Happy Birthday Binbin!

Child, Parenting, Special Moments

Extremely fun, undoubtedly noisy and indescribably tiring. Here’s what happened today at my small little house. Total guests = 20. Big and small, young and old, all squeezed into my humble home of 92sq metre space.

Balloons are MUST HAVE!
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Outside the house….

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In the house too….

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Binbin’s favourite Lightening McQueen Decorations…..

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This is how you entertain kids: Throw them into a room full of toys. Forget about the mess. The kids will do the rest; which is messing up even more! *laugh* Make sure your laptop is switched on too, in case someone like Keatkeat (top right) wants to surf the net.

When they are sick of the toys, play Monopoly! The hi-tech one, which uses credit cards instead of cash notes. This prevent ‘money’ from flying away! You know how kids are…their small hands can’t hold on to that stack for long. Or you may end up with soggy notes….Eeewww…

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This was also the time when I could fulfill my nieces wishes - Check out MY Little Twin Stars Collection…

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While kids play, adults were cooking away……There should be many more faces…if not this feast couldn’t be served, but they were camera-shy. So it just me and my favourite aunt, the one who took care of me since I was born.

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2 Regular Canadian Pizzas - Hawaiian Classic and Singapura Special AND my mother-in-law’s specialty - CURRY (big pot) couldn’t squeeze into the photo. But they definitely were very popular throughout the night.

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My eldest niece, Cheng Han, having her second round. - that’s what I love to see most. There were so much food!

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Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake is here!

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Hhooo….3 Candles!

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My Happy Family….

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My only sister and her boyfriend, Ted. The 2 Great Children-Sitters….

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Auntie, Cousin Navy and her family….

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Here’s all my nieces and nephews! I Love all of them so much!

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Binbin enjoying his cake or rather the CREAM!

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“come! check out my presents! 11 of them! No time to waste, oopen away!”

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“Big-big Gorgor (Brother), help me please!”

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“1.8meters long, 4-race tracks. - From Ah Yee and Bigbig Gorgor.”

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“The drum for my Lion Dance - from my only brother”

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“What’s this? So big?”

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“My very first LEGO set- from Auntie Navy.”

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“Another HOT WHEELS race track to add into my collection - from Auntie Corina”

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“Including four new HOT WHEELS car - from Ah Yee (againg), Auntie Corina (again) and Cousin Cheng Han - I am one lucky guy!”

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“My first laptop - from Cousin Zeng Yee and Mun Yee”

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“Don’t move! Drop the gun! Fire…..”

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“Nah, its actually a Transformer! Look! 2 of them - from Auntie Angeline and Uncle Derek”

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“Top present giver goes to Auntie Corina! Gave me the HOT WHEELS DAREDEVIL CRASH, one new Car and this, Bob the Builder Handphone! Mommy got a new handphone, now I’ve got mine too!”

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What’s my reward at the end of the day? An aching back, an injured ankle, a cut on my right hand, stinky hair and lots of cleaning to do…..Will I do this again? 100% YES! ‘Cos my biggest reward was : I made my child SMILE! Even though just before he sleep, he started to have fever….38.1 degrees celsius!

What a lousy ending…..sigh

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Niece’s Birthday-Bin’s birthday preparation-a new phone

Child, Parenting, Preschool, Special Moments, Toddler

My favourtie niece, Zeng Yee, celebrated her 7th birthday today. Love her dearly from the day she was born; maybe because we are both born in the year of the snake, maybe because I stayed with her for 1 year, since she arrived onto this earth, before Allan and I moved out; maybe because she visits my stall every week since the day we moved out- she is like my daughter. This love is mutual too, cos’ I am the 2nd person she loved most - that’s what she told me.
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Knowing that she is crazy over princesses and after what I bought for her during Christmas, I don’t have much variety left. These are what I managed to find. Hope Disney comes out with more new stuff for princesses, if not I would be in trouble when Children’s Day come around in October.
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Before Binbin’s very first birthday party arrive tomorrow, we needed to get these prepared:-

Goodies Bag

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We have got small gadgets for play, biscuits to fill the tummy and lots of sweeties to decay the teeth.
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Party Hats

 

QC passed.

