Can you see my pearly whites?

Hanging out with mummy...

There was a break in the standard usual British week of rain...so mummy and I set out to the backyard...

I was busy having fun until....

...Well...Hello my friends, don't remember seeing you here before

I have great plans for you guys..come with me

Sorting and transfering pegs..this is so fun...kekeke

All is well until mummy took out her new rattan mat and made me pose...

hmm..this looks delish, maybe I should eat it

Look! I spy an ant!

Mummy's arty-farty pic

a couple of hours after we went back indoors, it rained cats and dogs *tsk* *tsk* *tsk*!

Still on the bot

My boy is "big boy" in many ways ...when it's not his milk time. During milk time 3 times a day, the goes back to become the baby of the house. Still on the same bottle and same milk since he was a newborn. I've been nagged by various parties that it's time to wean him off bottles and to sippy cups. Truth to be told, he's ready to let go...but I am not. He's growing up so fast and bottle times were the only times I can hold on to him of still being my little baby. Soon, soon...

Spending time with daddy...

SK had a knee surgery last weekend. Therefore, he's currently working from home. It's nice to have him around the house during office hours on weekdays. I don't think Tobey knows why his daddy is wearing a bandage or why he can't jump on daddy's right knee, jab his little fingers into the bandage or why daddy can't chase him around the house for the moment. He was a bit frustrated at first on this version of daddy that is 'slower', but he's used to it now.

Here's Tobey (in mismatched clothes and overfilled nappy-as a result of a tired mummy) with daddy at the back garden this afternoon. When in wide open spaces, where there aren't walls near to either side of him, he walks like an amatuer, sometimes demands to hold our hand. But when in the familiar indoor of our home, he would roam ten times faster. I think I need to bring him to more 'wide open spaces' to help him curb this fear (of not having a barrier to fall back to or to lean against)


Here's Tobey sorting out pegs in his tent


Sorry, more pics of him, can't help it! He's a superstar in my eyes. I wonder who he looks like now

Cupcakes

With Tobey's 1st birthday party looming nearer, I've decided to learn to make some simple cupcakes, in hope that I can actually make some edible and presentable ones for the party itself.

"Splurged"(hehe...credit crunch time OK) or invested in several key items, like a good muffin pan £2.25 and the real Vanilla Extract that cost me £4.25! Vanilla "flavour" only cost 40p, but I believe in having one luxurious ingredient to lift the taste. These items can be used more than several times, so it was worth it.

Used this recipe for the cakes. It turned out quite lovely. Sk liked it. As to keep to the credit crunch spirit, I've decided to make my own butter icing (edible by baby, rather than the raw egg white icing ). Basically just beating butter and icing sugar with a few drops of vanilla extract and some water to reach piping consistency. A few drops of those food colouring goes a loooong way.

Here's the end result

Cost: less than 20p each in total
Best part: I've enjoyed the whole 1 hour process other than the...
Worst part: Washing up
What I've learned: I am crap at icing piping
What I would do differently for the party: is to not pipe too much butter icing onto one cupcake (to avoid overdosing Tobey's guests with sugar) and also make fresh cream icing as well for the sake of variety (if time permits of course).

11 months old

Tobey has been bringing alot of joy to us. He is a cheerful little man that sends us to bed beaming with smiles thinking about him. Now that it's nearer to his 1 year old birthday, I've been reflecting on the whole journey from 10th June 2007. First 5 week was baptism by fire-we survived on minimal sleep whilst trying to tend to a boy that just wouldn't sleep! Then he started giving us smiles..which helped us carry on. Month 2-4 it was all about getting to know his temperament and setting up a routine around him. Month 4-6 was fun! He started sitting and reaching out for things. From month 6 till now, it's been tiring to say the least! He started to crawl, stand, walk, babble, learnt to let us know his preferences, enjoy his surroundings more and now became this expressive and cheeky little man walking around and round the house all day pulling things down. Needless to say, this period also included those difficult tantrum-filled days where he would be as moody as a moo and just out to make life difficult. But I prefer to put those days at the back of my mind and concentrate on enjoying all his other good days.

He likes dogs, when walking outdoor, he would point to a dog when he sees one and walk towards it even when its much bigger than him. He loves food- ice-cream, yogurt and whatever the adults are having. He very much wanna be a toddler. It's like his current life ambition. In the recent playgroup I brought him to, he joined the other toddlers (2-4 years olds) in their tricycle play. His legs are still too short, can't reach the pedals, that didn't damper his spirit, he resorted to push the handles and walked the tricycle instead. As he couldn't run as fast as the real tods, he fell on his bum or front more than once, but up he got up and continued playing. No tears, just determined to have fun. So unlike me. Must have got that trait from his dad. When I was a kid I use to cry as if I was living in war zone or I lost limb or two. He likes charming strangers of all ages with smiles and eye contact. Be it on the bus, in the streets, in restaurants, in clinics (!!!), basically every chance he gets. Don't know where he gets that from. He adores his dad. He might as well be wearing a bandanna stating "My father My hero" in bold red. Early in the morning when we go into his room to pick him up, the first word out of his mouth is "ta-ti" (he can't say many words, slow speech development. "it's common for baby boys to be slower in this area" is what I kept telling myself. It's something I read somewhere that I am sticking to that for now). I am ok with that really. I am not bitter. Nevermind I am the one doing the still poo washing and cook his porridge from scratch daily. Really, I am not bitter...

