KL with the Kids: Day 3

Day 3 (11 April 2013) of our KL holiday saw us at the Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) in Kepong at about 10am. The plan was to do the canopy walk and then meet up with WY for a picnic at the FRIM picnic site at about 11.30am. Alas, little did we realise that we would need to do quite a fair bit of trekking before even getting to the canopy walkway. Given the time constraint, and with 3 kids in tow, we decided not to proceed. But venture into the jungle we did, just a bit.


[Julian with the giant yam]


[Jungle Jianna]

After the mini jungle trek, we had a picnic by the stream. The kids (the boys especially) had fun playing in the water with the toys WY brought for them. WY also cooked up a storm with delicious spaghetti and meatballs, mash potatoes and edamame beans.


[Picnic at FRIM]


[Our picnic lunch]


[Justin at the picnic]

After FRIM, we headed back to the city to pick JL in Brickfields at about 2.30pm. We then headed to the Lake Gardens.


[A family photo at the Lake Gardens (photo by JL)]


[At the Deer Park in the Lake Gardens]

After the Deer Park, we went to the KL Bird Park at about 3.45pm. The kids found it quite fascinating to have some of the birds roaming and flying around so close to them. There were many peacocks, chickens and cattle egrets around the main entrance. However, Julian was startled when a peacock pecked at his pants. The highlight of the visit was when we saw a little chick being pecked by a peacock, carried off by a flying cattle egret and then dropped on the floor. We rescued the chick just in time before it was harmed further but not before being threatened with an attack by the cattle egret. We carried the chick to the souvenir shop where it was put in a box to be handed over to the staff-in-charge. The boys were absolutely thrilled by the rescue operation.


[A family photo at the Bird Park (photo by JL)]


[Julian keeping an eye on a peacock while a cattle egret looks on]

Jianna at 14 Months

Jianna turned 14 months old on 30 May 2013. Here are some updates:

• Had earlier resisted formula milk at daycare but is now taking more. She's more keen on solids. At home, she is still breastfed on demand.
  
• Learning to talk "dada" (for daddy), "ba-bye" (for bye-bye), "pah-purh" (for diaper)
  
• She sweats very easily and would only sleep comfortably when the ceiling fan is turned on to full.
  
• She has caught her brothers' interest in planes. She can 'fly' a toy plane and also move her hand in upward motion (plus sound effect) when a plane takes off at the airport. 

[Jianna on the carpet]


[Jianna at the Batu Maung cargo complex carpark]


[Tennis, anyone?]


[Jianna on the rocking horse]


[Jianna's debut at the apartment pool]

Soohongry

We were at Soohongry on Lorong Soo Hong for lunch today. It is a charming little cafe just off Lebuh Armenian.


[Pork adobo with garlic rice]


[Breakfast at lunchtime]


[Spaghetti with minced lamb]

We also had a muffin and a refreshing homemade mango ice lolly. All were delicious!

Julian is 6 years old!

Happy Birthday, Julian! Julian celebrated his 6th birthday on 28 May 2012. His current weight is 25kg and he is 117cm tall.

Here are his updates:

• He seems to be good with numbers. When he sees 4-digit car registration numbers, he would mentally calculate the sum of the first 2 digits and the second 2 digits (sums that do not involve a carry, of course).
  
• His Chinese writing has improved, often knowing the order of the strokes, but he seems to need more work in spelling, reading, and speaking.
  
• His current favourite books are a picture dictionary, and a picture atlas.
  

[Julian]


[Julian the Superman]

Julian celebrated his birthday with his friends at the kindy on 17 May 2012 (Friday). We got him a cake and prepared party packs for him to distribute to his friends. His babysitter prepared alphabet nuggets.


[Julian's Micky Mouse cake at kindy]

We had our extended family over for his birthday celebration on 26 May 2012 (Sunday). We had lunch at Sea Palace Restaurant. We baked him a chocolate ladybird cake (Gaston the Ladybird is one of the characters on Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, a cartoon that he watches).


[Julian's ladybird cake]


[The kids having fun with the cake]


[A family photo]

On 28 May 2013, we bought a few cake slices and had a simple celebration.


[Julian's signature smile]

Justin at 46 Months

Justin turned 46 months old on 25 May 2013.

Here are some updates:

• Just before the school holidays, he resisted going to kindy. He said he didn't like going to kindy because the teachers "scolded" him. However, we thought he was making up excuses because he seemed to be naming the nicest of teachers as those who "scolded" him. Anyway, all was well when the holiday programme at kindy started.
  
• He sometimes tries to be nice to Jianna, but is often quite rough. He likes lifting her by putting his arms under her arms and around her chest but we try to discourage him because he seems rather unstable. Jianna doesn't seem to complain though.
  

Having recently watched the movie Up, we asked Justin whether he liked the show:
Daddy: Justin, did you like Up, the movie?
Justin: Ya... the skin of the house can go high up in the sky!
Daddy: ?!?!

 
[Justin reading a book]


[Justin]


[Justin doing a crawl]

KL with the Kids: Days 1 & 2

We were in Kuala Lumpur for a holiday from 9-12 April 2013.

We left after lunch on 9 April 2013 and headed for Kuala Kubu Bharu to visit Aunty D and Uncle C. We arrived around 5pm and had tuna quiche (that we brought along), fried bananas, and some pau. We left after dinner and arrived in KL at around 9pm. We stayed at Antonia's place.

