Be Careful What You Wish For

I tell people bringing my kids out is like trying to herd sheep. They.Wander.All.Over.The Place. I usually have to resort to either constant nagging “Follow! You’re distracted again! Keep up!” or playing the game of chicken and walk off while constantly looking out of the corner of my eye to see if they would follow soon. I have even resorted to hiding around corners to let them panic just a little bit when they suddenly realize they have lost me. Somehow that never seem to faze them. Mater now thinks it’s just a silly game and just run around a bit and once he finds me, shrugs and carry on.

Anyway, Mater has an issue with getting on the travellator and escalator for the longest time. I’ve been trying to get him to step onto it by himself and not have a death grip on us for some time before we suddenly managed to get him to do it. And for the first three minute, there was a sense of elation and a chorus of “Great job! You did it!”. When he kept circling the same two travellator and refused to get off, the novelty worn off.

The very first photo of him getting on the travellator by himself. As you can probably deduce. I wasn’t interested in taking any photos by the time he rode it the tenth time and definitely less than tickled when he refused to get off and we had to drag and screaming crying toddler away.

As we found out it’s a pain now that he doesn’t stop and wait for us at travellators and escalators and happily move off with us chasing behind.

So be very careful what you wish for as it might just come true….

Singapore Philatelic Museum

What were you expecting? Me being me, decided to take advantage of the fact that I am out on a weekday and the husband took half day leave to join us, went wild and decided to head to the Philatelic Museum (after bringing the kids home for a nap after our adventure at Masak Masak in the morning). As luck as it, there was a Superhero themed exhibit on-going. I do not know much about stamps, but I do know my superheroes (or at least what Hollywood has taught me).

The Philatelic Museum has underwent a partial overhaul to attract younger crowds and I have to saw it sure makes stamps much more interesting than I remembered. Of course with 2 young kids in tow, I couldn’t really take my time to read through the information or scrutinize the stamps. And that is why I don not have a single photo of any stamps in the museum and why I only manage to see one 3D stamp which the husband insisted I see. For them to be able to engage kids attention as well as they did, I have to say they have put in a lot of effort.

JUSTICE LEAGUE!!!

Horse shoe game (Year of the horse, get it?)

Make your own digital spaghetti.

Well put together section on spices. You put each container of spice on a designated spot and information on that spice will flash on the screen

Old school kopitiam completed with soda crackers and Planta butter

 

Masak Masak

For the past few years, June is when Children Season at the museums starts. Unlike previous years when Art Museum gets transformed into a huge children activity corner, the National Museum got to host the main event. Titled Masak Masak, it’s a modern take on games we (meaning folks born in 70s and 80s) used to play. The best part? It’s free unless you want material to do some craft with at various stations. A token donation is required.

I had intended to bring the kids there during the June holidays, but as luck would have it, the children spent 3 weeks down and recovering from the dreaded Hand, Foot and Mouth Diesease (HFMD). My aunt had her trigger finger surgery last Monday. Since It was Youth Day, we decided to bring the kids to the exhibit.

Room full of cardboard for you to create anything you want from your imagination

Not quite represented, but it’s a tent structure with short animations projected on the roof so kids and lie down and enjoy the show.

A spin on the classic 5 stones

I had at least 5 or lunches that day. The kids just wouldn’t stop feeding me lunch.

It was such a hit with the two of them and as the bouncy dragon structure is only available for play on weekends, we re-visited on that very Sunday. And of course, there’s also the thing with Monkey falling in love with the egg and toast at Food For Thought (café in the museum) and the concept of using knife and fork all by her very-grown-up-self.

Modelled after the famous Dragon playground of the past

It just somehow makes me happy to see kids running barefooted on grass. When it’s not muddy. No ants. And of course when I’m feeling carefree and not worrying about dirty smelly shoes resulting from the dirty feet.

Little Piece of Sunshine

Mater found a little patch of sunshine on the play mat, stood with both feet in there and after a few seconds, in a really shocked voice, told us “It’s hot!”. Of course, he was really amused by the shadow by hand could cast. Nothing like a little bit of sunshine to bring awe to a toddler’s face.

Feeding Frenzy

We were off to the zoo yet again last Saturday, since it was term break for Monkey’s English class. The husband was very reluctant (“Not again. Haven’t they been to the zoo countless times before?”), but children being children, they could do the same thing over and over again and still find it fun. Without intending it to be, our zoo trip ended up to be a non-stop feeding event.

I have to say, I did go a little crazy since it has been some time since we had a nice long visit to the zoo. I’ve been stashing away $5 bills for the animal feedings for the past month and was intending to splurge, well since we were getting complimentary entry thanks to my company’s corporate zoo pass.

As usual, we went early enough to catch the elephant bathing followed by the token elephant feeding. From there, we headed to a complimentary kids sticker drawing activity organised by the zoo (only on weekends during the June holiday). It was just finger printing and markers, but both kids were very proud of their stickers and insisted on sticking it onto their shirts right away.

It became Mater’s turn to be wary of huge animals. Observe his death grip on my shirt.

