Chinese Birthdays

If you've been following this blog, you will remember that DS was due on the same day that her brother was due - 4 September. DN eventually popped out on 2 September, so I was willing myself to give birth again on 2 September too. How cool would that be! (And cheap! Because they have no reason to complain when I combine birthday parties!) Alas, when 29 August rolled around, wild horses could not have stopped DS from making her appearance. I was gutted, but you don't mess with labour and a baby that wants to come out NOW. I'm probably still going to pull the "combined birthday party" trick, but I think I have to agree to two cakes. At least I'll get to choose two flavours. Ha!

The kiddos don't have the same "English" birthday, but they have the same "Chinese" birthday. So yes, my parents-in-law are very pleased. I really do try to be the dutiful daughter-in-law. Heh.

Anyway, Christmas Day was also DS's 4th month Chinese birthday. I don't know the significance (so if anybody knows, I'd love to know!), but it's tradition to shave a baby when he or she reaches this all-important month. We didn't shave DS, but PF did cut a lock of her hair (which he later threw on the floor... men!). DN observed the entire process and later tried to give his little sister a hair cut too. Sorry, I meant BUZZ cut.

Poor Mei Mei. She looked absolutely befuddled!

ps : Are you excited about Raffle Wednesday? :)

It's MY birthday! Not yours!

DN's actual birthday (2 Sept) was also a school day and because it's his SPECIAL day, I insisted on celebrating with him in school even though I was 4 days into confinement. It wasn't easy getting out of the house, trust me. Thank goodness there was not a cloud in the sky. If it were raining, that would be the end of my escapade (or escape?) because the rain here is absolutely lethal for postpartum mothers.

You didn't know?

Uh-huh. Just a drop on your skin and you will MELT, because, as all of us SHOULD know, our rain is different from the rain in other ang moh countries. That's why we have to serve confinement and they don't. You see, our rain contains cyanide, hydrochloric acid, the Nipah virus, sour milk and a flesh-eating bacteria that favours mothers who have just given birth because they are exceptionally weak, 'windy' and thus, tasty.

Betcha didn't know that.

So it didn't rain, I was safe from the rain-borne Nipah virus and wasn't going to morph into a crazy pig. Yay!

Anyway.

We wished DN a happy birthday that morning and in the car on the way to school, he told PF, "It's not Carina's birthday. It's not Daniel's birthday. It's MY birthday today!" After PF told me that, I was glad I was as stubborn as a mule by insisting on going out during confinement.

We had a really simple celebration in DN's school. We brought a dairy-free chocolate cake and some cookies for his classmates. No goodie bags for anyone because that was the school rule. A pretty good one too, I might add. Goodie bags were banned because the children would ask, "Where's my goodie bag?" when parents did NOT provide them.

We got there just before tea time and the teachers had already hung the birthday bunting in the classroom. All we did was take the cake out of the box and pop the candle on. Then DN had his birthday song moment. :)


Here's DN cutting his cake. (Can you see my greasy confinement hair???)


Happy Birthday DN!

Happy Birthday Little One!

5 days old

14 days old

23 days old

30 days old

And just like that, a whole month has passed. :) Already I can tell what kind of little girl you're going to be. Well, sort of.

You have a very different cry from your brother's when he was a newborn. It almost seems like a 'gentle' cry, if a cry can be called gentle. Even your little farts sound gentle, like little air pops! Hmm... except for that one time in the middle of the night when you really let it rip because you thought we were all sleeping. Sneaky.

You're a pretty chillin' babe. When your older brother was a wee one, he could never sit still in his bouncer. He always needed a change in scenery. You on the other hand, like to chill. You can sit in your bouncer, for up to 20 minutes sometimes, just looking around, looking at your mobile, and basically just chillin'. Groovy.

You hate a dirty diaper. And in this respect, you're just like your brother. But then again, who likes sitting in poop all day? Especially poop that looks like radioactive tau suan. Your favourite place is the changing table. You hardly ever cry whenever you're there. Odd.

Like a true lady, you don't like burping, and hardly ever. And that means I spend quite a bit of time just thumpthumpthumping you on the back until you let it rip like a bullfrog. Just this week though, you've taken a fancy to spitting LOTS of milk out when you burp. Nasty.

And oh yeah, one last thing... you coo like a pigeon! I love it!

