The summer reading program kicked off yesterday. It was held in the library and Mummy had signed up for Mal. It is a 6 weeks program and the library had invited guest story tellers for the program.The program was actually meant for preschoolers ie. 3 years and above as the story telling time is longer and kids who are younger may not have the attention span for that. Before signing up, Mummy had talked to Miss Erika, the story teller for Mal’s Wednesday library story telling program to see whether Mal can join the program. Miss Erika was quite encouraging as she thought Mal seem to be able to sit through the normal story telling session and we can give it a try for the summer reading program though he is consider below their requirement age.

We attended the program yesterday and WHAO! it was a much bigger group compared to the Wednesday session but most of them were much older and Mal was one of the youngest boy. The guest story teller for the day was someone from the Wildlife Conservancy. She read a story on Owls, which was not the kind of bedtime story Mummy would normally read for Mal as it was a bit too advanced for him. Mummy had tried reading him a book on monkeys before and he did not seem to show as much interest. At his age, Sesame Street and Walt Disney characters books are still his favrouite! But Mal was able to sit through the story maybe because Mummy was sitting with him this time.

The program after the story telling was much more interesting even for Mummy. The storyteller had brought 3 cages along with her and inside…there were 3 species of birds which are under their protection. They were an owl, a hawk and a falcon! Not sure how much Mal understand about these birds but Mummy sure learn quite abit from the session. It was an eye opener for Mummy as this was the first time for her to come so close to a hawk, owl and falcon!!! Daddy will definitely enjoy the session if he was there as he used to be quite a bird lover.

Other than the interesting reading session, the kids were given some goodie bags with some snacks, stickers, crayons, pencil and charts for the kids to note down what they read for the summer. At the end of the program prizes will be give. This sure was a very good way to encourage reading for the older kids.

It was definitely a very interesting session not just for Mal but for Mummy as well. Had requested some photos from Miss Erika which she had taken for the session so that I can post it here. Meanwhile…here’s some pictures of the big birds we saw in the library….and some of the things Mummy learnt from the story teller…

the owl we saw looks something like this …the owl was under their protection as it was kept by human as pet and was fed all the wrong food, such as hamburger and hotdogs!!! which were not what an owl’s diet supposed to be like. Owls eat rabbits and mice WHOLE with the bones as that they need that for calcium. Due to the prolonged inappropriate diet that the owl had been fed. It suffers from major calcium deficiency and was very weak and cannot walk for long and will get tired easily with flying. Oh another thing we learnt about owls was that it had 14 vertebrae on their neck as compared to 7 for human. Due to this, they have much more mobility in the neck area as compared to human. They can turn their heads 270 degree!!! almost a full circle! and that is why some people mistook owls of being able to spin their head 360 degree as when they do it fast…it does look like a full circle! Their feet and wings were also structured in a special way that made them very silent flyers…unlike the hawk! the falcon that we saw…this species of falcon called the Kestrel. It was one of the smalles falcon in the world. Though small, it has very very sharp beak that it used to killed its prey. It will use it to puncture the neck so that the prey will die instantly. Due to its small size, it will only prey on smaller animals. The Kestrel that was shown to us was under their protection as it has a broken wing…probably ran into something while flying

this was the hawk that we saw. It was a Harris Hawk and we were told this species of hawk like to stand on one another….like stacking cups The Harris Hawk that we saw was under their protection as it was also used to be kept as pet. This one unlike the owl was fed a very healthy diet. The problem with it was that this bird thought that it is human and not hawk, as the moment it was hatched from the egg, human were what he saw and had contact with. they were concerned that if this bird will to be let out in the wild…it will fly into somebody’s home and thought that is a place for him. He had no fear for human beings !

By now…at 26 months old, Mal is finally totally weaned off. He no longer need Mummy to nurse him to sleep Just to note down some of the things….

