One Day, My Dream Shall Come True

"Ivan, your mouth's empty. Come ... !" I called out to Ivan to come over for another bite over dinner. Yes, he still need to be fed during meals. You might ask why. Well, lazy to eat on his own. Besides, it takes him at least 2 hours to finish up a meal on his own. So, to lower down our frustration level, we have decided to feed him instead. Anyway, that's not the story that I want to share.

Ivan walked over towards me and when he passed by Jay, he gasped. He quickly distant himself from Jay and seeing his reaction, I turned to look at Jay. 

I paused for a second and then laughed out loud at the sight of Jay. This is what happened. In order for us to enjoy our meal, I gave Jay some food for him to eat on his own. Though he was seated beside me, I was so engrossed in my food (hungry ma) and didn't take notice of him. So, a piece of bread with chocolate filling and within minutes, he has created his own masterpiece; with his face as the canvas.

It's really rare that we could eat peacefully, at our own pace. Well, I know this won't last. One day, we shall be able to eat in a fine dining restaurant in civilization and of course, a pair of well behaved children. We will share jokes, we will comment on the food, share about latest happenings and other stuffs we don't get to do over meals now.

One day, my dream shall come true. 

Little Notz

Notty notty Notz ! Notty Lil' Jay.

My Little Notz is already 15 months old and just like his nick, he's getting naughtier and cheekier. Well, somehow little children could easily get away with their mischief and even regarded as adorable ... just because they are children. Someone quoted before that her life was just full of ingredients before she had her children. With them, they are the flavours in her life. How true, nhuh? So, here ... the flavours of my life with his mischief which makes it more flavourable.

He loves to hang around the telly. He's probably finding it fascinating to have 'people' inside the little box. He knocks and slaps hard on the telly, trying to attract 'their' attention but is often pulled away by mom and dad. Geeezz.. gotta try again later.

Look closely at the picture above. Try and guess where is this place. Hmm .. no prize for correct answer though. :P Well, give up? This is how it looks like underneath of Little Notz's high chair. He will not fail to mess up the place, wherever we dine or even lunch or even breakfast. Honey, it's pretty embarrassing, really. If you noticed, there's a bowl in the picture too. After picking it up for the umpteenth times (and getting stares from people each time he drops it), I finally give up and leave it there ... atleast till I snap a picture first. Hahha .. Else, I will get stares from the waiters and waitresses for not picking it up !

I want some rice

Yay, rice !

Spoon? What spoon? I prefer hand fed.

Grandma : UUghh ... your rice stuck on me.

That's not all. Little Notz has the impression that everything CoCo has or holds must be good stuffs. Must have, must have. And how to have? Snatch. Notz snatches everything CoCo has. Poor CoCo.. being the elder brother, he had to give in the Jay's bidding. *hugz Vernie* Having said that, we as the parents disagree that we should relent to his demands. When he gets too unreasonable, we do resort to c.a.n.e.

Notz is just too cheeky to leave you alone with your folded clothes. There you are, folding a whole week's pile of clothes and with a cheeky grin, he comes over and throws your clothes, pile by pile with both hands. Left hand one, right hand one, throw throw throw.. Grrrr ...

I wrote in my earlier post that Notz love to spank people. Look at him in action, Jef caught by surprise. LOL!

I'm now wondering how it would be like 10 years from now. Hmm .. Ivan would be 15 years old and Jayden 11 years old. Will they come in here to check out how were they like when they were small?

Happy Mid-Autumn

I would be posting some back-dated post and this is one of it. Mid-Autumn festival, celebrated on the 22 Sept 2010. Honestly, I don't really know why we celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival (there are just too many variants to the stories behind Mid-Autumn Festival). But, I do know that Mid-Autumn Festival is associated with mooncakes, brightly lighted lanterns, at times, pomelo and candles !

We celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival this year with some mooncakes and lanterns. Jef surprised us with lanterns he bought on the day itself. So, it was kind of a last minute plan event. This is the first time for JayJay and the first time for us to decorate our porch with lanterns.

Jay and his noisy lantern.

Jef bought an Ultraman lantern for Ivan and a battery-operated-reduced-noise lantern for Jay. The boys are of course excited. Excited for the lanterns and also for the neighbour's company (with 2 pretty daughters) who were also celebrating the bright round moon outside. 

