Monday, June 30, 2008

Thomas: A love-hate relationship



My parents had been trawling the toy shops in search of a toddler-size automated Thomas. After a year of hunting, they finally found it in Toys "R" Us. They were hoping Kai would be thrilled with it, and went on about how they managed to get a discount for it.

But he didn't take to it at all.

Rather than hop on and enjoy the ride, he sees it as his own real-life working rail way. So all he does is, switch it on (it's bloody noisy btw) and watch it go round and round and round and round... And that's how he'd react if you ask him if he wants a ride^!

I can't force him to use it for the purpose it's designed for. I feel bad for my parents too, but I suppose they have to be contented with the fact that he likes it though for a totally different reason.

I'm considering bringing the set downstairs and charge neighbouring kids a dollar per one minute ride...

Love affair with THE thumb: Twilight days yet?


Kai loves to suck on his left thumb. He's got a corn on his tiny thumb by now, and some people have been shaking their heads and going "tsk tsk" when they see him do it.

On Friday, MIL cut the fingernail on that particular thumb a little too deeply. He placed it in his mouth, pulled it out immediately and then said, "Painful!"

MIL felt very bad.

The amazing thing is that he stopped sucking his thumb thereafter. It has been two whole days now and he has not been sucking on his thumb. There were times when I caught him fingering his mouth, but that was it. And he seems like a different boy now; more grown up.

Could this be it? The solution to thumb sucking? 

Monday, June 23, 2008

Transformation

I have reached another level with my two-year-old son.

Today, the first thing I heard through the 'baby' monitor was "Mama!" rather than his cries.

And for the first time in my parenting history, I jumped out of bed immediately (rather than pretend to be asleep for a few more minutes).

Then, he said to me: "Cold water."

Stunned. After pouring him a glass of water, he said: "Watch TV."

*faint* My two-year-old is making sense!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Why restaurants hate us

Here's the trail of destruction that we usually leave behind in restaurants. (This was taken during our last night in Melbourne. The waiting staff were really nice. I feel bad; can't remember if we tipped them! :p )

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Swimming with the Starfish

Here's a short clip of Kai swimming with the help of the Starfish. This was the second time he used it and should be more gungho.

As you can see, however, the second his chin dipped, he started panicking. After watching the YouTube video of him swimming at six months again, I realised the tip of his mouth went south too when he splashed water in his face.

How cute...

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Etna and the chocolate ice cream

I am sure I will get a lot of flak over this: Kai ate the whole bowl of chocolate ice cream by himself at Etna.

I wanted to scoop half of the ice cream out of the bowl when it arrived. I should have; I will have nightmares over not teaching my son the virtue of not over-eating. But Terence said Kai would kick up a fuss.

Of course he would. He's just two years old! Oh Khay, you are such a weakling.

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Etna, the Italian joint along East Coast Road, is a good place to satisfy your carbo/Italian craving if you live in the neighbourhood. It is Italian cuisine that has more of an Italian touch than its competitor--Pasta Fresca--just down the road.

Tried and tested: The "starfish" float

Terence had been bugging me lately about buying this float that he saw in Parkway Parade. Many East-enders would gasp in horror when they hear this, but I hate going to Parkway Parade. It's the crowded carpark and equally crowded shopping mall--it just puts me in a lousy mood.

He finally dragged me there over the Father's Day weekend to buy the float. A debate ensued over the size to buy:
- Size A for age 1-2.5 and weight 8-13kg
- Size B for age 2-4 and weight 13-18kg

I'd have just grab Size A. But Terence weighed both the pros and the cons, plus the fact that Kai falls into both categories one way or another requires a well thought-out purchasing plan in his opinion. The bottomline, however, is that Kai weighs 10.5kg, never mind the age. So I made the 'executive decision': Size A please.

I was initially dismayed when we tried fitting "Starfish: The Original" swimming vest on dry land. It wouldn't buckle! I was reeling from the thought of having to drive back to Parkway Parade to exchange for the bigger vest.

"Never mind!" said my gungho husband, who then dragged us to the pool to try it out.

I'm glad we did! It was snug enough to give Kai the right support and buoyancy he needs, and he was paddling on his own in no time. It didn't give him a false sense of security either as he learnt quickly that there will be times when his chin/mouth might dip into the water. What's more, it isn't too bulky such that it restricts his hand movements.

