Ziyu's and Zi'an's Wonderland 子宇子安欢乐园

Our Little Overall Champion

2012-01-15T22:19:00.003+08:00

Zi'An is the year 2011 champion for Little NeuroTree Program at Jurong East centre. We are proud of you!

November 2011 & December 2011

2012-01-15T22:08:00.004+08:00

Oh dear, I'm awfully late this month again...really have been busy. Wanted to give up updating this blog but I told myself I must go on because by doing so, there would be something for us to remember on in years to come.

In November, our big brother celebrated his 6th birthday. We got him an angry bird cake in school and he was very delighted to celebrate his birthday for the 4th and last time in his kindergarten. As for our little bull, he is getting very naughty and very talkative as the days go by. He knows how to argue, how to say "it's not fair!" and how to even ask the Daddy "to cane gor gor because gor gor is naughty." (but actually he's the naughty one).

As for December 2011, we had a very good getaway for one whole week of family time to neighbouring countries...it was great spending quality time with the boys!

October 2011

2011-11-13T00:56:00.003+08:00

This October is quite a special month for our Ziyu. He had his graduation concert this month and finally our big baby has graduated from his kindergarten. It also marks a new beginning for him to proceed to primary school next year.

As for Zi'An, he has been communicating to us quite bit. He would tell us about what Ziyu did if it's something naughty. He would also comment suddenly in the car "Many cars! Daddy, be careful!". However, he does get angry rather easily and would cry very loud! We really went through terrible two with Zi'An and finally knew what it meant. haha...but I guess it's all part of growing up.

ZiAn's First Song

2011-10-17T00:23:00.001+08:00

Zi'An started being able to sing quite some time ago...perhaps when he's about 2 years 4 months...I managed to capture him singing the complete Twinkle Twinkle Little Star 2 months ago...hehe. He also knows how to sing the complete ABC song.

September 2011

2011-10-16T00:45:00.004+08:00

This month is another happy month with the boys. We celebrated Mid-Autumn Festival and both boys passed their various assessments.

The big brother is busy with all his supplementary lessons but I must say he's enjoying everyone of them and has continued to improve. He enjoys swimming and loves to show me the various kinds of floats that he has learnt e.g. mushroom float, pencil float...hehe...He has also passed his abacus for the 2 basic levels of 11 and 10. Currently, he's pursuing level 9.

As for Zi'An, his communication skills improved a lot. We were surprised to hear him respond in the following conversation in the car that day:
Daddy: *sneeze*
Zi'an: Daddy, what happened?
Daddy: Daddy has sneezed. Daddy is sick.
Zi'An: Oh no..must drink more water.

At times, he would ask GT to be careful when he's driving on the road. He has passed his Little NeuroTree assessment as well. The next one is on word recognition and hopefully he can get through it as well.

Our Little Champion

2011-09-25T00:07:00.003+08:00

Zi'An has been with Little Neuro Tree for more than a year. Recently, they had a "Genius Olympiad" for each level of students. Zi'An is in year 2 and the kids have to complete a puzzle during the English and Chinese sessions and the teachers would time them. Our Zi'An did it the fastest among all. He got a medal for it and we are all so proud of him! Keep it up!

Learning Abacus

2011-09-12T23:12:00.003+08:00

Ziyu has been learning abacus for 8 months already. Recently, he has moved on to mental sums without physically using the abacus. It's quite fun looking at him doing the mental sums.

August 2011

2011-09-03T00:08:00.003+08:00

Another busy month with the boys.

Ziyu has exhibited more discipline this month. He would practise piano on his own the next day when being asked to do so the night before he sleeps. We are surprised that there are several assessments coming up for his various enrichment lessons like swimming and abacus. It's so stressful to be kids nowadays but I have confidence in my big boy :).

As for my little bull, he can speak quite a bit now. He's always in either a happy or angry mode..hahaha...never sad. Today, he was in the car and suddenly commented "I'm angry." We asked him why and he replied " Cuz no one sayang me!". Our Zi'An has assessment for his Little Neuro Tree classes as well and it would be on jigsaw puzzles. Hopefully, he can have enough concentration to complete the puzzles!

Basketball Fun

2011-08-22T23:16:00.004+08:00

Zi'An loves to play with balls quite a bit. Saw Giant selling a basketball toy at quite a bargain and hence decided to buy for the boys. GT reminded me to buy 2 and luckily I did! They both wanted to play and have their own net to shoot. They really had great fun :).

Angry Bird Craze

2011-08-14T23:02:00.004+08:00

Recently, Ziyu is quite crazy over the angry birds. We bought him some angry bird soft toys and of cuz for Zi'An as well. Ziyu's favourite is usually (since he always changes his mind and would say he likes all of them) the red one while Zi'An's favourite is the black one. Today, GT bought them each an angry bird lantern (far too early) and they have played with them eagerly in the morning.

July 2011

2011-08-09T01:21:00.002+08:00

We are so busy with work nowadays that we hardly have much time for our 2 little stars at home. Our big brother has registered for his Primary 1 and we look forward to his start of primary education next year. His big heart is bigger than ever. There was a gal in his class who always call him botak to make fun of him. We asked him to let her know it's rude to do that. I asked him whether he would call one of his big-sized classmate fat boy. He replied " No.... he just ate too much..".

As for our little bull, his concentration span has improved in his Little NeuroTree classes. He could also communicate 2 or 3 short sentences with us by now. He could also throw and catch a ball quite well.

June 2011

2011-07-10T17:44:00.005+08:00

I spent quite some time at home with the 2 boys this month...I must say they have grown a lot! Ziyu's abacus is getting very much better with lots of confidence and we are happy that he enjoyed doing the sums using mental abacus now.

Zi'An has learned well in his LittleNeuroTree classes as well. He can recognise numbers up to 14 by now and all the alphabets. He can recognise some of the chinese characters for numbers as well. He regularly asks us lots of questions like "Where is Daddy?; Why..?"...his whys are endless at times.

May 2011 & June 2011

2011-06-16T20:32:00.004+08:00

Wow...so late...late..hehe...I was very busy and going to be very busy again. Hence, before that, I have to quickly do up the 2 months of updates.

My boys have been growing a lot! It was a mixture of fun, frustrations and laughters being with them.

Zi'An is toilet-trained by end May. It was very remarkable since I think the whole process took barely a month. He's still very stubborn but can be quite obedient and sweet at times. He can say quite a few sentences by now which we can understand him most of the time.

As for Ziyu, we were proud that his music appears to pick up after we changed to a 1-to-1 arrangement for his music lessons. As for his abacus, he has improved a lot. He still needs practice but we know he can do it. Currently, looking into preparing him for Primary 1...I know we may be kiasu but who arent? haha..

March 2011

2011-04-10T14:29:00.002+08:00

Wow, I'm so late this month cuz I had been awfully busy at work!

Let's start with my younger one...well this little bull has been learning very fast in speech recently. He would use short sentences or phrases to communicate with us. For example, he could say requests such as "Mummy, come..." or "Open door." We are trying to toilet train him but guess we lack the discipline as it would be next year before he starts school...would have to start this month!

