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

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...

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?

* 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

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.

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!

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.

Shake my hand

It really makes me wonder what is going on in a child's mind at times. They can think of the funniest things.

Today while I was lying next to Jiaheng in bed, he asked me to shake his hand. "Mommy, can you shake my hand?" I reached out my hand to him and he took it.

"Mommy, I pass my power back to you ok?" "Jiaheng, what power?" I asked. "Mommy, you gave me the power to read, now I want to give it back to you, so that you can pass it to Yixuan and then to the 3rd baby, the 4th and the 5th."

I am tickled by what he said and at the same time feel happy at his generosity. Woah! 3rd baby, 4th and even the 5th! Thanks but no thanks my boy. I am very happy and contented with my 1st and 2nd baby... and not to mention the biggest baby of you all... your Papa of course! Haha

Guess I will just stick to that... at least for the next few years. Mommy wants to reserve my time to grow up with the 2 of you.

Up till now, Mommy has not regretted giving up my job to stay home with you and Yixuan. To some, they may view it as a sacrifice. To me, I view it as a blessing and a gift to be able to do so. Nothing beats the bond we created.

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posted by Mommy

First Steps

Yixuan Yixuan, come, come to mommy ... and then *plod plod plod* and she landed in my arms. ;)

I moved back a little, opened up my arms and then called out again. *plod plod plod* Hey, the little girl made 3 quick steps before losing her balance and landed in my arms again. Mommy was all smiles, so was the girl.

Yeh! It's our dear Princess first steps.

I first saw her rehearsing her moves. She held my hand and then squat down, stand up, squat down and then stand up. She seems to like what she was doing and kept rehearsing those moves. My mum told me that once the little one starts to do the squatting and standing, she is ready to take the first steps.

So, I decided to give it a go. I sat in front of her. First I helped her stabalise herself before I let go and called out to her to come to me. Initially, I was not sure what she will do... will she 'run' to me? just *plomp* sit down again? carry on standing and waiting for me to take actions? ??? But when she made those first steps, I was so proud of her. And more important, she was so proud of herself.

Hug Hug baby Yixuan.

It is really amazing how fast babies learn in those first few initial months. Yixuan just turned 10 months a few days ago and it seems just not too long ago when I first held her in my arms. She was so helpless then and now she has taken her first steps.

I am so glad that I can be home to take care of her while I worked.

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posted by Mommy

Clap clap clap

Have you seen those comedy when the comedian tries to clap but can't coordinate well and ended up missing the clap?

Yep! I just witnessed it today. So funny.

Yixuan just picked up the clapping skill and really enjoys doing it. She will keep on clapping if she has audiences. (aka mommy, Jiaheng gege, Popo) She will also clap when Mommy sings the "If you are happy and you know it" song. She will clap with you when you actually wanted to clap and signal her to come to you. Ha ha.

*Clap clap clap* well done my girl.

Jiaheng wants to talk to God

"Mommy, I want to talk to God." Jiaheng told me at bedtime tonight. He said, "Mommy, do this." and as he spoke, he clasped his fingers and asked me to follow suit.

"Dear God" Jiaheng started. "Please make Quek Kay Hng well, and Quek Yi Xuan well and Wang Tse Wern well." "God, Quek Yi Xuan is sleeping next to Wang Tse Wern. And Quek Kay Hng is talking to you now." (as if he is trying hard to describe us so that God can pinpoint us)

"God, please make all the sick people well." (ah... so sweet...) Then he turned to me and asked, "Mommy, any more people sick?" I said "What about your Popo?" Jiaheng quickly continued his prayer "God, please make my Popo well too, she is staying in Blk 158, Toa Payoh, Lor 1."

I nearly could not control my laughter... yes Jiaheng, God will not miss out your grandma. (when you went to the details of giving God her address)

It all started when Jiaheng started school at a Christian kindergarten this June. They do prayers before school starts and during snack time. So Jiaheng started his conversation with God too. We do not really have a religion and we are open to what he is doing. We believe in giving him a choice.

