Z is 21 months old!

Here are two latest pictures of Z taken last weekend. My baby is growing so fast!

5 months just went past so quickly; not easy to juggle a full time work, family and 'ME' time.

I was just looking back at Z's older pictures, selecting them to be posted in this journal. Am amazed how different Z is now compared to just few months ago and how much he has grown (physically, mentally and emotionally). 

November 2013:

We went to Langkawi for a short family holiday and the weather there was awesome! Z's favourite thing to do was going to the pool. He would point to the door the first thing he woke up; in the morning & from his naps. I think he likes the idea of staying near the pool because we visited the pool up to three times in a day.

                                       

We stayed at The Westin Langkawi as we wanted to pick a hotel that is baby friendly and could order Z's food separately. Z was 16 months old then and we were trying to delay in introducing salt and sugar to him until maybe about 2 years old. I was nursing Z by the pool with a fantastic weather and the feeling was so special :) 

We went up to the Langkawi Cable Car, a must go when you're in Langkawi. The queue management was horrible as we had to queue by standing in a line for almost 2 hours even though we were given numbers. The ride up was quite scary as it was really high up. The views were breath-taking even though the sky bridge was closed for maintenance. Heard that it was closed for quite a long time; almost two years. I would recommend every visitor to Langkawi to go up the cable car but try to avoid public holidays or weekends and try to go in the afternoon, at about 2pm. We were surprised to see there were no queue when we were leaving the cable car centre at about 2pm. 

December 2013:

Christmas 2013. Z's 2nd Christmas :)

We were at Jungle Gym, Bangsar Shopping Centre on the last day of 2013

January 2014:

Z's Calendars 2014!!!!! 

Z's first Chinese New Year shoes!

The moment Z saw these shoes, he was pointing & touching them while saying 'ar! ar!', that's his version of 'car'. His not-so-nice haircut was by his mommy :( I think I got better in cutting his hair after this haircut.

February 2014:

Z started imitating the adults by holding a phone to his year by saying 'arloo' and 'bye'. He would also use both hands to pretend to press on the phone as if he was texting. 

Chinese New Year 2014

Z the drummer boy!

Z simply loved the lion dance performances. He liked the drummer boys and would stared at them the whole performance but not at the lions. He would prefer to approach & try to hit the drums than reaching to touch the lions. Z never cease to amaze us on the things and details that he would get fixated on. He is so sharp that he would notice almost everything and would quickly point out on things that he likes.

March 2014:

We celebrated Z's Suk Suk (Uncle in Chinese) birthday!

April 2014: 

It was Grandpa Yong & Gandpa Chong's birthday month!

April was a very special month because two of Z's favourite persons had their birthday celebrations! Z was the centre of attention because he got to sit on the birthday boys' lap to sing the birthday song and blow the candles. He could hum many songs and sometimes would sing to himself. He has his daddy's trait because SJ would do that sometimes in the car when the radio was not turned on. It was quite fun to watch ;) 

Compared to 5 months ago, my baby:

Has more hair now.

He could run very fast now.

He could reach the door knob and turns it.

He could reach many things on the table.

He understands very well what we were saying.

He could follow instructions.

He could imitate the words that we speak and the words that he uttered would surprised us.

He can negotiates.

He knows what is a quiet corner. I introduced the quiet corner to him sometime in April after I realised that hitting his hands and legs did not make good sense. I would usually threaten to hit his hands if he did something that we didn't approve. There was once he was jokingly hitting his great-grandmother (Tai Poh) and I told him that he shouldn't hit Tai Poh because it hurts and wasn't nice. The moment I said: 'If you hit Tai Poh again, I am going to hit you', this entire sentence felt so wrong. How could I possibly educate my child not to hit anyone if I continuously hit him? It was there and then that I have decided to stop hitting him because he understands what I am saying now. 

He could hums the entire song of a few nursery rhymes. His favourites are Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and London Bridge is Falling Down.

He could recite A, B, C, maybe for the first 5 to 6 alphabets and hum the rest of the ABC song. 

He could count 1, 2, 3 and to 10 but missed a few numbers in between.

My baby is growing so fast and looking more like the man that I fell in love with, his daddy. I love my little family :)

Now I need to make it a point to update this journal at least once a month! 

