A Day of Celebrations!

It's the 2nd Sunday in May, can you guess what day is today? Yes, it's Mother's Day. Daddy taught me how to make a card for Mommy and Amah. Here's the one for Mommy. I wrote everything on my own, except for the guided heart shape.

I know, I know. It's not very pretty. Especially my writings. But at least I did it all on my own, that's what matters most, right? There's no photo of the card that I made for Amah. Mommy hadn't got a chance to take it yet and Amah had kept it. Anyway, the truth is, it's not as nice as Mommy's. I lost my patience and cincai wrote only, much to Daddy's disappointment.

But, that was not all. Last Friday, I've brought this home from school for Mommy. So now they all knew why my lips were red with lipstick that day.

Apart from Mother's Day, there's another celebration today. We're also going to celebrate my cousin, Baby Samantha's 1st birthday. She's just 6 days older than Juin Juin while her sister Sarah is 3 weeks younger than me. What a co-incidence that our Mommies gave birth to us about the same time - 2 pairs somemore!

We went to Samantha's birthday party after church. Yes, we all went to church together this time, including Amah! Actually I was the one who insisted that Amah came along too, or else I'd cry. That's why she was there too. But I was so naughty that I caused a little tension in the environment later.

At Samantha's birthday party, we had lots of fun. All my uncles were there too. Sarah & Samantha had 3 uncles, while Juin Juin and I had 2 uncles.

Juin Juin and Samantha - see how they communicate :) So small already started finger-pointing!

A close-up on the beautiful birthday girl - with Kim Poh (who's her Amah)

More pics:

Top left: The Amahs with their grandaughters' chilling out session

Top right: Me riding Sarah's bicycle with her cousin, Jason while 2nd Chik Chik trying to feed me

Bottom Left: Mommy feeding Juin Juin her porridge (yes, Mommy brought it along to the party too)

Bottom Right: Mommy carrying Samantha and Juin Juin

Yummilicious food which I've got a license to eat, yay!
The attraction of the day - the Princess Birthday Cake, which was chosen by Cousin Sarah for her sister

Singing the birthday song - can you see that Juin Juin was clapping too? Actually, both Sarah & I were more excited compared to the babies, we wanted the balloons and presents on top of the cake. And, once we've finished singing the song, Sarah immediately blew the candle, before anyone could stop her!
Birthday girl with her Mommy and Sister, about to cut the cake. Yeah, the sister got to do the cutting.

It sure was fun, but very tiring. Juin Juin immediately dozed off once we got into the car to go home.

But, after that, we went for a swim in the evening. Somehow, I got over my phobia of the water already, and even wiling to try the water slide. However, nobody knows how long will that last. After Mommy took Juin Juin up for a bath, I continued to stay down there with Daddy. He taught me how to play with my new surf board. Just then, I saw Amah at the balcony and I was so excited. I waved and jumped, looking up at her. Right then, I lost my footing and I fell into the water! What a shock I had. I cried and cried and cried. Daddy was afraid if that'll mean my phobia for water will return. We'll see... For now, I just wanted to rest. Enough marathon for the day!

Wesak Day

This year on Wesak Day, Daddy took us along to the temple. It was my first time there, since I was quite small the previous years. Daddy normally went at night, on the eve. But this year, he went on the actual day in the morning. So we get to go too. There were so many crowds there.

What I loved best was the chance of giving baby Buddha a bath. That was an experience worth lining up for. You see, we had to queue to get to this stage, and it's not a short line, mind you. Mommy even had time to go back to the car to get the camera (we parked quite a distance away), so you could imagine how long the queue was.

After that, we had vegetarian lunch there and browse thru some of the books. Daddy would have wanted to visit a few more temples, but since Juin Juin haven't taken her lunch yet, we went to Penang Bowl instead. Mommy wanted to find a place not that crowded and with a baby chair so that she could feed Juin Juin. We all had eaten except her, poor her. So Daddy chose Penang Bowl where we had a good environment to feed her.

It's my first time seeing people bowl and I enjoyed it. I was still too small to bowl, don't even have the energy to carry the ball. I learnt that the conveyor belt where they transfered the ball had aircond! And Daddy had a great time too, after all these years.

My First Chinese Birthday

My 1st Chinese Birthday falls on the eve of Wesak Day. In fact, my chinese birthday is actually the eve of Wesak Day. Hmm... is that why Daddy call me Little Buddha? Look at these pics and you'll know what he meant...

