Happy New Year 2008

Aston has been asking when is the 1st day of 2008 eversince he changed class to K1 weeks ago. Sounded like you cannot wait which I find it is the natural behaviour for children to yearn to grow up faster. Time really flies. From a cute baby, you become a naughty toddler - terrible twos, terrified threes & tiring fours and now you are in thrilling fives. Few academic acheivements in 2007 accomplished by Aston and they are never possinble without the patience guidance by Ms Fion and Ms Lin Juan and mummy and daddy. Aston is able to write, able to read, able to draw and able to color nicely & neatly and the most important one is you are able to go toilet to pass motion. Now the new 2008 resolution is Aston must learn to sleep on your own & go diaperless during night sleep. Soon we will get you a bed and start to decorate your room.

Merry Xmas !

Happy Kindergarten Goodbye Nursery

You are promoted to K1 today. You took a nursery class photo. English teacher will remain as Ms Fion in your K1 class.

Mummy specially prepared a new school bag & water bottle for you. I am just like 外婆 who also prepare new school items for mummy when I go to new level. You looked so smart in your new school collared uniform. Mummy also bought new enrichment books for you.

Nursery Concert

Today is a very happy and special day for Aston. We are watching you perform in your school's yearend concert. We dropped you at Paya-Lebar Kovan Community Centre around 1230pm to let teacher prepare you for the exciting performance you will put up with your cherian classmates. We left around 1240pm and came back at 215pm to be seated at the hall to watch the concert. Mummy was so excited & cannot wait to see your performance which is item 9 title song - Oh Mickey ! Finally at item 8, me and daddy went near the stage area & get ready to watch your performance. Mummy was so overjoyed while anticipating your appearance on stage, my tears rolled. I was too happy to see you on stage. I was so 感動! You are actually one of the lead performers ie you are the mickey going around to disturb & make fun. We had great fun watching the concert, enjoyed it so much and so thoroughly !!

Phonics

You are now attending weekly phonics and we heard from Teacher Graham (a native English teacher all the way from England) that you will be promoted to the next level ie learning to read books. You already can read some simple words from 5-6 pages simple books eversince Cherie Hearts start its reading program in middle of this year. Unlike knowing how to read, phonics is a special skill you need to learn and try your best to master & excel in it and comprehend the words well. We want you to know you need to learn phonics in order to know the word, understand how the word is formed and able to read and speak fluently. We want you to concentrate in the class & follow the lesson & read more books to us very soon.

Picnic at Pasir Ris Park

The last time we had picnic as a family was in Jan2005 when you were abt 21mths old.
That time, 外公 was around enjoying the picnic & the sea breeze. Aston also enjoyed himself very much, running around the field and playing seawater and sands. That was also the 1st time you ate Old Chang Kee Curry puff and you shocked us by finish eating it. That's where we knew you can take hot spicy foods.


Today we went to the same park have picnic. The only diffence is 外公 is not around with us. So sad and this made mummy miss him so much ! However you are still too young to miss him. Nevermind. See how you enjoyed the beach today..

Changi T3

Mummy is on leave today & she brougt me visit Spore's newly contructed Terminal 3. We met Aunty Sarah and Hannah and Aunty Lena and Melody to tour T3 together. This is a new experience for all of us because we can access almost all restricted areas.
The place is very new, rather small compared to T1 and T2. Wonder when will we fly out from T3 ??

Discipline and Boundaries

Last Fri mummy was on leave and took you out to join Aunty Sarah and Hannah for shopping and lunch. I reminded you on our way to Great WorldCity to listen to mummy, cannot jump and run around the mall and must eat lunch. You nodded and mummy was happy to see you understand my instructions. I have no choice to lay these rules for you becos you are very active and will become more wild and active if left uncontrolled. You disappointed me becos you behave to the contrary and making rage for that day til the next day.

When we reach there, you spotted one helicopter ride & sat on it, then we saw Aldrick coming out from Kenny rogers & you played together with him for a while. You were quite obedient to come down from the ride and we met Aunty Sarah & Hannah in WH store. Both of you are playing and running around in the shop until suddenly I realised you are out of my sight. To my dismay, I saw you on the helicopter ride. I put down all my shopping items and run out and pull you over to my side and question you for not asking permisssion to come out & that it's dangerous to be alone without mummy. You argued back rudely to me. These are the followed on silly things you have done that day.
1. Refuse to leave the helicopter ride when we are going to find a place for lunch.
2. Mummy give in to buy M&M chocolates to lure you to eat lunch, halfway during the lunch, you spilled the chocolates and insisted me to buy a new pack for you. The good part is you ate lunch so I simmered down a little bit and brought you buy a new pack.
3. Ask you go toilet, you refused and only after much askings and seeking daddy help to talk to you, then you finally drag yourself to toilet.
4. Insisted to have the mcdonald's kids meal free toy, the bee movie, the warp character when the outlet do not have that. You screamed and cry very loudly when mcdonald staff ask you to chose the available toy. The funny thing was when daddy came over to fetch us around evening time, you chosed the toy without any fuss. So why you are so difficult on mummy ?

