Kena 4D!

Yes, I am officially a money making machine for Ah Mah. She has always been lucky when it comes to buying 4D. Kor Kor Elijah has been a great blessing to her as she has made quite a bit of money from his date of birth to his birth certificate number.

When Ah Mah looked at me closely the other day, she was certain I will bring her good luck too. True enough, she struck 4D today with my birth certificate number. My birth cert is T0839898 so she bought 9898 and it came out as a consolation number. She gave me $800 as contribution to my university fund. Thank you Ah Mah!

CNY Day 2

The second day of Chinese New Year is usually to visit Mummy and Daddy's good friends. This year, we were only making 2 stops as Daddy doesn't think it is a good idea to move me too much. We started with lunch at Aunty Lynn's house. This year, she had more friends at her place as she invited her friends from her church. As usual, the spread of food is simply amazing at her house. Daddy and Mummy had mee siam, kueh pieti, sashimi, Turkish rice, beef stew and all the new year goodies. All these goodies were prepared by Aunty Lynn together with her trusted helper, Aunty Daisy. We spend the whole afternoon there. Actually we spend half the afternoon in Aunty Lynn's room as Mummy had to express her milk and then put me to sleep.

In the evening, we went to Uncle Benny's place at Branksome Road. Apparently Uncle Benny has been inviting loads of friends to his place on the second day of CNY for dinner for many years now. He will usually have a marquee over his garden to house about 10 tables and will catered food for almost 150 people. Friends of his take this opportunity to meet up once a year.

While Aunty Lynn was feeding me my milk, she discovered that I was able to hold my bottle when it was not too heavy. Daddy and Mummy were most impressed with me. I have a funny feeling they want me to hold my bottle and feed myself soon. We shall see....

Happy Nui Year

Today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year or Spring Festival as it is sometimes called. According to tales and legends, the beginning of Chinese New Year started with the fight against a mythical beast called the Nian. Nian would come on the first day of New Year to devour livestock, crops, and even villagers, especially children. To protect themselves, the villagers would put food in front of their doors at the beginning of every year. It was believed that after the Nian ate the food they prepared, it wouldn’t attack any more people. One time, people saw that the Nian was scared away by a little child wearing red. The villagers then understood that the Nian was afraid of the color red. Hence, every time when the New Year was about to come, the villagers would hang red lanterns and red spring scrolls on windows and doors. People also used firecrackers to frighten away the Nian. From then on, the Nian never came to the village again.

I woke up as usual and Mummy bathed and changed me into my new clothes. After wishing Nai Nai and Ye Ye a Happy New Year, I was given ang pows from them. Nai Nai was suppose to make ginko nut and longan soup to start the new year with sweet blessings but she was apparently too busy the night before and forgot about it. Daddy decided to drink tea instead.

We started with 3rd grand aunty's house in Toa Payoh as she is the eldest and all the relatives will be there at some point in time during the day. When grand uncle (Nai Nai's youngest brother) saw me, he was very happy and asked to carry me. Apparently when Daddy was a baby, grand uncle had carried him and brought him around the kampong. It reminded him of the good ole days and he couldn't help telling everyone as he held on to me.

After Toa Payoh, we headed to Mummy's Tua Gu's place in Ang Mo Kio. Sadly Tua Lau Gu passed away just a couple of weeks ago. However, his dying wish was that we must still go to his house and celebrate Chinese New Year and be happy as a big extended family, so that was what we did. Everyone was there and we enjoyed each other's presence.

My First Reunion Dinner

Today is the eve of the Chinese New Year. Traditionally, every member of the family, near or far, get together to celebrate the start of the new year. The dinner usually includes many dishes and not eaten completely as the Chinese phrase nian nian you yu or every year there is fish/leftover means that there is profit every year or be blessed every year.

We started with reunion dinner at Ah Mah's house. Everyone was back home at the agreed timing of 5pm and we had many of Ah Mah's favourite dishes. Normally we do not eat at the same time as some might have to work late but for reunion dinners on the eve of Chinese New Year, everybody must be present before dinner can start.

