Posts related to family, enjoy!
People who know Carina realize that she has what I called “Stick to mom” symptom. She clings to me almost all the time and wouldn’t let other people to carry her even her dad when she was a baby. Recently, I noticed that this symptom has enormously improved. Although she still has her “5 minutes alert mode” turned on when “strangers” come visit us, she is usually playful, happy, entertaining and able to socialize in front of the “strangers”. So the comment that we get from the “strangers” is “Carina is a lot more fun to play with now”.
Today is the first time that Colton got his teeth cleaned. We were waiting at the waiting area and he was looking at all the halloween decoration. Then he was called by the hygenist and I wanted to go with him too. But since the room is tight, I was told to wait outside. So I did. Colton did very well. He was not scared. He didn’t cry or look for me. He understand what the hygenist said (all in English) and he picked the strawberry flavoured fluoride for his teeth. Then he came out with a new toothbrush and a big toy. He said the dental office is a fun place to go to and would like to go again tomorrow.
Well, for Carina…. she was like a little mouse and wouldn’t like any one to unbuckle her from her stroller. She was scared to death and ended up staying in her stroller. The dentist suggested us to go back in 6 months and try again.
Colton can finally go to the bathroom and brush his teeth all by himself. They seem very trivial but there are a lot of steps involve in it. Last year this time he was learning to notice the needs of going to pee. Now, he can go to the bathroom, turn the lights on, put his pant down, aim at the toilet, go pee, tear a piece of toilet paper, wipe, throw it into the toilet, put his pant up, flush the toilet, go to the sink, step on the stool, put some soap on his hands, scrub, turn the tap water on, rinse, turn water off, wipe hands, turn the light off and all done. See there are almost 20 steps involve in it.
Now Carina sees Colton using the bathroom and wants to use it too. She can let me know if she needs to go poo most of the time. But sometimes she would say “Aw-C” or “Gup-C” even if she has nothing to go.
Yes, he loves it so badly. Once the door opens, he runs into the classroom as fast as he can. When we arrive the school, he has to look for his cubby (where he put his back pack). The cubby has a big card with his name, his picture and his own painting on it. The cubby is different every time. So he has to recognize his name.
He loves exploring and feeling things. He used a real hammer at school. He hammered down a “Tee” into styrofoam. He played with sand and rice. He played with shaving cream this Thursday. One of the teachers said he enjoyed it so much. I’ll be the duty parent helping the teachers in Oct 23. I’ll update his school life later.
Carina likes to do everything by herself. She doesn’t how to wear pants but she wants to do it and refues my help. She likes to feed herself using a spoon but she’s still learning on it. She doesn’t like anyone to help her. She doesn’t know how to take down the stairs yet, but she doesn’t let me hold her hand. So she would walk from left to right on the top steps for 5 minutes before letting me help her. She doesn’t know how to buckle herself in her car seat, but she wants to do it herself and doesn’t let anyone to help her. So when we go out, I have to plan extra 10 mins to get ready and leave the house.
Carina can finally wear nice clothing without the bib. I think this happened since she was 22 months old. Once she has all the molars, she stopped drooling almost right away. Another milestone for her is that she can hold a regular cup and drink from it without spilling. She’s been doing this for a month.
My baby is finally going to school. He’s not a baby any more. He’s a big boy now. He started counting down last week. He’s so excited about going to school. He was at the orientation back in June. He met the teacher and visited the school briefly. He still remember the teacher and the lay out of the school.
We were about 5 minutes early today. I let him pick his outfit to go to school, then let him pick his hubby where he put his back pack. While we were waiting, he say good morning to other parents and asked if she’s the teacher. Then he ask “What’s your name?” to the girl across his hubby. The girl didn’t say anything. After a while, he said he wants me to show him where the washroom is. Once the teacher opened the classroom door, he ran to the door and sat on the carpet without saying goodbye to me. Then he looked back and said that he knew where the washroom is. He said “Mom, you go outside the door. Bye!” That was it. He kicked me out! He seems to like the preschool very much!
Do I have time for gym? Yes of course. There’s a gym on the ground floor in the high rise that we’re living. I tried taking the kids with me. I let colton to play with my iphone and Carina usually plays with the big exercise ball. So I can work out for about 30 minutes. Then I usually ask Colton to play pushing ball with me.
I just noticed that I have more energy after working out than after having a nap. After going to the gym 3 times a week, I can stay up in the afternoon when the kids are napping. Isn’t that nice?
Chris’ older sister bought me a super rice cooker from HK. It’s so powerful. It cooks rice less than 10 minutes. I can also use it for making congee, soup and chinese dessert. The nicest thing is that it takes very short time to cook because it’s pressurized. And the other thing is that I don’t have to “watch fire”. All I need to do is to throw all the ingredients in and press one button. It’s as easy as that. So now I make soup every 2nd day. I also bake bread and cakes. Now I noticed that home made taste the best.
No more bottles for Carina. I started weaning her last Friday. She’s now using a sippy cup instead. She never asks for her bottle again.
Also, her last molar just poked thru. She’s not drooling as much and she finally can wear clothing without her bib.
Colton is speaking more English than before. It just happened so sudden. He would blow out some short English sentences out of nothing and he uses them right.