rafael says...

i wonder if anyone but me knows about the "rafael says" section on the left of the blog entries? :P

i actually keep a record of the past entries, and it's amazing to see how a little toddler develops his language skills.

rafael is such a parrot now. to avoid him mixing languages in one sentence, we really need to work hard kicking the bad habit ourselves.

不知有誰留意到左面的"靖愷話"一欄？今日重溫以往記錄下來的 "靖愷話"，不得不讚嘆幼兒學習語言的奇妙。

不想靖愷常常滿口中英夾雜，看來我們自己說話時也要多下苦功。

*****

i lup you

happy bir(th)day

car go, bus go, minibus go, taxi stop

*****

媽媽過離呀！

爸爸呢度呀！

公公婆婆

邊度？

我要corn呀！

mama, brush teeth.

*****

mama finish it, mama eat it.

what happened?

children hit santa claus.

hoi hoi try ah!

點解呀? why?

老婆，呢度！

背心呢度嘅？

開車閂門！

媽媽呢度呀！

*****

唔好攪人啦！

（停車場內）自已行呀，唔好抱啦！

（公園內）媽媽抱！

媽媽架，唔係你架！

爺爺食哂！爺爺飲哂！

醒目！

no brush teeth ah!

hoi hoi fix(ed) it.

santa claus (is) gone.

thank you 咗 -> mama remained silent 媽媽不作聲後 -> i said thank you.

*****

the disney effect

到奇妙世界小住34小時的後遺症．．．

（昨夜在電梯大堂）

大廈管理員：你剛才去了吃晚飯嗎？

小朋友：no，迪士尼！

大廈管理員：迪士尼？

小朋友：train（係呀，我地响迪士尼搭火車）呀！

就只是兩日一夜，一直不知道有米奇老鼠存在的小朋友，已學懂米奇、米妮、巴斯光年、維尼小熊．．．那天晚上到餐廳吃飯，還將侍應姐姐稱作白雪公主，逗得她滿心歡喜。

after a 34-hour stay at the magic kingdom...

(at the lift lobby last night)

guard: have you just gone out for dinner?

rafael: no, disney!

guard: disney?

rafael: (yes, we took a) train (there)!

and the innocent rafael who didn't even know mickey mouse exists is now familiar with the characters mickey, minnie, buzz lightyear and winnie the pooh... and can you imagine he even cheered up a waitress at the restaurant by calling her snow white the other day?

four generations

在迪士尼樂園，22個月大的靖愷第一次坐仿蒸汽觀光小火車，他不知道87歲的太公在許多許多年前就已坐過真的。

太公告訴靖愷，二次世界大戰發生時，坐火車隨時會遭到飛彈襲擊。後來有很多火車軌都被炸了，車站都封閉，他和其他人就睡在軌道上，有時候，睡醒時身上會披上一層雪。

靖愷很幸福，太公太婆都很健康。我從來沒有見過自己的太公太婆太爺太嫲，看到這小手捉著大手的畫面，感到格外溫暖。

was it christmas or was it disneyland? it really touched my heart seeing the tiny hand of rafael holding the big hand of his great-grandfather (father of mac's mom).

the ride on the steam-powered locomotive was a total new experience for the 22-month-old, though the same ride brought the 87-year-old flashbacks of the 2nd world war. but i guess what really mattered was they were sharing that magic moment together?

sleeping rafa

back to week one...

now (22 months 3 weeks) ...

is that sleeping position really comfy?

merry christmas and happy new year!

from the mackie's family!

christmas in bricks

you might need a little bit of imagination to identify these...

看懂這些抽象的積木嗎？

from left: (by mama) reindeer, christmas tree, snowman (surprisingly rafael could tell it's a snowman almost instantly!), (by rafael) santa claus (i love this unconventional santa!)

由左起：媽媽砌的馴鹿、聖誕樹、雪人（靖愷竟能即時說出這是雪人！）、靖愷砌的聖誕老人（誰說聖誕老人定要穿紅衣？）

santa claus is coming to town

i love his costume - especially the beard! we can never have him dressed like this at home... really got no idea of how the teachers made him put on his clothes : P

to the rescue!

of all the cars, rafael is particularly in love with rescue vehicles, and he was really excited having these close encounters.

bee boo bee boo, rafael says.

