1st Day of CNY

Today is the 1st day of CNY, the 3rd time that Daryl is spending it with us. Next year, 1 more member will be joining us already. :p

When Daryl woke up, he got his 1st ang pao from Kel.





















See how happy he is





















Daryl standing up & screaming away while holding our ang paos





















Daryl can't wait to open up his ang pao from Kel while mine is left on the bed. :(





















Daryl checking out his ang pao





















Kel giving Daryl his 1st CNY kiss





















Daryl listening to Kel





















Daryl looking at Kel in amusement at something that he said

After opening his ang pao, or rather Kel's ang pao only, he was whisked off to the bathroom to wash up. Then Kel fed him his morning milk & we went to start on our preparations for lunch.

This year, since Pat is back, we decided to have a steamboat lunch with our family members instead of visiting our relatives. Pity that Chris & Francis's family members can't join us as they already have prior committments.





















Walter, Daryl & Moses. Daryl is all ready for lunch already.





















Daryl & Moses





















Kel's mum & Linda





















Pat, James & Walter

After a very sumptuous steamboat lunch, Kel's mum, Lawrence, Pat & me played mahjong while the rest watched a DVD. :p This time, I managed to recoup my 'school fees' back + some interest. Hehe... Kel was saying that our house brought me luck. :p

When we finished our game, the rest had also finished their DVD. Linda & her sons then make a move as they had to visit a friend. We then watched another DVD. Halfway through, Lawrence & his daughter left 1st as he was not feeling well.

Kel's mum & Pat then stayed for dinner. Kel cooked his specialty - abalone noodles for us. After dinner, Elaine & her maid came to visit us. They left at about 8pm together with Pat as they had to visit Elaine's sister's place. Kel then sent his mum back.

That concludes our enjoyable but tiring day...

Reunion Dinner

We usually have our reunion dinner at Marcus's place. However, due to an unpleasant incident last year, we decided to have it at a restaurant this year. Another reason is that, Pat is back this year for CNY. Thus, we wanted to have an extra special reunion dinner.

Lawrence had chosen a Chinese seafood restaurant located at the Bottle Tree Park as the venue for our reunion dinner. It was the 1st time that we were there. To my surprise, it's quite a nice place. There are many activities there such as fishing, longkang fishing, prawn fishing, etc for the whole family to participate in. I think that we will be back in future to check the activities out. :)

While waiting for everyone to arrive, we took some pics.





















Paul, Ester, Cheryl, Daryl, Kel & Me





















Chris & family





















Cheryl, Pat & Daryl. See how serious Daryl is. :p





















Kel's dad, Pat & Paul





















Francis's eldest daughter & Chris's 2 daughters





















Chris, Kel's mum & Kel





















Paul pouring a drink for Ester with Cheryl looking on. See how cheeky Daryl is. :p He's using his fingers to imitate us holding a camera & saying "Cheese".





















Daryl & Me. See Daryl's gesture again.





















Paul, Ester, Cheryl, Kel & Daryl





















Daryl & Kel's mum





















Daryl with his 2 thumbs up. Pity that he's looking down.





















Daryl with Kel's mum again. I like this pic, but pity about Daryl's hands in the air.





















Paul, Pat, Ester & Cheryl





















The Cheng males. Note that not all of them are in this pic.





















The Cheng males + 2 females





















Pat & Daryl





















Pat & Daryl again. Daryl is doing his 2 thumbs up gesture. Pity that it's blocking 1/2 his face.















































































Daryl & Kel's dad. See what I meant when I said that it's very difficult to get a good shot of him these days.

After dinner, we proceeded to Chris's house for mahjong. It's been a long time since I played already. Thus, I ended up paying "school fees". Luckily we didn't play that big. :p We finished our game at about 11pm. Then it's home sweet home as Daryl is tired already.

Daryl's Weekly Report

When I went to pick up Daryl today, Teacher Alicia gave me Daryl's Weekly Report & the artwork that he had done in school. I was quite surprised as it's the 1st time that I had received such a report.

In the Weekly Report for the period 14 - 18 Jan 2008, the Theme is "Understanding Self" & the Focus is "I learn who I am". Thus they covered the following :

Language:

1. Parts of our body
2. I am a boy / girl
3. We know our names


Mathematics :
Maths Concepts

1. Big & small
2. Counting to 10


Song(s) :

1 and 1, 2
2 and 2, 4
3 and 3 are 6 to me
4 and 4, 8
5 and 5, 10
Little fingers on my hands
I can clap clap, I can snap snap
I can roll them on and on
Little fingers, happy dancers, see my fingers on my hands


Teacher's Comment(s) :

Daryl enjoys the activities done in school. He loves to explore with the paints during Art & Craft & takes pride in his work. Well done Daryl! :)

Here are the pics of his artwork.



































