Aaarrhhmm....(Updated photos from playdate)

Mountain boy had a playdate with Bubbles last week when he was back in Singapore. Both kiddos had a lot of fun, i was surprised by how well they interacted with each other. They even "fed" each other wheat pancakes! It was so funny, too bad the camera was out of battery so we didn't take that many pictures.

These are from Corsage's iphone.

Don't they look cute sitting on the mini-kopitiam armchairs?

Bubbles: Can i have your pancake?

Mountain Boy: Nnnnnope!

Finders keepers. Let's see who picks up the pancake first.

How about we play a guessing game and the winner gets the pancake?

Anyway I came back really inspired to make wheat pancakes for Mountain boy. He is quite good with eating bite-size food like diced fruits and biscuits, but i didn't realise he couldn't handle one pancake! He swished the pancake around on the table and most of it ended up on the high-chair and on the floor. I know playing with food is frowned upon, but we really had a great time!

Here's a video of him eating and feeding mommy pancakes!

Pictures from B.Villa Bali

It was Mountain man and boy's first trip to Bali, and it had been 10 years since my last visit. I must say that i'm way more impressed with what the little island has become today versus 10 years ago. There's a great balance of shopping and relaxing activities which i think is great for a family holiday. And the food... I always tell people that the only Indonesian thing about me is my green passport and my taste buds. I ate my favourite indonesian cuisine with a vengeance.

I don't know why i never went back sooner, but we'll definitely go back there again soon.

Here's some choice pictures from the trip.

A family picture along the corridor leading to the villas.

Private pool in our villa. Mountain boy wanted to jump right in the moment we got there! The villa concept was great but the service was a bit disappointing.

My little pretty boy.

Mozzie bites on Mountain Boy's right cheek.

My favourite picture of the trip. Mountain boy grew 3 teeth in 1 week so this is probably the last near toothless grin we'll see.

We're back!!

We've made it through yet another family holiday. This time it was PEK-SG-Bali-SG-PEK, total flight time 18 hours. The flights were seriously horrible because Mountain boy is too big for the bassinet, but too small to have his own seat. And he is in the crawling/walking stage so we really struggled a lot on the plane. Poor passengers next to us had to endure his whines and constant poking, somehow he thinks it's sociable and funny to "chochok" people but i really don't think the dude who sat next to us today thought so.

Tip to non-baby people: Do not reserve the first row seats especially the 3-in-a-row ones because those seats are usually for parents with young babies who don't respond to reason such as "please keep quiet you are disturbing others" or "stop fidgeting your elbow might hit the other passenger". The poor guy today must have thought that he made a smart move by reserving an aisle seat with alot of leg room. If you are on the tall side and want to get the best seats with leg room, choose the ones near the emergency exit door because those will not have bassinets.

I must commend all the SQ flight attendants whom i felt were very thoughtful and attentive on all the flights we've taken. They were friendly and made sure that we had everything we needed.

Anyway, i'm completely destroyed for the multiple flights and packing/unpacking so i'm gonna leave the photo uploading till my energy has recovered. So till then!!

PS: Mountain Boy is practically walking since we touched down!

Just the two of us (updated photo)

It's been a while since we took a picture without mountain boy. The eyebags and lines are stamps of parenthood that we've earned over the past 10 months. We often talk about how much we miss the life we had before mountain boy. The freedom of travelling and staying out as late as we want to, going to places without worrying about how child friendly it is, watching inflight entertainment in peace instead of entertaining mountain boy throughout the airplane journey.

Fundamentally we've not changed as a couple. We still talk about our interests, work issues, we still love exploring new places, go on romantic dates, and we still break out into hysterical laughs until our stomachs ache.

Mountain boy has done nothing short of turning our lives upside down. But after a while we learn to live and enjoy a different perspective. And, it only makes 'us' time more precious.

Sent from my iPad

TV Serial Killer

Being from a communications school and all, I know the typical tricks of the trade on story writing. The hooks that keeps viewers coming back for more, for example the unresolved sexual tension (UST), the cliff hanger, the twists etc...

Of course the actors, the premise, and the setting are different. But if you really strip it down to the core, think about how different the old Beverly Hills 90210 is from the new Beverly Hills 90210. Or to make it more extreme, how different is Gossip Girl from say.... Grey's Anatomy. Every actress sleeps with every other actor (and vice versa) and when they finally run out of people to sleep with, DING it signals time to introduce new characters!

Having said all that, I am completely addicted to watching TV series. Like crazy addicted. I don't have any discretion i watch absolutely everything. I just finished Grey's Anatomy season 6 even though i SWORE that i'd stop after season 5.

Anyway, here's a list of my current must-watch TV Series.

Most Fashionable

Winner: Project Runway- Real live drama doesn't lose out to fiction!

Runner-up: Gossip Girl- The storyline is pretty childish, but the actors and actresses are so beautiful.

