Just as I was wrtiing the blog, ?? kept Mal entertained. They were singing and Mal just completed 1 song! I mean sang 1 complete song!!! So far he could only sang part of every song…but I just heard him completed Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Chinese version!!! Since ?? came, Mal had learnt to sing a few chinese songs…they include

1. Happy Birthday ??????
2. The More We Get Together ???????
3. ?????
4. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

English songs include
1. Happy Birthday - he got all the lyrics right but was very out of tune!
2. Old MacDonald - only the yeeah yeeah oh….and the moo here moo everywhere
3. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
4. Row Row Row your Boat - used to be his favourite song when he was a baby as he will laugh when he heard us sing ‘row row row’
5. ABC - almost can complete the whole song except for the L M???? P
?
Did try to shoot a video on him singing but it is not easy as Mal still does not understand the meaning of performing…thus he will run around as he sings instead of standing on the same spot Also having some problem transferring the video from the camera to the desktop…so gotto hang on there for the video It is so fun to watch him sing and one of the best way to keep him entertained is ask him to sing u a song…or sing a song with him! Think kids just love to sing!

Gotto record this … I used to note down his health check result in a journal before I started this blog…

Mal visited the doc for the 1st time since we came here. It was his 2nd year health check on 20 April 2006. Before this check we were there last month for his 1st Booster DPT/DT Vaccine. The doctor did not see him then as we need an appointment and also he has to be 2 years old for the check up.

Mal was apprehensive and clung on to Mummy throughout the whole check up! I am not sure whether his fear was because he remembered that he had his vaccine there a month ago or he simply afraid of strangers coming so close. The nurse had to take his height, weight, blood pressure before seeing the doctor and Mal didn’t even want to stand on the weighing machine to have his weight taken! And when it was finally the doctor’s turn, he practically clung on to me for dear life and was screaming his head off when the doctor tried to use a torch to look into his ears and asked him to lie down on the bed so that he could check his stomach and private parts.

His weight is 12.9 kg, height is 86.6 cm and his head circumference is 19 inches. The doctor told me that he is at the 50th percentile so is an average size boy. But upon closer scrutiny by me, I went back to plot his measurements on the graphs that I had in his health booklet, I found out that Mal’s head circumference and height were in the 50th percentile but his Mal’s weight was above the 75th percentile! No wonder he looks rounder and rounder these days!

Mal’s height and weight used to be in the 90th percentile when he was around 1 year old and when he was about 18 months, they dropped to the 75th percentile. Now he is close to the 50th percentile except for his weight.

Mal also had his HepA jab today. Back home, this is not required but we let Mal had it anyway. Daddy reached the clinic in time for his jab and with another person to distract him, Mal did not cry at all when the nurse gave him his jab on his thigh

It was Tuesday afternoon and Mummy and Mal was taking our afternoon nap when the postman came knocking on the door. It was another parcel and when Mummy saw the parcel…she was like…urrrhh…still got presents for Mal ah?! and indeed, the parcel was address to Mummy and Mal. Hmmm…this time we really wonder who could it be from.

As Mal was still sleeping, Mummy and ?? could only stare at the parcel and tried to guess who the sender was?? and what was it inside ?? hmmm….Finally Mal woke up and was whinning…but Mummy was quick to shut him up with some distraction…’See! you have another present again…let’s go see what’s inside!’ and off to the garden we went….Actually Mummy and ?? were both as excited as Mal to see what we’ve got this time and who was it from, we were waiting anxiously for Mal to wake up so that he could open the present

This time the box was quite heavy and for a while, Mummy thought the shipping company had made a mistake and had sent us 2 sets of the same order! NO, there was no mistake, it really was ANOTHER pressie for MAL! It was PART III of Auntie Monica and Uncle Derek’s gift! This time it was a kids size red wheelbarrow!!! sooo….cute! THANK YOU again !!! It was exactly what Daddy and Mummy would love to get for Mal. Daddy really need to borrow all these tools from Mal the next time he do gardening

whao! it’s a big and heavy box this time….

expert cpening up the presenthmmm…what could it be this time ?!

