Rollercoasters

Almost everyone I know enjoy a rollercoaster ride. Well not me. I am terrified of them except for these two rides which I find still acceptable - the Wipeout @ Dreamworld in Gold Coast Australia and the Viking which was formerly at our East Coast Park. Eerrmm that was some years ago, I may not be able to stomach those rides now. So imagine my horror when we arrived at Sentosa's Imbiah Lookout at the invitation of Sentosa and was told that we will be experiencing 4 different "rides". *GULP*

The first seemed harmless enough, we were ushered into the Sentosa 4D Magix cinema to watch "Pirates". The boys were excited about watching a movie and were curious when given the 3D glasses to wear. I got a little suspicious when I saw that some of the seats were wet. Hmmm. It was a first time experience with 3D for the kids and even I was astounded by how we seemed to be "in" the scenes and part of the action. The opening screen was a treasure map unrolling followed by a cannon turned towards you then BOOM! Kayden let out a shout in fright and after that he was afraid of every emerging scene. Haha my little chicken boy ;) His younger brother was much braver and managed to watch the rest of the movie laughing at Captain Lucky! Be warned, you will be tossed about in your seats, have some water sprayed at you, wind blown and even some tickles at your feet to complete the 4D experience!

Next up was the Extreme Log Ride! Ok this one I was not looking forward to because it simulates a real rollercoaster ride with wind blasters and 9 motion capsules nestled within the theatre, all operating on a state-of-the-art 6-axis motion system. Objects come to life right off the screen with your 3D glasses on. We were rushed to the top of the mountains, before plunging down the deepest valley while dodging flying logs! I have to be honest that I closed my eyes for the most part of the ride (ok, actually throughout the ride accept for the moments when it seemed safe) :p Kay decided to not wear the 3D glasses so he wouldn't be frightened by the ride but he enjoyed the motion on the capsules we were seated in. Legs wobbling, we moved on to the next ride.

Phew! It wasn't another rollercoaster ride, it was a fun 3D shooting game while seated on motion-based saddles called Desperados. Dylan had to sit on my "horse" together with me as he was too short to sit on his own. Then we all galloped through the dusty town of ‘Wild West” while shooting bandits, cactus and other objects with a laser gun :p It was fun and everyone enjoyed this one!

Finally to end the morning's thrills, we slowed down with a ride on the Tiger Sky Tower. Thank you Sentosa for your generous invitation and we hope to be back for more 3D and 4D experiences soon! :)

(all shots taken with the Lumix GF3)

Dylan at one and a half

Dylan turns 18 months old today!

Being my second child, I have been quite slack with Dylan in terms of bringing him for enrichment classes, letting him watch educational DVDs etc so one tuesday I was off and decided to spend the day with him doing such stuff. I let him watch Your Baby Can Read, to my surprised, he sat through the entire first half of the video and even paid attention. One of the words shown in the video was NOSE and ARMS UP. During the second half he wanted neh neh, so I kept the video on while he nursed. At one point of the video, it was the ARMS UP word again and when he heard the word, he raised one arm (the other was stuck around my waist)! After he stopped nursing, I let him continue watching the video, next word he mastered was NOSE, he pointed to his nose when the word was read out. Next came KICK. Ok I know most of your kids this age probably already know all these words but this was the first time I let him watch this video and already he picked up 3 words just like that. Made me guilty of what he could achieve if I had the time to sit with him an hour each day learning like this. Gosh, is he missing out? That evening I excitedly told his father about Dyl's achievements and he said it's a coincidence la! I asked Dyl, where's your nose? He flattened his nose as he placed his finger on it :p ARMS UP! I said and both his arms popped up in surrender pose kekeke. You should have seen his dad's face ;) That was more than a month back, he knows quite a few now.

Can say and understand:
1. BALL
2. BYE BYE
3. BUBBLES
4. DUCK
5. STAR
6. FLOWER (wow-wer)
7. CHRISTMAS TREE (ok ok, he calls it quish mus si)
8. NA (Ribena)
9. CHOU CHOU (when he poops, complete with hand fanning action to shows it's smelly)
10.SHOES (hoos)
11.UP
12.NEH NEH
13.MAMA (his favourite word kekeke)
14.HELLO (harrow, he will put a phone to his ear as he says this)
15.BABY (bee bee)
16.MOMO (our cat)
17.HOT (he will exaggerate with a scrunched up face to indicate that it's "hooort")
18.BOOK
19.BEAR (any soft toy is a bear :p)
20.NO MORE (twists wrists and hands to show no more)

