A Very Special Carrot Cake

12 October 2012 Friday

It has been a long while ... something special happened today. Peanut came home from school with this:

A piece of carrot cake he bought from the school canteen and brought it home for mummy, daddy, didi and Auntie because it is yummylicious! So sweet, that's my Peanut.

And this is a short conversation with S.P a little later in the evening:

"Your gor gor is so funny and sweet"
Silence
"Are you sweet?"
"No"
"Are you evil?"
"No"
"Then, what are you?"
"I'm just OK."
"You are the funniest 5 y.o. I know!" (Well, not that I know many - only 2...shh)

Peanut has just celebrated his birthday and here are some photos:

If you can count the candles - 5 of them plus 2 invisible ones (don't know why I asked for 5 candles from the cake shop?!! Freudian slip that I am having trouble believing that my baby is all grown up?)

Peanut's best friend from kindergarten: 

 

His first bd pinata:

And here are some of his presents from his friends:

He's into making collecting these Gundams (model kits) .. this makes no.5

Pretty In Pink

We beat the batter:

and beat some more:

We baked a cake. I don't have a photo to show.

But I can show you what it did not look like:

Happy Birthday to mama:

Warning: Do NOT count the candles! Or else, ...

Sweet Potato turns 3

9 July - 3 years ago this day, we welcomed our new family member, S.P.

What a happy kid!

This time round, S.P chose to have Bob the Builder over Thomas the Train for his bd cake:

May you grow up happy and healthy - the universal wish mothers have for their child - so basic but so profoundly hard to achieve! Illness is part and parcel of a child's growing years but still we fret each time a child falls sick. As a friend of mine with 4 children (15 y.o to 21 y.o) puts it, "The day I became a mum, I no longer know what it means to be carefree!" Heard of this Chinese proverb that loosely translates to: Raise a child for 100 years and worry for 99 years. Wise words, if only I had paid greater attention to what my mum said during my younger years. In case, you are wondering why mothers are let off for worrying for a year - of course not! I suspect it has to do with how a newborn is a year old by the Chinese way of counting age.

Peanut turns 4

5 October 2009

Dear Peanut,

It has been 4 years - both Mr M and I have enjoyed everyday of it and treasure every experience with you. Because of you, I am re-learning lessons which I have forgotten over the years:

1. To be more sensitive to the feelings of another person
Quiet you maybe, I can see from the corner of my eyes that you are always listening to every praise that I lavish on SP.

2. To be more careful with my words and actions
Though I must admit it is really amusing to hear you mimicked all my Singlish, mimicked the way I would admonish your younger brother (with your hands on the sides of your short mid torso, the deeper voice and all the sternness you can muster) - you are definitely good with details.

3. To be more responsible with the food I eat
So that you'd pick up healthy eating habits.

4. To plan and plan and plan some more in whatever I do
Making checklists is something I am getting lots of practice in.

5. To laugh when things don't turn out the way I expect/planned
... which is often.

6. Always be generous with praises and hugs
You constantly fill me with a sense of wonder - the way you would pick up new vocabulary from the books I read you (e.g. 'naked' from The Emperor's New Clothes); from colouring everything black to using more colours (though you still seem to be biased towards black sometimes), how you keep expanding your dying sequences with new sound effects, your delightful sense of humour (which is typical of children of your age - every sentence that ends with "poo" is funny), the jigsaw puzzles that you play with are getting bigger and more complicated. I can see the sparkle in your eyes each time we praise you or say a word of encouragement. But most of all, I love it best when you run to greet me at the door and give me a big hug.

7. Always find time for people you love and care about
... every moment shared is special and precious. It is so sweet how you would ask me to sit beside you to watch your fave movies over and over and over again.

8. To go to bed early and always get enough rest
This one is obvious - tired kids mean whiny and difficult kids; not to mention kids who fall ill easily.

Finally, it's Tom's Birthday Party

25 Oct

Like Peanut, I too was very much looking forward to Tom's birthday party... so that life can move on and I can be asked more challenging questions by my No. 1. For the past one week, I had been asked the same question in different forms everyday, "Are we going to Tom's house today?" "Is it Tom's birthday today?" "When are we going to Tom's house?" "Are we going to Tom's birthday party?" "Mama, why are we not going to Tom's birthday party?"

It was a lovely place tucked away in a quiet part off the busy Holland Road. It was spacious, sitting atop a sloping road, with a sprawling front porch and had the old world charm of a black and white colonial bungalow (designed with lots of windows for light and ventilation) - though it was actually the ground floor apartment unit of a block comprising of 4 units. Oh, almost forgot, Tom is Peanut's classmate in pre-school. He's the Caucasian boy with a blue party hat, in the shape of a crown, on his head in the photos.

The front porch had an adult size trampolin on one side, a swing at the furthest end with a stone bench next to it and our hosts thoughtfully laid out various kiddie games - a small tub of bubble solution with all sorts of fun wands, a bigger tub filled with water for 'catching' fishes using a rod with a magnet attached, bowling pins, mini-trampolin for the toddlers. There was this huge wooden train set in the study room, all kinds of toys strewn ("nicely laid out" was the original state when we first arrived as the first guests) in the living hall and a drum set in Tom's bedroom - which turned out to be S.P's favourite. The clown was the only professional act - everything else was DIY, including the b.d. cake. This is what a birthday party should be. It takes very gracious (or very brave) hosts to open their house in this manner to kids ranging from a crawling baby to 5 y.o. - the aftermath was honestly, painful to the eyes ... but most importantly, the kids had a wonderful time.

