Dennis turned 3

Dennis turned 3 three weeks ago and we held a small celebration for him on the Saturday before his birthday, which fell on a Monday. It was a very simple do, intended for the immediate family members. Mummy is not much of a party organiser so can’t do anything more than immediate family.

Unfortunately, ma ma and yeye were not well on taht day, as a result they couldn’t attend it. But the show must go on, as we’ve already bought the cake – a Thomas cake- so we proceeded with the “par-tee” amongst ourselves and luckily, “seh han ee” (youngest aunty) was in town, so she and uncle Andy joined in. I cooked some pasta and daddy fried some lamb chops, and the dessert was obviously the birthday cake. Dennis was delighted to see his Thomas cake but didn’t eat it cos he was too obsessed with his presents.

Dennis cutting his Thomas cake


What presents did he get? Seh han ee and uncle Andy gave him Master Shifu and Po soft toys(Kungfu Panda), Mah mah Penang got him some trains (a set of 3 consisting of Percy, Toby and Thomas) and the cheap skate parents got him a train set – from Tesco! Hehehe...but guess what! He likes the Tesco wooden train set the most! After we opened up that train set, he never looked back. He stayed up until 10+ playing w the train set and we let him cos it’s afterall his BIG day!

Dennis with Po and Master Shifu

Dennis showing off his new choo choo trains

Dennis playing with his new train set - with the older boys helping him to build the track


On the actual day itself, he had another small celebration at school. I took time off from work to attend his birthday celebration at school, since it’s the first one and I thought he would be happy to see me. Boy was I wrong! He started crying the moment he saw me... I don’t know why, maybe he was feeling all shy and manja! He just stuck to me the whole time and refused to listen to the teachers’ instructions. He was crying during the birthday song, blowing of candles, when we cut the cake together....what a bummer. Perhaps he would have had a better time, if i didn’t show up. I guess I ruined his first birthday celebration in school!

The only decent shot we got from the entire celebration- one which he didn't look like he was crying.

10 Things About Dennis

1. He’s got the most mischievous but charming smile that melts my heart. And when he flashes that mega watt smile I often forget whatever mischief he is up to.
2. He’s a politician in the making, possesses strong persuasive and diplomatic skills
   - when daddy is angry with him he will give daddy a big hug and divert his attention to something else, something totally fault-free like his choo choo train
   - I first saw his diplomatic skills at full display during my recent company trip. Dennis was interested in 1 of my colleagues’ portable fan and wanted to play with it. So he went over to his table, sat next to him and instead of grabbing the fan right away, he took it slow and “befriended” my colleague first. Once he knew my colleague had been charmed, he slowly worked his way to the fan. By then, my friend was more than willing to give him the fan. How conniving! I guess you can say he’s a schemer too!


3. He’s got the most peculiar habits
   - before he drinks his milk he needs to have a certain blanket (he chooses the blanket he wants) cover him from neck to toe – he will use his neck to hold on to it. Even when it's blistering hot in the room, he will still ask for the blanket. No blanket no milk. The funny thing is when he's sleeping he doesn't want the blanket.
   - after he finishes his milk he will always pass the bottle to me. If I’m not around when he’s done, he’ll still hand overthe bottle to me when I come around. If I’m in the shower, he’ll knock on the door to get me out so that he can hand over the bottle to me. Strange but true.
   - he doesn’t like it when his pyjama’s pants are pulled up from his ankle, he will keep pulling them down.
   
4. He says “mai” ("no" in hokkien) to everything instead of no, even though I don’t speak much Hokkien to him. And boy, he can say that word with so much conviction and gusto – MAI!


5. He kills all the ixora in my house – he likes to pull them out in a bunch and then throw them in the air. When we away for more than a week during Chinese New Year, the flowers flourished so well, but only to be systematically murdered by Dennis when he got back.


6. He’s such a manja boy – chip of the old block. He will put his arm around my neck to sleep. Either that or I must at least place my hand on him.


