Gai Gai

Ace loves to Gai Gai (go out).

Whenever he sees us dressing up, he will start to look for his shoes and tell us, "gai gai..."

The other day, he was running around the house when he discovered Waipo's handbag. He carried the handbag, walked a few rounds around the living room and then he saw my shoes and tried to wear them. Then he walked around the whole house with my shoes and waipo's handbag and told me that he is going gai gai.

After a few rounds, the shoes got too cubersome for him and he started to sit down and rest. Looks like his is not an avid shopper ;) hahaha...

Previous Post: Yeye's Birthday

Yeye's Birthday

We celebrated yeye's birthday the other day...

Ace cleverly learnt to open the wet tissue after watching Papa do it once.

I think though that Yeye was more happy that Ace was there than receiving any present from us ;)

PS: the card was made by Ace ;) Nice or not?

Previous Post: The Boys

The Boys

The Boys in my house like to play violent games.

They usually do wrestling with each other...

Or they would put their heads together and push forward till Ace has this BIG RED MARK on his forehead.. and note hor, Daddy is always the one who gives up first because Ace will go all out and Daddy will feel the pain as well.


If not, they tend to play games like tickling each other, throwing balls at each other.. etc.

As for me, I dun play such games so often with Ace. I usually play singing of songs, hide and seek, peek a boo, dancing around...

I guess me and daddy has different preferences.. which I thin is good for Ace.. cos then he will have exposure to different things.

Before Ace was born, Max always said he will teach Ace to do sports and stuff while i am in charge of music and arts.

I wonder if I had a daughter, what sort of games would Max play with HER?:P

Previous Post: Baby Talk

Baby Talk

I have always wondered about this.

Now, Ace speaks alot of gibberish that I do not understand. But is there such a things such as baby talk? Do babies understand each other.. or rather, do they have a 'secret language' tat adults do not understand?

What do you think?

After some research, I firmly believe that THERE IS such a thing as baby talk and only babies cna understand them...

The other day, we brought Ace to Dragon and Kim's wedding dinner and during the dinner, he met up with Kim's nephew who is only one month older than him.

The two of them would gibber with each other, scream the same scream, dance the same dance, hop the same hop, play the same games and they had so much fun together with one another! I have never seen Ace played so happily! :)

Don't believe? Here's proof! :)



Previous Post: Train

Train

Transports are some of the things that I am currently teaching him right now.

Right after cars and aeroplanes, his next best favourite are trains ;) That's ace trying to fix the puzzle tat Waipo bought for him in Australia ;) Isn't he clever?



Previous Post: Wow!

Wow!

After proposing for many days, Uncle Nett finally brought some food to come and ANNOUNCE their impeding marriage to the parents.

Because it was afternoon, they thought it was more appropriate for them to buy cheese cake instead of Bee Hoon.

You see, many moons ago, Waipo said that during their time, when couples want to get married, the guy has to buy bee hoon and beer to the parent's place to announce the upcoming wedding.

So because of that, it has become a standing joke that when me and my sis get married, our boyfriends/husbands will have to do that as well.

But be it Bee Hoon or cheesecake, Ace is equally happy.

The moment he saw the boxes from The Cheesecake cafe, he gave a big "WAH!"

And after that, whenever Net Net fed him some cake, he will go... "Wah......." and clap very happily and then point to the cake and ask Net Net to feed him more.

Ace ah.. dun just eat... must learn ;)

Next time when you want to get married, please remember to buy something back for her parents ;) hahahaha....

Previous Post: Animal Sounds

Animals Sounds

Ace can bark like a dog, meow like a cat, hiss like a snake, moo like a cow and do many animal sounds! All thanks to the flashcard training and the many animals in the farm story books from Ganma Seokling ;)



Previous Post: Musical Ace

Musical Ace

Musical Ace is also a drummer boy ;)



He discovered this drum set and had lots of fun with it while he went for a gathering at where Daddy was training to become and officer.

After he watched the boy in One Minute of Fame drumming, he has now started to take all sorts of pots and pans and containers, place them all over strategically and using a pencil, he will start drumming away.

You know.. sometimes I want to buy him musical instruments to develop his interest but at other times, I fear so much that his 'noise' would drive me to the wall.. so I am still keeping my fingers crossed...

Previous Post: Do Re Mi Fa So

Do Re Mi Fa So

Well, Ace is certainly a strange baby.

