Swissotel the Stamford

Yippee! The day that I had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Went for gynae checkup early in the morning (29 Dec). Bb’s growing well and weight 2.137kg at 33 wks. J

We planned to take MRT to City Hall as the hotel doesn’t provide complimentary parking coupon. It would be too expensive if we were to drive there. Reached City Hall at 12.20pm and we proceeded to The Plaza Market Café for our buffet lunch cum hi-tea. The spread was quite good. Cherylin munched a little here and there as usual. We redeemed a wine using the Feed at Raffles voucher. Cherylin was talking about Christmas tree that she saw earlier. But I had no idea what she was referring too cos I don’t see any Christmas tree around (furthermore Christmas was over). YC took the miniature Santus Claus and Christmas tree for Cherylin from the new log cake that was being served at the buffet table. Only then I realized that Cherylin had earlier saw the Christmas tree on the log cake and was taken away by another kid. :P

At 2pm, YC brought our overnight bag and went to check into the room. After the meal we went to the room. It’s very spacious. The king sized bed was much bigger than ours, must be those super king sized type. Cherylin run around the room, enjoyed the scenery from the balcony. I was rather tired and took a nap. As I was half a sleep, I knew that Cherylin was jumping happily on the bed as I was napping. Gotta tell her constantly not to jump onto mummy. Hee..

We went out of the room in late evening. Went over to Suntec City. Yung Chih bought a grilled chicken from Carrefour for supper. I was still very full so didn’t had any. He and Cherylin shared the chicken. We stayed till quite late. I slept at about 1am while YC stayed on till 2am as he was watching a movie.

The next morning, we lazed around in the hotel room before heading down to the swimming pool for a walk. There were lots of people there and Cherylin enjoyed herself just by people watching. Wanted to stay on watching when we told her that we were leaving. Cherylin was very happy whenever she’s in the room. She can easily entertain herself by running/jumping here and there. Told me next time she wanna stay in hotel room again!

We checked out at 1pm and proceeded to Marina/Suntec. Had lunch at one of the restaurants at the fountain area. Wanted to arrange dinner with my mum and bro/SIL but YC said he’s tired and wanted to go home early to rest (sounded as if he really just came back from a holiday trip :P). Hence, I dropped the idea and we had my long awaited Milo Dinosaur at Coffee & Toast before heading home.

Xmas Day!

We went to Vivocity today as we were planning to visit Sentosa. Decided against the idea when we reached the Sentosa Visitor Centre. The queue for the monorail is so long and the weather looked as if it's gonna rain any time. Hence, we decided to just roam about in Vivocity. Brought Cherylin to Toy r Us to look for the Thomas the Train handphone which she had been asking for. YC bought it for her as a gift though she already had lots of handphones at home.

YC met with his family aXmas t the void deck of the relative's house at abt 6pm. We then proceeded to the venue. Soon after we arrived, Xmas carols were sang, prayers made and the feast then started. The food was good. I especially liked the walnut bread and the curry. Cherylin had her fill of honey baked ham and beehoon. She had a fun time at the playground playing with fireworks and the slides (YC accompanied her). Before we left the place, Cherylin was showered with little Xmas presents. She happily opened up all the present when we reached home before she got changed and went to bed.

Cherylin is beginning to enjoy the festive seasons more as she grows older. She loves the song "Jingle Bell Rock" and kept asking YC to play (repeatedly while in the car). Another few of her favourite xmas songs include: Santas Claus is coming to town and Jingle Bell. :)

Xmas Eve

Part 1

My dept had the Year End Party on Xmas Eve. Brought Cherylin to my office this morning to join in the party. As I had prepped her days before the event, she was ok when we woke her up and changed her (no fuss/resistance, phew!). Took the MRT to work and Cherylin guai guai sat on her buggy.

Cherylin saw the tray of chocolates when she entered my office. Angie kindly brought the tray down so that Cherylin could select the ones she likes. With Cherylin around, I could hardly work. Briefly went thru my emails and before I know, it's party time!

During the 2 hours of fun, Cherylin was rather obedient; sat quietly on the chair (as I've told her she can't speak loudly at the party. keke). She ate some food and got a big pooh bear from my colleague (she kept saying she wants the pooh bear when my colleague won the lucky draw prize and my colleague gladly gave it to her!). Lucky star must be shining on me that day (and of cos my little baby and Cherylin must have brought me luck too), I won the 6th prize in the lucky draw, it's a Siemen Digital Cordless Phone. Something which I had been been eyeing for.

Went to meet my mum after knocking off from work (it's half day today!). Cherylin slept while I pushed her to Suntec City in her buggy under the bright hot sun. She woke up upon reaching MacDonald's and had her favourite MacDonald's fries before we left for shopping at John Little.

Part 2
YC came to pick us from Holland after work. We had potluck and gift exchange at YC grandma's house. Cherylin feasted on the turkey slices and honey baked ham, and happily went around distributing candies to the kids in the house. We got ourselves a pooh bear tissue box holder, towel, milo, cup and plastic containers during the gift exchange.

