Naughty Milk Tales

Of late, Josiah can understand when reprimanded for naughty things which he does. One of his favourite naughty thing is to pour the remaining milk in his bottle on his bed, then tells you that it is wet. The few times I have caught him in action - I told him that he is a naughty boy.

One morning, Josiah says, "Naughty milk" trying to blame his bottle for the mess. *Roll eyes*

Guess he figured out this wonderful thing called 'blame' - see, you don't have to teach kids to lie, they do it naturally.

On the other hand truth may hurt......

After a nice meal with another young couple expecting their first baby, I told Josiah that there is a baby inside the mother's big tummy (she is due anytime now!). Just to check if he understood what I was saying, I asked him again later that evening, where the baby was. He pointed at Aunty A's tummy.

Well done Mummy, I taught him a new concept and was feeling quite pleased with myself until he pointed at my flabby tummy the next day saying there is a baby there!! Sniff...there goes my over-inflated ego.

This week, Josiah also reached another milestone this week by managing to stay awake for 12 hours straight without a nap! Amazing feat for a 2 year old. I was exhausted and so was he by the time it was bedtime. Sadly, he did not sleep through the night as he was probably too tired so kept waking up crying through the night.

Here are some pics from my mobile :

Bath times are still his favourite - he plays with the same toys everyday, his pink bowl and blue boat!

My two boys outside Buckingham Palace.

Weekend Getaway - York, 6th March 2009

Seeing that our passports were being held hostage by the UK immigration for work permit renewal, we are unable to book any cheap getaways out of UK. So we settled for this offer from Times newspaper which gave us rail tickets, 2 nights lodging, 2 breakfast and one dinner for 240 pounds. So off we went - our first holiday of the year!




Friday:


Since the rail tickets were open tickets, we took our time to have a proper breakfast before heading to London Kings Cross to catch the train. In fact, the trains that go to York come by every half hour so it was really no waiting time at the platform. We got a nice seat with a table so Josiah could play with his trains and look at the scenery. Two hours went by in a jiffy and we were in York! The Royal York Hotel was situated next to the train station - very convenient. Room was huge with lovely furnishings and a built-in trouser iron board! We set off to town which was about 15 minutes walk and came up to Betty's, a renowned cafe in York. Although it was a working day at 2pm - there was still a queue to go in. Everyone told us to try it out and we were not disappointed. Even Josiah the pickiest toddler in London ate heartily. We had their sausage and rosti, Betty's rarebit and scones. All done to perfection...yummmy...what a lovely way to start the holiday. I was even happier when Josiah fell asleep on the couch after eating, something he has never done before. Normally, he'd be crying and fretting until we get him into the stroller and push him around so Shaun and I managed to have our scones like normal human beings. Eating at normal chewing rate. Sipping tea leisurely. I told Shaun I could live in York, his response was - you've only been here an hour.... maybe, but I've not felt so relaxed in a long time.




We walked around York town and managed to get to York Minster just as the church bells started playing hymns. Beautiful. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was dinner time and we adjourned to their dining hall for our complimentary dinner. Although we were stuffed from lunch/high tea, we were not able to cancel it to another night so just went to taste the food. It was not too bad but definately not worth 50 pounds as per price on the menu!




Saturday:


Josiah woke up twice last night just to remind me why I find holidays so tiring. At least he was well-rested so we could be about our touring in peace. We went back to the York Minster for the full tour, unfortunately, they do not allow kids below 8 years old to go up the tower so we had to skip that. It is a lovely church with beautiful stained glass windows, high arches and mozaic tiles


There was going to be a choir performance that night so university students were practicing their pieces. Perfect timing since I love to listen to choir singing. We stopped by 31 Castlegate for lunch and received dagger eyes from the couple on the next table (probably hoping for a romantic meal). Shaun had his fish and chips while Josiah had his chicken and chips. I stuck with my boring chicken mushroom pie.




Next stop was Clifford's Tower which has rebuilt after 150 Jews committed suicide there. We climbed up the tower having to carry Josiah for the view but there wasn't much up there. Not the best 6 pounds spent. We walked around town some more, scouted for the meeting the next day, took shelter at York Minster again and settled back into the hotel.




We were still full so we jumped into the "heated" swimming pool. Once again, I find it misleading as it was C.O.L.D. But the new wetsuit I bought Josiah definitely helped but boy did his lips turn BLUE. He did enjoy it a lot and learnt how to kick his legs... time for swimming lessons? We ended up at a Tex Mex restaurant for dinner and Josiah did a great job of feeding himself so Shaun and I could have a proper dinner. Except the food was so-so and service was slow. Oh well.

Sunday:

After a harrowing night of whining and crying, Josiah ended in our bed and continued the torture by kicking me the rest of the night. I was quite glad it was morning so I could jump out of bed with the lil monster...grrr....oops, it's Sunday...must not be distracted...

We took a taxi to the meeting in St Andrew's Evangelical Church and passed them our commendation letter. Josiah immediately made friends with a boy and started playing behind the hall. He was good the rest of the meeting and we had a wonderful morning having fellowship with the believers there. We couldn't stay after the breaking of bread as we had to check out of the hotel by noon.

Our final stop before leaving York was the National Railway Museum. Josiah had a ball seeing so many trains on display. After an hour, he wanted his Thomas and promptly started playing with it on the floor. Time to go then....

The trip to York was our first holiday of 2009 which I would say went quite well despite the rough nights! All of us felt relaxed upon our return to bustling London and looked forward to our next adventure in Estopona, Spain in April.

