Car Manners

It's common knowledge that Gabe is a car fanatic and he'd jump at any chance to sit at the wheel and do his version of the vroom vroom. This means that everytime we are in a vehicle, he'd request to "drive car". After a really long time, we have managed to establish certain rules, which the little one will repeat to himself as a reminder/ instruction whenever a situation occurs.

1. "Baby cannot drive car on the road. Only papa and mummy can. Baby can only drive car in the multi-storey car park in mummy and papa's house." [That's after we have parked the car.]

2. "Cannot drive uncle's taxi. It's not waigong's taxi. It's other people's taxi." [He'd initially request to be at the wheel when we are paying for our taxi ride home!]

3. "Only papa can let you drive car. Mummy cannot let you drive car." [A rule I added upon the impending expansion of my tummy, which makes it difficult for him to be on my lap when I'm at the wheel.]

4. "May I drive car please papa?" This one took a long time to sink in. You see, Gabe would scream and shout in excitement when the car journeys up our multi-storey car park and his aggressive demands of "drive car! drive car!" are nowhere near our standards of a polite boy. We have gone through months of reminding him to "ask nicely", and upon this instruction will he then make the polite request. There came a time where enough was enough and we'd just keep quiet, give him a little more time (chance to request) before pretending to get out of the car. The training finally paid off. Gabe will wait patiently and quietly while derod reverses the car, pulls up the handbrake and just prior to turning off the engine, sweetly go, "may I drive car please papa?"

He Prays

Much to our surprise, Gabe has been spontaneously sprouting out little prayers. This phenomenon started say, some months back, and it's occurrence is both sporadic and without specific targets. It occurs mostly when derod is saying our nightly prayers before putting Gabe to bed and in the middle of his father's prayer, Gabe will start his own.

It's always in the only form he recognises, which begins with "Thank you Jesus...". He's fished out names of unexpected uncles and aunties (our friends) and their children. But the latest one was really cute -- he was having a flashback of what he had for dinner and then his imagination took off as the prayer proceeded, as if he was lengthening the little conversation. It went something like this:

"Thank you Jesus for the dinner, have rice, have fish, have chicken, have egg, have vegetables, have meat, have soup, have mushroom, have papa's muum muum, have mummy's muum muum..."

All this while, derod and I were looking at each other with amusement and bewilderment, and me feeling a little overwhelmed by the sheer fact that my son is praying on his own (never mind that the content is really interesting).

And while Gabe took a moment to ponder on what other food he's missed out, the parents quickly came in to end his prayer in Jesus' name and continue with the original one.

Gabe's 1st Successful Professional Haircut

I've been the primary creative source behind gabe's image since he was born, with the exception of the shaving of his hair at four months of age. During this time, we've gone from completely cooperative, magazine-flipping babe in bumbo chair to wailing sessions heard by the entire block to successful attempts on the highchair due to Veggietales. As I've mentioned previously, I enjoy cutting his hair. It's perhaps just me fulfilling a side of me that never existed, like an alter ego you know, except that creativity is never in my blood.

So, to end off the episodes of clean up (hair all over the living room is not at all fun), and in recognition that a small pair of scissors will never do what a wave of the shaver can, I took him to the hair salon downstairs my parents' place. I've been at the mercy of these neighbourhood stylists since my primary school days, and when I was finally financially independent enough to venture into the territories of "designer" charges, I was still very regular at the place for cheap but shiok shampoo sessions. So needless to say, we are very familiar with the ladies who now have the task of cutting my son's hair.

Our first session took place about two months ago, with me carrying the traumatic, screaming toddler. We succeeded at shortening the sides and the back of his head. He left remembering (and till this day still reiterates to us) the name of the auntie who cut his hair, and the little tank that housed a fish and two lobsters.

So with Chinese New Year around the corner, and the length of his hair seriously threatening the boundaries of his eyebrows, we made a date to the salon. The ploy is as follows:

- Waigong will cut his hair too, as a role model, and a demonstration that there's nothing to cry or scream about, and after the whole process, that waigong "is a good boy" for cutting hair without fuss.
- Waipo will bring the Barney VCD there and request for the ladies to play it during the deed, simulating those crazily-priced outlets at shopping centres, without paying the exorbitant prices. Idea credited to the cheapo mother.
- Mother will drill/ psycho the kid on the process of the haircut. Good boy must sit on the chair to let Auntie Jubee cut hair; watch Barney while cutting hair; no need to scream and cry; after that good boy will be rewarded with view of fish and lobsters.

