Royce Kids Gym

After the school visit yesterday, mom and I brought P to Royce Kids Gym (RKG) at Liang Court. It's a toy heaven and I think practically all the toys can be found here. Shall let the pics do the talking.

It's pretty similar to Hokey Pokey (HP), and I can't help comparing. RKG has a larger offering/variety of toys and is probably slightly larger than HP. RKG also has several swings hanging from the ceiling which HP does not. There is also a roller coaster at RKG that P enjoys a lot. However, in terms of pricing, RKG is really expensive because they have a time limit. I paid a whopping $36 for myself, mom and P to enter for an hour, which I thought was really steep. A 1 hour play costs $26 and grants entry to 1 child and 1 adult. Then, additional adults costs $10/pax, which I couldn't justify. HP charges $5 per additional adult and I thought that was already expensive, but RKG really top it. I guess I'm too used to entering explorerkid at $2, or even just $1 if I have the right card with me.

Where P is concerned, she seems to do much better at HP. The offerings at RKG is quite overwhelming for her and she spent a good part of the 1 hour walking around to assess what is worth playing. It wasn't as constructive as her play at HP. The moment the speaker went "Pearlin Tan, time's up", I knew it will probably be our last time there. The next time P needs some toy stimulation, we're heading back to good old Hokey Pokey.

P spends a LOT of time on this Thomas ride-on

Grandma having a blast too

For someone who hates her pram, she sure likes this one

Preschool mania

I've been taken down by a strong flu bug recently. One day I was good, and the next day I felt like dying. Usually these bugs hit me gradually, over a couple of days, but this one took over within 1 night and left me with runny nose, cough, fever and an aching body. P was having runny nose 2 days before, so I suspected I got it from her, so we are now both having the same symptoms.

Yesterday was an eventful day. I brought P to a kindergarten school visit, and we really like what we see. A huge school compound resembling a mini primary school, plenty of outdoor playing space and charts-lined walls in the classrooms. My mom helped with P while the principal brought us round the school. We stopped at where the prenursery students were having lessons and I asked some questions. In the meantime, P didn't wait by my side to listen to our conversation. Instead, she saw the PN engaging in some play at the playground and joined them without batting an eyelid. From the corner of my eye, I could see her going up the slide stairs with my mom's and one of the teacher's help, then slid down with glee. I have a good feeling she will do fine, and this will be my first choice of school for her. There are several phases of registration and I hope P can get in.

Her preschool search hasn't been an easy one. For the most part, I couldn't decide what's best for her. I started the journey looking for a full day childcare, but stumble halfway when I started asking myself why I wanted to do that when I have more than enough caregivers for P. Even if she gets in, does that mean we are depriving another FTWP from placing their child in the cc? Strike 1.

After speaking to my mil, she suggested we can look at half day cc since the other half of the day is mainly used for napping. Before I did the research, I thought half day cc would be significantly cheaper than full day, if not a 50% cost differential. Research came up to be only a $100 difference per month, and taking into account the subsidies, it the cost difference is minimal. Strike 2.

The next possibility I explored was playgroup which she could enter at 18 months, then when it's time to enter the mainstream kindergarten, she can do so. The main criteria was that the playgroup has to be near my place, so my MIL's maid can pick her up easily after the 2hr session. Just nice, there was 1 just next to my block. I wrote in to ask, and alas, they can only accept her when she turns 2 years old in August 2013. If I were to go down this route, she will be in pg for only 5 months before transiting to the kindergarten. Costs wise, paying for uniforms and misc just to attend for 5 months don't make much sense. Besides, I was concerned whether she can adapt to her kindy when transition time comes. Strike 3.

Next, I looked at playgroups that run only on weekends. There is one at AMK hub, and runs on Sundays for about 1.5 hours. This might be good to let her learn some stuff before she goes to kindy. Unfortunately, I learnt recently that they have moved the enrichment classes to AMK Jubilee, which isn't as convenient as hub, so plans are shelved till further notice. Strike 4.

