I chanced upon a little piece of memory dated approximately a month before my wedding, tugged neatly somewhere …

***** 

When I was doing my practicum in 2000, my colleague had kindly picked me up from Yishun MRT everyday so that I need not have to take a feeder which was usually sardine-packed with students.

There was a guy who was there at the same time every morning. Lanky. Bespectacled. Handsome! We noticed each other. But never talked. Never smile.

Out of the blues, on the last day of the school term he came over and said hello!

“So you are a teacher” he commented.

“How do you know?” I asked.

“From the books you carry,” he said.

“Actually I am a trainee,” I explained.

“So you are a doctor,” I commented.

“And how do you know,” he asked.

“From the books you carry,” I said.

“Actually I am a houseman”, he explained.

We laughed.

I felt warm

I felt fuzzy.

I felt my cheeks flushed. 

Mysteriously, the engagement ring between my fingers felt

cold,

heavy

and akwardly significant. 

My colleague’s car pulled right in front of us.

I hoped in.

As she sped ahead, once again,

I felt my cheeks flushed.

felt warm and fuzzy as I heard the wedding bells and saw my husband-to-be, [square] but cute waiting down the aisle for me.  And the ring and my fingers felt warm and as one again.

 

Wind blew, lightning struck, thunder clapped and rain fell.

We had a full view of the skyline from our bedroom.

YiHang cuddled up beside me, whispering “Protect me Mummy!”.

YiXiang slept peacefully beside me.

As I held the little hands of the toddler and stroke the soft cheeks of the baby,

I silently wished that the moment will last forever.

Well at least, its now captured – my memories, deep in my heart.    

TODAY’S PARENTS November Issue (p38 – 45)

  

19 Ways to Play!

Keep the Kids entertained at home, creatively and cheaply.

- Cover Page -

What do you do when the holidays come round and the kids get restless? Take them out? Sure, but how many times a week can you do that without breaking the bank? Teacher mum Janice Chuah offers a plethora of fun and engaging at-home activity suggestions that mums and dads can do with the kids

- Editor’s note -

Stuck indoors? No problem! With just a little bit of imagination, its easy to create fun, engaging and educational activities to keep the kids occupied and survive the year-end rainy weather or even the school holidays at home! Mom to two, Janice Chuah shows how.

- Introduction, p39 -

  

*****

Some of the ideas such as painting and stamping activities, clay modeling and home cooking are familiar but the article is also packed with other creative ideas contributed my kids and moms.

I’ve met two brothers who operate a clubhouse made of sandbag, a mom who transforms boxes into cars and planes for her son’s imaginative play and another who teaches her children values through baking cupcakes. Delci shares on the benefits of homemade play dough. And there’s also an interview with Dr Ruth Wong from the National Institute of Education (NIE) on the importance of reading to children.

There are also many internet links and book resources – NASA Quest Challenge, recipes for making edible playdough, instructions for making puppets, songs and ideas for staging kids-size concerts using homemade instruments, etc.

This will be my last article for the year.

So Go! Grab a copy.

If you are overseas and would like a copy, drop me an email.

Last year’s Halloween bash, Yihang dressed up as a pirate.

This year, he wants to be a knight.

Check out these great DIY no-sew Halloween costumes.

 

yiHang is such a chatter box.
Sometimes we really need a break from his incessant talking and questioning. Thus the best game ever invented by his ingenious mom was “Who talk is a DOG!”

We usually play this game during car rides. The game starts the moment the engine starts and stops when the handbrake is pulled. All of us will agree on one animal as the forfeit, for example a dog. The person who breaks the silence will have to bark like a dog.

It’s a silly game, really.

But everyone enjoys it.

We laughed at the forfeits.

And savoured the silence.

Until …

New rules were created

“3, 2, 1 PAUSE GAME … Mummy, I tell you something …blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah …”

While, most parents may look on with concern as their children wolf down burgers and fries, we watched our child does that with delight.

For a very long time, yiHang’s main diet consisted of just porridge blend with chicken, fish and vegetables. Ice-cream, French fries, nuggets, cakes – you name it, we tried it. He was completely not interested in food. He merely chewed a little and then spat them out.

When he was about three, my parents brought him to see a Chinese physician and miraculously his appetite improved. The first food he took real interest in was roti prata.

Today, yiHang can eat almost everything. Though he has only 2 molars and 1 incisor (he lost the other while swimming!), he could gum most of the food. Pretzels, fries, fishballs, brownies with ice cream are amongst his favourites.

Friday nights are prata nights. After my lessons at NTU, we will go for his favourite roti prata and MILO dinosaur supper.

Last week, I brought the kids to Swensens. As usual, Yihang has a hard time deciding what to order but finally settled for his usual clown ice cream. YiXiang had a good helping on the fries.

Our fat and sweaty, thus smelly baby bathes 3 times a day!

YiXiang loves the water

He would kick and splash water all over when he’s in the tub, drenching us from head to toe.

Looks like we are the ones who’s getting a good shower!

***** 

Posted on: 22^nd October 2005

I am figuring the best way to share video clips on this blog. Let me know which is a better option – in terms of ease of view, download time, etc.

OPTION 1: Video clip converted to mp4 and uploaded to PS server. You need a QuickTime player to view it.

Option 2 : Video clip uploaded to a free hosting platform, YouTube. Do not need any player to watch it.

***** 

Updates:  24^th October, 2005

  

Thank you for all the feedbacks. Looks like Option 2 (YouTube) is a popular option. Video clip viewed via YouTube may appear choppy. You have to wait for the whole clip to be downloaded before playing it again.

- Updates : 1st October, 2005 -

YiXiang’s 1st birthday Celebration.

It was a simple celebration at home. A sumptuous dinner with a good spread of our favourites such as beef kuoy teow, claypot rice, otak, oyster eggs – ironically, the birthday boy got to enjoy only a really small piece of tofu.

But he gobbled up a big slice of his mango birthday cake.

And, to his greatest delight, Por Por (婆婆) made him red eggs.

*****

- Thank You -

YeYe, Nai Nai, Por Por, Ta Gu, Gu Chang and Xiao Gu for the ang pows. He’s loaded!

Kong Kong, for making a donation in YiXiang’s name.

YiYi and Uncle Vernon for the little toy car.

Everyone for their birthday wishes.

*****

- 30th September, 2005 11:30am -

I am real busy at work. And I’ve got a presentation tonight for my masters coursework. But I’ve squeezed time for this my lil’ hunnybun.

“Happy 1st Birthday Yi Xiang!”

 

Mmmm…just one year ago, at this time, I was still in labour :)