Ian's 1st children's day celebration!

Ian hasn't officially gone to sch so has not enjoyed any luxury of having children's day celeb yet and last Sun he had his 1st 'taste' of children's day at the Sun Sch. Being the 4th sun of the mth, we were all glad there was sun sch (else usually its combined svc ie the kids stay with parents in the sanctuary and make noise...yes, Ian will ask endlessly why there is no Sun Sch)

Anw on this special day, he had his usual 'dose' of worship and then went on for station games...yes it was basketball, balance beanbag, craft etc and it ended with a PARTY!!! When we went to pick him up, it was all the kids sitting on the table waiting to be served by the teachers and saw Ian taking a huge gummy bear and there was mama tapping on him and he gave a HUGE grin coz it was a BONUS treat!
Guess what LUXURY they had with all the biscuits, ribena and 'forbidden stuff' hahahaa well for the name of CHILDREN'S DAY!!! He was sitting with his cousins and watching how the teachers came by with goodies and more goodies and for a boy who wasn't so fond of asking, his older cousin did the asking and making sure his di2 wasn't losing out on any goodies! hhmm what 'help' was rendered by the older cousin hahhaa but well shld hv video-ed the scene down and it was a time of observing mama was doing to prep for the yr he's entering sch hhmm

Anw they had rewards thereaft for the effort they put in for the games earlier and with his 7 points, mama requested him to get a new water bottle BUT the boy insisted on a CAR!!!! Well, the boy is growing huh and mama's wants might not be his and here's what he got for the children's day....

The moo-moo cow was his craft work done at 1 station and the picture frame was a gift from his teachers (tho the surname was wrong wo an I but well it was quite nice with his name on and he's admiring it!) and he got a car (or a yellow truck) and a blue comb (something he has been asking for to comb his hair and he got his wish granted on a children's day) and he brought back some 'goodie' ie the oreo cake and jelly which are still residing in our fridge well well what a CHILDREN'S DAY!!! But for the day, he shld be getting a BIGGER reward =) What a privilege of being a child on such a day!

Our 1stsss visit to ILUMA!!!

We visited Iluma over the last 2 wkends, we checked out Iluma 2 wks ago and saw this Chef Daniel's Sky dining at the Iluma and the lunch set was quite reasonable so we went last wkend again with ah mu's family and with dayi. Here are the kids before we went into the restaurant. The place was nice, hhhmm food was so so only but was reasonable for such an ambience at such a venue. Guess the kids enjoyed the fries and Ian was asking for burger and we had a gd time there!

Hmmm 2 wkends ago, we went for dinner there since we din have our usual dinner at ah maa's pl and was checking out the Koi tea but was super long queue and caught a view of the Iluma word so thot take a pic and later Ian insisted to take with the I only coz it starts with i like his name hehee (somehow took the pic with iphone but can't rotate it hhmm)

After checking out the place, we had our dinner at Waraku de pasta and it was some deserted corner so we had a quiet dinner since there were few diners on Sun nite and we had a gd time with the food as Ian's a pasta lover and he was even game to try the 'black' noodles as he called it (with squid ink which is mama's fav!) and the food was nice and had a gd time sharing dinner together and the staff were so attentive to our needs hehhee guess we could come here for some quiet dinners n perhaps queue the koi tea which was ever so long long queue =p

Exploring the Dairy Nature Farm

This is our 2nd hike at the Dairy Nature Farm to the Bt Timah Hill, we did once last mth and it was half done without daddy as daddy had to go to work for a while before he could rejoin us so here is an attempt Ian did without asking daddy to carry him (as he would usually ask) so it was a gd job done as he was doing all the climbing with us holding his hand so that he could climb over those big steps and stones

Here is the end of our trekking which was the toughest as they had huge steps so there were times we had to ask Ian to take little step paths by the side but was tough as quite alot pple going up and done on that Sat am as well but we did accomplished the whole flight of steps to go down the easier path to Bt Timah hill's car park while ah baa detour to pick up the car

