Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Birthday Lunch

It has been 2 weeks since my birthday lunch with Kai Hock. But I am still savoring that relaxing mood and time we spent.

Kai Hock suggested going to the "Sizzling Rock" restaurant at Boat Quay for my birthday lunch. (Why lunch and not dinner? Well our gal is so so so attached to Mommy at night that I cannot be out of her sight when she awakens... can't blame her too cos I hardly go anywhere without her)

It was a rather unique Al Fresco dining experience at the edge of the Singapore River. Despite being outdoors right smack at noon time, it was still breezy and cool... As we arrived just before the lunch time crowd sets in, we had the choice of table. We chose the table nearest the waterfront, overseeing the Asian Civilisation Museum building just across the river... away from the heat and sweat on the pavement.


From where we were seated, we could see the lunch time crowd streaming out from the offices nearby. Everyone seems to be in a hurry, the exact contrast to our relaxed mood. ..悠哉闲哉。

The concept at "Sizzling Rock" is interesting cos our food is served raw. We get to cook the food in front of our eyes on the volcanic piece of rock super-heated in a special oven to over 450 ° Celsius... All our senses were stimulated... we got to smell the aroma from the meat cooking, we got to hear the sizzling of the food, we got to see the steak cooked to the right degree, we got to feel the heat from the rock...Best of all! We got to taste the food straight off the rock.

After the meal, we sat around a while more. The feeling is good to be able to just sit around unlike others who were rushing back to work. That is definitely one big plus point to own a business. It gives us the flexibility of time. We choose when to "work".

Then, I felt like drinking some traditional kopi (not those Starbucks type but KopiTiam type). We strolled to the "Coffee & Toast" at Raffles Link. Oh oh... there was still a queue. Never mind, we decided to go for ice-cream and went back later when the crowd was gone.

I had such a good experience that I brought my mum back for lunch a week later. (when Jiaheng was at school... and Kai Hock was at home looking after Yixuan.. thanks 老公)
----------- posted by Mommy

电梯

挨了两年的电梯翻新终于完成了。别了吵杂声, 也别了满地尘埃的地板。真好!一出电梯就到达家门口。

那天我第一次乘搭新的电梯。 脑海里突然想起四年多前抱着大儿子从医院回家的情景。。。

我是破腹生产的, 生产后的第三天便出院了。那时候,电梯只停留在一楼,五楼,八楼 和十一楼。我们住在四楼。所以要在五楼出电梯,再走一段路,再下一层楼,才能到达家门。出院那天,这段路,说长不长,说短不短,还真难走。

刚动完手术不旧,所以伤口还很痛。下那段梯级是最难过的。老公那时候因还在 SARS quarantine 也不在我身边。没法了。只能够咬紧牙关走下楼。。。 Ouch!

想到这里,还真有些心有余悸。那段日子真不好过。公公,婆婆都在医院。三位姑姑也不知所措。只有老公在那撑着。

还记得老公有多想目睹儿子出世。还说要亲自剪脐带。:)出院当天,爸爸载着儿子和我到我娘家让老公隔着车窗看看孩子一眼。

很庆幸的,儿子出世后,公公和婆婆相继出院。经过那段日子,我们更能体会到亲情的重要。也更珍惜和家人在一起的时候。
--------- posted by Mommy

Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Already walking

It has been a month and a half since Yixuan's First Steps. Now at 11 and a half months old, she is already a steady walker. In fact, she can move in REVERSE gear, FIRST gear or SECOND gear. Once, she even went up to THIRD gear... and gave everyone a big scare.... cos she is like a reckless driver zooming in and out of lanes!

See her in action...

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

弟子规

弟子规,圣人训
首孝悌,次谨信
泛爱众,而亲仁
有余力,则学文


The "Standards for Being a Good Student and Child" was taught by Chinese saints and sages of the ancient past.

First, it teaches you how to be dutiful to your parents, and how to be respectful and loving to your siblings.

