"Special" Lunch Treat

Had lunch with Bob just now. At Wah Lok Carlton hotel.




He reached first and didn't wait for me and went ahead to place the order. Well, he didn't have to ask me at all, he knew what food I love. Shark's Fin, Peking Duck and Fried Squid!!

Yummy!! Happy special lunch treat.

Altered Lunch Box

I placed an order for this lunch box through Scrapbooking Cove last night.

I thought I might never get a chance to work on altered lunch box cos I can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks Julie! For bringing this item in.

Too bad I'm leaving tomorrow early morning. I can't wait to start on this. *Sigh*

I saw this when I placed the lunch box order and it's so pretty! I'm gonna scraplift! So sweet isn't it? Too bad the kids in Singapore don't bring lunch boxes to school, if not, I will do dozens for Tara so she can change a different design every day (when she goes to school, of course).

I think I'm having more fun doing altered scraps rather than the normal paper scraps. Too much fun, I can't stop..

Supernanny

I will watch the show on Arts Central every Thursday night when I can. Actually, I'm quite amazed with Jo Frost's methods of discipline. Totally calm, consistent discipline with reward and praise!



So when I know that she has written a book and the library has got them, I reserved the book immediately. Got the book this morning, read only the first few pages but I've already learned the "technique" to get the kid to keep her hat on. Tara never had hers on for more than 3 seconds. And it's really easy .

The method is when she takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on. She takes it off, you put it back on.......

What I need now is lots of patience and the trait of an angel.

Things I've learnt

1) Not to dispense unnessary advice. People might not appreciate.

2) Be a damn good listener. Most people pouring out their woes just need someone to listen most times.

3) Try not to be too nice to anyone. In the end, the frustration you get might not be worth it.

4) Always think you are right. Cos even if you are, people might not agree.

5) The best listener and the most ardent supporter is still your husband. Even though he's really tired and had to wake up early for golf the next day, he will still listen to you and give you the support and assurance you need. That's why I love my husband so much. He's my best friend!

More scrapping

Over the weekend, I did 2 more altered chopping boards. On Thursday, I was at my parents' place and the kids rummaged through the drawers where the albums are kept and lug out 2 albums. One of it was an album of wedding photos. I saw Dad and Mum's wedding and engagement photos. Wow, they look so young! I took 2 photos home to scan and on the same day, did this board using their wedding photo..



I always wanted a pink pink board so using Tara's photo, I created this



The process is getting easier and faster now. I made this board while cooking porridge for Tara. I pasted the background layer of paper, add cauliflower into the pot, ink the edges of the pattern papers, stir the porridge, paste the papers and photos, add in minced meat, apply a layer of mod podge, stir the porridge, arrange the embellishments, add in spinach and fish, paste and secure ribbons and flowers and done!! Both porridge and the board. Talk about multi tasking!!

And of course, I can only do all these while Tara was asleep. At the rate I'm doing, I think the whole house will be over-cluttered with these boards. I've decided to chuck out all the photo frames and replace with these boards instead. I've always loved to put up photos all over the house. Photos of our ROM, wedding, honeymoon, my pregnancy, Tara and our small family photos. Now with these pretty boards, it will be so much nicer! Ooh, how I love it. Gotta get more boards from Daiso! Hope there's enough stock.

Tara's Milestone @ 18 months

The little girl is 18 months old today. She's becoming a little adult nowadays. Maybe she just woke up one day and decided she no longer wants to be a baby! Her mood swings can go extremes in seconds. One moment, she will be happy and smiling, another moment, she will be screaming the house down. Sometimes she can be so hard to handle, but at times, she can be the sweet little girl everyone loves. She has her own way of doing things and will not budge if you try to make her do otherwise. Sometimes, she will lie on the bed quietly, staring into space and seems like she's pondering over serious issues. I wonder what's going through her little head nowadays. For quite a while, she's been giving us a fake grin, but recently, it's becoming a geeky one, as seen on the picture. I'm loving it! I'm loving every moment spent with her. Parenthood is bliss.

Okay, her development.

On her new words, she knows how to say: no (nose), yes, 香蕉 (yeah, I'm surprised too), apple, 謝謝, 爺爺, night night.

Things she can do now:
- She will bend her knees and give a little bow when we say 謝謝.
- Crinkle her nose and flap her hand when we say smelly.
- Lift up her arms when we ask her to.
- Close her eyes when we are her to.
- Nod when we said yes. Sometimes we say things to trick her, like:"Daddy very naughty, yes?" or "Tara love Mummy, yes?" and she will nod her head. Hilarious!
- When it's bedtime, we will tell her "Go say good night to 爺爺 and 奶奶" (when they are around), and she will go to them, give them kisses and hugs and give a little wave and said "nigh, nigh", and run into the room.
- Try to buckle herself when we put her on high chair and said "buckle up". She try, but couldn't get the buckle into the slot everytime.
- She can recognize and point to her eyes, ears, nose, mouth and head. Even nostrils she also know. Wahaha. And she will stick out her tongue when we said "Stick out your tongue".
- When we take the lift, if it's going up, we will say "Up, up, going up" and she will point upwards, and also point downwards when the lift is going down and we said "Down, down, going down".
- When I say "Hands", she will stretch out both her hands and when I said "Fingers", we will wriggle all her fingers.
- My FIL taught her how to 踢球. She will lift up her foot up a little and stamp on the floor, rather than do the kicking action.
- Wash her hair and soap her body. Took me quite an effort to teach.
- Step up the escalator safely. I will say "1, 2, 3", then she will step onto or off the escalator. While on the steps, she will keep still most of the time, but once in a while, like most kids, she will tried to climb the steps.
- She just learnt to "squat down"

Little habits:
- Nowadays, she must have the radio on when she sleeps. She will squat in front of the radio and point at it. Once we on it, she will happily pick up her hanky, pop her thumb into her mouth and walk to the bed to lie down.
- Take off her shoes when she's sitting. In the car, on the highchair in the restaurant, or on the pram. I think she hate wearning shoes and wouldn't want them on her feet unless she's walking.
- She must fall asleep on our bed, and we will shift her onto her mattress on the floor. But if she wakes up in the middle of the night, she will wake Bob up to carry her up on the bed. Guess she's not used to sleeping by herself on the mattress.
- Helped me to push the pram when I ask her to.
- Must do a "yum seng" when she drinks from her water bottle. If we don't clink a cup with her bottle, she will keep on going "yah.h...." while holding her bottle high up, and finally "ba" when we toast with her. Used to be "yah ss" but don't since when it become "yah ba".

Things she's learning to do:
- Jumping, but she hasn't lift her feet off the ground.
- Wearing her shoes, but always couldn't balance herself when she tried to lift her leg when wearing the shoe.

What I'm going to teach:
- Colours
- Clothes, i.e. pants, shirt, skirt etc
- Vehicles, i.e. car, lorry. She knows bus only.
- The rest of the body parts, i.e. shoulders, knee, forehead etc.
- Poo and pee. Not to teach how to do, she know since the day she born. Hehe. Just hope she can differentiate, and tell us when she's poo-ing or pee-ing.

Wow, that's a long post. I will update when I can remember anything else.

Steps to do: Altered Cheese Board

I realised that the altered chopping board quite popular huh? For steps to do, please click on here.

