LEARNING TO PLAY

We were at Cousin Emmalyn's birthday party earlier when a nice lady tapped Mommy on her shoulder and said: "Hi, I'm Jean. I recognise you from your blog." That reminded Mommy that an update of my adventures was long overdue.

Lots have happened since my last update. A notable event was my visit to KK Hospital late last month. My chronic runny nose had prompted Mommy to make an appointment for me to see Prof Henry Tan of KK Hospital's ENT Centre. Prof Tan heard Mommy's account of how I've had a runny nose since late November 2007, took a look at my ears and nose, and ordered an X-ray be done. It was my first X-ray. I had to stand very still and Mommy was there to hold me. Prof Tan looked at my X-ray and said: "I'm afraid it's her adenoids." Prof Tan explained that allergies and repeated bouts of flu had caused my adenoids to swell up so much that air could no longer pass through my nasal passage. He prescribed a nasal spray and some oral medication, and asked that I return to the hospital for a review 6 weeks later. He warned that, if the medication did not help, surgery would be my only option. The review is scheduled for 9 April, and Mommy really hopes that I won't have to go under the knife.

My medical problems haven't dampened my spirit to play. A year ago, my parents tried to leave me at Smaland (the playroom at IKEA in Tampines), but I bawled my eyes out after 2 minutes. I didn't know any of the kids in the playroom, and the fact that Mommy wasn't in the playroom with me proved too daunting for me. After that tearful episode, I refused to go near Smaland. Now, a year later, I'm a much more confident individual. My social skills have also improved somewhat. When my parents had some shopping to do at IKEA a few weekends ago, I agreed to go to Smaland on my own. I ended up spending close to an hour and a half in there. Aside from the slide and ball pit, there was a tv area and a doodling area. I made friends with 2 older girls and we played together. It was so fun that I didn't want to leave! Daddy had to fish me out of there.

I pestered my parents to take me to Smaland again during IKEA's annual sale. The crowd at IKEA was phenomenal. There were 150 kids ahead of me in the queue to get into Smaland, but I waited patiently. We had dinner at the large cafeteria, which was filled to the brim with hungry people. By the time we were done with dinner, it was my turn to get into Smaland. Perfect timing, but you can imagine how long it took us to find an empty table at the cafeteria, queue and pay for the food! Once again, I had a great time at Smaland. I made friends with a girl called Hannah and we had the best time fooling around in the ball pit.

Aside from Smaland, I also went to the playroom at IKEA in Alexandra. That playroom was smaller than Smaland, and I was there on a day when the playroom was rather quiet, so it wasn't half as fun. Nevertheless, I enjoyed myself sliding into the pit of colourful balls.

Mommy had sourced for other play areas to take me, but the recent spike in the no. of Hand Foot Mouth Disease cases in Singapore meant play areas are to be avoided for a while. I've been itching to play with other kids and was really excited to hear that I had been invited to Cousin Emmalyn's birthday party. As with previous years, there was a huge bouncy castle at the party, but this year was the first time I joined the other kids in bouncing around on it. I was the smallest and lightest member on the bouncy castle, and I flew really high when the older and heavier kids jumped up and down. I got hooked on the adrenaline-pumping action, and played all the way till the guys came to take the castle down.


My baby sister turned 3 mths old about 2 weeks back, and she's a lot more responsive than a month ago. She "talks" to me in her limited vocabulary of "air", "hair" and "mare" every day. Well, those are the 3 main sounds she makes when she coos. She tries to sing along when Ah Gong sings to her. Again, in her limited vocab of "air", "hair" and "mare". She chuckles when Ipa makes funny faces at her. She's also getting pretty aggressive. She'll lean over to bite me when she feels irritated, but she's, literally, a dog with no teeth. :)

Tomorrow will be the 15th day of the Lunar New Year. My last chance to receive an angpao for Spring 2008. Doesn't look like I'll be getting any more, but I'm not complaining. I had a decent haul this year.

I've become quite an expert at tossing yusheng too. I "lohei-ed" a total of 6 times this year. One of those times was at the gathering at Aunty Kaiching's place at Bishan Loft. It was a potluck party, and Mommy brought the yusheng. We really tossed to our hearts' content and made a mess of the picnic table.

The party at Aunty Kaiching's place was a very special one. It was a gathering for mothers with kids born in December 2004 who met through the SGMotherhood.com forum.


The kids who attended the party were all roughly the same age as me. Two of them (Dean and Shermyn) were in fact born on the same day as me. I had an amazing time at the party. Aunty Lynn brought sparklers with her, and the fiery sticks were distributed to all the kids after dinner. There was also a playground at the condo, where I had a great time playing with Cayden (cute boy in the baby blue t-shirt). Cayden mirrored everything I did. I went down the slide backwards, he did the same. I lay down on the slide, he did it too. I giggled, he giggled. Sparks were flying, but alas, Mommy said it was time to go home!

CRAWLING AT 2 MONTHS (14 FEB 2008)

The Kung Fu Mistress has just turned 2 months old, and she's crawling.