Looking at the pic, the kids were exhausted and all wet but their spirits were high and we could do this more often to build up leg muscles hahaha coz 2 days later (which happened after our last trek) that Ian got muscle ache and in fact he din know what was that and he was in tears when he woke up from nap as he told mama his right knee is painful and he doesn't know what pain was that and gathered it might be coz he used more strength to get on the trek on his right leg than left that explains the pain so we shld do more for him to overcome this muscle ache pain =)

Ian turns 44 mths old

This mth, Ian has been asking more to do 'homework' and esp chinese since he knows he doesn't know much abt chinese hahahaa anw here's a pic of him doing dot to dot and he enjoys it even at dayi's hostel and he's at least drawing straighter lines now, guess its time to draw some schedule for him as its just a couple of mths for him to start sch hhmm

And guess what, the iphone helps to regulate his bowel removal hahaaa....it was a motivation method for the boy to play the iphone when he poos and just this wk, it helped him to poo almost every day and sometimes even twice a day....hhhmm well at least this 'trick' is working and he sure is motivated to poo just to get a play on the phone!

Just 2 weeks ago, there was cookie making session at the Sun Sch and here's the happy boy with his cookies which he made on his own, he wanted to finish all the cookies on his own but well made sure he din take all but guess it was gd he could be at the Sun Sch session on his own (since Seth and Joy weren't there) and when mama picked him up at the Sun Sch, he was wandering on his own....its a gd start coz he would soon be going diff class as Joy (coz he joined the Nursery class tho he shld be at pre-nursery class) and for his upcoming sch he will be going a diff sch as his cousins so it was a gd start for him to be able to adapt (altho he still had John cousin there that Sun)

This mth, he also had his last session of BSF and he made 2 cards for his children teachers and guess their names are often on his lips still, guess they did impact his life sowing little seeds on this boy and just last Mon he was asking how come the kids can't go BSF and will there be a day when the kids go and adults aren't allowed?? Just amused at how thots are being formed in his mind abt taking turns hhmm this 3yo boy sure surprises us with such questions each time!

He also was treated to two 3-D movies but guess his fav was still toy story 3 as there were more kids and toys in the show, guess he would love it if he had viewed Toy Story 3 in 3D huh....anw we shld try more movies since he enjoys some of them (altho not all like megamind) and he's into selection of his 4th bday cake since he has been waiting for his 4th bday since he saw how much fun it was at Joy jie2's bday hhmm so another 2 mths to his sch term start and another 2 mths to his 4th bday! Some milestones along his life journey....

Happy 3.5 yrs old to Ian!!!

This has been an extraordinary mth since it marks the 1/2 yr mark for Ian and it has proved to be yet another adventurous and fun mth with all the National Day, YOG and even our 1 week hols. This mth, mama got her i-phone (yaya tho there was much apprehension whether how to set rules for the boy but the phone came as a surprise!) and the rule set was only when Ian poos then he gets to lay his hands on the i-phone (as a motivator for him to poo daily heheee) anw it used to be ice-cream but now its i-phone which seems a better perk coz he does ask how come he cannot poo even when he is wanting to play the phone hehehe anw the 30 mins play is quite short for the play but sure plays a 'temptor' for him so work hard for ur 'reward' hehhee

The IKEA white board has been a gd way for the boy to start writing his letters and this was a game played with him to see whether he could write so those in black is written by mama and after a few letters mama realised the boy could write actually so he just need such fun ways to motivate him to write and will get some letter charts for him to see visually and to write neatly...wonder issit a boy thing that his letters are messy hhmm will work on that but this is a gd start!