Where to get the items
Cheeseboard - Daiso
Pattern Papers - Any scrapbook supplies shop
Mod Podge - From any art supplies shops, I got mine from Art Friend at Bras Basah, matt finish one.
Foam Brush - From Art Friend too.
Ribbons and flowers - From scrapbook supplies shop

Enjoy!! Show me your work when done. If you gals want to meet up to do together, anytime man. I'm on a high now. Nothing but scrapping for me. Hahaha.

Pretty Brochure

This brochure from Bakerinz deserve an entry of it's own.













No prizes for guessing why. Kudos to the designer! Smart for creating a perforation so I can tear out the right side portion to use as my bookmark. It's too pretty to end up in the bin.

Lastest Scrap - Altered Chopping Board

I saw the altered cheeseboard done by the TSL members at Laine's Paperterie the other day. Love it so much! I had to do one myself.

I didn't like the shape of the cheeseboard so I bought a chopping board instead. From Daiso.

In an hour, I turned this


















into this..


















I love it so much!


















It makes such a pretty and unique photo stand! So nice yet so easy to do. I couldn't wait, I had to grab more chopping boards just now. Ooo, I'm going into a altered scrapping frenzy!

Anyway, if you think this photo stand is big? Nah, it's only about 20cm x 15cm.

Apron for Tara

Passed by those stalls selling kiddo stuff the other day, and saw a lot of nice and cute aprons for kids. Perfect for art and craft work! There are 2 sizes, big kid size and small kid size. I bought 3. 2 big kid sizes for Shermaine and Javier and 1 small kid size for Tara.


She looks like she's ready to hold a wok and pan!

Taiwan Trip

I'll be off to Taiwan next weekend. It's a company trip. And this time, Bob and Tara won't be joining me cos Bob felt that paying $798 for a short 4 day trip is too much. I agree too. If it's not a subsidized trip, I wouldn't want to go too.

My first time to Taiwan. And I'm alone, so to speak. Last 2 company trip, Bob was with me and we just shopped around ourselves. The company only organizes free and easy trips and thus, we get to go wherever we like. And this time round, without Bob with me, I need to know which "clique" should I go with. The rest-relax-clubbing clique, or the aunties-shop-and-eat-clique.

I've applied for my debit cards. I didn't want to bring too much cash and I hope I don't have to touch my credit card, so the best solution is to get a debit card. Got it in my post last week. Yay. Now, I guess I need to draw up my own itinerary and shop by myself if need be. My main objective is to try the food there, do some shopping for Tara and myself and maybe visit some nice touristy places. So if both cliques don't fit into my itinerary, I'm on my own. Hope that it's safe to walk around alone in Taiwan.

I'm leaving on the 19th and will be back on 22nd, my birthday! Gonna take loads of photos, for both blogging and scrapping! Yay, happy!

So Guilty

After having a kid, just going to the movies or anywhere with hubby and not bringing her along, makes me guilty as hell. I know, I know, I should relax a little and enjoy our couple time instead of having Tara "tagged" along everytime. But thinking of her, cooped inside the house with the old folks while we enjoy ourselves at the movies, just made me felt like a bad parent.

Bob and I used to go to the movies a lot. Well, what else is there to do in Singapore besides movies and shopping? Recent months, we don't remember watching a single movie so we decided to drop Tara off at 3rd aunt's place together with my ILs and catch a movie at Great World. On May Day, we watched "Sixteen Blocks". Great show! I paid another $6 to get a voucher for drinks and popcorn. Actually, my main motive of getting the popcorn was to get my hands on the very nice big metal tin which they used to contain the popcorn. Bob asked me what I'm gonna do with the tin, and I told him I don't know, I just know I wana get it that's all. He went on to shake his head and giving me the "women!!" kind of look.

Yesterday, we went back to Great World again. This time, to watch "Mission Impossible III". Whoa, 2 movies in a week! We have almost an hour to spare before the show start so we strolled around for a while. I bought a set of bedsheet at Aussino for Tara's new "bed". Delicious colours and the price is so yummy too. $14.80 for 2 pillow cases and 1 single bedsheet. Still half an hour to spare and we didn't know what to do, nothing to shop. Boring couple outing eh? So I told him we'll just go to the arcade. We used to go arcade quite often too, pre-kiddo of course. I love to play "Time Crisis II", so damn exhilarating to shoot-and-hide. But I realised my aiming wasn't as accurate as before. I used to be able to take down the baddies in one shot each during my younger pre-mummy days. I had so much fun I almost forgot I'm a mom already. Well, 30 minutes went in a flash and we had to rush into the movie theatre.

Halfway through the movie, I kept glancing at my watch. 2 reasons, I desperately need to take a leak and I miss my baby terribly. In my mind, I kept think, has she woke up (she was sleeping when we left)? Has she taken her porridge? What is she doing? Blah blah blah. The guilt comes back. After the movie, I chided Bob for not bringing Tara out, leaving the poor tot at home while we have fun. Hehe, I just wana make myself feel better by pushing all the blame to poor Bob.

I kept telling myself I'm bringing her to the zoo next week, and promised myself that I will spend the whole of next Sunday with her. No more movies, at least not on weekends. It's gonna be strictly family day on Sundays, I hope.

Fun with Tots @ the Library

I thought the "Fun with Tots" activity was on at the library last night. I was late so I rushed there in a cab, (which takes me a mere 3 mins and cost me $4 [$2.80 + $1.00 surcharge]) only to be told that the activity is only held every last Wednesday of the month. I thought it's every Wednesday!! Super blur me...

During last week's activity:
I wouldn't say Tara enjoyed the activity tremendously. She loved interacting with other kiddos and she was happy toddler there. Totter around the room, climbed up the stage, lie on the carpet, disturb other kiddos. She done everything, except sitting down quietly to enjoy the stories, which was what she's supposed to do.

The activity was quite chaotic, and I'm not surprised. We are talking about a bunch of toddlers here. About 10 of them I think. To control a bunch of toddlers is no mean feat! Some were very active, some screaming, some crying, some running around. My Tara was of course, one of those who were running around, but I'm glad that she didn't make much noise.

The very rare moment where she actually sat down to listen.

The sing-and-dance segment. She's more interested in watching others.

Tara up on the stage and looking at a Jie Jie on the other side of the glass door

Away from the group, roaming around the room

Tara didn't listen to much of the story, and was more happy roaming around the room. Only during the sing-and-dance segment did she get more involved, but her interest waned as quickly as it started.

While queuing to register for the next session, a couple was complaining to the "storyteller" that the tots were out of control, which I agree too. But he made a lot of other funny comments which tells me he is just one of those hard-to-please type of parent. I guess he's expecting a lot from the $2 fee that he paid.

After I've registered for the next session, paid for the lost book fine of $20, signed up Tara for "Reading Cub" program, I brought Tara to the read aloud section. The kid, again, refused to sit down and listen. She prefered going around playing with other kids, moving books from table to table, picking books from the shelves, climbing up chairs. I love this section, the tables and chairs are low enough for the toddlers but comfortable height for the adults. There were some bean bags strewn around the area and daddies and mummies can be seen cuddling up with their kids, reading stories to them. So cosy, so nice.

The kid doing acrobatics on the low chairs

I love libraries!

Now, I'm just hoping for the day when Tara will quietly sit down beside me to read her book while I devour my novels.