As for our big brother, he has started spelling and so far he has been disciplined enough to learn all of them diligently. He could also read on his own quite a bit now and showed interest in reading.

February 2011

2011-03-02T00:46:00.004+08:00

This is the special month for our little strong bull. Zi'An has finally turned 2! We brought him for a short cruise getaway for his birthday and were glad that both enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Zi'An can speak quite a bit by now. When he wants something, he would say "Daddy, please..." etc. If you give him something, he would say "q" if he remembers he has to say thank you. He could say 1 to 10 in both Chinese and English too and would sometimes rattle a string of letters in sequence.

As for Ziyu, he has matured a lot. That day, we were talking about something being ugly. He told us we should not say anything or anybody ugly. So I asked him then what should I have said. He replied"should say just a little bit nice." GT and me were all amazed and clapping our hands after hearing what he said. During the cruise trip, I wanted to return to our room and asked whether he would be following me, he replied "yes because I don't want you to be alone." He has exhibited great consideration and maturity in all these instances and we hope that he would continue to grow up this way. :)

January 2011

2011-02-06T00:06:00.005+08:00

It's the first month of a fresh new year with my 2 little ones. This year is the last year before they go on to Primary 1 and Nursery 1 next year. Must really try to prepare them for more challenging school lives next year.

Ziyu is developing well with lots of enrichment courses. We wanted to stop some but he's the one who wanted to continue so we tried to have a balance of work and play for him. He's a very positive child. That day, it was raining and he saw droplets on the car windows and he said it's like the sparkling juice that he drank on new year's day. With that, he looked extremely happy and satisfied again :). His imagination was cute too. He saw a tram-like bus on the road and commented that that was a special bus. I told him that HK has trams on the road and he remembered that we have taken that before. Then he asked whether they have brought the bus from HK to Singapore...hehe...

As for Zi'An, to our surprise, he can count! He would say "two" when we only gave him one piece of fruit or sweet and he could say "three" when we gave him 3 of a certain thing. He can also identify most of the alphabets now. We discovered his favourite snack this month and that is haw! He simply loves this sweet snack and never gets tired of eating it. He loves fruits and vegetables as well but not meat.

Calling everyone

2011-01-16T11:31:00.002+08:00

Sharing a video of Zi'An calling everyone. He could do that about 4 months ago.

Dec 2010

2011-01-02T22:18:00.009+08:00

We have finally come to the last month of 2010!

How's our little bull in this month? Well, he's growing stronger and more determined as the days go by and very confident too. I taught him how to count and he cannot count and say the numbers yet but he could point to each object once like counting when being asked to count. He could also identify a couple of letters like A to H and of course his favourite "O" which he will always say it loud when being asked. He's also able to identify some numbers like 1 and 9. Once he saw a bus with service number containing "9" on the road, he shouted "9"....He loves to say "Oh no!" as well which is quite funny every time he said that.

As for our Ziyu, he's terribly bored at home during this school holidays. Luckily, he could go for his classes at night which kept him a little occupied during the day. His logical thinking is strong as well and made us laugh at times. That day, I said I'm going to sell his brother away (jokingly) since he was very naughty earlier on. Ziyu exclaimed"Huh? 弟弟 is not newspaper. How can you sell him away?" (He was referring to those old newspapers that we always sell to the Karung guni.) Previously, he would always say "don't want" when I said the same thing but this time round, he put forward his "arguments" to me. Hahahahaa...our boy has grown up.

Yesterday, he was thrilled with the mini simple new year celebration that we have right at home with sparkling juice and disposable champagne flute. Yeah! To a very very good year 2011 ahead!

Happy New Year and backdated post for X'mas

2011-01-01T14:37:00.004+08:00

Happy New Year to all!

Here are some pictures to share for our simple Christmas celebration. As usual, we went to Pizza Hut for our X'mas pizzas with the boys and the boys have enjoyed their food.

My Christmas Angels

2010-12-24T23:30:00.003+08:00

Looking forward to celebrating Christmas tomorrow with my 2 angels. 2 days ago we bought a logcake for advance celebration. Ziyu was very delighted and happy to cut the cake and of course eating it!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all...enjoy this season of love and joy.

November 2010

2010-12-05T18:21:00.002+08:00

So fast...we are nearing end of 2010. My boys are growing very fast too and thankfully very well as well.

We went for the Teachers meet Parents session in end November and were glad that the teachers were full of praises for our big brother. He's cheery, very helpful and civic-minded. We have started him on abacus this month as well and so far, he finds it interesting.

As for our baby, he has learnt how to speak more single words this month. He can even speak 3 syllabus words like umbrella. He uses quite a bit of sign language as well though we don't really teach him. There was once he saw my star-shaped pendant and he used his finger to do the normal twinkle little star signing. He can also walk up the stairs quite well now though still require some hand holding.

Ziyu's 5th Birthday Celebration

2010-11-09T11:35:00.009+08:00

It was a great event for all of us every year for Ziyu's birthday. The first thing to think about would definitely be the birthday cake. Ziyu requested for a Handy Manny cake this year. GT said yes at once and I nearly fainted cuz I foresee great challenges to make one. We went to surf the web briefly and gathered that to order one is costly. We hence decided to make one ourselves with 奶奶's help! GT took charge of the making of the tools with fondants and the end product was impressive. :) The children were also delighted when we brought the cake to school for the birthday celebration.

Our big boy finally turned 5. When we met the teachers in school today, they told us Ziyu is always very happy in school and he's always helpful and considerate. We are thankful for the comments and hope that he would continue to grow up this way.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to ZIYU!!!!

The 6 Handy Manny Tools

End Product

In his classroom

The first celebration at home during the weekend

Our trip to the Jurong Bird Park

2010-11-07T21:25:00.004+08:00

It has been quite some time since we last visited the Jurong Bird Park but here we are again! We spent our first day of the long weekend there. It was a short trip but I think the boys enjoyed themselves. It was Zi'An's first time there and he's pretty comfortable with the birds around him. He's not scared and even wanted to touch them.

All ready to set off!

Ziyu with the Malay Peacock Pheasant

Zi'An was very curious of this pigeon
which was roaming around freely

October 2010

2010-11-07T12:39:00.006+08:00

Another fruitful month with the boys. The days have become busier with the boys as they needed more and more attention.

Zi'An is getting tougher to manage as the days go by. He's very confident and strong-willed even as a baby. He knows who to go to when GT disciplines him and he knows who he can bully. He's progressing well in the Little Neuro Tree class with better concentration span nowadays.

As for Ziyu, he has improved quite a bit for his piano. At least we do see him having more interest in music recently. As for his Fastrackids classes, he continue to enjoy them greatly. His creativity improved a great deal as well. He could build a lot of things like animals or little equipment with building blocks etc. and we are often amazed with his creations. Here are 3 of his creations recently:

Halloween Rabbit

2 giraffes eating grass

Vacuum cleaner (hand-held type)

My Little Ox

2010-10-16T00:10:00.003+08:00

So how's my little Ox doing? Well, he's growing stronger, tougher and more stubborn as the days go by but of course cuter too lah!

