Ace can sit upright now!

Well, it has been quite a while already... Ace can sit upright without must support from me already lor ;)

He is now able to sit upright in his pram.. and he can also sit upright on his highchair without me having to tie a scarf around him to keep him upright when I feed him... today, he even sat upright on his ti lam and played his his stacking cups...

I think he will proceed to crawling very soon because he is already able to lift his head up very high when he is on his tummy and he is able to go into a semi kneel position from a sitting position when he reaches out to grab his toys...

Many people tell me that I will start to have a headache when Ace starts to crawl.. cos he will be all over the place.. but well, I think I will keep him in the room with me.. so there are just so many places he can crawl to....

He seems to like being on the floor now though. Maybe it is cos the floor is cold.. he likes to wriggle and flip out of the tilam area so that his legs are on the floor and his body is still on the mattress...

My personal wish is tat he transits to walking real soon as he is quite a load to carry when we go out now.. the last i measured, he is already 10.5kg.... tat's real heavy for a 7 month old i think... :) what do you think?

Leng Zhua

In the new year of the DOG.. I introduce to you... Mr Ace Chua LENG ZHUA...

Loosely translated, "leng zhua" means 'DRAGON SNAKE' in hokkien.

And how did that come about?

It seems that Ace is starting to be more and more curious about his surroundings. At the same time, he is not contented to just stay in your arms anymore. He would like to wriggle here and there when you carry him and he will wriggle himself left, right, centre when he is on the mattress too... just like a worm...

But I think it could also be because Daddy is born in the year of the Dragon and Mummy in the year of the Snake... so he may have morphed into a Dragon Snake lately.. that is why he is wriggling around so much.. so whenever he starts to wriggle, I will call him LENG ZHUA.. hahahaha....

Other than that.. he has also started to PERFORM a a variety of stunts...

His latest stunt is to use his hands to push himself backwards so that half is body is on the floor and the other half is on the mattress... and somehow, he has a special penchant for 'drains'... he will push his two mattresses apart and try to wriggle into the hole in between..

He has also learnt to move from a sitting position (he can sit very steadily for a very long time now...) into a semi kneeling position.. I

have been encouraging that aspect by putting his toys out of reach so that he can barely reach them...

He can now put his body in various strange positions (see below pics)

Daddy is also training him for crawling by giving him a little support... we put a toy out of his reach and encourage him to go get it.. and then we put our legs behind his so tat he can leverage on it and push himself forward...

After reunion dinner that day, we tried to do tat a few times.. by the 3rd time.. he was so tired... and just 1cm away from his goal.. he just lay his head down and rested :) So we encouraged him on... he used his GU NI LAT and finally got it ;) We were so proud of him...

We realized that when he is concentrating on doing things, smiling... and just sitting there, he has very different expressions and looks very different...

Instead of putting things into his mouth ALL THE TIME.. he has proceeded to put things into his mouth half the time.. the other half of the time, he uses his hands to wave it and hit it on the table.. or chair.. or on himself... and it is a HUGE wonder to me and Daddy that he feels no pain at all when he does tat :) hahahah...

Verbal wise... he has also proceeded quite a fair bit... from making random sounds.. Ace is already starting to make repeated sounds...

Eg, last week.. he was doing "Mamamama..." when he wants milk.. and "Papapapa.. babababa.." when he wants to play... but as of yesterday.. he has been doing "tatatata... dadadada...." for no rhyme or reason...

He cant also *hug* people when you ask him to "Hug hug Yeye... " or "hug hug mummy..."

Shall keep you updated about more stunts from Mr Leng Zhua Chua.. hahaha ;)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Emporer Chair

Ace has a new seat... and I call it the EMPORER chair becuase it is his 'long wei' that he seats in whenever we go over to Nainai and Yeye's house for supper ;)

Well, the story of the chair goes way back.. to when yeye just decided to buy this chair becuase he tot that in future when he had grandchildren, they can sit in it.. hahaha ;)

And then I got preggies.. and it took a while for the baby to come out.. and it also took a while for Ace to learn to sit in his emporer chair...

