Friday, November 30, 2007

Birds!

Birds! Yes, Chloe loves them in all shapes and sizes, I supposed. We went to the bird park on the 28 November. My goodness, I went for my first school excursion when I was in kindergarten and Chloe's going for her first school outing at 1 year old. Gosh!

And I was praying really hard for good weather, got my wish, a nice and cooling day though the sky did look black and cloudy when I woke up. And it did poured after we drove off. Super heavy rain! Phew!

The 3 happy babies.

On the panorail to Lories Loft.

Simon with a cup of honey mix to feed the lories. They are selling the tiny little cup for S$2 and they call it donation. Strange, cos later on at the Pelican Cove, a line of primary school students were queuing up to buy pack of fish to feed the pelicans. And at the bird show, the entertainers are hawking calendars and postcards. Hmm... wonder why are they doing that.

One very friendly lory perching on Simon's shoulder.

A very excited Chloe watching the birds performing.

All the mummies, babies and daddy at the Penguin Expedition exhibit.

And of course, we must not forget to pose with the gigantic penguin statue.

What would a visit to the bird park be without showing off the beautiful birds. Presenting, the flamingos and ...

... the pelicans.

Chloe knows these guys from 'Finding Nemo'. What's the pelican's name in the show?

School

We signed Chloe up for a week of holiday program with JG. There is never a dull moment, playtime, story telling, singing, snack, outdoor playing, music and craft work, so much fun for her. I think after this, staying at home with her toys is so so boring.

First day at school, in her class waiting for lesson to start. All the little tots are walking around, playing with the toys scattered on the foam mats. Chloe busy surveying her new surroundings. I was a little worried that she might start crying upon seeing so many people but my fears were unfounded, she left me sitting alone and wondered off checking out the toys and books in the room.

Snack time. They have furniture just the right size for them, so nice to see her sitting down, eating on her own. She was eating honey dew and had a second helping.

Little bobby car! She loves this ride. Okay, she was not very nice this time. She went into the playground, saw a boy from her class on the car and started to walk towards him. I knew her intentions, she wants it! But no, I divert her attention to the other cars but she just refused to budge, she just stood by the car and pointed at the boy. I felt so bad when he got off the car and let Chloe have it. Okay, to be fair, he was distracted by the balls.

On the playhouse. She climb up onto this thing by herself using the little holes. They are position like the rock climbing wall but these are sunken in instead of protruding out like the walls. And yes, she looks like a Christmas candy stick with her stripe tights. :)

1.5 hours is not enough for Chloe cos school is so fun and interesting for her.

Our very attentive little girl, paying 100% attention to Teacher Lin. In case you are wondering where the rest of the tots are, they are seated in a circle. She just walked right up front and sat down, when everyone else is seated with their mummies.
Painting her flamingo. This is the super gooey, fun and messy thing to do. They dipped their hands into the red gooey and smear it over the piece of cut out flamingo, follow by the white gooey then mixed it all up. Taa-daah! Pink flamingo and a pair of pink gooey hands.

The first time we did this, I was caught off guard. They were supposed to paint a stenciled dove blue and alarm bells start ringing in my head 'What! We were dressed in white.' Then I decided, what the heck, just let it be. Blue paint on white shirt is not going to spoil the fun for Chloe even if it is not going to come off. At least I will tell her she had that spot on her blouse while painting her blue dove. Spot of Achievement!

So so so excited! After putting on her bikini for swimming, she ran all the way down the corridor. She did not even pause a second to look for me at all, just ditch me and go.

All the excitement ended when she saw the tub of water. Sigh, she dislike pools or rather takes a long time to settle down when she sees one. The moment she sees it she clambers onto me and refuses to let go.

The theme for her course was birds, so there is also a trip to the Jurong Bird Park. In the next post. :) Chloe is going to school next year, twice a week. Looking forward to that one.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Trip to Malaysia

First trip out of Singapore since a long, long time. Yes! I need to breathe some other kind of air even if it is going to smell different (as if I'm going outer space). It is also Chloe's first plane ride, wooo... sounds exciting. Honestly, I don't think she knows what is happening or what all the fuss is about. Overall, she scored 5 stars for plane rides (psst... it's only 55 minutes to Kuala Lumpur). On the way back home, she slept throughout the whole journey with a pair of twins screaming and crying. Those 2 definitely have iron lungs, real good stamina.

We tagged along for Simon's business trip. Stayed in the shopping belt so great shopping malls are just a stone throw away.

Room inspection. Bed checked. Bouncy, comfortable and soft. All ready for a good night sleep. That's the T.V. remote control Chloe's holding.

Petronas Tower in the night.

Two very hungry people waiting patiently for their food.

Ms. Chloe refuses to put down Mickey Mouse, refuses to leave. She walked around the retail counter checking out every single mouse and duck. She is ready to fling herself on the floor and protest for dragging her away.

