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Ethan at 21 Months

October 31, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | 7 comments

 
Scrap Credits
Slightly Rugged kit from Pam Lefors Designs
Stitched felt frame from Lindsay Jane Designs
Harvest Spice alphas & elements from Shabby Princess Designs

Weight

11-11.5 kilos. Weighed in during last visit to Dr Jessica, Oct 26 2007.

Height

Circa 83cm. Yesterday he was asleep on the bed in a rather straight position, so I took the opportunity to measure him with my measuring tape.

Teeth

Eight incisors, with 4 pramolars fast appearing, all at the same time!

Motor Skills

  • He loves to stand on one foot, especially when taking his shower.
  • He can sometimes climb up short steps on his own. Scary but true. And I have witnessed it before. In fact, he climbed up 3-4 steps last week all by himself!
  • When he wants to climb down a step, and no one is around to help him, he will turn his body round, and go down backwards, i.e. holding the floor and stepping down backwards one step at a time.
  • Ethan’s favorite spot in Queensbay Mall is the slope area right outside Fila, just a short walking distance away from Nando’s. He would run up the slope very quickly and then go down the stairs, reaching out for assistance from us. Or he would go up the stairs and then rush down the slope. He now knows the area like the back of his hand and would giggle loudly and run excitedly towards it whenever we are there. Just watching him play really makes our day.
  • Ethan can make the symbol “6” with his hands (i.e. one hand with all fingers open out and the other hand with just the index finger held up). Lately he has also started experimenting with “7” (i.e. extending the index finger hand to show the thumb AND the index finger).
  • Tries to take off his shoes on his own. When he is in his car seat, we always take off his shoes for him, to avoid him from touching his shoes and then his face or his mouth. Now, he wants to help by undoing the velcro on his shoes too.

Communication and Social Skills

  • Says “Bah!” when he refuses something, or when he has had enough of something.
  • Says “sssh” or “sssss” – for “fish”. Also says it when he sees the view of the sea, or when he realizes we are on our way to Queensbay Mall.
  • To Ethan, “Whale” is “loliloliloliloli….”. It must be the “l” pronunciation.
  • Keeps repeating some *words*, one of them is “chee-yap” or “chiap”.  We don’t know what that means yet.
  • He is learning to say “Baby Einstein”, because every time he requests to watch the DVD, he would point and say something, but I have yet been able to catch what he says, although it is a 4-syllable word.
  • Ethan pants excitedly when he is anticipating something he likes, like just before we drive down the ramp after exiting the Queensbay Mall car park.
  • Able to give lip-smacking flying kisses to perfection.
  • He has also recently learnt how to give me a hug.  When I ask him for a hug, he would reach out both his arms and then wrap them around me, while patting my back affectionately.
  • It goes without saying that Ethan is now a very intuitive little boy. When he senses that we are ready to go out, he will run to the door and stand by it, waiting for us to open the door. When we reach the lift lobby, he will stand in front of the doors of the lift and run into the lift when it opens. He will also run out when the lift reaches our floor. We actually need to be very careful just in case he runs out at the wrong floor. Ah, but there was one time, the lift opened at the wrong floor and I asked him to go out (silly me!) and he stayed put. I guess he is observant too, eh?

Food and Feeding

  • Ethan is now becoming very adamant about feeding himself. At times, I would start off feeding him and then he would try to grab the spoon and fork and insist on feeding himself. He will make a mess, yes. But I suppose that is the only way he will eventually learn. Some of the food does get in, though.
  • We are in the process of weaning him from the breast, but there is not much significant success yet.  Although he can go without breast milk while I am at work (he will lead Mrs Tan into the kitchen to request her to make him a feed of formula), he rejects the bottle whilst he is at home.  When we offer him the bottle, he will take the bottle cap and attempt to close it.
  • He loves drinking (especially ice lemon tea) from a straw. He would hold the straw and then imitate the stirring gesture we adults sometimes make, and the drink from it. But just the other day when I ordered carrot juice, I thought the fancy color and cup would entice him to drink it, but nope, I was wrong.  Feeding himself was more attractive then 😛

