Greg's First Few Proper Drawings

Instead of doodling on paper, I noticed that Greg's drawings have become more purposeful over the past couple of weeks. Since he was one, he started drawing lines from circles to form balloons, and drawing lines to match shapes. Of late, he requested that I showed him how to do proper drawing. I have drawn him pictures of man (e.g., stick figures), house, sun, dog, fish and tree in simplified form. Interestingly, I noticed that he has made some attempts to draw them on his own. Picture on the left: He asked if he could draw me just now. He asked me to sit still while he was trying to "sketch" me. It was quite a good attempt though he didn't draw me any legs/ mouth/ nose! Afterall, this is his first drawing of a stick figure and I thought he drew "me" pretty well! Picture on the right: His first tree drawn.



KengYong and I are left-handers. Strangely, Greg isn't. Well, Greg certainly makes a better artist than KengYong and I, doesn't he?

O'Kids Spot on Saturday Morning

After the fun we had at Delta Sports Complex on the Thursday that passed, Rina and I decided to meet at O'Kids Spot at Orchid Country Club on Saturday morning. It's another indoor playground - it's scale is bigger than the one at Atlantis but smaller than Gogobambini. As usual, I missed out the fun.. I could only be the photographer while the rest had fun climbing here and sliding there. Both Rina and KengYong still prefer the indoor playground at Gogobambini to the one at O'Kids Spot. KengYong found the tunnels in the latter too small and frustrating for an adult to crawl whereas Rina felt that the playground at Gogobambini has more cushion and is safer. Greg had some bruises after playing at O'Kids Spot (e.g., on the right side of his face, knees and elbows). Aiyo... doubt we would go O'Kids Spot again. However, I think little Regine has a different verdict from the rest; Though she's so young and small, she's always so adventurous to climb, crawl and slide, even at great heights. She's often spotted running about in the playground with a wide smile on her face! =)

A Fun Deepavali Morning

Rina and I had originally arranged to visit the Zoo on Deepavali morning but it rained. So we decided to explore the new SOL playground cafe at Turf City. It was such a big disappointment. It did have an indoor play area and an outdoor playground. Unfortunately, the playground outside was wet and the toys in the play area were either lousy or were out of order. Besides, the staff took a long time to serve us our drinks and I thought their food isn't cheap. At first we thought of moving on to Gogobambini but we had been there too many times and I believed it's going to be very crowded on a public holiday. Anyway, our final decision is to bring Regine and Greg to Atlantis at Delta Sports Complex. It's Greg's second time visiting the Atlantis. Greg had a great time playing there, because Rina and Regine joined in the fun. It's always more fun and merrier when there are more people you know play with you. Too bad I could not join in... *sobsob*

Teacher's Birthday

Teacher Roze's birthday falls on 13 Nov. However, she would be not around at school from Deepavali till end of next week. Teacher Roze is one devoted teacher at learning vision and I know she usually puts in her very best in her work role. Greg is fortunate to have her as his form teacher and I can see that all the kids in her class love her a lot. Anyway, Susanna (another mummy) and I decided to spring her a little birthday surprise yesterday morning because that's the only day this week that she started work at 7am. Got her a slice of chocolate cake from CHOCZ because Sue said Teacher Roze loves chocolate. Greg and I met Edna (Greg's classmate) and Sue at 7:45am outside the childcare centre. We stuck the candle in the little cake and got Greg and Edna to bring it to Teacher Roze. I guess it's still too early in the morning, and everyone looked as though they have just woken up. KengYong was the photographer and aiyoooo... he only managed to take one shot! Well, he said everything happened too quickly and he didn't have time to get a good angle woh.... anyway, hope Teacher Roze liked the little surprise yesterday morning.

Also, thanks to Teacher Maeve (Greg's ex-Shichida teacher and she's a great MayDay fan) again for providing me with lots of information on MayDay albums. Teacher Roze likes one of the MayDay songs and originally I thought of getting her that CD (with that song) as a birthday gift. Luckily I checked with Teacher Roze and found out that she has that CD already. Then I thought I could get her other MayDay albums, but I couldn't quite appreciate those fast beat songs (don't mean to offend you Teacher Maeve... I think I am too old for those songs but I do believe their songs are nice). Anyway, I decided not to get any albums because I doubt Teacher Roze is a true MayDay fan. Eventually, after much thought, I got her something else with a little poem on it. Yanti taught Greg how to say Happy Birthday to Teacher Roze in Malay but ended up Greg preferred to say "Selamat Hari Raya"..aiyo, so I didn't dare to ask Greg to say it to Teacher Roze just in case he said it wrongly.. anyway, Greg was quite upset about me getting such a small cake for his teacher and he came to "confront" me yesterday evening..

