Wong Kaizer

Last post

2009-09-19T17:36:00.004+08:00

This is going to be my last post on www.kaizerwong.blogspot.com because I have finally made the decision to migrate over to wordpress! I've been having this perpetual problem of aligning my pictures and texts with this current template on blogspot. Somehow, the posts just run all over the place when viewed with a non-IE browser like Firefox and Chrome. I've also been reading about how working on wordpress is so much better. Most importantly, with the impending arrival of baby #2, the blog wouldn't just be about Kaizer anymore. So I'll have to change the blog title anyway. Might as well take the chance to change the blog service provider too.

My new blog address is www.janeeeee.wordpress.com. Am happy to announce that I've already migrated all the past entries and comments from blogspot over to wordpress this morning. Wordpress is really easy peasy and such a pleasure to use! I'll be spending some time this long weekend to neaten my template, categorize my past posts, adding widgets etc over at the other side. Meanwhile, please change your bookmarks and visit the other side as I'll be starting to post about baby #2 there!

One more week ...

2009-09-15T22:55:00.004+08:00

... to baby #2's EDD. Have just finished packing my hospital bag, and am almost done with handing over my work in the office. It'll be nice if baby #2 decides to arrive this Sunday as 20.09.2009 is a pretty nice date =)

2.5 year old milestone ... cooking up reasons to skip school

2009-09-07T22:52:00.005+08:00

Between 7.45am and 8.15am this morning ...

While getting changed by papa in the morning ...
Kaizer: Don't want wear pampers! Don't want wear pampers!
(Breaks down and cries till mama has to take over the changing duties)
While getting out of the house ...
Kaizer: Bring stroller along.
Mama: No, we are going to school. Nobody brings a stroller to school.
(Bringing stroller out is associated with mama bringing Kaizer to the mall??)
While driving out of the estate ...
Kaizer: Fu-sion-no-polis (looks out at Fusionopolis). Go polis.
Mama: No, we are going to school now.
Kaizer: Go polis (agitated-ly).
Mama: We usually go there for dinner right? The shops are all not open now.
Kaizer: Open already.
Mama: Not open.
Kaizer: Open already.
While turning into PGP ....
Kaizer: Don't want to go school. Don't want to go school (x 7 times).
While being dropped off for temperature checks ...
Kaizer: Ahhhhhhhhhhh, papa ... ahhhhhhhhhhh, papa (tears streaming down on cheeks, clings to papa for a good 5 minutes).
Teacher Grace: Kaizer, I have sticker in the class, apple sticker. Do you want?
(Kaizer gets off papa, runs into the class area and forgets about crying altogether)

Counting down ...

2009-09-06T23:10:00.003+08:00

This is a very nice family picture. It'll probably be the last that we'll have as a family of three though, cos baby #2 is slated to join us in approximately 17 days time!

Evening at Clarke Quay

2009-09-06T22:52:00.003+08:00

We dropped by SGH on Saturday evening to "visit" kong kong, who has been hospitalized since Thursday for a series of tests.

SGH had reinstated their strict visitor's policy because of a H1N1 resurgance. Only por por could visit kong kong in his room, while the rest of us had to wait at the ground floor for her to be done. Luckily, kong kong's room had a good view of the garden, so we all stood there while Kaizer chatted with him on his room phone, and even performed a little dance for him. Hope this brightened up his evening!

After the visit and an hour long dinner at Central, we took a short stroll along Clarke Quay. Por por was more than happy to be pointing out interesting sights to Kaizer (who hasn't been out so late before).

Here's another pic of the happy grandma with her little one.

Can't remember when was the last time we snapped a couple pic like this =)

Stay home activities

2009-09-04T15:50:00.004+08:00

Today's my third day at home alone with Kaizer in this week. We've read so much on Monday and Thursday that I decided I didn't want reading to take up the bulk of our Friday morning. In the end, we ran out of things to do with the very limited number of toys we owned, so we ended up having to spend 1/2 hour on our books still. Here's what we did with the rest of our time .... stringing straws together ...

... depositing our plastic coins into the coin bank, withdrawing them and then depositing them again ...

... piling blocks up as high as we could, watching them fall, ...

... getting frustrated in the process, ...

... and pretending to stack some tiny frogs on the head like what the animals in Dr Seuss' "Ten Apples Up on Top" do with their apples.

Of course, we snacked a lot too, since all the activities were carried out in the kitchen in close proximity to the fridge and food supplies. For por por's benefit, Kaizer's breakfast consisted of 120ml of milk, apple juice, a small container of breakfast Os and half a small container of baked beans (which he wanted to eat cold from the fridge). For lunch, Kaizer didn't want proper food like rice or keow teow. So he ended up having 2 slices of bread with tuna, some honey stars, half a pack of meiji crackers and 120ml of milk.

Sleeping in the stroller

2009-09-04T15:22:00.009+08:00

After having spent the entire morning at NUH, we headed to Habourfront for lunch. Kaizer was repeatedly reminded that he had to either stay inside the stroller or walk with one hand on the stroller while at the mall - which he did. Despite the fact that he hasn't sat in a stroller for over a year, he didn't have any problems (surprisingly) taking his nap in one yesterday.

In fact, after he's had his usual pasta + 150ml of milk for lunch, he slept for 2 hours and 15 minutes in this position!

Looks like this 2nd hand stroller's going to turn out to be a pretty good buy at $230. Am hopeful that both baby #2 (and occassionally Kaizer too) will be able to consistently take 2-3 hour naps whenever we're out 'strolling' in the afternoon =)

Assessment for the spots

2009-09-04T14:52:00.012+08:00

The PD whom we saw yesterday (not our usual Dr Chan who wasn't in the clinic) took one look and decided that all the spots on the hands, knees, thighs and feet were not HFMD spots. Rather, these were due to an eczema flare up because Kaizer's body was most undergoing some stress from the HFMD infection. In any case, we were told to follow up with the usual eczema care - moisturizing the ugly spots liberally, applying a topical steriod to help them subside, and applying an antibiotic cream on the weepy ones. The PD took a little while to search for the real HFMD spots amongst the eczema ones, and finally found about 3 of them on one of the feet, another 3 of them on the palms, 1 in the mouth, and 1 at the back of the throat. Meaning that Kaizer's HFMD isn't really very serious. He has already passed the incubation period and is not infectious anymore. But the school and playground are still out of bounds because no teacher and parent in their mind will allow their young ones to get close to someone with so many spots - whether or not they're infectious really is another matter. This means another 3-4 days off school, and continued 'confinement' in the stroller if we ever need to be in an area that's crowded with people.

