Genting shortcation

31 agustus ini hari national day nya Malaysia n krn hari minggu, so senin diliburin ama pemerintah (kapan ya indo jg kaya gini). Anyway, krn sabtu kita udah ada acara, hubby decided (only on friday) 
that we should go out on sunday for an overnight trip to Genting.

I think he just wanted a quick getaway, a break from his load of office work. The hotels on top of the Genting hills were already fully booked. But we managed to get a hotel room on the foot of it, which we have tried once and is not that bad.

(Quite old, but has been refurbished).

So we went for a short vacation - shortcation.

Both Adam n me were recovering from flu, in fact my sore throat just broke onto a flu 2 nights before. So i packed n prepared very slowly for the trip, which was like few hours before we went off.

And when i say i pack, i mean pack for the whole fam.

The day before we went for a bbq dinner gathering w some fellow indonesian families here (made new friends), and as much as Alea is such a calm baby, she couldnt really sleep during our tenure there. And even since our lunch time. So in the next 24-36 hrs she was sleeping for very very long time (8.5 hrs nonstop the moment she reached home). I was worried she was going to be sick in genting or will wake up often due to huger cause of her previous long sleep hours, but thank goodness i was wrong. In fact she just continues sleeping like a p*g :), even as i'm typing now, already back in KL.

Genting, just one hour plus away from KL, is a bit like 'puncak' for jakartans to KL-ers, but much more nature preserved. The trees and forests are still abundant hence providing a much- much cooler air. On top of it, they built casionos n hotels n theme park. As always in a public holiday, it is overcrowded (the place is too small to cater such big crowd), and the indoor mall looks quite rundown. Yet, heaps of peeps are always coming, including us.

What i feel now with a 3years toddler trolling around, is who cares about the rundown place anyway, as long as the kid is super happy, spending time with us, right?

I took him to a (lame) train ride, circling a simple oval track 3 times, yet he was so happy and beaming with joy. There was a free stage show with men wearing rio n ice age characters dancing and he was giggling all the way, till the show changed to some robots fighting performance, which prompted him to yell at me 'aku gak suka!' And off we went away, yet he still wanted to come back there afterwards.

I regretted not bringing him a swimsuit for him n daddy - forgot completely about the heated outdoor pool facility at the hotel, but he had superfun in the room's bathtub anyway (we only have showers in our house).

We missed waking up early in the morning to enjoy a walk in the misty golf park outside, but we had a lazy long breakfast. Son enjoyed his favourite bfast (pancake) and i havent eaten a good nasi lemak for a long time. I ate so much that i skipped lunch.

At the end of the day, when we are back home n before he sleeps, the son says 'after sleep, we go to the mountain again ok', u know u have spent your weekend right :)

Good night my munchkins! Love.

Note: he is starting a habit to hug me when he's trying to sleep. Cant decide if this is a good or bad habit ;)

We started sleeping Alea in a 'tengkurap' position since i just discovered one side of her back head became flatter than the other (peyang), ho!

Pic: stopping over at Goh Tong for lunch, had thai style fried fish and spinach soup woth anchovies, yunmy! Alea opened her eyes for 5 mins and continued sleeping, she is so calm!

My one month little lady

She is such a calm baby, at least comparatively! 

I swear she starts to respond verbally to us already by oozing soft 'mmmhhh's when she can ( i wish i can just record her when she does it). She gets irritated when the diaper is soiled. She wakes up minutes before she poops. She does have some difficulty sleeping when she cant digest her milk well, but she can sleep back on her own once that clears, though most of the time i help her sleep back by feeding. She has started to sleep 2 consec 5-hours cycles, which is wonderful (for me at least)! And i've been able to pump on daily basis since her first week. Yet, she has gained a wealthy size, from 3.2 kg 49 cm to 4.6 kg and 55 cm.

She can sleep in a somewhat noizy enviro, ie. When her brother is around n making all possible noises. And she feeds fast! One side is enough for her till now, and sometimes in 10mins she's already full!

This is proving to be a different parenting experience already! Thank you Alea for introducing me to a new world! Lets walk this thru together 😘

My little man

He was wearing a tshirt with a boy wearing a cape pictured on it. He insisted  i wore a white shirt this morning, while i was adamant to wear my blue batik patterned shirt for our day-out trip. Its just a visit to the paed for Alea's vaccination, but i take all trips out of the home very seriously these days :) as in, i want to look good when i go out, it makes me feel good! Esp when most of my time these days are spent indoor with cosy pijamas :)

Anyway, to distract him from pestering me, looking for inspiration n all i could think was based from his tshirt pic, i told him 'i'll give u a matching cape'. I did use the word later/nanti/in the future.

For me, it could mean tomorrow.. Or next week. But for him it's next second, aka now already! So there he goes, successfully forgot about the white shirt, but now pestering me for the cape - which didnt exist yet! 

So upon reaching back home fr the paed trip, i cut an available large size felt, male it a slanted shape cape, n tied it around his neck, et voila! he loved it n insisted to wear it even for sleeping :)

He asked if he could fly with it in the room. I said no. He asked if he could use it to fly in the sky out there. I said no, only birds n characters in the movies can fly, i hope he understands. He asked later on if night comes he could fly.. Still no son..

(Of course this gives me chill that i should begin to lock my balcony...).

Fly in your dreamscape son, fly your hope high too, but i m a selfish mom, i dont want u to fly far from me,, no, am not ready yet for that. U grow up so fast, n one day u will soar so high, i will loose sight of you, but i will always wait for u to come back n visit, n tell me your stories of soaring up n far.

Last Preparations - 3 weeks to delivery

I felt quite accomplished since 2 weeks ago when i was able to tick all my pending items from my maternity checklist.

True, since this is the second one, i don't have to start from 0, as we can re-use a lot of things we have bought from Adam :). What? All those past puchases was a long-term investment to begin with ;p.

So my checklist was not too long:

- go to a baby fair to get some (girly) additional baby clothes. Yes, pink is now a welcome addition now.

- buy replacement harness belt for the stroller whose plastic clip is broken.

- review all existing baby clothes/stuff, wash, bleach if necessary. 

- buy extra breastfeeding clothes/bra/maternity pad for mummy.

- buy a comfy chair to put next to crib, for my breastfeeding days. (Last time such chair was available in our previous rented unit, but now no more).

- stockup newborn size diapers and cottonballs at least for a week.

- renew my visa poperly before baby is born. Better to settle this now.

The hardest was to get the harness replacement. As though the brand i'm using is one that Matt Damon is also using, the store which i bought it from in KL is no longer the distributor. They referred me to another local store chain, but the later couldnt help either. I browsed to see if i could get this mailed from overseas but to no avail. At the end my last resort was to check what ither brand has most similar harness form to mine, and just buy that brand. I will need to go to a taylor to somehow stitch / make it stick to my stroller. At the end, i bought a maclaren harness to fit into my cybex stroller. It's a pity i couldnt find a rep for the cybex stroller anymore here. I guess it's not popular enough, but i really like its frame and wheel sturdiness, not too heavy (abt 7kg only) and also that it came with an option to buy it as a travel system with its cybex onix babycarseat, at an attractive price (though in US the price is even cheaper by 50%! But that goes to all stroller brands). The plastic clip of the harness broke after we returned from our NZ trip btw, not sure it was because of the changing temperature during the trip? Lesson learnt? Its not a bad thing to buy a common brand instead, at least u're sure u will get easy post-buy customer support, esp for expensive things like stroller!

