So I have a funny story about Maggie... she asks alot of questions about who made this and that in this world. She confirms with me that God made trees, birds, animals, grass etc. She had thought that God made the plastic, glass and ceramic objects around the house too, but I told her those were made by robots in factories. And then the question about houses, well according to Maggie, Bob the Builder built our house (and yours too).
Maggie is very interested in skulls and skeletons, as see on the cover of a spring 2010 National Geographic magazine. She was explaining to AJ that she has a skeleton in her body. She said that Mommy has a bigger skeleton and Maggie has a baby one. She also told me that "God made skeletons because God made me."
She also started to draw people with faces (two eyes, a nose and a straight line for a mouth) with two arms and legs, or hair. She's been doodling on a Magna Doodle, otherwise I would love to keep all of these drawings. She draws the sun alot, and she was trying to draw the turtle toy and Buzz Lighyear. I drew Buzz and she added the details.
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Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Sounds of the Night
Last week, we were reading a book from the Baby Einstein series, The ABC's of Art. There are a series of famous paintings of certain objects that would correspond to subjects beginning with the letters A to M in this book. Also included are a few thought provoking questions. We got to the page about E for Elephants. They were splashing in the water at sunset. One of the questions was, what time of day is this, and what sounds would you hear? Maggie responded with the na-na-na song, that is na-na-na to the tune of Brahm's Lullaby, their favorite lullaby for naptime/ goodnight time. So cute!
Also wanted to record some of AJ's words that start or contain L.
Mommy, can I sit on your wap? (lap)
I wuv you (love)
I yike you (like)
My hair is bwrown.
Maggie's hair is bwack.
Also wanted to record some of AJ's words that start or contain L.
Mommy, can I sit on your wap? (lap)
I wuv you (love)
I yike you (like)
My hair is bwrown.
Maggie's hair is bwack.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Dreams
I know that Maggie and AJ dream cuz I've seen them giggle in their sleep. Even when Maggie was 4 months old and she was sleeping on her tummy, I saw her giggle and laugh like she was watersliding, with her eyes closed in the crib. At the waking hours of dawn, I've seen AJ clap his hands and let out a really cute chuckle or two.
This morning Brian asked Maggie what she dreamed about, and she said "In my dreams, I can wish for puppies and lots of birds." Very interesting!
In my recent dreams, I dreamt of trying to photograph some Snowbirds passing overhead with my cell phone camera. So elusive.
This morning Brian asked Maggie what she dreamed about, and she said "In my dreams, I can wish for puppies and lots of birds." Very interesting!
In my recent dreams, I dreamt of trying to photograph some Snowbirds passing overhead with my cell phone camera. So elusive.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Mother's Day Poem
Here is another poem that came with a Mother's Day gift.
My mommy cuddles me
kisses me, hugs me and misses me
pampers me, praises me, always amazes me.
Washes my clothes for me,
tickles my toes for me,
giggles and talks with me,
and also goes on walks with me,
Says "sweet dreams" to me,
Sings sweet songs to me,
I am glad she belongs to me.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
My mommy cuddles me
kisses me, hugs me and misses me
pampers me, praises me, always amazes me.
Washes my clothes for me,
tickles my toes for me,
giggles and talks with me,
and also goes on walks with me,
Says "sweet dreams" to me,
Sings sweet songs to me,
I am glad she belongs to me.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Mulan, AJ's favorite "hero"
My kids love to watch Mulan (Disney adaptation) for our Friday/ Saturday "movie night" in nine minute segments on youtube. It's great because we can watch the movie from any point of entry, or go to a specific music sequence and watch only clips of the movie to finish early. However, apparently they watch this during the daytime too with their nanny, by special request. I guess that's ok too.
Summary: Girl pretends to be a boy and joins the Chinese army to fight the Huns in order to save her aging father from mandatory conscription. Of course Disney adds various embellishments and catchy musical tunes, but there are underlying themes of free choice in marriage, girl power, comraderie, friendship, true honor, national pride, clever strategies, stuff blowing up, and even a bit of romantic possibility between Mulan and Captain Shang after her true identity is revealed and he is no longer her commanding officer.
