Showing empathy?

Yesterday, while I was watching TV, there was an emotional scene of a cancer striken mother final moments with her son. Tears started welling up at the corner of my eyes when suddenly, a piece of tissue was thrust at my face. It was Yiu Yiu, who then proceeded to sit on my lap, as if to comfort me.

“Awww, that’s so sweet” right, coz that's what I thought that to myself too.

Just to be sure that she has indeed developed a sensitive trait, I asked her,
Mummy: Why did you give the tissue to mummy?”
Yiu Yiu: Because I ‘wat pei see’ mah. There, see the ‘pei see’.
I almost fell off the sofa! Turned out mummy syiok sendiri.

For the benefit of non Cantonese speaking readers, ‘wat pei see’ means dig my nose, so I’m sure you can figure out what was in that piece of tissue she gave me.

Opposites

Mummy: Big and…
Yiu Yiu: Small
Mummy: Short and…
Yiu Yiu: Tall
Mummy: Sad and…
Yiu Yiu: Happy
Mummy: Good and…
Yiu Yiu: Bad
Mummy: Left and…
Yiu Yiu: Right
Mummy: Day and…
Yiu Yiu: Night
Mummy: Wet and…
Yiu Yiu: Dry
Mummy: Low and…
Yiu Yiu: High
Mummy: Slow and…
Yiu Yiu: Fast
Mummy: Well and…
Yiu Yiu: Sick

All thanks to Dr. Seuss' books I bought during the previous MPH sales.

The colourful flip-the-flap board books

Eating spicy food

Hubby and I love spicy food and Yiu Yiu is slowly showing signs of accepting spicy food as well. Some time ago, we had curry chicken (which was not very spicy) for dinner and she practically spooned the gravy into her mouth. I didn’t have a camera with me then and couldn’t capture her enjoying the curry. This was one of the rare moments as she would normally not eat any food if we told her it was spicy.

Yesterday we went to the Ramadhan bazaar near our house and I bought some curry puffs. As I was eating, she wanted a bite, though I warned her it was spicy. She liked it, took the half-eaten piece from me and finished it.

Enjoying the curry puff

Mummy, quick! Blow my tongue! It's burning

Taman Tun Park, again

Last Wednesday was a public holiday in Selangor and we brought Yiu Yiu to the Taman Tun Park again, which we have not been for quite a while now. Once again, there was plenty of water in the stream, and Yiu Yiu had a ball of a time.

What's that, papa?

Is it a tadpole? Is it a baby fish?

Blowing and chasing bubbles

Playing sand

And then I saw this pretty little girl, and said to myself, “She’s really enjoying herself in the water.”

When I turned back, I saw this…

This is the first time she's ever went into the water on all fours. Guess she must be getting comfortable here too.

It was almost dusk when we left, but my little monkey still wanted a shot at the monkey bar.

Weekend with family

We made a trip to Nilai Memorial Park last Saturday, for a simple prayer to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of dad's passing. The saying that “Time will heal all wounds”, though cliché, is absolutely true. The pain of losing dad does lessen with time – a year ago, I still cried when we went for the 1st year anniversary prayers but this time around, everyone was in good spirits. It doesn’t mean that we love him any less, for he’ll forever be in our hearts and thoughts.

The three cousins with my younger sis

Yihao & Yiu Yiu

Later at night, we had dinner at Tony Roma’s Cineleisure. It was a treat from my younger sis coz she was recently promoted to a senior position in her company.

Since I had ribs the last time, I decided to try the BBQ Half Chicken. It was good, flavourful to the core - unlike some others whereby only the outer part is flavourful, while the inner part is bland. I had rice and fresh vege for sides and the rice (buttered I think) was oh so good too! It was really fragrant, and cooked to the right texture, so much so that my picky eater (Yiu Yiu, that is) abandoned her turkey ham pasta and pinched the rice from my plate. Other orders include Bountiful Ribs, Steak and Ribs Combo, Grilled Pacific Cod, Chicken Tenderloin Platter, Rosemary and Garlic Roasted Chicken, Roma’s Burger and Tony’s Sampler, a trio of appetizers which includes the Red Hot Buffalo Wings, the signature Onion Loaf and Baked Potato Skin. Most of the orders were good, except the burger which was a huge disappointment, and the steak which turned out dry and tasteless.

Top (from L): Steak and ribs combo, Chicken tenderloin platter, Roma's burger. Bottom (from L): Grilled pacific cod, Bountiful ribs, BBQ chicken

It was good fun getting together, young and old, big and small – and thanks sis, for the treat. BURP!

1.5 months to her 3rd birthday

Yes, time really flies. It’s only 1.5 more months before my little princess turns three. I have not been diligently keeping tabs on her progress but here’s some recent highlights:
• Physically, she’s still as petite as ever, and can still wear clothes meant for 12 – 18 months old, though she has grown a bit taller. She’s now about 86cm.

I'm not happy that mummy forces me to take a photo, so I pout BIG BIG as a protest!

• She can wear her own sandals and strap-on shoes, though she sometimes still put on the left shoe on her right leg and vice versa. She can also button her own clothes.

