William's birthday celebration in Ipoh

William's birthday was celebrated the second time, this time in Ipoh on his actual day. I didn't blog about this earlier as I was really busy and the other blogs somehow came in first.

We travelled up to Ipoh in the afternoon after picking Vic from kindy at noon. She had her chap fan lunch in the car. In the evening, we ate at Movenpick Restaurant in Ipoh, booked by their 5th Grand Aunt, and celebrated with herself, Aunty Maria, Tai Gong and our family as well as their maid Umi. 5th Grand Aunt booked a jelly cake earlier that day.

With the family and relatives, minus Mummy who was photographing

It was a simple yet meaningful dinner. William was really tired as he didn't rest well in the car, and hardly rested when we arrived Ipoh due to all the excitement and new environment. We could see that he was really tired towards dinner time, and silently we were worried that he may fall asleep when we serve out the cake and sang the birthday song (just like the Barney celebration). So we decided to serve the cake after putting in our order while waiting for the food, and our friend was very cooperative. Guess he knows.

Hhhmm... why is there a Cinderella on my cake? (Jie jie picked it for him)

Earlier we explained to Vic that we let William blow his own candle this time, since she did it for him the first time. I doubt William knows how to blow at this age, but we just want to give him the chance. Vic said OK. Guess what, when it was time to blow the candles, our little girl quickly blew out the candles before her brother can even have a chance. Hhmpk. What to say. Sigh. Next year then, coz he was getting restless.

Vic enjoying her meal with her fav aunt, Aunty Maria

Victoria's Mother's Day artwork

This is Victoria's Mother's Day artwork which she did at her kindy, of course with the help of the kind and wonderful teachers there.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. This is my 4th year celebrating Mother's Day, and every year it gets more special and I learn to be a better mother. I feel Mother's Day should be a two way appreciation. Just as the family show their appreciation to me on this day, I feel blessed that God has given me two beautiful kids and a loving husband.

Despite some people who explicitly disagree with my style of mothering, today I am reassured. Yesterday Victoria wished me Happy Mother's Day in advance. Today in church, Victoria shouted Happy Mother's Day to me in the midst of the worship. She told Daddy that she wants to share her lunch with me later.

For lunch, we celebrated at TGIF and we ordered Sizzling Chicken & Cheese, Fish Mac & Cheese, Honey Pecan Salmon, Jack Daniel's Burger, and two free dishes as kids' eat for free. The kitchen manager came out to chat with us, as we ordered Vic's Honey Pecan Salmon dish "allergy-free". William busied himself walking about after lunch, and the kitchen manager spent sometime with him. So nice.

I shared my Jack Daniel's Burger (which Vic picked for me) with Hubby, and Hubby ordered me this Ultimate something-something which was an alcoholic cocktail of kahlua, bailey's irish cream, and some other stuff. (Note: Effective only while you drink it, so no excuse for not being on "mother duty" after that drink)

Enjoying my sip of the Ultimate something something cocktail... haha!
This is it!! Mixture of vanilla, kahlua, cocoa, chocolate chips, bailey's irish cream...

The entree - sizzling chicken and cheese
TGIF specially took out the butter, and put aside the sauces, ensured it's "allergy-free" for Vic.
My Jack Daniels' burger

Happy Mother's Day to all mother's out there!

First visit to the Zoo

There's this children's song which we used to sing when Victoria was a baby... it goes like this,

Daddy's gonna bring us to the zoo tomorrow... zoo tomorrow, zoo tomorrow,
Daddy's gonna bring us to the zoo tomorrow... We're gonna play all day!

We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...
How about you, you, you...
We're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo...

So a couple of days before we set off to Taiping Zoo, I sang this to Vic.

We arrived Taiping Zoo the day after William's birthday, Thursday 30th April in the morning. Weather forecasts shows scattered rain the mornings and thunderstorm in the afternoon.

In the train looking at the animals

When we first arrived, we hopped into the zoo train for a quick 10 minutes tour of the whole zoo, then hopped off and walked by our own to get a more "personal" encounter with the animals.

Vic was quiet, but I think she's quietly excited. First time to the zoo and seeing real animals. Thank God she was not afraid. William, likes what he saw, and pointed to the animals, sometimes wanting to get out of his stroller.

Aiyooo, so hot!! Thank God daddy brought the portable fan.
Wearing long socks to protect against the hungry blood sucking mosquitoes!
Here are some animals we saw

Camel in Malaysia? Victoria asked what animal is this.
A giraffe.. a REAL giraffe!
A family of elephants
The Malayan Gaur. I learnt something new too. Graceful swans swimming in the lake (I linked this to the Ugly Duckling story)
We left the Zoo at 12noon and tapau-ed duck rice from town, then headed back to Ipoh. We ate our lunch in the car, whilst William went straight to sleep.

Playing with spilt milk

Little achievements

William can now...

... stand on his own for up to 10 seconds (around there)
... poo pooed first time in the toilet bowl (he looked so cute as he sat there)
... walk a few steps on his own

William loves to...

... babble babble babble...
... scream really high pitch and loud (if you're unfortunate to be jst next to him)
... walk in his shoes
... dance by shaking his bum up and down whenever we sang Jingle Bells and clap our hands
... clap his hands when we sing If You're Happy And You Know It

William amazed me by...

... showing me where his socks are then passing it to me when I asked, WITHOUT gesturing
... banging the front door, then walking me to his shoes, and picking them up when he wants to go "kai kai"

COACH mother's day special

I received this in my email and asked Victoria if it's nice. She was drawing, and she looked up, then her immediate response was, "WOW!! I want to wear it!"