Girl Interrupted

Maybe now that you can talk a lot better, you always want to be part of our conversation. But not boring conversation like office politics, of course. So when mummy talks to daddy, you often go "Dont want Mummy talk to Daddy.." A few times, we would make fun of you by saying " NO, dont want Mummy talk to Phoebe." After a while, you got so fed-up and you said "No, this one!!! as you pointed angrily at Daddy. I know this sounds really rude and we often chide you for doing that but secretly, we find it quite funny coming from a toddler :-)

Feathered friends

Stand Tall

By the time you skimp through all these entries, it is probably apparent to you who is the better writer here. Daddy has always been a wordsmith and Mummy remembers how he would carry a pocket dictionary with him whenever he went out, together with his Time magazine. And how his wedding speech left some guests to tears. But that's besides the point. The topic which mummy is trying to broach here is how in life, and most often than not, you may not end up in a career where your strength lies. However, in the process of carving your niche or to prove your worth, do remember to stand tall and don't forget to love thy self.

p/s: Here's a picture of you and Daddy at the National Museum when we went for the Mozart for Toddlers workshop. Behind you is David.

Where's the contrast?

Here's a lovely picture of you showing your best smile. It was taken by Auntie Sereen when we met them for lunch on Saturday. I remembered earlier in the day when we were at the sony shop, the video camera there captured a picture of you and Mummy on their LCD monitor. And daddy dearest commented that you look exceptionally good next to me due to the contrast!!! Arrgh.....

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

Dearest Phoebe, over the long weekend, Daddy was conspicuously absent on the last day. Daddy had to be back in my old office with Uncle Tong Huay (Baby Xavier's Daddy) to wrap up some old business. Yes, Daddy was out and about for about four years with Uncle Tong Huay, racing to find the end of the rainbow.
You were most likely conceived in the thick of the Daddy's and Uncle Tong Huay's venture, when we were still struggling to find our footing. Your impending arrival was probably one of the main reasons why Daddy had to give up chasing the rainbow. The business was launched but there was no pot of gold; hence, the running of the business was left to Uncle Tong Huay who has been holding the fort alone ever since.
As we sat back and reminise about the good ole gung-ho days, I realise that whatever we have achieved was not only due to our hard work, we also had a lot of family support. Daddy had a lot of encouragement from Mummy, Ye-ye and Nai-nai. Never once did they enquire about the pot of gold, the only words that left their lips were "Are you coping well?"
There is a Western saying that goes "Dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants" and to Daddy, it means that whatever we achieve is never based on one's solo effort, it is always with the help of others, especially those who care for you. Phoebe, I hope in the future, you would be standing tall but do remember to look down and see whose shoulders you are standing on.
Be good and smile pretty, Daddy dearest.

My achievement

There are numerous blogs about other toddlers' achievements. Mummy often read in awe how some kids are so advanced in their cognitive and motor skills. Your achievement, to daddy and mummy, is to have join us in this world into this family unit, residing in our humble abode exactly after ten months of gestation and almost ten hours of labour. During those ten hours, mummy recalled daddy's reluctance to share how your heart beat went down during those moments of distress so as not to add more pressure to mummy. You were a real fighter then. And now, as we see you growing everyday, to us, is a major achievement.

Loving you for who you are

Last Saturday after the Trio class, mummy could not help but share her worries with Daddy. Mummy wondered why you could not sit still like the other two tots in the class. Mummy also wondered why were you so impatient and demanding during the class compared to the others. Daddy comforted mummy by saying that at least we do not air brush your 'flaws' and are constantly trying to see how we can improve your social skills and be a better behaved girl. Guess this is all part and parcel of parenting. The easiest route to take is to tell ourselves you will grow out of it. We could have chosen to ignore it. Everyday is a challenge and every other day, there is a new worry. Having said that, you are still our dearest.

Vesak Day - long weekend

It was a nice long weekend for us. We had a good mix of activities from trial class at Trio, to strolling at East Coast and a visit to Yi Puo's house at Tampines.

