Happy Birthday 57th Wai Gong! (11 Feb)

Wai Gong was one happy birthday boy. Yee Yee was tasked to buy a birthday cake for Wai Gong and it was meant to be a surprise when he comes to our house to pick up Yee Yee and Eugene. Happy 57th Birthday, Wai Gong!

Wai Gong's birthday cake in our favourite chocolate flavour!Grandparents & grandchildren...

Chinese New Year 2008

Wow, wow, time has passed so fast again. Mommy overlooked posting Kieona's and Kierra's blog entries for over 5 months already! Time to do some work, Mommy!

Pre-CNY Reunion Dinner at home
Prepping up for CNY
Kieona Tikus from Skool House...
CNY 1st visit
Kieona & Kierra with Xiao Yee Poh
San Yee Poh, San Yee Zang Gong reliving memories
Dee Gu Kong with us
Wai Poh giving out angpow

Chinese New Year this year had been very, very exciting for the girls. This is the first year we changed our visiting plans, as some of Mommy's cousins on the paternal side requested we go later so they get to see us. As such, we went to Tua Gu Gong's (Daddy's uncle) house before noon and were able to catch the annual Lion and Dragon Dances. Both Kieona and Kierra were so absorbed and totally enjoyed the shows. Other places we visited included Gu Kong's (Mommy's uncles) house in the late morning and Zhor Mah Mah's house (our third stop and last stop where we also see cousin Rae-Ann/ Uncle Alvin and Auntie Gyn's daughter celebrate her first CNY).

Kierra the little imp before the lion dance

The Lion Dance....
Is that how dragons look?
Everyone, look at the camera!
We are hip!

Day 2, we again went visiting. This time was to Wai Gong and Wai Po's house in Ang Mo Kio, then Tua Yee Poh's house in Bukit Batok (where Ryan Di Di is still so nimble) and San Yee Poh's house (last stop). It was yet another day of catching up with the relatives, whom we saw so little of otherwise.

Day 3 was a Saturday, so all the merry-making went on. This time round we went to Auntie Zhen Zhen and Uncle Don's house at Nuovo for Daddy and Mommy's Archery gang gathering. It was fun as Kieona and Kierra had lots of friends around their ages. After that we went to Uncle Eugene's (Daddy's friend) house, where we met his brother, the famous singer JJ Lin, whom Kieona and Kierra took a photograph with. There, it was eat, eat and eat - like all the other venues we went.

Little child models, anyone?

Kieona, Kierra, Mommy and JJ?

Day 4 was Mommy's JC friends and teacher who came to our house. Pity though, as both Kieona and Kierra had been so tired out from the past three days of feasting, playing and visiting that they slept through the "party" at our own house.

Mommy and her friends. Where's Kierra?

All in, it had really been a pleasant Chinese New Year where everyone was pretty happy. Kieona and Kierra are also at the age where they have started to appreciate it and sure had a lot of fun collecting angpows as well.

Sabah Trip Jan 2008

Kierra on her first flight
Kieona looking pretty....
Kieona and Kierra at the "big house"
Little Ian
Mommy, Kierra and Auntie Elsie

After the flurry of activities around Christmas, we welcomed 2008 in a quiet way. Countdowns are out for our family at the moment as Daddy and Mommy are not very keen to bring Kieona and Kierra out so late as they are still too young to appreciate it. Truth be told, Daddy and Mommy are just plain lazy to squeeze with the crowd and get all sticky. Well, Mommy had a better excuse - we were leaving Singapore for a 6-day trip to Sabah, East Malaysia.

As this was the first trip (other than the cruise we took in 2006) together as a family by air, Mommy was in a flurry packing for the girls. Thank goodness Sabah's weather is the same as in Singapore only slightly less humid, which was good. The flight was rather easy, as Kierra slept most of the way. Kieona was easy to manage, as she was enjoying the food and just reading the magazine on board the plane. The plane was rather small, and the trip to Sabah was tougher as there wasn't a direct flight on the day we flew, and we had to stop over at Kuching and disembark before continuing the rest of the flight journey to Sabah. That took more than four hours.

