King Xavier wants to be Iron Boy

Drypers Singapore is having an event at Vivocity to promote their new improved DryPantz. Basically your kid completes tasks at four game stations and he or she would be able to have their photo taken and enter a draw to win prizes. So the staff would dress up your kid as either King or Queen for the photo shoot. Above is King Xavier's photo.

You might have seen one of these Iron Man mask at the toy departmental stores. We put one on Xavier and took a shot, just for the fun of it.

The teachers infant care center have told us that Xavier is very fast at picking up things that they taught. They also say he likes to play the shape sorter. We were quite surprise as just last month, he was still "playing cheat" by opening the lid and putting the shapes in, instead of using the shape sorter. Now he seems to have fun playing with the shape sorter himself, putting the shapes in one by one then pouring all out and start again.

Since yesterday was a holiday, we had a lazy morning at the Ang Mo Kio MacDonald and after that, bought him to the playground nearby to play. He seems to enjoy the Swing, even though he was getting sleepy.

Koi Cafe, bubble milk tea that's worth the wait...

There was a time when every 10 steps you walk there was a stall selling bubble tea. That was the bubble tea craze some years back when these stalls mushroom all over our island. As the craze dies, the stalls that were cashing in on the craze closed down as well.

When we went to Taipei in 2008 for holiday, 珍珠奶茶 (Bubble Milk Tea) was on my to-eat list. Its just so different there, the milk tea was so smooth and the bubbles were so Q. And the chain we frequent alot was 50嵐 as there was a stall near our hotel. We had a cup when we were going out and we had a cup when we were going back hotel. In fact, we drank more milk tea then plain water in Taiwan.

Then last year, we happen to chance upon this trendy place call Koi Cafe in Marine Parade selling Bubble Tea and you should see my excitement when I saw a small print that its by 50嵐. Although it was after the bubble tea craze, it had brought in the crowd with the same yummy bubble teas from Taiwan.

There are currently 5 Koi Cafes (that I know, namely Marine Parade, Ang Mo Kio, Chinatown, Bishan and Toa Payoh) in Singapore and they are all takeaway cafes. The cafes are plays the current popular Chinese Pop songs and the stalls are usually manned by young people. The menu are pretty extensive covering flavoured tea, milk tea, coffee and smoothies. You could also choose the sweetness of the tea. Our usually order is large Milk Green Tea with pearls at 25% sweetness and it cost $3.50. Their pearls also comes in 1 size and its smaller than the usual pearls you get with other bubble tea. But the chewiness is perfect (not too hard and not too soft). The milk tea is smooth as usual and its just the perfect drink for our hot humid weather. Whenever I'm at Marine Parade or Ang Mo Kio, I just had to have a cup to satisfy my bubble tea craving.

Below are the address of two outlets I usually frequent. As for the other 3 stalls, you would have to google for it.

Ang Mo Kio
Blk 704 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8 #01-2545

S(560704)

Marine Parade
Blk 83 Marine Parade Central #01-562

S(440083)

Sidenote: I used two different iPhone photo apps for the above photos and they are both free. You should try them too, its pretty fun. The first photo I used the app call MoreNoel. What it does is it brightens and softens the photo and you can choose to add bubble or stars for the dreamy feel. The second photo I use this app is call Morelomo (by the same company). It gives your photo the "Lomo" effect. For more information about what Lomography is all about, read this and this.

So go out and have fun with your iPhone camera.

Xavier, 15 months on...

Xavier turn 15 months last Saturday and we bought him down to see Dr. Tan at Kid's Clinic, partly for his running nose and cough and partly for his 15th month checkup and MMRV jab. In case you are wondering what is MMRV, its a vaccination against Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella (more commonly known as chickenpox).

I guess the flu bug is in the air as many of my friends and colleagues were down with fever, running nose, sore throat and the works. Xavier also caught the running nose and cough and as we were running out of the spare medication, we decided to bring him to Dr. Tan. It was the usual four hours wait but we waited at home till the call came so it wasn't so bad.

So why do people still want to go to that clinic when the wait is so long? Well the fact is, once you are in the room, you can ask any questions relating to the kid and you get full information and more. Its not those 5 minutes walk in come out kind of GP service, but a real 1-to1 question and answer session. So we always bring Xavier here for his assessments and vaccine jabs.

So how is Xavier 15 months on? Well his 12.2kg weight still puts him at a high 97 % (meaning every 100 kids only 3 is heavier than him) and his 77cm height is roughly at the 70%. His motor skills are pretty advance, being able to scribble with a colour pencil, pick up mini M&Ms, stack wooden alphabets on top of each other and point to food and say "Mum, Mum" indicating he want to eat. Or pointing to other other babies and saying "Mei, mei". He showed Dr. Tan his animal gestures and Dr. Tan can't help but keep saying "So cute!".

Some information on the MMR vaccine for those of you whose kid have not taken it yet. MMR vaccine is not a compulsory jab but Measles and Diptheria vaccines are compulsory by law in Singapore. Your kid takes the 1st dose between 1-2 year old and that gives your kid 93% protection. The 2nd dose comes in when they are at Primany One, and that will give them 99% protection. The Chickenpox vaccine is optional. Our decision to let Xavier have it was that you can't control when he will pick up chickenpox and the fact that after the vaccine if he still does contact it, the effect will be much lesser.

Some warning to you guys though, this jab is damn potent. The fever usually comes 1 week after the jab. Xavier started to have fever on Wednesday night and Lilian and I had to take leave on Thursday and Friday to take care of him and his fever yoyo up and down between 37°C to 38.6°C. I had a chat with one of my colleagues today and found out that her son, who also had the MMRV jab, had yoyo fever for 1 week and at one stage hitting 39°C. I hope Xavier's fever ends by this weekend or we gonna have trouble next week with my parent away on holiday...

Happy Mother's Day!

Mothers are great. They carry and grow our babies for nine months, suffer labor pain to bring them into this world and continue to shower them with love and care. Their milk gives the baby the best source of food, nutrition and protection that no milk powder can replace. Just want to wish my mum and Lilian Happy Mother's Day (on behalf of Xavier) and thank you for everything you have done.

I had a recent email chat with an ex-colleague of mine who is pregnant with her first child and it struck me how negative I was about having a new member in the family. In short, I was focusing more on the negatives and sacrifices that came as a package with the baby. I was telling her how "Sometimes I feel like I'm working my butts off for this kid who does nothing but makes me angry... sigh... parenthood".

Days after my reply to her I read my statement again and found what was wrong. Instead of focusing on the positive side of things like Lilian, I only tunnel vision on the negatives. Lilian would look at the good side, how he bring fun and laughter to us, enjoying what the baby has to offer. I was looking at what the baby took away (sacrifices).

I am changing my view of things but I guess I can never replace the motherly love Lilian gives. That's what makes Mothers so special. Anyway if your kid is in a infant or child care center, you would definitely get a card on Mother's day, which is a nice surprise. The teachers would get your kid involve in the card making. Above is the front page of Xavier's card to Lilian. You could see scribbling, a heart shape, and his signing off, Love Xavier (although the word love is hard to make out). Behind the card is his hand print (which I attached below).

Kids are so smart nowadays...

Kids are so smart nowadays that we wonder if its anything to do with all the DHA, AA, ARA, SA, whatever "A" companies are putting into those milk powder. I mean back when we were a kid, milk powder is just milk powder.

Kids now are also being forced to grow up earlier, maybe thats why they are smarter too. I mean we as parents are so caught up with flash cards and classes and educational DVDs that I sometimes find it silly when I take a step back. What happen to the play time kids suppose to have? And I'm only talking about a kid who is barely walking. Yet, every other parents are doing it so you find yourself asking the question, "Is my kid gonna be left behind if he doesn't do Glenn Doman flash cards, go Kindermusik lessons and watch Baby can Read DVDs?"

I guess being a Singaporean parents, you inevitable becomes kiasu. Anyway in case you do not know, there is a KiasuParent.com that provides information most kiasu Singapore parents are looking for, especially on the topic of choosing Primary School. I roll my eyes in disbelieve when someone told me kids need to know twelve times table before primary one. You're kidding right?

