What do you mean she's 18 months old already?!

"you mean I'm 18 months old already?! Horror!"

My little chubs turns 18 months today. And boy, how she has grown! Some of the notable "achievements":

• walking/running without any assistance
• knows how to verbalise her thoughts/needs/wants (through one-word phrases) rather well
• knows how to empathise - can "sayang" or let out an empathising "orrhhh..." when she realises anyone is in pain
• remembers people that she sees often - can call out relatives by their terms (i.e. Xiao gu, Ah yee, etc.) and points them out when you ask her to
• knows how to "manipulate" adults by putting on her pitiful expression and fake crying (seldom)
• endures pain rather well and doesn't cry at every knock
• vocabulary at this age (from what I can remember):
• pear, apple, baby, gor gor, che che, gong gong, popo, nainai, yeye, xiao gu, da gu, ah gu, yee, eeeee, eat, fish, mum mum, sleep, bed, chair, spoon, fork, bowl, plate, cup, jump, blanket, elmo, cat, dog, rabbit, daddy, mamee, rice, milk, please, xiexie, ang cute (thank you), baobao, fall, yes, nice, hair, eyes, shirt, clothes, watch, clock, love eww (you), kiss, hello, byebye, cook, shoe, jacket, bag, heavy, blue, tree, grass, grape, ashley, cream, car, gaigai, bread, wait, book, more, candy, take, give, key, ball, come, lai, left, right, clap, hot, cold, monkey, put, kick, where, brush, block, bib, cross, pig, cow, crab, home, mango, egg, sayang, walk, etc...

  

  Ash from birth to now. Someone tell me where all the time has gone!
  
  

The sweet little action that stole our hearts

We were over at my in-laws for dinner as usual. Lepak and played for a bit with Ash before we decided to call it a day. Our usual practice is to hug and kiss Ash (on the lips) good night and she will see us to the door. Now today, there's something special from our little precious. She was walking us to the door with her pacifier in her mouth when Hubs said "Kiss kiss, goodnight darling" and proceeded to kiss her cheeks (instead of the mouth because she had her pacifier on). Hubs then turned and walked towards the door. What happened next melted my heart to a gooey lump. She followed in Hubs footsteps, took out her pacifier and put her right forefinger to her lips and said, "Kissss"

Altogether now, AWWWwwww......

It was a good night indeed :)

A new pose

The little poser who went for a walk in this outfit (in her undies!) with her Nai nai and proudly showed off this new pose when I tried to take a picture.

Happy Fathers' Day!

Having celebrated Fathers' Day in advance with a dinner (for both our families) on Friday and with Hubs being on night shift today (therefore would sleep most of the day away), we originally no special plans for today.

But having woken up early, I decided to give my parents a call and see if they are game for breakfast together. Turned out they had plans to go for dim sum with one of my Uncles' families (Uncle treating because he struck 4D) and asked us to join them.

Dim sum was good as usual at Swa Tou Restuarant at TPY Hub and Ash was relatively well-behaved throughout the meal, with her eating more of the homecooked pasta I'd brought than the food at the restaurant. Usually, she would request to have whatever we are having and have as little food I brought from home as possible so it's all good! I would prefer her to eat as much homemade meals as possible and limit her intake of the food prepared outside because I do not want her to be exposed to so much seasoning/oil at such a tender age.

After the meal, I dropped Hubs at home (for his nap) before going over to my Grandma's with my Dad. As we do not come by frequently (maybe once in 1-2 months?), Ash would always be ill at ease upon arrival and would cling on to me or my Dad for comfort. But time taken for her to warm up is relatively fast - probably 10 mins or less because my 4th Uncle really loves and has a way with kids and the two would become fast friends in no time. After she warms up, I usually will just sit back and chat with my Grandma while my 4th Uncle takes care of Ash fully.



see how she behaved once she warmed up to the place?



Given that we went out straight after her bath in the morning, she hadn't had her nap the entire 1/2 day and began to feel a little grouchy around 2ish. One bad habit of hers is that she tends to "sweep" things off tabletops once she's frustrated or grouchy and I hope that will change as she grows up. Will continue to discourage her from doing that because that's such wilful behavior! Anywaysss, once she started doing that, I know it's a cue for her to nap so having said our goodbyes, we left for home.