The objective of the trip was to attend Auntie Gloria's wedding and visit Auntie Elsie. Auntie Gloria was Daddy's ex-colleague at Accenture and my, was their wedding elaborate. We all went to the church wedding as well in the morning, and both Kieona and Kierra fell asleep during the two hour ceremony. The wedding dinner was held at Shangri-La Tanjung Aru. We were told it was a nice place, but we opted to stay at Promenade Hotel as Shangri-La Tanjung Aru was not within walking distance from Kota Kinabalu town where all the shopping is. It was rather pretty when we went to the hotel for the dinner, but Daddy and Mommy said to leave early as Kierra was having her usual "poo-poo" problem so we didn't quite get to explore or enjoy the meal. You see, Kierra asks to go to the toilet every 5-10mins throughout our stay at KK, during almost every meal when she feels like passing motion. Kierra has not successfully managed the potty training part for passing motion yet when we left for KK.

Auntie Elsie, Uncle Nash and Ian have been very hospitable. They had just came back from their holiday in Hong Kong and Auntie Elsie was still nursing a cold when we met them for seafood dinner the night we arrived. The seafood where they brought us was very good, and there was also the Kadazan dance performance for the dinner crowd which wowed all the kids that they forgot about dinner. The second day we were there, Auntie Elsie took time out to show us around town, including one of their showrooms. It was interesting knowing how they live and work. It was pretty much like Singapore, except that the pace was much slower. We had the black colour pork noodle which was supposedly a local food. Boy, the portion was huge. We were told that Sabahans like their food black, and anything that is not black is tasteless to them. How strange!

Dinner that night was at a place called Little Italy. The pasta there was fantastic. We all loved it so much that Daddy said we'll be back for pasta if we go to KK again. Kieona polished off her portion of pasta and loved the freshly baked bread they served. and she ate them all by herself whereas she had to be fed for most meals while at KK. It was that good that even Kierra insisted on feeding herself part of the meal.

Apart from getting together with Auntie Elsie's family and attending Auntie Gloria's wedding, we also went up to Mount Kinabalu (which was included in the tour package we booked). Wrong move. Well, we weren't really adventure people and the climb up to the hanging bridge was the worst as Daddy and Mommy climbed up steep slopes while carrying Kieona and Kierra in our reliable baby carriers. The climb was about 1 km up and down, and the slopes were slippery as it was wet, and we were wearing slippers! Argh... and Daddy sprained his ankle while coming down in his last step. Mommy really wondered how it would have been if she did not have her Patapum carrier when carrying the 15kg Kieona over 1km climbing the mountain and walking along the narrow hanging bridge.

The poring hot springs was alright and Daddy had to soak his feet a little longer as the minor sprain was hurting him already. Kieona and Kierra also soaked their tiny feet in the sulphuric water, and Kierra actually jumped into the pool thinking it was a swimming pool. My, of course she got very wet. Thank goodness Mommy had a pair of panties and pants for her so that she could get changed. We proceeded to the Kinabalu Pine Resorts which Auntie Elsie said was the best at Mt Kinabalu. Well, it wasn't fantastic as the food was so-so, the television had no programs and there wasn't a pool or anything. Worse still, the hot water wasn't on demand and there was no air-con. In the middle of the night, we heard some loud hissing noises and we thought something was about to explode. Daddy turned off the heater before the sound went off. It is like Auntie Elsie said, the resorts are like chalets. Although we were only supposed to leave the resort after lunch the next day, Daddy and Mommy requested to head back to Promenade Hotel early after breakfast. The only thing we enjoyed up to Mt Kinabalu was the small scale shopping we did where we got some bags, batik cloths and T-shirts, and Mommy got a good price for them.

Back at Promenade Hotel, we felt so lazy that we called room-service for dinner. The food wasn't great but it was the first time we had room service for dinner. Wow, refreshing idea from Daddy.

All in, the Sabah trip was just a small get-away for us and we did have a little fun along the way although it would have been better if Kierra didn't have her "poo-poo" problem. The direct flight back was easy as it was only 2 hours. Kierra slept throughout and missed her lunch again, but we were soon greeted by Grandpa, Eugene at Yee Yee at Singapore Changi Airport. Home sweet home....