WHAO!!!! it’s a ….. hmmmm…. red wagon….nope…it’s call a wheel barrow

uh oh…how am I going to fix this ?

luckily Daddy was back from work soon and all my problem solved!

see how fast Daddy got it fixed up! it’s almost done!
now I can use this to carry all my tools!
the size is just right for Mal!
and we love the RED!but it’s not so easy to use … esp for a 2 year old … some balancing skills and control are required
another toy to make me grin with joy THANK YOU Auntie Monica and Uncle Derek!

hmmm…wonder you all are getting bored reading about Mal’s birthday presents?! hang on there…a few more to go…

this was from Uncle JLo and Auntie Bebe who had missed his party. As usual…Auntie Bebe knew what to get Mal to bring out the smile It was a super cute set of tools to trim the lawn which include a lawn mower and grass edger. Sooo…ooo cute! THANK YOU!!!

this looks soo…oooo cute!!! Mal was having dinner when Daddy came back with the present…he just can’t wait to open his present…grinnning with joy
Daddy will be envious!cos Daddy was complaining that his mower was lousy and need to get a better one…and the edger…just what Daddy need to give our lawn the perfect trim!

all set to help Daddy with the lawn

It was Saturday afternnon and Mal was still caught up with his new yellow bike when someone knocked on the door. It was the postman with a HUGE box. This time the box was addressed to Mummy & Malcolm Hmmm…probably another pressie for Mal and Mummy’s name was there for ’show’

Guess what is it this time…it was a set of real gardening tool for kids!!! Mummy knew instantly who the sender was and she was right. THANK YOU AUNTIE MONICA and UNCLE DEREK!!!! You shouldn’t have! There are plenty of chance to buy Mal birthday present when we go back home and it is really no big deal missing a year. He is sooo…ooo pampered now with sooo…ooo many toys! But still we are exhilarated to receive the BIG NICE SURPRISE!

Mal was really excited with his new set of gardening tool and he started right away…off to the garden to rake the soil! His gardening tool set was even more complete than Daddy’s. There was a hoe, a spade, 2 rakes and they come in nice vibrant colours!

Now we don’t have to worry that Mal will fight over the gardening tools with us when we do gardening as he has a set that is even more complete and colourful!

oh…Auntie Monice did not give Mummy any false hope…as there was really something for Mummy this time, hehehe but it only came a 2 days after we received the gardening tool set cos I think it was shipped from different places. It was a Monday afternoon and Mummy was at the pool when the postman came. So other than the gardening tools for Mal…Mummy received a sweet baby pink Roxy bag…as an advance birthday present. So sweet of you!!! *****luv luv Mmmmmuuuuuackkk**** This is from Mummy…not Mal !

see what big box we have this time!

with just 1 birthday…Mal is going to be transform into an expert in opening parcel!

still in his pyjamas…look at how thrill he is with his new tools

they come in bright vibrant colours and these are REAL tools!
can’t wait to try out his new tools…but oh NO…he is trying to kill Mummy’s precious flowers
luckily Daddy was smart to come out with a bright idea…will ask him to help dig out the weeds instead
Now Mal is able to expel his energy in a good way…helping to dig out all the weeds in the garden
Mal is good at using the hoe! He can use it so well…it’s fun and amazing to see how good he is
he seems to favour the hoe over the rest of the tools…see him concentrating …
it was a hot Monday afternoon and Mal had woke up from his afternoon nap…
here’s another parcel to open…however…this time it was Mummy’s
here’s Mummy and Mal…can you spot the bag?come…let the expert do the modelling….
nice?!

It was 2 days after Mal’s birthday and we received another parcel from the postman …this time we were around to collect the parcel from the postman. It was a big box and again it was addressed to Malcolm Sim!

From the box, we could see the picture that it was a big bike. Thinking that it was an outdoor toy, Mummy brought it to the lawn to have Mal opened the box. However, the bike ran on battery and was more suitable to be played indoor. After a night of charging, ?? and Mummy let Mal tried out the bike the next morning while Daddy was still snoozing away in dreamland. A few things he needs to operate… a pedal to move the bike, a button to control the bike moving forward or backward and the steering. These were tough for Mal! He was concentrating so hard…trying to figure out how to move the bike in the direction he wants.

We could see his mouth froze and he began to salivate…probably because he forgot to swallow his saliver as he was concentrating too hard on operating the bike By the time Daddy woke up in the afternoon… he was all set and ready to show off his new skills in operating his new yellow bike!

