Fireworks

Dearest Skyler,

We brought Mama to school for her last exam on the way to her study upgrade today.

After letting her off, Papa and you went off to the zoo. We walked around a big part of the zoo. You have so many poses when taking photos! While at the Polar Bear enclosure, you wanted to have photos taken and refused to leave until Papa snapped a few! :D

On the way out of the zoo, you insisted on walking through the Gift Shop. We also had to stop for our customary Milo!

We then headed home. You were so sleepy, you slept in the car all the way home. Even when Papa brought you up back from the carpark, you were still asleep. Papa thus put you to bed upon arriving home. It was then that Mama messaged to say that she was done! It was so early! We thus had to get down to her school to pick her up.

After we'd gotten back together, we headed to Vivocity as they were celebrating their first anniversary with a fireworks display!

We had dinner at one of the foodcourts before walking around a bit while waiting for the display to begin. You walked into Chameleon to try on hair clips / bands and such.

We went up on the rooftop to wait. You were so patient!

The display was tremendous! It was loud and colourful! Papa recorded a bit of the display and we kept on watching it again and again after that. :D

We headed home after the display.

Papa and Mama love you!

Marina Bay

Dearest Skyler,

You went swimming in the afternoon with Papa. We did our usual thing of walking around the pool and enjoying the feel of being in the water. :D

After we’d cleaned up, we dropped by the Point to return Ah-pek's library books (Ah-Pek had left the books with us when he left to return to his work) and bought spaghetti for Mama and Papa’s lunch. It was quite difficult for Papa to carry you and all the other stuff as well. It helps that you can walk already. :D At least Papa doesn’t have to carry you all the time. :p

In the evening, we brought Mama to church for choir practice.

Papa and you went for a walk. We walked through Citylink to get to the Esplanade. This is quite a cool place to visit as they usually have a performance at the Concourse. We walked through the Esplanade theathres and walked a bit along the bay. We had a view of the Singapore skyline. Mama and Papa spent a lot of time here when we were dating. :D It has lots of memories for us. :D

We caught a piece of the performance at the Concourse in the Esplanade. It was quite interesting as they were using Indian musical instruments to play Chinese music.

We walked back through Citylink to Raffles City. We visited the fountain again before going to Burger King for a cup of Milo. Papa thought that he should get some food to feed his cold but he couldn't leave you to buy any. We ended up buying a sandwich from Subway instead.

We walked back to church to meet Mama.

As we were early, we waited for Mama outside. Papa ate some of his sandwich.

We headed home after Mama was done.

By the time you were ready for bed, it was very late. For someone so young, you really keep late hours, Lil’ One! :p

Papa and Mama love you!

Skyler’s 23 Months Old!

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go in to work today so you stayed at home with Mama. You woke up at 8 something and asked for your usual milk feed which Mama prepared for you. After that, you went back for your nap.

You were so cute today. Mama was just about to prepare your oats for lunch when you came into the kitchen saying, “Oats, please!” over and over again. :D However, you didn’t finish eating it! :p

Later on, Mama was surprised by your coming up to her with your hands clasped together and asking Mama to “Pray! Pray!” Mama obliged you by praying for you and Papa and our family members. :D We still don’t know what prompted you to want to pray, Lil’ One. But thank God this is a part of you. :D

Mama had intended to bring you swimming but you refused to get changed and it started raining once more so you both were stuck at home. You also seemed quite sleepy in the afternoon. You asked Mama to “Nap! Nap!” and headed for the bed. However, once you were on the bed, you pretended to sleep then got up and wanted to go outside to play. :p However, you did take a nap later on.

In the evening, Mama brought you to pick Papa up from work. We then headed off to Popo’s place to wait for Kow-fu, Kow-moh and her to return from the airport. They had all just returned from overseas where they had gone for a holiday (Bubu and Moh-moh actually came back yesterday late at night). :D

They arrived soon after we got there and they began to give you all the presents they’d brought back! Bubu and Moh-moh gave you ‘Minnie Mouse Ears’! :D Popo got you a pair of shoes and Gong-gong asked Popo to pass you lots of toys! :D They love you so much! Popo then brought you upstairs to jump on her bed and soon everyone joined you both upstairs! :D

As it was getting late and we hadn’t had dinner, we left Popo to go for dinner at United Square. On the way to dinner, you stopped off to play with the lights on the wall of Connectz. We had dinner at Swensen’s where we stuffed ourselves with lots of food and ice cream. You must be one of the few babies in the world that eats so much ice cream! :p We also got a balloon from the Aunty there.

We had to go home after dinner as it was very late already.

Papa and Mama love you!

Shopping!

Dearest Skyler,

We had to go down to town this morning as Mama had an appointment with Dr Wasserman. We let Mama off before going to park our car at the usual car park. Papa then brought you to Forum Galleria to play at the playground since you are now a member there. :D

You were so keen on the things that they had there! You were so excited! :D There were simply several things for you to play with and you tried to play with them all! :D

You climbed into the toy house there but a che-che was very rough and rude. She just climbed into the house after and over you ploughing right into you! She didn’t seem to care that you were physically right there! You were pinned under her and you looked so scared! Papa was very angry with that che-che but Papa did a very commendable job of keeping himself calm while rescuing you. Papa cannot understand why some children do not behave civilly.

You then wanted to sit in the ball bin and you had so much fun there watching the other kor-kors throwing the balls around and jumping into the bin. There was also another boy who just let himself sink into the balls while his Mama(?) threw balls on him to cover him. :D That prompted you to want to lie down on the balls too. :p Papa did his best to ensure that no kor-kor jumped onto you. :p

After a while, you started climbing up onto the gym stuff and climbed all around it ending at the slide which you happily slid down. You’re such a demure girl in a group, Lil’ One. There was a boy that was climbing UP the slide and you just quietly waited at the top of the platform until he went away before you proceeded to slide down. You didn’t even want to stand at the edge of the slide – you stood as far away as possible from it, in fact. Good Girl! :D You enjoyed the slide so much that you kept on climbing up and walking all over the equipment to get to the slide again and again until Mama came to meet us after her appointment. :D

We then moved over to walk around the bookshop for a while before we went over to the fish restaurant for our lunch. They didn’t have the soup that you like today, Lil’ One. Sorry! But you still ate some fish that we had. :D We had stopped by the toy shop opposite the restaurant to look for your favourite elephant but it’s gone, Lil’ One! Sorry!

