Bye bye to the last first milk tooth

We were at Captain Kim to celebrate end of conversational Malay classes on 23 May when Yu told us about a loose milk tooth. He was anxious about it coz he remembered Yang's loose teeth just a couple of months back - very shaky, couldn't bite, blood!

Then he felt its neighbour moving too! He was rather pleased about having two loose teeth at the same time :p

When we returned from Legoland, I have been asking him to let me pull the first loose tooth off, coz I saw that it was very loose and his new teeth were peeking out already. He also couldn't eat burgers etc properly. He refused. 

Finally, yesterday evening, it fell off! When he was pooping!!! 

He felt the very loose tooth lying sideways and tried to lift it with his tongue. Then he felt something loose in his mouth and spat it out. Tooth! There was some blood of course but very little. We were all very pleased!

Showing off his slight bo geh-ness

I almost forgot to give him his tooth to put under his pillow! He had previously said that I was the tooth fairy. I refused to admit of course. He found the dollar coin this morning so I woke to three of them counting their money *.*

Just now as we were leaving the playground, he said fairies weren't real, vampires weren't real, dragons weren't real, mermaids weren't real. "How can mermaids be real? It's a man and a fish combined. They cannot combine." So cute :)

Well, with the last first milk tooth gone, there goes the last baby too, isn't it? And he knows what's real and what's not too. Bye bye, babyhood! 😭

Nuts about nuts

As a kid, I loved chocolate. Later, I realised that nuts could be so much more yummier than chocolate!

Cashew nuts are my fave. When I started working, I bought baked cashew nuts to eat with yogurt at home as a meal replacement coz I was trying to lose weight after university. Later, when I was breastfeeding Kai, I always had a small Ikea box of baked cashew nuts close by so I could snack if I got hungry when I woke to nurse in the middle of the night. 

During the recent Ramadan, we found peanuts at a steal in the supermarket so we started snacking on nuts. Kai likes the salted peanuts. Sito and I eat that mostly, plus the cracker nuts and seaweed nuts. I'm satisfied enough with these to give up cashew nuts which are way more expensive :p

At the Qing Ming gathering, I realised that my siblings already had a lot of white hair. I have just a few strands which are visible only if I comb my hair a certain way. Kind of strange. Did some googling and found that nuts could have had an impact on greying hair!

JY added that I wasn't stressed. But I only stopped paid work last year, and there was much to stress about, what with the kids' studies (more on that next time...), cooking (what next for dinner?!), the whole HDB thingy (I didn't feel settled until sale was completed earlier this year), and since February, renovation.

Anyway, nuts are here to stay in this household :) Love snacking on nuts when watching drama at night!

A Mothers' Day full of surprises

Is it Mothers' Day or Mother's Day? Anyway...

A few days ago, Yang asked me when Mothers' Day was. He said he wanted to get a present for me from the bookshop. My sons like to go to the school bookshop so he must have spotted flowers with greetings on them. He mentioned this in either P1 or P2 but no action, which was fine and rather cute :p

But this time, he came home on Friday and said he had something for me. He fished out a little card with a smile on his face. He said he wanted to get me a "proper" Mothers' Day present but the bookshop had run out of flowers. I assured him that any present during this time was a great Mothers' Day present :)

Later, he said the card cost $1, could he have the money? Wa liao, haha! Then he asked for more time with me at bedtime. Gladly, coz he's the sweetest at bedtime - when he's not distracted by Kai!

Then this morning, I was keeping clothes from the drying racks in the small room when Yu walked in with a stalk of flower and a smiley "Happy Mothers' Day!" I was so surprised! As I took the flower and walked out, Yang came to me with another stalk and said the same. I was near the fridge when Kai handed me a stalk with "For you!" My Sito was standing at the fridge with two stalks of flowers. I took them all :)

So yesterday, Sito bought the flowers when he went out to get liang cha. He left the flowers at the foyer and went out to collect only after showering. No wonder I heard the door open! He had this smile on his face when he saw me come out of the room while hiding the flowers in the fridge. Hmmm... But I didn't see anything even though I opened the fridge last night and this morning! 

So sweet :) Thank you, my hub and pups!

My presents are sitting pretty on the dining table, brightening up our home :)

Egg hunt - in Chinese!

This year, I decided to give riddles in Chinese! I added hanyu pinyin for the more difficult words, especially for Yang and Yu. 

Can you guess?

