Nee's Quiet Birthday

It's been so long since our last blog post that we can almost conveniently forget that we had a blog once upon a time. We feel terrible and at the same time helpless, being slaves of the everyday mundane routine of running our lives (if we could call it our life!). Truth of the matter is that we are being slaves to HRH little Princess Kay, who requires much of our attention the moment she opens her eyes right up till the moment she closes them.

That's why books like this makes perfect sense for us.

But let me take this opportunity to update what's been going on, and make it an excuse to post some pics of the now baby toddler Kay. We celebrated Nee's birthday quietly on Monday at Sanga, secretly tucked away at a table all the way at the back, upstairs. It was a small and cozy family affair.

The mandatory presence of my mother-in-law was much needed as usual. She loves Kay so much that she's the self-appointed Royal babysitter which we love to have. 

Making up the entourage is my father-in-law and brother-in-law Raymond. Roger just missed this celebration by a day, otherwise you'd be able to catch his handsome (and still much available) face here.

Nee's birthday is as much a joy of celebrating her as it is a ton of stress for me. This happens annually. Fortunately, ever since having Kay, her priorities have been realigned from herself to baby. But that doesn't mean I'm off the hook. It just means that I may not need to outdo myself so much every year now, and can plant my feet on the ground.

But in all seriousness, this was a celebration of my wife, who is a mother of a 21-month old girl now, who has given a lot of herself to me and our daughter. And for that, we celebrate her existence, for being born into this world, without which I would not have a wife to love, and eventually a baby to have.

I know what she's wishing for, and it's not a CHANEL (although she wouldn't mind one).

Had flowers sent to her office that morning. She was thrilled about the experience although not too impressed with the inflation. The bouquet has shrunk in size in recent years.

The flowers weren't too difficult. The more challenging part was the cake. What cake would you give a baker? That was a tough one. Sarah dropped me messages and tried hooking me up to someone she knew exclusively. But time was really short. Nee had mentioned before that she didn't mind Hilton. And that was all I needed to know. I finally got her this Choc Mousse cake, which had an incredibly thick layer of choc powder for some reason.

The sashimi at Sanga seemed very fresh. They just slid all the way down my throat before I could even chew.

Tempura. Batter too thick and hard. Too bland.

Salmon skin. Now this is cool.

Cold Soba. Tasted a bit sweet.

Seaweed salad. I think nobody touched this the whole night.

Ramen for Kay.

Okonomiyaki. The first time I had this a long time ago, I was staring really hard at it, cos the flakes were moving, and I wasn't sure whether it was because of the wind, or that it was moving by itself, like one of those seafood so fresh that they still move.

I do not think Sanga has the best Japanese food around, but they score high on some items like the freshness of their sashimi, and their salmon skin rocks. And the newly opened upper floor does have the perfect ambience for a nice get together.

And now, presenting Kay's latest photo collection.

 

Kay is now reaching 22 months old and we're pretty relieved that she had started demonstrating some form of academic ability (since month 18). She can now recognise the entire range of alphabets in random order, including numbers 1-10 in both Mandarin and English, basic shapes like stars, triangles, squares, circles and primary colours. Not too bad huh? At one point Daddy was dead worried that she couldn't do the colours. We even got her to do the online colour blind test & she passed with flying colours.

Daddy is also proud that she can scribble out an O, 1 & C. We hope that this development will continue to stay consistent, and not be just fast & short spurts of temporary intelligence.

On the speech side, we think she was a bit late as she only started stringing sentences around month 20. But she's been at it non-stop to catch up with lost time:

Mommy sit down. Daddy sit down. Baby ALSO sit down.

Oh, she's now going through a phase, reporting everything that's not working right in her little world: spilled water on the ground, cream on her toes, ink on her hand, candle not lit, toys not functioning, etc. And she won't stop until mommy or daddy fixes it.

Oops, sorry for sidetracking. This happens all the time cos we can't help ourselves. Anyway, what we really want to do is to take this opportunity to wish our many readers, who are still hanging around our blog despite its inactivity, a very Holy Christmas, and a Happy New Year ahead!

With Best Wishes from Greg, Kay & Nee!