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]

The Rabbit Hops In... With a Limp!

Our Chinese New Year ordeal started early on Tuesday morning (2 February 2011). I woke up with a sore throat. My whole body felt uneasy, so was Angie's. As the day progressed, it dawned on us that we had diarrhoea as a result of food poisoning.

On Chinese New Year's eve (Wednesday), we braved the bug and drove back to my parent's place in Menglembu. I still had body ache and diarrhoea. Angie felt slightly better except for the diarrhoea and occasional nausea. Thankfully, the boys were okay... must have been something Angie and I ate for lunch on Monday. So, we refrained from the usual new year bingeing to give our guts a rest. As you can imagine, it was miserable not being able to enjoy the new year delicacies.

On New Year's day, we felt better but were still cautious with food. Later, we found that we now had to nurse a cough! Double whammy! Anyway, that night we managed to visit our paternal 3rd uncle and aunty. On the whole, the kids had the most fun as usual. The boys played with their cousins Gabriel and Rosalie. The star attraction during our stay in Menglembu were 4 huge helium-filled baloons in the shape of a helicopter, a parrot, a fish, and a camel (which burst). These kept the boys occupied.


[Chinese New Year Milk: Julian likes his warm and toasty]


[Justin and Grandpa]

On the third day of the new year (Friday), we drove to Angie's parent's place in Butterworth after breakfast. Angie's cousin came over for a game of blackjack.

The morning of the fourth day saw us at a clinic for some medication for our cough. While at the doctors, the boys went out with their Ah Kong, Poh Poh, and Tua Ee to a nearby field to play a toy helicopter, and to count the cows. We all went to church and for some shopping that night. The highlight of our stay, for Julian that is, was his bath in the water tub.


[Now this is what I call a bath tub!]

We made it back to Penang on Sunday by lunchtime.

Holiday in Bukit Merah Laketown Resort

We went for a short holiday in Bukit Merah from 27-28 January 2011. We went together with some friends who have a child the same age as Julian.

The night before Julian developed a cough and so we took him to the doctor's before leaving Penang. We arrived in Bukit Merah at about noon. After checking in we headed straight for the waterpark. Bought lunch there (Bubbles Restaurant). We ordered fried rice and nuggets with french fries. Julian was literally eating while playing in the water. Not his best food intake. Justin hardly ate anything, refusing the food offered. (Note: The fried rice is fried with chilli by default, so you have to specify and emphasise NO chilli and that it's for a CHILD to eat.)


[Julian and Justin checking the quality of the bed: Passed!]

Julian was king of the water, as usual :-) He enjoyed himself thoroughly. Justin was more reserved. He liked the water but was not in the same element as Julian. At one point, Justin lost balance and went underwater, practically floating horizontally facing downward. Thankfully he was 'fished' out and unharmed. From that moment on, he was not allowed out of reach of any adult! Justin was unfazed by the incident.


[Julian down the slide]

We spent 3 whole hours at the waterpark then went back to the hotel for a rest. It had started to drizzle. After a nap we went for dinner at Le Lac restaurant. Food was quite good (sorry, no pics - it's impossible to get a photo of the food with the kids around!). We ordered Flinstones Fried Rice (kid's meal), Cantonese style koay teow and beef rendang with rice. After dinner we 'lepak' in the hotel room. Aileen joined us for dinner and 'lepak' :-)


[Bukit Merah Laketown Resort jetty at dusk]

We started the next day's activities feeding ducks at the lake while waiting for the boat to the orang utan island. Aileen was our personal guide for the day :-) The boys were fascinated with the primates at the island :-) The boat ride went well, too. Julian entertained himself with the life-jacket whistle, while Justin refused to wear the life-jacket on the return journey.


[Julian giving a duck a hand, literally]


[On the boat to the orang utan island]


[Orang utans having a snack]

Next stop was the Ecopark. It was the boys' second visit here. Their first visit was a year ago. The boys took in the sight of the animals and enjoyed feeding the animals. We even saw a peacock displaying its tail. This time round we caught the animal show. Justin was a real sport, clapping happily when the crowd clapped. Julian, on the other hand, kept wanting to leave the show area to go see the bears and crocodiles (which we already saw before the show). Nevertheless, he managed to stay for the whole show. After the show we took photos with the macaws. Then we fed more animals enroute to the exit. We were at the Ecopark for a good two hours so by the time we left it was past one (hungry, hungry!).


[Peacock and peahen]


[Justin and Mummy with a macaw]


[Julian and Justin feeding fish]

We had lunch at Le Lac. This time we tried their chicken cutlet (=chicken chop). We had a repeat order of the Cantonese koay teow for the benefit of the children. We ordered the pizza as well but somehow the pizza was not served. We indulged in a watermelon lychee drink, which was quite pleasing. The chicken cutlet was good, too.

