Visit from Popo & Gong Gong

Don't even know where to begin now. We have seen and done so much, Kay has grown by leaps and bounds in terms of speech and maturity of character. And seeing her with her grandparents is simply a joy. There is nothing that can replace the kind of love that grandparents can give. It's unassuming & without boundaries. Popo and Gonggong have spoiled her rotten.

She has even picked up some "Singlish" phrases from them along the way. Everything begins with "got" as opposed to "have". It's cute. We are quite sure she will correct it soon enough but it's just amazing how quickly they pick up words and expressions from us. Spelling her name, talking about coffee and making lattes, saying her numbers is mandarin, english and spanish (thanks to Dora), are just some of the many skills she has mastered in the past 2 months. Popo has also taught her to say "tears","snort" and "saliva" in Cantonese. Very useful words for her to get around life with :). And she has learned a little astrology about the Animal Signs of the Year we were born. She knows that she is born in the Year of the Pig, Mum is a Cow, daddy & Popo are Rats and Gonggong is a "Woof-woof" Dog. Fantastic memory this girl has. Now I can safely ask her where things are and she is right 90% of the time. The other 10% she is probably goofing around and trying to be funny.

Wish we were closer to New Zealand, but I guess we'll be back to communicating via Skype. There'll be no more late night dates for daddy and mummy for a long while. Today, is Popo's last night in Toronto. Gonggong has left a month earlier. It'll be buckets of tears again at the airport tomorrow. But that's just the sweet bitterness of life. For Kay, it will be back to Aunty Dorin's house on Thursday and we will be back to working late nights (not that this has stopped).

Here are some of the joyful moments spent with Popo and GongGong in Toronto. And wishing Popo a safe trip back to NZ. As Kay tells me when she is about to get a time-out, " I'll be nice, mummy. I'll be nice." We'll all try to be nice until we see Popo and Gonggong again.

Mum ... it's OK.

It's time to officially announce that we are potty trained. I think it has been 2 weeks of clean diapers in the house. We are still working on the nap time pees but that is negligible. Really proud of Kay for just "getting it" so quickly. Eveything happened within 4 days... in the weekend. No diapers, lots of laundry for one day and we're done. I must say she is a pretty smart kid....very in tune with her body and is starting to be able to control it.

Just before bedtime today, she showed us that she knows how to control my computer the mouse and "click" on the play button to make the video re-play again. I mean ...she is two and I didn't even tell her where the play button is. She just figured it out by watching me do it.

And when your toddler tries to calm you down ... you know she is growing up. Mummy (me truly) has been rather short tempered recently, finding myself yelling or getting mad because she simply doesn't listen. But Kay would turn around, give me a hug and say "it's ok mummy, Kay Kay is here....its' ok mummy". How can anyone be angry after that? And recently, she has been calling me "mum" .... sounded like some teenager !

ABC's and the Cat in the Hat

Alpine strawberries from our backyard... pretty yucky, but Kay likes to eat them off the bush.


Hanging out with the cat Te-a

daddy's little girl


Her little friend Gabe.
___________
April rains, May showers and June storms have come and gone. I can't believe the last blog was during Easter. So much has changed with our dear Kay. She has learned so much in the past couple of months, it'll be a shame if we didn't document it in some way.

Let's start backwards since we are now into July already.
Canada day (July 1st) was not much of an event for us cos' mummy dear (me) was so tired and a little sick from all the working late nights for the past week. But anyhow we managed to squeeze in some time at Lionel's Farm in the morning with Kay's little friend Gabriel. Haven't seen him for over a year now. I think we caught a glimpse of them striking a conversation at some point while feeding the animals. The last time they met they were both babies and Kay still had her funky hair-do.

As toddlers in their terrible 2s, there is a lot of fun and lots more work too. Learning her ABCs everyday, she knows all the Alphabets now and associates them with the words that begin with them. So she would read the words on the magazine or newspapers like this : "LIFE" would be "Lion, Iguana, Flamingo, Elephant". Pretty cool huh ! Plus she knows all her animals as well.
Wonder where she gets her genius from. And I guess I have to tell this story over again, though many friends have heard it. We stopped at a STOP sign one day and Kay said." Mommy look ! Octagon." I was impressed at how quickly she learned her shapes and her colours as well. All within 2 months ... And we have to thank Auntie Thubee for the awesome Birthday gift called "Teach MY Toddler" ...a system of learning tools developed by a mother. It really helped speed up the learning process cos' she was really interested in the flashcards and foam puzzles. I guess making learning part of playing does help a lot. So at 2 years 3 months, she knows her alphabets, shapes, colours ....and we are still working on the numbers. We have moved the number puzzle to the bathroom so she can play with the numbers while bathing. I guess Math will be a challenge in the coming years.

