My 3rd Trip to the Zoo

Hi all, I am on my way to the zoo again. It may seem like we just went there recently but it was actually 6 months ago when we last went to the school. Papa has started to insist that I must be seated when I am travelling in his car and so I actually sat in Papa's car during the entire ride!

My parents thought we will have KFC breakfast at the zoo but the restaurant will only be opened from 10am and so we had coffee and toast instead. Well, I was not really very keen with the toast but Mama made sure I drink some water to hydrate myself every now and then as the weather was very hot.

Here I was, looking the the fishes kept in the enclosure of pygmy hippos if Mama remembers correctly. :)

Not much of a joey I am but Papa thinks it's fun...

We caught an animal show too! Mama thinks maybe I am ready to go for shows, like theatre, you know...

Next, we had lunch and I was given a char siew pao and some fried chicken wing to eat.


After lunch, we walked a little more and took the following picture. We were just next to the enclosure of giant turtles.

Soon after, I fell asleep. :)

My parents took a short rest at the polar bear enclosure before they had lunch at the KFC resturant outside the zoo. It was pretty cooling in the restaurant and so Mama covered my chest with a T-shirt and my legs with a singlet to keep me from catching a chill.

Just before Mama finished her lunch, I woke up! It was really a very brief nap.


We left to go home after the picture above was taken. The night before we went to the zoo, Mama prayed with me for God to clear up the sky and indeed, it was sunny and not cloudy like the 2 days before the zoo trip. Thanks be to God! :)

25 Months Old

Hi all, I am 25 months old and Mama just realised she did not take a picture of me on my 25th month birthday. She did capture a video clip for me that day but it was to document my participation during sunday school class and not so much to document my growth. Oh well, hopefully more interesting pictures can be taken soon. Meanwhile, let's make do with some of the older ones. ;)

At 25 months, I am still not speaking much and my parents still find it a little difficult to understand what I want at times. I am also throwing more tantrums and sometimes, I will even go on some sort of prowling position on the ground to try to get what I want.

Papa said I must be disciplined more consistently so that I will be more well-behaved. As it is, I can be quite insistent about what I want. It also seems to Mama that I do what many men are already doing - practise selective hearing.

There was once when I was playing with the vending machine outside my school and Mama was trying to get me to leave as she wanted to take me to Yew Tee Central. It seemed like I did not hear what she said to me until she asked if I wanted to take a bus and offered me her bus card. That caught my attention. I took her card and walked away from the machine.

This month, Mama also started me on building blocks and shape-sorter toys. When she saw that I can appreciate my old shape sorter toy, she bought me a new shape sorter with 12 different shapes but I hardly play with it. I seem to prefer building blocks to shape sorting. Using the blocks Aunty Cheyanne and Uncle Denton got me for my 1st birthday, I can now stack 5 blocks on top of each other.

It has also been observed that I am right-handed like Papa. See, I actually use my right hand to press the buttons of the microwave oven.

Last week, Mama finally found what she think was the best word to describe me- Perfectionist. All along, she had described me as a high-C person. This is in reference to the DISC personality description she often heard her college mates used to describe one another. According to Wikipedia, a high C (C for conscientious) person adheres to rules, regulations and structure. High C people are careful, cautious, exacting, neat, systematic, accurate and tactful.

Ok, I don't really adhere to the rules and regulations my parents set but there are things I am meticulous about. For instance, there was once when we were already at the door and about to leave home for church when I suddenly turned and went back to switch off the electric power of the TV console.

Another instance is when I see the gate at the kitchen unlatched, I will latch it. Even though I do not know how the latch actually works and sometimes, I merely succeed in pushing the handle down without actually latching, the impression that it is latched satisfies me. In fact, there were a few occasions when Mama did not latch the gate, perhaps she was in a hurry, and I was the one who was sharp enough to notice the unlatched gate and did something about it.

Though Mama often said I am a high C person, she knew at the back of her mind that I am not exactly high C but she could not find a better word until last week when it occured to her that I am a perfectionist!

We were playing building blocks. When the blocks were stacked too high and toppled, I would sweep the fallen blocks with my hands, causing them to go even further away. This inspired Mama and she finally "found" the word to describe me : I am a perfectionist!

