My boy is special

These two weeks, I have been going back to school every day for block booking for my Sec 4s. So, my school holidays has not started yet. But then again, its more relaxed since I do not have to wake up so early to report to school, but only need to wake up to go teach 1-2 classes a day, thus spending more time with Caleb.

In the mornings, I would bring him down as he accompanies me when I have my breakfast at the coffee shop. Then, we would go take a walk in the park. Many aunties or young mummies will also be at the park with the grandchildren or babies. So, when they see Caleb doing his 'morning exercise' by walking as he only uses one hand to hold my hand, they are all so amazed for a 10 month old baby to do that.

Met one baby who was a year old already and has not learnt how to walk like Caleb and another baby who is same age as Caleb- 10 months, who just refuses to stand up.

Caleb at Mama's(grandma) place looking out for neighbours


They all ask," What did you do? Did you buy him a walker to practise at home?" Well, in actual fact, he does not have any of those gadgets. He has no walker at all. CT and I do not really believe in buying our baby so many stuff which in the end, may prove useless since they may grow out of it. So, almost everything we have are hand-me-downs and we only buy the daily necessities like bathing soap, diapers, wet wipes.

So anyway, I am really proud of Caleb for being so special and for the record, he still sits down obediently at his high chair whenever it is feeding time. *cross my fingers*(hoping that he would always be like that)

Caleb on the loose!

When Caleb is on the loose around the house, all our fears increase- fears of him getting hurt, fears of him making a mess of the house etc etc..

This is what I mean.



He would find things which I hid well..I guess if you have lost something, you can hire Caleb to find it for you as he can find it at really obscure places.

Here's Caleb holding on to the laundry basket and pushing it all the way from his room to the living room. Yep, that is his 'walker'.



He has since hurt himself uncountable times already. I used to keep track, but I have lost count of it. Its almost every week, he would hurt himself...he can crawl and somehow, slip and fall face flat on the floor...or he would climb down from the sofa on his own and hit his head on the corner of the coffee table, which thank God, is child-proofed etc etc.

Anyway, guess, he would end up one tough boy!

The Story of Job

My dad was admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre Hospital (CDC) on Tues, 13 May for having sores and rashes all over his body as if some kind of allergic reaction or infection. My dad had no idea where he got it from...it just happened all of a sudden. He was feeling very uncomfortable.



Then a day or two later, my dad had bubbles on his skin. Huge ones. So the doctor had to burst all his bubbles.



The centre did various tests on him and a skin biopsy on him...but it seems his lungs and internal are not affected. So, that was good news. But in the end, they could not find a source or reason why it happened. Oh well..

My dad says he feels like Job, a character in the bible where Job suffered from sores all over his body. You can read the story here. The book on Job talks about how many things were taken away from Job, as well as how he suffered from sores from head to the soles of his feet and despite the ridicule from his friends, in the end of it all, Job praised God and was not bitter against him for all the things that happened in his life. Thus, God blessed him and give him twice as much as he had before for being so faithful.

A week later when our family went out to celebrate my brother and sis-in-law's birthday, my dad told me that he saw 5 good things that came out of his stay in CDC.

I was initially shocked at how he can still be so positive despite staying in hospital for a number of days and suffering from all the discomfort of his skin.

Anyway, here are the 5 positive outcomes:

1) He got to weigh himself. Given my dad's condition, it was not possible for him to weigh himself at home as he cant stand. So, the hospital had proper equipment to take his weight and my dad was glad he finally knows his weight

2) He manage to lose a bit of weight in CDC. He has been gaining weight for the past couple of years and during his stay in CDC, he manage to shed off some because the food was not a lot and very healthy.

3) There was no TV there in the hospital. So, he got to spend more time reading the bible and talking to God which he felt, was so much more meaningful than the time at home, where he spent hours at night watching TV. So, he felt that through this, he decided to now spend more time reading the bible and talking to God and not wasting his time watching too much TV.

4) He got to know many friends there- nurses and patients.

