Hsiu Lin's Blog

Family photo

2012-01-23T10:49:00.001+11:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! We tried to replicate the family photo we took five years ago. Same location, nearly the same poses, some differences but that's what happens...

Ava and Austin

2012-01-22T14:20:00.001+11:00

It was very nice to catch up with an old friend Sharon and her kids Ava and Austin. The kids have grown so much and they had a great time playing in the playground. Then they slowly gravitated to the swimming pool, dipping their toes in the water, then their legs after rolling up their shorts....next thing we knew, clothes were thrown off and the kids were in the pool in their undies! Great times...

"What else" and "and"

2012-01-21T20:31:00.000+11:00

Keira: What are we having for dinner?
Keira's Mummy: Chicken and mushroom.
K: What else?
KM: Pork ribs.
K: What else?
KM: Rice and vegetables.
K: What else?
KM: Mango jelly.
K: What else?
KM: That's all.

Liem: What are we having for dinner?
Mummy: Chicken.
L: And?
M: Rice.
L: And?
M: Veggies.
L: And?
M: That's all.

Butterfly park

2012-01-21T20:26:00.000+11:00

Yesterday we went to the Butterfly park and it was pretty good. Loads of butterflies although they wouldn't stay still to be photographed! We also tried to get a photograph of a butterfly on Liem's head but the butterflies landed for only a second mainly because Liem wouldn't stay still either. Daddy says, "We should have sprayed Liem's hat with honey before we came...and glue!" There were more than butterflies...lovely water features, carp, turtles, tortoises, frogs, spiders, beetles, scorpions, stick insects, leaf-imitating insects....heaps of cool stuff. Near the end, two butterflies landed on Khiem's hands and I finally got a good picture of a butterfly.

Orangutan pictures

2012-01-21T10:48:00.002+11:00

I was told I didn't have a single orangutan picture on my blog...and here's why....most of my orangutan pictures are blurry and can only see the orangutan's backside. Ha! Anyway, the first picture is of Baka, she climbed and swung around a lot (which is probably why most of my pictures of her are blurry). The next one is Seduku and her baby. The last one is of Ritchie and he was standing (sitting?) still so I could actually get a good picture of him.

Sarawak museum, Semenggoh Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, Cat Museum, Sarawak Cultural Village, Tua Pek Kong Temple

2012-01-20T13:31:00.001+11:00

Some of the places we visited in Kuching...the highlight was definitely seeing the semi-wild orangutans Ritchie (dominant male), Baka (young female), Seduku (oldest mother) and her young baby. Baka climbed and swung around playfully, while Ritchie cracked coconuts, ate fruit, drank milk... Seduku climbed around with her baby. We also had a good trip to the Cultural Village where we visited different types of long houses. And the kids burnt money (as they do) at the Tua Pek Kong temple...

Family holiday in Kuching

2012-01-20T13:05:00.001+11:00

We had a lovely family holiday in Kuching, Sarawak. The kids had a great time playing with each other (sometimes so much so that I wonder whether they actually saw or learnt anything else). We had lots of good food, enjoyable swims in the hotel pool, and the kids all gravitated towards Uncle Khiem to tickle him or massage him or sing with him... And it looked like a few of us were suffering from internet deprivation... We are already wondering where to go for our next family holiday...

The search for the Deer Park

2012-01-20T12:36:00.000+11:00

We went looking for the Deer Park but it was a hard slog. The one road sign led us to an entrance that was closed even though we were there after the opening time. So we went to the Orchid and Hibiscus garden first and Ah Kong started asking around for the way to the Deer Park. We were directed to go down a set of wooden stairs but we missed the start of the stairs and Ah Kong had to ask again. Eventually these two guys on a motorbike pointed it out to us and we set off. Got to a hunting platform and kept going eventually finding our way to the Deer Park. Not very well-maintained with broken walls and railings. There were quite a few deer there and about four mousedeer. So, it was good it was free! We saw that the entrance that we first tried to get in was still locked and it must have been a back entrance or something that's never open! Then we had to go back to the wooden stairs to get back to the car, and we are pointing to the start of the wooden stairs for anyone who wants to find it next time...

Visit to KL Bird Park

2012-01-11T19:50:00.001+11:00

We visited the Bird Park today and it was well worth the visit. Lots of beautiful and different birds to look at. A peacock pecked Khiem's toe and a yellow-billed stork pecked Liem's hip. Liem wasn't too happy after that and was quite wary of them. We got him a toy at the gift shop and he said, "I can peck anyone with my pecker!"

Visit to Petrosains centre

2012-01-11T19:41:00.002+11:00

We visited the Petrosains science centre and it was really worth seeing. We were lucky there were no queues as school had resumed (otherwise we were told there would be queues to buy tickets anad to enter). A lot of the science just went over Liem's head but he had quite a good time anyway. Pretty tired at the end though.