So ya basics are covered. Along the way, of course a woman is not a woman if her shopping list does not expand. I found a bumboo style-chair with tray in the baby fair at very good discount, deal! Then mothercare had a sale and i realized baby G(irl) didnt have skirt or dress yet. So i bought more clothes, n also discounted milk bottles. I bought some other stuffs which i wished i had for baby A: large muslin squares (can cover as stroller cover too when she sleeps), pillow to help put baby's head straight in stroller/carseat, and not to forget extra toys for my boy as gifts from his baby sister :).

And as a fair thing to do, we also just took a maternity photo-shoot session package. This time we did in indoor studio, as i dont think i can cope with being outdoor too long anymore, n a 2.5 years old toddler to entertain to. I'm so glad we were able to do this. Though have yet to see the photos result.

So now my homework is:

- prepare a maternity bag - to go when d-day arrives

- prepare crib (need to raise back the bed to upper height)

- arrange bedroom furniture so my new chair can fit in ( bought the L cahir from Ikea)

- drill holes and install pegs for one more layer of woodboard in the wardrobe to store baby G's clothes.

I cant do the last 2 on my own as i'm afraid something may happen to the life inside my tummy :)

Oh n need to go for a haircut and stitch the harness-stroller thing! But otherwise shoppingwise looks quite done.

Longer term need is also to figure out which daycare Adam willl move to, as current one is to far for me to fetch n the 'bibik' definitely cant pick him up anymore once i returned to work.

On the other hand, hubby has bought a second car which i get to use :) esp during my maternity leave n also later last few weeks b4 due date if i have no more energy to take the lrt to go to work. Will also be useful once we move out of this condo which will likely to happen when the contract expires, esp if we move to a place not so accesible by lrt station (taking a bus is a pain). N i have just bought a toddler car seat for this car (discount!), so that hubby doesnt have to keep switching the carseat from 1 car to another. Anyway we will later on need 2 car seats once baby G overgrows her baby car seat at about 1 year old.

Ok so thats all the prep! Done and dusted (minor a few things). Bring on the d-day! Meanwhile pls babyG, stay put in my tummy while u grow a little bit more! I know, with the way you poke your limbs out of the sac, u cant wait to see the world either! Hope we can be the best family that u deserve to have.

Ow i may want to start freezing some home cooked meals too, at least for my first week meal. As my mum likely won't be here. And she's the only one i can depend on cooking food to my taste (surprise surprise). Bibik doesnt have talent to cook and my MiL as nice as she is, we just have difft styles of cooking n taste. But i'm not sure i have energy doing this kind of prep. Cooking tires me!

Photo caption (from top left to right): 1. my beloved cybex travel system, 2. The best harness replacement i can get (maclaren, 90rm). 3. Autumz.com nursin wear, a favourite local brand of mine, their materials are so comfy! 4. Malmo mothercare high back car seat (<400rm on disc fr nrm price rm 539). 5. Anbebe baby seat for later when she starts munching. 6. Ikea Poang Chair, with high back support, to accompany my breastfeeding sessions. Not too ex, just arnd rm 300. 7. 120x120cm aden nais muslin squares, apparently baby George of Kate n William use this brand too. 8. Samples of baby girl clothes bought - love! 8. One of the toys for the big brother - playdough set

Langkawi Maternity Trip

We took a short getaway trip this weekend to Langkawi. After almost 5 years staying in Malaysia, we will finally step on the soils of this little island north of Penang.

I figured this will be probably my last relaxed holiday trip before i find it more difficult to move around with a bigger tummy or a clinging baby :). So i decided to splurge a little by choosing a very nice kids-friendly resort, beach n swimming pool laden, as i just wanted to relax and make it easy to take care of Adam. I made the trip short enough too as i dont want to tire myself too much handling a 2 yrs old hahaha... I kept saying 'i' cause i had to assume hubby couldnt join the trip due to his work may need him to be elsewhere.

Anyway, the waited weekend came and fortunately hubby could join us, so he bought the extra ticket. Friday afternoon we flew from LCCT. AR loves flying, he gets very excited since morning as we told him we were going to take an airplane. So hop we go.

Landed at LIA (Langkawi Intl Airport) without delay. We picked a car-rent service from one of the many counters in the arrival hall. Unfortunately the initial service was not good, the man waiting for us outside for the car was very rude about some miscommunication we had and hubby cancelled the service. Took a taxi instead, hotel is very nearby anyway at pantai Cengah. Had a dinner at hotel as it was almost 9pm already when we arrived. We even dined before we stepped into our room n called it a night.

So after a full breakfast the next morning, we headed to the hotel's beach. AR was walking around in the water with hubby. I swam with him too and i loved his expressions. He's quite afraid with the deeper water but he knows good enough that he was safe with me. After a while he discovered he had more fun with playing sands on the shore. I lathered him with sunblock 3 different times as it was blazing hot!

After a while, we switched to the swimming pool and A had even more fun as the water was the correct depth for him n i guess there is no coarse sand below his feet. It was a bit hard to get him off the pool n at the end he enjoyed a warm dip in the room's batthtub before we finally dry ourselves up n headed out for lunch! Boy we were all hungry. A even expresses verbally "Adam mau makan" while still in the hotel. In the car, he munched his biscuits fervently.

After lunch, we went back to hotel thinking it is good time for A to take a needy nap. But he just wouldnt sleep! I think he was too excited with all the fun activities he had in the past 24 hours that he just didnt feel to sleep it off. I kept thinking in my head if i accidentally made him sugar high with some chocolate or high sugary food but could not recall anything unusual. When at 5 pm we finally decided to go out and drive to 1/2 hr away Pekan Kuah for some duty-free shopping, only then he finally dozed off! He didnt really sleep long, just one hour. He as expected woke up when the car wasnt running longer, we were already making stops at shoplots for chocolates and alcoholic drink.

Had dinner at a thai restaurant, A was still eating a lot. As the hotel bungalow was a bit far from the lobby, several times, we took the buggy car to drive us there, which is undoubtly one of Adam' favourite parts of the trip :) he gets really excited when the car manoevers on the bumps and bents of the hotel alleys.

Unfortunately we had to close the night fast as A suddenly gone haywire, too tired of the day and getting cranky. He even asked me to lock myself in the toilet with no reason! Hahaha

Well that was bits of how the short trip went. Next day first am was similar before we headed back to Langkawi airport to close our trip. It was a worthy fun trip, think every one of us 3 enjoyed the moments.

