Goodbye Grandma ..

On the 27th of March, I lost my grandmother who was aged 83.

We weren't close when I was younger but for the past 14 years I would say we got closer. Joking and horsing around even more so after Luca joined the family.

She was Luca's friend. She played with Luca and Luca did the same bullying her often.

We will miss her badly. Gone are the days of gin rummy and mahjong with her. Those moments can now only be kept her in our memories.

Tai Tai, wo ai ni.

Was it for real ....?

This evening on the way to pick Sandy up after work I saw this old lady who was wandering in the middle of the cross junction of Telok Ayer Street and Boon Tat Street. 

She looked lost in the midst of traffic.

I parked my car at the side of the road where Sandy usually hops on for a ride and walked towards the old lady. 

She saw me approaching and with teary eyes she told me she was in need of help. She needed money to pay off debts that piled up because a friend's son borrowed her identity card to get loan from the loan sharks without her knowledge.

I guess at that age it really is unfortunate to be in debt and she needed to seek help in the manner she did - reaching out to the public in the middle of the road.

I asked her how much did she owe and she told me she needed about a hundred odd thus I reached out to my wallet and gave her a hundred dollars. 

I also reminded her that it was dangerous to wander on the road and should she really need assistance I could help her approach the police especially if the loan sharks loan sharks are making trouble. 

She declined and said the police can be of no help. 

I walked back to the car, switched on the engine and carried on waiting for Sandy. 

As I was about to take a book out and read, I noticed she wandered back on to the road. This time she tried stopping cars. 

I got out of the car and walked up to her again. It did struck me that perhaps the money given to her was not enough and true enough she said she was still short of seventy dollars. 

Again I reached out to my wallet and handed her seventy dollars. She smiled and thanked me. For some reasons before I turned around to return to my car, I told her if I saw her standing in the middle of the road once more I will have to call the police so as not to endanger her life and others road users. 

She quickened her steps and disappeared into the row of shophouses. 

Not long after, I mentioned this to a friend and for some reason she asked me if the old lady was petite with short hair. She described her correctly.

Thinking back, I wondered if I did the right thing by helping the old lady. What if she too was being used by some syndicate to make quick bucks? Would I not be feeding these syndicates and encouraging them to make us of more old folks? 

Sandy and I spoke about it and she said something which I realized was quite true. 

What if this old lady has dependents at home who are unable to fend or feed themselves due to various medical reasons or disability? 

I guess there will always be different school of thoughts on such. To others, I may have been a sucker but to me, I did what I could there and then. 

If it were you, what would you do? 

Happy 2013 !!

9 minutes before the new year ... am seated in my bed with Luca lying beside me fast asleep.

It's the quietest countdown I've ever had in years.

Even as a child,  I will join my parents at their friends' place for a new year party.

Things are so didn't now after having a kid.

Looking back at the year, I can only say it went past really quickly.

Quite a bit to cheer about -We moved to a new place. Luca is speaking well and learning the violin. Sandy is a homemaker ( For a while more at least ) and everyone's health is so far so good too. Work went pretty well so career is stable.

Looking forward to 2013 and wishing the year will have lots of happy surprises for Sandy, Luca and myself.

Wishing everyone a Happy 2013!!!

Mummy's down ...

It's 2 am and am trying to fall asleep.

Luca woke up half an hour ago requesting to visit the bathroom and perhaps I reacted too slowly, he wet his pajamas.

It's a first for me as the mother usually tends to his bathroom needs while I continue to sleep but this time round it is my responsibility to tend to the boy because mummy has fallen ill.

I grabbed a set of pajamas of two different colours  which didn't match. Why bother since it was bed time and not some fashion show. (For those who know me,  my colour coordination is pretty poor and I never cared) Got him a new piece of diaper and sent him straight back to sleep.

Failed. The boy wanted mickey mouse clubhouse - on television.

He knows my weakness and thus was given minutes to catch a glimpse of his favourite rodent.

Only after fast forwarding the show could I get him to sleep.

Tossing and turning I had to pat him to sleep.

Tiring. A mother's job is indeed not easy.

Wishing my wife a speedy recovery so I can quickly get my good night's sleep.

Parent at war ....

Parenting is no simple task. It is a lifetime of mixed emotions. A lifetime of responsibility.

Yes. I knew clearly what was coming when the doctor congratulated us in 2009 - a lifelong commitment.

Luca is now two and the half and he is a spoilt brat. A child that behaves like a tyrant and wants things his way.

Thus the biggest showdown ignited  between father and son with both badly hurt tonight.

