Worms?!

You had been complaining of tummy aches.. but I had thought that you were just pulling my leg, wanting sympathy. So I told Ah Ma to let you be. Why did I say that you wanted sympathy? Because you'd run to mummy saying that you had a "tummy pain pain" and ask me to carry you so that it'll be better. Hhmmm...

Anyway, last night Ah Ma said that your pain seems to be more often and worse. So since Dr Mary had night clinic, we brought you there. Gave you a shower before going. Before that I had to tell you that we were seeing Dr Mary, that she will be giving you medicine so that your tummy wont hurt anymore. You seemed quite ok with that. So when it was our turn, you seemed ok.

Dr Mary said that your tummy had a lot of "wind" so she prescribed medicine and for mummy to stop temporarily the Prolactor (good bacteria) while your tummy recovers from the wind. Next she said that since you were over 2 years old, you needed to take de-worming medications. That was to be taken after you recovered from your windy condition. She said that you needed to take it every 6 months and every time you take it, everyone at home also needed to take the medicine.

When we went home, mummy gave Furbie his medicine while you helped kakak keep your toys. You told me that you were tired, since you did not take your afternoon nap. So after that, mummy fed you your medicine. Phew... it went smoothly. Before feeding you the medicine, I told you that Dr Mary said that you had to take the medicine and that your pain-pain will go away. You told me that you wanted to take the medicine from the yellow spoon that the pharmacist che-che had given you. Ok, so I measured using the syringe then poured onto your spoon. And you happily slurped all the medicine! Yay! Clever boy.

Shortly after going into the room, you kept telling me to turn off the light. I guess you were very tired already. By the time daddy came online, you were already sleeping. Nevermind, daddy will be back today. You'll get to see him (and your new toys) soon.

Pick Up Daddy

What did you say the moment you saw mummy and Ah Kong walk through the door this evening? "Later we go pick up daddy from ee-pot okay?" Sigh.. No dear, daddy's not coming back today. It's a little difficult to explain to you that daddy will be back in 2 days time.

Nevermind, I know you'll be very excited when you see him. Of course, daddy would not be back empty handed. I "heard" the toys just now when we were chatting. Not exactly sure what they are, but they're some "noise makers"!

What Happened to Furbie?

Poor poor Furbie. What was your reaction when you saw this?

"What.....?"

You were lost for words. Hehe.. we thought that you'd ask him your favourite question: Are you ok? But you only uttered that single word when you saw him.

What happened to Furbie? Well, he's been having some skin problems. The doctor calls it "yeast infection". Nope, it's not harmful to us, and neither is it to Furbie, but it does cause him a lot of discomfort. And it didn't seem to be getting better from the last visit to the vet. So we took him to see the vet on Saturday, leaving you with Ah Kong and Ah Ma.

Although I would take up any other alternatives that the vet would have to offer, he said that the best way to totally cure Furbie of this skin problem was to have him totally bald. So he had to be sedated before the vet shaved him bald.. totally... We took him home, waited for him to be less groggy and for you to take your afternoon nap before giving him a bath in the medicated shampoo and applied medicine to him. He seems to be better, but losing all this hair made him feel the cold. Kakak says on Monday morning when it rained heavily he was trembling, despite her putting on a towel for him to keep warm as well as his t-shirt. Poor little Furbie.

I hope that his skin problem will improve faster. But we will need to keep him short haired for at least 6 months. I hope that when we visit the vet in 2 weeks time, his skin would have improved.

The Wonderful Skype

Nope, this is not an advertisement.. Hehe.. It's just that it's so very useful and free. We logged in this evening to have a chat with daddy. The last time we used to chat on Skype when daddy was in Japan for work. Then you were too young to be able to chat with daddy. In fact you had a puzzled look when you could hear daddy, but not see daddy. After a while you got bored and I put you to sleep and continued to chat with daddy.

Today, you're older but still as surprised that you were not talking on the phone and yet you would hear daddy and not see him. Hehe.. in fact you were wondering why you could see so many pictures of yourself on my notebook, especially the one of you playing in Youth Park (you could recognise the place as "playground").

Anyway, after the initial surprise, you were quite happy to chat with daddy for a while. Then after that you were more interested in jabbing at all the buttons on my notebook! Even when daddy was chatting with Ah Kong, you kept poking at the number 1 key, and telling mummy that you were pressing on number one! So very helpful. In fact, halfway through the conversation, you even ended the call by hitting your favourite button "ESC"! Of course daddy knew who the culprit was that terminated the call! Naughty Evan lo.

In the end, we had to end the call when you got even more bored and started to pull things out of my drawer and ended up with a smack on your hand followed by you howling away! Maybe it'll be better tomorrow night, if we get to chat with daddy again.

So kind of you..

I know you love me just SOOO much. Why? Well, every night you will quickly jump onto my side of the bed and when I ask you where mummy will sleep if you hog my side of the bed? The response:

On the floor!

Thanks so much! Even with daddy away, I don't get to sleep on his side of the bed. I still have to sleep on the floor. You are very kind, Evan Ban!

BeanBag Hog

Cool swimsuit, eh?

Daddy took these pictures of you sitting on the beanbag before daddy took you down for a swim on Sunday. You seem to love sitting on daddy's favourite seat. Hhm... move over daddy, it's now Evan's seat. I think by the time he comes back, your bum imprint would be permanently on the seat. So it's now "Evan's chair"!

