the countdown begins!

drayden turns 23 months today, and that means we have a month before his second birthday! actually everything is pretty much seen to already, just the putting-everything-together bit when it all arrives and the food section.

noel and i still haven't decided what we're gonna do about food (any catering company kind enough to sponsor? lol!), and we have the ingredients for the birthday cake (or cakes!) and cupcakes to get. talking about that, i have been so stressed with looking for orange gumballs. it's a core ingredient for the cupcakes (though i ain't telling yet what exactly i need them for), and the cupcakes just won't work without these darned orange gumballs!! i was gonna have gee ship them in from australia, totally not remembering the chewing gum ban. heh!

so yesterday noel and i were out looking at party stuff, keeping an eye out for any possible alternatives we may find. the first possible alternative would be orange jelly beans, but they might be too small. the same for orange m&ms. and can you imagine the number of m&m packs i have to go through to get enough?? lol!

alas, we may have a winner with the van-houten-like chocs (that have either almonds or hazelnuts inside). you know those ones? they have the right shape and the perfect size. so we're gonna resort to coating them in orange icing. i hope it'll work!

so apart from the food and the baking ingredients, i dare say we're all set. no WAIT! i have the craftwork to see to. dang, i darn near forgot about them! i have the invites and the birthday banner to work on! sigh. nevermind, i still have 18 days before the invites need to be mailed out.

friends are asking us to come up with a wishlist (as we did last year) so they know what to get for dray. but you know, i can't think of anything drayden wouldn't love if you got it for him. even if you scrunched up a piece of paper into a ball, he'll have a blast with it! true story. this was exactly how gerry, noel and i kept him entertained the day we chilled out after thursday's class.

so really, don't think too much about it, i'm sure drayden would love whatever presents he receives. =) BUT, if you really want an idea, i think a sony psp would be awesome! lol! okay i'm just being silly! it's just that it would be great to keep him off my iPhone! heh! plus he's always making nice to men boys guys sitting next to me on the bus if they have a psp! like, someone give him one of his already, please! lol!

just yesterday when we were on the way out, this guy sitting next to us was playing on his psp, and drayden was such a big nosy fella, practically leaning into the guy's field of vision, and getting all dramatic and full of sound effects with the going-ons on the screen. i seriously think this boy would be smart enough to work the gadget. like hello, he's already playing fifa on the ps at home, okay! lol!

well, i'm heading out later today with the little man to do some shopping, and possibly stop by Timbre later in the night. i still owe nal his birthday present! been too busy i haven't even looked!

have a blast over the weekend, everyone, and...

29 days to the party!

skin art

ok today we brought home a marker set, thanks to Hasanah and Gerry, and look who went wild with them!

well, if you can't beat them, join them, so i drew a smiley face on him! =)







disclaimer: don't fret! the markers are completely non-toxic and washable! =) and no markers were harmed during the shooting of these photos.

term one is over!

we had our class party to celebrate the last day of term today, and boy, did we have fun!!
pictures here!


click on the pictures above to be directed to the photo album

babble babble beep beep!

we didn't go to class on tuesday, because i had a hard time waking drayden up, and he was a big grumpy-bums when he did, so we decided to give class a miss in the end. i was mighty disappointed, though. i LOVE being in playclub, to the point that yesterday i thought, well, if drayden doesn't want to go, then i'll go! it's just so enjoyable to be around all the adorable children, especially with Gerry leading the class. i can't wait for tomorrow's class now.

it's the last for the term, and we're gonna have a big class party. Gerry called to tell me both parents can be in class tomorrow, so yey! it's gonna be fun! at least one of us can take pictures! noel and i decided to bring some chicken nuggets to class in the end, for the potluck. i really can't wait! i'm such an excited mommy, aren't i! lol!

drayden's two favorite activities right now are kicking his football around, and drawing/coloring with his crayons. with BOTH activities we're FORCED to participate. he will bring his favorite ball (the eight-dollar one that noel got from toys 'r us) and make sure we sit across him and pay attention. otherwise, he will walk up to you, tap you repeatedly on the chest, and go: "ey, ey, ey" until you stop what you're doing and focus on him. you have to give him your full attention, as he places the ball down calculatedly, steps backwards like pro, and then runs forward and delivers a mighty kick. this goes on over and over until he's had enough 'practice', and there's no telling when that'll be.

