blufology absorbent diaper

I went to the "Mummy and Me" fair at Midvalley Exhibition Center last Friday. At the booth that was selling ScoobeDry diapers, this man was trying to sell me some diapers.

I had seen this brand of diapers before and thought it must be pretty premium because of the high price. It works out to almost one ringgit per piece. But this man claimed that since it was even more absorbent than a certain reliable brand known for absorbency, it is cost effective because only one piece is needed throught the night. He even boasted that he could put his own son in the diaper from 6pm till 10am the next morning. I wasn't convinced enough to part with my hard-earned money so he gave me 2 pieces as samples to try.
On Saturday night, I put Joseph in this supposedly-premium diaper after his bath at about 8pm. He went to sleep soon after that. Very early the next morning....too early in fact.....Joseph woke up crying in discomfort. The clock showed 5am. I found his shirt and pants soaked with urine. So much for all that boasting about super fantastic absorbency.
So I got up, changed Joseph's pants and diapers as gently as I could so that he slept on. Dry and comfy, Joe continued in his slumber. Then I felt this sharp pain on my left middle finger. I went to the bathroom to switch on the light and found a 1.5cm long papercut-like opening on my finger tip.
Grrr.....this darn lousy diaper not only leaked through Joseph's clothes and caused him discomfort, the velcro part nicked my finger!!!

I'm so mad....you can bet I'm never gonna purchase this brand of diaper and I'm certainly not recommending it to anyone I know. In fact, I think I'm gonna write to the company and ask them to compensate me for my pain and the cost of my plasters.

Joseph's favourite new toy

Joe has a new favourite toy. Every morning when he wakes up, he crawls over the the other side of our bed, opens the bedside drawer and takes out his favourite toy.


He waves them around, arranges them on the bed, twists and turns them around.


I thought that since he loves them so much, I should use them to teach him the colours of the traffic light.


After all, it's never too early to start. And he doesn't need to know the actual purpose of this 'toy' for the next 20 plus years.

the end of my civil service

Tomorrow, 30th August 2006 will be my last day as a civil servant. It has been over 3 years since I started working with the Ministry of Health Malaysia because of the compulsory service regulation which was imposed just a year before I graduated. I started work on 1st July 2003 at Klinik Pergigian Bangsar. After 6 months there, I went to the Oral Surgery Dept in HKL for 3 months. Those 3 months must have been the most horrible 3 months of my life. Standing for hours in the operation theatre looking at blood and bones is definitely not my cup of tea. Nope, I need to be able to take a gulp of water every hour, go to the loo every 2 hours (at least) and be able to scratch my nose as and when I need to. It's real torture to have to stand still draped in sterile gowns with sterile-gloved-hands for hours and do nothing except retract the patient's cheek while the surgeon rumbles on about how Mr so-and-so has 4 wives and is divorcing no.2 and blah blah blah. I was glad to be done with Oral Surgery in March 2004. From April to June 2004, I was attached to the Paediatric Specialist Dental Clinic also in HKL. This was slightly better than Oral Surgery because OT days were only once every 2 weeks. And the cases were much shorter. Usually it was just dental clearance for some absolutely uncooperative kid with rampant caries. There were also several touching cases that I cannot forget. The most touching must have been this mother who had 3 sons with some hereditary muscular dystrophy syndrome. I first saw the eldest boy who came into the surgery in a wheelchair. After doing scaling on him, his mother wheeled him out. A few minutes later, she wheeled another boy who looked very much like the first one, and in the same physical condition as the first. At first I didn't realize it was another son until I checked his card. Later, I went out to the waiting area and saw a third boy in the same condition. My heart went out to this stoic mother who must have strength beyond my imagination. Having one special paraplegic child must be difficult for any parent, what more with three! After I was done with all my specialist attachments, I went back to Klinik Pergigian Bangsar in July 2004. Joseph came along in April 2005 and I took 4 months off work. I went back to work in August 2005 and shortly after, in October 2005, I volunteered to transfer to Klinik Pergigian Tanglin where I have been till the end of my civil service. It has been 3 interesting years. Sometimes it is fulfilling when patients are grateful to me for restoring their smile. Some comment that their extractions were painless and they didn't even realize the tooth had been removed. Others say that the experience wasn't as frightening as they had anticipated. Then there is the occasional extra demanding patient who thinks the government owes it to him to treat him like a VIP. They come in here, pay a mere ONE RINGGIT and expect to be treated like royalty, demanding on-the-spot treatment even when there are a dozen others waiting outside for their turn. Such patients need to know that even if he were to go to a private clinic and had to pay for it, he would still have to wait if he did not have an appointment. Anyway, I'm leaving, as some might say, for greener pastures. Who can blame me when I can work half the time, and earn double the money in private practice. I'm merely trying to make a living. I have served my time. I'll be a 'free woman' after tomorrow.

