My first winter holiday

My first trip to Beijing was awesome. My parents were extremely happy with me as I was so well-behaved. No whining, no crying (except for about 20 minutes at Forbidden City because Ayah forbade me to roll around on the dirty floor), no tantrum throwing whatsoever. I was very cooperative and I really had a great 6 days in Beijing.

I climbed up the Great Wall. Not all the way, though. More pictures later as Ayah is having a problem uploading the pictures to the laptop.

We had a day full of activities on Saturday. The day started at 9:30am when we went to pick up Kak Fatin, Kak Fifi and Abang Faris ( the 3Fs).

First stop - the National Museum to catch Young Cinema. Young cinema is held every Sat and Sun till the end of year from 1030am to 1130am, where they screen award-winning short clips and animated movies from all over the world. They screened four last Saturday.
This was where the movies were screened - a room on the first floor.
After the screening, 3Fs and I did some art and craft. 3Fs made a hand puppet each while I did some colouring.

We went to BG after lunch but it was raining so heavily we didn't get ouf the car. Instead, we went to Nyai's place to take a nap.After the rain had stopped, we went to BG again to blow bubbles! I had such a great time rolling on the grass and running around the garden and catching bubbles.

Click to see video.

We liked the Mother's room at BG. It looked very pleasant.

We had dinner after BG, before heading to the National Museum again to catch some "frog" performance Emak kept talking about. On the way to the museum, we saw some floats on Orchard Road and Ayah followed them so that Emak could take a video of the procession.

The National Museum at night. Nice, isn't it?

This was the frog thingy we saw. They gave us a bottle of water each to squirt at the frogs. The frogs are water sensitive and will croak when the water touches them. These duo could actually make nice music by squirting water at the frogs!

There was so much grass and free space we couldn't resist playing catching!

After the museum, we went to Esplanade.
To catch a musical performance by hmm.. I forgot who they were and where they were from!

Next was the performance by the NUS Jazz Ensemble.


3Fs hanging their wishes for 2007.



This was the event everyone enjoyed the most. It's called community drumming. They got people to sit in a circle and bang on the drums or whatever musical instruments provided.This one was really fun and we participated from start to finish.

The 2 pictures above were taken by Ayah who bought a new camera recently and has been crazy about snapping photos every since he went for some photography course.

Yay! Santa read my blog and made my wish come true! According to Emak, Santa initially refused to get the TJ bear for me and insisted on getting me another pair of Nike shoes but Nenek Claus came into the picture and played her part in convincing Santa to get me TJ instead. Yahoo!!! I love TJ. I kept hugging and kissing it and he tells stories in a very interesting and captivating manner.

Dear Santa Man,

Thank you so much for getting me TJ. I really, really, really love it. By the way, TJ cost SGD$109.90 but since you have been so generous in buying it for me, Emak is giving you a discount of $9.90, which means you owe her SGD$100. That's HKD$500 for you. Thank you once again, Santa. I love you!!!

Tata







Click above to take a look at what TJ can do. He can sing and play games with you too!


P.S Ajab, Santa DOES read blogs so maybe you should start posting your wishes too! ;-)

Yay! Ayah is back and we went to the airport today to pick him up. The minute I saw Ayah I hugged him and when he carried me, I simply refused to let go and I just rested my head on his shoulder all the way to the carpark.

We went for dinner after that and then to Toys R Us because Emak wanted to buy me that TJ Beary Tales bear but Ayah said it is a waste of money. Emak stood in front of the bear for about 5 minutes but Ayah refused to give in! Boo hoo hoo!!!

But never mind. According to Nenek, Santa Claus is coming to town(albeit an anorexic one)!

Dear Santa,

I've been a very good girl lately and I think I deserve the TJ Beary Tales bear. This bear is cool as it can tell stories, complete with gestures and all. It can move its eyes, nose and mouth! I really really want this bear. Can you buy it for me, please? Please, please, please. Instead of getting me another pair of Nike shoes, I hope you will get me this bear instead. Thanks! I love you, Santa.

