my lil'Chomel

Welcome Year of the Tiger!!

2010-02-16T17:59:00.002+08:00

Gong Xi Fa Cai to everyone!!
This year Jon gets to know the meaning of Gong Xi Fa Cai a bit more. At least he knows it’s a time of celebration and honouring the elders by visiting his grand-uncle, grand-aunties, aunties and uncles.
For me personally, it’s a time of:
-family reunions – my grandma has about a dozen kids.. imagine all her kids and her grand-children in the house at the same time. Not a second of silence!
-remembering my late father and the elders (whom are still living)
-paying respect to the loved ones whom has passed on
-knowing and practicing the Chinese culture – we will pray and wait for the God of Wealth at the stroke of midnight on new year’s eve. I don’t think it is very true but its fun nevertheless
-forgiving
-colours – no black coloured clothes was a all-year rule in my late father’s household
-lights – have you heard the firecrackers?
-Feast – my grandma and aunt will cook up a feast… all my favourite food
-Getting rich – getting angpows for the kids. I have to give out angpows now 
-Catching up and hanging out with old friends.. everyone has to come back during this festive season

mmm… and much more which I hope that Jon would be able to experience. This year, it is also a time of reflection for me when I called my grandma… I’m not home to celebrate the new year with her this year. I was kinda worried about her but hearing her enthusiastic voice has assured me that she is still very positive about life. Her old age and osteoarthritis have caused her to be not so mobile but she still try to clean and cook. Over the phone, she was telling me “Come back tomorrow! Your aunts will be here for the 2nd day gathering. Another aunt from overseas will be arriving too. Come come”. I found it so hard to tell her that it is quite impossible to go back at the very last minute especially when I did not make any plans to. Talking to her makes me remember my dad (my dad was her favourite son-in-law) and her yummy nyonya food. She makes delicious perut ikan, curry chicken (that will make your cholesterol level shoot up..hahaha), salted vegetable soup and lots more.

Reflection is a good thing… its like a compass telling you where you are and whether you are going the right direction. Reflection is also telling who you are - history, culture, background.

My wish for next year: to really prepare for the new year, to allow Jon experience the culture as much as he can and to celebrate with my family.

Rant rant rant

2009-11-09T18:18:00.002+08:00

It has been raining a lot these few days... and today, the rain came as promised. The sky is gloomy..so monday blues becomes... what is worse than monday. I'm attending a training for 2 days. So, a break from the daily operations... whew.

Hubby is on leave, so Jon stayed at home. I thought, ok la.. Hubby will see to Jon's needs today. Late afternoon got a call (I'm still in the middle of the traning) asking me to buy some mosquito repellent. Erm... its raining, I'll be carrying my laptop and it will be jam.

Then when I get home, the clothes are still outside (sigh, I thought it will get dry by lunch time). Hubby asked me to bathe Jon. Ok lor... but I need to stretch my leg.

After awhile, Hubby asked Jon to go up and bathe.... so that gives me a bit of time to blog this rant.

I am tired.....

I have a whiner

2009-11-03T19:43:00.003+08:00

It started when Jon was young and always comes home cranky. He didn't talk much. So, its more of we ask questions and he nod in agreement. Maybe we would be able to get a word or two from him if we ask more questions. That was a period of time he got bullied in school and day care. Maybe they were playing and boys tend to get rough most of the time. But not little Jon. As a result of too much baby-ing, he gets pushed, poked, kicked a lot.

We tried to think of ways to advocate self-defence. But Jon still refuses to fight. (Dear readers, think of karate or taekwondo, ya). OK. We teach him the soft approach. Reprimand his friends to not to push him or report to the principle. He didn't report at first. I did! The principal waited for a quiet moment with him and asked him about an incident where he got pushed real hard by a bigger boy.

It was partially my fault for checking on him everyday. Just to make sure that he is not bullied. But now, he will complain about almost everything. There will be someone who poked him, pushed him... hehehe... he even complained to the doctor that I pushed him. I didn't do it intentionally. It happened when we were playing and boys can be quite rough...even for a big lady like me....kakakaka.

So now, we have some damage control to do. Hopefully he will grow out of this whinny stage!

Pause to reflect

2009-09-11T03:28:00.004+08:00

Today is a real emotion wreaking day.

Watched Grey's Anatomy... with Izzie dying but it was the little girl that died that killed me. Every since I had Jon, looking at a child being sick or in pain really .....aahh. Every mother would feel the same.

I will always say this - it takes a death of a person dear to you to really know how it feels but I wish that no one has to go through that.

So happen a blogger friend of mind blogged about this strong lady... read more here http://pausetoreflect.blogspot.com/. Thanks Mrs H.

Ah... life is short. A reminder to self.

Turning 4

2009-09-11T02:39:00.003+08:00

Jon will be turning 4 soon and he is driving me up the wall sometimes. Do they have a name/ term for this. Oh ya, every time he is reprimanded or scolded at, he will cry. Oh course this get mummy's blood boiling even more..if I am the one scolding. But if daddy is the one scolding, mummy will come to the rescue. Ah... a brat in the making. I am forewarned. Spoil the child, I have to deal with it after that. Some of his unbecoming behaviour lately:

Behaviour No 1: Crying tactic.
We always try to tell him that good boys do this, naughty boys do that. (he knows the difference). And when he does something wrong knowingly...
Mummy/ Daddy: Are you a naughty boy?
Jon: Me?
M/D: Yes
Jon: cry..... (he knows that he is being naughty)
Alamak....crying tactic.

Behaviour No 2: Jalan saja. Don't care.
Nowadays, he will just walk away when he feels like it. Last weekend we were at the shopping mall. He was with me in a store looking at some clothes and the suddenly he just ran out to look for his dad! My mom and I chased after him and he thought we were playing running and chasing with him! So, he ran even faster.

Then we went to another store, daddy is outside not wanting to participate. Guess what? Jon ran out of the store again and this time I was in the changing room. I can't chase after him as I was trying on a pair of pants and at the same time I lost sight of him. So, there I was like a mad woman shouting out to him.

I just can't think of what might happen to him. There were so many people... seriously I think I need to put a child leash on him. He chose to join me in the store but I guess half way through he didn't like it and ran out to look for his dad. Next time for sure, either he go with his dad or he will be on the leash!

I can read some of his behaviours. At this age, he is easily bored, needs a lot of attention, inquisitive (therefore easily bored), adventurous (trying all sort of stunts) and etc. Therefore, back to my previous post.

Catching up

2009-09-11T02:25:00.004+08:00

Seems like I've been trying (maybe not that hard) to catch up with a lot of things. But have been thinking hard and long about it.. does that count? NO!!!!

Been trying to catch up with
blog posts - oh yeah, check out how often I'm blogging lately,
work - something I'm paid to do...so no complains here,
exercise (which is still wishful thinking but I know where to get my yoga fix nearby...yay yay),
house chores - thank you hubby for cutting me some slack here,
family - do I have a choice?!?,
and most importantly, Jon my darling, whom is growing up very quickly and requires a lot of attention.

Keep a look out for the changes...jeng jeng jeng

A little bit of ME time

2009-07-27T14:05:00.002+08:00

Read in a health magazine about how a little bit of me time would make you stay healthy... in the head I think. I've been terribly busy adjusting with new a new job (same company tho) and recently I've been asked to help out with my previous assignment, which I don't mind at all. All this will amount to even busier schedule. Wish I have 2 brains, 4 hands and 4 eyes without having to look like an alien. At the same time, thank God I've been surrounded with a competent team.

So I normally de-stress by ..... calling friends when I am driving back. It takes me about 30-40 mins to get home and it is always fun to catch up with friends, dun cha think?

So what is the different from de-stressing and "me time"? (this is my definitions ya... you may define it according to your environment/situation)
De-stress: to allow yourself to unload from your work/stress/thought/problems of the day and your mind will be in a relax state when you get home.
"Me time": a time allocated to allow you to ponder, to do self reflection and to be aware of your surroundings. As a result, to feel refreshed, confident and comfortable about yourself. Think positive vibes.

I don't think that I would be able to allocate me time everyday but would work towards at least being able to do it few times a week. Always remember, life is short. Wah... sounds so deep eh. Anyone has other ideas?

Me and my kangaroo

2009-06-20T02:58:00.005+08:00

My colleague was such a sweetie (and always is one) when she bought Jon a kangaroo soft toy during her recent visit to Australia. It is such a softy. When I brought it home, Jon was having fever and we decided to bring him to the doc. But he manage to play with it on the way to the clinic.

(my little boxing kangaroo. look how soft it is)

(looking a bit sick here)

The recovery process was a bit slow. Too slow in fact. Could be due to the super-duper hot weather and haze that we are experiencing lately. I had no choice but to administer antibiotics for him. From then on, we were very careful not to let Jon get sick. Just sad that the haze is back and the kids have to inhale such unhealthy air. Sigh... naturally their health won't be as strong as ours or our grand-parent's. In addition to that, pollutants and contamination that they are taking into their body makes it worse. Of course at home, we try to clean everything as much as possible. Air filter, water filter, everything that we can filter.

We definitely need to do a lot more to save our mother earth.

My Boy!

2009-06-13T19:28:00.005+08:00

Remember the time when I was so worried sick about Jon not talking? The sleepless nights...

Well, I can't get him to keep quiet nowadays. With his high pitch voice and loves to scream (just like the mummy)... he will sing, talk, sing and talk most of the time. Demanding for this and that.. toys, colour pencils, lollipops, balls, bicycle, etc. Voicing his refusal to do things we want him to do like drinking milk and getting out of the bathroom. But no worries, Mr Cane always gets the job done. hehehehe.

Oh ya, we weaned him off diapers at night now. Of course there are accidents if we forgot to make him pee before he sleep. Other than that, he has been a good boy. He no longer wear diapers when we go out. But we have a spare diaper pants in case he needs to pee and we don't have access to any clean toilets. Just wear the diaper on him and kow tim! Sometimes, he'll ask for the diaper (cos he is lazy to go to the toilet...hahahaha). He can roughly tell time now. It started when he refuses to sleep at night and I will tell him that it is 10 or 12 o'clock now... we have to sleep. So, after a few times, he begins to check on the time when I asked him to sleep.

Here's some picture updates:

(big boy liau)

(see my Pooh watch)

(Peace!!!)

Catching up

2009-06-08T12:42:00.003+08:00

Woah... 1 mth++ of no posts.
So many things happening in between. Work was one of them. Everyone was so stressed up and tired (mentally) after using the brain for the whole day, I was just too happy to see the couch upon reaching home.

My office had a bowling competition day some time in May. At first, I was kinda sceptical cos I've not bowled for years.. I think before I had Jon. But I joined in anyways just to have fun and we get to bring our kids! Jon has never been to a bowling arena. He was bowled over with so many bowling balls and alleys. As we were walking into the arena, he jump/ bounce/ pounce around knowing what it was at first sight. He saw many times how bowling alley looks like in Handy Mandy... but this is real life.

It was so much fun. Not because I get to play (and better than I've expected) but to see the kids having fun. Everyone brought their kids. My team mates brought theirs too. The organiser was very thoughtful for preparing door gifts and kids lane for them but the lane was too far away from ours. Trying to play (it's a competition, remember) and entertain the kids at the same time, we had to rent a lane next to ours so that we can keep an eye on the kids (4 to 9 yrs old) too. It was not that expensive after all. We paid about RM38+ for 5 players, 1 game. The kids was just taking their own sweet time to play, run around, play and run around. They can't really move that fast after carrying 6 lbs or 9 lbs ball all the way to the lane, drop it and hope that the ball would roll to the pins. Of course most of the time with help from the adults.

It was tiring but fun. Hope to arrange a simple get-together with some old friends for a mother-and-kids bowling event. More like, mummies get to chat and chat and chat away, while the kids play bowling!

Happy hour in Sushi Zanmai

2009-05-04T12:48:00.003+08:00

Hey, Sushi Zanmai is having some kind of promotion ie. happy hour 7pm - 8pm everyday for this month only. All you need to do is to pick (from the converyer belt, do not order from the waitress!) your sushi plates according to their theme.. well, I think they change it every week. At the back of the plate there are markings (which can only be detected through IR scanners). And if you get a plate with that marking, you get RM20 voucher instantly. Easy but don't blame me if you don't any ya.

It must be kinda destined for us cos Hubby wanted to eat there (Hubby is no sushi fan, ok) and we happen to eat at 7++ pm and (sorry for too many ands... too excited) I picked only 4 plates of sushi. Guess what? 1 of them got the marking. So, our meal got discounted by RM20. Hehehe.

Happy eating! Remember to ask the waitress there cos they are so helpful in explaining how the whole happy hour thingy works. I'm sure I missed some of the points here.

smart aleck

2009-04-28T04:57:00.002+08:00

Some random rantings.
According to here:
smart al·eck
n. Informal
1. A person regarded as obnoxiously self-assertive.
2. An impudent person.

in another word a "smarty pants". This is how I would describe a sales person as someone trying to sell me something and in the course of his marketing "talk", he is telling me what my company's business processes are! It might seem fine and dandy (at first) since if he is going to sell me something, he better be sure he knows what he is talking about, right? Oh, if the person go on and on and on (hmm... about half of his presentation is on what my business processes are)... it can mean a few things:

1. He takes me as someone stupid that does not know what is happening until he has to TELL me what I should know in the first place
2. He is trying to be a "smart aleck" and show off how much he knows about my company (and sometimes to show that he knows more than me!)
3. He has nothing much to present... he tries to make an impression

I really appreciate the good pre-sales guys that try to understand what we want to know about the product and catered his/ her presentation according to that. Nothing more. Sort of like I don't waste your time, you don't waste my time.

Picture update

2009-04-20T00:04:00.002+08:00

I've not been uploading pictures of Jon lately. Here you are.

Spoilt?

2009-04-19T18:27:00.004+08:00

I am beginning to find myself buying things for Jon whenever we bring him out just to pacify him. Or he is at the age of being demanding, stubborn and impossible? Oh help me please. But the fact is I do 'spoil' him a bit... in Hubby's term, I've spoilt him rotten! But his is my Darling, my life, my everything... apart from Hubby teehehe.

This weekend alone, I bought him 1 sheet of Strawberry Shortcake stickers, Winny The Pooh's party bags (even though he doesn't want it), 1 big workbook from Borders (thank God for value buys), 1 Dora VCD (which he almost has the whole collection of it) and a tub of a cheaper version of playdoh.

On the other hand, I try to choose things that will be educate him rather than giving him ultraman, spiderman and Ben 10. He still have no idea what those characters are and I don't plan to introduce them to him. So, apart from the stickers and party bags.... I am comfortable in buying 'educational' stuffs like:
Workbooks - he can do numbers exercises
Dora VCD - he loves the adventures
Playdoh - he was having a fun time making shapes and molding into objects. He requested his poh-poh to make him a bird! Now that is very challenging.

Must try to stop this habit of giving him everything the moment he whines. But, how to make him more understanding and patient when we go out?