On the potty training front, we have achieved a lot in the past week. I'm seeing a full-filled potty chart in one week. We have no more space for stickers...may have to start a new chart soon. I should say Kay is now potty trained at 2 years and 3 months. We only went through 3-4 diapers in 4 days. Pretty good progress. Dora and boots are the still the favourite stickers to go on the chart.

Story books are her favourite sit-down activity, besides the TV of course. Dr Seuss's series of ABC books, Go Dog Go and the Cat in the Hat are her favs now. And we also have Olivia, Timmy is a big boy and Ladybug Girl. Not forgetting the Dora, Little Mermaid and The Incredible stories. We are watching Ice Age I & II, and Madagascar and playing the ABC game on the computer.

She is forming sentences that comprise of more than ten words in a string ...sometimes more. Most of the time only making sense to herself. But of course, mummy can translate them easily. Naps are a scarce commodity these days. Once a day, lasting for an hour or less. But according to Auntie Dorin (her babysitter) she still naps her 2 hours everyday.

We are thinking of moving her to her big girl bed by end of the year. It will be a tough transition cos' we are all so comfortable with her sleeping next to us now.

Snippets ... from here and there

It's coming, Spring/ Summer, we think so. One day it's 27 degrees and the next day it's freezing cold. What's with this weather ? Well, Kay got to wear her shorts and tee 2 days ago...then today she's back in 3 layers. Easter went by fast, with too much chocolate and Easter baskets appearing at our door. It's great to have friends living close by.

We miss having Mike and Art around the corner. Their Sunday night soup kitchen was in their new apartment downtown and turned out to be a huge meal. Kay fell asleep in the car on the way home...

Kay is remembering her colours (most of the colours are blue), 1 to 5 and ABCDE's pretty well. She just learned how to say sching, cheeyuen and Judy (popo's name). It's kinda weird hearing her call our names instead of mommy or daddy. She is growing smarter everyday. More negotiations for Dora and Diego on TV ...and ice-cream on the cone. Loves her chocolate chip cookies, macaroni chicken soup and rice. Loves playing in her tent and giving Te-a and Milo hugs. She has been assigned the task of filling the cat's bowl with food, and just poked her finger into a fur-ball puke this morning ...eeewwww !

Report on our Toddler ... Year 2 check-up

I guess I should have blogged on her actual Birthday ... but it just went by so quickly.
Just an update on the Chuck-E-Cheese party on the 21st. The 4 birthday stars in order of age :
Niall, Paige, Kay and Mina had a blast with Chuck-E ! They had ice-cream cake, kiddie rides, tossed basketballs, drove race-cars, had Chuck-E sing their birthday song, and went home with so many gifts ! They are spoilt for sure ..but lucky to have great friends...mommies and daddies included. After the party we were watching the video from the party over and over for maybe the 50th time today.

We went for her milestone 2-year check-up at the doctors. 29 lbs (13.5kg) and 84 cm tall is the latest record. Realized that we haven't been keeping track of these statistics for sometime now.

Here are some of her 2 year "achievements":
Kay's latest dig is playing the Dora video that Auntie Thubee got her, reading her book about Dogs, playing with the pots and pans in HER kitchen, chopping HER toy veges and fruits and serving mommy and daddy plastic Sushi. She is saying her numbers 1 to 5 pretty well now and hums the "twinkle twinkle little star" while she is "cooking". She is into wearing Jeans because she sees mommy putting them on everyday. She picks out her own socks and shoes everyday. She's hates wearing her hair up in a pony tail or any hairclips. She can put on her pants (sometimes), and has poo pooed in her potty 3 times ! She can spot airplanes in the sky, and imitates birds singing on the trees. She loves the slide and is quite a dare-devil at it. She is following instructions pretty well most of the time when she wants to. She loves carrying her baby and blanket everywhere she goes ... and i mean EVERYWHERE ! What will we do without them.

Thanks to everyone for the great and thoughtful gifts. I'm leaving some in the basement to be opened on rainy days...and when i need to switch the toys around.
Photos from the party are all on Kay's photo site.

We're TWO !

Yeah ... the big TWO !
We just had dinner with close friends and kept the party small this year ... only with Richard as the other toddler. Figured that it would be easier to handle than 5 or 6 like last year. Thanks guys for all the gifts. Kay is spoilt by all the people she loves ... Mike , Art, Thubee and Julien went crazy with the books this year. And thanks to Aunty Lydia and Uncle David for the dress and plush toys ... We could probably built a Dr. Seuss collection by the time she turns 3. Kay is really into Dogs and Dora at this point so the 2 immediate favourites are the ones that Aunty Thubee got her....thanks to mommy for the hints. Kay was so tired from running around with Little Richard and playing with Julien, that bed time was a snap.

