Welcome To Our Little World

Quick dish: #1 Green Curry Chicken

2011-09-24T12:08:00.001+08:00

As a working mother, it is always a challenge for me to cook a decent meal for my family. I'm always racing against time.

I have also thought of the easy way out, that is to pack dinner home... or just eat out.

But it is my girl's encouragement and compliment that keeps me going.

This will be my first post for quick dish. It will also serve as a reference for myself and maybe for my girls when they grow up.

I was in the mood for curry few days ago. Had decided to cook green curry chicken for dinner tonight.

It was a very simple and easy dish that only took me 20min to complete.

You will need:
- 2/3 of a medium size chicken (chop to pieces and removed the skin)
- 6-7 lady's finger and cut to 2 pieces each.
-1 medium size brinjal and cut to small pieces
-1 cup (300ml) low fat milk
Most importantly, you will need a packet of the special paste of the green curry.

The instructions for cooking the curry is just right behind the packaging and it's so simple to follow.

I actually added 1.5 table spoon of sugar to the curry to make it less spicy for the girls.

This pot of green curry is just nice to serve my family of 4.

Bel is always my no.1 supporter whenever I cook this dish.

- Posted using my iPhone

Trip to Animal Resort

2011-09-20T20:01:00.001+08:00

It was one of those usual saturday morning when we went to Jalan Kayu and have our favorite prata. After breakfast, we decided to bring the kids to the nearby animal farm.

The girls were welcome by a flock of geese. They were all after the girls for the bread that they are holding!

Here's a video of the girls feeding the geese!

YouTube Video

Jared feeding the rabbits.

Can you count the number of bunnies below?

Ans: ???

So cute little fellows.

Ally: Don't worry, Jie Jie is here.

It was a fulfilled Saturday morning and the kids had enjoyed themselves. Too bad, I heard the farm will be gone to make way for new housing development in another 1-2years.

- Posted using my iPhone

Location:Seletar farmway

Are Fats Good?

2011-09-14T21:37:00.001+08:00

One of the way to keep myself awake while studying in the night is "snacking." Lately while coaching Bel for her CA2, I decided to reward her with potatoes chips. As we were both munching on the chips.... We had a little conversations.

Bel : Mommy, are fats good?

Me: Well, it depends.

Bel: Can you name one benefit of fats?

Me: It helps to keep your body warm!

(Bel gazes at me for a while)

Bel: Mommy, are you feeling warm all the time?

Me: !!!

- Posted using my iPad

Happy Birthday Singapore

2011-08-09T22:52:00.001+08:00

This year Singapore is celebrating 46th Birthday. I'm glad to be able to attend the NDP for the 1st time at Float @ Marina Bay.

I was lucky to be able to get drawn for 4 tickets on the rehearsal performance. Didn't opt for the actual day because the kids would then be able to watch on TV on the actual day.

We were there as early as 4.30pm although the parade only starts at 6pm.

This year theme is : Majulah! It means the Singapore Spirit. To me, Majulah would mean everyone standing together as One People, One Nation, One Singapore! I am just so proud to be a Singaporean.

The performances were awesome! The organizer had did a good job in ensuring that we (audience) will be entertained both by the emcee, the fantastic musical that show cast the history of singapore and the big bag of goodies sponsored by the various organization.

Once again, Happy Birthday Singapore! And Happy Birthday to my father in law as he is also born on 9 August.

Posted using my iPhone

2011-08-06T18:56:00.001+08:00

I'm now an IPhone user...

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Isabel 1st exposure to vegetarian food

2011-06-16T18:56:00.002+08:00

Vegetarian Chicken Rice...

Mommy: Isabel what did you have for lunch today (Bel was in Church today attending some children workshop)

Bel: (paused for a while) I had vegetarian chicken rice and teacher told us the chicken meat is "fake" one.

Mommy: Is the food yummy?

Bel: I only ate the rice and the 2pcs of cucumber, I threw away all the chicken meat.

Mommy: Why did you do that?

Bel: I'm scare to eat them cos I thought maybe they were made of plastic since they are fake!

I almost fell from my chair when I heard her reply. Maybe, the children church teacher should have explain to them that the meat is make of glutton rather than they are "fake".

- Posted using my iPhone

Conquering 1.6km

2011-06-09T14:37:00.001+08:00

22 May 2011
It was like a usual Sunday morning and we were all up and ready to leave house by 7am. When we reached Padang, there was already a huge crowd gathering in the field.
Bel was scheduled to run at 7:45am for her category.

Bel seems nervous before the start of the race. We kept encouraging her to go for her best timing as this was only her first race.

Ally was also there to support her sister.

Ready... Get set... Go!

Isabel completed her 1.6km in 9 min 10 secs. Her best personal best so far. Well done!

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Running the Race

2011-04-14T10:48:00.001+08:00

Isabel will be running in the coming Cold Storage Kids Run '11 for the first time.

She had registered for the 1.6km run for her 9-10yrs category.

She was rather excited and had started training with Daddy to run on alternate days.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2010-12-24T18:53:00.001+08:00

This is Silent night... But nowadays its anything but silent.
My wife had been busy preparing this night which her few good friends will be gathering with their children... all 20 of them... Jared as seen in the picture, is dressed as Superman. This is his 2nd Christmas, he sure is getting a lot of present too.

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Ice Skating

2010-12-24T12:50:00.001+08:00

Their Aunt... (my sister) brought them to the Leisure Park for a ice skating session. I think Ally is getting better. Maybe one day, she'll be better than her sister.

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9th Anniversary

2010-10-17T23:06:00.004+08:00

On 13th Oct, we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary.

At first, I tried to book a table in Carousel 2 days in advance, I have tried the seafood buffet and now is looking for a reason to walk-in again, but was too late as others have already made reservations 1 week in advance. I was placed on the waiting list but I know I would never hear from them again.

I settled for the next best thing... The Fullerton hotel, "Town" restaurant.

Where's Mommy?

I'm hungry! What's for dinner?

There's something stuck in my teeth!!!

When I was making the reservation, I told them it is for my wedding anniversary, not only did they remember the occasion, they even gave us a complimentary small cake.

Thanks for the 9 wonderful year, with many more to come.

First Swimming Lesson

2010-09-25T21:55:00.005+08:00

For years, I've been trying to teach them to swim, but they won't listen to my instruction. They just cling to me or the side of the pool afraid to go any deeper.

Finally I've decided to send them to a proper coach for swimming lessons.

I booked the lesson in SAFRA Yishun. Heard its rather popular as for the past 2 sessions I couldn't sign them up as the places were already fully taken.

Before the lesson, Isabel was worrying if she would drown, or swallow water, or what if water goes into her ears... But Ally was rather neutral, she just want to have fun.

I wasn't told that they have to have a swimming board ready, but our friend who's daughter was in the earlier class, called me to inform me of it.

When the class started, they began by doing some warm-up. The girls gingerly joined in as they are unfamiliar with the people there.

Coach Soya, and her assistance coach Lisa patiently went through the safety and then the basic foundation of breathing and holding breadth. One of the student is repeating the course cos she failed the test at the end of last course. She looks not a day older than 4 years old...

Another girl is simply a princess of her own La-La land. Doesn't care about the on going lesson, played in the baby pool for most of the time. Her mother has to keep dragging her back to join the group.

After the lesson, they were eager to practice more, immediately I could see the improvement of the water confidence and the movements.

I hope this will improve their health and well being, and for me I will get some exercise too. I'm planning to hit 20 laps by the end of their last lesson.

Crisis in Life

2010-09-21T09:56:00.010+08:00

Recently I've learned that crisis is normal to life. Crisis will make you stronger and better.

I wonder does it apply to Mid-Life Crisis.

All this while, I've always thought mid-life crisis is for people in their fifties. If that's true, then man's average age should be over a hundred.

But since the average life-span of a man is 75, then I guess I'm at the right age of going through the MLC.
I did not know that I was going through this phase until I read an article which listed some of the things which men in this phase of life has a tendency to do... I scored pretty high on the list.

One of them is the tendency to look for something dangerous and reckless, to prove his manliness. Thus, I've been thinking of bungee jumping, getting a tattoo...I'm also bothered by my complexion, my youthfulness seems to have been zapped out of me. People used to guess my age at least 5 years younger than my actual age, but recently everyone seems to guess it right or a year ahead. Its really disheartening.

I bought a bottle of face-lift cream, spread that thing on my face day and night like kaya on toast, but it does not seems to work as it was advertised. Sigh...

I've also heard of applying Aloe Vera on the face could help to give a smooth complexion, So I bought a big piece from Cold Storage and started to apply the sticky gel every night. But one product which I've secretly been using is my wife's SK-II Facial Treatment Essence which contains Pitera. That seems to work.

Beside the physical, career is another issue. As I edge towards the next big "zero" of my life, my marketability is definitely going down. I looked at my career path, I know I have to steer hard towards my goal. I don't have much time to be idling around thinking I still have tomorrow to do whatever needs to be done... Everything needs to be done now.

I now also have a clearer picture of what I need and how to plan it. I called up my insurance agent, went through all my polices, made the necessary changes. Now I understand what is that peace of mind that the insurance company has been marketing about.

So to conclude, I guess crisis in life is really about showing you what you should have done earlier, get it done, make the change and come out of the crisis to be stronger and better. But like what my Pastor said, never lose sight of God, hold on to your core fundamental.

I'm still going to get that tattoo soon.

.

Small opt

2010-09-09T15:21:00.005+08:00

Jared is born with an extra toe, although it does not hinder the way he is developing, or learning to walk, we still decide to have it removed as he has difficulty putting on his shoes.

Someone once said that it could be a blessing in disguise that he may be exempted from serving in the more physically demanding areas during his NS years. I totally wish it not true. I hope that he will be the best that he can be, and that his talent will outshine the others and bring home the "Sword of Honor" in the Officer Cadet course, which is something that I regret not having.

I suppose that's what every father wants their son to be... better than themselves.

Operation is scheduled at 2pm.

On the day of his opt, we started to fast him since 8am, his last drink of water was at 10am.

The little boy, oblivious to what's going to happen to him, continued to explore the hospital lobby with curiosity. Moving with ease between chairs with a pacifier stuck to his mouth. He sees the world with a fresh new mind filled with excitement. His finger touching every fiber and texture enjoying the strange sensation each will bring.

Soon we were notified of the ward and because he is only 1 year old, they changed the bed to a "cage". Earlier we prayed for him, thank God he is really a good boy throughout the time of fasting. He didn't fuss because of the hunger or thirst which we have worried for days of how he's going to go through it. Even the anesthetist praised him for being such a cooperative boy.

After the surgery, he continued to sleep till almost 6pm. He woke without crying, cautiously, we gave him some water, he eagerly drank most of the water in the bottle. Almost vomitted out.

Half hour later, the dinner came. He ate quite a big portion of the serving. Then he ate some cake when a friend came to visit. Then he ate some bread from my wife's burger. Then he ate some cupcakes brought by another friend later that evening.

Well, I take it that its a good sign that he has good appetite after the surgery.

I think most of the nurses in the ward like him.

