Grand Mummy celebrated her 55th birthdayand Cheryl got her a nice flower! She saw the flower at the shop and immediately she told me to get it for her Grand Mummy! Thereafter, she recorded her "Happy Birthday, Por Por!" and gave it to Grand Mummy when she saw her.

Cheryl took this picture. Not too bad, right? She has had several practices with the camera already.

We went for lunch after that and Daddy who has been working for the past 2 days (he only picked us up at 1am last night because he was in the office! Poor Daddy.) came just in time for lunch. The place was crowded and the food didn't turn out as fantastic as it usually did, maybe because of the huge crowd. So lesson learnt: never come here on a Sunday!

In the evening after dinner, we had the cake and just look at the candles on it! Cheryl had a wonderful time blowing out the candles and Grand Mummy was really happy. It had been years since we celebrated her birthday in full force because when we were younger, I was here while she was back at home with Diana, Margaret, Juliana and Daddy. Guess this year is special because she has Cheryl screaming "Happy Birthday!" in her ears!

Yeva turned 2 years old and the Aws had a simple celebration at home. We were very fortunate to be invited for the little party and had a great dinner there too.

The birthday girl was so pretty and looking every bit like a princess. Of course, there were lots of running around and screaming as the kids played with each other. Aaron, the oldest among the lot was giving instructions and entertaining the younger ones. Ahhh... I see a teacher in the making?

Here are some pictures:

Truly remarkable!

Happy Birthday, Yeva!

Cheryl had a little Mid Autumn celebration earlier when we visited Grand Mummy and Daddy. Aunt Diana had bought C her own lantern and after dinner, she went down to the playground for a little fun. She wasn't really into the lanterns but she was more interested in playing on the monkey bars with Daddy.

On Monday, we were trying to get Cheryl to come to bed, but she had other plans. She saw a carrier; one of those for the mooncakes, on the floor and stepped inside. She must be quite facinated that it could fit and I was like; since when did "Li Bai" of Sherton Towers sell such "mooncakes". It was a snug fit and when Cheryl tried to adjust herself, the whole package toppled over.

Trust her to do this! She is definitely very playful and very much a chip off old (Daddy's) block!

On Tuesday, the actual day of the Mid Autumn Festival, we met up with our God daughters and had a smashing time at the nearby park. We came very prepared with mats, hot flask, mooncakes, chinese tea and of course, lanterns.

The kids had a wonderful time playing way past bedtime!

It was Daddy's company's Family Day and we went to the ever-so-famous Escape Theme Park. This is our first time to this place and for a good 15 minutes, we were walking up and down Down Town East because... we could not find the place! Then I had to ask some teeny-boppers where this Theme Park was. How embarrassing! (It does show our age and the horrors of horrors; generation gap, doesn't it?)

Okay, many of the rides there were meant for older children and those that C could ride were kind of boring... haha! But she had fun and what could be more important than that?

Daddy and Cheryl had a little boat ride and was engaged in some water battle with some other kids. I accompanied her on her flight because Daddy couldn't squeeze into the seat. Hee!

The highlight of the day must be her ride on the roller-coaster! C was holding onto my hands so tightly; actually I was holding hers because I am not a fan of roller-coaster and I was screaming at the top of my lungs. C, on the other hand, was saying " Don't want this one, Don't want this one!" repeatedly. It would definitely have been more fun had Daddy been on the ride with her.

By the afternoon, we were beat and headed back for a well-deserved nap!

Cheryl is a "fighter" in every sense of the word. I was on my way back from work and I saw her at the playground. From a distance, I could see that there was another girl of about her age on the slide with her.

Cheryl was seated but she didn't make her way down as quickly as the other girl wanted her to so that girl shoved Cheryl down the slide. Cheryl turned around and shouted "NO! Wait your turn!". That girl then pinched Cheryl on the arm and our little one turned around and retaliated by slapping her across the face while screaming "NO!" This happened in a matter of seconds and I was running towards the playground, trying to prevent World War III!

Cheryl came down the slide but she was unfazed by the happenings earlier and she told me to go back first while she happily went about playing. Okay, so I know she won't be bullied in school later.

She definitely did not get this; not to take nonsense from anyone, and to fight back, from me. I have been trampled upon, chewed on, and hung out to dry far too often. Maybe I should learn from C, to stand up to people who treat me unfairly and who make certain very unreasonable assumptions about me! Argh! That's another story for another time...

It's been a long while since we last saw Uncle Junming, Aunt Angie and their darling daughters so Daddy and I thought we could catch up with them for dinner.

The girls were thrilled to see each other and they had a wild time at the playground after dinner. Cheryl as usual, played prima dona at times and preferred to do things on her own. Zinnia, I must say, has grown so big and responsible and she was playing big sister to all the girls.

After that, we went to the Aw's residence.

Here are the girls having their milk! What a sight! It reminded me a a scene in the nursery.

This month is a terribly busy time for Daddy and for 2 weekends, he had to return to office to complete some work.

