on the FINAL day

Although suster and I thought that Caden had done a great job today at the Final round (or is it a bias perspective from Caden's supporters?? =p), Caden did not get chosen to be the top three babies for the Baby Pampers of the year contest.

So, like 13 other contestants, we received a consolation prize.
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Despite of that, I should give Caden a credit for being able to do well on stage, especially with the dancing that he did. That stage and the many many spectators gives me (and even suster) a chill!!

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This kind of event is good for Caden to boost his confidence level. As for my side, I would keep encouraging him not to be scared to be on stage and do his very best up there, and whatever the outcome will be, mommy will always be on his side.

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PS: We brought our camera today!! Very similar thing happen on Friday, it's just instead of given consolation prize, we got a letter that congratulate us to be in the Final round and to come back on Sunday.

We got into Final...!!

A few months ago, mommy sent Caden’s picture to Motherhood magazine and Caden was selected to be one of the ten pampers babies in the month of March 2008.

Then, we have to attend the contest which was held today at 2pm, complete with Judges (3 of them), a stage, and a whole lot of crowds.

I should say that Caden did a great job considering this was his first time to be in a so high up stage (the stage was as tall as me!!). My heart was pumping was, though.

Unfortunately, suster and I thought that we forgot to bring the camera with us (I was so mad at myself). But when we could not find it at home, I realized that I had left it in a car!!! *more mad!!*

Anyway, so here we were, taking pictures at our garage!!! ;)

But, I was glad that Caden is gotten into the Final round (we have to show up again on Sunday). Although he might not get it to the top three (I hope he will, though ^_^), at least we still able to take pictures of him on the stage. Hehe…

When Daddy is at home

How nice it is to have Daddy for one whole week at home. Daddy was supposed to go to Jakarta but the project got cancelled at the last minute. So this week was suppose to be a transition week for him

With not much work has to be done at the Singapore office, daddy could come home early or went to the office at later hours. Basically, Caden (and mommy) has much of daddy's attention this week.

Butt....after this week, daddy's project will be in Dubai. With the time difference, the 8 hours of flight, and Sundays working day (but not on Fridays), daddy will only be in Singapore from Friday morning until Saturday night. :(

and that's not all....for the next 1.5 - 2 months, daddy would only be here every other week. So in 14 days, Caden would only meet daddy for 2 days?? *mommy shaking head for 5 minutes*

Jurong Bird Park

from grocery shopping

We came back from grocery shopping today and Caden insisted to help us carry the cooking oil.

Thank you, honeyy...!!

PS: At first, we thought it was too heavy for him, but apparently not! He could lift it up very easily and brought it all the way to our kitchen.

at a friend's house

We went to a friend's house this morning. Caden's friend, Noah, had just have a baby brother named Johan two weeks ago.

Caden and Noah had fun playing (and fighting toys, claiming that those are theirs).

Noah had this very interesting Thomas the Train toys that will move in our direction if we blow a whistle. Both of them are blowing whistles and confusing Thomas as to which way to go.

Zoo with friends

raining off and on!! *not good* but it's fun to go out with other little friends together!!
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If only the weather was on our side! :(

First Experience: Shooting!

Mommy and Caden were selected to shoot for Singapore Scouts Organization advertisement.

[When we did the audition for this about a week ago, the person asked me if I am interested in joining Caden – if he gets selected – to do the shooting as he would react much better with me, other than a stranger]

So here we were at Henderson Waves Bridge. And was make it even more meaningful is that, the security guard said that we were the first person to do a shooting there…. Yes there were some photographers but not shooting.

Caden was calm and nice towards the 2 hours shooting. I was so happy!! The most important thing for me is that, Caden enjoy his whole time there.

It was hot at 2 pm but the (maybe) because we were so high up, the breeze was so nice.

Basically what we have to do was walking around the specific part of the bridge and enjoy the scenery together and suddenly it was raining, so I have to open up my white umbrella and continue enjoying the scenery.

It was a very interesting experience for us. I now kind of know what shooting is like. We have with us the director, the make up artist (who was doing my face and my hair and patting my face when there was sweat on my face --- this was so cool… I feel like I was a big movie star), the lighting people, the one who is handling Caden and my outfit, etc -- basically, a full crew.

