Tobey's first snowman

SK came home today and immediately set out to build his son his very own snowman in our back garden, as mummy couldn't bear the cold...brrr

Tobey and the girls

I had to post this up. A few weeks ago, we attended a friend's steamboat party. Tobey had a good time playing with Shean Wenn and Kaka. All three were a few weeks old difference in age. They were so cute together. My boy was the thorn amongst the roses...hahaha!

Spending time with grands

My parents are visiting for a few weeks. Tobey has been enjoying all the extra attention showered upon him. In fact he's downright milking it. His tantrums are extra dramatic and loud, knowing that he'll get more rescues by doing so. He entertains them by mimicking (e.g. he hold his hands together behind his back and walk slowly, just like my dad) their actions and his usual antics around the house. It's been great to see him bond with his maternal grandparents.

Below are several pics taken in the snow storm today. Tobey spent lots of time just staring at the drooping flakes at the window sill. Despite all, he remembered to look for his usual "wow-wow" (dog) in one of the houses opposite and birds on rooftops.

with grandpa and grandma

making footsteps

Happy Chinese New Year 2009

...to everyone. May the year of the Ox bring you good fortune, good health and abundance of joy.

New Banner

Of course I didn't do it on my own. Unlike my previous banner, this one is done professionally by my good friend Tsu Lin. I 'had to' enlist her help after secretly marvelling at her own banners and those she's done for others for many many months. I WANTED ONE TOO!

She was charitable enough to do one for me free-of-charge! All I needed to do was to send her several of my favourite pictures of Tobey and told her my preference in colour theme. In no time at all, she managed to churn out the perfect banner! Her designs are so unique and fresh. I loved the colour mix and embellishments used. I am so happy :)

If you want one of your own, or as a gift to a friend, wherever you are in the world, do drop her an email at tsulinplusplus@gmail.com , you will not regret it.

19 Months Old

Listening to music on the pc

It's been 11 months since his last weighing and height measuring session. After many queries about his weight (such as "he's so heavy! is he 20Kgs?!"), I finally brought him to the baby clinic today.

Weight: 13.24Kg
Height: 85cm (head to heel)

Weight wise, he's at the 91st percentile. A slight drop from the previous measurement of about 98th percentile. Height wise, he used to be around the 95th percentile, but now only at the 75th percentile.

I discussed with the nurse about his slow speech development. She straight away knew that I am comparing him to little girls. She said that girls tend to be much faster in picking up speech and thinks that Tobey is "normal" for a little boy his age.

Like any other 19 months old, he loves play. He copies us till the very last detail. That's why we are pretty careful in what we say and do in front of him. He copies us in driving, dressing up, cleaning, reading, writing, talking on the phone, using electrical equipments, dancing, locking and unlocking doors. He can literally turn on the correct socket switch to the DVD player (there are like 4 others ) pops his Balamory CD in and presses play. The only way of stopping that is to pull the plug off the socket.

He loves the company of other kids, but his personality of a big bear with a gentle and calm demeanour is not doing him much good. He's prone to being bullied. It's typical of toddlers to snatch toys or even push or pull to get what they want, or to establish territory. But my boy, he doesn't do that. He very very seldom pushes, snatches or screams at another. For example, If another tod snatches a toy he's playing, he would move on to another toy and wait for his turn on the toy that was snatched from him earlier.Then 10 mins later, he would readily share his precious biscuit with the same kid! When someone pushes him off a riding toy, he would bounce up and move on. He very seldom came running to me crying, except when he was hurt really badly. Although we are generally proud of his happy and mature behaviour, we really do hope he would learn to strike a better balance soon. At least for his own self-defence! But how??? How do you teach a kid to retaliate?! headache.

He doesn't seems to see himself as a baby anymore. When asked "how a baby cries/plays/dances/sleeps?" He would start pretending out his own interpretation of a baby. Funny. He loves music, like his daddy. Both of them can spend ages in the study listening to music and just chilling out together. He dances to catchy music. But loves relaxing to Vonda Shepherd, just like his daddy. He's very methodical and loves routine. Every night before going to bed, he insists on turning off the hall lights, the tv, put away several toys, shut the doors to the hall and pull down the blinds to his room. When I cook without my apron, he would get the apron and hand it to me, and stand beside me to make sure I wear them before going back out to play.

He still loves fruits and vegetable. We were in a restaurant in Birmingham the other day. The couple at the next table were surprised that we said "Tobey, if you take another scoop of rice, we will give you this carrot" Let me explain, we now boil slices of carrot or broccoli florets and bring them with us when we eat out, as a bribe/reward/incentive system when he finishes his lunch/dinner. Recent favourite is cucumber. He hyperventilates from excitement when a bowl of cucumber is placed in front of him.

That's all I can think of at the moment :)

Housewarming Pics

We had our housewarming lunch on the 10th of Jan 2009. Tobey's 19th month birthday :) Yes, that was planned. I told myself not to be stressed-out over cooking and make sure that we are in a relaxed mood, so that our guests would also feel at ease. We ordered and bought almost half of the spread and the other half was nasi lemak and few easily made curries and sambals. It worked. The party lasted till dinner time! There were 5 other cutie-pie kids. Needless to say, Tobey enjoyed himself until he refused to nap. Both me and SK weren't feeling too well, thankfully my BIL and his partner were there to help us. Leaving us more time to enjoy everyone's company. Here are several pics.