THANK YOU ??!!!

Mal trying to use the scissors to cut open the boxMal using his might to cut the strapfinally the box is opened…it’s a yellow bikewhao…what cool bike!fixing up the bike with ??trying out the bike for the first time in the morning …

there were too many things to operate and concentrate…Mal was stressed up! even forgot to swallow his saliver….hahaha

by afternoon, Mal had already got the hang of it….

finally can put on a smile

This was a day before Mal’s birthday, we were again surprised by a parcel at our doorstep. It was addressed to Mal…nowadays, big boxes and parcels left at our doorstep are most of the time under the name of Malcolm Sim! It used to be either Mummy or Daddy’s name as Daddy love to shop for things over the internet as that saves him a lot of time window shopping! But for the recent BIG parcels that we had received, they were all for him! Ain’t he lucky to get all the surprises!

This time, it was a surprise from ??, ??? and Jamie ?? who was 3 days older than him. They had gotten him a cool Bob Builder Lego set! THANK YOU!!! Hmmm… Mummy like Lego set as Mummy thinks that it is not just fun but encourage the kids to use a bit of their brain too at the same time while playing. But Mal is still not very good at it…actually Mal is not very good at playing with toys…his favourite toys to date are still the pots and pans, the spade and hoe, the gardening tools, the screwdriver, screws and hammer in Daddy’s toolset. These are not toys, they are real adult stuff used by Mummy and Daddy. Sometime Mummy wonders whether we need to get him any toys?! cos he is already having so much fun playing with the real thing, can a similar toy be good enough to be substitute?? Just wondering…

we dragged the box to the lawn area..

whao…wat a cool set of Lego toy!

flipping through the catalogue

trying to figure out…which is which…at age 2…Mal is still not good at Lego

doesn’t matter whether is it right or not…so long as it fits…

trying to be creative ??

Just to note this down…while Daddy was away for his 2 weeks working trip, Mal had been feeling sick for more than a week. Daddy left just 1 week after he had his 1st Booster DPT/DT Vaccine which was due when he was 18 months., but he only took it while he was 23 months old. Mummy thought that his lethargicness and mild fever was due to the vaccine he had taken. This lasted for more than a week and we were kept mostly at home as Mummy was worried that it will end up like another case similar to his MMR vaccine while he was 15 month…where he fell sick for a few weeks, due to flu and fever after his vaccine. We believe that he is more prone to virus infection after vaccination as his body immune system is weakened thus keeping him at home and giving him plenty of water will let his body recover faster.

Talking about taking plenty of water…feeding Mal water can be quite a chore as this guy only take a sip when you ask him to drink his water. Before ?? came, Mummy would try different ways each day to make him drink more water. It could be one day letting him drink from our coffee mug, another day using our ceramic mug and the next day using a straw. Basically, try something new each time to get him interested in the water he was supposed to drink! But with ??, around Mummy tends to relax a bit thinking that there is someone else to remind him to drink his water. The result was…Mal end up drinking less! ?? decided to cook some sweetened barley drink hoping that he will be more interested. Sure enough, he was! So every now and then, when we ask him to drink water…he would say ‘I want barley water!’

Back to his fever…luckily it was quite mild at less than 37.5 but soon after his mild fever, Mal started to chew and bite his fingers and even bit on Mummy and ?? when he got the chance. Just the other day, he bit on baby Junette’s finger while she was playing with him with her fingers inside his mouth and it must be so painful for poor baby Junette as she was wailing at the top her lungs! Mal was also salivating alot. We suddenly realised that he could be teething again. His 2nd set of molars teeth could be coming out anytime. It had been almost 3 weeks since his discomfort began and hopefully we will see his molars popping out soon.

Today is Mal’s actual birthday and ?? cooked the usual Mee Sua with 2 hard boiled egg for Mal this afternoon for lunch. Obviously he can’t finish the 2 eggs but he had the privilege to cut open the 2 hard boiled egg. Everyone of us had Mee Sua soup for lunch…thanks to Mal

The celebration for his birthday started on Sunday where we had a party for him for the very first time. Daddy and Mummy had never done any party for Mal before. There was no Full Month Celebration nor 1st year birthday party for him as we thought he was too young to appreciate and enjoy though Mummy was very tempted to do one for him. But finally at 2, he had his 1st birthday bash! It was an outdoor party as we thought it will be nice for the kids to play outside as it is spring time!!!!