Greg: Mummy, why is there only one little cake for Teacher Roze?

ME: It's Teacher Roze's birthday, so that cake is for her. Teacher Roze cannot finish the whole cake if we get that.

Greg: But I don't have.

ME: It's not your birthday Greggie.

Greg: But I want to eat the cake...

ME: I'll get you one next time ok..

Greg: Teacher Roze also never share the cake with me..

ME: I told you the cake is for Teacher Roze, not for you. It's not your birthday..

Greg: But Teacher Roze never eat the cake..

ME: Maybe Teacher Roze eats it later..

Greg: I never see..

I guess he must be eyeing the cake the whole day yesterday... poor fellow. I think I shall go get him one later.. hmmm...

Still Can't Let Go..

One relative of mine sms-ed me to say that she read my blog (especially those on my parents) and she cried. I felt sad instantly. I felt sad because it triggered my sad memories. Even now when I attempt to read my older posts, tears start welling up in my eyes again. It has been five months since Mum has left. I may have moved on with my life superficially, but deep down inside me, there's still this strong streak of sadness. It has never been easy for me to let things go.. I am probably just waiting for time to heal my emotions. Anyway, I just want to apologize to those who have been upsetted by my blog or if my entries have made you cry. I really didn't mean it.

A few days ago, I had a mid 50s female patient who saw me in my clinic. I just thought that she's one of those who are so fortunate. She has a perfect family (including both her elderly parents, husband and three grown up sons) and her life has been smooth sailing until her mother-in-law died sometime mid this year. It's the first time she experienced the loss of a loved one and the first time she saw a dead body. I know it's not possible but how nice if everyone experiences losses only at a later stage of their life. Or maybe it doesn't make any difference. I don't know. On the other end, I have a friend (about the same age as I) who has had lost her father-in-law, mother and mother-in-law within this year. The deaths of her in-laws were sudden. I also wonder how she and her husband cope.. well, I believe there are worse cases in this world.

I am not trying to compare here, but I believe everyone has their own lives to lead and our lives are so different from one another. Though I miss my parents terribly (sometimes I even deceived myself that they went on a very long trip to somewhere. How silly right?), I try not to engage in self-pity and hopefully, yes hopefully one day I could move on "fully" with my life.. Honestly speaking, I just can't help but to envy people at my age who still have both parents/ at least a parent with them.. well, I am just not one of the fortunate ones I guess.

Weekend Hotel Stay

KengYong had a free one night stay offer at Ritz Carlton Hotel Singapore and we decided to use it this weekend. We thought we had better used it before our second boy decides to make his appearance into this world. On Saturday morning, we were busy packing our luggage and even for a night stay at the hotel, we had to lug so many things there. Of course, most of them belong to Gregory. I really cannot imagine how many luggages we have to bring along with us if we were to travel overseas with two boys for more than two days in future! Below is a picture of Gregory enthusiastically pulling the big luggage bag out of the house.. he has packed his stuffed toy dog and giraffe into the little orange haversack he's carrying. It's a must that he bring them along...otherwise, he would not be able to sleep well.

We arrived at the hotel at about 12+pm. The ambience there was grand and nice. We were given apple juice/ strawberry iced tea on arrival, and free flow of cookies. The room was also quite big and comfortable. Greg was so excited that he couldn't nap so we brought him down for a swim.













After his swim, he took a nap while KengYong and I decided to shop around Marina Square. Our helper kept an eye on Greg while we went shopping but Greg napped for no more than an hour that afternoon. Yanti called us to inform that Greg has woken up. I guess he's too excited about the stay in the hotel. Anyway, to keep him entertained before we had our dinner, we walked around the Millenia Walk and Marina Square. Greg went into a shop and I was showing him a big black scarf. He said if the scarf were to be put around his head, he would look like Teacher Salimah (one of the teachers in his childcare who wears tudung). Yanti laughed and without hesitation, she folded the scarf and placed it on Greg's head. I quickly dished out my camera and took a photo...haha.. he looked quite girlish with the "tudung" on, and he kept saying that he's "teacher salimah"... I wonder how Teacher Salimah would feel if she knows about it..