Liem, Keira and Sean

2012-01-11T19:34:00.001+11:00

The cousins got to play with each other and had great fun. Climbing, eating together, running around, giggling...great sounds to listen to.

Liem in Malaysia

2012-01-11T19:28:00.000+11:00

We are in Malaysia enjoying being pampered by my family. Lots of good food, touristy things to do and Liem has an ipad to play with. All good things...

Alexandra

2012-01-09T12:09:00.004+11:00

We had lunch with family and managed to see the latest addition to the family, Alexandra. What a cutie!

Christmas at Torquay

2012-01-09T12:00:00.010+11:00

Liem had the usual great time at Torquay this Christmas. Heaps of presents, got to watch one session of cricket at the MCG, went for a sail on Uncle Chris' catamaran and played with Oliver on Uncle Chris' stand-up paddle board.

Science centre in Wollongong

2012-01-09T11:53:00.002+11:00

Liem and I went to the Science centre in Wollongong with Vanessa (one of Khiem's colleague's daughter). Quite a good place to spend a couple of hours. They had the most fun with controlling the robotic arm to pick up blocks.

Darling Harbour

2012-01-09T11:28:00.007+11:00

These picture were taken at the newly revamped playground at Darling Harbour. My Anh, Chloe and Joseph were there too. Liem keeps telling everyone about how he saved Chloe from falling off when they were climbing up the slide. There are very cool water features like an Archimedes screw which Liem loved.

New use for toy box

2012-01-09T11:26:00.002+11:00

We buy a huge toy box to store all Liem's toys away, he takes ALL the toys out and climbs into the toy box to play inside it. Sigh...

Couch sandwich

2012-01-09T11:23:00.002+11:00

Here is Liem playing "couch sandwich".

Visit to Hobart

2012-01-09T11:00:00.012+11:00

We had a lovely trip to Hobart - spent a day with Khuong and Ryan having fish and chips for lunch, visiting Old Hobart Town in Richmond and an old fashioned sweet shop. We also went to Salamanca Market and of course Alison and Dave's wedding in the Cascade Gardens. Nearly went to the wrong wedding because the taxi driver dropped us off at the Cascade Brewery instead of the Cascade Gardens but we worked it all out in the end. The Cascade Gardens has a play area for children and Liem had a good run around there before the wedding.

Visit from Cindy

2012-01-09T10:56:00.003+11:00

It was great to catch up with Cindy after more than 10 years! It was a shame we couldn't see more of each other.

Goose bumps

2011-12-17T13:43:00.003+11:00

Liem: When I get cold, my skin has little bumps on it.
Mummy: They're called goosebumps.
Liem (unbelievingly): Goose don't have bumps!!!

He's got a plan

2011-12-17T13:37:00.002+11:00

Liem had a school picnic on Thursday. There was a swimming pool there and parents had to sign a consent form allowing their child to swim and had to tick whether their child could swim or not. Apparently there were only two children who couldn't swim and yet their parents let them go into the swimming pool - Liem and his friend Bailey. We must be the bad parents....

Mummy: Liem, when you are in the pool, make sure you can touch the bottom.
Liem: It's okay. I'll let Bailey go first, and if he drowns, I won't go in.
Daddy: At least he's got a plan!

Short trip to Torquay

2011-10-07T14:21:00.008+11:00

Just after Ah Kong and Ah Por left for Malaysia, we drove to Torquay for a short holiday. Liem had great fun playing with his "favourite cousin" Oliver and his "second favourite cousin" Billy. With Grandpa's help, they buried a dead eel that had washed up on the beach. Two days after that, the eel was out again, so they buried it again. And this time they made a separate fake grave so "people keep digging and digging and can't find the eel".

Liem has also grown quite a lot and finds it quite easy to climb now. It's been amazing watching him climb up things with great confidence and independence!

Photos and uncooperativeness

2011-10-07T14:15:00.005+11:00

There haven't been many photos of Liem lately....he's been quite uncooperative (to put it mildly)... Examples are in the first two photos...weird poses or hiding of face whenever the camera is taken out...

Then I go and take some photos of pretty spring flowers and SOMEBODY jumps in front of the camera!!!

Ah Kong and Ah Por's visit

2011-10-07T14:08:00.007+11:00

A big thanks to Ah Por and Ah Kong for helping us out during the school holidays and looking after Liem for a week. We hope you had a good time and come back again soon!

Robot Liem

2011-10-07T14:04:00.003+11:00

Liem participated in the school's "Showcase Spectacular" as a robot. In the first picture, he's the one on the far right. In the second picture, he's in the middle...looks like he forgot to put his robot mask on...although Liem tells me, "You don't need to!".

Ha Fat Da

2011-10-07T14:01:00.001+11:00

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Playing scrabble with Mummy

2011-10-07T13:59:00.002+11:00

And here's what he has to say about playing Scrabble with Mummy and Daddy...

