I recall I used to do this to my mum as well when I was this age. Kinda also recall driving her crazy too.

You feed the 2 year old a mouthful. And he keeps it there. No movement, no chewing, no swallowing. It’s J U S T T H E R E in his mouth. Take away his entertainment (which is usually a DVD of Bee Movie or Ice Age or some such) and he’d start bawling, mouth agape, effectively showing you the contents or objects in discussion here.

What the hell do we do?? He won’t chew, or (I think more accurately) forgets to chew. Threaten to take away the uneaten portions and he objects verbally and very audibly. Put it back, 5 seconds later, it’s back to forget-to-chew. He’s probably already no longer hungry, else he’d be chowing down the food. But he still has to finish up the food cos, well, it’s prepared, and he just has to finish it!

But wait a second: I think I used to to it to my mum way after 2 years old, else I wouldn’t be able to recall it. Does that mean that Caleb will be doing this for more years to come??

I was just going through the photo library on my laptop… and this just occurred to me.

Does this look like a hand of a 4 year old?

Maybe it does to you. To me it looks more like- maybe a 10 year old’s hand.

This was when Auntie Susan and Uncle Jonathan had lunch with us at Dragon-i. These pigs were desert dishes, I think there was lotus paste in them. Quite yummy too.

Caitlin had fever on Sunday.

So she didn’t attend her 1st session of her art class (actually it would be her 2nd session, they allowed her a trial session last weekend to assess her: behaviour, “standard” of her skills like drawing & painting, etc, to decide which level / class to put her). We decided to let her try out these art classes to see how she goes with her keen interest in drawing and colouring.

So she stayed at home, despite very much looking forward to attending it. Sometimes she is such a darling with her “okaaay” when we explain how she can’t do something she really wants to.

Tried my best to keep her occupied, though she had already planned on an activity- to cook herself some soup.

ABC soup no less. Locals cook this with the most basic of ingredients: Tomato, onions, potatos.

She had wanted to add some beans too, and I insisted we added some peas too though she doesn’t really like them in real life.

In case you can’t tell, there’s the stove, the pot, and the ingredients. I helped her staple the ring to make up the pot

Yes, she is handling a pair of scissors. She started using them last year before turning 4 without my knowledge, to make things. Touch-wood she hasn’t hurt herself yet so far, and under my watchful eye since (when I do see her use it) she’s been quite okay with them. Let’s hope she remembers to keep them from her younger brother though.

Woken by the kids, got them some morning snacks, and since it wasn’t too sunny and hot….

Luckily for everyone, Caleb actually likes to push from behind. But it won’t be long though, before he’d be wanting to ride.

Yes, they were still in their jammies. It’s Sunday okay- give us parents a break!

Evening came and it was time to get ready for bed.

Caleb can express his hunger quite audibly / comprehensibly now, by telling us “nan-nan”.

As you can see he’s quite comfortable on the beanbag. Quite a relief for all of us, since we don’t always have to be watching him when he feeds now.

Caitlin, on the other hand, was being rather cheeky about bedtime. Calls to her to go clean her teeth went unanswered.

We found her like this.

Now that’s one way of getting out of doing something. I gotta try that with Hot Mummee one day….

Caitlin’s classmate Chloe had her birthday party at Centrepoint’s McDonald’s over the weekend.

I had organized Caitlin’s 4 year old birthday party before, and one of my criteria was that all the kids should enjoy the party or event. I did consider McD’s then, but didn’t think it was going to be all that fun, as I thought it was just all sit-down and eat, with party packs and hats to take-away, and maybe the chance for them to go crazy at the indoor playground.

I was wrong.

The party invitation, a McD stationary no less, stated that Chloe’s party is from 12-1:30. We only arrived around 12:10, cos since it was a Sunday lunch time all the good shaded parking spots were taken. Darn it I had to park in the sun, illegally no less. Went in, saw the sign that said “Chloe’s party” pointing upstairs. Went upstairs and some of the kids were already at their designated-just-for-kiddies long table munching away at their fries. An older kid came to greet us, and asked what Caitlin’s name was. “Hey, that’s my name too!” quipped the probably-10-years-old girl, and proceeded to write the name on Caitlin’s McD cap.

