Playing with Daddy

I realised that our balcony is 1 of Daryl's favourite playing places. Just now, Daryl wanted to play with his fire engine wooden jigsaw puzzle. Thus, he asked Kel to play with him. Kel, being the doting dad, went to sit down beside him.

On seeing the 2 of them played, I couldn't resist & took these pics.



















































































































































Seeing the above pics always brings a smile to my face. :p

Full Day

Today Daryl turns 34 months old. It is also the day that he starts on the full day childcare program. Kel & I wanted him to start on the program earlier so that he can get used to it. Hopefully by the time that mei mei is out, he would have adjusted to the program already.

For the past 2 days, we did a trial session with him. We left him in school for a longer period. Instead of picking him up at 12.30pm, we picked him up at 3.30pm. Teacher Rani had suggested this time as it would be after the tea time. Thus, he can have something to eat before he goes home.

On the 1st day, he was okie. However, on the 2nd day, he cried when I left him in school. However, I think it could be due to the fact that he had slept at 12 midnight on Mon night. Therefore, he can't wake up on Tue morning. This could be the reason why he was so sticky as he was sleepy. But when I went to pick him up in the afternoon, he was okie already.

Just now, I went to pick him up at 5.30pm. He was so happy to see me that he was grinning from ear to ear. Based on what I heard from the teachers, he seem to be adjusting well. I was so happy to hear that. Finally, 1 load is off my mind already. Now I can concentrate on my work when he's at the childcare centre. When mei mei is out, I can concentrate on taking care of her. When he's back, then he can have my full attention. :)

1st Swim

We have been so busy unpacking & trying to settle into our new house that we haven't had time to explore the condo's facilities. Today, Kel decided to bring Daryl for a swim at the swimming pool downstairs. Poor Kel deserved a break as he had been very busy unpacking & fixing up the house ever since we had shifted in. I feel very bad that I am not able to help him out. However, he had never complained about having to do all the work. It's times like this that I really appreciate him as my hubby. :P

Daryl was very excited when Asty changed him into his swimming costume & blew up his float. He demanded to go swimming right away. When we reached the swimming pool, he was so excited that he nearly jumped into the pool. Luckily Kel stopped him in time.

Initially, Daryl was afraid to let go of Kel's hands. However, after a while, once he got used to the water, he grew more confident. He even let go of Kel's hands & swam a few times by himself. We were so proud of him. I think after a few more swims, he can swim by himself already. Since I am not able to join them, I took pics of the 2 of them in the pool.

When it was time to go home, Daryl was very upset & refused to leave the pool. It was after much coaxing that he's willing to leave. We will be back again soon...

The Big Move

Today we will be moving to our new place at Baywater. As I can't be around during the move, I decided to seek refuge at my mum's place together with Daryl. We left the house at about 10.30am leaving Kel, Father & Asty to wait for the movers to come.

My mum was very happy to see Daryl as it's been about a month since our last visit. We have been so busy finding our new house, settling the paperwork, packing, etc that we didn't have time to visit her. Daryl was also very happy to see his Popo. When he saw her, he was like, Mummy, see... Popo is here, Popo is here...

As I am typing this blog entry, Daryl is messing up my mum's kitchen while my mum is looking after him in amusement. Let's hope that he doesn't make too much of a mess. :p

Commando Daryl Cheng

We were packing our stuff in the living room when Kel spied his commando beret. Daryl, being kaypo as usual, asked Kel, "what's that?" Thus, Kel thought that it would be a good idea to let Daryl wear his beret.































































Hopefully Daryl can have his own commando beret in future. :p

CDO TI Family

The Commando Training Institute's annual Family Day is here again. As Kel is 1 of the sponsors, we were invited to the event. This year's theme is "Street Parade". Thus the organizers had enacted a racing track on the parade square to coincide with the theme.

We reached the camp at about 6.30pm where we proceeded to the mess for dinner. Dinner was buffet style with foods such as potato salad, laksa, mee siam, kebabs, cha soba, etc. While waiting for Kel to come back with our dinner, I took some pics.

















































See how cheeky Daryl is when I told him to say cheese...

I gave up trying to take nice pics of Daryl, so I went to check out the wall where the organizers had put up posters of the previous years' Family Days. It was then I found Daryl's pic among them. Can you spot it?





















Daryl got restless waiting for Kel to come back. Thus, he played with the toy fireman's hat which was given to him as a door gift.

















































Then Kel came back with our dinner. After our dinner, me, Daryl & Asty proceeded to the parade square for the parade while Kel stayed back in the mess to chat with his friends. The parade was very impressive. 1st, there was a go karts 'race', then a mini motorcycles' 'race'. After that, there were performances by the dog club, SAF Music & Dance Club, stilt walkers, fire eaters, the Civil Defence, etc.