Last night I sat down on the beanbag and you told me that you wanted to sit. So I carried you to sit on my lap, but guess what? You asked me to get out of the chair. You wanted it all for yourself! What to do? Let you sit lo. Of course, you just wanted to sit there while "enjoying" the song from your favourite serial (Best Kept Secret at 9pm). So after you vacated the seat the moment the song ended, I thought I would get to sit there now. But nOooOoo... Next you wanted mummy to play with you. Then you needed to wee wee.. by the time I got to sit down, the show was almost over, and time for our nightly routine: keep your toys, take your milk, kiss everyone goodnight and go to the room to "wind down" for the day. No chance to sit on the beanbag! Maybe I will have a chance tonight?

This is going to make daddy SAD

You'd usually stand near the door at home whenever you hear the door opening to see who is home. And whenever you see us, you'd say "Mummy and daddy come home". Well, you did your usual yesterday evening and you noticed only Ah Kong and mummy coming through the door.

What was your reaction? "Eh? How come no daddy wan?"

Later on you probably recalled where daddy was.. You told me during dinner "Daddy go to ee-pot (airport)". And when I told you that daddy was in Singapore, you told me "Eh-wan (Evan) also Chingapor" and when asked why you wanted to go to Singapore, you told me "Er.. er... to.. to... buy nen-nen lo!". I could hear Ah Ma giggling as she listened to our conversation.

Poor daddy, I'm sure he misses you a lot. We spoke to him over the phone last night and you played your drums for him while singing "Old McDonald's" before saying good night to daddy. Well, we'll see daddy soon this Friday ok?

Daddy's Gone to Singapore

Daddy has gone to the airport today. He needs to travel to Singapore for some work. He'll be back on Friday, and judging by his expression yesterday, he's not very keen as he'll miss you a lot (well he added "and mummy too" after a long afterthought! *grin*)

He played with you last night, trying to tell you that he'll not be around, but you didn't seem to understand. At first you said that you also wanted to go to the airport. Then later, you picked the word "Singapore" and also told daddy that you wanted to take "air-plane to Chingapor".

You were still sleeping this morning when we left for the airport, but don;t worry, daddy will be back on Friday. He's made mummy promise to post daily updates on you on the blog. Er.. hopefully I will be able to do so.

Self feeding

Actually we've let you self-feed yourself for a while, and I'm proud to say that you're very good at that. When we first started, it was during dinner time. I'd put some newspapers under your baby chair, but you didn't seem to drop much on the floor, so I stopped putting the newspapers. Some rice would drop on your lap, so daddy would remove your tray after you were done with dinner and bring you to clean up in the bathroom, as well as wash your hands and mouth. Sometimes, not a grain or rice drops. Hhmm.. I think it's because you're greedy, so you are careful to make sure no rice drops on!

Since you are ok with rice, obviously there is no problems with moi, since it's all stuck together. So, there is certainly NONE wasted whenever you feed yourself moi. Here's a picture I took of you enjoying your moi in front of the TV. I'd usually put it on the coffee table along with your water and wet towel, pull your little chair and you'd feed yourself. That's why I managed to get the pictures of you.

What did you have for lunch? Pumpkin moi. Can't you see from your messy face?

Of course, soon you realised that I was carrying the camera and tried to "help" me with the camera. So what did picture did you take? Barney..

I had to keep away the camera after that so that you'd finish your lunch.

Birthday Dinner

So where did we go to celebrate Ah Kong's birthday? Well, since we could not make it on Sunday (daddy & mummy had to attend a wedding dinner), we celebrated a day earlier. Well, we asked and asked Ah Kong to think of a place to go for dinner, but he could not decide.

What to do? So we took out Friday's newspaper that has a listing of where to eat. Scanned through and still could not decide. In the end, we finally agreed on Ribs Barbeque Restaurant on Burmah Road. Ok, the last time we tried to eat there, they didn't have any tables available. So this time I called ahead to get a table. And we got one. So the moment we arrived, we got a seat, ordered our food and even a main course for you. What next? Go for walkie lo.. What else? It's your favourite thing to do while waiting to be served dinner. Don't know where daddy took you to. But when mummy's soup was served, I could not find you. Had to call daddy on his phone. Soon, we were sharing yummy pumpkin soup.

Our main course was served shortly. As for your order... We waited and waited and it never arrived. We noticed other tables being served and so daddy checked with the waited. Guess what? He never took the order! (Of course they did not let that on, but it's obvious since he quickly ran to the kitchen with a piece of paper and walked over to say that it was "on the way"). Of all orders, he had to leave out your order. After waiting forever, it finally arrived. But you were no longer hungry. You'd drank most of my soup (thankfully!) and eaten my potato wedges and other things. So in the end, daddy finished off most of your fish. What did the restaurant do to compensate for the delayed food? Free ice-cream for all of us, including you.

The food was good. Only thing that the "hiccup" made me rather unhappy as they had left out your order (maybe he didn't expect us to order a main course for a little guy like you?). Maybe next time we have to ask them to repeat our order to make sure this does not happen again...

Walkie walkie

That seems to be your latest favourite word. You keep using it, wanting to go for walks. Especially when we're out for lunch or dinner. You'd request to go "walkie-walkie" either after the meal or while waiting for the meal to be served.