When we started to wean him off, we had to resort to bedtime story to put him to sleep. We had to read books….one after another…till he was so tired and would finally drift off to sleep. The bedtime stories were like lullaby that could put him to sleep. This went on for like 1 to 2 months….

Sometimes it can be very tiring reading book after book…and alot of time, we will drift off to sleep before him and he had to wake us up again saying that he wanted more stories. Quite a few times, Mummy had to raise her voice at him telling him that it was really time for bed and there will be NO MORE STORIES for the night!!! Most of the time he could tell that Mummy is angry and would go to sleep after the scolding. Actually he would most of the time cry first.

Then it slowly progress to having an agreement with him before bedtime stories that he could only choose a few books and after that he has to go to sleep. It had been working quite well as now sometimes he will only choose 2 books and after that he will switch off his night light and go to sleep. But he has a little habit now ie he has to hug Mummy to sleep! I hope this will not become another bad habit for him next time which we will have problem kicking it off! With Daddy being away, Mummy is actually enjoying having Mal hug me to sleep…so if this really develops into a bad habit…Mummy is partly to be blamed too

It was another gathering at our place. This time all the Daddies were not in town as they were away for 2 weeks in Canada. It was a full month celebration for baby Vera and birthday celebration for Auntie June. We had it the pot luck style thus everyone will come with their special dish. It was fun and with just a fraction of the work…we got to try sooo…ooo many different dishes. It was a HUGE spread ! Look at food we had…are you salivating yet ?!! Heehee

guess what…
it is baking time again…Hannah is here to join in the fun as well…

this is the way we make Ang Ku Kueh…

actually I am just helping to dust the mould with flour ??seldom see them work so well togetheru can tell it is morning…cos Mal is seen here with his bad hair day…that is how his hair normally looks like in the morning!
look at the spread….
can you tell what we have ??are you salivating ???we have red eggs, lemon chicken, glutinous rice, fried tang hoon, spring rolls, cakes, black glutinous dessert….

and also the Ang Ku Kueh…both with green bean and peanut fillings….the Daddies don’t know what they are missing out!!!
special birthday cake for Auntie June
the little star….Baby Vera…Hannah’s little sister
liitle Junette…her skin is flawless!!!Little Junette’s mummy…Auntie June with her special birthday cake

Malcolm attended his 1st Swimming Lesson today. It was those Parent and Toddler swim class where the parent can stay with the kid in the pool. It was a 2 weeks lesson…Monday to Thursday. Mummy made a mistake as I thought it was a 1 week lesson for $20. Think he will have to miss the class next week when ?? they all come over. So if it is $20 for 8 lessons…each lesson 0.5 hour, think it is still quite inexpensive.

Though Mal loves to swim at home, when it comes to pool other than the one in our backyard. He had a BIG PHOBIA! I only realised that few days ago when we went to a party in a friend’s house. Even with all the children swimming, laughing and having so much fun in the pool. He refused to swim. He did not even want to sit at the side of the pool with me. He was already in full gear…ie his swimming trunk, his float…all geared up for the swim. Instead, he stood at the side of the pool watching the other kids play! Finally it was time for everyone to get out the pool and he was finally relieved as that means he could go inside the house.

So after that incident, I realised that Mal will need some time to warm up before the swim lesson starts. I am not sure how it will go but hope that with me in the pool, it will be easier for him. We reached there half an hour earlier. This time, he refused to even wear his swimiming trunk! I had to spend a good 15 minutes to coax him to put on his trunk and then the sunblock. Thinking that he will be more willing to get into the water if he sees me in the pool, I jumped in first…but still…it took a good 10 minutes to finally get him into the water! He was still rather tensed and was not his usual self when we swim at home but I guess it was a good start. So it took us a good 1/2 hour to get him all ready to swim!