The most important positive outcome was...

5) He even had the opportunity to talk to a guy there, encourage him and talk to him about Jesus. Then, my dad even said the sinner's prayer with him as he accepted Christ.

Amazing huh? My dad has once again encouraged me and set another great example for me to follow!

Fun at East Coast Park

Last Saturday, we brought Caleb to East Coast Park for our bible study group dinner outing. We first gathered at Macdonalds to wait for everyone to arrive. While waiting, Caleb went to the playground to play his slide.

After that, we decided to go to Kenny Rogers for dinner. Since Caleb doesnt eat, he went out to play at the merry-go-round for the first time. (thanks to one of my friends, Sabrina who sponsored the kids to play)

Here's Caleb and Asher enjoying the ride...In the picture, that's Sabrina, who is Asher's aunt..as well as Caleb and the 2 helpers, Vicky and Lynn.



Finally, a picture of Caleb and Asher.



Asher loves Caleb a lot as every week when we go their house for bible study and each time Asher sees Caleb, he would kiss him and greet him happily at the door.

I enjoy eating at Kenny Rogers because its the closest place where I can get Southern food, which I miss badly. I miss fried chicken, turnip greens, mash potatoes, thick slab of steak, hotdogs, fried okra, mac and cheese etc etc..

Though Kenny Rogers food is far from Southern food, but what to do? Sigh...Unless, anyone knows where else I can get in Singapore that is better.

I would always eat the 1/4 chicken with 2 sides, which I usually choose coleslaw, mashed potatoes, or mac and cheese. Yummy..

That night, I added a chicken soup to share with CT.



We had a great time with our friends..except maybe the part where they were talking and asking me about my past that I was kind of embarassed.



But all in all, it was a great night! We also celebrated Desiree's birthday.



Left early because I was exhausted. Easily exhausted for this pregnancy despite having rested the whole day.

reading time...

One of our regular trips on weekends or during my free time on weekdays will be to the library.

When I was young, I didnt really have the time to read and probably didnt really enjoy reading. I love books for the colours, but not for the words.

So now that I am a mum and a teacher, I know the wonderful benefits to reading and the importance of exposing my children to them and hopefully, I can encourage them to enjoy reading.

So anyway, here's Caleb listening to daddy as he reads a Chinese book to him.



This was one of the few moments where he would sit still and listen..Most of the time, since he is so active, he would wander off once he finds something more interesting to play with.

Loves music and dance

I am not sure if its all kids that love music and dance, but I know Caleb sure loves it! Whenever he hears someone singing or dancing, he would sit down nicely on the sofa to watch intensely.

Take for instance the recent American Idol finals. He was not in his usual active self which was every time I put him on the sofa, he would get down on his own to the floor and start crawling away to the TV cabinet and bang on the players. Its really tiring as I would scold him and carry him back onto the sofa and again, he would repeatedly sneak down to the floor on his own and crawl away. So frustrating.

So that evening when the American Idol finals was on, he actually sat down obediently on the sofa and watched.



From his response when he watched David Cook and David Archuleta performed..it seemed that Caleb prefers David Cook because he tends to sing more upbeat songs. And so he would watch more intensely than when Archuleta sang...

So, I guess, Caleb seemed to pick the right one since Cook won in the end.

Here'a a video of Cook singing one of my favourites..Billie Jean (originally sung by Michael Jackson)


Cook is definitely a more versatile singer than Archuleta- Can you imagine Archuleta singing songs that Cook sings? I cant...

But I can imagine Cook singing Archuleta songs..so, that's where Cook is def a more rounded singer in my opinion. And the other amazing thing about Cook is that his song arrangements that he does when he performs, is very orginal and suits his style.

As for Archuleta, he is a very good singer and I must say, I would get chills whenever he sings because its very emotional, meaningful and heartfelt.

But then again, I am just glad both of them ended up in the finals as this is one of the seasons where it doesnt matter to me who wins since they are all so nice, humble and great singers!

