Yes, I love to call Ethan our little *energizer bunny* because it does appear that he never does get tired, although Pete and I are like dragging our feet and all we want to do is plop our heavy heads down on the hotel pillow. Well, things have certainly changed since the miracle that is Ethan came into our lives.Â
Last weekend saw us heading south to Damansara for a family getaway. No particular reason, just cos we had a three-day weekend in Penang 🙂
This was the simple bento set I prepared for Ethan the morning we left…well, if you can call it a bento set, that is. It’s nothing fancy like what the other bento fanatics are making, but it was what I could do with what I had at home. I made some kiddie sushi style salmon bread rolls, butterfly-shaped sandwiches and apple slices, threw in some cherry tomatoes, and added some fish-shaped cheese crackers and a bottle of Yakult. Guess which one Ethan went for first? …. of course the Yakult! Then the crackers. He hardly ate the sandwiches and sushi rolls, and let’s not even talk about the tomatoes, which he put into his mouth at first (out of curiosity, I suppose) and promptly gave them to me. Well, at least the sausage roll from Baker’s Cottage, which my Mom gave to us when we stopped in Ipoh, was a hit with him!
Here he is having fun at the Cycle & Carriage Bintang exhibition at The Curve. He amused himself by pointing out the letters on the ground. And soon enough, there were many other kids who joined in the fun too. Looks like the “BINTANG” word attracted a lot more attention than what the organizers expected, eh?
 
We had dinner at Italiannies with my bro Allan and his wife Pei Gee, and of course my going-to-be-5-month-old nephew Collin. Look at Ethan demonstrating how to grab a some Shrimp Aglio Olio with the tongs that were provided, showing that he is certainly an eating force to be reckoned with.
The next day held promises of a very busy and fun-filled day, and I was glad we started the day right with a hearty buffet breakfast, and then managed to squeeze in some quality family time at the hotel swimming pool. It was the first time we had gone to the pool at Royale Bintang Damansara, and I had planned for it the day before, because I had brought Ethan there for a look-see and the smile of excitement on his face was too adorable to turn down. It was a good thing all three of us had packed our swimsuits along too. Check out his excited face when I told him we were going for a dip:
And see how he can’t wait to get into the pool? Priceless!
The baby pool at Royal Bintang was shallow enough to allow Ethan to stand and wade around the pool, which he had not experienced before. I had to reassure him that it was okay and he could stand in it. All this while, the pool in our apartment is too deep for him, so his feet don’t touch the floor. Even the baby pool in our apartment is about 0.7m deep, so if he were to stand on the floor, the level of water would probably reach his mouth.Â
After some standing and wading around, he tried to *swim* by bending forward and moving his arms. Hehe…so cute watching him do that. And then later when I soaked myself in the mini jacuzzi, he wanted to join me too, but the water there was too deep for him to stand.
It was a good thing we went *sorta* swimming too, cos we had buffet lunch at Shogun in 1-Utama. Ethan had LOADS of chawan mushi and ice cream too. And then after that, loaded with all the energy and sugar, he roamed the mall.
I had a mini bloggers’ meet in the afternoon back at The Curve, and so Pete volunteered to babysit Ethan during that time. Well, Ethan did check out the play area in Marché for a bit before he waved buh-bye and went along his way.
When I called Pete after my gathering, I was surprised to hear Ethan still talking very loudly in the background, meaning he had not slept at all the whole afternoon. Apparently they were in mph and Ethan was demonstrating his *reading* skills. Took him back to the room to freshen up and get ready for dinner.
We had dinner with Pauline at Absolute Thai, and Ethan enjoyed his bowl of rice all on his own. In the middle of dinner I suddenly heard a big *clunk* and realized Ethan’s teaspoon had dropped on the floor. My SIL started giggling and said she noticed Ethan had suddenly dozed off while sitting in his chair! Unbelievable! That’s a first for him! Well, that shows how tired that little fella was! I took him out of his seat and cradled him in my arms. He immediately fell into dreamland. Well, you gotta give the lil guy credit for finishing his dinner before he decided to sleep!
However, just as we got back to the hotel room, he was up again. And after his shower, he was back to his normal “energizer bunny” self (battery recharging only took less than a hour apparently).Â
Ethan recently developed a habit/hobby of bouncing on Pete’s tummy. Very painful I know, cos he has done it on me before too. I taught him that he could also bounce on the bolster. See, how happy he is? Can pose and smile samo…
The next day, we finished our holiday with our routine dose of Ikea shopping and lunch at Italiannies before we left for Penang. Ethan fell asleep as we approached Penang, but woke up when we arrived back home. It was an enjoyable trip for all of us, but you know, all the fun aside, it was just splendid to be home.