Of course, Mama had told me not to sweep the blocks as it is a very disruptive behaviour and if I were to do this during playgroup, my classmates will be unhappy with me. There was once when she was building blocks and I swept her blocks away despite her telling me not to do so. This disruption to her game got her so mad that she caned me for it. ;(

This month, I am also learning to express my hunger by walking towards the high chair. There had been at least 2 occasions when I walked to the high chair in the kitchen and Mama knew that I am already used to the idea that I have to be in the high chair because that is where I take most of my meals.

Mama must be more conscientious not to loosen this structure as she had many a times, compromised and fed me when I was watching TV in the living room. Just this morning, she fed me bread in the living room just before Papa took me to school. ;p

I am still very interested in phonecalls. Just last week, I "spoke" to Papa on the phone. Instead of just listening quietly like I usually did, I actually said something like "daddy" and uttered some sounds like "ng" or something. Mama observed me and said it was as if we were really having some meaningful/sensible conversation. Ha!

Mama also finds it very amusing when I use Papa's handphone which operates on a touchscreen. The way I tap my index finger on the screen is really cute and Mama thinks I am tapping it like I am an intelligent user. Truth be told, I have no idea what I am actually doing. I just know that if I poke the screen with my fingers, the screen will change and it's very nice to see it change. Papa said this is because I often observe him use his handphone.

This month, Mama also started me on working in the kitchen. She wants me to be well prepared to enter marriage with some basic life skills like cooking and doing one's laundry. Since young, Mama was taught to do simple housework like ironing handkerchiefs using residual heat from iron that has its power switched off and washing her canvas school shoes every Saturday morning. Now that she is a mother herself, she will not spare her son from housework.

It's just that she had never expected to let me help out at the kitchen at this young age and she got this help-out-in-kitchen idea from that toddler book she read. ;p

Then again, I do enjoy helping in the kitchen. Last week, I helped to wash and cook the rice for dinner. Mama sat me in my high chair, placed a paper towel on the dining board and placed my hands in the pot that has rice and water in it. She then placed my hand in water and moved it round and round. She then made sure there was no grains on my hand before she brought the pot to the sink, poured away the water and added in more water for me to rinse the rice. It was great fun and I wanted to continue with this but after a few rinses, Mama told me that's it. I was not too happy and moved my body up and down to throw my tantrum but she proceeded to let me help out by letting me cover the pot and turned on the rice cooker. So I "cooked" rice for the first time. :)

Ok, thanks for reading this far. That is about all for the moment. Mama will update again if she remembers more things. :)

Happy Song

This is one of my favorite songs at the moment. It's called If You are Happy and You Know It. As you can see, I'm quite happy listening to it :)

Mini Cornetto

The weather had been kind of hot last week and so last Wednesday, after I woke up from my nap, Mama offered me an ice cream. You see, some time ago, she saw 2 boxes of Mini-Cornettos at a very low price price of about $8.45 and so she bought them on the pretext of letting me eat them when in fact, she was the one who ate most of the cones.

She had previously tried to give me a mini-Cornetto but I was really tired and in need of a nap then and I certainly did not enjoy it.

When we ate at Haagen Daz the week before, Mama had impressed upon me the sweet cold thing that melted in my mouth is called ice cream and so when she asked me if I wanted some ice cream last Wednesday, she did not need much persuasion. So here I am, having finally learnt to enjoy an ice cream! :)

The only thing is, after I had finished the ice cream, I left the cone on the table top probably because I did not know the ice cream cone could be eaten and so Mama ate it. ;p

Sun Beam at Covenant Evangelical Free Church

This morning, we visited Covenant Evangelical Free Church again and this was taken during a short session of singing and story telling. Mama thinks I was pretty engaged during the singing but not so during story telling as me and a few other toddlers actually ventured off.. :)

Orchard Central

2 weeks ago, my parents brought me to Istana to witness the changing of guards. It was the first time I saw this and I was really quiet as I sat on Papa's shoulders, witnessing the marching band and the arms drill. This was somewhat different from what Mama imagined as she thought hyperactive me will wander into the midst of those guards as they did some drills during the parade. No photos to show here as Mama was a distance away from me and Papa guarding our stroller and watching the show from a further distance.

Then we went for dinner and passed by Orchard Central. Papa decided to take me there for a look and it was a great place. Great because it was not crowded and I could roam around at the basement to expend my energy with little supervision from my parents.

