Cooper's "Snack Dance"

Cooper LOVES his snacks, if you haven't gathered by now....and he has a special dance he sometimes does when he gets really excited about a particular snack.  So we've dubbed it the "snack dance".  He has been doing it for a few months now, but I just got a decent clip of it!  It goes something like this....


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School, hospital, lunch, and bathroom fun.......

don't worry, nothing to get alarmed about...just our day!

Both boys headed off to school again today!  Cooper is getting much better now....even though he still cries for a bit when I leave, he actually goes with the teacher now and doesn't try to hang on to me for dear life!  Last week when I left him it was the cutest (and saddest) thing I'd ever seen.  Most of the time as soon as we pull up to the school he starts to whimper and turns his head away from me when I tell him it's time to go inside, but this time he got out of the car willingly, walked inside and upstairs (still not crying) and sat down in his chair with the other kids....still not crying, but with THE BIGGEST puckered lip I'd ever seen and these huge crocodile tears welling up in his eyes!  It was like he was trying to be a big boy and was trying to fight off the tears!  He kept asking for Bubba and when I told him he would be upstairs shortly, he just nodded his head but continued with the puckered lip.  It was just breaking my heart!!! I almost wished he would have just all out cried....which is exactly what he ended up doing as soon as I told him I was leaving!  But like he has been doing, he cried for a bit and by the time I made it outside, he had already stopped.  I've very proud of my big boy and even though I know it is tough to be away from Mommy for 3 hours a couple of days a week, he is doing great and I know he is having a great time because he is always in a wonderful mood when I pick them up!  Evan usually gives me the update about how much or how little he has cried for the day....as Cooper continues to tell me "Mamma, uuuhhhh (the crying sound he makes), mamma......mamma, uuuhhhh,mamma"!

So while the boys were at school, I had to take Marte to her Dr. appointment.  A few weeks ago, she was cleaning up in the bathroom and apparently slipped and fell on her bottom.  She said she hadn't hurt herself, but then mid-week last week, she began complaining about back pain and could hardly even walk.  So on Friday, I took her to an Orthopedic surgeon to get her examined and he said she looked to just have a back strain and that it didn't look as if there were any disk issues (since she wasn't having any shooting pains down her legs, just some uncomfortableness when sitting or bending down).  He told her to take 3 days off and prescribed her some muscle relaxers and pain pills and had her do a bit of therapy (they applied a heat pack and also some electrical pulses to her back).  All this costing us a whopping RM 260 (less than $75).  Anyhow, all that mattered was that we were glad to hear she didn't have something seriously wrong with her!  She rested over the weekend (and did some of the exercises they showed her to do) and started feeling much better....we then had her follow-up appointment this morning.  He checked her out and told her she looked to be recovering well and to continue to take it easy..so good news there!  This whole story just to show why I was getting a picture of the parking lot at the hospital...it was just crazy!  It seemed like all of Melaka was at the hospital this morning and the parking lot isn't all that big....so as they do in Malaysia, people just stopped where ever they felt like it!  People were doubled parked all over the place and in places that weren't even meant to be spots!  This is Malaysia lah!

I would have hated to be those cars that were blocked in....I guess those double parked have either had it done to them before and they think it's ok to do it to someone else or they really are just that inconsiderate!  Really, people!?!?! There are more places to park, even though they require you walking more than a 100 yards!  I hate to say it, but some of these Malaysians are just plain LAZY! Unbelieveable!

And here is a picture of Marte when I took her in last Friday....she was so embarrased that they made her ride in a wheel chair, so I told her I had to get a picture of it.  She could hardly walk so it would have taken us an hour to get where we were going if she hadn't.

After we picked up the boys, we headed to Sungai Udong to have lunch with Daddy at Wendy's (officially known as Harriet's Bistro).  The boys ate great and got to watch their new Ben 10 movie since both boys did so good at school!  We love it when we get to go have lunch with Daddy!  It had been awhile, so it was nice! 

