On: LAD (Language Aquisition Device)

Max is now 20 months old. These are the words he says every day:

Top 5:
car
There!
no more
ball
book

Others:
blue
cup
boat
bum-bum
dig
dog
duck
(f)ish
go
got
gone
Koh-koh
Kung-kung
Mah-mah
more
pour
up

Expressions:
tata
uh-oh
pop
ouch

Character names:
Bob (the builder)
Ramone
Flo
Doc
Gordon (not so distinctly)
James (not so distinctly)


Animal sounds:
wuff-wuff
meow
ark-ark (duck/bird)
ssshh (snake)
aarrr (roar)
ooh-ooh (monkey)
park-park (chicken)
mmmm (cow)

I am sure there are a few more, but I just can't remember right now. By that you can guess that he is a boy whose actions, and cryings, speak louder than words.


THEN, yesterday, he started this: As if he suddenly switched on his LAD and started trying to repeat what the rest were saying. He said "cocoon", while I was talking to my sis-in-law about another science experiment we were doing in a jar. He also picked up one of his cars, Ramone (there are 3 different colored ones), and said "puh-pur" (purple). Mommy, not paying full attention at first said, "yeah, it's Ramone."
"Puh-pur. Puh-pur."
"Oh, yeah! Purple! Well done, baby!" Mommy amazed.

This morning, when my mum-in-law's goddaughter called, he picked up the phone in our room and started going, "Ello. Ello. Ello...", but just the next moment when my sis called from Singapore, he refused to say anything but held the phone to his ear and nodded his head every now and then. When I mentioned to my sis what's happening, she laughed and said, "So he has finally decided to talk, eh?" Yeah, sure seems like it.

I think for the days ahead we are going to have many thrilling moments of Max actually saying words and not just blabbers. Yeah, and this is the time Mommy will start getting excited and try to make him do demonstrations for others. Hehehe...

Micah's Nose

Micah has a very keen sense of smell.

Today, while we were playing in the room, he suddenly said to me, "Max smells like he poo-pooed. Check, check!" He said excitedly. Sure enough, Max had made a mess.

Other times, it would be in the car. Once we were all in the car, with Micah in the car seat in front, Max with mommy at the back. I opened a container of cereals for Max and Micah exclaimed, "Is that honey stars? I smell honey stars." Another time grandma was secretly giving Max sweets to stop his crying for want for Mommy. She does this in secret because she knows I disapprove. I had also caught the scent many times, but as not to get Micah in her ploy, I usually keep quiet about it. But there had been a few time Micah would suddenly ask, "Mah-mah, what do you have? I want to see that. What is that? Is it sweets?" When she had a Listerine strip in her mouth, he said to her, "I can smell mouth wash. Did you use the mouth wash, Mah-mah?" and yet another time when she had put some "minyak angin" because of a headache, he said to her, "Mah-mah, I can smell the hot-hot oil. Do you have a stomach ache?"

Sometimes when we walk into a public wash room that is clean, especially at the Science Centre, Micah would say, "I cam smell strawberry. Mmmm." Yeap, it's a strawberry scented cleaning agent. In a new environment, when uncertain, he would ask, "what is that smell, Mommy?" It could be a spice or some other detergent kind of smell. "Chemicals," he would say. At church it would be, "I can smell orange. Mmmm."

Once, January this year, we were at a shopping mall and I walked into The Body Shop to get a birthday gift for a friend. He was attracted by all the colourful bar soaps on display and he began sniffing at them. So I helped him along, not wanting him to be unsupervised in a store. I handed him different ones and asked him what did it smell like. After all that, we concluded they are fruit juices! The next time we walked pass a Body Shop, he would say, "Mommy, lets go smell the fruit juices."

I recall now that when he was very young, maybe 10 months or so, I carried him around the back of the house and gave him different plants to smell: pandan leaves, lime and bay leaves. In the kitchen I gave him orange, banana and mango. And of course durian when it was in season. I don't know if that is what made him so sensitive now, but he sure is amazing.

These days he has this thing where he wants to smell all the bottles on the bathrooms counters. It can really drive us crazy as he will press on the pumps or open up the bottles and squeeze the soap, shampoo, cleansers, etc. and sniff at them. He does the same with lotions and whatever else he sees lying around the house (on the shelves or on dressers) and being a child he has powdered the floor, rubbed lotion on the bed, oiled the kitchen floor, salted the dining table with soy sauce, and yesterday, sniffed and licked a bar of butter from the fridge. On hindsight, it is all very funny, but when you have to deal with a mess, it can be such pain.