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The Lost Symbol

2010-09-01T12:54:00.004+08:00

Just finished reading the new novel by Dan Brown... The Lost Symbol.

As usual, he did a great job doing research on histories and linking them together. In his last book, The Da Vinci Code, he managed to stir up a storm by telling the world how the Bible has been distorted through time and people and the so-called hidden truth of Jesus, that he is so in love with Mary Magdalene that they have a child together.
Angering Christians around the world. Many have called in protest to boycott and ban the movie and book. But ultimately creating a greater interest and publicity for the author and movie making him a overnight sensation.

The Lost Symbol has no lack in thrills and mysteries, quick pacing a timeline with few things happening at the same time ultimately towards the same destiny. But one thing that disappoints me is the character development of Robert Langdon, who is also the main character in the previous 2 books.
It is frustrating to read that a man that has such great head knowledge of symbols and histories has become skeptical with the things he sees. Being a lecturer of such topic, he sees all, knows all but not believing at all.

All that happened through the story, he is always rejecting the idea of any of those myths and legends to be true.

The author has done extensive research on the American history. It is interesting to know that George Washington actually has a sculpture of himself as a god. I did a google search it, and found it is true that such sculpture exist.

Another interesting area is the introduction of the Noetic Science. Its the study of how the human mind, through thoughts or will power, is able to change matters, alter situations, even influence other's thoughts. I remember Pastor Kong ever preached how negative or positive thoughts can hinder the formation of ice crystals.

Apparently, the Institute of Noetic Science has done such proving experiments that a common unified thought from a group of people is able to change or alter and achieve their goal by thinking about it. In unison the thoughts is magnified. It is a scientific reality that the power of prayer groups and healing circles has the power to heal and move situation.

Genesis 11:6, God acknowledged that with people thinking and focusing in unity, they can achieve anything.

In the finale of the book, the author affirms that the Bible is the Ultimate truth of the Universe. Holding an immense amount of knowledge that is too powerful for man to understand. And that faith is the new science and the new direction for people.

Maybe its an attempt for the author to please the readers of the Christian world, nonetheless, it is a good book to read if you are into such topic.

Amazing Race? Modeling Race?

2010-08-30T22:21:00.003+08:00

These are the faces that will represent Singapore in the month long race around Asia and beyond for the low price money of $100,000.

Seeing the rest of the teams... Models, tv presenters, basketball player, models, beauty pageant contestants... Come on... its obvious that the ordinary people has absolute no chance to be in it.

First of all, I don't see any ordinary looking people. I'm not asking for ugly, but just normal next-door-guy kind of contestant.

Second, there are non with a normal job. TV host, Basketball player, models, Strip club manager, tattoo artist... Come on la... If I'm in the race, they'll probably say I'm a ex-military specialist...

I admit, it will be boring if a general clerk, or a plumber gets chosen, but hey, these are the guys that are our day to day heroes, Don't they get a chance?

Well, just have to watch and see how entertaining they can be. I like to watch them puke over some nasty food.

2010-08-30T09:04:00.002+08:00

Caught the movie... Real good old fashion, real manly, action packed movie, fully loaded testerone, almost as high as "300".

The show has plenty old action heroes, its like a reunion for them. Arnie, has a 2 minute scene just talking sarcasm with Sly. They look more like a divorced couple trying to step on each other's toes while keeping a smile in front of Bruce Willis.

Sly is more into this character than he was in Rambo 4 which that show was a disappointment as he could not bring out the character of Rambo anymore. He was just... him.

Mickey Rouke shed a tear while in the scene where he explained why he is no longer the killing machine, and how his soul has died in him. I think he is perfect for this role and has done a wonder job portraying this character.

Jet Li , being smallest and the only Asian, he has to try real hard to fit into the gang. He really doesn't look comfortable among the muscle clad bunch whose average height is 2 heads taller than him, and he has to appear to be in a "bo-chap" attitude which is not really convincing.

But overall, the movie is entertaining, the flow is good, believe it or not, all the good guy survived. Which guess makes it a happy ending.

what a weekend.

2010-08-23T16:22:00.002+08:00

The weekend has always been an important time for the family to have bonding.

During the weekday, much of the nights are spent finishing the children's home, coaching them and helping them to deal with their daily stresses.

Weekends has become a time to bring them out of the routine to relax and also sweat it out.

Dinner... Seriously must break the routine of eating at home everyday. Brought them to the Suntec City basement food terrace. An inexpensive way of enjoying good local delicacies in an air conditioned environment.

Next is Koi feeding at the Koi Garden. Man... those Kois are FAT...

Jared was afraid to go near the water, so he sat down as near to the edge as possible.

Sunday afternoon, the weather was cooling. So I brought them to the nearby open field to fly a kite.

The kite was small and it uses those new design whereby it has no frame structure unlike those traditional type. It has funnels to help it catch the wind. But it requires constant strong wind
to keep it flying. I feel like I'm flying a plastic bag... maybe a plastic bag would be easier to fly.

I promised them to get a big one from the gift shop at the mall, Ally was already thinking of the colour she wants.

Looks like there's going to be another session this Saturday.

Family time...

2010-08-18T20:11:00.001+08:00

Doing a little shopping after dinner at Compass Point.
Trying out new phone camera app.

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this is the day...

2010-08-18T11:47:00.001+08:00

this is actually a test blog from my Samsung Galaxy S.

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My favorite Pass Time

2010-08-15T16:21:00.002+08:00

This is what I like to do when I'm free. Watching my little plant grows and blooms really make me happy.

NDP 45th Birthday

2010-08-10T00:11:00.011+08:00

How do most people celebrate National Day?

I've not been able to get tickets to watch the actual day NDP for the past many years. I remember the last time I actually get to watch the NDP live is in 2005. Even that, was only in those heartland celebration.

1999... I remember the experience of having queued for 2 days 1 night outside National Studium with my then girlfriend (now my lovely wife) just to make sure that we get the tickets. As we are not allowed to leave our queue, we brought along food, water and tentage. At that times there was no PSP, iPhone, or wifi internet. So we brought along board-games and radio along just to kill time. I must says we had lots of fun then.

Now, to get a NDP ticket, you got to apply and ballot for it.

One thing is the idea of being there 3 hours before the event starts, seated in the hot sun while waiting for the hosts to entertain us hasn't been that appealing either.

This year, although its a long weekend, we didn't plan anywhere far. Our friend organized a pot-luck dinner on Sunday night at their Condo, we let the kids had a dip in the pool, also to let Jared get use to the water.

The evening was cool, the water was fine.

We were told to be in red and white that night.

Here we wish Singapore Happy 45th Birthday.

.

Fire Station visit

2010-07-30T23:38:00.005+08:00

I found out that every Saturday morning, every fire station (except Jurong island) is open for public visit from 9am to 11am.

I've planned this long ago, but because Isabel usually has tuition on Saturday morning, so I've been delaying the visit.

Last Saturday, tuition center was closed. So we headed to the nearest fire station as early as possible.

Mommy took the car to work, so we had to take the bus instead.

Without the comfort of the car, the girls had to walk a distance. Not exactly something they are very used to.

The Sengkang Fire Station is a modern building, if without the words hanging on the facade, I would have thought it would be an office building.

Inside it, we were brought to the waiting area which I think it would be their lecture area for the trainees. There was another family there visiting the station with their young kids. The person in charge brought out toy hats and rain coats for the children.

We get to try an invention by SCDF themselves... The Water Mist Gun aka WMG.

They explained the function and purpose of the Red Rhino. I always thought it looks really cool on the road.

One thing I'm impressed is that the staff's enthusiasm of showing us their equipment. They are not tired of removing them from a neatly packed shelves, and lay them out on the floor to show us the functions of it.

Only thing lack is that they don't say a single word about home fire prevention. Something I feel that is just as important as knowing we can count on them to put out the fire.

.

2010-07-23T16:21:00.002+08:00

Hi All

Its been really quite a while since I've logged on for blogging. Main reason for missing is because my phone, which I use to take a lot of impromptu photos of our daily lives is not able to sync with the PC, hence I'm not able to upload any photo to tell my story. Other reason is that I've been attending night classes, preparing for exams...

Anyway, I can't miss blogging this one.

My son is now 1 year old. Wow, time flies... I remember him as a little infant when we first brought him home.

This whole year has been interesting as he is the only son in the family, he has been a source of joy to all of us. The 2 sisters dote him so much, especially the elder sister. She like to carry him around the house, sing and play with him. I can safely depend on her to look after him for short moments.

This one year has also not been easy for us and Jared as we have to place him in a Infant care center, he fell sick almost every month. Fever, flu, cough... that sequence. We brought him to the Pediatrician several times, spent hundreds of dollars on his medications.

Jared was really happy at the beginning of the party, but as the guests are not all here yet, we waited till past his nap time before we could let him cut the cake. By then, he was starting to be grouchy.

Even before he blew the candle, his hands and feet were already covered with cream.

Jared would like to thanks all the big brothers and big sisters for celebrating his first birthday with him. He would also like to thank all the aunties and uncles for all the blessings he has received.

Jared @ 10 months

2010-05-06T12:17:00.006+08:00

Time flies ya?

Now Jared is almost 10 month. A couple of months ago he started to clap his hands, now he signs along when he hears the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars" opening and closing his little hands imitating the movement. At the end of the song, he'll clap.

Totally cute.

I'm now trying to teach him to point up when I say "Up" and point down when I say "Down". Also the regular baby sign language like "Milk", "Water"...etc is a must. It helps them to communicate instead of crying.

Can't wait to see him walk.

.

Batam? What Batam?

2010-05-04T16:54:00.004+08:00

Was I in Batam?

I also don't know... Why do I not feel I've been there?

Too short period? Maybe...
Didn't do anything I wanted? That too...
Didn't eat what I craved for? Definitely...
Never been where I wanted to go? For sure...

So... what was I doing?...

Hmmmm...
.

Give me some space...

2010-04-14T17:15:00.002+08:00

When the kids grow up, new sets of problems arise.

I'm pretty sure all parents know what I'm talking about.

I'm really sure that Isabel has out-grown those kiddy stuff... first, she no longer likes those Princess merchandise, she prefers a sling bag that has no girlish prints. Later than I found out that it was a trend among the kids her age that they all have sling bags. And it has to sling in a particular style...strap across the chest with the bag at the back.

She used to play cooking with her sister, but now likes to read alone. But her poor sister who worships her, still likes the company of the elder sister.

Sometimes when when she's bored, she'll bug her elder sister and look over her shoulder to see what she's doing. Tries to read her homework out load. This really bothers the later.

Isabel is learning to write journal, at the same time I introduced the idea of writing diary so she can even more freely expresses herself with words.
But because diary is something personal, she became very secretive abut the content and even more secretive about the location where she is hiding from her sister, This really really frustrates the younger one. Then they'll start to complain about each other.

Its interesting to watch them grow up, but its also difficult to solve problems like this...

I have to be fair to both and at the same time realise and give Isabel more respect as an individual.

I certainly can't force ideas into her anymore. A lot of explaining has to be done to guide her to think like us and be more attentive to listen to her ideas too.

At the same time, I have to be fair to Ally and distract her with other activities such as computer games and teaching her sign language.

