Evan's 18th Months...

How time flies... From rushing to the hospital after having contractions 5 minutes apart, to holding you for the first time, to hearing you cry for the first time, your first step, when you called da-da for the first time, your first birthday.. and now you are 1.5 years old. Here's a little report card on your development so far:

Weight: 10.3kg

Height: 77 cm

Head Circumference: 48 cm

Teeth: Many sharp teeth (trust me I know!).. I mean... 12 teeth so far: 7 on top and 5 on the bottom

Other than that:

- Able to recognise everyone familiar. Able to point to the correct person when asked who is mummy, daddy, Ah Kong and Ah Ma. BUT... when asked to call anyone, it's a standard answer : "Ba"... said with lots of emphasis on the "B"! Of course that is excluding daddy who is still da-da to you... But daddy insists that you also say Ma to me before...

- The other word u can say is "boh" (none).. I think.. Especially when your toys are not working.. So "boh batteries liao"

- As for trying to make you speak more words, you refuse to repeat after us, preferring to jabber away in your own baby language. Nevermind, there will come a day when you will talk non-stop and we may wish you had an "on/off" button!

- Walking skill has been perfected, in fact, you can even do an "old man's walk" or even walk backwards. You are even able to run quite quickly. Oh yeah... daddy knows that well enough, as he's tried letting you walk around the shopping complexes. And yet, sometimes preferring to crawl still!

- We have let you try most of the food that we take, providing it's not too salty or spicy. But.. you still take your moi moi that we cook. Only thing you haven't tried is probably seafood (not counting fish.. obviously)

- You adore the lift. Our little assistant in pressing the buttons. I guess you know best the "B" and "5": as these are the only 2 buttons we allow you to press when we go to the condo. In fact, you also love to "zap" the key card to open the door. No one but you is allowed to do that

- Next to lifts, you also love escalators! Yup.. daddy took you up and down once while waiting for mummy in Gurney Plaza.. and that's the end of it. You will get all excited when you see an escalator

- Drive us all mad with your Barney VCDs. Yikes.. we keep having to watch it over and over again, that even Ah Kong knows the songs! Need to get more Barney VCDs

- Love to look at pictures. Especially our wedding picture. You even know that mummy has a picture in my purse and you would always open my purse and point to daddy saying "da-da".

- You love to be praised. In fact, even if no one praises you and you did something well, you will clap your hands. It's a sure way to get us to clap and praise you too

- Finally let mummy brush your teeth and NOT your tongue. You even try to brush your own teeth

- Love to self-feed.. of course that is a VERY messy affair!

- Best of all.. very generous with your kisses. Especially when it's time to go up to our room, or when you want your milk

Wow! Another Birthday Party!

And so cool.. coz we got an "e-invitation" from Aunty Joanne for the birthday party. She's so excited with the party. Yup, such a pretty card. And we'll all be going. In fact she even offered to cook moi moi for you. But nevermind, we'll feed you before going, and you can share some of mummy's food too.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

This year we bought you a lantern for the Mid-Autumn Festival.. Wait... make that TWO lanterns. Hehe.. we bought one for you that was in the shape of a pig a long time before the Chinese 8th month started. Then later mummy and daddy went to Tesco and saw a Winnie the Pooh shaped lantern so we bought that for you too.

To be honest, you weren't too interested in either, but they both have this really annoying music, so daddy cut the wire that plays the music. So.. your lantern only has lights. But it's a relief to our ears! But you seem to prefer the Winnie the Pooh lantern. You would sometimes take it and turn on the light. Unfortunately there is something wrong with it, so the lights will not turn on sometimes. But you seem to know what to do with it. A little whack here and there.. and voila! It's working again! Haha...

Ah Ma cooked many special dishes (2 veggies, fish, prawn) tonight for this occassion. Daddy also bought "pei pa" duck to add to the dishes. You had your moi moi cooked with beef. Don't know why, but we forgot to introduce beef to your diet. So we started on Sunday, and you seem ok with it. Phew.. daddy is very happy, he will have another "kaki" to have his favourite steak with!

After dinner, mummy gave you a bath and we were off. Ah Ma wanted to bring you to Gurney Drive to have a look at the people carrying lanterns. In fact on the way there, we saw this really pretty lantern parade which even had a band. But... you were not interested in it at all. Similarly with the people carrying lanterns on Gurney Drive. We also drove by Esplanade, you were only interested in the lights in Ah Kong's car.

Nevermind, we'll try again next year...

P/S: Had difficulty trying to get a picture of you with your lantern!

Playtime at the Playground

We went to BM to visit Nanna and Grampy yesterday. It has been a while since we last went back to BM. So after daddy's golf game, we went out for lunch with Ah Kong and Ah ma before heading back to BM.

