of long time no see and supper...

So anyway, we went to NZ for 14 days (3 march to 16 march) in 2005.
We did the-rent-own-car-and-drive-by-ourselves thing. You know lah, just so that we can bathe in the glory of being presumed as smart and daring when those ah ee from the market type start saying 'you not scared meh, you can find way meh, can do like that one meh, how u find your way leh dan bermacam macam lagi'.
To keep our cost down, we stayed in youth hostels. NZ has this wonderful hostel chain called YHA and have hostels all over. The rooms in the locations that we stayed at are clean and hospitable.
Our itenerary was something like this. We first flew in into auckland and picked up the rental car. Then just go for leisurely jalan jalan around auckland on first day. took a ferry over to devonport. nice quaint little town with nice looking houses. Manyak syok loh...

snap shot...

next day, woke up early and checked out fron the hostel and drove to Rotorua. Stopped by huka falls and a freaky place called craters of the moon. then checked in into rotorua yha.
Huka Falls...
Craters of the moon...
next day, went to the wai-o-tapu thermal park and see the 'geological wonders'.
wai-o-tapu...
after wai-o-tapu stopped by the mud pool and then drive back to auckland. More jalan jalan...
next day, take plane and fly to christchurch. at christchurch, picked up the rental car and head to the west coast through arthur's pass. stayed a night at arthur's pass. Too bad it was raining quite heavily, so cannot do anything. just stayed indoors.
Next day, just left early and drove down. first to greymouth and then took a detour to punakaiki (sounds like a vulgar word) to see the interestiung formation called the pancake rocks.
punakaiki, i still have problem mentioning this name with a straight face...

pancake rocks, look more like layer cake to me...
then drive back to greymouth and then on to franz josef. reached there in the evening, but since it is still bright, hiked into the galcier valley. went all the way to the terminal face. wah! technical term loh. but basically it just means the point when the glacier ends.
franz josef... Franz jo's terminal face...
after franz josef hike, went back to the cheery yha hostel. it rained the whole day the next day. so cannot do anything - again. Wanna check out fox glacier also cannot, drive to lake mattheson also didn't see anything, but all is not lost, mrs webster's ingenuity ensures that we were entertained.
i think for now cukup oredi lah. will write some more next time. maybe will write a day to day journal thing when i have more time.

OK Got some time today so can continue on the some more on the story.
Anyway, after the bad weather in Franz Jo, we checked out early the next day and started out trip to Queenstown. On the way we stopped by Fox Glacier. A bit different than franz Jo, but equally if not more impressive.

Fox glacier terminal face...

After fox, we continued to queenstown. Nice lake. Stayed there for a night but it rained the next day. Bummer. Almost got our shotover jet trip cancelled.
Queenstown from a very high place...

a bungee jumper...
these jokers will jump from anywhere they can build a ledge...

Stayed another night at queenstown and then left early the next day to te anau on the way to milford sound. The trip is very very nice. The big rock outcrops makes you feel like a hobbit sans the curly hair.
have to wait out side homer tunnel, so snap!
waiting outside homer tunnel...

After milford sound, drove back to te anau and spent a quiet night there. It was only there that the excellent speight old dark was discovered. The one drink that should not be missed.
milford sound...

there are waterfalls every where you look. the toilet was a welcome relief after i got off the boat...
From Te Anau, we drove to wanaka and overnighted there. Checked out the next day and visited museum of sorts that has lots of optical illusions.

From Wanaka it off straight to Mt Cook. Did some hiking and then spent a night there. very very nice. especially night time. can go out and see the stars.
mt. cook...
apparently a guide and 3 hikers died on their way up hiking mt cook a few days before we got there...

the valley overlooking mt. cook... Next day did some more hiking and then drive to the last destination, Christchurch.
tasman galcier valley...

Checked in into Christchurch YHA and spent the next day ronda ronda + buying souvenirs to appease the relatives.

Christchurch is named after this church...
check out the suspended house, btw, it's really there and not photochopped...

Next morning is check out and fly back home… end of journey.

