Daddy and Mummy's Sweetheart

2010-10-25T11:14:00.001+08:00

Doh-wan

2008-11-19T23:51:00.002+08:00

Recently, this has been Karis' favourite quote. She's been dictating us with her "doh-wan" (don't want) or "more" (when she likes something, she will tell you "more! more! more!")

I really hope that the terrible twos syndrome will not happen to Karis at all.

I miss the camera!

2008-11-19T23:15:00.003+08:00

Been not having a functional camera for almost one month! The feelings of "loss" towards the camera is intensified when Karis is chatting to herself, having a simple conversation with me or her Daddy, grooving herself like a real pro as a dancing queen to groovy music, sashaying her body to slow music, or wearing sweetie dresses and hair accessories while we are out.

The beloved camera is currently in the repair shop, and I really hope that it will come back to me safe and sane in one week's time!

20 Oct 08 - First day @ School

2008-11-19T22:27:00.003+08:00

20 October 2008 - What a day to remember! Being the first day of Karis attending a childcare programme, it also signifies new adjustments and the beginning of an exciting phase in life - for Karis, myself and my hubby. Through this experience, I truly learnt that changes can be something worth pursuing in life. What we perceive as changing for the worse can really turn out to be changing for the better. Afterall, most of us are just complacent beings who like to live in our own tiny comfort zone. Except for the separation anxiety that I felt on the first day, being teary-eyed when I left the centre (parent's separation anxiety, not the child's, mind you:)), Karis has been adapting extremely well in the transition to childcare! Put simply, she does seem happier after attending the half-day childcare programme, compared to staying at home with po-po on weekdays. Most of my initial worries and concerns are banished, observing how well she has been adapting to the childcare.

Two weeks after attending childcare, Karis started to take her day nap in the childcare centre, from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. I had allowed her to take her nap there so that I could be on time to pick her up after work everyday. I have converted my employment status to part-time, so that I could spend more time with her during these early crucial years, and more so because I don't hope that she will spend 10 hours daily in a childcare setting at such a young age. Having explored few options of care-giving for Karis, part-time employment is the most ideal arrangement. I am indeed very grateful and blessed to have such an arrangement. Nevertheless, having the same extent of a full-time job scope to be completed within half the working time is another separate matter altogther - I just have to totally depend on God's wisdom in balancing the time well.

Reading the weekly update sent by the childcare centre supervisor about what Karis' class has been doing for the week has never failed to warm my heart. I am now looking forward to the monthly update by end this month, as this update will come along with cute, lovely, and heartwarming pictures of Karis and her little friends in her toddler class!

New Playground @ Zoo

2008-11-17T23:25:00.002+08:00

We went to the recently opened mega water playground in the zoo with Ting Ting Yi-Yi & Yi-zhang, Fang Fang Yi-Yi & Yi-zhang, Bernice jie-jie and Juven jie-jie. This is probably my 8th or 9th time to the zoo. (With compliments to Daddy's free corporate zoo pass, and Aunty Amy who recently registered Mummy and myself as co-members of the Friends of Zoo)

Mummy thinks that I have grown since my last visit to the zoo, as I will sometimes utter the name of the animals that I see. She thinks that I am quite a drama princess too, because I will make a sudden exclaimation or scream when I suddenly spot an animal out of the blue. (For instance, a monkey swinging mid-air to another tree)

Upon reaching the new playground, I enjoyed myself playing with the water at the water fountain at the side. I had enjoyed myself thoroughly, until a bucket of pail filled to the brim with water was flipped down deliberately from the top, causing a big gush of water to splash on my head and mummy's. We only knew about the elephant bucket and did not realise that there was another bucket placed at the area where you climb up to play the slide. Mummy said that I'm quite poor thing then, because the pressure from the gush of water is quite strong and sudden, and I would have been scared by the sudden gush. Indeed, after this incident, when mummy wanted to bring me to play in other play structures in the playground, I said repeatedly to her "Doh-wan" (don't want). Mummy still thinks that I am quite brave, because she herself was startled by the sudden gush of water, and yet I only "whined" a while and didn't cry.

(No photos were taken, because the very-missed camera is currently in the repair shop)

Astonished!

2008-11-08T23:58:00.002+08:00

I was extremely astonished when Karis started to count "One, two, three, four, five, six, ..ven, eight, nine, ten!", while she is walking along the pavement to the childcare centre. Both my hubby and I witnessed the golden moments!

When she was counting, her hands were pointing at the leaves imprinted on the pavement, signalling that she was counting the leaves there. I was very astonished as both my hubby and I did not teach her to count from one to ten. The only time that we said one to ten is when we are in a lift going up, or when we are climbing up or down the stairs. We also thought that it may not be from the childcare teaching, as she just started to attend the childcare programme. Our guess is that it may come from watching the video on Barney - Counting 1,2,3.

(Afternote: Since then, what is overheard when Karis counts is, "One, two, three, four, five....... nine, ten!", skipping six, seven, eight. At least we managed to capture this precious moment!)

Macau Trip - 4th and 5th day (Venetian & our Hotel)

2008-10-15T14:36:00.014+08:00

Taken at the spacious balcony of the hotel we stayed...(Riviera Hotel, formerly called Ritz Hotel)

Karis' enjoying her shower in the bath-tub

Beautiful seaview of Macau captured in the comfort of our hotel room...

Karis' typical cheeky smile :)

Karis with her cheeky smile. As mummy & daddy do not smile in this way at all, wondering where did she learn this smile from??

Playing with FP laptop...

Beautiful night view of Macau...

Macau Trip - 3rd day - Senado Square & St. Paul

2008-10-14T17:58:00.009+08:00

At Senado Square

In front of St Paul church facade ruins

Here's our sweetheart and Daddy singing the Incy Wincy spider song in front of the mirror, at the food court of the New Yaohan (xin1 bai3 ban4) departmental store building. We frequent our meals there, as the food is generally yummy, complimented with a new and clean ambience.

