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Installation:
I opted to upgrade from Vista and installation was a breeze, took shorter time than expected, just slightly over an hour.
First Impression:
It's faster.
The most obvious difference is boot time. Merely 40 seconds to get to a fully functional desktop but perhaps it's premature to take that speed for granted. Shutting down was even faster. Responsiveness with programs is speedier too and I certainly hope it stays that way.
Even getting connected to the wireless network is a whole lot easier. All it took was just a couple of clicks for the first connection and I was online instantly.
Changes:
Windows 7 presents itself as a polished and more artistic version of Vista.
The new task bar is a quick task launcher as well as a task switcher (which allows you to toggle between different windows of the same program). Took some getting used to but it's pretty smooth so it's good. My only grouse is that when I am on MSN and several people message me at the same time, I can't tell who messaged me just by looking at the task bar, I need to mouse over the MSN icon first.
Aero peek: It's a small little bar on the far-right end of the task bar and just a click on it gets me access to my desk top immediately without having to minimise all my open windows. It's the same fearure as Show Desktop on Vista just that they streamlimed the icon to a neat little bar.
The Libraries folder at Windows Explorer organises all documents into different categories despite their locations. This new structure is an excellent time-saver as I always have to retrieve different files at different locations and accessing the different drives/devices was such a waste of time.
The Hiccups
So far, so good but there were of course hiccups that I encountered. Firstly, some of my applications were not compatible with Windows 7 such as my firewall and anti virus software. That was such a big headache as I refused to go online till I've resolved the issues.
After I fixed that, I realised that there was no audio! Initially, I thought it was some driver incompatibility issues but there was no problem when I checked. Thankfully, a quick search online surfaced that it was a common issue and it turned out that I had to turn off the head phones volume to get my speakers volume back.
Certain programs like Windows Movie Maker and Outlook Express are not available but they can be added on for free with Windows Live download.
There are also limitations with W7 as I could not do what I could do on XP previously. This is probably my greatest complaint.
Verdict:
If you're using Vista then yes, Windows 7 is definitely worth the upgrade.
I personally prefer XP the most but Windows 7 is efficient and user-friendly so it'll stay in my new lappie. And I'll use my reliable old Fujitsu which is still running on XP for the things that I can't do with the new lappie. Can't have best of both worlds, yet...., I suppose! :)
A week of farewells and arrivals. While we rejoiced with our friends on the arrival of their newborns this week, we noticed that there were some farewells for our friends' relatives too.
We're also in the state of mourning as we bade farewell to Derick's grandmother who passed away peacefully on Wednesday. She lived 86 honourable and admirable years.
Gabriel may not have a deep impression of his great grandma but he will learn as he grows older how she would always smile brightly whenever Gabriel visited her. He'll learn of how resilient and cheerful she was despite all the hardships she had endured.
Derick misses her. He didn't say it but it shows.
I've prayed for wisdom to offer words of comfort to him but to no avail.
We'll always remember, honour and love you, dear great grandma and your love will stay in our hearts.
That was the question that Gabriel, along with many of our neighbours' kids, shouted as we went door to door for the Halloween custom.
Our neighbours who stay directly below us invited us for a trick-or-treat trail in our estate. We gamely accepted the invitation and joined in the fun. This is the first time that Gabriel has gone on a trick or treat trail.
I asked Gabriel what he would like to dress up as and of course, he said Thomas. He did not want to be a ghost, a wizard, a train conductor or anything else when I showed him the various costumes at a party shop days before the event. So, I saved the money in buying a costume and dressed him simply with his Thomas overall. He carried his little Thomasland box as his Treat or Trick stash box .
We were pleasantly surprised at the large turnout despite the heavy downpour. The kids and parents were all dressed up , there were ghouls, vampires, witches, Transformers, fairies, devils etc. Gabriel was hesitant at first as some kids donned scary masks. He said "Mummy, let's go home. Very scary." But once he saw that they were just kids wearing masks, he relaxed and played with them. By the time, we we went around the 5th house or so, Gabriel got the hang of the routine and would independently get his treats and keep them in his box.
