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Little Miracles · Ethan
Bible Verse of the Day

Ethan

All about Ethan

Daddy’s One Year Wiser

October 9, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up | 6 comments

The rain did not dampen our spirits.
The traffic jam all the way downtown was a minor hurdle we overcame.
The gloominess was dealt a 180 degrees turn because it was Daddy’s birthday last Saturday (Yay! Cue Ethan boy to clap his hands with glee), and to celebrate, we all went to the E&O to savour the lunch buffet spread there.

I had heard that the buffet there is very good and that the spread had a lot of variety, so I was curious to see for myself. It was once again good to visit the E&O because it brought back good memories of our wedding 3 years ago.

The buffet lunch was at Sarkies Corner and as usual, I was charmed by the old world setting in the restaurant. The atmosphere was relaxed and very casual, with fantastic service from the restaurant staff. The food was marvelous, to say the least. I hardly ever take fried rice at buffets, but there was something about the one they served that was very tempting. And I had no regrets because I’ll have to say it was one of the best fried rice I have ever tasted. Even Ethan agreed wholeheartedly, and he ate quite a bit of it too. The generous garnishings of shrimp in the fried rice was a definite welcome indeed. Ethan also loved the pumpkin soup, and so did we. I loved it that they had 2 choices of soup: pumpkin and broccoli, both being healthy choices for the discerning diner.

And for the not-so-health-conscious, there was also char koay teow available, the halal variety, mind you. Again, very generous with the shrimp, which were all so fresh and succulent, just the way we like it. I think I had about 10 shrimps in my one plate of char koay teow!

I tell you, everything was so good; Hainanese chicken rice, lamb masala, grilled stingray and salmon, kerabu, oh and of course, any buffet would not be complete without dessert. We enjoyed the guilingao, cheese cake, custards, mousse and ice cream. By the time we were done, we could hardly move! But Ethan, on the other hand, was very much playing the part of an energizer bunny, running all around the restaurant and the hotel lobby, checking out window sills, squeezing his way through every nook and cranny, waving at everyone around him, running to the lifts and waiting for it to open…well, he even got a lollipop from the restaurant manager!

What a splendid birthday lunch we had! The next time I come for the lunch, I am definitely wearing looser clothing! *wink*

Mommy (featuring Ethan Boy as Guest Blogger)

October 5, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan | 3 comments


Scrap credits: Kit from retrodiva {designs}™, frame from Anita Designs

Last month, Mommy told me that Rinnah jie-jiehad tagged me. I asked Mommy what a tag is, and she gave me a really LONG and complicated explanation which I don’t really understand. After some time, I finally found out that all Rinnah jie-jie wanted was to get to know Mommy a little bit better. She wanted me to list down eight facts about Mommy.

