Mama's Annual Leave Day 2

This morning, we went to church. As it was the 5th Sunday of the month, there was a cookie baking session. Mama thought this will be quite fun for me as I had some experience playing with Playdoh at home. Can you spot where I am in the picture below? :D

Initially, I could sit still when the teacher was explaining what to do to prepare the dough. The explanation took a while and me and 2 other toddlers got impatient and started to walk around.

Soon, we got our hands on the dough.




I used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out a piece of the dough which was then placed back to the rest of the dough mixture allocated to me. I also poked the dough mixture with my index fingers. Soon, I decided I had enough and walked away from the table. Mama had to bring me to the toilet to have my hands washed as the rest continued with the cookie making.

Later, Mama brought me to Amoy Hawker Centre where we had breakfast. Unfortunately, I fell from the stool and had a small part of my left front tooth chipped off. There was also a bruise under my chin as that was where the point of impact was when my chin hit the table before I fell flat on the floor. Needless to say, I cried and there was some blood in my mouth as the right side of my inner lips were cut 2-3mm long.

Thank God that I soon became well and again, fell asleep on our way home.

As I had an early nap at around 11am, Papa decided to bring me to bring me to Changi Airport after I woke up and so at around 2.30pm, after feeding me lunch, giving me a shower, we headed to Changi Airport.

A highlight of the trip was when Papa placed me on the trolley meant for luggage.

Initially, I was very frightened and cried for help. Soon, I got the hang of it and actually wanted to sit in the trolley to be wheeled around abit.

Another highlight for me was the Sky Train Rides. I love train rides and we actually took the Sky Train from Terminal 3 to Terminal 2 and then to Terminal 1 before heading back to Terminal 3 again.

After the rides, I just had to have my closure by saying bye bye to the train. But I went a little too far as I kept wanting to go back to the viewing gallery to bid farewell to the train


Mama had to smack my arm to make me follow her.

We went back to Lot 1 as my parents wanted to eat rice. We had Yoshinoya at the foodcourt in Lot 1 before we went to basement for dessert. Then we headed home and I finally went to sleep after a long afternoon out. Yet, it took a while for me to fall asleep as I was a little over-stimulated and I only slept at around 9.50pm. Mama thought I should have slept much earlier, but well, as long as I sleep, it's better late than never, right? ;)

Mama's Annual Leave Day 1

Once a year, usually after Mama's student finishes his Maths exams, Mama takes the Saturday off. This year, Mama's off day is especially significant because Mama has been giving tuition on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons for the last 2 months, leaving Papa to take care of me in the afternoons when I napped. This weekend, she got a good break as all her weekend commitment to her students had been fulfilled.

Yesterday morning, we went to Sentosa after having breakfast at Yew Tee Point. Mama's initial idea was to go to Resorts World but in the end, to fulfill their promises to me (in order to get me to cooperate and leave Yew Tee Point and those fascinating kiddy ride machines), my parents brought me to the beach instead.

So here we are, at Palawan Beach in Sentosa. Mama read about how family friendly this beach was and so she decided to come here. Initially, she was cautious and held my hands.

Then, she saw how calm the waves were and allowed me to play on my own and she stood near to me. I was initially cautious about getting myself wet but soon, I was happily immersed.

Even found an interesting activity to do: attempt to bury the seaweed with sand.

Mama did not prepare swimming diapers for me as we were supposed to go to Resort World but Papa had come prepared with an extra set of clothes for me and so my parents had no problem with me getting wet.

We also had a lot of fun running on the fine sand, holding each other's hands.

After washing up, we had lunch at the food court nearby. We then walked around for a while. There was a small amphitheatre but we had missed the reptile show that might had been done at 12 noon.

Mama said this photo serves as evidence of how I torture Papa. She told Papa she will show me this picture when I grow up to tell me how I had made Papa suffer.

After walking for a while, we went home. I fell asleep on our way back and napped all the way to about 5.15pm.

After showering me, we headed off for dinner. Papa wanted to return a library book and we were supposed to go to Lot 1 but we settled at Mac Donald's at Bukit Panjang Plaza where I got to eat fries, cheeseburger and drink apple juice. Yumm...

