Counting beyond 20

He counted to 39 tonight in bed. But he needed help with 30 and 40. I asked him who taught him to count. He said Teacher Sofie.

We'd been trying to teach him the numbers to 100 at home but it seemed it just flew over his head. I guess it's more fun learning the numbers in school.

Sometimes last week he started counting beyond 20 as well and he managed to count until 60. I very impressed with him.

His favorite no is 11.

That's not Jeremy's towel

I put it the striped & colorful towel in his bag to bring to school for today because he ran out of his regular, plain color towel. He hasn't used that striped towel for a long, long time. The last time he used it was probably when he was still a toddler.

When I picked him up this evening, Teacher Rose told me how Jeremy was confused when he found that towel in his bag. He told his teacher that it wasn't his towel. He also told me it wasn't his.

I should have told him last night I was putting that towel in his bag.

Thank you for listening

We were on the way home this evening when Jeremy asked me to turn to the junction before the normal junction we take home in Likas. When I drove through that road, which he called the new flat road, he said to me "Thank you for listening, mommy." I told him I listen to him because he listens to mommy. I also told him to listen to mommy next time. He nodded his head and said "mmm." So sweet of him.

You drop it, you clean it

I was at work tonight when I received a text from Tracy. She said Jeremy's father was taking something from the shelf on top of the TV when he accidentally dropped some batteries. Jeremy immediately told his father "you drop it, you clean it!" Hahaha.. He must have picked that up from me and Tracy.

I drink water

Tracy was eating hot & spicy instant noodle for dinner last night. Jeremy asked her what she was eating. When she told him, he said he wanted to eat mee mee. She said it was too hot for him, he answered he would drink water. When he saw Tracy with putting noodle into her spoon, he quickly went to her while clutching his water bottle. Hahaha.

I told him I'm cooking mee mee for him, not a hot one. He answered back saying he wanted hot mee mee. I did cook curry noodle but didn't use too much of the curry seasoning. When I gave to him, he asked if it was hot. I said yes. After eating a spoon, he said a little bit hot only.

Rhymes Recital - Encore Performance

Late on yesterday afternoon Teacher Rose called me up to ask me to get Jeremy ready for encore performance on the 15th at Tadika Ria in case Adam doesn't want to do it. She said Adam might not do it when his parents are around. I told her I'll prepare Jeremy for it.

Early in the morning Teacher Rose told me Jeremy would have to do the encore performance because Adam wasn't going to the event. He wasn't feeling well - diarrhea, vomitting & fever. I told her we might not be able to make it either as Jeremy wasn't feeling either - vomitting & fever.

However, when I asked Jeremy if he wanted to go to Yayasan Sabah, he said yes. I made sure he had taken his breakfast before I got him ready. By the time we arrived at Yayasan Sabah it was already 10.30 AM. Thank goodness we didn't miss the prize presentation.

The prize presentation was only after 12 PM. In the meantime Jeremy went to play at the playground. I kept on telling him that he will say his rhymes again later. He nodded. I also recited his rhymes to him a few times.

When it was his turn to get his prize, he thought he had to say his rhymes then. So he waited on the stage until someone led him off the stage. He received a trophy and two books for the 2nd place prize. He was so happy to get his trophy. He happily told us he has two trophies now. I told him he will get many, many more in the future.

Only after all the prizes were presented the encore performances were held. He performed in front of YB Datuk Hajah Jainab Datuk Seri Panglima Hj Ahmad Ayid. At first they couldn't hear what he was saying because the mic was too high. So the YB asked the organiser to fix the mic. Once the mic was fixed he was unsure of what to do, he just looked at us. We told him to start from the beginning, from "Good Morning". It went smoothly from there. The audience was clapping and laughing when he gave them a flying kiss at the end.




Before the whole thing ended, we left because it was time for lunch and Jeremy looked tired. We dropped by McD for lunch. He had chicken nuggets & fries with Ribena.