but it's quite amusing, because each time before he does that little routine, he looks at you to make sure you're paying attention, and then says: "ready, kick!" with his cheeky little grin. it's hard not to oblige and just entertain him. =)

with his crayons and his big-boy drawing block that daddy got for him, he would spend many, many minutes lying on his tummy, legs kicking in the air, scribbling and doodling shapes and lines that only he can make out what they're supposed to be. but most times, he would ask you to sit next to him, and he'll hand you a crayon ("nah, nah, nah", so you can't refuse!) and a mouthful of babble will be spoken to you, with the last word of the whole loooong line being: "draw". mind you, it's like he's telling you a story, complete with hand gestures and facial expressions. so its: "gjagitaftruytuuagtecxxaceytagapeodnfkjh, draw."

and you're left wondering, "draw what???!"
so it becomes a game kinda like, reverse "win, lose or draw" because you don't know exactly what it is you're supposed to draw. oh but it's entertaining.

his favorite sentence for the moment, on the other hand, is: "how much?" all thanks to noel who says that everytime drayden said "money!". so now we have a toddler who points to everything in the room (or when we're out) and asks: "how much?" but he says it in his own little funny way so it sounds more like "ah march", with a lot of emphasis on the ch-sound, as how he emphasis all his other words. like, outtttt, and waittttt, and watccchh. heh!

and the cutest thing happened today. while i was taking money out from my wallet to pay the taxi driver, the little rascal confidently leaned forward and asked the driver: "ah march?" cab driver was super amused. lol!

right now he's on the phone in a conversation with noel (who's gone out to get dinner), and all i can hear is gjdgajgdakhkhakheyiypopbbc and the occasional "ah march", "why" and "oh no". very funny!

alright, i've got a few emails to see to before noel gets home with food. wait for pictures from our class party tomorrow!
have a good night, everyone!

two heads better than one?

last year when we did drayden's first party, i pretty much left noel out of most of the decision-making process. rude, i know. heh. partly thanks to the hazard of being a virgo therefore my maniacal need to be in control of e-ver-ree-thing and have it all my way, and hugely because i was afraid noel was gonna fret over how out of control (oh the irony, indeed) i was being with the details and expenses! i am one to pull out all the stops when it comes to parties, what more my son's FIRST birthday!

but this year i think it's only nice to let noel have a say. partly because my purse strings are a little tight at the moment. hee! so we sat down yesterday and discussed how we're gonna have the party next month...though still careful not to allow any room for him to disagree with or throw out my ideas. tee hee.

i think we did pretty well. the only bit we disagreed on being the food. but i can't remember now what we settled on! lol! one thing for sure, we are keeping this year's guest list a lot smaller than the last. i'm a little sad, but we have to be realistic.

it's also great that noel has had extensive events planning experience, so he comes with a bagful of ideas that are super duper cool. and i'm thankful i have a husband who's very game with organizing and executing parties on our own - it's very encouraging to have a partner who's equally enthusiastic and involved.

i really, really can't wait for the party date!

the english police!

what a week! but i think it's been a very fulfilling one, cos i'm happy with the diaper cakes that were put together for this week - some of them were of pretty challenging themes! and i think "golf" is becoming quite a highly-requested theme, though it is also quite a task because we can hardly find any golf-themed baby stuff here, but that makes it all the more gratifying to accomplish! i love challenges and when my clients give me really "odd" themes to attempt. once i had a request to create a cake with a "pole dancing" theme! needless to say, it was fun to try!

this week i had two (separate) golf-themed diaper cake orders, and it's double the challenge, because it means i have to create two entirely different but similar-themed cakes, if you know what i mean! oh but it was fun.

today we went to check out possible party venues together with william, and i'm happy say that we've decided on the one. i like places with huge outdoor areas, so there'll be lots of space for the kids to play and run around, and the party is also not confined indoors. my heart was already set on venue A, but venue B looked promising online as well, and was at a much cheaper rate, so we decided it's best to have a look-see in person before we decide. in the end, we went with what my heart was set on initially.

so that's settled then.