7. He’s also a vain pot – chip of the old block too (this time it’s mummy’s block). Whenever I buy new clothes for him, he will want to wear them immediately. To persuade him to take his shower, I use nice clothes to lure him – I would tell him, you’re going to be wearing this handsome shirt, then he will relent. He also chooses his own clothes. Sometimes he has weird choices, like he wants to wear his pyjamas in the afternoon and would fight to wear it.


8. He’s such a weird boy who would refuse a cookie. Even if he eats it, he takes forever to finish 1. Sometimes, he doesn’t even finish it. And guess what he would demand to have??? Scott’s Emulsion! Yes, that smelly yucky fish oil.


9. He’s quite a balanced eater – he eats his carbo, meat, vege and fruits. At one time, he would only eat clean untainted rice or noodle – no meat, no vege, no nothing. If some sauce got on the rice, he would refuse to eat it. But thankfully, that phase has passed (or has it? It relapses sometimes).


10. He’s very good at imitating whatever he sees in the cartoons.
    - Lately his favourite cartoon is Kungfu Panda and every time he eats noodle, he will hang one strand of noodle from his mouth, like how Po does it to mimic Master Shifu and make me call him Master Shifu before he eats up that noodle.
    - Recently Dennis kept giving me these sudden big hugs followed by him calling me “mama”. I was so thrilled because he has never done this before. I felt so loved and of course enjoyed this sudden burst of affection from my son. And then one day, Dennis asked me to play the cartoon, “Ugly Duckling and Me” (which he has watched a few times) for him and I decided to join him. While watching the cartoon, I saw the exact same act - the ugly duckling running to hug Ratso and calls him mama (Ratso is the rat whom the Ugly Duckling mistaken for his mum). At that very moment, it dawned upon me that Dennis’ hugs were not an act of affection; it was another case of him mimicking the cartoon. I was completely devastated that day....

The loving brothers

It is very heartening to see the 2 brothers starting to enjoy each other's company. Dennis still loves to hug and kiss his brother a lot. He also likes to "play" with his brother in his own silly ways : such as poking his eyes, pressing his nose and messing with his hair. And Chris, despite being only 6 months old, is well aware of the existence of another fellow kid in the house, and gets excited every time Dennis is around him. He will pull himself close to Dennis and starts interacting/playing with him.

Here's a video of the 2 hugging each other - more like Den hugging Chris. In the beginning of the video Chris was crying because Den, in his earnestness to hug his bro, had accidentally knock Chris in the head.

Mummy - at last!

At long last (2 years 9 months, to be precise) Dennis has started calling me! "Mi mi" - that word is just music to my ears. On good days, he would call me "ma mi" but most of the time, it's "mi mi". It doesn't matter really, all that matters is he's finally called me!

Video of the boys

I love taking videos of the 2 boys, especially of them fooling around with each other.

Another bath time video

See how much Chris loves to bathe - yelping away and refused to come out when bath time is over. Noticed, he couldn't resist eating his fingers even when he's busy enjoying his bath.

Still going and going and going and......

About a month back I said I was thinking twice about stopping breastfeeding, and guess what! I didn't stop and I'm feeling more motivated than ever to continue breastfeeding. It's weird isn't it? But I must confess I have already started supplementing Chris with formula - I'm just not pumping enough to keep up with his ferocious appetite. But he's only taking about 6oz of formula/day, the rest of it is still my supermilk.

Thanks all for the encouraging words that helped me get through the treshold and psychological barrier. But sadly, I think I'm going to stop at 6 months. This time probably for real because the yearend is coming and I wanna for a holiday!! But I'll try to store up as much as I can so that the supply can last him slightly beyond 6 months.



PS: Last week, when I was having a gastric attack, I discovered by accident that a wind medicine, domperidone, actually helps to increase milk supply. The doc said it's prescribed to help nursing mothers increase their supply. So guess what I've been taking the past few days??! I just need this "steriod" to temporarily boost up my supply. Besides, it helps with the wind and indigestion.