Unconditional Love

Ace is a wonderful baby who shows unconditional love. I really learnt one VALUABLE lesson from Ace that day.

That day, we went to Richie Ah Ye and Jez Ah Ma's house for CNY visiting.

Tashi invited her neighbour to her party at home and so Tashi, Oracle, Neighbour, Ace all played together in the girl's bedroom.

For me, that was a heaven sent opportunity to relax. This is the first CNY visit where I dun have to run after Ace and fear that he will topple things over or eat anything that he should not.

And since no one screamed or shouted or came to complain... I took it that all the 4 children were having alot of fun...

After a while, I decided to go and take a peep at what is happening in the room.

Neighbour was on the upper deck of the double decker bed. Ace was on the ladder that leads to the upper deck. He was looking at her and giggling and smiling... I think Ace assumed they were playing hide and seek and wanted to go and hug her.

Neighbour stood at the end of the ladder on the upper deck and said, "Go away. You cannot come up...go away.. shoo shoo... "

She waved her hands and even made the motion of wanting to hit Ace and I looked at her. I think she did not realize that I am Ace's mother.

"Go away.... "

At that moment, I felt really indignant for Ace. What did he do wrong to deserve such treatment right?

But Ace was nonplussed and NEVER felt upset at all. He just ran around the room, looked at her and giggled.

I asked her, "Why can't didi come up?"

"Cos he will spoil the book"

"It's ok." Said Tashi.

"No, I don't want him to spoil the book!" Neighbour insisted and repeated that again and again.

"It's OK!" Tashi said.

"It's ok!" magnimous Tashi said again and again when neighbour started whining about the book...

Tashi looked at neighbour with an exasperated face. She looked as if she was thinking. "What's wrong with this girl. So what if he spoils the book. It is my book and I already told you it is ok."

After a while, Neighbour finally revealed why she was afraid to come down and let Ace go near her. She asked me, "Why... why does he like me so much. I don't even know him. Why does he like me so much huh?"

When I told Max about this, his first reaction was, "What a poor little thing. So young and she already feels unworthy of recieving unconditional love."

Ace really is exemplary of giving unconditional love.

And this reminds me of a story my mentor told me....

There was once a man... who saw a scorpion that was almost drowning in water. Being a compassionate person, he tried to pick it up to save the scorpion.

At this moment the scorpion stinged him and hurt him. His friend asked him, "Why did you bother to save the scorpion when you know it would sting you. Isn't that stupid?"

He replied, "It's ok. It is his innate nature to sting when people touch him... but it is also my innate nature to help something or someone in need."

I think that day, this was the lesson I learnt from Ace.

You go, boy!

Ace Is Very Ugly!

Tashi met Ace that day at a gathering and said loudly in front of Ace, "Jie jie, I think Ace didi is getting more and more ugly cos his nose is now not so nice... cos his nose is like Max gor gor.."

Should I laugh or cry?

At the first instance, I went, "Oh, no!" in my head. The first question I asked myself was, "What is Ace going to think. How can I help him not feel negative about this?"

Now, I really wondered why she said that because Max has a sharp nose like me and I tot Ace is one of the cutest babies I know....

For a moment, I did not know how to react and so I told Ace, "No lah, you are very handsome to mummy!"

Hmm.. should I ask her to apologize to Ace and assure Ace that he is very handsome? I can't protect him from negativity forever so how can i instill a good sense of self worth such that he doesnt get affected by this? Is there any other way?

But now as I write about this and think deeper, something must have caused Tashi to say that. Did Ace reject Tashi's hug or something like that? My experience is that most people (even children) will only talk bad about people if they have been rejected or hurt.

I think I will let this pass but I should be more observant in future...

Anyway, on a lighter note.. I told Richie and Jez about it and we all had a good laugh.. hahaha.. I mean, in all childish innocence, this does sound very funny you know ;)

Hmm... as I think deeper.. maybe MAX or ME was the one who 'hurt' Tashi.. hahaha.... Ace just kenna by the way...

Slap

Ace accidentally slapped someone today.

We went visiting... and while Ace was playing with Oracle Jie Jie, he accidentally 'slapped' her.

Oracle then pursed her lips and walked away.

I told Ace that it is not right to hit someone and slap them and asked him to apologize to Oracle.

He looked very frightened, very afraid and kept moving backwards as I tried to pull him forward to say sorry.

I then carried him and brought him one side to quietly told him, "Ace, it is not right to slap people. But mummy know you did not mean to do it. Oracle Jie Jie also knows you did not mean to do it. But slapping people is not right and since you are a good boy and a brave boy, you will apologize to her right? Oracle Jie Jie is very sad because it is painful and when people slap you, you feel that they dun like you and that hurts."

And then I brought him to Oracle and said, "Ok Ace. Say sorry to Oracle Jie Jie. Can you sayang Jie Jie and say you are sorry?"

He slowly put out his hand and and stroked Oracle on the arm.

I then asked Oracle, "Jie jie, di di is saying sorry to you. Do you accept it?"

She nodded her head. Rebecca who was sitting beside Oracle told her... "You have to look at didi when you reply so that didi knows you have forgiven him..."

She turned and looked at him, nodded her head and without any prompting, reached out to pat pat Ace on the arm as well.

Half a minute later, they are best of friends and hugging each other! Hahaha.. aren't children wonderful creatures!

Anyway, I repeated to Ace again that there is nothing wrong with admiting one's mistake. Just say sorry and it is that easy... just say sorry and move on! ;)

Anyway, much later, while I was carrying him, he pulled my hair and started hitting me. If I did not know better, I would just say, "Stop pulling my hair!" and maybe give him a slap on the hand.

But POST-POV and more sensitive, I think Ace is angry at something and so I brought him one side, held on to his hand and asked him, "Ace, are you angry at something? Are you angry at mummy? Tell mummy what you want... don't have to pull mummy's hair or hit mummy ok?"

Turned out that he wanted me to just know that he was frustrated. After I asked him that, he stopped and became his happy self.

But later, when he started again, I observed closer and realized that he wanted to have more freedom to move around the house and was upset because I was carrying him too much and he felt stifled with no freedom.. so I let him roam around more and just forced myself to trust that he will behave himself (cos we were at someone else's house and I was really afraid he may mess things up or spoil other people's things...)

Ace was in a good mood for the rest of the day. Is it because he felt that I understood him? I certainly hoped so...

Anyway, he was in excellent behaviour and was happy to keep himself entertained without making a nuisance of himself. I am very happy too ;) I no longer fear visiting with Ace and most importantly, I learnt to trust myself and trust Ace more.

Mini J.J.X.

This is definitely an accident! Hahahaha....

Me and max heard about Winter Sonata the korean series a long long time back. The whole world told us that it is some soap opera and that it is very sad...

Max had initially rejected all my offers to borrow korean dvds for him to watch. That was when he was very free.

In the past one month, he was very busy but somehow, all of a sudden, he just turned to me one day and said he has decided he wanted to watch Winter Sonata cos he heard it was really touching and so we started watching.... AND WE COULDNT STOP!

Gosh..

Max only managed to shed one tear drop. But the show was well worth our sacrificing two weeks worth of sleep to watch it.

