It was Friday morning and we were having breakfast when suddenly Mummy noticed that Mal’s face had grown smaller and he seem to have slimmed down. Just the other day, Daddy also commented that Mal had lost his little tummy and he concluded that it was due to the extra exercise that he had been having … that is swimming. Today when Mummy noticed his weight lost again…?? was quick to add that Mal had grown taller thus looked thinner. To confirm, we measured his height, and indeed, his height is now around 91.44 cm (36 inches)! Just 1 month ago when we brought him for his 2nd year check up, he was still at 86.6 cm (34 inches) ! Within 1 month, he had grown close to 2 inches!!! His neck looks longer now and his face doesn’t look as chubby maybe becos he had lose a bit of his double chin.

Other than growing taller, Mal had grown mischevious too. Last night he did something very naughty. Mummy tried to put him to sleep but he refused and requested for a pen to draw. So Mummy gave him a marker and instructed him to draw on the paper. Mummy went off to do her own stuff after that, leaving Mal some papers and the marker. ?? was napping on the sofa in the living room. This mischevious fellow took the pen and went to the living. According to ??, first he placed some tissue paper on her face…and thinking that it was just tissue paper…?? continued sleeping and a while later, I heard her screaming! Mal had used the permanent marker to draw on her face!!! It was quite a big patch on her cheek and ??was mad but Mummy found it very amusing and even tried to click a few pictures. Luckily the ink could be removed with some nail polish remover and after ?? was done with clearing the mess on her face, Mal got some spanking on the butt from her

that is the best picture that I could capture…cos ?? was angry and refused to have her picture taken…haha

?? clearing up the mess

This was for Mother’s Day…heheh…now you know how far behind Mummy was in writing the blog. Had been too addicted to the Korean TV drama serial ! popo’s fault…cos the show was actually to keep her occupied but end up…Mummy got addicted as well. So Mummy had been glued in front of the TV most of the time these days…but will be finishing the drama serial soon

Daddy cooked us dinner! Both popo and Mummy were given a break to watch our korean drama serial as Daddy and Mal prepared Wantan noodle for us. It tastes really good! Maybe it is just like the storyline in the drama serial…the food will taste good when one put one’s heart and mind in when preparing the food.

heehee…here’s my wantonwanna try some??expert at work…hmmm..Mal making dough with the wanton skinlooks good huh?!

Summer is here and the weather is getting hot especially the place we are staying which is supposed to be a desert! Mummy was contemplating whether to have Mal’s hair shaved…like what we used to do for him when he was much younger. We stopped doing it as Mal would struggle, scream and cry when he heard the shaver. It was definitely too traumatic for him. Since we came here, the weather started to get cool and Mummy thought it is a good time to keep his hair long….firstly to see how he looks with longer hair…and also to spare him from the traumatic haircut.

His hair had indeed grown long and messy. About 2 months back, Mummy cut his hair for the first time ! It used to be Daddy who helped to shave Mal’s hair as Mummy thought that she can never be able to use the shaver on a kid that was fidgeting so much. That is probably still true…cos even now, Mummy had never tried shaving Mal’s hair as his haircut was done using scissors as we realised the sound of the shaver is too unbearable for him. With the scissors, Mal could sit throughout the whole haircut session!

Mummy cut his hair again recently and this time Daddy was around to help to take a few picture of Mal before and after the haircut. Hmmm…you think Mummy hair cut skills had improve?? Actually it is not easy especially when the hair gets longer and thicker…sometimes Mummy thinks that she was just lucky for not screwing up the haircut and poor Mal has to be the guinea pig. Will see how long Mummy can continue to be lucky heehee

Mummy bought a durian from the Asian supermarket. The durians that we can buy here are mostly frozen. They are not very expensive and the flesh is surprisingly good and sweet. They are much cheaper than the fresh ones which are not frozen. The fresh ones can cost as much as 4 or 5 times more! The only problem with the frozen ones are that it will take a long time for them to defroze.

Today, we planned to make another durian cake. But this time, Mummy did not take out the durian in time thus we had problem opening up the durian. Popo had to resort to hammer and scissors and as usual Mal was curious to see us wrestle with the durian.

