mothercare 25 Years Of Parenting

I was just chatting and giggling over some jokes with one of my mummy-friend. We were talking about how we mothers have turned out to be superwoman; we multitask, we still change diapers and wash milk bottles when we are sick, we can survive with waking up 2-3 times a night to attend to hungry cries, wake up before sun rise to sort out kids before we start our daily schedule and not sleep until everyone else is in bed, and the list goes on... These are some of the 'highlights', when talk to any mother on earth, will share the same sentiment. We mothers can do anything, and go any distance for our child/children.

When talk to any 'superwoman' mothers about where to go when preparing for a baby's arrival or to get sound advice on products for clueless first-time-mummies, uttering the word 'Mothercare' will more often than not give some kind of assurance and that we can always count on getting almost everything a newborn baby will need in this very established store.

For Mothercare to come to this stage, I believe took them many years of listening, empathizing and  understanding all of us mother's needs when it comes to childcare and providing the best for our kids. This, I have to take my hat off to these people behind Mothercare.

My very first encounter with the brand was when my little sister was born (we are almost 10 years apart), I remember my mother spent HOURS in this baby shop, browsing and looking at these little clothings. Then, I thought to myself, how can one spend so many hours just looking at baby clothes. 25 years later, I am just like my mother. Talk about the Circle of Life. Coincidentally, yes it was 25 years ago! That says a lot about this brand and its heritage in a mother's life. Be it 25 years ago or 25 years after.

Today, I am proud to say that I spend HOURS in this shop, just looking at every item (from clothing, baby paraphernalia, to toys) which I will look and screen through thoroughly before I purchase them for my kids.

Having 2 kids have definitely made me a very fussy and protective mother. When Ethan (my first son was born), I went looking for every good and recommended educational toy I could find. And living in a borderless world of Amazon and eBay.com, I went hunting. Hunting for the best educational toy my child. Mind you, hunting didn't take a day or two. I took me months. To my surprise after looking all over and nearly half the world, I find myself going back to Mothercare at the end of the day. So, here's a tip, if you are just like me, living in a borderless world and wanting to look for the best for your kids, you can really save your time and head on to the nearest Mothercare outlet.

I also must give credit to the effort the team in Mothercare Malaysia for bringing in more toys, and not just any toys but toys made by responsible manufacturers who are close and passionate to a child's development.

I particularly am fond of ELC and Melissa and Doug's educational toys. I find almost all the ELC toys offered are carefully studied before they are manufactured. One very good example I can share with you; you will never find any sort of violent-influenced toys under the ELC family of toys. Melissa and Doug lovingly makes the prettiest toys, especially their wooden selection. Read about their history and you will too agree with me why they are one of the best toys makers in the world. My Melissa and Doug wooden sets have survived almost 4 years of trashing, throwing, being chewed, licked and fought-over, they still work and are still serving their purpose for my children's learning path.

Mothercare's line of clothings, oh my! I bet none can disagree with me that should you want to buy the most comfortable cotton clothing with style and statement for your kids (infant or toddler), the Mothercare children clothings will never fail you. I am really particular when it comes to my children's clothing. I am extremely impressed with the quality Mothercare delivers. The buttons on the pants never come off, the zippers never get stuck, the colours hardly fades, the elasticity of the cotton pants never become loose and most of all, the design is more often than not quite classic and evergreen. Well, I have to also admit, the price label is not something where one can buy in bulk, but it is indeed value for money, if you think about it. I really had fun dressing my son when he was 1 with little man's clothes.

Ethan in Mothercare stripe shirt and adjustable-waist army pants.
Everyone loved his army pants. I had strangers coming up to me asking me where I got his pants from!

I am indeed honored and proud to be able to celebrate Mothercare's 25th year here. This will be a milestone and a story I can tell my children, perhaps later when they become parents or 'superwoman' mother in their own ways that their mother and their mother's mother were proud advocates of Mothercare. I believe Mothercare will continue to strive for the best for our children, and our children's children.

Ethan's First Movie Outing

 
We brought Ethan for his movie outing and he was all excited about it as it was Cars 2. Yes, he had a seat to himself! It was also a treat for him that day as we bought his first ever popcorn to go with the movie. He was speechless, and we knew that he enjoyed himself thoroughly as he was talking about nothing but his movie outing, over and over and over again.

Anyhow, it was a good outing, first time to the movies as a family, and it has been a long time since hubby and I went to the movies together. It was, heartwarming...