Reunion dinners at Ah Mah's house is unfortunately very rushed as we have to attend the other reunion dinner with Nai Nai. Ah Mah is kind enough to take the earlier slot so that we can take our time with the second. Nai Nai has prepared steamboat which has been the practice for many years. We got home and continued with the second dinner. Unfortunately Steve Yi Sok is not able to come back this Chinese New Year as he is busy with many projects in Dubai and cannot take leave. Hope to see you soon Steve Yi Sok.

Today is also Gu Zhe Michelle's birthday so we celebrated with a cake from the Royal Cake shop. Apparently it is one of Daddy's favourite cake as their chocolate cake is very delicious. Unfortunately I still cannot eat any cakes so I will have to wait for another year.

I was officially introduced to the pacifier today. It was against Daddy and Mummy's initial intention to give me something that will only keep me quiet but does not tell them why I am crying, not that I am about to talk anytime soon. However, they finally relented because I was crying quite a bit and taking in too much air and as a result, the embarrassing flatulence problem I currently have.

Hep B Injection

I am due for my Hep B injection and Mummy and Daddy decided to check out Dr Junior Hiew at Marine Terrace. Apparently he was highly recommended by Uncle Edward and Aunty Phyllis.

We got to the clinic early and were the first there. Dr Hiew is a very pleasant doctor. Daddy and Mummy finds him very approachable and easy to talk to. Unlike the first paediatrician Dr Yip, Dr Hiew seems very patient and informative. He explained to Daddy and Mummy the difference between the infant formula milk powder. I think Mummy and Daddy will be coming back to him in future.

During the check up, Dr Hiew informed that I am now 5kg and 55cm in length. He mentioned that I am actually overweight given that I was only 3.175kg at birth. However, it is not exactly a bad thing but I shouldn't put on too much too fast. He gave me the Hep B injection. It was painful and I cried so pitifully after the jab. Mummy had to cuddle me and pat me to sooth me.

Bye Bye Aunty Jia Ming

Today is the 28th day since I got home from Gleneagles Hospital, which means Aunty Jia Ming, the confinement lady, will be leaving us today. She had been very helpful to Mummy and Daddy over the last 4 weeks as she woke up in the middle of the night to help feed and change me. She also cooked for Mummy but as she does not have many ideas, Mummy got tired of the same stuff after 4 weeks. Although Mummy and Daddy thinks she is a little blur sometimes, she had been a great help as they adjusted to my presence in their lives. Thank you Aunty Jia Ming.

Daddy drove us to Ah Mah's house before going to work today. SInce Aunty Jia MIng won't be around today and Nai Nai has to busy herself with the New Year preparations, Mummy took the chance to spend time with Ah Mah. Ah Mah apparently had prepared some Papaya and Fish soup to increase Mummy's milk supply. She also prepared some new dishes for Mummy as she needed something new and tasty to help her put on some weight.

I had a good time at Ah Mah's house as it was very windy and I slept very comfortably throughout the day.

Chinese Name

Mummy and Daddy, together with the help of Ye Ye and the options from Master Chiang, decided I shall be called 植 政 豪 (Zhi Zheng Hao). 政 as in government, political affairs, and 豪 as in brave, heroic, chivalrous, unrestrained, outstanding, powerful. Mummy and Daddy have never really believed in the feng shui thingy but with their (especially Daddy's) limited Chinese vocabulary, they had to turn to Master Chiang for help.

We went to the immigration centre to register my birth today. It was very crowded there but thank goodness there was a special section meant for birth registration and as there were not so many births lately, we didn't have to wait at all. After Mummy filled up the form and submitted it, it took less than 5 minutes before the aunty at the counter laminated my new birth certificate. My Identification Number seems easy to remember.. T0839898. The aunty mentioned that it implies that there were about 39,898 babies who were born in 2008 and registered before me. I hope Ah Mah and Nai Nai will make money with these numbers.