We bought a set of Junior monopoly from a car boot sale at a super cheap price last year, and during the recent holiday, we finally got the chance to take it out and play with the girls.
It is a much simpler monopoly - not much strategy needed. I think it's mostly depending on luck!
But our girls took it very seriously in every game. Eunice cried a few times when she's running low on cash, and Natalie will be whining non stop if she has to keep paying. That actually makes the game less fun! I talked to them, especially Eunice, about being resilient. They got better after a few lectures, that's because I always go bankrupt first. And today, while I was making my CNY cookies in the kitchen, I heard EG laughing really loud and then someone crying.
So, what happened was - Natalie was winning the game (somehow she always wins) and had a big stack of cash. She kept saying,"I have heaps of money!"... But Eunice was losing - she didn't have any ticket booth to collect rent from so she kept paying rent. And her eyes started to get teary. EG told me Natalie went to see Eunice's eyes closely and said I think she's going to cry! And that makes our not-so-resilient girl cried out loud. What happened next was, Natalie quickly offered her a stash of money, telling her it's ok, I can give you some money!
Nat gave some cash to Eunice, hoping to make the sister feel better
And EG started laughing really loud. I also heard Natalie said,"It's ok. I don't cry because I win." And EG laughed even louder telling her, it's easy for you to say that because you win!
Anyway, EG told the girls that they both won the game tonight because they're in the same team. And that solved all the teary moments.
I asked EG today if we should bring the girls to go see fireworks, but we both agreed that they won't last till 10.30pm! And EG said, "I thought you always post their sleeping photos during new year eve?"
Actually, very true.
Same as other years, as usual, we made the girls go in bed by 9pm. This year, I told Eunice, today is the last day of 2015, and tomorrow it'll be 1st day of 2016. She stared at me with her big eyes, and said, "Oh yea I am going to go Year 1 and I am turning 6 years old soon!"
Eunice is turning 6yo in another 2.5 months, and Natalie is 3y4m now. I now truly understand the quote - Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. There are many times when the girls will laugh their heads off together, playing crazily together, or even quarrel or fight but later laugh together again. We have successfully made Natalie sleep in her own bed for almost 2 months now - and there are many mornings when I woke up by their laughters from their room. It's probably the best noise on earth to wake up to! Everytime when I hear that, I just couldn't help by feeling thankful for their sisterhood.
Our girls have adjusted so well here now. They both speak exactly like an Aussie, and at times Eunice will correct our pronunciation. We're also learning the Aussie way to talk from Eunice everyday. For Nat, she doesn't have "lah" or "meh" or etc in her speech AT ALL. She speaks perfect english - for a 3yo - in my opinion :P.. Besides speech, they also pick up all the Aussie ways of living (for kids) - they love outdoor, love picnic, love gardening, love flowers & plants, love birds, love dogs or cats, love the sun, love beaches, love markets (but hate shopping -__-) and etc.
2015 has been a great year for both of them. Eunice enjoyed herself LOTS in her prep/foundation year in her school - making many new friends, learning to read/write, developed her interest in art, etc, and Natalie also enjoyed herself in Eunice's school and her new childcare - building new friendship, and learning life skills - like gargling = singing with your mouth closed (that's really cute!).
Finally, happy new year to all of you from my two lovely girls. Here are some recent photos of them. Hoping 2016 will be a great year filled with joy and peace for all of you!
Aug 2015
Pic taken to remember Nat's baby bed before upgrading to single bed
Trip to city to see the tallest Lego Christmas tree in Southern Hemisphere
Trip to Mills Beach @ Mornington - buidling sandcastle
During our recent trip back to Taiping, we went for roti canai in a local kopitiam (not mamak) for breakfast. The kopitiam has my favorite wan ton mee.
We let the girls tried both the roti canai and wan ton mee, and I order a leng teh too. Eunice loves the roti canai the most. For Nat, she loves both of them. They don't really fancy the drink but were ok after getting used to the taste.
There's a funny conversation between me and Nat on the way home after the breakfast.
Me: Mei mei, do you like your breakfast today?
Nat: Yes. I like the drink, I like the pizza and I like the pasta.
And on the other day, we brought them to another shop selling nice cakes and egg tarts. Nat loves the egg tarts and ate 2 by herself. And told me, I love the "yellow pie".
LOL!
Anyway, few days before we came back, we brought the kids to the shop again and taught them to eat by using their hands. Oh it fascinated them a lot and they love it! :)
Tonight, after EG settled the girls, he told them, "OK, go and sleep now. And happy new year to you both! Tomorrow is going to be a new year."
Natalie asked, "What's a new year?"
Eunice asked, "What's going to happen tomorrow?"
Cuteness.
Both our girls have grown a lot in this year. And thankfully, both of them are adapting very very well in this new place. No wonder many said children adapt real fast - and it's so true. Eunice now has picked up all the aussie slang, and also picking up the outspoken traits learnt from kinder & childcare. She is less shy now comparing to when she was in Penang - she would tell the cashier what she wanted, and she would greet our neighbors. She's more courageous to try new things now - and she could play most of the playground hurdles now (when we first came she probably would just stick to slide & swing :P)... And she can talk 15-20 minutes BY herself TO herself! Hope that's not a bad thing. :). And you know what, EG and I have been telling each other that she's grown up so much that "cute" is not the right word to describe her anymore!
