Nope, I didn't get the date wrong. This post IS EXACTLY one year belated, hahaha! Why ah? coz Jovann's dear Daddy offered to write this post, but only send it to me about 4 months ago lah, thats why hehehe!
Well, what happened is this. Back a year ago, when both of us were freshly minted first time parents (J is not even a yr old), and besottedly and madly in love with our little creation, I acted like a kiasu parent at one point of time. I entered J for Best Breastfed Baby Contest, hehehe. He got into the semi finals but didn't progressed from there coz he couldn't do more than half the things the 2 "auntie" assessors asked him to do during the semi's, haha. He was more interested in smiling and making friends at that stage. Then, somehow, prob coz these ppl have our contacts from our registration details, we were sent details and application form of the Telok Blangah Baby Show. So, being me, whom as a new mother is curious about how a baby show is run and how it will be like, and also (ok lah ok lah, I confess!!!) to see if J really as lovable as his hopelessly infatuated parents feel him to be, I signed him up although we live NO WHERE NEAR Telok Blangah. Well, they sent me the form fist what! hehee...
The following is from his Daddy liaoz..
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Today, 2nd September 2007 was a day packed with activites in the morning. Some time back, Mommy entered you for fun for a baby competition. Then we realized the timing would make you miss your morning nap, so Daddy was quite hesitant to bring you there. Indeed, when we reached there and had a hard time finding the place (Telok Blangah CC), even Mommy had second thoughts whether this is worth the trip at all.
We reached Telok Ayer CC and received your contestant registration number. Actually we were one of the last ones there hehee, many kids have already went and we were quite last in queue. But its ok, its all for fun! Your prior assigned number was A44 (Gong Gong’s fav number), and we heard there's close to 80-100 kids there that day. We were shocked that the hall of 8 badminton court size were packed with people seating and standing waiting for the results. But before we could be like them wait in the hall, you had to be weighed and height and temperature taken. Once that was done, we immediately proceeded to the 'assessment' room on level 2.
There we realised that there were 3 groups. Group C (>2yr), B (12mth to 2yr) and A (6 to 12mth). Although you were approaching 12mth, you didn't have any clear advantage as they have proper assessments criteria for those who are 6 to 7 mth, 8 to 10 mths and 11 to 12 mths. We had to fill up a form with information on your immunization status, weaning status, and whether you are still on total breastfeeding etc. We had to wait almost 45mins before it was your turn, and u were getting tired, sleepy and frustrated... Mummy then suddenly thought of nursing you so you can take a power nap before your turn.
U nursed almost 15mins b4 closing yr eyes to rest... While u were resting, we permitted 2 other babies to pass us first, so that you can get some extra minutes of rest. Also, the guest of honor, MP Mr Lim Hng Kiang arrived to tour the area where the judges assess the contestants.... Heheheh u were hiding behind mummy's nursing bib so we couldn’t take a photo of u with him... Anyway, Daddy and mummy just shake hands with him.. nothing much.
We were curious about the other babies who were ahead of you…we observed that the assessors, who are certified pediatricians/doctors, will ask each of them to do some little tasks appropriate for their age group (e.g. motor skills, speech, growth development and social skills) and see how they respond to the instructions. There was one baby in a bumble bee custume who seemed to respond very well to the lady doctor’s prompts, and we interestedly watched all this proceedings.
Since we were the second last “contestants”, the usher told us you could be assessed either by the Group A, Group B or Group C’s doctor whenever they are ready (they were trying to quickly finish this up to begin the assessment of results). Daddy then suggested getting the prettiest doctor there, since even at that age you tend to gravitate towards pretty girls already hehee…. Group A doctor seems to be the prettiest of the lot... so we went in when its our turn.
