Time flies. It's the end of May now. Here's a recap of the events in past month.

1 May 2006 - Istana and Plaza Singapura
The Istana is open several times a year on Public Holidays. This is the time when we can catch a glimpse of the President and the First Lady up close and personal. We decided to bring Matthew to the Istana, parked the car at Little India and took a MRT train to Dhoby Gaut. Before we could enter the Istana grounds, we were screened by the metal detector and our bags by x'ray machines.

When we finally passed the security, Matthew spotted the green fields and wanted to get down. He had fun "running" around, chasing me and Mike. As we moved further to the centre, we spotted some Little Tikes outdoor equipment - slides, swings and playhouses! Matthew loved the slides and playhouses. While all the older kids prefer to be inside the house, Matthew preferred to stay outside playing with the doors.

Nobody can stop Matthew when it comes to water. He saw the fountain in front of the Istana House and got all excited. I let him touch the water and he would not stop doing him after that. We got to struggle to move him away from the fountain as we wanted to move on before the rain.

We made our way to Plaza Singapura. Along the way, Matthew kept pointing to our bag, as if he wanted something. Then we realised that it was his teatime. Bad Mama and Papa, forgot Matthew's teatime. We gave him a banana. At Plaza Sing's MacDonald's (which is still at the same location as long long time ago), Matthew had a little snack and milo for tea. We explored the shopping mall before settling down at Level B1's Yoshinoya for dinner.

I bought a Salmon Rice Bowl to share with Matthew. However I did not realise that the salmon patty was very salty until Mike noticed that Matthew kept drinking water. The vegetable served with the rice was also too hard and I could only gave him some broccoli. Mike got a Teriyaki Chicken Rice Bowl without the sauce, which was much better. So Matthew had chicken, chawanmushi (steamed egg) and rice for dinner.

After dinner, we strolled along and was standing outside this shop called "Action City" next to Yoshinoya. Matthew was "admiring" and touching the Garfield soft toys that were on display for $9.90 outside. Suddenly he just grabbed one and hugged it, refusing to let go. Since it was $9.90 and Matthew did not have a cat toy, we decided to get it for him. However this little rascal refused to let go of the Garfield and we got to bring him into the shop to pay for it. The cashier couldn't even scan the price tag and got to get another toy.



Matthew just held on to his Garfield all the way from the shop to the MRT station, on the train to Little India, along the underpass, up the escalator until he was in the car... Then he let go. He fell asleep on the way home. A contented little boy.




4 - 11 May 2006
Matthew came down with fever at night. 37.8oC. It went down to 37.3oC. We gave him baby paracetamol. We did not bother to bring him to see Dr Ong, because she would give the same medicine. He started coughing on 9 May, so we gave him cough syrup. He recovered fast and by 12 May 2006, he was no longer coughing.

13 May 2006 - Changi Airport
It was a long weekend, with Versak Day on 12 May. We went to look for Megan, Uncle Fish Fish and Auntie Chris at DownTown East in Pasir Ris. It was drizzling and because Matthew had just recovered, we did not bring him to Wild Wild Wet. But it seems that Matthew remembered that there was fun on the other side of the admission gates. We decided instead to head for the airport to see aeroplanes.

There was so much space to run around, Matthew was so excited. From T2 to T1, he was so happy, exploring the corridors and the wide spaces, looking at aeroplanes.

As we were heading for the skytrain, I spotted the bookshop and decided to make a detour. Matthew saw books and went gaga. He's actually quite book crazy like his Mama. He grabbed a book from the shelf (the children's shelf was right next to the shopfront) and walked away with the book. Da4 Yao2 Da4 Bai3. SHOPLIFTER!! no lah.. We quickly carried him back to the shop. To make him happy, I sat down with him and read him a Barney book on shapes.

We then took a skytrain to T1 as the viewing gallery there was much better. Matthew enjoyed himself watching the planes and even waved bye bye, as one plane left the terminal to prepare for takeoff at the runway.

After spending quite some time there, we took the skytrain back to T2 for dinner. We were deciding whether to eat Crystal Jade or Soup Restaurant and Matthew decided that he wanted to eat the Samsui Chicken at Soup. I think he recognised from the picture they displayed outside the restaurant that it looked like the Hainanese chicken that PoPo makes. While waiting for our table, he just simply kept pointing at the picture.

