@ 32 months 3 weeks

December was quite a relaxing month. Hubby was asked to clear his leave and we couldn’t be more happy when the HR told hubs in addition to his annual leave he gets additional 3 days child care leave that he needs to clear. Yea.. thanks to the govt’s recent ‘baby boom’ initiative (in Singapore, all working parents are entitled to additional 6 days child care leave).

10th - 14th December: Hong Kong Trip.

We had a fabulous 5D/4N trip to Hong Kong. Ryan deserves a pat on the shoulder as he behaved extremely well throughout our stay. The only difficulty we had was with his food intake. He was extremely picky. He ate bits of this and that but generally I think he pretty much survived on milk. We departed from Singapore Changi airport at 9.30am. Ryan did not nap the whole 3.5 hours flight. We had wanted him to take a power nap but this boy was too excited to even wink. So we kept him busy with his Ultraman shows on our netbook while we eat our food peacefully.

At the Changi Airport

First stop was Hong Kong Disneyland. After about 15 mins coach ride, we arrived at our destination; Hong Kong Hollywood Disneyland hotel. We have chosen this hotel for their Mickey Mouse themed designs.

Our room

By the time we settled all the check in etc, it was about 2.30pm. The room was nice and clean but really nothing to shout about. To me, it’s just an overly priced regular room. Anyways.. we were all too tired to go anywhere. We all agreed nap was what we needed most to recharge. Such lazy family eh. Hehehe.. 

By the time we woke up it was about 5pm. We got ready and went to the Disneyland Park. By the time we reached the park it was almost dark. We rented the stroller (HKD60 per day) and since it was approaching 6pm, we moved on to pavement and found ourselves a good spot to watch the ‘Let It Snow’ parade.

Christmas ‘Let It Snow’ Parade
 

By the time we finished watching the parade it was completely dark. You can’t really see much when it’s dark except for the dazzling Christmas lights and decorations. We hang around on the Main Street, USA to enjoy the falling ’snow’ decending from the ceiling. They were actually tiny bubbles but the after effect was really good. Just as real as snow falling from the sky. We saw many kids jumping around happily. I guess kids and bubbles can never be separated.  It really does give the wonderland feel.

We didn’t Q for any ride. Instead, we spent time leisurely exploring the park. We had our dinner at The River View Cafe at the Adventureland. Food wise, it was just average but we enjoyed the peace away from the crowd at the main street. Though Ryan did not eat much, he did not make a fuss. He kept himself busy with his Ultraman toys (again). We enjoyed our meal peacefully.

After our meal, we walked a bit more and decided to go back to the hotel for a good night rest as it was turning quite cold. We called it a day. Hahaha.. that was how we wasted spent our first night in Disneyland.

Day 2:

We woke up early for our ‘Meet The Disney Characters’ breakfast at the Enchanted Garden Restaurant. Ryan was very shy if not afraid when he saw the characters. He kept looking away when the characters approached. It took him awhile to warm up. The breakfast doesn’t come cheap but it’s all worth it. They served scrumptious spread of buffet and importantly the opportunity to take pictures with the characters without having to Q.

Mr Shy Boy

 
Soon warmed himself up and able to pose for camera
 

After breakfast we wasted no time and went straight to the park. We rented the stroller again as it was just too tiring and too much of a hassle to carry Ryan. He simply refused to walk and insist to be carried nowadays. We toured the park like any tourist would. We walked a bit on the main street then went for the HK Disneyland Railroad. After the train tour, we decided to check out FantasyLand.

We went for a few rides here and there and by around 1.30pm, Ryan was showing signs of sleepiness and we decided to go back to the hotel for our nap again.We went back to the park at about 4pm to check out what’s on Tomorrowland and Adventureland. We went for the jungle cruise and a few more rides here and there. Our favourite ride has to be the Autopia (electric car ride). Ryan had so much fun on it.

Autopia Car Ride

After our dinner at Plaza Inn, the crowd started to pull in. Everyone were waiting anxiously for the dazzling fireworks to start. We too, did not miss the fun this time. We found a spot and waited patiently for the clock to strike 8pm. That was when the sleeping beauty castle light up and the fireworks show started to fire the minute the song ‘A Whole New World’ was played. The castle was so beautiful under the lights of fireworks. You literally see the sky burst into a kaleidoscope of colors and lights while your ears being entertained by disney themed songs. I did not keep track how long the fireworks lasted. I think it was about 10 mins or so. Ryan was totally mesmerised. He kept himself busy with the hologram viewer (you could actually see snowman if you use the hologram to watch the fireworks). My hands were totally numb from carrying this 14kg boy but the beaming look on his face wiped all my tireness away. It was all worth it.

