Tantrums oh Tantrums

The days of tantrums have begun.................

After trip to Jakarta, seems like Vio has caught Cici Cheryll's "tantrum virus". More about Cheryll: she's quite a spoilt toddler with big tantrums. If she doesn't get what she wants, she'll cry loud... real LOUD.. And if she sees Vio wanna play a certain toy, she'll immediately want to play it, and she can't wait, she'll just grab it saying "Cheryll mauuuuuuuuuuu"  or cry.

At first, Vio will just watch the toys being taken helplessly (his usual reaction). But towards the last few days, Vio started to get smarter. If Cheryll want to take the toys that he's playing/want to play, he will:

1. Cry, or


2. Run looking for mommy/daddy, asking to keep the toy safe from Cheryll, or


3. (this is the cutest) Run hugging the toys away from Cheryll, while Cheryll cry loooooouuudddly asking for the toys, and Vio watching from afar.. Haha!

Even once Vio pinched Cheryll, maybe he feels Cheryll is too naughty.. Haha... But even so, they always play together. Luckily Cheryll has 2 baby stroller toys, so they like to push it together, 2 of them going round and round pushing the stroller. They look so cute!

Oh yeah back to tantrums: now if he doesn't get what he wants, Vio will cry loudly, with same expression as Cheryll. Tsk!! He'll even sometimes kicking his foot while crying.. Haiz... Bad things are infectious yeah?

And for the first time ever, Vio throw tantrums when he's outside the house. We were at Sunter Mall, bringing Vio play "mandi bola", the fee was per half hour. So we thought we just let him play for half-hour. In the end of half hour though, we wanted to bring him out but he keep refusing. He even lie down on the floor, rolling and crying while his foot kicking... Tsk tsk.. really like those kids in the book... In the end we managed to bring him out, and after going down escalator, he started crying loudly again, saying "go up! go up!" (He wants to go back to the playing place again). So in the end, we give up.... Coz we thought that anyway, we seldom bring him play those kind in Singapore. Might as well just let him play until he's satisfied while we're there.. correct? ;)

Hopefully these tantrum days will end soon..

Oh just to show.. this is Vio's face with fake cry, this happens when I don't give him the camera for him to play. But this is before Jakarta trip. Nowadays, his cry will be: eyes closed, mouth opened wide, and loud cry came out..

[caption id="attachment_1748" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Give me give me.."][/caption]

Back!! (and Family Photoshooting)

We're baaaaaaacccckkkk!!!!!

Updates on the details of our days in Jakarta would need to wait.. Coz I haven't got the photos yet.. (I forgot to bring CD/thumb drive to Jakarta, and trying to copy the photos to iPhone is somehow unsuccessful.. haha)

Anyway, let me write on something, that I've already had the photos first.

We went for our first studio family photoshoot! We went to the same one that my sister went to (Star Studio). The package is not so expensive, converted to SGD it's about $66, already includes 15 soft-copy of the photos (untouched), an album containing 6 touch-up photos, and a 12R touch-up of one of the photos. No costume or make-up included in the photos, though.

Getting Vio to cooperate in taking photos were proven to be real challenge. He keep wanting to run away and kick the ball that they have in the studio. And getting him to pose non standard pose is even more difficult (for example: lying face down on the floor). But overall, it was quite ok.. (for $66!!)  Though in the end I just remember there's 1 pose I wanna request but I forget.. the pose where daddy & mommy kiss Vio at the same time! Sigh sigh.. nvm..

Well, here goes the photos!

[gallery orderby="title"]

Going Away!

Hello!

We'll be away for 9 days to Jakarta! Yeah... 1 week of not working is always goooood... Be patient with me! I'll update the blog as soon as I'm back ;)

[caption id="attachment_1724" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="See You Again Next Week!"][/caption]

Remembering The Good Old Times

A few weeks back, I had a dinner gathering with ex-colleagues from Integro, to celebrate a birthday. It was real nice, meeting them all again. It's so rare that so many turn up at the same time in a gathering! I felt like we're back to where we were 4-5 years back, when most of us were working in Integro. Most of us have now already "moved on". Can you imagine out of so many people turning up, only 1 still currently working in Integro? Haha!

[caption id="attachment_1721" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="(Mostly) ex-Integroians"][/caption]

It's kinda amazing how at the present, we're still close to each other. 3 years have passed and some of us still having regular meeting, regular chatting over the msn, etc. No doubt working times in Integro was the best of all times. I don't think I'll ever experience such enjoyable times in work anymore (unless we all work in 1 company again!)

Most of us are from the same age group, maybe that's why. I still remember times when we purposely OT (can you imagine me OT-ing??), well not for work, but for making someone's wedding gift. Or farewell gift.