Hence for now, the plan is just to send P to the school of our choice next year (year she turns 3). I will need to mark the registration date down on my calendar and make sure the 'lil one gets a slot. Phew, crazy parenting business!

I'm high on Starbucks!

OMS

Brought P for her 2nd lesson at Our Music Studio today. I didn't get the name of the teacher, but P seems to prefer the teacher during her first lesson. I find this teacher very warm and friendly though, so the class was fun. P should be one of the older babies in the class, and she carried herself well during the activities. I'm quite proud of her.

After the lesson, we went to the Big is Beautiful Motherswork store on L2 to check out a Storksak bag. I've been wanting to get a diaper bag for some time already. I have 2 existing ones, one from Carters which has deteriorated to broken threads and tags condition, and another one that is so big I could probably pack the contents of my storeroom into. Good diaper bags don't come cheap, easily about $100. What's good about Storksak is that it looks like a working bag, which you can bring to office without looking like a fashion disaster, and has many compartments to fit baby items unlike normal work bags. I broached the topic with hubby this morning, and was pleasantly surprised when he told me to go ahead.

I had a voucher that gives 30% discount on selected models, but it turned out the 30% was already applied even without the voucher. There were 4 bags on discount and we quickly short listed the 2 black ones. Eventually, I got the cheaper (and better looking) of the 2 at $175 after discount. I'm a happy mama!

Halfway to Terrible Two

Mom brought P back in the evening, together with a basket load of complaints on how naughty P is and how she threw tantrums during the 2 days at my mom's place. I've noticed that recently too, that P seems very frustrated when she doesn't get what she wants, and she only gives you 1 chance to get it right. If she don't get what she want, she goes into full fledged tantrum/crying, coupled with throwing whatever things you try to appease her with (even when it should be the object she wanted in the first place). Mom has never experienced this with her, so she was quite taken aback.

I think P is at the stage whereby she can understand what we say, but yet can't communicate her response. If I'm not wrong, she is trying to verbalise what she wants, but realise its not working on us, hence the frustration. I have to remind myself to be patient with her.

Not all's gloomy though. Hubby went for lessons this evening, so it was just me and P after my parents dropped her off. We sat at the sofa watching some game show on Channel 8, when P caught sight of her yogi snacks at the ledge above the sofa. She climbed her way up, got her prize and sat on my lap grinning. I opened the pack for her and she started munching and watch the show. After awhile, she decided to sit on my lap facing me and eat the snacks. She caught me watching her, gave me her widest smile and took out a yogi to feed me. Awww...

This reminded me of an incident when we friends were over at my place for dinner a couple of days back. My friend gave P a pack of raisins, and my other 2 friends tried their best to convince her to give them a raisin each. P refused, and even walked away warily. After I put down my things, I went over to P and gave her my palm to ask for a raisin. She promptly took 1 and popped it into my mouth. Take that, my friends, haha! You'll be glad to know hubby got a raisin too. Guess she does know who are the 'strangers', which I hope to keep it that way, not because I'm selfish, but more for her safety.

I don't recall doing it very often to P, but it's apparent someone did. Hubby was carrying P, when she started struggling to get to me and ask me to carry her. What happened next reduced me to peals of laughter. She did the clap-clap-open-palms gesture, which is what people usually do when they want to carry a baby. Then she gave me a 'don't you understand this gesture?' look. Wahaha, I'd be more than happy to carry her, just for this time.

2013 is looking good so far.

From Bumbos to Chairs

These are the babies of my FB group. They were in Bumbos 1 year ago, see how much they've grown! Try spotting P!

2012

2013

A great end to 2012

We ended 2012 with a big bang with 2 mini parties at our house - A steamboat-teppanyaki party for hubby's friends on 30 Dec, and a western fare (pizza, pasta, baked potato) cookout for my friends on 31 Dec. It was uber tiring, especially for hubby, who had to clean up and mop the floor after all the fanfare. What was I doing? Yeah, entertaining the 'lil one of course, no easy than all the cleaning!

