Busy Day

Dearest Skyler,

We had such a busy day today. We went down to Botanic Gardens to meet Aunty Chris and her kids. They had gone there since earlier in the morning. We brought along your tricycle so that you had something to ride on when you got tired. :D We played together for a while on the grass area in front of the stage. Kor-kor Luke and Che-che Joan took turns to push you and Mei-mei Dawn around on the ‘trike’ and you had such fun bumping up and down on the uneven grass. :D

There were so many families with their young ones there. :D And lots of people ended up sharing their toys with other families. :D

On our way out of the Gardens, we stopped by the pond and fed the fish and turtles there with bread that Aunty Chris had bought.

We then went over to Fish & Co for lunch and to Borders to look at books. Once again you insisted on playing with your favourite staircase! At the stairs, we met a nice Caucasian che-che who shared with you her Lamb called ‘Lamb-y’. We bought you a couple of cute animal encyclopedias before heading home.

We all took a nap at home before heading out again as we were so sleepy by then.

After waking up, we trooped off to Grandma’s place for dinner at the nearby coffee shop. We were quite apprehensive about eating at the coffeeshop as you had never sat in your chair for long there and Papa and Mama were too tired to bring you for walkies while the others ate. However, you proved that you had grown up already and you managed to sit for the whole meal! Thank you!

We all then went down to the nearby Ikea to buy a table just for you! It was a blue coloured table. They did not have the green one that we actually wanted. Mama and Papa figured that it was time for you to have your own table to play on and such. :D

We then rushed to the Point to collect some more Swensen’s ice cream. You had fallen asleep during the car ride so we left you in the Duckie Mobile with Grandma. We had to rush as we still had one more stop – your Balloon Uncle!

We visited Balloon Uncle for your last vaccination. Yay! You’ve got your whole series of injections already! It’s finally over! And once again, you were an extremely brave Girl! You hardly reacted to the injection! Balloon Uncle always feared that you would cry like some other children but you’ve only cried once out of the fifteen or so injections that you’ve had. In return, you received a clapper toy from Balloon Uncle.

You’ve been vaccinated against most of the childhood illnesses, Lil’ One! We no longer have to worry about them, we hope. :D

Grandma stayed over that night.

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Happy Meal

Dearest Skyler,

You just so love to put on Mama’s bedroom slippers. Every opportunity you get, you’ll slip your feet into them and try to walk around in them. :D It’s so cute to see you in oversized footwear, clomping around the apartment. :D Mama has decided that we should buy you a pair of bedroom slippers of your own so that you won’t possibly trip and fall while wearing Mama’s. :D

You were such a good girl this morning. You completely entertained yourself whileMama was busy – you took out your toys on your own to play with them and then kept them when you were done without Mama asking you to! We’re so proud of you! As a reward, Mama brought you out for a walkie to the market. There, Mama bought you a McDonald’s Happy Meal hotcakes breakfast and you got a Surf’s Up penguin toy with it.

You were also so cute when you went around carrying the Ribena Berry ‘bu dao wang’. It’s taller than you are and you still carried it around the apartment! :D

Later that evening, we all went down to the Point for dinner and we visited the usual stores and Kiddy Rides!

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Childcare Centre?

Dearest Skyler,

This morning, as usual, you demanded to go for a ride on your tricycle but you were so sleepy and not able to go out then. We have decided that we must hide your tricycle so that the maxim ‘out of sight / out of mind’ can take effect. :D We will bring you down for rides on your ‘trike’ when we think that you are up to it, okay? :D

Later that day, Aunty Chris and Mei-mei Dawn came up to our place to play. It was so coincidental (and thus funny) that both you and Dawn were in the same shirt! :D It looked like both of you were in uniform at some childcare centre! :D

In the afternoon, Mama and you picked Papa up and we all went down to the Giant at IMM to buy formula milk for you as they were having a discount for your favourite chocolate milk. We stopped at one of the stores there as we remembered that they sold us books quite cheaply before. Mama found a toy clock for you to play with so we got it.

In Giant, you were so happily running around looking at the stuff on display. You even had Mama put you in a stroller that they were selling. Hmmm… we’re still not sure that you want to be in a stroller, Lil’ One, so we’re not going to bring a stroller with us as yet. We cannot push an empty stroller and carry you at the same time. :P

On our way back to the Duckie Mobile, you came across a Kiddy Ride and wanted to sit in it so we let you as we still had a bit of time. It’s so funny! You want to sit and play in these rides but you get totally uncomfortable when they actually move. :D Oh well… :D

We set off for Gong-gong’s and Po-po’s place for dinner after that. Kow-moh and Kow-fu came as well. We all did the usual there, you would insist on climbing the stairs and everyone would take turns to help you up and down the stairs. You also wanted to play with your Moh-moh the most!

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

New and Old Friends

Dearest Skyler,

Aunty Chris and Che-Che Joan came down early to drop off some pumpkin ‘kueh’. Yummy! Aunty Chris is so nice to us! :D

You also drank so much liquids in the morning! You already had your milk when you asked to drink Mama’s Milo as well. Mama allowed you to have some and you gulped down almost the whole mug! You left Mama only one sip! :D Wow! You’re such a thirsty girl in the mornings! :D And to think we were worried that you were not taking in enough liquids. :D

Darling, you’re still very naughty! Mama and Papa keep on trying to teach you to behave better and you keep on testing us. :P We’ve asked you to put things that you don’t want to play with anymore on the table but you still throw/drop them onto the floor deliberately. You’ve learnt to say ‘sorry’ for doing that but you’re still doing it! :P You seem to keep doing this just to see what our reaction will be. :P Naughty Girl! :D Papa and Mama will keep at it, Lil’ One. You must learn that certain behaviours are simply unacceptable.

After lunch, Mama and you went to the zoo. You again had such great fun there! Mama and you finally completed the whole ‘Surfing Safari’ show! Well done! :D It was so amusing to see you walking around the zoo with the map in your hands and you looking at it as if you were following the directions in it. :D You were walking so purposefully too!

After the zoo visit, Mama and you stopped off to have some Milo before coming to pick Papa up. We then all headed back home to prepare for dinner. We were having Uncle Alex and Aunty Joy over. We immediately spent the remaining time we had before they came preparing the place and dinner. :D

When they came over, you were so shy initially. After a few moments, you were so totally comfortable with them that you kept on coming over to play with Aunty Joy! You kept on bringing things over to show her, etc. It was so cute! You liked her so much! You also started playing with Uncle Alex as well.

After they left, we put you to bed and you fell asleep almost immediately as you were so tired. In fact, we had even forgotten to feed you your pre-sleep milk as it was already so late. :P

Papa was quite glad to have caught up with Uncle Alex. We had not met for almost three years – since before Mama conceived you! We’ve known each other for 20 years already! He’s such a good friend of Papa’s. :D

Thanks for entertaining them while they were here, Lil’ One.

Papa and Mama love you!

I Want to Go Out!

Dearest Skyler,

Skyler, as usual, you demanded to go out for a walk in the morning and you kept on pestering Mama to bring you until she gave in. :P

Mama brought you over to the market today as she needed to buy some foodstuff. There, Mama and you bumped into Aunty Chris and Mei-Mei Dawn. Aunty Chris invited you both to her place but as you were very sleepy, Mama thought that it would be better if she brought you home for a nap first or you might be cranky there.

