An Evening At Clark Quay

When was the last time we went to Clark Quay? I couldn't remember but I remembered Daimaru was still in Liang Court the last time we went there.

So, the place is so different now! There was even a fountain playground for children! Hmmm... I think it was the place where they used to have a live band and a beer garden. Nevermind...

We walked along Clark Quay and Jaimie shouted that she wanted to take the River Taxi (is it still called River Taxi?) Of course we did not say YES to the request... As she was munching on the waffer biscuits I gave her from my ice cream, she saw the reverse Bungee and exclaimed to us that "Ball ball... AHH! DOWN! AHH! DOWN!" By the way, Clement and I both had certificates to certify that we had taken the reverse bungee (they call it Bungee Bullet) in Australia in 1995! All I could remember was that I was screaming and screaming and screaming. I wonder if I have the courage to go on the reverse bungee one more time?

We haven't taken a family photo for a long time. After the photo was taken, Jaimie started to misbehave and sent my blood pressure as high as the reverse bungee, causing me a headache (LITERALLY!) and a fiery temper. The last time I felt this way was during the last Genting trip when we had lunch at MarryBrown....

Old McJaimie had a farm

Farmer Jaimie rode on the bull named "Latio" to go to the Farm Mart this morning. She needed to feed the animals in the farm.

First, she went to the animal corner to check out the goats. When she realised that Whitey had been disobedient yesterday, she gave it a lecture before giving it some leaves.

Then, she went to see how the Bull Frogs were doing. The frogs were happy to see her and were leaping happily in their little pond. Farmer Jae did not have enough food for the terrapins and the bull frogs so they had to share. The bull frogs croaked loudly to protest.

The rabbits were eagerly waiting for Farmer Jaimie to feed them with carrots and baby corn. There were too many rabbits and too little food. Farmer Jaimie had a hard time deciding which rabbit deserves to eat.

The uncle wearing blue at the prawn fishing area caught a big fat prawn and proudly showed it to Farmer Jaimie. However, Farmer Jaimie thought that the uncle was too complacent. She commented that the prawn was "SMALL!!!".

The last chore of the day in the farm mart was to feed the kois. Farmer Jaimie spilled the fish food on the floor and almost fell into the pond while throwing the food to the kois. Phew!

This is a typical day of Farmer Jaimie who works very hard in the Farm Mart.

A Beautiful Voice I Love

I found this clip of Andrea Bocelli singing Elmo to sleep on youtube some time back but I have never showed it to Jaimie. This evening, when it's Jae's bedtime, the tune just popped in my head and I sang "Time to~~~ Say goodnight~~~" to her. She found it quite amusing and smiled cheerily at me. I dug out the Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli duet version and played to Jaimie in her room. Somehow she found it very tranqualizing and fell asleep without much fuss.

I love Andrea Bocelli. I really do. He has the most sensational voice I have ever heard of.

The first time I heard Andrea Bocelli was during a rehearsal of a farewell assembly for the graduating students in the school I formerly taught. The beautiful melody of "Time to Say Goodbye" and the powerful voice of Andrea Bocelli shook me totally and brought me to tears. That very afternoon, I went to CD Rama to pick up the album "Romanza".

I love classical pop. And I think Jaimie likes it too! :)

Johnson & Johnson

Yup, "No More Tears". :D

Today is the sixth day of Jae's attending at Nanyang Kindercare CCC, and I do believe after the initial plummetting of her emotional curve which really bottomed out yesterday, we may be observing the first signs of an upward trend~!

It was a complete reversal from the struggle that was yesterday morning.

Jae was contently browsing through her picture cards while enroute to Por-por's place.

She was hopping around happily in the living room and occasionally came to me as I consumed my breakfast to make faces at me.

She changed into her red top and white pants that mommy had prepared for her, and even excitedly paraded them in front of me.

As the car made the turn towards the block where the CCC was located, I noticed Jae did quiten down somewhat. When the car stopped, she uttered a soft "我不要去 school", but did not resist when I picked her up from her child seat. I told her that the cat is waiting to say hello to her, and reassured her that Por-por will be picking her up very soon, after she has had the chance to sing, dance and play with her friends and teachers here.

