Gareth & Gavin

Gareth joins SJFA

2008-10-13T22:44:00.005+08:00

Recently we noticed kids having weekend soccer session in the school just opposite our home. Called them up and was told we can have a trial session. Took Gareth there and he enjoyed it though now and then he needed some encouragement to stay till the end of each session. Gotten his own kit at the 3rd session and don't he look cool.. hehe..

More photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31419733@N08/sets/72157607993026159/

Day @ Escape Theme Park

2008-10-13T22:34:00.005+08:00

Visited Escape Theme Park @ Downtown East on Hari Raya holiday with CJ & family. Lucky we had the NTUC member card thus we only had to pay for the adults and kids entered free. There were not many rides but weather was very kind to us being sunny with light drizzle. Alamak, I realised that the rides were all too small for me hehe... that's why I am not in the pics. I even had to get CJ to ride with Gareth in the roller coaster else I scared I might get stuck in there.. whahaha :D

HP Swimming Carnival

2008-09-02T23:54:00.002+08:00

Went to company's swimming carnival last Sunday at Bishan Swimming Pool. The door gifts were not really attractive with staff getting USB computer vacuum cleaner, guest getting skin relief massager and kids getting a bottle of bubbles. Anyway, the giant floats were fun for the kids though. For the boys, they just love the car and they patiently waited for other kids to let it go for them. Once the boys get it, hah, never letting it go out of sight!

I wanna make cookies

2008-08-24T21:57:00.004+08:00

Invited Emily, Little Ethan and Little Elijah to our house to make cookies. When Gareth heard of this in the morning, he was excited throughout the day. He said 我要 make cookies 给我的朋友吃！Hehe.. he remembered giving out little bottles of mummy made choc chip cookies to his classmates on his birthday. He loved the cookies he made thus he made sure those cookies are on the dining table so that he can reach for them as and when he likes. What about Gavin? He did not make any but he's a little cookie monster. Need I say more whether he likes the cookies his brother made? ;)

Gareth turns Four

2008-05-26T23:16:00.011+08:00

Gareth had his 4th birthday celebrated at McDonald's at Kallang, a place more desired by grandma rather than him :-P. We let him choose his cake and surprisingly, instead of picking the most attractive figure in Cars, he had picked the funny "Mater". Should have plenty of photos to share but still waiting for our photographer on that day to provide them.

We gotten Gareth's progress report and we are delighted with the comments given by his teacher. The main statement that brings joy is to learn that he is praised for being attentive during lesson time and has an eagerness to learn. The concern from his pre-nursery teachers last year was his ability to be alert and stay attentive. We are really glad that he had made progress in this area. In fact, he is very interested in doing colouring now and that keeps him seated down most of the time at home.

Went to the Bird Park last weekend. It has been a long long time since myself have been there though Gareth went there on a school excursion last semester. Probably that's why he grew bored very quickly and wanting to go home after we paid 55 bucks to enter. Wow.. really ex to visit this place and nothing much to see other than trying to spot certain birds among the trees or bushes. Looks like it will take another long long time before we visit this place again.

Maiden bowling game

2008-03-04T22:15:00.005+08:00

Last Sunday after breakfast, it was bright and sunny so we thought we could head down to the beach at Sentosa. As we were driving down towards south, the sky gets cloudy and nearing Sentosa, it was already raining. Thus we made a detour and head to Safra Mount Faber instead. There is a bowling alley there and we let Gareth have his first game of bowling. This centre does not have kids lane so no side barriers to block the balls from going into the "longkang". Gareth laughed at each time the ball drops into the longkang but felt greater joy whenever the ball managed to knock down some pins :-)

All ready to head for the beach

Put on shoes and ready to bowl.. while Gavin got his snacks and watched the game

Doing a quick pose ;-)

Botanic Gardens

2008-01-14T23:45:00.000+08:00

We have been hearing of this new section of Botanic Gardens for kids known as Jacob Ballas Children Garden so we decided to venture there since we were in Orchard in the morning. We did not check the exact location of this place within Botanic Gardens so we parked the car at the car park near the visitor center. Looked at the map there and was told by the reception that it will take 15 mins walk to reach there. Weather was quite ok so we took a slow walk there. The boys enjoyed it as they were allowed to roam around. So the boys were given their maps and off they go.