Blowing kisses in the wind

October 27, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | 3 comments


Scrap credits: Another Boho Love Affair Kit from retrodiva {designs}™

Maybe it took Ethan a little bit longer to master the art of blowing kisses, better known as the “flying kiss”.  Well, maybe he thought it was considered not *macho* to do it then.  Heh.  Well, it takes a real MAN to be able to do it anyway.  And you know what, Ethan can do it amazingly well now.  The wait has certainly been well worth it.

Now he will constantly pepper his goodbyes with a lip-smacking kiss, putting his hand to his mouth, and giving a really loud kiss for added effect.  And when we say the magic word, i.e. “flying kiss”, he will give one in an equally adorable manner.

Even yesterday night, after Dr Jessica had given him his 2nd JE booster jab, and although he cried a little after that, when we were about to leave the clinic, he smiled at the doctor, waved buh-bye and blew her a kiss.  Ain’t that sweet?

Ethan at 20 Months

October 10, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones | 6 comments


Scrap Credits: Urban Kiwi Kit from Shabby Princess

Weight

At least 10 kilos. Cannot carry him for long periods because:

  • it hurts
  • he will struggle and attempt to break free because he wants to walk around on his own.

Height

Haven’t taken his height for some time now, but he is definitely growing taller. He can reach for stuff on our dining table already.  Sometimes I look at him fast asleep in his cot and am amazed at how much he has grown!

Teeth

Still eight. But he is VERY excited about brushing his eight teeth every day now 🙂  I taught him to hold the toothbrush under running tap water and thereafter, moving the bristles back and forth in his mouth.  However, I sometimes catch him biting the bristles instead of brushing with them.

Motor Skills

  • Can lead us to wherever he wants to go.  For example, if he wants to eat yogurt, he will take us by the hand, and lead us to the refrigerator.  Sometimes, he will even take my hand and place it on the fridge handle. 
  • He is able to correctly put in more shapes into his shape sorter.  I have noticed him putting in the red circle, green flower and yellow oval, to name a few.
  • Loves running around in wide open spaces.  Ah Kongs and Ah Mas are advised to be cautious because he will outrun them. 

Communication and Social Skills

  • Ethan has learnt how to associate certain actions with certain things, to the point of sometimes imitating what we do:
    • If he grabs hold of a key (house keys, car keys), he will walk towards a door and try to put the key into the keyhole.
    • If he grabs hold of a pen or pencil, he will imitate writing on a piece of paper.  Sometimes he will take my little red journal and pretend to write on it.
    • He will take the telephone receiver and put it to his ear, while blabbering away.  When we say “Hello..?” he will take whatever he is holding and place it to his ear. If his hands are empty, he will just put one hand to the ear.
    • He has learnt how to associate the couch and the bed with drinking milk.  When I sit on the couch, he will request for milk. Or he will take me by the hand and lead me to the room when he is ready to sleep.
  • He has attained the stage of the Terrible Twos, albeit a few months early.  Some traits we have noticed are:
    • When he is riding in our car, he will start screaming in complaint when the car slows down or comes to a halt.  At times his screams are so high-pitched I have to cover my ears.
    • When we want to carry him when he does not want to be carried, he will try to run away. Other methods of escape he has employed are:
      • Screaming in protest
      • Crouching on his front commando style, so it is very difficult for us to carry
      • Struggling and kicking
  • One of the things he is learning is animal sounds.  When I say “The cow goes?”, he will say “Mmmmm” (sounds like Moo).  But when I say “The dog goes?”, he will also say “Mmmmm”.  I need to work on this still 😛
  •  He can say a few *words* now.  He is not very consistent in saying them yet, but we are seeing some progress in this arena:
    • Mommy (yesterday morning, I woke up startled when I heard Ethan saying loudly and clearly “Mommy!”  He was still fast asleep and dreaming though)
    • Daddy (last week, he greeted Daddy at the door after Daddy’s futsal game with a cheerful, “Hi Daddy!”)
    • Lolilolilo… (we don’t know what this is yet, but we suspect it is Ethan’s attempt at imitating some singing on TV.  He says this when he hears the StarWorld theme song and also some Indian songs)
    • Pecah pecah pecah… (at first we thought he was saying Pete’s name, but we are still not sure now)
    • Ngam ngam ngam or yum yum yum (when eating something tasty.  Sometimes he smacks his lips too)
    • Buh buh (bye-bye) – said while waving buhye
    • Mai (“Don’t want” in Hokkien)
    • Zebra (of course any other four-legged animal is a Zebra to him too)

