all about zylan

To the Land below the wind

2010-02-24T13:18:00.047+08:00

Early morning at the airport

Last few minutes at the departure hall

Finally...in the plane

All excited...

Yup...read thru the safety procedures boy..

Seafood restaurant at the Water front

Status of big lobster...

Please smile at the camera and don't move...

Jesselton point..long walk from the hotel..

Brought Zylan's goodies to keep him entertained for dinner...

Seafood again? no wonder i'm bOoored..

Nice and hot afternoon at the Water front.

I've got my sunnies and starbucks ice-blended choc..while Daddy is getting his foot massage.

Lets go run around mummy...

How many times u want me to pose? get the camera settings right this time!

Going home...KK airport is even more boring..

Afternoon nap on the plane...

Lets go see birds!

2010-02-03T13:03:00.030+08:00

Public holiday and it was packed! Luckily people are dispersed insid so you can move around with ease.

Beautiful peacock ....still a little shy.

Hey what's the chicken doing here??

Flawless white cockatoo..

I want to feed the fish!
Sorry...mummy didn't bring any coins

Lories feeding... very fun! grab a cup of milk plus honey or some sunflower seeds, raise your hands in the air and swoosh..here they come!

Hi there...
*frozen*

*you can go now...*

Aha! One landed on Daddy's head..pecking on the sunnies. Probably thought he saw another bird!

*ahh....*

*so pretty...can i touch?*

Time to move on...saw some chicks and ducklings at the nursery.

We headed back to lorries feeding again after Daddy's friends came.

Wooooi!

Surprised by the birds the second time around...and he still couldn't get comfortable with their sharp claws.

All of a sudden, all the birds flew right up to the top...? Ahh...it was the thunder that scared them away.

Oh-o...it's going to rain! We hurriedly headed back out and went to Hornbill for drinks together. Z fell asleep, woke up 45min later and we said good byes and headed home.

Goodbye Dino...

2009-06-18T22:26:00.006+08:00

It was only last night when Zylan and I was reading the Barney book before his bedtime, we came across a picture of an iguana at the zoo that I reminded Zylan not to bully poor Dino.

Zylan called Daddy this afternoon with his breaking news:
Daddy! O-gwa-nah dai di-di.

Daddy's pet Dino has left us.

Talk like Baby no more..

2009-06-01T22:14:00.006+08:00

Zylan was about 14months when he started to learn how to talk. He could call Mummy and Daddy very well by then, and he was moving on to everyday words like dog, cat, bread, banana etc. He would try and repeat everything we'd say, sometimes coming out perfectly but sometimes just amusingly funny.

Zylan's classic ones are (which coincidentally or not? are his favourite things):
baa-bing = balloon
am-bee-ta-ta = umbrella
sor-bree-baa-bee = strawberry

But he could say things like watch or plant with extremely perfect pronunciation that mum was very amazed and proud at the fact that he even had the 'ch' at the end of the word watch and the 't' at the end of the word plant.

Now at 20 months, he could make very good sentences. Every morning when he wakes up he would greet us with 'Gud mo-ning Daddy' and 'Gud mo-ning Mummy'. And then followed by his favourite phrase 'Go downstairs!'. When you are tired and just want to lie for another 5 min, that's the last thing you'd want to hear!

Once downstairs, he would start looking for his ball to kick around or badminton racquet or shuttlecock to play with. And he would ask 'Drink vitagen'. We will get him a vitagen to drink in the car on the way to my MIL's place.

During the car ride, he would tell us 'Many buses' and followed by question to himself 'where? where?' and then he answers himself with 'oh derrr'. Or sometimes he would ask for 'Uncle Joe' - his favourite song from Kindermusik.

You could have a proper conversation with Zylan, but when you ask him a question he would always answer with a 'uh' or 'um', even tho he knows how to say 'Yes' or 'No'.

Today, he almost killed Daddy's pet iguana Dino by pulling the poor guy out from his cage and swinging him around. Fortunately for Z, the iguana was very much tamed and poor Dino has also lost all his teeth over the years of being ill and under nourished. Z has always tried to disturb Dino by pulling his tail which jut out from the cage and poor Dino would know when Z's near he would curl his tail back in.

When we picked him up from MIL's place, I asked him after we got into the car:
Mummy: Zylan what did you do to the iguana today?
Zylan: Uh! Pull o-gwa-nah tail!
Mummy: Why did you do that? Next time don't pull iguana's tail okay?
Zylan: Uh! Daddy! Pull o-gwa-nah tail!
*fainted*

Couple weeks back, Z almost killed my MIL's little fishes when he caught one of them with his hands ad started waving at the fish 'Hi!' 'Hello, fish!'.
*fainted*

LV's salon

2009-05-01T10:13:00.005+08:00

Z was long overdue for a haircut. Been getting alot of comments on 'time to trim his hair' so I decided to get it done! We were also going to SG in two days and will be spending a week there, thought maybe he should get a "nice" haircut before that.

The pro at work...

Finishing touches....

Mummy....caaa-rreeee!!

A little bit more please...please.... (almost begging now)

Okay....lets go!

Decent Shoes

2009-04-19T14:30:00.001+08:00

We finally bought Zylan a pair of decent shoes. Real shoes!

We went shoe shopping for Zylan at Mid-Valley. Walked the whole Gardens looking for baby shoes and I must say they have so limited baby shoes there. Found one I like by Clarks but no size!! :-(

So we walked over to the old wing to see if any luck. Finally found tree house and pick this shoe out, but we didn't buy it there. We went back to tree house in 1U cause there was some stitching problem with the shoe and it was the only new pair there.

Had a hard time trying to get Z to take the shoe off because he liked it very much. Had to convince him many times that I will buy him the shoe, but just not from that shop.

When we finally bought him the shoe later that afternoon, he was extremely happy and insisted to wear it inside the house the rest of the day.

budding talent

2009-02-24T20:24:00.000+08:00

Look, I can strum the guitar now!

I think this haircut doesn't suit me Mummy...
Oooppss.... :-D

I still like the piano...and I'm getting better at it.

CookieThief

2009-01-24T13:53:00.000+08:00

caught red handed....

I love Mummy's hokkien mee

2009-01-19T20:00:00.000+08:00

Two thumbs up for Mummy's hokkien mee.

Yum! Yum! Delicious!

I want some more...I''ll give you two thumbs up again..

More please...put here in my bowl

Give me more or I'll eat the spoon!

New Year 09

2008-12-29T10:31:00.001+08:00

We are back at PD for the new year break and decided to stay 2 nights after the total disappointment from the Melacca trip.

Wishing the security guard a merry christmas ;-)

Extremely windy at the water chalet.

Zylan running along the corridors of the water chalet.

First Christmas

2008-12-25T10:30:00.003+08:00

This is our nicely little decorated christmas tree which I am not allowed to touch! Hmph!!

Lets open this big present and see what I got from Aunt Lilian.

Very difficult to open....need help from Daddy.

Eh...this looks like the tractor which I picked out myself!

Hurry up Daddy, take it out...here let me give you a hand.

Better stand back and see what those animals are up to...

Christmas Break

2008-12-22T15:55:00.000+08:00

We wanted a short break somewhere for Christmas and after much much consideration we decided to go to Melacca, silently praying that we will not be stuck in the jam like we did the last time.

Walking along Jonker during the day before we were due to check-in.

At one of the famous geographer cafe, which is visited mostly by foreigners.

Christmas lights at the hypermart.

At the unbelievably terribly hotel, which we will never return to, Ever! Even though Zylan was still enjoying himself a fair bit climbing here and there.

I bought him a tambourine and a chinese drum at the Jonker street night market. To enhance his musical skills... :-p

That's what it is really for....to keep him occupied even for just one minute.

The next morning, Zylan was awoken by the Nokia ringing tone from the corridor. He jumped up and called "Kong Kong". Thanks to the efficiently thin hotel room door, and some un-cle's(!) Nokia phone, we were all awake by 7!

After breakfast, we packed and headed off to town, looking for knick knacks and found a toy shop.

We waited outside the toy shop with Zylan asleep on Daddy's shoulder, while planing on whether to buy the rocking horse or not.

Conclusion - Zylan did not want the rocking horse. So we left and headed for early lunch.

We went to bulldog cafe just around the corner. We missed this on our last trip.

Zylan enjoying himself to a pie tee.

Too strong for your little taste buds, my friend?
No-ooo, not hungry.

Enjoying the drinks the most, as usual.

After lunch, while heading back, we stopped over at the crocodile farm.

Largest crocodile

Cowboy got lost...

Opps, that was Daddy.

Highlight of the day, watched the crocs got aggravated and heard their jaws snap(!).

Time to head home with an over exhausted baby.

