The Frog Master

Matty can be a bit of a scaredy-cat... sometimes literally, like when he has to summon up the courage to feed our docile little kitty cats, and even for normal everyday little kid things, like going down the slide... our pampered prince has to think twice.

I confess! This is my gene! When I was a kid I didn't particulary enjoy the slide much either. And even now, I can't stand the thought of getting on a roller coaster, or anything that makes my heart pound faster than your usual kickboxing workout. I used to think I could handle the tiny Pirate Ship ride at Ocean Park -- until one day, my hubby forced me to sit right at the back. Needless to say, he laughed at me through the entire ride as I forced back tears and kept my mouth wide open for an extended silent scream... I can still remember that day very clearly!

So with all this in mind, I didn't expect much from Matty when it came to amusement rides. But to my surprise, when we took Matty to Ocean Park the other day, he insisted on trying out the the most thrilling kiddy ride they have there: the Frog Hopper!



Matty:                        "I want to try!"



Me:                           "Are you sure? Did you see that little girl cry on the ride just then?"



Matty:                      "But other people happy."



Me:                          "But will you cry?'



Matty:                      "No."


Hoping that Matty would not be tall enough, we queued up for the ride. The man in charge carefully took his ruler out to make sure Matty met the minimum height of 90 centimetres. It was hard to tell, but the man and a few people in the queue said Matty was just right. So my hubby went on the ride with him, after I, not surprisingly, refused to go.



 

Unfortunately, you can't really see Matty's expression clearly with the poor quality of my video. But it was really funny. He was so excited, he looked like he was about to cry. But according to my hubby, who asked Matty if he was scared while they were sitting on the Frog Hopper, Matty only looked at him and said "see, I laughing! Ha.... Ha!".

The only thing I need to worry about now, I guess, is how I can  avoid going on that ride with him the next time.

Like Da Da, Like Son

We took Matty to "Sweet Dynasty" or "糖朝" last week-- a restaurant we haven't visited for a long time. Matty enjoyed his char siu bao (叉燒包), and cheung fun (腸粉) there, but he refused to eat his sweetcorn and black moss (髮菜) porridge. He said he didn't want to eat leg hair!

Just as we were running out of things to keep matty amused, Da Da's favorite cold mango tofu pudding arrived! Well, its not really his favourite. Its the dried ice that comes with it that is his favourite! Matty was really surprised, and enjoyed every second he got blowing vapour from the dried ice. Yes, thats exactly like his Da Da!

Here's a video of Matty's vapour blowing. Please tilt your head to a 90 degree angle before watching. Da Da was obviously so excited about the dried ice that he filmed the video the wrong way.

My Dad is Smellier Than Your Dad!

You don't have to know my husband well to know how scruffy, or disorganised he is. But I love him! Of course there are times when I want to strangle him. But thats normal, right? I guess, when you love someone, you learn to accept everything about them: from their bad breath in the morning, to their farts in the lift, when  you're the only other person there, or their burping in the car. But all this smelly business seems to be too much for my two-year-old.

The other day, Da Da tried to play camping with Matty in bed. But when Da Da tried to pull the blanket over their heads, Matty refused, and pulled the blanket away. He frowned, and said his dad was smelly!

Not willing to accept the truth, my hubby tried to play with Matty under the blanket again in the afternoon. He was rejected again!


Me:                  "Matty, whats wrong?"




Matty:              "臭臭!" (Smelly!)




Me:                 "What is 臭臭?"




Matty:              "Da Da!"




Me:                 "Where is 臭臭? Da Da's mouth, or head?"




[Pause]




Matty:             "I smell.... something."


With that response, my hubby quickly went to take a shower. He let Matty smell his head afterwards and asked him if he smelled nice. Finally, Matty said "yes", and Da Da was happy again.

The Day I Splashed Great Grandma With Water

Its not often that Matty spends time with his great grandma (太嫲), who will turn 92 next month. We always mean to see her more often, but most of the time life gets in the way. A few days ago, Matty went yum cha with her at Disney Hotel! Inbetween running wild in the maze outside the hotel building, and climbing benches, Matty helped push great grandma's wheelchair, with the help of uncle Charles, who did the steering. If it wasn't for him, I think Matty would have crashed great grandma into a bush, or even a rubbish bin.

We had planned on walking to Inspiration Lake, but decided to turn back when we reached the entrance to Disneyland.We were all too unfit! Although we didn't go inside the themepark, Matty still had loads of fun with this water fountain he discovered.

