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One of the cost effective measures that I have taken during this economic crisis is to minimize taking my children to the shopping mall. Less visits means less opportunity to spend money.

Instead, we try to take them outdoors more often.

Penang Aquarium
One of the places that we frequently visit is the Penang Aquarium at Batu Maung. The place is less than 10 mins drive away from our house, so it is very convenient for us to go there. Usually the whole trip, including travelling time can be completed in an hour – Just perfect for the in-between windows of free time during the weekends.

Admission to the aquarium is RM5 for adults. Kids > 7 years is RM2.…but I have only paid for the entrance once. Rest of the times, we will stay outside. What’s available at the grounds for free? There is a huge koi and freshwater fish pond, adult & baby sea turtles, various types of starfish (Bryan’s favourite), some small salt water fish aquarium, sea horses and even a baby crocodile.

Usually I will bring some bread skin (buy fr roti man) or stale bread for Bryan to feed the koi fishes.

If I don’t have any bread, then I will bring a little bit of fish food. My dad gave me a bag of fish food. He used to keep a lot of fishes last time, but now, not so much anymore.

We can’t keep going there every weekend, so we need to find new places to go.

Air Itam Dam
My sis said that there is a huge turtle there, so we took the kids there. Unfortunately we did spot the turtle. Only small fishes came to nibble at the bread we threw.

It is a good place for exercise but to the kids …it is BORING….

It is more fun to check out the seat

BJ Lake & Park
Occasionally when the kids (and us) are bored with the aquarium, we’ll go to the lake at Bukit Jambul instead. There used to be a lot of fishes there but there are a lot of anglers now. Much less fishes, but we saw some huge catfishes the last time we were there.

For some reasons, Bryan likes catfishes. Even at the Batu Maung aquarium, he would always be on the lookout for catfishes to feed.

One thing nice about the BJ lake is that there is also a small playground.

So Bryan gets a mix of fish and bird feeding…(yes, we feed the birds as well) and some exercise as well. And oh oh the last time that we were there, we even spot a huge monitor lizard swimming in the middle of the lake.

Unfortunately, it was a lil bit too far for Bryan to spot.

Ahh….the best things in life are free…

Next, I need to find out how to get to this secluded beach, which is also near our house. I forgot the way there, so need to ask for directions. I think Dylan is ready for some beach actions next.

Milk protester

When i was breastfeeding Bryan last time, each month that passed was a milestone to me. I remembered proudly marking my calendar when i reached the 6th month milestone of exclusive bf..then at 12 month. I intro formula to Bryan when he was 14 months.

After my experience with Bryan, bfg was no longer a challenge to me. I had my tough times but I no longer see it as a chore or a milestone. It is just something that I have to do for my baby, no biggie.

So now, i have successfully bf Dylan for 1 year. No formula except for the 2 days when he had to stay at the hospital for jaundice, and my milk supply was not established yet.

Am I ready to stop? You bet…NO. In fact, I intend to continue pumping at work and continue to give him EBM when i am at work until he starts day care. In fact, at this moment, I have not even decided when to intro him to formula.

But now…this lil naughty boy is forcing me to reduce my milk pumping session. This lil boy is refusing to take milk from the bottle, or from the cup, or from spoon…ARRRRGHHHHHH

I have never been diligent about storing up my milk. I threw away quite a lot of milk when Bryan is past 1 year old as he rejected frozen milk then. So i did not want to repeat the same experience.

But as this notti boy is refusing to drink milk,…my storage is building up.

This is just partial of my frozen milk. There’s more at my mom’s house. Luckily i have not been obsessed with storing of BM this time (i was during Bryan’s time). Otherwise, i would have even more milk stored up.

Now I am wondering what to do with all these milk. Bryan is drinking chilled EBM everyday…but he does not like the frozen ones.

Sien nia…I had to deal with Bryan rejecting milk last time. Now Dylan! Why both my kids also don’t like to drink milk one!!!! Sien nia!

Big boy already

Situation #1
Last Monday was a public holiday, but I had to go back to the office in the morning to get some work done. I left Dylan with my parents and Bryan a good one-on-one time with daddy.

After Bryan had his breakfast of milk + Nestum at home, daddy took him to the McD branch at P Terubong. Bryan had been asking to go to this McD branch, and daddy obliged.

Daddy ordered the McD breakfast set and Bryan had the hash brown. He played for a while and he wanted french fries. There are limited tables near to the playground and daddy was afraid that their table might be taken if he leaves the table to order more food.

Daddy: Bryan, come sit here, and don’t leave. If you leave, someone might take this table.
Bryan: OK
*Daddy goes to get some french fries. Unfortunately, they don’t serve french fries until after 11am. So daddy goes back to the table, and there’s Bryan, still “jomming” (book) the table per daddy’s instruction.
Daddy: No french fries. They don’t sell until much later.
Bryan: Daddy, buy soft drink.
*We never use the term soft drink, so i have no idea where he picked that one up. And they don’t serve soft drinks at school either.*
Daddy: No soft drinks during breakfast time. Only got coffee. You go back and play at the playground.
Bryan: *looks around* Don’t want already. So many people.

Situation #2
He did something wrong and I hit him, really hard. I know that it hurts.
Bryan: Mommy sorry. Pu yau liao (Don’t want already)
Bryan: Mommy pu yau ta tak tak li (Mommy don’t hit so hard). Ta siau siau li (hit lightly). Tak tak li huei tong te. (It hurts when you hit hard).
*Bryan oh Bryan*

Situation #3
I had a night teleconference just now, and daddy took care of the boys. I got out from my teleconference at 10pm ++ and the house was quiet. Dylan is asleep and Bryan was almost asleep. If I had not gone into his room, he would have fallen asleep without me.

Daddy tried to pat him to sleep and Bryan said, “Hey, no need to pat pat pat already. Mummy says I am a big boy!”

Yes, dear you are a big boy. You do get on mummy’s nerves with your mischievous antics sometimes but at some other times…you are such a darling!

You are certainly growing up, and getting more mature. And because of that, mummy is letting you help out (play) with more things.. Yes, including baking with mummy…but that’s another story for another day. Love you Bryan!

Dylan walks

I haven’t had time to list down his milestones at 1 year old. But one thing that he does pretty well is walk! Watch Dylan walks, claps, pick up his toy from the floor.

And pay attention to Bryan, being the backseat photographer…telling me to press the shutter button to take photos. He didn’t know that I was recording a video…

Yes, he can walk quite steadily now and walks through the entire house.

Unfortunately, it also includes climbing the stairs all the way to the first floor. Last night, i was baking and was retrieving some items from my top cabinet using a ladder. I just got down from the ladder to put the stuff on the kitchen top, and we heard Bryan yelling, “Daddy, what is Dylan doing??”

We turned and there Dylan was…AT THE TOP OF THE LADDER… *Pengsan*

Really cannot turn our eyes away from him for even 1 minute.