Birthday Celebration in Ipoh

We rushed to the East Ocean Restaurant in Menglembu the moment Ah Tai agreed to go out for dinner. Better be fast before she changed her mind. Dinner was delicious. Chim Poh was kind to help us book the 2 tables before they went off on their holidays. Even the food was pre-ordered based on what we had in mind and the restaurant captain's recommendations.

4th Chek Kong was a little late as I had informed him that dinner was to start at 7.30p.m. and with the change of plans they couldn't contact him, since he'd gone jogging. Anyhow, he arrived shortly after we arrived. We got a room for the 2 tables and so it was a little more private. And a good thing that we booked so far in advance. The restaurant was very crowded!

After you at the fish dish (super yummy fish and almost a whole bowl of rice), you were quite satisfied and wanted to get down from your high chair. You kept yourself entertained and sometimes someone will bring you out of our room, either to look at the live fish that were kept in the tanks or to walk around outside. 4th Chek Kong even brought you to the shop across the street for lollipops! Lucky you.

As usual, there were gifts (you sneaky Kor-kors and Ah Pek said that they are unwrapped, so not really considered as "gifts") and ang pows despite our request. Thankyou to everyone who made it to dinner to celebrate Evan's 3rd birthday with us.

Weekend in Ipoh

We made the drive back to Ipoh on Friday night thinking that the traffic should clear by then (it was close to 9.00pm.m by the time we reached the bridge). But what a mistake. Traffic was heavy all the way across! You fell asleep on the way to Ipoh and we couldn't get you up to go out for supper even. You refused to wake up, only waking to giggle and laugh for 10 minutes at 1.00a.m. before continuing with your sleep. Phew...

You slept in quite a bit on Saturday morning, then again so did the rest of them who were supposed to be up early to go for Cheng Beng! Ah Ma stayed with you after she got back from Cheng Beng and I left to go to the columbarium for 6th Chek Kong. You called me to ask where I was and it made me so guilty for leaving you behind.. but we think you're too young to go to such places.

After that we were too hungry to wait for lunch, so we bought lunch on the way back. What did we have? McDonald's, so we also bought a McValue Meal for you (Milo + nuggets + chippies). Boy were you happy. You nearly finished everything. Then took you up to have a nap so that you won't be in a grouchy mood for dinner.

Woke up in a rush as we had to leave early for dinner since Ah Tai had decided that the weather was turning bad and she had changed her mind about going to dinner. We needed to leave before it started to rain. Everyone had to try their luck in persuading her to go, but she flatly refused. In the end, I brought you in to try your luck. Taught you to say "Ah Tai, kia chiak pui" and she agreed to go for dinner once you asked her to go for dinner! The general consensus? Should have sent you to ask her first and they wouldn't need to try so hard!

I will write more on dinner with some pictures in another post. After dinner we gave our dinner guests something handmade just like what was given to out guests in the Penang party. Eu Jin Ah Pek and Lourdes Ah Mm gave you an adorable hat and an organ. Yikes.. another noise maker! After a while those sitting in the living room sent you to their room to torment Ah Pek and Ah Mm instead.

Sunday was another day of yummy Ipoh hawker food and dinner of the Hakka "Hor Por Char" (lui char). As you "love" veggies so much, you had some meat dish, BUT you drank a lot of the veggies soup. How come? Because the veggies were all grounded and when you eyed the soup suspiciously and asked me what soup it was, I told you "Mint soup". So you drank.

And that's how our weekend went in Ipoh.

Up to no good with Ah Nee Kor-kor? Hhmmm...

Made with Love and Kisses..

... that was what was put in when Chin Poh (with the help of some of your Kor-kor's) made this beautiful blanket as your 3rd birthday present. It's an amazing patchwork blanket with 6 teddy bears (all with different patterns!).

I tell you the pictures (and my poor photography skills) don't do the blanket justice. The teddy bears are so beautiful and the fabric so soft and comfortable.

Chim Poh had to work on it until yesterday afternoon to complete the hand sewn patchwork blanket. You're such a lucky boy to have such a wonderful birthday gift. Here's Chin Poh putting the finishing touches to the blanket:

And here's the blanket on your "princess and the pea" bed at home in Penang:

We're off to Ipoh

Tonight.. for this:

Countdown: 1 day to party time!

Evan at 36 Months (Plus)

Ok ok, a few days overdue. But better late than never. Furthermore I don't write on milestones very often. So here goes...

