East Coast Beach

29 Nov'2009

Just a couple of photos taken at the East Coast beach before heading for our dinner.

Eugene was very scared of the waves and does not like the feel of the sand on his feet. This is his first time to the beach.

Hubby and I was trying to encourage him to stand on the beach and feel the sea water but he was whining and wanted to be carried.

I was thinking why he's so scared. I suppose, as he's still small and short, the waves coming in to shore would seem enormous to him and the sound of the waves would seem very loud and scary. I must remind myself that I should see and think from his perspective.

Peking Duck

Update (May 2013) : Jade Room - seems that standard have dropped for Peking Duck dish. 
The sauce is overly salty and the wraps are now those supermarket bought egg wraps.


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28 Nov'2009


Happy Birthday Hubby!


Hubby's parents giving him a treat at the Jade Room, Royal Hotel.

The Peking Duck in this restaurant is really, really excellent - even better than the original Peking Duck in Beijing.

Of course, for Peking Duck, the most important part is the skin and the skin here is so ultra cripsy. And the next most important is the sauce that goes with it.

My mother-in-law likes hers with more meat instead of just the skin alone and I think it tastes better together with the meat.

The wrap is the flour type which I think is better as some restaurant serves it with the egg wrap which can be too filling and jerlak.

Order 1 day in advance.

The other restaurant which serves good Peking Duck is the chinese restaurant at the Raffles Town Club.

Sorry, no photo of the Peking Duck, we devoured it real fast!

(see bottom for comparison)

















Eugene looking at the fish pond with many big koi in it.



Let me put down the differences (according to my own opinion) :

Jade Room (Royal Hotel) :
Very crispy skin *****
Flour wrap *****
Nice sauce ****

Raffles Town Club :
Skin ****
Egg wrap ****
Great sauce *****

Quan Ju De (Beijing) :
Skin ****
Flour wrap ***
Sauce * overly salty
The presentation is very nice. Each person is presented with their own sauce and the spring onions in a tray.


You definitely don't have to go to Beijing to get great tasting Peking Duck !
*
*

ACM - The Philippines and Its People

27 Nov'2009


Hubby wanted to visit the ACM for one of it's special exhibition which is the 'Land of the Morning, The Philippines and its People'


Took some photos before we were being told that it was not allowed :(

Photo taking are only allowed for the permanent exhibits.





There was a statue of the Virgin Mary carrying Baby Jesus, wow, absolutely beautiful. It is a centerpiece surrounded by candles and flowers - looks surreal.
I thought I could sneak and take a pic but unfortunately the security guard was lurking around and eyeing me.





Clowning around with a cut-out. The cut-out's proportion and the skin-colour was all wrong.
Body too big - the Philipinas are generally petite, so I wonder why this cut-out's so big.




The Asia Gallery





Pics of Asian jewellery which I was more interested in viewing.






























Another one of my feather head-bands which I made.
This is the Peacock feathers.

French Toast? Oui !

22 Nov'2009


Eugene enjoying his french toast made by Daddy.



Digging in with his fork









har-m...... delicious...









Eugene, smile, smile! Yes, I AM smiling.
This is Eugene's version of his smile. Now, when you want to take his picture and ask him to smile, this is what you get. Looks more like a grimace.



Think I'll use my hands now! It's much faster!

Dry Swimming

20 Nov'2009


Eugene swimming on dry land, ha ha. He's definitely not as confident in the water though.

HFMD - Oh Boy!

16 Nov'2009


Poor Eugene. He got the HFMD (Hand, Foot, Mouth Disease).

Everybody's asking where he kena it from since he has not attend any playgroup yet.

Incubation period is between 3-7 days and I'm guessing that he got it from (a) Gymboree (b) Toa Payoh Storytelling session (c)when we were at JB, he was near some kids who were playing or (d) when going out, always have some older toddlers coming to see and touch him.



