Can You Tell Who's Who?

Obviously, the less hairy one would be SJ :) My, she can wear the kimono that we bought for Sze Yi when SY's 18months plus already! (SJ's only 16 months plus now). Now, would you say that she hasn't been growing up?

The Laundry Keeper

I am now Mommy’s official helper when it comes to folding and keeping the clothes!

Well, I’ve finally mastered my folding skills, I could even fold the shirt like those sold in the supermarket, thanks to Daddy’s training. He taught me how to fold pants, towels, shirts, etc, and even how to turn those clothes back when they were in reverse order.

Once I was done with that, Mommy taught me how to segregate my clothes from Mei Mei’s and I could now put them all in the cupboard myself! Ah yes, all in correct order too – clothes, pants, towels, hanky all went into their appropriate compartments accordingly. I even know Mei Mei’s compartment too, which was placed in a different room because not enough space in my room :)

So now, one less work for Mommy, because she no longer needs to re-audit my work. But then again, it all still depends on my mood. Sometimes, I would prefer to play first, so if she couldn’t wait, then she would have to do it herself! Ah, and when I found out about it, I would get angry and insisted of doing everything again myself, so she had to let me start all over again…

Of Eating and Drinking

1. Sit down when eating
Whenever I see food, I’ll pulled Mommy along, saying “lai”
Then I led her to the small chair and said “sit down”
I climbed onto it, and sat on it, while Mommy fed me
And I would quietly sit there until I finished my food,
Or when I felt full and didn’t want anymore of that.


2. Self-feeding
I love to eat on my own now
I want to hold the spoon and feed myself
But I still couldn’t really scoop the food with the spoon yet,
Even though I could guide the spoon to my mouth and feed myself nicely!

If Mommy put some food into my mouth,
I would pull it out again to see what it is,
And then I would hold it with my fingers
And slowly munch on it.


3. Style of drinking water
When I want to drink water,
I would do a coughing sound,
So they will know that
I want water!

Another new trick I enjoyed,
Is to pour the water from my sippy cup
Into the cap and learn to drink from there
As if drinking from a cup!

Ah yes I also learnt how to yam-seng with my sippy cup!
From the recent wedding dinner that I attended :)
But after I raised my cup above my head, saying yam seng,
I would pour the water on my head!

When Mommy is angry...

Oops, I’ve made Mommy angry lotsa times,
but I know how to make her smile again.
Now, when I sense that Mommy’s angry,
I would tickle her so that she’ll laugh.
Or, after she scolded me for something naughty that I did,
I would insist that she put on a happy face.
“I want Mommy to be happy with me."
"I want Mommy to show me happy face now”.
"I don’t want Mommy to be angry with me”.

I said all this while sobbing, so it’s impossible for her not to comply!

Going to church with a little toddler

Yesterday was not like any other Sunday. And even though nothing went as plannned, it turned out great. Why? Because Sze Juin was behaving beyond my expectation when I took her to church with me yesterday. I was so proud of her, that I have to blog it here.

To begin with, my initial plan was to go to the 7am Mass because it's easier for me to sneak out when the kids were still in slumberland. But then since I was too tired, I changed my mind and decided to go to the 10am Mass instead. By then, both kids were fully awake. When Sze Yi heard that I would be going to church, she wanted to follow me. I told her ok, but she had to behave. So I changed her into a long sleeve blouse and long pants. As for Sze Juin, hubby decided to bring her to Amah's house, so I packed her porridge and dressed her in a short sleeve blouse with matching short pants.

Halfway on the way, Sze Yi changed her mind. She wanted to go to Amah's house instead. So I tried to place Sze Juin into the car seat (she came out just now because she wanted milk), but she didn't want to go back in. So in the end, I took her with me, despite her not dressed accordingly (as she's only in short pants).

When she reached the church, she was in awe of the atmosphere. That kept her occupied for quite awhile. She was still absorbing everything when they started the Liturgy of the Word. Would you believe me if I tell you that she was behaving so well that I got to concentrate and finished all the readings? Of course in the middle, she wanted to hold the liturgy book and flipped them at the same time, so I let her. But later, she allowed me to catch up with the readings again. Even during the homily, she was sitting quietly on my lap, and I didn't need to walk around at all throughout the whole Mass. At the beginning, she pointed to the door and wanted me to take her out, but I told her later. After that, she never bothered me again. Maybe luck was also at my side because we were sitted beside a nice lady with an 11-year old boy, so that kept her occupied too. When she got sleepy, she would rub her hands on my knuckles, but she never asked for milk. Maybe she knew that I couldn't breastfeed her there.