Jae surprised me and Por-por when she reached out her arms voluntarily when she saw her teacher Ms Tan appear to welcome her at the CCC gate. As Ms Tan took her in into her arms, and have her wave goodbye to Por-por and me, I couldn't help but feel a rush of undiluted joy and pride over how well the little one seemed to have adapted.

Here's hoping that Jae'd continue her progress at the CCC smoothly, enjoy, learn and grow...

You're a resilient one, Jae. Papa is proud of you!

Our New Wedding Bands

今年是我们结婚十周年纪念。因为老公两年前已经戴不下当年的结婚戒指，所以我们就趁这个时候买新的婚戒，也代表了我们再次为我们的婚姻宣誓。

Sweat & Tears

Inside the car, enroute to Por-por's place -
我不要去 school~~ *whines*


While drinking her milk at Por-por's place -
我不要去 school... *sobz*


When leaving Por-por's place -
我不要去 school! *cries*

At the entrance of the CCC -
我不要去 SCHOOL!!! *wails*


30 seconds after being carried (quite forcefully) into the CCC by a teacher -
我要看猫! *excitedly*


As I finally got to breath a sigh of relief, I noticed that the front of my shirt had a darkened patch, damp with my sweat and her tears.

媛媛啊........

Cycling At Jurong Lake

This morning we decided to bring Jaimie to Jurong Lake for cycling. Erm.... not so much of cycling for her. Rather, our intention was to push her around in her little tricycle so that CLEMENT AND I could walk round the lake as part of the preparation for the buffet dinner tonight.

However, Jaimie preferred to push her tricycle instead of sitting in it. We were quite surprised that she could maneuvre her tricycle quite well! Her legs were long enough to reach the paddles. I think it's time for us to remove the leg rest to transform the skipper into a Harley Davidson for her.

We saw a lot of chameleons when we were walking at Jurong Lake. Jaimie didn't seem to be afraid of them or perhaps she didn't see the reptiles. By the time we walked to Chinese Garden (Free Admission!!), we were all hot and sweaty.

There was a tortoise museum in Chinese Garden ($5 admission fees for adults and $3 for children) whereby more than ______ (was it 100 or 1000? anyway, it was in the Guinness Record) species of tortoises lived inside the museum. Jaimie exclaimed that she was afraid of the amphibian. Ahh.. we knew she was just bluffing.


There was a koi pond outside the museum. Papa and Jaimie fed the kois with the left over fish food they bought to feed the terrapins inside the museum. The kois looked really hungry.

Anyway, Jaimie got a summon from this carpark attendant wearing a big hat and sunglasses for illegal parking. hohoho.

Mothers' Day Gathering @ Botanic Garden

Tomorrow is Mothers' Day. 5 mommies brought 5 girls to Botanic Garden this evening for a get together. From left: Viana and baby Eunice, Elizabeth and baby Kenise, Liana and baby Isabella, me and Jaimie, Angela and baby Rain Renee.

Each child has her own favourite activities. RR enjoyed blowing (and eating) bubbles.

Kenise was swiping all the food she saw on the pinic mat.Jaimie and Izzy were practising how to kick a ball so that next time they can kick some asses together.

Enuice made sure that everybody had some of the biscuits she brought to the gathering.

Izzy wanted to blow some bubbles as well.

If you think that we do not know how to pose for a picture just because we are 2 year olds, you are so wrong. LOOK!

It has been great meeting up friends and watching children play together. Let's find time for more of such gatherings!

那些女孩教我的事

Me: Wow, Jaimie...you are eating the carrots! Do you know who likes to eat carrots?
Jae: Rabbit!
Me: That's right! Are you a rabbit?
Jae: Yes~!
Me: Arn't you also Jaimie?
Jae: Yes~!
Me: Are you also Dora the Explorer?
Jae: Yes~!

女孩教我的事 #1 - An individual can wear many hats and have many different identities. There is no single "true self".


Me: Papa is an adult. Jaimie, you are a baby. So, is Papa big or small?
Jae: Biiiig!
Me: How about Jaimie? Are you big or small?
Jae: Biiiig!
Me: Hmm?? If you're big, then who's small?
Jae: 凯凯弟弟.

