Hongkong - Ocean Park and Disneyland (Day 1)

28 November came and went by. Finally realised the birthday trip for R and A, and boy, it is really quite a challenge, to bring an infant along with a super whiny 4yo. 

Unexpectedly, it wasn't really C who was difficult, but R, for being really clingy, whiny and just refusing to walk on his own. He grabbed every opportunity to jump into the stroller, which was mainly meant for C's use.

If the stroller was unavailable, he would be bugging daddy to carry him, crying, fussing until daddy gave in, or until I go grab his hand and make him walk with me. That was really really the most annoying thing about R. If only he can be more independent, this trip will be a really fun and less frustrating one.

Wa, I didn't mean to start the blog with a complain, but anyway, I had to rant, although I already did, to a number of people. HAHA

I woke up at around 2.15am, to pump before I shower and prepare myself. Rayson got up around the time I did too, and we woke R up at around 2.45am. To make sure we won't have too difficult a time waking R up, we put him to bed at about 8.30pm. C's nap time however, clashed with the time we would like to put him to bed, so he actually only slept at around 10plus pm. So I woke my mom and him up last. 

We got into a cab at around 3.40am and reached airport at around 4.05am. Xue and family already checked in and was having breakfast, while I bottle feed C 240mils of milk (as we waited for his godma Zynn), which he actually finished. He hadn't finished so much milk before.  

The HKG Group!

The Kiddos

Ah Mah & C

We didn't bother changing C, we just changed his diapers, put him into the carrier and go. I thought he would go back to sleep, but he didn't. Maybe he felt our excitement, or he was just as excited! LOL

It is really a fantastic idea to have my mom come along with us. She helped me alot feeding C, taking care of C in the hotel room while I pump or handle R. We also have more hands taking care and carrying C when we are out, or eating. 

Kiddos cannot pose properly again >_<

The flight was generally smooth, C fell asleep an hour into the flight, till we landed. R was yakking non stop for 3 hours of the 4 hours flight. OMG! Poor Zynn had to entertain him, until we I made R go sit with Ray and he eventually fell asleep 30mins before the plane landed. Then R was crying coz of the pressure and his ears hurt. 😓

Zynn entertaining both kids. LOL😆

Here's C with his Godma ❤❤

Xue with her 2 baobeis

Finally arrived in HKG and OTW to hotel

 First meal at Hongkong. We went to Tsui Wah Cafe which was just opposite our hotel. This cafe's food are pretty pricey though. Their food is pretty decent, most importantly, not as salty as I remember HKG food. My red bean iced was good, but the milk tea is terrible according to my mom and Zynn and Xue.

Red Bean Iced & Milk Tea

The most expensive luncheon & egg rice. HKD$50!

Fishballs Noodles

Another version of Fishball Noodles

Stir fry Pepper Pork Ribs Rice. Around HKD$60.

 This rice is quite yummy and so much more worth compared to the luncheon & egg rice. 

Our rooms were not all ready when we reached, so we all parked our luggage at the Ten's room, then we quickly head for lunch, coz kids all hungry already. The room not ready, kind of disrupt my itinerary planning. Coz I plan to settle down, let the kids wash up abit, feed C before we head out for lunch then straight to the Science Center.

In the end after lunch, we go back to claim our rooms, settle down, and got ready to go out again, it was around 4pm already. So we decided not to rush to the Science Center which will close at around 7pm. So we chose to walk around the area and go buy some Tai Cheong egg tarts on the way. 😋

C very happy with the bed

R snacking

So we decided to look see look see while we walk to the pier at the end of the long street. We were walking for about 5mins or so and I turned around to find R asleep! Ray told me R was walking like a zombie, and he realised R's eyes were closed while walking! No wonder R objected when we wanted to leave the room, saying he was tired. I thought he meant physically, so he actually meant he wants to sleep. LOL. 

R sleepy while we catch up on some yummy snacks!

R took a power nap & woke up & Zynn munching on a jidanzai

So cute this snowman

The familiar ice-cream van in HKG

At the pier

Finally, some yummilicious egg tarts!

And R stealing licks of Aunty Zynn's Taro ice cream

Night view from the pier

Ice cream mustache

They are tired and wanted to rest their legs

XX posing with cute gongzai!

LAOFUZI & MAK DOU!

Christmas lights, not as impressive as SG's

Dinner here at my bro's recommendation. But no more dim sum already!

