We finally made it to somewhere other than the Science Centre. Heh. And I think it was somewhat interesting for Jayden to see the animals he had previously only seen in books come to live. Whilst babyK was somewhat bored to death and dying in the heat. This picture sums it up — K’s bored stiff while J is again distracted by something else that passed his way.

Yes, the zoo. Finally…!

Two adult Zooper Saver tickets please!

Was very tempted to rent this (or the electric sccoters!) but decided against it. Thankfully, else I’d have ended up carrying a sleeping K midway through the visit.

One of them obligatory shots

I did say she wasn’t too happy…

The fun stuff!

I don’t quite remember the zoo having such a BIG children’s play area. But it is there right now. A reasonably large waterplay area, playgrounds and team building stations (flying fox, suspension bridge…) kept Jayden occupied for a chunk of time. The majority are actually better suited (and targeted at) older kids but he had fun nonetheless.

Random J speaks…

On seeing the lion poster. We asked what it was.
C.A.T CAT!
(technically, he’s not wrong!)

At the tiger enclosure… He started singing…

So the June holidays have since rolled around and we are busy dealing with two boisterous children at a go. Thankfully Singapore isn’t all that boring for the kids and there are other options besides the shopping malls (though their aircon comfort makes them hard to beat).

After learning about Children’s Season at the museums last year, I have been meaning to visit. Was far too heavy with babyK in utero last year to even think of venturing out so we tried again this year. We made a stop at SAM@8Q and spent a delightful afternoon out.

And we are hoping to hit the National Museum next. Or maybe a second round at the Art Garden.

*It actually felt like the (unofficial) bring your kids to the museum day as we bumped into friends at the museum!

And brownies to end off the fun day

The kindergarten has scheduled its first parent-teacher session on 30th April and well, I guess now would be a good time to do a roundup of what has been happening, because really, since baby K came along, time has become even more precious.

Most of what follows, true to report card style, is quite erhmm, boring. So skip along if you want. We won’t judge.

Jayden has remained ‘true to form’ showing a fair bit of development this year. Since school started in January, you see him growing to be more sociable with children… his age. He has also begun to actually know their names although, he is very ’self centred’, prefixing everyone, name or thing, with ‘my’. Normal really. Because that is how children are.

He has dominated the toys at home, even gender specific ones like kitchen sets and cooking toys. I guess ‘playing house’ is something for both genders(?) and he can often be found wanting to clean, sweep and mop. In addition to cooking. His cooking, in the words of my dad, is a rip off. “Collecting real money (ok, 10, 20 cents) for fake food that he serves again and again.” No wonder his bank is well fed.

His numbers are really quite good. From not being able to count properly for the longest time, to laughable (and questionable) identification (imagine naming 10 as one-zero), he has since graduated to knowing zero through ten and scarily, other numbers as well.

Like… 53 (fifty three instead of five three).

His colours is being worked upon, and his alphabets too. Progress is slow and somewhat difficult to gauge because the cheeky boy always tries to be funny about it. We have watched Barney countless times. To the extent that we are going to be excellent voice-overs, and him, able to memorise the sequence, but I don’t think he has all 26 letters of the alphabet down pat.

On a positive side, he eats a whole lot more. Just minus the vegetables and over a very long period of time. Which creates for a lot of poop. And brings us to another point. We think we are on the home stretch to being diaper free. He could tell when he wanted to erhmm, go for the longest time, but perhaps he was not ready (as in, unable to control properly?). But right now, he usually goes to school in his favourite red (don’t ask!) underwear and has not had any accidents… at school. A couple at home but by and large most of it gets into the potty. Nights he still wears but we note that they are increasingly dry in the morning. Yay!