After dinner, we returned Papa's library book, bought some grocery and went home. That was Mama's first day of her annual leave.

A special thanksgiving to God : On Saturday, Papa was supposed to be on standby as his army unit may mobilise him by calling him on his handphone. If that really happened, Papa will have to arrive at his army camp unit within 2 hours of receiving the call. Mama is thankful God has been good that Papa did not receive any call on Saturday or we may have to rush home for Papa to pick up his army bag and go to his camp at Changi.

31 Months Old

Today, I turned 31 months old. This is me travelling in MRT. For the month that passed, I had been taking MRT more often as Mama takes me out to the library after school quite frequently. Almost every time, I will ask Mama to take a picture of me.

Yes, in the month that passed, I had turned into a boy who wants to have his pictures taken very often. I will say "cheese, cheese" to Mama and if she did not understand what I was trying to say, I will curl my fingers imitating the action of pressing down the camera buttons. This is another picture taken at my request when we were in the cry room in church. I know how to mount the swing and push such that I can enjoy the swinging action. :D

I am really saying a lot more things now. Last month, Mama posted that I love to hold her hand and run with her. This month, I will hold her hand, look her in the eye and say,"To race.." and then we start running if she is willing.

Mama suspects I learnt this from school where my friends might had said something like, "One, two, three, go!" but I had "summarised" it to "two, race..." and off we went.

As we went to library more often, I got to eat Mc Donald's more often too. Mama tries to limit it to once a week as it's not exactly good for me to eat too much fast food. She also orders plain cheeseburger for me from Mc Donald's. This means my burger comes with a slice of cheese and beef patty and nothing else. I had already learnt how to say "Donald's" too. There were at least 2 occasions when Mama was buying something at Mac Donald's and I quickly went to find ourselves a seat.

Here I am, sharing a cheese burger with Mama at Mac Donald's at Caueway Point. See the fries in my mouth? :D

I am also learning to relay messages. The Saturday that passed, we were supposed to go to East Coast beach for cycling again. Mama thought Papa had not yet woken up in the morning and so, she told me to wake Papa up and tell him,"beach, beach". When I went into Papa's room, he was already awake. Mama asked me what I was supposed to tell Papa and I said,"Beach, beach"

Very clever of me, isn't it? :D

And yes, I love going to the beach.

The past week, the sunday school song "With Christ in the Vessel, We Can Smile at the Storm" really made me laugh a lot, especially when Mama leaves out the words "storm" and "home" and do only hand actions for these 2 words.

I am also making Mama my human jukebox. Mama often sings when she carries me in her arms to bring me to school. Sometimes, I will say,"God, good" which means I want Mama to sing God is so good, but barely before she gets to the second line, I will say, "Christ, Christ" which means I want her to sing With Christ in the Vessel. Nai nai said I will enjoy singing when I am older next time.

I am also trying to be more independent and I sometimes like to eat on my own. But I also learnt that I will get Mama really upset when I spill something or create a mess by pushing my food out of the bowl in an attempt to scoop it into my spoon and hence, I do not try often. Now,Mama tries to remember and ask me to feed myself and she tries to be more patient and tolerant to my mistakes. I also tend not to ask to feed myself but I just have to try this self-feeding below.

We were having bak kut teh for dinner at Tiong Bahru and Papa asked for Chinese tea which one is supposed to make on one's own using tea leaves and hot water from a stove provided by the vendor.

My parents decided to let me try drinking from the little cup after I proved to them that I can handle the cup without dropping it. Mama thinks I find it quite fun and here I am, proposing a toast to Papa. Cheers. :D

Not to worry though, it's not Chinese tea that I was drinking. It's just plain water. Mama was not about to have me bounce off the walls from the caffeine in the tea when I was supposed to go to bed later.

This month, I also got to try cycling and it's an enjoyable family activity for all 3 of us.

