RamblingMoo

The past days has been extremely frustrating trying to do much with the net…. the lousy connection that moves slower than the snail is taking a toll on my patience!

As I will be going to Ipoh tomorrow for a little New Year celebration with my family and relatives… my blog(s) will take a short break.

Hope things will return to normal after the New Year….

To all my kind and supportive readers out there, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a great year ahead…

“Happy New Year 2007”

You know something? I might just be another Formula One driver someday… I seem to have this burning obsession towards steering wheels… Anything that is round… I will just pretend it is a steering wheel and will go broooommm…broooommmm…brooommmm!!

Whenever we go out and if mommy spotted any kiddy car rides in the kiddy funland, she will let me have my hands on those wheels… so that I can have some serious steering… till the day I have my own wheels… (daddy said he will get one for me very soon…)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IRq9CKXw7U]

However, I have this habit of punching the honk, one thing which Formula One drivers don’t do… Maybe I was influenced by daddy as he just loves to honk at other drivers and will go honking be it if he’s in the right or wrong… that’s my daddy… eeerrr… one of those crazy driver in Penang, only in Penang he drives that way coz mommy warned him not to be a road bully when he’s out of Penang… *hiakz* *hiakz*

Are you one of those who are experiencing disruption with your Internet connection today??? I was!! Was so frustrated as I can’t get my photos at Flikr to load and accessing some of my favourite sites.

Just read that there were a huge earthquake in Taiwan which actually killed 2 person. News said that the earthquake has somehow affected some of the undersea communication cables, hence the disruption.

Not sure when the Internet connection will go back to normal… but was glad that WP is running and was not affected at all. Guess I won’t be able to get into MSN or my Gmail for sometime…

Don’t know when the idea struck PiggyBeng… to bring us to watch the so-called annual event in Penang, the Chingay Parade which he used to watch when he was very young… something like a yearly affair. Being a first timer, I do not know what to expect but from the description given by PiggyBeng, it was something to shout about… eerrr… shout about we are! Hilarious, that was it!
Well, I thought normally Chingay Parades are being held during Chinese New Year (that was my understanding as I used to stay in Singapore) and was a little surprised when PiggyBeng said it was held on Christmas Day instead… the Penang’s very own… supposedly to take place early in the morning too…

So, we slept very early on Christmas eve (have to forgo my Miss Universe programme so can wake up early) and missed out on all the count down sessions… fire works were played near our place… Woke up around 6am and get ready… poor Darrius was still very sleepy but started to get very excited when I changed him. The 3 suaku (country bumpkin) were out of the house around 6.45am and head toward the Padang (field)  where the parade were supposed to flag off.

When we arrived, there were not a soul around the field and traffic was extremely smooth… oh…oh! So where is the parade? Then I teased PiggyBeng saying that maybe he has mistaken or this year no parade or maybe last minute cancellation and all the blah..blah..blah…

PiggyBeng refused to give up and he wanted to drive over to the Dewan Sri Pinang, which the parade will normally ends there to confirmed if there is going to be a parade or not. There were no parade but a few people doing tai-chi… *blink* Still not giving up, Piggybeng drove by the field next to the fort and finally we saw a few miserable tents and there hung the pathetic banner (so small that you have to squeeze your eyes to read) which state the parade will take place at 7pm that night! Aiyah! All the early works for nothing! Since we were there and happened there’s a small park, we decided to let Darrius play with the swing and slide and went for breakfast cum shopping after that.

We went out again at 6.15pm to the Padang… finally we saw some people! The uniqueness of Penang’s Chingay is the giant flags processions. These giant flags, mostly in triangular shape, which are between 25-40 feet in height are made of silk. The flag is usually fixed on a giant bamboo pole which will then be carried perpendicularly by a bearer and balanced on the forehead.

The photo above was taken while most of the flag bearers were rehearsing before the parade begins. The floral or decorated floats were all standing by the narrow lane waiting with many people clamoring around them…

eerr…. this float…. not sure drew by who but I think Penang artists or Malaysian artists in general can definitely do a better job rite???? Unless it was done by a small kid then can be excused… Was a bit dissapointed… the way they decorate the floats *speechless*

We were busy taking photographs at the back of the line and almost missed the flag-off which was around 7.10pm. When we managed to get a spot, the musical band has already moved quite far so we only saw the giant flags with the rest of the oh-so-uninteresting-looking-floral-floats…. *sigh*

I was told that most of the participants are from the Chinese temples around Penang, hence there were quite a number of lion dance troupes.