you know, if you follow my tweets you probably would have heard me say this, but i think parents should learn and remember to speak good English with their children. if i had a dollar for everytime i cringe when i hear singaporean parents talk to their kids, i think by now i can afford to throw drayden's second birthday party at resort world singapore. seriously.

i'm not talking about the accent, or the vocab - no need to impress with your big words and distinct enunciation - its the tenses, and good god, be rid of that awful singlish, will you??

have you heard how children speak these days? we have the parents and their love-for-singlish to thank for! is grammar that hard to observe, and proper sentence construction so difficult to put into pratice? is it thaaaat much of a chore to let remain those one or two words in our speech that make or break a proper sentence? like, will it kill us if we say "where did you go?" instead of just "where you go?"

and if i hear one more person say "how come like that?" i will SCREAM!! i really don't think good English is difficult to employ. it's just a matter of not being lazy, that's all. and not literally translating the sentences as we speak it in our mother tongue.

talking about being lazy, do you know i hate and try my best not to sms with abbreviations? i can't stand it! i hate how people spell "then" as den, "also" as oso, and all those other abominable abbreviations people come up with. i don't even abbreviate the word "you"!! ok soooometimes i do, i get lazy and just key in "u", but as best as i can, i don't! i spell out my 'you's, my 'tomorrow's and even my 'thanks's. i can't stand all these shortforms! ok, in my defense, i think "u" is still forgivable because the spelling and the pronunciation is not lost or compromised, unlike the 'den's and the 'oso's!

if you ask me, it's one step on the highway towards bad english. not to mention what a headache it can sometimes be trying to figure out what on earth the other party is trying to communicate with a highly-abbreviated text message. irritating!

and and and, pEOplE wHo tYpE liKE tHiS should be chopped to pieces and fed to dogs! ok a bit extreme. maybe just have their fingers broken so they can no longer tYpE LiKE tHIs. isn't it so difficult to type?? i just spent like 30 seconds trying to type that last phrase! why would you want to subject yourself to that?? doesn't it make you feel retarded, like you don't know how to work a keyboard? not to mention, mentally draining, trying to figure out what to capitalise and what not to. geez!

ok enough ranting! call me the english police, if you want! lol. but this was supposed to be a happy post! i'm gonna get back into my party planning mode, because this morning i woke up and realised i have only about a month left to the party date! this time last year all was nearly settled! but this time round i'm not even close to being half-settled! it's almost time to panic!!

later, ya'll!

gold week

i actually made a mistake thinking that this week was the last week of term. it is actually only week nine, and we still have two weeks more till term two starts on March 22 (well, 23rd for us). as mentioned, we celebrated the color gold this week, and i seriously couldn't think of anything gold to put on dray. not that he'd allow me to tie a gold ribbon on his wrist, neck or anywhere for that matter. so, i put him in the next closest color to gold - yellow. can, lah!

i did the best i could for myself: gold belt, gold earrings, and my gold wicker bag. =)


there was a lot of gold involved in this week's art! on tuesday, we pasted on gold bars and gold coins on a money truck, and then came dray's all-time favorite part: glitter! i think his piece is the only one crazy-filled with gold glitter.


see how crazy-enthusiastic he is!


i don't have a picture of the finished product because gerry took it to include in the children's end-term portfolio. each child's random artwork is taken so the teachers can attach them to their portfolio, which will be handed out on the last day of term.

so anyway, the next art activity was a test of extreme fine motor skills. we had to string pasta through a golden string to make a necklace. only four pieces, thankfully. lol!



so diligent and full of concentration
after which, the "necklace" was dipped into gold paint:


and ta-da!!


nice??? =)
today for the first artwork we painted on a gold car using a stencil, on which we dabbed on gold paint using a sponge. without warning (though i should have known better!), dray went bonkers slamming the sponge-brush on the paper and went bang-bang-bang, gold paint was flying everywhere! i had to calm him down, and we were able to complete the task a little less crazily.



and then it was glitter time again, so Dray went bonkers once again, (sigh..), and here we have it, our gold car:


the next activity was longer than usual, but very very fun! after painting a paper plate with gold paint, we pasted on many many gold bits, like gold leaves, gold ribbons, gold pipe cleaners, and more!


