my budding artist

This is Joe's art...


This is a party he drew. Those are balloons and birds in the sky.

On the left is Brandon eating a chocolate ice-cream, while Joe is holding a lollipop. I then reminded him that dentist's son cannot eat lollipop, to which he said, "Just hold only. Not eat."

This second picture was supposed to be for Brandon when we went to Yong Peng. Unfortunately it got left in the car boot and came all the way back to KL.

Those are leaves blowing in the wind, Joe is watering the plants and Brandon is flying a kite.

And this one....he drew on the back of a cut-up cardboard box, and then stuck it on the wall to cover Joy-Anne's graffiti.

On the bottom left is his happy family - left to right : Joy-Anne, Papa, Mama, Joseph, Nana.

Finally....this is a 'Get-Well-Soon' card which he made for Brandon.

The inside of the card...

Brandon will get the card tomorrow....hope you like it, Bran!

Joe is cute too

Just so that Yee Yee doesn't say I'm biased by putting up only photos of Joy-Anne....here's Joe - much better after 4 days of fever. He hasn't lost much weight this time because his eating has been as normal.

And some other happy bedtime pictures...

And finally....this is for Yee Teow. Tell me if you understand...

talking too much

Joy-Anne continues to amaze me with her vocabulary. Everyday she says and does something new!

Up till now at 20 months, her speech includes (but not limited to) [ listed verbatim ]

- Selamat Hari Raya
- I want ice-cream.
- I do magic.
- Kor kor naughty
- Cane kor kor
- Play piano first (when she doesn't want to sleep)
- I want to read (snatch book from kor kor)
- Dora go to sleep.
- Happy birthday Ah Ku (singing to the tune)
- Joy-Anne go kai kai.

She can also pray... "Jesus...bless Yee Yee...have baby boy...Amen."

Counting 1 to 20 is not a problem. She knows she lives on "thirteen floor".

She can identify (and say) colour pencils, marker pen, ballpen...

And she sings in tune! Her repertoire currently includes Kher Ren Lai (and the entire day will be "papa pu chai chia"), You are my sunshine, It's raining...it's pouring, This Old Man and The B-I-B-L-E.

Of course she knows (and can say) her cartoon characters like Bob (the tomato), Mickey Mouse, Dora, Pocoyo, Lula, Sleepy Bird, Oso, Higglytown Heroes, Handy Manny, Pooh, Darby etc.

And just last night, she did what to me, has been the most jaw-dropping thing....

She climbed on my back (as if for a piggy-back ride) and then put her hand (five fingers together) to my mouth and said, "peanut...eat. Go!"

In my biased opinion, she's certainly the most lovable, adorable, cheerful, happy, intelligent (more than Joe at this point!) baby!

bedtime ritual

We recently started a new bedtime ritual with the kids - bedtime devotion.

They absolutely love it! We sing some songs that they learn in children's church. Papa plays the (real) guitar while Joe will 'play' his own guitar.

Joy-Anne also wants to play kor kor's guitar so we have to convince them to take turns. While waiting, she plays the 'drums' instead.

She's absolutely adorable when she tilts her head and says in a very cute voice, "Now Joy-Anne turn ok??"

After singing, we read some bible stories.... then the kids pray (Joe can now pray like some pastor) and then they go to bed.

I hope this starts them on a lifelong love for God's word.

new toy

We bought a new toy.

The OsimUsqueeze Warm. It retails for RM1998. But we got it with the Bonuslink promotion for RM1524. More on this later...

Anyway, the kids got a new toy too....a cardboard box!

(please ignore the big kid)

It's amazing how much fun kids can have with one cardboard box.

I remember that when I was a kid, my mum used to collect such boxes too. Fridge box, washing machine box, etc etc. We would make tents and 'houses' out of them.

Imaginative play is great for kids. A box can be a spaceship, a boat, a house....whatever they like.

friends for 20 years

Last night, I had some friends over for dinner. We don't normally have guests so when we do, I spend the day doing a wee bit of spring cleaning and throwing out some garbage.

Pauline is back in the country with her family. So we had to meet up.

Hui-Wearn, Pauline and I were room mates at my very first Scripture Union camp in November 1989. It's been almost 20 years!

Look at us now...

20 years is a long time! I feel so old just thinking about it.

Pauline lives in New Zealand now. We won't have such reunions often. But it was certainly a good time chatting and catching up while the kids played (and fought) together.

making mooncakes

We went back to Seremban over the Hari Raya weekend. Drove back right after spending the entire day in church on Saturday. It was smooth all the way there.