Rhymes Recital Competition - Final

As usual during the Merdeka Month, Kumpulan Yayasan Sabah, Bahagian Perkembangan Kanak-Kanak organises the Bulan Membaca, Bulan Kemerdekaan & Hari Kanak-Kanak Sedunia 2009. Teacher Sofie urged Jeremy to participate in the Rhymes Recital Competition. I thought it would be a good experience for Jeremy, so I enrolled him.

The pre-competition was supposed to be on 31st July 2009 but it was cancelled due to lack of participants. So everyone went to the final, which was originally scheduled for 4th August 2009. However, due to Tadika having to temporary closed due to H1N1 infection it was postponed to 15th August 2009.

On Wednesday evening, 12th August 2009 I was informed that the final would be on the 14th. Only two days away. But no worries, Jeremy has been practising his rhyme in school almost everyday, twice a day with his teachers' help.

Teacher Irene and Teacher Sharifah were a bit concerned when I told them I'd be at the competition. They were scared that Jeremy would refuse to do his recital. I was worried about that too in the beginning, but I have told Jeremy that me and his father would be there to see him recite his rhyme. And he understood. Whenever I helped him practise at home, I tell him beforehand that I would be sitting in the audience while he recite his rhyme on the stage in front. He said 'OK'. The night before the final, we sort of had a full dress rehearsal to show him how it would be when both of us were in the audience. He wore the clothes that he'd be wearing during the competition. His father and I sat on the chairs and he went in front on the stage to do his rehearsal.

On the day itself, I went to Tadika Ria, Yayasan Sabah in the same care with Teacher Rose and the children. The other children were Adam, Hana & Danisya. Danisya participated in the Berpantun Competition, while Adam & Hana were Jeremy's fellow competitors.

We waited a while longer for the rest of the competitors to come. That gave us enough time to get the children to practise on the stage with the mic.

There were 7 children participating in the Rhymes Recital. Jeremy was the second competitor. He was quite unsure of what to do when it was his turn. He went to the stage and I think he was expecting his Teacher Rose to prompt him because he was watching her. Only when Teacher Rose started then he started. I think that may have cost him a bit of points. Once he started though he did very well. We were so proud of him.

There was a boy at the competition that was dressed and made up like a cat. He caught Jeremy's attention. Jeremy even took a photo of him and tried to talk to him. But the boy just kept quiet.

After the competition, I told Jeremy he was going back to school. He agreed. But once we were in school and after Adam upset him, he didn't want to stay in school anymore. So I brought him to my office first while waiting for Tracy to finish her classes. I gave him his lunch in the office while he was playing games on my colleague's PC.

We just reached home in the afternoon when Teacher Rose told me the good news. She said Jeremy won 2nd place. I was so happy. Although, as a mother I have high expectation of him and I wanted him to do his best in the competition, I wasn't hoping that he would win. But this was a great news!

When I told him that he got no 2 and Adam got no 1, he said "Jeremy doesn't want no 2, Jeremy wants no 1". Hehehe.

I'm so proud of him!

Fell off the bed

Most nights Jeremy sleeps on my right. But last night Jeremy was sleeping on my left, and to his left is the edge of the bed.

I heard a thud in the middle of the night. When I woke up I saw him climbing back onto the bed. He lied down next to me on my right and asked me to rub his legs. He must have landed on his legs then. He went right back to sleep after that. No crying.

If he had slept on my right, he would have fallen on the mattress on the floor when he fell off the bed. He probably would have continued to sleep on that single mattress.

Jeremy cannot think

It was my turn to do day-end processing tonight and I only got home at 9:40pm. Jeremy was already in the bedroom with his father. So I just took my time downstair, cleaning up the mess and sweeping the floor.

They both came down once to get the Naruto head gear. Jeremy was hiding from me by putting his face in his father's neck. Then they went up.

Half-an-hour later they came down again. This time Jeremy looked for me. He said 'Jeremy cannot think'. I asked him why. He answered 'Because Jeremy's head is sleepy'. Hahaha. I think he meant he was sleepy.

