Reading Is A Good Habit

Yes, reading is a good habit right? My girl is quite a bookworm and now my boy has more interest in books compared to before. Hopefully he will become a bookworm like his sister also. Maybe he will once he knows how to read more words. 

Two videos here that are precious to me and I post it up for memories since I have a memory of a goldfish. :D

Happy Friday!

While Papa Was Away Part 2

Continuation from the previous post, Elizabeth doesn't nap in the afternoons during weekend. Even though I tried to make her nap, she would resist it. Maybe she wants to be with me as much as possible. Muahaha..:P So to while away the time, I told her to do some colouring. She has so many colouring books and she hasn't even finished colouring some of them. She did some puzzles also in her activity books.

Can you see that pink hairband there with two stars? It belongs to me you know? I've kept it for many years and now pass it down to my daughter. Old things really can last long eh?

We also did Nutella Fudgesicles! I found it through Babycenter. We loved it! Although it will get messy where kids are concern but worth a try.

The recipe calls for hazelnut chocolate milk but I couldn't find it at the stores so I just settled with normal full cream milk. Tasted good too. You can also use chocolate milk if you want. That's one cup of full cream milk.

Pour the milk in a bowl.

Scoop about 1/4 cup Nutella.

Whisk together the milk and Nutella. I don't have a whisk so I just use spoon.

Pour mixture into the popsicle mould. Put it in the freezer overnight. We shall see the kids' reaction in the next post. :)

Then the kids sang nursery rhymes and goofed around. Not forgetting reading before bedtime. Hope you'll enjoy the videos.

My Girl

Here are two videos about my girl who loves to read.

Things you might want to know about my girl...

1. She loves to read. I'm proud of this and hope she continues her love for reading until she grows old. :D

2. She doesn't like to go to school. Just today morning, she chose to stay at home versus going to school because her dad is not working today. Public holiday for those working in Selangor. What a bummer for me..sigh.

3. She is a small eater. Very picky with her food. To the point that sometimes I feel so stressful and feel like forcing all the food down her throat. :p

4. She likes to ask many questions in a day. Mind boggling ones sometimes too. Everyday is why why why. I might consider to set a rule to 10 questions per day. Kidding.

5. Her love of her life (besides me) is her little bolster. Everyday she will smell and kiss it even before she goes to school. She will come home looking for it. Her bolster have to be placed on the sofa each day before she leaves for school. There was once she can't remember whether she put it on the sofa or not and made me turn back and open the door for her again just for her to check. Her bolster case has to be the same one also. No replacement whatsoever. That's why her bolster case is fading already. LOL.

6. She loves to drink Yakult or Vitagen. Which kid doesn't?

7. She loves to eat cheese. The cheddar cheese slices kind. This one is like staple food for her.

8. She hates doing her Chinese subject homework. I think the many strokes of the Chinese character demotivates her.

9. She likes the colour pink. I wonder whether most girls do? Or maybe she just takes after me..:P

10. She loves her brother and is quite protective over her brother but still fights with him just like most siblings do.

11. She doesn't allow us to cut her hair short only the fringe. I'm still plotting to cut her long locks one fine day. It's getting too long already. That one fine day will come. I'm still plotting.

12. She can be very stubborn and only wants her way. Are all children like that?

13. Still cries when I drop her off at school. Not everyday but at least once a week. The trick that Santa will cut her name out of his list for Christmas presents because she always cry doesn't seem to work. I need help.

14. She feels safe sleeping beside me. Last night she slept in her own room with her dad because she was coughing a lot. Halfway through the middle of the night, she came to lie beside me and fell fast asleep. Awww..

Wow! I didn't expect to come out quite a long list. It can go on but I think it's enough for now. Hope you enjoyed it.

The Funny Things They Do

Kids say the darndest things or in some cases where the kids can't talk much yet, do the darndest things. I'm sure most of you will agree with me right? Elizabeth, my eldest daughter is now 4 years and 3 months old. While Joseph my youngest son is 19 months old. I think every child at any stage of their development, has their own unique character. It can be a very common thing that every child does but still it's nice to blog about it. It would be fun to read back about it when we are old and grey. So here is a list of the funny things they do in no particular order...

1. My hubby wears spectacles at every waking moment. So the moment he sits up on the bed, Joseph will grab his spectacles and hand it over to his papa.

2. There will always be a reason or excuse everytime I question, reprimand or even give an advice to Elizabeth. Her answer would goes something like this, " No, I just see only, I never touch lah."

3. When you take off Joseph's clothes, he will run into the bathroom. It's a bit hard to get him to come out especially if I just want to change his clothes and not bathe him!

4. If you've read my previous post, I've mentioned that Joseph can say the word "Mummy" already. Recently, he started to say the word,"car". Sometimes it would be spot-on when he points to the cars on the road when we look out of the window or when he points to a picture of a car in his book. But sometimes, he will say "car" and point to other pictures in the book too. LOL.

