The Two Year Old Man

On the 2nd of February, Rohan turned two years old, but the amount of laughter and cuteness he has drizzled on us is worth about two thousand years of happiness, with more added on every single day. I often wish I had the superability of a character in Heroes who is able to freeze time; I could then STOP it whenever Rohan flashes that devastatingly grum chipped-tooth grin, with the crinkly eyes and squishy nose:





OK not bad, a camera-phone can do a half-decent job of time-freezing, albeit in two dimensions, sans fragrance and texture.

Another ability worth having, is the preservation of all his thoroughly disarming sayings, like:

"Are you cute?"
"Noooo, I'm YOHAN DAVID JOSEPHH!!!!"

(rocking back and forth in his seat) "I'm on my yocking chair!"

(seeing me in running gear) "Are you going to get gym germs??"

"How old are you today?"
"I'm a two year old Man!!"

OK, so preservation in a blog counts too, I suppose.

Finally, the highlight of the weekend birthday celebration was a trip to Templer Park. Thankfully, its still clean and enjoyable, unlike the disappointment of our last visit to the Tanjung Rambutan waterfalls. Looks like Tony's people in the Rawang district have been better at conserving their surrounding natural beauty than my Ipoh people. So of course the former won our vote as the first stream that we would take our innocent kids to. I don't want them to think that waterfalls are the colour of milk tea, and that bulldozers are part of the landscape, which was the case upstream of the Tanjung Rambutan waterfalls, to my disgust. That was many many years ago, I don't know what it is now, but I don't feel like making an effort to find out unless I hear that they're going to build some hilltop apartments that will tumble down and kill its occupants. OK better stop before this post gets more activisty..

Parting thought for the day -- Slumdog Millionaire is such a watchable movie because it leveraged the amazing candidness of children to tell a large chunk of the story. Look at these and tell me that you do not understand... ?!

Photographer is rewarded with a serene smile by the wading water waif...


... and her little frowny brother


Water waifs can turn impish in a few milliseconds..!


Water waifs are closely guarded by dashing dark-haired demons...


.. that have strange heads growing out of their backs! :-D

The Walrus and the Porcupine

Stop press for some breaking news.

I took Charu to The Curve last Saturday, so that I could achieve the two things that I like to on weekends - spend mommy-daughter-bonding time with Charu, and replenish the kitchen pantry. So off we went, and here are some delightful shots of Charu enjoying tomato sauce pasta and potato wedges on a high chair at Marche.

Well! So much for delight, we did our thing, walked and shopped, skipped and hopped all over Curve, then returned home with a trolleyful of Tesco groceries.

As I opened the front door of our apartment, I could *hear* guilt bouncing off the walls... I'm sure sure sure... or maybe it was the sight of Rohan eating ice cream on Papa's lap, on a rainy Saturday afternoon that made me think of one's teeth jingling and tingling with coldness... and that must've been the sound I heard. Not entirely surprising, because SOMETHING was needed to manage the responsibility... accountability that one must bear, after achieving something spectacular like MAKING A CUTE BOY BALD :-))) We had a Bald Rohan! Or almost-bald. It was sketchy patchy tetchy. Roughly chunkily hewn. Sawn shaven and shorn. Into a cutey baldey spiky round little head. Turns out that while we were out, papa decided to try out his new battery-operated shaver. Without accounting for the resilience and unity of Rohan's Curly Mop of Hair, whose strength in numbers must have tired out and eventually killed the brand new shaver battery before the job was done. So he finished up with scissors, and the result is well.... like that lahh. Well, that evening we had to get the barber to even it out, and he did look better after.

Before: Patchy, tiered and terraced... like a lazy hillside farmer's crop.


During: Our well-behaved little chub allowing Mister Barber with thick moustachio to skim his scalp.


After: Deed done, and at least the eyelashes are spared.


Bedtime: Charu claimed, "I'm sleeping in the same bed as... a walrus, and a porcupine!" Here's a dark, fuzzy shot of the phenomena:

Have passport, will travel to -- Jakarta!

The blog posts here stagnated for half a month... sorry! I was busybusy, preparing for our First Ever trip overseas as a family; to Jakarta! Why there, asked quite a few colleagues and friends who when talking about regional travel are more accustomed to discussing trips to Singapore, Hong Kong, Phuket, Chiangmai and even Siem Reap. But... Jakarta? And here I admit, it would not be my destination of choice if Tony didn't have a business trip there, and if he had not also been there enough times to be familiar with the hotel and the place (its a province, by the way, consisting of a few towns... more on that later).