This morning Adam came to my bed, woke me up and he said "Adam mau berenang ke pantai lagi. Besok naik pesawat ya" ;)

Celoteh Adam

Percakapan2 lucu yg membuat kami senyum2 akhir ini:

- akhir2 ini Adam sedang asyik dengan kata2 sisipan/imbuhan khas slang indonesia: 'dong', 'tuh kan', 'mu', . Banyak kalimat yg dia tambah2in pake kata ini, kadang nyambung, kadang nggak:

- mama main dong! Mama main dong! ( klo ngajak gw maen, masih nyambung sih ini)

- mobil-mu mana? Bus-mu mana? ( di mobil liat keluar jendela mencari2 bus/mobil yg uda keburu lewat, padahal bukan punya gw jg itu kendaraan)

- naahhh, tuh kan... (Sambil nunjuk2 mobil lewat, apa coba)

- akhir2 ini gw lagi suka pake daster di rumah. Dia ga ngerti ya konsep baju cewe terusan gitu. Jadi suka meriksa bawahan gw, klo cuma pake celana dalem gw diomelin, 'mama ga pake celana! Pake celana!', sambil lari ke lemari kamar gw nyari celana n balik tergopoh2 nyodorin celana. Duh ampun deh nak!

- klo mau bobo udah tau besok bisa maen lagi jd udah ga ngamuk2 klo lampu dimatiin tanda mau tidur: 'besok maen lagi ya.. Besok jalan2 lagi ya.. Dst' kata2 terahirnya sblm memejamkan mata n akhirnya tertidur :)

- secara di daycare dia pake bahasa inggris, ada hari2 dimana dia akan nyebut frase2 inggris di rumah yg jelas2 bukan kami org rumah yg ngajarin. Awal2 kata2nya seperti, 'dont touch', 'no hitting', 'finish', 'eat'. Terakhir ini gw iseng2 gangguin gelitikin dia, eh dia retaliate by saying 'stop crying!'. Haha dia rupanya blm ngerti persis itu artinya apa, cuma dia tau itu sejenis larangan, makanya dia ucapin aja pas gw gangguin. Tp gw aga heran krn nurut gw adam ini jarang nangis lah, lagian klo nangis segawat apa smp dimarah2in gurunya gt. eh besoknya adam ngeracau lagi pagi2 'stop crying ... Zaenab'!  (Nama temen kelasnya). Oh rupanya si zaenab yg suka nangis di kelas, phew! 

- kemaren jalan2 sore ngelewatin tempat parkir yg isinya truck n pick up truck, his favourite! Begitu dia lewatin 2 pickup, dieluslah sama dia satu2 tuh bamper pickup sambil ngomong 'sayang-sayang'2... Gw aja ga pernah digituin ama dia hahaha!

- i just had one of my best mornings when he moved to my bed in the morning, i was still sleeping, he took his car toys with him and started playing on his own, all while talking out loud speaking happily about his toys, talkin on his own. I purposely just closed my eyes so i can listen to him more. It's the most beautiful voice to my ears. I think it lasted more than 1/2 hour.

I love this 2 years old phase, when he understands the world around him more and more, at times at a pace that i had not thought he was already capable of. Never underestimate your little loved ones!

The case of over abusing the word 'no'

Sebenarnya kata 'no' udah dimengerti sama kiddo sejak lama, n mungkin salah satu vocab dia yg pertama. Tapi hari-hari ini bener2 di-abuse deh penggunaannya sama dia. Kalo dulu, no lbh dia artiin dia ga boleh melakukan sesuatu or plainly something thats forbidden. Tapi klo sekarang dia gunakan juga sbg perintah ke orang lain termasuk gw. Case in point;

Pagi2 mamanya abis mandi milih baju:

M: *ngambil gaun ijo*

Kiddo: no no no *sambil geleng2* n nunjuk2 baju laen di gantungan yg dia ga sampe

M: *ngangkat si anak spy bs ambil bj yg dia pilih*

k: *ngambil baju kuning gonjreng*

Dan akhirnya gw pake d baju itu, hw pikir selese masalah.

E abis itu dia ribut teriak "celana celana"!

N berhubung celana yg dia liat tergolek di luar lemari cuma satu, yaitu celana pendek gw disuruhlah gw pake itu. Ga mungkin kan gw kerja pake itu. Akhirnya gw pake jg tu celana pendek smbl breakfast. Tp pas gw ganti ke celana panjang abis itu, kok dia notice aja gitu n marah2lah doi sambil bilang 'no no no'.

Terus diceritain tantenya pulang naek pesawat. Dia nolak2 aja smbl bilang 'no no' n sambil dia benerin 'tante naek boat' :D . 

Fast forward, kita ber2 berangkat ke luar rumah, gw kudu drop dia di daycare. Rencana mo naek taxi tp stok antrian taksi dpn rmh lg kosong n macet berat pula. Akhirnya gw putusin naek LRT dulu dgn harapan di stasiun berikutnya ada taxi or minimal bus yg nyambung ke daycare. Berhubung doi cinta banget ama train n bus, senang banget d dia tp yg ada gw makin terlambat.. N gw udah mo batalin aja naek busnya krn cepetan naek taxi. Pas gw bilang ke dia n 'ga jadi naek bus ya, naek taxi aja' sambil geret dia menjauh dr bus 'no no no' lagi d.. Ge ngalah aja d kali ini, sekalian nyoba pertama kali jg pagi2 ngambil rute bus ini.. (Yg ternyata total2 gw abis sejam nganter dia dibanding 1/2j full taxi :( ).

Tapi yg aneh begitu nyampe daycare dia ga bilang 'no no' . Udah pasrah aja dia bakal ditinggal disitu anyway hehehe.

He knows how to get his way.

 

My first affairs with 12k race

I started running 12km in Bandar Kinrara,  Puchong 2 months back, albeit inpromptu as it was supposed to be 10k only. But my first run with the Lyn runners (n the only one to date) got me hooked to try the next and the next 12k run. Btw i really appreciate their warmth in welcoming newbie like me, though they all were quite fast n i totally misunderstood their definition of snail pace (i guess my definition was more of a slug! :) ).

So i signed up for this Men's Health Shape night run, just the perfect distance and fulfilled 2 other 'run-thing to do' in my list, which is to join a night run event and to run in putrajaya, a nicely built modern township built by the malaysian govt.

On the way there, rain was pouring cats amd dogs but as we got nearer i saw a stray of sunlight which was enough for me to give a hope that i wont be running under a strong shower! (Only later that i knew if there was lightning sighted they would have to cancel the event).

Hubby n kiddo dropped me off, n i hitchhiked home on a friend's car.

What i liked:

+ weather was awesome after the rain, made the run feel light. I improved my 10k pb by abt 10mins i think! Now its 72 mins :)

+ nice area not too many cars for lots of runners to run

+ organized event overall, large start/finishing area, lots of toilet etc

+ awesome goody bag n lots of sponsorship tents. Sketcher had a 20% discount shoe booth. Juice, yoghurt etc

Just a bit of areas of improvement:

-: so many long queues in the free goody tents. I decided to skip all of them ss drizxle was getting stronger too,

-: they gave away so many things right after the run but with no bag yet, i dropped my stuff a few times as couldnt mana. Wish they gave a bag earlier.

