The Highs and Lows of Christmas

I wasn't looking forward much to Christmas this year actually. Well....up to the point when it was the 24th and I was on leave.

Got the last minute purchases done for our first Christmas BBQ. This was our first organised family gathering. All these years, it has always been Christmas at my uncle's house. The year my uncle migrated to US, we had no celebration at all save one morning of exchanging gifts. So, this year signalled a new beginning in more ways than one.

• A new tradition of an organised Christmas family lunch/dinner.
• An addition to the family - my sister's bf - and more to come in the next few years (prayerfully).

Christmas morning was fun. Had fun making all the preparations for the BBQ. Mum infuriated me by making me slice the carrots and the cucumbers so thinly !!! But frustration in a good way! :) By 10am, we had everything done. And just in time for my sis and her bf to turn up!



I always 'complain' sis always comes at the right time. No more work to do and just in time for me to wash my face and look less flustered!



Her bf brought his camera and took alot of photos. Of course, I took some too....more of the food since he had the people covered!!!

We ate with our hands coz (ummm.....) I forgot to get steak knives for everyone! No pretense at all in being family! We also shared bowls for the chowder. And boyboy had a great time enjoying the feast too! He loved the bacon and ate up the salad with his potato. Also downed a big bowl of chowder. We were all glad he ate so much.

For desert we had ice brewed coffee, ice cream and stollen.

On Christmas night, the 2nd event I was geared up for was a gathering at my sister's bf's house. We were to meet his church and his family. You can imagine I was the most relaxed one in the family (apart from hubby and boyboy, who didn't know the significance of the event).

Boyboy was prepped earlier to be a good boy and listen to mummy. He was also told he was going to korkor's house and that got him excited !!! Got to say, he has taken to my sister's bf (thereafter will be called J). He sat on his lap for some duration of the eating time while we were there.

It was such a high on the 25th that on the 26th morning, I admit I was a bit on the low side. The saving grace was a SG dinner gathering on the 26th, more gifts to be wrapped and food to be prepared. My euphoria returend when everyone started to arrive. It's always great to be among good and easy company. Also a good time to get all the kids together and reflect back on the pass year. We have all come a long way, the kids have grown so much.

So, as of now, it is the 28th. 27th flew by with all of us sleeping half the time. It didn't help that we only slept at 3 am on the 26th night - relatives were also in town and needed a ride to the airport!

The recuperation did me good. But now we just found out hubby's uncle passed away from a heartattack. It was so sudden. A blood clot found its way to the heart and 10 minutes of revival came to no good.

Hubby will be rushing down to Penang. I have been disallowed from going. Anyone can tell me why? And when he comes back to KL tommorrow, I would have been gone to Ipoh. Will miss him till New Year's eve.

So, have a Happy New Year everyone! Hope you toast in a delightful, peaceful and warm new year!

Moments with Christopher

Christopher was walking down the chocolate and biscuit aisles looking high and low. Hubby was with him while I had pushed the cart further ahead so as to NOT crowd the aisle. When at last Christopher takes something and shouts to me saying:
"Mummy, this is what I want lah. See. This one lah!"
He was holding the Rocky biscuit (blue box).

In fact I must say he is fond of blue packaging food. He also picks out the blue packet M&Ms.
***
Sometimes he will bring his doggie to me and say "Hold mummy!"
He wants me to talk in doggie voice to him.
Sometimes he will ask his doggie:
"What you want? Milk want?" And I will shake doggie's head.
"Lol-pop want? Ask kungkung to buy. OK?" And I will shake doggie's head.
And he will go on and on thinking of things that he can give doggie....which can range from mummy and daddy to praying and lying down.
***
Sometimes when I take him back from school, he will sit quietly in his canvas car seat and suck his thumb. If I see him doing it (and the traffic is manageable that day), I will say:
"Christopher, are you sucking your thumb?"
He will smile and quickly turn away.
Sometimes I will try to pull his hand out which ends up in him squirming around. And sometimes when I am at a red light (and I know it will be some time before my turn), I will tickle him a bit. One day, he told me:
"Don't want (tickle), mummy! Mummy drive car. Hand put there (pointing to steering wheel)."
***
And sometimes when he sees that daddy does not have 2 hands on the steering wheel or if daddy is not wearing his seatbelt, he will tell daddy:
"Daddy, hand where? Put there (steering wheel)."
And when daddy does it, he says:
"Good boy."

