Playtime with Shin Chan

Both Brendan and Eryn likes their cute, short, chubby and huggable Crayon Shin Chan soft toy.

They'll both literally fight over this soft toy.

Here's one pic of a very happy Eryn having a good time with Shin Chan and one of her older friend.

Mandi time

Babies love water. You just can't deny that. Like Brendan, Eryn just loves splashing in her little bath tub each time she takes a bath.

Cuckoo Cuckoo

Just want to share the pening-pening cuckoos in a shop I visted many, many years ago in Rothernburg, Germany which specialized in cuckoo clocks!

The clocks were carefully and beautifully hand-crafted. There were lots of designs and you can just be in that shop for an hour, staring at each cuckoo clocks!

Imagine having all the clocks stike at once! Cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo…..

Toddler language

Eversince I deliver Eryn, Brendan started talking and talking and talking, and most of the time at home. Outside, he’ll be as quiet as a mouse. Like all toddlers, his pronounciation wasn’t matured yet, but it’s improving by the day. To understand toddler talks, you have to be a parent to a toddler to understand the “foreign” language.

Some of his earlier pronounciation of some words were as follows :

Motorcycle – Moto-Ah-Geh
Crocodile – Koh-koh-die
This one - Jee Jahn
Don’t want - Duu when (we initially thought he said durian)
Shoe - Chooo
Socks - Chocks
Firecrackers - Far-yea-kah-kek

Now, this is Brendan’s favourite “rhyme”. You guess what it is:

“Chooo maa ker kah daddy coe.
Daddy chit ay pane go mea chee koe”

Kids say the darnest things!

Situation 1 – Brendan & mummy playing with a set of wild animals toys (given by a friend) for the first time.

Mummy : What’s this? (holding a tiger)
Brendan : tah-geh
Mummy : What about this? (holding a giraffe)
Brendan : jee-ghap
Mummy : What’s this? (holding a lion)
Brendan : nai-yen
Mummy : What’s this? (holding a hippopotamus)
Brendan : cow
Mummy : What?!! Cow? Hahahahahaha. No, this is a hippo!!
Brendan : hahahahahaha. Hippo! Hippo!


Situation 2 – Brendan and mummy going for a walk downstairs around the apartment.

Brendan : Mummy! Mummy!
Mummy : Yes, Brendan?
Brendan : Old man. Got one eye.
Mummy : One eye? Where?
Brendan : There (pointing to a four-wheel drive)
Mummy : Huh? Where?
Brendan : There….. Uncle drive car.
Mummy : Oh, the uncle who drives this car has only one eye is it?
Brendan : (nods head). Car accident. Bom! Eye gone.

Brendan takes mummy hand and walks towards the four-wheel drive.
Brendan points at the picture by the car door which is actually the face of a pirate with one eye covered. Hahaha.


Situation 3 – Brendan and mummy shopping in Tesco on Hari Raya Haji eve. There was a huge piece of meat hanging from a pole, with some blood on the plastic mat below it

Brendan : Mummy, mummy. See….. got blood. (pointing to the blood on the floor)
Mummy : eeeee…… don’t go near there Brendan. It’s dirty.
Brendan : Mummy, mummy. Blood! Accident. Cow die.

Haiyo….. the things this fella says! Don’t know where he learns from.


Situation 4 – Mummy came back from work.

Brendan : Mummy, poh-poh cut pandan leep.
Mummy : Oh! Brendan follow poh-poh to cut pandan leaves ar?
Poh-Poh : Brendan, poh-poh use pandan leaves to cook what?
Brendan : Barley…… Chweet potato choop (as in sweet potato soup)…….Kaya......Kitchin lice (as in chicken rice)…… Jen-nee (as in jelly)….. Boh-Boh-Cha-Cha……


Situation 5 - Brendan and his poh-poh (grandma) were having a conversation.

Poh-poh : What’s mei-mei’s name?
Brendan : Aye-Reen (as in Eryn)
Poh-poh : What’s daddy’s name?
Brendan : (says his daddy’s name correctly)
Poh-Poh : What’s mummy’s name?
Brendan : (says his mummy’s name correctly)
Poh-Poh : What’s poh-poh’s name?
Brendan : (says poh-poh’s name correctly)
Poh-poh : What’s kong kong’s (grandpa) name?
Brendan : Ah-na Ah-na Ah-na Ah-na(grandpa likes to go “ah-na ah-na ah-na” whenever Brendan makes lots of noise)

Cheesy Situation

Cheese – either you love it, or hate it.

