I Try To Sing

Dear all, today, I am another week older. You see, I was born on a Tuesday and so every Tuesday marks another week of life. :) Papa started today by holding me in a standing posture with his arms and telling me that he is very proud of me as his son. Well, I am too young to appreciate such affirmation. I actually wanted to go do something else instead. Mama hopes that when I am older and can understand the weight of this sentence, Papa will say it again to me. :)

Before you carry on reading, please do not be disappointed that there are no pictures nor videos, just plain text. 

Today, I did something that amazes Mama. Remember I love to watch Hi-5? Actually, I am only interested in their opening and closing theme songs. So Mama actually recorded on video the opening songs and closing theme songs for the past few months. She has about 25 minutes duration of songs to keep me entertained when she needs to attend to some chores like fill my bath tub. 

This afternoon, while she was on Facebook (yah, not much of a chore), she left me in my UFO and turned on the video for me. My current favourite song is about Growing Up and it is about wanting to be like "you" when I grow up. Ok, who is this "you", the song didn't really make clear but anyway, there is this line that says," Up, Up, Up, Up, Up.."

Mama has seen me smile when I watched the video of this song. So this afternoon, when I was watching the video, as the singers were about to come to the part of "Up, Up, Up, Up, Up", I actually started saying "Ah Ah Ah Ah Ah". When Mama heard this for the first time, she didn't think much of it. But she became more excited as she realised that I may be trying to sing. She quickly sent 2 text messages to Papa describing what has happened. Other than that, she didn't display much affection nor excitement towards me for my newly developed talent. 

When Papa viewed the video with me later in the evening, I did it again. Mama is very impressed as this means I have registered the tune in my head and know when the singers are coming to the part. The only thing is, I seem to sing it just before they do. But there is no mistake that I only say my "ahs" when the singers are almost at that part and not at other parts of the song. By the way, this song is kind of new to me. Mama just recorded it last week and I have certainly heard other Hi-5 songs many more times but somehow, this is the one that I started trying to "sing along".  

Another interesting thing that Mama observed. Remember I have a book entitled Jesus Loves Me? Mama used to sing the song to me with the lyrics in this book but she has not done it for quite some time. Recently, I seem to have rekindled my interest in this book and Mama has been singing this tune to me again. Today, Mama observed that I actually opened the book on my own and started tapping my thigh as if she was singing it to me when in fact, she was trying to send a message on her hp to her friend and leaving me alone.  

Another observation some time ago, I may fast be becoming like the youths of the day. Nowadays, youths are usually plugged in to some music playing device such as MP3, ipod, etc. It seems like they need to be constantly surrounded by music. I also know how to turn on the music in one of my toys and enjoy the tune it plays even if I am busy playing with some other toys. Mama has observed this and there were many times when I would press the button on the toy and the tune will start playing and I will start to tap my hand on my thigh. 

Maybe Mama and Papa should try to groom me in the area of music? ;)

(ps : Hi-5 only has one theme for each week and so even though Mama has been recording for the past 2 months or so, she doesn't have many different songs and some songs are actually repeated.) 

My Play Corner

Hi all, 

This is the play corner Papa set up for me. Actually, it's more of an area for Papa to contain the mess that I create when I play. One of my main play activity now is to take a toy out from my big plastic container, examine it for a couple of seconds, decide it's no longer worth my attention and toss it away. So you can imagine my toys are thrown all over the place and this mess will stress Papa out especially when he comes home after a tiring day of work. Mama is more relaxed about this as she tolerates mess better. She will usually wait until I am done for the day before clearing up the mess as she reasoned that I will mess up the place again if she just clears up immediately after me...

I am 14 months old

Dear all, this week, I turned 14 months old. I am now able to curl my fingers at my own will and I can bid you farewell in this manner. I am also more interested in touching my food. When Mama feeds me, I will grab the feeding spoon and try to feed myself. This has been happening on and off for a while but Mama observed this week that I like to grab the spoon near the part where the scoop is and I will try to touch the food with my thumb, kind of do it sneakily, you know, as if I touched the food by accident. 

Initially, Mama didn't like this as I will get myself messy but now, she allows me to continue with this behaviour so that I can feel with my fingers what the texture of my food is like. A few times, I actually ate the food that is on my hand by placing my food-stained hand to my mouth and eating from my hand. Would you call this self-feeding? Mama thinks it is...

I am now more "chatty" and I babble more. I can say Papa and Mama and mum mum but Mama is not sure if I mean it or these are just meaningless chatter to me. There was one morning when I woke up, walked to my parents' room and when I saw Papa still sleeping, I went up to him and called him Papa. At other times, I can babble to myself saying pa pa pa pa even when Papa was working in his office.... and so, my parents are not decided if I do mean it when I say my Papa and Mama. 

