Play-doh fish.

A collection of Ashley’s drawings/paintings done since she was 3 years old.

Barely a year ago, Alicia looked like this.

It didn’t take her long to figure out where her toes were.

Then, a few weeks later, she learnt how to roll over (woof!) and lie on her tummy.

Not long thereafter, she was eating solid food…

… even before her teeth started to grow. But when they did, a chew toy was always on hand.

She also figured out soon enough that she could eat AND sit up at the same time.

And while most kids her age were busy playing with toys, this gal was accessorizing!

Alicia turned 1 on 24th March this year and received lots of presents.

Yet, despite all the drastic changes that have taken place in the past year, one thing remained constant – her beautiful, joyful and ever-present smile.

When she wakes up in the morning, she smiles. Even when it’s cold and wet outside.
When you tickle her feet, she smiles. And then looks puzzled at how to remove the itch, as she has yet to learn how to scratch.
After drinking milk, she smiles. For it makes her tummy feel soooooo good.
When you talk to her and make cute sounds, she smiles. She probably finds your atrocious baby talk amusing.
When you feed her her favourite porridge, she smiles. She enjoys eating from a spoon and bowl just like the adults.
When you give her a balloon, she smiles. She loves the horrified look on your face when she pinches and nibbles the balloon.
When you smile at her, she smiles back. And when you laugh, she laughs with you.
And when you feel tired or down, her smile lifts you up. Her innocence reminds you of life’s many blessings.
Does she ever look sad? Only when you walk out the door every morning for work, leaving her behind to count the hours before she can be carried in your arms again.
In her dependency, she makes you feel wanted. And her ensuing smile makes you feel appreciated.
A child like her does not need a thousand words to say thank you. Her smile alone is that magnificent painting of gratitude that only God can create.

They say constantly smiling helps keep you looking young. My parents sure don’t need any convincing!

Dear Alicia, you can probably tell by now what it is about you that we adore so much!

So, here’s a big hug from your sister. And, happy birthday!

But back to last Friday, and the weekend for that matter, it was cake and food all the way. On Friday morning, the teachers were kind enough to let us celebrate her birthday at school with her classmates during recess. Ashley had a “princess cake” from Bengawan Solo which, as expected, was pink in colour.

Ashley and the girls in her class, looking very eager for me to get the photo taking over and done with.

And, another with the boys. Didn’t realize that there were two of them hiding behind!

After the cake (and more photos), the kids were allowed half an hour of playtime in the school gym. The school gym was pretty awesome compared to what I had when I was a kid with all manner of slides, see-saws, a foam-rubber-ish running track and other contraptions for the kids to flex their legs and get into fights over (some things never change). And when gym was over, Ashley did another thing that I couldn’t do at my age, wear her own socks and shoes. If her shoes had shoelaces, I bet that she would know how to tie those herself too!

To continue our fun filed Friday, we then brought Ashley to Wild Wild Wet at Pasir Ris, a water-based theme park. Wasn’t expecting much to be honest, but to our pleasant surprise, the park was pretty huge and there were tons of slides for us to try out.

The attraction in the background is called the Professor’s Playground. We spent most of our time there.

That was until we discovered this humongous slide, starting from about 50m off the ground, the Ular-lah, which turned out in the end to be Ashley’s favourite!

Simply looking up at it makes me weak in the knees. That kid really knows no fear!

On Saturday, we had a family lunch at Swensen’s at Vivo City. This time, Ashley had a nice ice cream cake from Angie The Choice. We didn’t realize when we arrived that Swensen’s doesn’t normally allow you to bring in cakes from elsewhere as they sell cakes too, but kudos to the manager for being flexible and making an exception for us!

Whoosh!

To distract Alicia from the cake, Zhiyi resorted to letting her play with her sunglasses.

After the lunch, Ashley opened her presents and received 2 new dresses from her grandparents and Zaccheus’ family. You should see her wardrobe now – I think she has more dresses than her mum!

Nothing like some exercise after a big lunch!

Check out the rest of the photos here.

2010 also marks the end of pre-school and the 1st of 3 years of kindergarten. She will be continuing on her education at Chinese Kindergarten which sits on top of Jubilee Church at Outram Road. It is one of the better schools we have researched, and it being a Christian school means that part of the curriculum would be the imparting of Biblical teachings and values. E.g. Love your enemies, honour your parents, do your homework and clean-up your room kinda stuff… (I added the last bit)

Here are some photos from her graduation concert held back in Nov 2009.

Ashley taking charge of introducing her class’ performance. She didn’t get “arrowed” to do it, she volunteered!

Tee-hee, look everyone is clapping!

Everyone trying to hit the high notes for the combined song item.

Complete gallery here.

To top it off, she received very good feedback from her teachers. Direct from her report card:

Ashley is a natural leader. She uses verbal and nonverbal strategies to initiate cooperative activity and encourages peers to participate. She encourages others to share/exchange or assist one another with play materials.