We ordered a Samsui chicken, a lotus root soup and a braised tofu in beggar's bowl. Matthew had a good dinner, finishing up almost a bowl of rice! He simply loved soup and tofu. We went home after that. After a long day, Matthew was tired and fell asleep on the way home.



14 May 2006 - Botanic Gardens
Nothing much to do, so we decided to bring Matthew to Botanic Gardens for some bubble fun. We did not know that there was a concert, if not we would have brought Matthew’s dinner along. We had fun blowing bubbles and running around on the grass. Matthew blew some bubbles too and he was actually quite good at it.

Watch a video
Fun at Botanic Gardens

16 - 23 May 2006 - Stomach Flu
Matthew came down with stomach flu. It started with diarrhea early morning. At first we thought it was just soft stool. Then I got a call and was promptly informed that Matthew was having diarrhea. I rushed to bring him to see Dr Ong.

Dr Ong diagnosed it as stomach flu, as his throat was red and there was lots of wind in his tummy. In fact, before Matthew, she had seen two other kids with stomach flu. It must be in the air. In fact, Auntie Fries came down with flu, followed by Matthew's little friend Ignatius with stomach flu too. According to Auntie Jannie and Auntie Babygrace, it would take about a week to recover, as when EnEn and Joshua came down with it previously. It was a good thing that both Matthew and Ignatius were not vomitting, just diarrhea, which mean that they could still take in food. No dairy products, no vegetables, just plain biscuits, porridge, eggs, banana, meat and lots of soup.

Matthew had diarrhea for a whole week and finally recovered from his diarrhea last Tuesday (23 May). Good news, Auntie Fries informed Mama yesterday that Ignatius has recovered too!

Was Matthew hungry? He had a good dinner of rice, soup and vege at 6pm yesterday. After his bath at home, he had supper before bedtime. His supper was a portion of Laughing Cow cheese, half slice of wholemeal bread and a Rich Tea Finger biscuit from Marks and Spencer and he downed 4oz of milk / milo. Was he done? NO!!! I breastfed him for solid 8 mins before Mike put him to bed. Goodness. Does Matthew have an elastic stomach?

We went to catch Barney, Baby Bop and BJ at IMM yesterday! It was a big crowd. We were at IMM early about 4pm, because we were worried that we couldn't get a parking space. We walked around and Matthew wanted to get down. You know how toddlers are, just learn how to walk steadily, want to get down to walk, but refuse to hold our hands. *sigh* heavy human traffic everywhere and our little friend just refused to be carried, till I managed to distract him at the bakery window where they were rolling out some dough.

Then I went to get some soya bean milk. Matthew had some and he held to the straw, directing the straw to my direction and Mike's direction, sharing. Hao3 Wen1 Xin1.

We had dinner at the Kopitiam Foodcourt on the 2nd level. We sat near the window, beacuse Matthew wanted to see the "gao gao" or cranes. He was totally fascinated by them, but after a while, he realised that they were not moving (because it was a Sunday and work ended at 5pm). I shared a Pan Fried Salmon and Rice with Matthew and he finished more than half of the rice. After all the walking around, he must be hungry. Mike had a "watered down" version of hong2 zhao1 chicken. Yucks and too salty.

Matthew had some fun on the coin-operated cars (of course, we did not put any coins in them) and he simply loves the steering wheels. We noticed however that he didn't like those cars which had some "big human size statues" in them, like Bob the Builder, but he was ok with animals. mm...

Mike went to sit with Matthew at the stage area to wait for Barney show to begin. This was Matthew's first live show, so we were quite worried, as he didn't like noisy shows when he was young. While waiting for the show to start, I passed my secret weapons to Mike to keep Matthew occupied. Why secret weapons, because he loves these books and he doesn't get to read them at home, only when we are out.

I went to walk around, pop in and out of shops. When I went back to see how they were doing. This was what I saw:

Matthew was sharing his book with some gor gor and jie jie who were sitting around him. Some mummy even gave him a cookie for sharing. I was pleasantly surprised.

