All About Your Child

Ever since the children went to IMM they have been asking me to put up a Christmas Tree at home. They never knew that there is one sitting in the storeroom unmoved for years.

Ever since my dad pass away, I have not touched that box.

So I told the boys that if they could draw me a Christmas Tree, I will grant them their wish. And so they drew this!

The green marker did not leave its tracks on the paper alone, but on their faces….Binbin wasn’t in the mood for photo shoot today, so its just Keatkeat and his Green Tears…..

and hands….

Keatkeat loved his new Green Look, so he continued to strike poses…..

“*Roar* I am the Green Monster”

So should I let them have their wish come true? Well although the picture is no unlike any of the Christmas Tree I have seen in my life, but at least they got the colour right – GREEN!

So we hook our pinky fingers and made a pact to put up the tree by this week.

I can’t wait till the day when Keatkeat can draw a an actual figure instead of such abstract art. Many of his classmate can draw a human-liked figure, but Keatkeat still couldn’t. “he’s a year-end baby, so naturally slower than others who are born in Jan or March…” That’s how I excused him of his ability.

Well, remember my blog post on Stick Man, so it doesn’t really matter that much, afterall…

Does your 4-year-old know how to draw a ‘non-abstract’ picture?

My neighbour’s daughter, Bernice, is turning 1 month old today. Bernice’s daddy and mommy are Chinese. As the tradition goes, they will give a ‘Full Month’ celebration cake with red eggs and ang-ku kueh.

The cake being round symbolises that its a completion of the entire pregnancy cycle and moves on to parenthood.

The eggs symbolised a new life. Red colourings were used to dye the egg shells, as the colour red is an auspicious colour for Chinese. Whenever a Chinese celebrates any occasion, you are bound to see red everywhere.

Ang Koo Kueh or Red Tortoise Cake symbolises longevity and prosperity.

The tortoise shape (right) is to be given when you had a baby girl. And when you had a baby boy, you have to give both shapes. In olden days, the round ang ku (left) is shape into a cylinder.

For ALL Chinese, its really a very important day, as it marks the day of the end of the confinement period for both mommy and baby.

In fact for my neighbour’s case its a big celebration too, ‘cos Bernice is the first child. As for mommy, its a great relief! Finally, she can bathe!

Yes, the Chinese believes that after child birth, the pores on our skin is wide open and will stay wide open for 1 month, so mommy is not allow to touch or try to avoid water and wind. The Chinese believes that once the water and wind gets into the wide open pores, the chances of mommy having rheumatism is almost 100%.

I remember the time when I was breastfeeding my younger son, I would clean my breast with warm towel, I think hygiene for baby is very important; and because I need to get in contact with water at every feed, my mom-in-law interfered when I was breastfeeding my elder child, so much so that I was ‘forced’ to change to bottle-feed for good! But of ‘cos the main reasons was not that, I wouldn’t want to go into that story today, ‘cos the main star for today’s blog is Bernice, my cute little neighbour.

So, Happy 1st Month Birthday to Bernice!

P.S. Bernice’s daddy and mommy wasn’t very keen on putting their baby’s photo on the web, so I’ve got to respect them.