When did this start? When you were hospitalised. Since there was nothing much to do in the hospital room, we'd take walks around the ward either (with mummy as your slave reminding you to walk slowly as I struggle with the thing carrying the IV machine) to look at the little sleeping baby or to play in the playroom until your IV machine's battery started to run flat and beep, signaling it was time to go back to the room to charge the IV machine. In fact, you even requested to go walkie-walkie when you woke up in the middle of the night. Nothing could persuade you to sleep or just lie in bed. In the end, we did go for your walkie and thank goodness the playroom was closed, otherwise you'd be playing in the playroom in the middle of the night!

So now who's designated to bring you for walkies? Daddy, of course. Mummy gets to enjoy my meal while daddy has to turn on his super fast speed to eat dinner/lunch then bring you for a walkie. Of course, you'll only start to ask to go for a walkie after you'd finished eating!

Mummy, wake up

I love the weekends. We usually get to sleep in. Like 2 weekends ago. We slept until almost 9a.m. That's considered very good. Thanks goodness despite waking up early on days when we go to work, you also sleep in when weekend comes. And I'd usually only wake up after you'd woken up.

Actually to be more precise, you'll wake me up. I try to continue sleeping even though I can feel you moving around the bed. You'll try to entertain yourself for a while until you get bored, then you will come over to my side of the bed to wake me up. How? Simple: by using your little fingers to pry open my eyelids. What is the first thing I see?

Yup, you peering at me like that, and telling me "Mummy, wake up!"

Where is it?

Quite a number of mummy's friends were asking where this yummy coconut ice-cream is sold. Hhmmm.. shall we tell them?

Ok, ok, we'll share the "secret" location. After another round of it this weekend, it's a place worth mentioning and sharing with our friends. It's sold by a Thai lady who has a stall to your left just after you enter the gates of the reclining Buddha's compound in Burmah Lane. I have asked her before and she says that she sells on weekends and public holidays. (She speaks hokkien.. phew!)

We usually order it in a cup which comes in 2 sizes: big cup and small cup. She also sells ice-cream on a cone. I've never tried that, so don't know if the ice-cream on a cone comes with the corn, peanuts and "atap-chi". No pictures.. coz everytime we buy it, we finish it in the car (also never thought of taking a picture... too busy eating!)

So, hope that our friends will enjoy the ice-cream as much as we do.

Happy Birthday to Ah Kong

Ice-Cream Today

As usual, daddy had his early morning golf game today. So we went out for an early lunch with Ah Kong and Ah Ma, since Ah Kong's game was in the afternoon. On our way downtown, guess what you said?

"Later we go buy aishh(ice)-cream, ok?"

"OK" seems to be your favourite word lately. Everything ends with an "ok". Haha.. I guess you picked that up from us. But we didn't have time to buy ice-cream with Ah Kong, since we had many things to do and buy before Ah Kong's golf game.

So when daddy came back from his game, had lunch and a shower, we headed out again to buy ice-cream. What's so special about this ice-cream? Nope, it's neither Haagen-Dazs nor Baskin-Robbins. We can only get it in one particular place (in Penang anyway) and the lady only sells on weekends and public holidays.

It's Thai coconut ice-cream. Complete with peanuts, corn and "atap-chi" (palm seeds). Oo-la-la.. Just the right dessert for today. Yummy... Daddy reckons even you know a good thing when you've tasted it!

Terrible Two's?

Some days you are the perfect angel. Others...

You're almost 2.5 years old. Growing, and learning new things as the days go by. It's is sometimes easy to get you to understand why you are not able to do things or to eat some things just by a simple explanation. BUT.. that does not mean the explanation is something that you will accept or want to understand. That's when we are reminded of "the terrible two's".

These days I will tell you not to do things and what do I get in response?

"WaaaaaahhhhhHWAAAAAAAHHHHH"

Any hope of explanation to calm you down does not work, until you get what you want. Especially giving you the key-card to open the security door to the condo. If anyone forgets to give you the key-card.. Sorry-lah.. Their eardrums will suffer the consequences! How to calm you down? Go out and let you zap the key-card again.. what else?

Sometimes I tell you with my most stern voice "That's enough".. what do I get in response? More tears and loud wailing again.. Some days, you'd just ignore me. Otherwise, you will conveniently change the topic. How? By drawing our attention to something else, or even better.. a *kiss*.

How can we remain angry? I wonder if the age of "the terrible two's" will end just like that when you turn three? Hhmmm...

First time: Hospitalised

Daddy and I were out to lunch on Wednesday when Ah Ma called to say that you were complaining of a tummy ache. We thought you'd all right after a while. But less than 10 minutes later, Ah Ma called again saying that you were crying non-stop and daddy could hear your in the background when he was talking to Ah Ma. So we rushed back to the office to pick up our notebooks and headed back home. Ah Ma called again, worried about you asking where we were. She wanted to drive you directly to the hospital, but I had called ahead and the doctors would only be back at 2pm.

So we arrived home but you'd fallen asleep from all the exhaustion. A while later you woke up writhing from the pain, telling mummy that your tummy was "pain, pain". So we rushed you to the hospital. The moment we arrived, you told me buy bread! Then when the nurse saw you, she said that Dr Mary was on emergency leave. (Already knew that, because I had called ahead). So we waited to see Dr Khaw. What happened before it was your turn? You decided to throw up all over daddy. And when we went in, you also decided to decorate his office and giving him some "aromatherapy" by vomiting another 2 times.