Best Hospital Series (I feel like i now can diagnose any illnesses)

Winner: House- I'm a Hugh Laurie groupe. And i love the soundtrack.
Runner-up: Grey's Anatomy- I like it more since they kicked off Katherine Heigl and TR Knight. And they brought in Kim Raver!

Best Cop Show
Winner: Dexter- Interesting premise, gets better with every season. The last season's ending was solid as hell.

I don't watch any other cop shows...

Best Chick Series (ie usually the men won't watch)

Winner: Desperate Housewives- A good mix of suspense, drama and tight script writing. Every episode sums up with a nice theme.

Best half-hours
Winner: The Office- Mountain Man and I go into laughing fits when watching this.
Runner-up: How I Met Your Mother- Honestly i hate all the actors except for Neil Patrick Harris who unfortunately is gay. But even then he makes up for the lack of all the other actors.

Most "Fang"tabulous

Winner: True Blood- Makes you wanna do bad things. I've always been a fan of vampires since Louis and Lestat (Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles). Eric Northman is my new Lestat.

Zombieland

Okay, i admit this is a desperate attempt to create some variety in terms of the content i blog about these days...

So, i know i'm behind but go watch zombieland if u are into zombie movies. It's kinda sick funny and the zombies are not scary enough to give you nightmares, cos i personally hate horror and i hate not being able to sleep even more.

iHeart iPad

Mountain boy apparently does too!

First Steps (video uploaded once more)

I finally caught his little steps on video. I won't call it walking yet, more like staggering.

Perfect 10

10 months ago Mountain Boy was just a tortilla wrap, I can't believe how time flies. I don't even know where and how to begin this month's update. I wish you can witness his growth in real time because so much happens everyday.

He now has an incredible repertoire of items he can recognise. I ask him, "what time is it?" and he can point to the clock. He also knows the lights, TV, drumset, flower (the fake one on his learning home), ayi's ears, the aeroplane cube, the vibrating turtle, random stuff like that.

His sign language goes on and off but if i ask him "are you full" in chinese, he'd pat his own tummy. If you praise him he'd clap his hands, if you say bye bye he'd wave. When we reach the front door he'll point at the doorbell signaling for me to carry him so he can press the doorbell.

He is no longer just stuffing toys in his mouth, he actually plays with them! Here's a video of us playing together this afternoon.

Since summer came, I bring Mountain Boy almost everywhere with me. He really enjoys going out and experiencing the world. The social butterfly that he is knows how to make strangers squeal in excitement with his unbelievably charming smile, i never have to worry about entertaining him in restaurants and shopping malls because people would always offer to play with him.

Recently, he learnt a new snorty grin that will dispel any kind of wrath he may have inflicted upon himself.

I'm cute aren't i...

Mountain Man managed to take a video this evening. I don't know where he learnt how to laugh like that but it makes us laugh too. Pardon the colour cos the setting wasn't right.

LASTLY... we may have a walker really soon. He has started taking unassisted steps on his own the past couple of days.

Happy 10 months little one. Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you.

Marketing assistant

Residually hormonal

It breaks my heart when i see mothers scold their child in public. I just witnessed a boy cry because his mother wanted him to finish a bar of hershey's chocolate that he has started on but obviously didn't like. I'm not judging the mother or the boy for that matter, all i'm saying is the scene made me want to rush home and give mountain boy a big hug and plant a huge kiss on his apple cheeks.

Swimming with the girlfriend!

Mister Hunky Dory

Aren't they a cute couple!

iHeart iPad

Blogging from iPad, how cool am I!

First visit to the Salon

Mountain Boy gets a lot of compliments for his hair from strangers. Usually the girls will squeal and say "so cool, like Beckham". I of course beam with pride because i've actually been cutting his hair myself the past few months using a pair of handicraft scissors and a comb. But in recent weeks, the hair has somehow gone from beckham to dragonball, the 40 degrees weather is also not helping. I felt that he was in dire need of some professional styling.

So we brought him to the first and only Children salon i came across. Each haircut cost RMB120! Mountain Man exclaimed "whoa, so expensive. My haircut only RMB20." I did feel it was a bit steep but on hindsight, it was quite worth it. The salon is well-equipped with distraction tools like Cars and motorcycles for seats, flat screen TVs and various toys. They even have an indoor pond with fish and a turtle!!

The experience wasn't so bad. He cried but at least he stayed still 70% of the time. That was good enough to get a decent haircut.

Mountain Boy protesting to the ugly Hello Kitty poncho thingie he had to wear.

Ma, 我的头发有没有乱?

Boy's Best Friend

I can't believe i forgot all about this picture! Mountain boy adores animals, especially dogs. I'm just waiting for the day he'd pester me for a dog. I think he speaks dog language better than human language. He pants in excitement when he sees a fellow mate, sometimes he even howls. In fact he has made a new "friend" in the estate. Tiger here is seeking refuge from a bigger dog under his stroller.