Of course, it was not just cos of the jokes we created from it.. Mostly, it is because that show talks about TRUE LOVE! Something that we have been thinking about since we found out about POV.

I think the show really gave us a very good preperation for POV and a good example of true love.

To cut the long story short, the story is about this guy called Jiang Jun Xiang who fell in love, met with an accident, lost his memory and came back 10 years later to fall in love with the same girl under a different identity.

When he came back, the girl already had a boyfriend and when the girl broke up with her boyfriend to spend time with him, that is the part I loved most.

Cos no matter what Jun Xiang did, he always did it to support the girl, to help her become happier, to give her true love.

He would say the sweetest things and ask the sweetest questions... and he really could feel the girl's emotions. He knew when to give her space to cry alone.. he knew when to offer company, he knew when to offer advice, when to offer support....

No wonder all the aunties loved this show and loved Bae Yong Jun... I mean, such a lover almost does not exist on earth leh! And most aunties are usually neglected by their hubbies.. if there is someone like tat in their real life saying and doing those things for them.. i think they would faint with happiness...

Since me is already 30 and have a kid.. I must confess that I have aunty mindset as well ;) Hahaha.. I LOVE Bae Yong Jun.. hahaha.. and i was really happy to find out that he shares the same birth date as me (though he is 5 years older). Only diff is, me already got perfect lover beside me in real life.. hehehe...

Anyway, since we started watching the series, Ace will walk around and drink his milk VERY SLOWLY in an attempt to watch the show with us. (Wah lau, I only learnt to do that when I was 5 years old leh.. i would time my milk drinking duration with the whole episode of crocodile tears and would often only finish the whole bottle of milk completely when I hear the ending song... but my son can do this at age 1.5 yrs, how clever is that!)

I dun quite mind it though. I told Max that I would like Ace to watch the show to know what true love is and how to treat the girl he loves. Ace is good looking and has a great heart.. and if he knows all these things.. wah.. i tell you, the girl who is with my Ace must be the happiest girl in the world....

Problem is, supply might exceed demand by too high a proportion.. hahaha...

Previous Post: Noooooooooooooooooo.....

Nooooooooo...

Age 2 is known as the NO Years as I am told.

My personal experience is that even the best intentioned baby or even the most co-operative baby starts to say NO alot by age two.

Who could blame them since from one years old onwards when they start to get REALLY active, this must be the NUMBER ONE WORD they hear MOST OFTEN.

"NO, dun touch this!"
"NO! Dun eat that!"
"NO! Cannot do that!"

The list goes on...

Recently, Ace picked up this word and he LOVES it.

And being the cute baby he is, he says it in a really cute way... (just like popo often says it). Like most words he learns like byeeeeee... he likes to make the last vowel very very looooooooooong.

So he goes, "Noooooooooooooooo" And his intonation goes up as he drags the word on.. so it is really cute to hear him say that and mostly I am amused.

But I am also a little fearful and worried of the NO YEARS.

For a start, when he does not like something or does not want something, he goes, "Nooooooooooo...."

To counter attack that, I have taken to tell him "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees" whenever he says No....

The other day while we were at yeye and nainai's place, he wanted to do something but we wouldnt let him and so he went, "Noooooooooooooooooooooo..."

Us: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees...
Ace: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Us: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees....
Ace: Noooooooooooooooooooooo....
Us: Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees...
Ace: Noooooooooo... Nooooooooo.... Nooooo.......
Us: Yeeeeeeeeeess... Yeeeeeeeesss... Yeeesss....

And Ace thought it was really funny and started to giggle.


Anyway, on my part, I have tried my best to eliminate this word from my normal conversation with Ace.

Instead of saying, "No, dun stand in front of the TV." We say, "Ace, come over here..."
Instead of saying, "No, dun eat this...", we say, "Do you want to drink water?"
Instead of saying, "No, dun touch this...", we say, "Come over here and let's play a game"
Instead of saying, "No, dun do that...", we say, "Ace, it is not right to do that..." (and explain to him why)

I assume that all hard work now will make the next 12-18 months a breeze! Hehehe.... It really is hard work ok, it is not that easy NOT TO SAY NO... you dun believe? You try!!

Sorted

Ace has transcended the world of shape sorters :)

The last time Evon Godma visited Ace, she bought him a shape sorter.

Initially, he couldnt quite figure out which shape goes where. He would give the shape to ask and ask for a 'clue'. We would point out the shape and he would slot it in.

Now, he can put the right shape through the right holes already and if you gave him something tat did not belong to the shape sorter toy, he would still find the closest shape and slot it in. Eg, we gave him a cap from a bottle and even though the cap is really small and could fit into any shape, he would purposely look for the circle hole and put it through.. isn't he a great baby?

Anyway, his speech has somewhat increased in vocab...

Other than saying, "Mum mum, nen nen, eat, more, byeeeee, mama, papa.."

He can also say, "Night night, Nai Nai, Nat, Yeye, Wow Wow, Dog, Cat, Noooooooooooooooooooo"

The Greatest Gift To Our Family

I am a buddhist.

And my christian friends always tell me how grateful they are for things.. and keep sharing about GRACE.

But I could never really understand it totally.

The other day, someone asked another person this question, "Did you remember when you were born, how did your parents feel? Did they feel happy? Why?"

"Why did they feel happy? Do you see... you are a gift.. a gift... to your family..."

That really struck me hard.

I never thought about things this way. Was I a gift to my family when I was born? If so, what sort of gift was I to my family?

I don't know. I am unsure.

Perhaps I don't want to know. Maybe I will go and ask my mum about this when I have the courage.

But this also got me thinking about the birth of Ace. And finally thinking things through, I am VERY SURE now that Ace is the greatest gift to our WHOLE FAMILY!

I told mum about this and she says indeed.. for he is a gift to THREE GENERATIONS WORTH OF PEOPLE...

And with that realization, I suddenly appreciate Ace Chua a whole lot more even though I thought I already appreciate him and love him alot. Suddenly, the sense of gratitude I feel towards my baby overwhelms me and makes me want to cry. I think this is what Grace really means....

Ace's gift to our family is pure JOY.

Firstly, Ace was concieved when i was in a joyful and blissful state- during my honeymoon.

Then shortly after that, I had a short period where I was depressed and upset... I retreated into my shell and wanted to just shut the whole world out. I wanted to give up and I wanted to just leave.

But the moment I found out that Ace was inside me, there was immense joy in me. From that very day that I found out that I was pregnant, I had always been super happy! I think you would never see a more gungho and happier pregnant mummy than me! ;)

And when he was born, the joy he brought to my life is just immense.... So immense that I think for a moment, all other things seemed unimportant and even the most daunting tasks seemed possible to me. If I was ever sad, I immediately could drew strength and move on and get over it by just hugging him.

His connection with me also brought me lots of joy. Thinking back now, I felt almost as if I was trying to relive my childhood and hold on to the good parts through the things that I was doing for Ace and with Ace. When I hugged Ace, it also felt as if I was hugging Daddy, Waipo, Waigong, Ah Yee... and that they were hugging me back.