BBQ

The weather had been wet of late. Were telling Cherylin to pray that it won't rain so that we could have a BBQ in the evening. The sky was great in the morning and early afternoon. However, it started to pour in the late evening. We arrived at my brother's place at 615pm. It was pouring then hence we waited in the house. The rain stopped after a while and we thought we could proceed with the BBQ. Who knows, it started to drizzle when the guys were starting to BBQ. The rain started and stopped several times and we ended up going to and froth the BBQ pits numerous time. Nevertheless, Cherylin enjoyed herself playing with the umbrella, sparkles, and running/playing with Jiu Jiu. Jiu Jiu and Jiu Mu bought her a Strawberry Shortcake Trolley bag as her Xmas gift. She already had one such bag previously when we went to Perth in May this year. When I asked "which one do you like?", she replied "Liang ge dou xi huan" :)

Feb 08 MTB Gathering

The Feb 08 MTBs had a gathering yesterday at Vil'age at Heeren. The turnout was good. There's a total of 19 mummies :) A pity I couldn't stay on to join in the group photo as I had to leave early. Nevermind, there'll be chance in future. Only managed to talk to mummies sitting nearby as the crowd was too big. Told YC about the gathering and he was shocked to learn of the big crowd as the last gathering I went to, there were less than 10 mummies. We had gift exchange during the gathering, and this is what I've got.
A very interesting toy. Cherylin happily played with it the moment we showed it to her.

Hotel Stay

I used to think it's a waste of $ to stay in a Singapore hotel. But i suddenly have this urge to have a weekend hotel stay. So YC went to book a room at Swissotel The Stamford during last week of Dec. I was thrilled when I learnt that booking has been made. Really look forward to it, and I'm sure Cherylin will enjoy running around in the hotel room too. At $100+++ for a Harbourview Room (we got a free upgrade to the next room category from the deluxe room), I think it's a steal. Based on check from Asiaroom.com, it costs more than $300 for a 1 night stay w/breakfast (okie, ours come without breakfast). Console myself that I only splurge once in a blue moon on such stuff. Treat it as a Xmas present for the family :P

Playgroup Orientation

We enrolled Cherylin for a 2-hour playgroup that will start from Jan 2008. Yesterday, we brought her to the centre for her 'orientation'. We prep her days before the orientation is going to take place and I think it helped. As usual, she dilly-dallied when we asked her to change her clothes. Thereafter, she happily followed wai po, daddy and mummy to the centre. It's a RC located at a block next to my mum's. When we arrived, Cherylin took off her slippers and followed us in. She found a chair and sat on it, observing the surrounding and other childrens that were around. She tried on the uniforms without any fuss (to our surprise). As the teacher briefed the parents on the details, she guai guai sat on the chair and didn't make any noise at all. After about 45 mins, we left the centre. To reward her for being a good girl, daddy brought her to the nearby playground which she demanded. :)

USA Trip (Day 10 & 11)

San Francisco to Singapore

Today’s is the day for shopping as it’s well known that stores would have very attractive discounts to celebrate the day after Thanksgiving. We woke up very early today and left the hotel at 5.30am. When we reached Civic Centre, the entire place was already filled with people who were there to pick up good bargains. We went to Old Navy store and were surprised that there were already a long queue at the cashier. YC got to know later from the cashier that people started to queue outside the store as early as 3am cos they were giving away MP3 players to the first 200 customers.

We proceeded to Macy’s thereafter. Me and my mum each bought a Liz Claiborne sunglass. The sunglasses were very worthwhile after all the discounts, mine cost less than USD11 while my mum’s cost less than USD9. We also bought lots of baby’s clothings, more for our little boy this time round.

Next we went to Disney outlet and YC bought Cherylin a Princess Go-to-Party set. She had wanted those miniature toy set but we dissuaded her as we knew all miniature stuff will go missing soon after she opens up the box. :P

As we were checking out of the hotel that day we rushed back to hotel at 11am plus to do a final packing. At 12pm, we checked out of our room and deposited our bag with the concierge before heading off for more shopping! Lunch today was at Carl’s Junior. Wanted to try the fries from In N Out burger but we couldn’t find any outlet in sight.

