Drinking from a Straw

One thing that Jay does very well, is to drink from a straw. And while he is 26 months, he started straw-drinking very early. And coupled with the fact he didn’t enjoy drinking from a bottle, he quickly made the leap to drink from a bottle by the time he turned 1 year old.

In fact, the person to blame thank cause this early development of straw drinking was none other than Aunty Teresa!

I happened to open my hard disk, and saw these old photos. Felt inspired to post them!

When Jay was just 10 months old (the dates of the photos tell me it was 21 November 2008), Aunty Teresa introduced him to water chestnut drink, and he then learnt how to suck from a straw.

Even then, you can see how “hungry” he was! Haha!

(Don’t ask me why he was shirtless… ask the perpetrator, Aunty Teresa!)

My Funny Son

Jayvon has the quirkiest sense of humour, I tell ya!

A few nights ago, as I was laying on the bed with him, putting him to sleep, he suddenly turned to me and said…

“Mommy, I want chup chup.”

“What?!? What’s that?”

“Chup-Chup. I want chup-chup!”

I was still in a state of confusion. My first thought was this…

But then Jay elaborated…

“Mommy, I want to suck chup-chup!”

Realisation struck me.

He was talking not about lollipops, but about this:

A baby pacifier!

If you follow my blog regularly, you’d probably realised that photos of Jay with a pacifier hanging off his mouth is practically non-existent, and you are right! Even as a baby, he disliked the pacifier. Not for the want of trying. I probably bought about 5 different types of pacifiers in the first few months of Jay’s birth. Not to mention countless more bottles. And he just didn’t take very much to pacifiers or bottles in particular.

So when he, at a “ripe old” age of 26 months wanted a chup-chup, I knew he was just trying to be funny (and push back bedtime! Haha!)

This phrase “chup-chup” wasn’t even introduced by us. Even with my mother, I nagged at her incessantly and kept reminding her to use proper English words with Jay. No “orh-orh” when you can say “poo”, and no “mum-mum” when it is simply “eat”!

I went on to “interrogate” Jay…

“Who has a chup-chup?”

Cheeky smile… “Nicolas has chup-chup!” (Nicolas is his good friend in Little Big)

“Anyone else?”

Thinking here… “Hmmm….”

“Does Rachel have a chup-chup? Does Zachary?”

A pretty non-committal “Hmm.”

So I changed tack. “So, who doesn’t have a chup-chup?”

Cheeky smile again. “Miss Yun no chup-chup.”

“How about Miss Yi? Does Miss Yi have a chup-chup?”

“Nooo… but I want chup-chup. I want chup-chup. I want chup-chup…”

I finally figured a way out.

I made up a funny little song. That simply went…

“Big boys…. don’t need chup-chup!
Bom bom bom bom…
Big boys don’t need chup-chup!”

Jay was so tickled by the song and the lyrics, he happily went to sleep. Without a chup-chup. Knowing that he was a big boy, and therefore in no need of one.

But being the cheeky little thing, he asked for a chup-chup again last night!

This song will be in my repertoire for a while more, I think. Either that, or I WILL go and buy a pacifier for him, just to see how he will react to it. Haha!

Picasso in the making?

I never really had a creative side. Art? Craft? Bleh… I barely suffered through these topics in my school days.

I must admit, I was a bit concerned about Jay, cos I noticed very few photos of him dabbling during his art and craft classes at Little Big. Haha! I’ve always seen photos of his classmates happily doodling away, but seldom of him.

So I was glad to see these new photos over last week!

 

F&N, Anyone?

I am so proud of my colleague, Klessis, cos she got into the final selection of bloggers chosen to cover the Singapore Dance Delight.

And I tell you, she has won, and is in the running to win, some cool stuff! She is now in in the final leg to compete for the grand prize… a trip to Japan! How cool is that?

She has “F&N-ized” the entire office, and did up a rib-tickling video of some of the staff extolling the virtues of everyone’s favourite drink.

Check out this blog entry!

Great Toy For Kids!

Firstly, I have no idea how this popped into Jayvon’s toy box.

I think it is a Christmas present for him.

So, if you were the one to give Jay this present, we’re infinitely grateful!

What is it, you ask?

Here’s a clue…

Yes! Crayons!

