Eh..shy la

Nowadays, Bryan is very shy in front of strangers. He is still intrigued by strangers and will stare at strangers...in fact checking them up & down. And since he is soooo cute, most strangers cannot resist responding to him,...a smile or a hello.

And if the stranger respond, Bryan will hide his face into our chest or our nape, but still continue to peek at the stranger from the corner of his eye.

He is particularly attracted to children or young adults, male and female. But if it is an old lady hor, he has a tendency to be scared of them. Don't know why. When we meet our young neighbours in the elevator, Bryan will just be shy. But they are older women, he may even start to cry softly. Don't know where the fear came from......

Don't leave me......

Although Bryan can't talk yet, it is obvious he knows who is who. Every morning, when I send him to my parents house, his face will light up, he'll wave his hands and kick his legs actively when he sees my father's face appear at the car window....It means that his boring car journey has ended and gong-gong has come to save him.

Now, when we say kai-kai, and if we leave without taking him along, he will cry. This morning, Bryan was sitting on the sofa when LK say bye-bye and pretended to leave. Immediately, he clambered over the sofa towards the door, crying for his daddy.

And at night, he refuse to sleep in his baby cot liao. Really tau hin. Most babies can sleep in the cot until way past 1, but Bryan has been refusing that more than a month ago. If we let him sleep in the cot, he'll wake up crying every 30 mins.

So now, he sleeps on the queen mattress on the floor. And we pile bolsters and pillows around him to stop him fr rolling onto the cold, hard ceramic floor. On the floor, around the bed, we line it with exercise mat & blankets to help cushion his fall. As we are still not confident to let him sleep alone, we are co-sleeping with him in his room, but have been debating whether is it safe to let him sleep alone yet. The longer we delay letting him sleep alone, the harder it will get.

If we sleep next to him, even if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will go back to sleep on his own. But if we are not around, it will be "WAAAA......"

When mommy is not around….

Today, I went for dim sum with my friends. But before I left, I made sure the following items for Bryan

Food-wise

1. Breastfed Bryan first
2. Steamed carrot for him to chew (to be inserted into the Munchkin baby feeder)
3. Showed LK which bottle of expressed breastmilk to feed Bryan, in case he asks for some, and where the bottle teats are.
4. Teething biscuits
5. Cereals and baby rusks.

On top of that, I also left clean toys for Bryan to play with during my absence. He puts everything into his mouth now.

I was suppose to leave the house at 730am, so that can get home by Bryan’s next milk feeding & nap time, which is around 1000am. But friend woke up late, so left the house only at 800am.

I got home at 1030am, expecting that Bryan would have been given some biscuit & water/ milk/ cereal. …but no.

Daddy kept him entertained with MTV (daddy also need to relax right), toys and lotsa banging on my piano but no food leh…Only carrots to chew on, but that can hardly fill his tummy. He barely ate the carrots i prepared. But i think he had fun chewing it.

Poor baby…he was so happy to see me. Obviously he was feeling hungry because he asked for his milk immediately. Nahh…he cannot talk yet, but I know when he wants his milk.

Fell asleep immediately after milk feed.

Aiyoo…like that how to go out worry-free in the future. Tau-hin la…

Hairstyles…Kor Lo

Bryan always had funny hairstyles from birth…

When he was born, it was China-pek hairstyle. The nurses at maternity ward joked that his hairstyle looked like those of the Ah-peks drinking coffee at the kopi tiam.

Chinese ah-pek hairstyle at birth












Koala hairstyle at 3 mth. Can see the 2 spot of hair by the side of his head, above the ear?

The first thing Dr Sim (his current pediatrician) say to me when I took Bryan to see him was –“His hair will grow evenly by the time he is one. Don’t worry…” Well apparently, this is a typical concerns from many new parents.

But, I never never worry about his physical appearance, especially not his hair. I don’t expect a perfect child; I just want him to be healthy and happy.

Then, it was lau-beh China-boy style….And coincidentally, it was Chinese New Year

My friend Emily actually asked me why I did this to my son? Is it in the spirit of Chinese New Year celebration? *hehe*chuckle* No lah dear….natural one la.

Can spot the Chinese New Year cartoon boy hairstyle at the side?

Finally, now, his hair has finally even out.But one thing remained …until now, people still say he has Kor Lo…err direct translation to English…Auntie Road??

Basically, it means that he will get along well with his Kor-Kor (LK’s sister).

So true keh…?

Durian, durian, I love durian

Our love for durian peaked when I was pregnant with Bryan. Buying durian was a never missed itinerary each week during the durian season each. Given our love for durian….we decided to share it with Bryan.

Results…..HE LOVED IT!!!

