Bear

Ace is starting to get more and more attached to the bear that belongs to Ah Yee.

He will hug the bear to sleep and will also want to feed the bear and bring him along when he plays. He also rocks the bear to sleep and sayangs the bear whenever he feels like it.

I was contemplating buying him a bear when we shift back home (cos the bear belongs to Ah Yee) so that we can continue to get him ready for another sibling (should our baby making plans be successful ;) )

Anyway, I discovered a really great place to buy a bear. You can choose the bear, pump the bear up, make a wish and receive grace and love into this little heart, put the heart inside, sew it up, bath it a little and buy clothes for the bear.. and the bear even has a birth cert! hahaha...

We bought one for Yee Lin who was going away for 6 months.. hoping that the bear can keep her company and help her feel less lonely in a foreign land ;)

Here's the birth of our Angel-Bear gift called Abundance ;) (PS, in the end we replaced the shirt with wings cos the shirt not very nice...)




Previous Post: High Five

High Five

Ace loves to give everyone a high five...

While everyone was listening wholeheartedly to a sharing, he decides to 'liven' things up abit... by going around the whole room to 'high five' with other people...





Previous Post: Fish

Fish

Picasso Ace drawing his first FISH :)



I am so proud of him leh! I mean.. two years old can draw fish leh.. and the fish got tail one lor!

He will also draw:
- a longish oval shape - and call it banana
- a circle - and call it papa, mama, waigong, waipo, nainai
- many long lines- and call it ah yee

Hahahaha....

The other day, he drew something on his macna doodle and told me, "Heart!" and true enough, it was a very nice heart shape!

Ok, maybe he can be like a fashion designer (since he likes both fashion and drawing) or something ;) hahaha...

Previous Post: Drinking Water

Drinking Water

Ace presents to you a new and novel way of drinking water....





Previous Post: Diamonds are Ace's Best Friend

Diamonds Are Ace's Best Friend

Ok, you've heard the song, Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friends...

I personally am a believer of that as I love diamonds.. even though they have such low resale value... I still buy lots of them ;) hahaha..

Maybe I passed this on to Ace.. cos he loves shiny sparkly stuff..

The other day, Josephine passed me this pair of shiny shoes that she say she could not wear because it was giving her blisters... and being abundant and in receiving mode, I accepted..

The shoes had this shiny strip across it and it says, "I love diamonds" on the soles.

Somehow, Ace saw this pair of shoes and loved it! And as a result, whenever I am not looking, he will take it out and try to wear it!

Sigh... I am a little worried cos when I bring him shopping, he always prefers pink stuff over blue stuff... at the same time, whenever he sees dresses, he will touch them and say, "Wahh..... mei mei..."

Maybe he will work in the fashion industry when he grows up.. haha ;)

Previous Post: Mao Mao

Mao Mao....

Ace loves cats....

So at night when Daddy is trying to rock him to bed, Daddy will tell him, "Let's go and see cats.. " and then when they cannot find them from the window, Daddy will tell him, "Mao mao shui jiao le..." (the cat slept already).

And whenever we bring him out, when he is walking from the car park back to the lift, he will run around and ask us, "cat? cat?"

The other day, he was searching for his best friend, the cat, and found that the cat was not around.. and so he looked a little disappointed... "Maybe the cat is asleep.." I told him.

That was, until he saw the cat sitting on the bicycle... and he was so happy..

"Cat! Cat!" he pointed to it excitedly..

But for some unknown reason, the other day when we finally did find the cat again, he ran away and told us, "pa pa.." he was afraid of the cat.

"OK, if you are afraid then let's go home, ok?" I asked him..

And so he happily ran forward.. paused, turned around and waved, "Mao mao.. bye bye...."

And then ran towards the lift...

I wonder what is he afraid of...

Previous Post: Guilt

Guilt

The other time, I talked about my own guilt as a mother.

I think children have their own guilt too.

Therefore, when your children make mistakes, please do not punish them too bad. Be firm but not cruel. (Note, scolding them viciously is ALSO considered a form of punishment.) They already are aware and everytime they do something wrong, they feel guilt as well.

Some of them keep this guilt and punish themselves for the rest of their lives!

I have ever heard of a true story of a person who uglified himself and made himself friendless and lonely for his whole life. During a psychology healing process, he divulged that he did all that just because when he was in his mum's tummy, his mother felt sick and went to see a doctor.

The doctor examined the patient and told her, "There is a parasite in your body..." and the poor fetus thought the doctor was referring to HIM! (Yes, fetuses have feelings and can feel and hear what the mother hears and feels) So poor thing and he felt so guilty for making his mother sick that he punished himself for the rest of his life for it!

I bring out this point because I noticed a very strange thing.

When Ace hurts someone (albeit usually accidentally) and that person gets very upset, he will start to look grumpy and angry. I think he will feel such strong emotions (he looks so angry he will clench is jaws and his fists and go "Grrrr") that he will start to do things like hit the person or pull their hair.