Mal loves to swim when he was little. His 1st attempt in the pool was when he was 3 months old! When we were back home, where the weather was hot all year round, he swam almost everyday. That was also the easiest activity to keep him occupied and also to get some fresh air outside. He had lots of fun and can even float on his own…with a pair of Winnie the Pooh float around his arm. Since we came over here when he was 18 months. We had not let him tried the pool as the water was too cold. Summer is finally here and Mummy decided to let him try out our pool. Unfortunately, Mal had forgotten how fun the water was! He refused to change into his swimming trunk and was fighting back when Mummy tried to bring him near to the pool. It was so different from the Malcolm back home who got all excited when Mummy brought him to the pool. Nobody could guess that he used to love swimming so much…judging from his reaction now!

Finally with Mummy persistence and a lot of courage on his part. We managed to get into the pool! But he only want Mummy to carry him even when he had his float on. He was so scared of the water. This went on for quite a while before he could finally gained some confidence and started to enjoy the water more and slowly began to let go of Mummy’s hand. Mummy was however a poor coach when it comes to swimming as Mal only dare to release his hand a while when he swam with Mummy. He did have fun as when it was time to get off the pool … he told Mummy NO…he still wants to swim.

Daddy was however a much better coach. He tried bringing Mal to the pool over the weekend…it was the 2nd time Mal tried swimming in our pool. In just a matter of 10 or 15 minutes…Mal was able to release his hands from Daddy’s and stay afloat! He even tried swimming his way to the edge of the pool…and when he saw us jumped into the pool…he wanted to try too. He had to muster all his courage to do the simple leap from the edge of the pool…it was definitely a giant feat for Mal. Check out the video clip.

Mal 1st attempt in the pool…he was 3 months old…

when he was 7 months old he sat in his float to swim…

when he was 13 months…he wore his float to swim

when he was 15 months…he could float effortlessly…he loved playing in the water even with the strong water jet coming from the jacuzzi
but now…he had almost forgotten how fun swimming was
got to regain his water confidence…as a result Mal swallowed some water
finally can see him smile as he could let go of our hands and float on his own…
and swim…
and blow bubbles…

Finally he was ready to take his 1st leap off the edge of the pool! A Giant Feat for Mal

Mummy had shifted the toaster to the floor…know why? so that Mal can make his own breakfast! For a while, Mal had been waking up as early as 6 plus and though ?? was in the kitchen, he insisted on having Mummy to make breakfast for him. So in order to find ways to distract him so that Mummy can laze longer in bed, the toaster was shifted to the floor and Mal was given the liberty to make his own waffle in the morning! Still need ?? to get the waffle from the fridge…but with this new toy…he is more willing to leave Mummy alone while he make himself breakfast.

hmmm…good morning…

Mummy said I can make my own breakfast…all you need to do is press the handle and count to ten…1,2,3,4….

and Voila! It’s DONE!

Wanna try some??
sure you don’t want??
I shall eat it myself! YUM!

It was the last day of our trip. We checked out the hotel in the morning after having breakfast. More sightseeing was planned before we head home. We visited the Naval Airbase…the place that we would have stayed if we planned the trip earlier. It was right next to the beach and it would have been perfect if we stayed there as we would be so close to the sea and the planes. Will try again in summer to book a room there, the water in the sea will be just nice for swimming then…as now it was still a bit chilly.

We moved on to another naval base hoping to get on a aircraft carrier but unfortunately we ran out of time and Mal was also grumpy as it was his lunch time. Very reluctantly, we left the place and headed to this Japanese restaurant for lunch. They served buffet and the sushi was good. It was a free meal for Mummy as it was her birthday on that day

last day having breakfast at the hotel

on the way to the naval base situated on another islandif we stayed at the naval base…this will be the view we will get…

This was for the Day 3 of our trip. Today we planned to shop the whole day at this premium factory outlet. But a whole day of shopping seem too strenuous for Daddy, so instead we did some sightseeing in the morning. We visited the historic Balboa Park . Though I had never been to Europe, the architecture in this park remind me of those you would find in Europe and needless to say, we snapped a lot of pictures. Our shopping trip was quite a waste of time as there was no major sales but it took us half a day to visit all the outlets. This time…for once…when shopping is concerned…Mummy agreed with Daddy that we should have spend more time doing sightseeing instead.

the red tram in the park

a small walkway in the park was closed as there were some people filming

are the filming crew…this was one of the actor…
and this too…
and this as well…hehehe

this beautiful flowers were next to the shopping outlet…it was not a garden…but a place that sells flowers.Daddy entertained Mal while Mummy shopped….

picking up coins from the little fountain….
and throwing them back in again…

this was the restaurant that we had lunch…a rather unique restaurant with their waitresses in rather cute outfits…they had toy trains zooming above us while we eat…entertaining the kids

can u see the train track??

