Conversations with my 15 MO

Differentiating between HOT and COLD

1. Dinner is served for her and as I scoop a spoonful to put into her mouth, she spits it out

SW : HOK HOK (Hot hot, it means)!!
Me : No, it's not hot, it's warm, can be eaten.
SW : *shakes head* *pushes my hands away* HOK HOK *shows me her tongue* HOK HOK!
Me : *Hmmph!* (wanna spank her!)


2. SW playing by the heater/radiator (which we have switched on for autumn- Low heat)

SW : Ooh! HOK HOK!!! *retracting her fingers from the heater and her mouth making a big "O"-shape*
Me : See, don't touch. (Serves you right :P)

3. Weekday romping at the mall - somewhere in Canary Wharf. I saw Zaza, a newly opened gelato shop. Asks for a single scoop Hazelnut in cup (comes with a baby-cone).

Me : SW, you want ice-cream??? (Scoops and put into her mouth)
SW : *takes a tiny taste of it and turned her head away* HOK HOK!!!
Me : -_-" Not HOT, COLD COLD!
Me : You want somemore?
SW : *Nods* *Opens her mouth - takes a little* HOK HOK!
Me : COLD COLD! Ok, you eat this cone then! *Yayy.. i eat all*


ANIMAL SOUNDS

(SW sees her favourite song on Cbeebies. Claps and dances happily until song finishes)

Me : What does the Tiger do?
SW : *makes roarring sound* GRRRR!
Me : What does the Monkey do?
SW : HAIK!! (Huh?)
Me : Monkey do what?
SW : HAIK! (thinks sumo wrestler? Oh, i see she cannot pronounce Hoohoohahaha)

Here is an UNEDITED video taped using my handphone (very low resolution) but you can hear her saying WA-BEET (Rabbit) with some hand-gestures, and also doing some other animal sounds.




SHOWING PAIN

I heard a loud knock - she has fallen down and knocked herself. Shean Wenn cries.. and composes herself before coming to find me. I hurried out from the kitchen. She brings me to the scene of accident and pats her hand on the floor, showing me where she has fallen down. I said "Oh no, is this where you fell?" She nods, and then uses her hand to "hit" the floor - something I taught her in order to distract her from the pain. She has been doing this quite alot - whenever she falls down, or hit herself while playing. And yes, she still falls down and hits herself quite often, unfortunately!


Speech development

SW bring her favourite book to me (ok, she has alot of fav books!) - this is the one daddy bought for her form Dubai, with buttons at the side that when you press it, it will read out an object.

SW flips to one page, points to the Car.
SW : CAR!
Me : *huh?? Impressed*
SW points to flower
SW : Fwawa!
Me : Yes, you are right.
SW points to ball.
SW : BOR BOR.
Me : Yes, correct.
SW points to boat. Presses the button and it reads BOAT.
SW : Bowp.
Me : *wow!*
Me : SW is a SMART GIRL! *Kiss* (And i meant it!)

Malaysian food in UK

The past 2 weeks, we have been going to Malaysian restaurants in UK, something we rarely do! (Rarely here means probably once a year) I cook everyday during the weekdays and on weekends we usually eat out (chinese, ie HK-style or Italian/Brit) but we seldom ever do Malaysia, I guess we don't have much craving for M'sian food (I only crave for Asam Laksa, something I could NEVER cook). But 2 weeks ago, Meng's colleague booked a place for us in Awana "The finest Malaysian restaurant in London SW3". She booked via toptable, where we get 50% off the total food bill.



I had been craving for satays because the ones on its website look so tantalising! The decor of the place is what you'd expect from a posh restaurant - immaculate & tastefully designed interior reflecting the Traditional Kampung-style Teak-house and alot of dark wood with some traditional malay furniture/instruments dotting the restaurants : Gongs, silk panels along the windows, etc.

It was a party of 6 adults with 1 baby (guess who?). We ordered generously, except for Amy who shared the main course with her husband. Food portion was ok, albeit very small for satay (I ordered corn-fed chicken : 4 skewers for £8). Staff were attentive but yet not intrusive (you know sometimes some waitress/waiters can be a little too enthusiastc and come around every few 10mins to asks if everything's fine? Well, I find it a little intrusive). If I remember correctly, everyone ordered coke (except Amy who had plain water and me who ordered an alcoholic drink). The bill came up to £120 including drinks - imagine if we had to pay full price for it! Nevertheless, the food was reasonably good.

The week after, SIL Alicia asked us for lunch and she recommended Japanese but a quick check and it seems the restaurant she recommended (I read alot of rave reviews about it) isn't open for business on Sundays. She suggested an alternative - Satay House which is located near to her apartment.



We picked her up on the Sunday and headed towards the restaurant, got an off-street parking relatively easy nearby and went in. We were seated downstairs which is good because it was pretty packed upstairs and SW wouldn't have much space to create havoc stretch her legs.

