Ziv's Music Class Graduation

About two weeks ago, Kevin and I attended Ziv's Music Wonderland graduation at the Yamaha Music School.

We were extremely proud and impressed by our little boy. He played "Three Blind Mice" on his own and did not miss a beat.






Ziv will be proceeding to the next stage of the class, and he will be able to play a complete song by the end of next term. Looking forward to that. :)

Parent Volunteer (PV)

Never did I think that I will be volunteering for any of the reputable schools so that Z can gain entry to one without having to wait at the end of the queue.

But, but, I am having second thoughts now.

All because of AL, a few months ago, he informed us that a reputable neighbourhood school was accepting applications for PV, and he even printed out the application form for us. I gave him the deadpan expression, “Why do I have to do that?” And by the way, the school is also within a km from our house. Nevertheless, I filled up the form and dumped it in the car, went for my vacations and forgot about it completely. It was AL, who reminded us, to send it to the school.

Two weeks ago, AL received a letter from the school that informed them that their application did not get through, as for us, we didn’t get any respond. AL told us, we might stand a chance. My first reaction was, “The postman must be idling, although we lived in the same condo, still, mails do get lost, mysteriously.” I didn’t care much about, if-we-get-it. Days and weeks passed, still we did not hear from the school. And to speak the truth, inquisitiveness started to grow in us.

You know, it’s psychological – humans like the feeling of being superior to their peers and tend to yearn for things that others couldn’t get. And so being as human as possible, I found myself thinking, “Am I really so lucky? Or did my MIL actually passed my application to the school cleaner?” I mean, I didn’t even submit the application personally.

What is the possibility that we can get selected where there were thousands and thousands of applications and the school would shortlist only 20 odds applications? What made our application stands out? My picture? Just kidding.

So, that aside, what do I look for in a school?

• Convenient location – Z stays with the in-law after school, and so, the school must be stone throw away from my in law’s place and reasonable distance to our place.
  



• Reputable school – Do you assign your most convincing salesman to an outskirt and quiet shop, or do you assign him to the most vibrant shop in town? The answer is obvious, so I was thinking; do they allocate good teachers to reputable schools or the so-so schools? It looks like it is not a bad idea if I go for a more reputable school, isn’t it? They have an image to maintain.
  



• Stress level – In my opinion, good, and reputable school usually incite a lot of pressures to the students, and it makes perfect sense to do so. But knowing that education is not everything and does not determine the future, I am actually hoping that Z can mature and develop in a less stressful environment. Of course, as compared to a school in town, a neighbourhood school will definitely be the best bet. Since apart from results, you don’t have to compare about the amount of pocket money that you give to your children or the continental car you drive to send and pick up your children.

Initially, I hoped to send Z to an international school, thinking that interaction is actually very important at a young age, and I actually prefer to develop my son’s EQ than IQ at such young age. Which is why, I don’t send him to any extra classes, except for music. Mainly for character building, and introduce cultures to him.

However, I also understand that he might have problem catching up with the MOE syllabus if we decided to switch him back to government school after that.

As for the application, regardless of whether we are accepted, Kev and I will definitely take serious considerations before committing to the PV program. However, sometimes I wonder, what is the true meaning of volunteering? Now that it comes with a motive. And it is a shame that, some people volunteer for a hidden agenda, which entire defeats the meaning of volunteering. And I have to say, I am not that kind of people, and will never tolerate that.

On the other hand, being an active volunteer in the community, I do not mind adding one more volunteering job to my already-full plate. But, I will make sure that I am volunteering for the sake of the school, and not because I need a seat in the school.

I joked with Kev, if the chance of getting selected is as slim as winning a lottery, I rather I win a million-dollar lottery. That’s how much I love my son.

Stay tuned for the outcome.

The Past, The Future

Yesterday, I had a casual meet-up with two of my secondary school buddies. And we reminisced about our schooling days back in ASS, just like how guys hark back about their army days. The panoramic view of the city scene and the night sky of Singapore from Ku De Ta didn’t seem to catch much of our attention.

