Helene vs Agnes

Helene had a haircut about a week ago, and she turned out to have a really cute fringe after that.

We all commented that she looked like Agnes from the movie Despicable Me and even a friend of mine pointed it out when I posted her photos from our recent trip to Golden Sands.

Have a look for yourself :)

My sister-in-law said that Helene;s face is funnier than Agnes'! Haha :)

Helene really is a funny little girl. Would love to post some of her anecdotes here, but the thing is that most of the funny things she says are in Hokkien! So for it to be really funny, you have to actually hear it. She also likes to repeat what we say, and imitate what we do. She is definitely the cheekiest of the three, and she knows she can get away with it!

On my day off

A couple of weeks ago, I took a day off from work because my mother in law had something on. Incidentally, Hannah was also on holiday from school. I was trying to think of what to do to keep them occupied for a few hours before my mother in law came home. Bringing 2 kids to a mall by myself is a complete no-no as I wouldn't be able to chase after 2 active kids, so in the morning, we ended up at McDonald's Sunrise Tower. I seriously think that this is the happiest place in the world for kids (besides Disneyland, of course). Whoever condemns McDonald's obviously doesn't have kids!

Later on, I took them to visit Chew Thean Yang Aquarium a.k.a. the mini zoo. The girls loved feeding the fish and looking at the animals there. Cheap and fun entertainment - highly recommended :)

Heidi's speech has increased by leaps and bounds ever since before turning two. She couldn't speak much at all previously and now she can't stop. However she definitely has a Malaysian accent to her speech, even calling us "Mummy-ah", and "Daddy-ah", not to mention all the "lahs".

Speaking of speech, Hannah asked me just the other day, "Why did Jesus make babies not able to talk?" I gave her the standard "Because that's how it is" but it didn't seem very convincing to her though lol.

Out of the mouths of babes ;)

Funny Hannah

Hannah was scrolling through Hubby's phone when one of his contacts' profile picture caught her eye. Instantly she said, "Wah Daddy, Hello Kitty is your friend ah??"

Also, some time ago, we were having dinner at an Indian restaurant in town. Who knew that paper thosai could make such a good toy?

Funny lil' Hannah!

Fun in a box

I admit as a parent sometimes I have preference towards "branded" toys which is probably of slightly better quality than what you can get in the pasar malam, but in actual fact, to the kids, toys are toys, doesn't matter whether it came from Toys R Us or the mini market down the street.

Sometimes kids even get tired of actual toys, preferring normal everyday things which they pretend are toys! Classic example below:

My kids playing in their makeshift toy boxes (maybe they are pretending it's a fort?). So it doesn't take a lot to make them happy...time to bring out my pots and pans :p

Mah-mee and Pa-pa!

At almost 17 months, Heidi can finally call me "mah-mee". She could say "ma-ma" but when I asked her to say "mummy", it would come out as gibberish. We discovered it last week only. Usually when I come home after work, Hannah will run and greet me, calling "mummy, mummy". So last Thursday it was the same routine, I came home and Hannah was calling me loudly like she always does. Suddenly a little voice piped up and joined in "mah-mee", "mah-mee" and she went on and on like a broken record. My mother-in-law and I were quite surprised because we had been trying to get her to say it for the past few weeks without success, and suddenly it came out loud and clear. So now she says it non-stop :)

Heidi is definitely one cheeky baby, way more cheeky than Hannah at her age. She will laugh and chuckle at anything she finds funny, and she does it so cheekily! She can call "papa" very well so we are trying to get her to say "daddy".

Me: Heidi, say "Daddy"
Heidi: Da-pa-pa
Me: "Daddy", Heidi
Heidi: Papa!
Me: No, no, say "Daddy"
Heidi: PAPA!

I suppose she knows that it means the same thing :)

Some pictures of our cheeky baby:

As for our big girl, she is growing up to be a little lady. She's now into hairdo, makeup, dressing up and all those girly things.

Dressing up in her cousin's dress which is too big for her:

She also has a very quick mind and sometimes floors us with the things she says. For example, we were driving in the car the other day when Hubby was singing along to Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts". For those who are not familiar with the song, it's basically the usual boy cheats on girl and girl feels betrayed story etc etc. We didn't know that Hannah could actually listen and understand so I think it's probably time that we review the type of music we listen to in the car! So anyway, being a curious little girl, she asked her daddy what was the meaning of the song. Trying to put it as simply as possible, the conversation went like this:

Hubby: It's about a boy who cheated on a girl.
Hannah: What does "cheat" mean?
Hubby: The boy was naughty; he promised to love the girl only, but then he also loves other girls. That's why the girl asked him to leave and don't come back.
Hannah (after a solemn pause): The girl is also naughty.
Hubby: Why?
Hannah: Because she doesn't want to share!

