Bath Buddies

Like most babies, Ethan and Talia love their bath times. It's not just about getting clean -- it's a whole other sensory experience that includes lots of happy splashing and feeling the freedom from clingy clothes and cumbersome diapers wearing only your skin! It's also a great time of bonding intimately with the important people in your life.

Talia enjoys regular bathtimes with her favourite Daddy but a few weeks ago, she had her first bath with Ethan! As you can see, Ethan seems to have been the happier of the two since it was like a reunion with his old bathtub (now Talia's) since he graduated from it more than a year ago!

Although Talia wasn't thrilled with having to share her bath with Ethan, she seems to have warmed up to having a new bath buddy once in a while and I'm sure this won't be the last you will see of them sharing baths on this blog!

A Grand Time

Talia has been such a sweetie and is so loving to her daddy recently. With the morning off we are now in Vivo City. Ethan is playing outside with mummy while Talia is napping on her favourite daddy who is enjoying iced frappucino on this warm day! There is nothing quite like having a calm and trusting baby fall asleep on you. Ladies passing by are glancing with "awwww...." looks too! :)

Fountains of Fun!

Cousin Josie and Aunty Ruth were in town recently and one of the first places we went to was the Vivocity Playground for all the kids! Ethan had a good time playing with Josie but was a very caring big brother when Talia joined in. Here he is helping her enjoy the water fun... ...

......and it didn't take long for her to warm up to the joys of splashing around! Its funny how different personalities come out through play -- she seems to be much more adventurous about getting wet than Ethan who is usually more interested in the mechanics of water-pouring in his various cups, cans and pails!

It was a little difficult getting all 3 cousins in the same photo as they were running aroung quite a bit! Managed to catch them on in action in this video tho!

40 Winks

We were having lunch in a small restaurant when Ethan fell asleep while eating! There was unchewed spaghetti in his mouth which he later swallowed after he woke up from his brief nap... Yummy!

Time with Grandparents

Ethan & Talia enjoy the time they spend with their grandparents. Here is Ethan learning how to bake with Ah Mah. Like his Daddy, he tends to take his culinary skills quite seriously......

Looking very pleased with himself with the end product of his hard work (with a lot of help from Ah Mah!)

Talia is still to young to bake but certainly old enough to enjoy a nice breakfast at the club.

Somehow the kids always manage to save their best behaviour for their grandparents!! (wish this could last all day....)

Water Fun

A great photo montage of Talia having fun with water from our friend Sharon! We all went to IMM for the morning with a total of 3 families and 4 kids in tow!

Walking the Dogs

Grandma and Grandpa have two minature pinschers - Buster and Pixie. Buster-the-boy is quite strong for his size, but Pixie-the-girl is just nice for Ethan to walk. They are sized just right for one another and Pixie doesn't pull so hard that Ethan can still control her. Here he is in the Botanic Gardens where his grandparents like to take him. Yes, he loves walking the dogs as you can see by his big and happy smile!

Flying Lesson

Talia is getting a nice flying lesson on the "Winnie the Pooh" Airplane that is still a favourite toy around the house. Ethan has been very good not only sharing with his sister but showing her how to play the toys that were once his and his alone. "Press here Talia..." "Wanna hold Talia!" and "I love you Talia" are things we hear frequently around the home!

My Sister the Model

Ethan was snapping pictures at random so I showed him how to use camera "properly" to take pictures of his cute sister. This is his best one! Not bad eh?

Dr Jones

We were both going to the doctor today to get our vaccinations, but Daddy got the wrong date - it's not for another month! So instead we detoured to Jones the Grocer for father-son time. This daddy knows where the good deals are and Jones is one of them. At this upmarket Australian cafe, a pot of tea is $4.50 which is very reasonable cos it can be shared by two, hot and ice water is complimentary, colouring pens and paper are provided for kids, service is excellent, there is no service charge or GST and parking is free! See what a good deal it is!? Ethan loves it here just like Daddy. We are now sharing "vanilla cream" tea (caffeine free) with honey!

Driving Ms Talia

Ethan not only likes driving Daddy's car, he also likes playing with his own. He does modification, washes it, and of course drives his sister too! What a sweet pair - and both in yellow too! He really treats Talia well, being gentle and protective of her, and we can already see that she in turn adores her big brother.

Tennis

Ethan loves going out to play tennis with his daddy. Actually, he only loves it for about 5 minutes then he loses interest in the game! So daddy has to remind himself that it is about having fun in the experience at this stage and not so much about getting Ethan "into" the game. We did buy a tennis racket together though - this cutest little Wilson which is well sized for him. But after the initial 5 minutes Ethan wises up and prefers to use Daddy's racket instead. Apparently bigger is better in his view.

Mad About Driving

Ethan's great new craze is driving. He either particularly likes Daddy's little Subaru R1 or he particularly likes driving with Daddy. Today Mummy is feeling under the weather so Daddy told Ethan that he was going to drive with Daddy. You cannot imagine the look of glee dripping from his face. I wish we all had that same expectant joy when we are about to spend time with our Abba Father!