Those were the days, where we had great fun.

We chatted about our classmates, and how it turned out that our ‘predictions’ of their future didn’t seem to come true. Does it happen to you when you look at the top-in-class-guy and envisaged, “He will become the next President!”, “She is sure to earn big bucks!”, “He will be a very successful person!”?

We did.

And we were all wrong.

The plain Jane in our class got hitch a few years after graduation, making her the first to get married among the classmates.
The gorgeous girl who sat a few seats away from me is still single and unattached.
The outgoing girl whose table was often crowded with suitors recently went on a holiday trip alone and is also unattached.
The top-in-class-guy did not land in a money-spinning job.

I guess it might be too early to judge a person’s future by how well he or she score in the examination. Ten years down the pike, no one knows what will happen.

I remembered vividly that my mum incessantly compare my results with the children of her friends, and she would put me down for my poor results. Truth be told, time proved to my mum and I that, having a glorious past without the perseverance, luck and hard work in the future brings one to nowhere.

Of course, having said that, it doesn’t mean that education should come low on the totem pole. On the other hand, being top in class, or awarded with some the government awards or scholarships do not guarantee one a skyrocket career. Everyone still has to work on our fingers to the bone to achieve what we want.

I think everyone especially parents, including myself, have to constantly remind ourselves that we should not judge someone, and especially our own children and sigh, “He failed his English examination, he is going to be a rubbish collector in future.”

I know of a person who did not complete his ‘N’ level and yet earning more than a lawyer.

The past does not determine the future.

He wants to go Disneyland!

“I can see, I cannot go…” was what he lamented in front of a tour agent, as he held the Hong Kong Disneyland flyer in his tiny hand.

Kevin and I blushed. We were guilty. We visited the tour agencies for our Europe trip for Chinese New Year next year, we remembered nothing about the Disneyland promise which we made to the boy months ago. In fact, we didn’t really forget it, just that, we don’t see the need since he went to the Tokyo one briefly and he could not remember a thing, except for the exorbitant Tokyo Disneyland toy train which he refused to let go at the Disneyland store.

And yes, we heard him.

Kevin diligently went online and book us tickets to Disneyland next week! And he is heading to Disneyland with us despite of his busy schedule due to the festive season.
We are going to stay in the 5 –star Disneyland Hotel and I reminded Kevin that we HAVE to stay within Disneyland and NOT WANDER OUT of Disneyland to avoid all shopping temptations.

We have to be firm.

Now the problem is, we had a two-day pass for Disneyland and I wondered what we will be doing for the 3rd day, where we are going to have a whole day to ourselves, doing nothing.

We shall see.

The Barney Space Adventure Show

Yesterday was the long-awaited Barney Space Adventure show (to Ziv). Before the show, we went for dim sum buffet lunch with the in-law at Sze Chuan Court, Fairmount Hotel.

Forced Ziv to take a picture with me before the show.

We were seated 6th row from the stage and hence we got a good view of Barney and his friends. Ziv appeared to be very composed. He did not dance unruly or gone berserk at the sight of Barney, like the rest of the kids. While as for me, I yawned and yawned and yawned. I envied Kevin for being able to go to the Adidas warehouse sale.

After the show, we went to visit our ex neighbour and exchanged mooncakes. Ziv got a new story book from Trisha, how sweet.

A School Excursion to the Farm

Just before I left for HK/China. I managed to fulfill the role as a mother by bringing Ziv to a school excursion. I recalled vividly that it was pouring in the morning and I almost gave up by returning to bed. Kevin nagged at me all the way until I decided to wake up and go to the excursion. Lug my Speedy and overloaded it with lots of stuff, brolly, raincoat, wet tissues and whatnot (never took so many Ziv's stuff ever since he turned 1.)

