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!!

Christmas Is Over

2 years, 7 months & 2 weeks old.....

I like Christmas. Probably it's because of the decoration that cheers me up or the holiday (= no need to work) that sets the relax mood. I was on leave from 23 - 31 Dec. SIL and family came over to celebrate Christmas and I thought it will be nice to have a Christmas tree at home. If we went back to hubby's hometown to celebrate Christmas then I guess I would not have insisted on that. So, for the first time in my life, I decorated a Christmas tree. We bought a small tree (4' height) at RM39.90, very cheap. After adding all the ornaments and lighting, the bill tripled. I was so eager to put up the tree that I started immediately after we came back from the mall. That time was around 11pm and I completed it more than one hour later. Ethan was happy to see the lights and he gave me a big smile. Worth the effort, I thought. Unfortunately, his excitement lasted for only 10 seconds.

Our first Christmas tree!

Ethan with the tree and presents

After getting the tree, I thought it would be nice to have some presents under it. I told hubby the idea and he said "Of course it's good to have presents" and that's it. No mention of buying, what to buy or when to buy. Nevermind, I went ahead and bought everyone a present, a total of 7 of them (excluding myslef). So, I told him I'm the Santa Claus this year coz I gave presents only. My nephews (3 of them) were so happy to see the presents with their names on them when they came to our house. I'm so glad they were happy. At least I know someone appreciates my effort. Ethan is happy too but not because of the presents (he's too young to understand what is present) but there will be 3 cousins to play with.

On Christmas eve, we went to Malacca with SIL's family. The Eye On Malaysia is there but we didn't take the ride. They have beautify the river bank and I think the money is well spent. After a half-day sightseeing tour and lunch at the Jonker Street, we adjourned to A Famosa Resort. The last 2 times I went there, I stayed at the bungalows but this time, we booked the condo. They have a few blocks of high rise buildings but they look rundown and to some extent look haunted. Only a few units on a few floors were occupied and the foyer area of our block was idle. The reception, cafe and swimming pool are at another block. We went to the basement parking but what we saw was only old furniture. The place is used as storeroom and abandoned! No wonder all the cars were parked outside. We even saw a man (looks like someone who was staying there) took a framed photo from a store room near the lifts. Luckily the studio room was ok. Whatever it is, I will not stay there again.

He loves the guitar!

After checked-in we rested for a while and went to the water park at around 4.30pm. Ethan had a ball of the time and the weather was perfect. The park is not well maintained and some of the rides for adults were shut down. Some of the facilities at the play area were faulty too but it didn't affect us coz Ethan just played with the slides. After shower, we went to the Cowboy Town for dinner and watched the Red Indian show. My advise: DON'T EAT THERE!! All you get is expensive lousy food. The rides are lousy too. Worse than the local funfare. The only good thing is the Red Indian Show, which includes a parade and firework. I think the parade and firework are special programme catered for Christmas. Not sure if they have the same thing for normal days. If not, not worth going.

We just lazed around the next morning before checking-out and went home. I think the kids enjoyed the trip but for that kind of money, I prefer Genting.

Thrilled with the rides

Waiting for the show to start


Dozed off less than 5 minutes after the show started

We also took the kids to Aquaria KLCC on Saturday, 27 Dec. It was darn crowded especially during the shark feeding time. The area was so packed that I had a hard time squeezing in with Ethan. I had to be kiasu for the sake of my son...hehe....We got to the centre after some people left the area. By then, I was already drenched in sweat. When he saw the guy feeding the giant ray, he was stunned. He just watched without saying a word. After watching the show, we went back to see other exhibits which we missed earlier on.

Other than the two places, we just spent the holiday eating and shopping.

Surprised? Frightened?


Shark Feeding Time but we didn't see the shark


Posing with the turtle before going home

Pregnant?

I woke up this morning with nausea. The last time I had nausea was more than 3 years ago when I was pregnant with Ethan. That was the first symptom that led me to discover that I'm pregnant. Then I tried to recall when I had the last mens. Jeezzz..............end October, before I left for New Zealand. The sickness became stronger as I drove to work. Really felt like vomiting in the car.