The food...


Let's eat!
The kids...



Kids and the daddies...
Kids and the mommies...
The goodbye...
Thanks everyone for coming!

First Snowy Walk

It snowed last week. The snow stayed on the ground for several days. It was slippery, freezing cold and at the same time beautiful to look at. Everything was white and clean looking. My son took his first snowy walk then. He was so curious and cautious at the same time, kept looking down whilst walking slowly, bending down to touch the snow, grabbed some in his hand and then shook them off a few seconds later.





I felt so glad that I was there to witness this.

Year end/ New Year activities

We've been looking forward to the December/January holidays for a long time. We needed a break and we needed the sale to happen as we have a home to start furnishing. On Christmas day, everything's closed. We took the opportunity to go to the touristy part of Cambridge. We weren't alone, many tourist were there too. It was chilly, but at least no Arctic wind threatened to freeze our noses off.

Tobey giving mommy his trademark kiss

Father and son

Then on boxing day and the day after that, we hit the shops. We managed to get several basic furnishing at half price. Maybe our expectations were set too high, but seriously, the high street sale this year were lame. Unless you are the type that changes the entire content of your wardrobe on a yearly basis, then there's nothing to shout about. I found more genuine discounts on the Internet instead.

Moving along, our friends came to visit the following day. Tobey had a great time playing to cutie baby Sam who's a month younger than him. It felt like a week ago that we've seen these two as weeks old babies.

Playing rolling on the floor game

making calls to Toys R' Us

Then SK went back to work for several days. On new year's eve, I fell sick, and he stayed home and looked after Tobey for the entire day, leaving me to sleep till 2pm and rest throughout. Thank God for him. On new year's day, we went up to Birmingham for an overnight trip in BIL's newly refurbished hotel. We got to stay on the Club floor where our room card allowed us access to this Club lounge for food and drinks round the clock. All these for a minimal charge ;P Tobey developed a runny nose on the same day, so he was quite cranky at times. Spent the day with BIL and his girlfriend.

My bar tender for the evening

Today, we had Saimun, Sukye and Dominic over at our place for lunch. It was nice catching up with them. Tobey had even more fun with "ko-ko" Dominic who's 3 years old. Dominic was very engaging and Tobey loved his company!

Henry is still the all time favourite of every kid that's seen it

Playing ball

I love this shot!!!

Tomorrow, Tobey will meet two pretty little girls, Shean Wenn and Kaka are their names... can't wait to see how his play would be with them.

Season's Greeting

Here's wishing everyone at home a Merry Christmas and a Blessed 2009.

New Ride

Hello everyone, here's me and my new ride..I am so in love with it

I show you how cool I look on it ok?!

I love the smooth lines on this baby

Hahah! I am a stunt man!

But normally, I prefer to take a slow ride on it or just chill with it...

The Tree

Over the weekend, we got ourselves our first family Christmas tree! It's a plain 6 feet 6 inches tree decorated with bronze and reddish baubles plus star shaped lights. I remember in my childhood, it cost a bomb to decorate a tree, but nowadays with recession sales everywhere, the total cost of this was only £27!

18 Months Old

At playgroup

Yesterday was the first time Tobey and I ventured into our new city centre without SK. It was easier than thought, but I had to constantly mind those bicycles zooming by the sides and front! There's bicycle lanes on almost every busy road, hence made the road narrower for cars. My objective was to try to score some bargains at The Pier, who recently went into administration. When I was there, I realised all dining sets were sold, even those on the shop front. I wanted several mirrors, but they don't do delivery anymore and expect me to carry it out of the shop on my own! Obviously it's not possible as I have a stroller and an active toddler to care for. Their staff were rather unhelpful and rude. I know there's no incentive for them to be nice as they were about to loose their jobs (one of them told me it'll be before Christmas), but it's not the customers' fault. Anyway, I only managed to grab some coasters, hooks and Christmas wreath. I guess it's good anyway, since the recession is on. It's best to spend frugally.

Anyway, after lunch at Giraffe (he refused half his home-made lunch, but ate the small bowl of fries I ordered for him), Tobey had a jog around the park separating the 2 shopping areas. We went home soon after that.

"hai yah! This mommy ar, so cold also want to snap pictures"

"I'll pose for you anyway"

Today my darling is 18 months old already. He is growing up to be a boy with a rather strong personality. Wants to do things for himself (for us too) and participate more in household chores. For example, when it's time for his evening bath, he wants to get his own towel, turn on the bathroom lights and open the bathroom door. He wants to put the lid back on his flask, bottles, jar and such. If I were to describe him in words, they would be happy, giving, sociable, insistent/stubborn and loud but with a very gentle soul. Sometimes when he's annoyed with us, he would not look at us and not speak to us for quite a while, which is so funny to watch. As parents, we try to stay as firm (but kind) as we can in terms of discipline. I am sure parents out there would agree that it's easier to spoil a child than to keep him/her grounded. Quite challenging as he changes each week. He's a fruit and vege addict now. When in the supermarket, he would scream if I don't add his broccoli, carrots, grapes, satsumas and bananas into his shopping cart. Which is a good thing :) At least my effort of incorporating vege in his daily meal paid off.

"not again! I am eating, go away!"

"ahhh...bliss"

"Yum yum"

"All gone!"

Happy 1 1/2 years old my baby. You've brought more joy and meaning to our lives than you can ever imagine. Lots of love.