A New Stunt

In my previous entry on the swimming breaktrhough, I didn't manage to take any pictures. Well, after that, we've been frequenting the pool quite often, mostly after work/school. So you could imagine how dark or cold the place was, and not too long later, I noticed that Sze Yi started to cough slightly and develop some phlegm. So we decided to give it a break, and stopped the swimming activity for awhile.

Until last Sunday, we decided to continue again. Since it's a weekend, we went earlier, around 5pm, when there's still some sunlight. This time, I remembered to bring my camera along. But since it's a phone camera, the quality is not as good. Still it's better than none.

The kids have progressed a lot, I would say. That's thanks to Daddy.

Sze Yi swimming on her 'own' in the adult pool

Sze Juin enjoying lying back on the waters, she's starting to dare let go too!

And guess what? SY learnt some new stunts too! She could not swim backwards, after watching how Daddy did it once. I didn't managed to capture that, but I got this one instead! She's swirling, whatever that's called! I wonder where she learnt this from...not from Daddy I'm sure!

The "Swimming" Breakthrough

No, she still can't swim on her own yet, but she could swim with the floats, and without her feet touching the ground! Yes, this is really a breakthrough for her, thanks to Daddy's hard work. Before that, it's so hard to even get her into the water, as she's so afraid of people splashing her.

We just got them both a pair of arm floats each, and SY got an additional ring float. I dared not buy two sets for that, as it looked so small and I'm not sure if it would fit. Maybe it works because it's small enough, it fits at her waist without it slipping down. So she could swim in the adult pool now with all these floats, even asking Daddy to go away to swim, she could handle it on her own :)

What about SJ? She's still afraid and was clinging to me like a koala bear, kept saying "I'm scared". Then Daddy took over, and she could enjoy lying her head on the waters, enjoying the sky. Hmm... so the credit should go to Daddy yeah? :)

A Day of Celebrations!

It's the 2nd Sunday in May, can you guess what day is today? Yes, it's Mother's Day. Daddy taught me how to make a card for Mommy and Amah. Here's the one for Mommy. I wrote everything on my own, except for the guided heart shape.

I know, I know. It's not very pretty. Especially my writings. But at least I did it all on my own, that's what matters most, right? There's no photo of the card that I made for Amah. Mommy hadn't got a chance to take it yet and Amah had kept it. Anyway, the truth is, it's not as nice as Mommy's. I lost my patience and cincai wrote only, much to Daddy's disappointment.

But, that was not all. Last Friday, I've brought this home from school for Mommy. So now they all knew why my lips were red with lipstick that day.

Apart from Mother's Day, there's another celebration today. We're also going to celebrate my cousin, Baby Samantha's 1st birthday. She's just 6 days older than Juin Juin while her sister Sarah is 3 weeks younger than me. What a co-incidence that our Mommies gave birth to us about the same time - 2 pairs somemore!

We went to Samantha's birthday party after church. Yes, we all went to church together this time, including Amah! Actually I was the one who insisted that Amah came along too, or else I'd cry. That's why she was there too. But I was so naughty that I caused a little tension in the environment later.

At Samantha's birthday party, we had lots of fun. All my uncles were there too. Sarah & Samantha had 3 uncles, while Juin Juin and I had 2 uncles.

Juin Juin and Samantha - see how they communicate :) So small already started finger-pointing!

A close-up on the beautiful birthday girl - with Kim Poh (who's her Amah)

More pics:

Top left: The Amahs with their grandaughters' chilling out session

Top right: Me riding Sarah's bicycle with her cousin, Jason while 2nd Chik Chik trying to feed me

Bottom Left: Mommy feeding Juin Juin her porridge (yes, Mommy brought it along to the party too)

Bottom Right: Mommy carrying Samantha and Juin Juin

Yummilicious food which I've got a license to eat, yay!
The attraction of the day - the Princess Birthday Cake, which was chosen by Cousin Sarah for her sister

Singing the birthday song - can you see that Juin Juin was clapping too? Actually, both Sarah & I were more excited compared to the babies, we wanted the balloons and presents on top of the cake. And, once we've finished singing the song, Sarah immediately blew the candle, before anyone could stop her!
Birthday girl with her Mommy and Sister, about to cut the cake. Yeah, the sister got to do the cutting.

It sure was fun, but very tiring. Juin Juin immediately dozed off once we got into the car to go home.

But, after that, we went for a swim in the evening. Somehow, I got over my phobia of the water already, and even wiling to try the water slide. However, nobody knows how long will that last. After Mommy took Juin Juin up for a bath, I continued to stay down there with Daddy. He taught me how to play with my new surf board. Just then, I saw Amah at the balcony and I was so excited. I waved and jumped, looking up at her. Right then, I lost my footing and I fell into the water! What a shock I had. I cried and cried and cried. Daddy was afraid if that'll mean my phobia for water will return. We'll see... For now, I just wanted to rest. Enough marathon for the day!

A Dip in the Pool

I have a phobia on water, Eeeiii! I would scream when I heard people splashing water. Maybe that's why I didn't want to have my hair washed. Or my face too. I'm so scared the water would go into my eyes. Due to this, nobody can make me take a dip in the pool anymore.

During the CNY weekends, Mommy and Daddy wanted to take Mei Mei to the pool. She has never had this experience before. Of course I didn't want to. Finally they managed to convince me by promising that they would go to the baby pool only. Not the adult pool. Ok, so I agreed. But upon reaching there, we were greeted with so many children. Maybe due to the holidays. And they like to splash the water! Arrghh! I didn't want to go down. I cried and cried. Until Mei Mei got scared too. She clinged tightly to Mommy and didn't seem to enjoy the water at all - not like when I was small. But she's very quiet, didn't cry like me.

