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I hardly gamble. You can say I am kia-su but gambling never excites me.

My mum is the exact opposite. I still remembered the trip I went to with my family in Australia - Sydney. My mum was so excited by the casinos that she would drag us there every night after dinner. Well, she got her way mostly as there was absolutely nothing much to do in Sydney after dinner anyway.

This year, my company participated in the Food expo from 20Nov - 24Nov. I got my mum to take care of 乖乖. My parents would bring 乖乖 to the Expo near to the closing time (about 10pm) so that we could bring 乖乖 home directly. It was a tiring period for all. By the time we got home, it was already close to midnight.

One of the nights in the car, 乖乖 started to rattle the same 4 numbers - 2284 in Mandarin continuously. I excitedly called my mum and of course, 2284 was her must-buy list for the weekend 4D.

Consolation prize - 2248 came out! 爸爸 was 机灵enough to buy a few permutations of the 2284. In the end, he won $120! My mum did not win anything. And I, of course, did not place any bets. But everyone was happy as 爸爸 treated everyone to a nice 煮炒dinner at our favorite haunt.

Happy Father's Day

I thought Father's Day was on 13 June. So, I gathered all my family members for a home-cooked dinner and discovered that I got the date wrong. Well, consider it as early celebration then. Cooking for 7 adults and 2 toddlers without a maid and having to look after 1 boisterous toddler at the same time is no joke and can only be done once in a while...

The dish on the top right corner - melon squash or 丝瓜. I eat this for every breakfast when I was in China.

Fish slices with assortment of vegetables/mushrooms

Grilled chicken wings - this always receive rave reviews

All the dishes on the table - the black soup in the bowl is 八珍汤 but I think it did not go well with the taste palate for the males in the family esp. Aaron.

Homeward journey

We made a trip back to 乖乖's ancester hometown in May. It's a place called十堰 - 茂健区。 I think a trip to and fro US would be more relax. Imagine this: to go there: 5-hour flight to 上海, wait for 3 hours to take a 2-hour flight to 襄樊 followed by a 2-3 hours drive. Going back home was worse: we had wanted to follow the same route back but the flight to 襄樊 was delayed by 1 day due to the bad weather and hence, we have to change route. So, imagine this: 5 hours to 武汉airport to take a 2 hour flight to 上海, wait for 7 hours to take a 5-hour flight from 上海 back to Singapore (close to 24 hours journey just to get back!). It's definitely an unforgetable journey.

But it's an experience of a life-time - with lots of pics taken. I will definitely the compile the pics so that 乖乖 can remember it when he grows up. Well, due to the bad weather (it was raining and unexpectedly cold), 乖乖 fell sick and ran a high fever. We had to rush him to the hospital. And that's where I saw the power of 关系。乖乖's auntie there happened to be the nurse matron. Hence, we do not need to wait at all and he is able to get immediate medical attention.

The norm for treating fever is by drip. All the parents will carry their child, sit on the chair and wait for the drip to finish. You will see all the chairs there has a metal rod at the side to hang the drip. Luckily, 乖乖 fever subsided after 2 days, though I do not really like to idea of the drip to bring down the fever...

Paradox

Being a mother (or a parent) is some kind of paradox. We look forward to the day our kid say their first word, take their first step etc. And when they do, I think the joy would have made those sleepless nights of waking up to feed them or check on them when they are sick, all forgotten. But very soon, our kid would say words against our wishes and move to places that we do not want them to go.
Over the last weekend, we were in the study room reading books and playing. Come 乖乖 dinnertime, I told him "乖乖, it's dinnertime. After this, we are meeting ah mah for dinner." Guess what he said "Play, this room." and refused to budge. After a while, I have to remind him again on his dinner. The reply was "Play cars, this room." He only agreed to have his dinner after my fourth or fifth try.

乖乖,姐姐,哥哥

We have a friend from Beijing who came over to Singapore for a stay. They have a 9 year old daughter, Mona. It's really amazing how a 9 year old girl and a 2.5 year old boy can click together.

They play small little balls together, roll on the bed and watch TV together, hold hands for a stroll together, play on the slide together and cycle on the tricycle together. I think Mona makes a much better play-mate to 乖乖 than I do!

