Lady’s Finger chops

Today, my MIL bought lady’s fingers to cook for dinner tonight. So, I asked ZM if he wants to play with it. He instantly agreed as it has been he has played with it. So, I took 2 while MIL used the rest for cooking.

After ZM came back from school today, he quickly had his lunch and eagerly asked me if we can start. I said ok and we layed out everything that we need. All we need are a piece of art block, some paint, a knife, a brush and a bowl of water. Firstly, cut the lady’s finger into 2. Then brush some paint on the cut lady’s finger and start to chop! Its that easy! ZM enjoys himself very much in this activity as the coloured lady’s finger gives a beautiful flower like pattern. Once done, just dry the artwork.

ZM had asked me if we can still keep the used lady’s finger for tomorrow painting. I said ok but only for tomorrow only. I don’t want to have mouldy lady’s finger in my fridge.:) So, as of now, he is happy with his work and proudly announce to his daddy that he had something for him to see when he gets back from work. ZM also willingly wash away the utensils used after the painting. I am glad he did it willingly.

Painting

I have a painting set which consist of a box of paint, palette, brush, a plastic container for water and art block. I have these for ZM as I wanted him to appreciate colour and be creative. I had them since he was 3 years old.

At first, he does not know how to paint. All he does is to have straight lines or circles on the art block. What a waste of money, I thought. Although I don’t say it in front of him. I know, he is not creative and not good in art. But I kept encouraging him to paint.

Over the time, he is better. He is able to “paint” objects, although his objects are not that clear. But I am happier. Now, I try to give him a theme to paint. But he usually does not follow the theme and paint something else. Its ok to me, as long as he paints.

All I hope is he will be creative. Creativity is very important to me. I am not a creative person and I know how i ended up. People who are creative normally will succeed in life. Hopefully he will be successful in life!

“Suffocate”

As ZD has been off nappy during the day, I also remove the nappy during his day nap. But I do lay a sheet of rubber mat just in case he pee in his sleep. He used to pee in his nap last time, but nowadays, he does not do that anymore. But I still put the sheet just in case.

I always teach my sons that we shall never put anything over our head and cover our face. I think they understand my instructions well as I don’t see them doing it unlike some kids who like to cover their face for fun.

So, the other day, ZD just woke up from his nap and just peed. I went to washroom to wash his poty and heard a cry from ZD. They ZM came running to me and ask me to keep the rubber sheet. I asked him why? He said: ” I don’t want ZD to SUFFOCATE! He cover face and himself with the sheet. Please keep the sheet away from him.” Oh my, I said. You know the word “suffocate”? This is such a big word! I am so pleased to hear him saying this word and used it correctly.

Wow! I must have explained to him before that by covering his face will suffocate him. I wonder if he really know the meaning of this word. But I am happy enough that he took away the sheet from his brother and understand that by covering your own face will harm you.

Supplement

I have started to give ZD supplement tablet since yesterday. I notice his health is not very good recently as he has a frequent cough session and fever too. I always thought ZD’s health is much better than ZM as ZM’s health was not that good since he was a baby.

But his health got better after 2 years old after I quit my job and took care of him myself. And at the same time, I started him on supplement. His pediatrician did not encourage us to give supplements to kids as she says most of the time those supplements are too sweet and serve no purpose. She said we should take more healthy food instead of relying on supplements. But, my kids are always sick and they have a bunch of cousins that are always sick too.

So, I started giving ZM Kawai Kanyu drops at the age of 2 years old. It is actually cod liver oil but in drop form without the fishy taste. It does taste good, though! It seems that his health improved! Not so much of coughing session and at times, it will go away by itself! I do not know if this supplement is really that effective or his immune system got better after the age of 2 years old or it was me that change his diet to a more healthy ones since I took full charge of my kids. I really don’t know, but I am sure glad.

I always thought that I don’t think I will introduce ZD to supplements as his health is good. All this while, his visits to doctor is much much lesser than ZM. But recently, he has been to see doctor quite frequently. I have to delay his Hepatitis A jab since he reached 2 years old and until now he has not taken his jab due to his frequent sickness.

So, I have decided to supplement him. Previously, he would request me to give him the supplement whenever I give ZM. But I always tell him that he is too small and he needs to wait until he is bigger. But yesterday, he asked again and I gave him. He was very surprised! He enjoyed it very much indeed.  I do hope this supplement is good and will do him good. All I want are healthy kids.