We both sure had a good laugh 

Also, another conversation went something like this:

Hannah and Hubby were discussing her science lesson which she learnt in school. The lesson was on which objects sink and which objects float. So they were giving examples of objects that sink and float (mostly her toys).

Hannah: So how about a duck? Does it sink or float? 
Hubby: It floats (thinking she was talking about her rubber duck)
Hannah (without a second thought): Nolah, the duck can swim by itself!

I do want to make sure I document all this down and maybe in future when she is grown up, I can show her this and we can laugh together. Out of the mouths of babes... ;)

A Foot in Mouth Moment

I think my 4 month-old baby possesses remarkable flexibility. I don't remember Hannah being so flexible when she was a baby.

Heidi has been sucking her fingers (and then thumb) since she was about 2 months old. I was concerned that this could be an ongoing habit which would be hard to break so I mentioned it to her pediatrician who assured me that this was normal. However, now she has progressed to sucking her feet and toes. I wonder if her pediatrician will tell me that this is normal too :p

Naughty Heidi, trying to eat her toes. But at the same time, it really is quite funny too. Her satisfied look once she has successfully put her foot in her mouth (literally!):



Sharing

Hannah loves ice cream. I always say it's because when I was pregnant with her I craved ice cream and was not allowed to have any :) So anyway, her grandpa indulges her quite often with ice cream and she knows that we do not approve. Nevertheless, we always encourage her to tell us the truth and not scold her, otherwise she may not tell the truth anymore. So everyday, Hubby will ask her whether she ate ice cream or not that day and she will truthfully tell us yes or no. However, the other day, her response was what we lawyers call "qualified" - it's a yes with a BUT :) Here's how the conversation went:

Daddy: Hannah, did you eat ice cream today?

Hannah: Yes, but I shared.

Daddy: Who did you share it with?

Hannah: With myself lor!

After a moment of stunned silence, Hubby tried to keep a straight face and asked her:

Daddy: How do you share with yourself?

Hannah: First, I eat half of the ice cream, and then later I eat the other half!

I posted this on my Facebook the other day and several people commented that she has the makings of a "lawyer" :) I commented further that she said it this way so that it doesn't look like she ate the whole thing by herself! Cheeky Hannah :)

Some updates on the girls:

Hannah:

At 3 years 2 months 2 weeks and 3 days, she can now poo poo in the toilet sitting on her training seat. She was off diapers very shortly after her 2nd birthday (fully trained for pee), but it took her more than a year to convince herself that she could poo in the toilet. Prior to this, she always asked us to wear diapers for her when she wanted to poo. That first day, it took her almost an hour for her to do her business because she was not used to sitting on the toilet, but hopefully it will get easier after this.

Heidi:

Heidi had her 4 month injections yesterday - 2 jabs and one oral vaccine for Rotavirus. She was her happy cheerful self, smiling a lot at the Dr and the nurses while they checked her. She could even smile after the first jab as if she did not realise that she had just been jabbed! However, she complained after the 2nd jab and the one that she disliked the most was the oral vaccine. She spit and tried to choke it out but the Dr and the nurse held her firmly so she screamed louder. After it was over she was fine again :) During the checkup, the Dr turned her on her tummy to see how steady was her head and she could lift not only her head but also her chest off the bed. She is not able to flip yet but Dr said it can be anytime now. Here are some of her tummy time pictures when at home:

She is now 6.3 kg and 64 cm long. Since she turned 4 months old, we have been taking her out more and she loves to go out. Here are some of her pictures last weekend at Queensbay Mall:

The dress and the hat are Hannah's - we hardly need to buy clothes for Heidi as she has a lot of Hannah's as well as her cousins' clothes which are hand-me-downs but in excellent condition. I guess this is the benefit of having 2 girls - they can share clothes, not only now but in future too. I hope Hannah's version of "sharing" next time will be to share things with her little sister, and not "with herself"! :)

So boring!

