Friday, September 30, 2011

Mr. Clean Freak

Shern is a clean freak. Don't be mistaken, he is only a clean freak when it comes to himself. When it comes to tidying his play area or ask him to keep his toys, 9 out of 10 times he pretended not to hear me.

Ok, back to his clean freak nature. Shern started off not liking sand. He was actually feeling very eekie that the sand was stuck to his feet and they wouldn't come off. But of course after a while and with us bringing him to the beach more often, he got used to it and is no longer afraid of the sand.

Shern usually wears sandals everywhere. You know the kind where you can see the toes and other parts of the feet. Which means that sands and other stuff can get into his sandals. So sometimes when we walk halfway, he would tell us his feet is 'ekk ekk' (slang for dirty) and need us to wipe his feet.

Like yesterday when we brought him to the Youth Park again, we stopped like 3-4 times just to wipe the 'ekk ekk' off his feet.


29 September 2011

And it happens again today when we brought him up Penang Hill. It's OK if there is, but sometimes we just couldn't find the small pebble or even a grain of sand on his feet.




30 September 2011

But I can't blame him. If sand or a small pebble ever gets inside my shoe, I would also want to remove it immediately.

It's just that it happens every time we go to the playground. And each visit, we encountered this several times. Haha.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

The Battle of the Infant Carrier & Toddler Car Seat


photo sourse: http://maxi-cosi.com

We bought this Maxi-Cosi Priory XP Car Seat in KL when Shern was only a few months old back in 2009. This car seat is for child age 1. At that time, we were still using the Anakku Infant Carrier Car Seat.



The reason we bought it because I was so adamant that car seats are of topmost important in safety-wise in a car. And we that KL has more choices than Penang, so we bought it when given quite a good discount. I think we still paid about RM900 for this which made this the most expensive seat/chair I've ever bought!

Shern was sitting diligently in his Anakku Carrier when he was a few months old. So I thought it would not be an issue when he turns 1 and change to this car seat. After all, I practiced all the right steps in 'starting 'em young'. Shern was placed in his carrier all the time during car rides when he was just a few days old.

But when Shern turned 6 mths or so, he became the shrieking cow and cried and shouted like he was bring tortured when I put him into his carrier. And it didn't help that the Anakku Carrier has no base, which means that I need to install the carrier everytime I chuck Shern in. So with a screaming Shern and me fidgeting to install the carrier everytime, of course his screaming wins. (blame it all on the Anakku Carrier, and not me being a lousy mum! Haha)

And so we started not being consistent on him sitting in his lousy carrier. And when he turned 1yo, he was still shrieking when we tried to put him into this Maxi-Cosi toddler car seat. And also maybe because we had too many cars in our house. One day he is sitting on the Kenari. Next day in the Wira and the next in Unser. So since the car seat is only installed in the Wira, we were not being consistent. (yes, lousy parents we are, I know)

And at the back of my mind, I was also screaming because we spent nearly a thousand bucks on this seat, man! And also I still believe in the safety of car seat during car ride. So I still did not want to give up so easily.

And then just a month or so ago, I started to let Shern seat in this Maxi-Cosi Car Seat, because I believe now that he is bigger, he could understand our explanation. I praised him and told him that he is a big boy now. He was ok sitting in it but initially did not want to buckle up. I started telling him stories and reasoning that buckling up is for his safety. Of course I explained it in a way he would understand.

Now Shern says "Jack & Jill and Humpty Dumpty fell down because they did not wear seat belt. Fall down pain-pain". ;)
And with that he buckles up now. Whoosh...I thank my lucky stars I taught him Nursery Rhymes!

And for awhile now, Shern seats in the car seat and buckles up without making a fuss, and even fell asleep on it quite often. Hope this will last. *pray hard*


29 September 2011

I'm just glad the freaking expensive car seat has not gone to waste!
And I really hope The Battle of the Car Seat is over!

p/s- And oh ya, I super recommend this Maxi-Cosi Priory XP Car Seat if you have the extra cash. It's like way, way better than the Anakku Infant Carrier. (duh!)

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Love-Hate Relationship

I have this love-hate relationship with Shern.

You see, when I'm not with Shern, I miss him like crazy. I miss his smells. I miss the way he talks. And I miss him hugging me.

But when I'm with him, he can drive me crazy. He sticks to me like a leech. He even shouted "mummy, mummy" when I just take a 20 seconds break to pee. Then you can hear him murmur "mummy shh shh cannot arr".
When I'm with him, all I want is to pee in peace.

And not to say those times when he plays with so much energy that I am all bashed up 15 minutes later. I cannot believe 2-year olds can be that energetic. I simply cannot catch up with him. But yet I'm forced to play with him because he will shout "want again, want again". He drains all my energy just after 15 minutes.

Or the times when he throws a tantrum refusing to bathe, or change clothes, or simply refused to wash his poo after he poops. How disgusting is that right?
That is when I go all crazy-monster-mummy and starts pulling my hair, simply because I can't pull his.

But a second later, my heart melts when he just blurts out "I love mummy" without any warning.