We caught Su Ann crawling off her mattress and attempting to traverse the room several times already. Everyone's claiming credit for her achievement. Ah Gong thinks it's due to his efforts in getting Su Ann to work out. Daddy attributes it to the crawling track he built for her. Mommy claims it's due to the superior quality of her genes and breastmilk. HAHAHA!

Here're some pictures of my baby sister dangling during her workout session with Ah Gong:-

USHERING IN THE YEAR OF THE RAT

Once a year, Ah Ma will bake up a storm in the kitchen and the whole house will be filled with wonderful smells of pineapple tarts, cookies and pandan cake. It's hard to beat the taste of a pineapple tart, fresh out of the oven with the pastry warm, buttery and crumbly, and the pineapple filling hot and sweet. This year was no exception, with Ah Ma working her 30-year-old Kenwood Chef mixer so hard that the antique spluttered and died. Poor thing (the mixer, not Ah Ma).

The first day of the Lunar New Year is a day for visiting. As both Ah Ma and Ah Gong are relatively junior within their respective families, we had to make our rounds to all the elders' homes. A tedious, but "delicious and profitable" process. Isn't it great to have all the sweets and keropok to eat, and collect angpaos at the same time? I had a fabulous time.


Our last pitstop on that day was Grandpa Eddy and Grandma Nancy's house. As usual, Grandpa Eddy let me water his beloved plants.


That night, Grandma Nancy bought dinner at Long Beach Seafood Restaurant. There was a great big pile of chilli crab, drunken prawns, otah, roast chicken, tofu with a special sauce, mee goreng and fried rice... but I only wanted Burger King, so Mommy had to sneak fast food into the restaurant.

The second day of the Lunar New Year is a day for relatives and friends to visit us. Mommy's contingent of cousins arrived with their kids to wish Ah Ma and Ah Gong a happy new year. More festive goodies to tuck in, angpaos to collect and I had a ball playing with all the kids. Oh, how I love Chinese New Year!

That night, my Great Grandmother (Mommy's maternal grandmother) hosted dinner at Peach Garden, a restaurant in the Executive Club at OCBC Centre. It was an expensive meal, and the restaurant had great reviews at http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/peach_garden_ocbc_centre/, but my goodness, some of the dishes were really, really bad. The restaurant was very proud of its shark's fins soup which it described as "Double-Boiled Yoshikiri Fin with Shark's Bone Cartilage Soup". Apparently, they boil the shark's bone till it melts and turns the soup milky white, and they claim only restaurants with a certain standing are able to produce soup of this high quality. Unfortunately, the soup was shockingly smelly. Daddy took one spoonful and left the rest alone. He said it smelt like the yucky stuff which comes up when you try to unclog a blocked drain. Mommy and I couldn't agree more. There was another dish (I think it was the glutinous rice) which Daddy described as wet, matted dog hair. Oh dear. The service and view from the restaurant were first rate though.

UNION OF TWO FAMILIES (1 FEBRUARY 2008)

For Chinese families, Chinese New Year's Eve is celebrated by having a Reunion Dinner together. It is THE opportunity for families to get together, and once a year, shops are closed early, so everyone can head home for a festive meal.

This year, for the very first time since my parents got married, both the paternal and maternal sides of my family came together to have our Reunion Dinner. We didn't have it on Chinese New Year's Eve (6 February 2008) itself, as my parents had to work on that day. The folly of running a business which has to remain open 24/7.


Ah Ma brought a platter of prosperity yu sheng to the party, so the evening started off with the customary tossing of the yu sheng for good fortune.


Grandma Nancy prepared the rest of the meal herself. There was steamed fish, steamed prawns, veggies with abalone, fried prawn rolls, fried chicken, lotus root soup, and the piece de resistance - a big pot of ayam buah keluak. It took Grandma Nancy a week to prepare the ayam buah keluak, from a special recipe passed down by my late great grandmother (Daddy's paternal grandmother). Daddy enjoyed the dish so much that he almost finished the entire pot!


After dinner, GuGu (Daddy's sister) whipped out a hula hoop and Ah Ma and Mommy took turns having a go at it. What a [frightful] sight!


My GuGu will be relocating to London in March 2008. Chia Yee (Mommy's younger sister) and her hubby, Uncle Craig, already residing there. Perhaps next year, we should all head to London for our Reunion Dinner...

REVISITING THE BOTANIC GARDENS (30 JANUARY 2008)

The sun was out, but it wasn't too hot. Perfect weather for a walk in the park. Mommy loaded my plastic bike and Su Ann's pram into the car, and off we went to the Botanic Gardens.


We followed the path to an artificial waterfall, a ginger garden and a pond where we saw plenty of fish, terrapins and the signature swans. Along the way, we came across all sorts of green plants and colourful flowers.


After last night's feast at Cafe Brio, Mommy wanted to work off the layer of guilt lying around her belly by doing some brisk walking. Unfortunately, her plans went up in smoke when we "chanced upon" the Taman Serasi Food Court (more like Mommy hunted it down like a vulture... consulting and re-consulting the map and even asking for directions). Each of us had a bowl of super cold ice kacang. Pure bliss on a sunny day.