We had a little ceremony just like what Jie Jie had ~2.5 years ago. It's a Friday, and Mommy & Daddy took half day off to celebrate with me. Amah had boiled mee suah and red egg for me. My babysitter gave me an ang pow when Mommy fetched me back that day. At home, Amah and Mommy fed me mee suah to symbolise long life. Since my Poh Poh was not around, Mommy was supposed to represent her to feed me chicken drumstick. According to Amah, this would ensure that I always have good food to eat later in my life. They got me KFC's drumstick :) I hold on tightly to it and wouldn't want to let go!

Ah, did you see how I wanted to eat the egg too? The last photo at the bottom right. Mommy had to quickly pull it away, because she didn't want me to eat it since I was not exactly 1 year old yet according to the amoh calendar.

Later, Daddy, Mommy and Amah gave me ang pow to symbolise good luck. Did you see Jie Jie in the pics with me too? She kept wishing me Happy Birthday and was very nice to me that day.

After we're done with the food, next came the ritual. An abacus, a ruler, a book and a pen were placed in front of me. It seemed that the first object that I picked would represent my first career inclination. Guess what I took first?

Yes, like Jie Jie, I picked the abacus first. So, I'll be an accountant too next time? Mommy guessed that it's because we've not seen an abacus before, that's why we were more inclined to pick that first. Anyway, Mommy didn't really believe all this, just followed Amah's wishes for a traditional chinese custom to celebrate my 1st Chinese birthday. I played with it for quite a while and needed some promptings from Mommy to pick the next item.

What came next?
Ah, a pen, which symbolise a writer. And after the pen, I chose...

A book. I've seen Jie Jie writing before, so I made some gestures as if to mimick writing with my pen and book!

Unlike Jie Jie who picked all 4 items, I didn't. I didn't want to pick that ruler. Maybe because it's so hard to pick up? Instead I went off to play with Jie Jie :)

P/s: By the way, today I learnt to use the potty, and I managed to deposit some gold bars in it :)

Kor Kor's Wedding

Last Saturday, I attended my first wedding dinner. It was Kor Kor's wedding. This Kor Kor is the 2nd daughter of my Chik Kong.

Hmm...I attended my first when I was not 1 yet (2 more weeks to go), while Jie Jie attended her first after she's 1 (about 2weeks after). That was Mommy's colleague's wedding.

Everyone was nicely dressed up:

The wedding dinner:

Jie Jie was having fun with the Chik Chiks. 2nd Chik Chik fed her that night, and the other Chik Chiks (Sarah's Ah Kus) entertained her. Luckily they were there, because she was rather occupied and didn't fight with me for Mommy's attention.
I was having fun with my drink - yamm.....seng!
I was rather sticky to Mommy, and didn't want anybody to carry me. Daddy was sitting at the main table with the bride & groom, so he's not always available. But at times, he came by and helped to carry me so that Mommy could eat and take breaks in between.

The bride and the groom and their parents:

During the tea ceremony:

On the bottom left, the lady with us was Kor Poh (Daddy's Aunty) while at the bottom right, that was 3rd Chik Chik (Daddy's youngest brother). Daddy didn't managed to take a photo of Kor Kor the bride, but Jie Jie noticed that she's dressed in pink. Oh, not the normal white wedding gown yet, because the actual one would be in KL at the groom's side next week.

1st Hair Cut

I was quite hairless compared to Jie Jie. The only time they do anything with my hair was during my full moon, where my head was completely shaven like Jie Jie.
But, unlike Jie Jie, my hair had not really grown much since then. So, maybe that's why it never get trimmed either, although Amah had wanted to trim it during the Chinese New Year but she never get to do it.

Ah, talking about hairs, it reminded me of this. Did you notice that I had this heart shape at the crown of my head?

Nobody knew why, but when all my hairs grown back, it's not that obvious anymore.

Ok, back to my haircut. So yesterday morning, I had my first haircut at home. I was rather kuai and let them do it without much interruption.


Hmm... after this, Mommy continued to trim my front fringe, and here's how I look (not much different actually due my lack of hair state).

My 1st Trip

Last weekend, we went to Cameron Highlands. It was my first trip outstation, other than to Poh Poh & Gong Gong's house. But you know what? I realised that Jie Jie also haven't been to Cameron Highlands before. So we're both very excited.

