an afternoon in changi airport

haizz.. began this post with a sigh cos i was supposed to attend the May08 babies xmas party last saturday, the party was from 2pm to 5pm, and mommy oredi bot a xmas gift for exchange way way before that. but who knows, i fell asleep at 12pm+ and didn't wake up until 3pm+.

by the time we packed and went out, it's oredi 4pm! so daddy and mommy decided to give up the party and brot me to changi airport instead.

oo, when we reached terminal 2, there were some really big balls there. so this year's xmas deco theme is "BALL"

looking at the giant ball.

then we took the skytrain to terminal 3 and there were more balls. in fact there is a big air-filled castle in the centre for kids to play. too bad, it's for older kids and i am not old enough yet.

on the sky train to terminal 3.

more balls at T3

at the entrance to crown plaza.. wanted to have tea but too bad, we were just too late. end up we had our tea at xin wang, and i had my chicken porridge.

enjoying my barley drink.

well... although i didn't make it to the party, i enjoyed walking around in the airport too!

xmas light at orchard road 2009

11 dec daddy and mommy took leave cos childcare centre was closed on tat day. anw, end up cos i was sick, so i didn't go to childcare for the whole week.

so tat's how we spent the day, morn was free and easy.

then afternoon, mommy brot me to watch the barney show at united sq. we went at 1pm, and guess wat, all the photo passes were taken up and there was a long queue for sitting near the stage. so mommy quickly brot me to the 3rd floor,outside the toys r us and chope a spot.

tat's before

tat's after... and mind you, it's a friday at 2pm.

since we were there early, mommy also brot me to the toys r us to shop for the gift for the coming may08 babies xmas party.

when we stood by the railings at around 140pm, there was oredi a crowd forming, and when the show started and barney appeared, i actually cried to see the full size barney. but after they started singing, i stopped and began to enjoy the show.

although the show was only abt 20min, i began to fidget halfway through and wanted to sleep. so once the show finished, mommy had to bring me back home to catch my nap.

in the evening, we met up with wai gong and wai po for dinner at lei garden. first a shot at the new shopping mall on orchard road.

and i enjoyed my self playing with the cutlery at the restaurant and their famous 鸡煲翅

but the best part of the day is after dinner, we walked along the orchard road and seeing so many lights and soak in the xmas ambience.

see this year's decorations on orchard road! i keep saying "ball".

mommy's fav photo for the nite.

inside the big big xmas tree outside ION.

i was totally mesmerized with the lighing, i didn't even feel sleepy at 10pm +.

my first wedding dinner

on 12 dec, it's mommy's sec fren, auntie zhu zhu's wedding dinner.. initially daddy and mommy wanted to ask wai po to take care of me while they go themselves, then mommy changed her mind as it's time for me to try to expose to different events and also not to trouble wai po so much as wedding dinner often run into late nite.

so mommy helped me dress up first.

and then i got bored while waiting for mommy to dress up. so i decided to entertain myselfthen we took the cab to the hotel parkroyal on kitchener road. who knows there was a big jam there cos of a newly opened shopping centre.

finally we reached the hotel, just in time for the first march in.

me and daddy

me and mommy

clapping when the newly-weds made their grand entrance!

still excited over this new experience initially

then got bored and sleepy

finally i gave the cue it's time to go home, whether or not the dinner has ended or daddy mommy full or not.

my speech progress

now tat i can walk and run, my next milestone will be to talk! or rather to talk in the language tat the adults can understand me.. well who ask there are more adults around me. actually all the while i have been talking, just tat they dunno.

i still babble in my baby language a lot, but now i made a conscious effort in pronouncing the words tat i've learnt. here are some of the examples.

1. on 7 dec, i finally called "pa-pa" and "ma-ma" together. it was the usual breakfast, daddy and mommy were reading newspaper while having their breakfast, then i just walked to them, looked at daddy and called "pa-pa" and then turned to mommy and called "ma-ma". this is really the first time i called them both. previously, i just called mamamama while i am in distress and crying big time.

2. then on the 10th, when i woke up first and mommy was still catching her precious last few min of sleep, i sat up on the mattress and started reciting "1-10" in chinese, and then followed by the alphabets. mommy was so so happy tat her previous efforts in showing flash cards began to show!