Day 2 (10 April 2013) saw us at the Royal Malaysian Air Force Museum in the morning. It's located at the Sungai Besi airbase. We managed to get the kids into the cockpits of a couple of old helicopters before being told to keep off the exhibits :o). There were quite a few helicopter and light airplane take-offs and landings on the runway by trainee pilots, and the kids seemed to be more interested in these than the old planes.


[Old planes]


[The boys in a really big kiddy ride :o)]


[Jianna with an old plane]


[Jianna in a helicopter]

After the museum, we headed to IKEA at Ikano Power Centre. First, we had lunch at the IKEA restaurant. Although it wasn't our first visit to IKEA, it was however our first dining experience there. The food tray trolleys were pretty cool and makes perfect sense especially if you have one parent seated at a table keeping an eye on 3 kids and the other lone parent having to bring back more than one tray of food.

Once in the IKEA showroom, it was pretty much a "put that back!", "no running!", "behave yourselves!", "come here!", "this way!" affair. But it was fun nonetheless. Julian had a go at Smaland and was happy to be by himself with a few other kids, but Justin wanted to remain with us as we went off to run an errand.


[Jianna trying to unzip the carpet]


[Justin (a.k.a. Ben) on a ladybird (a.k.a. Gaston)]

Other interesting experiences at IKEA were the ice-cream machine (token operated and the sundae dispensed itself) and the drink vending machine (robotic arm fetches the drink and drops it down the chute). Perhaps we need to get out of Penang more often, ha ha :o).

After IKEA, we went to Kid's e World (also at Ikano Power Centre). This was after reading about it in Chloe's blog. Queensbay Mall in Penang has something similar at a cheaper rate but a holiday is always a good excuse for us to "close one eye" and let the kids have some fun.


[Julian going down the giant tube slide]


[Justin going down another slide]


[The ever popular ball pool]


[The air cannon was another "loud" favourite]

Cab Western Food

My first experience at Cab Western Food on Jalan Bagan Jermal was on 10 May 2013. I ordered the set lunch.


[Soup and coffee]


[Fish and chips: Quite a generous serving of fish]


[Cake: I think it was tiramisu]

Today, with Angie and the children, we ordered some of their chicken dishes.


[Grilled chicken and fish]


[Grilled cajun spice chicken]


[Cheesy nuggets]

The restaurant was clean and cosy. Food was not bad with good serving size. More details about Cab Western Food: here.

Jianna at 13 Months

Jianna turned 13 months old on 30 April 2013. Here are some updates:

• Can follow simple instructions like "give", "pick up", "come", "go".
  
• Learning to talk "mama", "mum mum" (for eat), "burh" (for bird), "bah berh" (for bear-bear)
  
• Started climbing the sofa and chairs
  
• Loves climbing stairs, going down slides (by herself), sitting on the swing.
  
• Loves playing with shoes and biting them.
  
• She likes going out ("hong sou" in Hokkien) and doing what others are doing.
  

[Jianna]


[Jianna and her biscotti (or toast... but Angie thinks biscotti sounds more sophisticated!)]


[Jianna and her lollypop]


[Jianna and her teddybear]


[Jianna staying close to the ground]

Jianna in Baby Talk

Jianna's photo appeared in the Little Stars section of Baby Talk's May 2013 issue!


[Jianna's photo in Baby Talk's May 2013 issue]

The pressure is off now that all three siblings have had their photos published :o). Julian had his published in 2008, while Justin had his published in 2012.

Julian at 71 Months

Julian turned 71 months old on 28 April 2013. He is about 23-24kg which is heavy for his age.

Here are his updates:

• He continues to be picky with food but whatever limited variety of food that he likes, he eats a fairly good amount, hence his "bulk".
  
• He sometimes likes to be carried especially when sleepy/tired or when upset. He also likes to play "horsey". Now these are getting to be a challenge in view of his "very healthy" weight.
  
• He hardly takes his afternoon naps anymore. This is good because at bedtime, he now dozes off quite quickly.
  
• He seems to be doing well academically in kindy, but we are a little bit concerned about his social maturity and hyperactivity/short attention span. This is in view of his going to primary school next year.
  

[A happy Julian on the see-saw]

Justin at 45 Months

Justin turned 45 months old on 25 April 2013.

Here are some updates:

• He continues to be creative in this play, but often claims "ownership" of the things he is engrossed in playing. If siblings interferes, he would get angry.
  
• He has developed a liking for peanut butter or strawberry jam sandwiches, which have to be cut into squares, i.e. from one slice of bread, folded in half, and cut into two squares.
  

[Justin with a turban]


[Justin enjoying an ice-cream]


[Justin]

Our 9th Anniversary

We celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on 1 May 2013.

In the morning, we got the kids to do some cake decorating. Angie had baked a round cake, cut it into three pieces, and rearranged them into a butterfly shape. The kids had a fun time icing the cake and decorating it with all sorts of toppings.


[Icing the cake]


[Now for the toppings]


[Tadda! Our butterfly cake!]

We met up with my parents, my brother and sister-in-law in the afternoon and had a simple cake-cutting ceremony.

Later, in the quiet of the night, after the kids are in bed *phew*, we continued our tradition of lighting our Unity Candle and saying our anniversary prayer.


[Lighting of our Unity Candle 2013: Angie decided that our pose should not be so stoic this time :o)]