The show finally started. All three dino characters took their turns to enter. First it was Barney, then Baby Bop and finally BJ. All the kids and the crowd got excited to see their dino friends. They sang songs like Mister Sun, Sandcastles etc. and of course ending with the I Love You song. It was fun.

Mike said that Matthew quite enjoyed himself. Now, should we go catch Elmo at United Square, Winnie the Pooh at Centrepoint and Garfield at Junction 8? hmmmm....

We signed up Matthew for swim classes at Marsden Swim School with his little friends, Joshua, Cheng En and Cayden. Matthew's first lesson was last Saturday. I also predicted that we are going to have problems with the 2pm timing, because on weekends when he's at home with us, this little rascal would not take his morning nap. He'll take it at 1pm instead. On Saturday, he had his lunch and had a quick shower before we bundled him to the car, so that he could nap and we could run some errands.

He struggled, refusing to nap.. It was 1:10pm, when we finally got him to sleep... Then we got to wake him up at 1:50pm to prepare for his swim. He was SUPER cranky... cried at every small little thing, cried when we changed him, cried when we put him down, cried when he got into the pool. When he was in the pool with Mike, he wanted to get out, so that I could carry him. At the end of the class, my T-shirt was half "drenched".

After a while, he got familiarised and started to "trash" around with his hands and legs, going for toys and the balls which the instructor gave the kids.


Then it was the foam mat. Matthew was quite ok. When the instructor asked him to crawl on the mat towards her for a ball, Matthew just stretched out his arm and grabbed the ball nearest to him. Haha.


Watch a video
Matthew on the foam mat

Matthew was still not used to the idea of having his face totally submerged, so he ended crying both times the instructor "swam" him towards Mike. Poor boy.

Finally it was the slide, everybody had a go at it, twice.

Somebody's in the kitchen, messing with the pots and pans... WHO? MATTHEW ENG of course, who else? Chef in the making? Hahaha!!!

Finally, we managed to get photos of Matthew smiling, showing off all his 8 teeth.

Megan's mummy suggested that I titled this photo "Caught Red Handed" or "TV-console Raider". Our TV console's cabinet doors are not easy to open and Matthew actually managed to open. He was looking for his Barney VCDs 2 nights ago. He couldn't find them because I have kept them in a CD folder.

I finally figured out the html code. With help from Iggy's mommy, all her hints and tips, the template is corrected... Thanks, Iggy's mommy!

I thought it was time for a change. This time I wanted to have a picture of Matthew in the background, as this blog is all about him. Looks like I need to brush up on my HTML language. The final effect of the layout differs on different computers. What I see at home is not what I see here in the office. If anybody has any idea how to come around this problem, can you please email me? paxeng@yahoo.com.sg. Thanks!

I was just looking at my past posts... we spotted Matthew's first tooth, the upper central inscisor on 28/2. Following that his other three central inscisor made their appearances just before our trip to Perth. After Perth, we spotted his 2 top lateral inscisors just under. By his 14th month, all his eight inscisors were showing in his smile. :)

I'll post some photos, if I manage to get one.

Since our trip to Perth, little Matthew Boy (as his Gu Gu always call him), he has picked up quite a few tricks. Here are some of them:
- he knows how to put the correct shape in the correct hole
- he would dance and clap when he hears music
- he loves lift the flap book, fav book now is the Little People Farm
- he walks and drinks water from his water bottle at the same time (straw type)
- he entertains us more now than we entertain him
- we could leave him to play on his own for a long while
- he knows where to turn on the TV and would sit in front of the TV with the remote control, demanding to watch TV. anything on TV, as long as it's on. it's a man thing, you know?
- he has started watching Sesame Street and Barney
- stranger anxiety to a minimal now; he would even wave bye to strangers, like the NTUC cashier, the karang guni guy at my door
- he really loves the outdoor, loves supermarkets and bookshops, hates shopping centres
- he is totally mesmerised by the traffic lights
- cranes are known as "gao gao" (meaning high in Mandarin) and he could spot them from afar
- he knows all the goodies are in the refrigerator. it's another man thing, right? he wants us to open the fridge even when there's nothing that he wants
- he loves to play peek-a-boo or hide-n-seek in the void deck with Papa and Mama. we get mini "heart-attacks" at times when he goes into hiding. now we got him a noisy Snoopy sandals, so we know when he runs "astray". Hahaha...

