THE SPIDER, THE WEB AND THE UKULELE

So much went on on 19th and 20th of June.

My sisters (Leanne and Sally), mum, and close friend Olive dropped by Saturday to make a spider for Leanne's kindergarten class.  I had loads of past newspapers so part of them was recycled into a big spider.

Crushed newspapers into balls and shape them with lots of sticky tapes :)

That's Leanne (above).  She's very creative.  Here's now the "dome" looks like that will be the body of the spider.

Fast forward with all the legs and head done, this is how the raw spider looks like.  Leanne had to shape the legs to make the legs bend.

Sally and me started on the spider web.  We used yarn.

And this was how it turned out.

And while we were doing this at my place, the children (except Jonathan) went prawning with my sister-in-law Mary.  They caught all 19 fresh water prawns that we asked the restaurant owner to cook for us for dinner.

The plate of delicious prawns caught by Ruel, Matthew, Samantha and Brandon.

The biggest prawn was caught by Samantha (right) with Sally my sister, her mom.

After dinner, we went to get my ukelele from UkuleleMovement at Dunlop Street.  I've been wanting to buy a ukulele for a while now.  And since the children were free after dinner, we went to the store to buy myself an instrument.

Why the Uke?  Well...I have small hands.  I can't stretch (ever since I stopped playing the piano) my fingers that far now and playing the normal guitar is a tough one for me.  So I thought that if I had the Uke, I will be able to play the chords better.  So I chose the Soprano Uke.

Here we are with our close friend Olive (from left...Brandon, Matthew and Samantha).  They were amused by the "fruit design" ukeleles.

And here's my pride and joy :)

I've learned a few chords now.  They are simple.  For a "C" chord, I just need to press a note with one finger.  For a normal guitar, I have to use 3 fingers.  But then I realised my fingers are a little chubby so I tend to block the other string sounds when I press on them with a 3-finger chord.

But I'm getting there.  Already learned C, G, D, F, B7 and started playing songs.  It's especially nice when Harith joins in with the guitar like we did last night.  The full sound of the guitar compliments the ukelele.

What's best ... the sound from the ukelele is soft and gentle, fit for a quiet soft worship with Jonathan.

GRANDMA TIME

It's been a while since Jonathan visited my mum.  It's either we can't make it or Jonathan just doesn't want to go out.

But thursday last week {17 June 10}, since he was in a good mood, we decided to bring him out without telling him where we were going.  That usually does the trick.

We went for brunch at Century Square and then bought some Shanghai paos to mom's as a treat for them.  Sally was home with mum today while the kids and Uncle Kevin went for bike riding.

The first thing my mum said when she saw Jonathan was calling his chinese name "Kai Ming".  My heart leaped.  She always has a soft spot for Jonathan.  She always encourages Jonathan whenever she sees him.  Urging him to come to her, walking to her, talk to her.  Jonathan loves my mum too.  When she's around he will either extends his hand to shake hers or give a wide grin.

Took these photos with my handphone.

Mum even recite the numbers for him both in English (that surprised me) and in Teochew dialect.

Her English version :  "one, two, three, pour, pive, sik, lehle". haha.  She couldn't say seven.  That was just too cute.

I'm glad we could bring Jonathan to see my mum and meet Sally.

While we're there, Favor and Mercy were exploring Jonathan's buggy.  I think Favor was all ready to jump onto the seat for a cozy snooze...haha.

And here's Jonathan patting one of them.

BIRD ISSUE

Follow up from my last post about DEPRIVED SLEEP.

Jonathan woke up at 5.30am and as usual, his eyes darting around.  Last night I decided to leave the air-condition on  (I usually turn it off around 4am) the whole night just in case.  He woke up with cold hands and feet and I turned off the air-con since I could hear the birds chirping at a distance.  After giving him some warm milk, we went back to sleep around 7am.

Then I got a call from NEA Officer at 9.30 who apologized profusely for the early call.  I must have sounded so bad cos the phone call woke me up :)

He asked if I could see what type of birds that were on the tree.  This particular tree has large leaves so it's difficult to catch where the birds are.  He continued to explain the birds were probably migratory birds so there's really nothing they can do because culling of birds is restricted to only crows and pigeons.

This morning the whistling bird wasn't here (just the chirping ones) ... phew ... Most likely decided to move out of it's current abode.

I told the officer I'll keep observing and he suggested that I call the NParks should the birds return because they can better advice me on what to do.

Don't you think it's funny that whenever help comes, the problem solves by itself?  Well...I thank God for answering my prayer.

I hope Jonathan will not wake up at 5am again!

DEPRIVED SLEEP .. HOPEFULLY NOT REPEATED

I was deprived of sleep this morning until after 8am when Jonathan and I managed to catch a 4-hour shut-eye.

Jonathan woke up at 4.30am just as I was about to go to sleep.  For some reason I couldn't sleep and decided to watch the world cup between Italy and Paraguay online.  In between the game, Jonathan was fidgety and kept waking up and going back to sleep.

