Monday, June 30, 2008

Wine and Cheese Party




Loren had his first wine and cheese party... no pics yet as I was too busy experimenting with making cheese orderves. Must say for a first try (hope no one was poisoned!) it seemed ok, I didn't eat any of the cheesy brie mushrooms! but sure drank too much and then on sunday we remembered why we don't drink so much, the kids were up early and my head was throbbing.

Here is Ike before his new set of bumps on his head and Loren on the Nokia company retreat and a mysterious plant at the bird park.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

Sinus Bronchitis

Nate has been battling a runny nose for some time now... something like 8 weeks. Last week, I took him to the dr on tues and he was given stuff to clear his nose, then on wed night out of the blue he is wheezing like a seal.... croup! After some steroids and the flaxinase for his nose, he seemed to get better... 2 nights ago his coughs had reduced to maybe once, then last night he coughed every 90 mins or so... and in the early morning complained of chest pains.

Today, the dr said he is glad I brought him in, in another 4 days, his present sinus bronchitis could have turned into pneumonia and so he is on antibiotics now and still flaxinase to clear up his very congested nasal passages.

No school for the boys today (well actually its holiday but they go to holiday care). Meera is also on holiday so took them all to the bird park then the dr then horse riding, in between that time, I got to try out Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook... and although Meera claims she will not touch a bite of the brownie (with 1 cup of spinach and carrot puree), she ended up swallowing 3 pieces and taking another 6 home with her. I will fatten her up... Mabo is now inspired to try the other recipes tho the kids do like their tasteless steamed cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.

Ike is really into bob the builder now and his favourite character is scoop the yellow digger.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Leftover shots






Pics from Loren's camera... Nate in his self painted sports day shirt.

Porpor left fro KL today, nate has been counting down and today is day zero. He said he misses porpor and in the same sentence said, bubbi is coming soon eh! yay! Porpor survived the last Bikram yoga that I dragged her to on Sunday and said the next time she does yoga it will be when she comes back. Bubbi, reminder to pack your yoga gear...

Here is the owl-penguin at the labyrinth at Bodhi Khaya and a few more shots of buildings from our Joburg tour on Saturday.

We had our first family council on Sunday... wish we had taped it, not sure words have the same effect...

I light the candle, which is on a plastic spiderman bag (the party pack from Isla's birthday party). The match burns my hand I burn the plastic bag, luckily not a hole in my carpet. We sit in a circle, the talking piece is batman figurine and a lego car.

Loren says how happy he is... Nates turn he says I don't know! Ike grabs the lego car and proceeds to play... I talk about the nice yoga porpor and I got to go to (porpor by they way had a great lunch at Woon's and came back drunk so she did not participate in the council), the talking piece goes round another time... TOOT from nate... followed by TOOT from Ike... and giggles... not sure what that topic was about! Aiya!

Everyday life






So my little vege garden is growing well, the super worm castings and worm pee are working its wonders... I have just planted the second plot of my winter vege garden and I think this season, we won't need to buy any lettuce, rocket or cabbage. The basket is what I can harvest from my garden every day. Loren now packs a salad from home to take to work and has his salad with fish at home at night... with the bulk of vege's from our organic garden.

Nate in his Karate gear and his new punching bag, he seems to really enjoy Karate which could be a good long term sport. Ike just likes his bike, its amazing how fast he now is on those wheels.

here is a shot of Nate's big fluffy eyelashes, some of them are close to one cm in length. Its really unfair! Though today his eyelash got stuck inwards and on his eyeball (ouch!)

Ike in good Ike form, stuffing his face!

Scenes of Joburg






On Saturday, Loren's friend took us for a local drive of Joburg, we went to the constitutional hill, into the courts (well loren did, nate was asleep in the car so I kept him company). Then the older part of Joburg which has many very nice old buildings but many of them are empty. Tenants had moved away because of the crime, there are huge hotels and office blocks, just empty!

The govt has been trying to revive the area but slowly it seems to gather momentum. Apartments (tho nicely refurbished), right in the heart of the city are going for US$60k.

He also took us to where the beginnings of the constitution were drafted and then to Soweto. We had lunch at Mopanya Mall (see pic) which is a really beautiful mall, though Loren was the only white guy, me the only chinese and nate... well the only fair looking kid...

Nate is quite funny, he says mama is yellow, dada is white, he is brown and if he stays longer in the sun he can be as brown as Aunty Mabo or his good friend Sipho and he wants to be brown too! Well he also wants to have big muscles which has made meal times easier.

