The 100th entry to complete my 2009...

I have been planning for my 100th entry since I started blogging 6 months ago. Since my blog title is "Reflection of life..." thus I am going to reflect the year 2009 with Maximus. Every month it's an excitment for us especially when we go through together with Maximus in his developemnt. Hence, being an excited new parents, we are always out and about, having our family time together. This 100th entry will be filled with memories of 2009 - stories with photos to close my 2009.

January 2009 began with a bang! It's the CNY bang with Maximus who is only 2-months old. He had his 1st family celebration and his 1st trip to mummy's hometown. It's a reflection of a family reunion with the new generation - the 3rd Ong & Tan generation.

February 2009 was Maximus 1st visit to DK and having his stay there. He is 3-months old and getting very smiley too...
March 2009 was Maximus having his "training" to be on his tummy and getting new toys and new hats... Mummy getting adventurous in dressing him! He always look good wherever he goes! Exploring new toys and environment as he moves on to his further development. Other the other hand, Maximus had eyes-infection too and caused everyone in the family to be infected also. It's a painful experience for us but God was good (all the time) because Maximus was strong to face it.
(Note: Do ignore the year on the photos because I wrongly set the year in my camera)
April 2009 was April-fool but my Maximus is not a fool! He learnt his 1st nursery rhyme and still enjoying it till today! He also found his 2 little feets and pop them into his mouth. And my lil one had his 1st tooth on this month too...so it's not a fool month.
May 2009, I had the most memoriable month! I celebrated Mother's Day... since being a mother in Nov 2008. This month is also Jin's birthday and we celebrated it with our 6-months old Maximus. Other than that, Maximus is also having his 1st solid in May and he got his booster seat for his meal time and in his walker too. He was quick to pick up his control in the walker and began to run in it towards the end of May when he started in the early month.
June 2009 was the time of crawling for Maximus... he learnt to crawl by imitating how mummy showed him. Slowly but surely he began his few steps on his tummy but able to lift up himself. He enjoyed playing on his tummy too... It's also Father's Day for Jin! Again we had our celebration. We took a perfect family photo in a Chinese restaurant. Maximus was able to sit independently in the high-chair enjoying the meal with us.
July 2009, Maximus has mastered his crawling skill and able to crawl independently. He was getting more moblie and enjoyed chasing after his toy car. His first acheivement in grasping his language skill was to point at the picture of the bear when asked. That made mummy and daddy proud. Check out the story here.

August 2009 was Maximus's adventurous time! He was full with expression and being very affection towards his family members. He showed lots of different facial expressions to express his feeling. He began to grab and kiss them. He also began to develop his interest in cars and books. He had his 1st trip to the highland (Cameron Highland). It's a full adventure for a 9-months old baby. On this month, Maximus was weighing at 10 kg! ... A packet of rice!!!

September 2009 was the most happening month! I labelled this month as the "wedding and the funneral" There are more funneral unfortunately. However, my 10-months old was getting smarter as he began clap his hands, climb stairs and drink from the straw. I also began to discover his creativity from observing his play... he was able to do immaginative play at this stage and it was really surprised me.
October 2009 was a month before his 1st birthday...and I was already getting excited planning for his birthday celebration. And before his 1st birthday, Maximus began to project his 1st few independt steps towards walking independently. He also grasped a few sign language to express his needs especially showing "no-more"and full. He also started to sounds his first few words such as book, oh, and dog.

November 2009 was Maximus 1st Birthday! The celebration was on and everyone (the in-laws and my family) had dinner in Melaka. Maximus was being pampered with lots of toys and most of all ang-pows. He wore his 1st shoes and started to walk independently. This was the time that my lil Maximus was in the transition from his infant to his toddlerhood. It was a load of great acheivement and fun memories.
December 2009, Maximus was officially in his toddlerhood. He was so much ready for play school or in a play group because he was able to play independently even when I am away from him. This is the month of celebration with Dongzhi festival and Christmas too. Maximus had great memorable celebration with us and his extended family members. This is to enable him to experience family gathering in his growing process.
This reflection will lead us to 2010 with more thanksgiving and prayer in our heart. We won't be able to go through days after days, months after months and face the new year with God in the center of our life.

Christmas Now and Before...

As I reflected the last Christmas, Lil Maximus was just 2-months old infant who doesn't know what's Christmas all about. Now, my lil baby has turned to toddler and he is 13-months old!

Check out the differences...


Maximus sleeping and lying down in his stroller when we went out for our Christmas lunch in Curve (2008)

Maximus now (2009) with full expression and alert...In addition, looking gaya and walking, exploring around independently.

This is just a year of differences... There will be more thankful years ahead as I look forward to. And mostly, on this Christmas my prayer and thankfulness go to Jesus who giveth me the most precious gift!

Thank you Lord Jesus and my Heavenly Father...

Maximus enjoying the view of Christmas deco

December is the month of joy and love. Every mall, street and restaurant is nicely decorated with the Best Christmas decoration and trees! And there the attraction of the place is determined by how beautiful and spectacular the decorations are.

