I Told My First Lie

My parents had been trying to reclaim the lost territory named Control of the DVD player. For a very long time, I had been given free acess to the DVD player. Last week, my parents decided I should not be allowed to press the buttons on the DVD player and so they will spank me if I should be found to have pressed the buttons on the DVD player.

Today, Mama found that I had fiddled with the DVD player. She was getting something in the kitchen and the DVD player was playing a disc when I went to her with the disc in my hand and the disc holder of the DVD player was out. I was pretty keen to hand the disc to Mama and told her it was a disc on pigs. I was even saying "pig, pig" to her.

Then, I realised I was in trouble and I knew I would be spanked. Mama spanked me with a ruler and I cried. I tried to hug Mama and placed my cheeks on Mama's shoulders for comfort but Mama did not buy that. She asked me if I pressed the button and I shook my head with tears. She asked again and I shook my head again. In the end, I was spanked for telling a lie to Mama.

I Can Blow Out Candles

One Sunday evening about 2 weeks ago, after coming home from dinner, Mama found something we could do together. She took out the candles that she bought for my first lantern festival and decided we would do some candle blowing. Up to then, I had not been able to blow out the candles on my own, but we can always try practising.

She took a box meant to hold cereal bars and mounted a candle on the box. Aunty Cheyanne commented it was a good idea for a birthday cake. Actually, Mama did not meant for the box to be a pretend cake. She just wanted to mount the candles somewhere. She did not know this was such a good idea until she brought the box to me with a lighted candle. Mama thinks the box is a good idea because it allows me to hold it close to me with minimum risk of getting hurt. I now associate this box with "cake, cake".

4 evenings later, I had learnt to blow out candles all by myself. Mama was so excited that she took the following video. :) By the way, I didn't practise this for 4 evenings, it was just 2 separate occasions, once on Monday and once on Thursday. :)

But now, Mama does not allow me to do candle blowing for the time being as I am still coughing and wheezing and Mama thinks the smoke generated from the candle may not be good for my lungs. Sigh, that's my Mama who knows too much and who knows too little. ;p

Basketball

Dear all, in the picture above, the lady holding a basketball in the centre is my Aunty Cheyanne. Her husband, Uncle Denton, is just behind her. Aunty Cheyanne was cheering for Uncle Denton at a basketball match and this picture was probably taken after the match.

This is presumptous but after watching the video below, Aunty Cheyanne and Uncle Denton may want to cheer for me too. Daniel, Daniel, go, go, go!! Yeah!!! :)

(ps- the photo was taken from Uncle Denton's Facebook album without his permission but Mama likes to believe he wouldn't mind. :D)

Another Bout of Domestic Violence

On Mama's birthday, she meant to buy me a toy camera but I chose a styrofoam sword instead and so she bought me my first sword. What you are to witness is a bout of domestic violence. Viewer discretion is advised. :)

This is one of the reasons why Mama prefers to have a boy - boys can play rough... haha... :)

I am 29 Month Old

Dear all,

I am 29 months old. The month that just passed, I had been venturing quite often into the the forbidden area in the house - the kitchen. Somehow, the gate was not locked and I had been able to find my way in. But you can see from the picture below that I am not welcomed in the kitchen. ;p

The song of the month is Where is Thumbkin. I will ask Mama to sing it by saying "head" in a slightly higher pitched voice but at the same time, I will curl my fingers as it's part of the thumbkin song action. So Mama will sing the song for me. When she comes the ending part of the song which goes "run away, run away", I will put my hands behind my back. :)

For those who are unfamiliar with this song, the tune of the song has a set of very well-known Mandarin lyrics and is titled Three Tigers (三只老虎) .

Mow, Mama is trying to share another song with me. This song is titled God is So Good. It has simple hand actions that I can follow. Hopefully, this will be my song of the month in the coming days.

This month, I am really talking a lot more by babbling and not only that, I am really picking up words after hearing them. For example, when a character on TV says Hi, I said Hi as well. This morning, when Mama gave me Oreo cookies, Mama said this is "oreo" and I said the word"oreo" after her. Then again, I had not said "oreo" anymore and Mama is not exactly sure if I had really learnt what "oreo" is about. Still, this is a very exciting time for Mama and Papa. :)

Last month, I also learnt to pick up more in the area of reading. I can now recognise the letters, "E", "R", "I", and "P". Mama had shown me these letters from sources such as her bus card, posters on the wall and I had been able to point them out. Mama would very often applaud my efforts and I had also learnt to do so myself. On my own, I would actually point to some letters and read them out and then applaud myself. Mama is always amused to see me doing this. Who cares about self-praise is no praise.. ;p

Also, I have this book titled First Book of Letters and it shows many objects inside. When Mama opens this book with me, I very often point correctly to apple, bear, boy, ball, balloon, bear, banana, cat, dog, car (and even say the word "car"), jelly and mushroom. There are other objects in the book that Mama will read to me as I point them out to her.