At last, something that looked decent enought to describe as a floral float…. *wink*

To all my dear readers and faithful commenters….

Wishing you and your family

          *A Joyful And A Merry Christmas*

Can’t help but to make this post… our bedtime comedy…
It was about 10pm and PiggyBeng complaint that he’s tired and wanted turn in… but our little cheeky boy is still very wide awake… crawling up and down the bed trying to touch, pull, knock and bite things he found in our room. PiggyBeng was already tucked in with blanket and all… suddenly this crazy idea struck me again…. asking Darrius to get his milk-milk not from me but from his daddy! *evil grin*

The little comedy goes like that….

Me: Boy, you want milk-milk?

Darrius looked up with wondering eyes.

Me: You want milk-milk…. you go get from daddy ok?

Darrius looked at his daddy.

PiggyBeng: Come-come… (lifted up his T-shirt and show his bare chest to Darrius)

Me: Orhhhh… daddy got milk-milk ooooo…

Darrius crawled over to his daddy, tweak-tweak, press-press daddy’s nipple and…

Darrius: Eeeeeeeeeeeee! Heheeeeheeeeheee

Me and PiggyBeng also burst out laughing!

PiggyBeng: He knows it’s a joke hor?

Right after PiggyBeng finished that sentence, Darrius bent over and lick-lick his daddy’s nipple and….

Darrius: Eeeeeeeeeeeee! keeeekeeeekekeeek! (Pulled his daddy’s T-Shirt down to cover)

Both of us…. Waahahahahahahahaaaa!

Time really flies! I thought we just celebrated Darrius’s 1st birthday only yesterday! Did not realised that 30 days has passes us by and our little cheeky boy is older by another month now.

Weight:10kg

Height:76cm (forgotten to measure so based on last month’s medical check-up record)

Tooth: 4 on upper gum & 2 on lower gum (the other 2 on the lower gum still not popping out yet after 1 month…. very strange)

Speech

• For the past few weeks, we noticed that Darrius has been trying to pick up more words but somehow he has forgotten some which he used to say in the past… No he will call PiggyBeng “dadd” (will repeat a few times) and will add the “di” when he remembered… which is so cute! Well, PiggyBeng was of course very proud as Darrius only know and recognised the word “dadd” is referring to him.
• Another frequent word he muttered was “burtt”. Not sure what he meant but everything he sees or point to he will say “burtt”.
• Few days back I showed him the clock and taught him to say and now he can point at the clock and blurt out “crrok”… which is quite close lar…
• When he sees us eating, he will say “mummm, mummm, mummm” repeatedly until we stuffed whatever we are eating into his mouth. He’s our little tong-sampah (garbage bin)

Physical

• Able to cruise very fast.
• Attempt to stand up without holding on to anything and leap one or two steps occasionally.
• Climbing up and down (using the butt down first).
• Will crossed his legs whenever he sits on the floor… just like practicing yoga.
• Point, point, point… will point north and south, east and west…
• He is able to self feed with stuff like biscuits, fruits squares and rice krispies but refused to hold the bottle to drink (will starts to play with the bottle after a sip or two)

Diet

• Started to give him Ribena but he dislike the sourish taste (I dilute with more water so it won’t be that sweet but will turn sourish instead).
• Adding egg yolk into his oats cereal for breakfast.
• New ingredients for porridge includes tomato, grinded black sesame seeds, broccoli and green peas.
• Had him tried out some star fruit, dragon fruit, watermelon and honeydew.
• Gave him 1/2 pc of cheese everyday.
• 1 cup of yogurt on alternate days.

Intellectual

• If asked “Who is a botak head (baldy)?” and he will put both his hands on his head and starts to rub his head.
• Understood instructions such as lie down (when I want to tuck him in), sit on potty, take bath, pick up toys and put in basket, look at this or that, go inside (when he’s near the edge of the bed), where or who is this and that (he will try to look for the things or person I asked).
• When I sing the song “How much is the doggie in the window?” he will follow with a little bark “auuugghh-auuughh” which is really cute!
• When asked where is ‘pau-pau’ (full)? he will use both his hands and pat pat on his tummy and ‘Who is Darrius?’ he will use his hands and point to chest.
• He will use his index fingers to ‘play’ the piano on the table when we sing out the tune or song of DoReMi (Sound of Music)
• He’s a music lover and if we asked him to dance… he will starts to shake his little butt-butt and flash us a cheeky grin.