Ace taught me what is unconditional love and what it is like to be joyful at even the smallest thing for this baby has great capacity for joy. Ace is almost never upset. He is always smiling and always managed find ways to keep his spirit up. He is such a happy baby you rarely see him upset other than when he is hungry or tired.

My dad is someone who doesnt express himself much. He always looked very sad. In fact, I think ever since the accumulation of many things that happened, my dad looked sad all day long. However, with Ace, he has learnt to express himself... he speaks to Ace different from the way he talks to us and makes me wonder if he used to talk to me like that as well. And the most important thing is that whenever his face turns to face Ace, it is always WITH A SMILE.

For mum, Ace is her pride and joy. She is happy that she is able to influence Ace in ways she couldnt with me and sis. She has made Ace a more devoted buddhist than either me or my sis... and every little thing he does to show love to her just makes her happier and love him more. I am totally ashamed that my son does better than me in showing my mother love.

Zhen Popo is a woman of very few words. Though she dared not carry Ace when Ace was younger.. but she ALWAYS makes time to play with Ace and never forgets his night snack. Even when Ace stepped all over her face during the night when he climbed onto her bed, not only did she not once complained but she felt happy that she was part of his sleeping process...

I dun see Zhen Popo often as she worked outside.. but I can imagine how it must feel after a hard day's work and a long journey home from Bukit Timah to Bedok on a long one and a half hour journey via a bus. Whenever she reaches home, Ace would run excitedly to the door, smile at her, and tug at her leg when she walks into the home. I can imagine the joy she must feel to know that there is someone waiting for her at home.. and someone who finds her important... especially when she felt abandoned when she was very young because Zhen Waigong had left her for another woman.

Laoma almost lost her will to live and a sense of purpoes for life when Laogong died. She barely hanged on and now is forgetful about most things. But if there is one thing she doesnt forget and that she is happy about is her task to FEED ACE. She almost takes it as her personal responsiblity that Ace has to be fed by her and this is like her new life mission.

The comfort, joy and love she feels must be immense for even though laoma is suffering from some dementia, one of the few things she never forgets and would repeat N times to anyone who will listen to her are:
- Ace likes me to feed him you know...
- Ace can recognise me
- Ace likes me to carry him (and this 1.4m tiny 90 yr old will proceed to pick up the 13kg little boy to show you that)
- Ace is a very clever boy

I dun think it is an accident that she only remembers these few things.

Ah Yee used to dislike commitment and think children are just a noisy bunch. Even though it seemed as POV taught Ah Yee how not to fear commitment and walk closer to the ideal life that she wanted, I would say the process of learning how to give unconditional love started for her with the birth of Ace.

For some unknown reason, why other children are just babies to her.. Ace was special... Ace's smile and Ace calling her Ah yee made her melt... and made her feel even happier than if she had struck 4D!

For Daddy, I think Ace also gave him the childhood he quite missed. Ace gave him an insight to how his parents must feel about him, towards him... Ace gave him a chance to truly appreciate his parent' love and as all parents WILL tell you.... No matter how tired you are after a hard days' work, seeing your child and the joy they bring you will make you feel that it is ALL WORTH IT!

And Ace is like a lamp shining into a dark path for Ye ye and Nainai.. not that their lives are dark. But there is just an especially joyful atmosphere around since Ace is born. Even though my in laws are both joyful persons... but they just seem to really come alive when Ace is around. I guess to them, the warmth they long from Daddy (Daddy is someone who keeps his feelings to himself alot) comes from Ace and when they kiss and hug Ace and when he loves them back, they feel also that Daddy is the one doing it to them.

Hahaha... I dun think you want me to go on about how he brought joy to Ganma Evon, Karen, Seok Ling's lives... And even Richie Ah ye, Jez Ah Ma, Tashi and Oracle's lives...

With all this joy he has brought us, I think the best way to show gratitude is to live our lives with joy.

Because of Ace, there is suddenly a cause and motivation for all of us to want to change our lives for the better... so that Ace can have a better life. So that Ace can have a HAPPIER and more joyful life.

If all parents knew how to appreciate their children like that, I think the world would be at peace.

The other day, someone was telling us how his brother's son was the best behaved little boy in the world. And how his son was so naughty that he has decided then that he hated children and he would get so angry at his son that he would cane him till the little boy peed in his pants. If you know what I know about how children also need our appreication and love, it is little wonder that his son is now far far away in another country... attempting to get PR there and doesnt like to come back.... I mean, would you want to stay in SG with a dad like tat?

But I guess he was just not as lucky to know what I know. Just like George told me, "If you did not know then, it has passed.. now that you know, if you did not put it into action... then it is as good as not knowing..."

So what gift did you bring to your family when you were born?
What gift did your baby bring to your family when he/she was born?

I would love to hear you share too!

PS: My mentor George say that what you see in others is what you are capable of as well. After re-reading this article... I think MY greatest gift to the people around me is JOY as well! Wow! What a step forward to better appreciating myself and loving myself. Angel, you are a wonderful person. I will love you unconditionally!

PPS: I told mum and asked her wat gift did I give to the family... she said, "JOY" :) :)

Guilt

Peter and Natalie, my TRUE LOVE mentors told me that "Money does not make the world go round, guilt does..."

Wow! What a revealation.

And when i thought about it.. how true it is...

So many a times, we do things, we fumble, we fall in love with nasty people, we fall into a 3 way relationship, we choose to degenerate instead of go forward, we throw our money a way by gambling or doing something, we purposely deny ourselves of love, wealth, prosperity and abundance.. JUST BECAUSE WE ARE GUILTY and we want to punish ourselves!

And the most scary thing is that this thing is not a theory... but a fact.. and it happens like clockwork BUT most people are not AWARE OF IT!

Scarier still, most people PUNISH THEMSELVES FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES WITHOUT KNOWING WHY.

Worst still, parents who are not awared of the ramifications if this continue to instill guilt into their children... and then blame their children for not being successful when they get older when it is all because of them that their children live a life with guilt and who gave them this guilt? Their parents.

Guilt is a heavy burden to bear you know. I now believe that EVERYONE knows whether EVERYTHING we are doing is RIGHT or WRONG.

Take Ace for example. Ace broke a cup today. "Oh dear, Ace, you broke the cup..." I told him... immediately his face broke out into a guilty look.

Ladies and gentlemen. I want you to note that:
1) I did not scold him
2) He already looked guilty the moment the cup smashed into pieces
3) He really looked upset after that and did not smile
4) Ace is 19 months old, most people wouldnt even think he is capable of feeling guilty or knowing right or wrong...

Now, if we did not know better, we would probably scold him and berate him for throwing the cup and causing it to break into pieces.

BUT, note that he was already upset and felt guilty. Do you really think there is a need to punish him? If I did not know better, I wouldnt think or read too much into it.. Now that I know better, I think this guilt might accumulate to something bigger in life... he might continue to punish himself in other ways... if we did not take action...

Someone I have met let the guilt of lying to her parents eat into her and end up giving herself unhappiness for the next 20 years of her life. She didn't kill anyone or hurt anyone... she merely lied to her parents and made them disappointed. And she was willing to PAY FOR IT by suffering in hell for 20 years! It probably would be even more than 20 years and she would continue to pay for it if she did not understand this.