Quiet Easter and getting sick

2009-04-18T15:15:00.005+08:00

Easter came and went quietly. Just a normal weekend in Hubby's hometown. Not how I wanted it to be. Next year maybe.... gotta do it my way then. After coming back, my body was aching like I was run over by a herd of cows. It was so bad that I had to take an emergency leave just to rest my broken and aching body. Worse still, my big boss (BB) was assigned to approve my leave. Sigh... not a good impression at all. (Note to self: not getting any younger. be more mindful next time.)

Oh ya... I ordered online a battery-operated eyelash curler after reading rave reviews on what it can do to your eyelashes. Hahaha... need all the help that I can get for my super short eyelashes. The courier decided to send it today - a weekend - when everyone usually is out in a mall or went back to their hometown - during lunch hour when everyone is usually out for lunch! Oh ya, my phone conversation (translated in english) with the courier man (cm):

Me: hello
cm: This is so-and-so?
Me: Yes
cm: I have a package for you from Company XYZ. I am in front of your house now
Me: Why didn't you call earlier to say that you are coming? I am not at home now. Maybe I can call my neighbour to accept the parcel
cm: Can you give me your ID no? How to call? I have a lot of delivery to do after this. (raising his voice)
Me: Errrmmmm...
cm: Can you come back quick?
Me: Hey, this is not my problem because you didn't call me.
(the rest of the conversation is a bit blurly now because I can feel my blood pressure raising)
Me: Why don't you just go back and I will deal with Company XYZ (for not getting my parcel on time)
the end

OMG. Who does not make appointment before sending anything to customer's house. How rude can people get and they are paid to delivery parcels. I'll be more understanding if they are not. This courier company is definitely going into my ban-list. Yup, I have a list of banned places, companies, products, websites, etc. And they say times are bad and a lot of people are jobless. This one seems like he doesn't want his or rather hates doing his job.

Every cloud has a silver lining?

2009-04-07T02:25:00.004+08:00

I was feeling so down this morning. What is waiting for me in the office - tons of work to do, people that I don't want to see and its Monday! Still have to drag myself to work. Drove like I'm on F1 track. Don't blame me when other people drove like they are not interested to go to work.

One thing led to another, I was buried in my work. Good thing about having tons of things to do is that I don't get to think how "sick" I was feeling. Got most of the things out of my way. Then, for the last item in my to-do list. Something I dread to do a lot but still have to get it done. You know what I mean. To cut the crap, I got it done anyways. I was so so glad that my boss and my big big boss was so supportive. Muaks muaks. Yup, life is much easier when you have supportive bosses. Went home with a very light shoulder :)

Sorry if I sound emotional. The time of the month. Have mercy on me. Wonder why all vendors, banks and friends call you on Monday. And by Friday, not a single call?

Am looking forward for tomorrow though.

Remembering Ching Ming

2009-04-04T18:10:00.008+08:00

Last time, it used to be one of the "happening" session in my grandma's family other than CNY. Everyone (4 to 5 of my mom's siblings and their children) will start packing food and make our way to my grandpa's tomb at 6am. It was not that early when we were very little (cos the parents have to get the small kids up and get them ready). But as we grow older, my uncles decided to do it earlier so that we dun bask ourselves in the sun for too long and we get to go home earlier. Either way, we kids dun really mind cos its kinda like an adventure for us. Sometimes, I'll be the last to arrive and everyone will comment, "The princess is here!". Hahaha. Cos I'm have difficulty waking up so early in the morning, what to do....

Some of the tasks we do there: clear the tomb area, chop some trees, sweep the tomb area and lay out the food that everyone has prepared. We kids? Put coloured papers and joss sticks on the soil part of the tomb. Play around. Oh ya, we get scolded a lot for going on-top of the tomb. It either "Don't sit on grandpa's head, or don't step on grandpa's tummy". Graveyard tracking a bit trying to locate great-grand-parents tomb. After paying our respects and grandpa had finished "eating" the offerings; they will start burning the offerings. Dunno why, but we tend to burn a lot of stuffs. Like a bon-fire. By then, sun is up and it's getting hot. We get to eat the "offered" food. Another highlight of the whole thing.

It's not that scary really. Cos there are hundreds of people doing the same thing! Seriously, it's very festive come to think of it.

Miss those old times. Now, we have a quiet small prayer. Not sure if my kids and my bro's kids could experience this but this culture should not just be a memory.

Oh ya, in between, people will be asking for 4 digit numbers from grandpa. Hahahaha. Wonder who will strike this year.

Spending habit

2009-04-04T13:41:00.009+08:00

The current economy situation has really affected me a lot. In terms of spending, I mean. Things are getting more expensive - my visit to the hypermarkets usually ends up to more than RM100 and I don't cook much! Nowadays, if I would want to buy something, its either for "I need it to go to work" or "I need to use it now".

"I need it to go to work" is self explanatory. What goes into this category would be something that I wear or use for work such as working clothes, shoes, cosmetics and skincare. On the other hand, "I need to use it now" is for essential stuffs like groceries and household items.

For the rest, I just put aside and think about it for awhile. At one time, I was thinking of getting a hair straightener, and found that I can do curls with it as well (2-in-1). I was excited cos I can do more with just 1 item. But, I've not gotten it yet :(. May get it later I guess when my hair goes really frizzy on me. Can't take another hair rebonding session cos my hair drop like I'm on steroid or something.

More good than bad dun'cha think?

Missing him

2009-04-01T01:52:00.004+08:00

I think all mothers feel the same way (especially when you have only 1 kid). I find myself missing Jon mid-day onwards. Gosh, I am missing him when separated from him even for awhile. Unless I have tons of work till my brain is toasted with all the thinking that I have to do, then I might not notice. Yeah, of late, a lot of brain toasting going on. Just hope that my colleagues are not thinking that I'm losing it. Hehehe. They are in the same boat too :)

We've been doing some weird routine for the past few nights. Lulling him to sleep in my arms (as he refers himself as baby... a very big baby indeed), kissing him non-stop, playing cat and mouse (catching and pouncing on the bed), playing hide and seek (with the TV remote control cos we will be fighting over his Dora VCD and my Chinese drama). As for tonight, I was simply hugging him for quite a awhile and he seems to be enjoying it very much. Keep it that way Son cos you will always be my baby! Better enjoy it now before he starts feeling that he is too old to follow mummy around. Which is like another 7 years to go? Am I over-pampering him till I spoilt him rotten? Hehehe.. I still got the secret weapon when he throws his tantrums or disobey my orders. So, nah... I don't think I've come to the stage of spoiling him rotten yet.

28.03.09

2009-03-30T21:56:00.003+08:00

So what did you guys do during earth hour. Got some feedback from my pals. Quite a number of them DID switch off their lights. So nice of them. I got an SMS from a friend to remind me of the earth hour. But I didn't switch off my light. Why? Cos we went out for dinner and I didn't want to leave the house in the dark! I was inform there were some reported crime activities during that hour. Oh well, I'll do my part in other ways ya.

Wetting

2009-03-24T21:25:00.002+08:00

I think every parents would go through this stage. Its a stage of wetting babies. A few weeks ago, Jon wet our bed and his almost every night regardless with diapers or not. Crazy me, of course he will wet the bed without diapers. But with diapers too? Thank God that my mom is around, so I can wash the bedsheets everyday.

We tried using another brand of diapers and wah-la! No leaking or wetting anymore. Its slightly more expensive but I can see that it is more comfortable. Like my dad said, cheap thing no good, good things no cheap.

Earth hour, earth day

2009-03-24T20:55:00.004+08:00

The call for earth hour this weekend would be a good starting point to change one's lifestyle as an effort to save mother earth. The impact might not big enough, but have to start somewhere. Why not start small. Switching off the lights for 1 hour is starting small. There are lots of things that can be done to minimise our carbon footprint. It covers from the fuel (or rather no fuel) you use for your car, the type of bulbs, how many tress you cut down to build your house, the water you use, etc.

There are so many things I can't go without but am exploring the options of being more conscious of the natural resources.

A few weeks ago, some immigration officers rounded up all the cleaners in the office building cos their working permit somehow got invalidated. Meaning they are illegals. So, we were without cleaners for days. And we usually pack our food (in polystyrene containers) from the cafe and have our lunches in our nice and cosy pantry area. These polystyrene containers are quite big and before we knew it, we had a bag full of those containers with no one to take it out to be disposed. It just hit me that this has to stop. Imagine the carbon footprint we are leaving year in year out. So, I decided to bring my own reusable plastic container to pack my food in. Its not easy at first cos I tend to forget to bring the container with me when I go to the cafe :). But after awhile, I get the hang of it and got a colleague to join me too! Now is to get more people to do the same thing hehehe. Talk about making a difference.

Earth hour, earth day is more than 1 day event. Its a lifestyle! To save the earth, change your lifestyle.

Things to remember

2009-03-24T05:51:00.004+08:00

Woke up early so that I can prepare myself for a brand new day. I find myself (seems like a lot of self reflection lately) missing Jon almost everyday. This is because he is beginning to understand what we say and able to respond back. The fun moments I can remember:

- I sometimes "complain" or "whine" to him. Like the other day, I was looking for a brush to wash his water bottle. I was nagging and complaining , "where did your daddy keep the brush?", while looking high and low for it. Jon went on with, "Oh brush... where are you? Is it here?".

- Last week, he sang a birthday song for me even though its not my birthday. He was so cute.

- Countless ...

And the not so fun moments that I want to remember too:

- dragging him away from the toys sections in the mall.

- pacifying his tantrums in a restaurant

- dragging him away from the books section. Oh ya, he will negotiate with me on how many books he wants me to buy. When I said "one", he will want about "three"!

- negotiating how many minutes he can play with his fishes in the bathroom. Usually its about 3 to 5 minutes. I will have the warm water showering on him so that the pool of water is always warm and he won't catch a cold.

Oh I must list it down every now and then lest I forget.

Exhausted

2009-03-23T22:11:00.003+08:00

Wonder why I am experiencing exhaustion faster than before. Its either:
1. driving through the traffic that never moves in the morning so that I can get to work on time or
2. waking up very early so that I can get out of the house earlier to avoid the "traffic that never moves" or
3. workload is getting heavier especially when all companies are trimming their operating expenses inclusive of hiring or
4. I am getting older... but still young at heart :)

the list is endless. I guess that is life in the city now. Sometimes we end up with little quality time and so many things to do. Gosh, I think I need a good massage.

On another note, Jon has been very helpful with house work. At least he will sometimes try to help whenever I asked him to do something. Some update on my little boy. He is now 3' 3" tall and I still cuts his hair. Mentioning this cos I just cut his hair 1 week ago. He refuse to let me use the hair crimper so its back to basics - scissors. I find that using scissors makes his hair softer and accentuates his natural wave. When I use the crimper, his hair tends to be punky looking and rough. Shida said the same thing when Rayyan had his hair cut with crimpers years ago. But of course, it takes double the time and the effort to do it.

I'm forcing myself to update this blog more often now cos when I try to put things aside, I feel that I get lazier and uninspired. Till next time folks...

Happy not-so-new Year!!

2009-01-20T20:53:00.004+08:00

I'm late again! In updating my blog.

Seriously busy and stressed. Oh well, life still goes on. Jon is doing ok in school. His speech is improving. Talking in full sentences and all. I plan to put off his visit to the speech therapist for speech assessment for now. He is also displaying all sorts of emotions. Like throwing his toys, scolding and hitting us when he is angry. Its not a good behaviour and I try to give him stern warning or even smack his hands a bit when he does that. Other than me and Hubby being busy with work and house chores... everything is fine.

I think I should pick up a hobby or continue with my beading. I loooooooong to make something for quite some time now. Will be bring out my tools. So watch out for this space.

He knows...

2008-12-26T11:19:00.004+08:00

Kids can get all excited about the things that are happening around them... playground, malls, friends. But at the end of the day, they know whom to run to for TLCs.

FIL, MIL and SIL are here for Christmas and Jon got all excited having other people to play with him (other than his parents... hehehe). Last night, on the way back from dinner, he was getting sleepy and all, slowly crawled to me calling "mummy, mummy" and fell asleep in my arms. At the end of the day, they know....

After everyone went to sleep, I watched a movie on tv (yup, alone on Christmas nite. Hubby is pooped out running around to settle my car~got into a small accident... hehehe). Its a warm story about a mother and her relationships with her children paticularly with her partially deaf gay son and his partner. And because of his minor disability, the family members converse with him using sign language. So, there was this scene where another son's gf started a converstaion about no mother would want to complicate her life with a gay son (something like that). Of course that go the whole family angry/ upset and at the end of the argumant, the mother signed to this son saying that she will always love him and he is better than most ppl.
Simply put, it's about a mother's love and how ppl are quick to judge.

As a mother, oh don't mess with me when it comes to my son. A mother's love knows no bound. In this story, the mother's love is unconditional and in abundance (remind me of someone... hint: look above)

And I trully agree, We are fast to judge other people. Self centered. Everything is about me me me. What's in it for me (happening in my work place... arghhh!!)

About not judging other ppl, so happened that I sat beside a young south african man in church during Christmas service. Hubby asked me softly if I need to exchange place him but I decline. He knows that it does not bothers me. But becos I was carrying Jon, it might be a bit squeezy for me. I wonder if many ppl would find it uncomfortable with situations like that?

Guess I would have something in mind for my new year resolutions soon, huh.

Improvements

2008-12-13T04:44:00.001+08:00

I find myself constantly describing Jon's level of energy as "bursting with energy" or "energy ball that always bounce around". He manage keeps his energy level till midnight or even 1am most of the time! And he still takes his afternoon nap (that is why!). I know of kids who skips their afternoon nap at this age. Oh well, I'll just let it be cos when he takes his afternoon nap in the day care, less attention required (in case he drives the teachers up the wall). In my unqualified opinion, he is not hyper active. This is how I come up with this conclusion:

A year ago, I was so worried about his activeness because the teachers started complaining that he couldn't sit still in school (means limited concentration and short attention span). He was 2+ and he just started school. So, I started making him sit down as long as he can to write or draw. It was tough at first. But my "best friend", the cane comes in handy sometimes. Then I moved all his fridge magnets to the lower part of the fridge so that he have to sit down to play with them. From then on, anything that he wanted to do, he has to sit down. This may sound harsh, but its for his own good and it works.... read on.

.....this year....

During last month's school assessment, the teacher told me that Jon has improved tremendously and she enjoyed teaching him. And most of all, he can sit still and do his school work. She remembered how anxious I was in handling that problem (ya, read the paragraph above).

Yup, Jon can really sit down and concentrate on his work. His current tools are color pencils (I lost track how many boxes we bought for him) and magic pen (how come we call it magic?). Give him a computer and Disney-playhouse website, he can play on the computer for at least an hour, sometimes for hours (plus having the patience to sit there and stare at the status bar to wait for a page to load and you know how slow streamyx can get sometimes). Computer geek in the making. I aim to make him a cool looking and "happening" computer geek, ok. Ear stud? but the gay this, ok. Like the mother! Hahahaha.

A little update on Jon's speech progress. He is talking a lot more now and sometimes in complete sentences. Way way lots of improvements in that area (compared to his quiet self a year ago). I am glad because he progressing on track as recommended by a speech therapist friend. She told me to give till end of this year to see how he progress before sending him for evaluation.