Thursday morning at NUH

2009-09-04T14:16:00.005+08:00

We spent the entire Thursday morning at NUH. First stop was at Clinic G for a 37th week gyn appointment and Strep B test. Second stop was at the pharmacy to stock up on our supply of elomet cream. Third stop was at Clinic A to get an updated assessment on Kaizer's HFMD.

We bought along baby #2's stroller for the hospital visit just so that Kaizer needn't be carried at all the entire morning. More importantly, I wanted him to be "contained" in his own little space at Clinic A lest he runs amok in the common playing area and infect other young ones with his HFMD.

Kaizer pretty much knew what to expect at the PD's office as we've been reading "Baby Fozzie Visits The Doctor" at home. There were no surprises and no fussing when he was asked to take his height/weight at the clinic, sit on the examining table with crinkly paper, and get his mouth/ears examined with an otoscope. The PD played along and told Kaizer that he was going to check if there were elephants in his ears!

At 2.5 years old, Kaizer weighs 11.1-11.2kg and measures 86.6cm in height. Pretty satisfactory growth as his file recorded 8.8kg in weight and 75cm in height a year ago.

Off to Bukit Batok on a weekday

2009-09-01T23:48:00.003+08:00

Kaizer was more than happy to be able to stay over at por por's house on a weekday, since it's her turn to babysit him tomorrow.

Staring hard at some youtube clip here?

Whatever it is, it's a treat to be able to inch so close to the computer as he'll definitely be scolded if he came this close to the computer at home.

Home alone with papa

2009-09-01T22:31:00.014+08:00

Everyone's taking leave on different days to care for Kaizer: mama on Monday, papa on Tuesday, por por on Wednesday, mama on Thursday, and so on.

Papa had a really exhausting day today as Kaizer refused to take a nap, cried buckets when it was time to do so, and managed only a short 45min rest before he woke up to wail again. Other than that, the boys got through the day pretty well. They read and played puzzles in the morning, drove through West Coast Macs to get lunch, took a short snooze together, went downstairs to get a red bean pau, watched a DVD in the later afternoon, and picked mama up from the office at 5.45pm.

Kaizer's devouring his lunch in this picture. He apparently ate 4 nuggets, half a cup of corn and half a pack of medium fries. Quite a big amount for a little person who's afflicted with HFMD!

HFMD

2009-08-31T21:50:00.028+08:00

Kaizer's having a bout of HFMD at the moment. He was feverish on Saturday while at por por's house, and had visited her usual GP. He was apparently so chatty at the clinic (answering all the questions that were directed at por por) that the GP commented he was a talkertive boy, and sent him home with a fever diagnosis and nothing more.

The fever was all gone on Sunday. However, since there were a couple of HFMD cases in school last week, we thought we'll better keep him away from school on Monday, just in case. In hindsight, it was a good decision as this was when the spots started to sprout.

At first, they looked merely like a serious case of eczema. But then they started popping out on typically non-eczema areas like the bum, knee caps and inner thighs. As you can see, his hands are really ugly looking now. Luckily for him, there probably wasn't any throat/mouth ulcers as he's able to take in liquids and solids without much problems.

New way of snacking

2009-08-26T22:59:00.011+08:00

We were reading and snacking last night when we realized that our Breakfast Os were sized identically as the alphabet 'o' on the cover of this Pooh book.

Kaizer is seen here planting Breakfast Os over all the 'o's he could find.

Apparently, the honey stars that we're eating are of the same size as the (bigger) stars on the cover page too.

We couldn't find a snack that looked exactly like the butterfly; guess the cornflake is the closest match.

Yikes, Zoe looks strange with the Breakfast Os on her eyes, nose and mouth!

Not that Kaizer minded, as he was only too happy to be able to eat his snacks off the books.

New bunk bed!

2009-08-24T22:39:00.009+08:00

We just received our bunk bed today. It's definately the biggest item (in terms of size) that we've ever purchased online! With baby #2 due to arrive in a month's time, this bunk bed would allow the four of us to experiment with various sleeping arrangements just so that everyone gets to squeeze into this tiny room in our tiny flat. Well, this is prob the best arrangement until our bigger flat arrives next year!

By the way, in case anyone's interested to find out where the bunk bed's from, do check out http://www.beds.sg/. I must say that I'm very satisfied with this online store, cos the bed frames are really cheap (I hate going to furniture showrooms where salespeople usually overquote you), ordering is a breeze (since no online payment is required), and delivery is very prompt (we submitted our order online on Friday and received the bed this afternoon). Haha, the wonders of online shopping!

Singapore flag

2009-08-24T22:32:00.005+08:00

August is almost over, and these flags are still hanging around. Why? Cos they weren't hung up by the residents in the first place. The number of flags that were displayed in the estate was quite dismal last year, so the town council must have decided that they needed to rectify the situation. Into the picture came workers who were paid to help put these flags up along every single corridor on every single floor of our block. Guess the residents must be waiting for the same workers to come about to remove the flags.

Brown huat kueh

2009-08-24T00:17:00.006+08:00

Thanks to aunty leo's recommendation, we've finally found ourselve an egg-less and dairy-less "cake that we could prepare on our own!

We decided to use only a fraction of the premix, in case the end product didn't turn out too nice (proved to be a good decision in hindsight).

Posing with the premix.

Busy stirring the batter here, now that water has been added.

Dropping raisins into the batter very very slowly ...

Checking the consistency of the batter before mama took it away to be steamed.