Actually this is not the first time we let him try durian. My mom and aunties (#3 & #4) has let him tried a few times…but this is the first time we caught it on camera. Aunt #4 says that should let them taste durian from small so that they will learn to like them when they are older. Makes sense as durian is definitely an acquired taste.

We dare not let him have too much as durian is a very nutritious but heaty fruit. Only a few taste each time. He actually asked for more. And later at night at Lee Loong’s place, we had some more durian brought by LK’s mom. He was also asking for durian but we did not let him have any. Poor baby.

Hmmm...I think by this time next year, he's gonna be fighting for durians with us. Ooh..it's gonna be so much fun. :)

Hair cuts

Bryan hair is getting longer and unmanageable. LK wanted to keep it long hoping that the weight as it gets longer would help the hair to stay flat. Unfortunately, his hair continue to stick out at all angles.

As the weather nowadays are quite hot, Bryan head will be sweating each time we played with him. After much deliberation, we decided to take him to the “Brothers” indian shop for a haircut.

He had been there before, and it was ok. He calmly let the barber cut his hair with the shaver last time. He only cried when the guy cut “slope”. So this time, we told the barber just shave his head same length and no need “slope”.

AKAN TETAPI……

Bryan cried immediately when the man start cutting his hair.

Results…

Aiyaa…still handsome baby la. Still is mummy's cute-cute baby boy....

Some more can still go for the next “Penang Supermodel Baby”…hehehe.

Ipoh & Cameron: Conclusion

This trip has been fairly laid back because it is the first time we took Bryan on a holiday. There are plenty of rest in between so that Bryan can nap. Then again, we have been to these 2 places many many times, so no regrets.

When Bryan is older, we will probably squeeze in more places to visit. Then I guess, he will be able to enjoy the trip more too.

Happy weekend everybody....

Cameron Highlands: Day 2

What better way to start the day than breakfast at the tea plantation. My favourite is the Boh Bharat Plantation tea house. Wanted to order their masala chai but no stock. So settled for strawberry tea instead. LK and my parents had sandwiches and me…scones again.

Tea plantation

Hot tea and scones.

After having scones at Old Smokehouse, these really pale in comparison taste-wise, though they do look great in photo.

The 2 wise men…

Hey what are you guys staring at?

For lunch, we went to the Watercress Valley farm for steamboat. Best steamboat I ever had at Cameron. I have been to 2 restaurants at Tanah Rata before and a few at Brinchang but this one is the best.

Their soup base is herbal with wolfberry, ginseng root and other Chinese herbs. And you get unlimited servings of really fresh watercress. Their steamboat ingredients were also fresh. Better than the ones we had at Brinchang/ Tanah Rata. Result - soup that is really “cheng-tim” (clear & sweet) and superbly refreshing. After the chicken overdose the day before, this is really welcoming.

Traditional charcoal fire steamboat

This photo was taken seconds before Bryan upset my bowl of soup all over my jeans.

Cameron Highlands: Day 1

Since it was a windy road uphill, we kept Bryan strapped to his car seat. So he did not sleep at all during the 1.5 hr journey. When we arrive and check into the hotel, he fell asleep almost immediately, after getting his milk.

Our hotel room…guess which one it is?

The garden below our hotel room.

With gong-gong & po-po at the garden.

It was a rainy afternoon, so what better to enjoy a cold afternoon than a nice cuppa tea. I decided to take my parents to the Old Smokehouse hotel for hot tea and scones. It is just minutes away from our hotel and the scenery is very nice.

Bryan still sleeping when we arrive at the Old Smokehouse hotel.

Ain't it nice & cosy?

Bryan just loves the flowers.

Hmm….come to think of it, I don’t think he’s ever had such close encounters with the flowers before.

A romantic dinner for 3?

Two's a company, Three's a family! :)

Bryan, kong-kong, po-po

Bryan really love the cool crisp air. He was very accomodating...no fuss at all, when we take him here & there to snap the photos. hahaha...we were like passing baton. I think he was the star of the day (and everyday). It seems as if every single photo we took must have him in it.

He started fussing the moment we got indoor again....

Ipoh: Food glorious food

All we did in Ipoh was to go to different places to eat. And all poor Bryan get to do is stare at our food.

Day 1: LK wanted to have the “cheong” satay at Kong Heng and I wanted the egg custard. We arrived there shortly after 1pm, and they are all sold out.

For dinner we went to have bean sprout chicken at Cowan St shop. Then back to hotel to rest coz we were very tired. LK spent the evening glued to the tv while I read a book I brought along.

Day 2: Morning is coffee time. And when u are in Ipoh, there is no better coffee than white coffee at Ipoh Old Town.

Ipoh old town...this place bustles with activity in the morning but will be all quiet in the afternoon, after lunch in fact. Ipoh people really contented...business so good, why not continue till later?