Another things he does, which drives his grandparents crazy, but does not bother me, is that he wants to smell all his food before eating them. Most of the time he will go, "Mmmm. Nice." Sometimes we get a "I don't like that," or a "what's that?" response. The grandparents thinks that it is rude, but I think it's fine. Let him use his nose. He's got a good one. :)

Laundry Laws

I'm the laundry person. I have been doing the laundry for my family since a pre-teen kid (on gaps where we did not have a maid) and this is my refined process, which helps me work with order and more efficiently:

1. Soaking: separate dark and light colours. Bleach Mike's work shirts (for maximum efficiency, his work shirts get washed and ironed only once a week, so he has 5 shirts "running").
2. Washing in the machine (delicate clothings always go into the washing mesh) and then
3. (The Order) hanging the clothes: all the hangers face the same way; the clothes belonging to the same person hang side by side, preferably same kind together, i.e. shirts, pants, etc.

Why the fuss? Well, when you bring in the laundry, you already have the clothes in some kind of order (same kind, same owner), so when you are folding the clothes, you can begin to pile the clothes in neat stacks without having to look around and wonder where a piece goes. Very fast and efficient! Can do it on "auto drive" or "screen saver" mode!

As for the hangers facing the same way, in case of sudden rain, you can grab in as many as your two hands can hold a pull a whole bunch of clothes in with one clean lift!

It's funny how when I have had this running for so many years, I actually find a disruption in my home-world when my mum-in-law, in all her kindness, helps me with the laundry. I really appreciate her doing so, considering she is already cooking for the whole family, which includes doing the marketing in the morning before the rest of the house wakes up, and helping me with the kids through the day, i.e. watch them while I go to the bathroom, eat or do the laundry(!). She also does the gardening and cleans the fish tank. Many times out of guilt and a slight irritation I have said "Thank you" and " you are already so busy, it's OK to just let the laundry be and I will do it." Her reply: "It's ok, I just drop them into the machine. It does the washing" (but she does not use the washing mesh!). But she hangs the clothes not in my order.


Last Friday (which was what amused me and got me into writing this) I woke up at 5am after 2 babies stirred and cried in their sleep. I thought I'd get to the laundry, especially since we were going to go to playgroup that day. I had soaked the laundry the night before. When I got to the other bathroom where we do all the washing, I was shocked to see the buckets all empty! Just then my mum-in-law rushed up and told me the laundry is done. I said, I hear the machine still running. She said it's actually the "last" round. The Extra thing she does is to rewash the clothes one time round with the softener, which she says is to get rid of all the odour. Eerr.. that's what soaking is for, I thought, besides getting some stains off. Besides, not all the clothes need the softener. I find some clothes have an icky coating after a round in that stuff which also tickles my nose, depending on the materials.

At least I managed to get to the machine to put the laundry out in my Order this time round. I sneezed a little...but I am glad I did it.

There have been times she had raided my laundry basket and done my laundry without mentioning anything to me, and my father-in-law will be cross because my clothes have been sitting in the machine the whole morning and he needed to use it. Eh? I have clothes in the machine? Or if she had hung them out, they would be hanging there, not in Order, for days, literally, as I usually wait for a full load before I do anything (the kids clothes get done on separate occasions). Sometimes I will plan to do the laundry that day because it's time to change the towel or for some valid reason only to find my laundry basket empty! It can be so baffling. Then I will have to go hunt for some clothes or other towels to put into the wash at "water level: Low."

So when it comes to doing the laundry around here (and I have not mentioned anything about ironing cos she stays clear from there, phew!), to borrow Mary's term:
Zephyrgale: gentle breeze blowing savagely.

Happy Weekend

It must have been one of the best weekends for the boys despite the fact that Max was still recovering from his running nose.

