Irfan with a book I brought

Another Ain Birthday

Last night, Cik Ma & Cik Su took us out for Ain’s belated birthday dinner! Sometimes I can’t believe I’ve known Ain for so long and it seems like we’ve only met yesterday. But most of the times, I’m grateful for her and I know why life put her by my side. For her strength and resilience, I can’t see anyone else in that position. Happy birthday, Bini jadi. And thanks for the chicken, Cik Ma & Cik Su!

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54 Months

And so Yaya is officially four and a half! 54 months! Where did all the time go? My little baby isn’t so little anymore! [[image:2013-yaya54month-13.jpg:Happy girl:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Happy New Year! I think I forgot to wish everyone that earlier. 🙂 So, at four and a half, Yaya still has not expanded her palate. We had some small successes (very sad). Suffice it to say, in order to get a new toy, she actually sipped a little soda (I won’t even say what kind because it is shocking I tell you, shocking!). And we not only let her try it, we encouraged it. She had three sips of it to qualify for her toy, and off she went. Also, she licked an orange lollipop. For a new game, of course. So the new things that she tried this month was soda and orange flavored lollipop. […]

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The one with the (second) first birthday party

So two weeks (and a day) after Adik’s first birthday we had a small gathering of friends and neighbors at our home, to celebrate Adik’s birthday (again!). [[image:2013_rafe1stbday03.jpg:Another party! Yay!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It sure is much harder to prepare to get anything completed on time with two little kids running around, but we did our best. Thanks to our guests for their patience in waiting for the food to be served and the festivities to commence. [[image:2013_rafe1stbday01.jpg:The group:center:0]] [[image:2013_rafe1stbday02.jpg:Yaya getting tips from Natalie, a real artist:center:0]] Finally food is served and it is time for cake! Thanks to Natalie for taking these photos while Vin and I ran around being party hosts. Unfortunately, it did mean that we didn’t get very many photos of Natalie herself. [[image:2013_rafe1stbday04.jpg:Yaya can’t wait to blow out the candle, while Adik wants to get his hands on the cake:center:0]] [[image:2013_rafe1stbday05.jpg:Happy […]

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Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges

Irfan Treks to an Exhibition

Irfan went to the National Science Centre. Star Trek the Exhibition was being housed there for the time being. Shane managed to go to Star Wars Identities which looked better, but I takes what I gets. They didn’t beam us aboard, we had to walk up the steps and push the door open. Thankfully, this procedure did not need the use of a Heisenberg compensator. There’s a reason why most of these photos aren’t in the exhibition hall. Taking of pictures are not allowed inside. We’ve never been to the science centre before, and we’ve discovered reasons to return in the future when we can. There are a lot of great interactive science exhibitions that are child-friendly. I’d bet Yaya would love to explore the science exhibits. Them’s fighting words below! Did I say photography was not allowed? I managed to sneak a couple of shots. I couldn’t pass an […]

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Weekend Babbies

The past weekend was a weekend of babbies. On both Saturday and Sunday, we went visiting a family event at a relative’s place. And at each place there was a cousin for Irfan to play with. Saturday: Nuraz Aariz Ain’s cousin Akram held a housewarming makan-makan at their place. Although the feast was held at the condominium’s rec house by the pool, we went down to their house to meet young Nuraz Aariz. [[image:babby-weekend01.jpg::center:0]] He was so excited, and had to be reminded that the makan-makan for him is milk, and not Ain’s face. [[image:babby-weekend02.jpg::center:0]] He was also appreciative of Irfan being there. [[image:babby-weekend03.jpg::center:0]] After the visit, we went home in the rain. Sunday: Ahmad Fahim My cousin’s Firdaus’s wedding brought the Unggais from Perak, and with them young Ahmad Fahim! It was an extraordinarily warm day so he was pretty uncomfortable, but he still obliged us with many a […]

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Can she already play with Lego?