2 weeks ago, Mama borrowed a lift-the-flap book titled No Bed Without Ted. It was about this girl who could not find her teddy bear when it came to her bedtime and finally, her mum took it down from the laundry line and she could finally go to bed with her Ted. This is supposed to be a nice bed time story and Mama did read it with me for quite a few evenings. But the story did not make me feel sleepy. What Mama found interesting was how I remembered the content of the story.

There was this page about the girl who sat at her bed but she will not get into it as she could not find Ted. She had a tear drop on her face and Mama told me she was crying. It seems like from then onwards, when we read the book together, I will turn to that page and then pout and pretend to cry (whine). Mama is impressed that I had remembered the mood of that page.

There was this page when the mother of the girl asked the girl to open the shutters and there were 2 flaps which were meant for readers to lift as if one is opening the shutters. Somehow, I will always turn to this page too whenever I read this book. I even pulled out one of the flaps from the book. (oops, don't tell anyone)

This month, I also took the initiative to turn off the TV when I had enough of it. Mama noticed this when I once turned off the TV on my own after it had been switched on for about 2-3 hours. Perhaps I am not really a TV addict afterall. It's just that no one switches it off and so I will continue to watch or leave it on while I play with my toys. Once, Mama let me watch TV while she prepared my bath but I actually switched off the power and came to see Mama prepare my bath. Mama is happy that I can switch off the TV without she telling me to do so.

Talking about having enough, last month, I actually informed my parents that I had enough ice cream. We were eating gelato ice cream at Yew Tee Point. After a couple of spoons of ice cream, I just refused to eat anymore. Mama wondered could it be that I belong to a rare breed of kid who did not like ice cream. That will indeed be very unusual. Perhaps, the flavour was not to my liking because a few days later, my parents and I shared a Mac Donald's ice cream cone. Perhaps, I really like my ice cream to be really sweet. :D

Last month, I also succeeded in blowing out candles on my own for the first time. It happened last week when Mama and I were at home on our own. But that will be another post for another day. Mama took a video of it.

Ok, thanks again for reading so far. Mama will update about my development when she can. Do feel free to drop a comment. See ya. :)

My 29th Month Birthday

Dear all,

I am 29 months old today. But poor me spent the second to fourth hour of the day in KKH A&E department. What a way to start the day. I had been feverish and since Sunday night and after seeing Dr Winston Ng, my pediatrician, I was resting at home. Early this morning, at around 1.30am, I was coughing in my sleep and my parents decided to puff me with the ventolin puff. After puffing me, Mama discovered I was shivering and my arms and feet were turning blue.

My parents quickly rushed me to KKH A&E and I was found to be running a high fever of 40 degree Celsius. I was given paracetamol immediately. Doctor then ordered for me to be ex-rayed and a sample of my blood was taken to check to see if I was having pneumonia.

Though cooperative, Mama refused to believe I am having pneumonia. Thank God that both the x-ray and blood test showed that I am not having pneumonia. But the doctor insisted that it could be that the x-ray and blood test were done at a very early stage when signs of pneumonia had not yet manifested. So Mama were advised to observe me carefully.

By the time we reached home, it was almost 4.30am in the morning. I had fallen asleep on the way home and my parents were really tired as they had been awake all day til then. What a way to start the month.

Istana!

Dear all,

Other than the orientation of the 2 pictures below, what is different?

That's right, you can see me and Mama more clearly. Last Sunday, the Istana was opened for members of the public as it was the eve of National Day. So after church, my parents brought me there.

There was a very long queue at the entrance when we arrived late morning.

But we did not had to queue for very long because of our citizenship. Foreigners had to pay $1 each to enter the Istana and at a certain point, they were asked to join another queue to pay for the $1 entrance fee. After that point, we were able to gain entrance pretty fast.

Then, there was another queue as our bags and even my pram was checked very carefully, just in case anyone tries to forbidden items. Our bags were sent through an x-ray scanning machine and my parents were checked by the policemen and policewomen with a metal detector.

The weather was really hot as it was almost mid-day. But this did not keep me from walking on the field when my parents released me from the pram. :)

We spent the most time at a play area where there were many plastic slides which I enjoyed.