New Shoes for Tara

Tara is running out of shoes. She's growing out of both her Clarks. I love Clark shoes but they don't have any new designs so I've gotta look elsewhere. I don't think it's wise to buy the same designs in a bigger size, regardless of how much I love them.

The only place I can think of is Colettee. So yesterday afternoon, I bought this pair at Great World City.

I didn't know what size to buy. Cos their sizes are all different. This pair in size 21 is that pair in size 13, and the other pair in size 4 (I wonder why they didn't standardize their shoes sizes). The only thing I know is my gal's current Clarks are in 3.5. Bob called my FIL to get her to measure Tara's feet. He told me it's exactly 13cm, which is size 16. So I thought I should get a size bigger and I bought size 17.

I tried on Tara and she looks like she's wearing a sampan!! Too big! Now I'm contemplating on whether to buy a smaller size in another colour or to exchange the current pair. Initially wanted to get the other colour in pink and green but it's out of stock for size 17. So I had to settle for the white and purple one cos my main purpose is to get any nice pair that can last her till I come back from Taiwan.

Singapore is quite boring, in terms of kiddo's clothing and acessories, so I'm looking elsewhere.

Old Navy spree anyone? I wana "hitch" a "ride". Hehe keke..

Scrapbook again!

I haven't been updating my blog recently. It's not that I'm really busy to go online. I just spent most of my time doing online shopping for my scrapbooking supplies.

On Friday, as soon as I know that I received the progress package. I immediately placed my orders with Pictures 2 Pages (hehe). And on that night itself, I collected the supplies, since it's so near to where I live. Jane invited me into her house for some more shopping and I'm glad I did. She has a range of absolutely beautiful floral patterned papers! I simply have to get hold of them, even though I will bust the initial budget I set. And I've finally bought a set of acrylic paints.


And from Scrappers Loft, I heard that Daiso carries some useful supplies as well, so I went there for a quick shopping. I should have allow myself more time for shopping at Daiso, cos there's so much things to buy but so little time.

Total Damage
Pictures to pages: Approx $120
Daiso: $10 only

I'm now looking at those postbound albums from Scrapbooking Cove. At only $42.90, I think it's the cheapest in town. Now I'm influencing Sis to scrapbooking too, and she's really excited to start. We are thinking of combining our orders so that we can save the delivery charges! Can't wait to get hold of the album. No need to guess, it's pink loh..

It's pretty right?

With all the pretty papers and my new acrylic paints and foam stamps, I can't wait to start on my new layout. And TA DAH!!

A little blooper though, this picture was taken when Tara was 10 months old, but my tag says it's 9 months. Erm, one month difference never mind right? Out of the 3 layouts I've done, this is definitely my favourite!

I love it.

Nice..

I just took this. Minutes ago, the sky was so dark and threatening to rain. Weather so unpredictable. Must be Nino's fault. El-Nino, I meant to say.

Wonder why I'm so free to take photos and write this entry? Tara went out with Bob just now. Yippee! Freedom and peace are luxuries to me now.

Library

I went to the library last night to collect this book, which I have reserved almost 2 weeks ago. Flipped through the book and found some really fun and interesting ideas to keep the toddler busy.

I think it's not enough to just borrow it, I'm gonna buy it! I think it's especially useful for staying at home moms (SAHM) cos there's a total of 365 activities, one for each day. A pretty good book I would say. Cos there's even solutions for you on different occasions. Can't wait to start Tara on the activities!

While I was there, I saw a notice on the bulletin on a program for toddlers. I think it should be some story telling for little ones so I registered for it too. Actually knew about this program eons ago but Tara was only a few months old then.

Next Wednesday at 7.30pm. I can't wait to bring Tara there. It's time I get her started on some activities. If the program is good, I might be bringing her there every week, provided that the story will be different every time, and also if my little girl enjoys it. I kind of wonder if she will sit still throughout the half hour? Hmmz, I will know next week. By the way, it's $2 only.

My Second Scrapbook done!

It's on my little girl.. Again! Using the photo taken when she was 2 days old.



with journaling this time.

Yummy TV Screen

Just now, I caught Tara licking the screen of the TV in our room.

not once,

not twice,

but three times!! Actually more than that lah, but I only managed to snapped three pictures.

The TV screen very yummy?

Very angry

I'm very angry with my MIL last night. She didn't secure the child-safe latch of the kitchen cabinet where the bowls and plates are kept. Tara ventured in, took a small glass bowl, and smashed it on the ground when she saw me walked towards her.

MIL admitted that she didn't secure the latch. She didn't say forget, she said she didn't latch, which leaves me wondering, does she think that all those child proofing devices are for show only? The sole purpose of me spending over $70 on all these devices is to ensure the safety of my child, my first priority! The thing that left me fuming mad was she actually reprimand Tara for being naughty! Hey! She left the latch loose and she's pushing the blame to an innocent little girl? If my little girl knows the danger of broken bowls and plates, I would not need to spend so much on those devices!

It's not the first time she didn't secure the latches, but I always quietly do it in front of her, just so she can catch the hint. Thing is, I don't talk a lot to my MIL, cos we can't communicate. Many a times, the things I said just don't register in her, so I gave up totally.

I can't imagine if I'm not fast enough to carry her away from those broken glass pieces, she would have start walking around and cut her soles! It's been years since I felt this kind of anger. I've managed to surpress my fiery temper all these while. But this is way too much, and thing is, I can't reprimand my MIL, no doubt she's not in my favourite persons list, it doesn't mean that I don't show her any respect, so I just kept quiet and swept the floor.

Bob knew I'm really pissed cos he saw me slamming the cabinet door. He told me to look after Tara and he took care of the mess. But my anger didn't subside and I actually took it out on Tara, poor Tara.

I brought her into the room with a basin of water to wash her, I let her held on to her PJ as usual, but she threw it into the basin! I snapped and smack her real hard on her thigh, shouted really loud: "MUMMY DON"T WANT YOU ALREADY!!", left her on the bedroom floor and stormed out. I threw the PJ into the laundry pail, saw my MIL wanted to get up and go into the room to attend to the wailing toddler. I'm glad she didn't, if not, it would have fueled the situation more.

When I changed Tara for bed, I noticed a big, angry, red patch on her thigh and immediately, my anger was replaced by guilt. I shouldn't have taken it out on the little girl, I felt really bad and kept massaging her thigh. I even admitted to Bob that I had hit her too hard, and Bob gave me a you-should-know-better kind of look.

It's self-anger-management for me all over again.

Tara Singing

I've never heard Tara sing to any songs before, even when she's watching her favourite Hi-5 shows. She would dance and move but she has never sing.

Last night, Tara was pressing the buttons of the stereo in Bob's car. And accidentally played a song which she started to go "Aiya, ah, la... la... la...". We have never heard her "talk" like that before so we thought she might be singing. True enough, when it comes to the chorus part where both performers were hitting the high notes, Tara would sing along! It's hilarious! We played the song over and over again and when we said "Sing song", she would start to go "Aiya, ah... ah.... la...........". By the way, the song is "The Prayer" by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. It's a very, very beautiful song.

I've tried to capture it on video but the little gal just refused to sing when I start recording. I've only managed to get bits and pieces. So far, this is the best video I've got. The front part, she sounded like she's making noises but the middle part is definitely the singing. Sometimes, she will sit on my lap, suck on her thumb and sing at the same time. Way too cute.

