A Brief Conversation

Hi all, this is me talking to Aunty Cheyanne and Uncle Denton who live and study in US. Mama was preparing me to go to Woodlands Regional Library in the morning and thought maybe I can chat with them for a while and so she called them. But she did it so spontaneously that she had forgotten to help me put on my pants before calling. And in the midst of the call, she decided to take some pictures and so we have here pictures of me having a conversation in my briefs. ;p

Mama thinks I called Uncle Denton Papa and she tried to correct me. I could only say "zhang" because I am still unable to put "gu" and "zhang" together and so I called him "zhang".

Generally, I was just telling Aunty Cheyanne and Uncle Denton what was happening to me and trying to describe what I saw at various points in time. I was bitten by some insect or spider at my ankle and so I told Uncle Denton,"Pain, pain" when I actually meant I felt itchy.


When I saw Mama's Ez-Link cards on the coffee table, I said" bar-cart".

Intially, we were in the living room.

Then, I walked into my bedroom and sat down on my bed when Aunty Cheyanne sang me a song. She sang If You are Happy and when she was done, I said "Happy feet" and stepped on the ground. Mama thinks I want her to continue singing If You are Happy and you know it, stomp your feet.

Next, I laid down on the floor where I could see a cane hanging on the window grille and so I said,"Cane, cane".

I also said many other things and when it was time to say goodbye, I said "Bye bye, Gu Gu".

Anyone else would like to talk to me on the phone? :D

My First Potty Training Accident

Today Mama and I were at the bus stop waiting for the bus to go to Yew Tee MRT station when Mama discovered I was looking down at my legs and there was some liquid flowing down. Yikes!! I had an accident.

Mama was trying to get me to wear diapers only when I sleep and so we had left home without me wearing diapers. She had meant to get me to pee before we left the house but she was so occupied with preparing me that she had forgotten. She should have taken the cue when I told Uncle Denton on the phone "pee pee" but she did not think much of it and hence the accident.

If Mama had not watched the Sesame Street DVD on Potty Training, she might had scolded me out of embarrassment. But she remembered that the characters in the program said it was normal to have accidents and so she just took me home to wash and change before we left home again.

The only thing is, she did not do anything to the puddle we left behind. By the time we went back to the bus stop after washing, the puddle had almost dried up under the sun. ;p

The Mystery of Oh-ku Max

Sometimes, I will just blurt out a phase out of nowhere, perhaps from some shows I watched or something I heard being spoken. Recently, I blurted out this term "oh-ku-max". I would go "oh-ku-max, oh-ku-max"

My parents could not make head or tail of what I meant. Mama tried to ask me what is oh-ku-max and when she repeat oh-ku-max after me, I will just smile shyly.

Oh-ku-max, oh-ku-max. What does this mean? Mama tried guessing Uncle Max but who is Uncle Max? Or could it be a slogan for Okto tv channel? Mama has never heard nor seen this on TV before.

Any suggestions? :)

Adventures in Marche

My Papa rather like Marche but he had no opportunity to eat there since I arrived. Last Saturday, we went to NTUC Finest at Somerset to buy my milk powder and my parents decided to eat at Marche at 313 Somerset.

My parents were certainly impressed by this child-friendly trolley which allows parents to bring their toddlers along when they get their food.


But I much prefer to be at this tree house which is at the play area for kids.

I had so much fun here. Papa said this play area is like a little United Nations with children of different skin colours and nationalities.

I enjoyed the thrill of coming down the fireman's pole.


A little hiccup though. During the initial attempts at the pole, I kind of lost my footing and almost fell out of the window behind the pole. Though Mama was very near and caught me immediately, I lost my guts and only dared to sit on the sill before I reached out to the pole from then on. This is just how cautious a person I am.

Another strange thing that happened was when I climbed the ladder in the tree house.

In my initial attempts, I had no problem transferring myself from ladder to the landing. But somehow, Mama has no idea what happened, I just lost it and I spent some time just going up and down the ladder without transferring myself to the landing.

This behaviour of mine caused some frustration to the girl behind me who was trying to get to the landing. See the girl in black and white stripes 2 pictures above? She was frustrated by me and complained in a controlled volume, "This boy just keep going up and down!". She then realised my Mama was just peering into the window and witnessed her complaining. Though Mama was not too pleased that I was complained, she also knew I was at fault for holding up the traffic and that was when she realised I was not transferring myself to the landing and perhaps I kind of lost the skill.

