Managed a spot of blogging after all.

Christmas 2008

Click the pic above to see our efforts in cooking a Christmas roast (close your eyes, and the chicken could be a turkey) and Hannah's efforts in creating mayhem with her presents. Notable highlights for her include her first watch, 3 jigsaw puzzles and a rather fetching eye-piece. You'll have to have a look to see what I mean.

Merry Christmas once again from Chris, Cindy and Hannah.

I've been elf-ed!

Along with a couple of BC colleagues, I have been transformed into a disco-dancing elf. Click on the picture to see the video, if you really want to! It will expire mid January.

I suspect we won't be blogging again until after Christmas when we will (hopefully) have a brand new computer, and some pictures of Bukit Fraser (Fraser's Hill) to show you.

Let me take this opportunity to wish all my friends and family a very Merry Christmas. Thank goodness Christmas is not really a celebration of sugar-sweet elves but a celebration of the coming of God to be with his bitter-sweet creation: Emmanuel - God with us. Have a blessed Christmas as you remember that wonderous fact.

Chris, Cindy & Hannah

Cheeky girl

I will let Hannah's pictures speak for themselves.

Hairdresser Hannah

Hannah was temporarily inspired by one of her current favourite books



If only Hannah would allow us to tie up her hair like this every day...

BTW, thanks to Cindy Seow for the recents shots.

A growing girl

Looking at these photos just makes me think how fast Hannah is growing up...

Any suggestions?

Ok, so Daddy has one and a half weeks of leave, and he's at home with his 2 year old daughter in KL. What should they do together?

I had to scratch my head somewhat. We had done the Zoo and the Bird Park not so long ago. What other wholesome activities are there for little ones and their parents in KL? Well, here is what we did, but do please add comments with YOUR experiences and sugggestions. I've got 3 weeks of leave in December to look forward to...

 

This is at the Butterfly Park, one of the many parks within the Lake Gardens. I must admit, there is more to explore here with Hannah, even though we have done the Bird Park. There is also the Deer Park, the Hybiscus Garden and the Orchid Garden.

Nick and his son Adam joined us on this little excursion. Unfortunately, due to their vertically challenged perspective I think they spent more time looking at their feet than the lovely butterflies overhead. Oh well. We can always make another trip...

Oh, and also at the Lake Gardens there is a stupendous array of children's playground facilities. Being a hot afternoon during Ramadan, the whole park was deserted and Hannah could really run amok!

On another day, I drove us into town at 10.30am - a pleasant experience since traffic was minimal - and we headed for KLCC.  I was aiming to get into the KLCC Aquaria for its opening at 11am, but I hadn't reckoned on a queue to buy tickets.  Still, it was relatively painless.  And soon Hannah and I were enjoying the wonders of undersea life.  I must say, this is worth visiting.  The displays are of a quality not often found in tourist attractions in Malaysia.

The highlight of KLCC Aquaria is a long underwater tunnel with stingrays, sharks and giant sea turtles gliding over you.  And this culminates in a 15 minute feeding show, not very well captured in my picture directly above.

Well, we couldn't go out EVERY day, so some home entertainment (apart from TV) was in order.  After buying this magic painting book for Hannah we found she has quite a thirst for artistic expression.  I see more painting to come in future holidays...

So what have you done - and what should we do in December???

Hannah in our new home

Desa Permai Condominium

We REALLY love our new apartment. These are a few shots taken by our interior designer (sounds posh, huh?) before we moved in and messed the place up ;-)

Catching up

There is so much to blog about from the last 2-3 months, that it is almost too daunting to try. But let me make a start. Here is a link to a photo album of our family holiday in Kuching. We went with my parents and sister while they were visiting us in Malaysia.

Kuching 2008

A lovely place for a holiday, and the Orang Utans were particularly impressive. God has created some truly astonishing creatures.

I have preached a couple of times since the last posting. See the updated SERMON links on the right-hand side of the screen.

Oh, and what about our new apartment I hear you cry. Well, that deserves another blog posting, methinks.

Jeremiah - a survey of the Old Testament book.

Here's my most recent sermon, continuing from Isaiah in the Old Testament Survey series.





Most likely my next sermon (in August) will be on Lamentations.

Nothing but the kitchen sink

Welcome to our new home!

Unfortunately, we can't make you a cup of tea because the kitchen is empty.

But you can enjoy our million dollar "Mid Valley" view... from the yard.

Yes, we have the keys to our new apartment. PRAISE GOD! It is no longer called Taman Bukit Tenaga, but now "Desa Permai". Give it 4 weeks and it should be inhabitable. More pics to follow.

Happy Birthday, Michael!

On Sunday, Hannah attended her first birthday party (apart from her own!). It was at "Kidz Sports & Gym" in Great Eastern Mall. Michael was 3 years old. Sorry, Michael, we didn't get a picture with you in it!

Although Hannah probably had no idea she was at a birthday party, she did have a good time. Lots of space to run around, lots of brightly coloured balls to play with, lots of soft mats everywhere, lots of happy children running around. Oh, and air-con.

However, being less than 2 years old, a couple of features of children's birthday parties didn't agree with her:
1) Organised games involving bigger kids. Too confusing and scary.
2) Party food. Fries and nuggets just don't do it for Hannah. So we resorted to sharing the parent's food with her - White rice and curry! That's our Hannah. But she did manage some birthday cake and fruit.

So what should we do for hannah's 2nd birthday in July? Will she be ready for some serious partying?!?!

Hannah's first drawing?

(Daddy would like to confess to adding the pink 'flowers', all in the spirit of encouraging Hannah to express her own creativity.)

