Sunday, April 24, 2011

16th month

My toddler is 16 months old and during her 16th month, there is one thing I notice: she starts having desires and asking for things.


She asks for a share whenever she sees us eating.


She wants to eat by herself. This time we were outside so we let her had her yogurt. Result: she was dirtying herself like a pig.


I brought her to a playground and she was having this face expression. Is she envying something? My heart melted to see her like this.


She was looking at a group of kids playing on the slide.


I was too scared to let her try as the slide was quite high and I'm not tall enough to hold her from the top. So I dragged hubby with me the following day, him guiding her on top and me waiting on the ground, even though it was raining. On the way home, we laughed at each other and concluded that we could do anything just to make her happy.


Since then hubby has been bringing her to another playground where they have a slide for little kids closer to Aelig's age. She now plays with confidence.


Her desire to tell us that she wants independence? These days, she wants to walk at her own path and ventures into things she is curious. We were walking in a park, she decided that she was going to stop to play with the grass. We continued for quick a distance hoping that she would eventually catch up with us, but no, she was sitting there playing without any hesitation. We were the one surrendered, her grandma went back to pick her up.


Easter holiday, she got a bunch of chocolates, luckily, she was willing to share with people, when instructed.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring. Picnic. Playground

Spring is a good time to introduce Aelig to picnic.


The first time we went for picnic with family.


Today it was so sunny so we went picnic again. See how she enjoy her milk facing a beautiful scenery.


She loves playing slide with daddy and...


torturing daddy by horse ridding on his back.

I noticed that kids and senior citizens here love young children. On the way to the bakery or outdoor market, old people would stare at Aelig with a friendly and lovely smile and some would approach her and talk to her. When kids see Aelig they approach her and keep saying "oh a little girl!". Once at a playground, a girl around 2.5 years old was "protecting" Aelig from her own little brother. The little brother was playing with Aelig's ball and each time she would grab it back and return it to Aelig. She also sat down in front of Aelig and both starred at each other. It was very sweet.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Katie Melua's concert

"The sky is full of red balloons
Red balloons are full of broken hearts
Broken hearts are floating by a chance
Will they burst or drift Into arms
Will they burst or drift Into arms"


This song has been lingering in my head the whole week. It shows how much I had enjoyed the concert we went last week. Yes, hubby broke me to Katie Melua's concert despite my stupid mistake last time.


Katie is one of the most popular singers in UK, now she is touring Europe to promote her new album "The House".


Zenith Nantes was full with her fans, I think it has around 1500 people. Majority of the audiences were couples in their 40s / 50s, we were surprised considered that her first album was only released in 2003.

Anyway, I was so excited when the clock hit 8pm. I was going to see Katie in person! I was like walking in the cloud when someone else came out and started singing. WTF, I turned to hubby. He said it was normal, a concert would always start with an opening act, for maybe an hour. My mood took a 180° swing and my heart sunk. The opening act was not singing something in tune with Katie and I disliked his songs. I felt like being cheated. Or I'm just so outdated, this was not a common practice in Malaysia, maybe it is now.


Luckily the whole thing only lasted 30 minutes but then we had 20 minutes break. More waiting and when Katie finally appeared on the stage, it was closed to 9pm. My soul was attracted to her songs, so beautifully sang. With misty eyes, I immersed in her touching voice. I especially like the background screen effects, she was singing "The House" at that moment and the house showing on the screen allowed us to visually interpret the lyrics.



When she started singing "The Floor", the background screen showed a group of men in black boxer dancing. Very sexy isn't it?


Then at one point, all men aligned, we only see the first man with multiple hands moving (not with Katie in front, this photo was taken from internet). I immediately thought of the Thousand hands Buddha and the dance associated.


This dance was played by a group of handicap (deaf or mute) ladies from China and they were touring Asia in the late 90s.

All in all, despite the lousy quality of Zenith theater (uncomfortable seat & strong bass sound), it was an unforgettable experience and we hope we would be able to do it again. YOU GO KATIE!

Saturday, April 02, 2011

Saturday morning bread hunt

It's Saturday, the weather is awesome, so I went out bread hunt with Aelig again.


This time, I decided to buy two chocolatines (another name of pain au chocolat).


When asked to hand over one chocolatine to her daddy, she happily obliged.


The problem, when she has one chocolatine by herself, she ate all the chocolates and...


played with the remaining and threw them on the floor.

What a waste, I think I should go back to one chocolatine next time.

Friday, April 01, 2011

Now you see, now you don't!

For 18 months, this internet cable was laying down on the floor, invading our living room and study room. I don't know how we managed to live with it, but for sure I'm so happy to finally get rid of it.


Now you see.


Now you don't!

(If you are Malaysian you should remember this slogan for a TV advertisement.)


The solution: get PLC (Powerline Communication) adapters that are used to interconnect home computers. Thanks S for this information.


Now Aelig can freely play in the apartment without destroying papa's internet connection.



Aren't these photos look better without the background cable?