Uncle Shawn came with Arianne alone as Auntie Brenda is busy cooking for the upcoming party at her house.
At home, Jovann is waiting for his parents to pack finish his stuff and get out of the house. He's bored, he's rested and in a laid back mood. He knows he looks great for the camera, and he unwittingly strike a pose. I LOVE this photo!!! such an uncharacteristic sneer on his face, leaning back on his Daddy's swim bag. Hehehe!
His favourite humpty dumpty activity at Aquaducks. :)
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After Aquaducks, direct to Brenda's! we were of course the first to arrive, and were treated to unlimited helpings of everything hahahaa. There's sizzling hot meat wraps, fresh from the pan (Brenda cooked then Sam took over to help and Sam prided himself on his being more evenly fried hahaha), yummy fusion spaghetti with hey bee hiam and fried crispy garlic that sam and I insisted on adding chilli too (on hindsight, I think this stubborn chilli addition contributed to my flu 3 days later) and which kept bringing me back for MORE MORE MORE, fragrant fried rice with prawns and lapchiong. Everything tastes so darn good I nearly couldn't bear to stop eating to give way to the dessert (strawberry sorbet!!!), coz I know once I eat the dessert I am not supposed to eat back the savoury. Oh Well!
Great Party Brenda!!! I want more hey bee hiam spaghetti PLEASE!!!! I will eat in moderation the chilli this time... :P
We visited 3rd Grand Aunty's place today, where you have aunties (mommie's cousins) to play with you. When they knew you were there, they came out of the room and talked to you, entertained you and kept you laughing. Mommy is grateful coz they allowed Daddy and me to enjoy the culinary skills of their Mom (my aunt) at leisure. 3rd Auntie cooked many stuff, including self made popiah that is super delicious esp with the ultimate spicy balacan (yep, that coupled with Auntie Brenda's hey bee hiam and chilli is THE ultimate) which Daddy and I added dollops to our po piah. There is yummy cabbage soup, fragrant chicken curry, Daddy's favourite Kong Ba Bao, and many more. there's even omelette for you hehehee. 3rd Auntie is really a good cook. She's so capable she is cooking for Grand Uncle's guests and cooking enough to last the whole day. ooooooh.... I so LOVE the popiah.....gosh......... Auntie Cindy and Auntie Sheena
You played with the ice in the ice bucket, kept them laughing, and always have a happy grin on your face. YOu were so friendly you surprisingly allowed Auntie Sheena and Auntie Cindy (who is always good with kids) to carry you. You had such a great time there. :) Thank you Angie, Cindy and Sheena hehee.
Auntie Cindy and you.
Playing on the bar stool by yourself.
Bai Nian to 3rd Grand Auntie.
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Next stop, Uncle Guoming's (Mommy's sec school kakis) and Auntie Cindy's house. We had steamboat again! This time Mommy enjoyed the steamboat with Auntie Li'an, Auntie Mian, Auntie Weibin (YES SOMEONE ELSE HAS SAME NAME AS MOMMY, WOW!), and the busy hosts. What fun, such chit chat that we have not had for some time, Mommy reeally treasured this bonding time, which is only possible coz Daddy is accompanying you in the room while you were napping. The chicken soup and tom yam soup is so nice. After mommy ate, Mommy cooked your dinner, kuay tiao soup with cod fish and spinach in home-made pork stock.
You woke up in time to witness the crazy boxing game between Auntie Miang and Auntie Li'an. Hahahahaa...it was super funny.....see for yourself in the video.
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Later on, we were urged to play too, and Mommy held your hands on the control and you miraculously defeated Auntie Li'an in the first round! heheehee. I think she let you win lah... :P
You used 2 mandarin oranges to bai nian to Uncle Guo Ming and Auntie Cindy, they were so pleased and impressed with that. And when you got the angbao, somehow you handed it to me. They were convinced I "trained" you to do that but I didn't! hehehee.
Happily helping yourself to the CNY cookies.