Ostrich Farm

2008-12-07T13:30:00.000+08:00

Our trip to the Ostrich Farm just before we left PD. Truly and eye-opener.

Sad looking birds. Almost lost all feathers.

One friendly goat.

One curious baby.

Other pictures are abit disturbing for me to post. It keeps reminding me of the things we saw at the farm. So rather no post it here.

First vacation

2008-12-06T14:13:00.005+08:00

We decided to take a short break at port dickson, staying over for a night to see how Zylan responds to sleeping in a foreign place. The last time I tried to put him in mum's place for an afternoon nap, he cried in the room and refused to sleep :-( But that was when he was probably 6 or 7 months old.

So today, we had Kindermusik class deferred cos I wouldn't have time to prepare everything, pack up before we headed for class. Too stressful even just from thinking about it. But still we ended up leaving just about lunch time :-p

So we got there, managed to check-in after a long wait. Was some confusion as we were given a room which was already occupied, but that got sorted out slightly faster than the check-in.

Zylan excitedly checking out every corner of the room.

Window at the side of the room, over-looking the pool.

My cheeky boy trying to tell me that's a switch and he shouldn't touch it.

The day bed at the side of the room, next to the balcony.

Ahh....cushions are comfy too!

Nice and wide.

Checking out the bed.

Bouncy too....

The coffee table swivels, not sure if it's meant too or just a defect!

Getting Zylan's porridge ready for dinner.

There is a small kitchenette area in each of the rooms. Very convenient especially since there is not many eateries in PD which is suitable for Z.

The view from our balcony.

Many comfy cushions at the lobby area.

We decided to head to the pool but unfortunately it started to rain! so we decided to wait it out awhile and take some pictures at the lobby area. The rain stopped after 10min, so we headed to the beach instead with an umbrella from the hotel (just incase).

The wind was strong at the beachfront and Zylan was only keen at watching other people indulging in beach activities. It started to drizzle not long after, so we headed back to the hotel.

Showered and hoping that Zylan would take his afternoon nap. But was being too hopeful indeed.

So we decided to check out the infamous stretch of weekend market opposite the beach at KM4. Zylan fell asleep as we entered the car :-p So Daddy had to carry him while he napped. By the time we were done , it was past 5pm and we decided to go for early dinner before heading home.

We had dinner at El Cactus, the famous and only mexican place in town. Zylan was getting cranky and refused to have his porridge. And mexican food didn't really quite suited him, so we rushed thru dinner, also afraid of mosquitos invading.

We headed back to the hotel and Zylan was asleep before 9pm, with Daddy fast asleep before Zylan.

Thus, waking up early in the morning feeling hungry...kekeke

Eventually, that woke Zylan up too. Only 7am...will be a looong day ahead...

Oops...down on the floor.

Time for breakfast.

Cereal...

Yummy...only at the first bite.

At the front of the dock area...

Oops....bad habit caught on from Mummy :-p

Cheeky act when he notices we were watching him.

Nice lounge area at the bottom of the stairs to the dock. But couldn't get Zylan to look at the camera.

We headed back to the hotel room and started packing. We were planning to visit the ostrich farm before we head back home.

Guitar

2008-11-03T19:48:00.000+08:00

Daddy bought a new guitar for Zylan when we were out for lunch today. Was excited to bring it home to Zylan that evening.

He was so happy to see the new guitar and kept calling 'ta' ...'ta' ...short for guitar. He walked all around the house carrying the guitar with him.

Tried to teach him to sweep his hands across the strings...but he loves to pluck the strings instead.

Will try to take some clearer pictures to replace these ones here.

Bubblegummers

2008-11-02T14:59:00.006+08:00

Zylan's first pair of real shoes....

Enough of embarrassment for not wearing shoes whenever we are outdoors.

The moose cause it's cute.

The open toe end so that I could see his toes. He tends to curl his toes up.

It's makes this squeaky sound every step which used to annoy the hell out of me. Zylan was very amused with it, so we left the plastic squeaker on the shoes...for the time being :-p

Zylan was walking all over the shopping mall and cold storage, falling down every few steps. But still made a very happy day for him! :-D

It started with...

2008-10-26T21:51:00.004+08:00

Zylan was due for his 12mth jab. I decided to wait until he passed his first birthday before going for the jab. Coincidentally the past days he has been getting this funny bites on his legs, and I wanted to bring him to the doc for a check. So we decided it was about time, he got his jab as well.

I hate going to the clinic on Sundays, especially if you are not there to queue up before the clinic opens. Sounds damn kiasu but that's the only way that you don't have to wait for ages in a room full of sick children for your turn.

We ended up waiting for an hour....although we were the 7th in line, thanks to those that put their name and left and came back just before our turn, not to mention one mother who cut the queue. Benefit of doubt that her daughter was probably very ill.

i'm bored....

We took Zylan swimming the next day (that's when the water boo-boo happened) and he also had another dip at mum's house with Maya and Alayna that same evening :-p

He got me cornered so I gave in! :-D

Anyways, 2 days later, Zylan got the flu. (Okay, so we weren't exactly sure if it was from the clinic, or he caught a cold from swimming - but clinic full of sick children has got a bad rep).

Look at that leaky nose on day 3....poor baby...

We started him quickly on the flu medication and he got better in the next 5 days. But he started to become very clingy and easily irritated. On the 8th day, he started having fever.

We woke up every 2 hours at night to keep a check on him to make sure his fever was in control. Had to even wake him up to give him his fever medication, he wasn't at all happy cos he was sleepy and it was hard to fall asleep again.

By the third day, the fever was finally in control but he started having red spots like rashes on the neck and forehead. (Hmm....sometimes when he wants it his way, and starts to cry - he starts to sweat like crazy and his forehead turns red) So we weren't sure if that was heat rash or something more to come...

The next morning...the red spots looked a little more around the neck and forehead. It was Altaf's day off so we decided to hold on till tomorrow to bring him in. To keep him entertained, we brought him to the mall.

We had lunch and Zylan had his first Italian meal..somewhat. Most of it ended up on the floor :-p

He was quite contented chewing on the straw.

We got home that evening and I had the shock of my life when I saw his whole body filled with red spots! Poor baby...

Almost killed us trying to figure out if it was measles. We sort of concluded he was and followed by the books on what if it was measles...

The next morning we were 3rd in line to see Altaf (we made sure we joined the queue before the clinic opens!). And thankfully, it wasn't measles. Zylan's got Roseala. Apparently it is some sort of 'fake measles' that is caused by virus and once it goes full blown (meaning from neck/forehead to body) he will start to get better.

Zylan lost about 1kg from the whole 2 weeks of illness :-( Hopefully he will bounce back soon enough.

Sign with Z

2008-10-26T09:30:00.001+08:00

Zylan keep getting bites on his arms and legs, worrying cause I don't know what it is that caused it. So we decided to bring him to the doctor today as Zylan was also due for his MMR jab.

Ended up being a terribly long wait and got me all heated up...and Zylan just couldn't sit still. Was also worried that Zylan might catch some bug with all the sick kids at the clinic.

New thing he learned recently - expression of donald duck.

Show Mummy how donald duck looks like...

No good....

Bored....

Why are we waiting so loong? Is it my turn yet?? Can we go now???

Poor baby...after all that waiting and get poked in the bum... :-(

the world upside down

2008-10-25T14:46:00.001+08:00

Zylan's sudden craze of turning upside down and waits for you to come look at him.

I am waiting.....

I am still waiting....

Where did Mummy go?

I'll try again later...

13 months

2008-10-18T08:35:00.013+08:00

Today Zylan turn exactly 13months. He now weighs about 10.3 kg and still has 2 meals of chicken or fish porridge daily - which I think he is getting sick of :-p And he takes about 3-4 bottles of milk daily of about 150ml each.

Zylan woke up early today, so I decided to bring him out to the playground. We have been getting very lazy these days, so it has been ages since our last morning walks and visits to the playground.

On the swing, trying to teach him to relax and lean back...

But he's still not getting the hang of it.

Something far caught his attention.... focusing hard..

We moved from the swing to the slides...Zylan trying to grab the camera before me...

Hole inspector....
"Why are there so many holes here, Mummy?"

Still fascinated with the holes...

We left the playground and headed to the gardens...

While we were strolling past other houses along the way, I noticed some children playing in the pool at the porch. That gave me an idea where to put up the pool for Zylan instead of the balcony which makes draining the water from the pool much easier.

So I went back, got the porridge cooking away in the slow cooker and started to set up the pool in our porch.

Not really a safe way to play as the bottom of the pool is not padded....

Anyways, we only spent about 10 min here and headed to shower and change as we plan to revive our Kindermusik class today.

Swimming @ Kiara

2008-09-28T18:20:00.003+08:00

Finally got Zylan his swimsuit last weekend!

