The dragonfly's trauma

Well, this is closest to kampung style living you would get in Singapore. Dragonfly in a tub, boys half-naked running wild and terrorizing little insects. What more can you ask for... although I think the dragonfly will beg to differ.

en shopping

Brought En to the supermarket that night, and he was really enjoying his ride on the shopping cart, weaving through the aisle and pointing at everything and say "THERE". (That's another word to his limited vocab of "car","ba" (which I shamelessly associate with "Pa"), "bear","where","bathe" and of course "THERE".)





His hands were everywhere, poking at the cereal and wanting to take a bottle of water (which incidentally was much bigger than him) from the shelf. No wonder kids are hazard in the shopping centre!

(Notice his bruise nose has turned purple. Very macho - ha ha).




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Meantime, xuan smiling (as usual) at home.

Fireman En

I dunno what to say. Melanie (maid) says En now bears the mark of College Green i.e. a bruised nose he gathered after chasing after a ball that is half the size bigger than his head and falling face down onto the Court. He cried for a while but went on to get the ball while at it. It was funny at first - with him and the red nose, but it turned deep purple today and it looks damn gross. His legs are full of mozzie bites. This is kind of typical of the kids here, and I reckoned it's fine for character building ha ha (Said like Calvin's father, i.e. Calvin and Hobbes). Doc says apply lots of lotion, and I did. Not helping a lot though, the mozzie bites look like twenty cent coins.

And he enroute to role playing and is ready for dressing up now. We bought him a fireman hat from Toys 'R' Us, and he enjoys putting them on for the camera. The same day, we saw his cousin Kai Kai riding a bicycle outside in his Superman costume. Apparently he wore this to his violin class and was "suan" by his teacher to play like Superman.

Growing up nowadays is fun.

fatherhood explored

I purposely forced my good friend Kok to carry baby xuan to test his aptitude for fatherhood, and I must admit he surprised me with the tender, loving manner he handled xuan. He was coo-ing and talking to him in a tone I have never heard before. Ha Ha.

Think when you are the only one in the clique with children (and two for that matter), you kind of want to "pull" your friends along this road of no return. You keep telling them tales of your adventure and misadventure with your children, in a bid to brainwash them into thinking that having kids is exactly like what they portray in pro-family ads you see on TV (Why the typical couple always have kids of both gender, when it seems that I only can produce sons - does that mean that I not perfect family?)

It brings me back to two days ago when I tried to conjure multiple reasons for blinkymummy in an online debate on why couples should have kids. Can't really remember what I wrote, but they are all lame to be honest. I guess different couples have different reasons, or they try to think of one so that they can justify and convince themselves that having kids is their calling.

For me, I love kids and I think having them makes a family complete (along with my dogs). It could actually boil down to the fact that I'm the only child and I often yearn for the company of siblings. I was lucky cos' when I was about 10 years old, my parents decided to move in one floor below my aunty who has five children. Immediately, they became my pseudo-siblings and I still see them as my sisters and brothers now. It was a family that was always filled with laughter, and the initmacy was infectious. Hence, I decided, quite young then, that I wanted a family like theirs with children - and lots of them if possible.

I conclude that there is no "magnificent" or "revered" reason to have children. Neither should it be seen as a duty or resposibility to your ancestors. Most of the reasons are selfish, but the efforts we have put in to bring up the kids (so that they wouldn't let you vomit blood in future) is selfless. And it has been a wonderful journey to date. And the best part is, you will never know until you are a parent. Ha Ha.

What do they eat?

Eh, sometimes I dunno what kids eat nowadays... the little one doesn't look like a baby lo, he looks like a boy (think I am talking rubbish).

He seems to be relishing his days at College Green. Walking non-stop around the house, stomping on the deck, playing with a basketball that is bigger than him - basically an energizer bunny that goes non-stop. The open space seems to suit him well, minus the mozzies which leave big red scar all over his legs.

Man in pink

We dressed En in his new fusia pink shirt, and added a sweet clip to top it all up. I would have to admit that he did look pretty. Ok, it is not our intention to confuse the little one, but we still have people asking whether En is a girl or boy. And I'm getting quite tired of answering them. Anyway, this outfit definitely would do little to help clarify matters ... ha ha.