His little box soon overflowed and Gabriel was so happy with the treats that he didn't stop grinning. After the trail, we chilled out at our neighbour's house and got to know more friends. It was a real treat for us too!
I prepared the greens and the seafood while Derick took care of the meat. While one of us was in the kitchen, the other would look after Gabriel.
I was in the kitchen first and this is my menu:
Sauteed Broccoli with Asparagus
Grilled Tiger Prawns with Creamy Tangy Dressing
Derick served medium rare ribeye steak as well as tender juicy lamb cutlets
Two combined efforts, One satisfying meal:
We appreciated each other's culinary efforts by polishing every bit of the food.
I really loved the succulent lamb cutlet, it was done to perfection! Derick praised the special sauce that I mixed on my own and declared the prawns his favourite dish.
It was the best home-cooked meal ever, as we filled our stomachs and fed our egos (with each other's compliments). Looking forward to more!
I'm responsible for the fact that Gabriel loves Noddy and the other characters in Toyland. Since his birth, I've been reading Noddy stories to him and also purchased the entire Make Way for Noddy DVD series fo him. He loves the songs from the series. I think right after Thomas and Friends, Noddy would be Gabriel's next favourite fictional character.
I was a huge fan of Enid Blyton when I was a child. My mum always reminds me of the incident where I refused to cut my long hair and the only way to persuade me was that I got to choose an Enid Blyton book at MPH. I loved Malory Towers, Naughiest Girl in School, Wishing Chair, St Clares series amongst many others. Of course, I read Noddy and his adventures in Toyland and I wanted Gabriel to enjoy the same magical experience.
Gabriel asked a lot of questions after that news segment. He asked where Noddy was, what happened to Noddy and Mr Plod etc . When I told him that they'll be launching a new book to celebrate Noddy's 60th birthday, he immediately told his daddy that he wants the book. :) We sang a song on Bumpy dog and recounted a story about Sly and Gobbo.
The boy chanted "Noddy! Noddy!" excitedly all the way to bed time. I wondered if he dreamt of Toyland?!
Gabriel loves colouring the trains.
He was very pleased that I displayed his art on the door and he would show it proudly to every guest that came to our house.
He asked to do the colouring the next day so I let him work on this Henry piece.
Henry is a green engine and Gabriel knows that very well. However, he accidentally took the brown marker meant for the tracks and coloured over Henry's body when he wanted to touch up his art. Gabriel exclaimed " Oh NO!" when he saw what he did. Then I asked him what happened. Gabriel examined his picture for a long time, finally he replied "Henry go sand play. Henry body has sand and is dirty." I thought that was a very creative answer!
I displayed his Henry art on the door too. When Derick came home later the evening, Gabriel rushed to tell him the same story!
One of Gabriel's favourite neighbour-khaki is Lucas from the block just next to ours.
The interesting thing is that Lucas, who is of Swiss-Dutch parentage just came over to Singapore a couple of months ago and he is still picking up English and Mandarin, and yet the two boys can communicate effectively!
Lucas is 4 years old so Gabriel likes to imitate him. Lucas has a brother who is the same age as Gabriel but both Gabriel and Lucas seemed to prefer playing with each other.
Cheeky and Happy Gabriel:
Lucas' mummy and I are planning a trip to Hort Park soon so that the boys can play ball together. Think the boys would love that! :)
I like that at Chiltern House, the kids (even at such a young age) are exposed to the various festivals and cultures that we celebrate. I was thrilled to be able to bring Gabriel for his play club session the day they celebrated Deepavli.
Most of the kids came dressed in Indian constumes, even the ang-mohs (caucasians) sported the sari and sherwani. Unfortunately, I did not get Gabriel any Indian costume. Nonetheless, Gabriel was introduced to Deepavli, the festival of lights.He even knows that the dot on the forehead is a bindi after he received one from teacher Claire. That was something that I learnt too- that it's called a bindi! :)
Free play:
Tuning in activity: Henna painting. Gabriel requested for Thomas but Teacher CT said she could not draw that. So, Gabriel asked for Mr Sun:
Gabriel with the bindi on his forehead:
Teacher Claire lit a little candle lamp during story time and the kids got to decorate their own lamps for art. (That was on top of the usual 2 art activities for the letter of the day). During snack time, parents brought some Indian cakes and snacks to share with the whole class. I thought that was lovely.