A lot of things came into my mind as I drove. "Where are we going to put the baby cot?"........"I need to get the baby clothes back from my sis....and the maternity dress too...I hope she has not given them away"....."How to cope with 2 babies?"......What will be the sleeping arrangement?".........................

Panic started to kick in when I reached the office. I quickly surfed the net and check on the pregnancy calculator. If I'm pregnant, the baby should be 6 weeks by now. The clinic opens at 9am and it was barely 8.15 in the morning. I was anxious, worried, excited and scared.

After settling a few things in the office, I walked to the clinic, registered myself and told the doctor that I might be pregnant. The first thing he did was to check my pulse and he said "Pulse very strong, possible". I also told him that I took some migrain medicine 2-3 weeks back and I'm worried it will affect the baby. He said it should be ok if I took it for short term. He asked me all the dates and measured my weight before asking me to get the urine sample. Then came the result - It's negative. I was a bit disappointed to hear that. It's funny coz I always think I'm not ready to have another baby. I should be relieved instead.

Anyway, I alsked the doctor what caused the nausea. He then checked on my stomach and said I have wind. He then prescribed some medicine and asked me if I need folic acid. I said no need and told him I'm not planning for a baby yet.

Just wonder how my second baby will look like........like Ethan or totally a different look........

He Fell Down on the Road!

2 years, 5 months, 3 weeks and 5 days old.....

The little one gave me a heart attack when he fell on the road. We were attending a friend's baby's fullmoon party on Saturday evening and were about to leave. While I passed the bag to hubby, the little one escaped our grab and ran towards the road. I gave chase and the more I called out for him, the faster he ran. The road was a little steep and we were going down the slope. I wanted to scream 'ETHAN STOP!!!!' but did not want to embarrass myself in front of everyone. I knew he's going to fall but I just couldn't catch up with him. He was fast and I'm fat.

In the end............he fell...as expected. He tripped and rolled on the tar road (I think twice) and lied down on the road facing down. Looking at the way he fell, I was panicked. I thought he must need some stitches somewhere. I quicky picked him up and he was crying. His nose, forehead and hand was scratched and bleeding. The worst part was his nose. The scratches on his hand and forehead were very minor. His legs and knees are ok, thanks to his trousers. I brought him back to my friend's house and washed the wounds. After some thorough inspection, I'm glad and relieved to find that he didn't have deep cuts and no need to be stitched up.

After cleaning his wounds, he has stopped crying and back to normal again. This little rascal can give you heart attack and he is all happy and dandy again before you can recover from the shock. After that only I realised that hubby was sitting outside chatting with friends while I clean him up. He didn't even checked on Ethan. Man oh man.......He did helped out with Ethan while I chatted with some friends but I never expect him to sit there and wait when he knew his son just fell down. If you are concern, will you just sit there and not go find out how your son is? I was upset to see him sat there while I was worry sick. But I was so worried about Ethan at that point so I forgot to be upset with him. Sometimes, I just don't understand and I have forgotten to ask him too.

So, Bee if you are reading this, tell me what was in your mind, ok?

Ethan posing happily with the scars on his nose.....and
of course his latest obsession, Ultraman. He wouldn't
let anyone touch the Ultraman.


Closer view of the scar


The scar on his hand

Rotorua, NZ

Oh my goodness! I didn't realise I have abandoned this blog for almost a month already. Apart from busy facebooking, October seemed to be a busy month. I had to organise an event and then prepared for a trip to Rotorua, New Zealand. It was a conference that my company sent me and my colleague to. As usual, I always have mixed feelings when I need to travel. Happy that I can visit NZ but I know I will miss the two guys at home like crazy. The day I arrived KLIA, I was practically running from the plane to the arrival gate to meet them. It felt so great to be home again.

