My Daddy

My Daddy's hands are big and strong

I hold them tight and walk along

With Daddy's help,

I do great things.

I climb, I slide

I fly on swings!

On Daddy's feet

I dance and play

And in his arms

I love to stay

My Daddy always

makes me laugh

even when I am in the bath!

My Daddy tells me every day

He loves me more than he can say

(A poem by Dawn Sirett)

Blessed birthday, Papa!

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

A few Saturdays ago, my parents chanced upon the idea of going to Bukit Timah Reserve in the morning and so off we went after breakfast. We went to the playground there and for the first time, I actually got to sit in a real swing. It was nice to be able to swing a little here. Papa tried to swing me higher but I really didn't like it. See me screaming for help moments later..

I may look like I am enjoying this but see me scream for help moments later...

We also saw some monkeys. They were really gutsy and even came near to a bench near us to grab someone's food. A pity Mama didn't catch it on her camera.

As we need to be home before 11.30am so that Mama could feed me before leaving for her tuition, we hung out largely at the playground before leaving for home. :)

Number Literacy

Last week, I learnt to recognise and recite numbers from 1 to 10. Actually, there had been some unintentional input on and off but I am showing the fruits of my learning only very recently. Now, I can recognise the symbols of the numbers 1 to 10 and I can say 2,3, 4,5, 8 and 9. Very remarkable progress in my parents' opinion. :)

Papa thinks this may be the result of me watching lots of Sesame Street. A few weeks ago, Mama borrowed a DVD on Kids' Favorite Song and in the show, Elmo was counting down from 10 to 1 quite a few times. That might had helped me reinforce my ability to to recognise and read the numbers.

Last Sunday, there was a charity fund raising show on TV and I could read the two 8s that appeared in the number to dial for making donations. Mama thinks I was kind of excited too that I could read the number off the TV screen that evening.

Oh, by the way, I can recognise the character Count from Sesame Street. When I see Count on TV and during the musical, I will point to him and say Count. Papa said Count was his favourite character too when he was a boy.

My 30 Month Old Celebration

My blur Mama thought 18th September is a Sunday and it was only when she was at tuition last Saturday that she found out it was my 30th month birthday. On her way home, she bought me a cup cake but I was not too keen to eat it and she ended up eating this herself. It's such a half-hearted celebration (if it can indeed be called a celebration) that she didn't even take a picture of me on that day. ;p

Conversation

It's been said that when one is 2 years old, one is in a phase of life called the Terrible Twos because one gets assertive and says "No" to almost everything and so on.

Recently, my conversation with Mama goes something like this:

Me : Clock, clock (points to alarm clock on a shelf I can't reach)

Mama : No, no

Me: Yeah, yeah, yeah

Mama : No, no

Me : Yeah, yeah, yeah

So, who is more terrible? Me or Mama? :D

30 Months Old

Dear all,

I am turning 30 months old next week. At this stage in my life, Papa and Mama can't help but to notice that I am picking up words pretty fast and learning things rather quickly. I can say a 3 syllabus word and it goes "jitter-bah". Mama thinks I had picked it up after watching Sesame Street where Baby Cookie Monster's granny called him a jitterbug.

I am also following words. For example, when I hear the counting down sequence from 10 to 1 on the Sesame Street video, I can follow the counting and repeat saying the number after I heard it.

I can now recognise the letters A, B, C, E, P, R, T and occasionally, D, M and n though I can't pronounce M and says something like "mmm" sound instead. What Mama meant by recognise is that I can say these letters correctly when I see them. The other day, I surprised Mama when I stood at the lift lobby of the ground floor and said, "B, B". At first, Mama could not make out what was happening. Then she realised that I had just discovered the letter B at the side of the lift.

I am also engaging in self-initiated imaginary play. This is me talking on my handphone after I had my lunch at Woodlands Regional Library.

Yes, I am using my hand as a phone and having imaginary conversation. I had done this quite a few times. Once, Mama saw me talking on my handphone after I woke up in the playpen. At the end of the conversation, I said "bye" and pointed to my palm to imitate Mama's action of locking her keypad and slided my hand across my diaper to pretend I was putting the handphone into the back pocket as I often observed Mama does.

I also enjoy a real conversation. This is me talking to Papa. He was asking me where are the various parts of my body and hence I was pointing to parts of my face. Then I started babbling.

I am also getting better now when Mama brings me to the library. It used to be that I will walk around and pull out lots of books without any interest to really read them and Mama had to follow after me, putting those books back. Nowadays, when we visit the library, Mama can kind of leave me for a very short moment at a table to read and run off for a short moment to grab a book or two. In fact, last week, Mama had registered me to be a library member.

This is me at the community library at Lot 1. Mama brought me here on a Thursday evening when Papa was at class. I was pretty gutsy that evening. Mama was reading with me at a table when one of the books she intended to borrow was taken away by a bigger boy whose sister than read it to him. I quickly went up to them and said," Ask, ask". Mama kept asking me to come back and I pressed on for a few moments though they ignored me. They were probably about to leave the library with the book when Mama decided to be like me and she went up to the children and their father and asked the father for the book. We brought the book home eventually. :)

For the past two months, one of my favourite activities was to hold Mama's hand and run with her.

