Skyler’s Second Tooth

Dearest Little Skyler,

You’ve grown a second tooth! It grew right next to your first one! Now you have two teeth side by side! You look so cute! Now we can begin to feed you a bit more food as you have teeth now! :D

Papa and Mama will now have to start brushing your teeth as we’re afraid that they may decay if we’re not careful. Hmmm… have to buy you your first toothbrush already! :D

We love you, Little One!

Papa and Mama

Bobbing to Music

Dearest Skyler,

You’ve started to bob along to music!

Mama borrowed a book from the library entitled “Old MacDonald had a Farm” and she was singing the words to you and you started bobbing your head along to the tune! Mama was so amazed and amused by your enjoyment of the song that she wanted Papa to buy the book as you liked it so much! We tried to search for the book at one of our favourite book stores called “Borders” but they didn’t have it anymore. We will continue to search for it, ok?

Mama and Papa love you lots!

Papa and Mama

Papa and Mama are so busy!

Dearest Baby Girl,

This is such a terrible period of time for Papa and Mama, Little One. We are both so busy with our work! Mama has several assignments and presentations to rush through and she has a big collection of readings to catch up on once these are done. Papa also has one big assignment for his studies and lots of reports and such to prepare for work, besides marking students’ work as well. We are trying to rush through all these but still produce the best work that we can as we believe that as Christians, we are working as unto the Lord. "...Whatever may be your task, work at it heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive the inheritance which is your reward. You are actually serving the Lord Christ …” Col 3:23-24

We are taking turns to take care of you because of this, Little Girl. So, if you only see one of us there at a time, it’s because we need to do these things as well. But, sometimes, it’s impossible for us to stay away from you. You are so cute! Even though we have all this work waiting for us, we will somehow still end up being with you together so that we can maximise the amount of time we can spend with you. And thus, our sleep suffers. :D You are the only one in the family who has such long hours of sleep! :D Thank God for that!

Even though we are so tired from trying to work only after you’ve gone to sleep, we will not exchange a single minute of this for anything in the world, Little One. Just being with you fills us with such great joy. Your smiles are the most precious in the world to us right now.

We love you, Skyler.

Mama and Papa

Time with Aunty Doo Guat

Dearest Skyler,

We had to leave you with Aunty Doo Guat today as both Papa and Mama had work to do. Mama had her usual lessons to attend this afternoon and Papa had to attend a meeting at his work place. Therefore, it was not possible for Papa to watch you this afternoon as he usually does.

We had wanted Grandma to come and watch you but she had already come on Tuesday and it is a very long distance for her to travel to come to you, Little One. Just one way would take Grandma almost two hours of travel time! So, we thank God that she is willing to make the journey at all. Thus, we had to ask Aunty Doo Guat to help out as she stays near Papa’s work place.

Papa picked both you and Mama up from the MRT station and drove us all to Aunty Doo Guat’s place after which Papa had to rush back for his meeting. Mama had to take a cab to her lesson. Papa only went back to Aunty Doo Guat’s place to pick you up later.

When Papa got there, Aunty Doo Guat told Papa that you had gone to sleep. She kept on saying how well-behaved you were and that it was such a pleasure to take care of you. Thank God you were okay that afternoon, Little Girl! And that you made such a good impression on Aunty Doo Guat! =D

We love you, Little Girl
Papa and Mama

Kow-moh’s 28th Birthday

Dearest Skyler,

We celebrated Kow-moh’s 28th Birthday today at the Lingzhi Vegetarian Restaurant at Liat Towers even though it was supposed to be only on Tuesday as we wouldn’t have time then!

Before we met up with Gong-gong, Po-po, Kow-fu and Kow-moh, we had gone for the 9 A.M. service at our church. It has been a long time since we made it for this service. Papa and Mama used to attend this service when it conducted at Victoria Concert Hall. It started at 9.30 a.m. then. Once the church extension was completed, the service came back to its home. :D But we hadn’t attended its services for a long time because we wanted to try something different and it was very early on a Sunday morning for us to make it. So, it was quite refreshing to go back again after such a long break.

After that we went around Raffles City looking for a birthday cake for Kow-moh. Kow-fu had suggested that we could buy it from a bakery named Panaderia next to the Jason’s Supermarket. We bought a fruit covered cake. We were a bit apprehensive about the choice but we wanted to try something new. Thank God the cake was delicious! It was light and fluffy and tasted marvelous! That’s it, Little One! This place will be the only place we will get our cakes from until the quality drops for any reason! :D

By the time we made it to the restaurant, we were very late. Everyone else had already completed their meal! :P Anyway, once we got there, everyone wanted to carry and play with you so Papa and Mama could tuck into the food. Soon after, we had the cake and everyone agreed that it was very nice though the fruit was a bit off-putting initially. :P

We gave Kow-moh a silver angel pendant for her birthday. This was supposed to remind Kow-moh that God has sent his angels down to protect us. (Psalm 91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways…) We hope she likes it. Happy Birthday, Kow-moh!!! =D

Skyler, you must remember that Kow-moh loves you very very much. She has been coming over to help watch over you these past weeks because Mama has been busy with her studies. Kow-moh travels very long distances to come and play with you!