We basically walked around aimlessly (guess we’ve reached our peak for shopping then). Went back to Old Navy for second round (bought another pair of jeans for myself). My mum spotted a fleece jacket which she wanted to get when we were leaving Fisherman’s Wharf yesterday. Hence, I left YC with Cherylin (who was napping then) in a café and headed the Wharf with my mum. I didn’t expect the wait and ride on the Cable Car would take such a long time as compared to yesterday. Hence, the trip to and from took us almost 2 hours! There’s a small episode which caused YC to be hopping mad. Rather not talk about it anymore. :P

We headed back to the hotel at 7pm plus to wait for the driver who will be sending us to the airport. (Gideon flew back to Los Angeles this morning as he had a back-to-back tour group assigned to him. Hence we were left without our tour leader today L)

We left the hotel at 8.30pm. It took about 30 mins before we reached the airport. When I boarded the plane and was settling down, an air stewardess spotted that I was pregnant. I was pleasantly surprised when she offered to look for an empty row of seats after take off so that I can lie down to rest! She did come back to me, showing me where the empty seats were. I felt obliged to accept her offer. Went over with YC and sat for a while. Decided that it’s too embarrassing for me to lie down, I went back to my assigned seat (also becos I didn’t want to leave Cherylin alone with my mum) and left YC there.

The flight back was quite ok for Cherylin. As it’s a midnight flight, Cherylin fell asleep shortly after the take off. She woke up a few hours later and had some inflight meal. We had transit at HKIA. Took the opportunity to grab some HK goodies from Kee Wah shop located in the Airport :P

My brother, SIL and FIL were at the airport to fetch us. This ended our 11 days of fun!n

USA Trip (Day 9)

San Francisco

We had late breakfast today. Only need to gather at 10am. Went to this place called Dong Fang Xiao Chu. Had fried beehoon, porridge, pot sticker among other stuff. Cherylin ate quite a bit. Realised that we had not taken any picture with our tour leader, we had one taken outside the eatery. Proceeded to Civic Centre for the cable car ride and to roam around the place of interest: Lombard Street, Fisherman’s Wharff Chinatown, etc.

We had the famous Ghirardhelli Ice Cream at Fisherman’s Wharf. The queue started to form even before the store was open. Luckily it didn’t take long before it’s our turn. Yum, yum…

We roamed around the wharf area before heading back to Civic Centre. As it’s Thanksgiving Day, either the shops were not opened or closed early for the day. Hence, there’s nothing much for us to shop. Decided to venture into Chinatown. Came across a few Chinese bakery shops and my mum bought some bread, pastries. Had our dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. The set meal for 2 to 3 pax cost USD18 and included chicken, fish, soup and vege. With tax and miscellaneous charges, total bill came up to less than USD30. The servings were huge and we were all stuffed.

On our way back, we went to Walmart again to do some shopping. Can’t resist the Haagen Dazs ice cream promotion and we bought 2 pints again for supper. Keke…

USA Trip (Day 8)

LV to San Francisco

Gideon operated a mini factory this morning. As we had to leave the hotel early to catch our flight to SF, he had to wake up in the wee hours to buy our breakfast, pack them nicely and deliver to our rooms. We had sandwiches (freshly delivered to 7-eleven store on that day), packet juice, biscuits, sweetened fruit for breakfast.

Our flight to SF was at 9.30am so we reached the airport at around 7am plus. While waiting for the flight, my mum had her last round of jackpot at the airport. It took us 1 hour plus to reach SF from LV. Upon arrival, we proceeded with our city tour in SF. The coach took us to Pier 39 where we were left to wander about for about 3 hours +.

Can’t possibly go to SF without trying their Clam Chowder right? So we had ours at Boudin Bakery. Cherylin enjoyed the clam chowder a lot and had it with lots of bread. After lunch, we roam around the place, walked towards Pier 43 where I finally took picture with the Fisherman’s Wharf logo (keke..cos the last time I went to SF, I actually didn’t have any picture of the logo!)

Went over to Ghirardhelli Square, wanted to buy ice cream for Cherylin but she fell asleep. So we left without having any. Along the way back to Pier 39, we bought drinking water from Walmart. Cherylin woke up then and daddy bought her an ice cream lolly pop.

We proceeded to Golden Gate Bridge after gathering to board the Coach. The breeze was very strong and we had fun taking pictures. Gideon brought us to his so called ideal spot for photo taking. I like some of the shots taken there, especially the family photo of YC, myself and Cherylin.

Next we were brought to Coit Tower where we can overlook the entire of SF city. It was very cold there as we were up the hill top. My mum couldn’t take the cold and went back to the coach early, while we stayed on for photo taking. Can see that Cherylin was very cold too as her lips were turning pale.

As we depart, the sun was setting. Quite a nice view down the hill top. Dinner was at a small eatery called Dong Fang Xiao Chu. Chinese food with huge servings of meat, soup, vege. Gideon guided us to Civic Centre after dinner. Briefly told us where we could shop around that area. We left on our own to explore the place. Went to Walmart again and saw Haagen Dazs ice cream going at USD5 for 2 pints! It’s unbelievable cheap and we just grabbed 2 pints to have as supper at the hotel room. Bought the 3 day muni pass (at US$18 per pax) since we’ll be on our own for the next 2 days. Needless to say, we took a bus back to our hotel.

