Growing up with an 8yo boy

Dear Kai,

It took me a while to pen this annual birthday post to you. It's not because I am lost for words; I've so much to say to you. Your daddy said something today that summed it all up. He said that you have to fight your own battles; I can't be fighting them for you.

That's what scares me. If I can, I'll be fighting all your battles but that'd make you an unhappy person when you grow up.

You've been asking if I still love you; who do I love more. Because I haven't been patient, because I want you to be the best that you can be. I have space in my heart for both you and your brother. Don't ever doubt that.

I've seen you grow so much over the past year. You pushed your own boundaries. You learned to ride a two-wheel bike. You scrambled up every rock possible in Yosemite whenever possible when in the past you would be afraid. You tried sand boarding in North Stradebroke Island and conquered the slopes. You snorkelled in Redang and took part in a fin swimming competition. Everytime you came home crying from school, you have no idea how broken I was inside although I had to keep a calm face in front of you.

Like you, I am growing up with you as your mother. Thank you for the opportunity. I love being your mother.

Happy 8yo birthday, my first born.

Love, mum

You're my superman

Dear Kit,

You are my alarm clock in the morning.
7am, without fail.

You are my hurricane.
Never still.

You are a tickle that won't go away,
Filling our lives with giggles, laughter, and plenty of smiles.

You are a sportsman.
Tennis, scooter-biking, cycling, swimming, snorkelling,
And not forgetting those bumps and bruises you've given yourself because you are in such a hurry to grow up.

You are my little chef.
Rolling dough, mixing ingredients, poking your fingers into raw meats
And tasting them.

You are an actor.
A cat. A dog. Even an Egyptian mummy.

You are my superhero.
Batman, Superman, Green Lantern, Spiderman.

You are my four-year-old who thinks he can conquer the world,
A living reminder that we too, should just dust off the dirt on our knees when we fall,
And continue running. Never stopping.

Happy 4yo birthday, Kit.

Where's my money?

(Taken with the LC-A+ using Fuji Velvia RVP 100F film.)

About two months ago, Kai started putting whatever is left of his pocket money in a POSB coin bank everyday. Shaped like a house, the coin bank is made of porcelain and has Smiley Squirrel, POSB's escort back in the 70s, in front. It belonged to me, and I just discovered it costs S$18 on ebay.

Because he has been so diligent in saving his money (he even stopped buying Milo during recess), the amount grew considerably. He emptied it, sat down, and started counting his money. S$34.10. I didn't want to leave the money lying around the house so I kept it, intending to bank in the money in an account that I've set up for him when he was a baby.

But he's been asking where has the money gone. Is it physically in a bank? Is it in POSB? I don't think he quite understood the idea of cheques and electronic cash. I thought I'd write him a cheque in his name and have him drop it into a cheque box.

Then as I was walking Kit home from school one day, I looked up and saw the big POSB sign ahead of me.

It was a sign.

Until this day, I still remember queuing up with my parents to open my own POSB bank account. I remembered putting stickers on a POSB savings card, which was created as part of the savings campaign for children in the 70s.

I think it's about time I give him another childhood memory. That envelope of coins that he's saved will be going into a bank account which he'd be opening, together with me, tomorrow.

He snorkels!

He learned how to snorkel within 15 minutes, thanks to daddy! (Taken with daddy's Nikon D600 and AF-S Nikkor 28-300mm lens.)

Kit is one week shy of turning four, and he's just added snorkeling to the growing list of amazing things he's learnt.

Mummy's your biggest fan baby!

Who says babies can't do great things

My 3yo has such a baby face that I always think of him as a baby rather than a soon to be 4yo. And because he is after all, the baby of the family, I am very protective of him and I am always looking out for him. Terence often has to remind me that Kit can take care of himself.

Kit had his school sports day shortly before the start of the June holidays. One of the activities required him to pour colored water from a plastic cup into a bottle. His teacher held the bottle steady for him just as he started to pour the water in. Then very shortly, his teacher let go. He never faltered. He held on tight and poured with a steady hand. All the water in the cup went into the bottle. He didn't spill a single drop.

His teacher must have been holding her breathe too because after he completed the task, we both looked up at the same time and gave each other a BIG smile. "Did you see that? He did it very well!" she said.