Anyway, Daddy told Ace, "It's ok Ace. It is just a cup.."

I told Ace," Ace, you have to learn to take care of your things. Can you go think about this? When you are ready to take care of your things, we will buy you a new cup, ok?"

And then I told him that no matter what he does, no matter what happens, we will love him unconditionally.

He seemed much happier after that! ;)

I myself have lived in guilt all my life... because of this guilt, I was unable in incapable of giving my true love to the person I love most as I was mostly even incapable of loving all of myself.. it snowballed and I put myself in more and more situations where I felt even more guilty. The end result? Someone who smiled in the day and had a M - shaped mouth at night when i am sleeping. And I am so happy that I have finally decided to put down this guilt and let it go.

And when you let go of guilt, you fly....

每一次都在徘徊孤单中坚强,
每一次就算很受伤也不闪泪光,
我知道我一直有双隐型的翅膀,带我飞,飞过绝望,
不去想他们拥有美丽的太阳,
我看见每天的夕阳也会有变化
我知道我一直有双隐型的翅膀带我飞,给我希望.
我终于看到所有梦想都开花
追逐的年轻歌声多嘹亮.
我终于翱翔用心凝望不害怕.
那里会有风就飞多远吧
不去想他们拥有美丽的太阳,
我看见每天的夕阳也会有变化
我知道我一直有双隐型的翅膀带我飞,给我希望.
我终于看到所有梦想都开花
追逐的年轻歌声多嘹亮.
我终于翱翔用心凝望不害怕.
那里会有风就飞多远吧
隐型的翅膀让梦很久比天长
留一个愿望让自己想象

Should I???

We went visiting again this CNY. As usual, we visited the same places but it is different cos this year, Ace is mobile and capable of SNACKING and playing with people. He can say gongxi gongxi, knows how to shake hands to wish people happy new year... and can also recieve ang pows by himself ;)

Anyway, at sar lao chek's house, I saw this.... Ace loved it and played with it for 30 minutes. He first saw this a year ago at Xianglin's house and loved it. I have kept thinking about buying this for him but the price is holding me back. Is it a worthwhile investment???

I found out later that when Mummy brought him to Aunty Bin's house, he also played with it so happily that he refused to go home...

Hai... partially it is vanity on my part actually. I wanted to buy him that cos I think.. "Why other children can have it and not my son?"

Should i buy it for him?????? Or should I use the money to buy MORE BOOKS for him?? What do you think?

I Hate Injections!

Did I ever tell you before tat I REALLY hated injections????

I especially hate the way they make Ace feel.

When Ace was younger, injections would bring about fever but because Ace could not really express himself well and was not really mobile, he was mostly happy to lie in my arms, let me sponge him and sleep through it.

Just as the nurse predicted, 4 days after Ace's MMR injection, Ace was down with a very high fever of nearing 39 degrees.

Daddy was worried cos Ace looked listless and nothing seemed to excite him. He would cry and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry and refused to sleep.

He did not like it if we carried him, neither did he like it when we put him down. he just cried non stop.

He did not like eating and refused to eat. But he seemed hungry and seemed to want food but kept rejecting it when we gave it to him.

Usually, food makes Ace really happy and excited. However, even eating grapes seemed like a listless chore to him that day. I have never seen Ace eating so unhappily in his whole life!

Afraid that his head might be too warm, Daddy insisted tat we shower Ace once every two hours to bring down his temperature.

He cried and cried whenever we try to shower him. He cries even when we merely used a wet cloth to wipe his body.

I was supposed to go out with sis and in the end, I decided to stay at home because I think I wouldnt gave enjoyed myself as I would be busy worrying about Ace.

Waipo was supposed to go out but also did not. In short, Ace's fever made the whole family busy. You could see like 5 adults trying to figure out how to soothe the crying baby but non succeeding for very long as he would suddenly become quiet and just when we thought he is ok, he would start crying for no reason again...

In my desperate attempt to help him get well, instead of usual 5 VP, i fed him 30 VP and even one indinine!

Finally, we gave him some milk and he quiet down to drink it. While he is usually happy to suck on his own, he only was willing to drink the milk when Waipo carried him and put him on her lap. And just like his baby self, Ace refused to carry his milk bottle and insisted that Waipo carried it for him.. if not, he would start to howl...

After milk and some rocking from me, he finally slept. He refused to sleep anywhere else except on my body. He would finally only rest when I rested his head between my breasts and his body was snug right on top of mine.

But his rest was not a good one. He kept having these sudden jerk reactions while sleeping. It was as if he was having a seizure.

I took the chance to go online and see if there was anything i could do to alleviate his discomfort.

Regret ah!

Seems that high fever can give some babies mild seizure, they will drool (check), jerk (check) and sometimes change colour (heng ah, not checked).

Other than that, learnt nothing useful except that MMR jabs may cause some people to be autistic. Wah kaoz! If I had known, I wouldnt have let Ace take the jab man!

Not only did that not help, that really instilled more fear in me as Ace was really not his usual independent, happy self and was clingy and whiny like a small baby.

As his body (especially the back of his head, his neck and his back) was radiating alot of heat, he himself couldnt stand it and finally only slept more soundly when he flipped himself over and lie on his tummy to sleep.

Anyway, he did not sleep very long and woke after about 30 minutes.

By afternoon, his fever was not so bad and by late afternoon, he was finally capable of playing with some of his toys.

I tot he would get better after a good night sleep.

Alas, I was wrong. The next day was even WORST!

He cried and cried and cried from the moment he woke up and NOTHING we did seemed to appease him. He cried non stop for a good one hour and we were all lost about what to do.

But all of a sudden, he was smiling, shaking his backside and playing with himself... and then we discovered the reason- Ace did not shit the whole of yesterday and had just relieved himself and shitted out all the dirty things. His shit was black and very stinko... i wonder why his shit is always so dark and stinko right after injections...the previous few times were like tat as well..

I think he felt much better after all these things came out and by the time I was due to go out for my appointment, he was well enough to play with the box that Waipo had wanted to bring to school.. PHEW...

He has another injection next month leh.. I am very SERIOUSLY contemplating NOT bringing him to it.

Aftermath:
Ace did not want to shower for the next one week.. but slowly start to enjoy playing with water during bath time again.

Picky about his food during and after this incident, Ace dropped 0.3kg but is is eating normally and slowly gaining back the weight he has lost again.

Also, Ace seemed to be extra clingy and refused to walk on his own right after. He kept wanting to be carried and seemed especially wary of strangers, especially adults. But he is starting to get over it as well.

Somehow, the fever seem to make him think that if he cries, he will get what he wants. So he has restarted that phase of crying and throwing tantrums when he does not get what he wants. It has been a week since and he finally got it that he is no longer sick and that crying for things doesn't really work and so he is doing it lesser and lesser.

After the fever was gone, Ace was down with a runny nose and a slight cough.. dripping GREEN mucus for quite a few days. He is slowly getting better and better as I refuse to let him consume any medication but prefer 'curing' him with VP and lots of good, clean water.

Girly Ace

Should we or should we not???

Waipo bought Ace her students a set of cooking toys.