Happy Birthday little Der Shyen! I love you.

Very very much.

(and now I'm going to SHOWER, change and Papa is going to bring both of us OUT for some Japanese dessert!)

Thrilled to be 3!

I can't believe it, my little boy is THREE! Remember this photo?

DN was about 9 months old when we took that. And look at him now! Goodness, where did all that time go?

It's that time of year when I put on my proud-mama hat and wax lyrical about DN and his amazing abilities and talents. Come on, indulge in me a little. I will only do this once a year... per child! Heh. ;)

1. Pronunciation

I really should take more videos of DN speaking. I remember stumbling upon an old old old cassette tape recording of myself reading when I was little and it was just precious! DN will never speak this way ever again, so I really should record it.

He says...

"meep" instead of "meat"...
"stot" instead of "spot"...
"shimish" instead of "finish"...
"beebee" instead of "baby"...
"reek" instead of "read"...

I love it!

2. Quirks

He is quite anal retentive. I like! How do we know he's anal about things? Well...

Halfway through dinner yesterday, DN asked for more "meep". On the menu yesterday were chicken and pork. I put more pork on his plate, next to the chicken, because he'd finished all of it. Suddenly, there was an outburst from DN.

DN : Nooooo...! Cannot!
Me : ???
DN : Cannot touch! *point*point*point*WAIL*

And he pointed at the pork that was touching the chicken!

Another thing he's anal about? His socks. He absolutely HATES it when his socks are not pulled all the way up. Like ALL THE WAY UP. There cannot be any slack in the sock AT ALL. And both socks have to be the SAME HEIGHT up his legs. Slack socks drive him absolutely livid and his eyes literally pop out if he spots a height difference in both socks. He'll wail, start pulling crazily at both socks and complain to us about his socks. As this happens on an almost-daily basis, it's gotten to the point where we've started buying ankle socks so he cannot complain. Either that or he'll have to start wearing tights. -_-

3. Dressing

Question: Why do kids only want to wear just ONE outfit? For like FOREVER?

Answer: Because they know exactly how much you've blown on all those trousers, t-shirts, shirts, socks and shoes so when they go out in public, they will look loved and well taken care of, and they just want family and friends to think the exact opposite by wearing only one outfit everywhere. Crap, what am I saying? They just want to make life difficult for you!

DN only ever wants to wear his one and only pair of jeans and his Mickey Mouse t-shirt. Sometimes he'll relent and wear this other pair of trousers he has, but nothing shorter. On days when we manage to get him to wear shorts, there's usually much cajoling, negotiating, deceiving and bribing going on.

4. Likes, Dislikes

DN likes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, all sorts of vehicles, tofu, sushi, animal biscuits, soya milk, kissing his sister, disturbing his sister, his excavator pajamas, his teddy, riding his tricycle, going to the park, swimming, telling us when he farts, spotting cement mixers on the road and being independent and doing everything himself.

And he dislikes brushing his teeth, bathing, carrying his own school bag, walking when we go shopping, using his fork and spoon when eating, creepy crawlies like ants and spiders, fried rice, gravy on his white rice, skin on his apples or pears, puzzles, sandwiches and when any one of us takes up HIS space on the shoe rack.

One thing that I'm really glad he likes is reading. Or technically, US reading to him. Reading is something we started the day he could sit up comfortably and I'm so glad he has always enjoyed listening to stories. Every night MUST end with at least 3 stories. His current favourite book is a treasury of Bob the Builder, Fireman Sam, Postman Pat and Thomas The Tank Engine stories. I've been trying to get him to tell the story back to us, but no dice. He'll just go, "No! You reek (read)!"

5. 3 years and counting

Overall, this past year has been quite a ride. He spent 2+ months with me in the UK and got to see, and play with snow. He went to Paris Disneyland and met Mickey in person/mouse. He started school when he was 2 years and 8 months old, and also started on music classes and swimming classes (both of which we've pulled him out of because he keeps falling sick). He had his speech explosion (when he was 2 years and 2 months old) and he became a big brother. :D

The terrible two's weren't as terrible as I thought they would be. In fact, they weren't terrible at all! DN has been very agreeable and reasonable this year (mostly). I really think they meant terrible THREE's actually. :p

DN's 3rd Birthday Party (part 2)

I think DN's favourite part of the party has got to be the birthday song part. You should have seen his face - it was absolutely gleeful. As everyone sang the birthday song, he was smiling to himself and staring at his cake (which he didn't really eat, humph!) the entire time. It was so funny to watch. Seeing him so happy just made my day. Made all the frantic running around before the party all worth it.

