My Sticker Album

I used to collect stickers in my primary school days. Some of them came as secret gifts in edibles like Mamee noodles snack or purchased as a collectible. Because I didn't have an actual collectible card book or a sticker album, I took out the sticker backing and stuck them on a clear folder sheet just so I can display them on a page. 

Naturally that 'destroys' the sticker and they were no longer valuable. But well ... I was like 10 years old and didn't know any better. I would take out the album of and on to admire the stickers. Things were so much simpler in our day.

Fast forward 30 years ... it has come the time to let it go. I took a picture of every page and inserted some onto this blog page for remembrance. I doubt the children will appreciate this aspect of my youth. OO has an abundance of stickers we buy from various places and probably will not understand how we had to beg for stickers and the patience we had to have to collect one sticker a week in a pack of Mamee.

Sensory Lego Mat

The kids were playing with Lego yesterday and then YY became interested in the Lego mat.

He would get on the mat and walk in tiny circles on it. I suspect he is very curious as to what he was feeling on his feet and at the same time like the feeling of the pop-outs. Either way he keeps going back to the toy storage area to take the mat.

Kids can be entertained and play with the oddest of things. Maybe we didn't have to buy so many toys for both.

Expensive Chendol Drink

I don't get it. Why would everyone brave the long queue for a chendol drink? And an overpriced one at that.

It's supposed to be a very popular brand from Taiwan. But I'm guessing ... its popular in Taiwan because they don't have chendol there.

Here in Singapore we have chendol and probably every foodcourt and hawker center.

So yeah, I really don't get why people will rave and queue for a Tiger Sugar aka Expensive Chendol drink.

'Painting' My Nails

OO is becoming more and more girl. She sees Nyama and Meimei painting their nails and tries to do the same on her own. 

First she tried painting her nails with the drawing markers. Received a good scolding from Meimei and I as she painted more than just her fingers. Her hands, her clothes, the table were all coloured.

Now she figured another way to 'paint' her nails. Stickers! Small ones that fit her nails.

Haiz ... hahaha. We'll not be able to stop her from beautifying herself. She is girl after all. I suppose we just need to make sure she doesn't go overboard.

Lure Of The Dyson

We have always thought about a Dyson vacuum. The hands-free feature is pure gold and I fully expect more usage and cleaning with it. The single biggest reason stopping us from getting one was the price.

So recently when Meimei sounded that she has reward voucher amounting close to a thousand and thinking if we should spend it on a Dyson, I jumped at it immediately.

And because its close to Chinese New Year, there were promotions on the V10 Fluffy range. We went for the cheapest of the 3 variant. But at $700+ it was still twice as expensive as the Miele corded vacuum we have at home.

Well we have had the Miele workhorse since we married and it's still going strong. We'll probably have the maid use the Miele while Meimei and I work with the Dyson hehehe. I rather we test the Dyson on its durability and rigour to rough handling.

YY Riding The Boat

Exactly a year and half ago we received a Friso Rocking Boat as a purchase gift. OO only paid with it for a couple of times before we kept it in storage.

With CNY coming early next month and spring cleaning starting, we decided it was time for the boat to go. So we took it out from the storage area in the children's room with intention to give it away.

I came home today to find him playing on it. Well ok ... probably the only time he's gonna get to play before we give it away. We just need to make sure we watch the kids so they don't go over each other's toe while they swing on the boat.

OO's Preschool Homework

OO's in nursery now and with it a new activity for both the child and the parent.

Homework!

They really start early these days ... I didn't write my first Chinese stroke till Primary one. And this memory is clearly imprint in my mine. I recall opening the workbook and seeing the word 这 with squares to follow on the strokes. 

Probably good kids learn earlier these days so they don't get left behind when it really matters in school.

Learned To Climb

I'm not sure how it happened. One moment I was watching his every move. Then I turn my head to talk to OO and when I turned back, he was already up on the chair and reaching for something from the middle of the table.

Good gosh ... This kid has no fear. 小牛不实大老虎. Watching YY just became a whole lot more tiring ... you cannot look away for a single moment.