Next year, I'll remind myself not to get tempted with fancy snow skin mooncakes and I should just stick with the traditional baked skinned ones. And, I mustn't buy too much too. As for lanterns, we kept the lanterns bought this year and we just need to get new candles. *wink* Hope your Mid-Autumn Festival was great too.

Ivan's proud of his hand made lantern

What Are Little Boys Made Of?

Snips and snails and puppy dogs tail. That's what little boys are made of.

It has been such a long time since I last posted anything here. There are so many happenings and I would need to rely on my old memory to recall all. So, instead of all (old memory is failing me already), here are 3 random things about my boys. Let's start with Ivan.

3 random things about Ivan :

• Ivan's just like daddy. An avid gamer. He can handle iPhone better than I do. Bet I don't even know how to switch it ON. Hahah, ok, I exaggerated. I do know where the ON button is. I just can’t locate games as fast as Ivan can. And, for someone who can hardly read the games instructions, he could start and play the game guided by instinct and probably, 10% from experience. By owning an iPhone, Jef literally 'owns' Ivan. For example, Ivan refuses to read his books. Jef strikes a deal with Ivan. Do your revision, then Dad lets you have the phone. Or, finish up your meal - fast. And you get to play the phone. Sounds more like a bribery to me. But well, it takes too hands to clap. There's demand, and there's supply. Fair deal, I'll say.

• Ivan is rather helpful (much to my delight!). Being an older brother, Ivan helps to clean up mess done by DeeDee. Usually, it's about keeping the toys, the canisters and containers from the kitchen cabinets. There were many times when Ivan has put back the stuffs nicely and Jay walks over and destructs like an unwanted monster. Though frustrated, Ivan didn’t lose his temper and gave JayJay two tight slaps like what normal boys would probably react. He merely says, “Hey ! Hey ! JayJay !!!!!! Mummy … ! Jay messes up again !!!!” Way to go, CoCo !

• Despite being out-spoken and rather vocal at home, Ivan is timid when he’s outside or when he’s facing others. I searched in the net and found plenty of help available. From today onwards, I pledge to live by this Golden Rule “Remember that a child who is withdrawn and timid will become even more so if you put pressure on him. Letting your child know that you accept him no matter what, will make him feel more relaxed in all situations.”. May the force be with Ivan and I. And also Jef. And Jay.

3 random things about Jayden :

• When he's not hungry or the food is not tasty or even when the portion is too much, he spits it out like a M-16 rifle. Pppffft pffft pffffft pffffft .. if you are not careful, be prepared for a face full of rejected food.

• Jay excites us with hugs and kisses now. He gave his first hug to CoCo. It started when Jay saw Ivan hugging me. He walked towards CoCo with his arms wide open and then he hugged CoCo tightly. Hhahah .. so tight till Ivan said, "Errr .. are you going to release me?".

Then, the first kiss. We were in the hypermarket when it happened. We placed Jay in the shopping cart and while pushing the cart, I leaned over to Jay and asked for a kiss on the cheek. To my surprise, he responded. A while later, Jef took over the shopping cart and asked Jay for a kiss too. Jay pouted his lips and kissed Jef on the lips. Well, I am not well and wouldn't want to pass on to Jay by kissing on the lips. But, Jef claimed that his kiss was Jay's first kiss and mine was just a peck. *watevuh!* Jef can disagree and hide in the dungeon of denial. Kiss made without pouted lips is still a kiss. It was his first and he was learning.

• On the other hand, though he hugs and kisses us, he loves to spank us too. He enjoys slapping us on the face, especially when you are lying down. Once, grandma (my mom) was lying down on the sofa. Jay walked towards her, then paused when he's nearby. He grinned at her and said, "eeiii .. *sounds like hey*". That was his warning to tell Grandma that he's coming. He quickened his pace and when he's near, he slapped her several times on the face and head - with both hands. Oh dear ... this boy is rough.

So, here goes. 3 random things to fill in the littleCommas' journal.

Jay's Walking !

I was busy with Ivan's birthday cupcakes on Monday night and from the corner of my eyes, I saw Jay walking. *gasp* Jay's walking .. !! He walked without aid for about 1.5 meters (that's from dining into the wet kitchen area to look for dad). If you were there, you could see my eyes beaming proudly, watching my little boy walking bravely.