Can understand and react:
1. NOSE
2. EARS
3. HEAD
4. BELLY BUTTON
5. EYES
6. SOME MORE? (If he has had enough, he will shake his head)
7. ARMS UP
8. KICK
9. WHERE IS xxx? (He will reply "THERE!" if he knows the item)
10.POSE (cocks head to right side)
11.CLAP
13.Give me a kiss or hug and he will do just that, but the kiss is him giving you his cheek to receive a kiss

I also brought Dylan for the first time to an indoor kids gym called Polliwogs at East Coast. He was a bit apprehensive at first and I ended up with a bit of a workout bringing him around the obstacles and encouraging him to try the slides etc. We went with gor gor a few weeks later and this time, Dyl wasted no time showing his brother around and even went up and down the slides on his own. This boy's a real trooper :) The both of them totally enjoyed themselves and I was glad to see Dylan opening up.


Lately whenever I whip out the camera or my phone and point it at him, he will give this cheesy cheeky grin almost like Kayden's eyeless smile! I wonder if Kay has been giving him lessons on how to smile :s This is what he looks like in that smile :p


OH and I almost forgot, Dyl boy won this mountain of yum yum from a Halloween photo contest by Cold Storage. I happened to buy 2 Halloween props (a witch hat and a devil's horn) from the supermarket and took some pictures of him wearing the horns (he hated the hat) and submitted this collage and he won! The grocery trolley bag that could be pulled up stairs easily (it has 6 wheels) is really handy.

This is the winning shot:




Diet wise, there has been much improvements. Dylan eats rice for dinner now, which I lightly stir fry with pureed vegetables and add in an egg or some tofu for his protein. He's still vegetarian at the moment. He loves fruits, any kind but especially cataloupes, bananas, apples, pears and grapes. He likes to feed himself too unlike Kayden. Often rather taking the food portion from your hand instead of letting you feed him. I like!


One of my resolutions for the new year will be to spend more quality time with the little squirt offering him more opportunities and exposure to education and not waste his capacity for learning.

(all pictures taken on the Lumix and iPhone. my iPhone is the very first version from USA, thus the low image quality)

One more month...

Of cos the big news leading up to his 11th month was that Dylan walked! And curiously about the same time as big brother too. We haven't been able to stop him since, it's walk walk walk all day long and I must say he's really steady from day 1, no fall forward accidents or anything like that. If he loses his balance or had to fall, it will be sitting down. He's like Momo (our cat), he knows how to fall without injuring himself. Amazing this boy :D I am so proud :)

And he shocked me too a few days ago, I was introducing him to a wind up duck toy during his bath, saying,"Look Dylan, it's a duck!" and he went (in that oh so cute little voice) "A duck!". I was stunned for a moment and got him to repeat it and he did! So off I ran to get the camera but knowing in my heart that he probably will not repeat it and all I have to boast about will be my account of the incident :s Flashes of people nodding their head in mock belief came to me BUT ho ho ho! he did repeat it for the camera and well, just watch the video!



He also has a thing about doors shutting in his presence. If we go into a room and shut the door with him outside, he will give a blood curdling scream and start crying his eyes out! This never fails to happen each time I go into the bathroom to take a bath. He will cry and scream outside the door like I have left him for dead. Same thing happens when I have to bring out the garbage and shut the main gate. What can I say, my boy loves me :)

All these developments are also making me nervous, signalling to me his birthday is approaching. Arrgh my problem now is I can't schedule his birthday party before the actual day and they say it's no good to celebrate after. The weekend after we come back from Perth is already booked with shoots, the following weekend we will be busy manning our booth at the Motherhood Exhibition and the weekend after that his birthday would have past already! How? :( Sigh, maybe it's destined my poor son will not have a grand 1st birthday party like his big brother did. I think I will just organise a small one on his actual day (which is a weekday) and get him a nice cake and take plenty of pictures of course. The more I think about it, the more guilty I feel, so unfair to Dylan. Arrgh!

Don't worry son, Mummy will think of something. Hope you will have a great vacation with us in Perth next week! Please go easy on us! :D

Keeping Kayden

With the arrival of Dylan, I have been spending considerably much less time with Kayden and of late I have seen him distancing himself from me :( To salvage our relationship, I made a conscious effort the past few weeks to have some quality time with my first born.

Last month, I brought him to a children's play "Bear and Chicken go Camping". We took the train (his first time as a toddler) and generally had a great morning together, just him and me :)



Using his EZlink card on the MRT












When we first walked into the auditorium and he saw the colourful set on stage, he said excitedly to me, "Look mummy! A big TV!" Hahaha!


