Instant Promotion from Baby Car Seat to ......

Adult car seat! Yes, you are reading it right - it's the adult car seat!

Recently, when Mommy was fetching Juan Or back from the babysitter's house to our new house, Mommy was stuck in a horrendous traffic-jam. Then, suddenly out of the blues, when Mommy turned behind to glance at Juan Or, Juan Or was already standing at the back seat! Mommy then quickly asked Juan Or to get back into the baby car seat but he refused. So Mommy asked him to at least stand on the floor of the car while holding the front car seat from behind. Instead, much to Mommy's horror, Juan Or wriggled his way out to the front part. Since he was already at the front and still standing, Mommy ordered him to sit down to which he didn't comply. Then when the traffic-jam started to move a bit, Juan Or jerked as a result of the inertia, but Mommy was prepared by blocking with the hand. That was when Juan Or realized he needed to sit down, so he sat down obediently. When the traffic came to a halt shortly after, Mommy quickly strapped the safety belt onto him and instructed him to hold the strap (that runs across the chest) a little so that it wouldn't touch his face so much. And much to Mommy's surprise too, for the rest of the journey home, Juan Or obediently sat still while holding the chest part of the strap and did not at all attempt to wriggle his way out of the safety belt.  Juan Or is a big boy already! ^ ^


 As soon as we reached home, Mommy checked the safety belt of the baby car seat. Apparently, the safety belt was still intact. Mommy's first thought was,"Huh, Juan Or has already become an escape artist!?"


From that day onwards, Mommy put Juan Or to sit on the adult car seat, stacked two baby pillows to act like a booster seat and strapped him on. Till today, Juan Or did not attempt to wriggle out from the safety belt. Guess Juan Or probably prefers to sit with Mommy (even though the safety belt does touch his face a little) than to be at the baby car seat.

See the two baby pillows Juan Or is sitting on? That's the home-made booster seat!

Musical Toothbrush

During the moving house process, sometimes, small and tiny items get lost among the plastic bags of 'rubbish'. This was what exactly happened to Juan Or's finger toothbrush (the type of baby toothbrush where you slip it into your forefinger to brush). On the day of moving out from the in-laws' house, Mommy recalled taking that finger toothbrush and dropping it into one of those plastic bags containing 'rubbish' and then putting that plastic bag (together with other plastic bags of 'rubbish') on the front car seat. Later when Mommy reached the new house and did the unpacking, Mommy just cannot find the toothbrush anymore! So for that Sunday night, Juan Or didn't brush his teeth.


Never mind, since Mommy was on leave the next day, Mommy would drop by at The Store Sri Petaling to buy a new baby toothbrush. That was when Mommy saw this musical toothbrush (the brand is Sunbaby) which Mommy recalled never to see this particular toothbrush being sold before. Actually, this toothbrush is like a rattle combined into a toothbrush, only thing is that the rattle sound is more melodious than the typical rattle. It doesn't require any battery (which is a good thing!) and it is also not too expensive - only RM4.90!
Since Juan Or is quite a big boy already, Mommy felt the musical toothbrush is able to fit into Juan Or's mouth, so Mommy bought it.

So that night, Mommy showed the new toothbrush to Juan Or. What was his reaction? He was very happy to hold it. Somehow he knew it is a toothbrush because he immediately put it near his mouth, but he seems to see it as a toy also because of the 'ting-ting' sound when the toothbrush is moved. Hahaha.....that's what the toothbrush is made for - to make brushing teeth more fun!  ^ ^

Then Juan Or went on to pose for Mommy the moment he saw Mommy taking out the handphone camera. Now it looks like as if Juan Or is the model for the Sunbaby musical toothbrush (but this is not a Sunbaby advertisement! ^ ^).

But, most of all, Mommy likes this photo the best!

Now you see Juan Or is so happy posing with the musical toothbrush, but when the real brushing began, he refused to open his mouth, started fretting and crying so much so Mommy had to scold him and tell him that Mommy is buying a 'rotan' (cane) soon! With the mere mention of the word 'rotan', he immediately stopped crying and obediently opened his mouth for Mommy to brush!  

New Home, New Life (Part 2)

This is a continuation of Part 1 where Mommy last mentioned about how Juan Or cried and cried and cried asking to sleep in the spring cot to which Mommy didn't allow, then later Papa came over to scold him and he stopped crying and finally dozed off after gazing outside through the window.