Matthew is sick. Matthew came down with stomach flu. The symptoms started with diarrhea, then fever. Mama brought him to see Dr Ong. One - fever 38.2oC, Two - wind in tummy, Three - sore throat. Four types of medicine to take. Had to force feed him. My poor baby.

April was not all about the Perth trip. Here's an update for what we did last month.

15 April 2006 - Friends of the Zoo
We became Friends of the Zoo. We paid $108 (10% from $120 with Toys R Us Star Card) to become FOZ, a year's entry into the Zoo, free parking, 5 train / tram rides and 4 issues of wildlife magazine. It made sense to be FOZ. Each adult entry cost $15. Toddlers enter FOC. Each zoo trip would cost $30 in entrance fees. Four trips would cost us $120. We would definitely bring Matthew to the Zoo more often, now that he could recognise lots of animals.

We were greeted by two beautiful peacocks in the car park. One of them had its tail opened and displayed. The reason being it was trying to intimidate the other peacock and chase it away.

First was the Polar bear feeding session. Matthew recognised the Polar bear (we have a polar bear stuffed toy at home) and enjoyed himself watching the Polar bear swimming around. Then we saw the white rhino and giraffes. The giraffe enclosure and viewing platform allowed us to come up close and personal with the tall animals. Zebras were up next. Matthew saw the zebras shaking their tails and we told him "wei3 ba1 (tail) yao2 yao2 (shaking)", he started dancing, amusing some visitors who were next to us.

He was totally fascinated with the Jaguars during the token feeding sessions. The big cats were jumping around, going into the water, grabbing the chunks of meat that were thrown into the water.

In Fragile Forest, he was captivated by the beautiful butterflies that had rested on the nectar trays. As we walked around, he kept looking back and pointing at them. We saw the fruit bats and the lazy tree sloths feeding on some fruit and carrots. Some butterflies came to rest on Papa's shoulder and he got upset and wanted Papa to chase them away. We were amused because it was totally opposite from the reaction we had earlier.

Children's Playland was next. We fed Matthew his macaroni lunch and he had a go at the playground after that. We then went on a train ride round the Chilren's Land.

You know how kids are... No matter how tired they are, they would try and stay awake. Matthew cried because he was tired but did not want to take his nap.. I carried him, pat him and finally he slept. We put him in the stroller for his nap. We then took a break at the Manatees and Seal enclosure and had sandwiches for lunch.

As we strolled along, we noticed that the Zoo had a new feature, free ranging orang utans. The Zoo has put up some nettings and vines for the orang utans to venture beyond their enclosure. We talked to a zoo keeper and found out that this was a new project and he was stationed there full time to ensure that these primates would not be up to any mischief. As the sky started to turn dark, we decided to move on. There were an orang utan swinging along the vine above the walkway and she decided to PEE!!! some visitor "screamed" when she realised what was happening. Luckily for her, it was not on her. But Matthew woke up crying...

We wanted to watch Tiger Feeding, but somehow we couldn't find the enclosure. Instead we took a tram ride round the zoo before heading home...


16 April 2006
Here's a photo of Matthew with Po Po and Gong Gong at the new National Library Building along Victoria Street.


22 April 2006
We met up with Joshua, YiXuan, Nayli and their parents (and Nayli's sister Qis) at the Zoo. Making full use of the FOZ membership we got the week earlier. In fact, Matthew's little friends are FOZ friends too! Mama did not take any photos. We headed straight to the Children's Zooland where the toddlers were. We all had banana muffins (which Mama made and did not add milk, thinking that Iggy may turn up at the Zoo too). As time came for the Zoo to close for the day, we took the last tram to the zoo entrance and had B&J ice-cream. Matthew and us bid farewell to our friends and headed to Ah Ma's place for dinner. For more details of the zoo gathering, check out Miini World 24 April 2006 entry

23 April 2006
We went to to Weiyong and Yikai's place at Hougang to visit JinLing jie jie and JinYi kor kor and then to Sengkang Compass Point before heading to Punggol to see Sing Tian and Katherine's newborn Gerrard Lim JunLe. Gerrard was borned on Papa's birthday 28 March 2006. He was a small baby at 2.4kg. When we saw him, he was 3.3kg, still smaller than Matthew at birth. Matthew was 3.79kg at birth!

