Hokey Pokey Time

Hokey Pokey reopens today at Millenia Walk after about 2 months of moving and renovation. I saw the announcement on their FB page and told my mom about it. It's my mom's favourite indoor playground for P, so she was gamed to check out the place.

I could only join them after work, but on a side note, something surprising happened at work today. I received this!

My boss was the one who sent it, and I wasn't prepared for it because she was out on leave today. Really very sweet of her, I felt so touched because not even my hubby has sent anything to my office before. And the first thing that my colleagues asked "From your hubby?"

Back to the topic of Hokey Pokey. I found it the moment I entered the mall, situated on level 2 near the entrance to Parco. At first glance, the place feels much bigger than its Suntec space, and the best thing is they have increased the locker and seating space. There is much more space to park strollers, and a row of seats. They even have a designated party room now. My mom however, felt that the play area has became smaller after they moved.

The indoor playground wasn't very crowded when I got there at 6pm. There were plenty of space and toys for P to run and play with. Seeing that she was enjoying herself, I told my mom to give her a bit more time while I head downstairs to get half dozen of Twelve Cupcakes. I returned to see her on the mini roller coaster, having a blast.

Yes, that blurred figure is P.

Looks ready to be a big sister

Play rates remains the same as those in Suntec. They had a 1-day opening special of 20% off, so I think my mom only paid $12 instead of the usual $15.

Hokey Pokey will be able to keep your bubs busy for a couple of hours. The longest duration P ever clocked was close to 5 hours. Thumbs up for them! Do bring your bubs there to try too :)

Just before leaving

P turns 1

21 August 2012 - P turns 1! I can hardly believe it's been 1 year since her birth. Look at how much she has grown from her 2.975kg birth weight.

Started the morning with a preschool visit. I have been sourcing for her preschool for some time, intending to put her in at 18 months so that she can learn more stuff compared to being at home with my mom and MIL's maid. There's a Sparkletots that is about 2 blocks from my house, and all along I thought it wasn't opened yet. Last week at work, I chanced upon a website with their contact number and called them up to check if they are opening up for business. To my horror, they have started on 1 August and the wait list is already 40+ people. I've asked them to put me on wait list and I frantically started to search for early preschools, and also put myself on wait list for My First Skool via their website.

This morning's preschool visit was to Nobleland Arts N Learning Place, located at Peminpin Place, which is 4 bus stops from my house. It is a private estate type of school, 2 stories and about 5 classrooms. The centre opened in October last year, so there isn't a K2 class yet. The Chinese teacher greeted me at the door, and showed me around the place. Subsequently, the principal came and we sat down to talk. P isn't a patient sitter, as in she will not just sit in your lap and watch/listen to you talk. She struggled and I had no choice but to set her on the floor. Her newfound mobility is scary, she ventured around the room while we talked, grabbing brochures and throwing them out of the gate. When one of the lessons ended and kids moved to the kitchen area, she followed them by walking behind them. I daresay she thought she's already one of the students. I followed her to the kitchen area and kids were putting on aprons, presumably for an art lesson. There P stood and banged the table, as if asking why the lesson is not starting yet. I caught her and brought her back to the main door to continue the conversation with the principal, but she refused to be good. She pushed hard against me in an attempt to come down. I was super embarrassed. The Chinese teacher must have seen my predicament, and told me she will bring P to join in the playgroup class for some free play (they were playing with toys and blocks). Sigh, to think I thought she will be stranger-shy, but I guess fun is all that matters to her. 有玩具没妈妈. Anyway, seeing how she reacted at the preschool, I'm quite keen to enrol her. Monthly fees are $585 after government subsidy.

We got home and P took a long 2 hour nap after her preschool rampage. After she woke up, we left for Hokey Pokey (again!). There were many Koreans and Caucasians today, and their babies were the hostile type. P got snubbed many times when she tried to join in the fun.

When using the slide, P slided into a boy who was climbing up the slide. His mom tried to extricate P from her boy, and when she saw P, she burst into "Hey Pearlin!". That was one of my Sep FB mommies, who had brought her sons to Hokey Pokey. Best of all, her younger son Reagan was born on the same day as P. Such a coincidence eh! Happy Birthday Reagan!

Hubby said he would try to leave work earlier to join us, but that didn't happen in the end. However, he came to fetch us and we had TCC at Millennia Walk to celebrate her birthday. P slept through our main course, waking up only when we were finishing our drinks. Ordered a slice of strawberry cake and sang her a birthday song. That marks the end of our day.

Happy Birthday my dear! Mommy loves you so much! Stay healthy and happy :)

Hokey Pokey

I had thought that my in laws were checking out of the Aloha Changi chalet on Sunday, but it turns out that they were checking out only yesterday. Called my mom to see if she could take in P on Sunday night, but she had some appointment on Monday morning, so I found myself emailing my boss on Sunday afternoon to apply for childcare leave the next day.

Started the day by bringing P down to the rooftop garden for a walk. She pointed to a cat, played at the playground and snacked on Happy Baby yoghurt snacks. After taking her bath, I let her choose her brunch menu and she chose this:

Review on the Plum Organics Multigrain Super Greens

• I got this from iherb, much cheaper than getting from stores in Singapore
• This contains organic peas, organic spinach, organic long grain brown rice, organic pearled barley. All sounds so healthy, and most importantly, I wanted P to like greens
• The first thing that came to mind when I saw the contents is that P pooped in the packet. Ya, it really looks kinda gross, both texture and color
• After you get over the visual image, the contents actually smells quite nice. If blindfolded, I would definitely chomp down on this
• P took about 8 mouthfuls and stopped. Maybe she was sleepy, maybe she didn't like being fed in her walker, but more than half the packet was left.
• Overall, not very successful *sigh*

After that super meal, P napped for 2 hours, which gives me plenty of time to get ready for the Hokey Pokey trip. Hokey Pokey is an indoor playground located at Suntec City 3rd floor. It is somewhere near the kids retail area (between the cinema and the Toys R Us), smack right next to the Groupon store. I got to know of Hokey Pokey through my Sep FB Group. Some of the mommies have brought their babies there, and reviews have been positive. Cost of entry is $25 for non-members (1 child and 1 accompanying adult), and unlimited play on weekdays. My mom had a NTUC card, which gives us a 10% discount. Additional adult cost $5, but they allow swapping.

2.5 hours - That's how long we spent in Hokey Pokey. It took me 4 tries to get P and grandma (my mom) out of the play area. Even after coming out, P would look back at the play area longingly. I had to assure her that I'll bring her back someday.

Overall, it was a positive experience

• Staffs were wiping the toys constantly, so I'm quite happy with the hygiene level.
• There's a huge array of toys there, it's almost impossible to complete playing each one of them in 1 day. This is good for someone like P, whose enthusiasm for a toy only lasts 3 seconds.
• The entire play area is cushioned. So I feel quite at ease for my crawler to crawl around without bumping herself.
• I would definitely bring her back for another visit.
  

  

  First toy of the day - Mr. Penguin. Fun was spoiled by a boy who came and whacked the penguin reall hard while we were playing.

  
  

  

  Bubbles time! P had great fun trying to pop the bubbles.

  
  

  

  What is an indoor playground without a ball pit? We love colored balls!

The slide that drops you into the ball pit. P enjoyed this the most!

P and grandma in the ball pit

Activity tables for active kids

Miniature pianos for the aspiring musicians. All P did was to slam really hard on the key notes.

Red piano - Mama's fav color

I called out her name and all sorts of other things to get her attention, but sorry, she only has eyes for the toys.