We also have all the disney princess stories in a pink Storybook Treasury in short story format. Of all the princess stories, Mulan is the only story that AJ will sit straight through and listen to without being distracted. He always wants to "watch Mu-lan?" (in a very cute and earnest voice) but fortunately if I offer to "read Mulan?" when it's not movie night, he's just as happy. She's definitely his hero (for now). Maggie and AJ also love to sing the various themes such as "A girl worth fighting for..." and "I'll make a man out of you.... MYSTERIOUS as the dark side of the moon..." and they'll grab a broomstick, hockey stick, or long tube and pretend to fight and sing "Hut hut hut hut.... unafraid..." from Mulan 2. (maybe not so good). Or Maggie will go into a long lyrical diva-like sequence... "Who is that girl I see? Staring back right at me. When will my reflection show, who I am inside..."
But I love this story on many levels. It helped to explain a very complex situation such as "war" to Maggie. As far as she knows, war is about fighting the bad guyz and "kicking butt" in her words. During Brian's long deployment to Afghanistan, Maggie was always aware that he was in "KandaHAR". I was able to explain that there was a war there. Why? To fight bad guyz and kick butt. Fortunately that was a good enough answer at the time.
What did Daddy do in Afghanistan?
The effects of separation are still evident because she knows that Brian goes to work during the daytime, but if he leaves for soccer or shopping after dinner without really explaining where he's going, she used to think that he was leaving for Kandahar. In the past few days, he's been in Petawawa for a military excercise. The kids get a kick out of saying "PETa wawawa!"
This morning she asked me, "Why he's in Petawawa not Kandahar? (sic)" I answered that there was an excercise there, for training. "Why?" It's a pretend-war. She also noticed that his ranger blanket was missing. This is a camo print army blanket that has been everywhere around the world with him. Funny that she noticed that was missing. All I could really say was that he took his "blankie" with him to PETa wawa! I added, haha. Great, now they always say "haha!" for each cynical situation too.
The wierdest question she asked him was, "Daddy would you die for honor?" (That's a quote from the movie) Now that's deep, how can you explain about that to a child? And the best question she's asked me is, "Where's her mommy?" Actually if you notice in all or most of the disney stories - Cinderella, Ariel, Nemo, Jasmine etc.... the mom is noticably absent (or MIA for various reasons). Well sometimes I just give a simple answer like, mommy's at work.
Anywayz I thought of this today because Mulan is always on AJ's mind. We were reading a story about "The Princess Knight" and there's a princess who grew up training to be a knight with her brothers. So in all the illustrations of her dressed in armor, fighting with a sword or riding a horse, AJ kept saying "ITs Mulan." So cute.
Summary: Girl pretends to be a boy and joins the Chinese army to fight the Huns in order to save her aging father from mandatory conscription. Of course Disney adds various embellishments and catchy musical tunes, but there are underlying themes of free choice in marriage, girl power, comraderie, friendship, true honor, national pride, clever strategies, stuff blowing up, and even a bit of romantic possibility between Mulan and Captain Shang after her true identity is revealed and he is no longer her commanding officer.
We also have all the disney princess stories in a pink Storybook Treasury in short story format. Of all the princess stories, Mulan is the only story that AJ will sit straight through and listen to without being distracted. He always wants to "watch Mu-lan?" (in a very cute and earnest voice) but fortunately if I offer to "read Mulan?" when it's not movie night, he's just as happy. She's definitely his hero (for now). Maggie and AJ also love to sing the various themes such as "A girl worth fighting for..." and "I'll make a man out of you.... MYSTERIOUS as the dark side of the moon..." and they'll grab a broomstick, hockey stick, or long tube and pretend to fight and sing "Hut hut hut hut.... unafraid..." from Mulan 2. (maybe not so good). Or Maggie will go into a long lyrical diva-like sequence... "Who is that girl I see? Staring back right at me. When will my reflection show, who I am inside..."
But I love this story on many levels. It helped to explain a very complex situation such as "war" to Maggie. As far as she knows, war is about fighting the bad guyz and "kicking butt" in her words. During Brian's long deployment to Afghanistan, Maggie was always aware that he was in "KandaHAR". I was able to explain that there was a war there. Why? To fight bad guyz and kick butt. Fortunately that was a good enough answer at the time.
What did Daddy do in Afghanistan?
