Ashley – Looking Back at 2008

Celebrated her 2 year’s old birthday

Firstly, they don’t make cakes like they used to. Ordered a really cool 3D cake at this patissierie called The Patissier at Mohd Sultan Road, and needless to say, Ashley was so thrilled at the huge ladybug of a cake. At 2, she’s still terrified of tiny little house ants, but big cute looking bugs are ok, especially if they are coated with half an inch of sugary marzipan.

Looks too good to eat!

On 26 Jan 2008, we organised a little birthday party for Ashley at this pretty big indoor playground called The Atlantis City @ Delta. Turned out to be a pretty good choice as the kids had fun playing with the slides, ball pool and kiddy contraptions while waiting for other guests to arrive. I would highly recommend this place for any birthday parties where young kids are involved but do note that you have to provide your own food and entertainment. For us, we went for some McDonald’s birthday party package that came along with the venue. And hey, it’s never too early to introduce your kid to the wonderful world of fast food.

Speaking of kids, Ashley would like to say a big thank you to: Zaccheus, Joy, Faith, Gabriel, Moses, Daniel, Joseph, Evangeline, Ashley (my boss’ kid – same name, same age, same gender!), Edna, Vincent and Sheldon for coming to her birthday party and the respective parents for all the presents!

Making a wish!

Though I’ll never know what Ashley wished for (or if she even knows what a wish is!), I sometimes wish that she will stay young and cute forever. After all, not a day goes by where she doesn’t do or say something that makes me smile.

Learnt how to talk

It started with a gurgle, and then some babbling, and before we knew it, at the start of the year Ashley had developed quite a formidable vocabulary. Formidable to understand that is. Among some of our favourites:

Nok – Milk
Kokodie – Crocodile (sounds like Coco-die)
Bish – BISH! (punch)
Sail – Snail
Teh si – Taxi
Cafu – Careful
Tak tak – Zaccheus (Zak Zak)
Pang pi – Gas
Ashee – Ashley
Cawwot – Carrot
Hawo – Hello
Nuff – Enough
No nut – Donut
Shwing – Swing
Thoo – School
I scream – Ice cream
Money – Barney
Money – Mummy
Uncle Mervyn – Uncle Urine

Much to our relief, she can now recite the 26 letters of the alphabet, 7 days of the week (in no particular order), count to 20 (she has a preference for English over Chinese on this one, just like me), and distinguish between the different denominations of Singapore currency.

Daddy (showing Ashley a 1 dollar coin): How much is this?
Ashley: 50 cents
Daddy (showing Ashley a 10 cent coin): … oookay, and how much is this?
Ashley: 50 cents
Daddy (showing Ashley a 20 cent coin): Mmm, and this?
Ashley: 50 cents

Ok, I swear someones been playing rap music around the house.

Graduated from her Julia Gabriel class

Unlike the good old days, they say kids nowadays grow up so fast because of too much stimulation from media such TV and computer games, and parental obsessiveness over enrolling their kids into all sorts of classes even at such a tender young age. And, to this I say, if you can’t beat em, join em.

In the 2nd half of 2008, we enrolled Ashley at Julia Gabriel, a learning center well-known for its focus on voice, speech and drama. She had a lot of fun during the few months there, although it was a pity that she was still too young to know how to play with other children, and thus ended up sticking to mummy during every class.

Here’s a picture of Ashley’s receiving her graduation certificate on 8 Mar during the last class of the term which also turned out to be her last class at Julia Gabriel.

Ashley receiving her certificate.

Joined playgroup at The Learning Train

After leaving Julia Gabriel, we opted for a cheaper and more convenient playschool in the form of The Learning Train which is a mere 10 minutes walk away from home. From what we know, she apparently put her speech and drama skills to good use, quickly becoming the boss of her class and teacher’s favourite. We heard from our maid that her teacher was really sad when we eventually decided later in the year to move Ashley to a better playschool. Ashley was kind of upset too and didn’t have to mood to go to school for the first few weeks at the new place. Yup, she’s finally reached an age where she’s starting to form bonds with people outside her immediate family.

Ashley and friends at The Learning Train.

Learnt how to use the bathroom

Yes, she has become more environmentally friendly. I now await the day when she is tall enough to flush on her own too.

Grew and grew

Though not quite tall enough to flush yet, she has actually shot past the minimum height of 90cm after which she needs to start paying for bus and MRT rides and movie tickets. And, speaking of movie tickets, would you believe that children pay the same price as adults? Seriously, my 2 year old kid has had to pay a full $7.50 on weekdays and $10 on weekends just to catch shows like Kung Fu Panda and Bolt, only to spend half of the time staring at the back of someone’s head. Where’s the justice!

Learnt how to drive

Well, sort of…

Ashley doing an Initial D.

The Kwok family is off to Perth tomorrow so see you in 2009! Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!