Scissor Cutting @ almost 35 months

On and off, IZ would ask to "play" with a pair of scissors. Well, I do let him "play" with them, but I watched him really closely and have been telling him consistently that playing with scissors are dangerous and that he can only use it to cut papers.

For months, he has been using both hands to open and close the scissors to cut. He refused guidance, so I would tell him how to cut properly and then let him be. He would ask me to hold the piece of paper or dough strip he wanted to cut and then cut roughly.



Using both hands to cut

 Just 2 weeks ago, he was still struggling with 2 hands.. this week, he surprised me.

He changed to holding it inward. He still refused help. But when my helper corrected him that he should hold it properly, he insisted I taught him this way.

Holding inward

 This week, he finally got it. I believe he learnt a fair bit in school, it looks easy on him.



Cutting it almost properly - well done son!

The whole night he played cutting and pasting.

Now, I read the following, that proper scissors cutting is good..

Why?


Because, correctly done, it provides the child with lots of practice in using the tripod fingers together – ie the thumb, forefinger and middle finger. Have a look at this pic of a mature pencil grip and you can see how these tripod fingers are working well together to control the pencil.
Scissor cutting, with a proper scissor grasp, will give these fingers lots of practice in working together, and will strengthen your child’s hand muscles. This will help to improve fine motor skills and to develop the correct pencil grasp for good handwriting.

I shall wait for the day he's willing to change his pencil grasp..

Meanwhile, I'm going to print some cutting skills print for him to polish his new found skill!

DEATH

When I was younger, I felt death is such a far thing..

Now, I feel death is coming really near.

I am scared of death.

Heart of gold? Maybe not...

Sometimes, I thought I have a heart of gold.

That's when I am always full of dreams to help people who are in need. Sick, poor, you name it. There is a desire to help out, to volunteer. But it's not easy.

I've tried searching for opportunities within organisations to 'offer myself" to be replied by "we have enough volunteers for now", "we'll keep you in view when we have event", "we do not have any event now" or "we need working hours volunteers". And so, each time, the fire would burn out. Till the next ripple.

It didn't come easy. For me to offer to commit. I have commitment issues.

In 2004, I committed to a programme called Meals on Wheels. But I was such a workaholic at that time that I had to change my mind at the very last minute due to work commitment. Someone from the programme called me, and he gave me an upside down lecture.

"Do you know that it is ok for you to just say you can't come?"

"But what would happen to the old folks that are waiting for the food? They still need to eat!"

I felt like shit.

From then on, I've never tried to go close to committing myself to charity. Except for donations in the temple, that is.

More than 10 years on, I picked myself up again.

Maybe, just maybe, I am not destined to do good.

I do not believe in monetary donations. Call me skeptical, call me anything you like. There are just too many cases where the people in-charge of the charity organisations misused the fund. And I'm really very skeptical of the kids doing fund raising at MRT stations for example. I really wonder where the money would all go to or whether they are really fund raising for real. Ya, not that I'm going to donate a million dollars to care, but I do care. I do not want to condone misdeeds, nor I want to check their license to confirm if they are for real before I donate a few dollars the most.

Lately I found out that I can make donations in kind to charitable organisations. I went into a few old folks home and check on what they need on regular basis.

And then I found out something interesting.

On NTUC Fairprice website, there's a link for Donation to VWOs, it has a whole list of VWOs that you can make donation to. If you click on any of the VWO, you'll be shown what are the items they use regularly and the brands they preferred.

There you go.. alternative to my skeptical mind about donation.

On the other hand, I believe I have an evil heart too.

I was on the MRT to make my way to a sale. The guy beside me gave the seat to a woman in her 60s or 70s. She spoke in a strongly accented Chinese. No doubt where she came from. She asked me the name of 2 stations away. I told her I would alight with her as I would be going the same way. Then when the train stopped at the first station, she panicked and said something along the line that she went the wrong way and then she alighted at the station. I was still glued to my seat.

Just when the train doors closed, I felt really bad. I regretted not helping her find her way and make sure she knows her way before leaving her like that. I prayed that someone else would be able to help her.

