Arrival of Yi Qing

We're pleased to be "re-affirmed" as Ah Pak and Ah Nyong with the arrival of our niece Yi Qing on 9 September 2010. Her Christian name is Rosalie.


[Yi Qing]

Yi Qing is the fourth grandchild and first granddaughter of my parents.

Congratulations to Niq & Chui Ying.

Picnic Fever

We went for a picnic in Balik Pulau on 29 August 2010 in the company of friends from the Catholic Engaged Encounter Penang community.

We were at the picnic site, a stream flowing through a fruit ochard, at about 9.30am. The water was clean but cold!


[The stream]

Justin did not warm up to the water and protested when his feet were dunked into the water. He prefered to stay dry and keep an eye on the food instead... *smart boy*.


[Justin at the picnic]


[Justin in charge of drinks]

Julian on the other hand took charge of the fun and eagerly got himself wet. The water was indeed cold even by adult standards but Julian did not seem to bother... not even after his hands turned white and his lips turned purple... talk about sheer will power to have fun... *slaps forehead*. We think that among all those who were there, it was Julian who had the most fun... *slaps forehead again*.


[Julian in charge of fun]


[Julian braves the cold]


[Julian's new hairdo]

Since it was a potluck picnic, we brought along cocktail sausages and some brownies that Julian baked two days ealier.


[Potluck tuck]

At around 11.30am, it started to rain. The rain soon turned into a thunderstorm which lasted about an hour. We all took shelter at the ochard house. When the storm had abated, we were surprised that the stream had turned into a small raging river and that the water was now the colour of "teh tarik". We left at around 1pm.


[A stream no more]

Well, too much of a good thing can't be good. Julian had fever that very evening, and even had a sore throat and some diarrhoea. He was his usual self after about 4 days. Justin started having a temperature last Wednesday (probably courtesy of Julian) which lasted about 3 days. He also had some thrush. All was well by the weekend *phew!*.

Julian at 39 Months

Julian turned 39 months old on 28 August 2010.

Some observations this month:

• He is a bit more receptive to eating noodles, which he totally rejected previously.
  
• He loves chocolate and would ask for it almost every day. We try to keep this under control as we feel it is bad for him to have too much. The only good thing is he would be satisfied with even just one Smarties pellet.
  
• He eats one or two vegetable/multi-vit gummies a day.
  
• Sometimes he wants exclusive attention from us (e.g. when he's cranky). He would climb on our lap and when Justin comes, he would say "I don't want Justin" and attempt to push his brother away.
  
• When he doesn't want Justin to have something, he would 'make up' excuses like "you cannot eat" or "it's dangerous" or "it's sharp" even when it's not.
  
• We finally got him a kiddy table with not one but two chairs as younger brother Justin is sure to want a stake in it. We're happy he's making good use of it.
  

[Julian ponders]


[Julian and his tortoise project from playschool]


[Julian is ticklish]


[Julian is strong! (imitating Mickey Mouse in one of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse episodes)]


[Julian partying at home]


[Julian hard at work]

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]

Justin is 1 Year Old!

Justin turned 1 year old on 25 July 2010. On 27 July 2010, we took him to the clinic for his MMR jab and regular check-up. He now weighs 8.9kg and 76cm in length (or height). Compared to Julian when he was 1 year old, Justin is 0.3kg heavier but 2cm shorter.

Here are some observations in the run-up to his first birthday:

• Not much changes in his milk and solid intake. He's still on direct or expressed breast milk, and supplemented with formula every 2-3 hours. He takes about 3oz at each feed. As for his solids, he takes 2 porridge or cereal meals during the day, and a snack for dinner.
  
• He has 6 teeth: 4 incisors on top and 2 incisors at the bottom.
  
• Can blow flying kisses.
  
• Can clap hands.
  
• Refuses to sleep when he sees Julian awake.
  
• Willing to sit in the car seat most of the time, but sometimes prefer to stand in the seat *slaps forehead*.
  
• Has started to walk unaided! He started with 2 steps and progressed to 4 steps on 20 July 2010. Just a day or two before his birthday, he was doing about 6 steps. He usually reverts to crawling because it's faster :o).
  
• He is making more and more different sounds. He makes a funny sound when laughing... something like the cranking of a car engine when it starts.
  
• When he doesn't get what he wants, he sometimes clenches his fists and appears to shiver.
  
• We've sometimes managed to get him to pass motion in the potty.

[Justin]


[Not happy about something]


[Justin doing the cup-crawl]


[Justin stands]

We celebrated Justin's first birthday with lunch at Sea Palace Restaurant in Taman Pekaka, Penang. We booked 2 tables. Keeping to our "tradition", we baked yet another teddybear cake. This time it's a banana and orange polar bear cake. It took about 9 hours over 2 days to complete.


[Justin's banana and orange polar bear birthday cake]


[Happy Birthday To Youuuuu.... now blow! *phhffff* (photo taken by Niq)]


[I'm ONE! (photo taken by Niq)]

Happy 1st Birthday, Justin!

Three's Company

Here are two recent photos of the boys with either one of us.


[Mummy and the boys]


[Daddy and the boys]

Julian at 37 Months

Julian turned 37 months old on 28 June 2010.

He has been attending playschool for about one-and-a-half months and seems to be liking it (at least he doesn't object to going). We learned that he likes the outdoor activities (this was no surprise to us).

During the 2nd week of the June 2010 school holidays, his kindy had special activities which included a talentime, an excursion to the Penang Bird Park in Seberang Jaya, and a cookie-baking session for Father's Day. For the talentime, he sang some parts of the rhyme "Five Little Monkeys" and received a trophy. During the bird park excursion, they had lunch at the cafeteria. He was seated at a table of four with three adults (says a lot, doesn't it?).


[Julian in uniform]


[Julian's first trophy]


[Father's Day Cookie... delicious!]

His speech continues to improve and can imitate words and sentences quite easily. We make phone calls to his grandparents regularly and let him "chat" with them (we tell him what to say), much to their amusement.

He continues to be picky with food but sometimes surprises us with the occasional exception. Recently, he seems to like plain roti canai with sugar. Other than the usual porridge, fried rice, or half-boiled egg, he loves bean curd.


[Julian eating roti canai with sugar]


[Julian and Mummy]


[Julian with his shape puzzles]


[Julian and the vibrating ball]


[Julian looking cool, thanks to Suk Suk & Suk Meh]


[Julian at the playground]