I started to see him as a big boy after that day.

Talking about small things that can get larger than life. The boys totally enjoyed themselves at the Mega Bugs Return exhibition at the Singapore Science Centre. Very educational and here's Diana F+'s perspective of the tunnel that 'shrinks' you before bringing you face-to-face with a butterfly and other creepy crawlies inside.

(Photos taken with Diana F+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography XPro Slide 200 120 film.)

Happy (birthday) surprises

Snow ball fight on Hokkaido's snowy slope.
(A proud analogue moment, taken with my Diana f+, 38mm super-wide angle lens, Lomography XPro Slide 200 120 film.)

Dear Kai,

I apologize for not updating our blog as often as I should. I might not have recorded all of your (and Kit's) milestones over the past months, but I certainly remember spending many precious moments with my boys.

You are seven years old now, the year where you start your formal school years. Everyday, I struggle with giving you a balanced childhood. There is a lot of pressure to hothouse children at a young age. Many of your classmates/schoolmates' after-school schedule is filled back-to-back with tuition and enrichment classes. I only sign you up for activities which are absolutely necessary -- Orton-Gillingham (OG) classes, Chinese tuition, and swimming. Basic life skills. Tennis on Saturday? OK, that's because daddy wants to play tennis with you.

What I do, if you can remember when you finally read this, is to make sure you read an English book and Chinese short passage every day. There'd be days where I'd spend half-an-hour forcing you to speak in Mandarin to me. Occasionally, I make sure you understand the Math concepts taught in school. Then for the rest of the day, you are free to do what you like. Play computer games, watch TV, swim, horse around with Kit, draw, play with your Lego bricks. Whatever.

You grumble all the time when I say it's time for revision. But you always do it. You tell me you do it because you love me; I always tell you in return, that you will not know it now, but you're doing it for your own future.

Your achievements surprise me. Now you can recognize frequently-used Chinese characters with ease. You are able to read Chinese passages with confidence while last time you'd falter. You finish age-appropriate novels in two/three days. Your Math grades? Some times great, some times not so great. Some parents would think this is no big deal. But hey, I know you always try your best. I know you always do better, each time you try.

We spent your 7yo birthday in Japan. With amazement and a huge amount of pride, I saw you climb steep snowy slopes, sat your butt down on the cold and wet snow, and slide down the slopes again and again. This is an achievement for a boy who's afraid of roller coaster rides, sad movie/cartoon endings, and the deep end of the pool.

Happy seven-year-old birthday, my sweet boy. Continue to surprise me.

Baby no more

About six years ago, a close girlfriend visited me while I was on maternity leave and presented me with a beautiful box from Tiffany & Co.. It is for keeping Kai's first baby tooth, I remembered her telling me.

Although she now says, on hindsight, that it is such an impractical gift. (She wasn't a mummy then, and she says she didn't know any better.)

I was very touched by her gift. True, I couldn't use it then. But after receiving tons of diapers, baby toys, baby clothes, talcum powder, milk bottles etc., I was so grateful for her gift that was for me, the mummy.

The little box held a pair of diamond studs over the years. On December 12, 2012, those earrings were evicted. They made way for what the box was made for: Kai's first baby tooth.

Thank you EW, for making memories with me.

On the first day of the last month of 2012, my baby...

My baby wore his first graduation gown, and bid a formal goodbye to his preschool years.

After all these years of watching other K2 children graduate, Kai and his friends are finally the ones who danced their last preschool concert, collected their certificate and farewell gift, bowed to teary eyed parents, and took silly pictures with their buddies.

As a family, we went through so much together. From worrying about how he would cope on the first day in school, toilet training him, teaching him how to feed and dress himself, feeling helpless while he has his night terror episodes, to helping him with his dyslexia. And I didn't do it alone, his teachers were with me every step of the way.

Ah, how bittersweet, sad, and happy I felt today. What a strange mix of emotions.

There are so many things I wish for him today. Happiness, good health, love, success, companionship, independence. The list goes on. Most of all, I wish he'd grow up to be a good person, someone who lives life with integrity, and for him to be happy.

I love you, Kai.

Evicted!