I thought about it for a very long time and I think it is guilt. As he could not handle this very negative feeling, he expressed it out in the form of anger. (Anger is very often used to cover guilt. If you see people who are always so angry. They are just feeling guilty.)

How do I know?

Firstly, it is from my half past six POV knowledge. (Based on the model by renowned psychologist, Chuck Spezzano)

Secondly, he lets go or stops if I tell him that I love him and forgive him. And after that, he tells me, "pain pain... " and then pats that area that is hurt and says, "sayang.."

Thirdly, if he hits me and I have no reaction of pain, he doesn't think he has hurt me. "Pain pain?" he will ask me. "Nope," I will tell him and he stops.

But if I scream out in pain, he will hit me or pull my hair harder.

Strangely though, mostly he attempts such negative actions to get attention from us. He only does this if:

• everyone is talking to each other but ignores him
• he sees people doing loving actions to each other like hug and he is not included

Strangely also, he only 'attacks' people very close to him like next of kin... so far, ah yee, me, daddy, waipo, waigong have all been victims...

Well, as I heal, I hope he heals too ;)

Previous Post: Good Natured Ace

Good Natured Ace

I really think Ace is a very good natured little boy.

The other day, the strange baby woke up at 6am in the morning, ran to my room, climbed on my bed and started calling me, "mama... mama.... mama..."

As it was 6 am in the morning and I had been sleeping since 4.30am only, I decided to ignore him.

He did not scream, did not shout, did not make a big fuss, did not hit me, did not pull my hair....

He just continued...

"Mama... mama... mama...." in a very gentle voice.

I was too tired and so I ignored him somemore.

5 minutes later, he was still at it... "Mama... mama... mama...."

Daddy said, "Oi, since he looking for you, hand over to you lah... " and he turned over to the other side to snore.

At last resort, I woke up and asked Ace, "What do you want?"

"Do you want to watch Barney?" I asked him (I was desperate for sleep!)

"Barney... TV..." he said.

I took that for a YES and played the barney VCD at 6am in the morning while I seat him in his high chair. After that, I slept beside him on the sofa.

The next day when I woke, I thought about why he came to my room and realized that I told him the night before that I would come home and play with him. Alas when I returned, he had already fallen asleep.

So when he woke, he probably remembered my promise and was just trying to wake me to play with him.

Now I am clever...

When I go out, I tell him I will be home late and he should sleep first without waiting for me.. MUAHHAHA....

Previous Post Correction

Correction

I read a book quite some time back about children and how they learn languages...

Did you know that it will take many years for children to be able to pronounce all the letters in the alphabet and all the sounds we make with them? In fact, even when children are in primary one, there will still be a few phonetic sounds that they are incapable of saying!

Amazing isn't it? I always thought that children that age would already be ready to say ANYTHING!

The book says that because of this, we should not be too harsh and correct our children too much when they talk. If everytime they talk you tell them, "No, not this.. it is that.." it will discourage them from speaking altogether and in speech, like all other skills, practice makes perfect.

Eg, Ace is incapable of saying the word "Rock", he always says "Yock" instead because I suspect the Y sound is easier to say than the R sound. So, "Rabbit" is "Air-bit" to Ace. "Biscuit" is "Ah kit".. so on and so forth.

I usually do not correct him and let him be.

But that does not mean we should indulge in that. As parents, we need to set good examples. If we follow the way the pronounce the words and say "yock yock.." instead of "rock rock" properly to them, they will grow up pronouncing the word ROCK and YOCK.

So even if we understand what they are saying and know that if we use their shortcuts, they will understand us too, we are not supposed to do that.

We should speak good English at all times and just carry on the conversation as per normal.

Example:

Ace: Mummy, Yock Yock...
Me: Ace, you want mummy to Rock you?
Ace: Yes
Me: Ok, I will Rock you for a short while ok?
Ace: Ok...

Initially I was quite worried that not correcting them may be showing them a bad example instead. But I thought since the book is written by an expert.. I better listen to them ;) Besides, Jez Ah Ma and Yanni Jie both have ever shared about this with me before as well.

True enough, when Ace was not capable of saying more than 1 syllable, he used to call Zhen Popo "popo" and the difference between this "popo" and Waipo's "popo" is the intonation.

I never corrected him and accepted it. But I never stopped referring to her as Zhen Popo.

All of a sudden when he started to get the hang of 3 syllable words (going on to 4 syllable already), he just called her "Zhen Popo.." naturally!

Previous Post: Ace Can Draw Fish

Ace Can Draw Fish!

Remember that I told you that Ace loved to draw and would scribble on his magna doodle?:) But he kind of stopped after he destroyed the last doodle pad that I bought for him.

Well, he has recently taken an interest to drawing again.