Inspected and tried on by the ‘man’, himself.

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Keatkeat’s present for his only brother

 

This was more like Binbin chose it himself and insisted that the elder brother buy for him.

Wrapper was chosen by Keatkeat and ‘wrapped’ by him too. (well, he did the taping part, mommy-me did the rest)

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Clean up

Before the fun begins tomorrow, there’s lots of cleaning up to be done. The birthday boy decides to help but he couldn’t even move stick the right way. Look at Keatkeat’s expression - laughing uncontrollably at Binbin till he needed to pee (look at his left hand)

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So the brother did the rest of the work….

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Unlucky day - 3 days ago

 Allan finally got his very first pay 3 days ago, ever since he started being a property agent. So here’s his belated valetine’s day + last year’s birthday present for me.

That day was drama, I forgot to bring my wallet along and this phone gave problem during the demo. It couldn’t even switched on. So we had to wait for the battery to be charged.

While it was charging at the battery. Allan went for appointment. For the 2 hours without the man around, I was at Westmall shopping with the kids with no money on me whatsoever. So super handicapped. Hated the feeling.

Went to the arcade where Binbin fell down and a piece of his skin was scraped off from the ear. Rather rounded. So now he looks like he’s got a ear stud from far. The teens at the arcade were yelling, “Shut the hell up.” Another one was exaggerating the cries.

I was so pissed. I was ready for a fight or an argument. I was so heated up. But my priority was to calm the little one down first. So I held my tongue. I just glared at them.

As if I wasn’t bad luck enough, a phone that doesn’t work at first sight, no money, got mocked by teenagers, the boys told me they needed to poo AT THE SAME TIME! I had to hold on to 2 cubicle doors while they did their business. It was so drama. Then they finished at the SAME TIME. Both insisted that I clean them up first. But I decided to go for Binbin first ‘cos I know Keatkeat’s shitting habit.

Of all things, what really set me on fire were the teenagers. Why has teenagers these days become so irritating?!

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Dedicated to my son - Binbin

Baby, Breastfeeding, Child, Parenting, Special Moments, Toddler, Videos

In 4 days time, my little Binbin will be 3 years old. Its during such times, the very cliche question comes to mind, “How time flies.” Then I start going through the baby photos.

I call Binbin my miracle boy because I conceived him at a time that’s impossible to conceive. Hey, I am not referring to the ovulation cycle or about miscalculation. He was ‘manufactured’ on a day when there were no ovaries in me. Did I hear you say, “Huh?” Nevermind, just take it that God magically put Binbin into my tummy, that’s how the miracle kid came to this earth.

The day he was born at KK Hospital on 30th March 2005. He had a girly look, doesn’t he?
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One week after he was born, we realised that he sleeps with his eyes half open (yes! 50%). You can see his eye balls moving left and right as if he is awake. Till this very day, his eyes are still half open when he is in dreamland. Some old folks say, its a sign of naughtiness. (humph)

As if being proclaimed as a naughty boy, even when he was not even big enough to defend himself, was not bad enough, Allan’s parents spotted the 2 “turners”  on the top of his head (seriously, I don’t know what you call this, so please tell me the name if you know).

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They slapped with this conforming sentence, “This boy will be a terror. Very stubborn. Very naughty. Very disobedient.”

Sometimes it really makes you wonder what really goes through the minds of the older generation. How can that be related to a character or personality? All my aunts and uncles said I was the best baby, toddler that anyone could have ’cos I am faarrrrrrr from being naughty, and lo and behold, I sleep with my eyes half open too!  

This picture was taken on his first day of his 4th month. His fatty thighs could actually support him quite well. All thanks to breastmilk. So mommies out there who want a chubby little baby but do not want an overweight baby, Breastfeeding is the answer.
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I breastfed him for 6 full months without any formula before I get back to work at my stall. Much longer than my elder one because Binbin was free from those classic objections.