Comes to think of it, it’s been fun recalling the trip, so probably I’ll do a day to day blow next time.

of blogger and mah fan...

Wah… must have been ages since I updated this blog…. So many things happen so fast and also compare to facebook, blogger seem so mah fan to update already :D.
Anyway, Ah fie is now four years old already and we have finally relented and sent her to school. We originally thought that we will delay sending her to school and let her enjoy her childhood a bit longer, but mana tau, seems like school maybe did her good too. I mean previously she is just stuck in the babysitter’s house the whole day watching cartoons. And knowing ah fie, she likes to interact with people so probably the interactions at school is good for her.
As it turns out, she is having such a party at school and quite literally too. First day itself, she had so much fun until she didn’t want to go home… it’s been a month plus since she started school and she still have this impression that school is equals to reward instead of something dull or something like that. She will think of going to school as something fun or a reward for something good. So we as any good parents take this to our advantage. Instead of buying her present or goodies if she behaves at home, we just tell her that we will not send her to school if she is naughty.

Ah shawn pulak, is fast approaching two, but somehow still have not learnt to talk. Not even any first work. He is talkative though. On any good day he will mumble on and on and on in his own language but nothing makes sense to us. Maybe he is just like one of those kids who have achieved some super duper high level of consciousness and intelligence, and he is speaking at a higher level language that we could not comprehend.
Or maybe he already knows how to speak but just pretend not to be able to speak just to humor us… we wouldn’t know…

of "I can do it, Daddy" and "I can't do it, Daddy"....

One thing that is unmistakable about Ah Fie is that she is a real hard headed person. When she decides on something she will insist on it. If she is doing something and having difficulty, she will insist that “I can do it daddy” if she sees that I am trying to help her.
I think she have been eating something heaty for the past 2 days and having difficulty when she wants to drop a few bombs in the toilet. I felt pity seeing her because whe was really having a hard time. Her face was grimacing and tears were even coming out of her eyes, but when I checked on her she still insisted and said “I can do it daddy”. Hopefully that attitude stays with her troughtout her life.

But then of course laaa there are just sometimes when she’s “I Can’t do it daddy” even without trying…..

of old folks home and Mars Rovers....

Wah… been away so, long until this blog feels like something that is very foreign liao ….. (I am sure that in due time the kids will use this against me ). I think maybe facebook have something to do with it… but since FB is not really for archiving and looks more like a reporting tool, I have to capture in blog too laaa so that in the future I can come back and read this to get sentimental when i have nothing to do and things get a bit slow in the old folks home.

Anyway, some updates on Shawn. We (or rather, my mother in law) threw a big birthday party for Ah Shawn for his first birthday. We invited lots of people which is a good thing because People == Presents and $$. The whole party was quite chaotic and everyone had a good time especially Ah Fie. Only one person missing from all the fun was Ah Shawn himself . He was so exited throughout the preparation in the afternoon that he missed his nap and was cranky when we had the party. So for him the party is just: Get Cranky, Sing Birthday Song, Blow Candle, Drink Milk and sleep.

On his Progress, Ah Shawn started to walk about a week or two after his birthday. So I guess that was his birthday present from God. One thing though, Ah Shawn is also in some ways like Ah Fie, he don’t have a good feel of his surrounding and always walk into things. So maybe if God run into this blog post while doing some searches for outdated blog posts, maybe He can consider equipping the next batch of humans that He plan to dispatch with at least some radar capabilities, or at least harder cranial bones.
On the speech portion, Ah Shawn is still not making much progress. He is still babbling and not making any sense to us. He talks a lot (in fact more that the average kid) but it is just that he is not making any sense to us. Or could it be that he has already mastered some other foreign language but it is just us who are not understanding him….. Anyway, he does understands some simple commands like ‘WOI!’, ‘DON’T Touch’, ‘EI!!’ Or ‘Give me!’ or ‘GO to Papa’. In case you were wondering, we didn’t teach him the ‘Go to mommy’ command. He don’t need to be taught that command because it’s already built in. He is like those littlebubbles of liquid metal in Terminator 2 when the T-1000 melted in the steel mill. The little bubbles will work it’s way and joins with others until to form back the T-1000. In other words. You put Ah Shawn anywhere and he will move around like the Mars Rovers until he finds Mommy.