Later in the afternoon, after you had your lunch, Mama brought you to Aunty Chris’s and you both spent a bit of time there. You and Mei-Mei Dawn were so cute! Mama asked you to bring Dawn-Dawn out of her room and you went up to her and tried to hold her hand. You finally succeeded and you both came out hand-in-hand. It was so sweet! :D

Mama brought you back to our apartment after a while and you all spent time going around the apartment putting up labels on the furniture. We are doing that so that you can identify the words that go with the furniture, Darling. You so totally know what the sounds of the names of the furniture are so we want you to identify the words that go with the sounds. :D You are learning so quickly!

Later in the afternoon, you demanded to go down to Aunty Chris’s once more and since she allowed you to, Mama brought you down again where you got to play with Che-che Joan as well. :D

You both went back to our place for a nap before Papa came home and woke you up.

After dinner, we headed down to the Point to buy some groceries to cook for Papa’s friends who are coming over tomorrow. You had such great fun walking around the aisles once again! You simply wanted to be useful and kept on helping us to carry things – even things that are simply too huge for you! :D

Thank you for helping us out, Lil’ One. You are so useful to have around. :D

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Awake Girl!

Dearest Skyler,

You’ve really started a new routine, Lil’ One. Every morning, not only will you wake up early regardless of what time you actually fall asleep, you’ll want to go for a walk downstairs as well. Mama has had to adapt to this new routine! Thus, you’ll have your morning milk and then go downstairs for a walk. :P Even after returning to the apartment, you’ll want to go back down again. :D Poor Mama! :P

You are so able to help us with chores now. You keep on wanting to help us with carrying things here and there. :D When Mama tried to heat up a ‘bao’ for your lunch, you helped Mama put it in the steamer. But after doing that, you started demanding that you be allowed to eat the ‘bao’ before it had completed heating up! :D

Popo and Gong-gong came after your lunch and stayed the whole afternoon to play with you. They simply can’t spend enough time with you, Lil’ One! They love you so much! They played fishing with you, brought you down for a walk (with your tricycle) and Gong-gong also taught you how to use a ‘stick’ to burst the soap bubbles. :D

Throughout the day, you simply refused to take a nap. You were so obviously tired and sleepy but you’d insist on staying awake and playing with them. Even after they had brought you back up from your walk, you wanted to go back down again. :p And you could hardly walk straight due to your sleepiness! :D

You only allowed Mama to put you to bed after they left and so you caught a short nap. :D

Papa came back in the evening and we tried to have dinner (Mama had cooked). You were so cranky that it was impossible to feed you or have our own meal so we tried to put you to bed as you looked sleepy-cranky. Yet again, you refused to sleep. After Papa tried for a while, you appeared to be awake again and Papa brought you back to the dining table and you finally ate some food. :D

After dinner, Papa brought you for a walk with your tricycle yet once more today. Actually, it was quite literally taking your tricycle for a walk as you ended up pushing your tricycle up and down the estate rather than sitting in it. :D

You really love your tricycle and walks, Lil’ One! :D

Once again, you refused to go to bed during bedtime and you took so long before you allowed yourself to sleep. You’re such an awake girl! :D

We love you, Darling!

Papa and Mama

Church, Young Parents & Aunty Christine

Dearest Skyler,

We went to church with Grandma this morning as she’d stayed over the night before. She had enjoyed her time with you so much!

At the service, Mama brought you for Sunday School but your class had no teacher. They started showing you Veggie Tales but your classmates and you were too young to understand the cartoon as yet. Thus, Mama took you out for a walk around the building. In the main service, Grandma and Papa were listening to a sermon on how important it is to have a personal and individual prayer life. You must remember to always pray when you’re able to, ok?

Papa and Mama have been praying with you every night before we put you to bed and you have come to expect it. :D It’s so cute to see you putting your hands together. We can’t wait to have you say your first prayer with us, Lil’ One!

After service, we had lunch at Sushi Tei once again. The waitresses there are so used to you already. They will always come over to play with you and watch you. :D You must thus behave properly, ok?

We then headed over to the Young Parents magazine event at Marina Square. We were able to find a parking lot, thankfully! It was so packed with the weekend crowd! You took several photos with the Wyeth bear and collected a balloon as well. We wanted to buy something from the supermarket Giant but it had closed down without our having know about it. What a disappointment! :(

Since Giant was closed, we headed back to the Point to buy groceries. Mama wants to start cooking again as we’ve been feeding you a lot of food that we get from food sellers but we want to start controlling the ingredients again. Too much salt and red meat is simply not good, Lil’ One.

After we got home, we quickly bathed you and then all of us trooped down to Aunty Christine’s for dinner. You had a great time playing with kor-kor, che-che and mei-mei as usual. :D And Papa and Mama had a good time catching up with Uncle James and Aunty Christine. We always enjoy ourselves when we go there as they are such a warm family. :D

You had an early night tonight as you were so exhausted from the torturous weekend that we had put you through. :D You were so tired as we hardly gave you time to nap in the day as Papa wanted to maximise the last couple of days of the holidays playing with Mama and you. :D

Papa is so glad that he managed to make time to spend with Mama and you, Lil’ One! The time that we spent together was just so good! Papa will miss you and Mama when he goes back to work! :(

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Relatives Galore!

Dearest Skyler,

This morning Papa once again brought you downstairs for a walk with your tricycle. However you came back, Papa and you went back to sleep in til late. :D

We only headed down to the Point for a dim sum lunch later in the afternoon. We also took a short shopping walk around the building as well.

The next stop was the Zoo. We had not visited the zoo the whole holiday as we were so busy doing other things so we simply had to go before the holiday ended. As we were driving to the zoo car park, we saw many cars parked alongside the road leading to the zoo! Papa was shocked at how many cars were along the road. The zoo must have been so packed! When we got to the car park itself, it was not so packed and we managed to find a parking lot. We bumped into Mama’s former students and learnt from them that there had been three organisations having their Family Days at the zoo and thus the whole place was severely packed with people! Thank goodness we arrived there at the time we did or we would not have found a parking space either.

We thought of staying to watch the Surfing Safari as Mama and you had not stayed for the whole thing previously. However, you had perspired so much by then that you were developing rash on your arms. And the place was packed with people so we left. We will try to stay for the show another time, ok?

We wanted to bring you home to bathe before heading for Tai-po’s birthday dinner but you were so sleepy that we decided to just go straight there so you could nap during the car journey. In the aircon, you were quite ok already. There, we met up with all your granduncles and grandaunts. We had a quick meal there – which you refused to take much of. :P

After dinner, we went to pick Grandma up and brought her to the Courts Megastore in Tampines. We needed to buy something. While Mama and Papa were settling somethings, you and Grandma hung out at the Bob the Builder kiddy ride and you were so totally happy to remain there! You were there for so many minutes and still having the time of your life! :D

We then came back home with Grandma as she was staying over. You had such fun with Grandma running up to show her things and looking for her in her room. :D In fact, you were so hyper by then that it was so difficult for Papa to put you to bed tonight! :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Skyler’s Day of Fun

Dearest Skyler,

You woke Papa up early today Papa then cared for you for a short while before putting you back to bed.

Papa’s so sorry, Lil’ One! Papa had to go in to work and you ended up walking around the apartment looking for Papa when he was not around after you woke up. Papa had to go in to work and the holidays are ending soon so you’ll be with Mama most of the time from now on as Papa can’t be around as much. :(

Later, Mama and you went downstairs for a walk around the estate as you were making such a fuss about wanting to go for the walk. You saw lots of cats and bird-birds on your walk. :D

In the afternoon, Aunty Christine and her children came to visit and you had such fun playing with them once again. As you were playing with them, you simply refused to take your nap even though you were so sleepy by then. By the time they went home, you were totally tired and cranky but still refused to sleep thus you fell down a few times as you could hardly walk properly. :P Mama finally managed to put you to bed when you really couldn’t take it anymore. :D

After Papa got home from work, we all went down to the Point to have dinner and some walkies. You again wanted to sit on the kiddy rides. :D It was again quite late when we put you to bed.