這兩天靖愷遇上他最愛的拯救車輛，他說：好大！嗶噃嗶噃！

art at home

you probably knew how much rafael loves stamps, so one night we decided to have some little stamping fun at home too.

after playing with the stamps for a while, rafael thought he should put his whole hand on the stamp pad to do some palm prints on the paper! guess he must have tried this before at the creche?

really happy that you're not afraid to get messy for the fun my dear! can't wait to have more inspiration from your creative and bold ideas!

oh but still i guess it's better to get you a smock for your little art projects : P

這夜我們在家中玩蓋印，滿足上音樂課時總嫌拿不夠蓋印的靖愷。玩了一下子，他索性將整隻手板放在印台上來創作一幅手板印畫。

靖愷，你不怕弄髒真好！（不過，還是買條圍裙給你好清理，:P）

***

sigh, it was another tearful morning today, and i could hardly make myself leave home when rafael - weeping of course - asked me to put my pyjamas back on while i was getting dressed for work. i really hoped i could join him in shaking my head when he said "work?".

今早更衣出門時，靖愷邊哭邊拿著我剛脫下的睡衣要我再穿上，邊說"work?"邊猛搖頭說不。在此情此景下我仍是上班去了，誰說我不夠狠心？

dog lover

undoubtedly rafael is a dog lover. whenever he sees a dog on the street, he'll point at the dog and say loudly "big dog (well... despite sometimes it's indeed a small toy poodle)".

seems that he already forgot his unhappy encounter last time when he met my grandparents' dog... : P that's really good. rafael, let's go visit siu bo again this sunday!

twins

would it be wonderful if rafael got a twin brother? one for amy to spoil and one for me : P if that really happens, then i don't think i'll feel jealous anymore... haha

little helper

rafael was pretty keen on removing the stems from the grapes for us one night. he did the whole bunch by himself with little help.

靖愷這夜一臉認真為我們去掉葡萄莖。

and i was surprised that he actually got the initiative to put the stems away in the bowl by himself. he certainly has more housekeeping potential than his mom.

怎麼你懂得自動將去掉的葡萄莖放在碗內好收拾？

daddy, bet this piece was particularly sweet?

爸爸，這顆葡萄大概不會酸到那裡去？

tearful morning

靖愷，今早你又在媽媽離家前醒來了，哭著叫媽媽不要上班要和你玩車車。你可知媽媽看著你的一副哭臉，心裡也在流淚？明明七時就要回到辦公室，七時零五分才不捨地出門。今晚要加班晚點回來，很掛念你呢！

這年頭像媽媽有份穩定的工作真不易，但有時我卻暗自希望，如果有天被裁走就可以全心全意照顧你了。

幸好，再熬兩天便到周末了。

rafael woke up before i left home this morning, and when i was getting dressed for work...

rafael: work?

mama: yes mama is going to work.

rafael: no, going out! (what i say to him in the weekends when he thinks i am getting dressed for work)

mama: ...

rafael (cries): wah wah wah... mama, cars.

mama: (wah wah wah... at heart)

oh how i wish i could stay home with you everyday my dear! let's hang on in there, two more days to go before the weekend!

santa: i don't want any presents for christmas. all i want is more family time with rafael and daddy!

mommy's boy

如果我是爸爸，我定會傷透了。

媽媽在的時候，靖愷都不要爸爸抱。

爸爸將手搭在媽媽的肩膀，靖愷叫：不不不！

好了，爸爸好心幫抱著23磅小人兒的媽媽拿袋，靖愷大呼：媽媽．．．袋！

難怪爸爸說，下胎要生個女的，讓她向爸爸撒嬌撒過夠。

raising boys一書說，男孩子在出生到約六歲都會較親媽媽，六歲到十四歲才會較親爸爸。mac，就讓我得寵多一會吧！很快，你們談甚麼車甚麼足球之類的，我都大概插不上嘴。算起來，你會得寵的時間還會比我多呢！

i would totally be heartbroken if i were mac.

when i am there, rafael doesn't want daddy holding him. he even protests when daddy puts his hand on my shoulder or carries my bag. no wonder mac said he wants a girl next time.

