Kuching Holiday 2011: Day 1

We went on a 5D/4N holiday to Kuching from 3-7 May 2011. Mom and Dad came along with us. The trip also coincided with the Microsoft Imagine Cup Malaysia Finals in which my students were participating.


[Our approach to Kuching International Airport]


[Justin's maiden flight]

We arrived in the afternoon and checked-in at the Grand Margherita Hotel. We had a quick chicken rice lunch before heading back to the hotel to rest.


[Hotel bed tested and approved: We chose the Deluxe Double which had 2 queen-sized bed... this suited our needs perfectly]

Later in the afternoon, we introduced the boys to the "bot tambang" which took us across the river (50 sen per person, one-way). We didn't venture very far as it was very hot and humid. Furthermore, all this while, Julian was pestering us to "see kucing (cat)"... he had seen photos of us with statues of small playful cats from our previous trip to Kuching. So we crossed the river again to see Julian's cats.


[The boys' first bot tambang experience]


[Posing with our bot tambang]


[The playful cats of Kuching and the boys]


[Daddy and the boys at the metal hornbill monument beside the James Brooke Bistro and Cafe]

In the evening, we went on the Sarawak River Cruise from 5.30-7.00pm (RM60 per person). It was a nice and relaxing cruise, enabling us to see popular landmarks such as the Astana, Fort Margherita, the new state legislative assembly building, Brooke Dockyard, the state mosque, and the traditional Malay villages. We were served orange cordial and kek lapis (traditional layer cakes) on board. Halfway during the cruise, the boys konked out... they had had a tiring day.


[Mummy and the boys on the cruise]


[The Sarawak River at sunset]

More on our Sarawak River Cruise experience on Chris & Connie's blog.

Our 7th Anniversary

We celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary on 1 May 2011, successfully keeping the Seventh-Year Itch at bay :o).

It was pretty much a usual Sunday. We attended mass in the morning and joined some friends for an early lunch.

In the evening we decided to take the boys to watch airplanes from the carpark of the second cargo complex in Batu Maung.

We had an early dinner at Victoria Station in Bayan Baru. The boys didn't pay much attention to the food *sigh*. After dinner, the boys had some fun in the locomotive. Later, we bought 2 slices of cake and headed home for a small cake-cutting ceremony courtesy of Julian.

That night, as we were preparing to go off on a holiday on 3 May 2011, we forgot to light our Unity Candle and say our anniversary prayer. However, we managed to do this, though belated, the next day.


[Victoria Station's Mixed Grill]


[Seafood Platter]


[Julian behind the wheel]


[Justin wants to get off]


[Lighting of our Unity Candle 2011]

Julian at 47 Months

Julian turned 3 years 11 months on 28 April 2011.

Here are his updates:

• He seems able to apply his phonics skills to read some unfamiliar words :-)
  
• He loves reading.
  
• He's hooked on the games on daddy's phone.
  
• He often accuses Justin of hurting him, especially when he's moody. "Daddy/Mummy, see... Justin kick/push/bite me!" Sometimes they are false accusations...
  
• When he is in a playful mood, he has no problems having Justin push him, roll over him, etc. They can get quite rough in their play!
  
• He's 'sensitive' about being reprimanded. He would retort "Eh..don't scold me" or "Eh, no shout". He would cry whenever we spank him even if it was very lightly. Then he would ask to be carried.
  
• He likes to make funny faces when being photographed.
  

[Julian after a recent haircut]


[Julian's Mamee moment]


[Julian loves a good climb]


[Julian sniffs out a suspicious pencil]


[Julian pulling his pants]


[Julian giving a recital]

Justin at 21 Months

Justin turned 21 months on 25 April 2011. He weighed 10.85kg during his quarterly visit to the clinic.

Here are his updates:

• He is already entering the 'terrible two' phase. His tantrums are more frequent and he's not easily pacified. He doesn't really respond to reason, either.
  
• He's getting more active physically.
  
• He likes to sit on the swing at the playground and can even get himself to swing faster!
  
• He can say 'bear', 'da' (duck), 'ji' (cheers), 'chek eh' (cheng ay - hokkien for wear shoes), 'ot' (hot), 'ba' (rainbow), 'noo noo' (our robot vacuum cleaner), 'bu' (blue & balloon)
  
• He would often say 'eeee...' (whee) continuously (and loudly) when we drive down a slope.
  