1. 如果有面包，可以把我放在上面慢慢烤，好好吃的！
2. 薯片在哪里？还有糖果呢？要看电影了！
3. 这里的知识满满的，让我一页一页翻…
4. 快点找到我！不然我会硬到咬不下去！
5. 我喜欢在这里陪爸爸工作…
6. 这里又大又黑。但是我不怕，因为有披萨的味道！
7. 我不需要加热，为什么把我放在这里呢？
8. 别理我，我太困了…
9. 我喜欢在这里陪妈妈打字看书…
10. 救命啊！好多夹子快把我夹死了！

Answers:

1. Toaster
2. TV cabinet
3. Bookshelf
4. Freezer
5. Papa's desk
6. Oven
7. Microwave
8. Bed
9. Mama's desk
10. box of cloth pegs - this was a bonus round, found by Papa in the end :p

These spots are no different from last year except that they had to read Chinese riddles :p We did the egg hunt yesterday as we would be out today at Mum's place. Maybe I should have done this at Mum's place - new spots to hide!

Yu found this not from the riddle as he spotted it earlier!

He was keeping his teddy bear under his blanket and saw an egg there but he kept real quiet. Too quiet. My suspicion increased when he asked whether there was any toy in the egg. Coz the eggs this time were Cadbury eggs wrapped in colourful foil, not Kinder Bueno which they are familiar with.

So when I gave him his first riddle, he went straight to his bed without reading it!! I had to make him read it later *.*

All found!

Of course there must be some drama. Last year, Kai was unhappy with the toys in his Kinder Bueno. This year, Kai thought his riddles were the most difficult and so the game was not fair. They were not the most difficult. In fact, I purposely gave him two super easy ones knowing he would complain! The easiest was for Yu definitely - more so I didn't have to write so much hanyu pinyin! 

Anyway, we almost took him out of the game after his first egg. Then he didn't look carefully for the remaining eggs and ended up crushing the bookshelf one coz he just anyhow flipped the books about *.* We have been having difficulties with Kai these days but more on that another day...

A floor bed again

We finally got rid of the bunk bed!

I felt very uncomfortable with it coz it felt creaky and would rock every time Kai climbed up! I was so paranoid about the top bunk crashing down with Yu below!!!

Kai used to sleep up there only on non-school days until year end holidays last year coz with Yu in primary school this year, all three slept in the same room. This meant that I couldn't lie down next to Kai anymore - don't dare to put my weight on the upper bunk!

Some more, he disturbed his brothers on their bed all the time and it was difficult to lie down peacefully with them. And when he dozed off first which was usually the case, the younger ones were often still awake and would disturb him!

So this week, we took down the upper bunk, shifted the beds about a bit and moved Kai to sleep on his own in his own room. My ears suffered a lot of complaints *.* But I can finally lie down with Kai at bedtime :)

On Thursday, we moved the lighted mattress back on the floor so that Kai could sleep with his brothers on non-school days. But at bedtime, my ears suffered again - Kai let Yang but not Yu step on his mattress when getting on/off their bed. Had to bring in Sito to settle this coz Kai always doesn't think I'm fair to him.

It could have been so fun!

Anyway, next week when the bulk disposal truck come by, we will dismantle the bed that Yu is sleeping on and dump it. Then we can shift a bed back from Kai's room which is smaller and more cramped. We don't need four beds anyway and one bed has a broken board after incessant jumping *.*

清明节 Qing Ming 2023

It's the Qing Ming period again. We didn't have a gathering for some years due to COVID though I know some elders went together to pray. This year, it happened that Yan was back and staying with Ah Yee so the Qing Ming gathering was a good time for the family to reunite a bit.

Then we happened to go to our new place for measurements last Saturday. We had wanted to let the kids sit at the staircase to play Sito's phone while we were with the interior designer but Sito had a better idea - drop them off at Mum's place! Luckily she was free. And we found out that Mum and Dad were going to 光明山 that afternoon so we decided to let the kids tag along. Only Sito went with them as I had a church wedding to attend.

They went in AhYe's pickup from work. The kids seemed to have enjoyed the ride! I remember enjoying rides in pickups as a kid, heh! Not common these days... They ended up at Macs after that and took the train home. I was maybe two trains behind them all the way from Kovan!

AhYe teaching them about their ancestors

Hope they learnt something from the experience. It would be great for them to carry on the tradition...

