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Celebrations

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Last weekend was a busy busy one for all of us. Pete’s brother, Patrick, got married and so of course, we were rushing here, there and everywhere. I figured instead of boring everyone with a step by step chronicle of events, I’d do a story snippet ala Rinnah, and let the pictures do some of the talking too.

On Friday evening, we headed for Sungai Petani for the dinner reception hosted by the bride’s side. I was working from home that day, and Pete was on leave, so he picked Ethan up from Mrs Tan’s at about 4:00p.m., came back and after freshening up and donning dinner attire, we were on our way. We arrived at the bridge at about 5:00p.m., it was already slightly jammed and drizzling too, but thank goodness, the traffic was moving. On hindsight, we actually made the right decision to leave about 5:00pm and not earlier; my SIL who left Penang for SP at 3:00p.m. only arrived at 5:15p.m. because there was a bad jam on the bridge when she left.

Now, we soon discovered that SP is a town with many many MANY traffic lights and only ONE main road, so although we arrived at the SP (Selatan) exit at about 6:00p.m., we only reached our intended destination at 6:30p.m.ish. All the cars congregated at that one main road and there were non-intelligent traffic lights ALL the way.

This is the very very simple bento set I prepared for Ethan, just in case he got hungry before dinner started, which he did. It’s yummy slices of steamed Italian-flavored sausages, and star-shaped cheese slices. Ethan has just started to say “STAR”, so I figured this was a good shape to make the cheese into.

Here he is enjoying his sausages. That kept him still for a bit. Unfortunately the star-shaped cheese slices had sorta melted into the container, so it wasn’t that appetizing any more.

Ethan sportingly paused for a moment whilst eating to pose with Mommy and Daddy for a family shot too!

And when he was all nicely fed and full of energy, Ethan wandered to the nearby stage to make sure everything was all right. Here he is, being mighty intrigued with the screen that was projecting my BIL’s wedding studio photos. I can’t tell if Ethan was fascinated by the photos being displayed on the screen or the fact that he was creating all the shadows. And when the entertainer danced and sang on stage, Ethan would perform his own personal brand of dancing too. You can imagine how tired Pete and I was, having had to take turns accompanying him.

And here’s another shot of my little energizer bunny! Just look at how happy he is!

The next day (Saturday), we took Ethan for the church wedding after lunch. Pete had to walk around with him most of the time because I was cantoring for the event. And our boy just would not sit still! After the church ceremony, we drove to Patrick’s house to prepare for Ethan’s *duties*.

While waiting for the bridal car to arrive, Ethan suddenly heard the barking of a dog, and he then realized it came from the golden retriever next door. Here he is standing at the adjoining wall, catching a glimpse of the “daw-dawg”, and of course, being all cheeky about it.

Ethan’s first task was to *open* the door of the bridal car, and as soon as I was told the car was arriving in a few minutes, we put on his shoes and socks and waited. Daddy also had to readjust his tie 😀 Since Ethan cannot yet open the heavy door on his own, Pete carried Ethan and guided him to open the door when the car arrived. And for completing the task successfully, Ethan received an angpow.

As soon as he received the red packet, his good friend the golden barked again, so here’s Ethan posing with his angpow and articulating, “daw-dawg”. 🙂

After the tea ceremony, Ethan shook hands with his Ah Chek and Ah Chim, and got a second angpow. Then it was time for his second task of the day: the potty punch!

Although Pete and I didn’t have this potty punch tradition during our wedding, I vaguely knew what was supposed to be done. I told Pete to guide Ethan to punch the potty and collect the angpow inside, which was precisely what he did. Pete held Ethan’s had and punched right through. Inside there was an angpow and two oranges. And true to how I raised my boy not to be materialistic, he reached for the oranges! Lawl. So all in all, Ethan got THREE angpows for all his efforts 😀

No wonder our boy was all tired out after that, and slept for most part of the afternoon. This is a picture of him snoozing away, and also making the sign of “cat” at the same time.

Ethan woke up at about 6:15p.m. and we had to get ready for the cocktail and dinner reception at gHotel at 7:00p.m. Gave him a quick shower and got him dressed. Touched up my own makeup and we were all set to go. I didn’t have any sausages left, so I brought along his ABC biscuits to while his time away while waiting for dinner to start. And for the record, our boy polished clean the entire Tupperware of biscuits.