The Brothers

2010-10-16T00:00:00.007+08:00

My 2 young kids really look like mirror image of each other when you compared their baby pictures but their characters are really different. Ziyu is the really friendly and cute boy who bonds well with all his classmates while Zi'An is strong, tough and stubborn. However, despite the differences they accommodated each other so far, at least for Ziyu. One night, I saw Ziyu's balloons in my walk-in wardrobe. Those balloons are the easily torn and deflated ones and hence he must have thought that his brother would destroy them and so carefully kept them aside. I have also told him that the balloons are quite toxic if placed in the mouth so he would rather play with them in the walk-in wardrobe so that Zi'An won't come to any harm. :)

September 2010

2010-10-13T00:24:00.006+08:00

It's another fulfilling month with the 2 brothers. Ziyu really surprised us with his level of maturity in his thinking at times. We rear some fishes and they had some baby fishes. Subsequently, the big fishes just kept on dying. So I said"Oh no, all the father and mother fishes died one after another..." Ziyu said "Never mind, they gave birth to baby fishes and the baby fishes will continue to live and become father and mother fishes." Wow....very positive and matured thinking....*proud*.

As for Zi'An, he knows how to call all of us by now (just short of calling 爷爷properly). He could follow what we do really well e.g. opening drawers, fridge doors etc. so we always make sure that we don't let him see what we do that we don't want him to follow. That day, I witnessed him switching on the fan by first switching on the main switch and then pressing the button on the fan to activate it. I was amazed...

Mid-autumn Festival

2010-10-08T23:11:00.003+08:00

I know Mid-autumn Festival has gone by quite some time ago but I was just so busy for any updates..so here's it. This year is Zi'An's first year to bring his lantern downstairs to play so he's all so excited. As for Ziyu, he enjoyed his first sparkler after a kind uncle offered him one of his.:)

August 2010

2010-09-05T22:16:00.004+08:00

August is a healthy month for Ziyu as he has been healthy throughout the month!! What an accomplishment especially with the HFMD cases on the rise. Zi'An had a mild fever in mid Aug but soon bounced back to his normal self in no time *phew*.

It has become more and more challenging being a mother of two. Zi'An is extremely active nowadays. Not talking much that we could understand yet but in this month, we saw him making signs to say "no more"and "twinkle twinkle little star" in addition to his normal bye bye and hello (he would do the same action for both..hehe). He could self-feed really well and that could be due to the fact that he's a big eater.

As for Ziyu, we are training him hard to self-read but it could be challenging as he tends to read the "picture" rather than the "word". Therefore, we make it a point to bring him to the library every week. Hopefully, his reading would improve in time to come. Nevertheless, he has become more independent by being able to sleep on its own without us patting him to bed and we are very proud of him :).

July 2010

2010-08-09T14:59:00.004+08:00

July 2010 is another great month for all of us and we even managed to bring Ziyu to Taiwan....hopefully next year we can bring the whole family overseas.

Ziyu has grown a lot, not much in terms of real size and weight but more in terms of maturity. The teachers at the Fastrackids have commented that he's "outstandingly polite" and also said that he has influenced the other kids in the same class in his own good ways. They all miss him when he wasn't able to attend the class during our Taiwan trip. We are all quite proud of him and hope that he would continue to grow and be likeable to all.

As for Zi'An, he continues to grow and he's quite huge for his age. He weighs about 11.4 kg now. He's able to walk backwards now as well as kick a ball round the house. He's also able to get on and off his little toy motor car independently. He also has great imagination and that day he tried to put some things on his head as a hat!

Taiwan - 24th Jul - 27th Jul

2010-08-01T16:37:00.004+08:00

We made a short trip to Taiwan as we didn't want Ziyu to miss too much sch. We didn't bring Zi'An along this time round as we reckon that he's too young to go on tour (so far we tried cruise) and it could end up to be a case of he doesn't enjoy himself and we don't as well. Hehe...so next time when he's older we will bring him and mum. Besides, kids are so easily sick when they go overseas and we didn't want to the brothers to infect others when they are back.

Although very short, we have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and everyday was packed with activities...went to 3 night markets, tried Taiwan 高铁 (high speed rail) to 日月潭, ate lots of 小吃, tried the hot spring...as for shopping, not much! But good also since save $$. (^.^)

We hope to go Taiwan again next year and explore more cities. :)

高铁日月潭

饶河街夜市

便所餐厅（西门町）

九份

泡温泉

Ziyu's Class Picture

2010-07-17T20:46:00.003+08:00

Ziyu took his class picture and individual picture in school in May this way. We got the pics back recently and as we compared to his previous years' pictures, we realised that our Ziyu has grown a lot :).

Act Cute

2010-07-17T20:29:00.004+08:00

Zi'An learns how to act cute recently by placing one or both hands on his"fish ball cheeks"...haha..Ziyu decided to act cute in his own way as well...my 2 cutie pies :)

Ziyu's Favourite McDonald's

2010-07-14T23:18:00.003+08:00

We often bring the boys to McDonald's for breakfast since they love the breakfast there and it's a pleasure to see them enjoy their food. Ziyu's favourite McDonald's is no doubt the Ridout Tea Garden at Queensway. This of course due to the pond there which is full of turtles! A few weeks ago we went and saw many of them almost crawling out as there was heavy rain earlier on and the water went slightly over some parts of the bridge. Ziyu was very excited over the turtles who were trying to crawl onto the bridge while Zi'An, as usual, looked calmly at the turtles. It was a fun experience for both and now I can still often hear Ziyu asking GT where we would be visiting the "Turtle McDonald's" again.

The brothers enjoying their breakfast....

Ziyu with the turtles

June 2010

2010-07-04T23:42:00.004+08:00

June 2010 is another busy month with the boys. Ziyu is finally back to school and he is enjoying every minute of it! We have recently signed him up for the FasTracKids programme and he has enjoyed every lesson so far. We hope to build good self confidence in him with this programme.

As for Zi'An, he has completed almost one term of Little Neuro Tree programme. His concentration has improved and is able to identify many objects and point them out on books. He can understand instructions very well as well and surprises us frequently. There was once he heard us talking about going out and was upset when we didn't carry him out of his high chair. He's now slowly learning how to go up and down the stairs.

May 2010

2010-06-06T20:49:00.003+08:00

Another month has passed. It's increasingly difficult for us to take of the two boys as Zi'An gets older and demands more and more of our attention as well.

This month, Zi Yu ended his second term with Glory and we had a session with his teachers on 27 May 2010. The teachers said he's doing fine, well-behaved and mixes well with his friends. He's shy at times but will attempt to talk to the teachers. We need to further improve on his colouring skills though. However, we noted that he can colour very well during his Art classes but not for school work. His favourite Art class teacher has told him to work hard for colouring in school as well and hopefully that would work!

As for Zi'An, he can self-feed with spoon quite well by now. He's also capable of nodding his head to signify "yes" and shaking his head vigorously to say "No" or "Don't want". It's quite amusing seeing him nodding his head. He's drinking his milk and eating his porridge well too and is a bigger eater than his brother.

