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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

Ethan is 2!

24 months old.....



My baby is 2 today!!! Big deal for me. It has been 2 years but I still remember every moment of his birth. I've forgotten about the pain though (no epidural there). Although it has been tiring taking care of a demanding baby, then an active toddler, I never regret a single bit of it. I insisted to take care of him at night instead of sending him to a nanny 24 hours, by which I will have the luxury of undisturbed sleep. I'm glad I made the choice and I will go the same way 'IF' I have a second one. Errrr.....Don't know when the 'IF' will happen.

Some updates on Ethan:
Weight: (will check tonight)
Height: 84.5 cm

Milk:
He is taking more milk now. 8 oz. each feed. 4-5 feeds a day. He normally drinks at 9.30 p.m. and if he sleeps late, he will ask for another round, sometimes at 10.30 p.m. (just 1 hour after the previous feed).

Still taking his early morning feed, usually at around 4-5 a.m.

Meal:
He is very Asian. Must have rice or noodles. When we go out, we must go to Chinese restaurant or any other restaurants that serve rice or noodles with soup. He dislikes bread, cakes, cheese and Western food. He takes French toast sometimes.

Still taking porridge at the nursery. On weekends, I normally boil soup for the family. For Ethan, I will boil noodles and then add the soup base (my version of soup noodles). He likes it better than porridge. I guess he gets bored with 5 days of porridge already. For dinner he will have soup and rice. Sometimes I will steam fish for him too.

He dislikes vegetables and most of the fruits. He only takes banana and papaya sometimes. When he has constipation, I give him half a bottle of Vitagen. A bottle will cause loose stool.

For supplement, he is still taking Scott's Emulsion everyday.

Sleeping time:
He sleeps late now. On weekdays, he naps around 2 hours at the nursery and will sleep at around 10pm at night.

On weekends, he naps at 3pm! Sometimes at 4.30 p.m.!! He normally takes 3 hours of nap and will sleep very late at night. Earliest is 11pm.

Speech:
He says quite a lot of words and picks up fast too (have to mind my words there) but not all are pronounced perfectly. Sometimes, he got so frustrated when we couldn't understand what he said. The funny ones are:

• di di yen = little lamb (which means he wants the song book with the song 'Mary had a little lamb' and wants me to sing. Took quite some time for us to figure this one out)
• bring bring = guitar
• ah ger = tiger
• ah bern = elephant

He can't count yet. He will start with 'one' then continue counting with his own numbers in his own language.

Pre-school:
He was upgraded to the oldest group at the nursery (most of them are 3 years old) and a teacher was hired to teach them. He is coping quite well but sometimes will cry in the middle of activities so they will transfer him back to the younger group (no teacher, free activities).

He did a few crafts with the help of the teacher. I don't know which part he actually did but I think 99% were done by the teacher. Some of the crafts he did:

Ethan's 2nd Birthday Celebration

23 months & 4 weeks old.....

We celebrated Ethan's birthday on Friday, 16 May and Sunday, 18 May. Both Daddy and Mummy were too lazy to host a party at home so we decided to go out for dinner. Friday's dinner was at the Golden Sun Club while Sunday's one was at the Zun Kitchenette. I personally prefer the Zun Kitchenette as the food was much better and the place is more cosy.

As for the highlights of the events, which were the cakes, we bought a New York cheese cake from Bakerzin and a jelly cake (can't remember the name of the shop but it's at Ikano). Ethan doesn't quite like cakes so he didn't take any of those. He enjoyed the candle blowing sessions though.

The yummy cheese cake.

The colourful jelly cake.

Trying to blow the candle before the birthday song was sung.


Cheeky faces

Let's Go To The Zoo....

23 months & 6 days old.....

......There are lots of things to do...

I used to hear the song when I was young. I think it was a KFC song because there used to be a KFC restaurant at the zoo. Well, it's no longer there.