-: i think their 11th k mark was pretty displaced. Since it felt such a long way to get there!

But overall it was a great experience, love it! I came in 300+th runner out of 12k women, n since the medals were limited to first 500 i was kinda pushing myself to get it hehehe. 

BaliRun

 I ran #smr sat-morning-run in bali, during holiday trip with my family. The vacation trip itself is quite tiring for me, especially if i keep comparing with my previous holiday trips when i had no kid yet. Gone are the days when i can choose n plan exactly what i want to do. My most fruitful own-moments are in the mornings, when i can get out of the house on my own n have some me time. One for this run, where i met the lovely bali runners bunch. And another morning for a serene sunrise at Sanur. I love it when i can have my mind wander around at peace

We wanted to run at the unopened nusa2 toll road above the sea. How cool is that. Unfortunately, the area is already sterilized from people n there are patrols going around to check. So we went to a nearby area across the benoa port and there was a trail encircling a small island/islet giving us 9km worth of run.

I love running in different places, its like a mini discovery trip. As always, i love us, the indonesians bunch of people, super friendly n excellent jokers, just like the runners i met.

Below are pics of my next morning hiatus. Actually i wanted to run again but #taudiri my legs are not that strong n havent properly recovered from the sat run. So i just went there for a walk, sanur beach. I wanted to go to Segara beach since one of the indorunners recommended this place to run. But due to limited online map, i went to the next beach, sindhu. Its still a lovely place. Swamped by people though. I couldnt find a proper parking spot at 5.45am in the morning. I rough-counted at least  a 1000 motorbikes parked. Many were swimming at this early hour. But still, i felt a sense of calmness, as the sun slowly rise, breaking the pink dusk. I continued my journey to the south and i met a group of folks doing yoga. Followed them for a while n then decided to just lie down marvelling at the sky and surrounding. Lovely mornings!

Separating with the kid

Until now, leaving the kid is always tough. On him, on me. I've been taking shortcut lately by sneaking out of home when he's not aware. It spares me from witnessing his loud cries, n even i hope that he doesnt really notice i left. 

But in reality, he is still aware. And because of this, i think he becomes even more sticky to me cause afraid i will disappear any time. 

I have to change my bad habit n start saying good bye properly and giving him lots of explanation first before i go. I think he will understand and take it like a big kid. He is becoming one.

Going to 2 years soon

This friday, the boy will be 2 years old. Does he act and look like a 2 year old? I think so!
He's been unbelievably chatty these past few weeks. Like telling stories. Half of the time I cant decipher what he's saying though. Chatty when waking up (though he will stay quiet for a moment if i'm still asleep), chatty when about to close his eyes to sleep, chatty when he's happy. Absorbing or at least immitating what we say really fast.

His appetite! At the moment, he's having a great one. His tummy will really bulge and become hard after a good meal. And still, after a meal, he will ferociously grab his bottle of milk when offered one. I dont know which part of his stomach still has space for that. This is such a turn-around from his picky-eater situation which has been going down the hill since 12mth-18months. It started getting better when he joined the daycare. Peer pressure works, yes! He loves brocolli, mango, pears, and soup.

Potty-training wise: i see no clue yet when to start! He doesnt get bothered when he does number 2 in his nappy. He happily pees anywhere with/without nappy. I'm not going to rush yet to start, but will surely start dropping hints to him more often now he's 2 soon.

Loves pushing his pram around and take a walk outside of the house. Sometimes I have to turn off my urge to take him out and play, as his definition of outdoor playtime is at least 1 hour there, while mine is just about 30mins. So I always ended up forcing him to return home and spoiling his mood. Or I follow what he wants and I loose my own time (or not, since i'm with him).

He got a gentle side of his heart and showing it. He loves seeing small babies. He loves his soft toy, since 3-4 months back. Puts clothes on his dog/turtle/panda, bring them along to his area of play (kitchen/living room/my room etc). Gives food to them or make them eat out of a bowl ;p.

Can remember some parts of songs! Ah, this was quite surprising to me. I consider myself as totally lacking of right brain capability. Zero feeling in notes and music n stuff. can only memorize using left brain. and hubby though loves singing loud in karaoke session, cant play any musical instrument. So i dont think we have musical genes to pass down to the kid. So I was astonished that just suddenly he wanted to play the pelangi2/balonku/cicak2 songs in the ipad (he's been listening to them lots of times in the past months but never sang along before), and he was able to say some parts of the song (esp. the last syllabel of every line) correctly and at the correct timing, it almost feels he was reading the lyrics on screen.

Remembers. Note this down to myself, this kid got good memory!

Picks up clothes for me. Always picking up the flowery dresses for me. Cant wear those to work baby, otherwise i will look like a lady going for pic-nic, ;p Needless to say, he also picks his own clothes and sometimes he just refuse to wear other things. Like the other day we took him to a mini zoo, and he had to choose his penguin-pyjama pants and sleeveless pocoyo t-shirt for the trip. I must say he was the most under-dressed kid in the farm.

buses. ambulance. tractor. cranes. taxi. truck. He loves them all!

cherios, till another update of the kid.

My maiden race - 6th April 2013 - 8km at MWM

Lovely cotton candies at the sky after my MWM run

Yay, I did my first race at I-City, Shah Alam, @ Malaysia Women Marathon Event.
This was the first full marathon event dedicated to women in the SouthEastAustralasia Region. Being the newbie that I am, I took the shortest event, which was the 8km.
At the point of registration (sometime in December, me think), my running distance was on avg 3km, and I targetted myself to reach 5km by March, so i thought 8 km though sounded a bit ambitious would still be reasonable target.
However things do happen, I didnt run so much in Jan/Feb, and by end of March I've only run 5km once. So I did have jitters days before the run, not sure if I could make the 8km, but I told myself to make it easy and I can at least walk whatever distance I cant cover while running, so game it is!

Btw, actually my first race was supposed to be the Brooks 5km run in March, part of the HM Brooks Run in Bukit Jalil, but being so blur that I am, I've thought run events happen on Saturday and hence have prep myself early in Sat morning, walked out of the door, n realized I may as well bring the running brochures to read while waiting for the event... then it smacked me there with big fonts on the brochure that the date corresponded to a Sunday! Which was a no-no date to me, as we were leaving after my 'supposedly-run' event to JB for a weekend trip. Hahaha, so much for the drama. I ended up just running in my condo compound, with the brooks orange event t-shirt!