We realised that not only will she sing to this song, she actually sang to two other songs by Andrea Bocelli. I guessed she must really enjoyed his songs, so I told Bob to get his lastest CD for the little gal.

At times like this, I will always feel that the pains of labour I've went through was really, really worth it. The way she touched my heart every time is indescribable.

Tara's Milestone @ 17 months

So fast, my gal will be 1.5 year old in another 1 month.

No improvement on her vocab. Well, I guess I'd better start reading to her more.

The little kid is running quite a bit nowadays, not sprinting of course, just slow running. The eager beaver must have thought that walking is too slow. And she's learning to jump, but just couldn't get her feet off the floor. But boy, is she doing a lot of climbing! The bed, the dining chairs, the sofa, the stools, everywhere! I'm taking extra care not to put anything near our grill-less windows. I've seen her pushing a stool around, so I'm keeping the stools too, in fact, I'm trying to keep all the moveable stuff, small tables, carton boxes etc. I don't wish to have any freak accident happening to my precious little girl.

I'm giving her more table food to try. But nothing too salty, too sweet or too spicy yet. And strictly no junk food. French fries and potato chips are still not in my kid's diet. They don't benefit her growth so those can wait. But I'm expanding the range of kid's biscuits, which are the only snacks she's allowed for now. And the little girl love bread a lot! Bob said the kid is so "low-maintenace", just give her a piece of bread and a water bottle and she will be so happy. And yes, she's finally stopped taking diluted apple juice, totally, just plain boiled water. Thanks to Mum! She love to eat fruits and vegetable too. Which is definitely a good thing.

I'm teaching her to wash her hair and soap her body during bath and shower. She has learnt how to wash her hair but still not so keen to start soaping herself. And when we change her diaper, she would pull out a baby wipe and clean herself. She will do the same even when her diaper is on, as long as she has a wipe or a tissue in her hand.

Tara will get really excited when she sees animals. Last Friday, Bob had a gathering with his poly friends. The toddler got restless and wanted to run around. We were pretty near to the koi pond so I brought her there. She was giggling, screaming and kept pointing at the koi swimming in the pond. I bought her the koi food at the kiosk nearby and let her feed the fishes. At first, she wanted to put the food into her mouth but after a while, she knew that the food was not for her. She had such a wonderful time feeding the fishes. I guess it's about time I bring her back to the zoo again. This time, I must make sure I will have ample time to bring her to all the different enclosures.

And the little girl wants more of our attention nowadays. When I'm using the computer, she would come up to me, and tugged at my shorts. And she would push me around, attempting to get me to play with her. And if her daddy is using the laptop, she would stand beside him and start punching the keyboard or push the mouse around. Just to get his attention.

I'm giving her more chance to feed herself too. I was pretty annoyed when I saw MIL feeding her apple, using a teaspoon to scrape. I preferred to let her feed herself. She have enough teeth to bite, so I don't see the point of scraping the apple into mash, that's for babies with no teeth.

And don't know since when, the toddler would lie flat on the floor and kick her legs when she's throwing a tantrum. Bob said her patterns are getting more. And now, when she threw things on the floor, instead of scolding her and smacking her butt or her palm, I simply tell her to pick up the things. But she's really very stubborn! And refused to do it no matter how. But I'm adamant that she stop this unacceptable behaviour and I refused to let let her leave until she picked up the item. I haven't succeed as yet. But I'm not going to give up.

Dad ever told me I'm a little too hard on the kid, as in I would scold her or smack her when she did something wrong. He told me the "kid-is-too-young" theory again and again. I had to retort back at him. I told him even if the kid don't understand me, I have to teach and tell her what is right and wrong. If I'm going to have his kind of thinking, and just let my kid do whatever she like, who am I to blame if she grow up to be a spoilt brat? At least I know that as her mother, I've done all that I can to teach her. And touch wood, should she become a spoil brat, I can still tell myself I did all I could. That managed to shut him up, although he don't look too convinced.

Now, it's time I start to toilet train her. But I'm taking baby steps for now. Cos I'm not sure if the kid will be receptive. I'm just taking the advantage of my MIL being Tara's main caregiver for the next one month, when she can get Tara into the habit of using a potty etc.

A chance to learn

It's been quite a while since Tara learnt to discard the soiled diapers, and put the dirty clothes into the laundry pail. But she usually does one task first, walked back to me, and I would give her the other task to do.

A few days back, I wonder if I gave her both tasks to do at the same time, will she get confused? So that day, I gave her both soiled diaper and dirty clothes. It's the first time I've done that, so I wasn't expecting my kid to be so smart and knew what to do immediately. She decided to throw the diaper first, into the sink, yes, into the sink but she did managed to put the clothes into the pail.

The 2nd time I gave her the task was this morning. She walked to the rubbish bag but wasn't able to put it in cos the bag was hung a little higher than usual. She called for my help. After she had discard the diaper, she walked over to the laundry pail and threw in 2 pieces of the dirty clothes. I was half expecting her to throw 1 piece of it into the rubbish bag. But she didn't.

Boy, am I surprised!

Last night, we were at Bob's aunt's place for dinner. I changed Tara's diapers and got her to discard as usual. We don't go there often and I'm not sure if she will know where to throw. But she once again, surprised all of us, and threw the diaper into the rubbish bin inside the kitchen.

Aunt and MIL were nodding their heads, and commenting how smart the gal is. I think all the kids nowadays are just as smart. They were only prevented from stretching to their full "potential" by parents or the old folks, who always have the they-are-too-young-and-don't-know-how kind of thinking. Or they felt that it will be faster or less messier for them to do the things instead. I beg to differ. Even if the kid is too young, it doesn't hurt to try. Let them mess up and let them do it at their own pace. They have to learn, and they will learn if they are given the chance. If only they have the chance.

Every now and then, I will ask Tara to do this and that. Yup, I ask, I don't command and I don't force, I ask nicely. Not that she can do it everytime, but I never stop asking. And always thank her and praise her when she complete a task. I'm always surprised at the things my 17 month old can do.

She's learning to wear her own socks now. But she can only hold the socks open, but couldn't get her foot in. I hope, with more encouragement, she will do it sooner or later. I'm not rushing, I will let her learn at her own pace. I'm just glad she's willing to learn.

New Look

New banner, new colours.

Clean. Simple. Natural.

My style.

Lost Library Book

I left the book on top of the car boot while I tried to strap the struggling toddler onto the car seat.

In the pandemonium, I forgot about my book and drove away. When I reached home, I couldn't find the book anywhere and guessed I must have "abandoned" it enroute.

I traced back my route, but the book was nowhere to be seen. I do hope that some kind hearted soul will return the book to the library. Guess I'll just wait till the date due and if the book hasn't turned up at the library, I'll just have to confess that I, the blur sotong of the century, actually drove a car with a book on top of the car boot.

Pinky mood

Finally, something pink and girly in my car. The scent wasn't anything to rave about. But it's a nice girlish touch though. Yeah, I love pink. Before I had this car, I had even thought of spraying my car a metallic baby pink. That is, before I got this car.


And since I'm in such a pink mood, I bought this as well. Yeah, girls can shop anywhere, even at the petrol station.

Imported from Japan. $2.50 for a twin pack. I thought it's strawberry flavoured, but it tasted funny. Then I realised it's actually made from red bean powder. Yikes, I should have read properly I pay.

