Outings

6 Sep 2008

Ning went overseas to JB, Malaysia, together with grandmummy, auntie Jody, daddy and mummy. It was easy to bring you cos you can eat solids and drink breastmilk. Though the customs was very crowded, we managed to go to the customs office which have express lane for travellers with elderly and young children.

We went to shop around and get clothes set for the massuer named Eva. She gave Ning 2 T-shirts for your 1-year old birthday. Mummy wanted to get something for her girl who would turn 1 in Oct/Nov.

We brought grandmummy and auntie Jody to eat seafood at the food centre. Daddy and mummy always loved to eat the butter fried crayfish.

It was a terrible long queue coming back as we did not know if there was any express lane. You were sleeping snuggly in the sarong but also perspiring alot just like each of us. The ventilation was poor in the customs office. However we felt a sense of achievement as you've been a good girl who took in everything you saw and was cooperative for the whole day.


11 Sep 2008

We went swimming at the newly opened swimming complex in Sengkang.

It was a weekday so it was not crowded at all. Ning played in the baby pool. As the water was shallow, you had great fun crawling in the pool. However you did not enjoy the shower as there was only cold water. We had to make do and go back to give you a more thorough bath.

It was a joy to see Ning being curious and wanting to explore the new environment. She loves to play in the shallow water.


1 - 4 Oct 2008

Ning went to Bangkok with daddy and mummy! This was the 1st time that she travelled on planes.

Mummy missed Ning very much after a good 7-day trip to Tokyo, Japan. Mummy missed the first steps that Ning made during this period of time. Ning started walking and was a sight to watch with her exploring her surroundings with this newly-acquired motor skill. She would take quick steps though not in a straight line. What a relieve that she could still recognise mummy even though she had not seen mummy for that few days. My only fear was she would not recognise me like the time when I stayed away from her after contracting chicken pox.

She was manageable on the flight out of Singapore. She started sucking on mummy's breast when the plane set off and she sucked for the full length of flight. There was no discomfort that was experienced by her at all.

She had great fun in Bangkok. The Thais loved children very much, including the young men. They would touch her cheeks and smile at her. People were amazed that you were being carried around in a sarong. Mummy even managed to do shopping on this trip as daddy could take care of you when mummy was trying on clothes.

In the hotel room, you would carry shoes from one end of the room to the other end. You found everything to be new and fun now that you are more mobile.


8 Nov 2008

Auntie Cass organised a picnic at the Botanic Gdns and we had a great picnic after attending Auntie Elaine's wedding.

She cooked fried rice and prepared fishballs to go along with the rice. You liked to eat the rice and fishballs. Auntie Cass even bought you blackcurrent juice for you.

Jayden and you had a fun time chasing after balls. You could run and kick the ball accurately. As the weather was very humid, you became sticky and tired.

When dusk fell, we packed up and left for home in cab. You were so knocked out that you slept all the way home.


22 Nov 2008

We spent 2D1N in Malacca. Ning had a wonderful time with new sights and so many people taking care of you. Granduncle (Choon Beh) even bought you a helium balloon. Ning could say "no more". She also liked to bite and pinch and beat people. Mummy was the most vulnerable victim with many bruises on her upper arm. She loves to eat bananas and could eat a few at a time.


4 May 2009

Mummy brought you for a studio photo shoot at Studioloft, Pagoda Street. It was our own outing together as mother & daughter. The studio had a Mother's Day promotion and we only paid $50 for 30-min shoot.

Daddy could not join us as he had important meeting to attend. Mummy had wanted to do this for sometime and was looking around for packages. Mummy wanted to have photos of herself in pregnancy state which was not done for Ning's pregnancy and also to have fun with Ning in the studio. Mummy chanced upon this when she surfed the net and saw the promotion.

Ning was such a good girl in the journeys to and fro the MRT. You seemed to know that you must be a good girl and cooperated with mummy. You had always liked to have your own seat on MRT and was even willing to give up your seat to an old lady when mummy told you to do so. Mummy was very proud of our lil Ning Ning. You also knew that you had to stay still at the 2nd floor of the shophouse while mummy brought up the stroller up. Mummy was so afraid that you would run to look for mummy and fall down the stairs.

You were curious with the studio and wanted to ride the rocking horse but you never gotten to do so. It was a rush shoot as the studio had appointments fully-booked. Nevertheless mummy was happy to have proceeded with the shoot with you.


 2009

Celebrations

13 & 14 September 2008

The mid-autumn festival is here again. This is the 2nd year that Ning is celebrating with us.