Tadaa! Here's the final product. Both papa and Kaizer took one obligatory bite each, while mama was left to finish the rest of the kueh. The kueh tasted alright, but we could probably add banana at our next attempt to make it more palatable.

Yummy pasta ... slurp!

2009-08-23T00:08:00.005+08:00

Kaizer wanted to eat pasta yet again on Friday, so off we went to Il Piccolo since we've already been to Fusionopolis earlier in the week. After the dinner, te actually told us that the pasta at Fusionopolis was yummier than the Il Piccolo one. Okay, so now we know.

The queue at Botak Jones was real long, so the adults decided to order from Il Piccolo too. The potato dumpling pasta was good!

The salad was alright, but we'll have to remember to tell the crew to serve the dressing and veg seperately in future.

We also tried the katsu curry from the Japanese stall. A tad too salty, well guess you can't expect much from a Japanese stall at a neighbourhood kopitiam.

Four syllable words

2009-08-22T23:51:00.006+08:00

Papa bought home two Invitrogen soft toys on Friday (the pandas are actually sewn together). We decided to name the cow "niu niu", and the pandas "invi"/"trogen", just so that Kaizer could practise pronouncing more four syllable words. He's having some problems with "vegetable" still, just can't get the third syllable out properly.

Artwork for National Day 2009

2009-08-22T11:29:00.004+08:00

Happy (belated) birthday Singapore!

Kaizer's contribution to the stash of flags handing in school. Don't you think the inverted crescent looks somewhat like an Islamic crescent?

Wallet, coins and cards

2009-08-20T23:19:00.006+08:00

To stop Kaizer from rummaging our wallets, we gave him a wallet to call his own a couple of weeks back.

Filled his wallet with lots of bilibo pixel "coins" since he's learning about the concept of money now.

And he gets his very own cards too! Overheard him addressing the star alliance card as his "twinkle twinkle little star" card.

Elephant wants to eat up your daddy ...

2009-08-18T22:57:00.005+08:00

Mama: A is for?
Kaizer: Apple juice!
Mama: B is for?
Kaizer: Boy!
Mama: Boy likes to drink apple juice.
Kaizer: Kaizer likes to drink apple juice.
Mama: C is for?
Kaizer: Cookie!
Mama: Boy likes to drink apple juice and eat cookies.
Kaizer: Kaizer likes to drink apple juice.
Mama: D is for?
Kaizer: Daddy! (Looks very pleased)
Mama: Daddy is a boy who likes to drink apple juice and eat cookies.
Kaizer: Emm (Nods in agreement)
Mama: E is for elephant. The elephant wants to eat your daddy, who is a boy ...
Kaizer: No!!!! (Gets emotional, and conversation always ends at E)

Animal puzzles

2009-08-18T22:42:00.003+08:00

We bought a box of animal puzzles over the weekend. There were four puzzles in all, ranging from 3 to 6 pieces.

Kaizer is seen tackling the 5 piece chicken puzzle here.

He always gets a little flustered when he can't get the 5 and 6 piece puzzles to fit together after he's been on it for a long time.

There, it looks like the 5 piece puzzle is going to be completed soon!

Dinner date

2009-08-18T22:29:00.005+08:00

Told Kaizer this morning in the car that the two of us will go on a dinner date as papa had to go out with his friends in the evening. He decided there and then that he didn't want to go to school; asked to go for dinner immediately even though it was only 8am! Anyway, he remembered our dinner date when we picked him up from school, and was chirpy on the way to Fusionopolis.

We hooked fingers and made a pact that he'll walk the entire time while we're on our date, and that he'll be carried only when we ride an escalator.

Ho, he kept his promise! Plus, he was ultra cooperative during dinner. So we've had a fun dinner date =)

Umbrella

2009-08-18T22:24:00.002+08:00

Looking very "auntie-ish" with his barang barang in this picture. He was asked to carry his sleeping bag to school, and insisted on lugging his umbrella along too, even though it was not raining yesterday morning.

Hungry after school

2009-08-18T22:15:00.005+08:00

Kaizer always asks for food when we've pick him up from school around 6pm. On Friday, we didn't have any snacks left in the car, and he was rambling non stop about eating pasta on the way to IMM. He ate like a hungry person when his food eventually arrived, finishing the small amount of pasta in his kid's meal, a portion of his papa's rice + mackarel, 3 nuggets, 2 slices of watermelon and 1 small cup of jelly.

(PS: He was so hungry when we collected him yesterday that he actually finished half a slice of plain bread, including the bread skin, before papa drove off from the school carpark.)

Sugar overdose

2009-08-13T22:39:00.005+08:00

These pictures were taken last Saturday when we drove over to West Coast Macs for breakfast. Kaizer was happily lapping up the grape jam that came along with his softmeal bread.

Why bother to squeeze the jam out ...

... when it's easier to just eat it off the packet?

Breakfast was followed by a walk around the park to work off the sugar. Actually, the walk didn't really help much cos the sugar overdose kept Kaizer hyperactive throughout the afternoon. he actually feel asleep for his nap two hours later than usual!

Pictures outside INSEAD

2009-08-13T22:24:00.005+08:00

We crossed the road to Fusionopolis for dinner this evening. And for no apparent reason, we decided to hijack a couple of strangers to snap a family portrait for us outside INSEAD.

Had fun snapping "self-portraits" too, this picture on the left being the best of the lot!

We haven't been visiting our fav Eighteen Chefs Cafe for a couple of weeks. It's nice to think that the service crew is happy to see us today, cos this happy plate of marshmallows arrived before our spaghetti did!

Hooray for big eyes!

2009-08-13T22:19:00.003+08:00

Both eyes were back to their normal sizes on Wednesday evening. Goodbye to slitty eyes and hooray for big eyes!

AM leave?

2009-08-12T01:05:00.009+08:00

Am thinking if i should apply for AM leave in a couple of hours time, and return to the office only in the afternoon. Reason being that Kaizer slept really late (close to 11pm!) just now, and I am super tempted to let him sleep till as late as he wants to in the morning, before feeding him a good breakfast and sending him back to school.