Food

Anything and everything except peanuts, shellfish and alcohol.  He loves ice lemon tea and vanilla ice cream, by the way.

And We’re Moving On…

August 21, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Shopping | 5 comments


Scrap Design from Anita Designs

Last Sunday we were at Jaya Jusco shopping for some clothes for Ethan. We picked out a few nice-looking t-shirts from the babies’ department but unfortunately, they all didn’t come in his size. Even those in 18-24 month sizes looked a tad too small for him. Ethan is wearing 2-year-old sizes now and most of the clothes in the babies’ department only had sizes up till 18 months. Suddenly, a light bulb lit up in my head and I figured we should be looking in the kids’ department instead. And would you know it, we found exactly what we wanted there. There were so many clothes in his size available, that we were spoilt for choice.

So looks like we have to move on to shopping in the kids’ and toddlers’ section now. No more baby clothes for our Ethan Boy!

Adventure Underwater (Singapore Day 4)

August 8, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones, Parenting, Vacation | 11 comments

A vacation to Singapore would not be complete without a visit to Sentosa Island, now would it? I can barely remember my last visit to Sentosa Island, but my Mom tells me I was really young then. I vaguely recall taking the cable car all the way to the island and back though. In fact, my parents had their honeymoon in Sentosa Island. The island must have changed a whole lot since then. For one, we had heard a lot about the Underwater World, and were eager to show Ethan all the underwater life which we knew he would so love.

After our breakfast, we took the MRT from Little India to Harbourfront, which was about 6 stations away. This time, there was no need to change to a different MRT line and it only took us slightly more than 15 minutes to get to our destination. The Harbourfront MRT station is directly connected to VivoCity, the newest, biggest, trendiest shopping mall in Singapore. We’ll get to the shopping later, I thought to myself. 😀

Initially we wanted to take the cable car because we wanted to have a good view from above. We then learnt that a cable car ride would cost SGD11, and comparing that to the monorail, which costs only SGD3, we opted for the latter. The monorail ticket was a return ticket, and it was inclusive of all the bus rides we would need to take on Sentosa Island itself. As it turned out, taking the monorail was a great decision on our part, because not only did we get to take in a spectacular view of our surroundings, the entire journey via the Sentosa Express took only a mere 10 minutes (which is a bonus for Ethan who is prone to getting restless)! From the monorail, we could see the cable cars moving towards Sentosa Island, and comparatively, they were taking forever! Upon reaching Sentosa Island (Beach Station), we took a bus all the way to the Underwater World.

Ethan of course enjoyed free admission, but we adults had no reason to complain either, because we got a 10% discount when we paid with the Citibank credit card 🙂

The first stop we made was to touch and feel the stingrays. They felt leathery and slithery! I did not allow Ethan to touch them though and he didn’t complain either because he was more fascinated with the many aquariums on display. He could see the fishes up close and it was apparent he was having a field time doing so.

To keep Ethan occupied and not-so-restless, I had brought along a small box of cornflakes. Learning from the zoo adventure, it was a no-no to allow him to get hungry, so I kept him busy eating and munching on cornflakes 🙂 Good parenting tip, eh? *wink* So amid the exhibits of crabs, fish, jellyfish seadragons and seahorses, Ethan was happy with his snack and Daddy was happy with his snapping… photos, that is.