Jayden is also increasingly able to articulate what he wants. He gets on the imaginary phone and blabbers away for long stretches. Quite fun to eavesdrop because you learn interesting insights into what is going on in that little head of his. Things like who he likes, what happened in school, what happened when you were not watching… because you know, you don’t say such things to your parents. Not directly anyway. So… right now, he wants to go to the Science Centre (especially WaterWorks) but not the beach because he is scared of water. He loves shopping and is extremely observant. *orange juice for uncle K, milk for uncle T, long pants for himself, tea for me… yaddayaddayadda*

Frightening sometimes because you realise that (like passion) it was caught and not taught. Like little quirks in our personalities / way we do things. He HAS to bring something to read at the potty even though he cannot understand a word of randomly grabbed flyer. He loves photos and can recall most of the details that took place at the time the photo was taken although he insists HE was the baby in one particular shot when really, it was baby K.

All in, he is a very sensitive boy. For the first couple of months, he took the transition to going to school hard. Then we realised that he was vying for attention. Nowadays, the two show signs of bickering like cat and dog (hah, we got that one right) but also, that there is a strong sibling affection. They will both look for the other. And break out into a smile.We think the two will enjoy each other’s company even if they will rather die than admit it.

We have been ‘going places’. Little trips out of country and out of home. The best thing about having flexi hours (dad) and working from home is that, sometimes you can just up and go. We have discovered some really child friendly places in Singapore. Not because it is exciting but because they have the space for the children to wreck havoc. It isn’t quite what is done but who is going along for the ride.

Has been an eventful ride thus far! And now, I wonder what the school’s report card is going to read. Hmm.

From this trip, we learnt that babyK is a wonderful traveller whilst J has no concept of time. Nor space. It was a crazy trip, with the mercury dipping to 10 degrees (wth?!) and a mad rush to ensure that everyone is well insulated from the cold winds. Cold to summer hot Singaporeans that is.

We spent 6days 5nights in Hong Kong. Taking the early morning SQ flight and bumping into our pilots at T3’s Killiney. While the breakfast was nothing to shout about, we were suitably impressed by the features that newest terminal Changi had to offer. Baby wise of course.

We didn’t quite make use of our ‘privileges’ in having children in our traveling party to board early. In fact we were so slow and easy-going that we were at the final call on our return leg. Not that it really mattered. BabyK settled down easily, snacking on her biscuits and sleeping in her bassinet whilst older brother squirmed in his seat, spilled soya milk on it and went walking around the Economy class at every opportunity he had.

Landed in HK and took the road less travelled, staying at Sham Shui Po. With our party of 5 (3 adults and 2 kids), we went for a service apartment in the outskirts. It proved to be a fun experience, and surprisingly easy to travel as it was right smack between two MTR stations / lines.

Didn’t do much, as in, didn’t cover as much ground as we would have sans children. We did however, head to Disneyland. We went on the ‘coldest’ day on our trip, with the temperatures falling to 10degrees. It meant that both kids were well layered with clothing and that visitors were few. BabyK slept through anything. When she was tired, she’d sleep. Nevermind that Main Street was having a parade and Mickey and friends were out in full force.

We think Jayden enjoyed himself though. He hated the fireworks but LOVED Autopia. But most of all, he loves his $4 pizza set. The simple pleasures in life you say?

The full set of HK pictures… here.

Just realised that a proper update on what this little girl has been up to is probably wanting. She has been on a real journey these couple of months and it is probably good I journal it down before her milestones are forgotten.

On one of those days when the two kiddos drove me nuts, I started to teach K to call ‘papa’, in the hope ala Baby Blues that daddy will help change her butt/bathe her/feed her food etc etc etc. And right now, she does so with great skill now. She has figured out how to pull herself up to a standing position, and can do so with great speed and, stand for quite some time. Crawling is no problem for her though, like her brother, she doesn’t look like she’s ever going to do it with her tummy off the floor. Instead, she is learning how to walk.

Nowadays, she lurches for her brother’s tricycle and uses it as a means to ‘getaway’, covering quite a bit of distance in the process. Scary stuff really. She appears to understand the spoken word very well and constantly surprises us with the correct response (we never learn huh?).