After lunch, we walked around the bookshop a bit more. You have a habit of picking up a book and wanting to flip through it even though you can’t read as yet. :D It’s so cute when we watch you walking around the whole bookshop with a book in hand and repeating to yourself “Read Book! Read Book!” :D You also kept on wanting to climb up to the top of the stairs to read your book but Papa had to keep on stopping you as we’re not allowed to bring the book up the stairs as an alarm will sound. :p

We then drove down to the Raffles City area.

We walked over to the Peninsula Plaza as we wanted to look for a watch to buy for Papa. We spent a bit of time there looking at watches and you got totally bored! :p However, a lion dance troupe had come to commemorate the opening of a new branch of a big photography chain there and they had left their lions’ heads outside the shop. You kept on wanting to go see the lions and touch the ‘fur’. :D

We then headed for Raffles City where we had an ice cream while sitting at the fountain. The ice cream was the biggest we have ever had – the cone was filled with three big scoops! One for the each of us! :D We sat at the fountain and ate the ice cream until it was all gone! :D We then went to the bookstore to look around and after window shopping for a while, we brought you to the baby’s room where you ended up playing with the colourful chairs that they have there. :D

We had dinner at the Japanese restaurant there where you tried some of Mama’s soba noodles. :D You hardly ate your steamed egg. Oh well… :p After dinner, we quickly looked for some stuff before we headed back to the car and then home.

Papa and Mama love you!

Cranky Skyler

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up before 7 a.m. today and only went back to sleep at about 8.30 a.m. You were still so sleepy but didn’t want to go back to sleep. Sigh… Papa stayed up with you until then. You woke up again only close to noon because Mama had left the bed already.

Sigh… you were a fairly cranky girl today. We wanted to bring you out for lunch and a swim this afternoon but you refused to get dressed! You just wanted to lie around and not do anything. Sigh… We think it’s because of your current sleeping schedule. You’re simply not getting enough sleep as you’re going to bed late and waking up early followed by a nap that leaves you tired still. Sigh…

We ate some of the side dishes that we’d packed home from Kenny Rogers’ yesterday for lunch. Then we watched a bit more TV before going back for an afternoon nap. You actually didn’t want to nap though you were obviously tired. We coaxed you to nap and you slept for a couple of hours! :p

We had to wake you up at 7 plus as it was getting late and we had chores to perform.

Mama wanted to do something fun and we wondered whether to go to the Night Safari but decided against it as it really isn’t easy to see the animals in the dark. So ironical! Oh well! :p Oh well… We decided to go shopping instead. We quickly fed you some milk then showered you before heading down to Plaza Singapura.

We had dinner at the foodcourt and you ate some of our food. Then we visited the sheep and walked around a short while before heading to the supermarket to pick up some stuff. You were so helpful as usual. You helped us to put things into the trolley and sort things out. :D

We then headed home.

We love you, Lil’ One.

Papa and Mama

Sleepy Parents

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up a bit early today and asked for milk. We all got up to feed you and then got you back to bed after a bit of TV watching though you didn’t want to. :p

After that, Papa got up and got everything ready for us to go to church. Papa then woke Mama and you up. By the time we got to church, we were late once more and all of us were so tired and sleepy. :p There was Sunday School today so Mama took you while Papa remained in the service.

Darling, you so love music! They had left the music playing while the students were drawing and instead of drawing, you went over to listen to the music and do the actions to the music. :D Che-ches Eadoin and Wei Ai came to play with you and kept on fussing over you and saying how cute you are! :D

We then left for Marina Square as you wanted to show us the Barney show. You had fallen asleep in the car so we let you sleep for a while until the show was about to start. When we got to the stage area, the whole place was packed with kids and their parents! :D Every time a character came out, everyone would shout out with delight! :D However, you were still too young to really appreciate everything so we left after Barney, Baby Bop and B.J. appeared.

We went to Kenny Rogers for lunch as you said that you wanted to eat your favourite corn. :D You also ate a bit of Mama’s Pot Pie and you enjoyed putting pieces of Papa’s Pita onto a teaspoon with some corn nibblets before eating it all. :D

We walked a bit around the toys on display near the stage area before we headed home.

Papa and Mama were so sleepy that we tried to sleep. However, you were totally awake by then. We let you wander around the room and entertain yourself while we lay in bed. Papa kept on dozing off while Mama watched you from bed. It took you a very long time before you came to bed to sleep! :p

Later in the evening, we headed to the library to return your library books and get a few more. However, as it was quite late, we only had a few minutes there and you were so sad that we had to leave so soon. Sorry, Lil’ One. We’ll come back another day, okay?

We then headed back to the Point to look at possible birthday cakes for your upcoming birthday! :D We’d been told last year that we have to order your cake early or they won’t be able to make it as they’ll be busy making Christmas Logcakes. :p

We had our dinner at Swensen’s and we had ice cream too! :D One of the managers there gave you a colour pencil set! :D

Papa and Mama love you!

Meeting People

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up early to see Papa off. Papa had to go work. You took a while to go back to sleep with Mama after Papa had left.

You woke up again very late and Mama was almost late for her choir practice. Mama had showered you and tried to dress you but you refused to be dressed for a long time. It was only when Mama was leaving that you agreed to put on clothes! :(

Mama drove you both down to church where you met Godma Audrey who had agreed to care for you while Mama was at her practice.

Godma brought you to Marina Square for the Barney & Friends show. You were just introduced to Barney the Dinosaur this week as they're repeating it on TV. While you were at Marina Square, you asked Godma for ice cream and she brought you to Secret Recipe. You asked for chocolate flavoured ice cream. :D

You both then walked around for a while before the show started. You so enjoyed it that you refused to leave to return to Mama. Godma had to coax you to do so.

After you got back to church, Godma remarked again how you were so easy to care for. You also kept on repeating Baby Bop's name! :D Initially, we couldn’t figure out what you were saying. It was only when we checked up on the characters in the Barney show that we figured it out. Sorry, Lil’ One! How did you catch that name and remember it so clearly that you repeated it so many times? :D

Mama then drove you home.