As for that, we also join the crowd in visiting malls with stunning Christmas decoration along with Maximus. In the beginning, he was just amazed with the lights, then the trees and the ornaments. Then he also begin to look out for those Christmas trees, ornaments and lights where ever he goes. It's really amazing seeing how he can admire and enjoy those colourful and bright decoration. When he sees those beautiful decoration he will express himself in awe, "uhh..." or "oooh..." while pointing towards the decorations.

Toddlers at his age will begin to enjoy beautiful things and start to develop interst. Looking at how he enjoys so much of those Christmas decoration and each time when he sees one, his responce towards them really excite me. And it bring me delights and joy... That's the best Christmas decorations ... it's in Maximus's eyes!

So far, he has visited Leisure Mall, Pavillion, BSC, Mid-Valley and Gardens. Check out his expressions...


Pavillion in-door and out-door decoration


Mid-Valley and Gardens Decoration


At BSC

Winter Solstice (Dong Zhi) Festival

The date is always the 22nd December to celebrate the winter solstice festival. Each time when the date arrived we will be rolling tang yuan from glutinous rice flour. It's the Chinese tradition and I remembered that when I was younger, mother will say that each tang yuan that I ate it means that I am older by a year. So...we used to joke around... we will count the number of tang yuan we ate and said that we have reached a certain age...! Well...that's the folk story.
The fact for this festival...well, I just found out that it's known as "Winter Solstice" festival from Wikipedia and it's written all about the astronomical event. But for the Chinese it's a reunion where everyone will eat the tang yuan.



















Whatever the fact is about Dong Zhi festival, the most important is giving Maximus the exposure and experience in celebrating this festival with the family...this including of rolling of the tang yuan together. He has so much fun playing with the dough and wanted to eat it instead of rolling it.
This is his officially first Dong zhi festival because last year he was only a month old when we celebrated it. Time flies...there goes another year and this year he gets the opportunity to taste the tang yuan. He does enjoy it although not knowing what are those...
Whatever festival, all I wish is to celebrate it as a family with Maximus so that he will grow up knowing that his family must stick together in every festival and occasion.

From Fear to Fun...

Today we went to Jungle Gym in BSC again with Didi Jayden and Rachel. This is Maximus 2nd time in Jungle Gym since his last birthday on 6th Nov. As he just touched 12 mths old, he was still in the transistion of baby stage to toddler but now he is 13 mths and enjoying his toddlerhood.
He has mastered his walking still and enjoy exploring around... so it does make a lot of differences in Jungle Gym as compared to the 1st time.

From fear of being in the ball-pit pool, he is now having so much fun.





Maximus enjoying himself in the pool of balls. He also tried to give away some balls to the other children...




And now he is also enjoying himself with loads of fun and mostly want to be independent and trying to join the other elder children. Well, it's really amazing to watch his learning process and him growing from stages to stages.
He is quick to learn especially from imitating others especially the elder children. During his exploration in Jungle Gym, he is not afraid to climb and to slide down. Although at a certain point he hesistated to pass through the obsticle, after looking at the other children he will try again.


















It's really a huge change...from being fearful to now knowing to have fun. I am sure Jungle Gym will be his favourite place to explore physically and socially. Since it's FREE for children below 2 years old...so why not! He can still enjoy it till he is 2 years old. But mostly, he has the opprotunity to explore freely without being fearful of the environment.

Feeding medicine

Toddlers begin to understand that taking medicine is something that isn't fun or yummy. They can resist medicine now and will struggle to keep it from getting into their mouth and system. Although there are many persuasions, toddlers won't understand the reason of taking medicine. It's like giving them some eekie yuckie things to eat! And the nasty taste of medicine will remain in their mouth for a while.
It's really a struggle for us to feed Maximus medicine especially when he knows the taste of it after the first time. He will recognise the bottles of his medicine and know that it's time for medicine. He will quickly shows his hand-sign as he refuses to take the medicine with some whinning. Since day one, we have been using tricks, persuasions, pep-talks, strategies etc to convience him to take his medicine. Whatever we did are in vain!
But I found that the syringe is the best tool although my MiL likes using the measuring spoon.

It's not easy to feed using the measuring spoon.

I read some of the tips to give toddler medicine online too... but just don't help much. Some of the sites are from Family Education and i-village parenting. Yet, the bottom like is that I must really know the best method that suits him. Otherwise, he will end up vomitting everything after feeding. So, I realised a few soothing ways to feed medicine to Maximus:

1. I just have to let him know that it's time to take his medicine and will shows him the medicine. MiL will try to trick him by saying it's ice-cream or orange juice but he is smarter though. He knows the taste... So, I won't lie to him. I am telling him directly that it's medicine and it will taste aweful but good for him. Although he will whine and struggle to escape, I have Jin or the maid to help out.
   
2. Two is better than one - so it's not a one-man show in giving toddler medicine. It needs at least 2 of us; One to hold him and another to get the medicine ready.
   