Anyway, we brought both kids to Dr Lee for their jabs right after this photo-shoot, for another kind of shot. En was enjoying and keeping himself quite busy with the toys in the clinic, unaware of the trauma he would face a short while later. He cried like mad after his two jab, and we did not have the heart (nor would he understand) that it would be deja vu two months later.

Little Xuan had his 5 in 1 jab, and which developed into a fever today. Poor boy.

Hand me down

Baby En reminiscing the happy times he spent lying on this cot watching the same little prince mobile just er... 12 months ago? How time flies. Now, his brother Xuan is hogging the cot, using the same bean bag, and watching the same mobile and seeking solace in the same soothing tunes.

Also see the interesting Kodak moment video on babyenyap.blogspot.com.

Return of the mahjong prodigy

Yes, the return of the mahjong prodigy - the mahjong table and beyond.

After a wonderful lunch excursion to his namesake - En's house (THANKS) - where he roamed the house as if he owned it, poked a golden retriever (Pebbles) twice his size on the head, made a mess of the dining table, hid a lego toy at every corner of the house, baby En returned home and continued to make his mark at the mahjong table. Grandpa and aunty succumbed to his mahjong prowess where he totally hogged the tiles and refused to give anyone any tiles he fancied (or he reckoned they fancied) - already the making of a great mahjong player.



I'm so going to get flamed for this.....

Scared or not?

It's a fine line between a mischievous kid and a hyperactive kid. At the age of one, you don't know whether you kid's exuberance falls into which category. En is at that age, and displaying signs of being over active. He's like an energizer bunny, and can go on and on and on and on..... dragging you around the house. Of course, his grandparents are in denial and said that we are paranoid, and that this behaviour is cute. Of course lah, they only see him once or twice every week leh. Although his nanny says his fine too.

One night, he was reading his puppy book and suddenly went hysterical. He started to laugh and then kept on banging the book on the floor. He even licked the book (like a puppy)...eeks. I don't know whether to laugh or start to get worried. Maybe is because I keep saying rearing children is like keeping a dog - either my theory is right - or a 'sublimal side effect' arising from our parenting method. He is turning out like Momo (our corgi).

En - The Mahjong Prodigy?

I think this is the only video neither my wife nor I want to post in our respective blog. It is a classic 'violation' of all the sacred parenting handbooks. But since I am already not a firm follower of parenting handbook (see my first posting), I will do the honour of presenting to you "En - The Mahjong Player".



Ok, some backgrounder before I get slammed by netters. We play mahjong almost every weekend - and instead of Mozart & Beethoven - En was stimulated by the clashing and banging of mahjong tiles, the shouts of "pong", "kang" and "hoo" throughout the nine months of pregnancy and when he was an infant. I did a small experiment one day, and realized he slept like a ... er well ... baby in the same room we played mahjong. As he was growing up, he was always keen to see us play mahjong and would sit ..almost quietly beside us... while we play. He would even arch his head to see our tiles.

Happy New Year

Ok, we received the Year 2007 in our normal way - mahjong and fireworks, albeit with fewer number of people this year as wifey is till doing confinement. Wife and I won $23 from her parents in mahjong, and we watched the spectacular fireworks (probably for the last time) from our flat in Cantonment - dig the ones that flared from the rooftops of some buildings in the CBD. None of the kids were awake, and we had no intention of waking them up in the middle of the night for this.

Wife and I are quite strict about bedtime - and our elder son would be in bed by 9.30 pm (used to be 8 pm a few months back). So we are generally quite appalled when we see parents with blurry eyed kids shopping or having supper late at night. We reckoned it is because either i) they don't have maid / someone at home to help tend to kids while they need to run their errands or ii) they are trying to make up for lost time with their kids. If it's the latter, I think it's very uncalled for - it's not good for the kids - they need the sleep. It also enforce discipline and gives you some time at night to spend time together. Even if we are at someone else's place, we make sure we find him somewhere to sleep at the same time until we leave.

Though some of our friends are still quite bewildered as to why we avoid bringing kids to wedding dinners or for night outings as per other parents. For the record, wedding dinners start at 8.30 pm - BEDTIME!!! I don't want to bring a kid there, only to find that when the dinner is about to start, he starts getting cranky the entire night. Well, it's different parenting style, and this is something worth picking up from the western school of thoughts.

Happy New Year folks. And to my pals -sorry can't spend both NY and X-mas with you guys this year - must have been fun.

