Our boys’ new adventures

Our little baby Benjamin who was only so tiny (and took only two push to come out) is turning ONE year old on Friday 3/18/2011.  How did the time go?????????  As usual, we won’t throw a huge party for Benjamin but will make a small cake for him (according to Michael, the cake is white and it will have a blue color “B” and “1″ on it!)

While we have been slack w/ photos and videos, Benjamin is already almost turning into a toddler:

- He is almost walking (he races against his brother Michael with the walker and Michael’s scooter!)

- He crawls so fast that Nanna calls him speedy gozales !

- He is refusing to eat mashed up food (and want real pasta, fish, meat, and fruit!)

- He is almost out of his bottle (Mom has been adamant in “training” him in using a zippy cup!)

- He now baths with Michael where Michael draws a line in the bath to make sure that his little brother doesn’t “bother” him!

- He is babbling about curtains, ge ge (Michael), dada (Ian), and when he cries, he goes “mama mamma”….  so cute.

- He has got more nicknames than all three of us combined (didi – mean little brother in mandarin, mimi – a name suggested by michael, Benjamini – don’t ask us why?!)…

We are going to miss our little baby but we warmly welcome him to toddlerhood.  Happy Birthday, our beloved Benjamin.

Much love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (at 3+ but still wants to be 5) and Benjamin (who turns 1 tomorrow).

It has been so busy for us since Christmas Holidays, followed by new year and then chinese new year.  Of course the boys are continuing to make tremendous progress and are our joy and happiness every day (see photos below taken just before Christmas by our friend Belinda).

Benjamin finally took has first crawl in Australia (in front of Nana – again!).  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t the best (re. rain, later flood and cyclone in Queensland) but it was nice to see Michael and Benjamin hang out with the Aussie Cousins.  All of the cousins have grown a lot in 12 months and Michael just adored being around every one of them.  Charlie is his favourite (seeing that she is the only girl cousin on the Lacy family side and she is FIVE years old).  All the boys show Michael how to be more Australian (catching spiders, climbing on cubby house and jumping the waves).  Every day (if it didn’t rain), we were out swimming and playing.  Michael also took his first boat ride in his Poppa’s boat and thought it was so “cool”.  Of course Christmas day was just too great with all the great presents from all the uncles, aunties and Nanna & Poppa.  Both Michael and Benjamin were well spoiled.

Once settled back in Shanghai, we had to face the once-again too-cold winter.  This is the coldest winter in our 2+ years in Shanghai and there were days that poor Benjamin would not be able to step out of the house for a stroll (too windy / cold).  Michael was especially delighted to be back to school (he didn’t forget his mandarin this time, as we tried to speak to him as much as possible in Oz).  With the many new books he got from Santa, Michael has also improved on his reading / listening / memorizing capability.  He is now able to read stories to Benjamin by memory holding up a book and it’s so sweet to watch.  Benjamin continues to want to meddle into Michael’s latest lego tower, train track and drawing.  And we’d suppose that’s what sibling relationship is all about.

During Chinese New Year, we stayed in Shanghai for a break from all the travels (and SH is actually half decent from a “crowd” perspective as half the population has left for travels / home-town visits).  We finally became the tourists and did lots of “touristy” activities; riding on the tourist tunnel from Pudong to the Bund, riding on the ferry and going to the aquarium (there was only ONE diverman, so you can imagine Michael’s disappointment!).  The weather was absolutely glorious 10-15 degrees Celsius and sunny every day.  Our best 7-days in Shanghai to-date.

Benjamin is turning one soon (March 18 – how did the time go!?) and Michael is well established in his “older brother” status (i.e. bossing Benjamin around).  We are looking forward to warmer weather and until next time, much love from Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who loves to read “ali baba &the thieves) and Benjamin (who now can wobbly “walk” with his walker)

Our Boys’ Album – Special Edition – December 2010

Dear friends and family, we (i.e. Stacey) couldn’t help but make our boys take   photo with Santa in Shanghai this year.  Michael had a ball (hence the cheeky look!) and Benjamin was apprehensive about this white-beard man.  We hope to save the environment by sending you our e-wishes again this year.

May this card finds you and your family happy, healthy and joyous in this Christmas!

With much love,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (at 3 and about to jump on a plane to meet diverman in oz) and Benjamin (who would be most pleased to get out of the cold!)

right… i am a bad mother. It has been a month since a blog update although lots have happened! The fact that China has blogged my website and picasa goggle again don’t really help or motivate me into writing!

Benjamin’s first tooth came out at 8 months and he is now onto his second tooth. the bottom ones – they’re SOOO cute.

Michael has mastered the art of somersault without any assistance. He is pretty pleased with that achievement.

All is well and we’re all busy preparing for our annual Australia trip to the beach (yipee!)

Videos and Photos to come shortly. Meanwhile loads of love from freezing Shanghai,

Ian, Stacey, Michael (who calls us “little sweetie”), and Benjamin (who is trying to crawl, but still not turning!!!)

The fact that we haven’t written for awhile means we have been busy, busy, busy.  The boys are growing really nicely and we have had several adventures.

Ian and I took the courage the take the boys on our first holiday as family of four to Phuket, Thailand (Sans helpers!).  It was a FANTASTIC holidays (which seemed so far away already!).  We had to run some errands in HK prior to Phuket and it really rocked Benjamin’s routines abit (he woke up every hour of the night while he was there!)  At least it was all peaceful when we got to Phuket.  We stayed at a lovely apartment just minutes to the beach and town and it was the perfect place to be.  Mornings would be the beach and afternoons would be the pool.    Michael also advanced heaps with his swimming (jumping off spring board and riding with the waves)… We can’t wait to show off these skills to his cousins when we get to Oz at X’mas!