So we went up together. It was 10.20pm then. In the bedroom, no more playing as usual.

I looked for my face mask. I wear it to sleep in case I cough. I've been coughing for a few days now. Jeremy said he played with it. So I told him that he shouldn't play with mommy's face mask because it's dirty and he may get sick. He cried. I asked him why he's crying. He said 'because mommy doesn't let Jeremy play with mommy's mask'. I explained to him he could have mommy's clean mask. Then he was happy. I've got 10 pieces of unused mask and he thought he couldn't play with any of them. Poor boy.

Correcting Teacher Sofie

Teacher Sofie told me this morning about a funny incident with Jeremy yesterday. She was singing Michael Jackson's We are the World song. She apparently sang one sentence of the song wrong and Jeremy looked at her funny and corrected her. Hahaha.

She said Jeremy can definitely join the Pantun recital as he can memorise the song within a short period of time. The problem is, I haven't came up with the Pantun yet. Will get it done today... crossing my fingers... :p

EyeToy

Jeremy has been into playing with his EyeToy games the past few days. He was running and jumping and ducking and got all sweaty.

Funny kiddism

The song Poker Face by Lady Gaga was playing on the radio on the way home just now. I started singing along. Jeremy said 'don't say poker face again or I will take your bag.'

At home Tracy told me what Jeremy answered her when she asked him why wasn't he writing. He answered 'teacher said enough already writing.'

Tracy was busy playing Mahjong Quest on the computer. Jeremy came along and said 'don't play that game anymore, later it will spoil, choose another game!'

Pantun Recital

Teacher Sofie asked me yesterday to get Jeremy to join the Pantun recital during the August event. She said it can be in English or Malay. A very simple pantun would do, maybe something I write myself. The theme is National Day, World Children Day and Reading Month. Oh gosh.. I'm not the most creative person to come up with a pantun. I need help from someone more creative. There's a few colleagues that I can kacau.

It would be nice to see Jeremy recite a pantun from memory. I'm very sure he can memorise a stanza of Pantun. He sang me almost 2 stanzas of 'We are the World' last night and he's only been learning the song the past one week or so.

The problem is, would he go on the stage and recite the Pantun himself. From my experience, he tends to cling to me whenever I'm around even if he had practise what he has to do for weeks before that. With enough encouragement, brainwashing and practise I hope he would.

I don't know how to play too

Jeremy said he wanted to play racing car on the PS2. So, Tracy switched off her TV show and said 'I don't know how to play'. Without missing a beat Jeremy answered back 'I don't know how to play too'.

Fight back

Jeremy was playing at the playground in Giant Kolombong when a boy around his age hit him on the tummy. I'm not sure if Jeremy did something that infuriated the boy, maybe he was blocking the boy at the tunnel. He cried. I told him to go kick the boy back. He went back to the playground and waited for the boy to come around, then he kicked the boy on the leg. The boy tried to kick back. I told Jeremy to come back to me. I explained to Jeremy to only hit someone back if that person hit him first.

Old diapers

I was cleaning up Jeremy's diapers drawer last Thursday night. There were still a few diapers in there. I took one and showed to Jeremy. I asked him if he still want to wear his diaper. He said 'jeremy don't need to wear diaper anymore, jeremy big boy already'.

It has been a very long time since he last wore one. In fact, I can't remember the last time he wore a diaper.

Choc-crazy boy

When we got home today Jeremy headed to the fridge and looked for chocolates. He found a little Snickers. But Tracy exchange the Snickers with two Bounty. Once he finished eating his Bounty he asked for the 'white chocolate'. I told Tracy that he might be asking for her white chocolates with raisins. Tracy gave him that chocolates and he finished eating them. He went to the chest freezer to look for more and he found Froot Loops, his cereal that I kept in there. He asked for a bowl of that cereal.

I remember when he was a toddler we couldn't get him to eat chocolates or ice cream. Now it's a completely different story.

