Cousins under wrap

It's been a couple weeks between posting... sorry! There has been a lot going on and I have not been feeling 100%. Hope things will pick up again in the next few weeks :) In the meantime, enjoy the below pics of Natalie hanging with her cousins and sharing a blanket during the unseasonally cold (really cold!) days of Chinese New Year.

After the kiddies are done with their meal, the best way for the adults to enjoy our meal is to pop in Elmo or Dora DVD and let 'em at it.


Look at the expressions of concentration. They really love their TV! They all really enjoyed "sharing" a blanket at well.


Later, uncle Dennis joins in the fun and we capture Victoria's attention just enough for a great photo with her daddy :)


And now Natalie gives a little smile (although her eyes are still on the television!)

Happy Chinese New Years!

This year, Natalie wore a very pretty pink cheung-sam as her new year's outfit and she was quite the little lady, collecting red pockets left and right. See her below getting ready for school wearing her outfit.

We wish everyone a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year of the Tiger!

Natalie patiently getting her hair done by Suparti. She calls putting her hair up "putting on her long hair".


She looks so lady-like with her hands on her lap and her ankles crossed.


Here she is making her favourite funny face.

I tried to pose her by asking her to look a little off camera. The best I could do was have her stare at my wiggling toes. She was so patient, taking time to pose for me as I adjusted the camera and put her into poses.

Natalie checks out her own dress. She really loves wearing it.

More posing. This is me trying to get her to look "deh", but she doesn't bring her hands up.

A back shot. She really has become quite the little lady!

More Natalie-isms

Natalie is picking her nose.
Natalie: Hey, I'm picking my nose! Look, I got a big booger!

Me: Wow, Natalie, your face is still really round! Do you have a round head?
Natalie looks a bit hurt.
Me (trying to make it up to her): Does Mommy have a round head, too?
Natalie: No, you have a square head!

Sometimes, when Clark is lying down on the bed or sofa, Natalie likes to climb up and pounce on him. She calls it "booming" Ba-ba.
Clark: Natalie, can you boom Mommy? (I'm lying next to them.)
Natalie: No!
Clark: How come?
Natalie: Because Mommy is small!
Clark: But how come you can boom on Ba-ba?
Natalie: Because Ba-ba is big and strong!

Me: I'm going to call Por-por on the telephone now. Do you want to talk to Por-por?
Natalie: How come?
Me: Because it'll be nice to talk to her.
Natalie: How come?
Me: Because she likes to hear you talking.
Natalie: How come?
Me: Because she misses you.
Natalie: How come?
Me: Because she hasn't seen you in a while.
Natalie: How come?
Me: Because!
Natalie: How come?
Me: No more how comes!

Natalie's favourite sleep murmurs (she talks in her sleep):
Natalie: "Hey, whachoo doing?"
Natalie: "I don't want! I don't want!"

Natalie is eating mangoes for dessert. They look yummy.
Me: Natalie, can I have a mango, please?
Natalie: Sure!
She picks up one of the bigger pieces with her fork and gives it to me.
Me: Yummy, thank you, Natalie!
Natalie (explaining and nodding her head): I give you a big piece because you are a big girl.

Winter school uniform

Natalie is quite the little cute student in her little winter school uniform. Here is the complete set as modelled for us by Natalie herself in the morning.


The uniform is a white turtleneck, a plaid dress, and a red boxy jacket with grey stockings and black shoes.



As per her normal morning routine, Natalie gets dressed after breakfast and sits on her sofa to put on her shoes.



She can almost do it herself (although she still gets her feet mixed up).



I asked her to "smile!" for the camera and she did.

"I'm putting on my shoes!" She says.

Reading mandarin

Since starting school in September, Natalie has slowly but surely been picking up more and more Mandarin. Watch Video 269 of Natalie "reading" from her school workbook with her daddy Clark.

Swimming School

On Sunday, Natalie attended her very first swimming class! Last week, we brought her to the swim school so she could watch her cousin Vanessa attend and she was very excited to go, too. At first, things went very well and she was happy and excited to listen to the "swim school teacher". However, she cried for most of the second half of the class when the teacher started asking them to put their ears and noses in the water. Bravely, she has agreed to go again next week :)

Natalie excited and almost ready to head to swim school... by herself with no mommy and no ba-ba!


The swim outfit is complete with neoprene swim suit, swim cap and swim goggles! Later, when Natalie was crying, her little goggles filled with her tears.


Natalie has gone into the pool area by herself, lining up between her cousin Vanessa and her friend Ethan.


Ethan was a great little swimmer and very brave. He put his ears and nose and whole head in the water!

Reading her own bedtime story

Natalie has really grasped the concept of "reading" a book and "storyline". Watch Video 268 of Natalie reading her own bedtime story about a bee who's lost her stripes and needs to find them again.