On 13 Sep, we celebrated with grandmummy and all at auntie Cass's place. We brought all the children for a walk on the pavement below auntie's Cass's place. Ning had a Minnie mouse music lantern that we bought from Kangkar market. There were many children playing candles and carrying lanterns. The older children lit candles and arranged them on the pavement. Though it looked fun, the cleaners would have a difficult time removing all the wax that was stuck on the pavement. Of course, the mid-autumn festival had to have mooncakes. Though we did not eat many mooncakes, everyone could not eat much cos of the heavy dinner.

The actual day's celebration was done in the company of your grandparents at the Seafood International restaurant. Your grandparents love the food, ambience and service of the restaurant. Most major celebrations were held there. Well, we carried you for a short walk along the East Coast park near the restaurant area. Not many people were there celebrating the festival as next day would be a normal schooling day. Most children would be carrying their lanterns in the neighbourhood areas.

Mummy and Ah Mais used to switch off all the lights and hang lanterns around our small flat in AMK. We didn't go out to carry lanterns as it would be very late and could be dangerous. We liked to eat small yams coated with caster sugar, ate mooncakes especially the Hainanese traditional ones (called the "Su1 Yan2) and pomelas. Of course, the mooncakes would go with chinese tea. As we grew older and came out to work, we were able to afford mooncakes baked by hotels. They were priced more than the Hainanese mooncakes. One roll of 8/10 Hainanese mooncakes used to cost $10 only.

8 November 2008

We attended Auntie Elaine's wedding solemnisation-cum-lunch. She has been mummy's good friend since secondary two. Wow, we had known each other for 20 years!


She looked so radiant and gorgeous in her wedding gown. Uncle Chengho treated her very well, making sure she had a straw to go with her drink. They were made for each other.

The usual gang was there - Aunties Mit, Cindy, Joyce, Liling, Manhua. Auntie Yoges was in Australia so she could not turn up. Uncle William came along too cos Auntie Elaine always kept in contact with him. It was a cosy dinner and both you and Faith played along well as both of you warmed up to each other.


1 January 2009
 
Celebrated grandmummy lunar birthday at auntie Cass's place. Everyone of us were so happy. Just look at Jayden's smile. He liked to blow candles!
 
 
10 January 2009
 
We had our reunion dinner at Thomson Road. All the few of you were so happy eating the food. Jayden would always ask for you and grandmummy to be seated next to him. Following that, we went to look at flowers at Far East Flora.




31 January 2009
 
It was Chloe's 1-year old birthday and we all went over to auntie Cass's place. How fast time flew!
In the evening, we also celebrated your Bt Timah great grandmother's birthday with a zi-char dinner in Choa Chu Kang.

Growth Development

12-month old, 30 Aug 2008

It's a wonder to see the progress in Ning's speech, cognitive and motor skills development.

She can point to the direction of our home, stamps her little feet when sung the lyrics to songs such as Barney's I Love You. She can even send fly kisses when going home and point to toys she wants to play with. She can say "ball", "bye bye". As she is now older, her attachment to me also becomes stronger. She exhibits separation anxiety and cries when I get off car to go to work.

13-month old, 30 Sep 2008

By now, Ning can walk on her own. Mummy missed catching her in her first steps as she went to Japan with grandmummy and ah mai. Mummy missed the lil darling so much. I've never thought she would walk so soon. She was able to walk 10step sideway like a lil crab before this. Our Ning is eager to discover the world around her and have all the fun that she wanted. Cousin Jayden did not walk till he was 18-month old. Her progress is much faster than Jayden's.

She now weighs 10kg and is 68 cm tall. She's considered to be in the median quartile of the children her age group.


14-month old, 30 Oct 2008

Ning can say "I luv u", "flower", "watch barney", "ah po", "ah mai", "key", "shoes", "scared" and "thank you". She can also be very comical by imitating farting sounds and acting cute by putting her 2 open palms near her cheeks.

She loves to run with her shoes on and dares to run very fast even though she is not very stable. She doesn't look ahead when she runs. She just dashes ahead of her like a sprinter. What's most interesting is that she can't run in a straight line. Auntie Cass always giggled when she saw such a sight.

15-month old, 30 Nov 2008

One important milestone is that Ning stopped latching on and weaned off breastfeeding since 12 Nov. While mummy was fretting how to wean off, Ning just stopped breastfeeding naturally and without any struggle for us. Instead, she drank formula milk at least 3x per day, each x 150ml.

Ning can identify animals such as dogs, birds, and articulate the names of these animals. She loves to see birds. She would get excited and shout "bird" when she catches sight o them. She is able to ask for "cheese" when she wants to eat it. She can eat 2 slices at any one time if she feels like it. She can say "up/down", "flower", "bear", "car", "thank you", "lao yi", "ah yi", "nite nite", "good morning", "door" and "floor wet wet", count 1, 2 & 10 only. She knows how to throw rubbish and cleans floor using a rag or wet tissue if she can get hold of one in her lil hand. She understands the concept that keys are used to open door. She would get one of us to get the keys to open the door so that she can go out.