I made the stupidest mistake which could be easily prevented yesterday :(

This was written yesterday, on Friday 28th February :( Am recording this down here to remind me how silly I was & to tell this story to Z when he is older.

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This afternoon I had an emergency crisis that made my heart beating very fast.

After Shichida class at 12.30pm, I put Z into the car seat while he was holding my car remote, the stupid me forgot to take the remote from him that the moment I closed his door, he pressed lock on the car remote. I was locked out of my car while my baby was securely fasten in the car seat with my car remote :(((((((((((. I tried to coax him to unlock the car remote by asking him to press other buttons but he kept pressing his favorite bit which was the lock button on the remote. Really stressful!

Called my car salesman & asked for my options to open my car & he said it's either spare keys, get a lock-smith or break the window. Also called SJ to inform him about my stupid mistake. He asked me what was I going to do & I replied him that I was going to break my car window.

After trying to persuade Z to press open for like 10 mins, he started to sweat & began to cry. I thought I still had the chance as long he is still randomly holding & pressing the remote but after a while, he decided to drop the remote away. It was then that I decided to break my car window. So I ran to the hardware shop located ground floor at Centrepoint & told the men working there of my emergency situation. My car was parked in front of Starbucks Centrepoint & people was wondering what was wrong with me. 3 girls sitting at Starbucks came & helped me to distract Z. They heard me speaking to Z outside of the door for a long time.

A man from the hardware shop came with a huge hammer & a screwdriver. Initially I instructed him to break the tiny small window on the right passenger side, which is opposite of Z. The girls were telling me that was not a good idea; the front driver window was better so the broken glasses would not fly to Z, which I agreed.

The man tried hitting like more than 10 times on my driver window & it didn't even crack. I was quite impressed with the tinting or the quality of my car window glass; could see the hammer bouncing off from the window. Another man came to help. I told them to try the sharp 'hook' side & they tried for a while more. Finally after like more than 20 hits & about 10 mins, the window finally cracked, they pulled the whole window out & I was able to press the central button to unlock all doors.

A huge crowd was gathered around us; wondering why this stupid woman asking people to break her car. Z was shaken with the whole incident; being hot inside & loud knocking sound but after he had some snacks, he was all smiley again. Most importantly, he is completely ok.

I am so thankful to the men that came to help me with the window & the girls for kept telling me to be calm & kept waving to entertain Z.

Lesson learnt for me: never let the kids play with your car keys/remote especially when they are in or near your car. There are many things that we often take for granted due to our busy lifestyles that has caused us to be easily distracted & not focused on the 'present'. This incident has taught & reminded me again that I need to STAY FOCUS on NOW. It's NOW that matters most.

Hope everyone had a better Friday.

Z is 16 months old!

This whole month seemed to pass quicker than before. I truly believe the earth rotates a little quicker now and the clocks know that too! I think there was a study about this.

*Started writing this post on the 20th November but didn't get to post it until today.

My baby is 16 months old today! I forgot about this until in the evening when someone asked me how old is my son & I replied her quickly; 15 plus months. It was only when I saw the date & internalised that it's 20th today that I realised that my baby is another month older!

Zach with his cheeky smile. 

Updates:
1. Z can walk steadily now, almost without fall/sitting on the floor in between steps. He could climb easily onto and down from his bike, alphabet train and other toys.

2. He is about 32 inches tall, that's 81 cm. My father in law said for boys, you'd know his adult height when you take the height at 2 year old times with 2. He is almost 3 feet now and if he reaches 36 inches by July 2014, then, he will surely grow to 6 ft (180cm) as his maximum height. We predicted he would be at least the same height if not taller than his dad. SJ is 6 ft tall. So, am expecting 2 tall bodyguards to go out with me when he is older :)

3. He has about 14 teeth now. He has molars popped out at the bottom and I could see his molars are sprouting out on top too. I bought a toothpaste for Z that is suitable for 4 years old and below. It was extremely expensive, imported from USA and made from natural ingredients. It was written on the tube that it can be swallowed and has a yummy bubblegum flavour to it. There was a toothpaste speciality store near my office and they had rows and rows of children tooth paste in that shop. I would usually drawn to new shops & of course I had to walk in to see what they have.

I hope this tube would last for a very long time (maybe until like when Z was 4 years old!) because I can buy 6-7 tubes of our usual Colgate toothpaste with this one Branam Xylitol Tooth Gel.