You see, Waipo is a childcare teacher... and she has got this food theme she has to set up in her corner. So she has to buy stuff for her kids to play and they must follow the FOOD theme. Initially, Waipo had wanted to bring Ace's wooden fruits and veg.

This set of fruits and veg are all made of wood and they have got this velcro patch in the middle to stick them together. In the set, you have a knife that you can use to cut open the fruits and veg.

In the end Waipo could not bear to bring it to school because he saw how Ace loved this set of toys... he would play with them again and again and could play with them for a very long time at any one go.

So Waipo went to NTUC and bought another two sets for her school. The sets this time also included pots and pans and cutlery as well.

"Ace, Waipo let you play with this first.." And Ace really loved it. He started pretending to cook and would play with it for an hour or so. He even brought the pan to the ironing board (which is silver in colour and looks like the gas stove at Waipo's house) and he really had the 'seh' of a cook.

In fact, I thought he looked as if he was cooking.. just like Waigong! He would put the lid on.. take it off, put in new stuff...

Anyway, it kept him entertained for the whole afternoon and the whole evening. Waipo still contemplating whether or not to buy him another one set to play with.

On one hand, we thought since he enjoys it, just let him indulge lah.. right? On the other hand, we are afraid he will end up enjoying sissy stuff.. i mean, he is already trying to apply cream on his face and always combing his hair...

What do you think we should do?

Gu Lu Gu Lu

It was night time and it was milk time. Ace kept coming into the room to disturb me while I worked on the computer.

I looked at the time and realized that it was his milk time and so I asked him, “Do you want mummy to make milk for you?”

And he made the sign for milk.

So, we held hands and went to the kitchen together.

“What must mummy do first to make milk, Ace? Mummy must fill the kettle with water and boil water first. When the water is boiled, the kettle will go ‘gulu gulu gulu’ and then you can let mummy know, ok?”

And then I proceeded to boil the water and prepare his milk bottle.

“Gulu Gulu… Gulu Gulu… Gulu Gulu…” Ace repeated again and again when the water started boiling. It was his way of telling me that the water is boiling and that I should make milk quickly.

Now, whenever we are making milk, he stands patiently by the side and waits for the water to boil before saying, “Gulu Gulu… Gulu Gulu… “ Hahaha

Happy Feet Cup

Well, since we were already in Bedok Interchange and so near NTUC, I decided to do what I had always wanted to do for a long long time...

I told Ace that I would bring him to NTUC to pick a cup that he liked that he can use for drinking water.

We went there and first looked at those no spill containers.

"Do you like this?"

Ace looked at it for a long time and reached out for an orange pigeon brand no spill container.

"Ok, mummy bring you to another type of cup and you choose ok? You can only buy one today."

And so, after alot of careful contemplation, Ace decided on a blue Happy Feet Cup. He loved it so much that he held on to it and refused to let it go.

The first time he let go was when we had to let the cashier scan it. So he cried for the 3 seconds when the cup was not in his hands.

After that, he held on tightly to the cup all the way from NTUC to bedok interchange, from interchange to the bus, throughout the bus journey and all the way home.

He only finally let go of the cup when I told him i was going to wash it and put water inside for him.

The first time he used the cup to drink water, he drank by sipping loudly and even made the "ahhh... " sound after he finished drinking! hahaha...

Daddy says he sam si hang.. but after a while, when he got tired of it, he threw the cup out of the playpen. Sigh.. waste my money...

PS: This entry was written much earlier.. with much regret.. I have to inform you tat Ace SMASHED during CNY reunion dinner. Not bad right my boy.. plastic also can break into pieces and luo di kai hua.. hahaha... It's ok, so now I have a chance to go cup shopping again.

MMR

Today, I brought Ace to take his MMR jab.

Initially delayed cos I had clean forgotten about it! Hahahaha... thank goodness for the fact that someone actually called me up to remind me. Wonders of the Singaporean government. They actually bother to call you and remind you about these little things.

Anyway, today since Daddy as out and everyone else was out, i was feeling a little bored and so I decided to bring Ace out as well to get his jab.

So I told him, "Ace, today we will go and get your injection. The nurse will 'took' you here. It will be a little painful but you are a brave boy and I know you will not cry. In fact, a brave boy like you will be smiling, right??:)"

Anyway, at the mention of "go out", he got really excited. Especially when he saw his shoes. So he happily sat down, raised his feet and let me put on his socks and shoes for him.

I decided to take a bus there and when i got on the bus, I realized that Ace's shoes were worn wrongly! Hahaha.. blur sotong mummy. I put his left shoe on his right leg and vice versus..

In the bus, he was really happy and kept making alot of noise. "Shh... Ace, you have to speak softly in public even though you are very happy.." I told him.

When we finally reached the interchange, I told Ace that he will have to walk all the way to the polyclinic. He happily walked most of the way and happily went up and down the steps.

But he still stopped and squatted down at certain points and when he does that, I would carry him for like 3 steps and let him walk again after that.

When we reached the polyclinic, I almost fainted.. there were so much people and my queue number was 35 numbers later.

Ace refused to sit down at the chair and just ran around the whole clinic. He was happily playing with himself and talking loudly to himself.

"Wah, he has a loud voice," commented one aunty. I ran around with him for 5 minutes.. gosh.. still 10 queue numbers away... I decided then that he had enough movement and thus I picked him up to sit with me.

But he kept wriggling. Suddenly, I had a BRIGHT idea.

"Ace ah.. look, mummy's queue number is 2850. See, now is only 2840. Can you sit here and watch the numbers and tell mummy when it reaches 2850?"

Miracles of miracles, he sat there and watched the numbers jump quietly! Muahahaha....

Finally it was our turn and I registered and brought him to the immunization room to wait for his turn. The wait was another long one and Ace was still restless. He wanted to run up and down and up and down and up and down and up and down the whole corridor. And so, poor mummy had to follow suit.

He finally saw a little boy who played with him and Ace kept wanting to take out the little boy's pacifier.. and the little boy kept wanting to hug Ace.. which made Ace a little afraid of him.. hahaha.. Ace finally met his match man!

Finally, it was his turn to go into the room. It took a while for the nurse to fill in some forms and stuff... by the time it was time for him to take his jab, he looked at me and said, "Night night.." indicating that he wanted to sleep. And then he turned to the nurse and said, "Byeeeeeeee!"

Gosh, so small already know how to find excuse to get our of a situation he did not want to be in.
The nurse told him,"No bye bye yet.." And then I told him that the nurse will 'took" him and repeated what I told him earlier.

He struggled and struggled and so I tickled him and played with him to distract him. I think when the needle went into his skin, I was the one who felt frightened and tense. He was actually ok. It was when the liquid was pushed through his skin that he cried out loud. Alas, he was quiet within like 20 seconds and was happily eating his biscuits after that.

After about 5 minutes, he even started running up and down and up and down the corridor again.. stopping to dance when he sees beautiful jie jies...

hehe.. looks like he is back to his usual self.

Darn, nurse says he might get feverish by third or fourth day. Me will feed him 10 VP a day for the next few days.

Anyway, FYI, Ace is 12.9kg already.. no wonder I keep feeling my arms ache when I carry him. This is always a good guage that he has put on weight.

The greatest V Day Present I recieved

Valentines' Day. A day of celebration of love a joy....