Life is all about making choices, isn't it?

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posted by Mommy

Goal Setting Works... results are in

Hey! We are proud to announce that Jiaheng has finished reading 100 books today. And he proudly read the statement printed on the reward chart that says "Yeh! I have finished reading 100 books."

And for his reward, we gave him a watch. The previous watch was left in his pocket and ended up in the washing machine. :P From his look, we can see he likes his watch.

Jiaheng requested for another goal, i.e. to print another reward chart with another 100 empty boxes so that he can finish reading 200 books. Goal setting really works for him and has pushed him to greater heights. We are very happy with the results.

Brother-Sister Love

Jiaheng was not very cooperative today. He kept saying "No" to things I proposed or requested him to do.

I was hoping to quickly bath him and then put Yixuan to bed so that my mum can go home earlier today to rest. Throughout the 5 minutes bathing process, Jiaheng already said quite a few "No"s. Hmmm... one of those days.

When I asked him to come over to the bed so that I could dress him, he did so so so slowly. I could not contain my anger and I flared up at him. Yixuan was with my mum in the living room. According to the witness (my mum), Yixuan was very upset and teared when she heard me scolding Jiaheng.

When Jiaheng started crying in the room, Yixuan also burst into tears in the living room. I carried her over and brought her to the room while I continued to discipline Jiaheng. So can you imagine, the stereo symphony of cries and wails surrounding me?

Normally, when Yixuan fell down or was cranky, she will calm down when I nurse her. But at this moment, even that fails. She only stopped when Jiaheng stopped crying.

I guess she really love her brother very much. We all agreed after witnessing what happened today.

We hope that they will continue loving, looking after and depending on each other as they grow.
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Posted by Mommy

Goal Setting Works...

Successful people always say that we have to set goals and work towards it. It is proven to work through a lesson my son taught me.

Jiaheng is a fairly good reader for someone his age. He can pull out almost any of the pre-schooler books and read. Guess, he figured the words either through memory or through the use of phonics. Or perhaps, the cards flashing that Mommy did for him in his early days helped.

However, we felt that his reading is too ad-hoc. We decided to give him a goal to achieve. That is to achieve reading 100 books (since Jiaheng likes big numbers, so we decided to give him a big goal).

We prepared two boxes for him. One says "I am going to read these books", the other says "I have finished reading these books". Then we have a reading chart with 100 boxes pasted on the wall. Everytime he finished a book from one box and put it into the other box, he can paste a sticker in the reading chart. By the time, all boxes on the chart are filled, Jiaheng will have finished reading 100 books!

With this goal in mind, it really motivates Jiaheng to read more consistently. He already completed coming to 60 books in a mere two weeks time.

Yes! Goal setting works. Have you set your goal today?

Midnight Peek-a-boo

My son and daughter sleep in the same room as us. My son will sleep on the mattress next to our bed, nearer to Mommy side. Our daughter will sleep between us on the big bed.

I climbed into bed quietly next to my princess yesterday night. I looked at the clock, it's already past twelve o'clock. As usual, I placed the small pillow over my eyes to induce sleep.

While I was just about to doze off, I felt my pillow being pulled away from my face. Very instinctively, I opened my eyes quickly. And there, greeting me was my dear princess, sitting next to me with her usual charming toothless grin. :)

Oh... hello there. I was a little surprised and caught off-guard to see her. But as I was about to fall asleep, I was really very tired. So I said to her, "Good night, Yixuan... Papa is sleeping already... you sleep too ok?". And needless to say, the answer will be "not ok"... cos the pillow was pulled off the moment I replaced it.

Oh I get it... she was playing Peek-a-boo with Papa.... in the middle of the night! She was so excited to see me place the pillow on my face that she pulled it off the moment I put in there. Once, twice, thrice... and I never fail to see that happy face every time the pillow was pulled away.

How can I be upset when I see her cute face? So what is the next best thing to do? Of course, to wake Mommy up to "share" in the fun lah!

90 ml in 24 hours

Our dear princess refused to drink! This is really upsetting for Mommy and Grandma.