We were out for lunch to celebrate Daddy's birthday (sort of). Daddy's sudden overcome of bad mood on Sat evening resulting in my long week prep plans for veal had to be canceled last minute..sigh Back to the story, we came back from lunch, me extremely stuffed so I took a nap together with Zylan. We woke up at 5pm sharp and just remembered - was planning to bring Zylan for a swim at the club.

So we packed up, made a move and picked up Aunt Lilian along the way. Got to the place, was packed with kids everywhere, as expected for Sunday evening.

Zylan changed and all set to hit the pool

The water in the pool was really cold...lousy place no heating in the pool!

Daddy and Aunt Lilian trying to get Zylan to sit and get him accustomed to the water temp first.

Zylan happily kicking away at the water while Aunt Lilian holding on to him.

Floating in the water....staring at the other kids. Probably want someone to play with him..kesian :-(

Zylan happily practising his walking in the pool. Daddy has to keep a hold on him.

He has a tendency to try and taste the water and end up getting water into his nose :-p

Zylan was very happy playing in the pool....happily splashing away here..

His face all wet...and now he wants to walk again....

Almost 7pm, time to go home. Zylan wrapped in the Mickey robe that we got for him. Mummy was rather unprepared, forgot to bring his towel along :-p

Next time...i'll remember

So, overall how much did Zylan liked his first swimming session?

:-D I think he enjoyed himself very much...

National Zoo

2008-09-18T10:42:00.019+08:00

Today is Zylan's actual birthday. Daddy and I took leave to spent time with our little darling. We decided to take Zylan to the zoo because after seeing horses up close at Bkt Tinggi, he seems to be able to relate better. Whenever we point out horses on books he will try and do an imitation of horses snorting and smiles at us.

So we packed up and headed to the zoo, trying to dress Zylan as lightly as possible.

First stop right after the entrance was giraffe! (mummy's favourite).

Next stop was elephants. There were only two elephants around and this one was very friendly....either that or hungry!

We walked on and saw some a couple of emus. Started to get a little hot, but most of the area are shaded and the weather was pretty good that day.

We walked on and saw lions. Zylan practicing the lion growl...

Went to Savannah walk which was like a desert.

There were more giraffes there roaming freely on one side...

And some muddy rhinos....

We took a short break here cos mummy was extremely dehydrated and tired.....

After the short break, we headed on and saw a pond full of flamingos!

It was coming to 2pm and Zylan hasn't had his lunch. So we quickly moved on....

I was in search of the bears in hopes that their living conditions has improved since the last I visited the zoo when i was 5yo.

Sadly, nothing's changed.....and Zylan's not even interested.

We headed to nearby cafe for a drink so that Zylan could also have his lunch. He wasn't in the mood for porridge.....So we left and then headed to the aquariums. We saw two cute little penguins on the way there..

Zylan wolf called a lady at the aquariums :-p She was with her bf who gave Daddy the dirty look :-D

We left the aquariums shortly after and headed for the animal show....very less lively which was much expected on a weekday.

After the show we headed home with Zylan fast asleep in the car.

We think we should come back again when Zylan is older, as a refresher to what he saw today, and we'll see how many of the animals he remembers then.

wedding entourage

2008-09-14T10:41:00.000+08:00

Daddy was attending his friend's wedding this morning and I decided to tag along with Zylan for the car ride.

Arrived at the bride's house, Zylan mingling with the boys with Daddy.

Group photo of the boys with the groom, there's a spot for Zylan too!

After the photo sessions, we were all just waiting for the bride to get ready. So the "heng tais" were engaged in some activities to keep everyone entertained.

Zylan was getting tired so we went back to rest in the car. He had a bottle of milk and nap for 20min.

Wide awake and amusing himself with the cards and receipts in my wallet.

Entertaining himself to uncle Alan's new car.... Hmmm....what's this piece here for??

What a GQ pose huh.... :-D

It's mummy that's got the skill :-p

Zylan and Daddy.

First Birthday

2008-09-07T12:26:00.018+08:00

It's Zylan's actual birthday today (in lunar calendar that is). We planned it specially to be on this day despite being told Sat was more cosy at the restaurant :-p

The tables were all set for the guests.

Zylan was scanning the place thoroughly, even though we've been here many times before, he seems to know there is something different going on today.

We were the first to arrive this morning, just before lunch time.

Zylan and Mummy posing for the camera. Zylan's seated at the center where everyone can see him.

KC and the sunshine band... just kidding Yew :-p

It's Daddy's cousin Ling with husband and kids, and Zylan's uncle Alan.

Zylan and Daddy.

What a nice pose with Grandma.

Aunt Yee Chin first to give ang pow.

The Chees' all in red :-)

Aunt Lilian has joined in the table with the Chees'.

Zylan enjoying his toast bread starter while everyone else having their soup.

He is starting to get the hang of eating finger food by himself...

Once everyone was done with their main meal, lets bring out the cake!!

Alot of oohs and ahhs...and even the kid on the next table kept running up next to Zylan to stare at the cake.

Family photo - color coordinated dress code yellow and khaki.

So now it's picture time with Zylan and cake. First we had the Yews'.

Then we had the other half of the Chees'...also all dressed in red ....this family has very good dress code coordination! :-)

After taking more pictures with the rest of the family it was time to cut the cake.

I almost blew out the candle and forgot about waiting for Daddy to jump in for a picture together... *shy*...thanks to Yee Chin for calling out to me .

For that Daddy can cut the cake with Zylan :-D

Zylan's not looking at the camera cos he's too distracted either with the kid at the far end of the restaurant keep running up to check on Mickey or everyone's shouting at him to "look here, look here".

Overall Zylan had a great time and he was really tired when we got home.

Dana @ Hse

2008-09-06T23:38:00.002+08:00

We did one at my in-laws place when I was pregnant and somewhat agreed to have one at our house just before I gave birth. But that didn't happened and we got caught up with everything else. So I tried to make it happen for Zylan's birthday. So basically this Dana is specially for Zylan's first birthday and also blessing of our home.

We invited 4 monks for the prayers today, but unfortunately 2 of them couldn't make it as they were stuck in heavy traffic after leaving from previous appointment.

Aunties and Uncle entertaining Zylan while the monks have their lunch. Thanks to my MIL for proving all the food for the lunch.

Monk entertaining Zylan while we were having lunch ;-)

Looks like he is doing a good job. Wonder if he would be interested to be my part-time babysitter..kekeke

After lunch, we started with prayers. Zylan was naturally being very comfortable at home, crawling all around his favourite spots and over everyone. Once the prayers ended, we started with the blessings.

Zylan was first in line for the blessing as he was summoned by the monk.

He looks like he was going to take a bite off the flower the monk was using to bless him. Even the monk couldn't resist laughing at that....

The monk was also escorted throughout the house for the house blessing ceremony.

Tying a blessed wristband onto Zylan's hand. He tugged at it for awhile and amazingly stopped after a couple of tries.

We were very amazed that he didn't kept tugging at the wristband. But after a week, I noticed the wristband became very loose and Zylan almost managed to remove it from his wrist. I quickly took it away from him.

This shows that doesn't mean you don't see him tugging at it, it will mean he doesn't tug at it!

Hopefully we can make it a point to do this every year...next year with a bit more effort, I will try my best to provide lunch :-D

Malacca

2008-08-31T11:49:00.019+08:00

Having to pick between Zoo Negara and Malacca, I went for the obvious one :-p I have been meaning to make a trip to Malacca for quite some time now. After much discussion, Daddy finally agreed, unwillingly :-p

The drive to Malacca was alright, with Zylan fast asleep. But the roads were pretty wet, we were hoping that it wasn't raining in Malacca and thankfully it wasn't. But the traffic, for a small(er) town, was absolutely CRAzy! After the exit toll to Malacca, we spent more than an hour trying to get to the town center and still have not arrived! Not knowing the directions, we were practically at the mercy of the traffic jam.

Zylan was awake and getting very restless in the car, refusing to stay in his car seat.
Maybe he is getting hungry too...chewing on the wet wipes....hai...

Lucky thing Daddy spotted a chicken rice shop along the way (as we were stationary in the jam) and we decided to park the car and get out for lunch. By then it was already past 2pm. Public holiday and we still need to pay for parking tickets!!Finally got the scratchy cards and we headed off for chicken rice ball.

No highchair available for Zylan so he has to sit on Daddy's lap for the time being.

Finally got one when the family on the next table with a baby left. Zylan looking bored and tired.

The food was pretty good here, apparently it is frequent by the locals - what a chance. We drop by the nyonya restaurant next door but only to find that their kitchen were already closed... :-(

So we made a move and headed down the street towards the historical sites. We decided to park our car along the street and walk down.

We first passed by the St Francis Xavier's church.

