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!
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.
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...... 
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! 
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!
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!
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!
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!
The lunar new year has come and gone. The calories have come but have not yet gone... as usual, the whole family enjoyed gathering together, catching up, and stuffing our faces with yummy food. Ethan can be seen quietly enjoying his cocoacino next to Daddy and appreciating the shiny espresso cup!
Talia was decked out in her finest cheongsam. Actually it's her only one which quite handily was given to us by a church friend just one week earlier. It's very "fitting" so we're quite sure that in 1 more month it won't fit her anymore. 
Grandma and Grandpa looked especially pleased to have the kids and grandkids all here. Some are overseas, but now with Heather, Emma, Ethan and Talia there are 4 noisy rug rats to scamper around and bring smiles to all our faces... all except Uncle Martin however, who still seems quite fearful of the young'uns! 
Our two kids - such joy they bring into our lives! And this together with such sleep deprivation, tiredness, sore eardrums, volumes of laundry, stunted social lives, and conversation that somehow almost always revolves around them. Precious, precious! We love you Ethan and Talia!
I thought the day would not come but alas it has... I have bid farewell to my beloved Yamaha FJR1300 motorcycle. Ethan had his last playtimes on it and Daddy nearly cried with the thought of no longer riding any more. So what brought along this happening? It is the infamous Father Syndrome. Amazingly, Renata has always let me ride without too much fuss. Of course, both Ethan and Talia's grandparents have always encouraged me to give up this adrenaline pumping pursuit...
"Ethan wanna ride motorbike!" is one of the sentences that my son is adept at. He is also very adept at riding my motorbike. He looks like quite a natural holding the handlebars and playing with all the gadgets. It's much more fun than a car cos he gets up real close and there are a lot more switches and gadgets on my bike that he can fiddle with!
When he was younger he would be scared when he saw me on the bike with my full-face helmet on because he didn't recognize me. Now he does recognize me. "Daddy motorbike!" he exclaims happily when he sees. Once he saw me out of the car window when I rode up next to him. Later that same day, in the car on the way home he said to Mummy, "Want the Daddy outside!" He wanted to see me on the motorbike again!
Below is the only video that we have of us playing on the bike together. We played on it together for a loooong time on that final day before the buyer came to pick it up. I finally peeled him off and both of us cried...If you don't know (because I didn't know before this), giving up riding and leaving a large sport-tourer like this feels very much like "breaking up". I laughed at myself when I thought of this analogy, but it's true! It comes with bittersweet memories of the times you enjoyed together, the thrilling excitement and fun, and the hopes of the future that will never fulfilled (like riding to Thailand!). Now you know how understanding Renata is to put up with all of this from her hubby! :)
