2 Year Old Smoking 40 Cigarettes Daily!

Just read from the newspaper about this 2 year old toddler who is smoking 40 cigarettes a day! My God, what is wrong with his parents?! I mean, 40 cigarettes?! A two year old?! If anyone even dares to smoke around me (and ESPECIALLY when Ben is with me) I'd glared at the person and started flappping papers and stuff at the smoker's direction to get rid of the smoke. Already second hand smoking is dangerous and hazardous enough... and to read about this toddler doing 40 cigarettes a day?! SHOCKING and SPEECHLESS...

Toddler smokes 40 cigarettes a day!
Indo-Asian News Service
London, May 27, 2010
First Published: 20:00 IST(27/5/2010)

Ardi Rizal is just a two-year-old boy, but is not less than a chain smoker.

Rizal who lives in a fishing village Musi Banyuasin, Indonesia, smokes at least 40 cigarettes in a day. He got addicted to smoking after his father gave him a fag when he was just 18 months, reports thesun.co.uk.

He weighs more than 25 kilograms and finds it almost impossible to run with other kids.

"He's totally addicted. If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick," said her mother Daina.

Rizal smokes a particular brand and his habit costs his parents more than $5 a day.

The officials of the village have offered to buy the family a car if he quits.

However Rizal's father Mohammed, a fishmonger finds no problem with his habit and believes his son is quite healthy.

"He looks pretty healthy to me. I don't see the problem," said Mohammed.

(Photo Credit: The Sun)

Memories of My Parents...

Found some old pictures of my mum and dad back when they first met and went on their first date... and a wedding picture of them... which brought back tons of memories of them...

This was taken at a garden/park with the parliament behind the view.
I remembered my parents met through my eldest uncle (who is the MacGuyver aka my Chinese doctor who fixed my broken arm), kinda like a blind date setup thingy... My dad was older than my mum by about 9 years but they hit it off and went out on this date at one the popular spots for dating then. This is one of the rarest picture of my mum still looking slim, sexy and pretty while my dad looking dashing as ever!

This was taken at the National Monument.
My dad was such a tall man! I think Ben got his tall genes from his grandpa :P

And this is one of the wedding pictures taken of my parents. They got married in 1973 not long after they first met and a year later, my brother was born. I came along 6 years after my brother so yeah, there was a gap there. I remembered dad telling me that mum bleeds profusely when she delivered me cos she ate loads of pineapples and I guessed those causes her bleeding. Funny thing is now, I don't eat pineapples... maybe I 'had' too much of it when she was pregnant with me :P Oh, did I ever mentioned that my mum is a SAHM too? :D
After my parents passed away (dad in April 06' and mum in Jan 07'), I found mum's wedding dress in their closet. It was turning yellow but other than that, it's still in good condition. Didn't keep it though. I only kept one of her favorite purple blouse which she seems to wear a lot.

If you noticed, my mum had the blackest hair ever. Even in her late 50s, she still had lots of black hair and yeah, head full of hair! I even get compliments by stylists in saloons I went for my haircut few times that I had the blackest hair they have ever seen (which surprisingly I don't seem to notice at all...) and her skin complexion, totally radiant and pimple free! Seriously! I've never seen her using any beauty products or go for any beauty treatments (I've only had ONE facial massage in my life that's all!) and I remembered mum getting lots of compliments about her skin complexion. To this date, I also don't use any beauty products (make up makes my face feel heavy, so you can count with 2 hands the time I put on any sort of face make ups in my life...)

As for my dad, he had the warmest smile ever! It's not often he flashed his geeky smile but when he does it, it feels awfully nice! Like you've won some prizes or something! And he had this reassuring aura about him that makes you feel safe and calm around him, as if everything is under control and you've got nothing to worry about.. the same feeling I get when my hubby's around :D

Now that I'm a mummy, from time to time, I looked at Ben and think, "Hey mummy's little man... you know you've got eyes from mummy... but it's actually from your grandpa! And your black hair, those are from your grandma! Wait till you're older, mummy's gonna tell you more about her mummy and daddy, OK?"

Oh, how I missed my mum & dad....!

Sugar Doll Award!