Ethan and his secret affair

Ethan - at 2 years and 8 months.

My son, has a deep rooted relationship with this one. He needs this every night (and i mean, every) before he goes to sleep. Its like, me needing my husband every night. It takes a whole lot to build this kind of relationship I guess.

Read more about the monkey drama.

And this time, we got a little friend to join them - three's a crowd! We stayed at the Novotel Clark Quay, Singapore and received this little elephant (Ethan calls it mammoth though - from the Ice Age) upon check-in. That was a pleasant surprise. He was happy!

Connected Again

Hello world.

Have been away for almost a month. Away as in internet absence for almost a month.

The recent months had been really really good. I have been reading quite a bit (random books), bought a Yoga mat, went away and had some quality time with hubs and my living dynamo, tried out some new recipes (I finally made my own Aoili!), walked my son to the park outside our house several times, read to him every other nights before we kiss goodnight (recently he is loving the ‘Gruffalo’), gazed at the stars and tried locating Mars and Jupiter, did a round of “Mickey-Musical-Latern which was given by our nice neighbors” during the Mid Autumn Festival and gee, the list goes on.

Frankly, I’ve been living without a personal PC for almost a month. No private emails, no blogging, no online shopping (opps), facebook etc. It has been really really good. This whole disconnectivity with the circular world felt good. It feels like I just went through some cleansing ritual, and really, I would strongly recommend this whole disconectivity-pursuit if you are feeling pressed and “a little too-into the rat race”. I think one should really do this, well, as least for me!

The past month has been an overwhelming month as well because we traveled as a family for the first time. No mother, sisters, in laws, tour guides, nothing! So, it was just the 3 of us, Ethan, hubs and I; we did the Land of the Rising Sun. That was an adventure I tell you. Armed with the only Japanese words I knew “arigato, sushi, sashimi, tempura, and chawanmushi” we conquered the land of Shinkansens, hub to the latest electronic gadgets, historic ryokans,  GOOD FOOD, and seriously, good good food! I’ll write more about it soon.

While all these were happening, my son is now turning into a young broadcaster. He is picking up new words everyday and the latest addition to his vocabulary is .. yes, the much anticipated “penis”. It all started when Ethan did a leak while he was in his underwear ( we are trying to potty train him) and the horrified daddy had to clean up the mess. So big daddy took Ethan away from the targeted spot, wiped the stained floor, pull down Ethan’s underwear and sent him into the bath tub for clean-up. While cleaning up, big daddy pointed at baby e’s mini pride and glory and said “Ethan, when you she-she, you have to tell daddy and mummy”. Immediately, the baby pointed at his own p&g, giggled and said “she-she”. So big daddy had to do some correction, quickly he pointed to the mini one and said, “Ethan this is penis… you see, P-E-N-I-S”. Naturally, my brilliant son followed “pee-nise”. Ahhhh, and so it is done, the introduction to Penis 101 has began (try beating this) at 21 months. HAHAHAH. But seriously, he knows his penis, well at least the location of it. =)

It has been an amazing journey with Ethan so far. He is now coming to 22 months and showing early signs to the much dreaded terrible two. Yes, the time of trying to be independent while having to be dependent. Amazing isn’t it, how God create 2 year olds. I just love them!

It’s past midnight and all the other living creatures in the room are fast asleep. My head’s spinning and will need to hit my cradle now.

So for now, sweet dreams and good night!
I’m connected again.

A weekend of fine street food

25-28 February 2010

We were in Hong Kong recently (well, not so recent really) for a short gastronomic trip. We also took the opportunity of wanting to be in Hong Kong during the Chinese Lunar Year. Streets were buzzing as usual, traffic was horrendous – as usual, people were rude – AS USUAL, but thank God that the food was good – as usual! Hence, we were there!

Ethan was his usual self when on a plane. He looked ecstatic because he knew he wasn’t going to get his usual stay-at-home-routines. The smart boy somehow knew that we were going on a family trip, as he was all jolly and cheerful. This is not his first time in a plane. So, it didn’t look too alien to him.

