The many faces of Dylan

The little one has learnt many cheeky expressions. He's full of them. So adorable.

I like PINK!!!

Daddy asked Dylan: What's your favourite colour?
Dylan: Pink!!!
Daddy: Ah! Why pink?!
Dylan: (casually) because it's happy!

I wish that my son will continue to like whatever colours, for the simple reasons that they make him happy.

Our Newest A&E Experience

Ok, I'm guilty. Of being lazy. That's why this blog has been dead quiet for so long.

But the workload as an academic staff is more than I've imagined. Life as a lecturer and a mother and a wife and a daughter can be so overwhelming that I just want to crash on my bed every night.

I felt compelled to write this entry because of our experience last night. A scary one no doubt, but it sure has its element of fun as well.

At around 9pm last night, Tessa and Dylan were playing with their Daddy in the room. The room was all set for bed-time with mattresses laid out nicely. Daddy was almost ready to go home and I was just thinking that I can get the kids to drink milk and go to sleep.

I was lying in bed replying emails on my phone. Dylan apparently want to come and tell me something, he either lost his balance or tripped and knocked his nose on my elbow. The next thing I know, he was bawling, he turned around to face his Daddy and the Daddy gasped! Blood was flowing down furiously from his right nostril.

That sent the whole household into a frenzy. Tessa screamed at the sight of the blood and started crying because she was worried about "her baby". Daddy was trying to get help to stop the bleeding, but dozens of tissue papers didn't manage to soak up the blood. Blood was all over Dylan's clothes and on the floor and mattresses. He was hysterical (probably due to all the fuss) and was struggling against anyone wanting to touch his nose. Grandma and Grandpa were trying to calm him down, wanted to pat some water on his forehead and in the process, got him to lie down and blood was flowing into his mouth. It was a bloody, scary sight - blood in his nose and mouth.

As he would like allow anyone of us to examine his injuries, Daddy suggested that we better bring him to NUH A&E. And so we did.

I packed a new set of clothes, diaper, his health booklet, water bottle and off we go.

At the door, Dylan can still tell his Grandpa, "We don't take bus OK? We take Daddy's car."

He was all chatty and energetic on the journey to A&E while we prepared him that we are heading to the hospital where he will be examined by a doctor.

"Dr Chong?" he asked.
"No, another doctor, probably a pretty one," Grandpa assured him.

At NUH Children's A&E, I registered for Dylan and we sat down to wait for our turn to be called. He was somewhat cooperative when the nurse at the triage took his weight, pulse and blood pressure.

However, inside the doctor's room, he refused to let the lady doctor examine his nose or eyes; but was able to answer all questions directed at him all by himself.

Doctor: Dylan, where pain?
Dylan: Nose
Doctor: Point to me where is the pain.
Dylan: (pointing to his right nostril) Here
Doctor: How old are you?
Dylan: 2 years old
Doctor: Do you know where you are?
Dylan: Hospital

When the doctor walked off to fetch something, he exclaimed, "Where did the doctor go?"

The doctor tested his reflex and all seemed fine. To play safe, the doctor suggested doing an X-ray to make sure that he hasn't broken any bones in the nose.

The X-ray ordeal was that Dylan refused to keep still. The radiographer tried three times and had to finally pin his head and neck down. The experience was a traumatic one for the little boy.

Fortunately, X-ray showed no bones broken. The doctor declared that he is able to go home, but we may want to consider seeing the PD just to make sure that all is well with his frequent nose bleeding. Doctor advised that we monitor him through the night for fever, vomitting and/or clear discharge from his nose which would be indicative of a brain injury.

I was however not too worried about that as he did not fall and hurt his head.

Nevertheless, it was a sleepless night for me.

Luckily, the little one woke up in the morning, alert, lively and his usual self. All's well. :)

Another Happy Saturday!

Today at Shichida class, I pretended to make gyoza - Japanese dumpling. Mommy and I had fun doing it.

First, we need to fry the fillings, then we put the fillings to the skin.

Junior Master Chef at work

Satisfied with her masterpiece

As usual, after Shichida, we went home because Auntie will be here to clean our house.

In the evening, Daddy brought the whole family to Nex for dinner and some shopping.

We had dinner at Grandma's Kitchen

Silly face!

Scared face!

Look at us goofing around while waiting for our food to be served.

After dinner, we went around the mall where Mommy and Ah Mah bought themselves shoes. We also went grocery shopping at NTUC.

Every Saturday, although our day went through a rather similar routine each week, we always have a lot of fun as a family! I love Saturdays!

Coming Soon...

Sorry for the lack of updates. Mommy has been crazily overwhelmed at work.

July came and went. So did August when we celebrated Daddy and Dylan's birthday. Time flies and we are now coming to the end of September.

