GARGANTUAN steps

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

letters to a son - two fast

My dearest Nathan~

It almost seemed that the second year passed so much faster than the first, and here I am writing my second letter to you! Anyway, it takes off immediately on the night of your first birthday, because that was the day we officially moved into our new home at Mountbatten, and it was actually a terrible night for all of us! You had a very exciting day celebrating your birthday with everyone, and you had a new environment to get accustomed to. I think you woke up nearly every hour that night, and we vowed to be gentler on you (and ourselves) in the future. But before you went to bed, you were rather ticklish when your mummy was doing up the bed. Not sure why but since then, you just keep laughing every time we are changing the bedsheets or putting up the cot bumper.

The first night in Mountbatten - you were so tickled, and then we all slept so badly that night

You finally had your first haircut at 13 months old. Your mummy says you were pretty good right until the end when you started crying and had to be pacified with honey stars

One of the most enjoyable things was watching you grow up and become more aware of your surroundings, rather than just reacting to the sight of food or milk. You started walking (which meant we had to start chasing after you), you started talking (and then we all had a competition to try and teach you something new and unique - mine was making you reply with " Me" after asking the question " Who's a clever boy?", which impresses everyone though you probably had no idea what I was doing to you at all), and you started having a mind of your own, asking people to sit down at a particular spot, or to go away, or throwing a tantrum when things did not go your way! Your mummy was and is more tolerant when you have those spells, but I definitely don't tolerate your tantrums. They call it the 'terrible twos' and I think you came into that age much earlier. I hope this phase goes away soon, and noticeably, you are starting to become more understanding, as well as not throwing so many tantrums as you used to. Your mummy thinks it is all due to a difficulty of communicating what you want, on your part, and as you improve your linguistic skills, this will slowly phase out.

You were so free and happy running and falling around at the Marina Barrage

We started to potty train you, and though reading is a good habit, reading whilst in the toilet is a bad one. But we relented because it is one of the few ways to get you sit down on the potty.

Your mummy used you as a (very well) patient for her friends who were organising a Paediatric Examination for MBBS. You received your first ever paycheck here.

You impressed many people with this party trick of yours!

One of your favourite activities was going to see and if possible, feed animals. In this aspect, you take after me since I am an animal lover, and in particular, dogs. You too aren't afraid to go up and pet big dogs, even though your mummy is so frightened by them. And so, we travelled around the island to keep you entertained, and help you burn out that boundless energy of yours, so that you could take your mid-morning or mid-afternoon naps. Particular favourites that stand out for you were feeding the horses and bunnies at Pasir Ris, as well as visiting the flamingos in the Bird Park, and the goats at Hay Dairy. I guess we will continue to frequent these places with your love for animals.

With mummy at the zoo with the giraffes

S.E.A Aquarium in Sentosa where you were mesmerised by the jelly fish and the dolphins

公公 and 婆婆 with you and the flamingos

Feeding the bunnies at Pasir Ris Park

Feeding the 'horsies' which you were so afraid of initially

Feeding the goats at Hay Dairy

This goes into the highlight reel for its pricelessness - when we went for family day with Uncle Oli, Aunty Steph and baby Josie at Changi Jewel

This year, you went on three holidays with us, with two short trips, one to Bintan and another to Batam, and sandwiched in between was a family holiday to Perth with 爷爷 and 奶奶, your godpa, godma and kor kor Raphael! I think we all had a really fun time in Perth, especially you getting to see the koalas and kangaroos, and you even had your first taste of fish and chips! I think your mummy really enjoyed dressing you up to, and I have to admit, you look really cute all wrapped up, especially with a little beanie on your head, which by the way belongs to your 小姨 when she was very much younger. I must admit though that the flight there and back weren't the best of experiences, especially trying to get you to sleep! But I'm sure we will have more chances to travel as a family again next year - now we just need to find a suitable spot.

By the beach in Bintan

We went to Bintan with Uncle Dean, Aunty Yiting and Katie mei mei. What I remember very vividly was being ripped off for a kid's train ride that went around in a short ellipse

The train to nowhere!

The Gian family at the Caversham Wildlife Park with a koala

You and kor kor Raphael looking rather cute together! May you always be like brothers to one another and look out for one another.

