Eat, drink and be married!

Every passing month gives me a tingly sense of pride that my little boy is no longer little, he is slowly growing up. Of course, there will be emo days where I wish time did pass slower!

As much as possible, we try to introduce the arts to him via musicals, plays and hopefully there is a portion of his childhood that has theatre in it. So off we went in support of Kids Fest catching two plays, Room on the Broom and The Tiger Who Came to Tea.

In preparation of these plays, I got him the books so he would not go in completely unaware of the storyline and while the witch scared him a fair bit (and even with a paying ticket, he preferred my lap *facepalm moment*).

He enjoyed the latter alot better somehow!





And I baked him scones for tea just....to finish up my pineapple jam from pineapple tart baking and to kind of follow the book cos Sophie and her mom had tea together?




Butter, fluffy and the family enjoyed them too!

I am a fan of indoor playgrounds for the simple fact it is sheltered and it provides entertainment and enough activity for Cyrus to be adequately engaged. The Art Ground is a lovely collaboration between National Art Council and different artistes.



This entry took way longer than I expected and so many visits, we literally grew with Artground!





Rolling@Tag
19 April - 19 August 2018

The first time we step foot was during Daiya's installation and with no expectations, we were pleasantly surprised what was in store!



Designed by educator Daiya Aida from Japan, we saw alot of slides. Curves were the main shapes used in the installation and the kids had a whale of time scrambling up and down them. I love how the slopes are so gentle and even if there are falls, they aren't as bad as sharp corners!

The stage had a busy board too for the pre walkers.





Our monkey tackling one of the slopes.



Clearly having a ball of time.



And practicing his art of free fall.



Of course he discovered the beauty of hidden holes.



And him fiddling with one of the busyboards.




We went so many times and fell in love with this free play space.



Seeing those smiles were well worth!






Hullabaloo
30 August - 6 January 2019

The second installation was way more colourful and there was focus on the special needs kids with sensory corners.



Nur Aida Binte Sa’ad takes over with a brand new concept, there is alot more exploration with pops of colours and I love how the whole area transformed into a wonderland. There are slides, rock walls, trapezes and even a makeshift wheel. 





I love this even as an adult!




It is a pity the slides are way too steep for toddlers and the only way up is climbing..no stairs! Lots of supervision is required here. 




The toddler scrambling up and down like a champ!



And he decided a slide could be tackled bottom up. Face palm moment.




These pompoms are so cute but they did end up getting yanked by the kids.







On one of the many visits we paid to this cheery place.






I couldn't resist snooping on him as he explored the playground!



Wild Rumpus by Adeline Lee
24 Jan - 5 May 2019



Of the three this showcased more textures, crochet creations, wood, lights and beads even. I'm not sure about the children but there sure was a sensory overload even for me!



Fancy a see saw ride on the monster?




Or take shelter in a sequined canopy?





This slide was a natural magnet for the kids, I liked how more gradual the slide was as opposed to the last installaion and how the sides doubled as chalk boards for doodling.



This little monster is made for climbing - or so my own little monkey did instead of explore it under.







The wacky duo marking their territories at the foot of the monster's legs.



And us in the colourful corner with books.




When he was not going up and down the slides he was poking his nose into the maintenance work that was done on the planks. 

Do you have a preferred collaboration? I'm loving all and cannot wait for more! 

Time flies too fast and the backlog is clearly piling up so high - I must get down to Marie Kondoing the entries. NOW, why did Blogger not update the app! Life would have been so much easier, and I digress.

 

Since CNY is coming up, I decided to bake pineapple tarts from scratch - for the first time in my life and...swore never to do it again, if it is not for family. HAHA. 




In true foodie style, he was game to try these handmade tarts. 



First taking a good look. 





And then polishing it off. YAY.

• The food game is still strong with this one and it definitely has to do with the genes when it comes to food - throw him meds and he takes them on like a champ, even asking for "more medicine!", his dreams are infiltrated by food and it is amusing how he sleep talks "big portion!" and of course the beauty of bringing him out for meals is he mostly sits through and hardly fusses as long as there is food. 
• Since starting chinese class or maybe it was just coincidental how it was also time to unleash the chinese vocab he has been storing for a year in school - he understands chinese and can respond appropriately though we do have some way to go to be as conversant as he is in English. 
• He has been amusing us with his cantonese phrases too - thanks to Ah Gong! 
• The monkey antics have obviously leveled up - we scored an Accident and Emergency visit one Friday night over a splinter he managed to brilliantly kick under his toe. ARGH, BOYS. 
• He has dumped the scooter for his tricycle -  can't wait to transit him to the walking bike and then a proper bicycle!
• His safety net has extended to both yiyi and yizhang, randomly wanting them when he is disciplined. Cues roll eyes. 
• The imaginative mind has clearly won this month when his teacher told him she was going to take a plane home for CNY and he replied almost matter of factly so was he and he was going to Hong Kong for the new year too. None of which is true though we do get some truth from this imp occasionally. 
• We survived two plays with him completely mersmerized for Tiger Came to Tea but freaked out for Room on The Broom. Baby victories! 