I was angry at myself, why can't I just sacrifice a little of time to help her? I have no other answer than I was selfish and self-centred.

So you see? I have a very confused personality.

I'm good, or I'm actually not good afterall.

Train in a flower

Random post @ 33months

26th Sep'13: Pretended to be Snow White (you read right)




20th Sep'13: Pretended to be a doctor: checking grandma's heartbeat



Taking her temperature



And she needed an injection



18th Sep'13: Eve of Mid-Autumn Festival, he said Happy Birthday to Me!



17th Sep'13: Having fun with stickers from classmate's goodie bag!

12th Sep'13: Yummy durian in KL!



11th Sep'13: Very hardworking at the piano - as if he was reading a story



With cousin Sabrina in KL

Super Fun!

Just a quick note to jot down how I am enjoying the make-believe stage with IZ..

He would be eating his dinner and shoved at me "mommy, I give you ice cream" (obviously with his empty hand)..

And I pretended I licked the ice cream...

Then he shoved once more, "mommy, can you open the lollipop for me?"

And I would pretend to tear the packaging and passed the lollipop to him..

And then he would pretend to lick..

It's a SUPER FUN STAGE!

Ready Steady Go Kids @AMK

As mentioned in my previous post, hubby brought IZ for a free trial with Ready Steady Go Kids at AMK. He told me (while I was enjoying myself at Melbourne) that IZ enjoyed himself, and he completed obstacle course, as well as learnt rugby. So we discussed and decided to sign on for a term.

And so I went with them yesterday.

I like the way the school replies to my mail, promptly. At times, they will also send sms to tell me they have sent an email. Also the flexibility of maximum 2 make-up class a term, excluding MC and exceptional cases.

It was really interesting how the class intructors led them on warming up and then introducing T-ball to them. There was another kid in the class, just like last Sunday. But we were told that this class will merge with earlier slot from Term 4 onwards.

I saw IZ enjoyed himself, and saw how his gross motor skills are actually not so good. Haha!

I really had fun watching him in the class. We shall see what comes out of it in the end. Hopefully, good sportsmanship. If you ask IZ now, what he would do if his friend falls down, he would tell you "help".. and ask "are you ok?" :-)

PS: In Term 4, IZ will be able to learn football, basketball, golf, cricket and athletics!

Music Trial in Seimpi @Hougang

Although I do not encourage competitiveness in enrichment, I do think our children should be exposed to various activities when they are young, and see if they have passion and interest in it.

I have been waiting impatiently to let IZ goes to multi-sports and art class - in my various posts.

To cut story short, there was new slot for weekend class in Seimpi for music. Then, I got a slot for trial for multi-sports! How lucky!

We went for music trial on Sunday. It was not our first experience with Seimpi, I've brought IZ to their classes when he was 1 year plus. I stopped then when he couldn't sit still and just kept playing with the keyboards in the room. And he didn't want to pay attention to the teacher unless if she sang new song. Then, he could mimick teacher's actions although his back was facing the teacher. So, I pulled out.

This time, I'm still a little bias, coz I would love it if he could learn music, so that I have a reason to buy piano at home?! Hahaha!

Anyway, there was only 1 permanent studen in the class, with 2 children (including IZ) attending trial. While I still believe in Seimpi's method of teaching, I strongly believe the kids will have strong foundation in music, I found the teacher not as interesting. Well, just say IZ could action Humpty Dumpty better and more interestingly than her.

IZ remembers what was taught in the class, but I'm hesitant. I can't foresee IZ paying attention to this lady teacher after say, 3 lessons? or 2 maybe.. **shrug**..

So I asked the front desk staff if they had other weekend classes for the same age group (3-4 yo), he said there was one, but it's on Sat 3-4pm. That shucks.. coz that's IZ's naptime. I'm not willing to risk a cranky child to the music class. The plus point is, it'll be taught by a male teacher who appeared on papers before.

Anyway, I guess it just not meant to be.

This coming Sunday, while I'll be away, hubby will bring IZ to multi-sport class in Ready Steady Go Kids in AMK branch. They were very responsive when I enquire, and the trial will be FOC, the timing is about right, 11.30am-12.15pm. So, why not? We shall see if he likes it...