I have been flashing flashcards to him for quite some time and most of the time he is happy to read and learn the things on the flashcards.

I have this set of flashcards about music and have been flashing it to him daily for two weeks. It is just notes and when I flash, I will sing, "Do re mi fa so.." to him... But he would look at it and not seem interested at all.

Suddenly, when I decided that he had enough of these cards, he started to SING out loud all the different notes in the CORRECT ORDER when he is playing on his own!

I think he really does have a keen interest in music. Maybe I will let him learn some musical instruments when he is older.

Previous Post: Xie Xie

Xie Xie

I nearly died of laughing that day when I brought Ace to office.

As I was initially busy, I left him to play with Yee Lin and Zhenyin and he was happy to be entertained by their drawings on the white board..

Somehow along the way, I finished my appointment and so me, Zhenyin, Yee Lin, Joven, Jonathon, Josephine and gang were just sitting together.

And then Ace started to give one of his famous speeches. He was so enthusiastic and even used his clenched right fist as a microphone.

After a while, he clapped and said, "Yeah..." and so we followed suit and clapped for him.

He was so happy to have a bunch of very enthusiastic audience but after 'yeah-ing' for like 10 times, everyone got tired and decided that they should go home.

So when everyone started to leave, Ace started to bow and said, "Xie xie.. xie xie..."

My mum says he must have gotten used to seeing her, me and his daddy giving talks or training people. But I still dun understand where he learnt to say "thank you" and bow at the same time... as we do not do that.

After thinking for a very long time, I suddenly found out it's source.

As he likes to sing and dance, I usually let him watch the sunday Children's singing competition so that he can dance along. And usually after the children are done, they will bow and say, "Xie xie..."

Monkey see, monkey do leh!

Previous Post: Draw

Draw

Ace has since improved by leaps and bounds for his handiwork ;)

From drawing circles only, he is not capable of drawing thick, long lines.

He is also now able to draw dots on paper, as if it is raining.

Also, he is finally able to colour! Even though he would colour out of the lines and boundaries, I still think it is a great job!

The other day, I asked him to draw a card for Zhenyin's birthday. He insisted that I draw and elephant for him first and after which, he started colouring the elephant red.. hahaha ;)

Sometimes though, he would insist that i take the crayon and draw what he wants. He usually likes me to draw flowers and cars for him.

That is why when i bring him to office now, his favourite hobby is to stand in front of the whiteboard, ask Zhenyin Jie Jie or whoever is there to draw the things he names.. Hahaha ;)

Previous Post: Bad Mummy And Daddy

Bad Mummy and Daddy

I have a confession to make.

I am filled with guilt... guilt that I am a bad mummy. Do you feel the same way towards your kid too?

The other day, something happened and I was talking to Yanni about it. The topic slowly shifted to this problem that has been bothering for quite a few weeks already.

Ace is starting to hit people, throw things, pull people's hair and I hate it when he does that! I have tried patiently talking to him, telling him, "I am sorry I love you.." when he is asleep, scolding him (which makes me even more guilty), hitting him, (even more more more guilty) but nothing seems to work.

Yanni asked me, "Have you tried not reacting to it?"

I must admit that is something I haven't tried as it is really too hard to NOT REACT at all. The first few times he did it, I was nice and talked to him nicely. But because he when he hits people (especially me), he hits really hard and I always find it very painful so I get very upset when he does that.

And then she looked at me and smiled and said, "I think you have guilt that you are not a good mother..."

Sigh... am I so easy to read?

"When did this start?" she asked me...

Surprisingly, the first answer that came to my mind is that I have been feeling that since I was pregnant.

When I was pregnant, people say you shouldn't drink cold drinks but I did. They say we shouldnt watch melodramas and horror movies but I went ahead and watched anyway. I did it and felt guilty and blamed myself that I am a bad mother.

After Ace was born, when I did not have enough milk, I was a bad mother. When I did not spend enough time with him, I was a bad mother. When he does something that I feel is WRONG or BAD (eg, hit other people, throw things, throw tantrums), it is also because I am a bad mother (even though it is NORMAL for children to do that sometimes).

Mostly I think, when he hits me, throws things at me or pulls my hair, I am not angry at him at all. I was angry at myself. "See, you are a bad mother, that is why your child is like that. How come you cannot teach your child properly?"

I think Daddy has the same challenge because he gets VERY UPSET when Ace throws tantrums as well.

