A Christmas Visit to Juan Or's Maternal Grandparents' Place

On Christmas Day, Papa and Mommy took Juan Or to see his maternal grandparents in Klang for the first time. Huh!? You may be wondering why only the first time now that Juan Or is already 1 year 7+months old. Well, to cut a long story short, it all started when Mommy's parents, Mommy's mum especially, started to disapprove of Mommy's romantic relationship with Papa after spats of unrealistic expectations set upon us by Mommy's mum. The climax of the conflict was when Mommy's mum deliberately took away 95% of Mommy's entire savings and some time later Mommy's mum instigated Mommy to break up with Papa. So after settling some things to do with Mommy's education, Mommy left home (that was Christmas Eve 2005) and had not been in contact with her for 3 years until Boxing Day 2008 when Papa and Mommy visited her (but without Juan Or because Juan Or was still too young to go through such long trip without fretting). So this year's Christmas marks the first time for Juan Or see his maternal grandparents and vice-versa.



We all went in the morning because Juan Or's sleeping and waking hours are more predictable in the morning so that we can minimize the chances of him fretting and crying. When we reached there, Juan Or had already dozed off in the car, so we had to wait in the car till Juan Or woke up. Upon entering the house and seeing his Grandma, Juan Or started crying - everything looked so strange and unfamiliar to him! However, Grandma was well-prepared for Juan Or's turmoil - she quickly offered him soft toys and some kiddy knick-knacks to which Juan Or gladly accepted though still crying! Then, lastly, Grandma gave him an ang pau (red packet containing money) and immediately Juan Or took it in his hands and stopped crying! Then Mommy took Juan Or to face his Grandpa and again Juan Or burst into tears! But when Grandpa gave him an ang pau, Juan Or stopped crying immediately! Hahaha....so looks like Juan Or's liking for money is not coincidental when he picked the RM10 bank note on his 1st Chinese birthday!



Mommy's mum offered Papa and Mommy her home-cooked nasi lemak (rice cooked in dilute coconut milk) for lunch. So while Papa ate, Mommy had to take Juan Or to walk around the porch to minimize his crying and once Papa was done, Mommy ate while Papa entertained Juan Or. Several notable things about Juan Or during the visit:

• Juan Or loves drinking sparkling juice!


• When Juan Or was crying (because of seeing unfamiliar faces), Mommy purposely asked him whether he wanted Mickey Mouse and he answered yes even though he was still in the midst of crying! Then later, Mommy asked whether he wanted to eat nasi lemak, he answered yes (still crying)! Whether he wanted to eat sambal (spicy chilli gravy dish), he answered yes too and still crying!


• Towards the end of the visit, Juan Or saw his Grandma drinking water from a cup, so he pointed at the cup to indicate that he wanted to drink from there too. Grandma was pleasantly surprised to see his Grandson though not familiar with her but insisting on sharing the same cup as her! After Juan Or drank, Grandma continued drinking and again Juan Or pointed at the cup wanting to drink again! So Grandma let him drink again and after that, Juan Or gave his Grandma a cute smile! Oh, that was his first smile to his Grandma and Grandma was again pleasantly surprised! So Juan Or finally did mellow down (within 1+ hours) after all!

When we were about to leave, Mommy's mum gave Mommy some Christmas presents and a stainless steel 40cm Chinese wok for Mommy to start a new home. Thanks, Mum! Mommy will gladly accept the gifts although Mommy has already equipped the new house with tableware and kitchen utensils. Here are some snapshots taken when Mommy took the gifts to the new house for storage:

The gifts from Mommy's mum. In them are tableware items and a set of chopsticks.

Even Juan Or is making good use of Grandma's gift.....as his stool for sitting!

These are the soft toys Grandma gave to Juan Or.

Two Ribena cameras given by Grandma for Juan Or to fiddle with.

More ang paus from Mommy's paternal side of relatives. Juan Or loves ang paus. Funnily though, he seems to know that the content is more valuable than the red packet!