At 36 months and (count count count..) 5 days old:
Height: 88cm ( i think.. )
Weight: 12.7kg

- You have no more inoculations to go for until you turn 6 years old. Phew.. no more doctor visits. *touch wood*touch wood*

Speech:
- At the last visit to Dr Mary (last week that I forgot to blog about... ), she asked you what the item that she was holding in her hands was and you could tell her it was a stethoscope. She was impressed that you knew a word and a 3 syllable word too.
- You're starting to pick up bigger words too. Such as "deneecious" (delicious) instead of a simple "yummy" or "good".
- You even use words like "beautiful".
- Still cannot pronounce "l" in words. So it's "nike" for like. You used to have difficulty with "y" too. So instead of yellow, it was "neyo". After a lot of "YE-LO", the closest that you'd give me is "YE-NO". Ok, tried showing you how the tongue needs to touch the upper teeth.. Still not working. Need to work on that.
- Every night before we go to sleep, you'd tell me "Mummy, I tell you something, ok?" and when asked what you would like to tell me, it's still the same story "Talk about the zoo" and "Talk about the school".
- Picked up from someone this "I tell you.. " and "Hey, are you listening to me?"
- Your "yes" has changed from "ha" to "ya", the word "yes" is still eluding me.
- Last night you told me that you wanted to sulk. Yes, you used the word "sulk" just because I didn't want to let you play anymore!
- I sometimes try to add some Hokkien when I talk to you, so you know some Hokkien words. Very limited, but better than none I guess.

Food:
- Still a picky eater as ever. Favourite food is pumpkin moi moi. Kakak is always asked what she cooked for your lunch. If it's vegetable moi moi, she knows to cook a smaller portion, because you will have all sorts of excuse on why you don't want the moi moi (too full, not hungry, stomach has no more place...). But Ah Ma says that you'll then "share" her lunch later on!
- Self-feeding very well. But you get lazy and I end up having to feed you the balance of the food, or else you'll not eat up your lunch/dinner.
- Fruits are no longer a favourite. The only reason you would eat is when you had a hard time doing your poo poo. Still, you are not keen to try out new fruits no matter how we try to persuade you to open your mouth. We'd only end up with you covering your mouth like this.
- You are quite fine with the food that we eat for dinner. Daddy says you are like me, we need gravy in our rice before we can eat. And you also love drinking soup. You've taken to imitating someone by drinking directly from the bowl!

Potty training:
- 100% wee wee trained at home and 100% poo poo trained at home and out.
- There were several "accidents" on your carseat and so far so good since then *touch wood*.. all is fine. But we still go out with a Mamy Poko pants in my handbag and spare pants in the car.
- Thank goodness you give us enough warning on the need to wee wee and so we have time to bring you to the nearest toilet.
- Taught you to pull down your pants and underwear, stand on the little stool in our bathroom and wee wee and you loved the idea. But 1 week later, you decided to wee wee using another style. How? By climbing up the WC. And you even told me 2 nights ago that you could go by yourself "No need mummy to help"! I was worried that you might fall down, so I peeked at you and quickly pretended to be watching TV when you were done.

You & Me:
- Sometimes you get it right sometimes, you still refer to daddy as "your daddy" when you're talking to Ah Kong
- When referring to yourself, you sometimes say "mine" or "me" and yet there are times when you still say "Evan's"

Learning:
- You know your capital letters very well. Boh-boh Poh had advised that you learn the capital letters properly before we taught the lower caps. Well.. you know your alphabets well, so we've moved to lower caps, which is a little more difficult as you confuse the "p", "d" and "b" and also the "h" and "n". But it's ok, we'll take it easy and slowly learn them ok?
- Drawing is one of your favourite pastimes. You're so lucky that you got all sorts of markers and books for your birthday. Now is the time to worry about you drawing on your clothes!
- Books are a favourite and you have some favourites that I try to read to you every night before we go to sleep.

Love:
- Of course you love us a lot. And we love you too. Sometimes you'll tell me "I nuff you mummy" and give me a big juicy kiss. Love it that you are so generous with your kisses.
- You love making lots of noise. This birthday also saw several noise makers. We are also guilty in buying you one of the noise makers. Sigh.. you wanted an electric (toy) guitar, so we bought it (much to our regret!). The manufacturer should provide ear plugs for the parents!
- Your cars and trains are never forgotten. You'll still make time to play with your garage and Thomas train set. On top of that you have a variety of Thomas & Friends VCD and books. Nanna had brought back the Thomas books that belonged to Ashley and Julian Ku-ku all the way from Singapore.

Manners:
- You know to cover your mouth when you sneeze (even when faking it).
- "Excuse me" is the word to use when you sneeze or even cough.
- Only thing that annoys me is when you purposely slurp when you drink your soup! The more I try to stop you, the louder it gets. Come to think about it, I think I haven't heard you slurping for a while. Maybe that phase has passed... phew.

It amazes me when I look back and see all the changes in you. No longer our little baby, still as precious as ever.

What came in the mail?

Something blue came in the mail yesterday. And it was addressed to you. The only other time you'd received something in the mail was from your Alan Ku-ku (so long ago that I cannot find the post anymore). This year Alan Ku-ku wished you a happy birthday via SMS and he was on time too.. Surprise, surprise!

Who sent you something this time? It's your Ying Ying Kor Kor and Jack Hou Chek Chek in Australia. There was even a message for you.

"Things to do when you are 3:

1. Be a good boy

2. Eat veggie

3. Read more books"

When asked if you did any of the 3 listed, you said no to #1 & #2! What do you think of this Thomas & Friends card?