However, I must comment that I was not very pleased about our Cathay Pacific flight from Kuala Lumpur to Hong Kong. The stewards and stewardess were not as friendly, and at one point, it passed to me as rude. They were a number of Vietnamese on board, and typically one wouldn’t expect them to speak English. (not when these passengers looked like they were farmers or one who spent more than half his life in a paddy field.) It looked like they were a couple of families traveling together; and obviously they wanted to sit together. One of the steward was trying to sort their seats out, wanting to make sure that they sat according to their boarding passes and not with their family. Problem was, there were a horde of passengers waiting in line behind the steward… ridiculous isn’t it?!? So there he was, raising his voice to these really innocent looking farmers while the others stood still – just watching, and waiting. I was seated a few rows in front and as I observed the commotion, I just couldn’t help but to think why must he do that. Can’t he just have them seated down first, get the other passengers to their allocated seat, and then finally sort their seating arrangement according to the boarding passes. Sigh – Hongkies. (excuse my language. I know it’s rude to address them this way, but heck, they aren’t any better).


Also, I just couldn’t believe that Ethan wasn’t allocated a bassinet seat as we have requested for it endless times prior to boarding. All they could say was they have put in a request but priority were for younger infants (I don’t exactly know for what reason bassinets are for younger infants… weight? Convenience? comfort?) . Now the problem was, I spotted 3 infants on board and only one was allocated a bassinet.. and yes you have guessed it right, the one allocated was a white baby – probably American. I thought it only happened in Malaysia Airlines, but I suppose it’s an Asian thing. The Asian attendants will treat the whites with pure respect, give the best cabin service and flash their utmost charming smile. Contrarily, the same group of Asians attendants would raise their voices, swift through the lanes without even stopping to assist (an Asian traveler) who just pressed for attendant assistance, created a huge scene and made their fellow Asians looked respectably stupid! Sigh!

Oh ya, I asked for an extra bun for Ethan because they only gave him 2 jars of baby food. My baby eats rice. So, I needed some buns to substantiate his meal. I was told to wait till she finished serving,.. meanwhile, she couldn’t even spare me an additional bun from the huge basket of buns which were filled to the brim. Anyway, I gave Ethan my bun and did not bother making a huge fuss about it.It wasn't a good experience with Cathay Pacific at all. Given a choice, I will not choose Cathay Pacific for any of my travels in future. I thought it was bad, real bad!

So, anyway, back to the trip. The really funny thing about this trip was that it’s a food gallivanting trip. Our unwavering spirit of eating took us places we didn’t know; we just followed the good old Hong Kong best food guide (which were printed in Chinese, but that wasn’t an issue for us because my family could read Chinese – ok, exclude Adrian, Ethan and I. My mum and my two sisters can read Chinese).

This dish, looked nothing special is actually a plate fish floss noodles. It came with a bowl of clear soup and the fish floss was all crunchy and tasty. I tell you, the Hong Kong people really know their ingredients. The combination, although sounded funny but was delicious.

At Yeong’s Noodle, 219 Hennessy Road, Wan Chai

Who could miss the most sought after and seemingly best egg tarts in town when in Hong Kong. Nope, we couldn’t! We walked, took the Ting-Ting, walked, walked on the walkalator, climbed some steps, climbed many steps, walked some more and … tasted the best egg tart ever.

I must say it was good. Worth the ‘walked, took the Ting-Ting, walked, walked on the walkalator, climbed some steps, climbed many steps, walked somemore’?… I’m not sure. But we didn’t mind just walking and eating.

And of course, Ethan didn’t mind walking anytime.
It was freedom for him.

Milk toast and steamed milk, Yee Shun Milk Company.

This is a must try for those who likes our malaysian tou fu fa. The texture could pass as tou fu fa, but imagine it even smoother and softer. and when in your mouth, it melts. One funny thing about this place, we each had to order an item. Should we not order, we will be charged a HKD5.00 each. So we had to order; chocolate milk, tea milk, steam milk, coffee and a milky toast. Gee, that wasn’t cool. We left with a stomach full with fluids, or rather milk.

I tell you, this is one of the best buns I've tasted in my entire life. Perfect combination of sweetness, saltiness, is crunchy on the outside and soft like marshmallow on the inside.. Please head over to Macau Restaurant on Coastway Bay when in Hong Kong.

Trust me, It'll leave you wanting more...

Ethan with both the yi-yis at the Peak.

This is not Ethan's first time out of the country. We first brought him to Singapore. He was very well behaved, and of course was his curious self as always! This boy of mine was overjoyed to have his yiyis, mummy, daddy and por por with him for the whole long weekend. It was a good trip really, we ate and ate and ate.

Did I say we ate and ate and ate? Oh yes, I just did!
 

My young man stole the hearts of these ladies in the hotel lobby. And in return, the ladies over at the reception couldn't help but fell so madly in love with him, they gave him soft toys after soft toys after soft toys.

It was a good holiday!