First Day of School

It was a monumental day that required months of planning and preparation. It was Ethan's first day of school! What fun it would be! How many friends you meet, and how quickly Mummy would come back! All these were drummed into Ethan months ago and here we are on the big day.

Daddy walked Ethan to school, in what is to become our daily routine and composed a new song for Ethan:

My school, my school, my school is so much fun!
There's lots of things to do, and learning to be done.
I'm looking very smart, and feeling very glad.
Carrying my bag - Gosh, I'm just like Dad!

My school, my school, my school is so much fun!
There's lots of things to do, and learning to be done.
Everybody laughs and nobody cries,
Cos Mummy comes back in a twinkle of an eye!

My school, my school, my school is so much fun!
There's lots of things to do, and learning to be done.
There are friends to meet and games to play,
That's why we love to go to school every day!

We stayed a long time with Ethan on that first day before leaving. He enjoyed playing with all sorts of things, and unsurprisingly, particularly enjoyed the play-time food. Here he is playing with one of the cutest little girls in the class. Actually, he enjoyed the real food too, eating his own pau before scooting sideways to bite into the uneaten pau of the girl sitting next to him.

One of his friends there is Issac, who lives in the same place we do! So Daddy and Ethan often bump into Christina and Issac going to school. Ethan's born late in the year in September so is quite a bit smaller than most of the kids. Some of them are much faster at snatching toys than he is, but Ethan is too much of a peacemaker to know that this is happening.

The Important Things in Life

There are certain precious and poignant moments that remind you of the important things in life. Over the Christmas and New Year season, I took some leave to spend lazy time with the family and it was fantastic. We didn't go anywhere expensive - just spent days out with the family having fun together. We went on a very simple picnic that day, but the memories were priceless! The cool breeze bathed us, Ethan's laughter rang in my ears and I thought, "Yes, this is one of the truly important things in life."

We brought along some friends with their kids for the picnic that day. Sharon loves taking photos of babies, so she was having a grand time photographing Talia from head to toe!

1st Smiles

Talia's charming personality is beginning to emerge as she has started smiling and cooing invitingly when she wants to play. She's even started gurgling with laughter when she's particularly happy!

This is one of her first smiles captured on my phone camera after a warm and satisfying bath by her personal groomer -- Daddy!

More Peaceful Moments

Here's our little angel all decked out in her cute dress (thank you A. Ruth!) and girly accessories! After a rather difficult few weeks, Talia is beginning to settle a little easier at nights and now has a vague semblance of a daily routine although this is often at the mercy of her older Bro who is in the throes of his Terrible Two's. We can't blame him for his tantrums tho -- it's a natural part of growing up and learning how to manage some complex emotions and while wanting to assert his newly developing self-will and after countless reminders from us, he is showing signs of being able to control himself for a good part of the day!
There are still good days & rough ones, but our little girl is blossoming into quite a cute stage of babyhood. She has quite a disarming smile and has even started laughing on good days! She is starting to get rather heavy tho' and all the rocking & carrying is starting to get quite difficult (esp in the wee hours of the morning......) Unlike Ethan who used to drink himself to sleep in a milk-induced stupor, Talia's tummy seems a little more delicate and she's usually still quite awake after a feed necessitating some help from us to send her into Dreamland....

A Day at the Zoo

Gosh, it was a really fun day at the zoo... Daddy feels sad now that he couldn't join them. Ethan is the bumble bee in the video, and the other cute girls are Heather and Emma, Ethan's cousins! Thanks to A. Mei (Goo Ma) who took the pics and made the video!

Knowing How to Enjoy Oneself

A relaxing day at the park is definitely a good thing to enjoy with your loving family. It's even better when you can look handsome and cool while enjoying it, and Ethan sure knows how to do it. He's sporting his own shades and his BRMC Kindergarten sun hat which we brought out early. School is starting this week!!

Living life as a busy toddler can be stressful, but it certainly helps when you know how to relax and enjoy yourself. This important life skill has obviously been inherited from Daddy. Ethan has taken a special liking to lounging in his "old car seat" when Talia has vacated it. It's a perfect armchair for him especially when he's facing the ocean and the sea breeze is blowing across his chesty chest.