Little drummer boy

"Drummer boy" used to be CT's nickname when we were dating as he has been playing drums since primary school. But now, the title belongs to Caleb as he loves to beat his hands on the chair, table etc etc and gets all excited and happy doing that!

At times, he does it according to a beat or song in the TV. So, both CT and I are quite proud of him.

I will take him in action next time. But for now, here's pictures of happy Caleb beating his hands on the coffee table.





He will definitely be a drummer boy when he grows up..that's for sure!

Belated birthday celebration

A couple of days back, my whole family went to Vivocity to celebrate my brother's and Pam's (sis-in-law) birthday. Their birthdays fall just a week apart. So, we celebrated together. It was postponed because my dad was admitted to hospital last week because of a skin problem. Will talk more about it in another post.

But anyway, we went to Hanabi Jap Restaurant at Vivo.



It has very nice, modern, zen-like decor. The place was quite dark and I only had my handphone with me to snap pictures of the place and food.


CT, my brother, Pamela and myself had the Japanese ala-carte buffet. I decided for myself that it was ok to eat raw fish despite my pregnancy. Guess I was just finding lots of excuses for myself. In my first pregnancy, I was so obedient to refrain totally from raw fish but this time round, I felt it was ok because after all, Singapore's raw food is quite safe to consume. It's not contaminated or anything.

My parents and Vicky shared a steamboat dinner for 2. It was a 1-for-1 promotion for UOB cardholders. (usual price is 1 for $99)



The buffet was great! There were altogether 180 over dishes to choose from. Here's one side of the menu only...(didnt take the other side because it was a black background and so, it was too dark to take)



I was more interested in this section.But then again, they have so many dishes to choose from...and so we tried a lot of unusual dishes as well.



We first ordered all the dishes with a yellow crown beside the word as it is the chef's recommendation. So that was our first round of order.



We had fried shishamo (which I simply call it, "pregnant fish")



Fried squid..


and this complimentary fried ball with minced clam and lots of other stuff in it. Quite unusual but nice.



We also ordered different styles of cooking beef. I love the beef steak which we ordered about 3 portions in total.



There was also salmon soup which was really warm and soulful. It was so comforting to drink.




Off hand, I could think of a few good dishes which I also tried but didnt manage to snap pictures of it. We had pork belly with kimchi, the grilled mackerel and salmon was also very tasty. They added sakae to the salmon which gave it a very nice flavour.

All in all, we really enjoyed the food and its varieties. Though its pricey, its quite worth it for the numerous dishes to choose from and the fresh fish! Costs us $50 per person.

After the hearty meal, I went shopping with my mum while my dad and brother went to Giant. My mum was on a shopping spree. She bought clothes for me as well as for Caleb. Thanks mum!

We only reached home close to 11 plus pm. Dead beat!

Phoebe's 4th birthday

Last Sunday, we celebrated my god-daughter's birthday at her house. She has really grown up- taking care of her younger 'siblings' like Caleb and Janine as well as her brother, Asher.



This was what we had for dinner. Very yummy. I love the curry chicken with french loaf as its one traditional dish that I missed having. I seldom eat with french loaf now..its always just curry chicken with bee hoon or with rice and I really missed it.



And here are the 2 girls who are daughters of Marianne's close family friend-Samantha. I got to know them when they were in primary school as I taught them swimming for a while. Its nice to see how much they have grown now that they are in Secondary School.

And that is baby Asher with them who is only 6 months old but is wearing clothes for 2 years old toddlers! Amazing!



I was telling Marianne that Asher can hand down his clothes to Caleb already, instead of the other way around.

And here's Phoebe with her cake. Now that she has grown up, she has learnt to be quite shy..so different from her last few birthdays.



Caleb seemed to enjoy himself during the party as he kept himself real busy with the infinite number of toys Marianne has in her house.

Here's Caleb pushing the doll pram happily..





