Bitten By A Girl

2 years, 1 month, 1 week & 1 day old.....


The incident happened on 25 June 2008 (last Wednesday). When I picked him up at the daycare, I was immediately told that Ethan was bitten by a girl because they were fighting for toys. They showed me the teeth mark on his right arm. Gosh.. it was a very perfect teeth mark as I can see almost every tooth the girl has. I was a little dumbfounded so I didn't ask further. I hope Ethan didn't do the same thing to others.

When they lifted the sleeve to show me the mark, Ethan said 'Ethan pain pain ar' but I'm glad he didn't cry although I'm sure he did when it happened. I'm so proud of him for being such a tough boy. He said the same thing to hubby when we got home but when I took photos of the mark, he said 'no more pain pain'. Hmmmm.......I don't know why he said that. Probably he wanted to concentrate on the tv and didn't want mummy to disturb him.

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On another note, I was contemplating to change daycare for him. The main reason is I'm not too happy with the staff arrangement at the current daycare. A teacher is hired to teach and look after Ethan's group (about 9 of them). She clocks in at 8a.m. and clocks out at 5p.m. sharp. Although a teacher is hired to teach them but there is no proper education system. The maid will take over from her after she leaves. I normally fetch him at around 5.30-6 p.m. Another teacher comes twice a week (I think) to teach them art/craft. The two lady bosses supervise the whole daycare and there were a couple of times I found none of them were there. They went out to run errands leaving all the kids with the staff.

I was on a half-day leave last Friday and I made an impromptu visit to a daycare near my place. It's a Montessori-based pre-school + daycare. They accept kids from 18 months up to 6 years old, which are separated into 3 groups. The youngest group is for 2-3 years old kids and there are 12 of them at the moment. A little too big for my liking but what I like about the place is each teacher is assigned to a group and they are qualified teachers. The principal is there to supervise as well. Another two teachers come few times a week to teach art and music. There is only one maid at the centre, whose responsibilities are cleaning and house-keeping. They have proper facilities and education system. I saw a whole lot of Montessori items at the centre.

We have just paid the half-yearly fee (RM250) for materials/art work at the current daycare and to switch to the new daycare will means that the fee is burnt. We have to pay another RM250 (for art/materials) at the new place too apart from deposit and registration fee. Both places are charging almost the same fee for daycare.

To be fair to the current daycare, their service is reasonably good but I think it's time for Ethan to move on. For the same fee, he will get proper education system. I know.......I'm being kiasu here. It's just my thought and I haven't discuss this with hubby. I briefly mentioned to him about my impromptu visit and my views but there was no feedback from him.

Our Very Own Photobook

2 years, 1 month and 2 days old.....

After four months of designing, I finally managed to complete our very first photobook last Friday. I sent the file over for printing and made the payment on Friday itself. Before I sent, I called them up coz I saw on their website that they are giving free shipping to Malaysia and Singapore. Unfortunately, it's free for those who are using their latest version of software/ Mine was the old version coz I downloaded it sometime end 2007. Yeah, it took me that long to make up my mind that it's worth the money. I asked the guy if i could transfer my file to the new version of their software and he told me it's impossible. I need to redo the whole thing using the new software, which I told him no way! I'm not going to waste my four months of effort. Actually, the price difference is only about RM10 with the free shipping coz they have increased their prices.

In the end, I sent them the file and they delivered to my office on Thursday afternoon. I was so excited and satisfied with the result. The qualities of the print and papers are really good. I showed it to my colleagues and they all agreed with it.

The photobook is a present for Ethan's 2nd Birthday. I compiled his pictures from newborn up to his 2nd birthday. Designing it was not difficult as the software is user-friendly. The only downside of it is you cannot 'undo'. So, the safe way is to save the file everytime you make a change and if you are not happy with it or accidentally do something wrong, just 'refresh' the file. Pretty tedious.

Another very time consuming task is downloading all the digital scrap book images. The images/background provided in the software were very limited and I don't like them. However, they told me the new version is better now but I haven't seen them so I don't know.

