lil penguin is 13 mo

Angie is now in the phase of “eat a lot, eat everything”. During every meal, she can eat 1 bowl of porridge PLUS hal (even one) of a Chinese steamed bun. After that she still wants to eat. we don’t feed her more ... worry she might have too much and cannot digest it. 

Not long after meal time, she will ask for biscuit, fruit, or any kind of snack. Even she will pick up some snack packaging in our living room trash bin (!) searching for food! if her sis or cousin-bro drink some milk, Angie will also want to drink some .. or pick up the empty milk-pack from the trash bin. 

Oh my dear .. why you are so hungry all the time? Lol …  The funny thing is .. whenever she hears somebody tearing some snack packaging or opening a snack container, she will quickly come and ask for some .. impatiently (!) Sooo adorable…!

still doesnt speak many words, but now can also call new words like yeye(grandpa), nainai (grandma), ya (duck), er (ear), yi (one), er (two)

love to bring shoes to anybody who just come home.

if somebody says, "it's meal time" .. she will come and try to pull her own chair. she is more willing to sit on the meal-chair until finishing her meal. and eat from a spoon (as usual, impatiently). there was once, mommy called Crystal and Smarty to have some cake, but forgot to call Angie (though had prepared for her also), she stopped playing and also came hurrily.  

open all drawers, cabinets .. that she can. and get some thing out from it.

love to 'draw' with her sister's color pencils and 'read' her sis' books.

get jealous if mommy carry up her sis. she will come and 'beat' her sis. 

if mommy goes to toilet, she will cry loud at the toilet door until mommy is done. fyuuuhhh! 

she will be busy to want to pick up ringing phone. 

never bite people anymore. 

with 7th and 8th teeth came out.  

sometimes if other people sneeze, she said, "aaa chi"

pretend sitting on the potty and pee. after that, get a piece of cloth and wipe her own butt (with diaper on) 

there was once, after her sis pee on the potty, Angie brought the potty to toilet. (mimic what the adults always do). ok .. she messedup ... the potty dropped to the floor. she got a piece of cloth and tried to wipe the pee on the floor. oh dear ! 

Crystal is 3.5 yrs old

on sunday we walked with our girls to Carrefour. on the way near to her kindergarten, surprisingly, Crystal asked, "mama, have you locked our back door?" (*balcony door*)

my dear girl, mama never thought you would ask such question. 

last month there was a theft who climbed to our balcony. on that nite, my parents-in-law slept in the balcony bedroom and didnt lock the outer door, only locked the glass door. my FIL  found out that 2 pots of his plant were moved.  

just last nite, Smarty learnt to write 8. Crystal said she wanted to learn too. while she was practicing to write, mama washed Angie and prepared her milk before bed time.  

not like several months ago, lately if Angie annoyed her, Crystal never pushed Angie away. if she gets angry with Angie, she sometimes hit Angie with her hands, but only hits Angie slowly on her cloth. 

whenever seeing Angie tries to insert her finger into electric plug, she will remind her lil sister and scream, "do not insert your finger in it. there's electricity in it." 

whenever seeing Angie plays with small thing, she will take it away and say, "dont play with this. if you eat it,  you will choke on it." 

if she shares some cake or snack with Angie, she will chip a bit (into smaller slice) and give to Angie. 

still likes to cry out loud or yell when gets angry or disagrees on something. but okey .. the frequency is less than before. and when she gets angry she will say things like this: 

- i will throw mommy away, throw daddy away, throw everybody away

- i throw all your cloth from the window. 

- when i grow up, i will not buy a computer for you. i will buy only for myself (if she is angry that we stop her from playing with the computer) 

- i will not eat all grandpa's cook 

- you are stinky mommy .. stinky grandma, stinky brother (Smarty), stinky Angie, etc. 