• She can comprehend the relationship between family members
Mummy: Who’s po po?
Yiu Yiu: Your mummy
Mummy: Who’s gong gong?
Yiu Yiu: Passed away already lor
Mummy: I know, but gong gong is mummy's who?
Yiu Yiu: Your papa la
Mummy: Who’s da/siao yiyi?
Yiu Yiu: Your che che/mei mei
Mummy: Who’s jiu jiu?
Yiu Yiu: Your di di
Mummy: Who’s yeh yeh/mah mah?
Yiu Yiu: Papa papa/mummy

• She can relate an experience in the past to the present. I had a wedding dinner to attend and told hubby I’d get my hair done in the salon near my house. Upon hearing that I’m getting my hair done, Yiu Yiu said, “Remember to close your eyes when you friend cut your hair ah.” That’s what we normally ask her to do when we bring her for her hair cut.

• She still doesn’t recognize her ABCs or 123s, unlike Yihao who already mastered the alphabets and numbers by the time he was 12 – 18 months. Back then, dear old dad showed him the alphabet and numbers foam puzzle floor mat every night without fail. But Yiu Yiu is not very interested in those so we never really pursue it diligently.


• I am not quite sure if she can recognize most colours but sometimes when we ask her to point out certain colours, she’ll point them out wrongly. Hubby is adamant that she actually knows but simply refuse to cooperate.

Buttoning my pyjama

Yesterday while mummy was putting on my pyjamas, I refused to let her button up for me. I insisted on doing it myself…

Concentrating hard...

One down, three to go...

I'm gonna have a stiff neck doing this...

Gotcha, hah, one more to go...

Mummy you see, I buttoned up myself. I clever girl or not?

I managed to button up my pyjamas without mummy's assistance. See mummy, I'm big girl already, my hand-eye coordination is getting better already.

End of my wishful thinking

What has this pile of clothes got to do with wishful thinking? Well, these are part of my pre-pregnancy clothes which I harboured hope of fitting into them again someday. I kept making excuses about why I should still keep them – during my breastfeeding days, I reasoned that my boobs were bigger and things will be alright once I stopped breastfeeding. It’s been almost a year since I stopped and my once ample assets are back to its original size and yet, I still can’t fit into these clothes. I guess motherhood really did alter my shape and I’ll never fit into them again. So instead of taking up wardrobe space, off they go to someone else. Farewell now, my wishful thinking!

Mid-Autumn Festival weekend

Mid Autumn Festival in the city is no fun. You can’t see any children going around the neighbourhood carrying lanterns. Elder sis bought Yiu Yiu a lantern few weeks ago and I took her around our housing area one night, and we were THE ONLY ONE doing that!

I would have expected a smaller place like Kuantan to be better but boy was I wrong! We were back in Kuantan over the weekend to attend a friend’s wedding dinner, as well as have an early birthday celebration for FIL.

With yeh-yeh and mah-mah, and helping yeh-yeh to blow the candles

With the bride & groom, and playing with the ice sculpture

I brought her around in-law’s housing area on Friday night, and again, it was ONLY US doing that! Is it me or is the tradition of going round the neighbourhood with lanterns dying a slow death in the advent of computer and video games? That would be so sad, coz I remember my siblings and I had so much fun going round with our neighbours’ children and singing the Chinese nursery rhyme of “Yuet guang guang, jiu tei tong” (literal translation: Bright moon shining on the land). Those days, we even improvised by making multiple holes in an old milk powder can and that improvised lantern would be so bright, outshining all those commercially made ones. I also remember mum laying out a feast in front of the house on the actual night and we would all have a good time eating and chatting away after the prayers (oppss…sorry for the digression).

Anyway, yesterday was Mid Autumn Festival and since hubby had to attend another wedding dinner in KL, we came back to KL early. Yiu Yiu and I went to younger sister’s house to have dinner with mum and the whole brood. After that, Yiu Yiu had some fun time playing lanterns with her cousins – Yihao and Xiaoyu.

As an aside, this conversation took place when we were packing and preparing to leave my in-laws’ house:
Yiu Yiu: Where are we going, mummy?
Mummy: We are going home to KL.
Yiu Yiu: Our home is not KL ahhh, our home is in Axx Dxxxxxxxx.
Mummy: OK, we go back to KL first, and then we go home to Axx Dxxxxxxxx.
Yiu Yiu: We go back to KL, then we go hotel, OK?
Mummy (scratching head!)

This is a high maintenance girl in the making. She must have enjoyed herself so much with the bubble bath at Imperial Hotel.

Biennial medical check-up

My company provides free medical check-up for its employees, annually for those aged more than 35 years, and biennially for those younger than 35. I’ve just collected my medical report – a clean bill of health except for two things:

· I gained 5kg compared to my previous check-up in end 2006 while

· My HDL (good) cholesterol went down from 1.90 to 1.58, while my LDL (bad) cholesterol went up from 2.6 to 3.2 mmol/L.

Most of the excess baggage was piled on over the last few months. My gym plan was derailed since Christmas last year due to various reasons including not at work during the festivities (and hence conveniently skipped gym which is in the same office building), traveling and launching a new product. I’ve been contributing to True Fitness’ profits for nothing!

My clothes were getting tight (heck I couldn’t even fit into some) but kept procrastinating about going back to the gym because we’ve been trying to conceive. I figured there’s not much point in starting my gym regimen, only to have it disrupted again. Unfortunately this has gone on for several months now and there’s still no sign of the stork. And as a result of the lack of exercise, my cholesterol profile and weight went haywire. Oh well! Looks like the answer is obvious, it’s back to the gym I go!