Changing subjects, today i got Jessica Seinfeld's new cookbook and how she disguises the vege's in the meal... many new bakerman possibilities... I wish its Nate's bakerman turn again soon!

The bus depot is actually Gandhi square. For those who did not know, he spent quite some time here in S. Africa. The big paintings on a power plant that has been shut down. Sure looks better than the cape town one that is grey and unpainted.

They boys are both recovering... a bit of cough at night. They have a 3 week break and I will take them to see bob the builder next week at Sandton Shopping. Maybe even catch a play or two.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Nate's Report Card

height: 101 cm, weight 16.5 kg, not sure whether he is right or left handed yet but right foot and right eye dominance.

Social / Emotional Development / Indepenence
Nate is a very independent little boy. He love playing imaginative games with other boys of the same age. Nate is confident and perseveres at his work. Nate can be shy and sensitive at times but thrives with encouragement and love. Nate does not enjoy packing away and will find any excuse not to do so.

Gross Motor Development
Nate has a good sense of balance and good posture. He is confident on the gross motor equipment but needs to strengthen his upper body more. Nate's motor skill movements like hopping and skipping are becoming more fluid. His ball skills are age appropriate at this stage.

Fine Motor Development
Nate's pencil grip has strenghtened but can improve further. His coloring in skills are not up to standard. Nate's scissor grip is now correct. He has improved his cutting out so much. Keep on practicsing Nate, because you are doing so well. Nate threads beads with great concentration. he enjoys manipulating clay.

Language Development
Nate is a well spoke little boy. His vocabulary grows daily. He pronounced most words correctly and uses the right grammar. Nate loves stories and is able to listen carefully and then answer questions correctly afterwards. Nate is also enjoying songs and rhymes more.

Intellectual Development
Nate can recall three out of four objects that have been hidden. He knows his family names and his won age. Nate can rote count up to ten and touch count up to fourteen before he is confused. His attention span has grown to an age appropriate level and this is helping him enjoy our lessons more.

Perceptual Development
Nate can build a sixteen piece puzzle. Keep up the practice Nate, so you an build a thirty five piece by the end of the year. He can copy a three color pattern on a pegboard. he can name all the shapes and colors and all age appropriate body parts.

General Comments
Nate has really worked hard this term. Keep up the good work, I am proud of you!

Teacher: Candace Strachan (May 2008

Ike's report card

"It took Ike a little while to settle into the school routine. Although we still sometimes have tears, he is now starting to show interest in his new environment. Ike is learning to interact with his friends and is gaining confidence.

At first Ike refused to do his creative activities but he is now starting to paint!

Ike is still getting used to the playground and enjoys playing in the sandpit or riding a bike.

Teacher : Yvette Anderson (dated June 2008)"

Just a small note on the "naked in a circle" from the last posting... its a joke, there is no naked in the circle part of the course. Also no Karma Sutra lessons... only inward looking of one's emotions and the sharing (or if one chooses, the not sharing of that).

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Cape Town again



Our session ended early and although monday was a public holiday... we were in luck!!! Hermanus is part of Walker Bay area and home of two of the best wine makers in South Africa.... Bouchard Finlayson and Hamilton Russell. Guess what... they are side by side! We got there at 415pm and got to visit both before they closed at 5! what a treat!

Oh we also got to see a fossilised inner ear of a whale... I forgot to take a picture.

Here is a picture from the breakfast room of our hotel... the "never to be finished highway" in cape town.

Will post Nate's report card next!

Bodhi Khaya part 3






Even the session where we stood in a circle naked was quite comfortable (just kidding, there is no circle of nakedness)... instead we had the scissor move and the Yabyam as homework at night, two interesting positions where a couple can align their chakras. One couple ended up laughing so hard and had to get another lesson the next morning as they could not figure out where each leg should go.

We had such bad colds that going through some of these sessions was quite hard. let alone to have to do homework!

The other nice move is the heart to heart meditation, which also involves lining up of chakras before sleep and upon waking... connecting each others energy.

I think my favorite is still the dream council... its really wierd what pops up in dreams. It was good to be challenged out of one's comfort zone and to see 2 people who have practiced their relationship as their spiritual journey be so in tuned to each other and support each other in such a gentle, loving way.

The people we met on the course as well were quite incredible, all open and willing to move ahead to grow in their relationship. In hindsight I should have asked what couples have gone and it just didn't work out... though getting there is half the effort, those couples who have thrown in the towel, I guess won't make it there?

By the way, the zebra tub in Part 1, is their worm farm!! great!! I want one too!

