Ben 10

3 years, 6 months, 2 weeks & 2 days old.....

After the previous unhappy incident, daddy voluntarily bought 3 tickets for the Ben 10 show. I was really surprised that he is willing to spent RM49/ticket on a kid's show. The last time I got a surprise like this was more than 2 years ago when he brought us to a Valentine's dinner at a hotel. We were the only couple who brought a child along. Back to Ben 10. Well, it is not really one of Ethan's favourite show but when daddy told him that we are going to watch Ben 10, he kept asking for it non stop. He knows what is tomorrow but can't really understand that today is Wednesday and the show will be on Friday. So, we had to bear with "Daddy, I want to watch Ben 10" like 20 times a day for 3 days.

He got really excited that Friday (27 November 2009) morning. We got up at around 9 a.m., had breakfast and headed to KLCC. We reached there around 11 a.m. and walked around. Too bad the christmas deco was not up yet that time. Otherwise we can snap a few more photos. There was nothing much to do so we went for lunch and went to the convention centre around 1p.m., took some photos and waited for the show to start at 2p.m.

Ethan complaint of stomach ache right after lunch and I bought 'yu yee' oil for him at the Guardian pharmacy and gave him some chinese medicine. He was ok after that but the stomach ache bothered him until Wednesday, when we finally decided to take him to the paed. He has no diarrhoea though. Everyday when he complaint of discomfort, I gave him some chinese medicine and applied oil. He will be ok after that but the next day, the discomfort returned. His paed. said it was wind and prescribed some medicine for him. After two days, he has fully recovered.

Back to Ben 10 again. The show didn't start at 2 sharp (biasalah....we are talking about Malaysian time here) and ended at around 4.45p.m. Ethan really enjoyed the show. He paid full attention to the show especially during the fighting scenes while I was busy taking photos and videos most of the time. Hubby was enjoying looking at Ethan's expression most of the time. He must be very satisfied thinking that his money was well spent. All in all, we were all happy at the end of the day.

We went for a bite at the Burger King after that. Boy, I haven't been there for a long long time and I don't even know when did they stop the free refill for soft drink but I noticed that we can pay with Touch & Go card there. After snacking, we went for some shopping at Isetan but left empty handed. Ethan refused to sleep in his pram even it was way past his nap time. We decided to leave KLCC at 6.30p.m. and wanted to stop for dinner on our way home. Ethan was still wide awake then.

So, off we went to the car park and when hubby tried to turn on the engine, it couldn't start. Gosh, I was panicked a little. He tried a few times but still the engine refused to cooperate. Then, I saw the car park management office tel no. on the pillars and asked hubby to call them. A guard was doing his round on a bicycle and hubby asked him something. I couldn't hear what he said coz I was at the lift area with Ethan.Then he said he's going to walk to the management office. So we waited for him there for like 15 minutes before he returned on a motorbike with a management staff. They jump-start the engine and we quickly drove away. Ethan fell asleep even before we reached the car park exit. That's how exhausted he was. It was already 7p.m. by then but we decided to check out some shops to get the battery replaced. As it was a public holiday, most of the shops were closed. Luckily we found one that was still opened. We got the battery changed, went for dinner and 'sempat' stopped by a warehouse sales on the way back. I have never been to so many places before in one day. We went out at 10.30 a.m. and reached home at 9 p.m. It's a record!

Posing time


His very own silly pose


Another one.


There...he saw something..


....and dragged daddy to buy for him


The stage.


His very own seat but it is too big for him.


One of the scenes.


The show ended but he refused to leave.

Frustrated Frustrated!!!!!

WARNING!: BEE, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU TO READ.



I'm so gonna explode!! I do not know what he thinks and how he manages things even after knowing him for more than a decade. Let's get to the details.

WHO?: My 'lou kong'

WHY?:
He said he might need to go to Jakarta like few weeks ago. So, I kept on telling him go to apply passport earlier coz he is not born in P.M'sia. No, he did not do anything about it. In the meantime, he kept on saying he might need to go..he might need to go.

On Tuesday, he said "I might need to go this Friday". Still refused to apply passport and he even told me that his colleague said can get within one day. I told him a MILLION TIMES that he's not born here, so need longer time to get a passport.

Then the day after, which was yesterday, I saw the tickets so I asked him have you got your passport. Guess what......NO!! Who on earth (other than this man) will issue flight tickets without a passport. You tell me. He said he will apply tomorrow (which is today). I don't want to comment already. What else can I say right? From the beginning I told him that he needs to get his passport first. The best thing is his boss doesn't know that he doesn't have a passport! Great or not? I also asked if he knows what documents he needs to bring. I got a stern reply that he already went to get the forms and everything. Fine. I keep quiet after that. I expect he has asked everything since it's already so urgent.