He has been telling me that he likes sports! I just hope the class would be interesting. :-)

Potty training @ 32 months ++

Update on potty training at home:

He's been doing very well. From the need to ask him if he needs to urine, to now, he'd say I need to urine! and ran urgently to the bathroom. He's still struggling to take off his pants and underwear before facing the urinal, I think he's doing extremely well with no accidents.. and thenafter he would ask for stickers!

Update on diaper-less school days:

1st day (21 Aug): no accident at all
2nd day (23 Aug): he peed in his pants while helper trying to take off his jacket at the school compound after school
3rd day (26 Aug): he said he needed to urine but was a little too late, they were nowhere near a toilet
4th day (27 Aug): he said he needed to urine but was a little too late, peed in the lift at our block
5th day (28 Aug): he passed urine before he left for home, so, it was accident free!
6th day (which is today, 29 Aug): he wet his pants in the school, and wet his pants again on the way home.. boo hoo!

I'm still proud of him, as he didn't reject the idea of going diaper-less to school. Hope this phase will pass soon.. and then we can start being diapler-less at naps! :-D :-D

Updated on 6th Sep'13:
6th day (29 Aug): brought him to jog in the field, he told me he needed to urine when we were on the way to the playground (after jog). I had nothing with me, so I had to let him pass urine by the road, near a tree. I read a lot of horror stories of how people who pass urine to a tree may "disturb" some spirits, I said "excuse me, excuse me", while he peed. That night, he said "excuse me, excuse me" when he peed in the toilet! WAHAHAHAH!

7th day (30 Aug): The beginning of a good progress :-) :-)
Morning: We brought him to KKH for his lazy eyes check-up. (I may blog about the medical appointment in another post, IF I get to it). Suddenly he told us, he needed to urine. He had his diaper on! But he asked to urine! YEAY! Hubby quickly brought him to pass urine in the toilet. I couldn't be happier.. In fact, really proud and amazed...

Evening: I brought him to BBQ with my friends, when he suddenly said "I want to urine". Wow.. again, I was so proud of him, coz he HAD his diaper on! I think that's the best thing that's happening!

Few days passed, he has no more accidents in school nor home nor on the way home. That's a great start to the daytime potty training..

Up next, we'll try potty training while in day naps.. or maybe night sleep.. let's see how it goes.. I do have a feeling he'll be potty trained before he turns 3.. :-)

Updated on 16th Sep'13 (33 months+):

Subsequently from the above chain of events, we managed to stay dry in the day, except during naptime, he would wear a diaper. So I would say it took him 7 days to be fully trained while he's awake.

We took a long journey bus to KL last week, and he managed to keep the diaper (put on in case I couldn't bring him to toilet during the journey) dry throughout too, although he napped for about 3 hours. I'm really very proud of his progress.

Some says it's better to train them one shot, ie. day and night time. But I prefer to take things slowly, as the last thing I want is him regressing, or him detest diaperless etc.

So now, we are happy as it is, that he could ask to pass urine when he's awake. No accidents anymore.

He's showing some progress during daytime nap too. He hasn't wet his diaper for the last few days, but we still put on diaper for him, of course. :-)

I'll wait for his cue for next step.

Walking down memory lane..

If you'll notice, or maybe not, I seldom talk about IZ's weaknesses or "bad stuffs". I reflected upon it, and I think it's because of his G6PD deficiency. Not that I think it is a GREAT deal that he should be forgiven even if he's made mistakes. It is quite a BIG deal for me. He got the deficiency from me, as I am a carrier, and I didn't know till after I gave birth!

I remember the pain of not having him by my side after I was discharged from the hospital after my caesarian. He was in mild jaundice condition, so he was not allowed to go home with me. Imagine the pain, going home after labour, WITHOUT a baby. I was pretty strong (emotionally) the first 2 days, I was pumping diligently so that hubby could send expressed breast milk to the hospital, so the nurses could feed IZ with that instead of formula milk.

(I was only trying my best, and I did breastfeed him for 8 months, even if you give your child formula milk, I do not think you are any less good mother, so don't take it too hard if you're one of the mommies who can't give breast milk to your baby.)

