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A hairy experience

As I've documented many times before, Kate is a regular at the coffeeshop. She charms and befriends the usual-goers who are typically the elders who live in the estate, as well as the shop-keepers. We have provision shops, electrical shops, hairdressers, coffeeshop helpers, coffeeshop regulars, clothes shops… you get the idea.

Yesterday morning, Kate headed downstairs for her typical breakfast session with the in-laws. When she came up an hour later, her hair was cut.

Now.

Before I start raging, I want to share how sensitive I am about Kate’s hair. There’s a Chinese tradition where kids get their head shaven when they turn 1 month old. It’s said that their birth hair should be shaven off so that they can grow a new head of (better) hair. I was rather hesistant to following this tradition because 1/ I always worried that Kate would be rather bald because I was. So when she was born with a rather full-head of hair, I was delighted! So why will I want to shave it all off when it was my fear to begin with?! 2/ I don’t know the deal about this saying so I was not very keen to adhere to something that I’m clueless about (you know how these things can be…)

While I was not very keen to shave her head, the husband felt that it’d benefit her; so on no particular day, the husband decided to shave her head when we walked by a hairdresser for kids. I was teary and felt very reluctant to do so but I didn’t disagree nor fight the husband. I just sat aside and wept (yes, I did!). When the deed was done, Kate looked exceptionally vulnerable with her scalp fully exposed and all I can say is, I never felt so ‘sayang’ about anything in my life. *sigh

After a whole year, (yes it took that long!) Kate’s hair finally nearly looks normal and it was only last month that the husband trimmed her bangs. We’d long decided that we will not touch her hair again! To let it grow out, so it was only a tiny trim. On several occasions, the husband has even commented that Kate’s hair is very fine and we always wondered if perhaps, the shave was OTT.

Ok, back to yesterday morning. When Kate came up from her seemingly innocuous breakfast session only to have hair hair lopped off. By at least an inch!

I was furious.

The MIL recounted that the hairdresser had lamented that Kate’s hair needed a trim and “a trim will make it grow out faster” according to one of those old wives’ tale and (oh I am mad) she brought Kate into the salon and cut her hair.

I am furious! (just recapping this is making my blood boil)

I cannot believe the nerve of this lady. I’ve never met her before, and while I appreciate her doting on Kate (she’s helped Kate to tie and pin her hair up before) and her dishing out her ‘wisely wisdom on hair’ and while I believe that she probably truly believes in what she says (this BS about trimming for her hair to grow more/better/longer) since she is the professional hairdresser, I am not happy that she cut my daughter’s hair without my consent.

!!!

How will she like it if I cut her hair off simply because I think it is “good” for her? This is my daughter for goodness’ sake. How dare she!

While Kate looks cute with her neater hair, I still grudge that some people are just too busybody for anyone else’s good. GGRRR.

This is one of those things where I have no idea how to react; I could only express my displeasure to the MIL but it isn’t as if I could undo the haircut. And we’re just fortunate that Kate looks fine. Angry!!

These shoes were made for walking

Kate's developed this thing for placing her feet into adult shoes. Whether it's heels, slippers, or shoes, she'll just hold onto the chair for support and put her tiny feet into the shoes for fun.

We have to keep an eye out for her in case she trips over in her attempts, but just for kick's (pun intended!), here's the little one in big shoes.

Look at me, Mom!

Life is good

The husband had an epiphany two days ago and he shared it with me yesterday. He'd bumped into a friend and the friend had gotten married, and is working very hard now to prep for his life ahead - putting in long hours to pay for the new car, his new house and to support his new wife. While his friend is better off in terms of material beings, the husband realised that without the 'new' material things that his friend has, he is happy. I cannot agree more - I've told the husband this before, that my life has improved tremendously in the past few years, to be precise, ever since we got together. I think a lot of it had to do with me becoming more secure and confident, and the rewards that I've reaped beinga stable part of a twosome from a stable r'ship, to being a half of Mr-&-Mrs, to being a parent - well, these are things that you cannot learn to be without going through it yourself. With these experience that we've thrown into our lives, we are definitely better off. Also, the husband and I are still much in love now & that is for sure a great thing! When he told me of his thoughts, I couldn't stop beaming because I know that we're both on the same page, we are content. To want more and to aspire towards that is a motivation, but it does not mean that we are not happy with what we have currently. That, is the true secret to happiness - contentment.

With that, I'll like to do a quick recap of the times the husband and I have had, to remember the superb quality of life that we've enjoyed, the good & better times of our travels & fun through the years. We've had plenty to smile about and I'm sure we'll have more to look forward to!

Bangkok 2005. Our first travel together. It was 'Songkran' and we were unprepared for it, which probably made it even more fun. I call this our 'war faces'.

New York City, 2005. Our first long-haul trip together. We spent time in Washington DC before a week in NYC shopping to our hearts' content. Good memories...