So here we are at free parking outside Sembawang Shopping Centre, after a rainy drive during which Ethan kept telling me that HE wanted to drive. Daddy promised so Daddy is delivering - letting Ethan enjoy one of his favourite activities. Whether it is being with Daddy or getting to be like Daddy he just soaks it all up! He will probably remember this time "driving" more than any other activity we do at Sembawang!

Water Park at Sembawang

It was a great day at the water park in Sembawang Shopping Centre for all! Ethan and Talia thoroughly enjoyed themselves and got dripping wet at this fantastic playground. It is less boisterous than the one at IMM and it has food and drink shops just next door where parents can sit and order grub.

It was one of the first few times that Talia really got herself drenched going in and out of the water sprays. Ethan was much more cautious than she is now at that age. We have always known that Ethan loves to play with water but Talia really LOOOVES the water.

We ate steak, chicken wings and french fries at the open air Astons and drank milk tea from the Hong Kong tea house...it really feels like one is on holiday! Amazing that the park is all free, the food is cheap, there is lots of cool air-con shops when you get tired and street side parking nearby is free if you can find it! The only thing missing is warm towels and a changing room!

Talia had such fun time with her Mummy and Daddy!

Bumblebee Boy

Have you seen Ethan in his bumblebee outfit? It was a special occasion – the last day of school and everyone dressed up, so Ethan donned this outfit complete with wings. On that day he unusually allowed the hood to be on too, so he looked quite the part!

Reading

We've been introducing Talia to the joys of reading and are glad that like her brother, she has taken to books very while. I read her The Very Hungry Caterpillar last night and she laughed a lot at Mummy's attempts to make the Caterpillar come alive! Here she is settling down to a fun musical book that Por Por bought from a recent trip to Sydney.

Ethan on the other hand, is expanding his experience to various other genres of reading material, and here he is reading concernedly about the fluctuating interest rates and its impact on his education fund......

Reading sure is fun!

Gingerbread Bumblebee

Today is the last day of the school term and we are having a gingerbread party. Everyone came dressed in costumes so Ethan came as a bumblebee! We had the gingerbread story and a simple character "parade". Now we are eating gingerbread men, some who have been home-baked while others are wrapped in SwissBake and Jones the Grocer bags. I must admit that this simple theme adds much fun and value to the whole day and the kids love it!

I Love You Talia

Ethan hears that we love him so much that he is ever ready to pass on the love to his sister. Today he kept on saying "I love you Talia" and hugged and held her for a long time! She enjoyed it for a while then started getting a bit frantic. In response Ethan held her tighter and patted her head gently with a soothing yet possessive, "No need to cry Talia!"

Artwork: Well & Sick

You've seen a picture of what Ethan looks like when he's sick. Now you can see what his pictures look like when he is well and sick! The difference in energy levels is startling...and funny too!

This is Ethan feeling well...

And this is Ethan feeling sick...!!

I Surrender

Ethan has been very sick for 1 week now. High fever, vomiting and a terrible cough. He's been so weak that he will lie down passively just watching the world go by. Thank God that yesterday we started him on antibiotics and he now on the road to recovery. He is still feeling weak though but here is Talia keeping him company. She looks like she just won in a sibling wrestling match!

Talia's Passport Photo

Talia is 6 months old and getting her first passport for her trip to Langkawi with parents and grandparents. We held her up against the wall and she smiled beautifully! I told Ethan, "Sorry son, Talia's passport photo is much nicer than yours cos we had to take yours when you were only 2 months old in your fat, least-cute stage!"

Kangaroo

Does this pouch look familiar? It was Ethan's favourite one when he was Talia's age and it looks like our little girl enjoys the bird's eye view too! It's really good for when I need to go out for a short jaunt with both of them as I am hand-free!

Things haven't been going so well on the new sleeping venue tho. Talia's caught Ethan's flu bug and has been pretty unsettled and waking a lot at night, so she's moved back into my room and sleeping with me for now.... She's been pretty hard to settle so I've been getting about 4-5 hrs sleep a night and pretty tired! Hope she gets better real soon. Thankfully Ethan's been charming and even helps to soothe her when I run out of steam -- often doing quite a good job on his own!

Pure Joy

Our friend Sharon took these pictures of Ethan playing at the water park. She said that his happy was was irresistable! I think so too... the title of the montage is very appropriate for the screaming squeals of delight on his cute l'il face.

I Love My Sister

After missing Ethan and Talia for one week while I was in East Timor, Daddy is now in Thailand on another trip. Well, I got to spend 2.5 days at home and we squeezed in many good times together. This precious photo was captured by Mummy showing the amazing sibling love between our two children. It really is sweet! Ethan really likes playing and interacting with Talia, and she will squeal and react to him when he comes close. Sniff sniff... Missing you Ethan and Talia...and you too Mummy!

