It has been 4 months....

21 months old.....


.....since I last updated on Ethan's progress on this blog.

Height and weight:
Anyway, I didn't measure his weight and height since the last 2-3 months because I'm not as worried about his development as before. He now (thank God) eats well, drinks well, sleeps well and plays well too. When he was younger, he fell sick very often. No kidding, every month we visited the paed, sometimes twice or more. At one point, I felt so embarrassed for going back to the paed so frequently. Why my son was unwell all the time? Am I a bad mother? Can't I keep him in a better shape? I kept asking myself all these things. However, since he hit the 1-year-old mark, his health improves a lot. Thanks to the Scott's Emulsion and Colostrum capsules I give him.

Speech/Langauage Development:
He can now easily pick up simple words that we taught him and he loves to talk (not in front of strangers though). Some new words he picked up:

• moon = moon
• gar = star
• sin = raisin
• nana = banana
• apool = apple
• ah-wer = flower
  
• shoo = shoe
• bly = butterfly
• bear bear = bear
• ish = fish
• gag = scared (will say it while patting his chest)
• poot = when he lets out gas
• bess = press (he likes to press on the door bells)
  
• da gung gung = 'tai seong goong' (too much mahjong sessions with mummy)
• sig = sit
• walk = walk
• seek or oi oi = sleep
• goog = drink water

He knows most of his body parts and when asked, he will point to them. He knows where are/is his:

• ears
• nose
• eyes
• head
• leg
• hand
• tummy

Ethan showed off his skill in the video below, which was taken on 15 December 2007. I just realised I kept saying 'yeayy' in the video. Actually I always say that or clap my hands whenever he did things right just to reward him :-)


I bought him a book on animals in the jungle for his first birthday and I taught him the sound made by some of these animals. Now, when I asked him (while pointing at the picture) 'what the monkey says' he will say 'oo oo oo'. Others are
bird: jii jii jii
snake: ss ss
lion: aaaauuu
tiger: aaaauuu

Will buy another book on animals in the farm for him.

Food Intake:
2 times solid (porridge or rice) and 4 times milk (7 oz. per feed) per day. I'm happy he's taking more milk now and he can finish them most of the time. Comparing to the last update when he was 17 months old, he only took 4-6 oz per feed with the same number of feed per day.

Emotion/Character:
He is definitely showing a lot of terrible-2 signs and throws a lot of tantrum when he is with us. With other people, he behaves and is manageable. When we go out, he likes to walk unguided. If we insist on holding his hand, he will kneel or squat until we let go. Another option will be to scoop him up and carry him. He struggles of course.

Dexterity:
He also likes to feed himself using the cutleries but most of the time the food will end up on his body, table or floor. So 'malu' when we have to leave the restaurants with a major mess on the floor and table.

Favourite Songs/Shows:
When we ask him what he wants to watch, he will tell us. If we play the wrong CD, he will ask for the one he wants until we change it to the right one. Those he knows are:

• Noo-noo = Teletubbies (remember how afraid he was when he first saw it? He likes it very much now)
• Ai-yoo = Old McDonald's song
• aa-nee = Barney

New Year Feast

20 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old.....


We did not go anywhere (far) during the Chinese New Year's holiday so we spent most of the time eating and playing mahjong (hehe...that's me). Put up a few nights at my mum's place too. For the reunion dinner, my mum cooked hot & sour sea cucumber (my utmost favourite dish), stir fried mix vege with abalone, steam chicken, duck...can't remember what else we had. It was also the beginning of my weight gaining journey...sob sob

Receiving the first ang pow of the year from Poh Poh

Ethan was having fun all the time. We were at my mum's place almost everyday and my sister was also there with her family (husband and daughter, Tessa). The two of them kept each other company but Ethan likes to bully her. He likes to grab whatever toys or things Tessa was holding and when his cousin cried he also cried, even louder. Other than telling him that what he did was wrong (which I'm not sure if he understand), I don't know what else to do. I tried to give him a little spank on his palm when he misbehaved but he came and hit me back. So, I think I can only discipline him with talking? Pray hard this will work.

1st day of CNY, we went to Liyen at the Ritz Carlton for dim sum. Nice food, nice ambience but the variety of dim sum was not that great. They don't serve 'siu long pau', my favourite :-( After breakfast, we headed to my mum's place again for lunch and mahjong. Ethan refused to be left out of the game so he sat on my lap and played along. My cousin called him 'choy san yeh' (god of prosperity) because he gave money to other people (from his mummy's pocket lar). Dinner was at the California Pizza Kitchen, KLCC. Brought Ethan to the park nearby after dinner and he had a jolly good time there.

