Yat Tzai

Last Saturday, we all went over to Uncle Rich and Auntie Yvonne's place at the Marina Club to celebrate Uncle Rich's 40th Birthday. The original plan was to have a private chef prepare lobster, fois gras and steak!!! But at the last minute, the chef's billionaire tycoon boss decided that he needed his chef!! So no chef for us! Oh well, we decided to DIY - Rich and Yvonne prepared a yummy onion tart and cheesecake for dessert, Rick BBQ'd whole baby snapper and tenderloin steaks, and Yves brought some yummy wines. It was a delicious, although very warm, dinner!

In the afternoon, everyone took Katy and Yat Tzai (Mo and Yves' nephew) to the pool (except Mama who stayed in the air conditioning as the 37 degree heat was too much!). Katy and Yat Tzai really played well together and were a gorgeous pair.

Yat Tzai is a real cutie!
They both give each other and everyone else lots of hugs and kisses!


although sometimes Katy objects to being hugged too tightly!
Katy loved all the candles decorating the deck - she and Yat Tzai sang Happy Birthday many many times and Katy loved blowing out all the candles.
Katy took this picture of Yat Tzai! He has such a cute cheeky grin!
It was a scorcher of a day and unfortunately the evening was hot and still. Mama resorted to cooling off with a cold wet towel.
Happy Birthday Uncle Rich!

Typhoon!

Last week, Katy's wishes were granted when a typhoon blew past Hong Kong and school was cancelled on Monday and Tuesday! Even better, Dada came home early on Monday and was home on Tuesday morning too! Our top terrace got flooded, which was a great reason to dig out Katy's pink Hello Kitty gum boots (aka rain boots) and dance around in the water jumping about and making a big splash!






When it started raining again, Katy was delighted to put on her pink Hello Kitty raincoat too!

Matilda Teo

Jonah's Mei Mei, Matilda, celebrated her Full Moon today at Hunan Garden with red eggs and a sumptuous banquet. The little angel slept most of the time, even as her big brother Jonah and his buddies Pia and Katy went wild running around through lunch. They have so much fun!



On the way home, Katy got to play with Dada on the beach. She loves to twist while swinging now, and she loves to swing high!

Now she knows her...

ABCs...

Katy surprised Mama in July when we were at the lake and she sang her ABCs all the way through. Unbeknownst to me, Dada had been singing the ABCs to Katy every night in the bath as a way to get her to stay still while he rinsed her hair. Katy hates having her hair washed. Now, she automatically starts singing her ABCs as soon as Dada tilts her head back into the water. It's hilarious, just like a mechanical doll!

Over the last month, Katy has started to sing the whole ABC song including the last two verses. We've been trying to capture it on film, but Katy has been a bit reluctant. Just the last two weeks or so though, Katy has been very proud of her ABCs and very obliging when we ask her to perform for us or for our visitors, and now, also for the camera.

Happy Birthday Lola and Imogen!

Almost caught up now - whew! It's tough getting so far behind on our blog. Last Saturday, we hopped over to Midlevels to attend Lola and Imogen Shaw's 2nd birthday party. Their Mummy Maxine was one of our Pure Pregnancy Girls, so it was wonderful to catch up with everyone from that group, including Jonathan (photo taken by Katy below) and Carmen, Pia and Grace, Orlando and Zosha, as well as the twins and Maxine of course.
Maxine outdid herself with the most gorgeous and very yummy teddy bear birthday cake.
The kids were just entranced as you can see by the mob scene below.
Imogen and her Daddy David enjoyed a bit of cake.
Jonathan and Katy were born on the same day. We can't quite believe that they're so big now. Wow.

Kiss Me Katy

Last Thursday, Callum and Maddy came over to play. They had a great time - Callum and Katy hiding in the corner signing the ABCs was just adorable. When it was time to leave, Katy wanted to go with them. Callum was very obliging with the goodbye kisses.



but Katy got a bit upset when Callum kissed her on the lips - only because she was mad that it was smudging her lipstick!!!
But she forgave him soon enough with a big make-up hug.
So adorable!

New Ballet Term

Well, we said the first week of September was busy! Katy's week now looks like this:

Monday - DMK Mandarin Class 3.05pm to 4.35pm by herself
Tuesday - Sugar And Spice Playgroup 9.15am to 11.45am by herself
Wednesday - My Gym 9.05am in Central with Dada, DMK Mandarin Class 3.05pm to 4.35pm by herself, then Putonghua Playdate with Mama's friends from 4.45pm to 6.15pm
Thursday - Ballet 9.15am to 9.45am with Mama
Friday - DMK Mandarin Class 3.05pm to 4.35by by herself

Plus various playdates with Jonah, Qiqi and Maddy, and other friends!

We have a colour coded chart up!

