Short Takes

22 September 2008, Monday

Mid Autumn Festival

It was a quiet affair with my family. We went for a quick dinner in the vicinity of our neighborhood. It was also raining for most of the evening, so we were really confined to our car porch compared to last year where some of the children in our neighborhood gathered in my neighbor's house to celebrate the event.

This year, my parents bought Aiden a battery operated latern (Mickey Mouse in an Aeroplane) with flashing lights and music – 'It's a Small World After All'. Of course with no volume control for this made in china product, the song really gets to you after awhile!

what's left of our mooncake, by the end of the evening. Note : candles are from my wedding!

Aiden's lanterns from previous years...

Having a good time with the grandparents...

Hmm... can my Mickey Mouse move on it's own?

Dont Bug Me...

The Garden Helper

Aiden is a real helper around the house these days. He insist on helping me carry this and that around the house and proves his independence and capability by wanting to do most of the things himself, much to our amusement.

One of them is being our little garden helper. He loves to water the garden and insists on having his own watering can. He also forbids us to water the pots that he is attending to, and makes us stand far far away…

Posing for a picture

Enuf water ! My candle wax will die !!

Let's water this patch now...

Birthday Celebration with Paternal Grandmother and In-Laws

10 June 2008, Tuesday

* backdated post - had this drafted out, but did not post it earlier*

The privilege of having 2 birthday parties means double the food, double the fun & celebration and Aiden gets to blow candles for 2 cakes! We had the second 'makan session' last Sunday at MIL's favorite restaurant – Oriental Pavillion @ Jaya 33, PJ.

Two incidents happened on that day, well... something that we did not expect anyway. First one was that I totally forgot all about my brother who was supposed to have lunch with us. The point being I was supposed to fetch him to the restaurant, but we were already halfway there when I realized what had happened. OMG! When I called him, he was still asleep (12 noon) and finally sleep won and he didn’t manage to make it. I was a bit sore about the whole thing as I wanted to have him around since my parents were still in Japan.

We took a drive to Taman Desa to pick up Aiden's Elmo jelly cake prior to lunch. I must say this lady's house is amazing – she had at least 3 large Fisher & Paykel fridge in her home to store all her jelly cakes and her whole garden is full of fragrant pandan plants.

Okay, less talk and some photos to share:

Aiden's Elmo Jelly Cake

Blowing the candles

I think this made him puke...blame it on daddy..

shake, shake, shake... what's in there?

I'm overwhelmed by all this attention!

Second incident: Aiden was really chatty yesterday and more active than usual. It makes me wonder if he was aware that it is his big day. I think he had a little too much to eat; one whole bowl of home made porridge, followed by some "chee cheong fun" and "char siew pau". Unfortunately though, halfway through lunch he gave a loud belch and proceeded to throw up on himself. Luckily I managed to "save" him by having most of his lunch on my cupped palms . Anyhow, it was grandma to the rescue as she gave him a set of new clothes for his birthday. So we opened her present and fortunately was required only changed his pants as his shirt was still ok.

shy cousin Erika

Aiden with cousin Sharren

Thank you all for coming to my party..

The Things He Say...

22 May 2008, Thursday

Boo-Boo : Book
Wow Wow : Dog
Meow : Cat
Baass : Bus
Big Tuck : Big Truck
Pak Pak (high) : Park / Trees
Pak Pak (low) : Bathing
Nen Nen : Milk
Baby : Baby
Car : Car
Tar : Star
Tak : Tag
Toy : Toy
Elmo : Elmo
Spidey : Spiderman

Mum Mum : Eat
Chit : Sit
Pou Pou : To be carried
Up Up : To be carried
More More : Wants more of whatever that he's having, be it toys, food
Yes : Yes
No : No

Body Parts He Can Identify With in English, Malay and Hokkien (Chinese Dialect)

Eyes / Mata / Bat Chiu
Nose / Hidung / Pee Kong
Mouth / Mulut
Tongue / Lidah / Hee Yah
Teeth / Gigi
Ear / Telinga
Body / Badan
Hands / Tangan / Chiu
Fingers / Jari
Nails / Kuku
Leg / Kaki / Ka

Baby - What Are You Up To?

