happy girl

heather 我想她應該屬於大情大性、笑點低，簡單來說，她就是吳君如！自娛／娛人完全沒有問題，唯一的難題相信是如何搶到或智取哥哥的珍寶珠和棉花糖（哥哥的 bus school nanny差不多每天都給小朋友糖果，而哥哥很多時珍而重之放在書包，但通常給heather發現），不過，大情大性總好過多愁善感啊，希望你大個女都繼續開開心心，橫豎難題不論你哭著好笑著好，它都總是待在你的面前，倒不如笑著笑著去處理吧。

怎麼我說話越來越像老頭子？

back to school!

getting up at 6.20 am is no longer a difficulty for rafael as he manages to sleep around 9 pm every night. i can tell he seems enjoying school life a lot from his smile.

as for heather, we have to try our every effort to wake her up at 7.30 am and lure her to leave home 30 mins later. i think she still needs some time to get adapted to the new school and the new faces there. keep going my little princess, i know you can make it!

growing up

rafael started doing a home journal for school in december. every week he brings home one or two very simple book(s) (with one sentence each page and maybe ten pages or less in total). he reads and is asked to draw or write something on the journal afterwards. the teacher stressed that it is not a book report. they are free to draw or write anything they like.

rafael has enjoyed the assignment. he likes to start by saying "i like" or "i love" every time. i guess he's not the kind of people who likes to be creative (yet, hopefully) and he enjoys routines a lot. anyway it's good to see him starting to read and write bit by bit.

every friday he will hand in the journal and on monday after i come home, i'm always eager to sit down and read with him the comments his teacher left on the journal. i wish i can show you a picture of rafael smiling when he successfully decodes his teacher's messages. it's always sweet to have someone write back to you when you write, isn't it? i have received quite many letters from rafael, and i just realised i haven't really wrote back at all.

i particularly love that his teacher drew a checkered heart in response to rafael's checkered fish. too cute.

靖愷開始要做家課了，每星期讀一、兩本小書，將想到的用圖畫或文字記下來。好喜歡他還是充滿稚氣的畫。對於寫字，他對自己是有要求的，我佩服他的整潔。





and rafael had his first baby tooth fall out just this morning. he's really growing up, isn't he?

luckily i got this tooth fairy bag ready last night. (check here for the project.)

今早，靖愷第一次掉落乳齒。他真的長大了。

cheeky monkey

we found that heather is quite the cheeky one a long while ago. while she's barely able to walk down stairs on her own, she chooses to hop down. once in a while, she makes fun by falling backwards on the bed (though she hit the head more than once by doing so). and when you're asking her to sit properly on the bus, she pulls a funny face.

but she really makes me laugh.

古靈精怪的你，令人發笑。





and once in a while, when she makes a sweet face, your heart just melts away.

偶爾你又裝可愛，令人溶掉。



有時你也會說：驚驚。

我總告訴你：唔駛驚，媽媽响度。

然後有天你竟然自己告訴我：唔駛驚，媽媽响度。

嗯，媽媽一直會在你身旁，一直會在。

ice lolly makes a summer lovely

夏天不可能不吃雪糕或雪條吧？管它中醫怎麼說．．．

這個夏天，我們都吃了許多許多。買的、自製的．．．我最愛自製的朱古力奶味！

i can never resist having (and giving) a cool treat in the summer...



這個夏天，終於試了這個自製雪糕實驗！雪糕是做到了，但密實袋不夠密實，鹽走到雪糕裡去，於是我們第一次吃了好鹹的雪糕。

and we finally did this homemade ice-cream experiment! it was a half success and half failure. the ice-cream was set, only that the flavour was salty and not vanilla... thanks to the not-so-durable ziplock bags!



冰凍過後家裡有很多雪條棍，造就了這些副製成品。

and these hand-sewn ice lollies are by-products of our many icy treats...