As day passed by, I felt the pain of not having me by my side. I think on the 4th morning when the paeditrician called to update me, I broke down. IZ was not in serious condition, he had only very mild jaundice, but as the index didn't decrease, and he is a G6PD deficient, they had to monitor him, in case the jaundice level shot up.

The next day, he was discharged, but we still had to sun him. WHATEVER, I'd do WHATEVER to keep him by my side.

And.. because of all that.. I've never grumbled although I had to wake up a gazillion times for midnight feeds and pumping. I've never complained about a single thing about him. And so, it actually continues till now.

I do sometimes share about his mischiefs, but generally I'm more happy to share with you about his positive stuffs.

He's a kind hearted soul, who would cry when he saw other children cry. He's very sentimental and emotional, JUST LIKE ME! Gosh! He's a boy.. I know..

And then when I took up Play Therapy, all the more I know how I want him to be. To be mentally happy, psychologically happy, not just HAPPY.

Last week, I felt like I was losing it. I was not in the best of my moods. But he was not co-operative at all. He was all cranky, cried over trivial things like us closing his book instead of leaving it at the page he wanted to see, the page where Cinderella and the prince danced! He also whined at the slightest thing. He woke up middle of the night crying inconsolably.

And I wasn't feeling good enough to cope with that "disaster". I claimed either the Terrible Twos came late, or the Terrible Threes came early. I really couldn't take it. But I remember what I learnt.

So I detached myself from all the social commitments and spent time with him, doing what he likes to do.

That night, when he was falling asleep, I played the serenity song again. Had not played it for a long time. He didn't cry that night.

And so the next few nights.

I guess my nightmare is over for now.. till the next phase.

I still can't figure what went wrong last week, but I'm sure he would be able to tell me what's wrong in the future.

The last 2 nights, he has been drawing while he told stories, back to his old self. I'm still having problem with self-feeding, but that issue would come later.

And oh, by the way, yesterday was the first day he went to school without diaper! He made it without accidents! Thankful the teacher was very supportive. Hopefully it'll continue this way.. fingers crossed..

Random pics on a random day

I drafted a long post this morning but I forgot to save before I closed my browser. And I thought Blogger does auto-saving! Gosh!

Now that I have to start writing again, the feeling is not the same anymore.

Anyway, here's random pics for a random day..

Taken when he was 26 days old

When he is 32 months+

Entirely his work - built a wall for Humpty Dumpty

Look at the happiness

Chinese anyone?

I was talking to a friend about my concern over IZ's non-existent Chinese speaking. And so I thought I should at least try to speak some with him at home, while I figure what I'm gonna do in the near future.

And so I tried speaking Chinese to him when we went for a jog 2 days ago. He was completely immersed in Chinese MODE:

We bumped into an uncle:

Uncle: what a good start!

Me: call uncle

IZ: Uncle, Ni hao!!

(Whoa! My son speaks Chinese!)

Thought it was a good chance to speak more Chinese with him..

Bla bla bla BLA BLA BLA

Me: (in Chinese of coz) and now we are going to.. (Thinking hard what is playground in Chinese..)

IZ: (waited patiently)

Me: (still in Chinese) and now we are going to.. Hmmmm..

IZ: you le chang!

WHOA! Do I still try? 

All about Princess

If you remember he asked about the Princess figurine here. He was all interested in Princessy and fairy tales.

He has been "reading" the same page of this fairy tale storybook. He wants the exact page 169 story which is Cinderella. He would fuss if anyone closes his book. Even to sleep...

Activities on 18th Aug'13

He woke up very early yesterday, was playing coins and coin banks by himself. So I brought out my treasure bag. He excitedly exclaimed "learn alphabet!".

And so we did i, j and k. As you can see, I was not prepared for the j. I've not gotten what's for the feely letter!

Glue & Paste the kettle

Not bad right? :-)

Glue & Paste activity from Kumon workbook - it's getting more challenging!

And then he asked to do colouring, so I passed to him the Kumon workbook we've not touched for very long. The objective is to fill the white circle with the colour that blends with the area, so that the panda looks like the one in the example on top right corner.