Just part of growing up... me growing up.

.

Happy Birthday to me

2010-04-04T22:50:00.009+08:00

Isn't it nice when your birthday falls on a public holiday?

Well that's what happened to me... My birthday happens to be on Good Friday this year.

Illuma @ Bugis

I booked tickets to watch Clash of the Titans. We dropped the kids off at my parent's place, then drove off to Illuma, the new cinema... at least its new to us. We are a couple of mountain tortoise that almost forget what Orchard Road looks like.
Can't say that I'm totally super impressed by the story of the movie, but I agree that it has superb special effects. Its just that the characters are rather rushed by. If it can be made into a 2 and a half hour movie, spend a bit more time beefing up the characters it will be better.

Worst is Medusa... totaly computer graphic. Its not that I was hopping to see her half naked, she is suppose to be extremely beautiful when she's not shooting beams of death rays from her eyes turning people into stones. CG don't do Justice for her beauty at all. And she's not given a single chance to talk and act like she was once human. The whole scene was done in 5 minutes.

The kids wanted to make their own cakes for me and my brother-in-law who's birthday happens to be 2 days after mine.

We went to the Icing room in Compass Point. Good thing it was not that crowded yet. My older daughter quickly said that her cake will be for me. Her sister has no choice but to say hers is for their uncle.

Like all other kids before them who has done it for the first time, they are not an exception from the results...

They all are overly creative and they have no idea when to stop. In fact, they have no basic theme in the first place, which resulted in every cake being over crowding with colours and icing.

But coming from them, its the prettiest cake I've ever received.

Genting Highlands

2010-03-20T23:05:00.009+08:00

Its been 3 years since we've been to Genting Highland.

A few days before the trip, we watched the video recording of the last trip back in '07. The kids look so small and cute, Ally could hardly speak yet.

This year the Genting trip involved 11 persons of 3 families including 6 adults 5 kids, age range from 3 - 8 years old. Basically the whole trip is about them.

At 6.15am, we grabbed a cab and headed to Golden Miles Complex to catch the coach which departed at 5 mins before 7am. The journey will take 7 hours including toilet break and brunch break.

Although the kids were excited, but they soon fell asleep in the coach after we've crossed the immigration customs. The secret is their own personal comfort pillow which almost guarantee to make them sleep at any place and situation.

The first stop an hour and a half after going through the Malaysian immigration custom, was the usual popular Yong Peng, the eating place. It has many stalls selling varieties of food. One thing I have to say I'm fairly impressed is that the owner of this place really emphasized on the cleanliness of the toilet there. There is a person in every toilet, his/her job is to constantly mops and flushes the place, making sure the place has no odor at all.

Reaching the top of the mountain after half hour of upward winding road which makes us nausea and light headed. We were told that the queue to check-in was 2 hours long. We than decided to take a number and bring the kids to enjoy the indoor theme park.

The thing about going to a place like Genting, is that we have already set our mind to expect a long queue in every ride we take. The popular ones would take us 40 mins, the less popular ones would be around 20 mins. But each ride would ends in minutes, unless its those slow train rides that goes around the perimeter.

The kids have grown up, but some things still don't change yet. They still like the Merry-Go-Round. But because of their height, they now can ride something much more thrilling...

Isabel can now drive the bigger bumper car, sit in the Cyclone roller coaster, the Viking and also...

The Spinner

Its a giant spinning machine that spins 50 thrill seekers sitting on metal seats hung by metal chains attached to the top. Its the first time both of them took such ride, the moment they came down, they wanted to queue for it again. For me, I really don't have the stomach to do it twice in a row.

Dinosaur Land

There are also those slower rides for the entire family, like the boat ride in Dinosaur Land which takes you to a cave of almost total darkness putting up a display of the land before time.

Junior Bumper Car

One of the hot favorite for the younger kids. I guess its a way that to release aggression in them through a less destructive way. Bumping and knocking into each other on purpose which they are not suppose to do on normal days. Or the intoxicating thrill of having a total control of a machine making them come back for more.

Genting is a nice place to take a short break. I remember it used to be much colder than this, but this time with a clear sky... I got a sun burn.

The equipment are old some are even dirty, the attitude of the staff is lousy. But I guess with the amount of tourist pouring in everyday, the amount of cash they are raking... they would think... "Why bother?". Kids certainly aren't bothered, they are self-entertaining. Then as long as the kids are entertained, the parents would be happy too.

For the kind of price we are paying, I guess it should be considered worth the money.

Seasonal Flu

2010-03-04T09:00:00.003+08:00

When they say "Seasonal Flu" usually it means that by that time of the year, the bug will spread like wild fire and doctors will be very happy cos it bonus time for them.

Every year around this time between Feb - Apr, I'll fall sick. As I can recall, I visited the doctor last year in March, I still have the MC to show for. Again in March 08, I was down with bad cough as posted. I was even hospitalized for a bad viral reaction in April 07.

Now in 2010... it happened again. I've caught the flu from my son who got it from the new child care centre.

It took him 2 weeks to get well, it took me more than a week to be better.

For me, a flu with running nose will develop into sinus, this will develop low grade fever and headache which will not go away by sleeping or taking pills. It will become so bad that it causes insomnia. Forcing me to be drifting in and out of restless sleep.

All is well... today the headache is finally subsiding, I had a better sleep last night. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw younger looking me... ha ha

.

CNY 10

2010-02-18T23:29:00.006+08:00

One of the "traditions" that we have been doing as a family is to take a family picture on the first day of the Chinese New Year. In this way, we can all see how the children are growing, and how we are aging...

This year we have Jared, the latest addition to our family.

He is certainly the center of attention wherever he goes. Although he is having cough at the moment, but he still never failed to attract people's attention with his natural good looks inherited from his father.

Feasting is... I don't know... a good thing? It is good when its done once in a long while, but everyday for 4 days...? Not just the regular meals but also loads of the New Year goodies like BBQ Pork, biscuits of various flavors, desserts and sweets...

Gatherings and visitations are good so that we can meet up with friends and relatives whom we haven't met or wanted to meet and catch up as much as possible. We certainly don't wish that our kids grew up not knowing their cousins or without any childhood friends.

Kids in Singapore don't get to play with fire crackers. I remember when I was a kid, a neighbor of mine got his hands on some fire-crackers and we hid in his room and lighted that sucker ready to throw it out of the window, but a miscalculation caused the cracker to ignite earlier than it should. "BOOM!!!" When the smoke cleared, the expression on his face was priceless. I laughed out loud.

But now, come to think of it, anything could have happened... blown out his eyes, he might have lost his hearing... I'm glad the gov't banned it.

我的车又被 "TOW" 了

2010-02-08T09:38:00.008+08:00

It was a bright and sunny Sunday morning as we drove to church.

I dropped of my wife and kids, put the car in reverse and started to back into the road to find a parking lot. That's when I noticed people in front of me were waving frantically and pointing to the bottom of the car. The next moment... white smoke came bellowing out from under the bonnet.

I stopped the car and popped the hood. More smoke...

I looked at the car in bewilderment, not noticing the hundreds of eyes looking in my direction as me and my car became the centre of attraction in the middle of the drop-off point.

People came and started to poked their heads in it giving pro, semi-pro and not so pro advice and make assumptions of what it could be... The low oil level in the Power Steering reservoir could mean the hose has bursted $Ching$, The smoke could indicated Radiator is ripped$$Ching-Ching$$, the red oil splattered all over the floor indicated it could be Transmittal Gear Box is torn $$$Ching-Ching-Ching$$$, nothing is conclusive till I get my mechanic to take a look.

I called the tow-truck and it arrived in 45 mins. Towed it away to the work-shop with me riding in the front.

Kim Beng, my mechanic, working hard to replace a faulty part. Apparently, a hose connecting to the Power Steering Fluid reservoir came loose, the fluid sprayed onto the hot engine, vaporizing instantly causing the white smoke.

I took back the car in half an hour. Just in time to go back to pick up my family.

" I fed Jared"

2010-02-01T22:35:00.004+08:00

It's really cute... a five years old sister feeding her baby brother.

She did it only once and didn't even managed to hold him long enough to let him finish the bottle, but she'll go around telling everyone that she fed him.

Our Ah Boy drools...

2010-01-30T09:02:00.006+08:00

This is ah boy at 6.5 months old.
He is teething at this moment, and he drools a lot ( really alot, just like a leaking tap!).
Only time when he is not drooling is when he is asleep.
You would'nt believe the number of bibs i have at home... easily twenty pieces!
We got to change his bib every hourly....
The above bib was given by a close friend, it comes with a tie sew onto the bib, COOL Right!

2010-01-28T10:59:00.001+08:00

Action Games

Action Games

Found this game very exciting.
Press C to jump and V for a double jump.

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I am a Prefect... Hear me ROAR!!!

2010-01-26T09:07:00.010+08:00

Last year, probably because of her good behavior, Isabel was appointed as the class monitor. This year, she's the School Prefect.

Last week she came back with a shinning green prefect badge and a big wide grin on her face. I know its what she always wanted ever since the first time she saw her school Prefect helping teachers to maintain order in the assembly hall.

But since her receiving of the title, she is rather stressed-out. Although she is not the expressive type, but I could tell by the things that she speaks of and the anxiety on her face.

Seriously, I've spoken to her about this added responsibility, if she can take this extra challenge. She wants to do it. But I've also warned her that if I noticed any signs that says otherwise, I'll pull the plug for her.

Laughing Baby

2010-01-18T22:19:00.002+08:00

Yesterday, Jared was 6 months old.

He is a big boy now, but no matter how I look at him, it still seems only days ago that I watched him popped out into this world.

He now weighs a little over 8 kg, started eating cereal, actually loves it.
He loves to watch TV, loves to watch her 2 sisters clown around him, loves to watch the traffic out the window.

Can't wait to see him start crawling...

Jared's first dip

2010-01-04T10:14:00.002+08:00

I remember bringing Isabel for her first swim when she was 4 months old, Ally was almost 5 months if I recall correctly. Jared is coming to six months soon and has not seen a pool yet.

Isabel's first dip when she was 4 months old

Jared's first dip at 5 months old

The two had different reactions: Isabel was ok after 2 dips, but Jared was grouchy after the first.

But I know, as they grew older, the swimming pool is a “love-hate” relationship to them. They are always excited to go to the swimming pool, but they couldn’t let go of the fear of water.

My older one has become much better swimming by herself, but the younger girl still cling to me like a monkey on a coconut tree.

我的车被 “TOW” 了!

2010-01-01T17:01:00.002+08:00

There goes my car… on the first day of 2010… Towed to the workshop because the the power steering fluid leaked.

We just had breakfast at Jalan Kayu, as I was driving into the express way, I felt the steering wheels started to strain, it didn’t take long before I realized that the power steering was out and I had a hard time turning it to the side.

I stopped at a car park near Pasir Ris Park and inspected it while the kids played in the playground area. I then spotted the leaking of the fluid under the car.

My friend came soon and helped called a tow truck to have the car towed to his regular car workshop for checking.

Sigh… But thank God it didn’t happen while we were driving it in Malaysia.

