5 days before his 3rd birthday, Damien walked up to me at the kitchen and said, "mummy! I like mummy!"
Feeling as sweet as honey, I asked, "you like me? Why do you like me?"
"because mummy sayang Damien", as he was saying this, he came close and cuddled my legs.
Mummy like you too. Very much! 
大米快三岁了！
我越来越觉得他像我的情人。
我的情人每晚息了灯，在床上和我谈天，看贴在墙上的星星。
我的情人喜欢睡在我身旁，紧紧地要我抱着，给他唱改了歌词的歌。
我的情人在周日早上，等我吻他，然后撒娇的说“我还要睡觉。”
我的情人在周末早上，趴在我身上，拉我的颈脖，誓必把我吵起床。
我的情人在我放工的时候，连跑带跳的走到门口喊我。
我的情人会不经意的说：”我喜欢妈咪。” 弄得我心花怒放。
我的情人把他最喜欢吃的东西给我吃，别人都没有。
我的情人总爱缠着我，从厨房，客厅到厕所。
我的情人要我陪他玩车车，骑脚车。而他帮我洗菜，剥臭豆。
。。。说到这里，我忽然记得我的同事曾很咋有其事的说，我将来必会是个跟媳妇抢儿子的老妈。。。
大米几个月大时两个小脚腕的皮肤就长出两角钱大的红斑，然后粗粗的，脱皮。
儿科医生说是皮肤敏感，大多是遗传的，放放药膏，但也挺有效的，只是几天不放药就复发。
两岁多，偶尔连膝盖后侧，手肘弯折处也开始长了类是的红斑。大米开始抓痒，流血。
最近看了别一个医生，医生说太不幸，皮肤敏感是遗传， 没有彻底医治的方法，这是eczema，在小孩中是很普遍的一种皮肤症状。他还说大米是典型的City-boy，有敏感的皮肤，不适合去郊外，还要避免吃花生制品。上网查阅，eczema宝宝还需要特别的皮肤和饮食照顾，也许年长了皮肤症状会消失。希望吧！如果不是，大米要比女人照顾皮肤还麻烦了。
这医生介绍我们用SebaMed给大米冲凉，给他每天搽Dermaveen lotion。
SebaMed洗澡液竟然是RM75.90一支(1000ml), 还真不便宜。
开始还要注意大米饮食了。。。
有孩子真不简单。
I found out about this book through an article in Wall Street Journal 2 months ago. The article comes with a provoking title: Why Chinese Mothers Are Superior
And I was thrilled. The staggerring number of comments (3000+) impressed me. I read the article and was convinced that I would buy the book.
Surprisingly, when I presented the book title to a Popular staff, she nodded: "Ah..." and walked straight to the book aisle where the book is placed.
"What about this book?" she was curious, "It seems popular, a lot of customers were looking for it."
I see... no wonder she knew exactly where it is located. Yes I think it is quite famous, after the controversal & sensational excerpt published in WSJ.
Indeed, it is a good read about an American Chinese mother on how her strict and forceful parenting style adopted from her China immigrant parents had not quite succeeded in a modern American society.
Being a Chinese mother myself, I kind of agree with part of her parenting style (but likely not as extreme as her):
1. You don't let the kids make certain decisions.
2. You use a cane (well, she didn't mention about cane, I guess she didn't use it, but I do)
3. You asert your veto power sometimes. Yes it is necessary, you won't know it will save your children's lives!
The westernised parents, or pseduo westernised parents will not agree with me, but who cares. I have all the Chinese parents' votes.
Here's the summary from www.mandmax.com :-):
Mummy: "Damien, time to sleep..."
Damien: "Not yet!"
Mummy: "Drink some milk & go to sleep...."
Damien: "No need!"
Mummy: "Aiyoooo, you peed on the bed! Why didn't you tell me?"
Damien: "Forgot."
Daddy: "Come, daddy sleeps with you."
Damien: "No...!"
Mummy: "OK... mummy counts 1 to 10 & you got to get out & dry up ok?"
Damien: "No!No!No!... Please... Please..." (pled with a pitiful and innocent expression)
The rest of the time,
Damien: "No!"
