Like Daddy Like Daryl

Seeing Daryl grow up everyday either makes me laugh or tear out my hair in frustration. Tonight, it's the former. We were lying on our bed watching TV before Daryl's bedtime. When it's time, we asked him whether he wants to drink milk or not. His reply : "Yes, drink milk." So, Kel the doting dad went out to the kitchen to make milk.

When he came back, he saw this...





















Daryl had taken his hanky, folded it into half, laid down on Kel's pillow, pulled up the blanket & laid down on the pillow to wait for Kel. Note that he had done the above without any assistance from me. We couldn't stop laughing when we saw this.

After finishing his milk, we laid down on the bed to finish watching the program. Daryl, on seeing Kel's posture, decided to imitate him.





















See the cheeky look on his face. Seeing this pic always brings a smile to my face.

Notti Daryl

Daryl makes me vomit blood sometimes. You know what he did just now?

Kel & I were watching TV just now while Daryl was playing with his new Elmo bag. He took out the wet wipes inside the bag & started to take out the wet wipes one by one. Asty, who was beside him, let him take 1 to clean his face & hands. However, he's not satisfied. He still wants more. I refused to let him take anymore out & he threw a tantrum! He threw his Elmo bag onto the floor. This earned a smack from me. Then he threw the wet wipe onto the floor. This earned another smack from me. Next he went to hit Asty. That got him another smack. I told him to stand there & don't move as he had been a very notti boy. He stood there & sulked while I went back to sit on the sofa.

Asty picked up the wet wipe from the floor & put it on the coffeetable. Daryl saw it & he went to take it & threw it on the floor again. I got up from my seat & went after him. He ran... round & round the coffeetable. I managed to catch up with him. Then u know what he did? He ran to Kel who was sitting at the other side of the coffeetable & held out his hand to Kel! He wants Kel to smack his hand! He knows that my smack would hurt so he rather Kel smacked him. Kel then gave him a light smack & Daryl went to hug him from the back, preventing me from smacking him. Asty started laughing as it was so funny. I don't know whether I should laugh or cry when I saw that. He's such a cheeky boy...

Daryl Started School

Today is a big day for Daryl! He's finally starting school!

Kel & I were very excited about today. I was telling Kel that it feels like yesterday that I was pregnant with him. Now he's all grown up & attending school!

Kel woke Daryl & me up at about 8am. While I went to shower & get ready, Kel whisked Daryl out to the living room to have his breakfast - a hotdog bun. Kel the doting dad woke up at 7am this morning to buy breakfast for Daryl. See... he's even more kancheong than me, the mummy. :p

After Daryl's sumptuous breakfast, Asty bathe him. Then Kel took over to dress him.





















































Kel buttoning the buttons on Daryl's uniform



























Then Kel combed Daryl's hair.



























Daryl striking a pose for us.



























Daryl with his 2 thumbs up.



























Daryl striking another pose with his 2 thumbs up.





















Daryl waiting for me. I was still getting ready coz I spent too much time taking pics & laughing. :p





















Daryl crawling on the floor. I have no idea why he was doing this.






















Daryl laughing for the camera.





















Daryl laughing heartily for the camera.





















Daryl posing for the camera.





















Daryl crawling to me when he saw me coming out of the room





















Daryl with his 2 thumbs up & me.

After that, Kel drove us to the centre. Daryl was so happy when he saw the centre that he couldn't wait to get out of the car. Kel gave Daryl a big kiss & we went in. At the entrance, we saw this.





















A cubby hole for Daryl to put his shoes. Isn't that nice? I showed Daryl the cubby hole & asked him to take out his shoes so that he can put them inside. Teacher Xu, the chinese teacher came out to welcome us. She took Daryl's bag & put it in another cubby hole which is inside.



































After putting away Daryl's bag, we went to join the class. Teacher Rani is having a sing-a-long session with the kids then. There are 6 children in Daryl's class, including him. There are 2 boys & 4 gals. Daryl is the 2nd child oldest there, but he is the shyest. When Teacher Rani introduced Daryl to the class, he was so shy that he hid behind me. By attending childcare, I hope that his shyness would go away soon. During the sing-a-long seesion, Daryl refused to sit on the floor together with the other kids. Instead he sat on my lap. Hopefully, he would be better in the coming days.

After the sing-a-long session, they had an outdoor play session. Daryl enjoyed it a lot. He only looked for me once during the session. After the session, they had to wash their hands as it was snack time. Their snack was a banana which Teacher Rani cut into pieces for them. When she was cutting the bananas, she asked the class what letter does banana starts with. Both Daryl & Zephan replied that it starts with "B". Daryl even spelled the word out for Teacher Rani. It was so funny...

Then they had a story book reading session which Daryl refused to participate. Coz he found the home section where there is a kitchen there. He spied the toy vacuum cleaner there which he used to vacuum the whole centre. *faint* Teacher Rani was asking me if he cleans the house a lot. I replied that he was imitating my maid doing that. This shows that he is spending way too much with Asty already.