Some words for my Hubs and Ash's Daddy:

Thank you for taking care of us and the families! We know you adore us heaps and we want you to know that we do not adore you any lesser!

Lotsa love from us, XOXO

Some words to my Dad (though he might not even see this, I just needed to get it off my chest):

Daddy, 您一直是我心目中最伟大的爸爸！每当我们谈起我们的童年时，你都感到很自责和内疚。其实您无需感叹，当时的我们都没当作一回事呢！回想起来，我觉得我们的童年是无可取代的 and I wouldn't want it any other way :)

虽然您不习惯把“爱”卦在嘴边，但从您的一举一动当中，我们都知道您是非常疼爱我们的！

谢谢您对我们的疼爱，也谢谢您把您的爱延续给我们的孩子们。。。我们也都很爱您！

永远对你充满爱的女儿和外孙女<3

Happy Fathers' Day and 父亲节快乐！

3 1st Month parties in a day!

We had 3 friends popping on the same day a month ago (May 18th) and today marks the 1st Month for the 3 babies! :)

There are 2 in the afternoon and 1 in the evening and good thing was, it was all rather near to our place so we had time to bring Ash home for a quick shower and prepared her meals in between the shuttling.

First stop was Yongsheng's place to celebrate Baby Jeriel turning 1 month old. As Ash only woke up around 1.30, we reached there around 2.15pm - rather late considering the invitation stated 12-3pm! Didn't stay for long as we had to rush for another 1st month with the same timing. Just had enough time to exchange brief "Hellos" and a little bit of small talk before we had to leave. Felt really bad for the brief turn up but had no choice since we had to work around Ash's timing.

Second stop was at Siwei and Lixia's place for Baby Evan. By the time we reached there, we were just in time for the food as they were about to clear everything. Fed Ash her late lunch before I had a quick meal. As it was held at the void deck, we adjourned to their residence for more chillaxing after the caterers cleared the place. Dylan have many other toys that Ash doesn't have and she had a great time exploring them. (note to self: time to get Ash a wider variety of toys!)



yes, she's still very much into her hat and requests to wear it! - Super love this photo!



mingling with Terence Tan's son (who looks way beyond his 9-month age!)

MJ wannabe

got her hat "stolen" by Uncle Siwei

After an hour or so at Siwei and Lixia's, we went home to give Ash a quick shower and also to prepare her dinner before moving over to Siwei (yes, both Daddies have the same names) and Agnes' place in Punggol. Since we are early for the evening celebration, we wanted to bring Ash to the Punggol Hai Bin fishing place for a whole before going over to their place. But Ash fell asleep in the car, so I stayed in the car with her and the helper while Hubs went off to talk to his friends who were already chilling at the place. About 30 mins later, we set off to Agnes' place and it was the only stop out of the 3 where we can sit down proper and have warm nice food and a nice chat with the friends. They have a playroom and since my helper came along with us, I had an easier time. As with the case with Dylan, Jayden (Agne's son) has a lot more toys than Ash and she immersed herself in them too. Sidenote: seems to me Ash does like babies a fair bit - she would walk around the house and intermittently be looking for the baby and asking,"Baby! Baby where?" and would wave to the baby and she does that every time she sees a baby.

in Jayden's playroom having a great time - she didn't pause for breaks!

finally calling it a night!

Though it was a mad rush today, I must say it's rather fun to hang out with the friends and their children. We even talked about having a playdate for all of our children since they all are around the same age group from 9 months to 3 years old. Guess it will be really fun (although I do foresee chaos too)!

Hubs' birthday!

Since it's Hubs' birthday today, I took 1/2 PM leave so we could all have lunch as a way of celebrating and just hanging out today. Hubs' Aunty Pat took leave as well and all of us (MIL, Aunty Pat, Amanda, Hubs, Ash and me) trooped down to Anchorpoint for lunch at Jack's place.

"what to eat... what to eat..."

"not so close, Daddy!"

