Bye, Bye Big Bugs

Today is the last lesson for the term and next week she'll be in the Big Birds class. The name of the classes for the different age group suits it so well. The Big Bugs (4 months - 10 months) are quite harmless, at most some of them crawls. Big Birds are chirpy, learning to talk and mostly able to walk already? Then you have the Beasties! Hmm.. why are they calling our kids beast? The fast and furious, they run, jump and shout the house down. Maybe that's why.

Ring a ting ting! Chloe's very possessive of her toys. The teacher will give out the hand bells at the start of the class for the welcome song, she will hold on to it and refuse to return . But surprisingly, if another baby comes by and take it away from her, she's happy to let go.

Alas! I was so focus and anxious to get this shot of her shooting hoops that I actually missed the real action. Not a good shot cos everything is moving so fast including my hands. :)

Obstacle course for crawlers. What happened after this was that she found another fun way of enjoying the donut . She stood up , touch the top, fall sideways and started laughing.

Playing ball with Simon.

Having a baby crawling race with Cranston. All the way!

Trapped! Haha... Simon having fun while Chloe is ... oops! Where's she?

After 75 mins of non-stop action, it's time for some food. Dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Chloe loves dining out, double the servings and speed. I think cos there's so much distraction around her that she just don't care what I'm feeding her and the friendly waiters are great help, always paying her so much attention.

Room Revamp

I've finally managed to convince Simon to paint the ugly mocha color wall in Chloe's room a happy pastel yellow. I was hoping to paint it pastel pink but was rejected. Sob! The mocha wall was nice until Chloe comes along, now it's so dull. Babies love bright colors and naturally they are happy in a painted like it is a sunny day everyday. I want some decorative wall art too, slowly... Yeah! And off to Ikea to get more storage boxes for Chloe's mountain of toys and knick knacks.

It's a breeze to shop in Ikea (Alexandra) now with the second outlet opened in Tampines. The shoppers are scattered so we don't have to wait for a parking lot, no jostling crowd, no queue during at the cashier. So relax!

Trying to sneak into the toilet before we leave. She will sneak into the toilet the moment she has a chance. She likes to poke her fingers into the drainage cover. Yucks! The towel ring is the second favorite item and toilet bowl comes next, she likes to watch the gush of water when I flushed.

Having a little rock and roll on the rocking bench with papa. Everything is in Lilliputian size and so colorful. How come I don't have this when I was a kid?

See! This is the pink color that I want to paint and white bed frame with cute motif bed sheet and curtains and flower-shaped wall lamp and rug and ... ...

A very happy Chloe trying out all the different bedroom settings. Quite pleased with this one.

And of course, papa is very happy too when he sees his little girl smiling. This winsome smile with the claps will get her anything.

Transition

Busy, busy... not just Chloe but us as well. You see, Chloe is learning to do 'free standing', it's not a baby extreme sports but one that can make my heart stop for second. She started standing with the help of furnitures and anything she can grab hold of (that's how we do it too, right?) and has progressed to squat and stand. She's learning how to walk, yes!

The first time she did it, I lunged to grab her just in time before she dropped onto her bum. Phew! Close one. Papa is immediately updated on her latest progress so that he will keep his eyes open and ready to catch any plopping bum. We will not have our heart in our mouth if she will just stand and maybe dropped on her bum. Chloe being Chloe would stand and start clapping her hands and plop - she topples.

And of course, when a baby is learning to walk , nothing in the house is safe. The T.V. console is declared dangerous cos if she grabs the door for support, it will flip out and hit her in the face, any movable furniture are out too as they are not good support. So I'm thinking of getting her a Michelin suit for protection.

But we are having fun, waiting eagerly for her to take her first baby step. :)

Tipping her toes, trying to climb up the sofa bed to get to the Macbook. My toys are always so much more fun than her own.

She gets the stick after the ice cream is finished. Ha.. ha.. nay, actually she gets the ice cream too but she's more interested in the stick.

The dog or the zebra? Two of her favorite books which she reads and bites sometimes.

Going to bed soon... looks like a baby spider man?

The Zoo

We are here! After many attempts to visit the zoo together before Desiree and Sera leave, we made it there on Wednesday. Wrong timing, not-so-well mummies and then babies and of course our unpredictable Singapore weather, we somehow managed to visit the zoo and spend a fabulous time, even with the light drizzle. Die die must go!