Here’s the little one on his tummy. He could lift up his head and hold it up for more than a minute.
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My adorable kid on his walker. Always love to see his smile, or laugh rather. Yup, my boy is more of a laughing boy than a smiley one.
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Able to walk quite steadily on his own at 13 months. Just got up from a fall, still can see the tears in his eyes. binwalk.JPG

This was also the time when Allan and I called Binbin, ‘The Little Werewolf’. Why? Every month, there is bound to be a day, he would go crazy. I am not talking about tantrums. I really mean CRAZY. He would suddenly cry and shout for no reason and smash his head onto the wall. He will not stop even when the force of the bang caused him to bounce off the wall! He will just get up and bang his head on the wall again, till we hold him down for minutes. Its was bewildering. Thank God, those days were over. If not we would have trouble holding this 15kg boy down with his forceful struggles.

Since then, we realised that he had a very big threshold for pain tolerance. He can bang his head on the edge of the steel door, resulted in a dent on his forehead and he doesn’t even shed a tear. Remember my post on his unbelieveable ability to withstand pain? So far the only time he cried in pain was the bloodshed during earlier part of this year. Only such pain could make him wail. Amazing ya?

Right after his 1st birthday, we noticed that his development, in terms of behaviour, motto skills, intellectual and especially speech is extremely fast. Now he can perform whatever a child who is 9 months older than him do and sometimes can do even better.

That’s him last year, 2007 on Chinese New Year. This was also the photo which I sent to the Playhouse Disney Birthday Book.
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Because of his super advanced development mentally, I tend to compare him with his elder brother who is 15 months older (I know its wrong of me but it just come naturally). Binbin is able to do certain things like cleaning himself after passing motion much better than his brother. He shits in less than 1 min. Clean and fast. Never had to worry about any mess when doing it out of the house. All he need is 1 - 2 wipes.

Binbin is a definite vocalist. So long as he is awake, its difficult to have peace for more than a minute. You either hear him babbling away, singing aloud, laughing or crying his lungs out. He spoke his 1st word clearly at 9 months and what’s that word? ‘MOON’. He was able to speak in a sentence of 8 words at 1 year old; sing a complete song at 18 months. Half a year ago, he was able to tell me the entire story of the 3 little pigs. Now he knows as many vocabs as his 4 year old brother.

I never had to worry that Binbin is not eating well, because eating is his hobby! He is ADDICTED to Vegetables. From anything that’s leafy to cucumber, carrot, cauliflower, potato; Favourite vege is broccoli, don’t you wish he is your boy?! *wink*  When other kids at Kentucky Fried Chicken is changing their coleslaw to whipped potato, my Binbin needs to have 2 servings of coleslaw in order to satisfy his desire. His favourite snack is a slice of Chesdale Cheese.

He is very special….not the normal special as in the hearts of the parents but special because of all the above….or rather unusual for a kid. Other than his cute actions he is always mistaken to be the twin brother instead of the younger brother whenever my boys are out with me.

Most kid’s favourite songs are the usual Twinkle, twinkle little stars or anything of that sort. But my boy grew up with Chinese pop songs, (although he can hardly speak a proper sentence in Chinese) his favourite is Fairy Tale from sentimental king-Guang Liang. This is Binbin, singing the chorus….

Another very peculiar thing about Binbin is his soft personality. He is very boyish in every way on the outlook. With the natural punky hair, he is rough in his behaviour most of the time, but he has a heart of a girl.

He is attracted to things in Pink. Until lately, he tries to control his affection because too many people kept telling him that pink is for girls. (Says Who!!! ) He loves to play with my sister’s Barbie doll Kitchen set too.

He is in love with Minnie Mouse. I feel perfectly great about that! Though many times the expressions from strangers are not very supportive when they see my 2-year-old boy holding on to a Minnie mouse (as if its his, which he grab it off the shelf the moment his feet stepped into the toy dept) and walk around with it as he examines the kitchen set for the Barbies to play.

Then off he went to press buttons which makes the ‘Baby-Alive’ doll blink and speaks, before he went off to the car section where he checks out for any new hot wheels models.

When we are ready to leave the dept, he would kiss Minnie (sometimes) and say goodbye before putting her back to where she belongs.

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He likes to cuddle soft toys. When he is in a snuggling mood, he would hug his favourite puppy and bear to sleep.