They even cover our head with a big board (cos it was so hott!) while we were waiting for the director to say “ACTION”, then we could rest when he said “CUT”. Hehe… just like in movies….

20 Months

So….he is turning 20 months old today!

He is able to talk now A LOT! But he most of the time, he could only say the last sound of every word. Example, “basah” (wet) = “sah” , “tissue” = “sue” , “panda” = “da” , “piano” = “no”

Besides “MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY!!”, his second favorite word is NO!

Mommy: “Caden want to eat?”
Caden: "NO”
Mommy: “Caden want to sleep?”
Caden: “NO NO NO!”
Mommy: “Let’s wash your hands!”
Caden: “NO!”
Mommy: “Caden want to play?”
Caden: “NO!” (but he goes straight to his toys)
Mommy: “Caden want to swim?”
Caden: “NO!” (this is a total lie, he loves to swim)

*sigh*

Well, at least he is speaking now! I should be glad, I think he is a little behind in this, but I can see that he will grow up to be a very talkative and expressive kid.

I took him to Fidgets today, a new indoor playground located at Turf City. It’s a good place to play for rainy and unexpected weather like this few days. It was huge, big and clean. Caden loves it. He ran everywhere inside and fell asleep soon after we reach home.

But the thing that I don’t like about this place is, the corridor outside the playground is very dirty!! The lift to go up and down is the same lift as the lift to carry rubbish. And the smell of it + the smell of cigarettes …oh my gosh, it’s indescribable!

We should take escalator the next time we come here. Although it’s farther but at least not as smelly as the lift!

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PS: We went back to our home today! It's all fixed now! Thanks GOD!

First Experience: at a Car Wash

I brought him to a Car Wash place today. Almost all the time when I do this, Caden would be soundly asleep at home, after school.

Now, since he is on holiday and has so much extra time, I took him here for his first experience at a Car Wash.

He looked curious when the car was being wash down by the water, covered with soap (in pictures) and then being wiped down after that!

sort of a vacation...

Ok! So the Air-Con problem turns out to be a very serious problem --- it comes from the source of the circuit and it affects a few units at our condo. Though they are trying to fix the problem ASAP, they said that they are able to fix it on Monday.

So we checked in into hotel on Monday late-afternoon for the sake of Caden. Since he is very active and the weather has been SUPER HOT, he has been perspiring so much!! I am sure he would not able to have a good night sleep in this kind of weather.

Worst is, by Tuesday, they turn off all our electricity for almost the whole day; I couldn’t even call out using our land line, as the electricity has been cut off.

We checked in into Goodwood Park Hotel for 1 day and then Hilton for another day.

[PS: don’t ever stay at Goodwood Park hotel!! Hilton was much much better in terms of everything; the room, the service, etc, and cost $50 less]

We mostly sleep at the hotel only at night, nap times I brought him out to sleep at Malls; Takashimaya and I-Setan. Although his nap times are much short in time, it’s easier for him to sleep in his stroller while I walked around the mall rather than at a new environment at the hotel.

Although we stay at hotel, other than sleeping and bathing (as we have no heater for the water), pretty much we still do everything at home. So we have to come back and forth all the time! It was so tiring for suster and I.

From this, I learn that, Caden is not rejecting his stroller anymore. In fact, if it is his nap time, he will fall asleep quite fast, provided we walk around all the time.

I should bring his stroller everywhere now! He is getting too big and too heavy to be carried around all the time.

@ National Museum

A lot of things happenings at National Museum today! So many people and so many activities -- and quite a few of them are free.

Caden had fun exploring. The one thing that catch his attention the most is the red color moving chandelier (far right photo) in the museum lobby.

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It's so nice to be out from home today, as our Air-con has not been cool (read: no Air-con) since yesterday morning. Not too sure why, but an Air-con repair man will come this afternoon. I am hoping they will be done before the end of the day.

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Sleeping (afternoon nap or at night) without Air-con was very difficult for us, especially in this super hot weather.

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I took Caden to Takashimaya after the museum, thinking that it's better to sleep for a while in an air conditioned place, rather than struggling to sleep at home. As he was so tired from the excitement in the museum, Caden was able to sleep at the mall, for the first time, in his stroller, only a few minutes after he finished his milk.