Bullied?

This morning, Bob sms me and asked if Tara cried when I left for work this morning. My MIL came over a couple of days ago and is now looking after Tara. She's not that attached to my MIL and in the morning for these 2 days, she would get really clingy with me and would bawl at the top of her voice when she saw me get ready for work. Somehow, she knew that when MIL is around, I will not be bringing her to my Mum's place.

Tara is very attached to my Mum, every morning when I bring her over to my Mum's, she will cling to my Mum tightly and won't let go for anyone, even me, yeah, me, her own mother. She's also happier at my Mum's because her 2 cousins cum playmates are there too. Unlike staying at home where her only companions are the old folks.

And back to the crying part, I told Bob she did fussed a little but I placed her in front of the TV, gave her a bottle of milk and left quickly, so I guess she's fine. Bob asked me if I felt sad when I have to leave the crying toddler, but I said it's not sadness, it's more like feeling bad that she's confined at home, knowing that she loves to go to my Mum's place.

Bob said that Tara will get bullied by her cousins when she's there. I told him that his little girl wasn't that nice and sweet either, having seen her snatched toys, hit my nephew, bit and shout at him etc. He said he don't like to see his kid being bullied and I said the kids are young, and stuff like these do happen, and I don't think she's being bullied, it's just that she can't "win" during snatching matches cos of her small frame. I told Bob that his kid have to learn how to deal with it. It's a growing process too.

Besides, I asked him if he's going to stop his kid from attending playgroups or kindies cos there's bound to be some bullies there. He said no, but still, he don't feel good knowing that her own cousins are bullying her. Well, kids are kids and you can't stop those shouting and snatching matches from happening right? I don't think I would want to see my kid retaliate by hitting or biting back, so it's up to my parents to impart the right behaviour to the kiddos. Besides, if the cousins start to hurt her, my parents will intervene too.

Moreover, I don't see that it will benefit Tara if she's going to be confined at home with the old folks either. She might be safe from the bullies (aka cousins) but she's got no one to play with. No matter how the folks tried to entertain her, nothing beats the fun of having kids her age. I asked Bob if he remembered how a friend's kid behaved when he got other little kids to play with for the first time? The friend's kid was constantly confined at home, but his is a worse case, his parents don't even bring him out for gatherings or outings. How is a kid like that going to react when he has other children around? It was quite chaotic that time, he went around pushing and biting the other children, not knowing that it's the wrong thing to do. He was simply too excited to see a group of other beings of his own age for the first time.

I'm rather bothered by what Bob had said, I'm worried he might start to resent my niece and nephew. Guess I gotta talk to him tonight.

Sales target hit!

Yippee! I hit my sales target for this quarter! I'm gonna save up the incentive for rainy days. So happy.

Scrapbook

After 8 months, I've finally decided to get serious on scrapbooking. Have been contemplating all these while because I've got so many other stuff on hand, and I know that once I start, I will throw in lots of money on this new hobby and it's not exactly a purse-friendly one, so to speak.

The decision was made when I went to the library last week. My main motive was to borrow some books on toddler activities and I ended up searching at the crafts section, where I did manage to get a couple of activities book. But I also stumbled upon scrapbook idea books, just a few of them, but it's enough to spark the passion inside me.


I went on to borrow more books from another library, bought a couple of scrapbooking magazines. And it doesn't help that there is a scrapbook supplies shop so near to my workplace, and also an online shop whose owner is living so near to me. And the best thing is her house is her shop! If I should need to get supplies, I just need to pick up the phone, call her and drop by her place for some shopping. Which of course, I have yet to do that.

Anyway, I've decided to get the basic tools first. And most of which could be found in bookstores. And on Saturday alone, I spent close to $100 just to get the tools, and some scrap supplies for my first project.
I'm so excited to get started. Last evening, while Tara had her nap, I finally start on my first project. And needless to say, it's something to do with my little precious. The most significant moment in my life is the time when Tara was born, and thus, I decided to scrapbook it.

Took me hours to finish and here it is, my pride and joy!

I'm extremely happy and on the roll now, I'm already starting on my second project! But the sickening printer decided to run out of ink at this critical moment. Darn! If not, I would be doing the final finishings on the new project now, instead of writing this entry.

Nevertheless, I'm still feeling euphoric!

Amy's Time

Ever since I've had Tara, I haven't been able to have much time for myself. Everyday, my free time will be taken up by Tara. I will only get a breather after she hit the pillow.

I'm not doing any activities with Tara and thus need to have a lot of time for her, I just thought that I should spend time with her during her waking hours; for bonding, communicating, having fun etc. Every weekday night, I will only see her for a couple of hours, thus I felt I should totally devote these free hours to her. To me, it's sort of like a responsibility of having a kid. Thus the everyday routine is; Tara’s time, family’s time and no time for Amy.

And usually, by the time she sleeps at night, it will be almost 10pm and I would be too tired to do anything else. So it’s usually shower, wash the milk bottles, boil water and sometimes do a little laundry and its bed time for me. Totally zilch personal time for myself. Unless a few pages of novel before bedtime is considered one.

I’m a craft lover. Anything from cross stitching, knitting, scrapbooking interest me. Doing crafts can keep my stress levels down, and completing a piece of craft work is so much more satisfying than clinching a major deal.

But now, having time to do crafts is almost a luxury. That’s why I’m feeling pretty down recently. I don’t have any time to do it, which means I don’t get to de-stress myself.

It’s time I do some time management, and set up some activities for Tara which will keep her occupied and in turn, create some free time for myself.

I need some Amy’s time badly.

Restless Tara

Tara only nap once in the day, so usually by about 9 plus 10 at night, she would feel sleepy and less active.

But don't know what's wrong last night, she was so restless, we tried to let her sleep but she kept climbing down the bed and was running around the room. And I was so tired yesterday, all I want to do was sleep but this little devil refused to cooperate. I tried to sing to her, hoping to lull her to sleep but she stood up and start dancing instead. So I might as well sing the theme song for Hi-5, hoping she will get tired from all the vigorous dancing and go to sleep soon. I think I sang like 5 times of Hi-5 and yet, she was still super active.

Exasperated, Bob off the TV and all the lights and pretend to sleep. Tara didn't care and continue to jump on the bed and doing "free fall". She even hit her head on my ribs, hard! It was so painful, I thought my ribs broke.

Finally, we saw her rubbing her eyes and thought, yeah, she would sleep soon. She lie down on the bed, holding on to her hanky and sucking her thumb. And we thought, peace, finally.

Not for long though..

She started to snore, I mean, she imitated snoring sounds and went "kkkkkkkkk". I shaked my head, and tried to stifle a giggle. After that, she went "wa-oh-wa-oh-wa-oh-wa-oh" and making all sorts of funny sounds.

Haiz...

Hi-5 Concert @ Expo

Ever since Tara got hooked on Hi-5, I've been waiting for the day the gang to come to Singapore for their concert tour so I can bring her. The day has finally come!

We've booked the tickets! Using Everyday credit card. Card members have priority bookings from 31st March onwards and 15% discount. We searched high and low for people who hold this credit card. My bro does, but he's away in some island for a diving trip and didn't bring his card along. And Bob, who's supposed to apply for the card since eons ago, still have not done it. Fortunately, Sis' colleague managed to get someone else to help us out. Everything is set.

