64 Months

So we are now at 64 months! [[image:2013-yaya64month-04.jpg:Love this shot!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Food status: Yaya tried one new food this month! Honey. She finger tasted it. I have hopefully convinced her that she should try eating pancakes with honey when I next make it. Let’s see if that actually happens (she has refused maple syrup on many occasions). She did attempt to eat carrots. The first bite went down well. The second bite, well, it came back up and so did everything else. ‘Nuff said. This time it was not on purpose, but it was still disappointing. So no new game or toy for her for the carrot attempt. We had a 2-week (almost) work trip in November, so it was quite a busy (and exhausting) time for us. Also Thanksgiving which fell on Adik’s 23 month birthday. But all in all a good month. […]

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V is for Verisimilitude

An Academic Award

For the first time ever, Irfan gets an award for an academic achievement in school. I not just proud of him, but grateful to all my friends in meatspace and cyberspace who gave Ain and I suggestions and solutions to how to get Irfan interested in reading and to learn, even as I suspected of him having a mild learning disability. Some of them even sent books for him to read. Also, when Irfan played more tabletop games this year, he gets better at his studies. Coincidence? I think not!

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Halloween Shenanigans

All Hallow’s Eve, an event that was eagerly awaited in the Renstrom household – at least by one little girl in particular. And this year, Papa said we could get a pumpkin and carve it (after some begging on the part of the particular little girl). [[image:2013_halloween_12.jpg:Happy Halloween!:center:0]] Let us begin with the process of carving a jack-o-lantern. I confess, I have never actually done this or watched this done (other than on television) so I was quite interested in the proceedings. So here’s how it went: [[image:2013_halloween_01.jpg:After you cut a hole in the top, you scoop out the insides:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_02.jpg:Adik wants to help too:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_03.jpg:Adik inspects the now emptied out pumpkin:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_04.jpg:A gratuitous smiling baby picture thrown in just for fun:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_05.jpg:Next, Yaya draws a face on the pumpkin:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_06.jpg:Adik wants to play with the pumpkin’s innards:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_07.jpg:Here’s Yaya’s masterpiece:center:0]] [[image:2013_halloween_08.jpg:Which was too complicated to execute so Vin had […]

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Rafe’s 22 Month Birthday

Only two months until the big second birthday for the boy! 🙂 [[image:2013_1029_rafe18.jpg:Happy Adik!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions So another month has passed, and in two short months, the boy will turn two. It is just amazing how quickly time has flown and how busy (and exhausted) we always seem to be! Where does the time go? As always, we are thankful for backdated entries. Alphabets are still big with Adik. He knows all his letters still of course, and is very happy to yell them out when he sees them, sing his songs and whatnot. But he doesn’t seem to be quite as obsessed – meaning he doesn’t play his alphabet songs all day long, just half of the day. He still loves to come into the office to sit in the piles of books that he has repeatedly pulled off the shelves such that Vin […]

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Mini painting

Irfan at the Game Shop

Earlier today, there was an Eclipse Phase game at Wira Games and Hobbies in Subang Jaya. Irfan came along for the ride. At first his plan was to buy his own set of polyhedral dice. His Own Stuff that he’ll be able to use with games like Swords and Wizardry whose quickstart he’d printed out. Then he planned on reading or watching us play. However, Chang, the owner of Wira Games had a better idea. He and his staff taught Irfan to paint Warhammer Fantasy miniatures, starting with a High Elf mini. As the GOKL ran Eclipse Phase – noisily, according to Irfan – he sat at his workstation to complete his task. On the shelf above him were some WH40K Space Marines that were drying. When he was finished, he showed me the result. Irfan took a photo of his High Elf with other minis on the table. Chang […]

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63 Months

Sixty-three months now! [[image:2013-yaya63month-03.jpg:Trying on her Bollywood Princess costume:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions So this month, Yaya had some adventures in trying new foods! First, there was the disastrous attempt at eating an apple. Yaya suggested it herself and then welched out of it, and after two hours of holding on to the apple, we placed it in her mouth and she purposely threw up to get away from it. [[image:2013-yaya63month-02.jpg:Crying because she doesn’t want to eat the apple nor does she want to let us take it away from her:center:0]] But after that debacle, she felt really really badly (it was her own idea to begin with, after all). So she made up for it by eating miniscule slices of strawberry for two days in a row. And then she also ate a tiny bit of the white part of a hard boiled egg (which she […]