Gonna write this down first before I spent too much time babbling about the San Diego Trip and to take a break from all those photo uploading…it is really taking way too much time…but still…will put them all up soon….

We just came back from dinner at this new Japanese restaurant near our place, the food is ok, price is ex and service sucks!!! Maybe is because we went in a big group. Mal was already tired and hungry when we reached there and it did not help when we had to wait for like more than hour for our food to be served! We had tepanyaki and the chef had to come to our table to cook in front of us on the hot plate. Luckily Mal was entertained while the chef cooked thus I could feed him his food…he had tofu, mushroom, beef, rice and soup.

By the time we reached home … as usual, he did not seem to be tired anymore. Let him played his cooking toys a bit…maybe he was inspired after seeing the chef cooked in the restaurant as he went straight for his cooking toys after changing into his pj!

When it was finally time to sleep, I started reading him his ‘Grinch Meets his Max’ book by Dr. Seuss. I had been reading this book to him for about 1 week as I find this book easy to read…for me (heehee), the sentences rhymes, the book is cute and most importantly each sentence is short so I don’t doze off reading it

His favourite story book recently had been ‘Justin’s Just Joking’ an old story book (published in 1991) we borrowed from the library. (see… the book is so old and obviously not very popular as I can’t even find it on the internet to provide you a link to view! so I had uploaded the image to share in Amazon as they do sell this book but a used one at 0.99 cents) I had been reading this book to him every night diligently for more than a month now cos I had forgotten it was a borrowed book. You see…the problem with library book is that once Mal gets ‘attached’ to the book…it will be difficult to ‘detach’ him from the book as he will ask for the story to be read every night and he will not want us to return the book!!!

So in an attempt to try to ‘detach’ him from the book before I return it…I changed the bedtime story to the Dr Seuss book. It worked for a while as I had been reading that for quite a while now…but tonight…before I could reach 1/2 the book, he asked for his Justin book again! Hmmm…I had no choice but to oblige to his request. But instead of reading it word by word this time. I paused in each sentence…kinda prompting him to finish the sentence for me…and you know what?! HE SURPRISED ME! He could actually remember the story word by word!!! He could help me finish the sentence when I paused. He could not memorise every word but could remember certain words in every sentences. I was AMAZED ! I went on doing this for around 8 pages and he could still remember… I am not sure how much of the story was ingrained in his little brain cos I did not do this for the whole book thinking that it might be too stimulating for him to sleep.

Not sure whether you consider this as READING…but he sure impressed me with his super duper memory!!! Don’t know what other bad things had he remembered and learnt from Daddy and Mummy! Scary!!! Anyway the next thing I am going to do now is to bid for the whole range of Alpha Pets book on ebay cos I just found out that there are people selling them ! Pray that I will win the bid!!! at a reasonable price….

It’s Day 2 of our trip and today we are going to the San Diego Seaworld!!! Mummy was excited…maybe more than Mal. It was Sunday and by the time we were ready to set off, it was about 10 and we had just missed the breakfast in the hotel which closed at 10 am. We were there in time to only get a bowl of Froot Loops for Mal. But it was ok…cos we were contemplating whether to have tim sum for brunch…so with this…we headed straight for Tim Sum at this chinese restaurant .

The place was very nicely done up…so far…the nicest chinese restaurant that we had been to. It was packed and we had a sumptuous lunch and were all set for the big adventure…San Diego SEAWORLD!!!

It was a cloudy day…but the cloud started to break up around afternoon time and the weather was nice and warm. It was around 1 in the afternoon when we reached and we were just in time to catch the Sea Lion show. Then followed by the Dolphin show…then the Killer Whale show. Mal was already very tired when we got there cos it was his nap time. But he managed to hold his sleep and watch the 1st 2 shows. He gave in to zzzzz monster for the Killer Whale show and doze off on Mummy’s shoulder. We enjoyed all 3 shows and it was an eye opener for us….esp Mummy, ?? and Mal. We even fed and patted the dolphins. It was really quite an experience for us, definitely for Mal too.