We headed to the forever-popular-with-the-kids pygmy hippo exhibit and feed the kids snacks while watching the hippos pace their little enclosure. And it was also a good place to spend time while waiting for the kangaroo token feeding time.

HIs favourite position at the pygmy hippo enclosure.

We had tried to go for the kangaroo feeding before but the feed were sold out which was why we ended up going earlier and was 2^nd in line. Apparently, the feeding is very much dependent on the kangaroos’ moods. I have a friend who said the kangaroos were on a food strike when she was there and she wasted 30mins waiting around. The family in front of us in the queue were loudly exclaiming it was great that they were the first in line so the kangaroos would be hungry. I presume they have encountered disappointment with the kangaroos wandering off after having their fill and leaving the rest of the people in the queue disappointed.

The it was to the Kidz World when I went all out again (the husband had the “Are you kidding me” look). We did the pony ride (Mater’s first ever horse/pony ride!), horse carriage ride, carousel ride, goat feeding and joined in the Kids holiday badge making activity. Of course, we had a lunch pit stop in between. I had packed cold yoghurt, cooked cha soba and had a stash of snacks to keep the little tummies filled and happy.

Papa-drawn and self coloured badges

We were running low on fuel when we popped by the Fragile Forest. Mater had collapsed from the exciting morning and was taking his afternoon nap and Monkey was all excited at going to see her ring tail lemur and quizzing me about how many types of lemur there were.(Thanks Go Diego Go). No, I do not know how many there are.

We were getting ready to head home when I just had to see the long queue for giraffe feeding and join in the queue, only to find it was another 20mins to the fedding session. While the husband took the sleeping Mater to get his afternoon coffee, Monkey and me waiting in the hot humid weather. Which was as well, since Mater woke up just in time for the feeding and once again, got amazed by how long and black its tongue was.

I have to say I’m impressed how brave the monkey has grown to be, finally daring to feed the elephants and giraffes without shying away, She was not disturbed by the adult goats ramming their horns at the fence to trying to get to her feed. Guess she’s started to gain some bravado after all.

Barney!

Holiday + Shopping Mall = Free character shows & Meet and Greet.

Though Monkey has long outgrown Barney and Mater never quite watched that much Barney. He was straight away inducted to Bubble Guppies and miscellaneous Nickelodeon shows as his elder sister could voice her preference and wanted to watch those rather than the baby shows like In The Night Garden, Teletubbies and Barney. He did watch a couple of episodes here and there and catch the short live show twice when we went to Puteri Harbour Little Big Club.

So when I found out the big magenta dinosaur was going to put on shows at the shopping mall that’s our usual weekend haunt, I started planning way ahead, digging out the Barney and Baby Bop plush toy, planning how to get the minimum $50 purchase to redeem a Meet and Greet pass, what time to reach to secure a parking lot and to get a seat near enough to see the darn dinosaur and strategizing how to rush to the Meet and Greet queue after the show ended. I’m a mother, watch me grow neurotic when it comes to making my kids silly happy with silly stuff like this. Judging by the turn out and how we were squeezed to a corner despite going 45mins before the show started, many parents felt the same way too.

It was well worth it, watching how Mater got so excited screaming away when Barney materialized from behind the curtains, pointed and turning to us screaming “Mama! Papa! I see The Barney!” Since we were right by the edge of the stage, the characters do seem to be standing right in front of him. He was so excited we were kind of worried he would burst a vein from the shouting and excitement.

See how the veins along his neck popped out from the excitement.

Our monkey as always, is cool and has a straight face throughout the whole show. You can never tell how easily exited she is by how serious she looks while taking in the show and never joining in the singing or dancing. But nevertheless, she was jabbering all about the show and characters after the Meet and Greet.

The kids and the husband’s sister and nephew

I’m already planning for the next show and strategizing how to get a seat right in front of the middle of the stage. In fact, I told the husband if it fails, we can try again. After all the show is on daily (except for Mondays) for the next two weeks. you should have seen the horrified look on his face. Priceless.

 

Flower rain

The past two months or so, the hot dry spell followed by bountiful rain has led to abundant roadside flower bloom, leading the National Parks to coin the term “Singapore Sakura”. Though I did act cool, rolled my eyes and grumbled at how tacky it sounded, but it was lovely to see all the colours decorating the surroundings.

A few weeks ago, we were waiting at the parking lot for the husband, who went off to get some food for takeaway and the kids were amazed by the “flower shower” that was taking place, covering the floor and neighbouring cars in a layer of yellow petals. I later on found out, an angsana tree bloom for only a day, then rain flower petals down the next morning, creating yellow carpets on the ground. As luck would have it, we were there the day after the flowers bloomed. The kids were so enchanted they got out of the car and spent the waiting time dancing in the shower of flower petals, though I did draw the line when monkey requested to lie down on the grass.