I had a special Valentine's Day this year... I REALLY celebrated love and joy this year because I attended this seminar called POV. (By the way, it stands for 'psychology of vision' which means that when you see, you will understand the psychology behind it).

And most importantly, I attended together with my loved ones... Max, Clari and my dearest mummy.

At POV, me and mummy finally joint our hearts together... I never hugged my mum so tight and never had a chance to tell her so often that I love her. When I hugged her, I really felt her love flow to me... I realised that I have never hugged her since I grew out of toddler stage.. i realized tat whenever I hug Ace, it was also because I wanted to give him the love I was yearning for... and man, it felt GREAT!

At POV, me looked into Max's eyes and could feel for him, feel with him... I felt so sad because I knew that his wave of sadness was caused by me... I loved him so much and wanted him to be happy... I wanted him to let me know what I can do.. how I can help, which part of me does he really want...

At POV, me let what stood in our way go away... Max says he could feel that I am free and that I am HIS.. FULLY.. finally....

At POV, Max got in touch with his feelings which translated to a touching and literal family reunion at his house during reunion dinner...

At POV, me got closer to sis...

And who benefits from all these? Ace Chua lor ;) Hahaha... It is no wonder he is in great mood these days... dancing when he hears new year songs and running all over the house...

Strangely, even my dad seems to be looking much happier around the house! :) I really find him smiling alot more often despite being more bz for CNY. Usually when he is busier, he has a black face one...

My mum even tried to continue to hug me after that! As for dad? Hahaha.. he say, "dun want lah dun want lah..." but has continued to half heartedly hug me..

I feel as if I have a new family. Max says he feels as if we went back to our courtship days...

So I will say this.. the greatest V day present I ever gave out this year is ME.. the real me, the whole me.. and my commitment to love my loved ones unconditionally. And the best Vday present I recieved? TRUE LOVE!

Thanks Peter, thanks, Natalie... you really changed my life and you rock! I will always remember what you taught us. You are wonderful therapists. I aspire to be like you! I love you!

Thanks George for letting me have a chance to recieve such a great and wonderous gift! While I would say in the past, I was a little afraid of you, I really love you too! Unconditionally.

And yes, THIS MUST BE AN ACCIDENT! Hahaha...

Night Night

I really think that Ace is starting to pick up language.

He is really understanding what I am telling him. Eg, he waits patiently for his cookies by sitting in the living room when I tell him that I will give him cookies if he sits down in the living room.

When he picks something up and I ask him to help me throw it in the dustbin, he proceeds to do so.

And most importantly, when we are talking to each other, Ace would pick up phrases here and there and imitate.

Since Ace knew how to say, "Byeeeeee", that became like his only way to communicate. If he wanted to sleep, he would ask you to carry him and once you did, he would say "Byeeeee" to everyone which meant he wanted to go into his room to sleep.

Yesterday, Waipo said she is going in to sleep and asked Ace to go and sleep as well. Ace started to wave to us and so we told him, "Byeeeee...." and in order to help him pick up some new words, we also always tell him that if he is going to sleep at night, he has to say, "Good night..."

And out of the blue, he just waved to us... and instead of saying, "Byeeeeeee..." he said, "Night, night.. night night..."

When he walked past Ah yee's room, he stuck his head inside and waved and said, "Night night night.."

Isn't he amazing!

Just the other day, he was feeling hungry and so he went to the kitchen, took his favourite can of raisins and passed it to Daddy and asked Daddy to open for him. Daddy opened it and fed him one raisin.

After he was done, he turned around, tried to grab hold of the can of raisins and told Daddy, "Papa.. more...."

And most importantly, when you asked him, "Who is the best?" He would raise his hands and say, "Wo!" which means ME! Hahaha.. yes Ace, you are the best!

PS: Daddy.. happy V day to you! :)

Trying To Act Cool

Ace was climbing all over the house that day.

He then proceeded to climb from the sofa onto our round, roadshow table.

I purposely take the table away from the sofa and see what he will do.

He was initially very happy.. he tried to come down but realized his legs could not touch the floor.

Then when I took out the camera, he was really excited and tried to stand up. Halfway though, he decided that it is not safe to stand up and sat down again.

And so, I let him sit on the table for a good 5 minutes before I carried him down and told him to NEVER climb onto a table again.

Since then, he has stopped wanting to climb on the table. Hahaha...

I Want To Go Home!

Since I was free and the whole world was not at home, I decided to bring Ace out. I had promised him before his afternoon nap that I would bring him out.. alas, I was not needed in office and so I decided to change plans and visit Nainai instead cos Nainai went for a day operation the other day and has not seen Ace for about a week or so already.

I told Ace we are going out and took out his shoes. He happily came towards me, sat down and tried to put on his socks. When I was done with his socks, he lifted his leg towards Waigong as if signalling Waigong to put on his shoes for him.

Once we are done, I opened the door and asked him to step out first. But he refused to step out before I did. Once i stepped outside of the house, he followed suit.

We came to the stairs and I told him, "Ace, you can climb down the stairs yourself." He opened his arms wide and said, "Bao.. bao.." I pulled him towards the railings and told him, "You try to come down yourself..."

He tried one step and then proceeded to sit there and refused to move unless I carried him.

Ok, round one, he wins.

I carry him down to the lift and put him down and we walked along the sheltered walkway. When we came to this portion that was very dark (because the lamps were all spoilt), he just squat down and refused to move. No matter what I told him and how I cajoled him, he just squat there and refused to move. When I tried to pull him up, to prove his point, he sat down completely. Then he kept pointing to the blk sign that was lighted.

I suspect he was telling me that it was too dark so I told him I would carry him along the dark areas but he has to walk in the brightly lit areas.

And so, we took a good 15 minutes to slowly walk from Waipo's house to Nainai's house. Along the way, i cheered him on for walking. He was walking really fast and did not fumble and fall like he used to. Isn't he clever?

Then I started singing with him and he walked on happily with no interest in looking at the surroundings like he usually does. Perhaps he was anxious to see his Nainai as well.

By the time we reached Nainai's block, I pointed out the numbers to him and told him to remember where Nainai was staying and then I let him press for the lift.

When we came out of the lift, I asked Ace, "Where is nainai's house?" The clever boy didn't even have to think and he just walked straight to her house and stood at her door.

Initially when Nainai opened the door, he did not want to go in. He thought I would leave him there and go.. so I went in and told him i was staying with him today.

Assured, he happily went in, took off his shoes and started his hunt for FOOD!

Lucky boy! Nainai had baked some cookies so she gave him some to try.

We spent a good hour chasing after him and making sure he will not destroy anything ;) Nainai even brought him to Ting Ting the bird (that's yeye's pet yellow canary) and the two of them played happily. Nainai would put her finger near the cage and Ting Ting would try to peck her. So Ace followed suit and quickly took his finger away when she tried to peck him and he would laugh happily.

Finally, it was time to go.

"Ace, wear your shoes. It is time to go.." I told Ace.

And so he happily went to his shoes and waited patiently for nainai to help him wear his shoes.

I tell you, this is the most amusing part of the evening because I never expected what followed next.