When we woke u up, u were all frustrated, noisy, crying and fussing... Chia lat lah.... Daddy quickly grab u from mummy, and tried to cheer u up. Naughty boy, all of Daddy's tricks didn’t work or cheer you up… But guess what! Once I seat you on the table in front of the pretty doc/judge, u became so cheerful, smiley and switched on your charm... She was trying to assess you but you just wanted to flirt with her. She asked you to do a few things like wave bye bye, kiss, hold the pen, clap your hands, call “papa” etc, stuff that you usually do when back home. But you ignored most of it! What you did instead was pick up the pen, then pass it to her, with encouraging sounds of “er er er…” then you passed her your assessment paper, as if asking her to give you good marks. You also picked up the mineral water bottle on the table and gave it to her to drink. You did this twice coz there were 2 bottles on the table. You did all this with such a cheerful and pleasing smile on your face, making all kinds of noises/sounds to emphasize your point, as if trying to carry on a conversation with her. Your body language tells her that you like her and is willing to share with her whatever you can grab around the table. When we left the room, you gave a cheerful wave, and Mommy Daddy were both amused by your typical sociable self, and yet knowing in our hearts that you must have gotten zero marks in most areas hehee.
Nevertheless, we all still headed to the hall since we have come down all the way here. Daddy cruised around the huge hall trying to find the Father and Child lookalike photo that Mommy had submitted. Found it, but no luck coz didn’t win that hehehe. After the photo taking session with the MP, we were lucky enough to get seats about 5 rows away from the stage.. so your tired daddy and mummy took some rest while waiting for the results to be announced….
FINALLY… the results were ready. Actually we were totally un-hopeful, but we were still hoping to hear the results of Group A first just to see the babies who won, but NOOOOO.... they had to start from 2nd runner up (3rd position) of Group C, then B then A. Followed by 1st runner up (2nd place) position of Group C, then B then A and so forth…before the first position.
Daddy and mummy both readily agreed that if you didn’t win the 3rd place, there was no way you would win anything better than that. So once we realized that the 3rd position went out to the handsome kid just before you (nope.. not the bumble bee outfit kid), whom we saw was so responsive, we thought.. “OK, lets go. But lets make our exit unobtrusive hehee”. But both of us were pretty pai seh (awkward) to walk from the front 5th row to exit the hall... so we did so furtively....
BUT when we were exiting the hall, Mummy had to bump into her University classmate who’s also there with his kid about your age and was dressed in a bumble bee outfit as well…We had a short chat to say HI etc.. (at the background, they were about to announce the Group A champion) Then Mummy’s friend asked us, “Did Jovann won anything?”, and Mommy was just about to answer "No, what about you?" when just at the same time, the announcer went.. “Group A Champion… A44. Teo Han Ming, Jovann!!”. Both Mummy and Daddy were taken aback, shocked, confused, and elated at the same time. I think there was a brief nano second when both Mommy and Daddy just stood there with our mouths opened wide. Then, we told Mummy’s friend, “Sorry, that’s us!!” and quickly rushed up stage. We let you receive your trophy from the MP. You looked so satisfied holding your trophy that is about half your height!!! Mommy told me later that everything felt so surreal when she was walking up the stage, as both of us were trying to puzzle out what really happened and how did you win?! Was there a mistake?? But...they didn't throw us off the stage so we couldn't have heard wrong mah....
The MP and us...Jovann was busy pointing and making noises to the MP instead of looking at the camera.
We both remembered that feeling after receiving the trophy and around $400 worth of vouchers from the MP, when we were told to remain on back stage with the other winners for a group photo taking ceremony. Both of us couldn’t stop raising our eyebrows at each other, at the same time grinning broadly in such a silly way, as if saying “I don’t know how this happened, but its great by me!”
The dazed parents...
There was a group photo taken after this by the professional photographer, but Daddy Mommy didn't go back to the CC to buy that photo, we clean forgotten about it, hehehe. In fact, I just remembered now when I am typing this post. Think we were too busy gloating over the vouchers....but seriously we have no idea the prize includes vouchers at all.
YOU ARE TELOK BLANGAH 2007 GROUP A BABY CHAMPION!!! WoW!!! Daddy and Mummy are so proud of you!!! Even till this day, we still wondered, “HOW DID YOU DO IT??”
Daddy and Mummy despite our head cracking analysis with Engineering Mathematics and Fourier transform could not understand how you actually won… We are so proud of you, though a little tickled by what happened hehehe…
1 comment:
Good for people to know.
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