Medical checkup

I went for a medical checkup today. Actually I wanted to do one earlier, but I am too afraid that the results maybe bad. I am scared when the doctor tells me that I am not healthy or have some kind of sickness. I do not have a medical insurance nor I am working. So, it would be very costly if anything happens to me.

Anyway, I was at a shopping centre the other day. Wellness Lab was having a booth there. I signed up there for a package at RM388.00 on the spot. It sure is pricey! But they say this package is a lifetime package. My family members are also entitled to do their checkup at half price. I thought since I need to do a checkup, I took the courage to sign-up. I know deep down inside that I must do a check-up no matter what happens. I still have my kids to take care, so I need to be healthy.

So, I went to the centre at 8.30am. I was told to get my urine. Then, a staff brought me into a room to do an ECG exam, followed by a lung test. Later, I was called into a room to get my blood sample by a doctor. It is that simple. A staff then said that they will give me a call after a week to come in and get the results.

I hope I am healthy. But I know I might not be as healthy as I want. I am very lazy and don’t do much exercise. I also enjoy eating fried and oily food and junk food. I can expect the results will indicate I am obese with a high BMI rate and high in cholestrol. Hahaha…… I hope nothing more that! If not, I don’t know what to do.

Paddington Bear’s Tea Party

I saw the advertisement on Wednesday’s newspaper. I told myself that my sons will be happy if I were to bring them to the party. Since the party is on Saturday, 11 October 2008, I suggest to hubby that we go as a family as a family outing. The venue is at The Apartment, KLCC at 3-5pm.

When ZM got to know of the party, he was so excited! He knows who is Paddington Bear as he has a VCD which Paddington teaches him to recognise all alphabets since he was 2 years old. He also have a few shirts and pants by Paddington. So, he is familiar I don’t need to introduce him to Paddington. ZD was also excited as he has watch the VCD before with ZM.

On Friday night, it was not tough to get them to sleep. But ZM was too excited to sleep and he toss and turn for some time before he manage to fall asleep. When he wakes up on Saturday, he was all geared up for the party.

We were all ready and left our house at around 2.20pm. We arrived at the party just in time. The entry to the party is free as long as you bring a toy bear. After registration, we we given a goodie bag each which consist of a loaf of bread, a jar of marmalade (Paddington’s favorite food), 2 Paddington stamps for collection and Guardian’s latest promotion brochures. There were many people attending the party. Many people are enjoying the free flow of cotton candy and ice-creams. We too help ourselfs to some. Not long later, Paddington Bear made his grand appearance to greet his fans.

Food were arranged at an orderly manner and with prompt service. Food were replenish very quickly and everyone enjoyed themselves. As for the kids, there is a corner for sand art and there are also some face art painting corner too. ZM got himself a spiderman on his hand while ZD got a tatoo on his hand.

There are 2 Q&A questions throughout the party. Those who mange to answer correctly, will get some vouchers from Guardian. There is a game session at the end of the party too. But ZM was too shy to participate and so we left.

All of us enjoyed the party very much. We stroll in KLCC for a while before heading home for dinner. They slept early that night as they have an excited day.

ZD’s Speech Development

ZD is quite slow in his speech development since he was a baby. Usually, toddler at the age of 1year plus will be able to speak a word or two or even more. Later, when they reach 2 years old, they can even manage to speak simple sentences.

But for ZD, he does not talk much at all. Most of the time, he only manage single words and could not even speak 2 words. At first, I was quite worried. I know ZM was already slow in speech, but Zd was even slower. But I know deep in my heart, he will eventually catch up. I told myself that its better that he is quiet now, as when he starts to talk, he will talk non stop until you get fed up of it! This is what happens to ZM. So, when he finally reach 2 years old, his progress has improve tremendously.

He uses more words to communicate and from talking single words to using multiple words to make sentenses. I was so happy. He can even communicate in 2 languages ie; English and Mandarin. He speaks to me mostly in English and Mandarin to his daddy, just like ZM.

But to strangers, he is very quite. Many people including my sisters complained that ZD does not talk. ZD does not open his mouth infront of strangers. Some of my relatives said that they have never hear ZD talk. They wonder if ZD can even talk! My sisters would call me sometimes and they complained that my backgrould is very noisy. They wonder what was ZM talking but I told them it was ZD who is talking. They were very surprise and never expected to hear ZD talk so much.

