Last Christmas my wife made a special salad for dinner at our relatives place. It had red peppers and cucumbers and other fresh and delicious ingredients. It tasted really good.
I’ve since dubbed it my wife’s ‘Christmas salad’, here’s why:
• It’s got red and green colored ingredients in it.
• when you eat it, you want to say “Ho Ho Ho!” (good good good, in hokkien)
Isn’t that great? 
Time flies, with the wings of a crazy giant eagle which is actually crazily and scarily fast.
Already our little boy is 1 year old. Already he’s been through probably a thousand diapers and eaten tin after tin of milk powder. Already he’s starting to get mischievous and knows who he can bother for get away with it (his grandparents namely). Already he’s walking. Already he’s starting to communicate!
Soon he’ll be running, talking, learning, riding a bike, swimming, playing drums (or some other non-mainstream instrument) and then he’ll be in school, off to college, in the army, graduating and then out of the house! *gasps for breath* Okay that’s just an exaggeration but really…
It’s all happening so quickly!
I can’t even get my head around how small he was when he first came out. 
Before we knew it he was raising his head and crawling. At 4 months he had even worked out how to pose in front of the camera. (Radical!)
Now he’s up, walking, sitting in chairs, drinking milk, asking for food from the table (which warrants a whole separate post on it’s own) and starting toilet training. At 14 months. By the way, check out the hair…
Our journey as parents has just begun but already it’s like a huge sprint at the beginning of a marathon. And he’s been so adorable at times that it just makes you sit back and want to go *awwwww* all day long. Part of me wants there to be less changes, more stability more days of *awwwww* until I’m finally ready to move on because change is scary and well, different. Things that stay the same are predictable and I like predictable things.
Sadly he’s not an object but a real living breathing, growing and adapting human being. He’s going to want to keep learning and understanding his environment and we’re the best people for the job thanks to similar DNA and all the grace and wisdom from our God above. Lord knows we need all the help we can get.
I don’t want him to stop being the adorable and energetic little boy who greets me when I come back from a hard day of work. The little boy with the cute babbling voice that goes “Papa” as he grabs my knees. I want those days to stay because they really make my day. But that’s the sad truth of the matter. It’s not about me… it never was. It’s about him and the life he’s going to live and how he’s going to grow right into it.
And all I can lay claim to is that I was right there from the start.
I can’t stop him from growing up. I can’t stop him from doing all the things that will scare/shock/embarrass me over the years but I am glad that HY and I will be there for him to watch him, guide him and be there for him when he needs us. At the speed he’s going, he’s definitely going to need it.
I really can’t stand Singaporean drivers. Don’t get me wrong, I still think that they are better than Malaysian in regards to road manners (with probably the exception of taxis). But there is one thing that I cannot tolerate. Their use of hazard (or emergency) lights. It drives me mad! You know, that red button with a serious looking triangle on the front dashboard of your car?
Funny. Singapore is full of the latest trendy and new cars. So why so many are breaking down? The cars here must be very lousy. Either that, OR, the drivers here must be very lousy.
It appears that this unspoken ‘rule’ had been passed down for generations. Though it is not taught in driving schools, the newly graduated drivers miraculously attained that sacred knowledge long before they can parallel park. It seems that when one’s hazard lights are on, one is able to do anything without fear of reprisal. Nowadays, leaving one’s hazard lights on means you can park ANYWHERE at ANYTIME – there may not be anything particularly wrong with the car in question. One can nip into a nearby shop, by leaving hazard lights on while parked on a double yellow line, bus stop or in front of a fire hydrant. Alternatively one can pull over to the side of a busy road and stuck on their hazard lights to light their cigarette while holding a hot coffee in the other hand.
I even came across someone that suddenly decided to stop right in the middle of the road or intersection on their whims. Everyone else just has to painfully navigate around them. For whatever reasons, beats me, nobody honked. Not long after the car started moving off at an amazing leisurely speed as if nothing had happened. Not to mention with the hazard lights still on. No doubt the driver forgot to switch it off.