His friends

Testing sil's DSLR on P

She's captivated by the flash

Nah, she didn't like the flash

Hubby's friend managed to get this great shot of her

P's latest hobby - rolling on the floor

Now let's try rolling on the mat

A group picture

My friends

Teaching P to jump

123, jump!

Christmas 2012

How was your Christmas? I didn't get a chance to blog about it till now, but I thought I should still do it in case I want to look back on what I did next time.

We started Christmas morning by going to Thomson Plaza for Han's breakfast. P ate plenty of sausages and eggs, then we brought her to NTUC for her favourite activity: Roam freely and touch to her heart's content. Our favourite word at NTUC is 'No'. While we shopped for groceries, P did several heart stopping moves - Grabbing various glass jars (jams/sauce etc.) when we took our eyes off her, and it rendered immediate intervention before I had to pay for damages on Christmas. I could swear we were wiping off cold sweat when we left the supermarket.

Lunch was at one of hubby's aunt's house, which was just a 5 min drive away. P was initially quite overwhelmed by the crowd, and kept wanting to stick to me. She ate plenty from the pot-luck feast, and still coveted my food when it was MY turn to eat. Pretty soon, 2 of her cousins (hubby's cousin's kids) who are around the same age as her came, but she wasn't that keen to engage with them. This is strange since she usually take to kids very well. Hubby's aunt played a video of her own wedding (some 24 years ago), and it showed hubby putting on a guitar performance (he was about 3 then). It was hilarious, and the whole family laughed together. P really does resemble hubby when he was young.

A pic taken before going to grandaunt's place

P took her long overdue nap when we got home, and it lasted about 1.5 hours. By the time she woke up, it was time to set off again, this time to my sil's house. It's the 1st time that P entered my sil's house. We've been there a couple of times for bbq, but P has never set foot in her place till now. She was very interested in the Christmas tree, and had fun rolling on their parquet flooring (which I don't understand why rolling on a hard floor is fun/comfortable). We also found out she likes cherry tomatoes from the salad bowl, and kept asking for more.

Presents time! Mostly for P and only 1 for us. P got a magnetic doodle board from grandma, a Disney piano toy from sil, a toy camera and photo album from her godma. She gave her attention to these toys for about 10 min, then it's back to rolling on the parquet floor -_-. We played Guitar Heroes, and P seems to want a part of the action. The only role she is suitable for is to dance to the music, but she went around trying to get her hands on our instruments, haha. We left sil's house at about 9 pm, and drove past the Christmas lightings at Orchard Road. A great end to 2012 Christmas.

Another Christmas present: Half-completed Spray n Rescue Truck

Christmas Eve 2012

Hubby attempted to cut P's fringe today, and it turned out like that. My mil was totally horrified when she saw P. She had bought a nice dress for P to wear to mass, and it was as if P's haircut spoiled her plans.

Before

After

Attended the children's Christmas mass this evening. We arrived about 45 min before mass to get the front seats on the second floor, so P can look down at the children's play. She turned out to be quite a handful later, and I regretted coming for the long mass.

After mass ended, we headed back to my MIL's place for dinner. We had ribs and pineapple rice and popiah. It ended off with a log cake from Bengawan Solo and here's P smiling after a spoonful of cake.

I have just finished setting up her Christmas present - A Hello Kitty Kitchen set and a MG Shabu Shabu set. Hubby is in the living room now, trying to set up her fire truck. The instructions and parts look too mind boggling, so I left it to him to figure out.

Haha, life has certainly change after P came along. We used to just sleep through Christmas eve, and not bother too much about the occasion. With my family, it's worse coz they don't even celebrate Christmas. Now that we have P, every occasion becomes more exciting and interesting. I definitely feel more Christmas vibes this year, compared to last year when she was just 4 months old.

Tung Lok Seafood

Sis' birthday falls on 26 Dec, and dad's on 31 Dec. My grandparents' birthday had also passed recently, so I decided to hold a joint celebration for all of them at Tung Lok Seafood, Orchard Central. My mil had been there previously, and kept commenting how good their ala carte buffet was. We used to frequent the ala carte buffet at Pearl River Palace restaurant at Suntec Convention Center last time, but it closed down already, so we've been on the lookout for an ala carte buffet.

