music class; bought change table

I took him to the music class first time yesterday. It was ok, in a way it is very similar to the singing session at the end of a normal playgroup, however, the music class has a longer duration than the singing time of the playgroup which is normally 15 mins only. The total "teacher-led" session of the music class runs for 40 mins. It's good for me, I can just sit there and watch him being led by the teacher. The teacher told a few stories, let the kids choose their musical instrument and perform, sing and dance.... etc.

Bought a brand new change table yesterday as we are going to need it for a quite a while. I know it sounds ridiculous to buy a change table when the kid has turned two. We both find it extremely difficult to dress him and change him on our double bed, he doens't stop, keeps wriggling around and bouncing up and down as if were a trampoline or if we put him on the floor he would pull and drag us around.

I also bought a wooden cot rail, thinking to remove one side of the cot completely and install the cot rail so he can climb in and out of the bed on his own, instead of needing an adult to lift him high up and drop him in the cot, to save my back carrying him up high over the cot side. I have a change of mind now, as I will plan to have him sleep in the living room for afternoon nap (so i dont have to carry him to the bed), as for night time sleep, the father will carry him into the cot. The shop lady told me, once we let him climb in and out of the bed, he will continue to climb in and out and we will have no control over where he goes whenever he is awake, this means even in the middle of the night wandering around the house/room. I will think about it before getting a refund for the cot rail. I am just thinking by the time he can climb out of the cot, he will be good for a normal single bed, so i will probably just wait another year and move him into a normal single bed directly.

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New Change Table - makes nappy changing easier.... I wish i had this when he was a newborn, but then we didn't have the space to accomodate this. Dressing him is easier now, we just have to lay the towel on the table and put Jasper on top. He still looks like a newborn lying on a change table. I forgot to mention he self-taught pulling down and up his pants a few days ago !!

Pizza Hut mum

It's such a rainy and cloudy day that I visited a friend's place in the morning, she has just moved into the same apartment block. She has a 2.5-yr-old girl and a 4-mth-old boy. Her penthouse is huge, Jasper had fun walking upstairs to the attic playroom where he found the alphabets and train set. He didn't sleep much in the afternoon, woke up around 2:30pm giving me only a short break. I packed some strawberries, a mandarin, a cup of milk and a booster seat with me, and we went to the mall. There they are 3pm-5pm Pizza Hut specials: ONE super supreme pizza plus a cold drink for $3. They are still selling bottled water for $2 out there, normally $3 can barely buy a plain coffee. So $3 for pizza plus drink is a very good price. It is so convenient to serve him afternoon tea in the food court, someone will sweep up the mess. It was raining really badly when i left, i bought a new umbrella on my way back home. My pram is waterproof.

watching TV

watching TV - playschool

health check

Just came back from health check today, he weighs 14.1kgs, height 90cm, everything above average.

Jack in a box; Tupperware tumbler

Jack in a box






Tupperware tumbler
I bought a set of 3 Tupperware straw tumblers online. They are of 500ml capacity for thirsty adults, not sure why they dont produce something smaller just for kids. I just love the resealable straw hole which makes the cup completely leak-proof when the straw is out. i.e. I can store drinks in this cup until whenever I need to serve Jasper which is a matter of inserting a straw in the cup. This idea is great for travelling, the sad thing is that this cup is just too big to fit in my nappy bag so I dont use it often for outings.

At the daycare

(last pic updated!) Pics taken at the daycare: Instead of interrogating the carers with every fine details of what Jasper does at the daycare, I left my camera with them and asked to take a few pics of him during the day. Quite a few pictures were taken, mainly when he was eating. I haven't got his other pics of other activities so nothing else to post. He uses an orange suction bowl for morning tea. Lunch box is purple, afternoon tea is a white snack dish. Half a cup of milk during lunch and afternoon tea time.




I am so tired, haggard and worn. My cough kept me awake at night and my eyes are burning. I wish I can just lie there till midday but have to pack Jasper's food for the day and drop him off. I didn't make anything fancy for him for lunch and afternoon tea today as you can see in the pic. Animal-shaped and geometric-shaped pastry cutters have become a must have in the kitchen - sliced ham, sliced turkey or chicken, white bread and cheese are made into little cute shapes. I have packed a mini yakult for him today.

End of the day - thats all thats left(pic below). Morning tea - nothing left, drank all milk.

looking back, when he was 11mths

looking back, when he was 11mths. His look has changed a lot since.



Now 2 years:

1st Tues playgroup of this school term

First day of Tues playgroup of this school term

cutting cake (backdated)

Jasper's godmother was guiding him to cut the cake, as soon as she held his hand he didn't want to hold the knife.

dinner time; Snowpea

Jasper now uses the kids table for breakfast, morning tea and afternoon tea at home, no runaway. He purposely threw the empty cup to the floor after he finished his milk and said "I have dropped the cup", same happened to the mandarin peels that he removed from the fruit "I have dropped the peels". I still sit him high on the booster seat to eat at the adult table for LUNCH and DINNER. I slipped a snowpea in his lunch hoping maybe he will try eating it. He picked out that snowpea and said "bye bye Ho Lan Dow!" threw it to the floor. My memory doesn't seem to serve me correctly because I dont remember teaching him the word snowpea in cantonese ever. The only other time he heard the Cantonese words of snow pea was many months ago when we were at the supermarket and he cried so badly that I just picked a raw snowpea and told him "want snowpea?, look, chew on this", that was my desperate attempt to calm a crying teething baby at the supermarket. I put an empty Yakult bottle in his bath for him to play, he submerged the bottle in his bath water, bubbles came out, he poured the water out, "o chung yee yic yic dor!" - meaning i like yakult. It takes only 3 seconds for him to finish the bottle of Yakult! I dont buy him this often, only because he has finished his 2-week course of antibiotics that I think yakult may be useful for his guts. He is still not very good with the "L" sound sometimes. Eye contacts with people have not improved but he has definitely learnt to sit in a normal chair and wait. When I hold a wooden puzzle higher up, he will run to the chair sit down waiting for me to give him the puzzle. He knows and says the first name of everyone at the daycare, names of the the kids and both carers.