Eniwei.. back to MWM, I picked up my running race kit on Saturday, took kiddo with me, as maid had day off and hubby not in town. Attended Kathrine Switzer speaking on the history of women running. Truly inspirational. How she broke the norm in a US marathon event to officially run as a woman, which later on paved the way for her to be a bigger champion for women in running history, including to have the Women Marathon as an Olympics event. Bought some running goodies in the sponsoring booths, ie. the awesome MWM running t-shirt by G-Sukan (veerry verry comfortable, my fave running T to-date), a running skirt (with tight shorts inside) made by an Oz brand (despite the hype, i find running shorts still more comfy with its airy feel). Met wifey of an ol-school-hostel buddy, who happened to be an awesome runner, gonna run for her 42km FM. She asked me what i was doing there, to which i replied humbly "i'm gonna try run 8k :D".
Closed the day with eating ayam penyet with an old fren who picked me up from the MWM RePC area. Came back there to pick up my car and found out parking so expensive there! They really should give discount for MWM runners next time, esp. on the event day.

Sunday... I had my kiddo covered by asking the assistant to come back sat. late afternoon. Left home by abt 4.30AM me thinks... errrggg the things that runners do voluntarily which baffle me till now... is wake up at weird hours such as this... reached the place in 45mins, parked, and then luckily I could find proper toilet (not the portable one) to do no.2. Then I was ready and sat around to wait till the flag-off time (6.30AM).

Started the run slow. I took Kate's yesterday advise to heart, which was "Enjoy your first run. Forget about the watch, forget about the timing, just enjoy your run, there's only a first run and enjoy it!". So I ditched my earphone - but still turned on my NikeApp to track the distance.
One week before the organizer updated that the 8km route has been upgraded to 8.8km. I was like.. darn even further! So my strategy was to really run slow at least for the first half, so I can be sure I will be able to cover the 2nd half as well, no matter how slow hahaha. I think the first 1 km, I kept looking back for fear I would be the last one in the crowd. I didnt want to be running with the last escorted motorbike and running-sweepers if any! * that would be too much pressure, on top of the pressure being 'bontot' :p *. I think I could see the sweeper motorbike 100-200m behind me, so I was probably in the last 100-200 persons crowd.

But I slowly progressed my pace, and beyond 2km i didnt look back and found myself quite comfortable. I managed to run a full 5.5km without stopping. Then came in the incline around UiTM Mara area, so many people started walking up the incline. I ran my first incline, then first water stop, then on 2nd incline i dedided to walk. Happy I achieved my initial target of running at least full first 5km without stopping. It was really great experience to be running with so many people in an organized event like this. The volunteers manning the drinks stop was awesome with their smiles greeting us. There were marshalls here and there cheering us on, and there were fellow runners to share our pain with *Grin*. After the 4-5km mark, we started to merge with 21 n 42km runners. At that point I remember seeing so many gruelling faces doing the 21km, that it kind of put me on a happy place, happy cause i wasnt suffering like them, haha. i sound a bit evil. But seriously, I really dont know if I can put myself up to a 21km event, but seeing their faces, I stick it to my memory that it's not easy running that distance, so respect to those who can do HM! (I'm not even putting FM in my coverage).

Also, what i loved about this event, is that eventhough it's a running event dedicated to women, they do allow men to join as pacers to the women (must run in pair, and finish together). I've seen few people complaint why they allow it. But to me,it's a good thing and I loved seeing the pairs running together, the man giving motivation to the woman, even without talking much, but just running together, I find it beautiful. And towards my last 2km, i was running at abt the same pace with one of these couples, and loved seeing them finish together, inspiring!

So, finally, after combining 2 more walking sessions with running, i at last finished my 8.8km event at 1hr 22mins or so. I just stopped the app and didnt really bother checking the app details... as needed to go for refreshment! yup, hot and thirsty. Only then i realized someone shouted 'ow man it wasnt 8km, it was near10km'. Ah! no wonder i felt so jelly legged! I checked my app and it was 9.5km! Wow, coolness, I could run near to 10km, so much for the pre-run jitter of having run up to 5km only up to date :D

This event only gives medals to the FM and HM runners. Oh n they decided to give some to the top 50 or 100 of the 8k as well! Me got a certificate, happy enough!

Loved the run. It's addictive i can tell u that ;p

Top left: with Kate Switzer, the Marathon Woman. Bottom Right: with femes runner Yvonne, she has a cool blog, n not to mention awesome runner.

ps: Oh and I almost forgot, after the day of the event, I realized that the fun was not over. People were putting up their snapped photos of the runners on facebook and letting us know their links so we can browse
and look for ours! It was so much after-party fun. Here are some photos I found of myself. Really thankful for these photographers for being so selfless and spending time to snap photos of strangers and sharing them back to us! These are some of them:

me running behind one of the HM-pacee-pacer. Loved their glorious smiles. (photo credit to s1 - sorry didnt write down the name)

running tutu (air asia group I believe)

ps2: I followed up with a full 10km run 2 weeks after, as I was 'penasaran' that if i could run 9.57km, whether I could make it to full 10.0km and without stopping, and 2nd yay, i could do it :) happy!

growing A

A is growing rapidly. Ada aja momen2 yg bikin gemes liat dia tiba2 bertingkah kaya anak besar. contohnya nih..:
- tiba2 ngomong teriak dgn nada agak panik 'ati-ati' ke bapaknya yg lagi naik tangga buat gantiin lampu di plafon. memang kita sering banget ngomong ati-ati ke A, tp blm pernah dia sebut kata itu sendiri smp bener2 momen-nya pas :)
- klo lagi di jalan, sibuk ngabsen 'bas', 'dap' (truck), 'tsi' (taksi). excited banget ngeliatnya
- udah tau trik manipulatif ngambek caper. kadang nih dia pengen ama gw, tp gak mau dia ngelangkah yg fully approach ke gw. jadi tinggal 5-6 step lagi udah nyampe ke gw, dia sengaja berenti, balikin badan smbl nunduk2 pura2 gak mau diliat, padahal maunya didatengin n digendong ama gw ke tempat gw berada. yak, dan trik dia emang sukses2 ajah. gak tega gw ngeliatnya campur gemes hihhi. kadang2 mau  sesuatu, pura2 nangis (kedengeran banget nadanya dibuat) biar dpt apa yg diinginin. klo yg msh wajar2 aja gw msh turutin sih, abis lucu gitu ngeliatnya. abis itu klo kesampean langsung ketawa2 bahagia gitu dianya.
- udah fasih milih2 video di utube n buka2 aplikasi ipad, teken2 tombol 'back', 'home', sama unlock screen saver. emang yah produk apple inih so intuitive to use even 1 year old can use it. *malah muji produknya hahahaha*
- klo liat hp BB bapaknya selalu dikembaliin ke bapaknya (tp klo iphone gw suka diembat ama dia). tau dia mana hp yg bagus buat maen mana yg gak bisa dipake main haha.
- rajin naroh barang ke tempatnya (tp rajin jg sih mberantakin barang). jadi klo masuk rumah, lepas sepatu, pasti sepatu ditaroh di raknya. klo liat dompet apa kunci terserak dimana, pasti dia lempar ke meja tinggi lobby kita, tempat nyimpannya emang disitu. klo nyusun mobil2an di rak mobil nya pasti dia tarohnya mobilnya harus menghadap ke bawah dgn bener, klo kebalik dia benerin lagi..
- suka ama kucing (dari dulu sih). kadang2 tiba2 posisi all-4 di tanah nunduk2in kepala cium lantai kaya kucing (*dan gw langsung buru2 angkat dia, maluk gilak diliatin org anaknya tiba2 gitu ;p *)
- suka kumpul2 ama bocah rame2. walo belom terlalu bisa interaksi yah, tp keliatan banget dia enjoy ada sekelilingnya yg rame gitu, terutama sesama anak2,khususnya yg lbh gede dikit (soalnya klo sama2 seumur masih sama2 blm bisa komunikasi). kemaren ke tempat temen, muka dia happy banget sama anak2 laen ngejar2 kucing angora di rumah.
- udah mulai ngasi tanda2 bisa lepas dari mamanya. biasanya nempel banget. ampe gw ke wc pun harus ngintil *sigh*. tp sekarang ada 2 hal yg bisa buat dia rela ninggalin gw: 1. pergi sekolah; 2. kumpul2 ama sesama bocah. hoho, this comes sooner than i thought.
- klo lagu dia paling suka 'the wheel on the bus'. udah apal dia ama goyang2 tangannnya. entah udah berapa versi videoklip di utube lagu ini kita puter2. so far emang blm kita introduce dia ke tv, tp ipad rada kecolongan sih. gak nyangka dia suka banget sama video2 di utube. kadang2 gw sengaja sembunyiin ipadnya pas kami kerja. soalnya mbaknya jg jadinya bergantung sama si ipad ini biar A gampang makan. biar gak makin keterusan, lagian klo liat ipad lama2 gitu tiap hari matanya ntar bisa cepet minus ya? paling gw puterin klip lagu anak2 (dia cuma suka yg temponya cepet); video binatang2 dari national geographic or video kucing. ama kmrn yg dia lagi suka banget videoklip boneka2 tangan tokoh2 harry potter. padahal nurut gw biasa aja, tp dia suka banget ama hentakan iramanya yg berulang2, dia ikut2 smbl geleng2 kepala gitu.