Irfan Meets Cousin Zara

Zara Arissa, sister of Aiman, arrived 12 days before 2013 did, so we took a trip to visit the young one at Pasir Mas. Unlike her brother we couldn’t be there to greet her at the hospital because of distance. When we arrived, she was sleeping soundly and safely swaddled. The cousins played with Lego cars that is now available in Shell stations. Zara however, was still unaware of the existence of Legos. She’s awake! Obviously, she’s nonplussed by the sudden increase in house occupants. Irfan, just like with Aiman and Yaya, tried to be the best older cousin that he could be. Meanwhile outside, it was a little wet because of a rainfall after a warm and dry day when we arrived. The plantain and longan were probably grateful of this fact. The next day, as the cousins played louder and more vigorously inside, the skies opened up. This […]

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Rafe’s 12 Month (First!) Birthday

And now, Yaya can no longer declare that Adik is zero years old! The boy is now one! Yayyyyy!! He’s pretty pleased about it, too! [[image:2012_1229_rafe28.jpg:What you get when you ask him to smiiiiiile:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It is just staggering how quickly a year has passed. Adik is no longer a tiny little newborn, but a fun little boy – he’s become a real person with a sense of humor, preferences that he can communicate, and a wonderfully sweet attitude to life. He’s a lovely easy-going baby, and happiest most when everyone is playing and laughing. In this past month, Adik has gone from being a world-class crawler to an almost-toddler. He can now walk about six steps independently. He loves to hold our hand (only one though!) and walks around getting into everything. He still is primarily a crawler – and it is amazing […]

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53 Months

53 Months! Again, backdated. She’s really getting close to her 54th month, but let’s not go there, yes? [[image:2012-yaya53month-04.jpg:Mama tied a ribbon in my hair:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions It has been a busy month. Lots of work to finish up, deadlines to meet, during the lead up to the end of the year, and then the Winter Break occurred. Yes, I realize I backdated this post, but I am using some photos from our after-Christmas trip (cheater! cheater!). No traveling until after the girl’s actual birthday, but then some traveling after Christmas. As you will see. Yaya is still on the no new games or new toys until she tries something new to eat. She did not try anything new, therefore, she did not get any new toys or games. Kind of nice for the wallet though – you want a new game or toy? What […]

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Rafe’s 11 Month Birthday

So here we are, at 11 months! Only one more month before Adik turns 1! It’s really amazing how quickly time has passed. I mean, it’s almost a year since he was born! And look how far he’s come now. [[image:2012_1129_rafe18.jpg:Happy Adik:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik is growing so fast, we can hardly believe it. He is a super fast crawler (four-point) and pulls to stand up by pulling on anything and everything, disregarding his own safety for the most part. He also walks along the coffee table and other furniture as long as he has a hand-hold. He also stands without holding on to anything for short bursts. But when he needs speed, he goes on all fours and motors away. Vin predicts that he will be walking by age 1 – the clock is running, Adik! 😉 Along with “Ma ma ma ma” (his […]

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52 Months

52 Months! And backdated entries are a good thing. 🙂  [[image:2012-yaya52month-15.jpg:Happy Yaya says Hiiii:center:0]] * Mouse over pictures for captions Another month has passed – without traveling again! Things are pretty quiet at home, even Lily the cat seems calm and relaxed (she’s tense when we leave her). Food status: Another slight success. As mentioned last month, we imposed a new rule that Yaya will not get a new game (on the iPad) or new toy until she tries a new food. This past month she tried nutella (she dipped her finger and tasted it). And for that she got a new Team Umizoomi game on the iPad. Sadly, the Peppa Pig Sports Day game is only available on iTunes UK and I can’t seem to download or purchase it without making it seem like we’ve moved to the UK and will only shop iTunes UK from now on! May […]

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Jogging at a Park

I have no idea why they named this park Taman Pudu Ulu when Pudu proper is some leagues in that direction. Anything so close to Jalan Loke Yew should not be known as “Ulu”. The Deepavali morning was cool and sunny, perfect for a run. The park has multi-jogging tracks built allowing one to run along winding paths around trees, hillocks, fountains and exercise machines, which are thankfully still mostly serviceable. City Hall maintains a small forest on the southern side of the park. When I say forest, I mean a mini-tropical jungle which you wouldn’t want to go exploring in without a machete. Finally, there are eateries easily accessed from both ends of the park. Which means teh tarik time after the exercise.

