Dmitry is slowly becoming independent
We have been co-sleeping for years. When Dominik arrived, I have to move out of our room to make space for him. Last year, it was time for Dmitry to sleep in his own bedroom. We bought a double decker for him and Richie but it had not been used for a while until recently. Read more
Dmitry doing dishes
After the lunch, Dmitry offered to take my dishes to the sink and started doing dishes. Read more
Fast Food vs. Slow Food
Last night was raining heavily for some hours. This morning was a great time to fill up the car’s tank becuase the low temperature would make the gasoline denser, causing it more worth the money. After filling up the tank, we went to the town for breakfast. Then we hang around at grandma’s for a while till late morning.
On our way home, I asked mom what’s for lunch. Dmitry was quick to answer, “I like to have KFC.” No KFC I told him. “Then, I want McDonald”, he quickly suggested another option. “No fast food dear.”, I said. “I don’t like slow food!”, acclaimed Dmitry in disappointment.
Slow food? Yes. He knows the opposite of fast is slow and he invented the term, “slow food”.
He suggested to have noodle but we had noodle for lunch yesterday together with grandma after going to the temple to visit aunt Angie. So it went on and not too long after that, mom suggested Indian rice. Yippee! Indian rice. We went to Paya Ikan to buy a packet of Indian rice to share. Yes, 5 of us sharing a big packet of Indian rice with curry and chicken with chili!
Dmitry’s 6th birthday party
Finally, the party hour came. This is the day Dmitry has been waiting for: presents, birthday cake and guests. Mommy ordered a Spiderman birthday cake. I had no time to collect it from the bakery so we asked uncle BS to pick it up for us
Beetle
This afternoon, when I was ready to go to customer’s place, Dmitry spotted a beetle on the ground at the car porch area. It was actually under the car and thank God I did not crush it. We became excited as it was not dead. I swiftly picked it up and put it on a brush and told Dmitry to hold it. And I dashed into the house to get my camera. Here are some photos I took. I put the beetle into a plant pot so that it would not dehydrate. I didn’t check if it was still alive. I hoped it would be still alive. I don’t know its name but I will find out later.
Dinos are down with flu
Oh dear! Three dinos are down with flu again. CNY is just around the corner. This is what LA and I fear about. I took them to the clinic nearby to get some flu medicine then took them for a spin at downtown. In the car while waiting for the light to turn green, I taught Richie the word “downtown” and “uptown”.
We went to the town to see some CNY decoration. The decoration is not as beautiful as 20 years ago. Partly the reason is lack of sponsorship. Shops are not willing to sponsor as the local government does not care to participate in the CNY decoration.
I hope I will have some time this weekend to go downtown for photo shooting. I always wanted to do it but did not find time for it. I hope this year I can find some time for it.
Trolling
I trolled while driving just now. Yeah… it was dangerous, I admit that and I shouldn’t do it. But something that sparked my mind was so irresistible to stop wandering about. Actually, it was nothing. Just about Dmitry’s grown up behavior that stunted me this morning.
I kind of like his new kindergarten which is nearer to our home. The teachers there are nice and take care of the children’s safety. Like this morning, Dmitry’s teacher came to our car to receive him when we arrived in front of the kindergarten. When I picked him up just now, I saw all the kids are allowed to come out to the playground and play. The teachers were busy looking after them. When I arrived, the teacher sent Dmitry out to the car. She reaffirmed that I was Dmitry’s father before letting him out.
D told me he did not play but he sat with his friend and talked about his DVD collections. He really maked a good friend with his friend. Our boy is starting to socializing well with his new peers at the new school. He must have enjoy it very much.
Dmitry grown up
This morning when I sent Dmitry to school, I was surprised that he told me, “Dad! You let me down in front of the school, you don’t have to go down. You stay with Richie and Nicky.” I asked why. He replied, “I am grown up. I can walk in myself.”
Both R and N were tacking along. When we arrived in front of his school, he opened the door, and got off the car. His teacher came to receive him by the car and took him in. Very responsible teacher unlike D’s previous kindergarten. So, D walked in, chest up with backpack on his back, walking talk. Boy! He has grown up!