29 April 2006 - Cycling at East Coast Park
Matthew woke up very very early, at 6am. We had breakfast at home before heading to East Coast Park. We have always enjoyed cycling in the morning. As usual, we made our way to Bedok Jetty and then further. Because the weather was a little hot, we made our return trip before reaching Changi Sailing Club. On our way back, we went by the ski lagoon. Mike noticed that Matthew's head was nodding and realized that he has fallen asleep, with his hands on his child seat handle. So CUTE!

Labels: east coast park, SMH, zoo

Some final notes on our Perth trip
Now that mama has completed the updates on the Perth trip. here are some interesting snippets about the trip.

Plane - His first up close personal experience.

Walking - Matthew fine-tuned his skills and walked long distances when we were there. Partly because the grass was very fine and soft and he liked the feel of it and he was not afraid of falling.

Taste - His first taste of Gelato. Yum yum. Gourmet tomato soup at Equinox Busselton. Super yum yum. He kept asking for more!

Touch - He touched dogs, sheep, cows, ducks, starfish during the trip. First time.

Farmstary - His favourite part was the hayride and looking at the tractor.

Megan - She shared with Matthew and always said "Ah Thew Ah Thew didi"... and she still does now... watch a video Megan helps Matthew hold his water bottle

Tianfa - He's known to Matthew as Uncle Fish Fish. "bob bob bob bob"

Milk rejection - oh oh.. He just simply refused to drink his afternoon milk... Matthew would break into smiles when he saw the milk bottle. But the moment he tasted the milk, no go, he would push his bottle away. We tried giving him his milk when he was taking his nap, somehow he clamped his mouth shut. Nothing we could do, except made sure that he was taking cheese and snacks.

Barney and dancing - He got himself acquainted with this cute purple dinosaur. Dancing and clapping. watch a video Matthew dances. do we need to say more?

Matthew's crying - He cried because he did not like the long car ride. He cried because he was tired and could not sleep. He cried because he was tired and still wanted to play some more. He cried because sudden knocking sounds, raised voices which would "shock" him. He cried because he wanted something but could not tell us what he wanted. He cried when he fell and bumped his head against some furniture.....

On the whole, Matthew enjoyed himself. He saw and learned lots of things. Although he may not remember this first overseas trip, we did not regret bringing him. It was an experience for him and also for us.

Till the next time... when papa and mama save more $$$... ;o)

Labels: Perth 2006

8 Apr, Day 8 - Perth
Day 8 was a designated and dedicated shopping day! The mall - Harbourtown in West Perth! This mall brought together factory outlets of some big brands, like Fila and Nike. We bought 10 shirts for Mike and myself, some baby clothes for our friends who are expecting babies these two months and 7 books for Matthew, all at factory prices. Chris and Tianfa bought 4 (or 5) pairs of shoes from Nike itself! Well, not sure what else they bought, but it was sure a lot to pack!

For dinner, we had Jester's pies (which we thought weren't as great as described in the books) and canned soup. Mike and I were completely knocked out when we put Matthew to sleep, only waking up almost 12mn for dinner?!?! and we got to pack for our trip back home.

9 Apr, Day 9 - Perth to Singapore
It was our last day in Perth. We made our way to Kings Park after checking out. We were marvelled by the view of Perth City from the Park. The Park was divided into different sections. We went to where the kids would love, the Western Powerhouse Parklands with lots of playground. Matthew had his morning nap in the car and continued his nap in the park, while Mike and I did some people-watching. People were enjoying their Sundays, bbq in the park, having parties, picnics... If only we could also do it back home. Our weather here is simply too humid to enjoy these sort of activities without breaking into perspiration.

When Matthew woke up, we had some bubble play which attracted lots of attention from the other kids. It was fun blowing with so many kids enjoying themselves... Then it was time to go. We had an early lunch at this cafe called Manhattan at Hay Street, opened by a Singaporean, before going to the airport. It was time to say bye to this beautiful place.