Initially, he would find pieces of paper, pass me a pen or a pencil and ask me to, "Draw!" And then he would specify what he wanted to me draw. Eg, "Ace, Papa, Mama, fish, sun, tree, car..." etc

Recently though, he has UPGRADED to the next stage.

He would take out the pen and then draw lots of circles in loops like those roses and tell me, "Flower!"

After that, he would draw long lines and tell me, "Sun" (I usually draw a sun with sun rays shooting out when I draw the sun for him)

And then, just now, he drew this and told me, "FISH!"

Isn't my son a genius!?! I am soooooooooooooo PROUD OF HIM!

Previous Post: Courteous Baby

Courteous Baby

Ace is such a courteous baby ;)

As we have been trying to potty train him, I always tell Ace to please inform us BEFORE he wants to pee and not AFTER he pees.

Just then, he wanted to pee and then he took off his pants himself. Waipo got the 'hint' and brought him to the toilet to SHHH him.

And the clever Ace peed all by himself! ;)

So Waipo told him that he is a very clever boy!

I ran to the toilet, clapped my hands and told him he is very clever.

Then on the way from the toilet, through the kitchen to the living room, i kept clapping for him.. he was so happy... and looked as if he had won the championship for some sports event. Along the way, he bow his head down in different directions and said, "Xie xie.. xie xie..."

Hahahahaha..... AMUSING!

Previous Post: Xiao Xiao

Xiao Xiao!

Well, two years of age... people tell me is a terrible age and it is known as the terrible twos or the naughty twos because your children will defy you at all cost.

I have found though that if you do give your children choices and they get to exert their independence, most of the time, they are actually ok. Even if they say, "No," if you just accept it and respect their views, they don't usually push their luck too far.

So far, I think Ace is pretty nice most of the time. Just that he likes to exert his independence by asking me to do this and do that. When I can, I give in to him to let him get his way. But of course when it comes to matter of life and death, even if I give him choices, I use master of persuasion skills to make him choose what I want him to choose.

At last resort though, I just carry him away and distract him with something else.. haha

Anyway, as a show of independence, Ace ran into the room and told me he wanted to play the computer. I put him on the chair and let him play.

And then he said to me in a commanding voice and pushed me toward a certain direction, "Xiao xiao.. xiao xiao..."

But I did not know what he was trying to say.

"I don't understand you, Ace..."

So he pointed to the camera...

OH! He wanted me to take pictures of him playing the computer....

So I corrected him and told him that taking pictures is called Pai Zhao.. not Xiao Xiao (which means smile.. that's something i say to him often when I take pictures for him.. )

Previous Post: Stand Up

Stand Up!

It has become a norm for Ace to run to me in the middle of the afternoon and tell me, "yock yock..." which indicates that he wants to take his nap as he wants me to ROCK him.

Most of the time, I will carry him in my arms, sit down and then sing some songs to him and he will drift to lalaland ;)

But recently, he has become more demanding...

Just like just now. I was just rocking him and sitting down... and suddenly, he said to me, "Stand up..."

"Huh?" I tot I misunderstood him...

"Stand up!" He repeated.

"Do you want me to stand up?" I asked him and stood up and then he gave me a winning smile.

After like 20 seconds, I told him I have to sit down cos I am tired. And so I sat down.

"Stand up..." he said again.

"Aiyoh, Ace... Mummy is very tired leh, and mummy's hands are not so strong, can I sit down? Ok?"

He gave it a thought and said, "Ok.." and shortly after, he close his eyes and fell asleep..

Previous Post: Xie Xie

Xie Xie

Ace dances to the music but forces Stan to take a boy and "xie xie" on his behalf ;)



Previous Post: Ace-thoven

Ace-thoven

Erm... yeap, Singapore's youngest conductor.. conducting to his toy which is playing "old mac donald had a farm..." Hahaha..



Previous Post: Header

Header

Talking about strange games... Daddy likes to play strange games with Ace... eg like the header game that he loves to play...

Daddy and Ace would put their heads together and see who has the HARDER head...

Guess who usually wins?

Usually Ace of course. Ace doesnt really care if his head or Daddy's head will blue black or become painful. usually he just uses all his might and even his 'drink milk strength" hahaha.. so Daddy often give in..

This time Daddy changes strategy... see, love conquers all! Hahaha...






Previous Post: Parrot Ace

Parrot Ace

Ace can now say alot of new words and is learning more new words everyday. Other than single syllabus, he has also started to say two or three syllabus words as well. Just the other day, he learnt the words "Superman" and "Abundance" from Daddy...

But I think this is because Ace is starting to parrot whatever we say. When you talk to Ace, very often he will parrot back the last two words that he hears.

My favourite game now is to ask him, "hao bu hao?" And hear him say "hao!"

Very shiok to hear him say tat. Suddenly you feel that Ace is sooooooooooo co-operative. I mean.. ace is good natured but not always co-operative.. especially now that his favourite phrase is "No no no no no..." so this is really a welcomed moment when he agrees..