Well, to cut a very long story short (and believe you me, if you let me ramble I will go on for days till you never want to hear the word Jakarta again), it was a very very interesting trip, for a few reasons:

1) I have not been on an overseas trip for aaaaeeeons. Especially to a city (I mean province... blah no matter city province state land longkang stranger's backyard or outer space, anyone ask me if I want to go, and I will say yes before you finish your question) unfamiliar and waiting for getting-to-knowness. Consider me travel-deprived.

2) It was my first time taking The Two Kids on an overseas trip. Alone, by myself without maid or mother. Yea there was Tony, but he was away at work during the day, and some days he worked late. Meaning I was solo with two young bubbly energetic children. Okay okay okay... I wasn't really solo. There was the entire staff of Hotel Mulia at my beck and call, from the gardener by the kiddy pool to the room service waiter. I actually deserve a good hard kick for being so spoilt! And would you believe that my first Jakarta experience tells me this - Indonesian friendliness does not rival Malaysian. It SURPASSES it big time. They actually seem to genuinely take a liking to your kids, no fake I'm-paid-to-bare-my-teeth-at-you-and-your-annoying-kid sneer, but a lot of walk-out-of-the-way-and-towards-you-to-shake-your-kid's-hand kind of niceness. I thought it was the 5 star hotel treatment, until we walked the streets and I realised that people smiled amicably at Charu and Rohan even though these two goblins trespassed into their shopping paths. They greeted sweaty, fidgety and slightly whiny kids with pleasant smiles despite trying to berdating over their McDonald's lunch at a table half a foot away. I truly appreciate such tolerance!

3) Jakarta itself. Amazing, interesting, city (I do mean province) of contrasts. Rich in history, all of it revealed and displayed in gorgeous detail in the museums, unlike local history as I know it, that reveals only what Malaysia wants its gape-mouthed youth and touristy visitors to know about its past, leaving gaping holes that make Malaysian history a huge crushing bore. Hey don't take my word for gospel truth, maybe I just don't know better; this is from someone who got A2 for Sejarah in Form 3, and thanked goodness that there wasn't more nonsense to memorize in upper secondary forms. There is so much to say about what little I learnt about Indonesia from this little short trip, that I have to create another post, or risk this one extending way waaay to the bottom and leaving no space for photos.

And that reminds me too, I should tell you about my new photo-taking machine - its a MOTO U9 mobile phone :-D It replaces my trusty old Nokia that went bust a few weeks back. I had to get a Motorola phone eventually, or risk being ostracized by my colleagues. So by-the-by, get one that is bundled with camera, video, and lots of features that'll take me years to discover. More on that in another post, I guess.

Darn drat the Dutch (who invaded Jakarta back when it was known as Jayakarta... and occupied it for 350 years after renaming it Batavia). I downloaded my photos to another machine. Oh well maybe I do have a couple left in this one that I can post. At least that would spare you the agony of me spouting awful Jakartaisms like the one I just slipped into this paragraph...

Rohan with Papa on a scary bird ride called "Burung Tempur" ('bird of war'? 'war bird'? 'warbler'? :-P). I don't think scary is the intent, but it wobbled a lot (hey so maybe 'wobbler'...heheh!!) because it was probably not meant to carry an adult of Tony's height. Safety measures on these rides seemed horribly lacking, we realized after a few rounds...


Charu sitting on a stone ball in the courtyard of what used to be the Governor's Office (now a museum). Many similar balls are scattered quite puzzlingly all over the area. I'm sure they aren't really for kids to sit on and flash their innerwear. Oh and in case it isn't obvious, the tall, strapping dude next to Charu, is my little chubbywubby Rohan. Eight years from now he'll hate the word 'chubbywubby'. Heheh..!!

Em. More, loads more photos I will post later! Once I get hold of them.

He is BACK!!!