On Saturday we played in the house the whole day. Micah skipped his nap because he woke up only almost 10am and so I figured it was OK for him to skip his nap and hope that he would sleep earlier that night. Mike had to go work and got back about 3pm. By then Max was up from his nap and so Mommy decided to give the boys a treat: take the train to mid-valley. We needed to get new shoes for Micah. Max has inherited many pairs of shoes from his brother and so for now that is no concern. Micah, however broke both his shoes and sandals this week, so he down to the croc-look-alike sandals which he says are "pokey" and won't wear them for long.

Down we went and back by train. The journey back was tougher. We actually let 2 trains go before cramming into the third one. The weekend is just too crazy on the Kommuter. But both boys were thrilled coz they also got a new toy each. Not Mommy's intention, and when we were going to Mid-Valley, Micah did say, "I want to see Thomas (at Toys'R'us). See only, OK? I have enough already." Well, we did not even make it to Toys'R'us. We bought his shoes at Jusco and he saw the "Thomas and the Jet Engine" and whined his way into getting his dad to get it. So, to be fair to Max, we lwt him get something too. He, of course chose a car!

On Sunday we did not go to church because Max was still having a drippy nose. Actually the week before he was ok from his cough and we went to church. There he played with some kids with running noses and they had their own 'picnic' at the back of the church, so I guess that's how he ended up with a running nose again. Sigh...

Anyway, we decided to go near noon and I suggested we go for a boat ride at The Mines. No more walking in shopping malls and tempting our kids into getting more toys or junk food even. When I found out how much it would cost for 2 adults and 1 child, I half regretted making the suggestion. I thought we had already spent enough for "entertainment"on the toys the day before. But having taken the ride, I felt it's worth it. I am glad we did it. That was our Sabbath. It was actually spiritually uplifting for me when I looked at the lake and thought of the wonders and mystery of God, like all that is so mysterious under the surface of the sea (yeah, we were just on a lake, not a sea, but still sorta same context). Micah was chatty all the time, and we pointed out different things to the boys. Max fell asleep in the middle of the boat ride. We took a simple lunch/tea and headed back. That was 5pm already.

By the way, should you want to go for this boat ride, let me say that the special feature of the ride is that there is a channel built to take us to the outer lake, which is supposedly the biggest former mining lake in Malaysia today. It's about 5 meters 'drop' from The Mines' 'river'. They have this huge water gate and you sit in the boat like an elevator while they let out/pump up the water. Quite interesting.

That evening we had a simple dinner and the day was done for the boys by 12am (which seems to be the trend these days).

Just before Bed

It's already Friday and I still haven't started on the "Savages" book. My new hobby is visiting my Blog Buddies and see what are they up to. :)

I was going to hit the hay when I remembered I have one more load of laundry to put out. So as I did that, I came to this realisation: Micah is growing up too fast. I have always put out the boys' clothes on a spoked hanger. But for the last few rounds I actually have to use a regular hanger for some of Micah's shirts, especially the nice collared shirts and long sleeved pajamas shirts.

I also had to pull out some grass seeds from his pajamas pants. I was wondering how those got there, then I remembered that he took a walk yesterday morning with grandpa to the end of the block to look at some tractors and dump trucks at work. I remembered while in school days I hated having to pull grass seeds out of our socks after a sports practice. Now I don't quite mind. I guess patience comes with age.


I remembered talking to this lady, Jodie, who helped out in the playgroup about having kids at our age (she's in fact quite a few years older to me) and she said how she envied the young mothers because they have all the energy to run with their kids, boys especially (she has 2 boys too)! Then she said, "well, at least we can make up our lack of energy with more wisdom...hopefully," and grinned.


Hope I can get some sleep now...and not be too tempted to start reading. Mike has to work tomorrow, which means I have to be fully with the boys....



Maybe we will go visit Ah Ma again...

Thoughts

"Every cell eavesdrops on your thoughts, so make them good ones."

Got this quote from a friend's blog. Awesome!

Yesterday I was really mad at a person over a small thing. Actually I thought it was a small thing which he blew out of proportion and it made me mad, so I guess I then made that small-thing-blown-big a big thing too. The whole evening I was just boiling inside.

I started making speeches in my head should I confront him. I was so so annoyed. I had to be so so careful not to take it our on the boys, to be careful not to bark at them because I am edgy. When Mike got back from his game, late and tired, he still listened to my complains and frustrations.

Sigh... let it go.

There are many things to be thankful for.

Yes, I forgive him... Yes, I have forgiven him.

