What a Feast!

Yesterday evening, we celebrated Erica Ah Yee's birthday at Poh Poh's house, and what a feast we had! Poh Poh cooked stir fried asparagus with prawns and carrots, stir fried egg with tomato (Vernice Jie Jie and Mummy's favourite) and steamed chicken with ginger and mushroom. Erica Ah Yee and Uncle Victor bought Sri Lankan chilli crab (finger-licking good), garlic fish head and yam dumplings with tuna. With the spread in front of me, guess what I was having for dinner? The usual porridge with chicken, sweet potato and broccoli, topped with some of Poh Poh's carrot pieces and eggs.

Nicole Jie Jie contributed the yummy Espresso Cheese Cake from Secret Recipe. It's all the way from JB! Jie Jie said it was cheaper to get from there. As usual, we lighted the candles, sang the birthday song, and Erica Ah Yee cut the cake. Everytime we take photos, Erica Ah Yee would ask, "Will put on blog or not har? Must make myself look beautiful." High spirited Gong Gong even took out his treasured XO to celebrate the occasion!

After the cake was supposed to be desert - durian paste and mango pudding but all of us was up to the brim so we had to TaBao the desert home for supper. For the rest of the night, Daddy and Mummy felt very bloated, yet they had to finish the durian paste desert for fear that it would spoil the next day. It was yummy, and very rich indeed.

Batam View Staff Outing

Last Sunday, we went to Batam with Mummy's colleagues on a staff outing. We reached Batam View Resort at around 11 am. The resort looked as if it had weathered many seasons, but the lobby and rooms were newly renovated. After check-in, we had lunch at the hotel cafe. For the first time, Mummy did not cook any porridge for me for the entire trip. I pretty much ate what they ate and thank God, I didn't have to starve. The spread for lunch was good.

After lunch, I took my usual nap before we went for a swim in the not-so-sanitised-smells-of-urine pool. We didn't swim for long. The thought of swimming in urine put Mummy off. Meanwhile, Mummy's colleagues were enjoying their 3-hour spa treatment (quite cheap at less than S$90). Of course, Mummy had to miss that part cos she didn't think Daddy could babysit me for 3 hours.

After the swim, we took it slow and easy as it was still quite some time before dinner. The princesses were still having their massage. We went to buy some snacks and went to play briefly in the Children's Playground, which was quite rundown - old and broken plastic furniture and dirt-stained floor, not to mention that it was near some bushes so there could be mosquitos.

Dinner was at the Kelong Seafood Restaurant. Simple spread but nice food. It was followed by a Karaoke session. It was my first time so you can imagine my fascination with the microphone. For most of the time, there could only be one singer as I would be hogging the other mic. Most of the songs there were ancient - I think Po Po and Nai Nai would enjoy it much more than we did. The session ended slightly more than an hour later. By then, I was already snoozing away while Mummy and Daddy ended the night with the song "How Deep is Your Love".

The next morning after a hearty buffet breakfast, we checked out of the hotel and went on a city tour, which was mostly shopping. Before we reached our first stop, it was already pouring. The streets were flooded and Mummy's shoes were soaked! Still, I stayed dry, protected from the rain by the Ergo Carrier. We didn't buy much, only some local snacks, and half a dozen of the famous J Co. Donuts, which we had to queue 20 minutes for. The donuts were interesting but nothing fantastic.

I dozed off on the way to the ferry terminal, only to wake up 1.5 hours later when the ferry reached Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal.

First Trip to Singapore Zoo

Last night, Vernice Jie Jie came for a stayover. We had so much fun and I was so excited at the new guest that I didn't sleep until past 11.30 pm. This morning, we woke up early to prepare for a trip to the zoo! Auntie Vivien and Favian joined us too! We met at 10 am at the entrance.

We saw so many animals - lions, tigers, elephants, sealions, penguins, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, etc, etc (obviously, you can't expect a 1.5-year-old to remember the names of all the animals). But the part I enjoyed most wasn't the animals. It was the Children's Playland, where Vernice Jie Jie and I played in the fountain pool. It was so fun! Both of us got all drenched, but Mummy was well-prepared with a small towel (which the 2 of us shared), and extra change of clothes. After that, we went to watch the Animal Show and the Sealion Show.