This year has been quite an eventful year in terms of Jon's development. I guess every year will be for awhile. Heck, these are they years that most of their skills and abilities develop. What is in store for next year, not sure yet. Will take things one step at a time.

I wish....

2008-12-07T18:33:00.001+08:00

Christmas season is here. So was thinking what I would wish for this year. Here goes....

1. A pda phone. I've always wanted one and my bro gave me one a number of years ago. BUT I lost it. Was I pregnant that time? Blame it on the hormones. Nice. Not that I'm superbly organised. The itch to have one started when we just bought the house and there was 1001 things to remember, to do. The measurements for curtains, floor layout (and measurements) for the contractor, tiles codes, colour codes, phone numbers, payments, what to buy, what not to buy.

2. A bigger car. The mpv models look cuter each time a new one comes out. Yeah, we need one eventually when we have our 2nd or 3rd kid??!??
Hubby: Sorry, it stops at 2!

3. Christmas in Spore. We get decorated malls here. They have decorated streets. It adds up to the holiday mood... dun'cha think?

4. A maid. To wash, clean, iron and all the household chores. But can't imagine having to deal with their behaviour and stupidity... again!

My weekends plans have evolved from just spending time and hanging out in the malls with my family to staying at home so that the house chores can be done before the week starts again. Not that I'm complaining. We used to be able to spend the whole weekend out of the house because the maid will do all the house chores and cooking. Now, we have to spend most of the time at home to do some house chores else I'll have tons of laundry to do during the weekdays. But we don't really mind. We have decided not have any maid (as long as I can tahan) right now. Here's the reason why (trying to pyshco myself ya):
- Getting one is so darn expensive nowadays. From my calculation, we need to spend about RM900 per month to maintain 1 maid.
- Hubby don't trust them with Jon. What are they good for then? Cleaning? Nah, my weekend cleaner does cleaning so much better
- I am way too lazy to train another one. Oh, I miss my old maid even though she drives me up the wall at times and during her final month, she practically don't want to do anything
- I can stay slightly slimmer (hahaha..meaning I am still fat,ok) cos I get to do all the WORKOUT by doing house chores
- I don't have to worry about making sure there is food for the maid (sometimes I fast for diet purpose)
- I don't have to arrange for additional accommodation for "the other person"
- We all can it into our small car without "the other person". Esp. with the new seat belt ruling. whew!

See see so many advantages. I can freely say all this cos Jon is big enough to go to day cares. Forget about my wish list. They will remain as a wish list. Given our "not-so-bright" economic outlook, money is better to stay elsewhere.

Closing Chapter 1

2008-11-23T17:44:00.007+08:00

Jon's school conducts 2 major assessments in a year. The year end assessment is here. We went to meet the teacher and get his "report" book (of course Jon has no idea he was being assessed). Overall, we got positive feedback from the teacher. She enjoyed teaching Jon and according to her, whenever Jon and a few other kids sees the teacher, they will go "Teacher, story please, story please". Well, Jon loves stories and I try to read him at least 1 story before bedtime. She said that Jon will start doing his work even before she could explain to him on what to be done. This, I believe. Jon is able to recognise words and he got used to doing workbook activities because we bought him a lot of workbooks. So, whenever he saw "Circle" or "Match" or "Count", he knows what to do. Anyways, the activities always revolves around the same thing. lol.

I'm not sure what was his overall results (blur mother at work here) but from the assessments sheets that were given to us, Jon manage to get A- for all. I'll confirm again with the teachers on Monday. I was too happy to see his assessments result till I forgot to ask about his overall performance. Overjoyed. We are so proud of you regardless what results you've got!! You have done well darling.

It has been a long journey since he started school almost a year ago. We are thankful that we took that step in sending him to school early. He didn't get sick like what others said. There were ups and downs. A lot of people may say conflicting things. But we followed our instincts and the results turned out to be to our benefits. Ada la kadang kala terbabas jugak ikut komen diorang. Nih dijadikan ajaran.

Year End Concert

2008-11-15T22:34:00.004+08:00

Over here it is a norm almost compulsory for every nursery or kindergarden to put up a school concert where all the kids (our beloved children) sing, dance, recite poetry, act and etc for their proud parents. Me inclusive.

On the "big" day, I cooked and fed Jon earlier because he has to be at the hall by 10.30 am (the concert starts at 12.30pm). Pack some food for him in case he is hungry and off he goes. Settled things at home, have lunch and rush to the hall. Phew, we were just in time for the first opening performance.

When we got into the hall, the principle told me that Jon cried earlier and that they will send the kids to the hall after the performance. My heart sank a bit. I was preapring myself mentally that I might not even see Jon on the stage (if he is still crying and try to be difficult). So when the youngest group went up... one by one lined up... hmmm.. where is Jon.

There he is almost at the end of the line. He was smiling and chatting with his friends. Phew. The kids looked so cute! They presented a poem "Mummy, Daddy, I love You" and sang 2 songs with actions. No acting what-so-ever. I don't think anyone in their sane mind would want to train a bunch of 2+ to 3+ year-old kids to act. I can see a lot of effort has been put in just to remember the words and actions.

(sorry the pictures are a bit blur. Daddy wanted to use the camera too)

(Happy mummy and Jon having his sausage bun after the preformance)

I was just so happy and proud to watch him perform (and not scared of the audience). He remembered all the actions. Muah muah...

Birthday

2008-10-30T17:05:00.004+08:00

This is a belated post. Stealing some minutes during lunch break to post this.

I think I score at being the most absent-minded mom. Jon’s school usually set a day in a month to celebrate that month’s babies. I’ve been looking forward to Oct (Yup, its Jon’s birthday and he was sick! Will blog on this soon) and have a few things in my mind. This is what I wanted to do:
- On Jon’s birthday, send over a cake so that he can celebrate it with his teachers and day care buddies (a bunch of cute kids)
- To send over cake, goody bags for his classmates during the birthday party organized by the school

And this is what happened…
On his birthday, I was very tired (caring for sickly Jon), it was raining heavily in the evening and I was having a mild migraine (a poor excuse). All I could get was a not-so-nice cake from a bakery nearby to have a simple celebration at home. Before I could show Jon his cake, he was asking “Mummy, I want to eat cake”. Sigh, we still need to bath and feed him. And bath and feed ourselves. So, quickly get him cleaned and fed, and light the candles. Before we could do anything, Jon was wailing away for no reason and not wanting to go near the candles. He cried too when we did the same thing at my in-laws place (early celebration). We thought he was cranky then. Hmm…. I think he is afraid of the lighted candles which I have no idea why.

The school brought forward the party (I forgot to double check). So I totally missed it! I just bought some stuffs and pack them into bags (didn’t manage to get the party bags). Bought a simple cake earlier to share with his friends. That is all I could do.

(Yup...the kids will be having junk food. No worries, I packed some healthy food too - raisins)

But kids being kids, they are just happy to get something to eat/ play with. And Jon was happy to help me pack his goody bags eventhough it was not as colourful as I wanted it to be.

I am back!

2008-10-30T12:36:00.001+08:00

Sorry guys for being MIA for so long. Long story.
I started work “again” right after Raya. So, first week of Oct was all about adjusting to work environment, sending Jon off early in the morning, preparing food for Jon’s dinner and completing house chores. Coincidentally, Jon was not feeling well due to mild food poisoning (my fault). But he was such an angel for not throwing tantrums even though he suffered from having a bloated tummy and frequent toilet visits. First weekend was spent visiting the doc. After he got well, I gave him ice cream cake which didn’t go well with his just recovered stomach. He vomited but thank God he didn’t make a fuss though. Looking back now, I felt so stupid for not taking extra care about his food. We tried everything that we can think of. One thing is for sure, when the child is sick, the parents are worried sick. That is 2 weeks of chaos in the house.

We are quite settled with the routine now. The teachers at Jon’s school were really nice to accommodate us cos we really need to send Jon early to school. Day care business is really long hours and without them working mothers are at a lost.

Mummy, lets dance

2008-10-02T03:20:00.004+08:00

Jon has always shown his musical side... by humming a tune he heard somewhere, banging on his xylophone (haha... not very musical), playing (and not banging) on his aunt's piano, pretend to play the violin and lately dancing. He has no qualms if I play classical music whole day cos we "fed" him a lot of that with Baby Einstein's VCDs when he was a baby. Maybe this signs of musical inclination is just a phase. I think he is too young to seriously nurture his "interest" ie. sending him for music/ ballet classes. Hubby is against Jon learning ballet. Boys can learn ballet without making them look sissy, right?

They were showing a Korean dance competition program on TV just now and Jon was trying to imitate some of the dance moves. Head stand, hip hop, street dance... I dunno. There are so many types now and I only understand a very small portion of them. Hubby surely won't entertain the crazy idea of Jon dancing. So, I'm the next best thing he has as his dance partner. I just pretend to swing his hands and all... then ask him to do the hip hop/ street jam/ shuffle/ watever moves that was showing on TV. He had fun dancing (or rather pouncing around) and trying to do the head stand. Of course I stop him from doing the head stand cos he might hurt himself.

We'll let him grow up a bit more before deciding to send him for music/ ballet class. But if I can find a home-based piano teacher who teaches simple piano lesson and is able to handle a toddler at the same time, why not huh? But sorry darling, no dancing classes for now.

A so-so holiday

2008-10-01T15:41:00.008+08:00

Jon is having a fever now. It started yesterday. It wasn't easy for me. I was tired from our trip back to Hubby's hometown. With lotsa work waiting for me to complete and tons of cleaning to do when we got back, Jon's whines was a pain to my ears. I know that he must have felt really bad to wanting me hold him and sit beside him all the time. But darling, I have to figure out what to cook for you since I did not prepare anything for lunch (he was suppose to be at the nursery). I suspect that he might have a throat infection. Maybe he was kinda tired after all the fun he has with his aunts and the journey too during last weekend.

(Family lunch in restaurant)

Doc just gave some antibiotics, cough medicine and paracetamol. After 1 day of medication, Jon is feeling much better now. At least, he finished his lunch, play with his toys as I was sitting in the living room watching Ratatouile. Yup, I only manage to catch this show as I was a bit sceptical about a rat being a chef. I "operated" on a few of them during my Sixth Forms and I can still remember the rat-ty smell. So, rat and chef don't go down my stomach very well. But... I must say, I enjoyed the show very much. Must remember not to judge a book by its cover. A nice and warm story.

After that, I was having a migraine (not because of the rat... hahaha)... argh to think what to have for a late lunch. I had a chicken drumstick defrosted in the fridge (meant for Jon's soup but gave him pork meat porridge instead). So, started marinating the drumstick (claypot chicken style), cut some "lap-cheong", wash the rice and dump everything in. I wish I had more time marinating the chicken, but we were kinda hungry. Steam the whole thing and ta da.... steam chicken and lap cheong rice. Blanch some french beans cos the dish is too meat-y for me. All in 30 mins.

(Steam chicken and lap cheong rice with some blanched french beans)

The taste was... yum yum.

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri 2008

2008-09-26T13:43:00.002+08:00

Before everyone leaves for their kampungs (in case no internet).
Jon, Hubby and I would like to wish all malay friends a

SELAMAT HARI RAYA AIDILFITRI 2008!!!

have a good time in your kampungs and drive safely, ya.

Absenteeism...

2008-09-24T15:38:00.003+08:00

Jon didn't go to school for 2 days. I thought I'm cutting him some slack by allowing him to skip school cos I'm going to start work soon. Very very soon. By then, he has very little chance to skip school. Actually, I didn't send him to school cos he couldn't wake up.

I prepared some breakfast for him. His favourite cut out pooh head bread with turkey ham. Yup, he has this thing about turkey. Chicken - no, beef - dunno, turkey - yes! Be it turkey ham, smoked turkey, turkey sausage, he loves it. Coincidentally, it's my favourite too. Oh I miss those visits to JJ Sandwiches with Shida where we'll have sandwiches for lunch. On diet mah! And the toasted wholemeal smoked turkey sandwich with generous amount of green salad and apple juice.

But last night, out of the blue, he was crying and his father carried him to me cos he doesn't know what was wrong. Apparently, he was playing in his poh poh's (maternal grandmother) room and suddenly he remembered his poh poh. Adoi. Jon has never remembered anybody when any of us go on holidays/ outstation duty. He was crying and whining for a good half an hour untill none of us can pacify him, I decided to call my mom. But my bro said she has gone out for coffee with her friends. Aiya... this boy is still crying and refuse to stop. So, we got changed and took him out... for coffee at one of the popular kopitiam joint in town.

He came back feeling a bit better but started to toss, turn and cry very early in the morning. This is the first time I see him like this. Poh poh is like his insurance. I scold him, he'll run to her. He wants to sleep, he'll look for her. He is bored, he'll go to his poh poh's room to play or lepak with her. He wants to go outside and play, he'll drag her along. But so far so good. No separation anxiety or anything. I guess its a sign of him growing up and remembering his emotions/ feelings very well.

See see... I told you so

2008-09-23T11:05:00.003+08:00

Early in the morning, got an sms from Jon's principal on this. Shida alerted me as well as soon as I got online.

See, I told you so.

In today's news:

China goods ban widens
Reports by ROYCE CHEAH, LESTER KONG and CHEOK LI PENG
PETALING JAYA: The Government has widened its ban on dairy products imported from China to include confectionery which contain milk, chocolate (including white chocolate) and other food which contain milk.
The decision was based on the latest information received from Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) which found melamine in “White Rabbit Creamy Candy”, the Health Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry’s food quality and safety department director Noraini Mohd Othman said the widened ban would include “White Rabbit Creamy Candy” and flour-based confections like biscuits.
..
..
Consumers can contact the ministry at 03-8883-3503 for more information.

On Friday, Singapore’s AVA suspended the import of all milk and milk products from China and instructed retailers and importers to recall such products.
Three products were found to contain melamine - “White Rabbit Creamy Candy”, “Yili Brand Choice Dairy Fruit Bar Yogurt” and “Dutch Lady” strawberry-flavoured milk.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/23/nation/2094296&sec=nation

... and about social responsibilities...

Supermarts to start clearing shelves
PETALING JAYA: Major supermarket chains are in the midst of checking their inventories to remove products which may contain milk ingredients from China.
However, they have not received any instruction from the Health Ministry regarding the widened ban on confectionery with milk, chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate which contain milk from China.
Tesco’s corporate and legal affairs director Azlam Shah Alias said: “Our technical team is checking our inventory now. If a product is found to have any of the banned ingredient, we will take it off the shelves.”
..
..
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/23/nation/2093375&sec=nation

Do I need to say much. I really appreciate the presence of companies that display their social responsibilities way above our benchmark. And act upon it immediately because this relates to public health. No need to tell la... or to instruct la. Orang yang buat instructions pon tak la efficient sangat. But a bit sad that this attitude is mostly found in foreign-based (partially I think) companies.

So, check and check and check...

The worst day of my life

2008-09-22T04:58:00.003+08:00

What is a mother's worst nightmare? Her kid getting sick. Jon is not sick or sickly BUT I fear that his refusal to take in the right amount of food will make him sick one day.

Today is the one of the worst when it comes topic and I've written a lot of post regarding this cos its really a problem for me. Other than this, he is the best kid around. (sometimes I keep thinking of all his good points when he refuse to eat!)