After the show we headed back to our hotel. That’s about it on our second night. 

Day 3:

We had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Our park tickets only allow us two days’ entrance so on this 3rd day we decided to check out what’s in the vicinity of the hotel. Nothing much. There was a heated pool and a small playground nearby. We walked a bit further and were pleasantly greeted by a beautiful view at the waterfront promenade.After a short walk we decided to check out.

Splendid time at the playground

At the waterfront promenade

We ordered a cab from Disneyland to our hotel in Kowloon. After about 20 mins ride, we reached Shnagri-la Kowloon hotel.Service was excellent at the front desk. Generally I find service standard in Hong Kong very efficient and attentive. Singapore is not bad though may not be as efficient. It’s an unfortunate the same could be said about the service in my own home country.

Impressive Hotel Lobby

As soon as we stepped foot into our room, we were awed by the beautiful Victoria Harbor view that greeted us. I absolutely love my room. They definitely lived up to the expectation being an award winning hotel known for legendary warm and friendly hospitality. I’m a happy guest for sure.

Admiring the view

After refreshing ourselves, we took a stroll along the harbor across the road. We walked pass a stretch of hand imprints set on cement on the ground by Hong Kong stars. This is Hong Kong’s very own Avenue of Stars.We had McDonalds for lunch. Ryan definitely need more solid in the stomach. He munched down lots of fries and nuggets. Not very healthy food but then… so long he eats.

 
Yummy unhealthy food

In the late afternoon I went for my shopping spree while the boys nap. I came back to the hotel 2 hours or so later to be greeted cookies and tea complimentary from the hotel.

 
What a view to enjoy our tea break..Aren’t we spoiled???

At night we met up with Misha and family for dinner. We’re relatives but never really got in touch until there’s such a thing call blogosphere where we found each other. What a small world. Misha family brought us to Yung Kee Restaurant (a Michelin 1 star restaurant) near Lan Kwai Fong for dinner. The food was super yummy. Misha daddy insisted I should try the century egg. I have never been a fan. After a small bite, I surrender. Hehehe… anyway, hubs said they were yummy.

Spot the familiar face?

Day 4:

We went to The Peak early in the morning. I wasn’t too keen but hubs insisted because the last time we went up the peak many years ago, it was at night. So this time round, hubs was adamant to catch the view at day time. We didn’t do much the rest of the afternoon. Didn’t do much shopping either since they sales in Hong Kong were pretty much on their winter clothing.

Beautiful skyline from The Peak Tower

Enjoying cutting his cake @ Pacific Coffee, IFC Mall

At night we met up Jane, my ex Uni Mate. She brought us to this toy shop in Mongkok that sell lots of Ultraman and monsters. We stocked up a fair bit of them incl those Ultraman shows in Cantonese language. Ryan was sure a happy boy.  

 
Check out those eyes

Day 5:

We had breakfast in the hotel as we were simply too lazy to go out. We had simple breakfast at Cafe Kool. Not so ‘cool’ place to have breakfast considering the price we paid. 2 american breakfast and a bowl of cereal for Ryan cost us about HKD400!

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Breakfast at Cafe Kool

The coach came to pick us up at 11am to the airport. Our flight was at 2.30pm. When we reached the airport, the Q already started to build. We were asked to proceed to the fast track lane since we’re travelling with a tot. There were about 4 passengers in front of us yet we waited for like 30 mins before our turn. Speaking of fast track??? 

At the  Hong Kong International Airport

Overall it was a good trip. Ryan seemed to enjoy himself very much too especially at Disneyland. Until today he still insist of watching the videos we recorded again and again.

Happy New Year everyone. Wishing you all a great start in everything. Good luck to those sending kids off to school for the first time (ditto to myself.. grrrrr)

@ 32 months 3 days

After 4 terms with JG, finally it’s time for Ryan to bid farewell to the playschool which he attended its Bilingual PlayClub programme (2 1/2 hours each) once a week . I am sure he is going to miss the school (toys, playground, magic box, activities) lots.

In the library. Returning a book which he borrowed last week.