flat tire

Ever heard of how birds learn to fly? Or how ducks learn to swim? When one is thrown into the deep end of the pool, either you sink or swim. I went home for lunch yesterday. On my way back to work at 1.30pm, I was stopped at the traffic lights in front of Universiti LRT station when the driver of the van on my left kept on pointing to the back of my car. I quickly got out and to my horror, saw that the back left tire was flat. I waved a 'thank you' to the van driver and got back into my car. What was I to do? I had to get back to work by 2pm. Edwin wouldn't be back so early. As soon as the lights turned green, I switched on my hazard lights and carefully made a u-turn to go back up the hill and home. Out of the hot sun and back in the safety of my parking lot, I quickly got out the jack and got to work. I have seen how it is done but never had the opportunity to do it all by myself. This must be my lucky day! Adrenaline rushed through my veins and I loosened all the nuts effortlessly. I jacked up the car, changed the tire, put back all the nuts and jacked down the car....all in just under 15 minutes. I drove back to clinic cautiously and arrived at exactly 2pm. Then my right arm started to ache a bit. I thought it would be worse today but surprisingly, I feel just fine. Feel so proud of myself!

kafling

I was browsing through a copy of today's Harian Metro as I ate my lunch. There was much coverage of the wedding of the year - that of Malaysian pop princess Siti Nurhaliza (now Datin Siti Nurhaliza) to her prince Datuk K. Somewhere in the centrefold page were pictures of the many hantaran. Then I came across this picture...

kafling???? What on earth is a kafling?

New word ah?

Then I looked at the picture closer.....

ohh.....cuff links!!!

And Dewan Bahasa & Pustaka complains that our national language is being contaminated, diluted and treated with no respect. Just a few pages away in the same malay language newspaper are some comments that our Malay language is NOT treated with enough respect and that we should use it more to be proud of it. How ironic!!!

no electricity...again?

We were back in Seremban for the weekend. On what was supposed to be a lazy relaxing Saturday, Tenaga was at it again. Power supply went out in the late morning just as I was about to sit to read the newspapers. It was so hot. Just way too hot for clothes. Unfortunately for me, I couldn't just go topless like the boys. Even in the heat, Joseph and Brandon could enjoy themselves.

At 1.30pm, Joseph decided to do his big business. Then I showered him. Poor kid had a cold shower since the water heater runs on electricity.

Just as I was starting to rock him for his afternoon nap, power came back. Thank God for air-conditioners! Joseph slept 2.5 hours peacefully. I had my lazy afternoon nap.