For Natalie, she grows so fast that I hope time can slow down a bit. When we arrived, she could just baby talked but now, after 3 months, she started to talk 2-3 words, even my aunt who talked to her after 2-3 weeks also got a shock that Natalie could answer her question on the phone. After going to childcare for 5 months, now she can talk a whole long sentence, and I can now have a decent conversation with her. Her speech development is amazing, even the child care carers told me that she can talk really really well, comparing to some of the children at her age. I gave the credit to her sister, Eunice. Eunice has been Natalie's most faithful play mate ever since we moved here. And I guess putting two of them in the same room helps too. There're times when they'd close their room door and play inside, they said it's their castle and we couldn't go in - which we happily obliged to have some time for ourselves. :P
Life here is so busy that I have to ask the girls to play by themselves most of the time. They fought, quarreled, and argued quite a bit in the beginning, but today, I paid extra attention to them as they were playing together, they could play really really well and they could leave me alone at a corner having a break. They played pretend play together for almost an hour - setting up a Christmas concert & lunch. They can have very good conversation between them and they can really communicate very well now.
We are very happy to see both the sisters now are very close. They look out for each other (though sometimes still fight & quarrel), and truly love each other (when we threaten to leave one at home because naughty, the other will always says no!).
2014 has been a great year for my girls - a new place, new school, new home, new room, new friends, lots of parks & plays, playdates, dress up, church activities, toys, animals, etc - so much fun for them! I am pretty sure that they enjoyed their 2014 a lot, much more than the parents.
Next year, 2015, Eunice will be going to primary school nearby, and Nat will be "promoted" from toddler's room to pre-kinder room in childcare. Can't believe that they have grown up so big now.
Both my girls in March, 2014
Both my girls 9 mths later in Dec, 2014. They look so grown up, is it because of the hairstyle?
Finally, I thought I should post this video in my blog as remembrance. I was warned not to post in Facebook though I really want to! :D... The father was having a good time imitating how the Elmo danced in Sesame Street together with the girls. They do this almost every morning (it's holiday now :P) and the girls normally laugh at him because they said he didn't do it correctly. That's why I so love holiday!
Happy new year from my two lovely girls to all of you. Thank you for your love for them. They truly love all the attention that they have. :).
We believe Nat has reached her terrible two at 23mo. She’ll scream and shout if she doesn’t get things that she wants. So, she wanted to have her book on her highchair while we’re having dinner. Knowing her, she’ll be either tearing up the book, or dirty the book while eating so I gave her a stern “No”. She started to wail and scream as she wanted the book.
EG, whom came back from a long day from work, lost his patience and told her to stop crying and eat her dinner. But she refused to open her mouth even I was feeding her and just kept pointing said she wanted the book. We know in all “disciplining-children” theory, we should stand firm on our rule and insisted on “no-book-during-dinner”.
And Eunice said,”You don’t force me to take out the cane ah….!”
I was heartbroken when I heard her saying that.
And Nat continued to throw tantrum and EG took her away to a corner for a timeout, and told her to stop crying and settle down before coming back to the dining table for dinner. So we continued our dinner, me and EG were chit chatting as usual, while a small little girl stood at one corner wailing and crying out loud.
I saw Eunice kept looking at her crying sister at the far corner.
Suddenly, she pat on me,”Mummy, can you go and bring her back?”
I said, “No.. I can’t. She’s naughty. Daddy punished her. She has to stop crying then only I can bring her back..”
Eunice: “No, she very poor thing. Can you please go and bring her back?”
EG: “No, cannot. She’s still crying. She doesn’t want to listen to daddy & mummy so she is not eating dinner tonight.”
And Eunice raised her voice a little bit, “No, she’s very poor thing!”
And the lousyme started to give in: “When she stops crying I’ll bring her back”
Finally Eunice nodded, and said: “Okay.. After you bring her back please pak pak her also.” And she continued her dinner.
Well, it didn’t take very long for Nat to come over to me for some cuddle. I asked her to stop crying and she stopped, and joined us back on our dinner table happily again. :)
I posted this on my facebook and many ppl gave the “Awwww” response. I think I should write down the moments in my blog (with more details) to remember all these cute moments. :) :)
It has been a long time since I blogged about our girls. :).. They're surely keeping us very very busy. I thank God that they are growing up healthily and beautifully.
While breastfeeding Nat, my breastmilk supply was abundant, thankfully. I pumped double of what Nat needed. I even bought a chest freezer to store all my breastmilk. Before we left Penang to Australia, we were taking care of our girls by ourselves after CNY. Since I had about 80 bottles of milk to clear, and I can't possibly bring all the frozen milk to Australia with us, I had to think how to clear them. I gave a lot of my breastmilk to friends to make soap, but I still have like 20-30 bottles to clear at home.
So, I decided to give my two girls milk bath. And it was a great fun time for my girls.
EG dreaded it as the breastmilk was oily and it's really hard to wash them off the basin, so we did it in the car porch. :D.. The girls LOVED it. When I told them it's BATHING TIME OUTSIDE, they SHOUTED in excitement.
We took a few pictures but it's all 18SX. Only a few are more decent, hence posting it in this blog to remember their great times in their old house in Penang. :)
If getting married is a big decision in one's life, having children is a even bigger milestone in life! Having a life growing inside not only change us physically, mentally & our daily life routines, but it's also amazing that how we have grown closer to move forward for the new life ahead of us.