My 3yo recently decided that enough was enough. Last week, he grabbed all his soft toys from his bed, said "No Elmo!", opened his bedroom door, and threw them all on the floor.

I managed to save rabbit, which I told him was cute and cuddly but the rest was packed and shelved. His wombat, which he calls "guinea pig", is safe from eviction since kor kor Kai has a guinea pig to keep him company at night as well.

He really looks up to his brother because it wasn't too long ago that Kai decided he's had enough with all the Angry Bird plush toys on his bed too.

Baby, I will remember at 3yo...

You love balloons.

Your teacher says you can't trace very well but I couldn't care less.

You always have a twinkle in your eyes and a cheeky smile for everyone you love. (And you always save the best twinkle for me.)

You have big round tears that roll down your chubby cheeks, making it hard for anyone to be really angry with you.

You love doing everything that your kor kor does.

You save the best hugs for me.

You are the alarm clock for the whole household, walking into our bedroom at 730am every morning to wake us up before settling down for your milk in bed with us.

You hate sitting on the potty.

You've learned to make potty jokes, thanks to kor kor.

You have to have your blanket arranged neatly across your chest every single night before you sleep.

You'd run to me and knock me off my feet when I pick you up from school.

That I am your most favorite person in the whole wide world.

I love you babe. Happy three-year-old birthday Kit.

Baby no more. Kit turns two!

A birthday treat: Holding a pen while drinking milk on the morning of his birthday.

[I wrote a letter to Kai when he turned two. Here's one for Kit on his birthday.]

Dear Kit,

We knew what we were expected to do the day you were born. What we weren't sure of, is what you'd be like as a baby. Your big brother was a difficult baby; would you be the same?

You are a happy baby, who loves to giggle. We marveled at how easy it was to take care of you. Then you became a toddler and we found out how fiery and fierce you can get, but yet you continued to make us laugh. You love holding two objects, one in each hand. You chew up fruits, and spits them back out. (You don't anymore, which is why we have reintroduced apples to your diet.)

And what I really, really, really love about you is your smile. It lights up my heart every single day. And every night you say good night to me by wrapping your arms around me and snuggling your little head on my shoulders.

Your temper tantrums and passion for getting into fights really drive me up the wall. But for you, and for Kai, I'll willingly take both the good and the bad.

Happy second birthday, Kit. We love you.

The tiger sleeps tonight. My 22mo.

At the risk of being labelled boring, here is yet another picture of my napping soon-to-be 22mo boy. I can't help it! Ask any mummy and they will tell you that they love to watch their babies/children sleep. (This is beside the fact that because the child is asleep, there is no one to bother us.)

But here is Kit. Looking so peaceful and angelic. Who would think that he scratches like a tiger when he's angry, excited, or when he wants his way and doesn't get it. Everyone has been scratched. Me, Terence, Kai, school teachers, MIL, and helper. I am amazed I haven't been called into the principal's office yet.

The Kit we know and love has come so far since the day he was born. Which brings me to the question... what should I do for his birthday?

# # #

Post-HFMD update:

After six days without food, Kit finally started eating ramen on the seventh day since coming down with HFMD. On the eighth day, he was gobbling fishball noodles with gusto. On day nine, he went back to school a happy boy.

Friendly neighborhood Spider-man

One sure sign that your toddler is growing up is when his toys change to something that's more big boy-ish. Spider-man is now Kai's favorite of the month. So long Thomas and Friends!

Kai's Angry Birds piñata: It was whacked, stabbed, and ripped apart

Kai, beaming from cheek to cheek, with best friend Ian. Now that smile is the reason I spent many late nights on the piñata! Happy birthday my baby boy!

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned that no one could give a straight answer on just how many layers are appropriate for a paper-mache piñata built for young children. I still don't have an answer but I know for sure, eight layers was too much. Our piñata was tough!

Before we let the children loose on the piñata, we asked all the adults at the party to guess how heavy the piñata was. So at least the bird was fondled by many pairs of gentle hands before it was abused. It weighed 2.2 kg, and we gave away a prize to the guest with the closest guess. (Congrats U-Jin!)

Then we hung it up again and the birthday boy was given the honor to be the first to hit the piñata.