Ethan enjoyed the prawn crackers served during the cocktail before dinner, in fact he enjoyed them so much, he couldn’t even be bothered to smile while posing with Ah Ma and Kong Kong.

The gHotel captain approached me and asked if I would like some buns for Ethan. Happily, I said yes. And 10 minutes later, these were served. They smelled really good and were warm and nice too. I waited for the buns to cool down a tad and buttered one for Ethan, but unfortunately he had other things on his mind.

This! Look…..he was all excited about the stage again, and had to constantly “check” that all the wiring was set up perfectly well. Climb up, climb down…. and even after he pooped and I changed him, he resumed his exploring antics.

What a night, and what a weekend to remember! Congratulations Pat and Christine!

 

 

 

Last Monday morning, Ethan and I woke up nice and early, and got ourselves ready to go to the airport to fetch Daddy. Daddy had been away in the States for two weeks now, was supposed to be back on Sunday, but because of some flight delay, he only arrived on Monday morning. I had been telling Ethan about Daddy’s return and I could tell he understands. When he woke up on Monday, he looked over to Daddy’s side of the bed and said “Daddy!”

Anyway, off we went to the airport. The last time I took Ethan along to fetch Pete from the airport, Ethan was hardly 2 months’ old. But the last time Ethan stepped foot in the airport was during our Singapore trip last year. Upon arrival, Ethan pulled my hand and headed straight for the escalator, but I told him I wanted to check first if Daddy’s plane had landed…and it had! So I told him we’d only go one round up the escalator and down the stairs, but because Pete had to wait a long time for his luggage, I had to take the restless Ethan up and down a second time.

When at last Ethan saw his Daddy coming through the arrival gates, his lips curled up in the sweetest smile imaginable, he gave his Daddy a hug and a kiss and reached his hands out to him. Pete had to carry Ethan around after that. Hahaha…. Ethan kept looking at his Daddy over and over again just to check that he was really back.

It’s definitely great to have Pete back again. This time round, Daddy really went overboard getting clothes for Ethan. Pete said that had I been in US, I would have bought even more!

I especially like the adorable pajamas he bought. It’s made snug-fitting on purpose because the material is flammable, and instead of the traditional long sleeve and long pants pjs, these were short-sleeved tees and shorts which are simply adorable and cute. Don’t you think Ethan would look cool in them? Gonna try them on him tonight…

For lunch, we went to the Fatty Loh chicken rice shop in Nagore Road (because the one in Fettes Park was closed and *someone* just HAD to have chicken rice). When we were almost done, Ethan asked to get out of his baby chair and made a straining face. Immediately, I hurried him off to the toilet at the back of the shop. Took off his jeans and Itti Bitti D’lish diapers (which were still unsoiled) and there and then, it marked the first time ever I helped Ethan poop in a public restroom. Cleaned him and dressed him up again, and we were on our way. So proud of him.

And since Pete’s return, Ethan has been simply overjoyed. Walking up and down escalators with Daddy, wrestling with Daddy in bed and pulling Daddy to the swimming pool were just some of the activities he indulged in.

Then when Ethan was ready to call it a night, he laid down on the bed quietly, looking at Daddy with so much love, still taking it all in that his Daddy was indeed back home.

We’ve missed you Daddy…and we are SO GLAD you are back home 😀

 

Today is Mother’s Day and I am technically allowed to have some extra shuteye in the morning, yes?  Obviously *someone* was not informed.

Ethan boy, even though you got up at 6:30a.m. and forced me to go out to the living room with you to watch Barney, I love you.

Even though you weren’t too keen on drinking the warm milk I prepared for you, it’s okay.  At least you took the oats I cooked, mixed with a little bit of Frosties. 

And when we went to church today, you were fidgety after half an hour and wanted to go out wandering.  Even though you roamed the entire compound of the Wesley Methodist Church with Mommy following you around the slightly muddied field in my heels, I still adore you.  Perhaps because it was a new environment for you to explore.

And when we arrived at Mama’s for lunch, even though you kicked up a fuss and cried at the top of your voice, wanting only Mommy to carry and console you, I love you…for I knew that those were cries of hunger, and sure enough when your favorite tau ewe bak came served with warm rice, you walloped an entire big plate of rice all by yourself.  Thankfully they did not charge for your share of the rice.

Even though you are sometimes a little bit hard to handle, I feel so much love surge into my heart whenever I see you sleeping peacefully.  And when I lie down next to you for our afternoon nap, I thank God for the adorable darling little boy He blessed me with. 