San Francisco, Golden Gate Bridge 2005. After NYC, we did an inter-state flight to San Francisco. The weather was chillingly comfortable after scorching hot NYC.

London, Big Ben 2006. Our second long-haul holiday. We did an 'amazing race' through Europe, backpacking through Italy, Venice, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium... it was a great experience and best of all, we celebrated the occasion with a monumental global event...

The World Cup! Germany, Olympia Stadium 2006. We'd planned our backpacking trip according to the World Cup playing schedule and it was a memorable holiday, to say the least.

Hong Kong, 2007. A first holiday together with my best friend & her boyfriend. It was a good one where we stayed in the suburbs, like the locals, and the best-friendship between us two girls rubbed off the two men who caught on like fire.

Tioman 2007. My virgin diving trip, and definitely the most memorable diving trip any girl can have. My man orchestrated an underwater-diving proposal just for me. Till today, many people who see/hear of this story continue gushing how terribly romantic it is. Ahh, I'm a lucky girl!

Genting Highland, 2008. A roadtrip we did with friends, we had so much fun & beer it was beyond madness. We also did a stopover in Malacca.

Koh Samui, 2008. A mini-honeymoon after our wedding, the husband and I celebrated it at Koh Samui with nothing but sun, sand, beer, sea and each other for a whole week.

Hokkaido 2008. After we sorted out work and our schedules, we finally hit Japan for our proper Honeymoon in December. It was 10 days of great, cold weather, walking around, great scenery and awesome food.

Hokkaido, 2008. This picture was us at our greediest. Between us both, we had this huge pot of steamboat with plenty of veg & seafood. We also tried the freshest, yummiest crab, scallops, sashimi... it was probably the best Jap hotpot I have ever eaten!

Langkawi, 2009. Babymoon when I was 4 months pregnant. It was 4 days of leisure, swimming, books, great company and love.

Phuket 2010. 4 months after we became parents, we organised a trip with our friends. It coincided with the husband turning 30. It was our first trip away from Kate and we missed her, but we also reveled in being free & being able to do what we wanted without any worries (read: we could be as silly as could be!)

Perth, 2010. We brought Kate on her first holiday, which was also our first holiday as a family together. She was 6-months old.

This was the reason why we went for the holiday - to celebrate the sister's graduation. Here, we take a family shot at the University of Western Australia's grounds (the famous clock tower) and the husband and I said "wonder when the day will come when she'll graduate?!"

The holiday coincided with our wedding anniversary (March 2010) and here's a family shot of us at an Italian restaurant celebrating it with loved ones and great food.

We've had a great life together dear husband. Life is good!

It's the weekend!

:P

Love bite

At the beginning, Kate relied heavily on me as a human pacifier when I was still breast-feeding her, and could only sleep with me by her side. When she was about 10-months-old and close to a year where I wanted to wean her off (at age of 1 year), the husband and I succeeded in substituting me with the pacifier. We've tried and kinda been successful in awarding her the pacifier only at sleep-times, but we notice that she's rather reliant on it (not desired).

3 nights ago, I stumbled upon an opportunity where Kate fell asleep without her pacifier. I could not locate Kate's pacifier (we had 3!) and in desperation (it was getting late and she was tired & cranky), without the pacifier, I switched off the lights and laid on the bed with her. It was exactly how her bedtime routine is daily, except that she does not have the pacifier to suckle on. When she cried, I sang songs and patted her. I allowed her to toss & turn wherever she wanted and after a while, she went to sleep. I was amazed!

This taught me that she can indeed sleep without the pacifier so again and again, the husband and I put her to sleep without it. Her reaction is funny. It's as if she suddenly remembers that she wants to suckle on something (maybe it's her teething?!) & she will chew everything in sight - me, bolster, pillow... and on that first night of this unexpected experiment, I got a souvenir from Kate!

Love bite from Kate on my arm

It happened so quickly I didn't have time to react. Besides being very 'itchy mouth", Kate also tosses and turns and drifts off to sleep when she tires.

It seems that she's growing older and we've had 3 successful nights of her going to sleep without the pacifier. I accept the souvenir with grace, it's a small price to pay for giving up a bad habit. Yay yay yay!

My favourite sisters meet Kate

Last December, the friend came back from Boston. Now, this friend is very special because she's the most mature girl I know. Like, seriously. We've had good times and better times when we were working together, and some random tidbits about her/us:

1/ we both like to exercise and stay healthy
2/ we are so much happier in our lives now than before (aah, personal growth is great ain't it)
3/ we are both abit siao (she more than me -hah!) and most importantly,
4/ despite us not being colleagues ever since she left to pursue the real experience of life with her loved one, we have kept in touch.

So finally meeting up in person was nice, and made even sweeter that I got to present proudly, my precious daughter.

My ladies

Smiles all around for happy people

So happy that we caught up babe, stay happy and well *hugs