C is for Cup

Why is it easy to use your
Cup when it is orange juice
But the same does not hold true
With milk?

R is for Rocking Horse

We drove to Gumeracha last weekend to see… the biggest wooden rocking horse you can imagine! Gumeracha is about 35 kilometers from Adelaide and it took us around 40 minutes to get there. Interestingly, we found that Gumeracha is 6,164 kilometres from Manila.

What a horse! It was 18.3 metres in height and 17 metres in length. It was made of steel and weighed 25 tonnes. It was set in 80 tonnes of concrete to prevent rocking. There were stairs incorporated inside the rocking horse which led to three viewing platforms – the head, saddle, and on the “rocker bows” near the base of the structure.

You are still too little to climb on to any of the platforms. We contented ourselves to riding the smaller version of the horse. One day, we shall come back and try to get to the very top like how Daddy did in 1993!

There are other interesting things to do in this town. There is a toy factory which sells wooden toys and souvenirs.

There is also a wildlife park covering approximately seven acres and features native and introduced species. We saw a peacock, goat, sheep, and a kangaroo which went hop, hop, hop!

You must have gotten tired chasing the kangaroo, you promptly fell asleep in the car on the way home.

That is why you are not in this picture when Mommy and Daddy quickly jumped out to do a photo of this picturesque bend of Kangaroo Creek.

Anton Lee @ 1.8

You have grown leaps and bounds this month, belloching. You can now say your name (which comes out as, "A-to!"), the names of people close to us, and the personnel at the childcare. You can call out the sounds of some animals - cat (meow), dog (woof woof), sheep (baaa), goat (meeeeh), snake (ssssssss), duck (quack quack quack), and cow (moooo).

Speaking of cows, we have also now shifted from your formula to cow's milk.

We no longer struggle with the seatbelt. Ever since we started reading Stickybeak (a book about a school pet duck), you have understood that everyone must wear a seatbelt - Daddy, Mommy, Stickybeak, and Anton Lee.

Negotiating the use of the seatbelt has also become much easier after we grew into the practice of reading in the car. You have transitioned from "I'm Green and I'm Grumpy" (a guessing game for guests in a party, to "Belinda" (a cow who refuses to be milked), and to our current favourite, "There's A Sea In My Bedroom" (about a boy named David who lets out the sea from a conch shell). Oh how you love Mommy reading to you! Sometimes we go through a book thrice before reaching Childcare.

Your vocabulary is growing. You can name most parts of your body and everyday things at home. You can show how Sully and Mike Wazowski from the Monster University can roar and how the robot child screams in the scare simulator. You know that Dusty is an airplane and that his friend is named Chug (from the book, "Planes"). Because of this book, you also would like now to go to New York (to meet Ripslinger and El Chupacobra, the Mexican star plane!) You can do a pretend cry when we read about the tired baby in "Counting Kisses". You know how the cheese monster laughs in "Charlie and the Cheese Monster".

You have added verbs to your stack of words too! You now now how to "pat" Daddy and Momm's backs, you know how to tickle, hug, kiss, scratch, hop...

We have recently started re-reading "The Potty Experts" and you are showing interest in the potty.

You are starting to enjoy boy things now too! You love hanging out with your cousins while they are doing their thing like playing videos and you enjoy smashing cars with Zio!

Bedtime has become even more sweet. We say our prayers after lights off and tell stories about how your day went. You like singing songs before falling asleep.

You know what's the extra special thing you have learned to do this month? When we are at Church on Sundays, you grab Mommy and Daddy's hands, and we all three say the Lord's Prayer with hands intertwined. Then you say at the end, "Amen".

M is for Mother's Day

Today we went to
Port Adelaide

We took a stroll
Along the wharf
Scoured the flea market
Browsed old books
Had a cappuccino
While watching the
Sun set...

Thank you to you and Daddy
For making this day
Extra special.
(Everyday is special).

PS. Mommy especially loved
the bookmarker you and Daddy
made for her!

N is for Naptime

Mommy said you
Need to take a long nap
Because we're going to
A birthday party tonight.

You went to sleep
Only after Mommy read through
Monsters University
And only if your book
Napped with you.
(Fair enough)

S is for Stacking

With patience, persistence
And Zia's assistance
You finally made it go
All the way up!