It is Nek Jah's birthday today and we bought her a cake to celebrate. Nek Jah is Emak's only surviving aunt. We wanted to take her out but she was feeling dizzy after dialysis and that was why we ended up at her place. Happy 73rd birthday, Nek Jah!

It's so boring when Ayah is not around. No excursions, no jalan jalan. I was so bored yesterday. Ayah called in the evening to tell us he was going for a karaoke session with his colleagues. How unfair. Anyway, Emak couldn't take the boredom anymore- at about 10pm we went for a drive around Orchard Road. Since Nenek had not seen the Xmas light-up, Emak told her to come along but Nenek was sleeping in the car and only woke up to look at the lights and then she went back to sleep immediately after! By the time we reached home, it was close to midnight and I went zzzzzzz straight away.

AGAIN! I was woken up early AGAIN! I was very angry and refused to wake up but Emak resorted to tickling me. I laughed for a while then went back to sleep but she didn't give up. She tried ways and means to wake me up and when I adamantly refused to, she just carried me to the bathroom and bathed me!!!! Aaaarrrggghhhhh!

And where did we go so early in the morning? To the aiport. To send Ayah off. To Vietnam. To attend a meeting. Yawn.

This is Ayah's 8th work trip since I was born. When he left for Korea a month after I was born, I didn't know anything much and so I didn't care. But now I'm big enough and I knew what was going on so before Ayah went into the departure hall, I scolded him! Actually, we were supposed to tag along, like we did last year but someone told us there would be nothing for me to do in Vietnam. Yeah, it would be quite boring to just stay in the hotel room while Ayah's at work. That was exactly what happened last year. But never mind, when Ayah comes back, we will all go for a holiday! Yippie!

I will be starting at a new school in about a month's time. Emak has been checking out so many schools lately. I think she must have called up and read about 30 schools in total. My parents feel that I should attend a playgroup before I start kindergarten. They want me to pick up some social skills and Nenek has been telling them so many times that I need friends my own age. This school is going to be different from the classes I've been attending as I will be on my own. No more Emak or Ayah or Nenek in the classroom with me.

We went to check out one school last week. Emak was quite excited about it but she told Ayah to check it out first. Ayah came home with a good report of the school so the very next day, all three of us went there. Emak was happy with the facilities and the programmes offered by the school but she was very bothered that some of the teachers seemed so unenthusiastic. I wasn't really interested in the school too. I just stood near them and was quite happy to leave the place.
So it was back to square one. Emak started calling other places and making so many enquiries and she found one she liked as it follows a play-based curriculum and the objectives of the International Baccalaureate PYP. She called the school and spoke to the principal, then she got Ayah to speak to the lady, Mrs D. Ayah made an appointment with Mrs D and he was advised to take me to the school to test my reaction so this morning, the three of us went to check out the school.

The minute Mrs D brought us to the toddlers' classroom, I went straight to the teachers and children and started playing like I was already a student there. I made myself feel at home while my parents had a chat with Mrs D and we found out that Mrs D is Irish. She must be the first Irish woman I've met. She won't be teaching me, though. But all the teachers there are really, really nice and I really, really liked it there so much I refused to go home!

Since the school subscribes to a play-based curriculum, I will be doing nothing but play! No worksheets, no books, no spelling tests! (Ayah is extremely against spelling tests and worksheets.)And they're going to teach Maths through cooking! (And they serve organic food during snack time.Hehe.) I also heard Mrs D mention dancing, storytelling,art and crafts, pretend play, indoor play, outdoor play, water play, sand play and PLAY PLAY PLAY! Cool!!! Now I can't wait to start school!