The kid - painful scars of cane marks.

The father - a heart of regrets.

Like most Asian kids, Luca gets his fair share of beatings but tonight seemed to be the most he has ever received.

The outcome of endless screamings and the refusal to behave appropriately.

This showdown leaves me thinking - thinking of the best possible way to teach my son.

Obviously his behaviour reflects how we have raised him thus far. Endless pampering, endless giving - the best formula for a spoilt brat.

We have many times tried persuading him and tried talking sense into him but somehow it seems the message just won't get across - maybe it does but it just doesn't stay in the inbox. (perhaps went straight in the spam box through his high powered filter)

Perhaps it us. Maybe we have been cultivating the habits. Bad ones.

The child has too many protectors. Too many people to spoil him. And he gets cocky.

That cockiness needs an evaluation. It needs to be put down.

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Another first time ....

Just over the weekend, Luca had a fall which resulted in a rather big cut on his lip which also left him bleeding for awhile.

It happened at our new home when we decided to play hide and seek. Maybe I was at fault, I shouldn't have chased him but boys are boys.

They need to run. They don't know how to walk. Thus I am a bigger boy than he is and surely less clumsy.

I didn't see him fall nor did I hear a thud. I only heard him wail out loud.

Mummy realised blood gushed out from his lower lip. He probably landed on his chin and bit is lip. Ouch.

Mummy was cool. Didn't panic. And asked me to serve the rascal ice cream to soothe the pain. I wasn't sure if it'll work but Luca stopped crying at the sight of ice cream.

I have to say he is a brave little fella. I thought the cut would have caused him a loss of appetite. I was glad it didn't. He ate as if nothing happened.

His tolerance for pain is high.

That also means when I have to hit him, it'll have to be much harder.

On the same night, he cut his toe while playing with the sliding door.

I guess boys are indeed boys. Boys need scars.

Just look at me. I have just too many scars. Pimple scars that is. :)

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4 years of marriage ...

It has been a really long while since I last made a blog entry. Laziness crept in ....

Today marks our 4th wedding anniversary and time sure passes us by quickly.

Luca turned two last month and he has been quite a handful.

He is able to recognize his alphabets, numbers and colors. Able to hum and sing bits of his favourite songs.

Tunes like Motley Crue's Home Sweet Home, Bon Jovi's Santa Fe and Rolling Stones As Tears Go By.

His interest for music also helps him learn the sounds of various instruments and to date his favourite instrument is still the drum.

Hopefully we are able to find a suitable school for him to explore music further ....

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Turning two in a month ...

Sorry I haven't posted anything for a long time .. the lazy bones settled in. : )

Luca turns two in 4 weeks but we have yet to plan anything for his birthday party. Guess it is time to start wrecking the brains.

Luca has learnt a lot over the past two months and settling well in his weekly one hour session at Zoophonics on Saturdays. Mummy has been accompanying him in school because Daddy didn't think he would do well in art and craft. Moreover, I thought it was good time together for the mother and son.

He is learning words, speaking in baby sentences and is able to sing songs like Twinkle Little Star, ABC Song and counting 1 to 13. Teaching him new stuff can be a lot of fun especially music.

A fan of Take That, May Day and a little X-Japan, this rascal of ours seem to be able to mouth the words of some songs from these groups and once awhile head banging if the tunes are heavier in beat. The voices of Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman and Celine Dion excites him too.

He has also been very active, climbing chairs, jumping on beds and sofas. I guess this is the phase where he will end up needing the existence of a first-aid box. I used to get very paranoid and afraid he will hurt himself however over time, I thought it'll be good for him to learn the hard way and painful way. Of course, no parents would want to see scars on their kids thus I do keep a look out for him whenever he is at risk however I try not to be overprotective in such situations.

Angry Birds has also been a favourite game of his and occasionally he manages to clear the stages with a stroke of luck.

I hope when he turns two, he will receive less strokes of the cane and learn to understand when my NOs will cause him trouble when defied. : )

Luca is down ....

Just hours ago we had our first reunion dinner with the family.

We wanted to beat the crowd as well as cater to Sandy's work travel plans next week thus we decided to do it three weeks earlier.

Luca fell ill yesterday afternoon. It started out with a slight temperature and this morning he woke up with 39 degree celsius.

Despite the temperature, he carried on his normal activities. Drumming, running around the house and drinking his milk as if he wasn't under the weather.

We decided this time to take him for TCM as opposed to the pediatrician we normally visited because we knew we would end up with more bottles of bifen or panadol to reduce his temperature and we felt we have enough of supplies at home.

