Christmas Decor Memories

Think I'll sign off the year with some pics of Christmas decor at my church. Everything was just so lovely - the lights, the trees, the bells...ahhhh....

Bye-bye 2008...what a great year it was. :-)

Dogged Determination

They were there a second ago. How did they change locations so fast? Hmmm. Have to be more alert and aware of these disappearances. Coincidences they sure are not. But if they think a few disappearing acts can make me lose hope and give up, they must be joking. It is but a minor resistance in my mission.

So I continue scanning. Ahhh…there they are. I knew they couldn’t have been transported far from their initial vectors. I see I have been seriously underestimated. Hhhhmmmph. No bother. A mission remains a mission.

A direct path may seem too obvious. Perhaps a distraction with my vocals and flappings will do the trick. Ahhhh. It is working. I shall then endeavour a longer path to my fulfillment. Subtly. Silently. Stealthily. Almost there. Just need a make a glance back to see if this was a trap. Seemed rather easy the way I got here. But then again, I can be THAT good, after all.

Mission accomplished! My favourite toys retrieved with full satisfaction.

Termite-nator

Reflecting on my eating habits of late, I think I could very well be a termite. Three giveaway signs include:

- easily sinks teeth into wooden chairs, tables and cots

- small and almost unnoticeable until my teeth has found wood

- can only destroy or bite from bottom level. Have not found a way to eat upwards yet

Pose of the Day!

All I Want for Christmas....

Scrap Credits

QUICKPAGE "Cedar creek" (Glam & fairy designs) by BOUILLE
Elements from Kit 'Le Noel des Cupines' by Les Cupines Créations

Modified Elegant word art (White Christmas) by Bethany

HAVE a BLESSED and WARM CHRISTMAS everyone!!

Love, Collin

Rat-in-Action

I am my biggest fan!

A new growth progress! I am now able to twirl my right hand wrist round and round! So, if I am to remove the baby carrier padding and twirl my right hand via my newfound talent, it will look as if I am fanning myself! Now, THAT’s cool!

Wonder if I can apply this talent to turn up the volume of radio knobs or open any doors or not. Hee!

Quiet Pasar Malam

Experienced my first ever pasar malam a couple of days back, near Belimbing Hills. It was already quite late so I didn't manage see much. Not much crowd also. Ho hum. I think I yawned more often than any sale was made. We walked down the stretch and saw the bored faces of all the sellers, and by teh time we reached the end and walked back teh same way, most of the sellers were already packing up.

To me, it felt like a congested supermarket, without those huge steel strollers. Guess they don't need them here since nobody seems to be buying anything anyway. Mama says there should be a bigger crowd at around dinner time. She might be right though, since when we bought some soya drink from one of the sellers, he was literally scraping the bottom of the barrel!

Hmmmm....hope to come earlier next time so I can see really bustling pasar malam in action.

Football Foto Friday!

Can I Rusk for more?

For a brand that sounds more like a dog’s name, it sure is delicious! Since my teeth came out, I have also been introduced to this one of a kind biscuit – some even have some fruity flavored stuff inside! Not sure if these biscuits are designed to help me to like biscuits when I grow up, or to introduce my teeth to the stickiness of this stuff. Hmmm.

Anyway, I think I’ll enjoy my Rusk a little while more before I progress to my next level of teething toughness…Tusk, perhaps?...

My Teethering Cot

During those teething times of mine, sometimes the appropriate teething just isn’t readily available, so I have to make do with anything my teeth can find! I have noted that one of the most convenient teethers is my very own cot! Soft, plasticky, often with some patch of cloth to absorb my saliva, sure is a welcome substitute!

I also had the luxury of tasting a steel-flavored cot when I was in the hospital to do my operation. Suffice to say I think I’ll attempt steels again after I have more than 20 teeth!

Inspector Gadget

This is another one of those things which I wouldn’t be able to explain. I seem to be most easily attracted to sophisticated gadgets like remote controls, DVD players and handphones. But I think I still need more practice on using it though. So far, I have only managed to turn off the teevee when my teeth sinks onto some red coloured button of the remote control. Haven’t managed to completely play with handphones nor DVD player yet.

Perhaps the attraction is caused by all the gadgety-looking toys they have for babies these days. You know…stuff like the baby monitor; toy phone that doubles as a book; book that plays music; set of keys that rattle, shake and make music; etc.