And then we walk pass some shoplots that were painted in bright red.

We arrived at the red clock tower.

I think this is Stadhuys - which is basically more red buildings. It was getting seriously hot.

Zylan was also getting more and more sleepy - was past his afternoon nap time.

At the entrance heading up to St Paul's church.

Half-way up, stop to take a pic with the view of the church at the top. Actually more like Mummy needed a rest :-p

Up at the church ruins was crowded with people/tourists.

Was too lazy to walk down all the way to A-Famosa. Can actually see it from here, but Mummy blocking the view in this pic.

Here you can see the A-Famosa - very tiny from here.

Zylan getting extremely tired, so we had to make a move. Long walk back to the car....

We got ourselves a drink and we just couldn't leave Zylan staring at us and having none. First taste of 100+ and he just can't get enough of it :-p

Piano

2008-08-21T09:17:00.001+08:00

Zylan absolutely loves music!

My little Beethoven in the making :-D

Wait till you see him bang on the keys.....

Playground visit

2008-08-12T18:30:00.002+08:00

This evening's weather was sunny but breezy, so we decided to take Zylan to the playground.

yay...i finally get to go out.. :-D

what's happening over there??

hi daddy...you taking a picture of me?

okay...i had enough...i'm getting out!

curious where this tunnel like thing is heading...

scratchy scratchy ears....

it's dinner time, sun's gone down and Zylan' s getting tired and hungry..

we'll be back!

Pasar Malam

2008-08-12T17:02:00.000+08:00

This is Zylan's first time at Pasar Malam. Our mission was only to come and buy Daddy's old time favourite yam ball pastry. We had only just came from the mall, and Zylan was still clad in long sleeve.

It was quite sunny, we parked amazingly far and we didn't bring an umbrella with us - *Daddy refused to take*.

So I made Daddy take a picture of us. Zylan curiously scanning the whole place and everyone there.

Bukit Tinggi

2008-08-11T23:37:00.018+08:00

I actually wanted to stay a night at Colmar with Zylan and Daddy. Thought it would be a nice family trip for us and when I told Daddy he was also very keen on the idea. But as usual we kept things till the last minute and the booking was too late for the price we target for. So we decided to make it a day trip instead.

Zylan getting bored on the ride to Bukit Tinggi. Mummy also running out of energy to keep him entertained.

I don't want to sit in my car seat *pout* :-(

One of the roads leading to Colmar was closed so we had to take the one that bypasses the Berjaya Country Club (which is nearby the Rabbit farm). So on our way up, thankfully it wasn't as winding as up to Genting, we passed by the Horse Trail. Entrance fee was RM2 per person and free for Zylan.

It was a well worth 2 bucks for me! Never been up close with a horse before and it was really awesome :-D Zylan enjoyed it very much.

Curiously peeping away...

Brave...

He stared at the horses curiously and was even bold enough to touch the horse's mane. But when one of the horses snorted for the first time, that startled Zylan and he jumped with fright. But he quickly got used to the sounds and everytime I mimic the sound of a snorting horse, he will smile at me.

We left the Horse's Trail and carried on our journey and arrived at Rabbit Farm. Entrance fee costs us RM6 per person. We got to see rabbits, donkey and deers. I let Zylan touch the rabbits, but everytime I put him near them, he pulled at their ears. So after awhile, I just kept him at looking distance.

Zylan tugging at the poor rabbit..

By the time we were done at the rabbit farm and we fed Zylan his lunch (which took some time to get him to finish 2/3 of his porridge), it was past 3pm. We hurriedly left and headed towards the long awaited Colmar.

It was rather quiet at Colmar, all the shops were pretty much closed.

Zylan forcing a smile even tho he was eXtremely tired..

Daddy was busy with the camera so I just took some quick shots of me with Zylan at the market place.

Showing Zylan our photos to try and keep him awake :-p

We headed up to the tower for more pictures.

Zylan's eyes all red...

Was getting a bit more windy up here, as tho it was going to rain.

It was almost 5pm. Having skipped his afternoon nap, Zylan was very sleepy and started to get cranky. So we hurriedly took some pictures at the tower and then headed to the entrance of Colmar to see the swans.

More pictures with the swans and at the entrance of Colmar (will post later).

We headed to Japanese gardens with Zylan fast asleep in the car . I waited in the car with Zylan while Daddy went to the gardens himself, capturing some pictures at the tea houses. Zylan woke up about an hour later while we were driving home (hai...which means, it will be a late night for us tonight!).

Genting

2008-08-03T15:28:00.001+08:00

This was an unplanned trip, as Daddy told me in the morning that the Yews were going up to Genting for a day trip. So Daddy was very keen to bring Zylan for a ride up to Genting to enjoy the cool air. I had merely 2 hours to prepare everything, so I immediately started to prepare Zylan's lunch. While porridge was still simmering away, I brought Zylan up for his morning bath and got him changed.

By 12pm, Zylan was ready to go with his lunch packed in the thermos. Daddy then said he had to reply an office email and had to login for "awhile". Was playing with Zylan and remembered that the "awhile" usually last a couple of hours, by experience, so I decided Zylan should probably have his lunch first. I think the spoon kept him entertain and he was also probably hungry. He finished his porridge and didn't make much mess, he was being such a darling :-D

Lunch was over and Daddy was still in his "awhile" time frame. Zylan gave a big yawn while I was carrying him on my way upstairs to take a quick shower and get changed. He was fussing when I left him alone to play in his cot, so I had to call for Daddy to come to Zylan's rescue.

We hurriedly got everything ready and by the time we left the house, it was just past 2pm. I gave Zylan his bottle of milk, and when he was done, he was sleeping soundly. We picked up my FIL on the way, who engaged in an excited conversation with Daddy, so I had to try and cover Zylan's ears so as not to wake him up. While ensuring this, noticed Daddy missed the exit to Batu Caves and we had to go all the way past Selayang market to make a U-turn back. Sigh...

Anyways, after almost an hour, we were about at the foot of Genting. And that's when Zylan woke up. He recognized my FIL's voice and tried to turn around to find the familiar face. But I knew that would be impossible so I had to distract him to avoid him from hurting himself.

If you notice, we were 3km away from Genting View Resort, which is still a long way off.

The drive up was horrible, Zylan was uneasy as he was pushed from one side to another in his car seat. Poor baby! I had to keep him entertained and reassured him it was okay, and first experience being in the rear of the car up to Genting, made me nauseas!

I was running out of toys to keep Zylan entertained. He was probably feeling nauseas too, after all the sharp bends on the way up.

So even Mickey & Minnie had to go.

Took us quite some time to find where to park and locate the Yews.

After meeting up - with everyone having said their hellos to Zylan, we went to have lunch. Place was Packed and Noisy! We ended up at McDonalds which was right in front of the Carousel.

After lunch, met up again with some of the rest and we took some pictures at the Carousel.

Contemplated on letting Zylan ride and the Carousel, but when I finally decided he should have a go at it, he fell asleep on Daddy's shoulders.

So we headed off the Starbucks for coffee.

By the time the rest were done with their rounds at the Casino and Zylan woke up from his nap, it was past 6.30pm.

We hurriedly said our good byes, (which felt like it took forever) and headed to the dodgy carpark again.

We managed to take some shots before we left, but it was getting dark so we quickly made our move.

Zylan started his cranky moods again as it was getting late and he's still not in his jammies at home listening to his CD! ;-)

This is probably going to be the last time I would attempt a trip to Genting, at least until Zylan is much older but Never again on a Sunday!

Playgroup on Hold

2008-07-21T18:30:00.001+08:00

After much discussion, we decided to put the Kindermusik sessions on hold until Zylan is slightly older. So we called up to have the classes deferred until 3 months later. What I had in mind was to wait until Zylan was older and when he could walk independently then we would resume the classes. Zylan's got very sensitive skin and nose, this is so to minimize contact with the floor during classes.

So, I decided to make use of the materials that I already paid for. The songs are quite catchy, and suitable for little babies. Zylan loves the songs in there. He recognizes the starting of the first song in the cd that whenever I start playing it, he will smile excitedly, makes his funny laughing sound and starts waving his hands :-D

Hopefully we will be able to resume classes earlier than what we planned, so that Zylan gets to interact with other babies more (which is my main reason for the classes) and he gets to learn something.

Till then, it is Mummy the Home-Kindermusik-1-lesson educator :-)
See you in Oct Mrs Teoh!

Playgroup Hunting Continues

2008-07-19T11:15:00.007+08:00

I found out about this from the Internet so we called up last week to inquire about the trial class and was booked for Sat 11.15am. But Zylan fell asleep that morning at 10.45 so we ended up not turning up for the class again.

This week, I am determined to bring Zylan for the trial class. We booked for the 11.15am class again because I wanted to go for Mrs Teoh's class. Apparently she is the most experience Kindermusik educator in Msia.