Hmm... which way to go???

Gavin: Come come.. follow me...

Gavin: Yeah see.. found a checkpoint... we are on the right track ;-)

Since the walk is quite long, I tried to make the journey by getting Gareth to look at the flowers, leaves, butterflies and spiders. Here's 2 big spiders we caught a glimpse of.

Spotted this bird which we don't know what species it is :P

When we reached the Children Garden, the boys liked this green house so much they spent almost 20 mins walking in and out, opening and closing the window.. hahaha... Thereafter, the boys went to play at the water area and no pics to show coz papa walked all the way back to the car park and drive it to the car park at the Children Garden entrance.

X'mas in 2007

2008-01-09T23:53:00.000+08:00

The year 2007 has ended and here's a summary of the happenings around the x'mas season last year.

Vroom vroom.. in view of F1 coming to Singapore, Gareth and Gavin, gave their support by having their own racing cars in their bedroom. Both red cars just like daddy's red car :-) Vroom vroom

Mummy likes to make her own gifts for friends and so she put her baking and wrapping skills to make these christmas gifts. Nice? The boys (including daddy) simply loved the cookies.

Lastly, the boys would like to thank all the uncles and aunties for all the lovely Christmas presents.

A day in the park

2007-12-02T23:05:00.000+08:00

A great sunny day without any rain. So we had a chance to get out of the house and to MacRitchie reservoir. It has been months or even years since we went there. Things have not change very much except that we hardly catch a sight of any monkeys. Anyway, it was still a good outing for the boys. Gareth got all excited when I took out the camera and he started posing here and there. Caught a good shot of the boys together. Really one of the rare times where Gavin actually stood still with his brother to have a shot taken.

As there was no open field that is flat (all are slopes) thus no ball kicking. The boys were in fact more interested in picking up sticks and sweeping the drains. Gavin was so fascinated that he actually sat at one place using his stick to sweep the little leaves around him for almost 30 mins. To think he hardly sits for more than 5 mins at home other than snack times.. hehehe....

More photos can be viewed here.

乐乐去坐船了

2007-10-05T12:18:00.000+08:00

After patiently waiting for almost 3 months, Gareth has finally realised his wish of going onboard a ship. He has been staying obedient just to be able to do that. Grandma had planned this family trip very early on and Gareth has almost been repeating each day “乐乐要坐船”. Last Sunday, the whole family went onboard Superstar Virgo, cruising to Penang and Phuket. Our first pic onboard with Great-grandma, grandma and grandpa.

Having the first walkabout on the open deck of the cruise ship. Can you spot the excitement in Gareth's face? *grin*

Taking some photos at the forward of the ship.

This is Great-grandma's first trip on this ship as well. Look how delighted she is as well.

Gareth gets a ballon sword and a painting on his face at the sail away party at the pool area. Not sure why he gets a spider but at the end he is happy all the same :D

The boys enjoying the moment on their maiden trip on cruise ship, enjoying the view out the window as the ship sails off.

Gareth having his lollipop and some fun at the Galaxy of the Stars.

Gareth taking helms of the ship

The boys having a good run around at the helipad.

The little Jedis getting ready for their dip in the pool and jacuzzi.

Let's take a break and have a snack.. but too bad no kit-kat.
Just prawn crackers but that'll do.

Vroom Vroom... G Bikers in Action

2007-10-05T11:36:00.000+08:00

We went to Changi Village for dinner last Saturday evening and Gareth caught sight of the little motorbikes and motorcars roaming around the courtyard near the food centre. After dinner, we let Gareth choose his preferred ride and he chose the motorbike. Gavin could not resist and went around testing out all the bikes parked there. Thus, mummy and daddy gave little Gavin his maiden ride. To our amaze, Gavin handled the bike with ease. No jitters and no fear, he went around crashing to road cones, pillars and curbs. Hahaha... daddy just have to catch up with him to ensure he roamed around injury free. As for Gareth, he just wished the bike could go even faster ;-)

Ring Ring.. Here comes Gareth on the bicycle..