Tricked You

That's what you told me yesterday. Well, it sounded more like "I twiked you". And why did you tell me this? Because we were all ready to go to bed when you told me that you needed to wee wee (despite already wearing diapers). And of course you insisted that you needed to wee wee in the toilet (sign of successful potty training?).

Asked you to get daddy to help you with undressing and turning on the bathroom lights, but you insisted "Only mummy". You sat and sat on the toilet and nothing came out. Obviously, since you'd just wee weed 15 minutes ago... And after giving you a smack on your bottom, you laughed and told me "I twiked you.. hahha".

How do we get angry when you can tell me such a thing?

Countdown: 3 days to birthday party (Yup, another party in Ipoh to celebrate with the Bans)

A Birthday Treat

One of the presents that you got from the party was a bicycle. Yup, Ah Kong and Ah Ma bought you a bicycle for your birthday. Mummy and daddy had initially planned to buy you one only after we'd moved back to Minden Heights, but they were insistent on getting you one for your birthday.

Since you were not allowed to ride the bicycle in the condo, we decided to bring you to your favourite place, Youth Park on Sunday. And as usual it was so crowded. We had to park at the furthest carpark and double back to the roller-skating rink. So how did you get to the rink? Why by your "daddy-powered" bicycle, of course!

Looks like you're enjoying the bicycle ride, huh? But we had a tough time trying to teach you how to ride. You'd step on the pedal for around 45 degrees then somehow pull the pedal back and step on it again. Not the right way to ride the bicycle, but it still works.. you were still moving!

Posing with your bicycle

We let you ride the bicycle for a while before we headed to the playground. You always love the tunnel slides and all the playthings things in the playground. Halfway through playing, there was a commotion. What had happened? There was a green snake (probably fell from the trees) and was trying to get away from the crowd. Ok, that was the signal for us to leave. After all we were parked to far away and it was already 7p.m.. Furthermore it looked like it was going to rain heavily too. You weren't too willing to leave, but in the end we left with you on your daddy-powered bicycle to the carpark.

What did you remember from this trip to the Youth Park? Only one thing. The snake! Yup, Ah Ma told me that you told her about "people telling you there was a snake". And you told me the same thing that night when I asked you what you did at the Youth Park too.

It's Party Time...

Our guests started arriving after 7.00p.m. But there were still things to do. Sigh.. At long last, as the rest of our guests arrived, the food were also ready. What did we serve? Well, mummy and daddy made the bruschetta, Ah Ma cooked the fried angel hair pasta and breaded prawns and we ordered fried belacan chicken and pizza. A little western food style (except for the belacan chicken, of course).

Managed to freshen up before putting the finishing touches on the bruschetta and dinner was served. I'm sure everyone enjoyed the food. Even the kiddies ate the same as ours, only a little different: pasta without the basil and prawns without the shells. Wine, juice, coke and water were served to everyone, and you even got to drink the peach juice, which somehow you decided to call "grape juice" and when corrected you'd call it "peach grape juice". And you had a wonderful time toasting with Kelvin!

After the food was cleared away and dessert was served, it was time for the cake. What was the design that you picked? Why Thomas, of course... Last week when I asked you, you told me that you wanted "Bob the Builder", but knowing how you change your mind, I printed several other cartoon characters and in the end (not surprisingly) you picked Thomas. Nice? It's vanilla with blueberry flavour as you'd requested.

After cutting the cake, we had the cake with the Haagen-Dazs ice-cream that we'd bought. Then to your favourite part of your party, opening the presents. Yes, I know we'd asked for our guests not to bring you any gifts BUT they didn't feel the party complete without giving you anything since it is your birthday.

So to our guests, thank you for all those wonderful gifts. Evan loved them and I hope that you liked the gift that you took home with you too.

Party was great and you only slept after midnight!

A Busy Saturday

The menu was planned, but we still had loads to do. Decorate the place (no more 50 balloons like last year!), pick up the cake, buy ice-cream and baguette for the bruschetta, feed ourselves and buy more balloons (as you had requested). As this was the first weekend of Cheng Beng, we decided to have lunch in the Tanjung Tokong area before we go battle with the heavy traffic.

After lunch, we headed to the toy shop nearby Prangin Mall to pick up more balloons, the stick for the balloons, mask for the party pack and a pump. Next stop was Giant supermarket as daddy did not particularly like the baguette from Cold Storage. Too bad the baguette sold there didn't look very appealing. So off we went to pick up the cake from Maxim's in Pulau Tikus. This year we wanted a change to the cake, so we ordered the cake from Maxim's and the design was picked by you.

We made one last stop to pick up the ice-cream and baguette from Cold Storage. Since there was no other choice, we had to settle for the baguette from there. By then, it was pass 3.00p.m. and I needed to make you that you had your nap..otherwise, we'd have a grumpy little boy (not baby anymore? Sigh... ). Good thing we settled all that was to be done in one go. So home we went to settle you for your nap and for us to call to order some food, start decorating the place and prepare the tomatoes for the bruschetta.

By the time you woke up, we were almost ready for the party. Only needed to go out to buy ice and to pick up the fried belacan chicken for the party.