He seems to be in an eating mood the last few days. He must be in his growing spurt phase.

The little thing

Jeremy was crying early this morning complaining about something. I tried waking him up and asked him what was wrong. He said 'something wrong'. I asked again 'what is wrong'. He said 'dropped something, pick it up'. 'What is that something?' I asked. 'Something' he answered. Then he went back to sleep.

A few minutes later he cried for the 'something' again and asked me to pick it up. I took his tiniest Matryoshka doll and showed it to him. It wasn't that 'something' that he dropped. I went to his shelf and look for a little something and found the little Bertie the Bus. I gave it to him. It still wasn't it. I went back to the shelf and found a little rubber cube which was certainly smaller than Bertie the Bus. I gave it to him. 'Is this the little something?' he asked. I said 'yes'. 'OK' he said and went back to sleep.

Funny little boy. I know for sure he didn't drop anything on the floor. He must have been dreaming about dropping a little something.

Bertie the Bus on the left and the 'something' on the right. It certainly is smaller than Bertie.

Matryoshka doll (Russian nested doll)

I was cleaning up the shelf on top of the TV last night when I saw the doll hidden behind all the junks on the shelf. I remembered how Jeremy loved to play with the doll when he was younger, so I gave the doll to him. He played with the dolls the whole night until bedtime. He even went to sleep with the tiniest of the dolls. He asked me this morning was the tiniest one can't be opened like the bigger ones.

He took apart the dolls and nested them back.

Up to the third doll.

The second doll now and it has to align!

Almost done!

All done. Now it's ready to play with Optimus Prime.

Bounty

Jeremy saw me eating some Guylian chocolates after dinner. So he asked for his Bounty chocolates that Tracy bought weeks before. When Tracy gave him two, he asked if there were only two left. Tracy said yes. Jeremy said 'have to buy more chocolates'. So Tracy asked for money to buy chocolates from him. He said 'daddy got money'. Hahaha.

Why Mommy cry in church?

When I was about to say our bedtime prayer last night Jeremy asked me why I cried in church. I assumed he was refering to my aunt's funeral that took place more than a week a go. I explained to him again that I was sad to see my friends crying. I also explained they cried because they lost their mama & nenek.

He said 'Jeremy didn't cry, LL and AdAd didn't cry also, only Mommy and Mama Karen cried'. He noticed.

We are the World

Jeremy and his friends are learning to sing this song in school. I'm not sure if it's for the August event or the November (end of year) event. Jeremy told me he likes the song and proceeded to sing part of it. Since I only know part of the lyrics as well, I only sang those and ended up humming the rest. Jeremy would also hum with me.

I wonder if they're singing 'Heal the World' as well. Time to look for these two songs for Jeremy to listen to. Nice songs from the late Michael Jackson.

A little ball of biscuit

When I picked him up this evening he ran to me excitedly and showed me a little biscuit that he was holding. I don't know the name of the biscuit but it's white and shaped like a ball and very light. I asked him who gave the biscuit to him. He said 'teacher serina'. 'Did you say thank you?' I asked. 'Yes, jeremy said thank you just now' he answered.

Before going out of the school, he ate his biscuit. I asked him if he didn't eat the biscuit earlier because he wanted to show it to me. 'Yes' he said. So sweet of him.

Sweet, sour, hot & salty

On the way home yesterday Jeremy was telling me that Zeta (one of her classmates) shared her food with him. I asked him what food it was. He said he didn't know. I asked him if it was sweet, if it was sour, if it was salty or if it was hot. He said 'sweet la, jeremy don't like sour, jeremy don't like salty, jeremy like sweet'.

I asked him if he likes hot. He said he didn't. When I said he likes to eat hot KFC. He said 'yes, jeremy like to eat hot KFC but jeremy don't like chili'. Hahaha.

Mosquito spray

I don't normally like to spray our bedroom with mosquito spray but I didn't have any choice last night. Jeremy and I weren't able to sleep well the night before because of the annoying bugs.