At the basement, I walked on this row of empty plastic vessels probably meant for tired shoppers to take a rest but there were no shoppers as the shops were not opened and some even unoccupied and so Mama just allowed me to have my way. Sorry for the blur image as Mama took the video from a distance but she thinks I am kind of walking like a model on the runway. Try to use your imagination a bit to fill in the blanks (read: blurness of image), yah? :)

And to end off the evening, we even had a snack time at the Mos Burger there. Don't tell anyone I did this to the basket meant for holding serviettes and stuff, ok? ;)

Visiting Ye Ye

Last month, ye ye was ill and had to stay in hospital and so my parents brought me to visit him. God is good to us. Though ye ye was staying in a B class ward, he was actually given a room by himself and so there were more privacy. When I first saw ye ye with so many tubes and wearing an oxygen mask, I was quite afraid and did not want to go near him but on my second visit, things got better. This is me, holding his hand to say goodbye before we left.

Mama wanted to get a close up shot of us holding hands but this was what she got. She did not want to make it too obvious that she was taking photos because it was not exactly a good moment to be taking photos.

Papa did notice that prior to ye ye's hospitalisation, I had been more affectionate to him rather than nai nai or shu shu. For example, when we went to his place for dinner, I will specifically go and hold his hand to "say goodbye" to him just before we left. For nai nai and shu shu, I merely curl and uncurl my fingers to bid farewell.

Even Aunty Cheyanne and Uncle Denton came back to visit ye ye. This is me and Aunty Cheyanne and she was getting me to enjoy the hymns being played on the portable DVD player. She is very good with me and I actually stayed still for quite a while as she pointed the lyrics to me and sang the hymn.

Thank God that he is now able to rest at home. Many of our church members had been praying for ye ye and God has been gracious and merciful to answer our prayers. :)

Say Bye

Today, when Mama picked me up from school, I was the last second student to leave and there was an older boy behind. When we were not too far away from the classroom, I heard him say bye bye as his maid had arrived to take him home and I said bye too.. Mama was really happy to hear it.. I am starting to talk! Bye :)

Even More 24 Months Pointers

This month, I had started to spit out the food that I am given to eat. Sometimes, I just want to see what they look like and then I will put them back in my mouth and continue eating them. Many a times, it could be that they are too big a piece as Mama did not bother to make them smaller. Other times, I just did not want to eat them and want to continue eating something else.

Mama noted that I usually spit out stuff that ends up in pulp after I chew them such as pieces of meat and the green leafy vegetables. This meant even chicken wings which used to be a favourite is no longer in my favour.

Stuff like porridge, mushroom, white rice and hard boiled eggs, I will usually swallow them. Mama also discovered that if she cut the pieces of meat to be even smaller than the grains of rice, then she has very good chance that I will swallow them. She did this once when she gave me pork that were boiled together with soup for a couple of hours and the pork was easily broken up.

But I don't spit anywhere mindlessly, mind you. I will usually spit into the rice bowl that is being used to hold my food or Mama's hand or hold it in my mouth until I find somewhere neat. Mama can't remember me spitting onto the board of my highchair or table. I am just too tidy to do such stuff. ;p

Also, at 24 months, I seldom use my bath tub. I usually shower. When Papa showers me, he will insist I sit down on the floor to prevent myself from slipping. Mama will usually allow me to stand and then turn the tap linked to the shower head and tell me it's raining! This worked fine until very recently, I slipped and the back of my head hit the floor when Mama was giving me a shower. That was another frightening episode for Mama and from now on, Mama got to me sit down more when she showers me. Still, she did not want to eliminate the element of fun and so she will hold onto my arm and let me stand for a short while when it "rains" in the bathroom.

And I am now not so afraid of water anymore. In fact, when it "rains" in the bathroom, I will walk into the rain and enjoy having "rainwater" fall on my back. I will also stretch out my hands high to feel the rain. I am not afraid of water trickling down my face but if Mama uses the shower head directly on my face, I will still go into a shock-like state and quickly grab Mama.

