Chinese New Year

Today is the 1st day of CNY, the 2nd time that Daryl will be celebrating with us. This year, it's kinda of different coz Daryl can participate more actively, i.e. he knows how to take ang paos already. :p

Daryl & I woke up at about 8.30am this morning. As the lazy boy had a habit of lazing on the bed for a few minutes before he 'got' up, I decided to take some pics of him.





















A very happy Daryl smiling for the camera...





















Me & Daryl...





















Daryl with his trademark cheeky smile...





















Daryl sucking on his thumb & smiling at the same time...

Kel came into the room then to see whether Daryl had woken up. When Daryl saw him, he got up immediately & walked towards Kel. The 2 of them spent some 'quality' time rolling about on our bed.

When they were done, I changed Daryl & went to brush his teeth. After washing up, we went out to the hall to wish Kel's father "Gong Hei Fatt Choy". Then it was our turn to give our ang paos to Daryl.



























Daddy, where is my ang pao? Mummy had given hers to me already.



























Finally... let me 'feel' the ang pao 1st...



























Daddy stopped me from 'feeling' the ang paos...



























Argh... let me go...

After giving Daryl his ang paos, Asty showered him & changed him into his new clothes.



























Daryl is wearing his new Gymboree Yellow Top & the Country Road pants which Pat had brought over from Australia last year when she came back to Singapore. The pants was supposed to be a set with a matching Country Road T-shirt, however Daryl had already outgrown it. What a pity...

After Kel & I had showered & changed, we decided to take some pics for remembrance before we went out to bai nian.





















The Cheng males in yellow... As Daryl is wearing a yellow top, Kel decided to follow. To our surprise, Kel's father is in yellow also.





















A family pic... Noticed Daryl's gelled hair... Kel feels that his hair is too boring. Thus he decided to gel Daryl's hair.





















Kel & Daryl... See the happy smiles on their faces...





















Me & Daryl...





















Ye Ye & Daryl... See the smirk on Daryl's face... He is such a cheeky boy...

After the 'photo taking', we went to Kel's Gu Ma's place to bai nian. This is the 2nd year which we went to Gu Ma's place to bai nian. We only started going to there when Kel's father came to stay with us.

Gu Ma stays with her son, daughter-in-law, their 2 kids & 2 dogs. Daryl was so happy when he saw the dogs that he kept saying 'dog dog'. He had a great time playing with the dogs too.





















Doggy watching Daryl play with the toy car... (I am not kidding, the dog's name is really Doggy!)





















Daryl 'explaining' to Doggy the different parts of the toy car in his baby language.



























Daryl pushing the toy car around...





















Daryl & Doggy having a face off...

After Gu Ma's place, we went to Chris's place to pick up Kel's mum. We wanted to bring her to our place so that she can play mahjong with us. I think that she had an enjoyable time playing with us even though she had lost money. She left at about 10.30pm as she had to rush back to Chris's place to pray.

I think Daryl also enjoyed his 2nd CNY very much. After Kel's mum left, I carried him into our room & put him onto our bed. He was so tired that he fell asleep almost immediately.

Reunion Dinner

Chinese New Year Eve is traditionally the day for us to have our reunion dinner. This year, we had it at Marcus's place as usual. However, this year's reunion dinner is kinda of disastrous

I think the only ones who enjoyed the reunion dinner are the kids as evidenced by the pics.



























































































































I think Daryl enjoyed himself a lot too. He was the centre of attention as usual coz he is the youngest grandchild. Thus everyone is clamouring for his attention. :p

CNY Shopping

Kel & I went shopping today as we really need to do our CNY clothes shopping. We had been so busy recently that we only managed to find time today to complete it. Well, we can't complain coz in our line of work, being busy is good!!

We decided to visit my regular boutique - BloomingChic to get my clothes 1st. I managed to get 5 tops & 2 pairs of pants which should be enough to last me for another year. I don't really like shopping coz it's quite difficult to get nice clothes in my size. Thus I only shopped like once a year to replenish my clothes.

After that, we went to Tangs for lunch & to check my shoes & handbags & Kel's clothes. We had our lunch at the Island Cafe. While we were waiting for our food to be served, Daryl 'protested' about the wait. In order to keep him quiet, I gave him a straw to entertain himself.





















Daryl laughing at Kel who was making some funny faces





















Daryl biting the straw & laughing at the same time





















Daryl biting the straw

I also managed to take a vid of Daryl while he was playing with the straw.