Boy, it sure is good to a be a baby of this hi-tech generation.:-D

Beach Boy

Two weekends ago was another first contact episode for me. Papa and Mama took me to Port Dickson. Still don’t know why they call it a port when I don’t see any boats at all and all I see are sand….Anyway, my church was having a youth camp there and it was a good opportunity for me to see the beach for the very first time! Wee! (or so I thought)

Personally, it turns out that seeing the big blue (more green, I think) sea and the sand the beaches up close wasn’t as exciting as I thought it would be. Sure, it was fun seeing so much water and feel the windy beach breeze. Papa even took me to ‘bathe’ in the salty water for a while. But the moving sea, cold waters and noisy crowd didn’t make my first contact with the beach and sea so pleasant.

Ah well, maybe I just need more beach time. J

Family Foto Friday!

Jingle Ball?

Mama brought home this unique looking toy for me one day. A plastic ball that jingles because it has some sort of bells inside, huge enough for my hands to grip, additional game of crawling after the rolling ball, etc. – what more can a baby ask for, eh?

Sad to say, my fearsome forearm and grip combined to crack the ball some time ago. Ah, well….Collin-proof it sure ain’t.

Peace like a Child Sleeping

Somehow, adults like to watch babies when we are sleeping. Not sure if I want to call it freakish or psychotic or lovely, but when I think about it, I guess it’s just the way we sleep eh? There’s just something about the way we sleep that cannot be explained. :-)

Sorta reminds me of a song chorus that goes:

“Where there is faith, there is a voice calling, keep walking You're not alone in this world

Where there is faith, there is a peace like a child sleeping, hope everlasting in Him who is able to bear every burden, to heal every hurt in my heart…
It is a wonderful, powerful place
Where there is faith..”

Ahhhh….lovely lyrics...:-)

Thy Word....

...is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

Merry Go Round

I always get worried when I fall sick. According to some unwritten Law of the Sick, babies, like myself, have the uncanny ability to spread all their qualities in an instant. This will include spreading of my love, cheerfulness, laughter, smiles, and unfortunately…my germs…

So, whenever m germs are spread, it has become quite common that the Law of the Sick will result in the Merry-Go-Round syndrome – where, I pass my love to Papa who then passes it to Mama, and just when I’m about getting better, I get the love back from Mama!

Hmmm. Life sure is one funny carnival ride. :-D

Funny Face Friday!

Parenting Tip: Cooler Bags

For parents who are also in the business of feeding their babies with Mother’s goodness (mmmmmmm..), I’m sure the time will come where they will be looking for insulated storage bags to move the frozen or chilled yummies around – be it for a shopping day out or a long road trip out-station.

All parents will soon realize that these special insulated bags are NOT very common in the babies section in departmental stores or hypermarkets. This may lead them to look in other baby specialty where these bags are sold – at quite an expensive price I may add. Papa made this discovery of a cheaper alternative which I thought I should share with all parents out there today.

Instead of shopping for such bags in the baby section of departmental stores, may I suggest looking in the automobile or car accessory section where you can look for their cooler bags (bags with also similar silver aluminum insulation or padded stuff used to keep can drinks cold). Here, you can find sizes to store 6, 12 or even 24 cans! Definitely big enough to store lotsa bottles of yummy Mama’s goodness chilled – and at easily a quarter of the price of special insulated bags for the same purpose!

Calm Before the Storm

I hear that that there is a mention of a phenomenon known as the “Calm before a storm”.

Not exactly sure what that means in adult contexts, but I think I can easily associate it to my context. You see, apart from my other hair-raising indicators that I am about to poop, another very certain sign is my ‘calm before the storm’, or rather my ‘silence before the bomb’…

So when I suddenly become all quiet and start to stare blankly, be warned that the storm is gathering…

Diaper Dressage

During these early months, Papa and Mama have been putting on all sorts of diapers on my bum. Makes me feel like a diaper model sometimes…hee hee..;-P

Let me count…hmmm….so far, I have paraded brands like Mamy Poko, Drypers, Pureen Dry5, Huggies, Fitti, Diapex, Babysoft, Babylike and Pampers. Looking at these brands, don’t you think they all sound quite cheesy? I mean c’mon…can’t these diaper makers be anymore original?

Since I had some free time to think today, I came up with a list of possible brand names to help the diaper industry who may be looking for that next killer brand name. The names that I came up with:

- Poopers
- Weepers
- Snuggies
- Flowy
- ChangeMe
- Absorbies
- Dampers
- Fried & Dried
- Wrappies
- Weelief

Hmmm…coming up with that list makes me wanna go wee wee now…;-p And also cross off diapers marketer from my careers of choice list.