However, Lil’ One, you must learn to be disciplined, ok? You’ve been talking very loudly in public. There’s nothing wrong with that but it’s not appropriate. Learn to talk softer, ok? Also, you cannot keep on throwing things onto the floor! That’s not nice as people have to pick up after you. And you cannot just take other peoples’ things without permission. You shouldn’t just walk off without making sure we’re with you. Lastly, for now, you should not take food from people without asking Papa or Mama for permission. Papa and Mama are going to try to help you behave properly by speaking with you and explaining things to you. You have shown that you can understand a lot of what we are saying so we will try our very best to educate you on acceptable behaviour. :D You have to try to learn, ok? :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Fun with Popo and Gong-gong

Dearest Skyler,

You woke Papa up early in the morning as usual and after your morning milk, you demanded to be brought downstairs for a walk. :D You were so keen on riding your tricycle that Papa brought it along for our walk as well. :D You so love to ride these things, Lil’ One!

We came back to have another nap before lunch.

When we were ready, we drove down to Suntec City for lunch and some shopping. We had lunch in a new place that sold ‘bak kut teh'. You had lots of the meat there, Darling. You also managed to remain seated throughout the meal. :D That was so great! Papa and Mama cannot stop being thankful that we are able to have a meal together as a family again. :D

We then went to Carrefour to buy some stuff. You so totally enjoyed sitting on all the kiddy rides that they had in the store and outside of the store! You also tried on a few caps! :D You so love to walk around and picking stuff up to carry. You’re so cute! :D

Later in the evening, we went down to Popo’s and Gong-gong’s place for dinner. They were so waiting for you to come. You are such a princess, Lil’ One. They totally put everything aside so that they could play with you and you had such great fun! :D They brought you to climb the stairs and play with you in their room! You laughed so much and so loudly! :D Papa and Mama are so glad that you can bring such joy to them as well and they to you! :D

You’ve also been able to name and identify so many things now, Lil’ One! Mama and Papa are so proud of your development! You can identify so many types of animals and make the sounds that these animals make. You can also go to the correct items around the house and also people around you. You can do so many things! And you’ve also been able to communicate with us so well! You simply bring so much joy and pride to us, Lil’ One! Thank God that you’ve developed so well!

And Papa thinks that you should thank Mama profusely for your development. Mama has spent so much time teaching you.

Just for your information, there is some talk in the newspapers this period of time about how ‘Stay-At-Home-Moms’ are treated unfairly by the government i.e. they do not get certain subsidies that working mothers do. What Papa cannot understand is why this is so. SAHM, like Mama, have put aside their careers and potential salaries to bring up their own children properly and not trust ‘outsiders’ with this monumental task but they are told that they are being ‘selfish’ (for want of a better word) and that they should be working and thus help the country’s economy improve instead. The fact that these mothers (or fathers in some cases) want to make sure that they bring up good children (and therefore, good citizens) is not valued at all. This is a very sad circumstance for Papa – that money is more important than good values in the eyes of the government and Papas and Mamas of some children.

You will always be of paramount importance to us, Lil’ One. Nothing will take your number one place in our hearts and lives.

We love you, Lil’ Gal!

Papa and Mama

Our Playground Home

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up early again today. Actually, you woke up at the same time that Papa did as Papa had to go work today. As Papa was leaving, you made such a fuss about wanting to go out that Mama brought you downstairs with Papa to see Papa off.

After Papa had gone off, Mama brought you to see birds and cats around our estate. You had such fun saying ‘Hi!’ to all of them that you both came across. :D

You both then came back home and you took a nap.

Later in the afternoon, Aunty Jiamin came to help Papa and Mama do some chores and Mama had to watch you very very closely as you would keep on trying to touch the clothes iron! That’s very dangerous, Lil’ One! Don’t do that, ok?

In the early evening, Mama’s friends came to visit and their children joined you in turning our apartment into a playground! Aunty Rachel came with kor-kor Isaac, Aunty Patsy came with che-che Nicole and kor-kor Ethan and Aunty Doo Guat came with kor-kors Matthew and Zachary. All of you children completely enjoyed yourselves tremendously playing with all the toys in the living room while all the mamas caught up with each other. :D

Papa came back later in the evening to join you all. You so completely melted Papa’s heart when you screamed out “Papa!” when you saw Papa at the gate. :D Then when you came bearing gifts of a balloon, the letter ‘B’ from your mat and a great big hug, you really made Papa’s day! :D

You so enjoy singing along with Mama, Lil’ One! It’s so amazing that you try so hard to sing / hum along when you hear songs you recognise. :D

Oh! And you stacked blocks today! Papa thinks it’s the first time that you’ve stacked blocks! Well done, Lil’ One! :D

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Downtown!

Dearest Skyler,

We had such a tired morning, Lil’ One. We just didn’t have very much energy to do anything much so we stayed home all morning. You had a couple of naps too after waking up early in the morning.

Later in the afternoon, after we had fed you lunch, we went downtown. Papa had an appointment with ‘Dr. Chiro’. Mama took you to the Toys R Us at the Forum Galleria while Papa went for his appointment. There, you played with ‘cars’ for a long while. You so totally enjoy these ‘cars’, Gal. :D

Papa came to join you both after his appointment. As we walked around the store, you played with so many of the toys there – especially this neon coloured ball. That’s another thing that you so enjoy playing with – balls. Every time you see a ball of any type, you’ll shout out ‘Ball!’ and this is usually followed almost immediately by ‘Kick!’. :D You’re so cute! Anyway, we pondered whether to buy you the neon-coloured ball since you liked it so much but we decided not to as you have so many balls at home already. :P

We did buy you a toilet seat cushion for our grown-up toilet bowl though. This is in preparation for when you are toilet-trained and can use the grown-up toilet. We don’t know when that will be but we hope it’s soon! :P

We then headed off to the Fish and Co at Wheelock Place for dinner. Once again, you sat in your chair for the whole meal. You’re getting so much better at this. And we are still so glad that we can have a meal as a family. :D

After dinner, we went downstairs to walk around Borders and of course you made Papa help you with your favourite activity – climbing up and down the stairs in the middle of the store. Papa still can’t fathom your fascination with stair climbing, Lil’ One. Papa’s just glad that we don’t have stairs in our apartment for you to want to climb. :P

On our way home, we dropped by The Point to collect yet more ice cream from Swensen’s and of course let you sit in the kiddy rides. :D You did so much today even though we only went out in the afternoon. :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Very Busy Morning

Dearest Skyler,

We sent in the Duckie Mobile to have the aircon serviced today. You woke up early and we didn’t let you go back to bed. :P We had to rush down as we were a bit later than Papa had planned.

Papa dropped you and Mama off at Ikea first before sending in the Duckie Mobile. When Papa returned, Mama and you were having breakfast in Ikea. We followed that up with a Burger King breakfast :D After breakfast, we walked around Ikea and you played in the children’s section – you even went up on all the big kid beds that were on display. :D

We then had lunch as we wanted to beat the lunch time crowd. We were still a bit full from breakfast but that didn’t stop us from eating! :P

After lunch, we went downstairs and walked around the shelves there. You so totally wanted to push the trolley so we got you one to push around.