That Day FINALLY Came..

Yup, it's your 3rd birthday. And we even managed to give you a kiss and hug at the stroke of midnight. How come? Because you were all excited and energetic after the birthday party! And.. I forgot to let you wear this adorable hat that Aunty Joey had lent us. So I we let you wear the hat, snap a few pictures, cuddle and kiss you a little more before we headed to bed. Don't know about you, but I was soooo tired. Phew.. what a busy day it was!

Party Invitation

Here's the invitation that was printed and given to our party guests:

The quickpage conveniently had 3 places for me to put in pictures, so I put in pictures of you at different ages. Hope our guests liked it.

Countdown: 1 day to your birthday

Alamak..

Yup, there was an accident again yesterday. I'm very surprised that this happened as it has not happened before. Ever since we started to let you sleep without diapers, you'd managed to control your bladder and only wee wee after waking up. On other words, accidents only happened after you'd woken up (either wee on my bed or on the floor). But this time it seems that you'd wee wee in your sleep. Ah Ma told us that you woke up and started to cry, upset that you'd wet our quilt.

She said that you were very touchy after that and every little thing made you burst into tears after that incident. Of course, by the time we got back, you were back to your normal cheerful self and happily admitted to wetting our bed when asked.

On another note, you've managed to pick the Malay word "alamak". Hehe.. your version of it is "anamak". Another word that you picked (after we brought you to the nearby pasar malam) was "pasar malam". You'll ask me "Mummy how to say 'night market'?" And so you'll repeat the word "manamana" when you're in a funny mood or sometimes say it (almost) correctly "pasa mana".. well close enough.

It's Wednesday already?

How time is flying by. And my little guy is turning 3 this Sunday. So what did we manage to do on Friday when daddy and I took leave? Nothing much... We had an appointment with the Relationship Manager in the morning. And since we woke up too late, we didn't get to eat my toast + half-boiled eggs (which I had been craving for so long.. Ok, ok we can make that at home, but it's more fun when someone else makes them!) we had to head directly to the bank.

Next we went to the shop that we intended to have breakfast for lunch. Had the yummiest mee goreng and daddy even ordered the toast + eggs. You had you usual "dry noodle" (i.e. wan tan mee). Next we went to Gurney Plaza to walk around and buy some balloons for your birthday party. We even looked at which toy to buy for your birthday. But we didn't buy. Daddy was a little upset since he'd promised you that he'd buy you something on that day, but I said that you'll not wait another week to play with the present if you see us buying it. So we left and to make up for that, we had Gelatissimo. Aiya.. so outdated, as I'd only realised that our favourite gelato is now selling in Gurney Plaza. Ooo.. it was the yummiest treat ever!

By the time we left Gurney Plaza, you were getting grumpy. I guess it's close to your nap time. But we headed to the cake shop to order your birthday cake. Too bad we had to make another round before we finally found a parking slot. And it had started to rain too! And by the time daddy parked the car, you'd already fallen asleep. No wonder you were so quiet in your carseat! What to do? We had to cancel our plan and head back home.

We had so many things to carry up but we managed it without you waking up at all. Friday ended with you going for a swim (finally) in our condo's newly extended swimming pool. Yippee.. I'd bought you a pair of arm floats with Thomas and Percy printed on them and you loved them. Took you a while to get used to the idea of "swimming", of course that doesn't mean that you'd swim without holding on to me. It only mean that you didn't cling on to me like a leech!

Its already Wednesday. Is everything ready for the party this Saturday? Er... I think we still have some little things to buy and get ready. I just hope that I don't leave out anything.. (especially your present.. )

Countdown: 3 days to your party, 4 days to your birthday

I'm so happy...

Yay! We're taking the day off tomorrow. Lots of errands to run and things to get ready for your birthday. I have a long list of things to do and to buy. Hope that we have enough time to do everything.

On another note, daddy says that maybe you should wear diapers to avoid any "accidents" from happening. I forgot to mention earlier.. you have another "accident" in your carseat on Sunday. Sigh.. so before we go off tomorrow, have to fit on your carseat in daddy's car again. Maybe we need to plan our itinerary for tomorrow to see if there are enough "pit stops" that you can use so that you can go without a diaper tomorrow.

Countdown: 9 days to your party, 10 days to your birthday

What did you say?

You're turning 3 soon. And yet, there are times that you seem to prefer your baby talk. Sometimes, I think you just do that for fun. You got your own set of names for everyone at home. What are they?

Ah Kong ~ Ong Kong

Ah Ma ~ Am Pan

Mummy ~ Pam Pin

Daddy ~ Ten Ting

Kakak Wati ~ Kang Kang Poti

Milk ~ Ten ten (this stopped after we told you "OK, ten ten is veggies")

And some days you will just make names for everything from the amplifier to the DVD player then chortle away as we try to correct you (Of course ignoring us too!).

Yay! Your birthday is coming.. and we're not really prepared yet.