Happy New Year

2009-12-31T08:31:00.001+08:00

What does the year 2010 hold for you?

Are you expecting better relationship with people? Better income? Happier than 09?

Here’s wishing everyone a happy 2010!

God Bless.

**********

Christmas is here...

2009-12-28T15:26:00.011+08:00

Christmas is of course very special to most kids...
My kids are no exception... They love the presents, the food, the gathering with other kids...

Ah Boy's first Christmas celebration.

Talk about gatherings, its amazing how women manage to keep friends from every levels and stages of their lives, as far as from primary school, secondary school, tertiary and working lives all gathering every year for all those major seasons like Christmas and Chinese New year. But now as the number of kids has outnumbered the total number of parents add together, we find ourselves meeting more often for occasions like full month celebrations and birthday parties.

Last week's Christmas weekend, I was unusually excited, reason being... I finally got the chance to pop open the bottle of red wine which I've been trying to find the right occasion to open it and share it with the other guys.

The evening started slow and quiet as the mothers are busy stuffing the kids with food they each have prepared for the pot luck feast.

The highlight for the night, beside being the gift exchange, is the violin performance by Isabel and her friend. Ally wanted to be in the limelight too, so I gave her a tambourine to create a beat for them.

We clapped and cheered for them... but the lesson I learned is at the end of the day, when I was washing up preparing for bed. Isabel came to me and asked me... "Daddy, did I do well tonight for the violin perfomance?"

I then realised, that all those cheering and clapping that she get at the end of the performance doesn't mean as much to her as the approval and praises she get from her own parents.

I gave her a big hug and a couple of kisses telling her "You did very very well, and I so proud of you."

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JB Trip

2009-12-21T10:15:00.007+08:00

We didn't get around to book a long distance tour as we planned for this holiday due to the fact that we couldn't get our leaves from work synchronised, but as we promised the girls a trip, so we booked a hotel in JB for a weekend shopping trip.

We found hotel Mutiara, formerly known as Holiday Inn, the rates are good, very accessible to many shopping areas. We like it being next to Holiday Plaza, famous for its "Home Entertainment" selections.

We checked into the hotel, and the kids were all excited about the room and the bath tub.
Normally I wouldn't allow them to jump on beds, but since we are on a holiday... so why bother stopping them.

I brought the kids to look around the hotel checking out its facilities...

The Gym is very well maintained, although it looks like it was purchased when Rick Ashely was still a farm boy.

The pool... is wet...

The children wadding pool is as big as the bath tub in the room as seen above with the 2 girls standing next to it. Besides sitting in it, there really isn't much else they could do.

At 11th floor with no other tall buildings to block our view, we can see quite far ahead from our window. But I wouldn't call this the best view I've ever seen.

The next place we headed was Aeon Tebrau, a shopping arcade with Jusco as their anchor tenant. The place is also favorite to many Singaporeans as its new and big.

We settled lunch at their Kenny Rogers.

Although the place was only less than half filled, the staffs seems to be always busy with something. Isabel has been trying to help me get the waiter's attention for quite a while before we finally placed our orders.

We did more shopping, Ally did more whining... she's only interested in the hotel room, the moment we're out shopping... even before stepping out of the hotel lobby, she's already whining to go back to the room.

Ironic thing is... I remember doing the same thing to my father when I was her age.

But the poor thing about Ally is that she has sensitive nose. She coughed the whole night when she was using the hotel pillow and quilt. The next morning, she was so tired, she had no appetite for the spread of Intercontinental breakfast buffet.

After a last burst of shopping, we checked out of the hotel and drove home.

It was a hot day. At 3pm, even the air condition in the car don't seems to beat the heat scourging through the car's windows.

Slowly but surely, we made our way through both customs and back to home.

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Dinner on Boat

2009-12-14T23:17:00.006+08:00

We had a chance to dine on the Riverboat which is docked in Mairna Bay.

The boat looks small but the interior is rather cosy.

We were excited of course… the last time we ate on a boat was on a cruise many years ago.

The boat was as stable as it can, but occasionally it still swayed to the waves created by passing by boats.

That caused Isabel to be very uncomfortable. She couldn’t eat and had to close her eyes to rest for most of the night.

We left after two hours.

Painting Room

2009-12-14T23:17:00.005+08:00

Inspired by my father, who is in his late 60s, but painted the house by himself... I spent my 2 days of leaves painting 1 room... the Study Room.

The last time I had it painted was when Ally was born. Over the years the kids have been adding a fair amount of colors and decorations with crayons, color pencils and stickers. Cleaning the walls have faded some parts of the walls.

I estimated it should take me about 6 hours without break to complete 2 coats of paint, completing before my lovely wife comes home giving her a pleasant surprise. But I did not factor in the 2 curious kids pestering me to let them help paint the room, or every 10 minutes they'll pop in and ask "Daddy are you done?", or they'll be going through stuffs that I have stored away for years.
Ya... the worst is that I under estimated the amount of barang-barang we have in there. Just imagine... it took me 4 hours to rearrange back everything the next day.

Changing the color from Lime green to light yellow

I remember using only 1 pail of 5 litre paint for the room the last time I did it. But this time as I used a different brand, it was thicker and doesn't splash back as I rolled the roller. But it also means that I am about a litre short.

By after dinner, I was only one and a half coat done... and about to be out of paint. I rush down to the shop and grabbed another 2 cans of 1 litre. By the time I declare the room complete, it was already passed 11pm.

The room looks much brighter with the fresh coat of paint.
Its not one of my best work, but the effect isn't bad at all.

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To the Zoo

2009-12-09T10:00:00.009+08:00

As I looked back, I realized that it has been a year since we've brought the kids to the zoo. I've heard of many new features added, especially the "KidsWorld" where the water play area is especaily attractive to the kids.

For the whole week, the 2 of them have been saying "I can't wait to go to the Zoo!"

We promised them games and quizes along the way to make learning more interesting, so days before, I have been doing some "research" on the net, planning a different route to hike through the zoo as I noticed that we have been going to the same route every year, seeing the same animal and missing the rest.

I copied the list of animal from the zoo's map and compiled into a list with serveral pictures inserted, printed it complete with spaces for them to do drawings.

I also looked through some website to look for quizes for them to answer.

On the morning, the kids woke up promptly and got ready. On the night before, I prayed with the kids for good weather, and God is good, the weather was very pleasnt throughout.

Upon arrival, the kids were rushing us in, running along to see the first animal. I tried to explain the rules of the quizes and the use of the compiled list of animal but they were not really listening anymore. They look like that drank Red Bull for breakfast instead of milk.

We arrived at the kidsWorld at about 11.30am, not wanting to be caught in the frantic lunch hour queue, we decided to have a earlier lunch at the only eating place there... KFC.

To keep them entertained while we went to queue for the food, the kids studied the map for the route we are to embark later.

The Water play area is the main attraction in the kidzword. At any one time, there must be close to a hundred kids splashing in the shin high water, cooling themselves in the heat of the mid day.

Everyone had fun in the area. Ally braved through many of the splashing water.

The older sister took care of the younger ones as they played along.

Ally went up the water slide 7 times

After the play area, we continued to complete the route, the kids were starting to lose interest as they were feeling tired.

We sort of rushed through the rest as we walked by the animals, stopping to view those that are really interesting.

It was an awesome day, I did my best to entertain the kids and make it fun, in the process, I think there is stronger bonding between parents and kids. Which is what its all about.

baby baby

2009-12-03T15:30:00.003+08:00

I was looking at Ally's photos when she was 4 months old baby, I realized they all have their unique features and bland of good looks

Ally blessed with a head of specially silky hair. She never look messy even in her messiest hair days.

Jared is taller than all his sisters comparing in their same months. Even his nannies in the Infant care is also saying that he is taller than babies of that age.

Ah Boy growing up

2009-11-24T10:52:00.002+08:00

This is Ah Boy Jared. Now he's 18.5 weeks growing strong.

His grip is very strong, able to hang on his own weight. I remember Isabel was able to do the same at the same age, she could hold for a full minute before losing the grip. I believe Jared has the potential to do better.

3rd in Class

2009-11-20T15:19:00.004+08:00

I don't think I've ever got top 10 in my class when I was in primary school... even for the kind of standard 30 years ago. Now, they have raised the standard of primary 1 to an astonishing level which I was kind of worried for the kids.

The first time I saw those text books and its content, I knew I would not be able to do it 30 years ago...

But I'm proud of what Isabel has achieved, being the top 3 in her class.

She scored:

English = 91 (Band 1)
Chinese = 96 (Band 1)
Math = 87 (Band 1)

Her school has an Annual prize presentation day to honor and award those that has achieved well academically. She was there to receive her trophy and a certificate of commendation.

I know I've pushed her hard before her exam with lots of past year papers printed out from the Internet, given her more attention to the point of neglecting the younger ones. But this is the payout... Somehow this trophy meant more to me than it does to her.

Ally's Concert

2009-11-10T13:12:00.008+08:00

Its amazing how 2 sisters are so different in characters and the way they think and do things even when they are brought up in the same house.

The elder sister has always been fond of dance and songs. She did her Kindergarten concert performance twice and during the weeks of rehearsal, she practised at home every night, even taught her sister the whole song and every move that comes with it, so that they can practise together.

****************

Last weekend was Ally's first performance in her school's Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony. For weeks, she has been rehearsing her dance moves in school... and only in school.

We have been trying to get her to show us the dance or sing the song but she simply refuses to do it.

Her only reply... "Watch the concert."

During the concert day, she remained calm and collected. But still she doesn't want to reveal the dance move.

When we arrived, there was already a long queue of eager parent waiting to go into the hall the watch their precious perform, we were ushered to the second floor for seating. But I sneaked out before her turn to perform and went looking for her to film her preparing for the entrance and also inform her where we are seated.

When she came out to perform, I can see that her eyes were darting here and there looking for us. When she saw us, her smile lite up her face.

She did 2 items, both of which we watched for the very first time. She did very well even without any rehearsal at home.

Outdoor movie screening.

2009-10-28T14:21:00.007+08:00

Last friday at the lift lobby, I happened to chance upon a poster that was informing of an outdoor screening of the movie "Transformer: Revenge of the fallen" over weekend at 8pm. organized by one of the local religious organization.

I thought it will be fun to bring the kids for this outdoor event, let them experience the old fashion entertainment that my father used to bring us to.

Hours before the show starts, they were already keep checking with me, reminding me not to miss the time.

As my memory for such outdoor screening is still at about 30 years ago. I remember bringing my own chair and sat in the grass field with my father watching "The God must be crazy". So I packed a foldable chair each for girl, a bag full of tidbits and a couple of water bottles.

It was a cool night...

We walked to the event location but found a huge tentage serving close to a hundred tables of dinning guests. But I don't see the screen showing the movie...
After asking a couple of guys who are completely oblivious of such things, but I managed to spot the screen in a corner behind the building.
The first thing I noticed was that its a cement floor... Then I noticed that there were chairs provided too.

I pulled a stacked of 3 chairs and found a spot not blocked by anyone, once we are settled down, girls were asked for the tidbits.