But Mama is careful that she does not let me stay in the "rain" for long as it usually "rains" before I am soaped and just after the soap on my body has been rinsed away. So I am kind of clean when it rains and maybe just a couple of seconds in the rain will suffice for me to have some fun. Usually, I am very cooperative when the "rain" stops and I have to be toweled dry and leave the bathroom. :)

ok, that's about all Mama can recall..thanks for reading again.
:)

How An Ah Beng Behaves During Haircut

The weather for the past few days had been the same for the past 300 years : hot, humid. And so Mama thought it's time to get my hair trimmed.

This is how an Ah Beng should behave when he is having a haircut.

That's right, gum in mouth, chewing it non-stop and put on a nonchalent look.

This is how one looks after getting the haircut.

Seriously though, Mama thinks this new hairstyle is too short but she has only herself to blame because she might have communicated wrongly to the hairdresser to make it very short when she meant trim it. ;p

This was what I looked like after I had a haircut on 1st March last month. See the difference? :)

(ps : for those who are disturbed by the gum chewing comment, Mama adds that I was really eating a sweet. Chewing gum has been banned in Singapore a long time ago. ;p)

More 24 Months Pointers

At 24 months old, I am really very active. In fact, when Aunty Cheyanne saw me a couple of weeks ago, she said I am really active and very different from the children she has seen. She should know because she is doing a course in speech development right now in US.

Talking about speech, I am still very delayed in my speech development but this month, my parents can tell that I seemed to have made some progress though I still babble at times if I even babble at all. My current word is "S" and I started saying it a few days ago. Mama was kind of happy with this "s" I kept saying as her surname starts with S. And it seems that I can say "discs" when I stand before the shelf where my Sesame Street discs are kept.

I have watched the disc Head, Shoulders, Fur and Toes so many times that I seem to have remembered the content of the show and I can follow the games of Ernie Says, which is actually Simon Says in Sesame Street version. And I can recognise Cookie Monster, Grover and Elmo by pointing them out when I see them on toys, on PC screen and so on.

I still love to see the MRT trains go by and I am excited when I see them. I am also interested in unfamiliar places when Papa brings me somewhere new.

Nowadays, I would nod my head continuously when I hear upbeat music. One of my current favourite songs is If You are Happy and I will nod my head when I hear the song. If I hear you sing If you're happy and you know it, stomp your feet, I can even follow.

Then again, I am not always co-operative. This morning, Papa had to firmly teach me what it meant to stand still and wait with my hands by the side and I really stood still on the spot and waited for a good minute or so according to Mama's estimate.

Also, I can be misunderstood at times. There was once when Papa and Mama were about to take me to church when I suddenly turned back from the opened door and headed towards the TV set. Mama thought I wanted to switch on the TV and she said no. It turned out that I wanted to turn off the power before we left the house.

I am also learning very fast when I am interested in something. Last week, we passed by this arcade after dinner and Mama let me try this motorbike kiddy ride machine. Mama used a paper card with a magnetic strip to make the machine move. I had never seen this technology before but when I wanted another ride, I pointed to card-reader in front of the machine. Mama interpreted this as I wanted her to swipe her card once more to get the machine to move. She is really impressed that I am so smart!

Diet-wise, I have recently started to stick out my tongue when Papa or Mama wants to feed me. Papa said this could be my defence mechanism as I was scalded by hot porridge recently when Mama tried to feed me. Initially, Mama thought so too but when Mama gave me sushi to eat this afternoon for lunch, I did the same too which made Mama think that if I was concerned the food might be too hot, there is no reason I should stick out my tongue at sushi. Perhaps, I am using my tongue as an exploratory probe to taste the food and see if it is indeed hot.

Also,I am getting more independent in the area of self- feeding. Many a times, I will want to feed myself and my parents will allow me to do so though sometimes, I get kind of messy. Last Sunday evening, Papa bought an aloe vera with sea-coconut dessert. After some coaxing from my parents, I tried a piece of the aloe vera. Boy, it was really juicy and sweet and I immediately wanted to have more. So I started to feed myself. Papa was so happy with my self-feeding that he exclaimed that the day has finally come!

Yes, I am pretty unadventurous about trying new food and Papa said this takes after him too. Many a times, I would turn my head at some food offered to me and Mama had to coax me a few times to get me to try it. Sometimes, after trying, I decided I like the food and will want more of it by straightening up and indicating I want more. If I decided that I am not eating, I will turn my head away and stubbornly refuse to ingest any. Mama wonders if she will cause me to dislike a particular food for life if she punishes me for rejecting the food. But Mama is of the opinion that I am entitled to my likes and dislikes but I must at least give the new food a try before I decide to reject it.