The planning started when Daddy was away for 2 weeks. Luckily ??was around to help take care of Mal while Mummy spent time planning and doing the online shopping for the party stuff. By the time Daddy came back, most of the shopping including grocery shopping were done.

Even though we tried to do as much as we could before hand, when it came to the actual day itself, it was still busy busy for all of us, mainly because we planned to cook most of the food ourselves and it was the first time we were trying out a lot of the dishes. The spread for the day include, Ang Ku Kueh, Bobo Cha Cha (a yam dessert), curry vegetable, Penang cha kueh teow, Fried Oyster and there were the usual BBQ stuff which include chicken wing, pork, prawn, sweet potato and sweet corn. It took us 1 whole day to do the cooking but we managed to finish cooking at around 3.30pm and the party was supposed to start at 4.30 pm. Unfrotunately, Mummy was too caught up in taking pictures for Mal and left out all the great shots for the food

Other then the cooking, we were busy with the decoration for the party too. The theme for the party was Pooh Bear and Gang. Did ask Mal what he prefers…pooh or elmo…and he was like one day pooh…another day elmo…so Mummy had decided to choose Pooh for him instead! We had some really cool stuff for the party, such as the goody bags, the birthday banner, the birthday cake…all with Pooh Bear and friends on them oh we even had bubble making machine which churned out bubbles, thanks to Daddy who bought it during his work trip as Mummy had problem finding one, which made the kids really happy and excited, and also hip music from a portable Barbie doll CD player, borrowed from Hannah, which made the party even more lively.

It was a lovely afternoon and initially most of the guests esp the adults prefer to stay indoor where the aircon was but as the evening get cooler and with the food being shifted outdoor, the guests slowly make their way out to the back yard where the BBQ was. As for the kids, they were happy to stay outdoor where there were outdoor toys, music, bubbles and all the tidbits!

It was alot of effort and hard work but it was all worth it when we see our little guests had such great fun, esp Malcolm!

Happy 2nd Birthday Mal! after much hesitation, we finally decided to hang the banner outdoor

the Pooh Bear goody bags for our little guests…which include a mini puzzle, lollipops, sticker and whistle the playground for our little guests which include a slide, a basket ball pole, a tunnel and a tricycle and a sit down mat to enjoy the tidbits…

the entrance view to the party

this little blue tunnel bought by ?? when Mal was much younger was put to good use today

Hannah and Mal having fun with the bubble making machine

Mal and Hannah dancing to the music played from a portable Barbie doll CD player

say cheeze

more fun with the bubbles

thorn among the roses…

say cheeze!!!

look at this cute puppy…it’s a golden retriever…shania

Mal enjoying some BBQ stuff the party is on…

the birthday song
cutting the cake…with Eeyore, Tigger and Pooh Bear

Mummy forgot to take pics for the food…here is a pic of a left over ang ku kueh we took pain in making…
look at all my presents!!! THANK YOU!!!Mal opening up his presents the next morning…

more presents…

a new tool set

his motor bike…he can still tell us ?? has one of this

a huge train set

an educational toy… fridge magnets that teach him alphabets and phonics
he can’t stop repeating the ABC song…think very soon, he will be able to sing the whole song…till now, he can almost sing 3/4 of the song

a cool doodle sheet
a yellow bull dozer
a huge sand and water play table for him to play outdoor
isn’t this HUGE…it’s as tall as me!!!Daddy set up this up for him to try out
Daddy got this for him

trying his hand on the keyboard that Daddy got for him

wat is this….
ohhh…it’s a watering can!!!! cheap cheap present from Mummy

trying out the watering can Mummy got for him

Daddy is finally back and was impressed by how we had transformed the pebble filled backyard to a lovely garden. It was a lot of hard work for the 3 of us while Daddy was away for work…

Mal helping to take out the soil from the bag

improvised watering can … for Mal to do the wateringthese are Mummy’s favourite…and these as well…the African Daisy…these are ??’s favourite…on the other side of the pavement

