Week 179 and Week 91.5- Sophia's first week of school

I keep forgetting to mention that Sophia has started potty training on her own volition.  It all started a couple of weeks ago when she took her diaper off during a Sunday nap and then refused to put it on for the rest of the afternoon.  There had been mild interest before where she would say she had to go 'pee pee' and then she would sit on the big toilet later and half a second later announce she was done with no output.  Now she is going around in underwear and sometimes pooping in her shorts... literally. But she goes in the little potty now, and her urine output elicits squeals of glee from Matt, Char and I, and Sophia claps along.  It is quite delightful actually.

We had a bit of an elevator scare last week too. I thought Sophia went out of the elevator behind Charlotte and I and she did not. Matt called the elevator from two floors above and saw the shaking, inconsolable Sophia and retrieved her.  He took her back to our flat and she calmed down eventually.  The next day Char called the elevator and went in and rode for two floors up and down and was shaking and inconsolable too when she got back to our floor.  Elevators are dangerous things!  We need to be more careful.

Sophia started pre school and it was not love at first sight.  I caught a glimpse of her infuse class and she was crying and I felt terrible.  We came back an hour later to retrieve Sophia - who had somehow managed to cry herself into a nap onto the mat.  Among a cacophony of other kids' crying!  I suppose she has that narcoleptic shut down gene that runs both in me and Matt.  This trait gets massaged whenever I think about moving and whenever I attempt to have a 'serious' conversation with Matt.  And during stressful situations with Sophia apparently.  She made it to two of the three days of school this week - she was not having it on Friday at all.  AT ALL.  They told us at the school she is very willful.  We wholeheartedly agree!

We have started to make Rice Krispy treats - seemingly an easy and fun family activity but one forgets that the whole thing is time sensitive - the marshmallow goo cools into an irrecoverable state pretty quickly and wrangling the little ones to do things quickly is well, impossible.  It is fun nonetheless.  I like cooking with the kids - I hope that they enjoy it as much as I do.

There is a giant slide - photos are below.  I got a bit of a slide injury as I tried to slow myself down on it using my right knee as a brake.  A slide injury - ha.

Speaking of slides - I bought a slide for the girls via our good friends in China.  It is huge and great.  The weather is so terrible here in Macau it is nice to have a slide - but literally the days it was delivered it has been wonderful weather.  I think I am more excited about the slide than the girls are.  Definitely more than Matt is - I like to add to the 'fun' house so we don't have to leave when it rains!  He thinks we don't need stuff like this.

Matt and I saw the Rihanna concert last night.  It was fun - I mean, she lip synched and stuff (and never changed out of her sweatshirt football jersey thing) but it was fun to dance and hang out and do something in entertainment starved Macau.  Yay!

Rice Krispy treats!

Sophia, let me show you the world!

Took the girls swimming last week at Pearl on the Lough:

Blowing bubbles:

With a runny nose:

Our attempt at a photo op:

Char wanted to pose with Hello Kitty:

They have these great carts at the toy store:

Playing with my 85mm lens again:

Giant slide!

Matt and I commented this week that Char is a big girl now.  Here is a picture where she looks like one (sniff!):

Auntie exercise machines!

And a video of our new mini slide (and basketball hoop)!

Week 178 and Week 90.5 - And then it rained

The rain is incessant here.  This morning I went for a jog in our gym (after coaxing the guards downstairs to let me in early) and ran around so I can get everything done before work... and I totally missed the call that said that school was cancelled due to the rain.  Matt, ever the perceptive one, asked why there was no one in the parking lot (of course I noticed this but did not think this was unusual).  All of the teachers were there and then I was told I was trying to be called but was unreachable.  So there Charlotte was alone in her class.  There is a level of responsibility as a parent to making sure that you have all of the necessary information regarding school.  At the moment I am very much lacking in this responsibility.  Sigh.  I guess I also think that you should not just miss school because it is raining (though apparently I am alone in that mindset in Macau).

A very cute moment yesterday was when both of the girls were belting the ABC's while eating dinner.