Yesterday was Good Friday and also the Qing Ming gathering for my side of the family. It was a wonderful day for the kids. They got to meet their second cousins finally and played with them. When we last met A in person, she was a baby who was afraid to let me carry her, and now she's almost ten! Later she let me hug her - so nice! :)

We were saying it's sad that their second cousins of their age range were in different continents - two in UK and two in Canada. Two more second cousins in Singapore were older and girls so can't really click...

Playing Uno - Yang and Yu got distracted by TV and toys

This one got very comfortable with JiuJiu...

This year, we stayed in the house and did not go to 碧山亭 like before. We started a bit late as we ran out of incense sticks! But eventually, we got down to praying. And then it was a period of waiting and burning of incense paper. My kids saw the burning last Saturday so they continued with their TV... During the wait, we also took family photos - all of us and by generation. Ours was the largest group!

Starting now

All of us!

The three younger ones played with B's toys

Our ancestors must have known that the kids were waiting - Yu had gone to the table at least twice and once almost grabbed a snack box! - so we got "approval" to start eating at the very first try!

A spread of food including a cup of coffee for Grams :)

The kids' table

After lunch, Sito and S brought the five kids to the playground. The two men chatted at the playground while the wives chatted with the cousins at the dining table. When they came back, we were still chatting! So they went down again after a break in front of the TV. 

The remaining cousins enjoying durian puffs while chatting

Looked at old photos - so much memories!

This one asked for pandan cake

It happened that LY just renovated the shophouse second floor so we went over to have a look. The rest of us hadn't been there for some 30 years since the provision shop closed! So much memories...

Where a rattan chair used to be

At the balcony

Ah Yee and Mother in the kitchen

Behind the kitchen were the WC and bathroom. The WC used to be a squat pan and little me couldn't use one so I pooped on newspaper laid out on the floor outside the toilet!!!

Came out of the shophouse to find these five playing catching

So many of us, great for 老鹰抓小鸡！

They were all so cute!

Next was ice cream time at Macs!

Oh yes, the adults sat at another table to chat. The kids were chatting among themselves and quite happy. Then more wanted fries even though Yang and Yu couldn't finish their ice cream *.*

Yu was too engrossed with newfound love - BBQ sauce - and didn't turn for the photo

Oldest to youngest with the two monkeys holding hands - so sweet!

Yan and me - finally a photo together after we forgot when we met for lunch on Monday!

It was a great reunion + Qing Ming gathering. When shall we meet again??

Another Legoland itinerary!

Yes, we have been finetuning our Legoland itinerary - around food and massage, hoho! The kids have their fun, and so must the parents, right?

In December, our first day was a Tuesday and Legoland was super crowded. Since we suspected that this was due to the water park being closed on Tuesdays, we skipped Tuesday totally. It was a great choice!

Wednesday, 15 Mar

We're back!

No more than 90 min door to door. Spent some time getting our suitcase into the locker though...

The VR ride is usually Kai and Yang's first stop but it wasn't open so Sito brought them for other rides while I brought Yu where he wanted to go.

But first, let's cheer Papa and GeGes on!

They also went on the big dragon...

.. while we sat the Merlin merry-go-round five times! We spotted them coming down the stairs on our fifth ride and came out to find them.

Yu running to Papa to tell him we rode five times!

This is monumental - guess what?

Kai is now too tall for the horse ride! We think maybe the measurement was a bit off... But anyway, he's so big now - don't vie with the small ones!

So they all went for the merry-go-round

It took a few rounds before Yang managed to ride with Papa

Kai is very strong - I just needed to steady the rope when I rode with him; he pulled :p

Lunch at our fave burger junction!

Perfect portions when we ordered two hotdog meals, one fried chicken meal and one nugget kiddy meal to share :) The location is also nice - we get to see many people getting wet on the volcano ride!

Sito built a propeller plane and a pack of Macs fries

Combined, they became an intergalactic object??

I still think the fries look like a hen, haha! We spent a lot of time in this place coz the kids like it.

Yu finally tried on the glasses! But he didn't wear it for the show *.*

Eh, friend ah? :p

We watched Officer in Pursuit. Long time no watch! Quite funny with the hotdog/corn/banana man. Yu had wanted to put on his glasses only when the hotdogs went flying but he dropped them *.*

How does the camel go? Under these two!

We were tired enough to leave before 6 pm - it was so hot!

Apartment was at level 28 - can see Legoland hotel from the lift

Took us a while to get a grab car to AEON. But we got there and headed for Vivo Pizza after grabbing some buns for breakfast the next day. We found that in December and decided we must return on their Vivo Day which falls on Wednesdays for discounted meals!