Breakfast at the Liyen, Ritz Carlton

Dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen, KLCC

2nd day, we didn't go anywhere but stayed at my mum's place. Some close relatives came for a visit. 3rd day, we plan to go out to the mall but the little one decided to take a long nap (from 12.30p.m. to 4.30 p.m). So we went for a walk at the park and fed the fishes at the lake there. Ethan liked the outing very much especially the part where he can throw the (expired) bread at the fishes. After that, we headed to my mum's place (again) for dinner. My aunt (mum's sister) were there too.

Feeding the fishes and tortoises

4th day, morning dim sum, gathering with my classmates, lunch at home and dinner at Saisaki. The buffet spread at Saisaki was good and I didn't manage to try every single dish there. Just too many! We spent at least 2 hours there and Ethan had problem sitting down for too long. Made some noise and the whole restaurant could hear him. Paiseh.

More ang pows!

5th day, went to Seremban to visit my uncles and aunties. Not much eating on that day because I figured out it's time to stop eating like there's no tomorrow. My cousin asked me if I was pregnant! That's how much weight I put on! Don't know when it started but the feasting during that few days definitely made things worse.

Why?

20 months & 1 week old.....

Yesterday, I don't know why Mummy suddenly changed me into these funny looking clothes and asked me to look into the mirror. Why ar?

You see.....

I don't know why but I looked into the mirror anyway.....

Then, I found something! Pockets! Hehehe.......

I like them!

Mummy said: Poh Poh (Grandma) bought the two sets of clothes for Ethan and I let him tried on them to see if they fit or not. The long pants are always too long for him. Even the pyjamas.

Good Bargain on Glasses

I don't know how cheap can a good pair of glasses can be but read this - Zenni Optical: Sell Rx Glasses $8 with case! Skeptical? Well, they sell the glasses online and the glasses are manufactured by their own factory thus no middlemen and advertising cost. Make sense. Actually the $8 package is for the complete single vision glasses and it is inclusive of the frame, lens, anti scratch coating, UV protection, lens edge polishing and beveling, hard casing, microfiber lens cleaning cloth and full guarantee. Not bad huh. This one looks good too.

Tag: 8 Things I'm Grateful For

I think this tag is very meaningful. Thanks Kelly for passing it to me or else I might just do it without being tagged (hehe.....)

Ok, the 8 things (or rather persons), which I'm very very grateful for are:
1. My parents for their sacrifices in giving me a happy childhood and good upbringing.
2. My sisters for sharing the happy and unhappy moments together and the most important thing is - sharing your clothes..haha!
3. My bunch of good old friends - from schools and university. Life is empty without you guys.
4. My boss. Weird huh. Most people will hate their bosses but this boss of mine is very special. I've made up my mind to resign if he discontinues his contract. Silly, I know. Thank goodness, he is here to stay for another 2 years?
5. My special friend, who is also my ex-colleague. My only Malay friend. More like a big sister to me. Thanks for all the advices, laughters and tears you shared with me.
6. My godmum. She showed me what it's like being pampered.

Last but not least, the two loves of my life:

7. My husband. I can't believe that I never set my eyes on other men since I met you...cheh
8. My pride and joy - Ethan. With him around, life is full of tastes:
- sweet: when he is happy
- sour: when he is cheeky
- bitter: when he is sick
- salty: when he is cranky
- spicy: when he is active

My Marks of Triumph

Marks of Triumph - they are ugly and permanent. I'm one of the many unlucky mothers who get the so-called 'marks of triumph' or otherwise commonly known as stretch marks during pregnancy. I started applying cream to prevent stretch marks at an early stage of my pregnancy but too bad my skin was sensitive and red itchy patches started to appear on my tummy area soon after. I did not know why at first. The itchiness was so unbearable and I couldn't refrain myself from scratching it. Once I suspected that the culprit was the stretch mark cream, I have stopped using it immediately. Then some colleagues recommended olive oil and I applied it until I gave birth. No side effects but I don't think it helps anyway because the stretch marks started to appear during the last trimester and they are here to stay, forever.

When I did a little search on the net later, I found this - "Though cocoa butter is an effective moisturizer, no research studies have shown its ability to either prevent stretch marks, or improve their appearance once a stretch mark has already formed." How I wish I found out about this earlier. Perhaps the next round, I will try revitol stretch mark cream instead.

New 'Toy'

19 months, 3 weeks & 3 days old.....

It actually happened 2 weeks ago. Too lazy to blog about it. It's always hard to keep Ethan quiet for more than 30 minutes with a toy. That day, hubby suddenly got a brilliant idea. He took out a small container, which was full of coins. We usually put all the coins in containers coz we don't have a coin box but Ethan got one from Maybank Yippie Account. The coin box was left there doing nothing but collecting dust for almost a year now. He then taught Ethan to insert the coins to the coin box one by one. That kept him occupied for almost half an hour. It was a little hard for him to insert the smaller coins but 50 sen coins are ok.

Now that the coin box is already full, we need to either take all the coins out before we let him 'play' again or buy a new coin box for him.

Full of concentration

Full of excitement!