I spent four months on it because I wasn't doing it all the time. When I'm dead with ideas, I left it for a few days before start working on it again. Another thing is, I practically doing book scrapping using the software. So, 40 pages, just imagine the work required.....and I'm not a 'pro-scrapper' like Nadia and Jazzmint.

A little insight to my photobook.....

The cover page.

One of the few introductory pages

My very own idea of using photo as a background
and adjusted the transparency

Month to month update

My colleague said this photo looks like
one of the Merdeka commercials

Costly Milk Powder

2 years, 3 weeks & 5 days old.....

Just before I left for Japan (about 3 weeks ago), we went to stock up Ethan's milk. He is taking Enfagrow A+. I would normally buy the milk from Chinese Medical Halls, which is much cheaper compared to the hypermarkets or supermarkets. At that time, I saw the new formula was already on the rack and my eye balls almost pop-out when I saw the price. It's an increase of RM5 per pack. The old pack was selling at RM54.50 (for 1.4 kg) and the new pack at RM60.50 (for 1.3kg) at that particular shop. That was before the petrol price went up.

Actually, if we calculate it properly, the increase is around RM10.00 per pack of 1.4 kg. It's sooooooo crazy to see the price being increased that much. Of course, it's justified by the claim of added nutrition e.g. 4x DHA, Inulin, FOS....bla bla bla. Still......It's not like we can choose between the two formulas. So, it's either Enfa or other milk now.

I'm wondering, does a kid need that much of DHA?? Too much DHA will not cause side effects?? Can they absorb them all?? or is this only a tactic to increase their price and to claim as the no. 1 milk powder in the market??

For the Young and Beautiful

Good news for the young and beautiful! Interested to enter a beauty contest and try your luck to win a 10,000 USD price or get spotted by a modelling agency? Check out http://www.lookoftheyear.com. Send in your best pictures and keep your finger crossed that you will be the next model working in Paris, New York or Milan.

Daddy Cooked for Ethan

While Mummy was away in Miyazaki, Japan to attend a conference, Daddy had to look after Ethan for one whole week (30 May - 6 June). The routine was pretty much the same with hubby sending and fetching Ethan home after work and sent Ethan to 'Poh Poh' (maternal grandma) during the weekend. Unfortunately, 'Poh Poh' had a 'very important' appointment on Sunday afternoon so hubby had to figure out what to feed Ethan. I was very....extremely...utterly.....surprised when he said that he COOKED. Pheewittt!!! That is super sexy to me.

I asked what he cooked and he said soup with rice and that Ethan had no comment. I don't know how he expect Ethan to comment, if there's any.

He never cook since Ethan was born...Errr except for frying eggs and poured hot water on instant noodles. Anyway, I'm really grateful for having such a good husband. I think I shouldn't complain anymore. He helps out with house chores, he can handle Ethan from A-Z and he's patient. I should remind myself more on all this and I will try harder not to nag (finger-crossed).

I didn't do a detour to Tokyo even though the flight transitted at Narita Airport/ Haneda Airport because I don't want to be away from my boys any longer than it's supposed to be...and not to spend more money. I think it's a wise decision considering the price hike in almost everything lately especially the petrol price. It's scary. I don't know how the lower income group going to survive. Although we can still live comfortably, both hubby and me still think that we should be more prudent with our spending.

On my trip to Japan, I found that Japanese are very nice and polite. Service is world class. Whenever we buy things, they will ask if that's a present and they will wrap it for us f.o.c. (regardless of what we bought). They even have plastic bags to cover the shopping bag to avoid the bags from getting wet. It was raining season there.

Apart from shopping there were nothing much I did it Japan. So, these are the stuff I got....

Clothing for Ethan and my niece

Nice hankies as souvenirs

Japanese cotton

Stuff from the Daiso (a.k.a. 100 Yen shop coz almost everything is 100 Yen)

Plastics over paper bags to protect them from rain. Nice er?

Nice wrappings

We can only afford this for dinner. A RM30-bowl of noodles