3 million a year

Today is a special day! We attended your Uncle's (Papa's cousin) wedding in the afternoon and then in the evening, I attended your Granduncle's (Ah Mah's brother) 50th wedding anniversary celebrations. Alone. Didn't bring you along for the dinner because you were not well.

Anyway, it's not everyday that you get to attend both a wedding and a 50th wedding anniversary celebration.

This afternoon, when the solemniser pronouced them " man and wife ", I started protesting!

Mummy: "What? man and wife? Why not husband and wife? You mean the man can continue to be a man while the woman must become a wife? / Papa: *grinning* Of course! Mummy: WHAT THE **** ???

By the way, there must be hope in this conspiracy... Hallmark has recorded selling almost 3 million 50th wedding anniversary cards in a year before.

Making Pizza

Snitched this photo off A's blog. I didn't take any. Anyway, this is what we did today - make pizza! Basically we prepared the ingredients (cheese, pineapple, peas, ham, sausages and cherry tomatoes) and you little ones put them together.

You had your fingers burnt by the oven tray. You didn't listen when I told you not to touch it. I was so angry with you! Started scolding you for not listening to me whilst rushing you to the sink so that I can put your hand under the tap. Luckily, you were not hurt badly. Your fingers didn't get cooked and there weren't any ugly blisters. *Phew!*

Which reminds me. I was having a chat with your Papa about 'finger foods' when we noticed you looking intently at your own fingers. When you licked one of them, we fell out of our chairs laughing!

Mousing around with Papa:

Safra Toa Payoh Indoor Playground

Good place to go if it's raining and it was raining today!

Rates for non-peak hours, which are weekdays between 1-6pm are $2 for members and $3 for non-members. Rates for peak hours (weekends/PH) are $3 & $5 respectively. Socks are compulsory.

So today, we spent $3.20 on the ticket, $2.50 on socks, $3.50 for a plate of mushroom omelette with fries and $6.40 for parking. Yikes! That's $15.60 in total!

Playgroup Trial

Duh, happily sent you to this playgroup trial this morning without knowing that we had to pay $30 if you don't sign up. Their fees are $275 per month for a 2.5 hr session 5 days a week.

It goes like this: Warm up/ play with toys in the room/ keep them - Gym - Story time - wash hands/ eat/ clean up - art and craft - flash cards/ music - wear shoes/ go home.

I think you enjoyed gym tremendously and also the noodles...you asked for a 3rd helping and I had to stop them from giving it to you. The rest of the time was a complete disaster. 6 toddlers in a room. All with minds of their own. What a nighmare!

So, goodbye $30!

NTU

Bing Yang goes to the Nanyang Technological University! Snapped a photo of you seated on the steps of the Chinese Heritage Centre.

We must show this to Ah Mah when she comes back from her holiday in China. Chey, no need go all the way to china to see chinese architecture. Singapore also got!

Memory Game

We tried this online game and after a couple of rounds, you caught the gist of how it is meant to be played and we would play like half a dozen 'easy' and half more dozen 'medium' games before I lose patience and shout for someone to come along and take you away so that I can continue working on my laptop.

Bought this box of Thomas the tank engine memory cards for you - found them in Peter Jones. Verdict? The online one is better for my sanity. There's no chance of you losing any online cards and I don't have to crawl under the bed to get them back for you.



Just found out there are like 103 different Thomas the tank engine and friends characters!

I also bought something from Hamleys for you - the Thomas AquaDraw. It's really interesting. All you do is fill the roller with water and draw the rails on the mat. The engine will automatically follow the railway tracks. Quite fun. Just that you have no patience for it to find his way back when it goes off track. You'd physically lift Thomas up and slam him back down to wherever you think he should be. We fear for his senses...i mean, sensor. (",)

Day Out with Thomas

August 2008. We'd be there!

Housing dilemma

We resumed our home search this weekend and saw 6 apartments on Sunday alone.

Asking prices ranged from $520K for a freehold unit at Ballota Park to $1.7mil for an astonishing beautiful 3 bedroom sea view unit at Makena along Meyer road.

Your dad liked the one in Bedok Court. Asking price is $680k. It's huge, has 3 bedrooms, a huge courtyard, 2 balconies and full facilities. But it's also more than 20 years old, in original condition and on a 99 year lease. Even if we could negotiate it down to $600k, cough up the 20% for downpayment, we still need to find another $60-100K to make the place liveable.

So how?

I came up with an idea that'll "bring the house down" literally. Can we extend our living space by building a 4th floor on top of your grandparents 3 storey terrace house? That way, we'd get space for another 2 bedrooms and maybe also a roof terrace (hopefully lightning proof) for BBQs and it wouldn't cost us more than $100k to do that.

How's that?

Buy money!

BY: Got money?
Mummy: No, no money.
BY: Mummy! Buy money?
Mummy: ???!?