And with that, we welcome Year of the Pig with wide open arms! Hope your family is having some serious fun too! 

30 months, 2.5 years and it used to baffle me why anyone would count their children's ages in weeks or even months. Will it not be easier in years? But I do get it...every week in the first year is worth celebrating and then months. Not that life should not be celebrated there after, it's just odd to be counting a toddler's age in weeks beyond 52!

December whisked us by and I do have alot to update and as usual never enough time.

• We upgraded him to a tricycle this Christmas and he has been paddling all over...too cute! And he amazed me with his penchant for obstacles. He chanced upon some cones and decided to do zigzag cycling...and insisted he perfected it. Naw, WHERE and WHO did he get that streak from? 
• We did JB over Christmas and it was not without drama, 4am cruising past the causeway meant the champ was rudely awakened but he was unusually obedient, not even fussing! We had plenty of adventures then and clearly he was too excited to sleep and came down with fever on 27th December, immediately after our hols. TSK. 
• His grasp of languages amuse us alot, he's picked up random malay and cantonese phrases! We do have decent conversations these days and I am always taken aback by this toddler wisdom. "Ah gong, you don't drink mama's bottle. You take your own." Wutttt???
• "Popo, get the man to fix it." when he heard the aircon rattling away. 
• He officially completed 1 month of transition into N1 so here's the real deal this January. 

Happy 29 months baby boy!

With every month that passes, you never fail to frustrate-annoy us a weebit more but we also marvel at how much of your babyhood you've left behind. Has it really been 29 long months? All your caregivers cannot help but look back and just give a huge sigh of relief how far we've come.

This month...

• You graduated out of playgroup (another post! Momma's always lagging in her posts) and it was an emotional affair for me...11 months of school and we've seen you check off so many milestones. You adore school so much, taking you home is a pain sometimes. 
• This month you learnt how to dunk your head under water during swim class - YAY! 
• We're stopping soccer classes for a while this month...just so everyone can have a good weekend without rushing for classes. 
• You've started categorising your friends and clearly your best friends are boys. You got so upset when one of them refused to share his biscuit with you, you had a nightmare. Seeing you trio break into giggles and run all over school grounds always makes me wish you'd never get to experience the bad side to all friendships. 
• We're seeing more logic in your sentences..."Cycy scared of grandfather clock because..." and there's always a legit reason. 
• You outgrew your fear of tunnels at last, declaring yourself a brave boy. HAHA. 
• While you love food with all your heart, your preferences remain fiercely - the same food as us. Thankfully cooking same food as you has saved us several episodes of unnecessary meltdowns! 
• You've begun a keen interest in lego, trains and guns (must be that nerf gun your friend gifted you.)

And curry chicken for dinner! Just because I felt like cooking it for him since he tried it in school for Deepavali celebrations.



Look who's excited!



Om nom!




ANDDDD... to top it off we had our first advent calendar! 24 days of lego fun! :)

28 months and with just 2 months left to Play Group, I am left a little emotional about the little man being promoted to N1 at school and even swim class. No more the littlest. Next year brings more changes and more classes...I just hope he loves what we have planned out!

• "I don't know", "Let me think about it..." are phrases new to us this month and you say so with such seriousness, we all crack up at your sudden maturity. Are you growing up way too fast young man? 
• The dramatic meltdowns reached a peak and you've taken to making the biggest scene you ever can just to get out of situations until we got into some trouble and well - parenting is a journey! 
• We got you your christmas present really early because you ran so excitedly to the window and pointed at what you wanted - how could Dadda even reject you? So there, we bought the toy within days it was placed there and you spent the next few days asking for "Christmas". 
• The "why" game has started - strong. Why momma? But why? And why? Wish us luck. 
• The concept of two has gotten to you - two by two, two biscuits, two anything and everything when you sometimes only need 1. 

His Halloween meal of deviled eggs, a potato head man and a pork rib to represent bone! Someone looks mighty pleased though, especially with those olives.











And of course, how could we let the first of any month go by without a celebration. As much as I wish I baked this gorgeous swiss roll - we went with our family's favourite.


Happy 28 months sweetheart!