Diagnosis: food poisoning. Ah Ma had it the day before, so you probably got it from her. And with you deciding to vomit twice in the doctor's clinic and a check indicated no bowel movement, he recommend that we admit you. Sigh.. my heart (and daddy's too) heart dropped to the ground when we heard that. He said that better get you on the drip to rehydrate and later cure the food poisoning. He actually said 3 days minimum! Yikes...

He took you to another room where he inserted the "thingy" in your right hand for the IV and also took some blood for testing. We were about to cry when we saw you crying when the doctor did all that. Started to wonder if we did the right thing in agreeing to have you admitted. The admission process was so so long. And guess what, by the time we got to the room, you seemed all fine and dandy!

Look at your little hand.. Poor thing

You chatted with the nurse, telling her that the tag she gave you was a watch and it had the numbers "ninety-four" (which I don't know where you saw that from.. ), let her change your dirty clothes and told her lots of things. When daddy went back to pick up some things, we "roamed" the paediatrics ward, checking out the playroom, looking at that tiny baby who's got jaundice and testing the tv in our room. And then it was still ONLY 5 pm. Sigh..

Ah Ma and her friends dropped by to see us. Then daddy went back to change and Ah Kong, Ah Ma and our house guests came over to see how you were before heading off for dinner. We sat around, ate dinner, played a little and watched "The Fox and the Hound" and you fell asleep shortly. Phew.. peace for mummy, only then could I take a shower. Daddy dropped by later with some food for me and you woke up, asking to go for a walk and go to the playroom. Daddy finally left as the next bed was occupied and there was no place for him to sleep. So, we played in my little (very tiny) bed and you asked for more food (I'm officially off cinnamon rolls for a long, long time!) and we finally got to sleep..

Or so I thought... The nurses were in and out of the room, either taking your temperature or adding anti-biotic to the IV and it went on all night. I think either it was you waking up the other baby, or it was her waking you up. Dr Khaw come over quite early this morning and he said you looked fine and we could be discharged. Yay! Thought that we could leave quickly.. But by the time all the procedures were complete, it was already 12pm!

Longest 24 hours of my life, and I hope NOT to see any hospital room for a long, long time. Everyone was so tired from this affair, we all fell asleep shortly after lunch.

Oh No.. It Rained

With Ah Kong's friends over, they decided to treat them to a BBQ. But.. of all days, it decided to rain.. Actually it had been raining for the past few days but it did not rain yesterday, so were thought that there was hope of a BBQ by the poolside. But it was not to be...

It rained in the afternoon and stopped a while (raising our hopes again, I might add) and when we went down to clean the BBQ pit, it had already started to rain again. Sigh... What to do? We had to put our "backup" plan into action next. Use our (still new) oven. Very soon, the aroma of grilled chicken was all over the condo. Yummy.. Ah Ma's BBQ recipe sure is the best! And everyone agreed to that. Next came the prawns. While the prawns were cooking in the oven, Ah Ma even cooked steaks to order! Daddy's steaks was done to his liking: medium-rare! Eeww... After that was Ah Ma's fish that she's bought fresh from the fishermen near our place. It was so fresh.

What next? There was a birthday to celebrate. So.. we had chocolate mud cake that we bought from the shop outside our condo. On top of that another friend of Ah Kong's even brought yummy cheesecake. Double yummy.. You loved the chocolate mud cake, which Ee Poh and family also love!

What time did you sleep? With all the excitement and all the aunties and uncles to keep you entertained, we went to the room at 11.00pm, but you didn't sleep until probably 12.00midnight after daddy and mummy fell asleep. I think we slept before you!

Only thing is you had to wake up early in the morning (3.40 am ok!!) to do a biggie and drink water and insist that mummy had to go to the kitchen to top up your water bottle and after all that you just went back to sleep, while I lie in bed with my eyes wide open! Sheesh.. I feel so groggy now...

Let's Go For a Swim

It looked so sunny yesterday evening. And I was feeling a little too lazy actually, but you seemed to energetic yesterday and poor daddy was trying to take a nap. So mummy brought you down for a swim. At first I thought of doing it by myself, but Ah Kong was also keen to bring you swimming. So in the end, we went down with Ah Kong and Ah Ma too. The last time we went swimming you got sick and that was the scariest time ever.

Dressed you up in your new swimsuit and off we went. As usual you refused to get into the water at first. Ah Kong had to carry you into the small pool with you trying to get your foot on the sides, struggling!

Finally mummy gave up and told you to sit in the small pool while I went into the bigger pool. Of course, you decided to join me immediately. After a while, you started to relax and enjoy the warm water. Even kicked the water. When Aunty Ruth and Uncle KK came down, you even showed off your kicking skills. After that, you decided that you didn't want to get out of the water. But I dare not let you play for too long, so we wrapped you up and headed to the condo for a warm drink followed by a warm bath. That was fun, let's do it again soon...

Looking better?

We've finally cleared most of the things. Daddy and Ah Kong even put up some of the pictures, cuckoo clock and we put away most of the things that were in the boxes. (don't open the closets! Hahaha..)

