Snow White lost her shoe...

Last night in bed, Lars starting talking about how the much better fairy tales is today, compared to the "old" ones.  He wasn't referring to the technical part but the plots. (Yeah, our conversation topics varies a lot...)

Then he said,"Like that one with the girl and the tin can (?) and the lion, I think "Kungfu Panda" is better than that one."

"You mean "The Wizard of Oz"? It was a tin man not a tin can.  And it was about them on an adventure looking for intelligence and courage.  How can it be better than "Kungfu Panda"?! Do you know anything about fairy tales at all?"  I asked.

"Of course! I know Snow White! She was the one who went to a party and lost her shoe right? Then she was trying the shoe on but it didn't fit."

This guy actually managed to leave me speechless...... because I was laughing so hard....

Monster Mom?

After coughing my lungs out for the past 1 month, my throat finally gave up.  I woke up yesterday sounding like The Hulk.... :(

Yesterday afternoon, I was watching "Little Einsteins" (it's a good programme for small kids, Ivan is starting to hum classical music! :D) with the tiny ones and was unconsciously singing along with them, or should I say croaking along.

Then came Ivan, smiling at me, looking all sweet and cute and asked me innocently,"Mamma, monster?"

Before I could react, he started imitating me and singing in his "monster" voice.... =.="

I haven't been feeling good for some time now and at that moment, I just want to jump in bed, wrap myself up and stay there till my voice is back! >.<"

What...?!

I know Jovan and Angel are more Swedes than Singaporean because.....

Example 1

Angel: "Why do they have "näsa" (nose in Swedish) on their caps?"

We were watching a documentary about the Space Shuttle Discovery, which is of course another amazing project from.... yeah, NASA!!!!

>.<"

Example 2

Jovan: "Mom, do we still have the paste to make that "lak-ah"?"

Mom: "What lak-ah?"

Angel: *trying her very best to not laugh out hysterically* "He's talking about laksa!"

 =.="

However, there is one of them who is starting to show off his Singaporean genes...

Mom: "Ivan,  你还要不要吃?" ("Do you want more?" I was feeding him dinner.)

Ivan: "不要 lah! ("Don't want lah!")

Oooops.....!

Coughing? Farting?

I was feeding Ivan his lunch earlier and suddenly Ivan turned to me and said," Mamma, Chris mun pruttar!" ("Mummy, Chris mouth is farting!")

Chris was coughing..... *laughing to death inside*

"Nej, rumpan pruttar. Munnen hostar." I corrected him. ("No, the bum farts. The mouth coughs)

"Nej.... Chris mun pruttar!"

Ok, maybe Chris' cough is sounding a bit nasty.... :D

"It's an eye pad!"

I was watching tv with Jovan and Angel last night and a commercial for sanitary pad came up. It showed women hanging upside down while sleeping like bats and a voice asked,"Are you too afraid of leakage while you sleep?"

Jovan asked:"I don't get this commercial."

Angel replied:"They're sleeping upside down because they don't want the sun to get into their eyes."

I was like,"What?!" in my head and was curious to see how Angel is viewing this commercial.

Jovan then asked again:"Then what about those things they're selling?"

Angel, while looking at me, answered:"They're eye pads, so they can cover their eyes when they sleep!"

I was laughing so hard, I thought my sides were gonna split! After I managed to finally calm myself down a little, I explained to both of them what those are and why they are needed for women.

I was still laughing after I explained to them.

And then Angel said,"Oh now I know. I always wonder why did you buy those eye pads but I have never seen you using them."

I cracked up again!!!!!

This girl... 这个家伙。。。

Hubby brought Jovan and Angel out shopping in the afternoon. Later hubby told me that as they were passing by Linköping Uuniversity. They saw a group of youngsters out playing games and having fun. Kiddos asked hubby what they were doing and hubby replied saying that when people go to the university, they like to organize parties after exams and before the new term starts, to take some time to relax.
下午时，老公带了Jovan 和 Angel 出外买东西。他们回来之后，老公跟我说当他们经过林雪平大学时看到了一群年青人在开心地玩游戏。孩子们问老公他们在做什么。老公说上大学时，有时候学生们会在考试后和在新学期开始前，举办一些派对让他们放松心情，开心一下。

Jovan: "Have you attended any parties like this?"
Jovan: "你参加过这样的派对吗?"