She is very good in making funny faces if you ask her to do so. She loves to pose for photos. She can sit to have her hair-cut without crying now. This is part of her development - she knows that she just have to bear with the discomfort for a short while and the cut will be done soon. We always bring her to SK interchange whereby the hairdresser is always able to get Ning to sit still . The secret is giving Ning sweets to eat during and after the haircut.

16-month old, 30 Dec 2008

Ning's love for cheese is so much that she can eat up to 4 slices of cheese per day. She can say "don't want" if she doesn't want to do/eat something. She can also say "wear", "rice", "vegetables", "open", "water", "orh orh", "bowl", "sleep" etc. She can recognise cats and say "kitty" (just like Hello Kitty), dance vigorously when listening to Barney songs.

She's an extrovert just like Daddy. She would greet people whom she saw on bus/mrt/lift. Moreover, she knew how to customise her greeting based on their age group. She knew that this middle-aged man would be called "uncle" instead of "koko" (brother).
She can now drink 160ml of formula milk.

17-month old, 30 Jan 2009

Ever since I knew that I was pregnant since last month (2 Dec), Ning became more attached and clung to me more than ever. She only wanted me to carry her even when Daddy was there. She cried more often now and could not let me out of her sight for too long. No wonder people always say that little kids seem to sense it when their mothers become pregnant and become very attached to their mothers during pregnancy stage.

Ning started to cry when I got off car to go to work even though she had been used to this arrangement for so long.

She can now say good morning when she is greeted so in the mornings when she woke up. She loves to read and would ask us to read Elmo book that Auntie Yoges had given her everyday. She loves the bright colourful pictures and hearing her name mentioned in the book.

She is a very affectionate child - she would come forward to hug me at nite when we are cuddling together on the bed. At times, she is also a lil monster. She would smile sweetly at you and then bit your arms painfully. This is just a passing phase as she is teething. But her bites always leave blue-black bruises that would linger for a while.

She can now drink 180ml of formula milk. One particular interesting fact is that she loves to drink milk especially when she's onboard a moving vehicle eg bus, train, car, taxi.

18-month old, 28 Feb 2009

It is a wonderful feeling to see how Ning has grown and the lingo she can say. She can say "fun" and "again" and would ask you to play games with her. She can also say "here", "there", "ma jiang" (mahjong in mandarin). She can say her first sentence - "I don't want"

See how well-behaved Ning is when she had her hair-cut.

19-month old, 30 Mar 2009

Auntie Cass bought Ning a 28-pc jigsaw puzzle set from HK. Ning would try her hands in piecing the pieces together but only for a short while. She would flip the puzzle pieces over so that they are all on the floor.

Her interest lies in reading and playing with her cousins when they are together. They can play together peacefully - drawing, scribbling on papers.

She fell sick during the period when Daddy went overseas to US for business trip. That was in the 2nd week of Mar. She had intermittent fever and the mouth broke out with ulcers. She stopped taking formula milk and preferred to drink cold fresh milk.

20-month old, 30 Apr 2009

Ning is now 11kg and 75cm tall. She can eat on her own and likes to feed herself. She likes peas, corn, soup cooked with winter melon or old cucumber, and rice.

She can say "coconut", "close the door", "tie (seat) belt", "uncle wash car", "come here", "pour water", "open/close". She fully understands the concept of me and you. She will play wildly and is crazy over Elmo, its online videos & songs, clothes, books etc.

Ning resumed drinking formula milk after sometime from her recovery.

We went to stay at Auntie Cass's pl in the last week of Apr as mama went overseas. There was one time grandmummy and Daddy brought you to pay at the playground together with Jayden. Ning ran so fast that Daddy was wet with perspiration and you would not even want to stop. Grandmummy and mummy observed that you can really run very fast, even faster than Jayden. Mummy is unable to catch you now that she is 26-week pregnant.

21-month old, 30 May 2009

You can now say "see moon", "I love mummy", "I want milk", "xie4 xie4", "cut ice cream" and "no no no (continually)". You have grown accustomed to the routine of going to your bedroom to read book after we have brought you home after mama & gonggong's place.

You still want to be carried by mummy and would want mummy to rock you to sleep. You would keep crying until mummy slowly stood up and carried you in my arms.

You seem to understand that your lil sister is growing in mummy's stomach and would kiss, talk and touch my stomach when asked to. We will only know how you will react after your lil sister has joined us in a few months' time.

22-month old, 30 June 2009

Ning is undergoing a growth spurt in her speech and language skills. She can reply "I want some water" when asked if she would like some water, repeat "lazy bum", "I feed you or I carry you" when she means to feed herself or wants to be carried, can say "wet wet/don't want" in teochew. When daddy asked her to say "I love Daddy", she would instead say "I love Mummy".

