Wkend is here!!!

Ya guess the highlight for the wk is the WKEND!!! This morning, the sun was out so we headed to Botanical Gardens for bf and then went on for more fun at the Jacob Ballas Children's garden....since there is dry and wet play at the same time...so Ian had gd time digging the sand and exchanging the spades hahaa

Soon, the kids were asking for water fun since it was just nearby and they could hearing the water splashing sound....so there were many busy 'gardeners' and the plants nearby looked FLOODED! But the kids dun quite care huh....and busy getting water in the can and watering still....just having fun tho we were all under the scorching sun

Well it has been so long time ago since we visited this garden coz we recalled the last we came, Ian was still so small, he could only watch the water fun coz he could only crawl (est abt 9 mths old) and time flies, now when we visit the garden he's going ard on his own filling his own watering can.....at such time, just thank God for seeing him grow for these past many mths

An early bday card for Ian

Yup yest when we opened the letter box, was surprised there was a letter for Ian...well he's been receiving letters since birth (from MCYS, his PD etc) and last yr, he received his 1st bday card from Wyeth (tho we not consuming their milk powder, wonder where they got Ian's data) but this yr, the bday card sent was personalised with his name from Prudential....hhmm we bot his policy before he turned 1 but we din receive a card last yr...wonder issit coz we changed the agent anw, its an interesting card, coz the other side is a colourful chart with pics of things that Ian could learn to name them....wonder if such cards are according to age or generic but it seems appropriate for Ian now....anw this card serves a reminder for us to count down to his THE day =) and will keep all the bday cards for him to read when he's older (coz he most prob will crumple them now since he can't appreciate them as yet!!)

Ian's feeding the robot his biscuit??

last Sat we had SGM at our place and gave some Marie biscuits to Ian so that he could stay quiet during the discussion session, he went ard showing his biscuits to the aunties and uncles and they tried asking him for a pc of biscuit....hhmm he din give them but only to jiu2 and jiumu...guess he knew who he is familiar with huh....and when jiu-mu returned him the biscuit, he immed took it and ran to daddy....and kept it....

hhmm then yest, he started asking to replace the batteries of the robot which has been laying ard for some time and again he was munching his biscuits.....he chased after the robot and gave him a pat....and then started offering him the biscuit...was quite funny seeing how he asked the robot to 'mum-mum' and then laughing coz he realised the robot has no mouth to munch his biscuit...hhaaii sometimes its quite fun to see how innocent kids are...just as they are, no worries and its just play

Ian can't get enough of cake....

Last nite, we went 'shopping' for cake...daddy was just asking Ian which cake he prefers for his bday and he saw mama carry a bag out and he immed offered to carry the cake....he was hugging his cake so tightly in the car till he refused to let daddy buckle him properly....guess he knew what cake was and it meant ALOT to him....he peeped into the bag and gave a loud WAH....hahaa was so afraid he won't share the cake today with the small grp...hehee captured a shot of him with the banana cake....well a rehearsal for his bday I guess...maybe a BS banana cake will do for his 2nd bday huh ahhaaa

Taking the last jab??

Finally brought Ian to take the option Chicken Pox jab....guess it's been endless jab but after hearing the doc and seeing some medical review on the jab, guess the vaccine is better than having the pox which might even be deadly...guess my parents are less kia-si than us or maybe the vaccine wasn't available then but we went for it anyway

coz of the doc set given by Uncle Kenneth, Ian seems more aware of what the doc was doing....making him take his weight, checking him with his stethescope.....Ian has been with his toy and he knows what that is used for coz mama used it to demonstrate on him...so when the jab came up, he immed cried coz mama used the toy to poke him and say 'Ouch' so he knows its gonna be pain and true enough he cried when the doc jabbed on him hahaa....guess now that he's more aware of things tough to get him to take more jabs....no more jabs...for now, coz the other optional jab left is Hep A and we suppose we won't take that for him since Ian's not taking seafood yet so he can decide for himself when he's older...guess won't visit Dr Phang in any time soon...relief for Ian we suppose

A visit to Marina Barrage on V day

A much wanted to visit place coz been seeing quite a fair bit on tv and dayi recently told us its quite a cool place to hang out so decided to drop by the place to check out since we were near town and wanted to recce it as a venue for our own family gathering...so here's the kids wanting to capture a shot with the WALLY....

With the hazy weather, we still could take a pic of the flyer as a backdrop....quite a nice place for kids coz there's wet playground....tho not much things but guess kids are just happy with water splashing ard...well there is also kayaking...wondering if its safe for young kids like Ian...time to get more outdoor since the boy is growing....except he's not too keen to walk on his own so see his grouchy look in the pic after being make to walk some distance...well guess V day has not much romantic-sm after u have a kid...coz we can't go any romantic place coz of his 'noise' and 'mess' maybe we could resume to it when they grow up which is many many yrs later i guess

Ian's starting to enjoy reading time

Ian's starting to enjoy reading time....when he was merely few mths old, mama used to read to him baby books on bed (since he can't sit up then) and he was pretty amused with reading then...and we have been trying to inculcate reading in him but he would quickly flip the pages and then go off with the book...but for some mths, he's been taking the Baby Einstein pic book and pointing to each item in the pic and asking mama to say it to him and he would try to verbalise the word....

but recent wks, he has been more interested in books with words...a few days ago, he took a book and went up to daddy to sit on daddy's lap so that he could read the book together with daddy....quite a gd start coz it was a book on Daniel (borrowed from lib) and there was a page on Daniel praying and since then he would be quite keen to kneel and pray like Daniel...and often echoing 'amen' after his little prayer....so it would be a more rewarding trip every time we go to lib coz it means Ian's reading more and glad there are quite alot of books on bible characters avail in lib, just can't wait for more reading time with Ian