Still, I managed to put on about 3.6 kg in my second year. When Mama weighed me on my first birthday, I weighed 8.4kg which is about 6 kg heavier than my birth weight. Mama read that in my second year, the rate of weight gain will decrease and I may put on only 2 or 3kg. So she is quite pleased that when she weighed me a few days ago, I weighed 12.0kg and yesterday (or was it this morning), the scale read 12.4kg. Now, it's not that Mama was obsessed and weighs me all day long but it's because I love to stand on her electronic weighing scale and seeing the LCD screen display come on and the figures start moving. So she will sometimes take a look at the reading. Yes, I had put on a good 3.6kg in my second year. Still, that makes me stand at about 30% precentile compared to other kids of my age in Singapore. Well, as long as I am growing and happy, who cares how I compare to national average. ha.

This month, I am also more into shape sorting and building blocks. Kind of delayed development over here again but better late than never. Papa and Mama had agreed long ago that by the age or about 4 or 5 years old when I have to go to school, as long as I can do most of what the kids at that age are doing such as running, jumping, talking and so on, it does not happen which age I start doing it.

Mama thinks it's not so much that I did not like to do shape sorting but I may prefer to do it with a context. She thinks so because though I did not take well to the shape sorter when she first bought one for me, I had been very interested in trying to fit plastic covers onto their respective containers, especially in the recent months.

Maybe in the past, I thought it's pointless to place the blocks one by one into their container by looking for a hole that fits shape of the blocks when you can just turn the container over and throw in the plastic blocks. But now, I am more interested to play with the shape sorter with Mama. It's like silently, I had grown to be interested in doing it. She first discovered this in church school when Aunty Siew Lan brought a shape sorter to keep us toddlers occupied. Mama thought I would not be interested but I actually sat for a while to do it with the jie jie telling me which hole the block should go through.

I am still very interested in Papa and Mama's hand phone. Papa's phone is a touch-screen phone and I will use my index finger to touch the screen. Mama was really impressed by my intelligence and Papa said it was because I had seen him do it many times.

This month, I also got more chances to use the phone as Mama will dial her own hand phone number using the houseline and once, I even got to talk to yeye when Mama was speaking to Papa.

One last thing before Mama forgets, I am also getting used to the bedtime routine. Immediately after my bath and waering my clothes, I will usually go into my room. Sometimes, a bottle of milk is on my bed and I will drink it before I sleep. When I see Mama lying on my bed trying to help me fall asleep, I will bring her the breastfeeding support pillow to prop up her head if she is not already resting on it. Yes, Mama is beginning to see how used I am to seeing her prop her head on the pillow.

Ok, that is about all that Mama can remember at the moment. Thanks for taking time to read so far. God bless you! I will be turning 25 months old soon in a week's time. cheers! :)

My Latest Craft

Last Friday, I came home after school holding this in my hand. No idea what this is?

How about viewing it from this angle then?

Still no?

Ok, try this.

Tada~ yes, it's a caterpillar. The letter of the week is the letter "C" and the word caterpillar starts with the letter C. Papa was pretty skeptical if I really did this on my own. Mama replied it comes with my name and so it must be mine.

Still, Papa is proud of this and it now sits on top of the TV set..

Visiting Covenant Evangelical Free Church

Today, Papa, Mama and I visited Covenant Evangelical Free Church and I was given this sticker with my name to be pasted on my back. Mama placed it on her wallet to take a picture when we reached home.

It was a busy and tiring day for me as I was exposed to lots of sights for the first time. I had breakfast with Papa and Mama at the food court at Greenridge Shopping Centre next to the church. I had never been there before and I sat obediently next to Papa when Mama went to buy breakfast for me. Mama saw this very beautiful picture of me and Papa seated next to each other as she walked by us on her way to the fried noodles stall. There was no baby chair around but Mama had no problem constraining me because it was Papa who scolded me a few times to keep me seated. haha.