We brought Ethan to the zoo two Saturdays ago (19 April 2008). We planned to go there before I left for my overseas trip but we didn't make it that time because I had to prepare/ pack for my trip. So hubby brought us there after I returned.

We arrived at around 12.30p.m. and we visited the elephants first. Ethan was terrified when he first saw the elephants and giraffes. He held on tightly to hubby all the time. Shortly after we entered there was a light shower. We waited for the rain to stop and proceeded with our walk. The weather was extremely humid after the rain and all of us sweat like crazy.

Held on tightly to daddy.


It's not moving that's why he's not scared.

The second agenda was to take the train ride so that we can rest a little before heading to the animal show. Ethan kept saying 'too too train' everytime a train passed by. The services of the train has been improved. It comes with a guided tour now and the rides are more frequent.

After the train ride, we went to the animal show. Ethan was awed by it especially when the birds performed. We decided to leave at around 3.30 p.m. as it was way past Ethan's nap time and I can see he was exhausted. He slept in the car shortly after finishing his milk (with the milk bottle still dangling in his mouth).

Couldn't contain his amusement with the birds' show.
This expression lasted for a good 10 minutes.

All worn out. He dropped the bottel from his mouth
just when I pressed on the the camera.

I would say there are no drastic changes at the zoo compared to my last visit about 5 or 10 years ago, but I think the animal show and the train ride have been improved. Oh yeah, no more KFC there, which is pretty sad for me because I still remember sitting inside licking my finger while watching the flamingos outside.

I think it's a great visit for Ethan although he's scared of most of the big animals. After the visit, he showed great interest on animals especially the figurines we bought for him a couple of weeks ago. Before this, he didn't show particular interest on them but now, he would bring them to the daycare and whenever we go out. I wouldn't mind to bring Ethan there again.

Went Crazy about Flowers!

I always love to see flowers and of course to receive them. Unfortunately, I can count with my one hand (it's one hand which means 5 fingers ar) how many times I have received flowers from hubby. Ehem!!! Anyway, I took the opportunity of my trip to Brussel to stay one night in Amsterdam. It was a rare opportunity as my office booked me on a flight which transit in Amsterdam and it's Spring! Apa lagi, I extend my stay there and went to visit Keukenhof! I tell you, it was really really breathtaking! Some of the photos taken....

Change in Sleeping Time

22 months, 2 weeks & 3 days old.....

My little boy has turned from an early bird to a night owl. The crying episode in the middle of the night has come to an end since last Saturday (29 March 2008). It also marked the beginning of him sleeping late at night. He used to sleep early, as early as 7.30 p.m. but on a typical night he will sleep at around 8-8.30 p.m. and will wake up at around 7 a.m.

Last Saturday, I brought Ethan to my mum's place and we stayed overnight there. I let him slept late because he can wake up late the next morning unlike weekdays when he has to wake up at around 7a.m. He slept at around 10.30 p.m. and surprisingly he didn't cry that night. So, I was wondering if the crying episode was due to his early bed-time. It sounds ridiculous but that's the only night he didn't cry and I couldn't think of other reasons. The routine before bed-time was the same.

Ever since that night, he has become a night owl. He refused to go to bed at the normal hours and he can stay up until 11.30 p.m.! The earliest time he would sleep now is 10+ p.m and he still have to wake up at 7 a.m. If it's not because that he has to wake up early in the morning, I don't mind him sleeping late. I'm worried that he does not have enough sleep.

Every night when we brought him to the room, he will refuse to let us switch off the light and because of that he can continue to play until the wee hours. Sometimes when we have no choice, we just have to switch off the light. And yes, and he will wail, which will lead to only 2 endings:
- He cries himself to sleep or
- We give up and he sleeps very late

I think I cannot switch him back to the old sleeping time. I just don't know why the change is so sudden and not gradually. Is this also part of the terrible-two syndrome?

My mischievous little one. Wanted to
be put inside the washing machine
but regretted it shortly afterward.

P/S: There will be no updates on this blog from 9-16 April coz Mummy will be away.