You enjoyed your dinner at Friday’s where Mommy jazzed up your order, by getting you grilled chicken sausages instead of your normal spaghetti.  And although you later went round the restaurant with your red balloon hitting everything that came in your way, we love you.

Ethan, you make motherhood a wonderful and life-changing experience for Mommy…and although I know you sometimes test my patience, I will always cherish and love you. What a splendid Mother’s Day we had together today.

I better get to bed now, in case you decide to wake up *early* again tomorrow morning.  Yes folks, motherhood is definitely a life-changing experience but something I will never ever change in my life.

Happy Mommy’s Day to all the beautiful mommies out there!… and of course to me! 😀


Scrap Credits
The Promise Collection from
Shabby Princess Designs
Little curly alphas from Amy Sumrall
Boxed words from Chantal

Weight

The weighing scale at home shows 11-point something kilos.  His diapers are definitely getting tighter, that’s for sure.

Height

Growing taller, but have not measured officially.

Teeth

I daren’t put my finger inside to see.  Sixteen (or maybe eighteen): 8 incisors, 2 canines (upper), 4 pramolars (2 upper and 2 lower) and 2 molars (bottom); maybe 2 molars on the top too.

Motor Skills

  • Can do the tumble-turn.  He started by doing the downward-facing dog pose first, and soon he extended that to the tumble turn.  I only let him do it under supervision, of course.
  • Improvement seen in parent-toddler class too, where he will participate by walking around and dancing to the music.  FYI, we are currently in the process of training him how to hop, skip and jump!

Communication and Social Skills

  • Some of the new words/sounds he has picked up recently:

    • Ball

    • Baby

    • Wait wait & where where (when we are looking for a parking spot in the mall)

    • Tee-dee (TV)

    • No no no…. & oh no…

    • Wah! & Wow! (imitating his Stand up ball blast toy)

    • Oh ta (we don’t know for sure if he is referring to “Otak” or “Old Town”)

    • Apa! (dunno if he is scolding anyone, or it might be a fluke)

    • Oh two (from Channel 302 Astro On Demand Previews)

    • Nen nen & Mik

    • Daddy & Mommy (getting more consistent; Daddy more so than Mommy *pout*)

  • More thick-skinned now.  Scolding him with a firm “NO” doesn’t usually do it, unless we repeat it and show that we mean it.  He doesn’t cry at “NO” like he used to before too.

  • Getting more and more sociable.  More willing to wave hi and bye to people he meets.

  • Picking up on imitating/copycat skills and can follow and do the actions for certain nursery rhymes when I sing them.  His favorites are: London Bridge, 1 2 Buckle My Shoe, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and lately he is perfecting his actions on Itsy Bitsy Spider!  Of course, it thrills me to no end that all the actions are done with the widest smile ever!

Food and Feeding

  • Milk intake has increased, and he can down 6oz (sometimes 7oz) in less than 5 minutes.  Love the way he burps afterward too.

  • Able to feed himself with less mess now.  He is quite adept at using the spoon to eat his rice, more so with his right hand, which leads us to think that he most likely is a rightie.  Sometimes though, when he finds that it takes much longer for him to eat on his own, he will manja and ask me to feed him.

Toilet Training

There were a few occasions where he led me to the toilet to indicate the need for doing his big business, and he did so successfully.  Failure rate is getting lower, and we are still working on it.  Not too concerned though, cos he has got so many adorable diapers to wear 🙂

***

Oh, by the way, there was a mini, but welcome surprise as Ethan hit 27 months.  He appeared in the Malaysian Women’s Weekly May 2008 edition!  His second appearance in the magazine thus far.  Hehe…can’t help being so proud of him.

Thanks to Anggie and Paik Ling for letting me know!

I won I won I won!!!!

Well, not quite the lottery, but something special and luxurious for Ethan. Those of you who have been secretly praying for me to stop getting cloth diapers for him, please stop reading here…but actually I didn’t buy this ma…I got it FREE!!!!
I won a lucky draw contest at the DiapersAsia forum and the prize is one gorgeous Starbunz AIO diaper. There were so many adorable designs to choose from, I had a hard time selecting just one. Finally, I chose the puppy design simply because Ethan was born in the year of the doggie.