Hubby: "Well, actually I used to attend this university and yes, I attended some of these parties. They are quite fun."
老公: "其实我以前读的就是这所大学，也参加过这些派对。还蛮好玩的。"

There was a moment of silence...
一片肃静。。。


Angel: "This school must be very old..."
Angel: "这间学校一定是很旧了。"

Hubby: "..."
老公: "..."


Also, as Jovan was sitting on the passenger side and Angel was sitting behind him, Angel couldn’t hear him so well.
在车上时，Jovan 坐在乘客的座位，Angel 坐在他后面的座位。所以当 Jovan 说话时，Angel 听得不是很清楚。

Angel: "Jovan, are you sleeping?"
Angel: "Jovan， 你在睡觉吗?"

Jovan: "No, I’m not sleeping."
Jovan: "没有，我没睡。"

Angel: "Huh? What?"
Angel: "什么?"

Jovan: "No, I’m not sleeping."
Jovan: "没有，我没睡。"

Angel: "What did you say?"
Angel: "你说什么?"

Jovan: "No, I’m not sleeping."
Jovan: "没有，我没睡。"

Angel: "Oh, you’re not sleeping?"
Angel: "Oh, 你没睡啊?"


Hubby asked me, "The fact that Jovan is replying her, isn’t that enough?"
老公问我，" Jovan 都回答她了，还不够吗?"


Welcome to my world baby!
亲爱的，欢迎来到我的世界!

Jovan Learning A Chinese Rhyme - Jovan 学绕口令

After dinner, while doing dishes, I thought it'll be fun to teach Jovan and Angel a Chinese rhyme, which goes like this (it doesn't make any sense but more to practice on pronunciation):

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮(the one who eats grape doesn't spit out the skin)
不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮 (the one who doesn't eat grape, spit out the skin)

I know this rhyme is silly... Kiddos thought that it's funny and Jovan wanted to give it a go...

Jovan: "吃不到不肚不到屁..." (can't get to eat not tummy can't get fart)

I was laughing so hard that I can't correct him. Talk about silly rhyme! This is gibberish! I explained to him later (after I managed to catch my breathe) what he just said and it was his turn to laugh himself silly!

Well, it looks like we should just stick to simple words for now...

*******************************************************************************

吃了晚餐后，正在洗碗时，心血来潮想让Jovan 和 Angel 试一下绕口令。教了这两句家喻户晓的:

吃葡萄不吐葡萄皮
不吃葡萄倒吐葡萄皮

Jovan 和 Angel 觉得很好玩， 于是Jovan 决定试试。。。

Jovan: "吃不到不肚不到屁..."

天啊!我笑得差点断了气，没法当场矫正他。 当我呼吸恢复正常后，我笑着向他解释他刚说了什么。 这次轮到他笑得上气不接下气！

看来我们目前还是应该按步就班，继续练习我们的单字。。。

Expressive Ivan

At 2yrs and 4 months old, Ivan is still not speaking in whole sentences. Others may think that he is slow in talking but to us, he is a very expressive boy. Hubby speaks to him in Swedish and I speaks to him in Mandarin. Here are some of the vocabularies/words which he uses very often throughout the day to express what he wants and what he thinks:

Swedish:
• pappa – (it sounds quite similar to Chinese too) = usually refers to daddy but when he gets lazy everybody is “pappa”…
• nej – (pronounced as “n-eh”) = no
• ”åh nej” and putting his small hands on the side of either his face or head = oh no, something “dramatic” has happened, usually heard after he dropped the lego which he has built and it fell into many pieces.
• tack - (pronounced as “ta-k”) = thanks
• titta / kolla – look / check this out
• chips – (pronounced as “ship”) = chips
• “mmmm…. mum mum (“Ivan-ese”), gott (Swedish, means good)”, follow by a rub or tap on his belly – food is good…
• så här! = like this!
• oppa meh – (should be “öppna åt mig”, pronounced as “erp-na” “ought” “may”, means open for me) can means anything which requires opening or take off of something, from opening any lids/ taking apart lego bits/ taking off his socks/ taking off his clothes…
• hej hej – (pronounced as hey hey) = hello hello or bye bye
• ta tu – (suppose to be Swedish “hej då”, pronounced as “hey dough”) = good bye
• mjölk mjölk (pronounced quite similarly as milk but with a soft “jue” after “m”) = milk milk, means anything that is drinkable.
• ah- good - (suppose to be “varsågod”, pronouced as “Va-shu-good”) = you’re welcome/ here you go
• en, två, fyra, åtta, tio (pronounced as “en” “t-voh” “fee-ra” “ottah (like the one we eat wih nasi lemak in Singapore – yum!) “tee-yo”) = 1,2 4,8,10… Ivan counting from 1 to 10 using short cut.
• kom (pronounced as “com”) = come
• så, så... = like this, like this…

