Spring : Season of fun!

Date : 21 Mar 09
Temperature : 15c
Weather : Sunny

Two reasons why we decided to head out to the park last Saturday! Glorious sun (not gonna last as I just checked and starting tomorrow for the next 4 days there are rain clouds!), perfect for spending the day outdoors. After lunch, Meng drove us to a new park - somewhere we've not been to, a park at South of the River Thames.





She, obviously enjoying basking in the sun, jumped up & down imitating the duck's quack and hopped around like a kangaroo or a bunny (see photo below of her "being" a bunny). My little <開 心 果> "hoi sum gor" (cantonese for "Happy Chappy"), she is.




There were ducks & fowl aplenty in the park and Shean Wenn, being an animal lover (she knows most of the animals in her book, even different kinds of birds - ie she knows her owls frm her parrots) went close to have a look at duck & geese swimming in the pond. But then, suddenly the geese started to honk! She retreated and pat her chest signalling she is scared! Haha.. that was funny. I guess she can't tell from the books or telly how loud a goose can honk!

We strolled around and allowed her to play in the kid's playground for awhile. And slowly walked back to the car. Overall, a very pleasant 2 hours to spend a Sunny Saturday outdoors.

The K770i

Two weeks ago while rushing out of the door, I stuffed my Samsung phone into my shallow pocket and it must've fallen out. I didn't realise that I had dropped it, of course, till at night. The hubs got agitated and kept nagging me regarding this. It went on for DAYS. Honestly, I could do without a handphone in UK because almost no-one ever calls. So I was without a handphone for a week plus. Hubs suspended my mobile account and we finally got a replacement SIM over the weekend, together with a simple phone for me.

I've decided that I will never go back to a Samsung (looks good but poor usability. You go through 5-steps to get something done while on a Sony Ericsson, it can be done in just 2 easy steps.), and I can never go back to a Nokia. Sony Ericsson, for now, suits me very well. Their functionality is good, ie if you want an MP3/phone for music, you choose from their range of W-series. Music was never something I care for in a handphone. What I need is a good & acceptable cameraphone, which is why their K-series works well for my lifestyle - I whip out the handphone when I'm on the go, taking away the hassle of bringing along our BULKY Sony Camera (which isn't a point-and-shoot and not very slim & light either).

(The Sony Ericsson K770i: Contacts of my dearests)

So after paying £70+ for it, I have myself a brand new phone (Oh, I mean after MENG paid for it :D). Thanks, hun!

Right now is the task of accumulating my contacts again. SIGH. So people, send me your numbers via e-mail or if you have my number, send me a kind reminder (with your name attached).

Review of the Camera function :
Cybershot 3.2Megapixel. Auto focus.

No doubt, it isn't as wonderful as my previous K850i with 5 Megapixel, but the K770i has an improved navigation buttons (ie the middle square buttons), it's much better also than the previous joystick-like button of the K800i (That phone, I like too) where it gets de-sensitised easily especially if you are a "heavy user" like me. :P

1. My fav photo in my camera
2. Some photos taken at the park on Saturday - O, glorious sun!


3. Smelling the daffodils


4. Micro-shots
Look at how clear the quality is.. even shows the dust on my keyboard buttons! :P

Yo yo yo!

The S-to-the-W is in da house! One very bored evening, Meng decides to don his daughter in a red cap turned upside-down and turned her into an instant toddler rapper (minus the bling blings). And then Shean Wenn found her home slippers and asked him to wear it for her, she matched her slippers to the colour of the cap all by herself.

(Isn't she impish???!)

(Reading her flashcards)

SURPRISE!

Well, I'm sure some of you have been waiting eagerly to see the unraveling of the new look of the blog. Something's brewing that's for sure but as it will only be revealed when the time's right ;) So right now, let's take a few moments to appreciate the old skin before the new one emerges.

New Toy

Measuring 15 x 8cm, her latest favourite "toy" is this piece of bubble wrap she found one day. I don't even know where she found it, it must've been stuck around the book shelf and she got hold of it. During the days, when she has tire of her other toys, she'll bring out her new "toy", and start bursting the bubbles - "split splat" is all I hear. Sometimes she gets creative and goes stomping on it! I tell her nicely not to step on it, not because it's rude and may cause her to fall but because the tiny sheet of bubble wrap would have all its bubbles burst if she goes on like this. This is like the best ever toy!

Sadly, a few days later during one Saturday morning as I was getting the both of us ready to go out, Shean Wenn decides to toss her bubble wrap into the bin. I was like, "BUT WHY?". I opened the bin again to have one last look at it. Obviously there isn't any bubbles left to be burst. Bye bye bubble-wrap, it was good while it lasted.

When we came back from shopping in the afternoon, I saw her happily bringing out a NEW BIGGER piece and went on happily playing....

(Shean Wenn with "Bubble Wrap version 2" - bigger & improved version)

This little girl!!! I'm so amazed at the things she can find to amuse herself. And this is definitely one fo the cheapest toys and it really keeps her occupied for a good 15minutes.

"Dor Dor!"

"Dor Dor!", she shouts while pointing to her crayons. It's her signalling she wants to "Draw Draw". This is one of her favourite activities now. After her breakfast in the mornings, she wants to draw.

I bought the brand new un-used crayons for 50p at one of the fairs held at Children's Garden - best 50p I ever spent!