Favian was quiet and so well-behaved throughout the trip. I really like Vernice Jie Jie so much that I had to hold her hand wherever we went. Mummy expected me to take a nap right after lunch but I was enjoying myself so much that I only dozed off at 4 pm in the tram, when we were making our way out of the zoo. Favian was even stronger - he was still winning the battle to keep awake when we parted, even though anyone could tell that he was already exhausted!

Woke up at 5 pm when we reached home and couldn't go back to sleep anymore. Mummy gave me a good shower to scrub away all the dirt and sweat of the day. I fell asleep before 9.30 pm that night, despite the 7th Month Ge Tai that was blasting from right beneath our flat - slept like a log.

Inventory

Haven't been updating my blog for a loooong time. Thought I'll give an inventory of new skills and vocabulary I've acquired over the past few months. Here goes:

Words I can say meaningfully:

* Mamma
* Dadda
* Nai Nai (which I pronounce as Nay Nay)
* Yeh Yeh
* Mei Mei
* Apple
* Ball (which applies to both balls and balloons)
* Car
* Bye! (Which sounds like 'Baa')
* Hi! (Which sounds more like 'Hey')

Parts of the body I can point to:

* Eyes
* Ears
* Nose
* Mouth
* Hair
* Toes
* Knees
* Belly Button
* Neck

Given a picture of a mixture of things, I can point out:

* Ball
* Cat
* Dog
* Doll
* Teddy Bear
* Crying Boy (and imitate the crying sound and action)
* Bird

I can gesture:

* Cute Cute (by putting my index fingers on my cheeks and tilting my head to one side)
* Mei Mei (by gently stroking my cheeks)
* Shang Nao Jing (Headache)
* Chou Chou - smelly (by pinching my nose)
* Bye
* Hi (same gesture as Bye)
* Shake hands
* Wash hands
* Shui jiao - sleep (by putting my head on a cushion or pillow and pretending to sleep)
* Cry (by rubbing my eyes and pretending to cry aloud)
* Xiu xiu - shame shame (I love doing that when I see half-naked men)

Recently, I've also learnt to play with people other than my caregivers. Mummy says I'm becoming more sociable and having less stranger and separation anxiety. The biggest breakthrough is that now, I'm able to stay in the Cradle Roll without Mummy or Daddy's company during Sunday service, which is a GREAT relief to them both as it means that they can attend service in peace at the same time.

Koh Samui

This week, we went to Koh Samui for a break. Before we went, we were already warned about the hot weather. The moment we reached there, we could feel the warm, sultry night air. The next few days were so warm that all we wanted to do was to curl up in the hotel room (Chaba Samui Resort) to enjoy the air-con, only going out for swims in the morning and some shopping at night.

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I must say, the beach is one of the most beautiful I've seen, not that I've seen a lot of beaches, lah. But even after 3 days of coaxing and encouraging, Mum and Dad could not convince me to walk on the beach. The sand was so soft and felt so squishy under my feet. I did have a nice swim in the sea, though (It was my first time swimming in the sea). The waves were gentle and there were fish even in ankle-deep waters. The hotel has a nice swimming pool, too! After 3 days of soaking in the sun, we all came home red like lobsters even after applying loads of sunblock.

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Mum was a little disappointed though, saying that it was almost exactly like Phuket, except that it was less crowded and 'messy'. And we paid almost double of what we would have had if we had gone Phuket.

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On our way back, we had a good look at the airport (it was night when we arrived), which was very interesting. It was, indeed, made up of "a few huts", as aptly described by Auntie Caris, who had been there before. There was not even one air-conditioned room in the whole airport. It was so small that we could see the runway and planes taking off and landing at the check-in counter! I met a Japanese 12-month-old friend at the Departure Gate. Played with him for a while and then it was time to board the tram, which would take us to the plane. Then it was Bye Koh Samui and Home Sweet Home.