Macau Trip - 2nd day - HK Disneyland

2008-10-14T16:56:00.008+08:00

Karis' at the HK train station to Disneyland.

Karis in the disney train :)
Standing on the pavement waiting for the Disneyland parade to start...
The travelling journey from our hotel in Macau to HK Disneyland took us a total of more than three hours. Almost half an hour spent in hotel shuttle bus travelling from Macau hotel to the ferry terminal, an hour of ferry ride to Hong Kong (we took the ferry leading to Kowloon instead of Hong Kong so we ended with more time spent in the train ride), and another hour of train ride to Disneyland. Karis' instinctive camera pose is squatting down :) In the Macau ferry terminal back to our Macau hotel. As the travelling time to and fro took us more than five hours, we spent twelve hours of our time outside. Karis' been very well-behaved and resilient despite her mouth ulcer which may have just developed then, due to the HFMD which we found out only when we were back to Singapore then.

Check out Karis playing with Daddy's handphone!

Macau Trip - 1st Day - 2nd October 2008

2008-10-13T19:48:00.006+08:00

The three of us in the plane :)

At the Budget Terminal before departing to Macau. Lurves the thrill of sliding down!

Sesame Street stickers, colouring book, Barney videos and Fisher-Price laptop - keeping Karis entertained and occupied throughout the three-and-a-half hour journey.

Barney-packed videos in iPod - Probably the best tool in the world to keep toddlers occupied for hours!

Karis' blabbering with her baby-language through the phone...

and laughing hysterically in the midst of her teleconversation!

Karis' taking video-shoot of herself ...Mimicking us saying the usual "one, two, (three)" before the camera-click :-

Macau trip - Such a resilient and brave girl!

2008-10-13T18:57:00.005+08:00

I broke my own record this time round for not updating Karis' blog for more than three months. Probably that's because the toddlerhood phase seems to be physically more demanding, and Karis has reduced her day-time nap to only once, so that accounts for my time spent in updating her blog to be reduced by at least half :) Nevertheless, all the fun, with the very sweet and heart-warming gestures from Karis outweighs the energy and time required!

The three of us set off to Macau for a five-day trip on 2 Oct. Lo and behold, our barang-barang amounts much (of course, our sweetheart is the princess so she's the most barang of all) - one gigantic luggage bag, one luggage bag, two big carrier bags carried by hubby and I, and lastly one Dora bag that is carried by Karis, who demonstrates great accountability towards this responsibility :)

Some of the barang-barang:-
- Clothings, blanket, towel, jacket
- Half a big box of diaper
- One tin of milk powder
- Doll-doll (it's a MUST!)
- Bolster
- FP laptop
- Barney videos downloaded in Ipod
- Books for bedtime story
- Small bottle of olive oil
- Panadol, pamaforte and nurofen and other essential medicine
- Thermometer
- Dora bag containing numerous stickers, colour pencils, pencil and an Elmo colouring book!
- Canned tuna, instant cereals, bread, yogurt bars, rice bars (ha! seems soo much food that we've brought, since it's not as easy to find food in Macau, and we are just typically kiasu to play safe than sorry)
- many more!

Thank God that Karis has been such a strong and brave girl throughout the whole trip and coming back. She had fever and had high fever for a while during the third day. Her milk appetite dropped by at least half for two days while we were overseas, and does not have appetite for food except porridge.

Once we are back to Sing, we were glad that we sought advice from a pediatrician who said that Karis had been infected with HFMD. We had visited our family doc downstairs before that, who confirmed that Karis did not have HFMD. It really seems that the outward signs of HFMD may not be that obvious for Karis' case, or probably for most cases? We are really proud of Karis as the ulcer must be really painful, and throughout the ordeal, our sweetheart had not fret much, and has been very bubbly, happy and active. We were also thankful that the fever lasted less than a day.

It's simply too fast!

2008-07-05T22:12:00.003+08:00

Time each day passes by so quickly. This is so true, especially with the little precious one around. Being a full-time working mum, I need to grapple whatever available time I have to prioritise in spending moments with my sweetheart. Plus, she don't sleep as much during day-time naps, and she sleeps later at night, so that accounts for the time lapse of not being able to update this blog for the past over one month.

Over the past two months, here some of the words that have been overheard : -

- bread (loud and clear, including the 'r' sound)
- egg (loud and clear!)
- milk (overheard as 'mik mik', instant realisation that she's growing up exponentially when overheard in the middle of the night. Compared to just few months back, response for milk in the middle of the night is crying or fidgetting)
- please (overheard as 'peas', including the 's' sound)
- press (overheard probably as 'pes')
- big (accompanied with both arms opening wide)
- pig (upon seeing a pig on story book)
- daddy (most frequently overheard two syllabus word)
- baby (overheard as bay-bee, gentle and soft tone)
- apple
- rabbit (overheard as bit)

5th visit to the zoo!

2008-07-05T00:31:00.002+08:00

@ Hortpark

2008-06-28T23:23:00.000+08:00

Karis' hand signal on "not around" or "no more".
Enjoying the rocking motion of swing .....for the first few seconds!

Strolling at Southern Ridges

2008-06-07T23:02:00.001+08:00

In the morning, we ended up in harbourfront bus interchange and proceed to Vivocity, because the weather showed signs of heavy shower while we set off to Southern ridges.

We are back again, and with a vengeance! Weather is perfect for strolling then. It suddenly started to rain heavily the moment we reached Jewel Box. Phew - We are at the right time, right place!

We are back at Vivocity again, for the 2nd time within one day :)

Karisccino - A drink named after me!