Info about HFMD from the web :

Typical symptoms include ulcers in a child's mouth (especially his tongue, gums, and inside of the cheeks), blisters on his hands and feet (palms and soles) and a low grade fever. Other symptoms can include a rash on the child's buttocks and mild pain from the mouth ulcers.

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease is usually caused by the coxsackievirus A16 virus and goes away without treatment, although symptomatic treatments to control pain can be helpful. Important complications to look for include dehydration, especially if your child has painful mouth ulcers and is not eating and drinking well.

Back of lower leg




Wah, that's a big blister.




He started getting cranky on Saturday and then had a mild grade fever - we thought he was teething. Indeed, he's got a front tooth coming out.

Then he got rashes on his buttock - we thought it was nappy rash, though this was the first time it happened.

Then, on Monday, while going out to get some stuff, I noticed some small red pin-prick spots and blisters on the sole of his feet and a spot on his finger. Hmm.... strange....... then, more spots on his lower legs.

I called hubby and he said it's most probably heatiness and it's heat rash. But my intuition tells me otherwise.

Then while eating my lunch, it suddenly dawned on me that it could be HFMD. He got it on his hand and feet already and I quickly went to check his mouth. Nothing around his mouth but he got 2 very small like blisters on his lower lips. I tried to see his upper lips and inside his mouth but Eugene clamed up tight as clam.

Hubby rushed home and my Pa-in-law, who's a skin specialist came over to look at Eugene and confirmed that it is HFMD.

Poor Boy, he was tired and restless and whiny and refused to eat and drink. It must be painful for him to eat and drink because of the oral ulcers. We were so afraid that he will be dehydrated that we actually had to hold him down and syringe milk into his mouth. No choice lah - more problem if he is dehydrated.

We got a numbing lotion from a doctor to put on his mouth ulcers and it helped! He started eating soft food and drinking his milk.

Luckily his is a mild case. His blisters are slowly drying up and crusting. And he's got his appetite back! What a relief!

He's generally back to his old self - one sure sign is that he's back to putting stuff into his mouth to taste which means no more oral ulcers.

Hubby and I try to look on the positive side of things. When he goes to playgroup next year, at least he'll be immune unless it's another strain of virus.

(see what happens later)

We Are Energy Beings

Another confirmation that we are all 'energy'.

We are of the Universe, it's our logical left brain that is telling us that we are a separate entity.

How to shut out the left brain? I believe meditation can achieve that. Meditation is able to shut out the outside world, and you will be more 'aware'.

Note : my own personal opinion

Oleh, Oleh, Oleh, Oleh...

14 Nov'2009

Eugene kicking his beach ball. His motor skill is getting better.

Hand In Hand Beijing Restaurant

14 Nov'2009

Some time ago, we came across this restaurant. They have the 小笼汤包 (mini steam buns with soup inside the buns) and decided we will come back one day to try.

And today is the day.


小笼汤包 (mini steam buns with soup inside the buns) : $6.80

The buns were nice but I feel that it was not as flavourful as the ones at Crystal Jade.
I guess my expectation was high as this is one of their signature dish.




Yangzhou Fried Rice : $5.50
Don't let the look deceive you. Looks rather plain but it was very delicious!





This veggie egg dish was a disappointment. The stock was rather bland. $9.80




This noodle dish, Zhar-jian La Mien was very robust : $5.80





My favourite dish - thinly sliced pork in spicy garlic (plenty of garlic!) : $4.40
Absolutely siok!



Food was pretty good and the price was so reasonable. Service was fast, polite and attentive.

My total for all the above dishes, including tea, wet towels and a dish of peanut comes to : $36.90. There are no GST and No Service Charge.

If this had been Crystal Jade, it would have come up to about $70 or more.


Hand In Hand Beijing Restaurant
141-143, Jalan Besar
6297-1398

Story-Telling Time @ Toa Payoh Library

09 Nov'2009


I had registered Eugene for a story-telling session at the Toa Payoh library.


Did my boy sit down like the rest with their parents and listen? Nooooo.......
Eugene was walking around all over the place and even went right up to the person telling stories.
A girl saw him walking around and decided to do the same too.




