OO @School - Sports Day

OO's school has Sports Day every quarter. But this time it's special as Mama are invited for a Mother's day theme event. Naturally Meimei was making every effort to be there for our little cutie.

I wished I could be there too but more than happy to give Meimei that mother-daughter bonding time.  Hmm then again I wouldn't be allowed to join in even if I was free ... unless I put on a dress for Mother's day haha.

I think it's wonderful that the school occasionally invites parents to participate. We literally miss many of the cute moments of our little one when they are in school. So these rare opportunities are not to be missed.

OO @School - Mother's Day Art

Mother's Day just round the corner and OO's school had all the kids do up a very nice and heartwarming paper flower art to present to Mama.

To do that the kids have to take a nice picture first. So it seems the teachers brought the class out to pick out flowers and have them pose against a maroon wall.

This was the pic our little sweetie pie had for the Mother's Day artwork. She loves her outdoor play.

And this is the gift for Mother's Day, now sitting proudly on Meimei's desk.

East Coast Park Children's Playground

OO has been under the wind again so we couldn't bring her to a water playground no matter how much she has been asking for it the past week. Though she wasn't well, I didn't want a dripping nose to put a damper on the weekend for OO. Thankfully Meimei wasn't sticky about it. Her only rule is that we cannot go water play. Meimei loves bringing OO out to play as much as I do.

I had read that there is now a huge children playground at East Coast Park. So that was where we brought OO. 

She didn't seem too excited about the place though. Maybe it's just first time jitters. That or the ever present sickness that has been plaguing her since the turn of the year.

She did get her first piggy ride on my shoulders. She was pretty unsure and scared though and came down after a couple of minutes.

I hope to bring her here again. It's a free playground and close to home. The only stumbling block is her utter reluctance to get into the car seat. I cannot imagine trying to get here on public transport ... it just ain't gonna happen. So whether we come again is really up to OO.

OO @School - Sensory Play

One of the important themes for the PG1 is the concept of touch. Feeling objects helps them understand the world better. 

Many of the sensory play involves making art with paper, paint and anything they can glue on.

Good thing they play this in school. We wouldn't be able to deal with mess at home.

Emily seems to be enjoying these activities a lot. She has always been a curious baby.

Playing Water At Gardens By The Bay

Because OO liked the zoo trip's water play so much, I've been researching on other locations with water attractions. The zoo is a some way from home and OO can't stand a long trip in the car. Plus at $33 per adult, every trip will set us back $100 just on the entrance fee alone.

So I was excited to find that the water playground at Gardens by the Bay is free entry. Armed with a box of bread with jam we set off to the Gardens early in the morning. Again the plan was to spend an hour and leave before the sun is at its hottest at noon.

We didn't get any photos this time as Meimei joined in the fun! I prefer this more than having to have one of us stay out of the activity to be the photographer. I think OO would appreciate if both Papi and Mami played with her.

We'll try to get photos next time :)

"Papi ... Put Away"

"Papi ... put away ..."

I was on my sofa when I hear my little darling utter these words. OO went on to pull the ipad off my hands and placed it on the seat beside me. She then grabbed my hands and say "come come, sit sit" while placing her hand on the play mat.

Ouch ... did OO feel neglect? Was she feeling sad that I had ignored her while I was engrossed with my ipad? Many questions and feelings of guilt ran through me. I should spend more time with my little one ... she will only be so young for a little while more.

I'm surprised that she can express such feelings though at a tender age of 2. Kids these days are so much smarter and expressive than their parents.

OO @School - Outdoor Play

I always see children from the child care centres coming out for outdoor play. They'll hold onto a rope led by a teacher, with another following behind the group to catch any laggers.

We finally get to catch a glimpse of OO's outdoor play when the school posted some photos. OO's playgroup are having a Bubble Play session in the above picture.

This other picture is of her and her group mates at a pedestrian walkway close to school. She looks extremely happy to be out and about.

I like that she gets to come out for outdoor play. The school is housed inside a bomb shelter so there are no windows to get a sense of the world outside the classroom. So any outdoor walks are welcome to let her get some fresh air and basically experience what it means to be a kid running around the neighbourhood.

"Car, Nooooo!!"

We were supposed to go a house warming party for one of my ex-colleaques. Everyone was changed by noon and ready to go. We got to the car and OO had another meltdown and refused to get into the car.

She is getting worse and worse. We cannot figure out why she wouldn't get into the car seat. At this rate, we'll either have to take the bus and train everywhere we want to go or never bring her anywhere. How do you get to far off places like grandparents house, the zoo or even the beach.

Sigh ... it's extremely frustrating. We would like to expose her to many different sights and sounds. To let her see the world ... but her utter refusal to get into the car is jeopardising it all.

Getting OO Covered

We finally got OO hospitalisation coverage. I was hopeful we could get it after my AIA agent got OO life insurance cover. I'm done with Great Eastern ... they are never getting my business.