Love how carefree she looked. Though I couldn’t capture it on photo, there was in fact a “drizzle” of yellow petals falling in all the photos

Petal on his head

Not that I’m a prude, but our grounds are rich with ants, wood louse, earthworms and other creepy crawlies. I’ve been bitten by centipedes a couple of times in childhood days. I wouldn’t mind letting my kids dig around in the soil and they watch out for any creepy crawliers they could uncover, but not them lie down and have the crawlies crawl on them.

There were passer-bys who were giving us weird looks for squatting on a dirty looking grass patch between the drain and parking lots. Well, as long as my kids are safe, happy and not violating any laws and we were enjoying ourselves, they could stare for all they want. I have to admit I was a little worried we might end up on the infamous STOMP website, with all the vigilante journalism going on these days.

The downside is of the entire charming event was the delicate flowers eventually got stuck to the bottom of our shoes and it was terrible trying to scrap them off our shoes and the rubber mats in the car.

Child’s Play

I have forgotten how we used to build “house” with mattresses and cushion covers, make slides out of mattresses or climb by sticking hands and legs against door frames till my brother started playing with the kids.

Silly games making use of what we have, rather than buying lots of theme specific toys. There seem to be this trend to provide kids with intellectual stimulating activities to train motor skills, maths, language and all sorts of things that with the Monkey, I had worry that I was not doing enough for her. What is she’s not up to speed with her peers because I have not done enough? Shouldn’t she be going to enrichment classes? All the other kids all seem to be going to classes non-stop. Should I be teaching her stuff like counting and reading than to just let her sit there and play with toys that don’t seem to be able to make her any smarter?

Well, it’s articles like this that makes me take a deep breathe and let me know things are fine. “For the sake of creativity perhaps we need to slow down and stay offline from time to time.”

Navy at Vivo

There’s got to be something with me. I have joined the ballot for tickets to go visit the Navy ship docked at Vivocity for the last 3 events but never got any tickets. I did so using the husband’s name twice and got tickets both times. He wasn’t a happy man when I announced that we have gotten tickets to go climb the ship again, the last time with my banged up knee (before the knee surgery). All he could say was  “Why?”. As George Mallory (not first uttered by Sir Edmund Hillary) said, “Because it’s there”.

I have to say the visit is much better planned this time, with 2 gangway instead of one so the human traffic on and off is much smoother. There’s hard plastic covers on some of the electronic control panels around the ship, so perhaps the navy has wised up to the fact that children like pressing buttons and turning whatever dials and knobs they can lay their hands on. The waiting area to board the fast craft utility now has benches for the crowd to rest and there even is a holding area for visitors who are not taking the ride to wait, complete with a standing fan and soldiers who give bread and water for refreshment.

Yes, we went on that! I had a “Saving Private Ryan” moment when the font of the craft is lowered to let us off.

The highlight for me is definitely getting up close and personal with the vehicle the husband ditched me for last October. Do I kick it in the wheels? Nah, there were soldiers around doing crowd control and may wrestle me to  the ground if I attempted anything funny. And the vehicle does seem so cool and I was so awed sitting in it that all I could do was to give a silly grin for the camera. Of course it’s nice that the vehicle is so big that I look petite in it.

The monkey had the most fun among us 4. I guess Mater can’t quite understand what it’s all about, except there’s a helicopter, a car, he’s on a big ship and for some unknown reason (he failed to qualify for the height limit), he has to sit with Daddy and watch videos on Mommy’s hand phone while his older sister and Mommy disappear for a long hot humid while.

Not the most trust-inspiring person to be controlling the ship.

Monkey, I discovered, has a fetish for men in uniform. While negotiating the really steep stairs around the ship, she initially proceeded with much bravado, relishing the praises I dished out for being a brave girl. All went out of the window after a soldier (there’s one at the end of every steep stairs) held his hand out and helped her down. For the subsequent stairs we climbed, she started whimpering, “I’m scared!” and “No, I don’t want to hold your hand. I want to hold the soldier’s hand”.

And on the FCU, she wanted to know if there are sharks in the water (perfectly fine question. With all the cartoons she watches, she probably thinks the water is packed with sharks, dolphins, whales and sea turtles). I encouraged her to go asked one of the soldiers on board and she suddenly turned and buried her face in my shirt when the nice soldier squatted down to talk to her.

I believe the tongue thing is just a nervous reflex for her

I still have not found where is the booth to let children dressed up in mini navy uniform for photo shoot. Maybe the next Navy at Vivo event…

Who can resist striking the bell?

The Boy Who Loves Balls

(It’s football and other toy balls, in case you had other balls in mind, you gutter mind.)

We were playing on Sunday and the husband’s nephew brought along a football. Well, Mater, of course, wanted to monopolize the ball since he hasn’t quite got the concept of playing together, being only 2.5year old.

The ball in question.

The sister who loves to torture him.

Give it back! (scary having someone chase you around with that look, but Monkey is totally unaffected)

Grandmother made them gave it to me. Nah nah nah boo boo.

Waaahhhhh. I lost it again.

Finally got it back. Screaming and crying is tiring job.

It goes wherever I go

Guarding it with my life now

Nope. Not letting go even when my grandmother ask me to

 

Finally has his fill of the ball and ready to go home.