But no ordinary colouring tools…

It’s the “True to Life” crayons from Crayola. And the interesting thing is each crayon has a mixture of colours, making the final product that much more interesting.

Jay & I spent an hour exploring these pretty crayons, and he was tickled by the colours!

Here’s our creation…

This is a fun toy and easy to use, and makes even the simplest creation look so much nicer! Definitely gets my thumbs up!

(And no, this ain’t a advertorial… Haha! I WISH!)

Disappointments

Sometimes life gets you down. We talk about disappointments, and it is oft said that a mark of maturity is in your ability to handle disappointments.

Certainly, if you google for quotes on disappointments, it does say so…

“The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire; the size of your dream; and how you handle disappointment along the way.” (Robert Kiyosaki – motivational speaker & author of Rich Dad Poor Dad)

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” (Martin Luther King Jr)

“Man must be disappointed with the lesser things of life before he can comprehend the full value of the greater.” (Edward G Bulwer-Lytton)

Of late, I was thinking on this subject, and I think there are two sides to this coin.

Most speak of when people, things or situations disappoint us, and certainly, our reactions to these disappointments and our ability to rise above difficult situations, and to forget and forgive, do show our maturity as a person.

 
(Photo credit: Flickr)

But when we ourselves are the ones to disappoint? When our actions or lack thereof cause our friends, family or colleagues to be let down?

A mark of maturity is also in how we handle being disappointing.

As a cell group leader for so many years, I’ve seen how my members handle being a disappointment. Some run away, and choose to avoid the person they have disappointed, be it man or God Himself. They choose to forget the problem and issue by running away from situations that remind them of it. I’ve seen others who may not physically absent themselves, but yet they choose to absolve themselves of blame by pointing the finger at another person. Yet others choose the “high road”. They suck it up. Accepting blame, accepting responsibility, and facing the ones they have disappointed with great humility and contrition.

It’s easy to imagine how you might react when you are faced with a situation where you have disappointed. Not so easy when you’re going through it. To any of my dear readers who might be going through the “fire”, I pray you will quickly find resolution from within, and from  without.

Jayvon’s Featured on City News Weekly!

Check out this week’s issue of City News Weekly… and you’ll find a familiar face.

It’s none other than Ed, Daddy blogger and a good long-time friend.

And we are featured too! :)

Well, it shows a screenshot of THIS blog, but the blog addy’s that of Jay’s blog. Hahaha! Well, these two blogs are pretty intertwined. Go check out my prince’s blog now!

Resorts World Singapore… Our First Peek!

After our very full lunch, we decided to pop over to Sentosa to see Resorts World, to check out the place (and work off some calories with the walking!).

During out honeymoon, we went to Vegas, and I remember seeing those grand casinos and being in awe of their magnitude and beauty!

The Bellagio…

 
(Photo credit: Flickr)

New York New York

 
(Photo credit: Flickr)

First impression of Resorts World?

Not very subtle. As the very first casino operated in this nation, it was pretty obvious that that was the main draw. The look of the place also reminded me more of Genting rather than Vegas! Haha! Probably has to do with the developer. That being said, I am looking forward to seeing Marina Sands when it is up!

High archways, and those lit-up signboards along the pathway are quintessentially Genting!

We were excited tourists!

We had heard so much about Victoria’s Secret, it was naturally that this was one of our stop-points!

Singapore’s first VS Store! But I think I will stick to feeding my VS addiction frenzy craving online as the store here is small with an even smaller selection.

The guys watching the VS show, as it was playing in the TV screens outside the shop front. Apparently it was the 2008 show. Which we all didn’t know. Except for one in our party. And the most unexpected one. Haha!

A sneak peek at one of the 4 (I think!) hotels within Resorts World…

I loved these colourful paper lanterns hanging in the hotel lobby!

2 naked statues… I took a while to understand this artpiece, till I caught a glimpse of this at the foot of the naked lady statue…

A bitten apple! Aah… so they’re supposed to be Adam and Eve? Ah well… Strange nonetheless.

Apart from the “usual” photo-taking points, the lobby of the hotels are another hot gathering spot for a very simple reason. Some awesomely awesome cars line the hotel lobbies! There were so many people taking photos of these cars, and posing beside them, this was the best shot I can muster! Haha!

