One !

Snow fell again on 27 Jan 09 after a month of absence since X'mas 08. What a beautiful way to start off her birthday! Pure & white....

Hap Bur Day......
That's how baby said it :)

Back dated post-X'mas Week 2008

Seriously, what do you think is in 妹妹's mind when she took this picture with the turkey??

Huge birthday cake from an Italian bakery. Courtesy of Aunty Cat.

Dora ice-cream cake from Dairy Queen

A fresh cream cake she choosed from T&T supermarket

Countdown 2009

We spent our New Year's eve at Aunty Cat's house. After the count down, we drove home, it started to snow and rain. The road became icy, our car skidded to the left then to the right, it was pretty much like Waltz dancing, very scary. I screamed a little, worrying that other cars may hit into the rear where the 2 kids were strapped in. Thank God that there were no cars around us at that point of time, and hubby knew how to gain back control of the car. We reached home safe and sound.

I was a little shock to find out that there is NO COUNTDOWN event in the entire Vancouver city. There were only private ones at pubs and clubs and it cost a bomb to get in. Not that I am a party animal or love to attend countdown parties as such. But there is simply no atmosphere here. Even the TV program, we had to tune to Seattle's Channel or the New York's Times Square countdown which was 3 hours ahead and they re-telecast for poor souls like us in the West Coast.

When I logged into MOBTV, you had a choice of Channel 8 countdown party @ VivoCity OR Countdown at Marina Bay with spectacular fireworks.

When you live in Singapore, all these things seem so normal that we take for granted hor....at times, we even complain its boring.

Vancouver, we pay so much tax, come on, whats wrong with giving the people some nice fireworks during the cold bitter winter?!!

baby taking off!

She started taking 2-3 independent steps when she turned 10mo.
By 10.5mo, she took off. Now, she is walking a good 10-15 steps at 11mo.
But she still crawl on her hands and feet (not knees), pretty much like a 四脚蛇, when she wants to get to the destination quicker.

My arms are no longer that sore.....finally, freedom has come.
She turned 11mo just a few days ago. By 年初二, she will be ONE.

happy new year-2009!

Singapore has entered into the year of 2009 just an hour ago, soon it will be our turn here.
Wishing all my cyber-friends a great and blessed 2009!

21 dec 2008 - Heavy snow

DR, I guess you are right in saying that coming from a tropical country, most of us really do get excited when we see snow.

I reckon its also because most of the time we see snow is when we are on a vacation, naturally, when you are on a holiday, your mood is pretty, so the snow is really beautiful from that perspective.

However when one lives in the actual snow condition, its no joke, driving condition can be really hazardous, have to shovel the snow in the cold, and when the snow melt, thats the ugliest, dirtiest and messiest part of it all!

1st Snow Play - 2008

Snow fall, kids favourite.
Pictures taken outside the house.

下雪了

还记得，两年前，我们刚搬到温哥华，当时下雪了，我们的心情非常兴奋。

几天前，又开始下雪了。这冬天，估计会比以往来得更冷。
这次，反而，觉得很麻烦，因为我还得接送姐姐上下课，又要带着妹妹在身旁。
出个门，很费时，要包头包脚，怕妹妹的botak head着凉。

不过，还是要懂得珍惜这自然的美景。所以决定了，把心情调整一下，享受来临的 WHITE CHRISTMAS！

Home Sick - (I)

Day break - view from kid's room. Taken in 2005
I am not in Singapore.
I am still in Canada.
Yes, I am home sick. Miss my home, relatives, friends, in Singapore.

1st 测验

When I read about Hailey's report card....then I remember to blog about this...Not sure if every kid gets 100% like Hailey's class ... it doesn't matter lah, and Muahahaha too!

Last Saturday, she came home, telling me that she needs my signature for some Chinese worksheet she had done in school. I didn't quite know what she meant and asked her:
"Simi(hokkien) signature?"

Till she handed me the paper. She doesn't really understand the concept of 测验 I suppose...its after all her 1st 测验 in her life.

I didn't remember that she had a test (honestly, I don't know when did the test occur also). The school did give us a schedule, but I forgot to take note....

Hubby and I were simply elated that she came back with this good score. I am not sure if this appear to be somewhat simple in Singapore's education system for her age. But who cares for now?! She only gets to attend Chinese lesson every Saturday as opposed to her daily exposure in S'pore's school.

I am just glad that she doesn't grumble and does look forward to attend the Sat class.
In an "angmo" country like this, we are just glad that our kid gets the exposure to Mandarin.