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Though it last only for 45 minutes, I am so happy that at least he has some sleep and I know he would appreciate this better -- compared to: I forced him to sleep at home (with no Air-con) for longer hours. I think it's impossible!!

Happy Birthday to daddy...

We didn't go somewhere special today. Just the regular thing that we do every Sundays, Church!

But I want us to have a celebration for birthdays -- not matter how small the celebration will be.

So, here we were, at home, singing "Happy Birthday to daddy" (Caden was excitedly pointing at daddy all the time), blowing the candle and cutting the cake together.

Happy birthday daddy! Hope you will love us even more for the years to come!

Lego

I went to Takashimaya yesterday and bought some character Lego for Caden (not just the colorful blocks -- he has those already). In this pictures, he was playing with some animal from the Zoo.

Of course Caden didn't built the whole Zoo building, daddy did. But I can see that he enjoys it more with the Zebras, Crocodile, Monkey, Car/truck Lego on hand.

I even think of buying some more of it. I think Lego are good in developing patience, imagination, creativity, and most of all concentration!! Yup, Caden definately need to love the Lego.

Last day of Term 2 - Mandarin Class

helmet

I have been trying to tell Caden to wear his helmet every time he is on his bike. But it was always a struggle, until a few days ago. He suddenly agreed to use it.

I am so happy that my effort of showing him pictures of people who use bikes with helmet (of course not the ones that are not!!), and showing him the children downstairs or at the park who are wearing helmet while biking --- are actually works!!

I truly believe kids just need some explanation of things, just like adults! ^_^

Singapore Scout Organization

Not sure why Singapore Scout Organization need Caden for their advertisement. Anyway, we were here today at 4pm for their audition.

This one, unlike the first one, Caden had done a good job!

PS: this is our third audition and none of it give him a job so far. hehe...

up close and personal with Kangaroos

Caden even tried the container which the brought the Kangaroos to Singapore from Australia. hehe...

Family outing

It is very hard to have a family (outdoor) outing for us. First, Paul has to travel everyday from Monday to Friday, that most of the time he spends in Singapore, he would prefer it to be at home. Second, Paul is not an outdoor guy at all, he hates the sun.

A typical weekends for us are, lunch on Saturdays (in a mall) and Church on Sundays.

But since Paul is going to be in Singapore for this week (only!), and since today is a Vesak Day holiday, we agreed to go out somewhere, outdoor, as a family. *I was so happy*

So we went early from home, at 8am. I thought looking for parking would be very hard later on in the day and also, it’s going to be so hot closer to the afternoon.

We arrived at about 8.30am, and it was packed already! Lots of people were camping throughout the weekends and the early rising people had arrived hours earlier. But we still managed to find parking quite fast and the beach was pretty much empty.

Caden played with the waves for the first time. He was scared at first but soon fascinated with the low tide and high tide water that kept brushing his legs and thigh area.

He played with the sand, too. I thought he is going to get annoyed by the texture of the sand on his feet and hands. But apparently, he was not!! He seemed to enjoy his sand play time today!

[He has changed so much about touching and feeling things that seems dirty and uncomfortable. He was not even wanted to try to touch finger paint at school, or he would scream for us to wipe his hand because there was one tiny rice on his palm.]

Then we rent bikes! – one big one for me and one small one for Caden. Well, he couldn’t really pedal the bike yet. We are still in the process of teaching him. I can see that he understand my instructions that he is suppose to push the pedal forward but somehow, he still couldn’t give the right instructions to his legs yet. I know it will take some time, and I will give all the time that he needs.

Last but not least, Paul and I are hungry! So we went for breakfast at McDonalds. I bought a Big Breakfast meal for Paul and pancake Happy Meal for Caden, but instead, he asked for the Big Breakfast egg. And he ate almost the entire portion!

We went home at around 10.30am. Just in time to reach home for Caden’s nap (after a clean nice warm bath of course).

Hm…I think we should do this more often…but not sure if Paul will agree about this…

hei!!!

"Someone was trying to get my royal crown away!!!"

--- At Sunday School birthday party ---