At the Bus Interchange

I had the privilege of taking 2 buses today. One from Tiong Bahru Plaza to Bt Merah Interchange, and another from Bt Merah Interchange to Mum's place. It is a rare experience for someone who usually drives on a daily basis. I feel like time goes slower when I wait for buses. Today, I waited for a REALLY long time before the bus arrived. I guess 15mins to me is a LONG time.

I was lugging supermarket groceries in both hands, and understood what it was like to bring groceries home on a bus. There were eggs, bread, milk, soya milk, Yakult, Scotts handtowels...it's not a lot, but you know, you can't mix dry and cold stuff, so you have to handle them separately.

Was really glad when I reached Mum's place with all the stuff, and felt relaxed for a quarter-day without the kids around...some personal time is good for the soul.

California Pizza Kitchen

We had dinner today at California Pizza Kitchen, thanks to Mum who won a $50 voucher from the 93.8 radio station's contest.

Ethan had his CPK Kid's menu, comprising pizza, Ice Lemon Tea and Sundae, while the adults had the signature "Original BBQ Chicken Pizza", and the "Peking Duck Pizza", plus desserts - "Chocolate Banana Royale Cake", and "Apple Crisp". I especially LOVED the Apple Crisp.

Sophie had her yummy cereal dinner, and enjoyed playing with the straws that we gave her. Thereafter, we walked around Toy'R'us before heading home on our simple Friday evening.

Book to Recommend

If there is any book that I'd like to recommend for new parents, it would be Jenny Clements' "Good Luck! Inspiring Thoughts for New Parents", which Soon Guan recently discovered and borrowed from the Queenstown Library.

If I may, here is a quotation from the 1st page, which says "A new baby is like the beginning of all things - wonder, hope, a dream of possibilities" (by Eda J. Le Shan). Another quotation, "The first step is to accept that there are centuries of knowledge within you, so learn to rely on intuition". The rest of the quotations, you'd have to buy the book! It is really worth giving it as a gift!

It has about 30 pages of inspiring text filled with lovely black and white photos, some of which you can see in the website on PQ Blackwell, which was the design team that helped the author put the book together. I didn't know that they (PQ) were THAT famous - they helped put together the "DIANA: The Portrait Exclusive Anniversary Edition", which was the ONLY book to be authorised by the estate of the late princess and by the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund.....Wow.

Some food for thought.

Boobies on a Ride?

Yep, the thought did cross my mind. No, it's not 2 boobies looking at you. It's the eyes of a kiddie ride machine that Zachary chanced upon while we were having dinner at a food court in The Anchorage (opposite Ikea) yesterday.

It looked so funny I had to take a picture of it. Ethan said that it's one of the characters from the Robots cartoon movie. I dunno.

It was really funny when Ethan started moving the stick-shift at the seat, and the boobies (no, I mean the eyes) started moving, and the trunk started moving. They were moving in opposite directions, and Zack was having a field day, keeping his hands on the boobies (no, I mean the eyes), and following the movements.

Hah hah hah hah. The things I do to keep myself entertained on a tired Friday evening......

A Typical Day at Infantcare

This is what Sophie did on her 1st day at infantcare last week. The school gives a daily log of what she does and parents read / acknowledge it at the end of the day. It is a good way of recording the day, but Soon Guan and I feel that this somehow replaces the personal touch which we were hoping to get from the teachers - eg. we hope to talk and chat with the teachers about Sophie, but the Mandarin teachers who are attending to the babies at the end of the day are not much of a conversationalist. Moreover, it doesn't help when my Mandarin vocabulary is rather limited.

The English teacher, Ms Betty, is very chatty and cheerful - she takes care of the kids in the morning. We miss her for now, as she has just gone for eye surgery and would not be back for a few months.

Sophie has recently learnt to clap her hands and is able to do it on command. She learnt it when she saw the two brothers playing at grandma's house. She clapped her hands whenever the brothers managed to throw a ball through the basketball net (kiddie version).

BTW, Sophie's diaper rash is getting better! It's really healing fast!

Dinner at Au Jardin by Les Amis

Laurence invited me and Shaowei to dinner on Tuesday, at Au Jardin by Les Amis. Her parents and uncle were in town and they also invited a close family (couple) friend along.

