Hymnal

pix taken on 9th October 2008
Isaac @ 14 months

Here's Isaac in church looking at the hymnal (the book which has the all the church songs aka hymns). He loves the hymnal. He would like to flip the pages, looking at the hymns.

Unlike most kids, Isaac actually does not seek to destroy books by crunching up nor tearing up the pages. However, due to the thinness of the paper, Isaac sometimes accidentally tears a bit of the page while he flips the page over. I've been wanting to buy a small scotchtape dispenser and take it to church with me. Hmmm ... must get down to that...

I'd like to think that Isaac has musical inclinations as well - since he likes to look at the hymns which are presented on the page with the musical notes and all. I like to sing, but can't read the bean sprouts for nuts. Hubbs loves to sing too, and his aspiration was actually to learn the piano.

Which he did, by the way. Think at the grand age of 33, he actually went to sign on at Yamaha for a season of lessons for Grade 1. Think he never made it to take the test. But he enjoyed his lessons tremendously. He'd proudly tell you he's Grade 0 (zero) too. We're both proud of the fact that he actually went ahead to do what he always wanted to do, take piano lessons! :) He's stopped now, but he's been trying to cajole me into getting a piano, to see if Isaac wants to give it a try. hahaha... well... we'd see ;)

Sitting on the edge

pix taken on 5th October 2008
Isaac @ a day to 14 months

This is one of the first times I caught Isaac on film sitting on the supermarket ledge. He's been doing this for some time already. It's quite hilarious really, whenever we go to the supermarket, he would walk along the aisle and look for somewhere where he can sit. And there he would sit, on the lil ledge he made for himself (he'd push the goods further in to the shelf to make space for himself).

So ah pek, hor? ;p like his papa... hahahhahahahahaa....

Eating milk powder!?

Oh the good news!

Guess what?!?!?! Isaac's started eating milk powder!!! And I mean LITERALLY EATING the milk powder!!!

We've been trying to get him to drink formula milk for the longest time, right? Tried all the brands of formula and even tried fresh milk - to no avail. So there're like tons of milk tried and rejected in all the houses (our place, and both grandparents' place).

One night, at my parents place, he somehow sussed that the stuff in the Pediasure milk can is some kinda food. So he asked for it. We laughed, asking him:"You want this? sure.... hehehehe..." scooped some out into a bowl for him, gave him a spoon, and amazingly... he started to scoop it up and into his mouth!

*GAPE* *blink*blink*

I couldn't believe my eyes!!! He was actually EATING MILK POWDER!!!

This happened 2 weeks ago, and since then, he's finished his first tin of 500g of milk powder!!! HURRAH!!! wonders never cease!!! yay!!! Our prayers have been answered!!! Well, not exactly - I mean, he wasn't exactly DRINKING milk, but then, this is a great start, right?! yay!!! wooohoooo!!! :)

So, both grandmas have been giving him milk powder. While he eats it, the grandmas get him to drink water too (usually I tell him to jump after that, so he'd have milk in his tummy kekekeke... kidding!!!).

Though, he's not drinking as much water as he should - like he can eat 3 scoops of milk powder, which should have been mixed with 120ml of water, but he doesn't drink as much. So his Ah Ma's kinda worried, and just told me last night that she will cut down his milk powder intake as she's afraid he'd get all heaty and develop a fever.

Sighz. Kinda have mixed feelings about that, coz I want Isaac to take as much as he can, but yet, I don't want him to come down with fever either. Dang! If only he'd drink milk properly!

Ah Ma says her grandson refuses to drink milk when she mixes the formula with water - but he eats it powder form, or in a paste form.

My mum, Isaac's Popo, has had some success with milk though. She would give it to him in a cup, dip bread in it and give it to him, which he takes. But milk on its own, he doesn't.

What a wierd boy I have! kekeke... my boy indeed! Just like me! kekeke...

I love to ask him, tongue in cheek, whether he'd had his "white powder" today. kekekeke... "white powder" in Teochew dialect is "beh hoong" - which means drugs! hahahaha... When I come home from work, Isaac runs to me and signs "milk milk milk" and behaves like a drug addict craving for his fix - my MIL would say that his source of opium is back. hahaha... so let's hope he switches to his new drug - the white powder - milk! :)

kiddy ride feeding time

On some weekends, we would go to IMM for breakfast. Great play to be there early so we can park on the 3rd floor and beat the crowd. Isaac usually wakes up early, like 7ish, or 8plus at the latest, so that usually means we're in IMM before 9am.