I am so angry becos you simply do not listen to me and making even more rage when you are rude. I cannot tolerate such misbehavior in you. You disappointed me becos you behave to the contrary and making me raged for that day til the next day. I did not talk to you that day and you can sense I am very angry becos I did not smile at all to you.

The next day, I attended a parenting seminar "Discipline and Boundaries" in your school. Topics covered are so relevant to me
* Why do children misbehave ?
* What is appropriate discipline ?
* How to we shape a child's character without breaking his spirit ?
The main things I learned is discipline is not something you do only when you are angry, scolding and punishment. Effective and positive discipline begins with proactive parenting which means
1. Teaching and providing instructions before things happen
2. Establishing guidelines, boundaries, rules & expectations
3. Equipping our children with skills on how to behave and interact with the people around.
4. Teaching values and building positive good character values
5. Practising appropriate behavior
6. Positive reinforcement thru catching them when they are doing what is right, even for little steps of improvement. Praise and Encouragement
7. Begin with polite requests. Use "I" statements
8. Correcting any violations through immediate consistent enforcing of
a. natural consequences
b. logical consequences - withdrawal of privileges
c. spanking
Child must understand why he was disciplined.

Well, I did not really absorb in this seminar becos I still have not got over your incident.

Say cheese

It's quite difficult to get you smile properly and nicely infront of camera. This is how you smile nowadays. Mummy must say your smile is still charming and they are also eligible to "Darlie" toothpaste advertisement. All this owed to your conscious effort to brush your teeth twice a day.

Big Gor Gor

I am a big gor gor now. I have two cute brothers which resemble so much like me.

Before they are born, Aston seems to be jealous of them becos he misbehave in some naughty ways like shoutings, whine, cry for no reason and keep asking mummy to read to him. We know that we have to divide the quality time between three of you & will remind ourselves to watch out your feelings and try not to neglect you. So every night, daddy will play computer games with you and mummy will sleep besides you pat you to sleep.

Just now, Aston helped to rock Royston to sleep by singing Twinkle Stars, ABC song and some chinese songs. A very warm scene which touches mummy and daddy ! You are slowly showing you are a doting gor gor. Good job, keep it up !

Be careful, watch out for cars !!!

Hey, see how they drove their cars...

Do we look alike ?

My 3 little princes..@2mths old..namely Aston, Charlton & Royston.


@3mths old...

No more last chance

You were affected by us during your younger years to see us quarrel and fight. People cautioned us not to scare our kids because they will remember. I do not know how much you remember but recently when we moved to ah ma's house, we quarrel once and you were around and this time, this is what you told me : Mummy, I give you one last chance, you promise next time cannot shout & push. I feel so embarressed at that moment but lateron I thot this is also good for me to know next time to curb not to quarrel in front of kids. Then last night, I was talking loudly to daddy, you are very alert and said to me : Oh oh, mummy, I told you already, you have no more chance and I will send you to live in dinosaur house. Recently you are very immensed into dinosaur & was holding a piece of dinosaur information and point to the jungle to send me there. I really feel so hurt becos I have not curb my temper & lose it again.
This is the interesting conversation I had with you.
Mummy : Ok, mummy will pack my clothes, shoes, money into luggage and stay in the dinosaur house later.
Aston's innocent reply : No, the house is torn down already so you cannot go.
Mummy : I will go tomorow then.
Aston : No need to go, Mummy, the house is spoilt so you stay here.
Ha ha, so Aston still wants mummy cos Mummy sleeps with you everynight !~~~

School Excursions

Hey Aston, these are the excursions organised by your Cherie Hearts school this yr,
Mar - Labrador Park
Jun - Qian Hu Fish Farm
Sep - Pizza Hut Kitchen
You have great fun visiting these places becos you will tell me abt them when you reach home. A pity is mummy & daddy did not join you, else it'll be doubly fun to enjoy with you and take memorable pics for you. You know, mummy works in Kodak & always stay positive in taking pictures to keep good memories.