We did not managed to visit the Petronas Towers as they give out limited tickets each day. You have to start queuing for the tickets at 8.30 a.m. in the morning to go up the towers for a walk across the sky bridge between the 2 towers. Hmm... next time.

A very well behaved Chloe with grandma

Back home! KL airport, with the Harrods bears. And since they did not barricade the cart of bears, we plopped Chloe down for a shot.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Shoes!

Eeeya... heeey... heeey... She points at the racks of shoes, excitedly. A big smile on her face. She breaks into a run (okay, a quick waddle). She got scooped up to look at a wall of shoes.

The act left me with a screaming baby, kicking and crawling at me to be let down. I picked her up because I know she is going to pull every pair of shoes off the hook, throw them on the floor and maybe bite half of them. Once bitten, considered sold. If they were to implement this, I would be selling half price shoes on ebay, permanently.

Ever since Chloe knows how to walk or even before she started walking, she has been getting shoes. Shoes from Grandma, Eileen and Desiree. I resist, stop myself and don't even want to look at them because I know, once I start buying the first pair, I'll never stop. Procrastinate buying.

Just like every girls, she loves shoes! The more the merrier. She did managed to grab a shoe from the wall. See that smug look on her face. 'I got it!'

She refused to leave and I have to pull her up and literally run away from the shoes.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

What Is Chloe Up To These Days

So demure, that's what you think. Prior to this, she was all over the car, pulling the seat belts, meddling with her baby seat. No worries, we have not moved off yet.

Chloe likes Thomas the train ride better than the ant one. It is stationary. Call me a stingy-mama but I'm not going to part $2 for a 5 minutes kiddie ride, which I think Miss Chloe will be struggling to get out 10 seconds after the thing starts moving. I remember the helicopter and octopus rides in Yohan in Thomson Plaza cost only 20 cents and I get to maneuver the octopus to and fro.

Roof garden in Oriental Hotel. Chloe deep in thought.... she is yanking papa's hair. Ouch! Naughty, naughty.

I got it from her too. Yank! See how 'professional' we are, still smiling so sweetly despite her tugging. Smile! Walking around the restaurant. We are the only diners around at 4 p.m., neither lunch nor dinner time, empty place, so she gets to have her little stroll.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Help Needed

We've been contemplating for the longest time about getting a live-in help, since I was pregnant with Chloe, that was like almost 2 years ago. We dropped that idea because, I'm just pregnant, nothing very major. So we got cleaners to come in once a week to spring clean the house while I still handle the daily chores.

So after many discussions, coin tossing, yes-and-no, we decided to get a helper aka foreign domestic worker (FDW) aka maid. We have heard our shares of horror stories about but seeing our friends and neighbors who have such wonderful helpers who have been with them for donkey years, we think we will give it a shot. The last horror story I heard from my girl friend before stepping into the employment agency is that her maid is a moth ball addict. Yes! She needs to sniff moth balls otherwise she will have a headache. Gulp!!

Why now? I wanted more time for Chloe and myself, to spend more time with her. To just be with her without thinking of the dirty laundry, the dirty dishes and the tons of chores. Argh! Enough said.

Our helper is from Indonesia, she is the fourth one I interviewed.

Part of the interview from one of the ladies I spoke to. Questions are prompted by the agency staff.

Me: Do you know what is your job if I hire you?
FDW: Yes mam, housekeeping.

Me: We live in a X-storey house, with X cars and 1 small dog and a baby. So you have to clean the house, look after my dog, garden and help look after baby. Are you okay?
FDW: (Pause) Mmm... Okay.

FDW: So you help me with housekeeping, mam?
Me: No! You do the housekeeping if I employ you.

This one wanted to have off days, can talk on the phone and seems to have many more requests which are yet to come. Dropped immediately.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Greens, Greens and more Greens

The must-get vegetable on my weekly shopping list right now is broccoli. Chloe must have broccoli in every meal or must see green stuff in every meal. Broccoli cooked in all ways stir-fried, blanched or steamed. The Australian broccoli taste better than the China ones. Trust me, I eat them everyday.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

She's Walking!

She flashed me a smile, stood up and put her right foot forward, then landed on her bum with a thud. Got up and try again, landed on her bum again. This time round, she managed a step without falling. She sat down and fiddle with the T.V. remote control, thinking of her next move. She looked at me for a while waiting for some kind of encouragement. I was just an arm length away from her, holding my breath, hiding my excitement. I held out my hands and in a most nonchalant tone, 'Chloe, you can do it. Keep trying.' Then all of a sudden, with a look of determination in her eyes, she stood up holding the remote control in her hand, took 4 steps from the TV cabinet and landed in my arms.

Only then did I start announcing, 'B, Chloe's walking! She's walks towards me!'

Yes, Chloe has learnt how to walk or waddle. 1 November 2007.

No photos as I do not want to distract her. Her love for my camera and mobile phone will take her away from anything she is engaged in momentarily.