Sport: Climbing Walls

We were blessed by a few friends who brought kiddos out climbing at Camp 5, 1Utama.

Big Boy had a try at climbing during a friend's birthday party a year back. But it was the first time for Girl and Baby Boy.

Our friends spent their time knotting and re-knotting, belaying the kiddos, and encouraging them as they made their way up and down. It's a long-suffering role, so am thankful for the opportunity. 

There's the Cicak Club for kids and many more challenges on the walls, which we hope to try out in the near future.

Girl trying out the auto-belayer

Baby Boy made his way up high ... Proud mama!

Siblings belaying siblings

Party: Surprise Mothers' Day Dinner by the Kids

The best part about this party was that it was entirely conceptualised and produced by Girl and her friends.

They conspired with Grandma to do the grocery shopping and the daddies to ensure the mummies come at the right time, while they spent the whole afternoon putting together a feast (with a little help from Ate).

So when we got back, we were greeted with appetisers and a cool drink, handwritten menu cards and table paper mats, and an awesome 3-course dinner.

To top it all, the night ended with some dancing. What a lovely way to end a wonderful evening with loved ones.

Thank you, Girl. Love you much much.

Jottings: The month of February at a glance

Twas a busy month of Feb

Our garden was actually producing and looking fab!

Boy and Girl tried their voice for some TV ads

Girl got a role and a rather fat pay cheque!

Baby Boy is into submarines

And dinosaurs, too, which he divided clean —

A portion each for his cousin and siblings

His sis made them a papier-mâché cave to sleep in

She expresses herself with drawings and hashtags

(especially when upset with Daddy)

She enjoys inviting her friends over for a lil' cuppa tea

 Baby Boy wasn't allowed to join the fun so we had our own party

We did spring cleaning and dropped off a whole lot of books at the L45 library

L45 Library @ 45 Lorong Kurau, Taman Weng Lock, 
Bangsar

And picked up a few new ones in support of a great Malaysian cartoonist with a great story

And of course we also had to do our studies —

in English, Malay and Chinese —

Coz we live in a wonderful Malaysian society!

Jottings: You know that feeling ...

My bed. Every morning. #squishedbutblessed

p/s I'm the one that's falling off the platform ...

pp/s Remembering our awesome holiday in the US of A

Party: Something Minecraft. Something Tractor. Something Lego.

Big Boy and Baby Boy celebrated their birthdays this month. We tried hard to think of a way to combine and celebrate their different interests.

Big Boy was in a Minecraft + Lego phase

Baby Boy was still in his tractor phase

So we got in touch with Bricks4Kidz in Petaling Jaya and gave them this brief: Something Minecraft. Something Tractor. Something Lego. For kids aged between 5 and 8.

And they came back with this specially designed package: Minecrafting with Construction Monsters (Model building include: bulldozers, dump truck, scissor lift, Minecraft character Steve, Minecart, and Creeper).

Sounds good enough for me! So one Saturday morning, we gathered at the 10 Boulevard outlet, and the Bricks4Kidz staff took it from there. They did the decor, the programme and the games, so basically there was little I had to do except take photos and chit chat. There was even a play yard with some Duplo pieces for the younger kids to play with. All the children were well and properly occupied until it was time to leave.                                      

The Minecraft crafting table

The older kids with the more complicated Technic sets 

Some pretty high tech stuff going on here

Growing Up: Cyst of the Eye

So Big Boy's first few weeks of school was hampered by a swollen eye. It was big and nasty looking.

At first, we thought it was a stye. But the doctor diagnosed it as a chalazion, resulting from a blocked oil gland. I still don't really know the difference, but you can read more about it here.

After diagnosis, the doctor assured us that it wasn't contagious, so Boy could attend classes as usual, with the teacher's approval. I was concerned that he would be teased for his swollen eye, but his classmates were understanding. They just asked what happened, and then that was it.

The only remedy we were told to do was to wash with salt water and do hot compress on the chalazion and to clean the pus when it bursts. We were also given an antiseptic cream to apply after the chalazion burst — not before, else there will be new skin forming on the surface while the gland is still clogged.

It took about two weeks for it to fully subside. Thankful that we didn't need to do any surgery to remove it :-)

Growing Up: Baby Boy is 5!

It's been a fun ride with Baby Boy, with his cheeky smiles, cute dimple and winning ways. And as he turns 5 this January, he's growing up fast, yet always my baby!

Here are some highlights of the month.

Time to remove the bike stabilizers ... Becoz apparently that's what Peppa Pig did ...

Art at work

A hotel or something

Aargh ... the start of spelling tests ... and the going was really rough at the beginning. Thankfully it's gotten better.

Fun stuff at school too: Demonstrations and experiments 

Learning about solubility