Blessings from Above

we visited kids explorer @ downtown east y'day, together with mummy D & jesse. half way through our playtime, i noticed a familiar face... he was running amok all by himself at the indoor playground for a good half hour and we are talking about a toddler here, who has yet turn 4. i'm appalled that there was no adult around AT ALL to supervise him. at first, i thought it was his play school that brought him there and was wondering which irresponsible school would leave a toddler to play all by himself but found out today, that it was actually his MOTHER who left him alone to play there (while she went to get lunch). granted, there are other adults around but seriously who would be bothered with another person's kid if they have their own kid(s) to mind, until the accident (if any) happens? of course, you may say that the indoor playground is relatively safe but ACCIDENTS do happen, otherwise why are they called ACCIDENTS and why would the playground have a 'no liabi...

since we stay in such close proximity to the airport, it is one of our fav. haunts - there's aircon (for hot days), good selection of food choices and plenty of space for li'l one to run around - what's not to like? we decided to have our breakfast there and also take the opportunity to bring li'l one to check out the mickey mouse display that so many of her friends have already gone to visit. see how happy she was to take photo with the mickey mouse!

happy 18mth old our dearest princess... WE LOVE YOU! i'm so proud of my li'l gal :- she has no bad habits (sleeps through the night, doesn't suck her thumb, doesn't use the pacifier, shares her things, says please & thank you, listens to instructions - most of the time, etc) she's a brave gal (rarely cries - even if she does - e.g. after being vaccinated or falls down, she stops promptly when i soothe her) she impresses me every day with new skills and knowledge she observes and learns at amazing speed she readily shows her affection to those who love her dearly

our usual weekly meetup - except that there were only 4 of us today - jane & kaizer, me & claire... we enjoyed a delicious & wholesome lunch @ cedele, vivo city and look how much fun kaizer & claire had... :) hey kaizer, this looks fun... let's try pole-dancing! hehe... why don't i just sit here and let kaizer work those muscles? ha ha ha... you wish! come help me!

with the festive season around the corner, we have been going out quite a bit - mostly to catch up with friends and do last minute shopping... and thus, i managed to 'check out' a few of the nursing rooms available in the local malls and here's what i think of them... Suntec City (located at level 3, near toys'r'us and where all the 'baby shops' are) what i like: changing stations just beside the sink what i dislike: no privacy - nursing corner has no doors nor drapes Forum, Orchard (located at level 1, near the washrooms) what i like: the bright cheery colors, rather comfortable armchair for nursing what i dislike: aircon vent just above changing stations (blowing directly on baby) HDB Hub, Toa Payoh (located at level 2, near the washrooms) what i like: aesthetically appealing, nice comfortable armchair for nursing what i dislike: nowhere to put things @ the changing stations, nursing rooms are too small - cannot fit in my tiny aprica strol...

other than listening (and singing along) to music, flash cards, reading and exercise time, i have been searching for an 'organised learning' play time for my precious one. through my observations, i know claire loves music and massage so i wanted a place that provided both. there are numerous 'enrichment' centres around that boosts to have the best equipment and knowledge, researched curriculum for infants and toddlers but not that many that brings everything together nicely. claire and i went to babies n cream last month and she definitely enjoyed herself but its pretty far for us to travel there. hence, i started looking nearer and decided on gymboree . the 'classes' are tailored to different age group (by months) so claire is now on level one class. we went for the 'trial' class today and claire had fun 'making friends' with Gymbo - the colorful clown - who is gymboree's mascot. i decided to sign up for the membership after today's c...

time really flies... i spent the last eight weeks changing diapers, nursing and playing with my dear gal. i have four more weeks before i 'officially' have to start work and i'm so not looking forward to it! princess is starting to be a lot more fun... she sleeps less but for longer stretches, cries less and smiles more. i still continue to wake up every two hours at night because my body (namely, my breasts) TELLS ME to. its just impossible to stay asleep when your breasts feel rock hard and start leaking milk! in addition, my impending return to work brings on the question "who is going to look after princess?". that has kept me up for several nights. yes, we have a helper now but i'm not about to leave princess in the care of a stranger (yes, i still consider her as such because she has only been with us for a month). the original plan was to leave princess and the helper with my MIL... looking at how things are now, i'd say that's not quite poss...