A Survey of Isaiah

Talk about a mammoth topic for a sermon... And it turned into a mammoth sermon! Apologies to those who sat through 1 hour 7 minutes of my voice on Sunday.



Next up will probably be a survey of Jeremiah, but before you run for the hills I promise to find a way of making it shorter ;-)

Who's Who in the Zoo?

Until today, Hannah had never been to a zoo. Since Daddy is on leave this week, he decided to give Hannah the ultimate 'animal' experience at Zoo Negara (Malaysia's National Zoo).

Early morning preparation included reading all Hannah's animal books with her - in the hope of priming her vocabulary for the outing. Unfortunately, most of her books cover pets and farm animals, so she was woefully unprepared for 'rhinosaurus', 'hippopotamus', etc. not to mention the world's largest rodent (you know, the 'Capybara') or local animals such as the Tapir and Kancil.

Other preparation involved packing Daddy's backpack with food, water, diapers, more water, and a couple of Hannah's favourite toys. Then 8.30am came, and it was time to get going. The zoo opens at 9am, and even then the day is starting to get hot.

Driving to Zoo Negara took a reasonable 30 minutes using the MRR2. I had already checked the price of tickets online (RM15 for adults, RM6 for children over 3). Disappointingly, it turns out you also have to pay for parking (RM4) on top of your entrance tickets. As I drove in at 9.05am, the large carpark was deserted. I picked my shady parking spot, and gave Hannah an obligatory change of nappy to start us off nice and fresh.

Once inside, I decided to take things easy and hopped on the free train that does regular rounds of the zoo. We sat for 5 minutes, Hannah got fidgety and indicated she preferred a more 'happening' form of transport. So we hopped back off and set out on foot.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised by Zoo Negara. It is bigger and more stocked with animals than I expected. The paths are nicely shaded by very established tree canopies. Some of the exhibitions have seen better days, but generally the animals looked healthy and well looked-after. It was sadly quite empty, even by lunchtime, although a modest crowd of about 50 mostly foreigners magically appeared for the "Multi-Animal Show" (every day at 11am, but don't worry about missing this underwhelming performance).

Hannah was kind enough not to demand being carried everywhere. But still, it was a pretty tiring and sweaty day out. Some respite came from lunch in the air-conditioned fast-food restaurant. I was the first customer of the day at about 11.45am. Then the lunch-time rush came in with, ooooh, 3 other families.

And now for the photos. No great wildlife shots I'm afraid (hey, you try lining shots up with a 20 month old toddler pulling at your arm, or worse still try and get her in the shot with the animals!!!). But I just felt I owed it to Hannah to have photographic evidence of this adventure.

As you can see, Hannah had trouble focusing on the animals.

By the way, the animal vocab priming really didn't work. Anything big was declared a "cow!", while anything bird-like was a "duck". Oh, and Hannah got a fright from a "lamb" (which was actually a goat).

Going Against The Flow

Having been parents for a considerable amount of time, we've learnt that toddlers do the exact opposite of what they are told, most of the time.

Whenever we say "NO!", we realise it is a double-edged sword: she may well obey us, or flash us a cheeky grin and do it anyway, and perhaps do it repeatedly in the days and weeks to come.

In case you are wondering, the following sequence of photographs are in the correct order:

The young adventurer not only discovered that handrails usually accompany stairs, she has discovered how to use them, even if she's not quite the correct height yet.

To her (and our) amazement, Hannah discovered yet another skill - walking up the stairs backwards, all the while holding on to the handrail! No wonder she is a picture of concentration, tongue sticking out and all.

Little Hannah conquers yet another obstacle. It seems as though recently, Hannah has been blossoming into a little girl and leaving her little baby identity far far behind.

Not only has she developed a considerable amount of vocabulary, our little angel seem to be hitting the "Terrible Two's" a little prematurely.

"NO!" is the ruling word in the household - either announced by the obstinate toddler or screamed by the terrified grandparent.

Some of the controversial issues in this household includes:

1. The potty - some time ago, Hannah decided the potty is for playing and not for you-know-what. She happily sits on it, lid closed, diaper on, and proclaims to the whole world that she is, well, sitting. 'Everything' gets caught in the diaper these days. Sigh.
2. Bath water - as the name suggests, water in a bath tub is for bathing. Simple. Our Hannah decides she needs a little alkaline addition to her tummy and regularly drinks it. We've tried taking away her plastic tubs, firmly but calmly reprimanding her, but all to no avail.
3. Pyjamas - Hannah has quite a few lovely body suits given to her, but we've had to pack it away prematurely. One night after we had put the little girl to bed, we popped in to check on her and discovered to our amusement (and horror) that she was soundly asleep, but half naked. Having acquired the skill of undoing poppers, she now takes off any article of clothing that has poppers. She then comes over and dolefully goes "mummy help", and expects me to do up everything just so she can take it off again. Typical, isn't it?

And of course, there's the favourite video, the favourite book, the favourite song etc that Hannah requests over and over again. Recently, she's taken to the Doxology, a song that we sing at the end of our bedtime story and prayer routine. It doesn't take Einstein to figure this one out though - a smart toddler bedtime delaying tactic.

So, our little Hannah has a mind of her own. Whether it is climbing up a flight of stairs, combing her hair or getting potty trained, she decides to do it her way, on her terms. The occasional battle of will ensues whenever parent and child disagrees.

You win some and you lose some.

Who can resist this cheeky face anyway?

Now that we have to sing "Doxology" so often, can someone offer us alternative tunes? The least we could do is to make it interesting if we have to sing it for the umpteenth time.