- or sometimes when angry, she locks herself in our room 

likes to sing, dance, draw, write, read book, learn english vocabulary.

the other time she asked, what's her nickname in English. after telling her, she said, "Crystal love(s) mommy."  

last nite on bed, Crystal said, "Mama, deep inside, my heart is crying. i miss daddy." 

often fights with Smarty. and usually end-up with Crystal crying. Smarty likes to kick her. so we have to always be aware once both of them start an argument. but they can play and laugh together again in the next minute after the fight. 

this is the first video (ever) posted in this blog. (with Angie as the backing vocal, wanted to play with the digital camera)

sisters and lollypop

sisters at the balcony

lil penguin

Merry Christmas! 圣诞快乐！

tight socks rubber

Sometimes socks that we buy are having too tight rubber, which are uncomfortable to wear.  

This is how to deal with it: 

1. Measure your leg/ankle circumference, according to the socks length, e.g. 20 cm  

2. Cut a thick carton paper with size 20 cm x 5 cm

3. Fold it to become 10cm x 5cm  

4. Wet the rubber part of the socks (with water) 

5. Insert the carton into the socks at the rubber part  

6. Iron it 'til dry  

7. Repeat step 4-6 for twice or three times

start to work in Fei Dong for 1 year

today officially lin will start to work for 1 year in Fei Dong District.
Hefei City is in the middle between Fei Xi District (West Fei) and Fei Dong District (East Fei).
it's about 2 hours from home .. means he can go home during weekend.

it's a kind of job training, or job rolling. i'm not sure.
he will work as a zhu-ren 主任. if translated into English, may be a kind of supervisor or director. dunno .. blur!

hope it will be a good experience for his career in the future.

crystal yang ngambek, angie yang jatuh di tangga

suhu di bawah minus 8 celcius. saat mau berangkat TK, crystal dipakaikan sepatu winter berlapis bahan cotton. eh, ngambek, maunya pakai sepatu kets biasa.  naik darah lah papa dan oma-nya. cyrstal pun kena 'hajar'. nih anak dasar kepala batu, dipukul pun gak takut tetap kekeh dengan kemauannya. sementara sepatu yang sebelah lagi gak ketemu. 

keluar dari pintu apartemen, masih aja nangis2 dan tereak-tereak dengan papa dan oma yang naik darah. 

karena pintu apartemen terbuka, keluarlah si Angie, yang baru bisa jalan. seperti di judul posting, Angie pun terjatuh di tangga, untungnya berguling 'cuman' 4 anak tangga. berhubung pakai baju winter beberapa lapis, (untung lagi!) kepalanya gak kebentur sama sekali.  

aduh nak, kenapa mesti kepala batu gitu! yang ada kan mak-mu ini yang sedih kamu kena 'hajar' papa dan oma. emang gak sakit? 

suka sebel sama suami yang terlalu keras begitu. oma lagi, malah nyalahin aku semua nurutin crystal. padahal gak demikian adanya. mereka saja yang gak tau cara nangani, terus nyalahin orang lain, nyari kambing hitam. asli sebel banget. 

Crystal kalo lagi ngambek, gak bakalan bisa diajak negosiasi, kepala batu .. biarin aja nangis/tereak2 .. kalo dicuekin juga berhenti sendiri. baru habis itu dinasihatin, dijelasin kenapa gini atau gitu. 

terus sebel banget juga, para orang dewasa teledor banget.. gak nyadar di rumah ada batita, yang baru bisa jalan. 

capek deh .. !

juga sembarangan naroh cemilan, bentuk kecil, yang gampang sekali masuk ke mulut Angie. kawatir aja kayak gituan paling gampang bikin tersedak. udah berapa kali kejadian sebelumnya, Angie masukin mainan kecil ke mulutnya. begitu aku sampai rumah, omanya ngadu dan ngomel2 (*seperti nyalahin si Angie*). lah .. anak kecil mana ngerti apa yang boleh dan tidak boleh masuk ke mulut. ngomong aja belom bisa! 

kalo diingatin, ujung2nya bete dan bilang, anak kalian.. kalian urus sendiri. kami gak ada kewajiban buat urus anak kalian. memang bener. tapi ironisnya .. begitulah di china. kebanyakan istri harus bekerja. anak dijaga oleh opa-oma. kalo istri gak kerja, ntar jadi gunjingan. mertua juga gak senang, menantu pengangguran. 

