almost three going on thirty...

i first used a lilypie ticker when i was expecting ilaika. it was exciting to keep track of the pregnancy  and the lil quotes indicating development stages were fun to read. i remember eagerly looking forward to each weekly quote (or was it daily? i can't quite recall now...) and counting down to the day when our little angel would bless our lives. 

a few years on and i'm still using lilypie as a milestone of our daughter's life. however, it's been sometime since i actually took notice of it...until this morning, when i briefly glanced at it and realised how quickly the days and months have gone by...

my baby is 2 years, 11 months and a day old...which means she'll be three in less than a month!

- look at how "grown up" my baby looks here -

oh dear. 

oh dearie me indeed. i have less than a month to plan her birthday party. somehow, she's already talking about it and yet, i haven't gotten around to planning anything. so i thought...no problem - just choose a theme and then i can go about with the invites etc. as simple as that...

on the contrary, it was far from simple as i couldn't even come up with a theme. so i started putting together a list of things she loves which led to this post. here's some sharing on ilaika's recent and current obsessions...

- her picture phone...inherited when mummy dearest upgraded to the 3GS -

- her battered crocs -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 

- dora...the "flavour of the day" changes between dora, princesses, hi-five, barney & hello kitty -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her daddy's xbox guitar...inherited when mummy bought daddy a logitech guitar for xmas -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- her mini drum set...my musically inclined baby takes after daddy & also loves singing & dancing -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

- bubbles -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 

- more bubbles! and of course, swimming in our lovely pool...or any pool for that matter -

* picture courtesy of sandra.

 - jungle gym -

- play-doh -

- biscuits & baking with mummy -

when i asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday, she said dora.

and then the day after that, it was princess.

and then fairies.

and then swimming.

and then dora-turns-princess-goes-swimming!

oh-em-gee...help...!

as i'm editing this post, i realise how very lucky we are to be a part of ilaika's life. of course at times, she may be a spoilt annoying monster and lil cheeky monkey but she's also a very good girl, who's loving, chirpy, hilarious and  smart. i'm proud of the milestones she has reached thus far and even though i think of her as my baby, there are times i forget that she's barely three...for she's very independent and just cannot stop talking...her nanny commented just the other day that ilaika's three going on 30 ;)

- her love for princesses, balloons & anything pink -

sugar for my honey...

for valentine's day this year, i have no sweets for my sweet but i do have sugar for my honey ;) well....to be more precise...vanilla butter and dark chocolate biscuits topped with sugar icing!

i made these biscuits as a trial run for samplers and then came across this pic on wikipedia:

it's a valentine's day postcard crica 1910. doesn't she look like she's carrying a jumbo of my biscuits?   ;)

the year of the tiger & edible cny gr-rrr-eetings...

for me, chinese new year comes with fond memories of ang pow packets, crispy thin love letters in milo tins and the much dreaded lion dance. yes, as a child (and actually, even now!), i would freeze at the first gong indicating the start of a lion dance. i'm not exactly sure what it is that freaks me out so badly...perhaps it's the large blinking eyes and the loud drums, cymbals and gongs or perhaps just the possibility of the "lion" approaching me! odd, i know.

this fear aside, the chinese new year also brings to mind pink cherry blossoms, pretty lanterns, fire crackers and fortune cookies...all of which were the inspiration* behind these crunchy edible greetings which i'm giving out this year in place of an actual greeting card...

* click here for the original cherry blossom image that makes up the background of this biscuit's edible sheet. it's a lovely blog on everyday celebrations!

 

 

and of course, in conjunction with the year of the tiger, i just could not resist this cute lil thing...which really looks more like a cat to me but i'm told it's supposed to be a tiger ;)

* some of the background images of these edible sheets were images taken off the net...

bubble, bubble, toil & trouble...and a wee bit of park babble...

* interesting fact to share: did you know that the quote "bubble, bubble, toil & trouble" is actually from duck tales, and not macbeth? the original quote from macbeth is "double, double toil and trouble!"

i'm not really a nature-loving person in the sense that i hate to be out in the sun and usually try to stay away from situations where i'm most likely to break into sweat! this sunday morning, however, was an exception. it was a lovely morning and the weather was absolutely gorgeous with clear blue skies made even brighter by warm rays of the morning sun.

in the spirit of christmas and the holiday season, i decided to join my aunt who had planned to take her kids and ilaika out to the park. i was also curious to see this park in particular as i'd driven past the area once and was very impressed with the development in general. 

Desa ParkCity is a beautiful development with picturesque landscapes and broad, tree-lined pedestrian walkways; a simple luxury that is unfortunately rare in KL. each small "township" (residential neighbourhood) is a gated community of its own and in the heart of these townships is The Waterfront, the "town centre". it's not quite the town centre  that onewould imagine by the given term. it's more of a small community shopping block which brought to mind the community areas found in smaller towns outside of Central London. 

The Waterfront is complete with ample parking spaces, grocery store, atm facilities, pet shop, restaurants, cafes and some interesting looking shops. it even has a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf outlet and a branch of one of my favourite japanese restaurants, Rakuzen - both of these overlook The Central Park which lies just behind the shopping block.

and this was where we spent a good part of the morning. The Central Park was not like any other park i've seen in KL. there were no  brightly coloured slides and swings normally found at other playgrounds. instead, there were odd minimalist steel contraptions which looked futuristic and did not  appear very inviting at first glance. of course, it didn't help that all the contraptions were of dull greys  and blues. thankfully, looks can be deceiving...somehow the kids figured out how to use these contraptions; some were pretty straightforward and loads of fun...

...but others involved a little bit more trial and error!

this being said, i would assume that the target audience would be slightly older kids for ilaika wasn't too impress with the whole minimalist concept...

...and she was much happier playing with her bubbles...

our sunday park adventure was unfortunately cut short by some bubble trouble...ilaika, in her excitement, fell on her knees whilst trying to catch a bubble. lots of sad tears  accompanied by shrieks of pain (mostly drama at the sight of a teeny weeny drop of blood) and a few cuts and bruises later, the poor thing didn't even squeak a protest when we decided to call it a day. all tired out, she fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the van! honestly, i did too, as soon as we got home!