly (or sometimes not brushing at all).

It’s hard to make him brush his teeth. Sometimes, he just ‘kiss’ the toothbrush to his lips or front teeth and said that he is done with it.

I was very happy to say that Caden didn’t cry at all at the doctor, not even when the doctor checked his mouth. I think the surrounding of the Kids Dentist in Camden Medical and the easy going Dr. Rashid had make Caden relax for quite a bit.

The whole thing was so worth it. Caden brush his teeth sooo muchhh better nowadays. If he goes lazy again, we just need to remind him of what Dr. Rashid had told him, and he will do it right away.

It works wonders for him.

At the dentist, Mommy was told to stop the late night milk feeding that has been going on forever. While Mommy tried to tell Dr. Rashid that it is almost impossible, he showed me some scary pictures of severe tooth decay. *think think think*

PS: Caden now is drinking about 400-500ml of milk in the middle of the night alone.

Bibi and Baba

I bought these turtles for Caden just for fun a few days ago. And of course he loves it!

We named them Bibi and Baba after the pygmy hippos at the Zoo.

Caden is the one person who is supposed to give the food (twice a day) everyday. He couldn’t remember it most of the time though, but I hope with this I let him learn to be responsible of something.

He is also learning to be gentle with them. Caden was so rough with them at first, but now, he is getting so much gentler with them.

First Experience: Popcorn Chicken

We dropped by at the Zoo today and as usual, we stopped at KFC to get a mash potato for Caden. Today, I decided to get a popcorn chicken for myself.

Turned out, Caden said he wanted some, I gave him one and he BITE it! Wow… Soon, he asked for the whole box.

I don’t care…I just gave him everything. It’s so good to see him trying new things and willing to bite something that actually seems hard for him to bite/chew. This shows that if Caden wants it, he can bite, chew then shallow the (what he consider) ‘super-hard’ food (bread, chicken, beef, veggies, etc).

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want my kid to eat fast food all the time. Caden has a very healthy eating habit. But when I see him trying new things and biting new food, I tend to give it to him whatever the food is, in limited quantity. But this doesn’t mean that Caden would get his popcorn chicken every day or even every week…

Look how messy he ate. He only bite once or twice on every popcorn chicken, and then he left it aside. It’s the same when he tried to eat French Fries. I am still trying to teach him the correct way to eat, that is, he has to finish the whole thing.

Then, I will another problem, I will have stop him from eating that many fast food. Hehe...

Jacob Ballas Children Garden

...play with some sand and water and climbing a tree with mommy... ^_^

Potty Train Not Sucessful....Yet!

I am almost run out of idea on how to potty train Caden. We’ve told him a lot of times in a day that he has to tell us when he want to pup or pee, but still he is not able to tell us before it happen.

Well, he did tell us ONCE 2 days ago. He suddenly said that he wanted to go pee to me and when I quickly brought him to the toilet, he pup (not just pee) right away.

People told me that when the kid is not ready, they will not do it. But Caden is almost 2.5 years old now and a lot of his friends are good potty trained already. I really want him to be potty trained so that he would be have an easier time at a drop-off school in the future.

[This, and too many sick kids at drop off school, is one of the reasons why I have not send Caden to one. I am still weighing the good and bad options on it.]

Anyway, so I bought this big potty train book for Caden. It was so interesting, the pictures were big and bright that caught his attention right away. Caden remembers the pages by hard and knows what did Michael (the little boy in the book) should do and shouldn’t do at potty train.

I do hope this book will encourage him to be like Michael, whom already successful at potty train and wears big boy pants at the end of the page.

My Two 'Mr. Messy' on the Weekends...

...always enjoying their time together.