Browsed by
Author: Zhiwei

宝贝 a-messaging

宝贝 a-messaging

Comments 0 Comment

I wrote about 宝贝 learning words so that she could message all her friends (her friends’ parents, to be precise) and her favourite adults.

Well she has progressed to being able to carry a very simple conversation.

whatsapp messageNot the world’s top conversationalist, but adequate.  It’s actually pretty repetitive.  She can spell the high frequency words and she can guess the words from the question so if she can’t really spell the word, she copies the word from the question.  Or if she can’t remember the entire spelling of the whole word, she will hunt down the story book which has the word, just like one of our open book exams.  It’s really fun for her as she gets a response from the other party. She gets the kick out of it. So she’s Miss Eager Beaver for new words.  It’s better that she bugs me to teach her words, than for me to hound her to learn new words.

So far, her jiu jiu has been the most responsive person on whatsapp.  So he’s one of her favourite whatsapping friend right now!

As anti-gadget-for-children I am, it does make a very good learning tool when well utilised.

I’m visualising myself teaching her how to start a simple blog next year.  That should be quite fun. :)

(Disclaimer: the adult conversationalist has lousy grammar!)

Phone Dementia!!

Phone Dementia!!

Comments 0 Comment

It’s unbelievable. My phone has 56gb of memory space and it’s all gone. Yes! If the next iPhone has more than 56gb then I’m going to preorder it!!

Yes yes! Of course I back up my phone. So what did I use the mem for?? Photos. Lots and lots of then. 5000 over…

90% of the photos are of my 2 little ones. Hmmm… Although they are backed up but I still like to carry them around. I like to scroll through them and marvel at how they have grown over time. Call it a mom’s nostalgia.

And yes, I’m a hoarder. I’m one of those who keep Christmas cards sent to me by my secondary school friends… I hoard everything. Although nowadays I’ve been more ruthless in my housekeeping. But still, memories are precious.

So yes….apple, please release your next iPhone model with more memory space very very soon ok!!

Meanwhile I’m trying to do some form of housekeeping and use up my pictures that I’ve stored for blog posts so that I can free up space to continue to snap pictures for keepsake. They grow up so fast!!!

Miss Potato Head?!

Miss Potato Head?!

Comments 0 Comment

Struggling to put her swimming cap over her head. It slipped off for the 3rd consecutive time.
Me : (exasperated) why is your head so big today??
宝贝: I ate a lot of vegetables during lunch today. That’s why my head is so big.
Me : what does eating vegetables have to do with your head?!
宝贝 : all the vegetables went to my head. So it became bigger. I should eat less vegetables.

Is she trying to pull a fast one on me?!

Bimbo Stories

Bimbo Stories

Comments 0 Comment

A few months back… In sedentary September, 宝贝 had her 4th birthday.

Her classmate gave her a Barbie doll.

宝贝: Mama! Peter Paul gave me a Barbie!! I want to play with it now. (Now happened to be bedtime.)
Me : Nope, you play with it tomorrow. You must sleep now.
宝贝: But I love Barbie dolls!
Me : Why would you? You never had one. Besides, only BIMBOs play with Barbies. See!! Both start with B.
宝贝: What’s a BIMbo??
Me : A Bimbo is a silly Sally. Silly Sallys are giddy gaddies and they fall down all the time.
宝贝 : Ooh! I just fell down today! (Shows me a bruise on her knee) So I’m a silly Sally. And I’m a bimbo. Can I play with the Barbie doll now??

?

Today, we revisited the subject on Bimbos again.

宝贝: Mama, green is no longer my favourite colour.
Me : Oh really? So what’s your favourite colour now?
宝贝 : PINK!!
Me : Pink?! Yucks! Only bimbos like pink!!
宝贝 : But Sarah likes pink too! (Trying to convince me with herd mentality.)
Me : So?!
宝贝 : Mama, then why are you wearing pink?! You are a bimbo!!
Me : (looks down at my shirt. Darn! I’m wearing a dark pink Adidas polo shirt. I made a mental note to check my clothes before venturing into the bimbo topic in future.) Now look! This is a present from Uncle Ernest. It’ll be very rude to reject a present. So since I didn’t buy it, I’m not a Bimbo!!
宝贝 : (chanting) Bimbo Bimbo Bimbo!!

Damn!!! Pawned by a 4 year old. ?

What Happens when I’m Not Around

What Happens when I’m Not Around

Comments 0 Comment

Yes, this is a sequel to “Pretend that I’m not Around“.

He’s been sneaking off to do his weekly foot reflexology – that’s why he’s been coming home late from work. So he thinks I should indulge in it weekly too, and not once in a blue moon.

So, today he’s been prodding me to go as I have been up to my neck with everything and is developing a sore throat. Oh well, since he offered to mind the children while they sleep.

小小宝贝 has been having a runny nose and tearing eyes since yesterday. He must have caught the flu virus from somewhere. So he’s promised to take extra care of him.

Ok fine. With all that assurance, I hauled my old tired bones to the nearest foot reflexology joint. I practically “flew” back once it was done. It did help a lot but I just had this nagging thought that I needed to be home ASAP!!

Sure enough! As soon as I opened the front door, I could hear him bawling. I ran to my bedroom and there he was, sitting on my bed, bawling his heart out, crying “mama mama” eyes and nose red and wet. The dad? Lying on the bed, feebly patting him. Duh?! What the heck?!