Roast Goose

Ee Fu Mee Soup

Tofu

We wanted to go to the Sun Sun restaurant for some dimsum dinner, but then we were informed that they don't serve dimsum during dinner hours. Disappointed, but also too late to make another meal choice, so we made do. The pricing is not cheap too, but the servings were pretty large, so all 6 adults and 3 kiddos were able to fill our tummies. The food is not bad, I like that it was not over salty, thus we can feed this to the children at ease.

I packed oatmeal cereals for C, and my bro bought some packed purees back from aussie. So I brought a few packs along. Here's C trying the Apple, Carrot and Banana puree pack, but he does not really like it.  

C having late dinner too! Oops!

After dinner, we headed back to hotel and turn in. We were all tired from waking up at the wee hours and also from all the travelling. I felt if it was an all adults trip, we would probably have gone on exploring, looking for supper etc. But with kids, it really means resting as early as we can.

Putting C to bed on the first night was a nightmare. The hotel ran out of baby cot, so they brought us additional bed without charge instead. R refused to sleep on the additional bed, so I decide to sleep with C on the additional bed, while R and Ray slept on the queen bed in the room.

C kept crying the moment we reach our hotel, I don't know if he was overtired, too stimulated or he don't like the room for whatever reasons (eh-hem), but he was fussing alot. We gave him a quick shower, but made a mistake of using the shower head on him. He hasn't tried having a noisy shower head sprinkling water on his head, and the sound coupled with the unfamiliar environment scare him. He cried throughout the shower. 

The next night, I filled up the bathtub instead, and let him take his bath the usual way - soaking in the bathtub. It was much easier and he enjoyed the bath more. 

After his shower, I latch him and tried to put him to sleep. But the moment we put him on the bed, he cried. He cried so bad, my mom came over twice to check on us. (We were staying in connecting rooms and we opened the connecting doors.) Finally after crying for about 30mins or so, with me carrying him and putting him down and repeat, he finally settled down after I placed him on his tummy. 

Squeezing on a additional bed with him was very uncomfortable and I didn't sleep much. Because I was very afraid I would crush him. I kept waking up to make sure he was ok and the space I had to turn... almost non existent. 

Luckily the next night, R decided to go sleep with Zynn, so my mom slept in the extra bed and I had the bed with C and Ray. I'm still afraid I will crush C, but at least I had abit more room to flip and turn.

The next 2 nights were much better for C who fell asleep latching and slept all the way to morning. *yay*

Day 2 - Ocean Park! Updates on the next post.

 

R - 3years 11months

I cannot emphasize enough how time seems to fly by. My firstborn is growing up really fast and many times I felt I cannot catch up with his growth. 

Last Saturday was the his 2nd Nursery class Parent-Teacher Meeting and while I flipped through his Observation Report, I found he has made tremendous progress in many areas. Generally, his progress in the different areas are marked with "W-working on it", "A-Achieved Objectives" and "D-Developmentally Advanced". Mostly he progressed from "W" to "A" and I'm just so glad he is improving all the time. Well done, my darling!

Showing much progress in his English

Well, his math seems pretty good (for now) LOL

I just realized he has such love for nature!

The most IMPORTANT VALUES and am glad he is improving.

Getting better at managing himself

Overall observations of him

As usual, teachers comments about him mainly highlighted the fact that he cannot stay focus, or seems not to focus, but able to pick up what was taught and know what is happening. So I realized R is not those who can sit, look at the teacher and learn. He needs to be on the move, and he needs to move to learn. I know this will not be accepted with most teachers in primary school, so I am kind of worried.

Secondly, he cannot keep quiet. He needs to talk, mostly to himself, or sing to himself when there is a transition time from activity to activity, or if he finishes his tasks early. One of the teachers commented, that the "sounds" he makes during this time, is disruptive, as his peers have not completed their tasks. *BIG SIGH* I can already picture him getting scolded by his future primary school teachers. 

The most surprising comment comes from his Chinese teacher 唐老师 who said R's chinese is very good (eh-hem, can't believe that), and that he is very good with 笔画, because he was able to learn and remember all the 20+/-笔画that was taught. His teacher did a revision a month later, and he remembered 100% of the 笔画, and this is really something, because, although I do practice some Chinese work with him at home, but we don't practice religiously. He also prefers to use English when he converse, so I was really pleasantly surprised, my R was picking up Chinese fast. 