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Cake too

13th Anniversary and Raya Haji in KL

It was Sitiawan’s turn for balik kampung Aidiladha this year. But I did not get paid for a work I invoiced so we could not gas up to go anywhere far. So Atok and Opah travelled from Sitiawan to Kuala Lumpur for the holiday. Also, Irfan’s exam week was looming. Coincidentally, Aidiladha was also the 13th wedding anniversary of Ain and I. So we decided to scrape up something for the day. 13 years through… a lot of things. Amazing things. Not so amazing things. Unbelievably inspirational events. Events that would destroy the spirit of anyone not prepared. Things I do not mention even in this blog. I owe a lot of people a lot of things. My parents. Sila and Vin. But without Ain to prop against and support my weight in the worst of times, it would have been a different world today. After solat Aidiladha, we took […]

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Return to Orange Beach – The Other Stuff

So now that we are done with the beach pictures and the pool pictures, here are some of the other fun pictures taken during our trip to Orange Beach. [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach56.jpg:Peanut buttery baby:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions One of the good things about vacation is the opportunity for all of us to sit and have breakfast together without the need to rush anywhere. It is always a fun time. The following is a compilation of photos taken at breakfast (on different days, obviously) in Orange Beach: [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach02.jpg:Adik loved to feed himself peanut butter from the single-serving peanut butter container:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach13.jpg:Yaya always helps Papa put sugar and cream in his coffee:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach14.jpg:The siblings are finding each other’s “bee-bo” (belly button):center:0]] Adik learnt that Yaya does not want to eat peanut butter and starts to tease her with it: [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach24.jpg:Have some peanut butter, Yaya!:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach25.jpg:Yaya stays far away from the […]

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Return to Orange Beach – The Pool

So the beach pictures are done. Now for some pictures of the fun we had at the hotel pool in Orange Beach, AL. [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach01.jpg:Love this shot of Adik:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We got new water wings for Yaya and a little boat for Adik at the Publix across the way: [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach09.jpg:Adik enjoying his boat:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach10.jpg:Splashed himself all wet:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach11.jpg:Yaya loves her new water wings:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach12.jpg:Yaya gives Adik a tow:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach22.jpg:Dangerously pushing Adik forwards while he gerams the water (she can tip his face right into the water this way):center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach23.jpg:Keeping his head area dry:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach38.jpg:Obsessing with pouring water in and out of the toy while Yaya practises her swimming moves:center:0]] [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach39.jpg:Papa and Adik:center:0]] The pool was our way of getting the kids off the beach. And it was also nice to hang out in the pool in the evening after the lunch/rest/naptime. We had an excellent […]

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Return to Orange Beach – The Beach

Contrary to popular belief, the beach in Orange Beach, AL is actually not orange. In fact, the sand was beautiful, white, fine sand. Wheee! We loved it so much when we went there in April that we decided to go back there for a longer almost week-long vacation there in September. At the time of this entry, it has been almost a month since we were there, but given my track record it’s a wonder it’s only been delayed a few weeks. Hehe [[image:2013_sep_orangebeach35.jpg:The kids playing on the beach:center:0]] We chose to go after the Labor Day weekend, so not only was it fairly quiet, and we had the beach mostly to ourselves, but it was still hot and summery. And with off-season rates, well, it was icing on the cake. We drove down to Alabama in a 2-day road trip (each way), arriving on Sunday September 8th and leaving […]

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Rafe’s 21 Month Birthday

And the boy is now 21 months old! 3 more months and he’s two! Wheee! [[image:2013_0929_rafe17.jpg:Giggle giggle:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Again, I am so very late writing this entry. No need to make excuses, you all know how it is, right? And Adik seems to have come a long way in a month. Our little hero now knows all the letters of the alphabet! A-Z, in capital letters and small letters! We can’t believe it. In fact, he’s obsessed! He can’t get enough of it. He is yelling out all the letters that he sees, and singing the ABC song (including the techno-rap youtube stuff that he loves) and all around just totally immersing himself in the written language. He’s even saying the alphabets in his sleep, poor lamb. 🙂  And the truth is, I only remember teaching him O and S. He just picked up […]