Hannah has a new favourite expression: "So boring!"

Some examples of when we hear it (and it's quite often nowadays!) - the way she says it is pretty amusing :)

Hannah asks Mummy: Where is Daddy?
Mummy: Daddy had to go out very early this morning to take the flight to KL
Hannah: So boring!

On another occasion:
Hannah: Where is Daddy?
Mummy: Daddy is teaching - he has night class today
Hannah: Why every time teaching and teaching? So boring!

And yet another occasion:
Hannah: I don't like this McDonald's, I like the other one, this McDonald's is SO BORING!
Mummy: ??!

CNY 2012

This year was Hannah's 3rd Chinese New Year (CNY) with us. Now that she is bigger, she is able to enjoy it a lot more, and all the good food as well! For once, she had all the cookies, cake, sweets and ice cream she could eat, with us trying to limit her of course!

On the eve of CNY, we had our usual reunion dinner at Hubby's parents' place. Every year it would be a steamboat. These are just some of the ingredients and lots more coming.



We bought Hannah and her cousin Pei Zi matching pyjamas so they wore it after dinner before going home for the night. As always, Hannah is more interested in her games than taking pictures.



On the first day of CNY, we gave Hannah her first ang pows (red packets) - one each from both of us.





Family photo at in-law's place.



At night, we met up with some of our friends at Gurney Plaza. Hannah was so happy to see her friend Tharissa and they were wearing matching dresses which our friend Steven bought for them from Bangkok. There was one day during CNY whereby no kids were around and she went around telling people that "Nobody play with me today!"



On the 2nd day, Hannah wore a cute little outfit and I tied up her hair in 2 pigtails. She recently seems to be quite attached to her big Smurfette.



We took our usual family photo on the stairs.



On one of the evenings, Hannah went to bed early as she was tired out by the excitement of the day. So Hubby and I took some drinks and cookies and sat out on our balcony to watch the fireworks. This is the view from our balcony:





We took another family photo on the 5th day of CNY.



On the 5th day, we took Hannah to Gurney Plaza and she found a new toy.



Another family photo on the 6th day:



More photos have been uploaded on Facebook.

There were also some funny conversations during CNY.

Someone wanted to give Hannah ang pow on the 2nd day of CNY. Hannah's response: "No need, I have already" :)

We told her that we would put all her ang pow money in the bank for her. She looked horrified and said "No, no, cannot give my money to the bank!" Her concept always has been that we pay money to the bank for housing loan, car loan, credit card etc. as she always follows us when we make payment at the cash deposit machines. So she thought the bank would take her money as well :)

When she misbehaved, I told her that I would smack her if she was naughty. I asked her, "Can Mummy smack you if you are naughty?" She replied "No, because I am pretty!" I truly was at a loss for words :p

Anyway, wishing everyone a very happy and prosperous new year! Gong Hei Fatt Choy!

Funny mall stories

Kid's brains go at an amazing speed. Hannah's especially is mainly telling her one thing - be cheeky.

We were at Gurney Plaza sometime before Christmas and there was this huge Santa Claus on display at the centre court. She was quite fascinated especially when Hubby asked her to look at his big white beard. Sometime later, she tugged on Hubby's arm and said "Look Daddy, I am like Santa Claus!" She had made a foam beard with her saliva and it was all around her mouth and chin. We did not know whether to laugh or to scold her for doing that.

Then recently we were at Toys R Us at Queensbay Mall. She saw a Play-Doh ice cream maker which she wanted to buy, but we had just bought her new toys for Christmas, so we did not buy it for her. Everyday since then, she has been persisting on the "ice cream maker" and so finally I told her that we would get it for her for her birthday and she has to wait until then. She thought for a while about it, and then she told me "Mummy, it's my birthday now".

We have one cheeky little girl. But the ice cream maker will just have to wait. Let's see if Hubby caves before me :p

A Piggy Story Part 2

Yesterday morning I was awakened by a small complaining voice next to me:

"Mummy, Daddy make sound like pig"

Me: So it woke you up? Poor thing..

Hannah: Daddy is a big pig, Hannah is a small pig!

Me: You are also a pig? So if Daddy is a big pig and Hannah is a small pig, how about Mummy?

