It surprised us too.
He can now:
No no
No More
Oh where
Amen (this happened only once but it was loud and clear, following our closure to thanksgiving at a meal)
He can also call hobbes "yee" and derod's brother "pek".
Friday, February 22, 2008
Happy 1st Birthday Gabriel
Gabriel celebrated his lunar birthday with his paternal family at his great-grandfather's, with two second cousins cheering him on as he makes his first debut with a cake.
As for his actual birth-day (or one day before, actually), it was around his maternal family on home ground.
Mui Por and Beng Gong were the first guests to arrive and to leave, so they got to take a picture with gabe while he was having his dinner.
How Boy Gong looks like with two chidren.
Auntie Nikki about to demonstrate the forward roll. Gabe craning for a better view. Hobbes launched into protective mode.
Paparazzi alert! Instinct: duck!
The cake. Its props were much coveted by the two second cousins. The actual theme of the cake was supposed to be "buses and balls" but the baker couldn't find a safe bus to put on the edible so it was substituted with cars.
Clapping along while the "happy birthday" chorus was going on.
Parents look happy. Kiddo looks ... "duh???"
Mother-and-baby shot
Gabe with his grandparents
All dressed up and ready for bed. Looks like he must have had a happy evening.
18th February 2008. Actual birth-day.
Giving a pretty serious expression posing with waigong's gift.
The loot. Gabe doing the "hallelujah!".
Eh, machiam harley davidson lei.
The door gifts of chocolate and mixed nuts. The mother completely forgot to distribute them until the last of her guests were out the door. Apologies! Will pass them to you when we next meet. No worries, they are all sealed packed and come with expiry dates. Picture compliments from The Indianboyfriend.
As for his actual birth-day (or one day before, actually), it was around his maternal family on home ground.
Mui Por and Beng Gong were the first guests to arrive and to leave, so they got to take a picture with gabe while he was having his dinner.
How Boy Gong looks like with two chidren.
Auntie Nikki about to demonstrate the forward roll. Gabe craning for a better view. Hobbes launched into protective mode.
Paparazzi alert! Instinct: duck!
The cake. Its props were much coveted by the two second cousins. The actual theme of the cake was supposed to be "buses and balls" but the baker couldn't find a safe bus to put on the edible so it was substituted with cars.
Clapping along while the "happy birthday" chorus was going on.
Parents look happy. Kiddo looks ... "duh???"
Mother-and-baby shot
Gabe with his grandparents
All dressed up and ready for bed. Looks like he must have had a happy evening.
18th February 2008. Actual birth-day. Giving a pretty serious expression posing with waigong's gift.
The loot. Gabe doing the "hallelujah!".
Eh, machiam harley davidson lei.
The door gifts of chocolate and mixed nuts. The mother completely forgot to distribute them until the last of her guests were out the door. Apologies! Will pass them to you when we next meet. No worries, they are all sealed packed and come with expiry dates. Picture compliments from The Indianboyfriend.Monday, February 11, 2008
CNY Family Pictures
Gabe doing the gongxi gongxi action.
At gabe's dua pek gong's place, where family portraits are taken on the same chair with the same background every year.
"Wait a moment... I'm not ready"
Gabe does his gongxi action, reaches out for ang pows, throws them on the floor and sucks his fingers. Yucks.New Partner. New Set of Wheels.
Gabe and Uncle Etphonehome have forged a new partnership in transportation. Gabe sits on his lap and they go for short joy rides. Shiok right, especially when derod's the one pushing them around. It came to a point when gabe would declare "dai dai!" when they were in motion.
Brotherhood of the new transportation.
Day 1
Day 3
Brotherhood of the new transportation.
Day 1
Day 3Gabe's 1st CNY
It's really his 2nd CNY since he was around last year, though we were not exactly in celebration mode. But well, you get what I mean.
It was a chaotic four days worth of being around relatives, visiting, eating, getting in and out of the car we borrowed from derod's father, eating and needless to say, the giving and finally receiving of ang pows. That's not inclusive of the additional logistics we had to lug around for gabe: change of clothes, diapers, food, milk, water; a total of a small handbag for me, two exploding ones for him, the camera bag, and the bags of mandarin oranges. Oh, and the constant managing of his requests for "maam maam", grouchy behaviour due to lack of proper naps and stranger anxiety.
But all in all, it was fun. Some snippets of the whirlwind for your viewing pleasure.
One of the first few stops on Day 1: tai gong's place. Four generations of the Tan family.
