MY BABY FOOTSTEPS

For the first time, we signed up for the cold storage kids’ run!!!

While the girl has always been running and jumping around like a monkey all the time, the daddy said she only has speed but no stamina.  So this weekend we decided to start her training for the 800m run!

Headed down to NUS running track and started with some warm up exercises.

Check out that look of drive, energy, and determination.  Let’s hope it lasts through the whole run!

And they kicked off!  The daddy said they’ll only do one round (400m) today.  He had to tell her to run slowly in case she burns off all her energy too early in the race…

And they return after the first round!  …… Not without incident though cos near the end of the round, the princess had a dramatic fall! 

But well trained through all past accidents and incidents, she picked herself up to complete the race! *beams with pride*

(that’s of course after some TLCs from the daddy and then grabbing his hand to make sure she doesn’t fall again. :p )

Back to the grandstand where mommy waited (well, someone had to stay back to watch the valuables right???), the two runners drowned themselves with mouthfuls of water on this hot hot day… before my girl suddenly said, “Papa, let’s do it again!”

SURPRISED!  According to the daddy, she was actually quite tired out – hence the earlier fall.  But since she asked for it, we happily obliged!

So off they went again…

Tired but not defeated…

… here’s her making the final dash towards the finishing line after the second round (800m)…

And she made it!

Check out the look of a champion.    Tired, yet triumphant. 

And with the end of the run, the daddy and daughter did the  cooling down exercises…

… and the final touch that only a princess will remember – applying your “lipstick”!  (she dug my whole bag in search of my lipbalm!)  Cos you need to look good no matter how sweaty you may be.  :p

You know you are a lucky girl when you tell your parents you want to go to the zoo… and that very weekend, that’s exactly where you’re headed!

Since I started working, I have missed all the MAD (Mommy And Daughter) impromptu outings. So when the girl gives an idea on where to go, we’re more than happy to accommodate (as long as it’s not some unachievable fantasy).

And imagine the nice surprise when we realised the panda are available for viewing!!!

This was an additional $5 top up for adults and $3 top up for children for you to enter to view the pandas and a section of the upcoming River Safari.  OF COURSE we paid for it cos we’ve pretty much seen everything in the Singapore Zoo and since we’re already here, might as well spend more money to experience something new, right?

Kai Kai was sleeping when we visited… and Jia Jia (supposedly the shy one) was prancing around the whole time!

Only about 150 visiters were allowed in to the Panda’s enclosure every 20 mins, and you were told to keep the volume down, and no flash photography.  Truly VIP treatment….

And of course, there wasn’t just the two pandas… There are exhibits showing you what they do… what they eat… how they behave etc… And oh, there’s a red panda too!  (Poor thing, kindof overshadowed by the cousins)

And after our 20 mins was up, we were chased invited out so other visitors can have their turn at panda viewing.  And here’s when we saw the Panda Pau!  SO CUTE!

So of course we had to try it… Panda Pau in the Panda Cafe with Panda and Bamboo furniture!!!

And we end our Panda adventure as we proceed to the other parts of the zoo, with a photo by the Panda statues!

Other photos to sum up the rest of our zoo trip:

The huge aquarium of GIANTIC FISHES at the upcoming River Safari (you get to see this enroute to the Panda Enclosure)

And another first… a zoo tram ride (cos the girl kept bugging us and we were tired of walking around too )

The girl making friends and playing make-believe with a boy on the jungle safari truck at Outback Australia.

My, what big feet you have!!!

And the final shot at the zoo’s souvenir shop… White Tiger Claws!!!

I kindof regret not buying them back cos it’s really so cute!!!  Look how the girl enjoyed it too?

*ROAR*

Brought the girl to watch “Room on the Broom” at the DBS Arts Centre last weekend.

This is one of her favorite books at home, and it was almost certain that if the tickets came my way, I would definitely buy them!

And the girl recognizing the cover page got all excited seeing her book come to life!

Here’s her all ready for the fun! Except when the show started, I ended up putting her on my lap cos she was blocked by a very tall guy in front.

