Zee Zou’s left thumb got slammed by a glass door last weekend. It was a scary scene, her face and hands were covered by blood. She was in great pain and was touching her hands and face. It was after cleaning her up that we realised that she had a deep cut in her left thumb.  The bleeding wouldn’t stop, so was her crying.

We ended up at the hospital A&E and did an X-ray.  The doctor said that this was known as ”crush injury” and Zee Zou needed some stitches on her wound. As her thumbnail was also blackened from the accident, the doctor added that they needed to take out the nail and check her nailbed. Ouch…

She was too young to go through stitching without sedation. As the injection took effect, she drifted into a dream like stage with her eyes opened. This was called “conscious sedation” and my heart ached while seeing her go through the whole process.

Her thumb is still in bandage and with support to help her bone heal.

I wandered if there was anything I could do as a mother to prevent the accident.

On the other hand, I tell myself that I need to let her explore without too much unnecessary interference.

“Boy, don’t go there. It is so dangerous.”

“Girl, don’t climb. You will fall.”

“Don’t do this and don’t do that.”

Sounds over protective? I find myself saying such words more often as Zee Zou grows older and challenges the boundaries.

I heard from some experts that instead of saying “don’t do this”, say “go do that”. For example, instead of saying “don’t climb the slide”, say. “let’s go see the butterflies”.

Easier said than done. You have to be quick witted, physically fast and emotionally strong to deal with a child’s ever growing demands to explore more about this world.

Who says being a parent is easy!

Was video recording Zee Zou’s cousin’s first  birthday in the first week of June and realised the video recording of Zee Zou’s first birthday was left untouched.

Decided to try the trailer template on IMovies and had a nice surprise. This IS both the trailer and movie of what happened half a year ago. Zee Zou was sick that day so was not active and bubbly like her usual self. In fact, the only time I remembered her smiling was when we sang the birthday song. For her, this song is associated with happy thoughts and one should clap and smile.

听了觉得挺好笑，我们这些大人每天花时间护肤，坐在镜子前化妆，为的就是拥有婴儿般的肌肤，或是制造错觉，让别人以为自己有婴儿般的肌肤。

美容院提供美甲、美发和化妆等美容服务，可以想像有如此消费能力的家长应该是有钱有闲之辈。

业者说，小朋友美发后，信心大增。

我不否认外表吸引人，会给一个人加分，但是孩子年纪小小就过于注重外貌，是否会引发不必要的虚荣心。

小孩天生丽质，就因为他（她）纯真可爱，请不要太早抹杀这份美丽。

小孩刚出世时，视线有限（初生婴儿都是如此），但是对声音极其敏感。老公认定，小孩爱听音乐，出院时，买的第一份礼物是送给女儿的 IPod。这是新世代父亲送的礼物，而且妈妈彻底被女儿打败。

小孩活泼好动，爱恨分明，兴奋时大声笑，不如意时大声哭，完全不把旁人眼光放在眼里。

自在生活，真好!

So what do you do when you want to eat these tasty food and at the same time, have a child who does not sit still, unless she is in a baby chair?

The answer is we bring our own baby chair.

The result is a happy Saturday breakfast, with my girl happily munching in her chair while daddy and mummy enjoy good prata.

Very “on” right? Talking about Singaporeans who love to eat.

灵感来自电影”500 days of Summer”，电影讲述男主角和名叫Summer 的女孩，500天分分合合的恋情。电影特别之处在于不按照时间顺序的剪辑，第一天相识后，跳到X天之后的分手，然后Y天之前的热恋等等。

365天的诗曌，从小婴儿沐浴（女儿，别担心，妈妈把R（A）级的部分都剪掉了）到10个月自己吃饼干，快转到四个月时的翻身，再快转到11个月的踏出第一步。

365天，浓缩成七分多钟的片段。虽然我懂得用相对复杂的剪辑软件，但是这部小电影不同阶段的画面是用 IMovie 衔接起来的。说到这个软件，实在太好用了。不须耗费太多脑力，简简单单就可以把片段衔接起来，效果又好。

这365天，让我经历半夜睡眼惺忪，哄着哭闹不止的宝宝，也体验了一开门，女儿扑向你的甜蜜感觉，多姿多彩。

I must said I was also very curious when my brother-in-law first asked me to join the Porn’s group in Facebook.

Well, Porn’s is the name of his new restaurant.

For those who have read or heard about the restaurant, Pornsak is NOT my brother-in-law, he is my brother-in-law’s business partner. For those of you who live in a cave, Pornsak is a well-known host who has hosted many popular variety shows on Channel 8 and Channel U, including many food shows.

For those who know me, yes, this brother-in-law is the handsome one whom many of you have asked me to introduce to you, your sisters or sisters-in-law or friends. If you don’t believe me, you are welcome to go to the Porn’s at 28, Liang Seah Street.

Men watching aside, this restaurant served sexy thai food, which is of good quality at reasonable prices.

You may say I say that because the owner is family. Yes, but I am also quoting the food reviews published in newspapers and magazines. (Yes, they got quite a number of reviews because Pornsak is a celebrity and this celebrity helps out at the kitchen, serves tables and cleans the toilets)

I say so, also because I see the efforts these two young men have put in, from sourcing the shop space, brain storming the kind of food to sell, looking for the freshest ingredients, finding the best chef etc etc.

By the way, my brother-in-law was a former MediaCorp TV producer who had also produced many food shows and comes from a family which runs a chain of restaurants.

If case you ask why “Porn”, this is because it means blessing in Thai, sounds cheeky in English, and captures attention in the marketing language.

After the press conference, this reporter sat down with the expert and asked him to outline how the information he has announced would affect a person in a real life example. This idea of putting yourself in the shoes of your audience became embedded in my mind. I learnt a lot from this experience.

We often say, tell the story in simple terms, so that Mr Tan from Ang Mo Kio can understand.

Today, I read the newspapers and saw this picture.

I thought this example of using vehicles of different sizes to describe the data space the different data formats take is very clever.

It is an excellent way to use a physical example that we are all familiar with to explain more abstract concepts.

Reporting on the Nicoll Highway Collapse.

Six years later, I revisited the site.

No physical trace of the tragedy…

But the memories linger in the minds and hearts of those who are affected…

I listened to them…

& they shared with me their journey of healing.

Come join us…

“Spirit of Singapore”

Tonight 830pm at Channel NewsAsia.

I thought I was able to “tahan” the warm weather, being a Singaporean. But it was still scorching hot.

Nevertheless, the sights were beautiful- the pyramids, the ancient temples, Nile River… there was so much to see and history was just round every corner.

Imagine the tour guide mentioning casually as our bus drove throught the city. “Oh, this wall was X thousands years old.”

The good thing about visiting Egypt during summer was that there were less crowds and queues and things were cheaper.

And no, I didn’t bring Zee Zou there. It was just too warm for a baby.

But we bought her some souvenirs…

You can imagine this going through her head:

“My parents went to Egypt without me & all I got is this touristy T-shirt from Egypt.”

(Inspired by Lynne Chee’s blog entry on the souvenir she got when she attended her friend’s wedding overseas.)