MIXED FEELINGS

I've been a Big Sister for about a month now, and honestly, I've mixed feelings about this Big Sister business. On the one hand, I know I'll have a playmate when Su Ann grows older. On the other hand, I really miss my reign as an only child, when all attention was on me!

With the new addition to the family, everyone is constantly preoccupied with milk feeds, burping the baby, diaper changes, bathing the baby, rocking the baby to sleep, etc. that I've to resort to yelling more loudly and crying more frequently to have the adults look my way. The household has been so busy lately (erm... most times, the adults were busy dealing with my tantrums. Haha...) that no one noticed that one of our cats, Sunday, had gone missing for 2 days! Sunday got herself locked in a pitch dark store in the garage for 2 days without food and drink. The poor cat was in shock when she was eventually found. Sunday was so traumatised that it took her almost a week to get over the ordeal.

I'm gradually getting used to my baby sister being part of my life, so I don't terrorise my family members with my tantrums as often now. Sometimes, I will even chip in to help. I will watch Su Ann all by myself when the adults have to step out of the room for a while. When Su Ann cries, I try to comfort her by patting her and telling her: "Don't worry, CheChe's here", then I'll get a book and read to her. Once, the house phone rang whilst Mommy and Ipa were trying to clean up a "rectal explosion" by Su Ann. As their hands were dirty, I helped them answer the phone call. It was a man on the line. I listened to him talk for a while before I decided to tell him: "My baby sister poo-pooed all over the floor and on Ipa's legs!" Turns out that the man was a telemarketeer who wanted to sell us something. Think my statement was very effective in making him realise that we were not interested! :)

Ah Gong has begun to show Su Ann some flash cards. The cards have black and white pictures, and are meant to stimulate Su Ann's visual skills. Su Ann hasn't shown much interest in those cards though. Her sole fascination seems to be milk at the moment. For a newborn, she drinks a lot of milk. She consumes between 5oz (150ml) to 6oz (180ml) of breastmilk every 2.5 to 3 hrs, far more than what I drank at her age.

Maybe she burns up more calories because the adults make her exercise? Ah Gong had found his "How to Teach Your Baby to be Physically Superb" book (which had been sitting on the shelves gathering dust since my birth) and had asked Daddy to get a carpenter to make Su Ann a crawling track. Ah Gong says it's important for Su Ann to have a lot of tummy time to strengthen her neck muscles so she can lift her head up and to get her to practise crawling about 10 times a day. Su Ann likes to sleep on her belly, and today, she managed to crawl off the mattress (which was placed on the floor) when she woke up. Not a bad crawler for a one month old!

I'M A BIG SISTER NOW! (10 DEC 2007)

At 10 am on 10 December 2007, Mommy awoke with amniotic fluid trickling down her thighs. As she had yet to pack her "hospital bag", she went about calmly putting together a few things to bring to the hospital. An hour later, she was at Thomson Medical Centre, which is round the corner from our house.

In movies, we always see panicky pregnant women being rushed to the hospital and getting wheeled to the delivery suite in a frantic state. It sure wasn't like that for Mommy. The hospital was abuzz with activity when Mommy got there, so she approached the Information Desk for assistance. The lady at the counter looked lost when Mommy informed her that her water had broke, so she told Mommy to get a queue number. Mommy got her queue number, and was standing around waiting for her turn when she ran into an ex-colleague. They started chatting. It was a good few minutes before a hospital staff realised that Mommy really needed to be admitted to the hospital and directed her to walk to the Nurse's Station outside the Delivery Suite.

Once there, Mommy was put in an Observations Ward, where the nurses got her cleaned up and strapped her to various machines to monitor the baby's heart beat, the frequency and intensity of the contractions, etc. Mommy's gynaecologist (Dr WK Tan - who incidentally delivered Mommy when she was a baby and delivered me as well) checked on Mommy. She said that Mommy's cervix was 2 cm dilated (had to get to 10 cm for birth) and she put Mommy on a drip to induce labour.

At 1.30 pm, Mommy was transferred to the Delivery Suite. Business was brisk at the hospital, and all the suites were full before that time. As Mommy had opted for epidural at the start of her pregnancy, the anaesthetist came by to give Mommy her jab. At that point, Mommy still had not experienced any pain even though contractions had commenced.

At 3.30 pm, a nurse came by to check if Mommy's cervix had dilated further. It was 9 cm dilated, and the nurse said that if Mommy were to push really hard, she would pop any minute. Daddy had stepped out for a bite, so the nurse asked Mommy to ring Daddy whilst she went to get Dr WK Tan. Daddy rushed back to the Delivery Suite when she received Mommy's call and Dr Tan arrived at 4.00 pm. After 5 giant pushes by Mommy, my baby sister (Choo Su Ann) was born at 4.23 pm. She weighed in at 3.77 kg, heavier than my 3.445 kg at birth.


I visited Mommy and Su Ann at the hospital with Ah Gong and Ah Ma on the evening of 10 December. I held a newborn for the very first time in my life! Grandpa Eddy, Grandma Nancy, GuGu and Uncle JB came to visit as well. Everyone thought Su Ann was a "good size" baby, except Uncle JB (the eating champ from my previous post). Uncle JB commented that Su Ann was small. Everyone was puzzled and asked him how heavy he was at birth. His response: "5.8 kg." Omigod.