Playing scrabble with Uncle Willie

2011-10-07T13:54:00.001+11:00

Here's what Liem drew about playing Scrabble with Uncle Willie...

Aunty Siu Chyn's birthday

2011-10-07T13:48:00.003+11:00

This year we were able to celebrate Aunty Siu Chyn's birthday with her as she was actually in Australia in winter! We had a lovely sushi lunch, then home made sausage rolls, curry puffs and Christmas cake for afternoon tea! Yum! Happy birthday, Aunty Siu Chyn!

Fighter planes

2011-08-20T07:44:00.002+10:00

Liem also loves fighter planes...he gets this from Daddy... He talks about Corsairs and Beaufighters and KI-67s. He makes bombers with Lego.

He also loves Star Wars and is making recon droids and figures with light sabres. The figures are often cutting off heads and legs and jabbing body parts....SIGH... Liem would like Darth Vader's tie-fighter with the curved wings and he loves the Empire because they have Storm troopers. "Where have we gone wrong?", sighs Daddy...

Moomin book

2011-08-20T07:33:00.003+10:00

Liem loves reading the Moomin comic book that Daddy bought for him from Finland. He finds it very funny and there's lots of jokes in it, as he tells me. He's even writing about it in his daily diary at school. Poor Mrs Arnold, she must be wondering what sort of books we are letting Liem read at home...

Liem's space picture

2011-08-20T07:24:00.003+10:00

Liem loves space. He loves reading about it and also drawing pictures about it. Here's one picture that he drew at Kiran's during the last school holidays. I love the "Murcrey" (Liem is sitting beside me at the moment telling me, "That's not how you spell Mercury...it's M-E-R-C-U-R-Y").

Recently he had to give a speech at school as part of the English curriculum. He chose to talk about the planets in the solar system. And he got chosen to represent his class at the school finals. He came away with a Certificate of Participation, not a trophy as he would like. Well, he'll just have to try harder next time!

Musing in the bath

2011-07-27T14:53:00.002+10:00

Liem, musing in the bath: Who knows more, Daddy or Mummy? I think Daddy. Why does he always say he's one step ahead of you?

Toys that appeal to boys

2011-07-17T13:47:00.003+10:00

On the back of the packaging for a Transformer that Liem likes called Ironhide:

"The only thing Ironhide loves more than his two big guns is one even bigger gun. His entire life has been devoted to the study of weaponry. The louder the bang it makes, the more he likes it. Peace is his ultimate goal, of course, but he believes lasting peace can only be achieved through force of arms."

That's how to appeal to boys, of course...

Catch up with Sui Hoon

2011-07-09T20:50:00.002+10:00

It was a mad weekend. Saturday - Damon's birthday party. Sunday - swimming 8.30-9; Mother's group birthday party 9.30-11; lunch with Sui Hoon and family 1pm in Chinta Ria, Cockle Bay Wharf. It was lovely to catch up with an old classmate, see the kids, eat some yummy food...

Joint 6th birthday party with Mother's group

2011-07-09T20:42:00.006+10:00

Ahh...it's been wonderful to watch this lot of kids grow up. Liem was very hungry since he had his swimming class before the party. After everyone else had finished and left the table, he was still eating...hahaha...

Damon's birthday party

2011-07-09T20:38:00.006+10:00

Spiderman is in. There were five Spidermen at this party. Liem now wishes he could dress up as Spiderman too...

Happy 6th Birthday, Liem

2011-07-09T20:31:00.004+10:00

Transformers are in. That's all Liem wanted for his birthday, Transformers. And he got heaps of them too. Cupcakes (with icing and beautifully decorated not by Mummy - phew!) with his classmates and with the kids at after school care. Cake and fruit with Grandma and Grandpa who came bearing heaps of cool presents for Liem. Dodgy penmanship again with the icing pen, Mummy!

Spreading peanut butter

2011-07-09T20:21:00.003+10:00

It's sometimes a continuous struggle trying to get Liem to do things for himself. I have to continuously remind him to put his dirty plate / bowl / utensils into the dishwasher. I have to nag and nag to get him to empty out his lunchbox every day. One Sunday night, while making lunch for Monday, I can't find his lunch box. Found it eventually in his school bag (with a moldy half eaten sandwich inside - shudder!). Turns out that on the Friday, I was in Canberra for a symposium and Daddy forgot to nag Liem about emptying his lunchbox. Anyway, here's some photos of Liem spreading peanut butter by himself.

I'm in love with meatballs

2011-07-09T20:14:00.004+10:00

One weekend, I'm wondering what to cook. I ask Liem what he would like to eat, he says, "meatballs". I have NO IDEA how to cook meatballs so I make it up. Minced pork, flour, egg, salt, pepper - roll into balls, cook in oven until done. Liem LOVES them! He tells me, "I'm in love with meatballs" and eats VAST AMOUNTS of the meatballs. Well, I'd better not forget the recipe so I can make it again next time...err...uh oh...too late...

