I think Kiko loves me alot, here's the proof...

I’ve always believe Kiko loves me as his “mommy”, but I have never thought how much was his love for me.

But I think I know, at least he seems to love me more than daddy N.

You see, Kiko has this silly behavior whenever he sees me coming down the stairs in the morning and when I come back from work.

In the mornings, as I walk down the last flight of stairs, he would be eagerly waiting at the last step (since he's too short to climb the stairs). He would be wagging his tail, “smiling” and jumping up and down. Once I’m within his reach, he would sniff out my bare feet, playfully biting my last toe, tagging along as I walk to the kitchen area. Sometimes, he would be bringing one of his soft toys and laying them beside my feet, as if signaling me to play with him.

The same scenario repeats itself when he’s let out of his crate once we get home. You see, the usual routine is to let him pee first before he gets to roam around the house. He would not go to the toilet to pee until he gets to sniff me, unless daddy N gives him a stern warning which then he would reluctantly head to the toilet. And for god-knows-what-reasons, he just like to bite my last toe and tag along with me.

The reason I said why Kiko seems to love me more because he doesn't do this to daddy!!! Of course I get irritated sometimes, and his biting can hurt occasionally. But it delights me to see his enthusiasm in my presence.  Though at times, I think it’s sign of him “bullying” me because I’m usually take a soft approach towards him while daddy will be stricter in comparison.

Tapi aku tak kisahlah… don’t think there’s anyone willing to greet you enthusiastically every morning and evening like a dog does ;-)

mommyloveskikotoo
andplsdontbitemylittletoe

Does a dog understand the bedtime concept?

N & I have been observing (and some experiments) for some time if Kiko understand the concept of "bedtime". 

Our routine when it's time to go to bed is to switched off the lights, and calling him to go back to his crate. When he was much younger, a lot of coaxing had to be done, which included carrying him straight into his crate. And on some other nights, he would be reluctant to return to his crate, instead running around the living room and eventually hiding in his favourite hideout "dog house". We had to "extricate" him from the hideout and put him back to his crate. 

Earlier on, there were few nights when we tried switching off the lights, and we went straight to our bedroom without telling him to return to his crate, or carrying him back to his crate. Then we secretly observe him if he would figure out it's bedtime and return to his crate. It was hilarious to observe his reaction! He had the puzzled look trying to figure out what he should do. He stepped into the crate, sat on his pillow, expecting us to close the door of the crate. But after moments of waiting and we were nowhere to be seen, he came out and walking around the living room. After looking at the hilarious but failed experiment, we had to came out of hiding and put him back into the crate. 

Like I said, that was much earlier on.

Last night, we decided to try again. I don't know if it was coincidence, or Kiko could've sensed it. Once we mentioned we were going to test him, and starting getting up from the couch to switch off the lights, that little dog miraculously walked himself back into his crate, and sat himself on the pillow waiting for us to lock him up!

We did not lock him up straightaway, but went into the kitchen where N decided to have a quick slice of watermelon in the fridge. Kiko heard the juicy biting sound, he listened closely while still sitting in his crate, but after sensing that we're not going to bed yet, he jumped out of his crate and straight to the kitchen. He was circling N's legs, hoping to get a bite of his favourite watermelon. What a "tam chiak" (everything also want to eat) dog! 

Kiko did not get any bite, but like any loyal and obedient dog, he still returned to his crate when we switched off the kitchen lights.

Experiment was a success :)

Another winner from bro

I skipped reading the newspaper one day, and then it had to happened on that day that I missed out my brother's winning picture in the Star's thumbnails submission. I was pleasantly surprised when sis shared with me the news during last week's trip back home. I'm pretty sure I would have known it was my brother had I spotted the picture in the newspapers.

N said the picture caught his attention but he didn't bothered to notice the picture contributor's name. *cheh!*

Once back home, I quickly pull out the thumbnails page from the newspapers as keepsake, filed together with my own winning entry.

We now have two winners in the family *smug grin*

- Photo courtesy of thestar.com.my (linked) -

Reading nook

I have been eyeing the small living area on the first floor since we moved in. It was not big enough to be a proper living room or a study area. And you couldn't squeeze in bulk furnitures that will block the corridor. It was always an eyesore to look at the empty space.

We had earlier fixed up the bamboo panels bought from Ikea to screen off the gap of the staircase railings, so that it will create a partition and make the space feels like a room. Then we fixed a ceiling fan. But we still didn't have any idea how to decorate the space.

Since the Ikea sales were on last month and wanting to grab some good deals, I finally sat down and sketched a few plans on my drawing book. I decided we would need some shelves and not bookcase, as bookcase will be "bulky" and we don't have a library of books yet. Shelves would be good to give the "floating" look and we could still put some stuffs below the shelves.

So off we went to Ikea. We decided to look around the display to source for new ideas, and we particularly like one room, where they had put a comfy 2-seater couch against the wall, just below the shelves, and installed two reading lamps on the shelves. The arrangement was perfect for our space!

We had not plan to get any couch in Ikea. But this little 2-seater couch in navy colour caught our attention with it's cheap price (under RM500!) It was small and compact yet comfortable, and the cushions can be pull out to become a bed. Though there was only one colour, we decided to take it. We also got some shelves, reading lamps, a red rug, a plastic plant and a pot as decorative items.

I must say that it was amazing that we managed to transport the 2-seater couch back home in our very own Honda City! It was packed in a big rectangular box, I could still remember clearly it weighed 80kg. And we were scratching our heads, measuring here and there to see if we could fit the box in the car boot. We had thought to pay 50 bucks for the delivery service as the last resort. Not willing to admit defeat easily, we scrutinised the display couch to analyse the structure, and concluded that we should open up the package, and cart in item by item into the car boot. And that was it! RM50 saved :-)

Back home, it took us 2 days to do up the space. I wouldn't say it was the best design, but it fits the purpose, and both N & I are very happy with the results.