Just to disturb him, I asked him the following...



So you see, no matter what you want him to choose, just give him two options and put it as the second option. Eg my mother in law likes to ask him, "Do you want didi or meimei?" and wait for him to say "Mei mei" and then after that, ask him again, "Do you want meimei or didi?" and wait for him to say "didi"...

Do not think that he does not understand what he is saying though.

Eg, if you are at a situation where you need him to co-operate, you just need to explain to him why he needs to co-operate with you and ask him, "hao bu hao?" and if he says, "Hao.." you shake hands with him to seal the agreement and he will follow whatever you agreed on.

However, if he does not like the idea, he will NEVER say "Hao" in the first place ;) clever or not??:P

Previous Post:Big 3-0

Big 3-0

I celebrated my big 30.. in a big way.. with many diff celebrations:)

My private celebration with Max and with the MCI gang:
click here to see pics

The very special item I MUST mention is this: FLOOR PLAY


Burn The Floor: Floor Play

Computer Genius

Ace has a new hobby... http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamestreet/elmosworld/

Hahaha.... everyday, he would watch Sesame Street at 9am but come afternoon, he will point to the computer room and say, "Street street..." try to open the door and run in.

That's because he has fallen in love with this game in Elmo's World called Peek-a-boo.

You are supposed to press any button on the keyboard and the character will jump out from somewhere and say, 'Peek-a-boo!"

It started once many moons ago, when I ran out of things to do with Ace, I put him on my lap and explored the sesame street website. We found the game and played it once but back then, Ace did not understand about pressing only ONE button but would haphazardly hit the keyboard.

That day, he came to me and pointed to the PC again so I asked him if he wanted to play with the computer. As usual, we surfed that website and came across this game again by chance. Right after I loaded the game, the phone rang so I asked Ace to stand beside the PC and wait for me.

But when I came back, this is what I saw...



Computer genius leh! Even knows to lift the curtain so that got light can see better...

Previous Post: Your Parents Will Always Love You

Your Parents Will Always Love You!

I think that human beings are the strangest creatures on earth!

We have so many misguided concepts about our parents and even though everyone knows that ALL PARENTS LOVE THEIR CHILDREN UNCONDITIONALLY, everyone thinks that their parents do not really love them or do not love them enough for one reason or another!

As we complain about how bad our parents are, many times we forget that we are responsible for our relationship with our parents as well.

We could choose a better relationship and take a step forward and we could give them our gifts to help them out of whatever situation they are in right now.

Many a times, if we think that our parents do not love us, it is usually because:
- they are incapable of showing love because no one had taught them how to do it
- they are unhappy and need our gifts to get out of the situation
- they also felt that no one loved them, felt worthless and had no recognition from their parents or other halfs

It is one of the greatest misunderstandings that our parents do not love us.

At heartbreak stage, we always feel that, "If my parents love me, they will treat me the way I want them to treat me. If they do not treat me that way, it means that they do not love me."

But parents have their own plan to raise their children. Eg, we may want to eat Ice Cream before bedtime but our parents have plans for our good health and reject our request. We feel upset and think that they do not love us but they are doing it for the good of us.

Irregardless though whether our parents are thinking of us or not, we complain about our parents ANYWAY.

To many parents, eg the father, after they work hard, they usually go home and want to watch TV to relax after a long they work. We think they they do not love us but in working hard for a living to give us a good life, to them, that is their way of showing love.

If you think your parents do not love you, ask yourself why they behave in this way. What sort of gifts can you get them out of this situation.

Previous Post: Daddy's Games

Daddy's Games

If Ace says *ahem* unconventional words like "jiu ming ah jiu ming ah.." it's because of Daddy.. *hiaks*

If he plays strange games like passing the soccer ball using your legs while lying down.. it is also because of Daddy... HAHAHHA :)




Previous Post: Dance Dance Revolution

Dance Dance Revolution

Presenting... The Dance Dance Revolution Baby!

Check out his dancing style and NOTE HIS EXPRESSION! Hahaha....



More dancing!!!!



And yet more dancing! When will this toddler ever STOP??:P



Previous Post: Zither Bolster

Bolster Zither?

Once... a very long time ago... while I was playing one of my silly games with Ace, I took the bolster and pretended to strum on it like a guitar or a zither and then I sang one of my silly songs.. and this would make Ace laugh uncontrollably...

The other day, we were sitting at home with nothing much to do and Ace suddenly ran into his bedroom, took out his bolster, laid it on his lap, sad down on a stool and started strumming and singing loudly by the door. (I hope my neighbours dun complain..)

He sat there and gave an impromptu bolster zither performance for a good 5 minutes and so I decided to take out my camera to film it down.

Once I took out the camera though, he started to become shy... Daddy returned home at around this time and once he saw his favourite daddy, he started singing with gusto again! muahaha...