- klo ada barang ngumpet di bawah meja n tangan dia gak nyampe, otomatis ambil tongkat panjang buat bantuin dia ambil barangnya.
- klo dibawa keluar rumah seneng banget, terutama ke taman bawah or taman atas kondo. klo dibawa pulang pasti marah2. susah banget bawa dia pulang dr taman. bahagia banget dia disana. bosen ya nak di rumah :) ?

2013 first posting

o mine, i'm such a slacker, suddenly we are in the middle of 2013 already!

many things happened this year.. where do i begin?

* Jan-Feb 2013: We sorted buying a property in suburb Jakarta, aka Jakarta Coret, aka Serpong. which means I had to go back and forth KL-Jak to search, do and finalize the deal. Property price has soared much in the past 2-3 years, we should have bought earlier, but then again always easier to say things in retrospect, than in prospect. Plus anyway, it is still the right thing to do. Luckily, i was able to sort things out in just 2 trips. Very efficient! ** I clap for myself  :D **

* I actually tested positive.. sometime in Jan.. but 2.5 weeks later.. things didnt turn out well and we've lost the sac thru natural bleeding. Since this is the 2nd time already it happened, I cant help to be very conservative the next positive time (and I hope I'm still given the chance to) happens, I will stop all physical activies, including long distance travelling.

* I've completely weaned Adam by Jan 13. I first started reducing the frequency of breastfeeding when he was 13 months (Sep last year) down to just 1 or twice a day (before sleeping or in the morning). I did it because I havent gotten my period back yet, and both of me n hubby thought we shouldnt wait too long before trying for a 2nd baby. So at least, i needed to get my monthly cycle back. Sure enough after 1 month, the cycle started back again. And in Jan, when diagnosed pregnant, I could also feel my supply was getting much lesser, my obgyn also advised me to stop breastfeeding since i was pregnant, though i read in many online articles that it can be ok to still continue b/f (noted that it is mostly not advisable esp for peeps who have had miscarriage history before, such as me). And anyway due to my supply was very low, Adam even refused to drink from me sometimes. So just like that, he stopped on breastfeeding, with not much drama. My 1 week trip to Jakarta in Jan, away from him, also helped to make him not look for me in the middle of night for breastmilk. Just stuck with his dad and grandma, he learnt to sleep thru the night without waking up. Though for the first few nights, grandma just automatically shoved him with milk at 11pm so to make sure he has a sound sleep for the rest of the night. Anyway, i'm so glad i dont have to go thru the weaning process with putting something bitter/spicy so he refused to b/f. Actually, i think i miss the b/f process more than him.

* In March, i was bombed with work. *ha, that's how i remembered it* By the 3rd week, time came too fast, it's time for my 8 days trip to Japan with some girlfriends. As usual, the last week before any long holiday is swamped with work, had no time to do my own reseach for the trip. But I know I can depend on C, one of the gals, to come up with a detailed personalized itinerary. We did Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo. Lovely! I thought I loved Tokyo the most, what can I say I'm a city girl. Grandma from Batam took care of my kid once again, while I'm out of town..

* Back from my Jpn trip, i paid a visit to a near-by daycare (not so nearby, it's a 10mins drive if road is empty) which after researching in Nov, i have decided is the best place for Adam to start spending more structured time in a daycare. just halfday every day. So registered him and he will officially start in April 2013. My main reason to put him in the daycare, is so that he can have more structured activities during the day, learning words, having people talk to him, play n doing arts, rather than just spending time at home alone with our maid while me n hubby are at work. While hubby thinks it's a good time for Adam to start socializing...
Though I had my doubts. I was kind of worried whether we were doing the right thing. I was worried about the language, since we've only purposely stuck with Indonesian at home, and i was hoping that by the time he started daycare he would have spoken much indonesian already, but in reality he hasnt yet. so I was worried whether putting him in an english daycare this early would have a negative effect to both language. But now after 1 month, he is definitely getting bublier and his vocab growing at exponential rate, so i hope i was wrong. Then, my heart breaks every morning when i drop him in the daycare as he would cry very loudly when i left him with the teachers. The worst was the first full day, i was with him in the class the whole time, and when the director tried to call me out of the room, he cried so violently that i couldnt help to cry as well. O gosh, it was nightmare for both Adam n me :( It just caught me off guard that i would be the sad one too. I should have mentally prepared myself better. So next few days i just changed cold cut style and still left the place eventhough i can still hear him cry. After 2 weeks, hubby is back in town and he is the one dropping A to school... It is now 1 month that Adam has started the daycare, and since last week he has stopped crying when being dropped there, that's my good boy :D He also didnt cry when leaving me at home since 2-3 days ago, he clearly understands when his dad says 'Ayo Adam sekolah' and the fact that he's not crying i guess means he's enjoying it :D i'm so happy that he's happy :). Also, my paeditrician didnt really recommend putting Adam to a daycare before 2 years old, he did say his opinion is only from a medical perspective and i respect him for saying that. I guess I had to weight in all the pros and cons, and at the end of the day i thought the pros still outweighted the cons. And Adam had his longest cough n flu for 3 weeks in his first weeks of daycare (he was already sick before that). But after that he's ok. so i hope he is one of those kids who get stronger antibody once they are exposed to it.