14 May 2008, Wednesday

So this is what happens when one does not drink 8 glass of fluid in a day (am not sure if this is true for toddlers - maybe not!) or enough fruits.

Aiden has turn against drinking water in the past month, we've tried many ways to get more fluid to him from Ribena to Water Melon juice to Barley and Honey. All in avail... This is until we discovered his passion for Honey Dew juice. And the fact that he likes ice cold drinks and drinking from a straw. I guess my little boy's growing up now.

Of late, we also find that he's beginning to reject his porridge when he see's adult food on the table. We're beginning to give in these days, and he's taking more of our food than his own...

* warning, please view the following at your own discretion

Ma - Mee

09 April 2008, Wednesday

After a long hiatus from writing - you could call it many things such as writer's block, no time, too busy although I would beg you not to think that I'm too lazy; I'm finally trying to pick up from where I left off. Which is rather difficult, because 3 months is really a long time and lots to update on Aiden's development thus far.

Well, let me keep it simple and just share on the latest development which has me beaming from ear to ear every time I hear Aiden say it. After a 22-month wait, Aiden's finally able to call me Mummy! He's had the problem with pronouncing the "i" in Mummy. All this time, he calls me Ma Ma; which sounds like what you'd call your paternal grandmother in Cantonese.

He surprised me one day with a soft version of Ma-Mee (literally soft so much so I had to prompt him to repeat – which of course he didn’t). It took another full 24 hours before I heard it again. Now he's able to call for me without me prompting him to, usually runs to me, calling me at the same time.

The other word he frequently uses when he wants to get our attention is "B" – actually short for Baby. Maybe I should stop using terms of endearment as freely as I usually do ~ I usually call my hubby – "B". This is especially when I need to call him loudly – usually he is either downstairs and I'm upstairs or vice versa. These days, Aiden will stand at the top of the stairs, hanging on to the baby gate, and yell "B, B" for anyone. He even calls out to the maid saying "B" .

So there you go, my first entry and I promise to do better next time huh?

K-K-C Amongst Others

09 November 2007, Friday

Bliss for me … I am off today from work so that makes it a 4-day weekend for me, with yesterday being Deepavali. Much as I am enjoying the break, Aiden isn’t with me today. Instead I am babysitting a bunch of workers who are here to do some renovation works in my house.

Now with Aiden totting along everywhere we go, safety at home becomes a priority and our renovation is partly due to that. ZMM can attest to this as she lives in the same neighbourhood as I am in. Hopefully everything gets sorted out by the end of the weekend so that at least I'm able to have peace in the house without the workers' tools hankering away.

Now back to the title of the post, you must be wondering what K-K-C is? In short, it's the little boy's "teapot spout" in the Chinese dialect – Hokkien. Aiden's maternal grandfather thought him this one day, and ever since then, if anyone asked him where his K-K-C is, he will pat with his hands on his diapers pointing to his private part. *LOL*

Our little boy is sure growing up fast, picking up what we say and do almost instantly. Eg:

1. Takes the feather duster and cleans the table (follows the maid)
2. During bath time, he is able to walk to the cupboard and pick out his face towel for showering, walks into the shower and waits for me
3. Uses his toy (which aids him to walk when he was much younger) and pretends that it's the vacuum cleaner and hovers below the table and chairs pretending to clean
4. Wipes the table with the cloth if he accidentally spills water / food
5. Gets cheekier and pushes the limit when it comes to bedtime. He now sleeps at 930pm
6. Starting to get picky with food depending on moods. There are days when he rejects his fruits but will say yes to his favourite yoghurt the next minute

Well, I guess that's really the joy of watching your kid grow up…

Aiden after his hair cut 2 weeks ago

My New Chair

25 October 2007, Thursday

This was a newborn gift from MIL which we did not open for Aiden until recently. When we got around to assembling it last weekend, Aiden was really excited and was engrossed with the little light and plastic book attached to the table for a little while....err... noticed when I said "a little while"; cause after half hour, he had abandoned the new toy !! Arrgggh.

