A good sleeper

We are feeling so blessed to have a good sleeper in the house.
In Nov, Megan did not want to sleep at night because she's still having lunch nap. Alright, we heard you and we were not forcing you to take the lunch nap. After that, we also transformed the cot into a bed. With the reward chart in place as well, she's a good sleeper since all the changes are made.

In mid Dec, she was trying to run to my room in the mid night to check on me on a couple of nights. This has disturbed my sleep so badly and I wanted to find a solution. I was reading the books again, and wanted to try controlled crying (again). But first of all, I need to get another safety gate to block her from running out in the mid night. That two weeks were tough indeed, but now we are enjoying the harvest. We are so surprised and blessed to witness all the changes!
Nowadays, when I came home, we will play in her bedroom for 30mins, and she understands that she has to sleep. She promised me not to leave the bed until we open the door at 6:50am. Even she's awake in the midnight she is not coming to our room to disturb us. We even waved bye to me in a happy mood and she's sleeping on her own after playing with her toys for a while quietly. So adorable! Xoxo!
Because Megan is so coppers, I could put her to bed very quickly last night and ah Lun and I were off to have our Wed date at 7:15pm. We had a great evening together which is much needed after the long holidays.

Family Selfie

We have always been trying to take a family photo with Kailan. But she's not a good listener always. Taking a pic with a kid and dog is the hardest thing on earth.
Ah Lun is using the lowest level of violence to "force" Kailan to look at the camera, so funny. Treats for dogs follow.

AIA Carnival (Dec 27)

That's Megan's first visit to carnival like this. She's excited when she entered the carnival.
We were impressed that there are so many rides suitable for young toddlers.
First of all, we tried the flying elephant, my favorite when I was young. She's not scared, so we are planning to do more. Secondly, we let her choose what rides to take next. She was very sure to take the racing car, and also the bus red bus. As I have said, she has a passion for any transportation. Such a boyish girl but we are loving it!!

BFF new year party (Jan 2)

We had a full attendance party today.
Connie's place is such a beautiful place after renovation. It's big enough to handle 11 families. How amazing!
We also had a birthday celebration with Max, he looked very happy and so as all the kids.
After the first meeting on Boxing Day, Megan was warmed up easily, and enjoyed herself a lot. She's playing with Karina in the tent most of the time. She's definitely showing her true character at this gathering. Again, she loves food and trying not to give her so much party food. She's a chubby happy kid now.
At the end of the party, we tried to get a photo of all kids according to their age. Obviously I am too ambitious. Asking them to sit still is already very good. May be we can photoshop coconut into the photo.

Happy New Year 2017 @ Lamma Island

We are starting the new year with hiking! Ah Lun was prepared to carry Megan so it's gonna be a tough trip.
First of all, Megan was so excited about the ferry ride.
We had so much food along the way. Lunch at a place called Lamma Grill was great and reasonably priced. After that, we had to go for the silky tofu dessert. After that, we spent a short time at the beach before heading home.
Poor Ah Lun, he was carrying a 14kg toddler and a 8-10kg backpack. Megan was sleeping on her way back to the pier.

大樹先生的家 (Dec 31)

I have been trying to call the restaurant, but I did not succeed in all my attempts. I decided that we should just walk in. As Megan is an early bird I am sure we can try the breakfast session.
Our plan did work. But we were not impressed by the service and food. Our bill was close to HKD500, but we were offered quite lousy food...so let's treat these as the playground entrance fee.
Talking about the playground, Megan loves the ball pool. It's such a paradise for kids. She's enjoying every moment in there.
In the kids' kitchen zone, it's as messy as a garbage area, looking so different from the photos from bloggers!! We did not visit the sand play area, let's do it next time.
Quite a good half day activity for Megan, and we are heading to playgroup after that. What's fun-filled family day!

Cafe Deadend (Dec 30)

Boss is so nice to offer another afternoon day off even though Friday is not 31/12. With the extra half day leave, Ah Lun is coming to pick me up with Megan. We decided to go to Cafe Deadend to wrap up our 2016.
One of my must-do things boxes ticked. That alley is such a great place to live, so stylish and quiet. My dream place.

November 2016 - School Bus

After Megan is getting used to the concept of going to school, we have to train her to take the school bus in mid Nov. In the month of Nov, I had taken so many no-pay half-day leaves to handle her transition.
As I will be having a business trip in the third week of Nov, I cannot take her to school anymore, so we really have to start the school bus schedule asap

This is the first day she came home on school bus. No crying. And we came with mouse her best friend to pick her up. She's having fun at school. Look at this happy smile.

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The tricky part of Nov is Ah Lun's busy too. But we are so lucky, once I had no more leaves, he managed to have some free time to look after Megan during this critical month. The most difficult month has already passed and we have grown up together as a team.

This month, we used a lot of positive behavior reinforcement too. Chop chop and stickers are like magic and these will help to control her in a certain way. E.g. I will give her a sticker before she's hopping on the school bus.

This picture is a great memory as she forgot that sticker has been accidentally put on her forehead.

In the playgroup, she just learned traffic lights. So the playgroup craft for that week was making a traffic light. It's matching our Halloween outfit - red bus. So we are putting the full outfit again. :)
This is a month about school bus and she's getting used to it gradually.

November 2016 - K1 Interviews

After starting school for two days, the school was closed for interviews. And Megan was also going to attend her first ever interview at St Cat on Nov 4.
She was in a perfect mood that day. Before we left home, she was reading on her own and we never asked her to do so.That's also the best interview experience for her. But unfortunately she's still on the waiting list.

Take a family snap after the interview at St Cat. She's a bit tired after that.

For the next few interviews, she did not do well at all as she was very sick for a long period of time. She's such a sensitive kid to new environment so whenever I took her to new school, she's not feeling secure.
The second interview at St Nicolas was a disaster because she was affected by two crying kids. Megan can go crying if her playgroup classmate is crying. So I knew this is finished!! So I left the school in the middle of the interview because there's no point forcing my girl to stay there.
Based on her brief experience of interview, she's not liking it. Compounded by her flu and coughing, her performance at other interviews was also bad. After all, we failed all interviews. It's a bit disappointing but we know she will enroll into a school which fits her more.
In the end, we enrolled her in Harts Pre-school. After I had a school tour, I immediately fall in love with this. The teachers are nice, teacher/student ratio is high (good for young baby like Megan), they emphasize arts and had fine art teacher visit every week, they promote reading and had a weekly reading scheme......oh did I say they have very good looking school uniform?
We finally experienced the interview system in HK. We know that teaching at home is far more important than what she learns at school. It's critical to keep an open mind and don't get influenced by other people.

November 2016 - First Day to School

I started to recall why I was so busy in Nov.
It's because Megan started school, attending interviews in all weekends, I was on business travel in the third week of Nov and Megan has been sick for a few weeks.
How did I survive in Nov, I really don't know.

She's so excited on her first day to school.


So was I!

Look at that smile while waiting for the gate to open. 

But since after this smile, she did not know I was not allowed to stay with her. She cried on her own in a brand new environment for one full hour.
I was so emotional after I walked out the classroom. My departure looked like a betrayal to her. But she has to learn overcoming this. I was crying hard when I met Ah Lun in the playground. I know he's sad too because he did not have a chance to witness this. Poor us!
A couple of parents were waiting with us. The school supervisor came out to update all parents in half an hour.
Times flies, new students were allowed to leave after one hour. Megan was still sobbing. We are learning to be new parents, so as Megan was learning how to be independent. The process is hard but we are going through these hurdles together.