Previous Post: Penguin Movie With Bear Bear

Penguin Movie With Bear Bear

We were so bored at home the other day and so we took out the whole stash of VCDs, found one we haven't watched before and decided to watch SURFS UP together with Ace.

In the end, Ace was busy running up and down, climbing up and down the sofa.

Because he was afraid of loneliness, he even brought his favourite Bear along to watch the movie with him...

Nevertheless, I think the movie did go into his head cos the next day when Max was using the computer, he told Max, "Penguin..." and so Max surfed the net for some penguin photos to show him...

Speaking of penguins, my mother told me that penguins are the most nobel fathers on earth! "So during father's day, you should use penguin to demostrate fatherly love..."

We were watching this documentary about penguins living in the artic...

I really think that penguins lead very boh liao/ boring lives...

The female lays a single egg, and the co-operation of the parents is needed if the chick is to survive. After the female lays the egg, she transfers it to the feet of the waiting male with a minimal exposure to the elements, as the intense cold will kill the developing embryo.

So if they not careful, the chick will die!

The male will ''babysit the egg' for about two months while the mther returns to sea to feed herself and to obtain extra food for feeding her chick when she returns. She has not eaten in two months and by the time she leaves the hatching area, she will have lost a third of her body weight. But the journey back and forth also takes about two mths!

If mother dun come back with food, the chick will die! But the journey to and fro is LONG and DANGEROUS!

For an additional two months, the males huddle together for warmth, and incubate their eggs. They endure temperatures approaching -62 °C (-80 °F), and their only source of water is snow that falls on the breeding ground. When the chicks hatch, the males have only a small meal to feed them, and if the female does not return, they must abandon their chick and return to the sea to feed themselves.

The chick will die!

By the time they return, they have lost half their weight and have not eaten for four months.

Then while growing up, the chicks may also fall prey to birds and the harsh winter cold. If eaten by predators, or the weather is too cold, the chick dies!

The mother penguins will then come back and feed their young, while the male penguins go all the way back to sea (70 miles) to feed themselves. This gives the mothers time to feed their young ones and sympathize with them.

Unfortunately, the fierce storm arrives where most of the chicks perish either by misplacement (the winds blow the chicks away) or they cannot stand the cold.

Many parents die on the trip, killed by exhaustion or by predators, dooming their chicks back at the breeding ground.

The parents must then tend to the chick for an additional four months, shuttling back and forth to the sea in order to provide food for their young. As spring progresses, the trip gets progressively easier, until finally the parents can leave the chicks to fend for themselves.

While the movie touched me with the penguin parent's strong and deep love (I dunno whether I can do that for Ace or not even..), I feel so sorry for the penguins as well..

But I also felt kind of upset for them as well...

I asked my mum, "Why they so stupid ah.. just live near the ocean lah. Then dun have to make such long trips and wouldn't have to bear such long wintery cold... Can increase their chance of survival mah..."

What is the point of living if it is just to cheat death and sit there and wait so tat you can give birth to another person that just does exactly the same thing that you do?

They sacrifice so much and the male go hungry for 4 months just so that their chick can survive but yet the odds are so against them.

Thank god I am human. Thank god I can find more meaningful ways to live life...

Previous Post: Monkey

Monkey

Just how did Ace learn this?

I am still scratching my head like a lao gao (monkey)...

The other day, i was happily sitting in Ah Yee's room and then suddenly, Ace ran into the room, grabbed hold of the window grills, lifted his legs and then turned and gave me a big smile and told me, "Monkeyyyyy..."

And then a few days later, when I was bringing him home after his Shichida, he climbed onto the railings of the stairs and told me, "Monkeyyy...."

Seems like that is his code word for climbing all over the place.

I wonder if it is because all the monkeys he has seen on TV likes to climb around or did anyone tell him he is a monkey when he was climbing up and down... hahaha...

Anyway, here is him performing his monkey act:P



Previous Post: Professional Photog

Professional Photog

Recently, I have been going around showing off this photo taken by a professional photog...

"We decided to hire a photog to take professional photos of Ace.." Max will tell others.

"Wah... very nice leh.. are the bubbles real?" is the most common reply...

"Actually hor..." I will add at this point,"That's MAX when he was about Ace's age!"

"Really ah? No lah, dun bluff lah..."

And then I will whip out PROOF ;)

See, Ace is a little bit more handsome than Max cos Ace has my genes as well! Muahahaha...

Previous Post: Boin

Boin!

If you tell Ace, "Boin..." and then you pause, Ace will tell you, "救命啊！救命啊！"

That is because Daddy brought Ace to some cafe once and while waiting for me, they saw this bungee jumping machine and Daddy kept telling Ace, "Boin, boin..." and when the machine is high in the air, Daddy will say, 救命啊！救命啊！(which means help)


Well, this is how the bungee thing looks like...