2008-05-24T22:46:00.004+08:00

My all-time favourite and very beloved Pam Pam gu-gu especially concocted a drink, just to name it after me! If you happen to be in Breeks cafe, try Karisccino out!

Savour it, think of me and remember to buy me a present ;)

HortPark Walk after Dinner

2008-05-19T17:12:00.002+08:00

We went straight to Little Bali Seafood Restaurant for dinner after my swim at Safra Club @ Mt Faber. After the official opening of HortPark recently, there are many more customers seen patronising the Little Bali Seafood Restaurant at Lock Road. We discovered this restaurant from Gu-Gu and since then, mummy and daddy have been raving about the unique savoury dishes that they offer, such as the pumpkin prawns, braised pork and the nonya style fishhead curry that they used to serve.

After dinner, we climbed up the bridge at Hortpark and walked back home. The walk only took us around 20 minutes - an excellent way to digest our dinner, and enjoy the night breeze at the bridge!

2008-05-18T22:06:00.002+08:00

Karis at atrium of Millenia Walk - hysterically happy! Lurves speed walking in atriums of shopping malls - allowed to roam anywhere without space constraints

Foot Dancing - The Hokey Pokey Song

2008-05-16T22:30:00.004+08:00

I played this song for the first time to our sweetheart, and realised that there could be some allowances for "groooves.." in this song!

Lyrics - Hokey Pokey Song

You put your right foot in

You put your right foot out

You put your right foot in

And you shake it all about

And then you do the hokey pokey

And you turn yourself around

And that's what it's all about (hey!)

Discover another Usage of your Luggage Bag! (Not for the Faint-Hearted)

2008-05-11T14:29:00.001+08:00

Chalet Stay at DTE

2008-05-11T14:15:00.000+08:00

Daddy & Mummy brought me to stay in a chalet at Downtown East to celebrate Daddy's birthday, celebrate Mother's Day, family moments together before Mummy starts her new job in few days' time, and also to bring me out for a family hols together as Mummy & Daddy went for a short overseas getaway the week before (Wow! Several reasons for us to go for our well-deserved family get-away!).

Amongst several activities catered for children at DTE, I still enjoy swimming the most :)

Vivo Shopping & Daiso (Again?!)

2008-05-10T13:29:00.005+08:00

Excited and active Karis with really short fringe after new haircut :)

Our gal is blabbering loudly once I took out the camera... Maybe that's her way of posing

in front of the camera at that spur of moment :)

Karis seated on Daiso pushcart - They've a cute and innovative way of

accomodating a child's seat!

1st Haircut!

2008-05-09T12:28:00.000+08:00

Auntie, pls don't cut my hair too short hor? Hm, my hair length behind is really short..
Karis has been such a well-behaved gal throughout the whole hair-cut! She "behaved" as if she knew the danger of the scissors being near to her. I believe that she's attempted deliberately to sit there without fidgetting.

It's been a challenge for the past one month to bring her to a hair salon as once we've stepped into the salon, she started to cling onto us real tight and refused to stay in the salon even for a moment. However, it's a totally different story when we go to the newly-opened hair salon located just below our house! Maybe her daily walk with po-po downstairs helped her to register the salon in the category of "familiarity" in her mind... ?

You must be very surprised to know that this is her first haircut when she's 15 months old already... Before this, I've cut her front fringe twice only. It's only recently that her hair at the back has grown longer and and usually looks unkempt with her sweat after walking and moving around busily :)

2008-05-08T11:24:00.003+08:00

This is the more elaborate hairstyle that I can have, as I do not have much hair and they are really fine hair. This hairstyle can only be styled when I am watching TV, the only effective and tried means to tame me down :)

Vivo Shopping with Bernice Jie-Jie

2008-05-06T11:32:00.000+08:00

Mummy, me, Yee-Yee and Bernice jie-jie

We met up Ting Yee-Yee & Bernice Jie-Jie to shop at Vivocity.(Again?! - But again, this shopping mall is the biggest, nearest to our house, and we travel there by just a direct bus) Bernice Jie-Jie is around 8 mths older than me, and she has been a very friendly gal :)

Gai-gai at Vivo

2008-05-06T11:03:00.000+08:00

Mummy brought me to Vivo today to gai-gai, and complimented me that I have been such a well-behaved gal, especially throughout the to-and-fro public bus journey. We went to White Dog Cafe for high-tea. Mummy got to savour her cup of coffee coupled with a tiramisu cake, as I am very busily entertained by wiping the feeding tray, playing peek-a-boo with the waiters and waitresses there, and eating my high-tea cinnamon biscuits.

Clothings from Taipei

2008-05-04T11:13:00.000+08:00

Mummy & Daddy bought some clothings for me in their Taipei short getaway trip (even though I already have mountains of clothings!) from 30 Apr, Wed to 3 May, Sat. They got them from Wufenpu - a shopping district of wholesalers.

Mummy felt that the duration of this trip is perfect. If the trip is longer, Mummy will start to miss me a lot :)

CraZY Crazy FP Sale!

2008-04-25T10:08:00.002+08:00

Mummy got to know about a crazy toy sale from the SMH forum. She "lugged" back 7 huge bags of toys for me! Mummy thinks that these are really great buys as all the toys on sale are Fisher Price (FP) or Mattel products, which are at least 50% off the normal selling price.

Items bought:-
1) FP Laugh & Learn "Song & Story" Learning Chair
2) FP Laughtop Laptop
3) FP Royal Potty
4) FP Doodle Pro
5) FP Little People Series - Dinosaurs
6) Dora the Explorer Talking Backpack
7) Geotrax Series - Train and Rail (to be opened only after Karis reaches 2 yrs + )

Total amount spent is around $200, which amounts much. But, it's worth it - as Mummy thinks that afterall, FP products are safer, more reliable, durable and educational.