So Mama went into the tree house and tried to get me to transfer myself. After some time, she got me to play with the fireman's pole instead. Nevertheless, it was great fun for me at this tree house.

Still, my treehouse adventures were at most light and momentary compared to the trouble I almost landed my Papa in. When we first entered the restaurant, each of us were given a card to record what food items we had taken. Papa took me on the trolley and with my card in my hand, we went looking around for food. We came back with a bowl of soup and Papa announced I had lost my card. He tried following the track we had taken but failed to retrieve it. He was about to let it be but Mama was quite insistent on finding the card because it meant Papa has to pay if we could not find the card.

Mama alerted a waitress nearby but the card could not be found even when my parents went around the restaurant looking it. The situation was made a little more grave when the waitress told us that the cost for losing a card is $100. This sent my parents on a more active search for the card. Yes, they left me at the table, in the trolley on my own and went hunting for the missing card in the restaurant.

Finally, the waitress saved the day when she came up to my parents with a card saying that card could be the one we lost. Someone had picked it up and returned it to the cashier and when the cashier scanned the card, there was no record of food item found. Since we lost a card and we had just arrived at the restaurant not too long ago and barely ordered anything, she decided the card was ours and returned it to my parents. They were really relieved that the card was found and Papa need not fork out $100 for something which was not even consumed. Mama was so grateful that she gave a $5 tip to the waitress for helping us find the card. Papa will not allow me to hold the card anymore. What a misadventure! Whew! ;p

I went to NIE

Last Saturday morning, after breakfast, we did not have much time to play before Mama needs to go to work and so Papa decided to bring me to NIE where he works so that I can run around and expend some energy. Boy, it was a really huge place. Can you spot me in the picture above?

Here's a closer take.

We also went to Papa's office.

After a short stay, we left but we will most likely come again.

A Short Phone Conversation with Nai Nai

Yesyerday morning, Nai nai called Mama and I insisted on talking to her. After Mama was done talking to Nai nai, she allowed me to talk to her. We started our conversation with something like this.

Nai nai : Daniel, are you a good boy today? (or naughty boy, Mama can't remember)

Me : Same.

Mama was really amused by my answer though she could not be sure if I had really understood Nai nai's question. I also babbled about keeping toys with some baby talk.. ;p

At the end of the conversation, I said "Bye bye, Nai nai".

I Sang Today

This morning, Mama ended my shower with the usual "raining" by placing the shower head back into its holder and letting water fall through the air, simulating a raining kind of effect. I enjoyed it and at the same time, sang "Rain, rain go away". Although I only sang 4 words but the tune was unmistakeable! Mama was really excited that I was singing!

When she told Papa about it, he said he was the one who taught me the song in the bathroom. Seems like I did not respond then but I had kept it in mind and sang the song just now! After informing Papa, Mama said a quick prayer to God that I may sing for His glory when I grow up. :D

4 Amazing Things

Today, I did 4 amazing things.

1) I went out with Mama in the morning and we didn't use a single diaper from the morning Mama changed me out of the piece I wore overnight right until after my shower when it was nap time. I wore underpants instead and though we were out, there were no accidents. Except if you count when some pee fell on Mama's hands when she tried to protect my pants from getting wet.

2) I tidied my bed. Papa had been training me to put my pillows and bolsters together neatly after I wake up in the morning. Under Mama's superivsion, I put the big pillow and bolster in their place in this picture below. Mama helped me fold the blanket and put the small pillow in place.

3) I climbed 13 storeys of steps with Papa. After dinner, Papa brought me out so that Mama could mop the floor. He wanted to bring me to the playground but it was crowded to Papa and so he brought me to the void deck and we climbed stairs instead. Papa said I love doing it. So step by step, we climbed from ground floor to the 11th storey where we stayed but Mama was not done with the mopping yet and so we went another 2 more storeys before returning home. So yes, I did my first vertical marathon!