But the piñata was so tough that it only suffered dents in its body. Although I used four ropes to hang the piñata with, Terence cut off two before the party (he thought two were enough). The ropes tore right through the piñata, and the bird fell to the floor intact. We then hung it back up by tying the rope around the bird's comb. (Whew! Disaster averted.)

Die, birdie, die! Or rather, break, birdie, break!

More whacking by the kids followed, but the bird just wouldn't give up its goodies. Drastic measures were needed. Terence took a kitchen knife and stabbed it multiple times.

Everything happened in a blur. It was just a split second, from tearing of the piñata to pouncing on the candies. (Photo courtesy of Eva Wong.)

By this time, even some of the big kids (i.e. the fathers) were hitting the bird. Finally, it was Alvin, Ian's daddy, who gave it to the bird. It ripped and fell to the ground with a thud, still without giving it up goodies! But before it could became a bad PR moment, Terence quickly picked it up, ripped it apart, and then there was a sudden downpour of sweets, confetti, and streamers all over the place. That's when the kids lost it and scrambled for the 'kill'. (Great crisis management, babe!)

Lovely Kate Lyn still quietly picking up candies long after the dust has settled.

No Angry Birds. Hello Kitty will have to do.

We gave goody bags for the children to store their treasures too.

Kit holding his first lollipop and me holding my treasure and an object that gave Kai another happy memory.

The hitting of the piñata was quite a laugh actually. Even the adults had fun. The next time (that is if I am mad enough to do it again!) I might do just five or six paper-mache layers. But then, the question is would it be strong enough to hold up 14-16 bags of sweets?

Related posts:

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: It's party time!

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: Creating the cake

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: DIY Angry Birds Piñata

- Angry Birds (Tan-style): The making of

Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: It's party time!

Balloons galore! Great for decorating the place and they served as gifts for the children too.

Ideas for Kai's Angry Birds birthday party were put together/executed over a course of two weeks. It started with the invitation card featuring part of Kai's Angry Birds army in the Melaka hotel room. (The price tag of the white bird in Ringgit was still attached in the photo.)

Invitation card (front)

Invitation card (back)

Kai's friends may bring their own Angry Birds plush toys. I'm not sure how many did, but there were some birds flying around and rolling on the floor that day.

From the top: Ian, Kai, Josh (seated and unsure what the rest were doing), and Joshua (Photo courtesy of Eva Wong).

Including boys rolling on the floor pretending to be birds that had fallen off after hitting their targets (in this case, the pinata).

For goody bags to give away to the children at the party, I bought Angry Birds thermos cups which contained Angry Birds erasers and a (non-Angry Birds) sharpener. No sweets in this goody bag because the children would be getting them from the pinata!

Children had to hunt for the Angry Birds' stolen eggs placed all around the living room. (Terence had to quickly place 40 bouncy balls in the room while I briefed the children on their mission.) They could keep their 'eggs' at the end of the game.

Thomas and Friends were around to entertain the kids too, thought he's definitely not part of the theme. A toddler-size battery-operated Thomas was available to take children on a ride. And going a full-circle around the pillar/refrigerator in the living room was also...

A train track that Terence so patiently built before the party. It was totally destroyed by the boys mid-way through the event.

Coloring of Angry Birds, however, was not so well received. All of them were too busy running around and keeping their little mouths busy with goodies they have created using the...

The birthday boy had a go at the chocolate fountain before his guests arrived.

How was it? Definitely yummy, judging by the smear on his face.

Chocolate fountain! There were marshmallows, biscuits, colorful candy sprinkles, and fruits to choose from.

And what's a party without balloons? We had balloons in colors that represented all the Angry Birds and pigs. They entertained the kids pretty too. So it didn't matter that we only had one party game. There were lots of things to keep the children busy.

Related posts:

- Kai's Angry Birds Piñata: It was whacked, stabbed, and ripped apart

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: Creating the cake

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: DIY Angry Birds Piñata

- Angry Birds (Tan-style): The making of

Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: Creating the cake

Lovely white fondant (or pettinice) from Bakels. Though they (ready-to-use fondants) were a life-saver, I don't want to see, touch, smell, or mould fondant for a long time to come!