As expected, we were 15 minutes late, and it was also foreseeable that the class would not leave the school so soon since it was raining. We had nothing much to do but stayed in class from 8am to about 915am. Nothing to do, so we took pictures. And I was famished that I sneakily took some of Ziv's biscuits to eat.


And finally, the rain stopped... Welcome to the Animal Farm. Geese...

Giant Rabbit.

Peacock?

I forgot what is this.

Spent $2 to buy some food for the animals. Ziv enjoyed feeding them. He was bold.

Horsey.

As a shifless mother, I decided not to venture too far because of the muddy ground. I turned back half way and convinced that it was not worth going down to see other animals. And I warned him that the geese were all wild and he might not like them.

The farm tour ended early. And so we took pictures and had fun making funny faces while waiting for Daddy to fetch us home.

What a Saturday!

It is really extremely rare that Kevin doesn't have to work on a Saturday, and it only happens once in a blue moon. I grabbed the opportunity to drag him out of the house to try out Epicurious. A place that I have been wanting to visit, for brunch. In fact, it is a toil and moil to introduce or sell a brand new brunch location to these two male, that's because, Kevin benchmarked every brunch with Jones, and Ziv on the other hand, is finical about the type of sausage he puts in his mouth.

I love going to Epicurious, and marked it as one of my fave haunt right now, because, those who patronize Epicurious are simple, cause they are mainly dressed in dishabille, very unlike of the crowd at Spruce. So, there is no pressure to put on makeup or dress well to be seen at Epicurious.

Today's brunch exceeded our expectation. Initially, we were pretty cheesed-off by their service attitude, first, they do not allow reservation, second, at the entrance, there was a sign that read something like this, "call Jasmine for a seat" and there was no sign of human standing at the door that looked like 'Jasmine'. I called up upon a male waiter and asked him, "Where is Jasmine?" He replied, "She is not here today."

HUH.

Anyway, he called the manager to get us a seat. The serving of the food was pretty slow, the drinks was served first followed by the food.

Here's what I ordered. Egg Benedicts. For whereever I go, I am sure to order Egg Benedicts because that looked more like a breakfast to me. The surprise that came long with the Egg Benedicts was the thin slice of watermelon. Better than nothing, at least, there was fruit.

I liked how it was cooked, especially the grilled potato with skin.


I specially ordered Choco-Nana for Ziv. It turned out that the finicky boy was more interested in the food on his Daddy's plate. The bread and sausages, as usual!

The Choco-Nana was sinfully delicious. Diced strawberries, banana slices, thick white bread and the generous spread of Nutella, H-E-A-V-E-N!! Since Ziv wasn't a bit interested, I ate it all by myself. I thought I gained a pound after putting this sinful piece in my tummy.

The contented boy, with bread in his mouth.

As usual, Kevin ordered his full breakfast set, completed with 3 slices of bread, 3 tiny sausages, bacon, baked beans, 2 sunny side up eggs, grilled potato and mushroom! I didn't realise that the breakfast had so much varieties until I typed it out. All in all, he was satisfied.

And that means, we can come back again!

Since the agenda was pretty empty for the day, I suggested to walk over to Medi-Ya to stock up my Japanese snacks drawer. I love going to Medi-Ya for obvious reason, I can't get enough of Japanese snacks and there can't be found even in the Japanese section in Cold Storage supermarket.

Ziv loves Japanese snacks too.

Because I wanted to build a pond in the balcony, so I suggested (again) to go Qian Hu. It was my 2nd time to the fish farm and each time, there was a surprise. I still remembered Kevin and I went to the fish spa last year and this time round with Ziv, long kang fishing.

It brought back many of Kevin's memories, he told me.

Anyway, he seemed to be the one who was more interested in the fishing than Ziv.

Ziv tried his luck on fishing...

We had a reasonable amount of fishes.

The fishes are now at home, I wonder how long will they survive in the hands of Ziv.

