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NOW do you see why we are always worried about getting complaints from our neighbors downstairs?
Each week, like any normal human being, we count the days leading to the weekend, just so we can take a well-deserved break from work, and spend some nice family time with each other. Ethan senses it is the weekend too, I’m sure. He always seems happier when we pick him up on Friday evenings 🙂
And what’s better than the weekend? Why, a 3-day weekend of course! Which was what we had a couple of weeks back due to Merdeka Day falling on a Sunday. Monday was automatically a holiday for us too, so in addition to our blissful afternoon naps together (which I look forward to each weekend, by the way), Sunday night didn’t seem so forlorn after all, since we also had Monday to look forward to.
That particular Monday morning, Pete and I planned to take Ethan for our long-procrastinated morning walk at The Botanical Gardens. It had been ages since we took him there, so I was very determined to make our plan come into fruition.
So on Monday morning, I hauled myself out of bed, tired and weary, but the thought of Ethan’s happy face when he gets to go one on one with nature spurred and inspired me. I dragged Pete out of bed too, and hurried to get ready. By the time we reached Botanical Gardens, it was already 9:15a.m. but still not too hot, and there were still plenty of people around.
At first Ethan didn’t want to get down and asked to be carried instead, but as soon as he spotted people jogging past him, he made a lurch for the ground, and started running too, giggling happily and stopping now and then to point out, “Bird!”, “Tree!”, etc.
I managed to capture a video of our little runner too, but it was from the back. See, he was running so fast, that I couldn’t get my phone out quick enough to run in front of him and get him running from the front. LOL.
All in all, we made two rounds round Botanical Gardens; one small round for starters, and a second larger round. The larger round involved climbing up a steep incline, the one leading to the hiking trail Pete and I used to explore frequently many moons ago.
During the second round round the Botanical Gardens, Ethan would sometimes ask to be carried, and Pete said he heard him panting a little too. So our little boy is also smart enough to save his energy and knows how to rest when he is tired too!
We made a few pit stops at some rest areas, to enjoy the scenery and surroundings too.
And at the end of our morning exercise, look at the little one replenishing his body with some thirst-quenching H20. 🙂
I love counting 1-20 now. Although I still miss out a few of the numbers, either Mommy or Daddy can fill in the blanks for me. Hehe. I bet I’ll learn those soon enough 😀
See? I can count AND exercise at the same time too!
Scrap Credits
Kit Jules from Kawouette
Doodles: Doodle Me Big from Mikkel Paige Originals
Netter’s Alphas from Scarlet Heels
It all began one fine Sunday about two weeks ago. After a yummy homecooked dinner, Daddy decided to take Ethan downstairs for an evening walk round out apartment compound. It was a great idea because then Mommy could have some time to wash up and have a quick shower undisturbed.
The bonding session between Daddy and Ethan went really well indeed. When they got back, Daddy reported that Ethan happily ran two rounds round the swimming pool, giggled happily when he saw a doggie playing and had good fun during the evening walk.
Ever since that day, whenever we get back home to our apartment and reach our apartment lobby area, Ethan would eagerly run towards the poolside. He would lead me down the steps to the pool and joyfully run around the pool. He loves to walk on the drain gutter covers though, and he would sometimes stop and smile as he looked at the water in the pool. Last Sunday evening, he decided that in addition to walking around both the adult and children’s pool, he wanted to go across the little bridge too!
It sure appears that Ethan does not only love swimming in the pool, he loves walking round it too. And to think this all happened with a innocent evening walk 🙂
Finally, after an uncountable number of weekends of planned swimming sessions gone awry, last Saturday saw my plan to bring Ethan swimming in our apartment pool blossom into fruition. My parents came over to stay with us for the weekend so I had extra hands to help me with the over-eager Ethan.
The slight drizzle had just stopped and it was not scorching hot, the water was just cool and not freezing, so it was just the right temperature, perfect for swimming. I had huffed and puffed my way to produce a floatable float, worthy of use. This one, unlike the arm floats we used some time back, would ensure our boy was kept heads up in the water and at the same time, enable him to freely kick his way around the pool. It was the first time he was using this round float but it took him no time at all to grow accustomed to it. Thank goodness he could still fit into his *mega-cool* scuba-diving-like suit! 😀
You be the judge as to whether he had a good time or not…
Climbing is one of Ethan’s favorite past times now. He loves climbing up the sofa, climbing up his toy train (it looks pretty dangerous, because the train has wheels and our boy will try to climb on top of the seat), and anything else that is worth climbing. In fact, Mrs Tan our babysitter has also reported that Ethan has been quite the climber recently. Traits of a boy emerging, eh?