這個夏天，小妮子也上了縫紉的第一課。

as for heather, she had her first sewing training this summer...

trouble two

"time flies" - it must be the term that i use very often when writing anything about my kids. but indeed this is very true.

see, heather was such a tiny little baby two years ago....

but now - she becomes a little girl who always shows me a sweet smile (after i gave her candies)

likes graffiti (what a wonderful term) ( and luckily it's not the wall at my home...)

gives me lots of funny faces when taking photos on her...

and also loves perm hair.

so, this is all about her trouble two : )

july and daycare

二零一二年七月，暴曬，或暴雨。

爸爸整月上早班，所以每天我和你都走下山坐巴士上育嬰園。你常要抱，走到巴士站時，我都汗流浹背了。

還有幾天就不用再送你上學了，於是又開始懷念。八月中你要自己乘校車，怎麼會這樣？你明明還只是個 BB。

二零一二年七月，你第一次畢業。

 

milestone

rafael has already turned 5 and that means he will be going to a reception class (preparatory class for primary school) next setpember. to save all the troubles (for those who are parents you should know what i mean by "troubles"), we only enrolled him in a few schools (after all he can only attend one school, right?). lucky enough he has offers from two out of three.

we have been struggling in choosing which school for him as we have to make a decision within one week after we received the offer! of course we did make our choice in the end. we just wish that we have made a right decision for you, rafael!

bottom line

都說第二個小孩是會令人鬆懈的。哥哥在兩歲前，莫說是朱古力，就是我們外出吃飯也會替他預備食物（當然是只有極少調味料，你我都會吃到淡出鳥來）。但妹妹呢，通常我們吃甚麼她也吃甚麼了。

今個新年，妹妹以不足兩歲之齡，吃下人生第一塊朱古力，我也不知道，這其實是對她公平還是不公平呢？

throwing tantrums

束手無策呀！

open up yourself please

哥哥自小都是慢熱的人，不喜歡與陌生人（就算是小朋友也好）交談，以為大了一點會改善，誰知越大越變本加厲，就連揮手說再見也不肯，學校的老師也說有時候問他一些問題，就連簡單的yes or no他也不願說，要費上半天時間再他才肯點頭或搖頭。當我們懷疑他是否不懂表達自己，但老師又說，到遊戲時間看見他與一大班男孩玩到嘻嘻哈哈，說不停嘴！

昨天帶他去聽故事，其他小孩子一坐下不用多久已經混熟，但哥哥只會靜坐一角，看著其他小朋友玩耍，到聽完故事，姐姐邀請所有小朋友一同合照，他被三催四請，差不多被人拉上台也不肯合照，到回家時他又會推說我不喜歡影相嘛，總之就是有千百個藉口！

有時真攪不清他小小的腦袋在想甚麼！

the beginning of civilisation

學校家長日，看到壁報上貼上這幅。小朋友這個月的學習主題是海盜，每人要寫一個關於海盜的故事。


rafael's creative writing at class - PAIRTDNS means pirate dinosaur

PAIRTDNS... 原來rafael畫的是pirate dinosaur，故事應該是說兩隻海盜恐龍（即是職業是海盜的恐龍）和一條鯨魚混戰，最後鯨魚大勝。（小朋友最近迷上恐龍和鯨魚）

老師補充，rafael畫的海盜船有個小故事。話說一天老師讓小朋友看圖書介紹海盜船，然後合上書請每人自己畫一幅海盜船的圖畫。隔了一會，每個小朋友都畫好了，只有rafael仍對著畫紙發呆。老師問他，原來他說不知道怎麼畫，怕畫得不好。於是老師請他再看看書的圖畫，然後再三鼓勵，他才肯下筆。傻小子，你怎麼會這麼怕錯呢。


i love all the secret codes on the children's stories.

全是四歲多的孩子，好喜歡他們每一幅上寫的密碼。

很久前，rafael寫了一封字條給我，寫著YCCTMB，意思是 you can come to my birthday-party。從ABC到YCCTMB到PAIRTDNS，我隱約看到文明的開始。

同場加映：

有天上班時他打電話請我dictate教他寫幾個字，回家後，發現有人向helper發出了（警告）告示。很好，這很文明啊。


"no eating in my bedroom" - a notice posted by rafael in his room (for our helper)

new office art

i asked rafael to draw me something for my new office and this is what i got. i really like his minimalistic birds.

個多月前搬到新辦公室，坐在無窗的密室。幸好現在除了晴天外，案頭上多了兩隻可愛的小鳥。

stinky feet

比一比，原來你的腳掌已跟我的手掌一樣長，有17公分，而且頗臭。

比一比，原來你的腳掌也長了很多，近12公分，而且也竟然開始臭。

只是，我們還是很喜歡摸、很喜歡吻，也忍不住嗅。

也只有為人父母才會這麼無聊，這麼變態吧？



從左起，順時針：妹妹@17個月、哥哥@2週、哥哥@4歲8個月、妹妹@1週

clockwise: heather @ 17 months, rafael @ 2 weeks, rafael @ 4 years 8 months, heather @ 1 week

feet, measuring 17cm & 12cm, and getting stinkier each day.

and we're still loving them - for touching, smelling, biting (daddy) and kissing.