女孩教我的事 #2 - Many things in this world exist not as absolutes, but rather relative to the rest of the things around.


I stared at the five nasty-looking mosquito bites on Jaimie's face and again feel the now familiar sensation of heartache. I must have allowed it to manifest on my face, because Jae noticed my grave expression, tilted her head and smiled ever so sweetly at me. She then said,

Jae: 媛媛笑笑，爸爸开心！

女孩教我的事 #3 - Even in the face of your own problems, you still possess the ability to cheer somebody up.


Recently, Jae has this habit of tugging at her shirt and exposing her belly.

Me: Jaimie, cover your tummy. If you don't, you might fall sick. And if you're sick, who would you have to see?
Jae: Doctor!
Me: Yes....And what'd the Doctor give you?
Jae: Sweets!

女孩教我的事 #4 - Have a little optimism! Always see the good things, in all situations.


There must have been some special functions going on the previous night, and one of the tall buildings across Jurong Lake was beautifully lighted up at night. I pointed it out to Jae and she gazed at it through her bedroom window, before contendedly falling to sleep soon after.

The following night, as I was preparing her for bed, I pointed to across the lake, at the dark silloutte of the building and said,

Me: 媛媛，今晚没有亮亮的灯了。
Jae: 有！
Me: 哪有？你看。暗暗的。
Jae: Neh!

I returned my gaze from across the lake to where she was pointing with her chubby little index finger, just outside her window. True enough, I saw the tree-mounted lamps, silently basking the rooftop garden two floors down in a calm yellowish hue...

女孩教我的事 #5 - When you cast your sight far away, be mindful of your immediate surroundings too, lest you miss out on that which is near to you.

.......................................................




Love this song. Another quality composition by Ashin!

Jaimie's 5th Day... is at home

Jaimie seemed to be happier on day 4 of her childcare centre routine. She wasn't crying yesterday when mom mom went to fetch her. However, she pretended to cry when she saw por-por. Por-por said "Eh? You are crying? Shame shame." and she broke into laughter.

Then grandma and grand daughter went home happily.

In the evening, Jaimie didn't want to go home with us. She insisted on sleeping over at por-por's house. So Clement and I got a night's off. PHEW! It's a good opportunity for me to catch some sleep because I had been waking up for the past few nights to console the little one who couldn't sleep tight. In fact, 2 nights ago, she woke up in the middle of the night (1am!!!!!!!) crying for me. She quiet down after I went over to her room but she tossed and turned a lot. It seemed like she had a hard time getting back to sleep. I sang one of her favourite songs <自己跌倒自己爬> but I changed the lyrics to

媛媛，不要怕。你是好娃娃！(Jaimie, do not be afraid. You are a good baby.)
自己上学，不要怕。 (Do not be afraid to go to school yourself)
妈妈等你，等你放学啊。(Mama will wait for you when your school's over)
然后我们就去，我们就去婆婆家。(And then we'll go to por-por's house)

She listened attentively as I sang a few times. It looked like she was letting the message sink in. Then I asked her "Is it ok?" She smiled, hid her head under a pillow and replied cheekily "Yes!" and fell asleep shortly. By the time I crawled back to my bed, it's 2am.

Anyway, she was sneezing quite a bit last night and had a slight runny nose. My mom suggested not to let her go to childcare today and Clement brought her to see a chinese doctor in the morning. Thankfully Clement's schedule is quite flexible these 2 weeks and he can chuaffer them around.

The next challenge -- going to school on MONDAY after a 3 day break. *cross fingers*

我听见心碎的声音

Heartbreak is

When you got to force a smile and put on a happy face while your baby is wailing with outstretched arms.

When you kiss your baby on her cheeks while saying goodbye, and you taste the saltiness of her stream of tears.

When you awkwardly spy on your baby through the windows, get clumsily spotted by her, and you have no choice but to turn your back on her as you hear her cry out "要爸爸！要爸爸！".


Please....

Unbreak my heart.

Please....

Jaimie's 3rd Day in Childcare Centre

Little Jaimie isn't doing to well in school today, as expected.

In the morning, she was reluctant to leave por-por's place for school. When my mom finally got her to change and Clement drove them to the centre, Jaimie said that she wanted to go to the playground instead of going into the classroom.