As I finished my lunch before the rest and Ash is getting restless, I brought her around the mall and Ash actually became a stalker! We were browsing at Fox when Ash spotted a baby in her pram. She kept looking at the baby and telling me "Baby, baby..." while looking at her lovingly. When the mum moved away, Ash followed the pram and once they were around the corner, the mum was surpised they had a little stalker at their heels and went ??? We both smiled it off and I quickly scooped Ash out before she did anything else (i.e. touching the baby or screaming at the baby). But... so cute right!

the cute little stalker in action

After lunch at Jack's place, we went shopping at Ctn On Kids (yes, again!) and picked up a few more pieces for Ash. As we were about to pay, we saw this little straw hat that's rather soft and pretty, so we had Ash try it on. We didn't have high hopes she would wear it since she's rather adverse to having headgear but we just gave it a try. Nobody who knows Ash would have guessed what happened next. She actually loved it! She loved it enough to wear and parade it in front of the full length mirror in the shop. She stood there, admiring herself from all angles - sometimes from the left, sometimes from the right and the front, and actually smiled and danced, all the while with the hat on! All of us were so amused by the scene and couldn't stop laughing at the narcissistic toddler who refused to leave the spot in front of the mirror. She stood there for a good 5-8 minutes before we had to pull her away despite her protests. She didn't wanna leave her own reflection... :s We decided that was good enough to buy her that hat even though we knew it could just be a one off thing. We just couldn't resist how she looked and felt in it!



"How do I look?"



refused to take off the hat

And yes, she was wearing the hat throughout the rest of the trip and she even wore it in the car!

Dinner today was a combined Fathers' Day affair for 4 fathers! My dad, FIL, my bro and Hubs. We had it at Quan Xiang Yuan (泉骧园), a traditional Hokkien restaurant recommended by my mum (she saw it on a variety show). Both of our families were there with the exception of Xinyi who's away in Dubai on a business assignment. The food there was quite nice and the 佛跳墙 soup was yums! The place and decor feels old school but it is clean and air-conditioned. Seems quite popular too, judging by the crowd who turned up that day.

on the way - still into the hat

hat still on when we reached the restaurant

Happy Birthday, Hubs! Thanks for being a sweet Hubs/Daddy to your two princesses at home!

(Hahaha... buay paiseh, still call myself princess)

Mountain of backlog

Hi all, if you have been following my blog all along, you'd have known that this blog was conspicuously quiet over a period of 5 months. I am trying to update as much as I can and remember as much details as I can during that period.

However, I realise that if I just concentrate on making up for the lost time and neglect the updating for this period, it would be the same cycle all over again where I struggle to remember and provide details of events. Therefore I will be simultaneously updating recent events while at the same time, blogging the backlog from months back. So every now and then, you can expect to see new entries popping up in between. Sorry for the confusion but I think it will work better this way.

Just bear with my haphazard blogging and we'll see how it goes, OK?

Stay tuned and cheers!

GSS

Singapore is now in the midst of the annual GSS and I have been trying not to start on the bargain-hunting cos I know if I start, I won't stop! But... as I worked late today (therefore not visiting Ash), I trotted off to Anchorpoint after work for a little shopping at Ctn On Kids to see if they have any good bargains.

Boy, was I blown away by the array of baby clothes on sale! From $5 to $8.50, the choices are aplenty! Had a fun time picking the items and when it was time for the bill, I was pleasantly surprised at the total $$ amount in proportion to what I have gotten.

all these at only $84! (including a wall decal that is not in the picture)

Hip Hip Hooray for GSS!

Posey Saturday



the little vainpot in the mood for posing - couldn't stop when she saw herself in the phone (was using the front-facing camera)

 



Wilmer's birthday

Alvin's Uncle treated everyone to dinner at Uncle Leong's Seafood @ Punggol to celebrate Wilmer's 19th birthday. First time eating there as the resturant has just opened. The prawning/crabbing/fishing establishment has also just officially opened for business so there was a small crowd. Business seemed brisk as it was a novelty to be able to fish in addition to their usual prawning (in Bishan). Thinking of bringing Ash back there soon when there isn't so much crowd. 

Food at Uncle Leong's wasn't too bad and Hubs said that the beehoon is still as good as the AMK's branch. Hearsay had it that Uncle Leong broke away from Mellben and opened on its own but I'm not sure if that's true. But their crab beehoon is definitely comparable (according to Hubs since I don't eat crab)! Besides the good food, the bill was reasonable too, with the total coming up to $300+ for a party of 14. The dishes include: 2 veg, 3 types of crabs and 3 more random dishes. Considering they had so much crab, the bill is really rather reasonable!

Picture to end the post with:

weak attempt at posing because she was very tired and feeling hot