This's a drawing of Daryl's feet which he coloured using balloon printing.





















This's an apple coloured by Daryl





















This's a drawing of Daryl's hands & coloured by him

It's a pity that I can't put his artwork on the fridge as Teacher Alicia told me to bring them back on Mon. Reason being that she's going to paste the artwork on the wall. Hopefully I can have them back when they are done with them. :p

Sending Kel Off

We spent our New Year's Day morning sending Kel off at the airport. He's going to China for his company's incentive trip for 8 days. As his flight was at 8.10am, we had to be at the airport at about 6am to check in. This means that I had to wake up at 5am while Kel & Daryl woke up at 5.30am.

When we were done, we set off to the airport.





















Daryl sitting on the trolley with Kel's luggage





















Daryl & me





















Daryl & Kel



























I took this pic of Daryl sitting on the trolley when Kel went looking for his friends. See how happy he was.

When Kel & his friends had checked in their luggage, we went to MacDonald for breakfast. :p Daryl likes going to the airport, not only coz he can see his favourite airplanes, it's also coz he can eat MacDonald.

After our sumptuous breakfast, it was almost time for Kel & his friends to board the aircraft already. We sent Kel off at the departure gate. He gave Daryl a very big hug at the gate. I guessed that he's going to miss Daryl a lot when he's there. This's the 1st time that he's going away for such a long time. We watched him till he disappeared among the crowd. After that, we went to the viewing gallery to see the airplanes. We saw the airplane that Kel will be boarding & I pointed it out to Daryl. He told me, "Daddy, take airplane." Then he asked me, "Mummy, daddy where?"

It's going to be a long 8 days...

Like Daddy Like Daryl

Seeing Daryl grow up everyday either makes me laugh or tear out my hair in frustration. Tonight, it's the former. We were lying on our bed watching TV before Daryl's bedtime. When it's time, we asked him whether he wants to drink milk or not. His reply : "Yes, drink milk." So, Kel the doting dad went out to the kitchen to make milk.

When he came back, he saw this...





















Daryl had taken his hanky, folded it into half, laid down on Kel's pillow, pulled up the blanket & laid down on the pillow to wait for Kel. Note that he had done the above without any assistance from me. We couldn't stop laughing when we saw this.

After finishing his milk, we laid down on the bed to finish watching the program. Daryl, on seeing Kel's posture, decided to imitate him.





















See the cheeky look on his face. Seeing this pic always brings a smile to my face.

Notti Daryl

Daryl makes me vomit blood sometimes. You know what he did just now?

Kel & I were watching TV just now while Daryl was playing with his new Elmo bag. He took out the wet wipes inside the bag & started to take out the wet wipes one by one. Asty, who was beside him, let him take 1 to clean his face & hands. However, he's not satisfied. He still wants more. I refused to let him take anymore out & he threw a tantrum! He threw his Elmo bag onto the floor. This earned a smack from me. Then he threw the wet wipe onto the floor. This earned another smack from me. Next he went to hit Asty. That got him another smack. I told him to stand there & don't move as he had been a very notti boy. He stood there & sulked while I went back to sit on the sofa.

Asty picked up the wet wipe from the floor & put it on the coffeetable. Daryl saw it & he went to take it & threw it on the floor again. I got up from my seat & went after him. He ran... round & round the coffeetable. I managed to catch up with him. Then u know what he did? He ran to Kel who was sitting at the other side of the coffeetable & held out his hand to Kel! He wants Kel to smack his hand! He knows that my smack would hurt so he rather Kel smacked him. Kel then gave him a light smack & Daryl went to hug him from the back, preventing me from smacking him. Asty started laughing as it was so funny. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry when I saw that. He's such a cheeky boy...

Daryl Started School

Today is a big day for Daryl! He's finally starting school!

Kel & I were very excited about today. I was telling Kel that it feels like yesterday that I was pregnant with him. Now he's all grown up & attending school!

Kel woke Daryl & me up at about 8am. While I went to shower & get ready, Kel whisked Daryl out to the living room to have his breakfast - a hotdog bun. Kel the doting dad woke up at 7am this morning to buy breakfast for Daryl. See... he's even more kancheong than me, the mummy. :p

After Daryl's sumptuous breakfast, Asty bathe him. Then Kel took over to dress him.





















































Kel buttoning the buttons on Daryl's uniform



























Then Kel combed Daryl's hair.



























Daryl striking a pose for us.



























Daryl with his 2 thumbs up.



























Daryl striking another pose with his 2 thumbs up.





















Daryl waiting for me. I was still getting ready coz I spent too much time taking pics & laughing. :p





















Daryl crawling on the floor. I have no idea why he was doing this.






