I enjoyed the class very much and I believe Gabriel too. He hasn't stop using the words "Yippeee! Yahoo! and Yay!" since he learnt them during that lesson on the letter Y. :)
We ordered the $148++ per person hairy crab 6 course set dinner. There's a one for one promotion.
Menu:
Baby cucumber with minced garlic
Doubled-boiled shark's bone soup with superior shark's fin
Steamed hairy crab
Braised whole abalone with sea cucumber
Shanghai rice cake with hairy crab roe
Chilled white fungus with red dates
We also enjoyed the Peking Duck that was complimentary as we had more than 4 persons dining.
These were the pictures taken by Gabriel:
Pictures taken by my sisters:
My parents praised the dishes and we're just glad that Dad enjoyed himself.
Wishing my dad excellent health and abundant joy always! :)
Gabriel is rather sensitive to numbers.
We've observed that he's more inclined to numbers than words (just like his daddy). He could count much earlier before he could recite the alphabet. He tends to spot numbers first before identifying the colours, the shapes then the letters. He reads numbers off car plates, memorises telephone numbers (so much so that when the phone rings, he sees the caller ID he knows if it's his grandma calling), knows which block, level and unit number our house is at and can read any 2 digit number and use his fingers to show you the 2 digit numbers like 23 ( one hand shows 2 fingers, one hand shows 3 fingers). When he sees 0, he is inclined to say zero rather than "o" unless the "O" is in words.
That's not all, he sees numbers everywhere, from how the noodles on his plate can be twirled to be number 9 and then he turns the plate around and says it's number 6. He picks twigs on the beach and arranges them to look like 4 or 7 or 11. He raises his fingers to show 7 (pointer and thumb) on both hands, joins them together and tells me it is a triangle.
So we were not surprised when my mother-in-law recounted this incident that happened recently:
It was around 2.00pm in the afternoon. Gabriel asked for a cup of Milo but my mother in law told him that he should finish his snacks first and he can have his Milo at 3pm. She pointed to the clock and said in Mandarin to wait for the clock to be 15: 00 to be 3pm. Gabriel accepted the instruction and ate his snacks. My MIL forgot about the Milo as Gabriel went on to play with his toys. At 3pm sharp, Gabriel pulled my MIL to the clock and pointed it to her and told her it's time for his Milo.
........................................
If Gabriel is sensitive to numbers, he's crazy about Thomas. ;P
Before Gabriel learnt to spell his own name, he has learnt not only to spell T-H-O-M-A-S but also write T H O (still stuck with M currently) independently. He can "smell", "hear" and detect anything related to Thomas and Friends even when the item is remotely hidden. :P
He is determined to complete 60 pieces of Thomas puzzle and he does it successfully even at his first attempt of a new picture, refusing any help from us. He can look at one jig saw piece and tell you instantly which engine the piece is from. Even if the piece only shows something like 1/100 of the wheel of the engine. Gabriel has thus far completed 4 boxes of 60 pieces of Thomas puzzles independently and asking for more.
The way that Gabriel does his puzzles is very different from us. He does not do the borders first. Instead he fishes out pieces of the different engines and completes the different engines first before putting them altogether. He takes a much longer time with back ground pieces like blue skies or green trees with no engines. But he is rather systematic, matching pieces patiently till he finds the correct fit. And once he completes, he likes to mess it all up again and re-do it all over again.
This is Gabriel's favourite puzzle thus far:
I am going to jot down a few classic ones so that Gabriel can laugh at himself when he is older. ;P
Episode 1:
At the lift lobby after a swim.
Derick: Gabriel, press the "up" button for the elevator.
Gabriel rushed forward and tapped the "up" button several times.
The button did not light up.
Derick: Use more strength, Gabriel!