A family with the kangaroos

Your love for animals, especially dogs! Your mummy is so afraid every time there's one in the vicinity but you just meet them full on.

Your first taste of fish and chips, more importantly, the latter

By the pier in Batam

We celebrated your mummy's birthday in Batam, but she was down with quite a bad cold after her call. The resort was rather nice, but we didn't manage to get separate rooms for you and so we had to call it an early night when you went to sleep. Sadly, you also caught one of the worse bugs in your life - the Batam belly. You came down with vomiting and diarrhoea two days after returning and we were all working overtime, including the washing machine. The bug you caught was rather potent as well, and it spread to your 婆婆, aunty Nelma, kor kor Raphael, who then spread it to his 公公 and 婆婆! Kor kor Raphael even had to go to the hospital to get a drip, and you were very close to that too! I still remember the first night where you had vomited all over your bed, and after cleaning you up, we put you on our bed, mistakenly without a waterproof mat beneath. The next thing we knew, you vomited all over our bed and we had to evacuate back to Dunbar Walk as we had run out of beds to sleep on. All this at 2 am in the morning. You were pretty miserable, and even refusing to eat your food! Thankfully you recovered from that episode fine, and so did your insatiable appetite, which has been your hallmark. I hope that you'll never ever catch a gastroenteritis bug again, but if you do, that you will be able to vomit at the appropriate places. Also, no more Batam for your for now - we suspect that you may have caught it from either the swimming pool, the chicken sandwich you ate for lunch, or the ball pit.

Feeling pretty miserable with your Batam belly. We were all feeling rather miserable as well

The main event of the year for you was probably starting playschool at Holy Grace Kindergarten. Unfortunately I wasn't there to bring you to school on the first day but you had mummy and 婆婆 there for the first two days. But then, it was time to leave you with the teachers and as expected, you cried miserably when we had to leave you. But I think you adjusted pretty well, all within a week, and started to enjoy going to school. And you picked up lots of important skills there, including learning to feed yourself (though your teachers all commented that you have a tummy and a voracious appetite), how to be obedient to your teachers, as well as interacting with your friends. It's your first small step towards independence, and also the madness that is our Singaporean education system. But I know you will be just fine, regardless of the circumstances.

First day of school in your PE uniform

First ever school performance at Mid Autumn Festival

We were so proud of you, even though you were just crawling around on stage, looking rather stressed out, and you broke into tears at the end when mummy came to carry you. Your teacher said you almost couldn't make it on stage because you were crying just prior to the performance, but I suspect it is because you just didn't want any props on your head.

With your teachers at Mid Autumn Festival

From left to right - Teacher Jenny, 赖老师 and Teacher Emily

According to your mummy, your favourite is Teacher Jenny - I assume it's because she pampers you

Holy Grace Kindergarten end of year concert!

One thing that shone was also your love for music. Remember we had a video of you kicking your legs very rapidly whenever your godpa or 婆婆 was playing the piano? Well, once you could stand on your own two feet, you started to do a little jiggle, and there was a period of time where "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" got you doing a little wriggle of your bum and stamping of your feet! Your other all time favourite playlist included - "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and the never-ending "Wheels On the Bus". And as you entertained yourself, you entertained everyone else around you as well. I think you should grow up pretty musically-inclined (I'm crossing fingers). Time to start formal music lessons for you as well once you turn two!

Save the last dance for us~

A very serious learner

A little secret for you when you grow up Nathan - even though your daddy could play the majority of songs without the songbook, you still insisted that I open the page to that particular song, and I obliged you (cause you were really so insistent!) And also, you preferred mummy to play the piano for you rather than your daddy, which I found rather ticklish! Perhaps you felt mummy needed more training.

We also restarted swimming lessons for you!

The real reason why we wore your diapers on the outside was so that you wouldn't wet the car en route to lesson! But everyone just blames daddy for dressing you up poorly when mummy isn't around.

Finally, the most important people in your life that I've captured in the last year - I hope this will be something you will treasure seeing when you finally are able to read these letters from your daddy, with love from your mummy as well (but I do the writing because your mummy is more artsy and I am more linguistic). Hope you have a wonderful time the next year ahead and may you stay happy and hungry always!