To a better 2010

There's nothing much I would want for the new year.

Except for Sean to grow happily and healthily.

Happy New Year everyone!

Sean, please forgive Mummy?

Dear Sean,

If there is one thing that you have to comprehend, then please forgive Mummy for flaring up at you this morning.

Mummy loves you.

We are back - poorer and fatter!

There are so many photos to upload but I really don't have the mood to do so.

Because there are also loads of laundry to do!

I'm now halfway through them...

Will try to put the photos up soon.

PS: How to not put on weight when ur having wagyu almost everyday?????????????????????????????????

PPS: How to not become poorer when ur having wagyu almost everyday??????????????????????????????

Hello from Tokyo!

We are stuffing ourselves with lots of Krispy Kreme donuts almot everyday.

Can't help it, when the store is just right outside our hotel!

Miss my mother and father.

Guess Sean misses them too.

And and......................

And Schumacher's back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today's Photos for Daddy IV

Yippee!

Tomorrow this time, I will be on the plane with Mummy, NaiNai and GuGu to Tokyo to see Daddy!

Daddy, for the last 4 days, I have been a very good and lucky boy. Good because I ate my meals and porridge without much fuss, and lucky because I have the wonderful company of Ah Gong and Ah Ma.

You know what Daddy? I like Ah Ma to feed me my porridge and yoghurt so much that everytime Mummy feeds me, I will push her hand towards Ah Ma's direction, demanding for her to feed me instead. And then I will open my mouth wide wide for Ah Ma to feed me. I think I am very used to Ah Ma now. Daddy, that means next time you can go pak tor with Mummy and leave me in Ah Ma's care. But don't do that too often ok!

Today Mummy cooked porridge with Huai3 Shan1 and codfish for me, and I wiped out the whole pot again! This makes you wonder if Mummy should bring along the slowcooker to cook my porridge in Tokyo. Hmm....But but, I like noodles alot too! I have been eating Mummy's fried hokkien noodles dinner for 2 consecutive nights. And I had alot of them!

Oh Daddy! Thank goodness Ah Ma's tummyache has gone, so this morning Ah Gu so kindly came over and fetched us all to Jurong Point for breakfast. We had so much and all of them were your favourites! I was abit confused initially because you used to bring Mummy and I here for breakfast on weekends, and today you were not around....

When I saw you on Skype just now, I was so happy that I called out "Papa" many many times. I can see that you really miss me alot Daddy, cos when you saw me just now, you looked very happy and sad at the same time.

I miss you too Daddy.

I have been such a good boy! Because I finished all my milk today too!

We're going to Jurong Point now??

Ah Gu sat beside and entertained me throughout breakfast

Ah Ma took this picture for us. She's quite good isn't she!

One with everybody!

Another one with Mummy too!

Nowadays, I like to keep a whole mouthful of water...

....to rinse my mouth, and then swallow! Eeeks!

Daddy! Is this shot close enough for you? Not close enough?

Don't worry, cos I will be so so close to you in just about another 30 hours' time!

Today's Photos for Daddy III

Daddy yeah! It's only 2 more days to seeing you in Tokyo!

I'm having alot of fun with Ah Gong and Ah Ma's company here. Mummy had wanted to bring us all to Jurong Point to eat, but Ah Ma had a tummyache so we didn't in the end. Maybe we'll go tomorrow.

Mummy cooked porridge with a funny thing today. It's called Huai3 Shan1 in Hokkien, or Shan1 Yao4 in Chinese. Ah Ma said she read in the Chinese newspapers that this will help to "open up"  appetite. Mummy also put in salmon, which I have not ate for soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo long!

And guess what Daddy? I finished the whole pot of the porridge! I did so well for lunch and dinner that I made Mummy and Ah Ma so happy!

I hope Ah Ma will feel better soon. She seems to be sleeping alot today and not running around with me that much. Ah Ma! Get well soon ok??

Daddy, I think I am starting to miss you already. Just now Ah Gong went downstairs to buy newspaper. And when the door opened when he returned, I thought it was you and I got so excited and ran to the door, with my lips puckered up, ready to shout out "PAPA"! Mummy saw the change in my expression when I realised it's not you but Ah Gong. That made Mummy teary and she ran over to hug me immediately.

