Bandage

Nah, Sofia is not injured. I am just fed up of reminding her numerous times when we go to bed not to suck her thumb. Just before I tuck her into bed, I would always remind her,"Sofia, you promised NOT to suck your thumb, so no sucking ok?". She would nod her head innocently.

Barely five minutes later, I would hear the familiar sound of "muuukkmmmuuuukmmuuuuk", then I would sit up and look over.

"I am NOT sucking my thumb!" AFTER she pulls her thumb out.

It always leads to me getting angry and she getting upset for being caught, thus bedtime is not pleasant at all.

One week ago, I went to the pharmacy and bought a roll of surgical tape. So I have been taping her two thumbs every single night for the past one week. With the tape there, it stops her from sucking and it works! I was afraid she would not let me put on the tape or peel off the tape by herself at night. But she was pretty cooperative and
kind of enjoyed it!

Daddy and I find it kind of funny too, as if her thumbs have been injured severely every night. I do not know how long this will take to break her habit, but my gut feel is probably a month or so?

If it is going to take longer, so be it, it is a pretty cheap solution at RM2.55 per roll!

Domestic Helper

I started out thinking July was probably too early to start searching for a domestic help but nonetheless I started. As I search, I went into a shock which lead to despair and subsequently, DESPERATE. Apparently, because of some memorandum that has not been signed between Indonesia and Malaysia regarding domestic help, there are no housemaids being released into Malaysia now. WHAO! The numerous agents that I contacted simply just turn me away and asked me to come back in a few months' time. FEW MONTH's time???

So Daddy and I sat down to discuss IF we can do without a domestic helper, or perhaps we should engage a baby sitter? Our talk went on for many days and we finally concluded we needed a helper or a pair of extra hands at home. It may be just as simple as having someone at home with Jerry while I run errands or picking up Sofia from school. There will be days I need a break and I can safely hit the malls or going for a massage and know that Jerry is safe at home. Daddy travels quite frequently so a housemad would provide some company for me and also help with the housechores.

With the direction all set, I tried my luck again, this time round, I called Ana's agent in Jarkata. He got me linked up with his KL agent and yes, something can be done! It was such a BIG relief off my mind, I could eat, sleep and dream peacefully again. Yes, we are very dependent on domestic help and I never never fail to admire those SAHMs who take care of their kids and manage the household with their bare two hands.

To me, it is nothing short of a MIRACLE.

Hokkaido Fair

One big difference about living in Kuching vs living in KL is that the variety of food we can hunt down to eat. Basically we like to EAT. We eat almost anything, other than those bugs or "exotic food". Back in Kuching, it was always those few restaurants and cafes that we took turns patronizing. Here, we are busy trying out new restaurants over weekends.

Isetan here organizes Hokkaido fair every year and we have put off going to it because of the crowd. But today, we just wanted to have that "Japan" feeling again so off we went with Sofia. Daddy had this "Shoyu Ramen" which smelled and tasted just as good. Sofia liked the ramen too and helped Daddy to polish his bowl real clean.

My seafood fried rice was so-so, it tasted more like teow chew type of "Mui Fan" where you just pour soup/gravy over cooked rice.

But we enjoyed ourselves very much, it was nice to experience the Japanese culture for that brief period, where people around you are so hyped up and warm.

We would love to visit Hokkaido as one of our holiday destination in future. I remembered the photos my BIL took when he visited Hokkaido with my sister, the animals were gorgeous.

I am sure Sofia and Jerry would be delighted to see them all. This plan would probably materialize when the kids are older and are fully aware of what is going on then the holiday would be more meaningful to them.

The 8th Tooth

The 8th one on its way out!

Tommy

Victim : Sofia

Aggressor : Tommy the persian cat (who looks remotely similar to Tiger)

When : Sunday, 04 July @ 9pm

Where : 表伯的家

How many? : 6 angry scratches

Why?

The picture says it all. Our dear animal lover was all over the cat the moment she saw him. A pat here ... a pat there ... hello Tommy! ... Hello Tommy!! ... HELLO Tommy!!! ... HELLO TOMMY!!!! ...
The cat was overwhelmed by the attention from both Sofia and Jeremiah and started hidding. Jeremiah was very much watched over by Ana while Sofia was just after the cat's tail. The cat was pulled out from under the car and I think it made him snapped.