Our M&M collectibles

Chocolates will make us fat but cannot help when we shop for chocolates. We will definitely buy a pack of M&M home. Recently I ask Clare Ze Ze to buy for me the limited edition dining set from HK and I simply love it when she pass to me ! See we also have the red M&M tee and green M&M tee. Let's start our new hobby in collecting M&M cute items & display them nicely.

San Zi Jing

Mummy knows that some children as young as 2yrs old can recite San Zi Jing. But you cannot when you are at that age becos school did not teach you and mummy&daddy did not teach you too. Well, then I think it's not really so important to know how to recite, to know the meaning is more important. One day I bought the book & showed it to you but you are not really interested to recite after me. So, we let it be & leave the book on the bookshelf. Somewhere one day after school in around May or Jun, you recite the verse "RenZiChu XinBengShan" inside the car & you told me Teacher Lin Juan(from Cherie Hearts) teach you this. The next thing is you ask me to teach you the whole San Zi Jing so we start to recite them inside the car when fetching you to school. Practice makes perfect becos you recite the entire San Zi Jing in that book to us in Sep. We are so marvel by it and keep grinning as you recite. Mummy will tell Teacher Lin Juan abt this great achievement of yours in this coming Sat Oct6 meet the parents session.

Children's Day

It's been one yr since you know the 2003 babies' friends.
These are friends' name whom u see today at Aunty Sarah house.
Hannah, Melody, Zavier, Chloe, Adabel, Claudia & Charlene. You miss Brandon and Cheryl becos Cheryl has fallen sick so she cannot join us.
When you reach, you are crying becos you just woke up from a short sleep. Supposed you are very tired so you did not wan to play with them immediately. Sorry that mummy beat your face as I cannot stand you crying so loud & worried you will miss the fun. After some coaxing, you finally regained your energy and played with them. You have so much fun playing with them til I can see that you are reluctant to leave. So I have to lure you to Coffee Bean have coffee and that actually make u leave Aunty Sarah house. Phew, else I will see another teary you. Well, did not regret bring you so late to drink coffee, cos I realised that you love chocolate cake. So next time, this is my date with you...yeah ! Hope daddy will not get jealous.

Calling Mummy

You called on Mummy's hp two nights ago when I was having dinner with Clare Ze Ze.
I felt funny when you called to rush me and daddy to go home early. I am glad too that you know how to dial as this is important when you get lost. Today, daddy N mummy are celebrating our 8th yr wedding anniversary and we wonder if you will call to rush us back

The name of ASTON

Many ask why we name you as ASTON. Mommy's answer is "I wan the name start with A but must be unique." Finally thot of EPL Aston Villa Football Club & decided on ASTON. This name has no meaning at all in baby name dictionaries becos it's merely a football club name. Though such, we really like this name alot. We found some interesting things about your name.

1. A private condominium named The ASTON located around River Valley road.
2. A western food named AstonsSpecialties. http://astonsspecialties.blogspot.com/
3. Aston Bali Resort & Spa. http://www.asiatours.com.sg/hotel/indonesia/bali/aston.htm
4. Aston Business Hotel. http://www.hotelaston.sk/
5. Aston Maui Lu resort in Hawaii. http://www.resortvacationstogo.com/Hotel/Aston_Maui_Lu_Resort.html
6. Aston Martin Car Manufacturers.
7. A road name : 13807, Aston Houston, TX 77040.
8. Aston University in Birmingham UK.
9. Aston Carter (Singapore) Pte Ltd.
10. Aston Lloyd & Partners.
11. AstonCarterMineral Ltd.
12. Aston Center Clinical Radiology in Dallas.
13. Aston fund. http://www.astonfunds.com/OurFunds/MorningstarRatings.fs
14. Aston Modular Wine Cabinet.
15. Aston Oaks Golf Club in Ohio.
and many more if you type "Aston" in yahoo search.

Eating your own dinner - continue

Yeah ! Aston finished one bowl of porridge in school & one bowl of rice at home by yourself ! Well done ! Daddy & mummy are so happy !!

Lyrics for the song "Would you be there for me"

Aston, I found this for you. Yeah ! You like to sing the verse would you die for me. With the song and lyrics, hope you can master to sing the whole song soon.

If I were blue, would you be there for me,
And whisper in my ears that's okay.
Would you stand by me, let me hold you tight,
And say you love me one more time.

If I feel good, would you slow dance with me,
And touch my lips with tender loving care,
Would you die for me, would you run with me,
And never look back...

Would you be there to love, to be with me?
Would you swear that your love is always true?
Would you say that you'll always be the one,
to take my breath away? (X2)

Would you be there?

If I will wait, would you still think of me,
And wished that you could hold me now.
Would you die for me, would you run with me,
All the way...