Or when we purposely come to office early, all to learn and make baloons with nice shape (poodle shape, bear shape, etc), and make many of them to surprise the birthday boy/girl, so that when he/she came in, he/she will be shocked at how nicely decorated their seats are.

Or when we have very frequent prolonged tea-break in the meeting room or nearby Starbucks/Coffee Bean and play UNO! Oh I love that game! And we can't stop screaming during the game.. Haha..

The good old times.. Really missed those times now..

Cravings!!

Oh oh.. I'm so happy... For the first time in my life, I have a real cravings! I didn't have any cravings in the previous pregnancy.. that's kinda sad you know... All the while I really want to know how it's like to have any cravings...

... and this morning.. all of a sudden, all I can think of is.. pizza!!

I'm almost drooling imagining myself eating it.. Pizza Hut's Pepperoni pizza with sweet 'n spicy drumlets... That's all that I want... No fancy pizza (with some kind of stuffing).. I just wanna eat the good old-fashioned pizza.. hoho... And I'm planning to have it for dinner! Yay!

Now.. that's at least 8 more hours to go for my pizza.. *sigh*

"Mama.. Xie Xie.."

[caption id="attachment_1713" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="What's that on my ears?"][/caption]

After weeks of no-new teeths, finally Vio had show a new pearly-white space! This makes his total teeth to be 13 now! Hehe... 8 on top, and 5 below.. Hope new ones are coming soon..

Ah.. last Sunday I was cooking dinner (something I very rarely do), and during dinner time, pi was telling Vio that I cooked all the dishes for Vio, and you know what... without anyone telling him to, Vio looked at me and say "Mama.. Xie xie.."  It's priceless. Isn't that a sweetest thing to say?

West Coast Park

10 years in Singapore, and last Saturday was the first time I ever step on West Coast (oops...). To tell you the truth, all the while I wasn't interested to go there, since everybody seems to be saying that there's nothing much to do there, etc etc. But since we didn't have any event to attend to, and the weather was good, so off we went to the West Coast.

And to tell you the truth, it kinda exceed my expectation.

The park was quite well-kept, with many trees and many tracks for pedestrians, bikes, etc. And it was quite nice just to stroll there, especially in the morning :p

[caption id="attachment_1706" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="West Coast Park"][/caption]

We began our day with a breakfast in McDonald's. We chose the outdoor seating area, and with the music turned on, it certainly didn't feel like we're eating McDonald's. It's certainly have a holiday-mood kind of feeling ;)

After the big breakfast (which Vio ate quite a lot), we stroll around the "beach". Well, there's no beach apparently. You can't really play sands by the beachside, as it was only stones. You can only walk near the beach.

But it was apparently still bad enough for Vio. I suppose he kinda have bad memories about beaches. When he heard the wave, immediately he cling to pi, asking to be carried and refused to go down. *sigh*  while most other kids love beaches and sands, Vio seems to hate them until now..

[caption id="attachment_1707" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Don't Let Me Go, Daddy"][/caption]

By the time we reached small "board walk" (above the water), Vio seems to have the courage to stand by himself and walk around. So we played there for a while, and then it gets real hot.

Back to the park, we found big big rocks and Vio was quite excited to stand on them.

[caption id="attachment_1708" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Standing on the Rock"][/caption]

And then.... we went a loooooooooong way trying to find go-kart rental place. I was practically dragging my foot already (since it was so hot and humid), and for that matter, so did Vio. So in the end pi carried him all the way to the go-kart rental, which apparently was located faaaaaar far away (maybe we felt it's further than it should be, coz of the weather).

Actually I was hoping to find a go-kart that can allow both pi & me to pedal together (so it's not so tough for pi to pedal for 3 people!), but too bad the one suitable for us only have 1 person to pedal. And it's quite expensive too. $18 for 30 mins of ride. Tsk! But we walked all the way already. Of course we must go for it! Haha!

It was proven to be very fun, and pi said it's not heavy to pedal for 3 of us. Suddenly I didn't feel the hot weather anymore. I felt windy and comfy, esp just need to sit down while someone else doing the job... hehehee... And Vio like it quite a lot too, especially going down the slope rather fast. He'll go "waaaaa" and laugh... Overall we had a great time. $18 is definitely worth it ;)

[caption id="attachment_1709" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Go-Kart Moment"][/caption]

Digital Scrapbook

Recently I realized that it's been a veeeeeeeeerrry long while since I last did a digital scrapbook (ever since I start doing the traditional scrapbook, that is). But lately the digital scrapbook "spark" was back. And why is that, you'd ask?