Anyway I decided to write this post today becomes I wanted to share Danny's funny facebook post:

Danny: "Brigton, why ain't you listening, where are your ears?"

Brigton: "Daddy, my ears spoilt."

Boomz!

Google Translate

My personal feel about Google is that they are trying to be the first contact of everything on the Net. Meaning if you want to do anything on the Net, they want you to go to them first. Hence they been introducing loads of stuff.

One of the sites I like was the Google Map which I post earlier. The other which I find very useful is the Google Translate. Now you may ask, what's so great about Google Translate? Well I been using other translation sites for ages (love Japanese sites and also sometimes need to translate English to Chinese) and I have to say Google Translate is the best I have used so far.

It can essentially translate a phrase, the whole website or documents. It translate phrases on the fly and has many alternative words are available (especially when translating from English to Chinese). Go on, try it. And let em know what you like or dislike about it.

Planning for Penang with Google Maps

View Penang Trip 2010 in a larger map

I been dying to go on a holiday ever since our last holiday to Japan (Osaka/Tokyo) in 2008 when Lilian was about 4-5 months pregnant. We been toying with plans to go USA (just can't forget the awesome outlet shopping especially with USD so low now), Japan (I love Japan, period), nearby Clubmed resorts with childcare services and Australia.

However, Finance Minister (aka Lilian) rejected the proposals mainly due to financial priorities needed for Xavier. Anyway will do another post later on our cost of bringing up Xavier. Back to today's topic, so I proposed Penang. Its a short low cost flight, somewhere we haven't been to as a couple, has lots of yummy food and the total cost is manageable.

Having booked the flights and hotel, I'm now gathering information on where to go in Penang and what to do. I like planning for my own trips as I have the flexibility of going where I want to, seeing what I like to and eating what I love to. And given today's abundance of information on the Net (sometimes too much), its not hard. However, this time, I found a great tool, Google Maps.

I was looking for information on yummy Penang food when I came upon this Penang food blog call What2See by CK Lam. This site is very informative on Penang food and I got most of my leads from her blog posts. Besides great food photos and reviews, she also gives the map location via Google Maps.

Upon exploring the functions with Google Maps, I realise I can actually create my own map, eg a map for my Penang trip, and put in places I want to go on this map. And when sites like What2See has a map location link, I can easily add that yummy food locations onto my own Penang map. This makes trip planning easy and fun.

So how do you use it? Firstly, create a Google account if you do not already have one (if you already have a Gmail account, the login is the same). Next, search for the area you want your map are to be, in my case Penang. I then zoom into the area (my scroll button work wonders with the zoom function). You can also click and hold while dragging the map around to cover the area you want to.

Next, click my "My Maps" on the left and "Create new map". I name my map Penang 2010 in my case as I'm using it for our trip to Penang this year. Done? So now you have your own map of the area you want to. You can now either place your own "placemarks" or use placemarks set up by others.

For example, I like to try the grill chicken wings on What2See's "Which is your favourite Hawker Food stall in New Lane, Penang?" post. Right at the bottom of the post before the last photo she put a "map location" link. If you click on it, it will bring you to Google Maps where CK Lam has placed a placemark on the map. So what you could do if just click on the placemark and click on "Save to...". You can then select your map you have created earlier and it will be added there. Easy right?

So let's say you want to put your own placemarks, how to? At your map page, click the "Edit" button on the left column. You will then see three icons appear on the top left of the map, the second being "Add a placemark". Click that and you can now drop the placemark anywhere on the map. After that, you can name the placemark, change the icon if you want and add a description to it. After adding all the placemarks you want, just the "Done" button on the left column and that's it.

And before your trip, just click the "Print" button on the top right and it will print the map area you have selected and at the bottom list all the placemarks and the description you have put in. You might need to use different placemarks to differentiate the different places or just number them after printing out.

I wish we could have the map and details on my iPhone so it will be more convenient but seem like Google Maps run the mobile version with no function of "My Maps" and we will probably incur high internet cost overseas. The next best thing would probably a function to save a scrollable and zoom-able version on the iPhone.

If anyone has great must-go Penang places or must-do activities to suggest, please let me know. I still doing my planning for the June trip. Thanks.