Wok's Happening?

Here are some recent photos of the children in action *sweats*.


[Wok's Happening?]


[Jianna gets "hair"-ressed]


[Pyjama party]


[Jianna undecided whom to emulate... *shivers*]

Julian and Jianna: The Case of the Teething Ring

On 14 August 2012, Julian and Jianna had an interesting interaction over a teething ring. No, Jianna is not teething yet but we gave her one to play and suck.


[Julian: Jianna, look! Here's your teething ring...]


[Jianna: Thank you, kor kor Julian! *kiss*]


[Julian: Ahaha!! Now you cannot see me... ahaha!!]
[Jianna: ?!?!]

Taiping Zoo Impromptu

Last Monday (6 August 2012) saw us at the Second Cargo Complex in Batu Maung after lunch. With not many planes to see, and being rather early to be going back home to referee kiddy fights :o), we decided to drive straight on to Taiping for an impromptu visit to the Taiping Zoo. We arrived at about 3.30pm.

Upon entering the zoo, we immediately hopped-on a long electric buggy that took us on a relaxing 25-minute tour of the zoo. After the tour ended, we then walked around and revisited the animals, allowing the kids to have a closer look. The sky was threatening to rain but it never really did. So, the cloudy sky was perfect for our afternoon outing.


[Flamingos]


[The emu keeping a close eye on the boys]


[The resident cassowary]


[The rhinoceros showing off its radioactive-colour-looking pool]


[Justin observing a small monitor lizard]


[Justin: Good kitty... good kitty...]


[Angie pulled Jianna away just in time... :o)]


[Julian: Run, Justin! Run!!]

At 5.00pm, we decided that we should be heading home to Penang. On the whole, it was a good way to spend the afternoon and to keep two active boys occupied. Educational for them, too.

Jianna at 4 Months

Jianna was 4 months old on 30 July 2012. Her visit to the clinic was on 8 August. No jab this month :-) She now weighs 6.7kg and her length is 66cm.

Here are her updates:

• We heard her laugh for the first time on 11 July 2012 although the teachers at her daycare had already heard her laughing before.
  
• Her neck is much stronger now and she can lift her head when placed on her tummy. She has also started "sky diving" (also 11 July 2012).
  
• She can support herself on her arms/elbows quite well now.
  
• She often sleeps on her tummy. She would turn over by herself while sleeping.
  
• She enjoys playing peekaboo.
  
• Her milk intake at day care seems to have dropped. She used to take 8oz but now only does 6oz. She almost never takes a feed in the morning, preferring to sleep instead.
  
• She is able to burp on her own.
  
• Her teacher reported that she would watch intently when the other children sing and play. She seems to enjoy the music.
  
• She likes to watch her brothers at play and would even laugh at their antics.
  
• She responds when her brothers play with her :-)
  
• She may have sensitive skin on the face. We discovered that her 'milk rash' was probably due to her being sensitive to the bedsheet she was using at daycare. Now we give her a sarong to use there and the situation has improved.

[Jianna lifts her head]


[Jianna laughs]


[Whatever these are, they're really delicious!]


[Hmm... but this one tastes rather strange...]

Baby Seahorses at the Penang Aquarium

We were at the Penang Aquarium in Batu Maung on 28 July 2012. We noted with interest a small tank of adult seahorses, some with a bump on their tummies. There was also a group of tiny white creatures huddled in one corner. At first we thought they were tiny shrimps. But on closer inspection, they were actually baby seahorses.


[Baby seahorses]

Among other attractions, there were a couple of alligator gars, turtles, and giant groupers.

Julian at 62 Months

Julian is now 62 months (28 July 2012).

Here are his updates:

• We taught him how to read price tags, so he's now happily reading the prices of things whenever he gets the opportunity.
  
• He continues to read sign boards along the roads. Since he's now learning Malay, when he comes across words he doesn't understand, he would ask us whether it is English or Bahasa, and then the meaning. Recently when passing by a shopping complex he saw the word 'PERCUMA'. When he was told the meaning, he said, "Just put the things in the trolley." We quickly explained that only parking there was for free and not the goods! Must be careful... don't want to be caught for shoplifting!
  