Last weekend, when we were at the play area in Gurney Plaza, Ethan happily ran to the slide and started attempting to climb up it. No, he did not use the slide ladder, instead he climbed *up* the slide…yeah, the part where we are supposed to slide down. The first attempt saw him climb one or two steps up and then he slid down, then he held on to the sides, put one foot on the slide, followed by another and then slid down again. I could see the persistence and determination in his face (which mirrors mine…*ahem*) when he tried again and again, and he finally succeeded. Hey, this takes immense upper body strength okay?
Now, he can also climb up his Fisher Price chair on his own and watch TV … yeah, like a tua-tow-keh… Look at how he is enjoying himself!
After many moons of procrastination and laziness, we finally dragged our weary selves out of bed this morning and headed over to the Botanical Gardens for a morning family exercise session. It was already a little past 9 in the morning when we arrived, and although it was considerably hot, walking amongst the greenery kind of made it a little bit cooler. We brought Ethan’s stroller along, so we could push him some parts of the way and only took him out where it was safe to toddle around, i.e. not many joggers and runners blocking the path.
At first, Ethan was slightly confused with the new experience, as the last time he was there was so long ago. But I’m not surprised that it only took him a while to warm up and soon he was making himself at home with nature. He was intrigued by the trees, the leaves, the flowers, the road…just about everything in sight, blabbering and screaming loudly in delight!
We had such a good time that we are already planning and looking forward to this coming Saturday morning when (hopefully) we would be able to go again.
Last Thursday, after work, we took Ethan for a dip in our apartment’s swimming pool. The weather was warm with just a hint of sunlight. Perfect swimming weather…I checked from our balcony that there was no one in the pool, so off we went.
We dressed Ethan up in his new swimsuit, which made him look like a mini scuba diver. We bought this suit a couple of weeks back because Ethan looked so cute in it, we could not resist it. For the first time also, we fixed the arm floats on him to allow him to float in the water. These floats are the kind that had just a band at the bottom and was not “floaty” all the way round. This was to enable more movement whilst in the water.
I took him to the edge of the pool and began playing with the water. I splashed – he giggled… so I took him into the water. Gingerly I let go…and to my amazement he began paddling doggie-style! Unfortunately he paddled away and I was behind him, so he suddenly realized I wasn’t in sight and began struggling and crying. When I hugged him again, he clung on to me for dear life, and he even wrapped his legs around my waist. SIGH….next time, I’ll make sure I am within his view. We hope to go again sometime this week 🙂
I desperately need to exercise.Before I got pregnant, I was really high on exercise. The endorphines exercise provided me kept me going and going and going, much like the Energizer bunny. I frequented the gym about 3-4 times a week, doing cardio and weights, and attending group exercise classes like Body Pump, Body Jam and Body Step. When I got pregnant, I continued with my gym routine, albeit on a toned-down scale. I attended Body Balance classes more, as it focused on Yoga, Pilates and Taichi, which was advantageous for my pregnancy, but I also did Body Pump (weight training) till I was 7 months preggers. After 7 months, I only did swimming. In fact, I was swimming up till 2 days before my first signs of labor came.
Well, after I had Ethan, my only form of “exercise” was breastfeeding. On Desperate Housewives just the other day, someone mentioned that a session of breastfeeding is equivalent to a 30-minute cardio workout in the gym.
WOW.
And that’s how breastfeeding mommies like me keep the weight off. Heh… eksyen oni…
Unfortunately, I still have 1-2 stubborn kilos to go. Arrghhhh!! And most of it is concentrated on the “love handles” zone. No surprise there.
Now that Ethan is mobile and crawling (and very soon walking and running!!), I assume I would be losing more weight in weeks to come.
The thing is, I still need to tone my muscles and right now, the only form of weight training I do is lifting Ethan up and down. Hehe… my very own adorable home weights.
My “weights” and I – don’t we make a great team?