3. my fav phrase now is "oh no", i will purposely drop a stuff say remote control on the floor and then say "oh,no" then look at mommy in tat innocent expression.

4, almost know all the basic shapes, and tat day when i picked up a toy i haven't been playing for long time, and i can recognise the shape and said "heart shape"

5, know most of the colors, one example is on the first sunday of dec, when daddy and mommy brot me to see the doc, there was a slide outside the clinic, and when asked abt the colors of the different parts, i can say them all!

my love for the numbers and alphabets and words sure catch the attention of my teachers at the childcare centre. now my fav teacher is the chinese teacher Kong Lao Shi, as she will patiently read out the words when i point at them. when mommy went to pick me up, she told mommy tat while the other kids of my age prefer bright colors and shapes, i prefer to point at letters, characters and numbers and really point one by one and ask the teacher to read to me. and another teacher also mention tat i love the alphabet song and when she stopped playing the song, i cried!

now my fav action - pout my lips and look like a pig mouth

me in my school uniform!

the final decision

just after one week in childcare, daddy was so heartache cos i cried every morning when they dropped me off and thus, my voice became hoarse. and i fell sick with cough & runny nose during the weekend. no choice, daddy & mommy had to send me back to nanny for me to recover since they stil need to go to work

maybe it's a blessing in disguise cos it gave the opportunity for daddy & mommy to think hard abt the childcare arrangement and source for alternatives. and so happen there is a new childcare centre opening soon near our home. then daddy thot of a good idea, to put me in the new childcare centre but since it closes at 7pm and both daddy and mommy work late, they had made the arrangement with the nanny to pick me up at 5pm + and then they go to the nanny's to fetch me home after they knock off.

but the plan fell through as the childcare was full and i couldn't get in. so after much deliberations, they have decided to bring me back to the one at mommy's office.

well. firstly cos barely after a few days at the centre, almost all the staff have known my name (maybe cos i cried the loudest) and being new, almost all the teachers have carried me to pacify me.

secondly, also cos i started to settle down day by day. now i cried less in the morning. and in the evening, when daddy & mommy pick me up, i dun cry anymore. and i also started to learn things. just the other day, the teacher told mommy tat i am able to feed myself now and i fed myself 3 bowls of macaroi for dinner. wat an achievement after effectively being in the centre for just a bit over one week.

and the teacher also started to notice my preference in reading letters, words and numbers. in fact the chinese teacher told mommy, i am the only one paying attention when she sings chinese rhymes and songs while the rest of the kids are busying playing and fidgeting.

i am sure i can learn more in the childcare and start being independent.

my first day in childcare

This is a new milestone for me! on the 2nd week i turned 18mth, i started attending childcare.

the childcare centre is just downstairs mommy's office building. so for the first day (16 nov) mommy was with me. initially i was alrite when daddy and mommy brought me for tea first. when we stepped in the centre, i was busy looking at the fish tank at the recep area. there was another new friend joining on the same date. then mommy started to remove my shoes, and there is an auntie (the principal) holding the thermometer and tried to check my hands and feet, i started to sense something wrong and started crying.

on the mrt with daddy. although got a nice lady to give us seat, i was too active to sit down quietly.

at the recep area

mommy assured me everything is alrite and would be with me all the time. so we joined the class. when i saw all the little friends in the same class, i sort of quietened down a bit. the first activity is the outdoor play. then when we were putting on shoes again, and i saw pple walking in and out of the door, i was crying so hard and cling on the door, waiting for any chance to run away. the teacher held out a rope with little circle on it and asked each of us holding the hole, but i refused to and was wandering around myself. it was really dangerous at one time tat i almost walked off. lucky mommy was around to carry me. then it started to drizzle a bit, so the teacher called off the outdoor play and returned to the centre. all along i was crying, especially so when we were on the way back.

at the junior tots' class, i was observing and getting myself familiarise with the place.

it seems i wasn't ready to mix yet... end up i was playing with the rubbish bin myself

on the way to outdoor play, see i almost wandered off myself.

