i love the sun, really i do. my rugged tan is testament to that.

that’s my ‘pretend’ siblings. they’re actually mummy’s cousin’s kids, which, i believe, make them my second cousins. well, second, third, fourth, fifth… there are just so many of them in one family, even their mummy had to pause to think how old they each are and their respective birthdays, wahaha!

help, i’m seeing double! i must be getting old. hand me my bifocals pls…

anyway, as i was saying, i really love the sun.

but i discovered something i love even better…

SNOW!

it makes my fingers freeze and my eyes tear and my nose trickle and i had to wear a whole lotta stuff on me, but it was faaabulous.

mummy, for some reason, couldn’t stop giggling the entire time, especially when she looked at me. why ah?? i look funny is it??

…

hey, don’t ask me where this is. my theory is, it’s probably somewhere in south park, colarado. that’s where kenny, my alter ego, lived, you see.

oh my god! they killed kenny!

where was i? oh yes, there weren’t any skiing on the snowy slopes, but we were each given a little tyre for our little tushies, and downhill we went, with mummy screaming her head off next to daddy and me. wheeeee~!

i’m bugging daddy to bring me again. just mention the word “snow” and i go “NAK!” – well, then again, what else CAN i say in response to that, right?

next time, i’ll make some snowmen. maybe two.

oh my god! they killed kenny – twice!

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following the previous post, i wanted to say, i wouldn’t want too large an age gap between my offsprings, like it is between my brother and i. that’s a five-year gap, practically a whole different generation altogether (we have totally different tastes, interests, inclinations, etc). my mum said they only decided to have me after five years to keep HIM company. (till now i resent that!) of course, it didn’t work, coz we spent most of our growing up years fighting or ignoring each other. it’s taken a long time to build a bridge between that five-year gap, and well… it’s still, a lil rickety.

so yeah. i think a three-year gap is, for me, ideal. not too close, not too far. still, i’m grappling with the rationale for even having a number two. can i handle another child? is one not enough? do i need two kids to justify my existence? (ok ok, i know, i should just have them because it justifies my existence as a human being with the ability and responsibility to procreate and to ensure the longevity of the human race… but am i worthy of contributing to the human population with my offsprings and average genes? arrgh! ok ok, stop it, hana! – sorry, my inner dilemma with eugenics and quasi-existentialism should be categorised under random ramblings.)

i guess the right answer too all this is, we can plan all we want and talk about it till the cows come home, but in the end it’s pretty much… up to The One Above.

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two of our april 77clanners turn three-OH.
oh oh.
oh no.
no no.

ok lah, i’m sure it’s not SOOO bad.

happy birthday, rin and sha! <3 <3

full celebrations will come soon. meanwhile, i offer you two, a special chippendale dance, for your pleasure. (sorry i couldn't find someone more beefy, and calvin kleins had to be substituted with drypers.)

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daddy, my fwens look a little hungry. can you sizzle more schnitzel for my nizzle, wizzle? err…

by the way, daddy said the burgers he got were better than ramly’s, and mummy almost wanted to make a banner and set up a stall in the middle of paris park. unfortunately, we only had 8 buns. and they were gobbled up almost instantly by the hungry aunties.

ouhh, the hot dogs were good too. (i know coz i managed to steal some behind mummy’s back, hurhur.) if only unkle jeremy caught some fishies in the water, we could have some bbq fishies. but i’m not surprised he didn’t catch any. the fishies were surely frightened off by the unsightly humans splashing about in uncivilised manner at the beachside. hee hee!

phew, all this sun is taking a toll on me.

can we try snow next, mum?

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okaaay, i’m sure girls are too. heehee. :p

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CHAK!

i alarmed my Nanny when she released me at the playground the other day. she’d never seen me go down the slides or run across the rickety bridge all by myself before. huh, serves her right for not bringing me to the playground more often.

but i guess that’s coz most of the day she’s not my Nanny. by the time she comes home in the evening from her other job to be my Nanny, it’s too dark to go to the playground.

there! the playground’s THERE, i say! now stop taking pictures and take us there, you lousy nanny you…

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do you spy with your eye a boy with three chords and the truth?

come up the bus with us!

(and the real message, for the record, is here.)

*************

oh, i should also mention the craaaazy thing we did afterwards.

attempt to buy groceries at the Giant across the road!

it was a Gigantic mistake, to say the least.

the crowd was Gigantically impossible, but the worst thing wasn’t that.

it was the sight of sinjaporeans FEASTING on the fruits and other perishable goods that were in the open, making the whole place a freaking buffet line! they swarmed around the 49cts/100gm roasted chestnuts and blatantly stood there, peeling off the chestnuts and had a heck of a Gigantic time eating them! a few steps ahead, another group swarmed around the oranges, peeling off the skin and munching away!

i stood with my jaws open and stared at the sight of these vultures.

why stop there? go ahead, bite into the apples! dig into the ice-cream! open up a few cans of coke while you’re at it!

needless to say, we left feeling rather disgusted (yet somewhat bemused).