*May 2013, 5th may was the 13th General Election in Malaysia. It was quite interesting to follow the election process. Noted that the opposition is gaining stronger foothold. What is interesting here is that it is very obvious that the country here is run /segregated by race. Even the PM can make such a ra*ist comment, I cannot comprehend how the no.1 person in the country can make such a quick statement which obviously will hurt a lot of people. And to start with his own alliance party also has its own 'party-by-race' structure. It is not a wonder that a lot are getting not satisfied with the govt. Although I must say, infrastructurally, this country is very well managed, with all the nice roads all across the country, and comfortable mrt in KL.

Ok, that's all from now. will post some pics once i have bits of more time :)

It's another Sunday wrap

So it's another sunday, and one very enjoyable one today. So much bonding with my kid and I still have this happy smile on my face, few hours since he began his night sleep, remembering all the fun we had today. Never had I thought that I could find the most wonderful companion in the heart of a one year old kid.

I can just stop this blog post here, for the risk of getting a bit more sentimental.
But heck, this is my blog right :) so i go on :D

So i looked into his eyes today and you know I wish what thoughts were rummaging in my mind could transcend to his eyes and into his mind, but I guess he knows it already. That I do love this little man of the purest heart! And I am just so thankful that this boy was the winner of a long-long race when he was still in mili-micro-metre size and emerged victorious, to come out into this world and finally born to us.

It's amazing to experience a developing interaction with your little kid and how fast the improvement of communication is. Like yesterday, i was looking for his water tumbler in the living room. And I was saying 'minum-minum' while my hands were pretending to hold a bottle and my lips doing 'sipping' motion, while i walked around the house to look for it. He looked at me and i just thought he is  trying so hard to understand what i was trying to do, and the next thing I knew, he looked around and found the bottle for me. Wow!
And how can I not mention all the silly dances (rather, moves) I do to make him smile, that not only draws his grin, but his loud laughter at times. And the hi-5 that we do. And the mini-tent games we play under the blanket :D
I love the way we are. So you know, this day I do feel very thankful, for the home that i am provided, for the luxury of time i have, for the good health that accompany me, for the work that doesn't stress me too much, all these co-exist together so well so I am able to spend precious time with my little child. What more can I ask.

15 months

Marks the first time he successfully climbs onto the coffee table himself.
He was so proud of it, he just sat down wriggling his legs left and right grinning from ear to ear.
(now, i do worry the glass will break soon).

running...

Gak nyangka juga, akhirnya gw mulai berlari... setelah sekian lama gak lari...
Awalnya liat beberapa temen di social media yang consistenly berlari, terus liat2 kok semakin mewabah. Selama beberapa bulan, gw cuma silent watcher aja sih... gw pikir, gw lebih pilih berada di rumah, ngabisin wkt ama anak gw, kangen klo udah seharian di kantor n rasanya anak gw butuh deh interaksi ama gw buat pertumbuhan dia (**sok bijak nih, padahal anaknya jg gak apa-apa** ya maklum jg maklum ibu dengan anak pertama mgkn rata2 memang instict melindungi anak seperti ini?). Udah gitu, dengan jadwal dia secara rata2 selalu kebangun 2-3 kali tiap malam buat nyusu smp dia umur setaon-an bikin body gw cukup tepar deh (**Loh, sekarang malah nyalahin anak hahaha**). Plus, klo soal lari, sebenarnya yg kebayang-bayang di gw itu cape2nya gw dulu pas rutin lari waktu SMA, inget di tengah2 lari mikir kok gak nyampe2 or cape ngedorong diri sendiri buat pace yg cukup okeh (yang bagian feel glorynya abis nyelesain lari udah lupa).

Tapi akhirnya mindset gw mulai berubah, n didukung jg oleh body gw yg semakin ready jg. At least, gw dah gak berasa gempor lagi pagi2 abis tidur dengan interrupted sleep. Anak gw udah gak sesering dulu bangun (ya masih aja sih bangun tengah malam, n kadang2 balik lagi kaya dulu klo lagi teething). Terus gw pagi2 jg udah gak seribet dulu pas masa 6-14 bulan musti nyiapain makan anak buat hari itu (dah lebih percaya ke si Mbak sekarang n jg anak gw dah bisa makan lbh banyak jenis makanan kan). Itu secara kesiapan fisik yah.
Secara mindset, mungkin ini yg lebih penting or at least a-must-nya yah (klo body siap, tp mental gak beranjak, emm... kayanya gw jg gak akan mulai2), keinginan utk mulai n mewujudkannya ini nih katalisatornya. So thanks terutama utk teman2 n even org2 yg gak gw kenal yg kelintas di TL twitter gw or baca2 di blog, yg consistenly berlari, makin improve pace n distance mereka n share ke public. Wow, positive influencer banget deh, efeknya kayanya kaya ombak bergulung2 yg semakin gede, krn kayanya sebelum gw udah banyak banget org2 lain yg keinfluence duluan ama lari oleh wanita2 hebat ini.

Lari pertama sekitar 4 minggu yg lalu. So far, gw baru lari di area dlm condo gw sih, enak deket, suasana nyaman n gak perlu parno ama safety. Dan lari pertama gw, jarak 2.4km. Wow, surprise jg bisa sampe jarak segitu gak pake berenti/jalan, hihihi. Mengingat terakhir gw lari, adalah waktu gw hamil 7 or 8 bulan, itupun mgkn pacenya udah mirip jalan cepat dan kayanya gak pernah deh lewat dari 2km. Enaknya lagi, sekarang bulan November gini, udah masuk musim ujan... **November Rain.. Kriuk..** jadi lari pagi temenan ama udara adem, enak deh. So lari dengan pace sendiri yg enak, gak kelewat cepet, tapi yg penting nafas lancar gak ngos2an, biar bisa aga long distance (eh buat gw 2.4km udah jauh hihihi). Lagian gw pikir,  dah gak Abg lagi nih, gak usah mikirin speed, yg penting latihan utk bisa cover more distance ajah. Kaya lari2 maraton gitu banyak org2 dewasa 40th-an yg bisa ikut bukan? N ternyata gw lupa klo running outdoor gini, jauh lebih enak ya daripada lari di threadmill. Ada pemandangan, ada angin2 sepoi natural. Jadi inget dulu wkt di Jakarta, kayanya taon2 terakhir gw coba lari lagi itu selalu di Gym dan gak pernah berhasil pick-up. Kayanya gw bosen-an yah lari di threadmill, kaya gak nyampe2 selalu di tempat yg sama. ya iya lah, org lari di ban berjalan.

