Mervyn Hoe: My Daily Happenings

Pre Planning Traveling with children is certainly impossible without a good planning and packing by Eve. For the past few days in Singapore, my children have been 'locked up' at home due to the quality of air due to the haze. We didn't see much of improvement on Saturday and decided that morning that I bring them overseas for a break. And Eve managed to book and plan the air tickets, hotel rooms and train rides to Taipei and Hua Lian within 3 hours! Really proud of her and something that I am unable to do it by my own. She spoke in Chinese, searched via TripAdvisor, availability of the train tickets from Chinese website! Hats off! Tip of the day: Marry a lady who is good in Chinese if you know yours is not good. Initially I wanted to go by my own with the children, but Eve feels that I am unable to cope by my own. Hence we also got her mum to help us!  It's the first time we travel without Eve because our baby is due soon. So I will blog about this 5 day Tai...

Well, before the haze, we went to Hort Park and it was Gardening Day! It was so fun and all of us managed to reach there at 9am, a feat because the children slept late the night before. There are booths of exotic plants and they even gave out organic fertilizers! And there are fruit plants and I taught Josh some of them. We also spotted fig plants! They are so beautiful. We brought Eve's mother and auntie along and it's certainly great mix of fun together with the children too. Weather was fine and the air was fresh. When I look at these pictures, I'm really amazed of how clean and clear our air was in Singapore! Something that we took granted of. These creepy crawlers were all around the grounds of Hort Park, just like in Botanic Gardens. Josh and Kate just kept pointing while walking on the pathway. Josh kept wanting Kate to touch them, so funny can? The plant architecture is beautiful and for this picture, Josh didn'...

I'm honestly a sensitive nose age guy. When the haze came, immediately my nose start to be runny. I even have thoughts whether should I go to marketing on the second day of the haze. I decided I have to go and I brought out a towel to cover my nose. People saw me with weird stares, but I have no choice. I went past a nearby clinic and I saw the clinic assistants wearing the masks. I straight away asked one of them whether can I purchase from them. They directed me to the TCM shop. And I am so glad when I saw it and I bought 6 of them. After I donned the mask, I felt the immediate difference. And it's so much comfortable to have a filter before your nose. I managed to get hold of the N95 mask, and it is so much better because it blocks the small particles. Love it. Me with the N95 mask. PS: It's named N95 because it can block out 95% of the particulates that are more than 0.3 micrometers. Hence that comes the number! I didn't know until this haze saga. ...

Blessed to have a family Actually I'm feeling blissful because of my family, children and work. When I return home from appointments, my children actually wait for me most of the time to make them to sleep! And they will quarrel at times to want me to make them sleep individually at the same time! So comical and I have to try different ways to explain to them that the only way is to sleep in between them. It is really a great priceless feeling for my children wanting me to accompany them. This is something which I feel sowing time in my family is worth it! The love they have for you is really amazing. Of course they would want Eve to make them sleep but because I just came back, they will want to grab me. Blessed to cook Preparing meals are my interest and now, Josh also follows me in the preparation of the food. His forte is to cut Xiao Bai vegetables by using the bread knife. He enjoys it and he loves eating his own cut vegetables too! I find it therapeutic for myself to cook for...

Wow! It's been a while since I have blogged! And it's certainly feels happy to be able to write down my thoughts once again.  Blogging history Recently we went to the Mummy exhibition and blogging was started from the ancient Egyptian times! Theirs are much more effort based. They made use of minerals for their drawings. And up till today, even the weather conditions didn't manage to remove the drawings! It's really amazing of how Egyptians put in so much effort in writing a post! (Side track: One thing about the trip is about a mummy they uncovered and he is 1.62m only! It was considered tall that time. And I'm 1.64m. Felt more consoled and happy!) I am glad that I have this blog for myself because it reminds me of what has happened (good, bad, happy and sad) and I do not have a mega memory to contain all of them! Love it. Children and diary Certainly I will encourage my children to write short stories of what they have experienced when they are older.  I can still...

Josh He now knows how to write numbers 1 to 20, and it's really amazing because now he practices on the white board. Even though some numbers are of obtuse proportion, they are recognizable as numbers! And he enjoys the writing especially when he makes a mistake. I didn't say it's ugly. I said, "Very good!" I can still remember when I was young, my numbers are not regular in shape too. It takes time and encouragement. Proud of him. He loves to see how funny we look when he does a mistake. And it makes the learning fun and engaging. Just imagine that I'm so serious and keep saying 'No.. no.' It's a stressed environment and he will find it not enjoyable and may not even want to carry on learning.  Look at the numbers! :) The '7' looks like it, just that the slant is towards the right. Kate Aeroplane sounds used to make her tremble and refuse to walk. And now, at playgrounds, I have to reassure her that it's ok. When th...

Kate Now Kate is more expressive now. These nights, Eve and I are rotating to be the 'chosen' ones to make Kate sleep. One moment, Kate wants Eve. Another moment, she wants me. And I was lying on the lower bed, pretending to sleep. And Kate came down from the King size bed, and asked me, "Daddy come. Daddy come here." She wants me to make her sleep on the bed. So sweet right? Kate is really a lady with lots of energy and enthusiasm. And when she did wrong thing, she will just make it so humorous. I spotted that the wall beside the whiteboard area was drawn! I asked Josh who did it, and Josh said it's Kate.  I asked Kate who drew it, and this is her response. 'ME! ME!' Exclaimed Kate and she is so proud that she did it. She is honest but the sense of enthusiasm implanted in her response make both Eve and I burst out laughing. And of course I asked her can? She said, "YES!", but I asked her again, and she said No. It's really so full of j...