The show was great! And though it was mainly meant for kids, us adults had loads of laughs too at the jokes the cast threw in.

And while the daughter really liked it so she could follow through the story, she also memorized it so well that she knew when the mud monster was appearing and asked to go to the toilet JUST before that scene came!  And of course at the end of the day, she (and her dad) never actually saw how the witch was saved.

But still… it’s almost 3 days and the little one is still talking about it. So monster or no monster, what matters most is how much she’d enjoyed it. And that, I’m sure we’ve achieved way past kpi. :p

Not so much cost-free… but rather the freedom to play carefree, and have a great time just running wild.

At times I used to watch her over like a hawk, screaming out warnings each time I see a potential danger upcoming, or running up to catch her when she falls.

Other times… more often now… I tell myself to hold back and let her explore by herself.  Remembering my childhood (however much I can), I remember I was given the freedom to roam.  As a baby, my parents would put me on my fours on the grass, and I could crawl all over the soil, fiddle and pluck out the grass with my fingers.  (Okay, I don’t remember that… but I saw these from the fading photographs).  As a child, my grandma would let me and my sister head down to the playground by ourselves… and only I could remember the daredevil stunts that I would attempt while the adults were not looking.

So why then am I so hung up over whether the little girl gets a scratch, or a knock, or even just dirt under her fingernails from picking up fallen leaves and sticks?

So today I let her run while I sit comfortably on the bench.  I let her scream and do the mild stunts such as sliding down backwards… crawl up the slides… I let her attempt to climb up the railing that she never used to dare attempt without the parents standing at the back shouting encouragements.  I let her play free.  And I had a great time slacking off.

End of the day?  She  came home with a possibly strained thumb and a rather big patch of abrasion on her shin.  She came home a whiney girl cos she’s in discomfort. But no major injuries, and a great morning working out and playing with neighbours while I got some good time-out just talking to myself like this.  And I should really do this more often cos I’ve not had my me-time for quite a long while now, and it felt really good.  :)

Sent the daddy to the airport for his flight to the States. We were pretty prepared to bring her down to Terminal 1 where there was this indoor playground “The Canopy” that we’ve not checked out before…

Until we saw this setup just beyond the Terminal 3 checkin! Free 30 mins play for $20 spent in a single receipt! 

Hohoho… guess we needn’t spend any entrance fees anymore for the indoor playground… Furthermore, 30 mins was good timing for the daddy to accompany her in and be just in time for check-in.

The calm before the storm of kids rushing in… (they have 30 mins slots so this was the in-between where the “helpers” get a breather. Those are trampoline at the left…

… a huge space in the center for the kids to run about… and a play structure at the end.  (A good idea really… cos most indoor playground stack it up with all the structures until there’s hardly any floor space!)

And of course the MUST-HAVE in any playground… the GIANT BALL PIT!!! This is HUGE!  An adult can jump in and be swallowed!

The imagery in my mind when the doors were finally opened, was like a huge mass of people squeezing in when the stores finally open for Black Friday shopping!  Except this scene was really all the kids rushing in and squealing with excitement. Can you spot my girl in the pic above?

WEEEEEEE…….

And as usual, my little busybody helpful daughter would find it upon herself to bring all the crushed and broken balls to the staff so the other kids won’t injure themselves.

Her favourite station was this trampoline.   And she would jump up in the air and do a 180 degrees about-turn.   The daddy took photos and even a video… but I’m so lazy I’m just uploading the photos I took on my S3.   Well, the quality ain’t too bad eh?  

…. Oh come on, even my Canon can’t capture my speedy gonzales sharply all the time!

And so, 30 minutes later, the alarm rang and all the kids streamed out.   After sending the daddy off (with a teeny weeny little whine), the girl complied and agreed to leave.  And the final words as we drove out of the carpark:

She: Mommy, next time we go to the airport okay? 
Me: Why do you want to go to the airport?
She: To go to the angry bird playground again!

Her school was closed for Children’s Day… so the parents took leave to spend time with the girl! It really kills me sometimes how much time work takes us away from the most precious thing in our lives… *sigh* Reminder to put more effort in trying to find a balance…

So for children’s day… the daddy is bringing her girl for Thomas & The Hidden Treasure musical show!