The ironic thing is that when they knowingly switch on their hazard lights, they are declaring ‘Hey I am a hazard to the oncoming traffic and I am doing it purposely’.
I learned that this culture probably stems, one from the ‘kiasu-ism’ attitude of Singaporeans, and two from imitating the buses and taxis. I have to defend the buses though. There are rules around the world that allows bus (especially those catered to transporting children) to use their hazard lights when stopping at designated bus stops to alert passing traffic of possible children crossing. Notice, first the designated area. Secondly it’s to protect as children tend to dash across the road without looking. As for taxis, they are just guilty and lousy drivers. So why copy them?
We used to laugh when we passed by those cars that had the hazard lights on. “There! One more lousy Singaporean car broke down – Oops now it’s restored. Miraculous!”. But the fact is, it is no laughing matter. Today as I was waiting to turn into a perpendicular road, an expensive Mercedes car was coming from the opposite direction at an annoyingly slow speed. Out of a sudden, the hazard light flashed on. Adapting a Singaporean mentality, I assumed that the car was slowing to stop before the intersection so I pull my car into the junction. Just then the car started to sway left and right. It surprised us but nevertheless, we safely crossed the T-junction as there was quite a distance between us. But imagine that poor fellow! His car WAS REALLY broken down but nobody knew whether to heed the hazard light seriously now.
Driving is something that should be taken very seriously. While many people knowingly and unknowingly violate road safety standards, they must understand that the rules and regulations are made for a reason. To protect drivers and pedestrian alike. And to make driving a more enjoyable and safe experience. Hazard lights are installed so that the four-simultaneously flashing lights attract attention to communicate a potential hazard for oncoming or passing traffic. It shouldn’t be abused for mundane and unimportant things on an individual’s whims. Recognition of its importance after an unfortunate accident happened, makes absolutely no sense.
I’m appalled at how most Singaporean has very indifferent attitude towards this issue. No doubt they are among the culprits who thrive on the ‘conveniences to self’. In fact we brought up this issue not too long ago in a conversation with a group and someone said, ‘I thought it’s the rule to do so’. How ignorant. I’m sorry, it’s not a rule. Neither is it the right thing to do. It is a very self-fish thing. Unfortunately, Singapore does not have any rule against it either. Otherwise, no one will be doing it in this ‘fine country’.
If Singapore is so with stringent rules – such as no pissing in elevators, shouldn’t they have also rules against hazard light abuse? After all, pissing on elevators only hurts your nose, but traffic hazards kill. If that didn’t work, just install a SUE equivalent and enforce the PAP concept.
(By the way, SUE stands for ‘Singapore Urinator Entrapper’ and PAP for ‘Pay and Pay’. Another thing that I ‘love’ about Singapore, acronyms for everything which I will save for my next post…)
This well written blog-article challenges the modern social views of motherhood. It stands true for me too in what I had been facing in my decision to be a stay-at-home mum.
Motherhood is all about self-sacrificial love. It is not easy. But when you give yourself up to your children, you will discover the joy and fulfillment that God has in store.
It’s amazing how fast baby grows. Ethan is now almost 9 months old. From a helpless newborn who can’t even do anything except sleep and suck, he now is so active that it’s tiring to constantly watch after him. He can cruise (i.e walk along a supportive edge e.g furnitures), climb stairs, open-close drawers (and get his fingers caught in the meantime), pulling at things and interact with others. Already sounds like a terrible-two! I can’t imagine how much worse he will be at that age. Even so, he is generally very sociable and easygoing baby. In fact, my mum was surprised how well behaved Ethan was when she came to visit last week. That makes me kinda proud.
Unfortunately Ethan had his first fever few days ago and broke out into rashes afterward. His first sickness and he had Roseola Infantum. Not bad as I expected him to fall sick much earlier. But it’s very trying when baby gets sick because he became irritable, lethargic and unhappy. That makes mummy and daddy irritable, lethargic and unhappy too!