On the plus point, Z was very excited to see me open the cap of this toothpaste and squeeze onto his cute tiny blue toothbrush. I would just touched the paste onto the brush and it was really little but I guess he could taste it in his mouth because he was biting and sucking the toothbrush. Z would let me brush his teeth willingly for a good 1-2 minutes before he grab the brush and proceed to brush on his own. I have been demonstrating gargling my mouth with water and spitting it out in a very exaggerated motion but Z haven't master the spitting of water from his mouth. He kept drinking the water from the cup which was really funny. I guess the only way to improve is don't give up and keep on trying. Same thing with everything else in training a baby or toddler. Being persistent! Which is something I am quite good at :P

4. Something very funny happened yesterday; Z was attempting to sit on his tiny bull-dozer. Z loves everything with wheels. We were at my best friend (also Z's Kai Ma) to visit my little Kai Lui and the only magazine there was there was about baby products and it has strollers pictures in them. Z was pointing excitedly to the wheels on the strollers as he would usually very fixated to magazine with cars. The boy-mechanical brain is like inborn and comes naturally. 

Z attempting to sit on his mini bulldozer. Poor bulldozer!

5. Z's favourite word is 'ai-yah!' with a loud sigh like an old man! It is really funny hearing him especially when he tries to get up from a sitting position, picking things up from the floor, pushing his toys or walking. He is also babbling away many baby words. I can imagine that he is quite fun to have a conversation with because he is so animated! 

6. Z's vocabulary is getting bigger and he is absorbing these by himself without us consciously repeating to him. The adults in the house have a habit of saying things out loud and explaining to Z when we're with him and I guess by this way, he is learning and having a lot of input. I opened a picture dictionary bought by SJ for the first time this week and was very surprised that he could recognised many pictures when I called out the names. I was such an impressed and proud Mommy! Could see in this video that his favourite things are the vehicles.

               

Am really proud of my baby. He is knowing and growing so fast! 

Z started walking at 15.5 months on 31st October 2013!

Z has been cruising, holding on to things or people while walking at 10 months plus. He is a very careful baby, he wouldn't go to areas that were new or different. We were very amused at this behaviour. He would test by touching the different designed tiles/glass doors/walls with his finger tips before he decides if it is safe to venture to these new areas. I had no idea where he got this trait from as I am definitely not a careful and gentle person. So, he definitely got this trait from his Dad.

Z has been cruising for months. He dare not stand on his own without support. At about 14 months, he would sometimes be so mesmerized with the things that he was seeing and he forgot about the support, he just let go of things while standing & started clapping. We noticed that he could stand unsupported but once Z realised that he wasn't holding on to things, he would either quickly hold on to something or sit down on the ground.

A few weeks later, Z was getting more stable and was walking more. My favourite moment is when Z's tiny cute hand hold on to my index finger while we walk together. He walked like a drunken person with a cute grin on his face, he was so happy with his new achievement. He could walk by himself unsupported if he 'thought' someone was holding on to him. Our helper, L told us if we hold on to his collar at the back, urging him to walk & assuring him that we were holding him, he could walk by himself with us holding very minimally for quite a long distance. This proves that it's all in the mind, when you think you have a safety net or someone to depend on if you fall, that gives you confidence to move ahead without worry!

On the 30th October, SJ & I witnessed Z took a few steps unsupported. He would quickly (almost running) walked from the sofa to the table (about 3-5 steps) and then back. Our baby wants to run before mastering the skill of walking! He was doing that with the grandparents, great-grandma, uncle & parents cheering on. He has such a huge cheering squad!

We were saying to each another that Z could be walking unsupported in a week time but we were wrong because he was was walking by himself the next day!

On the 31st October 2013, Z walked by himself unsupported. A new milestone! It was such a nice discovery for me after I got home from work. He was laughing so much each time he walked. It was such a funny & happy scene seeing him walking unsteadily. He got so excited that he just kept on walking and walking; practising his new found freedom & skill!

A week later he was mastering his skill of getting up to a stand position from the floor and has successfully achieved that the next day, on the 11th July 2013! He has been doing a lot of squats with a lot of encouragement from Grandma. He could do squats to a music beat, which is really funny to watch! Yesterday he mastered picking up things from the floor while he was standing!