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62 Months

Sixty-two months since the girl was born! [[image:2013-yaya62month-02.jpg:Artsy Yaya in her tent-fort:center:0]] The hat was a gift from Pak Yope and Wan Yong way back in 2010. 🙂 * Mouse over the pictures for captions As I mentioned in the sixty-one month entry, I’m continuing with Yaya’s monthly posts but minimizing the chatter. We have pretty much been maintaining the status quo. No new foods were eaten, steady progress on reading, writing and arithmetic. Lot of artwork done in the house. All good things. Yaya now travels with an entourage of “imaginary friends”, all of whom are cartoon characters from her favorite tv shows. New ones keep popping up. She even made paper teddy bears for imaginary Peep, Chirp and Quack to sleep with and some of her imaginary friends sleep with real stuffed animals. Yaya is a good big sister and plays with her brother all the time. She […]

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Roll for melee combat

Irfan’s Eleven

Irfan’s eleven now! It started when we thought about inviting Emma’s forthcoming family-in-law for dinner. It just so happened that it was on Irfan’s weekend’s birthday! So unlike other years, Irfan had more people over for his birthday than before, including the aforementioned forthcoming family-in-law of Farid’s, Irfan’s cousin Aiman and Zara, and his schoolmate Fikri our neighbour from the next tower (but the same arcology – so to speak). Irfan sliced up his cake using his melee weapons skill. I got a photo of Ain with Irfan. But because everyone was busy with guests, no photo of me was taken. Irfan taught Aiman and Fikri to play Small World! If they had more time, Irfan would have also taught them Ascension and Star Wars The Card Game. In the meantime, Zara was practising her piano skills. Irfan got a cool totebag for his books from Cik Su and an […]

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Relaxing

Picnic at Sungai Gabai

It had been awhile since we went for a picnic at the waterfalls of Ulu Langat. So last Sunday, we went for a morning drive out to the country and headed for the Sungai Gabai picnic area near the small town of Sungai Lui. Ain had made mee goreng the previous night for the picnic. I was worried that there would be excessive traffic because of the three-day Malaysia Day holiday weekend, but because it was early in the morning the roads were clear and parking was relaively easy. However, there were a lot of visitors already there at the picnic site. We have been at Sungai Gabai once before, but I could barely remember the earlier visit. We would remember this visit as we got wet in the river and had mee goreng there. Also, because we took photos and there’s a blog post about this visit. So yeah, […]

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Rafe’s 20 Month Birthday

Our intrepid hero is now 20 months old! Whee! [[image:2013_0829_rafe16.jpg:Cheeeeeeese!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Where to start? I have left this entry to be written so late that I have to be sure that I am not documenting things that happened in the 21st month (yes, I am that late!). Perhaps I should just keep it brief and let the pictures shine. A few things I am sure of: * Adik has at least 14 teeth now * Food status: Adik loves his peanut butter and toast. Or peanut butter straight up. But he’s game to try what’s on your plate, if he’s in the mood. Lately he’s eaten a lot of peanut butter on a toasted bagel * Speech status: There is nothing that this child cannot say! If he wants to say it, that is. His vocabulary seems to be growing in leaps and bounds. […]

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61 Months

And so the girl is now sixty one months old! 🙂 [[image:2013-yaya61month-04.jpg:Let’s ride the scooter!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions I debated whether or not to stop the girl’s monthly blog entries, given that she is now five (and 1 month!) and every month isn’t particularly different anymore. As it turns out, I am not quite ready to give it up yet. I admit it: I enjoy putting down a few words every month to commemorate the day that Yaya was born. And now, looking back, I am very glad that I’ve done this, and that I’m also doing this for Adik. However, I thought that it is time to kind of do a bit less, given that Yaya is no longer a newborn and that every month no longer brings a lot of changes. So while I will be posting an entry every month, I want to […]

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