Getting back to the hotel room was a bit of a challenge. There's a fountain right outside the restaurant, in the open space as you enter the resort. Julian and Justin couldn't resist playing there. We finally made it back to the room and checked out at about 3.30pm.


[Justin and Julian at the fountain]

We had a really enjoyable holiday. The weather was good - mostly cloudy :-) Plus, we didn't have to jostle with any crowd as it was a weekday :-) :-) Thanks also to Aileen/Gee Ee, who made the trip a truly memorable one *kiss, kiss* We'll be back!! :-) :-)

Now-we-bot Noo-Noo

We moved into the robotic era on 21 January 2011. We bought ourselves a Samsung Navibot which came with a free Samsung microwave oven. Price: RM2,399. We waited to put up this post so we could really run the bot before giving our review.

Review: Does about 80% of the job. You've got to make sure your floor is free of 'traps'. It may get stuck on bath mats, bag straps or carpet tassles. It may miss a whole area if the 'entrance' is obstructed in such a way that it cannot navigate well. It works best for homes with little clutter. Therefore, our dining area seem to be less thoroughly cleaned due to the dining chair and table legs. Overall, we are happy with our purchase as we now have one less chore to do :-)

Julian calls the Navibot "robot Noo-Noo" (Noo-noo is the vacuum cleaner from the TV show Teletubbies). However, he is not so fond of the robot Noo-Noo, preferring it switched off :-).

The microwave is a real bonus :-) A really fun cooking toy for us to experiment :-) :-).


[Our Robot Noo-Noo: The Samsung Navibot]

Motorbikes, motorbikes

Julian is currently very fascinated with motorcycles. He would always want to have a closer look at the motorcycle whenever he sees one. He is especially fascinated with the bikes which have a carrier on the pillion seat, the kind with two 'sticks' by the side.

He even associates the rider with the items carried. There's roti-man (the man selling bread on the bike), tin-man, box-man, etc (when he sees a rider carrying tins, boxes, etc.) So, what if the rider isn't carrying anything on the carrier? Well, that's the... nothing-man!

Julian at 44 Months

Julian turned 44 months (3 years 8 months) on 28 January 2011. He now weighs 15.15kg. He went to the clinic supposedly for deworming but since his weight gain and appetite were good, and he does not scratch his bum, he was not given any worm medicine.

Here are his updates:

He likes to play pretend, especially as the 'roti' man (bread man) that comes on the motorcycle. His horse is his bike. He charges RM5 for bread, bun and most of the things he sells. He would ask Justin to buy 'keropok', which he charges either RM1 or RM5.

He likes to draw 'himself'. He generally requires guidance drawing his face, eyes, and nose but he is able to draw his mouth, ears and hair. (He likes to draw the hair best.)

His pencil grip is ok now.

He would repeat what we say, sometimes selective repetitions. Must be careful what we say... :-)

He's getting more and more conversational in his speech.

Sometimes he would purpose give wrong answers to questions (e.g. What is your name? Answer: Daddy) and then laugh :-)

He now complains/tell tales about Justin. "Daddy, see Justin..."

He often says "afterwards/tomorrow play again" when he does not get to do something immediately, or when he has to stop doing something.

He started nail biting recently. Checking him on this now.

He's still crazy about the computer, but we try to limit his playing to 15 minutes to 'delay' his eyesight deteriorating... The computer is also our weapon to get him to do things/behave (blackmail) but rest assured we only use it when absolutely necessary.

[Julian and his self portrait: Except for the large circle for the face, he did this one all by himself :-)]

[Julian loves to be wrapped in a towel]

[Julian enjoying a book]

Dawn of Homework

Julian had his first homework on 25 January 2011 :-( He had to write the letter 'a' 49 times. The next day, he had to write the number '1', also 49 times. He is not able to concentrate for long. Daddy does a great job guiding him.

Justin at 18 Months

Justin turned 18 months on 25 January 2011. He weighed in at 10.2kg (up 600g from 3 months ago) and had his booster jab at the clinic.

Here are his updates:

His upper right canine has erupted.

He's quite ok with his food intake. He generally eats most of what we give him.

He likes to feed himself and is able to do so quite well now, but still messy.

He can intone "ready, set, go".

He can say 'tee' (three) when someone counts one, two...

He can say 'ma', 'po po' (Pocoyo), 'ba ba' (Barney), 'eh...pel' (apple), 'mao' (cat).

He likes colouring especially with colour pencils. Magic colour is ok, too, but he doesn't seem to fancy crayons.