Swimming for the boys

2010-05-28T23:52:00.005+08:00

After Zi'An's first attempt to swim at home, we never brought him for a swim anymore. Today, I pestered GT to bring the boys for a swim. He was hesitant at first but soon relented cuz the boys are really too bored. We let Zi'An wear the arm floats and also brought the little boat that our HK friends have given us some years ago. It proved to be a fun experience for Zi'An as he sat comfortably inside his little boat floating in the pool and at the same time playing with the water.:)

Family Carnival at Ziyu's Kindergarten

2010-05-17T00:26:00.005+08:00

We were invited to the Family Carnival at Glory Kindergarten and Ziyu performed during the song presentation as well. This was supposed to be an annual event for parents to bond with their children and also for the students to enjoy themselves. Ziyu really enjoyed all the games, food, magic show and all. We were glad to have spent quite a fruitful and fun morning with him.

We attended a talk on communication with your children as well while the children were watching a Magic Show. One of the take-home messages: 权利vs 权威. The speaker emphasized that the latter would be attained with effective communication with children versus 权利 which is often misused by many parents.

Withe his Form Teacher 刘老师

Having fun at the bouncing castle

GT's birthday - 6 May

2010-05-13T16:38:00.003+08:00

I bought a cake for GT for his birthday this year. I decided to give Cake Avenue a try since it's so near home and from the website, its cakes look great. However, the standard black forest cake was a disappointment cuz the design was not very nice. They even saved on the strawberries and used slices of them on the cake such that I think there was only one whole strawberry on the cake. As for the texture, I would say it's just normal.

Luckily Ziyu saved the day by decorating the cake for his favourite Daddy and of cuz singing the birthday song loud for him as well.

2010-05-03T23:25:00.002+08:00

April is the birthday month for many of us in the family and we are glad that the brothers have celebrated the birthdays with us heartily. Ziyu especially loves birthdays! He would ask for second helping whenever his classmates celebrate their birthdays in school cuz he simply loves cakes!

After all the celebrations, the brothers unfortunately came down with cough. Not sure of the reason but guess that's not important. What's more important that we came out of the 2 weeks of hardship!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Imagine waking up 4 - 6 times per night and going through the struggling and crying episodes of medicine feeding. This is the first time that the brothers have been this ill. Our nightmare is finally OVER.

Zi'An despite being infected by his bro is still joyful and of cuz very fierce. He walks around the house now confidently and exhibits great strength.

I'm just very happy that both brothers are on the route to recovery.

Studio Pics

2010-04-19T23:44:00.004+08:00

We got Wai Peng of Foto-U to do a studio photo shoot for us again to celebrate Zi'An turning 1. The pics are very nice. Now Ziyu is bigger, he can do what we want him to do which makes it easier to take his pics but at times, he can be quite naughty too. However, we still managed to get some really good pictures to share.

This is not Zi'An..:P

1 way to celebrate with our 2 boys for our 3 birthdays

2010-04-17T22:52:00.005+08:00

It's April again. Birthday month for my in-laws and me. We all had mini celebrations at home and Ziyu simply loves birthdays cuz he loves cakes, blowing of candles and cake-cutting!

March 2010

2010-04-05T23:13:00.004+08:00

It was a month with a week of school holiday. This month was a busy month towards the end since we had to go without our helper. We all distributed the daily household chores among ourselves and did the chores till "hiam si" (nearly died...hahaa)...that day, I had another conversation with Ziyu:

Me: Ziyu, Mummy and Ah-Ma did the housework until about to die....who do you think will die? Ah-Ma or me? (I meant it to be a trick question like the type whereby you ask who you would rescue from the river... :PP)

Ziyu: No, no, cockroach will die!

Me:!!!!

As for Zi'An, he's walking quite a few steps now though not fully independently walking about in the house. He can identify many body parts such as eyes, ears, head, nose, tongue and toes. He loves solid food especially the food that we eat :PP but of course, he would finish his good old porridge everyday :).

Cruise 17/3/2010 - 19/3/2010

2010-04-01T12:13:00.009+08:00

We went for another cruise trip during the March holidays. Didn't have time to update til now as we have to go without a helper for 2 weeks before the new one comes (We have no choice but to let our first maid of more than a year to go off. It was a year of "give and take" but still...).

The cruise was nevertheless a good one though nothing much was new since we have been on Virgo quite a few times. Ziyu enjoyed himself swimming, playing in the arcade centre etc...whereas we just ate and ate...hahaha....well...as long as the kids are happy. Zi'An was just as happy on board as the other time, probably due to the increased level of activities and the many people that he could observe :).

February 2010

2010-03-09T20:45:00.004+08:00

This February was such a short but eventful month. Zi'An celebrated his first Chinese New Year and First Birthday! He has grown so much and is able to walk 4 - 5 steps unsupported now. He is slightly more quick-tempered than his bro but otherwise as smiley as him. He's able to say "Dad" as well! At times, he would say something like "Dad...di". Not exact but I think that's an encouraging start. :)

As for Ziyu, he surprises us at times with what he says and how he reacts. That day I had a short conversation with him:

Me: Ziyu, is Mummy fat or thin?
Ziyu: Thin
Me: So who else is thin?
Ziyu: No one
Me: So who is fat?
Ziyu: No one also.
Me: How about you? Are you fat or thin?
Ziyu: I'm small.
Me: How about Daddy?
Ziyu: He's tall.
Me: How about 奶奶？
Ziyu: She's medium-sized.
Me: How about Ah-Ma?
Ziyu: Medium-sized.
Me:!?!

Hence, he didn't forget what he had said at the beginning and so no one is fat/thin except me. lol...hmmm...we got to really teach this boy well..

Zi'An turns 1!

2010-02-28T22:23:00.008+08:00

We were pretty undecided whether to throw a birthday party for Zi'An one year old birthday. It's the hassle of inviting people and the actual day of running around and stuff like that which can be quite daunting. We finally decided to throw a party with consideration that Ziyu had one as well and the actual day for Zi'An actually falls on a Saturday. Hence, I quickly called up Neo Gardens to order the food. We didn't invite that many guests this time round as compared to full month but ended up quite many people turned up! Zi'An enjoyed himself in his own ways and Ziyu has certainly enjoyed the party with so many playmates and fun!

As for us, we are glad that the party went on well and we are all quite pleased with the castle cake self-baked by 奶奶which has attracted much attention and compliments!

The goodie bags for the children

The brothers in similar wear

The very nice cake

Recap: Ziyu's cake when he turned 1

年初七初八

2010-02-28T22:12:00.003+08:00

Some backdated posts. We had 7 kinds of vegetables as well as yusheng again for 初七. As for 初八, we went for our usual 拜天公at midnight and it was also the first time boy had a chance to visit the temple at night and watching his favourite lion dance.

My flower arrangement for the
fruit basket for prayer this year.

大年初四

2010-02-17T17:05:00.004+08:00

I took one more day of leave after days of visiting and lazing at home. Just needed that one more day of rest. hehe...today Ziyu has his Chinese New Year celebrations in school. The school will always ask the children bring some goodies to share and we let him bring the loveletters this year. Ziyu has great time eating the goodies and singing CNY songs.

