Life in a nutshell

More pics of my little angel....

Its like heaven when Madison is sweet ( usually in front of grandparents ), compliant and smiley...

Then she pisses the hell out of me right the next moment when she refuses to eat breakfast, plays the throwing game at the table and whines her head off.

That's when I hope that I have to go into the clinic for my sanity and leave SOMEONE else to do the hard work of childcare! IE : Warni...!

Yesterday we had Chinese class again... I'm sorry but I am not really enjoying these sessions that much. Kind of like I have to go sit for an hour with these stranger mommys who aren't the friendliest at the moment. ( at least that's how I feel ). We'll see. Madison seems to be ok and she can kind of participate in the singing and actions. It's a pretty small class, which has its benefits... every child gets more attention from the teachers (2 ) . But it also means I'm kinda stuck in a small room with 3 other women whom I don't know and probably have little in common with! That's how I decided NO OTHER CLASSES until she can attend them ON HER OWN!

Elizabeth is growing quickly too, and Madison seems to be really concerned whenever she squeals or screams. Then she gets the green eye if I just spend too much time even looking at her! Same goes for the grandmother.


I was pretty amazed that she can drink quite well from a cup these days, especially if it is filled with something she likes ( usually sweet ) . Oh.. and she prefers COW's milk to my milk. Time to wean pretty soon... Just that at the moment I am hoping to protect her from eczema if I can with extended feeding.. she seems to be getting some red patches on her legs and elbows... the scourge of eczema can drive parents mad... feeding is NOTHING in comparison to what I see my other patients go through!

Today was a good clinic day... Patients to be seen at all 3 locations. Especially Joo Chiat, which was DEAD AS A DOORNAIL for the past week and a half! I'd started to get depressed about it again, thinking it was a goner, I'm not succeeding in private by myself, better to go back to locum work... blah blah.. sob sob...

Hopefully it'll keep up, I don't really need it to be bursting at the seams but it would be nice to see someone there everyday... same goes for Balestier.

Running a business really takes some gumption.. having to listen to staff grumble and bitch about each other, sort out drug inventories, in between praying that the clinic would survive... But its a challenge, and I hope that it'll last!

Elizabeth is 1 month

Today Geok and Munhon officially cross the 1 month mark. They held the customary celebration at the Novena House and invited some friends and family to commemorate the event. Of course the poor helper Maria nearly died but that's another story!

I hate to brag, but today once AGAIN Madison made me PROUD.

There was another toddler at the party, daughter of one of the relatives. She was barely 1 month younger than our chum Madison, but developmentally was well, less developed... Madison speaks better, moves in a more co-ordinated fashion and plays more maturely than the other girl! Even the other parents were, well... I suppose to put it mildly, impressed?

We were at the pool this morning too.. and there was a nearly-2 year old toddler in the pool... and Madison was able to tolerate dunking by me, albeit the occasional splutter and protest. In fact just a few days ago I actually let go of her in the pool, just like the baby swimming videos like u can see on Youtube! ( well.. she didn't really like me for that and today she absolutely protested at me even thinking of attempting it again...looks like she is developing a bit of a short term memory now! )

ok..ok.. this entry is becoming about Madison again...

Anyway.. Elizabeth looked absolutely adorable in her pink jumpsuit that had green polka dots on it. Lots of people ''oohed" and "aahed" at her, and she got heaps of red packets and some gifts as well... plenty of photos taken by Munhon and Chai.

One last mention of my dear girl.. she is really developing her toddler charms now... temper tantrums and hissy fits ... breakfast is getting to be a bit of a nightmare these days.. not sure if her appetite is waning or just that she wants to eat crap now. I actually had a hissy fight with her yesterday morning, that of course ended up with me yanking her out of her high chair and banishing her to her room. Ok.. I was kinda harsh and a bit violent with her, and she bawled her eyes out and sobbed terribly.. And bad mommy me... didn't feel anything except exasperation and some irritation, in fact.

Actually.. I am getting some anxiety over having to give her breakfast nowadays... it's getting to my patience and I admit it.. I AM NOT PATIENT! Warni and Chris beat me hands down in that department!

New words: today : THUNDER! NECK !
recently: Hand, man, phone, I want! , don't want! Crap! grape! darn! Ice/eyes, Arm, toes, echo. Ball... papa, mama, Ah Ma, kong kong. bird. apple. elmo.

15 months and counting

Today Madison turns 15months officially!