"Wwwwwuuuhhhhhhaahhhhhhhhh ...... mmmuuuuuaahhhhhhahhhhhhh .... mommaaaaa ....."
Instantly my antennas shot up, something must have happened for Sofia to cry like that. Luckily the scratches are not very deep and she quietened down after washing and application of medicine.

On the way home, she was quiet like a mouse, which was very unlike her.

"Daddy, why did Tommy scratch me?" Sofia asked as we alighted.

So Daddy spend the next half an hour explaining to her cats' temperaments, what she should and should not do next time. We hoped she understand what had happened and would be careful next time. Then we also asked her to forgive Tommy and she agreed. We think she really did because after that, she went straight to the toy room to look for Tiger and insisted on hugging him to bed that night.

Aren't children so forgiving?

The 7th Tooth

Eruption of the 7th tooth.

Evening Walk

This is a boy who loves to go to the park and I am sure he does not mind to spend the entire day there, chasing birds and monkeys. Jeremiah gained his independence through walking at a relatively young age and is now very proficient walker. Watching Sofia running around gives him the inspiration to chase after her and he does so, while we hold our breathe and clench our fist while watching him.

We gasped when he loses his balance but he would just plonk his two palms on the floor to break the fall and up again, after Sofia's tail. He does not like us to hold his hands for safety, running is fun without any "conditions" attached. Of course when he is going way too fast, then the unforunate would happen. But nothing stops him.

Sometimes watching him makes me feel that I am losing him soon, just like a baby bird who has learned how to fly, he will be out of the nest and taking on the world soon.

5 out of 5

Sofia has always been a very physical and active girl since young. She does not mind getting all dirty, sweaty and hot under the sun. I remembered Sofia joining the school for a field trip to the elephant sanctuary at the age of two, with teachers she barely knew. Yes, I was worried too but I knew she was in safe hands. It was a full day trip and the bus ride was about two hours each way.

Sofia came back from the trip tired but very very happy, they saw lots of animals at the sanctuary other than the elephants. Her principal, Julie, later confessed to me that she was actually rather worried when I signed Sofia up for the field trip. Sofia was the youngest in the group and the teachers are from Subang, so she practically knew no one. But Julie said Sofia was extremely well behaved and cooperative throughout the trip. There were no complains about being sweaty and hot or crying to go home. Julie was very very surprised. I guess so as long as there are animals around, it is more than enough to keep Sofia occupied.

We had just gotten the mid-year report for Sofia before the holidays and she had FULL marks for PE (physical education). Though it wears us down at times, we are thankful to God she is such a "energy" babe, growing up physical strong and healthy.

New Friends

It has been a total new experience for me since we moved to the new house. I am so used to living in a "pigeon hole" that it took me quite while to get used to living on the ground. One aspect I needed to get used to was the uninvited "new friends" that would visit us on different occasions.

The wild squirrels would pop in any time of the day to help themselves to Fefe's food and poop all over the backyard. We also have beautiful birds popping by too and Fefe's food is always the main attraction. The most irritation guests we have are the hungry stray cats, they would almost end up in a confrontation mode with Fefe every time. We would have to break up the standoff by chasing them away.

Recently, it has been raining hard and we had a new friend in the garden scaling up the wall. With this fella around, I get questions like "Mummy, where is the snail going?", "Mom, why is the snail climbing the wall, can you ask him to come down?" or ,"Mummy, where is the mummy snail?". Next day, Sofia would be asking me where is the snail and spend the next half of the day searching for the snail in the garden.

I guess these are all good opportunities for the kids to learn about our earth and we are certainly not alone on this planet.

Ana

Ana has been a great help around the house eversince she came and even more so after Jeremiah was born. She learnt very quickly from my mum the way to bathe him, feed him and kept him company. She even managed to established a sleeping pattern for Jeremiah. When Jerry was very young, Ana made sure he took a nap every two hours and that went on for quite a while till when he was older, he took a nap every three hours, even right now. Jerry took to her very well too and she was like an elder sister to him. We were all absolutely happy with her around and I could run errands without worrying about Jerry when I need to leave the house. There were even a couple of nights where we put all the kids to bed with Ana and Daddy and I could sneak out of the house for a date.