But I think after POV and after talking to Yanni, I have come to realize that the root cause is because I have this belief that I am a bad person and that I am not good enough. Doesnt matter what Ace do. I just use it as an excuse to blame myself.

I probably also have too high expectations of Ace.

I went for ChiChing's POV and she said that as parents, we use our past experience and want to teach and tell our children what to do. But they are here to experience life and they have the freedom to learn what they want. We really need not ask them to follow everything that we think is correct.

And so, today, when Ace pulled my hair and told me, "Pain pain..." I did not react. When he pinched me and said, "pain pain..." I did not react. And then... HE STOPPED ;)

Yanni is right. When I forgive myself for being a bad mother and start to think I am a good mother, he will change as well ;)

But because I no longer felt emotional towards his outburst, I suddenly realized why he was hitting us.

Because sometimes when we ignore Ace, he would purposely fall down and tell us, "Pain pain..." and then we would sayang him. So he thought that someone had to be in pain before you can sayang him. That is why he hit us because he wanted to sayang and LOVE US!

It was all just a misconception!

So I explained to him that if he wanted to kiss me or love me, he could just come to me. No need to do that only when I am in pain and I will kiss and show him love more often instead of waiting for him to call for my attention when he is in pain.

Well, I am happy to say.. things are back to normal.. so far so good. Thanks, Yanni! 智清，谢谢你！

Previous Post: Ace's GF

Ace's GF

That's Tiffany... one of Ace's 'girlfriends'. Hahaha....
I am talking about the one on the right lah ;)

The one on the left is very pretty, I know. But that one is TAKEN already. And I have PROOF.

When Tiffany was about a few months old, I ever once asked Ace if Tiffany is pretty and whether he wanted her as his girlfriend. Even though he could not express himself very well then, he nodded his head ;) hahaha...

Now that he can express himself better, he has taken to stroking her while saying 'sayang' and trying to play with her. I wonder when they are really going to be able to play together :)

I think she quite likes him as well as she likes to touch him.

That's good. Cos Tiff's parents, Melvin and Germaine are good friends of me and Max ;)
Anyway, for all those who has seen Germaine's BEFORE AND AFTER photos.. there you go, I told you she was back in good shape after giving birth to Tiffany and I didn't lie, right?

PS: I think I am in pretty good shape myself.. Hahaha... Tada, HUNZA BABIES and THEIR MUMMIES :)

Previous Post: Ace Can Feed Himself 3

Ace Can Feed Himself 3

Ok, here is proof that Ace's feeding skills has improved greatly ;)

Now he knows that he can contort his body near the bowl so as to prevent spills ;) hahaha...



Previous Post: Car

Car

Ever since Ace started to learn to say the word, "CAR", he started to have like a different appreciation for cars.

Whenever he is out on the road, he will point them out and tell me excitedly, "Car! Car!"

And while in the past, he showed not much interest in the 'car' that Jez Ah Ma bought for him for his one year birthday, he will now point to it, tell me, "Car!" and then sit in it and then use his legs to move himself around as he goes "Voom voom voom..."

He finally also knows that the toy cars I have collected from my mac donalds meals are for playing and would roll them around while saying, "voom voom voom.." See, I did not keep my mac donald meal toys for nothing ;) All these keepsakes for the past 10, 20 years is worth it.. muahahaha ;)

Prevoius Post: A Novel Way To Eat Noodles

A Novel Way To Eat Noodles

Because of his love for food, Ace has since learnt a new word-面

He generally loves to eat kway tiaos and noodles more than rice. Probably because he has rice everyday and is sick of it.

So whenever he sees noodles, he gets really excited.

The other day, he finished his noodles (which were cut into short pieces and fed to him using a spoon) and then he spotted Waipo and Waigong eating noodles as well and ran to them to ask for more.

Waipo said she would give him a strand and held it high up in the air and Ace promptly 'caught' it with his mouth...

Now, he has furthur improved. He doesnt want people to cut his noodles and he wants to exert his independence by eating his noodles himself.

The end result? A compromise lor ;) Waipo gave him some noodles to play with and try to eat himself while they fed him the cut noodles. I guess he accepted this arrangement in the end also because he was too hungry to wait for himself to feed himself properly ;) hahaha...

Previous Post: Joo Joo

Joo Joo!

As mentioned before, my Dad calls me Da Gua or Joo Joo at home.

Usually if it is just asking me simple things, my dad will call me "girl".

And then leh... usually when Ace shits, my dad will say, "Da Gua! Da Bian AH!"

