Julian turned 25 months last 28 June 2009.
About 1 1/2 weeks after his 2nd birthday, he started joining words to form short phrases. At the traffic lights, he'd say, "Green, go!". Pointing to spots on our faces, he'd say, "Deh deh mole" or "Mamma mole". Other short phrases we have heard him say are, "Dog sound" (when he hears dogs barking), "Deh deh (mumbles something) car" (implying "daddy drive car"), "Plane, big!", and "Plane, small".
He's starting to show attention seeking tendencies. He'd pretend to fall, or get his finger stuck in his toy train, and then whine... expecting to be comforted.
He has now extended his recognition of the alphabet to a-i.
Like any kid his age, he's getting really good at immitating actions. He has tried imitating performing an ultrasound on Mummy's tummy using a small talcum powder bottle. He's also pretty good at imitating some action songs he saw on Barney (especially Mr. Sun), and tried to mop the floor.
[Julian starting early with household chores]
We visited our gynaecologist on 27 June 2009. Visits will be roughly once a week from now on. Baby is doing fine at 35 weeks and weighs about 2.6kg.
We realised some similarities while pregnant with Julian and Baby2:
- No morning sickness :o)
- One minor bout of food poisoning in the 1st trimester :o(
- Backache
- Carpel tunnel syndrome
Only while pregnant with Julian, Angie experienced water retention in her legs. Instances of heartburn were more frequent also (much less so with Baby2).
While currently pregnant with Baby2, Angie experienced a few short dizzy spells.
We visited our gynaecologist on 18 June 2009. Baby is doing fine at 34 weeks and weighs about 2.3kg.
This particular appointment lasted nearly 45 minutes as we went through a birthing plan questionnaire. Many interesting questions were asked ranging from the choice of pain relief to preferences in the labour room ambiance (e.g. lighting, music, aromatherapy, etc.). We also inquired about water birth :o).
An aunt returned from a trip to France late May 2009 with quite a number of kilogrammes of cherries. We were fortunate to be at the receiving end of some.
[Cherries to Cherish]
17 December 2006 saw us carolling at the Rasa Sayang Hotel in Batu Feringghi. Being the posh resort that it is, they didn't serve just "ordinary" mineral water. Rather it was Evian - natural mineral water from the French Alps. The batch that was served to us was bottled in June 2006 and was due to expire in June 2008. But since it was "precious" (from the French Alps mind you), we weren't quite eager to drink it there and then. We brought 2 bottles home and stashed them away in the larder. They were soon forgotten... until 2 1/2 years later. 31 May 2009 saw us drinking the last of the 2 bottles, already nearly a year past the expiry date.
[Expired Evian: Tastes like mineral water...]
On 30 May 2009, we took a drive out to a roadside stall in Taman Tun Sardon to buy some pisang goreng (banana fritters) and cucur udang (prawn fritters) for afternoon tea. When we arrived home, I noticed my wallet was missing. I thought it had probably fell out of my pocket and onto the car seat while driving. So, we had tea first, and while still eating, I received an SMS message on my mobile phone with the message "Plz call me". Being suspicious, I didn't call back.
Later, when I couldn't find it in the car, I got worried, and drove immediately to the stall only to be disappointed. I then decided to call the person who SMSed me earlier but before I could, the phone rang - it was from that person. He asked me if I had lost something and that he had found my wallet. He proceeded to give me directions to his home. He probably deduced my phone number from my name card and identity card.
Arriving at his home, I was greeted by a gentleman probably in his late fifties or early sixties. He returned my wallet with its contents practically intact (I actually don't know exactly how much cash I have) except that some stuff were not in their original order as they had been taken out during inspection. He had found it at the roadside stall. I offered to give something in return but he declined, and he asked me to do the same to others. Before I left, he advised me to check the contents, saying, "there's a lot of money inside" (as there were still some US dollars in it from our trip to Vietnam).
Thank God that my ordeal ended the way it did. Otherwise, it would have been the most costly "cucur" in the world.
[Taman Tun Sardon Cucur: One of the best we have tasted]
We took Julian to the Penang Butterfly Farm in Teluk Bahang last 17 May 2009. We arrived at about 10am and were amongst the first few visitors that morning. Julian enjoyed his visit and was repeatedly saying "fly... fly!" (he's still not saying the "butter" before the "fly"), and was squealing and laughing when the butterflies fluttered near him.
There were other insects and animals there as well, such as stick and leaf insects, giant milipeads, iguanas, frogs, scorpions, beetles, tortoises, mandarin ducks, fishes, etc.
Overall, it was fun.
[Fly!]
[The Fish Pond]
Happy Birthday, Julian! Julian turned 2 on 28 May 2009.
We celebrated his birthday with a dinner at Sea Palace Restaurant in Taman Pekaka last Saturday night (23 May 2009). We ordered him a cake with his favourite character, Pocoyo, on it.
[Julian's Pocoyo birthday cake]
[Julian with Mummy & Daddy]
[Yummy!]
On 28 May 2009 (his actual birthday), we sang him a birthday song and he blew candles on a muffin. We baked him orange butterfly muffins :-).
[Julian admiring the Butterfly Muffins Mummy baked]
[Close-up of the muffins]
[Happy birthday to Julian... Happy birthday to you...!!]
[Julian's presents: He also received a number of red-packets]
He still loves counting, and is now able to count to 12. He still starts at 2, but can say 1 when shown the number. He's also progressing with his alphabet. As with counting, he does not start with the first letter. We say 'a' and he can now continue 'b', 'c', 'd' and occasionally 'e'. Then it's 'o'.
For Julian's prayer time, we normally say his prayer for him. Yesterday, when making the sign of the cross, after we said "In the name of the Father" he said "Son" - something he has never done before :-) And a few days ago, when he was supposed to say "-men" (for 'Amen', after we say 'A'), he said 'b' :-)
Quick updates: - Julian had his first mouth ulcer when we were in Ho Chi Minh :-(
- We took Julian for deworming at the Taman Tun Sardon clinic on 19 May 2009. He weighed in at 11.2kg.
- His height on his 2nd birthday is 85cm.
Other observations:- He is fascinated with butterflies and frogs.
- His vocabulary has grown quite a bit. He's speech is still limited to one and two syllables but he can 'complete' many words or say the last syllable (e.g. 'can' for pelican).
- He likes to say 'big' and 'wow'.
- He's beginning to understand 'big' and 'small'.
- He has fallen into the routine of having bedtime stories. He can even 'help' tell parts of the stories when prompted. E.g. Daddy: Once upon a time there was a...? Julian: can (pelican) :-)
- He seems to be playing "games" with us, e.g. he'd give us his pacifier and say "uhm-mai this" (don't want this). When we take it away, he'd whine or cry. How cheeky!
We visited our gynaecologist on 28 May 2009. Baby is doing fine at 31 weeks and has put on quite a bit of weight since our last visit. Baby now weighs about 1.6kg and is very active, especially late at night.
Our next visit will be in three weeks' time and the frequency will increase from now on, as our due date approaches... :-)
[Baby2 Face at 31 weeks]
