BREAKFAST WITH MY TWO FAVOURITE BOYS

Its rare that we don't have prata for breakfast during the weekends. Sometimes I think hubby & me have eaten so much prata since Ryan has taken a liking to eat, that we seldom eat it at other times (unless its to entice Ryan to eat something ... anything). Haha! I think we will be so sick of prata ... very soon. But then again, at the moment we don't really have a choice coz its Ryan's favourite food. Some may think of all the oil ... but I choose instead, to think of the nutritious egg he devours in his egg prata. We usually have prata every Sunday (or Saturday) morning, if we don't have a lot of errands to run or no other activities or family outings arranged.

That day was no different. Took some pics. Nothing special ... but then again, spending time with your loved ones ... is always SPECIAL!

Ah! A special moment with Mummy!

Let me prick myself with the fork ...

Ryan either looks afraid or tickled ... which one, I dunno?

Looking serious, as usual.

IT'S TRANSFORMERS TIME !

Ok, I wasn't gonna let Ryan go to his 1st movie without a blog post. As I was mentioning about Ryan's latest love affair with Bumble Bee, it is only right that I write about his first movie adventure, watching Transformers. Why did we choose Transformers 2? Because Hubby wanted to see Wolverine & my mum promised to baby-sit Ryan whilst we go see it but alas it never worked out coz mum was always busy, tired, or otherwise unwell (no such luck). As we have no other alternative baby-sitting "services', we had no choice but to haul our son with us if we wanted to see a movie. So, we chose Transformers ....

Before we brought him to see the 2nd Transformer movie, we decided to have a dry run with the first movie at home, on DVD. It turned out that he loved the show. He even managed to keep rather still, quiet & was equally engrossed throughout the whole movie. That gave me the encouragement to bring him to the sequel of the movie.

Hubby was on leave (it was a weekday), so the tickets prices were cheaper. Ryan did not need a ticket because he was under 3 years old. We left home early & took the bus & train, to have the usual brekkie of prata. Whilst awaiting, the start of the movie, we walked around & as usual, Ryan wanted to have a go at some of the usual rides.

Father & son, posing in front of the Transformers II movie poster.

Its Ice Age 3, our next movie change ...

We did go to watch the Ice Age movie the following week or so. Ryan was still as clingy to me but it wasn't half as bad as the Transformers. I would think that it being an animation movie, cartoons & all that he wouldn't be scared stiff, but I was wrong. I understand if Ryan was afraid of the Autobots-Decepticons waging a war, explosions, high-octane show but this was a kiddy movie that had (cute) animals & dinosaurs (his favourite). Alas, Ryan was still as petrified in the pitch dark theatre. He thoroughly enjoyed the first Ice Age movie at home but he didn't enjoy it as much in the movies. Maybe seeing the shows on DVDs in the comforts of home, where you can talk, move, pause, eat - all in "bright" daylight was more comforting than watching a movie on the gargantuan screen in darkness. Oh well, at least I tried! I just hope in the future Ryan will enjoy going to the movies as both his parents are movie freaks.

Of course sometimes, its actually cheaper to rent or borrow DVDs from the stores or friends, coz a ticket price for a weekend movie is sooo expensive. A family of three can easily spend $9.50 x 3 + parking charges + drinks & snacks + meals after the movie. etc. So if you have more than 1 kid, it usually does not make sense to trudge the whole family ... you will have spent a bomb, might as well purchase the DVD when its out, & you get to watch over & over again. Just my 2-cents ....

My baby, sitting on the steps of the entrance of the theatre.

How cute!

Father & son, posing on the cinema steps!

Mummy & Ryan pose awhile, before going in the theatre.

Ryan playing beside the movie mock-up of latest animation "Up".

So my son didn't really get to enjoy his first 2 movies but I have hopes that it will be a better experience the next time. I hope Ryan will always remember this experience coz nothing makes me happier than being able to introduce new & exciting things to my little one. I hope I can think of many more incredible things for Ryan to try & experience, in the future. As long as the activity does not cost too much, we will definitely be up for it. Till then ...

P.S : I didn't notice that when I was trying out the size of the pics to a "Large" in the previous entries, it automatically stayed that way (as a default). Errm ... no wonder the pics are sooo much bigger. Well since the photos are already posted, I won't be changing its size now. I dunno ... maybe the larger size will grow on me ... I just have to wait & see. Hhm, the only thing I don't really enjoy with these larger pics ... that I would look even LARGER than I already am (is that even possible?) ... am I asking too much ... haha!

MY NAME IS ... OPTIMUS PRIME !

Ok ... since watching "Transformers - Revenge Of The Fallen", our whole family ... presumably our munchkin has been obsessed about them. Ironically, our first trip to the movies with Ryan would be unforgettable for the fact that he hung on to me like a petrified Koala Bear. He kept muttering "Scared! So dark! Go outside, light!" ... & other unintelligible words. I guess my boy was scared out of his wits since the theatre was pitch dark & the sound system blasting. Well, he was afraid during the show, but he sure liked them Transformers ... haha!

I wish Ryan liked Optimus Prime (like me). If Optimus was a man-human ... I bet he would be a real hunk - all shiny, colourful, powerful ... a very wise leader, with that oh so sexy-deep voice ... but predictably, Ryan likes the lovable Bumble Bee. Not that anything's wrong with Bum Bee (that's what Ryan calls it), just that Bumble Bee is either hard to find or the ones in the local stores are waaay too expensive for our pockets!