*Hhaha* Yesterday's walk was not his first few steps. He has been taking baby steps without aid and then back to aid. You know, walk walk, support support, sit. But yesterday was amazing. He took steps without support ! From then onwards, he was also proud of himself. He seems to prefer walking instead of crawling. *beaming*

I have been waiting for this day to come for such a long time. This big milestone in Jay's first 5 years. This simply means that we are going for a family photo shoot session in studio soon (soon!!). Though my late dad used to own a photo lab but sad to say, we didn't manage to take any family pictures before. Zero. Maybe we are too proud to walk into another photo studio or we only like to take pictures for others. Sadly, I only realised this after dad's passing on. It is too late then. I could only cut and paste dad's picture in ours. So, I am adamant to take family picture this time. But, I would like to have Jay walking first. You know, those natural shoots of us close ups? And my idea of natural would be everyone being in their usual self, smiling hopefully. Of course we could still take the shoots even before Jay could walk. But well, one of us would need to carry him and how do you think anyone will look like carrying a 11 kg's pack of rice? Crooked face, I think. Hmmm, some pictures of Jay and Ivan, standing by each other would be nice.

Besides photo shoot, we are going to the zoo too ! Again, this is also something which we could do before Jay could walk. I would imagine him staying in the stroller anyway. But well, I reckoned that when he could walk, he is big enough to enjoy the outing, the animals and the hot sun (and the mosquitoes and the stench !). Then why still go? Personally, I think zoo's fun. You get to smell the animals, hear them roar and see them up close. So, even though it's going to be really tiring, but it's worth it. Lately, I am preparing him for the day by showing him Barney's Zoo edition. *teehee*


And of course, if possible, we may not need the stroller in another half year's time. *phew* one item lesser to lug along. Outings are always tiring, especially for Jef. He would need to carry the bag, the boys, the stroller and he drives. tsk tsk tsk to me.

I'm so glad Jay has finally walked. :) And, could this be his present for Ivan's birthday?

Couch Potato

Put JayJay on the couch and he slides down to his comfortable position. The couch potato position. Usually when he sees me with a camera, he would rush over to snatch away from me. But, in this position, the camera doesn't interest him much. He even smiled for the camera. Say cheese baby !

Clone the Fluffy Project

I have introduced you to Fluffy before in my previous post. Fluffy the blue pillow. Super cuddly and soft. Jayden's favourite, Ivan's regret. Ivan's regret as the pillow was previously his. My mom made it for him. However, he wasn't very much in love with Fluffy at that time and hence, it was kept away till Jayden was born. With Ivan's permission, I gave Fluffy to Jayden and you know what they always say about "You never know how much you love it till you lose it?" Well, it's so true in this case. Ivan missed it so much and at times, fight over Fluffy with Jayden.

Then I decided to make Fluffy into Fluffies. Haahhaha ... Clone the Fluffy Project started with me looking hi and lo for kekabu (cotton). It wasn't easy but luckily, one of my colleagues knows where to get it and through her, I managed to get a bag full of cotton. Neat ! Next, I bought some cotton cloth and Ivan chose Blue and Red for the outer layer and Purple and Light Blue for the inner layer. I measured and cut the cloth to make 6 pillows. 2 for Ivan, 2 for Jayjay and 2 for Kayley (cutie niece !)

Then it's sewing them up. The initial plan was to send over to tailor to do it. Miss Tailor decided to charge me RM5 for each piece and RM60 for all. Hmm, too expensive. I can already buy a ready made pillow. Lucky for me that mom offered to help me with sewing. Her friends own a sewing machine. However, there were some technical glitches during the process and instead of a week, the job took more than 3 weeks to complete. Simple machine sewing ended up with manual sewing required.

Next ! Fill up with cottons. Stuffing the covers with cotton is simply the hardest of all tasks. It involves plenty of mess and sneezes. Sneezy me brought the entire project outside of the house for a stuffiing good time. Finally, the sealing up and dooooonnneee !

Oh, one final step. To help the boys identify their own pillows, I made some button-on cartoons. I made little chicken, 2 elephants, car, butterfly with flowers and dog.