Daryl laughing for the camera.





















Daryl laughing heartily for the camera.





















Daryl posing for the camera.





















Daryl crawling to me when he saw me coming out of the room





















Daryl with his 2 thumbs up & me.

After that, Kel drove us to the centre. Daryl was so happy when he saw the centre that he couldn't wait to get out of the car. Kel gave Daryl a big kiss & we went in. At the entrance, we saw this.





















A cubby hole for Daryl to put his shoes. Isn't that nice? I showed Daryl the cubby hole & asked him to take out his shoes so that he can put them inside. Teacher Xu, the chinese teacher came out to welcome us. She took Daryl's bag & put it in another cubby hole which is inside.



































After putting away Daryl's bag, we went to join the class. Teacher Rani is having a sing-a-long session with the kids then. There are 6 children in Daryl's class, including him. There are 2 boys & 4 gals. Daryl is the 2nd child oldest there, but he is the shyest. When Teacher Rani introduced Daryl to the class, he was so shy that he hid behind me. By attending childcare, I hope that his shyness would go away soon. During the sing-a-long seesion, Daryl refused to sit on the floor together with the other kids. Instead he sat on my lap. Hopefully, he would be better in the coming days.

After the sing-a-long session, they had an outdoor play session. Daryl enjoyed it a lot. He only looked for me once during the session. After the session, they had to wash their hands as it was snack time. Their snack was a banana which Teacher Rani cut into pieces for them. When she was cutting the bananas, she asked the class what letter does banana starts with. Both Daryl & Zephan replied that it starts with "B". Daryl even spelled the word out for Teacher Rani. It was so funny...

Then they had a story book reading session which Daryl refused to participate. Coz he found the home section where there is a kitchen there. He spied the toy vacuum cleaner there which he used to vacuum the whole centre. *faint* Teacher Rani was asking me if he cleans the house a lot. I replied that he was imitating my maid doing that. This shows that he is spending way too much with Asty already.

The kids were allowed to play in groups after the story telling session. Daryl didn't join in at all. He was too engrossed playing with his vacuum cleaner. Teacher Rani didn't force him to join in as it was his 1st day. However, she told me that she would get Daryl to join in subsequently as he has to learn to play in groups. I agreed with her on that.

After the play session, lunch was served. Today's lunch is rice with chicken stew & a banana for dessert. Daryl was a very good boy. He went to wash his hands as told & sat down at the table to eat his lunch. During lunch, he only looked for me once. When he saw that I was around, he continued eating his lunch. However, he got food all over himself & the table. I was okie with it as I think that he would improve with practice.

When the kids finished their lunch, they took turns to go to the bathroom. For kids who are on the full day session, they had a shower. For kids on 1/2 day or flexi care, they got their diapers changed. Then Teacher Rani would make milk for the kids on the full day session so that they can take their nap. For the kids on the 1/2 day or flexi care session, they would wait for their parents or maids to come & pick them up. After Daryl's diaper was changed, we sat down to wait for Kel to come & pick us up.

Kel came at 12.40pm to pick us up. Daryl was so happy to see him that he went to take my bag & gave it to Kel. Then he went to take his bag & started waving bye bye to the rest. We were all laughing when we saw that. That concludes Daryl's 1st day at childcare. Let's see how he would cope tomorrow as I would be with him for an hour only.

Lazy Bum

Daryl's vocab is improving by leaps & bounds everyday. Just now, he said something which cracked all of us up.


We were having dinner at the coffeetable just now. Daryl is being lazy as he wants Asty to feed him his dinner instead of eating it on his own. Thus, Asty called him a lazy bum in jest.

A while later, I asked Daryl who is the lazy bum. His reply? He pointed to Kel who was sitting opposite him & said, "There... lazy bum." Asty & I cracked up when we heard that. Kel who was engrossed in the TV program, didn't realised what Daryl had said. When he heard our laughter, he turned & asked me what was so funny. I told him about what his baobei did. He didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. :p

Registering Daryl

Kel & I have been thinking about sending Daryl to childcare recently. We find that he's getting very restless at home. This coupled with the fact that Kel & I were very busy recently means that Asty is bearing the brunt of his restlessness. I found out that Daryl had been bullying her recently. If he doesn't get what he wants, he would smack her. If we were around, we can stopped & smacked him back. However, when we were not, there would be no one to stop him. Sad to say that my fil is not helping at all. Instead of disciplining Daryl when we are not around, he spoils him totally. So much so that Daryl is becoming a little tyrant. Thus, I think that sending him to childcare would be good for him.