Mummy doesn't do icing

2011-07-09T20:03:00.008+10:00

Liem's school had a cupcake decorating competition for a charity thing. Students bring in cupcakes that they have decorated, and then they get to buy each other's cupcakes for 50 cents each. Here are pictures of Liem helping to make the cupcakes, they smelled heavenly when they came out of the oven and looked beautiful too.

Then came the disastrous part...the icing. Too much water = runny icing = sprinkles that roll off the top of cupcakes instead of sticking = HUGE mess all over the place. I tried drawing faces on the cupcakes too with an icing pen but those pens are actually harder to use than I anticipated. Anyway, here are the results and needless to say, Liem didn't win the prize for best decorated cupcakes. Mummy just doesn't do icing.

Hot pot or wok pot?

2011-07-09T19:57:00.004+10:00

It's been so cold lately....Khiem has been making us hot pots for dinner using our electric wok. Liem says they should be called "wok pots". Very yummy, delicious and warm, cooked right at the table and eaten straightaway. Ah....lovely...

Teng Tjun and Nat's marriage registration

2011-05-14T14:10:00.002+10:00

Congratulations to Teng Tjun and Nat on their marriage registration. I was not able to be there due to flu, but Liem and Khiem made it. Thanks to Teng Tjun for the photos here.

How to eat sushi

2011-05-14T13:59:00.007+10:00

Whoa, what a lot of sushi! Carefully use chop sticks to pick up sushi, eat, lick lips. When all finished and still hungry, eat some of Daddy's rice. One of the few photos of Liem and Mummy.

High-t

2011-05-14T13:46:00.004+10:00

Courtesy of the Toos, we went to the Swissotel for "high-t" on the weekend. I love that Liem wrote about it at school and even drew pictures of some of the things he ate...

Mother's Day

2011-05-14T13:40:00.002+10:00

Liem's school organises a Mother's Day Stall every year and the students get to buy something for Mum. I was quite keen to see what Liem would get me, but also partly dreading that it would be something really horrible. Anyway, it wasn't too bad, he bought me a candle and a purse with "girly shoes on it". He also made me a card out of a paper plate. We had candlelit dinners for two nights and enjoyed the candle very much.

Grey socks

2011-05-14T13:37:00.002+10:00

I am folding the clothes and then notice that Liem has a pair of grey school socks that are a slightly different shade of grey. They also have slightly different ribbing pattern on them. How on earth did Liem come home from school with someone else's socks???

Where DO you grill chops?

2011-05-14T13:27:00.003+10:00

We were highly amused to see this piece of school work come home one day. Liem got one wrong. The statement was, "You grill chops in a pot", and Liem wrote "Yes". Daddy always cooks chops in a pot...Liem sees this all the time, and he wouldn't know that there was ANY other way to grill chops. Hahahaha!

Ah Kong's visit

2011-05-14T13:08:00.011+10:00

Sorry that this post is so late...everyone has been asking about Ah Kong's trip to Sydney. Ah Kong was kind enough to help us out during the school holidays and looked after Liem for two weeks. Liem went swimming every day and his swimming has certainly improved (he's actually putting his face in the water now). Mummy was spoilt by getting lifts to and back from the train station every day. We also celebrated Ah Kong's birthday with lunch at the Burnt Door Brasserie (Como Hotel) and chocolate cake. The highlight for Liem was playing with Talking Tom on Ah Kong's iPad. In these pictures you can see Uncle Willie having great fun with Talking Tom too!
We also managed to have a walk around Sydney with Ah Kong, something we would never be able to do if Ah Por was around.

Photos from other camera

2011-05-14T12:48:00.006+10:00

Whenever Khiem goes away for meetings, he takes the camera I usually use. So I use his old camera to take photos. Then forget to load the photos onto the computer. Found these photos that were from last year! They are of Rina and Liem playing together on the driveway.

Ai Mie and Mark's wedding

2011-03-06T17:15:00.011+11:00

We had a lovely time at Melbourne for Ai Mie and Mark's wedding. Liem enjoyed playing with his cousins. He and several of his cousins were allowed to stay up for the dinner and looks like he enjoyed it very much. It was good to catch up with relatives that we hadn't seen in ages...

Mouse

2011-03-02T08:42:00.002+11:00

I am helping Liem with his homework (yes, they have homework in Kindy). We...ahem, I mean he, is supposed to cut out pictures of things that begin with M and stick them in his homework book. I am flicking through junk mail from work looking for pictures of things beginning with M. Hmm..."mass spectrometer" starts with M but it's probably a bit too advanced for Kindy. Then I see a section about animal experiments and there's a picture of a mouse. Perfect! I tell Liem as I give him the brochure that he can cut out the picture of the mouse and stick it in his book. A bit later on, I notice that Liem has cut out a picture of a computer mouse!