A HAAA there, so my Other Half has returned from his travels! Yep, he has been back for almost a week now, and I didn't post earlier because I have been busy celebrating. But of course! There is so much to do when one's Other Half returns from a THREE WEEK trip. So much updating to do -- Yes I started your car, the batteries are okay (but what I found stashed in the driver's side pocket isn't!), DontForget next week is our 10K Run okayyy (already???), Rohan can pretend to ride a motorbike around the living room (Rohan: "Vvvvvv..." (saliva everywhere, cute chubby clenched fist revving imaginary bike accelerator) "Vvvvvvv... NOTOBIKE! NOTOBIKE!!"),

Then there is the luggage-digging, to see what goodies he brought back for us. Although I buat tak tau, I actually know why it is so worthwhile for him to buy so much stuff and line his luggage with it. So that he DOES NOT HAVE TO UNPACK. So that his gleeful wife and children will do it for him. When I unearth the kids' new shirts and cute dresses, I will also put away all the Bliss moisturiser strewn all over the bag (damn good stuff, probably from the hotel - Lemon & Sage Body Butter its called). Before proudly parading my new handbag and jeans, I will also dig out unwashed laundry from all the bag crevices. As I catwalk up and down the house in my new shoes, I put away all the cables, tickets, books, seminar t-shirts, receipts, chocolates (a few of which go into my mouth), extra currency, sweaters, toiletries, chicken entrails... awright kidding on the last one, just checking if you're paying attention. Can you tell that I'm really happy to have him back home? Home and near, for me to annoy, hug, pinch, shout at, run with, shovel kids at, kick at night. Sigh. Good to have him home.

If you happen to be re-visting this post, you may recall that there was a different image here... sorry but I was made to replace it with this (apparently less-revealing) one:


And, in case it again comes under objectionable scrutiny, here on standby is an even less revealing shot...

Countdown.. TWO weeks to go..

So here I am, at the halfway checkpoint of my 3 week void. Comparing that to a 10K race (incidentally, I will run one in August :-P), its 5K done, 5 to go... ok lahh. Boleh tahan. The 2nd half is *supposed* to be faster, but it depends on how well you have prepared yourself, both physically and mentally, for the race. I mean trip. I mean both. Hey so they ARE similar :-)

I went to the SS2 market this morning, after sending Charu to school. It felt pleasant and nice to walk along the stalls, as though loneliness was alright... or at least bearable, if spent in an anonymous crowd of morning marketers. Marketing itself turned out to be quite therapeutic. At the vegetable stall - pick up some tomatoes, smell the mint, flick the spinach, throw in some french beans, point at the broccoli... listen to the guy calculate aloud in rapid Cantonese, pay him off and collect large plastic bag of veggie... surreal. At the yau char kway stall - ask for some crullers and tau foo fah, get an extra ham ching peang... sweet. At the fruit stall - buy some red cherries and bananas, get taken for a ride down banana lane; overpriced pisang berangan is so insincere... !

Bookstores are also a great place to while away time. Here are some shots of the last trip to MPH.

Woo hoo going to BOOOKSHOPPYSHOP!!

Unhappy because request to watch car DVD is turned down (One Utama is just 5 minutes awayyy... !)

Unhappiness dissolves into enchantment...

.. and absorption...

... chubby face with MPH as backdrop...

The funniest thing happened there; I had earlier purchased July's Quill magazine where Preeta graces the cover. Charu and Rohan LOVE to look through that one, because Aunty Preeta looks really good, and they love her anyway; what's not to love? She is pleasant, bought them their beloved Wombat book, and its so easy to say her name -- AN-TEE PEE-TA :-) So at the magazine section, Charu spotted the Quill magazine, grabbed it and waved it about yelling, "Heyyy, Aunty Preeta!!" which of course attracted Rohan's attention immediately (the intended outcome) and so begun a chase all over MPH, Rohan crying, "I want Aunty Peeta! I want Aunty PEETA!! I wannnnntttt!!! AUNTEEEEE PEEEETAAAA!!!!!!" Too darn bad I couldn't videotape them bearing up and down the MPH store aisles, Rohan yelling angrily at Charu as she waves the Quill triumphantly and Preeta's face bobs up and down, as if nodding approvingly...

Some of the kids are really out of control; were I MPH management, I'd hire the Pied Piper to lure all the horrible misbehaving kids out to say, Parkson Grand's fine bone china section or the outdoor fish pond. What intense feelings, you perfectionist mommy, you may admonish. Well, at least it moves my a$$ to behave a little more exemplarily than the parents who stare blankly as their kids kick the books around, then walk away from the mess nonchalantly. Do you allow that in your own home too??!? Oh of course you do, I forget that you can always just yell at your maid to pick up after those precious replicas of you. OK enough of nagging I'm really grumpy aren't I; guess I need to find a way to cheer myself up. Okay -- Audrey BEFORE THE END OF THE DAY, find something nice to think about, and say... :-D