I still like flavoured drinks but Mama discovered that there are some drinks I do not fancy. She had bought me soya bean milk a few times but I do not take to it. Here's Papa and me drinking from a coconut. Loving huh? Actually, it's more for the purpose of not letting me drink too much cold drinks as I may develop a cough. Scheming huh? Well, I am not too foolish either. See me holding Papa's straw with my right hand? :D

Papa and Mama also discovered and resigned themselves to the idea that I just love to sleep on the floor. Yes, maybe it's because the floor is more cooling to sleep on but I just love to sleep on the floor. When Mama put me to bed at night, she will sleep on my bed while I much prefer to take my pillows, bolsters and blanket and sleep on the floor. I will often lie there to rest and then fall asleep on the ground.

Sometimes, I will wake up in the middle of the night, bring my bolster with me and go into my parents' room. My parents are not sure if it's because I do not want to wake them up or I was just too tired but they had found me sleeping on the floor in their room on at least 2 occasions. Apparently, I had walked in quietly, settled myself on the ground and gone back to sleep.

Ok, that's about all for the moment. Hope it's not too long a read for you. :D

God's Birthday Present for Me

Dear all,

Today is my 31st month birthday. With no special intent to celebrate my birthday, Mama took me out after school. She meant to buy me a new bolster fromWoodlands Causeway Point Metro as she saw something that was pretty affordable and I was kind of outgrowing the new one. Eventually, we ended up at Yew Tee mall after lunch and no bolster had been bought.

I had a $1 coin with me and I spent it on a kiddy ride in the form of an ice cream van and I asked Mama for more coin to take the kiddy ride of Oscar the Grouch but Mama told me she had no more coins for me to take a kiddy ride. We then went to buy a cake.

After buying the cake, I saw 2 uncles doing maintenence on the kiddy ride above and hung around to see what they were doing. The machine was still moving when they were done. 1 of the uncles saw me hanging around then signaled to Mama that I can get a ride. Mama was very thankful and before she can finish saying "thank you", I had already climbed up the moving machine as I too, could understand the uncle's signalling.

Mama is thankful to God for this free ride. It was a great birthday present! :D

Cycling at East Coast

Last Friday, my parents decided we will go cycling on Saturday morning and so when I woke them up on Saturday morning, they soon left the house after washing up, packing some ham and cheese sandwich for breakfast and prepared my snack and drinks.

We arrived at East Coast at around 8.35am in the morning when there were not many people around. Mama brought me to the beach while Papa went to look for a toilet to answer nature's call.

As I am at the stage of picking up vocabulary, I soon picked up the word "beach" as I stood at the beach watching the waves come in. What impressed Mama more was the following. I wanted to play with the sea water but as we were there primarily to cycle, Mama said we have to ask Papa to see if we can play with sea water because we were there for cycling. She said it and then repeated herself again. I kept silent for a while, then I said, "Papa", presumably asking for my father.

Then, after some time, when we joined Papa outside the bicycle rental shop, I said,"Beach, beach". Mama thinks I really meant to ask Papa if I can play at the beach.

Papa rented a tandem bicycle for our little family of three as Mama has forgotten how to ride a bicycle. Before coming, Mama thought I will be placed in a child seat and be in front of Papa while she will ride behind him. The child seat that the rental shop offers differs from Mama's imagination though. I got a seat larger than what Mama had thought would be and in the end, I was strapped behind Mama instead.

Though Mama was a little concerned as I was strapped behind the adults and neither my parents could see what was happening to me behind their backs, plus I was also a little unsure why my parents are putting me on this seat and strapping me up, we were soon enjoying ourselves as we rode towards Bedok Jetty and back.

Soon after we started, Mama turned back and asked if this is nice and I said nice. She asked me this very same question a couple of times which I patiently replied and then I decided that was it, I am not answering this "nice" question anymore.

Along the way, Mama also tried to turn back to take my pictures as it's the first time I am cycling with my parents but she is really limited. Look at this poor take.

On our way back to return the bicycle, we stopped by for a short break where I ate my snacks and drank a small packet of Milo. Then we went back to the rental shop to return the bicycle as Mama had to work later in the day.

After returning the bicycle, I said "beach, beach" to Papa, presumably asking to play at the beach. Mama managed to get Papa to allow me to spend a few short moments at the beach. I got my shoes wet and we soon left after my parents washed me with the water from my water bottle.

It was a short but really pleasant trip to East Coast and my parents are thinking of coming back here again this Saturday...