There were so much to see and do in the seaworld but we only had half a day. The weather was abit chilly so we did not try those water play thing in the park. Would be great to come in summer as all of us can get drenched and dry in the sun!

For dinner, we went to Thai restaurant which was recommended by a friend. Food was good and again by the time we reach back hotel…we were all so so tired. Had a quick shower for Mal and he was off to sleep almost immediately. zzzzzzz

start the morning with some cereals…
for us…only coffee…
luckily we found the tim sum place…look at the spread…
yummy!!!
the adventure at San Deigo Seaworld begins…
us… at the entrance of the Seaworld…
finally…someone to take a picture for us
it was just the beginning…but Mal was already feeling tired as it was his nap time…he clung on to Mummy when he saw this cute ugly penguin!
saw the revolving tower ride behind ?? and Mal…it will bring you up and I think the view must be very nice…but we did not try…this is one of the things we skipped
ooi…what’s these?!
they are the sea lions…trying to reach out for the fishes the audiences were giving away
Mal kinda woke up seeing these new creatures
but he was abit scared cos they were making so much funny noises…
this is the stage for the sea lions performance…
look at the crowd!!!
they were so well trained!
next we proceed to the Dolphin show
another huge crowd…and we only managed to get seats for the 3 of us…Daddy had to stand
a volunteer with the whale…duno what whale is this…
and the kid that volunteers as well…she is only 4 but so brave…wonder Mal can be like that when he is 4??!!
dolphins performing…it was like what you see on TV just that BETTER!!!ain’t they cute…those audiences in the front got all drenched cos the dolphins splashed water at them on purpose
by the time we got to the Killer Whale (Shamu) show…Mal gave in to zzzzzz monster
so this was what he missed
and this….
and this….they were huge!
while waiting for Mal to wake up …. we found a place to chill out…and Mummy got a huge ice cream waffle where the 3 of us share!
luckily Mal woke up in time to savour the last few bites of the ice cream!
his sleepy face with ice cream stained mouth!portrait drawing…so cute…Mummy was so tempted to get this done for Mal…but it was not cheap…think around USD 22 each
after the nap…we continue our adventure…
Mummy held on to Mal while feeding the dolphins at the same time…and Mummy got to pat the dolphins as well…but Mal wasn’t so excited about patting and feeding the dolphins
hullo Mr Egret!!! waiting to snatch the fishes from the dolphins ??
he was contented watching the dolphins swimming through the glass…at least he knew that the glass will protect him from the dolphins
moooo….and mummy….Daddy had this shot very well taken…can you tell actually Mummy is not so close to the moooo??
they called this place the shipwreck…it was very nicely done up with restaurant and water play thing….
?? at the shipwreck…
this is the water play thing we skipped at the shipwreck…but we found some cheap thrill…that is…pay 25 cents and get to shoot water jets at these people…heheh…
actually getting around the seaworld is not so easy as in the cartoon map they provided was not very accurate….we took quite a while to locate these flamingos…??’s favourite!!! Bird in the SeaWorld
finally….a picture of Daddy….with the red bir
ds!!!
a picture of M&M…Mummy and Mal
still at the seaworld…more scenic shot of the place…
heeheee…u know why I so happy??
cos it’s mumm mumm time again…
and I am starving!!!
Yummy Yummy!!!
It had been a looong day…a picture at the hotel lobby with Mal’s favourite fireplace before we call it a day

Daddy was on leave for a few days and we decided to visit San Diego at the very last minute. Daddy had wanted to bring ?? to Grand Canyon but Mummy thought we had just been there so maybe should go to some place further this time.

It was quite a long drive to San Diego…it took us slightly more than 5 hours to get there. It was ?? first road trip with us since she came. She was fascinated by how the vegetation changes so many times along the way. It was also the first time we drove our minivan for a road trip too. It was sure spacious enough for the 4 of us, with plenty of room to put our lugguages as well.