Anyway, to Ace, the emporer chair is very much like his high chair at home when they fasten it to the dining table chair. It is alot more fun too becuase there is wood in front of him that he can hit and make noise ;)

Because yeye's legs are no good.. the emporer chair is a good way for him to be able to see Ace without carrying him while being able to play with him at the same time.

The last Ace sat in the chair, yeye and nainai learnt to feed him water while he is in the chair.. we missed the last supper cos Daddy was on duty but the last I heard, they have prepared an emporer feast to feed Ace in his Emporer chair...

Well, I guess you will know wat kind of feast when we go for our reunion dinner ;) I will be sure to take lots of pics and post it up cos it is Ace's first CNY with us (minus the time he was in my tummy last year.. haha)

Lao Ren Yuan

Ace has Lao Ren Yuan...

I mean he seems to have affinity with older people...

When walking in shopping malls or taking buses, old folks like to come up to him, smile to him, touch him... and he will usually smile back at them...

"See, I have affinity with him.. " the old uncle or aunty (usually aunties) will say.. and I will smile and nod because i have no heart to tell them tat he smiles at ALL old people...

However, he reserves special smiles for the old folks that he knows.. eg my two grandmas... his 2 grandfathers and grandmas... and also his GAN grandmas....

It helps also that he is at this stage in his developmnt where.. in my sister's words, "The fact that he can recognize you and give you a special smile makes it more shiok when you play with him..."

My grandma (his Laoma) for example, would see him.. play with him and when he flashes tat brilliant smile of his, she will start saying, "He knows me.. see... he knows me.. i havent seen him for a week but he recognizes me!!" And she will repeat it n times to whoever is willing to listen...

Even if Ace is not around.. if the topic of Ace comes up.. she will start the "He knows me.." saga all over again :)

His Nai Nai and Yeye are also very amused when they play with him.. like tat day.. he closed his eyes and gave such a look of contentment when they put their heads close to him that I think they must have melted N times that day...

Well, if I were them, I would melt too.. wouldnt you?:P

Grandma's Birthday Party

Ace celebrate grandma's birthday party that day...

Even though it was grandma's birthday party, he was as usual, the centre of attraction ;)

Who Is Ace's Idol?

Have you ever chased after any idols during your life?

I did....

When i was very young.... my idol was Sky Wu.. I admired him for his musical talents and I really loved his music and talent...

Along the way, as I got older.. i got attracted to ATTRACTIVE idols...people like Tony Leung Chiu Wai... Leon Lai... Vin Diesel (who happens to look quite like my hubby.... hahahahahahha... see, dreamboards do come true...)


You probably wouldnt believe it if i told you that Ace also chases after idols....

His first idol would be Daddy cos whenever Daddy talks on the phone, Ace would arch his head to try to look at Daddy when he is talking and he would have that expression of awe... and he would look as if he is thinking, "God, wat a handsome and intelligent man I have for a father... I want to be exactly like him when I grow up!!"


His other idols also happen to be MALE... and are usually older males... Eg, Wai gong, Yeye, Richie Ah Ye...

Whenever Wai gong idol is at our place, he can put down his fav hobby- EATING and will try to find him.. and play with him....

Whenever he hears the roaring laughter of yeye... he will just roar with laughter himself...

He has seem Richie Ah Ye in action a number of times... n whenever I bring him into meetings or seminars where Richie is speaking.. he would listen in silence and awe... hahhaha

As for me.. oh well, Ace beams whenever he sees me... but I feel that it is onli because he is happy to see his MILK BOTTLE :P

Mummy garang guni :)

I admit... I am a closet garang guni....

While the GG man keeps and collects old things to sell them away for profit.. i just like to keep them around... cos I was lulled into this false sense of security that they might be useful some day...

I collect and i keep everything... from the erasers I bought when I was in pri 1, to my JC notes.. all the way to my mum's platform shoes...

My motto is: Everything also keep, you never know when you will need it..

But this 'habit' was not a good one... It got to a point where my bedroom was constantly in a mess there was only one path from the door to my bed.. but I still wanted to keep everything!

When I shifted to my own home, i threw away many things.. but after living in my current place for about a year and a half.. i still have some unpacked boxes that consisted of things I would like to keep.. but apparently are not quite useful in everyday life....