Poor boy had a severe allergic reaction in school because we packed NAN HA 3 instead of NAN HA 2 into his milk powder container on Tuesday. Today's reaction caused his eyes to swell till the double eyelids were gone, caused discharge to ooze from his eyes, and caused his nose to drip perpetually. He was made to skip all of his milk feeds thereafter, and he decided to skip most of his dinner too. He took some fruits after dinner, but puked them out about 5 mins after consumption. We gave his tummy a good hour to rest before feeding him some ribena and dry crackers. That's why he ended up in bed sooooooo late.

On the upside, he was super pampered in the evening. He received lots of sympathetic kisses from me, sat on my lap throughout story reading time, and basically read whatever he wanted to read for however long he wished to read.

Grass cutters

2009-08-07T22:24:00.004+08:00

Kaizer asked to eat nuggets for dinner, so off we went to NUS Macs. He finished six pieces on his own today, but only because his fav corn cup were sold out at NUS Macs (this is the second time already!) ...

We sat at the outdoor area, and Kaizer was so fascinated by the three grass cutters at work. He lstood on the high chair throughout dinner so that he could keep his eyes glued on them, what they were doing, where they were going etc.

Il Piccolo

2009-08-05T22:18:00.005+08:00

Waiting for my pasta at the Botak Jones coffeeshop in Clementi.

Note to readers: Pasta dishes are going for $4.40 at all Il Piccolo outlets this August!

Checked out the playground at Clementi Ave 5 after my dinner, which consisted of half the portion in the previous picture.

Three little pigs

2009-08-04T20:38:00.004+08:00

Papa was trying to teach Kaizer to use the correct names while pointing to the correct pigs, but somehow Kaizer just couldn't get the porky, piggy and pigstyle right.

Ouch!

2009-08-04T20:33:00.002+08:00

Came home with a bite mark yesterday. Told mama that Rachel bit me because I snatched her blocks. A quick check with the teacher confirmed that the story was correct. Woohoo, I'm able to factually report on what's happening in school now!

Happy Birthday Brayven!

2009-08-04T20:27:00.002+08:00

Brayven's 1st birthday cake!

Brayven and Leticia were all smiles when they saw the cake!

The Sim family on 1 Aug 09 =)

Dental hygiene

2009-07-30T22:51:00.003+08:00

Everyone's scrambling to make their artwork as ugly as possible ...

... cos we're supposed to put together a mouth full of decayed teeth. Yikes!

Mixing bicarbonate of soda, salt and food flavoring together to make ...

... homemade toothpaste!

Passing a toothbrush around while listening to a story on the importance of brushing teeth.

Closeup of me and the brush.

And finally, here's what everyone's "saying" about the toothbrush!

Cleanliness

2009-07-30T22:09:00.007+08:00

The idea of multiple intelligence was applied to various activities that were carried out in school over the past week - activities that were related to cleanliness/hygiene.

These included washing toys (bodily, interpersonal intelligence) ...

... wiping tables and chairs (bodily, visual, intrapersonal intelligence)...

... and sweeping the floor with a broom (bodily, visual, intrapersonal intelligence).

Dirty evidence collected from one of the cleaning exercise!

Finally, this picture was discussed in class ...

... and here's what everyone thought of it!

Fishy dinner

2009-07-29T20:02:00.004+08:00

Had a hard time with my dinner this evening, as the usual chicken was substituted with fish. Ate four slices of fish and didn't want any more rice. Mama punched some stars and spread a dash of tuna on top of each of them. The bread was a hit! I had 20 stars along with a cup of apple juice and was a happy boy for the rest of the meal =)

Artwork from Chinese class

2009-07-28T17:57:00.004+08:00

Artwork from English class

2009-07-27T22:23:00.003+08:00

Pictures from development portfolio

2009-07-27T22:15:00.002+08:00

发展状况

2009-07-27T22:00:00.002+08:00

Assessment based on Learning Vision objectives

2009-07-27T21:57:00.001+08:00

Child observation record

2009-07-27T21:49:00.002+08:00

Parent Teacher Conference (Sem I 2009)

2009-07-27T12:39:00.002+08:00

Attended 2009 Semester I's Parent Teacher Conference in school on Saturday. Mama will take her time to post the pictures taken from the conference over the next two days, while she's on MC from food poisoning.

Commando t-shirt

2009-07-24T22:58:00.004+08:00

Came home with a set of clothes from school since I soiled all of my own with the multiple rounds of puking.

In case you can't see the entire word, it's actually "commando". Looks like a miniature army garb.

My dinner was New York New York's meatball spaghetti. Would have gobbled a small bowl of it on a normal day, but decided to eat only a couple of small spoonfuls today cos my tummy wasn't up to it.

Stole a couple of fries from papa's plate, but they were all regurgitated eventually when I got home.

Puke-ish week

2009-07-24T22:43:00.004+08:00

We were priming ourselves to switch our regular FM from NAN HA 2 to NAN HA 3. Six days into the switch, we finally concluded that it was a bad idea. We shall take a one week hiatus before deciding if we're up to idea of switching again. Here's what happened in the past week:

Sunday: 1 scoop of NAN HA 3 in 150ml night feed --> No adverse reactions
Monday: 1 scoop of NAH HA 3 in 180ml night feed --> Chocked halfway in the feed, and started coughing non-stop. Zaditen was administered to stop the coughing
Tuesday: 1 scoop of NAN HA 3 in 180ml night feed --> No coughing during the feed, but coughed for an hour between 1am and 2am!!
Wednesday: 1 scoop of NAN HA 3 in 210ml night feed --> No adverse reactions
Thursday: 1 scoop of NAN HA 3 in 270ml night feed --> No adverse reactions initially ... but went on to puke on Friday early morning, mid morning, later afternoon, and early evening
Friday: 1 scoop of NAN HA 3 in 210ml night feed --> Zaditen administered halfway through the feed, but entire feed was regurgitated 15 min later

Dinner at West Coast Macs

2009-07-22T22:43:00.004+08:00

We drove down to West Coast Macs for dinner tonight cos our usual Macs at NUS just wasn't that accessible anymore (due to some season parking thingie).