The morning we spent in educational pursuit... Mandarin class.
After much consideration and some shopping around, we finally settled on a basic Mandarin class for Madison twice a week. Hopefully this will spare her the painful difficulties that I faced growing up when I struggled through the language in school. At least for now she seems to like the class, where the hour and 15 minutes are spent in singing, dancing and playing while the teachers direct in Mandarin. I wonder how much of it she understands?

After the class she was quite tired and we struggled to keep her awake getting home. Fortunately Warni was all ready and took over while we went out to town, first to the gym then lunch at the Coffee club. I had plans to visit Kinokuniya but of course, had forgotten to bring my privilege card so that was the end of that!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Zoo. We were lucky, by the time we got there and into the thick of things at around 4PM, quite a few of the animals were being fed. Madison was quite taken by the monkeys swinging in the trees, giraffe being fed carrots, white rhinos and zebras munching away on greens.

The new rainforest kidz world was packed with kids too.. this time we packed a spare set of clothes for Madison so she got to splash around with Chris.

By the time we left the skies turned grey and we missed the downpour just by 5 minutes! We headed back to the Novena house, where the adoring grandparents could take over.

Finally, to celebrate 15 months, Chris and I went out to dinner at Spruce. It's a fairly new cafe/bistro at Phoenix park along Tanglin Road, and has been favourably mentioned in the media of late.

The food did live up to their fame, with the burger taking the cake. The sweet onion crepes were fragrant too. The only flipside? The sizes of the dishes were a tad small for the prices that they were charging.

We shared a sticky date pudding for dessert and it came rather quickly which took us by surprise. There is a fine line between making a customer wait too long and food arriving too quickly, which always makes us suspect the MICROWAVE OVEN. We began to wonder if it was a frozen dessert, quickly thawed and served warm with ice cream (?? Walls ?? or fancier Movenpick/ Hagen Daz ? ) Dinner came up to $85 including 1 wine and an OJ.

The day passed all too quickly, and another one is upon us in a blink of an eye... and Madison grows yet another day......

Grandma in town!

GRANDMA AND MADISON...

Chris' mum from Melbourne arrived on Tuesday night(2 nights ago ), in time for dinner with us at home.

Her visit this time round was to coincide with Boon Hean's wedding in KL, and she'd had a ball with the relatives. Well.. kind of... the grandfather was down with some chest thing and they'd had a bit of a tiff about how it should be managed. That's families for you. Some manage through peaceful discussions, others thrive on emotionally charged debates. In the end things do get sorted out, occasionally with silent wars that usually don't persist for too long.





GRANDMA, NEIL and MADISON



In any case, I decided to try my best to make her short trip worthwhile, so I took a day off work yesterday to take them out.

The weather, being Singapore weather and all was as usual hot and humid, with the threat of a thunderstorm in the clouds. Guess where we ended up first ? Shopping, of course. By the time I'd picked them up from their hotel it was close to Madison's lunch time and we had to make our first stop at the foodcourt at Vivocity.

Then it was time for a wander around till our lunch time, and by this time Madison had fallen asleep. The chaos then began.

Neil wanted a Singapore SIM card. So he headed off to the mobile phone shop. Mummy was happy to just hang around and shop at the M & S shop while I had to run to the car to get the stroller cover.

Of course Chris finishes clinic late and needs to be at a meeting within 30 minutes. So I rush. And of course we couldn't find Neil. I took a punt and assumed he'd do the smart thing and call us when he couldn't find us.

We start lunch at Bakerzin. Midway through he calls. Twice before we manage to tell him where we were. The kind souls at the mobile shop directed him to the cafe. At this time I'd taken over the care of the stroller while Warni ate her lunch. When I came back, Mummy was in tears! Argh... another tiff...

Things did get sorted out... and the dark cloud did pass... of course by then I'd developed a bit of a headache....

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Botanic Gardens with Pa and Geok.. Elizabeth slept through the entire jaunt! She's getting bigger quite quickly and Geok is coping remarkably well by herself ( Munhon is back at work ). She looks great too.



ALL OF US AT BOTANIC GARDENS.. umbrella for ELIZABETH .. sun REALLY HOT.





Auntie Kimit took us out to dinner at the Chinese Swimming Club. Her grandson, Gordon came as well, and his mother gave me a blow by blow account of her 4 year old education... well.. I did ASK! In short, he started lessons at 6 MONTHS, beginning with music then progressing to enrichment Mandarin and English classes. She knew all the brand name schools and recommended that I start with Julia Gabriel.