Christmas 2007

Three beauties in the house playing Santa-Rina

This post has been rather late as our family had been very busy - Daddy & Mommy with work, the whole family with preparations for Christmas, the Sabah trip in January 2008 and attending the different parties.

2007 had been special, as we had the chance to attend a kids' party which was organized by Chloe and Cayden's mommy (http://www.chloeandcayden.blogspot.com/) at Nuono, apart from the annual family one at Grand-Uncle Steve and Grand-Aunt Stella at Thomson 800.

The kids' party was sort of a potluck event, and Mommy baked muffins for the party. There was beehoon, spaghetti, Christmas logcakes, sausages and the very cute mini gingerbread mans brought by the different families. We had the party at the poolside and the sun was very, very strong. Kieona and Kierra had a lot of fun playing with their friends, although they didn't eat a lot at the lunch as it was too warm in the outdoors. Then came Santa Claus - played by Chloe's Daddy, Uncle Ten and the kids all enjoyed receiving presents from the gifts exchange, as well as the candies and party favours prepared by Chloe's Mommy. Although the weather was so hot, we all had fun that afternoon.

Girls posing pretty at Grand-Aunt's house
Great-grandma looks on as Kieona, Kierra and Mikayla plays masak-masak
Mommy with little meatpie Eugene

On Christmas Day, Kieona woke up early and asked if she could open the Christmas presents. We did after washing up, and spent the next hour opening all the presents under the Christmas tree. There was pink boots, doctor's playset and Playdoh from Daddy and Mommy, pink princess schoolbags from Eugene's parents, Dominos from Grandpa and Grandma, pony dollhouse with lights from Gu Gu.

We all headed to Grand-Uncle Steve and Grand-Aunt Stella's house for the annual Christmas get-together close to noon, and were the first ones to reach there. We brought gifts for all the children and Kieona and Kierra got many presents as well there. Needless to say, they were both over-the-top and Mommy was surprised that Kieona remembers which package is for her and which belongs to Kierra. We all were famished by the time we started lunch and Kieona actually nearly fell asleep and off the chair during lunch! Amazing!

Christmas has been a time for receiving for the girls, and we could see the smiles on their faces as they went to bed that night.

Knowing What She Wants

Christmas is coming, and the weather has been wet lately. This has not dampened Kieona's Christmas spirit though. She's very much looking forward to Christmas and had somehow bothered Mommy enough to set up the Christmas tree mid of November. After a few weeks of setting up, Mommy finally understood why she wanted it up - not for the beauty of it, more for the treats that will come with it.

She started asking why there were no presents under the Christmas tree in late November. I explained that it's not even December yet, so it's a little early to put Christmas presents under the Christmas tree. As the days go by, she started to ask me if I should be buying presents already and finally started hinting that she likes presents for herself and Kierra. Little Kierra is too young to grasp the meaning, so just echoes the sister in asking for presents and spends most of the evenings playing with the Christmas deco.

December soon began and it hasn't even been a week to Christmas. My princess Kieona started showing the toys catalogues to all who will see and listen to her about the presents she likes. She started by innocently asking me to buy some Little People toys for her as presents because she likes them. I said they're not very useful, and I already have ideas what to get for her so I wouldn't want to buy any toys for her this Christmas. Well, that does not stop her from telling Gu Gu, Uncle Damien and Yee Yee what she wants. Although sometimes I must say that asking for things is not considered a virtue for us Asians (or Chinese for that matter), I do appreciate the fact that she asks unabashedly for the things she likes. Oh well, she has started asking presents on behalf of Kierra and Eugene from Mommy as well as we approach Christmas.

There's nothing wrong with knowing what one wants and asking for them. While some people may think that this is not a right way to teach a child, I feel that it is absolutely fine to stand up for what you really want. Mommy never told her if asking for something is right or wrong, and stops short of telling her it's rude because she is afterall only asking from people whom she knows will be getting her things anyway. There are always two sides to a coin and since there is never a perfect answer, I will prefer to stay out of the equation for now. I'm just proud that she's not shy about what she wants and I want it to stay that way.

