BabyNabil's Day Out at Ikano Mall

Most people would be sleeping in on a holiday’s Tuesday as I should have been but I was really looking forward to get this piece of Flash programming DIY book from Popular bookstore in Ikano Power Centre. Ayah declared he was free for the hours after helping Genius take care of his apartment rental so we made plans for an excursion.

Then enter MySis and the homicidal two-year-old, BabyNabil.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my one and only nephew and I think he’s smart enough to know of my evil plans to turn into the embarrassing ‘Auntie Liza’ with him in front of his friends when he turns 16 years old.

Both mother and son loved any and all shopping mall trips, one of the few things MySis and me have in common. So what the heck, let’s bring a five-person joy ride to Ikano. Gives us reason to park in the family parking space too.

Early morning we took our breakfast at the local mamak restaurant.


Ayah forgot to bring his reading glasses. Again.

At breakfast, everybody ordered... almost the same thing; roti kosong, roti telur, roti canai and roti pisang. We didn’t plan on going to any fancy breakfast area in case BabyNabil might order everything on the menu. Restaurants need to feed other customers too, you know.

We then went home to get ready a few pertinent things, such as breakfast take-away for Mak (roti sardin, of course), collecting discount cards and BabyNabil needs his bath.

“Nabil, mandi ye?” (Nabil go take a bath, yes?)
“Tak nak.” (Don’t want.)

My nephew is pretty smart and very vocal. We taught him young to communicate verbally. His pronunciations are bad but he can speak full sentences for as long as 7 words, though you got to listen carefully. He can’t pronounce his own name properly (he calls himself, ‘Ami’).

“Mandi-lah! Nak keluar nanti.” (Go take a bath. We want to go out soon).
“No mandi.” (No bath.)
“Kenapa?” (Why.)
“Tak nak mandi.” (Don’t want bath.)
“Okay, then tak boleh pergi Ikano.” (Alright, then you won’t go to Ikano.)
“Auntie, Ami nak pegi, nak pegi!” (Auntie, Nabil wants to go!)
“Okay, mandi dulu.” (Okay, but bath first).

Silence.

“Tak nak mandi.” (Don’t want bath.)
“Tak nak mandi? Duduk rumah aje. Auntie, PakSu, Atuk dan Mama keluar pergi Ikano” (No bath? Sit at home. Auntie, PakSu, Atuk and Mama will go to Ikano).
“Nak pegi! Nak pegi!” (Iwant to go! I want to go!)
“Kena mandi dulu!” (Bath first!)
“Ami tak nak mandi!” (Nabil don’t want bath!)
“Okay, tinggal rumah, aje.” (Okay, just sit at home.)
“Nak pegi, nak peeeeeeeeeeeegggieeeeee!!”

Stalemate. Thank goodness he’s never got the knack for throwing tantrums. Yet. He doesn’t kick on the floor and scream and shout uselessly but he’s incredibly vocal and specific on what he wants. But he knows with an aunt and a mother against him, he’ll be overruled.

So what did the kid does? Negotiate.

“Okay, tapi Ami mandi babel-babel.” (Okay, but Nabil want a bubble bath.)

Damn pampered brat. He hates showers but likes to play with the shampoo bottle. Even I don’t get a bubble bath. In the end, we threaten to let the big cat have shower with him before he finally conceded.

We didn’t bring a stroller as he’s too big for it now. But enjoys getting carried around. In fact he insists. Even before we left the car park, he insists on being carried. We tried to get him to walk on his own chubby legs but he just lies down on the floor - on the road! - on his back until somebody picks him up.

Heh. Being 2 years old and under 3 feet tall gives him right to make a fool of his folks.

Since MySis is too pregnant to carry BabyNabil, Ayah-the-Atuk is mindful of his arthritis and PakSu-Genius is carrying... baby utility stuff (diaper bag, milk bottle, etc), it looks like I’ll have to be the pack-mule.


Up and down the escalators.


Took a scenic route through the Pet Store. This isn’t a mouse display case, by the way. This was a lizard display case. The mouse, still alive, was probably its lunch. Wherever the lizard was.

All in all, we had fun. BabyNabil had 4 pairs of eyes looking out for him as he ran all over the place like a rat on steroids (3 pairs, when I excused buying textbooks in Popular Book Store and again when we pass by the Bread Story bakery). At the Pet Store, he barks at cats, meows at the mice and bangs bird cages.

There was a large grey parrot which fascinated BabyNabil, mainly because the large parrot wasn’t in a cage. The bird then flapped its wings vigorously and BabyNabil got so scared, he ran straight for his Mama.

Typical.

Not to self; get BabyNabil to go for One Utama’s Exotic Animals Exhibition soon. He’ll be firm friends with the monkeys.


Mm-mmm, I can never resist chocolate. Neither does BabyNabil, which I had to eat it behind his back or else he’ll grab hold of it.



Had lunch at Ikea Restaurant. We always choose the big sofa seats at the entrance of the restaurant because the tables were low enough for BabyNabil.


Going home! You can see that he’s getting damned sleepy.