Another thing that pleases my extended family is that I am able to respond to their "who is" question. For example, if you ask, "Who is Daniel?" I will pat myself on my chest a few times.  I can also respond if you ask me the same question in Mandarin. In fact, I first learnt to respond in Mandarin as that was how Mama "taught" me but Aunty Cheyanne tried it out in English and I proved that I can respond in English too!

Actually, Mama didn't really teach me to respond. Rather, she "tagged" me to respond. You see, there were a few mornings when Mama was drying me after my bath when I started to pat myself on my chest a few times. Mama noted it's something new but didn't pay too much attention until one day, she saw me patting myself again and so she asked the question,"Who is Daniel?" in Mandarin. I continue to pat myself and Mama said."That's right." So you see, Mama just tagged on to my natural development and I soon learnt that this is the "right" way to respond when the question of "Who is Daniel?" is asked. The funny thing is, maybe I only learnt the "who is" part and so every question of "who is" will be answered with the same response.

 Eg, if you ask," Who is Papa?" and I will pat myself. Who is Mama?  I pat myself. Aunty Cheyanne asked," Who is Goh Chok Tong?" Again, I patted myself. This "who is" business can go on for a while until I decided I have better things to look at rather than address the identity problems that my folks have.  But Mama and Papa noted that I am a good-natured boy because whatever I am doing, be it examining a toy, on my way to somewhere, as long as they ask me the " Who is" question, I will stop and respond to them. Mama read that boys do have selective hearing and maybe this is a question I have chosen to answer. Haha. ;p

Talking about on my way, I can now walk quite a bit. It probably takes less than 10 seconds for me to walk from my room to my parents' room. This week, I seemed to be regressing in my walking though. Mama observed that I was walkign pretty well last week but this week, I seem to stop more often as I would fall after taking a few steps. Not to worry though, I have learnt to lean forward and break my own fall by using my hands to support my body weight and so I don't really end up falling. Mama wonders which area am I progressing in since I am regressing in my locomotion.

Could it be because I am teething? I now have 2 upper front teeth and 2 lower front teeth and 2 more teeth are cutting through next to the front teeth on my lower gum. By the way, I do have a very strong bite. On a few occasions, Mama was bitten by me when she tried to feed me using her fingers. Boy, I do leave very deep marks when I bite. There was once Mama's finger was bitten by me and there was a small puncture the size of a full-stop (.) on Mama's finger. It was a" red full-stop" because Mama's finger bleed a little after the bite. 

This week, I have stopped my screaming which almost drove Papa up the wall. You see, Papa likes peace and quietness. But I was trying to express myself with my newly developed high- pitched scream and this upset Papa. Mama tried to assure him that I wasn't throwing a tantrum, just trying to make myself heard. Aunty Siew Lan also advised that Mama and Papa will just have to keep telling me it is not right to scream and wait for me to grow out of it. Hopefully, I have outgrown it. 

Last week, Papa and Mama had a heated quarrel. I witnessed it and guessed what did I do? I didn't cry but I took my green storybook titled "Jesus Loves Me" and gave it to Mama. Mama sang the verses in the book for me using the tune "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" and it brought a few tears to her eyes and some encouragement to her too. Don't you think it's so sweet of me?

Ok, thanks for reading so far. It's my sleeping time.. See you again.. :)  

My Durian Hairdo

hi all, this is my latest hairstyle which shows me not having much hair nor style. Mama decided to take me for a haircut after she observed that Papa seems to have no intention to bring me along for his own haircut as he did not say anything when she mentioned to Papa about bringing me for a haircut.

 As a result, she brought me for a haircut herself. Yes, she thinks it's rather short and now, my hair looks like durian spikes when I am wet with perspiration. Papa thinks I don't look good with my new haircut as it is too short. He told Mama that there are some fixed styles for a guy's haircut. From now on, Mama will let Papa bring me for a haircut. Hopefully, I will look better next time. But hey, someone did comment I look good in this haircut and don't you think my facial features look sharper with this haircut? :)

Toilet Training?

urm, no, I am not having constipation. It's just that Mama is putting me on this potty for the first time and I don't like to be stuck on this thing that renders me immobile until I am taken out from it.  But you know what, I am so smart that it didn't really took me long (probably  a week or slightly  more) to figure out how to get myself out if I am placed on this potty. 

Mama is not sure if this is considered the start of my toilet training. To be honest, she is not really looking forward to toilet training me as it involves quite a bit of hardwork. Sigh.. 

Curry Chicken Noodles!