When we got home, it was nap time.  So what do we do before our naps...bathroom time to do some business (E really is a creature of habit!)!  So while I'm completely thrilled Cooper is actually making the move on his own to do some potty training (he loves going when his brother goes), I sometimes forget that...... he loves to go when his brother goes!!  So, as I'm helping Marte unpack the groceries we bought before we picked up the boys, Evan must have slipped into the bathroom and then I hear him say "Mom, Cooper put these in the water"....I run into the bathroom to find Evan with 2 wet board books....that he had just pulled out of the TOILET!!  Oh my, can it get anymore disgusting?!?!  I said "gross, throw those away" and E says "but they were just in the water, there wasn't any pee yet"  Oh, cause that makes it SO much cleaner! All the while Cooper has the look of "what's wrong with throwing books in a toilet....it was kinda fun!"  BOYS, BOYS, BOYS!!!  Seriously people, this has to be a boy thing, right?!?!?  No girl would ever THINK about putting her hand in a toilet!!  Gotta love it!!
There was some success from this experience at least..... Cooper actually took a mega sized poop all on his own....after I had immediately made them wash their hands which were plagued with toilet water! Go Cooper!  I know it's a little early, but since he is showing so much interest I'm thinking of letting him go bare-bottomed for awhile after we get back from our trip to see if he can pick up the whole potty training thing for real!  Wouldn't that be awesome!?!??!

After naptime (another day where E rested, but no nap....and Cooper got in another wonderful 3 hour one), we had some coloring time, reading time, we played on our GloDoodle and then played a few games of Snakes and Ladders (E is getting a bit better at losing, we have been working on it being okay to finish in a place other than first everytime - today there was no crying when mom won so we must be making progress!).  After dinner, we played a game of "Ben 10 fighting".  For those of you unaware of Ben 10 (I am just starting to learn a bit more about it - I'm not even sure where E started liking it....school, I'm guessing), he is this kid who wears something on his arm called an Omnitrix that transforms him into various creatures that fight off other mean aliens/creatures.  So Evan has found these Lightening McQueen knee pads that his BeBe bought him for riding his bike and he has been putting them on his arms saying that they transform him into Humungasor (one of Ben's various transformation guys).  Tonight he handed me a set of cup holders that came off his stroller and he told me to use them to "fight" with and become 4-armed Man!  Of course, Cooper just had to get in on the action too so he went and found this bug net to chase us around with, so we started calling him "Net Man"!  Oh wow, I have so much to learn when it comes to all this superhero stuff!!!  We had tons of fun, but it started to get very loud while Daddy was trying to get our upcoming holiday booked, so we nixed our "Ben 10 fighting" and settled down with some much quieter activities downstairs until it was bathtime/bedtime!  Ahh, good times!!

Don't you just love the "mean superhero" face

"Humungasor to the rescue"

"Net Man" decided to give up and go play on his own....if just making messes can be considered playing (evidenced by the picture below)!! I think we may need to stick to his other nickname we gave him early on...."The Destroyer" - he still seems to live by that one!!

Jusco again?

So as you might have noticed, we've become real regulars at our new Jusco playland....this is because (1) it is new...and thus still relatively clean (2) it is inside and out of the heat and (3) it's actually here in Melaka and oh yeah (4)  did I mention, it's new and still relatively clean!?!?!  We've started joining our friends Alex and Emily on Saturday mornings, when we aren't in KL.  Oddly enough, the boys still have a great time playing there even if we go once or twice a week.  They particularly love the computers they have there to play with......I love it that they can bang away at someone elses computer and stay away from mine!! I'm not sure how much longer those computers and VTech systems will stay operational with the amount of traffic that goes through there, but it's been open for a month now and they are still alive and kicking, so guess we'll see.  Some of the little ones there have a REALLY good time with them (and none of the staff there seems to mind!)...my bet is they won't make it through another month!  Here are a few pictures from our latest trip......

Cooper loves working on the computer, although he seems to be one of the "rough"ones...pushing any button he can get his little fingers on....including the power button when other kids happen to be playing on it...uh-oh!!

Evan is actually getting really good with a mouse now and has much more control when trying to do specific tasks. He has been enjoying the starfall.com and pbs website for games lately.

Playing inside the castle with Emily (who is almost 6, but looks closer to 8 or 9) 

 The boys posing with their watches after their naps!