We celebrate SP's 2nd Birthday

5 July 2009

Still distinctly remembered the full month celebration for SP ... sure miss having a baby in the house. Here's a recollection of some of the horror stories in the past 2 years:

Horror Story 1 - Date: @ about 6 m.o Time: 8pm Venue: Home

SP fell from the bed head first with his face hitting the floor. Blood started to stream from his nose, dripped onto the floor and as I carried him, onto my left sleeve. During those few heart-stopping minutes, I had to ignore the pale fear-stricken face on Wati, held onto SP's nose to stop the bleeding, pretended to be calm so as not to scare Peanut, comfort a wailing SP, issued orders to gather some stuff and called my husband to come home so I could send SP to a doctor.

Horror Story 2 - Date: 5 Oct 2008 Time: 11pm Venue: Home

SP threw out his milk (his vomit propelled in a fountain aka merlion) and his fever hit 39 degree celcius. I had to rush him to the A&E at KK Children Hospital. We spent an hour there, amidst other more sickly children/wailing babies who were also running high fever and vomitting. Appeared that a virus had been passing around. SP, in contrast, didn't appear as sickly; his fever even subsided whilst we were there.

Horror Story 3 - Date: 5-7 Mar 2009 Venue: Home

SP had severe diarrhea but did not run any fever - had loose bowels 7 times in a day, couldn't even retain any fluids. For the first time, I had to use a suppository on him. It was a first for me - the other first and only time was when Mr M, my husband, used it on Peanut and he swore that he would never want to touch another suppository - he was overwhelmed by guilt as if he had betrayed his son's trust in him and that he was inflicting some kind of torture notwithstanding protesting cries and pleading. Very complex. Anyway, that was not the horror part of the story. The true horror was after having had loose bowels for 7 times in a day, going without food and milk, SP was still chasing his brother in a game of catching and was jumping about like usual ...

And here's an update on SP's growing vocab of Singlish, English, Mandarin and Cantonese:

1. Aiya (Oh dear)

2. See lah (I told you so)

3. Nah (Here it is) e.g. Nah, your turn (handing over the telephone after a short conversation with popo)

4. No touch... no touch me please, ok?

Editorial comment: I was caressing him when he said that. Figured that I might as well start learning to cope with such rejection ... boys can be so hurting .. boo hoo hoo.

5. 你看 / Yok (i.e 'look')

6. Goodnight, 晚安, 早tou (in Cantonese), 早晨 (in Cantonese)

7. wan ton meen (Cantonese for wanton noodle)

8. I hungry; eat lice (read 'rice'), eat noodle, eat chicken (all in one breadth which can be summarised in a single word- famished)

9. I tired, on light (read 'off light')

Happy Birthday Popo

1 May 2009

My mum is born in the year of the tiger. In ancient China (not so ancient actually, it was still practiced by some families 2 generations ago ... and not just in China, it happened ... surprise, surprise,.. in Singapore too. Gate of Hope, CHIJ), girls born in the year of the tiger, especially those born in the evenings, were killed (unthinkable, cruel, but true), abandoned or given away as they were believed to bring harm to the family. What about boys, one would naturally ask. Oh, they are too precious to be the subject of superstitions ... Luckily for my mum, my late grandpa loved his daughters as much as, if not more than, his sons. As a matter of fact, he doted on his granddaughters more so than his grandsons.

Peanut's 3rd Birthday

Thank you,

Yipo (grandaunt) for the set of Bob-the-Builder clothes which mama says I'll have to wait 2 or maybe 3 years later to wear;

Sheryl and Sherlyn bil-yi (aunt) for coming despite being in the midst of their exams;

Ah B kor kor for finding time to join us;

Auntie Wati for shopping for a set of blue clothes which was my bd request;

Popo (grandma) for the fire engine with a really loud siren - which I chose;

Yima (aunt) for the bua-yi towel costume which will match perfectly with my bua-yi hat - perfect costume for Halloween;

Ye-ye (grandpa) for another pen to my collection of pens that are not to be used;

Nai-nai (grandma) for the choo choo trains jigsaw puzzle which can join up to form a 9-feet long train;

Kow-gong (granduncle) for the play-doh barbeque set - you know I always enjoy cooking;

Elaine Bil-yi for the Sesame Street book;

Auntie J and TT for the fire engine book and the Sesame Street book which comes with a camera - how did you guess that I'm into fire engines (amongst trains, aeroplanes, helicopters, cars, motor bikes, excavators, trucks, car-carriers)?

Mama for the wall decor and the bd cake - just what I wanted;

and the ang-pows from nai nai, popo, gu-che (aunt) - I wonder how many toys I can buy with the money ... maybe a Maserati when I'm old enough to drive one. Mama and I just checked it out a week back, but she says I can't buy it with my 10 cent coin;

and most of all, everyone for coming to my bd party though it must be really boring for them; luckily the food mama catered from Deli Hub was yummy.

From Mama to Peanut:

Thank you, because of you,

I am constantly reminded of the joy and comfort of a simple hug and kiss on the cheek

I actually enjoy preparing for bd parties .. and I thought I was done with organising a party for life after my wedding dinner party

I can finally sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in Chinese

I learn how to take 'no' for an answer repeatedly without the slightest dent to my self-esteem

I get to sharpen my negotiation skills, practice quick-thinking all the time

I have healthier home cooked meals with less salt, less sugar, less seasoning and a diet with more fruits

I understand the importance of being organised, planning ahead, making contingency plans .. and learn to be at peace even if things don't turn out as planned

I become more responsible for my actions and my words as I feel like a pair of tiny eyes and ears are following me everywhere. Bless you, you are more effective than a religious preacher. No wonder people say a baby is a God-sent.

I discover the luxury of having a bath or taking a pee without being disturbed

I become more humble as I realise there is so much that I don't know, each time you asked, "why?"

I started this blog ... and amazed my techy husband who is able to take a computer apart and build it up from scratch.