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