Would you be there to love, to be with me?
Would you swear that your love is always true?
Would you say that you'll always be the one,
to take my breath away?
Would you be there to save my soul tonight?
Would you swear that your love is always true?
Would you say that you'll always be there,
to kiss my pain away? (X2)

Would you be there?
For me...

Mommy & Aston

As the chinese saying goes, Sui4 Yue4 Bu4 Rao2 Ren2.

These are the very nice pics I took with Aston during the last 4 yrs.
Aston, you look great in all photos taken becos you are so handsome and photogenic.
Sigh...haiz...Mummy looked the worst during preggie times. The nicest photo I had is with my rebond hair. Yap, high time to improve my hairdo..will book appt with Auntie Judy next week...

Stay tuned for more pics...Aston growing older and mommy grew even older..ha ha ha !

Daddy & Aston

Sep15 - You finally eat dinner on your own !!

Yeah Aston, mummy's darling boy, you have surprised us today that you ate dinner on your own. Before that, you need us to feed you and you are always running around the house for us to feed you and making us so drained out. We blamed you being a naughty boy always do not listen to us to sit down have your meals. But actually, we should blame ourselves for not instilling you the habit of sitting on the dining table have dinner. Overtime, we did not make it a practice and so you never listen to have meals properly on the dining table. Ya, finally after 2yrs of long waiting, you marked a happy day for you and all of us. THUMBS UP !!!

Who you resembles more: Mummy or Daddy ?

Ever wondered who you resembles more: mummy or daddy ?

Since birth, many many people says you resembles more to daddy. Hardly anyone will say you look more like mummy. However, we know that you have daddy's forehead, big round eyes and you have mummy's mushroom nose and triangled shaped mouth. Judging from these analyses, you are 50% mummy and 50% daddy..very fair formation !

So we decided to use this : Use the MyHeritage Look-alike Meter™ to find out! Let this state-of-the-art face recognition technology settle every family's debate once and for all!

Was so excited when the meter is scanning our pics...

RATATOUILLE (Rat-a-too-ee)

Today mummy watched Movie 881 with Er Yi, Xiao Yi & Xiao Yi Zhang. Scared that you will not understand this movie, mummy arranged u to watch Ratatouille with San Yi and Keith. You are so happy when you heard this and hurried to have your shower. See how overjoyed you are with Keith ! When we reached the cinema, you are even more excited & Sanyi told me you enjoyed the show so much & chuckled heartily.
I am so happy you enjoyed wholesomely. Let's plan another one next mth and hopefully daddy can come with us.

Jia You !

Mummy has to find time to update your blog while daddy is busy with your two didi blog. I cannot lose out to daddy. Forgive me for not updating so regularly for you.
I cannot think of good reasons why we slack down in updating. The most obvious reason is mummy is too lazy over the years plus I am not good in writing. Sometimes feel that English is no good and cannot phrase words properly. But you know, from the 2003 babies forum where I got to know many new mommies, their blogs are congested with photos and their kids happenings. I got encouraged already when I see theirs so pls give mummy a bit of time and you shall see a very congested Aston blog.
Stay tuned !!

Birthday Photos

Hey Aston ! Mummy decided to arrange your yearly birthday pics & show them. It is so blissful to see you growing so well, growing taller, more handsome, more intelligent & continue keep up the good work ! Mummy's handsome boy !! But, pls curb your naughty actions..!

Quack Quack Quack !

We went for Duck tour with 2003 forum babies on 7Sep Friday. Mummy and daddy applied one day off for me so that I need not attend childcare. You have some fever on Thursday and luckily you feel better so we decided to bring you to the duck tour. The tour starts at 10am and we have to reach Suntec City at 930am to meet the mommies and the kids. We were late by abt 10mins & we were so happy to see Hannah, Melody, Zavier, Jing An, Brandon again. Of course, there are some new friends so I told you to shake hands and know them. Did you do that ? I do not think so cos you are running around before the duck tour. The duck is indeed very colorful & soon we go onboard on DARLA DUCK !!!!!
After duck tour, we had our yummy lunch at Swensens.

Aston's 4 yr old birthday

Celebration in Grandma's place



Celebration with Cherie Hearts Classmates and teachers

First plane trip to HK

We have decided to for a short trip in April before mummy give birth in July.
Dr Tan granted ok for mummy to go. It was an enjoyable trip though I got tired easily after some walks. But never regret spending the days in HK. We stayed in Prudential hotel. We visited Ocean Park, Stanley Market, Tai Koo Shopping centre, Times Sq and also Nathan Road.