Talking about lethargy, Sean’s been swamped and fighting fire for a few weeks now at work. The project he had been handling suddenly fell apart. He had been working hard and working late. A good thing that comes out of it is that he is learning a great deal and he finally has his boss attention.
As for me (HY), it had been 2 months since I quit my job as a doctor. Of course there are many disapproval from people around us, but we have our own reasons and priority. And it makes it harder that now we are financially tight with the new apartment that we bought. To help ease a bit I’m working part-time as a nursing lecturer/tutor. At the same time, I am trying to establish myself as a freelance children’s book illustrators. It proves not easy. But dreams are not easy to achieve in the first place, isn’t it? And dreams remain dreams if one doesn’t even try. I am truly blessed because I have a husband that supports me. And we trust that God has a plan for us and He will provide.
Oh yes, the apartment. We’ve placed a deposit for a HDB apartment in Clarence Ville. It is very expensive because of the prime location (near Sean’s parents home). However, there are not many options available in this area (an agreement between us). Nonetheless, we do like the place very much and are very excited about making it our own home. I’ve been pouring through interior design books ever since!
Alice Vincent, Wired UK:
Nails on a blackboard, sirens and heavy drilling: none come close to whining for being the most annoying sound, a study has suggested.
Who could have guessed?
Test subject : Sean’s family.
Noodles fly from Penang itself.
Verdict? – Success!
*happy*
Haha. I am bias. If you ask me who is the most handsome guy in the world, it will be my hubby and my son. Okay, that’s not really one but two. But i hope every wife and mother will be able to say the same thing about their love ones. After all beauty is not just from physical outlook but more importantly from within.
Anyway reason I post this is not to rave about my (one more time) two most ‘handsomest’ people, but to try out this wordpress apps from my new iPod touch. It’s a gift from my hubby so he can facetime me when I abandon him in Singapore to go home to Penang next week. I must say even though i criticise Mac, purely because Sean is a fanatic, I hate to admit it is a REALLY great gift. The best of all is I can finally use it along with my-super-huge-headphone-that-either-make-me-look-cool-or-stupid! Repeat again, DA BEST!!!
Up to a year ago all we noticed was that all of our friends were getting married. It was a relentless wave of wedding after wedding.
Now that tide seems to have ebbed just a bit and all we notice is that people are having baby after baby.
Guess it’s just a reflection of our own condition.
You get married and suddenly all you can think about is marriage and the state of being married. Have a baby and it’s all about raising children.
Our eyes and minds seem to be preoccupied by one thing at each time. After all God has noted that there are different times in our lives.
I’m so totally not looking forward to when I start noticing funerals all the time though.
When Ethan was still in the womb HY and I used to worry about him all the time. When he moved a lot we worried about that. When he didn’t move that worried us more.
After he was born the worries still continue.
Is he eating enough? Is he warm enough at night? Is he putting on/losing weight? Is he getting too spoilt? It’s an endless stream of concerns that (I dare say) most new parents feel.
Recently, while napping on grandma’s bed, he managed to break out from the wall of pillows surrounding him and end up on the floor, shocked but, other than a small bruise on his face, alright. He cried for a while but quickly went back to playing and laughing again.
We were all at home at the time and while grandma was clearly upset by what had happened HY and I were quite calm about it all.
(Even though HY has scared me with stories about babies coming to the clinic with cracked collarbones after falling from bed which scared me for a time)
HY did a quick check for any broken bones (there were none) and after that to stop him from crying we fed him some milk. It was reassuring to see him respond to his toys and start crawling again but all in all we managed that quite well.
Clearly we can’t be around to make sure he’s ok all the time and as this incident had revealed to us he was bound to hurt himself sooner or later.
Thank God he didn’t hurt himself this time though!
We can’t stop out little boy from being curious and exploring. That’s just not possible and we’d worry ourselves to death otherwise.
What this has proved though is that our little son is a lot tougher than I would have believed. He’s going to go through a lot of hard knocks in his life and I think God has equipped him physically just enough to cope.
Perhaps it is time to stop worrying and relax a bit? Then I’d only have to worry whether I’m being a bad parent or not. 
