Love Letters to Natalie

Saturday, October 29, 2005
What you can do

Dearest Nat,

As a 10 months old baby, you are such a lot of fun to play with. You have picked up many things from us and never fail to tickle us with your little actions and tricks.

Here are a few things you can do now and make Mommy very proud of you.

1) Put your hand to your ear and pretend to talk on the phone when we say "Hello, Hello!" or when you see us talking on the phone.

2) Open and close your palm to the "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" song or any other song when you are happy.

3) Do "hi 5" with us.

4) Wave your hands up and down excitedly with "oh oh oh" sound whenever we ask you to be happy.

5) Stretch your hands towards us when we say "bao bao".

6) Clap when we say "clap clap" or "拍拍手".(22nd Oct)

7) Wave goodbye when we say "bye bye". (24th Oct)

8) Put your hand to your mouth to blow us a kiss when we say "thank kiss!". (29th Oct)

9) Look for my breasts when I ask you "Do you want your neng neng?".

10) Poo into the potty every morning when I put you on it with "mm mm" sound.

11) You can crawl on all fours instead of tummy.

12) You are able to pull yourself up to standing position and go back to sitting position.

13) You can walk around supported. You love to hold on to the coffee table in the living room and walk round and round it.

Of all the skills you have newly learnt, I'm most pleased with your motor skills development. For a while I was worried that you'll never learn how to crawl since no matter how much we coaxed you, you were very reluctant to roll over or be on your tummy. Then one day out of the blue, you begin to creep towards a yellow tibits box your jiu jiu placed on the floor and since then you love to explore our tiny house on your tummy, creeping swiftly like a hungry snake.

After mastering how to creep, you also learnt how to pull yourself up by holding the coffee table. Guess you have to thank gong gong for that because he always bring you to sit near the coffee table while he watches TV and you learnt how to pull yourself up after repeated attempts to reach out for the remote control placed on the table.

The funniest part got to be when you first know how to clap. You clapped for the first time in your life when Grandaunt Jane showed you how to clap in the car on our way to Malacca. You put it to full practice when Cousin Alvin ad Matthew sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" for you. After that you became obsessed with clapping. When we went to your grandparents room in the hotel, you kept clapping for them to see and got everyone so amused, When we went home, you started your routine of pulling urself up and sitting down holding the edge of the coffee table. You complete each action by clapping for yourself and looking at us eagerly wanting us to clap for you too. When we clapped for you, you will look satisfied and proceed to standing/sitting down again. You love attention and praise, my dear baby. Guess what was the first thing you did the following day? You woke up all blurry eyes and immediately got into your sitting position to CLAP! I was still lying on the bed sleepily but became very awake when I saw you doing that. You're just too cute!

I've never clap so much in my life than in this past week. Whenever you did something smart, you expect us to clap with you which we gladly obliged. Now I am looking forward to more new things from you, hopefully you will be able to call us "mama" or "papa" soon. You already know how to make these sounds, you only need to learn how to attach meanings to those sounds.

Waiting keenly with love,
Mommy

natnat's mom at 9:28 AM 0 comments

Friday, October 28, 2005
Till we meet again!

Dearest Nat,

You have the honour of meeting your grandaunt Jane and granduncle Raphael when they were here with your grandparents on Friday, 21st Oct. Grandaunt Jane and granduncle Raphael migrated to Toronto, Canada many years ago and so imagine the miles they flew just to meet you. Of course we are all very delighted to have your grandparents and grandunt and uncle here in Singapore again. Though it was a short trip, but we spent good quality time together.

They arrived on the evening of Friday, 21st Oct. We all gathered at the Ah Yat Restaurant at the Turf City for a welcome dinner which your uncle David has graciously organised. It was a good meal. The first thing your grandpa did when he arrived was to carry you. He must have missed you very much! You took a while to warm up to him and did well after that. As usual, you were really happy to see your 2 cousins again and enjoyed playing with them. Since you have strong stranger anxiety, you refused to be carried by anyone else. Aunt Dionne also gave you some ice to play with which kept you occupied long enough for me to finish my last bit of food. Yum Yum!

