Why Ethan James?

Pretty mama, Yvonne, tag me on this one. I think it's a good tag. All parents give names to their children for some good reasons. Sometimes, a good name may sound funny when it's pronounced wrongly, especially English name pronounced by Chinese. R becomes L (like Rainbow becomes Lainbow), D becomes T and so on. This is the first thing I looked into when we were looking for the right name for our baby boy. I told hubby about it. I've done a lot of research on the internet on baby names, printed them out and let hubby looked at them. Actually, I used to like the name Benjamin and I insisted on James (after Ethan's grandpa) as the second name. Then, hubby wanted Ethan. I counter proposed Ian. After much negotiation, hubby still insisted on Ethan. He seldom make decision. So, when he made one, I just followed lor. The meaning of the name Ethan is Firm & Strong. I hope he will be a man, who is firm with his decision and strong in his health. The origin is Hebrew. The meaning of the name James is Supplanter (don't ask me what it is). The origin is also Hebrew.

As I think it's a meanigful tag, I want to tag the following babies/toddlers:

Baby Gib
Baby Darren
Baby Dillon
Baby Phoebe
Princess Xin Yi and Bao Yi

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Instructions :

**Start Copy**

Proposition: What is the meaning of your kid’s name?

Requirements: write about what or how or why you giving the name to your kids.

Quantity: FIVE PEOPLE.

Tag Mode:1st - You leave their blog and post link and add to the list below.2nd - Let the blogger you want to tag know they been tagged by comment in their blog or etc.

Baby Malaika - since u took so long to decide a name, sure has great meaning.. :P

Baby Belle - wants to know a little bit more of yr cutie massaeur's name

Baby Irfan - Hehe, take your time... knowing ur still recovering from pox

Baby Ethan - Ethan recovered already time to share with us his name lor

I Did It

I SPANK Ethan. It was on Sunday, if I remember it correctly. It's time to nap so I put him in the spring cot but he was like toss & turn, toss & turn, wanted to climb out. I'm already boiling inside. Hubby was eating at that time. Couldn't be bothered. I used to spank his buttock, actually diaper lar, and it's not hard. I don't know why I spank him a little harder than usual on that day and he was not wearing his pants. My hand landed on his thigh and PIAKK! He was stunned for a while, looked at me blankly, hand touching his thigh. Aiyorrrr, I felt so guilty at that moment. He looked superbly innocent like 'Why you spank me, mummy?'. Remember the cat in 'Shrek'? He looked just like that. After that he lie in the spring cot quietly and dozed off shortly. But....I saw that his thigh was like reddish, like got my fingerprint on it. Ouch! My heart also ache lar. I promise and reminded myself countless times - 'Do not spank your child!' But, I just lost it. Guess I have to work harder on controlling my temper lar.

If You're Happy......

...And You Know It Clap Your Hands. Ethan really likes this song in the Barney CD. He will follow them to clap but have not learn how to stamp his feet yet. You can see him clap in the video. He will watch the tv when his favourite songs are played including Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. He also likes to watch the little blond girl. Whenever she sings, he will watch. Tsk tsk tsk......so young already know how to choose girls. I have bought another education cd for him but he doesn't seem to like it.

Video taken on 4 May 2007

I have been telling people that Ethan likes to bite including his books. The other day, I bought two more books for him. Actually the books were his birthday presents from his 'poh poh' (grandma). My mother gave me money and asked me to buy things for Ethan. I bought two books and the balance of the money I deposit into his saving accounts. The two books are board books. He can flip the pages easily with his little fingers. They are also big, so he cannot lift the books and bite them. The few books that I bought for him last time were normal paper book. It's light and the pages are flimsy. He cannot flip the pages and can easily lift them up and bite. Now I know. It's not him that doesn't like book. It's the book that is not suitable for him. Silly me.

The yellow book (see picture below) has a spongie cover, sturdy but soft. Nice to touch. The other one, In The Jungle, has some pop-up animals when you open the pages. There are also some holes with different shapes on the pages. Ethan likes to touch the little holes. Unfortunately, the pop-up animals are made of paper and it's quite flimsy. Ethan already tore up two of the animals. Sigh.

Some of Ethan's birthday presents. See the two books?

Eye Infection (Updated with photo)

Ethan's right eye was swollen on Saturday and got worse on Sunday. When I first saw his eye was reddish, I thought it will go away after a while. No, it didn't. By evening, it got worse but the two clinics that we normally brought him to are closed on Saturday's and Sunday's evenings. My mother said 'small matter only mar, need to see doctor mer?' She dab some chrysanthemum on his eye but it didn't help much. Being the 'kan cheong' me, I of course want his paed to check on him.

The clinic opens at 9am. So, the first thing we did at 9 am sharp was call to make an appointment. I didn't know their business was so good, the earliest appointment we got was at 12.10pm. We were there on time and by the time we went out from the clinic, it was already 1.30pm. Ethan was so hungry and was fussing in the car on the way home. Luckily the clinic is near our house. The paed said it was either insect bite or infection caused by rubbing. He gave us a cream to apply and said it should go away in two days. True enough, Ethan's eye is ok now.

Second Hair Cut

We took Ethan for a hair cut at a salon on Wednesday evening. He didn't cry but was fussing a little, maybe because he was not comfortable with all the hair on his neck. It was done within 10 minutes and cost RM5. We decided to cut his hair short, more or less bald because he kept pulling his hair lately. He pulled his hair so hard that you can actually see that the scalp is like a carpet being pulled up. The first time we brought him for a hair cut at a salon was when he was around 3 months old. Since then, we just trimmed his hair from time to time.