Ah Mah was busy making mooncakes. Joe was quite interested to learn the how-tos.


He observed step by step.... here Ah Mah pats the mooncake balls with flour.

She brushes the mooncake mould with flour...

Then she puts the mooncake ball into the mould...

...and pats it in gently.

Knock knock the mould against the table to gently dislodge it...

Ta-daa....

The kids happily clapped and cheered Ah Mah...

In the evening we went out for dinner. Joy-Anne insisted on feeding herself.

Joe also fed himself and we could enjoy the food.

When we got home, Ah Mah continued making mooncakes.... brushing them with egg yolk.

The finish product....fresh from the oven! Smelled really good!

I found some pumpkin growing in Ah Mah's garden...

Made sure I got a picture of the kids with the pumpkin before we left.

Coz it'll probably be another couple of months at least before we make another trip back.

two, three or more - the kids' answers.

Do you want another baby?

Joy-Anne : No need. (waving her hand)

Joseph : NO!!!!!! Two children is enough.

chinese speak mandarin

We are trying to teach Joy-Anne some mandarin....hopefully she won't be as banana as Joseph.

So far, she is much more receptive and teachable than Joe.

Can you understand what she is saying?

videos for laughs

This is for Yee Teow...

And I could watch this a million times and still laugh hysterically...

Ah Ku is 30!

We had a early birthday celebration for Ah Ku last night.

Joy-Anne in her new OshKosh dress from YeeYee & YeeTeow

Ah Ku turns 30 today!

Just family, food and fun...

...and a cake facial for Joy!

Don't I look pretty?

To move or not to move - God's answer

Some time ago, I wrote about the possibility of moving to Melbourne early next year.

Daalin received an email today regarding the ARC (Australian Research Council) Future Fellowship that he applied for.

He did not get it.

We're not really disappointed. Actually, I'm surprised to find myself quite relieved.

Now I have to think about which school to register Joseph with.

growing on milk...only?

It has been over 3 months since we came back from Melbourne. Joy-Anne is still not eating. She takes about 25-30oz of milk a day. Occasionally, depending on her mood, she eats insignificant amounts of egg, cheese, biscuits, junk food (like mamee), keropok and whatever else we have on the table.

Lately, a few people have commented that Joy-Anne looks a little chubby. I'm tickled by the thought that she appears chubby when she doesn't quite eat. Yet she's bigger, taller and heavier than kids older than her who eat a lot!

Some people ask me what milk she takes. It's no secret - DutchLady123, which is one of the cheapest around. I buy in bulk during sales (RM16.99 per 1.1kg pack. Normal price is about RM25 per pack).

But I guess I shouldn't give all the credit to Dutch Lady for Joy's thriving size.

So here's the secret.... the kids have been taking food supplements from Frontier. Joy-Anne takes one packet of TN-Plus everyday. It's complete nutrition in a packet. We add half a pack into her milk, twice a day.

Joseph also consumes an array of products. They love Multi-V and Nuclex (added with some Ribena).

colostrum to boost their immune system

At 19 months plus, Joy is 84cm tall. If we were to bring her to a certain Japanese buffet restaurant downtown, we'll have to pay RM10++ for her because she is over 80cm in height. Imagine paying RM10++ for her to eat nothing!

And according to some book I read.....Joy is going to be really tall. Taking a very conservative assumption that she grows only 1cm between now and her 2nd birthday, she will be 85cm at 2 years old. Double that and you get her adult height of 170cm!

new clothes

The kids recently had a wardrobe update. New clothes came from USA and Singapore.


This photo is especially for YeeYee. Joy is wearing a Neiman Marcus (size 4T!) dress (thanks YeeYee & YeeTeow!). Joe's shirt is from Tua Um.
Joe put on his new swimwear this morning. Swim shorts from Melbourne (AUD3) and swim top from Disney Store USA (USD5).

He was so happy and excited. I think the top and bottom match quite well even though they came from different continents on opposite ends of the globe. The shorts also has stripes of the same lime green colour. And both top and bottom have the same flower print.


After the swim and bath, Joy pulled her jeans and put in on all by herself. Joseph could not put on his own pants until he was 3plus. Joy-Anne is only one and a half.

I was so surprised that she managed to put one leg into each hole. Even though the pants went on front to back.

After she pulled it on, she walked to the door and said, "kai kai!"