USA Trip (Day 7)

Las Vegas

This morning, we explored the strip and viewed the different hotels with different themes. The sun was very glaring and we had difficulties opening our eyes when taking pictures. At 11am plus, we proceeded to have a buffet lunch at the Treasure Islands (couldn’t decide on which buffet to go so went to this one in the end as recommended by one of the travel guides that I’ve read). At USD17 per pax (inclusive of tax), the spread was quite good. After we had our fill, it was shopping time again. We went to Macy’s and proceeded to the Las Vegas Premium Outlet (that can be reached via buses). We took the Deuce to explore the strip, experiencing its beauty at night. Went almost to the end of the strip before heading back to our hotel.

Had to rest earlier that night as we need to get up early the next day to catch our domestic flight to San Francisco.

USA Trip (Day 6)

Shopping cum en-route to Las Vegas!

We visited another 2 factory outlets (Tanger Factory Oultet & Primm Valley Factory Outlet) before heading down to Las Vegas. Must have overshopped yesterday. All of us seems to have been exhausted by the time we reached Primm Valley Factory Outlet. Before the time was up to meet the tour members, we went to get burger from Carl’s Jr.

Reached Las Vegas at around 7pm. After checking in to our room, we had a simple dinner of cup noodles and burger (yup, we brought cup noodles along in case we get sick of having western food everyday). Had a walk along the strip after our dinner. As Cherylin fell asleep half way through the walk and only wanted to be carried, we made our way back to the hotel instead of going further down the strip. Took the Deuce back to hotel (bought the 24-hour bus ticket at USD5 per pax).

YC had a ‘nap’ before heading down to the casino. He came back about an hour or so later while I was still packing the luggage. Ok, he won USD9. Very small amount but at least he didn’t lose $.

USA Trip (Day 5)

Shopping Day!

This morning, we checked out of Wyndham Park Hotel and proceeded to Desert Hills Premium Outlet. We arrived at 10am plus and had to gather at 5pm. The 6.5 hours of shopping time was definitely insufficient! Only managed to comb Coach, Gap, Timberland, CK, Samsonite, OshKosh and Levis’. Bought a duffle luggage bag at Samsonite since mine spoilt upon arrival in LA. Not exactly cheap but it definitely came in useful to hold our ‘loot’.

We headed for our accommodation at Miracle Hot Spring. Dinner was served western style where we had salad/soup, main course followed by dessert. Again, this mummy forgot to take pictures of our yummylicious food. Too hungry, haha :P

Back to the hotel room, we started to pack (or unpack) our shopping loots. The Samsonite bag I bought came in useful as I could dump all our stuff into it.

YC went to try the hot spring while my mum and Cherylin rested in the room. I followed him down to take a look at the place. There were a number of pools available and the place was rather deserted. Probably due to the cold weather, not many people were keen to visit the hot spring at night.

USA Trip (Day 4)

Disneyland!

This morning, we started off earlier as Disneyland opened at 8am. We left the hotel at 7.30am and joined the queue at the entrance upon arrival at Disneyland. Cherylin insisted on talking the picture of Gideon while we were in the queue. Funny gal. The crowd was quite ok on that day, according to Gideon. We were told that if we had arrived a week later, during the Thanksgiving week, the whole place will be floaded with people.

Gideon guided us to the ‘must try’ rides. YC and my mum went ahead with the Indiana Jones ride while Cherylin and I went to take the Jungle boat ride. We proceeded to other attractions on the recommendation of Gideon and went on free and easy at about 10.30am. Cherylin wanted popcorns so YC bought a huge bucket for her. Comes with a Disneyland Souvenir Bucket. We could see that Cherylin was munching away happily. After a short break, we went to the small small world for the ferry ride. It’s quite a long ride. Didn’t really time but I think it’s at least 30 mins. Cherylin enjoyed the ride as we saw her clapping to the ‘It’s a Small Small World’ song and other songs which I can’t recalled what they were.

We proceeded to Minitoon. Was queueing up to take picture with Minnie. Who knows when it’s our turn, Minnie was scheduled to go off. The adults were more disappointed than Cherylin as we were looking forward to take a picture of Cherylin with Minnie. This blur mummy didn’t even snap any picture of Minnie! Argghh…

At least we still managed to take picture with Mickey, no so bad ya? And YC took lots more picture with characters like goofy, chipmunks.

There’s a parade in the afternoon at 3.20pm. By then, Cherylin had already dozed off. She was still suffering from jetlag as no matter how hard we tried to wake her up, her eyes just couldn’t open. Hence, I took lots of pictures of the parade so that I can show them to her.

USA Trip (Day 3)

Universal Studio

Today is our trip to Universal Studio. After breakfast, we had a quick city tour at Hollywood Boulevard. Went to the Manns Chinese Theatre, visited some souvenir shops before we proceeded to Universal Studio. Gideon guided us to take some of the more recommended rides (Shreks, Universal Studio Tour, Waterworks, etc) before we went on free and easy. We had Turkey Leg (it’s really huge) and Grilled Chicken Sandwich for lunch. YC went on to try out some other rides while my mum and I took a rest. Cherylin had jetlag (btw, she woke up really early at 4am this morning to have milk, brush her teeth, etc) and was sleeping soundly on 外婆 shoulder. After YC had returned, we went to roam around. Spotted Spongebob Square Pants and Dora. Cherylin was so happy that she took photos with these characters.