All these were very unlike the previous experience when I took her to church with me sometime back - just the two of us. She wanted to go out most of the time, if not walking around the place. When she asked me for milk, she would tug at my blouse and pulled it up. So I went out to breastfeed her (I managed to find a suitable place), but she didn't want to drink there! She wanted to drink in the church. Well, that past experience made me vowed that I wouldn't bring her to church with me again next time, but thank God it was so different this time.

Indeed, I had never once thought that it's possible to sit still in the church all the time when we brought a child with us. I've seen some couples with behaving children though, and I always marvelled at how they managed to train them. Not my Sze Yi though. So far, when I brought her along, I could never sit still all the time, she would have lots of excuse to go out, like wee wee, etc. If not going out, I wouldn't be able to focus too, since she had lots of questions to ask. I still remembered when she sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars so loudly when they were singing the hymns. I told her it's a different song, but she didn't want to quiet down because she didn't know how to sing that hymns :) Luckily with Sze Juin this time, I could concentrate throughout the whole Mass, without needing to walk around at all! Isn't that amazing? I even had time to finish reading the bulletins during the announcement session. Of couse, at times, she would insist to sit on the top of the pew in front of us, and didn't want me to hold her. I warned her that it's dangerous, she would fall down. And she willingly let me hold her. Wasn't she so understanding? She enjoyed sitting on the pew, swaying her body to the tempo of the hymns, as if enjoying the music. At times, she tried to touch the nice lady's hand beside me, but then she quickly pulled her hand away before the lady looked.

All in all, I honestly think that this was another milestone worth recording. Praise the Lord!

9 little updates...

It has been a busy month for me so that explains the lack of posts this month. Hence, before the month ends, I am going to lump everything into just 1 post here. And, being the 9th month of the year, I happened to have 9 little updates here, most of which were things related to my girls' new milestones.

This month has seen...

1. Sze Yi singing Michael Jackson's song, Heal the World like a pro. Oh yeah, we've switched her to another music school last month, starting her on the Little Mozarts' program. Both the girls loved music so much that when they heard music, they'd start dancing or moving their bodies to the tune (I had to bring Sze Juin along too at times because there's no one to take care of her).

2. Sze Juin's growing vocabulary (no more, close, open, bird bird, sorry, thank you, please, buyau (don't want in Mandarin), mei you (don't have), hello, bye bye, Gong Gong, mei mei (pretty), wow wow (for dog), cat, throw, kakak, aunty, uncle, wee wee, ng ng, lai (come), sit down, apple, etc.) She seemed to be able to pick up words faster than Sze Yi at this age last time, and it's rather easy for her to repeat after us when we asked her to say a new word.

3. My 2 girls helping out with the laundry. Sze Yi could now hang the clothes out to dry, and also to collect them back after they're dry, while Sze Juin did most of the passing of clothes (dry and wet) over to me or her sister. Sze Yi could also fold all the clean clothes and put them back into the respective drawers correctly (meaning according to the owner, like hers, her sister, mine and daddy's). Well, if I can close 1 eye, of course it's considered job done! You see, she still couldn't fold them very neatly yet, and she would just pile all the folded clothes into the closet/drawer without segregating them (pants, blouses, towels, undies, etc.).

4. The girls went to the fun fair at least twice already (Sze Yi's more, of course). The first time, all of us ride together with them. However during the 2nd visit, Sze Yi insisted that she could ride on her own so we just stood outside and let her ride alone. When she waved to me as the train left us, with the proud look on her face, I couldn't help imagining that this would happen a few years down the road later, when she's leaving for further studies, and I knew deep down that I would cry then, the feeling of her leaving me was still unbearable although I knew that I couldn't avoid it.

5. Sze Juin can do somersault now! And she's also a quick imitater, she quietly observed what her Jie Jie was doing, and not long later, I'll noticed that she would try to imitate what she saw earlier! Another incident was that she actually caught a cockroach the other day - she's seen me catching cockroaches and then she told me "kat chat" (meaning cockroach in Cantonese). I looked at her hand and saw one there :)

6. Sze Juin's learning to pick up the shape sorter currently. She could put all the blocks into their respective place already, but at times she would need me to tell her where to place them. She could then nicely place them all into the hole on her own!