I was in a not-so-good-mood. Jon refuse to eat lunch. My fault for thinking that he will be fine in eating chicken rice! He doesn't eat out (unless he is super duper hungry). So, I always make sure that he will have his meal at home before going out. Oh, don't remind me when we have go for holidays. Jon's food will be my main issue.

Getting back to today, I was late in preparing his soup and he takes forever to swallow that mouthful of rice in his mouth. Kinda 15 mins to swallow 1 mouthful! This really gets me boiling... I think I was bursting with anger (with lava spitting out of my head). So, I punished him. He was not allowed to get our of his booster seat (he doesn't know how to release himself from the belts... yet) until he finishes a good amount of rice.

Thinking that the food I'm preparing doesn't suit him. I tried all types of food. I threw out a lot of food because they got expired. I tried cooking oriental, western, fast food, the real-deal-meal...argh... pain in my head thinking of that.

Hubby was trying to be consoling, "If he doesn't want, just let it be".

Oh how I wish. I wish I can feed him milk whole day but I don't want him to solely dependent on milk. Oh no, that is not the path I want to go. I need a day off not thinking about his food. Bear with my ramblings. Just need to get it out of my system, else someone will kena from me, or you'll see me at some shopping mall. Maybe I'll just pop over the Thai Oddessy for a good massage. Hey, they are having some promo on. 1 hour for RM59 on weekdays.

Nowadays, I will keep asking him if he is interested in yogurt, chocolates, biscuits, bread, apple, milk, etc every hour. After 2 hours of refusal, I'll start taking out the food to entice him or ask him to join me in eating them. I don't know if I have the time to do this when I start working. I just pray that he will start to adapt.

The song keep playing in my mind... "...the best day of my life..."

Clinggggggg......gyyyy

2008-09-18T05:06:00.003+08:00

He was not like that before. Maybe because when my mom was around, he has another person to cling on whenever he feels down. Especially when he wanted to sleep. He'll look for his poh-poh cos she will carry him and hug him to sleep. So, now no poh-poh (poh-poh went on a vacation), he'll cling to me and Hubby. Every where he goes, he'll drag either one of us and sometimes he insist that both of us follows him.

He'll be graduating from his TT stage next month. Nah, it got to him for awhile and soon after he entered 2 years old, he was quite OK in terms of throwing tantrums. Maybe because we start sending him to the nursery when he was 2 years and 2 months old. Kena discipline mah. So, at 3, I would be expecting him to be more independent showing signs of wanting to be an individual. Right now, no clear signs yet. Maybe when he's 3++ (a few months after his 3rd birthday).

Talking about individualism, we finally put up a bed for Jon. Next to our bed! I still need to smell my baby before I go to sleep. Before this, we placed 2 single mattresses on the floor for him to roll from one end to the other. But I thought it is time he gets a proper bed to himself in preparation for ahemm...new baby maybe?

Anyways, he loves his new bed. Install a bed rail on the other side and I can have my beauty sleep now.

I am getting worried now...

2008-09-17T16:46:00.010+08:00

A long long time ago, whenever there are any health related issues or crisis, our dear Health Ministers would "jump out of their chairs" (hehehe...just imagine ya) and quickly take necessary actions to confine/ resolve the issue ASAP. Our health le, no joke ok. So, I lurve and hold our ex-Health Ministers with high regards. Kinda fatherly actions on protecting his children from being hurt - health wise.

But today's news kinda shocked me. First it was this (The Star):

China toxic milk powder kills 3, thousands sick
By Chris Buckley
BEIJING
(Reuters) - China said on Wednesday a third infant had died after drinking contaminated milk, while the number of sick rocketed and an official said the health threat had been hidden for at least a month.
The number of children ill after drinking milk carrying the compound melamine had risen nearly
five-fold to 6,244, and those with "acute kidney failure" reached 158, Health Minister Chen Zhu told a news conference

I have this huge huge reservation over products of China since a long long time ago. Hubby accused me of not being fair and one-track mind. Well, my gut feelings tell me that they don't have proper QA in place for their products. Seriously, so many incidents. It can't be coincidence, right?

Then today (The Star):

Milk is safe, says Fonterra
PETALING JAYA: Fonterra Brands Malaysia has assured all customers that its milk products in Malaysia are 100% safe.
In a statement, the company’s general manager, John McKay, said consumers could buy
their brands, Anmum, Ferleaf, Anlene, Chesdale and Anchor with absolute confidence.
“The issue relating to the safety of China milk powder products is confined only to products made from China-sourced raw milk sold by San Lu in mainland China.”

I am either blind, stupid or totally ignorant for not realising that the troubled company has presence in Malaysia. No one mention about it! I read reports saying that its only in China. I know, the milk is only distributed in China, BUT.... I would expect that our Health Ministry would reassure us about it or request the company to make announcements like that weeks ago. Don't wait till something happens. The company should be an accountable! Don't chicken out on social responsibilities! (OK, I am over reacting here) There are a lot of examples of companies that did total recall of products or quickly make explainations to the public if there is any doubt in using their products.
I want our ex-Health Ministers back!!! <--- this is being emotional

Photo Update

2008-09-15T11:37:00.005+08:00

A quick update on Jon (pics only). He has grown up so fast so better post an update on him now. But it is harder to take any decent pictures of him cos he too wants to be a part of the "taking pictures" activity. I just need him to pose but he prefers to be the cameraman. Aiyah... so sorry la the pictures here is kinda blur.

Fried Rice - What's your preference?

2008-09-10T15:38:00.006+08:00

Lately, I find it easier to prepare some fried rice for Jon just in case he got sick of soup everyday. Or whenever I find it hard to feed him his usual meal. I try to think of various ways to get Jon eating something heavy during lunch/ dinner and if I cook dishes with plain rice, he might not like it as well. He must not see bits of chicken or fish or vege when he eats. Usually I'll hide those inside the rice. So, I find it easier to fry some rice which I just throw everything in and Jon gets to eat other stuffs too instead of just plain rice.

This is fried rice ikan bilis. Basically, it has ikan bilis, carrot, butter head lettuce and light soya sauce. Jon likes it (he eats the ikan bilis, carrot and lettuce) and Hubby likes it too. Whew! (wiping sweat). I cooked something edible.

The remainder after everyone had their portion.

Today, I'm trying something new (for me at least). Bought some lap cheong from Jusco the other day and ta da... fried rice lap cheong. The main ingredients lap cheong, chicken meat (diced and marinated with salt, oyster sauce and light soya sauce), mixed vege, kangkung (so happen I have some in the fridge), butter head lettuce and light soya sauce for taste.

Will wait for the tasting session by the king and prince of the house tonight. Keeping my fingers cross.

Sale or no sale

2008-09-08T12:28:00.006+08:00

Warehouse was all over Klang Valley last weekend... and extended to this week as well. Usually, we (Shida and I or Hubby and I) will drop by these sales BUT I didn't go to even one during the weekends!! Hubby was kinda dumbfounded over my actions (hehehe... something not right?). I was busy, tired, stressed and my "auntie" visited me. But on Friday I went to Sogo sale already. Hehehe. Got a Graco booster seat for Jon. Retail at RM349, I paid RM199 for it. Actually Shida wanted to get one and she was in front of Sogo at 8 am! I went later after sending Jon to school and all. But Shida was so kind to wait for me till I've done my shopping.

The reason why I too got a booster seat for Jon was that I was experiencing some motion sickness sitting at the back seat with Jon lately (no, I'm not pregnant... yet). And was kinda lazy to move the other car seat from my car over to Hubby's. So, got this booster seat which Jon will be able to use till he is 7. Jon's travel gears is finally complete!

The deals at Sogo was good and there were lotsa people because Raya is round the corner. I feel that the sale this year is not as great as previous years. There were only limited stuffs that were more than 50% discounts. The rest are 50% and below which still comes to about RM20+ for a reasonable toddler's t-shirt. Still a bit expensive to get those t-shirts as casual clothes for Jon cos I sometimes change him a few times a day.

Today, Shida and I went to Kiko warehouse sale. Again, the sale is not as good as last year. T-shirts about RM12 - 15 per piece. Is it that the economy is not so good that companies are not so willing to offer good discounts for their goods? Nowadays, I support our local products - Kiko, Poney, etc. Am looking forward for Poney sale... when ah?

Feeding my boy

2008-09-03T16:35:00.005+08:00

We have problem feeding Jon since he was born. He never finishes his milk. And when he was a few months old, he had a mild eczema outbreak (on the face and head). That was when I banned most food that will likely to trigger this problem ie. citrus based fruits, seafood, nuts, etc. So, Jon's diet was kinda limited to rice, vegetables, chicken, pork, fish and some other type that is not in the banned family of food.

I still have problem feeding him. I partly blame myself for restricting his diet when he was young and now he just stick to the stuffs that he is familiar with. I don't totally regret my actions but I wish he would be more flexible when it comes to food. Nowadays, I will cook a soup dish for him using the slow cooker. Some of the soup varieties would be old cucumber with red dates, corn, white carrot, lotus root with peanuts and ABC soup. He loves soup and nowadays eat my fried rice too.

Sometimes I'll try something new like fried salmon (actually taste real nice after seasoning it with salt and frying with garlic). Jon ate a bit but refuse the fish after a few mouthful. No worries, he takes some time to get use to new food. I'll just keep trying new stuffs with him.

Speech development

2008-09-03T10:56:00.006+08:00

Jon's speech development is progressing well.

Example 1

We brought Jon out during the extended weekend (weekend + public holiday). Jon was not his usual self asked me to carry him.
Jon: Mummy, carry.
Me: Ok ok... Daddy carry you, ok? (Trying to pass the load to Daddy)
Jon: Don't want, I want mummy carry (Aiya...mati kudasai. Wondering how far I can walk while carrying a 17kg kid)

As much as I am delighted to see him talking in an almost full sentence, I fear that he would be able to express his "likes" and "dislikes" even more ie. having his way more often.

Example 2

He is helping me in some ways too. Sometimes when we are having our dinner outside, we'll be bombarded by people trying to sell things to patrons of the makan place.
Lottery ticket seller: Lottery, lottery...
Jon: No no no no (waving his hand)
Karipap seller: Yau mai karipap ma?
Jon: No no no no (waving his hand)
Toy/pen/dvd/whatever seller: Mau beli ....?
Jon: No no no no (waving his hand)

Now I have a tape recorder. Save my energy to say "No" to these people. Sorry, I know they are just trying to make a living but I don't like my meals to be disrupted.

BUT, Jon uses this phrase whenever I tried to feed him or offer him some food. Yup, I still HAVE problem feeding him. I wish he would say "yes yes yes" when it comes to food. I tried making his soup colourful and tasty. The same goes for the fried rice I prepared for him during the weekend. And he kinda liked it cos he ate a lot with the vegetables and ikan bilis that is in it. Hmmm... at least my effort not wasted.

Current progress

2008-08-27T04:27:00.001+08:00

Must record down Jon's current progress la, else I won't be able to recall... signs of getting old. Jon is about 2 years and 10 months. Since he has shown a bit of progress after his cousins visit, I thought I'll note it down here.

1. He started calling me "Mummy, mummy" (pronounce as Mahhhmeeee, Mahhhmeeee)
It sounds a bit manja but I like this most la. Of course Daddy also get "Daddy, daddy". Great improvement because previously he was calling me "Ma-kee". Clearly influenced by his elder cousin.

2. We still let him wear diapers when he sleeps at night although he is diaper free during day time (inclusive of nap time). We were advised by a doctor to let Jon go diaper free even when we bring him out but I am too lazy to attend to his request for toilet visits or "accidents"... whoops.

3. He knows how to buckle himself up in his car seat. But sometimes, we do let him seat without the car seat in Hubby's car (the car seat is usually in my car) but we will put on the lap belt for him. He knows that he has to wear seat belt whenever he is in the car and we will only unbuckle him when the car stops. A habit he got from sitting in baby car seats since birth. The first thing he will say when he gets into the car "seat belt, seat belt". We will put on the lap belt for him in Hubby's car. So, it is kinda easy for him to buckle himself up. I know... not advisable. Might be looking for a simply booster seat to put in Hubby's car since Shida is looking for one too. Can go booster seat hunting with her.

4. He is able to ask some questions in full sentence. I think he got this from his cartoons like "Where did it go?", "Oh no, what happened?" or "What did I do?". Kinda preset questions. Sometimes he'll play Q&A himself. He'll be asking himself something that end with "... but where?". And then answers the question "There it is!". It good to see him talking or trying to talk.

5. When I get really angry (Jon is sensitive to know when I'm angry or sad), he'll come and kiss me on the lips. I used to kiss him a lot but lately he finds it "geli" if I try to kiss him on his lips.

6. Jon loves books. More than his other toys. Some of the antics that he'll be doing when he gets hold of the books that he likes: sit in the floor and start reading... loudly and run around the store when we tried to catch him. But this works to our advantage when we need him to sit still. Just pass him a book, better still, his favourite book, and he'll sit quietly reading his book while we do our groceries or have our dinner.

Sorry, that's all I can think for now. Need to sit down and write it down.

I'm touched!

2008-08-26T13:27:00.004+08:00

My opposite neighbour are really nice when it comes to food. Hehehe. I'll refer to them as Auntie W and Uncle W. They will pass nice home cook food every now and then. And I try to return some decent cook food la... I'm not a good cook ma. Or something bought. This give and take routine will continue a few rounds before one of us ran out of ideas. Kakaka.

My dad used to teach us not to return empty plates to people as it is not polite. I remember when I was very young, we return sugar to people. Maybe it represent "something sweet to sweeten your mouth" but I guess it can be used for cooking later on, why not.

So, this time, I got this...

fish head curry... cooked by Uncle W. And because Auntie W knows that my mom is not around, she gave me some rice to go with the curry. Boo hoo... I'm so touched.

Me hungry now... wanna eat fish head curry.

Hmm... what to give back ah? Thank God I bought a homemade prune cake from Shida (baked or rather steamed by Shida's mom and available for orders ;) ). So, will pass some to them since its super nice too!

Showing interest

2008-08-19T14:50:00.005+08:00

I should have taken a few pics of Jon today. He came back with an empty Pooh container! Not really sure whether he finished the bread on his own or he had help. Hehehe. The teacher said the other kids kinda "shared" his food cos they can't be simply looking at him having all the cute little cut out bread, right. I don't mind at all. I used to pack extra food for him so that he can share his food with other kids. And I strongly feel that he will eat more when his peers are eating as well. That was the first day.

On the second day, Jon woke up quite early. Watched his cartoons while I prepare his bread and some sausage for him. When I was almost done, he came to the kitchen and "kidnap" his pooh bread. Then he came for more..so I let him have the whole Pooh container and he ate 7 pooh bread. I was so happy. He didn't like the sausage though. Hmm.. I think I need to go and get other spread for him else he'll get bored with the peanut butter pooh bread. Chocolate spread maybe. Next time I'll let him try some vegetable or fruits.

Last nite, he took a slice of carrot cooked in one of the vegetable dish. Hubby was so surprised and asked me since when he like carrots. There is a light at the end of the tunnel indeed. Its a slow process of introducing new food to Jon but at least he is showing more interest in other food.

