Time for a permanent hiatus. . . .

Instead of spending time unpacking and getting back into our normal routine, I spend the last few days in bed. Not from jetlag, but from a nasty bug that has affected a lot of people the last few weeks. Even my dear hubby who normally doesn't get sick was out of commission for a few days. I thought I had the good fortune to avoid it but I guess it was just waiting for me to get home to strike me and Lil' C .... sigh.....


Lil' C is still having a slight fever and just so tired. Poor baby!! On the other hand, since I am kinda sick myself, she is getting so much TV time that she is kinda happy about being sick!! :) I will have to figure out how to wean her off TV when I feel better.


Now, about this blog...... after much thought, I have decided to put this blog in permanent hiatus. No, this does not mean that I will stop blogging. Frankly I did think about shutting all of them down but I think I would miss it too much. Plus it has been fun interacting with all the new friends that I've made through the blogworld. So, I have decided to combine both blogs into one, that means I will be blogging in my Just My Rambling blog only. That blog will become my all-in-one blog. I know, it's kinda wierd. While everyone else is adding blogs, I am shutting down my blog but I think this will work out better for me.


As I mentioned before, I have too much on my plate right now. There are a few things going on in my life that I will disclose in due time but for the moment, please do come and visit me and Lil' C at Just My Rambling blog. If you currently link to this blog, I would really appreciate it if you could link it to Just My Rambling blog instead. A thousand thanks!!!


Oh, in case you are wondering about my food blog, no worries! KookyCulinary will still remain. I will continue to share more yummy food & kids bento there. So do drop by & visit, ok?


Thanks to all of you who have been visiting this blog. Your visits and comments mean a lot to me. I hope that you will continue to visit my other blog. See you there!! :)

Back in cold & wet weather

After a short 2 week whirlwind trip back to Malaysia & Singapore, we are now back to cold weather. Totally exhausted after a 20 hr flight and jet-lagged(15 hr time difference), I am now staring at my unpacked bags, loads of laundry, a huge pile of mail to take care, and an empty fridge. Oh, and not forgetting a very exhausted and cranky 3 year old!! I will be back after I get organized....

Another blog break

I seem to be taking a lot of blog breaks. Sigh...... I guess when life gets overwhelming, something has to take a back seat and lately that something happens to be this blog. Maybe it's time for me to evaluate the future of this blog. Hmmmm....

Anyway, in 24 hours, I will be off on a 20+ hour flight with Lil' C. I have a whole backpack full of new toys & games to entertain her during the flight. Hopefully she will sleep a lot on the flight then I might just get some relaxation time, else I might just be a zombie when I arrive at my destination.

I'll be back in a couple of weeks. Till then, take care, everyone. I will be auto-publishing some posts in my other 2 blogs, so do drop by my other blogs if you miss me!! hahaha.......

Happy Chinese New Year!

Lil' C and mommy would like to wish all our Chinese readers a very Happy New Year!! Wishing everyone "XIN NIAN KUAI LE" (HAPPY NEW YEAR) and "XIAO KOU CHANG KAI" (SMILE ALWAYS).

Teaching your toddler to read

One of the question that I get asked a lot is "How do you teach your child how to read?" This is usually after they see Lil' C reading on her own either at the library or at school.

Lil' C started reading on her own around 32 months. At 3 years and 2 months, this is what she is reading. Her favorite princess book.

She is able to read the whole book by herself. I think she only missed 1 or 2 words from this story.

Frankly, I have no secret method to share. When Lil' C was around 9 months, I did try the Glenn Doman method. Unfortunately that only lasted 2 days! Both of us were so bored doing the flashcards. The Glenn Doman method is a good method but it is not for everyone.


I think what worked for Lil' C was the amount of reading that we did. Since I was at home with her all day, we read a lot. Probably around 10-20 books a day. When I was pregnant, I was not working and I went shopping everyday and I think I bought a book almost everyday! Usually I get them at Marshalls or TJMaxx which is like the reject shop. So their books are very cheap. That's why by the time Lil' C was born, she already had a huge collection and it is getting bigger everyday.


We also go to the library at least twice a week. The libraries here are really great. There is no limit to the number of books that u can check out. So we usually bring a whole stack home.


I guess what I did was instill the love of reading in Lil' C instead of forcing her to read. We would read all kinds of books from picture books to early reader books. I even bought her a kids dictionary & encyclopedia! Hey, they were 70% off! How could I resist! :) I am a bookworm myself, so reading to her was something that I really enjoy.

Through our daily readings, she started to pick up alphabets and soon words. Before I knew it, she started reading on her own. It's good that she's reading but to me, what was important was that she loves to read. It's the 1st thing she does when she wakes up every morning.

So what is my secret to teaching a toddler to read early? It's READ, READ and READ! Read to your kids as often as you can. Instill the love of reading in them and they will soon be picking up books on their own. Most of all, have fun reading! :)

Sudden change of plans!

Lil' C has a week off from school this week. So I had made plans for dentist appointments, playdates, outings etc.. but guess what? We had another major snow last night and we are totally snowed in again!! There goes all my plans out the window.... This year we are really having a lot of snow. Definitely more than usual.

I've been trying to call the dentist office to change my appoinment but no one is answering. I guess the everyone in the dentist's office are not able to get to work either. DH also stayed at home today and work from home. Ahh.. the wonders of a virtual office. Don't you just love technology?

Since we couldn't go anywhere, we went outside to play snow. We discovered that our housing community is a good place to sled! :) We live in a hilly area so all the roads end up to be good spots for sledding. We have also been watching a lot of car sleds!! I don't understand why people are trying to drive their car out today but there sure are a lot of people trying to do that. The cars are just slipping & sliding everywhere!!! They are having trouble making it up the hills on the icy road! I guess they must have something really urgent to do in order for them to take the risk of driving on icy roads.

Stuck in the house!

We had another suprise snow on Mon night. Unfortunately it is not the fluffy snow that we like. This time it's what I call the bad snow.

It's all tiny lumps. It also tends to melt quickly and turns into slush during the day. Then at night when the weather turns cold again, it becomes ice. Since my house is on a hill, I'm stuck in my house. Lil' C skipped school today. I don't know how to drive up & down the hill on ice!!! :( I'm afraid if I try to go up the hill, my car might roll back & crash into my neighbor's house!! hehe...

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