Daddy and Mommy have finally found something useful that the kids will definitely love for their Christmas presents. Kieona, Kierra, keep your eyes peeled to what lies beneath your faithful tree. :)

My Empathetic Little Girl

Of late more so than ever, we have noticed Kieona to be one of the most sensitive girl with stronger reasoning powers than we have ever known of kids this age. At three, she is able to reason out consequential events and arrive at her own conclusion. While it has been very tough for Mommy to explain to her why certain things happen and to calm her down when she gets affected by situations beyond our control, Mommy is very proud that she is turning out this way.

For example, she is now very easily affected by how we feel. When Kierra cries, she comforts her, talks to her and wipes her tears. When watching something simple on television or even the "Tong Hua" MTV where the lady in the short video "dies", she will start crying quietly. Just yesterday while Mommy was busy working at the laptop late at night, Mommy saw her sobbing and asked her why. She just started to burst out crying but refused to tell me why. When I realised that she had been watching the "Tong Hua" MTV on the home pc, I asked if it's because of the story in the MTV where the lady died. She nodded her head and cried even louder and told me she is sad. Oh, my heart really went out to her.

The experts say that being empathatic is a good trait and I'm happy that she is sensitive to the needs of the people around her. However at this juncture, we will just have to brace ourselves to deal with this on a frequent basis and explain to her that sometimes there will be things in life that are beyond our control. While we cannot change these events, we can definitely change the way we react to them. Instead of moaning our losses or licking our wounds, we can find ways to improve those situations that we can, or leave those we can't behind and pick ourselves up again.

Concert: Little Tree and Little Dwarf

Proud is Daddy, Mommy, Ah Gong, Gu Gu, Uncle Damian and Bibik Maria when we waited with anticipation in the audience for our little darlings performance last Saturday. Mommy like last year, had to help out with the ushering of the guests so we all went early. The theme for this year's Skoolhouse in the Spring concert was Fairytale (or something like that) and Mommy was dressed up as a fairy in white flowy long dress complete with fairy wings together with another Mommy volunteer from the school. Mommy spotted Kieona an Kierra going to the holding area and tried to hide in case Kierra starts bawling when she sees me. Ahh, that was such a non-event as they seemed to absorbed by the surrounding to even notice me.

Everything went well, and Kierra was dressed in a red dwarf costume. She looked really cute and really lost. She's one of the dwarves in Snow White & The Seven Dwarves. Throughout the entire segment, she just stared blankly most of the time. We all wondered what was on her mind. But of course, this did not stop her from the audience commenting that that kid in red is so cute as she was just staring.....

Kieona was all another story. This year she was not at all afraid. Being tasked to be a tree for Sleeping Beauty (yeah, she's part of the forest), she was cheeky right from the start. As Ms Sonia moved her postion (she was too near to Ravshaan, who was the other tree) by holding her up by her arms, she just lifted up both legs and giggled with the audience also smiling at that action. Although the tree didn't have to move very much except the "growing" action much like stretching, Kieona seemed to have lots of fun in her green costume. Well, of course most of the other times, she was just talking on stage with Ravshaan, which prompted Gu Gu from asking is that was her best friend. :) Honestly, we do not know.

Below are some pictures we've taken at the concert. Enjoy. :)

The sexy little tree....
Little blur dwarf

Fairy usher....

One for the album.....

Decisions: Right or Wrong

Stella Kor-po forwarded Mommy an email which touched Mommy a lot. It came in timely as it gives Mommy (borrowing words from the serenity prayer) the serenity to accept the things we cannot change and the courage the change the things we can. Kieona, Kierra, we're going through change everyday, sometimes we get support from people we love, sometimes we don't.

While we are all aware that life is full of tough decisions that need to be made, we may not realize that hasty decisions may not always be the right one.

A group of children were playing near two railway tracks, one still in use while the other disused. Only one child played on the disused track, the rest on the operational track. The train is coming, and you are just beside the track interchange. You can make the train change its course to the disused track and save most of the kids. However, that would also mean the lone child playing by the disused track would be sacrificed. Or would you rather let the train go its way?

