The Opposite Game

I was trying to make my 3 years 7 months old daughter learn opposite words the fun way.

Mummy : Kate, let's play the opposite game.
Kate : Okay!
Mummy : What's the opposite of "big"?
Kate : Small.
Mummy : Very good! How about "long"?
Kate : Short.
Mummy : Tall?
Kate : Short.
Mummy : Special?
Kate : Ordinary.
Mummy : Straight?
Kate : Not straight at all.
Mummy : Huh??... ahhahaha!!!

Baby's Words - "How Old Are You" vs "How Are You"

Conversation with my three years old daughter...

Mummy : When people ask "how old are you?", you should answer "I am three years old."

Kate : Okay.

*****

One day, we bumped into a friend in shopping complex.

Friend : Hello, Kate, how are you?

Kate : I am three years old!!

Mummy : No… baby, when people ask "how are you?", you should say "I am fine or I am good."

Kate stared at me with her blur face, but I knew that she was thinking hard trying to digest what I have just said.

After that incident, whenever people ask Kate “how are you?” or “how old are you?”, her standard answer will be, “I am three years old. I am fine and good!!”….. Faint….

p/s - telephone conversation....

Mummy : Hello, Baby Kate….

Kate : I am three years old and I am fine and good!!

Mummy faint…..

YO!! What's Up?? :D

My daughter has been calling me “yoyee” or "yo" since she was 2.  She is now almost 3 and able to construct quite a good sentence such as “Wow!! Great playground!” (when I brought her to see her potential playschool) or “Baby’s creation” (when she finished baking a new cake on iPad) or “Wow!! This is tasty!” (when she’s enjoying her M&M), etc….. but she is still calling me “YOYEE”!!!

We keep asking her why I am “yoyee”, of coz she doesn’t know how to answer us at this stage.  We actually found out that she pronounces “M” as “Y”.  

Monkey = Yonkey

Mei Mei (her cousin) = Yei Yei

Mickey Mouse = Yickey Youse

Minnie Mouse = Yinnie Youse

Chipmunk = Chipyunk

That’s why I am either “yoyee” or “YO!!”.

Because of her, all my friends started calling me “yoyee” as well, I actually quite like the nick name :).   

My dad aka Kate’s grandpa who doesn’t understand English, keep asking her, “Why are you calling your mummy ‘鱿鱼’ (squid)? ” :D

P/s : Daddy is very jealous coz I got a very unique and exclusive nick name from her just like her “Ah B” :D. 

“Ah B”

My daughter has certain “emotional attachment” with her pacifier.  She can’t live without the little thingy since I introduced it to her on 1 December 2008 while she was 3 weeks old (an easy way out to calm a crying baby and get her to sleep... guilt :().   She even has a nick name for her pacifier once she learned how to make “noises”, she named her pacifier “Ah B” (=.=!).

She loves her “Ah B”, but she doesn’t really take care of them because she clearly knows that once the old one spoiled, she will always get a new one coz her daddy pampers her a lot. 

Especially during her teething months, she would just bite and bite till the teat of her “Ah B” brakes into two.  Her record was one new “B” per day.  Imagine how much damage was done to the parents’ pocket :(.

All her broken “Ah Bs”… RM16.45 each (about 100 of them) … heavy investment :’(

Last Christmas, she received a very precious Christmas present from her BFF, Uncle Charles – more than 30 pairs of “Ah B” :-O.  It happened that her Uncle Charles went to London last year and coincidentally Mothercare was having massive sales.  All Avents pacifiers were slashed down to 50%.  Knowing his BFF loves her “Ah B” so much, he actually “sapu” all the pacifiers on the shelve (faint*).  When my little girl opened the pink box under the Christmas tree and saw the whole box full of “Ah Bs”, I could see stars sparkling in her eyes and she cried out “AH…. BEEEEE…..” passionately and embraced her present (my little drama queen – mummy shook head and rolled-eyes.)    

               

She is now 2½YO, her “Ah Bee” is still sticking in her mouth.  I wonder when she can leave her “Ah B” behind…..  We tried to stop her from taking her “Ah B” but failed coz she will just highjack “Ah B” from her little cousin (~.~!) 

