A Bad Scare

I was at work when Meimei message that they are rushing OO to Thomson.

OO was hitting her head the whole day and complaining "pain pain". She is also lethargic and sticking to Mama and Meimei. Very unlike her normal bubbly self.

By the time Meimei got into a cab to Thomson OO is already looking very sick and sleepy. I was in shock when I saw the pic Meimei sent. Although I was in a meeting, I quickly excused myself and rushed to Thomson.

Thankfully when I got there OO seems to be better. OO had vomited all over Meimei in the cab. It seems she may have ate something which made her sick .... hmmm was it the cheese I fed her this morning? Whatever it is, I'm glad it wasn't anything major.

Anniversary 2017

It's been a couple of years since we celebrated our Anniversary. I think we went out for a simple meal for the last few ... but yeah I don't remember any of the details anymore. I guess the last two was because our attention and focus were on OO so the anniversary was just another day in the year.

This year our anniversary happens to fall on a public holiday so we had Mama help us babysit OO while we went for a couple's day-out. We didn't do anything exciting but are just as happy having me-time together.

Meimei brought us to Porta @Park Hotel Clark Quay. It's a modern European style cooking with a hint of Spanish influences.

Meimei claims that the pork tasted exactly like those she had in Spain. I'm not sure if they actually imported the pork from Spain but I suspect they have marinated it in the same style. Whatever it is, it tastes wonderful.

After the hearty meal, we set out for what most would class as a 'weird' activity on an Anniversary day. Today's the launch of a new Jujubee print and we were off to Race Course road to try and snag some goodies.

Due to the crowd, the seller adopted a lottery scheme of letting mummies with a certain pre-assigned numbers enter each half hour. Those who were lucky to get in early had first dips on the popular design and models.

As for us, we waited from 3pm to 5pm before we had our turn. It was a slight damper, especially when we had already been waiting for 2 hours just to get in, and another half hour or more to get to the counter to place our orders ... only to find that 80% of what Meimei wanted to buy for herself and friends were already out of stock.

We ended the day with another great meal at Ju Shin Jung at Guillemard road before heading to the airport to meet Mama and OO.

Evoland

Although I finished the game, it felt laborious in the later part of the game. I liked how it brought back fond memories of the Zelda and Final Fantasy series, but at the same token it highlights the flaws or weakness of the game play when compared to modern RPGs.

I suppose this is a one-off type of game. Unlikely would there be a sequel, not that anyone would want to play through 'evolution of gaming' all over again.

Abandoned Trip # 3.5

It wasn't so much an abandoned trip since we already managed to travel to Plaza Singapura. But OO's refusal to get into the car for the trip home angers me to no end. Especially now that Meimei shouldn't be tiring herself.

At the moment our maid doesn't have a day off and is able to accompany Meimei on the MRT/bus trip home. That is going to change in a couple of months when our ex-maid (who insist on a day off every week) comes back. When that happens ... how is Meimei going to bring OO home herself?

Sign ... I'm at my wit's end over this.

Another

We have been trying hard for another. And today we finally receive good news.

It's been a very hard journey for Meimei, both physically and mentally. She has to take meds and jabs that mess with her hormones. So much pain and sacrifice for our little family. But thankfully after 3 failed IUI attempts and our first IVF, we are blessed to receive our new member of the family.

Although it's still early days, we are looking forward to another baby. Most importantly we hope he or she is healthy and happy.

Abandoned Trip #3

I don't keep proper taps on the number of failed trips. There were others the past month when OO refuse to get into car when I tried to send her to school and Mama had to walk her there instead. It's happen again today ... and a bad one at that. I cannot stress enough how frustrating it is.

Papa is flying to Indonesia today and we were ready to set off for the airport at 11.45. But at 11.10 we were still stuck in the car park. OO is refusing to put on her seatbelt no matter what Meimei tries. In the end I made the call to abandon the trip, citing that OO was sleepy and we should go back up to let her sleep.

Meimei was furious ... I think more in part that I gave up the trip rather than at OO. Although I don't think that is fair, I'm laying it squarely on OO. I made the comment that we will never go to any water playground ever again but Meimei rebuted me fiercely that OO doesn't understand the threat. Doesn't matter, if OO can be so hard headed to insist on not wearing the seatbelts I'm pretty sure she understands it.

The only thing I can say is ... boring childhood. I wished my parents had the time to bring me to places every weekend. And even though I try to give OO that once in a lifetime fun childhood, she is jeopadizing it from the get-go. Haiz .... silly girl. 

OO @School - Gardens By The Bay Excursion

It's the June holidays and the school has planned a series of excursion throughout the month. It cost an extra $25 and we have to buy a set of uniform so OO is easy to identified as a student of the childcare centre. We gladly paid the fees so she could join in the fun!

Although one adult could accompany her, we were advised not to go so she can mingle with the rest of her peers. And the teachers were very quick to assure us they would take extra care of the PG babies since they are still 2 years old.