So ok, by now Nike+ (sumpah, aplikasi kaya gini keren banget deh) gw udah record ampir 20km, dengan 7x lari. berarti rata2 2.4-3km gitu sekali gw lari. So far, gw lari 2x seminggu ajah. Pengennya 3x seminggu, tp dengan kondisi single mum on the weekend, susah nih buat nambahin 1x jadwal. Oh ya, di lain hal, karena gw punya sejarah ankle kiri terkilir (padahl udah lama wkt SMA) n sampe bertaon2 gw lari setelah itu, even wkt hamil kemarin, gw selalu bisa ngerasain balik mata kaki gw ini gak bener2 pulih. Jadi gw rada2 parno jg wkt mulai lari kemarin2. Stretching gw bisa lebih lama dari masa lari. Pemanasan 20 menit, lari 15 menit, pendinginan 15 menit hihihi. Tapi ga papa, ternyata magically ankle gw sampe hari ini gak berasa ada yg sakit/sensitif atau apa loh. Sempet ada pegel2 di tungkai kiri (parno kalo shin splint), terus abis lari ke-2/3, sensitifnya pindah ke lutut kanan.. tapi masing2 ini setelah istirahat total 3 hari gak balik lagi sih. Jadi satu lagi mental note buat gw, gw selalu mastiin gw rest total dulu sampe pegel/sensitifnya di kaki gw ilang, baru lari lagi. takut boo cedera..

So happy that i can conquer my own skepticism on picking up running. Mudah2an gw bisa konsisten lebih lama dalam berlari :) .

Oyah, gw juga register utk Brooks Half-Marathon di bulan Maret depan... tapi... bukan yg 21km Nek... hihhi.. cuma yg 5km ajah. sebenarnya kategorinya namanya kategori 'Schoolgirl'.. tp gw liat gak ada batasan maximum age. ya wes lah, antem aja online registration. **kan tampang gw masih layak utk anak sekolahan** hihhi**dilempar sepatu ama yg baca**. Oyah satu lagi sebenarnya event ini cuma utk Malaysian n Singaporean (kenapa Singaporean boleh, tp Indonesian gak boleh? heran deh). Gak tau ya, mungkin nanti pas ngambil RacePack gw bakal ditendang keluar, tp ya let's try lah. It's not like i'm going to win a prize anyway. But just trying to run happy n thought it will be fun to do it by joining an event :) Plus ini jadi semacam fixed target buat latihan lari gw.
Mudah2an by then, gw udah bisa ngecover 5km run beberapa kali :) Wish me luck.

10-11-12

Boleh dong ikutan ngeramein tanggal cantik 10-11-12. Tak dirasa, tanggal ini merayakan 5 tahun pernikahan me & hubby. This day this year gak ada special rose or anniversary cake, just a few phonecalls from the other side of the globe where he currently is to mark the moment (well, the first few calls were a few hours too early from the day :) ).

And i didnt even think to blog it till i heard on the radio this marriage joke:
Q: Marriage involves 3 rings, what are they?
A: Engagement Ring, Wedding Ring, and.... Suffer-ring... *LOL*
well actually the 3rd one should be replaced by "Endu-ring"

so, clink-clink.., here is for our endurance. Just like a race, hope we run and stick together till the finish line, and finish strong!

What i am hearing now is... "Do...." --> Doggy, "Ja" --> Gajah. "Tuh"... --> Jatuh. "Mik..." --> Nenen. "Mak." --> Nenen or Mam.
Keep going my little boy!

14 Months

Actually I dont know how long i can keep up recording his monthly milestones, because there are so many things happening and I'm sure there will be more that it's gonna be difficult to track. Anyway, here are the latest things that amuse me:
- He gets people to help him do what he want when he cant. For example, he always says 'uh uh..' while pointing at what interests him for us to help pick it up & give to him. When he wants to be carried by me, he will hold my legs and stomp his feet multiple times. And the last 'brainer' thing he did, was last night, he saw his favourite shampoo bottle (the one with the pump at the top which he can munch (and suck out the liquid a little bit) ) on the high table. He of course sought for my attention and asked me to take it for him. When he saw that i was doing nothing to help him. He actually walked out of the room, and went to my maid's room to call her. When she's out to follow him, he went to point to the bottle to ask her to pick it up for him. Haha, see he finds ways to get what he wants. i found it quite resourceful i must say! My doctor told me the day will come he will find ways to get things such as pushing a stool so he can climb onto it to reach top of table, but my boy thought of another simpler way, call other people for help!

- He chooses how much he wants to eat and the boy got taste! Now, i have to start racking my brain (and the internet) for some tasty meals for him. He is not so interested in bland food anymore or maybe he got bored with all the steamed-but-so-easy to prepare stuff. Since he's few months past 1 year, i have relegated for a tiny bit of salt to be put into his food, as it did make a diff for him to want to eat it. He loves yogurt (fruity one) & mango. I also cooked him spaghetti (one that tasted rally like real tomato-based spagehetti) and he loved it. Salmon alone he didnt really like it. but salmon with cauliflower & white sauce in chicken broth, he finished it! We stop giving him food when he refuses to open his mouth anymore. Hope he's not getting too skinny. As long as he is healthy.

- It is lovely to see him interact with people, esp. if they can really form sort of a bond. I see this amazingly btw him and his grand-pa. He even purposely looked for him several times during the vacay. And within few days was able to call him 'eya' (from eyang), though after mastering that, he doesnt call him by this name anymore. Whenever kiddo sees him, he grins with big smile as he knows he is going to be involved in some sort of 'game' with his grandpa, whether it is play & catch, rhytm and music, flying paper plane, or walk to the garden.

- He is fascinated by moving animals, such as cats and birds (ok, these are the only animals we see in the condo area). If he sees them, he will point to them and make funny amazed noises and will try to run after them.

- He hasnt developed more constantly-repetitive clear meaningful words yet. but he is definitely trying out new expanding phonics, sometimes he repeats word i say (or try to) though i doubt he knows the meaning of it.

- When we say no or 'jangan' or 'gak boleh', the more he will do what he cant do. Before 12 mths, he was obedient, but after that it's the opposite ;p

- He started to enjoy lying down on a soft bed, sitting down comfortably against a pillow, or just sitting down on a stair step, and sleeping while putting his head on my stomach or part of my body. Before this he only knows to sleep straight on a flat bed surface. Also, when i lay him down to sleep in the dark, he can actually enjoy moments of darkness without crying. Heyo, why this not sooner boy? ;p

- He developed interest with his plush toys (we have an ikea buldog, a tiger from the safari zoo, and a small bear), when he sees them he loves carrying them and give it to me one by one (actually dont know whether he likes it or thinks that i like it therefore he always gives them to me). but sometime, he will kiss them too. Oh, and he hardly gives me any kiss when i ask for it. However if i am still really sleeping and he wants me to be awake, he will kiss me :D am a happy mum. so sometimes i pretend to sleep so he can kiss me :P

so many other things, but these are the first thoughts that came to my mind right now.
catch up later!