The food was excellent! I haven't had French cuisine for a long time. We had a 4-course meal called Table D'Hote , and here's what I ate:

1. Hors d-oeuvres: Foie Gras (pan fried foie gras with confit chicken wing and pickled raisin puree)

2. Entrees: Crab meat (Steamed broiche with crab meat, Avruga caviar)

3. Main dish: Veal (low temperature roasted Australian veal rack, carrots glazed with cardamom and orange)

4. Dessert : Guanaja Chocalate (Warm guanaja chocolate moelleux, pistachio ice-cream)

I must say the meal was fantastic, and the dessert was chocolate cake which was crispy on the outside and warm and goo-y on the inside. It was a meal that you would savour if it was your last day on earth! The red wine was from a chateau in St-Emilion, and it was a premier grand cru - extremely smooth and it went very well with the red meat.

Thanks to Laurence and her family for the lovely dinner - I certainly enjoyed it!

Diaper Rash & Yeast Infection

Sophie has diaper rash. Her skin at her bums is a little raw and I'm hoping it will heal in a day's time...poor girl. It must hurt.

I've been searching the websites and found some remedies on how to manage the situation a bit better. It gives me new information on diaper rash and I learnt a lot - could it be a yeast infection, could it be due to the new food that she is being introduced to at the infantcare centre, should I stop using the wet wipes as she may be sensitive to it?

Here's a picture of her standing in her baby cot at the infantcare centre. Please sprinkle some "Tinkerbell dust" over to cure her raw bottom!

Precious Moments

This is my first collectible item from Precious Moments. I've never stopped loving the collection of teardrop-eye children figurines, and the only thing stopping me (from getting more if it) is lack of space at home.

I recall buying this first figurine ("Love One Another") in Isetan as a gift for myself when I was in secondary school. Can't quite remember the occasion, but I've kept it since, and each piece means something to me. I have one girl in a graduation gown which Soon Guan bought for me, I have kids in school uniform which my parents bought from Japan (dressed in Japanese school uniform), etc etc. The figurines remind me of the time in space - much like a photo brings you back to the memory of the occasion. It's a lovely momento to give to family/friends if you have the right figurine to match your needs.

Alas, please restrain me from getting anymore - no more space! I've outplaced most of the other things in my display case so that I can have enough space to keep my figurines!

Sophie at Infantcare

Sophie started her first day at Infantcare on 13 Mar (Tue), and here are some pics of her. So far, the teachers have said that she is very chirpy, smiley and happy. She does however have some difficulty drinking milk from the bottle, and sometimes refuses it. So they have resorted to giving it to her in other forms (eg. mixing it in the cereal, and in her food).

Teacher Betty is a very positive and cheerful lady, and Mdm Loh is motherly and speaks Mandarin, while Teacher Christina takes care of the younger ones. These 3 teachers take care of 6 infants ranging from age 3 months to 15 months in the centre. They keep a daily log of all the activities that Sophie goes through for the day, up to the minute detail of when they change her diaper (is it soiled, wet, dry, etc), what time she eats / how much she eats, what time she sleeps (from when to when), and what supplies she needs for the next day. It's a lot of work to keep track for each baby, but I guess this is part of the service I pay for $650 per month, which is supposed to be a promotional price (after government subsidy of $400). Without the promotional price (becos' the centre is new), I would have paid $850!!!

As the place is air-conditioned, they have requested that she wear long pants and socks so that she does not feel too cold. She also has a regular dip in the swimming pool every Friday as part of water play. We have yet to catch any pictures of her in her cutie swimsuit and will do so soon.

My Avatar

Learnt how to do this from Dot's website. It's quite fun to create your own Southpark identity from scratch.

Wonder if there are more sites out there that you can create your own avatar. Have fun!

Blog Silence

For those of you wondering what has happened to me recently, it has been a long blog silence.

Life has been crazy since my handphone came 'back to life'. Sophie has started infantcare, Mum has gone for an operation, Zachary has his challenges, and work has kept me busy till 3am on some nights......so how could I possibly spend time to blog? I ask myself how?

So recently, I have decided that work should stay at work, as far as possible. But you know what I mean when I say that this cannot be a promise. At least, I will try.

More pictures next time...