mommy guessed i was hungry cos i usually drink a bottle of milk around 9plus to 10am. so once reached the centre, mommy made a bottle of milk for me. just after a while after finishing the milk, it's lunch time for the junior tots. we went to the eating area and all sat down on the chair by the table. the teacher was scooping rice for everyone and placed the bowl with spoon for each of us. wow, most of my frenz know how to feed themselves, but not me. so mommy fed me and i finished two bowls.

tat's wat's left at the end of two bowls. but anw. one bowl doesn't mean full bowl. at most half filled. so i wasn't eating alot acutally.

then it's shower time, i was reluctant at first, but once i saw the water i was busy playing with it. maybe i was tired, i soon fell asleep when mommy put me on the mattress after the shower.

but i didn't sleep for long, mommy was called back from lunch by the teacher cos i was crying after waking up. when mommy finally came, i was carried by the teacher at the lift lobbying waiting for mommy.

so mommy was accompanying me at the eating area cos the rest of the kids were still taking nap. and there was a teacher accompany the early risers and we read story books and played toys while waiting for others to wake up.

soon the light lit up and it was time for teabreak and i was able to finish two servings of cakes. then my fav segment of the day, the chinese story telling... while the other kids fidgeting around, i really paid attention to the teacher. i only fussed while waiting for other kids to do the painting.

i wasn't really interested in the gym play either, end up i took the toys and played all by myself.

well, after tat i got hooked on with playing with water in the kids' toilet. i kept going in while the rest were still eating.

then it's the chinese time with a chinese teacher telling story. tat seemed to be the only time i really quieten down and paid attention. and mommy can finally sit there resting.

tat's the chinese story telling time.

soon it was dinner time and i ate another two bowls of macaroni. then we changed pampers and went home!

guess i was really tired from the day. i knocked off at 9pm at the nite.

Me at 18mths

Time really flies and I am oredi 18mths. Mommy always says I am a big boy now and so I realized.

These are some new things I know when I am 18mths
1) love to point at numbers, and can say 1, 2, 3. 4 (pronounced as “sss” ) in mandarin.
2) Know how to put smaller thing into a bigger one.
3) Know how to hide an item and later find myself
4) Point to nose, head, ear when asked. Still point to nose when asked mouth or eyes which often gives mommy a good laugh.
5) Love to imitate adults like talking on the phone., will climb up to the sofa and take the phone and try to press and put beside the ear
6) Start to help out with the household chores, like this morning, I took the hanger mommy left on the bed after changing and walk to the door where are the hangers are and put back
7) Know how to wash myself during shower time, when asked “wash your body?” I will rub my hands up and down the tummy
8) Can say simple words like “car” and “star” (pronounced as “dar” and will do the open-close of the hand action) and the Chinese character “da”. Will try to imitate the sound when the adults pronounce, like ice-cream as “ai-sss-kree” and vegetables as “gee..” antique car as “tee-kar”.
9) Can pronounce letters A, B, D , E, G,H,K, L,O, R. S, T, and V.
10) Know how to throw tantrum when unhappy, esp when daddy or mommy says “no” when I am doing something. Either I will stomp my feet on the floor and start to cry. Or when daddy carries me up and I start kicking my legs in the air which daddy calls “air-walking”. For example, this morning, I was playing with daddy’s water bottle on the coffee table, mommy opened it and let me drink. Then it caught my fascination and I started to try to put back the cap back then opened it again, put my fingers inside and played with water. When mommy closed the water bottle and try to put away, I started to cry and stomped my feet.
11) Knows how to dance when hearing music from TV or when daddy and mommy say “Darren dance”.

The list goes on and on with new surprises every day.