Forgiveness

A friend SMSed me and asked what I meant about forgiveness, after having read my blog on meeting up with old friends (Old Pal, Aug 16; St.Marians 89, June 1). So these are some thoughts on forgiveness:

Forgiveness is when you can look at the person in the eye and still be glad to be in his/her presence regardless of what had happened in the past, i.e. disputes, misunderstandings, episodes of jealousy/envy on both sides or unfairness towards you. All those bad stuff that happened was in a context of time and space that we had no control over. The world is actually bigger than we see it: a spiritual dimension, six degree of separation, cosmic powers, etc.

Forgiveness is when you are still sad/sore over an incident between you and a friend but you choose to be kind and love and help the person and still call him/her you friend. You act or treat the person with love because you know/see that he/she is worth more than one hurtful incident in your friendship. He/she is precious.

Forgiveness is when you still care and wish the best for the person who has hurt you many times over and over because he/she has problem with self-control. They cannot help but let their mean streak take a hit at the people around them, and because of their personality they may not feel sorry or be sorry for just a moment and forget it. You on the receiving end will bear the wounds for a long long time...but you still remember the person's strengths and the good times that you shared.

Forgiveness is being happy for the success of your friend today, appreciating the competitions there were yesterday, and hoping to see him/her again tomorrow.

Forgiveness is when you can talk about how silly and childish we all were 10-20 years ago and know that we are all better and more mature today. It is not belittling the other person or the issues that may have caused conflicts, but it is to acknowledge that we all now see the world differently and we are no longer self-centered babies. We recognise how we can all make the world we live in a better place with our different gifts, contributions and ideas.

Forgiveness is when you make the effort to give the friendship a second chance...and yet another.

Forgiveness is when you can say in retrospect (we all know this phrase) : it takes 2 hands to clap. You acknowledge that you too had been part of the problem and not just blame the other person. We see a bigger picture of how we could have helped or defused a heated situation but did not or maybe did not know how then.

While writing this, I was thinking of a few old friends who had really hurt me or made me feel used, cheated or treated me without respect. And I wonder how are they doing now, and if they are happy where they are. I hope they are well.

But I also remember of friends that I had been unkind to because in the past I had been a more rigid and self-righteous person.
I had said things I still regret until today;
I had responded insensitively or inappropriately because I was afraid/defensive/big-headed;
I had thought less of the other person because of his/her different values/ideas;
I was unconsciously/subconsciously taking advantage of my friends' generosity and trust;
I was a wet blanket to some, tolerated non of their "nonsense";
I thought the world revolved around me.

I hope I am forgiven by those I have hurt.


p/s - 2 phrases that was said to me and had helped set me free from my sense of guilt were:

"All the "what if's" do not count"
(Mike FW Kong), and

"We are all responsible for our own actions"
(Margaret Yong).

Current Projects

Sometimes I get this surge of creative inspiration and will do stuff for my kids. Stuff my mum and mum-in-law would call waste-of-time: Better to buy from the shop. But to me it's somewhat therapeutic and I feel it's worth the hassle to recycle and be original.


I did this crawling-ants "toy" out of toilet-paper centers and a string some time back. Just wiggle the string as you pull in and you'll get a couple of ants running across the table. I had intended to put three ants on the string, but was interrupted at work, so it's just two ants.



Right now I am making my own stickers with a pond theme. I draw on the empty parts of a sheet of sticker paper after all the original stickers have been used.


Now that I have 2 boys, I will have to be fair and make everything ina set of 2. When I am satisfied with my stickers, then the next thing to do is to get art block and paint the background for them to stick the stickers on. The only thing is I doubt that we will keep their "art" at the end of the day. It'll all probably get trashed into the paper recycling bin or be stashed away among some books and papers on their toy shelf.


When Micah was a little over one, I made him a pull-along train out of 3 empty tissue boxes. He would put all kinds of stuff into the train and Mommy was asked to pull the load most of the time. Then after a while, they were used as storage boxed for his small toys and things that had come apart. Those have since been trashed. No evidence to show for now.

More on a personal note, My sis has lent me this really interesting and funny book about a woman and her family, namely children. It's entitled "Life Among the Savages"! She had told me some of the funny stuff in there and I can't wait to get started...except that I am afraid of another sleepless night of non-stop reading. So I shall wait for Friday to come.