Acting cute before going to school

Sharing goodies

大年初三

2010-02-16T23:59:00.005+08:00

So fast we have come to 3rd day of new year which means we need to go back to work/school pretty soon! We don't have any visiting to do today and hence decided to go Bird Park for the Hollywood dinos with Ziyu. I would say that it's not really worth the money..haha....in addition, Ziyu got scared after seeing some of the moving dinos in one of the enclosed areas although we had been assuring him that those were not real dinosaurs.

Nevertheless, he had great fun controlling a dino and digging for dinosaurs' "bones" towards the end of the trip! :PP

Mum and son in red :)

Taking pic outside Bird Park

At the entrance of the exhibition The only 2 pics that Ziyu is willing to take with the dinos...

Daddy finally came along after braving through
the Chinese New Year traffic jam and crowd

He got scared ...
But was delighted with being able to control the dinoHis favourite is this...digging for "bones"...hehe

大年初二

2010-02-16T16:03:00.009+08:00

We usually go to my mum's place on second day of Chinese New Year to have dinner there. This year, it's no difference except that sis suggested having dinner at my place instead. We nevertheless went to mum's place to chit chat with my eldest sis and nephew Jaryl before proceeding home to have yusheng and steamboat. :)

Some family pics before setting off

Pics taking again while waiting
for sis and all to return home Ziyu taking pic with this
富贵花 which is as old as meCute right?The grandma and aunts with my 2 boys3 sisters, boy and nephew JarylMy favourite one and only nephew :P

I was busy taking pics of Ziyu...hehe My 4th yusheng for the year...many more to come..

Zi'An also joined in the funOur steamboat spread

年除夕| 大年初一

2010-02-15T10:17:00.008+08:00

This year is Zi'An's first Chinese New Year. We have steamboat coupled with Yu Sheng with in-laws and GT's brother，wife and daughter, Chiemi. The 2 brothers coupled with Chiemi, had a great time observing all the rest and of course getting their first angbaos for the year!

The brothers in high moods
just before reunion dinner

Yu Sheng with abalone

捞个风生水起

Part of the steamboat varieties

We succeeded getting out of the house by 11 am the next day (what an accomplishment!). We had some family pic taking prior to that before proceeding to in-law's place then temple, GT's grandma place and lastly GT's grandaunt's place.

Zi'An took a short nap outside the temple

Visit to GT's grandma's house

On our way to grandaunt's placeGrandaunt playing with Zi'An

Ziyu's New Pets

2010-02-13T12:39:00.002+08:00

We got tired of buying fishes for Ziyu and seeing them all dead about a week or so. Hence, we decided to buy him 2 terrapins which were on sale for Chinese New Year. Boy is of course very delighted of it and was constantly looking at them. The best part about terrapins is that they are much easier to maintain.:)

恭喜恭喜

2010-02-12T18:43:00.000+08:00

Wow..the year of Tiger is finally going to be here soon! We have been showing ZI'An how to do "恭喜恭喜" with his hands for a week or so and I was surprised to see him able to do it today. :)

Here's wishing everyone a very prosperous year ahead, 恭喜恭喜!

January 2010

2010-02-11T00:13:00.003+08:00

Quite some time since the last update. I'm soooooooo busy this year with the Chinese New Year coming and the preparations etc. especially with 2 young kids.

This month, we saw Zi'An making great progress in terms of motor skills. He can now stand on his own without support for a second or so. I think very soon he should be able to walk and we will be busier than now! :P He can also react to just verbal instructions/questions like clap hands, close your eyes, where's your head and shake hands without us doing the actions. He also loves to have us clapped for him and would automatically clap his hands after responding to our requests. He will also clap hands when we say "Good boy!". So cute right? :)

As for Ziyu, he's really loving his daily school routine and finally making some progress in terms of rhythm steps during his weekly music class. His writing skills greatly improved as well and we were quite delighted to note that he showed great interest in completing all the Chinese strokes for his homework. He seems to be able to recognise Chinese characters quite easily as well.

Overall, the boys enjoy the company of each other and Ziyu has been a good brother so far.

Balloon Fun

2010-01-24T14:14:00.003+08:00

That day, Zi'An has great fun with a balloon that GT brought back from a friend's daughter's birthday party.

Zi'An's first visit to Mcdonald's

2010-01-15T22:18:00.004+08:00

We brought Zi'An to Mcdonald's on New Year's Day (I was too busy to update on that until now) since he enjoys eating bits of bread recently. He was just as excited as his elder brother when he first visited Mcdonald's some years back ..hehe...he loves the hotcakes as well. Ziyu was very happy to have the company of his little bro too! :).

First day of school for Ziyu

2010-01-09T22:36:00.007+08:00

School finally reopened for Ziyu on Thursday. It is his third year with Glory Kindergarten and he's certainly enjoying schooling there. This year, he has a new class again with another batch of new classmates. 4 or 5 of the classmates were from his N2 class and we spotted 3 of them from his N1 class as well. Being in K1 means there would be HOMEWORK! The school has arranged for homework to be advised every Wed and Fri. This is probably to get the kids prepared for Primary School. Ziyu has finished his English and Maths homework yesterday. *Proud* Hopefully, he will always be on time and motivated to do all his school work.

Getting up earlier than usual for school

3 small doughnuts for breakfast At the school

In his new class

Zi'An went to fetch his big bro from school!

December 2009

2010-01-06T23:44:00.004+08:00

Wow! Finally we have reached the updates for the last month of Dec 09. It was a very fast year for all of us as we went through the birth of Zi'An and overall it has been a very fulfilling year for everyone in the family with the addition of our second angel who has been so smiley and cheery.

Ziyu has enjoyed his Dec holidays and is glad to be able to go back to school cuz he's getting too bored! He began to love his brother more as we witnessed him "advising" Zi'An not to touch certain dangerous things or hugging his little bro. Hehe....but he still displayed some "self-interest" at times such as insisting on playing Zi'An's new toys first. However, we all understand that it's not easy for him who was once our only child. He has already been quite a good bro so far :).

As for Zi'An, he managed to crawl backwards and sit up by himself in this month. He's such an active baby that he often sweats a lot! He's learning how to imitate the sounds we make as well and it can be quite comical at times. We hope he can do front crawling very soon or walking straightaway! :)) He also just learnt how to drink from a straw. We let him play with the mag-mag cup with straw for one or two weeks and were all surprised to see water going up the straw when he put the straw in his mouth :).

Happy 2010 to all!

2010-01-02T22:13:00.003+08:00

This year I'm slightly late in updating my new year's resolution. Last year's resolutions were set and almost completed! I'm glad to be able to breastfeed Zi'An much longer and definitely more than 6 months. As for giving enough attention to my 2 kids, I know both GT and me have been trying and so far, I guess we can say that we are reaching there...the last is on my driving. Hehe...not really that confident yet but I will practise hard this year! I also hope that Ziyu will continue to be good brother to Zi'An as he will be growing very fast in 2010 and we would be able to witness many of his important milestones such as being able to walk and talk!