This year, we did chinese food. But I think I'll opt for an easier, less greasy and less time-consuming option next time. Spend almost the whole day in the kitchen, even though i do enjoy cooking and baking. Thanks to Cheeyuen for cleaning up the mess... I just had to put Kay to bed and all the dishes were done !

Anyway, just an update on the potty front...we had 2 successful poo poos and 1 pee pee since the last report. I guess turning 2 was indeed a huge milestone.

More photos are now being uploaded onto our Picasa site.

Finally ... victory at the potty.

March 9th, 10pm ... Kay made her first poo poo in the potty !
She felt it coming and she asked to go to the potty... it was a success. We said our farewell and flushed it down the toilet. Never have we felt so excited for something so nasty.
We'll report more updates on this issue soon.

chi-mish ...and other words

Funny funny words are now spoken by our little Kay.
Here's a glossary / translation:

1) Chi-mish = Finish
2) cho-church = chocolate
3) Muffin = Play the Muffin Man song (again ... and again ...we've heard it maybe over 100 times)
4) Try = Can I try whatever you have on your plate or that yummy can of pop?
5) Ants Come Up !! = Ants are coming in through our bathroom window ...and she is terrified.


Before haircut

After Hair-cut

We gave her a second hair-cut (trim to the fringe). Didn't take it too well, after finding all the hair falling onto her t-shirt. She is such a clean-freak...keeps pointing out "Dirty" on the floors. Yes, mommy is not cleaning enough.

And we finally sold her Bumbo Seat on Craigslist...this shows her sitting on it for the last time.
Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks...2 years old !

I'm glad my business website is up and running. Except that the web-developer is taking forever to import the blog over to the website. It's been a month and she still cannot come up with a solution. Sigh...it's frustrating.

Happy birthday grandpa !

Make a Smilebox greeting

Warming up ... on V-day.

The weather is finally warming up. And we are all feeling better, thanks to everyone for their concern and advice. Hopefully that will be the end of it for this season...we all know how winter tends to drag on til March or April here.

Our little Kay has grown so much, she's hardly little any more. Holding her, laughing together, smelling her hair, playing tickle, giving hugs, high-fives and kisses ... makes me want Kay to stay little. But that is not going to happen i guess. She is quite a TV addict now, mostly my fault and I'm not particularly proud of myself. But she is also learning lots from the tele...and she is very focused when she is watching...so that helps with concentration ? Can't be all that bad, right? Anyway, it was nice that she made her first Valentine's Day card for us. Her babysitter aunty Dorin, make the kids do little heart shaped cards with their hand-prints on it. Very sweet.

Happy V-day for mama and dada indeed.

flu season number 3

It's increasingly hard to keep this blog updated. Doesn't help that my head feels like it's weighed down onto the floor. It's been almost a week now, and I'm still feeling terrible from the sinus cold and cough. I think I have just witnessed the inevitable that just happened... 3 coughs from Kay. She might have caught it...and that is just not good. We just keep passing it back and forth ...wonder when it's going to end. Really looking forward to some warmer weather now.

Chinese New Year went in a flash. Dinner with friends and lots of food. Then Superbowl sunday last week...again lots of food. That's when I start having the cold.

Anyway, Kay has been a great help nowadays, or at least she tries to be. She is eager to run an errand or pick stuff up from the floor and throw it into the garbage or point out to me where it's dirty .... yes, the house isn't spic and span ... and my baby is telling me to clean up.

Cheeyuen met up with his cousin Lawrence here last week ... one of the first few family visiting us. He is here on an exchange program in the university of Waterloo. Hopefully we'll see him again before he leaves.

Happy Holidays from the Lims

Wishing all a happy new year...

It's been nice having friends over for the holidays but also makes us miss our families more.

Kay has suddenly grown into a little lady. I think it's mainly her hair that's changed her image drastically. It frames her face nicely now and she looks more like a girl. So I took this opportunity to put her in dresses....and I must say she looks pretty cute.

Expressing her independence and her views quite a lot ...our little Kay is a pretty bossy little toddler. Her favourite thing to do is to ask people to "sit" on her little red chairs when they come over to our place. Uncle Paul was one of the 'victims'. That day she took my breath away when she said "bless you" when I sneezed. She is 'taking care' of her mommy now...how nice. After the holidays, she also learned a new word : "chocolate".

Here are some snapshots of friends who made our holiday special.