As it approached the time that the Duckie Mobile was supposed to be ready, we began our walk back to the Service Centre. Along the way, we dropped by the Peugeot showroom to enjoy a bit of airconditioning and to take a look at a new car that they had - the 107. It was a very cute car with quite good specifications. Oh well, we don’t need another car. :P

After we got to the Service Centre, we were told that they had found a problem with the Duckie Mobile and they needed a bit of time to fix it. Thus, we decided to walk around the car showroom where you got to play with some of the cars there. They were the ultimate kiddy rides for you! :D

Poor Lil’ Baby Gal was kept awake the whole day! You were so poor thing! You actually had been falling asleep in Papa’s arms on the walk to the Service Centre from Ikea but you got up when we got there. And you stayed awake all the time until we got the Duckie Mobile back and we placed you in your car seat. Wow! You managed to stay awake for so long, Lil’ One! You’re amazing.

We came back home to rest and take a nap and all of us crashed into bed when we got back. In fact, you were so sleepy that we put you in bed immediately upon reaching home and you stayed asleep. This was a first as you woke up when we did that all the times before. :D

In the evening, we went to The Point to have our dinner and pick up some ice cream. You were so friendly that you said hi to a che-che in the food court. :D After picking up some stuff and walking around a bit, Mama went to catch a movie while Papa brought you home to bathe you and put you to bed.

Papa and Mama are so poor thing; we used to watch movies together, Lil’ One. We enjoy watching movies together – in fact, we enjoy doing everything together. :D But now, as you are too young to watch movies, we have to take turns to watch movies alone. :P Oh well, never mind. When you are old enough, we’ll all watch movies together. :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Papa’s Day

Dearest Skyler,

Today was Papa’s Day! :D

You woke up early again today – at about 7 am. Papa was so sleepy but decided to stay awake with you in the hope that you would go back to sleep soon so that you would have had a bit more sleep before we left for Church. It didn’t turn out the way Papa had hoped. :P You only went back to bed at 8.30 am and Papa was so tired out by then. Papa set his alarm clock anyway to wake up a few minutes later so that we could still go for church on time. Again, that didn’t work out as hoped as Papa set the time wrongly and slept through the waking time. By the time we woke up, we were very late for church already. :P

However, we still had a bit of time for Mama and you to give Papa a Papa’s Day card! :D Thank you and Mama, Lil’ One!

We then rushed down to church even though we were late as we simply had to be there. :D Today was Children’s Church / Bilingual Sunday. Mama brought you out for the Children’s Church while Papa stayed behind for the Bilingual Sunday guests. Today we had a group that calls itself “Clouds of Praise” – a Chinese language singing group. They shared their testimonies and sang some songs.

While you were outside, you had a couple of che-ches to play with. You have really come to enjoy playing with che-ches Lil’ One! They also seemed to enjoy playing with you! :D That’s so great! Towards the end of the service, Mama and Papa fed you a couple of ‘bao-bao’s and you finished practically all of them! You really love to eat ‘bao’s don’t you? :D

After service ended, we headed down to East Coast Park as they were having an event called ‘10,000 Fathers Reading’ – it was an event where the organisers hoped that at least 10,000 fathers would come down and read with their children as part of the Papa’s Day celebrations. We find this a sad commentary on fatherhood in Singapore, Lil’ One. Papa and Mama love you so much that we spend so much time playing with you and reading with you so this event seems a bit superfluous to us. The very fact that they have to organise such a thing to encourage fathers to read to their children seems to imply that fathers don’t do this already! How can this be? Sigh…

Anyway, the actual reason we decided to go down for the event wasn’t so much as to support it, as we can comfortably read in our own home, but because Blue from Blue’s Clues was supposed to appear! We thought that you would be thrilled by that! Blue was supposed to appear as a fringe activity at 3 pm so we got there a bit earlier and walked around and waited.

Oh, we did read with you in the section allocated while we were waiting. :D A nice uncle even helped us to take a photograph of us reading. :D We also took part in a speed reading ‘contest’ for the fun of it as we really had a lot of time. :D We didn’t set any records though; we figured that as English teachers, we had a disadvantage – we had to ensure that we read accurately and that must have slowed us down. :P

After 3 pm had come and gone, Blue still had not appeared. Thus, we decided to ask a few of the event organisers who were around whether she would be appearing. It took us a long while before someone finally got an answer for us; to our disappointment, Blue wasn’t going to appear for the fringe activity as the ground was very muddy and it wasn’t convenient for her to walk around. We thus decided that we had to leave before the stage show as it would be another hour plus before that happened. So sorry, Lil’ One. We think that we were the only ones that were looking forward to seeing Blue. :P Sigh… Blue disappointed her ‘littlest biggest fan’!

We thus headed home. Aunty Patsy dropped by soon after and you so totally enjoyed her visit! You kept on showing her books and other toys that you had lying around. And she was so amused by your ‘tricks’. :D

After Aunty Patsy had left, we prepared to go for dinner at Popo’s. Once again, you had such great fun there! Gong-gong, Kow-fu and Kow-moh were there too! You kept on going around to play with them all and you also enjoyed your most favourite activity there – climbing up the stairs!

After dinner, we had a cake to commemorate Papa’s Day which you totally enjoyed. You kept on asking for more but we couldn’t give you so much sugar, Lil’ One. :D We also gave gong-gong a photo frame containing six photos of gong-gong and popo with you for Gong-gong’s Day! :D We then came home after that. :D

Thank you for an activity-filled Papa’s Day!

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Outing with Grandma!

Dearest Skyler,

We spent a lazy day at home today as we had the usual wake up early then go back to bed routine. By the time Papa woke up, it was already noon! :D And you were still sleepy! You went back to bed soon after lunch so we had to hang around at home a bit longer.

We asked Grandma to meet us at Raffles City for dinner and we then headed down there.

We walked around a bit as we were early. After Grandma had arrived, we went to Sushi Tei for dinner. You were so well behaved once again during dinner. You managed to sit in your chair throughout the dinner and ate your food with very little fuss. There was a mirror in the ceiling over our table and you were so tickled at looking at ourselves in the ceiling. :D

We were so full after dinner that we simply had to walk around a bit to help digest our food. However, we couldn’t leave without having some ice cream as has become our habit when we are there. :D We sat by the fountain to have our ice cream and you so totally loved it.

We sent Grandma home after that before we came home.

Lil’ One, you have been attempting to sing along to the songs that we play on our CD players and that is so sweet! You still cannot speak many words but you will try to imitate parts of the songs that you can and that’s so cool! You completely melt our hearts, Lil’ One!

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Out the Whole Day!

Dearest Skyler,

Papa and Mama had a chiropractic appointment today and we were totally late for it due to your wake up early then go back to bed schedule, Lil’ One! Papa ended up waking up late and we were all late by then! Then Papa chose to go down the CTE which was a big mistake as it was totally jammed – it wasn’t helped by the rain. :P

However, Dr W was still able to see us, thankfully. He was so impressed with your ability to walk now, Lil’ One! :D

After our treatment, we went over to Ngee Ann City to have lunch and spend the afternoon. We brought you to the toy fair in the atrium area and we bought you a ‘sand playing set’ consisting of a bucket, shovel, rake, a few moulds in the shape of fish, etc. We hope to bring you to a sandy place some time to let you make sand castles. :D You spent so much time walking around the whole building! You really can walk! :D

Later, we headed over to Uncle Boon Cheng’s for a visit. We had not visited them for a long time, Lil’ One and Papa wanted to catch up with him. Aunty Jessie, kor-kor Joel and che-che Grace were there too. Kor-kor was kind enough to bring out a lot of his toys to let you play with – including a jeep that you enjoyed sitting on. :D All three of you had a lot of fun while the adults were having our dinner. :D

After dinner, we headed over to The Point to redeem some ice cream from Swensen’s as part of the HSBC $1 Deal thingy. :D We have so much ice cream in our freezer now! :D

You still love sitting on the kiddy rides, Lil’ One! It’s amazing! Papa and Mama sometimes forget that the rides are around until you start asking us to let you sit in them! You even remember where they are as sometimes they are not even in sight when you ask us to bring you there! :D You really have Mama’s genes, Lil’ One! Popo always tells us about how Mama would always insist on sitting on the rides when she was little too! :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Hello Che-che Joan!