Today is really a fun-filled Saturday for us. I hope we can do this more often rather than just shopping.

Ziv sleeps on imported bed OK!

About a month ago, Kev and I were surfing Little Tikes website in search of a mini playground for Ziv so that he can have his very own fun corner on the roof terrace. And while browsing, we chanced upon the LT Thomas the Train bed.

Ziv’s eyes lit up instantly and he whined, “I want!! (x100 times)”

To save our ears from the nettlesome chanting, the next minute is all about fishing out our credit cards to purchase the bed online and at the same time, assured the boy that the bed will get to our house ‘in no time’. Bed was selected and credit card information was precisely populated onto the online form, next up, the shipping option. And guess what? There’s no option to choose to deliver to Singapore! What a downer!

A few days after the episode, Ziv tried to convinced us that the bed was available at local toy store and he said we can just go and buy. How I wish it can be this simple, and in fact, TT bed is not available in Singapore! Went to online forum to take part in spree, but the long waiting time is torturous to the boy and to our ears. And luckily, my brother-in-law E is a frequent flyer to USA, SF once every 2 months. So the next option will be for him to bring back the bed for us.

E went to SF 2 weeks ago and he purchased the bed online and it turned out that the size of the bed was too huge that we almost return the bed back to the Amazon. In fact, the package of the bed is way beyond the acceptable luggage size for airplane and the charge for such odd size luggage can be exorbitant especially they are charged by USD and the freight can cause 2 to 3 times more expensive than the bed itself. And to tell Ziv about this complication he doesn’t grok will not help in any way. So, Kev made the decision, to tell E to ship the bed back at ALL cost.

And yesterday was the arrival of the bed, the Heng entourage including a hyper bouncy boy arrived at the T3 Arrival Hall at midnight, waiting for E’s arrival. As we saw E putting the packages on the trolley, the fanatical boy couldn’t contain himself and there goes his chanting again, “Train bed! (x100 times)”

I brainwashed Kev that nothing is ‘more important than seeing your son so happy’ so that he could take the blow on the freight charge, and to our utter astonishment, there was NO CHARGE. I asked E how he did it, he nonchalantly replied, “I argued with the people at the airport.” Anyway, E has the capacity to argue with the people because he flew First Class or Business Class to SF about once every 2 months to meet his girlfriend and eventually he was made a super prestigious customer. Hence, whassup with excess luggage right?

Kev heaved a sigh of relief.

But E said this is the last time he will buy such a big item back to SG because he was perpetually stressed by two of us by msn and by phone! Haha.



What to do?
My life equation is simple,

My son is happy = I am happy

It would probably takes a while for our in-house assembler (aka Kev) to assemble the bed, so here’s a picture of the completed bed frame.

Everyday I Love You

Everyday I Love You -- Boyzone

I don't know but I believe
That some things are meant to be
And that you'll make a better me
Everyday I love you
I never thought that dreams came true
But you showed me that they do
You know that I learn somethng new
Everyday I love you
'Cos I believe that destiny
Is out of our control (don't you know that I do)
And you'll never live until you love
With all your heart and soul.
It's a touch when I feel bad
It's a smile when I get mad
All the little things I am
Everyday I love you
Everyday I love you boy
Everyday I love you
'Cos I believe that destiny
Is out of our control (don't you know that I do)
And you'll never live until you love
With all your heart and soul
If I asked would you say yes?
Together we're the very best
I know that I am truly blessed
Everyday I love you
And I'll give you my best
Everyday I love you

I have always think that it is impossible to love someone every day. Especially when they love you so much that they charge you for every lizard killed. And I never expect to turn my man into a better him because I never intervene with his late-nights out and his smoking habit until he changed it himself eventually (long ago). Because I think, if I ever changed him, he will no longer be the one whom I love.