Bodhi Khaya part 2






My head had never hurt so much before and I must have had more panadols in those few days than in 10 years. Moving my head was quite painful. Our room was like a wind tunnel the first night as it was a windy windy day!

The introduction process was quite interesting, they had your spouse introduce you and the way you did that also spoke volumes about you. They taught us a communication technique called the council, where only one person talked at a time. Kind of like the Red Indians over a campfire. We broke out into the women's council and men's council for the pm session.

The next day we did a Dyadic Council which is the couple and the "third presence", which is the voice of the relationship of the couple. That was quite heavy! the first couple that did it... it was like watching a play... with great actors except this was real! In that session you really feel like you are in a cocoon and there isn't other people around.

Every morning we did a 15 minute meditation, its the first time when time suddenly zipped by, I felt like i could have sat there for hours. Then its followed by a dream council (this is quite fun!) where we lie down and our heads face the center and we tell each other about our dreams from the night before or one that we remember. It is a way to share dreams and encouraged among couples.

They also taught us the aura massage or smoothening. Am not sure about this one but willing to try. Apparently kids see aura colors of other people and don't realise its not natural... must remember to ask nate!

Bodhi Khaya






We left for Cape Town last Friday without the boys, we were off to a couples retreat 2 hours fm Cape Town, near Hermanus, the town famous for sighting whales as the migrate north. In the morning, I didn't feel great and by night time I had a fever and a sore sore throat. Luckily we stayed in Cape Town at a warm room and heated bathroom hotel.

The sun rises about 45 mins later than Joburg so it was around 730 that the first rays of light hit the city. This is the main strip of Hermanus, there is a nicer part facing the ocean but it was too windy to venture out! Here is the superhero bath suds that loren excitedly chanced upon at the supermarket. One for Nate, one for Ike and one for him. Superhero bubble baths...

Bodhi Khaya is a nice tranquil farm with cape dutch architecture. The rooms were quite nice but heat came from a fireplace. Its run by Jessie and Amber, who have worked to build up the place for discovering the inner self. The course was quite emotionally exhausting but fun and well worth it. Its nice to be on a course where the facilitators participate with the group. It was good to have some sort of idea what could be achieved over the long run.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Nate the Bakerman




I think it must be more fun for the parents than the kids on bakerman day or is it I prefer to bake than cook? surely making meals may be just as fun? Anyway, its nate's turn and we tried a cheese cake recipe from Annabel Karmel and it looked really good, until I popped the bottom from the tin and saw that nate and I didn't press down the biscuit base well enough, the base is about an inch thick! the cake another inch, so I gues bore bickie than cake!

The secret is in the disguise then... if the cake turns out strange then some decoration is needed... so we made little mice out of halved pears, almond slices for ears, raisins for eyes and a little choc ball for the nose. The pink long licorice I could not find in the supermarket but we are a chinese household, we always have noodles lying around... dyed them a shaded of pink and voila... some mice tail. I think the form looked better than the substance tho out of the oven it smelled really good!

We were really tempted to cut out 1/4 of the cake and put a mouse there as if it had eaten it but there isn't much cake for 20 kids from an 8 inch cake tin.

This Thursday is a big challenge, need to dress the kids in some sort of national costume! where am I going to find that? I tried looking for a Malay costume in KL last year... did not even find a chinese one. I wonder if I could dress him like an orthodox jew (draw in the beard?, the teacher has already said no to superman costume (I was going to pin from land of krypton on their backs). Maybe a kippa, a white sheet, a rope belt and a stick... moses? anyone with an easy to execute idea please email me asap!

Here is Nate with mini barbie doll, I think I will go against loren's wishes and get him a small barbie set, just so he can get in touch with his feminine side. We were at Christine's new house and they have tonnes of girl toys, ah the familiarity! Next weekend Nate has 2 girl parties to go to...

Monday, June 09, 2008

Sports Day






As Nate is a senior now, he participated in sports day, he was part of the Tasmanian Team and painted his won shirt. He did quite well and got a chocolate coin medal.

He seems to really believe that he runs faster in his sneakers (or takkies as they are called here) and the N that stands for New Balance in his mind stands for Nate. Maybe Ike will think Nike is Nate and Ike?

We celebrated father's day a week earlier and got Loren another mask, one with a straw beard, shells and cow bells. But the mask also really smells... even the dogs have stayed away.

On sunday I took nate to watch Kungfu Panda, it is really quite funny, I must say I do like cartoons, I wonder if he will take to cinderella and snow white... On the weekend we also watched motor mouth Chris Rock... I wonder why he has a squeeky voice. The venue was quite far though 45 mins in the South of Joburg at carnival city. The next night we watched a play called nipple caps and g-strings, put on by an ex-stripper, that was quite funny with the audience participation (luckily we were as middle as an audience could get!). Highly recommended to watch, if it were showing longer, I think it would be fun to bring Shelley and Michelle for their birthdays!