Mandarin:
• 躺躺 (pronounced as “t-ang (as in Angola) t-ang ”) = lay down
• 抱抱 (pronounced as “baw” “baw”) = his smelly little pillow
• 没有 (pronounced as “may you”) = don’t have
• 举手(pronounced as “g - show”) = raise your hand and he usually expects to be tickled!
• 臭臭 (pronounced as “chi-oh chi-oh”) = smelly, refers usually to his diaper after he has pooped…
• 刷 (pronounced as “sh-wah”) = brush, refers usually to his teeth.
• 美美 (pronounced as “may may”) = pretty
• 下来 (pronounced as “see-ah” “la-I (as in the alphabet I)”) = come down

English:
• ma-mee/ah-bi (with pacifier in his mouth) = mummy
• sit (it’s pronounced the same both in Swedish and English and shares the same meaning)
• ha-oh = hello . Usually accompanied by a hand gesture that looks like he’s holding the phone to his ear followed by a blast of gibberish….”ah bu ku ba ka ba ka? pappa ba ka ba ka! hahahaha!” sounds like he’s gossiping with his friend about daddy…*shake head*
• hug = usually means he wants to hug or wants to be carried.

International Language:
• blaehhh yuck! = horrible!, can be used to describe food he doesn’t like, fish or mash potatoes, or anything dirty, socks, food stains on his clothes, “stuff” that he “found” from the inside of his nostrils…
• oh oh… = usually heard after he did something wrong (intentionally or unintentionally) and he knows I will be angry, like dropping a mug full of chocolate milk.
• ok (almost International language)

“Ivan-ese” (Ivan’s own language):
• Ang-ger = Angel
• ah-en = Jovan
• kisssssss = Chris
• ji ji = pacifier
• mum mum = food of any kind from fruits, bread, cookies, candies, etc…
• pang gu = Ping Gu the penguin
• wow wee = Rorri the racing car
• boom boom = means wheels or anything with wheels, cars, trains, bicycles…He always gets excited by boom boom!

Gestures:
• “siiiiiiiii….” followed by putting 1 finger on his lips = quiet
• “tsk! arghhhh…!” followed by placing his small fists on both side of his waist = frustration. Usually heard after he has being trying to get daddy’s attention for sometime but is still ignored…
• “hm, em!” followed by placing one of his fist somewhere near his mouth = trying to get someone’s attention, usually daddy’s.
• “Argghhh!” = frustration, usually heard after he has been trying something for sometime and it just won’t go his way, like putting on a tricky lego bit, getting the mattress to lean against the table…
• “hmmm…” followed by holding 1 finger on his chin and frowning a little = he’s thinking…
• “hu-ee!” followed by sweeping the top or the side of his head with his hand in a one-direction movement = Phew! I finally did it. Usually heard after he managed to do something which is tricky for him, like successfully putting on the lego bit after trying for the past 5 mins.
• “ta-da!” following by 1 open palm facing upward in the direction of whatever that he’s presenting, like stacking his wooden blocks really really high…

Ivan usually will combine these words and gestures together to communicate his intention. Typical conversation with him will be like this:

If daddy is working late and still not home by the time he’s tired and ready to go to bed:
Ivan (with his sad puppy look): “Pappa, 没有.” (Daddy don’t have)
Mommy: “你先睡，爸爸做工。” (You can go to bed, daddy is working.)

If he wants us to put Chris down and go with him to the kitchen to fetch something:Ivan: “Kissss, sit sit.”
Mommy/Daddy: “Should I put Chris down to sit?”

Ivan: “Mm hmm.” (Nodding his head.)

(We put Chris down to sit in the car seat.)