In the afternoons when she has tire of her books or playing with her other toys, she wants her crayons. I give her 3 crayons at a time.. she scribbles and then shouts for me to get new colours. I bring over the box of crayons, she puts the old colours in and picks new ones. The cycle goes on for possibly 8 or 10 times before she gets bored. She can immerse herself in her drawings for a good 30 minutes.



Her drawings : I always tell her that she is doing a great job, and truthfully when I look closely at her drawings, I see circles and lines and I'm seriously impressed. I read in Babycenter that some Toddlers at 20MO can do this but if they can't there is nothing to worry about anyway. I'm just impressed at her work of art anyway because I can see her growth and improvement everyday and she never ceases to amaze me. That's my little girl! Love you to bits. :)


BTW, today is also Square Root Day! According to Lilian of Wrong Side of 30, "Math nerds around the world are celebrating Square Root Day today, 3/3/09, ie 9 is the square root of 3. The last Square Root Day was 5 years ago on 2/2/04 and the next will be 7 years later on 4/4/16. Happy Square Root Day!"

Now, surely that is something you didn't know? :)

Chuffed!

I'm so delighted! The talented digi-scrapper Roslyn held a contest on her blog to say she'd design a blog header for free. So I entered and on Fri (I only checked her blog on Fri) I found out that I had won! Both her girls facilitated the drawing of the winner and I must thank them for picking me at random *kisses!* :)

This is like my early birthday present! Yayyyy.... (thank you, generous Ros).So to start the ball rolling, Tsu Lin ++ will be "closed for maintenance" on 5 Mar and will resume few days later (one week?). Do check back for my new look!

Tinkering

I was bored with the blog banner/header which I just changed a few months ago and decided at a whim last night to produce a new one. Something clearer, simpler but yet maintaining the colours of the theme, which is quite obviously GREY, BLUE, GOLD & WHITE. In two hours, this was what I got. I suppose it can still be tinkered here and there with slight improvements over the next few days... but honestly, the hard-coding of HTML is really annoying me. I'm neither here nor there (on programming) and I wasn't SPLENDID in codes - I don't even remember how I passed C++ and the other programming exams! I must be simply good at "reproducing" - ahem. (Thanks to those who lent me your final work to be "researched")

Anyhow, a few things came to my mind :

1. The new nuffnang ads ain't showing properly & their tutorials pretty much suck. Either that or I really need to go back to basics and learn up coding.

2. Due to my blog theme, I can't use some of the "flashier" and cooler features/"Gadgets" that blogspot had added such as Polls, video bars, etc, unless I know how to code it in.

And do I fancy spending my time reading on tutorials on this - heck, no! So, either I stick to this theme or change my layout to the standard ones blogspot offers.


PS : And you guys think it's easy spending a day in the life of a Stay-At-Home-Mum!

Valentine's Day

.. is just like any other day in the Wong household. We, being the non-conformist, unsentimental & not-bothered-with-dates couple spent it very fruitfully though. The shippers came and collected the boxes (9 of them! Meng had a good work-out walking 4 floors down carrying them, 9 times!) in the morning and by noon we had to rush to meet the seller who bought the Travel Cot I managed to sell on e-bay. We then went for yumcha, something we do most weekends anyway and then off to grocery shopping. And more shopping/grocery shopping. We also went on a big-roundabout way exploring the South of London & it's scenery!

Anyway, for those who do celebrate, Happy Valentine's to you....

Attending playgroup

It's been almost 2 months since I brought her back to Children's Garden for the weekly playgroup. Michelle came over to pick us up and we arrived a little late. After taking the coat off Shean Wenn, I asked her to go in to play.. she walked heading to the class but made a u-turn back when she saw the group of parents and kids (quite alot of people that day). She was overwhelmed, most likely, by the familiar setting (classroom) but unfamiliar faces! She hugged onto me and was reluctant to go into the class.

I prodded her along and reassured her that it's ok, go play with Kaka. She wanted to stick to me instead. That day, we were making some felt jewellery for the kids. I grabbed onto a heart-shaped felt, took along some felt string and a metal bell. I devised what design I wanted to make and did as fast as I could.. but, unfortunately my sewing is still BAD. In the end I had to take it home to continue working on it. One of the girl's nanny sitting opposite me came to the table for the last 10minutes (she was reading her papers at the corner before this) and FINISHED a necklace for the girl in that short 10minutes! I peeked at her sewing and it looked great. Hmmm.... some people just have all the crafty stuff sorted.

That day was one of the kid's 1st birthday, her parents, BOTH of them came to the playgroup bringing a cake & some yummy samosas to be shared. During mealtime, as with our usual meal of fruits & rice biscuit, there were of course, samosas & the cake. SO satisfying (because in the mornings I always rush out and don't get to eat my breakfast). Then it was outdoor time and I put on Shean Wenn's waterproof jacket and let her head outside - this time, I let her "go wild"! I took her to the sandbox and she proceeded to entertain herself in it!

(Shean Wenn in her Ferrari suit with Kaka the fashion-diva)

(The little girl on the left is Ka Yee, isn't she a beauty - look at the big round eyes and her jetblack hair!)



Shean Wenn enjoying herself in the sandpit!

GOING HOME NOW! Let's hold hands.. Both mommies love looking at how they hold hands while walking although it slows us down to a snail pace! :D