We met Rina for dinner at Imperial, Marina Square before we headed to the little play area at Kiddy Palace, so as to keep little Regine and Gregory occupied. Below on the left is the picture of Rina enjoying her food, taken by Gregory. Photo of Greg and Regine on a swing is on the right.

It was indeed a tiring Saturday for me. I was so exhausted by 9pm but Greg was still so full of energy despite the fact that he only napped for less than an hour that afternoon. Anyway, I woke up at about 8am on Sunday whilst KengYong and Greg were still snoring away. I decided to use the hotel's bathtub to have a relaxing morning bath. See picture below: I filled up the tub with water and the bath salt (provided by the hotel).

I had a quick shower at the shower area, and as I made my way to the bathtub, suddenly someone opened the toilet door (cannot be locked) and said, "Mummy, what are you doing?"... aiya... there went my relaxing morning bath! *sobsob* Still, I jumped into the water, and soaked myself for a while before I decided to change into my clothes. How I wish he could sleep longer.. always waking up at the wrong time!

Asked Greg how he felt about the trip, he said "I am so tired. Even dogdog and giraffe are tired". I asked him how he knew his stuffed toys were tired... and well, he showed me a photo he took (see below).. hmmm..
Well, it is indeed a tiring weekend for Greg, KengYong and I though it was just a one night hotel stay in Singapore. However, it's certainly a weekend different from the ones we usually have. =)

I'm Back!

Some of you thought I have "popped" because I had no entries for the past few days... well, I am still around, and my little baby is still swimming happily within me. I had not been able to blog for the past few days because I was attending a Schema Therapy Course at GrandCopthorne Hotel during the day and I was so exhausted by evening that I didn't have much energy to do anything else but to laze on my bed. I had wanted to attend the course back in 1999 when it was conducted in Australia, but I was a poor postgraduate student then. I had to give the course a miss because I had difficulties with my daily expenses when I was doing my masters there and I didn't think it was nice to ask my father to transfer more money into my account. Heehee, I am glad that I am still able to attend it after so many years... =)

By the way, if you know me well enough, you know that I usually sms friends and relatives quite frequently... just to find out how they are. I have a friend whom I met when I was in Australia back in 1998. He was my Secondary school friend's younger brother and during that time when I left for Brisbane to do my Masters, his sister contacted me and requested that I kept an eye on him. He's my little sister's age, and even till now I can still recall those times he cycled down to my house to study/ chat after school. Well, we were constantly in contact when we returned to Singapore in 2000, and he was doing really well in his work and love life. He was in this long distant relationship with a Thai girl, and they planned to get married late last year. My dad passed away in June last year. He called to apologize that he was unable to attend the wake because he was getting married at the end of the year, and that he couldn't invite me for his wedding. Well, I was fine with that and I could understand where he was coming from. Neither would I want to bring any ill luck to him. Nevertheless, we drifted apart after that. I had many issues to deal with myself since Dad's passing (e.g., my abortion, Mum's unwell etc etc) and he was probably busy preparing for his wedding. Mum passed away in June this year and he knew it through his sister. He came with his sister to the wake. I asked him about his married life but I was shocked and upset when he told me his wife passed away last year in the car accident when he was driving in Thailand. Life was so unpredictable.. I still remember him feeling so happy and excited about his wedding, and never little would I expect that such an unfortunate thing would happen to him. He did go through a lot of pain and suffering but I believe his family would always be there for him. I didn't know why but I suddenly felt that I needed to sms him yesternight, just to see how he is in general. He replied in his sms that yesterday was his wife's first death anniversary. I felt so sorry. Also I didn't know it's his wife's death anniversary yesterday. I sincerely hope that he could stand up strong again one day.

It's indeed one great loss one could experience in life and it's something not easy to grapple with. I don't know if I were him I could be as strong as him to be able to move on with my life. Somehow his life story has reminded me that it's very important to cherish what one has, and not lament on what one doesn't have. Try not to make comparisons to create stress and distress for self and if possible, be contented with self and life.. no one and no life is perfect..