Good Friday

Lucas and I had a good day yesterday. I finally managed to do some shopping after all the previous failed arrangement. My sister came along and helped to entertain Lucas while I shopped and tried on clothes. When you are in a mood to shop, everything look nice! There I was walking home with a few shopping bags:-) Lucas was happy too. He get to go out and see new things and not worry if I am going to make him go to sleep. Later at night, he went to sleep a happy boy - made no fuss and sang himself to sleep. If only this can happen more often ...but it will be too taxing to the wallet.

Happy Birthday - Lunar Calendar

Lucas celebrated his Chinese or lunar birthday today. He was born on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in Chinese or lunar calendar. It is also known as mid autumn festival (the moon is at its roundest on this date) where the Chinese eats mooncake. My family celebrated the festival every year and it is easy for them to remember Lucas's birthday. We had the dinner at my parents' house and Lucas had cup cake and presents from cousins and aunties. It is a low key celebration. Lucas was so tired and sleepy when it was time to eat his cake. He was cranky when it was time to open his presents. Looking back, I am glad we did not throw him a party. I think it will be to much for him to enjoy himself.

We will have another low key celebration on his normal or English calendar with Dominic's parents.

Phobia

I was planning to do some shopping this afternoon and intended to bring Lucas and the nanny. I thought I will need to nanny to watch Lucas if I am in the fitting room. Dominic first agreed. Then suddenly he called me to the room and said 'After Nurin's case, anything can happen while you are in the fitting room. Lucas can disappear and the nanny will just said 'I don't know where did he go' '. I got very worried. Nurin's case was a very tragic story. She walked to the night market alone and never returned. A few days later, they found her body badly tortured and abused, and she is only 7-8 years old.
Then I managed to ask a friend who is free and interested to come along. I felt better. However, the plan was not meant to be ... my mother in law came to visit Lucas and by the time she leaves, it was too late to go shopping.
In recent days, there are so many news of missing children never found, or found dead. I am now not planning to leave the nanny and Lucas alone at all until I get to know or trust her better. What a society we live in?? Time to emigrate??

Weekend in Penang

We drove to Penang on Friday and returned on Sunday. It was a very pleasant and relaxing trip. I did nothing much except than eat and sleep and chat. The reason for the trip was to catch up with some relatives, and to 'show' to relatives how much Lucas has grown since they last saw him in April. Lucas was of course very well behaved when he wants to. He was very friendly and happy throughout the stay. And yes, he impresses them again. The relatives also spoilt him with some delicious home cook food....cookies, tasty porridge.
Lucas has 2 young cousins in Penang. One is 7 years old and another is 7 months old. The 7 years old cousin wanted to play with him but Lucas is too young to know it. The cousin ended up watching Lucas play on his own. And the 7 months old is too young to know what's going on. It will be better when Lucas is a bit older. Maybe by then, the older cousin will find him too 'kiddie'.

We have not been taking a lot of photos of Lucas. Part of the reason is we do not go somewhere special, and secondly, we are getting lazy. Even the new DSLR did not excite Dominic to click away.

Full of Activities

Lucas continued his Gymboree class on Tuesday. This is not the Music class (they are not offering Music for under 16 months), but the normal class. Gosh..the class was big for a Tuesday morning. There were about 10 babies there. The coordinator was quick to add that 3 babies are having replacement class and 2 are on trial. The class is meant for babies from 10 - 16 months and Lucas is the youngest, I think. He is not walking and when he was crossing the bridge, the actually sat there. I had to carry him cause he is creating a queue behind him. He did not like the parachute at all. Made a fuss when I tried to make him sit on it or under it.

We also found a swimming instructor for him. Now he is swimming on Wednesday. The instructor is teaching him to blow bubbles. He is happy in the water and as usual, drink lots of water each time. Luckily, he is not discouraged after drinking the water. The funny part of his swimming is there is an entourage cheering him. His grandparents, the nanny, myself and Dominic are there watching him...like a superstar. Well, afterall, he is our superstar.

We are taking a trip to Penang for the weekend to visit some relatives. This is going to be Lucas's third trip ( 5 hours drive including pit stop) and hope he will not make a big fuss on sitting in his car seat.

Lucas, the terror

We had a wedding dinner to attend on Saturday night. My sister was so excited and told me to leave him there and pick him up on Sunday. I of course was happy to have a volunteer babysitter. Little did she know what is she getting herself into!
Lucas was happy and friendly till bedtime. My 2 sisters and parents tried to put him to bed at 9 pm and he did not sleep till 11pm. That was also Lucas's record. He usually sleeps by 8.30pm and 10.30 if we have an outing. Lucas cried on and off for 2 hours too. The four of them have to take turns to carry him. According to them, they tried every method imaginable! Took him for a walk in the garden, look at the fish pond, try to put him in all the bedrooms but still failed. He felt asleep cause he could not keep himself awake any longer at 11pm.
Meanwhile Dominic and myself were having such a quiet and peaceful time. For once, we can sleep without worrying if Lucas is going to be awake before us. That was wonderful.

Now, I am not sure if my family will volunteer to babysit Lucas overnight anymore...

Gearing for 1st Oct

I've received an e-mail today asking me to go to office on the first day of work (1st Oct) to collect my notebook, secure ID, and sign some document. And the next 1-2 days in the office with my team members. It looks like I need to be in the office a bit more frequent in the first few weeks to familiarize with the office environment/procedure, getting to know who is who etc.. I am worrying and missing Lucas already just with the thought of leaving me for so long ( more than 4 hours??) a day!!