• He's fond of biting people. He does this out of excitement and also out of anger. Either way, it hurts! Julian appears to be his most consistent victim...
  
• He is often jealous when Julian sits on mummy's lap or when mummy carries Julian.
  
• Although he is generally good with food, he doesn't seem to like rice very much at dinner time. He's more receptive to rice if it is wet with soup or some gravy.
  
• He likes raisins.
  
• He seems to prefer solids to milk.
  
• He is relunctant to drink his milk, especially at home. Since his hospitalisation, he has been demanding to be breastfed very frequently. Before his hospitalisation, he was down to being breastfed only at bedtime and once or twice in the middle of the night. In fact, we were in the process of weaning him. Now it seems we're back to square one.

[Justin the Iron Chef]


[This is what you get when you get me mad...! Justin's bitemark on Julian's back]


[Justin's Mamee moment]


[Snack attack... again]


[Playing with papaya]


[Justin's swing-a-ling time]

Justin's First Haircut

On 23 April 2011, Justin had his first haircut at the barber's.

It was a Saturday morning activity for the three guys in the family :-) Daddy and Julian had their hair cropped at about the same time. Afer that came Justin's turn. He was extremely cooperative. He sat on the elevated seat all by himself. No problems. Yippee! Perhaps it helped that Julian set a good example for him :-)


[Julian: the role model]


[Justin: the willing customer]


[Justin: after the haircut]

Trip to Pulau Aman

On 21 April 2011, we decided to take a trip to Pulau Aman - without the boys :-)

We got to the jetty in Batu Kawan at about 9.30am. The boat only leaves at 10am, so we walked around and took some photos. The boat ride to Pulau Aman takes 10-15 minutes, arriving on the northern tip of the island.


[Boat Schedule to Pulau Aman]


[Our boat to Pulau Aman]

Once on the island, we just simply walked around. We first walked southward on the east-side of the island, passing the local clinic and the dilapitated new jetty. Then retracing our steps, we explored the west-side, stopping by the oldest breadfruit tree in Malaysia, and the Telaga Emas (Gold Well).


[Pulau Aman village]


[Oldest breadfruit tree in Malaysia]


[Telaga Emas]

One of the reasons for our visiting Pulau Aman was to try out the mee udang (prawn noodles). This is with the savoury tomato gravy. We decided to try the one at Warung Kak Timah just a short distance away from the jetty. We're not sure if this was the best place to try mee udang on Pulau Aman. Anyway, it was served with 3 large prawns (RM6) - delicious! We also tried the sotong goreng tepung (tempura squid) which was also very good (RM5) - delicately crispy outside, soft inside. Their fried kuey teow was not so good, though.


[Mee Udang Kak Timah]


[Sotong Goreng Tepung]

We had wanted to go over to the neighbouring Pulau Gedung after lunch and then try to sample the mee udang at another stall later that afternoon. Pulau Gedung apparently has a few more historial sites. However, the boatmen were all resting that day. Since there wasn't much else to do, we decided to head home.

The Fish Floats

On 16 April 2011, the sole survivor from the pair of fish Julian had as his first pet died. It lived approximately 4 months with us.

My Son, the Sun

Yesterday, while at the dining table, I reached for the day's copy of The Sun newspaper for Julian to read.

Me (pointing to the logo on the masthead): Julian, what's this?
Julian: The Sun!

Now, The Sun newspaper has "On [the day of the week]" stated just below the logo. So, wanting to test Julian...
Me (pointing to the day of the week): What's this?
Julian: On Monday!
Me: Very good! *beaming*

Angie was close by...
Me: See... that's my son!
Julian: No! The Sun!
Me: ??!??!?!

Justin Gets Warded

Justin was warded at the Penang Hospital Paediatric ward on 6 April 2011 due to high fever :-( He was treated for pneumonia and asthma. Mummy stayed at the hospital with him for two nights. He was discharged on 8 April, after the doctors' afternoon rounds, on the condition that he would be taken to the hospital for nebuliser for the next 2 days. This, of course, was preferable for us even though it meant 4 trips to the hospital on the first day and 3 trips on the second day. He is well now :-)

We are satisfied with the treatment and service received at the hospital. And the plus point is that the bill was probably just 1% of what we would have had to pay at a private hospital!

Julian at 46 Months

Julian turned 3 years 10 months on 28 March 2011.

