Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Goodbye Jeanie-Jean-Jean


Fuzzy's family is really tightly-knit. All it takes is a simple occasion (usually birthdays) for the whole extended family to gather for a night of chit-chatting, good food and good drinks. Inevitably, I've gotten to know Fuzzy's distant cousins (my F-I-L's cousins' daughters) very well. Heck, I might even be closer to my distant cousin-in-laws than I am to my own immediate cousins :/

Sadly for me but great for her, my dearest C-I-L, Jean, has decided to pursue her college/university education in New York; Bard College on the Hudson. She's doing a degree in Liberal Arts and Science- how cool is that?! We all showed up at the airport to send her off tonight for their midnight flight. I hate sad goodbye hugs because I know I'll miss her so much. Chubbs ran to the departure gate as she was getting her passport checked to give one last big hug and goodbye. It was heart-wrenchingly sweet. We love you, "Nani" Jeanie-Jean-Jean.

At our farewell lunch yesterday, with my other C-I-L, Katie, who's also leaving to study soon L :(

Like us, she's always hungry for soba. (Are you gonna kill me for posting this pic, Jean?)

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Cousins


Chubbs has five cousins in total; three immediate cousins (Fuzzy's brother's), who are all boys, and two distant cousins (Fuzzy's cousins'), who are both girls. So the girls, Aimee and Alexis, aged 11-months and 7-years, flew in from Sydney and stayed with us for the past 2-weeks.

Chubbs had a blast playing with them, especially with "jie-jie lexis", and I witnessed his first toy fights with Aimee. It was really funny and interesting to see how kids work out an argument over toys on their own. Usually, it involves a bit of pulling, shoving and shrieks :/ Alexis was a darling, and very much gave in to the babies whenever they fussed. Thanks, Lex.


He was really sad to send them off at the airport, and proceeded to let out a mega bawl when he saw them pushing their bags and walking away :( He was inconsolable for a while. Don't worry, Love, another day time come.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Flee Flu!


Sorry I haven't been writing/ updating the blog. I've been down with an extra long bout of flu, sore throat, cough, etc. This is one of the weeks where I wish stay-home-moms could get MC. I don't know why I keep getting bugged by this drippy illness. Hard as I try, I can't flee flu! It's now been more than a week, and I'm still using up boxes of kleenex a day, and coughing up truckloads of phl*gm. Not pretty. Will be up and running again next week, I hope. Till then, here's a cute shot of the little cheeky one today.


Monday, July 19, 2010

From the Weekend



Chubbs made himself an "A" hat after watching a cartoon programme on TV.


Watching TV with Mommy.

Walking hand in hand with Tai-Gong in the lawn.

Sitting in the driveway, eating dinner and watching the planes and helicopters zoom by on the NDP rehearsal.


Assembling new Ikea lights for the driveway with Daddy.

Resemblance


Fuzzy circa 1978.

Fuzzy 32 years later, plus my kooky smile.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Just Another Saturday


We were Liang Court again for some Japanese food yesterday. Can you tell we like the place? Chubbs and I shared a big bowl of udon off a counter, he ate a full serving of milk pudding from Tampopo for dessert, plus a big handful of blueberries, some egg omelette and then a custard bread roll in the car on the way back. And then a feed of milk when we got home. This is rare, but he was a hungry/ greedy boy.

He slurped up more noodles than I did.

The three of us landed in the airport in the evening to pick Yee up, and we got there much earlier so that Chubbs could ride in trains to his little heart's content, and run around till his legs buckled. He had a blast!

Waiting for Mommy to bring the kaya toast.

My boys in red waiting for the train.


Learning about lifts from Daddy; he can now say "counter weights", and understands how they work.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Night at the Museum


To celebrate Chubbs turning 22-months old, we brought him to the Singapore Art Museum for their Art Garden showcase.

Chubbs and the big, white rabbit. He was thrilled by it.



First stop; a room full of green, pyramid-shaped pillows- which he got attacked by a boy with.

Tackling one of the many flights of stairs to get to the other rooms.