I 'review' my wardrobe this week to see if I have enough clothes for the few days I need to be in office. Amongst things I have done:
- Threw away a big bag of clothes. They are either too 'old fashion' or not in so good shape anymore.
- Put my maternity clothes in a corner.
- Send 2 trousers and 2 skirts to be altered. All 4 are too big. I bought them when I was at my fattest, and now I am 4 kg ~ 8.8 lbs less. However I told the seamstress not to make it too tight - I know I will put on some weight soon.

I need to buy some jackets. I lent my sisters mine when I was pregnant, and now it seems the jackets belong to her.

Anything but Mama and Papa

Lucas woke up from his nap, looked at the fan, pointed his finger (his third finger) and said 'pan' (fan). Yesterday, he saw some birds flying and said 'bird' (he can pronounce this word quite well). He is saying anything but mama or papa or mommy or daddy or anything close...sigh...

The nanny has been here for 3 days and she is getting closer to Lucas. Today, she actually kisses Lucas on his arm when she arrives and before she leaves for the day. She looks like she means it, and not to please me or put up a show. When she washes Lucas's hair, she actually massages his scalp! I found out today she showered 20 toddlers a day when she was working in the kindergarten.

Nanny's First Day

Lucas's nanny started working today. She arrived early, around 7.40am, just after Lucas was awake. She did quite okay. Lucas did not cry when she carry him, neither was he thrilled. I let her changed Lucas's diaper, and feed him. I did not want her to bath Lucas today (afraid if she will walk away for seconds while Lucas is in the tub), but instead showed her how I shower Lucas. Tomorrow I will see how she shower Lucas. From now on, it will be shower for Lucas.
It was a 'luxury' day for me!
- I can go to the toilet without worrying Lucas will knock the door or cry in front of the toilet door
- eat slower and enjoy my food instead of gulping it down
- sit down and read the newspaper while the nanny chase after Lucas
- the dishes are done if I leave them on the kitchen sink
- hmm..now thinking of getting my facial done (my facial lady does house call)

I will be starting my work on 1st October and hopefully by then the nanny can take care of Lucas without much of my help. But I am not planning to leave Lucas and the nanny alone at home, at least not in the near future. Here, there are so many horror stories about maids/care givers abusing/neglecting the babies. I can't help but be extra cautious.

Weekend

Over the weekend, Dominic was reading Isis's blog and Lucas crawled over to him. Dominic then pointed at the picture and said 'Isis and Anastasia'. Lucas looked and smiled. He then pointed at the picture. He remembers his friends!
Lucas is a person who don't believe in save the best for last. When he is eating his Cheerios or grapes (two items we let him feed himself), we will eat the perfect one first. If he picked up a not round Cheerios or squashed grape, he will put them back on the tray. He will only eat the not so perfect shape last. And he has this habit - he will always keep a piece of the food on his left hand while he is busy feeding himself using the right hand (he is a right handed I assume). When he finished the all the food on the tray including the not so perfect one, he will eat the piece on his left hand. Wonder what does that tell about him.
Early Saturday morning, we took him to the Lake Garden (our version of Central Park in NY) and hoping to find a kiddie swing. Much to our dismay, there isn't any. In fact, Lucas came back with a few mosquito bites. We took Lucas to the swimming pool twice. Surprisingly he is not as excited about the pool as before. Wonder he is discourage after drinking lots of pool water each time. I am looking for a swimming instructor. Hopefully, he will enjoy the water better with the right technique.

Lucas is 11 months old

My little darling is 11 months now. How time flies. Around this time last year, I was finishing my job and busy preparing for his arrival. And now he is such a big boy.

- he weighs 9.2 kg (20 lbs)

- his height is 76 cm ( 30 in). He is on 75%.

- he can pick up food using this thumb and index finger and put them into his mouth. In fact, his action looks so dainty.

- he recognises most things and people he sees/touches daily.

- he can point using his index finger. However, he prefers to point using his third finger!

- we think he understands what we are telling him, but he is not talking. He babbles a lot.

- he was put on potty once, but cried and crawl away. Needs lots of work here.

- he understands the meaning of 'no' but chooses not to obey it

- he crawls fast and can even climb the sofa. Still not walking. Dominic is ''pressuring' him to either walk or talk by next month - his first birthday.

We are still toying about his first birthday celebration next month. Should we just buy him a cake and celebrate with his grandparents or we throw him a party at Gymboree and invite our friends with young babies (since he has no friend yet).

Don't leave me alone, even for a minute

Life seems more hectic here for doing the same thing or nothing. Now that Lucas is such an 'adventurer', he cannot be left alone even for seconds. While Dominic was on bed reading and keeping an eye on him, he managed to crawl off the bed and fell..twice! If I let him out of sight for a minute, I will have no idea what he will bring down or put in his mouth. The house can never be child proof. He is strong enough to topple the dining chair, pull anything within his reach down. That leaves me hardly any free time. During his nap, I will have to do dishes (no dishwasher here), mop the floor (tropical country is very dusty), and laundry (no dryer here). Cooking is only possible when Dominic is around.
I got a verbal job offer which is supposed to start on Monday Sept 10th. We are still finalizing the working arrangement (can work from home) and waiting for the black and white offer letter. In preparation for my work, we interviewed a baby sitter this morning. She is to start work on Thursday. She is a Filipino but lived in Malaysia for more than 20 years. She married a local and have 2 children (aged 20 and 17). She is to come to my house Monday to Friday 8am to 7pm. Hope she is reliable and good with Lucas. We are paying her RM1200 (US$350) a month.
Dominic bought a new camera, a Sony digital SLR. He still have no time to download Lucas's picture to the PC. I will post some photos once he gets around it. He has been busy too - working from 7.30am to 8.30pm most days. Lucky thing is he can work from home for most part of it.