Daddy Cook

We had a picnic lunch the other day at Labrador Park. The food was the remainder of the bolognese sauce that I had cooked the night before. It was very yummy (if I do say so myself) especially since its final minutes of simmering were bathed in 1 cup of a delicious cabernet savignon! We brought it to the picnic along with our portable gas stove and heated up in this metal container. Ethan was totally fascinated by the happenings and he inched closer and closer to see what was going on. "Daddy cook" he kept on saying. He was so hungry that he protested whenever I tested the temperature by tasting the sauce. Needless to say, he gobbled up lots of spaghetti that day!

Happy Hort Park

What a happy holiday we had at Hort Park as can be seen from Ethan's big grin. It really is a wonderful place to bring the family, entry is free, and the kids can learn about all sorts of flowers and plants while the parents have plenty of nice spots to relax and enjoy!

Another Holiday

It is day 2 of our local holiday and we're off to a good start. It's an absolutely beautiful and wonderfully cool morning, Talia is sleeping in the breezy outdoors and Ethan is playing water games with about 144,000 toddlers in Jacob Ballas Childrens Garden. It's the most crowded we've ever seen the place but not too much to detract from the fun!

In Vivo

We mosied over to Vivo City after Hort Park and had a real fun day of hamburgers and Pacific Coffee. Ethan needed a nap so we found a couch on the outdoor veranda of Pacific Coffee overlooking the sea and he slept there for an hour while we sipped iced coffees! After that it was water fun in the play area upstairs which Ethan always loves!

Hort Holiday

Today is our virtual holiday where we stay in Singapore but take leave, go out and have lots of fun. This morning is a visit to Hort Park and daddy and daughter are having a nice rest in the shade...

Baby Love

Ethan's initial bemusement with his new sister seems to be growing into genuine affection and intrest. Last week at his Toddler's Sunday School class when the teacher was explaining the story of how Baby Jesus was born on Christmas Day, Ethan inexplicably took a deep interest in the 'baby' and couldn't let go of it for the rest of the class despite gentle cajoling from teachers, our helper, Mary & myself! It was actually quite sweet to see how gentle he was in carrying the baby and even knew how to hold it in the right position! Here he is with Daddy long after Sunday School was over, still 'clinging to Jesus'!

A (Rare) Quiet Night

Talia has started getting a little difficult to settle at nights this last week and we have had to walk and rock her for most of the evening as she goes into intermittent sleep often waking the moment we lay her on the bed! We recall something similar with Ethan sometime in his second month as well but as we were so sleep deprived neither of us has any clear memory of it....

I am now slowly able to 'decode' our little girl's internal logic and I think its probably a case of being overtired in the night after not being able to get a long sleep earlier in the evening. With two kids in the house now, evenings tend to be "all hands on deck" time as Ethan sometimes chucks tantrums in order to get a reprieve from bedtime or Mummy's 100% attention. Unfortunately both kids tend to bounce off each other's crying and Talia ends up getting woken, while Ethan's cries of protest intensify with the additional crying!

So I am enjoying the RARE event tonight when BOTH of them settled peacefully followed by what looks like a good sleep (fingers crossed!) Let's hope this happens more often in the weeks ahead!!

"Hold Talia!"

We we initially a little concerned about how Ethan would take to his new sister but thank God our little tyke has surprised us by being a very caring and gentle big brother to Talia so far! He often asks to "Hold Talia!" and seems to enjoy the novelty of having someone who is smaller than him around.

He's also surprisingly gentle when he kisses and pats her. Here he is trying to calm his sister with a soothing touch...

It's so heartwarming to see the kids getting along so well (for now!) and enjoying each other's company. Talia's been really blessed to have such a good and caring big brother. We're sure they will grow up to be good mates in the years ahead!

Ethan's 2nd Birthday at Relish

It's a month and half gone past, but Goo Ma did this cute cartoon storyboard of this special day and I still wanted to share it with you!