7. Sze Juin's learning to use the potty now. Sometimes there's output when she asked us to let her sit on the potty, but most of the times, she just wanted to play. At times, she would signal us that it's coming, but it's too late. She could now tell us that she's uncomfortable and wanted her diapers changed if she poo poo in it.

8. Sze Yi's getting easier to handle nowadays. She's more understanding and we could use reasoning with her. Not as naughty as she used to be. When she's naughty last time, she could easily drive hubby and I crazy. I learnt that it's really important to spend lots of personal time with our kids, instead of leaving them to the care of others. If we couldn't handle our kids, who else could? And despite my busy schedule, I decided to give more time and patience for my 2 girls even though I was really tired. The results were amazing, and I honestly think that her attitude has improved a lot! Just yesterday, she came back telling us that it's her teacher's birthday, so she got 2 chocolates - 1 for Mommy and 1 for Daddy. She didn't even take one herself! Also, now she hardly requests for never-ending stories when she wants to sleep, or when we're in the car (not as frequent as last time).

9. The girls enjoyed playing on their own and also with each other now. So I got to accomplish more of the housework while they were playing instead of having to wait until they slept. However, recently Sze Juin was rather clingy, I'm not sure why. Maybe she's just grown 3 teeths in a shot? She had 11 teeths now. Also Sze Juin didn't want to take milk from the bottle - whether EBM or formula. Ah yes, and that reminded me of her new antics - when she wanted to drink milk, she'd lie down on the bed or sofa, pulled up her blouse and said "nen nen", as if wanting to nurse me!

And They Live Happily Ever After...

Yes, I am going to blog about another wedding dinner that we've just attended at E&O Hotel. When I showed Sze Yi my friend's wedding album, she asked me if the bride has met her prince. I told her yes, and they live happily ever after.... :)

Our camera's LCD monitor was not functioning, so we hadn't been taking many photos lately. Here are a few precious photos that was taken with my father's camera when we went back to Ipoh during the Raya weekend, and being uploaded by my brother so I get to share them here.

Little Mozarts in the making?

My brother got these costumes from Hong Kong for them, which were just the right time because we would be attending a wedding dinner that week. Luckily my father took a photo of them in it, because I didn't get a chance to have Sze Juin's picture taken on that wedding dinner night.

Sze Yi with her cheeky pose

Sze Juin's still afraid of my parents... see the look on her face!

And here's the photo taken by my colleague's 40D - only had Sze Yi in it because Sze Juin was too afraid to join us.

Noticed the difference? Sze Yi was rather shy here compared to the earlier photos, right?

Well, luck was on my side because the 2 girls sit thru the whole dinner up to the 7th course! I was really proud of Sze Juin because at such age (16 months), this was really a great milestone. Last time when Sze Yi was around this age, hubby and I had to take turns going out with her every 2-3 courses or so, but this time, we got to enjoy our meals. Only during the 7th course, Sze Juin wanted to go join the kids at the stage dancing :). She kept pulling my hand to ask me dance with her. So, I took them out for a walk outside.

If you're wondering what kept her occupied throughout the dinner, it's nothing than the snacks that I'd prepared and also the music played by the band. I gave her cranberries and apricot in litle containers (I separate them into 2 different containers, and only gave her one by one, so that she'll be kept entertained all the time). She also played with the water tumble, pouring out the water onto her babychair and also her dress! Luckily when I stopped her, she only struggled for awhile before I managed to distract her with other things. Another good thing was that I noticed she was quite attracted to the songs played by the band. When they finished playing, she would sign with her hand, motioning 'no more' sign and said "Boh". Then when they started a new song, she would start to move her body, dancing along with the song. It's cute to watch her.

As for the big one, hubby was entertaining her and feeding her (but she ate very little that day, didn't want most of the food). At times, she got naughty and wanted her sister's snacks. She actually finished up one of the container's food, so I had to use my backup container instead. Luckily it could last till quite some time. And this girl chose to do her big business there (hotel environment?) of all the place and time! I've been asking her at home, but she kept saying no. Then in the hotel, she told me she wanted to go wee wee. I took her there twice, but on the 2nd time, she said she also wanted to poo poo and it just came out without much notice! But luckily she didn't create too much mess for me and it's towards the end of the dinner already.

