Archive for September, 2007

Family Getaway.

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Robin had a week off from work and studies, and he reckoned that we should get away from our normal routine and spend some quality family time together in a nice place. And so we did. We were away from 23/9 – 26/9.

We drove up to a country town that was about 2 hours drive from where we live and stayed in an orchard farm. The farm is surrounded by beautiful landscape and lots of fruit trees — orange, fig, mandarin, lemon etc. This is what we woke up to every morning.

Spectacular. It is amazing what plenty of fresh air and beautiful scenery can do to one’s mood. Everyday was happy day for us despite the stress of having to care for 2 young boys.

We spent a lot of time together as a family. It was great that Robin was away from his working desk and computer screens. He was so much more relaxed and was truly well rested. He spent a lot of one to one time with the boys, especially with Calvin. They went out for long walks around the farm, listened to the frogs croaked at night, looked at the moon and stars in the night sky, fed animals in the farm, played self-invented games in the chalet and ate their favourite ice-cream together. There was so much laughter when these 2 played together. It was good fun watching them.

Baby Athan also had time to bond with his papa. Robin played with the baby a lot, and he carried Athan in the carrier or push him in the stroller most of the time when we were out and about. When Athan cried for attention, Robin would also help to comfort him. So, as a result of Robin’s involvement with the boys, I get to have a break too. That was so good.

I love to see Robin spending time with the boys and how the boys react to him. Both Calvin and Athan simply adore their papa. Seriously. Athan always has a huge gummy smile to return to Robin’s teasing and Calvin is always laughing and asking for more play when he is with his dad. I pray and hope that the boys will have a strong relationship with their father in their growing up years.

I think Calvin had the most fun! There’s so much for him to do and so many new things to learn. He spent time with his brother too. We often put the boys together during play time and get Calvin to watch out for Athan. Calvin often *talked* to his baby brother telling him what he was doing, and Athan would watch him with great interest.

There’s a huge field in the farm for Calvin to run around, fruits for him to pick, animals for him to feed, and of course one of the most special thing he experienced was being very close and having lots of attention from his papa and mama. It is very obvious to us that he really liked it and he behaved rather well throughout the whole trip.

As for our dear little Athan, I think he has enjoyed himself too. He smiled a lot throughout the trip. He was very excitable and was kicking his little chubby legs and flapping his little arms all the time when someone played with him. Robin and I found that really adorable and we couldn’t help but laugh at him. In return, he gave us his huge gummy toothless smile. In fact, he smiled at everyone who smiled at him, be it the ladies at the bakery, the owner of the farm, strangers we met along the way etc. He took the car trips quite well, and he had numerous naps in the car. That’s a huge improvement to what he was like before — screaming his head off in car rides. I have to add that his night sleep was not that good — he kept waking up after 3 – 4 hours of sleep and cried for attention. For me, it was back to baby days again when I have to wake up 2-3 times a night to feed him. The good thing was that I was able to put him back to sleep after a brief feed. We reckoned he was either cold or he was aware of the change of his surroundings. Here’s one of our favourite pictures of Athan taken during the trip. Cute, ya?

As Robin said, it was a restful holiday and it was good to spend time with the family. Thank God for keeping us safe.

Athan — 6.5 Months

Thursday, September 20th, 2007

Athan is a happy baby. Thank God. He smiles a lot and is usually quite easy to appease (on a good day). These days, he no longer sit quietly on my lap. He wants to stand and bob up and down on my lap. He likes it even better and will squeal in delight if he is being repeatedly lifted high up in the air and come down again. He loves to play, and he loves it a lot when his father plays with him.

He puts everything he has in hand right into his mouth, and he drools a lot. He uses at least 3 bibs a day, and guess what? He likes to chew on his bib — more than his teething rings. We think he is teething but at this stage we have not seen any tooth yet.

He has started on solids. He gets really excited when he sees the spoon coming his way. His hands will reach for the spoon and then he will attempt to put spoon into his mouth. The contents in the spoon often fall out as a result. So, I give him another spoon to hold while I feed him. It works. At the moment, he is swallowing whatever I give him. Hopefully, he will be a good eater. I give him water after food in the hope of cultivating the habit of drinking water. He likes to hold on to the bottle although he can’t feed himself very well yet at this stage. He will improve with more practice.

Athan has 3 naps during the day before his bedtime at night. His first morning nap is around 9 – 9.30am, and he usually sleeps for about 1.5 – 2 hours. The afternoon nap is around 1 – 2pm, and he sleeps for about an hour. The third nap is around 4.30 – 5pm. I call this his “power nap” because he only goes down for about 30 minutes although sometimes he can sleep for an hour(if I don’t wake him), especially if the previous nap is shorter. He will eventually go to bed at night at around 6.30 – 7pm. He can sleep through the night and wake up at 6.30 – 7am the next morning, but this doesn’t happen everyday of the week. Some days he will still cry for attention at around midnight, and a quick feed is needed to settle him. I have read that such behaviour is common in babies of Athan’s age, and it will (hopefully) disappear when he turns 9 months.

He is happy in the morning when he wakes up. He usually talks to himself and makes cute little noises. Then he will begin to wriggle out of his blanket and push his way to top of the cot. We often find him in the position as shown in the photo above. He has even managed to kick one of his socks off. He gets really excited when we open the door to greet him. He flaps both his arms and kicks his legs non-stop. It is really funny to watch.

Athan is much more interactive and sociable now. We are enjoying him more and more. It has been an absolute joy to be able to watch Athan grow day by day. I have to say that it has not been easy taking care of a baby as well as a 3-year-old, but the effort is definitely worth it. I would not trade my time spent with my boys for anything else.