"Daddy wear seatbelt. Faster. After(wards) police come."

Or sometimes: "Daddy, don't drive so fast. Drive slowly."

Its a tit for tat....police man catch him, also catch us!!!
***
I play a particular Hillsongs CD in my car. Everytime when Christopher is in the car, he can't wait for hubby/me to start the car so that he can press the CD on button/or get us to turn it on.

He will say: "Mummy, on music."

He just learnt the word music and has been using it since.

And when the song that he likes comes on and hubby and I are talking, he will tell us:

"No talk. No talk. Sing song."

If we ignore him, we will look at me and then hubby and say:

"No talk. Sing song." And he can be VERY persistent.

He also frequently tells us: "Please turn loud/soft."
And if daddy turns the music down so that we can talk, he will tell me:
"Mummy turn loud. Daddy no. Daddy don't turn."

Of course he does accept if I tell him that daddy and mummy want to talk. Of course that depends what song is on.
***
And that day when I was singing to him, I was going to sing the ABC song and he told me:
"No no. Sing Wheels bus."
***
That day he wanted me to get him something. So, after getting it for him, he said:
"Thank you".
I corrected him: "Thank you mummy."

I know saying thank you is good enough. And he does almost 90% of the time. But I was taught to say repeat the person's name after a greeting so teaching my son the same.

Then I told hubby : "He is quite good with his Ps and Qs".

Christopher overheard and said : "R,S,T,U,V....etc."
***
We were at Giant that day. My son saw another kid pushing the shopping cart. So, he asked to be taken down from the cart seat. And he started to push the cart as well.

Of course he didn't do it very well. We had gotten the big cart after all, not knowing he would ever decide to push the cart!

So, I tried to maneuver the cart just a little so that he doesn't bang the aisle shelves so often! Thank God, we were not in the breakables or the dentables section. Christopher looked up and shouted:

"Mummy NO! You go there (pointing some where far away). You don't touch. I push."

Neither I nor hubby could touch the cart after that. So, I left him with hubby coz I wanted to get some fruits and God FORBID if he was pushing the cart there and the whole heap of apples were to fall on the floor! Also there would be more carts and more people there! We don't want to get cursed!
****
He has a real detest for washing up now. Started when he started school. Not sure what caused it. Hope it was not any molestation!!! (just crossed my mind)

So, now whenever he poops and we ask him to go up to wash, he would straightaway say: "Don't want. Don't want."

Usually ending up in me raising my voice, some tears and sometimes a little spanking.
***
Still not toilet trained. He can tell me :

"Mummy, stomach ache."

But when I bring out the potty and ask him to sit, he runs away shouting:

"Don't want! Don't want!"

But after he has done his business, he will happily allow me to put him on the potty. I do so in case he has more and to get him used to the potty!

One day I knew he was in the midst of it and put him with his diapers on sitting on the potty. When he sat down, I took off his diaper so that it will fall into the potty. But when his diaper came off, he stood up and looked at the soiled diaper sitting in his potty and told me:

"Mummy, take away. Dirty."

When I took it away, he sat down and said:

"OK. Now (can) sit."

(shake head)
***
When he doesn't want to go where I want him to go, he has a tendency to kneel down if I am holding on to one hand. And if I am holding on to 2 hands, he has a tendency of bending his feet so that I am holding him in the air by his hands!

And he will shout: "Don't want! Don't want! Aaaahhhhhhhhhh"

Yes...he does shout. I wonder what the neighbours think!

How lah???
***
He loves to pretend cook, pretend make milk, pretend drive car and all other pretend role playing games.