The cake was a dairy-free, wheat-free and gluten-free one. The baker actually asked me if I wanted it sugar-free too. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Of course not! I liked the cake. It was lighter than other usual chocolate cakes so not as tasty, but the fudgey chocolate sauce on top was pretty good. PF hated the cake and thought it was gross. LY thought it tasted like tofu. But it really wasn't that bad!

Of course, we HAD to take pictures with the cake! With Mickey ears! Although they looked more like pimples on PF's head, hohoho.

Here's the little family again, all donning DN's trademark fake smile.

Now, this one, I'm not sure what kind of smile it is. Probably something like a I-can't-believe-these-are-all-my-presents-are-these-all-MINE???-yes-they-ARE!!! kind of smile.

DN's 3rd Birthday Party (part 1)

The day of DN's party, I was officially in my 38th week of pregnancy and was I glad I hadn't given birth or what?! If I had, I would have missed the party of the year. (Well, that's what it was to me!) Because I'm due on 4 Sept, 2 days after DN's actual birthday, we decided to have DN's party 2 weeks earlier. Just in case. Having it just 1 week before I'm due would REALLY have been pushing it. My initial suggestion was 15 August, when I'm in my 37th week of pregnancy, but PF (he of much confidence) said, "Aiyah, 22nd August is ok! Just don't give birth lah!"

Er yah, okayyy...

MEN! Not only are our bodies subjected to 10 months of expanding (which is not necessarily followed by a proportionate amount of contracting *wail!*wail!*) and 1 month of unbearable imprisonment confinement, we also have to deal with wise cracks like that. The distribution of 'baby' responsibilities seems unbalanced I think, especially since labour is already on our plate. Hands up those of you who think men should lactate!

So my mantra the week leading up to the party was, "don'tgivebirthdon'tgivebirthdon'tgivebirth...". It worked! And I had a blast at the party!

The morning was a bit crazy because there are just some things you can't do the day before, like pick up the cake, collect the food and send your sister-in-law to the airport when her flight's on Saturday morning. So thanksthanksthanks to my granny, Li Yen and Joanne for helping with the fried rice, dry mee siam, balloons, driver duty, hard labour and ice! :D

Bellies were filled with, from top to bottom, sushi, child-friendly fried rice, dry mee siam (both lovingly cooked by my granny, yum yum) and subs. Thumbs up for the sushi but thumbs down for the subs, I thought. We collected the subs at 10am so by the time people ate, they were kinda soft and squished (from being piled on top of each other). The subs, not the guests, hur hur.


A close up of the sushi which was very well-received!


We didn't do much for decorations. Just some Mickey balloons, which some of the kids went at like a punching bag. Poor Mickey! He's looking a bit 'deflated' now, LOL.


When planning for the party, PF and I considered lots of options - a pony party, a baking party, a mega gym party... er, okay, we considered only 3 options! By a stroke of good luck, I bumped into an ex-student of mine who's now working with a mobile kids gym company, and they were looking into tapping into the birthday party market. Perfect! The kids get entertained and the parents can just sit back, eat, drink and relax!

The only problem was, when all the food arrived, everybody, I repeat, EVERYBODY (adults and children alike!) abandoned the obstacle gym course set up in front of them and flocked to the food instead. But there was dry mee siam and prawn sambal, so I don't blame them! Even birthday boy had eyes only for the sushi. When the 'class' started, he REFUSED to budge from the sofa and just wanted to eat sushi. I was like, "What the...?!"

Anyway, he finally did join the class and he had a blast! The obstacle course had a slide...

... some climbing apparatus, some rolling cushions, a walking bridge and a station for forward rolls. (I know, I just made a big mess describing all the stations.)

After the obstacle course, there was some rope play and then the kiddos all received stickers. No idea what they were doing here though. (???)

And after that, it was pinata time, woo-hoo! Did you know that there are pinatas for toddlers? There's no whacking the pinata (and probably other unlucky people at the same time) with a stick. Instead, there's a whole bunch of ribbons hanging from the pinata and the kiddos are supposed to pullpullpull until one lucky child pulls the ribbon that releases all the candy from heaven! Like a lucky draw!