Today she discovered the mirror that is above her bathtub. Her bathtub is typically placed on the vanity, above which hangs a mirror. She squealed with delight when she pulled herself up to a standing position to discover a reflection staring back at her. So bathtimes are now erhmm, ‘jack in the box’ times with her popping up and down. Insane really. She literally creates quite a splash.

I guess we are in for more discoveries… and it does seem true after all. Having an older sibling hastens their development.

Wish us luck and may we remain sane.

Well, errr, hello and goodbye We’re off to Hong Kong this Friday for a short break and will only be back next Wednesday. Updates have been short and slow on the blog. But they have been quite regular on facebook and the like. Blame it on the Iphone. And school. And flu.

Jayden had a bad case of flu a week or so ago, with his temperature shooting up to 40deg. Coupled with the gibberish he was sprouting, we packed him off to KK’s A&E in the middle of the night. Service was fast and efficient, and the environment has ‘changed’ from the last time we were there. All’s good though. Nice and more cheerful. Which *should* help in lifting moods in difficult times.

Other than that, everything’s fine. Kath’s still growing. See you again soon. Hopefully not as long as the last time.

… and in a twinkling of an eye, Jayden turns three. And we’re off to the Science Centre later to splash about @ the waterworks. Well, as soon as he is done with school that is.

As per ‘tradition’, we headed up North when baby K turned 6 months old (a couple of days shy but who’s nitpicking?). We decided that we weren’t going to attempt bloody murder and drive up with 2 kids so Kathlene flew up with us whilst Jayden took the good ole North-South highway with the grandparents.

And it was non-stop madness the whole way through. Both kids travelled well by air (Jayden returned with us via air) and for that we are thankful. We were almost thinking we’d be like Wanda (of baby blues fame), shouting to the rest of the passengers to count their blessings. Thankfully aside from a little fussing at the start, they settled in well.

Jayden’s at the age where joyrides are fun and those were the thunderstealers for the whole trip. That and MacD’s happy meals. Old MacDonald never goes on a holiday it seems.

And this time round, armed with iphones and free wifi, photos get uploaded much faster.

So erhmm, next trip anyone?

If you had not already heard, our passports were approved and we trooped on down a cold wet Friday to collect them. And back again to book our air tickets. So… we are headed up North to visit relatives before the official mad rush for CNY. Although with the way things are going, you really can’t tell its not the peak period yet.

Jayden has had a sudden about turn with regards to going to school. He sometimes cries and throws a big fit when we drop him off. We are still trying to figure out what the root of the problem is but needless to say, its driving us insane in the meantime. He stubbornly refuses to participate or listen to instructions at lessontime so we are seeing how things go. Nerve-wrecking. Especially when he woke up one night crying incessantly.

*sigh* the joys of growing up.

In more positive news, baby K is progressing really well. She is sitting up with great skill and forever looks set to surprise us one day by standing. I’d probably get a heart attack if she does so soon because, really, one active kid is enough to handle. Argh. But at least, for now, it means that she can finally sit in them baby high chairs when we go out for dinner. Ok, if she’d stay in them that is.

And in even more random updates, here are some ‘out and about’ shots with the iphone. Gotta love it!

woh… the camera’s pointed at me again…

… so ok, you mean you want to take a profile shot of me?

how about this signature pose?

So… baby Kathlene needs a passport! And this time round we tried taking a passport photo on our own. I’m not quite sure whether it passed the standard but we hope it did clear the authorities and that we’d be getting the prized passport by this week. Meantime, the outtakes. They are so much for fun than the official ‘proper’ shot!

In other news, Kathlene is scaring the life out of us with her push-ups, almost there ability to kick herself into a stand or sitting pose, and not to mention, the speed at which she scoots across the living room floor. We thought Jayden was bad. This is worse. *Hello, play-yard barricades!* Once again, the living room is no longer our own.