  1. Mommy has given me the best nutrition ever: yummy breastmilk! I am proud to proclaim that I was exclusively breastfed for 6 months and even after I started on solids, Mommy continued breastfeeding me. I only started taking some formula milk when I was 15.5 months’ old but you know what, just between you and me, it sure doesn’t taste as good as Mommy’s milk!
  2. Mommy loves music. And it shows, because she has such a very sweet voice. I love it when she sings to me. She sings when she is dressing me up, and she sings when she is tucking me in for the night. My favorite songs are “Jesus Loves Me This I Know”, “In His Time”, “The Wheels on the Bus” and the theme song from Little Einsteins. Christmas is coming soon, and I know I am looking forward to all the Christmas carols Mommy will be singing then. Sometimes I hear Mommy and Daddy discussing something about karaokay singing. I don’t know what that is, but it appears that Mommy is pretty into that as well. Mommy can dance very well too. I hope to take after her ability one day. I learnt that Mommy performed in front of large crowds for some concert before. But I am still a beginner. For starters, I am trying to learn the Mouskadance from the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I can stomp my feet very well to the rhythm and I love it when Mommy joins in too. She also likes to do the waltz and rumba with me… I can’t wait to learn other dance genres, which I hope Mommy will be teaching me soon. Oh yeah, Mommy also plays the piano! It’s too bad that we don’t have a piano here in Penang but when I visited Ah Ma and Ah Kong in Ipoh, Mommy played a few tunes on the piano there and also allowed me to have a go at it. It really made me feel like a maestro!
  3. Mommy is good in the kitchen. I have tasted her claypot chicken rice and it is sensational. Even her plain porridge tastes good. She also can make great soup. Well, everything tastes super good when Mommy cooks them and feeds it to me.
  4. Mommy smells good all the time. Sometimes I cannot tahan and I kiss her on the cheek. I like to see the marks I make on her cheek when I do that, but I don’t know why she always says “Ouch!” when I kiss her. Even her hair smells heavenly. So heavenly that I can’t resist chomping on it. I don’t know why Mommy and Daddy keep telling me “No” when I put some of Mommy’s hair in my mouth.
  5. Mommy loves shopping, and now I do too! Mommy and Daddy take me shopping every weekend. Our favorite haunt is Queensbay Mall, and I especially love it when Daddy drives us up and down the ramp leading to the multi-storey car park. Because of the uneven surface of the ramp, it makes me go “Aaaaaahhhhhh……” and I love doing so because it makes my voice vibrate as the car moves 🙂 It’s just fun fun fun!!!
  6. Mommy has so many handbags and purses. She sometimes allows me to play with her wallet, which is a bright red Coach wallet. Red is my favorite color, so that explains why I love it so much. Inside Mommy’s wallet, there are so many cards for me to play with. There’s something about cards that make me happy. Mommy sometimes asks me to get Daddy’s credit card from him, but I don’t know which one it is yet. I’m attracted to the gold ones though.
  7. Mommy loves to watch TV. I think her favorite programs right now are Desperate Housewives and America’s Next Top Model, when she’s not watching the Playhouse Disney Channel with me. Because of Mommy’s preference for these programs, I am also drawn to these programs now. And you know, I do find them interesting because there are so many pretty girls in those shows! Heh. My eyes will light up with excitement and I will clap my hands with glee when I hear the theme songs of those two programs come on.
  8. Mommy is a very generous person. She always shares her meal with me when we go out, with the exception of Friday’s of course… at Friday’s, I get one whole plate of spaghetti all to myself (see how happy I am in that photo above? That was from our last visit to Friday’s)! One of my favorite meals is Old Town’s Chicken Hor Fun, which Mommy always orders and shares with me. I love how Mommy twirls the koay teow around the chopsticks and feeds them to me. I love how the koay teow slides down my throat when I take a mouthful of it. That’s why I hardly chew it.  Lately, I heard Mommy commenting to Daddy that she may need to order one whole bowl for me next time. Goody! Hehe… more for me to eat! But I can’t wait to taste the really authentic kai see hor fun from Mommy’s hometown, Ipoh. She tells me that that’s really, really good.

Completing this tag means I get to find out what my other friends feel about their mommies too. So I am passing the baton on to:

Wei Xuan
Sze Yi
Charlotte

This Lil’ Light of Mine…

October 2, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments | 4 comments


Scrap Papers and Elements from retrodiva {designs}™

This year saw Ethan owning his first lanterns for the annual Lantern Festival, also known as the Mooncake Festival. Ethan’s lanterns were nothing like the ones I had as a little girl; I used to carry colorful lanterns decorated with sugar paper, fixed to a wooden stick, and lit by a solitary candle. But the lanterns of today run on batteries, is lit by a bulb and emits music. In any case, kids still love them!

Ethan got a lantern in the shape of a bear from Mrs Tan, his baby sitter and another one in the shape of a piggy from his Ipoh Ah Ma. At first he was rather disinterested in the bear lantern, but by and by, he took a liking to it. On the actual night of the Lantern Festival a week ago, I planned on taking Ethan downstairs by our apartment swimming pool to walk around with his lantern. However, my plan backfired when his bear lantern became extremely hot after we changed the batteries in it. At that time, he didn’t have his piggy lantern yet, so not wanting to disappoint him, we just went downstairs anyway and had a nice moonlit walk round the pool.