He has keen interest in the computer but we don't let him play with it except when Julian takes a toilet break. He would say 'air' (short 'a' vowel sound) and point/go to the computer. When Julian is on the computer, he would be on the sofa observing.

He's still the mega TV addict. He now includes Thomas, Wonder Pets, Tom & Jerry and Teletubbies in his 'repertoire'.

He's so hooked on DVDs that he constantly holds two in his hands, even taking them to bed!

He can and likes to do the action for the song "Wheels on the Bus".

He can hold his thumb up (he did it once, but has refused to do any repeats).

He can swirl water in his mouth.

He likes to feed Mummy especially when he doesn't want to eat the food anymore. He would insist on putting the food in Mummy's mouth and would show annoyance if refused.

He is observant and can remember where things are kept. E.g. He indicated where the balloon pump was when Mummy was looking for it; He knows where his shoes are put; etc.

He's improving in the car seat, sitting more often and for longer periods :-) His car seat is positioned behind the driver's seat and he's more likely to sit if we put him in from the door on that side. Slowly but surely, we're getting there...

[Justin colouring]

[Justin sporting chocolate lipstick]

A Hair-rowing Experience No More

Julian went to the barber on 15 January 2011. For the first time he sat on the chair (elevated) by himself and even allowed himself to be wrapped in the cloth! What a pleasant surprise for daddy and mummy :-) Well done, Julian! This deserves a special mention on the blog :-)

Just for the record, on previous visits, Julian would sit on daddy's lap and refuse to be covered. He used to cry, then gradually he stopped crying but would squirm throughout the haircut. Toy distractions and bribes of lollipop did not work... Julian got upset when the hair fell on the toy and he couldn't care less for the lollipop ('future' reward didn't register with him, I think).

Julian Bitten

Julian was bitten on his forearm by a schoolmate on 12 January 2011. We do not know exactly how it all happened but apparently this schoolmate had a tendency to bite when provoked. So, this time, his target was Julian. Ouch!


[Julian's bite mark]

Julian at 43 Months

Julian turned 43 months (3 years 7 months) on 28 December 2010.

Some updates:

• Since we got our new computer, he's been on the computer every day that we're home. However, we control the amount of time he spends on the computer. We would tell him when the long hand of the clock reaches a certain number, he would have to press 'x' and shut down. When the time comes, he would stop playing without any fuss :-) The maximum we allow him is one hour.
  
• He likes to play a fishing game on the Internet. It's educational for numbers and counting but we also insist that he does his ABCs and reading before fishing.
  
• He is able to sing several nursery rhymes in full now. He's even able to sing in tune for some parts :-)
  
• He can say his prayer on his own (short version). With a little bit of prompting, he can do the 'long version' :-)
  
• Now he's at the stage where he demands full attention and wants to show us everything. Mostly, he will demand daddy's attention: "daddy, dump truck carry sand!", "daddy, how many fingers are there?", "daddy, which one do you like?" (by this it means daddy has to repeat the question, i.e. ask Julian which one he likes), "show mummy...Mummy I catch two foams", etc. He would call loudly and repeatedly if he doesn't get an immediate response.
  
• He is also starting to ask questions to get information, e.g. "Mummy, what's that?" (when he sees something new to him), "Daddy, what are you doing?", "Mummy, where's daddy?"
  
• He's showing some improvement in his maturity in that he can be reasoned with more often now. He can respond in a calm and 'mature' manner.
  
• We use a counting method to get him to do (or stop doing) things. E.g., mummy will count to 3, Julian must get on the car seat. This works generally well. However, at the beginning of the month he would sometimes 'rebel'. When we start counting 'one', he would say "I don't want 2. Only 1." More recently, he sometimes 'bargains' with us - "No, count to [another number]". Sometimes, he gives a number that is sooner than our offer :-)

[Julian]


[The smart way to water paint]

Christmas 2010

Our celebrations began on 21 Dec with dinner in Butterworth. Aileen and Christina were in town but we missed Antonia this year.


[Christmas in Butterworth: The boys with Ah Kong and Poh Poh]

We travelled to Menglembu on Christmas Eve and attended midnight mass in Batu Gajah. It's been a long time since we went for midnight mass and this year we were reminded why we stopped going... the crowd... the slight rain didn't help either... Justin was asleep from beginning to end, while Julian dozed off midway through mass on daddy's shoulders. We were outside the church as it was packed inside. The speakers outside were not working so we could hardly hear what was going on. In addition, the people outside were talking away.

Christmas Day saw us opening presents and enjoying mum's home-cooked lunch. Julian and Gabriel had a whale of a time in Grandma & Grandpa's new balcony-top swimming pool. Justin, alas, was fast asleep... Dinner was the simple yet delicious claypot chicken rice in Menglembu town.