大米两岁了。粘得不得了、坏蛋得不得了。
现在他一天大概叫我不下１００次，回想以前他还不会喊妈咪的时候轻松的多了。
没上工的日子很惨，大米缠我缠到寸步难行。妈咪。。。玩车车、妈咪。。。去走走、妈咪。。。抱抱、妈咪。。。吃这个喝那个。连睡觉也要把手绕在我的脖子，紧贴我的脸颊。
鬼魂缠身，原来是那么要命。
今天我生病了，请了病假却留在公司，不然回到家会被大米折腾死了。苦难。
原来看牙牙学语的孩子是很有趣的一件事。
大米最近学会了称呼家里的所有成员 -- 阿罵（嫲嫲）、姐姐、叠迪 (daddy)、裹国（哥哥）、巩公（公公）、cikcik (叔叔）、jimjim (婶婶）、婆婆。叫得特别温柔的是“马迷”，百听不厌。
家里的猫叫“跌kie”（Blackie), 外头的猫叫“妙妙”。狗呢，有时叫“狗狗”，有时叫“wo-wo”--看心情。
回外婆家看到随地放的鸡蛋篮子，捡了一粒鸡蛋跑来对我说“鸡大，鸡大”！鸡蛋差点没被他兴奋得抓在手里夹个破烂。
和8个月大的表妹小蕙子相处，大米摸摸她的头，小蕙子又摸摸他的肚子。然后小蕙子上下其手，还扯大米衣服，大米只是眼巴巴地看，没有哼一句，也没有回手。不懂是不是被摸出感情来了，回到家后就一直说“妹妹、妹妹”。我说妹妹不在，她回家了，大米就扭扭他的手腕说“no more”。
凡是吃的，在桌子上，在电视或是报纸杂志，不管他这一世人有没有吃过，他都知道那是食物，会大叫“mam-mam! mam-mam!" 自己会跑到厨房开柜子拿饼干，或爬上桌子找吃。可以吃的他都喜欢吃，唯一是看了榴莲就掉头跑个没命。原来人的天性是不喜欢榴莲的！
看表哥浩浩吃零食和雪糕最可怜。他静静贴着浩浩看，不敢问也不敢抢，眼里充满了期待，浩浩却眼尾都不看他一下，只自顾自的吃。看了有点心疼。
看阿骂炒菜，他会”呼-哇！”的叫。
掉了东西会嘟着嘴“哦-欧”一声。
今天早上看到我在泡奶，指着他的奶粉罐说“milk-milk，milk-milk”！
晚上给他穿新买的夜光骷髅骨睡衣，关了灯他奇怪的提着他的手看着发光的骷髅手脚，咦咦哦哦了好一阵子都不能入睡！
自从在商场玩过了骑车车，他疯狂似的爱上有方向盘的东西。现在一出门就像打仗一样，要制服大米乖乖坐在他的安全椅上很费心费力，因为他老是要当司机，抓他老爸的方向盘！
过去两年我都给他哼睡前催眠曲，上星期有一天我懒了，就随口说“大米，你唱吧！" 出乎意料的他竟然“咦-啊啊，咦-啊啊。。。”的叫了几句。你真的是在唱歌吗？我又试探了他一次。他又“咦-啊啊，咦-啊啊”了两次。
我唱了两年，你才学会“咦-啊啊”三个调子，未免太失礼老妈子我了。但心里还是很开心的，原来目睹孩子的第一次是那么可爱的事。
Damien is 21 months old & is talking!
When I lift him up & lay him on the bed, he'll say "八婆" (pa-po, busybody). I was puzzled at first, later I found out he actually means diaper!
He started to call Daddy few months ago, but somehow, he changed his mind lately to call every body "阿嫲" (Ah Mah - grandma). Sometimes he is in the mood to call his uncle "cik!". "Kak-kak", he always puts smile on the face of our part time cleaning lady, but he never able to call mummy. Maybe he is also confused between "哥哥" (ko-ko) and"公公"(gong-gong), "Ko!" or "Gong!" is his best effort.
"mew-mew!" - is cat
"woo-woo!" - is dog
Whenever he sees fish, he'd excitingly say "fisss! fisss! fisss!". Fish is his favourite food.
When we try to teach him manner, he can utter "psss psss" (please), while saying so, food would be split out from his mouth.
"Ball!", "Car!" is one of the most accurate one. He can even recognise and differentiate car of Grandpa, mummy & daddy. Grandpa's green MyVii is something he won't miss. He'd eagerly show us when he spots a green MyVii.
I can't wait to hear him calling me mummy!
I woke up early this morning & saw them sleeping like this. It was quite amusing & I couldn't help but to snap a few pictures of them. 
Damien is growing more like the father now.
While the family was having dinner, mummy spotted Damien's face sending signal that he needed to poo.
Quickly I put him on his blue big potty. As usual, his tiny butt was sucked in the big potty & he couldn't stand without our assistance.
But Damien didn't seem want to try any harder, he started to make noise after a while. Since it was already the 3rd attempt in a day & while we were having dinner, I insisted him to try harder, refused to remove him from his "seat".
After a while, Damien became very quiet. I turned my head from the dining table to check on him & was surprised that he disappeared from where I have stationed him. And no, his potty disappeared too!
Guess what?
Damien moved around ON his potty & was playing toy at the other corner
He looked quite enjoying with his new found mobility. 