Daddy: the panda is black and white

IZ looked not convinced, but he coloured black for a while.. then changed his mind.

IZ: but I want blue panda...

...

"and orange!"

Then IZ says, "see, it's beautiful!"

Self-feeding headache..

I'm writing this post while I'm fuming actually.

I do not really know what age is appropriate for kids to learn how to self-feed as I do not want to stress myself of the milestone I'll find at the click of a SEARCH button, but I do really think at 32 months going 33 months, IZ ought to know how to self-feed. When I say self-feed, it reads, eating meals out of spoon and fork and stuff the spoonful of rice into his mouth and swallow, and so till the food disappear from the bowl/plate.

It's not that he could not self-feed for survival, but if it's up to him, he would never feed himself, except to finger foods, read food that you could eat using your fingers. Our helper has pampered him since young, feeding him every single meal. And now, to get him to self-feed, the food would get cold before he even get to reach for the spoon. Or there would be incidents before he could even feed himself, coz he would be busy playing with either the food or the utensils.

So, why do I hurry him to learn how to self-feed?

First of all, it would be great, if there's extra pair of hands to eat my own food, and not busy trying to feed or make him feed himself.

Secondly, I really think his motor skills are not very good in feeding, or aiming per say. I want him to practise on his motor skills so that he could eat by himself, write better etc.

Now I sound like hurrying him to grow, I'm not comparing him with milestones, I just want him to eat normally.... desperately..

And it's not helping when the elderly at home interfering me teaching my son!

Now, I shall breathe in and out.. and figure what I can do to start all over again..

Perhaps, I can shop for new bowl, utensils and all for the start!

IZ says.. at 32 months

AGAIN? 

He likes us reading to him these days. He would choose books from his bookshelf and asked us to read. 

His favorite would be books on eggs or Humpty Dumpty. He would ask to repeat the story again and again. 

When asked "again?" he said "not again.. ONE MORE TIME" 

How can you say NO? :-D 

I MAKE MY OWN 

We brought him to the beach today, and I was making something out of the sand mould. 

 He demolished it  and said "I make my own". 

 To think this came from my boy. He is growing up fast and furious. 

FIGHTING WITH SPIDER-MAN 

He took the Spider-Man toy and said to his dad "Let's fight.. Spider-Man fighting you" 

And he was all prepared to fight... 

Dad: why would Spider-Man fight with me? I'm a good man.. 

Iz: good man? ... 

Dad: ya, Spider-Man is my friend, I'm a good man! 

Iz: your friend? @-@ 

Hahahahaha! What a bummer..

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?

Hubby and I were talking about pilots, basically their responsibilities, and of course, how much they are earning etc.. And then I turned to IZ:

Me: Do you want to be a pilot, IZ?

IZ: no!

Me: What do you want to be then?

IZ: IZ!!

To be honest, we couldn't be happier. How many times have we been asked the same question and we answered something else but not ourselves. We cheered at his answer and he was amused.

It was a simple answer, yet we always complicate it, we always wanting to be something else...

Added on 12th Aug'13

QUESTIONS?

Hubby and I noticed IZ likes to reply our answers with a question marks. Yesterday, while I was putting him to sleep, he went to my therapy set-up and chose to bring Princess to nap with him. Then he started asking...

IZ: where's the leg?
Me: covered by the dress
IZ: can open?

Few minutes later..

IZ: why is this white colour?
Me: that's the linen of her dress
IZ: linen
(and I was thinking hard if I gave him a correct answer.. apparently, it's called lining!)

Few minutes later..

IZ: why is the hand blue colour?
Me: that's the gloves my dear..
IZ: gloves?

Before more questions were asked, I put the princess in sleeping position and told him he should sleep like the princess too.. and Zzzzzz he went... 

HAPPY FAMILY

Hubby brought IZ to poop in the toilet, and he dashed out to me later.. "MOMMY!!" he called and giggled and came to me..

Then he went "Daddy and Mommy!!!!" and giggled...

I asked "yes darling, why are you so happy?"

He replied "Yes, I'm happy! Coz we are family!"

Unknowingly, his reply made me smile.. I seldom told him about family being who and who.. and who and who consist of family.. but I was really glad and proud that he could put us up and say family.