Mummy and ?? are caught in a gardening spell. For the past 2 days, we had been busy spending our afternoon doing gardening. It started on Sunday night when Mummy suggested to go to the plant nursery to get some flowers for the garden after our dinner at Macaroni Grill, a nice restaurant nearby. On Monday afternoon, after our power afternoon naps, we started planting those plants at around 4.30pm. By 6 plus we were finally done. Mummy wouldn’t have done it alone without ??’s help as Mummy know nuts about gardening. Daddy is the one who has the green fingers and don’t mind getting soil and mud stuck in his fingers doing all those digging! Though ?? was not very successful with her plants back home, she is still better at using those gardening tools and more knowlegeable when it comes to the ‘know hows’ of gardening.

We had to spend 2 days doing it cos we actually re-do everything again today! Both being amateur when it comes to gardening,…it was only after we had all the flowers planted that we realised that we could have done certain things better … such as
1. narrowing the gap between each plant
2. loosening the soil more

So for the second day, we went to another plant nursery again hoping to get fresher flowers and better bargain for the flowers. We end up getting another batch of flowers, more garden soil and a hoe! The hoe definitely caught Mal’s attention and he was hoggingto it for about 1/2 hour after we came home before he would let anyone used it! So poor ?? had to use the spade instead to do the digging…just like what we did on the 1st day.

Like I mentioned before, Mal is getting very mischevious! While we were busy gardening, Mal grabbed the opportunity to play and explore all the new things. He almost wanted to use the scissors to cut the precious flowers! Guess how angry Mummy was! He is so full of NO’s nowadays. Everything that seem to be ok 2 weeks ago had changed. He refused to let anyone share the hoe, share the spade, wash his butt cos he poo in his diaper and he just love to say NO now. When he refused to wash his butt, Mummy had the sliding door to the lawn area locked, hoping that he will succumb to fear and obediently go to the bathroom. Mummy was wrong! ?? had to end up be the one to force him to the bathroom to have his butt washed. He is so…ooo stubborn!!! but then what can we expect…when both Mummy and Daddy were known for that as well.

Anyway, at the end of everything, Mummy and ?? were very pleased with our new garden. Actually wanted to give Daddy a surprise…but then so difficult to keep it from him…and with this blog, he may just happened to read it. Since he had heard all about the garden…Mummy shall save the photos and let him see it for himself on Friday… meanwhile…will let Mal, the little rascal, keep you entertained

Day 1 gardening…with the flowers…it was a hot afternoon but lucky we were in the shade

Day2 gardening…do I look like ??? carrying the hoe!!!he had been playing with the hoe since we were at the plant nursery. The cashier even had to move herself out of the counter so that she could scan the item as Mal was playing with it!
it’s amazing how a hoe can keep him occupied for sooo…oo long…even better than those branded expensive toys! after all the gardeing…a dip in the pool seems like a good idea

but the water is too cold…and Mal is just recovering from a running nose
more water fun after the gardening!!!

Mal had been rather restless these few days when it comes to bedtime. Like today, I had to read him 6 or 7 stories story books before he could drift off to sleep! It will take me as long as an hour! For some nights, I dozed off before he did while reading the books and had to wake up again when he pestered for more stories. Not sure why is he so restless but these are the few possible reasons that I could thought of…

1. Terrible 2!
2. Not getting enough attention from Mummy cos popo is here and Mummy thought she could spend some time for herself doing her own things.
3. Miss Daddy as Daddy is away for 2 weeks and will only be back this coming Friday. But his behavious doesn’t seem to concincide with this reason as when it is time to talk to Daddy on the phone…he doesn’t seem to be very interested and will quickly want to say bye bye…Daddy was quite disappointed to know that
4. Overstimulated… as he knows that if ?? is still awake…he may still get to play with her and thus can don’t go to bed even when he is already very tired!

Last night, to calm him down abit before putting him to bed, we took out his floor puzzle birthday present to let him try. He is far from able to complete this 24 pieces floor puzzle …at the 16 piece…he kinda lost concentraton, either due to his tiredness or simply because his attention span is still not that long. But this Thomas and Train floor puzzle is really very cute…even ?? and Mummy think it is fun too!
this part he could do it…cos the big big eyes are very prominent.

it was about here that Mal started losing concentrationlook how cute and colorful the puzzle is

Remember about 3 weeks ago, Mal and Daddy had some gardening fun and planted some seeds in the garden The seedlings are sprouting by now.

