Botanical Gardens - ACS Episode

Every month Eugene goes for his baby injections and check-up at Gleneagles. Hubby will park the car at the Botanical Gardens carpark cos it's much, much cheaper.

After Eugene's visit to the doctor, we will usually have lunch at the Botanical Gardens food-court.



It was so bright and sunny. Eugene hates the glare.
Here's Eugene wearing hubby's sunglasses. We really should get a pair of sunglasses for Eugene but the ones I've seen are really too, er... colourful and too many patterns on it.

Just outside the food-court.

 

The malay food at the food-court is rather good. I was craving for mee-soto and ordered a bowl of it. Mmm...... looks so delicious.

Happily, I carried my bowl of mee-soto and hurried to my seat. Then an old uncle was smiling at Eugene and Eugene as usual will smile back. 

Ooohh, mee-soto, come to mama! As I was about to sink my teeth into it ..........

"How old is your son?" - I put down my fork and spoon.

"He's 18 months old" - I pick up my fork and spoon

"Oh, I'm here with my friends. All of us are around 80 years old. We are from ACS. My children are all grown-up already and in fact my oldest grand-child is 19 years old!" 

 - me smiling and eyeing my mee-soto at the same time - so near yet so far...... stomach really growling by now cos I did not and do not take breakfast.

Hubby then came back to the table with his food, old uncle said hello and went back to his table and I happily tucked into my mee-soto.

When we were about to leave, I asked Eugene to go to that old uncle and say good-bye.

First, I want to know if Eugene can understand what I was saying.

Second, I want to see if he can remember which uncle spoke to him.

Third, I just thought it would be a nice gesture.

Now, that old uncle was with about 10 of his friends and all of them were seated along a long table. Will Eugene be able to pick out that particular uncle?

Eugene turned around and walked past some old uncles (does he know?) and yes! he stopped at the side of that uncle who had spoken to him earlier and waved bye-bye - Bravo!!!

 

 My baby..... I love him so much......

"OM" is the word

Eugene will be having his baptism soon.

Daddy and son will be Catholic and mommy is Buddhist.

But if Eugene, when he's all grown up and wants to embrace another faith, we will not object.

Lately, I've been doing meditation with Eugene. No lah, not the deep kind of meditation. I will hold Eugene's hand and go "ooommmm" 3 times only, short and sweet and that boy actually sat with me and with his hand in mine, goes "mmmmmm" (he does not know how to do the "O" sound) together with me.

And...... he likes to clank on my Tibetan singing bowl.

Candid Shot

A really lovely candid shot of Eugene from SY.

Baby Watching

Illustrated BabyWatching by Desmond Morris



My lovely neighbour gave me this book before we adopted Eugene. It is about the first twelve months of a baby.

I find it an absolutely compelling and fascinating read and I would like to share some of the interesting topics with you.

Obviously, I won't be putting all the chapters in my blog (it's a thick book!) - only the topics that I find fascinating. And within the topic itself, I will extract the interesting parts.

This is definitely a 'must-have' book for would-be moms and dads. Get your copy to read the full contents.

Watch out for the first topic " Why do babies cry when they are born?"

Jacob Ballas Childrens' Garden @ Singapore Botanic Gardens

2 Jan'2010


A great place for kids to explore.


We were there around 5-6pm. Note that this place closes at 7pm and last admission is at 6.30pm.


At "The magic of photosynthesis"



Older kid showing Eugene how to do it.



The Cave








At the suspension bridge. I was a little scared - very wobbly you know.









Definitely will be going back especially for the water-play area - I'm sure Eugene will love it.

For me, hmm.... maybe I'll do the Maze, reminds me of the maze in Harry Potter.


Jacob Ballas Childrens' Garden (click for link)

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Marutama Ra-men

23 Jan'2010


The best ramen that I had ever had was at the old Orchard Point. This young man cooked his own 'char-siew'. Gosh, the 'char-siew' was so heavenly, so melt-in-your mouth and the broth was so shiok (delicious) too.

SY and I used to patronise this small stall and when we order our ramen, we will order an extra plate of the 'char-siew'. Once we even ordered the whole roll of 'char-siew' (not slices, it was the whole roll) - SY and I each took half a roll to bring home.

When we went back again for our ramen fix - the stall was gone! Boo hoo hoo!


Somebody recommended this ramen restaurant : Marutama Ra-men


I ordered the pork-belly ramen while hubby ordered the char-siew ramen.


This was my pork-belly ramen with additional pork-belly.



Dashimaki Tamago - Japanese egg omelette.



Ok, I shouldn't compare it to the ramen at the old Orchard Point but this comes pretty close.

The broth was very rich and delicious and the noodles springy. Unusual thing is that their broth's base is chicken instead of pork. Yummy, yummy, yummy.

The only complaint I have is that the ramen comes with only 1 slice of meat. Can you imagine having the 'char-siew' ramen and you only have 1 slice of 'char-siew - ya, I repeat, there's only 1 slice! Unbelieveable!