But I agreed that we never live until we love quixotically…

Recently, I realized that I can love someone every day. I said ‘I Love You’ to this little man of mine for about 2-10 times a day, every day and am never sick of it, may I add. And last Saturday, I got the most amazing reply from him, “Love Mummy” is what he said to me. Although it is not a complete sentence, the 2 words sent me dumbfounded and melted for a good 5 seconds. I was deeply moved. I hugged my little man tightly and ran to Kevin to brag about it.

Don't Bite Me

Variety is a spice of life, and in our lives we enacted several roles, wear several hats.

And being a parent comes with a whole truck load of responsibilities. Responsibilities that I can never imagined.

When I got pregnant, I was anxious about Ziv in my tummy, especially his development.
When he came out of my tummy, I was anxious about his physical and mental developments.
When he starts going to school, I get anxious about his adaptability.

And sometimes, you find yourself in a pickle whereby you lost for words for incident like this.

The thing is Ziv has a classmate (gal) 'M' (for monster), she bit Ziv whenever she failed to snatch toys from him. To make the matter worse, Monster-Sore-Loser M did it twice! Damn! The first time I was pretty OK with it because there bound to be commotions when kids get-together. But the second time was a tad overboard. So I asked myself, "Do I want my son to be bullied or to be a bully?" or "Should I tell Ziv to beat M?"

I am apprehensive that he will turn out to be a disesteem bully that everyone loathes later on in his life if I tell him to hit M back. A young kid does not know where is the limit and telling him to hit M may cultivate the little bully in him. However, it is heart-trending to see teeth marks on his delicate tiny arm. I gave up thinking for a solution for this tricky situation.

However when Kevin cheekily told Ziv to hit M, he replied firmly,"NO!" He seemed to know the that beating others is wrong.

Maybe the dilemma is now resolved with Ziv's reply and I believed the boy resembles his Daddy more than anyone else. And definitely not me!

Sometimes I do hope that he can have part of my character so that he is able to protect himself in the future.

This week...

Time flies like an arrow, and before I know it, today’s already Friday. This week has been extremely eventful. First it was our new purchase and now there’s more…

• Ziv quitted from The Shichida Kindergarten. After an almost 5-page long complaint letter, we were allowed to immediately withdraw him from the school.
• We found Ziv a new kindergarten, pretty near to where we are staying right now and the future.
• Ziv went for his first lesson at St. Francis Xavier yesterday.
• After visiting several banks, we finally found a bank with reasonable interest rate and we have just settled on the bank loan. All I know is we signed on numerous pages and I have forgotten what I have signed up for...

I am looking forward for a relaxing weekend ahead.

Ziv loves his puzzles and about toilet training

I am not sure when it started, how it started, who cultivate that interest in him... Ziv simply loves to fix puzzles. He has this 10-piece puzzle given by my MIL and started messing around with the first one and soon, the following week, I am seeing him mixing 3 different sets of 10-piece puzzles together and fixing them all at the same time!

While he was doing that in utmost serious expession, Kevin and I stared in awe at our son. We have never see him wearing that kind of expression except while watching Hi-5. And we both know that our son has discovered yet another "passion" and as for us, we discovered another means of keeping him quiet for at least half an hour!

Anyway, Ziv takes his puzzle seriously and he sometimes enact the role of a 'teacher' when Kevin and I will act all 'stupid' and he will guide us on how to fix the puzzle step-by-step, thereafter, he will then proceed to remove it and expect us to do it after him. Sometimes its a funny sight to see him so devoted to his puzzle! Over the weekend, we bought him more simple puzzles and hopefully that by fixing puzzle will make him a more patient person just like his father.

In another separate news, as some may know that Ziv was toilet trained about 2 to 3 months ago, while we all think that we can save a great deal on diapers (you can ever imagine, trust me), however we now faced a comical problem, Ziv is very fascinated with the standing toilet bowl that he allegedly insists that he needs to pee about 4 times in an hour so that he can flush the toilet bowl. I started to get curious about the standing toilet bowl now...