Since my AIA agent came through on OO's coverage, I'm switching my Medishield and additional hospitalisation coverage from Great Eastern to AIA. The only one I'm not changing is the life plan since it is already vested.

I originally wanted to change OO's accident plan to AIA too but Meimei veto-ed it. She explain that she rather keep coverage across different insurers. Although I don't agree with the concept I didn't push any further. 

I like that for any new insurances plans going forward we would be getting it from my agent. I get more service, better advice and follow-ups then Meimei's Great Eastern agent. Good riddance.

Space Marshal

I was browsing through iTunes for turn-based games when I came upon Space Marshals. And surprisingly, it has a download cloud icon at where you would usually find the $$ for the app. Huh? When did I download this game? Oh well, doesn't matter ... let's try it.

Wow, what a find. I absolutely love it. It is a good mix of strategy and action. Not the fast paced gun blasting sort but slower, steathly type. And the best part of it was that it's free. I'm gonna get their sequel once I'm done with this one, just so I 'pay' for their efforts on such an engaging game.

A Total Flat

I've just experienced a tyre puncture recently in December and never expected one to happen so soon. Especially not when we were on the expressway with Meimei and OO.

It came out of the blue, we were on our way home from the zoo. I had taken the SLE and turned into CTE when we started hearing a loud rattling sound on the left front tyre. I stopped to check at the filter lane to PIE but couldn't find the puncture.

I thought it was going to be the same as the last one where it punctured the tyre but the pressure was held in by the screw. I told Meimei that it's just the sound and we can make our way home. I'll go down to the workshop again the next day to get it fixed.

Atlas ... we travelled for another couple of kilometres when there was a sudden bang ... like metal hitting against the under-carriage of the car. The rattling sound was gone but my steering started feeling heavy and the vehicle was veering left.

I quickly turn on the hazard and got off the bridge at Paya Lebar and entered the safety area on the left. It was a total flat ... there was no way we could continue with this tyre. We were out on the expressway and had to call the EMAS to rescue us.

As it turned out, the EMAS crew were very nice chaps. The driver saw that we had a baby and offered to help us change the tyre (yes, I don't know how to ...) when we were tolled to a nearby carpark. Phew ... it was very kind of the driver to help us. I wouldn't know what to do otherwise.

A Short Trip To The Zoo

OO's first trip to the Zoo. We went early as we had planned to only stay there half a day. Although she liked to see the animals, it didn't excite her as much as we expected. Her eyes didn't lit up when she saw the tigers, monkeys, hippo etc. The one thing that made an unforgettable impression though was the water playground at the children's area of the park.

It took us a while to coax her to change into her thermal swim wear. And she was also apprehensive about getting wet. But once she touched the water sprouts she got all excited.

It wasn't long before OO and I were running around the water fountains and getting wet from head to toe. You can tell from her glee that she is truly loving it. This has to be the highlight of the trip. I'm sure before long she'll be pestering us to come back to the Zoo ... not for the animals but to run amok in the water playground.

Paying Our Respect

The annual ritual to pay our respect at our ancestor's graves.

Attack of the Mosquitoes

Like all kids, Meimei loves going to a playground. So as her devoted daddy, I'm always keeping a lookout for fun playgrounds to bring her to. I think I've pretty much brought her to all the playground around our block.

And today I brought OO to the last one we've never been before, which has a twirling slide like the one she loved at our old Tampines home. There wasn't any kids around and we had the whole place to ourselves. This is a good thing except for the horde of mosquitoes. I didn't noticed it at first but when I started to, I kept hitting them. I'm pretty sure I killed 6-8 of them ... and that's no exaggeration.

Once the mosquitoes started attacking we made it out of there pretty quick. I was shielding OO through it all but she still got bitten twice. I, on the other hand, counted 14 bites when we returned home .... We are never going there again!!

Recollections: Afternoon Snack At Hillview

There is very little I remember of my youth. It is one of the biggest regret of my life ... to not have kept a diary of sorts. My mama always tried to encourage us to write but we never took to it. So I treasure very much the little bits of memories I still keep. Most of it are just tiny 1-3 seconds flashes of memories.

One vivid scene from my early days was of this scene where I was watching Mickey Mouse on TV while munching on fries with ketchup. Mama had placed the plates on the coffee table so bro and I just stood there gobbling down the snack with our eyes were glued to the TV. Mama was never good at frying stuff though, she think frying is oily. So she tries to 'control' the oil by not having the fries fry for too long in the wok. Atlas ... this actually made it worse. The final product is this semi-fried version, more like baked fries, which was coated in thick cooking oil. Very greasy, very unhealthy ... the perfect food for a 4-5 year old. 

I think I recall this scene as I felt an immense sense of satisfaction having a snack with TV. You always remember the happiest, saddest or most embarrassing things.