So you are kind of like, no choice lah but to order an extra plate of the 'char-siew'. The extra plate of meat will not come to you as a side plate, the meat will be placed into your bowl of noodles.

Water's free and there're fried garlic to put into your bowl of ramen.


The breakdown :

Ramen : $12.00 each (with only 1 slice of meat ), so have to order extras

1 plate Char-Siew : $4.00 (think there were about 4 slices, it was placed together with that miserable 1 piece of char-siew in the ramen bowl)

1 plate Kakuni (pork-belly) : $5.00 (don't know how many pieces as it was so soft that it broke into smaller pieces)

1 plate Dashimaki Tamago (Egg Omelette) : $8.00
There were 6 pieces. It was nice but I thought rather expensive at that price. But no choice, cos this dish was primarily for Eugene.

Total plus GST and Service Charge : $48.25


MARUTAMA RA-MEN
CENTRAL
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
#03-90/91 The Central
Tel : 6534-8090








Strolling outside CENTRAL.

A for APPLE

18 Jan'2010

Eugene being taught his very first alphabet in his playgroup.


The teacher had stuck an apple seed on the apple drawing below but Eugene pluck it out and almost ate it ...... ha ha......







Sounds like 'pur-pur' - at least he got his 'p' tone right - great effort for an 18 month old kid, don't you think ?



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Halal - Tang Tea House Hong Kong Cafe

09 Jan'2010

A gathering to celebrate my dad's birthday.

Since my brother and family are Muslim, we have to dine in a Halal restaurant. And since my mom does not know or want to try other type of cuisine except Chinese, we have to find a Chinese Halal restaurant.

We used to dine at 'Restu' before they closed and re-opened in another place - will try 'Restu' again one of this days.

My brother suggested 'Tang Tea House Hong Kong Cafe' :


Bro and wife looking at the menu. Cheeky youngest nephew posing and as usual 2nd eldest nephew playing games.






Tuck in! Fried rice, black-pepper crabs, Tom-yam soup, steam fish ala HK style, sweet sour chicken, kang-kong belachan, tim-sum....







Happy Birthday PA !
My dad is a really responsible father. He really took care of the family. He does not say much (typical chinese father) like 'love you, miss you, how are you' but he expresses it in action.

During my childhood, I can remember that my dad will always bring me out especially to watch movies. I think I've watched all the 007 James Bond movies starring Sean Connery and I think countless times of 'Sound of Music'.

Dad taught me how to sing too! Ya, the oldies but goodies.

Even when I left school and have to venture out to the adult world to work, my father will accompany me on my interviews, he will usually wait outside the office (ya, daddy's girl).

He was the one who enrolled me for typing classes and who also encouraged me to step beyond Singapore and to see the world.

I did.

I got a job and did a short stint in Italy and when I came back to Singapore, I found work at the airport mainly for the freebies like the free air tickets and then later in an airline where I got free tickets too.

Yes, I travelled to a lot of places and you know what, there's no place like home.




Ok, now some comments on this halal cafe.

The food is good.....because the chefs are all Chinese.

The dim-sum chefs are from China. The har-gow and siew-mai were yummy but the siow-long-paus were not too great. The siow-long-paus' skin was too thick.

Overall, the food is good and the price is decent.


Tang Tea House Hong Kong Cafe (in front of the Thai Temple, Simpang Bedok)
375 Bedok Road
Tel : 6445-9100

Edufarm StarTots Play-Group Day 4

07 Jan'2010


Today is the day when Eugene will be in the class without me being with him.

I brought him into the class and as usual he had trotted over to play with some toys.

There was an older boy next to him and Eugene picked up a toy and gave it to him. The older boy didn't respond at first, but Eugene still hold out the toy for him until the older boy took it. Now, that's nice isn't it?

Before I left, I told Eugene that he will stay in the class and play with his friends and teacher and that I will fetch him after class. He nodded his head (he understand or not, I do not know) and I said Bye and I left.

I went to Central to run some errand. After my errand, I decided to pass by the class to see how Eugene is coping. I peered through the window and saw him sitting and doing some colouring with the crayons. Seemed to be okay.

Day 1 
Day 2
So Angry
con't So Angry

Edufarm StarTots Play-Group Day 2

05 Jan'2010



Aargh..... that red uniform......ok enough said.

I bought for him a Thomas Train backpack. Have to bring water-bottle, snacks, extra diaper and wet-wipes.

Don't he look cute even in that err..... uniform - why so red huh? Chinese New Year is it? ha ha....




Teacher carrying a crying boy and holding Eugene's hand and trying to get the kids to 'follow the leader' but as you can see, nobody's paying any attention. This teacher quit soon after.




Another crying kid, her grand-ma have to sit like this with her until class ended.
Eugene enjoying himself playing with the balloon.



2nd day seemed to be a disaster.

The kids that did not cry on the 1st day started crying. So you can imagine the mayhem.
The teacher and the assistant had their hands full with a crying kid each.

