Outing to Town

Dearest Little Skyler,

Today, we went to town to do some chores. You were so sound asleep that Papa could not wake you up to go for church. But, yet, we had a few chores to complete so we went out anyway. Mama could not accompany us as she lots of work to catch up on.

We first went down to Plaza Singapura to cancel our Starhub Cable subscription. We had been subscribing to cable TV for close to a year. However, we hardly watched anything as we were simply too busy. By the time we put you to bed at night, we would usually be too exhausted to watch anything thus we decided to save a bit of money and cancel it.

After canceling the cable subscription and returning the equipment, we set off for Funan Centre to buy an external harddisk drive for your photos and videos. Papa and Mama had previously bought a portable harddisk drive but it has become too small in capacity to hold all your photos that we have taken since you were born. Thus, we had to buy a bigger capacity hard disk to back up all your photos and videos so that if anything happened to our main hard disk, we would still have your photos, Little One. You are so precious to us and the thousands of photos that we have of you are something that we simply cannot bear losing.

After buying the hard disk, we came back home.

We love you, Darling.

Mama and Papa

Uncle Louis’ and Aunty Angeline’s

Dearest Little Skyler,

We paid a visit to Uncle Louis and Aunty Angeline (your Sunday School teacher) today. They had invited the young ones and the young families to their place as part of the Lunar New Year celebrations. We got there a bit late as we were taking so long to get ready.

You played with che-che Alyssa for the greater part of our stay there while Mama and Papa got to know a few of our church members. We are trying to make it a point to get to know people as we really want to be part of the church family.

We then went over to Tua-mm’s to have dinner with Grandma, Tua-mm and your cousins. We want to spend as much time as we can with them before they leave for Cambodia. Papa and Mama have been negligent in ensuring that you know your cousins well in the past, Little One. And Papa wants to get to know his Kor-kor better after having left this sibling relationship alone for so long. Thus, we are going to spend whatever time we have left meeting up with them. :D

We love you, Sweetheart!

Mama and Papa

Gathering with Papa’s Secondary School Friends

Dearest Little Skyler,

Tonight, we went for a gathering at Uncle Craig’s and Uncle Sang Chong and their families were there as well. I think their names are: Uncle Craig, Aunty Samantha, che-ches Danielle, Desiree, Daphne and Uncle Sang Chong, Aunty Selene and their children (whose names we never knew). These were the same friends that we bumped into on your birthday last year, remember? We met them at a restaurant called Globetrotters at United Square?

You were fussing both on arrival and departure, Little One. We could not figure out what was disturbing you. You were crying so inconsolably when we got there that all the uncles and aunties were so worried about you. Finally, che-che Danielle invited you to her room to play with her toys and you finally calmed down. Che-che Danielle was your hostess for the whole evening as she spent all her time talking to you and Mama and letting you play with lots of her toys.

Papa spent a bit of time catching up with his old friends and it was quite an experience meeting up with people that Papa had not seen for almost twenty years. It was also amazing that they had so many children – three each.

Soon, we had to leave as it was getting late and we wanted to bring you home to rest. It was definitely fun for Papa meeting up with them. Thank you for sharing it with Papa.

We love you, Sweetheart!

Mama and Papa

Baby Sage is Well!

Dearest Baby Skyler,

Shortly after you were born, Mama read in the papers about Baby Sage. He was born on Christmas day, just 3 days before you were born. Shortly after he was born, he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder – “maple syrup urine disorder”. Mama was particularly saddened by his story and blogged about it earlier on, on 13th February 2006 (http://skyler-1.blogspot.com/2006_02_01_archive.html), because of the proximity of his birthdate to yours and because we let you have a trial test for such genetic disorders after you were born.

Today, the Straits Times “Mind Your Body” section caught up with Baby Sage again and shared the good news that, except for some developmental delays, he is well and healthy! In fact, he is a whopping 12kg now! He’s SO much heavier than you, our lean little girl! Praise God for Baby Sage’s progress!

Good health is something we can’t take for granted, Little One, which is why we always thank God for your health. :)

Loving your sweet smile and kisses,

Papa and Mama

Bonding With Popo & Gong Gong

Dearest Little Skyler,

You spent the 19th and 20th with Popo and Gong Gong at their place. We had gone there so that you could spend some time with them and get to know them better. We spent almost the whole day on both days there so that you could maximize your time with them. They so totally enjoyed playing with you. We had also brought along some of your toys so that they had things to entertain you with while we were there. They also loved to take you outside for a short walk so that you could look at the birds and cats around.

Kow-fu and Kow-mo also came on the 20th. We later had dinner with them as Popo and Gong-gong had to attend another event. Kow-fu and Kow-mo helped take care of you so that Papa and Mama could eat our dinner as well.