Here's some updates about him (I forgot to do so on his 16th month):

• takes baby yoghurt on alternate days and I have finally started him on fish and also pork
• still takes 6-7 oz of milk, 3 times a day

He has become more attached to me, especially in the mornings, and I can practically do nothing cause he hangs on to my leg like a monkey :)

He is able to recognize:

• certain shapes (round, triangle, start and square) and is able to fit these blocks into the shape sorter
• yellow colour. why I mention this is because he has been observing me plucking yellow leaves from my hibiscus plants, and he surprised all of us last week, by going to my plants and plucking only yellow leaves and gently lay them at the bottom of the flower pots!!

Aiden Is Now Walking

08 October 2007, Monday

Logging in from my new office already....been so busy last week, that I have yet the time to sort out our photos from the trip to Siem Reap.

I'll try to do so by this week. In the meantime, here's a short clip of Aiden walking.

H~E~L~P: this mummy and daddy very tired from running after him !

I Think I Can…I Think I Can…Yes I Can

17 September 2007, Monday


Here's a look at Aiden's first steps. He's been able to do this for a couple of weeks now, but recently became more confident of himself and is able to walk for a good distance of 4 feet without aid. He still looks like a mini drunkard doing so though….

Yesterday, he surprised all of us by squating up and down unaided!

Mummy, Daddy... Look at Me... I Can Walk

Hooray Clap Clap Clap

11 September 2007, Tuesday

Aiden is getting really good at clapping hands these days. For any accomplishments such as throwing diapers into the bin or soiled clothes into the laundry basket or simply being happy, he will clap his hands and give us this silly grin.

I know that each baby/toddler have their development milestones, but I still think that this is long over due for him when compared to what this little lady can do.

Hooray, watch me clap, clap, clap

Growing Up

23 August 2007, Thursday

Our boy has grown by leaps and bounds in the last month, and I sometimes look at him whilst he is asleep, thinking to myself- it's been nearly 15 months since he was born, and in this time he has more than tripled his birth weight and grew by more than 15 cm.

I used to be able to hold him in one arm and right now, I can barely carry him with both for more than 5 minutes. He continues to amaze us with his learning ability and realize that he is growing up really quickly. He can now demand to be brought here or there, throw tantrums and yet melt our hearts in one second with his giggles and laughter.

He loves all types of containers big or small, and loves opening and closing tops. He also loves all types of remote controls but of course is not able to differentiate one from another. So he'll point the Astro controller towards the fan, and vice versa. He knows the remote control for the auto gates, and will constantly play with it and watch the gates move.

He can now stand for a long time whilst playing with his toys, twisting his body around and yet maintain his balance. The only thing is that when he needs to get to another place he will still sit down and crawl.

He is able to show affection without us prompting him. I frequently catch him looking at me for a long time, pats me on the shoulder and puts his head on my shoulder. This is especially so in the evenings when I get home.

Finally, he's pretty good at climbing the stairs and sometimes without our knowledge too!! He took to our stairs with gusto last week and when my maid found him, he was already halfway up the stairs. I swear I only left him for like 15 seconds max.

Note : Aaarrghh...something wrong with blogspot. I cannot upload photos!!

Aiden turns 14 months

06 August 2007, Monday

*backdated post*

Our boy turned 14 months last week on 01st August. There seems to be an upscale to his mental development this month as we observed, he is now able to comprehend many things beyond our imagination.

Let me give you some examples:

Yes / No
He mostly understands the meaning of "Yes" and "No" – We constantly ask him questions and if he doesn’t want to do something, he will shake his head left and right. He will nod if he wants something or ask you to do something.

Bottle Caps/Plastic Wares/Tubes
He loves putting on and taking off cap covers, bottle tops or plastic covers. Usually takes off caps/covers, peers into the box or bottle, and puts the caps/covers back on. Of course we have to untwist the tops for him first. (Here, he will return the bottle to you and "peel" the cap whilst nodding his head!) He entertains himself this way for a long time.

Peek-a-boo
I usually play this game with him around the sofa set; by hiding behind furniture and calling to him. He will crawl to the direction of the voice, but by the time he gets there, I would have moved to the opposite end. I will play this game until he gets angry and hits the floor with his hands in frustration. Last week, he surprised me by peeking below the sofa to look for my feet. When he saw them, he laughed! What a smart boy!