Anyway, if you see Ace saying any strange things.. it's DADDY who taught him those.. muahahahah ;)

PS: If you hold his leg, he will also say 救命啊！救命啊

Previous Post: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Presenting... Ace Chua and his rendition of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star :P



Previous Post: Ace Singing AGAIN

Ace Singing Again

Ace was in a good mood that day and started to sing AGAIN..



Previous Post: Novel Birthday Cake

Novel Birthday Cake

I think Ace knows mummy's birthday is coming soon and has invented a new way of celebrating for mummy.

He took out all the colour pencils from the box and put them into the holes on Waigong's Stool. And when i wiped out the camera, he started singing the Happy Birthday song to the camera and clapping his hands..

Isn't he clever?
Previous Post: Gu Niang De Jiu Wo Xiao Xiao

Gu Niang De Jiu Wo Xiao Xiao

"Xiao xiao, xiao xiao, gu niang de jiu wo, xiao xiao..."

This is Ace's lastest favourite song.. by Gao Linfeng... loosely translated, it means "Smile, Lady Smile and let your dimples show.."

And Ace will put his fingers on his cheeks and smile sooooooooooo charmingly ;)



Previous Post: Koala Ace

Koala Ace

When Daddy was away, poor me had to struggle with Ace as it happened so that in the week that Daddy was away, both Waigong and Waipo had no time to take care of Ace at night.

As a results, I was forced to bring Ace along for my meetings and parties this week.

The first day, we were due to go Growth Vision for a grouping by Yanni Jie. As Ace was very excited about going "gaigai", by 6pm, he was all dressed and ready to go. If I did not leave the house I knew he would surely go into a tantrum and since I had time to spare, I decided to travel there by public transport.

The way there was not easy indeed. When we reached the void deck, I asked Ace to walk on his own and walked towards the bus stop but Ace kept running in the opposite direction. I thought it was because he was throwing a tantrum.. and then he pointed at the car park direction and told me, "Daddy, Car!"

As per his usual habit, going out meant going to Daddy's car and he did not want to move because he thought I was going in the wrong direction! What a clever boy!

So I explained to him that Daddy was away and there was no car today. "Today, we are going to take the MRT and the bus.

We waited for a bus, then I carried Ace up the bus, carried him down and then carried him again to take the MRT. When we reached City Hall, it was raining and so I had no choice but to take a bus over to Growth Vision.

We alighted the bus and it was still drizzling lightly but I had no umbrella and at last resort, I put my shawl over Ace's head and made a dash towards the building.

Once inside the meeting, I managed to entertain Ace for about 45 min with a piece of paper, a pen for him to draw and his set of building blocks for him to build. And then he started to make noise and so I brought him outside and requested that Huijuan, Livee and Shermaine help me take care of Ace as they prepare for the Bedazzled party.

Ace was all over the place and we could still hear him while inside the grouping. He was singing, banging on the cupboards, running around and playing with Huijuan's computer. At last the grouping ended and thankfully this time round, Yanni sent me home.

By the time I reached home, my arm was so sore from carrying him so much that night.

But that soreness did not end there. The next night, we held a Bedazzled Party and last minute, I was informed that I had to bring Ace there on my own AGAIN...
This time round, it was terrible because all of a sudden, Ace decided to become a really sticky koala baby. During the party, he just refused to leave me. Like a koala, he put his legs firmly around me and insisted that I had to carry him throughout the WHOLE PARTY from 6pm till 10.30pm. Even when I went on stage to give out prizes, he did not want to leave me.

By the time I reached home, I think my arm almost dropped off.. sigh...

But I guess it was a blessing in disguise also.. I initially thought he would run around the whole place and create havoc but he ended up being very subdued and during Eddie's talk, he just kept holding on to the fork with a springroll on it.

I think he missed his Daddy.. maybe he was saving the springroll for Daddy.

Previous Post: Energizer Bunny

Energizer Bunny Ace

Ace hops around like an energizer bunny when I asked him to sing a song for Daddy...



Previous Post: Unnatural Smile

Unatural Smile

Did you know that as children grow up, they will start to smile unnaturally for the camera?

I think Ace is starting to know he has to smile but not know how to smile properly.. but still, he make it up with his "I am the champion" pose ;) haha.. I think Daddy would love the last photo ;)

Ah Yee says he looks like footballer in the jersey.. she says she will buy Man U jersey for Ace when she goes BKK... I think Daddy will KILL HER if she does tat :)
Previous Post: Ace's New Hobby

Ace's New Hobby

Ace has a new HOBBY.

He loves photo taking or video taking. If you tell let's take some pictures, he will keep repeating 'take picture.. take picture.." and then will attempt to smile or pose a little bit for the photos.

After that, he will want to see the photos...

So one of the ways I pass time is to keep taking pictures with him and showing him his photos..

Ok, I should take professional ones for him and sign him up to become a child model :) muahahaha...

Previous Post: Ace's First Public Performance

Ace's First Public Performance

We brought Ace to Classic Lao Di Fang for lunch the other day and he gamely 'performed' his singing there.