Oh Yeah, Speaking of Mars Rovers, Ah Shawn is kinda like one of those Mars Rovers thingies. He is a very curious boy. Anything and everything will gets his attention (especially dots or dirt on the floor). Ever since he learnt to walk, he just cannot sit still and will walk around the house. When he sees something that strikes his interest, he will reach out to grab it and put into his mouth to analyse. No need for me to take video and upload here because if you want to know what I mean you can maybe search in youtube or something about rovers collection mars soil sample and it will give you some idea of what I mean.

of 20 years from now and RM50K...

I think around 20 years from now a phone conversation that goes something like this will happen:

Me: Hallo!

Shawn: Hello….

Me: Hallo! Hallo! Can you hear me ah?

Shawn: Yes I can hear you…

Me: Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Can you hear me ah? Hallo!

Shawn: Yes, yes, I can hear you laaaa… speak laa.. I can hear you…

Me: Oooo ok, ok. ei Ah Shawn ah.. I am hungry laaa… can give me 50 linggit to buy chau hor fan ah? (*Yeah 20 years from now Chau Hor Fan will cost 50 linggits)

Shawn: Don’t want laaa

Me: Ei… now you billionaire liao 50 linggit also cannot give ah?

Shawn: I don’t want to give you because you no bother about me one…. you didn’t blog about me one…

Me: Aiyah…no laaa… I busy maaa… I busy pouring all my undivided attention and love to you maaa…..

Shawn: Oooo like that ah…. then ok laaa… I bank in 50 linggit to you laaa…

Shawn: ei.. while I am going to transfer money to you, you want me to bank in RM50K for you to buy a nice bicycle to ride to the kopitiam ah?

Me: ooo like that ah… if you insist can also laaaa

Yaeah yeah… I have not been updating my bloc recently…. and shawn have hit a few milestones… so I have some updating to do…

of 20 years from now and RM50K...

of stages of develoment and autobabysitter...

Based on my experience with Ah Fie and ah shawn shawn boy, I think I have pretty much formulater the various stages of a child development and how to manage it.

Stage 1- they are just infants, so pretty much they eat sleep and poop
Stage 2- they still cannot roll so just put them on crib and should be ok liao. Might be a bit noisy though
Stage 3- they can roll over liao, but two small bolsters stuffed on the side will solve the problem
Stage 4- they can crawl, so things will get a bit tricky, but nothing like a loud and stern “Haaaa” or “No” will not solve
Stage 5- that can stand up if they hold on to something but too chicken to lift their leg to move around. So can just lift them up to hole the edge of the sofa. That should keep them occupied and because they too chicken to move around, they will stay there
Stage 6- they learn how to ‘cruise’ (walking while holding to something). So put a stool in or chair in the middle of the room and let them walk around it. because they cannot walk unassisted, they will not be able to grab other things and just contained to the area around the chair.
Stage 7- they beginning to walk, time to bring out the playpen. This one may also get a bit noisy
Stage 9- they get distracted by TV, so, in comes the ‘auto babysitter’
Stage 9- they starting to grasp the meaning of cause and effect, so you can threaten them with punishment if they misbehave such as switching off the TV.
Stage 10- they have deeper understanding of cause and effect so, you can start to bribe them with rewards.
Stage 11- they learn more complex things like rationalization, so you can explain simple stuff to them, like if they don’t drink water, their poot poot will come out hard and backside will be pain pain.

Ah shawn shawn boy is currently in stage 5 and Ah Fie in stage 11 (therefore the last stage that I am able to formulate)

But I do believe that there are future stages where they are more self aware and when you can manage by threaten them with photos of them in cute but high embarrassing valued photos. Or one where you can bribe them with promises of a new bicycle or something

of cartoons and magic words...

the other day ah fie was asking me to switch on the cartoon for her;

Ah Fie: Papa, I want to see Cartoon.....
Me: What's the magic word?
Ah Fie: *think for a while*... Hocus Pocus....
Me: Woahahahaha no laaaaa

of pillow and 'hold my hand'...

