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...

li'l J loves 'splashy' and we love having mummy D and li'l J over! most of our li'l friends have started school (or playgroup) or stay too far away to join us so that leaves just the four (now 5!) of us for playdates most of the time! i do wish the others can join us some time... today marks the first time Chace is joining us but since he's too 'young' to swim, all I did was dip his feet into the pool water but the minute his feet touched the water, he started screaming and crying - he hates bathtime too, just like when Claire was his age; must be an infant thing! so he spent the rest of the time lounging by the pool side with me!

or rather 2! it was really nice to have company after being 'confined' for the past couple of days... yes, I didn't stay in all the time (went grocery shopping, went over to my mom's place, etc etc) but it is nice to have some decent adult conversation (although it revolved around our children) while being stuck at home. thanks for visiting and I'd love to have more company anytime!

its our 'usual' playdate day but unfortunately, the group size is shrinking by the weeks as more and more toddlers get packed off and sent to 'sch'! we have also decided that li'l one will go to 'school' starting from Jan - however, she will only go on two days - tue & wed *which are days that i will most probably have to go to office and there will be no one who can care for her while i'm away* so we can still continue our playdates! anyway, we wanted to go cycling today with our tods but the weather was not exactly agreeable so we ended up in an indoor playground - not that i have any problems with that - afterall, we did buy a package for use there! the indoor playground has a scheduled activity every hour so while we were there, we made a x'mas card for the gramps, listened to a x'mas story & li'l one 'colored' the snowman picture that was provided. :) i shall just leave you to enjoy the photos...

i invited cindy & caitlyn to join us in our visit to the Singapore Biennale as we rarely get to see them even though they are back in SG coz they prefer to stay in the west for convenience. prior to this, i have never been to any biennale (even though i was offered tickets) or many art events largely (other than concerts & musicals) because i am just not an arty-farty kinda person. but after having C, for whatever reason, i just feel the need to expose her to different kinda experiences to enrich her life and thus actively search/look out for such events to bring her to. C was very co-operative and walked the whole time we were in the premises (except coming to me for hugs now and then) and i think that its great that there's a kids zone segregated especially for l'il ones (kindly sponsored Jet Airways)... In the 2 hours or so we were there, we only managed to explore one of the venues - City Hall. Hopefull we can find time to check out the other venues before the ...

can't remember how many times we have already been to the zoo this year but today, i took the opportunity to bring our domestic helper along as she has never been there before (the only tourist spot she visited so far is sentosa) - we didn't take many photos though... just a couple for the kids. and as always, HE blessed us with good weather (it started drizzling only when we were in the cab on the way home). left the place disappointed (& hungry) coz the cafe was closed and i didn't get the chance to eat my usual chicken rice - the only venue selling food inside (other than kfc) only had 4 selections (nasi lemak, fried rice, vegetarian friend beehoon & meehoon) which did not appeal to my palate (nor pocket - each pathetic set was going for S$7.50) and we had to cab home since there was no one to hitch a ride from and it costed us S$20+. don't ask me why but li'l princess was exhausted from the trip and had to take a FOUR hour nap! at the entrance wai...

as i grow older, i feel a strong inclination to 'go back to my roots' - i am 'rediscovering' the origins of various festivals (i know the gist of them at the back of my head - just need to retrieve the details from my lousy data bank), 'celebrating' them and picking up various dialects (very often, i still can't get the correct enunciation though). it is also my intention to 'educate' li'l princess as much as possible about her roots. last year, i attempted to make glutinous rice dumplings after a long hiatus away from the kitchen (i cook frequently but making goodies is another story altogether) and this year, i (with the suggestion of my friend) decided on making snow skin mooncake. being the domestic goddess that i am :P, i've mostly been successful... haha... i'm glad that this year, we had the opportunity to invite our friends over to join us in our mooncake making session! my plan was to let our li'l ones have the opportu...