When I bought the spray earlier, Jeremy said he wanted to spray the bedroom together with me. So when I was about to spray the room I told him. He wanted to follow me. I told him he'd got to wear the mask when he's in the room. 'Why?' he asked. 'Because Jeremy is still small, so Jeremy has to wear the mask' I said. 'Mommy?' he asked. 'Mommy doesn't need to wear mask because Mommy's big already' I said. 'Jeremy don't want to follow la' he said.

Later on during bedtime he said 'next time when jeremy's big, jeremy want to spray the room with mommy, OK?'. I thought he's forgotten about it already... :-)

Naruto head gear

His father bought him a Naruto head gear on Monday and he'd been wearing it quite often at home, especially when he's playing his Naruto games.

Naruto (the one with blond hair) with his gang, all wearing the head gear.

Sparring with his father.

Parent and Child Look Alike Competition

This morning Teacher Sofie told me to get Jeremy and his father to participate in the 'parent and child look alike' competition. It's one of the activities held during the upcoming event at the end of August in conjuction with 3M, World Children Day and National Day.

I think that would be something interesting for the father and son to participate in. Jeremy would be more willing to participate with his father beside him. Unlike last year, he just plain refused to sit and color during the coloring competition.

I think they'll look cute wearing a traditional Chinese Costume complete with the hats. Hehehe.

Optimus Prime

I was doing day-end tonight. The tasks were completed by 9.20 PM but I had to perform some system maintenance before heading home.

I tried calling Jeremy twice on his father's cellphone. But twice he was downstairs looking for the little KFC's Optimus Prime. So I didn't get to talk to him before he went to bed.

But when I got home at around 10.10 PM, he wasn't sleeping yet. He even came down to see me and tell me his father couldn't find his little Optimus Prime. We both went to look for it in his robots basket.

I was still trying searching for it when Jeremy looked at me smiling. He was holding his little Optimus Prime. I asked him where he found it. He said in the laundry basket which was just next to his robots basket. He excitedly told his father he found his Optimus Prime.

Back in the bedroom he wanted to play with Optimus Prime first before going to sleep. By the time he fell asleep it was already 10.45 PM. Very, very late.

Fell off the bed

Jeremy fell off the bed twice in a row the past two nights. He just rolled off the bed but somehow landed on his feet both times. Still with a loud thud though. He'd just climbed back into bed and went back to sleep after that. No crying.

Fog Cars

Jeremy's Fog Cars, which he was playing with when Nana called last night. The gray one is a foghorn car and the green one is a blasting cap car.

Natural yogurt

We went grocery shopping at Thai Seng yesterday evening. Jeremy insisted on getting the natural yogurt (unsweetened) even though Tracy told him it was not sweet. When we were paying for it, I told him again it was not sweet. He said 'jeremy wants milk only yogurt'. Ok then.

When we got home, he immediately asked me to open his yogurt so he could eat it. I asked him if he wanted to put honey in it. He said no. He took a spoon of the yogurt and ate. He looked at me and I looked at him. He smiled. Hahaha. I asked him again if he wanted me to put honey in it. He said yes this time. He even followed me to the kitchen to see me pour honey into his yogurt. He ate half of the little tub after that.

The little tub of natural yogurt he was enjoying.

Don't come late

During bedtime Jeremy asked if he has to go to school tomorrow. I said yes. Then he said 'don't come get jeremy late ok? Tell kakak don't talk too much'. He thinks I'm late to pick him up from school because someone was chatting with me. Hahaha. Which is sometimes the case.

Cleaning up his mess

He poured out all his toys from one of his boxes when he wanted to look for one of his toys. We told him to clean it up. He said 'later'.

Later during the day he wanted me to do something for him. I told him I'd help him after he cleaned up his mess. He insisted on me helping him first. So, I made him promise me that he'd clean up after I'm done helping him. He said 'yes'.