So, was the cloning a success? Darn, no. Jayjay's love for Fluffy is deeper than the sea, higher than the mountain and simply irreplaceable. As for Ivan, the pillows are awesome to him. He simply love the cartoons. But not so lovey for the pillow. He's still in between his old love (Bobby) and current love (Sun - his bolster). Was I disappointed? I would be lying if I say no. But, having said that, I'm so happy to know that my boys are faithful to their love. Hahahahah ...

Jay's 1 !

Lil' Jayden celebrated his first birthday recently ! We had a mini family gathering on the birthday eve night (a last minute dinner plan). The celebration started with the usual finger licking good stuffs and Itallian roti canai or fondly known as pizza and a Baskin Robbin's ice-cream cake ! (And ended with the 4th bottle of wine. It could be more, really, if it wasn't for the trip to Singapore and the first-day-at-work-the-next day excuses.)

Just like Ivan, Jay gets to bite into his first drumstick and a taste of his first ice-cream on his first birthday. It didn't turn out quite like what we expected though. He didn't manage to suck on the drumstick for long and he shuddered at the taste of icy cold ice-cream. It was rather comical (though worrying at first) to see him shivers and shaking his head in disapproval. Wonder how long this shivering and quivering actions will last. Hmm .. will he still be refusing ice-cream next year? We shall see ....

And on his birthday, we went for movies. A tad too early compared to Ivan previously. Considering that Jay's not annoyed by loudness, we brought him to the cinema nearest to home to watch Toy Story 3. Much to our delight, he stayed put for 3/4 of the movie (he slept for 2/4 of the show). During the last quarter of the movie, Jef and I took turns to walk him at the end of the theater hallway.

Well, first birthday went on quite eventful after all. We simply took advantage of Jay's innocence as this is the only year which he wouldn't know how and what to demand for during birthdays. So, we enjoyed ourselves. During his birthday. :P

We'll make it up to you next year and the years to come, sweetie ! Happy Birthday !

zzZZZzzzZZZzzz

A friend told me that babies will know if you are staring at them, even though while they are asleep. *grin* I simply love to look at JayJay sleeping. He looks so peaceful, sweet, calm and oh-so-adorable!. Staring at him sleeping, I often wonder what he dreams about. Is it about me? About the little toy? Dreaming of his meals?

He usually sleeps on his tummy and at times, sideways. But regardless of his sleeping position, he must have his comfort pillow, fondly known as Fluffy. (The little blue pillow as shown in the pictures above). Fluffy was made by my mom for Ivan 5 years ago. However, Ivan preferred bolsters then and I kept Fluffy aside till now. Gave to Jayden (with Ivan's permission) and Jay has never been able to sleep without it every since then.

At night, we used to have nightlight turned on so that I can see the boys. Recently, we decided to turn it off. Ivan has expressed his preference to sleep in the dark and the light is distracting him. Surprisingly, the boys indeed sleep better in the dark. After milk, Jay falls back to slumber. 

So here it is, a post about sleep and slumber and pillow and soft bed. Just had my lunch and I'm feeling sleepy myself now. *yawn*

Bite Bite

My sharp razors

JayJay is filling up his mouth with teeth now. There are already 2 at the bottom and 3.5 at the top. (1 is still emerging from his gum).

With 5.5 teeth beaming in his mouth, (approximately 30% of total teeth he shall have during childhood) he is already a proud boy. He's so proud and he's leaving teeth mark in unsuspecting victims.

He bites and he takes small but painful bites on you. Shoulder, arms, legs, toes !, etc etc etc. Ooouucchh !
So, don't say I didn't warn you if you plan to carry him up.

Sick Again

The weather has been rather unkind to us. Hmm .. and probably you too. I'm just speaking in general based on the number of people caught under the weather recently. So, if you are not one of the statistics, pardon me.

Yes, Jayden is sick again. Just after he has recovered and enjoying 2 weeks of medications-free, he is now back with fever and cough. Stronger doses this time as the gap is pretty near to the previous. *ssssiiiiggghhhhhhh* Longer sigh from Jef and I. *sigh* And I gotta sigh twice.

The bright side, Dr assures us that it's just the common viral infections. And there's not much of vomiting. So, not as bad as the last time.

Thanks to the recent scare, we got wiser. We are adamant that the boys are *not* sharing the viruses. So, we separated the boys again but this time, we are not separating them by geographical area. We place them in different bedrooms and as usual, Jef chooses Ivan. Ivan's older and could make his demand in understandable language and not baby coos and blah blah.Smart of Jef, right?