the book "raising boys" said boys are closest to their mommy before 6, and they will "lock on" to their dad from 6 to 14. so mac, please don't be too upset. rafael's oedipus complex will be over in no time!

quick & easy cooking

i have to admit that i really haven't got much talents in cooking, but anyway we try to have a little cooking workshop with rafael once in a while so he knows where our food comes from and has a chance to enjoy the joy of cooking as we do.

it was already late afternoon when rafael got up from his nap last saturday, so we decided to have some really easy cooking this time.

step 1: open the packet of pancake mix

媽媽，我們今天要弄甚麼？

step 2: add water into the mixture and stir well

只要加水伴好粉漿這樣簡單？

step 3: pan fry the mixture

step 4: add honey and banana (rafael's favourite), and voila! bon appetit!

原來是班戟！

why not get dirty?

老師說靖愷對衛生頗講究，其實我是有點擔心的－－怕他會因怕髒而不願摸摸滋潤生命的泥土、不願踏足買少見少的青青草地（真的，不久前他就是怎也不肯踏上草地－－他有穿上鞋的啊！）、不與毛蟲蝸牛打招呼、不用雙手雙腳塗抹油彩、不再喜歡探索這世界．．．

媽媽替你換片時看見你的小手摸到屁股裡去時大喝一聲的"dirty!" 望不會把你嚇壞了！

靖愷呀靖愷，但願你能享受髒的樂趣！

rafael, what's wrong with a little dirty moments once in a while?

what a little brain can do

a batch of books i ordered online arrived yesterday and i couldn't wait to show them to rafael when i was back home last night. i was holding up two eric carle books and rafael immediately said "art class 有... 一樣" (art class had... the same) while pointing at one of them.

i was really shocked -- that's the very hungry caterpillar we read at the art class more than 3 weeks ago and rafael hasn't seen the book anywhere else... omg rafael, what else could have been stored in your little brain my dear? that mommy and daddy had a fight weeks ago?

glad that i haven't passed you my forgetful genes.

and then while we're playing cars on the mat, grandma was telling me that rafael met an expat boy at the bus stop in the morning. who else could have thought that the little ears could pick up our conversation in the background and proudly told mama the new vocabulary he has just learnt? "mama, 鬼仔 (gwei-chai)".

attention daddy, grandparents, uncles, aunties, and myself:
we really really must watch what we do and say every second now!!!

二十二個月人仔的小小腦袋，可以載些甚麼？

- 一眼看出媽媽帶回來的書就是三個多星期前在美術課讀過的那本。"美術課有．．．一樣!"

- 玩車子時原來側起耳朵聽嫲嫲說早上在巴士站遇見外籍小哥哥的事，然後自豪地跟媽媽說他剛學會的字："媽媽，鬼仔!"

爸爸爺爺嫲嫲公公婆婆姑姐舅父和自己：真的不得不時刻謹記，請慎言慎行。

mat-novation

amid the present economic gloom, we as parents inevitably need to think of ways to save some money on toys. so for a set of $99 playmats, it has to be:

在經濟不景的環境下，為人父母的不得不想想法子省點玩具的開支。$99四塊的地墊可以是：

a tunnel to burn the endless energy of a toddler /

a camping tent for imaginative play

消耗體力的隧道/發白日夢的營地

a shower room to train/prepare your toddler to
use the shower instead of bath
花灑浴室－－訓練幼兒由浴盆轉用花灑

a table/counter for role-playing
桌子/櫃台－－扮吃飯、扮購買、扮．．．

and a car/bus too
for some more role-playing with an toddler who loves wheels
一輛汽車/巴士－－遇上熱愛駕駛的孩子，又怎能缺少有輪物體？

please do let us know if you have better and funnier ideas! sorry, no presents for the most innovative ideas though. 歡迎免費提供其他創意玩法！

courtesy 鳴謝: inspiration from 靈感源自 mama4

rafael's sunday monday song

a new song rafael learnt at school -- i don't know what it's called so i call it rafael's sunday monday song.

靖愷從學校學的星期歌

wonder if anyone except me and mac can catch the lyrics? it's basically counting from sunday till saturday.

rafael, don't you know that mommy is always counting the days from mondays till saturdays too? because saturdays & sundays = 24 hours-with-rafael days!