彩虹的約定

彩虹的約定
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小寶貝我用彩虹和你約定
風雨過後陽光會微笑
平安的長大
迎接希望的未來
就像紅橙黃綠藍靛紫

小寶貝我用彩虹和你約定
一起走過童年的記憶
快樂的長大
迎接燦爛的未來
就像紅橙黃綠藍靛紫

彩虹是希望的約定
也是最真的愛
親親寶貝
我們愛你到永遠

彩虹是幸福的約定
也是永恆的愛
親親寶貝
陪伴你直到永遠

Heartwarming lyrics to a lovely song, arn't they?

Through these simple words, a vivid picture is painted. One on the vibrancy of hope, the innocence of childhood and the vastness of a parent's love. Bound to bring a smile to your face and warmth to your heart.

Unless of course, you know of the association of this song to little 宇廷. In the short 11 months of his life, 宇廷 had been bedridden. In place of toys, candies and playgrounds, 宇廷 had drip tubes, needles and injections. I can't even begin to imagine living a life where the only constant, the only certainty, the perpetual sensation...is Pain. 宇廷's (and his parents') struggle has now ended. The little boy had decided to leave this plane of suffering, to journey on to another place....

Where his body can be whole,

Where there are no tubes sticking out from various parts of his tiny torso,

Where the rain no longer falls, and

Where he can finally view the magnificent Rainbow.

自己跌倒，自己爬

Have been video-ing quite alot of Jaimie recently, and there is this particular one that I like. Captured by Angie during our visit to IMM playground yesterday, this clip shows Jaimie demonstrating her new 'kungfu' moves - the "Shadowless Palms of Fuoshan" aka 佛山无影手. This session at the playground also made us realise that our Jae is indeed growing up to be quite a resilient little girl, and not some 'softie fruitcake'.

I've always held the belief that the opportunity to 'strive' against adversity is a crucial component in growing up. It is through hardships that the most valuable lessons can be learnt, and potentials developed. Initially, when Jaimie falls, or knocks herself onto household furnitures, Angie and I would be quite kancheong. My natural instinct was then to immediately cuddle her, sayang sayang, siusiu etc. I realised this only fueled her cries and screams, and reinforced her reliance on us. Then I remembered the story of the man who witnessed a butterfly pupa struggling, with much difficulty, to break out of its cocooned shell. Out of compassion, he cut a slit on the cocoon with his knife to facilitate the exit. It helped. However, after the butterfly emerged from its former confinement, the man was surprised to find that it could not take flight. Depriving the butterfly the opportunity to struggle on its own, to build strength in the process, the man had inadvertently stunted its natural development.

Now, whenever Jaimie takes a fall, I'd remind myself of the lesson behind this story. I'd offer my encouragement to her to get up and try again. No, I do not wish for Jaimie to have broken wings.

Get up, Jae. And take flight!

Jae's Place

Went to Jack's Place for dinner last Friday, cos I got $50 voucher redeemed from Citibank. Ordered lotsa stuff and ate till very full.

But 重点 is that we realised that with Jaimie now having reached the phase where she is really trying to express herself, both verbally as well as physically, a 'quiet and peaceful' family dinner out is not something we'd be getting anytime soon.



Why post this now and not earlier, you ask? Well, it is only now then I managed to encode this video clip taken from my Dopod smartphone (with Super) and I thought, what the heck...havn't been posting to the blog for sometime liow, so might as well put this up and clock as an entry.

滥竽充数.

烂.

Jaimie The Toddler

6th April 2007 was Good Friday. It was also the day Jaimie the infant transformed into Jaimie the toddler. Yes, Jaimie has turned one! Excuse me if I come across as overly self congratulatory here as I give myself a pat on the shoulder for having survived my first year of fatherhood.

One year old. 说大肯定不大，说小呢又不是太小。This is the awkward stage that when we are out and come across a newborn (or a young infant), we'd tell Jaimie "Look. Baby. Baby.". At the same time, when other parents with kids walk by and notice us, we'd hear them exclaim exactly the same thing in our direction. Oh well.

This little milestone seems like a good point to do a little "stock taking". Here're some of the more prominent skills and capabilities Jaimie has picked up in her first 365 days:

Vocab

- Baba
- Mama
- Gorgor
- Nainai
- Mummum
- ...string of other non-intelligible syllables

Signing

- wave "bye bye"
- signal "come" (sometimes indistinguishable from bye bye)
- blow flying kiss
- signal 怕怕
- gesture 恭喜恭喜
- hit head for "伤脑筋"
- Clapping (拍拍手)
- Raise arms(手高高)
- touch various body parts when these are named e.g. ears, nose, tummy and ermm...nipples (mine).

Psychomotor

- Walking
- Crawling
- Ascending and descending stairs with hand-holding
- Picking up pea-sized objects with fingers
- Grabbing and throwing objects
- Squatting to pick up object and reassuming standing posture

Angie organised a little get-together lunch to commenmerate the first candle-blowing opporuntity for Jaimie. It was a buffet-style makan session held at Bukit Batok HTNS's Guilin Restaurant. We were given a private function room (谦卑房) to use, so it was pretty cosy. And convenient since we did not have to clean up after. The birthday cake was a double-tiered "lychee-martini" flavoured one, courtesy of Ah Leong. Tasted good, not oily nor too sweet. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Alright. Nuff talk. Here're the pics. Happy Birthday, dear!

Yes, we're now prepped (both mentally and psychologically) for more challenging times ahead with the one-year-old....

I'd Like To Thank The Academy...

I know I just missed this year's Oscars...I was too small then and my facial muscles not developed enough to be able to articulate the full range of expressions expected of a profession as demanding as that of Acting.

Well, not any more! And there is always the 2008 (and future) Oscars! Papa says it is never too early to start honing my acting skills.

Hollywood has been doing quite a bit of Sports Movies lately, like Million Dollar Baby, Goal!, Bend It Like Beckham and Rocky Balboa. So, for warm up, I'm gonna do a couple of sportsmen of my fav game, basketball. I love Michael Jordon and Yao Ming!



Hmmm...recently docudrama seems to be also getting lots of attention. Who knows, I might be called upon to play the President of the US of A.


I saw this guy in The Scorpion King and DOOM, and papa says I do a better impersonation of The Rock than he does.


I know being in showbiz is tough. It's a good thing I am not choosy. I can play the occassional ape if being called upon. What? No hair? Ermm...I'm working real hard on it, believe me.



Action roles? No problem. Papa says this next move even he cannot perform...



Hollywood, here I come!