The "Goose Pond"

While hubby is away in East Europe, we slept one night at my parents' house.  The kids decided they wanted the bed so I took the mattress on the floor.  Which was a good thing as it turned out.  SE moves A LOT in sleep.  JE ended up like this in the morning:

JE: * Almost falling off bed

SE: Ahhhh

I had a good night's sleep by myself (teeheehee).

Then a quick visit to the place nearby dubbed the "goose pond".  So nice to have this kind of nature place close by.

Going down down down

Four girls and one grandma

Ahhh don't let that ferocious chicken near me

I was hoping to pet some rabbits.  While we did see rabbits as well as fish, chicken, sheep and turkeys, there was a major problem:  The Geese!  Gahh.  These were noisy, seemed upset with our presence and followed us around. 

Honk honk honk and go away!

We had to leave because of them, but it was time to anyway.

Gymrama progress

Our Saturday routine now includes gymrama at 1130am to 1pm.  Not too bad as the girls can wake up late, have a leisurely breakfast and chill around a bit before it's time to go for gymrama.

Warming up

I wait there since it's a 30min drive... no point driving back and forth.  I generally do my own thing as I don't want to get stressed out about their prowess, or lack thereof.  JE seems to be doing well enough...

Point toes, step, step

Leg up

SE, however...  Every time I look her way, she would wave at me, extend her arms for a hug or just run over to me.  So I make it a point NOT to look.  Then one day, I looked up long enough to notice that she DOESN'T follow instructions!  While the rest of the class watch the teachers, she looks outside, at the ceiling, at other people.  While others practice the steps, she would just stand there or fiddle with her leotard/hair/specs.  Partly it's because she doesn't understand instructions, some of which would be delivered in Mandarin (this is a Chinese school, after all). Partly because she's younger, some motor skills like bouncing a ball and jumping a rope are beyond her.  So now she gets stern instructions from me to FOLLOW WHAT THE TEACHER SAYS.

Sometimes she does that.

Point toes, arms up

Quite often I still catch her NOT following.  Oh this small girl.  I guess learning SOME of the skills are better than nothing haha.

Checking Papa's eyes

Checking eyes, Papa? 

I'd better make sure this auntie is doing her job

O-kayyy

\

Check properly now

All right, I think we're all done

Heh such a little busybody.  She was there throughout the process and only walked away when it was finished.

The pampered life

This one is tucked in a comfy bed, engrossed in the Cartoon Network and having Mummy feed her snacks.  What a life, eh?

Keep it coming, Mummy

Growing different

A cousin mentioned long ago that she found her girls "changed" as they grew.  I'd been thinking that no, this isn't the case for me.  I see my girls every single day and I'm following their development all the way.  But now that JE is all of 7 years old...  in terms of appearance, actions and manner of speaking - sometimes I'd suddenly realise that eh, she's "different" already.  Luckily it's all good so far.

I think-think first

You gotta be kidding me, Su Ern

I see what you're doing there

Oh come on, Mummy

Besides hubby and me (she doesn't always behave how we do, for sure!), she must be taking cues from grandparents, cousins, school and what she watches on TV/iPad. 

Yeah, I'm all ME!

Still Stubborn

Stubborn is probably part of what SE is.  She continues doing what she wants to even when confronted with a stern face and voice.  It doesn't help she has always been pretty strong!  For now she's still small enough to be physically restrained, with some effort.

We wanted to go UP and SE wanted to press the 'Down' button as well:

I want

I want to press

Let me press

Hey let go of my hand

When scolded, she will just laugh and laugh:

Hahaha hehehehe

When we are out and about, I'm always worried SE will get her fingers stuck on the lift door, her foot caught on the escalator, that she will fall somewhere etc.  She already is accident-prone even when NOT being naughty/stubborn.

SE on Mortality

This is the human life cycle according to SE:

Small kid grow up to be big kid.
Big kid grow up to be Mummy.
Mummy become Ah Mah.
Then die.

When you die, you don't know anything already.

Mummy... I don't want to die!

She has brought this up a few times, that she doesn't want to die.  I haven't thought of a satisfactory answer for this yet.  

Let Mummy think and get back to you, ok?

OK!

Genting 2017

Second trip for this school holidays.  JE has been requesting Genting for ages.  To which hubby always replies, oh we can go any time.  Well "any time" turned out to be over a year!

We got lucky with a room upgrade.  Plus it turned out to be the corner one and thus the largest I've ever stayed in!  There were two bathrooms, two TVs and essentially two areas separated by a door. See how far JE is in my photo hehe....

Cooeeee, I'm hereeeeee..... 

There still isn't much to do in Genting.  The theme park looks far from completion.  While the SkyAvenue mall is impressive with exclusive shops, (I'm not one for shopping but there are many interesting food outlets), can't be spending all that much time there.  The kids found their own activities - FOUR times in the bath tub:

Rub a dub dub two girls in a tub

Non-stop cartoons from the Cartoon Network:

Cheese! (Now let us get back to TV)

Goofing around with the soft toys they brought:

These are Moomins. And Pascal

And we ate lots:

Yum yum dim sum

Finally tried Go Noodle house, I liked this a lot:

Blekk don't like this type of stuffed fishball

I'd happily go any time we get a nice room again!

Port Dickson 2017

And we were in PD AGAIN.  I bought some free-stay vouchers from an owner who probably is tired of the place hehe.  Unlike the previous time, there weren't many guests at all.

We are back! 

We are stuck here, don't call us to leave

This trip the girls didn't want to go to the Ostrich farm, so there was plenty of time for the beach and the pool.  JE can write now:

Yep, that's me

Then she wrote the name for the little sis (who CAN write her name already, actually)

Jo Ern added stars and a heart for me!

I got her to do one for me:

Me with Mummy

Hmm Papa's name is so short:

Me with Papa

SE discovered she is now tall enough to stand in the pool!

I'm all big now!

Holiday time means ice-creams, junk food...

First ice-cream...

And just because SE was shouting away for another ice-cream on the same day, hubby got them one more... *rolls eyes*

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Second ice-cream!

This place is pretty run down and the beach was dirty this time - murky water and too much man-made rubbish.  The kids don't even see those things for now.  We probably have a few more years to enjoy this type of cheap holiday!