As for Janine, because both my brother and my sister in law went to Malaysia for a diving trip, she was left with my mum to take care. And boy, she was one active baby that everyone was afraid of during the party. Reason was that she went around drinking other people's packet drink! She first took mine, then I took another packet for myself and she then started drinking my new packet, then she also drank from Phoebe's packet and my mum's. Sigh..we were all so weary of her.

Then towards the end of the party, my mum suddenly told Marianne that if she has veggie tales, she would sit down and watch. If only my mum mentioned that earlier...that would save us all the trouble of keeping an eye on her. Haha..But nevertheless, we were thankful for the last 10-15 mins or so when she really kept still in front of the TV. Phew.

This is one active toddler...too active for me to be able to take any pictures of her running around.

1st Public Service Week

This year, the public service held its first public service week from 14th -20th May to remind all public officers of their role in advancing Singapore. This will be an annual event.

Anyway, to celebrate it, I actually got a four of my colleagues from my school to participate in a MRT trail competition where they go around Singapore solving clues by only using MRT as the only public transport.

It was held on a Saturday. So early morning at 7am plus, I woke up the whole family and we went down to Bukit Batok Civil Service Club to go support my colleagues.

It's our first time there and the Bukit Batok CSC has a huge fish pond. Check it out!





Initially, wanted to bring Caleb to swim there but the pool wasnt open yet. It's a nice huge wave pool with a kids pool by the side. Looks really fun. We even prepared Caleb's swim shorts.

Anyway, after spending a while there, we drove to my sis-in-law's place which is at Bukit Batok to go visit her and drop by since we are there. Caleb had his bath there.

When it was close to lunchtime, we drove to IMM, which was just 5-10 mins away and had lunch there, as well as to do our weekly supermarketing at Giant. Had lunch at a foodcourt. I had Nasi Padang- beef rendang, chilli brinjal, and some interesting curry dark leafy vegetable. I am quite a sucker for nasi padang indonesian style. I think the cooking style as compared to Chinese cooking, is rather intricate and complex because of the spices involved.

Nevertheless, I was glad I had some spice in my life. :)

Giant was as usual crowded. Kind of enjoy the fish section there as it seems much more fresh than other Giant joints...maybe because its closer to Malaysia waters.

After our stay at the West area, we were all exhausted since we were out the whole morning. But on our way back, we dropped by at Mandai Link gas station for the first time to pump gas. Usually, CT does it at his workplace in Jurong Island. But anyway, I was pretty excited since it is my first time at a gas station.

Here's the huge empty station with about 10 pumps.


It is pumped from the front of the car. However, you can always get someone to install it at a different location of your car if you like.

Here's poor Caleb exhausted from the whole day's outing with his mouth wide open while sleeping.



Anyway, just for your info, total cost in pumping gas was $11 bucks. Slightly more expensive than the one in Jurong Island...

With the price of petrol going up, I do not feel that affected...since my last time visiting a petrol station was a couple of months back...

Shaping MY Punggol

Recently, went to an exhibition at my estate to view the plans moving on from now till 2011 of what they will do to Punggol. Its really exciting and I just feel more and more attached to this estate already.

Punggol is now named as the "Waterfront Town of the 21st century" where they will bring waters closer to the residents, create a unique town centre, have a recreation coastline etc etc.

This is a picture of the plans I took during the exhibition and what it would look like.



They are also building eco-friendly HDB flats which I am definitely in support for!

Here's a summary of what will be taking place...from now till 2011

June 2008: Sengkang Sports and Recreation centre will be open
3rd quarter of 2008: Kallang Paya-Lebar Expressway completed which links from TPE
End of 2008: Sengkang Park open
End of 2008: Horse riding Centre
2009: Start development of proposed rustic park at Coney island connected to Punggol
1st quarter of 2009: Widening of TPE completed
End of 2009: New Punggol and Serangoon Reservoirs
End of 2009: New Golf Driving Range and plant nursery
End of 2010: Sengkang floating island along Sunggei Punggol
End of 2010: Interim Park
End of 2010: Coastal Promenade (about 8.7 km long)
Launch by end of 2010/2011: Punggol Town Centre
End of 2011: Proposed Lorong Halus Wetland

For more recent news on Punggol, here is an article. Click on this to read!