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go in to work again today, Lil’ One. Mama and you spent a quiet morning at home as you were quite sleepy. After you woke up, Mama brought you over to the market to get some stuff for your lunch. It was a scary adventure for you as an aunty there barreled down on Mama and you with her trolley without any care about whether she would run into you! :( It was so scary!

Later in the morning, Aunty Chris called and invited you and Mama and go to the library with her and the kids. Of course, you and Mama accepted the invitation as it is always fun to hang out with them!

You so totally loved to hang out with che-che Joan in particular today, Lil’ One! You kept on wanting to hold her hand and to walk with her. :D After the library visit, kor-kor Luke and che-che Joan came by to our place to play.

Mama and you then came to pick Papa up from his work place and we all headed down to Suntec City to have dinner and shop. You, as usual, had to sit in all the kiddy rides that we came across. :D

After some shopping, it was already quite late so we headed home.

We love you, Darling!

Papa and Mama

Visitors Galore

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go work today leaving Mama and you at home. Aunty Christine, kor-kor Luke, che-che Joan and mei-mei Dawn dropped by to visit. You had so much fun playing with them. :D

After they left, Gong-gong and Popo dropped by. You had so many visitors today! You had so much fun playing with Gong-gong and Popo as well. Gong-gong taught you how to play with the fishing toy that he brought back from Hongkong for you! They spent the whole afternoon playing with you.

You also spent the whole day eating! It was almost non-stop feeding you! :D

After some time, you were obviously so sleepy but you refused to go to bed as you wanted to stay awake to play with them! You got so cranky but you still insisted on staying awake! :D It was not until they had left that you went to bed! You were so sleepy by then that you fell asleep immediately upon touching your bed! :D

As you were so tired out by amount of play that you had today, we decided to stay home and not tire you out anymore. :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Shop, Shop Shop!

Dearest Skyler,

You finally woke up at a more decent hour today! :D However, you were still so sleepy when you woke up. You went back to bed almost immediately after drinking your milk.

After we had woken up properly, we headed down to Raffles City and had lunch at the foodcourt. We had hoped that you would eat the herbal chicken there like you did the last time but you didn’t seem so interested in it today. We had a hard time keeping you in your seat but you managed to stay in it. Good job, Lil’ Gal.

After lunch, we went over to the Adelphi as Mama had something to do there. Papa took the opportunity to collect a radio set. Even though it was way overdue to collect it, the person there was nice enough to give it to Papa. :D Thank you!

We then walked around Funan Centre until Mama was done. Funan Centre has changed quite a bit, Lil’ One, not that it matters to you. :D The food court is now on the fifth floor. It has changed location so many times. Many years ago, when Mama and Papa were still young, the food court was on the sixth floor. It then moved down to the basement. Now, it’s on the fifth. This place has a place in our memory as Papa and Mama grew up with it – we spent quite a bit of time eating at the foodcourt after church activities when we were still in the Youth Fellowship! :D

After walking around a bit, Papa realized that you needed some drink so Papa got you a cup of soya bean milk from the Jollibean there. Papa had thought that we could share it but you finished so much of it that Papa was only left one finger of it! Papa’s so sorry that you were so hungry and thirsty, Lil’ One!

We then went back to look for Mama. You were so cute! When Papa told you that we were going back to the Adelphi to look for Mama, you started calling out for her so loudly! Lil’ One, Mama was still in the next building! :D

As Mama was still not done yet, we ended up walking around outside where Mama was supposed to be as we had no idea where she was specifically. And you kept on calling for Mama every now and then. We are thankful that you know how to call for us now, Lil’ One. Next time we get separated, you must shout for us as loudly as you can, ok? Papa and Mama will try our best never to lose you … but just in case.

Mama finally came out and we headed off to Citylink. We didn’t get very far! You were so sleepy by then. We bumped into Mama’s former student at the City Hall MRT station and you just caught his finger and refused to let go. We suspect that you had no idea what you were doing by then. :D Further down, you just fell asleep on Mama’s shoulder. By then, we decided that we might as well head back to Raffles City.

We decided to have dinner at the Café Cartel as it was not crowded then and there were booths where you could lay down to continue sleeping. The waitress Che-che was very nice. She saw that Papa was holding up a menu to block out the light from your eyes and she brought over an umbrella to do that instead. :D You slept for quite a bit of time there so we had our dinner first.

After you woke up, we fed you some food before we went up to shop a bit more.

On our way home, we stopped off to collect the photos that Mama had ordered printed and now we have filled another photo frame with more photos of you. We so love you, Lil’ Gal!

Papa and Mama

Science Centre & Vivocity

Dearest Skyler,

We had our usual morning, Lil’ One, where you woke up early and Papa tried to get you back to bed until a decent hour resulting in both of us being extremely tired and sleepy. :D Once Papa allowed you to stay awake after 8 am, we hung around the living room doing our usual thing – watching Blue’s Clues, you pottering around the living room exploring stuff, you heading into our bedroom to wake Mama up and Papa catching you and bringing you back out.

We forgot to mention that you’ve started this practice of handing us our spectacles in the mornings when you want us to wake up and play with you! It’s so cute! Somehow you know that once we have our spectacles on, we’re awake and functioning! :D Even though we’re so totally sleepy and tired, you still bring a smile to our faces when you do that! :D

You finally went back to bed and Papa slumped into bed too! When you woke up a couple of hours later, Papa totally let Mama take care of you as Papa was completely worn out! :D So, you had to then come in and wake Papa up. You were so cute once again! You were dragging your little car around with you into the bedroom, putting your finger onto your lips (signing that Mama and you should be quiet as Papa was still in bed) and then you came over to Papa’s side of the bed and start tapping Papa to wake Papa up! :D

After you finally succeeded in waking Papa, we prepared to go out. We decided that we would take you to the Science Centre today. We had brought you there last year for the Star Wars exhibition but you were totally less than aware then. :D Today, we decided that you might enjoy playing with the exhibits in the Science Centre proper.

We spent the whole afternoon there! You quite enjoyed the souvenir store playing with all the toys there. In the exhibition areas, you went around pushing and jabbing whatever you could lay your hands on. :D At least, you did that until you started getting scared by the noises the exhibits made after you activated them. :D At some of the exhibits, you got so apprehensive that you totally clung onto Mama and refused to walk even though you had totally wanted to walk for the most part. :D So poor thing!

There so many things to look at but all in all, we don’t think we’ll bring you back again so regularly. We were actually quite worried about a few of the exhibits – they looked so old. In fact, Papa thinks that some of them look like they have been there since he was a small boy! And several of them looked so worn out and lacking in maintenance – paint had been scraped off due to lots of handling by visitors, etc. Oh well… Anyway, we’ll probably be back after some time – especially when you actually can appreciate the lessons of the exhibits. :P

We then went over to Vivocity as Papa wanted to bring you for a walk along the water. We had dinner at Cedele but this time, you didn’t want to eat the food there. You did eat a bit but you wanted to walk around more than eat the food. We then had to feed you your biscuits and some fruit before you would sit in your chair. Oh well… :D We keep on hoping that you will be able to sit in your chair consistently soon. :P

After dinner, we took you outside to look at Sentosa and the cruise ship moored next to the cruise centre. It was a very short walk as it was actually quite humid. :P We then headed back in to the air-conditioned comfort of the mall. :P Papa actually wondered what we would do as we had absolutely no agenda whatsoever. In the end, we spent quite a bit of time in the PageOne bookshop looking for books for you. In the end, we bought you two Hello Kitty books. :D

We hope you enjoyed yourself today, Lil’ One.