After 2 nights at the hospital, Dr Tan gave Mommy the greenlight to be discharged. However, poor Su Ann had jaundice and couldn't be discharged. As Su Ann was on breastmilk only, Mommy stayed a third night. When Su Ann still couldn't come home after the third night, Mommy discharged herself and returned to the hospital every 3 hours to breastfeed Su Ann. It was very tiring for Mommy, who hadn't slept much since 10 December.

On 14 December, Mommy and Daddy received news from the hospital that Su Ann could be discharged. They were elated, and rushed down to the hospital immediately to pick Su Ann up. After several days of phototherapy, Su Ann had a tan.

Mommy had used the BabyPlus system (http://www.babyplus.com/) during her pregnancy. The system comprises of a device which pumps out a series of beats to the developing foetus from the time it's 18 weeks old. Mommy had always wondered if the system would have any effect on Su Ann. Mommy observed that when Su Ann was born, she let out a loud cry and thereafter, she was pretty much silent. She seemed to know how to self-soothe. Mommy had her BabyPlus system in the Delivery Suite, so Daddy played the last lesson to Su Ann. Su Ann opened her eyes as wide as she could and looked like she was thinking hard. She seemed to recognise the lesson.

Su Ann is now almost a week old, and we are all convinced that she really knows how to self-soothe. She doesn't cry incessantly, but will let out short, purposeful cries to signal her needs to us, then stop. Coupled with the lessons from Dunstan Baby Language (http://www.dunstanbaby.com/), it has been possible for us to decode her needs. I've shared my bedroom with Su Ann for 2 nights now, and her short, purposeful cries have not once roused me from my slumber.

How does it feel to be a Big Sister? Well, Su Ann's still too young to play with me, so it hasn't been much fun. With her around though, I feel much more fortunate to be a Big Girl. There're so many things which I can do, which she can't. I wish she would grow out of her helplessness soon though, so we can do things together.

MY THIRD BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

Since Mommy couldn't be sure of her exact date of delivery, she felt that it would be better if I just had a simple party with my friends at school for my 3rd birthday, instead of a grandiose affair with 30 kids and a whole entourage of parents, magician, etc. like what I had last year.

Mommy bought me a pink Magic Mushroom House birthday cake from Coffee Bean and all the goodies for my party packs. Daddy collected my 3.2kg birthday cake the evening before my party at school, and boy was I proud of my cake! It was gigantic! I prepared each party pack myself, and I was really excited to go to school the next day.

On 3 December, Teacher Khairi arranged for lessons to finish by 11.00 am and got everyone seated for the arrival of my cake. Ah Gong, Daddy and Ipa came in with my birthday cake and party packs for everyone. I was thrilled to see them!

After singing the birthday song, I blew out the candles with the help of all my friends. Daddy sliced up the cake and everyone had a healthy helping of fruit cake. This was followed by a photo-taking session with Daddy as our photographer. He really has a way with kids and got everyone bouncing around in class happily.

Just before it was time to go home, Teacher Khairi gathered everyone around me, so I could hand out the party packs.


Two of my friends, Beverly and Erica had presents for me too. How thoughtful of them!

The next evening, Daddy took me shopping at Toys R Us for my birthday presents. I didn't have any specific preference, so Daddy picked 3 different items for me. He bought me a kitchen playset (with stove, oven, sink and the works), a supermarket playset (with cash register, bar code scanner, conveyor belt, and the works) and a supermarket trolley playset. The best presents that any girl could wish for!

I've been having a ball with my playsets since! I only wish I had a playmate to share my joy and toys with me...

On 6 December, Mommy was due to deliver, but there was no sign of my younger sister making an appearance. Mommy's gynae said she should return for a check-up in a week. I thus celebrated my birthday with my family. We had dinner at Swissotel Merchant Court.

GuGu's (i.e. Daddy's sister) boyfriend, Uncle JB, joined us for dinner and he's the biggest eater I've ever met. He gobbled up plate after plate of food at lightning speed, and no one doubted him when he said he could eat up everything at the buffet! During dinner, Uncle JB told us that, on a regular day, he eats up to 1.5 loaves of bread and drinks up to 2 litres of milk. He can eat up to 200 pieces of sushi at one seating! Not surprisingly, he has been banned from his office pantry because he had repeatedly eaten up the entire office's stock of tea-time supplies. We watched in amazement as he piled his plate with desserts, and watched him polish off all the cakes and pastries as he walked from the buffet counter to our table. After eating so much, he claimed he didn't even feel full! The man has an extraordinary digestive system, which runs in his family. He told us that his dad and siblings were all super-eaters and they are all as thin as him. Uncle JB's family is from Paris, where he said buffet restaurants didn't exist, or they would all go bankrupt with his family around...

Uncle JB is very tall as well. I had great fun when he tossed me up and down in the air.