New School Uniforms

Evan got his new school sports uniform, so I decided to get a picture of him in it.  Cooper was also going to school today, so he got to wear E's old sports uniform until he gets his new one.  They looked too cute together!  I really like the new uniforms because they are so much thinner than the others and they don't sweat as much in them.  They use fans in the school, but no air conditioners so sometimes when it is unbelievably hot outside, E (and now Cooper, who is an even bigger sweater...like his mother) comes home all sweaty! My poor babies....who is suppose to be able to study in those sorts of conditions?!?!?  Of course, everyone around here is so used to it, it seems like they hardly even notice the heat!  You'd think Cooper would be the more acclimated of all of us since he was born into this heat, but he seems to be the one who gets the hottest the quickest....go figure!

After dropping the boys off for school, I took my car to get serviced.  I had taken along my new camera with my "Dummies for Nikon D5000" book to study and happened to notice this sign as I was sitting there.  It was too good not to get a picture of.....really.....you mean at one point these sorts of things were actually acceptable?!??!?! 

 After naptime, we had a bit of outside painting time....that is until it became too unbearable to stay outside due to the heat and humidity!  I think Cooper ended up with more paint on him than on his paper....even with the painting smock - how that happened I have no clue!  Cooper was using his fingers with his finger paints at first, but decided he had to be like his brother and use a brush with his paint, too.  Evan was in no way going to even attempt at getting "that paint" all over his hands, so he opted for water colors.  It's funny, I've tried to get him to use finger paints at various different times (at 18 months, 2 years, 2 1/2 years, 3 years etc) and he still doesn't like them.  He's tried them a couple of times, but with very disgusted looks on his face until I wipe his fingers/hands clean!  Not my Cooper, the messier the better!  I love how very different they are - it definitely keeps things interesting!

 

 

 

 

 

 

More Pool Time!

So, what else to do while in Malaysia..... well, swim year round!  So we've started having regular Wed afternoon pool playdates with alot of the other kids at the Ocean Palms condos (well, those that haven't left yet...the group continues to get smaller each month now!).  Surprisingly, we haven't swam as much as I thought we would have since we moved here.  We let our membership go at our country club over a year and half ago when Andrew decided to not to renew his golf membership here and rather get one at Orna's country club instead (it's not a cart path only course and it's never busy like Tiara's), which is just about 5km up the road, so we just don't seem to go as often anymore.   Even though it's only a 5 min drive up the road, we still find it a pain to get everything and everyone loaded up to hit the pool more than every once in awhile.  Maybe if we would have lived at the condos, it would be a different thing since the pool is right there (the condo kids are like fish - even the littlest ones love the pool and have no fear...I guess that is what happens when they go swimming almost everyday!).  My boys are a little more hestitant when it comes to swimming - while Evan is getting better about going under water, he still isn't anywhere close to trying it out on his own.  And Cooper, well I think he'd be willing to try the swimming thing, but we just don't seem to do it often enough for him to get comfortable.  I looked at getting them into swim lessons here at Tiara, but they don't offer them to kids younger than 5....so guess we are going to have to wait until we get back to the states to get them enrolled in some sort of class.  It's a real shame we haven't taken more advantage of the hot weather here for swimming, but up until recently we never really had the time to go with both of the boys napping schedules.  But now that both of them are just taking one long nap in the afternoon (although Evan seems to be in the transition mode of no naps any longer - last week I think he only napped 4 out of the 7 days), we are at least hoping to get to the pool once or twice a week!  We also have a beach trip planned for this weekend, so we will get plenty of beach/pool time in, I'm sure!

Here are some pics from our latest playdate! It seemed like they spent more time playing with the water than playing in it....watering the plants outside the pool for a good 30 minutes!

After our swimming, we went to Bert's to have dinner.  Andrew has never been much into seafood, so he doesn't really care for the place....so since he wasn't with us we decided we would go and have some yummy king crab and fried rice (Cooper's favorite) and veggies (asparagus...E's newest favorite!)

You can see on the left where they are beginning to fill in the Melaka Straits with sand as part of the reclaimation project....so much for a beachside eatery!

A sweaty Cooper after running around....chasing a kitten they saw roaming around...yuck! I made sure they came no where close to touching it - luckily the kitten was terrified of them kept running from both of them!

Evan in the "Malaysian stance".....checking out our dinner bill! Think it may be time to make that move back to the US now!!