Mommy packed lots of food for us, just in case we got hungry halfway. She prepared pumpkin porridge and also baked some potatoes as our lunch and dinner for that day. On top of that, we also had raisins, cocoa crunch (which I still can't eat yet) in between meals. And oh yes, Jie Jie got to eat the home-baked banana cake which Mommy ordered from Alex's Gong Gong. I could see that it was very yummy, all of them enjoyed it. Why, oh why I couldn't eat it? But Amah curi-curi gave me some tar sau piah, so oklah, I don't feel so bad :)

Our first stop was a the Rose Garden, after a short lunch at one of the restaurants in Brinchang. To our surprise, we also saw other things there, like cactus, rabbits, peacock, ostrich, etc.. Being kids, of couse we're more interested in the animals rather than the plants, including the rose.
Halfway touring the place, Jie Jie suddenly said she wanted to do her big business. Mommy told her to wait until we checked into the hotel. But she said, can't. Yau chu lai liao. So Mommy took her to the public toilet. Ah, according to Mommy, she's doing very well. It's the squatting toilet, and it's her first time outside. Phew, Mommy had been worried before on how to handle it when it comes to this when we're outside, and it turned out to be ok.

After that, we checked into our room at Equatorial Hotel. We had some fun checking out stuffs and relaxing in there.

Jie Jie and I loved the bed, we jumped and rolled on it for quite sometime. Then, since none of us want our nap, Daddy and Mommy and Amah decided to let us try the strawberry-picking experience at the farm just outside the hotel.

It was fun, but rather dangerous since the plants were lined up on the slopes. Still, we managed to pick rather big ones. And there's how I got to taste my next new food - strawberry. I loved it.

After that, we stopped by Kea Market to buy some vegetables. Halfway shopping, Jie Jie was so tired and slept right there! Daddy took her back to the car, and I slept later when Mommy breastfed me in the car. Instead of going back to the hotel to rest, Daddy took us for a scenic drive since he didn't want to interrupt our nap. But none of us got to see it since we're still sleeping. Here're some photos taken at the Bharat Plantation.We woke up not long later. So we stopped by to have a charcoal steamboat dinner in Brinchang. Hmm...maybe I should rephrase. They had the charcoal steamboat dinner, while I ate my porridge & baked potato which Mommy prepared this morning. The restaurant owner was very nice to heat it up for us. Jie Jie only ate a little of that, she finished the raisins instead.

At night, it took awhile for us to settle down because we're so excited from the day's trip. 4 of us slept on a king-sized bed while Amah slept at the additional bed which was placed just beside the king-sized bed, so Jie Jie and I got more space to roll around before we finally settled into dreamland. Ah, but I cried in the middle of the night, maybe I was too excited from the day's experience.

Well, since it was very cold, Amah was afraid that Jie Jie would wet the bed, and wanted to let her wear a diaper to sleep. Daddy and Mommy brushed off the idea, since she was already toilet trained. But anyway, Amah had brought along an extra disposable diaper (leftover from Jie Jie's last time after she was toilet trained about 1 year ago). And Jie Jie liked the idea to be on a diaper again, so she wanted to try. She seemed so proud (all for the wrong reason) and ran around showing off her diaper, to me, to Mommy and Daddy and even went to look at herself in the mirror - telling us that she's on diaper like Juin Juin and laughed out loud. So, you must be curious to know if she wet herself the next morning? Well, she slept until very late the next morning and Mommy didn't make any attempt to wake her up in the middle of the night to ask her if she wanted to wee wee. But when she woke up to wee wee the next morning, her diaper was still dry. Bravo Jie Jie!

The next morning, we went to the Boh Tea Plantation after having breakfast in our room. Mommy wanted to go to a tea plantation again since we missed the scene yesterday. Furthermore, she wanted to let Jie Jie see how the tea was being processed (how about me? well, I'm still too small to understand, she reasoned).

After about what seemed like ages going thru a very narrow and dangerous road, we reached the tea plantation. Jie Jie seemed to enjoy the movie of the tea-making process rather than the actual factory tour. Where as Amah would rather sit at the cafe to enjoy the scene with a cuppa Boh tea, muffin and strawberry tart.

After that, we had our lunch at one of the restaurants in Brinchang. What did I had then? Mommy mixed my brown rice cereal with dried anchovies (prepared by Amah before this trip), and some instant red rice powder. It was delicious! When Jie Jie saw me eating that, she also wanted, although she could eat the food that they ordered.