I Said Christ For the First Time

Today, I said Christ for the first time in my life and I said it with clear diction. Mama was really happy as we are Christians and in the central of our faith is Christ which is the English term for the Greek word Khristós, meaning the 'anointed' one, referring to Jesus Christ, our God and our Redeemer.

It happens when Mama and I were preparing for sleep and Mama sang me this song titled "With Christ in the Vessel, We Can Smile at the Storm". This song has many simple actions such as clapping one beat and putting my hands over my head to show the idea of home.

I was very tickled by Mama who sang me the entire song with lyrics and accompanying actions and then substituted some words with the actions. I kept wanting Mama to do it and so I said,"Christ" when I want her to sing it again.

Though I do not really know the actual meaning of this word, Mama is happy as this is another good step in nurturing my faith. :D

Hair Cut Again

See the 2 pictures above? Spot the difference? That's right? I got a hair cut! Mama thinks I look better with short hair as my facial features are more prominent with shorter hair. She also thinks my head and face look bigger with shorter hair. Do you agree? :D

A Tai Tai Lunch

Last Wednesday, Mama got her tuition salary and so she brought me to Sakae Sushi for lunch after school. I was really famished when we got here and took a plate of sushi off the conveyor belt immediately when Mama placed me on her seat next to the conveyor belt. It was made with rice and crab meat. Mama did not scold me but she knew I was hungry and so she quickly settled me on a high chair and started feeding me.

She brought a pair of scissors with her as she intended to have udon noodles with me. So she used the scissors to but the crab meat into bite-sized pieces. Since the crab meat was on top of the sushi rice, she ended up cutting the sushi rice too. My mother is probably the only one in this world to cut sushi with scissors. ;p

She then ordered a bowl of beef udon noodles and shared it with me. Here I am, eating the noodles. It was yummy! I actually finished the whole bowl of noodles and a few more strands.

Then, I got to drink from a kiddy cup too.

Mama enjoyed having lunch with me that day. Thank God for the blessing of good health and money. :D

My First Why

It is said that young children as very inquisitive, always asking why, why, why. Today, I asked my first why. We were at Yew Tee MRT station waiting for a train and I was tugging Mama's shirt. Our conversation went something like this:

Mama : Daniel, can you please stop pulling my shirt, ok?

Me : Why? (cheeky look in eyes)

Mama: Because shame shame.

Me : Shame shame.

Blowing Bubbles

Today, I blew my first bubble using the plastic holder and the detergent made by mixing my baby body wash with some water. Mama was very happy. I am finally able to blow bubbles! Yeah! :D

More Words to Say

About a fortnight ago, I liked to say," oh, oh" followed by "drop"when I see something drop or if I dropped something. I also learnt to recognise Ernie, the Sesame Street character as well as Big Bird and call them by their names. Elmo is still "mer" and Cookie Monster is too much of a mouthful and so I call him "key" for short.

Over last weekend, I picked up more words to say. I had mastered "car park" and will say it when Papa's car enters one. Mama told me the picture on my spoon is Koko Crunch and now, I will often say it too when I use my feeding spoon though I do not fancy eating the cereal.

Also, when I need to pee, I just have to tell Mama "Pee pee" and she will quickly put me on a potty. Mama now lets me play with bubbles when she is bathing me. She loves to hear me say "nice" on my own accord whenever she blows bubbles for me to touch and play around with.

What Mama found a little funny was when I mimicked the call of a bird when we were waiting for bus at Yew Tee MRT station. I heard the cry of a bird and tried to reproduce it. Though the syllabus I uttered was not the same but the melody was really the same. Maybe this is the first step towards singing...

Singing again

No picture nor video for this one but today, I tried to sing! We were watching Peppa Pig cartoon when I saw the picture of a Christmas tree on tv with lights and a tree top star and I attempted to sing to Mama. I seemed to say something like "Tinkle tinkle little star"...

Holding Hands

At 30 months old, I often need to remind my Mama how to hold my hands properly. She always hold me by my wrist especially when she is in a hurry but I much prefer she hold my hand the way she did in the picture and so I will push her hand to my palm so that we can hold hands nicely. :)