15th day of CNY....CNY is ending

Well these 2 weeks of CNY sure fly past fast....here we are eating yuan xiao already....and also ah mu's fam is back so today went over their place after Ian's nap coz yest he was asking for jie2 when we dropped by their place....the kids had some fun playing together and esp at playdoh as it was the 1st time Ian attempted on it...guess he was thrilled to see the 'rolling pin' and all the kneading done...he yet to master the cutting skill so some time more before he can appreciate playdoh

Then we went over ah maa and ah gong's home for yuan xiao dinner...all the grandchildren were gathered together (together with AL gu2's fam) and here are the kids playing on the mattress...so decided to gather them to take a shot....only the younger few were saying Cheese while the other ones had preference to stand next to who....well took some time before we could finally capture a shot...guess working with 7 kids not easy man....and the whole hse was filled with noise and most impt warmth =) guess much needed for CNY huh

Then the kids had a feast on haagen daz ice-cream...here's Ian sharing his 'feast' with joy jie2 and this is the only time we allowed him to indulge in this coz the other kids were at it too....well he really knew what is 'precious', he was holding on tightly to his cup and refusing to let go even when mama says 'No more' sigh....guess gotta go for less visits to ice cream feast now hhmm

And here marks the end of CNY....this has been a gd yr be it Ian's ang bao (guess we never received this much as a kid so how blessed are kids these days....or maybe we made more rounds this yr or more pple are getting hitched??? anw thanks for all your blessings on this little boy, he would most prob appreciate the red thingy next yr....now he only knows to pass the red packet to mama and sometimes even rejecting it coz of distracting other more fun play) guess gonna be a tough yr ahead for economy and also maybe at home...coz Ian's going to have his 2nd bday and dunno whether terrible 2 is on its way but guess with family's blessing, we will make it thru esp with God's guidance. So have a gd yr ahead, folks and greetings from the Iong family =)

Gone are the plain white bread days

Guess 1 yr is enough...Ian had been having plain white bread for more than a yr....except for wkends when we have bf outside....so for these past weeks he has been 'rejecting' white bread...initially he would say No and then take the whole bread bag and choose his own bread...only to take out the top of the bread loaf (with the most bread skin on it) coz he most prob think that's the most tasty part of bread coz it is BROWN rather than white hahaa...but recently he totally rejected the whole bread....so mama started giving some peanut butter on it and for exchange, he's fine with wholemeal bread...so kindof exchange some taste for a healthier loaf of bread sigh....wonder when he will reject his cold fresh milk which he has every bf...guess he won't reject that as yet coz he is always gulping it up before he has his bread =)

Ian is 23 mths old and....

for some time, he has managed to wear his own shoes...guess he 'practised' while at po2's home coz at our home, his shoes are kept in shoe rack so he can't reach...other reason was so that he won't bother mama abt going out coz guess the motivation for wearing his own shoes was he could wear them and go out walking....so he succeeded some wks back and he is most proud of it coz he would say No whenever we wanna wear his shoes and he would do it to show us he could do it...guess he's really growing up and soon in a mth's time he would be turning 2...now he understands the word Birthday and was surprised yest we were talking to dayi abt bday and there he was humming the song and pretended blowing the candles....hhmm Ian, soon u will be blowing candles on ur own bday cake huh...guess he can't wait coz he's doing it almost everyday now with the cake box in his play corner hahaa =p

Our yuan xiao with chng clan

coz of a busy wkend for everyone, we managed to squeeze out some time on Sun noon for yuan xiao tea...how cool at Dayi's hostel..here we are early at Oldham hall....po2 did say next time send Ian to this sch but mama wonder....hhmm not quite keen tho hehee

Here we are at dayi's room....hheee glad dayi availed her room so we could gather and have some fun and feast the yummy food =)

Here's the boy with dayi's BIG strawberry slippers....he has always been fascinated with wearing BIG shoes...we wonder why, issit coz of the thrill or envious of pple's BIG feet ehhee well he has yet to fall with them so he doesn't know what it is to wear bigger shoes

Here's the gang with the yusheng again hehee this time Ian joined in as well and he really dig in with a pair of chop sticks and imitated us by bringing it up real high haaa as if he knew what it meant but well he had fun but dirtied dayi's room...ooppss and ate his crispy crisy (huang jing)

here's the gang feasting on gd food from maxwell and dim sum from Thomson road's shop....just glad to gather ard and chat over food

while Ian had his endless fun with the BIG BLUE ball....he was asking all diff pple to play the ball with him coz he had the thrill of sitting, rolling and even bouncing on it...mama,dayi and daddy had too much play with him prior to the gang's arrival so....

jiu-mu was the next 'victim' hheee and Ian was actually humming his song as he was bouncing on the ball..hhmm guess he's the one enjoying while we perspire with the workout hhmmm

how could jiu2 escape from the workout?? hahaah join in the fun with the little nephew =)

Happy yuan xiao to everyone (esp to jiu mu who just got to know more abt yuan xiao hhee)

Ian was glad wkend was here

We always wonder if Ian knew if wkend was coming coz he is always up early on wkends to greet daddy....and he did on Sat....he was up before the sun was out and so we headed out real early...went to ECP for his sandplay....he was happy with his new playset and happily digging tho he attempted to take water from the sea with his pail but failed....well try again when u r older then...wanted to ride bike but he looked real tired so let him nap on the go for a while

and we woke him up quite easily with the swimming pool coz he hasn't been to one since we are back from Bintan....so here he was happy waddling ard the pool and with his watering can...it was quite scorching...glad we din get sunburn and glad we did all the outdoor in the morning as the sky turned dark after his nap..so we could only do indoor which is ma's fav....shopping hehee glad to spend fam time on a Sat!