He sang so loudly that the whole restaurant could hear him...

Catch him at his grand finale where he sang and bowed thank you.. much to the amusement of the customers and the waitresses there...

Gosh, wonder if they will ban us from ever visiting the restaurant again...



Previous Post: Ace The Priest

Ace The Priest

I dunno if I mentioned this... I had a flashback and went back to my past life.... (btw, I believe in past lives as I am buddhist..) and in one of my past lives, I was a buddhist monk... and so was Max and he was my good buddy who promised to come back with me to this world again to help me eradicate my karma.. i was so touched...

Anyway, after that flashback, I told Max that maybe Ace is our master.. hahaha ;)

A true blue high priest or high monk of sort...

Anyway, Ace gamely took on that role the other day when Net Net visited us. Ah Yee was lying down on Net Net's lap and ace took the bottle of toothpicks and started shaking it all over Ah Yee's body.. as if giving Ah Yee a blessing of sorts...



After two rounds, he got tired and sat down on Net Net's leg to rest.. I think he like Ah Net's leg... this is not the first time he tries to lie down there... I should ask him why he likes to lie on Net Net's leg.. hahaha..

Previous Post: Dinosaur

Dinosaur

Well, cos Daddy was away, I wanted to document Ace's updates for him...

Ace learnt a new word today- Dinosaur.. and managed to say Triangle properly also ;)

He also decided to sing a nice song for Daddy...



Previous Post: Missing Daddy

Missing Daddy

Daddy was away for work for awhile...

Maybe because Ace was starting to miss the fatherly figure in his life.. or maybe Ace thought that since Ah Yee is getting married, he should let them rehearse family life for a while...

Ace was walking around them and then he went to lie down on Net Net's leg and looking comfortable there.

When I came out with the camera, I managed to take a picture but he was not looking into the camera and so I told him to look at me.

Alas, he wanted to see the picture I took and so he walked towards me and so I showed him the picture and told him that he is not smiling. "So the picture is not so nice. Can you go back and pose again?"I asked him.

And so he did this:

And then I told him that I wanted and needed to see his face. And so he stood up, readjusted himself and did this:

We had a good laugh ;) "Gosh, you want to see his face, he show you his face lor! Hahaha..." laughed Ah Yee.

But finally, he GOT IT RIGHT BUT he was still not smiling into the camera. Hahaha
Previous Post: Ace Chua

Ace Chua

I was trying to google Ace Chua's name and I found this... Sure brings back lots of memories... MOST BEAUTIFUL MUM-TO-BE" CONTEST WINNER DELIVERS AT GLENEAGLES HOSPITAL

Angel, who won the "Most Beautiful Mum-to-Be" contest held at Plaza Singapura in May, is now a mommy. She gave birth to her son on the 25th of June 2005 at Gleneagles Hospital. Little Ace Chua weighed in at a healthy 3.36kg and is a darling to all the nurses who has tended to him in the nursery. Instead of crying, he opens his eyes and looks around when it is time for milk. The nurses were very impressed with Ace's good manners. "This is because we have been training him since he was in mommy's tummy," Mr Chua explained with a smile. Angel when she was crowned "Most Beautiful Mum-to-Be" Mr and Mrs Chua won a maternity package at Gleneagles Hospital as the top prize in the contest. Upon their arrival, Gleneagles pleasantly surprised them by upgrading their package to include accommodation in the VIP suite. In fact, many of their friends who came to visit commented it was like they were coming to a hotel. Angel says she is happy with the service of the staff and nurses. The most memorable part of her stay was when the nurses handed little Ace to her for the very first time. To see her little one after carrying him for nine months was simply a moment to be cherished forever. Dr Timothy Low came personally to present gifts to the happy parents. Our heartiest congratulations to Mr and Mrs Chua. Little Ace Chua is truly a testament to the most beautiful mom-to-be! Previous Post: Natural Speaker/Trainer

Natural Speaker/Trainer

I think Ace is a natural speaker or a trainer ;)

The other day, I just attended a lesson by a world class speaker (actually, it's my mentor, Yanni) about how to do public speaking ;)

During the lesson, one of the things she taught us was to have the mindset that everyone should concentrate and focus on what you are saying. If someone were to lose focus, then you should try to get their focus back.

One of the things you can do is to look at them and smile at them till they turn their attention back to you :)

I think hor, Ace is a NATURAL for public speaking though.

Even though I have been trained with stage and drama since young, this is something new to me. But before I could 'teach' this to Ace, he already knew how to use it!

The other day, he took a piece of paper, crunched his right hand into a fist with the thumb sticking out, put the fist near his mouth and started speaking as if he were holding on to a microphone ;)

And then he started talking and talking while pointing to the piece of paper and I had absolutely no idea what he was saying. After a while, he started to say, "YEEEEAAHHHH!!!" and clapped vigorously and so me and lao ma (his only audiences) clapped along with him to entertain him.