Speaking of which, Charmaine and family may be moving soon.

Ike sick




Well Ike had a big week at school and seemed to have a runny tummy on thurs that cleared up on friday... by saturday after his nap his cough was really bad, so brought him to the doctor, who gave him a blood test and also a stool test. He was not too happy but did not have a fever. He had early croup, which would have been quite bad the next day had we not gone, overall he still has a diarrhea but no appetite. Been mainly drinking milk. He's also been sleeping long long naps. Today he skipped school but seemed upset that he could not go. Watching bob the builder made his morning though.

So we got some tanzanites from Christine's dealer who is an Israeli Jew, very abrasive one, but was a fair deal. Typical traders office, small desk, alot of stones, the first batch not what I wanted, he wanted to take us with him to the banks and vault... thought better not follow him, they may target him but not us... the guy also carries a hand pistol and as we left, there were people coming in to sell him all sorts of stuff, loose gold... which is why he had a 2 inch stack of bills on his table.

I think the ruby and sapphire merchant in Bangkok was more fun, larger office, he let Van and me sit by the side and he would look at the stone, name a price, if the person said ok, he'd hand them cash. Then he'd show us the stone and tell us stories.

Here is a pic of moonlight, my latest horse. She is quite nice to ride, listens well except that the first kick needs to be really hard, maybe I need spurs? I think I am finally getting the hand of this riding thing.

We also finally made it to Bikram yoga, mom survived it!! its quite easy yoga movements, the challenge is in the 40 degree heat. But the heat sure helped our chest feel alot warmer. We will try and go tomorrow. Bubby, you will need to get some yoga gear and prepare for 40 degree heat.

Monday, June 02, 2008

Ike and school


Today Ike surprised us by mounting one of the zoom zoom bikes and actually moving, well slowly with one foot in front of the other, not with two feet pushing like kids who have had some time on these bikes. I saw him eyeing the bikes today at school in the morning and by the afternoon he was on a bike! he must have been watching the kids for the past month?

Today we also tried having Ike eat lunch at school and nap there, he did perfectly, finished his meal and went to sleep at 1230. I picked him and Kai2 up at 2pm. I felt like I had a whole day! This could be great... I will have alot more time now!

My "Siblings without rivalry" course ends tomorrow. One skill I learnt there is to take notes when kids have a long list of demand so they don't nag you over and over again, well this is Nate's "want" list...

~ New superman DVD (he watched the non-animated version with Loren on the weekend and was disappointed to find out it is a rental DVD).
~ Many Superhero movies
~ Many Superhero toys
~ Rudy Jones the pink guy (who?? he is a villain in the superman cartoon series and nate's favourite baddie)
~ Superhero stickers (he now has a sticker book that he stares at for a long time)

Then he said, thats enough things for now...

I hope to finish off my presentation in stockholm before porpor leaves and then also plan for the Beijing trip as I am hoping to meet with 3 old timer cartoonists from my granddad's generation and a cartoon expert. I also hope to take porpor to bikram yoga for the experience before she leaves.

Today we went to get dada's father's day present and was successful! On thursday I am hoping to be able to pick up some quality Tanzanites (its a nice blue stone), though am not sure what pieces I would make them into yet.

Sunday, June 01, 2008

School





When Nate is the youngest in a group he seems to take quite well on being picked on but I guess group dynamics are such he then learns skills to pick on kids younger than him. Poor lucas being the youngest and physically smallest of the group gets picked on alot by the pack. I tend to let the kids sort these things out themselves tho I wonder if one's child is the smallest that the parent should step in to "protect" the child more? or bring the child to a group where he is the oldest or to play with even older children who are more patient and giving?

Nate's playmates in Taipei were much bigger than him, he was aged 2 and they were 5 and 6 and the older ones seemed to want to teach him more things or share instead of "I should play with this toy first as I am 4 and you are 3". Or when he is with kids younger or skill or speech developed, he seems to gain more confidence in his own abilities and I guess try out the "bullying" skills learnt when he was bullied? Sometimes I wonder if he knows he is being bullied or the intervention by an adult then points out that that is negative? or unless someone is going to get hurt then to intervene.

Next week we will try and leave Ike in school for lunch. We just found out our new neighbours work for Nokia too (this is fast becoming Nokia village) and their son Marcus will be in the same class as Ike.