Penang Bird Park

I had delayed posting of this because I want to dig up the old photos that hubb and I had taken at the park when we were dating. Those photos are taken probably 12 years ago! And who would have guessed that the next time we were to visit the park was with our 2 handsome boys!

The visit was actually suggested by Dylan’s teacher. She had asked my permission if she can take the boys out and suggested Penang Bird Park. It was a good idea since I have not taken the boys to the Bird Park.

We left early on a nice sunny Saturday morning. Bryan had his encyclopedia in the car and was already flipping to the pages on birds, preparing himself on what he will see at the park later. We picked Stella up and head straight for the park.
Bird Park  Penang Bird Park
Dylan was cool when we entered the park, but panicked when his dad tried to bring him nearer to the birds’ cages.
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Meanwhile Bryan is happy to be there and start pointing and naming the birds he recognizes. For those that he don’t, he’ll attempt to read out their names at the sign.
Bird Park3  Penang Bird Park
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It was great to have Stella along because both the kids adore her. The kids were so excited to have her in the car and both wanted her to read their books to them in the car. At the park, she took time to explain the things we see to them.
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Stella found some peacock feathers on the ground and gave one to each kid. They loved playing with it.
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And the best thing about having Stella around is, there is someone to help us take our family photos.
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Hubb and I have a photo taken together at the same red bridge 12 years ago. That was the photo that I was trying to find.

We hang around until it was time for the bird show. Meanwhile, we bought some fish food for the kids to feed to the fishes at the pond.
Bird Park5  Penang Bird Park
The bird show was actually better than my expectation. It was quite interactive. The trainers actually got the birds, (owl and eagle) to fly across the audience, swooping very low until it was just above our heads. One of the birds wings actually touched Bryan’s hair and he was so excited over it.

After the bird show, we got the opportunity to take photos with some of the birds. Unfortunately, the kids did not dare to let the birds stand on their hand.
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One of the hornbill was actually very manja. And we managed to persuade the boys to stroke it’s feathers.
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There were also some smaller birds on display near the cage. These birds are very tame and you can actually stroke their feather gently. Stella tried to get Dylan to touch but I think he did not dare.
Bird Park6  Penang Bird Park
Bryan is even worse. The moment I tried to bring him closer to the birds, he got frightened.
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We left for Assam Fish Soup + Chicken Rice for lunch after that. Just because Stella was around, Dylan ate so much rice. I have never seen him so cooperative. Wish he can eat like that for every meals.

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Balanced diet

Dylan had some constipation lately. Yesterday, he sat for a looong time in the bathroom before his poopoo come out. And boy is he happy after the poo came out. He was smiling, chatting happily exclaiming,..”My poo poo come out already.

After that I serve him a big bowl of Taiwan mango (expensive but not as sweet as I expected). Both he and Bryan loved the mango though it wasn’t very sweet and asked for second rounds. Bryan told me,

Bryan: Mommy, you must let us eat balanced diet. A lot of fruits and vegetables. Then only we got a lot of poo poo and the poo poo can come out easily. Just now I poo*, a little bit only. So you must give me more fruits and vegetables.
(he said that because he wants more mango, he was walloping the mangoes so fast so that he can eat more than Dylan).

*p/s: both my kids have this bad habit. one kid poo, the other kid also want to poo. My father said it is like their butt is stuck together..hahahaha.

Later the mangoes , I told him to brush his teeth again. He already brushed them earlier during his shower.

Bryan: But i already brushed my teeth just now.
Mommy: Brush again. Cause you just ate mangoes and mangoes are sweet right. If you don’t brush later the chong chong come eat your teeth.
Bryan: The the teeth becomes black like TTE issit? (a girl at his class)
Mommy: Yes, like TTE.
Bryan: No lah mommy. TTE’s teeth is black because she didn’t drink a lot of milk la. Not enough protein.
Mommy: O.o No, it is not protein, it is not enough calcium.
Bryan: Ah..Calcium but protein also. YOu need a lot of protein then only can be healthy.

I can’t believe I am having conversation about diet and nutritional values with a boy that is not even 5 yet. Kids are so knowledgeable nowadays.