[Christmas duet: Deja vu from last year's performance]


[Christmas in Menglembu: Presents, presents...]

Boxing Day was a Sunday, so we attended Mass as usual in the morning. The highlight of the day was more splashing time in the pool for Julian. This time Justin joined in, but Gabriel had left for Ipoh. That evening, we travelled back to Penang.


[Splashing time!]


[Christmas at home: More presents!]

Justin at 17 Months

Some updates:

• His 12th tooth, the upper right molar has erupted.
  
• On Christmas Day we noticed his upper left canine just erupting.
  
• He is able to spoon-feed himself, although he sometimes has difficulty scooping the food from the plate.
  
• When offered food, he prefers to take the food from the packaging/'source' rather than have us handing it to him.
  
• He doesn't like to come down the slide anymore. We have no idea why.
  
• He was able to respond accordingly when instructed to 'stop crying' on several occasions when he was simply fretting.
  

[Justin loves to stack blocks]


[Justin in the pool with Mummy]


[Justin having a go with painting]


[Justin feeds himself]


[Justin trying a pacifier]

Julian's First Pet

Julian went on a school excursion to the CTY Aquarium on Burmah Road on 15 December 2010. Each child was entitled to bring home either a pair of fish or a tortoise. We opted for the fish as they have a shorter life-span.

After the excursion, while at the baby-sitter's, Julian had already subjected the poor creatures to a great deal of stress (read: fish tank tsunami). On the third day, one died. The better half is still alive today, tolerating Daddy's meagre maintenance, and bearing the brunt of the boys' force-feeding.

But credit is due to the fish... because feeding it is enough incentive for the boys to rush straight home instead of dilly-dallying at the apartment lift lobby.


[Julian's first pet]


[Behold the lop-sided one...]

Straits Quay

On 7 December 2010 we took the boys to Straits Quay, the newest-but-not-completely-opened mall on the island. We read about the Christmas candyland and the big Christmas tree there. We were not disappointed. However, we were rather early so we didn't get to see the tree lit and we didn't wait for the carollers. We think it's a beautiful place, although Julian was too busy running to take in the sights, and daddy was hot on his heels ;-) Justin was walking at a more leisurely pace so mummy was more relaxed :-)


[Candyland]


[The Giant Christmas Tree]


[Closeup of the Star and decorations]

Dell-icious

We finally replaced our desktop of more than 10 years on 1 December 2010.

The Intel Pentium III 667MHz machine served us well. It had since had its hardisk, CD drive, keyboard and mouse replaced, and its RAM upgraded from 128MB to 192MB courtesy of a good friend.

Our new machine is a Dell Inspiron 580 with an Intel Core i3 550 (3.2GHz) processor, 4GB RAM, 456GB hardisk, and 20-inch LCD monitor.


[The old Pentium III machine]


[Our new Core i3 machine]

Julian at 42 Months

Julian turned 42 months (3 1/2 years) on 28 November 2010. He had his pneumococcal vaccination and weighed in at 14kg.

• He has developed a habit of screaming - sometimes for no reason.
  
• We notice that he is now 'louder' when addressing people. Previously he used to address people softly under his breath.
  
• He likes to say "Yes, sure!"
  
• He can read the temperature on the digital thermometer correctly.
  
• He can turn on the computer, log on to the Internet and shut down at the end of his computer session.
  
• He is finally cycling his tricycle.
  
• He can wear his pants on his own, though it is problematic when the front and back is specific.
  
• He continues to improve in his food intake. Now he eats some fish and meat (char siew and satay are acceptable to him because he calls them 'burger-Q').
  
• He's now off the potty... all big or small businesses are done in the toilet.

[Julian down the tube slide]


[The softer side of Julian]


[Julian keeping fit]

Julian's Concert Debut

Julian's kindy held their annual concert on 27 November 2010 at the school premises. It was Julian's concert debut :-)

He was involved in 7 items. Of these, he was most participative in the YMCA dance. He wasn't originally slotted for this item but because he seems to enjoy it so much and could remember all the steps, his teacher put him on stage as well on the day. We thought that was really nice of her. He also participated in the 'Hot Potatoes' and 'Waka Waka' dances. For the other items, he mostly just stood still on the stage :-) In the percussion band, which was the penultimate item, he was crying and saying "I want to go home". But still he stood on the stage and 'resentfully' shook his shaker... I suppose we should give him some credit for that :-) Julian was actually nursing a slight fever that day.


[Justin is Julian's No. 1 fan]


[Doing the Waka Waka dance]


[Y... M... C A!]