Tung Lok Seafood is located on L11 of Orchard Central, and a series of long escalators can bring you from L1 right up to L11. Parking was full when we got there, so hubby asked me to go ahead with P first, while he search for a parking lot. The setting of the restaurant was just what I expected, not too atas but decor was ok. The food order was sent in shortly after we arrive.

Food was quite good. Hubby was exceptionally pleased with their salmon sashimi and we really ate a fair lot. Some food options only allowed 1 portion per table (clams, chilli crab, fish maw soup), but they only did well for the clams. Fish maw soup was so-so but the crab was really mediocre. If I were to go back, I'll skip these dishes altogether. They did really well on the fish and the prawns, and we ordered second helpings. There was a deep fried marbled goby (2nd helpings), garlic red tilapia (steamed), drunken prawns (2nd helpings) and their fried rice was pretty good too. Cereal prawn was so-so.

Service was also quite good. Our tea was refilled periodically, and they came with new plates quite frequently. The food didn't take long to arrive, so overall it was a good experience. Bill came up to $339 for 7 adults and 1 baby. I didn't think we even ate $300 worth of food, but well, you usually lose in a buffet unless you have a table of young army guys.

My grandparents were very happy to see P, who happens to be their 1st great grandchild. They are really getting on in age so I really appreciate the time I spend with them. How often can you have 4 generations at the same dinner table?

After dinner, we tried to make our way to Somerset 313 (where hubby parked his car), but was greeted with a construction pathway teeming with so many people that it was impossible to get through. We took a detour via the back of Orchard Central and in the process check out the X'mas fair they were having. For once, P decides she doesn't want to be carried, and kept struggling to come down as walk herself. Hubby was kept busy trying to prevent her from touching the 'hazards' (lightings, escalators, exhibits etc), great exercise after a heavy meal haha.

It's finally X'mas eve tomorrow. Finally time to prepare her presents.
 

Papa Jon & Ms Itchy-hand, touching everything in sight

Santa Claus The Musical

Yes, I survived the company year end event!! Dinner at High Society wasn't very eventful, except we found out that P is afraid of Santa Claus. The event organizer we were working with managed to get the star of the musical (Santa Claus) to make a short appearance at our dinner. P was totally petrified when he walked in and made a short intro. She clambered on me for security, and my mind was all on the possibility of her crying through the musical later when Santa makes his stage appearance.

Food was ok, but they took too much time to serve the main course. Dessert was supposed to be our choice of cupcake from their cupcake counter, but we were running out of time do I suspected my boss gave them instructions to serve the same cupcake to everyone. I think we got the hazelnut one, which was a bit hard but very nice and rich. We gave out goodie bags to the children, and vouchers to the employees and that pretty much rounded up Part I.

Part II was the musical itself. To be honest, it's the first time myself and hubby attended such musicals and we were feeling quite out of place. The Grand Theater is situated on L1, one floor above High Society. There was a long q at the ladies next to the Theater, so you really have to buffer some time. The musical would be 2 hour long with a 25 min intercession.

The start of the musical saw a jaw-dropping P. She was totally overwhelmed with the action, and stayed on her booster seat almost all the way. The only time she strayed was when Santa appeared from the side door. She jumped onto me, but was content to go back to her booster seat after she got used to the sight of Santa. The energetic dancing, the dazzling lights, the characters (especially the penguins) all appealed to P. It entertained her so much that I was able to sit next to get comfortably and not worry about her usual 'can't stay in one place' antics.

Intercession soon came, and we headed out with the intention of doing a diaper change for P. To my dismay, there isn't any baby changing facility in the restrooms. I checked with a staff and they said they don't have any, but she offered a 'crying room' to us, which can be found when you enter Door 5. It's on the right of the entrance to Door 5.