This morning I got a call from him. Surprise surprise....He said he needs to fly back to his hometown this afternoon to get it. If he applies here, it takes 5 days. How will you react? Why on earth this question was not asked when he was there to collect the form??? Didn't I SAY it takes longer for him? DIDN'T I?? WAS I TALKING TO THE WALL OR WHAT?? I was totally speechless. I was VERY MAD but there is nothing I can do about it. Do you know that kind of feeling? When you are so mad but you don't want to let it out so you just keep it inside until you feel like exploding? You can't talk, you can't shout and you definitely do not want to cry. I didn't talk much, just asked when is he coming back and told him I don't want to talk already.

My phone rang again not long after. Once I saw who is the caller I took a deep breath before I answer it just to keep cool. He asked me where is his birth certificate. ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Now only you're asking me that?? I managed to tell the location of the document without raising my voice and end the conversation qucikly before I lose it.

My phone rang again. I took another deep breath. He asked me if I can pick him up from the airport on Saturday evening. I said I don't know. What else am I suppose to say??? I'm fuming inside and cannot think straight.

WHY? WHY? WWWHHHHYYYYYYYYY????

Diaperless At Night

3 years, 4 months, 4 weeks & 1 day old.....

What happen when you run out of diapers at home? Normally, we will rush out to buy a packet, no matter what. But not this time. We ran out of diapers on Sunday night but were tooooo lazy to go out. Also, I was having migrain since Friday night. So, I really didn't feel like going out. I told hubby that we might try and train Ethan to sleep without diaper. I noticed that sometimes he did not wet his diaper throughout the night and I thought that maybe we can give it a try.

We have taken some precautions. First of all, get him to clear his bladder after milk, before bed time. Secondly, I put a cloth napkin inside his brief, just in case. Thirdly, put the changing mat covered by another layer of cloth on the bed, again, just in case.

The first two nights went by without a hitch. No soiled napkin. Third night...well.....we were not as lucky. I woke up at 5a.m. (which is this morning) and found that he has wet his pants. So, I got to get up and change him. When he woke up, I told him that he shh shh (pee) in his pants, he angrily replied me with a "No!". Ok, I got it. He doesn't like it so I just cut it and changed the topic.

I think (women think a lot and always do the thinking, don't you agree?) he didn't wet his pants on the first two nights because he slept late and woke up early. We slept around 10p.m. last night, which was slightly earlier and maybe he couldn't hold it that long. Hmmmmm......what to do tonight? Perhaps get him to drink his milk half an hour before bedtime and clear his bladder just before bedtime. By that, hopefully all his milk will be cleared from his bladder.

Painting

3 years, 4 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old.....

As mentioned in my previous post, we have bought a set of water colour for Ethan. He likes that a lot but I don't know how long it will last. The set we bought him (a book with a colour palette and a brush) at MPH cost around RM30. He has finished the colour on the palette so hubby bought him another set of water colour in tubes. I don't know how much it costs as I was away at that time. In the beginning, he doesn't know how to control the amount of colour and put way too much colour on the book and after it dries off, the pages just stick together. I wanted to take photo of what he has painted but when I tried to separate them, I ended up peeling the pages. So, what you see here are the photos I took recently (11 October 2009) and he can paint better now.

The book, palette and brush come in a set.

Ethan at 40 months old

3 years, 4 months & 2 days old.....

Oh dear. I have abandoned the blog for almost 2 months. I just lost the momentum to write.

Ethan is behaving quite well lately. Nothing much has changed or have I lost track about his development? I don't know. The routine is the same, his food intake is still the same. His taste bud changed a little though. He began to take some vege especially beans. He likes mushrooms very much and also lotus root. He can eat rice without soup now but he eats more rice with soup.

He can go to toilet unaided now. He knows how to pee on his own, flush the toilet, wash his hands afterward and wipe them with a towel. When he poops, we need to put him on the toilet seat and he will asks us to go out until he is done. I don't know why. He is diaperless on afternoon naps now. He was like on and off the diapers but now I'm quite sure he will not wet his pants in the 1 hour plus during his nap. When we are out, he will always tell us he wants to pee or poo during meal time. It's annoying sometimes. I will get hubby to bring him to the toilet most of the time...hehe. There were a couple of times when he needed to pee so badly in the car I gave him a plastic bag to relieve himself. My friend put a potty in the car for incidents like this but I hate to clean potty. Plastic bags work just as good (for boys only). For poo-poo, he can hold himself until we got home. Thank goodness.

He talks like a parrot and likes to imitates me on the phone. When watching tv, he asks so many questions that you can hardly concentrate. I doubt we can bring him to the cinema again. We brought him to watch Terminator few months back (his first time) and taught him how to whisper. He sat through the movie but it was uncomfortable for us as he was sitting on our lap. Need to buy him a ticket next time.

