Alfie's strict preference

"Alfie, what's your plan this weekend"
"You tell me, Papa. You're the one who drives"
"OK, pick one: golf or car?"
"Golf"
"Golf or swim?"
"Golf"
"Car or swim?"
"Ugh... Golf, Papa!"

Note: 'Golf' refers to that Putt-Putt minigolf at Senayan. You pay Rp 20,000 and you get one ball and a little stick. Then you can tell your kid to play as long as he or she likes. The trick is, avoid the last hole (that hole will take the ball back to the store, and you need to pay again to have another round). "Car" means the minicars in Timezone and the likes. "Swim" is, well, swimming.

Alfie and TV, cont'd

"Papa, come here"
"What's up, Son?"
"Look, fireworks and firecrackers everywhere... Wow, look at that!"
"Urgh, that's nothing like new year's party, Alfie. That's war. Those things exploding are bombs. They're dangerous. They kill people"
"What is ... war, Papa?"
"Ehm, something ... bad. It's when two groups of people fight each other..."
"Why do they fight, Papa? Barney and BJ and Baby Bop always say we are a happy family..."
"I don't know, Son... I don't know. But war is not good. Here. Let's stop the tv now OK? How about I read you that new dinosaurus book?"
"Let's just read the shinkansen book, Papa"
"OK"

Alfie and TV

"What are you watching, Fie?"
"Mr. Bean, Papa. This one is my favorite. He's playing golf"
"I thought you liked Barney"
"That too, Papa. But I'm a boy now. Let's save Barney for Alwyn, he's the baby"
"What else do you like?"
"Slam Dunk. It's a cool cartoon about basket ball, Papa"
"I see... So you're into sport, I guess?"
"I am, Papa. But music, too. You promise me piano, Papa"
"Urg, yes. We'll fix Mama's old piano. I hope you're OK with that. We can't buy a new one. Too expensive"
"That's OK, Papa. Now if you excuse me, I'm trying to watch tv here"
"Alritey, Boy. Make sure you stop right after this Mr. Bean; turn the TV off and go to bed. Deal?"
"Deal, Papa"

Embracing 2009

Friends and families, we are delighted to enter the new year of 2009. We wish you all the very best. May the upcoming year bring joy and happiness to you and your beloved.

As usual, a little reflection. The year 2008 has been wonderful. We did have one bad news early in the year, when Alfie was attacked by dengue fever and had to stay in the hospital for three days. Thanks God, he was recovered well, and actually after the hospital days, he has been picking up words and started to speak quite clearly. The best news of 2008 of course is Alwyn, the baby brother of Alfie. Alwyn was born in August 26, about a week after Alfie's second anniversary. As of now Alwyn is 8 kgs and 72 cms. So, after adjusting for time, he is a bit bigger than his brother. And boy, he cries louder too. Her nanny told us, though, that usually, the characters reverse when kids grow up; so expect a calmer Alwyn and a noisier Alfie, she went on.

A noisier Alfie? We're not sure. Because even now, he is already very, very active and talkative. His friends now has extended to Mr. Bean, McQueen from Cars, and Spiderman -- he still likes Barney, of course. He also loves to see people playing piano and golf -- and has tried both. This year, he had his first performance at school, singing and dancing that is.

Anna didn't do much traveling this year, due to pregnancy and Alwyn's birth. She only went to Bangalore for a week. Aco had some: London/Brighton, Paris, Bangkok (twice), Manila, and Amsterdam/Den Haag. In addition to that, he published four academic papers this year.

That's all, folks. Again, happy new year!

Let's go golfing

"Papa, how come you don't play golf?"
"Err, I don't know... Maybe it's not my thing..."
"What do you mean it's not your thing. This is like totally cool, Papa"
"Well... For one, it's expensive"
"But Nathan's papa said you could rent those things"
"I guess so... But it seems too tiring and time consuming"
"But you need exercise, Papa... Besides, you waste your non-working time for useless blogging... Go golfing, Papa"
"Ehm... Maybe it's not my thing, Son..."

Alfie and the snowmen

... But the snow ain't real, Papa...

Alfie's first performance

Happy new year everyone!

... And Alfie makes the headstart

Alwyn can't wait for the holiday season

Smoke gets in presentation

How often do you give a talk where at the same time is allowed to smoke? The last time I saw that happened was in a movie about Indonesian revolution. Today I find this ashtray sitting so nicely next to the microphone. Luckily the topic today has nothing to do with clean environment or climate change and all that...