I was ecstatic the moment I found out I had won, and even more happy when the diaper came in the mail today, all fluffy and cuddly.
Lookit how gorgeous it is! And don’t you just LURVE the fluffy puppy ears??!!!

It’s supposedly a great diaper for the heavy wetter because it contains two hemp soaker pads, topped with a fleece top to keep moisture away. I can’t wait to try it on Ethan once I’ve washed and dried it.

Thank you Tiny Tapir!

All this while, Ethan has only been wearing open-toed sandals. He used to have a pair of covered sneakers, but (I think) because that pair was not made of breathable material, his feet stunk when he sweats and we never put them on him again.

I had bought a pair of brown sneakers for him sometime back. They looked so boyishly cool, I just had to get them. Plus, they were on discount then – how could I resist? I got the smallest size available, but Ethan still could not fit into them at that time.

But just recently, I decided to try if they fit. Lo and behold, they did! Well, there was a small space when he wore them, but I figured they would fit perfectly with a pair of socks.

So on Easter Sunday, I dressed Ethan in his new white striped GAP polo shirt (*new* because I bought it so many months ago, but my string-bean kid can’t fit into it yet. Even now, it is a little loose), matching new socks and his new shoes. Handsome, boh?

At times he felt rather weird with socks, so he asked us to remove them so that he could *air* his feet. Lawl!

In church, Ethan was fascinated with the brick wall surrounding the altar, and because we sat at the side of the pews, it was a good thing he could be kept occupied there. When he saw us kneeling in prayer, he too joined us. He even followed my cue when I showed him how to position his hands in prayer position.

What an absolutely awesome blessing from The Lord this Easter!

…and now to teach him how to recite The Lord’s Prayer…. 🙂

 

This year, we spent our Chinese New Year reunion dinner in my hometown in Ipoh. Ethan felt very at home there, and although he didn’t really eat much during the dinner (actually he only felt hungry much later and I fed him some rice and tau-ewe-bak then), he had a good time walking around the house and checking everything out. He especially liked to step on the cute little pedal bin and throw pieces of paper into it, much like what we always do when we throw rubbish away.

He was also very intrigued with the chilled cans of Shandy, and loved to hold each can in his hands. I’ve also seen him trying to pry open the tabs on the can, but perhaps his favorite activity with the can is banging it against someone else’s when we say “Yum Senggggg!!!”  Just look how his face totally captures the spirit of the occasion!

My Mom and Dad, who had read all about Ethan’s drumming antics, surprised Ethan with a really really cute traditional Chinese drum, complete with drumsticks too. And when they brought it out for him on New Year’s Day, he was absolutely delighted. The size of the drum suited him really well, and before long he was excitedly banging on it over and over again.

On the angpow receiving front, Ethan would eagerly grab an angpow that was given to him, but only if he was in a good mood. Unfortunately, angpows were not the only things he received this New Year. On New Year’s eve, he accidentally fell from the chair after *playing the piano* in Ipoh, hit the side of his head and cried a little, but was okay after a few minutes, the pain apparently forgotten.   

And on New Year’s day in Taiping, he accidentally hit his forehead on a chair in the living room and received a *big bungalow* on his forehead. And when Pete tried to apply a cold compress to the bruise, he screamed and kicked as if he was being abused.  He would only allow Mommy’s kiss to make him feel better.

But one thing always gets his spirits up: DOGGIES! And barking ones add to the fun. He was so excited to see the barking neighbour’s dog in Ipoh, although it was so ferocious looking and when we were visiting a home in Taiping, he demanded that we take him out back where there were 4-5 doggies barking away. After all the dog-watching, I thought I heard him say “dog-dog”. And now even the slightest sound of a dog barking makes him smile, even while he is sleeping.

Ethan was a very good boy throughout the entire Chinese New Year visitation we experienced, from Ipoh to Taiping and the marathon one we had in Penang on Chinese New Year Day 2.  We returned home, tired and well, just glad to be back.  Had a good night’s rest and spent the rest of the weekend together, our little family.

