Through Bryan's eyes

When I was young, every morning when my father takes me to school on his motorbike, I remember observing the scenery along the trip – how each tree looks like, the shapes of the trunks, the leaves, and the color. Who are the other people on the roads? I still remembered that at the traffic light junction of Masjid Kapitan Keling, sometimes I will see a man pushing his tricycle loaded with household goods. It looked as if he was pushing a MOUNTAIN of stuff, with the goods loaded way high above his head and literally spilling out from the sides & front of the tricycle. I used to admire how he managed to balance all those goods and at the same time felt pity for him, silently hoping that business will be good for him that day.

Somewhere along the way, as we grow up, we stopped seeing things as we got too preoccupied with our thoughts.

With Bryan, he notices everything. The rustling of the leaves at the garden, the birds in the sky or in the trees, the flowers by the roadside, the sunlight from the window on his bedroom wall and way the shadow moves against the light.

Last night, while waiting for LK to unpack our groceries from the car, Bryan and I “danced” to the movements of our shadows at the parking lot. He was so excited about the shadows and giggled with delight with each movement.

It was such a delight to see how his eyes light up when he sees these things. He constantly amazes me with what he is able to spot and observe.

His favorites are birds. He can spot a bird on the electric wire, from quite a distance away, and starts calling for them. He also has a particular fondness for a stray kitten who wanders along the corridor outside my mother’s house. The kitten loves to play along the dry drain pipes. Bryan will look out for the kitten each time he is near that area.

The first time I saw the kitten was more than 1 month ago. A boy was carrying the kitten tenderly. I thought the boy was going to take the kitten home to care for it. But he did not, and left it near the drain pipes. I think some kind souls must have been feeding the kitten, coz it has grown significantly. A bit thin and scrawny but looks healthy nevertheless.

If it weren't for Bryan, I would have forgotten about this kitten.

Cute Baby Contest

There ..I’ve submitted Bryan’s photo for his first baby photo contest. It’s the Johnson’s Baby of the Year Contest. Actually I submitted 2 entries. Not because of kiasu but the grand prize is very attractive leh…RM15,000 cash and loads of other prizes such as digital camera + printer, toys, etc etc. Yalah, I know, what are the odds of winning, but if I don’t try then no chance. If try, at least got 0.00000……1% chance, Better than none mah hor. Rm15K will really help ease the load of his education fund off our shoulders. (kekeke...all mothers think that their own baby is the cutest,..ok!)

We thought of entering the contest early last month, but never got around to selecting the photos until yesterday. So scrambled to get the photos printed and to get all the forms ready, cause the closing date is 31 Aug.

Anyway, below is one of the photo I submitted


So, cute boh?

Gosh, I love feeding Bryan

Feeding Bryan is such a joy. Now, he gets 2 healthy servings of porridge daily. Each servings is about a small rice bowl, u know the bowls used by Chinese restaurant for serving rice. So I think that is quite a lot for a baby.

Open mouth...















AMMMM....Good boy....

And it will only take about 10 – 15 mins for us to feed him. And when we feed him, it has to be one spoonful after the other. He will protest if we delay. Sometimes the porridge is hot and we will blow slightly…he will also scream, scared that we will eat his porridge..hahaha. And if he comes near the kitchen when I am almost done with the porridge, he will get all excited about it already. Can smell ma…his porridge very yummy smelling one ok…

And because he loves his porridge so much, it isn’t very messy either. Sometimes, we don’t even let him wear his bib, if he’s going to take a bath after that. OK, I don’t believe in the crap that you should not bath after a full meal. It is so much cleaner to let him have his meal, rest for a while then take a bath. Besides, it will also allow him to have some fun getting wet while feeding himself water from the cup/ bottle.

Having some fun with his water bottle

I have read and heard of “horror” (hahaha) stories of kids refusing to eat. Who will just keep the food in their mouth and refusing to swallow it. Some children take hours just to finish their meals. Others, refuse to eat most thing except for 1 or 2 particular item.

I was so afraid that Bryan will be like that. Thus, between my mom and me, we make sure that he gets some variety in his meals so that he does not develop a dislike for mealtime. And if he doesn’t like a particular item, we will not force him to eat it. We’ll just omit the item and try again in another few weeks. Just like spinach. At first he didn’t really like it. He still eats his porridge, but not as fast as normal. So we stopped giving it. Then after about 1 month, my mom tried adding spinach again, and he seemed ok with it.

Now he is only eating porridge, but I can’t wait to add more items to his menu…not just rice, but different types of noodles (mee sua, koayteow, etc), pasta, sandwiches,…Anxious mommy hor….

Afterall, don’t everyone love to eat. And if you like what you are eating, you are sure to eat them fast right? I think kids (and babies) are the same. It’s just that some kids are choosier than others. So we as parents have a challenge to find out what they like and help them to “enjoy” eating.

My morning sunshine

One thing great about Bryan is he almost always wake up smiling, especially if he sees us the moment he opens his eyes. If we are not around, he may roll about Bollywood style or if he is in a not-so-good mood, cry for attention. But the moment he sees us, he’ll greet us with a big smile.

Sweet dreams baby, time to rise & shine













EEMMMMM.. mmmm .... Strreeetch....

Up and shining in moments

Hello Mommy, Hello Daddy

With a big smile like this in the morning…don’t it just brightens your entire day? No wonder i call him, "My Sunshine Baby Boy"

Bryan is 9 months old

My darling bb is 9 months old today. Nah..we did not do anything special. Just that he is slowly growing into a little boy and slowly growing out from a baby.

Soon, less and less people will refer him as a baby.

Today when LK was taking him out from the car, he mentioned that Bryan is looking less like a baby now. His expressions and response are more and more like those of a child and not anymore of a baby.

Don't time just flies....the more reason to appreciate the presence.

Because I can

Almost every weekend, we have to make a trip down to Pulau Tikus to an Organic shop to get vegetables & fruits for Bryan. There is a few near our house, but their selection is not as good and their stock are not replenished as often as PT.

As far as possible, I try to give Bryan organic food, even rice. For rice, I actually give Bryan a mix of white and red rice. I bought a pack of polished medium grain rice when I started Bryan on solid. Being a gung-ho mother, I bought imported from US rice which cost RM18.50 per kg. Then realized that I should give him unpolished rice cause it has more nutrient. So I went back to the store to look for unpolished red rice because my colleague told me that it is more fragrant than unpolished white rice which may smell stale sometimes.

The shop keeper told me that the unpolished variety may be hard on bb’s digestive and recommended me the semi-polished red rice. The one he recommended is from Kelantan and only cost RM8.50/ kg. What a big difference in price! Yay for made in Malaysia!

So what I do was mix a batch of white + red rice, wash till clean, microwave dry it, and then grind it. Grind to make it easier for mom to cook and make sure that it is easier on bb’s digestive system. Last time, I use to grind to powdery texture. Now I just grind into small granules.

Last Sunday, LK got curious and asked me why I want to be so mah-fan? Why can’t I just give Bryan the regular stuff? Why I need to prepare even rice for him? Why don’t just let my mom do it?

Answer: Because I can.

Some people also ask me why I am still exclusively breastfeeding Bryan at 9 mths. Why? Because I can. Why should I give him 2^nd best (formula milk) when I can give him the best?

Of course, I know I will not be able to do everything for Bryan, just as I will not be able to look after him 24 x 7. If I cannot do it or get it for him, fine. I will not worry about it. But if I can, why not?

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...