Attack Mommy!

Oliver now has learnt to play new tricks on us. Every night before bedtime, one of the games he loves to play is squatting at the foot of the bed, and then suddenly jumping up and trying to scare us. He's quite a funny boy and of course we always play along with him, pretending not to see where he is hiding and pretending to be scared by him. Other things he would do before bedtime is attack mommy (ie throwing himself on mommy's face), touching the blinds (when he knows I hate it), and throwing his friends like Mr Cape House and the yellow elephant out of the bed.

On top of that, he can also correctly point to things like the oven, sofa, TV, papa, washing machine, and papa's car when asked to by his mommy.

Oliver at Raffles Place

Now that Oliver can walk, he cannot sit still in his stroller for long. Boon Heng and I once again have to crack our brains to think of new places to bring Oliver to. The ideal place should have big space, sheltered from rain and sun, flat ground, not too crowded and nice scenery.

And the best place we can think so far is UOB building at Raffles Place. It has a big foyer which Oliver can wander around safely. The view of Singapore River bustling with boat activities, but not too packed with people at UOB.

The journey starts off with a MRT ride from Tanjong Pagar MRT station. Although Raffles MRT station is just one stop away, Oliver is very uncomfortable sharing his "space" with other MRT commuters. They are too close to him for comfort. Once we reach there, Oliver refuses to be held. His spirit runs wild. And we are simply exhausted catching up with him. After the walk, we strolled down the Singapore River.

Along the way, there is this sculpture which Oliver gets very fearful of. He also likes watching the junk boat cruising along the river.

One strange thing happens that day. We don't seem to be able to cross the bridge to the other side of the river. Halfway mark, the sky will start to pour and this happens not once, but twice.

We wait for the rain to subside so that we can continue our walk. But once we reach the bridge, it starts drizzling. Mmm.. we will try our luck crossing the bridge next time and see if it rains again.

Last Christmas

Merry Christmas 2007!

This is the second Christmas we spend with Oliver. Gosh, I can hardly recall how we spent the first Christmas together. I guess it could have been a busy period for us since Oliver was then only two months old. The only memory I have is probably coming to StarDuS with Oliver, all wrapped to celebrate Christmas with my folks from SDS. They were really sweet when they offered to help me carried Oliver so that I could eat "peacefully". Oliver was like the Star of the party. Everyone took picture with him.

Christmas this year is a busy one. Boon Heng and I have to work during the Christmas Eve. SDS organised a Christmas countdown party - Love is blind for 100 singles at Copthorne. Because we had to be away, Boon Heng's mum and sis came to our place to look after Oliver. It is really a blessing to have them around to take care of Oliver. Oliver kept them busy walking around the house. And he had been such an angel to finish his dinner and his milk feed without making a fuss. By the time I reached home at 2200, he was sound asleep and smelling like chickadee.

Next morning, Oliver wakes up at 7 am and the morning weather is looking really good. Hence to Bukit Timah Hill, we go. This is Oliver's 4th time up in Bukit Timah summit. He sleeps on his way up and has his lunch at the summit. He loves walking around. A few times, he pushes our hands away so that he can walk on his own independently. Guess not, Oliver is still not too ready.

Bukit Timah Climb

Christmas kiss for Mr Bear

Silent Night at Robertson Quay

with most party-goers celebrating Christmas the night before

Bottle and Oliver

Oliver at Jurong Bird Park

Oliver at Jurong Bird Park .. more pictures

Aviary

Fuji Hawk Show

Oliver's favourite - Rainbow Robssss

Oliver in a box

Del-Care kids carolling at Fuji-Xerox Towers

We miss the first performance on 19 Dec .

Fortunately, we reached there in time for the second performance on 21 Dec.

Carol and my two beautiful nieces, Vera and Vivian

Vivian feeling not too happy that she is the Christmas present.

Baby Raidon is 1

Oliver is the piglet (because of his rosy cheeks)

Alan is the Pooh bear (because he is the biggest among them)

Raidon is the Tige (because he looks strong and big for his age)

- Aileen's words -

I find this photo very funny. A heavily pregnant Aileen answering phone while we are all posing for pictures.

Oliver at Red Dot Museum

Feeling Top of the World

Oliver loves sitting high on shoulders, because he is "on the top of the world, looking down on creation and the only explanation I can find, is the love that I've found ever since you've been around. Your love put me at the top of the world."