New toys

2008-08-18T12:01:00.006+08:00

I love my new toys but I have 2 problems.
1. I'm not a good cook or rather sometimes a lazy one
2. Jon is a very picky eater.

But with him turning 3 soon, I want to expose more variety of food to him. Else, people will think that he is a bit weird. So, what I usually do is... try to coax him into trying new food or force him to have some. Hehehe. See the red horns coming out of my head? Here we are, worried sick that he will be hungry and he will be running away at the sight of food! To make things worse, he now has the habit of spitting out food if he feels that there is something that he doesn't like.

So, tadaaa... here's my new toy. Sorry only manage to take one. But they involved bento-ing! Found that you can do a lot of pretty cute stuffs with those bento and stuffs. Lookie here. I am totally inspired by the owner of the blog. I still have a lot to learn and hope to get some tips from there.

I won't call this a bento. Its just bread with peanut butter. And a bit of raisins in a small tupperware cup in case Jon decides to make me happy. Isin't those Pooh's face cute. I got from an online store.

When I showed Jon those cute cut out bread, he went "waaahhhh"... took one, took a bite and tried to give me back the bread. But I forced him to finish it by refusing to take it back from him. I don't think he will finish those bread. I packed other snacks for him - his favourite chocolate chip cookies and a packet of mamee. Junkie!

Monday blues..

2008-08-18T11:40:00.003+08:00

Who doesn't experience any Monday blues before please don't read this post. Today, the sky is extra dark, extra gloomy, extra hazy and my mood is extra blue... with extra loads of laundry waiting to get dry. Bummer.

I'm just not looking forward to anything today.
Its school holidays.
And I still have to send Jon to day care.
Its Monday blues...

I just don't have the heart to do so.
My mom is a full-time mom which means my bro and I never spent a day in day care. Therefore, I never knew how to part with my son this way. It just sucks.
Blame it on the Monday blues....

We were all excited during the weekends.
To be with each other.
And now, each have to go their own ways.
Dang the Monday blues...

I HATE MONDAYS. Poor Monday. Someone has to be blamed. It might as well be you.

(This is not a poem.. don't try to correct the structure or the grammer. Its just Monday blues.)

Psst... never name your child Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or any other day...

Being difficult

2008-08-15T14:27:00.006+08:00

Jon is driving us up the wall lately with all his whining, throwing all his toys/ books/ crayons on the floor, insist on watching his VCDs all the time (he will scream and cry if he doesn't get to watch it), refuse to bathe... endless. Wonder where he picked all these unbecoming behaviours from. Could it be separation anxiety since he has started spending more time at the day care? Or he is growing up, therefore needs us to spend more time reading/ writing/ talking to him? I do try to spend more time teaching him or just talking to him but I guess he may want more quality time with his parents. So, the next few days will be more of "Mummy, Daddy and me" time for little Jon.

With my mom away on vacation, I'm officially a full-time maid. Hehehe. I still need to finish up a lot of work and trying to cope with household chores plus cooking. Keep reminding myself, I can do it! Well, I feel that I'm too old to just throw in the towel and look for help. Above all things and chaos that is happening, Jon will be my first priority.

Psst... got some new "toys" for myself. Stay tune!

Who is who?

2008-08-14T13:02:00.005+08:00

"Teacher, teacher, I want bananas". Jon has been starting his sentences with "teacher, teacher" a lot lately. No, I'm not jealous. But sometimes he addresses me as "teacher, teacher". I'm just worried that he gets me and his teachers confused. I wonder how the teachers are coping with his "I want..." at school. And when Hubby comes back from work, he'll go "Daddy, daddy".

Just to make sure that Jon didn't forget his mummy, I asked him, "where is mummy?". He pointed at me and said "Here". Ok... still remember mummy, checked.

Hat trick

2008-08-08T17:13:00.006+08:00

Another backdated post.

It was a last minute decision to visit my FIL's place so there were no expectations or specific plans. We just wanted to lepak. But I manage to get to do a lot of stuffs. *grin grin*. I had my hair done, ikan bakar (loads of seafood) and a short walk along Jonker Walk. Jonker Walk has a lot of nice things to see and they are so much cheaper compare to KL. I've made some comparison. They have things from Thailand, Indonesia and our local products. So, a lot of interesting stuffs. We haven't had ikan bakar for a long long time... which I dunno why cos usually its one of our favourite spot for good food. But that day's seafood was extra fresh and extra sweet. Hehehe. "Lau hau sui" (air liur meleleh) now. Even the kembong bakar was sweet. A must try for anyone visiting the Bandar Bersejarah.

Jon loves going back to my FIL's place cos he'll be spoilt rotten by his grandparents and his aunt. This time around, he found something else to play with....

(an envelope turned into a hat)

Then, he found something else...

Trying to fit 2 hats on and parading with the flag. Merdeka!

A morning outing

2008-08-07T17:38:00.003+08:00

A backdated post. My mom had to get her visa done so after getting all the papers finalised, set up the appointment, paid the whatever fees needed and pack up all the things I needed for the outing, off we go to the embassy!

I had to bring Jon along cos Hubby was in another town for work. And since my mom's appointment was at 8.50 am, we had to leave very early else we won't be able to reach on time. I packed food, books, stroller and everything I think I will need to entertain Jon in the car while waiting. We left about 6.30 am. Had a slow and peaceful drive to KL. Traffic started to build up but still manageable. After dropping my mom off at about 8.10 am, we headed to KLCC. I was hoping and praying that something would be open for breakfast since surely not the retail stores. Parking was a breeze inside KLCC. Was kinda eerie at first but there were quite a number of people going in for work and a few "pak guards". After parking the car, inquired from a passer-by hurrying to clock in for work maybe, if there are any shops open for breakfast. He was not sure. Oh well, since I'm here... "redah ajer la". Took a lift up and manage to get out near the pond area. I know this area well... there are a lot of eateries. Most of the eateries ARE open for breakfast! I head to Dome (hehehe...they have the nicest vanilla latte) and found out that they are open as early as 8 am!

Jon sat quietly in the stroller until we reached Dome. Well, he behaved himself and I was glad.

(With his new toy - leappad)

A long long break

2008-08-06T14:09:00.004+08:00

I had a long break from everything I guess.. except for housework. My bro and family were back for holidays. So, I kinda "took" some days off to help them settle some things and visit some relatives up north.

I never imagine how busy I will be with a few kids in the house cos all these years I only have to entertain Jon. But now I have 3 kids here... 3+, 2+ and 1+ years olds. Jon was thrilled to see his cousins and had the fun of his life. I think he is experiencing one-child syndrome. He won't sleep, eat, bathe or go anywhere without his cousin. He'll be looking for his cousin as soon as he woke up. It kinda make me go crazy for awhile because he just refuse to listen to me. Well, he got a lot of spanking from me for disobeying my orders. So is he going through a one-child syndrome? Maybe its a sign for a baby brother or sister for Jon to play with huh?

Back in Penang, I had a great time there. Very tiring though having to travel with so many toddlers but I enjoyed Kayu's Nasi Kandar most. I almost forgot how it taste like. The one in SS2 isno where near the one I had in Penang. Belum cuba belum tahu. Other foods I ate was not so great maybe because I was busy entertaining Jon or we just settled with something simple nearby the hotel. Too tired to travel half the island for good food. Sigh. I do miss those good stuffs.

So, I entertain myself by going to those small "kedai runcit" and got myself some stuffs that I couldn't find in KL. That was all the shopping I get to do. So sad.

(2 years stock. Jon get a pair too!)

Car Repair 101: Air Condition

2008-07-23T12:41:00.003+08:00

My car's air cond really want to kaput. I really have to part with large sum of money. Why me?!? Why now?!? I guess my car's old age-ness means more repairs to come... Ouch!! Touch wood touch wood. So, I must learn how to take care of my car better, right? "Yeah right" says Hubby. Prior to the news that I have a major repair work to do...

Symtoms:
The air cond was blowing fine one minute. The next minute no cool air coming out. I thought the gas leaked so I asked the mechanic to check the gas. They found a burnt fuse and fill-up the gas.
One month later, the same thing happened again. The mechanic replace the fuse and it was burnt the minute he place it in the fuse slot (with the engine runnig).

Diagnosis:
A burnt fuse may indicate a short circuit.

Initial recommendation:
I was told that I have to replace the air cond's compressor and it will cost me RM500 in total for the repair (RM380 for the air compressor + workmanship + other parts that needs replacing).

I felt like I need a second opinion. Now feeling a bit cheated cos I might not even need to fill up my gas in the first place!

Second opinion:
"Why do you need to change the compressor when only the coil is spoilt?" asked Hubby's mechanic in his hometown. So, Hubby offered to drive down to his hometown to get it repaired since he has to do some work there. God is great! The mechanic changed the coil, replace the gasket and some other things and it cost me RM200!

Lesson learned:
1. Always get second opinion for major repair or send it to someone you really really trust.
2. Mechanics nowadays want to cut corners whenever they can i.e. change the whole assembly instead of checking the part one-by-one. Time is money to them. Don't trust them entirely (almost similar to point no 1)
3. Go to a smaller town like your hometown to do any car repair. Or when you are visiting/ on holidays in smaller towns... change tyres also cheaper le.
4. Last but not least, take care of your car. Susah lah macam ini.

Shida, why didn't I ask your brother about this ah? Aiyaya.

And when I thought I don't have to pay...

2008-07-17T15:47:00.004+08:00

for my car loan anymore. It is true when they say a car is a liability. The cycle is as such... when you are done paying the loan, its time to spend money on major repair work. Its like human actually. After you have used your body for about 50 - 55 years, its time to do major maintenance: menopause, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, your body parts begin to fall apart... and then die. OK, not to scare anyone here.

My car's aircond decided to throw in the towel. Not really dead yet but the mechanic ask me to be prepared: not to have any nice cool air or dig into my pocket till it make some holes. I might have to change the aircond's compressor (seriously I don't know how it looks like) and usually when it comes to car issues, I'll just trust the mechanic. And then I get a bill like I've just changed a car! Sigh! So this time, I did something different. Called Hubby, explained the situation and I DECIDED not to do anything till Hubby has a word with the workshop's boss. Hehehe. Hubby knew the boss a bit after he had "invested" some money to the workshop (major repair la). So, for now, I still have cooled air until the compressor really decided to be mean to me.

Timing couldn't be any better. The whole of Malaysia is on sale!!!

Latest haul

2008-07-14T02:43:00.005+08:00

Jon's latest haul... no la. It's mine but for Jon. Serious stuffs ahead. Things that I buy for Jon has progressed from toys to clothes to educational toys and now books. Well, I still buy the other stuffs but I just can't stop buying books and colour pencils for him. Children books can be as expensive as our books especially those imported ones. Recently, Jon came back with a book order form (in his bag) from Scholastics book club. With discounts and paperback versions, this mean cheaper but quality books. Before this, I bought some hard board ones and they cost a bomb! Not letting this chance pass, I studied the list, mark, mark and mark all the books that I want to get for Jon. Inclusive of books that will be useful for his sister/ brother next time... books for younger kids... hehehehe. Hubby was wondering what this crazy woman is doing getting 14 book & 1 set of books (1 set = 12 books) at one go. I felt that I have to grab this opportunity else I have to restrict my purchases of books next time cos they will be quite expensive for me to buy them elsewhere. Here's some of the books....

(nice le the colours and all....)

Jon already has a few favourites but I'm sure he will enjoy reading the others as he progresses. This means homework for me and Hubby as well. We have to start reading to him and teaching him. Oh ya, need to get some decent cabinets to keep his books. Shopping shopping shopping.... *skip skip skip*

Oval, Diamond, Star, Heart

2008-07-11T17:49:00.004+08:00

I had the "Shapes and colours" VCD by Brainy Baby for quite sometime but Jon doesn't seems to be interested in it until recently. We were just happy that he loves the VCD (can get up at 4am and ask for the VCD!) and he is learning about shapes and colours in record time. Of course the kids in the VCD were so cute. Coincidentally, I got to know that his school is teaching the kids about shapes and colours as well! I always believe in following what the teachers are teaching in school so that the kids will not be confused by too many syllabus (school and home) and its kinda doing revision at home. Sorry if I sound really kiasu. Well, I want to be part of Jon's learning process as well. It is easy to leave everything to the teachers but they can only do so much. At home, he is not pressured and have other means of studying i.e. VCDs.

As I was going through his VCD collections (yup.. a lot until I forgot what I got for him), he has a Barney "Shapes and colours" VCD too. Then one day, his poh-poh (my mom) gave him something and he had so much fun playing with them.

Cheap and easy to make. His poh-poh made quite a lot of shapes but he seems to like this 4. He can recognize most of the shapes and colours but he is a bit confused with pentagon and octagon. He kept pointing at the STOP sign and referred to it as pentagon. I guess "pen" is easier to say that "oct". Will continue to correct him.

Wanted: Toddlers car seats

2008-07-09T17:15:00.004+08:00

My brother and family is coming back soon and he needs 2 car seats for his 3.5-year old daughter and almost 2-year old son. Appreciate is somebody can loan me their extra/ no longer in use car seat. Or anyone wants to sell theirs (not so expensive la cos they will be using it for 1 month only).

Thanks....

The trip and the test

2008-07-03T15:07:00.005+08:00

The trip:
Hubby need to go back to his hometown to fetch his mother to KL (cos she needs to attend to some family matters) and at the same time, send his car to the family-mechanic there. Got a major problem and a repair like that could cost twice as much here in KL. So, what am I going to do when Hubby is not around. Most of the sales that I wanted to go to only starts this weekend, lazy to go out without Hubby (a bit tiring to shop and look after Jon at the same time), my "pard-ner-in-crime" is out of town enjoying herself on Malaysia's beautiful beaches. So, I decided to join Hubby and brought Jon along so that his kong-kong (grandpa) can play with him for awhile.

The test:
I prepared Jon on this trip a day ahead by telling him that we are going back to kong-kong house tomorrow. I asked him to be a good boy, sleep early and wake up early. All he responded was "kong-kong". It was a good start. Jon's speech still needs a lot of improvement. But I can sense his excitement. Maybe because he gets to be spoilt rotten whenever he goes back.

That night, I thought I would have problems getting him go to sleep early. Again, I reminded him that he needs to sleep early if he wants to wake up early to go to kong-kong's house. The next minute, that boy who was still rolling around and playing with his pillow was quiet and sound asleep. Magic magic!

The next morning, we woke up very early to get ready and he got up by himself! Wah... even Hubby was impressed. I was trying to test on Jon's understanding on my words, instructions and what is happening around him. It was quite positive.

So, overall it was a good trip albeit the super hot glazing sunny day.

A true gentleman

2008-07-01T10:07:00.004+08:00

I'm trying to bring up Jon as a gentleman. He was refrained from snatching other kids' toys when I brought him to the playgroup. If there are too many kids going through one obstacle, he has to wait for his turn. That happened when he was 9 to 14 months. I had to stop bringing him to the playgroup because I just couldn't cope with driving 30 mins to the playgroup place, accompany/ play with him for 45 mins, do some groceries, drive back home and look after him all by myself.