Let's take a pause to think what kind of decision we could make................

Most people might choose to divert the course of the train, and sacrifice only one child. You might think the same way, I guess. Exactly, I thought the same way initially because to save most of the children at the expense of only one child was rational decision most people would make, morally and emotionally. But, have you ever thought that the child choosing to play on the disused track had in fact made the right decision to play at a safe place?

Nevertheless, he had to be sacrificed because of his ignorant friends who chose to play where the danger was. This kind of dilemma happens around us everyday. In the office, community, in politics and especially in a democratic society, the minority is often sacrificed for the interest of the majority, no matter how foolish or ignorant the majority are, and how farsighted and knowledgeable the minority are. The child who chose not to play with the rest on the operational track was sidelined. And in the case he was sacrificed, no one would shed a tear for him.

The great critic Leo Velski Julian who told the story said he would not try to change the course of the train because he believed that the kids playing on the operational track should have known very well that track was still in use, and that they should have run away if they heard the train's sirens. If the train was diverted, that lone child would definitely die because he never thought the train could come over to that track! Moreover, that track was not in use probably because it was not safe. If the train was diverted to the track, we could put the lives of all passengers on board at stake! And in your attempt to save a few kids by sacrificing one child, you might end up sacrificing hundreds of people to save these few kids.

Morale of the story? What's right isn't always popular... and what's popular isn't always right.

Mommy is sharing this story in the hope that someday you will read it and be enlightened, and have the courage to follow what you believe, even if it's not a popular choice and even if many people don't stand with you. Afterall, many successful people are not those who follow the conventional path. Whatever you do, please remember that Mommy will always stand beside you, to give you strength to carry on when your legs get tired, to lend you a listening ear when you need to talk, to lend you a shoulder to cry on when you feel sad, and to help you pick yourself up when you fall down.

Kieona's First Visit to the Dentist

We admit! We haven't been very proactive in bringing Kieona for her first dental visit. We've started talking about it slightly past Kieona's second birthday, and never got around to bringing her to one. A couple of months ago though, we did notice that her front teeth (men ya) were a little blackish from the inside. Mommy told Daddy we should really bring her for a dental check-up, but work and the everyday chores took precedence and we ended putting it off until heaven knows when.

This Tuesday, Daddy spotted a cavity (he called it a hole) in her front tooth and told Mommy about it. On the same morning in school, Ms Irene told us she just spotted that Kieona had a cavity. Ok, this time the scare prompted Mommy to call a dentist at Thomson Plaza to fix an appointment the minute she thought the clinic may be open.

So as it happened, Kieona went for her first dental check-up today after school. Daddy was kind enough to stay home and sent us there. Kierra came along too since we had picked them up from school and gone direct. And so it went - the dentist said that she has cavities! Not one, but four! Huh? Mommy thought there was only one huge one behind her front tooth? Or maybe at the most two - the other at the corner of the other front tooth.

Mommy must admit, I was pretty sunken with the thought of her having fillings done on her first visit. Will Kieona be afraid of the dentist from now or even cry when the cavities are being treated? Mommy just tried hard to keep the look of fear away. How can Kieona face what she needs to face if Mommy cringes at the thought of it?

The dentist explained to her that she needs to catch the worms in her teeth, and to fix it up and remove them all. All she needed to do was to put on sunglasses (the light is glaring), open her mouth and don't move. She obliged - didn't smile or didn't look frightened. Daddy, Mommy and Kierra were there watching her and giving her moral support. "She must need all the courage in the world now," Mommy thinks.

The dentist started "spraying water" in her mouth and drilling the cavities. We saw the large hole in the middle. It must hurt but Kieona was very brave. She just opened her mouth and seemed relaxed. Then Mommy saw blood. This must really hurt. But Kieona still looks like she is handling very well. Then while doing the filling halfway, Kieona fell asleep! :)) This is funny! In the dentist chair!!!

There were four cavities, but we only managed to get two filled. Not because Kieona wasn't able to manage it, but because she was tired and falling asleep. We're so proud of Kieona. Good job, Kieona!
Oh yes, Mommy forgot to mention - Kierra seem more fearful than Kieona was when Kieona was the one in the chair. While watching Jie jie, Kierra actually fell asleep. Ahh.... little Kierra, sweet baby.....