Liem starts school!

2011-02-06T15:56:00.003+11:00

Liem has started school and it all went well. He was so excited he woke up at 5.30 am. Then proceeded to eat 3 slices of bread with peanut butter. After brushing his teeth, I said to him that he needed to get dressed. He pointed to himself saying, "I AM dressed". "But not in your school uniform" I say, and he rushes off to get dressed in his school uniform. Daddy sees him in the uniform and says, "Liem, you look like a little school boy!" Well, he IS a little school boy. Thanks to Virginia for the family photo, also many thanks to Rina for helping Liem settle into before and after school care.

We were warned to "label everything including shoes" and I thought I had done a pretty good job labelling everything including all Liem's colour pencils. Then he comes home one day and tells me that someone's Thomas underpants fell out of his bag and because it wasn't labelled, the teacher didn't know whose they were. I had to get the pen out and straightaway label all Liem's underpants. Who would have thought that UNDERPANTS needed labelling???

The red and yellow outfit is the "sports uniform" to be worn on Fridays. Although Liem did point out that they didn't actually do any sport on that day...

Not giving up yet

2011-01-03T07:05:00.002+11:00

I was told over Christmas that if I sent my son to school in pink socks, I would be SCARRING HIM FOR LIFE! BUY HIM NEW WHITE SOCKS, I was told. I'm not giving up yet. One of the girls in my mother's group suggested a product called Dylon Colour Run Remover. Aha! Another chance to redeem my laundry disaster....

Liem playing cricket

2011-01-02T16:38:00.003+11:00

Liem played his first game of cricket with his cousins on the beach this Christmas. Somehow he always ends up flinging the bat away...

Christmas holiday

2011-01-02T16:25:00.013+11:00

We enjoyed a holiday in Torquay this year. Liem enjoyed playing with his cousins. We had day trips to Geelong, Queenscliff and Melbourne. Caught up with friends and family, had loads of good food and Liem received a "Bubble Blaster" for Christmas. I'm still not sure whether to consider it a "gun" or not...

Broken down bus

2011-01-02T16:19:00.004+11:00

A bus broke down in front of Grandma's house. It had to be towed away. This was of GREAT interest to all the boys and they had to watch it all even if they were freezing. They also found it very entertaining to avoid looking at the camera...

Hot summer days

2011-01-02T16:13:00.006+11:00

Liem has been enjoying the hot summer days...riding his scooter or bike, then playing with water balloons or just water with Rina.

Junyu's birthday party

2011-01-02T16:08:00.003+11:00

This was a lovely party at a play centre in Wollongong. Liem loved the slides there. Mummy loved them too...

Kinder Transition Days

2011-01-02T15:41:00.003+11:00

Liem's attended all four Kinder Transition Days at his school and is really looking forward to starting school. Here is something they had the kids do..."Circle the pictures of things that make a noise (sound)".
Liem: I saw a boy circle a chair. Chairs don't make noise!
Mummy: But Liem, you circled the apple and the lamp...
Liem: When you bite an apple, it goes "crunch". When you turn on the lamp, it goes "chk".
I guess he has a point...

Lachie's birthday party

2011-01-02T15:36:00.003+11:00

Thanks Michelle for organising a great party. Liem had bags of fun!

Rocet?

2011-01-02T15:33:00.001+11:00

Mmm...mango pudding...

2011-01-02T15:31:00.002+11:00

Thanks to Teng Tjun and Nat for lunch and the mango pudding. Liem loved it!

Professional photos

2010-12-18T07:52:00.002+11:00

Liem's day care lady organised to have professional photos taken of her and all the children in her care. She told us to dress the kids up in a plain white top. That morning, Liem and I had a tussle about what he was going to wear. I wanted him to wear a plain white t-shirt. It was "un-comfy". He took out another shirt, I said no, because it had patterns on it. Then he took out another shirt, again no, because it had a logo on it. Eventually we settled on a plain light blue shirt as the instructions from the photographer had said, "plain light-coloured top with no logos". When we got to day care, I told Liem's day care lady that I had put the plain white t-shirt in his bag so he could wear that if the blue shirt wasn't ok.
Day care lady: Where's the shirt?
I took it out of the bag. Then she started taking Liem's blue shirt off (no complaints from him, I noticed).
DCL: I want him to wear this shirt.
I put Liem in the white t-shirt.
Me: This white one?
DCL: No, the blue one.
Me (confused): Then why are you taking it off?
DCL: Because I'm going to IRON it.

Once again, my inadequate laundry skills are exposed to the world...