Bon Appetite

Found this on my desk few days ago, so this conversation happened between me and my nearly 5yo kiddo.


Kiddo: "Mommy, what would you like for dinner?"
Me: "Chicken rice looks good and not expensive. Wow, ice-kachang! Eh, how come free one?"
Kiddo: "Oh, yah, free lor, and got atap-chee, daddy likes it, you remember just like the one we had in Singapore."

Apparently, this dessert must have left very great impression on her to be included in her menu lor....

And her pricing on the menu for the other items, I must say, I am pretty impressed that it does make sense (besides the free dessert lah!)

Try this, try that....

This is what my bathroom's vanity top look like......no place for any beauthy/cosmetic products seriously.

What to do when 60% of the family members have/had eczema...?!

Piano Recital - June 08

Kiddo did her 1st piano recital...

Meant to blog about it, but too busy with all the summer fun...

Baby crawling

Baby timbits is 7.5mo now.

Weighing at 8.5kg

Her milestones so far...

5mo: Able to sit with support. Leopard crawling on her tummy.

6mo: Able to sit fully without support.

Able to crawl on all 4s, thus gaining her mobilty and losing her baby fats.

Able to hold on to furnitures and stand up.

7mo: Able to cruise along while holding onto furnitures. Understand the meaning of NO, HOT and BEAT.

中秋节快乐

床前明月光，疑是地上霜。

举头望明月，低头思故乡

祝：

中秋节快乐

Aunty Irene's Bumbo

Aunty Irene, thank you for lending me this bumbo, and all the other fantastic stuff to my mum.

As you can see, this bumbo can no longer restrain me (*hiak hiak*), and I heard from mummy that you will pretty soon need these stuff back eh? Heard my mummy saying that you are very efficient and productive, she is very happy for you leh! We will come by soon and see your round round belly ok? And yes, I cry when strangers carry me....mommy say I am like a velcro to her :(

If my granny is still alive, she would call me "peh leh koh"-(sticky caramel candy) or postage stamp or sticker to my mommy!

Kindergarten here and there

Kindergarten in Canada (taken on Sep 08)

Kindergarten Yr 1 in Singapore (taken on Jan 08)

New school year just started. In North America, new school year starts from September instead of January. She started Kindergarten. They only do one year of kindy here and she will be in Grade 1 by next Sept.

Can't believe......how time flies...

deja vu

Don't know if your kids do this to you...

Mine did...

Must they all go thru' this phase?

Agghh...nitemare....

car-seat training....once again.

got so "chum" meh?

top: 妹妹-Sep 08

bottom: 姐姐-May 04

Fun times....flies.

Space talk
On the way to pick raspberries 2 weeks ago, this conversation occured:
Kiddo :"Daddy, I don't think I have ever seen the solar system"
Dad :"Oh, you will need maybe 1 million dollar to take the space shuttle to the outer space"
Kiddo :"No la, I think I just need a telescope"
Daddy :"......"

Summer Fun
Summer is almost over, so is all the fun. We had our first visitors from Singapore for the past 3 weeks. The couple were here with their 20mo girl. They were our friends since Uni days. It was certainly good to have friends staying over, chit chatting till wee hours after the kids were asleep, played Mah-jong, doing all the touristsy stuff, cooked chai tow kway, long tong, mee hoon kway....., just like what we did in uni.

They went back to Singapore today. The house has returned to its quiet state.....we are already missing their company....feeling a little 落寞..... detest such feelings....
Anybody coming soon?

Baby & Eczema

Baby timbits has eczema here....and its ALL OVER HER BODY and FACE.....Agggghhh!!!

I have tried EVERYTHING once again.

She was OK in Singapore!! God, what am i suppose to do man?!

Injectionssssss

I think this would freak any Singaporean mom out...

I did freak out...

Here in Canada, when the baby/kid go for immunization, they get like 3-4 shots at ONE GO!

Look at baby's chubby thigh.....I didn't have the heart to hold her or even looked at the process....daddy did the job. What a lousy mom I am :`(

Once the last jab went in, I took the baby away immediately to pacify her. She fell asleep within 1 min as she was already very sleepy before the jabs.

Then the big sister, as they grow older, it gets harder to give them immunization man! She struggled and wailed and whined for a good 10mins!

Baby still lack of one jab (she was not feeling well sometime back, thats why the "backlog")

And big sister, is still short of one jab.....

They will go back to doctor in July....that is very soon.................again.....

Thank God that despite having multiple shots, they didn't have any fever...