4) I packed toys into my toy box on my own initiative. Mama was having her shower while Papa and I were in the living room. Papa was watching tv and I was playing with my toys when I decided I had enough and started putting the toys back into the toy box. After packing, I even pushed the toy box back to where it should be. I had done this a couple of times in front of Mama but this was the first time I did this in front of Papa and he was really amazed! :D

Dig Ears, Dig Ears

A few Sundays ago, during bedtime, Papa tried to soothe me into being still by offering to dig my ears. Yes, he did that, and using the traditional metallic ear-digger, no less.

It has been at least 2 years since my ears were last explored and I actually laid down on Papa's thigh and rested there, keeping still for him to clean them. Boy, it was a great experience. I think it's nice and I said so.

No photos to show for it though cos Mama was busy shining torchlight into my ear canal. In addition, Mama did not want to distract me with her camera as I may move and injure myself during the digging process but I tell you, Papa sure found some ear wax in my ears and removed them. Such stuff would ordinarily had been discarded but Mama actually kept them in a scrap book by sitcking scotch tape over them... ee-yer..... ;p

The funny thing is, I learnt the 2 words "dig ears" almost immediately that evening. A few days later, I wanted to dig Mama's ears. Mama was not about to risk whatever is left of her hearing ability and so she found herself a scape goat. Here it is. :D

Mama took out the teddy bear Uncle Bernard gave me and asked me to dig its ears. She even gave me a cotton bud and the actual torchlight we used that evening. Here I am, trying to dig the bear's ear. But I soon gave up because it was just not the same. ;p

I turned 32 months old! :D

Dear all,

I am already 32 months old! Mama remembered my birthday and took this picture on my 32nd birthday. We were at Mac Donald's again. I am very good with some gross motor skills using my hands like turning the bottle cap of a bottle of mineral water. But this is only if the bottle had previously been opened.

The other day, I picked up an orange and turned it round and round like someone who was skillfully turning the Rubik Cube. Mama saw it and thought I am really very intelligent to be able to turn the orange round and round so fast.

Fine motor skills wise, Mama thinks I am not so good. I was given a piece of bak kwa to eat the other day and I actually dropped it on the floor before I could even eat most of it. ;p Papa may disagree with this because at 32 months, I already could turn on the electric power of the DVD player, insert a disc into the player, switch on the TV set, turn it to AV channel and play the disc. Though not always in this sequence, I already know how to turn on the TV and the DVD player. and not just the player in my house, mind you. I could do the same for the player at Nai nai's house too!

Just the other day, Mama left me at Nai nai's house for half a day and she left a DVD for me to watch at Nai nai's house. According to Nai nai, she thought the disc player had spoiled when the main menu showed up on the TV screen. At the main menu, Peppa Pig was giggling away and I giggled with it for a while too. Nai nai thought the player had spoiled but after giggling with Peppa Pig for a while, I played the disc by pressing some button. My intelligence absolutely impressed my granny! :D

Talking about being at Nai nai's house, I actually dialled 999 and called the police when I was at her place a few weeks ago. Nai nai said I dialled the number without her knowing and perhaps hung up or did not speak after the call was put through. The police actually called Nai nai at her place asked if anyone called the police as they received a call from her phoneline. She quickly apologised for me, explaining she had forgotten to pull out the phoneline before allowing her grandson to play with the phone. Good that there was no more serious consequence than just a verbal reminder given to Nai nai not to allow such incidents again. ;p

On the subject of my intelligence, here's another story. I had been using Mama's Ez-Link cards when we travel on the bus and MRT. Now, Mama has 2 cards that she uses alternatively. I will often ask for "bar-cart" when I see Mama after school because she will take me out for bus and MRT rides. Recently, Mama decided to give me an old Ez-Link card which probably expired. I could actually tell it was not the same cards we often use and return it to her. Other than attributing it to my intelligence, Mama could not explain why I had rejected the expired card.

This month, I continue to say many more words. 1 of the phrases that I said very often is,"Oh oh, T T left.". Translated, it means, "Oops, the MRT train has left the platform and gone to the next station." I say it when I am at a MRT platform and saw a train leave or when I see a train pass by when we are walking or when we are travelling in Papa's car.

I also pick up words that are of interest to me very quickly. There was once the Barney DVD did not work and Mama said," I will get Papa to fix it for you when he comes back. Papa will fix it." She kept saying these statements and after hearing it for perhaps 5-6 times, I said "Papa fix, Papa fix".