Actually, there wasn’t much things for us to do at Universal Studio. Hence we exited and went to the nearby arcade for a walk before meeting the group at 5.30pm. We had dinner at a Chinese Restaurant. Cherylin was sleeping and was grouchy at dinner time. So she didn’t take much food.
We went back to hotel after dinner. YC and I left the hotel to go shopping again at Target. We saw an umbrella stroller and was contemplating if we should get it. Finally decided not to as we feared that Cherylin would not want to sit on it. It was a wrong move….

USA Trip (Day 1 & 2)

Today we woke up at 5am to get ready for our flight at 9.45am. As YC and I were getting change, etc, Cherylin was woken up by our conversation (usually she will just continue to sleep even if we talk loudly). Guess she must be excited about the trip too. She woke up without a fuss and went to her room (yes, my mum sleeps in Cherylin’s room while Cherylin sleeps with us) to wake 外婆up: 外婆, 起来去飞机场了. Haha…so cute.

As usual, I always have last min packing, usual stuff like toiletries, last check to see if all necessary stuff had been packed. YC’s father arrived at 6.30am as planned. We uploaded 3 luggages and proceeded to the airport. On the way, Cherylin fell asleep. She quickly woken up when we arrived at the airport. We went to the check-in counter to look for our tour leader, Gideon. After a brief by him, we proceeded to do our own check-in. Cherylin talked to 舅舅 over the phone, looked at the aeroplanes and had lots of sweets that were taken from the immigration counter. Shortly after, we boarded the plane and Cherylin guai guai sat on the seat and buckled up. I was pleased with her behaviour. The air stewardess then gave her an activity pack to keep her occupied. The take off was ok, no unbearable air pressure and hence no fuss from my princess. She took peanuts and were rather full when meal was served. Hence, her food went down to the stomachs of my mum, YC and mine. Cherylin took 2-3 hours of nap before we touched down at Norita airport after 6.5hours of flight for our transit to Los Angeles (transit time is about 1 to 1.5hours)

While waiting for our next plane, we roamed around the gift/snack shops near the check-in counters. There’s a huge Ice Cream display which Cherylin happily hugged and took picture with. I was admiring at the snacks sold at one of the shops. So beautifully packed that I wish I had some Jap Yen to buy those snacks.

The flight from Japan to Los Angeles took about 10 hours. Cherylin slept again during the flight but only for a short while I think. She fussed a little as she couldn’t sleep comfortably. Overall, I was quite relieved that she ‘survived’ the flight. We arrived at LA at around 9 – 10am. Waited awhile at the airport for 2 tour mates who were questioned by the immigration officer. It was then that my mum discovered that my luggage zipper was ripped off! Oh no, the TSA lock which my colleague kindly lent to me was gone as well. Thanks goodness the luggage was still in tact. No sign of it being opened at all.

We reached Wyndham Park Hotel in the early afternoon. After checking in, we went to roam around the vicinity. YC tried the famous In N Out Cheeseburger while Cherylin, my mum and I helped ourselves with the hand-cut French fries (yummy, very nice compared to the usual fries we eat at fast food outlet). We proceeded to shop around and bought some cheap and nice clothings at a discount store.

The sky turned dark when it’s barely 5pm. It’s so dark that it looked as if it’s 7pm – 8pm in Singapore. We then went to Target, a hypermarket found in LA, for our shopping trip. Was advised by my colleague to get our chocolates there as it’s cheaper than elsewhere.

Cherylin must had been tired as she’s crying non-stop when it’s about 7pm. We had our dinner at a outlet selling Maui food and YC managed to pacify her by buying her a huge cup of raspberry tea softdrink. The servings were huge and we were so filled even though we ordered only 2 items: 1 hawaiian chicken bowl and 1 BBQ chicken set (too busy eating/checking Cherylin out that I forgot to take picture).

Brought Cherylin and my mum back to the hotel for an early rest before YC and I left the hotel to continue with our shopping. Keke.

USA Trip!

We went for a 11 days trip to the West Coast of USA from 15 Nov to 25 Nov. It was an enjoyable trip for us (including my mum). Stay tune for the updates on our trip. Coming to you soon....

Diaperless at night?

Cherylin is now very comfortable with going diaperless during the day (including nap time). She seems to be able to hold quite well (like mummy) and can easily go without the need to visit the toilet for 3 – 4 hours in a stretch. Actually, I heard that it’s not good for children to hold their urine for so long. Hence me and my mum always ask her if she wants to go to the toilet when we realized that she has not visited mum for the last 2 hours.