With Ah Kong's friends over, we had to clear out your toys from your "play room". So where did they end up? Outside in the living room lo.. Can you see the toys on the floor? That's not all of them ! Some are in our room, others are on the shelves near the dining table.. Sigh.. too many toys!

Naptime

Seems like your nap time is now regulated. Ah Ma says that right after Clifford the Big Red Dog, you will go to the room and fall asleep quickly. Hhmmm... Looks like that seems to be the case. At 2 sharp for the past 2 days you'd fall asleep.. in the car!

On Saturday, daddy and mummy had to take turns carrying you so that we could have lunch! And right after we finished our lunch, you decided that you'd had enough sleep already! Arghhh... Yesterday was the same case. Barely 10 minutes after we got into the car, you'd fallen asleep. After we went to 2 stalls (1 in Terengganu Road and another in Tanjung Bungah) to buy some tea time snack, you decided to wake up! Slept for 1 hour in the car!

So would that be the same today? We thought that since we were not going anywhere, you'd follow the trend. Sigh.. I was SO mistaken. Went into the room at 2 sharp and thought that you'd sleep 5 minutes later (like Ah Ma said you would). Did it work? NooOOooo.. (obviously). I took me a good 25 minutes before you finally decided to fall asleep! Sigh..

And now? Deep in slumber land...

Correction: Already up even before i manage to upload the pictures! Haiya...

Nope.. woke up to lie on my lap.. sleeping again

So many boxes!

Boxes everywhere... That was what the house looked like the last few days before we officially moved.

And the condo is also full of boxes (obviously) and it took us a good 3-4 days to (almost) finish unpacking. There are still 2 more boxes that we need to clear before Ah Kong's friends come this weekend.

Here you are playing among the boxes.

What Happened to All the Water?

*Backdated post.... (very)*

Oh no.. I didn't notice it at first when we went home on Sunday (from the condo). In fact, I didn't realise that the fishes were missing when I came back last Tuesday. Even made the mistake of asking you where the fishes were. Luckily you were ok with the missing fishies. Ah Kong had given the fishes to his friend. 3 of the Japanese carp. Daddy said that they'd told you the fishes were to be given to "uncle".

So what was your reaction when you saw this?

Look closer..

Eh? No more water edi... Water go to unker's housh (house).. (You told me that EVERY night, when we go downstairs to take your milk!)

Er.. ok i guess you got mixed up between the fishies and the water. I'm sure you'll miss those fishies. You used to feed them with Ah Kong whenever he goes home for lunch. Never mind, maybe when you're older we can get you some fishies to feed in a fish bowl, since this pond will be covered up soon.

Need Sleep

I guess everyone has been tired with all the moving. I cannot imagine when the time comes for us to move back to the house. Yup, I forgot to mention that this move is only temporary while the house is under renovation. Only realised why Baby Zen's mummy left us a message.

We've been staying at the condo officially for a week. Yet, I think everyone is still very tired. I don't know why you should be tired, but you seem to be so. You must love the excitement of staying in a new place, because you seem to sleep late and wake up early. So do you suffer from lack of sleep? Obviously not! Why? Because your afternoon naps have now extended to 2.5 hours!

Who is suffering from lack of sleep instead? Hehe.. I wish to say it's me, but I think daddy is still very tired. With the move, we now have to wake up earlier to travel to work. I cannot proclaim to be lacking in sleep because sometimes I fall asleep before you do at night! Hehe... Daddy on the other hand has those little things to check on and fix around the place still. So he's really tired. He fell asleep even with you making a ruckus in the room yesterday evening!

Hopefully you'll sleep in this weekend. We all need the long long sleep to rejuvenate!

We've Moved

Mummy received news that we were to move to the condo the weekend after I came back from Bangkok. Yikes.. that gave me around 2-3 days to pack up all the things that we've accumulated over the years. What to do? What to do? Can it be done on time? When daddy picked me up on Wednesday, he told me that they'd postponed by a week. Phew.. Now I will have more time to pack.. or so I thought anyway.

Ok, the truth was that I did procrastinate a little. And the boxes only arrived on Friday. Luckily Ah Ma decided to engage some professional movers to help. I started to pack up the clothes into the boxes, while daddy went through all the things to decide what needs to be thrown, kept or given away.

Everynight was spent clearing all our stuff. Some nights I slept when you fell asleep and refused to wake up later (as I had promised daddy) to continue packing. Hehe.. still tired from the trip. Anyway, we took Thursday afternoon off and we finally finished packing all the things. By the time we were done, it was 3am. Why did we take so long? Because we had to wait for you to fall asleep, which you have taken to sleeping only after 11pm! Otherwise, you'd be so very helpful. Either helping by pulling out the things that I'd put into the box or asking me what the items were, or deciding that you wanted to sit on my lap!

Friday was D-Day. We all could not wake up, since we had a very late night. When mummy and daddy finally got ourselves out of bed, you continued to sleep until almost 9am. Since it was already late, I gave you milk and off we went to the condo with some small nick-knacks that we were to move ourselves.

Daddy left shortly for the house after we were settled in. What did we do? We entertained ourselves, had lunch and mummy even ordered delivery for myself. Daddy came again later to drop some things and see how we were doing. Since you were still awake, we decided to go back home to see how the moving was going. The house certainly looked.. bare. All the things were cleared and just before we left, it was even emptier. Why? Because one of the charitable organization had sent their recycling team to remove all the wooden fixtures. So the house was REALLY bare.