By 4.30am, his eyes were wide open.  Even though I could see he was tired, he just couldn't go back to sleep.  He kept looking around the room, seemingly watching out for something.

Then it started ....

First one chirping sound, then a couple.  By 5am, there were a few birds chirping.

Good...still no sound from the loud one.

Then suddenly ... a loud whistle.  Jonathan jolted in fright.  He darted his eyes around the dark room.  I could see he was about to cry.  This particular bird has been making appearances everywhere with its loud whistle-type call.

Then the all chirping sound stopped.  Obviously he wasn't about to go back to sleep so I offered him some hot milk.  He readily agreed.  But while I was preparing the milk in the kitchen, he kept calling out to me.  Thankfully, he was able to peep through the door to my direction and better still, the loud whistling bird didn't make any sound.

Gave him this milk, changed his diaper and still he couldn't go back to sleep.  Then the chirping started again.

To redirect his attention, I turned on some gospel music and that helped.  Yet he was still unable to sleep.  I tried to close my eyes for a few minutes each time all the while keeping an eye on him.

By 8am, I got a call from HDB saying they are coming to inspect the leak in our master bedroom.  The little boy's eyes were so puffy...you would think he had a punch on his face.  He came to me while I was seated on his bed.  I picked him up in a hug and his eyes closed immediately.

This is the first time that both of us got up at 12.30pm today.  He still look a little tired but at least he could go back to sleep for a while and hopefully...this will not be repeated tonight.

The birds are perched on the tree that's right in front of his room.  Their chirping has been disturbing Jonathan for the past week already, waking him at 6-7am.  Even though the window is closed and the air-condition turned on, their chirping sound still pierce through.

As much as I like nature, I hate that they are disturbing our sleep.  May they find another abode soon.

THIS IS A FIRST

Jonathan usually wakes up in the mornings around 9.30am.

His queen size bed, surrounded by cushioned mattresses is on the floor.  So whenever he wakes up, he will always want to roll off the bed and kick the bedroom door.

Most of the time, I end up sleeping with him because he wakes up in the middle of the night or I wake up/stay up at 4am to change his diaper.

This particular morning, 2 days ago, was the usual for him.  He went down the bed twice and I carried him back to the bed.  On the third try, I stopped him and he raised his right arm to push me away.

Then he gave me an angry grunt.

He layed on his side, at the end of the bed, the back of his head facing me.  He didn't move for at least 5-10 minutes.  No matter how many times I called him, he refused to turn and look at me.  Ignored me until Harith came into the room to carry him out.

Later that morning, I asked if he was still angry with me, he said "Yes".

That was the first time he became angry and ignored me.  I'm beginning to feel the "heat" of being a mother of a teenage boy, despite being a child with special needs, have decided what he wants to do, whether we like it or not.

LOGO

this logo is on the go :)  very happy with the results and friend likes it too!  PTL!

Only have to make a change to the color of the names.  Both father and son's name start with J.  For Eunice, I chose a font that made it look like hair.  So this is how it turned out:

TSHIRT DESIGNS

Remember I mentioned earlier about the national day tshirt I designed?  Well ... here they are :

Original design was for the red shirt.  Stars in silver, "Singapore" in yellow

and "Happy National Day" in white.  Name is optional.

An order came in for white shirt.  So I changed the stars and "Happy National Day" to gold.

"Singapore" changed to red.

I hope to come up with another design soon.

Meanwhile, I've designed and printed this for a friend with a new baby :)  I'm hoping she'll like it.

A SPECIAL CHILD SPEAKS

This is written by a mother who sees through her child with special needs.  So apt ...

Anonymous

I'm a child with special needs

I didn't asked to be like this

But it had to happen

And for now that's what I'll be

On days that are good

I get to go to school

On days that are bad

I fall sick ... that's a crap!

My mum is my playmate

My dad is my muse

I have no one else to play with

Cos nobody knows how to

I don't speak a word

Just vowel sounds I make

No one understands what I say

Only with mom and dad, I can communicate

I don't want to be in big crowds

Cos' I get lost in their presence

Most times I sit by myself

Entertaining my own thoughts and wishes

I wish to join in the fun

But limitations stop me from having them

I don't like to restrict others

And I don't want to be a burden

Most times I do it

So mum and dad will be happy

But I'd rather be home

Where I will be relaxed and at ease

I'd rather stay at home

With my TV or computer

I'd rather spend time at home

Where I don't have to bother others

I hope to speak one day

But I really don't know when

I hope that someday I can stand

And be as tall as all my friends

Maybe then I will have friends

Who think it's worth the time to spend with me

Maybe then I will achieve

What mum and dad had hopes for in the beginning

But for now I will still be

A child with special needs

Someday the Lord will restore me

And cause my brain to function normally

I await this day

When I will start speaking words

To people and friends on the streets

And my aunties, uncles and cousins

Lord don't forget me

I'm still waiting for You

I will keep praying

And believe in You too!

In the meantime dear Lord

Keep my mum and dad happy

Cos I know they are hurting

They just wouldn't say

When I am whole someday

This I will hope

And most of all dear Lord

That your glory be shown