Gabriel pushed the button with visibly more effort. For about three times or so.
The button still did not light up.
Finally, in a move out of frustration, Gabriel pressed the "down" button and it lit up instantly.
Gabriel then turned around to face us and pointed to the "up" button.
Then he declared loudly: " No battery!"
Episode 2:
At home on a weekday afternoon.
Gabriel handed me the cordless phone and said : "Mummy call 姨姨" (aunts)
Me: But your 姨姨s are in school. They're not at home.
Gabriel: Call 姨姨's school.
Me: Even if I call 姨姨's school, I don't know where they are.
Gabriel ponders for a moment and said "Call 姨姨's teacher"
Me: I don't know who '姨姨s teachers are!
Gabriel: Teacher Sharon! (That's his teacher!)
Episode 3:
Gabriel's grandparents like to ask Gabriel to state the full names of all his family members.
From grandparents to parents to uncles, aunts and cousins. The boy can name them all.
Once, Gabriel smugly named all his relatives after my mum questioned him. I threw in a last question.
Me: What's your dialect name?
Gabriel looked up at me, hesitant for a moment and then he proudly replied, " Thomas."
A quick update for concerned friends and family: We've been very busy (what's new?!).......especially at work.
I've maintained my bonding hours with Gabriel so that I am still his main care-giver. Naturally, updating this blog is low priority.
Even though there're endless things to take care of, I am really thankful that we were disciplined enough to complete the following:
1) Got myself a new pair of glasses. (Though it's similar to my previous pair, I like the old pair more)
2) Confirmed vacation details (flight and accommodation) with my parents and sisters for a Christmas and New Year's celebration. We'll be counting down and starting 2010 out of Singapore. :)
3) Toured the pre-schools all over our neighbourhood, compared curriculum, discussed and prayed about plans for next year. More importantly, we finally made a decision on the long-standing matter of whether I take leave again to homeschool Gabriel, to let him stay home and continue with enrichment classes or to let him start Nursery 1. Will blog more on that later (if I have the time).
4) Purchased our my new note book on Sunday (It's a gift from Derick!). I love the the new HP lap top very much! With advice from our I.T savvy friends, we got a higher-end model (in terms of configuration) and I'm enjoying the 2.53ghz processing speed and 4GB RAM. I'm still waiting for my complimentary Win 7 software to arrive this week before I can upgrade the OS. Read that Win 7 is faster and much more user-friendly. Hopefully it'll be a breeze to upgrade.
The only negative news is that Gabriel was down with a slight cold which affected him in the morning when he is just awake. He'd cough and had a lil' bit of runny nose. Did not bring him to a doctor, hopefully he'll recover with more rest and water as well as our prayers and more hugs. As a precaution not to affect his play mates and classmates, we did not let him attend his class on Monday and no playground and play dates the past 2 days. The boy was staring out of the window and asked for his friends (Lucas in particular!). As compensation, I brought him to our neighbourhood mall the past evenings and the boy is enjoying the newly renovated toys section at Isetan. He is still waiting for the Thomas and Friends section to be ready (next week, according to the sales assistant).
PS: Just called home to check with my mother-in-law: she said Gabriel did not cough and no more runny nose (praise God!) so he'll attend his class today. :)
Dear Father Lord, Thank You for Gabriel's full recovery from his cold. We pray that You keep Gabriel in excellent health always. In Jesus name we claim and give thanks, Amen!
I want nobody, nobody, nobody, nobody"
Our lil' boy is a "wonder boy".
When Gabriel first heard the song "Nobody" by Wonder Girls, he commented that it's "so funny!"
And eversince then, the boy has been repeating the chorus, complete with the dance moves and actions. It's really amusing! Sometimes, he changes the lyrics to "I want nobody, nobody but Thomas!" *cheeky!* :)
Several months have passed since we shifted in but we're still making regular visits to the beach...at least twice a week! The greatest motivation has got to be that the beach is right here at our door step so it's really convenient to pop by.
We usually visit early morning or evening. I prepare simple snacks and finger food. Derick gets the sand tools ready. Sometimes Gabriel rides his tricycle.