Now, if you still think Punggol is a ghost town and a place to avoid, well, think again...and I do hope I wont see you as here is one proud Punggolite!

busy busy busy...

For the past couple of weeks, because my students were having their mid-year, it wasnt an easy time for the teachers as well. We were practically slogging away, battling with piles and piles of marking that comes in like avalanches- massive, abrupt and rapid flow..as well as dragging our feets to invigilate the exams, and yet at the back of our minds, we have tons of marking to do and worse of all,we cant bring a single sheet of marking into the exam hall or classroom. "That is cruel", I feel sometimes as I walk around, lamenting away.

Worse of all, teachers in my school battle with lack of space...I felt like I was seriously "covered with snow".

So, one day, I decided to draw my camera to take a picture of the state of my table..





I am usually one who doesnt really complain because I only feel that when you complain, its just a sign of weakness. So for the record, I am human and yes, I still do complain..only because this year, I seem to have so much more marking.

I had to mark 18 sets of papers...of which each set means one class..and one class means average 40 students! And one student's work can amount to 10-15 pages of work!
So, if I do a quick calculation, that is saying I marked 720 students' work and if each student hands in say an average of 6 pages, I actually marked about 4320 pages!

If you cant imagine how much is 4320 pages? Well, it actually means, taking out your residential listing phonebook and marking it through that 2.5 times as each phonebook is about 1700 pages! (I am not talking about the business listing directory or yellow pages, which is much thinner)

So, now that my marking is all over, am I more free now? I wish...

I had to immediately step up my pace and come up with remarks for my form class, for their report books, prepare lessons to continue teaching the syllabus for my Math classes, mark CME projects, key in all the grades of all subjects of my form class into the system.

Its really never ending....

But I guess if you ask me: do I rather be bored or doing all these? Then, I can tell you straight that I would still prefer to be busy doing work then doing nothing.

So, any complains? Nope..not at all.

Samsung has found its soul...

Just got a new handphone over the weekend- Samsung Soul. Its one of the latest phone that just came out and before I got it, I was reading about it and loved the looks of it-Very techie and pretty!

What also attracted me was its 5.0 megapixel camera and its touch screen functions. This is a picture which I took with my new handphone



For those who know me, I do not usually spend on a phone that costs me more than a hundred bucks. Most of my phones would be less than 100. But when I was first researching what phone to buy (because my contracts ends every year- which means I can change phone every year), I happened to chance upon this and when I read up on the reviews, it was all good comments and ratings. I fell in love with it.

So,CT bought for me this phone which costs $200 plus (its actually my early birthday present)...For its functions, looks and considering how new this phone is, I feel that its worth it...

Guess that is my personality- I do not usually spend on anything (except grocery shopping), but when I see something I really LOVE, I would fix my eyes on it and get it.

Anyway, here is a video of my phone which is very detailed and informative if you are interested..

Like Father Like Son

A picture speaks a thousand words.

Recently, my mother-in-law passed me old passport photos of CT and we found one that looked just like Caleb. It was in a bad condition and I did try to repair it with photoshop but this is the best I could do...haha..(with protest from CT who claims its still ugly. Oh well, too bad. Dont wish to spend much time touching up this picture)

Whatever it is, check out the resemblance!

his share of fun..

Caleb had his share of fun already at 10 months. He has sat on one of those machines where you put in a coin and it sings some song and moves back and forth. It was only 20 cents, so I didnt mind letting him try it out to see his reaction. Well, in the end, he was more interested in the coin slot and started hitting it, than the whole rocking and singing Pokemon machine.



Recently, I have been receiving "Disney Playhouse" on my SCV though I did not subscribe to it. I only have Disney channels but not the Playhouse channel. But as I was surfing one day, I chanced upon the channel. Maybe its some SCV promotion trial period or something like that. But anyway, without many questions, I quickly tested it out on Caleb.