• He likes to ask us how to spell words.
  
• He likes to ask us addition of numbers especially on the clock in the car. E.g. When the clock shows 8:21, he would ask 8+21 is how many?
  
• He says black is ugly.
  
• He seems to like to shout :-(
  
• He is our 'bum sniffer' ;-) Sometimes we would ask him to help us check if Jianna has done big business ;-)
  
• He is protective of Jianna. He threw a small tantrum when grandaunt teased him, saying Jianna would stay at her house while we went for lunch. He also wouldn't let Jianna spend a night at grandaunt's. When asked why, he said it's because Jianna came out from mummy's tummy :-)
  
• He likes to try to make Jianna laugh :-)
  
• He copies how Bart calls Jianna, e.g. Girl and Chabor (hokkien for girl) :-)
  
• He is not very adventurous when it comes to food and often refuses to try new food :-(
  
• Recently we ordered pizza and when the pizza was delivered, he told the delivery guy "no need the 'sorry we're late' card". (Luckily, they were not late that time.) When we asked him why, he said "because we already have". Hmmm... he's caught on our habit of not taking 'extra' stuff unnecessarily. But then again, there are certain things we don't mind having 'extras'... free pizza coupons being one of them!

[Julian]

Justin is 3 Years Old!

Happy Birthday, Justin! Justin celebrated his 3rd birthday on 25 July 2012.

His birthday celebration was in three parts, just like Julian's. First, he celebrated in kindy on 20 July. Then we had a birthday lunch for him at Sea Palace restaurant on 21 July 2012. On his actual birthday, we lit a candle on a cake which his aunt gave and sang him a birthday song.


[Justin's Barney cake for kindy]


[Justin's "Henry" birthday cake]


[Justin's birthday lunch at Sea Palace]


[A simple celebration on his actual birthday]

Here are his updates:

• He's very cheeky and would deliberately give wrong answers to questions. For example, when we ask him his age, he would say he's 4 years old. When quizzed again, he would then say 6 years old!
  
• On and off, he would substitute the words of the songs he knows with other words. He learnt this from us... we used to tease him by purposely singing wrongly. He used to protest (still does sometimes) but now he joins in the fun of changing the words ;-)
  
• One afternoon at the babysitter's, when the babysitter was tending to Julian in the toilet, Justin locked them in! Apparently, it was rather dark except for some light coming in from the ventilation holes, so Julian was wailing. Luckily the lock was of the plastic latch-type, so the babysitter could just force the door open quite easily.
  
• He likes doodling and tracing dotted lines.
  
• He can write 'J' and '1'.
  
• He would copy almost everything Julian says and does. Sometimes it can be quite confusing for us... especially when we can't understand what he's saying. One example is that he always asks "Why you smell (as/at/like) *a particular word or phrase*?" (e.g. Why you smell door?") We discovered that he meant "How do you spell *word/phrase*?", copying Julian.
  
• He likes to question. His favourite questions are "What happen?" and "Because why?"
  
• He says black is ugly.
  
• He is quite defiant. When we ask him to say something, he would 'comply' but be defiant at the same time. For example, when we ask him to say "Sorry Kor-kor", he would say "sorry, Julian". Sometimes when we ask him to apologise to a particular person, he would apologise to another person!
  
• He will retaliate when 'provoked'. We were informed that he scratched another child in school, but found out that the child actually 'irritated' him. The child likes him and often hugs him, but Justin doesn't quite like being hugged too much...
  
• He is quite protective of Jianna. He makes sure Jianna is in the car before we leave when fetching the children. He would not 'allow' Jianna to spend the night with grandaunt. Why? She has to sleep on the bouncinette. (He learnt the response from Julian.)
  
• Food-wise: still no veggie/fruit :-( He has started to take a little bit of meat/fish when in the mood.
  

[Justin and his toys]