All in all, I felt glad that I took them there and was really proud of them, even though they gave me so much headache in the beginning. We just came back from Ipoh that afternoon, and Sze Juin only had a 1-hour nap. She didn't want to sleep after that, and only started to get sleepy again when we're preparing to go to dinner, but still refused to sleep. And I had a hard time trying to get her to wear that costume, she kept crying and struggling. In the end, I just let her ran around naked, until we're about to leave the house. As for Sze Yi, she kept saying she wanted to tuck in her clothes (need to tuck in only will look nice, that's what my teachers said). So she wore a pants-like skirt and tucked the dress into it! I kept telling her how ugly she looked, but she refused to let me take that out. Luckily in the end, before we left the house, she agreed to take that out! My, looks like my little girls had a taste of their own :)

Daddy's Birthday

While the nation was celebrating their independence, we're celebrating our Daddy's birthday at Ferringhi Garden. Nope, it's not the actual day yet, but we took the opportunity of the public holiday since it's quite a distance from where we're staying.

This was my 2nd time celebrating Daddy's birthday. Last year, I was just about 3.5 months and that was my first outing. Before that they hardly took me out, since I was too small.

1 year ago

Now

No, you didn't see wrongly, I'm a BIG girl now!

Daddy, Mommy and I arrived rather early, so we had time to go around the place while waiting for Jie Jie, Amah, and 3rd Chik Chik (2nd Chik Chik was still in Singapore). By the time they arrived, I've finished my porridge!

Amah, 3rd Chik Chik and Jie Jie

Halfway eating, we're greeted by a band who offered to sing us some songs. They started with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star for me, followed by Mary Had a Little Lamb for Jie Jie and finally Happy Birthday for Daddy. Very nice songs!

While they were eating, Jie Jie and I had a fun time roaming around the place. Mommy had to follow me all over the place, since I wouldn't want to sit still. After everyone was done eating, Mommy asked the waitress to serve the birthday cake. It took Daddy by surprise, even though he knew that they would be serving the cake soon. Why? Because of the setting, how it was served, and also the birthday songs that came with the cake - from the crew of waiter/waitress. It was really a pleasant surprise.

Photo session with the birthday boy - yes, see I was clapping my hand too!

The birthday cake - Mommy's home-made peach marscarpone cheese cake

Enjoying the birthday cake - Jie Jie feeding me

Well, that's only the prelude. Here's what happened on the actual day...

Jie Jie insisted on getting a party hat before we had our dinner.

We had a lot of detour before we finally made it to our destination - the dinner place, which was the same one that we went to during Mommy's birthday. Jie Jie kept asking for this and that. Daddy had to make a few u-turns because she didn't want to go to Jusco when we're nearly there, but to Tesco instead. And she wanted to get a party hat for Daddy somemore! Since we're running out of time, Mommy told Daddy to ignore her - we had to return the camera to Mommy's friend by 10pm, and it was already 8.30pm then. Our camera's LCD was not functioning so Mommy borrowed one for this special occasion. And Mommy's friend had been very nice to come to our place to deliver it to her, and also to collect it back later. In the end, Daddy and Mommy managed to convince Jie Jie that party hats were only sold in Jusco, so she agreed to eat in Jusco (actually it's QBM). Phew! Much nearer to our house compared to Tesco.

When we reached Jusco, Jie Jie headed straight to Toy r Us and she took quite some time to choose the party hat, etc. Not only for her, but for everyone! Daddy was really patient with her, and in the end, he managed to persuade her to get the princess party set for herself (she wanted a blue pipe, not any other colour!) while everyone else had a common hat (as if it's her birthday!). In the end, when we're done, Mommy thought we could go straight for dinner. Not that easy, we were distracted by the rides on the way so they had to make another stop there and let us had some fun at the playground first before we finally headed to the dinner place.

Jie Jie ate a lot of those sushi rolls, while I had some portions too. Later I wanted to go walk walk so Mommy had to take me out for a short walk while Daddy and Jie Jiew finished their dinner. When we're finally done, we headed home to sing birthday song to Daddy and cut the cake.

Posing with our party set

Jie Jie wanted to light the candle, see she's holding the knife to cut the cake too!

Singing the birthday song and cutting of the cake

A mille crepe birthday cake, Happy Birthday Daddy!

Negaraku

A few days ago, Hubby was asking me if I still remember how to sing the Negaraku. I thought I've memorized that by heart, but when I tried to sing our national anthem, I realized I had forgotten a few words here and there. We both laughed about it, giving ourselves the excuse that it had been years since we're asked to sing it every week in school last time.

Now, one day after picking SY from school, she started to sing the Negaraku. I was a bit shocked because I never expected her to know it by heart. Now, that brings back my memory of the those missing lyrics.... thanks to my little girl!