Oh, and Ethan celebrated his Chinese birthday on the 3rd day of New Year too.  Such an easy date to remember, eh? 🙂

I took the second half of the day off from work to spend some time with Ethan on his birthday.  Unfortunately, due to work commitments, Pete could not make it, so it was just my boy and me.   I picked Ethan up from Mrs Tan’s place after lunch and my first stop was at the D’View hair salon.  Ethan was due for a haircut and I figured if there weren’t too many customers around, we could try and see if he could get his New Year haircut then.  Pretty ambitious of me to attempt this on my own, but you know me, stubborn as a mule and determined as ever.  It was Ethan’s first time there, and at first he was a little shy to enter the shop.  But then Cindy the hairdresser offered him a cracker and turned the TV on to the Playhouse Disney Channel and he was hooked immediately.  Smiling away, Ethan allowed me to help him put on the cute little cloak around his neck, to ensure most of the hair wouldn’t fall on his shirt.  Then he obediently sat on my lap while Cindy did the magic.  After a very neat shave, all the while with Ethan munching away happily on the cracker while kicking his legs to the Mouskadance tune, Ethan looked very macho-like with his new haircut.  Well, now we know where to go for a fuss-free, scream-free, struggle-free haircut for Ethan, all for RM10.  See, I could even manage to snap a few shots for proof.

Next on the agenda, Ethan and I went to Gurney Plaza.  He was delighted to play at the children’s playground and today, he finally learnt how to slide down a slide the correct way.  Previously he would climb up the slide and then climb down without sliding.  Today, I showed him how to do it, by putting him at the top of the slide and then pushing him gently down.  That was it.  Over and over again, he would go up and down the slide.

We also made a stop at MPH, where Ethan had a good time playing *catch* with me.  😛  Then we went down to the basement where I bought a drink for us both to share.  Before leaving the mall, we made a final stopover at the children’s playground again.  You know why…

After resting for a while at home, and after he had had some milk, I decided to take Ethan downstairs for a swim.  He got all excited when I dressed him up in his swimsuit, and promptly brought his float to me.  We had a great time swimming, Ethan and me.  Ethan enjoyed the water so much, he even wanted to drink it on purpose, much to my horror!  And me, I managed to get SOME form of exercise done, at least for my lower body.  Heh.

We then washed up and got ready for dinner.  We picked Daddy up from work and headed on to Friday’s.  Ethan had his favorite spaghetti, of course, and everyone could tell he was enjoying himself tremendously.  We didn’t get the servers to sing the birthday song for him though, because Pete was concerned that Ethan might not be ready for their loud singing just yet.

What a fantastic day for all of us!  I’m sure Ethan enjoyed himself very much too, so much that he didn’t even have his daytime nap.  Happy birthday darling Ethan boy!

 
Scrap Credits
Choco-Noisette from Kawouette
Boxed words from Chantal
Delight Series Red Inked Alphas & Let’s Scrabble Alphas from Foxy Designs

Ethan woke up today at about 7:15a.m., yawned and stretched and when he saw me, he sat up in bed, reached his arms out towards me, and gave me a big hug. I put on his Baby Einstein’s Meet the Orchestra for him to watch for a while, and he said “wee wee” (that’s how he says “TV”). 😛

You’re two today, baby…. and your smile will always melt my heart. 

I’m so excited because I have a date with him this afternoon, just the two of us.  I am taking the second half of today off to spend some quality birthday time with my boy.

Happy, happy birthday, Ethan boy, with all the hugs, love and kisses in the world!

Yesterday, right before 2p.m., I received a call from Angeleyes, informing me that she wanted to pass me something. It’s a surprise, she said, and told me that she would meet me at the main entrance of my office at about 2:30p.m. And boy, was she punctual! With a wide smile, she presented me with a cake box, which she said was a birthday gift for Ethan. That was so sweet of her!  The box was tied up so I could not open it up immediately. In a mysterious manner, Angeleyes told me to see for myself what it was later. Before I said goodbye, I even managed to sneak a peak at little Darrius, who was sitting comfortably in his car seat.

Back in the office, I could not resist a peek into the box. And I was rendered speechless. And touched. I can’t believe she went to all that trouble! In the box were six beautiful cup cakes, decorated with stars, and they smelled heavenly! One of the cupcakes had the number 2 on it, denoting Ethan’s age, and the cupcake in the middle had the cutest, most adorable replica of Rocket from Little Einsteins!

Ohhhh… no wonder Michelle was asking me all sorts of questions about Ethan three days ago. They were both in on this!  Thanks you guys!

Angeleyes, those cakes are gorgeous! You really are the expert cake maker…and you know what? If Ethan doesn’t like them, I definitely don’t mind helping him finish them all up! Thank you so very much for the kind gesture and thoughtfulness!

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