Ivan: “Kom” (holding onto one of our fingers)

Mommy/Daddy: “Should I follow you?/ Should I come?”

Ivan: “Mm hmm.” (Nodding his head.)

When he’s in the mood to crack a joke with us:Ivan: “Mamma/pappa, ah ba ka ba ka, gilli ba ka ba ka! hahahahaha!” (he laughs loudly)

Mommy/Daddy: “Yeah, that’s so funny!/Is that so?” (We laugh with him)

We are not stress out that he isn't talking properly yet, the nurses here are concerned that he'll get confused when he's being exposed to two languages, however back home in Singapore, all kids started with 2 languages since young, so to me this is perfectly normal. We believe that when he's ready, he'll start talking and once he starts, there's no stopping him!

Hubby's Mandarin Lesson 老公学华语

Last night at the dining table, Jovan and Angel was inspired suddenly to teach hubby some new chinese words. I was at the sink with my back facing them, doing my dishes and I overheard this conversation...

Jovan: (I think he was showing daddy something) "Niu."

Daddy: "New?"

Jovan: "Not 'New', it's 'Niu'. It means 'Cow'."

Daddy: "New Cow??"

Then, Angel decided to jump in and confuse daddy even more...

Angel: "Ma. It means 'Horse'."

Daddy: "Ma..."

Angel: "'Ma Ma' means 'Grandma'" ("Ma Ma" is actually in our dialect, Teochew for grandma, Angel gets confused sometimes between dialect and Mandarin.)

Daddy: "Två häster blir en farmor?????" ("2 horses become 1 grandma?????")

**********************************************************************************

昨晚 Jovan 和 Angel 坐在饭桌旁，忽然心血来潮想教老爸几个新的华文字。 我站
在水槽旁，背向他们在洗碗碟。以下是我听到的对话。。。

Jovan: (他好像给老爸看什么东西) "Niu."

老爸: "New?" (“新?”)

Jovan: "Not 'New', it's 'Niu'. It means 'Cow'." ("不是‘New’，是‘Niu’，
意思是‘牛’“)

老爸: "New Cow??" ("新牛??")

在这时候， Angel 也加入，把老爸搞得更糊涂了。。。

Angel: "Ma. It means 'Horse'." (‘Ma’。意思是‘马’。)

老爸: "马。。。"

Angel: "'Ma Ma' means 'Grandma'" (“‘Ma Ma’意思是‘嬷嬷’。)(Angel 有时候分不清潮洲话和华语。)

老爸: "Två häster blir en farmor?????" ("两只马变一个嬷嬷?????")

Daddy Knows...

Last night, Jovan and Angel had one of their usual small fight and Angel was crying (one of those pretend ones which is actually asking for sympathy or attention). Hubby sent them both to bed and was talking to them a little to ease the "tension" a little.

Hubby:"You know, daddy can tell when you and Angel are pretending to cry. And I know when you are truly sad too."

Jovan and Angel:"You DO?!" (sounding amazed)

Hubby:"Yup. And I also know when Ivan is pretending and when he is really sad."

Angel:"What about mummy? Do you know when she's pretending to cry?"

Hubby:"Huh? Mummy never pretend to cry." (clueless where she got that from...)

Angel:"Yes, she does. When she's cutting onions."

.......

Kiddos' Night Talk

Jovan, being the big brother, has told Angel that whenever she wakes up from a nightmare and feels scared, she can wake him up and he can talk to her a little. I know, that is so sweet of Jovan and he himself wakes up from nightmares crying and will always look for mommy or daddy. However, it is very good that he shows that he's willing to be there for his little sister. So last night, Angel woke up in the middle of her sleep (and she didn't get a nightmare). This was the conversation they had:

Angel: "Jovan..."

Jovan: "Hmm... did you have a nightmare?"

Angel: "Hmm..."

Jovan: "Do you want to come up and lie with me for awhile?" (Jovan sleeps on top of a double-decked bed)

Angel: "No..."

Jovan: "Do you want to read a little?"

Angel: "No..."

Jovan: "Do you need to go toilet?"

Angel: "No..."

Then there was some rustling and Jovan found out that Angel has went out of the room. 3 minutes later, she re-opened the door of their bedroom. Jovan sat up and looked at her. She stood at the doorway, looking back.