We entered a Best Caption contest!

My Pride and Joy

You got it! We joined a Best Caption contest organized by the non-profit organization, I Love Children the Saturday before Kierra's birthday at Tiong Bahru Plaza. We would have loved Daddy to be with us in the picture too, but it was taken when we got a little bored as we've walked the whole of Tiong Bahru Plaza two times and Daddy was still not done helping Auntie Patricia with her presentation. Don't ask this Mommy what the organization is about, as we joined since we fulfilled the criteria of spending at least $10 at Tiong Bahru Plaza and Mommy wanted the very full goodie bag.

Well, joining the contest wasn't really an issue as the photo-taking was free and done on the spot. The hard part was thinking of the caption. Since Kierra was running around and Mommy was a little flustered calling after the kiddos, we just decided on the caption as it just popped into Mommy's head. We never expected it to be so well-taken since those we've seen on the wall wasn't very good. :) Daddy later said because we had the right combinations of looks.... haha, ok, maybe we will win the contest?

Kierra's 2nd Birthday

Kierra celebrated her birthday in school on Sep 28 as Oct 1 was a school holiday. Sep 28, a Friday, also happened to be when the school had planned for a Children's Day celebration so we did a fair bit of planning to ensure she can celebrate it on that same day in school.

It was rather eventful, as the day before Prima-Deli in Ang Mo Kio where we ordered the cake called to ask if we can have it collected later. Mommy said no, because we had already told them earlier we needed to collect it at 9am so that I can make it to the school and not have their schedules for the celebration disrupted. It was a lot of hoo-ha and Daddy was clearly not pleased with the way they handled it. On the fateful morning, Mommy had to collect the cake herself and asked Grandpa to send the cake since Mommy doesn't have transport and Daddy was out for his Friday morning meetings.

When I got there, they gave a 1kg cake and I nearly flipped. Then after that they told me the cake is not delivered yet. I was about to rail at them when a supposedly superior took the cake out from another fridge. Argh! So unprofessional!

Fortunately we got the cake there without a glitch. Since we were unable to join in the celebration, I got the school teachers who helped us take some photos of Kierra's birthday party. See pictures below.

On Oct 1, Kierra's actual birthday, Daddy was kind enough to bring us out to the Sentosa Underwater World. The kids sure had lots of fun watching the huge fishes, although Kierra did fall asleep somewhere in-between. We ended the day with a small chocolate birthday cake which we got from Dino which really tasted yummy.....

Kierra on Modelling

Our dear Kierra had just told Mommy a few days ago while I was watching television "Mommy, I want model." Huh? Did I hear wrongly? It's strange why out of a sudden she posed there and asked this question. We haven't been talking a lot about renewing Kieona's contract, although we did think if we should also let her do a portfolio. Afterall, it's nice to keep these photos as keepsakes. In fact, Mommy wished she had some from her younger years....

Kieona: What's the point?

Recently, Kieona has taken to reasoning in a way that Mommy couldn't believe her ears. Once just a couple of weeks ago, probably in August when I told her to take her nap, Kieona just blurted out "What's the point, Mommy? I have to sleep at night." So do I laugh or do I cry? Smart, smart Kieona at 3 yrs old. So logical and so comical.

Kieona's Third Portflio Shots

Look at Kieona - ain't this pretty? Auntie Evonne said that the top is cute, so she's wearing this top Grandma bought for her long time ago for this shoot. After this shoot, Mommy went to buy a set of hair styler to style her hair once in a while. Sweet.

Last Days of Little Skool House

Ms Irene had kindly emailed us some photographs of the girls taken in school. The school will have a new name and the girls are supposed to have their new uniforms soon. Savour the last bits of them in their "fishy" uniforms. :) Thank you Ms Irene!

Kieona having Auntie Ah Hua's porridge
Trust me, this is good :)
Kierra: I'm keeping the last drips for Mommy!
Don't I look like Picasso in the making?

Pretty shot - when can I go for my modelling, Mommy?