I wonder why the other range of Autobots or Decepticons are so much easier to locate in stores. Sigh! why does my boy always likes things that are obscure & expensive. Its not as if I can afford them ... He's been rather obsessive (how can I blame him when he takes after me ... being obsessive bout most things) about his Bumble Bee, always saying - "Buy, Bum Bee!" ... I wish I can baby, just need to find it & hope we can afford it!

In honour of Ryan's latest craze, I present to you a range of Bumble Bees. If anyone can find the latest Bumble Bee at an affordable 30 bucks or so, please let me know, ya!. It would make Ryan very, very happy. Meanwhile, at every toy store that we pass, we will still be looking for that elusive yellow Autobot called "Bum Bee"!

When Rayn saw these last two pics of Bumble Bee, he refused to "admit" that its Bum Bee, he calls them Mem-mem (any creature or robot that's not remotely human) ... haha! Silly boy ... its really Bumble Bee ... just a different edition, that's all. I guess even if I can locate & buy these two action-figures, he will probably reject them ... as "defects". I would have wasted my money then ... haha, the innocence of a child. He only only knows what he recognises ... nothing more, nothing less!

CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS

There are times in your life that you get to meet or work with some people that end up being more like friends that colleagues. I am a person who's not very good at keeping up friendships, especially after I leave a company. I guess that's why I am very surprised that me and my pal, Jessie, have been in close contact all these years. We were at first colleagues, later on friends ... getting closer over the years. We even had our children about a year apart. Ok, this post is not so much about my friendship with Jess but about our recent gathering with the folks that we used to work with. In fact, we had a previous meet-up a couple of years back but at that time, Jess & me didn't have our munchkins yet.

I used to work for Art (in the 90s) but he has since moved back to the US with his lovely wife, Christine & their (now) 2 teenage kids. Whenever they come visit Singapore, we always try to meet up, even if its for a simple lunch or dinner. This time round, they were here in June (yes ... I know I'm way behind ... coz its now July ... hehe!), so Jess & Vincent (my other ex-colleague) tried to gather as many OED-ians as we can. Though we have lost touch with some of them over the years, we still managed to have a decent gathering, this time round.

We had a buffet dinner & chatted the whole night. I felt kinda bad having to ask Hubby to take care of Ryan whilst I get to eat a nice buffet, which was coincidentally paid for (by the generous Mr Khoo), who used to work very closely with OED, in the past. Hubby said that Ryan was rather well behaved (was relieved to hear that) & they had a simple dinner. To please his boy, Hubby bought ... what else, a chocolate milkshake for him.

All in all, it was nice to be able to have some adult conversations, without being constantly "pestered" by my little boy. By the end of the night, Ryan & hubby re-appeared & Ryan immediately ran up to me to give me a hug ... haha, guess he missed me! Eventhough I enjoyed catching up with old friends that night (which I seldom do), it was a bit sad for me coz I felt oddly out-of-place. Why out of place? I guess being out of the workforce for so many years, all the career talk, silenced me. All I could talk about were about old times or my mundane life as a mum. Its not that anyone made me feel left out ... I kinda just felt that way. Of course I was still jabbering throughout the night, being my usual chatty self but I felt a little "SMALL" in my own way.

I guess being a housewife & mummy isn't all that glamorous. I don't dress up nor do I look like the modern Singapore woman - who is self-assured & confident. Infact, I am a very simple person who dresses very simply (some would even call it sloppy), I have gained so much weight that some people might not even recognise me but deep down I am the same person. Like I said, I don't have much to be proud of ... in my life, but I am still proud to be able to raise my son, single-handedly, with the help of my wonderful hubby.

Eventhough I may have left the career world behind for so many years, I have to admit that I do not miss it. I despise the office politics, the back-stabbing, the hypocrisy, the pretence to get along with colleagues (that you just wish would resign) or the fake smiles that you have to give everyday (to some very unlikeable people) in the office.

All in all I never regretted leaving the work force but I do miss the camaraderie ... sometimes. And of course, I do miss the luxury of earning my own keep & having the freedom to buy anything I wanted with my own money. These days the only times I dress up is for Hari Raya or special occasions. When you deal with a toddler day in day out & you're at home most times, whats the point of dressing up or make-up even? Well, alas ... all (good) lazy days must come to and end .. when Ryan goes to playgroup next year, my routine will change & so will I.

Until then ...

(From left : Art, Christine, me, Jessie, Patricia, Andrew, Khoo & Vincent. The small munchkin is of course my son, Ryan. Hubby took the picture)

Guess what! I even managed to dig out the 2 photos we took, when Art & his family, was in town a couple of years ago. My photo indicated that it was 2003 (was it sooo long ago?), so that was about 6 years back. As you can definitely see, I was definitely much slimmer than ... haha! Hubby was also in the pic coz we got one of the hotel guys to help us with the photo. The picture was also very blurry coz I think it was taken either with our regular camera or my old "lousy" digicam. I'm surprised that I even have it here in my computer, must have transferred the info from my old Gateway.

(From Left - Back Row : Malcolm, Bee Leng, Art, Chi Mun, Vincent) (Front Row : Barett, Sock Hoon, Christine, Devon, Jessie, Me, Hubby)

It was really fun, catching up with everyone. Before you know it, it was time to leave as it was getting late & waaay past Ryan's bedtime, when we got home. Unfortunately, when they arranged for another meet up the following week, we were not able to make it. Hhmm ... I heard they had lobsters, yummy!

Well, here's hoping that everyone had a great time. Hope that we can meet up again ... some day!