This blog has the intention of documenting Hendrik’s milestones as he grows up. Since he is still very young to blog, I will be making most of the entries in this blog highlighting Hendrik’s moments during his tender years. It is hoped that in the near future, he will be able to see how far he has achieved and that he would be glad to know what a pleasant boy he is and how much he is loved by his proud parents, especially his mom. -- Feona
I just recently synchronized my iphone to my Mac laptop, and after the sync process I realized that photos from the “photo booth” app from my Mac were copied into my iphone (Ha! I usually don’t sync phones, and I am not techy – so this explains my surprise).
I remember that Hendrik had a couple of sessions using the photo booth; and as I was looking at the pictures I cannot help but smile when I see him making faces, posing and trying different angles, even jumping while being captured by the camera.
He is such a clever boy. At such a young age (he was only 2 years old when the photo sessions were taken) he already knows how to play with the camera. Say eeeee!!!
Hendrik has this fascination with heavy vehicles – i.e. crane, shovel truck, dump truck, cement mixer, etc. I first became aware of this when he started playing almost every day with his battery operated yellow toy shovel truck (a gift that he received on his 2nd birthday from a friend of ours) a few months back.
Hendrik took this video using Daddy's handphone, at the same time operating the toy truck's remote control
On Sundays at church (when we were still attending at the Bukit Timah chapel before we moved to Compassvale) he would always ask me or my husband, Joseph, before we go for our Sunday classes to let him look at the window in his nursery room in order to see the construction going on near the chapel. He would always mention the shovel trucks and the cranes and would look with real intent at the vehicles and machines’ movements. Sometimes, when he is not in a good mood and wouldn’t let me or his Daddy leave him in the nursery, Hendik’s nursery teacher, Sis Khong would tell him that they will watch the shovel truck from the window to convince Hendrik to come with her so that Joseph and I can attend our Sunday classes.
Whenever we are out, and our ride passes by some repair and construction works along the road, he would jump on his feet to see the shovel trucks and cranes, and would also be delighted if he sees a dump truck or a cement mixer.
Before Lola went back to the Philippines first week of May, she used to bring Hendrik along to the footbridge overlooking a construction site for a new HDB building near our block. Lola would tell me when I come home from work how Hendrik would react jubilantly when he sees the heavy vehicles and how long they spend their time looking at them! Then she had to convince Hendrik to go home and would promise him that they would return again the next day for another round of viewing pleasure.
Then, we introduced YouTube to him. We would let him see videos, and his favorites include videos on fire trucks, shovel trucks and dump trucks. He would watch the videos on my iPhone or his Daddy’s HTC, and he would even ask for my Mac and his Daddy’ laptop whenever our phones lose battery life to watch the videos. I would say that I can be a bit worried because Hendrik will be glued with the videos for a long time, sometimes even hours watching his favorites over and over again to the point that he is able to memorize the lines and sequence of the videos. The good thing is that he doesn’t disturb us when he is on YouTube because he already knows how to operate our phones, including the mouse of the laptops, and he would just click “play” again when the video ends.
When he is not playing with his toy shovel truck and not watching his favorite videos on YouTube, I would see him use his right hand and move it like a shovel, scoop things out and hear him make a sound like that of a shovel truck. =)
He has also started collecting toy replicas of his most wanted heavy vehicles.
We started celebrating Hendrik’s 3rd birthday on Friday, 17 June 2011 - 4 days away from his actual birth date of 20 June. I took leave from work that Friday with the intention of bringing Hendrik to see Bob the Builder show at Millennia Walk. I learned about this show when I was flipping the local newspaper a few weeks ago. When I saw the ad on the paper I thought that it was just perfect for my boy who is a fan of Bob the Builder, which also happens to be the theme of his 3rd birthday party! We brought his yellow construction hard hat (which Joseph and I bought on Tuesday, 14 June, along with the rest of the construction deco to be used during his party) to the show at Millennia Walk; and he surely stood out because he was the only one with the yellow hat among the kids who also turned up for the show. He had a good time watching Bob, Wendy and Spud. He danced to the tune of Bob the Builder songs and also posed for snaps with replicas of Roley and Muck that were displayed at the event hall.
18 June – Hendrik’s 3rd birthday party: this was a busy as well as fun and memorable day for us since this is the party date. We had a lot of things to do from cleaning the house (especially the living room and dining area), decorating the walls and ceilings with Bob the Builder posters and construction deco items, blowing the balloons, getting the cake and preparing the food (although we catered some foods for the party as Joseph cannot handle to cook for 20+ confirmed guests). All of us at home, including our housemates were busy in helping us prepare for the party.
happy birthday Hendrik!
Bob the Builder cake & cupcakes (thanks to Tita Gracey...)
the birthday boy
Tita Dey + housemates
food + guests
w/ Tito Mark & Tita Leahn
blowing of candles
cupcake topper from Hendrik
w/ the kids
happy family =)
19 June: we went to Church for our regular Sunday service. Since this was also Father’s day, Hendrik went to the pulpit during Sacrament meeting together with the rest of the Primary kids and sang 2 Father’s Day songs. After church our ward prepared some food to celebrate Father’s Day and it was during this time that YW girls (Gail, Marissa, Marie and Jesmine) serenaded Hendrik with a birthday song.
Sunday night, our friends Ann and Michel came over and had dinner with us. They also gave Hendrik a keyboard which Ann is no longer using. At first, Hendrik dare not touch the keyboard, but when I brought it to the bedroom and started playing with it, he started to warm up and after a few minutes his fingers were already on the keyboard with head swinging to the notes and tunes! =)
20 June – Hendrik’s actual birth date: This was a special day for us so Joseph and I took leave from work to be with the birthday boy… =) Since we had the party on 18 June, I planned to spend his actual birth date by going to the Singapore Arts Museum (SAM) where they have an interactive art display for children. The “Art Garden”, as they call it, runs from 03 June to 30 August only. But before we headed to SAM, we let Hendrik opened his birthday gifts first. He was so thrilled when I helped him open the presents one by one and you can see the joy and excitement on his face!