"Want milk", he sometimes asks his teddy bear.
"Want", he will change his voice for his teddy's response.
"Chris-pher make. Wait."

He will then take the Astro remote control, do the washing sound, scoop the milk in, shake and then bring to teddy. He will put it down and take a pillow and let teddy lie down. Then he will make the sucking sound and pout his lips like he is sucking.

"Finish?"
"Good boy."
"Want somemore?"

And then....the whole thing repeats again.
***
After his bath, when I am on knee level drying him, he likes to hold my head between his two wet hands and shake my head saying:
"No no no no no."

Laugh then run away!
***
He can point to his vegetables and tell me : "I want this."
And when I try to get some meat in the same spoon as his vegetables, he will tell me: "No mummy, I don't want this (meat). I want this (vege)."
***
When he eats something spicy, he will tell me:
"Spicy!!! Pain pain (pointing to throat). Water where mummy?"
***
And that day, he took out his plastic beach spoon and banged the floor saying:
"Tidy up. Tidy up."

That must have come from school!

Memories of Christmas

My colleague asked me yesterday what I did for Christmas last year. AND to my horror, I couldn't remember !!!! Gosh!

I checked my blog and discovered I never wrote when I did on Christmas eve or on that day itself. SO....

I should make it a point to write down any out of the ordinary things that I do and what I do every festival!

So, last weekend was an out of the ordinary one.

For one....we nearly spent 6 hours in 1U. Reason being 1 and a half hours was spent having high tea in Cinnamon Cafe, One World Hotel.

I remembered when I was carrying Christopher around the 5th-6th month, hubby also took me for a buffet.

The Cinnamon Cafe spread was great. Well....for a novice in buffets, I have nothing much to compare against.

There were cold dishes, dishes in porcelin spoons and dishes in table spoons. There were oysters (baked in cheese and parbroiled), prawns and crabs, japanese (raw sushi and sashimi), the usual malaysian spread, satay, noodles, pasta....

For desert, there was a chocolate fondue, ice kacang, cakes and puddings, chocolates (dark and milk) and fruits.

Boyboy ate his portion. He enjoyed his pasta and of course his sushi. hubby ate his fill. I ate more than the last buffet 2 years back, according to hubby.

At night, would you believe it, hubby still had a craving. But for stewed duck porridge. Good thing too....coz I had enough meat for the day. Just ate pickled vegetables with my porridge! :)

It was a good Saturday. High tea (more like lunch) and then shopping for Christmas and then planning for our family Christmas lunch.

So, my plans for the 24th-26th?

Tong Yuen dinner with my parents on the 24th. Family lunch (with my sister's boyfriend as the newest addition) on the 25th. Dinner gathering at my sister's bf's house on the 25th. Dinner with my extended 'family' on the 26th.

Then work work work.

So....do you remember what you did last Christmas?

And may all of you have a blessed time with family and friends, remembering that Christmas is about relationships and not about food! Have a good one ya all!

2 causes

Christopher has been coughing (more like hacking like an old lady) for a week plus now. With the coming holidays and my paed going off, the 2nd time we went to see him, he told us this:

Cough is caused by 2 things, either an infection or an allergy.
Since Christopher does not have a fever and is running around, his cough is most likely an allergic reaction rather than an infection.

We have been controlling his food intake since the 1st visit to the doctor. Which meant no ice cream, chocolate, nothing fried, chips, citrus fruits, grapes etc. for 3-4 days. But his condition only slightly improved.

So, the allergic reaction would most probably be due to weather, change in temperature, humidity level.

Which (in my heart I was going !&^!@&#^) we can't control!!!

For his second visit, to control the allergy and stop it from ending up in an asthma attack (due to more secretion/phlegm being created which could result in a constriction of the bronchiol) Christopher was prescribed stronger cough medication and a steriod (to be taken for 3 days only).

And what more, his teacher told me he had a nose bleed when he woke up from sleep yesterday afternoon. And it was still bleeding when I picked him up in the evening.

And 2 days ago, his nose starting running in a marathon!!!