So this time we had to make sure we planned in advance for Zylan to nap just before the class starts. Everything went well this morning. We were out of the house by 10.30am and Zylan fell asleep in the car within minutes. We passed by SS2 to pack a snack for a quick brunch and headed to SIM. We arrived well before time so we waited in the car for Zylan to wake up. When he got up, I carried him down while Daddy went to find a park. This place really needs a parking lot.

The administration staff was pretty friendly. She led me upstairs where the classes where. It was a short narrow, winding staircase with slippery tiles. *Mental note to wear rubber shoes the next time* :-p There were about 4 rooms upstairs and we were supposed to be waiting for the session in KM1 to finish because that's where our session will be. Daddy came up just in time when that session ended and all the parents/babies swarm out of the room.

We caught sight of our tutor Mrs Teoh, a very friendly, warm and cheerful looking lady. She looked like Cinderella's fairy godmother...Well...maybe without the wand and the attire. They both have some resemblance, you need to meet her in person to know it.

Anyways, since it was trial session we were both allowed to be in the session with Zylan. The class started with some singing led by Mrs Teoh, followed by some massage session and then alot of vigorous exercises for me. I was exhausted after 15min into the class, so I had to pass Zylan over to Daddy who took over from there. Clearly shows how unfit I am.

Zylan seemed very excited and active the entire session. This was also because he already had his nap earlier. But he seems to like Mrs Teoh a lot which is a good sign. He's not too good at interacting with other babies as yet, but at least much better than some others. There was a boy, Y whom I find was quite rough and obnoxious. Y threw egg shakers at Zylan and SY (another 7mths baby girl), I almost wanted to go up and slap him or his mother. But I only managed to give him and his mother a quick stare.

Overall I found the class very entertaining and conducive. And I was very pleased with Mrs Teoh being the tutor. So after the class, we went to sign-up for a semester with Mrs Teoh. We got a slight discount because we signed-up right after the trial class. Having said that, the materials are quite pricy and you have to purchase them.

Anyways, when we got home I brought Zylan up to change, I noticed Zylan's back was filled with small little red spots that looked like insect bites. It must have been dust mites at the class which caused it! Poor baby :-( No wonder he was being very difficult on the way home. So I hurriedly got Zylan ready for a warm bath.

Mum and Dad came over this evening to see Zylan and when they found out about the spots on his back, they couldn't stop complaining. Dad was quite upset at seeing this and asked me to stop the classes immediately. But I already paid one semester and we're not exactly sure if it was due to SIM's carpet flooring (which is the biggest suspect at the moment). But to confirm that we need to go for another class and if it's true, poor Zylan would have to go thru that again.

What should I do now?

First Pair of Shoes

2008-07-06T18:27:00.000+08:00

It's about time we got Zylan a pair of shoes, cos everytime we go out, he seems to be the only baby that goes around bare foot.

It was too cute for me to resist :-D

Hope he likes it and get used to wearing shoes tho!

Pool

2008-06-28T15:31:00.003+08:00

After 2 weeks of scouting around for a pool, we finally managed to get a good buy for one with the right size. Zylan was very excited when I opened the pack and started to inflate the pool. He just couldn't wait!

Finally, after getting the right amount of water at the right temperature :-p

Zylan so happy to finally get to play in the pool. Splash around so hard that his whole face is wet.

Haven't been able to find Zylan swimsuit for his size. So used one of his t-shirt which fits snugly. Hope that it will protect him from getting a chill.

Still on the hunt for swimsuit...

Cheeky face, he just couldn't stop trying to drink the water in the pool.

So far, we only had two sessions playing in the pool because Daddy finds it too tiring to fill the pool and then drain it later :-p

Maybe when I get Zylan his swimsuit, we can have more playtime pool sessions.

Playgroup Hunting

2008-06-28T15:13:00.001+08:00

What I had in mind was to let Zylan communicate with other babies his age instead of facing adults who immitate silly expressions and baby talks to get his attention all day.

So we heard about this, but not sure what the classes are like.

We finally made up our minds to just go for it! Sunday's session for Level 2 (6-10 months) was at 2.50pm.

But due to bad planning we had the maid over to clean the place at 12ish. Sadly only by 2.30pm I managed to get everyone out of the house and get going. And 5min later, Zylan fell asleep in the car. So I told Daddy not to rush as he was already sleeping, but someone ticked him off by tail-gating him so we ended up reaching Bangsar in less than 15min. Hai..

Spent a good 10min trying to look for a park while waiting for Zylan to wake up. We parked the car finally but he was still asleep. Poor baby was awoken by the busy traffic at the parking lot. So we hurriedly got him out of the car and headed to the place. Since we were late, we just thought of going to see what the classes were like.

Zylan didn't seem to have any interest as he was still rather sleepy. Poor thing :-( So we decided to come back the week after for a trial class. We thought maybe going for the earlier 11.15am session might help to avoid clashing with his nap time.

So the following Sat, as usual bad planning, we left the house late about 10.55am and again(!) Zylan fell asleep in the car. I had to wake up him when we arrived and he was not at all happy about it. Looks like he's got mummy's sleeping ethics.

When we got there, the class just started so we hurriedly joined in. Throughout the class, Zylan was being an observer. He wasn't all too keen on the activities and gave very limited response. All because he was tired and sleepy. There were 15babies altogether with their parents at the class and it was extremely crowded. Everytime there was a new activity, most parents will rush their baby up the front to be the first in line. Damn KS!! And before we even got a chance to get close to the setup to let Zylan have a try, the instructor was already packing up and moving on to the next activity. And there goes all the KS parents crowding the area of the new setup again!

That really did put me off and I was quite certain I wouldn't come back here again.

Once in awhile they will come up and start calling Zylan's name. By the end of it, we knew why. She just wanted us to sign up for the 1 yr package. Once the class was over, Zylan gave an extremely big *YAWN*. We told her we need to think about it especially when the timings are bad and classes are so crowded. She wasn't too pleased and started to lose interest in persuading us to sign up.

So overall, they won't get my recommendation for sure. Way too commercialized and I just can't stand the big time KS parents. Also there is no personal touch from instructor i.e. instructor doesn't spend one-on-one time with baby.

But it was surely an experience for me. Interesting enough, we also met some of the parents that went for the same pre-natal classes as us.

Anyhow, the hunt for playgroup continues...

Natural Laxative

2008-06-22T17:03:00.001+08:00

Bought this sometime back when we were at BSC having lunch and I got Zylan his first bottle of jar food.

The selection was quite interesting so I decided to pick a few - mainly those that I can't seem to find as fresh fruit at the organic shops. So the Gerber prune was one of them that I got. I thought this would be a good idea since Zylan needed to strain very hard sometimes when he needed to poo-poo.

So, one fine Sat I gave this to him as an intro to a new fruit. The taste was probably too strong for him cos his first expression looked like I just gave him a piece of lemon. I only let him have a few little spoons as trial tasting and even then he poo-poo-ed more than usual that day. I guess it must have been less strenuous for him this time around.

The next day, while we were out and waiting for Daddy in the car, I was busy entertaining Zylan.

We were playing with froggie and laughing happily away.

See, he looks quite happy and contented doesn't he?

So naturally I didn't notice anything unusual until I decided to carry him out of the seat for awhile....

gawd....

I didn't even noticed that he had poo-poo-ed and that together with his pee had leaked out to his shorts and soiled the seat as well. White shorts and brand new seat.... just great! :-(

Luckily we were nearby mum's place, so we had to do a quick detour there. Got him cleaned, washed and changed. But the seat took a lot longer to remedy. Daddy probably almost scrub a hole in the seat cover :-p

So, here is a big NO NO to prunes. Honestly prune works very well, but this fruit is sort of banned until unless otherwise needed.

On the bright side, I have found an excellent remedy incase we ever need a cure for constipation.

Fish

2008-06-14T13:30:00.003+08:00

Today is my second attempt at introducing porridge to Zylan. Last weekend's attempt was quite a failure. I am beginning be more convinced that it's due to the recipe. Too much porridge and too little pumpkin. Didn't continue with the porridge along the week because Zylan's loss of appetite due to teething season :-p

So mum made me a good whole week of concentrated fish stock. Apparently she couldn't get XL size fish bones so she had to use M size fishes to make the stock.

The stock was to make Zylan's porridge today, hopefully with the extra fish zing he will like it. This week's new food - Fish.

My baby's a big boy now!! He's eating Fish Porridge :-D

I was so proud and excitedly cheering him on along the way.

Zylan still trying to figure out this new food. Every now and then putting his fingers in his mouth and touching everywhere, making himself and the high chair smelling extremely fishy.