Papa and Mama

Hazy Days Are Here Again

Dearest Little One,

The Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) hit 150 at 9 pm today, Little One. The haze is back. This haze is caused by the ash and such that is stuck in the air. The ash is from parts of Indonesia. Many plantations and farms are burning the vegetation on their land to clear it so that they can grow other kinds of crops. There are other methods to clear the land but burning it up seems to be the cheapest way. It is very terrible as breathing in this kind of air can pollute our lungs and make us unwell – especially for little baby lungs like what you have. These people do not care that they are slowly killing themselves or that people in other countries have to suffer for their callousness. Papa and Mama are very frustrated with the people responsible for causing this every year and the authorities in charge who do not do anything useful about it. In fact, they don’t seem to want to do anything practical about it except make silly comments about how we should thank them for the rest of the year because the trees they had just burnt down had been producing oxygen then.

We are especially frustrated now because we have you. When this first hit us badly back in 1997, Papa was made to exercise in the open as he still had his reservist liabilities. Papa was worried for himself but not terribly so as Papa is usually quite healthy. However, now that we have you, Papa is very angry with the people who do such things as the air can cause quite severe damage to you. That’s why Papa and Mama are very careful about bringing you out during this period of time. We continue to pray that the haze will go away quickly so that you will not suffer anything permanent from this.

We love you, Skyler. Remember that you must not deliberately harm God’s green earth, ok?

Papa and Mama

Papa’s Ranting

Dearest Little One,

Papa cannot take it anymore! Papa needs to rant and vent about other Papas and Mamas!

Papa cannot understand why other Papas and Mamas do not seem to care about the safety of their little ones, Baby Girl. Papa sees so many parents driving around with their kids either on their laps if they are really small like you instead of putting them safely in a child restraint (child seat). Or letting them fool around in the back seat without making them sit down properly with seatbelts on.

The one that Papa really really really cannot understand is the first one where a baby is placed on the lap of an adult in the car while it’s moving! What do they think will happen if their vehicle is involved in a collision? Why do they think that they can hold onto the baby then? Don’t they know that the physics of the situation always results in the baby being thrown forward – usually with disastrous effect? Or the baby will be the adult’s “airbag” cushioning the adult in a collision? Either way, it’s not going to be good for the little ones.

Another thing that gets Papa’s goat is where adults bring their children out and walk along the streets without watching out for traffic. It is bad enough that they don’t watch out for their own safety but must they endanger their little ones as well by moving around dangerously? Why are they totally oblivious to traffic? Papa saw a pair of parents pushing their little ones in strollers right in the middle of the road while walking back to their block of flats with cars right behind them!

Skyler, you are not going to be let loose in the car, understand? You will always have to sit in your car seat because Papa and Mama love you a lot and never ever want anything bad to happen to you. Just because we are careful when we drive, it doesn’t mean that other drivers on the road are as careful. We know that it may be uncomfortable for you and you want the freedom to move around and play but this is totally non-negotiable!

We love you very very much, Little One,

Mama and Papa

Children's Day

Dearest Little Skyler,

This is your first Children’s Day! And Papa and Mama tried to make it a special one for you.

We’d intended to go to church in the morning and spend some time with Kow-fu and Kow-moh but we were so tired that we couldn’t make it. First, you woke up and Papa tried to feed you your lunch so that we needn’t worry about that later but you wanted to go back to sleep half way through. Once I put you back to bed, Papa also didn’t feel like waking Mama. Thus, we missed our usual morning service.

Anyway, Mama and Papa then decided to go for evening service instead. And as Mama had told Kow-fu and Kow-moh about our intention, we found out later that they also were going for that service as well so that they could celebrate Children’s Day with you. :D

We gave you your Children’s Day presents of Blue Clue’s books – two story books and a riddle book. You were positively beaming with joy when you saw them. Papa can’t understand whether you really like them or not but Mama says that you are totally captivated by the programme when she allows you to watch it on TV.

Papa and Mama then brought you down to Popo’s shop in Chinatown to pay her a visit and also to pass her some stuff that Grandma wanted her to have. When we got there your ‘Sam’, ‘Sei’ and ‘Erm Yi-pos’ were there too. They all started fawning on you and were so impressed that you allowed them to carry you! Well done, Little One! We’re so proud that you are so secure that you didn’t feel threatened by being carried people who were not so familiar to you.

After that, we went off for church service and met Kow-fu and Kow-moh there. We adjourned to Raffles City for dinner and Kow-fu and Kow-moh gave you their Children’s Day present. We tried to get you to rip off the wrapping paper yourself like you shred tissue paper but you didn’t seem interested. Thus, we ripped it for you. Their present was a dress! Thank you Kow-fu! Thank you Kow-moh!

After that, we took a short walk around Raffles City and then we went home.

Mama and Papa hope that you enjoyed your outing on Children’s Day, Little One! Happy Children’s Day!


We love you,
Papa and Mama