Now of course, PF and I were not going to leave it to luck. So we kelong-ed the pinata game! *blush* We found THE RIBBON. We taped up THE RIBBON. And we only released THE RIBBON (after all the rest had been pulled) just for DN. So shameless! But you know what? It didn't matter in the end who pulled THE RIBBON because when the candy-from-heaven started showering on them (literally), none of the kiddos gave two squats about it! They all just went for the candy on the floor! PF and I stuffed the pinata with raisins (in boxes of course!), konnyaku jellies, gummies, sweets and cookies. All dairy-free! :D

The way the candy fell out of the pinata was a bit of a let-down though. I don't know, I guess I expected a "graceful shower of treats from heaven", so when it looked more like a "sporadic dump of treats from a round cardboard box with a hole", I was quite disappointed. I think it's because we put bigger treats in the pinata and those got stuck at the opening. So PF had to shake the pinata to induce my "candy shower". Humph. But who cares?! I gave everyone a little goodie bag to fill and they had a blast stuffing their bags. So so so cute! Some walked away with bags that hung like bowling bags, and some walked away contented with two gummies. Hee hee! Er... DN's bag looked like a bowling bag... with TWO bowling balls!

Planning DN's 3rd Birthday Party

I remember telling friends and relatives at DN's 1st birthday party that his next big parent-sponsored bash would be when he's 21, when we can turn him loose on society and not feel guilty about it. HA! I also remember telling people that the first birthday party was not really for him (he couldn't even eat the cake eh?) but rather, for US (but we could... and it was lychee martini!) - a reward for getting through the first year unscathed, undeterred and most importantly, (mentally and physically) undead.

His 2nd birthday party was a low-key affair compared to the first one. Just a small gathering for his little friends that all of us co-organised. It was a wet BBQ (bleah), but at least we had cupcakes (heh!) and all families were colour-coded. The Ongs were radiant in red. ;)

His 3rd birthday was meant to be a non-event, because hello, I'm giving birth on 2nd September! *hao lian* Unfortunately, both PF and I have severely underestimated the wiles of Master Ong DN. Some time in June, for some strange unknown reason, DN started singing "Happy Birthday". To himself. In a pitiful, self-deprecating tone. Repeatedly. At least he didn't do it sitting in a corner with his head hung down eh? Now THAT would be wily! Besides the birthday song singing, he also started saying things like "Today is my birthday!". To us. In a gleeful, expectant tone. Repeatedly.

I mean, WASSUP??! *narrow eyes*

So yeah, that's how weak we are. We caved in. And moved the 21st birthday party forward by 18 years. :p PF and I are trying to justify this party by telling ourselves that it's DN's last chance to have a party all to himself because from next year onwards, we'll be celebrating the 2 kiddos' birthdays together. Also, I've been feeling awfully guilty about not being able to give DN my 100% when Bessie comes along. I know I don't have to feel guilty, but I can't help but feel a little bad.

Anyhows, back to the party. Why just stop at a cake when you can blow it all (read: child's future trust fund) on entertainment for the kids, helium balloons, themed fillers for goody bags, matching plates and cups and (the piece de resistance) A PINATA FILLED WITH EDIBLE GOODIES! Arriba! Jalapeno! Paco chicano! Ole!

The next thing to do was to decide on a theme. I went with Mickey Mouse because it's gender neutral and I won't have an aneurysm when deciding what to put in girl and boy goody bags. Only over my dead body will I have a Barney party even though that's also gender-neutral. I hate that purple dinosaur (who PF believes is actually a T-Rex with blunt teeth because of its short, useless, flailing arms). And oh yeah, the most important reason why Mickey Mouse? DN lurves Mickey Clubhouse.

The grand plan (and I'm full of these useless things that don't materialise) was to MAKE my own Mickey Mouse pinata with papier-mache. If I could make a papier-mache bowl in primary school, what's stopping a 34-year old from making a Mickey Mouse pinata? Well, how about plain 'ole deludedness? I thought about it for a day and then promptly shelved the thought next to grand plan #2 - baking DN's dairy-free birthday cake, which by the way is sitting next to grand plan #3 - going swimming to work on that tan and get M.Obama arms in time for the party. Like I said, deluded. So after all the grand plans have gone the way of the Dodo, what else is left?

