Hair will grow

About 6 months ago when I first started this blog, one of my major concern was that my baby didn't have hair on the top and front of her head.

There were many over zealous aunties and uncles who all had their two cents worth to say about her hair. Telling me to do the darnest things to my baby's hair. But I had faith that it will grow and I hang in there.

Two years on and I can finally say baby has hair. It is coming out slowly but surely. No brandy, no shaving, no coconut oil nothing.

But I have new concern! Or rather strangers have a new concern. I have coffee shop attendants asking me how come she has so little hair! Hello! Mind you that fellow was a bloke! Can you imagine a middle aged man asking me why my child has so little hair! I just roll my eyes and walk away most of the time.

In supermarkets, I have cashiers telling me that things like," She got very little hair hor?"

Anyway, once again to all you concerned people out there who are wondering why my off spring has very little hair.......... I HAVE FREAKING NO IDEA! But it will grow. It's just hair!

Somethings I really wonder if all these people out there have nothing else better to say... so they just make up something to say for the sake of conversation. But you know the thing about these people, nothing good ever comes out of their mouth. When they have to say something they will criticise and find faults rather than praise or give a compliment.

So WORLD may I present Letitia with pig tails............. who says you need hair!

Wet pants

Letitia enjoying inflight entertainment on her way back home.

It was a relatively good trip for us, other than Letitia wetting her pants everyday. Because she as running around so much we didn't really have time to check her diaper. So word of caution bring lots of pants. She wet her first pair in the plane ride there while she was seated on her Dad's lap.....ha.... wetting his pants as well.

The second day she wet herself in the cab while she was on my mother's lap....ha... wetting my mother's pants as well.

We got a break on the third day.....it was wet pants free day. Hey! It was her birthday! No wonder she didn't wet her pants.

On the fourth day she wet herself again......this time she didn't include anyone else in the equation. I must say I was relatively lucky not to have been peed on my daughter.

She didn't really liked the food there, she would shake her head violently and say," No no no no no no.... you eat!" It was either too salty or too oily or too whatever.......her royal divaness didn't like what she tasted.

Checking out Donal Duck.

Sore feet, backaches and Dark eye circles

We made back from Hong Kong barely in one piece. My feet are aching from walking 12 hours a day, my back is sore from carrying a 15kg child and I have really bad dark eye circles from sleep deprivation.

I woke up at 6.00am to finish packing and we finally got to our destination at about 4.00pm. Everyone was exhausted by the time we made our way to Disneyland. Letitia was so exhausted she fell asleep during the fireworks display.

Breakfast at the Disneyland Hotel was good, they had an excellent buffet spread. From your usual bacon and eggs to Japanese soba and even Chinese congee in 4 different flavours. They also have Disney themed plastic plates and cutlery for children. The free shuttle bus that runs like clock work arrives every 2 to 3 mins and takes you from your hotel to the Park within minutes. We got to the Park it was another day of riding on Winnie the Pooh rides and Carousels. Buying Mickey Mouse memorabilia and spending money on nonsense like balloons that we threw away because we couldn't take it along with us.

The Disneyland Hollywood Hotel is a really child friendly hotel. They even provide bed guards in the room to prevent your child from tumbling over in their sleep. They also provide mini bath robes and mini bed room slippers complete with Mickey logos that you can take home at the end of your stay. Even the shower curtains are covered with Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Highly recommended for people with young children. But expect to pay!!!!! It's located about 20 mins bus ride from Hong kong International Airport. And about 30 mins cab ride from the city. You can also take the MTR down town.

But the biggest surprise for me was even the puddings that they serve for dessert are cut out into the shape of Mickey's head. Ya! I had a Mickey over load.

Letitia spent her second birthday in a noisy yum cha restaurant somewhere in Hong Kong. One of those you see in the movies where everyone is shouting and you can't Even hear yourself speak.

A mango gelato cake decorated with an elephant made of candy... this darn thing cost me 200HKD. It was quiet tiny. So Happy Birthday my darling!

Life Oh Life

Dave's Grandma passed away last Monday. They held a 5 day wake for her. It was the largest funeral I have even been too. The funeral occupied the entire void deck. Ah Ma had 10 children, 30 grandchildren and about 20 great grandchildren. It took 4 coaches just to get the immediate family to the crematorium. She was 93 years old.

This made me wonder how life would be like for Letitia when Dave and I are finally gone from this earth. She will be alone! That thought really scared me and kind of put certain things into perspective for me. NO! I am not about to run off and have another baby immediately. But it has gotten me thinking.

