understand your soulz

nope... not the ballot for new MP for my district... 11 Aug 2009 2pm... place: Tao Nan School... P1 balloting... 'fighting' for a place (for ziyi) into the school. 98 applicants, 82 vacancies... 83.67346938% of securing a place... how unlucky i can be! i cannot be so suay... i reached there (alone) 1min before 2pm... the lecture theatre of Tao Nan was already filled with packs and packs of people... from uncles and aunties (obviously grandparents of 'participants') to people of my age (parents and siblings of parents) to kids (most of them were the 'participants' still in school uniform straight from Kindergarten)...this ballot was not compulsory for parents or anyone to attend but the turnout was fantastic (how come we don't get this support when we ask people to go green)... i managed to 'secure' a seating place, beside grandparents... the event started promptly, conducted by 3 teachers... one of them started to read the names of the participants (...

the first day of our office opening since CNY started this day (day 8 of CNY)... not really for any reason as i started work 'technically' on the 4th day of CNY (supposed to be lucky for office opening)... really unlucky... i strained my left back and 'hit' by my 'fren' ASTHMA again the previous night... it must be the yuan yang (coffee-tea combo) from The Central... how crazy i am as caffeine is and has always been my assassin... almost killing me last night... literally. thanks buddha that i still have my ventolin... but the back strain stills ponders till this time and date. 'first day' in office... gong xi my boss, did a few quotes and that's it... and of course, mj with kakis. just 2 hours, i am supposed to be in bed... but ziyi came by with TODAY newspaper asking, "Papa, what is this?", pointing to Sudoku! whoa! for the last 1 hour, i was explaining and coaching her on the gameplay of sudoku... i think she will enjoy it... she likes n...

without fail, there will be a graduation concert for K2 at Ziyi's MMI (Montessori)... K1 and K2 will present their performance, same place NTUC Auditorium... expensive carpark charges. her event this year, "clatter and rattle".

23rd Aug (a day after my trip)... another exciting event... ziyi's 5th birthday party @ explorerkids downtown... (after going to at least 4 kids' playground locations)... 2 hours of using room for cake cutting and gathering... the kids really had fun... thanks to friends and close family members for coming to this party... oh, the 'barbie-like' birthday cake from polar was great in taste and looked beautiful. after the 2 hours of 'closed' session, all day free play 'kicks in' for the kids... parents like me get to follow the kids and play the mega playground (the slides were great and exhilarating!)... haha... totally worth it since the normal days of gameplay will be SGD11 per hour per kid... my girls had 5 hours of fun... and don't want to leave... 2 days later, ziyi had another celebration at her school... a hello kitty cake... goodie bags for her friends... cake finished within 15 mins after it was cut... her frens were really good (in eating)....

1st of August 2008 (friday)... an exciting day for Zhirui... her first day in school or rather playgroup... seems ok with mummy around... Mum left at half day and she was okay... 4th Aug to 7th Aug... i sent her to school... she screamed when i left... no choice... she had to get used to school life... she was so happy to see me when i fetch her around 5 plus everyday... Mum in UK. 8th Aug... my girls were celebrating National Day in MMI! they were having fun and so happy... cos it was half day in school! 9th Aug... National Day!... not that i want to remember this day (though important)... Zhirui was having fever and vomitting all day... or whenever she ate or drank... this 'lucky' day... almost all clinics were closed... we had to send her to KK Children's Emergency at 10pm+ and only went back at 2am+... how eventful... i foresee many sleepness nights.

that's not for me to remember but Ziyi (my eldest girl)... her first movie in the cinema... thanks to Nokia for bringing this event to Nokia staff and their family. funny panda... all the animals are so 'cutely' drawn... theme of the movie: nothing is accidental. a good de-stress movie... adults should watch too. Ziyi enjoyed it, laughing her way except for the fighting scenes. "yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift. that's why they call it the present", by Master Woo Kway... well said welllll saiddd.

