Alive Museum @ Suntec 221214

Bought the tickets at a discounted rate of 15 dollars each (Thanks to my SIL). We were requested to take a photo with the 'wings' at the entrance because it is quite crowded inside. True enough, the museum is really crowded! Why is it so crowded on a Monday??

T went in and cried for a while. Maybe because of the intimidating pictures on the wall, or maybe frightened by the crowd. The place is quite small and narrow. Due to the many people taking photos and walking around, we had to rush, squeeze, scream at T come back....

We had some fun taking photos but not all are really interesting. Not really worth the money. And if you are bringing a toddler, it is hard to read the instructions and depending on the toddler's character+mood, to include him/her in the photos.

However, there were some photos which turned out pretty well...

Zoo on a beautiful Saturday

We went to the Zoo...but saw a grand total of 5 kinds of animals - monkeys, sea lion, elephants, polar bear, penguins. I think there were a few others but where's my giraffe, lion, tiger, hippo, rhino, zebra, kangaroo etc etc.

What happened was we went in at 10am, saw some monkeys on the way and rushed for the Splash show (sea lion was the only animal) at 10.30am which lasted for less than half an hour. Then we went to the elephant show area and waited half an hour for the 11.30am show. Show was quite entertaining but thought we could have spent more time visiting the other animals. The other family suggested going to the water park before it rains, so off we go...to the highlight of the day for T.

Luckily we got corporate passes which allowed us free entry to the zoo, otherwise there's seriously no point going to the zoo mainly for water play. But anyway, don't think the kids mind and we'll be back!

Looks so big here...

Grandparents are the best!

Elephant show

Elephant at the back is poo-ing...

Fav pic. She was dashing around the whole time.

Pure Joy!

Yoga with her cousin.

Super hungry after so much fun! Look at the empty bowl...

@34 Weeks

6 more weeks to my EDD. Frankly speaking, I am quite scared. The contractions, the pain, the pushing, the sewing, the blood, the discomfort. T tortured me for 20 hours. Not sure how I survived without epidural. Hoping to steer clear of epidural again which means PAIN. Well, I asked for it so can't complain much. 

Waddling like a fat duck/penguin nowadays. Baby's stretching my belly like mad. Especially during this hour when I am sitting in front of my PC. But I am thankful that my feet are not swollen, cramps and heartburns are minimum which is probably attributed by:

1) Swimming 10 laps (half hour) twice weekly from second trimester onwards. The pool is the only place where I feel less bulky. Don't think it really helped a lot in controlling my weight gain, but I think it helped in relieving a bit of the backaches and kept the cramps at bay. Read online that the chlorine might not be good for the baby so I kept to just one hour a week. Just in case.

2) Going for weekly 1.5 hr pre-natal massages. I go to Amore for my massages and facials. Helps a lot in relaxation. Good for relieving backaches and preventing cramps as well as swollen feet. 

As for the eating part, I am quit guilty of not abstaining from certain food/drink, for instance bubble tea. It's weird that I can quit coffee, but I just can not resist bubble tea. I take a lot of carbo (always craving for Ramen) and sweet stuff (esp cakes).  But I tried to eat everything in moderate. Hope #2 will not turn out as big as T (3.8kg) and will give me an easier labour. Praying hard...

Xmas Card #2

We made her second card for her cousins today. Drew a snowman for her to colour (first time she gets to use her white crayon) and then the usual writing and sticking stuff.

Looks like the snowman is juggling the stars!

Love how she positioned the stickers around the greetings.
She asked me to draw a heart shape and proceeded to paste the heart-shaped stickers in it.

Frankly speaking, these are very very simple craft projects. I am not a very arty person so I really envy creative mummies. But I guess simple is good too. Minimum mess and just right to fill in that half an hour gap before bath time. The best thing...we get to spend quality time with each other.

Xmas Card #1

Xmas is around the corner, I decided to let T make some cards for her cousins. She is starting to learn how to write so I decided to leave the writing of names to her. We had some practice before the actual making of the card and to my surprise, she got the names correct in one try. I was expecting a few wasted cards. Of course, colouring and stickers are a must. We completed the card within 15 mins and really proud of the end result. 

Planning to make the second card tonight with a different theme...stay tuned!