What other names can you think of?

Gimme Cartoons!

Finally Papa has called Astro to include the cartoon package into our subscription! Wee! Not sure if they were pressure to do so knowing how I spend my afternoons in Mrs D’s house watching these channels. Hee!

I’ll fill in details on my favourite shows later….erm, maybe after I manage to get Papa to switch from the his Teen Titans and Fantastic Four! Hmmmph!!!...

Football Foto Friday!

baby photo of Carlos Tevez? hee! noooo...guess again!

Spectacles Spectacle

Nothing escapes my gangster grip!

Papa’s eye glasses found out the hard way when I managed to grab hold of it one day. Managed to pull it away to have a closer look. And had a taste of it - not very nice; and almost broke it in two also if not for my under-developed super strength.

These days, Papa seems more wary of the whereabouts of my arms whenever he carries me. J

Remembering Chor Chor

It’s been a week and two days now since Chor Chor passed away. I was really too lost for words on how to type in this entry then. As I recollect the events that took place that weekend, everything just feels so solemn.

All I know was that it was a really chaotic weekend. When we found out about the news last Saturday morning, Papa and Mama packed up everything pretty fast and shot up north at once. I was also very co-operative by sleeping for quite a while in that morning so the packing could be done faster. Hee!

We then reached Ipoh to pick up Ah Kong to go up to Alor Star (town sounds really classy with a star in it. Hmm.). Ah Ma had already gone up to Alor Star earlier. And it just so happened that Mama wasn’t feeling too well also that Saturday, so I stayed behind to take care of Mama (heh!) , together with Ah Por and Kim Lin Tracy in Ipoh.

On Sunday, Papa didn’t feel too well also (must be in season). After seeing the doctor and taking some medication, Papa then drove down to Ipoh on Sunday night and we proceeded to go back to KL immediately, reaching home about 2am.

Although I didn’t have the opportunity to see more of Chor Chor, I was really glad that she managed to see me this year that I was born, celebrated with me during my first moon lunch, and more celebrations during a wedding dinner in Penang. She must have been one incredible lady to have gathered so many friends and relatives who came to pay their respects. Heck, Papa said event eh doctor he went to also knew her!

I dug thru Papa’s photo file archives and found this exclusive, wonderful picture of Chor Chor in a really natural happy look taken during Papa and Mama’s wedding. I’ll miss you Chor Chor…:-(

Biker Me!

I do enjoy my occasional neighbourhood walks. Gives me a better perspective of the outside world – that there are other houses out there; there are other dogs out there; there are other cars out there; there is more to life out there. J

But there was this time where the mode of transportation made it all different. Papa had just come back from buying dinner on the motorcycle and Mama decided to take me out for a ride too. So we hopped onto the back of the bike and the whole family went for a spin around the neighbourhood.

I hung on to Mama for dear life throughout the journey but I really enjoyed myself! Look out world – future biker in the making!

Pads Taste Good Too!

I would list this episode as another progress of my growing phase. That day, I successfully detached the shoulder pads of my car carrier straps all on my own!

And not only that, I even continued the amazing feat by putting it into my mouth…all on my own!

OkOk…..sorry…so this is a self-praise blog. Hee!

the aftermath...

Collin in a Box!

Chairbaby Collin

This funny-looking chair was brought over from Mama’s hometown of Sitiawan. Must be something from yonder old cos the structure is made from steel and straps look like plastic belt straps without any baby-safety paddings.

Having said that. It does come with a quite comfy seat, and can be adjusted to be immoveable or rocking. I did enjoy this chair for some time – always made me feel important, helps me to focus on the teevee and it was my first feeding chair.

Have since outgrown it and now I sit on a more modern throne-like booster seat for my feeding sessions…but this one doesn’t rock me as much….sigh.

1901 Celebrates with Me!

Collected my 9th moon today and also found out something exciting that also happens every month when i collect my moons!

1901, the franchise that sells great hotdogs has this super deal every 19th day of every month. Isn't that cool to have a franchise celebrate every moon collection event of mine? Anyone wanna gimme a treat this month, or any other month? Hee!

Extracted details (from www.1901.com) below for all dog lovers:

New York Chicken & Chicago Beef for RM 1.99 each. Over the usual price RM 4.90 each. It's once a month; happening every 19th.

Spend time, chit chat, and have fun with them over our New York Chicken and Chicago Beef. After all, we are Food for Friendship.