After our satisfying lunch, we went shopping... We managed to get an Elmo water bottle & mini backpack for Daryl. We need to upgrade his water bottle as the current one is too small for him already. We had to top up his water bottle very often as he is drinking more water these days. There were times when we were not able to top up his water, thus poor Daryl got none to drink. As for the mini backpack, it was just the right size for Daryl to carry it & to put his biscuits, diaper, wet wipes & hanky in it.

For me, I managed to get a Renoma hangbag at 20% discount which is quite a good buy. The bag can be used for both work & play, thus I feel that it's a good buy. As for shoes, I didn't find any which I like, so I decided not to get any new ones. Think I will make do with whatever I have currently.

Kel didn't managed to find any clothes which he likes coz he finds that the clothes at Tangs are either too formal or too 'young'. He is one fussy guy... Therefore, we left Tangs & went to Robinsons.

At Robinsons, he managed to get a pair of beige chinos to complete his CNY wardrobe. That concludes our CNY shopping & we left for home.

Playing with Bamboo Poles

As CNY is coming, we had to change our bamboo poles. We have been using them for coming 4 years already. They were quite worn out & splintered already, mainly due to mishandling by my smart aleck ex-maids.

Kel went out this morning to buy new poles & he came back with 6 new ones. He placed them on our kitchen floor so that Asty can wiped them before hanging them up. When our notti boy saw them, he decided that they would make great toys.

Bug Bug Go Away

When we woke up this morning, I found 2 bites on Daryl's forehead.



































They were not there when we went to bed, thus I have no idea what had bitten him. Kel deduced that some kind of insect must have came into our room & bit Daryl when he was sleeping. Poor boy...

I told Asty to steam our bed & to on the Mortein Liquid Vaporiser at all the times so that we can prevent such incidents from happening again.

Crawling

For some unknown reason, Daryl decided to crawl around our room today before he sleeps. I managed to capture some pics of him crawling underneath the TV console.

















































He seems to find it amusing to crawl around our room. Luckily Asty is diligent in keeping our room clean. I shudder to think of the dust that he's accumulating if she's not.

Poo Poo Prince

Daryl finally learnt to poo while sitting on the toilet bowl! Previously I bought this Winnie the Pooh potty for him to learn how to poo, but he had refused.



























Therefore, I got this Winnie the Pooh Trainer Seat so that I can place it on the toilet bowl for him to learn how to poo.



























Today, he managed to poo while sitting on the toilet bowl. I was so happy when Asty told me about it.



























Daryl looking shy when I took this pic. I know that it's very bad of me to be taking his pics when he's pooing, but I couldn't resist. :p You couldn't also when you see how cute he looks sitting on the toilet bowl. Hahaha...



























Daryl giving me the 'look' coz I took his pics... Hahaha...





















Daryl's 'finished' product.





















Another pic of his 'finished' product.

I am keeping my fingers & toes crossed that Daryl will be potty trained soon. Wish me luck...

Saliva Daryl

I brought Daryl & Asty to Parkway Parade for dinner & to do some grocery shopping at Giant supermarket. Kel couldn't come with us as he's got an appointment. While we were at Giant, Daryl refused to sit in the supermarket trolley & wants to stand in the trolley. He is such a terror that I regretted bringing him out. For some unknown reason, he decided to blow his saliva while he's standing in the trolley.





As he was so notti that night, I decided to cut short our grocery trip & go back home. When I told Kel about it, he gloated & said that I should bring Daryl out only when he's free so that Daryl will be a good boy. Knowing my notti boy, I am sure that he'll make Kel eats his words.

Toga Toga...

After Daryl's night bath today, Asty used her creative juices to create a new look for Daryl with his bath towel.













































































So how was it? Can she have a future as a avant garde fashion designer? :p

Daryl the Dictionary Reader

Kel & I were working in the study room when Daryl came in pushing his walker. When he reached our tables, he decided to let go of his walker & explored Kel's drawers. He opened up the top drawer, took out something & walked out of the room happily. We didn't noticed what he took as we were both engrossed in our work.

A few minutes passed... Kel opened up his drawer & searched for his dictionary as he needed to look up a particular word. He couldn't find it & he turned & asked me, "Oi, you took my dictionary ah?"

I replied, "I am not so bo liao to take your dictionary. You must have taken it out & forgot to put it back"

Kel retorted, "No lah, I just put it back about 5 minutes ago after I finished using it. I am very sure that I put it back into the drawer."

Then it dawned on me... "Your baobei must have taken it!! He took something from your drawer & walked happily out of the room without his walker."