I'm not complaining, really. I enjoy spending time with Jay, alone. He is already recognising me as his mom. (Yes, someone he can abuse by pulling her hair hard and yet did not get his butt spanked. Try to do that with daddy. He doesn't spank him too but he sends him a stern warning, "Wait till you get older").

Last Monday, Jay woke up at 6am. Though it's almost time to wash up and prepare for work, I just couldn't resist spending a couple more minutes with him. With his fever subsided, he was all smiles and rolling around on the bed. Then he caught me peeking, he paused for awhile before flashing me with his cheeky grin and rolled over to lie down on me. I translated the gesture as he's comfortable to be with me. (or he simply love my smell). Hahahah ... whichever it is, I'm a happy mom.

H1N1 Day 4

Today is the 4th day of medications for Ivan. We would like to thank everyone for your prayers and kind thoughts. Ivan is progressing well towards speedy recovery. Both boys are fever free since Monday and we are very thankful and happy. Thank you for being 'there' for us and supporting us. Your kindness encouraged us to be strong and gave us hope that things will end up well. Thanks. :)

Hmm, many asked whether Ivan caught the virus from school. I have no idea. So far, he's the only one from the school to have it. I told many friends, it could be the extra piece of char siew he ate or perhaps, it is from the toy he held in the mall or it could also be from Jef and I. It's like hitting jackpot and the prize is on us. We just couldn't believe our ears when the Dr called us to inform us of the results. We had to asked a few times for confirmation as though we are retards who couldn't understand the simple word 'Positive'.

Anyway, like I said, we are glad that the boys are fine now. *smiles*. And now, I *must* share with you  my experience. We have heard and read so much about prevention. But, (I'm not sure about you, but it's true for me) I know so little about the treatment. 

When you should be concerned : 
Ivan started off with really bad cough. It's bad when he coughs non stop. He just couldn't, despite the warm water we gave him or the cough sweets that usually works or even cough syrup. Once he starts, he would be coughing for a good 1 - 2 minutes.

2 days of coughing, he develops a temperature. The first reading was 37.2 and we decided to let him stay at home. His temperature increased to a range of 38 - 39 and lasted for 2 days. Jef brought him to see Dr again and Jef decided to give him the swab test. It's a simple test (just like how CSI crew takes DNA from the mouth with cotton bud); just that this is from the throat. Test took a day to feedback and costs about RM300+.


What's Next?
Ivan was given TamiFlu medications. It's those capsules that can be opened up to find the powdery contain. For Ivan, we were advised to mix with 10 ml of water with the powder and feed him only with 6ml. The rest of 4 ml to be discarded. There are 10 pills for 5 days. We were informed to expect Ivan in better condition after the 3rd day. 7 days of fever free to mark that Ivan's adequate to be outdoor.

Drink up more water.

Watch Out !
Do watch out the followings :
1. Temperature. Invest in a more efficient and accurate temperature detector. Check it out as frequently as you can. Take several tests each time for the average reading.
2. Signs of heavy breathing. For children particularly, if you noticed heavy breathings, this could indicate difficulty in breathing. If this happens, send to nearest hospital as soon as you can.

This is all I could share and I hope it's useful. If you are the care giver, be mindful that you should also be quarantined and practice clean hygiene. Wear face mask if you can.

Influenza A H1N1

We are in war. In war with AH1N1. Ivan caught the virus and today is the 1.5 days of war. There are 5 days in total.

As for Jayden, he’s having cough and fever. Because he’s in close contact with Ivan, we brought him for swab test too. His came back negative. We were thankful at first until Dr said we have to still monitor Jayden for 2 days. He still could get it though the report says negative for now. I’m so sad. And afraid.

We had no choice but to separate the boys. I’m now over at my brother’s place with Jayden while Jef’s at home with Ivan. My heart aches when I had to leave home. Leave Ivan when he needed me most. If I could, I would want to fight this war with him. Be strong with him and be there for him. L I’m torn between JayJay and Ivan. (Okay, I can almost hear Jef saying, “Please la … I’m here with him”) .

Ya, silly me. Jef is with him. Jef will keep him well. And I’m with JayJay and I will keep Jay well. Pray for us please. Pray that they are well on their way to a speedy recovery. Amen.