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Big house

Bryan Dylan chitchats  Big house

While hubb was driving the kids home from school last Monday, the kids were chatting at the back by themselves. When they passed some new houses, he heard

Bryan: Wah..look at this house. It is so big.
Dylan: Wah, the house so big…
Bryan: I like the house, so nice.
Dylan: Yes lo, so nice. I like big house.
Bryan: Yes, I like big house, I don’t like old house (I think he was referring to our old apartment, he always refer to it as old house.)

Haizzz…mummy also like big house. But too bad, we don’t print money and mummy don’t have the energy to clean up a bigger house. So too bad, you guys are stuck in our current house! If you like big house, then you gotta buy your own.

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Dylan @ 28 months

dylan1  Dylan @ 28 months
Time flies…my helpless little baby is now a cheeky and smart little boy.

  • Talks very well. In fact he is constantly arguing with us, and in fact have started to tell white lies. Like when he farted, and we asked who farted, he’ll answer, “Gege.” Or he will do spoil something, and said “Gege did it.” poor gege.
  • Is completely toilet trained since a 2 months ago. We started to let him sleep off diapers at night not long after he turned 2. Initially, we will have 1/2 wet accidents per week. But it is ok because I let him sleep on top of a waterproof sheet made from a layer of soft flannel and PUL fabric underneath. I bought the PUL fabric from US and the flannel from Kamdar. Got my mom to sew into a huge sheet for me. It was very useful. When he wets the bed, all i have to do is pull the sheet away, change him and continue sleeping. He shares the bed with Bryan but we do not need to disturb Bryan at all even when he wets the bed. Then starting about 2 months ago, the wet accidents stopped. He’ll wake us up when he wants to pee. Now, sometimes he can go through the whole night even without peeing. But we still let him sleep on top of the waterproof sheet. Just in case.
  • Has very good motor skills. He is able to jump from a stool over to the sofa. Climbs all the way up to my first floor clinging to the stairs railings, feet off the stairs. One of his favorite game is  - while I am seated on the bed, he’ll climb  from my back and tumble heads over my shoulder onto my lap or mattress. Aiyo..he gives us heart attack all the time, but his balancing is very good, so he has not had any hard falls. *touch wood*. I told my dad that if he is a kampung kid, I may have to look for him up in the trees.
  • Good hand/ wrist movement. He can play the magnet maze very well. He can hold the magnet pencil and trace the metal ball through the maze to the finishing line. I have one of the magnet toy currently but have just ordered 2 more online that will be arriving any day soon.
  • Takes durians but loves cempedak. The first time I bought cempedak home, he ate more than me. He refused to leave the table until he is sure there is no more cempedak left. Hubb was very patient to pull the cempedak into small pieces and feed him to make sure that he don’t choke. And Dylan will scold hubb if hubb is too slow to feed him.
  • Loves to sing, when he hears Justin Bieber’s Baby, he’ll say, “my favorite song .”

Had his first evaluation at school and below were some highlights:-

  • Vocabulary – for english is progressing well. For Chinese it is actually excellent for his age.
  • Communicates very well. Very inquisitive, asks a lot of question.
  • Short attention span. Does not like flash cards.
  • => But this contradicts with his behavior at home. He loves to do puzzles at home and can finish the entire set of 8 puzzles in one sitting. Sometimes he’ll play alone, taking each puzzle out, tumble out all the pieces then putting them back together. When he complete a puzzle, sometimes he will proudly exclaim, “I can do it. I can do it!” But at school, he showed little interest in puzzles.
  • High self confidence. You can see from the example above. He thinks he can do ANYTHING!
  • Is an audio learner. Has excellent listening skills *that’s why so chatty also kua,….*
  • Motor skills is very good. Can walk, run, jump, hop, samersault very well, but cannot skip on alternate leg. Can only skip on one leg.
  • Is getting spoiled by the teachers. Is a teachers’ pet, seldom get scolded & punished. Principle said gotta do something about this but the teacher said, “so cute,..how to punish?” *I totally agree, coz I also got no heart to punish him at home.
  • Loves to dance but is shy to dance in front of everyone. Will dance and perform when he thinks no one else is watching.
  • Loves to sing, but again only when no one is watching.
  • Very observant, and kepo. Even when he is in the midst of playing a game he is aware of what’s happening around him.
  • Very helpful. Will help the kids to put their clothes at the right place or fold them when they throw their clothes all over the place.