Enough of the sad stuff.

My baby will be Two in a couple of days and we are off to Hong Kong Disneyland tomorrow. I pray for a safe flight and good weather. I also pray for a well behaved toddler. She has been having hives the last week because she is allergic to prawns. She broke out in rash that spread throughout her body. It was kind of my fault I feed her something from a seafood platter that we were eating. But how the hell am I suppose to know that she is allergic to prawns!!!! She is okay with crab, so I assumed that she should be okay with prawns too.

Wish me luck! As I go for an adventure of a life time...............

2 years on...

This time 2 years ago, I weighed about 81kg. Had legs the size of pigs trotter. Was suffering from severe backaches. Had insomnia. I remember tell myself can't wait for the baby to come out. I was in so much physical pain and discomfort I was just lying in bed all day.

A good friend who had just given birth 6 months earlier told me to be careful what I wished for. She said that when baby comes out you will wish that you can put her back inside. I didn't quite understood what she meant than.

2 years on and I am back to my normal weight, no longer suffering from insomnia but the backaches never went away. My baby will be turning TWO in a couple of weeks. I look at her and find it hard to imagine that just not so long ago, she was this helpless little creature that could only cry. She still cries....... hell of a lot but she can now feed herself, pick out her own shoes and run around.

As she becomes more independent with each passing day, I know the day will come when she will no longer need me the way she needs me now. The thought of her being able to take care of herself worries and scares me as much as it delights me. I can't imagine my baby growing up, graduating, bringing home her first boyfriend, moving out and getting married.

At the end of the day I hope that I would have done enough to bring her up well, so that she can be trusted to make the right decisions in life and bear the consequences of her own actions. Dave, however, has a totally different idea of parenting though. He says that he is going to stalk her when she goes out, intimidate her boyfriends and give her curfews till she is 30. I not sure if he was joking when he said all that. He was even entertaining the idea of sending her off to a convent some where in Ireland where the nearest town is about 4 hours drive away.

So as I embark on the next stage of my journey as mother to a toddler, I look back at all the memories and was glad that I was there every step of the way. I wouldn't have given it up for anything in the world. But this doesn't mean that I will do it again anytime soon. Am still trying to harness enough courage to think about having another child. Ya even the thought of having another baby is just too tiring.

CRY BABY

Today is one of those days where your child cries all day for no apparent reason. Letitia is in the crying MOOD.

She won't leave me alone.....Won't be left alone. She won't let me do anything except sit next to her and attend to her very wish and command.

She cried when I tried to read the newspaper.

She cried when I was reading my email.

She cried when I was taking a shower.

She cried when I was doing the laundry.

She cried when I was making lunch.

She cried everytime she didn't see me.

She cried everytime I didn't asnwer her.

Everytime I wasn't in sight she will call out for me and I had to answer. She refuse to come with me to do my chores and insisted on watching tele on my bed in my room.

She would call out for me every 30 seconds.... I bull shit you not. If I failed to reply her she will cry!!!!! Can you imagine I had to answer her about 78 times will I was trying to hang the laundry.

I finally lost it and screamed back at her........ She cried! Now I am trying to bring my blood pressure down by ignoring her for a while.

Humbled

I have been brought to my knees by a 88cm tall person. The 15kg person that I carried for 38 weeks and gave birth too. This little mini me... is twice the MONSTER I was at her age! She not only looks like me, she has my personality and she has my temper.

This morning while I was brushing her teeth, I gave her a cup filled with water to hold. She was suppose to rinse her mouth after I was done. BUT SHE EMPTIED THE ENTIRE CUP OF WATER OVER MY HEAD! The best part...... she laughed!

I was so shocked I didn't know what to do. I wanted to scream at her but all I could do was laugh with her. For the record, this is the first time someone has poured anything over my head! I probably would have bashed that some one's face if this would have happened to me 3 years ago. Not to mention the long train of vulgarities that would have flowed from my mouth.

So all I have to say is that motherhood is the most humbling experience a woman can ever possibly go through.

Gummy Gummy

Took Letitia to the clinic on Monday morning because her gums were red puffy and bleeding. The doctor didn't know what was going on and told me to take her to a dentist. She gave me the number to the pediatric dental clinic in NUH, prescribed some paste which Letitia spits out every time I try to medicate her.

Anyway, I called the clinic and was told that the earliest appointment was more than 2 weeks away. I asked the nurse what I was suppose to do until Letitia sees the dentist. I described to her the situation and she told me that even though the gums was bleeding I still had to brush it. I will only make the situation worst if I didn't brush it, because more germs will get stuck there and make matters worst. I was told to rub the swelling with salt water as well. Okay fine. I'll do just that.