His Chinese Observation Report, which looks impressive! wahaha

He is improving, gradually speaking more Mandarin at home, although many times, he cannot find the words to express himself effectively, but he makes an effort to try and even asked how to say it when he don't know how to. Most of the times, he knows what we are saying in Mandarin, and can say tell us what we said using English, or respond correctly using English. That is how I know he understands. I am using more Mandarin with him now too, hoping he'll show more interest in the subject, maybe until he needs to learn to write his Chinese name... wahahaha... which I think will probably be torturous to him and me, both!

Some of the works he has done in school:

I wish my nursery or kindergarten has activities so interesting and craft works so pretty. 

We'll be celebrating his 4th birthday soon, in a few weeks, and as compared to the past 3 years of celebration, he is now able to tell me quite clearly his preference, what he wants and what he does not want for his birthday. He definitely has his own ideas, and is rather firm with his own preferences, because no matter how I try to sway him, he won't budge.

We are not holding any birthday parties for him this year, because we are bringing him to Hongkong Disneyland to advance celebrate his birthday with Asher. He requested for a celebration in school, because he wants to cut cake with his classmates in school, which I obliged. I didn't want to spend another bomb on the birthday cake, so I am looking around for more budget options, but R has requested for a Chugginton cake, which is really not readily available at the popular cake shops I looked up. I have to customize it, which will then be really expensive. 

So yesterday I asked him if he can change his options, and he actually agreed! I showed him the online designs available, still alot of "angry birds" designs around, and really alot! Which unfortunately R is not even 1% interested. No Doraemon, Pooh or Mickey or Spongebob, or Stitch or Kitty or Avengers or Superheroes like Superman or Batman or Warner Bros Baby Sylvester or Tweety selection. He is only interested in either trains or cars or bus or any kind of transportation. 

Which makes finding R's ideal cake a difficult task! I don't know why the cartoon characters options, really not much. No Poli Robocar or Tobots or Tayo Bus which he loves. Now Polar cakes also don't have Thomas the Train designs. :(

I hope I find something he likes soon. 

I shall do a recap on R's celebrations here. I always love looking back at R's photos, thinking about the good times we have, his baby moments, seeing how much he has changed, how he looks so different from his baby times. Looking through all these photos amd remembering the story of each photos...... Wonderful memories. ❤❤❤

Recap of R's Full Month Celebration 2013:

Looking all alert and cheery on his special day

R's Godparents

My lovely family

The blessed boy's presents and well wishes

Recap of R's first birthday:

So sweet this photo :)

Looking back at the old photos of R, brought back many memories. Life was challenging, trying to learn about parenthood, motherhood, trying to do the best possible, trying to adapt to life with a kiddo...... There was a lot of sacrifices, but looking at this little baby, who's life started in my womb, grow up day by day, bonding with us, laughing with us, smiling for us, being happy and healthy...... it just makes the sacrifices seem so insignificant.

R's 2nd Birthday Celebration:

Credit to daddy for the decor

I told Ray to be in charge of the decor, and he really very effort, go find nice pictures, then we painstakingly cut them together. I thought daddy will just anyhowly print on A4 paper and end up with some flimsy decorations. haha 

So THRILLED like that

With his mah mah

 

R's Customized Cake

 

Jigsaw puzzles from yiyi

Remote car from jiujiu & jiumu

Easel from Godma Suz

TAA-DAA Present from daddy & mommy

 

Toy from his 3 pretty cousins

Present from Aunty Pam

R's first celebration in school

R went to school for about 6 months when he had his first celebration in school. I must say he is adapting quite fast in school. Although he did cry in the initial days when we drop him off in school, but teachers said he stopped crying as soon as we left. He'll only cry when he sees daddy and mommy but out of sight, out of mind. I'm glad he settles down so quickly and doesn't spend his day sulking in the center.

It was really cute to see the little children gathering around the cake, and singing birthday song. I was amazed to see R actually helping to serve cakes to his friends. I didn't know he can hold the plate with cake on it so firmly and safely delivered it to his friends. It is true we must have more faith in our children's ability, and stop fussing over them or "over-helping" them. Many times, they can handle it just fine, and do not need help at all!

So proud of you baby!

In a flash, another year went by and it was his 3rd birthday celebration:

Reuse last year's decor!!

 Well, it takes alot of effort to cut the decor, and we wanna be environmental friendly, so we reused last year's decoration. His 2nd and 3rd birthday party photos look so similar! wahaha! Never mind lahz R, it was still a fun and a happy birthday horz!

