Muggy Sunday afternoon

Some months back, we brought Kate to Upper Pierce Reservoir. It was absolutely lovely! The winds were blowing and the whole place was terribly comfortable. Last Sunday, the husband and I decided to bring Kate back there again - after we had yummy prata. This time, Kate was alot more receptive to the monkeys roaming around but the winds were missing so it was really hot and not as comfortable compared to the last time.

Kate trailing after the monkey, and the husband trailing after her

"You wait here, ok?" says the little one; who suavely turns around & marches off from me to chase after the monkey

Moments after I took this shot, the monkey jumps off the rock and Kate dashes to my side in fear

After calming her down from the monkey-jumping-off-the-rock, I stand by her side and point out the monkey which was safely at a distance, in the tree

"Kate want to climb tree", she says. So the husband went up and we lifted her up too. She didn't like it very much

But still gamely gave a fishball-faced-smile!

Haha this shot cracks me up. I'm not sure what the husband was picking off her, but it was certainly in true monkey-nature!

Things Kate say

Sunday morning, I was absolutely unable to get up & I told her that I was very tired. Kate, however wanted to get up. So she says to me, "Mommy, wake up already. Don't be tired."

When I finally got up (after she was released from the room), she saw me standing by the bed and walked to me. She rubbed my leg and said, "Mommy, you wake up already? You feeling better?"

Every night, Kate looks forward to drinking her last (sometimes only) feed of milk for the day. She'll exclaim insistently, "I want to drink milk. I WANT TO DRINK MILK."

After she's had her fill, and it's lights out, she will roll around the bed. "Mommy, I want to sleep on your pillow"; I'll have to share my pillow with her. Last night, she was feeling exceptionally loving and caressed my face, while telling me "Good night, sweet dreams" and she gave me a smack on my face. She then proceeded to do it again - and I had my face turned away this time. She then said, while feeling for my face "Give me a kiss!"

The husband encountered a rogue driver the other day and he expressed his exasperation with some grunts. Kate, who was riding in the back said, "Papa, what's wrong?"

When Kate sees me rubbing my nose, or sneezing, or rubbing my tummy (stomachache) she'll ask, "You not feeling well?"

When someone bids goodbye to her, or when she spies us getting changed, she'll ask "where are you going?"

We brought her to the reservoir where we spotted many monkeys. After seeing one, she'll say "we see another monkey, ok?"
When she spied a monkey running off, she turns around to me and said, "I go ok?" (I nod) "You wait here."

Night time, before she goes to sleep, she'll crawl on the bed towards the husband and say "Papa, I want to go gai gai tomorrow"

When she sees you doing something of some/no/high interest to her "what you doing?"
And after we have completed the task, she'll say "you bombom/eat/brush teeth (insert activity) already?"

"Where is my Papa?" (I love the "my")

When I arrive home, usually on the week-day after work. "Mummy, I cannot find you..."

On the weekends, she will tell us "I want to go nai nai house!"

"I want to eat breakfast/biscuit/bread/(fill in food)"

"Don't touch, ok?" she'll say when she doesn't want us to touch something on the table. She'll place it neatly in front of her and it's usually a cup/bowl of food that she doesn't want us to take away from her.

When I was drying my hair, she randomly hopped to my side and said to my tummy "Jake, what you doing? Sleeping? Ok."

Overheard, when she was playing on her own. She's holding a piece of paper and a pen. "I will go here, because... ok! And then, I ..... (cannot hear clearly)... ok? Ok!"

I love how she's developing so well and able to communicate clearly with us (and apparently even to herself, haha). I cannot believe how big she is already!

Being contented

I'm sitting at the computer at 11.21pm. It is really the last thing I should be doing, the first being to be in bed and asleep since I have a 5.55am wake-up call tomorrow. I have to be at work at 7am and of all nights, I'm insomniac tonight. Bad choice of maccas for dinner with awful fries and even worse, coke which is definitely (I'm attributing) the reason why I'm unable to sleep (dumbdumb sugar & caffeine combo is potent for pregnant me who's been off coffee for months).

I gave up sleeping when Kate fell asleep, so here I am. I only have a 15-hour day tomorrow. No sweat (yeah right). I'm already imagining what my lunch is going to be, how I'm going to best utilize my spare pockets of time between where I can find them, and I suddenly thought of my conversation with some colleagues earlier today.

She's a young, ambitious one who is quite a joy. She is not as young, and we get along very well as I suspect we have the same odd sense of humor. Separately, I spoke with them about work, about character, about different stages of life, and I cannot help but think that I have plenty to be thankful for. I think we can never ever be too thankful of what we have.