I am also learning to talk by repeating the words I hear on TV when I watch Sesame Street DVD. There was this part when Ernie was distracting Bert from reading and Bert said,"Not now" and so whenever we come to this segment, I will say, "Not now, not now". :D

Talking about repeating the words I hear, I am also showing some rebellion by repeating the verb after Mama's instruction. For example, Mama will say, " Don't touch" and I will immediately say,"Touch". Initially, Mama thought I might just be parroting and repeating the last word I heard. Yet, there were occasions when Mama may say something like, "Don't step on the grass" and I will say "Step". Most of the time, Mama will let me off if I just repeat the verb and did not carry out the action but if I do, she will sometimes punish me for my misbehavior.

Though I was talking a lot more, "sorry" seems to be the hardest word for me to say. Just about 2-3 weeks ago, Mama will try to get me to say sorry for my mistakes (sometimes, for hers too). I just refuse to open my mouth to say it. Now, she is not expecting me to say it with perfect diction but she knows I can say "sore-yee" to mean sorry and she had been asking me to apologise.

Well, I simply refused to do it. Yes, I just would not say it. Even when she punished me by caning, pulling my ears, I just refused to say it. Until one day last week, she really told me to say it and I finally learnt to say it.

I had not put back a bottle of handwash at Watsons' properly and the bottle fell to the ground and its pump broke. Mama paid $2.50 for it. No matter what Mama did, I just refused to say sorry. I thought I could just gain her favour by putting my face on her shoulders as I usually do but Mama knew I could say "sore-yee" and was upset with me for not saying it. She tried to make me apologise at the store, at the bus stop when we were waiting for a bus to go home and even after we reached home when she took out the cane. But I just did not say it even after she caned me for my refusal to apologise.

Eventually, I did learn to say it and now, I am saying it with much more ease when Mama ask me to apologise.

Last month, I also did a lot more climbing.

When I was younger, Aunty Chew Poh, Mama's cousin gave us a rattan stool that can be flipped over and used like a baby seat for babies to sit inside during mealtimes. Mama has never used it as a baby seat for me. Now that I am old enough, I use it as a step stool.

And look at what I did when I went to Papa's office 2 days ago. Sure is a clever way to help me reach the unattainable heights, isn't it? :D

By the way, the above pair of sandals I am in is my current favourite shoes. Though I had another pair of slippers with Sesame Street characters as well as another pair of covered shoes, I just acknowledge the sandals as my shoes and whenever I am asked to put on my shoes because we are going out, this is the pair I will choose to wear. Mama just reminded Papa that I am at the stage where I may want to wear the same shirt or pants everyday. It's good that it's just a pair of shoes that I am insistent about. :D

Ok, that's about all of what Mama has to say at 32 months. Thanks for reading thus far.

A Happy Friday

Last Friday, Aunty Elizabeth and her daugher, Sarah jie jie came to visit us at Yew Tee. Mama and I went to Yew Tee MRT station to meet them before we went to Mac Donald's for breakfast. After breakfast, Aunty Elizabeth allowed me to play with her iPhone which has very simple games in them. She even instructed Sarah jie jie to teach me to play one of the games. So here I am, helping myself to her iPhone.

After breakfast and a little gaming, we brought Aunty Elizabeth and Sarah jie jie to our place. It's their first time here. This is me holding Sarah jie jie's hand tightly as we walked from the bus stop to the lift lobby. I kept holding her hand whenever an opportunity arises. Papa said it was because Sarah jie jie's hands are smaller compared to my parents' hands and easier for me to hold them. But I might had held them a little too tightly. Her daddy told Mama that I have a very tight grip when he saw her in church on Sunday. ;p

We also showed them my parents' favourite Sesame Street DVD that was borrowed from the library. While the DVd ran on, we also spent some time playing with building blocks.

At my request, we took some pictures together. Don't the three of us look good together? :D

Then, we spent some time riding.

Sarah jie jie rode on my tricycle with Aunty Elizabeth pushing her along. I thought I will give it a try too.

I thought I will give it a try too. Here we go....