Going to 2

Evidently, Ziv has grown from a 2.72kg/46cm tiny newborn to a 10.8kg/about 88cm toddler.

And markedly, Ziv has gone from ‘ah ah ah’ to ‘Daddy!’, ‘Cat’, ‘Dog’, “Hot!’ and more.

And exasperatingly, Ziv has gone from ‘watch-anything-you-want-me-to’ to demanding only Hi-5 is allowed on all TV screens at home.

With every of these little noticeable and unnoticeable milestones being achieve everyday, I almost forgot that the little one has grown-up, and a lot. And soon, he is 2.

Next Saturday, we will be holding his BBQ Birthday Party at East Coast or Pasir Ris (I’m not sure which one as of now even though chalet was booked) inviting only family members and relatives. Even though he is too young to be ebullient about it, while Daddy is sure the fervent one, booking venue, sifting food sources and also getting the piñata for the little one. The little one learnt about piñata from Hi-5. I am more finicky on cakes. So, why cake with an ‘s’? I planned to order 2-3 cakes so that I can taste a variety of them and not limiting to just chocolates ones.

Anyway, that’s not the vital thing on the list, this time round it was much easier for me, cause we are not preparing any baby food for baby guests, no goodies bags for kids and no deco for the day cause there is only laughter and more laughter on that day.

I couldn’t care more about the ‘terrible-2’ shibboleth and I know regardless of terrible or horrible or incorrigible-2 or 3 or 21, I will still love him. And it just keeps growing in me.

Toilet Training

…happening ONLY at wee hours.

Zivy loves to sleep naked or sometimes, semi naked, predominantly; he is fond of sleeping in his skimpy t-shirt and he calls that pyjamas. I have to make this really clear, before it gets too risqué, well, I don’t know where he got the genes from, both Kevin and I dislike, read: D-I-S-L-I-K-E to be wearing nothing for sleep. It is neither sexy nor kinky, I feel insecure having just birthday suite and the cover. Alright, stop delving into whys and more whys and before this post gets an R-rated rating.

Anyhow, all I can say is, Zivy’s liking is causing some serious pother in Kevin. He already had a tremendous hard time in cleaning Coby’s urine spots each time we return from outside, Coby’s way of showing his discontent.

Back to toilet training, we have been trying to toilet train the little rascal in the day, as it is definitely more feasible to do it in the day than night, in the day, once in a while, playfulness has gotten over him that he ‘let it out’ sometimes, the progress has been fantastic but we still do not really ‘trust’ him when he is out and about and especially when the lights are out.
However, yesterday was hilarious.

As usual, we let him sleep without the diaper and in the middle of the night, either one of us will wake up and put it on for him, but yesterday, he woke up and took it off again. And all of a sudden, there was a pat on my shoulder and I heard a weak, “Shh Shh. Shh Shh.” Kevin jumped up of bed and we thought, that’s it, we need to go through the CBS (change bed sheet) Operation again. To our surprised, Ziv didn’t pee on the sheet, but he was merely signally us to bring him to the loo. Catching each other’s glance in the dark, we swiftly carry the (still) closed eyes Zivy out of bed and to the toilet bowl. He let off and we heaved off a sigh of relief as well.

The saga ended, without Ziv knowing what had happened and resulted in two fretting parents smelling and touching the sheet for urine.

Upcoming news, My Mr Stolid is having his 30th birthday this Saturday, and as usual, being stolid about it, I hope that I will not be asked to go back to office for endless mind-numbing meetings and be able to push the boat out and have a really nice meal with him and Zivy.

40

40 is a scary number.

Not that I am approaching the big 4-0 (age) and not that I have a waist of 40 inch.

Ziv recently had fever which peaked at 40 Degree Celsius. Scared the shit out of us.
Went to KK A&E yet again on Thursday night followed by Mt Alvernia on Saturday afternoon, and we were all so busy and stressed out.