It was the last day of term today and we had a special visitor. Before that, Lydia got all of us to make a snowman and it really intrigued me so much I was paying 100% attention when she was teaching us how to make it. It used to be really rare to see me pay attention in class or taking part in activities but I think I've changed quite a lot. Haha! I am now able to sit down and pay attention and take part in activities readily. I guess I'm getting used to the routine.
After snack time, our visitor appeared! BUT I was scared of him and hid behind Dante's dad.The visitor had a present for everyone and when it was my turn to receive a present, Emak had to get it on my behalf as I was too scared to go near him!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

I had to wake up very early today as Emak said we had many things to do! First on the list was to drop Ayah off at work. Next was Uncle Larry, who had to attend the 4th round of interviews for the same job! While waiting for Uncle Larry to be done with the interview, we went to Nyai's place where I whiled the time away stacking blocks with my cousins.

Then we got hungry and Nenek was craving for masala thosai so we went to Komala Villas at East Coast for lunch.
After 2 hours, Uncle Larry still didn't call....

so we took a walk to kill time. 12:30pm and still no call from Larry. Emak got impatient and called him instead and he said the interview had just ended and he got through! He told us not to wait for him as he had to go for a medical examination straight away. Oh what a waste of our time!

We went to check out Farmart Centre at Sungei Tengah on Saturday. Emak thought it was a big thing as it seemed pretty cool on the website but when we reached there, we realised that it was just a place with many shops selling vegetables and meat and stuff like that. It took us just 10 minutes to check out every single shop there and we left after buying some quail eggs for Nenek. The rest of the day was spent napping and getting bored as Ayah had to attend a 3-hour meeting in the afternoon and we were too lazy to go out after that.
Sunday was A LOT more fun, though. It started with a wedding lunch at New Park Hotel and I ate lots of naan.
After the wedding, we went to the National Museum. It was my first time at the National Museum but I don't really know what the place is all about. We didn't have much time to walk around as we had to leave for Vivo City immediately after the...

puppet show, which was the reason we were at the museum. Emak found out on Saturday night that there was going to be a puppet show- "The Three Little Pigs" -by Mascots and Puppets and remembering how much I enjoyed their show at the Discovery Centre, my parents decided to take me here to watch it.

On the way out, we came across some exhibits. I really didn't know what they were but I honestly thought they were skipping ropes!
Next on the itinerary was the Licks5d show at the Vivocity GV cinema. LICKs is a performance that incorporates cinema technology, digital animation and live performance! Check out the website for the trailer. I enjoyed myself tremendously and was jumping and dancing and prancing around to the music! It was an 85min show and Emak said it was worth every minute when she saw how much I was enjoying myself. I hope she will take me to the show again with Ophelia and Haiquel next week!

I attended my second SSO concert yesterday, the first one being exactly one year ago. This concert, popularly known as the Babies Prom, has been a hit every year and it's always difficult to get tickets to this concert. It's an SSO concert in a super fun way and is meant specially for children-very interactive and very informative. But I hope Emak gets us better seats for next year's concert!

In the evening, Emak kept pestering Ayah to take us to the Makansutra Gluttons Bay as she simply loves the mee soto so that was where we had dinner. Ayah didn't, though. He just watched us eat as he had had dinner with his ex-colleagues right before that.
We were taking a walk after dinner when we heard loud music so of course, we went to take a look and we saw... this. Some guys rapping or was it hip hop? Or are they the same? And Ayah just had to pass a remark about how a certain community is always overrepresented at such events but when it comes to things intellectual or educational, they are usually nowhere to be found. I think my parents have a lot to say on this issue but really, it's none of my concern as I'm more interested in toys and games! We left after 5 mins as the music was too loud for me.

On the way to the carpark, we came across this visual arts exhibit which was cleverly different!

I was not allowed to touch them though. Oh well!