Then just last weekend, when my parents came for a visit, Ethan was thrilled to receive his piggy lantern. No worries that the festival has already passed, because Ethan simply adores the lantern. We put the lantern on our dining table, and Ethan would run to the table, place his hands on it, and tip toe and gesture for us to get the lantern for him. I personally feel this piggy lantern suits him more; the bear one looks a little big for him to handle. It has been raining for the past few nights, so we have not managed to take him downstairs to walk around with the lantern just yet. But it certainly looks like he is contented to play with it in the comfort of our home, doesn’t it?

“Let it shine, let it shine, let it….
SHINE!”

All we had was Fun, Fun, Fun!

October 1, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 5 comments

Okay, don’t shoot me because this is going to be yet another post on Friday’s.  But I don’t care what you say because we LOVE the food there.  The service is excellent and the ambience is just awesome.  Last night will go down as one of the best Friday’s outing we ever experienced.

When we arrived at the restaurant, they had this set meal promotion going on where a set of an appetizer, an entrée and a dessert costs RM39.90++.  I immediately decided on ordering this set when a quick check assured me that the mocha mud pie was one of the two dessert options available.  Well, we ended up ordering TWO sets and of course, the kid’s spaghetti for Ethan.

All I can say is the food was so good, I would literally make space in my stomach if I had to!  Hehe…I finally got a chance to taste that elusive and much-talked-about mocha mud pie!  By the time we were done, we could barely move!

Ethan, on the other hand, was very excited about the entire experience.  No sooner had he finished his meal, he began walking around and gestured for us to bring him to the washroom to wash his hands.  Over and over again.  Then he would giggle loudly when one of the servers in Friday’s played with him.  When a birthday song was sung in Friday’s, Ethan enthusiastically clapped his hands and smiled widely.  Sometimes he would shout “Aaaahhhhh….” as if he was singing too!  Sporting his new “2nd in Command After Dad” t-shirt, you could tell Ethan was very much at home there.  And when we were about to leave, he cheerfully waved buh-bye to all and sundry.  Oh, and of course we took home another balloon 😀

So, you tell me, did Ethan enjoy himself?

Ribs, Steak and All Things Great

September 27, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Funny Moments, Vacation | 8 comments

We made a 3-day-2-night trip to Mutiara Damansara last weekend to visit Ethan’s newborn cousin, Jonathan.  On Saturday, we had lunch at Tony Roma’s.  We had great company during lunch too, Ethan got to meet up with his Ah Mah (my Mom), his Ah Kor, Ah Koo and Ah Kim.  Tony Roma’s is located in Cineleisure, which is somewhat connected to The Curve; I was amazed to discover that it was a mere walk from Italiannies and Laundry Bar (actually we were undecided as to what to eat that day, but since Tony Roma’s looked rather empty, we decided that would be it).

Tony Roma’s in Malaysia is so different from the ones in US or Singapore.  For one, it did not have (my favorite) baby back ribs.  We ordered 2 plates of full-rack ribs and a strip-loin steak, oh and of course a plate of the appetizer sampler too.  Though different, Pete and I were happy to note that the food at the outlet was very good.  The ribs were soft and (can I say) finger-lickin’ good.  Actually we were afraid that the food would be a sore disappointment like Marché was last month, but we were glad that our fears were unfounded.

Ethan had a good time during lunch too.  I was thrilled to note that Tony Roma’s Cineleisure had on their menu the same Baked Potato Soup I had ordered for Ethan when we were in Tony Roma’s Suntec City, Singapore… so I ordered that for him.  It all started ok, but then our boy decided that he wanted to have a go at feeding himself.  Since I had brought along his set of toddler utensils, I gave them to him and he began scooping the soup bit by bit.  And scoop he did… bit by bit fell on the front of his shirt.  It was a very messy sight indeed.  Then I suddenly remembered I had also brought along his Ikea shirt-bib, so we helped him put that on.  But no sooner had we done that, Ethan decided that he wanted ME to feed him instead!

