אֵיתָן (ee-thuhn) solid, enduring (1 Ki 4:31, Ps 89) & טליה (tal-yuh) dew of heaven (God's kindness)
Sunday 27 April 2008
Ethan Calling
Ethan shares his Daddy's love for electronic gadgets and we are continually amazed how fast he is to figure out how each gadget works! Last week Mummy was busy in the kitchen when she noticed Ethan being a bit too quiet for a while......it turned out he had retrieved her handphone from the top of the table and gone to a quiet corner to make his very first unassisted phone call to Gong Gong! It seems they had a good chat for a few minutes with Ethan cheerfully talking about how his day had gone. Too bad it wasn't in English but we are sure Grandpa appreciated it all the same!
Boats
Ethan's taking a liking to climbing in and out of tubs & boxes of late. Maybe its the happy memories he has of sitting in his bathtub, but with his eagerness to climb in & out of his tub even outside of bath times, we have had to pack it away to avoid the danger of tumble. Fortunately we've found another way to satisfy his love of boats -- we've found a new use for his pool float out of the water! Best of all its much safer on our rug than a tumbling bathtub...
Friday 25 April 2008
Pastor's Pie
Sixteen servings of mashed potatoes need some delicious topping and it was a beef base this time. At only 90c/100g for this brazilian minced beef, $2.70 sure went a long way. I usually load up Ethan with sauteed onions, but Mummy noticed that his poo was especially smelly this week. So it was sans onions with other goodness instead - red and yellow peppers, carrots, mushrooms, tomatoes and basil.
After dishing out all the servings, it hit me! It was very similar to shepherd's pie with the mashed potatoes and the beef, but it was inverted with lots of other things instead. Therefore, Ethan's food filling our freezer is henceforth declared pastor's pie. In addition to the beef it has lots of love, joy, peace, kindness, and goodness. I hope there's not much self-control when Ethan eats it though. Will he like his new dish... pastor's pie?
Wednesday 23 April 2008
Couch Climber
He will now climb up to sofa unassisted, sit down and turn on the television! He doesn't know how to select channels yet, but he's quite happy simply looking at the flashing "NO SIGNAL" display on our TV!
Monday 14 April 2008
Registered for School!
The best thing about BRMC Kindy is that it is just downstairs from Mummy's office! Ethan had some time on his hands after registration so he decided to help Mummy with some of her work.
Friday 4 April 2008
Aspiring House Cleaner
Then this morning Daddy was in the kitchen making his breakfast. He reached up spilled some powder so I had to get the broom. Ethan watched intently as I cleaned up the mess then after I was done, quickly grabbed the broom and proceeded to sweep not only the kitchen but the living room for a good 10 minutes! Good job son!
Now we know why people have 10 children.
Thursday 3 April 2008
Snow in Japan
It was just 3 minutes to the slopes, so we went there the next morning and made sure Ethan was warm enough. We had most of the gear for him already except for sunglasses and mitts (no gloves cos he's too small) which we got for just $13 each at the ski-shop. This is also the first time that Ethan kept sunglasses on, which is good cos he really needed them with the glare off the snow.
All this high altitude stuff was tiring, so everyone had a nice nap after lunch. This was why we chose a place only 3 minutes walk away!
We went back in the afternoon and rejoined the "snow park" for which we bought 500 Yen tickets to. It's specially for kids, with gentle slopes, and a covered travellator that goes up the slope! Since Ethan is still too young to learn to ski (min 3 years old) we went sledding instead!
He loved the action but Daddy had to brake using his feet which caused the snow to fly up into Ethan's face which he didn't like so much...
Wednesday 2 April 2008
Maccha Ice Cream
This all happened in a quaint little town near the base of Mt Fuji. Though things were brown and not green, it was still very lovely.
Tuesday 1 April 2008
New Cousin!
Ivan got to cuddle a newborn baby again. It made us remember when Ethan was this small... actually Ethan was much smaller than Josie. It also made us think of what it would be like having another one. Now our second baby is on the way and soon it will be a reality.
Monday 31 March 2008
Sydney Memories
One of our great joys on each trip is to see Ethan thrive, grow, and develop with the myriad of new experiences that he's exposed to. Being away on holiday also gives us tons of time to play together as a family.