Here are his updates:

• When someone asks him to sing, he will roar. This has been going on for some time now and he's not over this phase yet.
  
• When he doesn't know the answer to a question, or when he doesn't want to answer our question, his response would be 'alligator' or 'lion'.
  
• He recognises more words now, and continues to enjoy reading. yay! :-)
  
• He remembers the lyrics to quite a few rhymes and songs and would correct us when we sing wrongly.
  
• He likes to help mummy whenever he has the opportunity. He likes to turn on the washing machine and also beat the eggs to make his egg tofu (steamed egg).
  
• He is good at meddling with the computer. He somehow found some cartoons we had downloaded, so now he also watches cartoons on the computer. Since his computer time is limited, we have not stopped this. Justin, of course, is very happy to join big bro :-P
  
• He's getting better at school. The teacher recently told us that he can sit for longer periods now. He likes it when he is given attention and would diligently do his work when the teacher observes him. He is not rough when playing with other kids.
  
• Whenever he sees any bird droppings on the windscreen of the car, he would insist on going to the car wash. *slap head*
  
• He now sleeps with Klaus bear - a gift from our German friend. Klaus bear sleeps on a pillow next to him. On one occasion, Klaus bear was left behind at the babysitter's (no thanks to Justin) and we had to go fetch Klaus at 10.30pm! Luckily, it's just 5 minutes away.
  
• He would sometimes 'intercede' for Justin e.g. when Justin doesn't finish his milk, he would say "Mummy/Daddy take straw for Justin."

[Julian at his workbooks]


[Julian stepping out of his cockpit]


[Julian avoiding the glare]

Twelfth Encounter

We presented our twelfth Engaged Encounter Weekend. The 81st Catholic Engaged Encounter Weekend was held from 25-27 March 2011 at Stella Maris, Penang. 25 couples attended the weekend. We were on the presenting team with Fr. Ambrose Vaz, and Tony & Gwen Andres, all from the Singapore Engaged Encounter Community.


[Participants of EE81]

Justin at 20 Months

Justin turned 20 months on 25 March 2011. No visit to the clinic this month.

Here are his updates:

• His lower right canine has erupted.
  
• He would put his finger to his nose (supposed to be mouth) to indicate 'keep quiet' especially when he sees someone sleeping.
  
• When he doesn't want something, he would shake his head and say 'meh-meh' or 'mai-mai'.
  
• He can say'duh air' (the end), 'mai' with a rising intonation (smile), walk, 'mah meh' (mummy - especially when he wants mummy's attention).
  
• He would exclaim 'eh!' when the traffic light is green.
  
• We have elevated his car seat so he can have a better view. He notices big vehicles and would point them out. Perhaps they are more visible.
  
• He would roar when he sees a picture of a lion or tiger, or when Julian roars.
  
• He would try to imitate Julian's actions to the letter, disregarding the fact that some of his motor skills are not well developed yet!
  
• He joins Julian for daily computer sessions. Now there are two chairs in front of the computer. *roll eyes*
  
• He likes the peg puzzles very much and is very good at them. There are 3: shapes, vehicles and clock. He can match and fit all the pieces accurately except the heart shape :-)
  
• He will pull our hand and lead us where he wants us to go.
  
• He can follow simple instructions like 'put the toy in the box', 'pick up the crayon'.
  
• He can throw a tantrum when he doesn't get his way.
  
• He can fight back when Julian snatches something from him. He would either 'wrestle' with Julian or bite him.
  
• He's still doing only about 4 oz of milk. Even then, he sometimes refuses to finish drinking from the bottle. We then use a straw to entice him to continue drinking (which usually works).

[Justin at his writing table]


[All set to go]


[Working on a peg puzzle]


[Justin the cool kid]

Combat Comrades

We are pleased to note that in the past 2-3 months, Julian and Justin have been able to play together more and more without much supervision. Their favourite game is peekaboo. They also often play rough and tumble.

We also notice them 'doing things' for each other. For instance, we have seen Julian giving Justin a drink by opening Justin's water bottle and holding it for him to drink *awwww*. Justin would bring Julian's pants for him when the latter comes out of the toilet *how sweet*. :-)

Of course brotherhood can never be complete without a little bit of rivalry and jostling.

It's good to see them getting the hang of being brothers! :-D


[This is the way we wash the car, so early in the morning...]