Bad habits

• If we take away things from him, he will scream and when we returned them to him he will threw them away.
• Excessive rubbing of eyes till his eyes area turned reddish.
• Still biting on anything and everything… we are running out of stuff for him to bite!
• Started to comfort sucking and will wake up and cry if I tried to pull away.

Others

• He has a very fiery temper and will throw tantrums with screams when he’s angry, sleepy, irritated, when he was not given the things he wanted or when he refused to follow our instructions.
• This fella is a an extreme Mr Jealous. He will scream and starts to hit his butts hard on the floor a few time if he sees me carrying another baby. He’s ok if PiggyBeng is carrying other kids but not me….
• Now he will turn 360 degree when he sleeps and will always stick his butts up… tends to wake up in the night and started sitting up… look around and falls back to sleep in another direction… almost fell off the bed a few times!
• Able to signal for doing #2 with the potty though there are still once or twice of ‘accidents’.
• A very possesive little guy… he can play with other’s toys but others kids can’t touch his toys… or he will cry like someone has just smack him… *sigh*

After the excitement we had at the Holloween trick or treat we drove back to our hotel and started packing as we will be off to Las Vegas the next morning.

PiggyBeng wasn’t too happy with the car given by Hertz so he went back for a change early Wednesday morning…. and this is what he drove back… A Ford Taurus. The car was huge and very comfy… Look at the little cheeky boy… sleeping so soundly in his new car seat… he did not even wakes up when we stopped by Barstow for fuel and toilet break! He slept almost the entire journey which took about 4 or 5 hours.

The road leading to Las Vegas was really straight and there were hardly any turns. The entire journey we were surounded by hilly desert. Was quite surprised that the traffic flow was amazingly heavy even though it was a weekday.

Finally we reached Las Vegas and these greeted us…. Outlets! Have wanted to drop by so much but PiggyBeng can’t wait to drive to the motel so did not get to shop lor…

Don’t ask me why we are staying in Super 8 Motel but I was glad it is not a lousy place. It is also very near the Strip area where all the happening stuff are located. One thing I must say is…. Las Vegas is not a place for babies!

Though we arrived around 3pm but were not allowed to check in until 3.30pm… a bit rigid lar their rules so after cleaning up Darrius and fed him it was almost 5pm and the sun has started to set. When we walked out, we said all the beautiful lights… so bright and so nice!

This is Bellagio… one of the grandest casino hotel along the Strip. It house the biggest dancing musical fountain (in the wrold?) right in front of the hotel and one of the highlight and a must see if you are in Las Vegas…

The fountain starts at 3.30pm daily with 30 minutes interval. people will start to gather around the fountain 10 minutes before it starts. The best view is of course from the hotel room. :) (If any of you ever watch the Korean drama Hotelier, you would have probably saw a scene where it flimed the fountain from one of the room at Bellagio) We prefer to watch the fountain at night as there were spotlights flashing at the fountain which make it look so magnificient when the water were dancing gracefully to the music.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LG3DJfum5v8]

At the opposite of Ballagio is Paris. There’s a smaller version of Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe in front of Paris Las Vegas Hotel.

New York, New York… they actually built a smaller version of NYC complete with Statute of Liberty and a roller coaster ride. We heard people screaming from the roller coaster… it’s quite a thrilling ride but we did not take the thrill… hehehe

The Excalibur… looked so much like the castle in Disneyland…

This Spinx look alike is Luxor. Can you see the beam (blue) on top of the Spinx’s head? The beam was actually from the pyramid behind which was the hotel itself.

On the next day, we explored the other side of the Strip (coincidentally our motel is situated right in the centre from the Strip). The ever famous Caesars Palace, is one of the biggest hotel at the Strip. The interior of the hotel’s lobby and casino is really grand and not to mention it has a mini Colosseum outside the hotel.

