The Adventures of Carboman

Carbokid 1 Turns 6

Carbokid 1 was born in Penang via C-Section on Apr 22rd 2003. At 4.3kgs (9lbs 3ozs), he was the largest baby to be born in the Adventist Hospital in a long while. Looking at all his photos brought back so many memories only parents can feel. He brought us much joy (even winning RM100 prize in a Cadbury contest). Though he sometimes grates on our nerves, as most kids do when they grow up, I believe he's here to teach my wife and I as much as he is put here to learn from us. So Happy Birthday C1, Mommy and Daddy love you very much!

3rd month

1 year old. With maternal grandma and great grandma.

28th month. A-Famosa zoo.

29th month. Too abstract for me.

3 years old at the Sunway Lagoon Theme Park.

1st day heading to his pre-school.

With C2 who was just a couple of weeks old then.

Before they learned how to fight.

Labels: Carbokid 1

C1's School Concert

C1's pre-school had a year-end concert this morning at PJ's Armada Hotel. Dressed up as a Piglet-like rabbit (looked like a cross anyway to me), he looked positively cute, as with the other kids in costumes ranging from Spiderman to the Fireman. There were also a few kid-cops, kids as trees, flowers, angels, and tots in Chinese, Malay and Indian traditional wear. Certainly not Dri-FIT materials all these!

For more photos, check out the concert photo album.

Labels: Carbokid 1

Carbokid 1: Sports Day Report

This morning was my first sports day - my G7 event. There weren't many kids - infact there were more adults (parents, duh!) than us kids. I dunno - it could've very well been a Parents' Day. I really looked forward to this morning. After knocking off early, partly a result of the flu meds that I was on, I woke up, cinya (very) fresh mind you. I showered and soon we left home without breakfast. It was a pretty rush affair since we had to be there by 8am. While Mommy and Grandma were at the nearby market, Daddy brought me into the air-cond hall.

After registering, I collected my Goodie Bag (insert happy feeling) containing toothpaste, shampoo and milkpowder samples, a jigsaw puzzle and some sweets, the teachers tied a ribbon to my wrist and pasted a sticker on my shirt. Then we were off into the hall. The first thing was the singing of the National Anthem which I couldn't keep up. The tempo was too fast. Then it was the school song. "At 3Q MRC, Learning is fun and easy. A-B-C, 1-2-3, We love 3Q MRC!" We literally shouted the lyrics - what fun!

Finally it was time for the events. Firstly it was the Pom-Pom Dance on stage, which Daddy, Mommy and Grandma said I did very well. I thought so too - we had been practising for the past 1 week. Some kids were knocking into each other though. Everyone had a good laugh.

Next was Cross-The-Wooden-Bridge-And-Chuck-The-Ball-Into-The-Basket game. That was one tricky game. I only managed to keep a foot on the narrow plank. But I scored with a SINGLE throw (insert message to Uncle PM1, "Got bonus points bo?")

After which I was off to the Run-To-The-End-And-Pour-The-Water-Into-The-Bottle game. I nailed that easily too. Steady hands or not? Huh? Huh? Again, I should be awarded bonus points for this. Then I rehydrated while waiting for my next event. Daddy was wise enough to bring along a bottle of chilled isotonic drink. Mmmm....refreshing. A few swigs replenished the lost electrolytes. I also had some photos taken with my friends.

Then it was a game with Daddy. What I needed to do was peel a carb, phosphorus and potassium rich banana and feed it to Daddy. We were lined up as the 3rd pair but after a slow start, I got the hang of getting the skin off. Daddy took but a single mouthful to decimate the fruit. Then we collected our trophy and other prizes.

Eat your heart out Flying Pig aka Medal-Faced Maniac!
Sui bo (nice or not) my trophy?

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Daddy's Notes:
There's nothing more rewarding than watching your kid in action. He needn't win, nor stand out from the crowd. All he needed to do was to be there participating with the other kids, dancing on the stage, jumping and running with the other kids. When I saw him on stage doing the pom-pom dance, I know for a fact that there wasn't a dry eye for the 3 of us (wife and Mom). The thought than ran through my mind (as I believe through other parents' as well) was "Look at how big my kid has grown!". In that instant, all the challenges and difficulty in bringing up a kid was overwritten. I think it is Nature's intent that bringing up a child will never be easy, just so that events and moments like what I witnessed today will always be sweeter and treasured. Just like running a marathon adds colour to your running life, experiencing these events with your kid make a parent's life richer. I'm so proud of my kid.

Labels: Carbokid 1

Not Letting Up - Mad 3 Days

Completed a 20K this morning. Had to do it as Carbokid 1's 4th birthday is this Sunday and I don't want to be out there running 3 hours and come home late to spend time with him. In order to still keep to my marathon training's weekly mileage, I needed to do a 20K (12.5 miles) today, a 14K (8.75 miles) tomorrow and another 20K on Sunday. Besides the supplements I've also started taking protein supplements on days of hard workouts - need to repair all those tissue damage. Not having enough replacement carbs and protein during hard training will also drastically lower the body's immune system. With the antioxidants and fish oil that I'm also taking, hopefully I can stave off the germs undoubtably planning an assault on my immune system.

We've bought all of C1's presents - a large box of Lego, a water gun and some of our friends have also got some stuff for him. Looks like it's going to be a bumper year for him in terms of presents. We've however not decided on where to go for lunch. Marche comes to mind, since it has a playland and a mall just outside, making it kids-friendly.