Countdown: 11 days to your party. 12 days to your birthday

A Missed Day at the Youth Park

It's been a while since we've been to the Youth Park. And on Saturday, daddy had promised you that we'd go there. So despite having gone out the whole day (in daddy's case. We both had our afternoon nap while he went out), we headed to the Youth Park at around 5.45pm. Traffic was rather heavy and so by the time we arrived at the Youth Park, it was after 6.00 pm and there were a lot of cars. Only then did we notice several banners hanging along the way to the Youth Park. What's going on? There was a Relay for Life which had just started.

Nevermind, we kept our hopes up on being able to get a parking slot. But.. no chance! The nearest slot that we could find was nearer to the Botanical Gardens than to the Youth Park. I tried to convince you to go to Botanical Gardens instead, but you refused and the flood gates opened! Sigh...

So we had to find another playground quickly. Daddy took a short-cut to get away from the Youth Park/Botanical Gardens and we remembered that there was a playground in that housing estate! Yay! So we stopped there for you to play and you were happy with that arrangement. It was a small playground with 2 slides, 3 rickety swings and 1 see-saw. But you were happy with that. The pictures says it all:

Happy Birthday to Ee-ee!

Happy Birthday to your Ee-ee. Want to know how old she is? Don't ask me, ask her.... Hehe...

Here are some of the pictures that you'd taken with her.. I nicked it off her Facebook!

Celebrating your 1st birthday

Dim Sum at Forum

2 Accidents in a Day!

Can you imagine it! And it's all because of Aunty Asher cursing at you. We were just discussing on how you are now going out without diapers. And so far there was no "accidents". She said that on Saturday you'll wee wee in your pants and also have diarrhea without giving us any warning. Cruel woman!

On Saturday we went to the old house to take a look at how the renovation was going so far. We were there for almost an hour, looking at the tiles for the bathrooms and the rooms, showing you which was to be your new room when we moved back.

Before we left the house, daddy had asked you if you needed to wee wee and you said "no". So ok fine, I put you in the carseat and sat in front with daddy. Yup.. at long last you'd allow me to sit in front and you sat alone in the backseat. (That had only started last weekend! I just tried my luck and you let me sit in front. Otherwise, we won't even get to drive for 5 minutes before you screamed and cried asking me to sit behind!)

So off we went heading back to town to go to the tile shop, as Ah Kong was still trying to decide on the tile selection for his bathroom. Just as we were reaching, you asked me "Mummy, did Evan wear diaper today?". Of course, it was a "No". Then I asked if you needed to wee wee and to wait since we were nearing the tile shop and you kept quiet. Sensing something amiss, I reached back and touched you and OMG! Accident! You wee wee-ed in your pants! And the carseat too!

Too late, we waited in the car while daddy ran down to talk to Ah Kong (he drove his own car to the tile shop) while mummy sent an SMS to Aunty Asher to curse at her! We had to cancel all plans and headed home. Mummy was too ambitious and we went out without bringing any spare shorts or underwear for you. Nevermind, small matter. Accidents will happen.

That night, you'd slept on your "Princess and the Pea" mattress and at around 4am, you woke up and yelled "Mummy". Daddy was actually sleeping next to you and woke up with a start. You were wearing diapers this round, but somehow it overflowed!

Sigh.. evil Asher!

Mr Porking-pine

Yup.. that's my little porking-pine. Hehe.. Actually the word that I wanted to use to describe you was "porcupine" but it either turned out to be "Porking-pine" or "Porky-pine". This was done by daddy when he gave you a shower over the week. You were so happy laughing away as daddy made your hair stand and he carried you up to show you your spiky hair.

You picked up the word when I used to dry your hair with the towel and your hair would all stand up. And so now spiky hair = "porking-pine hair".

Alphabets

You've known your alphabets for quite a while now. But I realised something was still missing when you tried to read this:

Picture source

We saw this sign when we went CNY shopping and daddy was trying on the t-shirt. What did you read when you saw this? "A" "S" "twen-twen" "W" "O" "twen-twen" and so forth. Why? Aiya.. this mummy only taught your alphabets in caps! So unknown alphabets were classified as "twen-twen".

So a few weeks back when we were in MPH, I picked an alphabet book which had alphabets both in caps and lower case. So far, you have been able to recognise most of the alphabets in lower case. Of course, there are still mistakes, especially with the "h" which you say is an "n".

You love to spell the alphabets saying "Mummy, let's count". I have tried telling you that the correct word is "spell" but you refuse to pick up the correct word.

Here's another of your favourite past-time.

Yup, these are arranged for Ah Kong to "learn". Haha.. everyday (and many times in the day..) you'd ask Ah Kong to read to you the alphabets. I think I can hear you teaching Ah Kong now as I am typing this...

Mr Muscles

I love it when you weat singlets. I used to buy lots of them even when you were younger. Your "rolls" looked like muscles! Haha... Now you're muscles are smaller since you do not have them baby fat anymore.. Sigh... my little guy is growing up so quickly!

