Quotable quotes from a 5 year old boy

"Let's teach Baby Alicia baby nonsense"

"I want children rights"

Mummy - If you want to go Australia, you have to eat vegetables.
Jeremy - No, Logan also does not take vegetables (Note: Logan is a aussie boy in his kindergarden)

"Mummy, please don't pack my food when we go on trips as I can eat at the hotel for free!"

"I want Optimus Prime birthday cake for my six year old birthday"

"My kindergarden is boring as there is no canteen."

- Jeremy enjoying himself at Sepang

Jeremy and baby sister Alicia sitting in buggy while holidaying in Phuket

Jeremy the beach boy - Siray Bay Phuket

Jeremy and baby sister sitting near the hotel plunge pool

Alicia - 3 and 4 months old

Went for checkup and injection shots yesterday. Key statistics:

Weight - 7.1kg

Length - 69cm

Key highlights for the period:

- Made the first trip out of Klang Valley. Went to Frasers Hill on a day trip. Her baptism to travelling - A regular pastime for the family

- Growth spurts

- Showing resembles to daddy (hehehehe)

Some pictures:

Jeremy - 3 1/2 years

It has been quite a journey now that Jeremy reaches the stage when he starts his pre-school days. Here are some of the pictures indicating that he has 'grown up' and move on to the 'BOYS' league.



"Don't I look cool in my pre-school uniform"



" Hey u there, stop taking the pictures !"



"Aw,.....do I have to take a pic with my sister?"



"Me and my new friend from Australia, James"



"Let's go let's go, what are we waiting for?"

Many faces of Alicia

Happy Alicia : "My first smile caught by camera"



Frowning Alicia : "Hey what are you looking at"?



Sleepy Alicia : " I am supposed to take 12-16 hrs of sleep anyway at this age of mine. Yawn Yawn"



Intriguing Alicia : "What's going on? I want to know"



Contented Alicia : "Good to have people carry me. Let's make the best out of this while I can"

Alicia's full moon celebration - 28 November 2009

It has been a simple event restricted to immediate family. Some selected pictures:



Alicia with her first head band



Big brother Jeremy giving little sister some 'sense of security'



Jeremy trying to learn to 'rock' Baby Alicia

Spot the difference

First glimpse of Baby Alicia

Jeremy the Pre Schooler: 37-39 months

Yes, my son is no longer a baby although he still cries once in a while when he wants to throw tantrums.

I can see that he continues to develop more sophisticated social skills over the past three months. Before we knew it, he already start to crack jokes. He can deliberately hide the Astro Channel control and ask Mommy, 'where is the remote control? Yang Shan has sharp eyes and can find for you.'

He was fascinated with the Eiffel Tower after watching Ratatouille and has been pestering us since on a trip to Paris.

A sign of him no longer a toddler is that he does not necessarily take our words as gospel truth (Kids these days!). One evening, we took him for a car ride around the Twin Towers; he asked whether we can go in and we told him that the tower is already closed and hence no one can go in. His immediate response is 'where is the door'. It seems he wants to confirm whether thats the case ie no one can go in.

Motor skills remain somewhat behind; still fearful of water.

Anyway, some pics taken over the past 90 days:



Jeremy enjoying himself in the nursery we sent him to



Jeremy being patriotic during Merdeka Day



Listening intently to Mommy (or is it the TV !??)



Trying to put his ears to Daddy's floorstanding speaker. He now realises the music comes from this 'box' in the living room.

Jeremy's 3rd Birthday Pictures

Some pictures taken at the party held at the playschool:



Jeremy is seen blowing the candle as he always does. At least this time it was his birthday so action is justified !



This is a sample of the cupcake ordered by Pinky from Mama Min. These cupcakes were distributed to Jeremy's classmates at the playschool

Pictures taken at home - the actual birthday



Jeremy got his birthday wish ie a Lightning McQueen birthday cake.



Jeremy is seen here attempting to cut the birthday cake, of course with the help of mommy.

Finale to the Age of the Toddler - 35-36 months

Interesting milestones

1. Knows boys from girls
2. Can handle jigsaw puzzles up to 30 pieces
3. Ability to communicate his discomfort to the mother - Once he told the mother 'There is something wrong with my back side' (cos his buttock was itchy)
4. Loves the camera.
5. Attempts to read and understand the sense of time

BUT (a) still not good at jumping (b) Toilet training progress is SLOW









The next few months will be challenging as we prepare him for the new addition aka the sibling. Pinky got him a book about siblings but he doesn't like it very much. We can sense his jealousy especially when we ask him to share his toys with the new baby. He was very reluctant to do so and ask for the toys to be kept. Also he likes to watch all the Mr Bean episodes except the one where Mr Bean had to watch over a baby in the pram... Anyway, hopefully, he will learn to love the sibling when he/she arrives :-P

Tanjung Jara Resort

I must say Malaysia has many nice travel gems where one can get a good break without breaking the wallet, and Tanjung Jara is one place Pinky and I are fond of.

It is indeed a place where one can really get the soul completely out of the city fast paced lifestyle. To sum up, its a 'secluded enough' resort surrounded by clean unblemished sandy beach.





The Kampung house design also adds up to the tranquil ambience that the resort strives to achieve. In addition, rural type activities were also introduced during the evenings to add spice to the holiday makers. Ang mohs were extremely excited by the sepak takraw games, trained monkeys plucking fruits from the coconut trees and of course the 'mystical' silat exhibition brought out the best of local Malay culture.





As for Jeremy, I would like to think he enjoyed this trip very much. He seems to love the beach very much especially for the seaside wind and experiencing new things like sand digging and running around big open spaces along the beach.

And also, he gets the chance to look at some of the koi fishes in the pond at close range - very excited to 'feed' the fishes too!









The last pic sums up I believe Jeremy's feel of this trip - Exciting

First few shots from the new toy - Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens

As 60mm micros are normally used best for stills, I therefore 'nicked' Pinky's engagement and wedding rings for experiment !





Here are the 'magnified' diamond engagement ring pics. It looks big, but actually it isn't......I remember its only a 0.25 carat thingee. As you can see, there are some 'out of focus' areas when magnified. Indication of the need to hone my micro picture taking skills !





The above two I thought were much better, the wedding date and our initials are fairly clear.

New toy - Nikon AF-S Micro-Nikkor 60mm lens

I could not help it despite the economic downturn. After 8 months of 'think....think and think', decided to plunge part of my December bonus on a Nikon AF-S Micro Nikkor 60mm lens to complement my D80.



Ok, here are some of early shots taken. A couple of comments.

Sharpness - I must say its one of the sharpest primes I have seen. Although its designed to take micro shots, it seems to me it can perform fairly well in terms of colour contrast and sharpness for a normal picture like this. This was taken during the 2008 Christmas season at the Gardens Mid Valley.