Happy National Day + 10 month old baby!

Oh! Its baby's 10 month old on 10 August 2012! And its National Day celebration for Singapore, our beloved country! Much cause for celebration this month!

Baby & Mummy would like to wish everyone Happy National Day!

Happy Birthday, Singapore!

Love kiddy rides!

Baby has reached the following milestones:

Language: 
Say "bah, bah", "vah, vah", "mah!", "ah!", "eh"... otherwise nothing much that sounds like our adult's language... He seems to understand what we were trying to say to him although he couldn't express in words. He shake his head when he doesn't want something and will hold out his hand and say "ah, ah!" if he wants something.

Motor skills: 
Good pincer grasp, can feed himself finger food and actually we are now teaching him to share his food by asking him to pick up the food and feed papa or mummy instead of putting it into his mouth. He still prefers to put it into his mouth. Haha.
Able to pull himself to stand up position by holding the edges of a solid object like a table and push down.
Able to sit down from standing position by extending a hand out to the floor and slowly bend his knees.
Able to crawl instead of creep and is crawling almost all the time now.
Able to sit up straight without falling and able to move to sitting position easily while on his back or on all fours.

Personality: 
His personality is starting to show although it may change throughout the years. He loves going outdoors and he's active and easily bored. Although if he's very attracted to something, he will focus and concentrate very hard on it and for a baby his age, the time he spent concentrating seems to be rather long. He likes to climb around and he likes to explore. He's one baby who cannot keep still. If we restrict him from doing what he's keen on doing, he'll protest noisily and actively by struggling to get free, make loud grunts and cry and scream at the top of his voice if he still can't get what he wants. Teaching him what is allowed and what isn't is a tedious and continuous job because babies have short memories, and even if he remembers, he still will try his luck to get his hands on the "forbidden items" or crawl into the "forbidden places" likes bathrooms and kitchens. Taking care of this little one requires one's full attention!

Life in Singapore

This week, everything is so much better. Hubby has taken few days off from work and he is trying to spend quality time with me. It is really heartening to see hubby trying his best to care for me.

Yesterday was tiring because as usual, we ran around to settle renovation issues. Reno is a big spending so we want to spend wisely. Furthermore, we need to be more prudent with spending as baby is arriving soon. More expenses to come!

Seriously, with the high standard of living and the cost of giving birth to and rising a child in Singapore, I cannot imagine surviving if there is more than one or two kids in the family. Rising one child is already very expensive and time consuming for working parents. There are lots of liabilities for working adults. Our flat is one big liability and the flat is not my asset, and neither does it totally belongs to me. HDB leased it to me for 99 years. So it puzzles me why they send me a bill for "Property tax" for a property that does not belong to me. That's not all, SP services (monopoly provider for water and gas) has started collecting money even before we move into the flat!

Today, I went to Tampines to buy dinner at peak hours and the crowd scares me. They don't seem to have eyes totally focused on where they are walking, and some people are always in danger of bumping into me so that I have to walk extra carefully and be very mindful of those people whose souls are lost somewhere while they are walking. Don't want baby to be hurt in anyway! Hubby's friend said that she had left Singapore for one year to live overseas, and comparing Singapore this year and last year, she is shocked to see the sharp increase of people taking public transport this year. Public transport and stations are much more crowded than last year. The large number of people, together with the unpleasant rushing, squeezing and zombie-like faces added stress to daily life. To us, we may not have noticed the difference but to a person who has left and came with a year's gap in between, the difference may be so extreme that its hard to ignore.