Till then, here is the link to York photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/meiyeeleow/YorkTripMarch2009#

Random notes to myself

My toes have not seen sunlight since October last year with exception to the 3 weeks back in Malaysia. They are always wrapped in socks or house slippers! Josiah too - only time it is not wrapped in a sock is during bath time :p

Swimming in a "heated pool" during winter is a bad idea. For one, the water is still cold although it is considered "heated". When the cold air hits you from the pathway of the changing room to the pool, it is enough to send me running home (except that I paid 5 pounds for entry so must at least dip in the pool for xxx amount of time to make it worthwhile)

Josiah has new bad habit of wanting to cut his nails - sometimes, it is the first thing he asks for in the morning. Or when I am out at the shop or in church. Annoying.

I love to vacuum. And I love my Bosch vacuum cleaner.

I have newspapers delivered to me on Mondays and Thursdays. Why? Because it takes me about that long to finish reading it.

Josiah is still unable to climb up the dining chair at age 2yrs 2 mths!

Josiah's latest fascination with Thomas the train has resulted in my handbag getting heavier - I need to bring at least one train with me at all times. He will asks for it when we are waiting for the bus, sitting in the bus, sitting through a ministry or eating in restaurant.

Josiah can now say his name and likes to call himself "Josiah baby"?? Dunno who put that idea to him. He sometimes refers to Daddy as "Small Daddy" and sometimes as "Big Daddy" - ????

When asked to say Josiah Ow Yang, he'd normally say Josiah Ow Pang and if I correct him, he'd say Josiah Ow Pang Yang!!!

Josiah still remembers when Kong Kong and Po Po took him swimming in Awana. He says. "swimming Kong Kong"

Josiah will say, "Tickle Mummy" then runs over to tickle you.

Josiah can sit on the potty for about 5 minutes but he doesn't know what to do whilst he is sitting there. I tell him to try and "shee shee" or "mmm mmm" then he will grunt and say "it is stuck"

So much for potty training

The cold air and hard water causes your skin to dry up like prunes here. So I would have to moisturise every day - you would know if you have missed a spot on your body because it would be scaly and itchy in the next few hours after bath! I have never used to much moisturiser in my life being born with enough oil on my face to fry an egg! Poor Shaun who has dry skin - he needs super moisturisers like Cetraben which is way too oily for me (see I told you I was full of oil!)

Josiah can still wear some tops which are meant for 9-12 months old baby!!


Here are some random photos as well:

Josiah in a snowsuit I got him last year (to fit 9-12mth old) - it still fits!

Josiah in a nice outfit after attending Val's 70th birthday celebration

Josiah exercising on his trampoline - best 9 pounds I have spent.

A blurred shot but this image really captures Josiah - sweet, fun & playful

He may not be able to climb up the slide but once up - he loves the ride down

So funny....

"So funny"

The latest phrase from my Josiah. Apparently quite a lot of things are "funny" to him so I cannot be sure that he understands the exact meaning of this phrase but the way he says it ..... is so funny to me!!

Chinese New Year this year was interesting. I hosted a couple of dinners. One steamboat with 2 other chinese families and one for S's boss and secretary. First time buying fishballs, meatballs....type things in London. Quite a novel idea really, this steamboat or more commonly called hotpot here. With the leftover, S and I had another two rounds of steamboat on our own. Lovely to have hot soup and noodles in the cold.

Oh, yes. Talk about the cold - how about the whole snow incident in London. Apparently, we have not had so much snow in London since 18 years ago. The whole of London came to a standstill with offices closed, buses and Tube not running, no school, like a national holiday! It was really nice. We went out to check out the snow and had full English breakfast for dinner (no food and no one would deliver!) The next few days were not as nice as it was so icy and walking with a stroller was a real pain. My wrist and shoulder was hurting from trying to navigate the ice. Josiah quickly lost interest in "snow" and "snowman" because it was too slippery for him to walk and he kept falling down. On the upside, he picked up a few new words like snow, slippery and pain :)

From our window - snow everywhere

Josiah kept saying, "Oh no, car is stuck!" - he loves even other people's cars apparently

Josiah meets Mr Snowman

Josiah learnt the word "scarf" as he has never had to put one on before. BTW, that is my scarf that he is wearing (too cheapo to buy him one!)

Happy Birthday Josiah

2nd January 2009



Dearest Josiah,



Happy 2nd Birthday to you.


I love you more than you think :p


So here's a little poem just for my little man...

Star, car, daddy then finally mummy;

Your first words were in that order,

Finicky about what you want in your tummy,

I am beginning to worry you have got some food disorder!

As your vocabulary expanded, my life became more contented

I don't have to guess what you want, I just have to give you what you ask

Sometimes I wonder if I am spoiling you

Aiyoh - for goodness sake's, you are only two

Other boys are jumping, hitting, snatching, pushing and pulling

Thank God for your calm and loving nature

You prefer to jump on the trampoline, push on all your cars and pull my hair

Thank God for your smile and laughing nature

Baby bibs and baby toys are still part of our lives

Drinking milk from a bottle at two?

Sleeping with mummy and daddy - still the story of our lives

We love you for who you are - who cares about the excessive drool

Have a lovely year ahead

It may be full of adventure - but don't be afraid

Mummy and Daddy will be here for you

Every single day, loving you, watching over you

Protecting you from the terrible things in live

Hoping that you would keep alive

Until your next birthday twelve months down the line!

Love always,

Mummy

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