Well all these small and little things mark my tremendous growth from a baby to a toddler and started to gain independence as a “self”. Mommy definitely misses the days when Darren was just a baby and needed constant attention. But she can’t be helped but feel proud when Darren can perform a small task himself and grow into a happy toddler.

new yoga pose

happy 18mth to me

my 1st swimming at Bishan swimming complex

well, the bishan swimming complex is actually only 10 min away by walking from our home, but yesterday was the 1st time ever i visited there.... and on mommy's impulse.

i supposed to go for my first GUG lesson after one term's rest. in fact, we reached earlier and mommy paid money for the term and also filled up the withdrawal form since i am going to start childcare soon.

when mommy carried me into the class, i looked quite timid and remained quiet. in fact, i didn't even touch the toys on the floor. then other babies started to come in. all look smaller and younger than me. then i started to feel uneasy. so even mommy ensured me tat she will be around, i started crying when the teacher started counnting names. so mommy had to bring me to the corner and gave me some biscuits to quieten me down.

then we rejoined the group and we started singing the "good afternoon song", but i started crying again upon hearing and this time the biscuit also didn't help. mommy had to bring me outside cos i was disturbing the class. everybody was looking at me. oooppsss, i felt a bit embarrassed as i am the oldest yet, all the didi and mei mei were looking at me crying.

outside the class, i still couldnt' be pacified even with the pacifier. i cried louder and louder. with no sign of quietening down anytime, mommy had to go back to the class to take back my bag. once reaching the door, my cries are even louder. so mommy called daddy to come back so that he can hold me while mommy make milk. even half way thru the milk , i cried when daddy said i am a naughty boy.

mommy thot i was cranky cos of hunger and it's almost time for my nap (my nap time has become haywired recently, for the past few weekends, it's been 2-3pm), so they decided to skip the lesson and brought me home.

who knows, upon reaching home, all my sleepiness was gone! i was walking and climbing all over again. daddy & mommy were exasperated and tired. so mommy said " let's go swimming" as teh last resort, and in hope tat the exercise would tire me out. we changed and within 15 min, we were at the swimming complex!

we went to the "wading pool" which was only 0.45m deep and i can stand with the water only at my waist! yippee, the pool was not crowded with only a few other kids playing around. so i happily walked around with daddy or mommy holding my hand. after i gained more confidence, i even attempted to walk on my own. but i got my first taste of swimming pool water when i slipped and lost my balance.

i really like the pool cos i cried in protest when daddy and mommy brought me up and said "no more". but my cries soon died down when we went to the snack area and my mouth stuffed with chicken nuggets and fish balls. and i even finished 3/4 tin of milo.

i think i definitely look forward of our next trip here and of course the little teat of junk food after the swim.

and i finally knocked out after i changed, showered, watched one espisode of barney and finished one bowl of porridge at 6pm! Gasped...

little surprise

last wed nite darren surprised me yet again.

He was sitting on his playmat, as usual, messing around with the flash cards. Suddenly he pointed at one of them with the Chinese character “大” and said “da”. at first I thot it was just his baby language and so happened tat he made tat sound. But he did again immediately. And after the dinner, he said it one more time.

Recently, he is trying very hard to pronounce the words. Like, he is very excited seeing the numbers on the lift changing as it moves up and down and we will say out the number to him. Now he can say “yi” “er” sometimes “san” and pronounced “si” as “sssss…”. And he likes to point and make you say out the word for him, sometimes, he will follow by trying to imitate the sound. Although might not be correct, at least he tried.

worst fall so far

It looked like any normal day… daddy and mommy picked me up from the nanny’s , then we went home, had dinner and then mommy played with me. then I started walking around and mommy followed.. and suddenly she started to make heavy footsteps like what we used to play, then I shrieked in excitement and started to walk faster and almost ran..

Out of sudden, I fell in my face on the floor and started wailing loudly in pain. Mommy quickly picked me up from the floor, then she realized there were drops of blood on t-shirt. I was rubbing my face and still crying, then mommy removed my hands and saw blooding coming out from lips. The teeth must have cut the lips when I fell. Mommy suddenly remembered mommies on the forum said tat sugar can stop bleeding and called out daddy to take sugar from kitchen and rubbed some on my lips.

Realizing something on my lips, I started to lick and found it’s sweet and finally stopped crying. Daddy was angry with mommy for chasing me and asked her to pack and send me to the doctor’s.

By the time we reached TMC 24hr clinic, I was playing as usual. but daddy said cannot let me walk on my own for the time being. But the queue was so long, after waiting for some time and seeing me behaving normally, daddy decided to go back home.

