Julian at 30 Months

Julian turned 30 months (2.5 years) old on 28 November 2009.

On the talking front, he's progressing... sometimes surprising us with short sentences, e.g. "I want [something]" instead of "ai [something]", or "Where is it?" We also noticed that he has started to pronounce certain words in full instead of just one or some of the syllables, e.g. "motorbike" instead of just "bike", or "chimney" instead of just "chim".

He can be quite imaginative while playing - he was given a small Chinese drum by Ah Kong and it has since served as a drum, a stool and a cauldron.

At home, he's a generally well-behaved boy, save for the occasional need for discipline. In the absence of his peers, he's also pretty manageable while out shopping or for meals. However, he shows his "wild" side in the company of his "idols", i.e. those slightly older than he is. This is when he runs, prances, chases, squeals, and sweats *slaps forehead*.


[Oral Addiction: Still asks for the pacifier especially before bedtime and while travelling in the car]


[Julian and Ah Kong]


[Run! Run!]


[Game, set, and match!]


[The "good boy" smile]

Justin at 4 Months

Justin turned 4 months old on 25 November 2009. We took him to the clinic on 24 November 2009 and he weighed 7.1kg (an increase of only 100g from the previous month). His length is 65cm.

Some observations:

• Since 23 November 2009, he is able to flip over onto his tummy with ease.
  
• He is also able to lift his head up while on his tummy and has started some "skydiving".
  
• Over the last 1-2 weeks, his intake of expressed breast milk (while at the babysitter's) has increased a little bit to about 3oz per feed.
  
• He has started to baby-blabber, sometimes up to a minute or two at a stretch. Don't know what he's trying to say though... quite amusing :o). He seems to have a lower voice tone compared to Julian. In a choir, we think he'll be singing bass.
  

[Paradigm shift: A different point of view]


[Justin with Poh Poh]


[Justin smiling]


[Justin smiling, again]

Buggy Deposit

We spotted a patch of insect eggs on one of the doors of our car. Anyone knows what insect deposited these eggs? We suspect it could have been a moth.


[Buggy deposit: The patch of eggs measured about an inch across]


[Close-up of the eggs]

Cameron Highlands 2009

We were all in Cameron Highlands from 31 October-1 November 2009 with Mom and Dad, and Niq, Chui Ying and Gabriel. We left Ipoh in 2 cars at about 10.30am and arrived at Brinchang via the Simpang Pulai route at about 1.00pm for lunch. After lunch, we headed down to Tanah Rata and checked-in at Oly Apartments (RM210 per night, low season).

We then went to pluck strawberries at Mountain Strawberry Farm in the Sungei Palas area. It's an all-in-one farm with a mini zoo, cactus garden and flower nursery. A plus point about this farm is that, since it's quite secluded, we practically had the whole farm to ourselves :o). As soon as we were done plucking, it started to rain heavily.


[Julian having a go at strawberry plucking]


[Justin amazed at the size of the strawberry Julian plucked]

That night, we had dinner at Jasmine Restaurant in Tanah Rata. It's a cozy Dutch-themed restaurant serving oriental and western fare. Then, after some shopping, we headed back to the apartment to celebrate Dad and Niq's birthday.


[Happy Birthday! Julian and Gabriel couldn't resist joining in the fun]

In the morning of the 2nd day, we attended the 9.30am mass at the Chapel of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in the Convent. After mass we bought some mango chutney, and orange and grapefruit marmalade before heading to town for Bah Kut Teh brunch at Mayflower Restaurant.

After checking out of the apartment, we visited the Agro Tourism Park in Brinchang and a bee farm at the Kea Farm area. We also opted not to fight with the weekend crowd at the Kea Farm and settled to buy some corn and tamarillos (buah cinta) at a smaller market just at the junction of the road leading to the Sungei Palas Boh tea plantation.


[Julian the Strawberry]


[Julian the Vege-inspector]

We left the highlands at about 3.00pm.