After that experience, Mommy did not ask me for a swim anymore. Until last Sunday, I suddenly said I wanted to follow Daddy down. So Mommy changed me & Mei Mei into our swimming suits. I've got a new goggles too, to prevent people from splashing me. See... I'm all ready and set!


And after that, we really did have some fun at the pool. Why? Coz there were no people around! Oh, that was during lunch time, around 12noon! Who would want to come down for a dip around this time? So I could enjoy some peace of mind without fearing anyone splashing me!

Mei Mei's not afraid of water... see those water on her face!


Me too, me too! I felt 'protected' today!

Aha... I took off the goggles!

New Swimsuit

I had a chance to try my new swimsuit finally, when Uncle Kok Chen brought his daughter for a swim at our condo. Mei Mei doesn't have a swimsuit, so Daddy suggested to let her wear my old one, as it was a little too small for me. Mommy has put that away with the rest of my old clothes which can't fit me anymore. That's how I got to wear my new one :) But I was too excited to go to the pool and wouldn't let Mommy and Daddy put the floats into my new swimsuit. So, I didn't get to experience the floating effect of it. But, I still have a great time.

Mei Mei was really brave, she dared to let the water splash on her face! See how wet her face was compared to mine...

Small Ee Ee was here, she came to stay with us during the weekends since she was still on holidays.

Swim on my own?

Would you believe it if I told you that I could swim on my own? Well, the pictures tell everything....

Hehe... except the last one! I'm actually standing in the pool :) I love walking in the pool, and the feeling of my feet touching the base gave me a sense of security. Too bad I still can't accept the adult pool yet, I get panicky whenever Daddy or Mommy took me there for swimming. Hopefully when our swimming playgroup starts (Mommy told me her friends are organizing one soon), I would somehow master my fear when seeing the rest of my little friends enjoying the water.

Pool time

I have more pool time after I moved to our new place. I love playing in the baby pool as I can walk in it. But when Daddy tries to take me to the adult pool, I begin to panick as my feet can't touch the base. I still prefers my little boat (courtesy of Ah Peng Chick Chik).

Mommy's worries:

1. Whenever someone splashes nearby, Szeyi will get panicky and shake her head a few times. She seems to be very afraid of water touching her face or eyes.

2. I noticed that Szeyi is very prone to getting cold, even though she is a breastfeeding baby. Many times after a swimming session, she'll be down with flu. So, we tried to let her play in the pool before it gets dark (around 5pm), and reduce her time in the pool. Hopefully she'll be stronger as she grows bigger...

Birthday, And More Birthdays!

Today is Jan 1st, 2007 - New Year Day. It's also my chinese birthday, 13th day of the 12th lunar month. And guess what? It's also my little cousin, Sarah's birthday!

We started our day by going to Church - for a great new start in 2007. Mommy dressed me in my new blouse from Disney (Mommy & Daddy bought me some Disney clothes from Rome last October) and off we went to Church.

In Church, I was behaving quite well but when I started to grow restless, Daddy took me out for a change of environment.

After Mass, we went home. Amah had prepared mee suah for me, which was supposed to symbolise long life. She gave me an ang pow (for good luck) and fed me the mee suah, with hard-boiled egg and meat inside. Then, Mommy fed me chicken drumstick and gave me ang pow too. Mmm.... it's so delicious! All these are part of a traditional chinese custom when a baby turns 1 year old (or actually 2 in chinese calendar, since they counted the day that the child is born to be 1 year old).
Next, Amah placed an abacus, a ruler, a book and a pen in front of me. Each of these items were supposed to represent a career and the first object that I chose was supposed to signify my inclination. Here's what I took - in sequence:
Abacus - does this mean I'm gonna be an accountant next time? :)
Suspense... what would I choose next?
Oh, it's a pen! Hmm....what does it mean? A writer?
Followed by ruler - according to Amah, this means an architect.
And finally a book... Oh dear. Will I ever gao thak chek (good in reading) next time?

Then, Amah wanted me to pai pai and pay my respect to the Goddess of Mercy, Kwan Yin.


When we're done with all the rituals, we went to Cousin Sarah's first birthday party!

We had a great time there, and I enjoyed playing with her. But I was more interested in the balloons. Sarah and her Mommy, or Koh Koh, as I called her. Oops, we missed the birthday cake's photo! Sorry, Mommy didn't get to snap any photos after that. After the party was over, I went back to have my nap.

In the evening, Daddy, Mommy and Amah took me to the swimming pool for a dip in the pool. We're supposed to meet Cousin Sarah there, but she overslept so we went ahead. I had a great time splashing away.
So, that's a day of birthdays. Isn't it nice if everyday can be like this?

Splashing time

Mommy bought an 'indoor swimming pool' for me when I was only 2 months old. She wanted to give me an early start in the water before I forget my natural float instinct. It seems that babies could float naturally if put into the water before they hit 6 months, since they have got lots of practices in their mommy's womb. But since they are afraid that I would catch cold, mommy get a huge one instead so that I could learn to float inside it rather than in the cold swimming pool.

I used to play inside it even though there's no water. It's been my favourite 'play tent' since then, until Chik Chik disassembled it coz it's too bulky and eats up a lot of space in our house. Since then, I seldom play in it coz it takes some effort to blow it up again.

Anway, I do have some fun splashing in it at the pool. I don't remember when I actually go to the swimming pool to swim, but I guess it's around my 6th or 7th month. Coz mommy bought my swimming costume from Singapore when she goes there for training in mid June. I certainly have lotsa fun splashing away!