Dmitry was promoted
During the soft launching of The Okinawa Karate-Do Uechi-Ryu Zankai’s Malaysia Shibu Dōkōkai at Bukit Beruang, Melaka today, Dmitry was promoted to Ku-kyu (9th kyu) or white belt with yellow band. He obtained yellow belt in previous style before he switched to Uechi-Ryu Zankai. He has to re-qualify himself according to Uechi-Ryu Zankai’s kyu requirement and standards.
I find he has achieved significant improvement compared to previous style. He has also developed greater interest to improve himself and to want to learn more. Unfortunately, I can only allow him slow progression in order to build a solid foundation in him. After all, he has a long way to go and hopefully I will be able to develop persistency in him.
Dmitry’s enthusiastic behavior has influenced Dietrich to gain interest in karate training. He always wanted to learn like his big brother. LA and I were too busy and this poor little boy was trying to get himself into the picture and unfortunately he was too short. He was seen in the photos as he moved from one side to another in another group photo here. I feel so sorry for him and I swear that I will pay more attention to him. I will let him start his training at home and begin his training in the dōkōkai next year.
Dmitry is typing!
While I was working on my MacBook in the living room, Dmitry asked if he could type. “Dad, can I type I love my dad?”, he asked. “Sure, you can.”, I replied. I launched a text editor and let him type. He typed:
I love my dad
I love Richie
I love Nik
I love mum
I love Dmitry
Of course, he was typing with one finger.
My dream dictionary
Have you ever had a dream dictionary of yours?
I recall my old schooling days when one day, my sister Jenny presented me a dictionary. It’s an Oxford English dictionary. I was so happy. Ever since then, I started to read my dictionary. My second dictionary was presented to me by Jenny again when I accepted my first job offer as a computer programmer on the east coast about 16 years ago. It was an Oxford English mini dictionary, great for traveling.
When I was having my sabbatical karate training on Okinawa, I saw a huge dictionary in my sensei’s (teacher) house. It was about 5 inches thick, 1 foot wide and 2 feet long! It was hardcover. I could not remember the title of the dictionary but it was certainly splendid to see such a huge dictionary! That’s a dictionary of my dream.
I forgot to ask my teacher where he bought this huge dictionary from. I will email him this week to find out. I can’t find any of such huge dream dictionary in on-line bookstore. Perhaps someone can give me a hint?
Alright. That’s a dictionary I dream to have. Do you have a dream and you do not know how to interpret your dream?
Last night, I had a dream. I dreamt I was teaching Dmitry to read a dictionary. What did the dream mean? According to Dream Dictionary, the interpretation of my dream is:
To dream that you are referring to a dictionary, signifies you will depend too much upon the opinion and suggestions of others for the clear management of your own affairs, which could be done with proper dispatch if your own will was given play.
It is quite true that some of the time (may be most of the time), I depend too much upon someone’s opinion and suggestions when I need to get involved in something serious, sometimes not so serious though. I hope I will not pass this bad quality to my children as my dream implied.
Cold Soba
Besides karate and yoga, I learned to make Sushi rice ball and cold soba during my first trip to Okinawa. Actually, the one I ate on Okinawa was not soba. I can’t remember the name of the noddle but it was white in color. I learned to make the dishes from Sumako sempai.
Today, I prepared the two dishes for the kids and LA. They loved it so much!
Home Sick
I have been on Okinawa for exactly two weeks now. Despite training schedule and some sight seeing activities, I begin to have home sick now. Although I have been able to communicate with home via Skype video, it is not so much the same as looking at the actual person. I missed all the playing, shouting and crying of the three dinos (kids) which sometimes and most often times drove me up the wall.
I am able to channel this feeling to traning but when I am not training and writing on my MacBook, I think of them so much.
I know what is my next birthday wish will be but this time, no one could ever make my wish comes through. I will have to work very hard to make this second wish come true and that can take me years to realize the wish. I hope LA and the three dinos can be patient.
Flash flood
Last night and this morning were unusually humid and hot. After sending D to school, it began to rain heavily. After LA and kids finished their lunch, LA noticed the water level had risen. She alerted me and quickly we started to move stuff on the floor. Another inch the water would have enter the house at the car porch. Some water had enter from the rear entrance and the rear bathroom was already flooded. Dead cockroaches were floating in the water. An awful sight, but D and N were excited.
Thanks grandma and uncle BS for coming to help.
It was about 4 years ago when the last flood came. D was still a baby. So this was the second time for D and first time for Rich and Nik.