Sunday 30 March 2008
Ethan's World Turns Upside Down
Saturday 22 March 2008
Chinese New Year 2008
Thursday 20 March 2008
Ashmar Farm Stay
Wednesday 5 March 2008
The Great Outdoors
Monday 3 March 2008
Centennial Park
Sydney has so many beautiful parks and the famous and large Centennial Park was right next to where we stayed. Though it rained often, we let Ethan run around whenever he could. I think the large open spaces encouraged him to explore and romp around... always with Mummy's careful supervision of course!
Thursday 28 February 2008
Motorcyle Maniac
Thursday 21 February 2008
Coogee Beach and Park
Wednesday 20 February 2008
A Mopping Good Time
Absolutely hilarious and must see! Ethan was watching Mummy mopping the floor at home and tried to grab the Magic Mop. He obviously wanted to help out with the chores, so Mummy let him and took this video. You would never guess that this is his first time mopping the floor! Watch through it all for the surprise ending...
Tuesday 19 February 2008
Sydney Aquarium
One parenting book we read had the good advice [paraphrased] of, "If going to the zoo with your toddler will stress your budget and stress you if he's more interested in the sparrows than the seals, then go to the park instead!" Good advice, cos Ethan was just as interested in the pillars as as the porpoises. Thankfully we had a 2-for-1 coupon into the Aquarium, and the 3 of us had good memories together. At the seal habitat, one even crawled up the ramp to pose with our Ethan.
After the Sydney Aquarium we walked along Darling Harbour and enjoyed the wonderful weather. It was quite sunny so Ethan's hat was really useful. Daddy and Ethan have matching hats given to us by church friends Norman and Janet. They are printed "Ivan" and "Ethan" on them and they're really cute. Ethan loves his, and Daddy loves wearing his together with Ethan.
Saturday 2 February 2008
Daddy in the Cot
However, I discovered that when I climb into his cot Ethan just loves it. He grins and laughs when I get it and he'll lie down quietly next to me for a long time. One day he touched my face and looked into my eyes for ages. Sniff sniff... so precious it makes me teary thinking about it. Other times he will happily ready his book while next to me or sitting up leaning against me.
A few days I climed in when he was getting upset over being left alone. He became happy straight away then we looked at each other and just started laughing. It was really funny cos it was one of the times when the previous laugh makes you laugh even harder so we were out of control after about 1 min of non-stop chuckling. Mummy peered in to see what all the ruckus was about!
Monday 28 January 2008
The Happy Bi-Ped
Wednesday 23 January 2008
Love That Helmet
Ethan has sure come a long way since not enjoying having hats on his head. He will wear hats and especially this helmet for a long time. We thought he looked extra sporty in it while flying his Pooh aeroplane.
Wednesday 16 January 2008
East Coast Again
We found a nice place with a bit of shade and rested on our beach towel while Ethan played with his favourite spade. For a while, it felt like we weren't in Singapore at all.
The most memorable part of the day was our bicycle ride! We rented 2 bikes including one with a seat for Ethan. When he first got on he didn't look very impressed with the setup, but once we got going he squealed with delight and grinned as we cycled all the way down the beach stretch. We ended up at the jetty where we sang our "Fish, Fish" song as we looped figure-eights and laughed baby squeals of delight!
Thursday 10 January 2008
Sick
It was also a tough week for Mummy who had to manage without Daddy, and it got a little worrying when he started to develop a rash after the fever! (just when we thought we were out of the woods!) Fortunately we had quite a lot of support from Grandparents & Church Friends who helped in little ways to get us through this period. We are also glad that it turned out to be a viral thing that seems to be quite common in young kids. I'm glad Ivan is coming back soon tho......was a rather lonely thing to have to pick up a kid who is burning with fever and looking at his glazed eyes in the wee hours of the night......
Tuesday 8 January 2008
Just the 2 of Us
This New Year it was just the 2 of us again -- Daddy was away so Ethan gets Mummy all to himself this week! He's been quite a good boy just like Daddy told him to be before he left. Daddy will be proud of this little man of the house while he was away!
In the meantime, Ethan's been busy spending time socialising at Ah Mah & Yeh Yeh's New Year's Eve Party as well as exploring Suntec City with Por Por & Gong Gong on New Year Day. We discovered that his favourite was the photo booth where we had a screaming good time playing peek-a-boo with the booth curtains!