With mama during intercession

With papa during intercession

Second part of the musical didn't seem as exciting as the first part. P still watched the action though, and her good behaviour is really worth praising. I prayed for her good behaviour and I got it, yay! About 15 min before the show ends, the corner of my eye caught P nodding off. Yes, the 'lil one is truly tired already. I cradled her and she slept amidst the loud sound effects and clapping of the audience.

With the success of this musical, I might seriously consider paying good money to bring P for future ones. Today also marks P's 16 months. You're really growing fast my dear!

X'mas came early, no way!

Hubby went for his lessons yesterday evening, leaving me to handle the 'lil one alone. She ate plenty of yogis, asked for water, played with my wedding photos and photo desk calendar. Very busy indeed.

After I bathed her, I went to the kitchen to make her a bottle of gripe water. She stayed in her playroom and I could hear her struggling to get something, and getting frustrated. I couldn't find the spoon that I usually use to measure the amount of gripe water, and through SMS found out from hubby he threw it away coz he didn't know I used that medicine spoon, and it kept felling into the sink -_-. Noise of her frustration continued till I fgured out the gripe water, and I went in to check on her.

P had her hands on a box in a Takashimaya paper bag. Yes, it's a Hello Kitty kitchen playset I got for her sometime back and intended to open it only on X'mas day. It wasn't wrapped coz I figured she doesn't know the significance of wrapping paper (or rather unwrapping a present) yet. She saw me and asked for help by pointing insistently to the box, outright implying that I should open it for her immediately. I told her 'No' and her face fell, sign of impending meltdown. I took the box out of the paperbag just to show her, and she pointed to it and ask me to open again. No, my 'lil one, let's wait till X'mas, just 5 days away.

I walked to my room and she valiantly tried to lift the box and follow behind me. Took me awhile to distract her from the playset...

Hubby and I will be busy on X'mas eve. There's a Little Tikes Spray and Rescue truck that is also meant as a X'mas present for P, and that will be assembled by hubby on X'mas eve. I will be unpacking that kitchen set and cleaning it, together with the remaining 2 boxes of Mother Garden playset (which I'll probably just open 1 first).

And oh, the world didn't end today, so Santa will be kept busy as well.

'Mama' and 'Papa'

P is finally able to call 'Mama' and 'Papa' on cue, although sometimes she acts like she didn't hear us. Hubby is so so happy, and always tell me that the way she calls 'Papa' is soooooooooo cute.

She will be 16 months old tomorrow, and I'll be bringing hubby and her to my company's year end event at MBS. Programme will be dinner at High Society, followed by a 2.5 hour Santa Claus the Musical. I highly doubt that P will sit through the musical, but I really hope she doesn't throw a tantrum or disturb other colleagues. Good thing is I have hubby around to help, so we're praying for best behavior from the 'lil one.

I went shopping with my boss yesterday to get some gifts for the year end event. It was great, and I feel really at ease with her. My greatest gain in 2012 is really my current job. Great colleagues, great boss and great work-life balance! Thank god for everything bestowed on us this year :)

Attipas Toddler Walking Shoes

I recently bought 2 pairs of Attipas shoes from Thelittleonesinmylife. What's unique about these shoes is that the colored portion is made of socks material, whereas the bottom is just like any shoe, making it a combination of prewalker and normal shoes to aid the transition. These shoes are made in Korea, and so so comfy! Aesthetics wise, I haven't had anyone who didn't gush at how adorable it is. The shoes are also machine washable, but since my washing machine has a bad record of destroying my clothes, I'll probably do handwash for now and see how quickly it will dry.

Whenever I buy shoes for P, my concern will be the fitting at the front and whether it is too tight for her toes. If you can see from the picture below, this worry of mine is unfounded as the toe area is super broad, and her toes can do all the wiggling they want. Unfortunately, these shoes were only discovered recently, and P is already on the largest size available (XL).

It will be tough for other shoes to match up to the convenience and aesthetics of Attipas. 

Here's P wearing her blue pair and trying to put on her red pair

At Takashimaya toy department

Her red pair of Attipas. At United Square waiting for the live show.