45 mins later, Ally was fidgeting... by the first hour, she was asking when are we going home.
She fell asleep half hour before the show ended.

I thought I should be able to watch the ending, but 5 minutes before it ends, Isabel said she need to go toilet.

I gave up on the movie as thought I should get a head start before the crowd starts to move. So I woke Ally up who immediately protested that she's too tired to walk and demanded to be carried.

And so I carried Ally on one shoulder and a bunch of foldable chairs and a bag of tidbits on my other shoulder, Isabel hopping by my side, keeps telling me she need to go.

All in all... its not a bad experience, if they were to show Hannah Montana or any Disney Princess movie, I'm sure the girls will be able to stay longer.

Happy Birthday Isabel

2009-10-27T12:58:00.008+08:00

As promised, we brought Isabel to Swensen for ice-cream on her birthday.

She chose her usual favorite strawberry flavored ice-cream while Ally never missed a chance to get her Sticky chocolate.

In the evening, we celebrated again at Grandparent's place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISABEL!

How fast she has grown... it seems like it was only yesterday that I watched her born in the hospital, realizing that my life is never the same again.

Now, she is half way to teen-hood, I just realised how much I missed those days when she was small and super cute... and I used to carry her and walk around showing her things. Talking to her, she would return it with a smile.

My wife asked me the other day, who do I think will get married first. I really hate to think that far. As much as I know that one day this will happen, I know more importantly is that I cherish every moment with them right now...

Flower Girl

2009-10-16T12:16:00.000+08:00

Ally has been asked to be the flower girl for a wedding last weekend. As her father, I couldn't have been more honored and proud for her.

All my 2 girls have been flower girls at least once every year for the past 4-5 years. The elder girl did her fifth tour last October and has sinced retired from it. The younger one is doing her 3rd tour this year... this will be her first solo... as in without her sister.

At the waiting area, the makeup artist did the makeup for her before she goes down for the rehearsal.

The veteran "retired" flower girl, Isabel, stood next to her and "supervised" the makeup process giving her sister tips for the performance later.

A few days ago, Ally was starting to worry because this is the first time that she is doing it without her sister. But we managed to convinced her that she'll do fine.

On the actual day, she started to have more confidence, especially after the makeup. Everybody said she is the sweetest and the most calm flower girl... very "Pro".

Now she say she wants to do modeling.

Email

2009-10-15T12:49:00.000+08:00

Kids learn fast...

We set up an email account for Isabel so that she can practice typing and structuring sentences while communicating with others in writing.

Every now and then, we will write to her or also encourage her to write to her god-mother or to my sister...

Not long after she started, she already knows some of the functions that I don't even know existed. Changing the skin, changing background, altering the fonts... She was now teaching me rather than the other way round.

Its really interest... just like if I were to pass her my PSP, she'll be passing level after level by end of the day without much instructions.

Like I said... nowadays, kids learn fast.

.

Oouch! It's painful but I Like it.

2009-10-03T15:42:00.005+08:00

It has always been Bel's wish to have a pair of earring . So, as her 7th Birthday is approaching, her 姨姨 asked if she wants to have her ear pierced as a present. And after much thought, she agreed to it.

However, when she saw the "gun".... She turn to me and said," Mommy, I very scare"!

Ally, on the other hand, is very excited. She insists that she also wants to have her ears pierced.

You can see from the above pictures on the girl's expression after the piercing.

Now, the girls can't wait to show off their ears...

Jared's First Hair Cut

2009-10-03T15:31:00.006+08:00

Lately, I notice that Jared's hairs been dropping quit a bit. And very soon he'll be bald. So we decided to have his hair shaved.

Jared is a brave boy, he is calm and composed didn't cry at all although he did protest a bit when the hairs drop onto his face.

Ally on the other hand, was shocked when the barber starts shaving Jared's hair. She thought Jared is only going for a trim! She started saying that she wants Jared's hair and within minutes, her eyes were red!

When we leave the barber shop, Ally is already crying over her brother's hair. That's how much Jared really mean to her.

Times flies even when you're at home!

2009-09-29T16:13:00.022+08:00

Life at home been rather busy with little Jared around. But I must say the bond that binds us together is beyond words can describe. Jared is now 10 wks old and weights around 6kg. He can now make vowel sounds like "a", "e", " o" ... etc
I just can't wait for the day when he can giggle out loud.

First Trophy

2009-09-25T23:48:00.006+08:00

This little girl has just won her first trophy in her life...

She was in a "Sandwich Making Contest"in school, organized by Gardenia the bread maker.

Her team came in 3rd, they each got a trophy, a loaf of bread and a $10 voucher from Popular Book Store.

They made Ham and Cheese sandwich and decorated it with Orchid and some ingredients that she couldn't name it.

She's proud of her achievement... so am I.

.

Ah Boy

2009-09-25T23:40:00.004+08:00

"Haaa the short hair Joker (Daddy) is back..."

"Who?... Me?...
You talking to me?"

"Awww... man...
Its morning again?..."

Kiddy Weekend

2009-09-14T20:25:00.000+08:00

The Weekend...

Its been such a long while since I've brought the kids out for a swim. Ever since the arrival of the little one, any extra time has been focused on him and sleep...

On the opportunity that we were invited to a birthday party in a Condo. We also geared up for a dip in the pool.

The afternoon was not hot, water was just fine.

I used my underwater camera to capture the bottom side of the water fountain. The effect was quite good.

I am so proud of Isabel that she finally mastered the frog style kick. She was able to stay afloat holding on to the board and kicking her way around the pool. If she can progress, she'll have the confident to learn swimming from a proper coach.

The second part of the evening was the birthday party. All the kids come together and played, parents catch-up on the latest.

The 4 year old birthday boy was very excited, and very fast too... knowing that other children were waiting to blow out his candles, he was much faster than them, the moment the song was done, "PUFF" out goes the flames.

The kids enjoyed an evening of toys, songs and laughter.

Baby Jared was there to enjoy the evening too. Being the latest baby, he is well received and loved by many aunties.

Auntie Poh, soon to be mother of 3, love to carry him.

Sunday...

On Sunday evening, we were at a friend's place for a gathering. Its the first time we were there, we were so amazed at the amount of toys he has for his son...

There's out door toys... A sand box, a trampoline, toy cars, water guns...

The kids had a competition of shooting out the candle using the water gun.

In door, there are sets of train tracks, racing car tracks... even the parents had so much fun playing it. Its the only time that the parents played toys and were not embarrassed by it.

Cloth Diaper part 1

2009-09-07T14:57:00.000+08:00

It has been a while since I last blog.

The past 2 month has been rather occupied for me.

Friends around me often commented that the 4 month maternity leave will be so relaxing and "shiok". Now, I'm already in the middle of my maternity leave... Relaxing? Not at all, in fact I hardly have enough sleep!

Most of my times were revolved around the baby like feeding, expressing breast milk, carrying and pacifying him and of course CHANGING him.

As you know, newborn often poo and pee as many as 15 times a day in total. In order to save cost and avoid nappy rash, I have decided to try using cloth napkin in the day and disposable diaper in the night.

But never did i know that using cloth diaper can be so time consuming.... Little Jared can pee as many as 3 time in an hour. And we got to change him each time when he wet as he will be crying aloud. My poor maid is always busy washing and drying the napkins all day long.

All this last for the past 7 weeks until my cousin introduce me a new product:

Bumgenius. It is a cloth diaper that fits all baby from newborn till 35lbs (16kg).

After doing some reading on the product, i decided to give it a try. So I bought a total of 7pcs from the US. Will write more on the review of Bumgenius after we try it out on Jared.

The thousand dollar guitar

2009-09-04T14:38:00.087+08:00

As some may remember, I was recently learning to play the guitar. I used a guitar given by a friend who has no use of it anymore. It didn't really sound fantastic, and its hard to tune, but still, I made the best use of it. And I enjoy playing it while the 2 girls sing along.

Tuning it requires a tuner, which my 2 princesses happened to break a few weeks after I bought it. They were using it to see if they can vocally produce the same chord as the guitar... somehow after dropping a few times, its a goner.

And so I was in a town and saw a guitar shop with rows of guitars on sale.

I walked in thinking of buying a new tuner, but the lady at the counter was too busy to entertain me, so I walked around the shop till I laid my eyes on the nice matt-finishing guitar. I looked at the price tag and wondered if its in Rupiah... $1488.00

The shop didn't have a sign that say "No Touching", certainly also never say "No Trying". So I picked up the thousand dollar guitar and started strumming it with my newly acquired skill.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as the sound from it made it to my ears... This guitar can make an amateur sound like a pro... it makes the one at home sound like a busted old toy guitar meant for kids. I played on, forgetting what I came here for.

I told myself: "Put down the guitar and walk away..."

With much will power, I placed it back on the stand and walked away. On the way out I thought of getting myself a nice Christmas present with a new guitar. But definitely not this one, maybe something one tenth of that price it should be good enough.

But who knows.

I walked into another shop, I overheard the conversation between a mother with the counter lady... The mother was enquiring about the cost of guitar for her daughter to start learning. To my surprise, she didn't reccommend the less then hundred type. But showed her the near 2 hundred ones.

When the mother voiced the concern of the pricey guitar. The sales girl turned to her male colleague: "How much did you spent on your guitar?" ... Reply was "$2,500.00"
Turning back to the mother, the sales girl said: "We have more expensive one, but we never display it."

It got me thinking of 2 things:
1. I wonder how a $2,500 guitar would sound like.
2. I would never buy my guitar here.
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Bicycle

2009-08-14T14:55:00.010+08:00

Only months ago I trained Isabel to ride on a 2-wheeled bicycle, which she did it with a surprising determination. Recently, I started getting Ally to start training on the 2-wheeled bicycle too.

Maybe its the age... I've asked her if she wants to learn, she gave a half-hearted answer, although she verbally said she wants to learn but she was not as keen as the big sister in this.

I held the side of the bicycle with her riding on it, ran up and down the path, round and round the open shelter, sweating like a pig, but after a while, she turned to me and asked: "Daddy, can I go to the playground now?"

She's the selfmotivated type, if she's not totally convinced, its hard to make her do it. Took me a couple of days more than I thought, but eventually she still did it.

But she'll need more time to learn to start and stop the bicycle.

Full Month Celebration

2009-08-11T16:29:00.012+08:00

Baby Jared's full month celebration... We split the celebration into 2 different Sundays; the Sunday before was with our Church friends while the following Sunday was for our relatives and friends and colleagues.

With all the noise and sound, he managed to sleep through the entire event on the first Sunday. Some say he has my nose, some say he has my wife's cheek...

But all would agree that he is very boyish looking and will be a handsome man when he grows up.

Its nice to have so many uncles and aunties come and give blessings to little Jared.

NDP

2009-08-11T14:39:00.011+08:00

Isabel seems specially anxious about this year's NDP. For me, I've watched 36 of the previous 43 parades, nothing can really surprise me any more.

But I've always admire those Red Lions Parachute team, with their thousands drops experience, the way they are able to land perfectly on the designated spot without missing an inch. Simply amazing.

