Who do I look like?

I've got asked this many times. "Who do you think Tobey looks like?" or "Who does he takes after?". I can understand those observant eyes, staring at him, as if trying to match him to us. Because I love doing that to other kids too.

Answer is, he's quite a mixture between SK and I. both in terms of features and character. He has my facial features, flat nose, deep smile lines, my eyes and chubby cheeks. His body build, ear shape, small nose and fair skin is like his daddy's. He's happy most times just like his daddy but inherited my impatience and bad temperateness. He's straight forward like daddy but cheeky like mommy. He has my hair texture and colour but they mess up into a bird nest right after waking up, just like daddy.He has my infinite appetite for food and daddy's infinite appetite for all thing tecky and electrical. He has the love for pet and not afraid to be near them, just like daddy. The list goes on.

So there you go. There's no short answer to those questions. You'll need to sit down and have the patience of a saint if you really want me to know my answer :)

Gone too soon....

I'm dedicating this to another great person who left this world earlier this year. I still can't believe that you are no longer here. You'll always be missed and remembered.

Like A Comet
Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky
Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow
Fading In The Twinkling Of An Eye
Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly
And Splendidly Bright
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight
On A Cloudy Afternoon
Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle
Built Upon A Sandy Beach
Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower
That Is Just Beyond Your Reach
Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight
Here One Day
Gone One Night

Like A Sunset
Dying With The Rising Of The Moon
Gone Too Soon

Gone Too Soon

Favourite past time at 2 years old

Every chance he gets, he'll rush out to play football. Of course, he'll try to drag someone along with him, as an opponent. Very often, it's FIL or mommy in the day time and daddy in the late summer evenings. This morning, he woke up at 7AM, night nappie bursting, went into his visiting grandparents' room to drag his grandpa out of bed for his early morning spot of footie. Everyone else was still asleep.

So here he is, in his sleep suit (I cropped off the foot area of his old but comfortable old sleepsuits for hot summer night sleeps, SK call them his castaways suits ;P).

Here's my little footballer in the making,busy practicing his moves and his future publicity pose.

Hainanese Chicken Rice

Once again Sukye made me drool with her cooking. I remember making "Siew Pau" based on the recipe she used last year and it turned out quite ok. This time, it's her Hainanese Chicken Rice. Normally I only use normal Free-Range Chicken, but this time I used the Corn Fed Free-Range she recommended. I put more chopped ginger in the rice and left out the white pepper in the marinate, as my son don't like white pepper. Didn't manage to take a pic of the soup as we only had it after the meal. Tobey had it with normal rice instead on the gingery and garlicky rice.

It was quite a hit during lunch time today, so I am going to make it another time for dinner too, so that SK can get a chance to eat it fresh as well.

Click for recipe

Eco Summer

What's happening in the back garden?

Note: All planting is done by SK's dad.

Vege plot (cultivated from seeds)

Waiting to be planted on the ground

Our "Resident Waterer" filling up his watering can. He takes his daily watering duty very seriously.

Boy on a mission

concentrating

Goal!!!

Juicing

My in-laws converted me into a believer in juicing. I noticed a difference in myself and Tobey when we consume half a glass of fresh fruit juice each day (preferably being consumed within 5 minutes of being juiced, before oxidation happens). Yes, it's more expensive than shop bought juice and the cleaning of the machine right after can be a pain at times, but it's worth it. I highly recommend this method of getting children to consume fruits and vege.

Prepared fruits

This combination is a modification from a recipe found in our one and only juicing book. But being the lazy me, I normally would just juice whatever fruit that is available + carrots(for sweetness) and a lemon/orange(for a touch of tangy-ness)

Juicer in action

The reason...

...we chose this family orientated village is because we feel that it's the perfect place for our son to grow up, near to nature, and yet not too far from civilisation. All these are just 5 mins walk from our doorstep.
Today, after Tobey's nap, FIL and MIL introduced me and Tobey to more of our own unexplored neighbourhood. Well, what can I say, me and SK are still trying to convert ourselves to be more "outdoor-ish" for our son's sake. My in-laws are the naturist! Hence they explored the area more than us. Anyways, we went for a nature walk.. around the ponds, across hills and into one of their many woodland trails.

Tobey walked, run and hopped so much! We stopped at one of the little piers around one of the ponds and decided to tickle the water with long weeds (sorry, I don't know what it's called)




and then waited for fish...

"Where's tish mama?"
(rest assured that he is within half an arm length from 3 adults)

of course, we threw in a littlebit of playground time as well......

up and down the little hill so many times, that is after 1 hr and 15 mins of nature walk. The neverending energy of two year olds.

Me and SK will really need to put our act together and bring him to these kinda walks more often and be more adventurous ourselves, since our son is the happiest being outdoor and seems to enjoys nature so much!

6 monthly dental check-up

waiting for out turns in the dental clinic

All three of us went for our dental check-up a few days back. It was Tobey's 2nd. After months of complaining how slow his teeth growth was, there's no stopping them now. In the span of 3 months, he's grown another 7 teeth, including his canines (which are suppose to grow after the molars, according to his dentist). Also confirmed that 2 molars are breaking through. Tobey also have got a fused tooth. Both his Upper Central and Lateral Incisors are fused together. Nothing serious. He'll probably have a bigger tooth replacing the milk version of it later on.