After you both got back to our carpark, you were still so sleepy that Mama let you sleep in the car for a while. After some time, Mama woke you up but you refused to be taken out of your seat! :p Mama finally brought you home and let you sleep in bed some more.

Mama's friends, Aunties Lulu and Lynette came to visit and they had brought lots of food. While they were eating and catching up with each other, you kept on pulling Mama away. :p

Papa finally got home and cared for you. You were so sleepy still. Mama and her friends decided to adjourn their catching up to the nearby fast food restaurant so that you could go to sleep.

You didn't want to let Mama go so her friends suggested that they go first and Mama could catch up with them after you'd been put to bed. You refused to sleep and wanted to take a walk instead so we brought you to the Duckie Mobile to pick up Squid-Squid. After that you let Mama go.

Papa brought you home to watch a bit of TV before going to bed. We gave you your own pillow but you didn't really use it. :p
Papa and Mama love you!

Airport Terminal 3

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go in to work this morning.

Mama took care of you and you both did the usual rounds of TV watching and toy playing. :D Papa came home a bit later.

We quickly rushed off to the airport to meet Ah-Pek and Grandma; Ah-Pek was returning to Cambodia since his work here had ended.

We met them at the foodcourt where we had our lunch. While we were still eating, Ah-Pek suddenly said that he was going to board his flight as he was very sleepy. He hadn't had much sleep the whole week. Thus, we said our goodbyes there in the foodcourt. We finished our lunch and headed for the new Terminal 3 with Grandma as they were having an Open House to show it off before it was opened for operations on 8th January 2008. It was a fairly long walk to the terminal. :(

They had a guided tour which we joined. The guide brought us to the different sections that they thought would be of interest to the public. We were brought into the transit and arrival areas and saw the general layout of the place. It was all very big and open. :D The chairs were fairly comfortable. :D The guide wasn’t really effective though so we ended up wandering around by ourselves taking photos for the most part. :p

When the tour ended we headed back to our car. This entailed walking across the whole length of Terminals 3 then 2 again! Thankfully we could use the Skytrain to get to Terminal 2! It was a super long walk! :p

We drove over to Tampines Ikea for dinner. While we were walking to the restaurant, Papa thought you peed as he felt a sensation of warmth. Papa didn't realise then that the diaper hadn't absorbed your urine and it had permeated your shorts and onto Papa's shirt! :D Papa only realised that when he was bringing you to change your diaper. :p Thus we both had to change our shirts! :D We hadn’t brought a pair of shorts for you to change so we could only change your diaper.

You didn't want to eat until Mama brought a hand puppet over to keep you entertained. :D It took us a long time to feed you and ourselves.

After dinner, we walked around for a while in the children’s section before bringing Grandma home and heading home ourselves.
Papa and Mama love you!

Swimming

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go for the second day of the Conference today. This left poor ill Mama to care for you on her own.

As Mama was still ill, Papa came back home for lunch again so that Papa could care for you. After lunch, we took a nap.

After we got up, Mama rushed off to church for her choir practice while Papa and you headed off to the pool.

We stayed in the pool for about an hour. There were several families and children there as it was the school holidays already. There were several boys there who were quite rough and didn't seem to care that other people were near them and could have been hurt by their activities. :( You must never be like that, ok? It's really not nice.)

Papa then asked you if we could leave the pool. You didn't want to leave but didn't make too much of a fuss when Papa grabbed you and headed off to the changing room for a shower. Thank you!

As we were driving off, it started raining cats and dogs! Thank God we left when we did. The downpour was so sudden! :p

Mama came home soon after we got back and we did our usual things before turning in.
Papa and Mama love you!

Sickly Parents

Dearest Skyler,

Your parents were so sickly today, Lil' One. Papa had gone off to attend a conference in the morning and he was already feeling lethargic there.

Mama was also suffering from a bad cold and had to ask Papa to come home to care for you. Thus Papa walked out during the lunch break to go home to do so but he was actually quite worn out as well.

Mama went to bed sometime after lunch and Papa was hoping to do so too but you refused to nap! Thus, Papa and you just sat in the Living Room with the TV on. Papa sat on the sofa dozing off and you were wandering around playing. So sorry, Lil' One!

Papa took a nap after Mama woke up as he was still very very tired. Mama was also struggling but she allowed Papa to nap. Thank you, Mama!

Papa then went out to buy some dinner and after dinner, we watched more TV before we went to bed.

While we were trying to get to sleep, all of a sudden, we heard you fall off the bed! Poor Baby Gal! Thankfully, you didn't seem to have been hurt beyond some superficial pain and lots of shock! :(

We love you, Lil' One!
Papa and Mama

Fountain

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go in to work today so you had time to play with Mama at home.

Later in the afternoon, Mama and you came to pick Papa up from work and we drove down to Suntec City for a walk.

We had our lunch at Fish & Co. When we got there, there was a Mediacorp crew filming and we were wondering if the place was open for business. There were a few people sitting around in there and Papa thought that they were customers but we realised later that they were extras used to fill up the background of the shoot.

Mama asked the Fish and Co staff if we could eat there and they replied in the affirmative.

Several times during our meal, the extras started moving around and we're not sure if we ended up in their shoot! We sure hope not! :p

You so love eating the mushroom soup there, Lil' One! You ate one whole bowl and after that had quite a bit of the second one we ordered. :p

After lunch, we brought you to the fountain as you wanted to visit it. They had opened the path to the centre part so we brought you right up to it. :D You appeared to be a bit apprehensive about being so close to the gushing water though. :p

We also brought you to visit the Koi Garden and Papa bought ourselves some fish food so that we could feed the fish. Your tiny fingers could only grip one piece of the food at a time and you were slowly throwing this one piece in to the fish and turtles. :p This was taking so long that Papa decided to help you out. :D There were a few kinds of fishes in there. The scum-sucking fish also wanted some food and a couple of them had to turn themselves upside down to get it! So poor thing! They had to do that as their mouths are at the bottom of their heads so that they can suck up the algae at the bottom of the pond or along the walls.

We walked around the place after that and totally enjoyed ourselves. We came across an SPCA doggie figure (something they use to collect donations) and you wanted to touch it. :D We went shopping at Fox Kids and you tried on hats. We went to the roof top garden to look at the small fountain there. We couldn't play with the slide as it was drizzling though you wanted to.