Picking out a book to read before class starts.

Found his fun pass which he would need to drop into the mini post box.

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Ooopss… he sticked the eye sticker right in the middle of the wolf picture. 

“I’m done. I’m bored. What else to play??” Next to him is Anna LaoTsi.

Decided to have a go at the hand painting session by Lee LaoTsi.

Next is Xmas tress decorating time. Ryan loves peeling out the stickers.

“I want more stickerssssss”.

“Yay!! My tree is done. Do you like my Christmas tree??”

A hug from Teacher Safina

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Mandarin session story time. The children gathered to peep inside the magic box. Lazy boy kneeled over instead of walking towards the box.

Simple graduation ceremony. Ryan receiving his ‘certificate’

Beaming happily. “Mommy!!! I graduated!!!!’ Hahaha…..

Santa Claus distributing pressies….

Ryan and his first Christmas pressie this year.

He likes to wash his hands. Not because he is a cleanliness freak .. it’s because………

… he gets to mess with the water dispenser after washing his hands. Having his drink here. After a sip or two he will throw the cup away with at least half finished water inside.

Running back towards to classroom for snack time.

Lotsss of food!!!!

ryan is only interested in cutting, messing, with food than eating them. Such a picky monster.

   Outdoor activities

Music Time

Me with my friends and teachers in JG Bilingual Fri 4.30pm class. Can you spot me?

@ 31 months 1 week 1 day

Ryan turned 31 months on 16th Nov. I did not do his 30 months update so I’ll try to kill 2 birds with 1 stone here.

Height: 94/95 cm

Weight: 14kg

Diet:

Still very picky. Sooooo soooo picky that I lost couldn’t remember the number of times I lost it on him. The most recent incident was 2 weeks ago. Lately the one and only food he wants for breakfast is banana. Sometimes when he’s in the mood, take some cheese biscuits. But that’s about it in terms of variety. Gone were the days when mommy decide what to eat, what to wear. My boy… he’s grown up a lot. He gets so opinionated these days that sometimes I find it far from amusing.

For lunch (11am), normally he’ll take rice (meat/fish/vege/tofu/ham/nuggets) and will have porridge for dinner (7pm). His fav vege is still spinach. Soup is a must everyday. The only positive development in terms of his diet is he’s starting to take some cube cheese. Other time snack includes yogurt drink, yogurt, chocolate cake, biscuits (baked cheesefish, ABC, strawberry dipped biscuit). Fruits are also an everyday thing. His fav are papayas and mangos. Last month he told us he wanted to try Daddy’s orange juice during breakfast. That day onwards he has been drinking a small cup of fresh orange juice everyday. His fav non fresh juice is definitely Marigold’s Apple Juice with Aloe Vera. He loves Aloe Vera. When he was ill last week, I mixed his medicine with the apple juice. Voila.. easy peasy. No more cyring episodes. 

Milk intake is still about 7oz each time, 4 -5 times a day.

Supplements: Cod Liver Oil and Nordic Berries multivit gummies everyday.

Language

Speaks English at home with occassional single Mandarin words. Ryan’s fav mandarin word is still ‘mei-yo’. I’m sure he will be able to pick up more when he goes to the nursery next year. So I’m not too worry. At least he doesn’t show any reluctance in learning the language so it’s a positive sign. He’s also into Malay. He prefers Malay over English now whenever he watches Ultraman which has dual language to choose from.

His comprehension in English is good. Many times I was surprised by his ability to understand and logic what we explained to him. He’s also been using past tense / present tense / singular / plural in his sentence. For example, he will automatically add ’s’ to object which has many. The other day we were in Toy ‘R Us and it cracked us up when he said “wow.. so many toy- ses“. It is definitely a lot easier now that he is able to tell us exactly how he feels, what he wants, what he doesn’t. During a funny scene he will tell us ‘it’s so funny‘, on the car ride he will say ‘the trees are scary‘, when he see something nice he will comment ‘it’s so cute,  it’s nice’ so forth’. On the other hand, he also learned to tell us his dislikes .. ‘no I don’t want food, no I don’t want to sleep,  no cartoons I want to watch Ultraman,’ and whole lots of other I want this, I don’t want that. Really opinionated!

