JANUARY

With the new year comes new adventures.

The most obvious trait?  That Jonathan has his own mind and wants his own way now.   He's no longer the chubby little baby who listens to mommy and daddy.  Well....mostly mommy.  haha

Most of the time, I enlist the help of H whenever he's at home.  And H's voice does wonders.  Maybe it's because I'm always with Jonathan 24/7 (except for the occasional 'outings' that I have for my work, or going to see my mom) that's why he takes such a long time to respond to my request.


The other thing that has happened recently?  He's quite reluctant to have me change his diaper, whether he needs cleaning or not.  He will turn his body whenever I need to clean him.  Most of the time I end up raising my voice when he twists his body just so that I don't have to clean him.  I think he's beginning to be very aware of his surroundings.  No problem for daddy here though.  But I cannot be relying on daddy all the time.  So whenever I need to change him now, I always have to tell him that it's alright for mommy to do it.  then he will relax his leg muscles a little so that I can finish the 'job'.

I still treat him like a little kid.  The lovable boy with the sparkling eyes and great smile.  He loves my attention but I always have to remind myself that he is no longer a baby.  I told H once that we shouldn't make him do small kids stuff like "Jonathan, how do you gongxi gonxi."  haha.  Yup....we used to do this when he was 5/6 years old.  A gesture he does so well :))

He is vocally saying "no" rather clearly and sometimes voluntarily when we asks him.  So I'm hopeful that his speech will return someday.  He says "la" quite frequently too.  To me, that means his tongue is moving and loosening up.  That's my instincts and I want to believe that I'm right.

Going out is good now.  He doesn't retch when he returns home.  But sometimes in the cab, he does get a little nervy and tries to move his body in certain ways during the journey to compensate his nervousness.  This makes it tiring for me when he sits on my lap.  But with H, he sits perfectly fine!

I haven't thought of enrolling him for PT yet.  But I should do it in due course.  But I do not have any intentions of bringing back to school.

Two weeks ago, we received notice from the Immigrations Department that Jonathan is due to make his identity card.  Another reminder that he's growing up :)

I have requested for home visit for the Immigration Officer to come to my home to process the IC.  I just have to pay for the transportation fare that the Officer will incur when he/she comes.  It's probably the same amount as when we go to the Immigration Department, except that we don't have to wait in a queue.

Jonathan's birthday is coming.  I don't know what we will do.  Besides celebrating with this grandmother, whose birthday is a day before his, we will probably buy him a cake and have it at home, just the 3 of us.

I'm grateful to the Lord that the retching/vomitting thing is over and now.  He caught the flu on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year but recovered fairly quickly.  I'm believing for more blessings and more good things happening this year.

Thanks for dropping by.  Wishing all good health and loads of blessings this new year!

ANG POW 2012 (RED PACKETS FOR CHINESE NEW YEAR)

As usual, every year I will whip up my tools and papers and start making ang pows (red packets) for Chinese New Year.  I've been doing them for a few years now and CLICK HERE to see some of my past ang pow creations.

This year, this is what I did.  I'm sure many people have done this before.

I was surprised I finished making them relatively fast.  Maybe it's because I had a great cutting tool by Martha Stewart - The Circle Cutter.  I got mine from Scrap-n-Crop.com.  Click HERE to see how this tool works.

So, using the above tool, I proceeded to cut 3" circles.  Rememeber:  Only square circles, not ovals. You need 4 circles for each ang pow.  To create a nice contrast, it's better to choose 2 pattern paper circles and 2 plain colored ones.

 Then fold the circles into halves.

Using a cutting mat ruler as a guide, place them at 90 degrees.  Add a little glue (enough to hold the 2 pieces together) on the flap where the pattern paper is positioned.  Once you are certain that they are 90 degrees, you can press down till the glue sticks.

I've pasted them by alternating the overlapping.

This is how it looks once they are pasted together.  That's the inside of the ang pow.

 This is the back.

See how you should fold the flaps.

When it's close, you can mark the area with a ball point pen so it's easier to punch a hole without having to punch the other papers.  This is optional.  If you don't want to use ribbons like I did, you can paste a sticker to "seal" the flaps so they will stay closed.

Hope these instructions are clear and you can start making your own gift envelopes.

SKY PARK @ MARINA BAY SANDS 天空花园

We went back to Marina Bay Sands again on the first day that school reopened (2 Jan 12).

I was a good decision. Less crowded and we didn't have to jostle with many people, unlike the first time we were there in December.

Tickets for adults were $20 each and child at $14. The staff asked me how many tickets I needed. I told him 2 adults and pointed to Jonathan and he said "child". Well, Jonathan does look a little like a small boy :)

Here are some photos. Sky Park or 天空花园 is on 56th floor. Here we are at the lift lobby:

 Admission ticket.  Comes with a free 15 minute tour to see the infinity pool but we didn't go for it because it would only start in the afternoon.

 Sky Park on 56th, restaurants on 57th.

The scenery that greets you once you step out of the lift lobby.

It was very breezy.

That white open palm below is the Arts & Science Museum. See the little bllack dots in the shadow?  They are workers painting the roof.

The green rectangle is the floating platform,  The colorful  part are actually spectator seats.

Jonathan loves highrise buildings.  He was soaking them in :)

He looked down and I took this picture.  Those cars on the expressway look like mini car toys.

That's the new Gardens By The Bay (click here for more info), scheduled to open in June 2012.  It's a giant indoor garden, spanning a total of 101 hectares.

Finally...a photo with his daddy :) my 2 greatest love :))

We didn't stay up there long.  About 15 minutes or so.  We bought Jonathan a Marina Bay Sands tshirt as a souvenir.  We had lunch at the foodcourt at Shoppes at Marian Bay Sands and after a short detour somewhere, we went home.

We may go back to explore other parts of Marina Bay the next time.

Thank you Lord for giving us such a perfect weather again :)

REFLECTIONS

2011 has gone.  Today is 2012.  Happy New Year to everyone :)

There were many challenges with Jonathan's health.  The whole of 2011 was filled with anxiety.  Towards the end of last year, I began to see the importance of positive living.  Thinking right and speaking right.  But most of all to come to realise the finish the work of Christ.  The beatings that HE bore, the death on the cross...were all for our sake.

I began to speak blessing over Jonathan and saw the change in him.  His health improved and the retching sessions has stopped.


What a joy to end the year with us bringing him out to town and coming home without him falling sick.  It was a really great relief but I believe all these happened because we believed what GOD could do for him and that I had to constantly rely on HIS strength and grace and to speak GOD's word over Jonathan's life.

Lord, thank you that 2012 will be greater than before!!