this time round, we 'terrorized' aunty leo & jk's place... such fun! aunty leo keeps her place so neat & tidy but we just messed it all up! sorry, aunty leo! :)

on a beautiful (but hot) saturday morning, we had a date with the april mummies to visit the botanical gardens and this time i managed to capture some shots of C enjoying the great outdoors... funny how she seemed to have forgotten that she is a baby and did not hesitate walking around (perhaps she knew somehow that it wouldn't hurt if she did fall)... enjoy the photos! ps: on a sidenote, the water play @ jacob ballas children gardens really stinks! remember to bring along some soap to wash down your babies if u plan to bring them there to play!

we spent a fun-filled afternoon @ aunty agnes' place (sorry we messed up your house!) and thank you joanie for sharing your toys! Claire had so much fun! photo evidence... Claire 'helping' herself to the toys let me show you... this is how the bus works... 2 toddlers... handsome JK and pretty Joanie! Joanie has so many nice toys mummy! Can we come again? Claire & Jesse

with god's good grace, we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon out at pasir ris park with our friends - it was also claire's 1st picnic (its virtually impossible to get dh to go for picnics coz the weather here is just unbearable but i believe when we visit oz in july, we'll be able to enjoy many beautiful afternoons lazing at the many parks with the nice weather!) there were a total 9 mummies with 8 toddlers-in-tow... noti aunty leo decided to take her 'off' day and leave JK at home instead of bringing him along to join in the fun! we each brought along some food and drinks to share... enjoy the photos! my contribution - fried beehoon with leo's absolutely delicious & healthy sandwiches what's a picnic without junk food? Its such a nice day, Mummy! seated from the left: kieran, joanie, jordan, claire with clarisse look on in the background. claire seated with jordan boy jesse: what shd i do with this ball? malcolm: i'm go...

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!

i've been meaning to get some form of playdate going for some time now but trying to co-ordinate the dates/timings of a group of adults & their babies is really no joke! different schedules, different nap times, different meal times and so on... our usual weekly meet ups center mostly around the adults since the babies (& toddlers) have to spend their time either on the high-chair or stroller or walking (& falling) on dirty restuarant floors so i thought it'd be great to give the babies (& toddlers) a change of environment occasionally (Read: clean floor, plenty of toys/activites w/o worrying about getting HFMD) nevertheless, we finally got it going - today claire and i invited some friends over for a dip in our pool - i'd like to believe that they all had fun - but as usual, i'm too lazy to whip out my camera so i've 'stolen' some pictures from those who came... haha... enjoy! the host with her pooh float little cherelle in claire...

the advantage of having a 'flexible' work arrangement allows me to spend as much time as possible with my little princess - she has always been my priority and will always remain as such and of course, it also means that i am free to take her anywhere, anytime! i'm actually becoming rather lazy in the photo-taking so despite the fact that we've been to quite a few places ( jacob ballas children garden , gogo bambini , singapore zoological gardens , etc) we hardly have any photos to show! i really have to be more diligent in whipping out my camera! hehe... to enjoy photos of our zoo trip, please visit aunty jane's blog thanks to aunty leo, we had a chance to attend a playnest trial session @ julia gabriel last weekend. before attending the trial, i wondered if 1.5hrs was 'too long' for claire to sit through... and surprisingly, she did rather well and i believe that she really enjoyed herself (possibly because she took a long nap before that and thus w...

another month and still a joy! we visited the zoo today together with a few other friends - here's a photo of *grumpy* Claire with her 1st baby friend - Kaizer! they first met when they were two or three months old.

i get this feeling that my little princess will grow up to be a socialite - even at such a young age, she already has lots of friends/playmates! let the pictures speak for themselves...   we (claire & i) have so much fun meeting up with other mummies and babies coz its so nice to have someone else sharing the experience. having adult conversations helps to preserve my sanity - despite the fact our conversations revolve mostly around our babies - and helps me to 'see' that i am not alone in this (arduous, nevertheless fulfilling) parenting journey.   i am finally going to fulfill my long overdue promise to write about the nursing /baby rooms available in SG - starting with...   1st on my list - Isetan's (located @ scotts & parkway parade)   why i like it: in my opinion - very 'thoughtful' changing stations with belly straps to keep baby facing up (my little princess rolls over every time we put her on h...