Matthew had his afternoon nap, before we boarded the plane. He woke up happy and had a good dinner. He walked around and went to peep in at Megan. Just before we were about to land, Matthew slept, waking up only after we cleared the customs and collected our baggage.

Labels: Perth 2006

7 Apr, Day 7 - Pemberton to Donnybrook to Perth
We started the day with the hayride. Matthew enjoyed himself more because he knew what was coming up. He particularly enjoyed the ride round the farm. After the ride, we got ourselves all packed up and ready to go. We thanked the farmer and his assistant, returned our keys and we were on our way back to our 5-hour drive back to Perth, stopping at Donnybrook and Harvey.

Both Megan and Matthew slept during the drive to Donnybrook and they woke up just in time to have lunch and to pick some fruit. We stopped over at Old Goldfields Orchard and had a good lunch and enjoyed some nice refreshing apple juice, freshly pressed and bottled on the farm itself. We picked some plums and Matthew enjoyed biting off from the fruit itself. We explored the grounds, which used to be a goldfield, looking for fruit and found pears, apples and even peaches!! We enjoyed picking the fruit and regretted not plucking some peaches. All for A$4 a kg! The plums and peaches were exceptionally sweet, not like what we buy here from supermarkets.

Matthew took his afternoon nap after we moved on. We reached Harvey for a toilet break when he woke up. He was a good boy for the rest of the journey back to Perth (approximately 2 hours). We went shopping at Hay Street Mall and had dinner at one of the food courts. We then checked into Mont Clare Apartments in East Perth, our den for the remaining 2 nights in Perth.

Time really flies, when you are enjoying yourself. Two more days and we were on our way back to Singapore.

Labels: Perth 2006

6 Apr, Day 6 - Pemberton
Day 6 started off a little gray and cold with lots of clouds in the sky. It was cold and we did not know how to start and maintain a good fire. We got some help from the farmer and got a fire going, nice and warm. The kids knew that they shouldn't go near the fireplace and steered clear of it.

The highlight of the stay was the hayride. All the guests and the children joined the farmer on a ride in the hay truck round the farm, feeding the farm animals. First there were the donkeys who lived on the grassland behind our cottage. The donkeys were fed with hay, so were the cows which were up next. The cows were also given some carrots. These cows were huge! They fed off the hay stack which we held in our hands. They came really close for us to touch them. Even Matthew had a chance to touch the big brown bull.

The sheep and goats were fed next. They came up to the fence and stuck their head through to feed off the tubs that were given out to us. There was this male sheep (called ram) with horns and couldn't stick his head through. Next, the ducks. The ducks are rounded up every night. The next day, when it's time for food, they are released and allowed to roam around the farm. Before the ducks came out, the farmer got all of us in a row and distributed duck feed into our tubs. The ducks were let out and they scrambled for food! Matthew and Megan were totally amused by the ducks. As the ducks came down the row, we got a chance to stroke their feathers. Even Matthew patted one of them.

After the ducks had enough, we went to the chicken enclosure. They have different species of hens and roosters on the farm. We even went into the hen coop to pick eggs, just laid, nice and warm. It was a very good experience.

We were supposed to make a trip to Walpole, famed for their tall trees and Giant Walkway which canopied over the top of the trees. But Chris and I decided that we would just R&R in Pemberton and we made our way to the Lavendar and Berry Farm on the other side of town. We had pancakes with berry sauce for lunch and the kids enjoyed themselves tumbling on the grass. They also had some animals behind their berry bushes. Matthew and Megan both fell asleep in their fathers' arms while their mommies were buying some of the farm products, such as lavendar hand cream and raspberry vinegar. We tried our luck in the berry bushes but found only one lone raspberry...

The kids continued their naps in the cottage and the mommies went out supermarket shopping. For dinner, we went to Shamrock in town, recommended by the farm people and enjoyed a sumptous meal of marron, trout and calamari rings. Since it was mentioned in the books, so we thought we must try the marron. It tasted like lobster, nothing more. The smoked trout was good. Garlic bread was simply yum yum.

Taking a walk along the street in the quiet town of Pemberton

After the kids slept, the adults treated themselves to rented DVD of Pirates of the Caribbean, before the long drive back to Perth the next day.

Labels: Perth 2006