The effects of separation are still evident because she knows that Brian goes to work during the daytime, but if he leaves for soccer or shopping after dinner without really explaining where he's going, she used to think that he was leaving for Kandahar. In the past few days, he's been in Petawawa for a military excercise. The kids get a kick out of saying "PETa wawawa!"
This morning she asked me, "Why he's in Petawawa not Kandahar? (sic)" I answered that there was an excercise there, for training. "Why?" It's a pretend-war. She also noticed that his ranger blanket was missing. This is a camo print army blanket that has been everywhere around the world with him. Funny that she noticed that was missing. All I could really say was that he took his "blankie" with him to PETa wawa! I added, haha. Great, now they always say "haha!" for each cynical situation too.
The wierdest question she asked him was, "Daddy would you die for honor?" (That's a quote from the movie) Now that's deep, how can you explain about that to a child? And the best question she's asked me is, "Where's her mommy?" Actually if you notice in all or most of the disney stories - Cinderella, Ariel, Nemo, Jasmine etc.... the mom is noticably absent (or MIA for various reasons). Well sometimes I just give a simple answer like, mommy's at work.
Anywayz I thought of this today because Mulan is always on AJ's mind. We were reading a story about "The Princess Knight" and there's a princess who grew up training to be a knight with her brothers. So in all the illustrations of her dressed in armor, fighting with a sword or riding a horse, AJ kept saying "ITs Mulan." So cute.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Where's the sun's bed?
Earlier this evening, from their bedroom window there was an amazing view of the sunset. Maggie and AJ were fascinated by the dark clouds in the sky today at sunset, with the sun illuminating the clouds from the bottom with a firey glow. She was saying "the dark clouds are not big and scary" and AJ "ooooooh" wow! She kept asking me why the clouds were black so I explained it was a sillouette, not a shadow. AJ loves that new word "Se loo ent" He repeats every new word these days.
I told her the sun was shining from below like a fire. She must've remembered something about the "fire cloud" we had seen one wintry morning and she said, it's a sunrise! So I had to correct this reverse phenomenon. I took the opportunity to explain the difference between a sunrise and a sunset. In the best Chinese I could muster, I explained about the sun rising up from the window in my room in the east, and how it walks across the sky all day and falls asleep in the sky down there as seen from Maggie's window, west. She asked many times, where is the sun's bed and she searched everywhere. At last I had to explain that it was behind the fire station, behind the gas station, behind the school, behind the trees and way way far below the sky line.
And then another question, where's the sun's mommy? daddy? She seemed disappointed that I said he had none. What about his brother? So I thought it would be partly true to say yes, in another galaxy. Where's that? In another sky. And thank goodness that was a good enough answer for that.
I told her the sun was shining from below like a fire. She must've remembered something about the "fire cloud" we had seen one wintry morning and she said, it's a sunrise! So I had to correct this reverse phenomenon. I took the opportunity to explain the difference between a sunrise and a sunset. In the best Chinese I could muster, I explained about the sun rising up from the window in my room in the east, and how it walks across the sky all day and falls asleep in the sky down there as seen from Maggie's window, west. She asked many times, where is the sun's bed and she searched everywhere. At last I had to explain that it was behind the fire station, behind the gas station, behind the school, behind the trees and way way far below the sky line.
And then another question, where's the sun's mommy? daddy? She seemed disappointed that I said he had none. What about his brother? So I thought it would be partly true to say yes, in another galaxy. Where's that? In another sky. And thank goodness that was a good enough answer for that.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
A Poem from an Awesome Mom
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Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Maggie is in Business
Maggie has recently realized the value of money. She's managed to find afew pennies from around the house and we brought them on our shopping trip to Metro. I made a point to pay for the $1.03 tomatoes in cash so Maggie would have a chance to use them. them She gladly gave the cashier the pennies and got the tomatoes in return. (i.e. Money can buy things!!)
Afterwards, Maggie asked Bing for pennies but she told her to ask mommy. When I got home from work I told Maggie that she needs a job and to go to work to get money. So Maggie asks "Can I have a job?" So I asked Maggie to set the table for dinner, and afterwards gather the dirty dishes etc. After that she asks, "Can I have more jobs?" So she got to sweep the floor and set the table for dessert, earning four pennies in total!