Ah Kong

SY has been talking about her Ah Kong lately. She would tell me her Ah Kong loved her very much, took her to play at the robot station (I have no idea where she got these new words robot station from), bought stickers for her, etc.

One day, she was telling me that she got new stickers that day. I asked her, was it from her friends? Her friends at school love to give her stickers.

She said, "No, this one my Ah Kong gave me one".

Then, later she told me it's lost. I replied, "Ask your Ah Kong to buy you a new one la".

Here's her reply, "Cannot. My Ah Kong die already la".

And it happened that night was the first day of the 7th month in Chinese Calendar, which was the Ghost Festival.

When a Child Speaks...

As my little girl is growing up, I was rather taken aback when I heard her expressions at times. Here are some of the things that took me by surprise - I wonder where she learnt all this!

Scenario 1:
One day, Sze Yi was trying to piece her alphabets and numbers on her drawing board. Halfway thru, I asked her to brush her teeth so that I could prepare her for bed. She followed me to the bathroom after much persuasion. That time, Sze Juin was eagerly trying to have her hands on the alphabets too. So when she saw her sister went away, she quickly went there to play with the alphabets. Sze Yi quickly rushed over, trying to prevent SJ from messing her stuffs. She succeeded, and then I heard her say, "Phew, that is close!"


Scenario 2:
SY was reciting the 三字经 with Daddy last night. They went until very far, even Daddy was very impressed. Of course being a banana, Mommy didn't know what's going on. Then I heard her said, "Daddy, let's stop for a while. My mouth want to rest now." LOL! Daddy was speechless!


Scenario 3:
Hubby was showing SY our wedding photo presentations that I did last time. She was very excited and kept asking a lot of questions, "Why Mommy and Daddy posed like that ler, etc. " Then, she told Hubby, "Daddy, I want to marry you too!" I was wondering to myself if she knew that marriage is between a girl and a boy - is that why she told Hubby that she wanted to marry him and not me? Well, that very night, when I was getting her ready to brush her teeth, she said to me, "Mommy, I want to marry you!" I told her that I would have to be her prince in order to marry her, but I'm not a man. She didn't want to listen, so I guess she didn't know the significance of that yet. Later, she continued on, "Mommy, you have to wait until I grow up first, ok? After I'm this tall, then I'll marry you. "

Can Jesus Talk?

One day, Sze Yi couldn't sleep. I suggested a few things to her, but she had a lot of excuses. Then, I ran out of things to say, so I told her to pray to Jesus. I was trying to put Sze Juin to sleep, but with Sze Yi kept talking, it's difficult. Guess what's her reply?

"Mommy, Jesus can't talk one. No point I pray to Him. You see, I pray now. Jesus, pls let me sleep faster. He didn't answer me also!"

I didn't know what to say, so I told her a story about how Jesus actually sent help to a man who kept praying but didn't listen properly. It went something like this...

Once upon a time, there's a flood in a small village. Everyone was rushing to pack and find somewhere safe to go. Except for one man, who refused to budge since he believed that God will help him. He just sat there and prayed. A friend of his came by, and offerred him his boat. But he refused, saying God will help him. Then, when the water level was getting higher up to his waist, another police boat came by. But he refused to join them. Finally, when the water level raise to his nose level, a helicopter came. But he was still very stubborn and he said he had faith in God. Finally, this man died and when he saw God, he asked him. "Lord, I had so much faith in you, how come you didn't come to save me?" God answered, "I tried to save you 3 times, but you refused to listen."

Well, after this story ended, she didn't say anything. I doubted she understand it yet. A few days later, she was praying out loud.

"Jesus, please let Amah be a young lady again. Pls let 2nd Chik Chik be a young lady again". I corrected her, man, not lady. Then she continued, "Please let Poh Poh be a young lady again. Please let Gong Gong be a young ... Mommy, young what?" I told her young man. Then she said, "Oh, young man. Amen".

And when she's done, she said, "Mommy, Jesus can't talk one hor?"

Not Scared Anymore!

Yay, I'm now no longer scared of washing my hair like a big girl - at home. Before that, I only let the aunties or teachers washed for me in school, but I wouldn't let Mommy do it. She had to carry me like a baby in order to wash my hair.

