Five Months Old

Yes we are!

Some of JW's daily activities are -

1. half flip, with an occasional full flip
2. intense finger and fist sucking; and chewing at toys
3. seeing across a small room
4. holding his own head up
5. pull up to standing with support - hard to get him NOT to stand these days
6. showing great interest in real life objects after getting bored with his toys
7. getting distracted very easily
8. babbling a lot, and perhaps complaining to us!
9. trying to sit up in the car seat! (Mr Kong thought he had a stomach ache at first)

He continues to surprise us on a daily basis and keeps us guessing at every moment. So much excitement in one little package!

Baby's first holiday

For JW's first holiday, we decided to take a family trip (just the three of us) to the popular Malaysian tourist destination - Cameron Highlands. The journey was well planned, with the major portion of the trip (to Tapah) for JW's lunch time nap. Starting off at 12 noon, with JW in his new car seat, we made it to the hotel with a few stop overs. The views were amazing and the air just cool!

JW started the day being very excited. Perhaps, from the tone of our voices, he knew that this would be an exciting day for all. We tried our best to prepare him for colder air and temperature by getting a few pieces of warmer clothing. In the end, we ended up piling on the layers when the night came, as it was truly cold for our little Malaysian baby.

JW in his little cot provided by the hotel. Yes, having mummy's body heat close by did come in handy

Our son was king of the hill. We were bowled over by the attention he commanded. Waitresses loved him. Coffee shop managers came to make a cot for him to lay down while we ate. Yes, he isn't ready for a high chair yet, but never mind, he just gets his own cot in the restaurant! We looked around the restaurant and wondered why only JW got a little cot made for him!!

Rolled up between two table clothes, our fella fell asleep watching a couple of Japanese children at the next table. It was like a dream. Then again, we suspect that the waitresses would have offered to baby sit if he started fussing about. He definitely caught everyone's eye!

napping in the coffee house

waking up from a nice nap

JW and Mr Kong at the Boh Visitor Centre - JW dressed for winter in Japan

We made it to a few attractions, including the new Boh visitor centre. JW watched us as we had scones with lovely afternoon tea. (no solids for him yet!)

diapering above sea level

But on the way back to the hotel, we just had to leave our mark via a diaper change.

We had a good trip to Cameron Highlands, and am relieved that we survived the trip without too much fuss. Maybe we will go to NYC next..

No shopping centres pt 2 - Lake Gardens

Continuing our quest to let JW experience environments other than shopping centres, last Sat Mr & Mrs Kong were planning to go to the Titi Eco Farm in Negri Sembilan since it was Mr Kong last weekend on his weeklong 'holiday'.

We'd heard a bit about the farm and read some things about it. It seems like a very nice place to visit, get some fresh air and learn about organic farming.

Unfortunately, after studying the map (lots of white 'uncharted' areas!) and reading that it takes 2 hours from KL and we needed to get there by 9:30am to catch the farm tour, Mr & Mrs Kong wisely decided to be less brave and go to the Lake Gardens (aka Taman Tasik Perdana) instead ;)

Mrs Kong with JW picnicking on the grass.

"What is this green stuff?!?"

"Must investigate the green stuff..."

Chubby hands in the grass. Notice the lack of wrist.

Grass all over the place!

More green stuff!

Mr Kong has good childhood memories of picnicking at Lake Gardens and hopefully JW will have them too. It is still a very nice bit of green in the middle of KL but Mr & Mrs Kong couldn't help noticing that building works are making it smaller and smaller. What a shame.

At the very least, we hope this picnic is a small step in ensuring JW doesn't turn out addicted to Malaysian shopping centres!

Being tourists aka no shopping centres pt 1

Mr & Mrs Kong are trying their hardest to take JW to places other than shopping centres.

Its hard as there aren't that many baby friendly places in KL and shopping centres are definitely the most convenient, there's food, no need to worry about sun or rain, the floor is smooth and Combi stroller friendly, there's lots for JW to look at and the best ones have great changing/feeding rooms (though they never have an extra chair for the father - cheh!)

Our top picks for shopping centre changing rooms are - Isetan @ Midvalley Gardens, Isetan @ KLCC, The Curve 1st Floor changing rooms.

Anyway, that's how the other week Mr & Mrs Kong took JW to KLCC park on a Sun evening. The park was packed out with tourists (or maybe KL's contingent of immigrant workers)!

Mr Kong could not resist a couple of tourist shots too:

With JW at the Twin Towers

Not much you can add to that. Hope JW noticed that it wasn't just a noisier, windier, hotter, green and blue shopping centre.

Cutest photo yet - Mr Smiley and Laughy

On Wed, Mr & Mrs Kong dashed to the baby car seat sale at Robinsons, the Gardens Midvalley to grab a convertible car seat for JW as we were afraid that he was outgrowing his baby car seat.

At the rate he's putting on weight, we thought at most another 3 or 4 months and he would outgrow it when it should last him till 1 year old.

Anyway, long story short, managed to get him a pretty good seat -the First Years True Fit Convertible Car Seat. We're pretty pleased with the purchase as it has very good review and safety ratings and was 20% off. The only question is will the bub take to the seat as well as his last one.

There was a bit of hoohah at first as when we arrived at Robinsons, the seat had not arrived (it was the first day of the sale and admittedly, Mr & Mrs Kong were a tad kiasu) so went for lunch at Yogitree while waiting for it to arrive.

While there Mr Kong captured the cutest picture of JW yet (in our opinion anyway):

Notice the dimples on his cheeks - they are not true dimples, just 'fat' dimples

Yup, the little bub has become very smiley over the last week or two and this week was also the first time that we had heard him laugh out loud. Mr Kong was playing with him on the changing table and was giving him a few playful nibbles when JW laughed out loud.

It is the happiest sound Mr Kong has ever heard.

Is it wrong to eat Kittys?

Our little friend JW seems to love patterns of every kind. Mrs Kong has caught him staring at the patterns and designs on her T-shirts when he should be concentrating on suckling.

We were wondering if he might be a future graphic designer...

A couple of months ago, Mrs Kong and JW were at Fit For Two on a Saturday morning (as they are almost every Saturday morning) with Auntie K and Josie.

JW was sitting on Auntie K's lap when he became fascinated by Josie's blanket, which had a Hello Kitty design.

"Hmmm, what an interesting design"

"Hello, kitty - get in mah belly!"

"Meh, I wasn't doing anything..."

Maybe he's just looking at the designs to see which look good to eat...

A Well Deserved Break...

... but only from work.

Mr Kong has been working pretty hard lately but with some minor Malaysian Public Holidays and judicious use of annual leave, he is off the whole of this week. A well deserved break from work.

But of course, there us lots to do at home - tidying up the study, making full use of our walk in wardrobe, going on a day trip and of course, the biggest challenge of all - Operation Bottle.

Mr Kong is looking forward to spending some quality and 'quantity' time with his family.