Hannah: Mummy is "hippotamus"! (hippopotamus)

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry :p

Some pictures of our cheeky princess at her favourite activity:

A Piggy Story

Yesterday Hannah had her afternoon nap together with Hubby. She woke up first and went to play in her own room. I was outside in the living room. After a short while she came running to tell me something:

Hannah: Mummy, Daddy do like pig (makes a snorting sound)

Me: (??) Huh? What do you mean, Hannah?

Hannah: Daddy like pig! (makes the snorting sound again)

Suddenly I saw the light...

Me: Oh...come show Mummy how Daddy do like pig (chuckling to myself)

Hannah gestures me to follow her.

Inside the room, we listened intently. I then had this conversation with Hannah:

Me: Hannah, Daddy is snoring, not doing like a pig (but come to think about it, she was not really that wrong either - sorry Hubby! :P)

Hannah: (giving me a puzzled look)

After a slight pause:

Hannah: Daddy is "snowing"?

Me: No, Hannah, not snowing, "snoring".

Hannah: Daddy is snoring.

Me: Correcto! (Hannah learnt this from Dora :p)

So she learnt a new word yesterday and the snorting/snoring sound really put us into stitches when I told Hubby about it later on.

Cheeky little girl :)

Little Translator

In my previous post, I mentioned that Hannah can converse in both English and Mandarin and she knows how to segregate to whom she speaks both languages to. Recently, she has also become my "translator". I don't speak Mandarin fluently, but I am able to understand everyday conversations in Mandarin. However, now with Hannah, she can tell me what people are saying :)

Example 1:

At New World Park for lunch the other day, she was eating her chicken rice and listening to the conversation on the other table (not kaypo, okay, she is observant :p). The old lady was scolding a little boy (probably her grandson) in Mandarin because he was climbing up and down. Hannah turned to me and said "The aunty scold the boy bu yao pa - she said cannot climb".

Example 2:

We were in our apartment lift and it stopped. A little boy and his mother got into the lift and they were conversing in Mandarin. He was asking his mother about an umbrella. When they got off the lift, Hannah asked me "Mummy, where is kor-kor's (big brother's) umbrella?"

Example 3:

We went to have dinner together with my in-laws at a coffee shop and there was a pile of sand nearby. She excitedly went to step in the sand when I came back from ordering the food, she was happily telling her grandparents "wo wan sa!". When she saw me, she told me "Mummy, I play sand!"

English and Mandarin aside, she has recently taken a liking to the childrens' programme "Dora the Explorer", and I think the show teaches the kids some Spanish words too. So the other day, she asked me, "Mummy I want to watch Dora say (some random Spanish word which I have no idea what it means)". Looks like I am going to have a little senorita on my hands :)

We once went to a restaurant and the waitress said that Hannah looks like Dora. Can you see the resemblance??

Reading at Borders

Hannah has recently developed a liking for books. So as yesterday was a public holiday here in Penang, we took her to Queensbay Mall to "jalan-jalan". Since she told us "Hannah want to buy story-book" we headed to Borders to see if there were any good buys.

In Borders there is corner for kids to sit and read, much like in a library. There were a whole lot of kids sitting down there so Hannah felt right at home. Immediately she picked up a few books, sat down and began to look at them.



Oops, the book is upside down, but she was telling us that this is a "cow" :)



Happy Hannah with her books!



My mother taught me to read using the Ladybird "Peter and Jane" series. They had it at Borders but the price was really really expensive - RM10 per book! We'll just have to see if we can borrow it and not buy. In the end, we left without buying anything, but Hannah was happy just to sit there and look at the books.

Hannah can also talk really well nowadays and the things she says are pretty funny too.

First scenario (at my in-law's place):

Hannah to Daddy: I want to play car-car!

Daddy to Mummy: Is there anywhere for her to play car around here?

Mummy to Daddy: I don't think there is, unless we bring her to G-u-r-n-e-y or Q-u-e-e-n-s-b-a-y (spelling out the words)

Hannah then piped up : Queensbay lor!

Second scenario - Hannah was playing with a tap head which she found in my in-law's place:

Hannah to Mummy: Mummy, look and see what is inside.

Mummy (peering inside the tap): I can't see anything.

Hannah: Mummy, look and see if got spider inside!

I was trying to think why on earth would she say that there might be a spider inside. Then it dawned on me - "Incy Wincy Spider climbed up the water spout".