Even when Mommy tries to squeeze in a bottle teat into her mouth when she has fallen asleep, she will still raise her hand and brush the bottle aside. When princess is awake, it is just impossible to get the bottle near her. She is indeed good at "tai chi" and quickly "tai chi" the bottle away.

She only wants to nurse on Mommy to get some fluid in. But Mommy wants to "see" the quantity that goes into her princess. So, Mommy resorts to syringing the milk in... pouring the milk in... letting princess drink direct from the cup. Finally managed 90 ml in 24 hours.

Then Grandma said, let's give her some porridge tomorrow. Mommy says "Yes".

It was one mouthful after another mouthful. Princess is simply gumming her food in (still no teeth lah). Mommy is simply delightful and more importantly relieved. After that one day of porridge, her thirst of milk came back. In fact, she wants MORE milk. She also wants to drink plain water (or "plane" water in Jiaheng's words)

So our gal is starting to make her stand known. She is learning to assert herself. She wants to tell us that she wants more than just milk. And the "hunger strike" got what she wants!

Boys' Night In

Jiaheng likes the idea of having "The Boys Team" and "The Girls Team".

Grandpa, Papa and Jiaheng form "The Boys Team".
Grandma, Mommy and Yixuan form "The Girls Team".

Tonight, Mommy says that she is going for an all girls night out with her good friends. So she asked Jiaheng to spend a night with Papa. After much reassurance that Mommy and Yixuan will come back before his bedtime at 10 pm, Jiaheng reluctantly agreed.

I brought Jiaheng to the central to shop around. Then let him play at the playground. He enjoyed himself tremendously. Running, climbing, sliding and most importantly smiling. :)

Then we had a meal at a cafe that just opened not long ago. It was the first time that we patronised the shop. Jiaheng ordered his favourite Spaghetti and I took a chicken chop. Each of us had an orange juice. It was a simple meal but a good one.

Next up, Papa planned the movie, "Surf Up". Everything is going on well until 10 minutes before the movie is finished. Jiaheng asked me the dreaded question "Is Mommy coming home already?" Oopps! Quick, quick sms Mommy.... *reaching in 5 mins* came the reply. Phew!

Yes, our dear boy still can't do without his Mommy. But Papa and Jiaheng had a great time these few hours... for our "Boys' Night In".

Papa, I Miss You

Tomorrow morning, I am taking the morning coach to KL.

Tonight, before Jiaheng went to sleep he remembered that I will be going to KL tomorrow. He asked me "Papa, I miss you. Do you miss me?"

I looked at him and said "The moment Papa step out of the house, I will start to miss you." And Jiaheng replied "Papa I miss you too".

We played and talked a little while more and then Jiaheng started his Good Night Chant.

Here is how the chant goes...

Goodnight Papa, Goodnight Mommy, Goodnight Yixuan, Goodnight Everybody.
I love Papa, I love Mommy, I love Yixuan, I love Myself, I love Everybody.

*yawn* *yawn* .... drifted off to dream land...

Sleep well Jiaheng. Papa will miss you, Yixuan and mommy.

All Down!

First it was my girl, next was my son, then it spread to my mother-in-law and then my wife got it too. Everyone was down...

The cough and running nose virus is all around. And the bug got my family members too. I actually planned to go to Malaysia for the business on Wednesday morning. But I changed my mind and decided to stay back to look after them. Because they are the reason why I am building this business... of course, I will choose to stay by them at this moment. Moreover, there is no boss around to demand my attendance in the office and no limit to the leave I can take now.

Woah.... I know that it is never easy being a full-time mom looking after two kids but I didn't know it could be this tiring. One minute my girl wants to pull herself to stand, the next minute, she wants to grab the TV remote control on the table. While I was busy catching up on my girl, my boy zooming around the house on the scooter bike. By the end of the first day, I was exhausted. Still it feels good being able to spend time with my two active kids and let my wife rest.

Despite the fact that I didn't do much for the business these 4 days, my business is still growing. That is the beauty of this business. I am really thankful for this.