I guess Tara will get really excited when she sees the gang out of the TV box, erm, provided we don't sit that far from the stage and she could see them properly.

Date with Hi-5

Date		: Tuesday 30th May
Time		: 4pm
Venue		: Singapore Expo Hall 3

Heard from Sis that a lot of good seats have been taken. I wonder how the non-cardmembers are gonna get the seats cos the bookings will only be opened to public from 7 April onwards and now it's only 4th April.

"Nice" Singaporeans

Had lunch with Cindy today. She started work in her new office, which is only 5 mins from mine, just yesterday.

Today, we met up for lunch and decided to go Ikea, as I need to exchange an item I bought yesterday.

When we went to pick my car, we realised that there's a rather long queue of cars waiting to exit Ikea and Cindy's lunch hour was up already.

She decided to take a cab back, at my suggestion, so I accompanied her to the taxi stand, feeling really bad for bringing her a little too far for lunch.

We were rather relieved to see there isn't anyone queue and a couple of taxis were waiting. When we finally reached the taxi stand, there was a group of 4 right in front of us, pushing a trolley of Ikea stuff, including 1 single mattress. They were discussing how to put the mattress into the cab.

Sensing that they will take a bit of time to sort out the loading, I decided to ask if they can let Cindy take the cab first.

I asked them, and told them that Cindy's rushing and if they mind to let her go first. They looked at the taxi queue, and without looking into my eyes, said that there was a string of cabs, so I don't have to worry about not getting a cab.

As if I can't see, if there's isn't any cab, I wouldn't even ask them. I told them they will need time to load their stuff and Cindy was really in a rush, I think I repeated this twice, before they quite reluctantly agree.

I'm slightly miffed. Actually, I don't expect them to reject me when I first asked, albeit not a nasty rejection but I had said that my friend was in a rush and they have so many things to load, the least they can do is be helpful and let Cindy go first. If they were the ones rushing and someone in front is blocking their way and slowly loading stuff? I think they will be frustrated too, right?

Well, well... Please remind me to always be a helpful and considerate person. Always..

And in case you wonder why I get miffed at such slight things, it's called PMS, so let me just rant a little, can?

Little Miss Helpful & Little Miss Good Habit

We are teaching Tara to help us in our daily chores. Toddlers at this age are extremely helpful. So we decided to take advantage cultivate this good streak in her.

I would tell her to put her dirty clothes and hankies into the laundry pail. She would now do it without me asking, whenever I took off her clothes during shower time.

She would help to pick out the laundry for us to hang or take the clothes pegs for us to use.

Whenever I'm done using a bowl or plate, I would get her to bring it to the kitchen, of course with me following closely behind her. When we reached the kitchen, she would pass the item to me for washing. I got her to do the same thing when she had finished using her own bowl, she would do without a fuss. She used to scream and struggle whenever I tried to take her bowl away from her. Things are definitely more cordial now.

She would help us close or open doors. She even helped Bob take his socks and shoes. After we've changed her diaper, we would get her to throw it into the rubbish bag.

There's nothing she won't do, all we got to do is to ask her nicely. And of course, praising and thanking her when she's done something.

And we are also cultivating good habits. Everytime she stepped into the house, she would sit down and take off her own shoes, placed it onto the floor mat, and walked to the bathroom to wash her hands and feet.

This morning, she dropped the bread morsels on the floor and she picked them all up.

She knows that during mealtimes, she must sit in her highchair and she would do it without fuss.

Everytime she finished eating, we would get her to wipe her mouth and hands. The way she wiped her hands is so funny, she would turn and twist her hands, as if she's washing it.

The only good habit I haven't really kept up with is the brushing teeth twice a day routine, she knows how to hold her toothbrush and brush her teeth. But I'm always in a rush every morning to get her to do her brushing or super lazy and tired in the night to follow up. Quite bad, especially now she has more than 7 teeth and taking regular food, she definitely needs to brush her teeth. Yeah, I know, I must remember to get her to brush her teeth everyday!!

Dinner at Sakae

Met up with Angela, Jaime & Sis at the newly opened Sakae beside the new Jurong West library.

I guess all of us staying around the area have been scratching our heads. Sakae is everywhere but why isn't there and outlet in Jurong? Now, there's finally one! Yay! And it's just beside the library! Double yay!

It's a lucky thing Angela made reservations otherwise we have to join the never ending queue.

Shermaine & her aeroplane kiddo meal

As usual, lots of catching up, gossiping, gobbling and laughing.

After dinner, we went to Jurong Point to do a little shopping. I bought Tara's 2nd bottle of cod liver oil.

Angela left first and the rest of us decided to continue our yakking at Mos. While there, Sis opened up her purse and I saw the newly born photos of her kids, my niece and nephew. So I took out Tara's photo, laid it out on the table and took a shot.

Any similarities? I think they have the same nose

After dinner, I sent Jaime home and had a nice little chat down her block before I went home with Bob's supper, cold fries and nuggets. He was quite upset that I brought the food back so late and said that he will not buy any supper for me in future.

Err, I hope he's kidding..

New entry on Tara's Blog

An entry on how Tara got her name.

An excerpt:
"We sort of had a "family meeting" and eventually, I gave you your name, cos I couldn't agree with what others had suggested. I named you,

Go read it!

终于..

我终于可以写华文了!!

Finally! I tried so hard to get a chinese inputting software. I've installed once and it all turned out crappy, and I have to pay for it! Okay, maybe it's because I'm not that IT savvy, that's why I couldn't figure out how to use the program.

And it's not because I'm really good in Chinese and decides to blog in the language, but I do need it once in a while and I'm really happy I've got it!

真开心!!

Very late supper

I've just finished 1 whole Sri Lankan black pepper crab by myself.

At least twice every month, Bob will have night golf session at Orchid Country Club with his colleagues and clients. After that, they will always go to a "zhu chao" stall nearby and Bob will ask me if I want supper.

My order is always the same dish, black pepper crab. Taste better than major seafood restaurants.

I don't care that I'm having sinful supper so late at night. And I don't care I will go to bed on a full stomach and risk extra pounds on my waist.

The feeling of licking the pepper bits off my fingers is so satisfying. I'm happy.

Very tired

Tara: *yawn*

Me: Okay darling, let Mummy finished this show and I'll put you to bed alright?

Less than 10 mins later


Lying on the floor, with her round little tummy exposed.

Controversy of MMR Jab

To jab or not to jab?

That's a question that many parents are asking themselves when their child is due for the MMR jab. Yeah, I've asked myself this question too.

I didn't know about the risk of the MMR jab until someone pointed it out to me. I'm not a very updated person, when it comes to issues like this. MMR jab will cause autism, I heard.

My child will be due for her MMR jab in a month's time. And I thought I should find out more information on this controversy.

How did this fear came about? Apparently, a report on a medical journal in 1998 indicated a link between the MMR vaccine with autism and bowel disease. Since then, an increasing number of parents have decide against the vaccine for their child. Some others thought it's better to have it later.

Even though that the claim is not scientically proven. Even though the Singapore government have time and time again said that vaccines in Singapore are safe. Even though statistics have shown that the risk of getting damage (severe allergic reactions or brain damage) due to the vaccine is 1 in a million. There are still parents who prefer to believe the 1998 report. Yeah, it takes a small ripple to cause a wave.