This mth we also started chores for him since he seems so so keen to do it at po2's pl so thot why not let him use the magi-clean to do on days when mama dun use the i-robot and he has been gd at it and even doing the folding of his own clothes after mama has taken them off the poles and guess this is a gd start to doing chores and helping mama huh =) and to work out his muscles

His other fav thing to do with the white board is to draw and he has always been drawing 3 figures and its always with gor2 and jie2....think he gotta improve on his drawing as well heehe and his pple always dun smile coz he's always drawing straight lines for their mouths hahaha but well its great achievement for our 3 1/2 yr old boy I guess

The trip we just went shows us how much the boy loves the water and now being the sea, he just loves sitting at the sand and being 'washed' by the waves and even in Spore when we go beach now, he will ask to go to the sea and just sit by the water just that its not as nice sand as we got in Pangkor hhmm well just make do huh but it was truly a splashing gd time at the beach in Pangkor coz Ian really got splashed by water and just so thrilled to see when we could catch a BIG wave to 'wash' them away!

Thru the trip, he just enjoy every walk we have down the sand bed and it doesn't bother if he gets wet or his shorts are wet and he loves splashing the water just as whenever we see puddles of water on the street he would want to jump into it but never got to coz mama will scream at him before he does it hehhee so at the beach he gets freedom to do all he wants, guess he's most relaxed at the beach which makes us wanna go beach more often from now on I guess

We were back in time to celebrate his 3 1/2 yr old birthday, guess he dun quite understand what is the 1/2 for but he just enjoys the cake and this time he chose a Hello Kitty cake hahhaaa we din try to influence his choice as he knows Kitty is always for jie2 and for this once, he gets his kitty for himself and perhaps this might be his last?? Who knows for this boy who doesn't have v much preference for any cartoon character and it will be 1/2 yr later when he will be blowing his 4th bday cake and till then, we will be preparing for his next phase of starting to go school and its coming real soon hhhmm wonder who's getting all the anxieties?? Mama or Ian =p

A week's road trip to Malaysia!

For the past 3 yrs, we have always been travelling ard Sep/Oct period....not sure why but it ties in with Ian turning 1/2 yr mark every yr and this yr we did what we did 2 yrs ago which was a road trip to Msia and doing what we gotta do and memories just flow how things were when Ian was only 6mths+ when we 1st went road trip as a family...things are v much easier now, at least he could sit still thru the long journeys and could enjoy table food which was so much easier (just making rules before going that he gotta take whatever is on his plate esp veg) so it made holidaying easier....this time we went hols with ah baa and ah mu's family since we got to visit some relatives as well

We stayed a nite at KL for the kids to catch some rest and breaking up the trip as our 1st destination was Pangkor Island (at Perak) and it's known for nice beach and sea....so it was almost Ian's 1st ferry ride to the island and he was thrilled before we got on this bus that takes us to the Pangkor Island resort

All's cheerie and went smoothly as we beat the crowd before the wkend came and it was much easier to do things on wkday and so we got into our room and Ian was most thrilled to see 'baby cot' (which was in the form of playpen at this resort) and it was yrs since Ian last slept on a cot but we were glad he took it well in sleeping in the playpen coz he associated it with his sheep bed back home and so we din co-sleep which was a gd thing so not to break the practice hahaha and he was gd in his own 'bed' and we had ours too...gd thing he din fuss coz we had 4 diff hotel stay and he slept thru his cot/playpen thru it so we din need pay for extra bed but looking at his height this might be his last try on the cot as he was touching both ends of the cot hhmm

This island has lots of hornbills, peacocks, monkeys and what nots.....but there is this special corner for hornbill feeding so we caught it before we had our dinner at the buffet spread....well the kids came up close with the monkeys at 1 of the breakfast tables as the monkeys are quite wild there (we were told not to feed them else they might turn wilder) so they 'turned' up at the breakfast table and managed to 'grab' 2 pieces of cakes which Ian had intended to eat but it got 'stolen' by the monkeys...the kids then see that monkeys aren't as fun and cute as we see in cartoons and even in the zoo so was kindof eye opener for them so rules were state for them not to roam on their own as we spotted some monkeys just outside our room

The beach was nice and the sand was so fine the kids just enjoyed endless times on the beach and they loved the waves....Ian was in fact thrilled being 'washed' by the waves....just glad the weather was real gd for the 3 days we were there so we could soak in the sea and sun at the same time.....was just so relaxing and the kind of sea which was so gentle for us to soak and enjoy