More on Santa

2010-12-17T16:00:00.002+11:00

Liem: When we went to Funky Bugs, the Santa there wasn't the real Santa. His beard had a STRING! And he had FRECKLES! The real Santa doesn't have freckles!!!

What sharp eyes he's got...

2010-12-09T06:11:00.002+11:00

We went for a Christmas function organised by the family day care people. There was a show by the Funky Bugs for the kids. What? Never heard of the Funky Bugs? Neither had we until we saw the show. It's a one man show and surprisingly good. He gets the kids dancing, singing, laughing... they actually listen to him (which is sometimes a bit of a miracle). At one point, he had a few soft toy butterflies and was trying to make them dance (they didn't), then he tried to juggle them, then he sneezed and threw them into the audience. The message was that "If you don't cover your mouth when you sneeze, bugs go everywhere!".

After the show, all the kids went outside to see Santa Claus and get a little bag of lollies. Liem tells Daddy, "That's not the real Santa Claus, his beard has got a string. The real Santa Claus doesn't have a beard with a string!"

Laundry disaster

2010-12-05T06:13:00.002+11:00

Liem has been very excited about going to school next year. We've gone for all four Kinder Transition Days at the school. I've gone for a Parent Information Session. We're starting to buy things for Liem for when he starts school and he loves all the new stuff. We've got him a school bag which came with a pencil case and an insulated lunchbox with a water bottle. I've been most excited about the school uniforms. Got Liem the summer uniforms but will have to get the winter ones a bit later. And socks, got him grey ones and white ones. Which leads to the Great Laundry Disaster of 2010. In my excitement I decided to wash all the uniforms and socks beforehand, but the load had one of Liem's red shirts in it. All his brand new white socks turned PINK!!! Liem went off and told the neighbours about how his Mummy turned his white socks pink. No secrets in this house anymore!!!

I've soaked the blasted socks in hot Napisan overnight. They turned a lighter shade of pink. I soaked them in bleach overnight. The pink colour became patchy. I've given up now....Liem can wear patchy pink socks to school and everyone will know his Mummy is hopeless at laundry...

My pen can write on anything

2010-10-23T17:54:00.002+11:00

In the car on the way to grocery shopping...
Liem: My pen can write on anything...
Mummy and Daddy: (Uh oh)
On arriving at the car park, Liem emerges from the car with pen marks on his face, hands and shirt...

Mummy, I love you

2010-10-23T17:53:00.002+11:00

Liem: Mummy, I love you.
Mummy: (Aw, how sweet...)
Liem: I love you the best because your pajamas are very soft...
Mummy: (What the...???)

New friend

2010-10-03T17:53:00.003+11:00

Liem has a new friend. She's a new neighbour that moved in a few months ago. Reena and Liem can play for hours together. And a collective sigh of relief has been heard from the four parents. No more "What should I play now?" from Liem, no more "Boring!" from Reena. They occupy themselves, and only one parent is needed to keep an ear out. Liem runs to Reena's house to find out if she can play with him, Reena runs to our house (several times sometimes in the one day) to find out when he's back from day care. They play outside with balls, sometimes with "guns", lately they've been indoors playing that they have babies (the soft toys are their babies, they change nappies, push them in a pram to day care, punish them mercilessly if they've been naughty (where did they get that from?)). Today, they are giants, very hungry giants, that are eating everything around them. Now that daylight savings has started, there will be light in the evenings after dinner and you can be sure Liem will be trotting, by himself, over to Reena's house to ask her to play. He's really growing up!!!

Joint birthday party

2010-10-03T17:50:00.002+11:00

Another joint birthday party. The kids are going to school next year. They are no longer babies or toddlers, they are little children. How time flies...

Blue Indian

2010-10-03T17:46:00.002+11:00

Liem came home wearing this "crown" made at day care. I thought he looked like a Red Indian and told him so. He said, "I'm a BLUE Indian" because of the blue clothes he was wearing. Had to show him pictures of Red Indians on the internet later. What did we use to do before the internet?

More artwork

2010-10-03T17:43:00.002+11:00

More artwork, this time a bit more cryptic... If you were in the know, that Liem really enjoyed his trip to Genting Highlands with Ah Kong especially the bumper cars, you would be able to work out that he's drawn a picture of bumper cars.

Art work

2010-10-03T17:33:00.005+11:00

It's amazing what artwork comes home with Liem these days....look at these! You can actually work out what they are!!! Usually I have to guess wildly when I see the pictures.
Mummy: Oh, that's nice, Liem. It's a building.
Liem: Nooooooo....it's a MACHINE!
(Next day)
Mummy: Ahh...that must be a machine.
Liem: NOOOO, it's a playground! With train tracks next to it!

Right! So much for guessing. This time I (and everyone else) can work out that Liem has drawn boats. And dinosaurs. I did actually see the book that the dinosaur pictures were copied from and it was meant for teaching kids to draw dinosaurs. I was so surprised to see these pictures that I just had to take photos of them to share them. Hahaha...