Fish 'n Chips for ONE ringgit

After Rebecca's shopping spree, I had 3 coupons that entitled me to purchase Fish n Chips at Hooked (The Curve) for a mere ONE ringgit. RM1.00. I mean...this is the 21st century. What can you get for one ringgit? Sure one ringgit can pay for per-entry parking at several shopping complexes (on weekdays only) but to get a satisfying meal for RM1 is almost impossible. So off we went to Hooked. I promptly presented the voucher and this is the meal I got. I must say it tasted as good as it looked. Absolutely no complains for this one ringgit meal. Rebecca had this for lunch. I ordered the set lunch for RM9.90. Again it was quite a bargain. I got a nice hot bowl of tasty mushroom soup, a decent serving of spaghetti carbonara with fish, and a big glass of iced-lemon tea. this photo was taken when I was half way thru the soup. The soup was definitely not the tinned kind. The spaghetti was tasty enough and the iced-lemon tea had a nice kind of zing to it. Very filling on the stomach and easy on the wallet.

Another long week..Rebecca goes home...and Penang.

After working for merely 2 days on 26th and 27th July, I was off for another 10-day stretch. In all, I worked a grand total of 9 days in July. Unfortunately, all good things have to come to and end. Plus the fact that I can't live on fresh air and sunshine. Monday 31st July 2006 I drove Rebecca, Reuben, Mummy and Joe to Bukit Tinggi Resort for a day trip. Citibank is currently having a promotion whereby it's 50% off the entrance fee. So off we went to see some rabbits, donkeys and deers. The drive there was pleasant once we got out of the KL traffic jam. On arrival, we went to Colmar Tropicale first and found a nice picnic table with stools where we had our lunch of packed sandwiches. After lunch, we walked around a bit, took in the lovely scenery and surroundings and snapped photographs

Then we took the tram to the Rabbit Farm. But it was certainly no farm. The rabbit kandang was no bigger than my bathroom and contained at most, 15 rabbits. Joseph looked around unimpressed.

We then walked to the back of the rabbit kandang and found another 2 kandangs. One contained a few donkeys and the other, several deers.

The vast greens of the adjacent golf course soon had us making use of it as a backdrop for lovely pictures.

Back at Colmar Tropicale, we sat down at the pizza cafe for a snack. Joseph decided to dig into the pizza.

This tarte flambe pizza for RM25 actually tasted quite good. The cheese was nice and gooey and the toppings were sufficient for a good bite.

We left the place at about 4pm and Joseph slept the whole way home. This is my favourite picture for the day :

Other photos at Colmar Tropicale can be viewed here.

Tuesday 1st August 2006

This is the day before Rebecca flies back half way around the globe to Dallas. Tuesdays are Earthquake Days! That's 50% off the Earthquake at Swensen's.

Wednesday 2nd August 2006

We went to KLIA to send Rebecca off. She didn't cry. Neither did Joseph. I'm not sure he's gonna miss Ah Yee as much as Ah Yee is already missing him, and planning her next trip home.

After returning from the airport, Joseph and I travelled back to Penang with my parents. This is my first trip home to Penang this year. I'll be spending the next few days catching up with a few friends.

Sunday 6th August 2006

Joe, mummy and I fly back to KL on AirAsia. I'm glad to say that the crowd was much more orderly this time. There were 2 separate aisles with clear signages. The AirAsia staff was also more pro-active. Nevertheless, what I cannot understand is why everyone was made to climb down a flight of stairs, walk out onto the tarmac and up the movable stairs to get into the plane when it was parked right next to the aerobridge. All the had to do was extend the aerobridge to meet the airplane door. Joseph was in his stroller when we had to board the plane. A young Arab boy who spoke no English came and eagerly helped me carry the stroller, with Joseph in it, down the flight of stairs. He didn't wait to be thanked. I said "Thank you" a few times but he didn't seem to understand English. Too bad I can't say it in arabic.

The flight was also almost on time. We touched down at KLIA at 3.45pm as scheduled even though take off was about 10 minutes late. And the lovely thing about the LCC-T is that the bags come out much faster than at the main terminal. I usually try not to check-in luggage but this time, it was unavoidable because it was impossible to carry the car seat into the cabin.

Here's Joseph on arrival at the LCC-T....blur and tired because he had only slept 45 minutes the entire day.