So the Chinese doctor diagnosed him as having a viral infection and prescribed 4 days of herbal medicine after which it is our choice whether or not to return for a follow up after.

An appointment was made for Thursday to see the doctor again but let's hope by then his fever is long gone.

Seeing the boy ill breaks our heart but we know it is all part of growing up and we always remind ourselves it is very normal for kids his age to be down with some bugs and for sure he'll be bouncing up again after a few days. ( did I tell you he now likes to listen to Bon Jovi's Bounce?)

Let us hope he recovers quickly so as to be able to eat all the new year goodies.

And I forgot to mention Luca vomited this evening while at the restaurant and I have never seen such massive puke from Luca before. Surely my first but I know it won't be the last because my mum saw me vomit when I was 17 after returning home drunk and that too was an enormous pool of puke. :)

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A new year ... another beginning.

Spent the last few hours of 2011 having Korean dinner at Amara and a few glasses of single malt whiskey with close friends and Wei Sheng.

Luca was the only child amongst us as everyone else decided to leave their children at home so that they are able to enjoy the countdown.

Frankly the last two hours of 2011 was a little stressful handling the little boy. He was playing with whiskey glasses ( with whiskey in it).

He used a glowstick to dip into the whiskey and used the same end to draw on the carpets. Harmless yet creative but what followed scared me a little.

He decided to up the ante by drinking water from his bottle and spitting the water in his mouth into the whiskey glass. I seriously don't know how such an idea came about. He even did the same with some biscuits he had.

Other than the naughty act he did, he was pretty well behaved.

He enjoyed dancing to the loud music at the lobby turned disco and he sure danced for quite some while onlookers took videos and photos of the little rascal. He enjoyed the attention. He seems to have the art of performing.

I enjoyed the time with him spending the last hours of 2011 but he was very close to being disciplined while at the bar for his naughty actions.

Nevertheless I was happy he was discovering new things and learning to play without toys.

Happy New Year and may 2012 bring us lots of cheer, joy, great health and prosperity.

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2011 passes me by ....

Time seems to fly really quickly and with many blinks of an eye, I sit here typing this on the last day of 2011.

Looking back at how 2011 fared, I can only say 2011 made another great year for me.

Although there were many things I wanted to do in 2011 didn't happen for example - take my parents and siblings on a trip, visit Japan and India, save more than half my pay etc.

Despite all these not happening in 2011, it still made a fabulous year.

This year showered me with quite many memories and a memorable one was catching X-Japan's concert in Hong Kong with a buddy in November - a simple dream come true.

In terms of career, bigs steps were made and work turned out very well.

Luca who turned one in May saw his highest fever this year and perhaps the most number of falls as he started learning to walk earlier in 2011.

2011 also featured one of the biggest quarrels Sandy and I had which resulted in her crying again. (nothing abnormal about couples quarreling so do not be alarmed we too spar once in a blue moon)

Let's hope that 2012 will be another good year that will shower us with good health, prosperity and progress not only for the nation .. but for Sandy, Luca and I too.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year ...

Wet Christmas ...

The weather has been rather unfriendly this Christmas with flash floods hitting the city centre's shopping district - Orchard Road and some other low lying areas.

Our Christmas eve BBQ was also affected because we weren't sure how the weather will act up yesterday evening thus we decided it would be better staying indoors cooking the marinated food with the help of microwaves etc.

This is Luca's second Christmas and opening up presents have become a new skill as he happily unwraps them on his own occasionally throwing tantrums when he fails to remove the tape etc.

Luca getting more mischievous each day is learning a lot about our gadgets. He unlocks the iphone by punching in the key code (we of course have to tell him the numbers and he will press on them) , opening up the camera app as well as photo galleries where he swipes photos and sometimes deleting them.

He knows how to turn on my Bose system and attempts to change the disc as well as use the remote to turn on the tv etc.

I get really busy making sure he doesn't wreck any appliances at home or hurting himself while changing discs.

One thing I get really upset over his recent behaviour is his throwing tantrums and 'tear bombs'. He somehow learnt the art of using his wails and tears to gain his way. Whenever we take something away from him, he cries with really huge tear drops streaming down his face or whenever he wants something and cannot get it, he does the same thing.

What more can I say about this spoilt brat? He sure knows how to manipulate his way through ..... and that means very soon cane marks will form on his delicate skin but I guess even with all the caning, it is unlikely it'll help change his behaviour. He is a very stubborn boy.

Perhaps it really is retribution .....

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