Pppfffzzzzttttttttzz.... fast forward.

We just started letting him play in the mock-up obstacle-based playground in one of the shopping malls near our house. I really appreciate the sponsors for putting up such playground in conducive environment. It is clean (hope that they will maintain the cleanliness), air-condition (Jon doesn't have to sweat like the rain just poured on him) and it is spacious (the kids can run around like headless chicken and not crash into things). The playground is particularly crowded during the weekends. To my surprise, Jon acted like a true gentleman while playing there. He will try to avoid kids running towards him. If there are kids occupying the slide, he'll go to another one. Or when all the slides are occupied, he will wait till the kid in front of him slide down completely. Sometimes kids will try to be funny and walk up the slide from the bottom (Jon does that too). He will quickly move to another slide if he sees anybody trying to walk up the slide he is playing with.

Once there was this boy sitting at the entrance of the tunnel-type slide. Jon wanted to play and that was the only short tunnel-slide in the playground. Others were doubly long with double swirls for bigger kids. Guess what? Jon just waited patiently for his turn. The boy still didn't budge from his position. We were just watching from the fenced perimeter. We did not intervene because we wanted him to learn how to deal with situations like this and I was just curious to see how he would react to it. After awhile, the boy was still there (yeah, where are the parents?). Jon try to slow talk him. I dunno what he was saying but he was pointing to another direction. Only then the kid moved away and Jon quickly made his way into the slide. I am glad he did not resort to pushing or screaming or fighting with the boy.

In another incident, Jon acted like a gentleman again. The kids in school are taught to take off their own shoes and put them on the shoe rack. As Jon was taking off his shoes today (I get to witness this cos I went down to see the teacher), there was a mother attending to her girl's shoes too. In order not to bump into her, Jon stood by the side to let the girl's mother put her shoes on the rack before he did his. What a gentleman!

Potty Training Journey - Pt 4

2008-06-30T13:44:00.006+08:00

I can almost wrap up on this topic. Jon is able to express his needs to pee and poo. And he is making a good use of the padded trainer toilet seat that I bought for him (not wasting, ya). I tend to buy things for Jon way before hand and Hubby won't understand why I do that most of the time. That is because there were times when I needed something, it was not available or we'll be hunting for the item high and low just before the supermarkets closes. Hubby hates it when I have to drag him out at night to get a pacifier/ clothes detergent/ milk bottle's teat and ended up not finding any that is suitable for Jon. See see... this is why I need to get things way before Jon actually needs it. Kinda prepare for rainy days.

Ok, back to the padded seat. I bought this nice padded toilet seat for kids (so that it won't hurt their tootsies) which cost a bomb. When we got home, I was excited to let Jon try the brand new toilet seat. Guess what, he ran away. After a few days of trying and getting some mild lecture from Hubby, I gave up. Put the seat aside.

As we continue to potty train Jon, we will try to coax him to sit on the toilet seat when he wants to poo. After awhile, Jon finds it fun to sit on the trainer toilet seat. I don't really know exactly when, but Jon begins to poo using the toilet seat after a few incidents where he "ter"-poo on the bathroom floor. Maybe he felt "geli" or something. So, now he still say shhh shhh if he needs to poo. But, he'll will insist on seating on the trainer toilet seat he needs to poo. We get the message. Oh ya, I make it fun for him by giving him some soap to wash his hands while I clean him and also lotsa praises la....

Now he is diaper free during daytime. Sometimes his diapers is dry when he wakes up in the morning but I dare not take the risk yet. Maybe when he turns 3. Bagi chance la.

What's with that tongue thingy...

2008-06-29T17:48:00.005+08:00

Jon's new found (bad) habit is sticking his tongue out. God knows where he learns that from. Sometimes he will roll his tongue, licking his lips or just plain sticking it out. I tried so many ways to deter him from doing it by scolding him (first choice in the list) or with stern warning. If both fails, I will slap him lightly. I've checked with his teachers in school, but they are not teaching anything that involves tongue rolling and such. So, I strongly suspect that its just a habit he picked up from school or TV. After a few weeks of screaming, slapping and the evil-eye-look, he now responds very quickly with a warning.

Guess he is at the stage of mimicking what others do or picking up habits along the way. I prefer to catch the problem before it is too late to correct him.

(Doing the tongue thingy)

Little Conquerer

2008-06-18T13:59:00.010+08:00

Someone is conquering the TV with his favourite VCDs. I bought Jon a lot of VCDs as he was growing up. Cartoons and educational ones. He simply loves them all (which made mummy very happy cos he gets to learn and I don't waste $$). I try to suit the contents of the VCDs to his age and his development level. Because I believe that different kids develop at different rate and I fear that if he finds the contents too boring or too advanced, he might reject them.

I gave him a lot of Barney (the older version with younger kids) when he was very young. They were very entertaininig with lots of simple actions, songs and dancing. Bumble Bee is very interative with kids simply because the "actors" are kids too. Then, he has his Mickey Mouse just because he likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse programs. Recently, he is beginning to show signs of interest for Brainy Baby. Enough said of his VCD collections.

Now to the TV. The only time Hubby is able to catch up with his TV programs is during the weekends. And kids being kids, Jon would want to watch his "shows" too. Sometimes I can hear both of them fighting over the Astro channels. Guess who wins all the time? Nowadays, Jon wants to watch his shows day and night and sometimes midnight too. Aiyoo... not when I'm watching my favourite drama series mah. I tried telling him, he make dunno (or maybe really dunno la). I tried to sign him, he make dunno too. Then I try distracting him with colouring or doodling or reading his books. Sometimes it works, sometimes I just ignore him (hehehe... so mean) and sometimes he gets what he wants (especially when he has not reached his VCD time quota).

This little conquerer can cause a big storm at home.

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T15:33:00.007+08:00

Happy Father's Day to Hubby, my Bro, my FIL and all fathers...

From Jon and me

*Updated*
I'm not into celebrating Father's Day, Mother's Day or even Valentine's Day on the real dates because
- the restaurants or good makan place will be jam packed with a lot of people (on top of the weekend crowd),
- you gotta wait and wait and wait for you food cos there are just too many orders going into the kitchen at the same time
- the quality of food is questionable due to the many orders
- the promotion set lunch/dinner is more expensive than your normal meal at the same place because they tend to add frills which you don't eat. Don't forget, flowers on Valentine's Day can burn a hole in your pocket.

BUUUUUUTTTT... I did it anyways. We went to Hubby's favourite restaurant and had his favourite lobster. Since we had Jon, we have postponed dozens of celebrations and ended up celebrating in front of the TV. They say Father's or Mother's day should be celebrated everyday. Partly true but by having that mindset, we'll definitely end up not doing anything special. No more Miss Procrastinator. Just-do-it!

Unguided drawings

2008-06-13T02:12:00.004+08:00

We were pleasantly surprised by Jon's ability to draw. Totally unplanned, unguided...

(Some drawings amidst his ABC. Oh ya, he drew apple *the one on the right*)

(Drawing faces)

After writing his usual ABC, he started drawing eyes and mouth. Then I tested him by asking him to draw the face. Then the ear, hair and teeth. He only manage to "dot" the teeth. Maybe, he was figuring how to draw the teeth with the mouth shut tight. But to satisfy me (the highly ambitious mom) he drew a dot on the mouth. The face on the left got a nose.

Sorry no pics of Jon lately. He has grown so much that I missed his baby face. Now no more baby face. Will try to take some ya this weekend.

On Off On

2008-06-13T01:36:00.002+08:00

Nah... not the lights. I've been following the free water news closely. Not to say that RM11+ matters a lot to us (yet) but it is still savings... which has to go to the electricity bill later on, sigh (thank god never fix another air-cond in the house). We just want to see how it will work out. Hope that it will ease the burden of many people. So now, our aim is to control water usage up to 20 cubic mtr. Can? Cannot? Hey, a motivation to save water... and save the earth. Hehehe.

So, on or off? We'll see when the bill comes ya! So dramatic. Like DH only. Relationships, on or off?

Price war

2008-06-11T01:55:00.003+08:00

The brand of Jon's milk powder has gone up again. Let see the stats. I started Jon on this brand when he turned 1. It was about RM48-RM49.50 for 1.4kg. Now (1.5 years later), it has gone up to RM61-62.50 for 1.3kg. This is the price we get when we buy from those chinese medicine shop. I think it cost more in the supermarkets. I am seriously thinking of changing Jon's milk powder to a cheaper one but Jon is a picky eater. He doesn't eat much of other things except for his chocolate chip biscuits, yogurt, ice cream, chocolates, sweets, potato chips and sometimes bread. I am comfortable with the nutrients he is getting from this milk powder brand. So, after much deliberation, we decided to stick with the current brand and hope that the price will not increase till Jon is big enough.

Any suggestions on how to entice my little boy into trying new food?

Potty Training Journey - Pt 3

2008-06-09T13:02:00.002+08:00

When we started to potty train Jon, we used a potty. We taught him how to squat in the bathroom too. But when the teachers in school complained that Jon doesn't know how to pee in a standing position, I was wondering whether I taught Jon wrongly. According to the teacher, squatting is for girls (somewhat sissy). Boys have to stand, hold and shoot. This mean another training task for me at home. Jon didn't have much problem doing that after a few attempts but he has 1 condition (wah lau wei... can express his condition when he can't even talk properly). He will sign us to leave the bathroom. Privacy needed. This is going on well... till one day, I heard this from the bathroom:

Grandma: Ok, pee... shhh... shhh... (grandma sometimes accompany Jon to the bathroom)

Then...

Grandma: Don't hold, don't hold

Jon: *Confused* (thinking: can you guys make up your minds)

Me: Mom, he IS suppose to hold (aiyah...)

So, now we get it.

Girls - Squat

Boys - Stand (can shoot further), Hold (so the piss don't go north, south, east and west all at the same time), Shoot (do your business la)

Jon surprised me today. During his afternoon nap, he suddenly woke up and started taking his pants off (an indication that he wanted to pee). Apparently, we forgot to put diaper for him when he fell asleep. Yay. Its a sign. We can train him to be diaper free during his nap time. But we are still working on the poo part :(

Got cheated!

2008-06-05T14:26:00.005+08:00

Not me. Hubby got cheated... the old fashion way: credit card fraud. Hubby paid for a software license through a website using his CC! He was not sure whether the website is secured or not and the fee paid was USD5. I did ask him to suspend the cc but he wanted to wait and see. Arghh!! Why never listen to this IT expert. I think they are not after the USD5. They are going after the loot days later. Last night, Hubby found a small amount of RM transaction which he didn't make. They were smart. Small transaction don't raise the bank's alarm. So, little by little everyday.

Paypal would be the next best thing to do online transaction using cc. And make sure that you have the "padlock" sign to indicate that the site is secured. Nowadays, no point taking risks. Let this be a lesson.

A season of change

2008-06-05T08:57:00.009+08:00

Prices for petrol went up from RM1.92 to RM2.70 and electricity tariff went up too.

Shida and I was exchanging SMSes about changing our lifestyles. I don't think we need to totally change our lifestyles but more of trimming the extra expenses that we need to pay but not necessary to have it. Hubby asked me, "can meh?". "Don't talk about cutting down your expenses la, just don't waste". Point taken.

Hard times are ~~coming~~ here. Prices for other items will increase as well. On one hand, I think it is fair for the price increase cos oil prices has gone up like crazy. But on the other hand, I wish for the right authorities to manage funds entrusted to them well (less wastage) to cushion this effect or other trailing effects. I'm weak in finance and never studied economics. So, I can only think logically. 2 years ago, I told the travel agent whom I bought my mom's air ticket from, that one day the fee for fuel surcharge will be more than the actual price of the air ticket itself.

My wish would be for the government to channel the funds (saved from the fuel subsidies) to improve the quality of life in our country i.e. control on food prices, better transportation systems, more parks, less crime and etc. Seems like a tall order, huh?

No point complaining about it. What can I do to improve things around the house?

1. Cook more at home.

2. Walk more, drive less. Or can consider car pool.

3. Get groceries from cheaper stores, pasar malam, pasar tani, pasar borong. Be a member of 1 store and get most of your groceries there. At the end of the day, you get "reward points" which translates into $$.

4. Drive smaller cc car. If manual, better.

5. Consider eating less. Biologically, our body absorb only what it needs. The rest will turn into fats or waste. Consider cutting down other "unhealthy" food too.

6. Use washing machine only when there is a good load (dare not say full cos sure tak full punye).

7. Will using SmartTag/ TouchnGo help save petrol cos you don't have to queue at the toll?

8. Reuse Reuse Reuse!

9. Stop wasting (input from Hubby)

Doesn't seems like a lot of savings but better than nothing. In the beginning, I find it hard to pratice them because one need to put in effort to do all that. (Money doesn't fall from the sky, ok).

Come, come and share some thots.

Mid-year assesment

2008-06-02T15:28:00.011+08:00

Not for me la. Jon's nursery had a mid-year assessment whereby they will invite the parents over (with an appointment) and discuss on the kid's progress one-to-one. I told mom, its a report card day!

Before we jump to the result part, let us take a few steps back and see how it happened.

In Nov 2007 (Jon's age: 2 years 1 month), we decided to send Jon to nursery (or playschool) because:

Jon was not talking much or sometimes not talking at all
I was encouraged by Hubby's cousin's son (isit Jon's cousin?) who went to a playschool at the age of 18 months. But I think it was a full playschool - just play for 3 to 4 hours (which we don't have it here unless if you go for Tumble Tots or Gymboree). And he was doing well in school.
the principle and teachers at the nursery were so motherly and the kids there was so obedient and cute

In Dec 2007, at the age of 2 years and 2 months, Jon started school. The nursery was having some sort like holiday camp because the schooling session has not started. Jon cried the whole 3 weeks (last week of the month is full of public holidays). Refuse to go to school. Got attached with the principle's daughter because she was the one entertain Jon. Sleep in school a couple of times. At the end of the 3rd week, Jon refuse to leave school when I went to pick him up!

Jan 2008, Jon still couldn't pay much attention in class i.e. running around, taking other kid's things and playing with the ball. But the teachers were optimistic and comforting. I was nearing paranoid stage wondering why my son couldn't sit down and pay attention like other kids. That was when I called my friend and he made me realized that we were not talking or reading enough or doing some activities with him.

Feb 2008 - now, Jon progressed well much more than we have expected. He is

able to write (he loves writing), colour, sing and watches his ABC vcds
able to comprehend and follow instructions
beginning to display distinctive characteristics of his own. And a bit of temper throwing here and there (which mummy will come running after him with a cane... hehehe... no la. Just light spanking if it gets out of hand)
diaper free during daytime (ahem... still working on the poo part)
able to count 1 - 20

So, now for the mid-year assessment (Jon's age: 2 years 7 months).

"Jon has develop a sense of self-confidence, able to understand and communicate in English, develop skills in pre-number activities... ... ... . He is able to hear the sounds in words for blending, building and reading regular words from the letter sounds"

Overall, he got a B-. I was like waahh... B- only ah. Hahaha. Mak bercita-cita tinggi pulak. They have high grading system la. Hahaha. I am just so happy, from nearly failing (for my level) to B-. A quantum leap I would say. I am glad that we decided to send him to school (I decide, Hubby OK in paying).