I woke up at 4 am this morning wondering what I can do to help my kid. Coz only God can control the weather!!!

And herbal teas don't work on him. He refuses even Lor Hon Kor and Barley.

BAN THIS !!!!

I nearly had an heartattack !!!

No...not those need to go to the hospital kind.

As I was reversing out from a parking space, I heard a loud horn blasting. I looked around in panic coz my last accident happened just this way. I looked at all my mirrors and could not find any car in sight.

What the $^#&%#^ ??!!!

It was from an radio advert.

I reckon radios should ban all adverts and songs which has car horn sounds, sudden shouts or anything that could possibly come from the road.
Sigh....or maybe I should just stick to my low, merry and quiet Christmas CDs for now.

I was on leave

Yes....I was on leave the whole week last week. It all started out with an eye infection on Monday which resulted in two days of MC. And I already had planned leave on Friday. So, my boss told me to take the whole week off since I had 40 days to clear and only 2 more months to do it!

Yes.....I will be out of job by end Feb. Hopefully some news on my new contract will come before I deliver. Can't imagine myself doing a teleconferencing interview in hospital!!! I think my milk will like dry up on the spot! (smiles)

Anyway, my parents were also down last week (part of the reason why I so readily agreed to take off). But no, I didn't manage to get much Christmas shopping done. Partly due to the fact that I was trying to search for a dinner gown with a 5-month huge tummy. Empire cut dresses sure seem hard to come by when you are really looking!!!

Also I discovered that I have not really been maintaining myself very well. Ummm.....I shall spare the details of my bulging unsupported fats! :)

And I also decided to whip up a new dish to satisfy my craving of kerabu mee hoon. I used:
1) 1 bunga kantan (only used the pink flower bit)
2) 5 leaves of limau purut
3) 1 medium sized serai (the inner end parts)

Cut all these ingredients extremely fine. And I MEAN extremely fine.

Boil some mee hoon.

Add the hot meehoon to your raw finely sliced herbs. Pour chilli tuna over the whole thing. Added in half a lemon juice and mix well.

Actually, I should have used lime instead of lemon. Also should have added small onions and dried shrimps and used tom yam tuna instead. But well....the mixture still turned out great. And apart from the slicing, this dish is relatively easy to make.

Hubby also found it good! :)

I would be making it again the next time I am on leave. And next time I would try to get my Christmas shopping done!

By the way....am I the only one working during the year end?

An old wives' tale

My mother in law says :

Look at the crown of the child before. If the crown of hair curls/falls clockwise the next kid will be a girl. If the hair falls/curls anti-clockwise, the next kid will be a boy.

Hope you know what I mean!

Anyone want to proof this theory?

Christopher's falls clockwise. (smiles)

Christopher in action

What has boyboy been up to?

Talking on the phone with kungkung (my dad).

He always asks me if he can talk to kung kung on the phone. And it delights him to no end when the phone rings. He will be the first one to rush and pick it up.

As of now, no other person calls us except kungkung and pohpoh (my mum), so we allow him the luxury of picking up the phone. He does it well with a "Hello. Christopher here." But that is provided you understand what he says. And talk and talk to him with only an occasional word or two from his limited vocabulary.

The other surprising thing he is into now is MY house! The Lego house, I mean.

Haven't uploaded the photo of him studying the house yet. But this was the house I made and he is opening the front door, the roof window, the back door and other windows and squeezing his fingers inside.

The letter box and the BBQ set gets dislodged ever so often and he will exclaim "oh!oh!" and give it to me. Coz he knows this belongs to mummy and if he drops it on the floor or spoils anything, he will get into TROUBLE. "Mummy angry no, ok?" he will look at me 'beggingly', hoping I wouldn't take the house away from his rough playing! :)

Of course I don't. It can be rebuilt after all.....even though he did take off the roof that day!!!

By the way, my favourite fruit is back in season and so cheap! Yummy....it is orange and has dark brown seeds. I love it when it is just going soft. Can you guess what it is?