Christmas outfit

Natalie's grandparents have really spoiled her with lots of beautiful new clothes. Here are some more christmas photos that I'm posting 1 month after the fact, but thought she looked too cute to resist :)

Here is Natalie posing next to a Christmas tree that matches her dress and headband.


Natalie is really festive compared to her parents who are dressed all in black!

Camera smiles

Like all young kids, Natalie is constantly amazed by herself, her own reflection and her own abilities. She enjoys looking in the mirror and, whenever we go out for dinner and a mirror happens to be nearby, she is sometimes too distracted to eat because she is busy making funny faces at herself. She also likes the camera and has become better and better at smiling into the camera. Here we did a few practice shots at home:

Natalie says, "What's that, mommy? Is it a cam-rah?"


I tell her I'm going to take a few pictures of her and she sticks her tongue out like this.

I tell her to smile to look nice and she obliges.

I say "BIG smile!" and she gives a big smile, too.

Creative, not destructive

As a little baby, Natalie loved to "destroy" things. First, she liked to chew and bite on things, then she liked to rip and tear paper, and finally, she enjoyed knocking things down and pulling lego pieces apart. This all happened because she was not yet able to "create". Now that she's older and her fingers are more nimble, she is really putting her creativity to good use!

Who built this beautiful city of blocks?


The creator is hiding just behind it. It's Natalie!


Here she is quietly and studiously building her little city. She is great at balancing pieces on their sides and can build it quite tall without knocking the lower pieces down.


More studious building...


"Look so high!" Natalie says.


She was very happy with her creation. And we were, too!


When it was time to clean up, for the first time ever (that I can remember), Natalie did not ask to smash it first before putting the pieces back into the box.

Natalie's house

While cleaning the apartment, Natalie and I found this big empty cardboard box (from Kevvy and Vanessa). Since Natalie loves her doll houses (she has two for "Mimi" and "Licca" and occasionally likes to sit inside the doll houses), we decided to make the box into a "Natalie" house.

The finished product - a Natalie house complete with a little Natalie inside.


There's a roof (made with a ribbon and an old pillowcase) and a door that opens and closes.


"Hey, you have to knock on the door first!" Natalie says when I swing the door open.

But she happily smiles for the camera when I say, "Smile!" She LOVES her new house and asked to play in it this morning when she woke up.

See how happy she is? Also, Natalie has started to lose her baby fat and is looking more mature.

Some cool features of the house include this door stop (made of ultra high-tech duct tape) that keeps the door shut whenever Natalie wants some privacy.

Additional features: Reb ribbon that prevents the roof from falling in. Also note the personalized, decorative artwork Natalie created for her walls.

Daily morning routine

Now that she's older, Natalie has fallen into fairly regular routine everyday. She seems to enjoy regularity so we keep it as "normal" as possible, especially during week days. Most mornings, Natalie will wake up around 7:30am. Since Clark has already left for work, she'll usually sit up in bed and say "good morning, Mommy" and give me a kiss and a hug (which I love!). I then take her outside where she patiently waits on her little chair at her little table while Suparti prepares breakfast for her. Her current favourite is peanut-butter bread, eggs and a cup of milk or water which she eats by herself in about 30 minutes (she talks a lot and will play between bites). While she's eating, I get ready for work. At around 8:00am, Natalie gets put on the toilet and then gets ready for school. At 8:20am, we all leave the house together.

Natalie seated at her highchair enjoying peanut-butter bread. This was taken a couple months ago when she was still happy to sit in her highchair. Lately, she's preferred using her IKEA table at home.


Natalie loves peanutbutter bread (her current favourite breakfast, along with eggs and a cup of milk). She also loves to make funny faces, too!

Christmas school photos

Even though Natalie missed a few weeks of school around Christmas, she was still able to participate in many of the Christmas-themed days (which happened before she was sick). She now firmly LOVES Christmas and still randomly sings "Jingle Bells" while at home.

The children celebrated the lantern festival by making their very own lanterns.


Natalie brought home a beautiful, purple lantern which she liked to hold and swing around.


Everyday, Natalie's school has "snack time" where the kiddies eat something (sandwiches, crackers, fruit, etc...) and drink something (water, milk, juice, etc...) The kids learn to put their own plates and bowls away after they eat.

Here's another school photo. I steal these photos from Natalie's teacher's facebook page. I love how proactive she is in posting updates. Welcome back to Ms. Lee and congrats on the recent delivery of her baby :)

Here are the kiddies all bundled for a Christmas photo. It was really cold for a few days there! Can you find Natalie? She's the girl in the back picking her nose.

Whenever Natalie sees this photo, she screams "Santa Claus!!!" Can you find her? She also loves to look at her school pictures and tries to find herself.