We went for dinner at Kenny Rogers where you had your corn again. :D You were really sleepy by then. Thankfully, you managed to last through the meal. We had to pull out everything we had in our bags to let you play with and entertain yourself though. :p

After dinner, we went back to the fountain as they were going to put on a laser show. The whole fountain was activated so water was everywhere! :D You were so enthralled! :D You even insisted that we sit down to watch the show for a while. :D

We went home after that. :D

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Day Out With Godma

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to work today and we had asked Godma Audrey to come play with you.

You were still sleeping when Godma arrived. You were so thrilled when you woke up and saw her. :D

Godma and Mama brought you to the swimming pool for a swim but before you all entered the pool, Mama thought that you should have lunch first. You all ate at the restaurant beside the pool. You seemed to enjoy the food there. :D

By the time you entered the pool, it was about to start to rain. You all were in the water for only about 5 minutes before it started pouring! You all had to get out and changed as the rain was so heavy.

You all then left for Ikea at Alexandra. You were so cute there! They had set up some Christmas decorations. One of these was a dining table set up and they had placed polar bears around the table. You went around putting their paws together to say grace! :D

You all then came home after that. Godma sent Mama and you all the way home. Thank you, Godma! You so love Godma so much! :D You have absolutely no hesitation in wanting to meet her! That’s so sweet! Yay, Godma!

Papa came home soon after. We all took a nap before going down to the Point for dinner.

We love you, Lil' One!

Papa and Mama

Children’s Church

Dearest Skyler,

You woke up at 4.37 am and Papa carried you until 5.45 am. Every time Papa tried to put you down onto your own bed, you would wake up and cling onto Papa. :p After a while you got very heavy! Papa’s arms started feeling strained and when Papa carried you the usual way, Papa’s arms actually trembled! :p In the end, Papa gave up and let you sleep on our bed. :p You went to sleep immediately after that! :p The funny thing was that Papa didn’t know what time it was and how much time he’d spent carrying you! :D

Papa then made sure that we woke up in time to get to church as we’d missed it the past couple of times. There was Children’s Church today so we kept you outside for it. You were intially unwilling to sit in and it took a lot of coaxing before you were willing to sit in for it with Mama.

You gave one of your Little Tikes surfing penguin toys to Kor-kor Callum today. :D

Che-ches Eadoin and Wei-ai also came to play with you. :D Che-che Eadoin loves you so much that she kept on trying to carry you. But you’re really getting a bit heavy for these younger che-ches to do so safely. :D

You’re such a hardy little girl, Darling. Mama told Papa that many of the kor-kors were very unaware of themselves and they accidentally hit you a couple of times as they went about their business but you never made any noise. You’re such a good girl! :D

After the service, we went to Raffles City to meet Kow-fu and Kow-moh. They had lunch at the deli while we chatted with them. As they had to attend to something, they left first. We then bought some food stuff before heading home.

You were so sleepy that you fell asleep in the car immediately upon being placed in your seat. Even so, after we got home, we all took a nap. Actually, you didn’t really want to sleep but we were so sleepy and we just lay in bed. You spent a bit of time walking around the room to play before finally giving up trying to wake us up and came to join us. :p We all woke up quite late as we were so exhausted.

After we woke up, we went down to the Point for a spaghetti dinner and bought some groceries before coming home.

We’ve given up trying to get you to sleep any earlier than midnight, Lil’ One. We believe that lots of parents will be aghast if they knew about it. Most little ones would be asleep before 10 p.m.! But you always refuse to sleep and we spend so much time trying to get you to do so. Thus, we’ve given up and we just let you stay up until you’re ready to sleep so that we don’t go through so much hassle. :p

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Singapore River

Dearest Skyler,

We spent the whole day at home, Lil’ One. We took a nap in the afternoon as we were quite sleepy. After we woke up, we got ready to leave our place.

We were going to meet Uncle James and his fiance today. They’d just come to Singapore from China this afternoon. Uncle James is Papa’s ‘God-brother’. He’s working in China for a few years. He and his fiance were staying over at a hotel near the Singapore River.

We drove down to the hotel to meet Grandma and them and then we all walked over to the Riverside Indonesian Restaurant for dinner. We’d never been there before and we wanted to try the food there. As it was quite crowded, we had to wait a while so we took a few photos at the fountain nearby and also looked at the boats travelling along the river.

You are getting so good at having your photo taken, Lil’ One. There is one photo that you took at the fountain that was so totally cool! :D You’ve developed certain poses that always amazes us as they look so cool! Where did you learn them? :D

You also took a bit of time to warm up with Uncle James and his fiance. But after you did, you so totally amused them with your playing with them and talking to them. Before we left, you gave them hugs and this also made them so happy. :D

We brought Grandma back to the nearby hotel that she was staying over at as Pek-pek had booked a room there but he wasn’t using it. When we got there, you asked to jump on one of the beds and Grandma allowed you to. You so enjoy jumping on beds, Lil’ One.

We left soon after as it was getting late and we needed to get home to rest.

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Christmas Lights!

Dearest Skyler,

This morning, Papa had to go school for a meeting so Mama and you were alone today. You played at home until the afternoon until you were so sleepy that you went to sleep. You napped until Mama woke you! You were so tired!

Mama quickly dressed you and in her rush to leave, she almost forgot to bring our camera. It was not until you posed at door that she remembered it. :D Good job, Lil’ One! Both of you came to pick Papa up from school.

We then drove down to Mama's school to get something done. She did it in a jiffy. :D

We went to Forum Galleria to sign you up for membership of the Hip Kids so that you could use the playground there. We also signed you up for gym classes with The Little Gym. It is not cheap but you like it so much that we had to sign you up for it! :D We really hope that you’ll like it. Mama’ll have to bring you to it every week next year as Papa’ll be returning to work. :D

Mama then brought you to the playground to play. It had a pit of plastic balls, slides, a see-saw, a toy house, cars and bicycles, etc. You had so much fun exploring the place. We let you into the pit of balls and you really struggled to move in there. Poor Lil’ One! You’re still too small to move around in there. You had some fun on the slides and exploring the toy house. :D

After a while, we went to Cedele for dinner at Wheelock Place. We had soup, a sandwich, some bread and a slice of cake. You tried everything! Yay! :D

After dinner, we went across the road to look at the M&Ms hut and also at the Christmas lights down Orchard Road. They’ve already lit up the whole road for Christmas, Lil’ One! Cool! Christmas is coming! :D You were so totally impressed with the fairy lights. It was really dazzling. :D

We walked around Borders for a short while before heading home. You didn’t ask to climb the stairs today. You simply grabbed a book from the entrance and brought it to the children reading steps and sat there playing with your book. :D

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Swimming

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to attend a school event in the afternoon so Papa had to leave Mama and you alone today.