The day started really early for me. I was forced to wake up at 7am! I normally get up between 9 and 10 but Nenek kept forcing me to wake up early today and immediately after I woke up, she insisted I go straight to the toilet and bathe, instead of letting me drink milk first like she always does. We left the house way before 8am to drop Uncle Larry off at some faraway place for a water confidence test. After that, Ayah went to a McDonald's drive-thru to get me a muffin toast for breakfast before he drove himself to work. By the time we reached school, we were 30 minutes late!

After school, Emak took us to Esplanade as she wanted Nenek to try the mee soto at the Gluttons Bay but all the stalls were closed so we went to Vico City instead and Larry joined us there where he ate one whole chicken by himself! He was told during the test that he is too skinny so now he is desperately trying to put on weight.

In the evening, Emak kept complaining to Ayah that she was bored and we pestered Ayah to take us to Sentosa! I think Emak is obsessed with the place.

Beautiful Sentosa. That was my 4th time there in 2 weeks!
My first time having ice-cream!!! It was so nice I even licked the spoon!
Emak wanted Ayah to take us to the musical fountain but he vehemently refused as he claimed he was very tired. I think I was tired too as on the way home, both Ayah and I were snoring ever so loudly.

Puteri Gunung Ledand the musical was AWESOME!!!!!

Uncle Man dreamt of me and according to him, it was a frightening dream.He dreamt that I was eating non-stop for days and as a result, I became a balloon. Uncle Man, this video is for you.





Oh Uncle Man, I can count up to 10 now and today, I said my first 2 syllable word- carpark. So don't worry about me, ok? I heard from Emak that you were questioning her as to why I'm not seeing the speech therapist anymore but I think I am making good progress on my own.I know I'm a little bit slow but I hope to get there soon. I know you're waiting for the day when I can pick up the phone and speak to you and I certainly hope that day will come soon.

It was Anaqi's majlis cukur rambut today and we went to Yai Mat's house to join in the celebration. Hmm,is it considered a celebration? Well, there were lots of food and drinks and everyone was happy so I guess it IS a celebration.

Bik Ila, Anaqi and Naila but seems like Anaqi and Naila were totally not interested in posing for the camera.
We really loved this bouquet of "flower cupcakes" by Bik Rozana. Interestingly different.

At night, we went to Tanglin Mall to take a good look at the "snow" Xmas tree outside the mall. We missed the avalanche, though. Yeah, the signboard indicated that there is an avalanche everyday at about 8 but when we reached there, they had just switched the machine off.
There was also a flea market that stretched from one end of the mall to the other end.
See the "snow" on the tree?
My parents tried to make me pose but as usual, I refused. I really hate posing for the camera, something which Kak Nana just realised today. Furthermore, I was afraid of that thing with drums next to me. Speaking of Kak Nana, we would like to congratulate her on her good PSLE results! You go, girl!

After picking Ayah up from work today, we went to Raffles City to catch the "Barbie in the 12 dancing princesses" musical at the atrium. It was a free 30 min musical and the princesses did some really wonderful dances. I enjoyed it thoroughly and gave a loud applause at the end of it all.

It was a girls' day out today. Emak, Nenek and I went to Vivo City after my lesson ended as Emak wanted to show Nenek what Vivo City looks like.

That's me and Nenek posing outside some restaurant, with the cable car in the background.

While at Vivo City, we walked past Life Baby and Nenek was immediately attacted to the clothes so Emak took the opportunity to let me try the clothes and and we tricked Nenek into buying for me...
this...
and this...

and this .....
and this....
before we went to Toys R Us and Nenek bought this for me! This vacuum cleaner actually works! So I guess now I will have to help with the housework but I shouldn't mind one bit as I'm the one who is always creating a mess.
To thank Nenek for all those pressies, we gave her a treat at Coffee Bean Sentosa. Ayah said it was a cheapo treat as Nenek's drink cost only $6, which is an extremely tiny fraction of what she had spent on me but hey, it's the thought that counts, isn't it? Hehe.

In the evening, we went out for dinner with Ayah and we thought we saw Ajab Booboo , the President of our Union, or maybe we did not, or did we?