Of course you napped all the way back to BM and was all fresh to entertain your grandparents. After a while we went out to buy some things. As it was still rather early, we stopped by the playground where mummy used to play in to check it out. There were several older children playing football so we decided to go to another playground nearby. But on the way there we came across a new playground that mummy was not aware of. And better yet, there was no one there. So we parked the car along the side and let you run around and play on the slides and see-saw a while. We tried to get you interested in the swings, but you were not keen on them. Daddy wanted to let you go down the slide that was like a tunnel but you shook your head indicating "no". Nevermind, maybe next time we go back to BM. Too bad we didn't bring the camera to BM.

Dinner with Nanna, Grampy and Ah Ku was at Nando's in Auto City. It was super crowded there as there was a lantern festival being held there. We finally managed to get a place to park but we had to wait for a table. When the table was ready, there was no high chair. But we managed ok. Daddy ate at his "turbo speed" so that he could take over from mummy to entertain you. We left to go back to Penang after that.

Sunday was a lazy day. You must've been too tired from yesterday, as you slept until almost 9am. We initially planned to go to Gurney Plaza, but it was rather late by the time daddy joined us at the condo, and there was a long queue to get into the carpark. So that plan was cancelled. We plan to go this Thursday for the Parkson Member's Day. So after lazying around the house, with daddy taking a nap, we decided to go to the playground nearby our house. And boy, did you have fun there. See for yourself:

Again, you loved running freely, going on the slide, and the see-saw. But wouldn't try the swings. We were there for less than 20 minutes, but I think you had a wonderful time. Ah Kong was there with you too. Can you see daddy and Ah Kong playing with you on the see-saw?

Perhaps we will have an opportunity to visit other playgournds next weekend

Going Italian..

You know what is my favourite food? Italian food.. on top of that i also like Chinese, Indian, Mamak.. er... ok that's not what I wanted to talk about.. Back to the main issue: Italian food. Ah Ma had bought this wonderful pasta book recently and she decided to cook spaghetti marinara for us. Obviously Ah Kong was not included in the "us". He had his Chinese soup noodles for dinner. But "us" included you. She cooked the tomato base from scratch and took some out for you so that daddy could cook your sauce with chicken instead of seafood, as Ah Ma planned to put in prawns that you have not been introduced to yet.

When it was time to eat, daddy heated up the sauce, cooked the chicken and even added some cheese into the sauce to melt and stir in the pasta. It was delicious. (I know... coz I tasted some of it too! *wink*) Of course we had to cut the pasta into short portions so that it would be easier to feed you and you would not choke on it.

One good thing is that we decided to bathe you after dinner. And it was a wise decision. You were so messy after the dinner. But we think you liked it.

Evan the Chatterbox

Daddy and I noticed lately that you seem to have a lot to talk about. The "words" come in multi-intonations. Here you are having an "intelligent conversation" with daddy. We can hear his voice in the background, talking to you.

A Date with Dr Mary

It is that time again. Nope, you're not sick, but time for the last compulsory inoculation for you to take: 1st booster triple antigen, Polio and Hib. For a while anyway.... the next compulsory inoculation for you will be when you turn 6 years old! Long way to go..

So we rushed back after work to get you ready. Ah Ma was feeling better and had already cooked dinner but daddy and mummy did not have enough time to eat dinner. Mummy got you ready while daddy rested a bit. He said he wasn't feeling well. So mummy gave you a bath and fed you dinner. Tonight's specialty is ikan bilis stock with asparagus moi moi.

By the time you were done, daddy was up and ready to go. But just as mummy was changed, Ah Kong said that you were releasing a lot of "gas". So up we went to potty. Luckily you did your business and off we went. It was a bit of a rush as your appointment was at 7.15pm.

We arrived a little bit late, but we only had to wait for 3 other patients before you were called. Of course, while waiting for your turn, you played with the slide, the see-saw and even enjoyed sitting on the little chair. In fact, mummy had to carry you (grumbling away) into the doctor's room when it was your turn!

We chatted with Dr Mary and she told mummy that the JE and Hepatitis A inoculations are not compulsory ones and whether we wanted you to have them. We decided to go ahead with them. Of course for another time. So we scheduled an appointment for December. On top of that, we said that we would be travelling in November and Dr Mary suggested that you took the flu jab. She said she will check when it will be available and call mummy tomorrow to let me know and for us to make an appointment.

You were OK when Dr Mary listened to your heartbeat and lungs, and even measured your head circumference. But when the time came for you to lie down, I think you knew what was coming, so you turned on your loudspeaker to the maximum. We had to hold you down as she measured your height and give you the jab. Luckily as always you cried a bit but your mood got better enough for you to give Dr Mary and her nurse flying kisses and also wave goodbye to her!