One Sunday, we did some baking together, oatmeal raisin cookies. Here's the proud baker with his bakes.


Besides asking lots of questions every chance he gets, Kayden also makes interesting and sometimes funny observations. While watching Animal Planet (his favourite channel), he saw a stingray and commented that it looks like a roti prata :D He sees me breastfeeding Dylan and will pretend to breastfeed his own "baby" when it "cries"!



He is extremely sensitive to our emotions now. One morning when I had a big fight with Erwin and stomped out of the house to work, he cried and made Erwin find me. I feel really bad to quarrel in front of the kids and mentally told myself it will be the last time I did that. He has been expressing himself better through language and emotions, sometimes coming up to give me a hug or kiss for no reason and saying "I love you". :) Makes my heart expand with joy. As his grandma would say of him, "Dio hor siok!" meaning "so good to love" :D He has started speaking Singlish but the placement of "Lah" and "Lei" is like that of a foreigner trying to speak Singlish on purpose :p His chinese has also been described by my China cleaning lady as "rotten". He loves to sing the chinese songs he learns in school but they often sound funny, again like some ang moh speaking mandarin. But I really enjoy these moments when he sings with wild abandon, the joy in his face as he does.

In case you haven't noticed from the pictures, he gives this horrible cringed up face when we ask him to smile for the camera. Like so:




But when he doesn't, it's such a handsome face don't you think?


His photography skills have not improved very much since the first time we let him have the camera. But occasionally we get some good shots with no heads cut off :D




We brought him for a cable car ride last weekend, he had a great time and I hope he will be just as easy going when we head for Perth later this month.




Here's a shot he took of me with Dylan sleeping in the ergo.






This is his horrible look when we ask him to open his eyes for the camera :s


He demands your attention every now and then, "Mummy, see the crocodile!" pointing to the tv. I will murmur "Yes Kayden." and nod my head but all the time my eyes were still on the computer. He will then reply haughtily, "No you didn't see!" "I did Kayden, I saw." "NOooo! You were looking at the computer!" ahhh hahahaha :D On days when he's adament on his way, he will come right up to your face and put both his little hands on your cheek and speak right in your face "Look!" :s

He has the memory of an elephant but does not refer to time correctly. Something that has past will always be "yesterday" no matter how long ago it was. "Yesterday someone stepped on the snail, so poor thing." He was referring to a crushed snail shell I pointed out to him a few days ago. Yet he knows how to say "just now" when it happened not too long ago. Really wonder how the brain of a kid works, it's fascinating :)

My dear Kayden boy, no matter how much time mummy spends with di di, you know that you will always be my "big baby" and mummy loves you both equally - with all my heart!

Rain & Cows @ Bottle Tree Park

We brought the kids to the Bottle Tree Park and it poured :s Couldn't do the "long kang" fishing so we'll go back again. Lunch at the restaurant was unexpectedly alright, "zhi cha" style. I recommend the banana fritter thingy, forgot the name :p













While waiting out the rain, we saw a couple of "cows" pulling a carriage! Kayden the cow maniac was obviously excited to see them so we took some shots there while it drizzled. There's another part of the park which had dinosaur "fossils" but it wasn't sheltered so we can't get to it.









Since the rain took our fun away, we let Kayden have some fun as our photographer for the day, here is a collage of the shots he took! At first it was all headless and tilted shots hahaha then he got the hang of it and managed to take a really straight shot (2nd shot from bottom left)! He even took me nursing Dylan and an arty farty shot of his own feet! Not bad ya? ;)


All shots taken with the Lumix.

haba haba

It's a new year! And I've got a new "toy" for the boys :) It's a HABA beanbag which I have been eyeing since the Christmas of 2007. I wanted to buy it then but it was sold out the next day and the lady told me to leave my name and number, that they will contact me when stocks arrived. They never did.

So there we were, window shopping on Christmas day when we passed by their other shop at Ngee Ann City and lo and behold! There was the pretty green thing staring back at me from the window display :p This time, I wasted no time and bought it.

Here are the boys having some fun on it ;) Once they get tired of it, the green thing will be a studio prop!















Oh and what a good start to 2009, this evening Kayden said he was going to poot poot and because he has cried wolf many times before, we didn't think he was serious but his face showed otherwise. Erwin quickly put him on the toilet bowl and after one push, we heard the most happy sound, a plonk into the water HAHAHA! Erwin and I danced for joy and Kay was so amused that we were so happy that he announced to Dylan, "Baby, I poot poot in the toilet bowl and daddy so happy!" :D We hope this is the start of the end of diapers for my 3 year old!

On the first day of Christmas...