So now if I tell you one of his favourite cartoon is Stawberry Shortcake, that wouldn’t suprise you in anyway right? Other than every cartoon in Playhouse Disney Channel, he is very much a challenger at heart. He looooovvvveeees to watch FEAR FACTOR and AMAZING RACE. His eyes hardly blinks till commercial break. Animal Planet is the next on the list. Animals just have a special link to the hearts of kids, don’t they?

Talking about animals, Binbin loves animals, errrr….but his excitement may cause some animals to have heart attacks. He doesn’t really know how to express his emotions, so what he does is, he would chase my neighbour’s dog and hold it down on the floor and say “catch you”, then he would release his grip again and let the dog run (which the dog definitely would in attempt to escape from the clutches of my boy.), then “catch him” again. To him its playing, but to the poor animal, its tormenting. Poor dog.

He is 100% mommy’s boy. He hugs me like a bolster together with his real bolster to sleep. He ticks my cheeks with his little index finger, whenever I look at him in the eyes, in silent admiration; and as if to break away from his shyness, he would say, “Mommy, you sooooo cute.”, squeezing my cheeks with his hands. He can say “Mommy, I love you” so many times a day, sometimes it makes you wonder if its true. Of cos’ I know its from his heart. Kids at this age don’t lie right?

Yup that’s my 2-year-old boy. I love you, Binbin! In 4 days time, you are going to have your very 1st birthday party. I owe it to you. Finally Mommy don’t need to work in stalls 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hope you like the suprises that everyone has prepared for you. 

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Your shit tells alot about you

Child, Health, Preschool, Toddler

Personally that’s very true for my boys.

My 2-year-old Binbin shits on a daily basis and can complete his big business in less than a minute. He gives you the not-too-soft, not-too-hard, yet perfectly shaped kind-of shit. All you need is just 2 wipes and he is ready to put on his pants again.

Binbin’s personality is very much like that too. Very easily satisfied, fast in his actions and always on the go.

Unlike my 4-year-old Keatkeat. He is always wishy-washy. Could not really make up his mind on most things. He is the gentle kind of boy.

And his shit is just like him (sad to say). Keatkeat shits on alternate days, sometimes once in 3 days. He takes about 5-10 minutes to get his shit out. When he is completed. His output is super soft and irregular with lots left sticking on his anus.

He usually to wipe his bottom for 15-20 times before he is completely clean! Today, he broke his own record. He wiped 30 times and its still not clean!!! I could not believe my count and so decided to put a stop to it myself.

I had to wipe for another 5 times before I can get a completely clean toliet paper after leaving his hole. Its really unbelievable! Right after that, he told me that his hole hurts. Whose wouldn’t hurt after 35 wipes!

In the end, I still need to apply Zambak for him to make him fell better. *Sigh*

Does your shit tells alot about you too?

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Easter Bunny

Child, Handicraft for kids, Parenting, Preschool

Love to do handicraft with kids. The sense of satisfaction lingers on their faces as they hold up their masterpiece and show it to everyone in the family. Its also a great way to boost their self-confidence. This Easter Bunny is an easy one. My 2-year-old could do this too, errr…that is with a little help from me towards the ending part.

 Get a square handkerchief or towel.

 Fold into a triangular shape.

 Fold the corner up as shown.

 Bring the bottom up Half-way.

 Fold up the bottom again to form a long strip.

 Turn over.

 Bring up one end of the sides as shown.

 Do the same for the other end. Make sure that both meets in the center.

 Fold it up by bringing the sides together.

 Use a rubber band to tie the sides together.

 Tie a ribbon to cover up the ‘ugly’ rubber band.

 Draw 2 eyes on a piece of paper, cut them out and stick them on the Easter Bunny. There you have it. Easy?

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Kid speak

Child, Preschool

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To add on to the list of things said by Keatkeat, this one really cracks me up.

Keatkeat: “Mommy, what is the black thing behind the car called?”

Mommy: (not a very big fan of cars, unlike my dear Keatkeat) “Errmmm…not too sure.”

Keatkeat: “But you MUST know! Because you are Mommy.”

