Tiny Dancer

When I watched Almost Famous in the movies so many years back. I fell in love with this Elton John song. So much that i played it every day for about 2 months. Yesterday when Wenyinyin was bouncing up and down at the back of the car, it reminded me of this song.

Wenyinyin... this song's for you.

Tiny Dancer

Elton John

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band
Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man
Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand
And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Jesus freaks out in the street

Handing tickets out for God

Turning back she just laughs

The boulevard is not that bad

Piano man he makes his stand

In the auditorium

Looking on she sings the songs

The words she knows, the tune she hums

But oh how it feels so real

Lying here with no one near

Only you and you can't hear me

When I say softly, slowly

Hold me closer tiny dancer

Count the headlights on the highway

Lay me down in sheets of linen you had a busy day today

Blue jean baby, L.A. lady, seamstress for the band

Pretty eyed, pirate smile, you'll marry a music man

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand

And now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand

Sleeping through the night.

Wenyinyin has been sleeping very well. (A bit too well for mummy xiu) For the past 2-3 days she has not been waking up at 11pm. No matter how many lights we switch on. She will stir a little, rotate but will not open her little eyes. So at 12.30am, mummy xiu gives up and goes to bed. Sigh. No more 11pm playtime.[again]

Now mummy xiu and daddy chin only gets to see wyy for a short while in the morning. Which is already a big mad rush trying to wash-up, get ready for work, feed the baby milke and breakfast… heh. explains why mummy xiu has been late for work for the past 2 days?

We made it!

We made it!
Actually we more than made it.
We had so much fun!
A great way to mark mummy xiu’s three zero birthday. 000?
The trip was a lot more relaxed than mummy xiu’s usual. None of the leave the hotel early and come back late nonsense.

Day One

Wyy took her first plane ride! She didn’t mind it that much but was not terribly excited squeezing in the same seat w daddy or mummy and not being able to move around much. I think she liked the TV though. She keep staring at the plane moving across the ocean. She must have been wondering why this TV screen didn’t go blank after a few minutes of looking at it. (Like the TVs at home)

We landed in HCMC. Got out of the airport and into our cab easily.
Checking in the hotel was fuss-free. Easy Peasy.
We got a nice corner room. We suspect that the toilet was larger and the room bigger by studying the plan(chin) and peeping into other rooms when we walked past (me). Wyy loved it! When we got there,she immediately explored and played on the big bed and when her cot came she played in that as well.

After feeding wyy, the starving parents decided it was time to go find food and explore the city abit. With baby in carrier mummy xiu and daddy chin walked a good 20 minutes to Michael’s recommendation “Bunta – Bun is Noodles” It was a really nice place, except there were no baby chairs. They didn’t really know what to do w babies. Wyy was sleeping when we got there and they suggested we place 2 chairs together to let her sleep on it. And the chairs were the ones where she could easily roll off under the armrest! Anyway, we enjoyed our meal very much with the very good Bun.



We walked some more after lunch – Central Post Office and a Notre Dame Cathedral. Actually that was about all the tourist places we visited. Not very impressive. We spent the next hour or so walking down Dong Khoi street. (supposedly the Orchard Road of HCMC) but we realised the things were not as nice as some of the shops we walked by when we were going for lunch.

After about 3 hours of walking, we headed back to the hotel. To rest and let Wyy take a break from being stuck next to Mummy. Immediately her mood lightened up when we walked into the air-conditioned room and she gave a wide grin.

That was basically all of Day One.

Day Two
Day Two started with a a nice long breakfast – the hotel’s breakfast was excellent. A great selection of american breakfast (eggs, potatos, bacon, mushrooms) japanese (mackerel, jap egg, miso), chinese porridge, prata w curry, waffles, eggs, noodles, yogurt, juices, fruits, pastry, cheeses… yummy!


We decided to search for some art galleries – since Singapore art galleries have been bringing in some Vietnamese art. It was rather enjoyable popping in and out of galleries. Wyy seemed to enjoy it too… maybe it was just the aircon.

We also went to Ben Thah Market – which took us about 5 mins. It was not really like Chatuchak. Chatuchak had the occasional student designer setting up a nice innovative stall. Here, it was really a market selling shoes and clothes to the masses. We then took a cab back to the hotel. The first taxi ride within the city. The cab fare was by meter – but the 5min car ride cost us $10 SGD! Kena cheated by cab driver.

After we got back, wyy took her nap while daddy chin and mummy xiu watched Star Wars 3 on mute. It was the saddest episode (where Anikin turned bad )…. even though there was no sound.

After the mid-day break it was more walking. Walked to the river a little… nothing much there. To Le Than Ton … nothing much there. Cao Ba Quat … nothing much there. So we decided to go by the very nice bag shop (ipa-nima) so mummy xiu can pick a bag she fancies. (She did eventually buy a blue woven plastic bag)

Dinner was at Ngoh something. A definite favourite among the locals. The food looked really exciting too. Actually the food everyone else around us ordered was interesting. Ours was really ordinary.

Retreated back to the hotel thereafter where mummy xiu knocked out in front of the TV watching the first few games of the EPL season. [Snore snore]

Day Three
We had no idea where to go.
We had walked round and round the city already.
We had visited the tourist areas we wanted to see.
Only thing left was to sniff out one or two more recommended places by Michael and Gieto.

We picked a creperie along Han Thyuen amd had a very yummy last meal in HCMC. Excellent! Our table was in a little balcony over the 2nd storey. A quiet corner with only 2 tables. The ladies on the other table tried to carry wyy… and she wouldn’t let them. She’d stare at them but when they tried to carry her… her face changed after a few seconds.

The flight back was at 7.30pm – Wyy’s bedtime. I thought she would be sleeping throughout the flight but she didn’t! She dozed of for about 20mins when the plane was about to take off but refused to sleep after she woke up. Wyy had so much fun on the plane! The SQ girls brought her a bassinet in case she wanted to sleep. She loved the bassinet! No need to be held tightly by mummy xiu or daddy chin! Her own seat! She didn’t sleep in it, Just sat in it while watching the people on the plane.

After the short 1.5hour flight we got back to Singapore.
Home sweet home.
Wyy slept at 11pm that night. Oops. Her schedule would have to be readjusted…

Standing tall

Wyy learns new tricks all the time. And no one really teaches her.

Her latest maneuver is standing (with both hands holding onto something of course). She is getting quite good at it. So good that when mummy xiu tempts her with a teether when she is standing, she will try to stand holding on with one hand and the teether with the other.

Heh. She was successful yesterday but today she fell back after a few seconds. Oops.

Mummy xiu and Daddy chin are so proud of her. She really hardworking and practices hard whenever she can find a tall surface to hang onto. Well, the target bride-to-be-sis gave is to walk on the 20th Oct 07. We’d see!