As mentioned in my previous post, Kai's obsession with an Angry Birds birthday cake started with a YouTube video. But that was months ago. I had forgotten about it until three weeks before his birthday, while watching an episode of "Cake Boss", I sat up with a jolt. Horror of horrors. I didn't know if there are local bakers who could bake a 3D Angry Birds cake, playable or non-playable. Or should I *drum roll* attempt to make my own?

Option #1: Outsource the entire cake

A quick search online led me to this lovely lady, Veronica, who makes gorgeous looking cakes. She has a playable Angry Birds cake, but the cost of commissioning a cake for my party of 25 people was more than what I was prepared to pay. I can understand why she charges that much though; a lot of work goes into making and decorating the cake. Since I've made Angry Birds figurines before using clay, I thought: "OK, why don't we bake the cake and make the Angry Birds toppers ourselves? It should be easy. Right?"

I spent many sleepless nights over the cake as a result.

Option #2: Make it myself, 100%

Bags...

and bags of instant fondants. I am so grateful for ready-to-use fondants.

Veronica and many other bakers use fondant, which is a thick yet pliable sugar paste, to decorate cakes and sculpt pastries. Lucky for this dum-dum of a baker, there are ready-to-use, colored fondants. I bought them in all the colors^ that I would need for the birds, pigs, and concrete/wooden blocks.

I roped in Kai to kick-start the project, and he helped me roll two red balls and three blue balls of fondant. (They formed the bodies of the red and blue Angry Birds). Then I gave him some fondant to play with while I made the actual cake toppers.

My favorite pigs were the one with the eyes closed and the injured pig with a black eye and red tongue sticking out. (Photo was taken with the iPhone 4 at 3am by zombie mummy. I wish I had taken out my DSLR!)

Subsequently, I worked on the toppers at night. It took me two nights to make nine Angry Birds, one night to make eight pigs, and one night to make some blocks to put the pigs on.

I even made my own catapult^ for the Angry Birds. It's very rudimentary, but Kai was thrilled when he saw it.

Then I couldn't muster enough courage to bake a cake (I'm an artist, not a baker!). Furthermore, I was running out of time. That's when I turned to Option #3.

Option #3: Make it myself, or just 50% of it

My initial plan was to get a baker friend to bake the cake, and I would put a layer of green fondant over the cake. Then, as I tossed and turned at 3am, the solution came to me: I'd buy an ice cream from Swensen's and place my toppers on it.

I only placed the toppers on top of the cake a few hours before the party. Terence made the tall tower for kingpin pig with three Kit Kat bars, held together by white fondant.

I nearly danced and whopped with joy at Swensen's Parkway Parade outlet when I found out that they could remove their toppers from their Soccer Mania cake, and kept it plain. That way, I had a green surface -- to represent grass -- to place my toppers on. It was perfect. A lot of people don't like the taste of fondant anyway so covering the cake with a layer of fondant might not be such a good idea. And who doesn't love ice cream? (I chose strawberry and sticky chewy chocolate.) I bought a tube of sparkly red decorating icing to write "Happy Birthday", and I helped Kai write his name on the cake.

It was a quite an experience. I can't believe I was so stressed out over the cake, but I wanted to give Kai the best. And I am glad he had a small part to play in the process. (I promise, I made him wash his hands with soap and water before touching the fondant.) My only regret is that I didn't have a chance to take proper pictures of my toppers and cake! Fondant starts to sweat whenever there is moisture. So every time I took the cake out of the freezer, my toppers would sweat due to condensation, giving it a shiny, runny gleam to it. As a result, I didn't dare to take out the cake unless necessary.

Oh well, as Terence would say: It doesn't matter if I have no photographs to capture 'the moment'. My memories are all that matter.

Related posts:

- Kai's Angry Birds Piñata: It was whacked, stabbed, and ripped apart

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: It's party time!

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: DIY Angry Birds Piñata

- Angry Birds (Tan-style): The making of

Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: DIY Angry Birds piñata

The 2.2kg piñata I made using paper-mache, with a 24-inch latex ballon as my base.

(I am embarrassed. It's been a while since I updated the blog, but it's been CRAZY since we returned from our Krabi, Thailand getaway. However, Kai turned five yesterday and I want to put up all posts related to his birthday ASAP so he could read it when his older and remember just how crazy he had been about Angry Birds.)

Kai with his Angry Birds army in the Melaka hotel room.