Zoo Trip

2008-04-24T09:59:00.000+08:00

Mummy brought me to the zoo together with Zoe jie-jie and Amy auntie today. Today, I enjoyed lookin at the lions from the glass panel. We went to the sealion performance as well. Seems that I am more interested in the people that are sitting around me, instead of the main cast of the performance - the sealion, though :) On the other hand, in my previous zoo trip, I enjoyed watching the elephants performance and imitated how the elephants moved their gigantic long noses :)

Swimming Again?! - After less than 24hrs

2008-04-19T13:08:00.004+08:00

Sexy, happy Karis looking forward to a swim - again after less than 24 hrs!
Karis peeping out from swimming float
Karis & Daddy
Karis happily enjoying her walk along the poolside!
Adventurous Karis walking all over the pool!

Mummy, Daddy & I enjoyed our swim in Safra Club @ Mount Faber in the morning!

Swimming - After such a Looong Time!

2008-04-18T23:09:00.002+08:00

This swimming outing is a very last minute arrangement for us. Amy called to ask whether we would like to join her and her gal Zoe. I thought that we might not want to go for the swim and see how it goes, since Karis has yet to take her usual late morning nap. An hour later, Amy called again and my thought was that we will just go ahead, since Karis just does not want to sleep! In no time at all, I immediately rushed to pack all the necessities for the swim at NTU Alumni Club.

It's been such a long time since Karis has gone swimming (think at least half a year ago?). I'm a bit apprehensive that Karis might fear water and find that the scene of water in a swimming pool is too overwhelming and frightening for her. However, she has proofed me totally wrong! Taking only few seconds of warm-up, she bent down and used her tiny hands to splash the water gently the first time, and after which you can imagine that I have to be at my highly-alert mode every second throughout the swim, as she is so excited playing with the water, wanting to climb up the water slide and slide down for one moment, and wanting to sit and rock enthusiastically on the water animal rides the other moment. The most enjoyable and fun moments came when we went to the jacuzzi pool (without having the bubbles jet). We laughed at Karis, seeing her so instinctively relax at one corner of the jacuzzi pool and smiled with satisfaction. After her relaxation, she became excited again and kicked her legs in the water vigorously :)

The swim at the jacuzzi pool must be so soothing for her! She slept while on our journey back home until 7pm! Seeing Karis being so happy throughout the swim has brought me the simple yet lasting and priceless happiness.

1st Trip to Bird Park

2008-04-17T22:28:00.000+08:00

Karis standing near the glass panel with the penguins inside. Karis lurves penguins! Looked at the penguins for quite a while, baby-talked and pointed at the penguin in front of her.

Above: Auntie Amy, Jie-Jie Zoe, Mummy and the busy-on-the-move Karis :)

Below: As a gal who likes to befriend jie-jies and gor-gors, here is Karis befriending Zoe :)

Above: Totally tired out after the bird park trip!

This is my first trip to the bird park. Daddy has free bird park pass from his company, so Mummy, Auntie Amy, Jie-Jie Zoe and I went to the bird park together on a weekday.

As I love to chase after the common small pigeons along the road, Mummy thought that I might appreciate the bird park trip. However, it seems that I enjoy zoo trips more, as the birds in the bird park are a bit too huge for me to chase after, and I am a bit fearful of the bigger birds. Well, Mummy has planned a zoo trip for me this coming Wed or Thurs again before she starts her new job in mid May :) She is very happy that she would be able to maximise her time with me during this one month. This would mean that I will have a lot more outings and gai-gais in these upcoming few weeks :)

Thoroughly Enjoyed Myself at the Zoo!

2008-04-13T22:04:00.008+08:00

Today is such an eventful day for me! In the morning, we set off to the zoo together with Aunty Amy & Zoe jie-jie. This is my 2nd trip to the zoo since I was 4 mths old. While Aunty Amy & Zoe jie-jie departed earlier around noon, we continued our exploration in the zoo till almost 4pm. After which, Mummy and Daddy brought me to Anchorpoint shopping centre to catch up with Annie Yi-Yi and Uncle Keith for a dinner. I was quite hesitant to befriend them initially, but guess what? In order to break the ice with me, you've just got to give me something :) In no time at all, I was very friendly and spontaneous to both Annie Yi-yi and Uncle Keith.

Karis with big zoo map! Let's see, which animal should I visit next?

Side view of Daddy and me.. Looks alike, right? Ha!

2008-04-13T20:53:00.002+08:00

Karis the "gardener" in action..

2008-04-10T23:33:00.002+08:00

Ms Einstein with calculator E=mc*square
I quickly run to take a picture of Karis upon seeing Karis' einstein hairdo. This is her natural hairdo due to hot weather in the morning and after scratching scalp with her fingers.

Sweet Karis in a toy vehicle :)

Stars and Other little findings

2008-04-08T14:39:00.003+08:00

I overheard Karis spoke a muffled word "sh-dar", while her hand was clasping and unclasping continuously. To my surprise, her tiny hand is holding on to a paper that contains a colourful star. Her natural instinct is to clasp and unclasp her hand whenever we sing the song "Twinkle Twinkle little Star" to her, so this time round she has associated the picture of star with the song :)

Other little findings on what Karis has said : -

Ch-ch-ch : When she overheard birds chirping or see a bird
mao-mao : When she see a cat

*Scream* loudly and very excitedly : When she see a dog (Oh.... scared Mummy off! What if the dog retaliates back?!)

Yi (Means "one" in Mandarin) : Use her fingers to symbolise "one".
No-moh (Mummy seems to overhear this from Karis' whisper a few times) : When she is tryin to say that either there is no one around, or the music has stopped, or something has been lost or cannot be found etc.