Lastly, I hope that everyone in my family would be healthy and happy in this new year.:)

Christmas Dinner

2009-12-25T13:15:00.002+08:00

Hahaha...I think it has become a "tradition" for us to have our Christmas dinner at the Pizza Hut near our place. This year, we have Zi'An joining us for the celebration! He enjoyed his usual porridge in the restaurant while we enjoyed our pizzas and all.

OSIM uKids Sparkle

2009-12-25T12:51:00.003+08:00

We are quite glad that Ziyu has quite a good set of teeth owing to early caring of his teeth. Recently, we went Osim and saw that it has an electronic toothbrush for kids - ukids Sparkle. It even comes with an hourglass to time the brushing. We decided to buy for Ziyu and it proved to be a great buy as it further motivated him to brush his teeth more thoroughly.

冬至 - Winter Solstice Festival

2009-12-25T12:40:00.004+08:00

Finally have some time to update my blog..hehe. This year as usual, we made 汤圆for 冬至 (on 22.12.2009). I bought some prepacked ones with peanut fillings from NTUC but all of us still preferred the plain ones which are softer and less sweet. Ziyu of course has fun rolling the dumplings and flattening some of ours!! haha...

More Pre-Christmas Fun!

2009-12-13T00:33:00.006+08:00

Last week, I went Daiso and bought something interesting for the boys....2 reindeer headbands! Ziyu preferred the brown one while Zi'An looks so cute with the red one! We also joined in the fun!

Holiday Camp

2009-12-12T23:28:00.003+08:00

We signed up Ziyu for his kindergarten holiday camp from 30 Nov - 2 Dec mainly to keep him occupied for the school holidays that's proving too long for him! The theme of the camp is Mexico and the kids get to learn and explore Mexican crafts and culture.

Ziyu enjoyed himself quite a bit and brought back craft works made during the 3 days as well :).

Boy asking GT to beat the "Pinata"

Then it's his turn!

November 2009

2009-12-05T23:12:00.005+08:00

A very busy but fulfilling month with the boys. Ziyu has started his school holiday in mid Nov. I went to see his teachers on 18 Nov to understand about his progress and all. Both his English teacher Mrs Lee and Chinese teacher (蔡老师）said that he has made good progress in the second semester in terms of academic performance. They also commented that he's a boy with good nature and is not rough with his classmates. 蔡老师 also reflected that he's a very helpful boy and would always be the only one to stay back to help his teachers keep all the stationery before going home. We are very glad to hear that and happy that we seem to have taught him well in this aspect. However, as he continues to grow and be influenced by all around him, this may prove to be challenging to us. Currently, he is already starting to argue with us at times!

As for Zi'An, we realised that he seems to be able to talk much earlier than Ziyu. Yesterday, I was showing him a toy apple and banana and repeatedly saying the 2 words to him and showing him the fruits. To my surprise, he managed to say "banana" and "..ple". It's a very encouraging start and hopefully I can hear him call me "Mummy" real soon.

Zi'An's First Word and Action

2009-11-29T00:28:00.007+08:00

Sharing 2 videos of Zi'An's development. More than a week ago, I repeatedly mentioned "ball" to him and after a few attempts, I actually heard him say something like "ball"! Managed to capture this on video. He also can wave bye bye nowadays. At first, it's more like following our actions but after that, it's more of waving upon hearing us say "bye bye".

Our Cruise Trip - 25 Nov - 27 Nov

2009-11-28T19:59:00.007+08:00

We have another cruise trip from 25 Nov 09 - 27 Nov 09 on Star Cruise Virgo. It was a very nice trip for all of us and our first one with Zi'An. Both boys enjoyed themselves in their own ways. Ziyu loved the pool, food, arcade and all while Zi'An enjoyed looking at the surroundings and people around him. We also made a super short trip to KL without the boys. We are definitely looking forward to more cruise trips with the boys.

8th Wedding Anniversary

2009-11-24T20:09:00.007+08:00

时光飞逝。。。今天是我和GT的八周结婚年纪念日。不知不觉，我们一起度过了八年。从二人世界到一家四口，我们俩都在不断地适应和尝试不同的角色，拥有不同的关系。从一对谈情说爱的恋人到现在携手经营两个宝贝的人生及我俩婚姻的伙伴，我想未来这条路还很漫长，愿我们能努力一起把它走完。今天GT买了蛋糕和鲜花，真不象他向来的作风，但是我喜欢！哈！

blueberry cheese cake

Our Trip to the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom

2009-11-23T22:03:00.006+08:00

Last Saturday, we made a very short trip to the Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom at Sentosa. It's actually quite a small park. Nevertheless, boy has enjoyed himself looking at the butterflies and insects :) and of course eating the yummy ice-cream at the end of the trip!

They got some parrots for
feeding. Ziyu got quite comfortable
with the parrots after some time.
Beautiful!

My 2 Santas

2009-11-23T21:57:00.004+08:00

That day, sister-in-law gave Ziyu a Santa hat and coupled with an existing hat that we have in our house, we have 2 little Santas at home well ahead of X'mas!

Birthday Celebration for Ziyu!

2009-11-09T15:09:00.008+08:00

Our Ziyu finally turns 4 today. It has been a fulfilling 4 years for us as his parents as we saw him grow and constantly guide him and adjusted our parenting style with the years that have gone by. There are still many things for us to learn and fine-tune as first time parents and we are certainly enjoying parenthood because of the 2 wonderful boys we have. :) This year, as usual, we have requested 奶奶to bake a cake for Ziyu. The cake was again a very good and successful effort put forth by her. Today, Ziyu also had a great time celebrating in school with all his classmates :).

The 3D train cake

In high moods after decorating the cake

On his birthday getting ready to go to school
and carrying the present that we gave him

All ready to blow the candle

Playing with his birthday present after reaching homeHe went Swensen's for his free ice-cream at night

October 2009

2009-11-02T00:21:00.005+08:00

Time for the monthly updates again. My Ziyu is growing fast and we are surprised frequently by the answers he gives us when we talk to him. GT would say good morning and bye to him on some mornings when Ziyu happened to wake up early before we went off to work and he would reply the same to us. There was this morning when he wasn't able to do so as we had left off for work earlier. He requested to call GT upon waking up and when GT asked him why he called him, Ziyu answered "Daddy, I called to say good morning and goodbye to you because this morning I never said to you." hehee....A few days ago, I brought him to the playground after work and and he was delighted. The next morning, he asked me to come home early from work and when I asked him for the reason (expecting him to say that so that I could bring him to the playground), he answered "Because it's going to rain soon!". So funny right....

There were some comical answers to some of the questions that we asked him this month as well. There was once GT asked him "How do you spell 'clock'?" "Tick tock" was his answer. We laughed like crazy after that. Just tonight, we saw some birds that people rear in a big cage and he asked for the reason to keep them in a cage. We explained to him that they need to be kept in a cage and locked up so that bad people can't take them away. Here's how the conversation went next:
ZY: Oh I know, the bad people will "piang" the birds!
Me: Ziyu, I don't understand you. What do you mean by they will "piang" the birds? There is no such word as "piang".
ZY: Yes, "piang" starts with the letter "P"!
Me:!?!?!