Recently, I've started introducing him to the toothbrush (seeing that he is sprouting teeth). I showed him how I brush my teeth and he just imitated by chewing on his little toothbrush, so I'll be doing all the brushing for now. Still obsessed with electrical gadget-the laptop, the mobile and the vacuum cleaner, in that order We got him the toy version of all three, but he still wants the dull metallic real ones. Why, why, why boy? Even to write this article, I have to fight off his little fingers that kept getting onto my keyboard!

As he graduates into toddlerhood after his first year of life, I hope that he will continue to grow into this healthy, confident, happy, contented and ambitious person that I picture him to him.

Happy 11th month old my baby

Speech development

Yes, abit late, he at last knows how to clap

He seems to understand more when we speak to him. Recent development is the ability to point and say "There!" when asked where certain things are. For example when asked "where are your fingers?", the would point his right index finger to his fingers on his left hand and say "There!". He would also do the same when directing us to the place we wants to go (when being carried)

Other words that he understands, where he would point to and say "There!" are;

-Daddy (he pronounces it as "Ta-ti", when calling out to SK. The ONLY word he is uttering now that makes sense other than "There")
-Toes
-Nose
-Ducky
-Mummy
-Tree
-Music
-Nan-nan (milk)
-Tele

Phrases that he understands

- "Put it in..."/"Take it out.."
-"Come on, let's go then"
-"Drink water"
-"Go walk-walk"
-"Dancing"
-"Clap-clap hand"

BUT he still has difficulty adhering to the simple "NO". He would just play dumb and continue his actions.

Where's the remote Tobey???

"I don't know mummy, where is it?!!!"

"I don't remember using it last..it must have been you mummy..."

"Not me, not me, not me..."

"Oops! Found it! Hehe...let me help you change the channel..."

The "Credit Crunch"

The credit crunch cake

UK is suffering from the "Credit Crunch" right now. Living cost shot up left right and centre. Banks kept increasing their interest rates despite the Bank of England lowering theirs to just 5%. UK had a good 10 years run of cheap mortgages, low food prices and strong currency under the Blair Labour management at no:10. Maybe it was a coincident (that the world economy headed south) but since Mr. Brown took over, things hasn't been looking great at all. The poor recent local election result for labour (worst in 40 years) represented how the residence really feel about his style of management. Let's just hope he can prove that he's actually full of beans and could pull through.

Closer to home.....or rather my home, we are definitely feeling the pinch!!!:

Fuel price shot up to £1.11 per litre. As a consequence of this, cost of food items increased as well (Unlike Malaysia, it's an open market system here and prices of staples are not regulated by the government) For example, a bag of ordinary 500g spaghetti shot up from 38p to now 78p-I thought it was a misprint of price tag at one point, £1.99 for a 1 kg packet of organic sweet potatoes (aproximately 3 bigish sized ones), £1.49 for a bag of spinach, £1.80 per kg of Basmati rice (used to be just under £1 per kg)-at a Costco here last week, we saw a Chinese couple that loaded up their MPV with 30 bags of Thai fragrant rice that was under just a little bit of discount, as if we were gonna expect war for the coming few months. My driving lesson hourly charge increased by £1.50 ( so did the test fee, yes I failed and had to retake again...boohoo) and the list goes on and on...

Being a single income family now, we are taking measures to cut unnecessary expenditures;

1) We've cut down on unnecessary mindless sightseeing driving. Instead, we go for long walks in the parks or neighbourhood- No, we are not green, it's the petrol price.

2) I bake my first cake after Tobey arrived.

3) We are on a lookout for cheaper Pampers Baby-dry all the time, and cut down the use of wipes.

4) We are planning to somehow plant our own sweet potatoes without making our garden look like an allotment space which would in turn pull down our resale price of this house.

5) We constantly compare unit prices of our staples - ask me how much a kg of streaky pork and I can quote you the price of at least 2 supermarket off my head...kekeke

6) We eat out much less.

7) We are constantly making sure that we are not being ripped off in our utility bills.

Geez...Life on a budget is no fun to say the least. But we are getting fitter from all the walks and fresh air. Plus, knowing that we are doing something in response to the southbound economy somewhat makes us feel "in control".

Hmm...taking all this into consideration, it further reinforces my take that the standard of living is indeed much better in Malaysia.