Perched on top of the car for a photo moment!

Counting the number of happy and sad-faced apples on my happy meal box.

We adjorned to the playground for some after-dinner entertainment, yeah!

This bridge was so narrow that papa had to squeeze himself through it.

Told everyone that I was "driving" here!

Imagination

2009-07-20T20:29:00.005+08:00

Writer at work with a purple pen ... says he is drawing an "M".

"Two M"

"Star"

"Small (ba)nana"

Fat cheeks

2009-07-16T23:42:00.002+08:00

Por por, do you notice anything different about me?

Other than the fat cheeks?

Yes, I went for a proper haircut this evening! How do you like the new look?

Camera shy?

2009-07-16T23:39:00.003+08:00

Deliberately blocked out half of my face when I saw mama whip out the camera in the car last evening. Cheeky!

Red dots for tots

2009-07-16T23:36:00.002+08:00

Found these educational stickers in the school's pamphlet rack. A couple of these dots are now stuck on our high chair.

Sandplay

2009-07-16T23:15:00.004+08:00

Terrified look upon being placed on the sand for the first time in months.

Scuttling about apprehensively? Shortly after this photo though, I concluded that playing with sand wasn't such a bad thing after all, especially when you could fill scoopfuls of sand and ambush Bobo/gun-gun with it!

Went off with papa to the water's edge to engage in more sandplay after dinner.

Papa getting a headstart in digging a hole on the ground.

Washing our hands with the seawater we "unearthed" from the hole. Yikes!

We made a really ugly castle by sticking a white straw onto a pile of sand. Played till darkness set in, and on the way back to the resort, I couldn't stop chanting "bye dirty straw".

Doggies!

2009-07-15T22:58:00.006+08:00

This is Bobo. We had a date with her at Siloso beach on Saturday afternoon.

Looking very dazed here, as I've just woken up from my afternoon nap.

Perked up a little for this family picture.

Thanks for this cute photo, auntie Jasmine!

This is gun-gun. He came along for the date as well.

Bobo and gun-gun "socializing" with each other on the beach.

We had our dinner at a cafe by the beach as it was the nearest child and dog friendly eatery we could find.

There was an outdoor area to occupy the little ones while their parents ate, ...

... which was exactly what I did ...

... while the adults stuffed their faces with pizza.

Rainy morning at the resort

2009-07-15T22:12:00.005+08:00

It was drizzling when we woke up, so no chance of an early morning swim =(

The resort looked better in the morning. In fact, there's a very Batam/Bintan-ish feel to this picture.

Snacked on crackers while waiting for the rain to stop.

Mama finally decided that she was too hungry to wait any longer, so we drove out to Seah Imm market for a roti prata breakfast at 10am.

Loitered around Habourfront and Vivocity for a couple of hours ...

... before settling on Pastamania for lunch. I chose to have penne instead of my usual spaghetti, and managed to wipe out half the adult portion!

Pretending to stir and cook soup for por por who's not here.

Peek ...

... a boo!

Review of Costa Sands Sentosa

2009-07-15T20:23:00.007+08:00

We drove down to Sentosa last Friday as we've booked a room at Costa Sands Resort over the weekend.

We've all taken our dinner, so we snacked on apples on the way there.

The resort seemed pretty quiet as we checked in on a weekday evening.

Fiddling with mama's bag while waiting for someone to come to the front desk.

The bed was a very spartan one. Guess we can't expect too much from a room which costs S$10 per weekday night and S$17.50 per weekend night.

The toilet looked, well, like a toilet should.

On the upside, there was a TV (which had Indonesian channels!), DVD player, electric kettle, microwave oven and bar fridge in the room to keep little hands busy!

Commencement 2009

2009-07-13T21:48:00.005+08:00

Papa with his PhD thesis supervisor ...

... and his ex-labmates.

NGS PhD class of 2009! The gowns remind mama of Kathmanthu prayer flags, ha!

Hanging around with a balloon while waiting for the class photo to be taken.

Family pic!

Papa with one of his lecturers.

Walking out of UCC!

Back from Sentosa

2009-07-11T22:11:00.003+08:00

We're back from Sentosa! Was supposed to stay over at the island the entire weekend - Friday night to Sunday afternoon. But as out room at Costa Sands Resort was too run-down and noisy, we decided to check out a day earlier. Papa and Kaizer are dead tired ... both are snoozing already. Mama's online to watch a korean drama serial, so no picture updates for now. Stay tuned for the pictures from Thursday's commencement and Friday/Saturday's Sentosa trip!

Early morning visit to NUH

2009-07-08T22:47:00.004+08:00

Visited NUH in the wee hours of Tuesday morning as I had a dripping nose and a persistent cough since a couple of days back. Coughed from 4am onwards all the way till we reached the hospital at 8am+. Puked twice before I could get to see the doctor.

Took a one hour nap in the ergo while waiting for the visit to end, but felt sluggish still after the nap.

Lethargic look ...

... extremely annoyed look ...

... and a normal look to end this post. Aside from a big nosebleed at 4pm later in the day, I had more or less recovered by evening time yesterday! Went back to being a monkey today at por por's house, and am well enough to go to school tomorrow, yeah!

Striped polo-t

2009-07-05T20:35:00.004+08:00

We unearthed this striped shirt from the cupboard this evening (from a pile of clothes that were bought in 2007 in the States). Label says it's meant for a 12-month-old, but it fits me pretty well now.

Dinner at Ayer Rajah

2009-07-01T22:45:00.005+08:00

We had dinner at the Ayer Rajah market today.

Getting a sip of sugarcane before my rice/chix arrived.

Played with papa's car for the first time!

Couldn't stop moving ...

... hence all the pictures turned out blurred.