[Julian feeds Justin]


[Standing in for Santa in summer...]


[The boys in their time machine...]


[The boys at the computer]


[Brotherly hug]


[Oopsie!]

No More TV

As of the evening of 11 February 2011, Julian and Justin have been completely off the TV at home.

The official story:

The TV is broken. When Justin presses the remote controls (TV or DVD player), they don't work. Julian asked mummy to 'on switch', but the switch is spoiled. Another day we will repair it. No need to 'buy new one' (which was Julian's immediate solution to the situation).

The truth behind the myth:

At one time, Justin used to hold two CDs to sleep. Then the nightmare started - for us. For two nights in a row, Justin woke up in the middle of the night (due to a cough) and when he saw the CDs in his hands, he insisted that he wanted to watch TV. At first we refused, naturally. But then he started wailing. We couldn't risk Julian being woken up so we gave in. This was about 3am the first time and 1.30am the second time! Each TV session lasted about 2 hours. The second time, he woke up again at about 6.45am for more TV!

Enough was enough. We decided there would not be a third night of such nonsense. That evening itself, we dished out the 'cold turkey' treatment. No TV after coming home from the babysitter's. The official story is told at this point :-) All the discs and anything that would remind them of watching TV has since been hidden.

Review of decision:

The TV has remained 'broken' until now :-) Initially Justin cried and fussed. Julian fussed a little too. This would happen as soon as they got home. Thankfully it would only last for a short while. But when they realised that the TV is really 'broken', and mummy and daddy can't do anything about it even if they cried, they just turned their attention to other things. I think we were lucky that they didn't put up much resistence in this 'battle'.

The decision to cut off the TV at home has been good, especially for Justin. He is finally 'touching' his books and enjoys sitting on our lap to look at his books :-)

Julian goes on the computer almost every day for a limited time. He only surfs starfall.com which is educational so that's ok with us. Justin would watch as well, as a passive learner.

The boys still watch TV at the babysitter's or at their grandparents', which is fine with us. At home, they occupy their time with other things like drawing, colouring and playing with their toys. Yay! :-)

Julian at 45 Months

Julian turned 45 months (3 years 9 months) on 28 February 2011.

Here are his updates:

• When he says his prayers (which we say with/for him), he'll add "Lord Jesus, another day I want to go swimming!"
  
• He still has peculiar pre-sleep habits like wanting us to scratch/squeeze his foot or hand, and pat his back. He sometimes even specifies how it should be done!
  
• He's hooked on reading two bedtime stories - "Bedtime" and "Lili's Tooth". These must be told exactly the same way each time or else he'll correct us.
  
• He can recognise some sight words (words that cannot be taught with pictures) such as "to", "in", and "the".
  
• He likes to read story books. He appears to be reading correctly but we think he may have memorised the words. But it's cute to see him flip the pages and reading to himself.
  
• He insists on being right sometimes, e.g. when he sees cars placed on a slanted ramp on a trailer, he'll insist that the cars are "upside down" although we tell him they are not.
  
• When we're on the way home after an outing, he'll sometimes say that the doesn't want to go home. So, we'll say that we're not going home but going to Island Glades (that's where home is) and he doesn't object :o).
  
• When we try to reprimand him, he sometimes retaliates by saying "police to catch you!" or "(Julian) go office!" When we ask him whose office, he'll say "Daddy's office" or "Julian's office".
  

[Julian plays badminton]


[Julian in or out?]


[Julian telling Mummy a bedtime story]


[Julian colours a chocolate, an apple, and an orange]

Justin at 19 Months

Justin turned 19 months on 25 February 2011. No visit to the clinic this month.

Here are his updates:

• His lower left canine has erupted. He now has a total of 15 teeth.
  
• He has a jealous streak, especially when he sees Julian getting more attention than him.
  
• He is finally sitting in the car seat without much fuss. Yay!
  
• He has now switched from holding CDs to holding a pacifier to bed... just holding only, mind you :o).
  
• He has learned to "fight" with Julian. Once, when Julian attacked his feet, he retaliated by swatting Julian on the head!
  
• He can say "tay" (train).
  
• He can now identify the colour orange.
  

[Justin plays tennis]


[Tau Foo Fah tragedy: Justin gets messy, again]


[Playing with papaya: His matted hair is the result of him "gelling" his hair... he thinks it'll help him grow more hair]