Julian Bakes Brownies

Julian and I baked a tray of brownies on 27 August 2010 (Nuzul Quran holiday)... a great way (amongst other things of course) to keep an active 3-year old occupied. Angie was at work :o( while Justin was at the babysitter's.

For simplicity and efficiency, we used a box of cake mix. Just add eggs, water, and oil! Any kid, 3 years old or 30+ years old, can bake a cake :o)!


[Julian mixing the batter]


[Quality check! Is there a lump of flour I see?!]


[Voila! Tasting time...]


[A chunk of Julian's moist and sweet brownie, up close]

Justin at 13 Months

Justin turned 13 months on 25 August 2010. His check-ups are now quarterly so there's no visit to the clinic this month.

Here are his updates:

• He's up to 4oz of milk per feed now.
  
• His 7th tooth has erupted at the bottom.
  
• He is walking 'fully' and no longer reverts to crawling to get around. Crawling is now for play only :-)
  
• His night bedtime has moved from between 8.50-9.10 previously to about 9.20-9.30 now.
  
• He says "tak" when we scan the entry card to our apartment, imitating daddy who says "tit-tit" for Julian's benefit (so we don't have to wind down the window!)
  
• He insists on joining daddy and Julian for their daily evening walk when we pick them up from the baby sitter's.
  
• He knows he has to move back from the TV when we 'blank' the screen if he gets too close.
  
• He likes watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and would swing his hands and smile during the final song. He would shake his bum, too, if he's standing :-)
  
• When Julian is getting attention from us, he would sometimes 'cry' to vie for our attention.
  
• He can manoeuver the toy horse like a pro.
  
• He has learnt to drink from a straw!
  
• He is able to 'communicate' his wants by stretching his arms out in a particular direction while pointing towards what he wants.
  
• He would try to copy big brother Julian's actions e.g. climb the ladder in Ah Kong's house, poke the cupboard door with a magic colour... *slap head*
  
• He likes to play rough and tumble with Julian and can sometimes initiate the game.
  
• Able to play on a swing and slide.
  

[Justin]


[Justin doodling]


[Justin walking]


[Justin on a "business trip"]


[Justin is now our little "terror"]


[Justin and his beadmaze]

Dad Did It! Grandpa Graduated!

Dad graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology during Universiti Sains Malaysia's 42nd Convocation from 4-8 August 2010. His scroll was presented during the 8th session on 7 August 2010, 3pm.

Congratulations, Dad! We're all very proud of you! :o)


[Dad all set for the ceremony]


[Dad graduated! Photo taken by Ker Chek Wei]


[Grandpa graduated! Photo taken by Niq]

Julian at 38 Months

Julian turned 38 months old on 28 July 2010. He now weighs 14.25kg and is 98cm tall.

Some observations this month:

• He's now about 70% potty-trained. He's mostly diaperless at home except during bedtime. It has all been reasonably successful save for the occasional accidents. We've also managed to take him out on short trips without him needing to wear a diaper.
  
• He likes watching the same TV shows on the DVD player (be it a cartoon or home video) over and over again, so much so he can re-enact the scenes (in the case of the home videos) *slaps forehead*.
  
• He's into photography and can take photos using the DSLR, peering through the viewfinder. Some are surprisingly pretty "artistic".
  
• When in the mood (especially when left alone), he'll recite stuff he learned from playschool. He's learned new words and sounds from the phonics lessons, and can sing the days of the week. He often ends his recitation with "One more time!", parroting his teacher.
  
• He's quite good at pronouncing his Ts at the end of words. However, lately, we noticed he's been simply adding Ts to some words especially those ending with N, e.g. "pain" becoming "pain-t", "sun" becoming "sun-t" and "fun" becoming "fun-t". We had to tell him it should be "funnn", and he would amusingly repeat "funnn". Words ending with M had also fallen victim but he would add the P-sound instead, e.g. "farm" becoming "farm-p".
  
• He seems to understand the concept of "yes" and "no", but sometimes in our conversations, he seems to answer at random. One morning, we were informed that a popular fastfood chain would be visiting his playschool. So, that evening, we asked him what did he eat that day, and he answered *name of fastfood chain*. We aslo asked him whether he ate (chicken) nuggets, fries, etc. to which he answered "yes!". We also asked him whether a clown came and what were the colours of the clown's hair and clothes. His answers matched those of the famous clown. The next morning, we managed to ask his teachers about the fastfood chain's visit and to our horror and amusement, they didn't treat the kids to any food! Our Julian poker-faced "lied" to us about eating nuggets and fries. The only consolation is that a clown really did show up!

[Julian]


[Julian the barber]


[Julian with a caterpillar dog balloon]


[One of Julian's photos]