J says "Jesus" for the 1st time

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it." Proverbs 22:6
The above verse is my motto in bringing up my children. I believe in setting a strong foundation for them in their core values which will last them a whole lifetime.

Thus when J was a few months old, I bought him his 1st "Flap and Tab Bible" and started reading to him. To my dismay, he was more interested in the animals in the Noah's Ark story than the story itself.

However, today he surprised me by flipping to the "Palm Sunday" tab and pointed out to Jesus and said "Jesus sit on horse (actually is a donkey)". I couldn't quite understand him so i ask him to repeat again. And this time round, I can heard the word "Jesus" much clearly.

This is the 1st time J has made reference to the name of Jesus and it thrilled me to bits because my almost-daily (ok, sometimes I forget) impartation of Christian values has paid off slightly.

Sometimes at night, he would drag me to our room and ask me to pray with him. And when I end the prayer with "In Jesus name we pray", J would response with a resounding "Amen!".

I don't know what inheritances can I leave behind for my child but I do hope I can leave behind a legacy of Christian values that will accompany him for the rest of his life.

Sleeping with Grandparents (Part 2)

Just as I hit the button to publish my earlier post, I heard noises from the baby monitor. J has woken up and my PILs are coaxing him to sleep. However, it is not working and I heard a “click” on the doorknob and J is out in the living room with my MIL.

I came out of the room only to hear from my MIL that J has walked to the kitchen all alone in the pitch dark. I went immediately to the kitchen and call out to him. Soon, I saw a shadow running towards me. When I picked J up, he clung onto me like a teddy bear and rested his head on my shoulder, seeking comfort.

At that point, all my willpower resolved and I made a decision not to move him out of our room till it is older.

Although it might be tiring for me to have to look after 2 children but since it is my decision to have #2, it is unfair to cause anxiety to J (and unto myself).

I am sure when he is ready, J will move out of our room and hopefully into a room he can call his own.

Sleeping with Grandparents (Part 1)

"J, tonight sleep in Ah Ma's room, ok?"......"No" came his resounding reply.

Despite his protest and tears, I have to start moving J to his grandparent's room in preparation for M's arrival in end March. Otherwise, how am I to cope with a 2 yrs old who still wakes up and expect me to cuddle him and a newborn? Things might be easier if K is at home more often.

After washing up for J, my helper took him to his grandparent's room which is just beside mine. I can hear his cries after the door is closed. The only way I can resist barging into the room and retrieving J back was to hide in the home office down the hall.

I started a video call with K, who is currently in Japan, and reported to him on every progress. After 5 mins, I walked to J's grandparents room and strain my ears to hear the activities going on. After a while of protesting and crying, there was silence. "Good, he must have fallen asleep." I thought to myself and went back to MSN with K.

I told K that I felt very guilty about moving J out and wonder if J would feel rejected by me. K tried to console me by saying that he is a big boy now. However, to me, J is forever my baby, no matter how old he is. And on that note, I started sobbing. K casually mentioned that our son is only sleeping in another room and has not ran away from home. It does sound funny and logical but I was not in the mood.

It has been a while but my helper has not appear thus I sneaked up again. I must have done so a few times. Finally, my helper emerge from the room and announce that J is asleep.

I dried my eyes quickly and retreated to my room and continue to cry my heart out.

I can only commit my emotions to the Lord and the well-being of my son to Him too.

Why do I find it so hard to let go? I wish I have an easy answer. Since conception till 22 months, J has been sleeping in our room with me. Every night, I can hear his breathing, I can snuggle up to him, I can hear him mumble "Mummy, mummy" in his sleep, I can enjoy his demands of wanting a hug in the middle of the night....and so much more.

But now, though he is just a room away but it felt like a million miles away.

If I had an option, I would like to keep him next to me for the rest of his life. But I know it won't be possible as there will be many more of such "separations" to come when he goes to college; moves out to live on his own or when he gets married. But for now, all I want to do is to dash into the other room to retrieve him whenver I hear his slurring through the baby monitor so that I can have my baby in my arms again.

J remembers

As babies get startled easily, I was taught by my confinement lady that before approaching them, especially at night, create a noise to alert them of your presence. Use this noise constantly so that they can identify who is near to them. Thus I develope a "tzu tzu" noise which become a code between J and me.

Throughout the months of breastfeeding J, whenever I need to carry him to my bed to latch on, I will make that noise. After a period of time, J learns to associate the noise with milk time and will automatically turn towards my breast with a high accuracy of latching on without even having to root for the breast.

J woke up at 2am last night insisting that I switch on the TV. Maybe he wanted to catch some old re-runs on Channel 5.

Anyway, while trying to coax him to sleep, for some reason, I started making the "tzu tzu" noise that I used to do so. J turned towards me and pat on my breast and said...."neh neh....milk....drink milk."

Apparently he remembers the code we had and was responding to it. It really caught me by surprise and I said tenderly to him.."You remember huh?"...of which he whispers...."Uhm (yes)".

Mummies who had breastfed their child would definitely understand the significant of this special moment. And I am glad my son does too.