His latest craze is Power Rangers. To date, he has 3CDs and 3-4 figurines. It's adding up very fast coz everytime we go out, he will asks for toys. We managed to buy him two sets at Jusco with 70% off. Phew!! We also bought him a water colour set after he painted with a set at my sister's house on Monday (21 Sep) night. After we left for home that night, he asked for a set non-stop. Seriously, he asked for it every minute or so. Even after we said yes, he will still ask for it. We couldn't stand it so we brought him to MPH at Midvalley the next day and immediately bought him a set. Then, he started to tell us he wanted to go home coz I told him we can't open it until we get home. He started to ask us to go home non-stop for the next 2 hours. No explanation will satisfy him. In the end, I couldn't take it anymore and I told him if he wouldn't stop it, I will throw his water colour away. He stopped for a while after that. He painted some pictures that night and sat quietly on his table for quite some time. I forgot to take pictures but will try to do it later.

About his previous obsession, Ultraman, he can recognise the different Ultramen and can tell me their names by looking at the pictures. Amazing. I intend to start something more educational with him since he can memorise things so well. Perhaps I will print out the multiplication table and stick it on the wall for him to memorise.

Playing with his stroller. We kept it away for a few months
and now he likes it as if it's something new.

Pretend to sleep.

What's Up

That day while I was chit-chatting with my colleague, we mentioned that how time flies this year. It's already end of July now. I realise I have been blogging less and less mainly due to work commitment. When I'm at home, needless to say, I hardly touch the laptop as Ethan will ask me to switch on Ultraman (from Youtube) for him. Once he starts watching, he refuses to stop and always ends up crying when we switch it off. I've been telling hubby that he is watching too much Ultraman already. We try to limit it and he is watching like 4-5 days a week, every day limit to 1 hour.

Talking about my work, well, I have not been anywhere this year except for Port Dickson in June and will be going to Penang, next week. I'm not looking forward to any travelling actually. Don't know why. Just don't feel like going anywhere. At the same time, work in the office has been...errr...how should I say.........manageable but a lot of ad-hoc stuff, which I don't like. A Deputy Director has left our division in April, so we have to pick up part and pieces of his work. I hate to pick up people's work. I rather handle everything from the beginning.

I have made a very big decision for myself this year. Well, I'm going back to study and is taking Master of Science now. Actually, the planning started sometime mid last year. I first started thinking about taking up a Master degree because I feel that's the only way for me to get out of this company. Not that I have decided to leave but I have a strong feeling that I should have a back-up plan. What if the company cease operation one day? or what if I get a nasty boss in the future and I couldn't stand him/her and cannot find another job? I was very very bored with my job at one point and I have tried to look for another one. After sending out many many applications, I only received some calls for jobs with lower pay and lower prospect for career advancement. I'm not a very ambituous person but if I do not get better offer, I might as well stay put. At the same time, I felt that I need to do something about it. Hopefully, after I got my Master, I would have better chances in the job market. For all we know, I might stay in the same company until I retire..heheh.

Classes for the semester started in July and I need to attend only 1 class per week on Tuesday from 6-9 pm. I will go to class after work and hubby will fetch Ethan. So far, things are working out well with the study and with my two boys. I have yet to start anything on my thesis, which is the hardest part but I just want to take things one step at a time. Before I register, I have been thinking seriously should I proceed with the plan. I even thought of giving up, many many times but felt that it's not a right thing to do. Even now, I'm not sure if I could complete my study. I know it would be such a waste to drop it especially after planning it for more than a year. Hubby is supportive about it too. But it is really tough, especially mentally, to go back to study after 9 long years. Furthermore, I have a family and job to juggle now, unlike last time when I was doing my bachelor degree where everything is taken care of. I really miss those carefree years. Things are very different now. I need to be very determined in order to complete my Master degree. Hopefully, I can complete it in 3 semesters (1.5 years).

'Dumb and Dumber' Hairstyle

3 years, 1 month, 1 week & 2 days old....

We brought Ethan for a haircut last two weeks or so after we returned from the trip. A few people thought Ethan is a girl, so his hair must be really long lar...hehe. We have been going to this salon for his hair cut since he was a baby but there are two hairdressers there. We normally get the thinner lady to cut his hair. The other lady cut Ethan's hair once and I did not like it. That day, when I brought in and saw that lady, my heart went "Oh sh^t, she better make it right this time or else it will be the last time she sees us." The result......"Dumb and dumber" hairstyle. Sigh. I have trimmed Ethan's hair myself a few times after that as it was really badly cut. The hair was uneven, like some Chinese say: bitten by a dog. I will not let her touch Ethan's hair
again.

Before

After

Birthday and Such

3 years and 4 weeks old.....