As mummy and daddy did not have our dinner yet, we were contemplating and finally decided to give our favourite Bah Kut Teh a try. Of course, greedy you had to "sample" our food too, so mummy had to share some of my "Or Pui" (Black rice) with you. Did you like it? We'll go out for more Bah Kut Teh next time okie?

Spending Time with Daddy

Ah Ma had been sick the whole of yesterday. In fact we went out for a yummy lunch in Dragon-I while Ah Ma rested at home. She had food poisoning. We had to go early to avoid the long wait for a seat. Of course, we brought your food along. You were nearly finished when mummy's fried noodles came. So mummy had to share my noodles with you. And I'm sure you enjoyed it a lot. After a little grocery shopping for Sunday's dinner, we went home. It was raining heavily and in fact it rained heavily the whole day. Your playgroup had been cancelled and so we lazed around the house for the rest of the day.

Then Ah Ma seemed ok this morning when we left for work, but she called daddy to say she wasn't feeling well again, so we went home during lunch time bringing with us lunch for everyone. Kakak had been taking care of you for a while. So daddy took 1/2 day leave to stay at home and take care of you.

Daddy called mummy half an hour later to say that you'd fallen asleep in his arms.. aawww.... And in fact you slept for 2.5 hours so daddy managed to nap, read his papers and relax. By the time mummy reached home, you were having a bath. You were such a good boy today. And daddy said he had a good time with you too.

Happy Birthday to Ah Kong!

Today is Ah Kong's birthday and so guess where we went to celebrate? It's a place that no one would believe, but I can honestly say that Ah Kong willingly agreed to go there for the birthday celebration. Where? TGI Friday's! Yup.. you read correctly and nope, it isn't a typo. Daddy mentioned to Ah Kong about going there earlier yesterday, but he did not give an answer. Then during dinner yesterday evening, Ah Kong mentioned about it and so mummy booked a place for us.

As usual dinner at TGI Friday's was great. We all ate different things. This time you had chicken fingers with fries, but since the food came a little late, you ate only a little bit as you already finish most of the moi that we had brought along. But you did seem to have a good time there as you sat happily in your high chair (something that does not happen very often nowdays!) and doodled on the paper that they gave you. Initially you just looked at the paper, but the staff was kind enough to give you a crayon, so you put your artistic skill to good use and decorated the paper. Luckily you did not decide to redecorate the table too!

Of course no trip to Queensbay Mall is complete without a little retail therapy. So off we went to walk around and of course do a little grocery shopping in Jusco before heading home.

Happy Birthday to Evan's Ah Kong! We had a great dinner, hope you did too.

Exercise after dinner...

Daddy was not home yesterday night for dinner, as he had to entertain his visitor. So here you are after your dinner, exercising.. and since you were exercising, we (Ah Kong, Ah Ma and mummy) had to take turns to follow you around. So we also got our share of exercise.

And how do you exercise? By pushing your little jeep that you used to be afraid of all over the house. And because you like to harass poor Furbie who just lies around, minding his poor business. We have to follow you around and watch you closely. Otherwise, you will try to roll over Furbie. And poor Furbie is just recovering from his ear infection!

I tried to take a picture of you pushing your little jeep, but you kept coming towards mummy. So this was the best shot I could get of you as you moved towards me and I moved backwards to get you into the frame! Wow.. it's getting more difficult to take pictures of you as you seem very interested in the camera all the time!

After that, you decided that it was time to go upstairs and quickly gave Ah Kong and Ah Ma their customray kisses and hugs. Then you got sidetracked by the TV and stood a while watching TV. When you remembered it was time to go up you gave another round of kisses and hugs. Wow.. 2 rounds. Poor daddy missed your kisses last night as he only came back when you were sleeping. Did you give him a kiss this morning?

New Sandals for Evan

Mummy actually bought these for you 2 weeks back during the Merdeka weekend from Metrojaya, as they had further reduction on them, but I was a bit too busy to blog about it. But I did manage to take this picture of your new sandals before you wore them over the weekend.

It's a little different from your old ones that seem a bit tight for you now, as more of your feet are covered. Like them? They even have a special paper bag to carry your new sandals in!

Getting Better at Last

This morning was the last time that you took your 3 medicine. Ah Ma was right when she commented "Just as he was getting used to taking his medicine". But hey, we don't want you on the medicine for too long. You got better with the medicine starting on Saturday morning as when it was time for you to take the medicine, you were too busy playing on Ah Kong's notebook. And you took the medicine without much protest. Thank goodness, and it's been an easy task to feed you ever since.