Yippeee! Another award to add onto my collections! This time, I received the award from a bloggy friend, Cheri who bestows me with this award:
The rules to accepting this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you this award.
* Already did that by leaving a comment in her sweet blog before I wrote this post! :D

2. Share some fun facts about yourself.
* Let's see... that would be: Dislike veggies, had lots of dreams involving toilets/bathrooms, eat a lot but never seem to be able to gain or even maintain the weight, a Chinese who doesn't know how to read Chinese, and speaks very BASIC Mandarin (I have no problem with speaking in Cantonese though)

3. Pass the award along to 10 bloggers who you think are worthy of the award.
* You know what? It's like 2am here in Malaysia, so I'm just going to be lazy again and I would just like to pass on this award to whoever reading my blog cos you guys are all a sweet bunch of sugar dolls bloggy friends to me! So go on, grab it and post it up in your blog! :D

4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.
* Yeah... read the above...

Time to hit the sheets... nite-nite y'all! And thanks again, Cheri! :D

Addicted to Chubby Thighs?

Thanks to my bloggy friends who commented some time back about Ben's chubby thighs, nowadays I find myself taking more photos of his thighs whenever we are out playing or chilling at our balcony.

Picture below of Ben's thighs taken when he was about 3 months old.
FYI, I have a habit of taking photos of his body so that I can capture his growth and size changes...

Such innocent pair of legs...

Which then progressed into mummy's addiction in his chubby thighs...
These photos started it all...
(* Now don't get me started on other parts of his body... )

It has since progressed into me taking different angles of his chubby thighs...
Close up from the back, the sides, the front, tiptoe, swaying, standing straight, you name it...I've got it!
(Btw, he's not aware mummy is busy snapping pictures of him)

But I think the picture I love the most of Ben's thighs is this...

of him sitting on my lap (this was when he's 3 months old)...
Now altogether now....
Awwwwwwwwww.... :D

Five Question Friday #9

Wow... I just realized there's so many Friday meme nowadays... seriously.. I don't think I'm able to participate in all of them. Friday Follow has been resurrected (with a new twist) but I guess this is so far the simplest Friday meme that I'm going to stick to for now (whenever time permits). So this week's 5QF questions are:

1. Is there something you've always wanted to try but just can't muster up the courage to actually do yet?
Hmmm... I have always wanted to go travel around the world. See places, meet new faces, brings back tons of souvenirs in big suitcases. I want to walk on cobbled-stone streets. I want to see beautiful sceneries. I want to see the aurora borealis. But then to do it alone? Scared. And with a toddler now? Hmmmm...
2. If you had $100 handed to you in cash without your significant other knowing about it, what would you spend it on?
Hmmm... that would have to depend on where I'm at. Could be clothes, or snacks. Hahaha...

3. What was your favorite piece of playground equipment as a child?
The swing of course! When you are at the top, you feel so grown up and free! Of course the exhilaration of being higher than ever was a nice feeling too!

4. Do you prefer a sweet or hearty breakfast?
Hearty of course! As a mother who still breastfeeds her going to be 15 months old boy, I need all the food I can get!

5. Are you a Neat Freak or a Messy Bessy?
Also depends. But I guess most of the time, I'm a neat freak. Things must be at the right place and not cluttered.

(*Images taken from Google image search)

I wanna watch Toy Story 3!!!

Yes!
I want to watch it!
I want! I want!
Heck, I don't care if I sound like a 3 year old pestering his parents to bring him to the movies to watch the Toy Story 3.
Bottom line is: I wanna watch Toy Story 3!!!

I would definitely love to see more of Peas in a pod! Aren't they cute or what?! I mean, look at them all couped up nice and comfy in the pod and with zippers?! Cuteness!!!

I think Ben would love to see this...

We had a similar toy like this in church which Ben always seem to look for and play with throughout the church service. It made this ring-ring sound when you slide it on the floor. And Ben loves to pick things up, put it to his right ear and goes 'Ahh ahh' mimicking us when we're talking on our phones... toddlers... :P

So daddy, daddy, come on and bring mummy out for a date and let's go watch this movie! :D

Ben's Heart-Melting Flying Kiss!

Ben has been pretty generous with his supplies of heart-melting flying kisses today so I decided to take a video of him doing that while we were chilling out and playing water at the balcony earlier this afternoon. Enjoy! :D

Writer's Workshop - Language Smanguage!