Tobey was a good boy throughout. We explained to him why mommy/daddy has to have their teeth checked. He was very fascinated by the patients chair's mechanism. When it was his turn to hop on, his expression was priceless. He chose a Scooby-doo sticker from the sticker tin offered by the dentist, as a reward for being a star :)

Lucky Belt

"Eeeeeee...Look, there's a giraffe on my t-shirt....."

"...which is tucked right under my BELT!"

"Mom! Stop it!"

My handsome little boy in some of his new clothes (birthday gifts). The belt on that trousers would be his first! He went "daddy's bet(belt)". No it's Tobey's. And he was SO happy. Kept checking on his belt every few minutes. I guess just like the sunglasses, he felt grown-up to also wear a belt like his hero.

The Unexpected Fair

Today, SK drove us into the city to have some lunch and to walk-around, since the weather was quite pleasant. Coincidentally, there was a fair going on opposite where we parked. Probably a continuation of the Strawberry fair held last weekend. It was quite a bonus as besides the usual inflated slides, rides, games, food and art&craft stalls, there were a few surprises you don't expect in a usual fair.

There were several oversized agricultural horses lazing around having their lunch, whilst the public stared and patted them, took pictures with them and read about them. At one point, one of them decided to pee. OMG, it was like a high pressure tap!After several seconds of not blinking, I quickly stood a few feet back from it's behind......

Anyways, FIL carried Tobey to to pat one of it. He was quiet and abit reluctant to touch it initially, but did so when I ask him too. I guess it's daunting to see a horse in real-life up close, not to mention such a huge one.
Then there were the replica steam powered vehicles. A few of them were choo-chooing across the field. Tobey was SO fascinated. He kept going "choo-choo" and refused to take his eyes off them! Anything machine that moves or makes sound, excites it till no end. What can I say, he's just being a boy.
(short in-between story in regard to his facination with electronics and machines: A few days back I operated the shredder to shred some documents. I pulled out my phone charger from the socket and replaced it with the shredder's plug, pressed on and shredded. I unplugged the machine and put it away after use. We've always told him how dangerous it is and he was never allowed to touch it. Last night he copied my every step. Pulled out the lap top charger, and replaced it with the plug from the shredder. The next thing we know, the shredder was shredding and he was running to us as he's still afraid of the sound it makes.

SK: You can NOT play with this! Who taught you how to operate it?!
Tobey: MOMMY!)

Then there was this re-enactment of medieval time. There were tents with beds inside and people cooking over wood fire. Then they decided to put on a fight right in the midst of the settlement. It must have been so confusing for Tobey to see armoured men, holding what looks like a much bigger version of mommies kitchen knife and striking at one another.

Our little boy is still not exactly exposed to any form of violence. Today SK bought him a Buzz Lightyear beamer that beams arrays of lovely LED light patterns on surfaces. It resembles more of a gun than anything. But he swiftly brought it to his head and went "Vooo Vooo Voooooo", as it's a HAIRDRYER to him.

Tobey's 2nd Birthday Party

He will be 2 on the 10th June. We threw him a party on the 7th June (Sunday). Venue was our home and food was partly home-cooked and bought, and of course the BBQ. The weather forecast for that day was suppose to be HEAVY RAIN for the entire day. I prayed superhard for a few hours of non-rainy period, just so that we can open up the garden for the kids to play and also for the BBQ to happen. The party starts at 1pm, by 12noon it was still pouring cats and dogs. Then it slowed down to a drizzle, and then it halted. SK quickly took out the pit and started on the fire. We crossed our fingers for the rain to stay away. It did, not only that, it became SUNNY!!!! Thank God. He is really watching over us. Anyways, here are the pics

I cooked a huge pot of curry chicken (it was a big hit as many of our friends "tapau" some back for dinner), salmon pasta for the kids (not enough seasoning, sometimes, I forget that they are already two, no longer babies that shouldn't take so much salt), mixed vegetables, and agar-agar. Bought food were delicious chinese roasted duck (all the way from Northampton, our friend helped us to transport them over), and 4 platters of sushi. We also took out the deep fryer and deep fried calamari rings, mushrooms, chicken dippers and onion rings. BBQ food were lamb, sausages, marinated chicken wings and so on.

We made use of the entire ground floor. Guest were free to roam from the hall to the play room, to the garden and also the kitchen/dining area. both patio doors from the kitchen and hall were open wide. This was only possible due to the weather change earlier (OMG I am so grateful!).

French Open Men's final was also on tele, so several men were glued to the screen for a while, my favourite Roger Federer won. Quoting my MIL, "A champion will always be a champion"

It was so lovely to see our friends enjoying themselves, mingling and the kids having a great time running around and simply being cutie pies. OK, here's the cake... Tobey loves Handy Manny and his set of talking tools.
Here's the cake cutting session in pics....

with mommy and daddy and paternal grandparents candle blowing with daddyThe birthday kiss from Karmenwith all his friends!This kid sized bench is one of Tobey's birthday gifts. He's seen here posing with Sam and Karmen...Cute overload!

Most of Tobey's gifts were clothes, just as I wanted it to be as he already has toooooo many toys. SK's parents got him a top of the range juicer.Mommy and daddy STILL have not got the time to get him his gift yet...hahaha! Tobey missed his afternoon nap and ate very little lunch on that day. He was too busy playing with his friends and downing in fruit shoots.

Happy 2nd Birthday my darling baby :)