One thing we noticed was that you had a loss of appetite. When you once ate 2 portions of moi moi each meal, you can hardly finish one bowl. So this week, we tried to vary the dishes from moi to pasta to mee suah. You seemed better with the mee suah yesterday. Perhaps you preferred something soupy. But mummy did notice when you were protesting at the top of your lungs on Wednesday that you had more teeth growing. Perhaps that's one of the reason for your loss of appetite?

We'll take one step at a time I guess. You're so lucky to have all those aunties wishing you a speedy recovery. Hopefully you will be able to attend the playgroup this weekend. Aunty Hooi Ling has something interesting planned.

Who does Evan look like?

Daddy found this site from Ethan's blog. And of course we were curious too. So we tried the test and got this result:

Looks like mummy.. daddy wasn't too satisfied...

So we tried again.. and again and finally we got one that daddy likes..

Now daddy is satisfied!

Still Sick

It was a rather scary experience yesterday evening. We had all finished dinner and Ah Ma was putting away biscuits into your container and you'd asked for a biscuit from her. She gave it to you and of course, you stuffed the whole biscuit into your mouth.. greedy little thing! And you gagged on the biscuit and mummy quickly put my finger into your mouth to remove the biscuit. You started coughing and Ah Ma picked you up. The next thing we knew, you'd vomited and vomited.. I think you'd emptied your stomach on the floor and on Ah Ma too.

You seemed shocked by what had just happened and while everyone cleaned up, mummy took you upstairs to clean up and change into your pyjamas. We went down for you to play a while then it was time to feed medicine again... *sigh* And the screaming began again... How I wish you would take kindly to the medicine like you used to.. Luckily, after the screaming and crying, you were back to normal, played a while before going up to continue with your play and for your sleep.

Poor little thing, your cough still sounds terrible this morning. And again, it was time for medicine. Daddy said he could hear you from upstairs as he was getting ready for work.

Ah Ma called to say that you rather not take anything as it caused you to cough so badly.Please get better soon.

Get Well Soon..

We decided to bring you in yesterday night to see Dr Mary as your cough sounded like it had phlegm. So mummy called and the nice nurse said that we should try to get in before 8pm, since we did not have an appointment, to see the doctor and hopefully not have to wait for long. So after we fed you your mee suah th'ng for dinner and gobbled our own dinner, daddy and mummy packed you into the car and off we went to Adventist Hospital.

They had changed the weighing scale from what looks like a carseat to one that is for little babies to lie flat on. Obviously you refused to sit on the weighing scale. So in the end, mummy had to let you wear your shoes for you to stand on the "big boy's scale". Of course, you did not stand still, but the nurse managed to get your weight. Still haven't reached 10kg. Your now 9.8kg.

We only had to wait for 1 patient and it was your turn next. Of course while waiting, you checked out the slides and the see-saw. As usual, you walked in when it was your turn to see Dr Mary, and of course you refused to sit down while she checked you. So mummy had to finally catch you to sit and you were quite good while Dr Mary checked you. Only screamed when she tried to look at your throat. Verdict: Flu, fever, cough and phlegm. So you were given medication for all of these..

When we reached home, it was war all over again. Time to feed you medication and 4 different types. At the end of the ordeal, there was medicine all over your face, neck, the high chair, the floor and we'd used up many pieces of tissue paper too.

Thankfully you slept quite well last night. But you did cough a bit in your sleep. We both did better with the second round of medicine this morning. You had no fever so one less medicine to give you! I wonder how Ah Ma fared with the medicine and you this afternoon...

Get well soon... so that we don't have to go through the ordeal of feeding you the medicine so much and so that your poor nose won't suffer too. *kiss*kiss*

Sick Today

You woke up early again this morning. And you seemed grouchy and fretful. Then mummy touched your forehead and you felt warm. Oh no... asked daddy to touch you, but he wasn't too sure. So we took the thermometer (the mercury one, as Dr Mary said this one is more accurate. Sadly this means it takes longer as we need to put it under your arms for more than 1 minute!) to take your temperature. Your reaction? Scream should and yell and cry like you were being tortured while we attempted to take your temperature! Sigh..

And verdict was: Yup, you had a fever. Since you wouldn't let mummy get ready for work, and it was almost 8am already, daddy got ready and he had to carry you down while mummy got ready. Of course I could hear you protesting all the way down and longer! We had to give you Paracetamol and since it's been a long time since you have taken medicine, you screamed like mad again. And you did so the other 2 times after that too.

Thankfully your appetite was normal when mummy and daddy went back to see you during lunch time. And it was also alright during dinner time. You slept well after the last dose of Paracetamol and your fever subsided. Poor little thing..