2007-08-20T23:06:00.000+08:00

Gareth had his first ride on a bicycle (the one with 2 supporting wheels at the back) previous Sunday. He went into the rental shop, excitingly pointed to the little BMX bicycle and said 爸爸, 这个. He then sat on his bike and we are ready to go.

He did not quite get the motion on the pedals correctly but he enjoyed the thrill of travelling from the Lagoon FC to Bedok Jetty. He probably enjoyed the most when he got mummy to sit on the little bike and he pushed mummy on her back.. hahaha.. :D

That Sunday was also my birthday.. and as usually Gareth and Gavin always get all excited when they see the birthday cake being brought out. Here he is showing the thumbs up!

Moving here, there and everywhere

2007-07-30T23:53:00.000+08:00

We had our living floor tiles checked earlier and it was found that we had about 20 tiles that are hollow. After some negotiation with HDB, we managed to get them to redo all the tiles in our living room. It will take them about a week to complete the job so we had to move out. Last Wed, the removal of the tiles started. In order to keep within the claimable amount of $150, we booked 2 nights at Robertson Quay hotel. Room was very small and hardly much space for the 2 boys to roam around. Little Gavin seems to have difficulties adjusting to the place and thus wakes up almost every other hour crying with frustration. Gareth did not sleep very well as well being disturbed by Gavin's crying.

Mummy booked Sentosa's Siloso Beach Resort for the weekend as it will be a good chance to let the boys have some fun at the island. It was a much much better place with a bigger and more comfy room. Of course, the price was different as we paid $220 per night compared to the $100 at RQH. It was raining almost everyday during last week and we were hopeful that rain will reduce or even disappear over the weekend. Alas, it was not to be.

On Sat, after breakfast at the resort, we went to impiah lookout and got into a glass cable car. It was the 3Gs 1st ride on the cable car. Gareth was not afraid at all of the height. Gavin was scared initially as he sat very still but was ok after a while.

Stopped over at Vivo to grab a bite over lunch time and then back to Sentosa. We went to try the Cineblast. After myself and Gareth went in for the preview, not sure why Gareth then backed out and wanted to get out of the place. Thus I went through the ride myself. Was kinda disappointed Gareth did not try the ride but it was kind of rough though so also not sure if he will be scared of it in the middle of the ride or not. So probably next time then will find out :P. We planned to watch the Songs of the Sea in the evening but little did we know that it was fully booked when we try to get tickets about 2 hrs before the 1st show.

Sunday morning.. we saw sunlight.. and this time.. after breakfast, we went off to the beach. Laid the mat, took out the beach toys and beach ball.

Swam a little in the water. Then comes the dark clouds again.. sigh.. we packed up and went to the inhouse pool. Wah.. the water was so so cold. We thought Gavin would jump out of it as he previously does not like cold water. Haha.. but he enjoyed the water so much he was not bothered at all.. he just went splash splash splash in the water.

Gavin is already beginning to say few words. He learnt to say "milk milk" when he wants to have his milk. There was this once he kept calling "Pa Pa" "Pa Pa". Mummy then tell Gavin, “再说一次”Gavin then said “一次” Haha.. it was really funny.

As for Gareth, nowadays he grows to like animals. He asks to go zoo quite often and now would watch Animal Planet channel more than he watches cartoon. He will call out the type of animals shown on the tv.. even the difficult name "Hippotamus". So what does he say when he does not know what the animal is? "Papa, what's this, what's this?" Now anything he does not know, he goes "what's this, what's this?". Hehe.. is this a sign of the beginning of the inquisitive mind?

Now we are putting up at their grandma's place. They seemed to feel much more comfy although Gareth still misses home. He still tells us "Mama, Papa, 回家". The poor boy is homesick. He misses his bedroom and his toys. We had re-painted his room with a new colour and going to do some nice deco to make it more like a kids room. Hope he will love it when he finally gets to go back home this Wed.