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Church & Uncle Shashi’s & Aunty Jean’s Wedding Dinner

Dearest Skyler,

Papa and Mama have decided that we have to get you to sleep in until later, Lil’ One. Papa cannot keep on entertaining you when you wake up early in the morning – it’s very tiring for both of us and it won’t do when Papa has to go to work. :P Thus, when you woke up early today, Papa tried to carry you until you fell asleep again.

When you refused to go back to sleep anymore, Papa brought you out. Papa was by then so exhausted and sleepy that Papa had no idea what time it was anymore. Papa fed you your milk and switched Blue’s Clues on for you. Papa then sat on the sofa to keep you company but kept on falling asleep instead. Papa was totally out for long minutes at a time. Thank God nothing untoward happened to you! So sorry, Lil’ One! :P

After Papa woke Mama up, we prepared to go for church service. By then, you were very sleepy as well as that would be the usual time that you go back to bed with this new schedule of yours. However, we had to go to church so we hoped that you would be able to catch a short nap on the way to church. :P

In church, we sat with Che-che Alyssa and she shared her colouring book with you. :D You also had some biscuits as you got hungry very quickly.

It was Family Service day and they played a cartoon on Jesus going to the Temple when he was 12 years old. Before the video, they played an audio recording of a pastor who shared what one person can do for God. This particular person had spent at least 25 years handing out Christian tracts to passers-by along George Street in Sydney and this pastor had met many people who shared that they came to Christ because of what this man said to them. When the pastor finally met up with this man, the latter told the former that he had been handing out tracts without ever knowing whether anyone had come to Christ because of him until the pastor came to share his experiences.

Wow! Skyler, we have to remember, okay? We can only do our part – it’s up to God to do the rest. We have to trust that God will do the necessary for those He calls. :D

We had to leave service before it ended so that we could get you a proper lunch instead of you just eating biscuits. We went to the nearby Sushi Tei to eat. You were so cute there. One of the waitresses kept on coming by our table to smile at you. :D And you were once again so well-behaved. You again sat in your chair throughout the meal! Well done! We’re so proud of you!

After lunch, we did a bit of shopping at the Cold Storage before heading home to rest. You were so tired by then but you managed to stay awake until you got back to the car. You’re so amazing, Lil’ One!

Once we got home, all of us took a nap as we were all so tired. We also had to attend Uncle Shashi’s and Aunty Jean’s wedding dinner at night.

We got down to the dinner venue in good time and we totally enjoyed ourselves, didn’t we? We sat at the table with Papa’s colleagues and Aunty Siew Chin had brought her daughter, Rachel along. Che-che Rachel was so sweet! She came and entertained you almost the whole dinner by reading and talking to you. You so enjoyed her company that you kept on waving at her and walking to her seat.

You also impressed everyone with your good behaviour by sitting in your chair throughout the dinner with hardly any fuss! Papa and Mama were so impressed! You just sat there and played with Che-che Rachel and ate! :D We are so proud of you, Lil’ One!

You ate everything we gave you! That’s so amazing for us. You are not a fussy eater and that’s a blessing, Lil’ One. We hope that when you grow older, you’ll continue in this vein. :D

Weddings are such a joy for Papa and Mama as every time we attend one, we will be reminded of our own and we’ll feel so happy for the couple getting married; that they will get to share in the joy that we have been sharing all these years. :D Once again, “Congratulations to Uncle Shashi and Aunty Jean! Marriage is a wonderful journey! Enjoy every moment of it!”

Papa and Mama were also very glad to hear Aunty Jean talk about how close she is to her own Papa and Mama and we hope that we will also be that close. We want to be a big part of your life, Lil' One. We hope that you do too.

By the time we got you home, it was very late! So sorry, Lil’ One! Thanks for enduring until so late!

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Uncle Shashi’s & Aunty Jean’s Wedding & Plaza Singapura

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up early yet again. While Papa’s totally enjoying waking up with you and spending these early hours with you, Papa’s really getting quite tired, Lil’ One. Any chance of allowing Papa to sleep in a couple of mornings? :D

After putting you back to bed, Papa headed off to work today as Papa had to attend a meeting in school. You only woke up about the same time that Papa left school to head for home. :D

We immediately prepared to leave once Papa got home as we had to attend Uncle Shashi’s and Aunty Jean’s wedding ceremony at the Wesley Methodist Church. We parked at Parkmall and bumped into Uncle Roland there while were trying to figure out how to get to the church from there. :D

We met several of Papa’s colleagues at the church. You were introduced to Aunty Ching Ching’s daughter Kristen. Mei-mei Kristen was the flower girl for the ceremony. She was so cute and bubbly! :D She kept on sharing her lady bug and Shrek doll with you. :D You were quite shy though. :D

The ceremony was quite enjoyable as it was quite short. :D But more importantly, Uncle Shashi and Aunty Jean spent a bit of time thanking their families and friends who helped them with the wedding. :D Mama and Papa always enjoy attending weddings as they remind us of our own and how much we enjoyed our wedding and our marriage. :D And you have been such a blessing to our union, Lil’ One! Thank God for you!

We headed up to the reception after the ceremony ended and had some food there. It was very very hot there as it was open-air. The food was quite tasty but the humidity was quite overwhelming. You had several sandwiches as they were the only things that you could eat. But you drank lots of water and the syrup drink as I think you must have been very warm too. You broke out in heat rash again so we decided to leave.

Papa and Mama debated whether to go home or go for walkies and we decided that you would be okay in an air-conditioned environment so we went over to Plaza Singapura. You had fallen asleep in the car on the way there. When we had parked, Papa joined you in taking a nap while Mama went shopping. Thank God Mama had bought a battery operated fan for you so you actually had some breeze while you were sleeping.

After we had woken up, we joined Mama in some shopping. We bought you some more stuff – socks, books, toys, a ball, a VCD of Kipper episodes. We’ve been spending a lot on you, Lil’ One. In fact, all our money is being spent on you. :D We hardly spend on ourselves anymore. :D

While we were at Mothercare, you indicated that you wanted to sit in a stroller there. Papa was quite surprised as you’d stopped using a stroller for months now. You had refused to sit in a stroller and you even refused to sleep in one! So, Papa and Mama stopped bringing your stroller when we go out. In fact, we’ve already packed it away. Do you want to be in a stroller again? Hmmm…

We had dinner at Swensen’s and you totally totally totally remained in your seat throughout! Well done! We got you another balloon and now we have three Swensen’s balloons in our house.

While we were in Carrefour, you insisted on wanting to help us carry the shopping basket. As it was simply too huge for you, we decided to get a trolley instead as you’ve taken to helping us push the trolley as well. :D You’re such a helpful little girl! :D

After we got home, Mama was so surprised by something you did. It was close to bedtime and Mama asked you to choose a book for us to read. You picked up your Lady Bird book and immediately headed for the bedroom. Mama and Papa were wondering what you were doing so we followed you. In the bedroom, you started asking for Hippo and Mama got it for you … still wondering what you intended. It was only after Mama had started reading that she understood what you were doing!

Mama had read that book with you a couple of weeks ago and Hippo was with you both then. On one of the pages, Mama had gotten Hippo to sniff the flowers on the page. Tonight, when Mama got to that page, you thrust Hippo into Mama’s hands to make him sniff the flowers again! Mama was so totally surprised that you still remembered that and had come to associate the book with Hippo sniffing the flowers! Wow! What a memory you have, Lil’ One!