And then when we were in the lift going to school today, he pulled my hand and his dad's hand and put them together, smiling...

Painting at 32 months

School re-opened..

Term 3 has just started yesterday. I was happy to know IZ didn't cry, he naturally knocked the door to the classroom and made himself at home. That's my boy.

I know there was a new classmate, one of this blog reader corresponded with me and I get to know yesterday, her girl started in the same class. Isn't that a small world? :-) I hope her girl enjoys going to school as much as IZ and friends.

As usual, when I reached home and asked what he learnt in school that day, he would not reply me, or gave me rubbish answer like Humpty Dumpty etc. Right, teacher taught Humpty Dumpty everyday if you ask him.

Last night, while we were lying down, unwind to sleep, he was in talking mode mood. He suddenly talked to me as if he was an adult. Thinking and answering my questions properly without moving here and there.

I treasure that moment, wish we could talk all night. But I needed to put him to sleep.

He asked that the dad to be in the room together. When I wanted to pat him, he said "don't pat me, daddy pat me".

That's my boy.. my precious boy.

1001 WHYs at 2.5 year old

I wrote a post on 1001 whats stage when he turned 28 months old. I thought the 1001 whys would come later.

Boy, I was wrong again.

It's exactly 30 months he gradually "graduated" to 10000 whys, ya I think 1001 was underestimated, but the whats didn't end, they just add up.

Mommy, what's that sound? (Referring to the motorcycle vrooming sound)

Mommy, what it say? (Referring to the GPS narration)

Mommy, why is it pink? (Referring to the GPS direction)

Mommy, why is that broken? (Referring to some other stuffs on the GPS)

Mommy, what is daddy doing? (Referring to daddy winding down the windows for immigration check)

Mommy, stamp here? (Referring to the stamp on passport I told him, he wanted the officer to stamp on his hand instead, just like amusement park entrance stamp!)

Mommy, what is that colour? (Referring to any random car that he could see)

Mommy, what is daddy's car colour? (I told him 1000 times it's Gold, I swear! Yet he could still ask 10000 times)

But if you ask him back, as suggested by some experts, "What do you think?"

He'll reply "I DON'T KNOW" with his innocent face.

Now, I need to get some 1001 whys reference book, any recommendation?

Lesson H for House: 26th Jun'13

He has learnt this before in the school, thus it was not difficult for him to know where the roof, door or window goes to.

Lesson H for House: 23rd Jun'13

We have not done any home lesson for the longest time, I mean not for the ABCs. I'm not sure what was the exact reason, perhaps I was a bit lazy, perhaps I was not sure if he really could sit through with me, etc.

Since I've read The Hurried Child book, I've made a concious decision to not hurrying him. As I mentioned he recognised all the 26 letters now, but not my credit. It was our helper's and Leap Frog DVD. I am proud he knows without much pressure from anyone, but I'm not sure to what extent is he hurried in this particular matter.

As such, I took things easier, impromptu book readings, or playing with toys, going out, instead of going through home lessons. So, you'll see that the home lessons coming up are not in structure I've followed before, I'll just take cue from him and the circumstances.

Lesson H for House!

Mini furniture in the house

IZ Says.. @ 2.5 years old

***

The 2002 whys..

When we reached home from work yesterday.

IZ: mommy, why are you wearing mask?

Then at the daddy.

IZ: daddy, why are you not wearing mask?

***

While hubby was reading to IZ..

IZ: IZ like pink colour.. Daddy like blue colour?

Me: what colour mommy like then?

IZ: mommy like pink colour also

(I don't know since when.. I hate pink colour!)

***

Added on 24th Jun'13:

Role reversal:

Me: good night darling

Issac: no, I want to talk to Mommy first

Me: huh?

Issac: one time, a little boy in the EGG.. bla bla.. Then, Mickey .. bla bla.. The little boy and the EGG .. bla bla bla bla.. Ok, I'm tired, good night mommy.

***

Me: why do you like to come and sleep next to me?

IZ: because..

Me: (must be thinking of some crap reasons)

IZ: because.. I love you!   (on another night, he said because.. I love you so much you know!)