Mommy and Cooper Bonding Time

So today while E was at school (Cooper went yesterday...and did great!), Coop and I took a walk to our clubhouse for some lime juice and a snack (yes, Boss he even got to have a couple of chips!).  It's about a 30 minute walk (with 2 big hills between here and there and not much shade, so needless to say it's a journey for me with pushing a stroller as well....and not a jogging one either), so we had plenty of bonding time along the way.  We sang our ABC's about 5 times, which by the way he is actually getting very good at pronouncing each letter (he isn't saying any of it on his own just yet though), we talked about everything we saw (and there were way too many golf carts that had him continually saying  "Mama, me, golf, me"....which translates into "mom, I want to ride in the golf cart like Dad took me on the other day" and wasn't happy when I told him Daddy was at work and would have to take him another day...."another day" is really comprehended by a 21 month old) and we just "talked".  It's hilarious because it's sometimes like playing a game of charades with him since some of his newer words I still have a hard time making out until I figure out what it is he is trying to say...and then it all makes perfect sense! So we are getting there slowly with the talking thing.  But talking he does and never stops!  I was just telling Andrew how when E and I used to make this same trip to the club, we would sometimes go 5 or 10 minutes and I'd have to say, "Evan, you doing okay in there", just to get him to respond (he has always been more of the thinker and watcher...he is still that way today!), but not our little Coop - I couldn't get the kid to plug it!  On our way back, up the very big hill, I had to say..."Cooper we aren't going to talk for a little while, Mommy has to concentrate on breathing and making it back up this hill....let's play the quiet game"....to which I got a "NOOO!"  But we made it there and back and even had a nice little visit while we were at the club.  We took our flashcards along so we could practice our words, but after about 10 minutes, he was off to pick some flowers for me!  I think I have the same pictures with me and Evan at the club that I've posted below of Cooper - they both love running around there and picking flowers!  He is such a little sweetheart and that constant smile on his face just brightens my day...everyday!

Dinnertime Cheers!

Finally, dinnertime is becoming much less painful!  I used to loathe mealtime because it was such a chore to get the boys to finish their meals...in less than an hour!  Actually, I shouldn't complain...we've never really had the kids who have struggled to eat, it's been more the process of getting them to eat it...and on their own (by this I mean more Evan!) Evan has always been a wonderful fruits and vegetables eater....I mean the kids loves bananas, apples, plums, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, canteloupe, watermelon, grapes, kiwi...he loves most raw vegetables - red/green/yellow bell peppers, green beans, corn, celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, peas if they are in fried rice, and even asparagus (we've yet to get him to like things like potatoes, brocolli, or spinach..but I can't say I liked many vegetables until I was in my 20s, so I can't really complain!).  As for Cooper, well he pretty much eats any vegetable in puree form, but he LOVES cucumbers and will also eat celery and carrots and occasionally sweet potatoes!  As for fruits, he prefers his apples, bananas, strawberries, pineapple and watermelon!  And for a main dish, we haven't been able to get him to eat more than grilled cheese and turkey sandwiches (which we call "bagel bites"...don't even ask!!...or what he calls "bay bites"), spaghetti, chicken nuggets, fish sticks or minced chicken in a pureed vegetable...oh and he LOVES rice...such a little Malaysian!  So as far as what they will eat, I could never complain....but Evan has always been so slow and always required someone to feed him just so we could get through a meal.  WELL, in the last 4 or 5 days, I'm not sure what has happened, but both boys have become great eaters....eating all on their own, finishing in about 30 mins or less and eating everything on their plate (granted they still get to have their last few bites as "walking bites" (something we've already discussed will come to an end once we move back to the states!), but they've eaten it all!!  It's been so nice to sit, eat and be done!  No playing with a million different things at the table to occupy the time as we shovel food in their mouths anymore...it's been great!!

So this is what 2 precious little boys, being big boys and eating all of their lunch looks like....too precious!!  A wonderful sight for me, that is for sure!!  Maybe it's that they are recognizing that we aren't going to have Marte around once we move back to the states, so they better start practicing now for when we are on our own....or maybe they are going through a growth spurt and are just hungry....or maybe they are finally just "getting" it....but whatever it is, I'm loving it and hoping it's not just a temporary phase!