We came to a fountain when we walked further.

Then, we went inside the Istana building for a short tour. Papa and Mama really felt the difference between touring the air-conditioned building and walking under the hot sun. As no picture-taking was allowed, we had no pictures to show for this.

When we came out from the building, who should arrive there but the President himself? Yes, we saw the President! He was there to take pictures of the band members who were standing at the entrance of the Istana building.

By then, it was about 12 noon and we soon left after seeing the President. As we walked towards the exit, Mr President actually passed by us in a buggy! We all had to stand at the side of the road to let the buggy pass.

Mama bent down to tell me Mr President was passing by and she waved to him when he passed by. She thought she should take a picture but her hands were reluctant to move and so we missed taking a picture of Mr President. Still, it was a good moment for my parents. They actually saw Mr President twice.

Then, as we were nearer to the gate, Mr President's buggy stopped and he actually came down the buggy and walked towards the direction where we saw him. Maybe he was going to say hi to the crowds at the field.

By the, I was in the pram and we had to stay at the side of the road as Mr President walked by us. So we actually saw Mr President three times! And there still is no pictures to document this. Can you believe it? ;)

C is for Come

What do the words "come", "cold", "car", "cake", "coin" and "cane" have in common? That's right, they all start with the letter C. Another thing in common : these are the words that I had been saying. Today, I started saying the word "come" and I said it really confidently, looking Mama in the eyes. And Mama simply loves it. She prayed one day, God will also say the same thing to me : Come.

Also, I recently started calling my mother. I usually only say Mama when I am in some distress like I cried because I was punished. And now, I am calling out for my mother. But instead of saying Mama or Mummy, I said Dear to get her attention though I am still doing this very little. Papa said I had become his rival in love.. haha.... :)

My First Guitar with Nylon Strings!

I had not been going to school for the past few days this week as I had a running nose and a slight cough since Sunday. Other than Monday, Mama had been spending time with me most of the time. Today, she decided to bring me to Kiddy Palace to buy a Hi-5 DVD as she is kind of sick of the video tape I had been watching.

After choosing the DVD, Mama let me walk around and I found this guitar that attracted me.


Now, for the past one or two weeks, I had been rubbing one fist against another in an up-and-down manner, imitating the strumming of a guitar. Mama knows I am trying to communicate the idea of a guitar and so Mama decided to buy me the guitar.

If you look at the picture carefully, you may be able to tell that it comes with real nylon string that is probably used in a real guitar.



I was so excited about it that later in the afternoon, when I spoke to Papa through the phone, I mentioned the guitar (or what Mama thought sounded like the word "guitar") to him in my baby talk.

You know, I really love this guitar so much that after paying for the guitar, I spent the rest of the trip taking the guitar around with me. Mama tried to keep it when I seemed to have forgotten about it but when I see it in the plastic carrier, I would again take it out to play or just hold on to it.

See, I was playing with it even when I was at the kiddy ride outside the foodcourt.

Playing with it when Mama was buying noodles at the food court.

See, even when we were about to reach home.

I just would not let it go and held it in my hands whenever I wanted to. Even in sleep!

Ok, to be fair, Mama placed the guitar next to me in the playpen but I was last seen examining it with very sleepy eyes and after Mama washed my milk bottle and came to check on me again, I had dozed off with the guitar across my body.

When Papa came home at night, Mama asked me to show my guitar to Papa and I did. Papa quickly took out his own guitar to show me.

See, the Chen father and son at the guitar. :)

Mama had never ever seen me love a toy so much. She wonders if it is because I had reached that age where one really knows what buying a toy means.

Papa said it's a good toy to get for me and I can show it to Shu Shu when we go to Nai Nai house again. He said it would be good if I can learn guitar from Uncle Winston and Shu Shu because Uncle Winston is good in plucking and playing slow songs and Shu Shu is good with fast songs. Papa also said if I can really learn from them, I have to serve God in church full time. :)

I Picked My Own Pants

Today, Mama informed me that I was supposed to wear my pants and get ready to leave the house and I actually chose my own pants by taking a pair of shorts from the drawer where my pants are kept. Hurray!

You may well wonder what is so special about this. Well, Mama read that I am supposed to be able to choose what I want to wear but I had never quite done so probably because my parents usually prepare my clothes for me and hence I didn't quite get to choose.