“Why didn’t you carry him??!! What’s the use of patting him???”
“I did! He wouldn’t stop crying. He’s been crying for one hour.”
Omg! That meant that he started crying shortly after I left the house. I eyeballed his dad suspiciously. “Are you sure you carried him??”
“I did!” He protested.
I suspected that he merely patted him, trying to bore him back to sleep.

Once I carried him over, he stopped crying but because he’s been crying for so long, he was still sniffing and hiccuping. “Hallo! This is what I define as carrying!!! Ok!!” He soon fell asleep.

Sigh! Men!!! I will be going overseas in May for a week. I hope that this is not going to be a prequel to “what happens when I’m not in Singapore.” Sheesh!!

Lopsided Giraffe

Lopsided Giraffe

Comments 0 Comment

After I bought one of these PlayMais sponge handicraft thingy for one of her friends’ birthday present, she’s been bugging us for one practically everyday.

My parents caved in and bought her one for Christmas. We finally “open sesame” the box last weekend to start work on it.

It’s a very good craft for preschoolers, except for the exorbitant price.

Here’s what it looks like. They have it in various themes. Hers is a safari one, complete with boards and props for the final assembly. (If we ever get there… )

20140123-223307.jpg

It’s filled with colourful foams. You cut them up into shapes according to the instruction booklet. And stick them together with water. Easy peasy!!

20140123-223436.jpg

20140123-223600.jpg

Here’s 宝贝 trying to assemble her giraffe.

20140123-223653.jpg

The giraffe’s head and neck. The instruction booklet is in the background.

20140123-223824.jpg

The final product – a lopsided mutant giraffe. Fully produced by 宝贝, with minimal help from us. Not the handsomest giraffe but at least it’s standing on its 4 wobbly legs.

It took her the entire morning for this. No mean feat.

Gore Sells!

Gore Sells!

Comments 0 Comment

I was quite surprised to see the jump in viewership when I wrote about my brother’s hospitalisation.

Hmmm… The title??? The pictures??

Anyway, it’s just proven that gore sells! That’s why there are so many movies with gory scenes being made. *ka-ching*

Just a quick update on the leading man, he’s been discharged from the hospital this afternoon and is now recuperating at home.

He’s been banned from work for at least one month. Please report to me if he defies the work ban. Severe action will be taken against the offender.

A Gash in the Neck

A Gash in the Neck

Comments 0 Comment

It’s our family curse. I’ve hyperthyroid but it’s been under control for a decade. My brother has very serious thyroid disorder. He’s the unlucky chap.

His thyroid gland was so strong that the iodine treatment was unable to bring it under control. Thus he opted for surgery…

Here are the horror photos!

20140121-162927.jpg

20140121-162943.jpg

Here’s the close up. When I saw it, I just imagined if the gash had been on my neck, I couldn’t help feeling an imaginary pain there. It still has knotted thread ends on both sides. The tubes to drain the blood out of the wound are still attached through the 2 ends.

My skin simply crawls at the thought of foreign body in the body. Eeks!

20140121-163156.jpg

One of the containers to collect the blood from the wound.

Hope the wound heals soon or he’s going to be Mr Frankenstein. My heart simply goes out to him. He’s such a Mr. Nice Guy and yet so unlucky.

Get well soon little brother! ???

The Rolling Stone

The Rolling Stone

Comments 0 Comment

My baby is growing up. What a “morning call” he gave me this morning. ?

I was all bleary eyed this morning. So utterly tired from yesterday. I vaguely heard an “arh arh” from 小小宝贝 signaling that he’s up and WE were supposed to get up and play with him. I was simply too tired to move.

Suddenly I felt a heavy weight (all 9.5kg of him) wham into my ribs! I think I swore. Oops!! ?

小小宝贝 slammed himself into me, he’s probably given up using his voice to wake us up and not getting any response so he decided to be more pro active.

Then he rolled and rolled over to hub and I heard an “ooh” from beside me. Oh well! At least the “joy” was being shared.

So yes… He’s succeeded. He rolled and rolled some more in elation. Managed to catch him on photo…

Where did he learn how to roll like that?? Future gymnast in the making??

20140120-153528.jpg

Nudging me…

20140120-153559.jpg

20140120-153607.jpg

20140120-153613.jpg

20140120-153619.jpg

He rolled and rolled and rolled around.

20140120-153650.jpg

His smug look as he surveyed all the damage he caused. The little rascal!

Spelling time!

Spelling time!

Comments 0 Comment

Wow! It’s been some time since I’ve posted. And it’s been quite a while since I last sat down to do some revision with 宝贝. I’m the English oic and it’s all been very adhoc. As a result, her Chinese has improved by leaps and bounds, thanks to my Mom’s religious drilling everyday. But her English standard has fallen behind.

Although she’s not allowed to play with the phone but every night she’s allowed to send 2 whatsapp messages to anyone, on the condition that she spells the message herself. She’s been doing this since she turned 3. So she’s been building up her vocabulary. From single words to short sentences consisting of 3-4 words.

20140118-103610.jpg

She loves to message her Jiu Jiu (uncle). He’s by far the most responsive “messager”. Messaging her father is like watching the message disappear into a black hole. But she still messages him quite often, hoping for his once in a while reply.

Today we started on very adhoc spelling. (I’m not sure if I can keep up. ?)

20140118-104207.jpg