5 out of 5

Sofia has always been a very physical and active girl since young. She does not mind getting all dirty, sweaty and hot under the sun. I remembered Sofia joining the school for a field trip to the elephant sanctuary at the age of two, with teachers she barely knew. Yes, I was worried too but I knew she was in safe hands. It was a full day trip and the bus ride was about two hours each way.

Sofia came back from the trip tired but very very happy, they saw lots of animals at the sanctuary other than the elephants. Her principal, Julie, later confessed to me that she was actually rather worried when I signed Sofia up for the field trip. Sofia was the youngest in the group and the teachers are from Subang, so she practically knew no one. But Julie said Sofia was extremely well behaved and cooperative throughout the trip. There were no complains about being sweaty and hot or crying to go home. Julie was very very surprised. I guess so as long as there are animals around, it is more than enough to keep Sofia occupied.

We had just gotten the mid-year report for Sofia before the holidays and she had FULL marks for PE (physical education). Though it wears us down at times, we are thankful to God she is such a "energy" babe, growing up physical strong and healthy.

New Friends

It has been a total new experience for me since we moved to the new house. I am so used to living in a "pigeon hole" that it took me quite while to get used to living on the ground. One aspect I needed to get used to was the uninvited "new friends" that would visit us on different occasions.

The wild squirrels would pop in any time of the day to help themselves to Fefe's food and poop all over the backyard. We also have beautiful birds popping by too and Fefe's food is always the main attraction. The most irritation guests we have are the hungry stray cats, they would almost end up in a confrontation mode with Fefe every time. We would have to break up the standoff by chasing them away.

Recently, it has been raining hard and we had a new friend in the garden scaling up the wall. With this fella around, I get questions like "Mummy, where is the snail going?", "Mom, why is the snail climbing the wall, can you ask him to come down?" or ,"Mummy, where is the mummy snail?". Next day, Sofia would be asking me where is the snail and spend the next half of the day searching for the snail in the garden.

I guess these are all good opportunities for the kids to learn about our earth and we are certainly not alone on this planet.

Ana

Ana has been a great help around the house eversince she came and even more so after Jeremiah was born. She learnt very quickly from my mum the way to bathe him, feed him and kept him company. She even managed to established a sleeping pattern for Jeremiah. When Jerry was very young, Ana made sure he took a nap every two hours and that went on for quite a while till when he was older, he took a nap every three hours, even right now. Jerry took to her very well too and she was like an elder sister to him. We were all absolutely happy with her around and I could run errands without worrying about Jerry when I need to leave the house. There were even a couple of nights where we put all the kids to bed with Ana and Daddy and I could sneak out of the house for a date.

Ana's contract is due in mid-Nov and we have spoken to her about extending her contract but unfortunately her mum is not well and she would need to go home in Nov. We are going to miss her a lot and I am sure Jerry is going to feel a bit lost too after she leaves us. We surely hope there will be another chance for her to come and help us again in future.

In the meantime, the search is ON again for another domestic helper.

Family Portrait

Sofia drew this balloney family portrait yesterday and we all find it very amusing and interesting. We had all become balloons!!

From left: Fefe, Po-Po, Gong-Gong, Ana, Jeremiah, Daddy, Sofia and Mummy

Pig's Hair?

Jeremiah is sleeping in the hammock during day time and he never fails to wake up with his hair at the back of his head looking like this. He used to have very soft and fine hair when he was a baby but all that was history after his haircut. He continues wears this "out of bed" style for the rest of the day until his evening bath, Ana says it feels like pig's hair because it is so coarse!!

Indoor Birdpark

I caught a glimpse of a banner that was prompting some bird exhibition at Ikano the other day. Since it was the school holidays and Sofia had nothing much to do, I brought her there to check the chicks out.

It turned out that the KL Bird Park has brought along some of their birds and exhibited them indoors. I thought it was a great idea, the weather was so hot, there was no way I would bring Sofia to the bird park! She was of course delighted, running from cage to cage, inspecting the birds, trying to talk to the birds.

Then, there was a bird feeding session at 2pm. I knew we had to stay for this, she would LOVE it.

True enough, she was game for it!

So we fed the birds not once, but twice!

At the end, before we left, I asked her jokingly,"Shall we bring one of the birds home?"
Her eyes grew BIG and ROUND and nodded at me profusely. I had to explain to her that the birds are actually living in the bird park and they need a BIG BIG home to fly around. Furthermore, Fefe would bully them if we bring them home. She accepted my explanation and went home with me, she is such a lovely darlin' at times.

Haircut

It is the school holidays and I needed a hair cut badly. So I reluctantly invited Sofia along with me. Afraid that she would be bored, I packed two of her storybooks with me to keep her occupied, in case she started fiddling with the hairdressers' tools of trade.

While I was getting my hair washed, I took the opportunity to asked Sofia if she was interested in getting her hair washed and cut too?

"NO." she replied curtly.

"Why? You can cut your hair short, like Daddy, or even Jeremiah! Want to try?" I pressed.

"NO! NO!!I want Mummy to cut." came the answer.

I have been trimming and cutting Sofia's hair since birth and she is so used to it now. She does not allow anyone else to do this job for her, no matter what I say or do.I am not doing that great a job in this aspect and I hope she would get a proper hair cut by the professional soon.

Berd, Baerd, Bird

I was not paying much attention to it actually. Jeremiah was all babbling round the clock unless he is sleeping and I got so used to it so it just went in one ear and exited the other ear. Until yesterday, I was clearing up the pile of magazines in the living room and he was standing at the window babbling and yelling again. I heard something that made me sit up.

"BERD! Ahhhhwatishbabababooooo ... AH!AH!AH! BERD!!"

I thought somebody said "bird"?

So I joined him at the window and true enough, there were some sparrows lingering around in the garden looking for food. I pointed to the birds and told Jeremiah,"Yes, these are birds.!"

Again, he responded with "Berd!". Sometimes, it sounds like "baerd".

First step and first word ... many more to come.

More Teeth

Two more teeth making their way out for Jeremiah.

Bad Habit

How do you help her kick this habit when the thumb is stuck to her all the time? It is unlike a pacifier where you can throw it away, burn it, chop it all up and say "That's it! Grow up kid, no more!". The thumb is part of her hand, her body, what should I do?

I tried to make her wear mittens using her socks but the mittens were off by dawn. I threatened with pepper and chili but it only worked while awake and when caught red-handed. In my absence, she would be happily sucking away. I am adamant that Sofia kick this habit soonest possible as we have noticed her lower two front teeth have protruded even more recently. But HOW? She has come up with some clever ideas like hiding under the blanket, not facing me at night so that she can suck without my knowledge.

My worst plan is to rub chili on her thumb regardless she likes it or not every night until she kicks this habit. I know by doing this, it would be a battle with lots of tears and screams before bedtime and perhaps in the middle of the night as well. It may sound cruel but like I said, it is my last resort.