Three Week countdown

My three week countdown started last week, 21st July; the day my koboi went off on a three-week working trip/traipse to London, Houston and San Diego. Three weeks of blissful, peaceful days with no bickering, haggling and yelling. No annoying requests, tickling or laughing. No people-watching, sniggering-at-SPGs-with-fake-accents, midnight movies, late-night running in the dark, mosquito-lurking park, Old Town coffee or bumpinthenight-stuff-thatyouneednotknowmoreof... Hm. Doesn't sound good at all. My choice is obvious, I prefer to *have* the whole package; noise, arguments, laughter, annoyances... all of it! But I don't have the luxury of choice these three weeks. O well. SO... in preparation for the gaping chasm that would form in my heart, I lined up some HACKTIVITIES to keep me occupied. Not like I am not already, with full-time work, errands to run, two kids to feed, clothe, raise, make happy and keep healthy, and now my mother here to babysit them (and I her :-P).. but you know, one needs to be busied with things that are more... stress-relieving... goof-offish... So that the Brain Section that controls the Miss-Your-Loved-One-Pricking-Sensation does not get any blood supply to work itself...

SOW!!! Here's my list:

1) Project-Team-Ordered-N-Organized Team building. This kept me away from the office on the first working day, which turned out to be a good thing; The Office is where I get occasional SMS and IM updates, the lack of which would have turned my mood grey by the end of the day. At least finding my way to and from Desa Waterpark used up some energy. As did some good hard laughing, at the expense of team mates...

I have a coconut tree growing out of my head, and Kavitha has a.. a.. more stylish tree growing out of hers...



Cheating?? Who..wha'.. ME? No lahhh where got..??!?!



Two yellow racing worms in the cool blue water (can you see me??)



Upon closer scrutiny, them racing worms are... infested with people! And you can now see me clearly, forming part of the infestation...



This'll be the next Olympic Sport, you mark my words...



This was labeled "Photo Of The Event"; THANKFULLY the yellow ball is **above** my head :-P

2) Runningrunningrunning. Staircase, treadmill, gym, around the house, over n under the kids, allovertheplace. Running. That would rattle my brain enough to stem the bloodflow to aforementioned Brain Section. Now this isn't really a goof-offish activity, but its one of the few routine activities of mine that works well as a Calm Balm. So I will never leave this out.

3) Scraping together photos of cute chubby faces. Here I go:





I wish I could share right here, the smell of light perspiration in their hair. If you could just imagine a whiff of it, your troubles will be so far away... and nevermore will they be here to stay... oh I believe... in yesterday.... oh what th'... ?? Oh sorry. Got into sortofa trance, singing Yesterday. The fragrance of toddler neck nape does that to you, I'm telling you. YES even imagining it gets you high. Intoxicating...

4) I guess BLOGGING counts, that is why I started this blog last week, and only am posting it today.... :-P

Mommy duty - school break entertainment

Charu had a two-week school break a few weeks ago.

Don't these people in the business of schooling four-year-olds understand the concept of school for four-year-olds? WE pay THEM to provide us a break. From our four-year-olds. WE need our break from this:

Charu: (vaulting over 2 large squares of marble flooring) "Mummy, look at this!"
Charu: (vaulting over 3 squares of marble flooring) "MummMEEE!! Look at me!! QUICK!!"
Me: "Very clever!! Now let me read, okay. Jump another twenty times - Count.. one... two... three... " (back to reading the paper)
Charu: (walks over) "Mummy, what are you reading?"
Me: "Today's paper."
Charu: (points at Deep Heating Rub ad. Its has a man's silhouette with the outline of the nervous system inside) "Mummy, what is his name?"
Me: "He doesn't have a name."
Charu: "Why? Why he has no name, ah?"
Me: "Because he is not a real man."
Charu: (points at photo of our PM giving speech) "What is his name?"
Me: "Badawi."
Charu: "Ba-da-wi. Why his face like that?"
Me: "Because he cannot remember what he wants to say."
Charu: "Why? Why he cannot remember ah?"
Me: "Because he is old."
Charu: (pointing at Michael Ballack) "What is his name?"
Me: "Michael."
Charu: "You mean like Uncle Michael?"
Me: "Yes but without the big tummy."
Charu: "Why his face like that?"
Me: "He is angry because he cannot get his ball into the right place." (camon la, she's four years old, not fourteen; innocence still intact!)
Charu: "Ooo... He is showing temple??"
Me: "Yes! He is showing temPER."
Charu: (pointing at Annika Sorenstam) "What is her name?"
Me: "Annika."
Charu: "Annika!!! Like the Barbie Doll!!!"
Me: "Yes like the Barbie doll."
Charu: (pointing at someone annoying-looking, maybe it was Shalin Zulkifli, or maybe I was just really annoyed at this point) "What is h..."
Me: "WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME READTHISPAPERINPEACEFORALEETLEBEETLEWHILE???"

