Kai is 12?!

Kai is so big now. At this height, it's getting difficult for me to put my arms around his shoulders; soon it'll be him putting his arms over my shoulders..

Happy birthday, my dear Kai Kai!

Yes, we stuck a candle into a pint of cookies and cream ice cream coz the boy still wouldn't have cake! I found photos of him and his last cake in 2020. From 2021, it's always doughnuts or ice cream. But this is the first time we just put a tub of ice cream there :p

Must have his hour of phone games

His birthday fell on a Friday this year. We usually have Japanese curry on Fridays so we had curry mee sua! I diluted it a little and used enoki and more carrots instead of broccoli.

Doesn't look like much but it was yummy!

As usual, we went to Swensen's. But this time, we had lunch instead of dinner so that Yang could be with us and also go to his classmate's birthday party.

The kids had their usual fish and chips x2 and spaghetti. Sito and I had nasi lemak since we were at Clementi; Bishan doesn't have this menu. We were so full we couldn't have dinner - Sito ate Yu's leftover pizza while I had a slice of castella cake. 

大鼻孔 smile!

Yang and Yu had ice cream at Macs later. Nowadays, the system does not allow us to redeem the usual kiddy sundae along with birthday treats... Bought some cakes and snacks before leaving in two groups - I brought Yang to his friend's place (and clocking 14k steps that day!) and the rest home. 

On Sunday morning, when he heard me move, Kai came into our room and onto our bed to wake Papa - he wanted him to go through a paper with him! Somehow he got Sito to play phone games instead *.*

Watching Papa play games

He still likes to squeeze with us in bed, just like those weekends when he was a baby - we used to nap together. But look at him, he's almost my size!!!

Lunch with the grands on Sunday was at Ju Xing Home, a new Cantonese restaurant in Taka. Again, the kids were more interested in playing the grands' phone. But I was glad to see Kai see multiple servings of the fried noodles and hear from Yang later that he wanted to eat there again.

More ice cream!

Think Kai had two tubs of BR and one cone. I closed two eyes - it was to celebrate his birthday anyway.

But until now, he could not tell us what he wants for his birthday present! He got Nintendo games from the grands already but from us, ??? We shall wait and see...

Yang is a decade old!

When I said he has entered double-digit age, Yang said he is now a decade old :)

How time flies! I kept getting reminders of his baby time from Facebook memories - so tiny! And now, he's a big boy of 10.

Yet, he is still such a baby, even more so than Yu. He is just cute without trying to be cute. And he's a very sweet boy who would hug me for no reason :)

Happy birthday, my dear Yang Yang!

He decided on this chocolate cake from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf a few weeks before. I collected it on Wednesday after a doctor's appointment, just nice for his celebration on Thursday. It had just enough space for 10 candles - Yang and Yu enjoyed placing the candles on the cake but they got concerned about wax dripping down when I was lighting the candles!

He decided to cut the cake himself

But it was rather stiff! Finally, we each had a slice, except for Kai of course. Yang had the largest slice but as expected, he couldn't finish. Yu didn't like the cake so Sito and I ended up having a lot of cake!

Birthday boy was allowed an hour of phone games

We decided to restart the whole birthday mee sua thing. Yang said he prefers fried eggs to ajitsuke eggs and he wanted two! So I cooked everything separately and assembled each bowl when the soup was done.

Then he fell asleep *.*

Didn't have the heart to berate him on his birthday. Eventually he woke and finished his dinner. The rest of us had the same food, except for Sito and Kai who did not have eggs.

That night, I asked Yang about his birthday wish. This bad Mama now cannot remember what he said exactly! But I think he at first wished for more phone games. I told him if he made an unrealistic wish, it would not come true. So he said he should have wished for better results instead. Now that could come true with effort! 

"But I don't want to work hard!"

Wa liao...

Yang decided he wouldn't have the firehouse ice cream which Swensen's gifts to birthday kids on the actual day. So we went to Swensen's only on Saturday after Bishan library.

Somehow he enjoys serving drinks to us :)

(Yu also wanted to serve drinks, hence the look!)

Three different expressions - staring into space, kaypoh, concentrating

Kai had finished his ice cream while it was nice and cold - think he has learned to wait properly while the rest finish.. On the other hand, his brothers let their ice cream melt and drink it *.* They were discussing their melted ice cream as they drank...

On the morning of Yang's birthday, we headed out for breakfast. Our doting Papa Sito then tried to find Mr Beast chocolate as Yang said his friend told him it was yummy. We saw it in the nearby supermarket before but couldn't find it this time. Later in the morning, Sito tried two candy stores nearby to no avail...

Finally, we found it at the supermarket at Junction 8. It was expensive for the size. On the way home when we passed by Cold Storage downstairs, Sito pointed out the cost for Cadbury chocolate which was 4-5 times cheaper by weight!

But this boy was very happy :)

They tried the chocolate - just like any milk chocolate. On Sunday, we bought the Cadbury and let them try both side by side on Monday which was a school holiday for Youth Day. Sito also tried. Same taste except that the Cadbury was thicker and hence harder fresh out of the fridge.

Anyway, we bought the Mr Beast bar to let them try since Yang's classmate recommended. But we would not buy again. Hope the kids learn about VFM through this...

Back to birthday... Sunday was celebration with the grands. No cake since the kids don't really eat cake. But they had doughnuts for tea. And presents of course. 

Happy with his doughnut!

The kids also had a lot of snacks as usual. Didn't think they were terribly hungry when we went out for a roast dinner. And they were all way too keen to play games on the grands' phones. But with some cajoling, we managed to give them a decent amount of food. Kai was most resistant. Yang and Yu managed to eat more while playing - AhYee and I stuffed food into their mouths haha!

Happy with his presents too!

Yang's presents - including Sito's toy soldiers which arrived ytd - are now sitting on the TV cabinet. I threw out their old Beyblades last night but I think I really need to sort out their toys over there else the TV is blocked :p

So just like this, Yang's birthday is over. He's officially 10. And I shall continue my quest to fatten this boy up!