Attempt #1 at "portraits of the second cousins". Featuring Gabe and Joab struggling to get off the couch.
Shogun traveled through time. Not Hiro Nakamura.
Shogun having his dinner. Pose and attitude are there. Pity he needs a bib.
How gabe looks like half the time at his maternal family gatherings. Picture compliments of WP.
How I look like with a brood of kids. *Shudder*. *Double shudder*
Actually, it's just driven by the impossibility of a "portrait of the second cousins" without assistance.
With the brothers Lim.
Gabe in dino outfit. Thanks auntie sunshineinmysoul!
Seems he keeps appearing in ancient modes: shogun, dino... ... ...
Etphonehome's mum joins in the fun
Naps were taken either in the car seat or as seen above.
No prizes for guessing who got him the outfit.
Puma shoes with cheena chong cheng outfit. No wonder he looks so chow been.
Awwwwww.... gabe entertained by ethan gor gor jumping up and down with some jibberish song
FINALLY! But one's missing. Nevertheless, finally.
I wondered aloud to derod whether gabe would suffer from withdrawal symptoms after four days of play, and I think I got my answer when gabe woke me up this morning.
The first thing he said to me, aside from calling mama a few times, was, "Mama, bao (carry). Mama, dai dai. Mama, dai dai. Mama, dai dai."
* dai dai is an attempt at gai gai, which means to go out.
It was a chaotic four days worth of being around relatives, visiting, eating, getting in and out of the car we borrowed from derod's father, eating and needless to say, the giving and finally receiving of ang pows. That's not inclusive of the additional logistics we had to lug around for gabe: change of clothes, diapers, food, milk, water; a total of a small handbag for me, two exploding ones for him, the camera bag, and the bags of mandarin oranges. Oh, and the constant managing of his requests for "maam maam", grouchy behaviour due to lack of proper naps and stranger anxiety.
But all in all, it was fun. Some snippets of the whirlwind for your viewing pleasure.
One of the first few stops on Day 1: tai gong's place. Four generations of the Tan family.
Attempt #1 at "portraits of the second cousins". Featuring Gabe and Joab struggling to get off the couch.
Shogun traveled through time. Not Hiro Nakamura.
Shogun having his dinner. Pose and attitude are there. Pity he needs a bib.
How gabe looks like half the time at his maternal family gatherings. Picture compliments of WP.
How I look like with a brood of kids. *Shudder*. *Double shudder*Actually, it's just driven by the impossibility of a "portrait of the second cousins" without assistance.
With the brothers Lim. 
Gabe in dino outfit. Thanks auntie sunshineinmysoul!Seems he keeps appearing in ancient modes: shogun, dino... ... ...
Etphonehome's mum joins in the fun
Naps were taken either in the car seat or as seen above. 
No prizes for guessing who got him the outfit. Puma shoes with cheena chong cheng outfit. No wonder he looks so chow been.
Awwwwww.... gabe entertained by ethan gor gor jumping up and down with some jibberish song 
FINALLY! But one's missing. Nevertheless, finally.I wondered aloud to derod whether gabe would suffer from withdrawal symptoms after four days of play, and I think I got my answer when gabe woke me up this morning.
The first thing he said to me, aside from calling mama a few times, was, "Mama, bao (carry). Mama, dai dai. Mama, dai dai. Mama, dai dai."
* dai dai is an attempt at gai gai, which means to go out.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Growing So Quickly
As with a child this age, Gabe has been showing much quirkiness in his behaviour that I'm unable to capture in photos or video. It's mostly due to spontaneity; it just happens and it happens so quickly. Otherwise it's because he's learned to be camera-conscious (fyi, in Japan, he'd give a forceful smile every time he's in front of the camera). So I figured writing about it would be the alternative.
Walker
While other kids go for their plastic walkers, our friend goes for our papa-san chair and his cot! He'd try his best to push it forward and pull it back but always ends up doing more of a taichi style maneuver.
Flipping the Board Books
It started one day when I found gabe sitting unusually quietly at a corner with his Bible Board Book and to my amazement, was flipping the pages in the correct right-to-left direction, sieving them with this thumb! He'd patiently ensure that one page is flipped at a time and could sit there for about 15 to 20 minutes straight. But that was a few weeks ago. The novelty's now gone and the skill's more honed, so the book will probably occupy him for a few minutes tops.
Bus-Watching
Still the favourite. With the increased mobility, he'll crawl over to the windows, climb up to standing position, cruise along and back the length of the windows, and yell "ba!" like maybe 40 times a day.