Katy was so so excited to start her ballet lessons again. She really loves to dance. She already loves dressing up in Ella's old leotards for her daily playwear. The night before her first ballet class of the term, Katy insisted on wearing her ballet class leotard and tutu, and her shoes. She then insisted on sleeping in her leotard and tutu and bringing her shoes to bed with her in their little pink backpack. She even remembered her teacher's name (Miss Sorrel).


Mama is enjoying the last few month of going to ballet with Katy. She will transfer to the next level up in November, where she goes by herself. I think this will be very good for her. Right now, when I go with her to ballet, Katy will still want me to cuddle her for the butterfly and the trit trot songs. But when Mila took her yesterday because I had a cold, Katy happily did all of the songs by herself. I guess she plays up to me.

Real "school" starts!

The first week of September is super busy and this year, at two and a quarter years old, Katy joined the busy-ness!

Here Katy is on her first day at DMK, with school uniform and all. What a cutie!
She started her real "school" on Wednesday 2 September - it's an afternoon putonghua playgroup that goes for an hour and a half on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. It's not really her favourite thing but we really want her to have some Mandarin exposure and this is all that is available. The teachers are lovely, but it is not as fun and lively as we would like. The first week, I accompanied Katy to class and she just kept telling me that she wanted to go home. From the second week on, I decided that I would not wake Katy up from her afternoon nap for school, but we would just go late if necessary. Katy has been napping really well for her lately and I don't want to jeopardise that by getting her up early. It's such a shame there are no morning classes for putonghua. The nice thing about class is that there are only 6 kids and two teachers.

The third lesson, we were supposed to go into the classroom but sit to the side and leave the kids to play in the class alone. I was a bit apprehensive about this, but as it was, I caught a cold, so Mila had to do it and this is really much better for Katy. She doesn't get so upset as when I am there or I am the one to drop her off (and "abandon" her!). Mila said Katy did really well and didn't come up to her and ask her to leave at all. Mila also dropped Katy off on Wednesday for her first class alone, and Katy was ok. She whined a little bit going in, but not too much, and she was happy to see Tia afterwards. Apparently, some of the other kids get much more upset going in and coming out, so I guess this is all par for the course - rebellion as the kids feel themselves being forced into structures, rules and routines!

Mac Attack

Dada HATES MacDonald's! But every kid loves it, including Katy. On the last Sunday in August, we took another trip to Mui Wo on the ferry to upgrade Mama's bike so I can get up the hill! The ferry times are a bit tricky for Katy's lunch and nap. Much to Dada's chagrin, Katy got MacDonald's as her lunch on that day. Katy was most pleased. She liked the fries the most but also ate a good bit of the burger, even cold after her nap!

Summer School

Another month, another milestone...in preparation for school, Katy started a structured "summer school" playgroup twice a week for the last two weeks of August. This was her first class without Mama or Dada or Tia accompanying her. She did really well on her first day.
First, she met up with Laura and her big sister Jade, who nicely distracted Katy with some tattoos.
Then she decided to make friends with Oliver and his big brother.
She was a little apprehensive when Miss Sumi picked up the kids to take them upstairs, but seemed to go with the flow. We had been for a visit the day before and Katy had jumped right in playing with the other kids and singing and dancing Ring a Ring a Rosey with Miss Sumi.
Two and a half hours later, it was great seeing the kids running out and Katy looking very tired but happy to see me afterwards.


Katy was very pleased with herself having gone to school all by herself.

And was all smiles and play afterwards.




The second day of school went well too. Katy decided to wear her tutu from Ella. She loves wearing that tutu every day! She looked so adorable.
Trouble only came about the third time. As predicted by her teacher Miss Mandy, Katy suddenly realised that this "school" thing was going to be a permanent thing, and she has been protesting that she doesn't want to go to school. That makes sense. At home, she is the Queen Bee Lord and King of All. She gets to do pretty much whatever she wants all the time with the attention of between one to four adults on her all the time. At school, things are different. There are rules, and other kids, and sharing!! It's been better when Mila drops her off. She doesn't get so upset now. And hopefully now she is getting the message that (1) school is not an option but a necessity, (2) we are always going to be there to pick her up (3) it isn't for that long, and (4) she still gets to rule the roost at home for most of the day!!!

Well, we're going to stick with it and hope for the best. We are worried that it will just get harder and harder for her to get used to the routine and rules of classtime if she doesn't start now. But it was really hard for Dada and Mama - we kept thinking "well, she is only 2, maybe we should just keep her at home for a little longer". Especially because Dada was at home and most of Mama's friends kids are at home until 3 or 4 at least. But at the end of the day, we know in our hearts that for our little Princess, who is an only child still at the moment, the sooner she gets out there and learns about school and social relations with other kids, the better. And she knows that whatever happens out there, when she comes home, she is still always Number 1!