CONNECTION

This morning, during breakfast, suddenly I felt like calling Coco, “Yuki”. I came across this name a few days ago in a magazine. I thought it is an interesting name. Maybe I shall name my next daughter, “Yuki”!! I wonder what it means. It’s brought to my mind, Scooby Doo though. I think one of the character in this cartoon is called Yogi!

Anyway, these are some of Coco latest pictures. How time flies. I’ve already been in S’pore for almost 2 and half months. It seems like life is busier here back home, compared to Shanghai. I guess there are more places to go, more friends to visit and more errands to run here!

Coco outing at the Botanical Gardens! Thanks to my girlfriends who are avaliable to drive us around and help me to handle Coco, we had a great time at botanical gardens last weekend. It was a hot day although we reached there close to 4pm. It’s no joke carrying her in the hot sun (when she refused the stroller)! However, Coco seemed like she really enjoyed herself although I believed she wouldn’t know the difference between botanical gardens and pongol park! I have decided to take her to pongol park for our next excursion instead It’s within walking distance from my place and fuss-free!

Chinese New Year is just round the corner and daddy will be back in Singapore soon. Looking forward to more outings then as we don’t have to be confined to outings within the NEL line anymore! Also Coco is staying awake for longer period now and unlike when she was younger, she doesn’t fall asleep so easily on the stroller anymore when we go out. So I believed she will enjoy her outings more.

I was updating my blog last week when I was interrupted and again, how times flies…It’s no longer two weeks, but maybe three weeks or more since I last updated it.

Anyway, I shall continue my entry from last week……..

It seems like a long long time since I last updated my blog. But when I checked my last entry, apparently, it has only been 2 weeks! What? 2 weeks and I don’t think it’s long? Well, I’m definitely not a faithful blogger!! I almost typed “fateful blogger!!” Maybe I am a “fateful blogger”!

Came to update my blog today because my pacnet has been down for a few days and I couldn’t access my email. Also the motherhood forum seems to be down too. I can’t access it. Gee… What a fateful day!

Two weeks seem long when I am a SAHM (Stay At Home Mum). I remember when I was working, weeks just fly past me. So much seem to have happened within the last two weeks.

Coco has sprouted more hair.
Coco has discovered her hair.
Coco is going to outgrown her two jumpers soon or has already.
Coco is better at tummy time now.
Coco can suck her fingers and do tummy time.
I’ve started massage with Coco after bath and she loves it.
Coco has been rejecting milk.
Coco tasted orange juice.
The weather has turned colder.
The superheater is out.
Mum says Coco turned over today!
The fans will be kept soon.
The winter wears are out.

In two weeks time, we will be returning to Singapore. Two weeks is a long time. How time flies.

Well, time and tide waits for no man! In five days time, we’ll be up the plane on our way home! It’s amazing to look back at the time when Coco was just born and how this day of returning to Singapore sounds so distance to me. Many times I look at Coco and wish she will grow up faster. I know that there will come a day when I wish I had treasured this stage of her more. But even though I know, but I can’t help but being impatient and hope that this day will come soon. As it is, when I visited Grace yesterday and her newborn, I already missed those days when Coco just came back from the hospital and the sweet feeling of holding her as she will just gaze into my eyes. 

For the past week, Coco has mastered her flips successfully and we have all witnessed it. Now she has moved into the next frustration stage of learning to ‘crawl’. Well, she tries to lift her backside up a few times, of course unsuccessfully at this point and it leads to her frustration. So the good days of quiet tummy time seems to be coming to an end until she learns to move herself forward.

Also another milestone, Coco started on semi-solid. Her favourite food so far is avacado. Well, it is her only food so far with taste, other than her ‘metallic’ taste milk formula. Tried giving her plain rice cereal but she frowned and refused yesterday. So today, I added avacado to her rice cereal and good girl, finished a quarter of the bowl.

Food, food, glorious food!

It’s been a week of prayers and seeking before the Lord. Last week, I’m reminded by God that I’ve been complacent in my walk with Him. God never fails to give up on us even when we stray from Him.

I went to the Home Sweet Home Ministry with SK and friends last Sunday night. Not sure why I agree to go, but I just went. It was a long taxi ride that cost us over 60RMB. Well, that’s was also partly because the driver was lost and took a detour. The area reminds me of Cambodia. This ministry reaches out to beggars on the street. There were a group of about 10 over of them. Some of them are already Christians while I believe there are some who have yet to receive Christ. Many of them were handicapped. A few of them had faces which were scarred from burnt. There was this little boy whose face was disfigured. He did not speak much and was very shy. I was greatly ministered during the worship session. We sang songs of thanksgiving and praises to the Lord, and I can’t help but teared because  I looked at the faces of these people where life has been so hard and unkind to them but they can still say “Give Thanks, For He is Good.”