waktu mau tidur, Crystal sikat gigi, oles cream wajah dan cuci tangan. namanya anak kecil, mana ngerti cara cuci tangan yang hemat air! habis tuh mak mertua marah2. sementara aku lagi urus si Angie yang lagi mau tidur. dan kayaknya Crystal gak keterlaluan banget. aku tau banget, dia memang sedang cuci tangan dan bukan main air. 

aku prefer mendidik Crystal supaya lebih mandiri dan apa-apa bisa ngelakuin sendiri. dulu pernah biarin Crystal makan sendiri, oma-nya ngomel2, katanya bikin kotor baju. hasilnya, Crystal lebih cepat bisa pakai sendok daripada Smarty (yg 10 bulan lebih gede). barulah opa buru2 ajarin Smarty pakai sendok. dulu kalo makan sesuatu, Crystal juga pegang dan makan sendiri. sementara Smarty, mesti dicuil-cuil dan disuapkan ke mulut.. sampai ada saat di mana Smarty disodori makanan ke mulutnya, gak tau kalo harus digigit! 

waktu dah umur setahun, Smarty minum susu dengan botol masih  dipegangi oma atau opa (*jadi malas dan manja*). akhirnya, aku yang ajarin dia untuk pegang botol susu sendiri. diajarin bentar juga langsung bisa. Smarty juga suka merintah-merintah opa omanya untuk ambilin sepatu, sandal, dll. kalo pas ketauan olehku, nih anak langsung aku 'tatar'. yang bener2 bisa nangani/kasih pengertian ke Smarty (dan dia mau dengar/nurut) itu justru aku.  orang tuanya sering malah gak terlalu peduli, gak tau cara ngadepin, atau apa2 diturutin. sekarang maknya si Smarty begitu pulang dari kantor, habis makan malam, langsung online, sibuk main game internet yang mobil2an gitu deh. (*gak ngarti game apaan*).  

satu hal lagi yang selalu jadi unek2... bokap mertuaku tuh bener2 pilih kasih. contoh paling menggelikan .. setiap hari sibuk urusin Smarty, "kamu belum pup kan hari ini. kamu mau pup?" sementara Crystal, even 3 hari gak pup pun dia gak mikirin atau gak nanyain atau gak tau. yah... gitulah opanya Crystal. memang begitulah kebanyakan orang china (terutama generasi tua), anak laki kayak harta karun. anak perempuan, gak terlalu dipeduliin. 

abangnya pendarahan otak

pernah menulis 2 posting tentang orang ini karena saking bete diriku dibuatnya .. akhirnya isi salah satu posting aku hapus begitu tau suaminya diopname gara2 sakit jantung dan paru2 kemasukan air (gara2 berenang). dan itupun yang kala suaminya diopname, nih orang masih sempet2nya pergi berenang. 

pernah berapa kali super bete pengen cari kerjaan baru, pengen buka restoran indo aja .. juga karena orang ini. 

beberapa minggu lalu, abangnya masuk rumah sakit karena otaknya mengalami pendarahan dan nyawa sempat terancam. yang kalo dioperasi risikonya lebih tinggi karena abangnya mengidap diabetes. akhirnya satu2nya cara adalah berobat jalan. sudah agak baikan dibanding beberapa minggu lalu, dah mulai bisa memakan bubur. mudah2an bisa lekas sembuh.

penyebabnya: kecanduan minuman beralkohol ! 

mudah2an menjadi pelajaran untuk kita semua, jangan sampai kecanduan alkohol .. bisa dibayar dengan nyawa lho!

 

stickers

picture taken by nokia mobile

7th and 8th teeth

finally the 7th and 8th came out. 

the canine teeth (cuspid) seemed to grow since last month .. but not come out 'til now.

she was cranky last nite, woke up so many times during sleep .. i thought bcoz of her teething stage. 

from http://www.anbesol.com/baby/index.asp 

At what age will my baby start teething?Most babies begin to teethe when they are 4-6 months old, but there is no "right" answer. Babies begin to teethe when they are as young as two months and others as old as a year. If you have specific concerns, ask your pediatrician or pedodontist.How long does teething last?It may take your baby up to 3 weeks to cut a single tooth. Once the process begins, it will continue until all 20 baby teeth have come in, usually by the age of 3 years, although every baby is different.What can I expect when my baby is teething?

