Nineteen-month-old Garren was with his mum, Ms Kate Penland, on a Continental ExpressJet flight to visit his grandfather for Father's Day. The flight from Houston to Oklahoma was ready to take off after an 11-hour delay.

Garren spotted other planes from his flight seat window, and like any other baby, started babbling happily. He had started mouthing "Bye bye plane" while a flight attendant was going through a safety procedures review.

After completing the review, the attendant walked up to Ms Penland and said: "Okay, it's not funny anymore. You need to shut your baby up."

Ms Penland asked if the attendant was joking. She wasn't. Ms Penland then said: "Well, he's been here at the airport for eleven hours, stuck in a stroller, you know, you should be lucky he's not screaming his head off."

The attendant then said Garren should be given a child allergy medication to help him sleep. "Well, I'm not going to drug my child," replied Ms Penland. "So you have a pleasant flight."

The plane was small and other passengers could see and hear both of them clearly. They began speaking up for Ms Penland, saying they were not disturbed by Garren.

But after a heated argument, the attendant then reportedly told the flight captain that Ms Penland had threatened her, and the captain agreed to taxi the plane back to the gate. Ms Penland and baby Garren were told to get off the flight.

"I was crying, I was upset and I was thinking, 'What am I going to do? I don't have any more diapers for the baby, no juice, no milk," said Ms Penland.

Her luggage went on to Oklahoma City. ExpressJet paid for a room for her and Garren for the night, and they both flew to Oklahoma the next morning - a day late. Ms Penland later filed a complaint over the incident and is considering legal action.

Why am I writing this? August is a time when we celebrate another year of independence. It is easy to take our happiness, peace and security for granted. In a way, I'm glad that, instead of getting upset over the non-sensitive words of a baby uttered at a generally sensitive time, we are merely questioning things like the name selected for a major shopping mall in the heart of Orchard Road.

Like anyone else, I have a birthday wish for Singapore. I wish Singaporeans, amidst the prosperity and faster pace of life, would do more to help the less fortunate among us. I hope we can all learn to accept, or be tolerant of, others' differences and difficulties. And I would like to see more patience. Slow down a little, people!

Having said all that, this year's National Day Parade was one which had something new for everyone. For the first time, the NDP was held at the new floating platform. And the Dynamic Defence Display was a great showcase of the SAF's and the Home Team's latest capabilities. Relive those moments and other highlights in our Top Story.