Catch me if you can
When sitting on our king size bed after his shower, he will usually crawl very quickly to one end and make me run to him (I am scared that he will fall down). Upon seeing me, he will quickly do an about turn, and run to the opposite end of the bed. Then I will need to run around the bed to the other end. It's really quite funny to see him crawl up and down as if daring me to catch him. Hmm – not so funny when I have to run around and around trying to catch him!

And finally, after many moons, Aiden is now able to stand on his own without support. He has not learnt to take his first step yet ~ but I hope that it will be soon.

*cheeky grin*

Of Walkers and Baby Gates

23 July 2007, Monday

Some of you would have seen Aiden in his much loved walker (see below pix). We have been extremely careful about the amount of time he spends on it based on advise by doctors and books on babies' muscle development and delayed walking etc etc.

Anyway, I have one less worry about it now, since his discovery of tv knobs, Astro decoder, HiFi system and all other "illegal" switches and knobs, Aiden has since refused to get onto the walker. He'd rather explore on his own.

That's besides the point, as this post is about warning mummies and daddies on potential danger of walkers even though the modern ones come with a rubber stopper at its base to stop it from moving forward when it hits uneven flooring. Aiden has learnt to carry the walker, yes - carry the walker and does a mini jump so that the walker will surge forward thus missing the rubber stopper altogether and he'll get onto the other side of the room. I have several uneven sections in my house, to differentiate between my internal courtyard/living room and wet/dry kitchen and Aiden's been jumping across for the past two weeks in both mine and my mum's place.

The danger is if he does this between the internal courtyard and living room, where the floor height between the two is about 6 inches, the walker will probably do a flip / summersault. I don’t know where he got this idea from, but you know how toddlers are these days. They learn very fast.

So these days, we have to confine him to the playpen or settle with him crawling on the floor which is much safer. Time to invest in baby gates real soon…

picture of him and walker taken during Xmas 06

recent picture of Aiden, with sexy top!!

Weekend Updates

16 July 2007, Monday

Allergy Report

We got a call from the doctor's over the weekend (finally after 3 long weeks) on the result to Aiden's allergy test. He was tested to be highly positive (is there such a thing?) aka highly allergic to Chicken, Egg White and Egg Yolk. Our doctor also recommended that Aiden stay away from them for at least the next 1 year, aiyoo ~ that means till he turns 2.

On the positive note, his allergy test returned as negative for Pork, Anchovies and Fish. However, we are still going to be super cautious when we try out any of the above new foods as I've heard from a blogger mummy that a negative test may not always be true if the baby has not had any of them before. (which is the case for Aiden)

~~

YES – NO

Another update on what Aiden learnt over the weekend:

YES : Bobs his head up and down, sometimes quite vigorously too

NO : Shakes his head left to right to left, again but it's really funny to see him at the start of the shake because he finds it difficult to do so. He must put his chin to his chest before he can shake his head!!

Does anyone know how to teach a toddler to understand the meaning of Yes or No? Right now, he's only doing it because we ask him to.

~~

Jogoya Restaurant, Starhill KL

We thought we'd try out this place on Saturday night, so I called on Saturday evening to make a dinner reservation. The hostess was very courteous and told me to take down my reservation number – D79…. Aiks! Sounds like Durian lar….

We got there around 8pm, and boy oh boy, you should see the spread of food!! Sorry huh, we were too engrossed with baby plus orientating ourselves so that we could find our way back to the table (yes the place can fit like 1,000 people!) that I forgot to take photos!! Aiden was such a darling and didn’t fuss on bit throughout dinner. I think it was also because we bought a whole Tupperware of his organic biscuits, so he was busy munching on it.

Anyhow, I'd recommend it if you have a good appetite and if you are a seafood lover. It aint exactly 5-star dining, but if you want a good fix of unlimited soft shell crabs, unagi, cod, fresh oysters, coconut drink and Haagen Daaz ice cream, then this is it! Oh, I must mention the dessert spread is yummy with a wide selection on mochi too! Dinner per pax is RM88++.