Mama spent the day watching over you and playing with you at home.

Papa brought dinner back with him and after dinner, Mama had to rush off to attend her class in church. This then left Papa with you! :D

Papa brought you to the swimming pool as you wanted to play with the water there even though you were so sleepy. When we got there, the pool wasn’t crowded at all! :D Thus, we had lots of space to do our thing. :D

You so enjoy the water, Lil’ One. You also started playing with lying down on the water surface. You kept on telling Papa, “sleep, sleep” and Papa would carry you horizontally on the water surface and you’d squeal with delight! :D Then you asked Papa to do the same. :D You still keep on asking Papa for permission to play with the ladder in the pool and Papa has to keep on telling you that Mama doesn’t allow it as it is dangerous! :p Thankfully, you’re an obedient girl and you’ve not tested Papa on this. :D

When it was time to leave the pool, you again refused and Papa had to keep on talking to you to coax you but you still refused. In the end, Papa just carried you out of the pool but you didn’t really protest then. Papa took you to the changing room to dry ourselves before putting you in the car. You fell asleep immediately! We came straight home to shower.

Papa then had his dinner and Mama came home soon after.

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Fireworks!

Dearest Skyler,

You insisted on sleeping on our bed in the middle of the night resulting in our being unable to sleep as you took up so much of the bed and we had no space to move! :( Papa tried to put you in your own bed but you refused so we had no choice but to leave you on our bed. We gave up trying to sleep and got up to do our stuff.

However, while we were outside, Papa suddenly heard a thud and dashed into the room to see what had happened. Papa assumed that you’d fallen off the bed as he couldn’t see a thing when he entered the room as it was in total darkness and Papa’s eyes can’t adjust that quickly. Papa just assumed that you’d fallen off from his side of the bed and stuck his arms out to reach out for you and to his surprise, he managed to hold onto you at your arm level. You were very quiet and we guess you were in shock. However, you seemed to be okay overall – there wasn’t any bump anywhere and you weren’t clutching any part of yourself in pain. Thank God! However, you really were shocked awake so it took you quite a bit of time before you were ready to go back to sleep.

While we are all awake, we had breakfast. It was also raining then and as it was so cold, the windows frosted up and Mama and you started doing finger drawings on the windows. :D Mama likes to introduce you to rain watching as it is one of our hobbies. :D It’s always fascinating to see the rain from the comforts of our own home. :D

After some time, you finally were ready to sleep again. You still didn’t want to sleep in your own bed so we let you sleep between us. By this time, we were so exhausted that we just went to sleep. :D

After waking up, we went to the Point for a bao-bao lunch. You insisted on bringing your big inflatable star with you to the car! :D (This is the star that was actually your lantern for the Mid-Autumn Festival.) :D You ate a bit of food. We then headed off for Sentosa as we wanted to spend the afternoon there and catch the fireworks display once more. You slept in the car all the way. :D

Once we arrived there, we brought you to the small patch of beach near Coastes and laid out our mat. We had brought your spade, scoop, rake and bucket along so we tried to build simple sand towers. You got sand all over yourself and our mat! :D

After that, we headed off the Palawan Beach to visit the tower at the Southernmost Point again. You were extremely reluctant to sit in the tram but we still sat in it as we didn’t want to walk so much. At the first tram stop you wanted to get off but we remained on it until we got to where we wanted to go. It wasn’t so windy today but still the view was great! :D While crossing back over the bridge, a lifeguard from the Beach Patrol spoke to us about the marine life in the water under the bridge and a bit about his work experience. He pointed out to us a few of the sand crabs that were crawling around in the water and three big fish that were swimming together. There were dozens of half-beak fish swimming in the water too.

He also shared that his job is not to save people but to educate people about not putting themselves in danger. :D That’s an important lesson for us all, Lil’ One. :D

We wanted to head back to the Beach Front then. We asked you if you wanted to take the tram but you were still unwilling so we walked all the way back to the Merlion from the beach as we wanted to get some dinner before the fireworks display from the Songs of the Sea show. While we walked, Mama spotted a seashell on the beach and passed it to you. You took care of it so well! We decided to bring it back and put it in your box of tricks as a memento of the day. :D

We ate at the Delifrance and you enjoyed the mushroom soup even though we thought that it was overly salty. :p

After dinner, we walked down to our vantage point to watch the show and catch the fireworks. You were still scared of the sound the fireworks make but you still wanted to watch it. :D

After that, we headed home. You fell asleep in the car once you were in your seat! You must have been so tired out.

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One.

Corn Nibblets!

Dearest Skyler,

Mama didn’t sleep the whole night as she had to complete her work and send it off today. Thus, it was a good thing that you were fairly sleepy and took two naps today. We spent a lazy day at home for the most part.

For meals, we had some leftover food and Uncle James’s foccacia! It was very yummy bread! You enjoyed it so much that you kept on asking for more! :D

In the evening, we decided to bring Mama out for some leisure as she’d been stuck at home rushing work the whole weekend. On the way to the car park, we dropped by Uncle James’s to thank him for the yummy foccacia.

We drove down to Suntec City where we had dinner at Kenny Roger’s Roasters. You so enjoyed eating the corn nibblets before so we got it for you again. You ate so much of it. :D You ate most of our side dishes as you didn’t really like the chicken. You also enjoyed the muffin. :D

After dinner, you wanted to look at the fountain so we brought you to view it. The music was being played very loudly then and you didn’t like it so we left.

We went over to the supermarket to do some shopping and we bought another four bags of diapers for you as it was even cheaper than at the Point! :D We also picked up quite a bit of stuff and you were so very helpful in putting the items into our trolley. :D

The supermarket was having some sort of Christmas promotion where we could buy a polar bear at a discount but when we saw it, we decided not to get it as we were afraid that it would pick up dust mites and such as it was very furry. Sorry, Lil’ One! Anyway, it wasn’t as if you liked it so much. :p

We then headed home as it was very late.