She also seems to understands many things now. She will ask me "pain pain" when I told her that she can't touch my lips when I had cold sore or I can't carry her of my big tummy. She could empathise now. She also loves to play, at times so rough that we have to tell her off. She would blow on our stomachs and giggle loudly when we did the same to her.

She displayed her moods more now. When she can't get what she wants, she would sulk or cover her face and cried for a while.

She now sleeps in the master bed with us. She would kick her legs against daddy's face in the middle of the night and caused daddy to wake up. She would cry in the nights and want to touch my face even though her eyes are tightly closed. She would slap on daddy's hands when he tried to pat her to sleep when she cried at nights and said "I want mummy". When she woke up in the mornings, she wanted to be carried and walked around the house. She had no patience if we want to laze on the bed for even 1 minute. She still likes to drink milk (180ml) and wants me to be near her when she does so. She would touch my eyes, mouth and face when she's drinking her milk. She understands "pain" when mummy told her that she can't touch mummy's lips (cold sores) and would look empathetically at mummy.

She is very adorable -- become very shy when she met mummy and daddy's friends. She needed some distraction like live fishes, crabs, prawns to open up. She can do so with mummy's friends and allow Joyce, Elaine and Cindy to carry and entertain her.

I feel that this is the fun part of her growing up and must enjoy these moments before she moves into another phase.

23-month old, 30 July 2009

Ning became "jie jie" in her 22-month. Your lil sister arrived on 24 July, 2 weeks earlier than the estimated delivery date. The EDD was 5 Aug 2009.

You were looking forward to seeing her in the ward and showed acts of love towards her. You called her "mei mei" and kissed her. You also touched her gently with love and care.

You could do so many things this month. You were adventurous and were willing to try coffee when Daddy was drinking it. You were able to process information and hold conversation over phone.

You are able to focus and say "the bus is here", "the moon come out", "I wan to go ah mai place" etc. You knew mummy and daddy's names & articulated them after hearing fr your grandmama. You could now cleverly reply "I no hand" when GuGu asked you to push your tricycle and replied "zam bak" appropriately.


You enjoy singing and are able to sing "twinkle twinkle little star" and "Barney- I love you" songs in full. We love the way you sing the songs and you enjoy the attention that we give you after you have finished. We will clap our hands and shout "yeah"!

You liked Ah Mai Jody so much that you cried for her we left in cab on one Sunday. You even kissed grandmummy on lips through the main grill door when she made her way to Ah Mai Cass place from AMK.

You started to pick up some Mandarin.


25-month old, 30 September 2009

Ning can say full sentences eg "You want scissors/fan?". She can also hold intelligent conversations. When mummy or daddy asked her "Do you like fishballs?" She can reply "I luv fishballs." When asked "How much of the chicken wings have u eaten?" Her reply was "abit."

She can even exclaimed "oh my god!". She has a sweet tooth and likes to ask for sweets everytime the neighbour at grandmama's place walks past. She can operate the portable dvd player cleverly. She loves to sing and dance. She loves to sing national songs such as Singapura and Majulah Singapura even though not in full. You can catch her singing most of the lyrics and the tune correctly.

What makes Ning very adorable is that she can read to Qi touch & feel books and treats her Mickey toy like a baby and tends to it with loving care. She would imagine that Mickey is hungry and she would rock it while she feeds it with her nipple. She picks up from observing mummy.

26-month old, 31 October 2009


Ning can count to 10 and say "I don't want to friend you." to her neighbour friend Elwin. She can playact cooking alone and sing "Twinke Twinke Little Star" full song. She loves mummy to beside her reading to her. Her favourite books for this month are Elmo -- Love and any touch & feel books on sea animals. She can name most of the common sea animals such as octopus, crab, fish, snail, jellyfish.


27-month old, 30 November 2009


Ning started school with My First Skool conveniently located near grandmother's place on 9 Nov. In the 3rd week, she did not cry when she went to school and being fetched back. This was so because teacher said it was the morning kiss and goodbye that reassured her.
When mummy fetched her back from the centre, she could eat one whole stick of 3 fishballs and drink one bottle of milk. She would also snack on biscuits to fill her stomach.

She is able to take afternoon naps and sleeps for at least 2 hrs. There are times when she sleeps more than 3 hrs. She is able to eat independently and feeds herself when she is hungry. There is this one time when we are walking towards KFC at Causeway Pt for dinner. She was already hungry and muttered "mumm mumm" even before we reached the restaurant. When daddy put the tray of food down, she took the fork and helped herself to the cheese fries. She did not even wait for us to help her put some fries on her plate.

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