It was also a birthday treat for my maid – oh what the heck, it's only once a year.

Home Sick

09 July 2007, Monday

This confirms that Aiden pines for his bedroom and bed when it comes to sleeping at night. Hubby and I went for a wedding dinner last Saturday (auspicious 07-07-07) and I was a little apprehensive on how he would behave during bedtime. We took him to Mum's place in the evening prior to going out.

When I called in at 9pm, Dad told me that Aiden refused to go to bed. Each time Mum took him upstairs, he started to cry. They resorted to switching off the lights but he still cried. Dad said that they may end up going for a car ride to get him to fall asleep.

The second time I called at 10pm, Aiden was already fast asleep. But not until my parents took him on a car ride which lasted for at least 20 minutes, before he fell asleep.

It's strange that babies can really differentiate between day time naps and night time sleep. Well, I guess my boy will need more training, because Hubby and I will be going on a holiday later in the year and he's staying home with Mum or MIL!!

13 Month Update

02 July 2007, Monday

Here's the 13 month update on Aiden. Seems like just yesterday that I was doing the 5 month update, and now my boy is officially a toddler ~ oh well, he's been a toddler since he turned one but he'll always be my little baby!

Statistics
Weight : 10.2kg
Height: 76.4cm

Food
0830: 7oz milk
1000: 1 fruit
1200: 1 bowl (progressing to more than 1 bowl soon!) porridge
1430: 6 oz milk
1700: 1 bowl porridge
2030: 6 oz milk
With rice cracker snacks in between meals

Naps
Usually skips morning naps these days (but will sleep if in the car going out on weekends) and will sleep in the afternoon for 1.5 – 2 hours. He sleeps by 8:30pm at night.

Verbal Cues
Can understand and points to most of his soft toys at home. Recognizes people and points to:

Papa (dad)
Mami (mummy)
Kakak (maid)
Ah Mah (maternal grandmother)
Ma Ma (paternal grandmother)
Ah Kong (maternal grandfather)


Comprehension
This is something new that he surprised me with last week. He can now do these actions when we tell him to:
- Wave Bye-bye
- Open his mouth and say "Ahh"
- Kong-Xi Kong-Xi by clasping his hands together (aiyo Chinese New Year also over already – preparing for next year maybe?)

Mobility
Still prefers to crawl or cruise. Doesn’t like to sit in the walker much these days, and prefers to be on the floor. He has recently progressed to crawling on his knees, if you've read here, he was crawling army style all these time! People say because he is heavy….

Little Rascal

22 June 2007, Friday

Aiden still cannot walk on his own, although he cruises quite well now. He's still quite lazy though and would usually sit on his bum-bum after a short while of standing. Mummies and daddies with walking toddlers would think ~ "Ahh...this woman crazy… you should enjoy while you can!!"

Nevertheless, Aiden makes up for it with his adventures climbing everything and anything:

1. Climbs the person's shoulders who is carrying him
2. Climbs the staircase
3. Climbs the sofa
4. Climbs headboard (tries to - but of course cannot reach)
5. Climbs on mummy/daddy if we are lying down with him

Here are some pix of him trying to climb this teak bench. He was actually trying to reach for some toys in a paper bag behind the bench. This reminds me of people rock climbing. See how he doesn’t have a ledge to lever himself upwards so he uses his fingers and arms to pull his whole body up…

here we go....

ahh - one leg up...


two legs up !!

Please excuse maid's face in pix. I was busy snapping photos and she had to make sure Aiden doesnt fall and smack his face!!