The Birthday

(A very, very backdated post)

We celebrated Ethan's birthday with an early dinner on 16 May 2009 at Tony Roma's with my sister's family and mum. The birthday boy got a dessert f.o.c from Tony Roma's but we all shared it lar. It was also to celebrate Mother's Day. On the actual day (Friday, 22 May 2009) , we took leave and brought him to Genting to have a fun-filled day. This year, we simplified everything. Only one cake and one trip. No pressie for him...hehe. We arrived at around 10.00 a.m. and left on the same day after dinner at 7.30 p.m. I was dead tired and couldn't walk anymore. We went to both indoor and outdoor theme park and took almost all the kiddy rides. That's the good thing about going there on a weekday. The little one was so excited that he refused to nap. The moment we put him on the car seat, he dozed off.

His birthday cake-green tea with red bean

The birthday boy enjoying his cake

Birthday larva courtesy of the restaurant

His favourite ride! He went on it for at least 5 times.

At the Chocolate Wonderland

The 'caterpillar' ride. Our last ride at the outdoor theme park.

Tried his luck and....

he won a pillow all by himself!

The Trip

We went back to hubby's hometown on 11-15 June2009 to attend his brother's wedding on 12 June (Friday). The wedding went on well despite a few hiccups e.g. sister-in-law's MPV broke down the day before the wedding so we borrowed a neighbour's van and we didn't know that the air-cond. was not working until we started the engine. Everyone was drenched in sweat on the way to the church that morning. Once inside the church, I hurried myself to a seat nearest to the fan. Luckily, I didn't lost much of my make-up (which was barely there in the first place). Thank goodness, they got the MPV back that evening just in time to attend the dinner. I was very very relieved.

Saturday was a rest-and-relax day. Having nothing much to do on Sunday (14 June), we brought Ethan to the Matang Wildlife Centre to see Orang Utan. I haven't been there before so I did not know what to expect. I brought milk and clothes for Ethan (I brought these wherever we go) and also mosquito repellent. We headed to the visitor's centre and continued our walk to the animals' enclosures. I have never imagined that the place is practically a jungle. All the enclosures were built under the natural surrounding. It was like jungle trekking.

Half way through the walk, we had to climb up a flight of stairs to reach the sun bear enclosure. After the hike we were so exhausted and took a rest there. At that time, hubby suddenly saw a hairy caterpillar (ulat bulu) on his hand. He quickly shook it off and I saw the caterpillar crawling on the floor. It was only around 2cm long. I didn't take any pic of it coz worm/caterpillar is my biggest fear. I just look at it from distance.

We then continued our journey to look for the Orang Utan. Ethan was tired so hubby carried him. After a few minutes, he started scratching his body, hands first then his back. We suspected something was not right so my mother-in-law asked me to carry Ethan instead. I carried Ethan for a while and reached the Orang Utan's enclosure. Ethan started to scratch more frequently and we suspected it's the caterpillar that cause the itchiness. I appllied some mosquito repellent on him (that's the only cream I had with me that time) but he still scratched all over his body.

We hurried our way out and found a toilet so we stripped Ethan off his clothes and washed him with some water. Red spots started to develop on his hands and back. After washing him, I applied the mosquito repellent on his body and changed his clothes. He fell asleep in the car shortly after that and the itchiness seemed to have gone away.

Too bad, the worst had yet to start. After we arrived at SIL's house, we quickly took shower and applied antiseptic cream. The red spots then became swollen and spread to other body parts. Ethan got it worst - both hands, leg, back, tummy and some on his face. I got it on my hands, neck and tummy. Hubby was very lucky as he only got a few spots on his hands.

The attack happended around noon and by 6 pm that evening, the itchiness became very bad. The antiseptic cream did not help at all. I told hubby we need to get to the pharmacy and guess what? There was no pharmacist on duty at the Guardian. All I could get, with my limited knowledge on this kind of situation, was a bottle of calamine lotion. And.....it was useless.

We went for dinner with hubby's family after buying and applying the calamine lotion. After looking at our condition, they suggested we tried some traditional medicine and so we did. It helped but not for long. After two hours or so, the itchiness came back. Ethan had difficulties falling asleep but he did not fuss at all (I'm so glad). He just scratched all over non-stop. We had to help him rub his body to prevent him to scratch too hard. He fell asleep eventually. That was around 10 p.m., I think. I dozed off half-an hour later but was awake around 12 a.m. as the itchiness became unbearable. I turned and saw Ethan scratching badly also.

Before I fell asleep, I told hubby that maybe we should go to the hospital and see a doctor. As usual, he said not necessary and hinting to me no need to exaggerate. So, when I woke up at around midnight, I woke him up as well and ask him to look at Ethan and how bad he's scratching. He then quickly called his friend and asked where is the nearest hospital. Off we went to the emergency ward and got both myself and Ethan registered.