Next I want to teach her about giving money to Jesus. I did ask her if she will give a penny to Jesus for offering and she said yes! Hope that's ok for the offering counters.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Remembering Yeh Yeh
Thank you all for joining us in the Celebration of the Life of our
dear Grandfather Paul Ng. My name is Deborah, the eldest grandchild
in the "NG - Next Generation" as he called us. And we called him Yeh Yeh.
The Loving Grandfather
I know that he loved each one of us very much because he frequently
talked about each of us to the other grandchildren.
I have to say they did a tremendous job to keep the Ng Cousins close together, despite having
spent most of our childhood on separate continents.
Each of us have special memories of Yeh Yeh. Years ago:
Faith told yeh yeh she loved him very much and she would cut her hair and give some to him because she had extra and he had none.
Jonathan once told yeh yeh he loved him very much and that's why he put a Hot Wheels car into the VCR to keep it safe in the garage. Yeh yeh reminded Jon about this many times a year, and didn’t seem to mind that actually broke the VCR!
Solomon remembers Yeh yeh picking him up from preschool and
bring him to 25cent car rides at the mall before heading home.
Joshua and Andrew spent many afternoons with Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah riding
the Star Ferry across to Tsim Sha Tsiu and looking at toys at Toys R Us.
In the more recent years, Simeon who lived in Sandstone close to yeh yeh mah mah, spent hours chatting about guy stuff with Yeh Yeh.
Enoch considers Yeh Yeh to be an excellent driver, braving snow and rain and never missing church and prayer meetings.
Elijah remembers yeh yeh building the toddler bed for him and showing him how to use tools like a real man.
Kim remembers yeh yeh always walking hand in hand with mah mah's like a forever young couple madly in love. He used to wave bye at us from the front and side windows of his house after every visit as our car pulled away slowly.
Lydia remembers his witty humour.
Andrew remembers
Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."
God's love and Christian heritage was evident in Yeh Yeh's life and this influenced us deeply in many ways.
He Loved God
Yeh Yeh was a very loving family man. God was definitely number one,
but family was number close. With God's Love, his greatest hope
was that every one of his children and grandchildren would love one another.
He put priority on showing up for many milestones of our lives. He would always make time to come with us on long 12 hour family road trips even to see Solomon's graduation from military basic training in Manitoba, and all of our high school and university graduations.
He attended our weddings. <- Brian and I in 2003, Solomon and Janet in 2008, Jonathan and Alicia in 2008, and Enoch and Sarah in 2009. He got to see his great-grandchildren Maggie and AJ Tang from Ottawa, and he got to see the precious photos of his newest great-granddaughter, Leah from Winnipeg. I'm happy to see Faith come all the way back from med-school in Australia to be with us. We miss Andrew and Joshua, but I am sure they were glad to be here in December for a visit with Yeh Yeh.>
All these blessings he knew that the came from God. Whenever we would
say Thank you Yeh Yeh for something... he would always point upstairs
and say 'Do Jeh Teen Fu" (thanks to God).
The Loving Husband
We could always tell much Yeh Yeh loves Mah mah. From the early
beginnings of photography back in early 1940s he took hundreds of
pictures of Mah Mah. Treated her like a super-star. Mah Mah is
beautiful and Yeh Yeh captured it all on film. He showed us that
capturing memories on film was a wonderful way of holding the things
dear to him as a constant reminder. As Enoch puts it, we are a
generation of Canon users! Over 65 years of marriage, Yeh Yeh Mah
Mah's love for one another is an example of God's love for us. Showing
us by example to always love. It is great to see grandparents holding
hands and kissing... what a great example of true love.
And so I know Yeh Yeh really likes his fairytales too. His all time
favorite movie ever made was Walt Disney, Snow White.
He taught me to appreciate WWII classic movies and inspired my interest in WWII history. I think his favorite war
movie is the Longest Day. He was so pleased when he received a copy of the digitally remastered 60 anniversary edition of the Longest Day when it came out with added full colour. You see, he's lived so long that movies back then were still in black and white.