Damien started to express himself with language that only he understands.
On Thurs, we discovered that he already learned how to match his puzzles. Thanks to his 12 y.o cousin sister who taught him quite a lot of things (including nonesense). He was very happy playing with the puzzles and clapped his hands every time when he succeeded.
In fact, it was us who started this when he was small to show encouragement & compliment. Everytime when he does something good or smart, we clap our hands & say "yeah! clever boy!".
Yesterday, when I was back from work, he pulled me down to play the puzzles.
When he succeeded to put 2 puzzles together, he clapped his hands & looked at me. I quickily clapped my hands & said, "Oh! clever boy!".
The 2nd time, he did the same & I responded, but he also turned to look at the father, who was 5 feet away playing the love of his life - computer. He frowned his forehead, pointed at his father & mumbled some Japanese language-like vowels, obviously unhappy.
Seeing that there was no response from his father, unsastified Damien stood up & went to pull the father's hand.
"yoyo-ooo-oyi-ko..."
As usual, my husband responded, "yes..." without moving his hand or even turned his head to look at Damien.
I have to call out to him & only then he moved his butt to sit down with Damien.
"Let's see what happened if you don't clap", I told my husband.
Damien fixed the puzzles & happily clapped his hands again. He expectedly look at the father but father has no response.
"eeeeyooo-yi-yoko-ngng..." Daimen pointed at his father & complained profusely!!!
Now this little tot demands a compliment!
Oh no, have we tought him the right thing?
I'm supposed to be on leave today taking care of Damien as my in-laws are back to Penang for Cheng Beng. But an important meeting came up, I have to leave my 16 month-old Damien alone with my husband for at least half a day.
All he needs to do is just changing, bathing & feeding Damien. But my mother-in-law was so worried that she intended to cancel her trip. I had to assure her few times to let her son manage Damien, he needs to be given a chance to learn so.
My husband had never bathed Damien before, probably had only observed a few times. So I decided to let him bathe Damien last night. An express & intensive course indeed.
I supervised him struggling thru the whole process. While trying to discipline Damien, he misplaced the shower head & got himself wet from head to toe. At times, Damien almost fell down in the bathroom . Before he managed to dry Damien, Damien ran inside the room & peed on the floor. He was frustrated, instead of drying & dressing Damien (who was still soaking wet), he intended to clean the floor first!
I started to get worried. It seemed that I'm not leaving my son in any good hands... So he had an earful of dos & don'ts from me last night.
I left the house before 7 am & managed to call him twice (checking... 
), I didn't hear Damien screaming or crying in the background, so I guessed he was doing fine! 
I went on to have lunch with my colleagues before heading back home. I reached home only at 2.30 pm.
The moment I stepped inside the house, Oh Gosh! my jaw hit the floor...
Despite the messiness, thanks God my son is intact.
Back from work at 9 pm today.
The moment I stepped inside the house, my 13 year-old niece Kimberly, who had just gone through St. John first aid training, eagerly wanted to demostrate something funny.
She laid my son Damien down on the floor, pretending that he is injured or fainted. She then kneeled down & leaned torwards him, holding his shoulders with both hands & started talking to him, loudly & desparately,
"Sir, Sir, I'm a qualified trainee from St. John, I'm here to help you, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
Damien, who doesn't even know how to call mummy yet, responded unexpectedly by shaking his head, profusely.
Laughter immediately burst in the house.
Funny enough, he understood & responded to a question (can you hear me?)!
But he shaked his head (No...I couldn't hear you)!
ha ha ha...
I came across this nursery rhyme in my son's VCD, I found it rather meaningful & I'm singing it to my 15 month-old every night:
Good night, sleep tight,
Wake up bright.
In the morning light, to do what's right,
With all your might.
You can find pretty good educational VCDs from Taiwan in Popular Bookstore. I was amazed to see the collection that they have. But the drawback is that these are all VCDs! We have already upgraded to blue-ray, and I am puzzled why this Taiwan production house still producing it in VCD.
I have to find a DVD players to play it because blue-ray doesn't read VCD!
The beauty about pregnancy is that I realized I have created something out of nothing.
And that "something" is going to impact someone... somewhere... sometime...
What's inside stretching my tummy?
A little cutie...
All the time we wondered and wondered, who is this person coming, growing, turning, floating, swimming deep, deep inside...
More photos for my dear friends who couldn't see me in person... :-)
I'm 6 to 8 months pregnant from left to right.
Little Damien has been in my tummy for 8 months. Not only he practices kung fu and acrobatics in his little world, he brought a lot of changes to his mummy too...
His mummy looks fat...
And more fat... + HORRIBLE view from the top!
Probably the back view is the only consolation... I still look ok ;-)