The doctor's advice: Everyone's reaction to allergy is different and that we should get treatment within the first 4 hours of attack. Even though hubby was ok but myself and Ethan had very bad allergy reaction to the attack. In bad cases, it can cause swollen tongue and breathing difficulties (that freaks me out). Luckily, the doctor said our lungs were clear and asked me to monitor Ethan's breathing. If I hear wheezing sound, we should send him to hospital immdiately. We got oursleves some medication and cream plus two shots on my arms for fast relief. We slept quite well after the medication but woke up twice to help Ethan apply the cream and stroking his body to prevent him from scratching.

The worst was not over yet. I woke up the next morning (Monday, 15 June) and saw the swollen spots on my hands and they were watery inside. We went to see another skin doctor and he prescribed another cream for us. I also tried to use dettol with warm water to wipe Ethan and myself. It helps a lot. I repeated the routine (wipe with dettol and apply cream) the whole day and happy to see the improvement very fast. The red spots subsided and were not as red before. Still, the itchiness was there the whole time but not as intense. We took a flight back to KL that night and as usual, there was a delay in AirAsia's flight by one hour. We reached home past midnight and after repeating another round of dettol and cream for both of us, I was dead exhausted.

Ethan and myself rested at home until yesterday (18 June) and went back to our normal life today. What a trip.

Hubby's and my hands. See the difference? Mine was all swollen.

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Don't scream, ya

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Ethan's body on the 2nd day. He's much much better now.
My heart ache like mad.

Writing, Reading, etc.

2 years, 11 months and 1 week old.....

There are some new developments on his writing/colouring and reading skills. He started colouring months ago and started to like it since then. On a good day, I can get 15 minutes of peace when he's in the mood to colour. In the beginning, he will coloured the whole page without following the picture lines. You can't see anything on the paper other than random colours. Just a few weeks back, I noticed that he can colour (almost) within the lines and you can (almost) see what is the thing he coloured.

I happened to buy a work book for colouring and writing (those alphabets with dotted lines) for him. I thought just let him colour and I will sit down one day and teach him to write some basic alphabets. Then on one fine day he took out the book and started colouring. I just let him be and did some chores. To my surprise, he traced along the dotted lines by himself. He also likes to draw lines. So, I bought a few more work books for him. This year, I'm determined to use up the RM1,000 allowance given for books for my income tax. So 'pissed' with Income Tax. I have even signed up for MPH member card. I've been contemplating to sign up before this but since I want to spend more on books this year, I've decided to sign up for it.

I drew a house with basic shapes for him to colour.
At least I can see a rectangle and a triangle after he coloured it.


Learning to write number 3.

An activity book I bought for him at MPH. It comes with
a marker but can be replaced with any white board marker
(non-permanent). You can write on it and wipe the ink off
easily with tissue paper thus can be re-used forever.


We just introduced him to online educational games
and he's hooked to it. Colouring is considered educational right?

As for reading, I also bought a few books for him during the recent book fair at PWTC. I always use book to lure him to go to bed so that he can settle down and sleep. I don't do it everyday lar coz sometimes I'm just too tired to read to him and attend to his 'WHY this, WHY that' questions. Sometimes, he will refuse to read also and want to play Ultraman with me. Just last night, I told him "Come we read book" and he said "We play first". So we played Ultraman. (He's Ultraman and I'm the monster).

Ok, I digress. Back to reading. At first, I read to him and he listens. Then, he started to ask questions. Later on, he learnt to read after me (his favourite being Humpty Dumpty). Now, he wants to read to me. He will point to the words and read in his own language. Although I don't understand his story, I'm glad that he likes book. Here's a short video clip on him reading. Don't worry if you don't understand what he reads coz you'll never will :-).

Cluttered Mind

A few untoward incidents happened today. First of all, (d@#n the gov) I have to pay extra RM1k income tax, even after deducting the PCB. My salary is already so low and still have to pay so much tax (it is a lot to me). Why? Coz the gov is so hungry for money and has started taxing us on meal allowance that we got for travelling. Stimulus package....WHAT STIMULUS PACKAGE!! For God sake, that money was given to us to buy food! If we eat McD every day, then we might have a few extra $$ left for some souvenir shopping. The worst part is, we are not allowed to get exemption on money spent on food by showing them the receipts. In other words, if you get RM200 per day for food and you spent it all on food, the gov. is still taxing you the full amount. I am really PI$$ED!!

Secondly, the pipe in my house is leaking. Fortunately (or unfortunately) the water drips to the car park which is one floor below my unit. As it is not someone's house, no one complaints. But if it is somebody's house, we can share the cost of repair. The water mark on the wall is already 1 feet high and spreading across the whole wall in the living hall and my bedroom. We have identify a plumber to fix it but hubby said he's too busy to apply leave. So, I might have to apply leave. Worst case scenario is, the plumber might have to hack the wall/floor to seal the hole and we do not know how big the damage is coz we cannot pin point the source of the leak and where should we start hacking. After the plumber finish his job, we have to look for people to fix the tiles and paint the wall. If we can get the same tiles, then not so bad. If not, we will have different colour tiles on the floor.

