Happy father's day!

On Sunday, we celebrated father’s day in tribute to the most important person in the house - PAPA. Why most important? Because he brings home the moolah... and also because he’s the reason for my kids’ existence (besides moi of course - it takes two to tango lah).

My husband woke up early as usual (he’s a morning person, the opposite of me) – had his coffee while reading newspapers after his Subuh prayer. He played with Sophie and bathed her before we left for Putrajaya. Isn’t he just wonderful? I love you baby…

This year we celebrated Father’s Day at Pullman Putrajaya. We decided to have lunch there because Daniel was performing his magic tricks at Putrajaya Equestrian Centre in conjunction with Premier Cup 2009. He was the official ‘street magician’ entertaining kids with his two other friends from Friday evening to Sunday, thanks to my sister who organized the event. Thus, we wanted to drop by to watch him in action.

Father’s day buffet brunch at Pullman wasn’t so bad, but wasn’t that great either. There were not many varieties to choose from but the food was relatively good. Service is almost up to the standard. Halfway through our meal Ariana and Kyle Harris were invited to make father’s day card which they happily obliged. About half an hour later they were back at our table without the cards. I was wondering why did the hotel staff kept the card when it should be given to my husband. 15 minutes later, my curiosity was answered. Ariana and Kyle Harris won the first prize (we didn’t even know that it was a contest). We got a free 1 night stay with breakfast for 2. Not bad eh? Congrats kids, great teamwork. Daniel couldn’t join us for the lunch because of his prior commitment.

Here are the cards Ariana and Kyle Harris did (and won) for the contest.



As usual, any trip to an eatery place would not be complete without Sophie poo-pooing halfway through our meal. This little girl would poo-poo every time we go out to a mall, without fail. I guess she likes the idea of going to public toilet! She is at the age where it’s hard to keep her lying still to put her diaper on. She would turn the minute we put her down and try to get up on her feet immediately. Sometimes even when I am breastfeeding her, she’d try to get up and try to breastfeed standing! For this reason, I have to start buying pull up pants instead of the conventional disposable diaper (and they are more expensive, sigh!).

So imagine the challenge to wash her and put her diaper on in a not-so-convenient Malaysia public toilets. And why can’t they equip male toilets with the facilities too? At least the father could help change the baby instead of the mother being the one who had to do it all the time. WHY???

I applaud some retailers like Parkson who goes to the extra mile to equip their stores with baby room (that fathers are allowed in) complete with partitioned and covered area for breastfeeding. Some not-so-smart retailers like the Japanese counterpart, have it too but do not have covered breastfeeding area (hence fathers are not allowed in), not so smart eh? What if a single father needs to change his baby? I guess Malaysia is either still ruled by a group of chauvinists (who think that only mothers can and should change their babies) or people who live in caves all their life.

At the end of last year I went to Bangsar Shopping Centre (a place where they have more expats than locals) for a birthday party at the kid’s floor (a newly renovated floor just for kids). Sophie, did her thing as usual and needed a diaper change and guess what…they don’t have a toilet with baby changing facilities. Not deterred, we went out to the smoking area when there was no one there smoking (yes they have a smoking area on kid’s floor instead!) and changed her. After that I needed to breastfeed her, and of course they don’t have a breastfeeding area. I wanted to swear at the people who designed the facilities…some stupid moron!!! So what I did was I asked for a comment book and left some nasty comments about their lack of judgment and common sense. Way to go mommy!

I once worked in a top notch privately owned museum (owned by a Malaysian billionaire). The museum is relatively unknown to locals but quite a popular spot amongst tourists. They have an impressive lineup of staff from all over the world conserving and documenting the priceless exhibits. I am talking about a building that was built with the finest material imported from all over the world and even the master craftsmen were specially brought in from as far as Iran and Turkey to work on the details. But guess what the toilet is not even equipped with baby changing facilities. It only last me 6months there. I simply can’t work for people who are more concern about their building than the welfare of their staff and the visitors.

It seems like I have deviated from the original topic…eheh. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish Happy father’s day to all fathers out there especially to my dearest husband, abah (my father) and bapak (my FIL).

I say Malaysia still has a long way to go when it comes to baby friendly facilities…