My hubby has always been a cheese lover. He once took back a small pack of cheese given to him by a friend during one of his visit to Germany. I don’t know what kind of cheese that was but the whole house smelt strongly of that cheese once the pack was opened. In fact, he was asked by his friend to pack it nicely cos the cheese will cause a lingering smell which will take some time to go away.

I normally stick to my usual sliced cheedar cheese for my bread or the cheedar block where I cut a small piece for my pasta. Lately, Brendan has a liking for cheese as well after daddy came back from Mexico last month with some small tubs of French cheese spread.. Brendan likes it on his bread with a little butter or sometimes, just the cheese spread on its own.

During his first outing with us to a Christmas buffet dinner, he happily tried the various types of cheese there and happily chewed on it!! Boy, was I extremely surprise by his liking for cheese. I’ve put a temporary stop to the cheesy breakfast meal and it’s been 5 days since he last had cheese. He hasn’t asked for it since and it was a relieve to me that he isn’t a cheese-addict after all.

I remember one trip to Karlstadt, a small town in Germany. I came across huge pies of cheese in one of their local market. Some of the cheese can be as big as the tyre of a tractor, if not bigger! I suddenly felt all cheesy all over. I’ve never come across such big blocks of cheese in Malaysia anyway. In fact, everything else was big.

In one particularly dinner meal, I ordered a bowl of salad, soup and main course. Our German friends stared at me in awe when I made my order. I didn’t know what the surprises were all about until the food arrived. The single serving of salad was as big as a big bowl of salad for about 3-4 persons in Malaysia. And the delicious creamy mushroom soup alone looks like a maindish by itself, with a generous serving of bread. By the time the main dish came, I almost died! It could feed a family of 4! The main dish has it’s own serving of salad. Gosh, I was simply embarrassed by my order and didn’t want to look like a terrible guest. I later seeked permission to ta-paoed the unfinished food. It was one of the main joke of the night.

Lion dance performer

Brendan trying to do his lion dance performance for all at home. One 'stiff' performer :-)

Toys!

Daddy and mummy seldom buy toys for Brendan and Eryn. Most of their toys are hand-me-downs or are bought at a local church garage sale. One of daddy’s close friend gave daddy lots and lots of toys today. Daddy’s friends children are now in primary school and their interest has now swing to computer games, board games and card games.

There were plastic bags and one big big basket full of toys. Dozens and dozens of them – action figurine toys, McD’s and KFC toys, play-doh sets, cooking set, a set of wild animals toys, soft toys – big and small and some with sound, cars, aeroplanes, helicopters, a set of old drums, an electrical keyboard, a remote control car, two battery operated dancing dolls, alphabet mats, a bowling set and a writing table.

We are planning to wash everything tomorrow and keep more than half of the toys for future playing. We gave a few away to one of their poor give year old friend.

Anyway, it’s a good post-Christmas gift for the kids.

Brendan & Eryn engrossed with their “new” toys.

We took Brendan to his friend’s birthday party at MacDonald’s Sunway Pyramid last night. It was one of my very good childhood friend’s eldest son early 2nd birthday celebration. It was Brendan’s second time eating at a fastfood restaurant. He doesn’t seem to like fastfood except for French fries which I find to be a little salty for children. Well, he liked the hot milo too. So, that was his dinner. Well, he had “dessert” later – his usual nen-nen.

Brendan giving Dennis a big birthday hug!

New Year 2006

It’s a brand new year and I wish for a brand new me. Things at work have been quite uncertain for me and I do wonder where this year will head on. I’m starting work officially at a new environment in 2 days time. Same company, different situation, different environment, different location, different experience. I’ve no resolutions to set this year. I’ve no time to sit and think carefully about any resolutions actually.

There are so many things on my mind, and I’m trying to reorganize myself at this point of time.

Currently, I’m pretty much contented with the time I’m spending with my kids and contented that my mum is still so kind to help us out with the kids while we work, The kids alone are a blessing to me and it over-rules all other worries I always have.

Here’s taking the opportunity share with you one of my favourite sms greetings of all time :

“GOD will be ABOVE you – to BLESS you,
BELOW you – to SUPPORT you,
BEFORE you to GUIDE you,
BEHIND you, to PROTECT you,
BESIDE you – to COMFORT you,
And INSIDE you – to SUSTAIN you.