Kel went out to investigate. When he saw this, he cracked up...



































Daryl was sitting at the coffeetable there flipping through the dictionary. The best part was, he was mumbling to himself when he was doing that. It was as if he is reading it. Hahaha...

New Haircut

CNY is coming! Therefore, we decided to bring Daryl for a haircut. We were a bit reluctant to cut his hair as it had never been cut since he was born. However, his sideburns were getting a tad too long already, thus it looked kinda of untidy. We got no choice but to cut his hair.

We went to Kel's regular salon for Daryl's haircut as Kel also wanted to cut his hair. When it was Daryl's turn, he refused to sit in the chair & have his hair cut. I got no choice but to carry him on my lap. The stylist put this protective cover on me so that Daryl's hair will not get into my clothes. Then she put a towel on the back of Daryl's neck to catch the cut hairs. The notti boy refused to wear the towel & kept pulling it off. I told the stylist not to put it on & commenced to cut his hair.

During the hair cut, Daryl was very fidgety. In order to keep him still, I had to distract him with a timer. The stylist was very skilled & experienced. She managed to cut Daryl's hair in a very short time. When she finished, Daryl's shirt was covered with hair. I got off the chair & tried to dust off as much hair as I can. Then I changed Daryl into the spare set of clothes which I had brought along. Luckily I had brought it along. If not, Daryl will have to 'suffer'. Kel still said that I am crazy to bring along a spare set of clothes. Man...

Here's Daryl with his new hairstyle.

LittleTouch LeapPad Learning System

I bought the LittleTouch LeapPad Learning System for Daryl in Mar 2006. He has been reading it on & off with my close supervision coz I don't want him to destroy it. :p

Daryl surprised me tonight by taking the LeapPad & carrying it to me, indicating that he wants to read it. So I put him on our bed & he began to read it.









His 'reading' seems more like mumbling to me, but as long as he is 'reading', I am okie with it. :p

Daryl the Finger Pointer

Daryl is so cheeky these days that I can't stand him at times!! He did something really funny just now during dinner time.

I was sitting on the floor watching TV & waiting for dinner to be served. We decided to have our dinner at the coffee table today as we wanted to watch TV at the same time. Daryl was standing beside me watching TV also. He got bored watching the TV program & he took the remote control which controls the TV's volume & played with it. While he was playing with it, he accidentally off the TV's volume. I turned around to look at him. His 1st reaction was, he turned to look at me & wagged his index finger at me & went "Or...". It was as if it was my fault that the TV's volume is off. When I saw that, I don't know whether I should laugh or cry. Kel saw what Daryl did & he was laughing his head off!!

What a naughty boy...

Sleeping Daryl

We, or rather Kel went CNY shopping at Sheng Siong this afternoon. Why did I say that only Kel went? Coz Daryl fell asleep during the journey to Sheng Siong. When we reached Sheng Siong, we didn't have the heart to wake him up. Thus, Kel went alone while we waited in the car. I couldn't resist taking some pics of the sleeping Daryl. He looks so angelic when he's sleeping, but he's such a terror when he's awake.

Playtime at Esther's House

Esther & I decided to meet up for some shopping & lunch at the last minute today. She needs to buy a cabin trolley for Julian & some wet wipes for Nicole. We decided to meet at Raffles City so that we can shop at Robinsons.

As we were late, we met Esther & Nicole at Robinsons where they were already doing their shopping. Esther managed to get what she wanted. For me, I got Daryl the The First Years Toddler Flatware Travel Set 3-Pack. This would be useful when we are out with Daryl. I realised that not all places have kid sized utensils, especially at hawker centres. Unfortunately, that happens to be Kel's favourite makan place.

After shopping, we had a very nice dim sum lunch at Szechuan Court. When we finished our lunch, we walked around Raffles City before adjoining to Esther's place.

We had a great time there, especially Daryl. He spent the whole afternoon playing with Nicole.





















Nicole : Get up... I want to sit in my car...





















Daryl : Don't want, I was here 1st...
Nicole : Okie, since you don't want to get up, I'll make you get up...





















Nicole decided to get into the car with Daryl together.





















Daryl : Mummy... Nicole is sitting on me...





















Daryl : Hmph... I shall be a gentleman & let her have the car then. (Actually, it's coz mummy made me give up the car to Nicole. Mummy said that as Nicole is a gal, I can't bully gals, so I have to give up the car to her)

When we saw that, Esther & I couldn't stopped laughing.