After returning from the much-needed break, it was hustle and bustle again.  Everything is a bit of a blur, but Michael had a lovely birthday being 3 (he kept saying he is FIVE!) and after last year laborious weekend of making his “Haibo” birthday cake, we outsourced it to a cupcake baker and they made the most impressive “cupcake” cake where the icing was a Spiderman on top and connected by mini-cupcakes!  I doubt we would ever really “make” the cake again…

Now that both the boys are older, they are interacting a lot more and Michael is as “bossy” as ever telling Benjamin what to do and how to do things, such as:

- Bennnjamin, that’s not such a GREEEAT idea!

- Bennnjamin, this toy is hard, not yours, this one… a soft one.

- Bennnjamin, you can’t play with the legos, you will eat them and then go to the hospital!

These are just a few… although it’s a lot of work every day (esp the weekend), seeing them play / interact together is worth a millions.

Until next time, enjoy our photos and much love from Shanghai,

Our Boy’s Album – Special Edition – October 2010

Our Boy’s Album – October 2010

Our Boy’s Album – September 2010

p.s. finally got to write this blog after much a “writer’s block”!!!!!

When you google “terrible 2” there is approximately 5.5 MM search results that come back to explain (and advise) what to do when your child enters 2 and become this rather erratic person.  It is as if you have never known him!  Our angel (before this week) Michael is about to be two (in 4 days to be exact) and we (well more Mama’s wishful thinking and praying!) thought he would go through the age of 2 with smooth sailing.  Not so EASY! 

When Michael returned to school this week after a well-rested holiday, it was reported that he bit his classmate… leaving a noticeable red mark.  Of course every one (the teachers, the little girl and her mom) was quite upset and I had to even ring her mom to apologize. (I still feel bad now!).  Interestingly that evening, after a stern talking by Ian, Michael seemed to understand his actions ( and the implications) and consequently was a happy-obedient little boy the next day at school.

However it only lasted one day!  The day after, he bit two girls in his class again!  Now I am honestly desperate with these questions in mind:

- What if the school expels him?! – this is entirely possible given what I read on the internet and given Michael’s got a german principal at his school!

- What is happening to our angel?!  Is he frustrated about (my pregnancy?!)?!

- Will this pass???

The google search on “how to stop a toddler’s biting” suggests that you bite them back… surely there is a more humane way before we resort to that?!  Also we have already set up a “time-out corner” and Michael knows that when he is in trouble, he must stand in the time-out corner …in fact, after being naughty, he says “stand in corner”… (we have to keep a straight face from not laughing!)

Both Ian and I are at a loss and the google search (plus a Shanghai mama’s advice) says that something must be bothering Michael…  The only thing we can think about (well I couldn’t quite think; it was rather suggested by Ian) is that maybe Michael missed hanging out with us – but that shouldn’t entitle him to bite children, right?  All that babyplus system training was supposed to make Michael a “perfect” child – well I guess they can only guarantee leading up to two years old!

Help is needed and any advice will be appreciated!

Other than that, we had a wonderful wonderful holiday (could do it for 2 years, rather than just 2 weeks) in Thailand.  Now counting down to the next holiday!  Baby is doing well and we got a 4D photo of the new bubba.

Love from Shanghai.

p.s.  We’ll write another time for Michael’s two-year-old birthday!  For one, he got loads of gifts!!!  Thank you everyone for your gifts and well wishes!!!

Life as a two-year old can be testing … between a new school and his busy parents, Michael has then been dragged to two plane trips in the last ten days.   Uncle Gary’s wedding in Hong Kong was wonderful – there were so many people to meet and it was always nice to see familiar faces like Gung gung, Poh poh and yes Winnie the Pooh (which was Gary’s and he brought it to his wedding!!!).  Michael kept saying “Gong Xi Ni!” (which means congratulations in Mandarin)  to Uncle Gary and his new Auntie Leona!  The new couple were beautiful and we were just so surprised that they look so alike in the photos! 

 The 4 day weekend was packed with seeing many kids (9 kids in total) and of course we got to have a bit of social life also (much needed for Stacey!).  Hong Kong was the same - pollution, crowed streets EVERYWHERE, fantastic shopping and our beloved friends and family.  It was Ian’s first time back to HK since we left there a year ago and we just couldn’t believe how the year had slipped by so quickly!

Then a week later, it was onto a holiday that Ian and Stacey much much needed – two weeks by the beach in Phuket, Thailand.  It was LONG to get here from Shanghai (total of 7 hours) and we were all exhausted when we got there, but the sound of the Andamen Sea was ever soothing and calming that we felt instantly more relaxed.  We are a few days into our holiday and Michael just loves it!  He finally got to enjoy a real beach (unlike the man-made one in our Shanghai apt complex!) and to him, it’s heaven on earth.  In Phuket, Michael’s daily schedule is: wake up, eat breakfast, hang out on the beach, have lunch, nap, then afternoon adventure, followed by the routine dinner & night time rituals.  Our little boy is very privileged and we are hoping that he grows up cherishing the fun time he had with us. 

We will keep blogging more now that I have more time and all the sites are uncensored…  Until next time, Enjoy our photos and much love from Phuket, Thailand.

Michael’s album – almost 2…

Michael’s Album – 23 Months young