Then, it teaches you how to be cautious with all people, matters, and things in your daily life, and how to be a trustworthy person.

Furthermore, it teaches you to love all equally, and to be close to and learn from people of virtue and compassion.

When you have accomplished all the above duties, you can further study and learn literature and art to improve the quality of your cultural and spiritual life.

The above is the outline of 弟子规.

I really find the teaching very useful and will use it as a guiding principle for teaching Jiaheng and Yixuan. The recommended standards for students may seem stringent by today's standards. However, it is apparent that the people of that time felt it was important that the child should be well disciplined and taught moral principles and virtues when still young. They felt that without strict discipline and moral standards, a child would amount to nothing.

It is worrying for me when I see many parents nowadays listening to their child instead of the other way round. Parents do not act like parents. Children do not act like children.

We definitely do not wish that to happen to our children. One main motivation for my wife to stay home is to give our children more attention while they are still young and in the molding age.

I won't say for sure that they will be excellent people when they grow up but we must do whatever we can to provide the path for our children.

Don't you think so?

Sunday, October 21, 2007

* Go Go Go! Ale Ale Ale *

Today is a fruitful day. My father-in-law wanted to buy a new dining table and we decided to visit the IKEA mega-store that recently opened.

Everything went smoothly and we managed to get one that everyone likes. After that, my bro-in-law brought us to a cafe at East Coast Park for dinner. While everyone was settling down at the table we just got, my mum-in-law said "Look at Yixuan".

Seven pairs of eyes fell on the little girl who is already seated in the high chair. She looked immobilized... you know like those people in those Kong Fu show when their acupuncture points are blocked? Yes... she just looked like that.

We followed her gaze and it landed on the plasma TV in the restaurant. It is a soccer live telecast. Woah! We have a young young soccer fan at the table ... to add to the elder soccer fan (my bro-in-law) and an even elder fan (my father-in-law).

* Do you really want it? Yeah! *
* Do you really want it? Yeah! *
* Do you really want it? Yeah! *

* Here we go! Ale Ale Ale *
* Go Go Go! Ale Ale Ale *

Maybe if Jiaheng shakes his bum bum like Ricky Martin next to Yixuan at that moment.... it will complete the PERFECT picture. :P

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

A Healthier Child

Jiaheng has been on USANIMALS, a children's multi-vitamins since he was 15 months old. I still remember he put up both his thumbs when he first tasted USANIMALS. *Yummy*

USANIMALS has a berry taste, so slightly sour. Unlike the other multi-vitamins I have seen with artificial sweeteners, USANIMALS is only flavoured with natural fruits.

So far, Mommy and I are happy with what USANIMALS has done for our boy. We have seen quite a few benefits of putting Jiaheng on USANIMALS so far.

We find that Jiaheng's immune system is better with the multi-vitamins. I won't say that he doesn't fall sick * which child doesn't fall sick leh? * but what we noticed is that he recovers faster even when he is sick.

Also, something very important for Mommy... Jiaheng's height! Both Mommy and I are of average height. I am 1.7 m and Mommy is 1.55 m * but of course, she will say she's ard 1.59m * But very often, we hear people comment that Jiaheng is very tall for his age. He is past 1.1 m at 4 years old.

By chance, one of Jiaheng's classmate started taking USANIMALS after hearing my mum say that Jiaheng takes it. 2 weeks later, the classmate's mum told me that her son's eczema has greatly improved. The boy has not complained of itch for a week now. Boy! how happy we were to help someone else in their health.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

10-10-10-70

Jiaheng brought home an envelope today and there is a picture of a girl on it. It is a Children's Day appeal for charity to the community chest for the less fortunate.

I asked Jiaheng "How much do you want to donate to help the little girl?" Jiaheng excitedly brought out the container that has the label "Charity" on it... poured out all the coins... counted them... and declared that he will like to donate $2.00. Hmmm.... that will be 20 days worth of savings for Jiaheng.