Can't wait for year end concert cos I think he is reciting something. It goes like this "Mummy, Daddy, I love you!...." and I can't really make out the rest of it. LOL. But it is OK. Those 5 words always never fail to bring tears to my eyes.

Potty Training Journey - Pt 2

2008-05-30T12:01:00.005+08:00

Jon (the smarty-pants) has taken potty training or rather toilet training to the next level. He started doing his "big business" in the toilet today.... on the bathroom floor.... 3 times! *I dare not elaborate on what had happened*.

It happened in the morning when he just got up and he told me he wanted to shhh shhh. But instead.... More work for mummy and poh poh cos we have to wash the bathroom a bit. Instead of scolding him, we tried to console him (maybe I shouted a bit in the beginning and scared him a bit. That small fella did a big thing today, ok). I told him it was OK (eventhough it was not but I'll deal with that later la) and next time he has to say uuk uuk. I fear that if we send negative messages to him, he might have reservations in doing it in the bathroom in the future. It was partly our fault for not fully train him to do "big business" in the bathroom because I thought he was not ready yet.

I bought the toilet bowl seat for kids 2 weeks ago in anticipation to train him to seat on the toilet bowl to do his "business". We trained him to uuk uuk before but he never manage to do it. So now, we have to do some damage control.

The outcome was correct (he did it in the bathroom).

The method was wrong (on the bathroom floor!).

The message was wrong (shhh shhh instead of uuk uuk)

But I am just glad that Jon is diaper free during daytime! Yay!

Potty training journey

2008-05-28T23:37:00.009+08:00

Mom and I tried to potty train Jon for a long time. Considering Jon is kinda late in expressing his need to shhh shhh (to piss), we struggle-give-up-struggle-again during the whole process.

Started with not wearing diapers for Jon. Brought Jon to the toilet so that he can do his ahem... "business". But instead, he'll have a fun time playing with the water and get himself all wet. Ended up with "accidents" on the floor.

Then, we gave up. The teachers at school hinting me to toilet train Jon cos they will do the same in school as well. Can't just expect the teachers alone to train him, now can we... hehehe. Lazy mother! So, we went on with the struggle-give-up-struggle-again routine. This time around, Jon insisted to have his diapers on because he dare not pee in his pants. And he can't pee in the toilet as well. Maybe, he is not use to pee into the air. But I have to be mean for his own good. No diapers for him. So, sometimes when he need to pee, he'll be making a fuss (all sorts of funny whinny sounds and walking around aimlessly). A sign for us to wear diaper for him so that he can go on with his "business". When we don't put his diapers on after his bath, he'll refuse to wear his pants and keep screaming "no... no... diapers diapers". Hey, since when you know how to say diapers ah?

My SIL recommended for Hubby to "show" him how to do it. LOL. It makes sense. So, during the weekend, it was Hubby's job to train him. The default question posed by me when they come out from the bathroom:

Me: "So, pee or not?"

Hubby: "No la! Play water got la"

This Q&A thing went on for the whole weekend. The anxiety mounts to the situation similar to delivering a baby (seriously, I was so anxious). Finally, Jon manage to pee for the first time. Yay. I was so happy. But after the weekend, no more. How leh like that?

The struggle continues. We keep asking him and brought him into the bathroom to let him pee every hour. Nothing. Then things improved, he was able to tell us when he needs to shhh shhh. Brought him to the bathroom but still nothing. Finally, today he manage to pee in the bathroom whole day (what a record!) and not wetting his pants even once. I am so happy. 1 milestone achieve.

But we have not won the battle as yet, Jon still can't poo in the toilet.

Heel pain

2008-05-20T13:14:00.006+08:00

Some weeks ago, my mom felt pain on the heel/ sole area and during her medical check up, her Dr advised her to get an x-ray. From the x-ray, the Dr spotted spurs on both her feet. Judging from my mom's history (she's not athletic or did extensive walking or standing throughout her life), we opted for the wait-and-see to see if the pain gets worse before we seek treatment from an orthopaedic. In the meantime, I found some information (on my own diagnosis... trying to be a smart alec) on heel spurs and a stretching exercise that would reduce the pain. My mom tried the exercise and it did reduce the pain a bit, but she was still in pain. Not wanting to see her in pain and walking in a limping manner in the house, we finally went and see an orthopaedic.

The Dr's diagnosis:

1. It wasn't heel spur cos my mom felt pain only on 1 foot and both her feet have spurs

2. Heel spurs don't cause pain (or maybe not to the extend that you have to limp when walking)

3. She just started a new exercise (yup, mom started line dancing)

Dr's prescription:

1. Anti-inflammatory medication

2. Supplement for the nerves

3. Gel to apply on the area that is painful

4. Get comfortable shoes (about 1 inch high) like Crocs. Have to start wearing shoes inside the house as well

In most Asian countries, we walk around barefooted on a non-carpeted floor in the house as oppose to the western countries. This will cause our heel not being cushioned enough and after a long period of time, the wear and tear kicks in thus the pain and spurs. On the contrary, we must at least let our feet touch the floor for at least 10 mins a day (another word, earthing la) to release the static/ negative ions accumulated in our body system cos those static is not good for our body. Too much of it may cause adverse reaction to our internal organs. Both opinions are scientifically acceptable to me and that causes me to conclude:

1. Not to over zealous in following what the westerners says (I find that sometimes they are a bit biased)

2. Practice everything in moderation

I have not started wearing shoes in the house yet but would consider wearing them when my feet hurts. When our parts of our body hurts, its a way of telling us that we need to look into it to stop the pain. Ignoring it is simply foolish.

Bad omen!

2008-05-16T02:07:00.008+08:00

We went out for a quick dinner do. Things didn't sounds right from the beginning. Was it a sign? Oppss... sounds like I am being a bit wee too superstitious. Hubby was complaining about my car being park to close to the gate's entry level. I complained about the flower pots being "dumped" outside the house and how they were obstructing me from opening the car door.

We reach our regular makan place... a hawker place (which I need to ban from going there in future cos the food sucks nowadays). Hubby got our orders... and we waited and waited and waited. Other tables were being served but not ours. Hmmm... go check on the hawker, gave a lame excuse. I was nagging and complaining. When the food came, I just quickly ate and hope to get out of that place ASAP.

On our way back to the car, Jon refuse to let me hold his hands... for the hundredth time. Hubby was busy putting in the portable seat into the car and I was on the other side of the car calling out to Jon to come over so that I can get him into the car. That smarty-pants-hyper-active boy decided to ran towards the road thinking we were playing with him! Thank god there was no incoming car. I should have known better than to let him loose like that. I was screaming, Hubby quickly grab him before he ended up on the other side of the road. Jon is so hyper nowadays. Boys being boys, won't stay still for a moment. I felt like a hopeless stupid mother. How could I let him loose like that? I thought he was safe by Hubby's side. Gave him a good spanking and lecturing him on letting people hold his hands when there are cars around. That has always been my policy but his stubbornness makes me sometimes give up in forcing him. Gosh, I need to learn how to predict the unpredictable.

No way jose. No more leniency. Things will be different from now on. Whenever we are outside, hold hands and make sure he gets into the car before we need to attend to other things. No excuses.

Now... was that a bad omen?

Burning midnight oil

2008-05-15T02:02:00.005+08:00

Reminds me of schooling and uni days when I had to stay up whole night studying for exams or trying to finish my sky-high assignments. I thought I would never need to do this again but here I am, burning midnight oil again. This time, its for myself. I seek this journey in life and therefore I must finish running the race. I can do it! (have to encourage myself... cos unlike student days, you don't get a lot of encouragements). I got "its hard to be studying at this age", "its hard to study and work at the same time", "study needs a lot of discipline especially when you have a kid at home"... the list goes on and on and on. Sheessh... I know. Everything is hard if you don't put your mind to it. Ask me to do one thing and I can give you 101 reasons not being able to do it. Its all whether you want to do it or not.

I'm am glad and encouraged that my colleague cum shopping buddy cum hangout buddy has joined me being a student. Hehehe. Taking a break from the dog-eat-dog world. It gives us an opportunity to take a step back (from work) and look at things in a different perspective. Yea... I'm not that strong mentally and have to physically separate myself from the routine to appreciate the other perspective I am talking about. Marvel those that can switch their mind here and there in spilt second. Those people be leaders and achieve great things in life. I'm just happy to be a workaholic and a follower. As long as I can spend enough time with Jon ;). Ohkay... back to my books.

Latest project: little black purse

2008-05-14T16:38:00.009+08:00

My latest project: little black purse

I just created the blog cum online shopping site. All the hardwork is done by my sister-in-law and her sister whom are in different parts of US. From going to the stores, buying the bags, taking the pictures, the pricing and also the shipping over. What am I talking about? Coach bags of course.

I love Coach bags. Ok... they are pretty expensive but not as expensive as LV bags. And Coach bags are so gorgeous. Its quality is nothing that you can find locally (I mean brands that are commonly found here). Of course one can try to visit the Coach store in KL but they still cost a bomb. So, what my SIL and her sista has done is, get reasonable priced bags and ship them over. Hey, when are we going be to able to buy discounted Coach bags here in Malaysia? I would say... never. Sometimes, I wished I could go over to US and shop my heart out. But with the raising price of air tickets (about >3k to get to LA)... I might as well spend that 3k for a LV bag. Hehehehe. But of course, if I go over to US, I can see my bro, my SIL, play with my niece and nephew, go to Disneyland, Universal Studio, and other places, shop at Victoria Secret, Gap, Banana Republic stores... endless. Family vs. material stuffs? Family wins everytime. But once in awhile, I just want a new bag... or sometimes 2 new bags. Hehehehe.

The bags are a lot nicer than what you see in the pictures. One need to feel the luxurious texture of the fabric. And the leather... is really firm and nice. Those that are interested, do not worry. All the Coach bags are authentic. Trust me.

Anyways, I don't really like fakes and I read somewhere, the fake branded stuffs are supporting by child labour and some unethical activities. So, from now on, no more fake stuffs for me. I won't know how to answer to my Maker if I have supported (direct or indirectly) to child labour, child trafficking or other unethical activities.

Happy shopping!

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all

2008-05-14T16:02:00.005+08:00

I didn't really celebrate Mother's Day this year. Didn't celebrate with my mother either cos we went back to Hubby's hometown. But we are going for Japanese buffet this weekend... kekekeke. To celebrate a belated Mother's Day with my mom and I've been having Japanese food craze lately. So, what the heck. Killing 2 birds with 1 stone. If I throw in the early Father's Day celebration in, it will be killing 3 birds with 1 stone. Hmmm... I don't think so. Will look like I'm a cheapo. Looks like my craze for Japanese food is not going to go away anytime soon. (So, anyone wanna belanja... you know what kind of food I'm interested in).

Apart from that, Jon was down with a fever... in Hubby's hometown... and I forgot to bring back his fever medicine. That is the worse thing to happen. To get sick during the weekends (clinics will be closed) and away from home (away from regular doctors). Jon was already having flu and cough the whole week and the medication didn't seems to be working fast enough. Then back in Hubby's hometown, we decided to go jalan-jalan merata-rata. After a fun time out, Jon came down with a fever. Was it because we brought him out at night or was it a fever waiting to happen. So, in the middle of the night, we went to a 24 hours-polyclinic. What do you expect from a polyclinic at 12 midnight? A locum. Jon as usual, ran like headless chicken at the sight of a doctor. He suspected a throat infection (without checking the throat). I was like... hmmm... should I take the antibiotics or not. Hubby was looking at me one kind (the kind that says "you better think thoroughly about it, else I don't want to hear any grumbling after this"). At last, I just took the fever medicine and sponge him whole night. Next day, fever is still there. We came back and decided to bring him to a clinic near home for antibiotics. This time, the doctor did check his throat. And it was a throat infection. Hubby was complaining that the doctor didn't check his ear. I suspected the same thing cos the last time Jon had ear infection, his temperature reading was higher (>39 C). Ear infection is more difficult to treat and because it is confined (that little compartment in the ear with no air circulation makes it easier for the virus to breed and harder to treat). We were so glad to see Jon recovering with the antibiotics. Whew! No need to see specialist. Save some $$. Not that we are stingy or what, but Jon has always seen by a very nice specialist doctor (even for flu and cough). I always wanted Jon to have the best care/ treatment we can afford, but I think it is time for him to visit normal GPs for flu or coughs, huh.

So, that was my Mother's Day celebration.

A waste of my time!

2008-05-09T15:12:00.011+08:00

Guess what? I had to spend 2.5 hours in Jusco because we did not know it was JCard day at that particular outlet! My initial plan was to just to spend around 1 hour to do some groceries shopping for Jon but I was caught in a jam not knowing I was driving us into a mad sale. Parking was horrible but thank god we manage to get a parking space... somewhere in timbuktu (very far away la). At that moment, I was still not sure what was happening. Could it be that people were rushing to get their food supplies before it runs out? Will there be a riot somewhere that accessibility to food will be a problem?

After that, we saw people with trolley loads of Jusco's plastic bags. Gosh! What have I gotten us into? Oh well, since we have parked the car and I STILL need to buy some vege and chicken for Jon, we just barged in like the others. Inside was packed with people and items for sale. Jon was so excited to see so many things happening at the same time, he refused to let us hold his hand. So, I have to resort to using the body leash. A lot of people were staring at us. I don't really care. Anybody dare to come up to me and give stupid comments, I'm just going to ask the person, "If I loose my son, can you replace him with your life?". But nobody asked or said anything. Good.

We quickly head to the supermarket area, not to say that things there were super duper cheap. Or maybe, the prices for groceries have gone up so much that the prices shown during that sale was actually very cheap? Am I making any sense? Generally, I didn't feel that the sale was that good. Can get better prices in other hypermarkets. As we were almost done, Jon found something he likes...

Ice-cream! Well, as long as you are happy, boy.

Transition

2008-05-08T15:31:00.004+08:00

I observed that Jon is going through a transition that I might mistaken it for the Terrible Two's syndrome.

Sometimes, he doesn't like people touching his things (toys, books).
Like I mentioned in previous post, he doesn't like people to hold his hand (to be led la... hmm... leadership qualities? kekeke... now I sound so kiasu)
Doesn't like to be shout at or scolded (I normally raise my voice to firmly state my instruction... menurut perintah ok?)
Love to explore (touch everything he sees even though when you say "No")

If we didn't not follow either of the above, he will burst out into tears... and there was one time, he was almost out of breath. I was so scared that he will get a panic attack which I experienced once because I cried too much (now you know where he gets his crying-cum-drama from).

Apart from that, he is starting to follow what we do, what we say, what the cartoon characters do and what the cartoon characters say. Its funny to see him mumbling to himself (trying to follow what the cartoon character) but he has a lot to improve speech-wise. Now, he is able to name a lot of objects (which sometimes surprises us) and the teacher in school gave me a very positive feedback on his progress. The other day, when I picked him up from school, as soon as he enter the car,

Jon: Monky...