Reprimanded the nurses, ticked off doctors, admonished the in charge at Mt Alvernia, you don’t wanna know. One thing for sure, we are not ever going to private hospital, and for the fact that they aren’t as good as what they should be. I was trying to find time to write a complaint letter to the head of Mt Alvernia and the Medical Board.

When Ziv was having 40 Degree Celsius fever at night, he had feverish eyes, rashes on his face and etiolated body, what a heartrending sight. Sponging him and making him wail is always the last thing we want to do, but we have no choice.

Anyway, we met a really responsible and expensive paediatrician and he was so nice that he even called us up the following day to ask about Ziv. On Saturday, he advised us to admit him to the hospital after several tests, but we insisted on monitoring him until Sunday and we were glad that he heeded our decision and we were proven right not to admit Ziv because we understand that he is not exactly very sick but mainly because of the ‘torturous’ moments in the hospital that is making his condition worst.

Well, this time round we learnt something new. Ziv was actually suffering from fake measles, medical term, Roseola. With this incident, I told Kevin that I will give up my job and take care of
Ziv full time at home, anyway, the decision didn’t stay for long, was overwritten by my FIL and he advised that my MIL should quit her passion and take care of Ziv.

Either way, Kevin has temporarily withdrawn Ziv from childcare center for half a year so that we can slowly build up his immune system before he hit back to the center.

Having said that, I hope Ziv will be healthy again like he used to be. And I really wish, no more hospital trips in the wee hours.

Zivvvvv

When ‘V’ means some thing; at the back of the head. Ziv’s latest chichi haircut.

Am having a tough time to convince his Dad to adopt the same hairdo.

“Are you crazy?” he flatly replies.

Enacting As a Detective

It is 1130am, time to do the needful. Launch my Internet Explorer, punch the key. Alright, I’m on duty.

Call me Cel, Detective Cel.

Recently I was up for a mission, a mission to spy on my target while he is in the childcare centre. Ahh. The wonderous of technology, make spying so much hassle-free and definitely less arduous.

Thanks to the invention of webcam, and Cherie Hearts for the great idea.
Mummy, ahemm, I mean Detective like me, who is constantly thirsty for information about the target, has given up sitting on reeking and bleak corner to peer through a peephole with the size of a 5cent coin.

1. Anyway, the target has been doing pretty good in the childcare center and didn’t really cry when Kevin sends him there and we saw improvement in him.
2. He has learnt to feed himself.
3. Less picky about food, will eat whatever we give to him.
4. Able to finish all the food given to him.
5. Socialised with other kids mainly those older kids.
6. Learn to accept the fact that there are other adults in this world other than Mummy and Daddy, hence is less shy when facing them.
7. Not afraid of water when we bath him.

Some snapshots: (Can you spot Ziv?)

Answer Revealed: (Picture from first to last)

• Watching his peers eat from the left hand bottom corner of the picture.
• This one is pretty obvious, disturbing his teacher in pink.
• Playing with his teacher, seated on her lap.
• Probably crying in his teacher’s arms.
• Playing with older gals, he is dressed in white.
• ‘Talking’ to his teacher, he is dressed in white.
• Waiting for food to arrive, seated facing the webcam.
• Throwing tantrum and probably crying in his teacher’s arm.
• Eating alone, top left corner of the picture.
• Eating alone, top left corner of the picture.

Ziv is going to childcare center

Barney bag... checked!
Towel... checked!
Labeling machine... checked!
Lunch box... checked!

Last Friday was pretty eventful for me, went around and along Yio Chu Kang road for a suitable childcare for the little prince at home.

Kevin and I deemed that "its time" to bring our little prince to childcare center, hoping that he learns to be independent and get socialised. After haunting for almost the entire day, we still could not find THE right center, and finally, our last stop, we reached Cherie Hearts above Sheng Shiong supermarket at Serangoon North, we concurred that "this is it".