Bird-Watching
Add that to cat-watching, dog-watching, fish-watching... you get the idea. Helps that he can say "bur", something like "mao", "derr" for dog and phoo-sounds for fish.
Body Parts
He can now identify the bellybutton (baby's, mummy's and papa's) and his ears. Can't seem to show us the rest... yet.
Communicate
He'd tug at his grandparents' clothes and yell "dai dai" to get them to take him out for a walk. He'll make grunting sounds or just sound really pitiful to get us to stop being distracted and feed him his next spoonful of food. He tells us "lie lie" in the car and we look around and find some blinking or dangling light decorations.
Walker
While other kids go for their plastic walkers, our friend goes for our papa-san chair and his cot! He'd try his best to push it forward and pull it back but always ends up doing more of a taichi style maneuver.
Flipping the Board Books
It started one day when I found gabe sitting unusually quietly at a corner with his Bible Board Book and to my amazement, was flipping the pages in the correct right-to-left direction, sieving them with this thumb! He'd patiently ensure that one page is flipped at a time and could sit there for about 15 to 20 minutes straight. But that was a few weeks ago. The novelty's now gone and the skill's more honed, so the book will probably occupy him for a few minutes tops.
Bus-Watching
Still the favourite. With the increased mobility, he'll crawl over to the windows, climb up to standing position, cruise along and back the length of the windows, and yell "ba!" like maybe 40 times a day.
Bird-Watching
Add that to cat-watching, dog-watching, fish-watching... you get the idea. Helps that he can say "bur", something like "mao", "derr" for dog and phoo-sounds for fish.
Body Parts
He can now identify the bellybutton (baby's, mummy's and papa's) and his ears. Can't seem to show us the rest... yet.
Communicate
He'd tug at his grandparents' clothes and yell "dai dai" to get them to take him out for a walk. He'll make grunting sounds or just sound really pitiful to get us to stop being distracted and feed him his next spoonful of food. He tells us "lie lie" in the car and we look around and find some blinking or dangling light decorations.
Noah's Ark
Honestly, I do wonder what goes on in derod's brain. The churning mechanisms don't seem to function the same way as other normal human beings.
You see, he was playing with gabe the other day and declared to me that a pair of animals in this particular set of wooden blocks is gay. And he didn't mean the happy sort of gay. My eyes widened, jaw dropped and I couldn't for the life of me fathom how on earth he could arrive at that conclusion with children's toys!
Then upon closer examination, I had to admit he did have some point. But I still refused to go to the point of using that description on my son's toys. And I do wonder what the clockworks are like inside him to notice such, shall I be nice and say, details...
Monday, February 4, 2008
The Evolution of Parenthood: Cheoklet Evaluated
Karen Cheng recently put up a post on her blog, listing the different reactions of parents to their 1st, 2nd and 3rd kids. I laughed, blinked twice, winced a little and realised I'm really not a typical parent.
Your Clothes
I wore my regular clothes for as long as possible. 90% of my maternity clothes were hand me downs, and were in extremely good condition I might add.
The Baby's Name
Derod and I spent more time laughing and mulling over what we should not name our baby (his surname is Tan and various combinations could well be suicidal to the kiddo). Otherwise, I did the usual flipping of the baby-names book. I'm normal here.
Preparing for the Birth
I didn't practise breathing but the hee-hee-has came in real handy during the terrible 20 hours without epidural. I'd wanted to go all natural but to do so with a 35-hour labour is just nuts. I'll still want to try to go all natural if #2 comes along.
The Layette
I'm a combination of all three as a first time parent! But I did them in this order: I checked that all the clothes (new and hand-me-downs) are clean, pre-washed them and folded them neatly in the new set of drawers we bought from Ikea. I didn't sift out the pinks; I didn't get any pinks. In fact, my mother had to resift the clothes to pick out those with stains. I didn't see any problems with stains back then, but now I do *grin*.
Pacifier
This applies to toys gabe chews on too. I'm a combination of #2 and #3, except it's water I use instead of juice. But if the floor's really dirty, like in the hawker centre, it gets a rinse under the tap.
Diapering
Gabe gets changed once he was wet, when he was on cloth diapers. That's cos he'd scream the house down if it is not done immediately. But once the confinement lady left and he was switched to disposable diapers, it was changed every three hours except for poo poo incidents. Now, hmmm... I'm kinda between 4-5 hours and being description #3.
