the runs - and i'm not talking exercise

i think it was the fishballs. those mega-sized fishballs that should have gotten my suspicion up. but no, we gorged on them. and now, 3 adults in the family are down, stricken by what-should-not-be-discussed. ironically, it is the bedrest that has given me the pleasure of time to blog finally.

so here i am, cloistered in another room - away from my son, he doesn't know that Mommy's in the same house - not yet. i sneak off to that place for a quick solution when he's not in sight, i just snuck back from the kitchen, for that bowl of horrid, plain fish porridge - punishment for gluttony all well deserved. when he was asleep, i crept into our room to stealthily remove my 12" so that i could get connected to the world and do my work.

again, the hiatus from blogging means i know not where to start. my internship with Action for AIDS continues to give me insights into the world of VWOs, last saturday we finally got the final draft of its annual report off to the printer's. fingers and all other digits are crossed that the printing concludes in time - for the annual general meeting's this saturday. Gawp.

i bombed an indecent amount of money on a pair of Oakleys with transition lens. yup. i just had to get those Oakleys because mine have served me for 5 years and are still, frustratingly, hanging in there despite its trials. it had once been swept off my face and mangled in timor, and of course, since Va's arrival into this world, the pair of Oakleys have stood up to much more torturing. so of course, i had to go for another pair of Oakleys when i finally decided to make a new pair of glasses. And why not, throw in more Galleons for transition lens that are touted to protect my twinkies? so there. i did it. it's impusive and stupid but i've done it.

then, there's Val who's become the most talkative babe in the world - at home, that is. he's picking up words, left, right and centre. speaking them, and also reading more of them. he finally learnt to say "ah kong" and "popo" a few days after reaching his 17th month mark - which of course has earned him much more love - sometimes i feel like there's a honey river flowing in our house when he turns on the charm and goes "ah kong" and "popo", with that fluttery eye look. outside the house, he's still pretty quiet, shy sometimes. But just a few days ago, he demonstrated signs of becoming a bit more sociable - the boy was spotted "talking" to a one-year old, and patting her head! Gasp! He still doesn't like strangers to accost him - hates close body contact with people who are brusque, and does not enjoy screaming kids. The time draws nearer to our date to send him to half-day childcare to interact with other babes - but the H1N1 has kinda put paid to that for now. we'll just wait and see how the virus mutates or not.

when the energy comes, i will upload videos of the lil man...

The world according to val....

Pensive? Apologetic? Contemplative? Such an oneiric photo....And yes, this is how he most often poses for the camera. Staring straight in, head slightly cocked to one side, and looking pretty sombre - for a toddler. And if he says "Sorry", with ginger flower in hand, doeful eyes like that, would u ever be able to be angry? Charmer!

Nobody knows who Val was In Conversation with. His apple? An imaginary friend? or was it me? Whatever it was, this was a funny moment, and really captures val's character. i do so often find him with such an expression, just never managed to catch it.

Now he's really talking to someone.... that's my beautiful sis on her grand day.

Hello lil one, what are u thinking now?

Getting up to some mischief... that glint....dead giveaway... i've learnt to spot those just in time to stop the prankster from comitting his funny crimes.

And of course, i'm only gonna show photos that dun make me look too goofy! And trust me, there were plenty bad ones....i was truly the most unglamorous person about - what with an Ergo baby carrier strapped over my dress; no hair styling to speak of; no contact lenses due to an eye irritation (i have dermatitis in my eye!!); and not much makeup to speak of - and any little i had thrown on were probably lost to perspiration, and a very sticky boy face plastered against it. I definitely looked more ready for baby combat than wedding dinner! Haizzzz.... How to be glam mom liddat??!!!

Many thanks to KC of Greymatter Photography for capturing these moments of my son - automatic cameras simply fail to capture his all. :-)

hullo again

On sentosa: Val is enthralled by the nicest smelling ginger flower i've ever encountered. He finally decapitates it, not deliberately of course. ;-P

it's been a long while since i last blogged. many things have happened - most notably, my sis got married two weekends ago so everyone was real busy and caught up in that. it was great. We brought Val to Sentosa (where the wedding was held) and had great fun on the beach. I was a "bad" mommy, allowing him to stay up for the wedding dinner which lasted past ten pm. Finally at 1030pm, i couldn't stand the fatigue and finally brought him back to the room. Val was really well-behaved the entire day - he cried once when i brought him up the stage for a 'yam seng'. other than that, he was a real charmer for all the guests. He was the only child there too - since my sis kept it to a M18 affair. Some other parents asked if Val might have a bad night cos he stayed up late. I didn't know. But thankfully, i put him to sleep pretty quickly when we got back to the hotel room. He slept well - no nightmares or anything like that. And we were off to the beach tmw for a morning of good sunny fun.

On Sentosa: The boy is togged out on "resort wear" the day after the wedding.

Now he's ready to tackle the surf! My very own surfer dude!

The babe has really become a boy - i know i keep saying that! but really. these days he's developed a real penchant for toy cars after we dug out those old metal cars that my mom bought for me and my sis almost 30 years ago! he would lie on the bed and go "boooo" as he moves them up and down the bed, enraptured by his own boy world. He sat in a buggy on Sentosa and loved the ride. Now he signs the word "car" by showing the steering motion (he finally understood what i was doing all this while after seeing the buggy driver do it up close) and says "booo boo" for car. yesterday, he finally intoned "kar" with a sophisticated "r" at the back. He's beginning to speak more in Chinese too. Now he says "gou" for dog, and "shu" for tree.

More words he says now:
"may" - moon
"air-pan" - aeroplane
"mama ne?" - where's mama in chinese
"mama - koon" - mama's room (i have no idea why?!)
"cheeees" - cheese
"boo" - book
"coc" - clock
"beer" - bird
"hug" - hug
"tak" - tap

more words he can sign:
train
sorry
sleep
book
aeroplane
kick

it's really fun to be with Val these days - he scunches up his face, making funny faces that guarantee to make me chuckle. He's funny that way. How not to be in love with this lil fella? :-) That feeling of falling in love - yeah - i'm definitely head over heels with ma-boy.