After sleeping for about 3 hours (it was 3 am by then), Mommy was awaken by the soft crying sound of Juan Or. Turned out, Juan Or was vomitting (on the bed!). Mommy quickly put a hand under his mouth to collect whatever vomit that came out. Luckily, the vomit did not contain food particles, only saliva, but the vomit was very, very slimy - perhaps had phlegm in it. Mommy immediately recognized this pattern of vomitting. The last time Juan Or had this kind of vomit was when he cried excessively after falling down his kiddy ride car and hurting his lips and mouth. And this kind of vomit would only happen about 3-4 hours after the nonstop crying episode. After vomitting, Mommy wiped his mouth and he went back to sleep without fuss. Later, within half an hour to an hour's time, Juan Or woke up again to vomit out the same slimy thing. This vomitting episode went on for a regular interval of about 5 times. Every time after the vomit, Mommy offered him water to drink but he refused. Thankfully, by 5.30 am, the vomitting episode ended and Juan Or was sleeping soundly. But Mommy didn't sleep well at all because Mommy had to wake up whenever he woke up to vomit.

It was a working day for Mommy again and Mommy had to leave the house early to avoid traffic jam, so Mommy woke him up at 6.20 am, sent him straight to the babysitter's house and then headed to office. By then, Mommy was very sleepy, so Mommy stole some sleep in the office (it was still not 8 am yet).

By night time, when all three of us were back in the new house, things went on as usual and Juan Or was still just as playful. He had big appetite too - wallop two pieces of cheese slices and even asked to eat Honey Stars and Coco Balls (which he called as "Cocops") cereal. Then it was time to sleep. Thankfully, this time he didn't ask to sleep in the spring cot, but he did insist on going downstairs first (don't know for what?). So Mommy told him that Mommy would only allow to go downstairs for a while and after which he must go upstairs again to sleep. Thankfully too, he complied and went upstairs again without fussing. Everything went well, he played with his toys for a while, Mommy read with him and he settled himself to sleep in no time at all. Mommy is very happy that everything went well for the 3rd day of moving in.

Here's a happy Juan Or, posing for Mommy moments before going to bed.

New Home, New Life - (Part 1)

The day before yesterday (i.e., Sunday, 4th April 2010) was the first day we moved into our new house. That morning, Juan Or was still sleeping soundly in the spring cot (in his paternal grandparents' house) while Papa and Mommy packed some more things (or rather 'rubbish') into our cars to be brought there. Papa drove to the new house first because his car was already full. Mommy would only get moving later because Mommy had to wait for Juan Or to wake up and drink milk first.

Finally at 10.20am, Juan Or woke up but he refused to drink milk, so Mommy fed him with banana. Mommy still had some 'rubbish' to pack into the car, plus some real rubbish to clear from our soon-to-be ex-bedroom. After making a mental checklist, finally Juan Or and Mommy set off to the new house at around 11.30am. On the way, Mommy stopped by at a stall to buy chicken rice  for lunch.

Upon reaching the new house, Mommy unloaded the 'rubbish' from the car while Papa watched over Juan Or. Unloading 'rubbish' from the car was just the beginning of the effort. The rest of it laid in unpacking them and deciding where to put or keep them or even to find a place to keep them. Along the way, Juan Or took his afternoon nap which was very surprising to Mommy because from Mommy's experience, Juan Or wouldn't want to sleep when he's at a new place - only wants to play and play and play.

Later on, Papa went out to buy economy rice for dinner because Juan Or was still asleep and Mommy still has lots of 'rubbish' to unpack. Actually Mommy already planned to go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, but too bad, the timing just wasn't right simply because Juan Or was still asleep and the evening was getting late, so is prone to being fretful and a cry-baby.

The unpacking of 'rubbish' more or less stopped by night time because Juan Or seriously wanted Mommy to pay attention to him playing and reading and all the what-nots. Of course, along the way, Mommy did other things that were not to do with unpacking such as boiling water and soaking dirty laundry to be washed the next day. By the way,  Mommy was very anxious to try out the new washing machine for the first time - more of a trial run of sorts - and even got Papa to install the washing machine's water hose socket which looks rather complicated to Mommy.

Juan Or's playfulness went on till around 1.10am when finally, Mommy told him that playtime's over and that it was time to go to bed. By the way, Mommy is determined to wean Juan Or off the habit of sleeping through the night in the spring cot - a habit that Juan Or developed because of interference from his paternal grandmother. Because of this habit, the hall (in the in-laws' house) became like Mommy's 'bedroom' whereby Mommy would sleep in the hall every night to accompany Juan Or sleeping in the spring cot (which is located downstairs). Ok, back to the story where playtime's over. So Mommy asked Juan Or to sleep on his bed (Papa and Mommy bought him a queen-sized bed to last him till adulthood) and much to Mommy's surprise, Juan Or willingly climbed onto the bed and laid down. It was like he seems to know this is a new place, new room and new bed for him! Then Mommy switched off the light, turned on the air-cond and laid down next to him. Mommy pretended to sleep but actually was watching how he settled himself down to sleep. In the darkness, Juan Or played with his fingers, flapped his arms and legs, lifted up his legs to play with his toes, spreaded his legs opena and close repeatedly and then did the same with his arms. Just within 15 minutes of restlessness, Juan Or became quiet. Mommy peeped over and found his eyes already closed - sleeping already! Good!