I'm definitely in a better place today, than I was years ago. And I always think that the husband played a big part in my life plan. After we got together, I became a lot saner (over time), I was then able to concentrate on developing my character through tough training in my last job, and through my experience of being a Mom the past 2 years - all that has made me the person I am today. My teens were terribly turbulent, with me going through self-discovery in the most extreme manners. I was emotionally unstable (not mad, just... dynamic), constantly seeking for thrills (some bad, some not so bad), always wanting more fun and searching for that balance which I never knew I sought. Life then was a constant whirlwind with me partying, making friends, having laughs, loving hard, fighting hard, drinking hard - everything was about fun, and about me. I was so selfish.

Today, I've learnt to let go when it doesn't really matter. I've learnt to be more suave in my decision-making process. I've learnt that growing up doesn't stop. The husband shared Maslow's hierarchy of needs; and say that a huge percentage (I forget the number) get stuck at the level of seeking material needs. I don't think I'm all past it, but I'm more self-aware which to me, is all important. Today, I am contented.

My dose of laughter for today

I ring home.

Kate picks up the phone very quickly, “Hello”

Me: Who is this!
K: MOMMY!
Me: Hi Kate, what are you doing?
K: I drawing
Me: Are you drawing an elephant?
K: NO NO NO I draw playground
Me: Oh, is there a swing?
K: NO NO NO I draw playground
Me: Oh, you drew a slide?
K: Yes.
Me: Is Barney there too?
K: Yes.
Me: What about Kate? Is Kate in the picture?
K: Yes… I cannot find Mommy.
Me: Yes, because Mommy is in the office. I’m not at home.
K: Where is my papa?
Me: Papa is at work.
K: At work?
Me: Yes, Papa and Mama are at work. So you cannot see us at home. We’ll see you later tonight ok?
K: Ok… I WANT SHEE SHEEEEEEE

She puts the phone down on the chair (but not hung up) so I can still hear her

K: I WANT SHEEE SHEEEEEEE (pee in Hokkien. Or it may be a ‘sound’ in baby talk?)
MIL: Lai lai lai (Come, in Mandarin)
K: tham tham (wet in Hokkien)
MIL: (in mandarin) Aiya, you urinated already and it’s wet
K: Oh oh…

HAHAHAHAA so FUNNY!

Which brings me to sharing that we’ve been trying to toilet train Kate for weeks now. She’s been relatively good thus far and we try to not put on diapers for her where we can. Only when we go out-out. She’s not that great in telling us she needs to go pee, though she does go when we bring her every hour or so. She is trained in telling us when she wants to poop.

Oh, I know the husband will laugh when he reads this and I cannot help but grin too. It’s going to keep me going while I put in longer hours at work today.

Monkeying around

The sister did a mini-celebration of her 24th with her best friend - Paul Frank! These are my favourite pics of the day.

Us

So funny! That is Kate's latest monkey face "Angry Bird"

Dear sister, though it wasn't the big bash you'd originally envisioned, I hope you still had a good time. I love how themed we were, perhaps we can do more of such silly stuff soon!
Love, che

Dear Jake

Dear Jake,

Today, you did a ginormous somersault. More than once. So strong that I saw my stomach jump. How cute! I wish Papa will be able to catch more of such you-moments. And Kate cheche too. She's been "talking" to you quite a bit lately; stroking you and having conversations with you. She's the one who tells us you're sleeping or happy or otherwise. Are they true, I wonder? I'm training che che to prepare herself for your arrival. I wonder how it'd all be like when you're here. I'm sure it'd be a ball of fun, a whirlwind of chaos. Whatever it is, Mommy loves you so much. Papa and I count our blessings to have the chance to be your parents. We hope that you're looking forward to being with us as much as we, with you.

Keep growing well, baby little. These two days of sleeping in sure makes me feel more sane and I hope you feel as good too.

I love you.

Love, Mommy

Love-hate relationship

That's the love triangle relationship between Kate, her parents (collectively as one) and the iPhone.

She LOVES it too much. The moment she spots it she will WHINE for it. She will CRY if she doesn't get it. She will nearly do ANYTHING to get it. The bl**dy phone is really a double-edged sword. It provides her with hours of entertainment and she can navigate youtube very skillfully on her own accord; selecting video after video of Barney/Hi5 (her current faces). It gives the husband and I plenty of time to do our own thing; but it is such a pain to take it away from her because she will always cry murder as if her life depended on it. TERRIBLE.

The husband and I decided that this obsession with the phone has got to stop and recently have been more stingy with allowing her to have it. I think it's been days since she last got her hands on it.

Today, she was whining for it (again) and in my exasperation, I said

"Don't have"

K: I want your phoneeee (whiney tone)

Me: No

K: I want your phoneeeeee

Me: Don't have. I threw it away!

K looks at me in horror. Pauses for a split second. And cries out "Don't throw your phone away...... WHY you throw away... *criesssss"

She proceeds to sob in sadness and the next thing I see is her standing over the bin, peering within to try to locate the phone.

HAHAHA I know, it's such a wicked thing to do but I cannot help it! I really wish she will exercise SOME control over the bl**dy device. UGH. But her reaction to the phone's demise was really quite extreme, but cute. Heh.