(First hair cut in August 2006)

Second hair cut on 9 May 2007

The Party (Updated With Video)

Ethan's Birthday party went on well as planned on Sunday, 6 May. Hubby collected the cake around noon. The cake was perfect. Exactly like what I wanted it to be. Around 5 pm, I went to collect the food while hubby looked after Ethan at home. The car still smells prawn until now! Ethan slept very little on that day but his appetite has returned to normal. He took a nap from 10-11 am. We went to Giant and he took another short nap for 15 minutes at around 2pm. When I went out to collect the food, hubby was supposed to coax him to sleep but he refused to nap. So, after I came back I fed him porridge. Before he finished, guests started to arrive. Then, I quickly gave him a shower and let him mingled with the guests. The poor fellow felt sleepy shortly after and he took another nap from 6.30-7.30 pm.

In the meantime, the guests enjoyed their food. We had fried rice, fried mee, fried meehoon, curry chicken, bitter gourd chicken, salted egg prawn, vege, fish paste something, fruits, etc. Too much food lar. In the end, I made everyone 'tapau' the extra food. Luckily they are all close relatives. No 'pai sieh' one.

Then, I woke the little birthday boy up at 7.30 pm. He was blur for a while and refused to let anyone carry him except his mummy and daddy. Probably he was scared that suddenly there were so many people in the house. We sang the birthday song for him but he doesn't know what was going on. He just looked at us. We blow the candle, cut the cake and everyone was curious to find out if the teddy bear on the cake can be eaten or not. The answer is yes but no one wants to eat it anyway because it's like eating sugar. It's extremely sweet but the cake tasted ok.

After everyone left, I gave Ethan a shower. That was around 9pm. He ate the cake and his hands and face were dirty and sticky. Hubby and mother-in-law helped to clean up a little. After the cheeky one slept, I mop the floor, took my shower and call it a day.

P/S: If you want to know how the cake taste, watch the video below. Ethan will tell you.

The nice and untouched cake!

Ethan cutting the cake, with mummy's help

Yummy! He likes the cake a lot

UHH! What happened to my teddy bear?
(See the nose? It was replaced by a star)

Still The Same

Ethan woke up at 5.30 a.m. again this morning after sleeping through from around 8.30 p.m. Took his milk and refused to go back to sleep. I noticed that he couldn't finish his milk for the last two nights. Normally, he will finish 7 oz of milk easily at night. This morning, the girl at the day care asked me how was his milk intake and I told her not very good. She said Ethan's appetite was not very good yesterday. Took only half of his normal portion of porridge. Same goes to the milk. I don't know what's wrong with him. Could it be the flu? or wind? But the flu was mild and his appetite was ok when he had flu last time. If he is still not eating well today, I will bring him to the paed tonight. I hope he will not be sick this Sunday, when we are going to have his birthday party.

Waking Up Early

I have written previously that Ethan sleeps early at night. Well, now he wakes up early too. At least for the last two days. He woke up before 6 am and refused to get back to sleep. The only good thing was he slept through the night until he woke up at around 5.30 am for his milk. After that, he wanted to play and scream, pretend to cry, so that we will bring him out of the room. No choice lar, how to sleep when he scream non-stop. Brought him out and let him play. Yesterday was a holiday yet we can't sleep a little bit longer. At 8 am, I felt like it's noon already. Ethan only took his nap at around 9 am and woke up half an hour later. Luckily he took another nap from 11 am to 1 pm. As my parents-in-law are coming this Saturday, I have to clean up the room. I have to stop my work in between to get him to sleep. I don't undertstand why he couldn't sleep when hubby tried to coax him a few times. Only when I took over, he closed his eyes and sleep. It happened again this morning - slept through from 9pm without milk (took porridge at around 6pm) and woke up at 5.30 am for milk and after that wanted to play. I hope he will not stick to this routine. Otherwise, I will not need an alarm clock anymore.

What I Do At Home

Working out......

Experimenting with the stereo......

Play hide and seek......

I bite......

And I bite......

And I bite some more......

Reading???

Sitting on my favourite chair......

Oh My Camera.......

...is K.O. It really gets me worried. Ethan's birthday party is on next Sunday and now my humble little camera needs to be repaired. What is a birthday party without a camera? You tell me lar. I don't know if they can repair it in time. My sister borrowed my camera when she went to France in March and came back with a 'cacat' camera. She said the lens cover just refused to close. But then, I can still take photos with it. I thought I want to send it for repair after the birthday party. Finally, yesterday when I want to snap photos of Ethan biting an apple like a rabbit, the lens cover refused to open. Aiyerrrr...geramnya.

After I told hubby that the camera kaput already, he said the night before after he changed the batteries, the lens just closed so he thought it's back to normal. He asked me to try to 'ketuk' it a bit, maybe it will open up. Then, I became suspicious. Did he 'ketuk' the camera until the lens cover closed up? I said 'You must have 'ketuk' the camera so hard and now it's totally K.O.". Wah, he got so upset and raised his voice saying he did not do it. All he did was changed the batteries. Sounds like a kid being reprimanded by his parents isn't it? Ok lar, maybe I should have trusted him. Then he said 'Who breaks the camera in the first place?'. I said 'My sister' and he kept quiet.

After cooling down, I dig the warranty card and it's well over the warranty period. So, I asked hubby to send it back to the place and see what they say. He called me up in the office and said they need 5 working days to check and repair, if they have the parts. If not..........if not, I need a back up plan lar. Sigh.....