Pizza making party @ CPK

2007-07-08T00:22:00.000+08:00

Today we were invited to a birthday party at California Pizza Kitchen (CPK). The kids were treated to a pizza making session. The birthday gal Grace's mummy made lovely aprons for the kids; red for the girls and blue for the boys. There was no tossing of the dough though, so just put toppings on the dough to make their hawaiian pizza. The kids then get to enjoy their piece of mastery :P

June Roundup

2007-06-20T00:18:00.000+08:00

03-JUN
We celebrated grandpa's 55th birthday. Look at happy grandpa with his chirpy grandsons.

08-JUN
Brought the boys to the Zoo and took this pic where Gareth did a pose for the 1st time. He did the pose without us telling him to do so. How cute.

A lot of people are asking us to bring Gavin go for a hair cut. But we kinda like his current hair style so probably just need to do some trimming. What do you think? Trim or crew cut? ; )

17-JUN
I brought Gareth out and we bought a birthday cake to celebrate for mummy. Gareth was as usual very enthusiastic whenever someone celebrates birthday as he loves having birthday cakes. This time round, Gareth has joined in the singing and have a listen to his vocals.

Helping with House Chores

2007-06-05T23:05:00.000+08:00

Every morning, we will bring the garbage bag out to throw at the centralised rubbish bin at the corridor area. Past few weeks, Gavin has always been following me and observed how me or Gareth throw the bag into the bin. This made me recall that I previously used my mobile phone to record how Gareth helped to throw the garbage bag into the bin.

Video is not very clear as the phone used did not have good resolution. Now have a look at this video (better resolution as just changed phone to Nokia 6300 :P) which I recorded Gavin doing the same, helping to throw garbage bag. Haha.. I really enjoyed the similarity in the actions.

Gavin just love helping with house chores. Here's a video of him helping mummy to collect laundry from the kitchen and putting them on the sofa.

Virus virus stay away

2007-06-05T22:48:00.000+08:00

"Herpangina", that was what the GP said when mummy brought Baby G for a review of his illness. He do not classify this as HFMD as Baby G is not having any blisters on his hands and feet. Did a check on the web and herpangina is describe as a painful mouth infection, with the mouth filled with ulcers. It is a strain of the coxsackievirus.. similar virus that develops HFMD. On the weekend, Gareth starts to have slight fever and myself also starts to feel very uneasy at my throat. So we went to see GP the next day and both of us were found to have ulcers on our tonsils. I was worst off as I have big tonsils and am very prone to infection which will normally cause tonsillitis. So Baby G, Big G and Lao G were all down. Mummy somehow managed to avoid the virus and kudos to her for looking after the 3Gs till they are all well again. What an episode and I hope we will stay away from this virus for a long long time or never ever after.

Baby G infected with HMFD?

2007-05-24T22:35:00.000+08:00

Tuesday evening, Aunt told us that Gavin is having fever and to pick him up early. Gave him paracetamol and he slept through the night ok. However, his fever did not subside yesterday morning and we decided to bring him to see the PD. We told him that he has been drooling a lot for the past few days and when looked at his throat, he said there are a lot of ulcers in his throat. It was then he told us baby G is having HFMD. He started to question us where he might have caught the virus. Our minds were blank for a moment before we gave a thought and we could not really recall who he might have caught this from as he is not attending any child care and other kids that he played with since Sat have not gotten the virus. So we were skeptical that baby G has caught the HMFD but then again, the symptoms he is having are indeed symptoms of HMFD. We just have to trust the PD's diagnosis.

It has been tough past 2 days as baby G feels very irritated with this throat as he kept drooling. He could not sleep properly always seeking assurance from us by wanting us to always carry him. To couple with that, he is required to take different medication at 3-hr intervals. He is already having phobia with it, grabbing hold of us tightly whenever we bring the medicine towards him. It has been really heart pain and tiring to see him in such pain. Up till now, fever has subside but throat is still having lots of red ulcers. Thus far, no rashes have developed. Hope he gets better soon.