After lunch, we went to buy some souvenirs for cousin Sarah, before stopping by the bee farm. Jie Jie and I had fun watching the bees making honey. We also had a second round of strawberry picking. Jie Jie's an expert by then. After that, we stopped by our last destination, the butterfly farm, per Jie Jie's request. I think she enjoyed that the most.

When we're leaving, Jie Jie asked Mommy, "Where are we going now?". Mommy replied that we're going home. Then she said, "Oh. Home where? To hotel ah?". Both Amah and Mommy laughed, telling her that we're going home to Penang.

When asked what's the best part that she like from this trip, she replied, "Staying in hotel". Mommy asked her if she enjoyed the strawberry picking, she said yes, but not as much as the bees and butterfly farm.

As for me? I guessed I also enjoyed the hotel the most :) That's the only place I would be let down and do some stretching!

Easter in Ipoh

We went back to Ipoh to celebrate Easter with Gong Gong and Poh Poh this year. It was my 3rd time going to Church, after Christmas & Feast of the Holy Family last year. Yes, I didn't get to go often because Mommy couldn't handle both of us alone. So normally during the important occasions, Daddy would come along so we get to go as a whole family. I behaved very well, not like Jie Jie who kept making noises and asking food from the other kids' parents. We're in the Cry Room, so whatever noises we made, it won't be heard from the outside and disturb the rest of the people. Poh Poh was out there with the choir, so Jie Jie kept insisting to go out and find her. Luckily Mommy managed to keep things under control.

Later, after Mass, Poh Poh gave Jie Jie some Easter Bunnies. Here's how it looked like.

Guess what's it made of? Yes, chocolate!

She finished everything without sharing with me! But can't blame her though, Mommy said I couldn't take it yet.

After that, we went to Canning Garden for breakfast. We had some yummy Chee Cheong Fun. Maybe I should say they. I didn't get to eat any....

Most of the time, we just spent the day at home with Poh Poh and Gong Gong, before heading for lunch at one of the restaurants (I forgot what name already) and then went back to Penang.

1 More Month to 1

How time flies. My little baby is going to be 1 year old soon. These shots were taken on 18th April, when she's exactly 11 months old.

Weight: ~8kg (she was 8.1kg taken on 1st May - yes, this is a backdated post).

Teeth: 7 in total (4 at the top, 3 at the bottom). The bottom right lateral incisor was out, but not the left one.

New Food: Organic Mixed Grain Cereal (which consists of brown rice, barley and oats), plum, fish, grapes, buckwheat, Marie biscuit, avocado, taufufah, organic red rice...

Feeding:
- She refused the bottle when I was around. She would screamed when I tried to bottle-feed her, and would only quiet down when I said, "Ok, Mommy would give you Mommy's nen nen". She seemed to understand me even though I haven't done anything to show what I was intending to do.

- She could drink from the straw, even though she had a tendency to choke at first. Before that, I've also introduced her to sippy cup. She didn't quite master that, but was getting better at it now.

Motor Development:
- Showing inclination to feed herself (when I’m trying to feed her, she would want to hold the spoon herself and direct it into her mouth).
- When we said “Pai Pai Shou", she would clap her hands and smiled, moving her body excitedly.
- She would dance when she heard music (started rocking her body in tune with the music).
- Could wave bye bye when we asked her too, or when she heard people said the word bye bye.
- Able to do Friend Kiss, but she would just put her palm to her mouth and kiss it, no flying kiss yet :)
- Could stand unsupported for a long time.
- Started to take baby steps (very short, but she’s so afraid of falling that she preferred to crawl instead). She could walk to us, but she wanted us to hold her hands.

New Words:
- Jie Jie (A Che Che)
- Hi
- Her favourite word this time was Papa, she's been going Pa pa pa pa all days round.

Others:
- She would now look at the direction of aeroplanes and understand what was that when she heard the sound (just right after I published the post last month about this)
- Could recognize bird, butterfly, teether, water, etc (she would look or point at that direction when we asked her about it)
- She wouldn’t sit still in the baby chair anymore, but kept wanting to climb out of it. It’s harder to feed her nowadays.