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Bubbles, she is the joy and the laughter

Aidiladha 2012 In Pasir Mas

This year for Aidiladha, we travelled to Pasir Mas for the holidays. However, instead of driving with our own car, we hitched a ride with Irfan’s aunt Cik Emma’s. We left home at 5am. Despite that, it took us 14 hours to reach Pasir Mas via the Gua Musang route. There were horrible traffic jams in nearly every town en route because of the holiday season. There was even one instance where we didn’t move out in the middle of nowhere – well, Bukit Tujuh, – for 30 minutes that other drivers left their cars to stretch their legs. But it’s all good because as you can see above, there was ice cream in Gua Musang. Because it was Hari Raya Korban, many cattle and goats were felled and converted into delicious, delicious consumables. So when we visited relatives, we had nothing a lot of delicious, delicious beef. Irfan busied […]

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Rafe’s 10 Month Birthday

And so Adik is now 10 months old! (And change, if I were honest – thank goodness for backdated entries!).  [[image:2012_1029_rafe01.jpg:Cheeky toothsome slobbery grin!:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik has abandoned the commando crawl and graduated to the traditional four-point crawl! And wow, he is pretty fast! When he wears footed ‘jamas, sometimes one foot will come out and he will get stuck, poor baby. But on the whole, he is quite quite mobile. He sometimes crawls in such a way that one of his feet is actually flat on the floor – like a reverse-lamed horse? Very amusing. He still loves to head towards the forbidden areas – cat food area, kitchen, downstairs bathroom (and catbox). We have our work cut out for us chasing after him! Vin cleared the playpen of toys (we had been using it as a toybox to store all toys) as […]

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51 Months

And so another month has passed. The numbers are rising! And the girl has definitely come a long way in 51 months [[image:2012-yaya51month-14.jpg:Yaya loved the train ride at the outlet mall:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions We had another fun month, but no traveling this time! A nice stay at home month for us (or has the hibernation begun?). Food status: slight success. Yaya ate home-made pancakes! She ate them dry and without syrup, but she ate them. I made them special Yaya-sized little medallions and she ate some of it. We were terribly proud! We thought perhaps we could springboard from pancakes to other bread-like foods, like naan bread, or nutella or peanut butter on her toast. But no luck. The pancakes were it. So now, as an incentive for her to try something new, we told her no new games on the iPad until she tries […]

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Home Team Trio

Ferry Rides To Pulau Pinang

So we went to Kulim to visit Irfan’s aunt Cik Su who works there. Because Kulim was very close to Pulau Pinang, we thought we’d take a drive there. We ended up going there twice in two days, and enjoyed a ferry ride to the island each time. When Sila and I were small we loved our family trips to Pulau Pinang with our parents, some of them were way before there was a bridge across the strait. Although the ferry rides by cars were special events, they were very old, half-forgotten memories. Many times I’ve wondered if it was really fun as I remembered them. The last time we were there as a family was 1994, if memory serves. I’m happy to report that they still are. These cranes are like sentinels. Once the car is parked, we all got out to enjoy the ride out at the bow. […]

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Rafe’s 9 Month Birthday

Another month has passed and now the boy is 9 months old! [[image:2012_0929_rafe22.jpg:Beautiful eye:center:0]] * Mouse over the pictures for captions Adik has continued another month of commando crawling – he’s fast too! He loves heading towards areas that he is not allowed to go, like the kitchen or the cat food area, and squeals and shrieks happily when we chase after him. So he already loves the game of tag :-). He has a bit of a callous now on the key bits of his body (i.e., his knees) which he uses to push himself forward when commando crawling. He crawls up the stage steps with no problems and is crawling down headfirst (and tumbling down). He can climb over pretty high obstacles now with no problems so we have to be very careful with him on the bed. We no longer use the changing table to change him […]

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