The kids were allowed to play in groups after the story telling session. Daryl didn't join in at all. He was too engrossed playing with his vacuum cleaner. Teacher Rani didn't force him to join in as it was his 1st day. However, she told me that she would get Daryl to join in subsequently as he has to learn to play in groups. I agreed with her on that.

After the play session, lunch was served. Today's lunch is rice with chicken stew & a banana for dessert. Daryl was a very good boy. He went to wash his hands as told & sat down at the table to eat his lunch. During lunch, he only looked for me once. When he saw that I was around, he continued eating his lunch. However, he got food all over himself & the table. I was okie with it as I think that he would improve with practice.

When the kids finished their lunch, they took turns to go to the bathroom. For kids who are on the full day session, they had a shower. For kids on 1/2 day or flexi care, they got their diapers changed. Then Teacher Rani would make milk for the kids on the full day session so that they can take their nap. For the kids on the 1/2 day or flexi care session, they would wait for their parents or maids to come & pick them up. After Daryl's diaper was changed, we sat down to wait for Kel to come & pick us up.

Kel came at 12.40pm to pick us up. Daryl was so happy to see him that he went to take my bag & gave it to Kel. Then he went to take his bag & started waving bye bye to the rest. We were all laughing when we saw that. That concludes Daryl's 1st day at childcare. Let's see how he would cope tomorrow as I would be with him for an hour only.

Lazy Bum

Daryl's vocab is improving by leaps & bounds everyday. Just now, he said something which cracked all of us up.


We were having dinner at the coffeetable just now. Daryl is being lazy as he wants Asty to feed him his dinner instead of eating it on his own. Thus, Asty called him a lazy bum in jest.

A while later, I asked Daryl who is the lazy bum. His reply? He pointed to Kel who was sitting opposite him & said, "There... lazy bum." Asty & I cracked up when we heard that. Kel who was engrossed in the TV program, didn't realised what Daryl had said. When he heard our laughter, he turned & asked me what was so funny. I told him about what his baobei did. He didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. :p

Registering Daryl

Kel & I have been thinking about sending Daryl to childcare recently. We find that he's getting very restless at home. This coupled with the fact that Kel & I were very busy recently means that Asty is bearing the brunt of his restlessness. I found out that Daryl had been bullying her recently. If he doesn't get what he wants, he would smack her. If we were around, we can stopped & smacked him back. However, when we were not, there would be no one to stop him. Sad to say that my fil is not helping at all. Instead of disciplining Daryl when we are not around, he spoils him totally. So much so that Daryl is becoming a little tyrant. Thus, I think that sending him to childcare would be good for him.

We went to check out 3 childcare centres near our place for the past few days. Out of the 3, we decided to choose Cherie Hearts which is located at Jalan Singa. I like the way that they run the centre. I had checked it out previously with Trina. However, Kel feels that it's too soon to send Daryl there then as he feels that he's still too young. Now that he had changed his mind, I brought Kel to see the centre again. Luckily he shares the same feelings as me.

Today, we decided to visit the centre & enrol Daryl in the flexi-care program. It's a 3 hours program from 9.30am to 12.30pm. Our plan is to upgrade Daryl to the 1/2 day or full day childcare should Asty decides not to renew her contract with us. Even though she said that she wants to renew her contract with us, we have to be prepared just in case she changes her mind. Her conflicts with my fil are causing a lot of problems for us.

After registering Daryl, we were leaving the school when Daryl spied the Little Tikes car in the car pouch. He refused to leave & insisted on sitting in the car. I had to bribe him with sweets before he's willing to leave with us. I wondered whether it's a sign that we have made the correct decision. :p

Mami, Love You

Daryl did something which totally melts my heart just now!!

I have been trying to teach him to say "Mami I love you" for the past few days. Initially he can't really pronounced the words properly when I 1st taught him. Subsequently, he managed to say it correctly for the past 2 days. However, I still need to prompt him to say those words to me.

This morning, when he woke up, I was lying on the bed beside him watching him wake up. When he saw me, he gave me a very big smile & he said, "Mami love you!" My heart literally melted when I heard that. I gave him a very big kiss & told him that I love him too.

Kel later came into the room when I was changing Daryl. I told him about what his baobei said to me just now when he woke up. He didn't believe me. I wanted to prove him wrong, so I said to Daryl, "Daryl, Mami love you." You know what Daryl did? He actually replied me, "Mami, love you." Kel was soooooo jealous when he heard that. He tried to get Daryl to say the same thing to him, thus he said to Daryl, "Daryl, daddy love you." You know what the cheeky boy did? He looked at Kel, gave him a cheeky smile & he turned away! I was in stitches when I saw that! I told Kel that those words are exclusive for me coz I am the 1 who taught him that. So if he wants Daryl to say that to him, then he better start teaching Daryl. Hahaha...

26 Months Old

Daryl turns 26 months old today. As Kel is free in the morning, we decided to go & have lunch at Daryl's favourite place - MacDonalds or Mac-ni-nut as he called it.

