Look who's eating...

Simple lunch at home today with mahmmy. We had porridge, minced meat & eggs.

Joshua boy knows how to hold the spoon properly now...and less spills on the floor too...good job, joshua boy!

The above pics were taken in june this year. joshua boy learnt to use the fork first...at MacDonalds...

Carboot Sale 20-09-08

gek & leonard had had their first carboot sale experience at The Playground last sat. They were not only clearing some 2nd second stuffs,which are still in good condition, but new ones too, such as portable handphone chargers (which leo imported from his lobang supplier) and new clothings which can't fit gek anymore...hehehe...

They managed to earn some profits that day, after deducting the rental. Gek, i know, is a good sale person. She has been yearning to set up push-cart business some years back. This carboot sale, i think, is a stepping stone or rather a platform for more such business to come. They seemed to enjoy that even though they had to endure the heat and battle with the scorching sun. Gek's fair skin tone had turned into 'pinky lobster' at the end of the day.

While gek & leo were trying 'to make ends meet', gabriel & joshua were enjoying their freedom & embracing the nature at the beach. The cool breeze at the beach was really inviting... no wonder the 2 little ones enjoyed themselves so much...

magnets 123...magnets ABC...

making use of the bomb shelter's door for the mega alphabet letters

utilising the fridge's door for the magnetic numbers

Arranging the alphabets and the numbers (though he has yet to know the correct order) keeps joshua boy occupied...especially when i'm not free to 'entertain' him.

Just one observation - he likes to sweep the letters off the board and shouts "oh oh!" After which he will pick them up & stick back to the board again. Wonder what he is up to???!!! I try to scold him, and be firm when i express my intention to get him to stop that nonsense and clear up the mess. Once he walked away, with his head down, then turned his head back, looked at me, and ran up to me, crying for my attention, asking to be carried. What did I do? I attempted to ignore him, and let him cry. However, after a while, 'xin ruan'...so mothers should know the ending of this episode...am i pampering him?

gia theng lang...(lantern festival)

Joshua had 2 lanterns this year. I bought a Barney lantern for him earlier but he deflated that when he tried to ride on it. His second lantern is a design of an aeroplane with doraeamon pics (another of his favourite cartoon character) from gek. He wanted to try to take another flight again with the latest lantern. Luckily my mum managed to stop him. heng har...or else got to spend money again...

We went to Punggol Park with gek, leo & gab last night. According to gek, the crowd was much larger the year before. I thought that it was pretty packed then. The 2 little ones had fun anyway. It was the first year joshua had his own lantern.

Nativity Church Feast Day 14-09-2008

my parish church, Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mother, held her annual feast day, with a 9-day novena ( 6 - 14 sept), and a food & fun fair today, at the church compound. This special occasion is in celebration of our Mother Mary's birthday, which falls on 8 sept.

This year pappy & I are very guai, and faithfully attended the novena sessions from monday to friday evening 8pm. I tried to go in the past, somehow due to certain circumstances, failed to follow through. This year I told myself not to disappoint Mother anymore.

We tried to bring joshua boy along too, though knowing it might not be possible for him to sit still throughout the mass, and knowing it might be a challenging task for us to keep him focus. Nevertheless, we went. I went to the church after work on tue & thurs, and sad to say that time could not wait and stay still for me. I could not make it on time to fetch joshua boy from my mum's place for those 2 days. Thus had to get my parents to babysit till i was back. Pappy went to KL on wed morning, and was back on fri afternoon instead of thurs.

I bought a rosary, came with a pouch, from one of the booths selling religious items, after wed's novena session. This is for joshua. It's his first rosary. We have yet to teach him how to recite the rosary verse by verse. What he has learnt so far is to bless himself with the holy water, and to make the sign of the cross when we enter the church, to spread his hands out when singing Our Father (that came as a surprise to us when he did that. He learnt from observation)...

This morning we were gald to meet paul, angela & chantel in the church. We have not seen one another for some time. Chantel is in K2 now. Time flies...really miss those MPC sessions & discussion with matha & gerry, and those family nites at Morning Star... Our children are growing up...Looking forward to our gathering with leonard, theresa & natalie on 27 sept...

While chantel was telling me about her ballet dance and demonstrating the steps, joshua boy was imitating her swan-like jump. Though he could not master that yet, he thoroughly enjoyed himself, stamping his legs up & down.

Uncle 5 ROM

Yesterday mid-morning attended my uncle's ROM, held in a nicely decorated & cosy air-con function room, at Yew Tee CC. He is my mum's younger brother, no.5 (my mum has 2 elder & 4 younger brothers & 3 younger sisters...big family indeed...), and the last to get hitched & settled down. We are very happy for him, and truly congratulated him with ever lasting bliss, from the bottom of our hearts. Pappy was glad that he came back on fri afternoon in time to witness the solemnisation.