Lovey dovey

2009-06-28T22:57:00.010+08:00

Kaizer was in a rare lovey dovey mood today, probably because we didn't get to see each other for a day and half over the weekend. He saw me at Bukit Batok after his nap, and insisted to sit with me and rested his head on my chest while he took his own sweet time to finish a big cup of barley. Come dinner, and he was ultra cooperative when I fed him a huge bowl of rice and meat. Then after we've gotten home, he sat like a good boy on my lap and chatted with me while I cup fed him 250ml of FM. He told me that por por bought him to the supermarket over the weekend. She bought a bit of meat there, and instructed him to wait for her. He also told me that he splashed water at her during bath time. In return, I told him about the sibling who's due to arrive in a couple of months, what to expect and so on.

We've had a close shave in the late evening though. Kaizer was climbing onto the sink to wash his hands when he slipped off the Ikea chair, and told us that his "hand pain", pointing at the exact wrist that was twisted just a week ago. Anyway, the right arm was immobile for 15 minutes through bath time, and then miraculously he started moving it again when he was being dressed. Whew, saved us a troublesome trip to the tie da clinic tomorrow morning!

Dinner at IMM

2009-06-28T22:13:00.002+08:00

Had dinner at IMM's Ichiban Boshi on Friday evening. The kids pasta meal has morphed from a plane to a soccer ball.

Mama hard at work cutting up the pasta for me.

We picked up a new doodle board after dinner. This board is meant for car rides to/from school.

Playing doctor

2009-06-26T21:23:00.002+08:00

Had fun playing doctor in the temperature screening area, while waiting for papa to arrive.

Ensured that both Brandon and his nai nai were well before they could go home.

Aunty Selena and Asher on their second week in school!

Arggggggh!

2009-06-26T21:00:00.003+08:00

Opened the tub of CB moisturizer this morning when no one was in the room. Slathered my hands with the cream before making my way gleefully to the kitchen to greet everyone.

Sore eye?

2009-06-24T21:53:00.005+08:00

Left school today with a left eye that looked slightly smaller and redder than usual.

Didn't affect me much though, cos I enjoyed my dinner at Macs as usual.

Chewing corn in this pic, while belting myself up. Didn't know how to release the clasp yet, so always had to scream for help after I've belted myself (repeatedly, no less).

Side parting

2009-06-23T22:59:00.003+08:00

Had a cute side parting this evening.

Mama couldn't resist snapping a couple of pics of my hair!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T22:53:00.003+08:00

Didn't get to eat much in the afternoon because of my twisted wrist. As a result, I ate like a hungry refugee at dinner time. Wiped out a chix wing and drumstick before mama could even get the rice and soup ready.

Sharing bits of chix with papa.

*Muaks* Happy Father's Day to all the daddies who are reading this!

Twisted wrist

2009-06-21T22:43:00.004+08:00

Kaizer twisted his right wrist today. Had to visit a tie da shop at Clementi in the late afternoon to set it right. This effectively ruined our plans for a Father's Day dinner. He's perfectly fine now; was able to use his right hand to eat, colour and play.

Laundry boy

2009-06-19T23:10:00.000+08:00

Laundry boy tinkering with the washing machine ...

Broken plate

2009-06-18T21:58:00.003+08:00

We had dinner at Ikea this evening.

All was fine, until a couple of minutes after this photo was taken when the glass plate was accidentedly swiped on the floor. Mama had to apologise profusely to the serving staff, yikes!

Morning look

2009-06-18T21:55:00.002+08:00

Wailed this morning for no particular reason. Wailing stopped after I was placed on the kitchen top and left to fiddle with my prized straws and all.

Little ants

2009-06-15T23:51:00.005+08:00

Mama's proud to announce that everyone's taken to the new car well. Being strapped inside the car seat really isn't a big issue for me, not even when I occupy the passenger rear on my own. Check out the "little ants" on my board, gross!

Car seat

2009-06-12T22:01:00.005+08:00

Papa picked us up from NUS after dinner. This was taken within the first 5 minutes after I've gotten onboard. Surprise, surprise ... no screaming, struggling and squirming whatsoever. Hoo hoo, seems like the car seat "education" (lots of google images of toddlers on car seats, youtube ads for car seats) has worked!

Unsalted fries

2009-06-12T20:43:00.003+08:00

Had dinner at NUS Macs this evening. It was relatively empty as it's term break now. The crew was very friendly, and came by to offer us a Shrek paper frame since there were no happy meal (toys) at this outlet. Floor manager chatted with mama for a while, and when she realized that we forgot to ask for unsalted fries when we ordered our food, she delivered a small pack of unsalted fries to us in the middle of the meal, on the house. Service was great!

Soccer ball

2009-06-10T21:43:00.004+08:00

Flushed after kicking my new soccer ball around the house. Tried to imitate papa in heading the ball, but could never aim it properly at my own head.

Insisted on sleeping with the ball last night (and tonight too).

Fashion debacle

2009-06-09T21:46:00.003+08:00

What's wrong with this picture (other than the tear in the taxi seat)?

The buttons don't look right?!?

Cos they're supposed to go on the other side, hahaa! One of the teachers must have worn the shirt the wrong way in school!

Miscellaneous purchases

2009-06-07T19:20:00.004+08:00

Along with any car comes heaps of miscellaneous purchases. So Sunday was spent at Vivo, where we've lugged home a red/grey highback booster carseat, a street directory, and an eeky book about insects for flipping in the car.

Mitsubishi Colt

2009-06-07T19:09:00.004+08:00

Papa posing with the car that he's purchased over the weekend. Mama can't decide how she should describe the colour of the car - pink, coral, salmon, orange???

Transferring teddy puffs

2009-06-07T18:40:00.004+08:00

Was mama's little helper on Thursday evening.

Volunteered to transfer the a new pack of teddy puffs into the air tight container ...

... one puff at a time, no less!

=)

How do you make a ladybug?

2009-06-04T23:02:00.004+08:00

Start off by applying glue to the black semi circle (which is also known as the ladybug's pronotum).

Press the paper down with a finger, to make sure it fits real well.

Next, repeat the steps for the black strip (which is an imaginary part, as it doesn't exist in a real ladybug!)