would you believe dray was actually singing when he was doing the artwork? lol! and let's see if you can guess what we were suppose to make for this activity:


no?? why, its Mr Golden Sun, of course! well, the gold cellophane paper is supposed to be the "rays", but since i do not re-arrange dray's artwork, our poor Mr Sun only has three rays and they shine inwards, ok? hee.

but the boy must be given credit for not losing interest midway during the activity! =)

next week on thursday we're having an end-of-term party, and its potluck, so we each have to bring a food item - either finger food, drinks or dessert. i haven't decided yet what to bring. we gotta let Gerry know by tuesday anyway.

ok, i'm feeling a little hungry talking about food now, and i think so is dray, he's eating his crayons, okay gotta go, bye!

exciting things to share!

yesterday was a day of many firsts for noel and i. thanks to the kind folks at nuffnang, we received two complimentary movie tickets to the gala premier of Alice in Wonderland at Shaw Lido. the movie only opens on March 4. it was very unexpected and truly a sweet surprise, considering just days prior i was FB-ing how much i adore tim burton, and (do i really need to say this?) johnny depp.

and like a wish come true, we get to be among the many other firsts to watch the movie!


it was an especially special "event" for us, because this will be our FIRST movie since we had drayden, and also our FIRST movie WITH drayden. mad excited, but at the same time also a tad apprehensive how he'll behave in a theater.

but still, super duper uber excited! =)


daddy and dray in matching cookie monster tees!
we arrived at lido just in time to catch the dancers and stiltwalker performing an act at the lobby of the building. and we got cute little cupcakes, too, with an A (for Alice) on it!



after collecting the complimentary tickets, dinner was chowed down in a matter of minutes, cos waiting for a seat took foooor-evvvv-er.

i think some people were seriously overdressed for the movie premier. i mean, it wasn't like there was a red carpet or camera crews or anything. well, not that i saw, anyway. but some folks were seriously decked to the nines like they were attending a high-profile event, in their cocktail dresses and all. on the contrary, last night's premier was like going for an ordinary movie date!

and the queue, i tell you, was not funny at all. because it was free seating, the queue was actually snaking from Lido 1, to the restrooms, and then back down to the snack bar, and along again to the big glass doors at the escalators. seriously not glam for you to bother dressing up for. it's not like the hollywood ones, lah. some people really take these things waaaay to seriously, lol.

anyway, it was a very strict no-cameras-and-no-phones-allowed premier, so sadly, i can't take more pictures of us in the theater, as much as i had wanted to document such a monumental event for us, heh. just some shots of the movie posters. booooo.




i don't have to say i loved the movie. it goes without saying! tim burton and johnny depp are like one of the most "power" collabos ever! did you know that they have worked in seven movies so far? starting with Edward Scissorhands in 1990 to Ed Wood (which also starts SJP), Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeny Todd, and now Alice in Wonderland. their eighth project, Dark Shadows, is still a work in progress.

i shan't spoil it by telling you about the movie. go watch it, even if you haven't read the book, you'll enjoy the different unique characters and appreciate the bits of humor here and there. and oh, catch it in 3D if you can!

drayden was surprisingly well-behaved throughout the movie! he was actually engrossed, eyes not wandering away from the screen, hands busy in the popcorn tub, stuffing his tiny mouth with popcorn. he didn't fuss nor did he get restless, which was such a relief, and made the movie date such an easy and pleasant one for us. in fact, in one serious part of the movie, he actually went "oh nooooooo!!" very loudly and very dramatically, as if he understood what was going on, lol!

and everytime he sees the cheshire cat, he would point excitedly at the movie screen and go "meow, meow, meow". i tried to shush him for a while, but gave up in the end, cos i didn't think he was being disruptive anyway. one time, after meowing and meowing, i tell you, he tapped the guy sitting next to him (yes, he had his own seat!) and asked: "nice???" and the guy was kind enough to humor drayden. *slapsforehead*

but all in all, he was a very good boy, so i think we can bring him to more movies in future, and maybe we'll start with the animated ones. i think toy story is coming soon! but nearing the end of the movie, he asked to nurse, and we walked out of the theater with a positively passed out toddler.