The environment is spick and span and even equiped with video camera that provides 'live' telecasts to parents, teachers are amicable, and is less crowded as compared to other popoular centers.

Immediately we paid the downpayment of around 2k and planned to start on 23rd Feb.

I hope our little shy prince is able to adapt to the environment. Unfortunately that I cannot be with him for the first day @ the center due to my work commitment. I hope to join him the day after.

Barney Invasion

The number of Barney merchandise in our abode has unknowingly proliferated over the past 10 months or so. We have Barney soft toys ranging from giant size to mini size, we have a collection of about 20 Barney VCDs, we have Barney dining set, we have Barney bolsters, we have Barney water bottle, which leaks forever, may I add.

Barney is filling up our spaces and appearing in every nook and cranny.

Living Room – Giant Barney
Bedrooms – All other Barney
VCDs – most widespread, permanently stuck to both of our DVDs players and car DVD player

We eat with Barney, drink with Barney and now I somehow start to smell like Barney!

All in all, I hereby announce, the invincible Barney has invaded our abode and also both of our cars. Well, that probably revealed the obsession of the little boy of our house. Ziv simply adore Barney, an ardent fan he is. Some may say, “How obsess can a kid get?” I can tell you, never underestimate kids. Cause I have experienced it.

There was once around 4am, Ziv woke me up, showed me his mini Barney and pointed to the TV set, obviously he WANTED Barney. Once we decided to give in to his request since he could not sleep, we turned on Barney and he watched from 630am to 8am. Both Kevin and I were soundly asleep during that period.

Scary isn’t it. Kevin always foolishly predicts, “I think Barney will control the world some day.” And I always refute that. “That only happens in Hollywood flicks!” I assured him.

Foolish as it may sound, well not until today, when I went to IMM to catch Barney performance and I thought, it might happen….

These kids really freaked me out! “Barney! Barney! Barney!” demanded an 8 year old boy who could not seem to wait for Barney to appear on stage. This was what happened today.

I brought Ziv to see Barney today, 4pm at the faraway estate in Singapore, Jurong – IMM. The journey is long enough for me to do pedicure and manicure and blow them dry! Anyway, when I reached the sky garden, I saw families gathering at the stage area, some even holding Barney soft toys. I whispered to Kevin, “This looked more like an autograph session of some famous celebrities!”

Kids wearing Barney shoes, tshirts, and the water bottles seemed to be the staple item for all! And Ziv has it. There was this photo taking session with Barney limited to only 30 lucky ones. When I reached the stage area about 30 minutes prior to the show (thanks to my “informant”, Emily) the queue already started to form and it seemed that even if I joined in the queue, I would never be within the 30 of them. Nevertheless, I still opted to join, I have been transformed into an infatuated fan and it reminded me of when I was a teenager, gaga over Edison Chen, queuing up for his signature.

In the midst of the ticket distribution, one mother in front of me left the queue, and guessed what?! I was the 30th lucky one! In the queue, I even contemplated to pass the ticket issuer a 100 dollar note to tell her, please let me take a picture with Barney. I admit that was absolutely insane. Can you imagine the look of the 31st mother? She was from China and before I could slot the money into the box, her hand emerged from behind and attempted to put her money in the box before I did. I gave her a “are you a moron” look cause what was the woman thinking? Slotting her money into the box will ensure her a ticket? Dream on, Freak!

I counted myself very lucky. Here are some pictures taken during the performance.

Kevin and I laughed at Ziv's hands. Haha... he is like an adult! We called it "concentrated hands".

Barney and gang.







The lucky 30th ticket!

The photo taken. Unfortunately Ziv is not looking at the camera. Must be too upclose and personal with his idols that he needed to double check on them.

How about a Barney ride after the show?

After the show, we left IMM and went to Hilltop for Teppanyaki. Ziv was exceptionally delighted probably because of the Barney show. He ate lots of salmon and rice and baby talked throughout shopping and meal times.

All smiles... after salmon and rice.