Well no, not me.  But JD.

Lately JD is into this saying “Mom, I need to eat more so that….”

• I can grow taller
• I can do this (flexing his muscles)
• I can jump like Spiderman
• I can run fast
• I can be like daddy
• I can go to big boy’s school (i.e. his school for next year)

But importantly he said to me “Mom, I can do this!!!!!!!!”

 ………………………………………… (Grandparents, prepare yourself for this)

Oh gosh, my heart skipped everytime he does that.  But at least he has learnt the right way to hold his sister, not by the neck at least, phew!  And if you are wondering what Chloe was wearing, that was her vest she wears for her weekly Gymbaroo classes and we just got home from her Saturday lesson.

Heehee, I am just naugthy.  After talking about JD’s favourite bag previously, I took on Irene’s challenge to photo the stuff in JD’s bag if she does the same to her Hailey’s bag.   Last night, I waited till JD was sound asleep before sneaking into his room to steal his bag.  Emptied out the contents and took a picture of it.  This is JD’s special bag and it really tickles me to see what he has.  Over a year ago, he named  this bag his “ABC” bag because he recognised the word “Happy” on the bag was some kind of alphabets.  These days he affectionately called it “My Toy Bag”.

So here’s what I found in his bag:

• 4 Power Rangers
• 1 Ninja Turtle
• A doodlepro with a smiley face he last did
• 17 toy cars
• 4 robotic toys
• A bag of money (the bag was also a gift from my mom that JD loves)
• A dinosour key ring he got as part of his meal from Miss Maud’s
• A stop watch
• A Peppa Pig video camera he got from his dad
• An orange “shooting” kind of toy he got from his treat at McDonald’s
• Another flying toy he got a while back from The National Geographic Shop
• 2 bouncy balls
• 1 toy mobile phone
• A toy sausages from our cooking toys at home
• A packet of sultanas
• Some lollies
• A packet of white sugar he must have taken when we went for coffee
• A shopping receipt from the Asian groceries shop

And this makes me laugh the most!

• A packet of 猪仔饼 (zu cai bing) we usually have for the Moon Festival! 

And his bag is not light either.  It weighs around 1.9kg and once in a while I need to remind him to lighten his bag.  But that’s another struggle :)  Today he insists on wearing his backpack while sitting down for his afternoon tea!  That’s JD my funny little man and I love him for that

With the family, having lunch at the Old Swan Brewery, enjoying the winter sunshine, seeing the kids play, rolling around on the grass…

Note - See JD’s bag, that’s his favourite bag.  My mom gave it to him about 2 years ago, in that bag he has put in lots of toys, cars, balls, money, snacks, pens, crayons, papers, some random shopping receipts and many other things!  He brings the bag with him everywhere he goes, to sleep, to outings, to restaurants, pretty much everywhere!  And he feels very lost if he has accidentally left his bag at home.  The only place this bag doesn’t go with him are kindy and his Tue’s daycare! 

On a rainy winter day, we love to have home made pies!  The kids love their potatoes, and what better way to do with a packet of minced beef in the freezer.  Cottage Pie it is!  I love to add lots of chopped onions, carrots, mushrooms, celery, peas, corn in mine, seasoned it with some tomato paste, black pepper, salt and it is a meal in itself!

Here is the recipe for the cottage pie taken from here.  This is a great dish for kids, and you can put in lots of vegies with the minced beef so that they get their iron from the beef and with lots of vegies too!  Also, if your child doesn’t like cheese, you can leave the cheese out from the potato topping.

40g butter
300g (2 medium) onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500g minced beef
240g (2 medium) carrots, sliced
60ml (¼ cup) tomato paste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
250ml (1 cup) beef stock
salt n pepper to season
 

Topping
800g (4 large) potatoes
40g butter
½ cup finely grated Swiss cheese

Method

Heat butter in pan, add onions, garlic and mince, cook, stirring, until mince is browned. Add carrots, paste, parsley, stock and salt, simmer, covered, about 20 minutes or until carrots are tender. Spoon mixture into ovenproof dish (6 cup capacity), spread with topping, roughen topping with fork. Bake, uncovered, at 200°C for until heated through and browned.
 

Topping: Boil, steam or microwave potatoes until tender; drain. Combine potatoes with butter in bowl, mash until smooth, stir in cheese; mix well.

Pots of pie layered with mashed potatoes, brushed with milk ready for the oven…

15 mins later, browned on the top, ready to be served!