Bali and the long week that was

It's been a long work-free week for me. I was on leave for 7 days making a total of 11 work-free day in a stretch. Had such a hangover this morning. And I miss Joe already!
Here's what happened during my long work-free week.

Saturday 15th July

Joe played football. He's a natural!

Monday 17th July

We flew to Bali on AirAsia. It was not a very pleasant experience overall. I saw the ugliness of Malaysians. We were waiting to board the flight. There was a bunch of super kiasu senior citizens who started queueing at gate T7 way before any announcement was made. However, when the call for boarding was made, families with infants, children below the age of 12, expectant mothers and senior citizens were asked to queue at gate T8. Instead of going to the back of the line at gate T8, this bunch of extremely rude, uncivilised senior citizens cut queue and went in front of those already in line. Not only did they jump queue, they actually pushed and shoved others aside so that they could all stand together in front of everyone else. I was standing in line, carrying a sleeping Joseph in my sarong sling and trying to protect him. One bald old indian man actually bumped Joseph's head. I said a loud "excuse me". He just looked the other way and pretended not to hear anything. How rude can one get? And these are senior citizens?!?!! Or should I just call them a bunch of rude old farts! Who can blame young people these days if we do not respect our elders? We're merely learning from their example. Respect is after all earned. Not demanded.

Anyway, the flight itself was fine except for the 1 hour delay. We landed in Bali at 8.30pm to find out that there had been an earthquake and tsunami in southern Java. Reaching our hotel room at almost 10pm, we promptly went to bed.

Tuesday 18th July

The day was spent resting, rotting and exploring the hotel grounds. Joseph looked cool in his batik shirt.

Wednesday 19th July

Joseph busied himself exploring the hotel room.

We took a walk down to the beach. Joseph touched an ocean for the first time. He was absolutely at home.

Thursday 20th July

We have yet to leave the hotel grounds since we checked-in on Monday. This evening, we take Joseph to check out the playground. It's pretty well-maintained. He enjoyed his first time on a see-saw.

Friday 21st July

We're going home today. I'm actually looking forward to it. We extended our check out time to 5pm for an extra USD25, so that we can rest before our 8pm flight. This is our room that cost USD63 nett per night.

Nothing great about it. The place is actually pretty old but at least it's clean. For that same price, we would probably be able to get a much nicer hotel in Malaysia.

I find Bali is not my cup of tea. In fact, I think it's pretty overated. I couldn't find anything worth buying. The batik there is no different from the ones you find here. And I don't waste money on trinkets that do nothing more than collect dust. What I found eerie was that there was either an idol or a picture of one everywhere I looked. Every corner, every hallway, every room, every wall. I don't think we'll miss anything if we never go back to Bali again.

Saturday 22nd July

Ah...home at last. So nice to wake up in my own bed. Spent the morning at home. In the afternoon, I took Joseph to Bueh Yee's house in SS2 to see Rebecca. Joseph found the trampoline to be quite fun.

Then this is Joe and Rebecca watching Veggietales.

And this is Joe checking out his new guitar.

Monday 24th July

Rebecca, Mummy, Joe and I went to Midvalley after lunch. I needed to print some photos. They looked great! Rebecca went shopping.

Tuesday 25th July More shopping...Joseph and I spent the day with Rebecca and Reuben at Tesco, Ikea, The Curve. It's a first for me to be out with my siblings and my darling son. Rebecca went shopping for more dresses. We had quite a good time. However, Joseph refused to sleep taking merely 2 short 30-minute naps all day. At dinner time, he refused to eat. After cleaning him up, putting him in clean diapers and pajamas, he decided to poo. Right...my sister says babies like to poo in clean diapers just like how we like to use clean toilets. So while I was trying to wash the poo off his bum, he decided he wanted to splash around in the bath tub that still contained his earlier bath water. When I took him out, he started yelling and crying and throwing a tantrum. After that....he spent the next 2 hours crying in pain and discomfort. I spent 2 hours trying to put him to sleep. He would appear to have fallen asleep, and 10 seconds later start crying again. He arched his body backwards and wouldn't stop kicking. I was at my wits end. Didn't know what to do. It was 2 hours later that he finally fell asleep. My diagnosis is that his hungry stomach got filled with air and the trapped air was giving him pain. The more he cried in pain, the more air went in and the vicious cycle continued. I hope this trauma doesn't happen again. What a dramatic end to my nice long work-free week.

stinky smoke...back again?