Anyway, one reason that Isabel is specially anxious is that her school principle has told them that they are to participate the reciting of the National Pledge at 8.22pm toward the end of the parade. In fact the school has given a notice to all parents that we are to show "Patriotism" and set good example to the young children, and are "encouraged" to participating of the recitation of the National Pledge at that particular time.

For the whole night, she has been watching the clock...

And sure enough, at 8.22pm the parade was coming to an end and they started to lead us in the reciting of the Pledge.

At that moment of time, I had a few guests in my place. The fathers were in the living room watching the NDP while the Mommys were in the room talking about children. When the pledge started, Isabel gingerly stood up, feeling uneasy as she felt a little embarrassed to do it in front of us.

But I showed her the support by standing next to her and started saying the pledge out-loud. The other fathers started to stand and joined in while the mommys stood behind us and laughed at us.

I guessed the most important thing is to show Isabel that there's nothing wrong with showing a little patriotism.

God Bless Singapore.

Sleepless in Sengkang...

2009-08-07T16:48:00.006+08:00

Its close to a month now... still we have not had a full night of undisturbed sleep. But at most we are only complaining to each other of the tiredness that physically we are enduring. Everytime, we look at Jared's big google eyes looking back at us seemingly trying to say "Thank you for taking care of me."

All the tiredness will be worth it.

Now we have established an unspoken pattern for the night... I, who usually sleeps quite late, will take care of Jared for the earlier part of the night while my wife rests. She'll attend to him for the later part of the night when necessary.

We are of course looking forward to the time when he can play and laugh with us, cos by 6 weeks, he will develop the sense of humour and laughs at funny faces and sound which his 2 sisters are very capable of doing such nonsense.

It will be fun.

.

Can we have aircon please...?

2009-07-31T16:26:00.005+08:00

One thing about living in Singapore, a place 4 degree above the equator, is that its always warm and cosy. Sometimes a bit warmer than the other, even at night. Although I'm not a believer of Global Warming , but still the nights can be sleepless due to the heat.

So on certain nights when its really so warm that even the fan can't cool us off, I'll allow the air-conditioner turned on while they sleep. But Ally has sensitive nose and dry sensitive skin, every night sleeping in the air con room she'll end up with running nose and itchy skin. On the other end, Isabel is the type that perspires a lot, she'll always complain its very warm.

But both of them likes the nice cool feeling in the room when its switched on. So, they will conspire together to get me to agree to let them have it even on those cooler nights.

They will:
1. Splash water on their faces and neck claiming it to be sweaty.
2. Bargain with me on the length of time to have it turned on (half night, 2 hours..etc)
3. Come to us with pathetic looks, get us to sympathise them.

Recently, I implemented the "Token" system. It goes like this:
Each month, the kids are given a total of 5 tokens, if at any one time I don't agree that its warm enough to switch on the air con, they can use their token to exchange for a night of air-conditioned cool air. Provided they must both agree to have it.

Its still in the experiment stage, it should train her to use her resources wisely. Hopefully she'll learning something out of this.

Dividing Attention

2009-07-27T23:01:00.000+08:00

Since the arrival of our latest member, as parents, our attention for the kids have to be further divided. Isabel requires constant pushing to get her homework done and learn her spellings and 听写.
Ally requires coaching and spend time with her to teach her new words and keep her interest in reading.
Jared needs to be changed and fed every 2-3 hourly.

Today, as I was coaching Isabel with her homework and my wife was nursing Jared, Ally was reading her book with my domestic helper. I'm not a bigot, but I do have concerns if my children are learning their first language from someone who has problem pronouncing most of the words.

But how do we make more time for them?

2009-07-23T22:56:00.002+08:00

Its been almost 5 days since we've brought him home. Everyone is adjusting to him quite well. The 2 newly promoted sisters; Isabel is now大姐, while Ally wants to be known as 二姐, are specially excited and always crowding around him.

As for us the Daddy and Mommy, neither one of us has slept more than 6 hours straight since. Especially for my wife, although she is not new to the breastfeeding thing, but its been so many years and it takes time to adjust to its regular timing.

So far, Jared is quite easy to handle, Eat, sleep and poop... But he likes to be carried when he's awake, not just carried, must also walk and show him things. If I sit down with him, he'll give me a grouchy face.

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Baby Jared is born

2009-07-18T06:19:00.007+08:00

Since Thursday night, my wife started to have regular cramps about an hour apart. By bed time, it was half hourly.

The next morning, 10 am onwards, the contractions were 5 minutes apart. We hurriedly went for grocery shopping making sure that the kitchen is well stocked so that our helper can cook for the kids.

When the pain was 4 minutes apart, she wanted to eat Char Siew and roast pork rice. So we settled our lunch at the Food court. All these while, she was still enduring the pain.

Mid-afternoon, I drove her to the hospital, arrived at the delivery suite and got registered. But this day must have been a good day to deliver babies because, their 30 over rooms were all fully occupied delivering babies at the same time.

Near evening, we got the suite. My wife was still contemplating to use Epidural or not, she wanted to brave the intense labor pain to deliver this baby. I told her at least use the gas, it should help make it easier for her.

She said the gas makes her very light headed... very high. So I had a few puffs of it. It felt like floating in clouds...

By 6.45pm, her contractions were very close, she started to twist and turn on the bed. I did my best to comfort her, ensuring her that it will be over soon, but she don't seem to hear me anymore.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes wide and stared at me and said: "The Water-bag broke." I lunged forward and pressed the red panic by the bed side summoning professional help.

The first nurse came in and checked, U-turned back to the door and screamed at someone else who pushed in a trolley with surgical utensils. Everyone started putting on rubber gloves.

In the mist of the pain, my wife suddenly said: "I feel like pushing now!"

But the Mid-wife replied: "WAIT, wait... breath... breath... pant pant..."

My wife waited as long as she could, but when the baby head appeared, they changed the command to "GO! GO! GO!" "PUSH! PUSH!"

The other nurse by my side: "DADDY! HOLD THIS LEG! Don't let it fight with me!"

I held on to her leg and lifted her shoulder to help her push: "COME ON! ONE MORE PUSH!"
Jared had a cord around his neck, but the nurse was quick to spot it, grabbed and pulled it loose before it got tightened.

Soon, I watched the baby came shushing out, heard his first cry.

38 weeks of waiting... finally we met for the first time, face to face on 17 July 2009, 7.20pm

Our Gynae helped us take this picture.

After the ordeal, my wife felt hungry...

At 9pm, where 99% of the hospital stores were closed, I managed to grab the last 2 bowls of noodles before they started cleaning up the store.

My wife, exhausted from the pain of delivery, ate hungrily.

Happy Birthday Jared

By the way... I cut the cord this time.

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Labour may begin anytime from now

2009-07-17T10:33:00.005+08:00

Went to see gynae for the routine check last evening.

Was told that Baby Jared is ready to see the world anytime from now.

Was given MC to rest today but somehow there seems to be a lot of things for me to do before the arrival of the baby....stocking up the house with grocery, dropping by my office to clear my work/mails.....picking up baby stuff from friends...

The iPhone Experience

2009-07-11T20:27:00.005+08:00

And so the faithful day arrives... our reserved time slot was between 6pm and midnight, we know that there is a launch party from 6pm to 8pm, after which then they will start selling the first phone. Excitedly we were there and started queuing at 10:40pm thinking that by then, the crowd should be thinner and that I could just walk in and pick up my reserved phone.

But when I reached tail of queue, I saw the other side has a big crowd and some loud music going on. Curiously, I asked the volunteer walking by what queue is that? His answer sent shiver down my spine... "That is the head of the queue, is snakes around the Comcentre and the expected waiting time is around 5-6 hours long.

I told my wife to go home and rest while I embark onto this adventure myself. I will show how much I love her by allowing myself to go through the back-breaking process and get the phone of her desire... Even if I have to crawl to the sale counter, I will do it... (Like real...)

It wasn't that bad when the queue is in a single file...

It went around and disappeared in the corner... I thought to myself that its not as bad as he said.

But when I made it to the corner, I then realized that queue zig-zagged up and down the same area several times before heading to the next corner.

Almost 2 hours later, I finally got my wrist band confirming that I am purchasing an iPhone.

Along the way, there were people bringing us junk food and mineral water. I took the water but regulated the intake, I can't risk having "high-tide" while I'm alone in the queue for the next 5 hours.

At 2:40am, I reached the part of the building where the sales are going on. But there are 7 lines of zig-zag, each line is about 30 meters long before reaching the building.

By then, my back was aching and stiff, my feet were sore and tired...

In fact, everyone looked tired. Some are cussing at Singtel management that they have not exercised any control in restricting those Saturday and Sunday time slot people into the queue but allow only those who were rightful Friday time slot to have priority to purchase the phone. The fact that they let anyone who had an email printout of an reservation go into the queue has caused the long hours wait and unhappiness among the customers.

By 4am, I reached the queue number collection point.

My number was K1879...

There are 60 over counters serving at the same time, workers have been selling iPhone for the last 10 hours, the lady serving us was so tired that she mistaken my price plan and wanted to charge me $985 for the 16Gb phone. But good thing she woke up in time to realise that it should be 1/3 of that price.

Now, my lovely wife is the proud owner of the latest iPhone 3Gs

The New 3GS iPhone

2009-07-07T20:23:00.012+08:00

I am so excited today not because baby is due soon but ......my dear husband had make reservation from Singtel to buy the new 3Gs iPhone.

The news of iPhone had just been announced today. And Singtel will be having a 3 day event to launch their latest mobile phone on coming Friday - Sunday.
We managed to book the reservation slot on Friday from 6pm onwards to collect the phone. But as of now (the latest from singtel website), the reservation slots for Friday are already fully booked.

This is the phone that I have been eyeing for the past many months :)
I have requested for a White color 16G model.

The new iPhone is faster and more powerful than the old... meaning... its more powerful than any phone I've ever held.

It has Digital Compass that works like a real compass... how cool.

See the specs here :http://www.apple.com/iphone/iphone-3gs/

At present, I'm using Samsung Omnia (which will be handed over to Ric when I receive my NEW iPhone). Really nothing to complaint about this iPhone cos the features are much superior than those pocket mobile that i owned previously.

Telling Jokes

2009-07-03T10:45:00.003+08:00

We were driving home and the kids were exchanging jokes when Isabel told one that caught us off-guard and all agreed that its quite good.

Isabel: Which is more painful when it hits your head? Papaya or Durain?

Everyone was thinking: "Ah... kiddy joke... so easy..." So everyone voiced out "Durain la!!!"

Isabel: "No la...hahaha... Its your head that'll be painful...hahaha"

That got us laughing.

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Guitar Practice

2009-07-03T00:38:00.004+08:00

I'm now at the lesson 4 of the 10 guitar lessons. Due to the fact that I can't bring the guitar to office to practice, (my wife won't let me... Ha, just kidding) I had to improvise to get my practice.

So... I found this big Ricola box that has about the width of the guitar neck and drew lines on it... Whoa-la... Portable-Guitar-Chord-Practice gig.

I should patent it and start selling it to those music schools.

Begining of School Term

2009-07-01T15:32:00.007+08:00

First week of the 3rd term of school, although some children are still quarantined for travelling outside Singapore, but it doesn't mean that the traffic will be any easier.