Then we went to the church and I was allowed some time at the outdoor play area. Though it was supposed to be outdoor, there was a large canvas over it and so it's not hot and we were all in the shade. I loved this toy house and had a good time with it. Not just in it, but outside it as well. :)

And this one below is Mama's favourite shot of the day. I was so engrossed with playing that I did not bother too much about Mama taking pictures of me.
In fact, I was so engrossed that even though Mama left me to play un-supervised and went to pick up my stroller and water bottle, I had not noticed her absence. I would have stayed there if Papa and Mama had not taken me by force to the Cradle Room so that Papa could attend service. These adults nowadays found it difficult to change my mind to cooperate with them and so they used brute force on me by the sheer fact that they were bigger sized than me. tsk tsk...

But when we reached the Cradle Room, it was another new playground for me, or should I say, training ground. Future chef in training, anyone? :)

Halfway through, there was a short time of singing and I was really engaged with the singing as there were action songs that include clapping hands, stamping feet which are actions I could do readily and Mama was very happy with my participation!

There were also some small tables covered with paper and crayons were provided. Mama let me draw with the crayons but I was more interested in keeping them.

At the end of the service, we left and I was so tired out by this new exposure that I fell asleep in the car. Only a small regret though: Mama saw her college mate, Aunty Yibing, in the cry room and was so caught up with her that she did not noticed I had picked up a piece of red crayon and started scribbling on the cream-coloured wall. By the time she noticed, I had left a pig patch of scribbling on the wall and when Mama tried to remove it using water, she could not do so. She then asked the lady in charge if there is any cleaner that could be used but there wasn't any. In the end, the scribbling was left on the wall. You can say I had certainly made my mark in the church building! ;p

Haagen Daz for Dinner

Papa came home with a $20 Haagen Daz ice cream voucher recently. This voucher was given to Papa because of the points he accumulated in his credit card and so today, we went to Haagen Daz after Papa and Mama had an early 5.45pm dinner. Maybe it was due to the bottle of milk I drank at 4.30pm, maybe the fish bee hoon and chicken rice they had was not to my liking but I only took about 5 mouthfuls of food during dinner and so when we went to Haagen Daz, Papa ordered this for me so that I can eat some waffles for dinner. Yum.. (and not to forget, a loving Papa that I have)

No photos nor videos to show for this one as I got quite worked up when I saw Mama using her handphone camera. Anyway, Papa and Mama fed me pieces of waffles and the ice-cream. Initially, I was not too keen to try the ice cream but after a couple of mouthfuls, I loved it! As Aunty Siew Lan said, which kid does not like ice cream? :)

There were 2 scoops of ice cream. The yellow one is mango flavoured and if Mama is not mistaken, the pink/purple one is strawberry sherbert which is a little sour. But I actually prefered the strawberry sherbet ice cream to the sweet mango ice-cream! Something that is unlike Papa as he usually does not like sour stuff except for tom yum soup.

So there it goes, my dinner for the evening, waffles and ice cream (which eventually became melted). I am such a blessed boy! :) And just in case you are wondering, I did not eat this all by myself. Papa and Mama ate some too but Papa was very occupied with feeding me and so he ate very little of it. When I am grown up, someone remind me to take my Papa to Haagen-Daz for dinner, ok? :)

More Child Labour

Dear all, at 24 months old, I am getting really strong! Just look at what I did when waiting for Papa to get the car.

To top it up, Mama actually placed her handbag and my school bag on my stroller to add on to my load! ;D

Look Silly

Sometimes, Mama just likes to make me look silly. This is one example when she "wore" my pants on my head instead of where it should be. Still, don't you think I look cute? :)

Keyboard

Last month, Papa had officially banned me from the piano as I do not know how to use it properly and so the piano is off limits for me and I am not even supposed to climb onto the chair that the pianists sit on. Mama had to reinforce this when Papa is not at home so as to sing the same tune with Papa about this matter.

But something good came out of it. Mama "rediscovered" Papa's keyboard and after obtaining permission from Papa, I get to use the keyboard for about 10 minutes a day. The short duration is not a restriction from Papa but due to my short attention span.

So Mama will take the keyboard from its stand and place it on the floor and allow me to play with it. Sometimes, she will join me and sometimes, she will read a bible passage or do some other stuff as I play with the keyboard. Just yesterday afternoon, Mama used the song bank function of the keyboard to play the song If You Are Happy and that made me smile as I like this song. :)