Dylan oh Dylan…We love you sooo much!
DSC04307  Dylan @ 28 months

Posted in Dylan, Milestones | Tagged | 1 Comment

Bryan date

Last Sunday night,

Bryan: Mummy, I want to go to school half day only?
Mummy: Cannot. If you come back half day, then who will take care of you. Mummy have to work.
Bryan: But my friends are half day only.
Mummy: Who?
Bryan: *Rambles a few names*
Mummy: What about *a few names of the full day kids, including ZH*
Bryan: But ZH that day half day also. *shows pitiful face*

So on Monday, I checked my remaining number of forfeitable leaves for the year, deducted all the planned holidays & time off, and realized that I still have plenty more left. So last Tuesday, I took half day off and took him out from school half day.

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Since Dylan wasn’t around to disturb, I let Bryan sit at the passenger seat in front. He is never allowed to do that when Dylan is around because Dylan will insist on doing the same. It was kinda funny driving a car with a kid sitting in front and 2 unoccupied children car seats at the back.

Gave him a box of chocolate milk in the car in case he is already hungry, and head off to Gurney Plaza for
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We bought our tickets first and then proceed for lunch.

Initially I wanted to go to Chili’s for lunch because I don’t feel like eating burger. But since we only have an hour till show time, I think fast food is safer. So what else but
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Never did those self- shot couple photos when I was dating or with my husband but am doing it when dating my little boy.
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Then we buy our popcorn and headed for the movie…
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Bryan was excited and could not stop talking when the movie started. He was pretty engrossed in the movie until the part when the toys were caught and held captive. He got a little scared and told me he has watched enough and is ready to go home. But I managed to persuade him to stay because their friend Woody will come to rescue them.
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Getting a thrill with chilling air from the hand blower in the cinema’s toilet.

After the show, since there is time, I need to make sure that he finished his homework before we go home. Luckily there were not much homework for the day. So we went back to McD for some icecream while he finishes his homework.
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Then I told him we will go to Popular to buy a new pencil box since his is in pretty bad shape already. And guess what he said.

Bryan: I don’t want to buy from Popular. Popular is “cheapy”
Mummy: Who told you Popular is “cheapy”?
Bryan: Nobody.

Haizzzz…anyway, we still went to buy the pencil box from Popular. Well the main reason I took him to Popular instead of Parkson is I don’t want him to pick out the RM20 pencil box from Parkson. And yeah, he is right in a way…all the pencil boxes at Popular are quite cheap icon razz  Bryan date . But he did find one that he liked for less than RM10.

We left Gurney shortly after that as I need to pick Dylan up from school.

It was a great afternoon. I had not taken him kai-kai alone for a loooooooooong time. Daddy have quality 1 on 1 time with Bryan all the time…(every time I run off with my friends *guilty*)

It was a good one on one time… I should do it more often…

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Bicycle Push

Bicycle push1  Bicycle Push

This is the boys latest favorite game…one of them pushing the other round and round the room.

Usually it is Dylan pushing Bryan around as he being the smart one..will usually get into the bicycle first then he’ll ask his didi, “Didi come, come and push me…”

Occasionally Dylan will ask Bryan to push him but honestly it is not very safe to have Bryan pushing him around. That is because Dylan is not strong enough to “emergency stop” the bicycle. And Bryan can push him go round the room very very fast.

But it is ok.. Dylan loves to push his gege around. Look at how happy they are.
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Potato Coconut

I have always wanted my kids to have the coconut shell haircut. I can’t do it with Bryan because he doesn’t have the right hair texture. His hair is rather coarse and sticks out all over the place.

Dylan have soft straight hair, but his hair was too thin until now… So ..Tada….

Potato Coconut  Potato Coconut

I loved it because I think he looked absolutely cute with it. My relatives and my mom’s neighbors liked it too.

But his teachers at school did not really like it. One of the teachers actually said to my husband, “Why you want to cut this hairstyle for him? His face is so pretty..”