YY's First Haircut

The hair around the ears were irritating YY and he was scratching it regularly. Meimei and I were holding out after what happened with OO. We didn't want another tu-tu look for our baby.

This time I took to the cutting instead of asking Siti to do it. It didn't turn out as bad as OO's. Still looks a little weird since he wouldn't keep still. He was curious about the scissors running through his hair but thankfully we got through both sides.

YY @ 11 Mths - Walking On His Own

YY started walking on his own this month. Now he doesn't like being carried and would try to get down to walk any chance he can get. He has a funny walk with his right knee and ankle bended inwards. Hopefully he grows out of it.

He'll probably start saying words later than his 姐姐. He just goes 'en en' and points to convey his intentions. Works but sometimes we cannot get what he wants. Thankfully unlike OO he will not throw up a fuss that we cannot understand him. He simply gives a bewildered look like ... "how come you cannot understand one ..." and then move on.

过来给我一个抱抱！

My 不爽 look

Expert Stroller Pusher now

Yeah! Dine Out!

Happy New Year 2019!

I had to work on New Year's Day afternoon so the day was basically wasted for me. But that wasn't going to dampen the day for the rest of the family.

Meimei decided to bring everyone to Gardens By The Bay! And I was the chauffeur before I make my way to office. I could only catch up with videos and picture Meimei periodically send across. Looks like YY and OO had loads of fun!

Happy New Year Everyone~!!

Shy boy looking at Aunty Hazey

Hmm where OO learn to pose like that?

Much better pose than the one before

Said too soon!

No shoes!

Belated 2018 Christmas Gifts

I remembered Meimei has been hunting for a hands free headphone. And that she mentioned she prefers the apple headphone to the common rubbery stud type. Thankfully finance are a little tiny better this year, I decide to surprise her with a gift.

I had placed an order online for collection at the Orchard Apple store. I purposely arrived earlier so I can collect it and place it on the dashboard in front of her seat. Then I went off to window shop in Robinsons till she came down. I deliberately came to the car late to see if she noticed the apple bag.

Oh that glee and smile on Meimei's face as I walked towards the car .... Priceless ... she was beaming and grinning from ear to ear, pure genuine surprise. 

就为了一笑. Totally worth it.

Meimei also bought me a headphone for Christmas heheh.

Mignon's Steak & Grill

Sorta of a belated Christmas celebratory meal but that's ok. It's hard to find time for a date night meal so we appreciate any chance we get.

Meimei brought me to Mignon's Steak & Grill at the basement marketplace of Takashimaya. We had a monster of meal ... 1kg of T-Bone steak to share. Slurp!

Sheltered Playgrounds

OO behaved well yesterday morning so I rewarded her with a trip to the playground. We initially started at the 3 slides playground but it had rained earlier in the wee hours and she couldn't play on the slides. The only ones she could play were the climbing obstacles. She's fearless even on the tough ones.

She seemed disappointed after awhile as there were limited fixtures to play so I decided that we should go explore and see if we can find new playgrounds. We had previously driven past the area and saw playgrounds that were sheltered.

The first one we found was just off the road and was similarly wet due to the rain. We stopped for probably 5 minutes before moving to another. I rode further into the neighbour and found the first sheltered playground.

It had a nice tall roof and was relatively clean and new. OO had a wonderful time climbing up the different obstacles and diving down the slides. We spend a good half hour there before she was willing to leave. And that's only because I offered that we go look for another one.

It didn't take long for us to find the next sheltered playground. It was probably only about 200-300 metres from the first. OO was totally elated to play in the new playgrounds. She made me promise to bring her back here again before agreeing to leave for home.

Personally I was just as excited to find sheltered playgrounds. OO had been behaving well, sleeping in the afternoons the past month. But since it was December and the rainy season, we always end up disappointing her. So to find options for play and encourage good behaviour was a definite plus.

Christmas 2018

With 2 little kids, Christmas was always going to be a simple affair. We put up the tree but had to move all the ornaments on the top part so YY cannot go pulling on them.

We had a great dinner on Christmas Eve with everyone around the table including YeeYee and GX.

This is YY's first Christmas so Meimei has been very generous in dishing out all the toys for him. We definitely need to control the number of gifts as they get older hehe.