We take the train to work, now that I'm working very near my wife's work place, I'll accompany her to and fro from her work place... which is good as she is very near due date for delivering baby. But despite looking very pregnant, she doesn't get a seat every time. At the beginning of the day, everyone will grab a seat and pretend to sleep... Ok, benefit of doubts... maybe they are genuinely sleeping. But by the end of the day, they are also sleeping while sitting on the train.

Isabel was happy that violin class on Monday was postponed because she didn't practiced enough during the holiday, and also, she misplaced her homework and is afraid to face the violin teacher. Even now till she hasn't found the person who has mistakenly took it.

Ally is different, she has no outstanding homework, no stress... just looking forward to another hours of fun, songs and dance, games and laughter.

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End of Holiday...

2009-06-24T10:53:00.006+08:00

"Isabel?"

"Yes Daddy?"

"I want you to write me a composition of what you've done this holiday."

"What? The whole holiday? But I can't remember what I've done!"

"Well, then you better start thinking, because I'm sure your school teacher will ask you to write something like this when school starts next week"

"...*grumble*... *grumble*..."

Although 30 days of holiday seems like a long time, but it passes with a blink of an eye. Sad thing is, we didn't take enough time off to spend it with them. We did what we could... stayed in a chalet for a weekend, brought them to watch movie...

Other than with us, their god-parents brought them out too... to those giant "Hamster Cage" and to Botanical Garden where they can work out their energy.

But still, I wished I had done more for them, holidays should be made used the best of it. I wasn't prepared for it... work and financially... I've seen parents either brought their children oversea for sight seeing or have prepared for them a series of enhancement classes to participate. I've only given them worksheets and spellings... something is still missing...

I guess its my full attention for them.

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Kids bowling

2009-06-22T22:39:00.002+08:00

The last time I brought them bowling was the beginning of the year, they were using the 8 pounds, throwing awkwardly into the alley.

Last Sunday, friend of ours booked a lane in Tampines SAFRA for the kids. They specially raised the buffer to block the drains so that no matter how they threw, they will score something somehow.

The kids use the lightest 4 pounds balls with 5 finger holes in it.

They each found a suitable ball but Ally couldn't fit into their smallest bowling show. But they were nice enough to let her wear her non-marking track shoes to play.

Isabel couldn't keep it straight most of the time, in the end, she actually lost the game to Ally. But of course, Ally had me to help.

It was a very nice way to spend the hot afternoon in the cool of the bowling alley, the kids enjoyed the exercise and learned a new skill.

Foot Massage

2009-06-15T21:58:00.002+08:00

I've always been giving my wife foot massage, she keeps telling me how much she likes it but I don't really fancy it myself.

To improve myself, I have to learn from the pro... so, I booked a foot-massage session in Compass Point level 4 to observe their method.

But the guy's main purpose seems to be trying to find my breaking point and enjoyed watching me endure the pain.

At first I hid my face behind the book and made faces as he squeezed a nerve. The pain shot through my body and tears flowed out o my eyes.

By the end of the session, my feet was no better and the muscles in the rest of my body was more tensed than ever.

How could anyone enjoyed such a session? What medical benefit does it help? Maybe its the way that locals do it. I remember getting a Thai foot massage from Thailand, its totally different, I fell asleep in the session.

Here, they make sure you are kept awake.

Learning Guitar

2009-06-15T21:31:00.002+08:00

Few of my friends got together and asked another friend who can play a guitar very well to teach them how to play. I got wind of it and wanted to join them.

I dropped in at their 2nd lesson but managed to catch up with them. I've always wanted to learn, but never got to do so. I got the guitar but its been sitting in the store room for years... Finally.

I never known that learning to play can be so painful. The 3 fingers were numbed for days, but I'm determined to learn it so to show the kids that they should not quit what they've started.

Meet the parents session

2009-06-05T10:27:00.000+08:00

It been a full term since Ally been to the Nursery, we, the parents are anxious to find out how she has been doing all this while. During the meet the parents session, we had the chance to find out...

The teachers told us that she as been very responsive when answering questions, could answer in Mandarin, which comes as a surprise to us as she hardly speaks Mandarin to us.

Teachers also told us that she can be quite sulky in the morning, especially the earlier part of the day, she looks sleepy and "sour-face". But not since we changed her to the 11.15am class instead of the 8.15am class. She has been happier and more active in participation.

She has a strong character, she doesn't like what she doesn't like... no compromise. Which is why she beat-up one of the boys over some issue.

Teachers who has taught her and Isabel noticed the similar mannerisms in them, even the Principle agreed on it.

But over-all she is still a good student, well received by everyone. Now I'm looking forward to watch her perform in the year end concert.

Baby Scan

2009-06-05T09:28:00.005+08:00

We did a detailed scan for the baby, confirmed the confirmation that its a boy.

In case you couldn't figure out the position of the baby, you can reference this baby they are in the similar position.

He is growing very well and is expected to be bigger than his sisters at birth.

At 32 weeks, his mommy is already complaining of the backaches and other related discomforted.

Baby is more active comparing to the previous 2, he's always kung fu fighting inside, stepping on mommy's bladder causing her to frequent the "Happy Room" more than ever.

Now I'm trying to think of his chinese name. All will be revealed soon.

Into My 30 weeks of Pregnancy

2009-05-23T10:58:00.005+08:00

WoW...I have finally make it to my 30 weeks of pregancy!
Went for my routine check and also had a growth scan done yesterday, everything seems fine according to my Dr.

Baby is about 1.5kg now. Dr says he is slightly above average in terms of length.
Both Ric and I were thrilled to see baby on the screen... kicking and moving his lips.

As for myself, I'm having lots of backache especially at the end of the day.
Been affecting my sleep too.
Do any of you have any remedy or recommendation apart from rest and massage???

Can you see?

2009-05-20T16:51:00.000+08:00

Can you see a face smiling back at you?

I saw it...

2009-05-11T22:51:00.003+08:00

The joy of playing with the kids is that I feel young again...

We were at the Pasir Ris Park...again... the kids played from station to station. In the park there is a maze where I coordinated a game of catching with them.

I made up rules as we go along... they followed obediently. The game was simple but they had fun complying to my silly rules. But the thing is, it made me feel like a kid again. Chasing them or being chased by them, it made me forget about who I was. No longer adult, but an over-sized, over-aged kid.

************************************************

To prepare for the soon coming Prince, we have bought a bunker bed for the Princess. It arrived over the weekend, and as soon as it was fixed up, the kids helped to wiped it down and quickly placed the mattresses on it.

The exciting part of course is to climb up to the higher deck. Isabel was the appointed one to be sleeping above had the chance to climb first.

But new furniture comes new problem. We realized the fan's position can't satisfy both of them, one of them is always getting lesser share no matter how we tried.

So either we have to buy an extra fan or let them have the air con through the night.

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Waking up

2009-05-09T23:24:00.000+08:00

As I have mentioned earlier, it has never been easy to wake Princess Ally in the early morning...

Even when she does get off the bed...

"DON"T ON THE LIGHTS!!!!!"

"I CANNOT OPEN MY EYES...!!!"

After much struggle, she finally puts on her uniform. But...

"I want to sleep..."

""I don't want to go school..."

I remembered how I dealt with Isabel when she was that age and needed motivation, I came up with a chart.

Using the same method, I drew a similar chart for Ally, letting her participate by letting her drew and colored on it.

The idea of the chart is to move the flower forward a step whenever she has been good and behaving in the morning, but move it back when she's not.

There will be rewards along the way when she reaches certain point of the track, if she makes it to the end of the track, a bigger reward will be given.

On the first day, she woke up with enthusiasm, brushed her teeth and sat at the dinning table waiting for her breakfast.
But the second day...

Mommy had talked to the school to see if its possible to let her change to the later session, after all, going to school should be a happy thing for her age. Really don't want to traumatize her now.
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Housework, is it just plain common sense?

2009-05-06T13:22:00.003+08:00

I'm on leave for the past 1 week, but not enjoying myself at all :(

Been training my new helper, Auntie R, who has just arrives from Indonesia last week. Training someone does require a lot of energy, mental strength and most of all, PATIENCE! I felt more tired at home these few days than at work.

Not only that i realise language is a barrier, there is also social and culture differences when housework is concern.
I used to think that doing housework is just common sense.
I don't remember LEARNING to do housework when I'm young.
Mum pass me a broom and I'll just sweep. But i do believe "Practice make perfect".

I have learnt to break down each task to very very simple instruction.
Each sentence must not be more than 5 words, if not she will give you the very blank look again. Our conversation rely a lot on dictionary.... pictionary....my basic malay that i've pick up from work....etc

On day 1, I gave her a note book.
I insisted that she must write down all the instructions.
Because, my past experience tells me that "their" favourite words is "I forget".
I can guarantee that even with writing down, they will still not remember but at least she knows where to refer to it. And to avoid misunderstanding, always make her repeat your instruction again before she proceed with the task.

Because of my background as a nurse, we are taught in nursing school to plan and organise our work. There is a rationale for every step that we do. Nurses are trained to multitask too, so that make it harder for Auntie R to catch up to my standard (well, this is according to my husband, although i don't quite agree).

Though she may be slow in her work, but she does have a good attitude.
I believe with proper training, she will do well.

Tomorrow is my last day of intensive training. After that, will be followed by a day training with "Sir".

For once, I'm looking forward to go back to my work :0)

The Arrival...

2009-05-03T15:16:00.002+08:00

Eh... Its not the baby yet... that will be another 3 months plus. I'm talking about our new domestic helper.

After weeks of waiting for all their government to process her passport and other necessary approval, she finally arrived.

Ally immediately took liking upon seeing her, Isabel has been quite immune to the presence of them and has shown indifference to her.

So far, she has shown initiative with the work and has been relating quite well with the kids. Most importantly her attitude has been good.

Hopefully she can fulfill her 2 years and beyond.

Culture Unplugged Video

2009-04-24T16:33:00.002+08:00

This film is about the hunger and poverty brought about by Globalization. There are 10,000 people dying everyday due to hunger and malnutrition. This short film shows a forgotten portion of the society. The people who live on the refuse of men to survive.

What is inspiring is the hope and spirituality that never left this people.

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Be patience and view the entire show.

35 degrees Celsius

2009-04-23T23:42:00.005+08:00

I had no idea that it was that hot that day, if I'd knew, I would have stayed at home and played computer game in the air con room.

We went to the pool, but before we reached, we were already almost burnt. The pool was crowded but cool. The main attraction for the kids is the water-slide playground. Isabel has always been afraid to go on the kiddy slide, it took me a while before she agreed to slide down. After that, she found it so fun, she almost went on the second time... almost.

The interesting thing about the day was after lunch when we saw MacDonald was having a grand opening. They were inviting kids to have a kite painting competition, its just the kind of things that kids like.

We didn't win any prizes, but the fun of doing it together was memorable.

But its more fun flying it.

Watching the kite get picked up by the wind, floating higher and higher towards the sky, it was nice. The sun beating down onto our skin was really hot, but we didn't mind. We just watched in amazement that our little paper kite that properly cost $0.20 could fly so well and easy.