Caitlin then was led to the table to an empty seat. Rather apprehensive at first, as she is when attending any event, she soon got comfortable with her friends and found her fries and the McD toy in her mealbox, with her hat on – which is still at home today

Okay, so now what do I do? The playground doesn’t look like it will hold my weight….. I thought.

There were other parents there. I noticed some of them were talking to a McD staff. Others seemed to already know one another. Relatives, is what I thought. Do parents of school kids get involved with each other??

I didn’t know anyone, so I sat myself down to watch the kids for a while. Wait a sec, what about me- the kids are eating, and I am starting to get hungr..

“What would you like to eat sir?” said the same McD staff from before.

Isn’t this a fast-food self-order restaurant? “Err….” I was just thinking about going downstai…

“Would you like to try the Spicy Chicken McDeluxe?”

“Okay”. Can’t say I have heard of that menu-item before; Qtr Pounder and McChicken- yeah. This one must be new…?

Soon the staff came back with a tray full of the red boxes, closely followed by another with a tray full of fries and drinks. I warfed mine down, and so did the other parents; partly cos I was getting hungry, but mainly cos this is some tasty chicken burger with some spicy zing to it! It wasn’t bad, just like the McChicken that I always get, but with that extra kick, and it also seemed crunchier. I never liked adding sauce to most things I eat (not even on fries) so the spiciness of this burger is just what I liked, without the sugar of sauces.

“Cabbage-between-the-teeth for seconds anyone?”

I soon realised that Chloe’s mum was taking care of even the adults’ meals as well, so after I kinda picked my teeth to make myself presentable (cabbage-between-the-teeth for seconds anyone?) I went over to thank her for it. Made some small talk. By this time the kids were being rounded up for some games and activities already.

I realized then that my impressions of a McD’s birthday party was all wrong. The kids didn’t just sit around wearing their hats, munching on fries and going home with party packs (which btw contained a colouring book, colour pencils, and stickers of “My name is…”). There were 2 staff there actually getting the kids to play pass the ball, musical chairs and even the quintessential happy birthday song, complete with a big chair fit for the princess for the day!

In all this time, I was trying to capture as much as I can photos of my darling girl, who is growing up so quickly … and then, not suddenly but slowly …. something still didn’t feel right in my stomach.

Hmmm…

I looked around the upstairs a little bit. Should I leave Caitlin “unattended” while I step away for a while? Will she freak out if she can’t find me? Or will she even notice that I wasn’t around?

I took the chance. Headed straight downstairs hoping that it was gonna be a quick one, and found that there was a queue! Yikes, I gotta wait!

Tick tock tick tock….

Soon, it was my turn, and I conducted the “transaction” as fast as I could, and quickly went back upstairs, happy with myself with what I needed to do, and also that Caitlin didn’t even notice I was gone, being so engrossed with the games that the staff were putting on.

Sat myself down again, and enjoyed ANOTHER SPICY CHICKEN McDELUXE McVALUE MEAL!

Heh heh! Now I was happy.

We left only at 2pm, even though most of the kids were still loitering. The real reason we had to leave was because, as stated in the invitation, the party was only supposed to be until 1:30pm, because at 2pm another one was starting!

Thank goodness I still managed to get the the second McValue meal- it’s actually catered for the lunch period, 12-3pm; but luckily it’s on everyday! Guess where I’d be having a value-lunch mostly these days, now that they also have a new menu-item (at least for me) that’s to my taste? RM5.95 only, no less?

I did, twice in a day!

It’s not always that we get to eat like kings.

But one doesn’t have to be kings to be able to eat like this in mostly all Australian cafes…..

Okay okay, this may not be a big deal for some of you guys, but it is for me; cos it’s not always that we get real bacon at home… You could find them in Malaysian supermarkets, but I don’t think I’d be able to get a “complete” meal like this!

And this is only for breakfast

Heh….

I would say that in planning for this event, my niece has had her first taste in project (event?) managing and executing a pretty major event, even if it’s only a family affair.

And being the cheeky uncle that I am, during times of emailing and IM-ing with her I pressured her highlighting things like “Are we on schedule?”, “You do realise that it’s now only seven days till the event”, when we (she) still hadn’t settled on which doorgifts would be best for the occassion / guests, let alone allowing time for the suppliers to come back with a quote and also getting them made!

