Happy 18 Months JD!

My baby girl is growing up. This is happening so fast that it seems even I'm having a tough time facing reality.

It's like all of a sudden JD is 18 months and all independent. She feeds herself, she walks off on her own without giving 2 hoots about us. She dictates what she wants to do and what she doesn't. She decides which bedtime story I should tell. She indicates when she wants a diaper change. She will happily say bye to me when she sees a play area with toys. It's hard to believe that this is the same baby who was so difficult to handle & pacify since day 1.

It's also during this past month that I slowly see her character emerging. I'm not sure if this will further change as she grows older but at this point, I see her as a potential victim of bully, unfortunately. I've let her play with other toddlers around her age, +/- 2 months. She's got the other toddlers pushing her, pinching her & stepping on her feet. The best or (worst) part is she doesn't retaliate. She just stands there & screams & does her famous "no no" gestures. To me, what's the point, the damage has already been done. In such scenarios, better to be a bully than be bullied? I've gotta teach this girl to defend herself. All along I have always been reminding her that she cannot snatch toys, cannot hit people but it seems that other parents do not share the same values or rather they don't seem to think it's anything wrong, as to them they are after all, kids. But to me, if you don't start teaching them now, then when?

In any case I will probably have to deal with this in about 9 months time, when she goes to Pre-Nursery. In 2011, she will turn 3.. THREE!! And it's time for her to enter school. Sobz. Wake me up!

Meanwhile, she has taken a strong interest in play cooking. Thanks to Aunty Gin's little cooking set, Ah Ma's pots & pans can now make their way back to the cupboard and no more loose uncooked macaroni on the floor..

Jd's CNY story

This is JD's 2nd year celebrating CNY and it's really a vast difference compared to last year's celebration. Last year she was a moody, bawling baby. This year she was able to interact with her aunties & uncles. She walks around and greets them with her clenched fists of gong xi gong xi, she stretches her hand out for her ang pows and she laughs along with them, though she doesn't understand what the joke's about. She's a beautiful 17 month baby and I'm loving her more & more each day.

A tiger appeared in front of Ah Seng

The tiger wanted to pounce on Ah Seng

Ah Seng was very scared

But Ah Seng decided to be brave & tried to smack the tiger

And told the tiger "go away!!"

Did you like my story?

photos courtesy of kerk sheen :)

Money makes a difference

An old friend just asked me again to join his group as an insurance agent. My answer after 8 years remains the same, NO.

Other close friends used to persuade me to be one, with my back door knowledge about insurance, they have confidence that I will really sell them products that are most suitable for them. Afterall, before they buy any insurance now they will ask me for my opinion before signing on the dotted line.

But therein lies a difference. I tell them my frank view of their impending purchases, simply because I'm not getting any commission from the sale. Good or bad I speak my mind. Once money comes into the picture, it's a totally new ball game altogether. My views will be skewed as my focus is no longer for the good of them but for the good of myself. I do not believe that you can sell something for the good of both parties. There's no way you can be 100% honest & still make tons of money. The world's just not that perfect.

I envy those with the gift of gab. Sometimes I wished I had that, that I can speak positively without batting an eyelid. I have tried but I just cannot. I'm not the kind of person who can go on & on raving about a product I'm promoting and convincing people to dump their ideas & buy mine. It's a pity sometimes as this means I lose out in many areas. To me, it's simply a case of I tell you the facts, whether you believe or not, that's your own call. Rather boring yeah.

Similarly, I love matchmaking people. Out of the 3 couples I matched made, 2 are now happily married with children, 1 should be walking down the aisle anytime soon. I love preparing for weddings. I enjoyed mine. I enjoy helping my friends with theirs, to choosing their gowns or venue research or actual day arrangements. But to start a matchmaking or wedding planning business is out of the question as when that happens, a very thin line between true happiness & the bottomline will be drawn.

For the above same reasons, I think I now understand why it's so difficult finding a good childcare centre for JD come 2011. Many of these places are now operating via a franchise. It is not a surprise that these owners put their own interests before the children's. I don't blame them, after all they need to make a living too. Just that it's quite sad to see the quality degenerating. During my visits to the school, the director / principal will try to show their passion for the children by addressing each of them by their names but ask them about curriculum, they become evasive & try to generalise & talk through their noses. They attempt to justify their high fees with specially tailored programs but what's the use of these programs if they do not know how to carry it out or if their teachers are so passive!

Back to the original intent of this post, my direction is pretty clear. Whilst this means that I probably need to contend being a salaried worker for the rest of my life, I can go to bed each night without any prick of conscience that I'm not doing enough to warrant my worth.