It was a hot night. Joseph woke up at 4.30am crying in discomfort. I got up to comfort him and was overwhelmed by the acrid smell of smoke all around. Looking out of the window from my 13th floor apartment, the MPPJ tower looks a blur behind the light blanket of haze. Is the haze back? Memories of last year's mega-haze are still vivid in my mind. Air Pollution Index (API) readings don't fool me. I've got a nose you can call a haze-o-meter. I can smell smoke even before I see smokers. Days before the haze is visible, my nose will start feeling stuffy and runny. I close the window, switch on my Greenaire revitalisor and get back into bed, trying to ignore the stinking smoke. Can someone please tell the Indonesians to stop burning? Stop polluting my air. I've a right to breathe fresh clean air!!!

a salty kind of stink

Joseph started having smelly feet eversince footwear became a necessity for him. He officially started walking at 13 months and has already outgrown his first pair of shoes. After we get home from a day out, I remove his shoes and socks and find that they emit a salty kind of stink. Smelly feet on a 15 month old boy? This can't be for real. So I started looking for alternative footwear. Joseph's generous ah yee who just came back from half way around the globe to visit him brought with her a pair of Timberland sandals that cost USD24! That works out to around RM88. I don't even wear shoes that cost that much. My Renoma high heels which was bought at a warehouse sale cost only RM80. Okay..that's close to RM88. But it's still less! Anyway....it's a good deal. I checked out the Timberland boutique in 1-Utama and the same pair of sandals retails for RM139. What a bargain huh? But Joseph can't wear his yet. Being kiasu, my sister bought a size 9! The store salesgirl suggested a size 5 for a 1-year old. Oh well....it doesn't really matter. He'll grow into it. Right now, there's more than an inch of room between the tip of his toe to the edge of the sandals. I hope it'll be the end of his smelly feet when he starts wearing the sandals. In the mean time, I bought him another pair of shoes last tuesday. We were out window shopping at Metrojaya when I spotted this pair of shoe by Larrie. It has a non-slip rubber sole which is flexible. Beside looking good, it was priced at only RM25.90 (Even kikilala shoes cost more). And it was the last pair! So it was either buy it, or regret it.

Joseph needed new shoes anyway. His current pair bought by his Ah Kong is getting tight. There's hardly any room between the tip of his toe and the edge of his shoe. Children grow so fast! I need to enjoy him before making a sister/brother for him.

30 years of fun

This photo was taken on 30April 1979. I was exactly 15 months old. That slide I'm sitting on in the photo must be about 3 years old at that time.

Fast forward to 2006.

Joseph is almost 15 months old and playing on the exact same slide. It's been refurbished. We changed the sliding board and gave it a new coat of varnish. Still good as new and able to provide Joseph with lots of playtime fun. All that exercise he gets climbing up and down enables him to sleep better at night.

Check out the same pose...

long busy weekend

Joseph woke up 5 minutes before my 6.30am alarm went off this morning. How does he know that I've got to wake up early to go to work today? I had taken monday and tuesday off so it was a nice long weekend. A very busy one for Joseph. See what he did... Joe had wonderfully fun bubble baths He was busy checking out the 'new' slide. He messed fried mee hoon all over himself.

He drove a bat mobile!





















And check out this cheeky grin....vroom! vroom!

Rebecca's Back!