We are all fine and in good health and at this moment as I am writing this post, the water has subsided and we have cleaned up all the mess. No losses of property.
This is the 5th time our area was flooded. Can you imagine how the hell can Bukit Beruang (our area is supposed on the high ground!) get flooded? This area has been heavily developed with more houses and high rise apartments. Tress have been chopped down. When the city council approved the plan for development, their oversight on irrigation systems has caused this inconveniences. What a GREAT! job they have done! Despite of previous floods, nothing has been done to improve the irrigation system. So incompetence and ignorant.
Protected: Dmitry’s 5th birthday party
3 little tigers promoted
Today is the remarkable day for Dmitry. He was promoted, on his 5th birthday, to 9th Kyu (yellow belt) together with another two little tigers at Jasin dojo. It was a tiring day for me today. I drove to Kuala Lumpur at 0600 to teach a private class, reached home around 1300 and prepared to go to the Little Tigers class at Jasin. All of us felt excited and I forgot about the tireness.
Dmitry’s posing
I was making a “photo”-copy of my certificates to be sent to my Sensei in Okinawa. Dmitry came and I asked him if he wanted to make some photos. “Yes”, he said and “Alright”, I replied. I told him to make some pose and surprisingly, he cooperated well.
Chap Goh Mei Lion Dance
Chap Goh Mei or “The fifteenth night” is the fifteenth day and also the last day for Chinese New Year celebration. Today, we had a Lion Dance at grandma’s. We were waiting for the Lion Dance team to come at 1400 hours. The boys were getting impatient since 1230. Finally, they arrived at 1405.
The two big boys were a little agitated by the loud drum noise. Dominik was really enjoying the drum rhythms and he was kind of dancing and getting excited in the whole event.
D and R enjoyed so much playing with the colorful papers from the party poppers.
Dmitry’s haircut
It was always an ordeal to have Dmitry to have his haircut. After the dawn practice, we took D to the “Lorong Bukit Senjuan Scissor Man” for a haircut. He was the first to have his haircut instead of me. To our surprise, he cooperated very well. He got onto a raised seat and let the barber to wrap around him a towel and a long cloth. The barber applied talcum powder around his neck and started the cut.
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Everything was so smooth. Then it was Dietrich’s turn. But he broke into tears and tantrum. After many attempts of persuasion, we gave up. Then it was my turn.
Everything went nicely until my wife asked the barber to shave the back of Dmitry’s head after my haircut. The barber became impatient and unfriendly. He said he had little time for such trimming and we should go to hair saloon. He was only doing men’s haircut and this job done well by the girls in the saloon. The trimming would not take more than a minute but this middle-aged “pakcik” was so upset about it. What an excellent customer relations he had!
Child abuse
Actually, I did not plan to write about this child abuse thing. It happened to my kids and I would not want to leave any marks on them. So, I decided not to write about it and hopefully to let this incident died. But I read about this maid thing in Suzette’s blog and I think I shall speak up and warn other parents about Indonesian maid.
Last August when my wife gave birth to Dominik, my mom sent her maid to our home to help. She helped to wash and cook. We did not want her to even lay a finger on our kids. But my 2nd son, Dietrich, liked her very much and liked to hug her. We left it to be but we tried to prevent him from doing so as much as we could.
Then I had retianl detachment in September. Had a surgery and needed for follow-up examination in KL. My wife would drive me to KL for the examination. One day in October, my wife sent me to the clinic in KL without taking any kids along (we left them at home together with my MIL and the maid), we discovered a small bruise on my eldest son left inner arm. We began to be suspicious about her and my wife asked Dmitry who did this. He told my wife that the maid “pinch” her! My wife asked him 5 times and he answered 5 times the same answers! Then my wife and I checked on Dietrich and found a bruise on his right waist. Dietrich did not know to express yet. Then we decided to file a police report and sent her to the police station for investigation. And we had to sent our kids to General Hospital for examination! After the police investigation, we deported her back to Indonesia.
Why did she pinch the kids? We trained our kids to do household chores. It appeared that Dmitry wanted to help her to clean the dining table. Apparently, the maid did not want him to do that so they were snatching the cleaning cloth. And the bitch pinched him. As for the case of Dietrich, we did not know what happened because he did not know how to express himself yet.