Papa, I miss you!

PS: Mummy finally cut my fringe!

Mummy was singning Itsy Bitsy Spider and tickling me all over!

And I have to escape from her ticklish clutches!

I like to rest my chin on Mummy's leg!

Wah....so comfortable...

Eh....but it doesn't really smell like flowers...

I tried to open the door using a car!

When will I reach the door knob???

Singapore - Beautiful on the outside, Ugly on the inside

I feel quite guilty saying this...

But a recent piece of news has plunged me into these sad thoughts once again.

Rumours are going around of a possible coverup of the hit-and-run accident involving 3 pedestrains, of whom 1 has been pronounced braindead.

The conspiracy involves the Romanian diplomat who reported his car (the one that hit the 3 people) stolen about an hour AFTER the accident occured. You can read more about this here and more about the rumoured conspiracy here.

The thing that stings me is:

Why are we always being made to feel like second-rate citizens in our own country?

I had wanted to blog about an experience at Changi Airport when we landed from Edinburgh. We were going through passport control. The expression on the officer who was flipping through our passports was as sour as lemon. After checking them, I said a "Thank you" as I would always do after being served (or in this case, "checked").

This officer didn't reply anything, nor was there even the slightest smile.

So we walked off and I can't help but feel slightly embarrassed by my unnecessary "enthusiasm" towards a piece of log.

But you know what happened later?

I couldn't help but turn back as we were walking to retreive our luggage, and guess what I saw?

This same officer had such a big smile plastered on his face when he was checking a Caucasian!

All smiles and lots of small talk too! Friendly gestures, nodding of head, bla bla bla bla bla.

I felt immensely angry, yet, I felt hugely disappointed and very sad too.

Compare this to the service onboard the KLM flight.

We had a couple from Amsterdam sitting beside us. They too have a young kid travelling with them.

The flight stewardess was very attentive to us and Sean. Yes, that impressed us.

But they were even MORE attentive to the couple beside us. Everytime they passed by the little girl, the flight stewardess(es) would make small talk with her in Dutch. I suppose that renders the service even more pally.

Why then is there such a difference in the way we are being treated compared to "outsiders"? And such biasness meted from our own people too???

Why are we treating our own people like this?

The Government has been pro-international relations all the time. Everytime we host an international convention, the citizens are being encouraged to be friendly, helpful and of course, subtedly told to put on our best manners - all in an effort to showcase to the world that "Hey, Singapore is an utterly friendly and beautiful place to be in! Everyone lives peacefully and happily together! Come on over (with your wallets) and see for yourselves!"

No mistakes in that one at all. I fully comprehend the rationale behind the countless campaigns to push Singapore into the limelight on the global stage.

But I think somewhere along the line, we have lost the plot.

It is so lost that we don't even know WHO WE ARE TO OURSELVES anymore.

Do we have to welcome outsiders on such a high pedestal that we can only look up to them from the ground?

Justice, in the case of the hit-and-run accident, will be a hard one to prevail.

Just what else must it take for us Singaporeans to feel ashamed of being its citizen?

Which other place in the world would a citizen of his own country being made to feel inferior to people from others?

Truly Uniquely Singapore.

I......can only sigh.

Today's Photos for Daddy II

Hi Daddy!

It was great hearing you from Tokyo! I heard from Mummy you'll be going to Akihabara tomorrow. Bet you'll go crazy buying all those bizarre gadgets.

I am a very good boy today. I ate a whole slice of that flat-flat bread with pork floss and cheese and mayonnaise and egg bread that you and Mummy like to eat. I finished the whole slice and that really caught Mummy by surprise! But hor, it felt greasy and slimy, so I didn't dare pick it up and hold it myself. So, I ate it off the plate, putting my face into it and all. Mummy was so tickled she kept taking photos!

Also, I ate alot of porridge for lunch, and finished all my milk for today! I ate a little bit more porridge for dinner, but not too much. Mummy didn't force me to finish it cos she said I've already did so well for lunch.