Rebecca landed here on Tuesday 4th July. Her second trip home in a space of 6 months. This comes after being away for 5.5 years. Why the sudden eagerness to come home? Joseph, of course. Her first word as soon as she stepped into the arrival hall of KLIA was "Joseph". Her luggage was full of goodies for Joseph. What a lucky baby Joseph is to have such a nice Ah Yee. By wednesday, Joseph was calling Yeee..... with a big grin on his face and pointing at Rebecca. This always results in hysterical laughter from Joseph's Ah Yee. She bought him several books, a pair of Timberland sandals (that cost USD24), wallies to decorate his room. The sandals are still too big for his feet. He should grow into them in a couple of months. Wednesday night, Joseph entertained all of us by smearing mango juice all over himself. He was happily sucking on the mango seed. There was juice on his hands, head, hair, face, arms and even the entire high chair.

Not the least disturbed by the mess, Joseph couldn't be happier.

Me! Me!

I made the mess!

Yeah!

treasure found...?

Joseph : I was just doing what I do best...exploring the house, opening drawers and cupboards, looking for things to throw around. Then I wandered to the bedroom and found this.... in daddy's bedside drawer. Hmm....wonder what it's for.

Daddy...what did you say these are for again?

broken toilet seat

This is my broken toilet seat. Wonder how I'm gonna get it fixed....

toilet seat no more

How does a 14-month-old boy break a toilet seat? I'm trying to figure it out and I'll still be trying when I go shopping for a new toilet seat. You see, Joseph broke the one in my bathroom. Okay, so it's old. But it was still working fine until his itchy hands kept tugging and pulling and pushing it around everytime he stood next to it when it was time to shee shee. Now I have to go look for a toilet seat that will match the colour of my toilet bowl.

New wheels for Joseph

I finally got a new stroller for Joseph. It was time to retire his old hand-me-down one which was getting very wobbly and did not seem capable of withstanding Joseph's increasing weight (almost 12kg now!). Several weeks of research on the internet, a mother's forum and also asking around friends' opinions led me to decide on the Graco EDT citisport which has a price tag of RM599 at ToysRUs and SafeNSound (1Utama). But it was to my good fortune that when I visited Safe N Sound last night, the EDT citisport was out of stock. However, a more expensive model (which I saw for RM649 two weeks ago) was now selling for only RM459. It was the last unit. Take it or regret it. Not one to be fickle, I put Joseph in it and wheeled it out of the shop as Edwin took out his credit card to pay for it. Here's what I found out from all the stroller research. I wanted a stroller that was lightweight, compact when folded, one-handed open/close, has a reclinable seat, large storage basket and easy-clean cushions. Many umbrella strollers require you to squat to the floor when closing the stroller because the handles have to meet the front wheels. Others were so bulky and heavy that they would fill up the entire car boot. Hence it was down to either Combi or Graco for me. All other brands (Chicco, Peg Perego, Maclaren, Inglesina, Britax...) were either too expensive or too bulky. I also found out that you have to go to certain shops to buy certain brands of strollers. Combi - Combi shop in Midvalley, Toycity in 1Utama Graco - ToysRUs, SafeNSound, Bambino (limited model) Maclaren - Planet Enfant PegPerego - ToysRUs (limited choice), Planet Enfant Inglesina - ToysRUs, Hytex town (Ikano) Sweet Cherry - Jusco Anakku/Elego - Anakku boutiques, Parkson Graco had a large storage basket and easy one-hand open/close mechanism. Combi was more compact when folded because of the tri-fold. However this tri-fold makes it more flimsy. And the basket is lousy. So I finally decided on the Graco citisport, compromising on the not-so-compact folded size. It is still light enough to be carried over the shoulder and I believe it will fit in the overhead compartment of an aircraft cabin. See how happy Joseph is...he wouldn't let me take him out of it!

everyday is a new lesson

As soon as I got home yesterday, my mother got Joseph to show me his new 'stunt'. She asked him "Where is papa's picture?" I stood rooted to the ground wondering what he was going to do. Joseph walked over to the cupboard where we kept all our photo albums, opened it and pulled out a photo of Edwin dressed in his graduation gown. Then he took the photo, walked over to edwin, and as he stretched out his hand to give Edwin the photo, he said "PA!" so loudly. Of course his pa smiled from ear to ear. Then later in the evening, we were at the balcony. My mother asked him, "Where's the small swimming pool?" and he pointed correctly. Next question : "Where's the big swimming pool?" Again, he pointed to the correct big pool. I've got to test this boy's IQ someday. In the mean time, I'll just enjoy his antics. Motherhood has its rewards!