Ana's contract is due in mid-Nov and we have spoken to her about extending her contract but unfortunately her mum is not well and she would need to go home in Nov. We are going to miss her a lot and I am sure Jerry is going to feel a bit lost too after she leaves us. We surely hope there will be another chance for her to come and help us again in future.

In the meantime, the search is ON again for another domestic helper.

Family Portrait

Sofia drew this balloney family portrait yesterday and we all find it very amusing and interesting. We had all become balloons!!

From left: Fefe, Po-Po, Gong-Gong, Ana, Jeremiah, Daddy, Sofia and Mummy

Pig's Hair?

Jeremiah is sleeping in the hammock during day time and he never fails to wake up with his hair at the back of his head looking like this. He used to have very soft and fine hair when he was a baby but all that was history after his haircut. He continues wears this "out of bed" style for the rest of the day until his evening bath, Ana says it feels like pig's hair because it is so coarse!!

Indoor Birdpark

I caught a glimpse of a banner that was prompting some bird exhibition at Ikano the other day. Since it was the school holidays and Sofia had nothing much to do, I brought her there to check the chicks out.

It turned out that the KL Bird Park has brought along some of their birds and exhibited them indoors. I thought it was a great idea, the weather was so hot, there was no way I would bring Sofia to the bird park! She was of course delighted, running from cage to cage, inspecting the birds, trying to talk to the birds.

Then, there was a bird feeding session at 2pm. I knew we had to stay for this, she would LOVE it.

True enough, she was game for it!

So we fed the birds not once, but twice!

At the end, before we left, I asked her jokingly,"Shall we bring one of the birds home?"
Her eyes grew BIG and ROUND and nodded at me profusely. I had to explain to her that the birds are actually living in the bird park and they need a BIG BIG home to fly around. Furthermore, Fefe would bully them if we bring them home. She accepted my explanation and went home with me, she is such a lovely darlin' at times.

Haircut

It is the school holidays and I needed a hair cut badly. So I reluctantly invited Sofia along with me. Afraid that she would be bored, I packed two of her storybooks with me to keep her occupied, in case she started fiddling with the hairdressers' tools of trade.

While I was getting my hair washed, I took the opportunity to asked Sofia if she was interested in getting her hair washed and cut too?

"NO." she replied curtly.

"Why? You can cut your hair short, like Daddy, or even Jeremiah! Want to try?" I pressed.

"NO! NO!!I want Mummy to cut." came the answer.

I have been trimming and cutting Sofia's hair since birth and she is so used to it now. She does not allow anyone else to do this job for her, no matter what I say or do.I am not doing that great a job in this aspect and I hope she would get a proper hair cut by the professional soon.

Berd, Baerd, Bird

I was not paying much attention to it actually. Jeremiah was all babbling round the clock unless he is sleeping and I got so used to it so it just went in one ear and exited the other ear. Until yesterday, I was clearing up the pile of magazines in the living room and he was standing at the window babbling and yelling again. I heard something that made me sit up.

"BERD! Ahhhhwatishbabababooooo ... AH!AH!AH! BERD!!"

I thought somebody said "bird"?

So I joined him at the window and true enough, there were some sparrows lingering around in the garden looking for food. I pointed to the birds and told Jeremiah,"Yes, these are birds.!"

Again, he responded with "Berd!". Sometimes, it sounds like "baerd".

First step and first word ... many more to come.

More Teeth

Two more teeth making their way out for Jeremiah.

Bad Habit

How do you help her kick this habit when the thumb is stuck to her all the time? It is unlike a pacifier where you can throw it away, burn it, chop it all up and say "That's it! Grow up kid, no more!". The thumb is part of her hand, her body, what should I do?

I tried to make her wear mittens using her socks but the mittens were off by dawn. I threatened with pepper and chili but it only worked while awake and when caught red-handed. In my absence, she would be happily sucking away. I am adamant that Sofia kick this habit soonest possible as we have noticed her lower two front teeth have protruded even more recently. But HOW? She has come up with some clever ideas like hiding under the blanket, not facing me at night so that she can suck without my knowledge.