Mal has been very mischevious recently. He doesn’t seem to know that plants…like animals and people, need to be taken care of. While he was in the garden with ??. He actually tried to step on sunflower seedlings even when ?? told him not too. It was just plain mischevious…the terrible 2 syndrome. Hopefully this is just a passing phase and we will still get to see our seedlings grow into big sunflowers…

watering Daddy’s herb box

watering the sunflower seedlings

these sunflower seedlings are such a cutie

Mal is making sure that he covers all edges

can’t get enough of watering…thus Mummy ask him to water the old dried palm oil tree instead

This is just an update on Mal’s progress at the story telling and playgroup session at the library. Mal has been attending the weekly 1/2 hour story telling session and 1/2 hour playgroup session at the library. This week he attended his 5th session.

Actually starting from last week, he was already quite comfortable with the kids, mums and librarian. Here are some of Mal’s improvement as compared to his very 1st session at the library…

1. Upon reaching the library, he ran to the room where the rest of the kids were assembled instead of clinging on to Mummy.

2. He got his name tag from the librarian and put it around his neck himself instead of asking Mummy to wear his name!

3. He grabbed his own cushion when was told to do so by the librarian instead of having Mummy to get it for him

4. He marched together with the rest of the kids…with the librarian leading…to the next room where the story telling session was held instead of wanting Mummy to carry him all the way to the next room. In fact, for the last session, he actually ran in front to be the 1st one in the march…while Mummy followed behind all the other kids.

5. He is ok to sit by himself on the cushion, with Mummy sitting a distance from him during the story telling session

6. He shouted out SPIDER instead of BEE when the librarian pointed to a picture of a bee When singing the Old MacDonald pig…with an oink oink here…and an oink oink there…. he pointed to his pink piglet name tag. Basically he is more responsive now though there is still room for improvement.

Since ?? was able to join us for the last session, Mummy grabbed the chance to take some pictures…

trying to grab a seat for himself….

seated comfortably in his chair waiting for the story telling session to beginholding on to his pink piglet name tag

grabbed a green cushion and getting ready for the march…

engrossed in the story…

hi…Mummy and ??…some of the kids are losing concentration …

making his way to be in the front for the march
playtime with the rest of the kids

Mummy wanted to write this entry though there were other photos in line waiting to be posted. We had a BIG surprise today when we opened the front door. There was a BIG box at our front door. The postman had probably delivered the box in the afternoon while we were napping. It was a box from AllAboardToys.com and the receipient was Malcolm Sim!

First thing that came to Mummy’s mind was ‘Daddy got Mal his birthday present!’ but on 2nd thoughts…Daddy can’t be this secretive when it comes to Mal’s present and furthermore he would have given him the present personally instead of through the postman. Mummy was contemplating whether to open the box immediately or to hold it till Mal’s birthday but Mal was quick to help Mummy decide. He pestered Mummy to have it opened.

WAOH! the box was filled with even more surprises! There were a Pooh bear story book, an Elmo Colouring Activity book with Music, a set of Thomas and Train Jigsaw puzzle and a Thomas and Train bathroom set which he was so excited about! All his favourite characters!! Whoever gave Mal this box must had a hard time trying to decide which character Mal likes best and end up buying everything! They are all Mal’s favourite and he loves all the goodies very much.

It is such a brilliant idea to order things directly from the internet and have them sent directly to our address!!! As postage from back home to here is definitely more expensive and can easily cost more than the present itself.

So to the Mystery Sender….here’s a big KISS muuuuaaacccckkkk from Malcolm! You really kept the secret very well! Mummy and Daddy really appreciate it! THANK YOU!!!

Mal trying to open the big box

but he needs some help from Mummythis blue thomas and train bucket caught his attention!!!figuring out how to open…
wah look at this! my own personal soap dispenser…now I can use it to wash my own hands

still fascinated with the soap dispenserheehee…my own personal mirror and comb…
mirror mirror…

more goodies inside…
whao what is this ?!
it’s ELMO book with music!this is good for dancing…

I just can’t stop dancing!

my Thomas and Train bathroom set all in place…
I simply love my new bathroom accessories!