At times when I was preparing Cherylin for bed, she will tell me that she doesn’t want to wear diaper as she knows when/how to go to toilet for poo/pee. However, I usually talk her out of it cos I’m not confident that she will not pee on bed (mummy more kan cheong about the mattress being dirtied :P). Last night, she’s very insistent and promised that she’ll not pee on bed. So I let her be and pray hard that no accident would happen.

Cherylin woke up in the morning at 9am plus and came looking for me while holding on to her ‘bao bei’. She wanted to watch Tom & Jerry so I switched on the TV and played the VCD for her. This kan cheong mummy then asked if she needed to pee and the answer was no. It was only 30 mins later that she wanted to pee. I praised her for the well done job. Looks like she’s progressing well and will soon not be dependant on diaper.

We lazed around at home today as we have a first month celebration in the evening. Hence, didn’t go to town like what we always do on a Sat. We had lunch at a Food Court in Gek Poh Shopping Centre and after lunch, passed by video shop. YC saw some children VCD there and we found a series of Tom & Jerry’s VCDs (one of Cherylin’s favourite cartoons). Cherylin selected one serial and happily carried the VCD home.

She demanded to view Tom & Jerry the moment we reached home. Cherylin usually doesn’t like to watch TV, nor can any TV programmes entice her to sit still for even 15 mins. She must really like Tom & Jerry a lot that she can sit still and finished both disks at one go. Hmm… I suppose it’s good news for me cos it means that next time I can just switch on the TV for her and do my own stuff while she watches it. ;)

Both YC and I left office on the dot yesterday, and went to my mum’s place to pick up Cherylin. When I arrived, Cherylin has not changed her clothes yet. After much persuasion/threat/coax, she finally agreed to do so. It has always been a ‘challenge’ to change her, feed her, ask her to brush her teeth, etc. As always, she’ll dilly dally and take a long time before doing the things that you ask her to. Often, I had to threaten her with ‘army boy’, ‘police’, etc.

We went downstairs to wait for YC to pick us up after Cherylin said bye bye to wai po. YC planned to have dinner at IMM to celebrate my birthday. We went to Swensen’s where I had the seafood pizza and YC ordered the chicken pieces as main course. Cherylin ate ¼ of my pizza and some chicken and fries. As it was my birthday, we were given a complimentary Birthday Firehouse. Cherylin stared at the ice cream as the waiter attempted to light the candle. Then we sang a birthday song while Cherylin shyly look at the ice cream and did not sing at all. We blew out the candle and Cherylin happily feasted on the ice cream.

After dinner, we proceeded to get a birthday cake. YC bought me a fruit cake from crystal jade cakery. We let Cherylin played for a while before heading home to cut the cake. Cherylin helped daddy to put on the candle, quite a good job for a first timer. She blew out the candles (all by herself) after the birthday song. Then she proceeded to cut the cake. I had to stop her after a while else the whole cake will be ‘destroyed’ by her. She must be full then as she wasn’t interested in eating the cake. Somehow, it’s just a mini celebration for me but it’s filled with warmth. :)

Surprise from YC!

At about 10am, I received a call from the receptionist. “Hi LK, this is XX calling from the recept, there’s a bouquet of flowers for you. Please come down to collect it.” My immediate reaction was “Huh? Ok, will come down now.” Seriously speaking, I wasn’t expecting to receive any flowers (hint hint to YC: it’s been years since I received my last bouquet :P). It’s a very beautiful bouquet of two-toned fuschia roses.

Yesterday, YC told me he had already planned for something today. We will be picking Cherylin up after work today. During lunch today, he told me he intended to bring us to IMM for dinner. Cherylin loves going to IMM cos she gets to play with the coin-operated machines there. Too bad the playground is now under renovation, can’t bring her there until mid Nov, which is the scheduled completion date.

Usually we’ll leave the house before noon on Sat and proceed to town (this is our usual routine on weekends). This Sat we started out late. Left the house at close to 3pm. Cherylin and I woke up early today at 7am so she took a short 1 hour nap at 2pm while I was preparing her stuff (she fell asleep while playing with the bed rail on her bed. Too tired liao). Went to Harbourfront area to have my Canon Digicam repaired but was told that the service centre is only open on Weekdays. Thereafter, we proceeded to Chinatown where we’ll be having our pre-departure talk at 5.30pm. We arrived early at about 4.40pm so decided to have a chat with our tour consultant and make the final payment before proceeding to our briefing scheduled at 5.30pm. The briefing only started at 6pm and was conducted in 2 languages. Chris, the tour consultant doing the briefing, was a chatty lady. However, we found that she talked a little too much. The briefing was still ongoing at 7.30pm!