Of course not all Indonesian maids are bad. My mom had one maid earlier and she was very hardworking and quick in her work. We, particularly my sister Angie, really missed her. Angie missed her so much even until the last days before her departure. We tried to contact her in Indonesia but failed.
Before this happened, my wife and I had talked about installing CCTV at home. But before we could finalize the decision, this unpleasant thing had already happened. It was too late to install and we would never need to install one because my mom had decided not to employ any maid anymore.
If you want to install one, then do it! Don’t think about the cost or its worthiness. You never know what these fanatic Indonesian maids can do (but not all of them are like this).
Luckily, the incident did not leave any permanent psychological effect on our kids.
Bullied by girls
Dmitry was bullied by girls of his age today! One good thing was that he did not bullied them back. What a gentleman he was. On the other hand, it was not so good to let girls to bully him. I told him to say “No!” and “Stop!” when someone did this again and immediately to tell the teacher.
I asked his teacher if he cried. “Nope. He is a good boy. Dmitry did not bully anyone and he is very good to his friends.” , said his teacher. I was so proud of D after hearing his teacher’s comment.
It is ok at this age but when he has grown older, there should be a bottom line and the bullies will better not to cross this line. D is not really following the karate training at this curious age. He runs around during the training but I know what to get him to follow in the class, I have to be in training myself. He likes to train beside me. I will try to train myself during the class tomorrow. It can be exhaustive when I need to coach and train at the same time.
Daddy was late again
I went to meet up with someone to get some quotation done. On my way back, I dropped by D’s school to see how he was doing. He seemed like enjoying his school. After a while of watching, I left. It was still early before the school dismissed. So I went home to do something else.
I organized the quotation I had obtained and called up my partner about this to schedule a meeting in the afternoon. When it was time to pick D, I was all ready to go. Unfortunately, I had a tummy ache and I had to answer call of nature.
Again, I was late. Half an hour late! D had broken into tears again when I arrived there. I was so sorry to D and I told him again that daddy would never be late again. I also promised to call his school if I would be late again so that he would be informed.
Sorry daddy was late
We needed to get some groceries and we decided to go to Giant without D. D was having school that time. It was our first visit to Giant since it opened for business on New Year day.
It was huge, the largest in Melaka. We especially like the cold storage and vegetable section. It was really cold and it was like the weather when we visited Poland.
We were too engrossed in out shopping until we passed the time to pick D from school. We rushed there and we were an hour late. When we arrived there, he had already broken into tears. “Dad I missed you!”, cried D. I gave him a good hug and kisses and promised him that I would never be late again.
Fly kite
After dimsum, our plan was going to the MBMB park at Bukit Serindit to watch kite flying competition. I got to know there was a kite flying competition at the park after I had a morning workout at the park. D wanted to fly a kite long ago.
When we arrived at the park, it was noon time and there were some crowds at the tracks and some kite sellers and parents with kids were flying kites. So we went to Roger’s Kites stall and bought a kite for RM45! It was quite expensive for a small one but according to the man, it will last for 2 years because of the stitching. So we bought it.
I had not been flying kite for more than twenty years. I could not get the kite up. After many tries, the man who sold us the kite offered to help us. He slightly explained and I had recollection of the techniques in the younger days. With his help, we finally got our kite soaring high in the sky. Can you spot which kite is ours? The photo was taken using my cell phone the kites look small.
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1st day in school
Today is Dmitry’s first day to school (officially). Unlike the two weeks orientation sessions in early December, D was purposefully refusing to get up from bed. It took some efforts for LA and I to make him wake up. Of course, there was some yelling and hassling to make him move. We got him moving and he was late for school on the first day!
As usual, we hugged and kissed good-bye at the door. He cried, “Dad, I missed you!” I could see his tears running down his cheeks. “Dad misses you too”, I said to him and kissed him one more time and left. He went in to his teacher, got a seat and then sat down, as I turned and walked away.
New Year countdown with crabs
After we finished with our grocery shopping at Tesco, we were driving aimlessly on the street and suddenly, LA sparked her taste buds and wanted to have some crabs for New Year Eve’s supper. The regular restaurant at Jalan Bunga Raya where we usually bought crabs from was not opened that night. We went around the town to hunt for crabs. We had to buy from another restaurant at the adjacent street. We bought a can of stout too.
When we arrived home, it was an hour before midnight. We prepared then ate the crabs just before midnight. Nik was sleeping already. D and R were so eager to eat te crabs with toasted breads.