Big Bully

Thanks to Ultraman! He likes to bully sotong. This happens mostly at night when he’s sleepy. Ryan has this tendency to go hyper, running, screaming around the house, hitting sotong whenever he’s tired. But when mommy wants to tuck him in bed, he will pretend to be busy, going around the house saying goodbye, giving goodbye kisses, hugs, walking up and down, cleaning up his toys. After he has done all that, he will asked to be allowed to play. I’ll normally give him an extra 5 minutes. That’s why he’ll come back and tell me ‘how about 10 more minutes, mom‘. *slaphead* (no.. he doesn’t know the time but he probably know 10 is more than 5. Sometimes he calls me mom and calls his Daddy Dad)

Punishment 

Ryan is very afraid of the naughty room yet threatening him is not good enough to stop him from misbehaving. Often action speaks louder than words. I have to scoop him up and carry him to the room for him to know we are not pulling his legs when we said we will punish him. I really hate to do that. I hate to see him cry. I hate to hear him begging for forgiveness but we have no choice. Why? Because everytime after a stint in the naughty room, he will start to behave. Sigh. Hearing him chanting  ‘no naughty, no naughty.. sorry mommy, no naughty‘ is so heartbreaking. When out, he will come to us, use both his hands to hold our face, kiss our cheeks/lips countless times and say ‘sorry mommy.. how about mommy sayang?‘. Yes.. he normally want us to sayang him to show him we have forgiven his mischief. He will demand us to stroke him, smile at him and allow him to wipe his tears on our clothes. This is my boy….

Nursery

Finally found a nursery for Ryan. I really liked this school (at least until the point I signed up), it’s a church kindy and one of the very few schools in Singapore that adopts International Baccalaurette as curriculum. Teacher-student ratio is very good, 1:8 a max of 15 students in a class. Couple weeks back the school decided to open up a new class for 2009, and so happened I found out this piece of news from my friend. I called the school right away, visited and paid the registration in a matter of 2 days. But… as mentioned, I was initially very impressed with the school until its orientation day two weeks ago when we got to meet the teachers (1 English 1 Chinese). The English teacher per se was the one who fell below my expectation and I was truly disappointed with the way she manage the whole situation or rather not manage the situation. I later found out she is a new teacher but with 20 years of teaching experience, contributed to a preschool currciculum write up and was a principal of a pre-school which was shut down (hope not because of her). Anyways.. I have spoken to the principal and she assured me she will look into my concerns and will discuss with me again when school reopens in Jan09. 

Bedtime

Ryan will normally wake up around 7am - 7.30am. His next nap will be from ard noon to 3pm. Depending what time he wakes up from his nap, normally he will be ready for bed around 9/9.30pm. During bedtime, I will normally read him some stories, watch a few episodes of Ultraman/Hello Kitty. It has become a routine for goodnight kiss that he will ask for it whenever I forgets. ‘Mommy..how about goodnight kiss‘. After kissing him goodnight.. he’ll say ‘thanks mom‘. Ooooooooooo so sweet. *melt*. See, that’s my boy. Sometimes he can do the silliest things driving us up the wall.. but more often than not he is always very loving, generous with kisses and hugs, thanking us for loving, kissing, hugging him. He even thank us for making him milk. O-o-o…. I love this boy soooo much. Such a sweetie he can be. More loving than my lokong. 

Others

- Ryan showing more signs he’s a lefty. Eventhough he is able to hold a pen using his right hand to draw, his left hand grip is definitely strongly. Generally demonstrated his preference to use left hand for everyday activities. Nobody is left handed in my side of family. However both my in laws are ambidexterity although none of their children are.
- Loves arts and crafts. I bought Ryan some glitters a week ago. Proved to be the biggest mistake. He’s now asking for it everyday during our art time and it only mean one thing: MESS and more MESS.
- Ryan is also able to undress himself without help. He’s always proud of himself when he does that successfully. He will normally undress his shirt first, throw it far away, undress his pants, throw again, and followed by his underpants/diaper.
- He has also demonstarted more independency when he inisist to wear his own shoes nowadays (always much easier and quicker if he chose to wear his Thomas crocs. Phew…)

Anyway… here’s a pic of my boy in his school uniform - the first and only time he wore it willingly. I don’t understand why he dislike his school uniform so much. He had never said no to any of the other clothes we put on him.

 
Do I look naughty cute??

No? How about this?

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“~Roar!!!! Roar!!!!”