Actually, Daddy's got a pretty nice area with a view too! Well, a small and obscure sort of a view, where he could take a peep outdoors.

Cheryl kept herself occupied by getting familiar with the many cubicles there. Oh, she also knows who has sweets at their desks and she heads for those tables immediately this morning. There were also times where she pretended to "work" and she sat at Daddy's desk, looked intently into his monitor and move the mouse furiously.

Today, we came prepared with Bob, the Builder so that kept her rooted for a while.

I must show you this:

Cheryl is such a TV addict but at least something good came out of it. She has learnt her alphabets from the Leapfrog series that I got her! She doesn't just know the letters, she also knows the sounds that these letters make. These days, Daddy and I try to get her to "revise" the alphabets by writing the letters out at random and getting her to tell us what the letters are.

We have been training Cheryl to sleep on her own bed for the past 3 nights.

Actually, it's my fault. Daddy and I will play with Cheryl before she goes to bed and all three of us will lie in bed and sing songs or just have her tell us what she did for the day; bonding time for us three. Then C will kiss us good night and conveniently sleep along side us and fall asleep. I will usually wake up later and transfer her to her own bed after.

But Daddy and I thought it is not healthy for her to sleep with us all the time because she can get too needy and will not sleep unless we are around. So we embarked on this "uphill" task of training her. She will try numerous times to climb onto our bed and I will have to get up and move her back and sometimes, this ding-dong between the beds can happen up to as many as 20 times in a night. The first night was tough but Cheryl soon discovered that she could trick me; she would ask me to make her milk (she would be in her own bed) and then I would step outside to prepare her drink. And when I got back, she would be lying on our bed and pretending to be asleep.

I would have to say aloud "Oh Cheryl is sleeping! Mummy is going to pour away the milk" and pretend to walk out of the room. C would then sit up and protest and I would tell her to go back to her own bed. This usually works (keeping my fingers cross).

Tonight will be the 4th night so we are hoping that by the end of the week, she will have no problem sleeping on her own.

Update: It was only slightly better; I didn't have to carry her to her bed that many times. But this morning, Daddy told me this: Cheryl was sleeping very closed to Daddy when I came back into the room because she told Daddy "Cheryl sleep with Daddy, Mummy no space."

She must have thought that by giving me space on my side of the bed, I would allow her to sleep with us. Ha ha ... again its my "fault" because I always tell her it's because Daddy and Mummy have no space when she is on the bed with us. So can I blame her? No wonder she kicked up such a ruckus when I lifted her off our bed but mid-way to her bed, she burst out in chuckles as if knowing that her scheme to find her way back to sleeping with us has failed.

Aunt Diana managed to get tickets for all of us so we went to the Bird Park. It was the first time that Cheryl would be there and for many of us, a trip down memory lane.

The last time Grand Daddy and Mummy went was like, about 30 years ago and they said nothing much as changed! hahaha! I last came here when I was 12 and Daddy, well, he said he couldn't remember. But it was a good way to spend a lazy Sunday.

I am trying something new... putting the photos in a scrapbook... so bear with me.

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Grand Daddy has always been in love with Lions. He hasn't received training but he can play the drums very well and at one point in time, he was even involved in their performances so naturally when he learned that the annual Lion Dance Competition was held at Takashimaya Shopping Centre, he was very excited and said he wanted to be there.

We all came down with him and Cheryl was jumping around as she has never been so close to these creatures before. We came down for 3 evenings in a row and I must say, the performances got better with each passing evening. Absolutely no regrets for staying up late because we were so entertained by the realistic performances of these troupes. They really made the lions come alive!

Cheryl was watching alright but for a good part of the performance, she had her eyes tightly closed because of the loud and deafening drums and cymbals. She was quite smart and got Daddy to cover her ears and Daddy could not even move his hands slightly before she quickly held on to them. Except for that, she looked every bit a seasoned spectator, knowning when to clap and cheer!

We are into "saving the environment" and here is Cheryl doing her bit.

She absolutely loves this bag and would want to carry it whenever she goes out. But usually, she only makes it to the lift-landing and then turn around and say,"Too heavy, Mummy carry."

We usually visit Grand Daddy and Mummy during the weekends and this weekend was no exception.

C is officially known as "Cheryl, the Contractor" because of Bob, the Builder. She carried her building antics and got Uncle Ben to build her "house". This time, it came complete with a light and a "television". No kidding! I have pictures to prove!

Last Saturday, we wanted roti prata for supper but it was rather late and Grand Mummy was saying that she didn't want to bother Daddy to fetch them all the way back so we decided to eat at a food court near home. We still ended up eating prata but Daddy and I were so not-satisfied with the prata we had. So we instigated Uncle Ben to go for prata again; he had to give Ratatouille and his date with Aunt Diana a miss.

When we reached the place, Grand Daddy saw the crowd from the car, concluded that it must be really good and he announced very loudly to Grand Mummy that she should just "close her eyes and eat" because Grand Mummy has a thing about not eating Indian food.

I must say, we all went back with smiles on our faces. Including C, of course!