My Security Blankie....er, Sling!

Eversince our Bangkok trip last December, I have taken more than a liking for my sling. It has become a comfort object for me. One day, while everyone was so busy doing their own things at home, I noticed the sling was in my bag. I managed to pull it out and sprawled it out on the floor, lay on it and sucked my thumb. Ah Por saw me first in this state and told Papa about it. The rest is history...

I will grab part of it with my hand and suck my thumb while the other hand will just hold on to it and I will rub my fingers against the cloth...this soothes me and most of the time, it will soothe me to sleep.

Mummy has used this to her advantage... She'll use this to keep me quiet when I get cranky in the car or to put me to sleep when I refuse to fall asleep myself for my afternoon naps. She told Papa that this is the best investment so far as she can't leave home without it now (she's so used to it for carrying me around that when she carries me without the sling, she'll say that I'm getting heavier... I'll say that she's not strong enough and she should be thanking me for giving her that added muscles in her arms!).

My Chinese New Year 2007 - Part 2

Since Ah Mai was still around, she followed me to my music class and also attended the class with us that Saturday after we returned from our trip. Thanks to her, we had the following pictures. Mummy has been thinking of taking some pictures in class but Papa never wants to join in for the sessions (actually only one parent is allowed in class if it's a full class but Mummy noticed that even if it's a full class, some parents did not obey the rules so she asked Ah Mai to sit in that day).

Dancing to one of the tunes in class

This is the massage time in class, something I don't really like and usually will protest. Somehow, Ah Mai managed to get this shot!

The above picture was taken before class, we visited Aunty SW, Uncle A and their son, S. I was messing up their place with S' toys.

The above picture was taken after class that day, I love mirrors and I was playing around with this one at the department store

The next day, Ah Mai left to get back to LA. We decided to hang out at the airport for a bit and also for me to see the planes landing and taking off.

Bye Ah Mai... CNY has come and gone in a breeze....we shall see you again in July yea! And thank you so much for the lovely presents.

My Chinese New Year 2007 - Part 1

It started out at Mummy's Grandma's house...I had fun playing, eating and playing...I got to see some fire crackers and I was not scared of it. In fact, my curiosity got the better of me that I wanted to go nearer and see what all the lights and sounds were about but Mummy didn't let me. Only thing that I was terrified of is Pheobe, Mummy's Grandma's dog...I jumped and screamed every time it comes near me. I now look at "woh woh" at a different way, something that terrifies me alot!

The next day, 1st day of CNY, we went to pick Ah Mai (Papa's sister) up from the airport and we were off to Cameron Highlands...the journey was a long one for me. The traffic was alright till we got into Camerons itself. I did get restless along the way and after a few attempts by Mummy in entertaining me with my toys and books (she brought along a bagful of them), she gave up and gave me my snacks. That got me quiet for some time till I had enough of snacks.

Tired from the long journey

When we finally reached our destination, Ah Kong, Ah Por (Paternal's granparents) and Peh Deh (Papa's brother) were there to greet us. Ah Mai unpacked and showed us what she got for me, yes, more clothes, very pretty ones and also the dog strap she got me. And I was forced to model the dog strap for them...

The next day, after collecting my ang pows (red packets filled with money), we went visiting. First to Mummy's uncle's Kopitiam (Chinese coffee shop) to see their newly opened shop and also we had lunch there. After that, we went to Ah Kong's family friend's home which took us 2 hours to get there (yes, it was only 2 towns away and all of us swore never ever to go to Camerons during CNY again). We hung out there for a bit till we got bored (well, us kids...meaning Papa, Mummy, Ah Mai and Peh Deh) and Ah Kong's family friend's second son took us to their flower farm (geberas) with his two children. We hung out at the flower farm for a bit as it was raining.

We spent the rest of the evening till late at the family friend's place....

We left for Penang the next day after saying our goodbyes to the family friends. The traffic was very bad. We all were too tired from the journey that we stayed at home (at Ah Kong's place) that evening.

Trying out Ah Mai's sun glasses on the way to Penang

We visited Aunty Jo and her son, KR kor kor the next day...and later we all spent some time shopping at the new mall in Penang.

The next day, we went visiting to Ah Kong's side...in between, Papa took us to check out the new Rasa Sayang hotel by the beach. The place was huge and I walked alot!

We left for KL the next afternoon and the traffic was very good. Papa was tired so Mummy decided to drive us back....I was so tired that I slept for 2 and half hours of the journey.

Below is the outcome for my CNY trip....

I fell down twice that day before we left for KL. The first one, I slipped and my face hit the wooden rice bucket at Ah Kong's place and as a result, I got the red line just above my right eye and the bridge of my nose. And then, a few hours later, I fell again and my face hit the chair. Noticed the slight bruise and bump at the left side of my left eye?! So mean of Mummy to take my picture like this, people would think that I've been abused eh?!!!

Ushering the year of the pig!

As usual, Papa will get carried away when he travels overseas...he had too much of time waiting at the airport when he was on his way home from Hong Kong last month. He had to transit for 3 hours at Singapore and he went shopping.

And this is what he got me...

And he also got the same for Mummy...



What's so special about these shoes? Here's a closer look at it...



Yeah, it's a special edition to usher in the new lunar year of the boar and Papa like the idea that both Mummy and I will be wearing the same shoes. It is still kinda big for me but it should last throughout the whole year.