And then Ace will imitate him and say, "Da Gua! Da Bian AH!"

I will then tell Ace he cannot call me Da Gua.

But I think he noticed that I usually respond to my parents when they call me Joo Joo or call me Da Gua.

So sometimes when I am typing in the room and he is looking for me, he will start by calling, "mama, mama... "

If I do not respond, he will start to call me Da Gua or Joo Joo loudly.. I dunno whether to laugh or cry... ;)

Anyway, I think my son is really clever lor and he is really funny as well. I have been doing detox and lost like 7kg in less than 3 weeks. So today I asked him, "Ace, mummy very slim now right? Pretty or not? Good?"

He looked at me from top to toe appreciatively and said, "Mmmmm... good!" That is what he usually says when he sees good food.. does it mean I am delicious?:P hahahaha....

Previous Post: Ace Loves To Study

Ace Loves To Study

I seriously think that all the sub concious messages I have been sending Ace and telling Ace since he has been in my tummy is all coming true.

I have been constantly telling him that he enjoys learning and applying what he has learnt and true enough, Ace has a huge appetite for knowledge ;)

I have never seen a baby who loves to learn so much. Ok, maybe I am not around kids alot.. but Ace really amazes me with his thirst for knoweldge.

Take yesterday night for example, he would run into the room, take out his flashcards and then ask me to read to him the items on the card like 1000 times and he will still not find it enough! He would run in and take out another set and ask you to start reading again and when you finally want to keep all the flashcards, he will get angry.

During the day though, since I have started his Shichida lessons, I have been doing home practice with him. He likes and enjoys them so much that if I FORGET to do it, he will come to me and ask for it.

Reading is another of his favourite past times and his story books are already starting to bore me out but he still enjoys repeatedly reading them again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again on the same day....

Ok, all these reading is not for nothing. He has since learnt quite a few new words (strangely, he has started to catch on on words like CAMEL, PI GU) and can start to express himself better. I think it would not be long before he can start to say a few simple sentences ;)

Previous Post: The Taster

The Taster

Ace used to love all sorts of food.

No matter what you gave him, he would eat it and like it.

Now though, he is more assertive of his independence and chooses only to eat the foods that he likes.

Meal times, even though they are not much of a battle, always start off with him not wanting to eat. (Especially so when he is not feeling hungry).

The other day, it was lunch time and as he had just woken up from a nap, he wasnt really feeling hungry.

Grandma tried to feed him and he used his hands to cover his mouth and said, "NO!"

But as his mother, ME, knows him best, I picked out the cashew nut, showed him the nut and told him, "See, there is a nut here! Do you want to try.. this is sweet... mmmm..."

He stared at the nut, realized that it is his favourite and then ate the nut. After that, he opened his mouth wide to wait for his food. Hahaha...

Food taster needed, anyone?

Previous Post: The Count

The Count!

Well, I finally understand why THE COUNT in Sesame Street loves to count so much.

That is because all the growing children learning their numbers love to count!

Ace loves to play with his bead counter and would count them out one by one from 1-10. Sometimes he counts them well, sometimes he mixes up the sequence.. and sometimes, for some unknown reason, he can do even two timetables and really shocked me when he went, "Two, four, six... "

He likes to count the levels with have ascended or descended while he is in the lift, he likes to count his toes and sometimes when he is in a good mood, he will also count his biscuits ;)

So now I have a COUNT Dracula at home.. Maybe I will get him to count my hair ;) hahaha.. help me count VP and sort twenty by twenty...

Previous Post: Harlow!

Harlow!

Talking on the phone seems to be Ace's favourite hobby...

Ace likes to hold on to his ear with his hands.. and then start talking... and then after about 3-5 min when he is tired, he will say, "bye bye..." and then use the other hand to press on the hand he was pretending to be a phone and then continue talking to someone else.. hahaha....

He even remembers to press to cradle when he is pretending! Hahaha...

Daddy called just know and I asked if he wanted to talk to Ace cos since the moment my phone ringed, he has been holding his ears and talking loudly.

I passed the phone to Ace and then he called, "Daddy..." and started his gibberish, paused, raised his hands and said, "Wo!" and then paused.. and then said, "Mmmmmmmuaks!"

And then told me, "Kiss, kiss.." and passed the phone back to me...

So I asked Max if he asked Ace "who is the best?"