Kai had two pepperoni pizzas, Yang had one and Yu finished his regular meatball spaghetti!

They were all hungry by the time we got there so ate a lot. Sito had BBQ chicken chop while I shared a totally underwhelming cheese pizza with him coz I wasn't hungry and coz I really wanted to eat their chocolate lava cake haha!

Our next activity is not shown here - guess? :p

Yup, massage! Let the kids play on their own in front of us. We got a back massage after a foot massage. Sito could feel his feet after our trip while I could feel my back!

Thursday, 16 March

Water park day!

Oh yeah, I bought a photo though Kai was grouchy. No selfie stick when we went there :p

I spent a lot of time with this sweet guy :)

This time, we didn't take a lot of rides. Only Kai spent some time in the middle slides. But it was tiring coz it was hot. No one objected when we left.

Look at this sleepy pup waiting for our late lunch

Found these two looking at lobsters when we came away from the cashier

This time, we didn't pack bee hoon back. We ate it fresh right there! So yummy! Must wash it down with something sweet!

They were happy with their treats :)

I wasn't. I ordered coffee from JCO. It looked and tasted horrible! Then I saw the two ladies at the table nearby teleported to Starbucks next door - they had abandoned their JCO coffee!!! But the seats were comfy enough so Sito grabbed a doughnut, and brought the kids to Baskin Robbins next door to get ice cream back to JCO to eat. 

We went jalan jalan a bit and landed at the supermarket after deserting the cinema - the kids didn't want Shazam and I didn't want Demon Slayer since they wouldn't be reading subtitles properly so no point. Grabbed some snacks to bring home and picked some fried food and sushi to eat later in the apartment. Also got the kids a big pack of popcorn.

The fried food was a mistake. I felt so uncomfortable I had to lie down. Then I had to make myself vomit but I only retched. Took some time before I finally puked. But it wasn't the end. I had a tummy ache while feeling like I needed to puke - not a good combination! Then I puked again. Then I decided I couldn't puke a third time so I got Sito to apply some peppermint oil on me and went to bed. Woke at 3.40 am and felt better!

Friday, 17 March

New space to play Lego where the Star Wars room used to be

We played the usual stuff otherwise - Ninjago, boating school - and headed out for a simple lunch at the chicken rice shop. 

And they had cotton candy bigger than their heads!

We got separated from Papa!

Finally a good shot of them in this ride coz they were in the truck nearest spectators

The two big Sitos are strong!

We left before the park closed coz it was very hot and coz we wanted to go for Korean BBQ! For the first time, we sat at level 1. The kids didn't eat as much as last time though. 

Having lollipop while discussing how to swallow phlegm *.*

Nua-ing with their phone while we had foot massage

As it was still early, we sat down at Blackball for dessert. Sito and I had the signature while Yang and Yu shared a strawberry yoghurt. They didn't finish it so we drank it in the end :p Kai had some pearls from our bowl but Sito sneakily added a red bean which caused him to go yucks, haha!

So sweet :)

Saturday, 18 March

For the first time, we had breakfast at Medini Mall. The bakery at the supermarket was quite good! And the coffee was waaaaay better than JCO!

Not much queue at the splashing ride - no idea what the name is :p So it was time to use the raincoats! I bought a new raincoat for Kai so that Yang could have his and Yu could have Yang's. But Yang didn't want to ride so I gave Kai his old raincoat and let Sito have Kai's new raincoat. 

I waited outside but didn't see them in the queue. Then I saw that Yang decided to ride in the end so Sito gave the biggest raincoat to Yu *.* I rushed up to give Sito a poncho but he declined, hmph!

So here they go!

Yu was quite dry coz the raincoat was big. But Kai and Yang got their pants wet. It was great fun though!

Later, Sito and Kai went for roller coasters while the remaining three of us went to build cars. It was a 不见不散 agreement to meet at the entrance at 11.30 am :p

Bought more buns from the supermarket bakery for the journey home in case there was a jam and we got hungry. But our 12.00 nn ride was very smooth. Sito packed pizza for the kids and ban mian for us. Dinner was Macs in exchange for porridge lunch on Sunday :)

We both got a bit ill after coming back - no COVID. Sito said that we could not survive a week-long holiday. I have to agree. But seeing how we have "graduated" from bringing helper along in Dec 2019 to going on our own from Dec 2022, I say we have a good chance of going from tired to not tired and eventually to longer trips! Yeah!