We kept you up until it was quite late before putting you to bed. Mama’s slowly clearing up the stuff we’ve placed in your room so that we can start making it look like your room soon. :D

Mama joined us to put you to bed tonight as she’d needed to take a break from work and coupled with the lateness, you fell asleep quite soon. :D

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

The Days Are Just Packed!

Dearest Skyler,

Papa had to go in to work this morning so Mama took care of you the whole morning and a big part of the afternoon! :D

You really have a very unladylike habit of sitting with your legs hanging out of the high chair, Lil’ One. It’s very rude especially when you place your feet or footwear on the dining table. You’ve to stop doing that.

Papa came back in the afternoon bearing lunch and we ate before Papa brought you out.

We headed for the zoo as the weather was quite good and you wanted to go see the elephants. As we were approaching our carpark, we bumped into Aunty Christine and the kids! :D They were guessing where we were going and they correctly guessed that we were going to the zoo! :D

When we got there, Papa took a slightly different path to see what we could see.

We managed to catch one of the white tigers going into the pool of water that separated their enclsoure from the visitors. It didn’t go in very far before turning back. Hmmm… is it afraid of the water?

We also stopped by the Australian Outback exhibit where we came face-to-face with a wallaby. The enclosure where feeding takes place was open and there were a couple of wallabies sitting there playing with the visitors.

We then walked by the Hamadryas Baboons exhibit. There was such a large tribe of baboons there! :D

We carried on to the Elephants of Asia enclosure to look at the elephants! :D There were only two of them in at that time. We stayed to look at them for a while but you very quickly started got more interested in climbing the stairs. :p While we were heading to the next area, we happened to pass by the elephant rides area and we saw two big elephants heading home. They were so huge up close! :D

We passed by the Splash Safari Amphitheatre and you wanted to look at the penguins, so we did. They were in their air-conditioned room and they looked so cute and adorable as usual. We then went to the sculptures of the sealions and you had the grandest time petting each of them and sitting on those you could! :D You also started trying to lift them! :p Papa was so amused by that! You obviously weren’t really trying but you went through the motions of doing that! :D

We then headed out. You had wanted to see the sheep but Papa was tired and didn’t want to head back into the zoo again as we were already near the exit. Another time, okay?

At the exit, you walked around the gift shop for a while before we headed back to the car to head home. To Papa’s surprise, you refused the customary Milo drink. It was going to turn out to be a day of surprises for Papa.

After we got home, we quickly changed into our swimming gear and we headed out again. :D

As it had been raining, Papa was afraid that the water would be too cold. However, it wasn’t too bad. :D The whole wading pool was empty when we got there so the pool was like a private pool just for the two of us! :D It was only later on that more people came.

Papa didn’t want to let you stay in the pool for too long as you had just recovered from your cold and the water wasn’t really that warm so Papa kept on telling you how much time you had left in the water. To Papa’s surprise, with more ten minutes to go, you just walked out of the water and headed for our stuff. Papa was initially wondering what you were doing when you kept on asking for your towel. Papa asked if you wanted to go off and you said that you did! :p Imagine Papa’s surprise! :p

Papa then brought you for a shower before we headed back to buy food for dinner and headed home! :D

After dinner, we once again put you to bed. Mama tried to comfort you by staying with us for a while to wait for you to fall asleep but since you didn’t for quite a bit of time, she had to go off to do her work and you were totally distressed once more. Papa then comforted you again until you calmed down then put you on our bed to let you fall asleep.

While that was going on, Aunty Chris brought up some foccacia that Uncle James had baked today. Thank you Uncle James and Aunty Chris!

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

Welcome Home, Pek-Pek!

Dearest Skyler,

We missed church today as Papa had set his alarm clock wrongly and you only woke up after the service had started. :p

We spent most of the day at home. You were very naughty once again in the afternoon. You again threw things onto the floor when Mama told you not to. We decided that this could not be allowed to carry on so we had to teach you not to do this again.

We scolded you for a very long while and insisted that you pick up the things you threw and also say ‘sorry!’ to Mama. Even though you kept on crying and wanting us to carry you, we told ourselves that you had to learn to behave properly. So, even though Papa did carry you, we still insisted that you pick up the toys and say ‘sorry’. You cried yourself until you were tired so we stopped and let you sleep first. After you got up, Papa got you to pick up the things which you readily did and you also said ‘sorry!’ to Mama. That’s a good girl! :D

Later in the afternoon, Papa brought you down to Grandma’s for dinner as Pek-pek had come back from Cambodia for a working trip and we wanted to welcome him back. Mama wanted to come along but she was still rushing her work so only Papa and you went.

When we got to Grandma’s, you asked to play on her bed as you usually do. Grandma lets you jump on her bed and you so enjoy that! :D Pek-pek then messaged Grandma to inform her that he would wait for us at the coffeeshop so we went down to meet him.

You once again were very shy with Pek-pek. You refused to say ‘hi!’ or even look at hime for a while. After dinner, Pek-pek went off to do some shopping and that was when you started asking for him. You had not greeted him while he was sitting next to you but when he went off, you asked ‘Pek-pek where?’ :D

We went back upstairs to Grandma’s to spend a bit more time with her and Pek-pek before we headed home. You once again, asked Grandma to let you play on her bed. :D When Pek-pek was leaving for his hotel, you gave him a good-bye hug. :D

On our way home, we stopped over at the Point to pick up some dinner for Mama.

At home, once again, you were totally distressed that Mama didn’t come to bed with you and Papa as Mama had to continue with her work. Papa had to bring you into the bedroom and calm you down before you finally settled down and prepared to sleep. It took quite a bit of time but you finally fell asleep. Papa had to go in to work the next day, so Papa decided to sleep too.

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

Happy Deepavali Aunty Shobha!

Dearest Skyler,

We didn’t do much today in the day time. However, in the evening, Papa brought you down to Aunty Shobha’s (Papa’s colleague’s) place for a Deepavali celebration. Mama had to stay home to do some work.