Again we ordered generously from their menu : Satay (this time more servings than Awana), their Ayam Goreng Berlada (SPICY! Yummy), a squid, a fish, Kangkung Belacan (can't do without this eh?) and rice. Our only qualm : The rice serving which, at £4/bowl which you probably need 2 bowls for the 3 adults is HEFTY! Just too expensive for a bowl of plain rice to go with your dishes. I would suggest to them to charge fairly because afterall, what is M'sian eating (ordering dishes to be shared) without rice? Overall, the food is pretty good (Authentic Malay cooking here) and price is very reasonable. We would probably return if we ever crave for M'sian food.

Two weekends in a row having M'sian food. Hmmm... what's next??

George the Bill

While researching for our upcoming trip to the US (NYC & Miami), Meng came to me with two $1 bills; these are the leftovers from his previous trips to the US and he's asking me to put it in my wallet lest he forgets about them.

Upon a closer inspection on one of the note, I was rather annoyed when I saw handwriting on it "Gee, why do people write on notes???!!", I was grumbling to myself, I saw someone wrote this

Track my Travels

wheresgeorge.com
(circling a star sign * of the serial number)

Hmm, is this some kinda joke? I decided to check it out nonetheless. I keyed in the serial number and year and found out that we are the 2nd entry of this note. Not very interesting but I thought the idea of tracking dollar bills are pretty cool - kinda like how some people photograph their garden gnomes (or ipods, or whatever) around the globe and post it up on a site dedicated for it!

I also found pretty interesting stuff to do in NYC, for example for nature-enthusiats, you can plan your travels to NY state to look at the Autumn (or "FALL" as the Americans call it :P) leaves, there is a website on "Foliage Forecast". They have a useful "Leaf Guide" to show you the different colours of the leaves - "clear, sunny days and cool nights with temperatures around the 40's bring out the most striking autum color" (It's colour, tssk!).


(click on the images to view the full info)
I am so excited! Autumn is one of the most romantic seasons (IMHO), and I'm sure Shean Wenn will love jumping and crushing the leaves as she walks along the pavements littered with them.

Guide to Happiness

Shean Wenn's FAST Guide to Happiness :

1. Have a "good hair day", everyday. Jazz up your looks, put on something interesting - life doesn't have to be all dull & boring.

Shean Wenn loved having her hair tied into ponytails (eventhough she doesn't leave it on for long). She puts on the sunglasses herself and checks herself out in the mirror.


2. Have your good friend/BFF (Best Friend Forever) around you - you will find your day to be much more enhanced when you have someone who's company you enjoy most. Share a story, talk, or just BE there for each other.

HUGS!

(Shean Wenn's new friend, Karmen loves to hug SW! So sweet!)

(A hug and a peck!)

(Spending time together doing what we love - Reading!)

3. Aim for the sky - "be an aeroplane!"

(The hubs taught SW a few months ago how to pretend to be an aeroplane; fling your arms to the back, outstretched like the wings of a plane. She LOVES doing the aeroplane whenever you ask her to. Sometimes she even does it whenever she hears a plane flying by the apartment - we live near an airport)


XOXO,
Shean Wenn

This post is part of the "Little Miss" Series

Photo credit : Photos with kaka taken by kaka's mom.

Reminiscing Summer : BBQ & Jewellery Fair

The hub's friends - a couple who live near us, invited us over for BBQ one weekend (one of the last few summer weekends available). It was a perfect Summer Day, especially for a BBQ in your backyard with LOADS of good food and drinks. Our second this summer! (Very hot and sunny day - remember your sunnies)


(Shean Wenn was fascinated by the flowers in their well-manicured garden, exclaiming "Fwawa fwawa!")

SW eyeing the BBQ pit - "When can I get my BBQ stingray with belacan sauce???!"

The couple - actually the husband - did all the cooking. He's got belacan sauce for dipping, a whole assortment of BBQ stuff - stingray, salmon, the usual chicken wings and etc, all very delicious! The wife did a mean Pimms-mix (ice lemon tea?).

SW - "Too warm, let's go into the house...." See how she makes this like her own home, she even wore her shoes running around inside.

There was one other toddler amongst the group of friends, Joshua who is almost 2 years old. At first both of them didn't acknowledge each other but after warming up to each other, both of them were chasing each other aorund the house. At one point, their favourite activity was climbing up (and down) the stairs. Of course, little Joshua is a confident and expert climber (and he can go down the stairs), but they both enjoyed the race, anyway.

Later, after she was tired of running around the house, or of climbing the stairs, she decided to go out to the garden again. She loved the water feature and dipped her hands into it despite me telling her not to. Can't take NO for an answer now, this lady!

Rolling around the grass! How lady-like!

*****

I have also came to know an asian family (from Hong Kong) from around the neighbourhood. They have a little girl, Karmen who is more than 1 month older than SW. Michelle, Karmen's mom had tickets to the International Jewellery London and asked me to go along. We made the journey to Earl's Court that day and both the little girls enjoyed it immensely! Since both of them have been seeing each other so often, Shean Wenn has become very sociable around Karmen. Karmen, on the other hand, has always been a sociable and friendly baby.

See the two little future diamond traders in action!

(What do you think of this lot of items, Karmen?)

("Well, they look ok, but look here, I see some speck of impurities on the pearl...")