Bumpy ride

"Hey, look, there's another hole!... Papa, why do we have so many holes on the street?"
"Because we're developing, Son. Holes are good sign"
"But why do they dig it again after they fix it, the street?"
"Ergh, because we're learning how to develop, Son. It's all trial and error..."

Mie ain't no food, Bu

"I think it's time now for Alfie to eat, Bu"

"Er, but he just ate mie. A bowl of noodle, all by himself"

"No, Bu, mie ain't no food, Bu... Alfie has to eat nasi, Bu. Now, that is food, rice..."

He's cool, she's hot

"Papa, what's cool really mean? And what's hot?"
"Ugh 'sejuk' and 'panas'..."
"That's what I thought. That's what my teachers say, too"
"So what's the problem?"
"This dude of mine. Whatever I do great stuff -- rolling, jumping and all -- he goes: you're 'cool', man... And one day I overheard Mr. X said to Ms. Y that Ms. Y is 'hot'..."
"Oh, I see. There's something called slang. Both 'cool' and 'hot' can mean good or great"
"That's confusing"
"I know"

Hi

Alwyn, 3 months, 7.7 kgs, 70 cms

Nursing corner

Further to the post below. Here is their "nursing room". Don't expect too much. It is actually NOT a room. It is a cubicle with wooden wall and two office chairs behind it! Have you been to the nursing room in Plasa Senayan or PIM? This one here is nowhere near it. Isn't it ironic that you have better nursing room in shopping malls than in hospitals?

And this is the best mother and baby hospital in town!

Stinky hospital

We love this hospital, mostly because it is close by and it has good doctors. But this morning it stinks. As we entered the clinic, we immediately sensed a really bad smell. Obviously somebody just threw up. It's a scent of puke all over. Some visitors were covering their nose. Of course we asked the nurses what had happened (surely it's a puke) and why they had not tried getting rid of the smell (which is very easy; if they wanted to). But this is their response: "Smell? What smell?" Can you believe it? As I'm writing this the smell is still bothering.

And this is the best mother and baby hospital in town!

Good boy don't cry

Alfie has been picking up words and words. He is now able to construct them into meaningful sentences, albeit imperfectly. One thing needs more improvement is his associating English sentences used by his teachers with their true meaning. Apparently context is much more important (or probably easier to comprehend) to a toddler, regardless of the lexicographic meaning, i.e. text attached.

So for example, Alfie's understanding of "good boy don't cry" is "throw it into the trash bin". I notice, whenever we ask him to throw stuff into the bin, he goes "Good boy don't cry". As it turns out, at his school, when anybody (mostly boys) happens to cry, the teacher pulls out tissue paper, wipes his tears, and asks him to throw the tissue paper into the bin. In so doing, she keeps saying (presumably in the attempt to calm down the boy): Good boy don't cry.

Isn't language amazing?

Driving in Jakarta

"Papa, why do we always have this heavy traffic jam?"
"Because this is Jakarta. It's supposed to be busy, crowded and noisy"
"I see. Look, you told me red means stop, but why are those motorists crossing it?"
"They're color-blinded"
"And what's with all this honking?"
"We do that. We're friendly"
"Papa, I love Jakarta"

Is Alfie an anomaly?

We'd been worried that Alfie would show his rejection and jealousy in welcoming his younger brother. Every parents that we met always told us and reminded to 'watch out the big brother' or he would hit or do harmful things to his younger brother, out of jealousy. The fact is, Alfie just loves his brother so much. He actually helps me taking care of Alwyn. "Mom, Alwyn is crying, go nurse him" is just an example.

Today, we just found out another anomaly. We had to take a new nanny for him yesterday. His nanny, who had been taking care of him since he was baby, now changed to taking care of Alwyn -- she is an expert of newborn babies; so we needed a replacement for the now-toddler Alfie. So there we were, picking up the new nanny. Again, we were quite anxious. People had been telling us that toddlers would not let go of their nannies easily. As it turned out, we needed not to be that anxious. It took Alfie only two hours to like her new nanny! We were so relieved...

As I'm writing this the two boys are sleeping already. I thank Alfie for being such a nice boy...

Overthonged Spidey

"Papa, why is Spidey's underwear outside?"
"Ugh, because it is what superheroes do..."
"I want to be a superhero. Can I wear my underwear like that"
"No, not until you can fly"
"Hey, in that case, it wouldn't hurt if I let Spidey wear mine as well, would it? After all, he is a superhero"
"..."