@ 30 months 3 weeks 6 days

Poor Ryan boy became the victim of mommy’s foul mood yesterday morning. I was reading the newspaper when I heard sotong asking Ryan if he wants cereal. Expectedly he answered NO. He has been so picky on his food in the last few months that it’s seriously driving me up the wall. If he doesn’t like the taste, he’ll say NO. If he doesn’t like the look of it, he’ll say NO. Anything unfamiliar to him is a big NO NO.

Sotong was sure delighted when Ryan said No. That naturally means, she could go out earlier (it was her off day). But I summoned her to prepare and feed Ryan his star cereals anyway. This big fussy boy took a small bite and decided he wanted no more of the star cereals, instead he insisted his desire to have banana and more Ultraman show. I seriously think he’s getting too much of Ultraman and I warned him if he doesn’t finish his cereals, I will throw all his Ultraman(s) away.

Unperturbed by my warnings, he continued to reject his cereals and started jumping around. This would seemed like an everyday thing , nothing to be angry about I know but somehow yesterday it hit me. At the spur of moment I threw all his Ultraman (5), power ranger (1) and monters (3) to the other end of the living room. I was really crazy upset.

By then the poor boy sensed the madness in this fury mommy. He kept saying ’sorry mommy sorry mommy, yj sit down already’… and guess what this mommy answered. I said.. ‘Do whatever you want, mommy don’t care’. Thinking back, I couldn’t believe I actually uttered those hurtful words on a 2.5 year old kid. What kind of mommy I am????????

The next thing that happened made me teary eyed. Poor boy quietly walked over to his beloved toys, picking the Ultramans up one by one; only to fumble and seeing them falling one by one from his grib too. His tiny hands are simply too tiny to pick them all up in one go. He didn’t ask for help.. and I don’t know why I did not offer either. I just sat  there like a big fat statue staring at her little boy, mind overshadowed by guilt and remorse of what I just did, of what the heck I was thinking and what on earth was on my @&^*% mind to do such cruel hurtful thing to her son. What have I done?? Sobss….

Ryan managed to reunite all his Ultraman(s) after two rounds. My senses finally came back. I asked him to come over and gave him a big big hug and said I was sorry. He wasn’t a tiny bit angry at his mommy instead he said this to me… ‘mommy, smile please‘ 

Ryan, mommy is truly sorry. I love you.. lotssssssssss.

@ 30 months 3 weeks 4 days

Few days ago, Ryan drew these when I asked him to draw a pic of Daddy and Mommy….

I actually thought Ryan’s drawings were really pretty good. Hahaha.. I asked him about the the two lines on the chin. He said those were legs. Arent they cute!!!!!!!!!

… Then the more I look at the picture of mommy, the more I noticed a close resemblance of  the picture with something; of his fav toy:

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**Am I sensitive or what?? Mmm…. **

@ 30 months 1 week 1 day

 Yesterday……. 

I was reading HerWorld magazine in the morning when it suddenly crossed my mind that I have not heard the 3 words from my hubs for a looooooooong time. We still get our usual goodbye, goodnight kiss but … mmm.. I have no recollection when was the last time he said ‘I Luurvvee You’ (apart from when he was travelling). Maybe I wasn’t in the pinkest oh health for the last 2 days which explains why I wasn’t in my bestest mood either. So I grabbed my phone and I texted him…

Me: When was the last time you said I Love You to me? Freaking long time ago right!!!!!!!!!!!

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after 10 mins, I received a sms reply from hubs.

Hubs: Everyday! In my heart, you cannot hear.

Me: O-o-o *chuckled*

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 Last night…….

When I was tucking Ryan in bed….

Ryan: (Tossing and turning on the bed not able to sleep….)
Mommy: Ryan, it’s very late now. You better get some sleep.
Ryan: (Drinking his milk).. how about goodnight kiss
Mommy: (Again?? Given him goodnight kiss earlier) OK.. ‘muaks’
Ryan: How about 5 times? (he always use the number 5 as an indication of many/a lot)
Mommy: (after 5 kisses) Ok.. sleep now. Close your eyes, don’t move and don’t talk. Then it’ll be easier to fall asleep. (Meanwhile, I was keeping myself occupied with Marble game on my phone)

After 20 mins my boy was still awake, tossing and turning in the dark.