Family Picture

Actually this was taken in 2007 before Alan Ku-ku went to US to study for his MBA. I nicked this picture from Ee-ee's Facebook. So I don't have a soft-copy of the picture taken of just the 3 of us. Anyhow, back to the main topic, this is a picture of the 4 of us. You recently came across the print out copy that I'd kept in my drawer. (Ok, I'm a procrastinator.. never got around to buying a frame for my 3 pictures!).

So now you can recognise mummy (obviously) and Ee-ee (since we see her quite often). As for the other two... I'd only mentioned their name a couple of times and now you can recognise them. Alex Ku-ku is now working in KL and so you see him less often. Well, even when he was in Penang, we rarely saw him. As for Alan Ku-ku, he's now studying in US, so the last time you saw him was when you were just over 1 year old. Of course, you still cannot pronounce the "l" in their names, so you call them: "A-nex" and "A-nen" Ku-ku! Hahaha...

How did it go last night?

I know I know.. I'm very long winded. Hey.. that must be where you get it from.. Since you are always full of questions too! Ok back to the "main" topic:

So far you have been willing to sleep in your own bed, providing mummy is with you while you are falling asleep. Again, you slept in your own bed until around 4+am and you woke up saying "mummy..." well that's what I heard. Daddy said he heard you saying that you were cold. Anyhow, you slept with us from then onwards. As I am typing this, you are napping on your mattress now. Guess you're quite happy with it. Kakak Wati said that you got upset when she tried to keep the futon into the bag on Thursday.

Did it work?

Yup.. I know I said yesterday that I'd only try getting you to sleep in your own bed only this weekend. But since the mattress and futon was still in our room, I decided to try my luck and ask if you wanted to sleep there. And to my surprise, you agreed to sleep on your mattress. Of course, mummy had to keep you company until you fell asleep.

So far so good. And I went to sleep shortly after that on my bed. But of course, you woke up at around 4 am again and climbed up on my bed to join us. Daddy must've expected you to do something like that, because he had your other pillow wedged in between our pillows (your spot), all ready for you!

I hope that this would be a good start to "weaning" you off from my bed. I wonder if you'll sleep on your mattress again tonight?

The Bed is all Mine...

... or so I thought. It was only mine for the shortest moment (no, I have not kicked daddy out of the bed!). You told me yesterday night that you wanted to sleep in the small room (your toy room). And I asked you many times if you knew that sleeping int hat room, you'd be sleeping alone. And you kept saying you want to sleep alone in that room. So ok, we got a little light to put in the room and changed and brushed your teeth.

Mummy kissed you goodnight and I told you not to be afraid if you wanted to go back to my room. You said "ok". I walked out of the room and chatted with daddy.. and.. "pitter patter" first I heard little feet running on the laminated flooring and next you were standing next to me, grinning away. NOW you wanted me to sleep with you! We went back to the room and I told you that I was tired and did not want to sleep in that room. So I told you that I'd go back to my room after you'd fallen asleep. Did you?

NOOO!!! No way, no chance, never! Instead, you kept grinning and chatting with me. My super thumping headache was no help either. So after 20 minutes or so, I gave up and back to my room we went. You did not want to go, but I was too tired. So... we brought over the futon + mattress and told you that you'll sleep on the floor on 2 layers, sorta like the story "The Princess and the Pea". That kept you contented... for a while.

Less than 10 minutes later, I heard you walking to my bedside and looked at me. I pretended not to hear you and you went back to your bed. I thought that you'd go back to sleep. Nope fat hope! You climbed back up on my bed and finally fell asleep on my bed.

Daddy moved you back to your bed later on but at around 4am I found a lump sleeping near my knee! It was you again! So I moved you back to between us and that's how you slept until I left for work this morning.

And I thought that you'd finally moved out of my bed. We're not doing any funny bedtime arrangements tonight. I have a bad headache today.

Eating Fruits

You have never been keen on eating fruits and veggies, and it was getting more and more difficult to convince you to eat veggies and fruits. But it seems that it's getting easier to convince you to eat the fruits (not veggies.. not working for now). How?

Because you keep doing hard poo-poo. Just like yesterday evening, you needed to do poo and you had so much difficulty trying to get it out. Your face turned red and you tried to get it out. So what did YOU tell me?

So I have to eat banana lo. Otherwise my ngk-ngk will be hard hard lo.

I hope that this serves as a lesson for you to take more fruits in future. Of course chances are you'd have forgotten about the need to eat more fruits by now. I guess we need to keep trying new ways to encourage you to eat those fruits!

As for veggies, the only thing you'd eat are that cooked in your moi-moi. Whatever Ah Ma cooks for dinner is not touched by you. The only veggie that you'd eat are still cabbage. And try as he may, daddy cannot convince you that cabbage = veggies...

Is it Sunday already???

Aw gosh.. as I am typing this, it's already the end of our weekend. How time flies when you're having fun. What did we do today? With our guests still around, we headed to Lorong Selamat fo lunch of Char Kuey Tiau and ice-kacang. You had kuay tiau th'ng which you enjoyed, drinking the soup to the last drop!

Before heading home, we stopped by to have our favourite coconut ice-cream. Even Ying Ying Kor-kor was happy that she'd gotten to eat it. She says that she can now go back to Australia happy, having eaten all the food that she was craving for.