My 4 yo couldn’t wait for dinner any longer…

Last week, we continued on with our Outer Space Theme.

We made a rocket using some paper rolls, aluminium foil, black card paper and some red wrapping paper.  The craft was easy to make and JD did it in no time with minimal instructions.  But we made it a bit more exciting but sticking some blue tac inside the paper roll, put some sparkles on it, I lighted it for JD and he was ready to launch his rocket.  He really enjoyed that and at his age, I could trust him to handle and discard the sparkles carefully.

Chloe was really fascinated with the sparkles too but I couldn’t let her have it and she wasn’t too impressed.  Nontheless, she had a rocket to herself and was making the sound of “Chooooooo” as she flew it around in the air.

JD and I did made a helicopter using some straws, card and sticky tape.  It was a fun craft, more suitable for JD, and to fly the helicopter, we hold the straw between our palms, throw it up the air, and the helicopter will twirl into the air, spinning like the propeller of a helicopter. 

As we had a number of unforseen incidents, like the kids being unwell, me taking on more work, adjusting to a new routine, we had to put our Chinese, alphabets and numbers lessons on hold. 

We should slowly get back into our routine again this coming week, till then, I need some baking therapy to chill out and refocus a bit

And while JD continued to occupy himself with his daddy’s 30yo Lego sets and his latest own built space crawler!

There is always something special about JD that touches my heart.  Sometimes they are just random, sudden acts of him which surprises me.

2 weeks ago JD and I walked past the florist on our way home from the morning walk.  While I kept on walking, he stopped to look at the flowers.  As I hurried him on, he came running asking if he could have some money.  Thinking he wanted some money to buy some bread, he explained that he would actually like to buy a bunch of flowers.  And he wanted to give the bunch of flowers to a potential client I was interviewing that afternoon!  As it was a potential client, I explained to him it might be inappropriate. 

But without much delay, he asked if he could instead get the bunch of flowers for his kindy teachers!  So I agreed, with $5 he happily picked the brightest bunch of flowers and went to kindy that afternoon with a bunch of flowers for his teacher Amanda and Mandy!

Then there were times this week when I was just so grateful for my little man.  On the day when Chloe was unwell, JD could sense my worry and uneasiness.  When I told him that we had to bring Chloe to the doctor, JD without wasting any time, just put his shoes on, grabbed his jacket, dragged my bag along into the car while I locked up the house.  Quickly he climbed into the back of the car, holding onto his sister’s hand while I buckled her in and off we went to the doctor.  I saw the great sense of responsibility in him when he knew something was happening.  And he really acted like a big brother!

Next he also decided his mommy deserve to eat a meal in peace.  On Monday night when we had pasta bolognaise, JD said to me “Mommy, u sit down, I will feed Chloe!”  And like what my hubby would usually do, JD grabbed the TV remote control, switched to some news channel, sat down, fed his sister while I have a bite to eat as well.  It was a very loving moment for me to see how much he has grown and matured.  But also one that was very funny to watch!

Oh JD, I am so very proud of you!  Yes you are also my crazy little man when you act like one of the Monster Warriros!

During the last few days when Chloe was unwell, I was just thankful for a few special things.

Thankful for the thoughts from friends and family.

And very thankful that 10 years ago, under the strong encouragement from my mom, I got my driver’s license.  Having a child that was running a high temperature late in the evening, coughing, looking lethargic and definitely not her usual self was enough to frighten any parent.  And that was after a dose of Infant Neurofen as well.  So when my heart didn’t feel right, I just had to pack the kids in the car, drove to the after hours clinic at the nearby hospital for her to be checked out.  

And thankful that we were only the 3rd in line that night so that Chloe could be looked at rather quickly by the doctor on duty. 

All night long, I kept one ear opened, baby monitor turned out loud, waking up a few times to check on her as well as JD.  During the day when she was uncomfortable, I took out the sling and held her close to me all day.  While my shoulder felt sore, I was just glad to see her resting comfortably while I went about my daily stuff.

And when she got a bit better but still wanted to stick close to me, my working desk was her playground!

Today, she is much much better and even helped out with the housework!

JD on other hand, is doing fine, back to his cheeky self and very very happy to see daddy back home tonight!

Hubby is out of town this week, JD is having a bad cough, Chloe developed a fever and left ear infection over night, taking a sick child to the doctor at 7pm when it is pouring down with rain outside isn’t a pleasant feeling, and trying to get the 13 months old to take her medicine almost tore the house down with her cry. 

