Valentine's Day last Tuesday was also Matthew's lunar birthday, so Mike and I decided to take a half day off to bring him cycling at East Coast Park. It was so much fun, as there were so few people on a weekday afternoon.

We cycled from the Tennis Centre to Changi Sailing Club, stopping at Bedok Jetty for a break to watch planes go by. Matthew demanded a break at the sailing club to watch planes and for a drink. On our way back, we stopped for ice-cream. Matthew got wafer biscuits from the ice-cream auntie and kept himself busy while Mike and I cooled down with the ice-cream. Cycling back, Matthew sang away, waved his hands, made lots of happy noises. He was so happy and refused to get out from his child seat. Finally Mike decided to walk the bike and I think Matthew got the idea that it was the end of the cycling fun, so wanted to be carried. That was a whole 2 hrs ride!


We had dinner at Waraku. It was V-day and we actually needed reservations. The manager was kind enough to accommodate us. We sat near the entrance and Matthew had fun looking at the fortune cat (zhao cai mao). Too bad we couldn't get a family photo taken.

Matthew had so much fun that he did not want to go home and we had to struggle to get him into the car seat.

Till another day.. we will definitely be back!

Last Saturday, we met up with Jamie, Joash and baby Cayden at West Coast McDonald's because Jamie helped me to buy Gina Ford's From Contented Baby to Confident Child and also to give me her free 400g tin of EnfaPro A+. Thanks to Jamie and Ann, I don't need to buy one more tin of EnfaPro A+. I just ordered the next stage of formula, EnfaGrow A+. Anyway, Matthew had a great appetite that morning. He had three-quarter bowl of rolled oats, half slice of bread when we went to the market and a piece of HotCake. Here's a photo of Matthew & Cayden.

Then after that we went to Suntec City, because Mike had training. Despite the amount of food he ate in the morning, Matthew still managed to finish more than half of his alphabet pasta lunch! After that we walked around, as I tried to get him to nap. Finally in my sarong carrier, but not for long. I kind of shifted his position, he woke up, opened his big eyes and smiled at me!

Mike joined us. Matthew and Mike had a great time.

We went to the Fountain of Wealth. Matthew was at first quite hesitant about touching the water. After he saw me playing with the water, he had fun too!

Labels: SMH, west coast park

Sentosa threw a festival of flowers this year, Flowers 2006. Chris and I brought our kiddos to the festival last Sunday. It was fun. Matthew recognised that all the colours were flowers. He enjoyed himself looking around and had a big lunch of pasta. It was Hot Hot Hot. Blazing hot. We forgot to bring sunblock lotion to put on the kids. Luckily Matthew did not get sun-burn.

After a tour around the gardens, looking at the pretty flowers, we took a bus to Siloso Beach for lunch at Sakae Sushi. There's a dancing fountain right next to All Natural NZ ice-cream kisok and the kiddos had fun there, catching the sprouts of water.

Labels: sentosa

It's two weeks and one day to Matthew's first birthday. Next Tuesday is Valentine's Day and it's also Matthew's first lunar birthday. According to the lunar calendar, he's borned on the 17th day of the first month. I guess it's time for a photo replay of the past one year.

I have put up in my previous post, some photos of Matthew's expressions at two weeks old in March last year. Let's continue from there.














More coming....

Here are some photos of Matthew taken on a nice Saturday afternoon on 12 March 2005. Even a two week old baby has so many different expressions.

More update and photos!

27 Jan
Both Mike and I took leave to bring Matthew out for some fun. We brought him to Farmart at Sungei Tengah. Maybe because it was nearing CNY and a weekday, the place looked pretty deserted. After Matthew woke up from his nap, Mike brought him around to look at goats, bull frogs, tortoises, rabbits and cats. There were also quite a number of shops selling marine / freshwater fish. Matthew had a good time looking at them.



28 Jan - Reunion Dinner
It was a simple reunion dinner of steamboat. We have a new member this year. Matthew joined us at the table. He showed off his skills and knowledge, like pointing to nose, ear, toes, fingers, pat his head, gong xi gong xi etc etc. We all had fun watching him.


29 Jan - First Day of CNY



30 Jan - Second Day of CNY




31 Jan - Third Day of CNY
Matthew has grown tall enough to look out of our window standing in his cot. As we prepared to go out for another full day, we let him watch the world go by, trains, buses, cars, motorbikes etc.


31 Jan - Fourth Day of CNY
Well, on the fourth day, Papa started work for the new lunar calendar year. I took an extra day off and brought Matthew to Mike's office as usual. Matthew fell asleep playing with his Bruin piano.

Labels: CNY

Happy Lunar New Year!

It has been a hectic long weekend for all of us. We were out all day long for the first three days. Matthew's nap times were all messed out. But strangely enough, regardless of what time his nap was, he would start to show signs of sleepliness go to bed by 8pm. I think now he knows that when we close the door and switch off the lights, it is bedtime and most of the time he would be asleep in 10min.

On the first day of CNY, we brought Matthew to my parents' place for breakfast, before going to my in-laws' place and fed Matthew his lunch there. After that we were at Mike's grandparents' place in AMK. Matthew napped there, which made life easier for us, as we could take lunch in peace. By the time Matthew woke up, his young biao jiu and biao yi (Mike's cousins) were all there to play with him. Matthew no longer has stranger anxiety. He played with his jiu jiu and yi yi and had such a good time. I carried him around to gong xi gong xi to everybody.

On the second day of CNY, it was breakfast at my parents' place and we were off to Bt Panjang where Mike's aunts stayed. Matthew also had a good time, playing and exploring. Then we went to my parents' place for dinner.

Then we were out visiting friends on the third day. We were at Hougang. Matthew was not very co-operative, as he took a long long while to finish his lunch. Then he was cranky because he took a very very short nap of 20min in the car on our way to Hougang. So Mike brought him to walk around. As he was walking around in the void deck, Mike suddenly realised that one of our friends stayed in the next block. He was not very sure, so he decided to bring Matthew for a lift ride to the top floor where he thought was his friend's place. Bingo. We got to visit another friend, instead of making a second trip to Hougang. After that, we went to Willie and Jiayi's place for visiting. Matthew napped and hardly stirred despite all the noise from the living room, almost two hours!

Yesterday, I brought Matthew for a swim at Jalan Besar Swimming Complex with Chris, Tianfa and Megan. He had his milk late and napped only at about 4:20pm, singing away in the yaolan (sarong / hammock) at Tianfa's place. I had to wake him up at 5:50pm, if not I think he would continue sleeping despite the noise around him. By 8pm, he was already yawning and rubbing his eyes. But I only put him down to sleep at 9pm. He still woke up at 6:40am! *sigh*

Oh yes. I know there's no photo for the past few posts. I'll be putting up photos soon, so remember to check back for updates!

I just remember. You know how kids follow and copy what we adults too. We always exchange two kums (mandarin oranges) to signify good luck. Matthew was passing on one kum at a time to the recipient. This morning, he gong xi gong xi to Ah Ma (grandmother) with two kums, one in each hand!!! So cute! but no photos to show.

Labels: CNY