My baby is growing so fast. Time to baby-proof the house & talk to him more about being safe in the house.

Z's first birthday!

Zach's first 'all fresh fruits only' birthday cake 

(taken a day before Z's birthday, on the 19th July 2013 about midnight)

This post is 3 months late. 

I was quite proud of myself with the cake that I've made for Z. Z's 1st big birthday was on the 20th July, which was a Saturday and it took SJ and I awhile on how shall we celebrate Z's first birthday. We didn't want to make it very big because the birthday boy is too young to know what's happening and we didn't want it to be ended up as party for the parents. SJ insisted that he wanted a really small group of people but I didn't mind to have a bigger group. So, in the end we decided to invite only 41 people consisted of immediately family members & our close friends.

We decided to have Z's birthday party's theme as 'Under the Sea' because Z was very interested with his sea animals bath toys. Those toys could keep him very much occupied during bath time. He loves to look at the fishes in the aquarium too. 

I have also ordered a cake with under the sea animals theme from my friend, HY from Cake Pantry. I wasn't confident if I could make the all-fresh-fruits only birthday cake for Zach. I wanted to make it as Z hasn't started eating any salt or sugar yet and I thought it would be really sad if Z wasn't allowed to eat his own birthday cake. Since Z loves fruits, so this special cake seemed perfect! I went online and searched some photos and write-up about this special cake. Asked HY where I could buy some sea animals moulds & she found them for me in Penang; crab, turtle, dolphin & octopus. Thank goodness the cake turned out well ;)

Getting started; I hardly cook & haven't carved anything in my life since Kemahiran Hidup (Integrated living skills subject) in secondary school. I bought Z's favourite fruits; papaya, melon, peach, grapes. I should have bought more colourful fruits such as green kiwi and pineapples to make the cake more colourful. 

The cute moulds! 

Melon sea animals! They were so cute!

I spent about 2 hours to plan, looking at the websites, cut and think how should I arrange the fruits. I used tooth picks to hold them together at the sides. I cut Z.A.C.H with free hand & I was quite proud with myself. Haha. My brother in law asked me how much I bought this cake and where I bought it. Many people were surprised that I made this. Guess I am really not a domestic person & most people know that. 

We're ready to party!

Ta-daa! My cake on the left & HY's cake by Cake Pantry on the right :D 

Z's birthday was held at Marmalade, Publika Solaris Dutamas KL. We ordered a western fusion buffet and had the whole indoor restaurant to ourselves for lunch. Marmalade gave us free 40 helium balloons and we had them in pastel blue and green. The decorations were also provided by Marmalade. We enjoyed our party and the food was good! Alicia, the owner of Marmalade did a very good job :)

Z with his proud parents. 

Z and his friends. 

Z with all his birthday presents! His biggest present were the swing set by his dearest uncle, JYSC. Z is so blessed to be loved by so many people around him. Z is a lucky boy!

This little boy is growing so fast and he looks different now at 15 months compared to 3 months ago when these photos were taken. I am going to miss the baby Z soon!

To Z, Mommy and Daddy love you very much and will always love do. Grow up healthily & happily!

Lots of love, hugs & kisses from Mommy & Daddy :))))

Z is 15 months now!

My last entry was when Z was 10 months old and now he is almost 15 months old. Time passes so fast especially when you're having a good time & busy. Things at work are picking up really fast and am still trying my best to capture Z's growing up moments.

Highlights when Z was 10 months old (June 2013):

Z - He could point with confidence on the items that we named out for him; orange, car, light, fan, air-con, mommy, daddy, grandparents and more. SJ and I were so impressed and surprised one day when Z was about 10 months old; we put him on his play mat and I asked him where is Orange, he crawled to the picture & pointed confidently while looking at me that was Orange. We seldom read the alphabets to him, we're more of the random teaching 'method', where we just mention him the things in front of us and seldom repeat them but we speak to him a lot. Babies are absorbing like sponge everyday! He was so much more fun now that he is older and we have more confidence in managing and knowing what he wants.

Z gave me this cheeky smile when I grabbed him to sit with me & I said 'Smile' to the camera!