So I am a bit zonked out at the moment, just trying to give lots of love n cuddles to the 2 of them! 

So blog will have to pause for a little while until my own Little Feet are back to their happy self!

I am ok, just hope the kids will be okay soon!

JD has turned 4!  My funny little man has turned 4 and it was a good day.  He was blessed with messages from his waigong, waipo, his aunties and presents he has been hoping for, a Lego set, an Optimus Prime robot from Transformers and a red motorbike toy!  He also wanted a motorbike cake but I must admit time was very limited this week! 

Despite that, I made him some little cupcakes, whip up some blue icing half an hour before his afternoon kindy, packed into a box and off we went to kindy that afternoon with some cupcakes to share with his friends.  He also requested for some Freddo chocolates that he could distribute to his friends.

It was a nice little celebration in kindy, and I will think about that motorbike cake when I have a bit of spare time.  I could always make it up to him :) 

The Outer Space is our theme this week!  We are moving away from the colours theme and since JD wanted to do everything rockets and aliens, we decided to bring on the outer space!  And one week of outer space is not quite enough just yet.  I have more programs and activities for this theme but would slowly reveal them week by week!

As I was feeling a bit disoriented with a cold and some issues earlier this week, I was a bit disorganised to start with.  But I am now back on my feet and we did a few activities about the outer space.

For a start, we went to get some groceries at the local Asian supermarket.  The store started to display its mooncake selections and JD was very fascinated by it all.  He kept asking me and all I could tell him was they were mooncakes!  He looked really puzzled and thought they were literally “mooncakes” that would have fire, sparkles coming with it, and that it would have a loud “bang” if he bites on it.   He stood at the display, staring at the mooncakes with real fascination and I could see questions marks going off in his little mind.  It was too funny and too cute.  But, that’s a homework for me to research and tell him the story behind the Mooncake Festival!

He couldn’t get over the whole mooncake thing and wanted me to make “mooncakes”!  He went through my kitchen cupboard, got out my jelly moulds, pressed some Play Dough into it, and tada, here are his mooncakes!  Well, it is “moon” cake, and to him moon has everything to do with the outer space, heehee!

Mooncakes aside, we went to the library the other night and got a whole heap of books such as “Happy Birthday Moon!” , “Faust in Space”, “My 1st book of questions and answers about Spacecraft”, “Projects on kites and flying objects”  and some other books for Chloe.  I also took the opportunity to get a library card for JD so we could get more books out!

For craft, JD made me a special piece of jewellery - an inter galactic piece of necklace that comes with a “super duper powerful energy”!  Isn’t that sweet, hee!  He got hold of some aluminium foil, folded them, glued on some foam stars and shapes I got from the $2 shop, joined 2 pieces of pipe cleaners together and I have got myself a special piece of jewellery from my little man.  Apparently this neckplace will give his mommy lots of power and energy! Watch out, I could possibly launch myself into the moon soon! 

But we also made this star mobile together and we have lots of them hanging from the ceiling, some in Chloe’s room and some taken home by other kids.  Chloe really likes the stars mobiles and she keeps stretching her arms towards the ceiling trying to reach them!  

Chloe also had lots of fun with Play Dough and she has since learnt not to eat it and followed her brother by rolling the dough :)  And I especially like her rolling the dough with her chubby little hands  PS - Aunty Wendy, check out her hair, no more botak head 

As a little science project, we had fun doing the “balloon rocket” by tying a string between 2 poles, blow up a balloon and fastened it with a paper clip or pegs, stick the balloon onto the string, then released the clips and watch the balloon go at a lightning speed!  It is great fun and you can be sure to have lots of laughters from kids with this little project!  Next week I might get JD to launch the rocket himself.

For Chinese, JD is now able to identify the four flash cards of  爸爸, 妈妈, 妹妹, 哥哥!  The other great achivement was when doing our weeky groceries at the supermarket today, JD spotted some apples, and excitedly asked “Mommy, how about we get some 苹果 (apples)?”  Wow, I was thrilled.  Later while lying down on the sofa, he took out the Chinese words book from the shelf and mumbled to himself  红色 (red), 苹果 (apple), 拧檬 (lemon)!  I was watching him from the corner all that while and felt really encouraged by him. 

I am looking forward to another week of The Outer Space.