Crankiness and irritability.

Excess drooling or crying.

Waking up at night or difficulty sleeping.

Babies may also gnaw on objects or rub their gums.

4 things that you cannot recover

yesterday morning a girl in our office asked me, "have you listened to the song?"

i said, "which song?"

she said, "our dance song .. oh... i didn't forward it to you."

(our office females are going to perform a dance for new year party)

in the afternoon, i was sitting in our company bus on the way home.

i said to the girl: "you haven't forwarded me the song."

she said (in a very high tone): "Jenny, you are so annoying!! i was very busy just now, my head is gonna blow up."

why do people can't control the way they speak, hence hurt other's feeling?

RESEH abis yah nih anak?!! orang baru di kantor, which is 11 tahun lebih muda, yang bener2 gua perhatikan lho .. bahkan waktu ada pameran penting, gua tuh ajukan nih orang ke boss gede buat dibawa juga ke pameran biar nambah pengalaman (dia sendiri bilang pengen banget ikut serta).

kayaknya genre baru di china sini (single child in the family) emang banyak (gak semua) yang 'manja' dan gak mau kerja, ngomong seenak udel, tanpa memperhatikan perasaan orang lain. hal simple seperti misal mau kirim kartu natal aja tuh yang berdebat siapa yang ngedarin kartu buat ditandatangani. gak ada yang mau gerak, dengan alasan: "sibuk" .. padahal ada waktu buat latihan dance, browsing internet, dengerin mp3 di komputer... dan tidur (!) saat jam kantor.

atau emang gua aja yang terlalu 'lunak' ...

bisa baca juga tulisanku di sini tentang contoh lain agak parahnya kelakuan genre anak tunggal di china.

i just remember some chain email saying:

There are 4 things that you cannot recover...

interior baru

sodara-sodari ...
belum sempat ngumumi peresmian 'interior baru', yang aku impi2kan sejak dulu.

cantik yah?! 

Crystal senang lihatnya. si Angie belom ngarti ... heheheee..!

dekornya dibantu salah satu rekan blogger, dengan request bernuansa kiddy. diriku gak terlalu canggih dalam hal html. selain itu, di kantor gak install photoshop. gak bisa edit2 foto. 

kalo di rumah mah gak usah ditanya lagi .. waktuku HANYA SEMATA-MATA buat kedua pasukan bodrex tercinta. kala mereka terlelap dalam mimpi, maknya pun turut tepar, sebelah kiri ada Angie, sebelah kanan ada Crystal yang kudu story telling sebelum bobok. 

hayo tebak... foto yang pertama itu Angie apa Crystal ! 

restoran indo ?

dari kerjaan yang super bikin bete .. jadi pengen banget bisa buka resto indo di sini. 

ada teman kantor yg mau ngenalin iparnya buat ngajarin. iparnya juga buka resto dan sukses!  

mungkin gak yah? mampu gak yah? gak pede euiii... modalnya dari mana euiii... !!!  

thanks buat input dari teman2 semua, baik yang dukung maupun yang ngingatin untuk pikir panjang.

pas aku utarakan impian ini ke suami, kata suami, jangan resto.. modalnya gede banget (tempat, karyawan yang banyak.. koki dan bumbu2 mungkin kudu import, dstnya.) ini sih yang bikin ragu2. karena gak ada pengalaman sama sekali. 

kata suami mendingan toko kue, mengingat gak ada toko kue yang enak di hefei, skalanya lebih kecil, risknya juga lebih kecil. 

bakal dimodalin belajar dulu. wah, ntar rekan2 blogger yang pada jago masak2 dan baking2 .. bagi2 resep yah ....! (*dibook dulu nih .. minta resepnya .. hahahaha...!*)  

realisasi masih lama sih .. belom mateng pertimbangannya, dan belom kekumpul modalnya.  sekarang masih sebatas impian. 

tapi boleh toh punya mimpi ... ?

Gadsby

just knew it ... 