This totally made us realize how we could have and should have helped with Tuapek and Ma-erm with your cousins when they were growing up. We feel so guilty that we did not help out then. I guess the only excuse we have, which is a very pathetic excuse, is that we were not comfortable with taking care of young children as we had no experience. But then, neither do Kow-fu and Kow-mo! :P

We love you, Little One!

Mama and Papa

Weaning Off Thumb Sucking

Dearest Little Skyler,

Your left thumb has been badly injured because of your constant sucking and biting on it. We had to put ointment, a plaster and a mitten on your left hand to try to get you to stop it so that your thumb would have a chance to heal. We even scotch-taped the mitten to prevent your removing the mitten as you had previously sucked your thumb until the plaster ended up in your mouth. Even when we put a mitten on then, you would remove it so that you could suck your thumb.

It was totally painful to watch how you reacted to our denying you this comfort, Little One. You kept on trying to pull the mitten off and you simply couldn’t sleep as you didn’t have your thumb to suck on to comfort yourself.

But, we have to do this, Sweetheart. Your thumb must heal. It really looks very badly hurt right now. We hope you understand.

We love you!

Mama and Papa

Lunar New Year Visiting

Dearest Little Skyler,

As we were still quite sick, we rested most of the day. Closer to the afternoon, we felt that we had better make some effort to go visit our relatives as it was the Lunar New Year and we were expected to go visiting. However, this was the latest we had ever set off! :P

We went to Tai-po’s place for a gathering with Mama’s side of the family. Thankfully, most of our relatives were still there when we arrived. Kow-fu was kind enough to drive his car out so that we could park within the compound so we needn’t walk as far.

As you are the youngest in the family right now, you of course received lots of attention. Funnily, your second Kow-gong still had a photo taken of you with your fifth Yi-po at the last Lunar New Year gathering at Tai-po’s place in his phone and so he took another one of you with fifth Yi-po. :D We spent most of the afternoon there with different relatives carrying you and we think you enjoyed yourself there.

We then went over to Ma-erm’s for dinner with Grandma and your cousins. We suggested this as we had missed the reunion dinner the night before we wanted to spend some time with them. This was especially so as they would be leaving for Cambodia soon and we would not get to see them so often.

You once again quite enjoyed your time there as you got to play with your cousins. Your favourite toy seemed to be this car-like thing that had the basics of a driving system i.e. a driver’s seat, steering wheel, pedals, gear but totally no body. You kept on returning to it to play with it even when we tried to steer you away from it. You looked so cute in it. :D

When we were leaving, Ma-erm gave you a tricycle that Kor-Kor Kenji had out-grown. It was red in colour and you were totally captivated by it. :D

We love you, Darling.

Mama and Papa

Papa & Mama Fall Ill

Dearest Little Skyler,

Papa woke up Thursday morning with a bad case of the shivers. Papa was not sure why so Papa took his temperature. It was above 37.7°C. However, Papa was not totally convinced that he had a fever as he felt normal. Yet, since Papa was shivering quite badly, Papa woke Mama up to ask her to feel his forehead to see if he had a fever. Mama said that Papa felt normal so Papa went to work. (Later on, Mama said that she should have stopped Papa from going to work as it was not usual that Papa would wake Mama up to ask such a question as Papa would always ignore any symptoms of being ill and insist on going to work).

Papa had a bad cough and hoarse voice along with his high temperature. After getting to school, Papa used his oral digital thermometer to take his temperature again. Again, it was above 37.5°C. Due to the SARS situation back in 2003, schools had come up with a standard operating procedure where anyone with a temperature above 37.5°C, would have to his temperature confirmed by the Operations Manager so that’s what Papa did. Papa’s temperature was measured at 37.8°C so Papa had to leave school to see a doctor and that’s what Papa did.

Papa went to see your balloon uncle but he wasn’t in but a stand-in was present and he gave Papa two days medical leave. The doctor said that Papa was suffering from laryngitis. Papa had no intention of staying away from work for two days but kept on open mind in case it was necessary.

Papa tried to get some sleep that day but you were so fussy that Mama could not care for you alone and had to wake Papa up now and again to assist. Papa also had to care for you throughout the night as you continued to be very fussy and could not sleep. So, for the greater part of the night … until about 4 a.m., Papa kept on waking up to comfort you when you woke up from your sleep. This of course resulted in Papa remaining very sick.

Even though Papa was coughing very badly, Papa felt that he had enough strength so we all went for the Lunar New Year Reunion Dinner on Friday night at Popo’s and Gong-gong’s with Kow-fu and Kow-mo. Papa coughed badly throughout the dinner but it was an important event that we had to go through so Papa endured it.