Jaimie spent about 4 hours in the centre today. She only didn't cry for the 1.5hrs when they did dance and movement. Other than that, she was crying all the way. Mdm Aw told my mom that she cried quite hard and vomitted out her lunch. Jaimie wasn't crying when she was eating porridge. She only cried when one of the kiddo's grandma insisted on going into the class to feed her grandson during lunch and that triggered Jaimie to miss us. When she saw por-por coming to fetch her, she cried very hard and clinged on to por-por dearly.

When we asked her about school, Jaimie refused to talk much about it. She deliberately didn't want to answer us when we asked her "did your teacher teach you this-and-this?" "Will you sing this song for your friends tomorrow in school?"

First day isn't the most difficult part. Like Wolfgirl said, the novelty has worn off. And our little friend realised that school isn't as fun as imagined without papa and mama by her side.

Sigh. We need to steel our heart and help her get over this phase as soon as possible.

Jaimie's 2nd Day in Childcare Centre

Today is Jaimie's second day in the childcare centre. Unfortunately I couldn't afford another day of leave so I left it to my mom and Clement to do the sending, fetching and monitoring.

According to my mom and Clement, Jaimie was busy playing with the cooking set in the childcare centre when she arrived. My mom taught her to "turn off the hob" when she was done with the cooking. So our little chef turned the hob on and off, on and off, and cooked something for her daddy to eat.

Mdm Aw asked my mom to leave the centre after a short while. Daddy and por-por stood outside to observe a little more. Jaimie was playing alone and didn't want to join the rest of her classmates. However, when she asked Mdm Aw for the rubber duckies she played with yesterday, Mdm Aw encouraged her to sit together with the class as she gave her the duckies.

Clement updated me on Jaimie around half past noon. He didn't manage to go to the childcare centre on time so he went to my mom's place to check on Jae. My mom told him that Jaimie was sobbing softly (again) when she reached the place. And Jaimie was consoling herself again. When she saw my mom, she bursted out in tears. T_T Mdm Aw feedback to my mom that Jaimie is very capable of expressing herself for a 2 year old. When she was back home with my mom, she was happily singing songs. I rang my mom to find out how's Jae. I spoke to Jae on the phone and I was so relieved to hear that she still wants to go to school tomorrow!

I messaged my good friend Wolfgirl. She told me that her darling RR behaves the same way too. She said that the fact Jae still wants to go to school means she is enjoying herself there. Her tears are just tears of "missing" us. "How come you took so long to come?" "Do you know I miss you?"

Yes yes yes, my dearie. I miss you too!!

Thanks, Meekfreek, for messaging me and asking after Jaimie. I appreciate it very much!

Temet Nosce

The Oracle pointed at the signboard above her door, and asked Neo,

"You know what that means? It's Latin. Means 'know thyself'"



Just as Neo learnt to know himself and what being The One means through the course of the Matrix trilogy, I too recently found out a little bit more about myself, through the events mentioned in this post.

I didn't feel compelled to blog about this initially, but seeing how a particular misrepresentation in Angie's entry (I think she was too far from the action to have observed everything accurately) might have led quite a number of readers of this blog to give me more credit than I am due (Ernest, sorry to disappoint you), I do feel somewhat obliged to :

(1) set the record straight
(2) make my confessions
(3) document the self-discoveries I mentioned earlier, which are new revelations even to myself

Revelation #1 - I still remember morse code

It started shouting "Fuck you! Fuck you!" and then "You Chinese all stoopeed!!" when a couple of bystanders approached It in a futile attempt to reason with him. I was alone in my car (Angie and Jae had already gotten off the car, thankfully) and decided to reply to Its outburst with the help of my horn. The message was:

.._. .._ _._. _._

It heard me, headed to me and demanded "WHAT?? WHAT WAS THAT??!"

Oh, It didn't know morse code, I see. So I educated It lor.


Revelation #2 - I need to work on my spit

When It slapped my car's side window and walked away, that was when I first felt the anger rose within me and the urge to lash out. I was half out of my car when the nice uncle (the one pictured in Angie's entry. I assumed he works at the nearby restaurant) stopped me. He said to me

"忍着点，忍着点。我们都有看到。这完全是他不对。他这种人，会有人对付他的。"

I took a deep breath and nodded. Uncle was right. I stayed inside my car.