Indeed, there is much to learn from this short encounter with them. I went there thinking that I can give something to them but I end up receiving much from them. I really salute the volunteers who goes there week by week to reach out to them. Over here, it’s different from S’pore where roads are well lit and easily accessible. The home is located in a rural district, probably because rental is much cheaper, and it is really like a kampong area where most of the people commute by bicycles and motorcycles except on the main road which is about 10 minutes walk away. Also the weather here is turning cold and despite the chill, the volunteers still made the commitment to go there every week. 

God, bless this ministry and your workers. May the homeless by blessed by the work of your people.

It’s the weeklong october holiday here in China again. Time flies! This October seems to bring back some de jevu memories.

I got my new phone LG Chocolate around this time last year when I went back to Singapore for my sister-in-law’s wedding only to get it stolen when I got back to Shanghai! It was a birthday gift from TS then and this year, he bought me another phone. This time in Shanghai! Another LG phone - SHINE.  Better guard it before history repeats itself!

Then Formula One is here again. So fast! One year has passed. We were fortunate that the free tickets came last year and not this year, if not we would have missed the chance of a lifetime to watch the race. Not that I’m a F1 fan, but it’s a “been there, done that” thing! 

There is a whole lot of activities out there during this October holiday. Tourism Festival, Special Olympics, Taiwan Festival exhibition, F1, Clown festival and many more. But sigh… I didn’t participate in any of these because Coco is still too young. But well, maybe next week, when it is less crowded, will go for the Clown Festival since it is held at the Century Garden near my place. Well at least, I will participate in ONE event. That will be an accomplishment already! 

 

I know that some of the mummies at the forum will patronize my blog. So I’ve decided to set up a Tag “Tips on Baby Care”. These are lessons learned through experiments so I hope it will benefit some of the mummies. Today tip is on washing baby clothes!

A few days ago, I started to smell a stench of ’sour lamb’ smell on Coco’s clothes and towels! It is actually the smell of stale milk lingering behind. I think it is partly due to the fact that there wasn’t much sun due to the typhoon which hit Shanghai two weeks ago. I started to use Dettol to soak her clothes to get rid of the stench. Then my helper suggested that I should use baby bath soap to wash the clothes instead. She said that detergent generated too much foam and it doesn’t help in washing away the dirt and stench. Also I think the detergent I bought for Coco’s use is too mild! Well, it worked! So now, I will soak the clothes in the baby’s detergent for a few hours. During the wash, I will use the Johnson and Johnson baby’s bar soap and rub it on her clothes. But making sure that her laundry get lots of sunshine is still the most important!

CCTV 1 shows some old-time favourite cartoons and once a while, I get to catch it. I don’t know exactly what are the time slots of these cartoons so it is through pure luck. The familiar tune played between each cartoon with the lion roaring on the screen and the ‘That’s all folks’ brings back good memories! I love watching Tom and Jerry especially. Come to think of it, it is a real violent show!! How young children will laugh to their hearts’ content when they see Tom being abused by Jerry. Tweety Bird is also another classic which I love. You never get enough of the torture that Sabestian suffered from Tweety Bird! Nowadays, people always say that those videos games that children play are full of violence and that kids will imitate what they watch. It makes me wonder if kids at our time also turned violent from watching these cartoons. Maybe those kids who don’t turn violent outwardly have a certain streak of sadism in them! Am I speaking for myself?! Probably, there wasn’t much researchers then that dwell on such topics, so those cartoons are spared from criticisms! These cartoons really stand the test of time - they don’t appear old-fashioned even up till today!

I really lost touch with the cartoons that children watch nowadays. I heard Barney is a all-time favourite! Then there is this Dora, Thomas the train etc. Well, I’ve not seen any of them yet! I guess these shows are developed by some childhood educationists with learning theories behind them!!! Maybe that’s why they only appeal to kids and not adults!! Those cartoons at our time appeal to both kids and adults alike. I remember watching them with my Grandmother!! And to think I can still sit glued to the TV watching them now. But I must say, I am only giving 50% of my attention to the cartoon because I know what is going to happen next! But I still enjoy having the set turned on with Tom and Jerry running around on screen!

Come to think of it, I think Tom and Jerry will receive a good deal of critisms from those educationists! Number one, there is no conversation going on between the characters, so the kids cannot pick up any language skills. Next, it’s so super violent! Then, it so unreal as the characters will never die no matter what kind of trauma they go through! Well maybe one thing kids can learn is that ’size does not matter’ and to stand up to bullies!!! But what the hack, why should we learn anything from watching cartoons - can’t we just enjoy and laugh over it?! Typical teacher!

Coco has begun her cooing and sometimes you can hear her mouthing some of the words rather clearly. Here is her vocabulary bank so far

* Good ‘Garl’

* Okay

* Hello

* Bear

And her all-time favourite is “Ah-gi!!”! 