Angel: "What?"

Jovan: "Did you go to the toilet?"

Angel: "Yeah."

Jovan: "Didn't I just asked you if you need to go? Then you said you didn't need to. Then now, you went. So why did you say no when you actually did need to go?" *nagging nagging*

Angel: (already in her bed and getting comfy) "....hmmm....."

Jovan: "Angel...Good night..."

Angel: "Good night..."

"What did he say?!"

Angel came home yesterday and told me that one of her classmate, John A (they have 2 Johns in the class, so they added the first alphabet of their last names to differentiate) asked her if he has got a chance with her (this seems to be the trend among kids here... Jovan got asked by his classmate, Amanda, last year as well), i.e. can he be her boyfriend.

Mommy: "What?! You go tell him that he is only allowed to ask this question when he starts working and starts earning his own money! So what did you say?"

Angel: (Laughing uncontrollably)"I just laugh!"

Mommy: "And what did he do?"

Angel: (Still laughing) "He found a cardboard box and pretended that it was our wedding car!"

Mommy: "What?!" (starting to have a bad feeling about this John A character...)

Angel: "I was laughing and then he went to ask my friend Sanica the same question!"

Mommy: "So he was just going around asking every girl the same question?"

Angel: "I don't know." (She think this whole thing is just super funny.)

Hubby came home late, and I told him about this.

Hubby: "What did he say?! Is he from the same class? They are not allowed to play with each other anymore and this boy is not allowed to go near Angel!"

Looks like daddy has started his "Elimination" with boys who get too close to his little princess....

Heavy Metal Singer

We were having dinner last night and hubby started telling about one singer which he used to like.

Hubby: "I used to like E-Type. You know him?"

Me: "The skinny guy with the long, curly hair?"

Hubby: "Yeah, he used to be a heavy metal singer and recently he tried to use heavy metal music to convert them into techno. Really cool."

Me: "Hm...." (No talking with food in mouth)

Hubby: "And he has got long hair because he used to be into heavy metal."

Angel: "So is he heavy?"

Baby Talk With Hubby

Hubby and I usually will have a small chat while lying in bed, before we fall asleep. Recently, the baby in my tummy is very active when I'm lying in bed, waiting to fall asleep. He'll be kicking, stretching and performing I-don't-know-what-probably-yoga movements in my tummy which makes it really tricky for me to sleep. Sometimes I'll wake up in the middle of the night from his violent kicking! (Football player in the making?)

The other night, I told hubby about these kicking and that maybe that's why I have problem sleeping well at night.

Hubby: "Maybe you can put a pillow under your tummy? Will it be better?"

Me: "No, he'll still kick anyway."

Hubby: "Try covering your tummy with the blanket properly."

Me: "Why?"

Hubby: (in his usual matter-of-fact tone) "Then it'll be really dark inside and he'll know that it's time to sleep."

Baby Talks

As we were waiting in the car for hubby, parking wardens and the old neighbour to resolve the parking issue. Kiddos and I were chatting away as usual.

Jovan: Mommy, can you swim when you're pregnant?

Mommy: Of course. It is actually good for pregnant ladies to swim because our bodies are lighter in water, so our legs can get to relax.

Jovan: But won't the baby drown?

Mommy: No, the baby is already swimming around in my tummy. So he is already a good swimmer! (Starting to wonder where this conversation will take us...)

Jovan: But what if the water got in from your belly button? (sounding worried) Then there will be too much water in your tummy!

Angel: (In her usual happy tone) Then maybe the baby will POOF squeezed out from mommy's belly button!

Jovan: (Covering both his ears) Don't say like that! I don't want to hear!

Mommy: "..............."

"I love you mummy and daddy!"

Tonight I made chicken rice which is Jovan and Angel's favorite. Especially Angel who is just crazily in love with rice, she can have just plain white rice and be happy.

When it was time for kiddos to go to bed, we were going through our usual night "ritual" - we hug and say good night to the kiddos (including Ivan)and Angel will usually tell Lars and I that she loves us very much and ask us to check on her later before we go to bed.

Today, after we hugged and said our good nights, Angel told me,"Mummy, I love you and daddy very much." "I know and we love you very very much too."

"But mummy, I love you two more than I love rice."

