Huirou @ 2 years 11 months old

Last week, Hubs commented: Wow, we’ve spent the last 4 years with Huirou already.

He of course was counting the year that she was inside my tummy too.

Last month on the paediatrician's scale, she weighed 12kg. Everyday she eats 5 kg of food. She eats a lot. So I don’t know why she’s small. Wait, I know: It’s genetic :)

I really like to chit chat with her now. She is quite good at telling me about her day too. Without fail, our conversation carries over to what Zhixin does at the sitters’. So I get to find out her version of what she ate or if Zhixin was naughty. I hardly verify her story, though, because it is this simple routine of winding down that I like at the end of the day.

And she remembers. I can ask her where she’d put away something, or where her uncle went. If we brought her somewhere unfamiliar she will ask about where we are going. We went to Ipoh last month and she remembers.

She grasps concepts like big/small, near/far, whether it’s a workday or a restday for us. 

She loves to read. I haven’t really taught her to read, but I enjoy reading or looking through books with her.  She enjoys looking at the pictures and weaving her own story. If she grabs a magazine, she starts going through the pictures and ask us what each picture is. She especially enjoys the  sales leaflets that were delivered aka junk mail to our mail box, because we can then have fun at identifying our household things.

Next year, we want to put her into a pre-school. At first, I thought I want to put her in a Montessori-based school; but then any true Montessori centre may not prepare her adequately for primary school a few years down the road.

So I’ve identified one near our house where there are “taught” lessons, but also monthly themes/modules where she will get to discover other things, like nature, cooking, science, history and sports and hopefully many others more that I couldn't think of right now.

And this will be her birthday present this year.

Zhixin @ 13 months old

Growth, Food Intake and General Well Being

• Before I forget again, Zhixin is 8kg now.  Our paediatrician says he is on the small side. Oh, well.
• After his babysitter cooks for him, he consumes 5 x 80 ml bottles of ebm. Yeah reduction, but he eats good
• After discovering that he likes drinking from the straw cup or the sippy cup his fluids intake increased significantly too. yeah!
• On top of everything else, his 8th tooth finally showed. I wonder why it took its own sweet time?

Physical Development and Communications

• He cruises on furniture now.
• Sometimes, the daredevil in him will even let go. Headache for this mom, having a toddler who cannot stand yet but ready wants to toddle.
• He is still extremely playful, liking his peekaboo games even in the middle of the night. Sometimes I try to pretend to sleep but then he starts kissing or cradling my face to make me wake up.
• He seems to understand us much more too. He will be upset if I scold him (uh-uh) or I warn him to get down from the bed/stairs/chair carefully, feet first or when I ask him to come with me.

Character and Temperament

• As mentioned before. playful.playful. playful.
• Whenever he wants something and don’t get it, he arches his back and start making his old man face.
• Worse, he will roll around on the ground too.
• But luckily he’s easily distracted now, so that when we offer him an alternative he quickly forgets.

We often bring Huirou and him to parks or the malls if it’s super hot. Often there are treats, sometimes it’s a snack of muffin, or a sundae cone. Zhixin gets a taste of all of these. Luckily he does not seemed to be allergic to any of the foodstuff, especially in relation to his eczema.

So at home whenever we sit at the dining table, or he sees me at the chopping board, he often crawls over and want in on the action, or more specifically the food :)

Happy Birthday Zhixin

I’ve been wanting and wanting to post this since forever :)

July 9th was Zhixin’s 1st birthday and we had a low key celebration at home.

As soon as he saw the cake, he was reaching for it. This is the first and the BEST picture I got. He really wanted to eat his cake.

OK. After a while I got another picture, see how he really wanted to eat his cake?

If the picture wasn’t hard enough, we have Huirou being jealous : How come I don’t get to take a picture with the cake? So, we obliged.

So I am really sorry if the cake seems to be melting a little already. By the way, it was chocolate mousse, next time I am so going to get carrot cake, no icing; but that won’t make for very pretty pictures, would it?

Huirou’s Favorite Snacks.

We have a hungry toddler at home who loves her food. Here are some of her favorites:Huirou especially like the Great Grains with the dates. When we got the ones without any raisins or dates, we throw in a bunch of our own sweets such as raisins, bananas or even some strawberries.

Another good standby for us is fruit preserved spread onto sandwich bread. Right now, we have the black cherry from St Dalfour in the fridge.

2 slices of cheese, sometimes shared with Zhixin.

This is supposed to be Zhixin’s Baby Bites Rice Rusk, but she likes them very much too.

Others are fruits, cookies and of course the occasionally chocolates and sweets. We don’t have too many “baby” food around the house other than the Baby Bites; whenever I buy them, Huirou doesn’t like them instead she will seek out what is in our bowls or what I cook for Zhixin.

I guess that’s a good thing.

The Siblings

She loves to hold him but as you may notice in this picture, he doesn’t like to be held, especially in her not-so-gentle hold

Often people will ask me about how the children are when they are together…

Both of them are the best of friends, being together 24 hours a day. There are many times that Huirou can figure out what Zhixin wants before we do. She’s the one who discovered that he likes to hold on to a handkerchief when he’s falling asleep.

But there are also frequent fights for toys and attention. Sometimes Huirou will even push or shove Zhixin, which is not allowed in our house. Zhixin will “fight back” by yelling or crying. The house is chaotic when I scold the children too.

Sometimes, it is possible to share. And that is how we normally eat: sharing an orange 4 ways, picking on raisins from the same container, or taking baths while we sing nursery rhymes.

At the end of the day, when they drift off to sleep, and I gaze upon their angelic faces, I feel that I am indeed blessed.