Once we were done with what he wanted me to do (which I couldn't remember what now), he disappeared to the library. I totally forgot all about his promise to clean up his mess. A few minutes later I heard noises coming from the library. I went to take a peek and I saw him putting his toys back into the box. I was so proud of him.

He's almost done with his toys here.

At Taman Awam Teluk Likas

Trying to climb up to the top of the slide.

The little daredevil climbed up to the top of the tube and asked his father to catch him. His father told him to climb down himself, slowly.

Climbing down slowly with his father's guidance.

Almost there.

Yes, he did it! There was a little accident where he fell on the grass but he was OK and didn't cry.

His favorite activity on the beach -- covering the crab holes with sand -- by using a piece of shell as a scoop.

Throwing sand into the sea.

A view of Tanjung Lipat, Teluk Likas.

Scoop.

Cover.

Jeremy asked us to climb onto the steps. A good opportunity to take a photo together.

Report card day

We went to Jeremy's playschool today to get his report card. Last night he said he wanted to paint his cheek like Naruto and go to school with his cheek painted. This morning he remembered (or possibly his father reminded him) he's got a Naruto paper face mask so he asked for it. Phew! It was safely kept at the computer table. So instead of painting his cheek like Naruto, he wore his mask to school.

Jeremy, his father and I sat down with Teacher Sofie for his report. Most of his marks were As and according to his teacher he has improved in most of his subjects, except for his socioemotion. I do agree with his teacher on this. He was a bit withdrawn several months ago as compared to earlier this year. But she said he's much better now.

His writing and coloring were also superb. A quality he's never shown to us at home. Teacher Sofie said his quality of writing and coloring is better than some kindergarten kids. She said she's ready for kindergaten.

I told him in front of his teacher that I was so proud of his hardwork in school. He looked so happy.

[ click the picture for a larger view]

The whole time we were sitting with Teacher Sofie, he also just sat there quietly listening. I didn't expect him to do that at all. I was expecting him to be asked to be excused after a while. I have underestimated him, again. He must respect his teacher very much.

At school, the baby room was opened for all. So the older kids were allowed to play inside. Jeremy and a few of his friends had fun playing inside with the 'new' toys. He wouldn't have wanted to leave if I hadn't set the alarm.

When we got home, I gave one of the two Take Alongs that I was still hiding. I gave him Whiff. I told him it was from Nana for his hardwork. He was happy to get it.

Naruto face

On Friday night, he asked his face to be painted like Naruto's face. At first his father used a pen to paint the whiskers. When he wanted my face to be painted as well, I took out my eyeliners. So we his face. We both went to bed with our face like that. Before he went to sleep, he told me he wanted to go to school like that tomorrow.

This morning he remembered (or maybe his father reminded him) that he has a Naruto paper face mask. Phew! It was safely kept at the computer table. Instead of having his face fainted like Naruto, he wore this mask to school instead.

He wore his mask all the way from home to school.

With one of his classmates, Bobo. Still wearing his face mask.

Bedtime story

Last night I didn't finish reading him a story because he wasn't paying attention when I was reading. So I refused to finish the story.

Tonight he sat next to me while I was reading. He did interrupt me several times to ask questions, but that was OK. He asked me to continue reading where we stopped last night. And I read him an extra story.

Naruto

It's 10:46 pm now and the boy just went to bed. He was playing until 10. Pretend fighting with me like Naruto. He's got a towel tied around his head. Even asked me to draw 3 whiskers on each of his cheek.

Yesterday evening we dropped by Kompleks Karamunsing before heading home. I brought him to the shop called The Lowes on the first floor. When we were there he told me he wanted to but a toy. I told him no as he's got so many toys at home already. He went around the toys section and pointing to a toy, he'd ask me 'how about this?' I answered 'no'. He did that a few times.

I saw decks of Naruto cards for sales. I told him he can choose two decks if he'd like. So he did.

On the way home, he said he was tired. I asked him why. He said he was tired because he asked 'how about this' too many times. Hahaha.