Singing session :
Itsy, bitsy spider (again)
and a song about a bus whose wheels go round and round and the bell goes tink, tink, tink.
As usual, all the rest of the parents were singing along except hubby and me *blank face*

And surprise, surprise, I thought Eugene was not paying attention to the singing as he was walking all over the place but he remembered Itsy, Bitsy Spider. I was singing it to him the next day (just the tune) and he did the finger-effect that goes with the singing of this song. Bravo Boy - your multi-tasking very good leh.



Eugene talking with one of the mothers there. He is very interactive and definitely not a shy boy.








Eugene likes looking at books. When he went into the hall, he immediately headed for the books that were displayed along the wall and started looking through them.

But he has got short attention span. He will flip through a book and will be engrossed for awhile before he turns his attention to another book and another. It's like he afraid that he will miss out on all the books - er... kiasuism in the making?

I will definitely be signing him up for more of this type of sessions.

Gymboree - Play, Play

08 Nov'2009

Eugene is getting so active and also I guess, a bit lonely and so we thought we could kill 2 birds with a stone - bring him to Gymboree where he could climb the various equipments and interact or get used being with other kids.


Eugene certainly needs no prodding. He went straight away to climb








Eugene had snatched a toy from another kid and we told him that he cannot do that, he gave the toy back to that kid. Good boy.

Have told Eugene to be gentle too. I think he was trying to be friendly and he was trying to touch another kid's face and was quite heavy-handed - I quickly took Eugene's hand and showed him how to stroke the face gently.

Where did this snatching and heavy-handedness come from? Instinctive self-preservation? I guess partly is also due to the fact that the older boys bully him when he goes to the play-ground at our block and also by watching what the older boys do, like playing rough and grabbing things from each other.






That's the boy that Eugene snatched the toy from but Eugene gave it back after we told him to.



All the kids were to roll this long bolster. Eugene was playing elsewhere and wasn't happy about being 'forced' to roll it - he started crying!



Time for nursery rhymes.



Eugene sitting like a good boy - hah, don't let these pictures fool you!

He started standing up and refused to join in.



Now let's sing 'Itsy, Bitsy Spider'...... ( with hand effects and all)

Hubby looked at me : har?
I looked at hubby : har?
Eugene looked at us : har?

I do play kiddie music for Eugene to listen. But I didn't teach him any nursery rhymes except for 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Stars'.

Hubby and I play mostly Michael Jackson and Jazz music which he loves.


I can dance to MJ's songs and swing to Jazz...






Eugene is able to play on his own at home and so maybe he likes to explore and do things on his own.

When he have to sit down with everybody and follow what everybody is doing, he didn't like it at all.

He was crying when he was made to sit quietly with all the other children and only stopped when he was on his own and doing his own exploration.

All of the other children (except another kid) were all so 'kuai, kuai', goody-goody and hardly any noise. Eugene was the loudnest and most opinionated.


There was a moment when the teacher brought out a box of toys. The teacher told the children to put their fingers into the hole of the lid to lift up the lid.

The kids went to the box and just touched the lid. Eugene went straight up to the box, put his finger in the hole, lift up the box and started rummaging through the toys and picked the ones he likes.

"Too slow, too bad" (Eugene must be thinking). Eugene was hanging onto 2 toys, I have to tell him that he can only have 1 so that the other children can have a toy too. He put 1 toy back into the bin.


I think it is good to expose him to such environment where he can learn to share and be gentle and to interact with other kids.

Like for situations like above, we can immediately rectify his behaviour and explain to him what and why it is wrong or right, which luckily he do listen.

We are going to try to put him in a play-school when he turns 18 months next year, most probably AppleTree 'cos there's one near my block and also they accept 18 months old.

Then when he turns 2 years, we'll switch him to Montessori. There's a Montessori near my block too and I think it's better because the class will be smaller and the teacher can give the kids more individual attention.

I'm just hoping that he will be able to sit down together with the rest of the children and concentrate.