Gadsby

A Story of Over 50,000 Words
Without Using the Letter “E”

by Ernest Vincent Wright

http://www.spinelessbooks.com/gadsby/ 

Tips for Better Life from ISHA YOGA

a friend mailed me this.. which i think it's nice to share here.

Take a 10-30 minutes walk every day. And while you walk, smile.

Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

Sleep for 7 hours.

Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm, and Empathy.

Play more games.

Read more books than you did in previous years.

Make time to practice meditation, yoga, and prayer. They provide us with daily fuel for our busy lives.

Spend time with people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

Dream more while you are awake.

Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants.

Drink plenty of water.

Try to make at least three people smile each day.

Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, and dinner like a beggar.

Smile and laugh more.

Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.

Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about. Don't compare your partner with others.

No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

Forgive everyone for everything.

What other people think of you is none of your business.

However good or bad a situation is, it will change.

Stay in touch with your friends.Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. 

Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.

The best is yet to come.

No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

Do the right thing!

Call your family often.

Your inner most is always happy. So be happy!

Each day give something good to others.

Don't over do. Keep your limits.


If one can do it .. u too can do it.

If none can do it .. then u must do it ..

www.ishafoundation.org

our little penguin

we have new nickname for Angie... little penguin... 小企鹅.

that's bcoz of the way she walks with her winter outfits .. makes her look like a penguin.. soooo cute! 

my lil penguin was sick on the day mommy came back from guangzhou (28-Nov). the reason was bcoz grandpa/ma fed her with 2 bowls of chicken soup. maybe it was over-oily. so she got slight diarrhea. when she almost recovered, the temperature got warmer on tuesday, so grandma took off  her vest. 

after that in the afternoon, when i came home, she walked towards me happily (!).. but at the same time she vomited quite a lot. oh.. it felt like one piece of my meat were being cut down from my own body to see her vomiting and being ill! and she vomited again on around 11pm. i almost didnt sleep the whole night to look after her.. changed her diaper 3 times whenever she pooped. 

took her to doctor this afternoon. and she already got better when i got home.  puji Tuhan! 

the doctor said that she got "stomach flu" (which remind me of fino, who also got stomach flu  during thanksgiving holiday ... lisa's blog).

Crystal is 3yr 5mo

My dear,
lately grandpa reported to mommy that according to Ms. Cai 蔡老师 you've made a lot of progress in kindergarten. now you are willing to greet your teachers when come or leave your class. also make a lot of progress in class activities.

previously, during drawing session, you often didn't want to draw or color a picture. Now you could do it very well. Even yesterday, grandpa said you could color the scarf picture almost the same as sample from Ms. Cai. And when at home, you could describe to mommy completely how you decorate and color the scarf picture.

In every English session, you almost get an award (a flower sticker) every time. Yesterday you told mama, “Ms. Liu asked what mi-feng was. And I said BEE. Other kids didn't know it. So I got a lil red flower.”

Every night since 2 weeks ago, Crystal and Smarty perform songs, poems, nursery rhymes or story telling in front of grandma, grandpa, uncle, auntie, daddy, Angie and mama after dinner. Lil Angie will even clap if her sis or bro finish their performances. Lol … !

Same with Smarty, his teacher also told Grandpa that he made a very big progress in his class. During winter, Smarty, his mom and dad mostly stay at our apartment. This is to avoid Smarty easily catching a cold because of the cold air. Usually, his mom and dad will take him home after dinner.

Thanks to my hubby for his idea on this sort of performance. =)


Cyrstal's other progress:
brush teeth by herself (since these 3 months)
count from 1 to 100 more fluently
do simple addition such as 1+2, 4+5, 8+6, 7+9 ... (and taught Smarty how to do it)
do simple subtraction such as 4-2, 9-2, 8-5, 10-2 ...
understand that 4+5 = 5+4, 7+2 = 2+7, 6+3 = 3+6 ...
love to do coloring on the computer.
tell story (often by your own imagination .. or you create a story by yourself)
draw a person (kiddy style picture) , apple, pear. yesterday she drew a hedgehog. lol...!


Okey ... my dear, the hardest part .. meal time!
you also make some progress on it. you are now more willing to have a meal by yourself.. not too demanding on mama to feed you anymore.


mama always love both of you!