Activities coming up include:
- A family road trip to Port Dickson and Melaka next week
- Visit to Mommy's school on 5 October for the 'Bring Your Kids to Work' day
- Family trip to Bangkok over the Christmas period

Exciting right? OK, hopefully Mommy can find time to upload photos and blog about them. :)

Vivocity with the kids

We found some time to bring the kids to Vivocity for dinner and to grab new shoes for Tessa. In the end, the little girl also went home with a pretty new dress. She was elated.

It was really nice to find time after work to go out with the kids. Most of all, the kids had fun.

Dylan posing with the policeman standee

Tessa and her big cheese smile

Daddy & his babies

Both Mommy and Grandma were not feeling well, so Daddy took charge of us. He took us out to buy three more fishes for our fish tank and we also made a trip to the reservoir for some outdoor fresh air.

Mommy and Dylan at Shichida

I have always enjoyed Shichida lessons, and I bet Dylan does too. Just look at his cheeky face when he was in Shichida class with Mommy.

Trivia Quiz

Q: What will make the three kiddos wait impatiently but sit quietly in anticipation?



A: ICE CREAM!!!!!

Catch Fish!

I absolutely love this photo of Daddy and Dylan which was taken when they went on the school excursion to Pasir Ris Kids Kampong.

She's beautiful and she's my girl

Hubby took this beautiful photo of me and Tessa when we were at the National Museum.

For some reasons, Hubby loves to bring us to the National Museum. I choose to think that it was because it housed some of our very wonderful memories - like our wedding photo shoot.

It was amazing watching our little girl grows up day by day. It was simply gratifying looking at how beautiful, happy, cheerful and lively she is.

闹失踪

对不起，不是失踪了，只是妈妈我最近很忙。每天上课、下课、改作业、会议、报告…… 哪来的时间和闲情写博客。所以各位观众，不好意思，好久没有我们的消息。

我会尽量抽时间上载些照片的。

昨晚，难得和老公抽空一起去看了场演出。

《老九》是实践郭宝崑节的其中一部演出。2005年，《老九》首度改编为音乐剧，但实践这一次是推翻了首版《老九》音乐剧的版本，以全新的创作和阵容重新演绎郭宝崑最通俗易懂的作品之一。

老九，家中排行第九的独子。被家人寄以厚望的他，有机会问鼎一项极具声望的奖学金。就在即将迈向光辉前途的重要关头，他犹豫了。原来他想继续学习自己热爱而又濒临失传的传统木偶表演艺术。究竟老九会追求自己的理想，还是步上领取奖学金的光明大道？游走于理想与现实、传统与现代之间，他该作何抉择？

这部剧让我有共鸣。我曾经也背负着家人寄以厚望重重的担子，压在双肩的重担让我变得胆小、没有主见。现为人母，我才发觉到原来父母是无意让孩子背上承重的负担的。但是爱往往让人变得盲目、让你在有意无意间为孩子铺路，不管那是否是孩子所选择要走的路。

时时得警惕自己：不要因为爱、因为寄以厚望，而抹杀了孩子心里的老九。让孩子有足够的空间、勇气和决心去追逐梦想、实现愿望。让孩子有作选择的自由！

Learning the art of persuasion, negotiation and coercion

Every morning, Dylan will kick up a fuss when Granny wants to clean him up and dress him for school.

He simply hates to be sponge-bathed. You will find him and Granny engaging in a tug of war or worse a cat and mouse chase around the house.

This morning was no exception. He refused to be cleaned and was screaming and crying on top of his voice. To pacify him, I gave him a candy and he in turn agreed to be cleaned up for school.

Just before we are all dressed and ready to head out of the door, he pointed to my bag (where I kept my box of candies) and said, "Mommy, another candy then no more, OK?"

The Rock School

Thanks to Siao Mommy, Mommy and I had a great rock-climbing session today!

It was Mommy's birthday present actually, but I get to enjoy the privilege with Mommy =)!

Little Dylan also wants to try his hands on the rocks

Tessa: I want to reach to the blue caterpillar!

Mommy reaching all the way to the top!

Mommy had wanted me to do this because she believes it will teach me to focus and develop stronger character. She said that I should learn to persevere and not give up easily. I just would have to hang in there, move on and I will find myself going higher.

Well, but I was scared. I wanted to come down! I cried! I didn't understand that I would not fall if I let go of my hands until much later. I realized that the harness will help to ensure that I will get to the ground safely.

It was a tough sports - I still prefer scootering, cycling and the playground.

In any case, for those who would like to try their hands at rock-climbing, you can check out http://therockschool.sg/. This is a centre specially for kids and the trainers are all so friendly! They gave Dylan and me lollipop and chocolates.

Scuba diving!

Dylan's class did something very interesting today at Shichida.

They were given goggles to put on to pretend going scuba diving (though the wrong kind of mask).

The little boy did not dare to open his eyes after I put on his goggles. He was hilarious. But we had fun going round the room to touch and look at the various paper sea creatures teacher put up on the walls.