Thirdly, I wanted to register for a course and need to submit my examination transcript and certificate. I lost them and went back to the University to get them. They said they will not issue another cert so they will just give me a letter to say that I lost it. I paid and submitted a form. To my surprise, they called me 2-3 days later (I thought it takes them at least a week) to inform me that the papers were ready. So, I went to collect the papers last Monday BUT they only gave me the transcript and not the letter. Fine. They said they will do it and call me when it's ready. I haven't receive their call until now. The worst part is, the line was either engaged or not answered when I called!!!! How on earth that could be? I called another no. and the guy asked to call back the same no. coz. he does not have the details. The closing date for submission is 15 April. Wish me luck.

I couldn't think anymore. Talking to people around me did not ease my frustrations either. I hope the day will be saved by some good news.

Cuti-Cuti Bandung & Hot Air Balloon Festival in Putrajaya

2 years, 10 months & 2 days old.....

Bandung, 15-18 March 09

I went to Bandung with a few of my colleagues for cuti-cuti. We bought the ticket at zero fare and just paid RM200+ for airport tax. I enjoyed the trip very much coz for the first time, I travel with colleagues for holiday and not for work. The feeling was totally different. So relaxing and enjoyable. The best thing was everything was well planned and arranged before we left for the trip. From hotel and itinerary to money changing. I just packed my bag and hopped in.

All we did there was shop, eat, spa, reflexology, shop, shop and shop. I'll never get to do all these in KL. I didn't buy lots of things but I just enjoyed shopping all day long. I haven't done this in many many years. Just imagine, 3 full days of shopping without worrying that you will be late to pick up your son from school. No need to worry what to feed him tonight. The only worry is that he will be sick at home but I called and sms hubby to check everyday. Both of them were ok throughout the trip.

I went for my first ever spa in Bandung and paid 425,000 Rupiah (approx. RM 136) for a 2.5 hours package. So much cheaper compared to KL rite? The foot reflexology is also very cheap. It only cost 25,000 Rupiah (approx. RM8) for a 1-hour session. Unbelieveable. I asked the girl twice for the price coz I was really stunned.

One thing I realised was that their chickens taste so much better than those in KL. They are more juicy and taste like ayam kampung, not ayam pasar. I better let the photos do the talking (most of them were taken by my colleagues - A&A).

We visited the crater on the second day. Nice place but have to
go there early in the morning when it's more cooling.


The crater.


What we saw from one of the viewing decks.


Rows of shops selling local handicrafts.

Riung Sari, the restaurant where we had our lunch on the first day.
Nice food, nice ambience, fair price.

Lunch at Riung Sari. The one on the right is Nasi Timbel Special. Delicious!

One of the outlets

The price list at one of the beauty salon.
This is where we did the foot reflexology.

The spa we went to.

The place for baju kurung, kebaya and kain.

Putrajaya, 22 March 09

After returning from Bandung, me and hubby brought Ethan to Putrajaya on Sunday, to see hot air balloon. We were supposed to meet a friend, her hub and son there. We all arrived almost at the same time at around 8.45 pm to find that all the ballooons have been launched at 8 am. Only one balloon was still at the launching pad and it was only opened for charity ride, i.e., for orphans, etc. We saw some balloons floating around while we were on the way there but thought that there will be a few more around. Mana tahu, only one left. They called it hot air balloon festival but there were more stalls selling food than the hot air balloons around. I didn't have high expectations for the festival so it was only a minor dissapointment for me.

However, Ethan enjoyed it very much coz he saw the big balloon and a few paramotors flying around. He was so amazed to see the 'Uncles' (he calls any stranger men as uncle) flying around and kept saying 'So many, so many'. We spent slightly more than an hour there before adjourned to Alamanda for brunch. He started to warm up with Zac, my friend's son and played with him while we ate. The kids had a good time playing while the adults had a good time chatting. At end of the day, we were happy coz the kids were happy. That's all that matter.

The one and only hot air balloon around.

So many! So many!

Looking at the paramotors with full excitement

Playing with Zac

So You Want A Cheap But Meaningful Valentine's Gift

It was last Friday when I realised that it will be a Valentine's day the next day because my colleague said she want to get a Valentine's gift. I was blog-hopping then and I found the recipe for steamed moist chocolate cake. Thanks to Family First!. It looks very do-able to me. The recipe and instructions are easy enough for me to understand and I know I can get the ingredients easily from the supermarket. So, I printed out a copy of the recipe and my colleague saw it and asked for a copy too. I went and bought all the ingredients after work. On the way home, I mumbled to hubby. I said "The ingredients are not cheap and I don't know if the cake jadi or not". He said something like "Might as well buy one from the bakery". I said "I have not even started and you didn't even give me support".