The thing is.. I know that most of the time, I dun need them.. but I just wanted to keep them around for rare ocassions when i needed them...

Every CNY, when she is doing spring-cleaning, my mum will ask me, "Hiyo.. keep this and keep that for what? Throw lah.. you want to keep for your son or daughter is it???"

And I want to proudly announce that the time has come for some of the things i kept to be useful! :)

Yes, I kept them for my son and daughter and now they will be able to use it!!!!

Well, while spring-cleaning this year, my mum found some toys that me and sis used to play with when we were younger... some legos, some stack up blocks... and she even found a bib that came in useful today when she fed Ace...

My 'fat' clothes were kept and preserved in a box.. at times I would lament the fact that they took up so much space and then I would decide to throw or bring them to the tailor for adjustment.. but i just never quite got around to doing it..

However, I found some of them quite useful throughout the course of my pregnancy and also right after pregnancy before I got back into shape...

But after 2 decades of hoarding stuff and onli having two instances where they seem useful... I think it might really have been better to throw them away.. hahahha.. after all, i can always buy new toys for Ace and buy new clothes for myself ;)

Okie, the next time i shift, I shall be more 'heartless' and throw more rubbish away.. so darling, if you want me to clear the boxes in the storeroom, we quickly earn more moolah and shift to a bigger, better place okie??:P Hiaks....

Ace Called Me Mummy!

My heart just skipped a beat!!!!!

Ace was mumbling his usual.. " Mmm.. mm... ba.. ba... ooo.. ooo..." and practising talking... and I was putting him down on bed. And then.. i wanted to go out of the room, I heard him say, "MUMMY!"

Wah! I jumped back into the room and hugged him. Of cos I know he came about that combination probably by chance but it really made my day lor.. i cant wait for the day when he can really call me MUMMY ;)

PS: tat'su AcEdriving daddy's ford focus...

Ace is chanting

Well, if you didnt know, i belong to the Singapore Soka Association...

Every new year.. we have to do our New Year gongyo.. like our prayers to welcome the new year..

So on new year's eve, i took out Ace's beads he got at the Kofu Baby and got him to do prayers together with me.. but for most part. he was just interested in playing with the beads.. maybe he will be able to do a better job next year..

hiaks ;)

The Magical Sounds of Kiang Kiang Kiang!

Ladies and Gentlemen...

After telling you since Ace was two mths old that he is teething (cos of his flowery shit, his never ending flow of saliva and his tendency to bite his fingers), I now announce to you tat Ace's teeth are officially OUT! :)

While I was feeding him just now, I heard a kiang kiang kiang sound against the stainless steel spoon I was using (using tat to feed him water.. food i use plastic spoon)... other than teeth, i cannot explain where that sound came from...

The other day, we were out and he was looking for things to bite, at last resort, I let him bite my fingers and I could feel his teeth cutting into the meat.. i hope he never uses my nipples as a gum itch scratcher... cos when he was done with the biting... my fingers were all red!

But well, I guess I can only take a photo of the tooth and show you when it is 100% out.. as of now, I only see the shite tips coming out of the gums.. and this explains why Seok Ling ganma/nanny's xmas present of a teething toy is his favourite at this moment ;)

I can't wait!

Dear Ace

Dear Ace,

Thanks for being a part of our life.

I have always wanted a family of my own and my own children and I had no idea of how much joy it was to do that until I met you. I guess Daddy feels the same way too...

You really taught us alot about life....

About persistance.. cos you never give up crying until you get your milk.. ;)

About happiness and optimism because you always seem so happy and smiley...

About patience because we are forced to learn patience if we want you to become patient...

About appreciating the people around us more because their love and care for you really overwhelm us at times....

About forgiveness becuase even though there are times when mummy and daddy get angry and shout at you... you never keep it at heart and will still give us a cheeky grin just 5 minutes later to cheer us up!

About being kind and just because you will never judge people by their cover, or their race, language or religion... you see them as they are and see them with your heart...

And most of all, you taught us about unconditional love....

Somehow everything you do seems good, every expression of yours seems cute....

Even when we are feeling really down or feeling really upset. One look at you... one hug from you... and we feel that we are ready to face life's challenges again...

Thank you, Ace.. thanks Baobei...