14 months and counting...

It's been 10 days since my last post. Joseph turned 14 months yesterday. He's growing so fast. And learning new things everyday. I realize he understands much more than I give him credit for. I put his a bottle containing water and a bottle containing milk side by side. When asked where his water bottle is, Joseph grabs the right bottle without hesitation. On Tuesday morning, he walked into my mother's room. And when my mother started to recite The Lord's Prayer, Joseph walked out of her room, went to the study, picked out "The Lord' Prayer" book from amongst so many books on the shelves, walked back to my mother's room and gave it to her. After he has thrown out plenty of balls from inside the playpen, I take him out, and tell him to take the balls and throw them back into the playpen. He obeys and throws all the balls back in. Yesterday I asked him "where is Ah Yee's book?". He walked to the shelf below the telephone, and picked out the book that his ah yee gave him. Then I asked him, "where's the doggie?" and he turned the pages till he reached the page where there were dogs. He pointed to the dogs and enthusiastically said, "oohhhhh..." I ask Joseph, "where's the moon?" He points to the window and skywards. Best of all, everyday when I get home from work and walk thru the door, I ring the doorbell on purpose and Joseph walks to me with a big grin and happily says "hehh....heyyy....". It never fails to put a smile on my face.

hello? hello?

We were clearing out the study yesterday. Today we're getting new built-ins installed. So the telephone was on the floor. Joseph happily picks up the receiver, puts it to his ear and goes "ohhh.... ohhhh....". Then he walks over to me and puts the receiver to my ear. Indeed, children learn what they see. I had better be on my guard always.

chicken-pox vaccination

Joseph got his chicken-pox vaccination jab yesterday. After much deliberation with Edwin....to jab, not to jab, to jab, not to jab.....and seeking opinions of other mums, and my doctor friend...we decided to let him have the jab. Paid RM120 for it. Joseph cried for 5 seconds. Then it was back to his smiles and toys. I figured it was better for him to get the jab for the following reasons. 1. If he didn't have the jab and he got the disease, we would have to rush him to the paediatrician to get the anti-virals which would cost even more. 2. One jab and 5 seconds of crying is a whole lot better than feeding medicine 3 times a day for two weeks. 3. Getting the jab means that the disease will be less serious should he get it. This then means a happier, less miserable Joseph which results in a happier me! 4. Going to school soon means his risk of getting bugs and viruses increases and therefore, I should give him all the protection I can. Money well-spent!

chubby, choo-bee, chau-bee

I figured this 3 words most aptly describe Joseph. For now at least. Chubby - he downs 3 big bowls of oats/porridge and at least 20-24 oz of milk each day. He looks like he has a beer belly. Kinda like Ah Teck in Under One Roof. But it's just one round tummy. No folds of fat like the Michelin tyre mascot. One solid round tummy. Choo-bee - It means cute in hokkien. How else can I describe Joseph. Cute is an understatement. More like mega-cute. Or super-duper-hyper-mega-cute. Then again, who can blame me if I seem bias? He copies everything we do. Monkey see, monkey do. But with a lot more cuteness. Taking care of him means days of laughter. Just last night, he threw all my pillows from the head of the bed to the foot of the bed. Then he sat down and with one pointed finger, waved it and said "horrrr.....". Just like how we 'scold' him. Chau-bee - Meaning smelly in hokkien, this would be when he has poo-ed and is still happily walking about oblivious to the smell that his faeces is emiting. It is quite a challenge to clean and change this little boy since he will struggle and scream because he doesn't like having his backside washed. I've no idea why. After he is clean and dripping wet, he escapes and roams around gleefully, barebottom. It's as if he is elated to have the wind blowing against his chubby bottom. Again...so cute.