So he already has his share of "Barney and friends", " Sesame Street", "Little Einsteins", etc etc and what do you know? He loved it! sigh..my nightmare because I have always thought of exposing him to such shows only when he is older because I am afraid that he might get hooked and start blackmailing me emotionally.

He was actually staring at the TV and smiling away. He also stand up sometimes and start jumping around to the show. Sigh..its cute in one sense, but scary in another sense because at the back of my mind, I am thinking- am I starting him too early? Will it be detrimental to him? Sigh...



Look at how excited he is- blabbering away and jumping. Had to stop the video as he spotted my camera and crawled to grab it.

Metrosexual boy

When I came back from work one afternoon, Caleb was donned on with flowers on his ears- both sides. They just came back from the park and Vicky placed the flowers on him. We all get a thrill doing that- seeing him so feminine and all as he really looked pretty.

But anyway,this boy of mine has been making me worried as he is crawling to places all over the house, touching things like the broom, opening up drawers etc. There was once he almost crushed his fingers as he opened the drawer and pushed it hard to close it up and thank God Vicky removed his fingers just a millisecond before the drawer closed as it was quite fast. It was scary how close he was to getting himself hurt right before my eyes. Sigh..

Here's Caleb in the kitchen which I must soon ban him from entering. Too dangerous...



I remember reading a newspaper article about a boy, just few days before he turned one year old who was drowned because he crawled all the way to the toilet and started sticking his head into a pail and got drowned because there was water in it. I can really imagine Caleb doing that as he is so active and inquisitive. It must be devastating for his parents who have brought him up to almost one year old...and this had to happen just few days before. Sigh...my heart hurts when I read such articles.

Anyway, in whatever case, I must treasure the present and just give thanks that I still have him.

My 1st Mother's Day

This year is my first time celebrating Mother's Day and its still a little quiet as Caleb is still too young to express his gratitude and know what is happening around him.

But nevertheless, I had a date with CT after church today. Went to AMK Hub for lunch and caught a movie.

We first had lunch at "New York, New York". Ordered a Root Beer float, mushroom soup with cocoa froth,


caesar salad as well as calamari, while CT had a burger.



Didnt bring my camera. So I made do with the handphone camera. Costs us total about $50 plus. Not very cheap actually. Oh well, hubby's sincere treat anyway.

After lunch, we caught the "Ironman" Movie at 145pm. I really enjoyed the movie- its effects and technology. I love shows that displays the future of computers..as my dream home is like that. Haha..may I stress the word, DREAM..

Oh well, do catch the show if you havent caught it. I would say its in my recommended must-see movies list in 2008!

Caleb's passport photo

We have been wanting to do a passport for Caleb and finally 2 weeks back, we did our passport online. Its so convenient to do it online as you just take a digital photo and upload it and send it virtually. We not only did Caleb's passport but renewed CT's and my own passport as it was due to expire this year.

Then about a few days after, they would email you and send you a letter to go down to collect.

So we finally collected our passport on the day after Labour Day as CT was on leave. So I left school early to rush down to collect it. As expected, people had the same idea as us...because the place was crowded despite a working day as most probably took leave on that day to make use of the long weekend.

So we waited about an hour plus for our turn.

Anyway, here's Caleb's photo which I took at our house and send it for his new passport! He was not really on a good mood that day when I took the picture..but nevertheless, I just wanted to get this over and done with.

Charismatic Speaker!

I find that Caleb is a very sociable boy. Anyone can carry him now and for example, when we were in the lift with someone, he would smile at the stranger. Its really nice to see him so sociable and at ease with strangers.

One thing I also discovered about him is that he is a charismatic speaker. At times when he blabbers, he would raise up his hand up in the air. It's really interesting. Its as if he is holding some kind of talk with an audience and start lifting his hands as he speaks.



Here's Caleb with his many expressions..





And finally, I managed to catch his growing milk teeth! By the way, he has 3 so far. (2 on top and 1 below)