One thing great about IMM is number of kiddy rides they have! Loads!!! Great looking ones too! Clean and bright coloured. Isaac would love to sit in them - we don't put the coins to activate them though, don't wanna let Isaac get used to that and demand it next time - like how I used to when I was young HAHAHA... but at that time it was only 20 cents ok... now it's like at least 50 cents to a dollar.

Anywayz, coz the rides look great - they're a treat to sit in already. Gosh, I would love to jump in them if my butt could fit in! :p Yes, I do reminisce about my kiddy ride days... reliving them vicariously via Isaac now! kekeke...
See hubbs feeding Cookie Monster? yeah... we've resorted to feeding toy characters to get Isaac to eat... hahahhaa... Actually Isaac's quite good with eating his meals usually. Though of course, sometimes he has his moods. And he's sometimes restless that he wants to walk and play with stuff while eating. We try to put him in a high chair or something like that when he eats, but he can't last more than 10 to 15 minutes in them.
So, when we're in IMM, the kiddy rides act as our high chair for Isaac. It's great, coz it keeps him entertained and in one place while we try to plough in the food.
Not sure if I mentioned, but in the past when Isaac was younger, he used to prefer balls over cars. But now, Isaac's beginning to like cars and vehicular like stuff. He still likes his "ball ball"s , but now it's "car car"s too. Hehehe... I am pleased! Time to take home my collection of Matchbox cars, Micro Machine cars and Tamiya cars back from my parents place! woohoo! :)

pix taken on 5th October 2008
Isaac @ a day to 14 months

Swimming with Isaac

Did you notice that there are really more pictures of me and Isaac nowadays?! kekeke... see!!! Nagging DOES HELP!!! kekekeke...

pix taken on 4th October 2008
Isaac @ two days to 14 months old

Isaac really loves the water. He enjoys his bath time, and he loves to go swimming. Though he's definitely more subdued when he swimming as compared to when he's bathing. I think that's coz he feels 'safer' in the tub, compared to the seemingly bottomless pool.

As you can tell, Isaac's been wearing this swimsuit since we brought him swimming when he was 6 months old. Almost a year on, and he's still in them. His weight just hit 10kg in December (when he's about 16 months old) - don't think that's very heavy.

The paediatrician put him at 50th percentile. sighz. To think he was once at 90th percentile - that was when he was like 2 and 3 months old and on an all-day-buffet of fresh-from-the-source breast milk. Sighz. Well, anyway, he seems to be growing fine so we're not too worried... especially... since... GOOD NEWS COMING UP!!! kekkee (NO, I'm not pregnant lah.) ;p

Man-U supporter?! NOT!!!

Nope! Not Man-U supporters! hahahaha... Our nice neighbours thought we were Man-U supporters and bought us all jerseys - including Isaac! Guess coz her son and son-in-law are Man-U supporters, so that was the team they identified with. So here we are in our Man-U jerseys! If I see a nice Liverpool jersey in a pasar malam, would get one for Isaac! :) It's okay, I dun need... besides, I'm so fat I can wear hubb's tee and it fits me perfectly! sighz! Though I tell him, that's coz I have boobs and he doesn't... kekeke...

pix above taken on 1st October 2008
Isaac @ five days to 14 months

Here's hubbs reading chinese poems to Isaac. He really likes it when we read to him or play with him.

Isaac now knows how to pull our finger and lead us to where he wants us to sit with him, or read to him, or play with him. In the past, I'd let him play with his toys, so that I can do my own stuff. But now that he starts to pull us to be with him, I realise that it IS important that I do stuff WITH him and not just assume that he's happy playing on his own.

To be with him is as much a need as it is to eat, have clothes to wear, and a place to stay. So now, I make sure I sit with him to play his toys with him, supervise him doing his jigsaw puzzles, talk him through what he's seeing - even in the car, when he's sitting in the car seat, he'd take my finger and point it at the window - at first I wondered what he wanted, later, I realised that he wanted to me to point out stuff to him and give him a running commentary on what flashes past as we drive - just like I used to do when he was a few months old! I realised that I'd gotten kinda 'lazy' with such stuff.

So! One of my new year's resolution is to not be lazy, and spend more quality time with my Isaac! :) Afterall, to be in their memories tomorrow, we have to be with them today! (read that somewhere ;p)

Got milk?

hey guys, you know me, deep down in me, I've got a serious case of verbal diarrhoea - thankfully, I usually know when to shut up - I think! So, as you know, I haven't been keeping up with the blog huh. And when I'm guilty, I either serially dump you guys a bunch of photos every so often - or I write a whole chunk of thoughts at one shot and bore the hell outta some of you.

hahahaha... too bad for those who don't like reading then :p wait for the pix to roll!