For the front part of the trip, Mal was happy just sitting in his car seat with ?? beside him and he dozed off for almost 2 hours. We stopped by at a petrol kiosk to visit the restroom and for the 2nd part of the drive, he was awake most of the time but he had been good and very soon we reached our destination.

The hotel that we stayed looked quite nice and cozy from the exterior but wasn’t that pleasant for the interior. It was a decent little suite for the 4 of us to sleep. After we checked in our hotel, unloaded our lugguages…we were off again to our 1st scenic lookout. It was a very old lighthouse (Point Loma Light house) right on top of hill at the edge of a cliff. The view was breathtaking and beautiful. The light house was BEAUTIFUL! It was the 1st time Mummy came so close to a real lighthouse…Most of the lighthouses that Mummy saw were from calenders Mummy and Daddy love the place as it was quite a significant place to us. Many pictures were taken as Mummy hoped she could get lucky and get one shot as good as those you seen on calenders

From the hill, you could see downtown San Diego and some of the islands connected to San Diego, one of them was the North Island where the Naval Base is. And the best part was…we saw F18 landing on the Naval Base runway!!! They came in from the sea and from the cliff where we stood, it looked almost like the F18s were floating on water!!! It was chilly on top the hill and unfortunately it was a cloudy day or we could be able to catch the sunset just as what Daddy had planned. So instead of staying for the sunset, we procced for dinner.

We drove to downtown area and drove along the harbour. We spotted a stretch of restuarants along the jetty and immediately it caught our attention. So nice to dine with a view! We parked our car and decided to take a look. We went for the restaurant with the longest queue! It was a seafood restaurant with quite a bit of history (Anthony’s Fish Grotto) . Daddy decided to try their Taco as he said San Diego was famous for that. but we decided to try their fresh catch, even Mal tried their kids meal…with grilled fish, french fries and coleslaw…but obviously, we had to finish the coleslaw for him.

By the time we got back our hotel, we were deadbeat and went straight to sleep right after we bath! More sight seeing for the next few days…

Mal and ?? enjoying the view along the way… something new esp for ??

our trip begins…no more cactus…as we get closer to San Diego, we saw this sprouting on the barren land insteadclose up of the weird plant

another close up of the weird plant
the hotel we staying…looks like a nice and cozy place off for some sight seeing…
look at the boats sailing in the ocean below us
it was windy and brrrrr…..cold…a change from Arizona hot weather
Mal and ??view from the hillwalking to the light house at Point Lomaview from the lighthousecan you spot the F18 landing????, Mal, Daddy and the Light housetrying to be artisitc with this shot…cos there was this man standing in front of the lighthouse enjoying the scenery…thought he matches the light house well
Point Loma Light house…good enough for calender?? hehehwildflowers growing near the light housethe store room in the light house was preserved
this was the kitchen in the light house
this was the kids’ bedroom
this was their living room
and dinning area in the kitchen
front view of the light houseDaddy, Mal and ?? in front of the light house
Mummy, Mal and ?? in front of the light house
while we were reading the history of the light house inside the warm and cozy museaum…
?? was fighting back the cold while waiting for us outside
another picture of us before leaving this beautiful place
waiting for our seats in this crowded seafood restaurant along the harbour…
Mal and Daddy feeding each other
fries and salsa dip seem like a good combination!

Mummy took another attempt to shoot a video of Mal singing. This one was quite successful as almost the whole song was captured in the video. It is so hilarious to watch him sings sometime and Mummy now understands how does ‘Amtercian Funniest Home Video’ comes about. hahaha. I bet no one else can guess what he is singing except Mal and Mummy Can you??

you can access the video directly from here … if it takes too long to download from the blog

Remember Mummy tried to keep Mal entertained while she cooks by letting him join in the things she does…one of the things that Mal loves to do is beat the egg!

Since ?? came, she had been the one doing most of the cooking….and she also realised that Mal likes to participate in the things we do…or should we say kapoh! ?? had just upgraded Mal to more challenging task, ie Crack the Egg! As usual he made a mess and we end up having to clean up the mess. But obviously that doesn’t bother him at all, what most important is … It is Fun as he got to beat the egg after that. I think he felt proud and useful whenever we let him participate in things that we do as he thought he is helping us but actually is ???? for us heehee…but I guess this is just part of the learning process…think very soon we may need to upgrade him to cook the egg for us ! hahaha