We arrived at the condo just as the movers reached. Soon, they were moving the boxes and boxes of things into the house. When all was done, they opened the packaging of the bulking items. I wish that was the end of the moving. Sigh.. but seems like that's not the case. Now it's time to unpack. As of now.. we still have A LOT of things to unpack.

And with all the moving, you did not take an afternoon nap. You dozed off for 5 minuted on the way back home in daddy's car. So I expected you to sleep early at night, but I was mistaken! Sleep only came to you (and me) at 11.30pm!

Chippies again...

Daddy said that he had promised to go home yesterday during lunch time. Too bad we couldn't make it, since mummy had a lot of work to do. So today we bought lunch and went home. Of course, you were glad to see us home. It seems you even told Ah Ma that we'd be back today. And good thing we decided to go home today too. Since Ah Kong did not go home for lunch today.

Like I was saying, you sure were glad when you heard us coming home. But you were even happier when you saw what we had brought back for lunch. Yup.. chippies! You were grinning from ear to ear when you saw the "Golden Arches" logo. That's right.. you can recognise this:

And this too:

What do you call them? "Chippies".. what else?

I wonder if you will greet me with "Eh? Where chippies?" when we get home, like you did the last time... Sigh.. more eager to see the chippies than mummy or daddy...

Ba-nga-nga-nga

Although you are willing to try most of the food that we introduce to you, you seem very reluctant when it comes to fruits. It's durian season, and obviously you refused to try that. In fact, the moment you see the white Styrofoam box, you'd point to it and say "No...."

What is strange is that you'd take orange juice but not oranges. Then again, you had grape yogurt yesterday but when Ah Kong asked if you would like grapes, since you'd take grape yogurt, you said "No..."

So what fruit would you eat? Apple is one of your favourite. I used to give you pear too, but nowdays you'd only eat it if you're in the mood for it. Other than that, banana is your favourite. You'd ask Ah Ma to buy you ba-nga-nga-nga when she goes to the market. Whenever we go to the Pulau Tikus market, there are only 2 things that we have to buy: ba-nga-nga-nga and baka bun (butter bun).

The latest thing you have learnt is whether the banana is ripe enough to eat.

Ah Ma : What colour is the banana?

Evan : Gween, can-ngot eat (Green, cannot eat)

Ah Ma : What colour is the banana?

Evan : 'ewo, can eat (Yellow, can eat)

It's very amusing how fast you pick up things now. So whenever you see the banana that Ah Ma buys you'll know whether you can eat it or not.

P/S: Despite learning things quickly, there are some things that you refuse to learn. Like the correct word is "ba-na-na" and yet you'll say "ba-nga-nga-nga". Otherwise it will be "ba-nga".. Anything but the correct word!

Missed You So Much

I was away on holidays with my friends from last Friday and only came back on Tuesday. While it was fun, I had to leave you crying, in Ah Ma's arms, asking for me and that made me sad. Thank goodness for mobile phones. So daddy would call me and we'd chat a while or he's SMS me to tell me the little naughty things that you did while I was away.

It was a relief when I arrived home. I get to see you and daddy, whom I've missed so much. The moment I got home, I hid in the kitchen and you came out asking for mummy. Daddy was there but you told poor daddy "Dowan daddy". The smile you gave me was the sweetest and I missed your smiles so much while I was in Bangkok.

Better still was your reaction when I gave you your presents. You went "Wow.. nice, nice".. Talk about being appreciative. Worth all the effort I spent to pick some nice things for you. Will post about your "loot" later on...

Backseat Driver

Why are you called a "backseat driver"? Because you sit at the back and you tried to help Ah Kong drive. Or to be more specific.. park his car!

We went out for lunch on Sunday: you, Ah Kong, daddy and mummy. Couldn't decide where to go. We went to Lorong Selamat and finally found a parking spot. Ah Kong was backing when we heard the backseat driver saying:

"Go all the way"

Wow! We were surprised that you could say that. Next we're wondering where you learnt that from. Ah Kong reckons probably from Ah Ma! Haha...

Do Not Disturb: Artist At Work

I thought that I had posted about this before, but looks like I didn't. Remember that "artwork" that you'd drawn for Mother's Day? Well, here are some pictures of you busy drawing:

You love to draw when we're in the room at night. You'll tell me "Mummy, daw" and you'd put mummy and daddy's pillows on the floor, one for me and another for you. And I'll put the paper on the floor and we'd draw.. Or more like you scribble and mummy draw whatever few things that I can draw. But it's fun, and I love your imagination..

Scribbly-scratch

Evan: This is ai-yo-pane (aeroplane)

More lines and scribbles

Evan: This is (s)tar

Drawing session with mummy

Artist at work..

And there are times when one of your many toys are "taught" how to draw. Here's Elmo taking drawing lessons from you (picture not very clear beacuse you were moving around):

Things I Overheard You Saying...

You seem to be more and more curious. So whenever you hear a sound, you will ask "Wat dat?" of "Eh? Wat dat?"

Another thing you like to ask is "(What) are you doing?" Just like when we were in The Smokehouse, waiting for the tea time menu to be served, and we were playing in the gardens. Chim Poh went to hide from you.. so what did you say? "Chim Poh... (What) are you doing?"