I think there are about 14-16 kids (max is 16 kids) with only a teacher and an assistance to manage all the kids.

I personally feel that 2 persons will have difficulty getting the kids under control. If the kids are older, yes, but at this age group of between 18months to 3 years old, it is tough.
They are still not independent and needs help in getting most things done and yet at the same time, they are dextrous enough to try to do stuff and you really have to keep an eye on them.

I think most of the kids are about 2 years plus. Eugene is most probably the youngest.


The only thing I find that they can improve on is the toilet. The toilet is clean but the toilet is catered to adults. The toilet seat is a adult toilet seat.

When it was 'wee wee' time, the teacher have to carry the kids up onto the toilet seat and hold onto them as the toilet bowl is big. The gals get to sit down, the boys have to learn to wee standing up.

Huh? the boys are all short, cannot reach up to the bowl, how to wee into the bowl? A kind of step-seat was given to Eugene to stand on but he is still too short to aim into the bowl. In the end, the teacher have to hold him on her arms.


Poor teacher. She is really trying her best. I guess the crying and clingy kids will settle down after a few days.

There were a couple of mothers who apparently were not happy about the situation and the teacher apologised about it (wah, one particular mommy's face was black like Justice Pao).

Aiyoh mommies, first few days is like this mah, why get so uptight about it. Kids at this age will have separation anxieties. Of cos, as a mother, one will get upset and stressed if our kid's crying, I would be too. But don't be upset with the teacher lah. It's not her fault that the children's crying and she is trying to deal with the situation as best as she could.

As for the teacher and assistant. I hope that they do not get too stressed over it. As professionals, they should know that crying kids are part and parcel of it.

Eugene so far have not cried but then, I was in the class with him. Let's see how he does on Day 4 when parents will not be allowed into the class anymore. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Day 1
Day 4
So Angry
con't So Angry

Edufarm StarTots Play-Group Day 1

04 Jan'2010


I have been vexing whether to send Eugene to a playgroup at such a young age. But he seemed to be quite bored at home with no other kids to play with. Poor thing hor.

So I have enrolled him for Edufarm Star Tots Playgroup. This is the only play-group near my home that accepts kids from 18months.

Was Eugene scared, shy, clingy or crying? NO... he immediately went over to the table and joined the rest of the kids.

Those kids already wearing uniforms are not first-timers. This playgroup caters to kids from 18months to 3 years old, so I guess the kids will repeat the term till they are 3.

Eugene feeling rather at home.















The 1st teacher at the playgroup. She quit soon after.









Parents were allowed to sit in with their kids but only for 3 days.

I will be pulling Eugene out when he turns 2 and will be registering him for Montessori Playgroup (accepts only from 2 years onwards). It is also near my place. It's 3 times a week with one of the days being a Mandarin session.

I think going on a daily basis is too much lah.

Day 2
Day 4
So Angry
con't So Angry

How much is that Doggie in the window ?

02 Jan'2010


M just adopted a big Labrador dog and all of us troop down to M's place to see the doggie.


Look Eugene, dog dog..



Eugene went up to pat the dog, he was not scared until.......
the dog suddenly sticked out her tongue and licked Eugene's face.

Eugene got a shock and then refused to go near the dog again.

We had to slowly coax him to pat the dog.



R asking Eugene to pat the dog.



Hmm..... let me take a look at her first, is she going to lick me again ?




Ok, I think it's safe to pat her...















Sayang doggie.......



Ok, I patted the dog. Think it's enough for today. Think I'll go and take a breather....



Wow, that was so stressful...




My little baby don't look so baby in this photo. He looks so grown-up. Slow down.

Feelings

Today we went to Aunt L's place for New Year's lunch.

I carried Eugene to hubby's grand-ma's room to say hello. Hubby's grand-ma is very old and bed-ridden. She is unable to talk but can mumble. We are not sure whether she can recognise any of us or not.

I told Eugene that he must be quiet as great grand-ma is not well and he was very quiet when I carried him in. Eugene just looked at hubby's grand-ma.

Sometime later, I saw Eugene walking into great grand-ma's room. I kept my eyes on him as I was afraid that he was going to touch some of great grand-ma's medicine which was by the side of the door.

Eugene walked in slowly and gingerly and then he stopped at the side of great grand-ma's bed and looked up at her for a few seconds. He then slowly moved towards her and stroked her hand a couple of times !

That moment really moved me. Is my boy showing empathy? Can somebody so young show empathy?

I think that Eugene can "feel". Sorry, don't know how to put it into words.

My father had cancer and naturally do not feel too great from the chemo and radiotherapy. When Eugene saw my dad, he went over to my dad and stroke my dad's thigh - sayang, sayang.

Once, I was so tired out that I literally laid down on the floor - Eugene came over to kiss me and sayang me. I actually teared! My boy is just so, so sweet!

*

2010 !

Another year had passed. Is it just me or do you also feel that time is passing by faster and faster?

What a ride 2009 was - especially with adorable Eugene coming into our life.

HAVE A GREAT 2010 !