That evening I decided to take Letitia to a private dentist. I was told that it was not serious and it was a localised bacteria infection of the milk canine. What ever that means! In layman terms gums swollen tooth not going to fall out.

Today NUH called saying there was a cancellation and that if I wanted I could see the dentist in the afternoon at 3.00pm. HUH! I told her I wanted to keep the original appointment. We just saw a dentist last night.

She called again in the afternoon and said that she had to move my original appointment another week because the dentist was not available. DUH!

I will wait another 3 weeks if the gums are still swollen I will take her to NUH for a check up.

By the way dental check ups can be rather fun for toddlers. The parent lies on the dentist chair with the child on top and the mirror on a stick thingy that they put into their mouths amazes them more than it scares them. I was rather surprised that Letitia didn't cry. She usually kicks up a fuss everytime she sees the doctor.

Taxis, Sale and broken forehead

11.50am - Blazing hot sun, Letitia and Me sweating like pigs waiting for a taxi.

12.15pm - Still in the blazing hot sun. No cab in sight. Where the hell are all the cabs?

12.20pm - Called for a taxi. Automated booking system says taxi will be here in 5 mins.

12.25pm - Stupid taxi I booked drives right pass us. I wave frantically. He waves back and drives on...What an idiot!

12.26pm - I call taxi company to try and tell them the damn cab has got the location wrong. I had a sweating 22 mth child with me and I was carrying a diaper bag. Couldn't run after the stupid taxi. Was put on hold.

12.30pm - Another taxi drives pass. I flag it down and left.

12.31pm - Stupid taxi driver calls me on my mobile. I scolded him!

1.00pm - Isetan Scotts. Sale going on about 5000 people in the building. All entrances blocked except the main entrance. Walked round to the front to get in. Went up escalator trying to get to restaurant for lunch.

1.05pm - Cannot figure out how to get to 4th floor where the restaurant is.....asked someone. Person didn't know.

1.10pm - Finally found someone to show me the way to the restaurant. All the entrances and exits were blocked. Accept for this tiny gap on the 4th floor that leads to the restaurants. You needed to James Bond to be able to find the damn thing.

1.15pm - Lunch.

2.00pm - Had to fight about 5000 aunties but I needed to buy something. It was on sale and I was determined to buy it, was not going to suffer the last 2 hours for nothing. As if the situation was not bad enough... Miss Diva complains that her diaper is wet. I had to change her in the middle of the kids department becos I was too tired to fight my way to the changing room. And after that she starts having a itchy fit and my Dad suggested that I cut her dress so that her neck line was not so tight. What kind of suggestion is that? duh! Sometimes i really wonder....? By the way my parents met us there for lunch.

3.00pm - Car Park... 8th floor of Shaw centre. My father forgot where he parked the car! I am still wondering....

Fast forward. .............

9.00pm - Coffeeshop in Jurong. Letitia runs, trips, lands on the floor and cuts her forehead on the utensil trolley of the tim sum store. Blood, screams, cries! Drama! Everyone looking.

9.15pm - At home applying cold compress to head to prevent swelling. Apply antiseptic cream. Put plaster.

9.30pm - Letitia seems to have forgotten the pain. In the bathroom jumping around and kicks the corner of the glass shower screen. Screams, cries, yells.......

10.45pm - Finally the end of a very very long day.

The stars must have been out of cosmic alignment for me today!

Tuesday Adventure

Oh Boy!



Today started out like any other ordinary Tuesday, same crap different day. But never in my wildest dream would I ever imagine today would turn out to be such eventful day.


Dave, Letitia and me got locked in the master bedroom. Yes! All 3 of us got stuck in my bedroom. Dave had just got home from work and was taking a shower. My parents the permanent residents here were outside watching TV in the living room. Letitia had insisted that she come into our room to get a piece of the action.

As usual half way through she decided that she wanted to go outside to be with her grandparents and started banging at the door. So I opened the door to let her out. But she being her... decided that she didn't want to go out anymore. So she slammed the door shut and BROKE THE LOCK.


Anyway, about 40 mins later...... after a pair of broken pliers and badly twisted fork we managed to dismantle the lock. Thanks goodness my parents were outside. They were the ones that passed us the pliers and fork.


Throughout the entire ordeal Letitia being the kaypoh that she is stuck her nose and finger into everything. She kept saying,"door stuck stuck" it was rather hilarious actually.

