All About Bryan and Dylan

Nowadays, our weekend plans are dictated by Bryan. He will tell us what he wants to do. Being doting parents *ahem*we will try to oblige whenever possible.

Last weekend, he woke up from his afternoon nap and he tells me that he wants to see this

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My 2 boys are sleeping together now. And this is how they will look like in the morning.

Dylan is a real kicker in bed. He was sleeping parallel to Bryan before I left the room to wash up. When I returned, he already turned 90 deg,…but still fast asleep. Continue Reading »

Hubb finally made the decision to change his car. I have been pressuring him to get a new car for ages as his car is just not dependable – always got problem one. If it was just me & hubb in the car when we ran into problems – it is ok. But if we have the kids with us, then it is really troublesome AND worrisome. Luckily so far we have not had any major breakdowns that prevent us from sending the kids home first before sending the car to the workshop.

But we have had plenty of problems and honestly enough is enough. So finally we decided to trade in the car for another, and we decided to hand over the car last Tuesday– before we get new problems with the car.

Hubb handed over the car to the car dealer today. And before he drove the car away, he let Bryan play with the car…ALL HE WANTS…for a short while la….

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Such a pretty smile, right?

But this pretty smile is only reserved for people he knows. If he doesn’t know you, he will look at you with a wary look. And if you try to carry him…it will be WAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH *cry*

We noticed it about 2/3 weeks ago that he has learned to recognize our family members. He will cry when i get home and i don carry him. His eyes will follow us around when we walk around him without carrying him.

When we take him to MIL’s house, almost no one can carry him. We go there only once a week, so he is not very familiar with them. So hubb & I have to take turns carrying him. Pity MIL, coz she really want to carry him but afraid to make him cry. Luckily he will still play with MIL but just cannot carry him.

When hubb & I are eating, usually MIL or SIL will help to take care of Dy. How if he don let them carry? They must carry him without letting him see their face, ie his back to them. And they have to keep him in that position with him facing us. So pity them and so thankful to them for being considerate about it.

Mon & Tues: MC
Bryan stayed home with my parents as he was not feeling well.

Wed: Back to school.
His teacher told me that when he is not around, all the teachers missed him. I think there are about 5 teachers that spend more time with him. 3 are his morning school session teachers who work half day only. 2 are full day teachers who also takes care of him in the afternoon. His favorite is teacher Stella, who is actually the year 4 teacher.

Stella & the other full day teacher Vivian told me on Wednesday that having him around makes time flies. Though he is very mischievous, he has a way of getting to the teachers’ heart. They told me that almost all of them will notice that Bryan is absent if he is not in by 9:30am or so. Where else for the other kids, sometimes they don’t even realize that they were not in yet until they took attendance later on.

They added that they missed him when he is not around, but when he is around; he drives them crazy (sometimes).

Thurs: Punished
What happened? He bit a school mate and scratched another one until got scratch marks. Luckily it is not on the face. This had happened before, and when it happens, they made him sit in the “naughty chair” for 10-15 mins.

But this time, he really hurt the school mate. So to drive the message in that he cannot hit/ bite his friends, they are making him sit in the “naughty chair” for a WEEK during play time. He is not allowed to play. He must sit next to a teacher at all time. If he tries to run away from that chair, the teacher will hold him down.

When I arrived yesterday, I saw him sitting at the back of the class. But teacher Stella was next to him marking homework. He was playing with some toys in his hand but it was obvious that he was separated from his friends.

He started crying when he saw me. Before that, no cry. Why cry? Show his pity punished face to me la!

Teacher Stella later asked me if I am ok with the punishment, bcoz some parents do not like it. I replied that when ever he is at school, it is the school’s responsibility to take care of him and that includes disciplining him as well. So of coz I am ok with it. Hopefully he learns from the punishment and not hurt his friends anymore.

Bryan is starting to be able to hold conversations over the phone.

Situation #1: When Bryan stayed home with my parents and I called home to check.

*Telephone ring for long time*
Bryan: Hello
Me: Hello *puzzled with the voice on the phone*
Bryan: Hello
Me: Bryan hor? *or wrong number liao*
Bryan: Hello….Mummy!
Me: Hi Bryan, how are you today, are u a good boy
Bryan: Wuahhhhh *cry* Wo yau mommy, mommy huei lai (I want mommy, mommy come back)
Me: *slap head*
Me: Bryan don’t cry, mummy coming back soon

Then my mom came to the phone and I could hear her talking at the back…

Grandma: Pu si mommy, ee ee lai (Not mummy, it is auntie)
Me: Bryan, I am ee-ee. Call ee-ee. When i come visit you, i buy ice cream for u ok.
Bryan: Ee-ee ah? Wo yau ice cream.

*then further conversation, pretending that I am ee-ee before he willingly handover the phone to my mom*

Situation #2: With MIL
This one I donno what MIL said, but we could guess from Bryan’s answer.

*Telephone ring*
*Bryan runs to pick up phone*
Hallo
Ah Mah (paternal grandma)!
Wo kuai (I am a good boy)
Mummy chong liang (Mummy is bathing)
Daddy kan tien si (Daddy is watching TV)
Wo you chu school (I went to school)
Wo chu draw-draw (I go to school to draw)
Draw-draw , huak-huak (fyi, MIL don’t speak English, so I guess he repeated in Mandarin)

Then hubb tried to take the phone from him, but he refused to let go. So hubb had to use the speaker phone to talk to MIL with Bryan continue KPC besides him.

One of the things that I really want Bryan to learn at school is to communicate in English. Everyone at home speaks to him in Mandarin. I speak English to him but he usually ignores me until I repeat in Mandarin.