Before we ended our short foray in Resorts World, we popped by the Hershey’s store. Now, this reminded me most of Vegas! There was an M&M store there, and just entering in was a high!

Shilin was drawn to this store too!

And who wouldn’t like it? Check out these HUGE bottles of Hershey’s strawberry syrups! Yummy? Haha… they’re actually piggy banks!

So pretty, no?

Lunch With My Buddies

I have some awesome friends in my life. We’ve been friends for so long it seems kinda surreal. They’ve seen Nic & I through (most of) our courtship days, were right there with us through our wedding preparations and the actual 3-day affair itself, helped to scrub our new house where we were enjoying ourselves in USA after the wedding… The list is pretty endless. Of course, apart from the hard work, they’re also a source of great fun and laughter!

April marks Johnson & my birthdays. In case you didn’t already know, Johnson is Jayvon’s godpa. Cos Johnson says so.

And Melvin is Uncle Wii. Long story, but just so you know… Uncle Wii owes Jayvon a wii. Just so you know.

Anyways, we met for lunch at Vivocity’s No Signboard Restaurant. We were all a little confused as to the cuisine for the day, so in the end we ordered the usual dim sum and 1 chilli and 1 white pepper crab. Yes. For lunch.

Jay and I were the first to arrive. The rest filtered within the hour (cue deep sigh here), and so we settled for some fried rice first, to ease Jay’s hunger pangs.

It was pretty yummy! Boded well for the entire meal.

Here’s some of the dim sum we had. Not all the pictures are in… I was also busy eating it up too! Haha!

Char Siew pastry… I liked this!

Har Gao. Hmm… I don’t remember eating this though! Haha!

Mini-egg tarts. So-so. I prefer the ones at the Tung Lok Restaurant at Paramount Hotel.

My favourite dish. White Pepper Crab. No Signboard is one of the few? only? places in Singapore that has the white pepper crab version, rather than the spicier black pepper one. It was so delicious, and smelt so good… Unlike the black pepper version which I feel can numb your tongue pretty fast, this white pepper version is not as spicy and tangy. In fact, Jayvon loves this! He ate most of the pincer meat!

We ordered the chilli crab as well, which was pretty okay, but honestly,  my heart is still with the white pepper version.

We were really really stuffed. There were plenty of other food that I didn’t have time to take photos of, like their mee goreng (nice!), siew mais, char siew paos, carrot cake (I liked this!) and much, much more!

Can never forget the cake… and we also managed to wipe this clean as well.

Jayvon’s eyes cannot leave the candles. Haha! He couldn’t wait to blow them!

His Amazing Voice

I am a fan.

He is simply amazing. Blew me off my armchair!

If you close your eyes, you really cannot imagine Lin Yu Qun to be the singer.

No wonder he is known as Taiwan’s Susan Boyle. You have to hear him to believe him!

This was his first week on the show. Woe to the contestants who had to (and will have to) face him… Yikes!

This was his next song on the show… Taking on the Queen herself – Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You.

I mean, most GIRLS I know cannot sing this! But he does it effortlessly.

Like I said.

I am a fan!

A Healthy Bento

I recently made a ‘pilgrimage’ to Daiso. I was never a fan of this storewide $2 store, always thinking it smacks of an “auntie”-air! Hahaha!

Maybe I’m old-ER, but I do enjoy the shop for a simple reason…

Daiso stocks some pretty nice Bento accessories! Gosh, I went twice, and spent more than $30 in total, without knowing!

Here’re some of my recent Bento weapons equipment.

Seaweed cutters, cute toothpicks, food separators and cute trays!

On Saturday, I decided to start on my second-ever Bento for Jayvon! Read about my first Bento attempt here.

I used this pretty yellow box I bought from Daiso…

And here’s how the bento looks like!

 

I steamed broccoli, baby carrots and sweetcorn as a side dish. Green, orange and yellow… looks so pretty and colourful!

Cocktail sausages and crabsticks, skewered by these pretty animal toothpicks.

Plus square-shaped rice balls (I mean, rice squares? Err…) with cut-out heart-shaped seaweed, and carrot animals to boot.

Jay and the Alphabet

One of the usual questions I would ask Jayvon is “What did you do in school today?”