We bought Charlotte sneakers and socks over the weekend as they are part of the school uniform.  We also have gotten in trouble already as we had forgotten our hat.  Again, the parent responsibility thing.  The socks were funny as we have never bought Charlotte socks - a total anomaly for a Singapore baby indeed.

Sam and Matt came to visit with their Sophia and Reuben - it was great to catch up with them (and to fire up our BBQ - a two week project in the making)!

On with the photos!

In our elevator - doesn't it remind you of those crazy '70's portraits?

"Enter my slide lair, dear Momma." 

Gitty-up!

Charlotte sings:

Char's photography skills:

Give me the camera!

Char loves auntie exercise machines!

 

Serious on flowers:

Sophia sandwich with a Charlotte middle (you hardly notice that Charlotte is not wearing shorts here):

The image of the future - always on her phone:

Cute.  Sweet.  Chocolatey:

Naked congee!

Sophia, being a food lover, sorted this efficient technique on her own:

At Sands Cotai Central:

Stroller sharing:

Week 177 and Week 89.5 - School and Twinkle Twinkle and Imee's birthday and Video catch up

We cannot seem to get our stuff together when it comes to picking Charlotte up from school.  It is reason enough for me to stay at home - it is really difficult with the demands of work.  We were super late picking Char up at least 2 of the days (and I went to school two of the other days) and the teachers are not happy with Team Drake and our pick up situation.  Within this week we also transitioned Char to her international school which requires her to wear gym shorts and sneakers everyday.  We realized on the first day of school (Wednesday) that we don't have any sneakers that fit her anymore.  This whole school thing here in Macau... we are totally behind the curve.  Someone please help us get ahead of it.  As a side note, I realize how spoiled we were in Singapore - we could drop Charlotte off basically anytime before 9AM (even 7) and pick her up well after 1 (pick up time was noon).  Macau has not adopted this flexibility one iota.  Oh well.  Blacklist, here we come.

I also cannot seem to get this blog off on time - I think I am going to have to move to a weekend publishing date.  Sophia was born on a Sunday after all :).

Sophia is singing Twinkle Twinkle a lot these days - in Chinese and then her ABC's (a pretty good rendition I must say - she probably says 30% of the letters).  She sings or hums it all day long while she remembers to.

Janice and Jason came over last Saturday and we went to Singing Bean Cafe - our new favorite pizza joint at the "Long Tower House" as Charlotte calls Macau Tower.  I love their vegetarian pizza - they marinate the peppers and it is amazing.

Charlotte likes to wear necklaces and an old Mickey Mouse watch of mine.  She continues to be a hungry monkey and Matt and I were starving at the end of our dim sum lunch on Sunday. 

Yaya's birthday was on Thursday - so we took everyone to the Hard Rock Cafe.  The girls loved it!  There was a best bartender contest so there was a lot of loud music - the girls loved dancing on the banquettes.  Sophia showed us her trance like dancing - even busting out some Vogue moves!  I was unable to get them on video and unfortunately we have had a hard time trying to get her to do them again.  We need to play more '70's rock in the house apparently...

Char says she likes Hard Rock better than the pizza joint.  Maybe it is because she can show off her moves better there.

The world for Charlotte's height:

Blow dryer fun:

Who is this big girl?  

Chinese Celebrities at Madame Toussaud's - family pics:

Kye noses come in handy for spoon parlor tricks at Singing Bean:

Everyone is busy:

Auntie Janice and Char:

Cakes are yummy!

Bath time!

Charlotte wears her new school backpack to dim sum.  She filled it with Mrs. Potato Head's appendages:

Naturally Sophia got into the backpack routine:

Charlotte got angry that Sophia took her backpack without asking.  She is expressing her anger here:

The girls love the fountain at Sands Cotai Central:

Sophia likes these tennies from Zara:

First day of Pre-Kindergarten.  There are 3 years of kindergarten here!

Play is serious work:

Happy birthday Yaya!

Here we are trying to stretch Charlotte's uniform shorts:

And the videos:

I love this video of Charlotte dancing:

The girls at the SCC fountain - screamy and funny:

The girls lift weights with Mommy:

Char likes those auntie exercise machines in the park:

Dancing at Hard Rock for Yaya's birthday: