It's Daddy

Am not in a blogging mood this week but just had to pop in this post. It really made me crack up in the middle of the street.

I was out with Josiah on our usual grocery run when he saw this ad on the phone booth on the way to Tesco

He runs towards it happily, shouting...."It's Daddy"

I could not believe what I heard so I asked him again, "Who is this?"

"It's Daddy" he shouted confidently.

Looks like I am married to Colonel Sanders then!

Shaun was not impressed when I told him - oh, come on....have a laugh....hehehehe.....

Josiah at the Winter Wonderland. He started crying once the ride started. Poor baby. He was reaching out for us to save him but all we could do was watch him go round and round :p

He still wanted to 'drive' so Shaun had to honour of going on the stomach-churning ride with him. Don't look at me, I get dizzy just watching these kiddy rides.

Happy New Year 2009!

Happy Belated New Year to all.

We are back in London...actually, for almost 3 weeks now. The trip back to Malaysia was so good for everyone especially Josiah. He spent 3 weeks basking in warm weather and lapping up warm love from family and friends. He hardly slept, played all day and over the 3 weeks became a new boy! More laughter, more brave and of course more naughty!

I think Josiah misses his cousin, Rayna the most - he would asks for 'che-che' in the mornings if she is not already there and when we go out, he only wants to see che-che when we come back. So now we are back to communicating through Skype again. I wonder how long before he forgets about the fun times in KL.

I had my share of fun too. It has been almost 2 years that I have not been separated from Josiah for more than 4 hours. Leaving him with my parents or my in-laws this round made me realise that Josiah is ready to go to nursery now. He loves meeting new kids and immediately starts playing with them, does not look for me when he is having fun so getting him to start nursery now would be good before he begins to be "shy" again. So after settling back to UK time and getting back to our new routine. Looking for the right nursery has been my mission of late. More about that in another post.

Shaun had fun playing basketball - something he does not get to do here because UK is "football nation". He got to watch a movie in the cinema after almost 2 years! We took Josiah to our favourite hang out places like One Utama, Ikea, Mid Valley, TTDI mamak shop... We also managed to meet up with the believers in Paramount and Puchong. Special bonus to be able to meet our close friend's baby girl, Natalie born on Christmas day - we met her hours before flying back to London.

What a lovely way to end the year. It is probably one of the best Christmas present ever - to be able to spend it with all my loved ones back in my own home. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Back to the freaking cold and wet days. Back to having to cook, clean and look after my two boys. Back to having no car and having to do groceries. Sigh. Can you tell that I am not looking forward to 2009? Here's some pics to cheer me up....sniff...

Josiah was great on the 13 hour flight both ways - slept most of the time ( we chose the midnight flight) and watched "Wall-E" and played with his cars. He still managed to fit in the baby bassinet as he likes to sleep all curled up.

One of the rides in One Utama

Cute puppies belonging to the owner of a restaurant we went for lunch

Having a blast soaking in the sun before we went back to 0C in London...brrr...

Josiah had his first swimming experience in Awana pool

Wordless Wednesday : Josiah loves anything with wheels

Check this video out...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Hello from my new home!

Three weeks of chaos and madness. Chaos around the house from all that packing and madness from having to pack whilst Josiah is sick. This runny nose and cough germ seems to be some super strong type. Doesn't help that UK doctors will NEVER prescribe medicine for common cold to children. Antibiotics, cough syrup and cold medicines are a big no-no here. Everyone is supposed to let it run it's course but look at how long and tedious it can be.

The move went well, movers came at about 9am and were gone by 2pm. Josiah was brilliant that day - played with his new garage toy (my secret weapon) whilst the movers unpacked everything from the boxes. He couldn't nap in his new surroundings and stayed up until 6pm! Then we thought we'd put him to bed early but he got up 30 minutes later full of energy and was up until 10pm. Man, we were so tired but Daddy continued with unpacking ...etc which was strange until I found out that our family friend from America is coming over the following day! Gasp. Nevertheless, Daddy did a fantastic job and the house looked pretty presentable by next day.

I survived 8 days without internet but would not like to live through that again if possible. First day in our new home, it was raining all day. The apartment was cold and Josiah and I had a cough. I was so, so homesick and wished all day that I could be back in Malaysia. Now that everything is getting back to normal, I am still looking forward to my trip back to Malaysia. I am guilty of daydreaming about eating yong tau foo. Drinking soya bean. Walking around One Utama. Sitting in a car to get to anywhere. Showing Josiah his old bedroom. Watching Josiah play with his cousins. Oh, here I go again. Dreaming away my afternoon.....

Vocabulary Log

Black - from Baa, baa black sheep. He can't say the sheep tho..

Sun - he says this like, "Suuuunnnn"

Mole - he was trying to stratch out my mole on my arm (a bit of an OCD problem of his!) and I had to explain that it is a mole and cannot be stratched out.

Don't touch - from watching Pocoyo - he thinks he IS Pocoyo. Cute!

Wet - mainly used when he purposely tips his cup over to make a water puddle

Elmo - favourite furry friend recently

Kick - he always says this after he sees a ball

Chest, arm, toe, knee

Not winter yet - but this Mummy is too lazy to layer him up so just a short t-shirt underneath the big jacket

Pee-ka-boo, I see you

The movers were going to deflate Josiah's frog but decided to take it as is when I mentioned that Daddy blew it manually!

Here he is with his furry playmate - Elmo

Snowing in autumn?

Typical. I finally managed to arrange a night out with another mom for a musical, Wicked. Then weather reports says, possible snow....what? in autumn? Yep. So my one night out turns out to be an early winter celebration! Sigh. Was thinking of dressing up a bit for the show but what is the point when I'd be engulfed by my huge winter parka, wool sweater, thermals, beanie, gloves, scarf, boots...get the picture = michelin man.

Apparently, it has not snowed this early since 1934. Nice to be part of history. The show was great and it was good to be out for a couple of hours on my own.

Monday is here again....sigh...

Can you tell from the title that this is going to be a ranting post? Nothing but complaints coming ahead so if you are wanting a happy post....errr...check back in another week or so.

I may have gained an hour from daylight saving today but what is the point when the dreaded cold virus has come for a visit. S caught it first (as usual!) and he was happy to be held hostage by Josiah every night since he would conk out before Josiah anyway. As he got better, my throat got worse, then the body ache, then the fever all passed on to me. This was last weekend....and of course, Josiah has gotten it now. Although I would have to say, he has been a good sport about it in the day time. But when night falls, man, we are miserable together. Yesterday, his nose was so blocked, he could only sleep whilst being carried by one of us. But due to lots of wind in his tummy, he vomited 3 times over a period of a few hours. Besides having to change him in the dark and change sheets...etc, also, big laundry damage. Total laundry damage done last night alone - 1 bedsheet, 3 t-shirts for S, 2 pyjama sets, 2 pillow cases, 4 "chow-chow" / blankies and 1 sleeping bag. My washing machine was already full before this and I had to remove items to wash all above hence creating a laundry backlog. Nice start to the week...

If we have already moved to our new place, no problems since the new apartment has a standalone dryer. Talking about moving, yes, we are moving first week of November. Mainly for a few practical reasons. The new apartment has 2 lifts so no more lugging groceries plus a toddler up three flight of stairs again. Also comes with porter service so no more having to walk down the road lugging smelly garbage before going to work for S. No more having to line dry all of our clothes....how exciting. Hopefully, no more missing parcels as the porter can sign for deliveries. Best of all - no more steps coming into the apartment so less strain on my wrist.

Aahh, my wrist...who conveniently decides to stage a protest after 1.5 years of labour intensive work. I totally understand him (my wrist is a man!) - he has led a comfy life back in Malaysia. Only thing that he lugs around is my handbag (duh!). Since I had a desk job, carpel tunnel syndrome would be his worst nightmare but little did he know what he was about to be faced with. Manual labour in London.

Horror...

Let's see - carrying a 10kg toddler around, pushing a 6kg stroller & 2kg baby bag & 10kg baby on a daily basis, uphill and rough surfaces, doing all above AND then unloading 5 kg of groceries from Tesco off the stroller....get the picture....

He had to work everyday since then, no breaks, no holiday and still be happy about it. Well, he ain't happy no more.

I have tried to make him less angry by doing less groceries manually and more online, not going to playgroups too far away so less pushing of stroller, lots of TLC massages at night with pain gel, lovingly wrapping him in wrist guard to prevent further injury...he is still not satisfied.

I have warned him that I am going back to Malaysia soon and he will face the wrath of those scary Chinese massagers/acupunturist/heat therapist but he refuses to listen. So Mum or Dad, if you are reading this, please book me in for torture sessions as soon as I set foot in Malaysia. Because I cannot survive another 2 years here with an injured (man) wrist.

Josiah's new buddy - Tickle Me Elmo. Incidentally, Elmo is sick too, he does not laugh as much as before. Probably depressed about the weather too.

Josiah is practising his alphabets, shouting loudly at the TV. His beloved "chow chow" is in his mouth in between alphabets. For some unknown reason, he is calling his "chow chow" as "flower" lately. Stumped? So am I...does his white cloth look anything like a flower??