Well, little expected the wound to grow worse over the days. First, it started to become swollen, then there were some whitish pus appearing. There are two wounds actually, one on the outer lips and the other was more inside nearer to the gums. At nite, I always cried out loudly in pain cos the skin broke and started bleeding. In fact, it got so bad tat I refused to take my pacifier in the middle of the nite and there was blood stains on the bedsheet.
the picture is not very clear after shrinking, but still can see tat the lips is swollen and the whitish pus on it.

Together with the fever after taking the MMR jab, daddy & mommy were not sure whether the fever came from the jab or the pus on the lips. So we still went to see the doc at TMC 24 hours, took the antibiotics and some cream to apply on the lips. While the fever didn’t subside over the weekend and the wound on the lips still looking grossly big, we went to see the PD on Monday and he changed the cream to an oral drip for ulcer to aide the wound to heal faster.

the scariest jab

well, i supposed to take the jab when i turned 15mth old as recommended by pd, but then with things always cropped out last min, like i fell sick then the bintan trip. i only took it when i was 17mth old.

mommy has long heard the scary stories related to MMR, the fierce fever, the risk of having rashes or the worst, it's supposedly link to autism according to some weird reports. but then this jab it's compulsory by the MOH and sooner or later, i still have to be tuk.

so on saturday 10/10/09, daddy & mommy finally brought me to take the jab. as it's a saturday and the clinic was ful. we had to wait for quite sometime. so we went to the toys r us next door to spend some time.

i am the little transformer..

want to buy a car? let me recommend the latest model to you.

look at the mess i've made at the mega blocks section.

after almost 1.5 hour of wait. i finally got my tuk at 12 plus. i cried a while but like a macho boy supposed to be. i stopped crying soon. as it's time for lunch, we went to bakerzin and they served yummy kids menu.

hehe.. the kids set menu comes with a bottle of yakult. and guess wat, i finished it in 3 min flat.

the empty yakult bottle.

mommy ordered the grilled salmon with rice for me, but i only ate abt 1/3... mayb i was too full from the yakult.

actually i am eyeing the chicken wing daddy & mommy were having... looks yummy...

quite a good outing for taking a jab, isn't it..

but 5 days later, i started to have a fever at 37 + for two days and a week later tat saturday and sunday, the fever shot up to 38+ which gave daddy & mommy a scare.

it's really a powerful jab to have effect even after so many days. considering i didn't developed any symptoms even when i took the pneumococcal jabs previously.

when i turned to 17mth

when i turned to 17mth, i am a step closer to terrible 2.

firstly, i become very diff to feed. no longer the baby who just gobble down whatever stuffed into my mouth, now i really choose what i want to eat. sometimes, i just eat a few mouthful of the porridge and refused to eat any more. and i am not interested in eating fruits except golden kiwi. mommy can only do the trick of mixing them with yogurt. but it's just a matter of time before i realise it.

2ndly, at nite, play time becomes so precious tat i refuse to sleep at 930pm anymore. the latest record i held is 1052pm. which oredi tired mommy out. and in order to make me sleep, i can drink 200ml every half an hour from 9pm and by the time i finally slept at 1015, i have drunk 600ml plus. despite sleeping late at night, i still wakes up every early. for the past few days, i woke up at 6am plus. even earlier than the alarm clock mommy set.

haizz... mommy wonders where my energy comes from even though i am not eating and sleeping well.

ready for childcare

as i am approaching 18mths in just another month's time. daddy and mommy thought long and hard abt childcare arrangement for me.

eventually they decided to put me in full day childcare for better interactions with other kids as well as learning to be more independent.

lucky there is a childcare centre in the same building as mommy's office, so i can go to work with daddy and mommy everyday from next month onwards. and mommy doesn't have to rush to pick me up as the centre closes at 8pm instead of the usual 7pm.

last monday, daddy and mommy brought me to the centre for so-called orientation. well, i dun think i need tat. once daddy let me come out from the stroller at the recep area, i was eager to push the door open and joined the kor -kor and jie-jie there.

can you see me? i am the one back facing the camera.... ooopsss. i joined the kindergarten class where i supposed to be in the junior tots. no wonder all of them look so big to me.

later the day, daddy and mommy brot me to the Junior League at united sq for a haircut. haha this time i was better behaved so the auntie had more time to cut my hair....to so short....

cutting in process... tat's only the beginning whereby i guai guai sit down.. later i had to stand up and daddy mommy holding me to stand still.

end product... look quite tuk hor.. dun u think so?

club med bintan trip

Last week, daddy and mommy took long leave and brought me to our first overseas trip as a family ever. It supposed to be a relaxing trip, but turned out to be quite taxing for both daddy and mommy.

