Birthday parties, falling sick and a shopping baby

DN received a few party invitations this month. (Can you say "party animal"?) All the wonderful hosts were so thoughtful to set aside a play area for all the little ones. There were activity tables, ball pits, bouncy zebras/horses, games and coupe cars. Yes, you heard me right, a coupe! And trust all the little boys (and their daddies, LOL) to be fighting over that one at Jovann's party.


Break it up, people! Break it up!











Birthday girl, Arianne.



















Birthday girl, Trinity.




















Birthday boy, Jovann, and his Mom & Dad.



















DN & Amabel in the ball pit...











... DN climbing up the slide...



















... and feeling up a zebra!





















Click on this picture and check out all the fancy-schmancy cakes the Sept babies had!
















The Little Tykes coupe is this little car that operates like Fred Flintstone's car. Except of course, that DN's little legs are still too short so his was powered by PF and yours truly. It was interesting to see how PF and I both "drove" the car differently. (*hint: PF is Jay Chou and I am Morgan Freeman -_-)



DN received 2 more invitations to parties on 22 Sept and 29 Sept, but he couldn't go because he contracted... HAND, FOOT & MOUTH DISEASE! *horrors* He had blisters in the palms of his hands, on the soles of his feet and in his throat. He didn't want to drink any water, so we had to squirt water into his mouth with a syringe. He had a short fuse and little things would set him off - taking the remote control away from him, not giving him his crackers fast enough, not letting him walk, etc.

The first night was terrible. He woke up almost every hour (i.e. about 8 times that night!) and after a while, I didn't want to sleep because, what's the point?! Poor little guy. The ulcers in his throat must have been a pain.

BUT! The illness didn't affect his energy level at all. He was still as active as ever, wanting to walk everywhere. Just 3 weeks ago, DN could only walk about 8 steps before falling over, but now, he's pottering about everywhere.

Do babies have toe jam?

Since DN is now walking, he has shoes on whenever we go out. You just never know when this baby is going to squirm, leap out of your arms and land on the ground because DN knows that his legs work and can actually bring him places.

He has a pair of camel-coloured shoes from Pigeon and they STINK!

A week or two after DN started wearing shoes, I started to notice a funky smell whenever I took off his shoes. Initially I thought it was MY Hong Kong feet but began to get suspicious when the smell appeared even when I wore slippers.

Could it be DN's feet? But how could that be? Babies are only supposed to smell of powder right? How can something so pure and innocent produce such questionable scents odours? Alas, the smell wafting up from DN's hot feet was difficult to ignore. I hoped for the best, took a whiff and immediately had to rethink DN's position on the purity scale.

So, do babies have toe jam? YES! :(



DN needs to wear shoes like these so his feet can breathe. (and us too, when we remove his shoes) He might have smelly feet, but they must still look good!

I wanted to order a pair for DN, but they were out of his size. :(

DN's Movie

Check out this mini-movie my sister made for DN. She slaved over it for days. Thanks Dawn! ;)

There's a very unflattering picture in there of me looking like I'm ready to pop (I should have a word with my sister about that), but at that time I was only 4 months pregnant and had barely a bump. We were actually in the changing room of a shop selling maternity wear. They had fake bellies in every changing room (HAHAHA!) and we were having a gala time putting on those bellies, walking around, arching our backs and groaning.)

Walking!

DN started cruising around the house when he was about 9-10 months old and it took him about 2 months to master "walking" (if you can call "staggering around in a drunken stupor" walking).

It's amazing how fast these babies learn. Last week, DN's legs and brain were still not cooperating with each other. His head said, "Walk to Mom and get a hug" but his legs said, "What's that toy WAY over there?" So he would look at you, but his body would move in the opposite direction! Anyway, that was last week. This week, DN is walking (almost) normally. Heh.

He usually starts off with a gleam in his eye that says, "Grrr! My. Legs. Are. Going. To. Bring. Me. THERE!" Then his little legs stumble forward and his arms start flaying about. He wobbles from side to side and this prompts his arms to flap about in a more agitated fashion. As he nears his destination, he picks up speed. At the end, he manages to find one last burst of energy and LUNGES forward and FLINGS himself into the awaiting lap. I'm not joking. We usually wait with arms open, ready to catch a self-propelled, flying baby.

Aiyoh. Very scary. Watch and see for yourself.



A funny thing happened a few days ago. I left my nursing pad on a low table and DN picked it up. I thought he was going to start chewing on it, but he didn't. He stood up, turned, walked towards me, pulled my t-shirt and tossed it in!

Oh gosh. I couldn't stop laughing!

Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo
Last I remembered, I put a baby in bed, not a cockatoo.

This species is a large black cockatoo. Males have a deep red tail , with females sporting a red-orange tail. Males are sooty black, while females have glossier feathers with golden flecks.

Red-tailed black cockatoos live in open woodland, riparian woodland, savannah, mulga, mallee and rainforest. They can be found in the north of Australia, far west of Australia, north-central New South Wales, and Tasmania.


The Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo




















Side profile of a Red-Tailed Black Cockatoo











These birds are wary of people, although if you stand still the birds might ignore you.























This particular cockatoo was found just after he woke up from a deep slumber. He had been making noisy bird calls for about 10 minutes before we found him in an agitated state. We suspect he was hungry after the night fast.

The Bird Park

We brought DN to the Bird Park yesterday. We figured it's time he saw something more natural than shopping malls on weekends. (What!? We're Singaporean! And I need new clothes!) It looks like we'll have to expose DN to more natural things on a more frequent basis because he was more interested in the man in the hawk costume during the Birds of Prey show than the actual hawk itself. -_-


Everyone's looking at the hawk flying around but not DN, nooooo. Nothing grabs a baby's attention more than a 6-ft tall furry (not feathery) bird walking around in shorts and suspenders.















Spotted a headless penguin in the penguin enclosure








There he is again!

(100% undoctored photos. These are really an example of our inferior photography skills.)



Have you seen the prices at the food joints at these tourist attractions? They should have a first-aid station nearby, to help those whose hearts stop after looking at the menu.















DN : "$9.50 for a burger and 5 fries? I hope there's some left for my education." (money, not fries)





DN : "Hmm... a potential candidate. I think I'll call her up in 18 years' time."

(DN met a friend at the bird park.)



"What did you say??? I'll be busy studying for my A Levels and playing competitive netball. Come back here you 'colourful wolf'!"




If you look closely, you will see that the fan has only 2 blades because the 3rd one is in DN's hand!

Yes, he ripped one out.















DN with his grandpa and his trusty hat.

For true DN fans only... there are about 50 pictures!

Birthday Wishes

It cost me 17 bucks to fill up 13 balloons for DN's birthday party. It was $1 for each of the small blue balloons and $5 (ack!) for the big foil one. After the party, there are 2 things you can do with the balloons.

1. Admire them on your ceiling for a day, knowing that impending doom awaits them. By the next morning, they'll be rolling on the floor.
2. Undo the knots at the end of the party and suck up all the helium and sayasmanythingsasyoucaninonebreathbeforekeelingoverinlaughter.
   

Those who know me will know that the obvious choice for me was number (2).

And those who know I have the Sony Ericsson k800i will know that I recorded everything! (how can I waste $17 right???)



Disclaimer : Large amounts of helium will deprive your brain of needed oxygen, killing brain cells and making it difficult to pass your chemistry class. Small amounts of helium are alright. No teenagers were harmed in the making of the above video. Can't say the same for the adults.

I am ONE!

I started thinking about DN's birthday party about 2 months ago. (When I actually started planning for it is another thing altogether.) The "grand plan" included

• getting a kick-ass cake
• filling the restaurant with balloons (the entire ceiling must be covered that kind!)
  
• learning how to scrapbook digitally
• scrapping a digital invitation card for emailing to guests
  
• learning how to scrapbook
  
• scrapping a 12-page scrapbook of DN's first year (to show guests!)
  
• losing 5kg
  

Sadly, but not surprisingly, the "grand plan" was downgraded to a "alamak-only-2-more-weeks" plan. We booked the restaurant 2 weeks ago, ordered the cake and called up guests last week, and yesterday, found the shop to fill up the (miserable) 13 balloons with helium. Ceiling covered with balloons? Prthhh. Scrapbook? Yeah right. Weight loss? Hahahahaha....

But, for something that was planned at the last minute, I think it went quite well! We went to Grand Shanghai for lunch. It was fab! We had

• Cold Dish (braised egg, crispy spring roll, roasted pork - sio bak, crispy eel)
• Wonton Soup
• Peking Duck
• Wuxi Pork Ribs with Fried Mantou (*smack*smack*... the BEST!*)
  
• Xiao Long Bao
• Guo Tie
• Turnip Pastry
• Braised noodles with duck
• Egg Souffle with Red Bean and Banana (my fav!)
  

and of course... the CAKE!

On hindsight, I think we overfed our guests. Everyone was rolling out of the restaurant.


The ceiling was covered in balloons... NOT!

(and we didn't book the entire restaurant, only 5 tables... we're not that kua zhang la!)














DN and Ah Kong, his pal

Ah Kong brings DN for walks everyday and points out the birds, dogs and cats as they're on their way. :)


I love this balloon!




















The best birthday card ever... designed by my super talented cousin, S. (she painted in all the words and the baby is a paper cut-out ok!)
















The cake, with all its bells and whistles. (cue : wedding march music)

















DN and his grandma




















DN and his other grandma!




















Lao Ma, Lao Yi, DN and Uncle Lau











"Happy Birthday" is DN's new favourite song. He loves it!


















DN : "Everyone's clapping for me! I love it! I love it!"

Cheryl Lynn and Zachary are quite amused.
















DN : "Did you see the cake??? Is my mom marrying me off today?"


















DN : "Oh dear, I hope not."




















DN : "Ohhhhh... it's my first birthday. Right on you are!"








DN : "I am ONE!"