After the usual standard answer he gives me, “Playground!”, he would then go on to give me more info.

This time round, as I brought him on a cab ride, on our way to meet some friends for dinner, he surprised me by saying the entire alphabet from A to Z, at one go! Compared to a month ago, when the letters swirled together, this time round, he managed to make it more distinct. (except for the L-M-N-O-P part haha!)

I was pretty amazed. So amazed I whipped out my blackberry and asked him to repeat his “stunt”, which he willingly did so.

I am one proud mommy :)

My Transformed Life

I use the term “pre-Jayvonian days” a fair bit in my blog.

Contrasting my life then, and my life now.

Sure, there are major changes. And major adjustments that had to be made. But really, Jay is now 26 months. And those “pre-Jayvonian days” are but a distant memory.

Watching midnight movies? Being able to make it for last-minute appointments at the drop of a hat? Working late late late hours in the office? Sleeping through the night (ok, this ain’t so bad now)? Waking when I want to wake (this is the killer now…)?

What IS that like? Haha! I have forgotten. Now, Nic & I would “exchange notes” on the plans that we have, and the arrangements for Jay for the week. It’s like it is now centred upon… “Ok, ok… so you have this on. Hmm… What about Jay? Who’s going to look after him?” And now with him being in Little Big the entire day, our time with him becomes all the more limited, and therefore that much more precious.

It’s like… my life has been totally and irreparably changed.

Oh, for the better, definitely.

His cheeky face and ability to say the funniest things brings a smile to my face, no matter the kind of day I had. I am a naturally “I” (sanguine) person, and things seldom get me down for too long. But he certainly helps to ease the difficulties.

I think I’ve mentioned this probably ad nauseum throughout this blog, and if you’re a single or married with no kids yet, you probably may baulk at me saying such things. But I think all parents will concur. That our kids are probably the best gift God can give us. (I mean, after our spouses, of course… without them, ya know, the kids can’t come around! Haha…)

Bad, err I mean, True Romance!

The CHC Easter team really outdid themselves once again. It was an emotionally-charged drama, and both the high and low points were nicely played out!

This is my favourite part of the drama… Jesus is our best Friend! Lady Gaga never sounded so good!

My “Extended Family”

Working in church is super fun, and when it comes to birthday celebrations, it is a blast as well!

Apart from my HR & Admin colleagues, now I have an “extended” family in the Graphics and Publications people. And gosh, they are one LOUD and fun bunch! Meals with them usually end up with side-splitting giggles and loud gaffaws!

(I have never heard the Happy Birthday song butchered so…)

I thank God for such a great working environment and totally awesome colleagues!

Us April babies :)

Maiden Bento Attempt

Almost a month back, on a wild whim, I tweeted a while back that I felt like making Bento sets for Jayvon. It was because I saw Jay so taken with a “Bear-shaped” container when we went for dinner, that this thought entered my head. Well I got such a lot of “YES YOU SHOULD”s replies, I thought I’d better try my hand at it soon.

I quickly made my way to Daiso to grab some bento-making weapons equipment, and waited for the “right” time to start on my maiden attempts. I surfed other bento-making sites to get ideas, thought of how I wanted to do it.

And then stuff happened. Work work and more work.

But a good thing about a long weekend is that somehow time is more on your side. I took the opportunity of the Easter weekend, and on last Saturday dabbled a little into the art of bento making.

REALLY??

Is this your first day knowing me?

Of course that is not me! This is more me.

In my dreams.

Hahaha!

I am so setting myself up for a fall by putting these yummylicious bento sets that when I show you my creation, you may fall off your chair. Laughing. Or in shock. Or whatever.

So let me put your down nicely…

Remember…

Manage your expectations.

Though I put a bit of thought into my bento set… reality was I only decided to actually DO the bento on Saturday itself. Which meant not much thought really went into ingredients and all.

Plus the fact my star-shaped hard boiled egg majorly failed.

And became kinda squarish.

And so I think you are sufficiently ready.

.

.

.

See the square eggs? They were supposed to be STAR-SHAPED, I tell ya!

Oh, and I realised I should get a bento box with double layers, so that I can at least spread fruits on one level.

Erm, well… I will remember that. On my next attempt! Hahaha…

(Photo credits: 1, 2)