My Household Of Boys

Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

These are my 3 boys. I’m so blessed 🙂

Calvin — Turning 3

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

If you ask him how old he is, he will proudly tell you “Calvin san sui” (Calvin is 3 years old), and he will even show you 3 fingers to indicate 3 years old. Then he will say “mai Calvin yi ge da da de dan gao, you strawberry, hai you chui la zhu” (that’s his improper chinese sentence to mean “buy a big strawberry cake for Calvin, and blow candles”). He might even sing his version of the birthday song for you! 🙂 And, by the way, he loves eating cake.

Of late, he has been playing with his blocks a lot. He seems to enjoy building things according to his imagination. He has this set of “mega blocks” which he calls *monster blocks” that he uses to build *monsters*. Yup, he likes to build monsters and one version of it is as shown in the photo on the right. This particular monster has teeth, and it even brushes its teeth and rinses its mouth. It has hair and takes a bath too! (Just like Calvin!) Interesting imagination. Calvin can sit and play with the blocks by himself for quite a while, but of course he likes it even more when someone plays with him.

Calvin is asking a lot of questions about anything and everything. He likes to ask “what’s this” and “what’s that sound”. He likes to remind me to be careful when I am driving and he always shout “mama go!” when he sees green light and “stop!” when he sees red light. He also likes to point to the cars on the road and tell me their colour and whether it is a car, truck or bus. I have to learn to answer his questions and drive safely at the same time.

He is learning to be a big brother. I get him to help take things for Athan and get him to watch out for his little brother (of course I am nearby). He seems to like to be in charge and be able to follow instructions. I give him lots of praises and encouragement whenever he helps or shows affection to his brother. Sometimes he helps me out in little ways even without me asking. I really appreciate that. Let’s hope and pray that these 2 boys will grow up to be best friends.

Calvin whines. He whines when he does not get what he wants, when someone snatches his toy, when he wakes up from his nap or when he simply wants some attention. His whining can be very very annoying. It is especially annoying when he does it repeatedly to get what he wants. I have to say that there are times when I lose my cool and raised my voice at him to get him to stop. This is counter productive because yelling at him makes him whine even louder! What really works is to remain calm, go down to his level and get him to talk properly. I wish this whining business will stop soon.

Calvin is a happy little boy. He is funny in his own ways and he makes us laugh all the time. He often entertains us with his singing and dancing (mainly stomping on the floor). He does not like it when we laugh at him, so we try really hard not to laugh, and give him lots of encouragement and praises instead. He likes to be praised.

It’s been amazing watching Calvin grow and learn new things day by day. I’m really glad that I can be there for him each step of the way. Thank God.

Wildflower Festival.

Wednesday, September 12th, 2007

We brought the boys to Kings Park yesterday morning to visit the annual Wildflower Festival. The display of flowers is simply amazing.  The park is very well kept and maintained.  The staff workers at the park have really put in a lot of effort and thought to put the festival together. Robin only managed to take a few photos as our camera ran out of memory. *sigh* The everlastings as shown in the picture above is one of the few photos taken.

The park was already packed with visitors when we arrived at around 10am. We took long slow walks to look at the different theme gardens and native plants. I really enjoyed the flowers and the walk, but my dear Calvin started to complain halfway through the walk. We wanted to *educate* him a little about the plants we saw along the way, but that was almost impossible because the boy was too impatient to listen and *stop and appreciate*.  He wanted to go go go and in the direction of his choice.  And then, he wanted to be carried! He was probably getting tired from all the walking.  And, he was coughing.  (The boy was showing signs of some sort of viral infection yet again. ) Robin managed to persuade him to walk a little further and a little further and finally we stopped for lunch. We had a nice picnic lunch under a tree, and from where were, we could even see the skyline of the city.  How good was that?

Calvin was much more well behaved after lunch.  He found new energy and was running after the ducks. :)  As for Athan, he was happy to sit in his pram.  He was quietly and curiously looking at the surroundings. But he was tired shortly after lunch and started to cry really loud.  That was our cue to go home.

The outing was enjoyable despite the stress that came with it.

The Boys.

Monday, September 10th, 2007

calvin and athan

I often put the boys together during play time. I am hoping that both Calvin and Athan will get used to the presence of each other and will eventually play together. Calvin always talks while he plays with his toys. He likes to *describe* what he is doing (using his limited vocabulary), and at times he sings and sometimes he babbles. As for Athan, he just sits in the *bumbo* chair and suck his thumb while watching his brother in action.

The bumbo chair is such a clever innovation. It is light weight and has a high back rest which helps the baby to sit upright. My good friend, Flora lent it to us and I’ve been letting Athan sit in it everyday. We even bring it to the restaurant to let Athan sit in it. Of course, we have to be very careful when the baby is able to climb out of the chair.

Calvin is quite gentle around his brother. He likes to be the *big brother*. He is always listening out for Athan’s cry and will report to me when he hears some sound coming out from the baby’s room. He wants to be the first one to open the door to greet his brother in the morning, and wants to be the one to fetch the baby’s bib, toys etc. I like Calvin’s involvement with the baby because it shows his awareness and attachment to Athan.

I hope these 2 boys will grow up to love one another.

New Look. New Title.

Saturday, September 8th, 2007

Finally. Our new site is up and running. There were some annoying and frustrating technical problems while we were setting things up, and that explains the delay in *launching* this new site.

Robin created the banner and I contributed to the new title. Well, since I am the main author and I write about the boys most of the time, I thought the title is a pretty good one. 🙂 I hope this new tool will help me manage this blog better. I am learning.

Our previous posts are still available and they can be accessed by clicking on “archives (nov’04 – aug’07)” under “Pages” on the right hand side panel. I have not transferred them across to WordPress at this stage as it requires quite a bit of work and effort.

I’ll put up a new post soon.