Alice in wonderland

Ok, you can say I am kind of 'cheapo'. I saw a similar piece in Wild Child that cost more than $150 bucks, so I thought it would be nicer and cheaper if I did it for the boys myself. It would at least truly be from me to them. So I went to Spotlight, picked up a board, some acrylic paint and sandpaper, downloaded some pictures of 'Alice in the wonderland' and piece them together to form a drawing.
< ----------- See the raw layout (decided to do away with Cheshire Cat) It was hard work. I am fine with drawing and painting, but I am not particularly good with crafts. But I am quite please with the final piece, notice I even signed off as Papa 2006 Dec - impressive hor. (Think it looks better tinted) Ha Ha.

Brotherhood

It's funny and endearing when you see your sons bond. This is the advantage of having your children close in terms of age. En and his bro is only 15 months apart, and En is too young to understand that this other being is here to share his parents love and toys. He is likely to grow up getting use to the shared attention with his bro (I hope) though the downside is they will probably fight through their growing years. The grandpa said they will likely form a brotherly alliance to terrorise other kids in the neighbourhood and school.

At the moment, he is curious about his bro, respond well to the term "di-di" (brother), but seems to stick to me like glue more than ever. Maybe he does sense something. He doesn't take well to me carrying his bro, and his beloved nanny tried once and he wailed.

Well, we tried taking a brotherly kind of photo and clip before I tear down the X-mas tree. As I mentioned earlier, this is probably the last time they are celebrating X-mas in 16 Cantonment Close. Next year, it will be at College with all their cousins.

Let's go to the zoo, there's lots of things to do...

Plans to go to the zoo was aborted since the wife is too tired. Pretty good weather today, but ended up browsing the zoo website instead. Found out a few things about the zoo, first - is damn bloody expensive now to go there. I thought "Friends of the Zoo" membership used to be cheap, now cost a bomb - family package from $170 - 280 bucks! Ok-lah, maybe if I go every weekend, maybe worth it. Second, the "adopt an animal" programme caught my eye, good to get for the kids as their birthday present one day - can teach them some lessons in wildlife preservation some more, not bad - can adopt hippopotamus (love the word) and "big-nose" probi-something (and too lazy to check) monkey. Wish got tiger or lion, En loves 'em and can "roar" fiercely too (must take a clip someday). I also clicked on the Career option, wonder whether I can be tram driver for a career change, like not bad. I know when I retire, I will become a tour guide, I love showing people around and helping tourist in distress ha ha.

Is there such a jingle, or is it my imagination. It keeps ringing in my head as I type this ... "Let's go to the zoo, there's lots of things to do.... blah blah."

Also recently, there's big publicity about Inuka the polar bear. Which reminds me, CL was the poster girl for the Zoo ad featuring Inuka mother (I think) many years ago. Ha Ha. She's all grown up and still as cute (maybe now should be pretty) as ever (though I haven't seen her for a while - how are you doing Cai-li) ha ha. Maybe they should like recall all these people in some Zoo Anniversary or something, quite interesting. Like the time when my cousins (all five of them) appeared in the MacDonald's Ad decked in white shirts and jeans when it was Mac's dunno how many years Anniversary. Ying told me she was one of the first in the queue when Mac's first outlet in Liat Towers opened. (They stayed in Anguilla Park then). Ha Ha.

Baby Xuan Video Clip

First video clip of baby Xuan.



Ok ok, I know this video is a bit boring. But it's not much different from the other boring video that new parents take of their children and force you to watch them a gadzillion times rite? At least I put it on the blog and you can CHOOSE to watch it if you like. But do watch it, it's boringly kind of cute. Anyway, of course it's boring, what else can a newborn baby do leh? If you want a funny one, see En En one below - now that's cute. I think a use the word boring a little bit too many times. Boring.

Baby En and Momo the dog

This is probably the best video we have taken so far of En and Momo, which also explains why it is in all our blogs. It shows how En interacts with Momo, with a rojak of intrigue, love and fear all at the same time. En is totally in love with the dog, either that or he's little mind is already scheming on how to ride that short and long moving mammal, once he gets over the fear factor. I fear for Momo once the two boys grow up and she's older... sigh.