Bedtime Talk

Overheard this earlier in kiddos' bedroom...

Jovan:"Angel?" "Angel?"

Angel: "......"

Jovan: "Angel?" "Angel, wake up."

Angel: "..... Huh?"

Jovan: "Turn off your lamp." (kiddos read before they sleep.)

Angel: "...but you can still close your eyes and sleep...."

Jovan: "Just lift up your hand to turn off your lamp."

Angel: "....ahjsdjfkwefjlwkfwawe...." (she was complaining inaudibily.)

Jovan: "What is so difficult about turning it off? Just turn it off."

Angel turned off her lamp.

Jovan: "See that's not so difficult right? You just need to turn it off."

Angel: "....hmm..."

Jovan: "Just lift up your hand over your head and turn it off. Why can't you just do it when I asked you to? You have to make me say it so many times. You're always like this."

Angel: "......"

Jovan: "Angel?"

Angel: "Huh?"

Jovan: "Good night."

Angel: "Good night."

Jovan picked up my bad habit.... he nags.

Sleepy Prince

It is very often that Jovan wakes up suddenly and starts crying or talking (most of the time both) after he goes to bed. We have been trying very hard to really figure out why he does that but to no avail. Nowadays we spend more time trying different ways to get him to wake up from his dreamy state - I won't say that it works all the time, there are good and bad days.

The strange thing is that whenever we're sleeping over somewhere else or they have a sleepover at grandma's place, he doesn't wake up at all! That start us thinking that maybe it has to do with their room, so we re-arranged, getting them to talk about if there is anything they don't like about the room and make it really cosy for them - it doesn't work.

Last night, he was up again for one of his many "night adventures". He woke up, turned on the light in his room (while Angel is fast asleep), walked out to the hallway and started crying like it's the end of the world. I was holding Ivan who has just fallen asleep and I really didn't want him to wake up! I told Jovan in what I hoped to be a calm voice to turn off the light and go back to bed. He didn't react at all... Somehow he will cry harder when he hears my voice but he'll stop quite fast when Lars is talking to him. I guess I need to command more respect, I'm too much a softie, especially when it comes to kiddos.

At this time, Lars came out from the room, walked up to Jovan and told him to go and pee. Jovan went, peed and came out from the toilet.

"Jovan, you cannot turn on the light because Angel is sleeping, okay?"

"Ok."

"Everything is ok now. Turn off the light in your room and go to bed."

"Ok."

Jovan turned off the light in their room, closed the door and looked at daddy.

Daddy looked down at Jovan, still using the calm and patient voice.

"Okay...you need to be on the other side of the door before you close it."

Jovan gave daddy a small smile, "Ok".

Pappa pappa...

Ivan has recently discovered the slot on the door for the postman to slot in all our mails. A few weeks ago, he was lifting up the flap, position his little face beneath the flap (so he can see through the opening) and shouting,"mamma, mamma, mamma" It must be really loud in the stairway, especially since it echoed... My neighbours must all be thinking that the poor baby is being left all alone at home, but the truth is I was indoor with him! After several times of dragging him away from the door, I thought I seemed to have re channeled his focus somewhere else. The stairway was quiet for a few days...

Several days later, he was playing near the door when the postman dropped in our mails. The mails landed on top of him but he didn't jumped or got scared. Instead he picked up the mails and pushed them out of the slot! The postman (well, it was a lady that day) was still outside, probably slotting mails into our neighbour's letter hole, picked up the mail, looked through the slot at him and smiled,"Don't you want your mail today?" and push it back to him. Ivan smiled at her and happily brought the mail to me. I didn't even dare to apologise to the postlady, so embarrassing!

This week, he started lifting up the flap but this time he was shouting for pappa... Now my neighbours are probably gonna call the police for suspected child abuse... *sigh*

Angel's song

I have been singing quite a few children's songs to Ivan and I was singing "Popeye the sailor man" to him the other day.

For those who're not sure how it goes:

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man,
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
I'm strong to the finich Cause I eats me spinach.
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man."

A few days later, I overhead Angel singing:

"Papaya saves the world, papaya saves the world" with the tune of "Popeye the sailor man". Pleasantly surprised with the creativity of my daughter, I asked,"Have you changed the lyrics?"

Angel: "That's how you sang the other day to Ivan."