I must say it is totally unsatisfactory that I can't blog as often as I would like to. Coz kids grow so fast!!! Isaac is now 17 months old, and he can walk, almost run, almost talk, and most defintely, he's able to argue back at us - in gibberish!

And often, I'd be thinking of something which makes me go - I should write this in my blog! hahaha... Just one such incident made me think this lately... and I thought, I think I should write about this NOW instead of going to sleep. It's Friday night, afterall.

It was Tracy & Eric's big day on 28th Dec 2008. So the bunch of us Spyderz were the "sisters" gang, right. So, Eric had picked Tracy up already, and we were all on our way to Eric's place as the proceedings go. Hweech, Cel, SQ and I were in the car of one of the "brothers" - a very decent, pleasant Nice Guy, whom I have forgotten his name already.

I sat in the front with him, and tried to make small talk. And coz he had a child car seat in the car, I naturally asked him if he had a kid, and how old the kid was. Apparently, his kid was about the same age as Isaac. So we had a nice time talking about both our sons.

At some point, it naturally came up that I was still breastfeeding Isaac. Nice Guy immediately expressed surprise that I was still bf-ing Isaac as Isaac was already 16 months old. The next question came naturally: "You still have milk?"

At which point, I heard an audible gasp coming from Hweech as the 3 gals in the backseat all silenced to hear my response.

Without skipping a beat - I responded:"Oh, my supply is not as high as before - but still have." Nice Guy nodded his head sagely and said:"Wah very good, really salute you." and we continued our conversation about our boys.

At that, I heard Hweech say something to the effect of :"It's amazing how parents can talk about something so intimate as milk supply in such an objective manner!" and they broke out in incredulously-amazed laughter.

hahahahaa... and so right she is! And I think that's what's so beautiful about being parents! We see the world in a whole new different light!

And who says Singaporeans are unfriendly?! We're just shy! And being parents will break those barriers! Isaac has opened our doors to conversations with so many people! People are always keen to play with Isaac, and talk to us about him and about their own kids. We have gotten to know quite a number of neighbours living in our housing estate just like that.

In fact, it started ever since I was pregnant. Strangers would ask when I was due, whether it was a boy or a girl. Yes, boring, same old questions - but otherwise, how'd we ever start talking? It's a great start! They also started offering tips of their own, what worked for them, where to get stuff, methods of getting around problems, reccommendations...

We love how Isaac would bring a nice start to someones' day coz he smiled at them at 6.45am in the morning, or how he clapped his hands and waved goodbye. In fact, my favourite is in the mornings, when we're in the car, and we occassionally stop beside a truckload of foreign workers on their way to their worksite - we would ask Isaac to wave hello and smile at them - and you see at least ten to twelve of them smiling and laughing and waving back at Isaac.

I'd like to think Isaac made their day - or at the very least put a smile in them. I think it is sad that these men have to leave their family and loved ones behind to work in a foreign country just for money... doing manual labour... So, I think Isaac made a difference in their lives. They may not know who Isaac is, or what his name is, but they will remember that little boy who smiled and laughed and waved and clapped his hands for them one morning... and they will recount that to their other friends who didn't have the good fortune to see it, and they will laugh and be happy about it... many times.

And that makes me happy. That makes me proud of the fact that I am a parent, and that my boy brought a little more joy into this world.

Ain't that wonderful? :)

Wear clothes, Isaac!!!

I think all parents would probably remember the phase their kids go through when they don't wanna wear clothes! hahaha...
Here's Isaac in one of those moods of his, where he suddenly decides that he doesn't want to put on any clothes. Not that it was a particularly hot day, he just didn't want to put on any clothes!
Here he is, preferring to play with my mobile phone rather than put on clothes. Speaking of which, my phone has died a horrible slow death. hahaha... okay nothing traumatic really happened to it (not like how hubbs phone died when he jumped into the lake in sentosa - poor phone literally drowned and rusted in salt water).
You see, Isaac loves to play with our phones. And usually, we let him - especially if we needed him to be quiet, like in church or something. Well, he's dropped the phone many times. But then again, I'm not the most careful person on earth either, so my phone's been dropped a fair bit. But of all my past phones, this is the worst so far! Worst in the sense that it can't take the rough wear we subject it to... so... after weeks of auto-shutdowning on me... it seems that it has auto-shutdowned on me... FOR GOOD!!! *sob*sob* heart pain the contacts rather than the phone really... So, I'm currently using one of my old phones, which is also cranky as hell and auto-shutdowny. Sighz. Looking forward to getting a new phone, but we can't decide which. The new fancy big screen ones with high resolution cameras look great, but we suspect, are quite fragile and not good for rough wear too. Sighz. am tempted to get a simple phone. But then, phones with cameras are nice... sighz... we'd see... meanwhile, forgive me if I ask:"Sorry, who are you huh?"


