Dada/2 = Matty

Matty is almost two and a half years old now. He still sleeps in our bed, and we love it! Well, apart from when he does these acrobatic moves in the middle of the night, and headbutts us while we're in deep sleep... or when he sticks his foot in our face...or when he sleeps like this Chinese character "大"...or when he takes up so much space that his dad has to curl up at the end of the bed. Trust me, we really do love sleeping with him!

Last night, while we watched him sleep peacefully ...and diagonally across our bed, we realised how fast he's grown... and how much space he was taking up!

We measured him today after school.


Age: 2yrs 5mths

Height: 2 feet 11.5"

Weight: 32lbs

Handspan: 13.5 cm

Length of foot: 13.5 cm

WOW! He's grown 2 inches in the past 5 months. Right now he's already half as tall as my hubby. His foot is also half as long as his dad's. BUT luckily he's not half as heavy as him (he he he HA HA HA!). My maths is actually pretty crap, but his dad's weight should work out to be around 6 times that of Matty's. Hopefully, that will change soon when his dad starts playing tennis.

The Power of "T"

Separation anxiety has been a real issue for Matty recently, after the teachers at his new school made him stay in class on his own for 30-40 minutes everyday, while his dada pretended to go to the bathroom, or somewhere nearby to buy a drink. So what exactly did he do inside when dada was gone? He cried... cried... and cried some more. We've never seen him like this before. After a traumatising few days, Matty bacame glued to his dada inside the classroom, and wouldn't do anything without his dada next to him.

The other day Matty's teacher finally "suggested" that my hubby stopped going to classes with him. She said his emotions may be affecting Matty indirectly (ha ha ha ha ha). She also recommended that my helper go to school with him instead because he's less emotionally attached to her.

Before I took Matty to school with my helper this morning, I remembered Matty REALLY wanted to try drinking tea like all the adults, so I told him that if he didn't cry at school I would let him drink some:

Me: "Matty no cry at school ok?"

Matty: "Matty cry!"

Me: "Matty if you want to drink tea like dada and mama, you have to be a big boy--that means no crying at school ok?"

Matty: "What kind of tea?"

Me: "There are different kinds. Some are green, some are brown, or light yellow. Some even smells like fruits."

Matty: "Matty want!"

Me: "Then Matty remember no cry at school."

Matty: "Matty no cry."

And to help him remember his mission, I wrote the letter 'T' on both his palms just so he can see it, and remember his tea, if he cries.

So did it work? According to my helper ... it did! She said when Matty wanted to cry after I left the school, he looked at his palm and stopped crying.

The teacher called me later and told me Matty only cried for two minutes during the 30 minute separation-- a real BIG improvement! I just hope it will last.

Homework Time

Okay, its finally arrived.... HOMEWORK! Even at two-years-old, schools here already start to give out homework (to justify the high school fees I think).

According to the instructions from school, we're suppose to cut pictures of Matty's favourite fruits from magazines and BOOKS! Why anyone would want to teach toddlers to destroy books I really don't know.

I flipped through the stack of magazines we have at home, but there was no sign of fruits anywhere. I guess its not surprising since we only have photography and car magazines at home....WAIT A MINUTE...how does my hubby have time to read Grrrrr ?!?!

Anyway, we decided in the end, it was easier for us to take the fruit pictures ourselves.

So, what is Matty's favourite fruit? I don't think even he knows. He likes so many of them. Matty only told me he didn't like kiwi anymore, and his new love was lemon... lemon in honey water.

Mummy's Little Helper

Yesterday, was one of those days when I was left home alone to entertain my ever so demanding toddler. After working 5 am shifts every morning on weekdays, entertaining Matty for ten hours on a public holiday was just something I really, really looked forward to...NOT!

While I was fighting to keep my eyelids open and watching Barney, I realised I really should make the most out of our time together. Afterall, how long will Matty want to hang out with his mum, right?

So we ended up making quite a few things yesterday... chocolate chip cookies was one of them. Usually, whenever I made anything I'd do all the work and let Matty stir a little. But this time I decided to let him help all the way through. He really enjoyed every part of it-- from the egg cracking to the mixing and the waiting.

Later, after munching a few of his cookies he looked at me and said: "I like making cookies with Ma Ma very much." I'm so glad I have such a good little helper.

My Mooncake Monster

We LOVE the mid-autumn festival. Actually we love ALL major festivals. I think it all really started after Matty was born, when all festivals turned into a major event for us: his first Christmas...his first Chinese new year... and so on. This year is Matty's third Mid-autumn festival, but its particularly special because its really the first one that he'll remember. We took him shopping for a lantern the other day which I guess he enjoyed. But what he really liked, we found out later was.....MOONCAKE! I can't say I was really surprised since Matty like most kids love eating sweet stuff... but somehow he seemed to have a special extra something for mooncakes . Just the other day he finished his porridge in lightning speed just for a piece of mooncake, and tonight he managed to finished his dinner just so he can have mooncake for dessert. I guess if we want him to do what we say , we really should stock up on mooncakes.

Bob the Builder no more

Matty went to TWO birthday parties today--and yes my muscles are still aching! There was good food and good clowns.... and there was Bob the builder LIVE in person!! He was not Bob the Builder we're used to seeing on TV. He looked more like a bachelorette party stripper, or some Character from 'The Full Monty". I didn't particularly mind, but Matty and his cousin had moments when they just couldn't hold back their tears.

When we finally got home I talked to Matty about Bob the Builder, and it went something like this:

Me: "Do you like Bob the Builder now?"

Matty: "No"

Me: "why not?"

Matty: "I scared"

Me : "What about Bob the Builder on TV?"

Matty: "Only on TV.... not real Bob the Builder."

Poor traumatised Matty.

Bye Bye Chubby Cheeks

Matty met his little girl friend, Francessca, for lunch today before she heads off to Singapore with her parents next month. Well, its not really his girl friend I guess... they've only met once before, but I'd like to think of them as friends. After watching them run around in circles, and rolling on the floor in Festival Walk I just wondered why we need toys at all. It was just fascinating how much fun they had with nothing, but each other's company. I wished they had more time to play together. Little Fran was not like most girls Matty has met: she doesn't mind being pushed on the floor , or elbowed (something Matty tends to do when he gets excited)... and most important of all she has chubby cheeks and REAL thunder thighs. Hopefully they will play again soon.