Things He Knows

12 June 2007, Tuesday


In the living room

Me : Where's the Fan?
Bebe : Looks at ceiling for Fan and smile

Me : Where's the Clock?
Bebe : Looks for the Clock on the wall and smile

Me : Where's the Ball?
Bebe : Looks for Soccer ball and finds it and smile

Me : Where's Ah-Kong (grandpa)?
Bebe : "hooh – hooh" – looks at the front door or top of stairs - *blank face* when cannot find his grandpa

In the bedroom

Me : Where's the Piggy Pig – Oink Oink?
Bebe : Looks at the sofa chair, finds it and smile

Me : Where's the Ducky Duck – Quack Quack?
Bebe : Looks for the Duck, picks it up and smile

Me : Where's Erin the Elephant – cause I dunno how to make elephant sound
Bebe : Grabs elephant by the trunk and smile

Me : Where's Daddy?
Bebe : Looks at the bed – then the door – then all over the room *blank face*


I'm trying to teach him body parts for weeks but he doesn’t seem to have the interests in learning

My Playful Boy

07 June 2007, Thursday

Aiden is at the stage where he's totally aware of the surroundings and is able to response to questions/commands. He kind of knows the consequences of the actions that he takes, and will usually do the complete opposite of what we tell him to.

2030 - 2100 hours
Obediently goes to sleep in his own cot. Either me or hubby will keep him company until he falls asleep.

0100 - 0200 hours
Wakes up, stands up in his cot and goes "huuh" "huuh" "huuh". He wants to get into our bed to sleep with us. At this point, I'm too damn tired to think of consequences of my actions and will usually comply.

0200 – 0700 hours (on good days which unfortunately I can count with 1 hand)
Sleeps right through without any incidents

0200 – 0700 hours (on most occasions)
Wakes up once in the middle of the night, we don’t know what time as it's still dark, to play. Will usually pull at mummy or daddy's hair, nose, mouth and pull himself to standing position at the headboard. Will play 't-i-m-b-e-r' by himself aka let himself fall backward onto the bed. Usually accidents will happen because he'll hit our head or body!!! Goes back to sleep after half hour to one hour.

0710 hours
Mummy and Daddy will usually wake up groggy and with a backache cause Aiden takes up most of the space on the bed even though we have a king size bed

H~E~L~P : I need advise on how to stop Aiden from waking up in the middle of the night. We tried to ignore him, but he will cry if we don’t bring him to our bed!

A Letter to Aiden

01 June 2007, Friday

Dear Aiden

A year ago, today – mummy was scheduled to deliver you by C-section at 11am. This was the long awaited moment by both mummy and daddy, as we waited in anticipation to see you arrive into our world.

Mummy was wheeled into the operating theater at 10am and waited at the corner of the waiting area, whilst watching the nurses and doctors move around going through their daily chores oblivious to an anxious mother, scared out of her wits, wondering if everything will be okay and if you will be delivered safely.

Then came the time when two of the nurses wheeled mummy into the Operating Room # 9 (I can still remember passing by each room). It felt extra cold in there and the room smelled of antiseptic wash. Both the gynecologist and anesthetist were already in the room chatting away, and soon prepared mummy for the operation. Mummy was put on local anesthetic to numb the lower body and soon the drug took effect and all mummy could do was move her upper arms and body.

It was a frightening moment when the doctor said that he was ready to make an incision, and mummy prayed hard that the drug was working at the optimum level – 200% if possible! There was a lot of movements and the doctor was telling me soon that they were going to extract the cord blood for storage. Yes mummy and daddy opted to keep your cord blood as medical insurance. At this point in time, mummy kept talking nonsense to the anesthetist, like asking him what the graph means, why are there so many buttons and knobs and even said that the machine used to monitor heart rate, blood pressure looked like a DJ console.

It certainly felt like an eternity but soon I heard the matron said that she could see your head – and the doctor said that there are about to take to baby out. The first words that the matron mentioned was, "Wah! This one's got a lot of hair". A few seconds later, you were born and announced to the world of your arrival with little screams which sounded like beautiful music to mummy's ears.

From that moment on, all fears and worries about the operation went flying out the window, as all mummy could do was focus on your cries which went from one corner of the room to another. I assume they were cleaning you and preparing you to be weighed. Shortly after, a nurse brought you to my side, and all mummy could do was smile, kiss your cheek as tears rolled down mummy's own. No words can explain the immense joy the first time I saw you after waiting for 9 long months. The feelings are also shared by daddy when you were brought into the waiting room.

Have a blessed birthday my dear son with many many more to come. Mummy and Daddy loves you.


With All My Love,
Mummy