Mummy and Daddy love you deep deep.. forever...

Gratitude

I was reading a book by 37 very successful men and women sharing secrets of their success. They were asked to discuss the one thing that contributed most to their success and in the first chapter, this guy said it was GRATITUDE for people around him.

Alot of times, we do not show gratitude and take people for granted. This is especially so for the people closest to us and I must say that I, too, am guilty of it in the past. Until the time I went through the worst period of my life, I had no idea that I was taking my parents for granted.

It was after that that I realised that no matter what happened to you, the only people who will stand by you and love you and forgive you with no conditions will be the people you call FAMILY.

When I actually gave birth to Ace, I once again verified this to be true because whenever I needed help with Ace, needed time to rest, my family (that includes both my parents, max's parents, my sis, my grandmothers) will always be there for me. Somehow once you are a parent, you realise that your parents always have your well being at heart no matter how it came across to you as being interfering at that time...

And because of this.. we tell our family too little how much we value and love them...

Maybe it is a coincidence... I was watching TV this afternoon and came across this movie that talks exactly about that!

In the movie, there are many different sets of pple who work together who are entangled in diff relationships. There is a policeman who has a daughter... she loves him alot but he always has no time for her. He is perpetually busy with work, with finding girlfriends... he is so bz he only makes cup noodles for her. When she tried to ask him about sch wk, he says she has to learn to think for herself. When she tries to show him her drawing, he rushes off to work. In the end, she won a prize at the art competition and in her eagerness to show him her drawing, she ran across the road and was killed by a on coming car. He never had a chance to show that he cared...

Another one is about a man who has been with his girlfren for many years. She has sacrificed many things.. her life, her youth, her career and even her aspirations to be beside him to take care of him. However, when she got pregnant and tried to tell him by pretending that another fren of hers did, he laughed at the fren and said she was stupid and it was probably a ruse to get the bf to marry her... and then when she decided to leave, she was worried he would have no one to take care of him and kept reminding him about where the things are kept.. while all he cared about was whether he could get a good sleep... in the end, she couldnt take it anymore and left him...

So you see... if there are people in your life you would like to thank, do so immediately.. do so now...

In the book, he says that all you need is to follow the rule of ESPN...

E- Stands for EFFORT and ENERGY. Thank people for the effort and energy they put in and not results. Cos we cant control the results but can control the amount of effort and energy put in.

S- stands for SURPRISE. Surprise people. Thank them and reward them, show your gratitude at times they least expect it and not only during xmas and birthdays; )

P- Stands for PRESENT. Being present for people when they need you most is the best way to thank them. By being presnt, we let peopel know at a heart level how important they truly are.

N- stands for now cos like the Zoe Tay cop show shown a few years earlier says,
"The past is history; The future is myster..
The gift is now..that is why we call it the PRESENT!"

Do you have 1 wish I can help you fulfill to make your day?

Dear Friend,

A very Happy New Year to you!

2006 has already started.How are you doing so far? ;)

I have been busy but with fulfilling stuff. Other than taking care of my son and running my biz, I have also been bz with fulfilling people's wishes...

Well, at the end of 2005, I sent a sms message to some of you about helping you to fulfill your wish for 2006. Yes, for 2006, I am collecting wishes. I send many of my friends a message asking them what is the one thing I could do to make their day.

One of them said to be the MC at his wedding and I have already done that.

Another said to send her pics of my baby boy.. that's really easy...

Yet another said she wanted to lose 20kg ;) Well, that's real easy too as I specialize in helping people lose weight.. I will be meeting her tonight to discuss how...

One of them however sent me a message that went like this:

hi there supermum,

You never fail to amaze me. i find ur new 'hobby' pretty meaningful n inspiring :P

thanks 4 the thought n offer, you are wonderful. well, my one wish for u is - to broadcast my website to as many pple/frens as u can (those who wont mind receiving) - and gai siao (encourage) them to download my jazz songs 2 listen; haha, how about tat? :)

when a butterflies flaps its wings, a thunderstorm at another corner of the world strikes... who knows, pple will also get inspired by ur new 'hobby' n do the same. and we could all help spread some affordable happiness around the world...