Me: Yes... (still calling me monky eh)

Jon: Kah-wai, kah-wai (pointing at the school)

Me: Yes... kah-wei ah... (wondering whether its a friend's name, or he wants to kahwin)

Must ask the teacher whether there is a kid by the name of Kah-Wai in school or not.

I've come to a conclusion that he might not be going through a TT stage but trying to be independent instead i.e. realising that he is an individual and he can do things by himself. So now, we are trying to understand him better. No more scolding him unless it is necessary. Translated into: telling him off nice and explaining to him what he did wrong. But the disciplining will still take place when needed.

Where were we?

2008-05-06T17:11:00.008+08:00

We started our day with breakfast and slowly make our way to the destination. And when we reached the place, we were shocked! Guess where we went?

(Crazy crazy queue... we can't even see the end of the queue)

(But we are just happy to be there... and be part of the crazy crowd)

We were at Bangsar Village for FJB Warehouse Sale... which was just a so-so sale.

Light moments with Jon

2008-05-04T16:55:00.004+08:00

How do you control a child?

2008-04-28T01:07:00.005+08:00

I've been having some problems controlling Jon nowadays. He doesn't like us to hold his hands and guide him even on the escalator/lifts. Instead, he likes to walk (or rather run around) or jump regardless what we say to him. I'm just worried that someone would catch him and take him away or knock into him. Gosh! Its even harder when we are out in public places. Will this stage pass? How do you control a child?

A. Tell him nicely that he is misbehaving (Jon can't really understand yet)

B. Scream at him

C. Hit him so that he does not misbehave (sometimes he gets the message after a few warnings)

D. Drag him away from the situation (especially dangerous places like the escalators or lift)

E. Ignore him

F. Include him in the activity that you are performing ie. picking fruits or vegetables

G. Give him food/ a book/ a balloon to distract him

I've tried all methods. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. He likes (F) more. Today, when we were at the mall, Hubby gave him a plastic bag with some batteries inside. Seems like he enjoys to be "part of the gang" and gets a feel of his independence.

Hopeless shopaholic

2008-04-27T06:55:00.004+08:00

This time the damage done was at MJ warehouse sale. Didn't plan to go but the reviews were kinda tempting and Shida just sat for a very tough paper the day before. So unknowingly, we found ourselves on the way there without any clue of what to get.

Being such a good "shopper", (our husbands claimed that we can shop practically anywhere and at anytime) we both ended up spending more than RM100 each. Well, what do you do when a branded sexy looking top cost only RM10+ or even less than that? I kinda regretted not going during the first day of sales cos I feel that most of the nicer ones were taken. But overall, it was just a so-so sale.

As for being a shopaholic, well, realising that I am one is a step to recovery. Right?

Colour colour

2008-04-27T05:09:00.002+08:00

Jon has been picking up quite a number of new words lately. I am, no doubt, thrilled about it. He knows how to tell colours, objects and sometimes surprises us with a phrase or a sentence. Jon's ability to identify colours together with his favourite activity ie. colouring, has lead me to look for colouring pages online so that I can print his favourite cartoon characters for him to colour. Nowadays, we bring his exercise books with us to keep him occupied with some activities. Anyways, I was running out of ideas of what to give him to colour (his has almost finish his ABC and 123 exercise books).

Hey, I found quite a lot of resources at Nick Jr.com and Playhouse Disney Channel Asia. And I am sure that he would enjoy the cartoon characters.

Other smaller sites are here, here and here.

I found this sample of Little Genius. May consider getting the book when Jon is bigger.

Have fun!

Splish splash

2008-04-25T00:18:00.005+08:00

Finally... we bought Jon a inflatable pool from Tesco.

5ft 3-ring inflatable pool - 19.90

Air pump - 19.90

Not bad eh? Its big enough for me to jump in to cool down in a hot afternoon with Jon. Nah, actually Jon was terrified of swimming pools. And not to repeat the previous incident where I had to fight with him to get him to stay in the pool, I thought this might be a good idea to get him "familiarise" with playing in swimming pools.

On one not-so-hot afternoon...
Step 1: Test the water

Step 2: Take off the swimming trunk

Step 3: Play in the pool and refuse to come out

I was in the pool for awhile just to get him adjusted and to keep him company (actually mommy also wanna soak in the pool).

Diddy, Monky

2008-04-22T16:23:00.004+08:00

"Diddy, monky, I love you"

That is Jon's latest words. Guess who is the monky? Of course Hubby had a good laugh. I don't care, as long as he calls me. He only started calling us recently. I think partly being our fault to refer ourselves as Daddy and Mommy. It would be easier for him to pronounce papa and mama instead.

Tonight, he sounded like a spoilt tape recorder. He would try to imitate our conversation especially when we were are debating over something. I'm just glad that he is more "chatty" now even though we won't be able to understand him fully. I can feel that he is trying to talk and repeatedly using words that he is able to pronounce. Can't wait to hear him speak properly... now where is his Bumble Bee VCDs?

Balloning exprience

2008-04-21T10:55:00.005+08:00

Last weekend, we were at MV.

As usual there were some kids having some free balloons.

As usual, Jon wanted to grab other kid's balloons.

As usual, the parents will try to look high and low for these free balloons.

As usual, we manage to "grab' some balloons for Jon.

The one place balloons were given out freely was in front of C4 where DBKL (I think) was having some community service kind-of-thing. Actually, I was aiming for the balloons and was not paying attention on the activities. After getting the balloons, we were ushered to the measuring station to measure Jon's height and weight. Then the "community service" lady did a short consultation on Jon's growth chart. Weight... ok. Height... ok. Good he is in the correct range for his age. Then comes the other skills... climb stairs... ok. Write... ok. Speech... hmm... need improvement. Thank God I realise that problem way before, so I did not get paranoid about it.

It was good that someone has come up with this "community service" stint. It would be better/ helpful if there are pamphlets for the parents to refer to in case of any problem with the child, ie. speech problems. Maybe they could recommend some solutions like going for a hearing test, speech test (if there is any) or constructive ways to communicate with your child to encourage him to talk more and etc. Oh well, one step at a time.

(King of my heart)

The thing that I worry most...

2008-04-15T14:29:00.010+08:00

It is normal for every parents to worry about their children's well-being. The thing that I fear most is when Jon falls down. He fell a few times in the bathroom when he started walking. He fell on slippery wet floor. He fell from my bed. Nowadays, he'll fall down if he runs and not careful. Someone gets to be blamed whenever he fall. Hubby, my mom, the maid and sometimes I hit myself for being so careless. I know sometimes it in unavoidable but as an adult, I feel that we should have some cow sense to take all precautions. For example, Jon likes to follow his father or myself wherever we go. I make sure that I walk slowly so that he is able to catch up with me. Don't walk faster thinking that you can out run him cos he'll run even faster to catch up and may ended up falling. Well, there is an old saying, the more they fall, the faster they'll grow. But nobody knows of the danger a fall may cause... I know.

These pics has nothing to do with the title... but these are Jon latest look and my latest masterpiece... the hair cut.

Hair cut

2008-04-12T17:11:00.007+08:00

Jon is very active now and every time I pick him up from school, his hair will be wet like he has just taken a bath. As soon as he reach home, he'll run straight into the bathroom to have his shower. Cannot tahan la. Poor thing. The teacher also commented that his hair is too long. Get the message?

Jon's hair cut this time around was the hardest. First hair cut session, he screamed and screamed until his face turned red. And I cut my finger. 2nd session, I cut another finger. But it was worth it... I guess. He no longer scratches his head (due to perspiration). Here's some before and after pics.

Before:

After:

Daddy n Me

2008-04-03T14:35:00.009+08:00

Hubby started looking after Jon when we have our meals outside since Jon was young. Reason being that I'm a slow eater. And if I need to care for Jon during meal time, I might not be able to finish my food... or other people has finished all the food and nothing left for me. And as Jon grows older, he sticks to his father like glue. Here's some shots of Hubby and Jon.

(Daddy and me wearing the same t-shirt at different places)

Raining in the house

2008-04-03T00:12:00.004+08:00

Non-stop lightning and thunder. Strong wind. These add on to my fear when the weather takes a sudden turn and starts to rain after a very hot afternoon. The abrupt change of weather (from extreme hot to cold) signals for lightning and thunder to strike non-stop. The main fuse in my house was tripping like nobody business and to make things worse, water started to "pour" in as well. Well, the leaking happened in a few spots in the house causing us running helter skelter for cloth and buckets to contain the imminent flood. Till at one point we just stand around in the dark and play the wait-and-see game. The weather went calmer, the leaking stops and the fuse stop tripping. Thank God! I know this will pass... just hope that it passes by real quick before more damage happens.

I think it is because of the location of my house which is on slightly higher ground that always manage to catch the strong vicious wind of our current weather. There was once, roof tiles flew off from a few houses in this area but normally, the strong wind manage to cause the zinc cap to open up and allowing rain water to go into the house. I hope the roof tiles are still intact.

I believe that this weather is permanent and will grow to be harsher by the day. Hot afternoons are just so hard to go by without air conditioning the house. It may sound like we are pampered lot but seriously... the heat is rising each year. Sigh, I just don't know what else we can do to help this situation.

Free water?

2008-03-31T15:29:00.004+08:00

Nope. Not free... totally. My new state government has announced to provide water for free for the first 20 cubic-meter. Which amounts to... some amount of money (I need to check the water bill). I hope that the public gets the news loud and clear. At the same time, it will promote the use of less water so that:

1. You don't want to pay for water. That is, use up till almost 20 cubic-meter and you are free from any water bills.

2. You don't waste water. Again, use only 20 cubic-meters of water, don't go more... hehehehe. And you will help conserve water! Good le... don't play play... with water.

Pacifier-free

2008-03-31T14:58:00.003+08:00

Jon is officially pacifier-free! Yippee. At 2 years and 5 months! Whew. And it happened by "accident". Well, Jon had a little accident one day. He tripped, fell and cut his lips a bit. Then he voluntarily pushed away his pacifier cos it hurt his lips. So after 2 days without pacifier, I took this opportunity to try to wean him from it. He was cranky at night without it and at times try to look for his pacifier in his diaper bag. We just said, "No more" and tried to distract him with other things. Soon he forgot about it and we are free from pacifier. I was afraid to throw it away, just in case he need it again but I think I can safely get rid of it now. Another milestone achieved!

Origins goes organics

2008-03-31T13:36:00.005+08:00

Organics products promotes healthy living through the absence of pesticides and other harmful chemicals used. Personally, it means less contamination to our body and our environment.

I've been supportive of the idea of using organics products in our daily lives and hate the use of pesticides for anything. But growing crops organically can be costly and could cause some strain to the pockets. Therefore, I only go for them when its really worth while. I was very delighted to read about Origins new range based on organics products. I admire the high standards they have placed in their products and won't settle for less. Looks like even beauty range is going organics. My thoughts on the +ve and -ve side of this new fad.

1. Is there any regulation to regulate the production of organic produce?

Shops selling organic products are mushrooming everywhere. I wonder if the produce that they have gotten are truly organic cos I don't think there is a regulated body (government or private practice) overseeing the processes involved. No regulations will encourage abuse.

2. How can it benefit us?

No pesticides means less pollution and contamination. Healthy lives. Do you know of anyone who had cancer? That is how serious critical illness has taken a toll in our lives due to our lifestyles.

More people buying this range of products will cause the prices for these products to go down. At the same time, help our farmers in this industry which can potentially be a source of export revenue.

3. Awareness! awareness!

Just like recycling program in this country which we see the birth and half-deadness (neither here nor there attitude) of it within a few years of its birth (much more can be done folks!), it should be made aware to the people how this can benefit them. Of course, the government can encourage farmers to farm organically by giving certain incentives to them.

4. Organic vs fair trade

A friend of mine (who is a MNS member) always remind us to try to our level best to buy fair traded products. And I am delighted to know that the store I frequent supports this.

So, what's next? Do give it a try... I mean organic produce. If its not for mother earth, then for yourself and your family. And remember to recycle! Will write on that soon... "How easy to recycle".

Hello... anybody home?

2008-03-27T15:35:00.002+08:00

Sorry I've not been updating this blog for awhile. Until Shida highlighted to me that my blog is collecting dust now.

Well, I am definitely at home. There are some activities going on here (which I will update you guys later ya) and the usual, getting Jon to school everyday. Oh ya! I finally presented a paper! For my thesis. I am just glad that it got accepted. God's blessing. Another milestone achieved. Thank you for those that have supported me (by reading through my papers) and morally.

Jon is begining to grasp more words now. I was overjoyed to find some BumbleBee VCDs in Parkson the other day. He loves the first BumbleeBee VCD I bought for him and he seems to enjoy the rest. Hope that this will complement our effort in teaching him new words.

Its has been a period of growing for Jon. He suddenly begin to speak and understand new words (rather than looking at us with a blank face) and I think he has grown taller. His pants (which is usually until his knee level) has suddenly turned into hotpants. I was kinda shocked to see his long legs. Hahaha. Well, Jon used to have long body and short legs. Hmm... we will monitor him from time to time. Can't wait to see how much he has grown. Need to measure his height soon.

Jon @2 years and 5 months

2008-03-16T03:02:00.007+08:00

Bangkok - Day 2

2008-03-14T17:06:00.018+08:00

With no time to waste, we started our day early. Shida wanted to try another boat ride that served one of the many canals in Bangkok. I was game for anything and after last night's boat ride, our skills has been upgraded to intermediate level in boat riding. Yay! It was a crash-boom-bang experience. No we did NOT crash. It was more like, the boat came, passenger jumped-in, the boat left. All that in 1 to 2 minutes. They have a boat driver and a few boat conductors. The passengers inside the boat were obligated to pull up the canvas attached at the side of boat to keep the water from splashing in. It was very interesting to experience one of their "public transport". By the river, we spotted a some hustle and bustle at Bo-Bae pier (that was why we got down here) and unknowingly it was a wholesale market! Shopping again for us. We got pretty interesting pants for everyone.

Next, to the real deal... Chatuchak. It was really huge with sooooooo many interesting things to see and buy. We walk and buy from morning till afternoon until I found it painful even to stand! That was a sign for us to call it a day at Chatuchak. We will be back... tomorrow... kekekeke. By now, we were having trouble getting a metered-taxi. Most of the taxi drivers prefer to be "pau-ed" ~ meaning paying a fixed price. Can't help it cos we were at a famous tourist spot on a weekend afternoon. But Shida insist that we use the meter and I agreed. But we finally got one in the end... there are always honest people around.

Dinner was at a Muslim restaurant and then we head to MBK just to check it out. I manage to get a shirt and a t-shirt for Hubby. Then off to Suam Lum Night market again to get some stuffs we didn't manage to buy the night before. I got some nice dinner purses for 300 baht each. After walking a few rounds, we decided we got everything that we needed from the night market. Tried to catch a taxi back and again the taxi drivers "tiau-ke" (tarik harga) big time. Finally, I gave in and we got a taxi back to the hotel for 100 baht (normally, we only need to pay about 70-80 baht).

Bathed and got our massage again. With our body (and legs) relaxed, we spotted a Muslim stall opposite the hotel selling sago mango. Mmmm... the coconut milk was rich and thick. The mango was sweet. The glutinous rice was soft. Wished we could "ta-pau" back.