When we got to Aunty Shobha’s you were very shy once again and didn’t want to go in to her place. Papa had to carry you in. There were lots of people there and you were quite uncomfortable so you stuck with Papa the whole time. Papa managed to catch up with a few of his colleagues and also had a short conversation with Aunty Shobha’s sister, Aunty Radha(?) who’d just returned for a visit from the US. She’s a doula there, Lil’ One. That’s someone who helps out with a Mama with her delivery of a new baby! That’s so cool! :D As Papa and you had to get dinner for Mama, we decided to leave after a while. However, Aunty Shobha’s husband refused to let us leave without eating and when he heard that we had to get dinner for Mama, he insisted on packing some food for us to bring home. He was such a kind and hospitable host! :D After thanking them for the food, we headed downstairs to watch the kor-kors and che-ches play with sparklers and flash-bangs. You were so fascinated by them. :D We then headed home after that.

After we got home, we had our dinner then you started playing with the tambourine that Kow-fu and Kow-moh got you. You had such fun with it! :D

We then put you to bed. You were so sad that Mama couldn’t come to bed with Papa and you! Mama had to continue with her work. Mama had spent the whole night for the past week working on it and she had to rush the last bits as the deadline was looming. It took a bit of time for Papa to calm you down and get you to sleep. You’ve taken to falling asleep on our bed, Lil’ One. You’ll insist on lying on our bed and fall asleep there. You hardly want us to carry you anymore. It’s only after you fall asleep that Papa puts you back on your own bed to sleep. :p

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

Happy Birthday Kor-kor Yu Ping!

Dearest Skyler,

Mama had gone to meet up with Uncle Daniel T this afternoon so Papa and you went down to the Point to spend some time with each other.

Papa and you bought some more diapers as the supermarket was having a sale on the type you wear. Papa then brought you to the library to walk around. You had so much fun at the pond area that you didn’t go anywhere else in the library. After some time, Papa brought you to the McDonald’s to have a big cup of Milo and an apple pie.

We then went down to meet Mama at United Square. We walked around the Popular Bookstore as we were looking for something to get for your Cousin Yu Ping’s 2nd birthday. We were going to drop by their chalet later that night to hand the present over as we couldn’t make it over the weekend. You had such a grand time playing with the stationery in the store. You picked up a couple of pens and started drumming with them. You also picked up other stuff and walked around with them. :D We had to keep on reminding you to put the stuff back in their proper places. :p

We had dinner at Swensen’s. As we still had vouchers, we used one to pay for the dinner. You were a naughty girl during dinner. You kept on throwing things on the floor even when Papa and Mama kept on telling you not to. We are not happy with this, Lil’ One. You will learn to stop doing this. It is dangerous as you could hurt someone. And the things you throw could break or get spoiled as well! The kor-kor who waited on us was very nice to you. After dinner, he got a balloon for you.

We then picked up a few vegetarian nonya dumplings (they’re Mama’s favrouite) on the way to our car.

We then drove over to the chalet at Pasir Ris. At the chalet, Uncle Damin took out a few sparklers for you to play with. But as you’re still too young, we didn’t let you touch them. The adults played with them instead and you just watched. :P Uncle Damin also took out luminous light sticks for you and your cousin Kor-kor Yu Ping to play with. Dai-bat-gong also joined in the fun by helping you to roll them on the ground. You were so fascinated by that! :D We took a walk to the swimming pool and the beach side for a while and hung out there while you and kor-kor played with the light sticks with Dai-bat-gong. They were all very hospitable. They kept on inviting us back again the next day and even Sunday to make use of the facilities. :D However, we couldn’t promise to go back as we had a busy weekend planned. :(

When it got a bit late, we decided to head home. However, you were still so awake and we were hungry as we didn’t have much for dinner so we decided to heat up our dumplings for supper. We invited Uncle James to join us as he’d attended a meeting in the evening and he had only gotten home about then.

He came over to our place for a while to have it and we chatted a bit before he went home and we put you to bed.

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

Happy Deepavali!

Dearest Skyler,

We visited Aunty Makiko and Uncle Kum Meng today as they’d invited Mama over. They are the ones who are running the group that Mama attends on Thursday evenings in church. Che-che Phoebe was there too.

We stayed there to chit-chat for a while. You were initially shy but you slowly warmed up when they brought out their stuffed toy dogs for you play with. You so enjoyed playing with the dogs. :D They offered us some Japanese food which tasted very yummy! You hugged them all before we left which totally surprised them and charmed them, we think. :D

We went over to Popo’s place for dinner. Kow-fu and Kow-moh were there too. We hadn’t seen them for some time. Kow-fu and Kow-moh got you a tambourine. We had mentioned to them before you that you loved to play with the tambourine in Sunday School so they got you your own personal tambourine! :D

After dinner, as everyone was quite tired, we left quite early. Popo still brought you up stairs to play in her room. :D

Papa and Mama love you!

Ice Cream!

Dearest Skyler,

We went down to the Point for a late lunch at the ice cream restaurant. We had our free food and 1-for-1 ice cream. The food was free as they’d given us vouchers the last time we ate there. :D They were also having some sort of celebration where they gave us one free ice cream sundae for every one we ordered. :D

We then came home for a nap.

Later in the evening, Papa brought you down to Grandma’s for dinner. Grandma had just come back from a trip overseas.

We went to Nihon Mura for dinner. Grandma gave you a cute little wooden piggy bank! She also gave you three $1 coins to start you on a saving habit! :D You were more interested in taking the coins out and putting them back in again. :D

You weren’t really interested in eating anything. However, you drank two cups of milk! :D Papa was actually a bit upset that the restaurant charged us fifty cents for the water. It was supposed to be warm but it was at best lukewarm and it wasn’t even full. I know that it’s a small thing but I’d expected better from that place. Oh well…

After dinner, we brought Grandma home and headed home ourselves as it was quite late by then.

Papa and Mama love you, Lil’ One!

A Short Visit to the Zoo!

Dearest Skyler,

We stayed home the whole day to sleep as you were still recovering.

We dropped by the zoo for a very short visit in the late afternoon as you missed going to the zoo so much. We visited the Polar bear enclosure to watch the token feeding. You weren’t really interested after a short while. You just wanted to climb the stairs! We then took a tram around the zoo before heading out.

You wanted to stop off for your customary Milo but Papa was in a rush and we didn’t do so. You didn’t want to get back into your seat but Papa forced you as he was already late for his lesson. Sorry, Lil’ One! You fell asleep immediately once you got in.