Ok.. oops.. Madison is close to 15 months and the closest to any group activity that she does are her visits to the Botanic Gardens where she gets to splash around with the other kids in the fountain play area!

So ... I shall have to think seriously about her education? To assuage my guilt, I have signed on for a trial class at Growing Up Gifted.. shall have to go check out JG too now... at least have a look then decide whether or not to BURN some serious cash on early childhood education!

Need a holiday!

Chris is away this weekend till Monday for a conference on breast surgery.

He flew off on Friday morning, to Taipei, despite the current influenza epidemic that has the entire world gripped. And forgot his N95 masks despite my reminding him repeatedly this week. At least I prepared the Tamiflu for him to take along and put it right on the dining table for him to bring along and he did.

Sigh. Am stuck in muggy hot Singapore, running around like a headless chick to 3 clinic locations. Always worrying about Madison, who has fortunately recovered from her tummy upset a week ago. Who actually is a good girl that I cannot complain too much about.

Maybe I'm just bored. The weather is supremely hot. Feel like I need to get away from the routine a little, have absolutely nothing that I HAVE to do or someplace I have to be.

Actually there were holiday plans in the bag. Joan, Adrian, Su plus the 3 of us were supposed to go for a short jaunt somewhere. Initially we set our hearts on Langkawi in Malaysia. Then Celine informed us that the flu had landed in Malaysia. So we thought, better not fly, might end up with the flu or worse still, in contact with someone with the flu!

So after some thinking, we decided on Bintan, Indonesia. Its a 45 minute ferry ride from here and to make it a nice holiday we set our hearts on the Banyan Tree resort. Joan went and checked with a travel agent and we were set to go. Then her dear boyfriend pulls the plug, which led to Joan having second thoughts and that led to Su thinking of changing dates too!

Well.... so then I started to plan a holiday just for the 3 of us. But now my 2 dear friends changed their minds again and want to go! Then the final cake.. Geok has still to decide on her baby's full month celebration!

So the decision will be made on Monday, hopefully....

Elizabeth

Pictures of the new baby....






Madison is really taken with Elizabeth... she would say "baba" and point at her. And when she hears cries from upstairs she immediately stopped her current activity and indicated for us to bring her upstairs check on Elizabeth.

The proud new parents, Geok and Munhon... Hard work to say the least at the moment... of course the usual neonatal jaundice has set in so they were off to KKH just like we were at that stage.

But.. they are coping remarkably well. Geok is breastfeeding and finding it a little tough going but she's trying her best and staying up all night to do it.

Munhon has given his daughter baths for the past few days and is enjoying the process, although the first time was pretty hair raising... commands being issued from all corners with watchful eyes all round!

But... time marches on.. it's close to 1 week already... Elizabeth has a really loud shrill scream/cry that is unmistakable, and she wants to be carried the entire day. But then don't all babies do that?

It's great seeing a newborn... having been through all that it brings back memories, but at least now I can appreciate the baby without having to look after it! You really forget how tiny they are at the start, how much help they need to survive.

Not forgetting the chronic sleep deprivation.....

Weekends at home

My week is marked by the arrival of the WEEKEND!

I usually have to work in the mornings on Saturdays, so the real weekend starts a little later for me.
If I am lucky and get the entire 2 days off then its a real treat!

This photo on the left was taken at MacRitchie Reservoir, a 5 minute drive
( when traffic is good ) from our place. It was the second time she's been there, the first was when she was a lot smaller.

Madison was thrilled by the view of the reservoir. There were people paddling their kayaks , probably in training for some competition or other.



A little further ahead we met up with a gang of monkeys who had a fight among themselves over something, chasing each other while screeching their heads off. We watched them for awhile, then I decided we'd better leave before they found US intrusive.

We usually have lunch out, since my little girl made it so dramatic about spitting my cooking out time and time again... we used to go to restaurants to eat but now the club is so much more appealing... wide open space, tolerant wait staff, plenty of other kids running around and fairly quick meal service. I think it would be wiser to save the nice stuff for just Chris and me to enjoy at the moment, when Madison is being babysat!

Other weekend activities that usually take a good portion of the day? Zoo visits, Sentosa beach, trips to the mall... by the end of it we are usually quite glad to see a sofa and television set! And reinforcements in the way of grandparents!