Whenever your toys fall, you'll say "Ash-den" which is your version of "accident". Especially when you play with your garage. Sometimes, one of the cars will overturn when it is maneuvering the bend and the next car will bang into the overturned car, so you will say "Aiya, ash-den".

Which brings us to your next word "Aiyah..". Chim Poh reckons you picked that up from me. She says I use that word quite a bit. So when anything happens, you will say "Aiyah..."

It's very funny how from saying a few single words, you are now almost able to hold a conversation with us. Just like when you were playing with daddy.. He arranged your trains in a row and you told him "No, daddy.. Not like dish (this)".

Sometimes it's a little difficult to figure out what you are saying.. I'd try to guess what you're saying with words that sound almost alike. If it's wrong, then you'd just say "No" and we'd move on to the next guess *wink*. You used to get really upset when we could not figure out what you were trying to say. I guess when we are around you more often, it's easier to understand you. And you definitely understand what we're telling you. In fact, Chim Poh and Chek Kong and Su Kor-kor had difficulty understanding you.. But after 3 days with you, they could pretty much figure out what you try to tell them.

Oh yes, you also like to say this:

Mummy: Where is Ah Ma?

Evan: Upstairs

Mummy: What is Ah Ma doing upstairs?

Evan: Doing something

or

Mummy: What are you doing, Evan?

Evan: Something

Never something specific. Always a standard answer of "something"... Ok there was this one time that you gave me a specific answer:

Evan: Going home

Mummy: Go home to do what?

Evan: Go home, do something

Mummy: Do what?

Evan: Go home, wash b*rdie

Er.. ok next time, we'll leave it as "something"!

Wedding Dinner

We had 2 dinner's to attend yesterday. So, who did you go with? Daddy, of course. Why? Because he's going with Ah Ma and Ah Kong... It was daddy's cousin, Siao Lee's wedding dinner. Mummy on the other hand attended my colleague's wedding dinner.

In the morning, we headed to Gurney Plaza to get the batteries in my watches changed. Yup, they all decided to die on me at the same time. But no such luck. One needed to be sent to KL to have the batteries changed, while another shop did not have the size needed for my other watch. Sigh.. Anyway, we had a quick lunch after that and headed home, since daddy had a very early game to play.

Tried very hard to get you to nap early, but you decided that you preferred to play. In the end, you went into the small room with Ah Ma and after a long long time, you finally fell asleep. By the time you woke up, it was time to get ready for the wedding dinner. You were too grumpy to want to have any tea and so mummy got you ready first, then left you with Ah Ma along with your cheese. Aunty Asher was coming to pick me up soon. Luckily I was ready by the time she arrived.

By the time I got back from the wedding, it was almost 11.00pm and you guys were only on the way home. Daddy told me later that there was a traffic jam, trying to get out of the carpark! Poor daddy was so tired. He woke up this morning with aching arms. Why? Because you were so lucky to be seated right in front of the speakers! It was so loud, so daddy had to take you away from the loud music. Poor thing, you kept telling daddy that you were (s)cared.

Well you came back looking tired, but as always did not fall asleep immediately. By the time you fell asleep, it was 11.30pm and you still woke up at 8.45am this morning. Mummy tried to pretend to sleep to see if you'd wake me up. Surprise, surprise, you just played on our bed, until you spotted me looking at you!!

I guess you are still tired for the late night, you took your afternoon nap without making a lot of fuss. All settles within 10 minutes. You usually give me a harder time to get you to nap when mummy is around..

Haircut Day

We're tired from all the travelling and late nights but we decided to bring you to Uncle Austin's for a long needed haircut. Yvonne kor-kor mentioned that your hair looked too long. Don;t I know it...

So we unpacked and left the house at around 5p.m. for Uncle Austin's. When we arrived, there were 2 customers there, but we had to wait for almost an hour before it was finally your turn to have your hair cut. Daddy had planned to have his hair cut too, but changed his mind after waiting for so long. You were quite happy playing around and mummy had to ask you a few times if you were ok cutting your hair. You happily said not scared, cut here-here-here... Took Ching Ern's mummy to get you "prepped up" for the hair cut. And it sort of worked.

By the time your turn arrived, you sat quietly on the high chair while your hair was cut, but only for 5 minutes. When you noticed some hair dropping on your arms, you got upset and in the end, we finished the rest of your haircut under protest and in mummy's arms.

Before

After

Our Holiday in Camerons

I know I have mentioned many times before.. but it's true.. I love long weekends. This weekend was the Penang Governor's Birthday. So, we got today (Monday) off. So where to? It's the best time to travel since only Penang state was having this holiday. Cameron Highlands.. yay! And Su Kor-kor was taking the weekend off too and was joining us and 5th Chim Poh & Chek Kong in Camerons.

It's been a year since we last went to Camerons. The last time was during the Labour Day holiday stretch. This time it wasn't anywhere as crowded as last year. In fact, most of the cars bore Penang number plates! Hahah.. everyone had the same great idea to go to Cameron Highlands. We left Penang on Friday night to stop over in Ipoh, so that we did not have to leave early on Saturday. By the time we arrived in Ipoh, it was already past 10.00pm but you were not tired at all. So we all sat around and you finally went to sleep while daddy and Su Kor-kor went out to buy supper "ngar choi kai" (bean sprout chicken noodle) from the famous Cowan Street. Ah Ma was going to sit with you while I had my supper, but somehow, you decided otherwise and woke up. So... we all shared the noodles and chicken. You finally went back to sleep at 12.30a.m! The latest you've slept so far...