This is followed by a 2-minute mother-daughter-no-eye-contact-pouting session, followed by the total end of my newspaper-reading session, where I attempt to explain myself to a folded-arm, harrumphing four-year-old dimple-faced goblin, that I do not want to play "What is his/her name?" with my newspaper because I selfishly want to read it without getting whiplash from looking up and down between the b*#@*%* paper and her.

DO I NEED THIS???

No I certainly don't, sooooooooooo.... with the 2-week school break looming, and having some presence of mind, I made emergency plans to remedy the potentially grave situation of leaving an energetic child cooped up in an apartment unit for more than 3 afternoons in a row. I took a day off each week, and took Charu out for some extensive shopping mall walkabouts :-) I did examine other options (like a picnic, or letting her join me on errands), but in the interest of child safety and comfort, malls really are still the most sensible places, being air-conditioned, relatively safe for walkabouts, and filled with colourful stores, children's entertainment outlets and food options. Phew!

The Curve is a very good option given that it houses IKEA which has its own children's play area. Elsewhere in The Curve also are 2 bouncing-castle play areas, RM8 per entry, that provide endless jumping fun for an energetic child :-D. One Utama works for me too, as it has the Rainforest where RM2 gets you a packet of fish food to sprinkle at the healthy-looking fishes; and Kidsportz that has obstacles and outdoor-type activities for kids but in an indoor play area, and you can pay extra to have their personnel babysit your kids while you shop in peace :-)))

Now I only have shots of our day out at KLCC, as we could meet up with Papa for lunch then, so he managed to snap a happy four-year-old clicking heels outside the Petronas Science Centre (we couldn't get in because it was CLOGGED with people, all of whom needed to get their kids out the house, far away from four-walled spaces with newspapers and other objects with why-inducing possibilities), Kinokuniya (which wasn't so clogged but still full of children, some of whom were swatting huge flies against the glass window overlooking the KLCC park, leaving awful spatters of fly-juice... something worthwhile that they can write in their "What I Did During The School Holidays" essays...), and anywhere that allowed her to walk and walk and walk.... tiring out those cute little legs, that cheeky little face framed by wispy little hair, that covers her kissable little head, encapsulating that intelligent little brain....

Yahoooooo I'm in 'Kay Yell See See!!!

Papa taking photos of me in a good mood!!!

Charu: "Yeeee fly juice on the window!!"

Charu tiring of Papa Paparazzo..

Back to reading Clifford the Big Red Dog...

Back home after KLCC...

Have a Bla-aa-ack Berry Beret.. !

The bad parody of that effervescent Prince song came to mind cos Tony's new company has provided him with a BlackBerry. Not the fruit but the device that makes you accessible 24/7 by boss, henchmen, mother-in-law, mistress, debtors and all and sundry... o wait the device that holds that honour is actually the mobile phone, isn't it. But no, this one is a mini-hand-held *computer*, endowing owners with additional crouching backbone, hidden fingers for typing email responses on an arthritis-inducing keyboard, sortof slowly moulding you into a replica of the bell-toller at Notre Dame... ok, okayyy I don't mean to diss the lovely device, here have a drool at the liquid silver pockewonder and you'll realize that my disdain is just jealousy in disguise :-D http://www.blackberry.com/ap/products/handhelds/blackberry8300/blackberry8300.shtml#

And digital-camera-deprived us of course must test its most important feature - the 2 megapixel camera. The obvious choice for subjects are of course our Two Mega Pixies, they very gleefully posed free of charge... here's the montage, we went crazy with the shutterbugging.. !!

Charu, pretty fairy girl


Gime gime GIME AIWAN GEEEMEE...


Charu attempting angrybangry face... and failing as miserably as a pretty fairy can


...aiyah... aiyah... gime...GIMMEE...


Charu cheeky mischievous pretty fairy goblin girl


Iff ai tekk the glass an bonk papa's hed he might GIME de ting...


Charu fading-into-background pretty dimpled fairy girl


... ai so cute you better GEEEEMEEEE....