Still didn't get very far...only managed two tablespoons of porridge and he started to arm wrestled me for the spoon.

Well, at least today's result was much better than the first attempt. It always gets better.... well done Zylan baby! :-)

Visit to the Park

2008-06-14T09:30:00.007+08:00

Weekdays we don't get to spend much time with Zylan. By the time we pick him up, we have to rush home, have a quick dinner and then get him changed and put him to sleep. Once it gets dark, Zylan will start feeling sleepy and he will be very cranky in the car and it would be challenging to get him changed.

So weekends are the only time we get to play with him, if we have enough energy that is. Usually I try to nap whenever Zylan naps to recharge my batteries. But sometimes even before I fall asleep, he's already done with his nap. That's his Power Nap.

Now that Zylan is older, he begins to be more interested in things around him. Especially when we are back home before dark, he would stare at the playground in front of our house which is usually full of older children during the evenings. So it's really such a poor thing to keep him indoors all the time.

So Sat morning, Zylan woke us up early and it was a cloudy day. We decided we should bring him to the park.

When we arrived at the park, the sun was already coming out. Daddy equipped with his camera, pushing the stroller with Zylan in it.

There's my little darling, smiling for the camera even though he wasn't all too cheery the whole time.

Zylan looking curiously, waiting to go home.

Daddy trying hard to get a good shot of the fountain.

Zylan getting angry here, making a fuss now and then. So we decided we should go home and come back another day.

We were at the park again the following week, and Zylan made even more noise. Looking very sad here. Tired, maybe?
Daddy trying to cheer him up abit.

Finally managing a little smile.

After that, Daddy carried him while we were walking back towards the entrance and he was feeling abit more cheered up.

I guess he is just feeling a little lonely in the stroller and maybe he's not liking the view from sitting position in the stroller.

Heart to heart

2008-06-12T13:37:00.006+08:00

The boys having a heart-to-heart talk on the bed :-p

The very rare moments of conversation with Zylan. Catch his little tummy here, looks like he's quite bloated.

Porridge

2008-06-07T13:33:00.005+08:00

Today is Zylan's first introduction to porridge. This is a really big step for Zylan as he is moving towards eating real solid food. So it was going to be pumpkin porridge today. I was rather excited, having revised the recipe in mind many times and again. I even went to buy a fresh new piece of organic Australian pumpkin which smelled extremely good and looked absolutely delicious! :-D

First taste wasn't too convincing. He made alot of fuss showing dislike of this new taste.

So I tried giving more pumpkin, which was his favourite but still the taste didn't managed to convince him.

After trying very hard to tempt him, he reluctantly took another spoonful.

On the third spoonful the drama started.

This is to convince me that he really doesn't like the taste. Hai..... :-(

Then his hands started coming at me, trying to push the food away 0r grab the spoon.

End up being playfood.

Basically outcome is sadly disappointing :-(

I think he just hasn't gotten used to this new bland taste. Will have to be more persistent and hopefully the next few attempts will be more successful.

Meanwhile, more pumpkin porridge for me! :-)

Attached to Mummy

2008-06-05T19:34:00.003+08:00

Tonight has finally brought me the rewards from many months (8months, 2weeks and 5days to be exact) of my effort in taking care of Zylan. He has finally responded by showing that he is attached to me. It is an EXtremely rewarding feeling knowing that he needs me to comfort him :-D

When we dropped him off at my in-laws' the following morning, he cried in refusal the first time I passed him over to my MIL.

Although surprised and touched by his actions, I quickly gave him a kiss and left hurriedly with a heavy heart. Coincidentally a couple days back, I just read that you should never prolong the good byes if your child has separation anxiety (not that I think Zylan has), but this is also to avoid confusing him further.

We arrived early at my in-laws' one day to pick him up and I didn't go up to carry him. He glared at me the whole time with an angry face until I went up to carry him, only then he gave me a smile.

He would look for me especially when it's bedtime and wants me to feed him and put him to sleep. Can't confirm exactly if that's the reason why many times when Daddy tries to put him to bed, he would end up not sleeping. Even after over an hour, when I go up to check on them, I would find him eyes all red, extremely tired and still roaming around the bed, having exhausted my resource (i.e. Daddy). It's as tho he is waiting for me to come upstairs to put him to bed :-p

But at the same time, it has also sparked worry in me that he will not be able to sleep if someone else put him to bed let alone sleep on his own. So since then I have been slowly encouraging Daddy to take part in his bedtime routine which sometimes comes in the form of me nagging at Daddy for not helping me out. Daddy would pick putting Zylan to bed over washing and sterilizing the bottles :-p Fair enough.

By doing so, it also brought on a lot of mixed feelings in me. On one hand I want to let him get used to Daddy putting him to sleep and at the same time I want to continue to comfort him like I used to. And when he cries looking for me, it's a nasty feeling not attending to him and leaving him to try and accept comfort of someone else.

But as I try to constantly remind myself, this is for the best for all of us, I should try to let things go and just relax! Hopefully in time to come I will be able to graciously accept the fact when Zylan no longer rely solely on me to comfort him.

First sparkle

2008-06-05T17:37:00.021+08:00

Even way before Zylan starting teething, he was already putting everything he could get his hands on, right into his mouth. Usually his fingers, not sure if it's easy access.

Sometimes you catch him with almost his whole fist inside the mouth.

When Zylan finally managed to reach his feet there was more exploration for him.

When he learned how to stand up, he started biting at the cot bars. Happily chewing away here.

Move aside banana...
He rather have a go at the container cover than to eat the banana I cut up for him.

When he was actually teething, he started to drool more and he starts grabbing things from you to put into his mouth. He would grab our hands and bite our fingers when we play with him, he would bite your arms when you are lying next to him, he chunks at your shoulders when you carry him. And when he chews at his toys for some time, he gets frustrated and starts to fuss, jabber and later screams! Sometimes it's quite funny really.

The not so funny bit is that I realised that he had actually grated the paint off the cot. And there are tiny patches of paintless spots on the cot bars :-( Hopefully he didn't swallow too much of it.

Here he is biting at the trumpet toy. This is a funny toy, cos it actually speaks spanish as well.

Anyways, story is one day while cleaning his toy, I noticed that he actually scraped the orange paint off :-O So I have to keep close watch whenever he is playing with it.

Then the few days when he was teething, he felt rather warm, he didn't have much appetite, he poo poo-ed more often than usual and he couldn't sleep well. Poor thing. I hope it won't happen everytime a new tooth comes, cause that's what happened for the first two.

I tried taking a picture of the tiny pearly whites but it's really hard to get him to open his mouth and show them. He would have his tongue out waiting to lick or bite at something, or he would be laughing so hard that I can't get a good picture.

That's the best Mummy got so far. Will try again when more pearly whites appear.

First Hair Cut

2008-05-31T11:10:00.002+08:00

Tried to buy a pair of decent looking salon scissors with a decent price but to no avail. Found one which costs RM300 and everyone didn't think I had the flair to be a professional hair stylist, especially when I only needed it to trim Zylan's hair. So mum said I could take her pair of scissors which she used to cut my hair when I was in primary. She said it costs her Rm30 back then and it was already considered expensive. That was about 30 years ago but to me it was well worth the money as she had 4 guinea pigs to improve her skills compared to Rm300 with only 1 guinea pig :-D

Anyways, result was...it's always wise to listen to older people including Daddy :-p

Not because I didn't have the flair but because I feel it is extremely high risk to cut a baby's hair. Zylan just couldn't stay still for even one second!

He is just curious what you are doing to him and also the scissors was just too attractive to him.

So I tried putting him on the high chair.

He started to fuss after awhile, getting angry at being confined to the high chair.

So result was, I only managed to trim a little bit here and there especially the ones at the top of his head that tickles us every night when we put him to sleep.

So first hair cut didn't result in much of a new hairstyle. Just a little trim to keep the hair staying healthy and growing :-)

Zookie's Note

2008-05-22T15:54:00.003+08:00

Zylan was born in Sept 07. While caring for my first newborn, everyday seems like there is too much to do but too little time to do it.

I have been holding back starting a journal for him, even considered doing a scrapbook which I thought might be easier. And now he's already 8mths old.

So before holding back any longer, I finally decided to start a blog for him so that I can pen down all the moments of him growing up. Everyday has something new and interesting, and I hope that I am able to log them all in this journal.

Playpen

2008-05-18T13:26:00.007+08:00

This shot was captured when Zylan was 2.5 weeks old. Note the messy playpen. He was so tiny that we could put him sideways in the playpen and there is still loads of room for other things :-p

When he was 4 months old, Zylan grew much taller and he could no longer lie sideways in the playpen. He was busy rolling over and loves being on his tummy.

By the time he was 5+ months, he was learning to crawl. Usually he would be rocking back and forth really hard that the whole playpen would shake violently.