… and headed to parkway’s Giant where the air was fresher and the people more civilised.

tsk.

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while many would shudder at the thought of massive crowds, i’ve never really minded them, so braving orchard on saturday to watch The Parade was not such a big deal.

it was the first time i’d even been to one of these things, having always shunned the live tv version each year. i’d always associated it with chingchong-fied cheesiness, creepy big-headed figures, and.. it’s just not very cool, is it? :p

so what triggered me to do what i’d never bothered with before, then?

well, the thought of being stuck at home with an (over?) active child over the weekend is a big factor! (plus, when you’re a parent, uncoolness sometimes gets thrown out of the window.)

staying home drives me up the wall, and i’ve clearly transferred my kaki-jalan bug to the little one. just mention the word ‘nak jalan’ and he’d toddle, in nothing but his diapers, to the door, sit down, attempt to put on his shoes/sandals, and make a big fuss.

and you know just how tiny singapore is, there’s hardly anywhere exciting to go to. i’m always cracking my head thinking up of things to do to jam-pack our weekends and holidays. and with his love for all things visually and aurally stimulating, the parade would be perfect entertainment for him.

i didn’t know we had to pay to get seated (i didn’t know you could even have seats, i always thought people just stood around, but singapore being the ever orderly country, you gotta have barricades and proper seating arrangements huh), and thankfully, a friend offered a pair of free tickets.

so, apa lagi!

the parade

“when I was a young boy,
my father took me into the city
to see a marching band…“

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ok, so this isn’t as romantic as that john legend song, you know, the one about kissing underneath the stars and not caring about going too far in public, etc. (seriously, where got time to be romantic nowadays?? ceh.)

…

so, every place we go to now has to fulfil a certain criteria.

the first question we’ll invariably ask is: “is it family-friendly?”

whenever we go to restaurants and other eateries, the first thing we look for are high chairs for The Royal Highness. if they do not furnish us with one, we’d scoff at them with a “huh! so un-family-friendly!” rant and turn away with our noses in the air. (hey, if simpang bedok/hawa restaurant/et al have them, you air-conditioned food courts should jolly well have them too.)

shopping malls are judged by whether they have nursing or diaper-changing rooms. if they make us go through an entire maze of escalators and fire escape routes without finding even a broom closet with a handwritten cardboard sign that says “Baby Room”, we’d throw our hands up in the air in exasperation and nevermore swipe our visa/master/nets cards there again.

anyway, back to the park.

it can’t get any more family-friendly than this.

(well, in the day-time, anyway. come night-time, i’m sure other kinds of ‘family-making activities’ take place… *cue that john legend song*)

wide open space, green grass, blue sky, balls, bicycles, and best of all… horseys and ponies! wahhh… (yes, i AM very jakun like that. lol)

you know, i don’t think i did or went out much as a child. my parents aren’t exactly the outdoors sort, and i didn’t have anyone to run around with. (which probably explains my aversion to P.E and ECAs that required any outdoor activities.) i don’t even remember what toys i had, except girly ones like strawberry shortcake or barbie. i tried asking mum at what age i did what, but she didn’t exactly have a blog or a digital camera or anything back then. :p

so, yeah, i really don’t remember much about my childhood. all those stories other people have about climbing trees, catching spiders, playing chapteh, sound like cliched fairytales to me.

nevermind playgrounds, i was terrified of sliding down the pole, and disgusted by the sand which smelled of cat’s pee.

cycling? can’t!

throw me a ball? i’ll duck!

and you know that game you used to play during recess, where you jump over a string of rubber bands (see, i can’t even remember what it’s called), forgeddit! i was hopeless, and it didn’t help that i was the size of a hobbit child.

my gross motor skills, as you can tell, are almost zero.

but looking at the little boy, i’m amazed. i’m not sure, though, if i should be too smug at the rate they’re developing. i heard something about kids who start walking at an early age being more stubborn or headstrong or belligerent or… something when they’re older. i don’t know. (in any case, i think any stubborn streak should come from me, his motor-challenged mother.)

nevermind. let me be amazed now (“you mean one-year-olds can do THAT??”) and worry later.

i just hope one day he’ll look back and remember the fabulous times he had as a child.

and i’ll look back and remember the fabulous times i had with him.

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this little waterboy of ours.

seeing this picture conjures the image of how his head must’ve looked like to the doctor, the nurses and the daddy when he first made his crowning appearance out of me. a big, wet, round head. how that ever came out of me is still an unfathomable mystery.

as i was uploading my ‘unnamed’ blog archives, i came across how he’d loved being bathed and splashing around in the tub right from the beginning when he was merely a few days old.

and not to mention how he made all those incredible ‘waves’ while he was still floating about in my waterbag.

so yeah, back to the present day. we’d planned this sentosa trip waaaay back, but never thought how exceedingly crowded it’d be on a public holiday. yikes.

in any case, the water bambinos had a whale of a time getting wet in the waters. (while we adults, well, were not too thrilled with the wet weather.)

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