Back to the NZ story, after much consideration, we have decided to go to Rotorua one day earlier and make the most out of it. As we know that we will not have the time to look for tour packages after we arrive, we booked a day tour online before we depart. It cost us NZ$225/pax (RM472), which included all the entrance fees, a lunch and transportation (pick-up and drop off at our hotel). It turned out that we were the only tourists of the day. We got a mini bus and a tour guide all to oursleves.

The tour included visits to (now here comes all the funny names, which I can hardly pronounce):

• Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland
• Waimangu Volcanic Valley
  
• Rainbow Spring
  
• Agrodome
• Te Puia

Other than those places, we also visited the Mount Maunganui, the nearby surfers beach and the Port Tauranga, as part of the conference's field trip.

The smallest aircraft I've ever boarded-The Beech 1900

Inside the aircraft-That's the first time I saw the cockpit.

Aerial view of Auckland

A thermal pool at the Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland.
There are many thermal pools with different colours
due to the different types of mineral contents

Another thermal pool which is yellowish and orangie.


The Lady Knox Geyser near the Wai-O-Tapu.
We were told it erupts at 10.15 a.m. sharp everyday.
After the visit I know why. After some introduction
to the visitors, the guide pour some chemicals to activate it.


Waimangu Volcanic Valley. The walk around the area took almost one hour.


Another colourful thermal pool at the volcanic valley.


The most beautiful scene of the day.


That's me and the tour guide at the Waimangu Volcanic Valley.
A little bit like Jurassic Park scene in the background.


The Rainbow Spring. The fishes in the pond are Trout.
We saw some native birds and a Kiwi bird here.
I thought it's a small bird but the Kiwi is the size of a hen.


The Agrodome where we saw a sheep shearing show.


The Pohutu Geyser at Te Puia.



A cultural performance at Te Puia. A group of Mat Salleh
tourists paid for the show and so happened we were
walking by and watched the free show.


The lovely surfers beach near Mount Maunganui


Another shot of the beach. Took this photo in a moving bus.


Lovely sky at Port Tauranga.


One of the many spectacular scenes.


A common sight in NZ


One of my favourite shots

The grand finale-There were some fireworks near our hotel on the last night
we were in Rotorua. Photo was taken in the hotel room.

The runway at the Rotorua Airport.

Aerial view of Rotorua

Miscommunication

This incident taught me on how a simple miscommunication can lead to disaster. I arrived at Ethan's school at around 5.30 p.m. yesterday. It was raining. As I was getting some updates on Ethan from the Aunty, a boy about 5 years old appeared at the front gate, crying badly and keep on saying 'I want Mummy, I want Mummy'.

We did not know what happened but according to the Aunty, he was supposed to be at the music class, which is few blocks away from the school. He walked by himself in the rain and to get to the school he has to cross a main road, which can be quite busy at that hour. After hearing this, I felt very sad. I felt the boy's fear but glad that he was ok.

The Aunty asked the boy to come inside and wait for his mother while she tried to contact her. As she was searching for her number, the mother appeared at the gate and rushed to the boy saying 'You scared me'. I was so relieved to see the mother and son reunited. The boy was still crying and the mother kept on asking if he's alright.

Apparently, there was a mis-communication between mother and son. The mother thought he was not attending the music class thus nobody fetch him after the class. One thing I don't udnerstand is why the teacher there will let the boy go out by himself. Anyway, I did not say anything. Just glad that they were reunited and the boy was not harmed. I did offer her an umbrella but she said no need as they are staying nearby.

A Dead Man & A Sick Man

The Dead Man

I was driving to work on Monday morning with an almost empty petrol tank. The signal was blinking non-stop the moment I started the car. Thanks to my hubby who never went to fill up the tank when he drove the car the whole day on Sunday. I was swearing coz I'm scared the car will stop in the middle of the highway. My timing in the morning is just enough for me to send Ethan to school then straight to work. Normally, 3 out of 5 days, I can make it to the office sharp at 8 a.m. The rest of the week, I arrive late. The only petrol station that is convenient for me is near my office. So, I took the risk to drive all the way to that station. Otherwise I will be very late.

