Welcome, Ye Ye!

OK, I have less than 48 hours before I pack Rosabelle and myself off on a flight back to Singapore, and I've been negligent in my updates on this blog as Wayne's Daddy came (and is leaving tonight). Gulp! (I have a motherload of an entry for my final Singapore-Sentosa post...)

What has happened since... I've come down with a bad flu since last Thursday, and at about the same time, suffered a bad neck from a wrong sleeping position. Yikes! So, afternoons/nights where I could have been getting ready in my packing or updating this blog, or getting a manicure, or getting a facial before I leave, I had to rest, and yesterday went to visit the chiropractor (Wayne's a regular there) who helped me massage (it's less painful now - phew!) and said I need long-term therapy as the curvature of my spine is now absent (normal spines have a degree of curvature - mine is like straight, and he said it's a build-up of at least 3, or maybe 10 years of such strain/bad posture. Woo hoo, just what I need right now. And I still sound/am nasal as I have finished my last dose of trusty Febs medicine from Singapore, and do not dare take any other as I broke out in rashes taking the local flu meds previously, not safe especially when I am still nursing... so hope this will really clear by the time Wednesday comes.

But back to Ye Ye - he came by on an overnighter train last Wednesday morning, and checked into a studio apartment just across our block (RMB200/night). Wayne's mum seems happy having him around (who wouldn't?), and joins him at night. Rosabelle took awhile to warm up to Ye Ye, giving him smiles, but not allowing him to touch/carry her on the first meeting - maybe it's because it's close to 2.5 months since they saw each other, but whenever he is out of her sight, she will call loudly 'Ye Ye! Ye Ye!', and he will answer '干什么', so she knows how to echo the '么' now... In fact, when Ye Ye went out of the car one day, Rosabelle started her fake crying of 'Ye Ye... Ye Ye', whining pitifully, but breaking into a smile and peeping at me through her closed, crying eyes - what a good actress...
The main reason of Ye Ye's visit was to celebrate his 60th birthday, and we went to this restaurant called 松鹤楼 on 27 May, coincidentally, the restaurant we brought him to when Wayne's parents met Rosabelle for the first time. He remembered the place served 佛跳墙 and wanted to try this delicacy for his birthday, and so we went, with our Queen first sitting on her throne in the reserved room...

Then Wayne doing the usual of entertaining her as we order the food and I have it prepared for her...

Or is it she is entertaining Daddy?...

She looked at the cups for serving 白酒 and shouted '要！要！要！' and we offered it to her. The cup, of course - the 'poison' served is just harmless water. She was pleased, but abit shy, to take the first sip...

See her pretending that she wants, and then not wanting it...

And there you go....ah...water served in another container tastes sweeter huh...

It was a good meal, and importantly, Dad's father was very pleased with the food, and Rosabelle was letting out intermittent '快乐' to wish him '生日快乐'. Her Chinese vocab is growing by leaps and bounds as she says two words like 倒水, 穿鞋, 手手脏, and can now complete the last word or two, or hum/sing parts on her own accord of limericks like小蘑菇 (and she can say that the 伞 in the song is 'um' as in umbrella), 大南瓜, 小袋鼠, 两只老虎, 找朋友. I tell you, kids have the best memory and she can pick it up after we recite it a few times - even I have trouble memorising as she learns at the same time as Mummy, aiyo!

That evening, Rosabelle rejected the pineapple we prepared for her as an after-nap snack - maybe she knew cake was coming? And so it did - almond cake from 21cake, tres yummy, where I only limited her to one slice, and even then, just the cake, and not the cream.

Rosabelle was clapping along, and sang 'Happy' (as she always does when she sees a picture of a birthday cake on a poster in our lift). If you ask her what we ate for Yeye's birthday, she can remember and say 'cake'.

The wordings on the cake read '六十大寿', when Wayne initially wanted '60', and I warned him it looks too much like China National Day wordings, haha!

Ye Ye normally goes for morning/evening walks, even finding a bunch of old men to play table tennis (his love) with, and would at times go buy food for cooking. He's more a morning person, and eats really fast, so he will scoot off for a smoke after his early meals. Think Rosabelle will miss Ye Ye when he leaves tonight, as he needs to go home to Zhengzhou first to get his identification card - he forgot to bring it to Beijing, and Wayne decided to bring his parents to Shanghai for Shanghai Expo this week for a few days since Rosabelle and I are not in. So, he will take the overnight train with his mum and meet his Dad directly in Beijing, where the dear Choons will provide nice, homely accommodation - so sweet of them!

It'll be a good trip and break for Wayne together with his folks, and Rosabelle and I will all miss them whilst in Singapore!