ZD is also a shy boy like his brother. So, I am used to hear people asking me if my son can talk.

Just lunch…….

ZM, ZD and I just had our lunch. I cooked porridge for them. Today’s porridge is chicken slices with corn and carrot. I also had hard boiled eggs for them. Hmmmm…… yummy in my tummy! Actually this combination of porridge comes from ZM. It was one day about 6 months ago, he suddenly tells me that he wants me to cook him some porridge. Normally he does not like porridge, so that day I was really surprised at his request. I then asked him what porridge does he wants me to cook.

He ponders for a while and said that he wants to eat sweet corn with chicken porridge. I have never eaten nor cook this porridge before. But I promised him I will cook it. The next day, I went to the market and get some chicken and corn and head home to cook it. It ended up very tasty indeed! The corn and chicken gave the porridge a sweet taste. ZM likes it very much! From that day onwards, I cook them this porridge and try to add carrot or tiny scallop for a different taste.

A trip to Zoo Negara

Since it was the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri (1st October 2008), I told hubby that we should bring our kids to Zoo Negara. I have already promised ZM many times before that I will bring him to the zoo but I did not manage to find a good time. So, I guess since it was a public holiday, maybe the zoo would not be so crowded and it is the best time to go.

Yes, indeed! It was a good day to go as the crowd was not too big. And the weather was on our side! It was just nice and not too hot. The crowd are mostly chinese and foreign nationalities as the malays were celebrating Hari Raya. We arrived there around 10am and daddy straight away bought tickets for all of us.

When we are already in the zoo, the first stop that we go is the washroom. We don’t want to look for washroom when we are in the mid of feeding the animals! Then we saw the zoo ride and my kids wanted to sit on it and tour the zoo. But we saw the queue was too long. So, we opt to walk as there are plenty of signboards and we have the brochure on our hand.

The first animal that we saw was the giraffes. They were really tall! Next to the giraffes, are the elephants! My kids were delighted to see the elephants as they always watch it on Barney shows and and tv! I told them elephants are huge and boy they are really huge to my kids. As it was feeding time, ZM wanted to feed the elephants. There is a table selling sugar cane sticks. Its RM3 per stick and it sure is expensive! Anyway, its worth it as my kids like to feed animals as they have a heart for animals.

Opposite elephans and giraffes, is a pond full with birds which I don’t know their names. They are big birds and they have build many nests on top of trees. We also saw a peacock wandering around the area too. But the peacock is quite shy. Then, we saw lions, tigers, tapirs, deers, buffolows, wallabys, turtles, raccoons, porcupines, leopard, camel, crocodiles, giant tortise, snakes, frogs, hippopotamus, rhinosaurus, zebra, monitor lizard, pelicans, bats, penguins, ponies, chimpanzee, orang utan and goats. My kids also managed to feed the orang utan and chimpanzees with carrots and bananas. We also manage to feed the goats with some leaves that are grown nearby their cage. The goats are choosy with their food! ZM got a leave from daddy and tried to feed the goat a few times but the goat reject his food. Then I saw a boy feeding the goat and the goat ate it. So, I got the same leaves that the boy feed and gave it to my sons and the goats gladly chew on it! Picky eaters, huh!

Since we walk all the way, my kids were pretty tired and we found a stop and waited for the zoo bus to arrived. We sat on it for a short journey and we walk again to see other animals that we have yet to visit. Then ZM was complaining that he is tired. So, we took a rest and bought some ice creams and he lightens up. After visiting all the animals (I think), its time to have some lunch as it was lunch time. We tried to look for KFC but we could not find it. Daddy suggested that we eat out of zoo as the food in the zoo will be very pricey and full with crowd.

So, we snap some photos of ZM and ZD on the stationary zoo bus and head for our car. They we drove out of the zoo and head to McD for our lunch. After lunch, my kids were fast asleep in the car. I am also very tired, after a trip to the zoo. My kids enjoyed the trip very much. I will bring them again after a few more years to refresh their memories when ZD is a little bit bigger. ZD was very strong throughout the trip as I can see he was already tired. But when I asked him if he is tired, he said no and says that he wanted to see more animals.

After a long nap, daddy loads all the photos into the computer and everyone enjoyed watching the photos. I am happy that I manage to bring them to the zoo. Next time, I will bring them to more of such educational trips.