We started a savings program for Jiaheng earlier on. Every day, Jiaheng will ask us for his $1 allowance. Earlier we prepared 4 containers for him. One labeled "Charity", one labeled "Investment", one labeled "Delayed Gratification", one labeled "Spendings". For the "Charity", "Investment" and "Delayed Gratification" container, Jiaheng will deposit $0.10 into each of them. $0.70 will go into the "Spendings" container.

We taught him how to use the money he saved. For the "Charity" savings, he can find an organisation he likes and donate the money monthly.

For the "Investment" savings, we told him that he is not to touch it. He can put it in a bank and can use the money when he is old enough to handle his money wisely.

For the "Delayed Gratification" savings, we will decide on an event and aim to save up for it. We all decided that we want to save for the Macau-Hong Kong trip end of the year. So Jiaheng will also have his money to spend when we go for the trip. :)

For the "Spendings" savings, he gets to withdraw it every Sunday and spend it on his breakfast with grandparents.

We find that with the 10-10-10-70 savings program, he is more conscious of the value of money. We will only give him the allowance when he asked us for it. If he forgot, which happens quite often... not forgetting that he is only 4 years old... he will have less to spend on Sunday.

It is quite amusing to see him count his "Spendings" savings on Sunday. If there is more money in the container, he will suggest going to a foodcourt to eat. If there is less, he will say "We can only go to a Kopi tiam" Not bad leh... he knows the pricing varies for foodcourt and Kopi tiam. Haha.

When shopping for food, he will shop around for something within his budget. There was once when he chose to only eat toast for breakfast ... cos not enough money saved for the week. And he will be more than happy when he has saved enough for his favourite Japanese food. I enjoy seeing him shop for his food... seeing the little fellow looking at the food signboards and comparing the prices. So cute. :P

While a 4 year old boy is trying his best to learn how to spend his money prudently, there are some adults running into debts and have difficulties managing their money. What an irony! It is definitely important to be mindful of finance in the pursuit of freedom.

I learnt how to do it from an online movie. You can view it at
www.simplyworkathome.org/wealthy (the password is 2476724). Share with me if you learn something useful from the movie too. Cheers!

Tuesday, October 02, 2007

A Happy Children's Day

It is Children's Day today. Children's Day has always been a special day for me.

When I was young, we always get to bring home some Children's Day souvenirs from school. Be it a mug, a file or a pencil, I will look forward to it. Not forgetting the sweets we got from our teachers... and it is a school holiday on Children's Day.

I also want Children's Day to be special for my children. I decided to give all my time to them today. No work, no training, no phone calls.

We went to Science Center. There is a Super Science Show specially for the young audience today. It was entertaining. The 2 performers were enjoying themselves and indulged themselves in a talkshow. The young audiences also felt the energy and warmed up too.

But the best part was when they passed 4 gigantic balloons around. Once the giant balloons were released, the whole auditorium became quite chaotic. Some children left their seats and scrambled around to get their hands on the irresistible balloons. Wherever, the balloons went, you can see a crowd standing and stretching their arms up.

The balloons were pushed from the front to the back and from left to the right. Somehow, it just did not come over to our side of the auditorium. I can see from Jiaheng's eyes that he really wished to have a go at the balloons too.

Finally, the balloons were pushed to our side. I stood up and lightly pushed the balloon to Jiaheng. He quickly stretched his little hands up as much as he can... YES... he managed to touch it. In that instant, his eyes lit up and broke into a wide smile. Then he looked at me and said "THANK YOU Papa." It felt really good.

The space exhibits were very interesting too. Can't imagine living in such a futuristic world. Hmm... Papa & Mommy will be in our sixties then and the children in their thirties. How will life be then? Will Jiaheng be like me, bringing his child to Science Center to celebrate Children's Day? ? ? Just a thought... :)

On our way home that night, Jiaheng told me that he had a very enjoyable and happy day. Same here son. Papa also had a Happy Children's day... because of you and Yixuan.
 
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