Bond of Brothers

Jayden snatching toy from Ivan. Cannot even take a nice picture without the boys moving much. Gee

You can choose who to be your friends but you definitely can't choose your family members. That's what people say and I can't contest to that.

As a normal unique human being, it can be tough not easy trying to live with one another under the same roof without arguments and conflicts. Everyone has differences and I had to admit that I am not very close to my siblings and I blamed it on the age gaps between us. Okay, okay, okay. I know it's just an excuse anyway because there are some others who managed to make it. *lalalalaa* That's another story for another day.

Back to my point. So, when I was planning for a 2nd baby previously, I gave this point a thought. My children would have 4 years gap and to translate that into simple numbers, Ivan's 5, Jayden is 1. When Jayden starts his Year 1, Ivan would be in Year 5. Ivan steps into his active-energetic-full of surprises teen life, Jayden just hit puberty. *sigh* What if the boys couldn't get along or wouldn't have common interests to share or when watching movies together seems like a bore or when having family time seems like a chore? The only thing they would be sharing is probably just the bedroom. Sad.

Just then, a little bird knocks me hard on the head and yelled, "Why the heck do you want to be worried about a non-existence issue?". *Fingers cupped on the chin, pondering on words from the wise bird*

The bird's right. Let nature takes it own course. Afterall, the boys seem are fine now. As a matter of fact, they are more than just fine. They love each other a great deal. (errmm .. though there are times when Ivan doesn't want to share his precious bread or Jayden snatches toys from Ivan. Well, part of growing up)

At the sight of Ivan, Jayden would never fail to beam with a bright cheerful smile. He gets excited at Ivan's funny faces and he laughs at Ivan's jokes though he probably doesn't understand it at all. As for Ivan, try telling him that you want to take Jayden away from him and he is ready to fight you anytime. He's protective over Jayden especially when daddy chided at JayJay and Ivan says, "Are you crazy? He's just a baby". He's a happy helper when comes to special requests to help take care of JayJay. He would love to help you swinging JayJay and now, he even wants to try carrying JayJay up. (which is not possible now as JayJay weighs more than half of Ivan).

There. Nothing to worry about. I'm not sure about how would they be in another 10 years time or how bad their fights will be. They will probably still fight once a while. Afterall, life would be so plain and boring without it. Besides, we bond through arguments. Hmmm ... nonetheless, despite all the face pinching and leg kicking, I do hope that they would love each other just like how they are now.

I Love Coming Home

I love coming home to :

1. A little boy who's so excited to see me home, eagerly stretching out his arms for me to carry him up. When I carried little Jayden up, he pushes me away slightly to look at me. Then his face softens up and he smiles sweetly with me. And I know I'm home. :)

2. An active boy running up to me, asking me what I got for him today? Though I told him I didn't get him anything, he didn't look disappointed, well, good stuffs don't come everyday, right? He then told me that he had fun in Active Talk (one of the activities he joined in school).

3. After dinner and homework, Ivan was preparing to go to bed. He said in mandarin, "Mama, you are my trophy." I thought I heard wrongly. And he repeated "Mama, you are my trophy. I love you " ...... Aawww ... How can I be his trophy when he's mine? *sniff*sniff* I'm so touched. Thanks to Teacher Chen who taught him to say that in mandarin.

So, although it's already 11.45 pm and the boys are still not deep in sleep and I have not showered, I still love coming home.

Blunder

With only 2 children, I'm already getting their names wrong. I'm calling Ivan Jayden and Jayden Ivan. Well, atleast Jayden is not old enough to be bothered. But Ivan, at times, he gives me the stare. Imagine we were in huggy puggy, feeling oh-so-sweet and then I said .. "I love you, Jayden.. (but because I'm responsive to near-critical condition like this, I quickly add in) daddy and Ivan !" *phewww*

What a blunder. Then I thought of a brilliant solution. I can call them Vern (for Ivan) and Dern (for Jayden). Vern and Dern. If you emphasis only on the 'ern', they wouldn't be able to tell the difference easily. Hhahaha, so, if there's another case of getting the wrong names again, I bet I could still cover up. But (hmmm), Dern does sound alittle funny, huh? *sigh* Any suggestions?

Maybe, I should just let it be. It could be comical at times, for eg. "Ivan, quickly finish up your milk ya" and Ivan would be smiling silly, knowing that I meant Jayden instead of him.