Participating outlets:• Suria KLCC LG• Great Eastern Mall• Petronas Tmn Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI)• The Curve• 1 Utama (New Wing)• Ampang Point• Giant Hypermarket Shah Alam Stadium• Centrepoint Bandar Utama• Pantai Medical Centre• Sogo• Pavillion

My First Notes

I’m not very good at reading hints but when Papa and Mama bought me this toy piano, I think they really want me to have some inclination towards music when I grow up. Hmmm.

It is ridiculously colourful with flower-like petal keys and knobs that make the tunes go faster. But seriously, it doesn’t resemble a piano at all!

Anyway, it does help in keeping me entertained though. Besides, those colourful petals are yummy; and Papa teaches me that stomping the keys with my feet can be quite a workout. Hee!

In Wonder…

Hmmmm….I wonder what shall I do today?

Shall I poop 3 or 5 times?
Shall I sleep right on schedule like good boy? Or become cranky so no one gets any sleep?
Shall I crawl fast for 5 metres? Or slow for 10 metres?
Shall laugh longer or cry longer?
Shall I smile at everyone who makes a funny face at me?
Shall I highlight my grumpy look?
Shall I drink Mama’s goodness happily as with my cereals?
Shall I burp loudly or softly?

Ahhh…decisions, decisions…

Smile of the Day!

My smile of the day, complete with a certain Cristiano Ronaldo hair-do. Hee!

Food Ratings

This will be my first ever food review blog. Take note not to take it too seriously cos one baby’s yum yum could be another baby’s yuck yuck…

The following are exclusive ratings of food or stuff I put in my mouth, on a scale of 1 star to 5 stars:

5 STAR:

- Mama’s goodness

4 STAR:

- Nestle cereal

- Plastic toys

- Remote control

- My own fingers

- Baked potatoes

- Buttons

3 STAR:

- Chair

- Cot

- Rusk biscuits

- Hankies

- Porridge with fish and broccoli

- Diapers

- Apples

2 STAR:

- Porridge

Army Boy Collin!

For some strange reason, Papa and Mama seem to love to get me army garbs. I know they have not been playing too much Counterstrike, nor are they NS officers...so I still can't figure out why.

All I know is they seem to think I look pretty cool wearing 'em. Here's a few of my favourite poses:

in stealth mode...

guess who...?

Whee-barrow!

There are times when Papa or Mama tries to pat me to sleep but my mischievous self tries to run, err crawl away, they will have to pull both my legs back.

In that split moment, I feel exactly like a wheel-barrow. Pretty exciting actually…hee!

Hmmm…wonder if walking on hands is easier than on legs?

Strawberry Goodness

I’ve always enjoyed Mama’s goodness. Although some may say it’s original, plain, no added flavoring, etc., I think it has all the right ingredients in their right proportions to give me a satisfied meal. Mmmmmmm.

However, I do notice that during the periods where I was not feeling too well, there could be times when Mama’s goodness would have some strawberry like taste. Not sure how the added flavoring or colour came from, but it sure tasted funny the first time I was fed it.

Whatever it is, that strange strawberry-flavored concoction of Mama’s goodness usually does the trick of making me feel better again. Perhaps it is one of those Mama-baby phenomenons that will produce the right goodness at any time of my need. Hee!

Family Foto Friday!

Me and Papa, the Man United fanatic..hee!

Two Docs and a Wedding!

Phew! What a tiring Saturday I had last weekend. I was practically out the whole day! It all started in the morning when Papa and Mama took me back to Hospital Pantai to see my ENT doc for a follow-up check after my op. I had a good time biting his gloved finger when he was checking my stitches. Hee! Anyway, all’s good and well.

Immediately after that, I went to see my PD who gave me a quick examination and then proceeded to give me my second jab for that pneumar thingy. After what I went thru during my tongue op, suddenly this jab felt like only an ant bite. :-p


By the time we rushed home to get ready to go for jiejie Chayenne’s wedding, it was already getting pretty late. Nevertheless, we still tried to go for the church reception – only in time for the pastry and cake refreshment (which looked really yummy to me…sigh). We did hang around for a while, met up with Ah Mah and Ah Kong, before going to this beautiful place called Saloma Bistro for the wedding dinner.

I was very attracted by the set-up of this restaurant. Even the ceiling fans moved at such a slow speed it seemed to hypnotise people. Or maybe it’s just me. They also had this gigantic cake on stage which I’d bet could feed the entire hall of people, and then some. There was also some wonderful singing performances and some video on screen with weird people dressed up funnily apart from the very nice pictures of the bride and groom.