***

Taiwan: CingJing (8~10 Jun'13)

Hubby suffered from terrible car sick after the nearly 2 hours ride on the car. The driver Mr. Hung (believed to be one of the staffs/relatives of Misty Villa) talked to him non-stop so he couldn't sleep and thus the car sick. Ha.. down side of having a friendly driver you say.

Mr Hung was very kind to drop us nearly to our doorstep. He already had the key to our room which was situated on the 3rd floor.

Where Mr. Hung dropped us, our room is on the 2nd floor in this pic - he helped us to bring our luggage bag up - good service

We were advised to take a half hour rest before making our way to check-in downstairs. Review and photos of Misty Villa here.

Then we made our way to find food for dinner. It was hubby's birthday, so I told him we should eat better, not street food, he couldn't agree more.

Windmill Festival will start 29th June - I guess they're setting up for the festival

A candy stall in front of Carton King & Small Swiss Garden - look at his happy face

Glimpse of Carton King

Carton King - where everything's made of carton / paper

Below are the pics taken in Carton King - all of them are made of carton/paper!



I was pretty disappointed of Carton King. Pictures on the internet made them seems bigger. The place was really small, you could finish walking around within minutes. So we made our way up to the restaurant for our potentially good food dinner for celebration.



Going up the steps



You'll have to pass through Honey Museum before the restaurant



Cute bee. my son, I  mean... haha!

  


Cups of water using paper

Carton drinks - actually a cup of drink in the carton box - you can ask them to flatten the carton to bring home as memento

Hubby's honey sauce pork chop



My roasted chicken - what's most yummy here is the honey vinegar in the centre as appetiser (you get what I want to bring across)



His set was much better - the fries were super yummy!



Given a plastic glove to eat the chicken

More carton/paper decorations in the restaurant:



Live performance by local artistes



Next morning at breakfast - what a view for a cup of coffee right?



We made our way to Green Green Grassland



Such a long Q for the shuttle bus



Arrived at destination in piece



As we arrived just on time, 9.30am, we could only watch from afar



Ushering the sheeps up the hill to get ready for the show



And they barged downhill, ushered by a dog



Was interested only for a while - the 2 hosts spoke seriously super express Chinese, I switched off after a while too



We gave up half way - I felt sad for the animals

Random shots on the mountain, I guess there's no need further explanation:


And then I dropped by precious camera P300.. you guessed right.. my camera is a gone case already. Next up, probably a Nikon J1!

After taking a break in the villa, we decided to go hiking.. destination? Depends on where our feet bring us..

The trail we wanted to challenge

He agreed too! :-D



Started cool

Gigantic leeks



Beautiful route



Nice view



He was really happy



Ice-cream time!



Yummylicious



We didn't dare to try the 499 steps trail, otherwise the view could be magnificent

Back in hotel - we had a sumptuous dinner prepared by the villa at NT300 for adults (5 dishes 1 soup including fish, pork, chicken!)



The boy ate a lot that night



But then, it was kind boring at night - we didn't catch the night musical fountain show in Small Swiss Garden though



That's what a happy boy during vacation do - the silliest thing he's done so far



Glimpse of the number of steps we had to take each day - we counted 93 altogether from the basement to our room - imagine up and down, with our little boy who's more than 15kg now



Some of the steps were really steep

The next day, we went to Small Swiss Garden!


At the entrance



Mysterious arch to the garden



There were pigeons



Beautiful flowers



Mandarin ducks

And windmills of course!



Really love flora

Following do not need description I guess:



Have you seen this kind of "yuan yang"? They usually goes in pair, but this is a cross-mix

And so we took E-go bus from our villa to Taichung High Speed Railway (HSR) Station, cost us NT450 per adult. Journey around 1.5 hours. Again, IZ slept the whole journey. I took a short nap too.

All about our Taiwan trip:
Part 1: Taiwan: Taichung (6~7 Jun'13)
Part 2: Taiwan: Sun Moon Lake (7~8 Jun'13)
Part 3: Taiwan: CingJing (8~10 Jun'13)
Part 4: Taiwan: Taipei (10~12 Jun'13)