Cherry Blossoms

(Spotted on our evening walk this evening)

One of the best part of Spring!

These shoes are made for walking...

We got Tobey a new pair of shoes, his second pair. He grew out of his first pair. Awww...my boy is growing up...(I bet I won't be this happy buying the 100th pair when he's 18 )

Right after getting them, we put them on him and let him bring them for a test run...

He loves them...walked so much and refused to be carried! He looked so short amongst the adults in the mall. Looked so brave as well.

Yes, I still supervise...can't let my boy "run wild" yet...

Tobey this week

("What are you looking at??? Haven't seen a drooling baby before??")

Drooling ... Finally able to see the two central incisors in the lower jaw. One tooth is growing faster than the other. I have to get a set of baby toothbrush and tooth paste for him as soon as possible. I am extremely happy that they finally made their long awaited appearances. It has been a long drawn out "teething" process that has caused Tobey (and us-more interrupted sleeps, cranky baby) alot of pain and tubes of teething gel.

("See mummy, they should have made it this way!")

He is becoming more innovative with his existing toy. Like in the pics above, he actually placed the walker upside down and pushed it around only on its back wheels as he wanted to play with the front two wheels (maybe he's hinting that he's growing out of his toys already. At this rate, we might just need to rob the bank once in a while to fund his toy addiction)

(waiting for mummy to prepare the stroller before his evening walk)

Walking has been improving alot. Now he can walk forward, turn around, walk back and continue this process till he's tired. Today we were at a Chinese hypermarket and those long aisles provided him uninterrupted walking practice. He also enjoyed pushing his stroller along those aisles.

(Bulldozing up an aisle. Not being able to see where he is going didn't deter him one bit)

("Hmmm..I wonder what these are for?? They are all over the house! Maybe they are made for my fingers")

Attention span and level of concentration improved as well. I suppose that is what expected for a boy nearing his 11 months old of age.

Something funny happened today. We were having lunch with BIL(bro-in-law) in a family friendly Chinese restaurant. A kid came over to play with Tobey. Obviously, Tobey was overjoyed (even returned a kiss when the BOY pecked him on his LIPS!!!). Whilst they were playing, we had some small talk with the boy's parents. AND the dreadful question came midway

"Is he a boy or a girl?" (in Cantonese)

What the?!!!! We had the same question thrown to use a hundred times when Tobey was younger...(and even when he had his head shaved bald)...but we totally didn't expect to be asked again nowadays as he's obviously couldn't get more boyish than he already is! First of all, he's dressed in baby boy's jeans and jumpers, he has really short hair, he is the "rough" type in his action and movements and he grunts!

"What made you doubt that he's a boy?"

flew out of my lips 3 seconds after that question. She said it was his features. Great. I can't change features. It's God given. So all I can hope is that he will look more boyish as he grows older. Must build some muscles. Maybe he might consider spotting a moustache when he's much older..kekeke.....

What a strange night

As with any other night, Tobey went to bed around 9pm and about an hour later me and SK retired to our room for some reading and me some more websurfing (I am not much of a daily reader, I prefer finishing a pageturner in 3 sittings) before turning in for the night.

SK: What's that noise? Where is it coming from?
Me: The neighbours are blasting the radio from their car again...just now whilst putting Tobey to bed, I also heard them playing their music loudly from the house, and it's not even Saturday night!!! *GRUNT*
SK: Hmmmm....it sounded like Boyzone
Me: (wht a coincident, I was listening to Boyzone earlier in the day as well)

10 mins later....I heard a creak on the floor board as if someone just stepped upstairs...my heart skipped a beat ...

Me: What's that??? Who's that???
SK: Lemme go check...

he went downstairs...the source of music got nearer and nearer ...it's actually from OUR hi-fi!!! CREEPY! Who turned it on in the dark??? By this time, my mind is racing, "is it a robber? Why did he turned on the music? OR is is something from "the otherside"??? Should I go rescue my husband?

Then I heard someone came upstairs...and it was SK....

SK: your dear son set the TIMER on the hi-fi to go off at 10pm!

Great..(sorry neighbours)..but what about that foot step??

And in my sleep that night, I had another of my ratty dream again. I dreamt that a relative caught a disgusting black rat and was dangling it by it's stripey tail and as he was walking pass me, the mouse touched my back!!

"AAEEEEEEEKKKK" I woke up shrieking like a hyena....and woke my huband up...."stupid dream" is his version of sympathy talk at 3:45am....

Tobey woke at 5:15am demanding for milk. Whilst preparing his milk in the kitchen the question of that unexplained footstep kept playing in my head (for a minute I thought I felt a pair of eyes was watching me from behind)...

That's what I get for reading ghost stories online before bed...tonight I must read something practical like "how to grow sweet potatoes" or "money saving tips"...hehehe