Photos with the pretty Aunties. Auntie Miang/Shimin
Auntie Weibin
Auntie Li'An
Later, we went to Delifrance Bistro at Bukit Panjang Plaza where Uncle Malcolm and Auntie Sharon joined us for dinner. :) You had your dinner there too.
We visited Auntie Grace and Family on the 4th day of the CNY. Mommy was amazed by Auntie Grace!!! She is such an organised, thorough, systematic and thoughtful host!
She prepared steamboat, and she has 2 kinds of soup. 1 toddler friendly (no seafood) soup, one normal adult soup. All her raw ingredients were nicely kept in clear boxes, properly labelled. She has brewed 2 kinds of tea to cater to the mommies and daddies, and both are labelled and kept warm on heating elements. She also prepared peach tea for the kiddos. Haha, peach tea from auntie peachie. All her thorough labelling extend even to her furniture and household equipment, its cool!
She prepared colour coded utensils sets for the 6 toddlers. Each gets a personal spoon, fork, plate and bowl. And a nice warm bowl of mee sua soup with egg and carrots inside. How pampered! She also prepared a sleeping corner in Clarence's room, for those inevitable nap times. You napped in it for an hour in fact. Comfy yar?
The steamboat was yummy, Mommy had 2 portions while you roamed around the house happily yourself, watched over by Uncle Tony. Daddy didn't come with us because he had another outing, and Uncle Tony and Auntie Joanne gave Mommy a lift. I fed you your porridge with stir fry minced beef and broccoli (I didn't know she cooked mee sua!), while you sat contentedly in the IKEA chair at the table, playing with the utensils labelled with your own name. you only tried wriggling out of your seat twice. Very proud of you. And I could have 2 servings of steamboat (one with rice one with instant noodles) without much trouble. Thank you Tony! And Grace, your place is GREAT!
There is even an excellent story telling segment conducted by our teacher Auntie June! It was really interesting observing how she captured the tods' attention, and how some of them were really engrossed in listening but some were more interested in ripping the book apart. Thanks June, for the pointers! :) And had a great time with all the mommies and kids!
Its been a month since I last posted. sorry friends, blog has been stationary and unchanged this past month. Coz towards the end of CNY, Jovann and I fell sick. More of that in the next posts. For now, a recap (though a bit late lah) of Jovann's 2nd CNY!
大年初一
Daddy had to go bai bai, which is the usual practice for his family, at his ancestors. Jovann and I stayed at home this year while Daddy went, and he came back around noon time. We prepared to go out! As Ah Ma, Ah Gong not at home, we visited Gong Gong Ma Ma first! and Daddy Mommy had a nice yummy lunch there hehehee.
When we reached, you carried 2 huge mandarin oranges, walked to Ma Ma, and 拜年 to her with your hands moving up and down in the gong xi gong xi action. Ma Ma was so proud and so pleased with you she told everyone of what you did later that day.
We left soon after, to go Mommy's Hia Ma Ma's house, where we joined Ah Gong, Ah Ma. It was a long time since she saw you (since your full month), and there were amazed at how tall you are now. You amused them throughout the visit by playing music with the containers and covers and urging us all to clap to your performance with a cheeky grin on your face. you were not shy or reserved at all, and went around "talking" to both Hia Ma Ma and grand cousin, but refused Hia Ma Ma to carry you. Surprisingly, you let Grand Cousin carry you.
Next, we sent Ah Gong, Ah Ma back home, and went to Holland to visit Zhou Zhou. We had yummy snacks and the traditional deep fried "nian gao". YOu also had your dinner of mee sua soup there. It was the first time we tried feeding you on a proper adult dining chair (coz there's no high chair at Zhou Zhou's place), and you actually stayed in your chair throughout your meal! Very proud of you. You played on the sofa, with Gong Gong, and kept hugging your cousin Kieira who's 1 mth older than you.
When Gong Gong carried Kieira, you insisted he carries you too.
Kissing Zhou Zhou
Our Family photo.
Finally, we went to Ah Gong Ah Ma's house to to them.