When It came back to my window (after my morse code demonstration),spat on my window and stormed back to his truck, the restraints from Uncle could no longer stop me, nor contain my now insatiable anger. I got out of the car and walked across to It's vehicle (which was now making a multiple-point turn out of the carpark entrance/exit), tapped on his window, and I returned the favour.

Well, almost.

It was what I'd call 雷声大，雨点小 - Loud thunder but little raindrops. Literally.

Apparently such things need practice to perfect.


Revelation #3 - I can normalise pretty quickly

Now if this same incident had happened a year or more ago, I know I'd still be shaking with anger even after an entire week. I'd have relived and replayed the incident in my mind, over and over and over, and then refueling the hatred so it didn't go away for a long, long time.

What surprised me (and still does, now) was the fact that barely 10 minutes after leaving the scene, when we'd adjourned to a nearby coffee shop, I found myself no longer feeling that deep-seated anger that had consumed me just a while ago. It was something that I had previously never experienced and therefore totally did not expect. The anger was completely dissipated. I remember observing my state of mind in great amusement, as I shared my plate of 烧肉面 with Jae. Well, I wouldn't use the word "tranquil" cos I'm no meditating monk....but it was really calm. I was hardly even thinking about that event anymore, and I actually enjoyed my roast pork noodles, as well as feeding them to Jae, very much. I shared this discovery with Angie as I munched on the roast pork. She replied

"That's very good. Hope you can channel this emotion the next time something like this happens."

Yes, I do hope so too...though truth be told, I'd rather avoid such incidents altogether in the future, please~!

Jaimie's 1st Day in Childcare Centre

Today is an important day to Jaimie. And to us. This is Jaimie's first day at childcare centre. We did a lot of mental preparation for Jaimie, telling her about the exciting things she will be learning in school, pointing out to her big gor-gors and jie-jies carrying their "backpacks" (as in Dora's backpack) to school, daddies and mommies won't be in the classroom with their children etc. We let her choose her own bag and water bottle to give her a sense of ownership and excitment too. All these preparation... for her big day.

I took leave today and Clement went to work late since he was unable to take leave today. She is not wearing uniform as she will be on 2 weeks trial. I picked a 2 piece outfit for her so that she can hang her handkerchief in her pants.

And the little one looked so grown up today!
We reached the childcare centre at 8.30am. Jaimie was happy and excited to go into the classroom. I went in with her for the first 15mins while papa and por-por observed from the corridor. We didn't want to be too near her to remind her of the comfort she has with us. Mdm Aw asked if Jaimie had breakfast. I told Mdm Aw to give Jaimie a little breakfast since it is part of the routine. Mdm Aw fed Jaimie some coco crunch in milk. Jaimie responded well to Mdm Aw. She allowed her to feed her and hold her hands. After breakfast, Jaimie explored the classroom and played with the toys. I bid her goodbye, Jaimie ignored me as she was busy with the peg puzzles. I bid her farewell again and assured her that I would pick her up after school. She continued to ignore me. Well, I take it as an "ok" and left quietly.

Clement and I stood outside for an hour to peep at Jaimie. We were both keeping our fingers crossed that she'll be ok. We were careful not to let her see us. Jaimie explored the place and then stayed close to Mdm Aw. Mdm Aw gave her many peg puzzles to solve. We were very surprised to see Jaimie putting the right pieces at the right places quite effortlessly! The other children started the day by greeting all the teachers and singing songs. Jaimie continued to do her own things. Mdm Aw stayed close to Jaimie. She gave Jaimie some rubber duckies to play and read books with her. We could hear Jaimie saying "papa yaya, mama yaya, baby yaya" while arranging the 2 bigger rubber duckies with the smaller one. Clement left for work at 9.30am while I left for McDonalds to do my marking at 10am. I took a last peep at the classroom before leaving. Mdm Aw happen to see me and gave me a thumbs up sign. I was quite relieved and happy.

