Tut tut!

We usually get emails from DN's school informing us about stuff - what DN should wear on Racial Harmony Day, when is class photo taking, how to be vigilant because of H1N1... boring stuff like that. Then one day, I got this in my mailbox!

HEE HEE HEE! :D

Now for the embarrassing bit. This was the email that accompanied that photo.

"Hi Mummy,
The teachers would like to say 'thank you' for the swiss rolls."

*blush blush* Yesssss... I have been bribing DN's teachers with treats! His first week of school, I dropped off some doughnuts. (I mean, I have to thank them for helping him settle into school right??) Two weeks later, I went over with some steamed paos for tea. (You know, just to check how he was doing in school that day. It's important!!) And last week, I dropped off some Polar Swiss Rolls... for no particular reason really! I was on my way back to the office from a meeting and since I would be passing his school, I thought, "Why not?"

Yeah yeah, so I'm a shameless hussy. But at least I'm honest about it, and now I have a nice picture of my son to boot!

Our First Staycation

Oh my gosh, it was S.O. F.U.N.!

The last time we did this, we picked the wrong hotel. 'Wrong' because it was along Havelock Road, and since we weren't that keen on introducing DN to the world of Zouk, we just went to the hotel pool. *yawn*

This time round, we checked into Orchard Hotel. Ah, decisions, decisions. Pool? Orchard Road? Pool? Orchard Road?

ORCHARD ROADDD! *deep guttural sound from the bowels of my shopping deprived being*

So shop I did. And suffered I did! (at the end of the day) You see, for this pregnancy, I've been as mobile as Raffles' statue. It's no wonder I'm looking more and more like Barbapapa everyday. Just less pink and with more hair. So imagine me in all my stagnant and stationary glory, traipsing waddling up and down Orchard Road as my feet get progressively redder and more bruised by the minute. Do I stop? Hell no! Bring it onnn...! *another deep guttural sound from the bowels of my shopping deprived being*

So yup, we didn't even make it down to the hotel pool. We saw it from our room window though, and had good intentions to squeeze in a dip in the pool, if that counts for anything. :p

The highlight of the weekend for DN had to be the bus and MRT rides. He had a blast flagging the bus down, hee hee.

$1. That's all it takes to make this little guy happy. He loves bus rides!


Even after we'd arrived at our station, we hung around just to let him see the trains zoom past.

We also made a trip down to the National Museum to check out the Verner Panton exhibition. Very cool. PF and I took turns to play with DN in the Phantasy Landscape so we could wander around the exhibition.

In all, we stayed 2 nights. One of the best things had to be knowing there was a buffet breakfast waiting for us in the morning and it only being an elevator ride away. Sweet. This is what DN had for breakfast - hard boiled egg, sausage, pancakes, dried nuts and fruits - ON HIS PLATE. On MY plate, he ate the noodles and on PF's plate, he ate the cold tofu. Halfway through breakfast, I had to bring him to the toilet to poo. -___-

It was a good weekend. :)

DN's First Haircut

DN definitely takes after me when it comes to hair - we both don't have enough. When he was about 4 months old, his hair started falling out and even though he looked like this, I still refused to shave him bald. Every hair was so precious! And so, for the past 2+ years, we've managed to get away with not sending him to the barber's. DN's grandmother has been serving double duty as granny and barber.

But last weekend, we decided to try a proper hairdresser. It was one of those $10 places where you pay via a vending machine. Not bad at all! Here's a "before" pic of DN looking really shaggy. Check out the hair around his ears. It really was time for a haircut!

DN had this funny look on for the longest time.

For 10 bucks, you also get your head vacuumed. Hoho.

DN before...

... and after!

Rather spiffy, if you ask me!

Mr Cable

I can't find my camera cable. ARGH. I have looked everywhere - bags, office, desk (yes, it's a "place" to look because PF's desk looks like this, minus the car), floor, drawers and in assorted nooks and crannies, but I just can't find the elusive, blasted thing! This is very unlike me because I always "put my things back where they belong" (years of a mother's threats nagging conditioning encouragement does that to you). The problem now is, I'm pregnant, so I can't remember where that place of "belonging" is. The bigger problem is, this is not the 1st pregnancy.

And that means a lot of things...

• I lost memory cells the first time round.
• They didn't come back.
• I'm losing more this time round.
• And they're not coming back too!

I'm getting stupider and stupider by the minute and those fish oils sure ain't helping. -___-"

I've got a few things to blog about too (DN's first proper haircut, Our family stay-cation, Planning for DN's 3rd birthday party), so me not being able to find the blasted cable is really getting on my nerves.

It's been missing for about 2 weeks, and after some active searching, I decided to just leave it be, hoping that Mr Cable will just walk up to me and tap me on the shoulder one day. Okay, add "delusional" to the dem-pregnancy-books-don't-tell-you-about-these-PERMANENT-side-effects list.

Mr Cable! Where are you!?

A Breakthrough?