Room Mates

Ethan has a new room mate! (and we have our room back!) We moved Talia's bed into Ethan's room on Thursday and so far Ethan has been thrilled to have company in his room. Here they are lying down together in the morning while Ethan gets changed. He was so excited he didnt get his pyjamas all the way off before copying Talia who was happily cooing while holding her toes......

It's really been a joy to have Ethan all this time but its really quite a new flavour of tingly warm feelings to see the 2 kids enjoying each other so much.

We decided to move Talia at this stage because :
a) She is already sleeping about 8 hours after her last night feed
b) New-room & Separation anxiety have not quite hit home for her yet!
Rooming together does mean that they are much more likely to wake each other up, so I have to try to get to them as swiftly as possibly to diffuse any crying before it escalates. However, we expect that along the way, they will learn to tune each other out except for the louder sounds made by each other. We have already seen Ethan sleep thru the (false) fire-alarms that tend to go off quite often around here!!

First Classmate Over to Play

Ethan had his first classmate over to play! Her name is Alina and of course we had her mummy, Adeline, over too. Adeline said, "Alina is always talking about Ethan saying Ethan did this and taught her that!" So we asked Ethan about her and he said, "Alina pretty girl!" That she is and they play really well together too!

It's very amusing watching the different way Ethan plays with Alina as compared to other boys. Our son is quite a gentle creature so he played very sweetly with Alina who is smaller than him (her head actually looks half the size of our chunky son's large one!). They took turns with various toys and even pushed each other around on the Pooh Aeroplane (see below!).

When there are other boys around it gets much rowdier. So even though we had two toddlers playing, it was actually quite peaceful and pleasant and all three adults had their fill of our "day off" lunch - Ivan's portobello mushrooms, asparagus wrapped with bacon, and fresh hamburger patties with rocket & baby spinach salad!

Happy Birthday Daddy

Ethan's eyes widened and a broad smile brightened his face as he recognized the work of art that Mummy carefully slid out from the white envelope. "Daddy!" he exlaimed. "Ethan, this is the birthday card you made for Daddy yesterday," said Mummy. "Tell Daddy what you drew for him!"

"Circles...snakes!" Ethan said as he proudly pointed to various colourful circular squiggles and squiggly lines all over the page. He then proceeded to tell me many things about what he did on the paper which I did not understand, yet understood fully. Another thing I now understand is why parents go gah gah over their toddler's art work... a peculiar phenomena which I never appreciated to know. Ethan's birthday card to daddy will be laminated and displayed!

Thanks Ethan and thanks Mummy for facilitating the wonderful birthday card! :)

Urban Escapes

Singapore holds lots of places for mini urban escapes and here we are enjoying one with the kids at the water park inside Vivo City. Talia is looking very pretty in her orange dress with her lovely slim Mummy! Ethan had a ball of a time as usual - fascinated with the water jets that jump around. They sure are fun to try to catch!

Daddy Dialogue

It is Thursday - the sabbath-day of rest, for Renata and I anyway. So today, as Ethan got ready for school we did our normal routine except for a few "work things" that Daddy left out. Ethan got his water bottle and his bag and he sang our school song. Daddy has been singing this special song to him and Ethan knows it very well now:

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

Just outside the front door our dear son then exclaimed, "Forgot bag Daddy!" True enough, Daddy was not carrying his computer bag as he normally does because today is not a work day!

But this is not yet the best part... Today as we were walking to the classroom we sang our songs, talked about the teachers and the other kids and as we were climbing down a flight of stairs, Ethan paused, turned his head to look up to me and said (by himself with no prompting), "I love you Daddy!" He then continued to walk to school, serenely oblivious to the wonderful gift he had just bestowed with his daddy dialogue.

In fact, it's been quite a spectacular week for Daddy in Ethan's eyes and vice-versa. He's been talking about Daddy a lot, thanking Jesus for "wash the car with Daddy" and "drive with Daddy". At night he asks for special "Daddy come inside" time whenever I'm around. It's really very precious!

Dear Darling Daughter

It looks impressive here, but the truth is that I don't feed Talia that much... Daddy actually bottle fed Ethan more but now with a tougher schedule, two kids, and Mary who helps us at home it is a less common sight. Little Miss Talia also has to be walked, bobbed up and down and bottle-fed to get her sucking happily...which is a feat requiring quite a bit of patience which us guys don't usually have with crying kids. Thanks for filling in the gaps mummy!

Brother and Sister

Isn't that amazing? We worked and planned quite a lot to make Talia's entry into Ethan's life a smooth one - but we didn't know that our son would take such a liking to his sister! "Ethan, stand with Talia we'll take a picture" said Mummy. Ethan gladly moved to the side of the stroller, turned his shoulders 45 degrees and said, "Picture!" upon which Mummy snapped the pixels above.

The other day he came back from school and declared, "I wanna hold Talia!" which we allow him to do if he sits nicely on the couch and we rest her in his lap. "Wanna play Talia" is often heard when we set her down under her baby gym and Ethan loves joining in. Here they are during one of those times holding hands!