But recently, after I've switched to Full Day, my teacher taught me a way to brave the storm. Everyday, when Mommy picked me up, I would proudly tell her without fail that I didn't cry when I washed my hair. But I wouldn't let her do the same thing at home. Until today, which is about 2 weeks after I switched to Full Day, I am ready. I used my hands to cover my face, bent my face downwards and told Mommy to pour the water on my head. And this time, she could do it for as long as she liked, I wouldn't scream or cry anymore. Both Daddy and Mommy are really proud of me :)

So, I can now say bye bye to all those techniques which was not successful anyway - they have suggested using goggles, or my Doraemon plastic cap, which could prevent the water from touching my eyes. But hey, I really have to salute Mei Mei, she let Mommy wash her hair this way too - looks like she's a brave girl, ya?

First Spelling Test!

I had my first spelling test last Monday! It's just 3 words - ARM, AXE and ANT! Mommy couldn't make me spell them correctly during the weekends, so she gave up on me. But when Daddy took over, within minutes, I could spell them all correctly! Ah, but too bad I had to write them out. I'm never good in writing, so Daddy made me write out those alphabets until I got them correct.

Come Monday, I was all set. When Mommy came to fetch me back that day, she asked my teacher how was it? She said OK. So when I reached home and Daddy asked me, I told him OK too. They still haven't got to see it yet, but for now they presume I got it all right.

But... I haven't finished yet. Last night, I was playing school with Mommy. She's the teacher, I was the student. When she asked me to spell a certain word, I told her, "Mommy, why no dotted lines one?" And then, Mommy was surprised and asked me, "Why, your spelling test got dotted lines one ar?" I chose not to answer her...

I guess she'll only know when she got back my test paper.

The Buttons Frenzy

Recently, SY was crazy with buttons. Or rather shirt with buttons. She kept requesting to wear clothes with buttons and loved to unbutton as well as to button up on her own. And when she had difficulty trying to get it done, I asked her if she needed any help. She would say, "No, thanks". And she added, "It's so easy. Why is it so easy one??". Puzzled, I looked at her, and found her fighting with the buttons! It looked like she's either confused with the word easy, or she's trying to convince herself that it's actually an easy task :)

One day, as she's gettting more expert with the buttons, she asked me, "Mommy, why my school uniform didn't have buttons one?" I then told her to ask her principal to design something with buttons on. But, she still didn't understand that, and requested me to buy uniforms with buttons instead!

Now, I'll have to go hunting for more PJs or shirt with buttons...

Our Little Navigator

We're walking back from the babysitter's place one day after fetching SJ (yes, our sitter came back finally!) and Jie Jie didn't want to get down from the stroller. I took the stroller along so that I didn't need to carry Mei Mei later. Unfortunately, it turned out that Mei Mei didn't want to sit in it but preferred to walk.

Ok, I let her, but little did I knew what she's up to! Yes, she didn't want to let me hold her hand either, but preferred to walk on her own. She led the way, and to my amazement, she even knew the direction home! Yes, she's walking in front, while I pulled along the heavy stroller with its overweight load, trying to catch up with the little toddler.

Guess I won't have to worry next time if she'll get lost when she walked home from the babysitter's place. Now, I'll just need to make sure that she knows how to get there so that next time I didn't even need to drop her there! Lazy Mommy :)

George Town Heritage Celebration

During the World Heritage celebration in George Town on the weekend of 25-26th of July, we wanted to try our luck at the free boat ride at Lim Jetty, Weld Quay on Saturday 9am-2pm. However, when we reached there at 11am, we're told that it's "finished". They only took the first 300 passengers on board. So, we made our way to the Fort Cornwallis instead.

What did we find there? Yes! Lots of swings. But too bad there's only 1 swing with the baby-friendly type. And unfortunately, Jie Jie wouldn't let me sit in it!

So, after awhile, I went off to explore around...

Of course with Daddy and Mommy! Even though I wouldn't allow them to hold my hands at times now, I wouldn't dare to explore on my own. More posing with Daddy and Mommy...

And all these while, Jie Jie was still swinging there, refused to join us. Finally, Mommy accompanied her (with me, of course) while Daddy and Amah went for the famous ice kacang at the Malay stall nearby. We played the slides, see-saw, etc for awhile before Mommy managed to convince Jie Jie to go try the ice-kacang. However, when we arrived there, Jie Jie didn't want to eat, so Daddy and Mommy switched role.

The next day, we went to have a look at the Chingay Competition. Mommy forgot to bring the camera so there's no pictures to share. I couldn't understand why they wanted to throw and catch the big flag, but whenever they successfully catched the flag, everyone would clap. Later, since both of us were groggy, we went home.

128!