She’s been frantically visiting the venue, executing the questions we had about where and how the tables will be arranged, sorting the seating by guests, getting her team (of cousins) to memorise the tables to help ushering, where to position the tv / screen (we have a slideshow of photos of last 50+ years), compiling the photos, “do they have wireless mics”, “this doorgift is better than that”, and getting her surprise gift completed, etc.

Yes, she’s done a surprise gift too.

At this juncture, from my own observations I’d say she has experienced at least some of these emotions!

• Some small forms of accomplishment (getting things in order for the event)
• Asking for favours
• Asking authorities (her older relatives) to stick to deadlines!
• Gratitude
• Controlling some (anxiety-related) emotions
• Pressured!
• Can’t please everyone!
• Panic!

Pretty good training just before heading off to uni!

Will let you know how the event goes!

Photos courtesy of my brother’s Flickr collection

So I was in the bathroom a few days before, checking out my physique, topless.

Caitlin walks in, and asked what the heck I was doing.

I decided to be honest.

“Daddee’s looking at the lines on my body**”.

“Lines? What lines?”

“These lines” point at the curved lines beneath what used to be spectacular pecs*. “Daddee’s getting fat.”

Now she is telling people she doesn’t wanna eat so much because she doesn’t wanna get fat- “Otherwise I will get lines on my body like Daddee…”

Yeah thanks kiddo.

* Okay I exaggerate.

** The lines look like bra-underwire marks on my body now- this, I am not exaggerating. I will spare you the photos lest you cannot look at me in the face the next time we meet…. or vice versa.

It’s a combo of gravity, fat, and the lack of youth.

I am in trouble now….

Those of you invited, or know people who are invited, please don’t disclose this.

It is my parents’ 50th anniversary this year, and also a joint celebration for my mum’s birthday.

But my dad doesn’t want people to know these.

He is kinda shy about it, you see.

Also, both my parents just want friends and family to come empty handed. That’s right. No gifts, no ang pows.

They have insisted that the dinner event, some 18 tables I hear, to just be a sit-down happy joy joy dinner with close friends and relatives. No stage, no mics, no hoo-ha.

But the grandkids are up to something…..

Some parts of their grand-plan are finalised, others still need the Committee’s approval and budgetary sign-offs

* Photo courtesy of my brother’s Flickr site

So it was Caitlin and Caleb’s grandpa’s birthday dinner tonight. I wore my almost-10-years old Dockers. It’s a bit tight, but still manageable, barely, to be honest.

I also wore a ribbed polo shirt. Fitting but not tight. Quite a dressy one.

In the car I was in the backseat, with Caitlin on my lap; Hot Mummee was driving.

Caitlin feels my torso, and says, “Daddee, it feels like you have a float here…” poking at it; “Hee hee..”

Due to the conservation of mass, the Dockers was squeezing the mass up and out and over my belt; which was there only to prevent the button from popping, actually.

While I already knew of this, I know I am in real trouble now.

Is it that, while drinking from his bottle, while staring up at you, he widens his lips, shows you his 5-teeth, whilst still gritting the teat between his teeth?

Is it that, afterwards, while suppressing your urge to laugh at His Royal Cuteness, that you grunt at him to get back to concentrate (as much as a 10 month old boy can muster) on drinking thru his teat, only to have him do the whole flash-my-5-teeth-at-you all over again?

Or is it that, occasionally while carrying him, he’d make a hmm sound, and then you make a hmm sound too, and then he makes a hmm sound back at you, and then you make a hmm sound, and then he makes a hmm sound too?

Or is it that, in the wee hours of the night, when you sneak into bed the most quietest you can be, and he wakes, and you grumble and swear under your breath and pat his back to get him to go back to sleep, only to see, in the littlest of available light, the little bugger is grinning back at you?

Or is it that, when a lady is carrying him, he would, index finger only, hook the top of the carrier’s blouse, tug-pull a little, and peer in to check out her boobs?

Daddee drifts in and out of sleep at his desk…
Daddee has started developing a headache by mid-morning…

Oh- sorry, did you call me?