Some facts. After the 1998 report, parents in some European countries did not vaccinate their child and thus, causing a measles outbreak. In 1984, a year before the MMR vaccine was made compulsory, there's also an outbreak in Singapore. 2,000 children infected, resulting in 400 suffered from brain damage and leaving 7 dead.

There's something called herd immunity. A new word I learnt today. The government ensure that the immunisation rate is above 95%, in order to keep outbreaks at bay. The 95% will so call "protect" the 5% who did not get vaccinated, thus have this herd immunity effect.

The risk of not getting the MMR vaccine? Risk of death if the child does get measles is 3 in a thousand. If the child stays in Singapore, he might be safe. Might be, cos travellers to Singapore might be carrying the virus too, and unknowingly infect the child. But if the child travels, risk of exposure to viruses is higher, needless to say. And what happen if the child get measles? Mental retardation, celebral palsy and even death.

Things to note. A child will need to produce vaccination records before they are allowed to be enrolled into primary school. Some parents chose to delay the vaccination till the child is 6 because of this. And if you still refuse to vaccinate your child against measles? Then get prepared to receive a fine of up to $10,000 or jail up to 6 months, under The Infectious Diseases Act. Remember we are named The "Fine" City?

So after all these information I've found, do I want my child to be vaccinated? Obviously I do! Vaccinations are meant to protect the child and as a parent, I do want to protect my little one. Besides, the benefits of getting the vaccine far outweigh the risks.

For those parents who are still considering. It's up to you, cos the child is yours.

You decide.

Blog on Parking Idiots

Chanced upon this blog on Mr Miyagi's site.

We've seen them before, and at times, frustrated by their inconsiderate actions. I'm always appalled by these people and wonder why they don't even bother to ensure their car is IN the lot.

Anyway, if you should see these idiots, snap a picture of their car, preferably with their license plate unmasked and send to this email address. There's even a decal which you can print and paste onto the idiot's car.

I've always complained to my colleague about parking idiots and just recently, we saw just another one and I told this colleague that I should write a BIG note saying "Get more parking lessons if you still don't know how to park your car properly!" and paste on their car.

Self Feeding

Over a week ago, I decided to let Tara learn to feed herself. For a start, I thought I gave her bread spread with cheese. It went pretty well. She didn't throw the bread pieces. And it's a good start.

Knowing that she won't throw her food, I started on something different. I read from other mothers' experiences that self feeding is a very messy affair so I thought I will let her try something not too runny and easy to scoop. I let her feed herself fromage for kids.

She couldn't hold the spoon in the right way despite correcting her several times. This stubborn little toddler simply loved to hold the end of the spoon. This time, I put on a big bib for her, just in case she messed herself. It was surprisingly good, actually. Besides the gooey mess on her bib and a few blobs on the tray, the floor managed to escape any mess and was very clean. And she managed to finish the whole bowl, by herself! When I took the empty bowl to wash, I swear her screams can be heard from the next block.

Tonight, I didn't think of letting her self feed her porridge, cos it's runny and it's going to be very messy. But it's my wrong, I shouldn't have put the bowl on the tray in front of her, letting her think that it's self feeding time again. She refused to let me feed her. No choice, I told Bob to get prepared for battle. I lined the floor with newspaper, change the normal bowl to her suction bowl, "armoured" her with the long sleeve bib Angela bought for her, and pray.
As expected, she didn't managed to scoop any porridge and put into her mouth successfully The tray got a little messy too. After a while, I thought I should try feeding her, so I took another spoon and feed her while she entertain herself with the scooping.

It's quite successful I should say, as in she managed to finish most of the porridge, with my help though. But by the end of it all, I had porridge on the newspaper, her chair, the tray, all over the bib, her whole face and my hands. I don't mind though, even though the cleaning up was troublesome, at least the little girl ate a lot of her porridge.

Well, it's a nice start.

While Bob was away

Over the weekend, Bob went back to his hometown for qing ming. He left on Friday night. I didn't take arrangement for Mum to care for Tara so I brought her to the office on Saturday. Fortunately, my office is quite okay with bringing kids.

After I knocked off, I didn't know where to go. It's the first time I felt so lost without Bob around. There's nothing to look forward to, nothing to do and nowhere to go. Finally, I decided to bring Tara to Great World, cos it's the nearest decent shopping mall from my office and there's a Cold Storage there and I need to get some groceries for dinner.

Actually I've tightened my purse strings cos it's towards end of the month but I need some "retail therapy" to sooth my lonely heart. So I bought these.

It doesn't matter that I don't need most of the things I've bought. Anyway, Huggies Pull Up Pants 12s were selling at $9.95 for 2 packets and the promoter gave me 4 pcs of sample. I also bought Heinz Baby Biscuit for Tara, Cindy gave Tara 2 to try the other day and she likes it a lot. For all her snacks, I bought lock and lock containers. I love lock and lock containers! Grabbed packet tissues and a pair of ladies' boxers from Watson's and of course, my groceries for dinner. The breadtalk flavoured bread cost me $4 but Tara only managed to try one slice each of the Green Tea and Pineapple bread before it was consumed by an army of ants. I wonder where did all the ants came from!

And before I start shopping, I had lunch at Kenny Rogers while Tara slept. The yummy roast chicken never fail to cheer me up. *slurp* And I realised there's a new book store in Great World! Harris. And it's so nicely done up. I literally had drag myself out of the bookstore man before I started piling books at the cashier for payment.

I had a wonderful movie night too. Watched "Just like Heaven" and "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days". Movies that I won't have a chance to watch when Bob's around. Actually, Bob enjoyed watching shows like "Gladiator", "Behind Enemy Line" sort of shows and I enjoy tremendously too, but once in a while, I love to giggle and laugh at romantic comedies. But I can only watch it myself cos Bob think these shows are crappy and meaningless. But he will still buy the DVDs for me whenever he can. The 2nd movie was so hilarious, I laughed myself silly, and almost neglected Tara. She had to do a lot of funny actions to catch my attention. Highly recommended show!

Despite eating alone, I actually bothered to make a decent dinner for myself.

On Sunday morning, I brought Tara to Jurong Point for breakfast and bought some fresh scallops for her porridge. Cindy and Cyrus came over for lunch with us. I cooked porridge with spinach, carrot, fish & scallops for the kids and century eggs with scallop for me and Cindy. I'm glad Cindy love the porridge, even though it's a little too dry and it's my first time cooking it.

Afternoon, we attended Gerald's birthday party. Both Angela and Sis couldn't make it at the last minute, which kind of bothered me a little. But still, we had Evelyn with us and she annouced her wedding dinner will be in July. Ohh, another pink bomb!

Bob was suppose to be back in Singapore at almost 11pm but and he sms me and said he will be taking the 6.50pm flight back from Kuala Lumpur instead. I had intended to drop by Andrew's to fix his specs but due to the rush, I had to fly to the airport.

While walking to the carpark with Cindy & family. I took a few shots of the kids playing at the garden. They were so cute! Chasing each other. Very entertaining. Had wanted to download the video but the file is too big.

While waiting for Bob at the airport. 2 sisters start to play with Tara.

The younger sister on the right tried to carry Tara while she was running and both of them tripped and fell down. Tara hit the back of her head against the edge of the chair and cried so loudly, that everyone turned and look. The little girl, got scared and ran away. Minutes later, the elder sis came over and asked if her sister was responsible for the fall but I just told her Tara was just careless. Well, little kids, what to do right? I had to cajoled Tara with lots of biscuits before she finally hushed up.