Refusing to be carried
After dinner, it was goodbye and we went home to have an early rest so that we can wake up on time the next day for our day trip to Malacca. Daddy went to fetch Aunt Jane and your Grandma from the hotel early in the morning to our house. Your Gong Gong was our designated driver for that day. No one knows the roads in Malaysia better than him, I think. We set off to Malacca at 10:30 am and reached there by 12:30 pm.

Upon arrival, we went to have the famous Famosa Chicken Rice Balls at Jonker Street. We all agree that their chicken rice balls are overrated, I wasn't too impressed with their food. After lunch, we walked along Jonker Street looking at the souvenirs and they sell. We stopped for some Chendol Ice for desserts. Malacca's Chendol is indeed YUMMY, I want to have more!! We gave you a few sips and I know you love it too coz you have mommy's sweet tooth!

Outside the infamous Chicken rice stall
You surprise all of us by wanting Aunt Jane to carry you
We also visited the Stadthuys and ChristChurch, took a few photos before we embarked on our journey home. We had dinner at Johor Bahru which served the best suckling pig I've ever tasted. Thanks to the good recommendation from your gong gong. After dinner, gong gong decided to drive us to a hawker center - Bandra Raya to try their satays. In the end, we had coconut juice, satays and cuttlefish kang kong for snack. If only your grandpa and uncle raphael were there to enjoy the fabulous food with us too!

All the ladies! We are going to the Stadthuys
Those kids crowded around you and asked for your name. They were so excited to see you and I had to stop them from pinching your cheeks
At Bandar Raya Food Center
You are quite well behaved throughout the trip, you fussed very little and slept and drank like nobody's business. I think we can bring you with us to more such trips in the future.

On Sunday, we went to the Crystal Jade restaurant to have dim sum with everyone after church. You learnt how to clap with your 2 cute cousins. They sang and you clapped along excitedly! I'm mighty proud of you. After dim sum, we all went home together so that your grandparents can have some time playing with you at home. After resting for a while, we went for dinner at Tiong Bahru and then back to the hotel after that.

Group Photo - A glimpse at all who were present at the dim sum lunch
You had a whale of a time with your Daddy and grandparents at the hotel and tickled them so much. I guess it was good bonding time for you and them. I'm very happy to see you laughing like that. Your Daddy must be the happiest man that day coz it was his birthday. My dearie, you make your Daddy a very happy man.

Your doting grandparents and you
On their last day here, we went to Suntec City and had our lunch at the foodcourt there. We took a few pictures at the Fountain of Wealth for memory sake. God knows when we'll meet again, hopefully next year! We took the MRT to the airport after lunch. And then, it is till we meet again.

At the Fountain of Wealth with Grandma and Grandaunt and Granduncle
While waiting for them to clear the immigration, you did your first "byebye". It's a pity no one say except for your daddy and me. :-) Your grandparents would be so delighted if they have seen you wave goodbye.

Goodbye! Goodbye! See you again!
We're now looking forward to our trip to HK in December. It'll be another big gathering coz jiu jiu, mandy jiejie, your porpor and gong gong and your yiyi weeju will be there too.We're going to have a good Christmas holiday together with everyone at one place.

Love,
Mommy

natnat's mom at 3:02 PM 0 comments

Thursday, October 13, 2005
1997

1997pic
Originally uploaded by Precious Natalie.
Dearest Natalie,

This is a photo of Daddy and Mommy taken in April 1997. We were on our way to Great Ocean Road, stopping for a short break before hitting the road again.

At the time of this photo, we had only just started our relationship. Your Daddy came to Melbourne for the first time and I went to pick him up at the airport with Nori and Janet, both my housemates. They asked me "Why don't you accept such a nice young man as your bf?" when they saw him. Well, in the end, we really got together.

Your Daddy loves this photo so much that he has developed a copy to be kept in his wallet. If you know him well, he is not a sentimental person so he must have really like this photo quite alot.

By the time you are reading this, I'm sure we no longer look the way we are in the photo. We were 21 and 23 respectively then. Through this photo, you'll have a glimpse of how it was like when we were young and carefree. Perhaps that will close any possible generation gap between us and help you to understand that we were once young like you too.