Oh, what a wonderful creation you have created on your dad's hair.

Back in the pool

After a long break, Oliver was splashing about again. There was never a good time. Either Oliver was not feeling well or the sky looked bad. Oliver was back at the pool and feeling nothing short of excitement. I was lazy and gave myself excuse that I needed to prepare Oliver's dinner, but I was there too taking pictures of them both. = )

Can you spot Oliver's name in it?

I was quite impressed with the Christmas tree made by the infant care teachers. The leaves of the tree were actually cut-out handprints of all the babies and teachers in the school. On each leaf, the baby's name is also written on it. Can you spot Oliver's name?

Can you spot the missing faces?

This picture was taken on 23 November 2007.
This picture was taken today. Can you spot the missing faces?

Why my flat nose?

I think Oliver is starting to look very much like me, especially my flat nose. Gosh, I feel so sad for Oliver. Of all the things, he inherited my flat nose. I hope he doesn't inherit my hypersensitive nose that comes with sinus all year round. I find myself simply inconsolable whenever I think of it.

Hyperactive

A few teachers have told us before that Oliver is active and generally very responsive. But recently the comments have elevated to "hyper" and "very active" and "easily distracted". And coming from Siti, he must be really hyper recently. We really hope Oliver won't grow up to have ADHD.

Cover your ears in the lift...

because Oliver has recently taken to shouting really loudly, at cars and imaginery birds outside our windows and especially when he's in the lift. At first I thought he only did this when we are around, but yesterday he proved me wrong, as he was shouting and roaring even when a neighbour from the 6th floor was in the lift with us.

He has also taken many steps on his own over the weekend... as many as 15 at one time. YEAH!

Andy & Jess

Just realise that everyone in the picture is looking at us. Maybe Andy looks a bit like Eminem. Haha.

I have known Jess since December 2001 when we were watchmates at Outward Bound New Zealand. That seems like a long time ago. Anyway, Jess is the only watchmate whom I've kept in constant contact. We also got to know her husband Andy, and they Sophia, when we went over to NZ in 2005. They are such an amazing and funny couple that I always look forward to their visits.

This is the 3rd time that they were in Singapore, and the 1st time they've seen Oliver. This time round they were here with their students for a touch rugby competition at the American School. They are currently teaching at a school in the Philippines.

We only had a short time to catch up last Sunday and we brought them to Simply Bread. Oliver was in a good mood that day and made friends with Andy and Jess in no time.

Jess is also expecting and ETA is 1 April. Haha... I'm guessing a baby girl while Sophia thinks Jess will have a boy. We shall see.

"Bird"

Oliver was more aware of his surroundings. Whenever he saw the window opened, he would point to the trees, look at us excitedly and say "Bird". Although sometimes, I wondered if he really see bird after a night's experience with him. The night was dark and we could hardly see any bird except trees. Yet Oliver pointed at the trees with the same excited tone and called out "bird".

Prevenar

We are back in KKH again. This time, Oliver had his fourth and final jab for prevenar. He was no longer as blurred like last time. He seemed to be fully aware that he would be in for some pain. Even when I put him on the weighing scale, he had already started protesting. When the needle finally landed on his right thigh, poor oliver was tears all over. Once again, all eyes were on him when I walked out of the treatment room. He continued to wail non-stop until he spotted the lighted Christmas tree. No more jabs this year. Come February, we would be back at Outram Polyclinic for another MM jab. Oliver baby, you can take a break for now.

Eating very well in school

I gave up cooking dinner for Oliver after encountering many disastrous experiences . He was taking in half the amount of food I cooked ever since he recovered from his diarrhoea. Although the cost of dinner charged by the school was rather high at $5 per meal, it was well worth the money spent. Considering the hours I spent in marketing, cutting and chopping, washing and steaming just to cook a sumptuous meal for Oliver; and then the washing up (the high chair, the floor, utensils and oliver). Life is now such a breeze. I can spent more quality time with him.

First 5 steps

Oliver took his first 5 steps on his own over the weekend. Not once but twice, although the second time was a bit wobbly. And he can now climb up the bed and the sofa, so we have to constantly watch over him lest he falls over.

Come to think of it, we have been doing that ever since he has the walker.
He also said "bird" after us when he saw some mynahs at our office. So that's another milestone over the weekend.