25 September 2011

I tell you, if this is not love-hate relationship, I don't know what is.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Scrapbooking: 29 Layouts So Far

I started doing layout scrapbooking since early June and now I'm addicted.
Almost 4 months later, I've completed 29 layouts.

I'm pretty pleased with myself. I'm still a newbie and still experimenting layout styles and such, therefore u will see different kinds of styles in my layouts.

However, I feel that I more favour cluster design layouts and also vintage-y stuff.
The problem with scrapbooking is this. I buy those beautiful papers and embellishments, and then I can't bear to use them. They are so pretty I wanted to keep them. Lol.

In my recent Singapore trip, I went to a scrapbooking store there and saw that all items in store (except some stuff such as adhesives, etc) were on 40% sale.
Yeah, you heard me right, 40% sale!!!!
The stuff there were already way cheaper than Smidapaper. And with 40% sale, I nearly went crazy. I ended up spending S$150 but I got a lot of stuff and I am so happy! ;)

I love doing layouts more than cards because with photos in them, I find them more personal, and they make beautiful memories.

Some people ask me what do I do with them? Well, I have a 12x12 album where I keep them, just like my precious photos. These albums don't come cheap and I am running out of pages now. I need to buy another album soon.

Anyway, below are my 8th to 29th layouts. Have a look ;)
(photos were taken using on the spot using iPhone so some are a but blur-ish)


8th layout - Graduation - 19 June 2011


9th layout - Five Incredible Dating Years - 20 June 2011


10th layout - Circles of Fun - 27 June 2011
11th layout - Swim & Laugh in the Pool - 30 June 2011


12th layout - Like Dad, like Son - 2 July 2011


13th layout - My Beloved Popo & Kong - 3 July 2011
14th layout - Love Always and 4Eva - 11 July 2011


15th layout - Happy Laughter - 17 July 2011
16th layout - 3 of us Hand-in-Hand - 21 July 2011


17th layout - Sugar & Spice and Everything Nice - 21 July 2011
18th layout - Bow & Beautiful - 22 July 2011


19th layout - The Guys - 28 July 2011
20th layout - In Love - 29 July 2011


21st layout - Anything For You Mum - 2 August 2011
22nd layout - Heart u 2 - 11 August 2011


23rd layout - Macau - 12 August 2012


24th layout - Happy 65th Birthday Mama - 20 August 2011


25th layout - Cousins - 20 August 2011
26th layout - 2+1 - 24 August 2011


27th layout - This Is What Love Looks Like - 29 August 2011


28th layout - You Are My Sunshine - 15 September 2011


29th layout - 4th ROM Anniversary - 19 September 2011

Saturday, September 24, 2011

All of us at home are Bananas, I hope Shern won't be

All the people in our house are "bananas". When I said bananas, it means that we are Chinese but we can't really speak Mandarin. We are all english educated.

Me. Hubby. Sisters. Parents. Parents-in-laws. Sister-in-law. Everyone.

But hubby & I have decided to send Shern to a Chinese primary school. But we speak English to Shern at home. So how is he going to adapt?

This is our plan: Speak English to Shern at home. Send him to a Chinese-speaking nursery and kindy, and hope that he can pick up Mandarin there. Then send him to a Chinese primary school. And maybe send him for Chinese tuition.

My worry now is whether will this work? Will he be able to cope?
Will he be able to blend in with the other fluent-chinese-speaking friends?
Will he be able to do understand enough to complete his homework?

Our rational for sending him to a Chinese school is this - no matter how bad his English language may be, it will still be better than our Chinese language.
And furthermore China is really big now. I don't want Shern to lag behind just because he can't speak Mandarin like his parents.

Being a mum has so much worries. This is just 1/1000 worries I have for Shern.

Teluk Bahang Dam - Wow...So Big!

That was what Shern exclaimed when he saw the Teluk Bahang Dam..."Wow...so big"!

It is indeed a big and wide space, as where most dams are located. It is nice to be able to feast your eyes on empty wide space in Penang Island, which is rare as most green places are full of tall trees.


20 August 2011

The Teluk Bahang Dam is surrounded by small little hills of greens and rocks. I've watched the Dragon Boat Race being held here a few years back.



Shern was happy walking along the tar road, holding one of his toy cars (as usual!).


This is what he showed me when I said "Shern, look at mummy and smile!"


That's him turning back and grinning for the camera.


Shern was looking at the water intently looking for fish. We couldn't spot any, guess we were too far from the water!


Then, Shern tried to peel of the plastic of the cheese. He always gets to snack during our outings.


Yee-Pho came with us as well.


That's hubby leaning against the railings.


And that's me with the postcard scenery.


Shern posting with Yee-pho.


Shern smiling away because he persuaded daddy to carry him.


Look at his cheerful face.


There are chairs along the path and Shern was sitting on one of them.


Shern standing on the chair and posing.


Shern and daddy again, coz mummy is the camerawoman. :)


Alas, a photo of the 3 of us!


When we were about to leave, it started drizzling. We ran to our car.
5 minutes later, it was raining very heavily. Just in the nick of time! :)

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