Proceed to apply glue to the little dots ...

.... and stick them carefully all over the body of the ladybug.

Three ...

... four, and I'm done!

How do you make a butterfly?

2009-06-04T22:33:00.007+08:00

First, you've gotta add a splash of colour to the paper.

Next, apply a wee bit of glue on the body of the butterfly.

Third, stick a few triangular pieces on the wings.

Prod them gently to make sure they're snug in place.

Continue to add more triangular pieces.

Ensure that different colours are chosen for variety.

And tadaaaaa, the butterfly is done!!

School pictures from February 2009

2009-06-04T22:23:00.002+08:00

Making cookies with nuts??

Spreading red bean paste onto bread with an ice cream stick.

Enjoying biscuits and raisins with Jayden while Anna is wailing in the background.

School pictures from October 2008

2009-06-04T22:09:00.003+08:00

Sticking my pudgy fingers into the floor.

Scooping flour from the bowl to the plate.

Teacher Syakira assisting in the dough making exercise.

Making a head band for dramatising a story (those are ears apparently).

Four little outdoor artists at work!

Outdoor painting

2009-06-03T22:32:00.006+08:00

Mama just received a batch of photos that were taken while I was in school. A couple of them, like this one of me engaged in outdoor painting, date back to all the way to October 2008. Vintage!

PS: Uploading might take a while though, cos most of her weekday evenings are consumed by Prison Break Season 4!

One hour earlier

2009-06-01T22:20:00.002+08:00

Mama received a call to pick me up an hour earlier from school, as I was feverish after my afternoon nap. With droopy eyes in this pic ...

... and looking slightled fresher as we inched closer to home. Managed to finish the usual amount of dinner + 300ml of milk in the evening. Successfully took in all the different medication too (albeit with a lot of persuasion). Trick is to separate the brown, green and pink medicine into distinct small syringes to be taken trice, instead of mixing them up into a horrid concoction to be swallowed all at once.

Artwork in April/May 2009

2009-06-01T21:56:00.004+08:00

The toddler class has doubled in size this year!

Colourful butterfly collage.

This placemat is supposedly meant for our meals, but the fishes look too pretty to withstand a messy lunch, hee!

Quack! Toddlers had to paint the plate while teachers completed the expressions on the duck.

Nice!

Concoction

2009-05-31T23:01:00.003+08:00

Am currently running a fever that peaked at 39.4 deg yesterday afternoon. Have a slightly phlegmy cough too, otherwise I'm actually playing, eating and drinking normally. Had to down this fever, flu and phlegm concoction after my evening milk. And though I willingly shot it into my mouth (in exchange for a new strip of stickers), I spat everything out onto my shirt a couple of seconds later.

Eat With Your Family Day

2009-05-29T22:22:00.010+08:00

Mama picked me up slightly earlier today, and we took a bus down to Alexandra to meet papa for dinner. Slouching while waiting for papa's bus to arrive.

Decided to squat down eventually as mama insisted that she didn't want to carry me.

Happy to see papa! Matching tops ...

... and matching poses!

My pudgy fingers couldn't resist pulling the plate of pasta to myself while mama was snapping a pic of the food! Finished the entire plate of pasta and most of the fries eventually. Woah!

Didn't want to eat the veg on the table, but was more than happy to feed mama with tomatoes and peas.

Trivia: "Eat With Your Family Day" was initiated by the Centre for Fathering in 2003.

Staying put

2009-05-29T22:20:00.000+08:00

Just found out that we didn't manage to get a space at LV @ Biopolis next month. Guess we'll be staying put at LV @ TLL, since the earliest available slot that the school can accomodate us is probably after August. Well, this may not be such a bad thing after all, since we really like the environment, teachers and programs at LV @ TLL. We'll just have to consider getting a family car then, as the current arrangement of having mama send/fetch Kaizer from school will get increasingly challenging when the 3rd trimester kicks in next month.

Acting like a baby

2009-05-28T22:58:00.003+08:00

Found a teat while I was sitting on the kitchen top on Monday and decided that I wanted to act like a baby that evening! Enthusiasm didn't last too long though, cos I went back to drink with a straw after having taken less than 5 sips of milk.

Mosquito bites

2009-05-28T22:48:00.003+08:00

Snacked on teddy puffs on the kitchen top on Monday evening since I didn't eat too much of the mee sua that was served for dinner.

Ate like a ravished person!

Por por, this is a close up of the 7 mozzie bites that mama was telling you over the phone about. They've caused me quite a bit of discomfort on Sunday and Monday night. Most of the bumps (except two) have since subsided.

Amateur haircut

2009-05-28T22:17:00.002+08:00

Was sweating so profusely on Sunday evening that mama sat me in front of the computer to watch youtube clips while she hurridly whipped out a pair of scissors to snip my hair.

Squirmed a bit while the right sideburns were trimmed, but the end result turned out alright.

Kept still while the left sideburns were trimmed, but the end result looked ugly in papa's opinion ...

... that is, until he's seen the back, which is ultra ugly and "tut" beyond imagination. Haha!

Review of the Siloso Beach Resort

2009-05-27T23:40:00.006+08:00

It took us quite a while to get to the resort, which was located two tram stops away from the Sentosa Express station. Here's the entrance to the beach resort.

The entire resort had a rather natural and rugged feel to it, since there was foliage everywhere.

Was shocked that the shared spaces in the resort were entirely non-air conditioned (lift lobbies, corridors and cafe). While this was really environmentally friendly, it was a pain on the first day when the weather was sweltering hot.

Room was tinier than I expected ...

... but the comfortable bed more than made up for it. Only grouse - the floor was carpeted; would have been more eco if it wasn't.

Jacuzzi was located at the second level of our suite. The layout reminded me of the Banyan Tree seaside villa at Bintan. I much preferred the jacuzzi at Siloso Beach Resort though, as it was newer and visibly cleaner.

View from the jacuzzi (PS: From where we sat, we could actually the fireworks from the musical performance at night.)

Outdoor gym which looked rather under-utilized by the hotel guests.

