Our Little Sunshine, Ivan

About 9 months ago, hubby and I were slightly worried about Ivan's speech and limited vocabulary. This changed 2 months after he started going to school. And now, he's talking too much.... From the minute he woke up, he has opinions and comments about everything and anything, like a chirpy little bird!

At the age of 3, Ivan is a happy-go-lucky, friendly, goofy, polite... most of the time, and unrelenting boy. He is happy most of the time, singing, breaking into some sort of crazy dance whenever he feels like it.


He says thank you when others give him something. He gives praises when he thinks that you're doing something good, even though he may be the one who "force" you to do it in the first place. Like today when we found a stick on the way home from school, and when I told him that we can't bring the stick home, he left the stick "standing" outside the main door, made me said bye to the stick (he refused to move unless I say bye, mind your manners mom!)and then told me,"Jättebra mamma, duktigt mamma." ("Very good mummy, clever mummy") *rolling my eyes*

We were also worried about his eating. He wasn't eating good and was underweight before he started school. Now, he's eating well. Though he is not putting on enough weight yet, but we're relieved that he has found his appetite. He favorite food are cucumber, iceberg salad, most kind of fruits, pancakes, muffins and egg tarts.


He LOVES Lego and can spend a long time making and building planes, bicycles, boats, etc.

He has also taken a liking to drawing and I must admit that at 3 years old, he's pretty good! A monster!

Some dude... (He said it's "en gubbe".)

This is his impression of Jovan! "Korkor (big brother in teochew) är stor!" He said. "Stick-man" Jovan is stretched almost across the paper! I guess to Ivan, Jovan must be a really big and reliable big brother.

Kids grow out of the toddler phase quite fast and Ivan is already growing into the next phase now. We hope that his charming personality will continue as he grows older. I mean, just look at this goofy face! I sure don't want him to lose that! ^.^

Polka Dotted Jovan

Last night, Jovan came to me, asking me to check his back. He said it was really itchy on his back and he thought he felt something. I was thinking to myself,"Oh no, don't tell my it's tick again!" On the other hand, isn't it kind of early for ticks to be making appearance now? He had 2 ticks attached to him last summer, while he and his friends were out in the forest playing. He came home then, asking me to check on the back of his neck, saying that he had a "bump". I looked and yeeewwww.... it was a tick! I had to fight my running instinct and disgust and pulled it out! Then I gave him a thorough check all over and found another one on his back! Yuck! It still makes my hair stands thinking about that!

Anyway, I checked his back last night and there were about 4 to 5 marks which looks kind of like insect bites. And since the only time when he's not wearing any clothes is when he's sleeping, I made him and Angel changed their bedsheets immediately. Half way through changing, I noticed that there were more dots on his face as well, and more on his arms, his stomach... and I saw one which was actually filled with water! Chicken pox!!!! Then I remembered that he had fever and was very tired about 2 days ago. I told him that he has chicken pox and will need to stay home for the next week or so. He was worried about scratching and leaving scars, we talked about that for awhile and Angel said,"And we have changed the bedsheets for nothing!" *sigh* Lazy girl...

Today, there are more dots popping out, even on his palms and in his hair!

And he is ITCHY all right! Just looking at him scratching makes me itchy all over!

Hopefully all 4 of them will get it this time round and be done with it. Maybe chaos in this household if that happens but well, then we know that we're done! Hubby told Jovan to hug Angel when she comes home later from school... and if she has got it as well, we know that we're in for a whinny and naggy time with lots of drama! :D

Birthday Boy!

Jovan...is 11 today! As usual, he woke up before us, so we had to "chase" him back into bed to serve him breakfast in bed! :D

This was what we prepared...

He started with some presents from Angel...

She spent 3 days making this puzzle for her big brother!

Present from his father, Eric. A watch which comes with notebook, compass and a tiny flashlight!

And a small one from mommy and daddy, the one thing that he always have on his Christmas/birthday list! ^.^

And once he was done with breakfast, the hunt for his big presents began!

After many clues and head scratching, they finally found the right place! Our storage area in the basement!

A Yamaha C45 guitar with a bag!

And a 24" Hawk bicycle in super cool black and orange! And of course, daddy took the opportunity to get the kids to put it together, good training for logical thinking and following instruction manual! Even Ivan helped to hold the wheel and passing the tools!

Jovan also wanted to go to the movie. So they picked the 3D "Gnomeo and Juliet". On the way to the carpark, they ran into farmor (grandma) who made a surprise visit! So farmor ended up following Jovan, Angel and daddy to the movie! Talk about perfect timing!

They picked up a cake after the movie and Jovan get to pick one. And this was what he picked - an almond cake with Daim chocolate topping! Yummy!

And Jovan wasn't allowed to blow the candle coz Ivan wanted to blew it instead...

The birthday dinner that he wished for was schnitzel with mash potatoes and salad, which mommy gladly prepared!

11 years flew by at the blink of an eye! I can still vividly remember holding him in my arms in the hospital and feeling excited, happy, scared and worrying if I could be the mother that he deserves.

He is growing up fast and is growing up to be a polite and responsible boy. I hope and wish that he'll continue to be the good person we want him to be, hmmm... hopefully the teenage phase will be an interesting one with no heartaches! :D

Fun-filled Saturday!

Yesterday, Jovan represented his school and participated in the Chess tournament on the division level. He was quite nervous before we got there but that feeling was quickly forgotten once he saw his other classmates.

There were a lot of other kids from different schools in Linköping participating. Unfortunately, Jovan's school was not among the top 3 who got selected to take part in the final, which will be held in Globen in Stockholm. However, like we always tell our kids, it's the process that is the fun part, to win is just a bonus, and I think Jovan had fun.

Jovan's birthday is today but it kind of started yesterday with farfar(grandpa)'s visit. After the tournament, farfar came, bringing the soon-to-be birthday boy his present! An iPod shuffle!

We had cofee (milk for kiddos!) and semlor and cake. Everybody got a present from farfar. Ivan got a tractor, Chris got 2 balls, Angel received a skinny hippo...

And even mommy and daddy got a bouquet of flowers!

After farfar left, we continued our fun-filled Saturday with the final of Melodifestivalen!

This year, our family favorite actually won! Go! Eric Saade! ^.^ (yeah, we're suckers for pop songs... *embarrass*)