Actually, tons! For 3 days, I pored over the Birthday Direct website, adding things into and deleting things out of my shopping basket. I'm going to keep the contents of the goody bag a secret, but let's just say I bought a few extra just for myself! So exciting, hee. Tomorrow, I'm going to buy the edible pinata fillers and on Friday, DN and I are going to pack the goody bags. Can't wait! :D

It's going to be a mad rush on Saturday though. The cakes need collecting (2 cakes from 2 different places... argh), the food needs picking up (again from 2 different places... argh argh), the ice needs to be bought and the room needs setting up. And all that to be done by 10.30am before guests start arriving. Thankfully, I didn't even entertain the thought of decorations because that might just be the thing that sends me into labour!

The only grand plan that I concocted and actually saw through was scrapbooking my own digital invite. I'm quite proud of this one! Ta-dah!



Invites? Check.
Cake? Check.
Kids' entertainment? Check.
Food? Check.
Drinks? Check.
Goody bags? Check.
Balloons? Check.
DN's birthday present?

OOOOOPS!

Happy Birthday Der Nen!

Yup, DN is 2 and I must say, this 2nd year has been great fun, way better than his 1st year. I know I'm going to sound as heartless as those hamster mothers who eat their young, but DN in the 1st year was really boring! He couldn't walk or talk and was always drooling and pooping. Okay, strike the 'pooping' because he's still capable of pooping 4x a day if he eats a lot.

The worst thing about his 1st year had to be the nights and the breastfeeding. Now I'm going to sound as heartless as Colin-the-baby-whale's mother, but honestly, I never really got the whole breastfeeding thing. Many moms talk about how wonderful breastfeeding is because of "the bond" with the child, but unless they meant the literal, physical "bonding", sorry, no comprehendo senor. It was embarrassing when DN signed milk in public. This was also usually accompanied with him reaching into my top. It looked like I was raising another Hugh Hefner!

So yeah, I'm liking DN's 2nd year so much more.

• He's more or less sleeping through the night now. ROCK ONNNNN!
• He's moved from signing to talking (a little).
• He pretty much understands everything we say and we can even reason with him.

I guess what I like the best about this year is how his personality has emerged. He's quite a funny chap.

• He's a "think big" kid when it comes to toys and playing. He has no patience for puzzles and he finds them utterly boring. He won't sit down to figure out a shape sorter, but give him stools and chairs to stack and he'll be there.
• He quite an amiable and sociable fellow. When we meet up with his buddies, he's usually a koala for about 10 minutes, observing the rest. Once he's warmed up though, off he goes, socialising and playing with the rest. He'll wave at uncles and aunties on the street and is always ready to give his trademark (fake) smile.
• He just LOVES to eat. He will never say no to durians, suckling pig, fries, prata and grapes. He's not that fond of nectarines, tofu, cakes and potatoes though.
• He can be quite anal retentive at times. Sometimes he gets strangely fussy and things must be done a certain way. For eg, only I can take off his diaper and only PF can wash his bum. Sometimes (unfortunately for me) it's the other way around. -_-
• He LOVES sports and guitars. Yeah, it's so funny. We've caught him "playing" tennis and volleyball, sprinting, bowling and even doing gymnastics.

We didn't do anything fancy for his birthday this year. We just had a BBQ party for the little gang because they're all turning 2 this month. It's so nice to see how all of them have changed and grown. They're now so comfortable with each other and they know each other's names. Now I can't wait for them to be 3!

The kiddos LOVED the cupcakes! They were all excited when we opened the box and ALL of them wanted to touch the cupcakes. DN kept going, "cake! cake!" for about 45 minutes.


Here he is, opening his presents the morning after the party...


... and playing with the gifts immediately after breakfast.

DN, Sept 2006

DN, Sept 2007

DN, Sept 2008

Happy Birthday DN! We love your trademark smile! :D

Thanks Aunty Dawn, Gong Gong, Aunty Grace, Aunty Brenda, Aunty Wee Ping, Aunty Megan, Aunty Joanne, Aunty Ling and Aunty Carla for all your presents. :)

18 months old

At 18 months, his personality, likes, dislikes, abilities and quirks are quite obvious, and I think I have a fairly good idea what kind of person he is.