And although he was excited, you could see he was frightened at the same time. We gave him plenty of encouragement along the way, and it was wonderful for us to see him enjoy the freedom in the water and paddle around independently. Terence said it was the best Father's Day highlight ever.

While I recommend this float highly, it is probably better for the toddler to be already comfortable in the pool and is paddling with the help of the parent. Throwing the vest onto a toddler who's new to the concept of swimming will be a bad idea.

We brought Kai to the pool when he was three months old, and you can catch how he has progressed over the years here.

Sunday, June 08, 2008

Dear son...

The night before you were born, daddy and I didn't know what to expect. We only knew we were going to see you for the first time after nine months.

The same night you came screaming into the world, I couldn't sleep. Every cry from the nursery seemed like yours. I was anxious; you weren't latching well. I finally took, for the first (and last) time in my life, a sleeping pill. And it was the last time I had a good night sleep for the next one year.

From then on, there were many happy firsts in our lives. And I'm quite sure there will be many more happy firsts to last a lifetime with you around.

Happy second birthday, Kai. We love you.

On his birthday


Monkey see, monkey do

I had been thinking about what I should do for Kai's birthday and I finally felt he would be too young to remember or realise the significance of the party. Plus other than Thomas, what he really likes is to have all his family members gathered around and playing with him.

So I rallied both sides of the family together for an outing to the zoo^ on Saturday. It rained later in the morning, but he had fun.

After his nap, he opened his presents. We bought him a Duplo zoo set. While Terence cracked his brain to fix the pieces together, Kai was perfectly happy with the toys that came off his cake.

To our relief, there was 'integrative play' finally.

Kai turns two!


The day before his birthday (on Saturday), I wanted him to celebrate it with his friends in school. So here's the unsuspecting birthday boy before he left the house.

The cake came out of the box and it looked too good to eat! But he really didn't care of course; he couldn't wait to get to the cake. After the singing, cake cutting and photo taking, the teachers asked him to distribute the cakes to us, his friends and teachers first before he could settle down to eat.

Saturday, June 07, 2008

Food trumps Mama anytime


I reached home a couple of times to this scene: Father and son in front of the TV eating orange. Instead of running over to hug me like he usually would, Kai just blinks at me to acknowledge my presence and then continues chomping on his orange.

Friday, June 06, 2008

Southern Ridge: Henderson Waves


Outdoor lovers would enjoy Southern Ridge, and we did! Well, part of it (i.e. Henderson Waves), that is. Kai kept running down the Henderson Waves, and I was quite convinced he would fall flat on his face anytime and break his nose. Luckily, not!

Toy rental club

The Toy Rental Club allows your toddler to play in their premises for S$10 (one adult and one toddler). It should come with a cup of coffee for the adult, but no one offered to make one for us and we were too embarrassed to ask.

Actually, we needn't have paid for it; I suppose it's really for people who stay almost the whole day and take down boxes after boxes of toys for their kids.

All he wanted to do was to go down the slide into the ball pen, pretend to play Bob the Builder, jump up and down the mini-trampoline, and ask me to repeat the word "funnel" everytime he points to the funnel of a train. Every kid we saw had a go on the slide, rode the bicycles etc. too, and their parents didn't pay for the time there.

But we were the first one in the premises, and we waited a long time (just us) before the Chows arrived with Kate. Plus I was getting more and more paiseh by the minute by just letting him play without any intention of renting any toy.

Terence said I did the right thing. I don't know... really.

His snack box

This was what I packed for him after blogging about his snack time melt down in school--raisins and Nestle Cookie Crisp.

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Nice

Reached home at 8.15pm to an empty house. As if by magic, Terence called to say he and Kai were downstairs having a stroll.

Kai saw me, and came running towards me from the far end of the estate. I saw him, and I ran towards him. (Fade in mushy music.)

"Ma ma! Hug!" he said as he collapsed into my arms.

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Terence took me out for an Italian dinner. He knew I was down.

He drove, and parallel parked by driving head into the lot instead of reversing. He once lectured me big time about the technicalities of why-cars-should-always-reverse-when-parallel-parking. He had to make a lot of stupid, inefficient moves just to get the car in. I like if when he acts silly.

We had a good laugh.

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