What started this whole "I want an Angry Birds' birthday cake" craze was this video Kai saw on YouTube. It was about a father in UK who made a playable birthday cake for, coincidentally, his 5yo son too. That was a few months back, say around March. Then when we went on a family road trip to Melaka/Genting, Malaysia in April, we played Angry Birds with him in the hotel rooms using pillows and Angry Birds plush toys^. (More on that, hopefully later!)

Then Terence put the final nail in the coffin by telling Kai: "No problem, your mummy can make an Angry Birds birthday cake for you." And that was how the whole family started on our Angry Birds birthday journey.

Kai and Terence with the 24-inch balloon on the night started making the piñata.

Other than the birthday cake, the other birthday accessory that will make the Angry Birds theme, I thought, would naturally be the piñata. After all, the birds are round and I can easily make it with a ballon and paper-mache. I got my design inspiration from another blogger. I then went to some balloon stores in neighborhood malls but I couldn't find a latex ballon that is bigger than the usual 11/12-inch balloons. I finally found them at Party With Us, and I bought a 24-inch latex balloon. (If anyone is interested is making an even bigger piñata, they have a 3-feet balloon. Now that's HUGE!)

The ballon is prepped, workspace cleaned and covered, with the glue made. I am ready to begin!

As I could only work on the piñata for only a few hours a day at night, I gave myself one week to complete the piñata. I made the glue using flour and water (one part flour, five parts water), which gave a really nice smooth paste. If you are going to attempt this, it's essential to lay out the newspaper on your workspace before you start. It can get really messy if you intend to get your children to help!

"Eeee YAH!!!" said Kai, who added that an empty balloon with eight layers of paper was too heavy for him.

Most DIY paper mache piñata sites will tell you to use three to four layers of paper for your piñata. But we didn't want the piñata to break after just a few hits by the birthday boy. I had about 11 children at the party, and everyone should be able to have a go at the piñata. Some sites suggest 10-12 layers for a piñata built for teenagers and Terence urged me to do more than four. So under duress, I made eight. (Was it too much, you ask. Read on.) The final layer was made with white A4 paper. I could use white crepe paper for a smoother finish but I couldn't find white crepe paper! The shops have crepe paper in every possible color except white.

Outline of the bird's eyebrows, eyes, and stomach in pencil.

After spending about four nights plastering the balloon, I dedicated a weekend afternoon on painting the balloon. This was the part where Kai participated. :-) First, I drew on the face.

We used normal poster color by Pentel.

Then we painted the stomach.

Then red. Note the intense look of concentration on Kai's face! He was so serious about getting it right that he ended up making lots of funny faces without knowing. As the bird was very big, there was a lot of 'ground' to cover and Kai gave up painting after a while. I finished up the body, and started on the finer details.

The eyebrows and the eyes.

Then I made the beak using yellow cardboard paper. I then released the air from the balloon (we wanted to reuse the big balloon as a toy for the boys), and pulled it out of the piñata.

The next step which was really fun for Kai to do was to put the sweets, streamers, and shiny confetti into his piñata. I bought about 14-16 packets of sweets, which we all threw into the hole. Kai was quite excited; he wanted to see how they all looked like inside the balloon.

I put him more streamers in for him after he went to bed. The bird looked pretty funky with colorful curls.

Hitting the nail in the head. The bird's head.

This is the step which I think can be improved. To secure the ropes to the piñata, I made a hole with a nail so I could put the rope through. I made four holes and tied two knots at the end of (four strands) of rope. There are other ways of securing the role to the piñata, which I may use in the future. That is if I ever have to make a piñata again.

So this marks the end of our piñata-making journey. Many times, during the piñata-making process, Terence asked me not to spend so much time over an object that the children were going to whack to pieces. In reply, I'd like to borrow something from Brian (aka Piñata Boy), who loves making piñatas for his children:

I'm not just building piñatas, I am building memories. All these piñatas have become an indelible part of my kids' childhoods, and that will last a lifetime.

Related posts:

- Kai's Angry Birds Piñata: It was whacked, stabbed, and ripped apart

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: It's party time!

- Kai's Angry Birds Birthday Party: Creating the cake

- Angry Birds (Tan-style): The making of