On Saturday morning, your internal clock didn't reset. You still woke up early. 8.30a.m. Sigh.. Ok after that everyone had to wake up, since you spoke at the top of your voice! After everyone was ready, we headed to Ipoh's old town to have breakfast. What did we have? Our favourite curry mee and all sorts of ingredients (fish ball, meat balls, "ngau kan yin", etc). Daddy ordered kuay tiau for you, but you ended up eating only a little but of that and lots of fish balls and meat balls.

After getting ready and packing, we headed to Camerons. Only thing is we had to make a u-turn back to the Ipoh house as mummy had forgotten to bring your two "precious": Barney and "baby" (the "kiam chai" bear). We finally arrived at Chek Kong's apartment in Tanah Rata at around 1.00p.m. We rested a while, played a while and soon it was time for dinner. What did you do while waiting for dinner time? We'd packed your Thomas the train set on Friday to bring along. So daddy set it up in this corner:

Dinner was at the usual spot in Brinchang. We ate a delicious dinner and went for a walk at the "pasar malam". It sure was crowded. After buying a few things, we left to go back. It was rather late, but as usual while on holidays, you only finally went to sleep at around 11.00pm, despite only napping for an hour in the car on the way up.

On Sunday, we woke up early (again)... It was quite noisy outside, with the vehicles moving outside and the birds, so since you woke up, no one else got to sleep either! Ah Kong and Chek Kong got ready and headed to the golf course. What did we have in mind? Have a look at this picture of you and Kor-kor:

Yup.. we went to "Ye Olde Smokehouse" for brunch. Ok, it was supposed to be breakfast, but by the time we arrived it was almost 10.30am and since we all wanted to eat scones, we waited for the "tea time" menu to be served at 11.00am. While waiting, you wondered happily around the gardens and we took some pictures too.

The food was delicious. We originally planned to give you the scones, but you had your own plans. You ate around 80% of Su Kor-kor's Bangers and Mash and wasn't interested in the scones.

After that, we went to take a look at the Strawberry Park Resort, then to a strawberry farm. This is the first time you're looking at a strawberry. What did you tell me? "Stowbewee oh-gut" (Strawberry Yougrt).. which is the closest to strawberries that you've come to so far..

We had another round of lunch in Brinchang with Ah Kong and Chek Kong who had finished their golf game. After that we sent them back with Ah Ma while we headed to the playground in Tanah Rata. You sure had fun. Especially since we missed Youth Park this weekend.

Went home for your nap. Look at what we saw before heading out for dinner:

Mist

Taken before the mist came

This morning, we woke up early as we planned to leave early, have lunch in Ipoh and head back to Penang, before the traffic on the Penang Bridge got too heavy.

All relaxed in the deck chair. Waiting for everyone to get ready.

Again, you slept most of the way down and only woke up when we arrived in Ipoh. Ah Tai was waiting for you to go home. Lunch was in Overseas Restaurant, Ah Tai's favourite restaurant.

After lunch, we headed back to Penang, making a detour to Nanna's house to drop of some things first.

Happy Birthday to Ching Ern

Happy 2nd Birthday to Ching Ern!

Hope she likes the present that we got her..

A Special Day..

Today is a day for celebrations. Since it was the middle of the week, we headed to TGIF in Queensbay Mall to celebrate. What was the occasion? Hehe.. Birthday celebration...

Mummy even managed to get you to say "Happy Birthday to Mummy". So sweet. Really made my day. In fact, I loved hearing you say that, I asked you to wish me several times, in the end this is what I got:

"Happy Birthday to Evan" (sigh..)

What greeted me first thing in the morning? 2 cards: one from you and another from daddy. You even wrote the wishes in the card for me, with daddy's help.

Thanks to my 2 darlings for this wonderful day..

Reading books

I love buying books for you. I started to buy board books because you'd er.. eat books when you were younger. I bought you a pop-up book before, but the book has met it's maker... Not in a very good condition anymore. All tattered and torn.

Well, for your 2nd birthday, you received several books. Some we have opened, while others are too advanced for you, so mummy put them aside for later on. On Saturday night, before going to sleep, you insisted that you wanted to read one of the new books that was still wrapped up. Mummy told you that it's still wrapped up. Guess what you did? You managed to peel open one of the sides and happily exclaimed "Open edi" (opened already), wanting to read the book and not go to sleep. Sigh.. it sure took lot of persuasion before you went to sleep!

Here's a really adorable book that ee-ee gave you for your birthday. It's called "In the Jungle". We call it the "Jungle book" .. easier. It's got a picture of an animal under the flap and you love it. We read this book before you take your afternoon naps and at night before bedtime. You can finally recognise all the adorable patchwork animals. Pronunciation is not too accurate, but getting there. There's the ai-yon (lion), giyaff, chupra (zebra), tiger (clearly), bird-paiet (parrot), hippo, monkey. The snake is “ssssss”. Sounds familiar? Looks like you haven't forgotten what you said so long ago. The last one that you learnt is the crocodile. You call it co-cu-DILE. Before that you'd tell me "Me dun no" when I asked you what it was!