- Screamed herself out when Jie Jie tried to snatch her toys away, or when any of us took away the things that she was trying to get her hands on. She would remember that particular thing and wouldn't stop crying even though we tried to compensate it with other things.
- Started to show a tendency to read books, she loved to flip thru the pages and didn’t eat them anymore.
- She loved to smile, unlike her Jie Jie when she was small last time. Many people couldn't resist playing or smiling at her when we met them in the lift, etc.. including strangers.
- When she crawled, she had a tendency to shake her body left & right, or moved her head sideways. It was such a cute scene.
- She started to show great interest in remote controls and phone. She would go to the phone and put it on her ear as if listening to it. As for the remote control, she always fight to get it, don't know why.
- She loves to bite. No, not only things, but also people. My babysitter told me that she would go to her unopened rice sack and bite on it. Exactly like a mouse. And she would bite my shoulder, hand, tummy, etc. Sometimes when she started to bite me, it's also an indication that she wants milk. And when I was nursing her, she would bite me after she's full. Normally, she'll follow with a giggle as if enjoying my reaction (I would scream and scold her, of course). Unlike her Jie Jie, who seemed to understand better. Sze Yi won't do it anymore when I scolded her, or only do it playfully to tease me, but not so painful. But this Sze Juin wouldn't listen, in fact she would bite me more if I continued to offer her another side.
- She won't ask for milk when she's hungry. But I could sense it when she's crawling towards me, or just wanting me to carry her, or when she started to bite (normally only when she's in a bad mood). On normal days, she would wait patiently until I nursed her. If I forgot that her feeding time was near, she wouldn't cry too. She would be contented as long as I was carrying her. This was so contrary to Sze Yi, would wouldn't wait for her milk to be prepared. But I remembered Sze Yi would direct me to the room and then tugged at my shirt when she wanted milk last time. Just at what age, I couldn't really remember.
- She understand the word Ta (beat in Mandarin). I guess she learnt it from my babysitter, because when she's naughty, my babysitter would said "Ta" and beat her hands together. So now, whenever she heard us say the word Ta to Jie Jie, she would beat her hands together, as if imitating the babysitter's beating her hands together's action.
- I also noticed that she didn't really suck her finger anymore, or less frequent. Yes, my baby's growing up now.

Dotted Lines

Last few days, Hubby and I was teaching Sze Yi how to write K. It was her homework for that day. She was lazy and didn't want to write. She relied too dependantly on the dotted lines for help. We tried to make her write it on her own, but she kept saying, "I don't know."

Then suddenly, she looked at Daddy's face at very close proximity and exclaimed, "Hey, Daddy, why your face got dotted lines also?". She pointed to the dried pimples marks on his face.

I couldn't contain my laughter upon hearing that. However, Daddy maintained a calm expression and proceeded to guide her with the K.

The next day, hubby said, "Maybe I need a facial too. To get rid of all those dotted lines".

Kinder Bear

Mommy and Daddy enrolled me in a music school early this year. I called it Kinder Bear. Why? Because we need to bring this cute little bear bear along. Not only that, we also need to bring a doggy of our own there. Not a real one, though. As our lessons progressed, our teacher asked us to bring a red car too. My, I wonder if my bag would be able to fit them all if we need to bring more things next time.

Me & My Doggy

We were given the book with a bear and a CD which has all the songs being taught. I loved listening to the CD at home and also in Daddy's car.

Well, it's just a 45-minutes lesson, and I went there with Mommy and Daddy. Sometimes, when no one can take care of Mei Mei, we took her along too! And she could even dance to the songs as well. Everytime she's in a bad mood or going to start crying, we'll sing, "Hi Everybody, clap your hands", and that would switch her mood instantly. She would start smiling and clapping her hand to the tempo! Ah, but she would want to snatch my little instruments too, like my triangle, rhythm stick, clarinet, etc... Sometimes she's very brave and even went up to the teacher's box where she kept all the goodies! Mommy and Daddy need to carry her away in betweens so as not to disrupt the whole class :)

Actually Mommy and Daddy enrolled me in this class because my Cousin Sarah also joined this class. Before that, they have enquired from other music centre, but when we learned that Sarah was in this class, we joined her too. Initially I was scared, didn't want to participate. Everything also wanted Mommy to go with me (like getting and returning the instruments to the teacher, etc). Cousin Sarah had been very nice, she often volunteered to accompany me there and hold my hands so that I won't be so scared.

Me & Cousin Sarah

I think I took nearly 4 lessons to warm up and be brave. Overall, this class helped me to be more open and expressive. By now, I was back to my self and was very naughty. Even the teacher commented that when I just came, I was very timid. But now, I was so naughty that I actually climbed up her head!

More pics from the fun that I had...