The fun really started upstairs. All I can say is... bring on the girls!

Some of the older girls that he harassed.

I had to remove him from the situation to prevent lawsuits from landing on my lap, and he got a few good minutes of alone playtime, where he could make flowers disappear with his shadow. Then he found a female fan.



She hugged and kissed him. Then flashed him :/

After she got pried away by her rather embarassed parents, we moved to a room full of flower robots that grow, bloom, etc. I loved watching them ands hearing them "grow"! And so did Chubbs.
Very intrigued by the flower robots.

Our last stop was a room covered with paintings of forest animals from ceiling to floor. He enjoyed the drawings very much, and took his time to admire the animals and stories behind them.
The big bad wolf. He said, "Huff, puff, phoo (blowing an uncomfortable amount of saliva into my face)."

Discussing the paintings with the in-charge.

Unfortunately, his fun was cut short when an older girl ran into him. The bump lifted him off the ground, and he smashed the side of his head onto the concrete floor. He cried hard. But my son is tough and sturdy. Once the pain subsided, he ran around unperturbed, with a red swelling that stretched from his temple to his cheek.
After he got taken down; still bubbly as ever.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

A Morning at the Esplanade


I heard about this theatre production for children called "The Magic Ocean" from my friend, S, and thought Chubbs might like it since he's very into turtles and whales these days. Also, thought it'd be fun for him to watch a play and visit the Esplanade for the first time.

However, the day got off to a rocky start when I realised while we were leaving the house, that our tickets were actually for the day before. We had missed the show because I got the dates and days mixed up. It's a long story. But we decided to show up anyway, and see if the organizers could help, since the ticket stubs were clearly not torn. I explained the situation to the people in-charge, and they very kindly said they'd allow Chubbs in, if the theatre was not too crowded by the time all the kids fill in. Thankfully, there was space for one more, after at least three schools' worth of children piled in.

"Yay we get to see the play!"

The play was great; a very simple story about animals that live in the ocean and how they interact, the fun that they have, and what roles they play in their habitat. Chubbs' favourite animals were definitely the turtle, the whale and surprisingly, the jellyfish. Although the play was meant for kids aged two to four, Chubbs understood what was going on and was very participative.

Chubbs might have enjoyed the run around the Esplanade more than the play itself. Since it was a weekday, the place was quiet except for some tourists. Chubbs was ecstatic and sprinted everywhere he could, squealing with joy. These moments make me so happy.

Famished from the exercise of chasing Chubbs, we decided to try a Mexican joint that we have been itching to for a few months; Spruce Taqueria (basically an awesome taco stand). Since this hole-in-the-wall eatery is only open from Mon-Fri from 12-3pm, Fuzzy has to be on leave for us to sink our chompers into those addictive tacos.
Us waiting patiently for our food.

We initially ordered a sensible amount of food, the recommended amount for a couple, which was two gilled snapper tacos, two beef short rib tacos, watermelon and lime aqua fresca, corn chips and two portions of salsa. Not enough! So we had two more beef tongue tacos, one bowl of guacamole and another serving of chips. Ahhh... That hit the spot.
Fuzzy likes to take very unglam shots of me. And Chubbs likes to make funny faces at the camera. We didn't even know he was being a monkey until we reviewed the photos later.

Our favourite taco was the beef short rib. Very fatty, very flavourful, but still fresh and light because of all the veggies (cilantro, radish, salsa, onions) thrown in. I loved everything I ate. The textures, the heat, the freshness... What I appreciated most about the food, was that it was well thought-out and authentic. There was no cheese or sour cream on my taco, because there is no cheese or sour cream on the tacos in Mexico. This is street food. Dairy would not survive the Mexican heat. Best of all, I ate with my family. In a small shelter from the torrential downpour that was flooding our shoes as we ate. There was no conversation because the rain was so loud, I couldn't hear myself think. The company was good enough.

His first taco.

Laying tacos on his camouflage pants when he thought I wasn't looking. Caught red-handed!