I drew the tree and she coloured it.
 Guided her to form a circle around the tree with the stickers. 

Included photos with her cousins to add a more personalized touch.
Her writing is not bad for a toddler right? *Beams*

BagzGym @ Jurong Safra

I had so many plans for T when it comes to enrichment classes.

I want her to go for Ballet, Yamaha, Phonics, Swimming...but in the end, she is only willing to go for Gym classes.

Ballet class at Yishun Safra sort of made her fearful of going for classes alone. She is now scared of performing in front of others so when we went for Yamaha, it was so diffcult to get her to enjoy the lesson. She was so apprehensive throughout. But back at home, she sings and dances like nobody's business. I kind of regret trying to make her go for ballet alone back then. Biggest setback.

Well, she states clearly to us that she only wants to go for Gym class so we're going to wait till she's more ready before we sign her up for other classes.

2 colleagues (ex and present) introduced BagzGym to me. We have been to other playgyms but BagzGym is slightly different from those we went to. BagzGym is a gymnastics school which doesn't only cater to little children. They don't have music or a special theme every week. Basically, it is just basic gymnastics movements. You can start as early as 2.5 yo and parents can accompany them till they are ready to go alone.

During the 1-hr lesson, they do 10-15 mins warm up, after which they go through different stations before ending with the jumping on the trampoline and sometimes into the sponge pool.

The school on Level 2, same side as KidsAmaze

These are just some of the stuff they do during lessons...

Seriously if you ask me, what has T learn from BagzGym so far, I really cannot give a concrete answer.  As an educator myself, I understand the importance of learning outcomes and often, we are eager to see immediate results. For now, I just love seeing her enjoying her lessons, so much so that we are willing to pay (not cheap) and travel (not near). She might not go on to become a gymnast but I believe the lessons will help in improving her movement and posture.

Bedtime Reading Books (Dec 2014)

I try to read to T everyday before bedtime. I love reading and I really hope she will too. I spent quite a bit of time every month choosing suitable books. Choice of books is crucial. Level of difficulty must be right and theme should appeal to T. It is really exciting exploring different books every month. Sometimes, she likes the books so much that I will renew them so that she can hold on to them for a longer time. A question has been nagging me for a while...better to borrow or buy? For now, I buy some, borrow more. Hope she will be able to choose her own books soon...for now, she just grab whatever she can from then library shelves (Malay and Tamil books included) and stack them high high on the table. 

Here are our loot for this month...

《玩具国王》：Dingding dreams of being a valiant king ( his people being his toys ) who killed a sea snake and saved his people. 

A simple and imaginative book which T enjoys a lot. She made a sword using her Lego that day and we linked it to the one Dingding used to kill the enemy in the story. 

《树爷爷》：Shu Ye Ye is an old bald tree who is relished with a new life after protecting the princess and garden from the storm.

This book is kind of wordy and difficult for a 3-yr-old but I am really surprised that T loves this book and wants me to read it every night. At times, she will be distracted (because it is really wordy) but she is actually still paying attention as she can answer my questions while I read the book. I hope the value of selfless sacrifice seeps into her.

Where's Spot?

This book is rather simple and is basically teaching prepositions of place for instance behind/above/inside etc. T likes flipping the little flaps so quite a good book to expose her to more vocabulary and also keep her engaged.

That's not my piglet

This series of "touchy-feely" books is more suitable for children below 3 but I cannot help but always borrow one every month because T really loves them. Good to include the sense of touch during reading.

Dora Helps Diego : Dora helps Diego find the missing Baby Jaguar.

This is probably the best book I borrowed this time. I really really want to buy this series but can't find it anywhere! Difficulty level just right for a toddler learning to read and it's quite engaging. T wasn't interested in the cartoon so I am pleasantly surprised she likes this book.

Here's a video of her trying to read to me. Pardon her broken Engrish and look out for cuteness overload at around 1:00. (BTW, took me a long long long time to figure out how to compress and upload -.-)

We really enjoy our bedtime reading sessions. It bonds us together and is a really good opportunity to teach values. T is still far from being able to read independently but she always tries to read to me (by remembering some of the key words) after I finished reading the book to her.  I believe it is a good start for her. Looking forward to the day when both of us sit at a cafe (with coffee and chocolate cake) for hours, reading our favorite books.