I will be enrolling him in a Chinese national school, so I know speaking Mandarin will not be a problem for him. And I heard enough about the standard of spoken English at the national school, so it may be just up to me to make sure that his spoken English will not be a problem. But how, if he refuse to speak English to me….

But in the last few weeks, he is beginning to speak more English to me.

It started with just basic, “yes, no, I don’t want.”

Now, he is beginning to say the whole sentences.

“Mummy I finish already. I want some more.”
“Mummy I want to read story book.”

And his pronunciation is definitely improving.
He is beginning to say “McDonalds” instead of “nenenno.”
“Queensbay mall” instead of “Ah-mo-mol.”

He’ll tell me -
“I want to go Queensbay Mall.”
“I want to go McDonalds eat burger.”

Last Sunday, at the butterfly farm, I asked him, “Bryan, are you scared.” He answered, “Yes, I want to cry.”

Sunday – 29 June
10:15am – Bryan & Mommy wake up.

Bryan: Mommy, I want to go Butterfly farm!

Yup, that’s what Bryan said to me the first thing on Sunday morning. Both of us slept in that day. Dylan woke up at about 8am, I bf him, passed him to hubb, then continued to Zzzzz with Bryan. (lucky me! )

When we woke up, hubb had already made breakfast for us as Dylan had went back to sleep. Toasted tuna sandwiches! (I can be quite lucky sometimes). So hubb took Bryan downstairs for breakfast while I took my own sweet time to wash and change.

When I got downstairs, Bryan asked again for Butterfly farm.

Hubb: Aiya, he talk only one la. He doesn’t know what is butterfly farm one.
Me: He knows one.
Me: Bryan, do you want to go butterfly farm.
Bryan: I want to go Butterfly farm. Wo yau chu hu tiek kong yuen (repeat in Mandarin version sommo leh)
Me: See, i told u he knows what it is! He remembers he had been there before.

So we decided to take him as he had been quite well behaved lately. It was already close to 11am, and hubb said that it will be close to lunch time. So timing is quite bad.

No worries…. I checked my fridge and told hubb that I will just pack some sandwiches and we can have lunch on the go. So I made some salmon + cheese sandwich, put some apple juice into a tumbler for Bryan. Meanwhile, hubb quickly gave the boys their bath.

We left about 12 noon, taking the scenic Balik Pulau route. It took us almost 1 hour to reach the farm…and I could see Bryan getting sleepy by the long ride.

Bryan was very excited when we entered the farm. “Wahh.. so many butterflies.” He exclaimed happily. But soon, happiness turns into fear. He got scared of the butterflies. He refused to let go of hubb the entire time.

Wanna see more of his scared expression?

Photos not enuf, wanna see his scared video? Wuahahahahaha

Darn funny to see Bryan so scared. But really geram also coz we drove all the way there and he is scared of this and that. Even scared of the huge fishes in the pond. I asked him why scared, and his reply was, “Wo tiek tau li mien.” (I fall down inside) – he’s scared of falling into the pond.

How about Dylan? Dylan still blur blur la. He was happy to be in my sling and did not care where we were. He did attract a lot of attention being in my sling.

We took the Balik Pulau route on the way back again, because we wanna have some durians!! Yes! We did stop by at one of the roadside stalls and have some durians. Bryan loved it! No photos coz our hands are all sticky from durian. Dylan had already fell asleep then, so I had to have my durians with him asleep in my arms.

Durian not enough…got laksa sommo. Hey, we’re at Balik Pulau mah, how can we not have their famous laksa as well.

Daddy complained why the previous post did not have his photo with his boys. So, as per daddy greatest’s request, here’s the pic.

I did not post the photo YET because I want to photoshop that flashlight reflection at the back of the photo first. But no time to do yet. But since you so kan-cheong want to show off your photo, post first lo!

This has got to be one of the happiest things a mommy can hope for – to see the kids get along well.

Bryan is extremely protective of Dylan. He wouldn’t let anyone that he doesn’t know to carry his didi. My aunt came to visit me a couple of weeks back. And of course my aunt wants to carry Dylan. I was at the back of the house doing laundry at that time, and Bryan ran to me and asked me to carry Dylan. I told him that it is ok to let my aunt carry Dylan, but he insisted that I carry D instead.

Sometimes, some of my relatives will joke to Bryan that they want to take D home with them. Wrong move! If Bryan hears that, Bryan will refuse to let them carry Dylan. Not just for that day, but next time in the future as well. Bryan will be very wary of them and do not allow them to carry D.

When Dylan cries, Bryan will ask me to quickly carry Dylan. If I have carried Dylan and Dylan still cry, Bryan will ask me to bf Dylan. Hehehe..even Bryan realized that bf is soothing & comforting to Dylan. Bryan will even tell Dylan, “Didi pu yau ku. Mommy kei ni he nen-nen.” (Didi don’t cry. Mommy will let u drink milk).

Dylan sleeps with Bryan nowadays. Sometimes when I am tucking Bryan to bed and he is still too playful, I will threaten not to let Dylan sleep with him. Or I will threaten that if he still don’t go to sleep, so & so will come take didi away to sleep with them. These threats will usually do the trick to get Bryan to go to sleep.

Bryan doesn’t mind sharing his toys with Dylan. In fact, he will gladly share his toys with Dylan whenever we asked him to. Right now, Dylan will just hold the toy and wave it about. We’ll have to wait and see if Bryan is still this generous when Dylan can really play with the toys.

Bryan was really cooperative at dinner yesterday and we managed to snap a nice photo of us together.