I think Ah Fie hit a milestone of sorts last weekend. I think she is more aware of herself these days and that she is trying to differentiating herself from the rest of the furniture in the house.

Just the other day, while she was on the potty, she stopped me when I went to check on her. She said something like “you cannot come and see me because I will shame shame”. Good progress. I am not really sure if she meant shame shame of people seeing her piku or seeing the result of her poot poot. You see, we (Me and her) have been categorizing her poot poot into 2 categories. They will either be like worm worm (which is where the poot is long and thin) or pillow (short and fat ones which normally needs more effort from her during the process). The categorizing thing have been getting a bit lame so I that’s why I think the shame shame could swing either way.

Anyway, back to topic.
Friday night when I was about to put her to bed, she suddenly came to me and told me “I big girl oredi , I sleep by myself today”. You see, I have been sleeping in the same room with her ever since ah shawn was born and it’s no easy walk in the park. Little miss diva has a ritual and lots of demands when she sleeps like hold my hand (or don’t hold my hand), or watch small TV, or sleep with one of her doggies or sleep with papa and I think you get the hint.
So I was obviously glad when she said that she wants to sleep by herself. She even did the whole bed, arranged the pillows, open up the blanket and switched on her small tv…

But knowing miss diva, she that didn’t take long. After a while she came out and called me. But after she got comfy, she insist to sleep by herself again. This went on for a while and eventually, I just stayed in the room until she sleeps. In any case I think she made a good effort but since she did not mention any good behavior reward, I think it will conveniently forget…..
….. until she learns how to read and remind me…

of being a parent and cleaning up mess...

i just realized that a side benefit of being a parent to 2 kids is that i am now able to clean up mess pretty efficiently

of waxing my legs and 3 doctors...

Either our boy just love to see doctors or we are worry warts. Last week alone we (or rather Shawn shawn boy ) 3 different doctors on 3 separate occasions. It all started when his temperature went up on Saturday evening. Initially we thought he was just a little warm but when his temperature reach 38 degrees on Sunday, we decided to take him to see the doctor.
Went to pantai, but was informed that there is already 11 people in line and since Dr Hasanah is not on duty we decided to take him to another clinic instead, but no chance also because it was lunch time and the doctor at the other clinic was out. Finally ended up in another clinic recommended by wifey’s friend. Doctor was in and since we didn’t see any other patients we thought that we will get some consultation immediately. After around 30mins of waiting in the hot reception area we finally got to see the doctor. Doctor diagnosed as a normal flu and prescribe Paracetamol + antibiotic. Somehow that don’t give us much confidence. The were no specific instructions on what the antibiotics course should be and weather we should finish the whole bottle or what. But we decided to wait and see and in the mean time manage the fever with panadol.
By Monday morning, Shawn is still warm so I decided to take leave and bring him to see Dr Hasanah.
Dr found out that t was due to early stages of tonsillitis. I guess that’s why I have confidence in Dr Hasanah. She is very thorough and explains everything which to me is very important.
Shawn’s fever went down on Monday itself after taking the antibiotics that Dr Hasanah prescribed.

Ok let’s see, that’s already 2 visits. Not the third one. Our babysitter and us noticed shawn start to develop a rash (yeah just one rash) on his foot on Wednesday. Initially we thought it was just a bad mosquito bite. But somehow the rash seem different , and also not like those that Ah Fie gets when she takes paracetamol. Then by yesterday he got another one the other leg and some on his mouth.
So we to take him to see the doctor again after work. And that is number 3 visit….

Now as I am writing this, on reflection, it does seem that we are a bit paranoid… but then again it’s shawn shawn boy and we just want to best for him.

On a separate note. Shawn shawn boy is progressing well. He is now in the cruising stage, which means he will grab whatever support and pick himself up to stand up and walk. Me, I am contemplating on waxing my legs because when ever the little boy try to grab my leg to pick himself up, he will grab hold of a bunch of leghair… ouch…