Of family portrait and 16 Cantonment Close

Every year, we will take a family photo by the X-mas tree. This was taken half-way through a mahjong session and before Xuan popped, courtesy of Binghong. As usual, we had a tough time getting a fatter momo to sit tight and En to look at the camera and smile (which he did not). This year's photo probably will carry more sentimental value given that this would likely be the last X-mas photo we take at 16 Cantonment Close before we move to College Green early next year. Sigh... an overwhelming gush of nostalgia just came all over me ...

We will miss this place. The small but cosy den we have called home for 5 years. We took great pain designing it and the good fengshui gave us two lovely boys (though I would love to find out how to re-position certain things so that I can still have my girl). The boys will probably not remember this place - hence the family photo! Can't find time to take with Xuan though... and Momo is currently having her little holiday at my parents place while we cope with Xuan, so we are one family member short!

Silent Night

Geez, another year-end holiday spent at the hospital. Ronald MacDonald Family Room at KK Hospital is actually quite cool and feels like a clean and quiet hostel with no drunk teenagers rampaging down the corridor. Facilities include a library, computer terminals (I am using one now), kitchen (with nice designer chairs, tables and ambience lights) and a kids room. We seem to be the luckier parent(s) as we believe other parents who stay in this place probably have a more serious and tramatising reality facing them. So far, I have seen a couple with a hollow glaze in their eyes (they have a baby who keeps crying) and a woman on wheelchair.

However, living away from home means we spend minimum time with baby En. While it is already common fact that I'm nos two in En's list of favourite person (his fav is his nanny), I have never really seen him so possessive as he did this evening. He seemed to know I'm going back to the hospital after fetching him home from nanny's place and kept his antenna on full alert once I attempted to slip off. The maid kept distracting him but it didn't seem to work. It finally worked after he was totally engrossed in his musical instruments. I felt bad. Think we should really spend more time with him - thinking of bringing him to the zoo to put a certain realism to the animal flash cards he had been taught. So far, he can recognise lion (he roars when he sees lion / tiger), giraffe, monkey and zebra. He also recognises dogs, cats and birds (which he will start to flap his 'wings') - which I suppose you cannot really find in zoos. But I realise that unless you are friend of zoo, the tickets bloody expensive hor.

Baby Xuan Part III

We survived the first night with baby Xuan at home with virtually no sleep and no confinement lady (who could not leave her village due to the "great m'sia flood"). Xuan poohed the whole night and could not seem to feed well. He was also turning redder and redder by the minute - which, from our fretful experience with baby En (see my earlier blog), we knew it was jaundice in the making. The first thing this morning, we sent him in to K.K Hospital (decided it was cheaper than Mt. E) where the Medical Officer confirmed our diagnosis, but deemed the jaundice level (at 230) not high enough for Xuan to be admitted - duh. Asked him how then would we know when to admit him, he said if the baby feeds well and passes out urine at least 5 times a day, he should be fine. He asked me to come back tomorrow morning to check on his jaundice level again and decide whether to admit him or not. Eh- not very convincing leh.

So both of us were well zonked for our first day. Luckily, Ling-jie (confinement) lady managed to hijack a bus which ploughed through the flood and came to Singapore at about 7.30 pm. We heaved a sigh of relief. And the moment she stepped in, everything fell into place. Even Xuan's seemingly oversized clothes seem to fit after she dabbled with them (when we dressed him, he looks scruffy and odd).

Am looking forward to my good night sleep tomorrow. And pray that Xuan's jaundice level dip.

The arrival of Xuan II

With babies, I reckon I am always like one-step behind. Can only upload photos today, but still haven't shot any photo of Xuan at home yet.

Today Xuan is officially named Yap Bao Xuan, Noel (which means Christmas and gift apparently). I am resisting Gillian's proposed Ye Bao Bei, and was extra careful not to write the wrong name due to some Freudian slip thing.

His birth cert is currently the hottest 4-D digit in the family with various permutation. As per baby En, I wrote the Chinese character of his name 叶保轩 , but did it better for the carbon copy. The original birth cert got one ugly handwriting. The officer asked whether anyone told me I could type using computer and save it as softcopy. Er.. no leh, nobody told me that. (My thoughts - why can't your bloody computer just incorporate a Chinese software leh. But the officer quite a nice lady so couldn't bear to scold her.)











Mummy and baby were discharged today. Bill was obscene. And cos' it's Saturday, I didn't get to go home in a limo...darn. And I though I could so didn't drive. It was raining when we got home.

Anyway Welcome Home chap.