Love,
Mommy

natnat's mom at 10:12 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Geelong Theatre

Geelong Theatre
Originally uploaded by avlxyz.
Dearest Nat,

This picture brings back a lot of memories. This is where Daddy and Mommy used to go to catch a movie whenever your Daddy visited me in Australia.

I can remember many cold winter nights running to the theatre with your Daddy. He will always hold one of my hands tightly and hide it in his cloak's pocket. Those were the days when we were all so young.

I also spent many happy nights with my university friends catching a movie. In a quiet town with nothing much to do, watching a movie is always something to look forward to. We always try to be early to get good seats as it is free seating at the cinema.

After the movie, we will either stop for an ice cream at the baskin robbins next door or drive to one of the wood oven pizza place which opens until really late.

Time really flies. We have come a long way from that young couple holding hands running to the theatre to become proud parents of you.

Love,
Mommy

natnat's mom at 11:31 PM 1 comments

Monday, October 10, 2005
What a weekend!

Dearest Natalie,

Another busy and eventful week has gone by. This is already the second week of October and it is just a week away to your Daddy’s 31st birthday and the arrival of your grandparents, grandaunts and granduncles from Hong Kong. I’ve already reminded your Daddy dearest to take 2 days leave from work so that we have time for our guests. It is going to be a very interesting October.

So what did we go for the whole of last week? Everyday was pretty routine like any other day except for the weekend. On Thursday afternoon, I brought out the sling and we went shopping!! We went to my favourite Anna Sui cosmetic counter to look at lip gloss, lip sticks and bought something nice for Aunt Lily and Aunt Yvonne. I bought you a very cute bunny hairclip from HushHush. The sales assistants there went “So cute! So cute!” and crowded around you when I tried the hairclip on you. I definitely had to buy the clips for you after hearing the compliments! It is also the SMALLEST clip I could find for you.

Jiu Jiu pulling you up. That's the hairclip I got you.
I’m very glad that I could still sling you. I’m sure my arm or back will break if I attempt to carry you without the sling. I can’t imagine having to bring a heavy stroller and a heavy you out on my own too. The sling is indeed marvelous to have. We waited for your Daddy to go home together after we have finished shopping. During bedtime, my legs and back started to feel quite sore after slinging you and walking from a shopping center to another for one whole day. I got your Daddy to massage my legs for me so that I could sleep.

On Friday, Aunt Lily and lovely Qile came over for lunch. You were happy to have Qile around and I could tell that you were rather excited. You kept looking at him, turning your head his direction wherever he went. I discovered the aggressive side of you when you tried to shove Qile down the bed when he climbed up the bed to play with you. Aunt Lily and I were laughing away when you were bullying the good nature Qile. Luckily he didn’t retaliate.

Video of you pushing Lele
After that, we went to visit Aunt Jin and her new baby Kristen at Choa Chu Kang with Aunt Lily and Qile. Baby Kristen is so cute and I really couldn’t remember the time when you were as small as her. These 9 months with you seem to be the SHORTEST 9 months in my life.

On Saturday, your Daddy’s colleague came over with his wife and 2 children. Again you were delighted to meet new friends. We went swimming at the pool together and you had a lot of fun. I love the look of delight in your eyes whenever you see other children, the way you will wave and reach out to them to get their attention. It’s just too cute! In the evening, we had BBQ with Jiu Jiu’s friends as it was Uncle Jason's 26th Birthday. This time you get the undivided attention of many people such as Elaine Jie Jie, Mandy Jie Jie etc. You are one lucky baby and you enjoy the attention given to you tremendously.

You hidden at the back with your Daddy. Uncle Jason's birthday
Mandy Jie Jie also bought you a playmat with her first pay. You were a little scared of the the texture of the playmat and refused to sit or step on it initially. Your Daddy managed to help you overcome the fear and now you love it and has been playing on it everyday. It has spongy rubbery cutouts and we have to be very careful coz you like to put those cutout shapes into your mouth. You eat anything, my dear!!!

Mandy Jiejie and you on the playmat she got you

Well, that is all for this letter. Keep growing well, my little darling!

Love,
Mom

natnat's mom at 5:16 PM 0 comments