Well, I'm monitoring her now. Hope there's no vomitting or stuff.

Birth of Tara

I've finally written the events on Tara's birth but I've written it on Tara's blog instead.

Here's the excerpt:
"I hope I can still remember the events of Tara’s birth. I had wanted to write it down but somehow, I couldn’t find the chance to. Now, after 16 months and 13 days following the birth of the most amazing little human being in my life, I’ve finally had it documented. Darling, this was what had happened when Mummy gave birth to you.

Alright, here goes:

9 November 2004
I have taken leave off work since 1 November. Actually my estimated day of delivery was 15 November 2004. But due to the nature of my work, I would prefer that I had everything handed over and not having my mobile ringing halfway while I’m pushing the baby out. Thus, I felt it’s safer to take leave first; at least my clients will be able to get me before I give birth. Besides..."

Read the rest here!

While we were sleeping

On morning these days, I would usually wake up either to the sound of the toddler throwing things around or to find her roaming around.

This morning, in my half asleep state, I saw her walking around the room but I'm too tired and fell asleep again soon after. I was suddenly jolted awake by the thought that she might hurt herself in the hall (door was open) and started shouting her name. I couldn't find my specs where I left them and I couldn't see at all, cos at 800 degrees on each eye, I'm almost blind as a bat. I found Tara sitting at the doorway. Later Bob appeared with my specs and said the little girl brought the specs to him while he was in the kitchen toilet.

Usually, when she woke up, she would start blabbering to wake us up or she would poke our eyes or touch our faces and we'll know that she has awaken. But nowadays, we don't even know she's awake. It's quite worrying as our windows were not fitted with grills. I can't even imagine the consequences should our little girl decides to climb up the windows while Mummy and Daddy were sleeping. Or she might decides to dip her head into the WC for a wash. Or she might fall and knock onto some sharp edges.

All these thoughts struck fear in me. I must be more vigilant from now on.

Home Cooked Dinner

Yesterday night, we decided to cook porridge and a few dishes for dinner. We've been dining out too often and getting sick of it. Don't even know what to eat anymore.

While I was cooking, Cindy popped over with Cyrus to pick up the tin of milk powder which Cindy left in my car couple of days ago. Joe wasn't home so I asked Cindy to stay over for dinner.

Simple dishes; Braised Cabbage, Fried Eggs with Onions, Potato & Luncheon Meat with Tomato Sauce and canned chilli anchovies.

Rather enjoyed the simple fare. Cyrus enjoyed the luncheon meat and potato. I never know that the chilli sauce from the canned anchovies will taste so yummy with porridge and bovril.

After dinner, Cindy and I had Vienetta ice-cream for dessert and I baked a tray of escargots for Cindy to try. Yummy.

Fat, Fat, Fat

I don't mind being teased once in a while. I don't mind that my size is bigger than before cos somehow, in my mentality, I felt that being bigger after giving birth is normal, so I didn't really make much of an effort to slim down.

But being called "fat" in my face more than 3 times a day is too much for me to take. It's not hurting but downright irritating! It's like having a mosquito buzzing around you and all you want to do is give a tight swat and kill it.

The worst part is someone telling you that she's too skinny and need to get some fats from me leh! What the hell is that person trying to do? Degrade me so I will feel small and insignificant? When I bump into something, she said "Wah! Too fat is it?". And the whole night, I kept hearing, "You fat leh." And this someone told a new friend "She used to be slim and pretty one, but now fat liao".

By the way, I'm not fat okay? The definition of fat is overweight and I'm not overweight. I'm just heavier than before.

So please, if you want to say I'm fat, try not to say it more than 3 times. Or I will swat you like an irritating mosquito.

Gathering with Ex Colleagues

Last night, I met up with my ex-colleagues for dinner at Great World City.

We used to meet once a while for KTV and dinner, but now, we will only meet for birthday dinners. This month, Eric and Sally will be celebrating their birthdays. Happy birthday to you guys!

We had a wonderful dinner at Kuriya Restaurant. Steep prices but the food were simply yummylicious! I didn't take any photos cos I'm too busy eating and catching up with the guys. Somehow, I feel that we are drifting apart. The conversation wasn't as interesting as before but still, it's nice to see them.

After dinner, I was supposed to send Sally to Holland Village to meet her other buddy. She was telling me how much this buddy loves to go KTV and I said if they decide to go KTV, I will join them. And we ended up at Partyworld in Clementi.

After the KTV, I sent Sally home. On our way home, she told me about her own problems etc. I didn't get to meet her for quite a while and there's lots of catching up to do. So we continued chatting down her block for another 2 hours. I hope the problems she'd encountered would be solved soon. It's quite sad to see something like that happened.

I reached home at almost 3am. Sleepy. Yawn......

Tara's Own Blog!

I've set up a blog just for Tara, the truly baby/kiddo blog.

My main purpose of setting this blog is, well, I have a really bad memory. And just in case I will miss out the details of her growth when I'm old and senile, this blog can serve it's purpose.

It will be even better once Tara knows how to read and write, she will continue the writing of her own little blog, write about her thoughts, her daily happenings etc.

I adopt a conversation style for this blog. If there's a day Mummy will not be around for her, she will still "hear" me talking to her.

Proud Mummy

Last night, Bob was hanging Tara's laundry in the hall. After he was done, Tara carried the empty pail (those big red ones) up and walked around a little. She's pretty small size and looked really funny carrying the big pail.

Casually I said "Tara, can you bring the pail back to the kitchen?". She looked at me and I pointed to the kitchen. Slowly, she walked towards the kitchen. Bob and I looked at each other. Amused, we trailed behind her.

She walked fairly slow to the kitchen, propped the pail onto the stool (where we always put the pail) and used her little tummy to push in the pail carefully. After she was sure that the pail won't topple, she looked at us and started clapping. We gave her a loud applause, big hugs and lots of kisses.

I'm so.. so proud of her.

What a bi-a-tch...

Months back, I was invited to a dinner at my friend's place. It's only when I reached that I realized I'm the only friend she invited. The rest are all her colleagues and husband's relatives. And the other friend wasn't in town then.

Both of us were sitting in the hall chatting, when her SIL asked her something.

SIL: Do you know your son goes around biting people?
MF (My friend): Really? Oh, I'm sorry. (She's genuinely sorry)
SIL: *shakes her head, gave a disgusted look and said loudly* Darling (her own daughter), you don't anyhow bite people one hor? You never bite auntie (SIL's maid) one right?
SIL's maid: Nooooo! Darling don't bite.
SIL: *smugly* Oh! Good girl!!!!

Oh... a total bi-a-tch..... I mean, it's wrong for kids to go around biting people and it's okay to point it out and tell the parents etc. My friend was genuinely sorry that her son was doing that and she apologized. I don't think it's necessary for the SIL to praise her own daughter so smugly and loudly, indirectly belittling my friend's son. What is she trying to prove? That she has a really well-behaved girl? That she knows how to teach her kid? That my friend don't know how to discipline her son? I'm truly surprised my friend didn't mind one bit. I don't know if I can be as calm as her if I were in her shoes.

In any case, it's an action that I truly despised. Besides BI-A-TCH, I couldn't find a better word to describe her.