Ashley is always creating something new when they pay. She is an inventor and takes risks in trying something she has never tried before (e.g. celebrating birthdays in the tunnel). Through play, she is developing creativity and thinking skills besides social interactions.

And, here is out favourite Ashley artwork to date – a portrait of the family. That’s her on the left, followed by me, then mummy and finally Alicia. I’m still wondering though why I’m the only one in pink…

Almost didn’t shoot this (tired, too early in the morning, foggy, etc) but for wifey’s incessant reminders that "we made it this far". We were just about done shooting when the gorgeous sun came out from behind the clouds, and thankfully dad-in-law was on hand to hold my huge reflector, filling the shadow’s nicely.

On the image, I received a few comments that the scenery looks almost unreal. Yes, New Zealand is that gorgeous. With the right equipment (an ultra-wide angle lens) and enthusiastic subject, it all simply came together.

Wanaka

Received a wonderful tip from the hair stylist, Debbie, on where to take pictures around Wanaka and it’s almost certain that I wouldn’t have found this place otherwise. The hills were filled with tussock or snow grass (their equivalent of our lalang, except much nicer). If Zhiyi looks extra elegant in this photo, it’s thanks to the wonderful makeup and hair services of Carla Lucas and Debbie Forrest respectively. You can contact them here if you’re ever thinking of doing a shoot around Queenstown or Wanaka.

Note: See the larger version by clicking on the image, and going to “All Sizes” in the next page, as the facial details just look mashed in the thumbnail.

Opotiki

It was dreadfully overcast when we decided to shoot on our 2nd day in Opotiki, but as we were about to wrap up, the sun miraculously decided to poke through the clouds just as a flock of seagulls entered my frame. And to top it off, we wouldn’t have returned to the beach for a second round had we not discovered that Zhiyi had dropped her earrings at the very spot she is standing in the photo above when we were there earlier. Serendipity!

More to come!

Anyway, we’re now a third through our holiday in New Zealand and having loads of fun so far. More than half of the time has been spent on the road driving from town to town so it’ll be an understatement to say that we’re pretty tired. E.g. the drive yesterday from Queenstown to Christchurch took almost 8 hours! And tomorrow, it’ll be another 4 hour drive from Christchurch to Blenheim. Better get some much needed rest tonight!

Here’s one picture from our trip so far that pretty much summarizes Project New Zealand. Been getting many lovely shots so far of all the 3 girls in the family (wifey, Ashley and Alicia) though I must say, the real star has been none other than my long suffering wife who agreed to model a stunning wedding gown for this particular shoot.

As to how I managed to haul this humongous gown all the way from Singapore, drive hundreds of kilometers with it together with 5 suitcases and other bags, convince my wife to model for pictures in between taking care of 9 month old Alicia, find a make up artist and hair stylist on Christmas Day and end up at this picturesque location is quite another story! Now just praying that the weather continues to stay on my side…

The day started with all of us gathering at her school, and while waiting for roll call, I had a chance to photograph Ashley in her classroom. I also got to know some of her friends and put faces to some of the names she usually mentions over the dinner table.

It then dawned upon me that in no time, she would be inviting friends over for study groups and Wii sessions.

A bit too young for this though…

And so, we waited some more. And got a little bored…

But, finally, we were underway!

Upon arriving at the largest McDonald’s outlet in Singapore at King Albert Park, we proceeded to occupy the most strategic seats in the joint.

There’s just something about munching on a Happy Meal on a Monday. A brief burst of joy to drown away the blues. A mix of melancholy and fond nostalgia as the taste buds are suddenly reminded of a time not too long ago. A feeling that the weekend isn’t really over, though the lingering realisation that 4 days of school remain before the next one.

Unfortunately, there was to be no pictures of the kitchen tour as McDonald’s staff are highly trained to detect any form of industrial espionage. As they quite rightly sensed upon me pulling out my camera, I was really planning to use the pictures of my kid looking around their kitchen as research material for the next McCurry outlet opening in town.

Hamburglar would have been proud had I got away with it.

Nonetheless, it was still all smiles as we wrapped up the trip with a customary pose with the red afro clown himself.

From the photos, you can clearly see that she’s lovin’ it!

Slowly enjoying her first taste.

It feels gooey!

Smacking her lips. Now give me more!

In addition to that, Alicia had also learnt how to lie on her tummy quite recently. Don’t know exactly when it started, but looked like she had been practicing for quite a bit already. She can keep her neck up for a full minute before plonking her head down on the bed in exhaustion. I’m now just waiting for the day I turn around and see her tap dancing behind me, giving me that you-should-spend-more-time-looking-at-me-rather-than-the-computer look.

My hand, the makeshift pacifier

Reach out!

Happy

At the park

Sisters

Here are some pictures of nice cupcakes that were ordered by Zhiyi to celebrate Alicia being one month old. They were all handmade and such beautiful works of art. Felt sad having to eat them because they were so nice to look at.

Nonetheless, we really want to take this chance to say thank you to everyone who had visited Alicia and showered her with attention and gifts, as well as to God for keeping her healthy and safe.