Recently Sze Juin kept saying 128 (in mandarin), and MIL really went to buy the number. However, when it came out, it's 118! So when Sze Juin kept blabbering on 1128 one day, MIL said, "Really meh? That day you tell Amah 128, but 118 open instead!"

My First Bento!

Mommy never thought she would need to prepare any bento for me before this, because I always ate what was served without a fuss since small. But somehow, now I was more fussy...

With this bento, she managed to excite me for awhile. At least, I tried nearly all the food, even though I didn't like pumpkin and the baked potato, or rice...

PG -> Ipoh -> KL -> Malacca (Part 2)

The next day, we woke up fully rested. But the room was too cold to our liking, so we just switched off the air-condition totally. Since our room package came with breakfast for free, we went down for breakfast. But Sze Yi didn't want to go, she preferred watching TV in the room. So we took Sze Juin along, leaving Sze Yi with MIL. Sze Juin ate quite a variety of food, much to my delight. She basically had different types of fruits, plain chicken porridge and a bit of the baked beans, corn-flakes, bread, etc.

After breakfast, we packed and waited for hubby's uncle to arrive. We planned to have lunch with him before heading to our next destination. Well, I was relieved because both the girls did their big businesses in the hotel before we departed, so that solved another of my worries during trips. At least I knew that they won't be constipated, and also we didn't need to stop halfway for this purpose. Haha, mothers never stop worrying about such tiny details, do we? I bet this is nothing of daddy's concerns at all :) He was worried about more important issues, like the directions - how to get us there safely. That's because none of us were familiar with the roads, and if we got lost halfway, there's no one to navigate him even if we brought maps along since I was busy with the kids at the back. But he got his problems solved too, when he decided to buy a GPS for this very trip.

Ok, so we had lunch with MIL's younger brother and his good friend at the famous Ampang Yong Tau Foo. Sze Yi ate a little of this and that of the food that they ordered, but not much. She still prefered her nen nen. As for Sze Juin, I fed her the fruit-cereal with red rice powder & dried anchovies that I prepared. She finished in no time.

They were both just about to sleep before we made this lunch stop, so their temper was not too good. When we continued on with our journey again, it was not a smooth one. Sze Yi kept asking for stories (non-stop) - she always wanted stories when she's trying to fall asleep, but Sze Juin didn't want me to talk at all - she preferred silence when she's trying to sleep. So when I started, "Once upon a time...", she would cry. And when I stopped, Sze Yi would make a fuss. I was torn in between - whether to talk or not to talk. It went on for quite awhile, so I asked hubby to make a stop at the rest area. This somehow relieved Sze Juin, and she didn't want to continue on with the journey (meaning going into the car again). Luckily, after another bottle of milk, Sze Yi slept, so I just needed to deal with 1 kid instead of 2. SJ kept on crying throughout the whole journey, and we needed to make a few stops. I even got a balloon for her (which was not my style) to calm her down. And when we finally reached Malacca, she was falling asleep. By the time we checked into our apartment, she was still sleeping on my shoulder as you can see from the picture. Only when I tried to put her on the bed, she cried and then woke up. I knew she's not fully rested, so I was prepared for her to be moody anytime. Luckily, she's ok, as long as not in the car.

Our initial plan was to go to the A Famosa Resort, but since it's fully booked, we stayed in the town instead. Hubby made a few phone calls to his friends from Malacca, and they recommended him where to stay. We headed there, checked in and the kids felt instantly happy again. To them, this trip was all about hotels. Sze Yi kept saying, "I want to go and stay in the hotel," as if that's our final destination.

The view from the 1-room apartment that we stayed in

After that, since none of them wanted to sleep again, we went out for some exploration.

Sze Yi didn't want to pose properly.

So this was the best that hubby could get

More photos to follow

At the fountain

The kids just couldn't get enough of the fountain

Christ Church (see how Sze Yi covered her face with the balloon)

The Clock Tower (Sze Yi loved it when it went ding dong ding dong, we sang the Hickory Dickory Dock song together)

Finally she wanted to post!

We took them for a trishaw ride experience

The scenery along the ride

After the ride, more posing with the trishaw

We went for a Jonker Walk, to visit the famous Night Market there, which only opened on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays (and it was Sunday when we went there)

The famous chicken rice ball (so-so to my liking), and cendol with gula Melaka (must try!)

The kids started to get restless before we covered the whole street (it's really a long street) so we went back home. It's already quite late by then, and we noticed that Sze Juin started to have runny nose (maybe from the hotel that we stayed in last night - it was too cold). But when we went back to our apartment (or hotel to the kids), they became alert immediately and didn't want to sleep.