so our FIRST movie date went really well!

another exciting piece to share: my FIRST tattoo since having drayden! i have forgotten what it's like to go under the tattoo gun, and my back piece is still a work in progress (we had stopped working on it when i learnt i was pregnant, and have not resumed till now, much to noel's chagrin) so i really have no idea how i'll handle the pain.

to make matters more pressurising, the whole session was to be filmed on camera, for one of the episodes of this tattoo-themed internet tv programme that the husband is hosting. to give you a brief introduction, the husband is part of an internet tv show "Skin Art", produced by clicknetwork.tv, the same folks that bring you the "Shan and Rozz Show" and "Xiaxue's Guide to Life", to name a few.

"Skin Art" is a programme centered on all things pertaining to skin and body art, like your piercings, tattoos, and never-seen-before-or-talked-about body modification art like branding and scapeling. if you're going "huh, what's branding?", well go on over to clicknetwork.tv's website, and watch the debut episode of "Skin Art", which opens with this precise artform covered.

and need i repeat, it's hosted by the husband?! =)

disclaimer and warning: the show and the rest of its upcoming episodes may be too much to stomach for some, so don't say i didn't warn you! =) and while it may not be appropriate content to promote considering this is a baby blog, i hope this can be an exception, considering it stars my other half, heh! must be proud of my husband, what!

so as i was saying, i was to be filmed on screen, getting an ink. i was almost regretting volunteering myself for one of the episodes! i don't take pain very well, and was afraid i'd be too drama on tv! lol!

how did i get myself into this? well, one of the episodes touches on "wacky and unique tattoos", and without thinking, i had offered my skin! well, i was already considering getting a tattoo significant to drayden, and i didn't want to have his name inked, since noel already has that. i had wanted a rosary-like necklace "wrapped" around my left arm, with a letter "D" pendant just above the star on my left wrist, but noel thinks i shouldn't get anything on my arm, should i ever want to return to work, plus it may be tough to hide sometimes.

so while searching online for ideas, i stumbled on this girl's photos who had a join-the-dot tattoo of a giraffe on her calf, and i thought: what a unique idea! it could be an activity for drayden for when he's older, lol! and it wasn't difficult to decide on a design. my son loves elmo to bits!

i think when i tell people i'm gonna get a join-the-dot tattoo (of elmo, at that), the reactions i received were quite "reserved", hahaa. not very excited, maybe cos most can't imagine how it'd look like. well, if you are trying to imagine how it'll look, then don't overwork yourself, here's a little help, heh:


my join-the-dot elmo tattoo DONE!

it should heal in a week's time, and i can't wait to let dray attempt to join the thirty-over dots! =)

i had it done just above my left (inner) ankle, and i'll have you know, it hurt like a *teet*! if you wanna see how (badly) i did getting tattooed, hold on up, and let me post the link to the episode here when it airs. i think i could liken it to when i was in labour!

anyway, here's me getting inked (by dray's godpa, Vik), and also the stencil of the tattoo design before we started:





so watch "Skin Art" if you're not too disturbed and affected by painful stuff, and lend the husband some support! =)

and tell me what you think of my tattoo, will you! lol!

drayden's artwork

last week, class' artwork was centered on trains. tuesday's artwork looked like a lot of fun! it was noel's day to bring dray to class, and here's what daddy and dray did in class:


train tracks!
after painting the vanguard strip with black glue paint - to resemble tar, i presume - the kids get to stick on colored ice-cream sticks to make the train tracks come together. noel and i have a strict dont-mess-with-dray's-creativity policy (heh), so we refrain as best as possible to correct or move around anything he does during craft.

so yes, his train tracks look nothing like one, hahaa, but at least his creativity is allowed to run free! lol! i've seen children from other classes bringing home these perfect pieces, there is no way they did that, and you know their caregivers or helpers must have lent a hand. adults are reminded often by the teachers to let the children do their craftwork as they wish, but i guess sometimes some of us just can't resist perfection. lol!

anyway, after putting together the train tracks, what they had to do was create a train, by putting a few carriages together! it's a very simple activity, where different colored carriages were glued on folded paper plates, that have been strung together:



so when you put the train and tracks together....