After they left for Ipoh, you took your nap. While you were napping, mummy took this opportunity to try out this yummy yogurt cake recipe which was shared by Sethy's mummy. Of course, halfway through baking, you decided to wake up. Luckily daddy was around to keep you company and by the time you woke up, the cake was baking in the oven.

How did the cake turn out? It was yummy. Just a little short of vanilla flavour. Maybe next time I will add some chocolate. I had to put some of the batter into cup cakes because my cake tin was too small. Phew.. luckily I had some spare from before.

Anyhow, today seems to be a day for food and only food, and it's now over. Time to go back to work tomorrow. I hope you don't wake up early as you did this morning. At 7.40am on a WEEKEND!

Our Saturday

Despite your late night, you decided to wake up at 7.30am and we got up just in time to catch Ah Ma before she went to the market. So she waited for us while you freshened up, changed and drank your milk. Since we were late, our usual carpark was full, so we parked elsewhere. But it was still nearby to the market.

Bought everything we needed and headed home with breakfast for Ah Kong who was waiting for us at home. Ate breakfast and went out after we all took out bath. First stop was the kitchen appliances shop nearby. After wondering around the shop, you decided that you needed to wee wee. So off we went and after all was settled we went to our next stop, the kitchen ID shop. With your "help" the final details were settled and we headed to the Penang Sports Club for lunch. I'm sure you were very hungry by then. I was.. We had noodles and Ah Kong even ordered your favourite chippies for you. Of course the moment the chippies arrived, you only had eyes for that!

After the food was settled, you needed to output. But by the time we got the bathroom, you were so distracted by the decor of the changing room/rest room, you could not do your "business". Sigh.. So off we went to another kitchen appliances shop and (as expected) you insisted that you needed to poo.. and NO you could not wait to get back to the Sports Club! Arrghhh... So there we were using the "squatty" toilet. It's your second time using it, and the last time was too long ago so this time you were very interested in this new type of toilet!

We headed back home and soon Chek Kong, Chim Poh and Ying Yin Kor-kor arrived. They were to spend the weekend in Penang. After all the excitement of having visitors, you finally took your nap and when you woke up, we had dinner in Double Dragon Restaurant, a very old restaurant which serves yummy food. Only thing is that they were rather slow and by the time dinner was served, you were so hungry that you finished the whole bowl of rice! I was so worried that you'd over eaten, but you wanted to polish everything in your bowl!

You went back with Ah Kong while daddy, mummy and Ying Ying Kor-kor went to Gurney Drive to buy some food stuff that she was craving for. Lucky for her, it had stopped raining. We went home and you joined in the supper, eating the sotong bakar while we also ate the rojak. What a wonderful way to end our Saturday.

Where is your diaper?

I hope so. So far the only time you wear diapers is when you are sleeping at night. Naps are now diaper free. I started to let you nap diaperless on weekends, and at last I have asked Ah Ma to let you go diaperless. So far, everything seemed ok. Except that there was a slight accident yesterday. I was on half day leave and had a spa treatment compliments of Ee-ee. (Thank you!) And when I got back, you were sleeping. After you woke up, Ah Ma gave you Yakult and we forgot to get you to wee wee first. I guess there was no more place for the Yakult so you had to let go!! One minute you were squatting on the floor, looking at me do something and next thing I know... The floor was wet and the puddle was getting bigger and bigger! Ok, that's not your fault, since I forgot to get you to wee first thing after you woke up.

As for going out, we were never brave enough to bring you out without letting you wear diapers. My biggest fear is that you decide that you need to wee wee and we're somewhere where there is no such facilities. At long last, we decided that you seemed to have good bladder control, so we took you out last week diaperless (I even forgot to bring a spare diaper and spare pants! Yikes!). We went for lunch, then to Gurney Plaza to kai-kai. All seemed ok. But I was worried and kept asking you if you needed to wee wee. In the end, you decided that you needed to wee wee while we were in Gurney Plaza.

We even went to Uncle Khoo's house for a party and you didn't have diapers on. Nope.. no accident. Of course, I still had to ask you many times, in case you got too excited playing and forgot to wee wee. But I dare not let you go diaperless for the ride to BM on Monday. Hey, it's a longer ride and er.. we can't just roll down the window.

Today, we were out for a long time, and you obliged to my question (yup, you didn't seem too keen..) on whether you needed to wee wee twice. Today I was prepared with a spare diaper and pants kept in daddy's car. But we didn't use it. You must be sick of mummy asking you if you needed to wee wee.. But I'm glad that you are doing well. Hopefully soon you can go 100% without diapers.

Muakkss to you from mummy and daddy.

How's your mood today?

Lately you've taken to asking people how they feel. Especially when you know you've done something wrong.

Just like this:

Evan :Mummy, are you angry?

Mummy : Yes, I am.

Evan: Don't be ANGRY!

Hhmm.. seems like we're not allowed to be angry.

Then again, with you knowing that we're angry, you know to behave yourself and over Chinese New Year, we managed to get you to wish everyone.