Matty wet his hands at the fountain, and splashed the ground with water. He then splashed great grandma too, after all the uncles (叔公) and aunts (姑婆) encouraged him. Matty ran up to her, and flung his wet hands at her.  "Saa! Saaa!" He said. I was a bit worried at first, because splashing wasn't exactly the thing you do to your great grandma right? My hubby said he'd never splashed her with water when he was a kid. It was only after seeing her grin, that I immediately felt a sigh of relief. Phew!

Matty only starting "saa-ing" after he learned this song from school about taking showers. This will give you an idea of what the song sounds like:

Lu, La, Lu, La, Lu, La, Lu, La, Lay,

Lu, La, Lu, La, Lu, La, Lu, La, Lu, La, Lay.

大手板! 洗頭頭!

大手板! 洗手臂!

大手板! 洗肚腩!

大手板! 洗pat pat!

Sa! Sa! Sa!

轉身沖沖水!

Sa! Sa! Sa!

I guess controlled splashing is harmless. I just hope he won't start splashing his teachers, or other kids at school. And I certainly hope he won't start splashing his grandma (嫲嫲). Fingers crossed.

I want to grow beard!

If you've read my earlier post about Matty's post holiday blues, you'd know that Matty doesn't like his dad's beard, or stubbles. Its really my hubby's own fault. He loves kissing Matty on his belly when he hasn't shaved for days, and Matty hates it! I don't blame him. If I had baby soft skin like his, I would push Da Da away too.

But recently Matty's fear of his dad's beard has been working in my favour. I don't know if its a male thing, but Matty has been refusing to put cream on after his bath. I know, its not suppose to be a big thing for boys, but I just want to preserve his baby soft skin just a little longer. Anyway, to persuade him to put his cream on I did something naughty:  I told him the cream would prevent him from growing beard like his Da Da.



Me:               "Do you want to put cream on now?"



Matty:           "Yes."



Me:              "If you don't want hair on your legs, arm and chest,
                    you have to put this cream on."



Matty:          "Okay."

It worked! He's been putting on his cream like a good little boy! But this didn't last long. A few days ago he stopped putting cream on again! This time he said "I want to grow beard, like Da Da!" Do toddlers really change THAT quickly? I guess the answer is, yes. And does that mean he's stopped putting his cream on? The answer to that is, no.

I just simply told him to put another cream on, that would help him grow a beard, and hair on his arms and legs. I guess a little white lie can't hurt once in a while, right?

But I still don't know what I'm going to tell him when he asks me about his missing beard in a few weeks time. I guess I'll figure it out when the time comes. Wish me luck!

Nightmare on Norfolk Road

Matty has finally reached the age where his knowledge and capabilities have to be tested, before he can further his studies... in a kindergarten! I know, it sounds ridiculous, especially to people who don't live in Hong Kong. But getting into a good, or should I say "famous" kindergarten, is a BIG thing for many parents here. Well, I guess its not really their fault. Its just the way the education system works in Hong Kong. If you get into a "famous" kindergarten, its somehow easier for you to get into good primary schools later.

Anyway, Matty did pretty well at his first 2 interviews. He basically behaved like himself, which is all I wanted from him. The nightmare started when we went to the "famous" kindergartens.

FAMOUS KINDY 1:

Two teachers were at the interview. One was there to test Matty, and another was there to distract me. I basically didn't know what went on in that interview. I just saw Matty dancing in the middle of the room half-way through. And when I told him to give the teacher a hug before we left, the teacher acted as though she'd never had a hug from anyone before. A kindergarten with little transparency, and love is not what I think my boy needs. No matter how famous it is, or what school it'll get Matty into.

FAMOUS KINDY 2:

Matty was taken to a room with 4 tables full of lego. While all the kids were busy building things, Matty just held onto a horse, and a man. A teacher, who probably thought she was a child psychologist, or a child development specialist, walked around taking notes. But why all lego? Maybe, they're trying to be scientific, and fair, in testing all the kids with the same kind of toy. But don't they know that all kids are created different? Maybe they know something that I don't. Maybe Lego is the ultimate toy in testing intelligience. That must be it! Okay, okay, I'm just complaining because we never got Matty real lego to play with. And I don't remember why we never did.

Anyway, Matty was later interviewed by a mean looking teacher there. He answered all but one question. A pretty simple one that I knew he knew the answer to! He was asked to spot the odd one out:


Teacher:        "Can you tell me which one is different, or not the same? There are two candies here,  
                     and this one is a lollipop."



Matty:           [Pause]  "I don't know."