Next, we went to my bedroom and we shared some books together. We also took out some picture cards and there was a time when Sarah jie jie passed me a card, called out the name of the animal on the card and passed the card to me. I would repeat the name of the animal after her before I placed the card in the brick truck Aunty Cheyanne bought for my first birthday. Certainly very educational. Here's a video clip of us in action. :D

We also spent some time jumping up and down on my bed. It sure was fun to have someone playing with me. :)

We left my place when it was time for lunch. We went to Bukit Batok Westmall for lunch before we part ways. Aunty Elizabeth and Sarah jie jie went home for a short rest before Sarah jie jie's piano class started at 3pm. Mama brought me home for a nap. I was so tired that I fell asleep in Mama's arms when we were about to reach home. Could you tell I was already sleepy when we were on our way home on the MRT? :p

I was so tired out that when we were about one block away from home, I fell asleep with my body upright as Mama carried me and walked home from Yew Tee MRT station. The funny thing is, I kept holding on the the bus card and didn't release my grip even though I was dozing off. Mama was sure tired out with the carrying and walking as I was heavy. ;p

It was a really wonderful Friday and I sure had a great time! Mama hope Aunty Elizabeth and Sarah jie jie enjoyed themselves too. :D

A Special Package #1

Yesterday, when Mama picked me up from school, she was handed a package with this blue folder in it. Want to make a guess what it contained? :)

My first class picture! :D

Can you spot me in it?

Here's a closer look. See? :D

A Special Package #2

Along with the class picture, here's another item that was found in the package.

My first diploma!!

Mama said I am now a diploma holder! She also said if I need to have my name card printed, my credential will be Dip PS.

The only thing is, Mama is not too sure if this diploma can be considered as an academic qualification. ;p

A Special Package #3

The only thing that did not please Mama too much in the package was the following.

She found it a little hard to accept that her son whom she deemed to be very intelligent, didn't score well in so many areas in the assessment. She is not upset with me. Rather, she kind of questioned what was the assessment criteria that rendered me this evaluation. Papa just laughed off her thoughts and said I am already doing very well, considering that most of my classmates are older than me. He said I still have a long way to go in the area of academic pursuit. :)

Dancer Daniel

Mama took this shot of me after my shower before she went to work. She meant to capture my neat boy hairstyle that Papa has done for me. But this looks like I was doing a dance pose. Don't you think so? :D

Bukit Timah Forest Reserve

Last Friday was Deepavali holiday and Papa need not go to office. So we went to Bukit Timah Forest Reserve again. Mama wanted us to try reaching the summit by the concrete path while Papa wanted to turn left from the Visitor Centre and travel the path we did not take when we came last time. It turned out my parents were thinking of the same road! :D

We soon came across some monkeys and I was intrigued by one eating a slice of bread. I even commented that its food had dropped! The monkey soon climbed up a tree and Papa quickly took me away in case the monkey decided to pee and rain its urine on us from the tree.

We ventured on. It was literally an uphill task. The path was much steeper than what Mama remembered when she came many years ago when she was a teacher.

I traveled in 3 different ways:

I walked

In pram

On Papa's shoulders

Along the way, there were times when Papa wondered if we should carry on. Just before we reached the summit, Mama wanted to turn back but Papa said he had a hunch that the summit is quite near and we should carry on. It turned out that Papa was right because after a few minutes, we reached the summit!

Time to whip out the camera for more picture taking.

Me and Mama.

Papa and Me

Because Papa placed me on the rock, I wanted to sit on the rock on my own and have my picture taken. I was actually saying cheese when I made Mama put me on the rock to take this picture below. :D

See Mama's worried fingers? Actually, there is nothing much to fear.

After staying at the summit for about 15 minutes, we left to return home. It took a little coaxing to get me to leave the summit. Papa wanted to Mama to take a picture to show how steep the slope was near the bottom of the hill. Papa said if he let go of his hand, my pram will roll down the hill really fast. ;p
There were other paths that are more "foresty" and according to Uncle Denton, he has seen snakes when he was at Bukit Timah Forest Reserve. We didn't see any snakes both times we came. Perhaps if we come again Papa may choose to take those paths. Mama, the city dweller scaredy cat, will just be happy to wait for us at the summit while I explore the forest with Papa. The only problem is, how do we get Papa to agree to exempting Mama from the forest? ;p