We went for our first beach holiday on the 9th to 11th June to the Redang Island. This city boy didn't like the sand at all. He kept brushing the sand away from his hands, legs and refused to sit on the sand. He only wanted to be sitting on the beach towel. It was also Zach's first get-away with his grandparents, (Kung Kung & Po Po) and Yi Yi. We brought so many things for Zach to this trip; his potty, slow cooker for his solids, vegetables, fruits and lots of toys. Zach slept on his flight to Redang & behaved really well on our way back to KL. I was glad that our holiday went so well and Z didn't have any problems adapting :))

Z fell asleep in my carrier before we board the plane & he slept throughout the flight on the way to Redang. Yay! This was Z's 2nd time being on the plane. This first was in December 2011 to Singapore. 

Daddy & Z's bonding time. 

This was taken on the morning of our last day in Redang. Z was such a serious boy. He is more fun now at 15 months. 

Highlights when Z was 11 months old (June/July 2013): 

My friend, R from Hong Kong came to visit & celebrated my birthday with me! :))) We took her to do some touristy stuffs; visit Batu Caves, Petronas Twin Towers, KL tower and had some must-eat Malaysian food.

In front of Batu Caves before we conquer the steps. 

 Inside of the cave, while Daddy & R went up the stairs to explore further, we took this opportunity to take some photos. We saw many monkeys on that day!

Next stop was the Petronas Twin Towers. We couldn't get the tickets to go up the towers because they were completely sold out by 10.30am! We thought getting tickets would not be a problem since it was a weekday but we were wrong! Lesson learnt: To buy the tickets online way ahead of time. 

We couldn't go up but we could still take photos with the towers behind us. It was such a beautiful day!

KL Tower. Getting tickets to go up was easy and zero hassle. It took us less than 10 mins to queue & made our way up to the tower immediately. 

One of the must try food for friends that visit us in KL; Roti Tissue at Original Kayu Nasi Kandar SS2 because this roti tissue is huge! It's about 3 feet tall. I was just impressed that it was so big! If we order one, I'll call it KL Tower and The Twin Towers if we ordered two :P

SJ & I are food lovers. Naturally we would bring our guest to good eating places around KL. Here's the list of food that we've introduced to R:

1. Hokkien noodles at Ah Wa Restaurant, Jalan 222 PJ. We don't think Hong Kong has dark coloured hokkien noodles.

2. Dinner at Dancing Fish, Bangsar Shopping Centre KL for a good ambience and yummy tasting indon-malay food. We ordered fried fish, satay and a huge variety of food. The chilli and sambal sauces were really good!

3. Breakfast at Antipodean, Bangsar KL. Well, this is nothing extraordinary as compared to western food in Hong Kong but the breakfast in this place was voted as one of the top 10 in KL.

4. Roti canai at Raju's Restaurant, Jalan Gasing PJ. SJ thinks the roti canai here is one of the best & most crispy in KL/PJ. They made them fresh immediately. Other than roti canai, the rest was just ok.

5. Nasi Lemak, Village Park, Damansara Uptown, PJ. Our favourite nasi lemak & it's really good! The king of nasi lemak in Klang Valley. Their fried chicken (ayam goreng berempah) is superb. Their other food such as asam laksa & prawn mee were also quite good too. 

6. Mille crepe cake by Nadeja, 3 Two Square PJ. These cakes were made famous by the same name shop in Melaka and many people would buy these cakes and bring back to KL. They have a branch now in PJ! and

7. Huge Roti Tissue at Original Kayu Nasi Kandar SS2 PJ. There have many other things in this restaurant which are also recommended; nasi kandar, other types of roti and of course teh tarik for the tourists. 

From the list above, we really had quite a feast in R's short trip; 4 days in Malaysia. We could have brought her to more places if we had more time and if Z was older. Our schedule was built around Z's routine. I am sure R will plan her next trip soon and I hope we didn't paint the impression that Malaysians are a bunch of gluttons. 

After we sent R to the airport on the 2nd July evening, the three of us went to a neighbourhood cafe to celebrate my birthday. Last year on the same day, I was heavily pregnant and this year I had Z with me! We used to celebrate birthdays in a big way; dress up well in nice restaurants. But things are different nowadays with a baby. My priorities and needs are different now too. As long I am with Z & SJ, I feel I am the luckiest girl in the world because they both make me feel so happy :)

Going to end this long post with a picture we took at my birthday dinner. Next is Z's 1st birthday! Have a great weekend everybody!