As we had to attend a birthday celebration of a friend’s daughter, we left without staying till the end. During the briefing, Cherylin was very restless, either talked loudly, sang loudly, or clapped as Chris was talking. She made a lot of noise saying that she wanted to go to ‘mei mei’s’ house. We had earlier told her that we are going to attend mei mei’s birthday party later the day. We rushed and arrived at the venue at 8pm (2 hours passed the start time of 6pm). The birthday cake was very pretty. It’s a farmland theme and there’s lots of little animal figurine on the cake. Cherylin was fascinated by the cake and happily took the little rooster when the host was distributing the figurines to the children. She managed to finish the slice of cake that was given to her. That’s an achievement considering she never liked cake. She didn’t even eat her own birthday cake previously when she turned 2.

We proceeded to my friend’s new house. By then, Cherylin had already warmed up and went to hug the huge elmo that was on the sofa. She happily played with Rachel too. On our way home, she said that we wants to go to mei mei’s house again. We can easily tell that she enjoyed herself that night :)

Toilet Training (cont'd)

We were home early today and hence brought Cherylin back for the night stay. I’ve been enticing Cherylin to poo on the toilet bowl without any success. Her reward: To play the bubble gun if she poos on the toilet bowl (she loves playing bubble gun). I was having my bath when YC knocked on my door and said that “Cherylin wants to poo and insist on doing so on the toilet bowl”. I was not sure if she’s kidding us. Anyway, I just let her sit on the toilet bowl (she’s able to balance herself) and indeed she poo-ed. I was sooooo happy and praised her for doing a good job (it’s the first time she did it on toilet bowl. At wai po’s house she’ll at most do in on the potty). She too was pleased with herself for doing so. As promised, she got to play with the bubble gun that night.

We are now left with the final ‘task’ of training her to sleep without a diaper. :)

Sep is a month of feasting!

Sep is a month of feasting!

Almost every weekend I’ll have party to attend. Let me count the no. of events: 1 baby shower, 3 birthday celebrations, 1 wedding dinner, 2 gatherings and 1 seminar. Scary yah when I recount these. Imagine the amount of food that went into my stomach. Not surprising that I put on 1.7kg within 4 weeks. Ok, console myself that I now have the license to put on weight without feeling guilty :P

Cherylin is a sensible girl?...

Nowadays when YC goes to pump petrol, Cherylin will insist on following daddy into the petrol kiosk where he makes the payment. Most of the time, she will come out with some sweets in her hand and smile on her face! That day she came out with a packet of Sweeties. When I saw it, I ‘scolded’ her saying that she’s wasting money (cos there’s lots of sweets in the house where she eat halfway and didn’t finish). Told her that she must finish those sweets at home first before getting new ones. Well, being a 2.5 years old child, I doubt my advice goes into her ears.

Today, YC went to exchange his old car for a new one. As we are shifting the stuff from the old car, Cherylin kepts making noise, saying that she wants the ‘blue’ car (our old car), don’t want the ‘green’ car. She got worse as we drove the new car. Cried until so pitiful. Kept saying ‘I don’t want to seat in this car car, I want the blue car car….’. Seeing that she’s so ke lian, daddy brought her to NTUC Fairprice to get some tidbits for her. After a few minutes, both father and daughter came out of the supermarket empty handed. I was puzzled and thought maybe there isn’t anything that Cherylin likes (couldn’t be right since there’s bound to be something that will catch her eyes)? So I asked.

Me: The Yan Yan is out of stock? (Cherylin usually grabs this when she goes to supermarket)
YC: No. She doesn’t want.
Me: Why?
YC: Initially she took the chocolate flavour and on the way to the cashier, she told me she doesn’t want.
Me: Then?
YC: I told her it’s ok, daddy will buy for her. Then Cherylin replied: “Afraid mummy will scold.”

I couldn’t quite believe myself when I heard that. Cherylin actually remembered my ‘lecture’ of not wasting money to buy tidbits when she already had those at home. That’s my dear girl. Sometimes I must agree that she can be quite ‘sensible’.

On the following night, I was tidying the table and going through some receipts. Cherylin came to me and said “I’ll finish off the tidbits at home first before getting new ones.” I praised her for being a sensible girl and gave her a hug and kiss :)

Detailed Scan

Went for my detailed scan today. My appointment is at 10am and we arrived on the dot at the registration counter. Due to some emergency which arose, we had to wait for an hour before it’s my turn for the scan. While waiting, we brought Cherylin to the playroom at Mt A and daddy bought a cup of drinks for her when she gets cranky. The scan took about 25 mins to complete. According to the Radiographer, Cherylin should be getting a didi. Well, we will wait till the next gynae visit to confirm with Kenneth again.

Afternote: I did my detailed scan for Cherylin at Camden Medical Centre 3 years ago. Given a choice, I would have preferred that I did my scan this time round at Camden Medical Centre too. Both YC and I felt that the doctor there is more detailed and the scanning machine definitely is better than the one at Mt A. We don’t mind the hassle of traveling there and the higher cost involved. YC asked me to remind him to feedback to Kenneth when we next see him.