Now that I am older, Mama is  much more game to let me try different types of food. In fact, I had tried Italian pasta, Japanese Teppanyaki at Sakae Sushi Restaurant at Terminal 3, Japanese steamed cakes from Four Leaves bakery, onion rings and small bites of burger from Burger King, Mac Donald's hotcakes,  breakfast waffles at KFC,  fried rice, mango pudding, mee sua and even banana split (yes, i had the fruit and some ice- cream) and the list goes on. 

Usually, when Papa and Mama dine outside, Mama will give me whatever she thinks I can eat. Mama learnt from past experience that I am most quiet at meal times if I can eat my dinner at the same time as Papa. This will keep me quietly occupied until Papa finishes his dinner and can then take me out for a walk or take over the feeding while Mama eats her dinner.

Anyway, back to the topic of curry chicken noodles. Yes, the picture above is the bowl of curry chicken noodles Mama had for her dinner. She let me try some of it and took a video after I had eaten the first strand. Enjoy! :)  

Show Off....

Dear all, 

Uriah Gor-gor, Papa and Mama's Church school student, took some pictures of me. Mama thinks the pictures are lovely. Here they are. What a show-off Mama is. Still, thanks to Uriah Gor-gor who has kindly given permisision for Mama to upload these pictures. Hope you enjoy looking at them. Mama does.  :)

 

Happier Moments At KKH

You have seen how miserable I was when I was given medication to help open my airways using a plastic chamber. Thank God that I was more well adjusted to it by the third time they gave it to me in the middle of the night. See, I even slept through it.

Though I dislike the medical treatment at KKH, to be very honest, that only took up a very small percentage of the time I spent there. Just look at me playing with the "plastic signboard".


Then I had a lot of fun throwing my Tutu over the cot bed. Just the first or second day, Mama had to wash Tutu more than 5 times within half an hour or so.  

Also, Mama brought me around. Here is a picture of me on an adult chair in the food court at KKH. If Mama remembers correctly, this is the first time I am placed on an adult chair. 

Then, Mama placed me on a kiddy ride in the Mothercare shop. I prefer it to be stationary as I was a bit scared when it started moving after Mama activated it with a coin. 

By the way, when I was admitted in early April, the nurses and doctors in my ward really like me. They think I am really cute and Mama suspected that the nurses were probably told not to crowd around my bed as there were quite a few nurses "attending" to me on the first couple of days I was there. One of the lady doctors even said I am a sweetheart. :)

Mama also found out that I like to pull the doctors' stethoscope when they examine me and I was looking intently at them in their eyes  at the same time. Who is afraid of seeing the doctor? :)

Bedok Jetty

As mentioned in the last post, we went to East Coast Beach after our breakfast at Ikea. We ended our walk at Bedok Jetty. When we reached East Coast, I was actually asleep. Papa and Mama pushed me to the jetty in my pram and when we were about to leave, I woke up and so they decided to spend a bit more time at the jetty so that I can have time to enjoy the beach and the breeze too. Here are some of my pics. :)  





 

Me At Ikea Tampines

A fortnight ago, we had breakfast at Ikea Tampines and then went to East Coast Beach. It was a good time for us. :) Here are some pictures. I am becoming Mama's little helper. See, I am helping to carry the plastic bag dispenser that Papa bought. :)

Missing in Action?

Dear all, 

It has been almost 2 months since this blog was last updated. Are you still popping by to see if there is any update?

Well, the month of April has been slightly more eventful. I was actually hospitalised for wheezing from 2 Apr to 6 Apr. It started with what Mama thought was a common running nose. Mama noted that I was having running nose on 31 March. She didn't think much of it but on 2 Apr morning, Papa thought I didnt' sound quite right with my breathing and we went to see Dr Loo who decided I was wheezing and gave me some medication in a nebuliser to help me open my airways. I am now able to decide that I didn't like it and was crying much. I was better after the treatment in the morning but in the afternoon, I was wheezing again and so Dr Loo wrote me a letter to go for treatment in KKH.  It is a hospital that specialises in treating woman and children.

At KKH, I was given the nebuliser again and Mama requested for me to be warded for one night for observation. When I was in the hospital ward, I was given more treatment in the form in a hood. You can see that I really dislike it.





 Then they changed my medication and it was administered to me using a pump. Mama will show you a picture of this later.  

Thank God I was discharged on 6 Apr afternoon. But I was wheezing again and had to be hospitalised on 24th Apr. Papa and Mama gave thanks that I can be discharged on 26th Apr. On 27th Apr, I had a high fever and this time round, Mama and Papa decided to bring me to a pediatrician. Dr Winston Ng was quite patient to explain my condition to Mama and Papa. Since then, I am getting better. Though I still cough and sneeze, Mama is praying to God for me to get better soon. Aunty Siew Lan said we young children have to fall sick to build up the immunity within. May we all get stronger after we recover.