It was high time we lowered the changing area to the bottom of the playpen, where he could practice his crawling safely.

At 7months Zylan could crawl already. Sometimes we would put him in the playpen when we need our hands free to get something done.

Was trying to sneak up on him and get some shots of him playing inside the playpen, but he caught sight of me.

And here he comes....

Hmm....what's this? I didn't know I could escape this playpen here.

Zylan trying to force his way out of the playpen.

When he realised he couldn't get out, he started hitting the playpen. And then he grabbed the flap and started to pull hard, so I had to open the flap a little more before he breaks it.

Then immediately, see the hands coming?

When Zylan was 7.5months, he could stand on his feet with his hands holding onto the cot bars or the playpen.

We had to remove the musical mobile from the playpen cos he was pulling at the stuffed animals hanging from it.

At 8months, Zylan started teething and biting at everything he could reach.

He also didn't like being in the playpen anymore. He would try to climb out of it or just make alot of fuss when he is left inside.

When we put him out, he seems to be attracted to the playpen wheel, which is like accident waiting to happen.

So when Alaynna came we brought the playpen back to my mum's house, and my mum insisted we took it back after Elena went home. But we decided not to have the playpen around anymore. This way Zylan could have more time to explore other things and practice on his crawling or cruising.

Farewell playpen....

Exploring Parquet

2008-05-17T11:19:00.006+08:00

Was telling mum one day, that Zylan doesn't really like to crawl. He only crawls to where he can find something to pull himself up to standing position like the sofa, tv cabinet, me...
Mum claims that the tiled floors are too hard for his knees and suggested I let him try crawling upstairs on the parquet.

So lets see, this is Zylan's reaction to first time being on the parquet floor. He was 8months back then.

Motionless for awhile here - absorbing in the new feeling on his knees and analyzing the different view.

More relaxed after some time, increasing his pace around the room towards me.

Here he comes...

Reached his destination - end of crawling :-)

Zylan getting up on his knees and holding on to me. I think he's going for the camera...

Because of the ruined parquet floor due to flooding of our room one evening sometime end of last year, I was abit worried that Zylan might get cuts due to splinters.

The parquet is in much much worse condition than how it looks from the picture. But fortunately (or not) it is mainly in our room as I was lucky enough mum was around that day to help me salvage the other rooms.

So in conclusion, to me it's not the type of flooring that matters. Zylan just want to progress to standing and cruising.

New Hairdo

2008-05-15T08:40:00.000+08:00

One night I woke up to feed Zylan, and while feeding him I noticed there is something different about him. He looked different. I thought I was so sleepy that I was seeing things, but I wasn't. His hair looked different. Did someone cut his hair?? I will be very pissed if someone did, I thought.

So in the morning I went to Daddy first to confirm if Zylan did looked different. I asked "Does Zylan look different to you today?" and then Daddy replied "Mummy cut his hair ah?" :-p

Well, I guess his hair just grew in some places that made him looked as tho he had a new hairdo.

Zylan standing in the cot calling out to us to carry him. We let him play in the cot every morning while we get ready.

The new hairdo makes you look very ah piao baby!

Big Boo-Boo

2008-04-25T22:30:00.004+08:00

It was just like any other Friday, I was putting Zylan to sleep while Daddy went to play badminton. I fell asleep next to Zylan in our bed. And when Daddy got home, the door alarm woke me up. So I got up and went down to wash the bottles, with Zylan still fast asleep. I asked Daddy to check on Zylan upstairs.

It all happened unexpectedly, as I got carried away with washing the bottles thinking Daddy was checking on him. But not knowing Daddy also got carried away with some glue that stuck on his hands (I can't remember what is was for now). Then suddenly Daddy heard Zylan crying and called for me to go up and comfort him. So I ran upstairs into our bedroom. When I noticed he wasn't in our bed...my mind went 'Oh SHIT'. I panicked and tried to trace him by his cries when I found him lying on the floor next to our bed. He was face down with half his body under the cot.

I carried him out and comforted him. Half his face was red, due to the fall. Luckily no cuts anywhere on the face. Zylan didn't really cry much so I wasn't sure to be even more worried about it or not. He cuddled close to me and just wanted to go back to sleep. So I just carried him and let him fall asleep again.

I tried to check my ever trusty handbook but I couldn't find anything for this kind of emergency. Quick thinking Daddy went on the Internet and found that we should keep him awake for at least an hour. So I quickly woke Zylan up again, and try to play with him.

Keeping him awake wasn't too difficult because Zylan is naturally playful :-) But I think he was quite confused at us trying hard to keep him awake instead.

Thankfully he was alright. For the next 2 hours we kept him awake there were no signs of vomiting, nausea or confusion or anything. The next day he was still very much okay. But we decided better to bring him for a visit to Dr Altaf just for ease of my mind.

Sunday was usually packed with sick children and I didn't want him contacting anything from them. So we stayed in the car while waiting for our turn.

Had to managed an over-excited Zylan trying to explore the entire back half of the car plus me and the infant carrier in it :-p

Lucky brought some toys with me.

When it was out turn we rushed him in past all the noisy and obstructive kids into Dr Altaf's room.

Daddy was carrying Zylan with him facing forward. Dr Altaf did a physical check on Zylan's head, while Zylan was swinging his legs waiting patiently.

The leg swinging really amused Dr Altaf, as he gave the green light for Zylan, he made a comment "I guess if he is swinging his legs so happily then he is fine" :-)

The next few days a little yellow bump showed on his forehead. The bruise showed after 2 days.

It's really not that easy to spot the yellow patch. We told my MIL that he knocked his head on the floor while playing. Reason cause I just didn't want her to know and also cause this might be a cause for them to be less attentive.
Not to mention the whole Yew clan will be at our home commenting on the incident.

Anyways, when we went over to my MIL's house, she came running out to see him. She was very concerned for Zylan, while she was inspecting his head she commented in Hokkien "Mmm chai anh chuah kor".

Wow....that kinda stabbed me directly in the heart.

Dana at Temple

2008-04-20T13:38:00.010+08:00

Today was the first time we brought Zylan to the temple for Dana. Daddy had wanted to bring Zylan to the temple for some time now, so since today was the 15th in Lunar calendar, it is just perfect timing.

We managed to get there by 11-ish, and the monk has already started with the chanting at the great hall, and everyone was seated around paying attention or chanting along. So Daddy carried Zylan and we sat down at the back.

Zylan was curiously looking around and listening to the sounds, everything new to him. So I decided to take some pictures of him. Mummy not very sincere here, being at the temple and not paying attention but taking pictures? :-p

There is Zylan, still with the curious look while Daddy carrying him .

Zylan still wondering what is happening here. Looking at Mummy for answers...kekeke

When the chanting was completed, he let out a big scream. Zylan's closure to the chanting. It was funny yet embarrassing at the same time.

Then we headed to the dining hall for another round of chanting before offering food to the monks.

Once the monk had their lunch, we decided to leave cos Zylan was quite tired and hungry. We managed to take some shots at the great hall again before we left.

Zylan was fussing around, he kept turning so it was hard to carry him. Think he was trying to tell us, he wants to go home.

It was getting hotter and Daddy's sweat was dripping all over the great hall. So we decided to leave immediately.

Zylan was thirsty, hungry and tired. He went home for a vegetarian meal of spinach and rice cereal :-D

Doesn't look as tho he finds it yummy but as long as he is eating it, I'm happy.

And after that we went for a long nap together :-)

The First Food

2008-04-08T14:35:00.010+08:00

It took me days to 'investigate' on the best First food to give Zylan. We had initially decided on avocado because of the amazing nutritional value, but we finally decided to put it on hold after Dr Altaf suggested he was doubtful if it would be a hit with Zylan.

We then decided to go for pumpkin. We bought a whole pumpkin the weekend before, from the organic shop in ss2 cos the guy wouldn't cut it. The pumpkin seemed rather hard as I was told it would be soft. I thought it had a week to 'soften' so I was happy with my organic purchase.

On Tues, I decided I couldn't wait until Sat, so planning in mind on taking half day, I went to steam the pumpkin for Zylan in the morning. The pumpkin was still very hard and light yellow in color! So, we decided to take the second half of the day off, which means I had till lunch time to decide on another fruit/veg which I can give him today. Stress...

So lunch time, I rushed to buy another piece of organic pumpkin from Jusco which looked much more orangy. But daddy told me to scrap pumpkin and look for another fruit/veg. Stress....

I had to look for another fruit, Now! Stress....

Because I had no knowledge then, of organic shops available around our area and the limited selection of organic fruits in front of me, I bought a red apple in a rush and left.

Sadly and regretfully, After All That, the very first fruit Zylan had wasn't organic. It was a plain dark red washington apple.

