Lilypie - Personal pictureLilypie Third Birthday tickers

Sunday, January 23, 2011

One for the Road

I’ve been busy cleaning up the house and packing things up since yesterday, as we fly off tonight. So in the spirit of keeping things in a ‘as in’ condition and not having to deal with grease/grime, we’ve been eating out since last night. Nainai also came along, as I figured it’d be our last proper pre-CNY reunion meal till we get home (tonight won’t count, as it will probably be rushed…).

We headed out after she woke up from her afternoon nap, going to Solana and ending up at a Taiwanese restaurant called Golden Spoon (been wanting to try the one at The Place, so finally got to visit it). The food was ok, and the portions quite reasonable, and even our girl enjoyed the Taiwanese fare as she fed herself independently. I think it was the first time in a long while that Nainai and Wayne saw Rosabelle feeding herself so well, and they were quite amazed at her appetite and ability, especially when she knows to clean up after herself and not create a mess in the first place. In the end, when all the adults were done, she was still eating spoonfuls of rice, haha! And then she called out, ‘服务员,买单!' on her own accord and the waitress actually heard and acknowledged it, haha! There was once when I shifted her high chair in and got her finger caught between the table – ouch! Of course she cried, but as quickly got over it…

After we were done with dinner, it was already close to 10pm, and the shops were closing, but we quickly went to the shopping area to walk off dinner. Our girl strangely kept wanting Nainai to carry, and even cried, making Nainai’s heart ache as she carried her up. I insisted that she not be carried and actually forcefully plucked her out of Nainai’s arms, as I was irritated that Nainai gave in to her demands. Of course that made her bawl even louder and I told her off for being so unreasonable, holding her hand and asking her to go back to the car and sit in the car seat if she was really so tired.

By this time, Nainai had cleverly hid away in the shops, so she was crying as she looked for Nainai – I must have looked the part of the evil stepmother who is never there, and thus has a daughter who is more attached to and looking for her Nainai, haha! Soon enough, she stopped crying and obediently just held Nainai’s hand. She NEVER asks to be carried when she is alone with me, so I don’t wish for ANYBODY to set a precedent. My mantra? If you are tired, let’s go home, or find a place to sit down. I am not going to carry you just because you are crying – you can bawl all you want in a corner and I will just move on without you, so there.

After that, we went to the children’s section at the basement, where we saw a Lego workman figurine she gamely posed with.
When she wanted to pose with another figurine inside (the shutters were actually already half-down), the lights in the shop suddenly went out, so she got worried and quickly scuttled out, haha… Then we came across a playhouse which belonged to some kids’ photo studio (but the staff had obviously already gone), so our girl went in and had the whole place to herself.
She played and rubbed against the house so much she had so much static – not sure if her porcupine 'do can be seen clearly from the photos, but it did look quite funny!
After that, we had to head upstairs for fear of the main exit being closed, and headed on home. In the car, she was again trying to be difficult, crying when Nainai sat in front instead of at the back with her (Nainai gets a tad carsick if she sits at the back), so I had to reason with her and tell her Nainai will get a headache if she sits with her at the back. After she calmed down, she could tell me 'Nainai headache’, showing that she at least understood and was being reasonable. After that, I told her that she was being naughty in the shopping center in crying for Nainai to carry her. She nodded in agreement, and as we were getting down the car, she told me, ‘不用奶奶抱, 下来 hold hands自己走...' good! Lesson learnt!

And so I’m having the luxury of time to blog my last post before we head off tonight – I asked Wayne to bring Nainai and Rosabelle out for lunch, and they left me with about 4 hours to blast some dance music and clean/clear up without anybody getting in the way. Turns out they headed to Yu Island at The Place for some activity time at the different play stations before heading for lunch, and hopefully it was fun for them all since it’s the first time they were bringing her out without me, heh! Of the snacks I prepared for her, they could not get her to eat the cheese, and forgot to feed her the pomelo, haha… At least it gives them some alone time before their dear Yue Yue goes off for a month – can imagine how much they’d miss her!

No comments: