Okay, this is a little inappropriate for Cheryl's blog but I was thinking, good things must share! And when Cheryl is old enough, she can still use this as a check-list of sort.

So here it goes:

1. The nice men are ugly.
2. The handsome men are not nice.
3. The handsome and nice men are gay.
4. The handsome, nice and heterosexual men are married.
5. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men, have No money.
6. The men who are not so handsome, but are nice men with money think we are only after their money.
7. The handsome men without money are after our money.
8. The handsome men, who are not so nice and somewhat heterosexual, don't think we are beautiful enough.
9. The men who think we are beautiful, that are heterosexual, somewhat nice and have money, are cowards.
10. The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice and have somemoney and thank God are heterosexual, are shy and NEVER MAKE THE FIRST MOVE!!!!
11. The men who never make the first move, automatically lose interest in us when we take the initiative.
12. The men who are somewhat handsome, somewhat nice and have some money and thank God are heterosexual, who make the first move, are cheating on their wives.

NOW, WHO THE HELL UNDERSTANDS MEN?

"Men are like a fine wine. They all start out like grapes, and it's ourjob to stomp on them and keep them in the dark until they mature intosomething you'd like to have dinner with."

We went to Church in the morning and we met up with Aunt Angie, Uncle Junming and of course, the two little darlings. And we had great plans there after; we wanted to go pony riding. But we were at the mercy of the unpredictable weather and our little ones decided that they wanted to take a longer nap.

So, we ended up playing at the void deck, which was not really that bad after all. Cheryl had the chance to be at the wheel for real this time. She was always pestering Daddy to let her sit with him at the driver's seat. But thanks to Aunt Angie, she finally did!

Zinnia is getting pretty good on her blades. Just give her a few more weeks and we won't be able to catch her! Cheryl was so amazed with this race car! But she didn't last very long in it though because she was a little afraid that the car could "move". But when she was out of it, oh... she wanted to steer the wheel, touch the gear. Ha ha!

Yeva, however, seemed like a little pro in the car! She even pushed the car when the battery went flat!

I just want to share this.

Our humble little family.

This is definitely a record, for Cheryl and for us!

This is the 6th day and her fever still persisted! Daddy and I decided to take the day off (this is the 2nd day in a week that we have taken days off) and take her to the hospital to do some tests. Cheryl seemed fine, no cough or running nose but the fever just wouldn't go away. And I have been giving her the suppositories every 12 hourly and this has been going on for 3 days that I was seriously afraid of doing it again.

The wait at the hospital was not too bad; there was not much of a queue and we were attended too almost immediately.

Cheryl had her little finger pricked and she wailed when the nurse was drawing blood from her. It must have pained Daddy because he asked the nurse if there was an easier way to do this. The nurse was slowly pressing and squeezing Cheryl's little finger. No wonder Cheryl screamed!

But she was alright soon after.

In the afternoon when Cheryl was feeling better, Daddy suggested I bring her down for a little walk so we went to the garden.

Cheryl looking at the fresh vegetables grown in the garden. She also plucked a flower. Shhh...

It was quite educational too as Cheryl saw bananas and sun flowers.

Oh, this is one of her favourite playground; the senior citizens' fitness corner! Look at her, she can actually work the machines! On our way back from the shopping centre, if we walked, she would want to play in all 3 playgrounds that are located along the way.

And this is her, taking a breather and drinking her water. She just plopped herself down and I guess with children, spontaneity is the word.

I am writing this with an extremely heavy heart.

Lately, I have been praying for more patience as I find myself, sometimes, raising my voice at Cheryl over the slightest things she does. I am not sure if it is because I have to repeat myself endlessly before she listens or if it is because I am suffering from other kinds of stress but what I know for sure is, I am very short-fused at times and I can really snap at our little girl.

To make matters worse, I was not well the past few days; I know this is not an excuse and to top it all up, Cheryl came down with fever too. It is not fun when she is ill because she will whine and throw tantrums and it can get unbearable.

The whole day, we have been trying to coax her to take her meds; sometimes, a little trickery works but often, she will just turn her face the other way, press her lips tightly together or drink lots of water and hold it in her mouth. We can talk till the cows come home but she will not open her mouth.

We tried to give her medicine again before bedtime and she was being difficult. There was only 0.5ml left on the syringe and when I saw the opportunity to squirt the meds into her mouth, I jumped at the chance. Cheryl immediately spat out the medicine and that was the last straw! My hand instinctively hit her across her cheek! She was stunned and then what followed was a loud cry but when I carried her to the room to change her pajamas, she kept very quiet and all the time, she was wiping the tears off her face.

I was silent as I changed her clothes and brought her into the bedroom. But when I put her down onto the bed, I kissed her goodnight and my tears fell.

I was overwhelmed with remorse and my heart ached. Then I asked Cheryl if her cheek was painful and she replied "No". That made it worse for me because her cheek was red and the imprint of my fingers could be seen distinctively. Cheryl said her good nights to both Daddy and I and she went to bed shortly.

In my guilt, I woke her up and asked her to give Mummy a kiss which she did so willingly. Oh, what have I done? Have I become the kind of Mummy I said I would never morph into? I know motherhood is not easy but I never knew it would be this difficult. But I will still continue to pray; for strength and patience.

And Cheryl, Mummy loves you.

We celebrated Grand-Daddy's birthday a day before the actual day and our close relatives were invited for a small gathering.

Can you believe me? I actually got so carried away, I forgot about taking pictures! But thankfully, I managed to capture these rather precious ones.

"Happy 58th Daddy!"

Cheryl, of course, had a great time! She was busy running around and making herself heard!

Both Daddy and I have come to learn that when Cheryl is silent, she is really up to no good.

I was giving Daddy a mini facial and was trying to clear his head of his greys and our little spark was at the mirror admiring herself. She had taken a small bottle of facial cream but we didn't think much harm could be done because the bottle was almost empty and I reckoned she would not be able to open the cap. So Daddy and I happily went on with our things.

Then suddenly, Daddy asked me, "Where is Cheryl? This silence is a little haunting." Thus we got up and went to the mirror. What greeted us was the most hilarious of sight!

I am so sorry... We were laughing really hard and Cheryl did not help because she was prancing and jumping and chuckling at the same time.

What can I say? I present to you, our little darling! She was doing a little facial of her own too.

Cheryl is such a big girl now but occasionally, she still pretends to be a baby. She would request that we carry her horizontally like a baby and she would close her eyes and pretend to be asleep. And there were even times where she would utter some baby talk then burst out laughing when I acted surprised.

Recently, she found her booties and she would put them on and run around the house. Often, she would wear her booties over her overall pajamas. This morning, I caught her with her booties again and she would remove them. So I just put her in her high chair for her breakfast with her booties!

Oh, bao is one of her favourites! She loves to eat it though she will only eat the fillings sometimes.

I managed to do this! I am terribly hopeless when it comes to dolling Cheryl up hence most... in fact, all of the time, she goes out in her two pony tails. Then I thought I could plait my hair, so why not try it on Cheryl?

Thankfully, she was occupied enough for me to try this.

Well? What say you?

For the past 2 weeks, Cheryl's been waking up more than usual in the nights.

Initially, I thought it was a phase; that it would pass and Cheryl was just maybe trying to be "difficult" but it is definitely not cute nor funny now. She would wake up and cry for milk sometimes, only 2 hours apart. This morning, she woke up at 545am and requested for milk again. I asked her if she really wanted it and if she was hungry and she nodded her head. What really makes my heart melt is the way she calls out to me. It is always so full of emotions and it really sounds like she is pleading me with her dear life. I don't have the heart to just ignore her although there were times where I tried to.

But I am wondering if it is because of her refusal to eat nowadays. Sometimes, she won't eat her lunch or dinner and she seems to have lost interest in food. This is also why it is so difficult to ignore her in the nights; because what if she really is hungry?

In addition, Cheryl has also developed this habit of hitting her peers. Zinnia, unfortunately, has been a victim to her "abuses". Cheryl would scream if someone came close to her toys (or someone else's toys) and she would raise her hands to beat her. It has become quite painful for us to bring her to common play area because Cheryl would not share. But Zinnia has been a wonderful Big Sister as she is patient with Cheryl. That is so sweet of her!

Hmm... is Cheryl showing signs of entering the infamous Terrible Twos stage?

Daddy suggested we go to West Coast Park and while on our way there, we caught sight of the first rainbow for the year. It was also the first time Cheryl saw a rainbow and she was in awe.

We had dinner at MacDonald's and there after proceeded to the playgrounds. Cheryl was terrified of the sand and she would not put her legs down. In fact, she held up her legs so high, it was impossible to put her down without dirtying her clothes. But the irony was, she didn't want to put on her shoes. It was only after much persuasion from Daddy and after she saw how happy the other children were that she came down.

As usual, Cheryl had so much fun she didn't want to leave the playground.