Ye-ye : When she see a grandfather picture on a flash card

Discovering the Beauty of Accessories

2008-04-08T14:01:00.002+08:00

It's exciting to see the growth of our gal each day. Just a month ago, she expressed out her fear immediately upon seeing Daddy wear this cap, probably cos to her the cap is able to make Daddy have a 360 degree change to another totally different person. Now, she kept asking us to wear the cap while she waits in her curious expectancy to see our change upon wearing the cap.

In my great eagerness, I have been always on the look out for kawaii hairclips for karis. All along, she will always pluck out the hairclip immediately after I place it on her as she may either find it uncomfortable, or she just want to take a look at the hairclip.

Recently, after placing hairclip on her, she will usually point towards the mirror in my bedroom and ask me to show her how she looks like. Upon seeing herself, she will smile ever so sweetly and gently at herself in the mirror. Now, she seldom pluck out the hairclip and the smile just stays there :)

Our gal has discovered the beauty of accessories!

2008-04-07T00:02:00.000+08:00

All ready to throw the ball!

Satisfied look after throwing ball :)

2008-04-04T23:39:00.004+08:00

Carrying and nibbling my favourite
doll. Always with me ever so faithfully
to be nibbled :)

Visit at Kinder Clinic

2008-04-03T18:50:00.002+08:00

I am so busy, happy and friendly walking all over at Kinder Clinic! Mummy witnessed an incident that when I am taking a phone to "imitate" talking, I chased after a gor-gor and passed him the phone to talk. My gesture seems to scare off the gor-gor. I chased after the same gor-gor the 2nd time again and as before, the gor-gor was scared of me and ran over to his mummy.

Well, probably it's because of the new-found freedom that now, I know how to walk, and I can walk all over the place!

Dr Terence Tan commented that I am a very very active baby, and I am a strong-willed baby, upon observing how enthusiastically I am playing with the toys in his room:) For the first time, I said a loud and clear "Bye-Bye" continuously a few times to Dr Terence, as I am relieved and glad to know that I can finally step out from the doctor's room that I am so fearful of :)

False Measles

2008-04-03T18:20:00.001+08:00

It's been a series of episodes on the false measles that I had - and the symptoms in fact started a month ago...
Here's the sequence of the long story : -
- started off with running nose and cough for a few days
- recovered from running nose and cough
- middle of the night - sudden high-fever
- fever had lasted for 3 days
- The day after fever stopped and completely subsided, my hands and body "feels" colder than normal.
- The next day : sudden surge of rashes appear on my back and neck
- Went to our GP doctor, and Dr Lawrence said that it is measles (Got a shock out of mummy & daddy)
- Two weeks later, went to visit a PD recommended by daddy's colleague (This will be the only time and the last time we will be there, as the PD is so rude and fierce!! - Mummy is shocked and quite disgusted to know that a PD can be of such a rude and fierce nature to adults and babies!) He prescribed sundry lotion - does not seem to work well on me.
- A week later, we went Kinder Clinic to visit Dr Terence Tan. He prescribed a steroid lotion to be applied on my affected skin areas. Seems to work well - been applying this lotion for the past 2 days only and it seems that there is improvements. As false measles is infectious, I have been "enclosed" at home for at least 2 weeks without stepping out of the house. Started stepping out along the corridor during the 3rd week. Dr Terence and other Doctors said that measles is a virus spread by others.

Throughout the one-month ordeal, mummy and daddy thinks that I have been very strong and very unaffected. I am still busy doing my usual stunts of climbing, crawling and digging things out etc.

Here's some description about false measles searched in the net : -

Roseola infantum (Exanthema subitum)
Roseola infanturn affects mainly infants from 6 months of age and children less than 3 years. The clinical profile mimics measles very closely, i.e. a prodrome of fever, blocked nose and cough for 45 days and then a maculopapular rash appears. However, there are features which clearly distinguish it from measles, i.e. in roseola:
(a) the signs and symptoms during the prodrome are less severe,
(b) there are no Koplik spots,
(c) when the rash appears, the fever begins to settle and the patient is much better,
(d) the rash appears on the trunk first and then spreads to face and extremities.
Very rarely aseptic meningitis or encephalitis can occur. The Singaporean layman considers it as measles and it is important to inform the parents that it is not measles, otherwise they will refuse measles immunisation as the child "already had measles". They should be told that it is 'false measles' and is due to a totally different virus. This virus belongs to the herpes group of viruses and is chiefly due to human herpes virus-6' (HHV-6) although recently, a newly discovered herpes group of viruses, HHV-7, can also cause roseola.

We thank God that His protection is still always upon me and my household!

At Ah Ma's House - Pics taken

2008-03-29T22:37:00.001+08:00

Hugging Gu-Gu's Pooh bear ...:)

Statue of Liberty!

2008-03-29T22:11:00.000+08:00

I am 14 months old and can walk now!

Yo! Cool yeh?

What else, but watching the little black box?

I Can Walk!!

2008-03-26T19:00:00.002+08:00

Exactly on the 1st day of my 14-month old, I can walk! Po-Po witnessed me from aside walking for a long time up and down in our living room in the afternoon. She has to quietly observe me without saying anything, as once I hear someone talking, I may stop walking and my bum will land on the ground.

The next day, Mummy was very excited to witness me walking all over our living room. She thinks that I walk in a very cute way like a penguin with my bulky diapers moving according to my leg movements, probably because I just started learning how to walk :)

Every Story has an End "TAP"

2008-03-19T23:41:00.002+08:00

I marvelled at how fast Karis has been growing at this stage. Since Karis is around 3 months old in my story-telling sessions to her, it's been my habit to tap on the backpage of the storybook when the story ends and the book is flipped over to the backpage. After tapping on the backpage, I will say "The End". Reason is to let her know that every story has an end to it.