And hubb didn’t really like it too. He wasn’t very keen when I told the hairdresser to cut this style for him but as usual, he always let me have it my way… icon biggrin  Potato Coconut

Though he agrees that Dylan doesn’t look bad in it..he still couldn’t resist calling Dylan names and get a good laugh over it…and he called him “Fan Su Yeah” (Potato Coconut).

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Daddy we love you!

Happy Daddy’s day. Both the children made something for their daddy at school. But I also got hubb something on behalf of each kid.
DSC04340 1  Daddy we love you! Daddy with his little darlings and their presents for daddy.

And that’s not all. Bryan & Dylan also made breakfast for daddy..Cheese & egg sandwich with loads of tomato sauce & mayonaise & fresh orange juice! Why tomato sauce? Because that’s what the kids like and they put what they like into the sandwich.

I cooked the omelette and the kids assembled the sandwich and smothered it in mayo & tomato sauce. Then I lightly pan fry the sandwich to get the nice crispy toasted taste. It was Bryan’s idea to “cook” breakfast for his daddy on Father’s Day.

DSC04326 1  Daddy we love you! Bryan proudly showing off his “accomplishment.”

DSC04342 1  Daddy we love you! Proudly showing his personally hand written card for his daddy.

DSC04333 1  Daddy we love you! Daddy happily eating his breakfast. See the lil hand at the corner. The lil fella refused to stand next to his daddy and said that he wants to sit in HIS OWN SEAT. Also he was too busy digging into my box of cheese. He ate 4 slices of cheese that morning and almost nothing else. O.o

People always say about how great a mother’s sacrifice is or how loving the mother is. I want to say that a daddy is also equally loving and self-sacrificing too. On this special occasion, I want to pause a moment to think about how great hubb is to the kids and how wonderful he is as a husband to me.

  • He will spend time to do homework & reading with the children, and will offer to take over when he sees that I am losing my cool with the children.
  • He attends all the children’s evaluation at school. No matter how busy his schedule is, he always make time to go to the school during evaluation to get the latest update/ development on his children.
  • He always help me to organize birthday parties at home for the children. It is always a lot of work (with all the cooking & cleaning) every time we have a party since we do not have a maid. But he doesn’t mind the extra work because the kids have so much more fun with a party at home than going to a restaurant.
  • He attended all the children’s birthday parties at school.
  • We’ve carpooled a lot more since the kids started school as he wants to send them off and back from school. The children are always a tad disappointed when he couldn’t fetch them to school, so he always try to be there for them.
  • His buddy activities are planned around the kids schedule. He always checks with me on the kids’ and my schedule before he plans his activities with his friends. Family always come first for him. And since we’ve got 2 kids, his night out with his friends have reduced so much and to such infrequencies that I actually suggests to him if he wants to call so and so out for drinks and I volunteer to take care of the kids.
  • Both the kids adore their daddy. There was a time when both kids would reject his daddy and always ask for me. Now, when they have a nightmare in the middle of the night, sometimes the person they call is “DADDY!!!”
  • He puts the children to bed 2-4 times a week. The children loves bedtime with daddy because it is so much fun. Sometimes eventhough it is my turn to tuck the kids to bed, they will ask that daddy sleeps with them instead.
  • He is not an outdoor person, but if I ask him to do something for the kids, and it is outdoor, he will still do it, as long as the kids love it. But if it is for me ONLY…then I’ll have to slowly wait la…
  • When we go for family vacations, the kids always come first. He will always make sure that the activities we plan around the holiday is something the children (and I) would enjoy. He is actually a very easy going person during holiday. He’s happy as long as we’re happy.
  • He helps me with the housework.
  • He is our home’s handyman. Fixes all the pipes, plumbings, electrical stuff, ensure that our home is secured, paints the gate, check our house roof for leaks, …Oh, what would we do without him icon smile  Daddy we love you!
  • He encourages me go out to have fun with my friends while he stays home to watch after the kids. Though he never reads any family/ relationship book, he understand that “When mommy is unhappy, no one is happy. When mommy is happy, everyone is happy” So it is important for mommy to have life/ fun outside family/ work too, so that mommy can be re-energized and bring even more energy back into the home. And I’ve to say that I have been so much happier lately now that Dylan is bigger and I can go out more often.

Most men can have children but not all can be a daddy. And my husband is a great daddy. We love you! Happy Father’s Day!

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