It doesn't bother us that we don't have crystal clear water or sparkling clean sand here. Every visit to the beach is a bonding time. It's a time to relax, hold hands, get our feet sand-dusted and be really joyful. The fresh air, blue skies, calming waves and sea breeze are always so welcoming!
Sand play is a must for Gabriel and it's a time for him to get creative.
Sand tools that we can't leave home without: Thomas, Percy and Bertie join us every excursion to the beach!
Father and son racing to the waves:
Getting the feel of waves rushing in:
"Mummy, my pants are wet!"
Staying near the beach really is an advantage! :)
Brought him to the roof top garden and he was exhilarated. Derick and I, meanwhile chilled out under the stars and moonshine.
Gabriel took this shot for us just before the dinner commenced:
The boy kept himself entertained throughout the night and Derick was enjoying himself with the expensive selection of wine and hard liqour as he didn't have to drive home. :P
I'd like to think that all these exposure paid off. With all the play dates and little guests coming to our house, we observed that Gabriel always took the initiative to invite the kids to his "Thomas room" and he would eagerly share his toys with them. Like he would gladly share his collection of Thomas toys with Hiroshi kor kor, letting him play with Jeremy the plane (that's one of Gabriel's most prized possesion). He also would coax some kids (who were reluctant to play at first) like Erica and Sophia by bringing out toys and introducing the engines to the girls. And he would tug their sleeves or hold their hands and say "Come! Come! Come! Let's go to the Thomas room!"
Here is Gabriel leading Aurora to the play room:
Derick pointed out that Gabriel could be willing to share because he has many toys. But I think Gabriel has shown that he can take turns and share even if there was only one toy. Just like the other day, he waited for Grace to play with the bubbles fan patiently before he could have his turn.
The real challenge, I guess, would be when Gabriel has a sibling. Well, if he does get a sibling, hopefully, he'll be willing to share and take turns like how he is now. :)
Japanese Fever: Post- Tokyo trip, we had at least 3 rounds of Japanese treats for our guests. I had to cheat with pre-mixed sachets for the miso soup as I was clueless on how to get the soup base done. Really put all the bento and sushi making tools to good use!
Asian delights: Curry chicken with potatoes
Grilled asparagus and poached prawns accompanied with chili padi in sweet sauce:
Western breakfast:
And for the little guests, this brunch was specially prepared for our godson's birthday and the arrival of his sister, Natalie Antartica!
Bite Size Toast:
For princess Aurora:
Toppings for the ice cream! We decided on the ice cream waffles just the night before. Thankfully, there's a well-stocked 24 hours Cold Storage just around the corner so I shopped for these goodies just after midnight. Surprised to find that quite a few people shop so late too! And even more surprised that the supermarket was less than 10 minutes stroll away!
Here's what our godson created for himself, this was before he decided to help himself to the whipped cream:
Didn't take pictures of the other food served ..... :)
I really had fun being chef! Looking forward to the next few sessions coming up really soon! Just hope that Derick and Gabriel don't get sick of my cooking as they are the guinea pigs that have to sample my dishes every time! :P
Gabriel had a very happy children's day and it started bright and early with Gabriel having a special treat for breakfast. I cooked cream of chicken soup and toast for him which was followed by waffles with ice cream.
After a hearty breakfast, Gabriel was pleased that I let him wear the shirt and pair of socks that we bought from Thomasland. As it was drizzling, we had to hail a cab (thankfully, there was one just right at our door step) to get to Polliwogs for his playdate.
We reached Polliwogs just minutes after its opening hour and yet it was already very crowded. Gabriel's playmates have arrived. Without hesitation, Gabriel dived right into the toddlers' ball pool to join lil' Caitlyn.
Gabriel has already started on his second set of fun pass so you can imagine how many times we've been patronising Polliwogs which is an ideal venue for his playdates. I went in with Gabriel to remind him to take turns and not to play rough. It was there we bumped into Shan Shan and Chloe and their mummies. However, Gabriel was not gentlemanly enough to say hello to his little friends as he rushed to climb up to the highest slide and made his way down the slide himself (as that was what he has been doing all along). So I left him to play on his own while I went to chat with the mummies.