 

In the end, off came the bib, and it was Ethan by himself again with his soup and some rice too.  I tried tying the napkin around his neck, but that fell down too.  So we allowed him to have fun with his food, messy though that may be, and took him back to the hotel room after that to clean up.  See?  That’s the good thing about staying right next to the restaurant 🙂

A Tent and A Balloon

September 25, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments, Growing Up | 6 comments

During our last trip to Ikea in August, we ended up buying a tent…no, actually it is a tent with an igloo motif… for Ethan. There was a model set up in the children’s department in Ikea and Ethan was intrigued by it almost immediately! Although he fell down and hit his forehead whilst playing, we still bought the tent. So Pete was of course given the official task of setting up the tent, and when it was up we expected Ethan to be excited by it. Unfortunately our boy didn’t take a fancy to it at all. He would not even enter the tent. We figured it could be because of the fall earlier on in Ikea. Or maybe because the tent did not have a door; it just had an opening. So we did what any parent would do: we put his toys in the tent to lure him into it. You know what he did? He crawled in and dragged the toys out! He totally didn’t want to BE in the tent! Another method we employed in the hope of luring him into the tent was to take turns between Pete and I to enter the tent, then of course, Ethan would follow suit.

Lately however, we are pleased to note that Ethan has taken a liking to the tent. When we come home every day, the first thing he would do is to crawl eagerly into the tent. By the way, every time we go to Friday’s Ethan would request for a balloon. Now that balloon of his resides in the tent. So when he crawls into the tent, he would just hold the balloon and sit there with it. There’s a net opening at the top of the tent too, so we get to play peekaboo with him when he is in it… and you KNOW how kids love peekaboo, right?

Ethan has also found innovative methods to *play* with the tent:

  • Stand inside and push/lift the walls of the tent, resulting in the entire tent looking as though it will topple over
  • Push against the walls of the tent from outside, sometimes lifting the whole tent up.
  • Walk around the tent
  • Hold my hand and guide *me* to walk around the tent

Speaking of balloons, we need to get a new balloon from Friday’s every time the old one gets deflated. There’s something about balloons that interests kids, and Ethan is no different. On several occasions, he has attempted to use his *charm* to get some other kids’ balloon too.

A tent and a balloon – those are the latest items in Ethan’s toy collection. I can’t wait to see what’s coming up next…

Karaoke Prince

September 19, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Funny Moments | 13 comments

Who would’ve thought Ethan would inherit the love for karaoke singing from Mommy? I’m referring to his amazing ability to sing to the Little Einsteins theme song. Of course, he can’t sing along to all the words in that song just yet, but it’s certainly a start. Even without the words displayed on the TV screen, he will sing along to the “Aaaaahhhhh…..” part when the theme song of Little Einsteins plays. He also does the same thing when I sing the song to him, but he prefers it now with musical accompaniment. Oh yeah, the real lyrics actually go “Rrrrrrrrrrrr….” but Ethan does it HIS way 😛

We’re going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship
Zooming through the skies, Little Einsteins
Climb aboard, get ready to explore
There’s so much to find, Little Einsteins
We’re going on a mission, start the countdown
5–4–3-2-1!
Everyone to rocket, rev it up now…….
“Rrrrrrrrrrrrr……..”

The first part of this video is his more subdued rendition of the song, followed by a livelier, extended remix, as you can hear me saying in the background 😛

Some Privacy, Please!

September 13, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments | 5 comments

The shower stall that Ethan takes his shower in has a sliding door. Lately, he has started to slide the door close whenever I take him into the shower stall. I do not know if it is because he just likes the sliding action or if in fact, he is requesting for some privacy.