An ongoing struggle…
He doesn’t seem to be breaking the habit…
3 nights in a row, he’s woken twice for feeds, and 3 times just because…
Or was it 4 times? It’s all a blur…

No! It was my turn last night; it’s yours now!
?? You sure?? Sigh.. okay then, I will feed this time….

Cry, so we check for wetness..
Cry, so we check for mosquitoes…
Cry, so I guess then he must be hungry… and that means another hour+ before going back to bed…

His older sister started sleeping right through the night at a very early age; for a while we thought he was starting the same pattern too, but alas…

But- I know I shouldn’t compare; they are different babies, different people…

I know I sound like a broken record; a scratchy, stylus pushed around broken record….

Sigh…

I wouldn’t call it expert handling, but Caitlin’s been managing to get most of her food into her mouth with chopsticks these days.

She can’t open-close the sticks yet, but she makes enough of a fork-like position with them that she is able to get ‘em into her mouth. She is able to make the occasional grasp of the morsel; that will just be a matter of time before she will be able to grip all foodstuff, I reckon.

But the more remarkable thing for me is that she had worked out how to use my Macbook Pro’s trackpad!

Remarkable in that, since this is my precious, I very rarely let her out of my sight when she is “using” it for watching Sesame St podcasts. And since I haven’t yet invested in a good bluetooth mouse, I don’t let her use it at all, assuming she wouldn’t be able to work the trackpad- this kid has not been experiencing the human-computer interface as much as other kids her age. But I think she’s seen me use the trackpad enough to abstract-think my finger movement in the square of the pad and corresponding arrow on the screen.

Today I loaded the Playhouse Disney website and watched her interact with the instructions. Like a typical kid, she was “short-cutting” through the various screens not waiting for the kiddie voice to finish explaining how to proceed.

I think if and when I do get a mouse, I won’t be able to use my own computer much anymore… Just like how Hot Mummee’s already been monopolising the other time-waster: The tv remote.

Sigh…

I told you he looks at his Daddee funny……

This week, actually for the past 3 weeks, Hot Mummee took it upon herself to craft her company’s business plan.

Apparently the company has never had one. In hearing her describe the sections that are to go in, it sounded more like an extended version of a company profile than a business plan; a 12 inch, very extended version, like a greatest hits remixed 5 times with new added sampling and the chorus repeated 13 times and the sonnets rewritten to include previous thrown-out works.

Why am I babbling? Because that’s what this business plan feels like. Hot Mummee has chosen to stay at home these 3 weeks, presumably under the pretext of non-interruption, to fully concentrate on getting this done. In my studies and (only 1 time) experience in writing a business plan, I have never come across the extent at which she is doing this for a business plan. She would be researching and scouring the net, looking for related news and industry and market trends, and would be analysing these and inputting them in her plan. This is in fact how a business plan ought to be written- that they should contain market (development) plans, but the extent she is covering this and other sections are, well; I shall reserve my comments.

Also, she would be drafting the document on her laptop, and using my laptop to access the neighbour’s unsecured wifi; sometimes retyping what she found on my laptop into hers simply because my super-duper computer has a far better wifi hardware/reception than hers- cannot copy-paste. Or she’d be referring to the researched numbers, and graphing them into charts…

Oops, babbling again.

So the downside of this is that this Daddee has had to do most of the overnight Caleb-feeding, because Hot Mummee has been slaving over this document until un-God-ly hours.

Which also means that in my spare time, I have been trying to catch up on my sleep.

And little blogging.

No, I am not complaining….

And I am holding her to her words, when she said to me on some not too long ago squinty-eyed woke me outta my sleep night, “Sorry dear, I will make it up to you when this is all over….”

Heh heh.

In other news (and I guess as a result?) I spotted Caleb sprouting an upper tooth already! But what gets us is this: Both the bottom two teeth are crooked, like they form a “v”, and now the first upper tooth looks like it is also coming out the same way.

Why? With my little knowledge of orthodontics or teeth knowledge, I would think teeth grew crooked because of overcrowding. That these being the first teeth and growing crooked already baffles everyone at home.

Also, the little man is already standing holding himself up on the cot’s railings. It won’t be long now before he is let loose on the walker!