Ready to Kindergarten

Yes, it's Alfie's preschool graduation day! I am proud of him. Looking back a year ago, I was full of doubt in deciding whether he should go to school before he is turning into 3 years old. But today, I know that I made a right decision.
I remember in the first month of school, it was so hard for us to convince him that school was fun and it was not as scary as he thought to be left alone there. He cried all the time asking to go home and ended up with throwing up everything he ate. He kept doing that to get our attention. However, going to the 2nd month, he started to like school, play with his friends and catch up with the lesson. Suddenly, he speaks English all the time. Then, he pretended he was the teacher and performed very well as hawaian dancer.. the other time, he fought with Matthew - his fighting partner.
Today, Alfie is a big boy. He is now 20kg and 105cm tall. He can count 1-20, recognize numbers and letters, can spell ( but stil can't read), and of course sing a great numbers of songs. He loves Alwyn very much, tough sometimes he can't help to hit or kick Alwyn. They are really Cat and Dog :). We are very blessed to have them.
Good luck Alfie in your next journey to knowledge!

The Graduate

Soccer frenzy

Aco Jr.

Bukan Iklan loh

Alwyn goes to Ancol

Alfie goes to Ancol

Mallrats

Waiting for pickup

Alfie's 2nd Field Trip to Rumah Abia

Alfie's school 2nd field trip to Rumah Abia - Ciawi. Visiting wooden toy factory, Alfie paid a lot of attention to toy-making. Alfie also experienced coloring his own toy.

Alfie's Masterpiece

Alfie likes brown colour very much. Everytime he has drawing class, he always colours his picture in brown. This is one of his masterpieces.

Alfie is cleaning up

One lesson that we always enforce our kids to follow is cleaning up their toys after playing. One day, after messing up the toys with his bro Alwyn, Alfie just left the room. Of course I asked him to clean up. "Alfie, please clean up" then continue with the usual song "I see Alfie cleaning up, I see Alwyn cleaning up..." In a second, Alfie picked up the song and sang together with me. But he didn't start cleaning up. So I asked "Alfie, why don't you clean up?" And he answered "I am singing, so I don't have to clean up." Oh, kids...

Welcoming Tiger Year

Nadia: Gong Xi Gong Xi

Alfie: Aku dah gaya belum?

Alwyn: (cool aja deh)

Vanessa: Aku dong dah kayak putri Chen Ie

Phoebe: ?

... and laughing

Seriously watching tv

Nite, ewwewone!

Alfie and Ben

Alwyn reads Barney

Alwyn and the shade

Embracing 2010

Wow. It feels just like yesterday. And today we're entering yet another new year. We wish you all a happy 2010. May the coming year be at least as wonderful as the best so far.

We don't have a Guinness record class of stuff in 2009. We enjoyed it, nevertheless. Well, not really all the time, maybe. Anna was surely suffering during the Lebaran holidays, as the nannies left for good. And boy, what a pain finding their replacements. It was really trial-and-error at work. I did try to help. But I guess my contribution was marginal, though. The two boys knew full well, I'm not their mother.

I was busy, too. The transition at office took more time and energy than we had expected before. That included the hefty and slow bureaucracy at the university and faculty levels. As a consequence, I was without any designated position (and hence task) for nearly three months. The upside of that is I was able to publish a couple of papers. Life is fair, I guess.

For the two boys, well, of course they enjoyed every single day of the year. Alfie is almost 3 and a half now. This year he performed twice at school. Once as a giraffe and the other time he was a hoola-hoola dancer (the teacher told us, the theme wasLilo and Stitch -- we couldn't find any right costume, so we agreed to his teacher: make him a hawaiian dancer). Alfie has started his Yamaha music school this year. Oh, he also got a special present from Tante Fifi, a set of Lego blocks. He keeps his new assembled house close to his Ben-10 stuff.

Alwyn, on the other hand, is 1 year and 5 month. He can walk -- I guess 'run' is more appropriate: he walks so fast, he falls down many times. But he's made of iron and steel, that's what we think. Alwyn likes to come to Alfie's school. One day he insisted to join the big(ger) kids club and thought he could do trampoline bouncing -- he fell down successfully with his face on the carpet. No tears nor cry whatsoever.

Happy new year, everyone!