But his reaction to the new food was interestingly funny and had daddy rolling on the floor in tears :-D

Hmm...what is this ? It doesn't taste like milk...

This food is making my eyes squint mummy....

What are you giving me mummy???

Yes, it's sour!
It seemed sweet to me, but daddy confirmed later that it has a slight sour taste to the apple :-p Sheesh, mummy's taste buds is getting abit thick isn't it? Sorry darling! ;-)

Learning to Crawl

2008-04-06T10:11:00.001+08:00

Mastering the crawling took quite abit of effort for Zylan and had us entertained for weeks. First he managed to move backwards on his tummy when he was about 5 months. Then he slowly learned to move his knees up into kneeling position and he would just rock back and forth on all fours. He managed to do that when he was 6months. Sometimes he would rock so hard like he was going to launch off.

By the time he was 6.5 months, he learned to move his knees up into position that looked like he was going to do some push-ups.

And he would move his legs like walking up until he reach a somewhat squat position...

Or sometimes he just falls onto his tummy half way walking up :-D

And slowly by 7months, he progressed to couple of paces of crawling. But he wasn't too interested in crawling as he would make alot of fuss whenever we put him down on the floor.

Playground

2008-03-20T08:58:00.001+08:00

This was our first visit to the playground in front of our house. Zylan was just over 6months old then. We had also just recently bought a new D40 Nikon SLR and was excited to take some good pictures with it. So I was carrying Zylan and walked over to the playground, Daddy following closely behind holding the camera.

I wanted a picture with the playground at the back. Zylan curiously looking around - we hardly bring him out for morning walks that's why.

Doesn't seem like he is too excited about seeing the playground.

Zylan staring hard at the playground.

What's so interesting there? Probably staring at passing by cars...

Not sure what was so interesting over here as well. Too busy trying to capture a nice shot.

SLR also not that easy... only higher chances of getting a nice shot. So just snap like crazy... :-p

Looks like he's happy to be leaving :-p

Roll over

2008-01-19T11:00:00.017+08:00

Those were the days when I can just turn Zylan to his side and he stays there until I turn him back. I can take my time to lotion his back, get the camera and capture a shot of him then get back to changing him and he's still in the same position.

This shot was taken when he was 3months old. He looks like he's trying to get his coordination right here...kekeke :-D Of course I didn't purposely take my time to get him dressed :-p

This was my probation period, to master the skills of changing baby in record time, in preparation for when he develops new skill of turning over or crawling and I can change him before he turns (yeah rite!).

Exactly on the 4th month, Zylan was able to roll over on his tummy. But he can only do it by turning to his left. He hasn't mastered rolling over by turning to his right, yet.

Once he discovered that he could roll over, he just can't wait to show it to us every time we put him down on the bed. So, I just have to keep practising at getting faster and more efficient with those buttons!

He gets really excited at this new skill he developed that sometimes he just rolls over and starts to laugh. But not before long he starts to cry for help, cos he hasn't mastered turning back again :-p

See the smile and excitement on his face when he turns over. Notice his hands sometimes gets stuck under his chest, but usually with some effort he manages to get them out.

There he managed to get his hands out. Still enjoying being on his tummy here.

This face shows the engine warming up, getting ready to cry for help! :-D

He just loves the liner or the rubber changing mat, so everytime I put him on top of it, he will turn to his side to grab it or try and bite it. Once he could turn over, it was more than biting, sometimes scratching at the mat.

He looks like he is so amazed at the mat, probably the colors attracting him.

Right after he knew how to roll over, he tried to turn back again to lying position. Here he is trying to turn back again.

Our favourite

2007-11-16T10:33:00.004+08:00

We only have one compact camera at home, which I often use to take pictures of Zylan. It's really difficult when you can't take with flash and it takes ages to get it to focus. By then all the funny expressions from Zylan would have come and gone.
So, up to now being 2 mths old, we still don't have a good collection of photos of Zylan with the exception of the ones below. It was probably my lucky day to have captured them just before his morning bath.

These pictures have became our favorites since then.

One of his cheeky smiles.

Zylan's surprised cum thinking look.

This is one of my most treasured, as it is extremely hard to catch him laughing.

Zylan doing more thinking...

Zylan's trademark since birth. He loves to do this :-)

One month old

2007-10-17T13:57:00.004+08:00

This day is a celebration not only for Zylan but also officially marks my freedom :-D Blardy confinement, out the door you go!! So out went the yucky herbal shower, sesame seed oil diet, multi-dates drink and whole load of other stuff. A big sigh of relief for me in many ways.

Due to many reasons, we opted to have a simple celebration for Zylan. Sorry baby, mummy will make it up to you when you're older ;-)

Zylan is wearing new day romper that daddy bought. We kept it hanging in our closet before Zylan was born. Everytime we looked at it, it made us smile at how cute it was.

Daddy imitating Zylan's trademark.

It was hard to keep Zylan looking up. His neck wasn't strong enough plus he was getting tired.
Sadly it was the only picture taken of us on this big day....hai :-(

Since it was time for Zylan to nap nap, we quickly hurried thru the cake(s) cutting. Mummy not sure how to carry Zylan and get him to look like he's cutting the cake :-p
End up mummy made Zylan looked like he's eyeing the choc cake :-D

Days and Nights

2007-09-26T03:20:00.001+08:00

During the first few weeks at home, we were slowly trying to get used to Zylan's sleeping hours. He sleeps most of the time during the days, and wakes up more during the nights. Although he just wakes up for feeds during the nights, usually he will just go back to sleep again. But sometimes, he does want to stay awake awhile longer to observe everything around him, and make funny expressions to entertain us in the wee hours of the night.

The pictures turned out rather dark as we were trying to keep things down to help him sleep at night.

Zylan's has alot of different facial expressions. Sometimes it does gets me very curious to what he is thinking or how he feels...

Sometimes we think it may be due to gas because he was pretty gassy during the first few months. His stomach was quite badly bloated after the first month. At one point he did cried very badly and even his forehead went cold because of tummy upset. Poor thing!

Mum did brought me alot of chinese remedies which I was reluctant to try. So I was kinda in a dilemma then.

We finally gave him dentinox to help bring out the gas, which I think relieved him a little. His breath even smelled of dentinox which was somewhat minty-like. But after he became much better, and tummy less bloated, we stopped it.

Mum even got Li Ly to buy infacol for him. But when we got the infacol, he was already much better and we already stopped him on dentinox. So we decided not to give him anymore drops. We just continued with 'cap limau' oil.

There's the big yawn from my little guy. So cute :-)

So daddy starts to get him ready to go back to sleep again. Firstly we need to swaddle him tightly. He seems to love it.

There is daddy singing to Zylan while bundling him up.

Daddy making sure that his little feet is covered so he won't be cold when he starts kicking around.

There, all ready to go to bed. But he seems so wide awake now isn't he? ;-)

Sun-bathing

2007-09-21T09:00:00.002+08:00

Firstly having to wake up early enough to catch the morning sun was our first challenge. The next challenge was finding a spot in the house with morning sun.

Our tiny little baby catching some morning sun while daddy sits next to him watching.

Zylan looking very tiny and fragile.
More sun-bathing over the next few days, even tho weather was cloudy. Notice Zylan was wearing one of Maya's mittens...kekeke
I even had to sew them tighter cos his wrists were so tiny that the mittens were too big for him and they just fell off everytime we put them on.

My baby is born!

2007-09-20T15:30:00.005+08:00

There's our little darling when he was just born. This shot was taken by daddy using his mobile phone after the nurses did the apgar tests and brought him back to the delivery room. Guess daddy was too overwhelmed to remember using the camera.

When I finally moved from the delivery suite to the wards, the nurses brought Zylan back to us. Here's daddy cuddling Zylan in his arms.

Here's a close up of Zylan - he was cleaned and changed. He looks rather refreshed even tho asleep.

Zylan stayed with me that night, until about 6am when I pushed him back to the nursery. I came back to rest for awhile just before Dr Raman came to check on me. I was just waiting to hear him tell me 'You can go home today' :-)

The nurse pushed Zylan into my room about 9am. He was bathed and changed, and had a terribly sad looking expression. I felt that his eyes were like screaming at me trying to tell me that he just got out of being tortured by the nurses at the nursery. In an instant my eyes began to water, and I felt really guilty for leaving him with them. Clearly, motherhood emotions kicking in.

The day I was discharged Dr Eric told us that Zylan looked rather yellow so we had to wait for the blood test to see if he needed to stay for phototherapy sessions.

There I was sitting waiting for Zylan's report - looking determined to bring him home? :-p

Thankfully the report came out alright, but we had to make sure we sun him the next couple of days at home to bring the yellow-ness down.

See how tiny he looked in the infant car seat. All set to go home :-)