On 14 March, my friend bought tickets to Disney Princess - Make a Wish show for 乖乖 and me. You know how expensive such tickets are! Each ticket easily costs $60. I had thought that it's a waste of money plus on top of that, I had also thought that 乖乖 would never be able to sit still for 2 hours for the show esp. this one. The reason: It's on Disney Princess (meant for girls!) and has got nothing to do with his favorite cars. So, I went to the show already bracing myself to entertain him with food and drink and other toy cars that I brought along. Lo and behold! Not only did 乖乖 manage to sit throughout the show, he enjoyed himself tremendously. He clapped his hands after each interval and tapped his hand on his thigh in tune with the music.

Looks like I have to be more open-minded and not be too restrictive in 乖乖's exposure.

Now, if you ask 乖乖 how many 哥哥 he has, the answer is 1. If you ask 乖乖 how many 姐姐 he has, the answer is 2!

Maid-less days

Finally, decide to let go my maid. I know it's going to be a tough adjustment having enjoyed maid services for more than 2 years. But I'll see how it goes. For the time being, I will just make do with a once-a-week part-time helper.

I have also changed 乖乖 to a full-day childcare nearer to our house so it's more convenient for me to pick him up in the evenings.

Hopefully, things will turn out alright.

Free-hold or 99 year?

Last Thursday, I had the rare occasion to enjoy afternoon coffee with an ex-colleague MH. Since we have not met up for quite some time, we started to rattle on the events that have happened. Being unattached, she talked mostly about her work of course and I, of course mostly on 乖乖. Yep! My life has become 乖乖, baking/cooking and work.
Suddenly, MH exclaimed: "You know, spouse is free-hold and your kids are 99 year lease. So, your priority should be your spouse and not your kid lei." eh?! Food for thoughts... And this is coming from a single and unmarried person.

Coughing Season

I have been busy looking after 乖乖over the weekend. His running nose and coughing started last Friday and progressed to a fever on Saturday. Doctor said it was an infection so he was given anti-biotics.

Though his fever has subsided, he still coughs (you know those type of cough that has a lot of phelgm inside) **Heartache to hear it** Really wonder where those phelgm comes from?! 乖乖 hardly drinks cold water and is never allowed to touch sweets or chocolates.

I am very scared of 乖乖 getting fever. This means that I have to wake up every other hour at night to check his temperature, sponging him and feeding him paracetamol when it gets too high. It's strange that fever tends to shoot up in the middle of the night. So, you can imagine how tired and blur I was during the weekend.

Strangly enough, 乖乖 has been asking for cakes even though he was sick. I decided to used up the bottle of yougurt and leftover bananas to make cupcakes (adapted from Anna Chan's healthy yougurt cupcakes). I made 2 sizes - kiddy-sized cupcakes and adult-sized cupcakes. So, for Sunday's tea-break, we had 罗汉果水 and kiddy-sized cupcakes.

Last night, before feeding 乖乖 his night-time milk, he turned to me suddenly and said "Mama, good night" and then gave me a hug and kiss. Usually, I have to prompt him to do so. :-) 让我甜在心里。男孩也一样贴心。

It's Still Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is really long - 15 days in total! So, I can still wish all of you 新年快乐！乖乖 wore the traditional CNY kua on the first day. Honestly, I was a bit worried that his eczema will flare up due to the cloth but it did not. PHEW! Looks like his skin is getting 'stronger'.

As usual, 乖乖 got a stack of ang paos from relatives and friends. I have not counted how much money there are in total yet but I don't think it will break last year's record. Times are bad, haha! Ok, part of the truth is, 乖乖's paternal grandpa (爷爷) and paternal grandma (奶奶) decided to spend their CNY in Singapore last year. So, they were the major contributors! 乖乖 was just learning how to talk then and did not know how to pronounce 爷爷 properly. But his 奶奶 is really good in teaching. During her short stay here, she managed to teach 乖乖 how to pronounce 妈妈 and of course, 奶奶.

But his speech (and drama) has since improved by leaps and bounds and I'm sure his 爷爷 and 奶奶 will be extremely pleased.

My son

Can't believe I'm blogging! I guess I better start before I lose track of all the details that has happened esp. with my son. He is already coming 2.5 years old and I had meant to start this before he was born ...

We have been calling him guai guai (乖乖) since the day he was born. This has become his petname (小名) since. When I am not so pleased with him, his name becomes 乖! But mostly, it's 乖乖. :-)