But today, I just did it! Of all the pants in the drawer, I picked out a pair of shorts (and not long pants) for Mama and then walked out of my room, leaving Mama really happy that I can chose my own clothes. I came back soon and Mama helped me put on my pants and off we went. :)

2 Mannequins of My Size

Today is Mama's birthday. As I was still not well enough to go to school, Mama took me out instead. We had brunch at a food court at Bukit Batok Westmall. Then we went to Tom and Stefanie which is a deparment store and there is a children's department at the second level. There, I saw 2 mannequins of my size.

I was really intrigued by them as I checked them out. Why are these 2 "people" standing here? Why did one of them had a shoe next to its foot? Let me explore further.

Let me hold its hand.

Let me feel its body.

Let me explore this one next.

Why are you wearing a cap here?

Oops!

Mama allowed me to spend some time exploring them before she yanked me away. :)

I Closed My Eyes

A few days ago, Mama saw me close my eyes and was reminded to take a photograph of me because around 28 months, I could close my eyes when I was asked to do so. See, Mama asked me to close my eyes so that she could take my picture and I did it. :)

New Playpen

This is the new playpen that Aunty Chew Poh, Mama's cousin, gave us last week. Papa set it up in Nai Nai's house last Wednesday. At first, I was apprehensive and would not go into it but my parents assured me that it is fine and sat in it with me together. This really helped set my heart at ease and now I can probably spend a little time in it on my own though some company is really much preferred. Mama usually stays with me in the playpen and it does keep me confined to an area so that I don't roam around that much in Nai Nai's place.

Actually, the corner of the playpen could be fixed such that I can be really confined and can't come out of the play area but this means the adults can only go in if they lift their legs and step over the panel and Nai nai could not do that. So Papa left a small opening for Nai nai to enter the playpen.

See, I can even play with my shape sorter here. Again, courtesy of Aunty Chew Poh who was about to throw away this shape sorter which her younger son has outgrown and Mama decided to take in the shape sorter and leave it at Nai Nai's house since this is currently one of my favourite activities. :) As Papa said, any toy that can keep me occupied for more than 10 minutes is worth buying. Thank God for Aunty Chew Poh, we actually got this toy and playpen for free! :)

The World Awaits

The words at my side says,"The world awaits..." I am waiting too....

What am I waiting for?

Papa's Convocation!

Actually, Mama and I were waiting for Papa's convocation ceremony to end when "waiting" picture was taken. :)

Just about 2 months before I was born, Papa started a Master's in Education course and by God's grace, Papa managed to complete the course and obtained his degree. Hurray! :)

So last Tuesday, after school, Mama brought me to NTU to take some pictures with Papa after his convocation ceremony has ended. This is me and Papa in the auditorium after the ceremony has ended.

Here is a picture of Papa and Mama.

When they took the picture, I was just playing at the side. Mama is glad that I am old enough to be left alone near to them for a short while so that they can take some pictures together.

After this, we went to the lunch reception and Papa was disappointed with the food. There was no real meat dishes like sweet and sour pork or curry chicken unless you count prawn paste wrapped in beancurd sheet a meat dish. Neither was there any fried noodles but Mama thinks the fried rice (or whatever spiced rice it is) tastes pretty good. I had 2 small muffins and some other small amount of stuff that Mama could not remember. It's good that Mama gave me some waffle to eat on our way here so I won't really be starving.

There was ice cream too.

There were at 2 ice cream booths that offered ice cream and Papa got us 2 ice cream cones. The ice cream was the type that was sold in the older days when ice cream was just kind of homemade and not of any brands. But there was some durian flavoured ice-cream mixed with the rest of the ice cream in the cone and Papa did not like this. I tasted the ice cream and decided I did not like it too and so Mama ate the 2 ice cream cones on her own. In her own words, she looked like an obscene glutton, eating ice cream with one cone in each hand. ;p

There was a staircase next to the bench where we had lunch and so I spent some time there. Papa also came and accompanied me while Mama ate her lunch.

After lunch, Papa collected his convocation pictures from a vendor and sent me and Mama home before he returned to office to do some work. Oh, a small episode before we had lunch. I was trapped in the lift outside the auditorium for a few moments. It happened when we were about to take a lift to the ground floor of the auditorium. I went into the lift and before my parents could come in, the lift door closed. Mama tried to press the button outside the lift but it did not open the lift door and so Mama saw the lift door close with me alone in it. Papa was a metre or two away from the lift and that was probably why Mama did not enter the lift with me.

The good thing was the lift only served 3 storeys and Mama was about to go to the storey above the lobby to get me when Papa called out to her. The lift door had opened without the lift going up nor down and I had came out from the lift. Thank God that I am ok! :)