Isaiah wasn't having much fun so his mummy decided to leave early. After hours of play, the kids appeared restless. Gabriel also got distracted with the gift that Grace's mummy has given him- a Thomas bubble fan toy.
So we went outdoors to play bubbles, I am certain Gabriel enjoyed this segment the most :)
Gabriel with his gift and Nicholas kor kor:
Gabriel and Grace taking turns:
Gabriel and Lucas:
Boy in Delight:
Gabriel joining Sammuel kor kor in the big float:
After a fun-filled and exciting first half of the day, we headed home for Gabriel to take his nap before continuing his Children's Day celebration. (to be continued...)
What's a vacation without shopping?
This time, we were wiser, packing minimally, leaving plenty of luggage space for our loots. Thankfully, we only exceeded our baggage allowance by less than few hundred grams. (phew!)
One can find Thomas and Friends merchandise easily at shopping malls and of course at Thomasland. Here are my favourite top 3 buys from Japan (Thomas-related).
1) Thomas and Friends Aqua Doodle Wall Mat/Paper. This has gotta be my happiest buy! :) 
Unlike the aqua doodle mat which is heavier and smaller, this large piece of aqua paper is now mounted in Gabriel's playroom (aka Thomas Room) on the special custom-made white board that we designed for him in our new house.
I have been trying to find a solution to let Gabriel draw on the white board without having to worry about the wall paper all around the house. We figured that he is too young now to be disciplined to confine his "paintings and writings" to just the white board so we have yet to let him use the white board marker.
Now with this aqua wall mat, everyone is happy! Gabriel gets to scribble all he wants to his heart's content. Mummy gets to teach Gabriel using the white board and Daddy doesn't worry a single bit about the wall paper and sofa being ruined by marker stains.
We don't even need a duster as the paper dries within 2 minutes and by the time Gabriel is done with one corner of the paper, the other corner has dried and ready for him to use. No need to buy markers or refills, just fill the pen with water! The only con is that the paper dries so quickly, we need to take pictures of what Gabriel has written or drawn before it dries. Example: Gabriel wrote the number 3 the first time and Derick and my sisters were shouting for me to come in to look but it has faded and I only caught a glimpse of the light shade of the number of 3.
Here is the aqua doodle mat on Gabriel's white board:
Gabriel can now write 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9 , 10 and 11 on the board. He can also write several letters like e, p, C, T, X, O and draw a happy face complete with eyes and a nose.
top right: Gabriel's 9, bottom left: Gabriel's 3 and bottom right, Gabriel writing 2.
Top left: Gabriel's e, top right and bottom left: Gabriel drawing happy face (when you ask him why are there so many dots on the face, he said those are the eyes, nose and eye brows), bottom left: the 11 on the left is eleven, the II on the right are Thomas's whistles on his train. That was how Gabriel explained it 
2) Thomas and friends token-slot machine. It was Derick who first spotted it and he was intrigued. We were determined to buy it even though the box containing it was rather large.
I like that it's good hand-eye coordination practice for Gabriel. It's so fun that even adult guests who visit us at our house also enjoy playing with it!
Our god son Glacier and his sister, Aurora having fun with it:
3) Thomas and friends books and jigsaw puzzles as well as bento sets and tools. 
For Gabriel and Derick, the 3rd spot would go to the Thomas Pocket Fantasy series that we bought from Tokyo. But for me, the learning materials and games that we picked up from the Japanese book stores were much more interesting. Their kids' learning resources focus on right brain training and just browsing through the education section at Kinokuniya took us more than an hour and we were there till the store closed! It was very inspiring for me and I would carry out some of the activities with Gabriel.
At Thomasland, I purchased some bento making tools and I am ranking them as the tie at 3rd spot because I've been using them at least thrice a week to make meals presentable and fun for Gabriel and his little friends who came over!
We also bought some clothes, shoes, toys etc that can't be found here in Singapore and so it's been a very fruitful trip for us! :)
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