The evidence: door with hole

The evidence: one broken door knob and lock

Now I am paraniod that Letitia's room door will get stuck and she will be in room all alone and she will be screaming and crying. I will be outside helpless! I am thinking of removing the door knob and lock from her bedroom door permanently. Ya, I know I am little ridiculous.

House hunting

Over the weekend we went house hunting. We had no idea what we wanted so we randomly picked a development off Yio Chu Kang Road for viewing. It is about 2 traffic lights from where my parents live.

My parents recently sold their home and are also looking for a smaller place, now that me and my sister are married. They are looking for something about one third the size of their current home.

Low and behold guess who we met while we were house hunting, my parents, they got all excited and started saying things like. " We can buy 2 units in the same block, on the same floor so that Letitia can run from one home to other..."

I froze and momentarily I was actually lost for words. I cannot imagine being neighbours with my parents. They will be in my house all the time. As it is they live in the other end of the world now and they are always in my house. I can't imagine if we were neighbours. They will be in my house the moment they wake up till the time they go to bed.

Yes I know there are advantages living close to your parents. You can off load the baby and go out for a wild night. But so close is too close for comfort. I think 2 traffic lights away is a good distance.

Staying in control

1) Shouting matches

Me: Letitia let's go to bed.
L: Arrgghhh...
Me: Come on lets go.
L: No no no no no
Me: Say bye bye to your toys and lets go to bed.
L: Boo hoo scream cry boo hoo
Me: Stop it!
L: Throws herself on the floor yelling and screaming
Me: Stop it before I smack you!

45 minutes later

L: Still screaming and yelling... at the same time trying to self induce vomiting.

Winner Letitia 1 Mummy 0

2) Running around shopping malls

Me: Hold my hand.
L: Arrrgggghhhhhh (runs away at lightning speed like a little galloping pony)
Me: Letitia come back here..... you'll get lost (grabbing her by the arm)
L: Throws herself on the floor and shuts her eyes.
Me: Come on lets go.
L: Cries, screams, yells, shouts......
Me: fine do whatever you want!
L: Runs into the crowd without looking back.

Winner Letitia 2 Mummy 0

3) Bringing mobile phones to bed

Me: You can't bring my phone with you to bed. Give back to me.
L: Arrrrgggggghhhhhh..........................NO!
Me: Fine! Now close your eyes and go to sleep.
L: Pat pat!
Me: Okay.. pat pat pat pat....

15 minutes later, Letitia is a sleep, I remove the phone from her hand and run off to the toilet while I am in the middle of my business I hear her screaming.

L: Wei wei wei wei (looking for the phone)
Me: No No. You can't have the phone.
L: Screams, cries, yells, vomits.
Me: Keep quiet and close your eyes
L: Still screaming
Me: Stop it before I smack you! What do you want the phone for?
L: Screams even louder.
Me: SMACK!
L: Cries and looks for her papa
Me: I am telling you one last time keep quiet and go to sleep.
L: Sobs uncontrollably.
Me: SMACK! SMACK!

45 minutes later. Letitia is asleep and I am looking at her butt and rubbing it because I feel bad for smacking her.

Winner Letitia 3 Mummy 0

But I thank God everyday for giving me such a beautiful child.

UNFAIR!

Letitia will be turning two in about a months time.

Her grandpa, my father, is taking her to Hong Kong Disneyland!

All expense paid!

How unfair is that?

Her grandma, my mother, has already bought her a birthday present! A charmed bracelet!

How unfair is that?

They haven't bought me anything for my birthday in the last 20 years!

Anyway, having said all that. Dave and I will have to cough up our own travel expenses and tag along as porters carrying all the crap that Princess Letitia requires during her vacation. Diapers, milk, water, pillow, blanket, medication..... the never ending list...........

But the good news is......I get to off load her for half a day, everday, for 4 days. Ha! Which means I only need to be around during bed time to put her to sleep.

Looking forward to our annual family holiday!

Last year when we went to Phuket, Letitia was only 14 months old. I spent most of time in the hotel. She also didn't have a lot of teeth so I had to bring 3 days worth of baby food along. This time round she has most of her teeth, and I won't have to bring along all that food. I know it is going to be better already.

Choices

What kind of world do we live in? I was doing some research on pre-school programs that I can send Letitia.... But to my horror I am totally confused and horrified at the range of programs available for toddlers.