Never have I thought of traffic jam. Dang!! Half way through the highway, the cars infront slow down. I thought it's because of the bottle neck and the jam will clear very fast. The cars were crawling and I was really nervous. If my car run out of petrol that moment, that will cause massive jam and people will be cursing at the stupid woman behind the wheel, who never know how to fill up the tank.

As the cars were moving slowly, I began to see a car stopped in the middle lane and other cars were moving away. I signalled and moved to the right lane. As I approached the stalled car, I saw a couple standing in front of their car and a man lying on the floor. So, it was an accident. A pretty common sight in KL especially with motorcyclist. As a typical Malaysian, I took a peep too. The man was motionless and I couldn't see his head!! Then I saw his helmet, which I think was crushed because it was smaller than the normal size. Then I saw red patches of stuff scattered on the road. Dang!!!!!!! Could it be the brain????????? I don't know because I can't see clearly.

That night, when I was watching the news, the story on the accident came out. And now, I can see clearly from the tv screen that those red patches I saw were indeed the brain. The poor man was hit by a petrol tanker and I can see patches of his brain on the tyre too. He was on his way to work and according to the news, I think we were working in the same building. It was sad to see innocent people killed in an accident.

The Sick Man

It was on a Tuesday evening after I fetched Ethan from school when I realised I didn't have the house key with me!! I have parked the car and we both have got down. Hubby was caught in the meeting and will be home late. I called him but he didn't picked up the blardy phone. I sms him but no reply! Ok, fine! It was my own stupid mistake and I shouldn't be angry with anyone.

So, I scooped Ethan back to the car seat and told him 'we go kai-kai ok'. Of course he was ok with it. I drove to Giant and let him play at the indoor playground and some free kiddy rides. We arrived at around 6.30 p.m. and there were a few kids around. I finally managed to call Daddy and he said the meeting was about to end and we agreed to meet there for dinner. In the meantime, Ethan was playing happily, taking all the free rides and playing with the not-so-smooth slides.

It was around 7.15p.m. when a man approached the playground. I thought it was hubby but with a closer look, it was not. Nevermind, we continued to wait. By that time, Ethan was the only kid around but there were a few adults hanging around the area. The man was inspecting the rides so I thought he was some guy from Giant doing some routine check on the playground. I continued to follow Ethan around obeying his every command. My heart skipped a bit when suddenly I saw this grown up man sitting on one of the kiddy rides. My heart screamed AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! but I kept my cool and stared at the man from behind. I was really dumbfounded and don't know what to do!! Being a blogger for more than a year, my insticnt told me to take photo of him on the ride. It will be a piece of juicy news. But then my brain said no. What if he suddenly turn and saw me holding a camera phone? He might charged towards me and punch me!! No....no way. So I stood still and stare.

I don't know how on earth he managed to squeeze himself in. I think he is around 5'8" tall and should weigh more than 80kg. I know coz he is about the same size as my hubby. At first glance when he walked in, I thought he was my hubby..........'choy choy'...'tai kat lai see'. Out of all the designs, he chosed a kitty ride. The seat was so small and his legs were shaking because there was practically no leg room for him. My mind 'terpesong' a little bit at that time and it looked to me as though he was f%^*king the kitty ride. Imagine this, his legs were shaking and he held on to the kitty and body kept moving forward.

Before I got over with the shock, Ethan went over there, stood right behind him and said he wanted to sit on the ride next to him!!! Oh God No way!! I don't think the man will be too happy with a kid sitting next to him while he was busy humping the ride. I said 'No, no, no.....we go there and play the slide'. He refused to budge so I walked away and said bye bye to him. Thank goodness he followed me. I think the man heard me coz I was saying it out loudly but he didn't reacted. After the ride stopped, he quickly got up and walked away but he looked around. I of course pretended to be normal as if nothing had happened.

Not long after that hubby arrived and I told him about that incident. He said that man could be too stressed with work. I said 'If you're too stressed, don't hump the rides, you know the right place to go to'. (The sentences were rephrased for public viewing)