2 very patient babies together with Aunty Phillis and Simon waiting for Desiree & Sue-Lyn to buy entrance tickets. Half priced tickets thanks to Sue-Lyn! :)

Free range orang utans

That was not the closest we saw these guys. Guess what happened at the end of our visit.

Taking a break

A very determined Chloe keeping her eyes wide open. She skip one of her afternoon nap.

Waiting for the 'Splash' show to start

Sera checking out the crowd during the show. A full house.

Starring Pedro and Carlos the sea lions

And since we can't ride on Pedro the sea lion, we settled for the well-polished iron ones outside the exhibit

The 'drop down' orang utan

This little fellow fell off the tree and landed amongst the hedges, just couple of steps from us. Well, for a moment I thought a coconut fell, I looked up and realised no coconut tree. :p Some rustling and seconds later, this guy climb up onto the covered walkway and begin his own little exploration.

Despite all the calling and treats, he is very determined to stay put in the trees to enjoy his new found freedom. Mama saves the day! His keepers drove his mama and tiny sibling up close and he jut came down in less than a minute.

Birds

Lately, Chloe has been very fascinated with birds. It was during one of her visits to grandma's place that she saw pigeons for the first time. She was throwing a tantrum during dinner and to pacify her, grandma carried her to the kitchen to look at the pigeons. From the kitchen's window, she gets to see the pigeons resting on the ledge of the opposite block and they will fly between the 2 blocks thus making Chloe very excited. So she started clapping her hands and shouting out to the birds. 'Ahh...i....i!' 15 minutes and dinner is over. How nice!

After that, while taking her walk with grandma, a mynah bird stopped right in front of them and started to hop around. She was so thrilled and started to kick her legs asking grandma to let her down.

And today, this little fellow along with his buddy decides to perch on my balcony bar to belt out some ballads for Chloe. I saw them there and immediately carried Chloe and sneaked up very quietly against the glass door to watch their performance. Chloe just stood there bouncing to the chirping tune they are playing, totally mesmerized.

So now whenever we say 'Look, birds!', she'll look up to the sky searching for her little feathery friends.

Our little feathery friend

Dinner @ Oosh

We had our monthly birthday celebration dinner at Oosh and our birthday girl for August is Yvonne. Happy Birthday!

Great company, nice ambiance but a pity the food and service does not match up. For the kind of price we paid I would have expected a little bit more than what we've gotten. They got our orders mixed up, salmon became a dory, onion soup tasted like butter mixed with tomato paste, seafood pasta has got tiny baby scallops and shrimps ($24!!) What else? The cheese platter was served with less than 10 pieces of crackers and when we asked for more, they have the cheek to ask us to order another serving to get extra crackers. Unbelievable! It is not even Swensen's standard.

But of course, despite the horrible food and service, we managed to have fun as usual. Taking lots of pictures!

Our pretty birthday girl
Happy Birthday! :)

Flashing our pearly whites for the camera

Once more with Chloe

With the birthday girl
Chloe is looking so intently ahead cos we had some 'entertainers' to attract her attention

The ever ready winsome smile

'V' for victory!

My mafia looking baby

Goofing around

Acting cute

Notice a little spot on her lower lip?
That's a grain of rice left over from her dinner

Little right foot

All Girls Date

Our favorite girls are back in town, Desiree and Sera are back for a 3 weeks visit. Sera is no longer a baby anymore, she has grown so much since the last time we saw her in January.

We went for lunch at 'The Green Room' which is located at Bishan Park amongst the greenery. Everywhere you look out is just greens and more greens, there's even 2 palm trees in the restaurant. Nice and quiet place and of course we have to go and make some sound for them.

So what are they babies up to while mummies eat and catch up?

Sera had fun exploring the place, taking her little walk around the restaurant, making friends with the waitresses and check out the fish pond they had at the back. With great company, Chloe sat in the baby chair in a restaurant for the first time and finished up a piece of finger size 'tau kwa', all without any fuss. And since she doesn't know how to walk yet, she had nice siesta in my arms. Sera, we must dine with you more often, good appetite comes with good company.

And thank you for the cute and pretty sandals, the super retro swimsuit and T's for Chloe! :)

Sera: Can I borrow your phone? I want to call my papa.
Chloe: Sure! You need my help? I know how to dial.

Sera: I'm going to call my papa now! Mama, what's the number?

Sera: Want to say 'hi' to my papa?
Chloe: Okay. Put the speakers on.

A happy Sera!

Glad to have you back here!