Having lunch in Hyde Park

2010-10-03T17:29:00.002+11:00

Here are the three kids having lunch at Hyde Park after a trip to the museum. They thoroughly enjoyed looking at the dinosaur exhibits. Liem "dug" for dinosaur bones and all three kids had a great time at the play area.

Bad example

2010-10-03T17:23:00.005+11:00

We are still getting plaintive comments like, "I wish I had a gun I didn't have to make". Everything turns into guns - pull wings off an aeroplane and it turns into a gun. A remote controller for a train set turns into a gun. In these pictures, Liem is using a boom gate from his Thomas train set as a gun. He is, in fact, a bad example, because he has corrupted his friend Grace into using her My Little Pony as a gun. They are both shooting cars that drive past. Lachlan is watching all this carefully, so that one day, he too will be able to make his own guns.

Very belated birthday photos

2010-10-03T17:18:00.004+11:00

Yes, I admit freely, I have been extremely slack with blog posts lately. Too many things going on, especially on weekends, weekdays are full...plus I had a stack of books to get through. It's been wonderful getting a chance to read books again instead of having to constantly entertain a certain young man.

Anyway, these are photos from a birthday celebration with Grandma and Grandpa....Liem received a stack of aeroplanes, helicopters, gliders etc. Grandma really knows what Liem likes...

More "what if"s

2010-09-20T12:57:00.002+10:00

Liem: What if a teeny weeny baby can fit into a giant's clothes?

L: What if you wee in your food and it tastes yummy?

L: What if you POO in your food and it tastes yummy?

I give up...now my answer is, "Ask Daddy!!!"

What if...?

2010-08-29T06:00:00.002+10:00

Whenever Liem starts a question with "What if...?", we know something highly improbable is going to come out of his mouth. Usually it's, "What if there is a giant as big as the world?" or "What if there's a dog BIGGER than the world?" or sometimes, "What if there's a car smaller than an ant?".

A couple of nights ago, I was getting Liem ready for bed, covering him with his doonas, getting his cup of water, when he starts again.
Liem: What if your teeth poo in your mouth?
Mummy: Your WHAT? Teeth?
L: Poo in your mouth...what if your teeth poo in your mouth?
M: (Stunned silence while thinking about this bizarre question) Er, I don't know...
L: You have to WASH your MOUTH!
M: Right! Bedtime, Liem.

No more nappies?

2010-08-11T14:35:00.003+10:00

We have been trying to get Liem dry at night for a while. We waited for him to be "ready" ie having dry or almost dry nappies in the mornings. This NEVER happened. Always a big fat wet nappy in the morning. We tried several times to let him go without nappies at night. He would be really excited the first night and make it through but on subsequent nights he would be so tired that he just couldn't wake up to do wees and there were "leaks". Our talented child even managed to leak ON his doona once and another time had TWO leaks in the one night. As we only had 2 waterproof mattress protectors, this meant the washing machine got started in the VERY early hours of the morning. And back to nappies for Liem...

When he turned 5, we decided we just had to bite the bullet and make a real effort to get him dry at night. I bought another 2 mattress protectors, we used towels, we reminded Liem several times to go to toilet at night if he needed to do a wee, we left the corridor light on for him... I had to do SO MUCH laundry. It didn't help that we were having a wet winter and clothes just took longer to dry. The dryer was on almost every day. We woke Liem up in the night to make him go to toilet. And you know what he did? He CRIED! It was so ironic that when he was a baby he cried because he couldn't sleep - we had to train him to sleep and now he cried because he didn't want to get up. We had a few incidents of Liem getting out of bed, sitting on the floor for a few minutes and then climbing back into bed without going to toilet. Once, after crying like mad and Daddy CARRYING him to the toilet, he did a wee but forgot to take his underpants off. Another time after having a leak, I left him to get changed, he put fresh underpants over the wet ones and WENT BACK TO SLEEP. We only found out when I noticed him wearing two pairs of underpants in the morning.

Liem has stopped drinking at night and has been dry at night for over a week now. Can it be that we are finally free of nappies???

5th Birthday in Malaysia

2010-06-26T19:47:00.006+10:00

Liem had a wonderful 5th birthday party at my parents' house. There was a deliciously rich chocolate cake, loads of food, friends, family, presents....ahhh...just what a birthday party should have...

Driving a car

2010-06-26T16:42:00.004+10:00

This was at Tropicana City Mall...Liem loves driving the little car. Is it just me, or does he look a tad too big for the play equipment?