Hubby was not working on that Saturday, which happened to be a Valentine's Day lar. Not that we have any plans. I didn't feel like going out to the mall and so was he. Since we all "mou-mou liu-liu", I might as well try to bake the cake lar. Meanwhile hubby entertained Ethan with a bubble-blowing session.

Everything went on smoothly until the last step when I needed to pour the self-raising flour into the mixture. I bought the flour few months back and when I opened it up, it was infested with tiny insects, which look like 'kutu' to me. OMG!!!!! So geli. I tried to sift the flour but it failed to separate the insects. Sigh.........my pot of mixture was sitting there and half way done and I don't have the FLOUR!! I quickly grab the car key and went to the nearby mini markets to buy the very important FLOUR. I went to 3 mini markets and all of them do not sell self-raising flour. ARGHHH!! How ar!! Then I thought, rather than throw the mixture away, I might as well give it a try and use normal flour and add more baking powder. That's what I did and the cake turned out well.

Thank goodness, I have a Valentine's gift at last. Ethan, who does not like cake, happened to like that cake very well. He insisted to blow candle but we couldn't find any at home. We just asked him to sing and so he sang "Happy Birthday" and insisted to cut the cake himself. He ate 2 slices of the cake!! As for hubby, when I asked him how is the cake, he said "Hmmmmmm.....". My translation of that answer is "If you must get an answer, I think it is nice". Luckily I still have a son, who is more supportive than the father.

The ingredients

The mixture in the steamer. I put the plastic timer
too close to the heat, it melted a bit :-(

Part of the mess!

Finally, the cake with a small deco that Ethan brought back
from school.

P.S. My colleague used the same recipe but she said her cake turned to be more spongy than mine. Maybe it's the self-raising flour. So, it's blessing in disguise? Since I have extra ingredients, I'm going to try to bake another one with chocolate glaze.

My Baby Can Cycle!

2 years, 8 months, 2 weeks & 5 days old.....

I bought a tricycle as a gift for Ethan's 1st birthday and he played on it on and off. Most of the time, we just pushed him around in the apartment compound and he always gets bored after a while and ended up pushing the cycle himself. The other day when we were at my mum's place during CNY, he sat on it (my sis has a similar one for my niece) and suddenly I saw him pushing on the pedals and the tricycle moved a little. Seeing that his legs are long enough now to reach and push the pedals, I started to teach him to cycle on that day (yeah!! after buying it for more than a year). He made a little progress and most of the time he cycled backward.

Since then, he's very interested in cycling and there was one day he cycled in Giant while we shopped. I kind of like it coz it's easier for us when he cycled compared to pushing the big trolley around and hitting everyone in his way (he wouldn't let us touch the trolley). In the end, Daddy had to force him to let go of the bicycle coz we're not buying another one just yet. He was crying non-stop on the way home. I told him that we will play bicycle at home and once we reached home, I quickly washed the bicycle and let him played in the house. So there is an additional thing now to clutter our house further.

Here are some photos and a video of him cycling.

No. Lelaki / No. Perempuan

I received a call from an anonymous and this fella is definitely "sot-sot dei" (tak betul/ crazy/ cuckoo).

Me: Hello
Caller: Hello......................
Me: Yeah?
Caller: Ini no. lelaki ke no. perempuan?
Me (scratch head, never heard this kind of question before): Huh? You cari siapa?
Caller: Takda.......mau tanya ini no. lelaki ke no. perempuan?
Me (WTH??): HUH?? WHERE ARE YOU CALLING FROM????
Caller: Takdela....saya mau tanya ini no. lelaki ke no. perempuan?
Me: Kalau perempuan jawab...No perempuan la!!
Caller: Ok.....bye...
Me: ?????????????????? Wasted my time. Should have just hung up.

WTH? Can't he just tell me where he is calling from or at least tell me the name of the person he's looking for??? CRAZY!!

32 Months Old

Time flies!! (So many people said it so many times already, but I still have to say it). Ethan will celebrate his 3rd birthday in four months time. I have no idea on how to celebrate his birthday this year. We had 3 dinners and 2 cakes for his 2nd birthday. Why 3 dinners? Coz there are 2 people in my family, who cannot meet face to face, so got to celebrate separately. Very the "ma-fan" (troublesome). The 3rd dinner was a simple dinner for the 3 of us on his actual birthday.

Some updates on Ethan:
Height: 92-93 cm
Weight: 13 kg

Speech
Life is easier now as he is older and he can communicate pretty well with us.....sometimes can "bok-jui" (argue) somemore. The Aunty at his school told me last week that he also argues with his teacher and when he lost, he will pout his mouth. The teacher also "saja kacau" him.

