Some pictures with the family

With kong-kong (grandpa, mom's side)

With mama (grandma, mom's side)

With chor-chor (great-grandma, mom's side)

With ah ma (grandma, dad's side)

With ah kong (grandpa, dad's side)........haha, see how the little cheeky struggles!

CNY - "Chor yee" to "Chor sei"

Visited my parents and grandma on the 2nd day. Drove down to Ipoh first and thereafter to Penang. Did not stay with grandma due to lack of rooms and moreover, there's no air-cond for my little prince =P Checked into Hard Rock hotel for 2 nights!

Joshie drinking his milk. Check out the pattern on the white pillowcase =)

Hubby took this picture from the bathroom. Open concept I guess. Just slide the doors shut when you wanna have some privacy in the bathroom.

Joshie's first time walking on sand! Look at his expression.

And he started dancing to the beat of the music.

Walking towards the beach.

Playing with sand. He was mesmerised.

Joshie actually called the horse "dog".

Swimming with daddy in the pool.

Down down down the slippery slide.

Had a fun time there despite the hot weather. Joshie enjoyed playing in the water and it was tough to drag him out. Thank God he did not scream, otherwise all eyes will be on us!

He also had a good time "teasing" my grandma who goes berserk each time anyone touches her stuff, be it her water bottle, torchlight etc. Since she is not mobile, she'd be calling out for us each time Joshie "steals" her stuff. And the little boy would be laughing away.

May I know.........

........when did you stop packing homecooked food for your child when you dine out?

Joshie is exactly 17 months today and I plan to pack homecooked food for him till he is 24 months old. When we travelled to Hong Kong and Penang recently, he did eat outside food but I requested the chef to specifically cook his food without salt and seasoning. I tasted his food and it was really bland!

The Contented Little Baby book by Gina Ford advises its readers to avoid adding sugar during the first year and salt during the first two years. This is because toddlers will get all the salt they need from natural sources such as vegetables. Adding salt to a young child's food can be very dangerous, as it may put a strain on his immature kidneys.

Well, during the recent CNY when we dined out with relatives, I have received comments that I shouldn't pack his food and he should just be allowed to eat whatever we are eating. I know there are a lot of kids who start having added salt and seasoning to their meals as soon as they start solids. And they still grow up too. However, since I have been advised by our paediatrician not to add salt into his food till he is 2 years old, I am still sticking to it. Moreover, books and the internet have also advised against adding salt. Occassionally, I have given him fresh, unprocessed food such as fish, vege or tofu but I would rinse them with hot water if they are too salty. Processed food such as sausages, hams, fishballs, porkballs etc are a "no-no" as I do not know what are the "raw materials" used. Call me fussy or pernickety but I feel I have the responsibility to instill good eating habits and to make sure my son eats healthily.

So please let me know your view on this issue. Do email me at jeffrey.shirlin@gmail.com as I do not want my comments box to end up being a debate table. Tqvm =P

CNY 2010 - "Chor yat"

Was a busy and tiring day. Joshie didn't sleep well the night before and kept on waking up every hour, from 3am to 6am. So of course mummy was tired too :S

We went to church first before visiting the relatives. Here's a picture of Joshie at the common area of the church. He was squirming away when we carried him and we can't let him walk around in the midst of service so we hung out at the common area.
There was a set of drums and Joshie got all excited.

After church, we went visiting. The weather was exceptionally hot and we were all sticky, tired and hot. Removed Joshie's pants coz his legs were all sweaty!

Gong Xi Fa Cai

Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! We just got back from KL today. It was a very very tiring CNY. Travelled up north to Penang as well and even when we were in KL, we were busy visiting or being visited. =) More updates later.

Stroller stories

Our Bugaboo Bee was kept in our car boot for about 5 months as Joshie would scream each time we put him in the stroller. We finally brought the stroller out again for Joshie to use when he was 14 months old. I was just testing waters when I strapped him into the stroller and brought him for a walk in the park. Brought my sling too just in case I needed to carry him and push the stroller simultaneously. Surprisingly, he did not fuss and since then we have been using the stroller quite often, but for only very short intervals as he would start fussing.

When we went to Hong Kong three weeks ago, I brought along the stroller. Was praying really hard that he would be a good boy as I was travelling alone with him. To be safe, I stuffed the Ergo baby carrier in our bag too. Thank God he sat through although I "released" him for short intervals so he could run around.