For my 6th Writer's Workshop, I'm choosing this prompt:

"1.) Describe a time when you had difficulty communicating with someone who speaks a different language than you."

Let's see, a while back, I actually blogged about my encounter with a Hong Kong celebrity to which I ended up not knowing what he wrote on my autograph book (cos he scribbled in Chinese, and yes, even though I'm a Chinese, I don't know how to read Chinese thank you very much)

So, yes... for this week's Writer's Workshop, I'm going to tell you another incident where I had to suffer communicating in Chinese again... This time, we go back to about 10 years ago when I was working part-time as a salesgirl at this souvenir shop in a hotel. Heck, come to think of it, this happened about the same time I met the HK celeb...

So anyway, one fine day, this China man walks in (for a while there I thought I sounded like I'm telling a joke.. ;p). so he walked in, looked around and went up to the counter where I was monitoring at, and he asked in Mandarin - "something something something something" (in actual words it would've sound like "shi sho shi sho shi sho ching chong ching chong") Oh whatever...

Actually, I can understand Mandarin. Heck, I can even speak some basic words in it but I have to translate it in my mind from English to Mandarin first before I can utter it out. So, this China man apparently wanted to know where he can photocopies some documents he had and yes, I can totally understand what he's trying to say but my mouth just wouldn't say anything out (cos my brain is still processing!)
In the end, I panicked (cos it seems like I'm taking forever to reply the man) and I said to him in Mandarin "Wo bu jer tau" (which means "I don't know" - you pronounce it as war-poo-jer-tao)

Heh! Clever trick eh?

You can try this if you ever landed yourself in this type of sticky situations :P So the man just shrugged and left the shop.

After a while, I managed to translate out my reply but its too late you see, the China man already left. So then it was my lunch time, I locked up the shop and went to this shopping mall about 5 minutes from the hotel and I had a lunch date with my best friend's sister that day.

She worked in a bookstore in the mall so while waiting for her to punch her timesheet card, I browsed around the bookstore and then, I heard someone asking me "shi sho shi sho shi sho ching chong ching chong"...

Oh crap.... I turned sideways and realized it's the China man AGAIN! Sh*t!!
And guessed what?
I panicked AGAIN! All the translated reply I got in the shop earlier just gone!
So AGAIN, I went "Wo bu jer tau"... :P

The man of course frustrated with my reply again spewed out a bunch of Mandarin words which I definitely understand but couldn't reply in time (brain processing REMEMBER?!!!)

I know he said (translated directly from his Mandarin) "You everything also don't know! What do you know? Every time I ask you said the same thing!" and then he walked off huffing and puffing like a gorilla.

Arghhh.... language smanguage! :(

Reading Is Fundamental!

I came across this wonderful website today and would like to share with you guys.

Reading Is Fundamental, Inc. prepares and motivates children to read by delivering free books and literacy resources to those children and families who need them most. Founded in 1966, RIF is the oldest and largest children's and family nonprofit literacy organization in the United States. RIF's highest priority is reaching under served children from birth to age 8. Through community volunteers in every state and U.S. territory, RIF provided 4.4 million children with 15 million new, free books and literacy resources last year.

RIF's mission is to:
* Ensure that every child believes in the value of books and the importance of reading.
* Assist children and their families with the fundamental resources children need to become motivated to read.
* Lead in the creation and development of national, regional and local collaborations building strong community-based children’s and family literacy programs.
RIF launched a new website for young children called "Leading to Reading" which has a free resource to help parents and childcare providers develop the language skills of their infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. Of course, with a going to be 15 months old boy in tow, I immediately click on the "Babies and Toddlers" link and was shown this page:
I love the interactive display, the cute illustrations are just so lovely! I went to all the links provided: "Stories", "Nursery Rhymes", "Lullabies", "Games" and "Finger Plays".