This guy sleeps a lot, i put him to sleep 8:30pm and he still hasn't woken up now and it is already 9:20am. His night sleep has been 12.5-13.5 hours and afternoon nap 2-3.5 hours. Two-third out of 24 hours is for pure sleep, one-third is for all other activities.

peeling mandarin, sitting still for breakfast

-updated- He can now peel the whole mandarin by himself, but i have to break open a little bit of peel for him to start with. Probably for the first time in 2 years he can sit still the whole time until he finishes his breakfast (didn't buckle him up, didn't use a harness) - breakfast is usually a fruit bowl, bread pieces or mini cup cakes and a cup of milk. Back home when he is having other meals, I buckle him on the booster seat again as i dont want to give him any impressions that he can get off that chair. He is very verbal now, he would say "i want mummy unbuckle" when he has had enough and wait for me ...



They don't use a high chair at the daycare for safety reasons so the kids have to learn to sit down in a kids chair to eat. Again, this is a big thing for me, normally he would sit down (on kids chair) for only half a second and tried to get off to run around. Attached pic is a snapshot of the mini video clip.

I was told by the daycare that he didn't try to get off the chair and ate EVERYTHING I packed for him. My guess is that maybe in the kid's mind they didn't want to misbehave in a new/strange environment to avoid surprises or possible punishment from strangers when away from their parents. The two pictures below show exactly what he eats while at the daycare. (looks like at a hotel, doesnt it ?!) Everything is fingerfood. Meat, bak choi, pasta or noodles are pretty mostly plain boiled.

Breakfast 8:30 am or 9:00 am

cup of milk - it takes half a min to finish

bread pieces or a few mini cup cakes

Morning Tea 10:30 am

Fruit bowl - fruit of the season: kiwi pieces, strawberries, mandarin, apple, grapes

Lunch 12:00 pm or 12:30 pm

Bak Choi leaves, or carrots or boiled vegetables

Pasta of different shapes, noodles or udon

ham slices or egg chunks, or boiled chicken pieces

half a cup of milk

Afternoon Tea 3:30 pm or 4:00 pm

a few mini cup cakes or bread pieces

a slice of cheese

a few mini crackers or biscuits

some fruits

rice crackers or something crunchy to satisfy his teething desire

half a cup of milk

Dinner 7:00 pm

similar to lunch, but he will have a few pieces of the parents food.

holding hands

Today is the first time Jasper asked me to hold his hands while we walked. He continued to hold my hands(fingers) until we got to the car and then he stood there waiting for me to open the car door for him. Something like this has never happened before in the past as he was always too eager to run away. He also helped me carry a small bag into the house, first time again, to be minimally helpful and useful. I now keep a pack of small smilies stickers in my wallet, he loves them and they are just perfect for rewarding good behaviour.

pics

2nd birthday

2nd birthday (ie two years after I gave birth!) - I wasn't going to celebrate it until a friend asked me about it. I only started ringing up guests 5pm the day before. Everything were arranged in a very short timeframe. All food were bought in the same morning, we had steamed dim sums, party food and the cake with a chocolate name plague. I didn't know a 2-yr-old birthday party would be this cute, they are all of the same height running around like innocent little people, squiel and giggle as they run and chase. It's really fun watching them eat and play (or yawn when tired! or blush when pooping in their pants!). They were all staring at the cake and the glow of the lit candles while we adults helped sing the birthday song, and we tried very hard to keep them seated or not to knock the cake over. Jasper needed to sit on the booster seat all buckled up while the girls were sitting on normal chairs as they are more disciplined. Everyone had their chance to "cut" the cake and help opening the wrapped present. Tearing the packaging apart and getting a piece of the wrapper were a big thrill for them. The whole day was enough of a novelty to the 2-year-olds that I didn't need to bring out any complicated toys. I forgot to run the sing-and-dance time with the kids and forgot to hand out the souvenir (chocolate bag) when the guests left, there were a few things in the fridge I forgot to serve. A big thank you for the great presents Jasper will sure have lots of happy memories of this fun day with all the little 2y.o. girl friends.

Jasper got kissed !

It is surprisingly easy to get a 2-year-old to kiss another 2-year-old !! Jennifer is one month older than Jasper. I said to Jennifer "go kiss Jasper" and she did just that on his lips. Jasper had a cold, oh well, never mind!


It's been a few weeks since Jasper climbs into or out of the car seat (and the car) independently without any of my help. It may sound nothing special to many, but for me it is a big thing, at least it saves my back I don't have to lift him or even touch him. I now only need to open the car door, and he will climb in the car and be seated waiting for me to buckle him up. When I need to unload, I just open the car door and unbuckle him, he will come down and out of the car plus closing the car door for me. I am still working on making him climb up and sit on the toilet seat on his own and I have the whole winter to do this. As of today, i still have to carry him up to sit on the toilet seat and he doesn't like sitting there. As with baby stroller, he can sit himself on the stroller with a little help, getting off is no problem for him. Sometimes he uses the normal adult chair (he climbs up and self-seated), although I find him more focused with the meal if sitting on the booster feeding seat. I have just retired his Osh Kosh little heart leather sandals AUS size 8 and he is now wearing Clarks size 8 sandals, UK sizes are bigger than US/AUS sizes.