It thrilled me to be able to run as fast as I could with her hand in mine. Sometimes, Mama will run with me too. Sometimes, she will tell me not to run as we are not at a place that is good for running.

I also like some manual labour of moving things around, in particularly, objects that I can carry. My parents were a little perplexed when I started moving these big chess pieces and kind of gathering them when we were at a food court at 313 Somerset some time ago.

I did this too when we were at Woodlands Regional Library where I went to the table next to where we were sitting to bring more chairs over though there were enough chairs for me and Mama where we were sitting.

The photos of me taken over the last 2 months mostly show I am in my pacifiers.

Mama had actually reached a stage when I would only be given my tutu to help me sleep. But somehow, I had been more cranky recently and so I am given my tutu much more often to keep me soothed. This week that just passed, Mama also observed that I had been drooling quite a bit maybe due to teething. I now have at least one more molar with at least 17 teeth. Mama could not be really very sure as I do not keep my mouth open long enough for her to take a good look but she did discover one more molar on my lower jaw. To help me soothe my teething discomfort, my parents had been allowing me to keep my tutu on for longer periods.

Sometimes, they will remove tutu from me and when they have to refer to it in their conversations, they will use the term "good friend" so that I will not hear them mention "tutu" and be reminded of it and then start to look for it and throw a tantrum if I can't find it. Now, Mama is beginning to understand why Nai nai commented that I look ugly in my pictures with a tutu in my mouth. ;p

Ok, that's about all. Thanks for reading this far. Here's to better days ahead. God bless all of you. Cheers! :)

Sesame Street Musical

A few months ago, Mama's friend posted a link on Facebook. It was a link to the Sistic website advertising for tickets for a Sesame Street show. As Mama could not be sure if I would still enjoy Sesame Street at almost 30 months old, she decided not to buy any tickets then.

The Sunday that just passed, Mama finally bought the tickets for the musical for last evening's show. Papa paid for my ticket and Mama paid for hers. She bought 2 tickets that were at mid-ranged price of $45 each as Papa was not exactly interested.

After paying for the tickets online, Mama had been letting me watch lots of Sesame Street DVDs that we borrowed from the library. As Friday drew even nearer, she started telling me I am going to see Elmo, Big Bird and friends in person. The day before the show, she also printed out pictures of these puppets so that we can colour them together (but that's also to occupy me when Papa goes for his evening class).

Yesterday, we finally watched the show. Papa sent us to the entrance of the stadium and took a couple of pictures before we went into the stadium. Though Mama only bought tickets a few days before the show, she managed to get good seats. This was the view from our seats. We were at the 4th row and had the 2 seats at the corner.

Upon arriving at our seats, I immediately pushed down the seat and climbed onto it. Perhaps I was then taken away to have my diaper changed before the show started, I wasn't much keen to remain on my seat after we came back.

Still, I stay seated for at least the first 10 minutes after the show started. Mama kind of lost count of time too as she watched the show with me.

This picture of Elmo and Big Bird below was taken soon after the show started. Then Mama's handphone could not take any more pictures as its battery power was low. A pity that there were not any more pictures.

Halfway through the first part of the show, I left my seat, went to the railings in front and sat on the ground with my feet dangling over the railing. It was a little dangerous because technically speaking, I could slide under the railing and fall to the ground but as I sat there and kept still, Mama decided to let me continue.

Mama also brought a packet of Froot Loops as a snack for me and so that kind of brought me back to my seat and kept me there for some time during the show.

It was the first time I watched a musical and since I am kind of familiar with the characters like Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Elmo, Ernie, Bert and Count, I was able to last through the show. In fact, when Count appeared on the stage, I said Count to Mama.

After a short break, the musical started on a segment of Elmo's World and I could nod my head according to the music of Elmo song. :)

What I did not know was that Papa was actually at Kallang Leisure Park just next to the stadium. Mama had arranged with Papa such that if I am too difficult to manage during the show, she will give Papa a call and he will bring us home. But we made it! :)

All in all, it was not too bad an experience for me and Mama to watch the musical at the indoor stadium. But Mama said she will not bring me to a cinema as she does not think I can last through a movie. :)

A Very Classy Room

Dear all,

Want to make a guess where is this place? Looks classy with the chandelier hanging from the ceiling, right? Could this be a swanky restaurant?

A probably unexpected answer is : A diaper changing room!

Yes, Mama is not joking. We were at Great World City last month and Mama decided to help me change my diaper. It was really an eye-opener for her and Papa to see the diaper changing room decorated in such a manner.

Most of the diaper changing rooms in the shopping malls have only 1 changing station but this room has 2. There are even 2 mobiles hanging from the ceiling to help catch babies' attention when their diapers are being changed. Well, it caught my attention too but not quite in the same way as it was intended to be. :)

Mama was so impressed that she took some pictures using her handphone camera. The picture with two chairs are placed in the rooms meant for mothers who are nursing their babies. It's like you enter the changing room and there are 2 cubicles in there for nursing mothers.

