Cute Baby Contest

Just recently, Public Bank of Taman Chi Liung (Klang) branch held a community event - Cute Baby Contest. Any parent can submit a photo of his/her baby (below 3 years old) and the photo will be displayed at the bank. The winner is the one with the most number of votes. Mommy didn't know about the existence of this contest. It was Mommy's mum who told Mommy about it. She told Mommy that she will lobby for votes from her friends and Mommy also got to know that even her friends lobbied for more votes for Juan Or from their friends. The voting period started from 1st July and ended on 8th July. At the end of the day, Juan Or, with the support of his maternal grandmother and her friends' friends, got the 3rd prize!

This is the photo that Mommy submitted - not the best eye-capturing one (yes, Mommy admits this photo is still not the best shot of Juan Or), but one which is the most age-appropriate photo (the contest doesn't allow you to send photos that are too young of the current age) and taken with good quality resolution (unlike most cheeky-faced Juan Or captured by merely the handphone camera of low quality) and sharp in image (because many photos Papa took of him showed Juan Or moving, so are blurred).

Mommy's mum, being in frequent and close contact with the Public Bank staff, also mentioned that actually Juan Or got the highest number of votes, but because his photo is not eye-capturing enough, so the organizing committee did not choose him to be the 1st prize winner in case of public dispute. So, Mommy's mum told them to wait and see till the real baby comes to claim his prize - that the actual baby - with big eyes and long, curled eye lashes -  is handsomer than what is in the photo! ^ ^ (Mommy is quoting what Mommy's mum told Mommy!)

So on 19th July (Monday), Mommy drove Juan Or over to the Taman Chi Liung Public Bank to claim his prize in a simple and informal prize-giving ceremony. The ceremony started at 4.30 p.m. Mommy was pleasantly surprised to be introduced to Mommy's mum's close friends who had been instrumental in securing many votes for Juan Or: Uncle Jeyabalan, Uncle Francis Liew, Aunty Chin Hong and Mr. Goh.

Uncle Jeyabalan (left) and Uncle Francis Liew (right).

Aunty Chin Hong (left), who is Mommy's mum's best friend, and Mr. Goh Yeh Ming (right), who is Mommy's mum's unit trust agent.

Here's Juan Or and Mommy, waiting for our turn to be called to receive the prize.

Here's the prize-giving photo session taken together with the Public Bank branch manager. See Juan Or's crying face? When it's time to go out in front of others to receive the prize, turned out Juan Or was the only baby who was crying and fretting! All other babies were happy, calm and docile.

After the prize-giving ceremony ended, Mommy's mum treated Juan Or and Mommy, and her close friends to a dinner in a nearby neighbourhood restaurant. We ate deep-fried fish in sweet and sour sauce, a beancurd-cum0-mixed vegetable dish and kangkung belacan (water convulus in chilli shrimp paste). Turned out, only white rice and the kangkung belacan were Juan Or's favourite there. Juan Or even started standing on his baby high chair and used his fingers to pick up a strand of kangkung - showing everyone his enthusiasm for the dish!

After the dinner, Juan Or and Mommy stopped over at Mommy's mum's house, but Juan Or seems to be crying continuously, probably not used to being there and perhaps sleepy as well. So very soon, Mommy made a move home. After Juan Or drank his milk in the car, he immediately dozed off! So looks like his crying spell at the bank just now was more likely due to tiredness.

This is how the prize looks like. It's a Fiffy baby products hamper.

And here's what Mommy's mum packed for Juan Or: 2 bottles of Champs multi-vitamin tablets and chocolates from Aunty Chin Hong, Public Bank's souvenir thermal mug from Mommy's mum and Rubik's cube from Mommy's dad. Mommy's mum told Mommy that she only told Mommy's dad about Juan Or's winning a day before the prize-giving day. So that night itself, when Mommy's dad came home, he bought the Rubik's cube for her to pass to Juan Or!

As for the Rubik's cube, Mommy may have to keep it first because Juan Or is still too young to appreciate how the Rubik's cube should be played. He may even end up destroying it! But before keeping it, Juan Or can have his playtime first before it goes into storage.....