Few weeks ago, when I was reading to her, she tapped her tiny hand for quite a few times at the last page of the book. For a moment I had thought that she had tapped on the book as she was playing with the book or she may be excited at the sight of the picture on the book, but realised that she practised out what I have been doing since 9 months ago :)

Life is especially rewarding and worth celebrating with the presence of children! They are just so pure and innocent. They may be difficult to handle at times, and our personal free time has reduced substantially. It just makes you think that it's all worth it, when you reap the benefits of seeing the progress of your precious child.

Imaginary Play Kicks in!

2008-03-17T23:31:00.002+08:00

In the morning, I "fed" a "dummy" food item to Karis' favourite plush pinky bear and told her that the bear is hungry. She took the "dummy" food item from me and pushed the "dummy" on the bear's mouth. That was the first time that I asked her to "feed" her imaginary friends.

Few hours later, while Karis was just done with sipping water from her straw cup, she fed her pinky bear water using the cup. Our adorable little ones do remember, understand and apply the "concepts" imparted to them!

2008-03-10T12:40:00.002+08:00

Before Pam left our house, Karis wanted Pam to carry her to go "gai-gai". Responding back to Karis' "wish", Pam carried her out to the corridor and asked her to say goodbye to us. Karis hesitated in her usual good-bye hand signal and looked at us at the corridor. Shortly after, Karis pointed out that the doorgate has to be closed. As we helped her to shut the doorgate, she immediately gave a satisfied smile and waved good-bye to us happily, and instantaneously pointed to Pam on the direction to go "gai-gai".

Little did we realise that before our sweetheart signalled a goodbye to us, our doorgate has to be closed first before she can say goodbye to us and leave the house :)

2008-03-09T12:36:00.002+08:00

Karis' ransacking and inspecting all the things we bought from Daiso

2008-03-09T12:15:00.004+08:00

Here's me attempting to self-feed :) I've just had a brown-rice facial bathe. Want to try? :)

Independent Indeed!

2008-03-08T23:03:00.005+08:00

Just like to jot this down as part of our precious memories before time passes by so swiftly....

Two weeks ago, Karis woke up at 3am plus from our bed and sat up. Before Philip and I are fully awake, Karis suddenly crawl down our bed by herself. To our utter surprise from our dreary sleep, we overheard that our dear Karis mumbled "mum-mum" while crawling fast all the way to the kitchen! Upon reaching the kitchen safety gate, she gazed at the area where her milk has all along been made for a while. The episode ended off with a loud wail, and needless to say, we were left scampering away to carry out our responsibility - one to carry and comfort her, and the other one to prepare her milk.

Who knows, in a few years' time, our darling gal may just walk to the kitchen and prepare her own milk all by herself when she's hungry in the middle of the night :)

We were also impressed by her adept skills of getting up and down the bed all by herself. She's always so cautious yet swift in getting down the bed. Her tactic used is to grab the bedsheet tightly with her tiny fingers, back facing, with one leg down, followed by the next :)

The Hideaway Tent

2008-03-07T22:56:00.006+08:00

Auntie Guifen & Uncle Yize gave me a Dora the Explorer tent as my belated 1st birthday gift. It's my favourite hideout now. I like crawling into the tent and sit still there to deliberately hide away from po-po, mummy or daddy and play hide-and-seek with them :)

Karis' playing peekaboo

Karis hiding away from us cheekily!

2008-03-02T14:36:00.002+08:00

My natural instinct to touch the camera!

Straw Cup Drinking

2008-03-02T14:04:00.004+08:00

Mummy is quite happy that I learnt to sip from a straw cup after only few attempts, as she introduced the straw cup immediately after the bottle feed. I like to drink more water from this straw cup as this new experience is fun!

My 1st Outing to Sentosa!

2008-03-01T22:14:00.002+08:00

Savouring the serenity of Sentosa island at night...

Deliberate, cheeky and successful attempt in nose-digging!

Shaking and pushing the wall down!

I am 13 months old!

2008-02-26T23:18:00.004+08:00

You'd better watch out!

2008-02-24T23:05:00.002+08:00

2008-02-23T23:11:00.001+08:00

At swimmng pool of NTU Alumni Club

2008-02-17T00:15:00.000+08:00

We went to visit Baby Ian as Auntie Phoebii has just given birth to Ian just a week plus ago :)

Here's my current signature pose - the "act-cute" pose as taught by Mummy.

Lunch Knock-Out!

2008-02-15T23:56:00.003+08:00

From Karis' Mummy...
It's such a funny incident to me as I witness Karis' whole incident of munching her lunchie till she's totally knocked out! I was on leave on this day, and feeding Karis her lunchie. Managed to capture a snap shot of her after she's totally knocked out to sleep.

Here's the story of the lunch knock-out! :-

Before the total knock out, I noticed that it's not Karis' usual self as she seems to be seated without her usual active body movements, and only with her mouth chewing the food slowly. She ate whatever I put into her mouth instinctively, and slowly, which is not her usual style.

While eating, I can see that her eyes started to close slowly and open again. After a short while, Karis was blabbering and then her head went down on the feeding tray of the booster seat. Her head was rested on the tray for a few seconds and soon after, she lifted up her head again for me to feed her. Soon after I feed her, her head was down on the feeding tray again, and this time round, she's completely sound asleep! I've had a good laugh alone at home :)

Wow - Our gal must be really tired out. As usual, whenever she sees either me or my hubby around at home, she will sleep much lesser and skip one of her day-time nap.

2008-02-15T00:28:00.002+08:00

I gave Mummy a pleasant surprise when we were at a shop near our house that sells children toys. I say "ka ka" when seeing some miniature toy cars in the shop.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T23:33:00.007+08:00

Karis' usual stunt of trying to climb up the table, and Karis attempting to switch on the TV and "type" the keyboard of our laptop :)

Daddy and Mummy left me at home with Po-Po in the evening so that they can have their couple time together on Valentine's Day :)

Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone!