5. Elizabeth can ask question on and on and sometimes at the wrong time. LOL. How do you answer to this? "Mommy, where is that motorcycle going to?" Usually I would say either to work, shopping, eat or buy things. But sometimes she continues asking at the busiest time like "go shopping and buy what?" I snapped at her by saying, "Eli, I don't know! I don't have a chance to speak to him and I don't even know him". Of course, I would regret after that because she would be silent and I will try to talk about other stuff to her.

6. Yesterday I asked Joseph to find his book and show to his papa the monkey. He showed the correct picture successfully and accompanied it with the "ooh ooh ahh ahh" sound. LOL. He also showed his papa the dog and said "oh oh oh" too.

7. I've discovered that he knows how to fill in the blank when I sing a familiar song or when he watches a familiar show. They are mostly sounds like "A-a-choo" or "Mooo".

8. Elizabeth loves to watch the show Little Einstein. She has watched the DVD over and over again. She knows all the conversations and what's going to happen next already. It's like reading a script. LOL.

9. Joseph is more expressive in getting what he wants. This little fellow will point and make sounds to get your attention. If it goes unheard, he will get louder until you take notice.

10. The two of them like to hold hands together when we go out. It's so sweet to see them holding hands and walking together.

11. Elizabeth can assist me in wearing and taking off her brother's shoes already. Great! Another thing that I can count her on to help me.

12. He dances funny along with music but still very adorable.

13. When Joseph spotted our picture on the wall, he pointed at the picture and said, "Mummy!" I'm still unsure whether he pointed correctly at my picture but it looks as if he's pointing correctly. LOL.

14. And yes, he still calls his papa, "Mummy". Even though his papa corrects him.

Awww...so sweet.

Wah walking in unison

So happy together

To Be A Bookworm Or Not?

I love reading. Story books, interesting blogs and only articles in the newspaper that interests me. I am not an avid reader though because I don't fill my house with books and read one book after another. Maybe that's because I don't have the opportunity. Time is not in favour with me when my hands are full once I reached home. My mom told me that when I was a child, I loved to browse through story books and my kindergarten teachers also noticed that and made a comment in my report card.

Now that I have children of my own, I would also want them to love books. I hope they can be bookworms la but I'm not asking them to be nerds. LOL. I've read from parenting websites or magazines that we can actually start introducing reading to our child as early as 0 months! But I was thinking crazy la. As if the baby would give a damn and I'll be like an insane person trying to read to a baby who can't even see things clearly at 0 months. But it seems it can be done and it's probably just to introduce books and cultivate the reading habit in our child.

The most recent picture I have of her reading.

And so I was quite gung ho about it and being a first time mom before Joseph came along, I started quite early (considered early la by my standards). I read to Elizabeth I think at the age of 6 months. I read to her pop-up books and lift-the-flap books to make it more interesting and encourage her to interact. You can imagine the joy I had when after a few times she was able to anticipate the right time to lift the flap herself after I finish a sentence. I usually read to her before bedtime and it became a routine. So I'm not surprised that she loved reading books. These days, I still read to her before bedtime and ever since she started kindy she can recognise many words and finish reading a book by herself. She was the top reader in her class last year. I hope she will maintain it this year. :) Somehow, I've noticed she became a little lazy recently and only read before bedtime. Thanks to the idiot box! I guess consistency is the key and we must continue to introduce new books to maintain interest. I do buy books but not all the time. My house have no space for too many books and I will be poorer la. Fortunately, we have the national library and I'm a regular there. ;)

Now with Joseph it was a bit tricky. Lets admit it. After being promoted to a second time mom, we can get a little lazy due to age and limited time. We're aging and have less energy. We have two children to divide attention now and it comes with even more chores to do. After doing all that sometimes we have no energy to pick up a book and read to them. You just want to rest and take a breather for a while. Many excuses and reasons huh? But it's true. Maybe I did a mistake or maybe he's just a boy. I started later reading to Joseph. Probably after 6 months but before he was 1 year old. I did the same thing but wasn't that consistent. Sometimes I miss a day or two. He was quite interested but he was also interested in turning the page so quickly! LOL. Maybe boys have shorter attention span.

Imitating the way I read to him by pointing at the words.

Relieved to finish a book? LOL

Aiyah..have to read some more?

These days, I tried to be consistent and read to him everyday. The difference I noticed between the both of them is that sometimes I have to drag him for reading time but not with Elizabeth. I have to read faster with Joseph before he shifts his attention. He can't wait to turn the page and he is more in control rather than me. After finishing a book, he won't browse the book again for long. When Elizabeth was his age, she used to browse quite long until I had to snatch the book away from her because I want her to go to sleep. So will he love books as much as his sister and become a bookworm? I can only cross my fingers.