Papa brought Mama and you home before heading off to for his lesson. This was the very last lesson that Papa has to attend for the course, Lil’ One. Papa had spent three whole years going through this course and it’s finally over! :D It has been a fairly tough time for Papa as he’d had to juggle his work, taking care of you and studying. Well, it’s done! :D

On the way home, Papa stopped off to buy dinner.

Papa and Mama love you!

Skyler Visits!

Dearest Skyler,

Papa and Mama didn’t really get to sleep last night as Mama had to do some last minute studying as she couldn’t study while you were ill. Papa just couldn’t sleep. :p

We woke you really early today as Mama has an exam in the morning and we needed to get her there with enough time for her to do some last minute revision.

On the way there, we dropped by Papa’s school to get some things done. Papa rushed as much as he could but still it took a bit of time. Papa found out when he returned to the car that you’d been crying for Papa the whole time he was gone! Sorry, Lil’ One.

We then brought Mama to her school. After that, we dropped by Papa’s study place to hand in some work. On the way back to the car, we stopped at the waterfall landscape. It was the first time in three years that Papa did that! :D There were fish in there! :D

We then came home to catch up on our sleep.

After we woke up, we went to pick Mama up from her school. She had completed her exam by then. We went back to the Point for lunch at the sushi restaurant. We also walked around the kids’ department store for a while to let you play.

We then came home to rest.

In the evening, we went down to 888 to buy dinner home. We bumped into the Balloon Uncle as he was going home. :D

Papa and Mama love you!

Skyler Loses Her Voice!

Dearest Skyler,

We didn’t even try to go to church today as you were so sick, Lil’ One.

Also, because you’ve been so uncomfortable, Mama and Papa only got to work after we put you to bed. This means that we ended up sleeping only at the wee hours of the morning. We only prepared to go to bed when you woke up in the morning and we had to delay our sleep a bit longer so that we could feed you your breakfast and get you sleepy enough to go back to sleep.

As you were slightly better today, Papa brought you out to the food court near our place to get lunch for Mama and Papa.

In the evening, Papa brought you to the library to walk around a bit before buying dinner back for Mama and Papa. Papa had intended to let you hang out a bit longer but you were so sleepy that he had to forego that idea.

Even so, you took a very long time to fall asleep again.

You lost your voice today. Sigh… Poor Baby Gal. The phlegm must have really blocked off your voice box. Poor Sweet Darling!

Papa and Mama love you!

Skyler Visits the Balloon Uncle!

Dearest Skyler,

You’re still not well today so we decided to bring you to the Balloon Uncle. He very quickly examined you by listening to your breathing and he also took your temperature. However, as you refused to open your mouth to allow him to study your throat, he couldn’t do that! :p Anyway, he gave you some medicine but as we know that you won’take them, we decided that you must at least take the one that is supposed to reduce your phlegm so that you can breathe better.

We put the medicine in your milk so that the milk can mask the taste and it seems to be working. However, in the evening when we tried to put in the medicine for your cold, you refused to drink the milk! Oh well… I guess one type will be enough while you fight the flu on your own.

Mama again couldn’t concentrate on her studies as she was worried about you and you also kept on wanting both of us to be with you at all times. Oh well… Poor Baby Girl!

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Skyler’s Still Not Well!

Dearest Skyler,

We stayed home the whole day as you were still not well. Your fever was also fairly troubling so we kept on towelling you to help keep you cooler. In the evening, as your fever was still not going down, we decided to administer a paracetemol to help bring it down quicker.

Sigh… Poor Baby Gal! Your nose is dribbly and you are having trouble breathing as the phlegm keeps on obstructing your airway. You have such difficulty going to and staying asleep.

Because you’re in such discomfort, Mama has spent a lot of time with you even though she has a major exam coming up on Monday. We’re praying that you get better quickly so that Mama can concentrate on preparing for her exam. Just remember, Lil’ One! Mama has always made you her priority over everything else that is urgent and important.

We love you, Lil’ One!

Papa and Mama

Skyler’s Not Well!

Dearest Skyler,

Mama and Papa brought you out for lunch at the Point this afternoon. Mama actually still wasn’t well but Mama missed going out with you so much that she mustered up the strength to come along.

We had a ‘bao-bao’ lunch. We then walked around for a very short while before we came back home to rest. You were so sleepy that you fell asleep in the car and didn’t wake up even when Papa put you in bed after walking back from the car park.

After you got up, you had your shower and we all drove Mama down to church for her lesson. Mama was feeling quite a bit better by then.

We left Mama in church for her lesson and went to look for dinner. As you wanted to eat Pork Chop, Papa ended up bringing you to the Café Cartel at Marina Square. We had to wait for a long time for the food and by the time it came, we had to rush through it so that we could get back in time to meet up with Mama and come home.

You ate a few pieces of the meat before you refused to eat anymore. Thus, Papa had to gobble down most of the food by himself! :p We then rushed through Citylink Mall to get back to Mama.

When we got back to church, Mama still had not ended. We initially waited for Mama outside the room she was in and you spotted her in it and knocked on the glass panel to get her attention. Mama then came out to bring you in to meet her coursemates. :D By then, they were going to take a course photo and you just happily walked right up to the class that had formed up in front and the course coordinator scooped you up in his arms and you joined the class for the photo taking! :D

We then left to head for home! You were not feeling very well in the car and while we were on our way home, you vomitted! You had vomit all over yourself so we had to get off the expressway and look for a place for us to get you cleaned up. Thankfully, where we turned off, there was a coffeeshop with an attached toilet so Mama could bring you there to get cleaned up while Papa cleaned up your seat. Poor Baby Girl, as we hadn’t brought a clean set of clothes, you had to be seated back in your chair clad only in your diaper. :( Sorry!

After we got home, Mama gave you a good shower and Papa washed your whole car seat! :D You seemed to be okay after that except for a slight fever. Sigh… Poor Baby Girl! :(

When it was time for you to sleep, Papa and Mama decided that we won’t carry you anymore. All of us just lay in bed until you fell asleep before transferring you to your own bed. :p You spent a bit of time talking to yourself and repeating “mei-mei-mei” and “baby-baby-baby”. You also kept on throwing yourself on Mama and Papa before you finally fell asleep. :D

Papa and Mama love you!