Overall, I really enjoyed myself, or at least until after the fish dish where it was getting past my bed time already so Mama had to take me outside to the cozy lounge to sleep. It had been a really long day for me after all. The consolation of it is that we managed to stay on till the end, albeit spending much of the dinner time on the lounge, it was probably my first wedding dinner that Mama and Papa managed to eat the dessert. :-D They must be so proud of me...hee!

check out the very cool wedding gift - my very own BMW!!! Wee! wonder if it stands for Big Macho Wheels?...hmmm

Happy Birthday Mama!

You're the best Mama in the world! Hee!

Love, Collin

More Saliva = Less Charm

Since my tongue operation, I seem to be expressing more and more saliva, uncontrollably. Hope it is something temporary that will go away as I learn to control my glands better.

Meanwhile, my charming self-image has been tarnished somewhat in recent days. You see, the pretty girls who are also with me throughout the day at Mrs D's house has distanced themselves from me!

"Eeee! so much saliva one..."
"Aiyeeee..."

These are certainly tough times...:-(

Label Monster

I am starting to believe all the labels that come with almost all products and items is placed there for one reason: to entertain babies.

Whether it is undeniably the softest part of the item, or the part which is the easiest to reach, or something else, labels will always have a special place in my heart because more often than not, labels will be the first thing my fangs will sink themselves into…hee!

Pose of the Day!

My Tiger Bank

Papa has opened a bank account for me!! Yippie! Not sure what that means yet, but it must be something good, right?

I even have my own Tiger coin box at home now. But it seems that Papa is the one who is more fascinated about feeding Mr. Tiger with coins. Must be something about the sound of tinkering coins. Hmmm.

Laid Low and Stitched

Whew! Am really glad that the ordeal is over. I would consider the operation last weekend as a major milestone of my growing up phase. Imagine having to fast from food of all sorts about 4-5 hours prior to the operation; having to wake up so early in the morning in order to reach the hospital by 7.30am.

Upon registration, I was dressed up in an adult operatee apparel (see! I knew people my age seldom go for ops!) and wheeled in this ultra cool four sides of steel cage to the operation floor.

The nurses were quite shocked to see such a happy smiley face going into an operation. Papa and Mama told me to be strong that day, so I cannot fail them. Hee! My ENTertainment doc was surprisingly not there yet. Sometime after 8.30am, he finally came to start the procedure by giving me some kinds of gas that made me pass out. When I came to, the operation was already over! Didn’t feel any pain at all at that time (thanks Mr Gas) but it only kicked in sometime later that night.

Check out those spidey web-shooters on my left wrist....hee!

The operation was pretty fast too – no more than 30 minutes, including the waiting time. By 9.15am thereabouts, I was already reunited with Papa and Mama again, who carried me back to my ward where I rested for the next few hours for observation. My mouth area did feel some numbness though…

my ward number...2253...specially for any readers who feel lucky....hee hee...

Anyhow, I had a four-bedded ward all to myself! It was a pretty cool ward with FOUR teevees hanging from the ceiling! Now if I could convince Papa to hang a few more likewise back home…My doc came to check on me slightly after noon and said should be OK for me to go home. He did warn that drinking Mama’s goodness may be a challenge for the next few days. Also, my stitches should come off by itself or disappear together with my acidic saliva (hee!) within the next few days.

By 3.30pm, we left for home, with memories of this scary adventure of my first (and hopefully last!) ever operation. I overheard that the total cost involved is even higher than the cost incurred to deliver me from the same hospital!

Back to my playful self!

Guess it isn’t easy to raise me up huh? Thank you Papa and Mama for bringing me through this. Hopefully now with my tongue released, I can look forward to becoming more of a chatterbox in the future…

Ahhh....it's finally over! :-D

Taxing Walker Danger

I have a new toy to play with at Mrs D’s house. You see, Sis Angie (one of the other two girls with me under Mrs D’s care) has no more need for this baby walker so I get to play with it all day long now. Wee!

Initially, I was only able to move in reverse gear…but now, after weeks of stick shift practices, I think I am ready for any Nascar walker races, if any. Hee! Dunno why people still see me as a hallway hazard...

Simple little gadget, but it sure helps in preventing me from falling again and again. Quite embarrassing to fall down at a regular rate in front of so many ladies ya know? Shhhhh…:-p