We went to check out 3 childcare centres near our place for the past few days. Out of the 3, we decided to choose Cherie Hearts which is located at Jalan Singa. I like the way that they run the centre. I had checked it out previously with Trina. However, Kel feels that it's too soon to send Daryl there then as he feels that he's still too young. Now that he had changed his mind, I brought Kel to see the centre again. Luckily he shares the same feelings as me.

Today, we decided to visit the centre & enrol Daryl in the flexi-care program. It's a 3 hours program from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Our plan is to upgrade Daryl to the 1/2 day or full day childcare should Asty decides not to renew her contract with us. Even though she said that she wants to renew her contract with us, we have to be prepared just in case she changes her mind. Her conflicts with my fil are causing a lot of problems for us.

After registering Daryl, we were leaving the school when Daryl spied the Little Tikes car in the car pouch. He refused to leave & insisted on sitting in the car. I had to bribe him with sweets before he's willing to leave with us. I wondered whether it's a sign that we have made the correct decision. :p

Mami, Love You

Daryl did something which totally melts my heart just now!!

I have been trying to teach him to say "Mami I love you" for the past few days. Initially he can't really pronounced the words properly when I 1st taught him. Subsequently, he managed to say it correctly for the past 2 days. However, I still need to prompt him to say those words to me.

This morning, when he woke up, I was lying on the bed beside him watching him wake up. When he saw me, he gave me a very big smile & he said, "Mami love you!" My heart literally melted when I heard that. I gave him a very big kiss & told him that I love him too.

Kel later came into the room when I was changing Daryl. I told him about what his baobei said to me just now when he woke up. He didn't believe me. I wanted to prove him wrong, so I said to Daryl, "Daryl, Mami love you." You know what Daryl did? He actually replied me, "Mami, love you." Kel was soooooo jealous when he heard that. He tried to get Daryl to say the same thing to him, thus he said to Daryl, "Daryl, daddy love you." You know what the cheeky boy did? He looked at Kel, gave him a cheeky smile & he turned away! I was in stitches when I saw that! I told Kel that those words are exclusive for me coz I am the 1 who taught him that. So if he wants Daryl to say that to him, then he better start teaching Daryl. Hahaha...

26 Months Old

Daryl turns 26 months old today. As Kel is free in the morning, we decided to go & have lunch at Daryl's favourite place - MacDonalds or Mac-ni-nut as he called it.

We drove to the MacDonald at Kallang there as it has free parking. Daryl was so happy to be there. When we reached MacDonald, he immediately went, "Mami, bao bao, walk walk." He can't wait to get out of the car & walked into MacDonalds. We were all laughing when we heard that.

At MacDonalds, we order a MacNuggets kids meal for him which he enjoyed a lot. I took a vid of him then as I want to remember the look on his face when he was eating the food.



In the vid, you can see how much Daryl enjoyed his lunch, calling MacDonald Macninut, etc...

After the lunch, we had to rush off as Kel had a seminar to attend at Singapore Post Centre. I dropped him off there & we went to Parkway to wait for him.

After his seminar, Kel came to Parkway to meet us. We went to Mothercare to pick up our booster seat. We have to buy another car seat to put in Kel's car. Since Daryl is already 15kg, we decided to get a booster seat instead as it can be used till he's 36kg.

After that, we went to the hair salon which Kel frequented as both he & Daryl needs a haircut. It's Daryl's 3rd haircut since he was born. Surprisingly, he's a very good boy today! He sat in the chair by himself & didn't try to take out the cover! For his previous 2 haircuts, he refused to sit in the chair by himself & refused to wear the cover. Therefore, I had to sit in the chair while he sits on me. Since he's such a good boy, I rewarded him with 2 sweets & took some pics to show him what a good boy he had been.

The final result...





















After the haircuts, we went to have dinner at the coffeeshop nearby & we went home. What a day...

Hmph...

Daryl is getting cheekier by the day... Just now, he was playing in his playyard when he called Mami Mami. As I was busy doing some work, I didn't go out of the study room to check on him immediately. Asty went to check on him, however, he was protesting very loudly about it. When I finished my work, I came out of the study room & asked him what is wrong. Then I explained to him that Mami is working, so I can't come out to see him immediately. His answer is, "No no no..." My reply is, "Daryl don't be so notti k. Mami don't like notti boy 1." Then I went out to the kitchen to find some food to eat for dinner.

I was checking my cabinets to see what I want to eat when Daryl came into the kitchen. When he saw me, he went, "Mami hmph..." I turned around to see him standing there with a stern look on his face & his arms folded across his chest. When he saw me looking at him, he went, "Mami hmph..." again. He was trying to say that Mami is angry, but he didn't know how to pronounce it. So he subsitute it with "Hmph". He was imitating me when I was angry with him!! The scene was so hilarious that I had a hard time trying not to laugh.

Now you know why I said that he's such a cheeky boy...