Next to it was The Mirage. There were a few really nice man-made waterfalls outside the hotel. I heard that during the night, there is a volcano eruption show but we did not managed to catch that…

Treasure Island is another hotel with nice outdoor deco. However, from the inside the hotel has somewhat looked ‘aged’. Then we walked over to Fashion Show which was tauted as one of the biggest shopping mall on the Strip with a floor area of 2,000 sq ft to work up the appetite of all shoppaholics! Too bad we don’t have much time to spend inside shopping!

But we managed to take this photo! Hmmm…. Darrius looked so skinny here hor?

For bikes lovers, the Harley Davidson Cafe is a place not to be missed! I really like the way the front part of the giant bike poke out on top of the cafe’s main entrance… it’s something like HRC where there are cars poking out…

The Free Dinner

Ok… we were conned… knowingly! On the first night when we were walking about in Exalibur we were being hijacked by a lady just outside the casino (I was actually looking for the washroom) and were being asked if we would like to see some free shows or get some free meal vouchers… Both PiggyBeng and myself already knew it was some kind of marketing gimmicks but we still fell for it… We told the lady we are not keen to see any shows as we have a baby with us so the free meal vouchers will be a better choice… and so we were being ‘tied up’ for more than 30 minutes. After paying USD20 as a ‘guarantee fees’ we were relased…

To claim the vouchers successfully, we have to first go through 3 hours of brain washing… to own a beautiful apartment in Las Vegas… Ok… this was none other than the hard-sell time-sharing programme… It was a good experience but 3 hours of continous pitching by the salesmen is kinda long… However, it was not as bad as we have imagined earlier. After 3 rounds of ‘offers’ we were finally allowed to claim the vouchers…

We were given USD75 vouchers so we went to Sir Galahard’s Pub and Prime Rib House. This two suaku thought the ‘ribs’ were those babyback ribs so went to order the biggest portion! PiggyBeng ordered the King Authur’s Cut which is 16oz and I went for the Round Table Cut which was 12oz. We started our meal with their famous Tossed Salad and some rolls. Then our main course came…. both of us were a little stunned looking at the huge chunk of meat on our plate… then PiggyBeng asked me “eerrr… ribs look like that one ah???” We were quite dissapointed as we did not get to eat the ‘ribs’ we have wanted and those huge chunk of meat were too much for us to stuff into our tummies… only managed to stuff in half of it.

With some money left, we ordered a dessert to complete our meal… so we asked the waiter to recommend to us and we had the Banana Foster which was not in the menu. It was an excellent choice as it was specially prepared at our table!

It was filled with home-made ice-cream topped with banana cooked with orange and lemon juice, sugar and some liquers. The taste was yummy-licious!

After dinner, we drove down to the Old Vegas, Fremont Street. The highlight of this place is the Viva Vision - where it will lights up the night and heats up the street with 12.5 million LEDs and 550,000 watts of sound!! Not forgetting it has a different show every hour from 6pm to 12am…

We only stayed for one of the show which was telecasted at 9pm (Speed, Smoke and Spinning Wheels). It was getting late and all of us were soooo tired. Darrius even slept through the entire journey and back and never wake up till the next morning!

Before we head back to Los Angeles, we went by HRC Hotel. The hotel exterior has two huge guitars… We took the photo above from the street opposite the hotel.

Elvis Presley… among my favourite and the motorbike above belongs to one of the singer of Guns N’ Roses. There were a few more bikes around…

On top are some of the jackets belongs to some famous rock band members… Cool rite?

Ah… my brother’s favourite… The Beatles! Look at those collections… I’m sure all The Beatles’s fans will die to have all those memorabilia…

And finally, at the back of the hotel housed one of the kewlest looking pool complete with individual spa huts surrounding the pool area… The hotel may look quite ordinary looking from the outside but it sure has it charms when you walked through the door….

I was quite zombied this morning as I has been blogging and blog hopping till quite late the past few nights. Woke up around 9.30am (later than usual) but Darrius was still in zzzland so I went down to grab a piece of cake for breakfast, cooked Darrius’s breakfast, read some news and answered some comments in my blog.

Around 10.30am, Darrius woke up (heard some noise over the baby monitor) and I went up stairs to check on him… was surprised to find him still lying at the same spot where he was sleeping earlier and playing with his little bolster… This is unusual as he will usually climb out (I put pillows around him) and will starts to explore to the end of the bed. Brought him down and fed him his cereal. Half way through, he signaled for big business! So, quickly pick the potty and sat him down…. huge download in just 1 minute! After cleaning him, I continue to feed him his cereal…. he took almost 1 hour to finish the entire meal! This is so un-Darrius! He will normally gobble down his food in less than 1/2 hour.