My parents think this is really a very "atas" (Malay word for high-class) changing room, don't you think so? :)

I Called Shu Shu

This evening, Mama had tuition and so she left me at Nai Nai's place and Papa came over to haver dinner with Nai nai and Shu shu after his evening jog. When Papa fetched Mama after her tuition, he informed her that I had addressed Uncle Alex as Shu Shu by saying "Shu Shu, Shu Shu" when I was at Nai nai's place. Shu shu was very happy and wanted me to address him again but I refused to address him anymore. ;p

At almost 30 months, I can identify my parents, Nai nai and Shu shu by pointing to where they were. Last week, we were all seated at the dinner table and I was with them. I was able to point to all 4 of them correctly when prompted. They were very happy and clapped for me when I finished the pointing. I looked so pleased with the affirmation and attention! :)

Library Again

As it's the September holidays, I did not have to go to school and so Mama brought me to the library at Woodlands. As it's a regional library, it's bigger than the one at Lot 1 and Mama was hoping we can borrow some dvd of Peppa Pig from there besides letting me expend my energy.

It was our first time there and I was very attracted to this advertising board which has a rolling mechanism such that the advertisment will change after a while.

There is a children's reading area where there are chairs and tables suitable for my height. I even went to the table next to us and carried a chair over even though there were more than enough chairs for me and Mama.

There's also an area that was decorated to look like we can read under a tree with a small pond nearby. Here I am at the pond. :)

We spent about an hour there or so and had our lunch at the cafe in the library. Mama meant to bring me for lunch at Swensons or something but she was too hungry and decided to just eat at the cafe in the library.

Then, just before we left, Mama suddenly decided to ask a library assistant about applying a membership card for me. She thought there will be some forms for her to fill but that's really an outdated idea. She was directed to the e-kiosk near the counter to sign me up at the kiosk.

So she did and I am now a library member! Now, we can borrow more books and DVDs when we go to the library. Hurray! The kiosk actually printed out a card for me on the spot too. Mama thought it will be printed on some kind of cardboard paper. She even instructed me to stand next to the outlet where my card will appear after it has been printed.

It was a surprise that the card that came out of the dispenser was actually made of plastic. I quickly picked up the card when it came down from the dispenser. Mama wanted to take a picture of me picking up the card but she took too long to fish out her camera and lost that historical moment.

She then asked me to put the card at the dispenser and so that she can take a picture that looks kind of like I was picking up my card. But I actually fed the card too high up the dispenser and the card disappeared much like how an atm card gets "sucked" in by an atm!

Oh no! So Mama went to the librarian at the counter, told her the card was stucked in the dispenser. The librarian kindly printed out another card for me. All these was done for free at no monetary cost! This picture above is the free replacement card the librarian printed for me.

Mama then used my replacement card and borrowed some library items. But I was really quite tired by then as my nap time drew nearer and after borrowing the items below, we went home quickly.

This is a picture of the receipt that was issued to me for the items that I borrowed informing me of the due dates of these items.

Papa is happy that I became a library member at such a young age. Hope this is a good milestone of a lifelong journey of reading. :)

My New Swimsuit

Hi all, this is my new swim suit. Guess I kind of outgrew my old one both physically and emotionally. 3 days ago, Mama kept telling me that she is bringing me swimming after my nap. So after I woke up from my nap, I immediately ran into my room and took the shirt of this swim suit to Mama. Mama was so impressed!

She was actually wanting to try letting me wear my old swimsuit to see if I could still fit into it but since I had taken this piece, she decided to let me wear it. We had a good time at the pool and I kind of slept earlier that evening. But I came down with a fever the next day. sigh..

The Little Red Dot

The country I live in is often called the Little Red Dot partly because of its small land area.

Here is a picture of another kind of little red dot. :D

Or is it.....

The Mentos Robber!

A few Saturdays ago, we were at Bukit Panjang Plaza for breakfast. After eating, Mama and I hung out at the area outside the foodcourt where there were some machines and one of them was a game machine that dispenses 2-5 small packs of mentos. I was fiddling with the machine and this girl in purple came along. She had the right type of coin for the machine and she got a go at it. She won some mentos and seeing that she had what I didn't have, I tried to snatch the mentos away from her. Of course she did not allow me. Neither did Mama who quickly took me aside and told me I must not do such a thing. But calling me a robber, well, isn't that a little too much? ;p

A New Pair of Sandals

Last month, Papa decided to buy me another pair of shoes that I can wear when we go to places nearby our place. He finally decided on this pair of slippers for me. If you take a closer look, you will see some Sesame Street characters on the slippers.

Mama thought of buying this pair of slippers for me when she first saw it. She thought I will like them.

It turned out that I didn't really want to wear them. In fact, I would struggle and whine a little when Papa made me wear them before we left the house. But the unhappiness was soon forgotten by the time we reach the ground floor. :)