HAVE A BLESSED YEAR AHEAD EVERYONE!

New Year's Eve

Instead of going out for a night’s fun, the whole family decided to stay in to watch Lord Of The Ring on tv and wait for the clock to strike midnight. The kids had been out too much before Christmas and in one 3-days-in-a-row outing where we’d been back late, Eryn had been sleeping at midnight since that outing until now. So, we are trying to “retune” her sleeping schedule.

Our apartment is situated on a hill and we had the lucky opportunity to view various fireworks going on at the padang near our house, at another nearby hill situated not far from where we are as well as fireworks at Sunway, Bukit Jalil and some unknown location. Brendan and Eryn had already fallen asleep when it was almost midnight.

Suddenly, there were sounds of firecrackers and while watching tv, we saw fireworks at around midnight. Brendan loves looking at fireworks and we tried to wake Brendan up. As he was so sleepy, we had to carry him out of bed. After swinging his head from side to side, up and down for few good minutes, he finally fluttered his eyes to see what the loud voices and fusses were all about. At the sight of the beautiful fireworks, he immediately opened his eye big-big and started pointed here and there up in the sky, going “wah!..... wah!......cantik-cantik…..”

With the loud noises and the “wahs” and “ooooos” and “cantik-cantik”, Eryn too woke up from her sleep. We too carried her to the balcony to join in the family fun of fireworks-watching. After more than half hour, they both dozed off to sleep happily.

Doctor doctor!

I took my mum to a government hospital somewhere in KL for a check-up and we had to wait really long just to see the doctor.

Her appointment was scheduled to be at 10am. We arrived at 9:40am, registered my mum, and the waiting game began. We didn't get to see the doctor until around 11:35am. We entered the room and saw a few of the 4th year students sitting inside. Two of the students were then asked to entertain us. We were promised that it would only take 15 minutes. Well, the whole thing actually took one hour and the kind of questions they ask can really make you wonder how qualified these doctors are.

These two female 4th year students can't speak proper English, whatmore wanting us to "TRY" to understand what they're trying to say. They kept repeating the same questions and some of the questions are totally absurb. Among them are....

"How do you feel today?" (they asked this numerous times within that one hour interview)
"How do you feel the last time?" (asked this twice)
"Do you know where you are now?" (DUH!!!)
"Do you know what's the date today?" (despite writing it down on the paper)
"How old are you now?" (despite asking many times about the birth of date)
"How do you minus 7 from 100?" (what?! mathematic class ar?)
"You know, world, how you spell back?" (what? I don't understand leh...)
(she meant to ask how to you spell "world" backwards!! whatever for?!)
"How many children you have?" (after telling them I'm the eldest, and followed by one boy and one gal....)

The list goes on and on.... It was like a typical teacher-student classroom interview setting. They were treating my mum like some sort of a stupid person.

My mum can't really speak and understand BM and they took the advantage of whispering to each other in BM. My mum told them that she was taking a medicine for health and one of the student whispered to the other student, "apa ubat itu? tahu tak?"

I was sighing away, reading my papers and occasionally give them that really hard glare.....

Finally, I exploded and told them off, telling them that I do lots of reading myself and is quite knowledgeable and that what they're doing is really so unprofessional. I may not be a doctor but I don't think a doctor should treat an illiterate person like some donkey. Immediately they kept their trap up. They even relay some wrong information to the main doctor we were supposed to see cos when that doctor reviewed us, she told us that based on what she compiled from the two students, she gathered that my mum said this and that, which I found really amusing. I stared at them back and even corrected that the medicine my mum is taking is not what they claimed it to be. They immediately looked down and flip through their book.

Now I know why my friends who are now doctors in other countries just do not want to come back to Malaysia to work. And I also know why some friends do not have the confidence in Malaysia's young doctors!!

Christmas Day

Mummy woke up feeling a little groggy and upset. Groggy cos didn't get a good sleep last night. Upset cos daddy's flight from Mexico was delayed. Daddy was supposed to be back on Christmas even. Mana tau, the queue was so long, 6 hours to be exact, and that made daddy missed his flight!! And then, gotta change flight, transitting in Paris and then Singapore, which caused further delay and daddy was finally home at almost Christmas day midnight!

Mummy took Brendan out to Putra Stadium for a very nice presentation by a group of children, and then continued on at the Children's party in one of the VIP lounge. Brendan was particularly excited at seeing his very first puppet show. And then, he kept pulling me to get him one of those helium balloons.