This surprised us as some people still say that toddlers at your age probably won’t have much memory of what happens to you at this age. We find that this is not true for you at all. You remember a lot of things we ourselves forget!

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

The Point & Ikea Tampines

Dearest Skyler,

We had a fairly busy day today, Lil’ One.

Mama helped prepare a card for Kok-kor Luke, Che-che Joan and Mei-mei Dawn to wish them well for the church camp that they will be going for from tomorrow. We then handed the card over to them before we went out. We wish them and Uncle James and Aunty Christine a great and blessed time and we pray that they will have a safe journey. :D

We then went to the Point to buy lots of stuff. We bought you a book from Popular Bookstore. We also bought a doodle set from Kiddy Palace – it was quite special as it came with a big and a small board AND it had colours! Papa and Mama are hoping that the small one will keep you entertained when we are out having meals. :D

We then went for lunch at the food court. We have decided that we will not take you out for walks during meals anymore. We feel that you are old enough to sit through a regular family meal now. We will of course help to keep you busy and entertained at the dinner table but we will not take you out for walks as family meals are supposed to be just that! Thankfully, you managed to last the meal though there were occasions when you were a bit fussy. :D Well done, Lil’ One!

After lunch, we went down to the supermarket to buy some stuff – your diapers and other groceries. While we were heading back to the ‘Duckie Mobile’, you asked to sit on the horses so we brought you there. While you were sitting on one of the horses, an nice uncle wanted to start the ride for his child and you got to enjoy the ride as well! Poor Mama who was standing with you had no choice but go around and around with you to ensure that you remained astride the horse! We were quite disappointed that the horse didn’t go up and down though – it just went round and round. :P Thank you, Uncle!

We had thought of introducing you to the swimming pool at SAFRA Yishun as we hope to bring you swimming this holiday but as it was beginning to drizzle and you were so sleepy, we decided to do that another day. Thus, we headed straight for Grandma’s.

After picking Grandma up, we went over to Ikea Tampines for dinner. Once again, we were determined to keep you in your chair throughout the meal and you succeeded. Well done, Lil’ One! You were a bit upset but you managed to remain there. We are so proud of you!

We walked around a bit and bought bathroom mats for you. We got a fish shaped one just for you to use after you baths! :D You also enjoyed yourself thoroughly playing in the children’s section.

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Aunty Christine’s, Raffles City and Popo’s Place

Dearest Skyler,

We once again spent a lazy time at home for most part of the day. We dropped by Aunty Christine’s for a short while in the morning. Kor-kor Luke and Che-che Joan were doing some art and craft – they were making penguins out of art paper and toilet roll cores. :D

Mama intends to do the same with you when you’re older Lil’ One. You will learn how to make some craft and do some art work when you can. As it is, we are already encouraging you to learn how to use crayons now. :D Mama also has materials to put up your art work right now! :D

Aunty Christine also gave us some banana muffins (Which you totally loved! You kept on demanding to eat them throughout the day!) Thank you, Aunty Christine!

You had a short nap in the afternoon and then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing.

Later in the afternoon, we went down to Raffles City as we wanted to shop at Robinson’s. We bought a couple of mugs for ourselves and a Care Bear towel for you! We also bought a cheese cake for our snack for tomorrow. We bought this cheese cake for you to try as it is quite light. :D

We headed to Popo’s place after that. We had hoped to celebrate Popo’s and Gong-gong’s wedding anniversary but Gong-gong had to rush off at the last minute to attend to something so we couldn’t. Oh well…

Kow-fu and Kow-moh joined us for dinner there. You spent quite a lot of time climbing up and down the stairs once again. All of us had to take turns to bring you up and down as you totally tired us out, Lil’ One.

Mama and Papa were also totally worried while we there as there were mosquitoes around. We had read in the newspapers that there was a dengue fever hotspot somewhere ‘near-ish’ that area. Thus, we insisted that the main door remained closed even though it was quite warm as we wanted to minimise any possibility of you being bitten by a mosquito and coming down with dengue fever. :P Sorry everyone!

You began to get quite fussy later in the evening as you were so tired and you had some heat rash as well. Poor Baby Gal! Thus, we decided to bring you home so that we could bathe you and powder you. :D

Just an afternote: Baby Gal, why do you like to sit on the rack below the clothes rack in the study? You’ve been doing this for a few days already and Mama and Papa wonder why you like to do that. :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

The Point, Swans & Turtles & The Supermarket

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up at a more decent hour today. :D However, you were still quite sleepy and you went back to bed almost immediately after you had your morning milk. You then woke up at about 10 a.m. This gave Papa quite a bit of time to sleep in. Thank you! :D

We went over to the Point for lunch when we were ready. We had some dim sum and you ate quite a bit of your favourite ‘bao-bao’. :D However, as usual, you got restless very quickly and insisted on being taken for a walk before lunch was over. So, again, as usual, Papa and Mama took turns to eat for a part of the meal so that the other could take you out for your walk. :D

Mama and you then sent Papa to work as Papa had to conduct a lesson for his students. After dropping Papa off, Mama and you returned home to rest. You had a short nap and after you got up, Mama brought you to pick Papa up.

We then all went down to the Singapore Botanic Gardens. We parked at the car park that was closest to the pond that had a few swans that Papa and Mama remember from the time that they studied near the gardens. When we first saw these swans, they were small little cygnets. Now, they are full grown adults! You were so fascinated by them as this was the first time you were seeing swans and so up close! :D

You also went nearer the edge of the pond to look at the turtles that were swimming in it. They appeared to sense that you were there and they started to congregate near you. We suspect that they thought that you had brought food to feed them. Unfortunately, we had forgotten to bring some bread to feed them. Oh well… maybe next time.

After leaving the Gardens, we swung by the Adam Road Hawker Centre as Papa and Mama wanted to buy some ‘nasi lemak’ for breakfast tomorrow. :D We also bought a packet of fruit juice as we were thirsty. While Mama and you were waiting for the drink to be ready, the drinks stall Uncle came by to get some change from the fruit juice stall operators. He saw you there and kissed your hand! See how cute you are? :D

We then went to Tanglin Mall for dinner. After we had eaten, we walked around the Jason’s supermarket and Papa and Mama were totally impressed with the displays of the fruits and vegetables and the variety they had of other goods! It was simply amazing! We will definitely visit the supermarket again! We saw brands that we had never seen before in any other supermarket!

It was Gong-gong’s and Popo’s 39th Wedding Anniversary today, Lil One. We had wanted to drop by to share an anniversary cake with them but they were too busy. Anyway, congratulations Gong-gong and Popo! Lil One, these grandparents of yours have been married as long as Papa has been alive! :D

We love you, Lil One! You are always such a joy!

Papa and Mama

Visit to Aunty Christine’s & Papa’s and Mama’s Wedding Anniversary

Dearest Skyler,

Today is Papa’s and Mama’s 8th Wedding Anniversary, Lil One! :D

You woke up very very early today, Darling Girl. And you stayed awake for almost two hours! That meant that Papa had that much less sleep before he had to go to work. :P After you were finally sleepy enough to go back to sleep Papa put you back into bed and left for work.

While Papa was at work, Mama brought you down to Aunty Christine’s after you woke up. You had such great fun there with Kor-Kor, Che-Che and Mei-Mei! :D Kor-Kor Luke played with you so much and you totally enjoyed that. You also ‘sayang-ed’ Mei-Mei Dawn when she was upset and you even kissed her when you said good-bye! :D

Mama is very impressed with how well behaved they are and we are so glad that you have them to play with.

