Welcome Andrea...

It's the day we have all been waiting for, at least for Mummy and Daddy... Andrea was delivered safely to us today at 3.58pm and she weighs a healthy 3.005kg, only a tad lighter than me.

Mummy and Daddy left today at about noon to check into Mount Alvernia hospital as the operation was about 3.30pm. At about 4pm, Daddy called Nai Nai to say that Andrea has been delivered. And Nai Nai and Ye Ye will bring me to visit them after my dinner tonight. I was looking forward to see Mummy and Daddy as they told me Andrea Mei Mei has some surprises for me.








We were the first to visit Andrea Mei Mei at the hospital. Daddy passed me the presents and said that they were from Andrea Mei Mei. Unfortunately I wasn't to be fooled and insisted that Mummy bought them for me. You see, I am still not very sure about Andrea Mei Mei. I used to have Mummy and Daddy all to myself, now I have to share them with Andrea Mei Mei. And since she is still a baby, that means she will get more attention than me. I am sure I am happy she is with us. I guess it is only natural that I am jealous and I will probably take a while to get used to having her around. Mummy and Daddy assured me that they still love me a lot and now there is Andrea Mei Mei who will love me lots too.

There were other people who came later to visit and at one point, it got really crowded. Uncle Fandi was there too and he took some really nice shots of us. Thanks Uncle Fandi.








We left the hospital at about 9pm and I will be without Mummy and Daddy for the next 3 nights as Mummy recovers from the operation. Things are already starting to look different now....

Good Observation, Wrong Conclusion..

Today I noticed the difference between a boy and a girl.

Mummy was helping to change Mei Mei Esther in the room and innocently I said, "Birdie birdie went inside!"

Everyone had a good laugh...

Jacob Ballas Children's Garden

We have driven passed this place several times and never really found the chance to visit it, until today. After lunch at Relish, Mummy and Daddy brought me to the Jacob Ballas Children's Garden which is part of the Singapore Botanic Gardens. It was at the garden that we found out more about this person.

Jacob Ballas was a pillar of the Jewish community in Singapore, a successful stockbroker and well-known philanthropist. The only child of a poor orthodox Baghdadi family in Amara, Iraq, Jacob was moved from Iraq to Labuan and finally to Singapore in the late 1920s. He later attended school at St Andrew's School and even became the President of the St Andrew's Old Boys Association from 1957 to 1961.

Jacob's career started as a car salesman and later as an insurance agent with Sun Life Insurance. He made his money when he was introduced to stock broking and his company merged with Hong Kong-based Citicorp Vickers to become Vickers Ballas in the early 1990s and it went public in 1993.

We spent about 2 hours in the garden which has a playground and even a water play area. Mummy and Daddy decided we will skip the water play area today and come back another time for it. I had fun at the playground and impressed Mummy and Daddy when I came down the high and long slide, without any hesitation. We ended the visit with ice cream at the Kids Cafe which has pretty good chocolate ice cream. We will certainly be back soon.

Hungry Caterpillar

Thanks to the West Coast Park Playground, I get to have McDonald's breakfast today. Mummy and Daddy decided that we will have brunch at the McDonald's and then let me play at the very very big playground. I had my usual pancakes with lots of syrup and butter. I also got to eat the hash brown which according to Daddy is not healthy because it is deep fried.











We spent about an hour at the playground and after which we went back to McDonald's for some hot fudge sundae and fries with ketchup. Actually it was more like ketchup with fries. It is indeed a special day.


Mummy had booked tickets for the Hungry Caterpillar play at the Fusionopolis in the afternoon. I like the story very much and have been asking Mummy to read me the story many times. It was very interesting and had 3 stories packed into the 45 mins play. There was The Little Cloud, The Mixed Up Chameleon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar, all by Eric Carle. It was very well done and surprisingly there were only 2 persons behind the scene. Mummy and Daddy enjoyed the play too.

HFMD

I went to school today only to find out that it will be closed for the next 10 days because of 7 cases of Hand Foot Mouth Disease among my friends. Apparently HFMD usually affects infants and children and has been prevalent in most of the child care centres. It is moderately contagious and is spread through direct contact with the mucus, saliva, or feces of an infected person. I suppose one of my friends got it from somewhere else and passed it to the others.

Mummy and Daddy think I am ok and not infected although when they checked the inside of my mouth, they see some red dots but not blisters typical of HFMD. I also do not have high fever which is one of the symptoms of HFMD and finally, my appetite is as per normal so it is quite unlikely I have HFMD.

Apparently there is no specific treatment for HFMD so one just have to drink lots of water and get plenty of rest if infected.

We just got wind that my friend Asher is confirmed down with HFMD and has some pretty nasty blisters. I hope he gets well soon.

If all goes well, we will resume school on the 15th July. Meanwhile Nai Nai has to put up with me for the next 10 days.

Dora Explorer

My current favourite cartoon show is Dora Explorer. Dora and her friends are always involved in some adventures and I love being part of that. Dora is an adventurous, bilingual, Latina heroine who lives in a house with her Mamá and Papi. Determined, positive, helpful and caring, Dora is always ready for adventure. She's filled with a sense of wonder as she explores her world with her faithful Backpack, Map and her best friend Boots.

Dora's cousin Diego, is a great partner to Dora in her adventures. He helps his parents at the Animal Rescue Centre and can even make animal noises and talk to the wild animals. You can count on Diego to run, swing and jump to the rescue of any animals in trouble.

Swiper is a quick, sneaky fox who tries to swipe things that Dora needs to complete her quests. When Swiper has swiped something he then hides it and it's up to Dora, Boots and us to find where it is hidden. Swiper speaks English and can be stopped by calling out 'Swiper, no swiping'. Whenever Swiper appears, I will cover my eyes cos I don't quite like him.

I love watching their programs and get excited even though I have seen the same episode many times before.

Perth

We were suppose to go to Japan in March this year but because of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, we had to cancel the trip and make alternative plans. Mummy and Daddy decided a cool place will be nice for me and so decided that we will check out Perth. They were well aware there is not very much to do there but the cool weather and various farms and open spaces will make me a very happy kid and that was good enough for them.

We were suppose to be there from 15th to 23rd June but our fight was delayed a day due to the Chilean ash cloud. We thought we were not meant to go for any holidays when told of the cancelled flight but was glad to find out we will fly out 12 hours later.

Jie Jie Sophia was there to greet us and she brought us for brunch and settled us in our hotel before heading off to work. For the next 7 days, we were on our own and Daddy drove from Perth to Augusta and then back again to Perth. The whole journey was about 1000 km and Daddy enjoyed the pleasant drive. We had great fun stopping at various towns along the way and I got to feed many farm animals and even saw dolphins and whales and Daddy and Mummy even got to enjoy a nice lunch at a vineyard.

On the last day, we met up with Jie Jie Sophia again and had dinner with her at a Vietnamese restaurant. We then headed back to her place to stay for a night before catching our flight back home the next day at 2pm. We also managed to have breakfast with Jie Jie Sophia's mommy and had a great time at the persimmon farm.

It was a great trip and we had lots of fun.

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