Lantern Festival

Last sun, we brought Cherylin to the Chinese Garden. It's our first time bringing her there to see those beautiful lanterns. The theme of the year is 'ocean'. There are lots of fishes, octopuses, etc around the garden. Of cos, there's her favourite dolphine too. We sometimes have difficulties taking pictures of her as she will deliberately look away from the camera. But for the sake of her dolphine, she guai guai pose for daddy to snap. We collected those traditional paper lanterns that were given to every visitor. Cherylin looked on curiously as daddy tried to light up the lantern. It's her first time playing with a paper lantern, that's why her reaction. Somehow this girl dare not hold on to the lantern initially. She held for a while as we moved along. Daddy bought a lotus flower that's to be lit up and placed into the pond. Cherylin had a great time watching by the pond side, looking at the lotus flower as it floated away. The auntie at the stall gave her lots of sweet which made her even happier. We left the place after spending about 2 hours plus there. Asked if she had enjoyed herself, Cherylin gave a positive "Yes!". Frankly speaking, if not for her, we would never have visited the Chinese Garden :P

First diaper-free trip….

Today is the first time we brought Cherylin out without diaper on. We went to IMM instead of town area as we have a party to attend in the evening. So just go somewhere near so that Cherylin could take a nap/rest in the afternoon. Glad that everything went on fine, with no accidents. Cherylin will say so when she needs to wee. Hence, this trip had boost our confidence in bringing her out without diaper in future :)

Gynae Visit

I went for my gynae checkup on last Sat. It’s the 4th visit to the gynae so far. Cherylin was crying and protesting when we entered the consultation room during my first visit for fear that the doctor will check on her/give her injection, etc. However, she became more receptive and was willing to enter the room as time passed by and she knew that it’s mummy whom Dr Lee is checking on, not her. Furthermore, she gets to eat sweets whenever she visits Dr Lee, and there are lots of toys for her to play at the waiting area.

This morning when I woke her up, I was whispering beside her ear: "Get up and we will go and see Dr Lee". To my surprise, she nodded her head and opened her eyes. She woke up without any fuss. I was surprised because she usually sleeps late and hence wakes up late. Whenever we need to visit the gynae (our appointment is at 9am), we’ll have a hard time waking her up and she’ll be grouchy and grumpy. With a little persuasion, she changed her clothings and left happily with us as we depart to Mt A.

Cherylin would demand to be out of the scanning room during prior visits, this time she stayed for a while before making noise and told daddy to bring her out. When Dr Lee was drawing blood for my triple test, she watched curiously at the door and later asked me why Dr Lee pasted a plaster on my wrist.

During this visit, YC asked if we can find out the baby’s gender. Baby was sleeping then and woke up when Dr Lee disturbed him/her a little. As the position wasn’t very right, Dr Lee said it’s best that we wait till the detailed scan at 20th week to confirm the sex of the baby.

Sis-to-be

I’ve been telling Cherylin that mummy is having a little baby in my tummy. At times, when her mood is good, I will tell her to sayang little baby before going to bed. So far, she has been quite a nice jie jie, will sayang little baby when I asked her to do so (she will sayang my tummy and then quickly cover it with my t-shirt). Last Sat, she even initiated to kiss the baby. So sweet of her.

Toilet Training

My mum started to toilet train Cherylin last Thu (23 Aug). A bit late to start, I know. Strangely, we have never been concerned that she’s still wearing diaper while kids of her age were already diaper-free long ago. Probably we were too bo chap and find it more convenient for her to wear diaper especially when we are outside.

As expected, accidents happened during the initial stage of toilet training; she wetted the bed, chair, etc. Over the weekend, YC and I did not really train her cos we were out of the house most of the time. Toilet training continued for Cherylin this week. Seems to progress quite well. She’ll tell wai po when she wants to pee. And she even took her nap without wearing diaper. Her first car ride without diaper was ok too.

However, when it comes to poo, Cherylin simply refuse to do it on potty/toilet bowl. She’ll find a spot and squat down with her pants on to do her business. I guess we’ll have to go slow with her, one thing at a time. I believe she’ll start to learn when she’s ready. Just like training her to go pee in the toilet (oops, but she’s not doing so on toilet bowl, it’s in the bathe room instead :P)

Starting a blog..

I have been wanting to do up a blog for Cherylin since she’s a baby but have been too lazy/busy to do so. I actually started halfway and did not continue with it. Now that she’s already 2.5 years old, hope it’s not too late for me to start.

Cherylin is like a energizer bunny, forever full of energy. Worst thing is she sleeps late at night, her usual bed time is 11pm+. Most of the time, I’m so tired that I’ll asleep before her. Tried bringing her to bed at 10pm plus. She’ll lie on the bed with me, toss and turn, ask for water/milk, and simply refused to sleep. Recently, she started getting down from the bed and went to play with daddy whose still not in bed. Only when both of us are in the bed, with all lights switched off will she guai guai lie there and doze off slowly. Hope her sleeping habits will change for the better else next time I can’t imagine what will happen when she goes to school!