Our favourite is the coffee at Sin Yuen Loong/ Sin Yuen Foong.

Lunch – we wanted to have an early lunch at Foh San to avoid the morning crowd. But too bad, when we arrive, most of the items were sold out. So we tah pau my mom’s fav lotus paste pau (frozen ones). The pau was Rm3 each and we bought half a dozen + 2 other types of pau (cooked ones). Overall, we spent over RM22 on paus…ridiculous hor!

Then we head to the salted chicken place and found that they had turned the entire shop into a big kitchen. There are no more places to eat at the shop. They only have take-aways. So since we are already there, mah tah-pau one for snacks later.

Turn turn turn, looking for a good place to eat, in the end have bean sprout chicken again at Onn Kee, since it was just nearby. And met a fellow Agilent colleague (Tock) there too with his family. They just came from Cameron.

Bean sprout chicken (again) at Onn Kee for lunch.

I think we had a major chicken overdose in Ipoh…..BURRRRRP!! No more chicken in the next few days.

Ipoh: Check out our hotel

We stayed at Heritage Ipoh...which is smack right in the middle of the Ipoh town. It is a regular business hotel..nothing much to brag about.

Admiring the carps outside the hotel's restaurant.















Getting a sip of water after a tired day out.















"Mommy & daddy, why are we still here...let's go explore the city...."

Cameron/ Ipoh: The road trip

Getting Bryan to sit in his car seat during the journey turned out to be a major challenge. I prepared a bag filled with his toys, rattles, and teethers to keep him occupied. I even keep his teethers in my cooler bag so that they are nice and cold. Bryan likes to chew on his cold teethers. But even then, he will only be entertained for like 15 minutes before fussing to get out.

While most babies will sleep during the car journey….Bryan was fully awake the entire journey. On the way there, we made him sit in the car seat. He did not sleep a wink at all. But doze off immediately when we checked into the hotel.

On the way back, I know he is very sleepy already, so I held him in my arms and he slept more than 2 hours in the car. And once he’s awake, he will be wriggling around to touch this, see that…oh baby baby.

Let me go, let me go.....

Mummy, daddy,...help me...get me out...

Meal times are fun times

I look forward to each weekend...coz
1) No work...yippee
2) Get to spend the whole day with Bryan
3) Get to cook for Bryan

I really enjoy preparing Bryan's meals. Afterall, i only get to do it twice a week - Saturday & Sunday. Yeah..it takes a lot of time but at least i know he is getting good stuff.


Mommy's cooking is full of goodness & full of love!!










I will normally cook his porridge using meat based soup with different types of vegetables (brocolli, spinach, carrot, corn, potato, etc) .














So far i have tried pork and beef. I find the beef porridge really yummy. I used to puree his porridge in a blender but have stopped doing that when he is ~ 7.5 month old....so that he learns to chew. So, what i will do is to chop all the vege till really fine. Still trying to get my mom to do the same. Well she says that Bryan choke or i think he feign choking when my mom tried to feed him chopped vegetable...but i have almost no problem feeding him.

For me, meal times shd be fun time. If he wants to feed himself...go ahead.



Anyway, i always prepare an extra spoon in case he grabbed mine.














And Bryan loves to drink from his cup...pretend to be adult, like us...so cute. Although most of the water will end up on him or on the seat/ floor. But gotto watch him lo, coz sometimes, he got over excited and will choke.











But comparatively between my mom & I, Bryan seems to be more cooperative with me feeding him. Maybe it's because i let him have fun with his meals, not to say that my mom is not. But i more cincai kua.

But if he starts fussing or crying, i will stop feeding him. So i guess he knows that if he wants to eat, he gotta cooperate, or else no more food.













Yeah...more fun normally means more mess, more clean ups. But then again, the smile on his face is worth all the trouble....

Bryan going on a holiday....tomoro, tomoro, tomoro

Tomoro morning, we'll be taking Bryan on his first holiday @ Ipoh and Cameron Highlands... I will be taking my lap top along and will take notes of our adventures along the way. Of course, there'll be lotsa photos when we're back.

Be sure to check out our blog to read all about our adventures...

Aiyo...why the weather so hot one

The last few days weather has been extremely hot. On hot days like this, it is best to go for a dip at the swimming pool...

Unfortunately, mommy has not been taking me to my weekly swim lately coz she heard that there were a few hand, foot & mouth disease reported in Penang. Heard it from her colleague at work and confirmed by my paed at my recent visit.

So what do ah...so hot and i love water.

Just play at the bath tub only lo...my mini baby tub...













Aiyoo...the tub is so small, i can even climb out of it....(maybe not now, but soon :)














After that, it is still too hot for clothes..so daddy just let me roll about on the bed...



















Eiii....liu liu siau, beh kian siau....










Now you see it,












now you don't...