Conversations with my son

With J's vocabulary expanding, his speech has gone from one word to 2 words and now in short sentences.

He is also able to respond in context to the conversations.

Here are some of my fav conversations with him.
Mum: J, what happened to the monkey?
J: Monkey climb tree....and pomp (fell down).
Mum: What does rabbit eat?
J: Labbit eat carrot.
Mum: What does Jordan eat?
J: Ordan eat rice.

Mum: J, don't spill your juice
J: Juice drop....ants bite

J: Moon (points to moon)
Mum: Say Hi to the moon, J.
J: Hi moon...i am...Ordan

Mum: J, let's didi wear your clothes ok?
J: Nice shirt.....blue pants
Mum: Who bought it for you?
J: Daddy buy.

J: Mummy (sluring in his sleep)
Mum: Yes baby, Mummy is here.
J: Mummy, pat pat....pat pat backside. (Asking me to pat him to sleep)

J: Mummy....help! (When he want me to help him in some tasks that he can't perform)
Mummy: Help who?
J: Help me.

Spring Cleaning

With the Lunar New Year just 2 weeks away, most families would have started preparation for it. One of the important task on the checklist would be "spring cleaning".

While our domestic helper toll away in getting the house spick and span for the beginning of the lunar year, J who has been observing her, decides to help out too.

Thus we got him a sponge and he started scrubbing away. You know what they say about starting them young....at the rate he is going, I don't have to worry about doing housework in future as I have a handy little helper.

"Mummy, I know what the sponge is for....but, what am I to do with this hammer? You mean I have to repair the faults in the house too??!!"

3W Drive

One of the presents J got during his 1st birthday was a tricycle. Now that he has finally gain the height to push off the floor, he is enjoying himself zipping all over the house.

It is times like these that I am glad that I am staying in a jumbo unit that has enough space for J to run around.

"Before I ride on the tricyle, I need to do a safety check on the wheels"

"Let me show you a stunt of riding the tricyle backwards"

Potty Training

J has reached another key milestones - being potty trained.

We had started training him several months ago but wasn't successful.

Thus, when I re-started the engine this time, I took it with a pinch of salt.

The whole process started in the 1st week of Jan when out of inspiration, I downloaded a potty chart and printed it on colored paper. Then I personalized it with simple decoration and explained to J how the chart worked - every time he uses the potty to wee wee or poo poo, he gets a star sticker on the chart.

He was quite resistent to the potty initially until 2nd Jan when he successfully used it twice to wee wee. However, the next day was a failure and on Fri, he even told me that "kuku pain pain" (his penis is painful) as he was holding back his urine because he didnt want to use the potty! Thus the training came to a screeching halt.

Surprisingly on the following Monday, he successfully wee wee in the potty again and grasping the idea of how the star system works, he would shout "star" and applaud himself whenever he used the potty. And after that day, there was no turning back.

Thus, I am proud to declare that "heck with cost increment on all daily necessities!", J is now potty trained and we are cutting down on diapers consumption! Yippee!

And to commerate this event, J was awarded with a "Certificate of Achievement"

Appreciating K

You can call this a public declaration of sort but for myself, it is a reminder. A reminder of the good things my husband, K has done for me these few months. Some times, such things need to be put down in words or else it gets lost in time.

They say having a child changes a person. That statement is evident in K. Ever since we had J, K has become more patient and gentle. And that behaviour has benefitted me greatly.

In 2007 alone, he has surprised me with a bouquet of flowers simply because he felt bad about leaving me to care for J alone while he travels for his work. This shown the sentimental side of him as I had to nag at him to even buy me a stalk of flower!.

Now that J is older; more independent and communicative, K has also become more involved in J's life. With me getting along in my 2nd pregnancy, there is a limitation of the activities I can be involved in with J. That is where K comes in to fill the gap.

K was home for the past 1-2 months and that made a difference in his relationship with J. J is more responsive towards him. Nowadays, when J wakes up, his 1st statement would either be "Daddy sleep" or "Daddy work" depending if K was still in bed or not.

Just last week, K has single-handedly took J from home to Marina to attend a wedding function. Throughout the function, K was the one looking after J, changing his diapers, carrying him around etc. One of my friend even commented that K is very well-trained and that makes me very proud of him.

K, I just want to say "Thank You" and if I ever complained how uninvolved you are, I give you permission to reproduce this post to prove me wrong.

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

Tks to Jas for oranising another outing and this time round, we are going to Jacob Ballas Children's Garden.

It is Asia's first children's garden. Dedicated to all children of Singapore, it is designed to provide unique discovery and learning experiences in a garden setting.

As usual, we are the 1st to arrive at the garden despite not being able to find the way initially. I immediately took a liking to the entrance to the garden as it has a breezy sitting area, just what I needed.


Jas was kind enough to lead the whole group round the garden and kept a lookout for J who was with my helper. Finally, they came back to the waterplay area and started the highlight of the day....getting the kids wet.


Although I could not get involved in playing with J, I can see that he enjoyed himself. K also did a great job with the cameras. I think he is a better photographer than I am!