And Zining jiejie came over in the evening just now. We had some fun together, though we fought over a pen for a while. Mummy gave her a rabbit pencil case and that made Zining jiejie very happy.

Here are the photos Mummy took of me today:

Playing peek-a-boo with Mummy behind the curtain

Here I am!

Where am I?

Here I am!

Ta-daaaa!!

I like this bread alot!

But I had a hard time eating it cos I don't want to dirty my hands

So I tried to eat it like this....

Finally! Managed to get a bite of it!

Yes! An even bigger bite this time!

Now for the next one...

I'm trying very hard....

Heck! I'll just put my head down and eat it off the plate!

Stuffing a huge piece of waffle into my tiny mouth

Daddy! Mummy brought me to Jurong Point today and some people thought I am a girl!

Daddy! Please tell Mummy to stop wearing these flowery things on me!

Today's Photos for Daddy I

Daddy, today Ah Gong and Ah Ma came over. Ah Yi, Huiting jiejie and YongHan gorgor, and even Yi Po came over too in the morning. Yi Por very kindly fried a big pot of beehoon for all of us to eat. She also bought lots of Xiaolongbaos. And and! Yi Po gave me a very sweet orange to eat, such that when Mummy was in the kitchen washing up, I slyly picked up a whole orange and sucked on it! Mummy had such a big shock when she sees me doing that! Hahahahahahaha!!!

Overall today, I had quite a fun day.

Oh! And I ate porridge too! For both lunch and dinner!

Did that make you happy, Daddy?

I don't think I am missing you that much yet...and even if I did, at least, I didn't let it show.

Hmm....maybe tomorrow I will start to miss you.

Here are some of my photos for you!

I am making a poo. Oh the amount of strength that I need to use!

Trying to put on Mummy's specs

Dragging Mummy's bag around the house because I want her to bring me out

I was quite grumpy during breakfast

Daddy! I am still quite happy with Mummy here. Don't miss us too much!!!!

3 minus 1...till next Monday

Sean must have sensed that his Daddy has just flew off to Tokyo and is thus, bored. So he had an earlier night today, so here I am with some time on hand (so rare!) to put up some photos.

Besides, I told Steve, if he's desperately missing his lovely Sean, he can come to my blog and look at his photos. I promised him I will put up some new photos every day till Monday when we'll join him there.

Nah, give you lah!

Sean has been eyeing the peanut butter for some time. One morning I decided to just let go and put the whole jar in front of him.

A dip, a finger-licking-good...

And there's no turning back...just look at that face!

Now I have to offer it to him (and the high chair, and his clothes, and the table) every morning

After every meal, we'll whip out the handheld vacuum cleaner to clean up the mess. And Sean will run off everytime it's on. It's hilarious the way his butt shakes when he takes off!

Nothing that a Black & Decker can't do..

At my mum's place. Trying to get the kids to hug hug. They soon got the hang of it.

But the face expression tells otherwise...

Soon Sean was really into hugging and hugged Zining with so much force that he pinned her down! Boys will be boys!

Zining: I tell you, you better don't anyhow hug me ah.

Sean: ..........

Zining: You do that once more I'll go tell my Papa!

Sean: .....(boiling).....

Sean: You think I like to hug you that much meh? Thick-skin!

Sean: Mummy! This girl is weird!

Zining: ....(boiling).....

Zining: You not fun to play with one. I don't friend you already. Humph!

Sean: Woman.....

Mummy happily posing (son is not)

Daddy happily posing (son is OBVIOUSLY not AGAIN)

At an Italian restaurant in Takashimaya. Sean actually likes risotto!

Hmm..yummy...

Steve: See, it's not that Sean doesn't want to eat. It's the cook that makes the difference!

Me: ??%$*@()(#!!

Sean playing with a glass of iced water

The loot (partial only!) from Edinburgh! We're gonna let Sean wear the Santa Claus

outfit on Chrismas Day in Tokyo!

Sean's legs stealing some limelight

Ah, there they are again.

Now he couldn't resist it anymore...

"Give me that camera!"

At the clinic during his checkup. Having fun before the jab.

"Papa, can next Monday come quick quick so that we can see you soon???"