My Milestone @ 12.5 months old

2008-02-14T12:21:00.004+08:00

My vocalised words :
- mum-mum (most frequently used and most clearly-spoken word since 9 months + old)
- ma ma (1st word heard at 9 months+ old)
- deh deh (1st word heard at 10 months+ old - addressing Daddy)
- beh beh (recognises and addresses stuff toy or figurine bear as beh beh)
- ba ba (likes to call ba ba a lot of times recently - progressively addresses Daddy as ba ba )
- ah da (word of excitement, accompanied with a sudden leg-kick)
- uh /ah / eh / ma / ba / da / deh / mum
- once heard : ying1 gai1 (in mandarin)

My variety of facial actions :
- blows air using lower lips (causes hair fringe to be blown up)
- "Pig-expression" (taught once by Daddy!) - Pouting of lips

Interactive things Karis likes : -
- Play peek-a-boo games
a. Stand aside and hide behind a wall
b. Using her tiny hands to hide her face
c. Using the objects she took to hide her face / eyes
- Flying kiss

Excited by :
- Numbers that indicates storey the lift is at.
- Twinkling lights (Close and open palm of hands upon seeing twinkling lights)

Captivated by :
- Multi-faceted objects with small details

Laughed upon seeing :
- Baby picture
- Flower

All-time Favourite :
- REAL handphones

Other favourites :
- Tollyjoy babywipes container
- camera
- newspapers
- Stacking cups from Ikea
- CD cover

Karis' reaction when she objects :
- Exercise her sliding down position by stretching up her hands real hard and fast so that it is difficult for us to grab her at the armpits, arch her body outwards, and kick.
- Shout and/or almost scream

Hobby during Karis' 1st 9 months:
- Unties strings
- Fiddles with strings
- Likes labels
- Picks up dusts / hair / any other small particles on the floor

2008-02-12T22:27:00.001+08:00

Flying Kiss, Peek-A-Boo and Kick!

2008-02-12T20:08:00.006+08:00

Third Day of Lunar New Year

2008-02-09T19:37:00.003+08:00

On third day of lunar new year, we met up with Aunty Lizhen, Uncle Sean and Aunty Shiping at Bugis. Here's me in diaper changing station and Ya Kun Coffeestall. We head off to Daiso at Vivocity to buy household items, followed by meeting up with Annie Ah Yee and Uncle Keith.

Happy Chinese New Year!

2008-02-07T18:41:00.004+08:00

Karis' asleep and still grabbing on her favourite real-time handphone.

Reminds you of a bride in her bridal car?
Any resemblance is purely coincidental!

Bai Nian at Ah Ma's House

2008-02-07T16:59:00.002+08:00

Karis as a happy receiver of Ang Baos with Ah Ma and Pam Pam Gu Gu.

2008-02-07T15:01:00.000+08:00

Look at my sexy leg in this Vietnamese costume! Mummy had me worn a romper inside the costume as the material is quite coarse.

2008-02-07T14:20:00.004+08:00

Here comes Kung-Fu Xiao-Mei!

Lady-Bird Costume on CNY Eve

2008-02-05T16:40:00.001+08:00

Karis' Peek-A-Boo

2008-01-31T16:56:00.000+08:00

Our usual hang-out place on Sundays

2008-01-27T16:25:00.002+08:00

Karis' flying *kiss*

Presents, Cupcakes & Balloons

2008-01-26T23:51:00.004+08:00

Lovely, yummy cupcakes made with love by Ting Ting Ah Yee.

Thank you for all your presents, aunties and uncles!

Lovely balloons given by wu-gu po.

My Big 1st Birthday Party (Part 1 - Lunch)

2008-01-26T22:51:00.008+08:00

Shopping for My Birthday Party Items

2008-01-18T13:41:00.000+08:00

We went to Concourse building to buy lots of party stuff items for my birthday next week with wugu po, ergu po and popo.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T22:14:00.000+08:00

For the umpteenth time, we went to Little Bali Seafood restaurant near our house for our first dinner of 2008. Yet, their creative and tastefully-made cuisine is still a thumbs up!

Here's Karis' favourite position - piggy-ing up on Daddy's shoulders, and Karis' feeling the wind in the air :)

Mummy tried on me this organza dress bought in Vietnam, and found that it's still a bit too over-sized to be worn in my upcoming birthday party :)
Second pic shows me with stockings....Mummy lurves buying stockings for me, cos she thinks it looks very cute on babies and little gals, and serves to keep my legs warm in shopping malls. I've a hair clip on my hair too. It's an art to clip it on my hair, as I will keep taking out the clip from my hair to fiddle with it.

Karis' Butt Dance

2007-12-31T23:37:00.003+08:00

Karis' butt dance whenever she hears music.

Stock-Taking of Diapers

2007-12-31T22:41:00.000+08:00

New Year's Eve is a time for adults to take stock of their lives for the year.
As for me, I stock-take my diapers!

Karis on Booster Seat

2007-12-31T11:46:00.002+08:00

Check out what's Karis doing!

Silent Night @ Vivo

2007-12-24T22:22:00.001+08:00

Mummy, Daddy & I set off to Vivocity at 9pm plus. Wow - cool to take a bus-ride there! We enjoyed ourselves very much at the skypark, as it was so breezy and cooling there. I was also enthralled by the mega Christmas Tree that stood out much in the skypark.

Mummy & Daddy anticipated that there might be a count-down session at Mount Faber, so we stayed there until 12 midnight. Who knows, tonight's truly a Silent Night, with no count-down session at all.

We also want to remember the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago. It is because of what He has done, that makes us who we are!

Karis in the Basket

2007-12-21T12:02:00.001+08:00

Here's me playing and exploring in a hamper basket that
Daddy's company gave to him :)

2007-12-20T23:49:00.000+08:00

Here's me after waking up!