Ryan: Mommy, what you doing? How about mommy close eyes?
Mommy: O-o-o Okay Okay (feeling guilty and paused my game)
Ryan: How about hold hand mommy?
Mommy: OK la…  (and we held our hands in dark…heehee..) ..

…after another 15 mins or so, he was still awake…

Mommy: Ryan, you better sleep now else mommy will go out and you sleep alone here!
Ryan: Sleep already mommy
Mommy: Huh?? *chuckled*

See, I’m only a ‘xiao nu ren’ (小女人), small little thing like this puts a smile on my face…..

@ 29 months 4 weeks 1 day

A short clip of Ryan’s phone conversation with Daddy earlier.  I was about to tuck Ryan in bed when the call was made. I try to cultivate a habit for Ryan to wish everyone goodnight including Daddy even if he’s not home yet. Tonight was no exception. It’s always hilarious seeing his gestures when speaks on the phone. But tonight he was able to hold a conversation longer than I expected and it was so funny seeing him swapping phone from ear to ear as if he had spoken hours on the phone. He was telling his Daddy about the missing illuminated moon on the wall, daddy’s at work, that he must big hug kakak before bedtime (he usually hugs everyone goodnight, if Daddy is at home Daddy will even get an extra kiss, as for mommy, needless to elaborate. Heehee…), etc….. Only regret is I wasn’t able to capture the moment on a proper videocam/digicam. My phone was the most convenient recorder I could grab hold of at that spur of time. So hate the annoying buzzing sound in the background. Maybe it’s time for a new phone..

Enjoy the clip … “Phone Conversation”

Long winded rant…!!

My helper took her off day yesterday. I had initially allowed her to take Sundays off (once a month) but due to my recent discovery on her lifestyle, I decided to scrap that. I will have a separate juicy post on that.

Anyway, yesterday afternoon I decided to bring Ryan out to United Square. It was my first time out with Ryan alone. I was a little hesitant at first but I bite my tongue and went ahead as planned. I was so determined to get hold of a watering pot for him. Die die must go. That’s me. Always so kan cheong. Unfortunately luck was not on our end. I searched the whole complex and found nothing appropriate.

So I went to do some groceries shopping at Cold Storage instead. Ryan behaved really well, very cooperative all along. After my groceries spree, we stopped by for some kiddie rides and playground fun. We saw a Japanese girl from afar, around the age of 4+ running around, disturbing and blocking other kids from going up the slides. What a spoilt brat!

Not surprisngly she did the same to Ryan. When Ryan was going up the stairs on the slides, she purposely pushed Ryan away and sat right in front of his path. When Ryan was sliding down, she walked up from the bottom of the slide and refused to budge leaving Ryan stucked in the middle. Such a nuisance endangering the life of others and herself.

As much as I was very unhappy at the sight, I told Ryan to be patient and suggested he play with other activities. He was visibly disappointed but was well mannered enough to give in for other activities - ‘wheel twisting’. That Japanese girl continued her antics while her mommy just stood there like a tree, not moving an inch.

How could a playground fun be complete without going down the slides right. Simply irresistable but Ryan simply could not enjoy any spur moment of fun without getting interrupted. From her expression, she finds joy in upsetting others. Another mommy was so afraid of letting her 18 mo girl near her and decided to just sit aside.

I was upset with the girl, but I was more disappointed with her mother for not making an effort to manage the whole situation; her kid. Kids being kids, they can be rough and I could totally understand that but that doesn’t mean the parents/guardian could keep a blind eye on their actions. A few times she almost pushed Ryan down the slides because she was impatient. Ryan kept saying ‘excuse me, excuse me’ only to have his plea fallen on deaf ears. I can see other frustrated mommies were already exchanging glances.  One hand I was telling Ryan to ’share and take turns’, afterall this is a public amenities but deep down I so want to confront her mom telling her to at least manage her daughter! Anyway, I did not. I swallowed my frustration and continued keeping a close eye on Ryan. Don’t want to create a scene ma….