We drove to the MacDonald at Kallang there as it has free parking. Daryl was so happy to be there. When we reached MacDonald, he immediately went, "Mami, bao bao, walk walk." He can't wait to get out of the car & walked into MacDonalds. We were all laughing when we heard that.

At MacDonalds, we order a MacNuggets kids meal for him which he enjoyed a lot. I took a vid of him then as I want to remember the look on his face when he was eating the food.



In the vid, you can see how much Daryl enjoyed his lunch, calling MacDonald Macninut, etc...

After the lunch, we had to rush off as Kel had a seminar to attend at Singapore Post Centre. I dropped him off there & we went to Parkway to wait for him.

After his seminar, Kel came to Parkway to meet us. We went to Mothercare to pick up our booster seat. We have to buy another car seat to put in Kel's car. Since Daryl is already 15kg, we decided to get a booster seat instead as it can be used till he's 36kg.

After that, we went to the hair salon which Kel frequented as both he & Daryl needs a haircut. It's Daryl's 3rd haircut since he was born. Surprisingly, he's a very good boy today! He sat in the chair by himself & didn't try to take out the cover! For his previous 2 haircuts, he refused to sit in the chair by himself & refused to wear the cover. Therefore, I had to sit in the chair while he sits on me. Since he's such a good boy, I rewarded him with 2 sweets & took some pics to show him what a good boy he had been.

The final result...





















After the haircuts, we went to have dinner at the coffeeshop nearby & we went home. What a day...

Hmph...

Daryl is getting cheekier by the day... Just now, he was playing in his playyard when he called Mami Mami. As I was busy doing some work, I didn't go out of the study room to check on him immediately. Asty went to check on him, however, he was protesting very loudly about it. When I finished my work, I came out of the study room & asked him what is wrong. Then I explained to him that Mami is working, so I can't come out to see him immediately. His answer is, "No no no..." My reply is, "Daryl don't be so notti k. Mami don't like notti boy 1." Then I went out to the kitchen to find some food to eat for dinner.

I was checking my cabinets to see what I want to eat when Daryl came into the kitchen. When he saw me, he went, "Mami hmph..." I turned around to see him standing there with a stern look on his face & his arms folded across his chest. When he saw me looking at him, he went, "Mami hmph..." again. He was trying to say that Mami is angry, but he didn't know how to pronounce it. So he subsitute it with "Hmph". He was imitating me when I was angry with him!! The scene was so hilarious that I had a hard time trying not to laugh.

Now you know why I said that he's such a cheeky boy...

Dinner at One Degree 15 Marina Club

Esther & Julian invited us to dinner at One Degree 15 Marina Club tonight. Since Kel is free, I agreed to it as I haven't seen them in a while already. The last time that I saw them was on Nicole's birthday, before I was admitted to the hospital.

We arranged to meet @ Latitude @ 7pm. We arrived there at about 6.30pm & walked around the place. Marina Cove is a very nice place for R & R. The view, the gentle sea breeze, makes us feel very relaxed.

At about 6.45pm, we went to the restaurant to wait for Esther & Chris's families to arrive. While waiting, I took some pics with Daryl to distract him as he was clamouring to climb out of his highchair.































































Esther & Chris & families arrived at about 7pm & we ordered dinner. All of us ordered the BBQ buffet while Julian & Kay Jin ordered the Perankan buffet. We updated each other on our lives over a very sumptuous dinner. After dinner, we let our kids explored around the room as they were protesting at being cooped up.

















































Daryl, Nicole & Chloe dancing





















Nicole trying to pick up a raisin from the floor





















She changed her mind & decided to hug Daryl from the back





















Daryl running away from Nicole while Chloe looks on in amusement





















Daryl failed





















After the hug, he decided to check out 1 of the chairs





















Nicole decided to join in





















Nicole left as she don't find that the chair is worth checking out





















Nicole decided to give Daryl another hug again





















The hug





















Daryl running away again





















Daryl climbing up the chair





















Daryl playing with Nicole





















Nicole & Daryl





















Don't be mistaken, Daryl is not trying to kiss Nicole. :p He was just talking to her.





















Nicole & Daryl decided to play with Chloe's pram





















Lucas is not too happy about being left out





















Daryl playing with Chloe's pram





















Nicole came to join him

At about 9pm, we decided to head for home as our kids are tired already. We parted company with Esther & Julian as they parked at the basement carpark which is for members only. Chris, Kay Jin, Kel & me then walked to the multi storey carpark nearby. Along the way, Daryl & Chloe had some fun.





















Daryl : Mei Mei, would you walk with me on this beautiful moonlit night?





















Chloe looking very pretty in her yellow dress, pink bag & matching pink shoes





















Daryl holding hands with Chloe as they strolled down the pathway. They looked so sweet together. :p





















They got tired & decided to squat down to rest :p





















After the rest, they decided to continue their stroll

Kel managed to take a vid of their walk.



The vid was not very well taken as the lighting was quite poor there. In addition, Kel was trying to control his laughter, so the shoot is a bit shaky. However, it always brings a smile to my face when I saw it. Kids their age are so pure & innocent.

Let's hope that we can meet up again soon.