Pool area was surrounded by lots and lots of trees ...

... and here's our favourite part of the pool - the slides! Behind the slide's a waterfall feature that's eight stories high.

Day 3: Bye Sentosa!

2009-05-27T23:28:00.000+08:00

Whipped out our camera too late, else we would have caught a nice picture of the resort's resident squirrel at breakfast.

Posing like a pageant contestant before heading off to the pool.

Cutie prints!

Decided that I wanted to try to float on my own on the last day.

Resting like a baby on papa after the swim.

The bilibos are meant to protect mama's modesty, haha!

Waiting for the tram to pick us up so that we could get to mainland in time for my afternoon nap at home at last!

Day 2: Swimming and more swimming

2009-05-27T22:54:00.006+08:00

Woke up pretty late at 8 plus, but continued lazing in bed for a while before I was dragged to breakfast.

Our first activity after breakfast was swimming!

We bought along our set of spades to the pool, which reminds us that Jesse's set of spades is still sitting on our shelves.

Didn't want to slide down on my own, and papa was more than happy to carry me through. In fact, he had more gos at the slide than I did!

We went around the pool with the rubber floats even though the water wasn't really deep.

Clinging on to papa ... aww sweet!

After the pool, it was water time again in the jacuzzi!

Pretending to be a wizard with my green pail ...

... and being absolutely entertained by my own antics!

Continued to be in a very good mood after I've gotten out from the jacuzzi.

We took the Sentosa express to Vivo for lunch.

One of the rare family pics on the trip, since we don't have a tripod for this camera.

Had lunch at Marche ...

... which is surprisingly a very child-friendly restaurant.

Mama's seafood/chix paella turned out to be pretty good, even though it looks very messy in this picture.

Lunch was really quick, as I had to get back for my nap. And guess what I wanted to do right after I woke up? Swim! Too bad the weather turned a little dismal, and I spent only 30 mins at the jacuzzi.

The rest of the evening was spent snacking on crackers, strawberries, banana and ribena while we waited for the rain to stop. Mama took the chance to catch Vantage Point on HBO in the meanwhile.

After the movie, we spent an hour at the jacuzzi before I konked out. Mama on the other hand, watched a rerun of the American Idol finale till the wee hours of the night (Kris who? Adam should have won!) ...

Day 1: Hola Sentosa!

2009-05-26T21:48:00.012+08:00

"All our bags are packed, we're ready to go ..."

Looking very pleased at the tram stop ...

... cos there's lots of poles for swinging!

Papa and mama managed to sneak in a photo while I was busying myself at the tram station.

After we've checked in, we had to walk through a couple of wooden planks from the reception area to get to our room.

"Attacked" the curtains the moment I arrived at the suite.

We managed to catch 1/2 hour of Barney on Okto. What a surprise!

Konked out at 2pm. Woke up in the middle of the nap to puke out 1/2 of my lunch and a lot of phlegm, but managed to get back to sleep till 5pm nonetheless.

Insisted on going to the jacuzzi to "swim" immediately after I woke up from my nap.

Fiddled with the outdoor shower feature while waiting for the jacuzzi to be filled.

Weather was unbearably hot when we made our way to Vivo for dinner. Check out my messy sweaty hair, and this is after I've just taken my bath.

We were again too lazy to visit the underwater world this time round, so this was the closest I've gotten to the fishes on the trip.

We planned to have dinner at Hogs Breath Cafe, but found out that it was under renovation (?!??!), so we had to settle for a smallish cafe at Vivo's basement instead. Lamb chop was mediocre ...

... lagsagne was too sour ...

... and the pasta was downright offensive, since I developed an allergic reaction two mouthfuls into the dish! Had insisted on having pasta after having seen a picture of it on the menu, but this dish was such a waste of money. Coughed non-stop, developed rashes around the chin/elbows, complained of pain in the mouth area, and was whine-y for 1/2 hour thereafter. Mama couldn't even bring herself to finish the rest of the dish on my behalf. Yikes! The only consolation was that I didn't puke the two mouthfuls out.

We packed some snacks on our way back. Mama had some buns (including this deer meat bun) while I snacked on bananas, crackers and milk.

We're back!

2009-05-24T12:20:00.007+08:00

We're back from our 3D2N "overseas" trip. The short getaway was meant to celebrate mama's 28th birthday, papa's 30th birthday and their 4th wedding anniversary, all of which fell on 20 May 09. We wanted to take a trip to a nearby destination like Bali initially, but since travelling is a pain now, the Siloso Beach resort would just have to do. The stay was lovely, and we especially liked the jacuzzi and comfy bed. We didn't do anything much, just swam, snacked and slept a lot. So overall, we had a pretty good holiday =) Stay tuned for more pictures!

Initial thoughts about the Biopolis school

2009-05-19T23:33:00.000+08:00

Pros:

Three buildings away from papa's current lab
Nearer to home than the current school
Lots of public transport options nearby
Offers supplementary add-ons like ballet, MMI and science programs for tots > 3 years old
Pretty nice environment around the Helios building, complete with a fish pond, restaurants, food court and 7-11

Cons:

Designated timeslots for watching "educational" DVDs/VCDs
Less desirable teacher-toddler ratio
Toddler area a lot smaller and less well-equipped as compared to the current school
School is more commercialized, and lacks the personal vibe as compared to the current one

Trip to Biopolis

2009-05-19T22:44:00.000+08:00

We made a trip to Biopolis on 16 May 09 to check out my new school.

Papa and me were uncooperative in posing for photos.

When mama asked us to "look up" (at the camera), we deliberately looked up to the sky and laughed hysterically thereafter.

Swinging on a bar at the Helios building, where the school is located.

"Audio visual" = gathering at the music room to watch educational DVDs/VCDs. Gasp!

Was told that we weren't allowed to take pictures of the school's premises. So well, this would have to do.

New camera

2009-05-16T22:46:00.006+08:00

Mama's got herself a new camera for her 28th year old birthday present. We can finally return the slow-poke-poke Samsung one to por por!