"How did you know? Did he raise his hands? "

"Ya lah..." and we laughed. Apparently, his Daddy asked him to kiss mummy and that was why he did the kissing sound and told me to kiss.

Ganma Evon called on Ace's birthday from Malaysia to wish Ace happy birthday and called me the next day she called me to tell me, "I just want to tell you that you did a great job with Ace! You have taught him well..."

"I called him yesterday and when your mum asked him to call me Ganma, he called me immediately and his pronunciation was so accurate! And then I told him I want to sing song for him and sang him a birthday song and then he sang along with me. He kept talking to me for so long and was so happy. I feel so happy talking to him and when I told him, I love you, he said I love you back to me also! I am so happy! I think I am going to be HIGH for a few days because of this!"

I also very happy when I hear this ;) Means all my Shichida and time playing with him did not go to waste ;) hehe...

Previous Post: Sleepy Afternoon

Sleepy Afternoon

Well, Ace had too much energy on hands the other day and made a huge mess out of the living room.

In bid to let him tone down his energy abit, I put him in his high chair and let him watch Barney for a while so that he can cool down and go to bed.

But midway through the Barney VCD, I left, came back into the living room and saw this:


hahaha... Even Ah Ma was sleeping.. and then each of them slant to one side.. so cute! ;)

Previous Post: Hi

HI!

Ace is a friendly baby and I am glad to say that he is quite courteous.

Recently, he has learnt how to say, "hi" to the people he meet and so when he meets other people, especially pretty girls, he says, "hi!" in this lovely high pitched voice with a very sweet smile. My friends who heard him say he is sure to mesmerize many women with this singular word.

The other day, he was playing with me in the room when Laoma arrived. Initially he stuck out his head to see who it was but could not make out who it is. When he finally realized it was Lao Ma, he ran out of the room and said, "mah mah.. mah mah...! hiiiiiii!!!!! Hiiiiiiiii!" enthusiastically.

And then after lunch, he was playing with me in the room again and halfway, he heard the door open.. ran to the door, said, "bye bye..." to laoma who was going home and then came in to continue playing with me again.

Previous Post: Hao Se Au Yees

Hao Se Ah Yees

This one is specially for the hao se ah yees who have been always asking for Ace's 'naked photos' (you know who you are.. hahaha)

Anyway, Ace was having a little fun enjoying his freedom after a bath...






Previous Post:PAP, here I come

PAP, Here I Come!

Say, since Nick knows so many PAP politicians.. maybe I should ask him to recommend Ace to them to prepare for his future...

Here is Ace as his very first RALLY SPEECH ;)



Previous Post: Superman Ace

Superman Ace

See Ace Fly!

Previous Post: Pak

Pak!

Ace discovered a fun game the other day by accident.

Laoma was talking to me and she hit me on my shoulder and then we laughed together.

Thinking that it was a game, Ace ran to her and hit her on her shoulder.. and Laoma said, "Pak wa ah..." (you are beating me?)

And then Ace ran to her, hit her, said, "pak," and giggled.

We knew he was playing a game but I told him it was not right to play such a game because it was not right to hit laoma.

"Say sorry and give laoma a hug, Ace..."

So Ace say, "ry....." (tat's sorry in Ace's language), hugged her... ran away, came back again, hit her on her shoulder, shouted ""pak!" and rolled on the floor with laughter...

Didn't know wat to do man...

Anyway, if we scold him in future, all he needs is to wear this cool shirt that Waipo bought for him while she was touring Perth.

The shirt says,
"I didn't do it!"
"I didn't do it!"
"I didn't do it!"

He is the biggest winner. Waipo bought three shirts and two toys for him and a blouse of Ah Yee... me so jealous.. I din get anything except food.. which was shared by everyone :S

And then leh... by time she came back, I was already juicing.. which meant I could not eat...

But I have been juicing for 3 weeks and so far lost 7.5kg ;) Yipee! ;)

Previous Post: Glamorous Ace

Glamourous Ace

Ace decided to glam it up the other day.. with my golden scarf... and Ah Yee's killer heels...

And almost tripped over while pretending to be glamourous..

My boy, you are not Kumar leh.. dun have to wear girl's clothes! hahaha....

Previous Post: Yam Seng

Yam Seng!

Want Ace to drink more water?

Just fill up your own bottle and his little cup and Yam Seng with him like 10 thousand times.. and then he will finish drinking the water in his cup! ;)

If your child doesn't like to drink water, maybe you could try this ;)

Previous Post: So Responsible