The highlight of the parade is the mini fireworks show at the end. When the fireworks show started, Daryl walked to me & snuggled up to me on my lap. From his action, I knew that he was scared of the noise created during the fireworks. I asked him whether he was scared of the fireworks, he said "yes". I told him not to be afraid as I am with him. His reply, "Daryl no scared, mummy is here." He's such a dear at times...

The parade ended on a high note after the fireworks show. We made our way back to the mess as there was an awards ceremony there about 1/2 hour later. On the way back, we stopped to admire the 2 fire engines which was part of the parade just now. Daryl was very excited to see the fire engines. He kept telling me, "Mummy, see... fire engine... fire engine..." Seeing how excited he was, I asked 1 of the fireman standing beside the fire engine whether I can take a pic of Daryl together with the fire engine. He told me to go ahead as they are there for picture taking. I guided Daryl to stand in front of the fire engine & took these pics.









































































When the fireman who told me to go ahead & take pics saw how happy Daryl was, he volunteered to lend Daryl his hat for picture taking. The above pic is of Daryl with the hat.





















Daryl with another hat lent to him by another fireman.

That's not all... The fireman, on seeing how happy Daryl was, asked him whether he wants to sit at the fire engine's driver seat & drive the fire engine. Daryl was hesitant initially. He only changed his mind when I re-assured him that I would be standing beside him when he drives the fire engine. See how happy he is...

















































When we were done with the photo taking, we walked back to the mess to meet up with Kel & for the awards presentation. After the presentation, we decided to go back home as Daryl still have to go to school tomorrow. We think he enjoyed the parade, especially the photo taking with the fire engines as he kept talking about it to Kel. What a night...

Daryl's New Haircut

I took some more pics of Daryl's new haircut today as I still can't get used to it. :p



































Daryl striking his poses for me before school





















Me & Daryl

Later in the evening, I took some of Daryl with Kel. You can see how alike they looked like now with their new haircuts. :p

Haircut

Kel went to cut his hair just now after dinner as he complained that his hair is too long already. We decided to tag along so that Daryl can have a haircut too.

This time, we decided to cut Daryl's hair shorter so that we wouldn't have to keep bringing him for haircuts. The result...

Both Kel & I feel that Daryl's new haircut is too short already. Thus, we are not very used to it yet. However, both he & Kel looks like a replicate of each other now. :p I guess that's the only consolation now...

Call Da Yi

Today is Vesak Day, thus Daryl & I went back to my mum's place for dinner. At the same time, I can pass them their presents which we had brought from Sydney.

My mum was very pleased to see her grandson, probably coz she hadn't seen him for like 3 weeks already. Pity that Pris had a wedding dinner, so she only managed to 'see' Daryl for a while. After she had finished her makeup, she played with him for a while. However, the cheeky boy didn't want to play with her. After she had left to go to the dinner, Daryl did something very funny...

He picked up the telephone & started pressing the buttons on the telephone. My mum who was nearby saw it & quickly went to disconnect the cord. She then asked him, "Who you called, call papa ah?" You know what was Daryl's reply? He said, "No, call Da Yi, asked Da Yi come back home!"

When we heard that, we started laughing... I told him, "When Da Yi is here, you don't want to talk to her, now she's gone, then you start looking for her." His retort to me? A cheeky smile... Can't stand my notti boy...

Sold...

We have just signed the Option to Purchase (OTP) form to sell away our flat. After staying here for 5 years, we decided that it's time to sell already. We had considered a few factors before making this decision.

1. Our flat is beside PIE, thus it would not be easy to sell it.

2. We bought the flat in its original condition. Due to the very short time frame (we took over the flat on 18 Mar 2003 & moved in on 21 Mar 2003), we didn't have time to renovate it. In addition, our finances were also very tight then. Thus, we didn't have extra cash to do any renovations. We only repainted the flat then. After 5 years, the flat is in need of a major overhaul. However, if we were to renovate the flat, it would be very troublesome as we need to shift out & rent a place for the time being. However, it's not very feasible since Daryl is still young & mei mei is due in Aug.

After serious consideration, we decided to sell our flat if the price is right & find another place.

We are very fortunate that our buyer is willing to pay $3,000 above valuation & he'll be paying our agent's commission on our behalf. Even though the selling price is not as high as we expected, we still decided to sell it.

Let's hope that we can find our new place soon.

Sydney Trip - 4th Day

This morning, I woke up feeling much better while Daryl was not in a very agreeable mood. We suspect that it's coz he didn't have enough sleep. Poor boy... All the walking for the past few days must have worn him out.

Therefore, he refused to wash up. We let him be as we didn't want him to throw a tantrum. Then we went down to the kitchen to have our breakfast.

We had plans to go to the Direct Factory Outlet or DFO in short today. Thus, we went to get ready after our breakfast. After we changed Daryl, we tried to get him to wash up, but he refused to again.





