The next morning, all of us went down for breakfast. It was a hearty meal for us adults, but not for the kids. Somehow Sze Juin who used to eat nearly everything didn't really have great appetite that day. Maybe she was not feeling well. That made us reconsider our initial plan of going to the A Famosa Resort next. When Sze Juin had a fall (from the chair in our apartment later when we're packing up), we decided to go home straight away. What a long journey it was, we left around 12noon, and went all the way straight to Penang, only stopping at the rest areas for lunch break, toilet stops and also a short durian spree! We finally reached Penang at about 7pm.

Well, it was really an adventure, we never thought it was such a short trip (anyway, we only shorterned our trip by one day). And now, thinking back, maybe it's a blessing in disguise afterall because I later learnt that my brother who also went to the A Famosa Resort during the same weekend was down with high fever, cough and flu for 5 days. Also, an institute of higher learning (I couldn't recall the name now) nearby the place was closed temporary for suspected H1N1 cases.

As for the kids, upon reaching home, they were so happy and didn't show any sign of tiredness. Sze Juin got well 2 days after that, so I guessed that's what mattered most. Hopefully we could make another trip there soon, and tried the satay celup that we missed...

PG -> Ipoh -> KL -> Malacca (Part 1)

We went for another trip last weekend. It was a super trip, because we only took 3 days thru and fro to cover such a distance.

Since it was only planned at the very last minute, we actually packed on the day of departure itself. And, the funny thing was that we didn't wake up extra early, since we're all very tired. I think I only woke up at 8.30am or so, cooked their porridge and then started packing. We left around 11am, stopped at Auto City for our breakfast before continuing on our journey.

We had lunch at Ipoh, and stopped at my parents' house for awhile. Sze Yi quickly warmed up to them and my sister. She told us that she wanted to stay the night there. But when we left, she changed her mind immediately. We then continued on to KL. Well, since this was a last minute trip, we didn't book the hotel in advance. So, when we called them on that day, it was all fully booked. However, luck was on our side when we reached there and walked-in to ask again. I made sure that it was not the only room available, since I have heard of stories where hotels should reserve 1 room at all times.

So we checked in. The kids, as usual quickly felt at home and warmed up to the new environment.

Sze Juin struggling to get down, wanted to explore the new place right away

Sze Yi enjoyed watching the TV, while eating the snack that we brought along. Where as Sze Juin was busy exploring the place, leaving nothing left unchecked.

The view from the hotel

I gave them a quick bath before we went out for dinner. By the time we're ready, it was already 6pm++. I brought along a thermal cooker so the porridge that I cooked this morning was still warmed.

Getting ready to go out

We went to The Curve and we did some shopping at Daiso. After that, we had dinner at the Marché. It was a very fresh concept of dining where it gave us a marketplace kind of atmosphere.

Outside the restaurant

The kids had a balloon each, but they couldn't really sit still all the time so hubby and I took turns to eat.

After dinner, we made our way to Ikea for some shopping. While there, I put my sling to good use since their weight were weighing down on me. I even used it on Sze Yi, and I felt instantly relieved from the weight. However, Sze Juin didn't want to sleep in it (she's very sleepy by now). Somehow, she preferred to sleep on my shoulder instead, and kept asking me to remove the sling. So, we quickly finished our shopping and made our way back.

By the time we reached our hotel, we're aching all over. It was such a long walk, whatsmore having to carry the two kids all the time. Sze Yi didn't want to walk, kept complaining she's tired so hubby and I took turns carrying them. Phew, I think I couldn't feel my legs anymore by the time we reached our room. Luckily, we're just staying nearby.

We expected them to sleep right away after that, but to our dismay, they suddenly became hyper-active. Must be due to the hotel, they just loved hotels! Sze Yi, upon reaching the hotel, the first thing she asked was to switch on the TV and sat on the bed, munching her snack. She didn't eat much for dinner, but kept on asking for milk. In fact, throughout the whole trip, she ate very little, but nearly finished the whole box of milk that we brought along. Sigh...

As for Sze Juin, she was so excited rolling around until her head accidentally hit hubby's mouth - and it bled! Luckily, it's nothing major, not a very big swell. But, Sze Yi was very worried, she even cried for Daddy! In the end, Daddy had to console her, instead of being consoled!

Well, this was only Day 1 of our journey. But it seemed like it's already the last day because we're all so tired.