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??

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….

The flight from Melbourne arrived KL at 5am local time; I booked the overnight one to save a day(light) for when we arrived, but didn’t realise till later that it actually arrived that early.

But in any case, we did “gain” a full day despite my suffering a massive headache due to lack of sleep and/or dehydration.

But it’s good to be back. The daughter was very pleased to see us, and had many catch-up stories to share.

But seeing the son was a more significant event. It seems he has picked up some new skills of “standing up” on his knees, arms up like a “Yay” stance, just because! And much to our dismay he’s also a lot more cry-baby when he is not picked up / carried!

Today (Monday) was (also, just like in Australia) a public holiday. We spent a lot of time with the kids, and it was during this time that these antics of his were evident. It’s funny, when it was just Hot Mummee, Caitlin and I around, he’d whimper at first but soon dies down with only a very inquisitive what-the-heck-are-you-adults-doing look on his face. But as soon as our helper turns up, he starts whimpering “needing” her to pick him up.

So it’s no surprise who’s been spoiling my son.

We will need to break him of this habit; managed so with Caitlin that even though she asks to be carried sometimes, at least she accepts quite readily that we cannot anymore; only when we visit my brother’s house that I do still carry her- they have 2 dogs and one of them is a (albeit friendly) doberman!

More “bad” news is that Caleb has also gotten back into the habit of waking up at nights! Since his flu is over, he’s a lot more alert now!

ARGH!

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…

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!

He knocked off around 9:30pm or 10pm, and didn’t wake till about 5:30am-ish.

But that’s good enough for this Daddee and Mummee.

He also feeds less crankily since he’s also had a good rest; but just enough that by the end of 6oz he’s also starting to tire, and did knock off again back to the comfortable bed, full.

But, it’s ONLY been two nights in a row. So let’s hope he keeps this going.

He’s about a week short of 9 months old.

Grandma immediately brushed it off Caitlin’s chest, comforted her, and was feeling bad…

“Sorry!! Grandma naughty! Grandma didn’t make sure the noodles was cool enough; Grandma naughty! So sorry darling!”

Caitlin, I guess felt sorry for Grandma. Still in her tears, Caitlin comforts Grandma, “No, noodles naughty! Not Grandma!”