And then he started speaking again.. as if going on to the next topic. After a while, he started to say, "YEEEEAAHHHH!!!" and clapped vigoriously again.

This time round, just to make fun of him, only Laoma clapped but I remained immobile and just stared at him blankly.

He never stopped clapping.... and then he looked into my eyes, locked our eyes contact, walked so near me that there is only a 10cm distance and never once broke the stare OR stopped clapping.

Finally, I gave in and clapped. And then he stopped and proceeded on to the 'next topic'.

Maybe he was some motivational speaker in the past life.. haha

Previous Post: Round Shit

Round Shit

You know when we draw cute 'shit', we always draw it round with this little curl at the top.. the type that looks like a mac donalds sundae....

I have always thought it a little stupid to draw shit like that since shit never looks like that anyway!

But the other day, for the first time in my life, I get to see round, cute shit! Exactly like those that we draw in the cartoons!

As we were at home and since it was a warm day, I decided to let Ace cool his bum by letting him go diaper free.

So Ace put on his loose pair of white shorts and tee shirt and jumped about the house happily.

I locked my bedroom door as I was getting ready to go out and was thinking to myself that I should dress Ace in his diapers since I will be going out soon.

At this moment, Ace started coming to the door to knock on my door.

"Ma ma! Ma ma!" He kept calling me.

Suddenly, this whiff of strange smell travelled up through my nostrils.

"Ah Joo ah! Pang Sai ah!" Laoma said to me..

Suddenly, I realized that Ace was diaperless.

I quickly unlocked the door and opened the door and there it was.. a yellowish brown piece of sundae-like shit sitting at my doorstep.

Ace was just standing there with his hands up in the air.. as if frozen in motion because he shitted.

And then I started to laugh heartily... until I realized that I had to clear the shit. Sigh, wat to do.. just go to use tissue to contain it the best I could and flush it down the toilet lor.

Didn't help that Ace just came back from Yeye's house the day before and had a durian treat there.. phew... the smell of it....

Ace ah, please give mummy some warning the next time, ok?

Previous Post: Net Net

Net Net

Let me introduce to you the Peng Family's latest addition.. and Ace's favourite Uncle whom he affectionately calls "Net Net..."

Ace has always liked Stanley and because we called him Ah Net, he always called Stanley Net Net.

I guess it is because Stanley likes children. He likes to play with Ace as is always very patient with Ace. PLUS, he always shares his food with Ace and therefore Ace loves him even more for that! ;)

The other day we were at the food court and since me and Daddy were juicing, we were just sitting there and drinking our juices. Ah Yee and Stanley were eating... Ace saw their food, stared at Ah Yee's plain-looking white mee sua and Stanley's brown sang meen. Of course the brown one looked more appetizing!

So, he climbed over Ah Yee so that he could sit in between the both of them to stare at the food somemore.

He then decided that the noodles is nicer. He pointed to it and told Stanley, "mian!"

And so stanley fed him a little bit of it.

Ace crawled to the other side and started playing with himself. After a short while, he went to hug Ah Yee around her shoulders, put his head behind her so tat he could see Stanley, gave Stanely a BRIGHT SMILE and said, "Net Net..."

And so Stanley gave him another mouthful of noodles.

Then he tried to smile to Ah Yee and called her, "Ah yeeeee..." very sweetly, got to taste the mee sua and decided that the noodles were nicer.

SO he repeated his stunt of calling Net Net and in the end, Stanley shared half his plate of noodles with Ace.. who ALREADY had his dinner! Poor Stanley...

But I think Stanley's lavish love is not wasted on Ace.

I was looking through the SNC Photos the other day and I pointed out the people inside the photos and asked Ace to name them. He could recognize Stanley and called out for his favourite Net Net even though the picture was quite small.

Good job, Ace!

Good job, Stan ;) Hahaha...

Previous Post: Airport

Airport

The other day, Daddy managed to knock off early and as we have been rather busy these few weekends, we decided to bring Ace out.

Initially we had wanted to go to East Coast Park because we could not bring him to any restaurant since the both of us were juicing. In the end, because it rained, we decided to bring him to Changi Airport to visit Nai Nai at the canteen.

When we reached the airport, Ace was really happy and ran about.. that was, until he saw the escalator. For some unknown reason, he would always demand that we carried him when he sees and escalator and if you asked him why he wanted you to carry him, he would say, "Pa pa.." while patting his chest area.. which means he is frightened.

And once he saw the fountains and the trolleys, he would get all excited again.

But it was tough for me and Daddy because it seemed so strange to buy something and watch Ace eat and all we had was juice. The ever hungry juicer, Daddy would buy so many cups of juice we looked as if we were having a juicing feast ;)

Anyway, after a meal, Ace started to look tired and we decided to go home. True enough, he fell asleep on the way home... but nevertheless, I think it was a short but fun outing ;)

Previous Post: Gai Gai