After feeding Darrius, I bathed him and cooked lunch. PiggyBeng came home early today so we had our lunch early too and decided to drop by the new Jusco at Queensbay Mall at Bayan Baru together with my MIL. Spent about 1.5 hours walking about and left to pick up a bicycle from an aunt’s place at Bukit Jambul. MIL went up to get the bicycle and we waited in the car parking by the roadside of the condo. I was nursing Darrius and was chatting with PiggyBeng and suddenly “Wrrooooooooooooommmmmmmm Bannnnnngggggg”! Our car jerked forward a little and Darrius gave a loud cry. Turned around and found a white Kancil knocked the back of our car!

PiggyBeng was stunned for a while and went out to check the damage… our bumper was quite badly hit… and the boot door can’t be closed. PiggyBeng took down the driver’s particulars and negotiated with him for compensation. The driver is a very young army guy and according to PiggyBeng he did not have a driver license… So they yadda-yadda for some 15 minutes and finally we drove home.

We dropped MIL home and went off to the market to do some marketing… the best thing about Penang is, there are afternoon wet markets… can get lots of fresh fish and seafood. After our marketing we dropped by our GP to get my Hep B final dose…. Oucccch! Had it on my butt… PiggyBeng was having some allergy reaction with some rashes on his body so he was prescribed some cream by our GP.

Went home and bathed then out again to dinner with my FIL. We went to Eden Seafood, Steak and Grill… a very old Western restaurant in Penang but was surprised that the place was quite bustling with diners. According to FIL, this restaurant was around more than 30 years and used to be frequented by the Australian Navy. Darrius did not screamed during our meal… very unusual and he even allowed the waitresses to carry him around!
Reached home around 9pm and received a sms from Sashablablabla (she is in Penang for the weekend) that there will be a blogging mommies dinner meet on Saturday night. Told her PiggyBeng’s car kena knocked and need to send to the workshop on Saturday morning so can’t confirm with her. Then we had a video conference with my parents. Dad was tired so ended after 10 minutes or so and I went to take my laundry out. PiggyBeng was helping his sis repair her PC over Net Meeting upstairs and he left Darrius alone in the living room watching his children singing VCD.

When I was done with my chores and took a shower, I went to pick Darrius up… was surprised again as he was lying down inside his playpen playing with his toys quietly… no screaming no crying like what he will normally do when after some time no one go and peek at him.

Was wondering why so many ‘eventful’ events took place today… Friday the 13th? Then went to check the calendar… eh! It’s 15th leh….

I’m a big boy already ah… and mommy said I must learn to eat like all big boys do. That was why mommy asked daddy to get me this cool mumm-mumm station… yeah… my very own high chair! This is a belated birthday pressie from daddy and I must give daddy a big *muakz* coz he carted it all the way back from Phoenix!

Can you see that… it has 7 levels leh…so mommy can actually push me up and down depending on where she intend to feed me or where I am stationed to take my meals. If I join mommy and daddy at the dining table, I will be at level 7 and when mommy is feeding me fruits or other snacks in front of the TV, she will put me at level 2 or 3… isn’t that cool? It also has a tray which can be detached from the chair and when it is not in used, it can be hung at the back of the chair. Daddy said it’s a very smartly designed. Oh! Not forgetting that it has rollers (small wheels) too… so I can cruise around the house like in a stroller but from a higher level! Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!

And guess what? The back of my chair have 3 reclining levels so if I happened to fall asleep while eating - which has yet to happen, mommy can pull it down for me and let me snore and continue my meal when I wake up later… hehehe

Oh yeah… I love the cushion leh… it has the cutest animals prints cover on it so when I’m bored (when mommy strapped me there and went about her chores) I can look at those prints and entertain myself… there are elephants, tortoises, giraffes, zebras, hippos and alligators… see… it is educational too!
The name of my mumm-mumm station is Expressions and it’s by Evenflo… in case your daddy or mommy wanna get one for you… you can get them to visit here to find out more… geeee.. must ask Evenflo to pay me for the free advert! hehehe…