I love some of the songs in the "Finger Plays" cos' Ben danced along (as usual with his hands swaying left and right) to some of the songs. Some of the "Stories" are great too, such as "And the Caboose Said" and "The Beep-Beep, Boop-Boop, Jug-A-Lug Car". Probably because Ben likes vehicles and seeing the trains and cars in the storybook animations just get him excited and he can't take his eyes off the computer screen ;p

They also have Printable Parent Guides as well. I looked into some of the guides such as:
* Choosing Good Books for Children of All Ages
* Reading Aloud to Your Children

I received no monetary compensation for this review as I just happened to come across this website, tried it and I thought of just sharing my feedback with you guys. Do note that all opinions expressed in this post are my own. I mean, another FREE resource for you guys to use, why not? And I'm all for reading and I truly agree that reading is fundamental! :D

★ Giveaway - Leg Warmers (Discount Coupon) ★

I had earlier posted on my product review for "My Little Legs"'s leg warmers and mentioned that I'm in the midst of liaising with them to provide a coupon code for you guys. You can read about my review in this link.

* This coupon code will entitle you for an additional 10% off when you make a minimum order of $20/=

* The coupon code will be valid from: May 26th to June 16th 2010
* The coupon code is FullTimeMummy
* Key in the coupon code at the checkout screen before you confirm your purchase.

If you have any questions or problems with regards to the coupon code, you can contact them via email or mailing address. (http://www.mylittlelegs.com/contact-us.html)

Enjoy browsing through their funky and colorful selections of leg warmers and hope you are able to make use of the discount coupon while it is still valid! :D

★ Review - Leg Warmers ★

Welcome to today's product review, which is "Leg Warmers from My Little Legs"

My Little Legs was founded in 2009 by two moms, Julia and Danielle. They offer trendy, practical products at affordable prices. At the same time, they strives to provide quality customer service. Generally the leg warmers can be used from age 0-7 and these are all one size. Normally their leg warmers range from 10-12 inches.

I was given the opportunity to do a product review for My Little Legs and I chose these 3 designs. From left to right: #19 Spring Stripe, #15 Yellow Stripe and #56 Blue Camo. According to the product pages, all 3 designs have a composition of 80% Cotton, 15% Polyester, 5% Spandex, weighs about 1 oz, and its length about 11 inches.
This little piece of brochure came together with the package. Free shipping to US and Canada! So nice for you guys staying there!

The soonest we get the chance to try the leg warmers out, we immediately tried the Blue Camo one as we find that cute and charming! Here's the close up shot of daddy holding Ben. Cute, eh?
The next day, we attended a friend's wedding function, so yes! Time to try the next leg warmers which is Yellow Stripe. It's so nice to see the matching combination of the leg warmers and Ben's clothing and shoes! Here's the close up of Ben in the leg warmers.
Here's another view of Ben in the leg warmers.
And here's another with me (which I dutifully cropped off my face hehehe...)
So far, I loved both the leg warmers that we tried for Ben. It's easy to put on and take off although it tends to bunches up after a while but this is partly because Ben moves around a lot and we also carried him up and down and walked around, so probably all these movements makes the leg warmers bunches up. But it's easily fixed by pulling it up again while making Ben stand for a while. No fuss at all! :D
My other feedback on these leg warmers were, all 3 are of different lengths. Which is why so far, we only tried the Yellow Stripe and Blue Camo design as the Spring Stripe leg warmers was quite long for Ben now. I think I'm going to keep it for now and wait a while until Ben is taller a bit. I know my MIL is eyeing on the leg warmers too cos she used to have these cloth bandages/knee socks which she wears to keep her knees warm ;P

All in all, I love the leg warmers as it helps keep Ben's legs warm and at the same thing making him stands out and looks so adorably cute! :D
You can find more vibrant colors and designs from their website at http://www.mylittlelegs.com/. Free shipping for US and Canada, for international orders, they have a flat rate shipping, regardless of quantity, of $5.00. You can place your order through their website and upon payment part, you'll be taken to a secured site, so no worries about credit/payment fraud :D

It's kinda rare to find leg warmers here in Malaysia so it's an awesome opportunity for me to be given the chance to do this review :D In fact, I have friends asking me where I get the leg warmers for Ben as they are trying to find it for their babies too and those that they can find online are very expensive here! :(

Btw, I'm in the midst of liaising with My Little Legs to provide a coupon code for you guys, its an additional discount for purchases made on their website. Just need to finalize a couple of details and I will post it up separately once I've got the details confirmed :D
I received no monetary compensation for this review, I was provided with a free product by My Little Legs in order to facilitate my review. All opinions expressed in this post are my own. Please do your own research when purchasing products, as your opinions may differ from mine.