Medicine with Ice Cream :)

JD has been coughing for about 3 weeks, started out both day and night and now she only coughs at night. After 2 visits to the GP who managed to cure her persistent day cough, I finally went back to Dr Cheng who diagnosed her as sensitive nose aka mild asthma.

Amongst the new set of medication prescribed was this called Singulair Granules. And because this powder medicine is to be taken with cold food, yoghurt or ice cream recommended, feeding JD medicine has never been this easy! Even Dw was annoyed when I wanted to take over this task from him. It is not easy feeding JD medicine, we always have to resort to trickery & distraction to force the concoction down her throat and usually only Ah Ma and myself are able to handle it. This time round, it's a breeze so Dw has volunteered to continue this job for the next 2 weeks.

Ah Ma is skeptical as we Asians believe that cold food is a no no for children. I guess we'll just have to let this medicine run its 2 weeks course then we'll know. In any case at $3.50 per dose, it had better work!

Our culture

I was watching the Noose last night. Admittedly, this is really a slack, no brainer show, yet I enjoy watching it as it touches on issues that are close to my heart. It allows me the opportunity to see my actions from a 3rd party's perspective.

A topic which came up last night & really irked me was the one on using tissue paper packets to "chope" seats. Not that I think this is a really glamorous method of reserving seats, yet I see this as an innovative and witty reaction to our short lunch hours and overcrowded food centres. I won't be surprised that even Neil Humphreys agrees. How else can we ensure that we can buy our food, consume it and make it back to office within the hour? We do not have the luxury like the French to have a 2 hour lunch break nor the luxury of space / cool weather to laze on the grass by the river munching a sandwich and smooching in public.

So damn that woman whom the Noose team interviewed at Amoy Food Centre and who commented that this is really disgraceful and she was concerned about how foreigners would perceive us. Seriously, who gives a damn about the foreigners. They can leave and go back to where they came from if they do not like what they see here. Hadn't she thought about how the phase "In Rome, do as the Romans do" came about. I welcome foreigners to my country but I do not expect them to come with the notion that they can wipe out my culture and take over my land. I'm grateful for Sir Stamford Raffles's & William Farquhar's help in helping develop Singapore into a trading hub. But since then, it was through our forefathers' hard work & efforts that allowed us to come so far.

It's such an irony that these "superior white men" are now lobbying for a greener world and human rights when it was them who originally destroyed the world with their inventions and slavery. Now that they have made it big, they turn around and accuse the less developed or 3rd world countries of trying to prosper without doing enough to preserve our earth. They turn around and point fingers at us for not being democratic and not allowing freedom of speech.

Well, thank you for your efforts but I appreciate the fact that I can wake up each morning, not having to worry if the trains & buses will be in operation to fetch me to work. I can book a holiday with SIA without having to fear that my flight will be cancelled because workers decided to go on strike. I can live without the demonstrations and the violence. I pay a price by having the government dictate certain aspects of my life but it's a small price and I choose safety over full democracy.

The world is moving and we cannot let time stand still. With increasing globalisation, we cannot just live for ourselves without the interference of our "friendly", "caring" neighbours, no matter how far, how near, how small, how big they are. Yet, I seek that they will understand that each country has its culture and it's important that their people learn to assimilate into each culture when they're visiting rather than attempt to change a unique way of life.

So I say, if the tissue "choping" works for us, let's bring it on. We're 45 years old this year, it's time for us to have our own identity!

PS: You're welcomed to have your own opinion on this method of "choping" seats. I recognise that this is a controversial topic with it's fair share of fans & critics.

Our visit to RWS

1. My 1st impression of RWS was, aiyoh, looks like a M'sia shopping centre.
2. As I ventured further, aiyoh, looks like Genting.
3. As I took the escalator down to the Casino, I was like, wah, like a nightclub.
4. I am looking forward to visiting Universal Studios though it's gonna be a long while before I can enjoy the rides with JD.
5. I dunno if I will pay $100 to enter the casino. I'm still hoping that some promotions will come up like those with xxx credit card gets $100 back in form of chips or sorts.
6. I'm still not impressed with Victoria Secrets. I won't pay $56 for that lousy piece of T shirt.
7. Car park rates should really be revised - lower. I scrammed before I hit the 2nd hour.
8. I'm proud that we finally have a world class resort in Singapore. Really la. As much as there are people bitching about it paling in comparison to Excalibur or Circus Circus, I'm sure there are just as many or even more people who feel good about our achievements.