Sleep eating

I woke up early this morning when I heard Jeremy saying 'nyam, nyam, nyam'. I watched him and he was bringing his fingers to his mouth as if he was eating -- still with his eyes closed. Then he went back to sleep.

Clean up the bed

It was my turn at night duty tonight and I only got home at around 9:45 PM. I expected Jeremy to be asleep by then. But the first thing I heard when I entered the house was 'mommy!'. I asked him why he wasn't sleeping yet. He said 'because Jeremy want to see mommy'. Fair enough.

I asked him to go back to the bedroom. But I told him I couldn't lie down with him yet because I haven't showered. He asked me to shower first while he wait.

The bed was in a mess with his books and toys all over the place. I asked him if he could clean up the mess. He didn't say anything, and I wasn't really expecting him to put his toys and books away.

But.. When I went back to the bedroom after my shower, the bed has been cleaned up. Except for one book. I asked him if did all the cleaning up himself. He said 'yes'. I was so impressed and proud of him. I rewarded him with hugs and kisses.

He put his toys at the corner of the room, between the shelf and the wall. Instead of in his basket. His books were on the floor instead of in the shelf. Nonetheless, I was very impressed.

When he was downstairs to see me when I got back from work, he found the pair of ABC gloves. I went to the kitchen to do something. When I went back to the dining room he was already wearing boths gloves. I asked him if his father helped him with the gloves. 'No' he said. 'Jeremy wear by self'. Wow! I really didn't expect him to wear the gloves by himself and be able to wear them correctly without having two or more fingers in one place.

He's really growing up, and learning new things and skills.

Where's Jeremy's egg?

We were moving out of the driveway this morning when Jeremy said he wanted his egg (a toy). I told him that we didn't have time to get his egg. He started crying and screaming for his egg. I raised my voice and told him I'm not getting his egg. And I started telling him why in my raised voice. I also told him to remember what toys he wants to bring to school before we get into the car.

He went quiet and just looked at me with tears running down his face. Once I was done, I kept quiet for a few minutes. The whole time Jeremy was looking at me.

Once I was ready to speak again I asked him if he was angry at me. He said 'no' by shaking his head.

I felt bad raising my voice at him but sometimes he can be quite unreasonable.

Take it vs Eat it

I was giving Jeremy his cod liver oil this morning in the little 15ml measuring cup. I gave him the cup and said 'take it'. Then he said 'take is like this' while pretending to take the little cup from my fingers. So I had to say to him 'eat it'. And he asked me 'why mommy confused?'. I couldn't think of anything to say to him... :)

Almost raw veggies

I prepared a pasta meal with spaghetti, garlic, chicken, green pepper, tomato & carrot for dinner. All the veggies except the tomato were almost still raw but Jeremy ate the meal without any complaints. He even wanted a second helping.

While I was preparing dinner, I gave Jeremy a few cut carrots. He finished eating them. Sometimes he prefers raw carrots to cooked ones.

ABC gloves

On the way home from kampung yesterday Jeremy asked me where his ABC gloves were. I told him they're at home.

He remembered about this gloves probably because he was crying for LL's gloves earlier during the day. He was crying for the gloves, but I told him no matter how much he cried I couldn't be able to give him one because there was only one gloves. He eventually stopped crying.

Once we arrived home, I thought he'd forgotten all about the gloves and he didn't ask for them. I was mistaken. He asked for his gloves before he went to sleep. And he wore his gloves to sleep.

Die vs Faint

In the car on the way back to the city, he asked me again about 'die'. I explained to him again that it means someone sleep for a long, long time. And that they will wake up when Jesus comes again (according to my Christian beliefs).

Then he asked me 'how about faint?'. I explained that faint means sleep a short time only. Then I realised that I'd have the same explanation for 'nap' and 'sleep' as well. Hahaha.

Anyone has a better way to explain to a 4 y/o boy?

Nenek Kotot's funeral

We attended Uncle Moliki's wife's funeral at around noon. When it was time to pay our last respect to Aunt Kotot, I brought Jeremy with me.