choo choo!! =)
cute right???

thursday's artwork was done at home...kinda like homework, heh, cos we were terribly late for class and missed craft time. so i asked Gerry if i could bring the artwork home and do it together with dray.

the first activity was a pretty simple one, where they had to paste on different parts of the train on a printout:


it's adorable how he knows where each part goes, after a little guidance. here's a video of him doing the activity!

the next artwork, the kids in school get to paint on colors on another train printout using toothbrushes, but back home, we could only make do with crayons. luckily, i had some crayons that i had bought from cotton on kids during one of our visits:



coloring it in

ta-da!

i hope we won't be late for school again tomorrow and miss out on the artwork anymore. that said, i'd better head to bed now! =) i still haven't decided what to wear to class - we're celebrating the color gold, and parent and child have to wear / bring something gold to class this week - so hopefully i can put something together tomorrow morning!

i'll write again tomorrow!
with pictures of us in our golden glory! =)

the difference between us

here's something i want to chat about, spiraled by the few incidences i've observed / experienced over the weekend: i feel that some singaporeans and singaporean parents are sometimes an uptight bunch. i know this statement may offend some, but it is an inescapable conclusion i come to, after seeing the differences in parenting style between local parents and expat parents myself. and i hope i may be entitled to an opinion, because this is what it is, an opinion - not a generalisation.

yesterday morning while standing in line in the long and slow-moving queue at popular bookstore, i was in between a pair of caucasian parents with two girls in front, and a singaporean mom behind me with her son and daughter. one of the caucasian girls was sitting on the floor next to her dad, reading a book they were gonna buy, and i noted neither parent made a fuss. most singaporean parents would be fussing for the kid to stand up, and not sit on the floor cos its dirty, etc etc etc. right? =)

but i find that most expat parents are more relaxed, and less freaked out about these things. they don't sweat the small stuff. a totally different story was going on behind me, and the boy wasn't even sitting down on the floor or anything worth freaking out about! he was standing next to his mom, holding up school supplies they were getting. but i think in the one minute that i was peeling my ears to listen to what's going on behind me, the mother must have dished out over five orders.
"boy, don't move, you'll drop the things", "girl, stand here", "boy, stand still", "girl, don't touch that", "boy, hold the things properly can!" and so on and so on.

i wonder: is there a need to be in total control all the time and order our kids to do as we say? and can't we just let our kids be kids? they're not robots!

you know, on friday, dray and i had stepped out just as the rain simmered down, but i had still put him in his wellies and his raincoat, because i know he loves jumping in puddles after the rain! so as usual, while waiting for the bus, i let him have his fun splashing and jumping into puddles. you will not believe the frowns and disapproving looks i was fed by the people at the bus stop - typically the aunties. it was as if i was committing a deadly sin, letting my son get wet playing with the puddles.

why are some people so uptight? yes, my son is getting his jeans all wet, but daaaang, how often does he get to have fun like this? and water dries up anyway! if we can't let our kids enjoy the simple and free pleasures in life, like walking barefooted in the rain, or jumping in puddles, or catching tadpoles in drains, what kind of sad, sorrowful childhood are we forcing them to grow in?

i had an ex-expat-boss, and we use to go for dinners at her place, she lives in a house in taman warna with a huge garden in front. and her nine-month old daughter back then is usually in her diapers only, playing on the lawn, with the water hose, making mud and rolling in the mud! the little bubba was always giggling and chuckling from pure fun! i used to admire her for being such a care-free mom, and i had vowed to adopt a similar attitude when i have kids of my own.

so i don't flip out when dray picks things up while he toddles along (except for maybe cigarette butts and tissue paper, but he doesn't pick these up anyway, heh) or when he trips and tumbles and decides to continue laying on the floor. i think these are just small stuff not worth losing our head over. i see some parents go all weird and shrill when any of the afore-mentioned happens, and i think they really need to loosen up a bit, lol!

i think children should be allowed to have fun, and sometimes fun can be dirty. yes, we need to be careful sometimes, for the sake of their health, but i suppose if we can find a balance between what is still okay and what is extreme, then perhaps our children will have a less stressful childhood, and one that is not filled with so many "do-this-and-dont-do-that!" commands.