The final straw came when Ryan was at the ‘twist the wheel’ section again. This girl came and pushed Ryan away. Ryan looked at me and I again said ‘let’s share’ (I was boiling mad by then). This girl was so inconsiderate and possessive that she doesn’t even allowed Ryan to put his hands on the wheel. By then I could not take it anymore. I walked up to the girl, told her politely ‘Girl, please share with your friend, okay?‘. She ignored me and pushed Ryan right under my nose. Wahhh… I cannot tolerate further. I was soooo soooo mad. I held on her hand and firmly said ‘NO.. no pushing, you’re hurting your friend here.. please share‘ then I took a glance at her mommy and summoned her to look after her girl and not allowing her to hurt other children. Guess what. She treated me like an invisible air. I don’t know whether she understands me or not. She stared at me blankly. I could explode anytime. By then, Ryan’s patience reaches its limit. He insisted playing and the girl continued to push him away. Ryan started crying. Poor boy. I quickly pulled Ryan away, said  ‘PLEASE BEHAVE‘ and showed the NO sign language to both mother and daughter. I was dumfounded to see the mother unperturbed. I assume she doesn’t understand English but seeing your child bullying her peers, anyone with the right state of mind would have acted sanely right? It was as if nothing has happened despite seeing a boy crying because of her daughter’s action. Disappointed! 

Ryan was inconsolable. He was deeply upset. So I brought him to the wheel. I just couldn’t be bothered to give face to anyone anymore when they showed no respect to us at the first place. A mother’s got to do what a mother’s got to do. The girl also started crying upon seeing Ryan at the wheels. I really don’t care. I was prepared for a cat fight even if mother finally speaks and confront me. But guess what.. she showed no emotions, nothing and then poooofffff…. after awhile mother and daughter were out of sight. No apology at all. Speaking of uncivilised manners….. ^*%(&*^

This website call Schumacherhomes caught my attention.  I was a big fan of Michael Schumacher until he announced his retirement two years ago. Nevertheless when I bumped into the name of this website I couldn’t resist taking a look only to be greeted with pleasing surprise on how some of the beautiful homes are designed.  These homes are custom designed to suit ones’ individual taste, needs and wants. Looking at the designs it’s barely believable one could have a dream house at affordable fees but that’s what Schumacherhomes promise you. If you think your home needs a makeover, hop on to Schumacher Homes Press to find out more. Oh in case you’re wondering, no this is not Michael Schumacher’s new venture.

@ 29 months 3 weeks 6 days 

We went to Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden on Saturday - Asia’s first children’s garden. We have heard so much about the place but never got the chance to visit. It’s always zoo, zoo, zoo during the weekends (Ryan’s favourite). Weather was kind on us that morning. We reached there about 9am and the morning sun was shining bright down on us. Places like this is usually packed with people during the weekends but luckily we got there early. There were still ample parking space available.

We were greeted by the water play area as soon as we entered the garden. The area was already packed with kids. We could actually hear the kids’ screams and laughter at the entrance. Ryan too wanted his share of fun but we convinced him we will be back for more after checking out the rest of the areas. We stopped at the photosynthesis exhibit next. Ryan was definitely captivated and refused to leave. He kept cranking and cranking the handles of the various stations (sunlight, carbon dioxide, water and phosynthesis). His favourite was  the photosynthesis station which releases mist as he turned the handle. It’s pretty amazing.

We walked around for another 30 minutes or so. We visited the A -maze - ing Play, Sand Play, Match the Plants & Animals, Playground and Water Play. We actually thought we combed the whole garden. At least that was what hubs convinced me but we later found out we were actually far from it. There are still at least another 4- 5 attractions in the vicinity to cover.

We went back to the Water Play area. Ryan absolutely love water. The Aqua diaper and extra clothing we brought for Ryan proved to be a wise decision. By 10am, the water play area was full of kiddos running around, showering under the water fountains, queueing for water at the manual water pump. Ryan had such a great time there.

The few watering cans available there were such a scarce. Literally all eyes were on them. It’s like now you have it, now you don’t. Ryan was visibly longing for one. Poor boy. But thanks to another kor-kor who voluntarily gave up his and passed it to Ryan. Oh-so-sweeeeet.

At night we went to Ngee Ann and Paragon. We wanted to get a watering can for Ryan so we could bring along the next time we go for water play. The trip down town was a futile trip. The place was jam packed with shoppers and simply too crowded to stroll along serenely. We went home empty handed. Who says economy is bad…..??

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We didn’t do much on Sunday. We wanted to go zoo in the morning but we overslept and since hubs wanted to catch his live F1 telecast at noon we decided to stay in. At night we went to this cosy Forture Seafood Restaurant along Bukit Timah Road for dinner. Their Salted Egg Yolk Crab is one of the best we have tasted. Yummyyyy…..

Salted Egg Yolk Crab