just back from a long vacation (15 May to 19 May 2008) to HK... the last one was liked Aug 2005 to Japan... the challenge to Hong Kong was not bringing my 2 girls along (although Zhirui proved to be a problem on the plane back), but to take a stroller and 2 big luggages (one for us and the other, my in-laws).. plus many smaller bags when we came back... family outing to HK was quite fun though... my girls loved DisneyLand! Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, all Disney Princesses, etc... Ziyi loved the rides (Flying Dumbo, Magical Tea Cups, Space Ships), the shootout at Buzz LightYear car ride, 3D theatre of Mickey's Fantasy (must see!) and Stitch Space Adventures... best of all, Disney Parade! **check out AdventureLand Boat Ride! Disney shops in DisneyLand were a killer to our pockets, so many things to buy... picking one shirt after another, taking one toy after another, shop hopping to check on different items... Stayed in Disney's Hollywood Hotel (for first night)... relatively ...

i think our family has the heaviest baby born (20 April 2008), Meng's boy at 3.695kg, time at 1014hr... some 4D to invest... chubby boy with a loud cry, hope they can manage. Ziyi, my girl held a record too that day, 40.1.... not your usual-to-be-celebrated-about thingy... at 5.30am, she asked me for a cup of water, saying she was thirsty, i was... in my dreams and quite frustrated as she don't usually wake me up during this time... one touch on her (actually wanted to drag her to the kitchen) and uh-oh... FEVER... quickly took her temprature and it was 40.1degrees!!!!!!! shocked and stun for second... gave her progesic (only medicine left), "iced" her... 1 hour fight and the temperature was down to 38.3+... went to sleep without thinking (though still quite high) but too damn tired. lesson learnt: kids don't wake you up at night for no reasons, it must be an emergency...

a debatable item by Zhirui.

with 'careful' consideration, mickey can really do magic with my PSP...for Sze Swee...hahaha

tiring for parents, fun and great for kids and babies... it was Sze Swee's 1 year-old (belated) birthday party held at Orchid Country Club O'Kids Spot... it is basically a giant playground for the kids (comprises of tunnels, a pool of plastic balls, webbings, 2 twist-and-turn super-fast 2-storey-high slides)...and babies have their share of fun at the rocking house, playhouse, kitchen set and slides with tunnel... 3 hours of fun for most (extended timing) buffet for kids, party packs and play play play... buffet was simple but was good... laksa and fried rice were commented to be delicious... including the cheesecakes...soo kueh was a let-down, the skin was too soft... no chewy-ness. price @ SGD23 per child was worth it... parents or adults were either chasing their kids in the gigantic playground or busy chatting among peers on 'kidsology' or some playing PSP! i tried climbing and tunnelling in the playground (adults can accompany their kids)... tiring... but this tire...

though we are having the bigger celebration this Sunday at Orchid Country Club.... (not really big, just my family and my wife's family plus a few close frens that have kids... cos the location is a gigantic kid's playground... i felt like playing too)... -> 27 Mar 2008 is the actual birthday of Sze Swee's one year old... bought a small cake and a XL-sized Mickey! she kept smiling and having fake 'laughs' at Mickey... (photos to be uploaded soon, i hope) she tried the 'Ice Queen', strawberry with white cream cake and didn't really like it... the Chinese tradition of choosing a list of items for one-year old was practised... she was given wide choices: BOOK, ABACUS, RULER, SGD10 DOLLARS NOTE, CHICKEN WINGS and PENCIL... she looked at the wings, touched the book, did not bother with the pencil and abacus... guess what she took????????????? RULER?!!!!!!! then we realised that we did not know what it meant... does it mean ART or TEACHER or CONSTRUCTION LI...

ask your kids to say these words "stop it" real fast and continuously. see what happens... Ziyi was shouting "stop it" to her cousin, telling her to stop salivating... but for a moment, we thought she was scolding her something else... make a guess... adults can use these words as excuses next time :P

school days took up a quarter of our life... some longer some shorter... i can remember the early days in Kindergarten... it was a PAP Kindergarten at Beo Crescent Blk 36 (now Singapore Pools)... 2 years of my childhood were spent there... the standard PAP uniform of red and blue... the cute little boy carrying a luggage-liked bag (red and black checkered) waiting diligently at 1.45pm outside the school... Kindergarten's timing was 2pm to 4pm... that's me. i was already independent at that age (i think 5 or 6)... going to and coming back from Kindergarten alone... though my house was near but it was at least 2 blocks away... 1.30pm, i would start to prepare for school... wearing school uniform... reading and learning last minute's spelling test... getting mum to test me on the spelling...mum hardly knew the English spelling and i had to tell her the pronounciation :)... everything was settled within the few minutes and off... to school... though the long stairways from Buki...