As for Zi'An, he's getting real cheery and smiley even to strangers. He can sit for a few seconds by now if he doesn't try to reach out for things. He also loves to play and would demand you to play with him by jumping up and down. He shows quite a bit of separation anxiety as well and would cry whenever he sees no one around watching him.

Birthday preparation

2009-11-01T22:43:00.003+08:00

November is finally here and that means Ziyu's birthday is coming soon! This year is just like last year when we celebrated his birthday in school with his classmates. The main difference would probably be that we will definitely be bringing Zi'An to his school to celebrate with him as well. :)

The good bags are all ready....a simple one with some toys, a pencil and some titbits.

Zi'An is Teething!

2009-10-19T10:31:00.004+08:00

Last Tuesday, Mum excitedly called me to tell me that she saw Zi'An's first 2 teeth on his lower jaw! Ziyu's teeth only started to appear when he's 9 months old. Zi'An is slightly earlier. At the same time, we decided to start him on the porridge once a day coupled with the usual rice cereal. My Zi'An is growing fast. :)

Boy's First piece of Artwork for Enrichment Class

2009-10-19T10:22:00.002+08:00

Ziyu has attended the Art & Craft classes for quite some time. He has been saying that he's doing the humpty dumpty..We finally got to see the end product last week :). Very cute!

Lantern Festival

2009-10-10T00:13:00.008+08:00

I wasn't able to update on the lantern festival as I had been BUSY!

We had a simple but fun lantern festival celebrations last week with Ziyu (Zi'An will join us next year!). We took boy downstairs to carry his lanterns. This year, he's one lucky boy cuz he has 3 battery-operated lanterns in all! However, he finally chose to carry the traditional paper lantern that we have managed to light up with the only candle we could find in our house! :P Luckily, the candle managed to last for the whole "walkabout". After that, we proceed to enjoy our traditional and snow skin moon cakes at home. :)

Initially he has chosen this
beetle one to carry downstairs

Then he changed his mind after
we lighted a paper lantern

Hence, GT and me took turns to
carry his beetle lantern :P

The soupsop moon cake that we had that night...yummy

September 2009

2009-10-04T16:09:00.003+08:00

Another month has passed! We have let Zi'An try the walker and he's so happy in it exploring everything in the house. He can manage to walk front and back in his walker. We have also let him try some fruits. So far, he likes apple and banana only. He's also taking two times of rice cereal nowadays. We should be making some porridge for him soon. He's not teething yet....though always keen to bite on things to explore them.

Ziyu started his art & craft lesson in school this month. He's happy with the lessons and was always enthusiastically sharing with us on his little artworks done in class after his classes. He just started his music lessons recently in Yamaha and he has enjoyed it as well. Hopefully, he would be ready to start on his piano lesson smoothly when he turns 4.

Another trip to the Changi Airport

2009-09-27T22:08:00.009+08:00

Our last trip to the airport was when I was still pregnant. We made another trip there yesterday. It was not crowded at all and we had a good meal at Sakae and subsequently took a skytrain from T2 to T3. They had some F1 activities there and boy had fun playing with the cars and all at the booth as well. Overall, it's a nice trip for all of us.

Boy with his tempura ice-cream...happiness of course..:P

Ziyu, the luggage :P

He loves the water features...

On the Skytrain

Playing "F1 Daytona" with Daddy

Boy got his FOC pic taken....quite nice huh?

The model car souvenir for taking part in the "race"

Zi'An @ 7 months

2009-09-27T22:02:00.004+08:00

After going back to work, I seldom have chance to take pics of our dear Zi'An except during the evenings or nights. However, Zi'An is normally quite smiley in the mornings. Luckily, I can still take some pics of him during the weekend mornings. Today, he's exactly 7 months old! He's as usual very cheery and smiley ;)

The Train Cake II

2009-09-27T19:30:00.002+08:00

奶奶made a second attempt to bake another 3D train cake for boy. It's softer than the first one. Boy has fun rehearsing for his birthday again...:PP Lucky boy :)

Updates on our mushroom

2009-09-26T11:38:00.004+08:00

Our mushroom is finally harvested last Wednesday...it grew so big that it caught as by surprise! We finally harvested it on the fourth day.

Second day

Third day

Fourth day

End product cooked with oyster sauce and Chinese wine

Mushroom Farm Visit - Mycofarm

2009-09-21T01:45:00.007+08:00

We brought boy to the Mycofarm on Sunday. It's located at the Seletar West Farmway. We had a short farm tour there and bought some mushrooms and mushroom products back home plus a Big Cup Mushroom log to grow our own mushrooms! :) Boy has enjoyed the visit and would be busy taking care of his mushrooms for the next 12 weeks.

These are the shiitake mushrooms
which grow at a temperature of 20°C

Write-up about our Big Cup Mushroom log

Boy with his mushrooms

Boy looking very happy after the tour

The Train Cake

2009-09-21T01:31:00.005+08:00

Ziyu's birthday is coming....in November :)). My boy is finally turning 4. We bought a 3D train cake mould for his birthday and MIL has been busy trying to bake and let the train stand. The cake is finally a success last Sunday and she said she will be experimenting on using different types of cake to make his cake more tasty. We are really looking forward to it and boy is definitely the happiest...treating every "experiment" as a "rehearsal" for his birthday! :PP

Swimming at home

2009-09-13T00:34:00.004+08:00

GT's bro bought a swimming tab for us during Zi'An's full month. We didn't explore it till yesterday. It's quite fun for the boys except that it requires a lot of water!!!! :PP It took us quite long to fill up the tub and not to mention trying to use it all after that. However, it's all worth it as the boys got lots of fun.:)

Ziyu was so happy when he knew that he's
going to swim at home.

Zi'An had his second haircut before the swim

Both of them are in swimsuit...all READY!
See how Ziyu is carrying his bro...hehe

Zi'An is very excited over the swim as well.Our dear Ziyu is of course the happiestFinally in water!

Aug 2009

2009-09-08T00:26:00.003+08:00

Another fulfilling month with my 2 cutie pies. Zi'An turned 6 months old in August and he's now 8.8 kg and is a very brave little baby. For twice already, he didn't cry or even make a sound when Dr Ong administered his jabs. His motor skills also greatly improved. He can now take out his pacifier and put it back if he wants to. He also loves to play with us. When he successfully obtains something he knows we are trying to get it back from him, he would laugh when he gets it. Quite cute.

As for my big boy, he has improved a lot in terms of writing. He can write 1 to 20 now and can also recite from 1 - 30 quite well. He argues more as well, often using the argument points that we used on him before on us! He's showing some interest in drawing as well and hence we have enrolled him in the drawing supplementary class in school when school reopens.