Prima Deli Cake

The cake is pretty nice right, and it was not customized. I picked it from their selection and anything train or bus or car thrilled R. So this is his 3rd train themed cake! Don't know how long it'll take for him to outgrow horz? Not that I mind his preference, I just wonder if he'll ever get tired of it. heehee

Playmates

It is always an enjoyable sight watching the kiddos play together and having fun. That is if they are not complaining about each other or arguing. I can actually observe alot about each kid just by watching them play. I also learn alot about R's characteristics after watching him play, sometimes alone at home, sometimes with friends and sometimes with other stranger kids at playground. I made many discoveries about him!

Very hearty laugh! LOL

With his Godsiblings

Finally can blow candles on his own without burning his face or hair!

Happy with his presents and angbaos

So cute this smile!!

Proven once again, it is impossible to get a decent group photo with preschoolers!

With his PN2 teachers

Every year my mom will make red eggs and meesua for R for his lunar birthday. Last year, his lunar birthday was on the day we went to Taiwan, and my mom still made the red eggs and tabao to the airport, just so R will receive the blessings. I bought a bak kut teh meesua at the airport foodcourt, to complete the set of meesua red eggs. HEH

Every year also have red eggs, so of course this year R also got his red eggs and meesua blessings from ah mah. He is 5yo in the lunar year! Omg. Time flies even faster in the lunar calender, so I always don't like to count age like that. BWAH!

R had his meesua and red eggs after his swim class that day, and I don't know is it he "grew up" already or he was in a "swimming" mood that day, he actually did not cry or fuss when coach brought him into the water to learn the breaststroke arm movement. Usually he'll freak out, and become so stiff that it is almost impossible for him to stay buoyant even with the float boards etc. Today he actually relaxed, straighten his arms and managed to do the circle movements together with the breathing and blowing out of air. BRAVO DARLING!!! You celebrate your birthday with another milestone unlocked! 😍

R's Lunar Birthday on 22 Nov 2016

And we also cut a cake in Taiwan, because it was his actual birthday!! My mom was saying,"Aiyoh! How many cakes you all want to cut?" But I was so glad I arranged with the tour guide for a cake to be sent to our Hotel at Alishan, because this cake is damn yummy!!!!!

There is this layer of like muah chee like texture in the cake, with fruits and the purple cream, which I assume is yam flavoured, makes this cake taste super good, nothing I have ever tasted in Singapore. I didn't pick this cake, and the guide told me he just ordered a cake, didn't choose flavour or whatever, and the cake shop delivered this. Anyhowly order also so nice one ahz! Usually in Singapore I buy cake, have to go hunt for nice delicious cake lohz. And just nice, they send over a cake full of fruits, and that made R really happy because he just want to gobble up all the fruits on the cake. 

In fact, he wanna skip the lighting of candles, singing of birthday song and blowing of candles, and go straight for the fruits. We don't know have to hold back his hands how many times, and that is why the cake is placed so far from him, to save the fruits on it!

Now that I am blogging about this cake, makes me miss it again. Another must do in Taiwan now: must buy cake and eat! HAHA!

R with a funny expression

Happy 3rd Birthday to R!

So lucky this boy, 3 year old and can go Taiwan celebrate birthday. 3 year old, I also don't know what I am doing, and I have not taken aeroplane before! Darling, please remember how good your childhood is ok!

R's 4th birthday will be as exciting, or even more so, because we are going to Hongkong Disneyland!! Waaa, even I also envy him lohz! He'll be doing a joint celebration with Asher, and I think it will be so fun! Thus I also tell him, this year no birthday party at home, and he didn't object. He just requested for a celebration in school with his friends, and I said ok. 

I think children nowadays have better memory skill. Like R can remember Taiwan, or other countries he has been to. Sometimes he'll tell us randomly what he remembered of the trip, or what he had seen or heard, so it also tells us we didn't waste money, he know and remember alot of things on the trip. I didn't think I had such memory capacity at the same age. And I was very sua gu (mountain tortoise), I didn't know anywhere further than Malaysia. =p I think I only know Disneyland when I was in upper primary when I heard classmates talking about it.

I'm looking forward to R's 4th birthday celebration, and I hope we have a clear weather so that the kids can enjoy the play at the theme park! 

Counting down 4 days to Hongkong & 12 days to R's 4th birthday!