Mummy then took Brendan for his very first lunch at MacDonald's as well. He saw the Ronald MacDonald figure from far, pointed at it and said "Mummy, old man!" hahaha.

"No, that's Ronald MacDonald", mummy said.

Then he said, "MacDonald Duck!" MacDonald Duck!"

Mummy later took Brendan out together with Po-Po and Auntie Karen for a Christmas buffet dinner at Sunway Lagoon Resort Hotel with lots and lots of food. Everyone, including Brendan, ate until perut wanna pao-cha.

Then, we went for a stroll, hoping to digest the food, while admiring some nice glittering lights and beautiful christmas tree nearby.

We went back home at almost 11pm and waited for daddy to come home.

Brendan and his very satisfied and cheeky Christmasy grin....

I LIVE it my way

With so many of my colleagues leaving, the goodbyes seem to be quite unbearable. My mailbox is full with goodbyes and notes and messages, short and long. Two emails particularly caught my heart.

One said this.... " I leave you with this thought; it's a line from an old french war song...... Chacun Son Tour. Aujourd'hui le tien, demain le mien. To each his turn. Today yours, tomorrow mine."

This one touched my heart even more. It seems to potray what I want to say as well...

I guess the end is near, and so I face, the final curtain.
My friend, I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which I'm certain.
I've lived, a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway.
And more, much more than this,
I live it my way.

Regrets, I've had a few, but then again, too few to mention.
I did, what I had to do, and saw it through, without exemption.
I planned, each charted course, each careful step, along the byway,
and more, much more than this,
I live it my way.

Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew,
When I bit off, more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up, and spit it out.
I faced it all, and I stood tall,
and live it my way.

I've loved, I've laughed and cried,
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside, I find it all so amusing.
To think, I did all that, and may I say --- not in a shy way,
"Oh no, oh no not me,
I live it my way".

For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things, he truly feels,
And not the words, of one who kneels.
The record shows, I took the blows ---
And live it my way!

Mummy work there...

This morning, my son saw my name tag and access card and pointed to it and say "mummy work there".

Brendan recognises my company logo a few months back and I believe credance should go to his grandma or daddy (despite them denying teaching my son that) cos I've never tell him where I work in. Whenever he sees my company's logo in the newspaper, he'll go "mummy work there". He sees it on the paper bag, he'll go "mummy work there". Whenever he sees the logo on a car or in a banner, or on a t-shirt, or in a magazine, or paperbag, or anywhere else, he'll go "mummy work there".

Each time he says it, I'll be patient and reply "smart boy! Yes, mummy work in this company" and smile.

This morning, it was a different story. With low morale, and straight face, I told Brendan "Yes, mummy work here, but mummy might not be working in this company in the future". I then went to work with tears swelling in my eyes.

For those who know of the vss announcement, I was asked to stay on to serve the company. I wrote in an appeal but was rejected. For certain reasons, my morale has been very low, I'm demotivated and gloomy. 3 days ago, I've rejected a high pay job to give myself a chance to serve the company, but in a different environment now.

I've loved my job and my company all these while. The last day for my colleagues who got the vss is today. I'll be having 2 farewell parties today. The place has been very nostalgic for me. I thought everything should be ok until Brendan had to point out to me and made me aware of the presence and facts of what's happening.

The sentence "mummy work there" lies lingering in my head the whole morning...

Home Orchestra

The flu season is in. Everyone in the house were either sneezing, coughing, sniffing, talking in a coarse voice and the two kids are making all sort of orchestra.

This mini orchestra had been going on for quite a while. My little girl is not that badly affected and I believe it's the power of breastmilk. With Christmas around the corner, I wonder what kind of Christmas we'll be having.

It's "nggghhhhmmm" here and "heeeekkk heeeekkk" there, "sqeirubndfsbdt" here and "sigh...." there....

Tong Yuen Festival

Can't resist eating tong tuen. Here's some pics taken while some relatives made the tong yuen. Simply yummy!

Here's wishing everyone a happy "Mid Autmn Festival" or " Ko Tong Chi".

Eryn - simply pictures 2

My little gal, now 6 and a half months old....

Eryn - simply pictures 1

Times Square display

I too joined the gang in posting some shots to TIME Magazine's Person of the Year for display in Times Square, New York. Didn't expect the reply to come back on the day itself.

Here's two of the shots :

Brendan on Times Square, 14th December 2005

Eryn on Times Square, 14th December 2005