Mama then fell ill as well due to being so close in proximity to Papa throughout Papa’s illness. Sigh… Two sick parents having to take care of you was quite terrible for all of us. As a result, we missed the Lunar New Year’s Reunion Dinner with Grandma and Ah-Erm’s family on Saturday night. We were all just too ill to go for dinner and Papa didn’t want to spread his illness to your che-che and kor-kors as well.

Sigh… it was a terrible period, Little One.

We love you!

Mama and Papa

Papa Takes Childcare Leave

Dearest Little Skyler,

Papa took childcare leave today to take care of you. Skyler had a runny nose and bad cough. Mama was not feeling well either so Papa had to take the leave to care of both of you. Papa still feels uncomfortable taking childcare leave as this impacts on Papa’s work but Papa had no choice as you needed to be cared for. Family must always come first!

Mama and Papa brought Skyler to see the doctor. He carried out the usual checks and prescribed you some medicine. We also asked him about your thumb and we got ointment for it as well.

Once we got home, we fed you your medicine in your milk. This was the only way you would take your medicine. We used to try all means to get you to consume your medicine – soaking it in bread, etc. We’ll continue to try this method until it doesn’t work anymore. The problem with this method is that you must want to finish your milk which is not a sure thing. Sigh…

We love you!

Mama and Papa

Junior League Hair Scare

Dearest Little Skyler,

We decided to bring you for a hair cut today as it is near the Lunar New Year and your fringe is slightly long. We had heard a lot about this franchise called Junior League which advertises themselves as professionals in cutting hair for children and toddlers. We decided to give them a try even though they were fairly expensive. We figured that the cost was for their expertise in helping little ones who had to undergo the trauma of having their hair cut; we could not have been more wrong!

We took you to the outlet at United Square. When we got to the shop, it was quite crowded with families with little ones getting their haircut. We should have been alerted to how bad the situation would have been once we got our queue ticket. While we were given a queue number, we soon realized that the ‘hairdressers’ had no idea what the current number was! They had to go around asking everyone what their numbers were and whoever had the lowest number went next. While we were waiting, we realized that even if someone did not have a number, they could go next and the hairdressers didn’t even bother to check.

We also saw a kor-kor getting his hair cut crying his eyes out and the hairdresser carried on as if nothing was going on. Where was this purported expertise in assuring the children who were undergoing this trauma? In fact, the hairdressers seemed as if they just wanted to get the haircuts over and done with. They just kept on cutting the children’s hair at any angle they could regardless of how the cut looked. The kids could be crying and thrashing about and they just cut whatever their scissors could reach. This was totally shocking to Mama and Papa.

What also got Papa’s goat was that the “hairdressers” didn’t even bother to clean the hair of their previous clients off the chairs and just got the next clients to sit on the hair. People were leaving the place with hair stuck to their clothing!

We were very apprehensive by the time it was your turn but we decided to go ahead as they were supposed to be adept at cutting children’s hair – evidence to the contrary. The lady who cut your hair just lopped off a huge length of your fringe crookedly from the get-go! Mama and Papa were totally shocked! You ended up with a super short fringe before we could even utter a word! To make matters a million times worse, the “hairdresser” could not even see that the fringe was totally crooked and much too short! It was a total disaster and she kept on insisting that it was fine and that you looked okay.

As we were totally dissatisfied with what she was doing, the “hairdresser” asked her colleague to come over to take over. This other “hairdresser” very obviously looked shocked at what had happened to your hair as well but there was absolutely nothing she could do as your hair was much too short already. All she could do was to straighten out your fringe.

We left totally unhappy with this place vowing never to come to them ever again. Mama’s previous attempt at cutting your hair was so much better than these “professionals”.

To calm you down, we brought you over the nearby pet shop and showed you the little animals that they had there – you saw various kinds of fish, rabbits and hamsters and you were so totally amused by them that you soon forgot the trauma of the hair cut.

We are so sorry that we went there and put you through it, Little One. But don’t worry, never will we go there again.

We love you!

Mama and Papa

Time with Godma Audrey

Dearest Baby Girl,

Today, Mama and Papa gave you sometime to spend with Godma Audrey, Little One.

We brought you over to Godma’s and left you there with Godma and Uncle Henry. There, you played with their fish tank of fish and kicked a ball with Uncle Henry and Godma. You spent the whole afternoon with them and they were so happy to have spent the time with you as you were such a joy to be with, Little One.

We love you!

Mama and Papa

Skyler Says ‘Bread’

Dearest Year-Old Baby Girl,

Today, Mama heard you say something that sounded like “bread”. We can’t spell out the sound here but it definitely sounded like “bread”. Papa heard it too when he came back later today. Wow! Yet another word in Skyler’s repertoire! Cute!

We love you, Little One!

Mama and Papa