My worst plan is to rub chili on her thumb regardless she likes it or not every night until she kicks this habit. I know by doing this, it would be a battle with lots of tears and screams before bedtime and perhaps in the middle of the night as well. It may sound cruel but like I said, it is my last resort.

Kuantan

It was long weekend again and we drove up to Kuantan for a short break this time round. It was supposed to be a 3-hr drive but took much longer due to traffic jams on the highway and roadworks as well. As usual, it was a breeze to drive when the two kiddos are sleeping but once they are awake, lots of effort needed to keep them entertained, so that the driver can keep his sanity while driving.

The easiest method is of course the goodie bag, offer a continuous flow of tasty tidbits and that will definitely keep their mouth stuffed. The downside is they will drink plenty of water and we would need toilet break at the pit stop.

Next, music CD. First, 童谣, Jeremiah loves it. Play and sing the whole CD, throw in some silly actions and expressions, they will be hooked. Done. Music CD again. This time, the "Signing Time" CD. This one does not last long because Jeremiah is not familiar with all the songs. After a few songs, he starts to protest and whine. Nobody release him from the car seat and his whining soon turns into shouts and screams. Then WAILING.

Luckily, Daddy covered quite a bit of distance while the action was going on and we had already hit Kuantan town. We were not driving that fast anymore and we decided to release Jerry before we all become deaf.

The weather was fantastic on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia at this time of the year. Bright and sunny, the perfect settings for a day at the beach. To avoid anyone from getting a heat stroke, we played safe and only went to the beach after 530 pm.

Daddy and Sofia had all their tools ready to build a sandcastle but I think Sofia was more interested in playing with sand only. Both of them had a blast, they even went into the sea shortly after. Sofia, for the first time, was hit by the waves and swallowed a few mouthful of sea water. It was a new experience for her and she enjoyed it very much.

On the second night, we had planned to visit the turtle sanctuary at Cherating to watch turtles laying their eggs on the beach. Later we learnt that there was no fixed time the turtles would come and we could spend the entire night waiting and not spot a turtle in sight. That was disappointing, we were so looking forward to seeing the turtles. We visited the sanctuary anyway and we were lucky! The guys there were in the process of releasing some newly hatched baby turtles back to the sea and we were just in time!

The baby turtles were so tiny and fragile but so cute! We laid them on our palms and patted them before putting them back on the beach. It is sad to see how much this animal need to struggle to live now because of poachers who came to take the eggs away for commercial reason. Of course, there have been turtles being abused by people and pollution too.

Nonetheless, we wished these fellas good luck when they disappeared into the deep blue sea. Hopefully, they will be back someday later to lay their eggs on this beach.

Milestones

Jeremiah reached one of the major milestones a week after his 1st birthday - walking. Days just before his birthday, he was still reaching out for chairs and tables for support while on two feet. Shortly after, he took two, three steps on his own. I think he was thrilled and the cheers for everyone gave him great support. So we pushed him further by enticing him to walk a few more steps with toys and food. And there was no stopping.

Before we knew it, he was cruising around the house effortlessly, delighted at his newly acquired skill which enabled him to reach for "new" toys. We started to put more things aside again and had to be more cautious about things we left lying around.

One of his favourite item is the cordless phone that is often left lying around. The backlight gets triggered when he starts punching the keypad and if pressed correctly, the speaker would be on and the "sound effect" will double his fun. I just hope he would not accidentally press "999" again, it had happened once and I was in time to end the call. That was NOT fun for me!

Adjustments

More than two weeks ago, I came back from Japan with a pain in the neck that would not even go after two weeks. It was all caused by a night sleeping on a pillow that was too soft and low. I could not quite turn my head to the right and the pain was quite intense during the first few days. I gritted my teeth throughout the rest of the trip and was so glad to come back to my own pillow once home.

I thought the pain would gradually subside after a few days but it continued to disturb and irritate me, making me tired and worn out everyday. Deciding that it was enough, I went to see a chiropractor. After the first visit, I was requested to have some x-rays taken to have a full and proper "look" at my spine. He gave me two neck adjustments then and already I started to feel less tension in my neck! It was scary at first cos he turn your head like the way the kungfu masters do in the movies when they want to kill the bad guys.