After Ace put on his shoes, he went to my bag, took it and passed to me as if telling it is time to go. When I put the sling around my neck and sat down to wait for Daddy's call, Ace disappeared and reappeard with my orange crocs! Hahahahahaha.....

It was as if he was telling me, I WANT TO GO HOME and WE MUST GO HOME TODAY TOGETHER!

So I had to put on my shoes. Once I put on my shoes, he would only allow me to hold his hand or carry him and he refused to let Nainai hold his hands or cuddle him for fear that we would leave him at Nainai's house.

Gee.. dunno if he was hurt when we just plonked him in Nainai's house that day. Next time must prepare him somemore and talk to him more before we send him over...

Enjoy

Anyway, this baby is one who really knows how to enjoy himself.... the other day, after his afternoon nap, he walked out of the room, brough his bolster out, put it on the floor and slept on it again...

Not only does he know how to enjoy himself.. Someone also pointed out that babies also know how to self motivate...whenever they do something right or good, they would clap for themselves.

I guess it is an inborn trait for babies to do that ;)

That is one trait that adults should learn from them.. most adults I know are too critical of themselves and too critical of the people around them... including me ;) Hahaha..

Imitation

Ace likes to imitate us as I have mentioned before...

But did you know tat imitation is also a great game to play?

The other day.. daddy was playing with him and teaching him how to tickle each other. In the end, when he went over to Nainai's house to stay with her, he went to tickle her when she was reading the papers and laughed out loud. Hahaha.. isnt he a cute baby with a sweet sense of humour!

And boy do babies imitate. You know.. when Ace sings songs or talks.. we would clap loudly and tell him that he did a great job.

The other day, nai nai tried to sing him to sleep. According to her, Daddy and Zek Zek both would sleep after she sang to them. So she worked very hard and sang and sang and sang.. when she tot she was finally done and stopped, not only did Ace not sleep, he sat up and CLAPPED and SMILED at Nainai! Hahaha.. Nainai says children these days are indeed different.. i say, Ace is merely imitating what we do to him!

Anyway, imitation is duplication.. and I guess that is how they learn things. But i think just imitation is not good enough.. our children should also understand our mindset behind things.

Eg, Ace is vegeterian because we are as well. Just to instill the right mindset inside him, we brought him to the market today and showed him all the dead fish and prawns.. I told him that the fishes he saw previously can swim because they were alive.. those that are not moving are all dead.. and it is very pitiful to be dead and so we should not eat them at all. Hehehe.... vegeterianism is a mindset mah.. should start from young as well ;)

Later, I will certainly make him sit beside me when I do my health consultations so that he understands all the concepts behind good health and treasure health...

Ace And The Doggie

Ace usually likes to chase cats and dogs when he sees them at the void deck.

The other day, an overtly passionate cat chased after him and frightened him. And the very next day, Ganma Karen brought her doggie to our house to visit Ace. Still remembering the cat, Ace was initially very frightened of the dog, he cried and refused to go near her...

As time when on, he started to get used to the dog.. then Laoma asked him to go over and sit with her and told her in teochew, "Mama pak pak.. miang kia.." (grandma beat the dog, dun be afraid).. that is not the best of wat to teach Ace I feel.. since I dun want him to think that hitting dogs are right.. but strangely, when he saw Laoma do the hitting session.. he started to wave his hands as if following the action and started to smile!

Maybe he felt good that he was protected. But I did tell him later that we have to protect little cats and dogs and so we have to sayang them when we see them.

By the end of the visit.. Ace was even brave enough to feed the doggie treats! ;)

Speaking about protecting our children... the other day, A brought her daughter to office... and then since she had to go off to do some work, she told her daughter, "Dont cry ok? If you want to cry, cry loudly..." and then she went off. When she came back, her daughter was crying and clinging on to her for her dear life.

"Aiyah, you pretend to cry one lah.. go go.." and pushed her toward someone else which made her cry somemore... and meanwhile, A started to laugh as if her daughter crying was something very funny.

"Aiyoh, first time i see mummy like that one. How can you like tat. Your daughter cry you not heart pain meh?" C asked.

"No lah.. she always pretend to cry one. She is VERY NAUGHTY one.. "

And I gave a sigh in my heart and my heart really go all out to the little girl. I went up to her and told her, "It is ok, dun worry, mummy is still around. She has to go work now so she can earn money and buy things for you to sayang you. We are here to protect you and play with you. It is ok. Mummy will definitely come back later.. ok?" and she stopped crying.

I mean.. i think it is not a coincidence that this little girl has a very sad face and a sad mouth even when she is not crying. How can the parents not understand what she is thinking at all?

My thinking is.. if you keep telling your child that he or she is naughty, he or she will just do what you tell them they are doing. And if you think about it, most of the time, children are naughty to get your attention. If you think that is unreasonable, then parents should reflect on the amount of time and the quality of time they have with their children because happy children who are full of love are not like tat. Happy children who have been given lots of love dun need extra attention from you!

Ace will also cry if i push him to strangers. But I always prepare him before hand and assure him I love him and will be back and he is happy to play with everyone after that.

Did you know that when Ace is in deep sleep, when I tell him that I love him and kiss him, he will actually break out into a SMILE? That's the beauty of love, people, and that is what our children want most from us. Not our money or our clothes or the food with gave them.. but our LOVE.. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE!

Ace Is A Clever Baby

I might sound like an idiot for going on and on and on and on about how clever Ace is. But he really amazes me with his intelligence!

This morning, we brought him to the market and so I pointed out the stuff that we saw to him one by one. I pointed out both bee hoon and mee to him and explained to him the difference and then after that when I asked him, "Which one is bee hoon?" He actually pointed correctly! So clever!

The other day, we gave him the honey stars biscuits together with the plain cereals because he did not really like the plain cereals since they had no taste... he picked out all the honey stars and ate them first. Then he looked at the leftovers and thought very long and very hard and decided to eat them because he was hungry.

The next time I gave both types of biscuits to him (he refused to eat only the plain cereals), he came up with a brilliant idea to make the plain cereals taste good! He ate them together with the honeystars. One honeystar and one cereal together at one go! Isn't he clever?

Then when he came into Ah Yee's room and saw all the products stacked neatly, he decided that he also wanted to sit there on the box and removed everything and sat there.

I took out my camera and asked him to smile and proceeded to even take a box of FP and started to pose! Isn't he clever!!!

I just love this little boy!

PS: Want to check out how DADDY, ME and Ah YEE have also been very clever? Click here:
Die laughint with Dong Kee Liam Kua

Be Careful What You Do In Front Of Ace Pt 2

Well, here are some things that Ace has been doing through imitation...

It's scary.. has been been behaving more and more like Waigong...

He is starting to imitate waigong by lying down on his side while watching TV....
The other day, he ran out from his bedroom and ran towards Waigong.. and then he sit down beside Waigong to watch TV together... the resemblence is uncanny!!

He also likes to imitate Waipo.. That is him.. trying to chant gongyo...

Waipo sat in the tub and pretended to row the boat.. and so Ace followed suit...
That's him trying to strike the bell to sansho...

Who Put My Shoes There??

Too bad, Ace... Waipo already bao toh you last night.