So with fingers crossed, I took gabe on an MRT ride back to my old home and my entire family was waiting there (the yee yee took the opportunity to go for a shampoo). Gabe was placed on a huge block in the armchair, elevating him to a comfortable height for the stylist, turned in the direction of the tv and by the time the introduction song for Barney came on, he was staring at the screen motionlessly. I tell you, he looked so cute from behind -- this little kid with a little head, completely still and allowing Jubee to do all the mojo.



All four of us stood at a distance, marvelling at how our ploy worked. But it didn't last very long, and another lady had to double up as entertainer. Everytime he turned around to look at us, three of us automatically started clapping and praising him for being a good boy, much like how circus clowns are cued to respond. Later on, he began negotiations with Jubee, telling her he "don't want" the shaver and that he wanted her to "finish" the haircut, and she'll respond with various attempts to lengthen his time in the seat.

Well, you'll see that the final result is not perfect but already a stupendous (Barney's lingo) improvement to the track record.

And... how one kid can mobilize the entire family and two thirds of a salon in accomplishing the task of a haircut...

"Useless" Conversations

I never understand why my husband bothers to have certain conversations with his son.

Derod: Do you want to learn programming?
Gabe: Yes!
Derod: Next time when you grow up, papa teach you programming ok?
Gabe: Ok!

Water Play

We took Gabe out for lunch with the Ds at Vivocity on New Year's Day. It was a good time of catching up and the kids had a rather good time looking at boats and the monorail at the water front. We found the kid's meal at Marche's to be a steal, so the next time you venture into that territory, hesitate not and grab a kid's meal if you have a child in tow.

We made the playground a pitstop and since I brought extra change for gabe, he was free to explore the little jets of water. Tas preferred the playground and Yulia was too young to get into any trouble, so gabe took to his thing with the "water fountain".

He went from observing at the sidelines to standing near the steam of water, to putting his hand out to touch the stream of water, to being all wet eventually. Oh, and we noted a pack full of poo when we changed him out of his wet clothes. Derod figured he must have either had a lot of time doing his business standing there "meditating", or that sudden spray of water must have scared the shit out of him, literally (last picture).

Messy Developments

Feeding oneself. That has to be one milestone every parent heaves a sigh of great relief at. I for one am familiar with all the benefits of a child who can feed himself, at least in my imagination. Jemmy's mummy was encouraging me to get this training going as soon as possible so that when #2 arrives, it'll be a great load off my shoulders. I tried. But I didn't make much headway. And it's because of me...

Every parent has some form of hang-ups. Mine's to do with mess. I can't take mess. I cringe when I see adults scattering rice around their plates, not stacking up the meat and fish bones in a neat pile, dripping soup while the spoon journeys from the soup bowl to their mouth. I see clips of children eating with their hands (read: all ten fingers and palms) and collateral damage extends to the entire highchair, their faces, bodies and clothes. Honestly, I think mess is healthy for children. I mean, when eating, baking, playing with brushes and just plain experimenting, I think mess is a good part of growth! But I just can't bring myself to execute it. I read Karen Cheng's account of her boys helping out with some paint work and I thought it to be such a cool and fun idea but like Karen, I won't be able to watch.

So... when gabe's mouth misses the spoon, when he tilts the utensil before it reaches him, when the food goes all over the highchair, into his bib pocket and onto the floor, I cringe big time and pick up each blob the instant it drops. That's not including the happy banging of the spoon, uncontrolled stirring of the food, and those itchy hands beating me to the food that has dropped. Urgh it's such agony on my part. But it has to be done, especially when Carissa has accomplished the feat at 1.5 years old! And so has that 1.5 yo boy sitting behind us at the restaurant yesterday!

I do think it's high time for gabe to go intensive on training. He's more than ready. And with the extra motivation by Carissa, I think I'll do better this time. But this goes against the very grain of my make-up, so fingers crossed and pat on my shoulder for encouragement ok!

Here's Looking at You Babe!

We went for the 32 week growth/ detailed scan last week and mei mei gave us a surprise. Anyway, she's one cooperative baby, and all the measurements (via ultrasound) were taken with ease. As we didn't manage to make baby-sitting plans for gabe, he came along and saw how the doctor "check mei mei".

Ok, now for the surprise. We didn't expect to be able to see this:


It's such a clear shot of her face! Can you see her hands placed so daintily under one cheek? Gives you some idea who she resembles more?