Lembu

I have a little lembu at home. Lembu is a Malay word which simply means cow. Hmm .. yeap ! I have a little moo at home. Little moo Jayden. (Pheww, luckily moo is not his surname !)

He was born in the year of the ox and this 7 months old puffy huffy little cattle is just so aggressive and energetic !

Mind you, I'm not kidding. He's the most aggressive child I ever had and he does make the puffy huffy sound. Just to change his diapers for instance, one energy bar plus loads of creativity is required. He protests and struggles with you to roll over and reach out whatever in sight. To bath him, you will still need the same amount of creativity with 2 energy bars. He struggles to roll over in bath tub or straightens his legs to stand up. Often, a little splash over his head will tame the little bull down. Haha

Once, I woke up with a sore nose and face. I had suffered multiple non-stop kicks on the face while little moo does his morning kungfu. He is such a bad sleeper that he rotates 180 degrees when sleeping. Bless his future bed partner.

It's worse if he sights something interesting. He huffs puffs and reaches out to snatch it away from us. The more you try to pull him away, the more he fights back. That will usually ends up with a little spank on the hand. No snatching, baby.

Among all, I reckoned that the toughest must be when we carry him seated down. He yanks and pushes you away. He wriggles like a worm and fights to break loose. *as though trying to go down on the ground to walk on his own*. You have 2 options then. Let him down on the mattress to roll roll around and keep a close watch on him or carry him and do a little le tour de home. I usually choose the latter unless I'm really out of energy.

Oh, gotta go! Little moo is crying. Tata

Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day

15 years from today, Jef and I will be celebrating our Valentine's day together, alone without the boys. They will be big enough to have dates to go out with and leaving us, the old ones, at home wondering whether they are fine out there and whether they are having a great time or not. They will probably be out in my car, with Ivan driving and Jayden tags along (or the other way, I'm not sure). They will most probably be on their own ways even though they went out together (heck, who will like to double date with a sibling?) and will still end up coming home together. My boys, my boys .. *sigh* I'm thinking too much.

Happy Valentine's Day, my boys.

Hello Tooth

My mom was carrying Jayden and the little carnivore bit into her hand. Ouch! Hey he has a tooth! First tooth!

Haha.... At 7 months (plus), finally he has his first tooth. There, little teeny weeny white tooth in sight.

Hello toothy tooth ...

See the little teeny whitish bit on his lower jaw? Hhahha ... yes, it's tiny because it's on its way out.

Hey, I'm Like That Too .. !

Recently a friend asked me whether are there any differences between my boys, Ivan and Jayden. I pondered over it and I realised there are plenty. Plenty of differences, after all, we human beings are unique creatures created by God. Instead of that, I look for something in common. Ha ! The list is shorter and surprisingly, there's something awfully similar between the both of them.

They are slow eater. Really really slow eater. You got to even say the word sllooooowwwwwlllyyyy. Ivan takes hours to finish up his meal and Jayden has to split up milk into 2 feeds (sometimes). 2 different feeds as the milk has chilled down and he prefers warm milk. He too, took a long time to finish up, approximately 20 minutes.

Like many other children (as well as chipmunks, hamsters, squirrels, etc), Ivan 'stores' food in his mouth . He keeps it there for a good couple of minutes and then only chew, *pause*, chew, *pause* ............. "Ivan, eat faster !" "I'm eating ... !!!! You cannot see meh?"

Now, Jayden. He whines for milk. The first few sips were sucked down pretty fast and then, it gets slower and slower. It gets more and more difficult too. He will start to struggle, tongue pushing milk bottle out and he starts making irritated faces. UUgghhh ... he's just saying, the milk is cold now. Get it warmed up and I'll drink again.

Having something in common with another being can be surprisingly pleasant but it can be the adverse too. Simply put, it's pleasant if it's a common interest but it's not if it's a common attitude (eg. the same stubbornness, quick temper, etc). So, it's either "Hey ! I'm like that too" + Hi-5 or "Puhhhleeasseee .. Look who's talking? You are the stubborn one, okay???!?!?!"

*yawn*

Anyway, there you go, one character in common. I'm not listing out the rest, I will leave it to them to discover on their own. Hopefully, they like what they discover and no wars at home, please.