Personality

• Short-tempered : He flys off the handle when he doesn't get what he wants. (alamak)
  
• Friendly : Unless he's just woken up from a nap or due for one, he can be very friendly with people. He'll smile and wave at strangers and if he knows you a bit better, he'll interact and play with you.
• Independent : He doesn't need us around all the time. At playgroups, he's usually off playing on his own or with other kids.
• Gung Ho : He's game to try anything, even a dark and narrow tunnel at the Julia Gabriel playground.
  
• Observant : He can spot things that we can't! (like the narrow & dark tunnel which was under a Little Tykes pirate ship)

Conclusion : If there's an Amazing Race for toddlers, DN will join it. He'll eat grubs and leap off playground slides, but if he doesn't win, you'd better siam! (leave quickly to escape from the exploding toddler and his tantrum)

Likes

• Eating : DN really likes eating. Even after his own dinner, he'll want to join us at the dinner table and eat, instead of play with his toys. During the day, we often see him dragging his high chair to the dining table and pointing at us to put him in it.
  
• Grapes & Kueh Belanda : He will give up his parents for these.
  
• Bathtime Peekaboo : One of his 2 favourite books now. He likes lifting the flaps and discovering the duck, penguin, fish etc. I like this book too because it's very baby friendly - board book, huge flaps, huge pictures & few words.
  
• Goodnight Moon : His other favourite. For the longest time, he couldn't sit through 4 pages of this book. Now, he'll sit and listen from beginning to end. These are the only 2 books he'll read in their entirety.
• Slides : Short ones, tall ones, straight ones, curly ones.
  

Conclusion : When he's older, I can just see all three of us hanging out at a cafe having tea/coffee/hot chocolate and cake and reading books. Lovely! I can't wait!

Dislikes

• Wiping his face : He likes washing his hands with soap, but hates us wiping his face. Go figure.
• Finger Paints : Strangely, although he doesn't like the feel of paint on his hands, he has no qualms smearing my carefully-cooked-on-the-stove-for-2-hours porridge on the table.
• Sitting in the stroller : I'm like, "Do you know how much this monster stroller cost us? SIT DOWN!"
• Sleeping through the night : -_-
• Bittergourd : Can't blame the guy, but trust the chinese to eat, and like, this awful vegetable.

Conclusion : A nightmare for him would be being chased by a giant face towel.

Abilities

• Signing : He's building up his signing vocabulary and recently added the signs for - carrot, umbrella, stand up (he made this one up himself), grumpy, grapes and vegetable. He's also more precise with his signs now. When signing 'more', he now uses his fingertips instead of his knuckles.
• Language (1) : He's definitely physically dominant and not linguistically dominant. He can only say "mama", "mum-mum" and "up", but he understands 95% of what we say. Like if he overhears us talking about going home, he'll go get his shoes and start waving bye to everyone, even though we're still sitting on the couch. He's been doing this since he was about 14 months old.
  
• Language (2 ) : He understands 95% of what we say, in both English and Mandarin. Woah nelly. I think his understanding of Mandarin is better than mine.
• Physical Development : He started walking at 12 months and it's been a whirlwind journey since. It wasn't long before he started running (13 mths) and walking backwards (15 mths). He cannot sit still. I think that's why he's not fat even though he eats so much.
  

Conclusion : In primary school, his whole world will crash when it's raining and he cannot have PE.

Quirks

• Eating medicine : He eats his paracetamol medicine and shows us the 'good' sign! And he'll open his mouth and receive other medicine willingly. Amazing. I love it!
• Fish Lover : He likes fishes so much that whenever he hears running water, or sees a pond, he'll run over to see if there are fishes in it. One of the first few signs he learnt was 'fish'.
  
• Guttural Sounds : None of us can do it, but DN can make this strange guttural sound from deep inside his throat. He started doing this just before he turned one, whenever he saw a dog or cat (like a growl!). Now he also makes this sound when we ask him to call 'gong gong' or 'gu gu'. It really does sound like it, haha.
  
• Smiling : At about 14 months, DN finally understood the concept of "smiling for the camera". Because he's seen me shove my phone-camera in his face so often, he started smiling as he held my phone-camera and pointed it at his face. He also accomodates when we bark at him to "smile", and he gives us his trademark squinted-eyes-scrunched-up-nose smile.
  

Conclusion : Strange taste buds? Vain pot?


Feb 2007


Feb 2008

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.

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!"