Daryl lying on the floor & refused to move





















Sticking out his tongue when he realised that we are taking his pics





















Striking a pose for us

We decided not to force him & went to the car.

















































Me & Daryl. See how cheeky he is this morning...

When we reached DFO, it was already lunch time. Thus, we went to the food court to have our lunch 1st before shopping. Kel & Pat went to buy lunch while we waited for them at a table. While waiting for them to return, Daryl decided to aggravate me again. We were sitting on a bench with cushions on it. He kept walking on the sofa stepping on my sweater & bag. I told him a few times to stop walking about & sit down to wait for Daddy & Gu Gu Pat to come back with his lunch but he refused to listen to me. The last straw was when he stepped on me. Thus, he kena smacked by me again. This boy... I swear that he's going to shorten my life by a few years. He started crying, thus Kel came back to the table to check on us. I told him what had happened & he told Daryl to say sorry to me. However, the stubborn boy refused to. Therefore, Kel brought him to 1 side & asked him to sit down & wait for him. He had no choice but to comply.


When Kel & Pat came back, they got a sandwich & 2 pcs of cake to share while Pat got a chocolate for Daryl. She thought that it was a cookie, however, she was wrong. It was actually a very big piece of chocolate. Daryl had a great time eating it.































































See how much Daryl enjoyed the chocolate. I had to stop him when he had eaten 1/2 of the chocolate as I didn't want him to have a sugar overload.

After our light lunch, we went shopping. To our disappointment, there isn't much to shop there. We were looking forward to shopping at factory outlets such as adidas, nike, etc. However, they don't have it there. We took a break after some time as I am tired already. I didn't want to overexert myself coz of the accident last night. We sat at 1 of the benched outside DFO to enjoy some fresh cold air.





















Kel & Daryl





















Daryl & Me

After the break, we went inside DFO again for more shopping. However, Daryl was tired & wanted to nap. Thus we found a bench inside & sat down again. I laid Daryl down on my lap & petted him. He was so tired that he fell asleep within minutes. I told Kel to go ahead & shopped while I accompanied Daryl. When he woke up, we would find him. Kel went ahead to check out the rest of the shops.

While waiting, Pat & Mother joined us. Mother offered to look after Daryl while he's napping so that we can shopped. I took her offer & went to find Kel. We had a great time shopping without Daryl. :p In the end, I bought a Nine West handbag @ AU$39.00. Surprisingly, Nine West stuff is cheaper than Singapore, but that's provided that it's on sale. If not, it'll be about or more expensive than Singapore. For Daryl, we got him a new Rivers jacket for AU$14.95. He only got 1 jacket which we bought to Sydney, however, it's soiled already. Thus, we need to get another jacket for him to change. For meimei, we bought 3 Pumpkin Patch dresses @ AU$10 each. We were expecting more bargains at the Pumpkin Patch boutique. However, that was not the case. Poor Kel didn't buy anything as he didn't find anything suitable.

We went back to check on Daryl after our shopping. He had woken up by then & was not very happy to find that we are not around. Pat had to bring him to find us as he was about to cry already. Luckily we went back in time. Since he was such a 'good' boy, I brought him to the foodcourt to buy a cookie while Kel & Mother rested at the bench. Daryl had developed a liking for cookies with M & Ms on top while we were in Sydney. After buying the cookie, we walked back to the bench. He looked so cute holding the paper bag with the cookie inside. :p I forgot to take a pic as I was busy 'admiring' him. When we reached the bench, he sat down to eat his 'cookie monster' as he called it.



































The aftermath after he had finished eating his cookie

By then, it was about 6pm already. We left DFO & proceeded to Castle Hill for dinner. Pat had made a reservation for us at Hog's Breath Cafe there for dinner. After we were seated, the server brought the kids' menu & a cup of crayons for Daryl. He was so happy when he saw that & kept telling me that he wants to 'colour colour'.



































Daryl with his partially done drawing & his crayons





















Daryl & Kel. This is 1 of my fav pics. See how alike the 2 of them are? :p

For dinner, Kel finally had his fav steak. He's been wanting to eat the steak in Australia as it's supposely to be much nicer than Singapore's. I ordered the Natural Prime Rib - mega cut for him as he don't like any sauces on his meat. I had the Blackened Prime Rib - lite cut. They have 3 sizes for the steaks - Mega, Normal & Lite. The mega cut is very big, just nice for Kel who loves his steak. Luckily I ordered the lite cut coz I couldn't finished it after a few mouthfuls. Apparently, meimei doesn't like to eat meat at all. She's got the same taste buds as Daryl when he's still a foetus. When I was expecting him, I also can't eat meat as I would feel very nauseous. Thus, Kel finished up my steak & I finished up his sides.

After dinner, when I went to the toilet, I found that I had slight bleeding. I was very worried & told Kel about it. Therefore, after dinner, we went back straight so that I can rest. Hopefully, everything will be okie...