Juan Or behaved very well that night. He slept through the night without waking up - so very much unlike the time when he was still sleeping in the spring cot in in-laws' house. Mommy woke up at 7.10am (Mommy took a day's leave from work), Juan Or was still sound asleep, so Mommy quickly went to wash clothes. After scrubbing and throwing the clothes into the machine, Mommy went up to check on him, turned out he was still sound asleep! So Mommy continued with unpacking some of Juan Or's 'rubbish'. Later somewhere around 8.30am to almost 9am, Mommy was greeted with the babyish voice of Juan Or calling "Mama". Mommy turned around and Juan Or gave Mommy the most lovable and cutest smile! Indeed Juan Or is very happy to be waking up in his own new room!

Sleeping so peacefully! Papa has arranged his bed in such as way that one side is surrounded by the corners of the wall to minimize the chances of him falling out while Mommy slept on the open side of the bed.

A closer view of the sleeping 'B'.

Mommy put a pillow against the wall to prevent him from 'lodging' into the narrow gap between the wall and the bed.

Juan Or's bedroom.

Ha, that's what the pillow is for too! To prevent him from turning and knocking onto the wall!

Mommy then took him downstairs and  fed him milk to which he drank almost the whole bottle (only 1 oz left) although he was a little hesitant to drink at first. Nevertheless, Mommy was very happy with his progress! After drinking milk, Juan Or continued with watching his favourite Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while Mommy hanged the laundry to dry. After the laundry, Mommy fetched Juan Or to the babysitter's house while Mommy went to run errands (servicing the car which was a week overdue, buying a little groceries and baby necessities). After running all errands, it was time to pick Juan Or up, bought economy rice for dinner and headed back to the new house.

Once back home, Juan Or was very playful and by bedtime (it was 11pm), Mommy switched off the light and told him to settle to sleep. This time round, Juan Or was very much the opposite. He refused to lie down in bed, instead wanted to go downstairs. Mommy didn't entertain his request, so he cried and cried and cried and then started asking for the spring cot! Mommy didn't give in and he still continued crying. Later, Papa came over to scold him to which he immediately ceased crying (he seems to be more afraid of Papa when Papa is angry!). After Papa left, Mommy explained to him why he should settle himself down to sleep and that new house comes with new rules - no longer like how it was at his paternal grandparents' house. Juan Or was trying hard to hold back his tears but he did it successfully - no more crying. Then, in the darkness of the room, but with curtains opened, Juan Or asked to see outside through the window. It was a beautiful sight - though not of natural scene but very serene and peaceful. Even Mommy enjoyed gazing outside through the window. So both of us sat on the bed in the darkness of the room watching the lights from the lamp post shining onto the houses. Mommy continued explaining to him about how things and rules have changed - no longer the old ways like in paternal grandparents' house. He seemed to understand, even nodded his head. After all the explaining, Mommy asked Juan Or where was the moon, stars, clouds and birds. His answers were,"Moon tau loh (Hainan dialect for 'gone already'), stars tau loh, birds tau loh" except for clouds which were clearly there. Juan Or continued gazing outside, Mommy was already feeling very sleepy and finally dozed off. Moments later, Mommy woke up shortly to find that Juan Or had also dozed off but still in sitting position!

So there goes out first two days of our new home, new life.

Countdown to Moving Out!

Three more days to go before Papa, Mommy and Juan Or move out from the in-laws' house! Mommy is really looking forward to moving out because it means the start of a new life for the three of us. It also means the end of some unhealthy aspects of Juan Or's upbringing as a result of having his paternal grandparents in the big picture when we were still staying under the same roof.


Today's post is going to be very short because Mommy is really rushing for time to juggle between office work (piling and pending!) and getting the new house ready for occupancy (at least where cleanliness is concerned ^ ^). The last stages, i.e., installing air-conditioners and installing a water filter unit was finally done last week. Now what's left to be done during the countdown are sweeping and mopping the floor of the entire house (considering that the air-cond installation process can cause the house to be very dusty). Of course not forgetting also are those essentials (especially office clothes and daily house clothes) to be shifted only on the day of moving out.

This photo shows the room (in the new house) that serves as 'collection centre' for all the 'rubbish' that Papa and Mommy have moved from our bedroom in the in-laws' house. Hehehe.....you will probably wonder how our humble bedroom can fit in so much 'rubbish' plus the three of us in the first place! The 'rubbish' that you see here is not all. There are still some more 'rubbish' to be moved over gradually whenever Mommy stop by at the in-laws' house while picking Juan Or up from the babysitter's house.

Finally, here are the leftover Chinese New Year 2010 goodies (plus Juan Or's milk powder supply) that are still not finished, and Mommy has just transferred them to the kitchen cabinets of the new house. Hehehehe.....Mommy believes it is good omen to stock up a new house with food first before the actual date of moving in. It symbolises abundance in the new house ^ ^!