Not again!

Pappy is going on business trip to KL tomorrow. He will be back on Thurs night. He will meet Dion at KL, probably will go to that tea restaurant dinner again, I think...
According to pappy's latest schedule, he has to travel (again) end of this month (21 to 27 sept) to various parts of China & then fly to Korea from Hong Kong.
You might be envious of his frequent travelling to different countries whole year round. However, he doesn't enjoy that as he is there to chok gang, not for leisure. Pappy's luggage is always on standby. He doesn't empty the content, especially toiletries. Only one person will help him pack & unpack, that is, his son, joshua boy. Joshua boy loves to wheel his luggage round & round the whole house, and loves to zip & unzip... poor bag...We should sing " the luggage in the house go round & round..., all day long..." (tune from ' wheel on the bus')

Joshua & 'Thomas' (IV)

I bought joshua boy a 'Thomas & friends' play vehicle for his birthday this year. It's actually a play tent. Joshua could not contain his excitement when he saw the familiar character. After i had the tent set up, my nephew, gabriel, rushed to get into the interior. Both joshua boy & gabriel had a great time just crawling in & out of the play vehicle.

Pappy bought a 'Thomas & friends' choo choo train for joshua boy. It creates the engine 'chuckle chuckle' sound & its music when you roll its wheels. Both pappy & mahmmy also begin to like 'Thomas' nowadays...choo choo......

joshua & his birthday (III)

5 sept.

• We started the day with breakfast at 'Qi Ji', beside Hougang Mall. Joshua boy enjoyed the chee cheong fun & milo. Pappy had nasi lemak, while mahmmy had mee rebus.
• After breakfast, joshua boy went for his long-overdue hair cut.
• Lunch was at 'Bakerinz' Vivo City. Joshua boy loved the pumpkin soup & the creamy mushroom pasta.
• The program for that afternoon was to Gymboree @Harbourfront. Joshua boy attended a trial lesson there when he was abt 16 mth old. We thought that the fees were rather high, and the 45- minutes lesson was a bit strenuous for joshua at that time. Thus we did not register joshua for any classes. That afternoon,we signed up joshua for an hr of play gym, with no structured lesson nor an instructor. He could play with any of the equipment, on his own. Pappy kept him company and enjoyed the fun with him. There were no other kids around that day. Half an hour later, joshua stopped for a drink, and he did not seem too keen to continue. We decided to forgo the session. We made our payment, and left Gymboree for our kopi & roti at Toastbox, Vivo City.

• We had simple dinner at Hanis, Budget Terminal (another favourite makan place), with my parents-in-laws. Joshua was sleeping throughout the journey. He dozed off in the car shortly after we left Vivo City. He was still zzz...zzz...when we went to fetch gong gong & mama at Tampines. He woke up only when we arrived at Hanis. Dinner was fried rice for joshua boy and gong gong, vegetarian bee hoon for mahmmy & pappy, sandwiches for mama.

joshua & his birthday (II)

My 1st birthday - sept 2007.

My 2nd birthday - sept 2008.

joshua & his birthday party

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday to joshua, happy birthday to you..."

"May the good Lord bless you, may the good Lord bless you, may the good Lord bless joshua, may the good Lord bless you..."

We had a family celebration for joshua boy on sat, 6 sept, at our place. My mum prepared fried rice, whereas my mil cooked curry chicken. I only bought some 'jiam tao roti' and made some wan ton for soup. Pappy bought the rest of that night's dinner from 2 different kopitiam z'hi char' stalls at hougang ave 2 & 10. That was because I passed some remarks (in fact i was quite unhappy), that the food might not be enough for 10 people. To appease me, pappy went out again & came back with more varieties & quantities. Thanks pappy for sacrificing... Thanks pappy for everything you have done...

We had a hearty meal.

This year i bought 2 mini cakes for joshua on his actual birth date, 5 sept. He was turning 2, so i decided to get 2 cakes to represent his age.

I tried to get cake with 'thomas & friends' design at 'polars'. But I was disappointed that there was only 1 'thomas' design mini cake left. I had no choice but to choose another character that joshua boy recognises. Thank God! found it...'hello kitty' came to my rescue.

However, my degree of disappointment was once again escalated when there wasn't any 'thomas & friends' birthday cake available at the counter. johsua boy needed a cake for his celebration on sat. I should have made a wise decision to order that earlier. Initially just wanted to get him any chocolate cake, since he likes chocolate. Don't worry, joshua boy, mahmmy will sure get you a 'thomas & friends' cake for your 3-yr-old birthday...if u still like 'thomas'...