this is not your usual dentist saying... but from a father to his child. Ziyi finally started to brush her teeth before drinking her milk every morning... it has been a week and she has gotten used to it... hmm, i might want to train her to wake me up next :P

New Year's Eve was already a tiring day... though only half day's work. i fetch my wife and girls and off we go, shopping in Orchard since 4pm... (lunch at Jack's place - West Coast)... we were at Centrepoint until 7pm before we adjourned to Marina Square to 'book' a place... this is the must-go place if you intend to watch the New Year's fireworks... the best location is Marina Square food court. reaching 8pm, we thought we were early and a seat is guaranteed. how wrong! all the seats (alfresco) that had the best views were taken up... these guys probably camped before dinnertime. soon it was 12midnight, Happy New Year! the fireworks was great! screeeeaaams and SHOUTS!!! the mood was great. reached home around 2am...slept at 3am... at 5am plus, i heard a cry from Ziyi (my eldest girl)... thought she wanted to pee... but realise that she was running a high fever (my thermometer was 39.8 degrees)... suddenly i felt awaken, bringing the wet towels and started plac...

most of us would not have remembered our first taste of chicken drumstick... but almost all Chinese had them at the same time... my girl had it 3 days ago... when she is four month old ... this is part of the Chinese custom... using a drumstick to symbolise that the child is ready to taste other kinds of food... not just MILK MILK and MILK anymore! my mum-inlaw gave my little girl her 'prize'... my wife and i were not present to catch the scene... heard that she resisted it for sometime and when my girl 'sensed' that it is something tasty... she was sucking it all the way... quite different from her eldest sister (who resisted it all the way)... seems like those born in the year of Pig is really something... clever and greedy! PS: we will still give her MILK (and nothing else) for now till six month old. as recommended by our PD.

when my girl drew this picture on the mini Doodle....i have no idea what is that, make a guess...a landmark of Singapore. she loves drawing, sometimes i can't make sense out of those colourful pictures but she can find a way to explain them ... PICASSO or DA Vinci, hmm.

last week was a memorable one for me. Monday: grandma was admitted back to SGH (from AMKH)... she was totally weak, always in a daze mode... somehow or rather, she is well at SGH... heard from my aunt that she was telling the next bed's patient (while at AMK Hospital) to call her MUM! that was bad but everything is fine now. Wednesday: i hit 130K mileage for my Peugeot...while travelling back from Mount Alvernia...why Alvernia? my 2nd girl (only 6 weeks) was admitted due to some strong virus or infection...'chesty' coughing and having bad flu...that took my wife and i 3 sleepness nights...she is now home...recovering...next review with doc will be tomorrow... why her? (Picture: She was in this box that supply warm oxygen to help in the discomfort of the phlegm) Sunday: my sis' girl, Yiling was in the semi-finals of a local program from Ch8 (wonder baby), filming live at VivoCity...she was good and fun, a natural born in front of the camera... laughing and so KAWAI! i...

last sunday was really tiring (it's only yesterday...:P)... we (my wife and I) were holding our second girl's full month celebration cum housewarming for relatives. the multipurpose hall at my place was quite huge and packed with frens and relatives... it's accomodating around 100 pax...too bad that seats were limited (first com first served)... i booked the karaoke room of my condo...relatively good but i practically had no time for a song. food was from Eatzi Gourmet (buffett catering from Jack's Place) and Obolo (mini pastries).... food from caterer was generally good, the beef, fried fish and gyoza were snapped up in no time... luckily i managed to eat a few *phew* . the prawns were almost untouched...probably due to the 'Indian spice' smell and the need to de-shell. Obolo pastries were great (from hearsay and my frens)...i missed out on that! my wife and i wished that we could 'split' into many selfs and entertain all our frens and relatives at the ...