After dinner, we had chocolate cake at GuGu's service apartment. There were more presents waiting for me. Ah Gong gave me a set of books by Dr Seuss. Ah Gong Eddy gave me a set of classical fairy tales. Ah Ma Nancy gave me a new outfit. GuGu gave me a big book of nursery rhymes. My great grandmother gave me an angpao. I love them all!

JACOB BALLAS' CHILDREN'S GARDEN (31 OCT 2007)

Lis had told Mommy that Anna had been having lots of fun at a new children's play area called the Jacob Ballas' Children's Garden, and recommended that we checked it out. One afternoon, Daddy and Mommy took me there. The Garden is located just opposite the College of Physical Education in Bukit Timah, and Mommy said it's named after Jacob Ballas, a wealthy Jewish businessman (of the Vickers Ballas stockbroking firm) who passed away a few years ago.


I had expected the Garden to be really fun, but it turned out to be quite a let down. The grounds are huge, but the emphasis seemed to be on Science classes for primary school students, and not on a play area for a 2-yr-old kid like me.

There was a water play area, but there're only 3 water pumps and they don't work well. The fountains (which are the best part of the water play area) come on only for a short while, and they don't come on regularly at all. I sat around waiting in my wet swimwear till the shivers came on. The fountains at Vivocity's playground, UE Square and Clarke Quay are much more fun.

There were 2 slides which were too steep for young kids. In fact, they were too steep for adults too! Ipa took me on one of the slides, and the gradient made her come down so rapidly that she landed on her bum, scrapped it, and hit her head against the base of the slide. A park ranger who happened to witness the fall merely said: "Oh yes, we've received some complaints that the slide is too steep and are working on it." What??? After receiving those complaints, why didn't they close the slides or put up some warning signs???

There was a sandpit with a see-saw. They made the see-saw look kindda new age with metal parts, then put a sign up to say that it wasn't meant for kids my age. With such sprawling grounds and a grand total of 1 see-saw, I'm better off at our neighbourhood playground, where there're at least 2!

There was a short suspension bridge, an artificial waterfall, and a small maze.


I visited the Garden on a weekday when it wasn't crowded. I wouldn't want to go there during the weekends when there'd probably be long queues to use the few play things that were there. Admission to the Garden is free. Adults must be accompanied by a kid to enter! (I like that bit, because rules are usually the other way round). Be sure to apply some mosquito repellant before entering, because those bloodsuckers are aplenty there.

We were there on 31 Oct 2007 (Halloween), and we met a nice family at the Kidz Cafe outside the Garden. Aunty gave me a lollipop for Halloween and I made friends with Che Che.

FLOWERGIRL FOR HIRE

After registering their marriage in Barossa Valley, Chia Yee and Uncle Craig flew to Singapore to organize their Tea Ceremony & Wedding Banquet which were to be held in Singapore. Chia Yee and Uncle Craig had lots of planning to do, people to meet, etc., but still managed to squeeze in some time for Daddy and Mommy to feed them and take them on a bit of sightseeing.

Daddy and Mommy had discovered a chicken rice restaurant in Serangoon Gardens which served delicious food, so the whole family made our way there one evening. In true glutton style, Daddy ordered enough food to feed an army.

After dinner, we drove to Clarke Quay, so Chia Yee and Uncle Craig could take some lovey-dovey, romantic shots by the river. I took the opportunity to make a mad dash for the outdoor fountain area. Alas! I was stopped by Ipa! *Humph* We wandered around Clarke Quay and met a funny, Turkish ice-cream man. I bought an ice cream and he scooped the entire glob of coconut ice cream onto the cone. In no time, the otherwise quiet stall was surrounded by a crowd of curious onlookers who found the ice-cream man's antics really amusing. I....I....I...just felt so used!

A day before the Tea Ceremony & Wedding Banquet, Anna came to play. I see her twice a week at GUG and she's the only girl in class who's as chatty as me. Lis, who looked after me when I was a baby, works for Anna's family now. Just when we were having so much fun, Lis said it was time for Anna to go and Ipa (Lis' sister) joined in to say it was time for me to take my bath. Anna burst into tears. Now, why do adults have to do that to spoil our fun???

Later that evening, our family met Uncle Craig's family for dinner at their hotel. It was a time for the families to get to know each other better. Uncle Craig's family is from Darwin. His dad works for the Northern Territories' Police Force, and his mom is a housewife. Uncle Craig has 3 brothers, but only 2 could come to Singapore to attend the ceremony here.

Finally, the Big Day - 27 Oct 2007 came. The Tea Ceremony took place at my house. It was basically Chia Yee and Uncle Craig serving tea to a bunch of elders, and getting gifts in exchange. How lucky! Well, I had a go too. I was the only one who served tea to Chia Yee and Uncle Craig, and they gave me an angpao for my efforts!


That evening, we adjourned to the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel for the Wedding Banquet. It was my second chance to be the all-important flowergirl, so naturally, I was all excited once again. This time, I tried my best to scatter the petals as evenly as possible along the aisle. Think I did a pretty good job and looks like I can make a business out of this. "Super adorable flowergirl (with experience) available for hire at S$100/- per hour. Rate negotiable. CV available on request." Any takers???