KKRRAAACCK! Ok, then another KKRRAAACCK! on the left. It sounded so loud! For a moment, I thought my neck snapped!! Luckily I was wrong.

My x-rays were taken and the chiropractor shared his findings with me. I actually have 5 areas in my spine where the vertebrate is out of alignment, subluxation and spinal degeneration has occurred. This could have been caused by bad posture, pregnancy, etc. I was in the early phase of subluxation and symptoms might now show up until months or years later. But I do certainly at times experience pain, swelling of tissue and muscle stiffness in my neck and back.

So. I am now under the initial intensive care of the chiropractor to be "twisted" back to shape three times a week.

All thanks to the pillow ...

1st Birthday

We celebrated Jeremiah's first birthday couple of days ago with a simple chocolate cake at home and just the five of us.


I think he was more fanscinated by the flickering candle on the cake more than anything else. It did not matter to him the birthday song we were singing to him or the three cheers we gave to him. The candle mattered most. Perhaps if I had let him burn his fingers, he would have thought twice, or thrice?


The happiest person in the party got to be Sofia again, because it is her favourite chocolate cake! She ate and ate so much cake, like it was the last chocolate cake on earth.


I also brought Jerry to the hairdresser to chop off his baby locks, this is him, before and after. Doesn't he look like a smaller version of Daddy now??

Kobe II

It was our final day in Japan and we woke up in the morning wondering how did our holiday passed so fast? Of course we were all missing Jeremiah, who is at home with Ana, 公公 and 婆婆. We were sure he was missing us too, all his playmates had disappeared for so long!

This morning we brought Sofia to the Kobe zoo, the last trip to the zoo in Singapore was ages ago so we thought it would be very interesting for her since she loved animals. We saw plenty of animals, eg. panda (who were sleeping cos it was so hot), koalas (also sleeping), giraffes, elephants, penguins, monkeys, etc..


By then, it was close to noon and the scorching heat was unbearable for us. We took a break and had one of those cute panda 包, it was pretty delicious!


After watching a couple more animals, we decided to head downtown for lunch because it was really too hot.


After our lunch and nap, we decided to hop on the free city bus tour to a place called Mosaic Kobe Harbourland at the seaside.


The place is a modern shopping and dining area, developed on the edge of the Kobe Bay. There are restaurants, bars, a movie theatre, a shopping market, an amusement arcade and a little amusement park.


The place is very lively and there are all sorts of activities going on in the open field.


We decided to stay on for dinner and enjoy the beautiful night view at the bay.

Going to miss Japan very much as we head back to Taipei tomorrow, before flying back to KL the day after.

Kobe

We spent the next morning doing some laundry and doing some last minute shopping at Hiroshima. After lunch, we made our way to the next destination - Kobe!

It was close to evening by the time we were done with checking in and settling down. There was this beautiful park at the back of our hotel so we decided to explore the hilll before heading downtown for dinner.

It was very windy and cold, Sofia was pretty exhausted by the time we reach middle of the hill.


So we took the ropeway again to enjoy the city view.


Of course, the highlight of the day was to have Kobe beef for dinner!! That is exactly what Kobe is famous for right?
We chose this little restaurant where you can order any type of Kobe beef and grill it at the table yourself. The beef tasted REALLY good. We were told that there are actually quite a few conditions to "qualify" Kobe beef, for example:

-Tajima cattle born in Hyōgo Prefecture
- Farm feeding in Hyōgo Prefecture
- Bullock or castrated cow, to purify the beef
- Processed at slaughterhouses in Kobe, Nishinomiya, Sanda, Kakogawa and Himeji in Hyōgo Prefecture.
- Marbling ratio, called BMS, of level 6 and above.
- Meat Quality Score of 4 or 5
- Gross weight of beef from one animal is 470 kg or less.

On top of that, the cattles are fed one beer per day, massaged with sake daily, brushed to set their fur, and fed on grain fodder. I am not sure if the above is true unless I visit the farm itself and witness all these "extra" treatments but if this is truly happening, then it does have an impact on the beef because it was REALLY GOOD! In the end, the three of us went back to the hotel with a bulging waistline!