First, the packing is a big headache. Being KS parents, mommy brought extra set of clothes, my medicine in case I fall sick, whole tin of 400g milk powder and several packs of pigeon instant porridge to standby and one big pack of pampers + pull-ups + swimming diapers, on top of my other daily necessities. My luggage alone oredi took up half of the space. On top of tat, daddy is scared I am not used to sleep in the cot the hotel provided, he went to nanny’s place to get my playpen and brot along!

at the singapore ferry terminal, waiting to board.

on the ferry.. mommy trying to self-take.

On the way there, I was quite a good boy, although it’s the first time I took ferry, the sleep bug soon overtook me and I slept during the journey. On arrival, there was a long queue in front of the counter with luggage littered around and the bus was so crowded with guests, lucky daddy sang songs to keep me entertained during the bus ride to resort.

reaching bintan!

crowded bus ride to the resort.

it was raining heavily when we reached the resort.

Upon reaching the resort, we first settled in the room then we went for a quick hi-tea at the restaurant. sensing I should be tired over the journey, we headed back to the room for me to take a nap and mommy can continue to unpack. Maybe I was really tired, I slept all the way to 7plus Sin time (6plus bintan time). So when we dressed up and did some preparation time, it was time for dinner! Well, I turned out to be quite a notti boy, maybe I was too excited seeing so many diff pple altogether, I only ate abit of the porridge the restaurant made for me and refused to eat anymore of other food. end up mommy had to stuff me with a bottle of milk to quiet me down. Daddy and mommy quickly rushed to finish their own dinner and we had to head back to the room for me to get showered changed and ready for bed again. .

our room... my cot is on the right side. but it end up used as a storage space.

Well, tat proved to be only the beginning. Over the rest of the stay there, I only behaved myself during breakfast where there was jap seaweed (my new fav for this trip, I only allow this to go in my mouth), pancake, bread, plain porridge with grilled fish. As for lunch and dinner…. Hmm… I simply refused to eat and wanted to come down from the highchair and walked around. If mommy persisted, I screamed and cried until the other tables all looked at us. Hmmm.. tat’s from daddy and mommy’s eyes, to me, I just want to explore the new places and make friends, food comes secondary to me. anw there is milk mah. When I saw other kids around, I would walk up to them and observe, maybe hinting them “can I play with you?”

drinking the pigeon juice mommy brot there during breakie on the 2nd day.

ready to hit the pool

my hippo float.. cost a whopping SGD14 cos lazy mommy and daddy dun want to deflate the lion float at home and bring along the pump.

So for the 4 days and 3 nites there, we only managed to go to the swimming pool twice, went to the beach once as I was scared and didn’t dare to walk on the sands. Other time, the routine was like morning wake up – breakfast – shower and change – morning nap – lunch – play a while – afternoon nap – dinner – zzz again. Although I am small, I dictated the day and the two adults revolved around me.

As for the resort, mommy felt, it didn’t turn out as good as she initially thot maybe partly is cos of me (shy…). Though it’s baby friendly as they provide cot, sterilizer, food warmer and there is a baby corner at the restaurant with jar food and other stuff, there isn’t much activities for small babies below 2 like me. there is no baby pool , the shallowest pool is 1m and there is no playground like slide or whatever for me to play. The room is quite good with resort feeling. Although we booked the seaview supreme room but the view is blocked by the trees as we were on the ground floor. Service was above average, maybe too good as most of the time, our table was cleaned up for the next guest even though we just went to the food area to get food together and there was no one to man the table.

spot check by the coast guard on the ferry back.

Maybe I will become more dong shi as I grow up and the trip will be more enjoyable then?