The other place which we liked and think was not known to many tourists was this swing area...it was interesting coz we never saw such huge swing tied to this giant tree and we could swing freely even for the adults and at any time it could take 3 pax so the kids just enjoyed swinging endlessly

This was really relaxing resort and we would come back again for snorkelling which we din it this round as the kids couldn't quite swim so we gather they might not enjoy so much and was also afraid the younger ones might doze off on our way back as it was near their nap time....anw nice resort to be back again

Here we are at the jetty specially for the resort's pple only and waiting for our ferry back...this is almost the 1st time Ian's taking a ferry and he was quite thrilled on the sea....guess he has been bugging to sit boat and it was a request fulfilled in a way!

After our 3 days stay at Pangkor, we went on to Lumut which was really near by abt 30mins and main reason for staying there was for us to visit the relatives....ya daddy has some relatives still residing there and ah maa and ah gong will be there over the same wkend as well so we thot it would be gd to check out the town since we dun have kampungs in Spore already and it's Ian's 2nd visit there since the last he went was 2 yrs back so it would be a gd time to meet his yi-maaas, biao jiu and biao ge there which we hardly get to meet unless there are occasions to meet

They brought us ard some highlights at the Sitiawan town which they are staying (which is also the town ah maa and ah gong were from) and here we are at a fish market and yi maa showing Ian what is sword fish....guess we city dwellers dun see much of such fish market and in fact they were 'shopping' for fresh fish (just caught from the sea) and to bring to restaurant which we were gonna dine so it was freshly caught fish for the kids....talking abt restaurants, the food there is so cheap and nice that we couldn't believe what we were paying for a table of 14 pple, guess we could just splurge on lobster when we go there again hahahaa well the kids had foochow food since we dun have that many foochow restaurants in Spore and Ian loved the foochow fishball hahhaa sth he dearly missed for the trip since we hardly saw fishball at most places we went

And here's a shot with Xin Heng biao ge and it was amazing how the kids got acquainted just merely meeting up for the 1st time and the boy also enjoyed playing with our kids except he was speaking English, Mandarin and Malay...so the kids tried to talk mandarin to him guess it was pressure to speak a language which he was comfy in anw Ian din understand why he had to call him gor2 coz he looked so much same age as Ian hehehe

And here's a shot at the Swiss Garden resort which we stayed 2 yrs ago as well and comparing the photo it does have lots of memories, the photo taken done was Ian zzzz in mama's arms adn now he was showing cheeky face well guess we could do spot the difference for this pic....nice resort as well coz our room had sea view and just enjoyed the serenity in the resort altho we din spend v much time there since we were out to visit the relatives most of the time, its almost like CNY visiting that we felt hahahaa but lots of fun catching up with the relatives and doing shao mu as well since Ian din understand chor2 and chor gong so better let him check out

Then we had our farewells with the relatives and went on to KL which was to break the trip back Singapore as it would be a straight 8 hr drive if we were to rush home so we stopped by KL and stayed at this nice 3 bedroom apt at Bangsar area and it was a nice apt and lots of space for the kids to run ard and we had a day trip out to Mid Valley and we had this unbelievably cheap lunch at the Tony Romas for RM$60 which could feed 3 adults and 3 kids and we were hardly hungry at dinner time....just enjoyed the food and guess we had too much eating after the wk's of feasting hahhaa

And we managed to loan pram from the Information Counter tho they did say Ian and joy seemed too big for the pram but guess it was wk day so they din expect much crowd so we could shop in peace when the kids napped in the pram and Ian was so delighted to zzz in the pram guess it was a hard to come by chance and he was feeling so giggled napping in the pram as if he were a baby well well glad we chanced upon it so we could shop the big mall freely

And here's the apartment we stayed and the kids could do what they wanted to do and they had this sticker activity on bible stories and dun they love staying together so much so they woke up so early every morning sigh.....guess they just dun get enough of each other so much so Ian was real sad when we came home and kept asking 'Why go home???' well well holidays do have to end somewhere right and now his next question to daddy would be 'When are we going for holiday again???'