Well, one day pi emailed me about this Dads for Life contest, in which we share a story of daddy and kids moment, and we can post the photo there too. I was determined that we should join the contest (maybe we can win the prize!) and I would post a digital scrapbook of pi & Vio together as the photo to use. It would've been great! (Other than the fact that I have no idea on what to write). And so.... I did a quick one, amazingly finished within 45 mins:

[caption id="attachment_1701" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Happy Together"][/caption]

Ahh I just love that series of photos, don't you? It was taken by pi using the front-facing camera in iPhone. The resolution wasn't good, but hey, their father-son expressions are priceless! :)

Except that when pi just found out that apparently the whole world can see the photo (hence, his photo), he decided that he doesn't want to join the contest liao.. aiks aiks.. I was so disappointed... So can't let a hardwork wasted.. I'll just post the scrapbook here.. Haha..

And while I was at it, I decided to make another quick one.. completed within 30 mins. Wow, I think I'm getting faster! :)

[caption id="attachment_1702" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="I Love You Mommy"][/caption]

Dreams

I've been having many dreams lately. And there's more than 1 dream in 1 night. I woke up between dreams, go to the toilet and sleep again. And the whole cycle repeats. So I feel like I've not have a good night sleep lately.

And the dreams were quite funny too. I just remembered 1 dream from last night, I think it was the last dream of the night.

Me and some of my friends were in some kind of holiday, taking a boat. Now I can't seem to recall which group of friends these were. And while in the boat, they all talk about this famous noodle sold in our destination island, and I was determined I wanna try it.

And so we reach the island, went to a rather big hawker center, and order the noodle... do you know what noodle it is? It's Durian Flavoured Instant Noodle.. Haha! How strange is that! And I seems to remember that it tastes awful hahaa...

Ah anyway... apart from the strange dreams.. Lately I'm permitted to start carrying Vio again, once in a while. Just missed carrying him too much! And I'm not sure whether it's related or not.. During the period that I can't carry him, I feel that he's drifting apart from me. As in we're not as close as we were. And now that I can carry him again, I can feel he's back to the sticky Vio, though not as sticky as it used to be! (And btw, my ex-colleague also say that she experience the same thing, so maybe it's true?)

So the last few mornings, Vio will want to cry if I say "Mommy need to go to work..". He'll pull down my hand (or bag) and say "Mommy.. No no...", as in, Mommy can't go.. Mommy accompany Vio play.. something like that.. Oh I was so happy ^^  (Not about Vio almost crying, obviously..)

Walk in Jurong Lake Park

Just our usual late afternoon walk in Jurong Lake Park (we do it almost every weekend), but this time round, with camera in hand. Because we haven't taken photos of Vio in the newly opened bridge! =)

[caption id="attachment_1688" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vio in the bridge"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1689" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Posing"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1690" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Do I Look Cute?"][/caption]

Little Scholar's Academy

To celebrate Children's Day, there was a free trial class at Little Scholar's Academy. There were 2 classes offered: art class and yoga class. So I registered Vio for the art class.

The location was quite far from our place, it's somewhere in Kallang. But well, since the session is free, can't complain much ya? ;)

Reaching there, the people were very friendly. They even gave a souvenirs that Vio loved very much until now. It was a spinner, and a pencil with cute character that can move around in a spring (Vio's one is Panda character). Every kid is also given a plastic apron to cover their clothes so it's not dirty.

[caption id="attachment_1682" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Excited to start the class"][/caption]

Activity of the day was painting with blue paint! Vio used glue for the first time, and also draw some "hand-painting" in the paper.

[caption id="attachment_1683" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Little Artist at Work"][/caption]

He quite enjoyed the class, and also he used brush for the first time! (I never let him touch paint and brush at home... Think of all the mess it can cause!) --> Lazy Mommy.. hahaaa

[caption id="attachment_1684" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Me and the Brush"][/caption]

Overall it's quite a good experience. Too bad the location is very far from our place (and the monthly fee not cheap too)..

After the class, we went for a short chit-chat session with my ex-colleague's baby which also went to the class together with Vio, before heading back home.

[caption id="attachment_1685" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Niu-niu & Vio"][/caption]

Potty Training

[caption id="attachment_1679" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Doing My Business"][/caption]

After months of being diaper-less during the day, finally the potty training show some apparent result.

Now Vio can tell us just before he's about to pee. He'll say "pipis", and then it's a race against time to bring him to his potty. He can't open his shorts by himself yet. But hey, knowing to tell us before he does his business is a good one already!

But accidents are still happening here and there. Sometimes he'll just stand/sit then pee (without telling), and after that just say "pipis" or "wet" or "basah", though it's getting rarer lately...

As for big business, he can now tell us before he wanna do it. So there has been no accidents for this one for quite long already.

Yayyyy.. way to go Vio!!! So proud of you!!