3. Do it fast and without delay because once he refuses he will just push away or spit it out.
   
4. Put the syringe at the side of his cheek and give a quick push to let the medicine flow into the mouth without delay.
   
5. Give him some honey or juice to wash away the nasty taste.
   
6. Comfort him and tell him it's over. We are putting it away now. Praise him for being a brave boy.

It is really a hard task to feed medicine to any toddlers. As I reflect, I found out that it's easier to feed an infant medicine rather than toddler...of course! Toddlers are smarter and quicker to respond.
Anyway, I do hope that Maximus will get well soon... and will not have to take any awful medicine again...

Mil forcing the medicine down to his throat...

The Caricature of Maximus

My colleague drew a caricature of Maximus playing with the balloon when we had dinner together with Maximus along. During the dinner, Maximus was playing with the balloon with some of them. So, my colleague drew this experience into a beautiful caricature.

Check out the master piece.

The caricature of Maximus

The next generation reunion

I have not met my JB closed friend for about 2 years since the both of us were pregnant and busy after that with our own child. Then finally the opportunity to meet up arrived! We went down to JB and we were reunited - with our next generation too.

She has been so dear to me... then our husbands become friends...soon our son will be friends too! It's a great devine appointment as the both of us are from different state - Im in KL and she is JB. We witnessed each other marriage and then both of us became mummy. Her son is 6-months elder than Maximus.

It's really wonderful to meet again after a long time. We have so much to catch up especially now we share the same interest... our son! I would say that this is the reunion of our next generation. We hope that they will grow up to be friends too. Maximus looks more like the "tai-kor" (bigger brother) as compared in size. But size doesn't matter. As long as our next generation can be friends just like us, it's a great joy.

Maximus on that particular day was extremely playful, cheeky and active. He wants to go every where with his new friend. It's really fun to see how the little ones are getting to know each other in a unique ways. It's all reflected in their facial expression...

My Favourite Family portraits

A family reflects the beauty, happiness and love within. These can be seen in the perfect family portrait. A picture speaks a thousand words... and so is my family photo. It speaks of my joy, true happiness and loves. A friend commented that she likes my family photo that she took when we met. Of course, I thanked her for her remarks and added ...this are the pictures of a prefect happiness and love. She totally agree with it.

So, judge for yourself...

Top Left: Our 1st family photos taken when Maximus was born.

Middle: Our 1st mother's day family photo (Maximus was 6-months)

Bottom Left: Another perfect shot taken when Maximus is 1-year old)

Can you feel the love within? Just check out our smiles... That's prefect happiness!

Long Distant Car Travel

There are 2 types of travelling that I will define here - the long distant and the short distant. Both are car travelling on the road. I have experienced both and from the infant stage to the toddler. I found that travelling with infant is easier but some different safety measures. We first started travelling when Maximus was 3-months and it was only a one-an-half hour ride to Melaka. He was soundly asleep in his car seat at that time although I have to hold him to keep him comfind and feel safe. Then in his late month, we travelled up to a highland (Cameron highland). That trip was a real adventurous experience because of the long hours in the car and the windy road especially up the highland with changes of pressure.

Then, Maximus turned 1-year old and recently we travelled down south to JB... a 3 and the half hours of ride in the car. The transition stage from infant to toddler made a huge different in such travels. Here I realised that Maximus will need to be entertained and attended too yet not forgetting the extra safety especially when he wants to stand up, touch everything and move around. It's not easy to get his seated or to sleep. His routine at home has also been disturbed especially without his sarung-cradle, his toy box, and spaces to move about!

So, for three and the half hour journey I have equipped him with some new play-stuff and snacks. These are the most important tools to get him settled. He got every excited in the beginning when we started the journey but that only lasted for half an hour. He got bored and wanted to move around... so it's time to play!

He ated his little snack while playing with the food containers and bottles. I then realised that I have a "new" toy that he seldom play. Those toys that I brought along were his usual toys that he got bored within a minute. But he was really engrossed into playing with his snack container - opening and closing the lid. I created a little funny game (with sound effect) that he laughed and giggled till he got tired.

So the next one-half or two hours was to cuddle him in his cuddling napkin and also the "human-pacifier" to sooth him. Then he slept... till the car stopped! It's the toll-booth. Each time when the car stops, he will automatically be awaken. By the time he awoke, I have to reassure him that he is in the car, travelling to where ever the destination to. Will give him some fluid and then get him to have his fun play again till we reach our destination.

It's a routine for toddlers when they are travelling in the car or on road... play-sleep-settled and then it continues. Whenever he gets too cranky or fussy, we will stop at the rest area. Allow him to explore the outside then tell him that we are going to countinue with our journey.

At the end, it's really a tiring trip yet fun! Our journey will normally be extended to an hour. I also realised that having another older kid (a play-mate) helps too. Maximus loves to have his nine or twelve years old cousin along with him. He will be entertained by them. So it does make me relax and smoothen the journey too.

I can't imagine having to travel by air next time! It's another learning experience....