I don't know?!? My heart just sank. I was thinking "I know you know, just say it!" But in the end, even after the teacher gave Matty hints, he just smiled and answered again with "I don't know."

Unable to get rid of that terrible feeling, I went home and took out two toy cows and a pig to test him. I just had to find out if he really didn't know.


Me:              "Okay, Matty can you tell me which one is different?"



Matty:          "PIG!"



Me:             "So you do know! Why didn't you answer the teacher's question then?"



Matty:         "Because, because, I don't like the teacher."


Finding a good Kindergarten for Matty is already a difficult job. But finding one that is good, and is liked by Matty is even harder. Hopefully he will do better in the other interviews coming up.

Oh, and yes, we finally got Matty some lego to play with!

Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Matty has known our cats for as long as he can remember. Although, they laze around our flat all the time, he doesn't interact with them much. He likes to pat them occasionally, but I have to keep a close watch just in case he gets too rough. I'm actually not worried the cats would hurt him. They don't scratch or bite anything, apart from plastic bags, and my hubby's earphones.

Our oldest cat, Tobasco, loves Matty (I think). Sometimes he would walk up to Matty when he cries, as if  he wants to make sure Matty was alright. Our other cat Isabel, is a bit more ignorant. She only likes my hubby's feet!

When 婆婆 (grandma) comes to visit occasionally, she would bring the cats steamed chicken. Matty would watch 婆婆 feed the cats with excitement, but he would never feed them himself. He said he was scared they'd bite him.

But when 婆婆 came to visit this time, Matty tried to feed the cats too, after I told him to be brave. He kept saying "Sharp teeth! Sharp teeth!" after the cats grabbed the chicken from his fingers. He was a little scared I think, but he definitely had fun.

Casanova Matty

When people first meet Matty, they usually describe him as well-tamed or soft-spoken. But if you know him well, you'd know thats not always true. Matty is just good at deceiving the aunties and uncles he doesn't know so well.

Like most boys, Matty sometimes like to elbow, push, or hit people. I remember he was pretty rough to little Keira when she came to visit with auntie Steph a few months ago. He tried to bite her finger, before elbowing her and putting his hand in her shirt!

But over the weekend, when we went to visit Jason, and his baby sister Alena, Matty showed me a completely different side of him. Not only did he not elbow her, Matty hugged and kissed her!

So, is it time for Matty to have a baby sister or brother? I tried to find out on our car ride back home:



Me:            "Did you like playing with baby Alena?"



Matty:        "Yes."



Me:             "Do you want a baby sister or brother?"



Matty:        "No."



Me:            "Do you want Mama to have a baby so you'd have someone                  to play with at home all the time?"



Matty:        "Um..... no."


Matty is definitely good at making his view clear. I just never thought a 2-year-old could be this wise. Did he know that once he had a sister or brother, he won't be the baby of our family anymore? Did he know that we would give him less attention? Matty never ceases to amaze me.

To infinity ∞

Matty is at an age where he loves asking questions: "What is 'A' in Chinese?" "What happen if Matty is Naughty?" or "Where is Mr Sun hiding?"

Just the other night Matty asked me what a 'sea anamone' was, after he heard it on one of my iphone games. I wasn't too sure myself. But my hubby told Matty it was a boneless sea creature, similar to jellyfish.

To fulfil his curiosity further, my hubby showed him  pictures of sea anamones on the internet. And because Matty kept on saying "sea enemy", my hubby introduced syllables to him, to help him pronounce the word.

What began as a fairly complicated conversation, became even more complicated later:

Hubby:        "Matty, it's sea uh-NEM-uh-nee."

 

Matty:         "Sea eNEmy!"

 

Hubby:        "A-nam-o-ne has 4 different sounds, or 4 syllables."

Matty:        "Ah-nem-o-neee."

Hubby:       "Yes, very good.  Da-da, has 2 syllables.
                  So if it's Dadadadadadadada, there are 8 syllables."

 

Matty:        "What if dadadadadadadadadadada?"

 

Hubby:       "Many dada's"

Matty:        "What if dadadadadadadada in a circle?"

 

Filled with excitement,  my hubby asked  me if Matty was talking about infinity. I was like "Huh? Could that really be possible?" My hubby explained what happened again. When we both looked at Matty who had also listened in, he just gave us a smile. Its impossible to know what Matty was really thinking at the time. But my hubby is convinced that Matty had alluded to the concept of infinity at two and half years old! So, will he really turn out to be a science genius? Hard to say. If he does, I know it won't be because of my genes.