I have no idea what is going on out there. There are enrichment programs for almost everything under the blooming sun. Brain Stimulation where they teach 7 month old babies to read and talk. Programs that teach encyclopedic knowledge. Whatever that is?!

I mean this is ridiculous. I am determined to give my child a childhood that she can speak fondly off when she grows up. As much as I want her to have a head start in life I am not about to enrol her in programs that cost thousands of dollars so that she can read the alphabet earlier.

I remind her everyday that I all want is for her to be happy. For her to grow up a responsible and kind person. And that she may excel in anything that she chooses to do and be the successful in her own way by being at peace with herself. I don't want my child to grow up thinking that her value and success in life is measured by the amount of money she makes and by the car that she drives.

So Letitia baby. Enjoy life! Mummy will do whatever it takes to give you the best that money cannot buy.......A happy family that you can always count on and a loving home filled with warmth. Most importantly space and time to explore the world from the safety of my arms so that you can learn from your own experiences and make sense of this crazy world that we live in.

Airy Fairy FAT Fairy

Presenting Fairy Hair

Fairy & Her Wand

Fairy in Her Shoes

Our Chinese New Year

Check out my Chinese New Year Table setting... Not bad for first attempt!

We had a really good new year this year, other than eating too much junk. way too much rubbish...... but the really fun part was seeing my little one enjoying herself. She refused to let me throw away the box for the mandarin oranges. Because she says that it is a car and insisted on sitting in it. It eventually fell apart!

My baby in her CAR! vroomm.....

I also managed to get her in a dress 2 days in a row. Not an easy task, she is a super tomboy. I had to convince her that she looked really nice by taking a picture of her and showing it to her.

Oh yes and today I finally washed Bear Bear. My daughter's smelly companion. I had to get my parents to bring her toy shopping. She is still not home yet. Bear Bear is wet and hanging upside down at the moment. Hopefully she will not cry when she gets home and see her bear bear being hung upside down on a bamboo pole.

Sick sick sick

I am sick. Letitia is sick. Both of us have runny noses. I have no idea who gave it to who but I am miserable.

I am sleepy all the time and I have to deal with a whiny kid that wants to be carried 24-7.

Anyway Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone! Have a prosperous new year and don't eat too much pineapple tarts and bak kua. It will ALL go to your BUTT and THIGHS.

I am just hoping that we will both recover in time for the big day of visiting.

Valentine's Day

I personally don't believe in spending an arm and a leg on flowers and paying through your nose for dinners in restaurants. But I must say that all the "love" in the air is starting to rub off on me. The big bonus! This year I received my first piece of Tiffany jewelry! You have to start some where right! Every girl loves her bling bling.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Hubby, Dave, a happy Valentine's Day and thank you for being the BEST!

Update

We made it through the dinner and home in one piece. Everything went smoothly except for one thing. Letitia doesn't like my sister's husband! Every time she looks at him or if he looks at her she will get really upset. She didn't smile throughout dinner and she was not her usual self. She refuses to acknowledge even my sister. She usually clings on to her "yi yi" whenever "yi yi" was around.

You see its a really long story... but in a nutshell my brother-in-law is seldom around. So my daughter has only seen him thrice in her entire life. Anyway she was so upset at the sight of his face she'd rather sit there and sulk. Endless attempts by my parents to cheer her up failed miserably......

I have no idea why she doesn't like him, but you know how young children can sense a person's aura and I guess she just didn't like his for whatever reason.

Birthday Birthday and More Birthday

Last Sunday we went to Jayden's 1st birthday party some where in Changi. It was held in a rented bungalow along some road called Horseturn Road or something along those lines. After stuffing our faces with buffet food and chasing balloons around for about 3 hours Letitia started to look like a panda. She had missed her afternoon nap for this birthday party.

The strange thing is birthday parties are like wedding dinners. Everyone has the same do.....balloons...buffet...parents friends (cos babies don't have friends). Even the conversations don't change. So how? When you having another one........and at EVERY party that you go to you will ALWAYS meet someone....... who thinks that 3 kids is the magic number.

I met the mother of a 4 month old baby and she went off saying that she wanted at least 3 children and she is hoping to try for another one by March. I just stared at her and went,"Huh?" She continued,"If the mat's can do it, so can we....." Okay I never really thought of it that way. DUH!

Today is my mother's birthday and the entire family is going to so swanky restaurant in town to celebrate her big day. Happy Birthday Mom! Yes! Nice restaurants and 21 month old toddlers don't quite go together. So lets hope that Letitia decides to behave and not have a screaming fit or vomiting session because she doesn't want to sit at the table.