I Not Stupid too

We were browsing in Midvalley Megamal last night and decided to buy I Not Stupid Too (original vcd of course) since the first movie was pretty good. We were not disappointed. I must confess...I shed some tears. Touching is an understatement for this fabulous creation of Jack Neo who also stars in the movie. Tom and his brother Jerry (yes...Tom & Jerry) have parents who think they are doing a great job as parents not realizing that what their children actually need is their time and attention instead of material provision. ChengCai has a ex-prisoner father who in spite of his love for his son, beats him up because he knows no other way to show love. Driven by resentment, the children end up as juveniles...shoplifting, robbing, stealing and fighting.

Have a box of tissue handy as the ending of the movie will bring you to tears. I like the moral values of the movie.

A rotten apple can still be eaten if you cut away the rotten part. But if you throw it away, you will have nothing left.

There is good in everyone. We should focus on their talents instead of their flaws.

Everyone can do well. We all just need a little encouragement.

As the opening line said....When was the last time you praised somebody?

Joseph says mama

My long wait finally came to and end. I had been waiting for the day Joseph would say "ma ma". He did it on Saturday 20th May. It was the sweetest sound to my ears. After he accomplished mama, he added mummum to his vocabulary. Somewhere along the way, he also started saying "hot" referring to the pot that just came off the stove. It amazes me how much this little toddler understands. Just yesterday, he was enjoying his bubble bath with the lower half of his body completely covered by bubbles. When he was asked, "where is your leg?", he happily lifted his left leg out of the water and laughed. Then we asked him, "your other leg?" and he lifted his right leg. He understands and obeys when we tell him to lie down, sit down. I take him to the window and ask him "Got rain or not?" and he will put out his hand as if to check for rain drops. In spite of all this apparent intelligence, he refuses to understand the word NO. Smacking his hand yields no result. The rotan is sitting around. I have yet to use it. It's so long, I'm afraid I'll injure Joseph. My mother says he's too young to understand. I find that absolutely illogical since this smart kid understands various commands and knows how to look at the sky when we say "aeroplane" and "helicopter". Surely the one-syllable no is much simpler to comprehend. For now, his favourite word is still "ball" whenever he sees a ball or anything that looks round like a ball, and "pa", referring to his dad. I'll have to wait (hopefully not too long) till he starts saying "ma" more often.

walk walk walk

Joseph has started walking. He gets more confident with each passing day. A week ago, he looked more like a drunk penguin, falling to his bum after a few steps. Now he's really walking and I'm starting to miss his crawling days because it was also a real joy to see him dashing across the hall and rooms on all fours. I take my eyes off him for a split second and he's out of the room. And then I find him comfortably seated on the chair at the dining table. I'm amazed at how quick he is at making his way out of the room and on to the chair without falling. He doesn't want to stay in his playpen. There's not enough room in there for him. The entire house is his playpen. He opens cupboards, pulls out drawers, climbs on chairs and the table, whacks my computer keyboard... Just last week he trapped his own fingers as he shut a drawer. He looked at me with a pathetically sad face and whimpered. No crying, no tears. I gave him a stern "I-told-you-not-to-play-with-the-drawers" look before I released his chubby fingers from the clutch of the drawer. Sigh...seems to me he's got 'thick skin'. 2 weeks ago when we took him for his 3rd MMR jab, he surprised us (the paediatrician included) when he smiled instead of cry. Not even a teeny weeny whimper. No sign of pain. Got to go buy a cane soon. My sister-in-law tells me there's a shop in PJ Old Town that sells 3 for RM1. That'll be one for the house, one for the car, and one as a spare....