REALLY EXCITED before the show began…

And highly anticipating what’s upcoming…

… except when the show really started, the girl grew bored cos… truth be told, she really isn’t THAT big a Thomas fan. And she didn’t really understand what the trains were singing about… Plus she didn’t get a close enough seat (cos we bought the tickets too late).

Yeah she likes Thomas and all… but just as trains… not animated characters. For that record, she does prefer Chuggington more than Thomas & Friends. I think it could just be that Chuggington trains have more facial expressions than these steam engines? (my guess…)

So the doting parents agreed to bring her out to some other place instead where we decided she’d have more fun. Kids Kampong at Pasir Ris Farmway!

As it was children’s day, they had a special programme lined up which includes longkang fishing… animals feeding… animals patting… and a pet show (which unfortunately was fully booked by the time we went so we missed that )

The girl started off feeding the kois…

… and more kois…

… and the geese and ducks…

… and more kois again…

… and then the chicken….

… and then we’re back at the kois again.  The main reason? Cos she gets to touch them up close! My greatest fear was that she’d fall in so I made sure she grabbed hold of the pole just so she won’t lose her balance in her excitement of patting the slippery fishes.

And then she wanted to try her hands at longkang fishing… seeing how all other OLDER kids were having so much fun…

You’d think she can’t catch a single fish, eh?

SHE DID!!! … (Though to be honest, the fish was already dead to begin with so she didn’t have to chase after those frantically escaping ones). STILL! It was a huge achievement and we all went silly cheering for her first catch!!! (While the Kids Kampong staff probably laughed silently watching us help them clear the corpse. )

And then she tried her hands at catching other fishes that were still very much alive…

… to no avail… so she emptied her pail of water PLUS that dead fish into the longkang… and fished it out again! Yap, we did the doting-parents-silly-cheer again.

And then we decided there were only so many times we could do the catch + pour back + catch again + pour back again routine… so we told her last stop, to pat and feed the rabbits before we head back home.

The cute and very hungry bunnies begging for more food.

And cos it was children’s day, there was a sure win tikam tikam (lucky-dip) corner… where the girl won a huge prize! (probably the same for all other kids since it’s a sure-win lucky dip right? )

Out of which she only eyed the lollipop and literally begged bugged us to open it for her NOW NOW NOW!!!

Bliss is the girl who gets what she wants.

And that marks the end of our Children’s Day Celebration!

As a followup to last year’s celebrations, the girl is absolutely looking forward to mid autumn festival celebrations this year.

First up, with her recent love for looking at candles and especially blowing them off, candles on pomelo skins were especially intriguing for the little girl.

But the highlight as per last year, was when her Mai Mai brought her down for the neighbourhood mid-autumn festival party!

(Here I must thank the Mai Mai for making time to come back especially to fulfill her promise from a year ago to bring my girl around for mid autumn celebrations every year! )

The girl “taking advantage” of the lion and getting intrigued by the LED-lighted… err… horn?

Posing with her duck whistle from the DuckTour!

They might have seen the lion and dragon dance before…

… but they were still as mesmerised as ever.

Though the little one seems to find more joy in quacking into her Mai Mai’s ears instead.

And then begins the traditional lantern walkabout…

Can you see the girl holding the teeny-weeny angry bird lantern? A baby lantern for a baby girl (improvised by the parents so she doesn’t end up dragging a heavy lantern along on the ground).

And as the adults stretched out their heads from the windows trying to see them when they return, the little one caught sight of a playground and abandoned the walkabout halfway through. *sigh* No wonder they took especially long to return… and the mommy who took the chance to relax while Mai Mai was on duty wondered where the little one disappeared to.

Oh well, the trio (the girl + the Mai Mai + the daddy who tagged along as cameraman) returned with huge smiles on their faces so I guess it really doesn’t matter whether they completed the full route, as long as the little one AND her Mai Mai AND the daddy had fun.

Till next year’s mid autumn celebrations again then!