Its been years since I've flew a kite. This could be my new hobby.

2009-04-19T17:15:00.001+08:00

Isabel and Ally will be having a brother soon!!!!

If only I could put my big wide smile on the screen for you.

.

Happy Birthday to me

2009-04-13T23:50:00.004+08:00

Yup... Its official... I'm now 25 for the 13th times...

My lovely wife conspired with the kids, to come up with a simple but yet pleasantly surprised birthday celebration for this young man.

I was in the study room when Isabel came in excitedly with a blindfold requesting me to put it on, she then held my hand and led me to the dinning table, where they off the lights. From the kitchen, they brought out the cake with a single candle.

Ally looks so cute presenting the present to me...

This gift was a set of Perfect Push up specially shipped in from USA by my wife, arriving only hours before. I was very surprised as I didn't expect this at all, I guess my wife have noticed me checking its website after I told her that someone we know have been using this product with noticeable result.

I plan to go on special diet and keep a strict fitness regiment to get fit again with this new toy.

Wish me luck.

Chalet 09

2009-04-07T21:53:00.003+08:00

Since our maid has gone home, and while we're still waiting for the replacement to arrive, everyone has to do their part around the house. Isabel has helped with sweeping the floor... although I usually have to do a follow-up sweep, but at least she did her part.

**************************************************

During the last weekend of the school holiday, (ok... I'm a little slow with the updating) we rented a chalet as we got ticket to enter the Theme Park and Wild Wild Wet in Downtown East for that weekend.

On Friday, we brought the kids to the Explora Kids, which, on any other day it would have cost us a bomb just to let the kids play in it for 2 hours. But today we got coupons.

We entered the hall filled with hundreds of kids crawling in a giant hamster cage. The girls quickly disappeared into the massive structured bellied with screaming, laughing kids. I walked near it, I could see children with sweaty hair, running nose, sticky skin... squeezing past each other with strange mutual understanding. It has a cultural that only kids understand.

In the Theme Park, the Viking is Isabel's favorite, I have no fancy for this swinging boat, but since my lovely wife is in the mid of the pregnancy, I have to stand-in for her and sit with Isabel as she is under the height limit.

As the boat swings higher, I'm being reminded how much I disliked being in it. But nonetheless, I sat up stiffly and braved through the ride with a big smile for the camera.

After lunch, before I could fully recover the energy, the kids are asking to go to the Wild Wild Wet. The sky was dull and heavy with cloud, I could even hear distant thunder... But not to disappoint the kids since we were on a holiday, I got them ready and headed for the fancy pool.

The place was super packed with families laying floor mat and sitting on every inch of the floor at the pool side, we took off our shoes but the floor felt so yucky to step on.

Every float has been snatched up, I went to a kid, took his float while he turned away from it for a moment.

We didn't play for long as the thunder was getting too close, and the life guard started to get the people off the pool.

That night, the kids were exhausted, took them few seconds to be knocked out completely.

As long as they are happy, I'm happy too.

.

Book Review

2009-04-05T11:40:00.000+08:00

This is not the first time John Grisham has written a story that doesn't involve any lawyer. His other non-law related work, "Skipping Christmas", "Bleachers" and "The Painted House", all received good reviews from fans.

Although his work has mostly based on law and lawyers, Playing for Pizza is surprisingly a good read. It caught my attention and didn't let go as I turned the pages.

The characters are very believable, emotions setting are in the right place and the situations that our hero got himself in are very plausible.

I especially like the way he described the Italian food... I almost can taste it in my mouth and I definitely have the urge to sink my teeth into a Prosciutto and Tortellini.

Other than the rather brief and undefined ending, I give this book 4 stars for its good pacing and creativity in the story.

Earth Day

2009-03-30T09:40:00.004+08:00

A week before, I have already heard of the Earth day, the day is aimed to promote awareness of the low energy sources that we are tapping on, threatening the existing of future generation.

On Saturday night, I have planned to switch off the lights and teach the kids about the reason of such act.

We went out for dinner and were back by 8.35pm. I told the kids we are not going to on the lights... I received mixed reaction. Isabel was excited about the change, but Ally kept shouting "I DON'T LIKE EARTH DAY! I WANT ON THE LIGHTS!!" she was afraid of the dark...

I insisted to carry on with the exercise, lighting up few candles in the house. The first 10 mins was very difficult as my eyes was adjusted to the dark, I began to appreciate the benefit of having light in our home. Without TV or computer and Internet, I almost couldn't make it through the hour.

As we sat around the dancing flame, I began to explain the rational behind this, but they are more interested in the flame than what I had to say.

Do more for the earth by ::
1 ) Switching off all lights before vacating your office each day

2 ) Shut down your computer at the end of the day

3 ) Switching off electrical devices at source (power sockets), instead of leaving it on standby

4 ) Use energy-efficient appliances (look for the energy efficiency labels)

5 ) Recycling

6 ) Reuse (the plastic bags that you have)

7 ) Reduce the resources that you utilise (bring your own bag or container)6 ) Travelling by public transport instead of by car/taxis

Bye-Bye Fitril

2009-03-22T17:04:00.003+08:00

2 years ago, when our previous maid went back to her hometown, the succeeding maid took over the duty of helping us with the domestic chores.

She started with minimum vocab of English, we hardly understood each other, sometimes I had to act out the instruction. But now she speaks fluent English with her favorite phrase: "I don't know..." used no less than 500 times in the last 2 years.

Actually, she is one of the most trustworthy maid we have ever hired. Humble and good help, good-natured with a good servant-hood mindset.

We have been persuading her for months to convince her family to let her stay and work for another 2 years. She wanted so much to stay, but apparently they have other plans for her.

And so... on 19th March 2009, 6am in the morning, she started her voyage home. Ally woke up early to send her off.

My wife gave her instructions of how to get to the departure gate.

Group Hug.

Ally has always been her favorite, she gets all teary eyes saying good-bye to her. But Ally wasn't crying at all, she just smiled and waved and said good-bye.

"Ma'am, Sir... I want to thank you for letting me work here for the 2 years... (sob...sob) I very happy here...(sob...)"

God bless her, I pray that she'll have a good life ahead, maybe one day she'll be back to work for us again.

I certainly wouldn't mind... not at all.

.

Botanical Garden

2009-03-11T23:00:00.003+08:00

Sunday.

We and a few of the parents gathered and brought our kids to the botanical garden, a time of getting closer to the nature, and also for the kids to work out those extra energy.

Its been a while since we've been here... The evening was warm and very humid with almost no wind. The kids were already perspiring even before reaching the spot.

Near our picnic area is an old tree, it didn't state how old it is but I've seen many local TV series were filmed with this tree as a backdrop.

The kids climbed up the huge branch with ease, but getting down is always a problem.

Kids... everyone is so full of potential...

Parents pot-lucked and compared cooking skills while the kids and Daddies gorged on the goodies.

Bubbles have always been able to draw a crowd of kids. Something about it that seems magical to them.

There is a Swan Lake in the garden, kids wanted to go feed the swan and fishes. But most of the time I'm worried about them falling off the unprotected edge.

Its game time... Ally and Isabel did their best and everyone had fun.

Morning Fights

2009-03-04T14:10:00.004+08:00

I guess the excitement has finally worn out...

Nowadays, Ally don't like waking up and be all excited for school.

She'll be screaming and crying when my maid tries to wake her at near 7am. She'll start with saying that she's tired... if anyone persistently tries to wake her, she'll start to scream... If she's being forcefully picked up, she'll kick... If anyone switches on the light... earthquake will occur.

It gets urgent as time draws near to the school bus pick-up time. My maid will have no choice but to pick Ally up and carry her to the bathroom. That's when she'll really kick and scream... That's usually when I step in.

After a few days of such dramatic mornings, I decided to wake her up myself. Its not that the maid is not efficient, but rather, I don't want her to develop the habit of bullying the maid.

I can't say that I have better luck than the maid, but I know Ally will give me less trouble.

During the last few days, I have tried many ways to wake her with less hassle. I tried singing the "Good Morning" song but I got the pillow-over-the-head respond, I tried tickling her but I got a flying-sick-kick-in-my-rib respond. I've tried doing silly things to make her laugh, this works quite well but the initial struggle is still unavoidable.

Finally, I developed a massage-till-awake method which gives the best result. The theory came to me as I realized that after sleeping in a position for so many hours, its hard to move the muscle. So by massaging, it helps the blood circulation and reduces irritation for waking up. Also it a more gentle way of gaining consciousness.

The beautiful thing about her is that there is a point where she'll suddenly be awake and all the nonsense will stop... almost all. I guess its when she is fully conscious and is ready to go to school.

The Violinist

2009-02-24T23:31:00.003+08:00

Isabel started her violin lesson 2 weeks ago

I remember when I was a primary school kid, it was compulsory to buy a "Recorder". A flute like musical instrument that cost $5 from the Emporium departmental store. Teacher would teach us to play music with it.

I would play annoying sound from it, but as I practiced more, it gets more annoying...

But now Isabel is in primary 1, she has chosen violin lesson as her CCA. This is partly due to seeing her cousin perform on the stage once.

I'm not sure what she wants to achieve, but if she's interested, of course i won't stop her. Although right now, she is more interested in show off her violin than to practice it.

Her practice may sound annoying now, but I believe she should have more talent than I do.

Happy Birthday Ally

2009-02-14T22:44:00.002+08:00

Ally has watched her big sister celebrated her birthday in school twice, now its finally her turn.

She just celebrated her 4 year old birthday with her new friends in the Nursery Class of the schools Isabel used to attend.

The teacher-in-charge told us to be there by 8.55am in time for their recess. We were on time, but the class came down early, they were already seated and ready to eat. Later in the afternoon, Ally told me that she wanted to cry when she didn't see us at the eating area.

We came and placed the cake in front of her and the teachers gathered the children for photo taking followed by singing the birthday song.

Isabel came with us as she's attending the afternoon class of Primary 1. The Principle of the SKMCC was so glad to see Isabel, and so was Isabel coming back to her favorite place.

Ally being a good host started to serve all the rest of the children. She likes all the attention, the sing song and blowing candles, but she doesn't like to eat cake.

That night we brought her to Swensen for the one thing she can't resist... Ice-Cream. Especially chocolate ice cream.

Happy birthday Ally, I wish you good health and happiness.

God Bless.

Chinese New Year

2009-02-04T23:56:00.003+08:00

Well... Happy belated Chinese New Year to all you beautiful people out there.

This year I must admit that the atmosphere has not been as good as the last year's. But none-the-less, we still decorate the house and do what we chinese do during the period so to instill the traditional ideas into the young minds of my 2 girls.

Isabel is more aware of the value of the red packets that she's receiving this year, its little Ally that would leave them here and there instead of keeping it properly. I think she lost a couple of them by the end of the 2 days.

Chinese new year is all about visitations, respecting the elders, gathering of old friends... Although in Singapore, there isn't as much tradition as the Chinese in China, but we are coming up with our own like the 捞鱼生 thingy which is nowhere to be found in the world.

I hope that everyone will see to it that our next generation will not lose touch with our root.