Poor Gareth, we had to isolate him from his brother and thus he has to stay with his "kim poh" since yesterday. His mummy called and told him that we not bringing him back as his brother is sick. He disappointingly said ok. This morning, when Gareth's aunt went to pick him up, he kept asking for mummy. His teacher told her that Gareth has been moody the whole morning in school and cried a few times. Poor boy can't come home today as well. We are also missing him already.

He said a full sentence!

2007-05-19T00:15:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, mummy bought Gareth's favourite fruit, Grapes. Came back home and Gareth asked to eat 水果. He followed mummy to kitchen and then emerged from the kitchen calling out to me, 爸爸要吃水果吗？I was baffled initially so did not respond and he asked again the second time. This time, I said delightly 要! We then have grapes together and he will once a while put one into my mouth and say 爸爸吃. You can imagine how extra sweet those grapes are ;)

Today, when mummy brought Gareth to school, Ms Lee (One of Gareth's teachers) asked Gareth to say bye bye to mummy. He just waved. Ms Lee then said, "Gareth, you must open your mouth and say bye bye to mummy". Hahaha... kids are kids... he then opened his mouth wide and waved to mummy! I was not around to see it but I'm sure they enjoyed that funny moment.

Is this a month for knocks?

2007-05-16T21:57:00.000+08:00

Poor Gareth has joined his brother in the list of casualty. Today he 跑.. 跑.. 跑.. like he usually do to the carpark and towards the car. Unfortunately, he lost his balance and crashed onto the wheel rim on his right forehead area. A big big "bao" then came out. We were really stunned and quickly brought him back up to his kim poh's house to apply Zambuk. I can tell it was very very painful as he struggled very hard not to let us touch it. I was both angry and hurt to see him in such pain. He is always very active and always like to run about so was not easy to control him. Can only blame myself for not reacting quicker to prevent him hitting the rim. :(

Gareth made gift for Mummy

2007-05-14T22:17:00.000+08:00

Gareth made this in school for his mummy for Mother's day!

Baby G had a knock

2007-05-14T17:34:00.000+08:00

Last Wed, poor baby G tripped and knocked onto the corner of the bed. We were not around when he had the knock but from the bruise on his left cheek area, we could tell it was very painful. He was like groggy for the rest of the day. Did not have a pic of the bruise when it was "fresh" but then again, even if have also may not post it, else we may get tomatoes thrown at us.

In any case, I think Zambuk ointment really good! Have a look at him know. The bruise may not have gone away but I guess it is not as painful now. How do we know? We test by poking a little lor. Don't worry, no harm done :P

Gareth turns three on 9 May

2007-05-10T22:35:00.000+08:00

This year there is no big party for Gareth. Mummy thinks cannot have parties every year else it will become very common and nothing special. Nevertheless, Gareth gets to cut three cakes, one at his Kim Poh's house, one at school and last one bought by his Ah Yee.

His birthday starts at school where the first thing was when all students gathered at the assembly area, he was made to stand at the front and all the students sang the birthday song for him. He looked stunned and stood quietly until the song finished. He then breaks a shy smile and ran to Mummy to show his delight.

9am was the class break time when they will have something to eat and thus here I am with the cake and goodie bags. Yes, we prepared goodie bags for each of Gareth's classmate. Bought this cake from Bengawan Solo as we thought the Pooh bear looks great and easily identified by all the kids.

Classmates singing birthday song for Gareth

After school, we then asked Gareth if he would like to go to the Zoo or go swimming. He chose the latter and off we went to Jurong East Swimming Complex where he likes the lazy river. He loves having his arm-floats on and letting the water pushes him round and round the pool. He was so tired after that as he knocked off in the car on our way to Autobacs before heading to IMM for dinner. Before we left IMM, we gave him an ice-cream treat. Did not find any special ice-cream there so just a cone from McDonalds. As you can see, he enjoyed it just as much!

The cake we bought for Gareth on his lunar birthday

Gareth with cake given by his Ah Yee

Past pictures of the boys

2007-05-07T23:47:00.000+08:00

Since I have started this blog only now, I will start off by posting photos of the boys together for the past one year or so.