Now and Then

Love gatherings with old schoolmates especially with those from my high school.  In the beginning, reasons for gathering used to be “so and so leaving Malaysia for further study”; “so and so graduated and came back for good”, then “wedding dinners” and eventually “baby full moon parties”.  Once in a while there would be “so and so leaving Malaysia to work abroad”, then “so and so migrating” and now the most common reason for our gathering is “so and so is coming back for holiday”.

I am glad that after two decades, this group of people is still trying to get everybody together whenever there is any excuse for gathering.   However, things have changed, people have changed, our gathering style has also changed.  

Lately, I’ve been invited to a few old schoolmates gatherings where everyone was encouraged to bring their spouse and kid(s).  I mean KIDSSS… most of them have two, some even have THREE!! Hey, luckily I also have one :).  Those who are still single or married without kid would obviously feel left out and would try their best to find any excuse not to attend the gathering :D.  

 

**********

Gathering then….

Can be anytime, anywhere, anyhow, free and easy.  Full of jokes and laughter.

Stanley’s farewell party in 1992. A bunch of young college kids :)

My 20^th birthday celebration in conjunction with someone’s farewell, can’t remember whom. Everybody was so young and crazy :D

Gathering now….

Full of kids, toys and noise….

First of all, venue selection has to be “kids’ friendly” with a lot of toys to keep the next generation busy.  Ideally it can be at someone’s house that looks like a childcare centre.

Gathering on weekends are ideal, very high chance to catch the whole family (even the maid :D) whereas gathering on weekdays after work will most likely get all the daddies only.

Even going to a restaurant, you must make sure that they have kids’ menu and baby chairs :D

Look at the way people multiply, for sure this is a highly productive team :D

Kids Magnet

One day, I saw my friend’s Facebook status “iPhone 4 is a fantastic tool to keep kids busy #babysitting” which I totally agree with.  Just look at my girl…

Shu Shu, I want to play Farting Cat :)

Daddy, please don't disturb me, I know how to operate this.

Daddy, I show you how to play Fruit Ninja.

The boys, "Why is this girl sitting on our daddy's lap?"

Eve, your mummy's phone got Angry Birds or not?

iPhone iPhone!! We want to play!!!

Mummy... I don't care, I want Talking Hippo, buy buy buy!!

Daddy, look! The birds and pigs are bigger here!!

My girl, she is 2 year old and she is not a super friendly kid. Most of the time when our friends talk to her, she won’t give a damn.  However, if you happen to carry an iPhone, she will become your “close friend” instantly :)

One day, my brother-in-law brought an iPad to our house, she was so happy to see the “big iPone”, rushed to him, hugged him and sat on his lap immediately.  Both of them became BFF since then :D

I must admit that Jobs has done a great job on inventing the cool gadget.  It’s a good tool for babysitting.  However, there are pros and cons based on my personal experience.

Pros

• Yes! You can really stop them from running around for maybe 20 mins to half an hour.

• It’s highly interactive because of the touch screen.  Kids just love it!

• Fun and fast learning with educational apps.

• Motor skills training perhaps (how fast they can cut the fruits and how good they can control the birds flying :D)?

Cons

• They always fight if you have only 1 iPhone but have more than 1 kid.

• They can really sit there for more than half an hour with their eyes getting closer and closer to the screen.  Is it bad for the eyes?

• Have to always stand by charger, coz they will play and play till your batt goes low.

• They won’t let you pick up incoming calls while they are playing with it.  If you insist, they will cry and roll on the floor.

• They may accidentally delete your data or apps.  They won’t tell you, you have to discover it yourself.

• When they play other app on your friends’ iPhone, and if they like it so much and they can’t find the same app on your phone, they will cry non-stop.  You have no choice but to pay for the app to stop the crying.

• Whenever they don’t know how to play the game, they will scream for your help.  Ended up you can’t do your own things coz need to sit beside to guide them play.

• Need to hide whenever using the phone, coz kids will just highjack it.

So, is it good idea to introduce iPhone to your kids?  I wonder when my girl will demand for a “big iPhone” :D