Hopefully by the end of this week, he will be happier to go for his swim lesson and enjoy swimming in the public more. **finger crossed crossed**

Remember our sunflower seedlings which we planted early spring somewhere in late March. In late April, the sunflowers had to struggle to survive as Daddy replanted all of them spacing each plant further apart as we realised that these are gigantic sunflowers and need to be planted at least 1 feet apart. It took around 3 weeks for the sunflowers to really settle down and start growing again after that. It grew very fast and almost everyday we could see the growth in height for the plant. Very soon, they were as tall….then taller than Mal! Finally in early June, the sunflower bloom! We had our 1st sunflower! This was then followed by more sunflowers blooming

the sunflower seedlings growing fast each day?? came up with a clever idea…she used some branches to tie with the seedling so that they will grow straight and upright and will not bendMal helps to water the plant diligently each day
very soon they were as tall…or even taller than Mal…

our sunflower begin to bloom…it took a few days…and we had our 1st sunflower!but the next day….the petals began to drop. We realised that the poor sunflower was attacked by ANTS! The ants had chewed off its petals!!! So with some insecticide spray, we killed all the ants

soon…we had our 2nd BIG sunflower. This one was even TALLER and BIGGER than the 1st one.Mal looks kinda tiny beside the sunflower…heheh

hopefully more sunflowers will bloom in the next few days…can u see Mal lurking in the background…blocked by the sunflowers??

It’s June now and Mal is still receiving birthday gift. Mal was already in his PJ getting ready to sleep when Daddy came back with a big box wrapped in nice bright colour. It was a belated birtday present from Aunite Shumei and Uncle LoJack. Now Mal knows what a present is and is all excited to open up the surprise. Guess what it is?! It’s a cool set of cake mixer with weighing machine…just like what Mummy used to bake cake! Another set of cooking toys to add on to his favourite pots and pans and stove toys. Maybe Mal is destined to be a cook when he grow up! Just like Daddy is inspired to be a cook one day! The next morning…the first thing he did when he woke up was to play with his new toy! Thank you Auntie Shumei and Uncle LoJack!

It was a Wednesday morning and it was library day for Mal…someone was here to deliver a piano. It was a surprise for both me and Mal. Daddy had bought it from Auntie Jasmine who had just went back. This was Auntie Jasmine’s little baby when she was here and she could play it very very well. Mal was obviously excited with this new toy. Now there is something new to keep our spare time occupied! The piano now sits in Daddy and Mummy’s room waiting for someone who can play a nice tune to bring it back to life…hopefully soon…

Mal had upgraded again…this time to washing the real dishes! It was a morning and Mummy was about to go for her aerobic lesson but Mal was especially clingy and grumpy and wanted Mummy to stay home with him! He had been quite ok all these while when ?? was around and Mummy sneaked out for the lesson but today he decided not to be cooperative. We tried ways to dsitract him but he seem to be very persistent this time. So eventually we had to resort to something new…that is let him wash the real dishes and it works! He happily forget about Mummy as he realised that he had upgraded to do the real adult work. So instead of his usual pretending to wash his pink and blue cooking toys, he gets to wash our dishes this time. Just keeping our finger crossed that he won’t break any of them…

Dumpling festival had just past. It was on Wednesday and Mummy and ?? made more than 100 of them. We did it in 2 batches as after the 1st batch, we decided to make more so that Daddy could bring them to work and hopefully everyone gets to bring some home. Also, we went ahead with the 2nd batch as with ?? around, Mummy had mastered the skill of wrapping the dumplings thus could help out. It was Mal 1st time to see ?? make dumplings and as usual he was curious and wanted to participate. Luckily Daddy was around to distract him a little but eventually we also had to satisfy his curiosity by letting him try his hands on the dumpling wrapping session! But instead of the real ingredient…we got him some macaroni to try on. And you know what…Mal loves to eat the dumplings!

yummy yummy dumplings….sluuuurrrrpthese are the ingredients….glutinous rice, mushroom, minced meat and chestnuts…Mal ate them ALL!the real expert at work….
Mal wants to help out too…actually is mess around too…the not so real expert ….also at work…