Kids say the darndest things :p

Tired out

Poor little girl did not manage to have her afternoon nap last Friday afternoon as Hubby's parents had relatives visting them from Hatyai. So when we picked her up after work she was already cranky. This is what happened on the way home:



She slept all the way home and right until next morning 8.30 am.

Funny moment yesterday between Hannah and Tharissa at Queensbay:

Hannah: Let's go on big slide!

Tharissa: I don't want.

Hannah (pointing to a smaller slide): This one can?

Children are just too cute :)

"Stinky!"

Hannah has the same aversion as me when it comes to the king of fruits, durian! She has no liking for it. So in our family, it's us against Daddy when it comes to durian.

Yesterday, we stopped by the fruit stand near our house on the way back to buy some fruits. Hubby couldn't resist buying back some freshly packaged durian, and we bought some watermelon, dragon fruit and bananas too. When we got in the car, immediately Hannah pinched her nose with two fingers and kept on saying "stinky, stinky!" Hubby had to wind down the windows all the way home as she kept on complaining. It was kind of funny to see her pinching her nose all the way home.

A few weeks ago also, Hubby offered her some durian, and she shrieked "No, no, don't want, run, run run!", running as far away as her little legs could carry her.

Funny, for a little girl who eats most things, she does not enjoy such a delicacy. Oh well, all the better for me :)

Hat and Boots

When we arrive home at my in-laws place after work, Hannah will run to us excitedly calling "Daddy, Daddy, Mummy, Mummy". Yesterday, we were greeted by Hannah wearing her boots and a hat borrowed from her uncle. She thought she looked pretty "cool", and the hat actually matched her boots! We had a good laugh looking at her parading around proudly in her outfit.

Hubby couldn't resist taking a picture with his mobile phone. She is actually trying to pose "peace" which she learnt from Isabelle.

What has Hannah been up to?

I haven't really had time to blog these past couple of weeks, because work has been really busy and we haven't really been anywhere for me to take any nice pictures.

So, anyway, just to update everyone on Hannah's latest antics. Her speech is improving by leaps and bounds everyday and she can make simple sentences and communicate 2 or 3 words at a time. It is now possible to have a simple conversation with her and she can understand everything that is being said.

For example, the other day we were at the supermarket and she accidentally knocked down a few clothes which were hanging on display. She said "Put back, aunty meh-meh (scold)" and she actually bent down to pick them up and hung them back.

Also, I took her for ice-cream last Sunday afternoon as a treat. After looking at the menu for awhile, the waitress approached our table and asked for our order. I pointed to a sundae in the menu and asked Hannah if she wanted that. She very firmly said no. So I asked her if she wants just a single scoop and she said yes. I then asked her if she wanted strawberry flavour (my personal favourite) and she said "mai, mai" (no). I then asked her if she wanted chocolate and she said "ha" meaning "yes". The waitress sure had a good chuckle :) So small already know how to choose :p

Another funny incident was when we were in the car and she saw the Penang High Court. She can recognise it when we pass by and she will say "court!". By the way, she can also recognise places that she has been, not necessarily the exact place but the area around it. For example, her Ah Gong and Ah Mah go to close the door of an office every night and set the alarm system. Sometimes they bring her along for a ride. So the other day as we were approaching the office, she said "guan men" (close door). She can also recognise the place where her Ah Mah takes her to cut her hair, she said "jien tou fa" (cut hair).

So anyway, back to the court, I asked her "Who goes to court?" She said "Daddy". I then asked her "Does Mummy go to court?" She said "No, Hannah!". So I then said "What does Hannah do in court?" She answered me "Waiting". How true indeed, out of the mouths of babes. What else do we do in the court besides wait around? Wait for the judge, wait for the registrar, wait for our case to be called up, wait for documents - half the time is spent waiting. Indeed, Hannah, you have never said a truer word :)

Here are a few cheeky pictures of her which I took one morning before leaving the house.



Her sign for "good" used to be pointing her index finger up. The other day, she suddenly realised that she could point both her thumb and her index finger. She was so excited and she called me to look "Mummy, Mummy, good, good!" I sure had a good laugh as she was pointing her fingers like a gun. I tried to bend down her index finger so just leaving the thumb but it was not very succesful. Later, she got all confused as to which finger should be up and which finger should be down. So now her "good" is making a "gun" with her thumb and index finger, like this:



And this:



Favourite drink - Vitagen Less Sugar grape "purple" flavour. Even then, we usually drink half the bottle and she gets the other half.