Yellow

Oliver's a bit yellow. The health visitor said we had to take him to the doctor for a check. The doctor said "he's not yellow, he's Chinese!", but then said he's a little jaundiced, but not enough to worry about. The next day, another health visitor came and said "he has to have a blood test". So Oliver went back to the doctor, who did the test and said "jaundiced, but not enough for photo therapy". We have to go back again in a couple of days. Oliver didn't seem to mind being pricked in the heel, but he did object to having his foot squeezed. I gave him a cuddle later that evening to show him how much I loved him. At least that's what daddy told me when he made me put my arms around him.

Wo yao chi

Daddy was a bit slow getting me a snack when I came home from school last night, he just wanted to veg out on the sofa with me and watch the 3 oldest Star War movies - I love them! I grabbed his chin to pull his head towards me, pointed at the kitchen and said "wo yao chi!", chinese for "I want to eat!". Daddy will have to put a bit more work into his language skills, if he's to keep up with me.

If you've been reading the Malaysian news recently, you may have seen some pictures of election posters. The place is covered in them. BN (like BNP in the UK, only made up of BNP One Colour, BNP Another Colour, BNP Less Common Colour sub-parties, bizarrely) are the incumbents, and have the most posters. The local government offices have been very busy tidying up towns, trimming verges, clearing drains. Daddy suggested that maybe there weren't enough BN voters where we live, as the local council gassed us like badgers later that night. The photo is from the bedroom window, just before they did our side of the street. Mummy is still in a lot of pain from the birth, so we couldn't run away. It wasn't very nice, the fogging man deliberately targets windows to get the stuff inside the house. In the past, we've joined the crowd of neighbours walking around the block, turning and backtracking as the fogging man and the wind change direction. Like a carnival, kind of.

The next day, two very nice men came and explained they were checking for Aedes larvae, as one of the neighbours had Dengue Fever. There have been a lot of mosquitoes recently. We have mosquito nets over all the windows, but they can come in whenever we open the front door. Daddy didn't suggest his BN theory to the nice men. But he does mumble about not being allowed to vote, while mummy can in the UK.

Oliver and me

It's all going fairly well. Daddy has been better at getting up on time on school days since Oliver came home. Oliver's my new little brother. Mummy and daddy were struggling to find a name they both liked, but he'll probably be called Oliver - it's not official yet. Daddy liked "Leroy" or "Winston", but mummy wasn't keen. They both quite liked "Gabriel", and mummy was very keen on "Frederick" for a long time.

Do you think he looks like me?

Didi

I surprised mummy and daddy a couple of days ago. When I came home from school, I sat up at the dining table with my cookies and milk. Just when mummy and daddy looked like they were going to nod off, I stood up, pointed at the baby and shouted "didi!". Didi is chinese for "younger brother". I think mummy and daddy were impressed.

And then we had to go to hospital

Mid March, they said. Mummy woke daddy up, complaining of tummy ache and wanting to go to hospital. Daddy woke popo up and asked her to look after me. An hour after mummy arrived at the hospital, she had a baby (24th Feb 2008, 3.45kg). Daddy took me to see him later, but he wasn't very interesting. Watching the midwives rushing around when I started headbutting the viewing window was funny.

I forgot all about my new didi until I came home from school the next day. Daddy made me walk the whole 60 metres home. I was pretty grumpy, until I saw mummy cuddling that baby from the hospital on the sofa! I was outraged, livid. Daddy put Star Wars on, and I soon forgot about it. The baby's all right, actually. He just lies on his little bed on the floor and moans for food occasionally. When daddy picks him up, he sucks his arm! I was never that silly.

Still expecting a March baby

It seemed like we had so much time left to get everything ready for the new baby. Mummy was complaining a bit, but still rushing around doing everything.

The doctors were all sticking to their 11th March estimate, but mummy said she didn't think she could last that long.

I've had my new 'sensible' haircut for a couple of months. It was shorter than this. Daddy still wants to use the shears on me, but mummy has very consistent ideas regarding girls' haircuts.

Malaysian domestic animals 2

Daddy has been busy again. The kitchen cupboards were full of soft, white-bodied insects. They look exactly like the termites on wikipedia. They seemed to be hiding in between the IKEA base units and the concrete-and-tile worktop. After a few days of cleaning and spraying, and the termites increasing in number every day, daddy took out the base units. Interesting! The first picture is underneath the hob, with the oven removed. Can you see the tunnel made of sand (or dirt, or dust?) from the top of the cupboard, going upwards across the concrete worktop?


The second picture is where the power leads for the hob and oven are connected. Can you see the dust around the edge of the cover, to the right? The termites put the dust there to cover them as they crawl from the panel into the cupboard side. It seems like they used the pre-drilled holes for the shelf-supporting pegs to get into the chipboard.

Daddy used a syringe to squirt lots of termite poison into the wall, before sealing it in there with caulk. My daddy is the caulking king!


Once they got into the chipboard, they ate it - the third picture is the edge of one of the cupboard sides. Daddy threw some of the kitchen away and made some new bits out of the 'leftovers' from when the kitchen was new. IKEA base units are hard to fit into a concrete kitchen and worktop, but daddy has a saw and caulk, and he's not afraid to use them! That happened a couple of weeks ago, and there's no reappearance of termites in the kitchen. The livingroom door frames have plenty, daddy was pulling trim off one last week, when it suddenly pinged off the wall, covering him with dozens of live termites. A pity we didn't get a picture.

Malaysian domestic animals

I've moved into my own room, too. Kind of. I go to sleep in there, and when I wake up, I go to mummy and daddy's room and climb onto their bed. Sometimes daddy or mummy put me back to bed and sleep next to me in my room. Daddy couldn't sleep, the ceiling was too noisy. He removed several carrier bags full of 'bedding' from the attic above my room, but doesn't know what made the nest.

Such a long time between updates...

I don't know what daddy has been doing (besides playing Tremulous), but he hasn't been helping to update my blog. Naughty daddy - grow up! I'm growing older - this is a pic from December 2007. I like handbags, mostly. My hair is getting longer too, daddy wants to cut it down to stubble, but mummy won't let him. The teachers at school have been putting my hair in elastic bands. I still don't say much, "Daddy", "Popo" (granny), "Wee", "Bird", "Wow", "No" is about it.

There's lots of news, perhaps daddy will get round to adding it.