Updates on the sole survivor

2009-08-29T00:46:00.002+08:00

So what happened to our sole survivor, the red guppy that's left? Well, it's still surviving as of today...:) Ziyu has gradually added a marble and a plastic seaweed into his fish tank. Tonight, he requested GT to add in some pebbles for him...well...so much things for his precious little fish. :)

Update: On 29 Aug, the sole survivor died as well!!! Sighhh..but at least boy has enjoyed taking care of it for a few days.

Zi'An @ 6 months

2009-08-29T00:29:00.002+08:00

My second cutie pie finally turned 6 months old! He's really a very lovely baby with lots of smiles and sunshine. He even has his own signature smile. I will let the pics tell you more:

See the way he "squeezed" his nose..
forming his signature SMILE :) CUTE

World breastfeeding month

2009-08-27T22:46:00.000+08:00

August is the world breastfeeding month and coincidentally I have managed to breastfeed Zi'An for 6 months already as of today!!! Yeah! I really deserve a pat on the shoulder huh? 3 cheers for all the breastfeeding mothers out there as it really needs lots of commitment for breastfeeding to work and I'm glad I did it! How long wld I be continuing? Well..hard to say..keke..

Fun pics taken by me

2009-08-25T00:51:00.002+08:00

Tonight we didn't go anywhere and decided to take some family pics etc...here are some pics taken by me tonight...some are not perfect but we certainly looked happy :)

Ziyu was all excited
letting Zi'An ride on him

Ziyu loves to teach his little bro..see
how serious both of them were..:))

Haircut for Zi Yu

2009-08-24T00:47:00.001+08:00

GT decided to give Ziyu a haircut using the hairclipper last Sat (yes..right after the Long Kang fishing...). The end product was quite good..it's as good as going to the barber!

All ready for the haircut

Ziyu in high moods that day...

The end product...:)

Fishes for Ziyu

2009-08-24T00:43:00.005+08:00

GT took Ziyu to Qian Hu last Sat for some long kang fishing..hehe...it's $5 for half hour of fun with fishes to take back plus a fish tank to contain them. Boy was all excited over the 8 fishes that were caught by GT (he didn't manage to catch any, need more practice!). However, his happiness was short-lived. All the fishes died one after another....by evening..none was left! keke...guess we didn't sufficiently dechlorinate the water.

GT bought 3 guppies the next day....they were doing fine at first..then one died in the evening. The remaining 2 were still alive when I'm back from work today but just now one died again! Left one sole survivor in the tank now....Hopefully when Ziyu wakes up tomorrow, he will get to see that remaining one. We must find some resilient fishes soon! Anyway, Ziyu has lots of fun watching the fishes these few days and most of all, feeding them! (Are they overfed?!) keke...

All happy and excited over the long kang fishes

The second day with the guppies

Fun pics

2009-08-24T00:21:00.003+08:00

Last Thursday, Ziyu's classmate celebrated his birthday in school and he brought back a party hat and eye mask...we had fun taking pics! Ziyu also said he wants "An-an" (Zi'An) to go to school and celebrate his birthday with him when the time comes. :)

Haircut for Zi'An

2009-08-23T01:18:00.003+08:00

Zi'An hasn't got a haircut since full month. He's quite a sweaty baby and hence it would be better to keep his hair quite short like his big bro. We decided to buy a hairclipper instead of going to the barber so that we can cut his hair as and well we like. It would also be less traumatizing for a small baby. It proved to be not so easy for me! GT has to touch up a day after I did his haircut and I guess he looks pretty ok by then...at least able to go out..hehe...

The hairclipper...

After his haircut by me..

A week after the haircuts..notice
his hair grows so fast?

School Trip to Ben & Jerry

2009-08-23T01:09:00.005+08:00

Boy's kindergarten organised an outing to the Ben & Jerry at Dempsey for the N2 kids. THey have cup cake design, cookie making and make your own hamburger + ice-cream programme for the kids. Boy enjoyed himself thoroughly and brought back some cupcakes and cookies.

Enjoying his cookie

Dragon Boat Competition

2009-08-23T00:55:00.004+08:00

We went to support my Company's dragon boat team for the annual dragon boat event in mid August. We wanted to bring the boys there but unfortunately it was raining earlier that morning and hence decided to just bring Ziyu there. Our big boy enjoyed himself thoroughly during the event :). Some pics to share:

Some pics taken before going out...
Big bro is trying to carry his little bro :)

Then he got a little worried that he couldn't manage
....but he still held on tightly to prevent his bro from falling.:)

Some game stalls at the event. He didn't
win any prizes but got lots of fun!

Boy was delighted with his balloon gun.

Backdated post - National Day

2009-08-23T00:25:00.005+08:00

It was quite a maddening experience trying to post pics on blogger...not sure why it worked now but I'm sure glad that it did! haha...

Ziyu had a good National Day celebration in school some time back and we brought him to have his favourite Mac breakfast during the public holidays...he was wearing the red and white outfit that he wore to school as well..

Nowadays his standard expression for taking pic.

I tried to get him to buy an ice-cream for himself..
He was a little shy but stil managed to point to the ice-cream
that he wanted and handed the coin to the cashier :)

Nowadays, he doesn't even need to use
the booster seat tho sometimes he still does
for better view.

This is Zi'An on a separate outing...we bought
a new car seat that can fit up to 7 year-old kid.
Zi'An has settled quite comfortably on it so far:).

Cute video of ZiÁn

2009-08-22T23:15:00.001+08:00

MIA for quite some time cuz I have not been able to post pics in blogger but they allow me to post video! So here I am, sharing a cute video of Ziyu playing with one of his favourite toy taken on 4 Aug...he's quite amused with the sound whenever he bit the toy...probably knowing the cause and effect part of the toy producing a sound everytime he bit it :).

Our durian boy

2009-08-13T23:55:00.003+08:00

We never really let boy eat durians till recently for fear of him getting heaty. There's quite a good stall selling durians near our place and hence we have been indulging on quite some durians recently. :)) Ziyu has been enjoying just a little bit of them every time we buy as well. He really likes durian quite a bit.

Starting on Cereal

2009-08-13T23:27:00.003+08:00

We have started Zi'An on cereals beginning August. So far, he has tried the Nestlé brown rice cereal and liked it. I also bought for him some organic rice cereal. He didn't like it at first but still ate it after mum added some milk to it. Guess it was too plain and not sweet at all without milk. He's still having cereal once a day and soon we would be introducing porridge to him :)

July 2009

2009-08-04T00:21:00.005+08:00

July 2009....a full month of working for me. Zi'An continued to smile a lot and we discovered that he's teething when he visited the PD for his 5th month vaccination. He's then 8.06 kg and 69 cm. He didn't even notice when Dr Ong administered the injection. With the teething, he is now ever ready to bite on his toys etc. He's also quite quick with his hands and our specs got grabbed by him a few times when our face got near his ! :PP

As for my big boy Ziyu, he has improved on his writing skills and could write 1-8. He has learnt some of the Chinese characters from his grand parents as well such as 爷爷、奶奶、爸爸、妈妈、姐姐、妹妹、哥哥、叔叔、婶婶. He can also recognise Chinese colour words like 红、青、绿、黑、白、蓝、黄。