Malacca

2010-06-26T15:26:00.015+10:00

We went to Malacca as tourists for a few days. Went on the river cruise, inside a replica of a Portugese ship, climbed St Paul's hill (while Ah Por sat and waited for us at Stadhuys, forever known to Liem as "the house where Ah Por sat"), checked out the remains of the A'Formosa, had loads of lovely food including mee suah, Hainanese chicken rice balls and nyonya food. It was also Liem's first time staying at a hotel and he loved it...buffet breakfast where people were bringing him glasses of juice and yummy food, swimming pool....and of course the best part was jumping from bed to bed in the hotel room!

Theme park in Genting Highlands

2010-06-26T15:16:00.005+10:00

Ah Kong took us to the theme park at Genting Highlands. We took a cable car from Gohtong Jaya to Genting, then headed for the theme parks. Liem had the best time at the Indoor theme park, having rides with Daddy but the best part was the BUMPER CARS! Liem LOVED the bumper cars. He had to get help at first from the attendant to put his foot on the pedal to make the car move, then he went in circles until he learnt how to steer properly. He must have gone for 4 or 5 rides. Once he finished one lot, he just race back to the start and went in again. Luckily there wasn't a big crowd there at the time.

Liem in Malaysia 2010

2010-06-26T15:03:00.012+10:00

It was so nice to have a holiday. A real one. Liem has become quite a good traveller now. And he loved having his cousins and new friends to play with.

Toys with hats?

2010-06-26T15:00:00.003+10:00

I'm not sure what's going on here....Liem has put "hats" on all his soft toys.

Liem can read!

2010-05-29T16:29:00.002+10:00

It's been an exciting time for us. We've enrolled Liem in school for next year. Can't believe that he's going to school already!!! He's quite excited about it already...

And Liem can read! For this, we credit the ABC Reading Eggs web program which was recommended by one of the girls in my mother's group. It has really made learning very interesting for Liem. He loves doing the lessons. We also got him some Rascal books by Paul Jennings which were recommended by Grandma. Very simple words but interesting stories which made Liem WANT to read so he did. It's been amazing watching him put it together. He's started reading words all around him now....it's like a whole new world opened up for him. When we were out shopping, he read "The Chicken Shop". At home, he read "Fire Blanket" and "The Tap Doctor". I remember doing this when I was a child but certainly not before I started school.

So, what are they going to teach him at school?

Liem colouring his Thomas shirt

2010-05-29T16:26:00.001+10:00

Liem colouring this special Thomas t-shirt which Daddy got him from the US. All the ink washes off when you wash the t-shirt.

My Mother's Day present

2010-05-29T16:22:00.003+10:00

This year I received this as a Mother's Day present and I have to say that I love it!

Liem, Grace and Lachlan

2010-05-29T16:18:00.003+10:00

Liem used to be very shy with Grace, but now they get on like a house on fire. It's been great seeing how well they play together. Grace's brother Lachlan likes to play with whatever the older ones are playing with, even the bike!!!

What chivalry?

2010-05-24T09:21:00.002+10:00

We are getting ready to go to day care.

Mummy: I'll just go to toilet and then we can go.
Liem: I'll go first!!! (Rushes past Mummny down the corridor to the toilet).
M: Where's your chivalry?
L: What?
M: Chivalry is when you let girls go first.
L: No, you take too long...

Liem and his dragon

2010-04-28T14:47:00.003+10:00

Liem has been enjoying the "Rascal the Dragon" books by Paul Jennings - these were recommended to us by Grandma for early readers. Then of course Liem wanted a toy dragon to play with. I suggested playing with his dinosaur - "but it has no wings". Then with Daddy's help, Liem MADE a dragon with duplo.

Mother's group bbq in the park

2010-04-28T14:44:00.002+10:00

How they have all grown!!

Ah Kong and Ah Por visit

2010-04-28T14:32:00.014+10:00

Ah Kong and Ah Por spent a week with us and we all had a great time. Liem enjoyed receiving and giving massages, reading with Ah Kong, helping Ah Kong sort out his pills and doing the "mak" (what this is, I don't know, but it somehow involves touching foreheads).

Melbourne for Easter

2010-04-28T14:16:00.012+10:00

We had a lovely Easter in Melbourne visiting family. Here are various pictures of Liem and his second cousin Christian. Feeding the ducks by the lake. New cousin Sean with Uncle CY. Liem and cousin Keira played well together. The cousins and Aunty MC together (plus the Mummy Blogger in action - I love the way she has a camera in one hand, and baby Sean clutched in the other).

Grandma, Grandpa and the big ice cream

2010-04-28T14:15:00.004+10:00

Grandma and Grandpa came for a visit and we had a good dinner together. Liem particularly enjoyed the big serve of ice cream he got.

Three cheeky monkeys

2010-04-28T14:13:00.000+10:00

Liem and his friends Molly and Jye...

Liem and Grace...

2010-04-28T14:10:00.003+10:00

...showing us the insides of their mouths...

First swimming lesson

2010-04-28T14:08:00.003+10:00

Liem was very keen and was all dressed up while still at home!