Last week was a bad week in school for DN. He had just gone back to school after a week and a half of staying at home, recuperating from a phlegmy cough. It was BAD. Getting back into the school groove I mean. Even getting him to put his uniform on was a struggle - me running waddling around the house after him as he's moaning and groaning away, "I don't want to go to school!" Drop-offs were worse. Ugh.

So imagine my surprise when there were no theatrics when I dropped him this morning. No crying, no weeping, no complaining. He just let go of my hand and walked through the gate into the playground. He even said "bye"!

By jove, I think we've got it!

Bilingual Bunny and Monolingual Mummy

I'm so sorry my posts have been so sporadic and unpredictable. I'm just so uninspired, AND uninspiring myself. Ugh. Add the fact that I'm ballooning at such an embarrassing rate (people think I'm going to give birth next month, ack) and have started to waddle like a duck (but it's just SO comfortable!) and you get a very disgruntled, grumpy and pregnant duck-woman. I'm SO not embracing my pregnant body! :p

Anyhows, DN has been saying the darnest things these past few days, I just MUST share them. You know how people always tell you, "Yeah, sure you will enjoy it when they first start to talk, but soon you just want them to shut up!"

Oooh, I don't!

I lurvelurvelurve talking to DN and I lurvelurvelurve hearing all the funny things he says. You'll all be proud to know that he's turning out to be quite the bilingual bunny and is putting his monolingual mommy to utter shame. DN speaks to PF and I in English and to his paternal grandparents and PF's sister exclusively in Mandarin. My baby can code-switch! Hee hee hee! Just the other day, he was conversing with his aunt in the car and I overheard him saying this, "改天我要去爸爸的 office." I almost mounted the kerb. 改天??? Alamak, I only know 今天 and 明天 and I still get my 后天 and 前天 mixed up!

So a few days later, I decided to show him one up and told him, "DN! 小心!" I can't remember what he was doing - climbing up a chair? Drinking from my Bodum glass (ack!)? Anyway, the little bugger laughed at me! He actually said, "小心! 小心! Hahahahaha...!" I don't believe it. The cheek!

So yeah, monolingual mommy is feeling very embarrassed... and yet proud at the same time. It's a funny feeling. *sigh*

So... what kind of mouse are you?

Is it a bad thing if your son replies "go shopping centre" or "go supermarket" if you ask him what he wants to do? Hmm... I'm not sure. On the one hand, at least I know he'll be able to navigate though the concrete jungle next time (threatening to cancel credit cards to get another free year of subscription, modifying the Wii to play pirated games, cheating when plucking car park coupons...), but on the other hand, to not have the experience of catching fish in drains or climbing a tree must be quite a sad thing don't you think?

So yes, DN is definitely a city mouse, not a country mouse. And it's our fault of course. We just don't expose him to nature enough. And with the weather threatening to fry us silly, it's not like I'm going to start traipsing around Sungei Buloh anytime soon.

Our most recent (and valiant) attempt was 2 weekends ago when we brought DN to West Coast Park for some hotcakes, cycling and sand play with Reubern and Sophie. We brought DN's tricycle along and phwoarh! That really tested his non-existent sharing ability together with my patience. -_- If anyone has any tips on how to get an almost 3 year old to share, I'm all ears.

So except for the "This is mineminemine!" raving and ranting, all of us city mice had a good time in the "pseudo" country. At the sand pit, DN just leapt right in, dug his feet and hands into the sand and was basically just loving it as his mommy tottered after him with tissue to wipe sand off his face (futile, don't know why I bothered... sand and children go together like peanut butter and jam). I really had to bite my tongue from saying, "Argh! Don't touch your hair!" or "Eep! Don't pick that up!" or "Aiyah! Don't kick the sand into your eyes!" and of course, "You stink! Let's go home now!"

Sigh... I'm the real city mouse.

But city mouse or not, I'm glad we brought DN there because he had a swell time, smelly or not. We've been back once since that last trip and we're going again this weekend. :D

Bessie

Did you have nicknames for your baby during pregnancy?

PF and I called DN "pups" (and we still do sometimes) because he was born in the year of the dog.

When we found out about #2, we toyed with "buttercup" and "bessie" (cow mah!). Personally, I prefer "buttercup". Gives you an image of a peaceful cow chewing cud in the meadow and swishing her tail eh? But saying it is such a mouthful. So "bessie" it was. Anyway, isn't "buttercup" the name of some Malaysian brand of butter?

Anyway, I must say, for Bessie, I've been really really good. I have only bought ONE THING for her so far. I'm quite impressed with myself because oh my, the things you can buy for girls! Hair clips, hair bands, petticoats, tights, dresses (oh, the dresses!)... etc. Shopping for boys is really boring. So boring that I only bought 6 months' worth of onesies when I was 6 months pregnant with DN. Like I said, *yawn* boring. It was more interesting picking the colour of his stroller.

Surprisingly, I've managed to keep myself in check for Bessie and only bought this pair of shoes from Pediped. Gasp! Am I growing up???