He fought a very strong battle since the initial emergency that
brought him to the ICU in October. Many times he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but he told us that God was with him. His last words were to remind everyone to Love one another.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."-John 14:2. And
we have peace because we know that Yeh Yeh is with the Heavenly Father
now.
dear Grandfather Paul Ng. My name is Deborah, the eldest grandchild
in the "NG - Next Generation" as he called us. And we called him Yeh Yeh.
The Loving Grandfather
I know that he loved each one of us very much because he frequently
talked about each of us to the other grandchildren.
I have to say they did a tremendous job to keep the Ng Cousins close together, despite having
spent most of our childhood on separate continents.
Each of us have special memories of Yeh Yeh. Years ago:
Faith told yeh yeh she loved him very much and she would cut her hair and give some to him because she had extra and he had none.
Jonathan once told yeh yeh he loved him very much and that's why he put a Hot Wheels car into the VCR to keep it safe in the garage. Yeh yeh reminded Jon about this many times a year, and didn’t seem to mind that actually broke the VCR!
Solomon remembers Yeh yeh picking him up from preschool and
bring him to 25cent car rides at the mall before heading home.
Joshua and Andrew spent many afternoons with Yeh Yeh and Mah Mah riding
the Star Ferry across to Tsim Sha Tsiu and looking at toys at Toys R Us.
In the more recent years, Simeon who lived in Sandstone close to yeh yeh mah mah, spent hours chatting about guy stuff with Yeh Yeh.
Enoch considers Yeh Yeh to be an excellent driver, braving snow and rain and never missing church and prayer meetings.
Elijah remembers yeh yeh building the toddler bed for him and showing him how to use tools like a real man.
Kim remembers yeh yeh always walking hand in hand with mah mah's like a forever young couple madly in love. He used to wave bye at us from the front and side windows of his house after every visit as our car pulled away slowly.
Lydia remembers his witty humour.
Andrew remembers
Acts 16:31 "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."
God's love and Christian heritage was evident in Yeh Yeh's life and this influenced us deeply in many ways.
He Loved God
Yeh Yeh was a very loving family man. God was definitely number one,
but family was number close. With God's Love, his greatest hope
was that every one of his children and grandchildren would love one another.
He put priority on showing up for many milestones of our lives. He would always make time to come with us on long 12 hour family road trips even to see Solomon's graduation from military basic training in Manitoba, and all of our high school and university graduations.
He attended our weddings. <- Brian and I in 2003, Solomon and Janet in 2008, Jonathan and Alicia in 2008, and Enoch and Sarah in 2009. He got to see his great-grandchildren Maggie and AJ Tang from Ottawa, and he got to see the precious photos of his newest great-granddaughter, Leah from Winnipeg. I'm happy to see Faith come all the way back from med-school in Australia to be with us. We miss Andrew and Joshua, but I am sure they were glad to be here in December for a visit with Yeh Yeh.>
All these blessings he knew that the came from God. Whenever we would
say Thank you Yeh Yeh for something... he would always point upstairs
and say 'Do Jeh Teen Fu" (thanks to God).
The Loving Husband
We could always tell much Yeh Yeh loves Mah mah. From the early
beginnings of photography back in early 1940s he took hundreds of
pictures of Mah Mah. Treated her like a super-star. Mah Mah is
beautiful and Yeh Yeh captured it all on film. He showed us that
capturing memories on film was a wonderful way of holding the things
dear to him as a constant reminder. As Enoch puts it, we are a
generation of Canon users! Over 65 years of marriage, Yeh Yeh Mah
Mah's love for one another is an example of God's love for us. Showing
us by example to always love. It is great to see grandparents holding
hands and kissing... what a great example of true love.
And so I know Yeh Yeh really likes his fairytales too. His all time
favorite movie ever made was Walt Disney, Snow White.
He taught me to appreciate WWII classic movies and inspired my interest in WWII history. I think his favorite war
movie is the Longest Day. He was so pleased when he received a copy of the digitally remastered 60 anniversary edition of the Longest Day when it came out with added full colour. You see, he's lived so long that movies back then were still in black and white.
He fought a very strong battle since the initial emergency that
brought him to the ICU in October. Many times he walked through the valley of the shadow of death, but he told us that God was with him. His last words were to remind everyone to Love one another.
"In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have
told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you."-John 14:2. And
we have peace because we know that Yeh Yeh is with the Heavenly Father
now.
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