Mommy: (ok, so in my child’s mind, I am a walking encyclopedia now) “Well, your 2nd uncle’s car have this, we will ask him on Sunday ok?”

Keatkeat: “No. Call him now.”

Mommy:  (huh? call just to ask this. sounds weird. Suddenly, remembered my sister, the almost-know-everything-hippy-gal was at home.) “Meimei, do you know what is the name of that raised-up-thing at the back of cars?”

 Meimei: “Spoiler.” (See? I told you she knows)

Mommy: “Keatkeat, its called ‘Spoiler’

Keatkeat: “HUH?? Is it because it spoils easily?”

Ha..ha…ha….

Kids are really so funny…..(when they are not screaming at the top of their voice)

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Sleeping Habits

Child, Health, Parenting

Keatkeat has a very unusual sleeping habit since he was 3 years old. Every-time after his bottle of milk, he would lie on the bed and start to move his legs as if he is swimming in frog-style, or more professionally known as breast-stroke, but right side up.

I still remember the very first time I saw him stretched his legs and toes to the fullest like a ballerina (lying down), then slowly retrieving the legs back up and “Crack”, I was looking at him with my eyes wide opened as he did it continuously.

Me: “Who taught you that?”

Keatkeat: “Nobody.”

Me: “Then why are you doing this?”

Keatkeat: “The thing inside my leg….(stretching) very pain.”

Me: “You mean this hard thing?” (touching his bone literally, ‘cos he is so skinny)

Keatkeat: “Yes.”

Me: “That’s your bone.”

Keatkeat: “I want to take out my bone.”

Me: “Baby, you can’t. Bone is very important. If you don’t have bone, you cannot move, cannot walk, cannot talk, cannot run, cannot play. You cannot do anything. Bone supports your whole body.”

Keatkeat: “Then how? I don’t like it. It makes me pain.” Stretching even harder. Cracking even louder.

Me: “I guess you might be too tired. So we try to sleep earlier tomorrow, maybe it may go away.”

But days passed, weeks gone, months disappeared and now more than 1 year, Keatkeat is still doing it. Has it become a habit? I don’t think so. ‘Cos sometimes he does it, sometimes he don’t. It doesn’t look comfortable doing the action either, but after a few minutes of cracking, it does get him to sleep.

Do you have a child who has such a weird sleeping habit? Please tell me Keatkeat is not alone….

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Pram?

Baby, Breastfeeding, Child, Parenting, Toddler

There is something that Allan and I feel very proud of as parents. We never had a pram. When Keatkeat was born, many of my friends wanted to buy a pram for him. We said no. Reasons?

- We realised that many prams turned out to be trolleys for the parents.

- Kids like to be close to their parents’ body. We knew that having strong arms is a must to be a parent. So complaining of being tired? Then go out less often.

- Its troublesome in many ways. Getting it folded and unfolded. Pushing it around in crowded areas. Finding lifts, to prevent carrying up the stairs. Taking up a big space in the boot where the space can be used for other things.

- We don’t want our kids to become lazy. (When other kids are in the pram, my kids at 1 years old, is already holding my hands, walking around the shopping centre with me.)

- To get a real good one - light and foldable using one hand for convenience, is really a big investment. Yet this investment do not give returns. After a few years, you had to throw away if no one wants to accept your 2nd-hand pram as a gift.

- Some prams are harder to clean than others. When the baby vomits some milk (which is soooooooo common and frequent), that smell can stay in that pram for days!

So instead of prams, we had baby slings. Mine was Navy Gingham Blue in colour (note: I am not getting any commission for this) Why?

- They are safe and secure.

- They keep the baby close to the mother’s body for comfort and security.

- Easy for breastfeeding. You can even breastfeed while walking.

- You can be totally hands free.

- The cloth is not too thick. So baby stays cool in it all day.

- Its machine washable.

- The cushion padding helps to lessen the weight pressed on your shoulders.

- The designs makes stains less visible.

- Its adjustable. To suit the baby or up the age of a 18 month old toddler.

- Its super affordable.

- After using it for 2 kids, its still look as good as new.

Seriously, for all first time parents, this is truly a wiser choice. In my view, that is.

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