They didn't go into the aircon domes and only played games at a shelter area in the gardens. That's good enough, fresh air is always welcomed. OO did come back home a little tanned though haha.

Playground At 417

OO has somewhat recovered from her latest illness. So I decided to reward her with a trip to the newly renovated playground at block 417.

OO has been asking to go the playground ever since she saw it when we walk to Bedok Mall. She has labelled it the Red Playground, due to the prominent red slides.

Its a little further from home and we have to cross a traffic junction. But it's new and clean so well worth the trip.

Most importantly, OO is having so much fun here. The slides are definitely more exciting than the ones at the playground near home. Also there are exercise stations at the same place so OO can get to play those too. And there are no mosquitos in the area, which means we will be back again sometime soon. Yeah!

Recollections: High Tide

I had just started primary school. My mum, in all her 'wisdom', taught me a couple of phrases in hopes they would help me if I have any pressing need. One of her advice was to tell the teacher that I had 'high tide' if I needed to go to the toilet.

I can no longer remember the face of the teacher but I recall she was Malay. It was between classes and I went up to her and told her I had 'high tide', hoping she would grant me leave to rush to the toilet. I was already full and needed to go immediately. But she couldn't understand and ask me in a nasty condescending tone "What high tide? What do you want?" "High tide teacher ... *struggling to keep the pee in" "What high tide??! Can you say properly?!"

I must have made an agonising expression as she soon understood I needed to go to the toilet and wave me off. I ran as fast as I could to pee. It was one of the embarrassing moments in my early childhood which I could never shake off. I vaguely recalled that I was angry at mum for teaching me silly phrases. But on hindsight, she was doing the best she could with the limited education she had.

I did promised years later to never fall fault of this with my own children. I'll teach them the proper way of expressing themselves so others can understand them. It's important to save them such unnecessary embarrassment ... which one can still remember 30 odd years later.

Kopi Boy

One of the occasions where I went out to tabao coffee for everyone. Pretty challenging to juggle so many on two hands and getting it to the car.

Nebulizer At Home

OO's fallen sick again. Or I should say she never really recovered and the symptoms are blowing up again. And this time the cough was bad enough that doc ordered a course of Nebulizer, on top of the antibiotics and other medicines.

OO had these when she was hospitalised but we didn't have to understand how to work the machine since the nurse were always on hand to administer it. But since we had to loan the machine home, the nurse demo-ed it and gave OO a dose on the spot.

OO is never one to sit quietly, so we had to try all sorts of entertainment to entice her to sit down and inhale off the nebulizer. She was cooperative at times and totally frustrating on others. There were times where she simply refuse to come close to the nebulizer. We tried our best to have her inhale as much as possible. But she is really still too young to understand the need for it. Haiz hopefully she recovered fully this time.

Space Marshal 2

Having played through Space Marshal and deeply enjoying the gameplay, I bought the next instalment the moment I was done with the first. $7 for a game I know I would enjoy is a steal.

It's the same familiar gameplay, controls and view. Even so the game provides a good challenge and mix of sleath. I'll definitely buy another instalment of Space Marshal if Pixelbite launches another.

Cassia Seeds

Meimei has recently discovered an indoor playground shop featuring cassia seeds. Since OO is feeling under the weather again we decided its best not to bring her outdoors.

I'm glad Meimei found this place. OO's having a ball of a time playing with the seeds. They are like sand but 'cleaner' since they are bigger and don't stick onto the clothes.

Mostly she was excited to have freedom to pour seeds from one cup to another. This was something we frown upon when she does it with her meals. But here she is given free rein to do what she fancies with the seeds.

They also have a pen filled with balls and OO couldn't help herself but fall into them. She already likes to do this at home but here there is so many she was grinning from ear to ear with excitement.

It was so much fun for OO, we signed up a package of 10 hours. We'll sure be back here again ... so long as OO is willing to get into the car haha.

DIY Ball Tossing Station

Meimei saw this online in one of her Daiso facebook fan pages and decided to give it a go since we already had the mats.

It was a good effort. I can so imagine myself going ape and playing this over and over again if I was a kid again.

OO seems to have other ideas of the station. She treats it like an obstacle course and attempts to tunnel through it. And as expected, the station came apart pretty quickly. Oh well, we'll try again when she's older.

OO @School - Mother's Day Special Event

Continuing the Mother Day celebration, OO's school organised a ondeh-ondeh cooking session for the child, mother and grandma. I must applaud the school for making the effort to setup such events. They had all the utensils and ingredients ready for us when we arrive. And best of all, its free!

Naturally my role was the photographer-of-the-day. I managed to snap many sweet moments of Grandma, Meimei and OO having a ball of a time.

The making of the ondeh ondeh was the fun part. The eating part not so much.

Everyone was apprehensive to eat their own creation ... and with good reason too hahaha.

Overall it was a wonderful experience for the whole family. This is what it means to be a family, to let loose and have fun together.