I was told to pick Jaimie up at 12.30pm after her lunch and shower. I reached there at around 12noon and decided to observe a little further before picking Jaimie up. I could hear Jaimie crying for "Mama" while Mdm Aw consoled her, saying "Mama went to the toilet. You need to wait for her. She'll be back soon." Jaimie quiet down a little and consoled herself while sobbing "不要哭！不要哭！". This is what we always tell her when she whines or cries. We always tell her not to cry. Just tell us nicely what she wants/ pick herself up from the fall etc and there is no need to cry. I didn't expect her to console herself in such a situation. My heart melted and I dashed into the classroom to hug my little girl who has seemed to grow so big!

Mdm Aw told me that Jaimie had a good portion of noddles for lunch. She even told Mdm Aw she was full and didn't want anymore. Mdm Aw also feedback to me saying that Jaimie participated in the activities. She was well behaved and wasn't crying until just now.

I am just so proud of my little girl!! I think she has done very well for her first day in school!

When we were waiting for daddy to pick us up (since he can go on a longer lunch today), I asked Jaimie if she enjoyed school and if she wanted to go to school tomorrow. She gave a positive reply. I am really very happy to hear that!

This is just day one. I hope she continues to like school. We have learnt from some mommies in the forum that some children enjoyed the first few days and then showed signs of anxiety after a few days or after a week. We'll keep observing, and keeping our fingers crossed!

Uncivilised Pigs

We had an extremely unpleasant incident at Choa Chu Kang Park today.

This evening, we wanted to go to the eatery at Choa Chu Kang Park for dinner. When we turned into the carpark, which was quite full already, we saw a lorry reversing out from the entrance. Hence we stopped at the side of the entrance to make way for the lorry to go out. Clement asked me to alight with Jae to order food first while he parked the car.

When I was on the pavement with Jaimie, the lorry driver reversed at an angle instead of going out straight. It was about 5cm away from scratching the side of the car which was parked in front of us, and almost hitting ours. Clement sounded his horn to warn the driver. The Son Of A B opened "its" car door and signalled us to reverse further but we couldn't as there was another van parked behind us. The brainless SOAB continued to reverse further threatening to reverse into our car.

Suddenly, the SOAB jumped down from "its" lorry and shouted vulgarities at us, calling us names which I suspect everyone else called "it" every other minute, ie. stupid. "It" was shouting the F word and the Hokkien vulgarities, accusing us of blocking "its" way out. Clement returned the F word and sounded his horn further.

The SOAB charged to Clement's side and hit the car. "It" even spat onto Clement's face! Clement came out to confront him. "It" pushed Clement on the face and Clement's glasses dropped onto the floor.

I was very angry. I went back the car to reach for my camera while carrying Jaimie in my arms. The SOAB was back in "its" lorry at that time ruthlessly and recklessly inched its lorry forward in my direction.

The eatery boss came out to mediate and pulled Clement to one side. There were some other around. I am not sure if they were of the same gang. One sided the pig, one came to mediate and the others just stood around. SOAB continued to throw racist remarks and more vulgarities before driving off.

I snapped as many pictures as I could. Unfortunately, I was unable to capture SOAB's face.

Clement was cool throughout the entire episode. We didn't lodge a police report because we haven't got the right pictures to show evidence. Anyway, we would be calling up the company since "it" was driving "its" company lorry.

Damn. This was really a very nasty experience.

Jaimie started self feeding yesterday!

Yesterday when we had dinner at grandma's house, grandma suggested to let Jaimie try self feeding. We were all very surprised that Jaimie is ready to feed herself! She made a little mess no doubt. But generally she sent 80% of the food into the right place with her spoon. Well done, my dear!

Today we let her feed herself for lunch and dinner. She enjoyed her meals and so did we.



Afer dinner at grandma's place, it's music time. Wahhh~~~~~看起来真有气质hor?

鸡同鸭讲

我：媛媛，你看到那个穿红色衣服的姐姐的卡通吗？

媛：有！

我：那是Aijsen拉面的图案。

媛：BIG! 媛媛不要big，要small.

我：不是“大面”，是“拉面”。“拉~~面”！

媛：喔！辣辣！woo~~ woo~~ woo~~喝水！

我：=_=

Tai-Tai Wannabe

My dream is to be a tai-tai because I like to wear big hats and big sunglasses.

Otherwise, a carpark attendant will do too.