You seem to be able to tell from our expression if we're happy, angry or sad. Just now as I was trying to get you to take your nap, you knew that I was already getting angry so what did I get from you? A little kiss before you decided to finally take your nap! How do we stay angry at you? Haih....

Happy Valentine's Day, sweetie!

Happy Birthday Grampy

Actually the birthday is tomorrow. But since today is a replacement public holiday and we haven't had a CNY dinner together, we headed to BM despite the (high) probability of heavy traffic with today being Chap Goh Meh and yesterday being Thaipusam.

Of course we had a late night yesterday so everyone woke up late today. By the time everyone was ready, we only left Penang at around 12 noon. So we picked up Nanna and headed to Aeon City for lunch. Walked around, daddy brought you to have a look at the play area in Jusco (which sadly most of the rides were out of order) and bought a few things before headed home. Wanted to get Grampy to join us for lunch, but he was "chef" for tonight's dinner, so he had to stay at home to prepare the soup. Tried to get you to take your nap, but you refused to. So when Ee-ee came, we headed to town to visit 3rd Ee Poh. Yup, she was back on holiday from Australia. We even got to see baby Felicia. You played for quite a while with Jayden before we headed to Ee-ee's house to pick up Teo-teo.

Headed home to wait for Grampy to prepare dinner. What was on the menu? Birthday lam mee. Yay! Everyone's favourite. Who's birthday is it? It's Grampy's birthday. He's turning 67 tomorrow. What else did we have to celebrate his birthday? A cake that we bought when we went for lunch.

Helping Grampy blow out his candle

After the cake, you insisted that you wanted to shower. And a good thing that you did too. You fell asleep on the way home. Must be very tired, since you did not take your nap and had such a late night yesterday too. And you are still sleeping now as I am typing. I guess you'll be sleeping through the night. I just hope you don't decide to wake up at 6.00am tomorrow!

Oh yeah, daddy brought his camera along to BM today. He took a few pictures of the beautiful flowers that Grampy has grown in the back garden. What do you think? I love the flowers. I think you like them too, since you kept insisting that you wanted to look at the flowers.

The 9th Day of CNY

Monday was the first day back to work after a whole week of holiday. Luckily you were still sleeping when we left for work, otherwise.. we'd have a very difficult start to the work week. Sigh.. We tried to go home early on Monday because we had plans for the 9th day of CNY. Why it's a very important day for the Hokkiens and since we had leave to take, we planned to make another trip back to Ipoh again.

So we went home, had dinner and got ready to leave for Ipoh. By the time everyone was ready, it was almost 8pm. Just as planned.. we didn't want to leave too early for fear of the heavy traffic on the Penang Bridge. Traffic was quite clear and we were soon on our way to Ipoh. We arrived at around 10pm in Ipoh to find everyone getting ready for the midnight prayers. Kor Poh, Chim Poh and Su Kor-kor were busy unfolding and stacking the paper hats that were to be burnt later on.

We left you to entertain your Chek Kong while we went out to buy milk. Yup, forgetful mummy forgot to bring along the milk that I'd bought. Anyhow daddy's camera's flash also needed batteries *grin*. 4th Chek Kong even gave you another ang pow. Why? Because he wanted you to greet him like this. I forgot to mention on the 2nd day of CNY, he was a little late for dinner because he went looking for ice-cream that he's promised you in the afternoon! How sweet..

At around 11pm, we started to bring out all the things that were to be offered for prayers. Even you helped out. Kor-kor let you help to carry foodstuff that were light and small. You were so happy to help out. And then.. it rained.. and the rain got heavier and heavier! Like I'd mentioned before, it's really strange for it to rain during CNY. In fact, it did not rain when we were back in Penang, but it was raining every evening in Ipoh, and so everyone rushed to pull the table with the offerings nearer to the center of the car porch while Chim Poh rushed to get something to cover the paper hats that were in the middle of the garden.

Anyhow, the prayers went on as usual and you were so excited. Kept asking if it were your turn to "pai pai". At long last it was your turn to hold the joss stick, kneel and pray and give me the joss to be put in the container. Of course, that wasn't enough for you, so you had another go at it.

After everyone was done praying, it was time for us to keep the food. Again, you were a good assistant, helping us carry the foodstuff to the kitchen. We had a feast enjoying the food before you finally decided it was time for bed. You kept telling me "Mummy, let's go upstairs and sleep". Of course before that, you had to do your round of kissing and telling everyone "goodnight" before we headed upstairs. By the time we got ready for bed, you were wide awake again. But everyone else was not. So after a while, you finally went to bed at around 2am!

What time did you wake up today? 9.30am... sigh I really wished that you'd sleep in longer, but you were awake already. We stayed for lunch, which was in the East Ocean Restaurant in Menglembu. The food was delicious. There was another round of lou sang which you got to participate in again (this time you didn't lose your chopstick like the first time). You loved the fish and also the gravy from the prawn that you ate 1.5 bowls of rice (small bowl). On the way back home, you fell asleep and only woke up when we made a stop at a tile showroom.