大年初二
Our family had a nice breakfast at Long John's Silver at Bukit Panjang Plaza, then set off for our first stop of the day.
We went upstairs to fetch Ah Gong Ah Ma to visit Gu Gu's house. You were napping in the car, so Daddy stayed with you downstairs while we made our way up. When Daddy came up with you still napping, we prepared a bed for you in Grand cousin's room, and in there you slept for another 45mins with Daddy and a fan (they insisted on pulling on into the room for you) accompany you! Not bad!
We had a yummy lunch cooked by Gu Gu, Ah Soh, Hia Ma Ma, and help from their maid. It was yummy, with spaghetti, cabbage fish maw soup, teochew roast duck, mixed vege, steamed fish, sambal sotong, slices abalone. When you woke up, we had nearly finished, and Daddy ate his lunch while Ah Gong and Mommy took turns to feed you your porridge that Ah Gong cooked from home. you were quite distracted, but managed to finish almost all of it.
At one point of time, you refused to eat and Gu Gu pretended to be angry with you. She pretended to hit Ah Gong, "blaming" him for you not eating. You immediately pouted, with tears threatening in your eyes, coz she hit your beloved Ah Gong. You kept staring at her, pouting and holding back your tears, then turned towards Ah Gong and sayanged him with your hand. All of us burst out laughing, it was super cute! hehehe!
After lunch, the malaysian relatives arrived and there were some chit chatting by the adults and hugging by the kids (namely you and the big girl cousin). No idea why but you kept hugging her. she is prob 2 years older then you but as she is a girl and she just woke up, she seemed very shy and hesitant of why this little boy kept advancing. its so farnie watching hehehee.
After this, we went to visit your great grandfather. Wish to remind you here, that you also have a great grandmother on the maternal side who will love you very much had she not been lying in hospital. Due to some evil and heartless person, your great grandmother had been lying in hospital for the past 2-3 years. She did not even know I was pregnant with you. It's very very sad because she has always been eager to hear news of me being pregnancy when she was well. Everytime she met Ah Ma, she will ask after me and if I am expecting. As it happens, I got pregnant with you months after her accident. And now, she will not have the fortune of having you call her Ah Zhou. But please remember that she loves you with all her heart, for you are her first great grand son.
After the visit to Great grandfather, we brought Ah Gong Ah Ma to Great World City to have a cuppa, because Gong Gong Ma Ma were not ready to be visited. We had a nice time there, Ah Gong exclaiming incessantly over paying $5 for a cup of English Tea, and Ah Ma quietly enjoying her favourite Iced Caramel Frappucino. Mommy had Passionfruit tea and Daddy English Breakfast. You had a go at the car ride downstairs and was in high spirits.
Next, visit to Gong Gong Ma Ma. Ah Gong Ah Ma marvelled at how familiar you are with their house, how you zoomed in straight at the cabinet containing all the model toy cars and bringing EACH of them out proudly to show Ah Gong. How you climbed the stairs with ease and practically bossed around the house and bossed around everybody.
大年初三
We visited Grand Uncle and Grand Auntie Michelle's house today. They have moved to another place, and your Auntie Chionh Lin (only 6-7 yrs old) has a SUPER PRETTY PINK ROOM that Mommy envy so much!!! you seemed to like her, and she likes you, and she brought you around her room, let you climb onto her pink bed, and showed you her toys.
Mommy also went through the nice Japan photos of their recent trip.
Auntie Chionh Lin and you
Grand Auntie Michelle and you
Doggy and Daddy and You
We had dinner at Bi Feng Tang with Ah Ma, and similar to the previous time you had dinner there, you were very naughty. Mommy tried ordering their fish porridge for you to try, as the porridge I cook has broccoli thats overcooked and I dun feel comfy feeding you that. you were hungry, ate about 6-7 soup spoons of the fish porridge, then you refused it. When I took out the Food Jar with your homemade porridge, your eyes opened wide in anticipated, and eagerly took the porridge for a small bowl full. Then you stopped and refused to eat. Nothing could make it. Sigh....