By the way, that is Ace's favourite game now. He loves to take things out from paperbags and boxes and display them nicely. I think he knows how to sort things out already.

I've noticed that when he displayed the things, he would usually put the things that look alike together... This probably means he have some concept of sorting.

He is so good at it now that when he plays with the shape sorter, he needs no help and knows by instinct that circles go into the circle hole and squares go into the square hole... if he cannot find it, he knows how to flip it over and find it. And I only played it with him like 5 times and he seems as if he is a genius and just learnt all these overnight!! Me and Daddy are so amazed and so proud!!!

Anyway, I would take this to mean that he is making a huge improvement.. cos i never really taught him how to sort things... so clever, right? Ace! You are the BEST!

Creative Ace

Did you know that children are the most creative spieces on earth?

The other day, i attended a full day seminar and the speaker divided us into groups of 4 and asked us to come up with a brainstorming session and name as many uses as we can with a bottled of water.

My team came up with 17 uses.

The highest record in the room was 35 uses.

Want to know what is the highest record in the world so far? 165 uses!

Gee! And guess who are these group of wonderfully creative geniuses? They are a group of 9 year olds!

The reason why they are able to do that is because children have alot less preconcieved notions about things. This is why they are more creative and are so amazingly great idea givers!

I bet if Ace were in my team, he can contribute much more to it as we see his creativity at work everyday. Even a stroller (which is now seldom used) can become a fun toy for him to play with for a good half an hour! :)

Telly Tubby Ace has grown up

How would tellytubbies look like after they grow older?

Well, that was how they looked like when they were younger...

This is how a they look like when they grow older.. muahaha.. anyway, i think Ace doesnt like tellytubbies, much less become them.



The other day, mummy by chance put in a tellytubbie CD into the CD player and when it came on and that sun started to laugh, Ace cried.

I always felt tellytubbies felt sinister... eeeee....

Massage

Read somewhere that baby massage is good for your baby...

While I used to massage Ace whenever I bathed him when he was younger, I have stopped doing that after he started to be able to flip, roll and crawl around.

Nowadays, when we change his clothes, we dun do massage, we play games like "I feel good" or just let him run around naked for a while to enjoy freedom and happiness ;)

Anyway, Daddy decided to massage for Ace that day. Though he din seem as if he was enjoying it in the picture, I knew he was enjoying it... cos he kept lying there and waiting for Daddy to do it again and again and again and again...

Daddy, me also want massage!!!!

byeeeeee

BYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

That's Ace's favourite word at the moment.

And it is MINE too.

I think Ace sounds absolutely wonderful when he says "Byeeeeeeeeee" He's so cute.. and always says it at the top of his voice and always elongates the 'e' sound... and he sounds sooooooooooooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Everytime I hear him say that, i want to melt.

And I think he knows I like it when he says BYE... so he keeps finding chances to say 'bye' to people..

Eg, when he sees Daddy in a room, he will go into the room, say "BYEEEE" and walk out of the room.. make one round around the living room and go in to say "BYEEEE!!" to Daddy again. He will repeat again and again until Daddy also tired of 'bye-ing' with him but he is just so thrilled.

Next, he will find all sorts of chances to say "BYEEEE!!"

When he goes to bed, he says "BYEEEE!!" before he goes into the room.

When he goes and drink milk, he says "BYEEEE!!" before running into the room to lie down and drink...

When he goes take a bath, he must say "BYEEEE!!" to EVERYONE in the house first before he is willing to go to the bathroom...

When he wanted to snatch Zek Zek's drink, he went up to him and held on tight to his packet of sugar cane drink. When Zek Zek passed him the whole packet, he turned his body away such tat his back was facing Zek Zek and told Zek Zek, "BYEEEEE!!!" as if to say, "Okay, now I have the drink, you can go now.."

When he want people to go away, he says, "BYEEEE" to them as well.

When he wants to go out, he brings his shoes to you, carries a bag (usually Ah Yee's) and says, "BYEEE as well"

Sometimes, he even just says BYE for the fun of it!

The other day, he was saying "BYEEEE!!" again and again and again and Ah yee complained, "Ace, why you keep saying bye and you never call Ah Yee?" And miracles or miracles! Ace called "Yeeeeee" Aiyoh, I tell you.. Ah Yee almost MELTED!!!!

Ah yee says that is the sweetest sound she has heard in a long while and she is even happier than she win TOTO! hahahaha...

A few days later, Ace was saying "BYEEE!!!" to waigong before going to bath and then suddenly, he said, "BYeee.... Byeee... go gooonnnnng.."

Wah... I think waigong also melted.

When is he going to call mummy leh???:)

Anyway, Ace, mummy love you unconditionally whether you call me or not! ;)

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PS: I used to bother very much when Ace dun call me and would try to bribe him with food to call me. However, I have discovered that this kind of love is conditional love:" If you do xx, I will love you.." So what happens when we do not do it, does it mean your parents dun love you?

Think about the past.. when you were younger.. did your parents break their promise to you? Did they tell you that if you xxx, they would reward you in yy way? what happened if you do not achieve it? How did you feel? I know I felt unloved, unwanted and unworthy. Up till today, when I am asked what achievements have I achieved, it took me like one hour to remember that I am a champion in life and remember any of the achievements I have ever had in the past...

Parents, please... always be concious about this and assure your child that you will love them unconditionally. All needs that children aged 7 and below do not recieve, become a root problem in their later life such that they will not go all out to achieve in their life. Even if they do achieve, they will do something to destroy it. Think about it, aren't you the same?

What we do will not just affect our children.. but also our grandchildren as they are sure to treat their children the same way we treat them.. just as you have just treated them the only way you ever knew how to treat children.. according to your parent's way. No matter how much you dun like wat some of the things your parents did to you.. sooner or later, you find that you might still end up doing the same thing... make a concious effort and beware.. pls protect the inner child within you and within that of your children!

If you would like to find out more how to do that, please email me at verityy@yahoo.com

Relaxed Ace

Ace is a very relaxed baby.

He can relax and just lie down on the floor..just like tat.. ANYWHERE he likes!?

The other day, brought him to office and he just lie down on the office floor just like tat and he looked as if he was lying down at the beach and to prove that he liked the office, he even rolled himself all over the floor.

And then, a few days later, I let him roam around naked for a short while after bathing and he just layed himself down on the floor and RELAXED! Doesnt he look like he is having a good time?:P

But I noticed he doesnt quite like to do that on concrete pavement though... he prefers cooling surfaces..

Nainai says that when he goes over and she brings him out to play.. when he reaches home, he will also lie down to relax and stick himself on the marble floor to cool himself down... this little baby ah.. really gui ling jing guai!

Hercules Ace

If you give a kid a toy car, what would he usually do?

I think most kids would sit in it and go "beep beep" as they try to make the car move.

Give the car to Ace Chua, and he attempts to become HERCULES by lifting the whole car with his bare hands and walking around the whole living room with the car in his hands. Hahaha..

Anyway, Hercules Ace is very strong now..he can push the playpen around with his bare hands and can even carry Ah Yee's white bag that is so heavy it seems to be filled with gold bars.

With my detox going on and me getting lighter and lighter.. i guess in time to come, Ace will be able to CARRY ME instead! Hahahaha...