Wedding at Chijmes

2007-12-20T00:33:00.000+08:00

Sleeping Karis on the journey back to home-sweet-home Daddy & Mummy brought me to their friend's wedding at Chijmes. We enjoyed ourselves in catching up with some of our friends and worship songs sung at the church wedding :) We also captured some nice pictures in the beautiful church building.

Dinner with Dash Gor Gor

2007-12-16T00:21:00.000+08:00

We managed to have a dinner with Dash Gor Gor and parents... Got to know from Dash's mummy that the BookFest at Suntec City has lots of good stuff worth looking at. Who knows, Mummy and Daddy went there few days later and indeed, they found great fabulous deals there and bought lots of books with CDs for me :) Here's my happy and relieved look :) Relieved after a big complete make-over. Pooh-ed soooo much that the pooh had soaked my top and skirt! Thanks to Dash's Mummy - she bought a dress as my Christmas present and I wore it on the spot!

Karis in Our Hotel Room

2007-12-05T23:52:00.000+08:00

My Happy Family - in our cosy Hotel Room

2007-12-05T00:05:00.000+08:00

Behind the Scene "Studio" Pics

2007-12-04T23:55:00.000+08:00

2007-12-04T23:54:00.000+08:00

2007-12-04T23:50:00.000+08:00

2007-12-04T23:23:00.000+08:00

After Thoughts of our First Overseas Family Holidays (28 Nov to 4 Dec)

2007-12-04T23:10:00.000+08:00

Mummy really looked forward to our first overseas holidays together.

Since Daddy will be in KL for training and business trip between 28 Nov to 4 Dec, Mummy took the chance to bring me there as well. Thumbs up for Pyramid Hotel Resort Suites! The hotel room was really spacious, with a kitchenette and the necessary cooking utensils needed to cook my food!

It's my first time spending so much time together alone with Mummy, as Daddy needs to work and go for training in the day time. My usual total day time nap of up to 4 hours has been cut down to 2 hours or even less when I am in this holidays trip. Mummy and Daddy say that it's because I wanted to reserve more time to play ma!

My typical schedule : -

Morning
- Breakfast at Hotel with Mummy
- I lurve croissants (like Daddy), cheese and bread!
- Once I hear the sounds of the utensils in the restaurant and the smell of food, I become very excited, kicked my legs frantically and will say "mom-mom"

Afternoon
- Go out with Mummy for lunch in Shopping Mall with my yummy food cooked by Mummy

Night
- Go out with Daddy & Mummy for their dinner together after I've had mine in the hotel room

I had been a very happy baby throughout the trip, with the exception of being a restless and attention-seeking baby whenever Mummy and Daddy are having their dinner, despite having toys and books surrounding me.

Overall, Mummy felt that the trip has been really fruitful and enjoyable, both for the family, and even more so the precious times spent with me alone :)

Oops, hasn't end here yet. Daddy got quite a last minute notification on the last day that we are supposed to fly back to Singapore that he would be required to extend his stay in Sunway Lagoon. This will mean that Mummy has to bring me to take the return flight back by herself! Thank God, I am exceptionally well-behaved after I say good-bye to Daddy at the airport. Except for my two occasional shout due to restlessness constraint near the plane-seat, I have been very well-behaved and even smile so sweetly at a handsome Caucasion uncle seated near us, who commented that I am such a sweetie :)

Goodbye Sunway Lagoon, and I am now looking forward to my next holidays with Daddy & Mummy!

Additional "Studio" Pics

2007-12-03T22:52:00.000+08:00

Marvelous Mummy, Dearest Daddy and Sweetheart Karis

Our first family "studio" pic taken :)

"Studio" Pics

2007-12-03T22:28:00.000+08:00

Mummy and Daddy were shopping in Sunway Pyramid Shopping Centre, and saw that there is a joint promotion between Anakku and De One photo studio - 38 ringgit for 5 4R photos taken. These photos were taken on the spot in the Anakku retail shop.

At first, I was quite suspicious and skeptical of the uncle photographer and the uncle who played with me. It took me at least half an hour for me to warm up with the uncle and the photo studio surroundings. However, at the end of the photo shoot, the reward of the uncle photographer was that I gave him the privilege to carry me without any persuasion done at his end. I even leaned myself towards him when he asked whether he could carry me :)

Pics of Karis in Sunway Lagoon

2007-12-02T14:22:00.000+08:00

Happy Karis in One Utama Shopping Centre

2007-12-01T14:07:00.000+08:00

Karis in our Cosy Hotel Room

2007-11-29T13:57:00.000+08:00

Yay! I am having my first overseas holiday
with Mummy & Daddy!

Wondering Karis...

My First Flight!

2007-11-28T22:42:00.000+08:00

Guess what...
I slept throughout in my first flight!

First Top Tooth Emerged!

2007-10-22T22:02:00.000+08:00

Today, my first top tooth emerged (left side).

Previously, mummy managed to capture a bit of "white" that has appeared on my top gum, which has not emerged yet. Finally, my first top tooth has emerged. Most probably, that explains my occasional fussiness at night, drinking less milk throughout the day, and waking up at night to drink milk for the past two weeks!

2nd Swim - What a Water-Baby!

2007-09-29T23:24:00.000+08:00

Knowing that I am such a water-baby and lurves water, Mummy and Daddy brought me for a swim on this sunny saturday. Daddy and Mummy got me a float so that I can sit down on the float to enjoy the water. However, I felt that the float has restricted me from enjoying the water to the fullest. I still prefer to "swim" with daddy or mummy carrying me - not vertically, but horizontally like a swimmer's position though!
Throughout the half an hour in the water, I have been so excitably
happy and enjoyed myself very much!

After the half an hour great workout, we chilled out at Ya Kun.
Guessed that my workout has been so effective that I slept on the way back home :)

Karis with Giant Glass Bottle

2007-09-26T23:44:00.000+08:00