Hmm...how to buy money?
Buy toto lor!
Aiyah, how else?
Spent $4.50 yesterday betting.
Eyeing today's $1.5 mil pot!

(",)

A dry diaper!!!!!!!!!!!

You kept your diaper dry through the night! A first!

Snapshots

A poem

My Little Butterfly

I saw you yesterday in the woods
Fluttering here are there
I turned and walked the other way

You caught up with me
And teased me with your bring and colorful wings
I continue to walk

It became a game
But I knew you were not far behind
You played while I walked

We've had brief conversations
I told you the world wasn't kind
You laughed and so I thought you'd stay

Then today I was stopped and told to look around
Far away, I saw your wings on the ground
I didn't know I had left you behind

I'm sorry my little one
I never meant to walk on without you
And I hope you had not thought so

I would have carried you
Or given you my shoulder to rest on
It's true

And so I pray
I will see you again
Someday in someplace nice

Check this out!

Potty Training? Nah! No need!

About a week ago, you indicated that you didn't want to wear your diapers. Ah Mah said ok, and told you to tell her, if you wanted to shee-shee or poo-poo so she can bring you to the toilet. After a couple of days with some minor accidents, you're now in perfect control! There are no more strange puddles to be found in the house for the last couple of days. Hurray!

Now, you only need diapers when you go to sleep or when we bring you out. You're so good at it that yesterday, when you came out of the toilet and announced to everyone that you had just 'shee-sheed' once again in the toilet, nobody bothered to cheer, clap and dance or give you big hugs and kisses and loads of praise. Hahahah. It's terrible. We adults are really a hard lot to satisfy.

Am really proud of you. You just decided when you didn't want diapers all by yourself. No training required!

*MUAK!*

Train Birthday Cake

This is a very lazy way of making a 3D train cake. Bought 3 Sara Lee pound cakes and a tub of Betty Crocker ready made chocolate frostings. Started cutting and shaping the pound cakes into a train and slapped a layer of frostings all over it. Was not very good with the frostings. The cake had a lot of details that were lost after the chocolate went over it. Overall, it was still very impressive to you and you loved it! Kept checking to see if it was safe on the front seat while on the way to Spizza for dinner. The eyes and nose, made with mini oreos and smarties were happily eaten up by the birthday boy...(",)

Another stay at the hospital.

18/08/2006
Originally uploaded by eggsnchicks.

3 nights, 19 ventolin nebulizer +3 chest physiotherapy sessions & $2,293.36 later, you are back home and on your feet.

Doctor says you had a severe asthmatic attack. Not much more information is given. We ask how do we prevent you from getting another? The answer is, we have to see if you have any future attacks in order to predict the pattern or cause. Wha piang. No way my little old man!

I bought a book called 'What your doctors may not tell you about children's allergies and asthma - simple steps to help stop attacks and improve your child's health'

On the home front, we got plenty of advice. Eat crocodile meat! Don't eat anything cold, no ice-creams, any cold drinks with ice, even fresh milk from the refrigerator!. No oranges, limes, bananas or pomelo. No swimming in the mornings and must make sure you are chest deep in water if you do go in the afternoons. No catching chills, meaning no bathing with cold water, make sure you are not in sweaty clothes when there's wind, no cottony pillows, bolsters or comforters in the bedroom. Oh, 1 tsp of bird's nest daily and go see a chinese physician for more advice and nourishing concoctions like chinese pear soup with "chuan pei" and lean meat.

We're going to do EVERYTHING we have to. It's really not much fun seeing a little boy so exhausted by wheezing, he falls asleep sitting up, on the couch.

Child's Pose

14/08/2006
Originally uploaded by eggsnchicks.

Stones rock!

Sentosa Island

08/2006
Originally uploaded by eggsnchicks.

Mummy: Wha...I was just pointing out to Yinglin how well endowed that teenager in the skimpy bikini is when she started talking to Bing Yang!
Papa: Ya... and she adjusted his pants somemore. You didn't put it on properly for him.
Mummy: What? Waaaaaaa...he's starting young hor?
Papa: You mean he can attract big breasted ladies arh? better than his papa huh?
Mummy: Ya lor.
Papa starts laughing..***eh? wait a minute!*** Mummy starts pounding Papa with her two fists!!!

Another weekend

08/2006
Originally uploaded by eggsnchicks.

I quite enjoy bringing you out alone nowadays.

You seated safely in the car seat and me driving. For some reason, when otherwise you would have screamed, kicked and cried murder, you don't protest being buckled down when it's only just you and me in the car.

It's usually a very short drive, to somewhere with lots of space near our house.

Last friday evening, it was to the club. We had some sort of a conversation on the way there and back and you enjoyed the jaunt on the putting green, wedging your head between 2 chairs and watching the big guys swing their clubs in the driving range and playing catch with a seven year old boy in the indoor playgound.