Fussy

Having recovered from his bout of diarrhoea about a month ago, Oliver has since become a fussy boy with his food. No longer can he finish a whole tub of porridge like he used to, so Sophia has to think of new things to cook and new ways to cook them as well. Not only that, we have to coax and trick him just to eat a few mouthful. Most of the time her effort are just wasted as all the food usually end up on the floor and babychair.

We know that he has just got smarter or naughtier as the school has no problem feeding him at all. So that fussy boy really is just bullying us.

“I am a toddler, Hear Me ROAR”

How very true is this behaviour of Oliver these days. Oliver used to like clinging onto me, he is now exhibiting a need to be more independent. He spends longer time on his own and no longer need assuring voice from me when I walked away. Most of the time at home, he prefers to roam around our tiny 2-bedroom flat with the support of his lawnmower like walker.

Oliver is a very determined sort of baby. The negative name for this trait is stubbornness. Unfortunately, this trait runs in my family. I have not noticed it myself until my brother joked about it and my ex-boss Irene spoke to me to about my stubbornness some years back. Oliver will need to slowly learn how to deal with his stubbornness like I do for many years to come. For now, Oliver's extremism is slowly and surely manifesting. He refuses to let go of his spoon and insists on feeding on his own. This little toddler has so much strength that I have to struggle to take his spoon away from his tightly clenched fingers. When I finally managed to take it away, ROARs .. the showing of his primitive temper tantrums plus his inherited stubbornness. Yes, I agree totally. You ROAR!

zsxaxqxqX

First word slammed by Oliver in my computer keyboard – zsxaxqxqX.

What is Oliver's pick - Pen, Calculator or Money?

I nearly forget to blog in this little game most parents play with their baby on their first birthday. That is, placing of objects in front of the baby and observe what he will pick first.

We had a marker, calculator and a piece of $50-dollar note. Guess what he picked? He picked the pen first followed immediately by the calculator. We decided to try out again and Oliver still picked the pen and then the calculator, although the dollar note was placed in the middle of the pen and calculator. Could he be an accountant, teacher or even architect, or even just an office worker like us? To me, whatever Oliver will be is really not of utmost important, what matter is that he loves what he does. I hope Oliver will embrace his life with a positive and selfless attitude.

Ps and Bs

After a long period of babbling "pa pa" and "bear", Oliver started to say "ball". Got to wait much longer for him to call "mummy".

Oliver still cannot verbalise that he wants milk. Instead, he choose to crawl onto the bouncer or even resort to coughing to indicate that he wants his milk.

Siti's helicopter

Oliver is very lucky that he has Siti at Delcare who dotes on him. More often then not, when we fetch Oliver in the evening, Siti will be the one playing with him, which can be quite tiring as Oliver is really a reckless baby, and has recently taken to climbing and diving headlong into pillows or cushions. A look at his log sheet usually shows that Siti takes care of all of Oliver's feeding, diaper change, bath and naptime.

Oliver also knows how to manja with Siti, sometimes clinging on to her even when we are around.

On his birthday Oliver got a toy helicopter from Siti, which is really really sweet of her. I'm sure not all the babies have a guardian angel like Oliver does.

Celebrations and celebrations

One birthday celebration is not enough for Oliver. He is a popular baby blessed with a Kawai Japanese boy look. But that cute little baby face will soon change now that he turns 1.

21 November 2007 (Wednesday)
We bought a mini cake from Dome at Dempsey Hill to celebrate Oliver's birthday - Just the two of us with Oliver.
22 November 2007 (Thursday)
We brought Oliver to Changi Airport with his new tricycle. Not too successful with his attempt at the new tricycle, Oliver preferred to be carried by us. TIRED...

At night, we joined in Boon Heng's family dinner at BaliThai in Tampines Mall to celebrate his nephew's passing of PSLE. Lucky Oliver, another round of birthday celebration.

23 November 2007 (Friday)
Oliver celebrated his birthday with Nate in his school. It was quite a bad rush for all of us including the teachers there. Everyone was juggling with babies, cake and the fruit salad we prepared.
25 November 2007 (Sunday)
We were all set to lay our food on the picnic mat at Botanical Gardens when the sky started to pour. Hence, home sweet home we went and had another round of celebrations with my close friends.

Cake and more cakes

Centre Ps

Swensens

Four leaves

Dome Cafe

Home cooked from Jean