Worries
We're sooooo NOT #1. We've been given glares and uncomfortable, subtle urms and ahhs when people learn that we allow gabe to cry himself to sleep or not pick him up at his first sign of breaking into tears. This, of course, does not include times when he hurts himself. Then again, when he gets minor knocks which I know he's crying more for attention rather than in pain, I'll sit near him and tell him I'm here, come to me, instead of going over to carry him. If he really wants some comfort, he'll crawl over for some TLC. Otherwise, he'll stop crying and continue with his play.
Activities
I take him to the supermarket, shopping centres, restaurants, homes of friends, on the MRT, the bus and in taxis. No baby programmes in the agenda! We do daily walks (gabe in stroller) and swimming when we can. Am I a terrible mother?!
Going Out
I called home maybe 2 times? I think my mother (the sitter) calls me more often than I call her.
At Home
I think I didn't stare at gabe enough when he was younger... I think I'm more observant now. Derod used to be the one to notice things even when I'm the one at gabe's side 24/7.
Verdict: I think I'm highly abnormal...
Your Clothes
I wore my regular clothes for as long as possible. 90% of my maternity clothes were hand me downs, and were in extremely good condition I might add.
The Baby's Name
Derod and I spent more time laughing and mulling over what we should not name our baby (his surname is Tan and various combinations could well be suicidal to the kiddo). Otherwise, I did the usual flipping of the baby-names book. I'm normal here.
Preparing for the Birth
I didn't practise breathing but the hee-hee-has came in real handy during the terrible 20 hours without epidural. I'd wanted to go all natural but to do so with a 35-hour labour is just nuts. I'll still want to try to go all natural if #2 comes along.
The Layette
I'm a combination of all three as a first time parent! But I did them in this order: I checked that all the clothes (new and hand-me-downs) are clean, pre-washed them and folded them neatly in the new set of drawers we bought from Ikea. I didn't sift out the pinks; I didn't get any pinks. In fact, my mother had to resift the clothes to pick out those with stains. I didn't see any problems with stains back then, but now I do *grin*.
Pacifier
This applies to toys gabe chews on too. I'm a combination of #2 and #3, except it's water I use instead of juice. But if the floor's really dirty, like in the hawker centre, it gets a rinse under the tap.
Diapering
Gabe gets changed once he was wet, when he was on cloth diapers. That's cos he'd scream the house down if it is not done immediately. But once the confinement lady left and he was switched to disposable diapers, it was changed every three hours except for poo poo incidents. Now, hmmm... I'm kinda between 4-5 hours and being description #3.
Worries
We're sooooo NOT #1. We've been given glares and uncomfortable, subtle urms and ahhs when people learn that we allow gabe to cry himself to sleep or not pick him up at his first sign of breaking into tears. This, of course, does not include times when he hurts himself. Then again, when he gets minor knocks which I know he's crying more for attention rather than in pain, I'll sit near him and tell him I'm here, come to me, instead of going over to carry him. If he really wants some comfort, he'll crawl over for some TLC. Otherwise, he'll stop crying and continue with his play.
Activities
I take him to the supermarket, shopping centres, restaurants, homes of friends, on the MRT, the bus and in taxis. No baby programmes in the agenda! We do daily walks (gabe in stroller) and swimming when we can. Am I a terrible mother?!
Going Out
I called home maybe 2 times? I think my mother (the sitter) calls me more often than I call her.
At Home
I think I didn't stare at gabe enough when he was younger... I think I'm more observant now. Derod used to be the one to notice things even when I'm the one at gabe's side 24/7.
Verdict: I think I'm highly abnormal...
Blabber Update - 11.5 Months
The boy is on the roll here. He seems to be listening and imitating sounds from the adults. Here's the list of additions:
Lie lie (light light)
Nana (banana)
Nane nane (rain rain)
Darr/ tarr (star)
Bur (bird)
Bur-ai (bye)
Baa baa (baa baa black sheep book)
Phoo-sounds (fish/ shoes)
Dare (there/ dog/ miscellaneous)
Oh! And he can now hi-five, gong xi gong xi, do the twinkle-twinkle action, indicate "no more" and lifts both hands up in great enthusiasm when we go "hallelujah!".
Lie lie (light light)
Nana (banana)
Nane nane (rain rain)
Darr/ tarr (star)
Bur (bird)
Bur-ai (bye)
Baa baa (baa baa black sheep book)
Phoo-sounds (fish/ shoes)
Dare (there/ dog/ miscellaneous)
Oh! And he can now hi-five, gong xi gong xi, do the twinkle-twinkle action, indicate "no more" and lifts both hands up in great enthusiasm when we go "hallelujah!".
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)