Linda

-----------------------------------------------------------

Yeap, Linda is an ex colleague of mine. She has a really heavenly voice. Whenever we go Karaoke together, it is pure joy to sit down and listen to her sing. So intrigued am I by her singing that I actually invited her to sing at my beach wedding party for 400 pax in 2004 and I must say she did a GREAT JOB! Some people tot I hired a professional singer! :)

Anywayz, I am posting this here because I know you are a helpful person who wun mind helping others;) If you like jazz, why dun you just drop by at her website and take a listen.

http://moodswings.homecall.co.uk ;)

Even if you dun like jazz, do sample her music and who knows it may be the start of a lifetime of enjoyment of Jazz music ! ;)

http://moodswings.homecall.co.uk ;)

If you also know of anyone who might enjoy her jazz music too, kindly forward this around.

In any case, if you have any wish I can help you fulfill, just email me at verityy@yahoo.com ;)

Cheers and love,
Angel

Ace Chua, Baby Model

Well, many have told me that my son is dam cute... and that he should do baby modelling...

Well, I also think my son is very cute and I think HE thinks so too...

Recently, he would wake up and then quietly play with himself (I was not feeling well and I told him that I am not feeling well and need him to be more quiet so that I can rest well).. when he is tired of playing.. instead of kicking or pulling my clothes as usual.. he would arch his head backwards and then give me a gren, open his eyes very wide and wait for me to talk to him...

so cute right!? I tell you.. really cannot tahan!

Anyway, I think he will do a good job of modelling.. he is a real natural in front of the camera.. whenever he sees my camera, he will be ever ready to smile...

Sometimes, he even poses specially and gives me a special smile when he knows I am taking photos of him.. (see picture.. he posed specially and lifted his leg specially for the camera)

The other day, i was trying to take a picture of us.. I told him I was doing so.. and he purposely lie closer to me.. and did a special grin and even looked into the camera! Such a clever baby, isnt he!

So if you have any lobangs.. for baby modelling.. let me know... or baby shows.. baby contests... also can lah.. i think he will razzle dazzle them..

Anywayz, I told Daddy about it and he says that children may outgrow this phase.. cos after a while, children forget how to smile in front of the camera... i think back and realize tat it is true.. i have a fren whose daughter would open her lips and show her teeth to the camera.. but you realize she is not smiling.. she is just posing the pose of a smile!

I hope Ace will never be like tat.. :) Anyway, if he has my genes (I love to take pictures and love the camera since young), am sure he very steady pom pi pi.. ;)

nun nun nun nun nun

Well, I have just discovered a new way to make Ace giggle...

What happened was that we happened to have an early night where we could finish our work early and come home early.. so me and hubby were looking forward to spending some time together...

Ace was actually sleeping on our way home and we were praying hard that he would stay asleep.. alas, a phone call from someone woke him up and so I had to try to make him sleep again...

At first he was hungry, so i let him have his milk.. after he was full, i started carrying him and patting him... for some unknown reason, i decided tat I would sing him a lullaby...

I started humming the tune of Rock-a-bye-baby... using the "nun.. nun.. nun... nunnun.. nunnunnunnun..." sound... and then at the end of every sentence, I would repeat the sound 3. 4 times and rock him up and down..

To my amazement, he started to luff and luff and luff. and giggle so loudly I couldnt help but continue becuase i was so amused by his reaction!

When he was warmed up enough, I started to tickle him and he just laughed and laughed. I tell you.. tat was the sweetest sound in the universe!

Well, I then tried a few experiments to see what triggered him.

1) I tried to do the nun nun nun sound without looking at him.. he still laughed...

2) I tried to do the nun nun nun action.. and move my lips.. but have no sound come out... he kept quiet...

3) I did both action and the sound and he laughed really loudly.. so i figure that the trigger must be the sound.. and the action...

Well, at last mummy can also make Ace laugh :) Hee.....

PS: Daddy can also do the same job with his new grrr grrr monster stunt...

I like to learn!

Ace likes to learn...

Whenever he looks bored or is feeling a little grumpy, all I need to do is to ask him, "Do you want to do your A, B, Cs?" Take out the flashcards to show him, and he will start to wave his hands and feet excitedly ;)

"Are you kidding? Learning his alphabets at age 6mths???? Is tat kiasuism or wat??" You must wonder...