Since our Hong Kong trip, he has been even more receptive of the stroller. This picture below was taken right after his morning nap. He climbed into the stroller by himself and indicated that he wanted the canopy down.


Another picture of him before we left the house for Kindermusik. I asked him to smile but he stuck out his tongue. He is indeed a little cheeky!


Well, I really hope that he'll have no more problems sitting in the stroller. It's really tiring for me to carry him in the carrier, especially when I am shopping. I don't really allow him to walk around as he would go wandering on his own. Guess he is more matured now and understands that he needs to sit in the stroller when we go "kai-kai".

Terrible Twos at 16 months?

Joshie can be unmanageable at times. He'd scream and cry when he does not get his own way. During the weekend, he seems to have gotten worse! Hopefully this phase passes fast. He'd scream even louder whenever hubby and I whack his little hand or bum-bum. And then immediately stretch out his hands as he wants a hug from us. We'd hug him and tell him that what he did was wrong.

He has also been messing up the house a lot. Pull open drawers, throw things all over the floor and of course play with all the forbidden stuff. Take it away from him, and he'd scream. So I guess our neighbours hear a lot of screaming everyday! Haha..........

Anyway, I'll leave you with pictures of my cheeky son enjoying his banana.

"Hey mummy, why are you taking my picture? Can't I eat in peace?"

"Yum yum, this banana is delicious."

You like his t-shirt? Haha, I got it from this stylo online store. Go check them out.

Joshie's meals

Lately, his eating habits have gone a bit weird. Some days, he'd eat a lot but on other days, he refuses his main meals and only want to eat biscuits/bread. Sometimes, I'd try not to give in to him as I do not want him to have bad eating habits but when he cries and cries for biscuits/bread, I have no choice! So how ar?

Anyway, here's what he had for dinner a couple of days ago.

Plain rice with stir fried spinach, a piece of salmon patty and half a bowl of carrot, corn & beancurd in anchovies soup. He finished most of it, except for the corn and carrots.

And on Friday, I baked him a fish pie. =) It's delicious and he loves this. Firstly, I pan fried some cod and salmon fish. Scooped them up onto a plate and stir fried some chopped onions, sliced mushrooms and tomatoes. Stirred in a few spoonfuls of anchovies soup and sprinkled some grated cheese. Mix together with the fish, top with mashed potatoes and bake in the oven. My fish pie nearly got burnt because my little cheeky turned the temperature knob to 275C from my previously set temperature of 180C. Gosh! Luckily I managed to save my pie!

Bonding with daddy

When's the best time for father & son bonding?

Do you know what they are doing?

Precious moments spent together in front of the idiot box!!! I usually limit Joshie's tv time but with daddy at home during the weekends, there's no limit. He watches practically anything that daddy watches. And when he watches Playhouse Disney's Mickey Mouse, Animal Mechanicals etc etc, daddy watches with him too. Hubby can even tell me which episodes are new and which are repeats!

Watching tv together again. But we were rushing to go out so hubby was also dressing him up!

His CNY clothes

I actually made up my mind not to buy Joshie new clothes for CNY. After all, he has a lot of clothes......and since kids outgrow their clothes so fast, it's more economical not to splurge on new ones right? Hehe......But as usual, I couldn't control myself when I saw some cute CNY clothes online and ended up buying for him, again! =P

Hehe, a Kung-Fu tops with matching pants and a Kimono top. I know, it's not red but it's not a necessity to wear red during CNY right? I bought these cute clothes from an online store and I have to say that the quality is really good. They have many other cute designs and I think this is by far the most comfortable CNY clothes I have come across as they are made from 100% cotton. The price is a bit on the high side though.

Random shots

Obsessed with bags! Gosh! Joshie is walking around with mummy's sling bag.

He enjoyed playing with the drums when we visited the Lam family during Faith's 1st birthday party.

Having fun on mummy & daddy's bed.

Joshie and his toy dog

Bought him this toy dog as he loves dogs. I am definitely not buying him a real dog as I'd be the one who'll be taking care of it. So since he loves dogs so much and has always been playing with his playmate's toy dog, I decided to buy him one.

This little dog can bark, walk and also stand on his hind legs. Joshie kept on patting his dog and he also tried to share his food with his little doggie! -shakes head-