When we have visitors, they like to watch Ethan take his shower (for some apparent reason)….well, sorry, this is not available anymore, because he now showers behind closed doors.

The Food Monster

September 13, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding | 5 comments

Ethan’s appetite has increased in leaps and bounds since his recent bout of illness. That’s a really good sign, although it is all really in the scales and we shall know for sure if he has gained a significant amount of weight tomorrow when we take him for a visit to Dr Jessica for his (long-delayed) JE jab.

While I am at work, Ethan takes a total of 3 solid meals now, not including his milk feeds. I’m guessing he takes lunch, tea and early dinner. If you take into account the oatmeal he has for breakfast, then it will be 4 solid meals. Mrs Tan cooks porridge for him still, but at home and during weekends, he takes whatever we eat. Sometimes Ethan joins us for dinner after we pick him up from the sitter…we normally do this on Fridays…and guess what, our boy will be eagerly requesting for food too! Boy, has he got an expandable tummy!

For the past three days, I have also included supper in his diet. After his nightly shower, I make him a bowl of cereal, sometimes Kellogg’s Frosties and sometimes Rice Krispies (I’m thinking of trying Cocoa Pops tonight). I mix the cereal with Pediasure, which I heard is more *fragrant*, as it tastes just like vanilla milkshake. Of course,the introduction of supper is really a means of paving the way towards complete weaning from breastmilk too. And I am pleased to note that for the past three nights, Ethan has cheerfully and happily finished each serving (2-3 oz of Pediasure with cereal).

Well, he still wants to be nursed before he sleeps now, but with supper, he *seems* to be waking up at 3:00ish a.m. instead of the regular 12:00ish. So that’s a good sign. 🙂

Desperate Measures

September 12, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Parenting | 5 comments

We must have gone through almost all types of infant cough medication, all in the fervent hopes of making Ethan recover completely from his cough. It breaks my heart so to hear him coughing, because his cough is of the forceful kind, and he sounds like he is suffering whenever he coughs.

First, we gave him Rhinatiol from Dr Jessica. After a few days when there was no improvement, we switched to MucoFlux, which was also prescribed by Dr Jessica. Two days into the medication and there was still no sign of recovery. Pete and I then decided to try the Vicks method. No, no, it is not the application of Baby Vicks to his chest and back (we already do that every day anyway). The Vicks method is one that has been circulating the internet, suggesting that to cure a cough, all we need to do is to rub some Vicks liberally on the soles of his feet and put on a pair of socks. All this we did when he was in dreamland. Although it reduced the cough slightly, Ethan was still coughing. We did it for 2-3 days. Well, perhaps it was because we used Vicks Baby Rub instead of (adult) Vicks. (The regular adult Vicks was to be administered on kids aged 2 and above only).

The next thing we tried was aromatherapy. I quickly bought a bottle of Magnolia essential oil, rubbed 2 drops vigorously in my palm and applied it to Ethan’s front and back, and also his throat area. There was some level of improvement in his recovery rate, and his cough appeared to faze off, but we were not satisfied, because he was not completely healed yet.

So when push came to shove, we decided to turn to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine). Charlotte‘s mom had told me that she gave Charlotte Pak Poh when she was coughing, and it cured her cough within 2 days. On top of that, Charlotte did not need to be forced to take the medicine. It was worth a shot. Such is the desperation of a parent. So we got a box consisting of 6 powder vials of Pak Poh from Eu Yan Sang. I used just one teaspoon of warm water to make the Pak Poh mixture for Ethan, tried giving it to him, but he rejected it immediately. I then tried mixing it with his favorite yogurt, but although he took a little bit, he was not very happy when his taste-buds told him that the bitter-tasting Pak Poh marred the taste of his yogurt. We had no choice but to shoot the mixture straight down his throat using the syringe.

And now after SIX torturous sessions, Ethan is finally medicine-free, and has been so for about a week now. He still coughs slightly, but is getting better every day. I’m praying and praying and praying…. We’ll leave it to his antibodies to do the work then.

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