16 months

趁還記得，記錄一下你十六個月時的濕濕碎：

你十一個月才會轉身，一歲後才會爬，還擔心你要一歲半才會走呢。怎料，十六個月的第一天，你就終於開始走了。

幾天前，育嬰園的老師說，你練習了一個月已走得不錯，就讓你升上大組，聽說你很歡喜。

小肌肉發展你算是不錯的，早、午、晚餐都是自己吃了。你是食肉獸呢，總會先選肉類來吃。

未懂說話，有時會發＂媽媽＂的聲音，但我想你應該不是在叫我吧。

未懂說話，於是你每天手指指，要這要那。我和哥哥就教你手語的please，你間中肯做。



別人搶你的東西，或是你要搶人的東西，你就二話不說拍在人的頭上。哥哥大概是被你打得最多的人，但是他從不還手。長大了，你別欺負哥哥呀！

跟你訓話，或捉著你的手，你就用凌厲的眼神望著我。有甚麼事，你就大哭。小時候的那個easy baby究竟去了哪裡？

但是，只要你咪起雙眼笑嘻嘻，我和爸爸都會被你逗得甚麼也忘掉。



十六個月的最後一個星期，我再沒有給你擠奶了。推說是搬辦公室環境變了，其實是懶惰，反正你喜歡喝新鮮牛奶，也愛吃乳酪和芝士嘛。

晚上仍常會醒來多次要吃奶，我早上總會埋怨又沒得睡。但是，我暗地知道，可以擁著你餵奶的日子還有幾多？

sew we sew

懶惰，很久沒拿起針線了。妹妹不喜髮飾，就連髮夾也沒做一隻。

一直想教靖愷縫紉，卻找不到安全又可用的針。看他做事一向小心翼翼的，也就給他試用普通的針。

給他示範了兩次，他居然就會了，原來只是我一直低估他的能力。

沒有刺到手指，竟然是一次也沒有。不過，如果他真的刺到了，下次也就知道怎麼保護自己。

他不算很有耐性，線一打了結就立即嚷著要我幫忙。不過，最終都完成了，從剪布、縫線、塞綿花，到封口。

so we sewed together, for the first time.

i had been searching for some children's needles but couldn't find any. so one day i just decided maybe we could just try the normal ones.

and to my surprise, he really handled it well, without hurting himself even once. he also managed to make it through the end, from cutting the felt to sewing it all up.

he couldn't wait to pick up his beloved toy cars again after finishing the project. but well, i never expected he would prefer sewing than playing cars. :P



左邊是我以前做的，右邊是他的（除"薯仔芽"外都是他做。噢，你應該認得是薯仔吧？）。第一次，我認為是算很不錯了。

the left was made by me, and his is on the right. hope you could recognise what it is. :P



他一直眉頭深鎖地縫，完成後立即去玩心愛的玩具車。以為他再也沒有興趣拿起針線了。怎料昨晚我應他要求在縫冰淇淋時，竟有人走過來要幫忙。

a little grown-up

yes i am talking about heather. she is no longer a small tiny baby sleeping in my arms but a little grown up toddler! why she grows so fast? probably because she is quite a big eater (and i bet she ate even more than rafael during the vacation last week!)

p.s. please excuse her eating manner! : P

love letter

老師寄來你們班的相片CD，你收到關於你的郵件，多麼興奮。

靈機一觸，請爸爸為我們用鞋盒做了個郵箱，你還用貼紙把它裝飾得漂漂亮亮。接著，你開始剪剪貼貼，將一封一封信投進你的郵箱。

忽然，今天晚上R姐姐跟我說，上午你請她教你給我寫信。

打開你的郵箱，我看到的是 amy, rafael 和 love。

our family postbox (recycled from shoebox) and rafael's first love letter for me

from baby to toddler

isn't time going too fast?

pigtails

為妹妹造了幾個髮夾，但是她都不喜歡，別上後總是要立即抓下來。

週末在家，爸爸為哥哥理髮，我看著你稍長的頭髮，第一次為你束上小孖辮。

here are your first pigtails my love. i think they go quite well with your slightly chubby arms and piggy toes. :P