The Trio class turned out to be really enjoyable. For the memory game, you can now grasp the concept of registering the visual and trying to put it in the correct places yourself. However, mummy was a little embarrassed as compared to the other two kids, you exhibited demanding traits and a little too opinionated for your age to the point that one of the parents literally turned her daughter's head away from you.

The East Coast outing did not turn out too enjoyable for you as you were extremely cranky that day. It could be the hot sun. Mummy and Daddy concluded that the local climate is probably not a conducive learning environment for you. So looks like we really have to save save and save! Nonetheless, we must thank Eileen Ah Yi for planning the outing for us.

We ended the long weekend with a visit to Yi Puo's house. Yi Puo is as usual, very hospitable. You loved to play with all the stuff toys in the house. The initial plan was to head to T3 after the house visit but you fell asleep on the way to the interchange and mummy decided to change plans. We took bus number 3 home and it was a good 1.5 hours journey. You slept comfortably on mummy's shoulders and at that point of time, mummy just seized the moment of having you close to her as before we know, you will 'morph' into a big girl.

Everyday

Dearest Phoebe,
We celebrated Mother's Day over the past weekend. Mother's Day is a day set aside to honour Mummys all over the world; however, its creator has regretted the commercialization of this special day and she was helpless against its commercial progress.

As we stripped away the commercial sheen of Mother's Day, it's up to us (sons and daughters) to give thanks to our Mummies.We celebrated with Ah Ma and all by having a sumptuous seafood dinner last Saturday while the celebration with Nai-Nai and Ye-ye was a cosy home-cooked dinner, courtesy of Nai-nai. She cooked your favourite braised pork with meat bun, yum!!!

I looked on as Mummy coaxed you to say "Happy Mother's Day" to all the very experienced and greenhorn Mummies in our households. Probably, you may not know the meaning or significance of this phrase or the fact that we made special arrangements to have dinners over the weekend. These actions and words pale in comparison to what you experience everyday.
Everyday, Mummy looks foundly at you as you grow up. Everyday, Ah Ma showers you with unconditional love and care. Everyday, Nai-nai looks forward to the weekends when she drops by to visit us. Everyday, Mummy and Daddy are so proud just because of you. Everyday, dear, everyday!
Be good and smile pretty, Daddy dearest.

Acts of Labour :-)

It was labour day and you woke up at 5.30am to play. Sigh, just when mummy thought she could sleep a little longer. However, we spent a good three hours doing lots of activities together. We did some painting and colour mixing. These days, you are more fascinated by squeezing the paint out than handpainting. We also did playdough, reading and finally, we put together the counter bears in straight lines in accordance to their colours. Lovely!

Helper woes

On Saturday, mummy and daddy decided to send our domestic helper back to the agency. After months of mistrust, unhappiness and unnecessary tension with Ah Ma, we decided to depend on ourselves (for the time being) for domestic chores. But Er Yi was really nice as on Sunday, she offered to come over to our house to clean for us. So we are really blessed in that sense. (By the way, mummy turned down Er Yi's offer. Not nice right?)

On an interesting note, when we left the house on Saturday morning, and even before we broke the news to the domestic helper, you actually turned to her and said "Bye bye auntie." You call that ESP? Or maybe you have been eavesdropping our conversations. :-)

My cry baby

That's how you look when you cry. This is probably the first few photos we have of you crying. They serve pretty good purpose too cos when mummy showed you the photos, you said "So awful!" and would serve as good reminder to you not to cry. Smile pretty always.

An uncut diamond

Everyday, daddy and mummy would talk about you; whether over the phone, at home, or via msn. Here's one conversation which we had via msn:

Serene says:
ya..perhaps..not everyone is as cooperative as little ger.

CW says:
Yeap... she was a little gem..

CW says:
now she's an uncut diamond... we need to work with her closely so that she turns out her full brillance

Serene says:
well said!

(For privacy reasons, earlier messages were deleted.)