Well, when I was pregnant, I read some books by a certain fetal education expert called Dr Shichida.. he specializes on unharnessing the potential of the right brain of a child. He says that babies from ag e0-6mths learn the fastest.. after that, their learning speed will slow down and so he advises that you show your babies flashcards.. and also pictures by famous artistes to build their vocab... and sense of aesthetics...

I have found tat being good in language has given me many advantages.. I am able to grasp and understand concepts easily and I can converse easily with people and express how or what i feel.

Having a sense of aesthetics helps me to enjoy and admire many beautiful things in the world.. and tat is why I wanted Ace to have a headstart in these areas.

Anywayz, maybe he likes it cos whenever we do the flashcards, I would sound very excited and at the end, I clap and say, "yeah, we did it again!" hahaha... so he feels like it is something really fun...

Anywayz, the very kiasu me just went to a bookfair and bought flashcards on:
- transport
- animals
- first words
- sea animals

Cheap cheap.. $5 onli mah.. better than i make my own leh ;)

Well, let's hope Ace continues to enjoy learning... ;) My mentor says tat successful people are learning machines... they read read read.. and learn learn learn...

So Ace, do you want to become successful? Then let's continue to read read read and leanr learn learn together!

ACFC

Someone just asked me to PLEASE add HIM into the AAC (Ace Admiration Club)...

That someone is a guy... and a young one... according to him, he will go to my blog everyday to check for more photos of Ace and then he will admire together with his mum!

I didnt know Ace is also AUNTY KILLER and GOR GOR KILLER.. hahahaha

Told KP, Linda and GH about this and KP suggested that I:

a) Change name of club to ACFC (Ace Chua Fan Club)
b) Put up services offered and relevant charges: eg, photos, blow kisses, jump on new bed for wedding couples (Kiasu GH already booked Ace for her wedding in Nov)

Sometimes I really wonder how come Ace is so cute and how he can draw so much attention.

Wai po brought him to her religious meeting that day and everyone went gaga over him and asked to carry him, asked for his pictures.. this and tat...

KP out of the blue sent me a message and said to blow kisses to Ace cos she missed him...

GH wondered aloud over email when she can see Ace again cos she longed to play with him again..

My mentor, Veron, would conduct a grouping for us and halfway smile at Ace and say, "Sorry huh.. distracted.. "

Oracle who is only 3 years old keeps wanting to play with him. When she sees him, she will shout, "Ace Didi, Ace didi..." and keep wanting him to hold her hand..

My other mentor, George, would play with him and everytime he sees him, he will go, "Ang mor kia!!"

Another 3 year old jie jie saw him that day and kept wanting to give him toys, give him balloons....

Be it old uncle, old aunty, young aunties, jie jie, gor gor.. he all 通杀!

Anywayz, I have decided to name his new club ACFC (Ace Chua Fan Club)... you can apply to be member if you would email me at verityy@yahoo.com... I will send you periodical updates about him and new pics of him...

Current members are:
Ganma Megan
Ganma Evon
Ganma Karen
Jez Ahma
Veron
Shirley
Clari Ah Yee
KP
Kenneth
Pam
Wes
Liming

Note: If you know of any baby contest, let me know.. i want to enter him into it.. if you got baby modelling lobang, let me know ;)

Fear Of Injection

If you wonder if babies have memories, I think they do...

Yesterday, brought Ace to take his 6th month injection (Hep B 3rd dose).

While Ace slept through all his other injections, he was wide awake for his 5th month injection and I think it was a little painful.

The thing is... I think Ace remembered that it was painful... Maybe I had a part to play in it.. before we went, I told him that we were going for his injection. I told him it will be a little painful.. but the needle poke is like mosquitoe bite. Since he is a big boy and a brave boy, he will be ok, right?

And he smiled.

But when we reached there and daddy started to hold him for the injection, he started to get really upset and fidgetted around... when the nurse took out the needle, I saw a look of pure fear and terror running across his face and needless to say when the needle went in, he started to cry... for about 10 seconds...

Mummy's mental note: I shall remember to bring some toys to distract him and shall tell him it is fun to go for injection the next time ;)