Mama then brought you home to have lunch and rest. Papa took his leave early from work as it was our Wedding Anniversary and we wanted to spend time together. We spent the whole afternoon together.

Papa has a practice of recalling the events of our wedding day every anniversary. Papa will always look through our wedding photos and watch the video we have of our wedding ceremony every year so that everything will be fresh in Papa’s memory. However, Papa didn’t have enough time to watch the wedding ceremony video today but Papa’ll make sure he does it some time soon. :D

In the evening, we brought you to Kow-fu’s and Kow-moh’s place as they had agreed to care for you while we went out to celebrate our wedding anniversary with a dinner.We went back to the hotel where we held our wedding dinner for our dinner. We enjoyed their buffet spread and what a spread it was - they had such a wide variety of food and most of it was very good! As it was not overly crowded, we had some space to ourselves as well and that made it very comfortable for us.

However, throughout the dinner, though we were thankful that we could spend the time enjoying each other’s company, you were always on our minds and in our conversation. :D

After we had completed our dinner, we went back to pick you up from Kow-fu’s and Kow-moh’s. You were so totally okay with being with them for the few hours that we were having dinner, Lil One! We are so glad that you love them just as they love you! However, you were quite tired out by then. So we quickly rushed home and put you to bed.

We love you, Lil One! Thanks for celebrating our wedding anniversary with us. :D

Papa and Mama

Popo & Gong Gong Visit & a Trip to the Zoo

Dearest Skyler,

Popo and Gong Gong paid a visit to you today, Lil One. Gong Gong had just come back to Singapore and he bought lots and lots of toys for you. You were so excited about playing with all of them! :D

You played with them so much when they came that you refused to take your nap though you were quite sleepy. :D

Later in the afternoon, Mama drove everyone to the zoo. It was quite fun as you got to see all your favourite animals again! Gong Gong was also so excited being at the zoo again after such a long time that he tried to speak to all the animals. :D

We’re so glad that you had such fun today.

We love you, Lil One!

Papa and Mama

Grandma Visits and Welcoming Kow-fu and Kow-moh Home

Dearest Skyler,

We had to give church a miss today as you’re still having a rash. We’re not sure what’s causing it but you seem totally alright – you’re still active and happy. Thus, we’ve decided that even if we brought you to see the doctor and he prescribed medication, we would probably not feed it to you. So we’ve decided to let you rest and recover from this on your own unless you take a turn for the worse. Recover quickly, okay?

Mama went off in the afternoon to meet up with Aunty Bili to celebrate Aunty Bili’s birthday so it was just Papa and you in the afternoon. Until Grandma came to pay us a visit that is. :D

Grandma bought you some marshmallow candy. She so loves you, Lil One! Grandma spent the afternoon with us.

Aunty Bili gave Mama a lift home after their lunch and you were so happy to play with her. Aunty Bili is so good with you, Lil One!

Aunty Bili then left for home and the rest of us headed to the airport to meet Kow-fu and Kow-moh who were coming back from their trip to London and Paris. You were so excited to meet them that while we were waiting in the Arrival Hall, you kept on repeating “Moh-Moh, Moh-Moh… (this was what you called Kow-moh)”.

After we had met up with them, we went for dinner at Fish and Co. You ate some fish but you were also quite restless and once again Papa and Mama had to take turns to bring you out for a walk. We then sent Grandma home and we came back home as well.

Darling, you have really captured our hearts! You constantly bring smiles to our faces and even just thinking of you brightens our day! And when you have a bad dream in the middle of the night and call for us, that totally wrenches at our hearts until it feels like they’re being torn to pieces because you are so sad!

We love you, Lil One!

Papa and Mama

Sleepy Day at Home & a Short Visit to Popo’s

Dearest Skyler,

Once again you woke up early, had your milk, went back to sleep and woke up at almost mid day. :D And Papa totally followed your schedule!

We had intended to go out today to watch the Winnie the Pooh show at Parkway Parade as we thought that you would be thrilled by it. We have so many Pooh Bear stuff around that we thought you would recognise them ‘Live’! However, you were so sleepy today. We think that your sleepiness may be connected to the rash that you have. It’s a very minor spread but we decided that you had better stay at home and avoid crowded places just in case your body’s defenses were low and you would be susceptible to whatever illnesses are being spread in the air now. :P

Papa and Mama were also quite sleepy today and all of us ended up taking an afternoon nap together. After we woke up, we decided to visit Popo as we had not done so this week. However, before we headed down to Popo’s home, we stopped by to see your Balloon Uncle as we wanted to be sure that your rash was nothing to worry about.

However, when we got to the doctor, there were many patients waiting to see him so we decided to come back another time. We dropped by Guardian to buy mosquito patches. We decided to get a mosquito patch for you as we think that your skin is too sensitive to deal with insect repellent. We had to get it as we are quite worried about the dengue fever situation. There are a very high number of cases right now and the authorities think that we are on the verge of an epidemic. We pray that none of us will contract it but we can never be sure.

We went to Popo’s place and she had prepared dinner for us. She had also brought out all your toys and cleaned them so that you could play with them. You had so much fun riding the ‘bike’ and climbing up the staircase in Popo’s home! You bring such joy to Popo, Lil One! Keep it up!

We love you, Lil One!

Papa and Mama

The Centre & Ngee Ann City

Dearest Skyler,

You adhered to your currently ‘strange’ schedule today, Lil One. You woke up at 6 plus in the morning, Papa tried to get you back to sleep, and you got up again at 7 am or so and could not be put back to sleep. Papa had to bring you for your morning milk and a bit of Blue’s Clues before you were ready to go back to sleep. The next time you awoke was already almost 11 am!

Once you awakened, we got ready to go out for lunch as Papa had to go to work in the afternoon today. We went down to the Centre for lunch as we wanted to buy your Teddy Puffs (thanks to Uncle Boon Cheng for introducing it to us). We could only buy it at the NTUC Fairprice Supermarket – Cold Storage doesn’t carry it.

We had lunch at the Thai restaurant at the Centre as we hoped that they would have some food that you would eat. It was a mistake. We found out that they did not have any high chair for you. They suggested that we use the armchairs that they had at a few of the tables and we agreed. We could not seat you on the other chairs as they had a big hole at the back and we were afraid that you might hurt yourself. They ushered us to this table where a lady was having a drink. We were shocked when we realised that they had not asked her if it was okay for us to share the table with her. However, she was a very nice lady and she was totally okay with us. We still were not pleased with how they had treated her though.

We had a very quick lunch as you were quite fussy and wanted to walk. You didn’t want to eat the food that we had ordered. Oh well… We then went down to the NTUC Fairprice to buy your biscuits and bread. You really love bread, Lil One.

We then headed to Papa’s school to let Papa off and Mama drove you both back home.

At home, Mama fed you some spaghetti and yoghurt. You were still quite fussy at home so Mama wanted to bring you back to Papa’s school so that you could look at the fish in the pond there but you were so so so fussy that you both ended up getting back to Papa’s school later than intended. :P

After picking Papa up, we all headed down to Ngee Ann City as they were having a toy fair. However, the first order of business we had when we got there was to feed ourselves as lunch was hardly enough. Both Papa and Mama were so hungry. And we think you must have been too. :P

Papa and Mama took turns bringing you into the toy fair while the other ate but it was so crowded that we left soon after. We headed up to Art Friend instead so that we could buy materials to mount your art work in frames. :D You so totally enjoyed walking around up there and playing with the paper and other materials.

We headed home after that as you were quite tired by then.

We love you, Darling!

Papa and Mama