While I was going around hugging my cousins and their kids and my uncle, Jeremy noticed that we were crying.

"Why they cry, mommy?" he asked.

"Because they are sad their nenek sleep a long time" I said.

"Why nenek sleep a long time?" he asked.

"Because she was feeling very ouchie" I answered.

"Why mommy crying?" he asked.

"Because mommy feels sad too" I answered.

Later on he asked again why they were crying. "Because nenek died" I said deciding to use the word die this time.

"What is died" he asked.

"Died means sleeping for a long, long time" I explained.

When they opened the casket to enable the family members to touch their mother for the last time, Jeremy wanted to touch to. I let him.

At the cemetary, he wanted to be close to the casket so he could see the body inside. When he was blocked by someone he'd complained "can not see bah".

Once the casket was lowered into the hole and it was time to throw soil into it, he wanted to throw soil as well. I pointed to one clump of soil and asked him to pick it up. He picked it up and threw it back, he said it wasn't a nice one. Hehehe. So I let him choose his own soil. He threw soils into the hole twice.

The four boys & Critters

The four boys with their different actions while watching the movie Critters on video. I thought the movie was a scary one but it didn't scare the three little boys at all.

Cold milk with Nesquik Magic Straws

The three stooges enjoying cold milk with Nesquik Magic Straws (Strawberry) while watching a video. I wish I had brought two packets of the straws since they enjoyed drinking with the straws so much.

Jeremy & his cousins on their bikes

27th June 2009 - Jeremy on the little bike.

When he had that bike at home in KK, he didn't really cycle it in a complete circle. Instead he was going back and forth on the pedals. I asked him several times to cycle properly, he refused. So I told my mom he didn't know how to cycle it properly yet.

But to my surprise, he cycled properly here. I guess he saw how his cousins were pedaling properly and decided to try their way. I was so proud of him.


28th June 2009 - He tried his feet on the bigger bike while his cousins were still napping.


28th June 2009 - the three cousins on their bikes. Jeremy was still slow with his bike as he'd just started getting the hang of it. The two brothers were racing around the living room.

Playing with soil

We visited my Uncle Moliki at Kg Monopod. He has just lost his wife the night before. The things they could play there were different from what they can play with at home I guess.

I guess the soil at Nenek's house is different from this one. They spent quite sometimes playing with the soil under the house. I kept on telling them to stop playing. Even my uncle told them to stop playing with the soil. But none of them listened. I guess we were like them when we were their age. So, in the end I let them have fun.

They got soil all over them -- on the their back and on their head included. Before we let them into the car, we stripped them down to their underpants. Once they got home, they had a blast playing in the big basins filled with water outside the house.

Jeremy's messy face.

"No feet like LL, no feet like LL". He's been crying to me about "no feet like LL" for quite sometimes but I just didn't get it. It sounded like he was saying 'no fit like LL'. I finally understood what he wanted when he was so frustrated. He wanted his feet covered with the soil. After I covered his feet and took several photos, he decided to kick the soil toward me!

Sabbath evening adventure

After the kids had their nap, they decided they wanted to play outside the house. We ended up taking a walk along the road to our house.

Jeremy and AdAd running on the road. LL not far behind them on his bicycle.

Jeremy and LL taking a short break.

The group with their different actions.

Jeremy's pet-rock-of-the-moment. He's got the habit of collecting rocks. Can't remember where I've placed that rock already. I hope he won't ask me for it. Hahaha.

Great time with cousins in kampung

Happy to be with his cousins again, after more than a month not seeing them.

While the adults were having the Holy Communion in church, the boys were playing outside.

Jeremy's turn to go on the big bike with Uncle Andy. Finally! There was a rotten motorbike outside the children Sabbath School class at Likas church. After SS he'd never missed going on the motorbike. Once I told him he can ride on Uncle Andy's motorbike when we balik kampung. His dream finally came true.

He was so happy to finally be able to ride on a big motorbike. He calls it motorbicycle.