pix & vid taken on 5th October 2008
Isaac @ a day to 14 months!

Breakfast at Peiteng's place

Yes, unfortunately the above is the best shot I have of the three boys! hahaha... From left to right, Ray - my uni classmate (and ex-colleague) Christine's son is two months older than Isaac, then in the middle is Jay - my colleague Peiteng's son is a few months younger than Isaac. And my Isaac - born on August 2007, in case you were trying to recall.

The boys had a great time playing with Joy's and Jay's toys in the spacious apartment. Look at Jay on his electric toy train. At 11 months old only, he can already balance himself on a moving vehicle so steadily! Kids are simply amazing!
Here's Isaac having a blast on Jay's motorbike... so much so he was trying to prevent Ray from getting on it!!! Share, Isaac!!! Share!!!
After tiring of the electric motorbike, Isaac moves on to his mobile playground - Papa Playground!!!
Papa Playground! The ultimate human playground where you have a human rockwall, automatic horseback riding, slide and swing all rolled into one - comes with an advanced protective device (called Papa) that ensures you never hurt yourself on this playground! Ain't that wonderful?!
See, here, just before we left, I asked Joy if she would like to take a picture with Isaac. She said "Okay..." albeit somewhat grudgingly. We manage to plant Isaac there for the pic.
And when I asked Joy, "Would you like to take a picture with Uncle Matthew?" Waaah... enthusiatic nods we get from our young girl... hahhahaa... yes, as you know hubbs is the young girl/auntie/grandmother "killer" hahaha... charms them all the time - and this time, coz he was playing with Joy and Isaac for most part of the morning. So his reward - a picture with a pretty young girl! :)

pictures taken on 28th September 2008
Isaac @ 13 months plus, Ray @ 15 months plus
Jay @ 11 months plus, Joy @ 3 years plus

Isaac & Amanda @ Zsofi's Bar

Here's Isaac with Amanda! Sighz. so young already go bars with girls... kekeke... Amanda's my colleague Dacon's daughter. We were there to check out the bar for work reasons... REALLY!!!
Isaac's eyeing Dacon's beer... Amanda kept a good watch over it though. Everytime Isaac touched the glass, she'd report him to her father! hahahhaa...
See here, we caught Isaac on film, mabok after sharing the beer with his Papa...
Papa: "You don't drink so much ah!!!"
*sway*
*sway*sway*
Boo!!! Bluff you lah! Of course, Isaac didn't drink beer!!! kekeke...


This is Zsofi's Bar - a bar opened by my cousins. Look at the cool murals on the walls! :) they were hand drawn by my cousin Janice and her friends.
As you can see by the throw cushions on the floor and the low tables, this is a kinda hangoutty kinda bar for people to chill out
cool drawings huh! Guess what, they do parties too, so you can like book the whole place for your birthday party or something. It's in a shophouse on Dunlop Street, yes - at little india :p
This pic below shows the bar on the ground floor. Rest of the pix are all upstairs. Drop by the bar sometime! :p

pix taken on 26th September 2008
Isaac @ 13 months plus

Eat cheese!

Here's my Isaac eating cheese. We've been trying to get him to eat cheese and yoghurt and other stuff filled with calcium coz... yes, he's still drinking milk from me and me only. sighz. how'd you say No when he looks at you with pleading eyes and signs "milk", "please" and "thank you" continuously over and over again??? yes, yes, wean ME off, I'm the troublesome one to wean coz I can talk and think of reasons to postpone the date of cold turkey again and again...

So anyway, here's Isaac enjoying his cheese. He loves cheese coz it's salty. He seems to prefer salty tasting stuff to sweet tasting stuff. This is also the first time I allowed him to hold the cheese himself - and he did a great job of feeding himself! Just had to help him a little with the cheese wrapper :) Good job, Isaac!

pix taken on 27th September 2008
Isaac @ 13 months plus