Just before the clock struck 12, I called Michal in Poland to wish him and his mother and girl friend a Happy New Year. Michal, if you are reading this, Happy New Year and we wish you were here to celebrate with us New Year 2007 and have crab party. Do you still remember the restaurant we had crabs party beside a temple?
Runaway treat
LA book a hotel room at Mahkota Hotel to give us a retreat for the end of 2006. She got home in the late evening and told us about it and the kids were joyful to hear that they would be going to the swimming pool the next morning. We got ready and and moved the our luggage into the car and I started the engine. We were out of the house for our 1D/1N holiday in Melaka!
We checked in to Mahkota Hotel at 9th floor in Jasmine block. This was the first time we stayed in Mahkota Hotel. The one-room apartment was not too bad except that D and I had to sleep on the floor. We bought some supper and ate in the hotel while watching TV until midnight.
We woke up at 0700 and had breakfast at 0800 and 0830 we were heading to the pool. The breakfast was quite a hectic one as both D and R were getting excited about the pool and could no longer sit still to eat their breakfast and Nik was starting to make noise. LA and I had to wash down our breakfast with juices.
When we were at the second pool, the water was cold and the morning breeze made us felt colder. But that did not stop the kids jumping into the water. R was shivering and I had to wrap him with two pool towels and to rubbed him to keep him warm. As soon as he had warmed up, he insisted to go into the pool again. We played until the sun came out and we began to feel warmer but we had to go fearing of getting sun burn.
We returned the pool towels and went back to our hotel room and took some hot drinks and hot bath/shower. After the hot shower, D laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Soon, Nik was asleep on my chest followed by me. LA and R took the luggage to the car. When they were back, LA took some candid shots of three of us sleeping.
R got his first mini waterfall bath.
Ooooo…. cold. An gu…. The water was cold. Nik only got his feet wet.
R was shivering.
Teaching R to swim, actually kicking his legs in the water.
D was soaking in the cold water and sneezing away.
R was wrapped in two pool towels and I rubbed his body to keep him warm.
Caught in candid camera having siesta after the swim.
Nik was sleeping on my chest.
R was helping mommy to pack.
R gave D a kiss. Smuck!
And a smuck to daddy.
Daddy woke up and kiss kiss!
My birthday cake
Ha! Finally we got settle down for my birthday cake party. Nik was already soundly asleep after D, R and I returned home from a meeting with Jim and Karl for some karate matters. Sorry Nik.
Christmas in PJ
This was my first time to spend Christmas away from home. LA and I decided to go to PJ to visit her mother and brothers and sisters on Christmas eve. We actually planned to have a day trip and would be back to Melaka to celebrate Christmas and my birthday. Every year we would visit The Portugese Settlement at Ujong Pasir to see some Christmas decoration. But we ended to spend our Christmas in PJ and missed the Christmas decoration this year. When we were back to Melaka last night, we went to the town to find some supper and we thought of dropping by but we gave up when we were caught in traffic.
LA, Nik with cousins Lilian, Vivien and Shane
LY with Nik and LA with Su-An
Strong grandma
Nik with cousins Sharlene, Vivien and Wendy
D and Rich got their Christmas presents from Santa Clause (daddy)
D got this dream Yoyo and R got some play stamps
My eye
I had my eye examined yesterday. According to my doctor, my retinal looks fine and I’ve already developed cataracts in my right eye and my blur (or veiled) vision in my right eye is due to the cataracts. When he told that my right vision would not be as good as before because my retina detachment had affected the macula, I was quite upset. I guessed he could see it in my face. He then gave me an eye cover with pin-sized holes on it and asked me to cover my right eye with that then look through the hole. I could read up to 4 lines on the vision chart. My vision was 20/50 with aid. He then made a quick assessment and told me that I could read more than 4 lines after removing my cataracts which was not too bad at all. I instantly felt some relief. But again, my vision can only be assessed properly after I recover from cataracts removal.
When I finished my examination, it was 1330. D and I were really hungry and we had lunch at the shop right opposite the clinic. After our lunch, we went to The Curve to meet up with Benji at 1600. We arrived at The Curve and we saw a beautiful huge blue Christmas tree. We went around a little. It was our first time at The Curve.
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We met up with Benji at Ikea at 1600 and we had a good chat there for a while. We left for Melaka around 1800.
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