Last night, she woke me up about two to three times with her frustrated cries. I saw her trying to turn!! She was still sleeping on her side but she seemed to be using all her might to turn but to no avail!! For the past two nights, she has preferred to sleep on her side and no matter how near to the edge of the other side of the mattress I put her on, she will edged her way to my side! Then this morning when I got up from my sleeping position, she rolled over and fell flat onto the bed and started screaming until I picked her up! 

A picture of her! My sister says she looks like a little samurai!!

 

Our princess seems to have grown out of her sarong bed. Maybe she is learning to turn already and she feels constrainted inside the sarong bed! Well, might as well. I’ll start to wean her out the sarong bed and get her to sleep on mattress in the day. Afterall, we are preparing to go back to Singapore for a long break and TS and I were just discussing yesterday if we should ship the sarong bed back with us! Weaning starts today! She is sleeping comfortably on her tummy on the mattress now. I guess it’s easier for her morning nap where she will usually sleeps soundly. I think the test will come in the late afternoon!! Be prepared! 

I was at the 2pm service at Hengshang last sunday to testify God’s work in Coco. It has been about 2 years since I last attended the Hengshang service. I started a few services with Hengshang 2 years ago when I first arrived at Shanghai. However, when I found AGIF at Pudong, I started my regular worship there instead as it is much nearer to my home for me.

I remember I didn’t know anybody at church then. The only familiar faces I bumped into were one or two of my colleagues from school. But last sunday, what a difference. Once I stepped into church, I saw a parent from my ex-student, then a number of my colleagues, my cell members and lots of other familiar faces. Fellowship was vibrant after service with people catching up with one another and I got to know a few new friends. After attending AGIF for about 2 years, I don’t think I see as many familiar faces in church as I did last sunday at Hengshang.

The atmosphere of the entire service has also changed. The sermon was in greater depth. I was really ministered throughout.

I have never imagined myself being able to stand at the pulpit to testify. After experiencing God’s miracle for Coco, I prayed to God for opportunity to testify His goodness. When Nancy forwarded the email from church to write about how cell group has impacted our lives, I thought that would be a good opportunity to write in, thinking that it was probably for some publication where people can read about. However, Pastor Dale, send me an email about a week later and asked me if I would like to testify during service instead. I was definately hesistant, but I believed this is God’s answer to my prayer. To push me out of my comfort zone to testify for Him and not do it out of convenience. Throughout I was reminded that I’m a mouthpiece for God and the purpose is to glorify Him and not myself. I hope the testimony did encourage someone in the congregation.

 

 

 

 

It’s has been a long time since I saw a good movie that cause me to shed tears. “Blood Diamond” by Edward Zwick starring Leonardo DiCaprico. My impression of Leonardo is always stuck at the classic Titanic scene - outstretched arms at the bow of the ship and “The Man with the Iron Mask!” I’m impressed with him in this show, he has gone a long way.

Blood Diamond is a movie set in Sierra Leone where diamonds are being traded to fund the conflicts in the country. Vivid images of how child soldiers were trained for war and the atrocities committed by the rebels struck me. We never know how much blood has been shed, lives lost for those diamonds that we covert. I never knew about conflict diamonds until I saw this show and after watching it, it makes me think of how often as consumers, we directly or indirectly are the cause of exploited labour in third world countries.

Well, this is a good show for men to watch together with their wives or girlfriends because after the show, I think most of them would not want diamonds anymore! At least, for me it is so. And the next time I donned on my diamond jewelleries, it will certainly be with a heavy heart.

I got my first taste of typhoon yesterday since I moved here to Shanghai. Well, I was expecting the worst, but in the end, it was an anti-climax! It didn’t turn out to be the worst typhoon in the decade as reported! Well, of course, that is good news, which means not much damages was done! Schools and offices were closed for a day. We spent the day monitoring the typhoon approaching at home! I must say the internet information is quite impressive but they are all in chinese. Well, there was this shockwave file which was on the website and it showed the path of the typhoon at various time. So it was quite interesting refreshing the page to track the typhoon! At the end of the day, the ’super typhoon’ didn’t appear, but there was quite a bit of rainstorm and wind. It just felt like a heavy rainy day! I even went to Carrefour to stock up on our food supplies thinking that we might not be able to get out of the house the next couple of day! But this morning, my mum went to do her groceries again!

Typhoon aside, I got another taste of Coco’s ‘prowess’! I pulled out the milk bottle from her in the midst of her drinking to adjust her T-shirt. Wow! She screamed at me and her face turned red with anger! The moment I popped the bottle back into her mouth, she started drinking again as if nothing has happened! Sigh.. This girl cannot wait! Even my mum who has just taken care of her for two days said the same thing!