On my physical developments :-

I was 8.1 kg and 70cm as at end of last month. I can walk steadily now and refused to be carried when we're outside. Mummy has gotten Ah Mai (Papa's sister) to get the "strap" from US (thanks to Belle's Mummy for the tip) and apparently she gotten me the Dog strap (not literary dog strap but where the bag part of the strap is in the shape of a dog, will put this up in the blog later when we've received it) as that was the only one left in the shop. I guess with this strap, I can run around when we're outside and Mummy and Papa dont have to worry about losing sight of me.

Actions that I can do when you ask me to :-

I can clap, "Gong Xi-Gong Xi!" (Sorry, Mummy didn't manage to get this on video yet), show you my tongue, touch my head, point at my nose, touch my ears, show you my belly button, dance, put back my toys, sit down, stand up, shake my head "no", point at things that I want you to get for me, pat on my lap, peek-a-boo, stomp my feet, shake my bum.

Words that I can say :

- Mum-Mum, Mama = for food and also for Mummy

- mmmore = no more, finished, don't have

- Duck-duck = duck

- isssth = please, cheese, fish

- deh = there

- wo-wo = dog, bird, or any animals that move

- ber = bird

- pah-pah = papa

Here' s wishing to all of you Gong Xi Fa Cai and have a good one!

We're still in KL as we have to wait for Ah Mai to arrive tomorrow (1st day of CNY) and then we'll be off to Cameron Highlands from the airport (poor Ah Mai, she was stranded in New York for 2 days as there were no flights out to LA so she had to wait, she was supposed to arrive here yesterday). Ah Kong, Ah Por and Peh Deh (Papa's brother) will be up at Camerons today and will have their reunion dinner without us. As for us three, we will be joining Mummy's side for the reunion dinner which is the usual at her grandma's house. Will blog more after our trip to Camerons and Penang!

Gong Xi, Gong Xi!

Valentines

We all had a good Valentine's...Papa surprised Mummy with him cooking dinner for her, salad, steak and 3 types of desserts too! All Mummy's favourites, strawberries, durian ice cream (NZ natural ice cream) and chocolates. I had some durian ice cream too...yum yum! Yes, I like durians, already had the real thing the week before and both Mummy and Papa were surprised that I also like the bitter ones!

Mummy felt bad that she got nothing for Papa, she's been too busy with work to even think of Valentine's! So she ended up washing up the kitchen and dishes after dinner while Papa tended to me.

But I had a Valentine's present for papa....I finally called him "Papa"!!!!

Where's Mummy?

Hmmm...it's Mummy's turn now to go missing. Papa picked me up from Aunty Ng's Friday evening and when we got home, I thought it was the usual where we will wait for Mummy to come home from work but that was not the case. Instead Ah Kong and Ah Por (paternal grandparents) were there to greet us. While we were having dinner, I heard some sounds outside of our door and I thought it was Mummy. So I kept looking at that direction hoping that Mummy will appear but she didn't.

After dinner, I followed Papa to the room and I thought that Mummy could be in the shower. Usually, Papa will let me go look for her there and I will push the toilet door open just to see Mummy there. So this time, I went there, pushed the door open and called out "mama...mum-mum...mama" (my way of calling Mummy and yes, it's Mummy that I called out to first) but Mummy was not there at all.

That night, it was Papa that got me ready for bed and he put me to sleep. I was quite well behaved and did not wake up at all in the night (I usually will wake up once in the night for milk).

Next morning, it was just Papa to greet me and when Ah Por asked me where is Mummy, I just have her my "no more/don't have/finished" hand sign.

Papa showered me (yea, it's been showers for me and no more baths for the past month at home) for the first time and he found it difficult to wash my hair. Lucky Ah Por was around to help out. He also fed me my porridge which I finished all of it.

I had my music class that day so Papa took me to class for the first time too, all by himself. He wanted me to skip the class since Mummy is not around but Mummy insisted since it's too troublesome to replace a class. We had fun.

After class, Papa took me to Shawn's Kor Kor house. We hung out there and I had fun playing with him. Then it was time to go home as Papa said Mummy is on her way home.

When we got home, I finally saw Mummy and I was all smiles after that, clinging on to Mummy for a while. It's my way of telling her "please don't go missing again ok?!"

When Mummy heard that Papa enjoyed himself looking after me, she said that he will get his chance again soon. She's extra proud of him for taking me to class for the first time and said that they should take turns taking me to class but Papa was not too keen on this.

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Mummy's version

This is my first time being away from Rye Li at nights since she was born. I had to go away for a night for work and I initially had mixed feelings about this. Happy that I'm taking this first step and at the same time, worried about how Rye Li will feel and whether her Papa can handle her or not. An ex-colleague of mine told me that if I don't take this first step, it will be forever hard to let go and that we Mummies need our time-out too.

Maybe since it was only for a night that I was away, I didn't really feel bad about leaving them alone. Also, there wasn't really time to think about them as the strategy workshop we had was really intensive, all the way to 10-45pm at night and to be continued the next day at 9am till 5pm.

But having said that, I did feel it a little when her Papa sms-ed me that she was looking for me in the shower, calling out to me. But I was really mentally exhausted that night that I didn't think about it much. I was just looking forward to sleeping peacefully through the night (but this was not the case as I'm so used to getting up in the middle of the nights to feed her and also to check on her). Sigh!

I was really happy to see her (and of course her papa too) when I got back home and it was interesting to see her smiling all the time while I was carrying her. She also kept looking up at me just to make sure I'm there and kept on smiling. She refused to let me go even when I put her down to walk, clinging on to my sleeves. And this is just for one night of me being away. I wonder how she will react when I'm away for 3 nights end of the month.