He picks up words very fast nowadays so I try very hard not to say bad words in front of him. Instead of f@#k, I say s@#t. Better right?

When I scold him now, he will say "You naughty....I don't want you...Go away....I say go away". (Lei war sei mmm sei...)

Latest craze: Ultraman!!
It happened when I went to NZ late last year. Hubby introduced him to that rubber-costume-super-hero, which shows on tv in the evenings. The craze started from then on. I think he should be watching Barney instead at this age as it is more educational.

He is so crazy about it that he can watch the same cd over and over again. And when he's not watching it, he wants to play Ultraman with us. He is Ultraman and Mummy is dinosaur (monster). My mum scolded me for letting him watch too much Ultraman coz he always pretends to be dinosaur and makes ugly faces.

His current Ultraman collection consists of:

• 6 Ultraman figurines (5 pasar malam toys and one came free when we bought a cd). Of these, 2 has broken into half, 1 with head fell off but glued back. Cheap toys ma....
  
• 4-5 CDs
• 1 set of pyjama. I normally buy RM 10-19/pair types of pyjamas for him but this set cost RM24!! I made daddy paid for it.
  
• 2 sticker books (all bersepah already)

Talking about stickers, there were a couple of times I went to work with his stickers (thank God not Ultraman!!) on my leg and sometimes elbow and shoes. The best part was I only realised about it when I was about to finish work!! So darn malu if people saw me with the stikers on. OH GOSHHHH!!!!!

School
He adapts pretty well at the school. Instead of saying "Don't want school", he sometimes says "Ethan go to school" when I'm driving him there. He still clings to me when I drop him off especially when does not have enough sleep. Then I have to spend 10-20 minutes sweet talking to him until he let me go willingly/ half willingly...as long as he doesn't cry. I don't want to leave him while he's crying as I'm worried that he will hate going to school. He's barely 3 and he has a long way to go before University. I don't care if he does not excel academically, I just want him to get a degree, at least. Not too much to ask for right?

I don't know what he learns at school but I'm not too concern about it. I think it is still too early to emphasis on education at his age. I doubt the school is practising Montessori as claimed but I don't care la. As long as he likes to go to school, mix around, happy and healthy, I'm a happy mother. I'm also happy that the daycare Aunty is taking good care of him. She always reports to me what happens to him at school and she speaks fondly of him too sometimes.

Diet:
He takes milk 3-4 times a day:

• 6 am, when I wake up, when he's half awake.
• Noon, before nap
• Late afternoon, before I pick him up but sometimes he skips that if he takes snack
• At night, before sleep
  

He's currently on Friso Gold and Pediasure (chocolate flavour). After I changed him from Enfagrow to Friso, he seems to be less interested in milk. Then, his solid food intake also seems to be reducing. My sis was giving her daughter Pediasure coz she will only drink milk with chocolaty taste. So, my sis found Pediasure with chocolate flavour and mix it with Mamil and the little girl started to drink milk. From then on, she became chubbier and chubbier. Ethan tried the milk and he likes it too. Hmmmmmm........ so I also went to buy a tin of Pediasure too and mix it with Friso and walla.......problem solved.

I mix 4 scoops of Friso with 1 scoop of Pediasure in 7 oz of water. At school, he's taking Friso only. I asked the Aunty about his milk intake and she said no problem. So I just let it be lar.

Other than that, I also noticed some differences in him after changing milk- less phlegm and less hyper. However, I'm not too sure if the phlegm thing improved because of the milk or because he's growing up. He used to have a lot of phlegm from time to time when he was younger and the doctor did advised us to change milk and see if the situation improved. We didn't change his milk at that time coz he's still young and seemed to be ok with Enfa. If I remember it correctly, the doctor also said that the phlegm problem will get better as he grows up. So, I don't really know which is which.

About the hyper active thing....I think I'm pretty sure it's caused by the milk. I'm not saying that all kids taking that milk will be hyper active. Maybe the milk is not suitable for him...that's all. He was so active at one point and it worried me. He can run non-stop, like for more than 15 minutes, in the house just chasing the ball alone excitedly. He can never sit down and concentrate on one activities like drawing, playing puzzle, blocks, whatever it is. Even when he's watching tv, he will move around and stop for a while to catch a glimpse of his favourite show. Now.......he can watch movie with us at home, from beginning till the end. Hubby has been contemplating of bringing him to the cinema. Probably his attention span is longer now as he's older and has nothing to do with the milk. I don't know.

We seldom take photos of him nowadays as our digital camera is not good at capturing moving objects :-) Here are some photos taken by a good friend during our friend's wedding in September 2008. I like them very much. Thanks Erica!!