I personally felt the highlight of the Underwater World was The Tunnel. Here, we just had to stand on a moving walkalator that took us through a tunnel where we were surrounded by all kinds of underwater life swimming all around us. Fish, sharks, manatees, you name it…. there were many moments that prompted us to go “Ooooooh….” and “Waaaahhh……”, if you know what I mean.

All in all, we really enjoyed ourselves at the Underwater World. After taking lunch, we realized it was drizzling outside when we were about to leave. Since we still had time, we decided to go to the Dolphin Lagoon after that. The entrance to the Dolphin Lagoon had already been included in the admission fee for the Underwater World anyway. So we took a bus there.

Ethan was already hungry for milk by that time, and I was again deeply disappointed that there were NO breastfeeding facilities at the Underwater World OR at the Dolphin Lagoon. So upon reaching the Dolphin Lagoon, we walked a few hundred meters to the nearest restroom. Realizing it could be a challenge to breastfeed in the restroom, not to mention the issue of hygiene, I prayed so hard that there would be a conducive place for me to breastfeed him, and God again provided 🙂 The restroom was one that had an open area where there were four benches shaped to form a square with a roofed shelter. All I had to do was sit there and breastfeed him. And he fell asleep promptly. Poor lil guy – must have been tired out after looking at all the fishies…..

I then carried Ethan out to meet Pete, who was waiting for us on Palawan Beach. Palawan Beach is situated just beside the Dolphin Lagoon. We still had about half an hour before the Meet the Dolphins show was to start, so Pete and I decided to take a stroll to the Southernmost Point of Continental Asia. This is where I am a little confused…. so Singapore is considered part of the CONTINENT of Asia, even though it is an island? Eh? Anyway, benefit of the doubt…..

Well anyway, with Ethan still asleep, we carried him across a slightly rickety bridge to this southernmost point. The view was just amazing, and the swaying trees and windy breeze kinda reminded me a little about what Maldives was like. Ethan, unfortunately, missed all of this because he slept through it all.

Then, from our vantage point, we suddenly noticed that people were beginning to take their seats for the Dolphin show, so we made our way back to the Dolphin Lagoon. Our boy suddenly woke up as we were making our way back across the bridge… so he was wide awake and chomping happily on his cornflakes as we waited for the show to start.

Unfortunately, not much can be said about the Dolphin Show. Apart from the unique looking pink dolphins, the show was rather disappointing. Well, maybe I had my hopes way up too high, but in spite of that, Ethan sure enjoyed the show, as he was clapping away right on cue 🙂

After the show, we took the bus back to Beach Station where we boarded the monorail back to VivoCity. The monorail actually stops at a couple of other stations on Sentosa Island too, but we chose not to get down….although we almost got down when it stopped at the Merlion. Pete however managed to capture an awesome shot of the famous Singapore icon, all from inside the monorail. Nice eh?

So we had about 2 hours to kill before dinner – what to do? Shop, of course! The mall was VERY spacious and Ethan was VERY happy, not only because he got to run all over but also because yup…there were escalators everywhere! Mommy was very happy too, because she spotted Forever 21, which was WAY bigger than the branch at Wisma Atria. And as for Daddy? Well, I’m sure he had a lot of fun chasing Ethan around… heh.

In accordance with our plan, we had our dinner at Marché.

The baby chairs at Marché were a little different than the ones Ethan is accustomed to, but he adjusted well to it, thankfully. So while I went to order the food, Pete entertained Ethan while waiting for the food. During our Singapore trip, we noticed that Ethan has learnt how to cross his fingers, …check it out in the pictures below….. see it?

Marché’s food is freshly made upon ordering, and because Jazzmint had recommended some stuff which she had tried before, I decided to order some of those. We tried the mushroom soup, rosti, seafood paélla, crépè with Movenpick ice cream and the root beer. And let me tell you, the root beer was simply fantastic! We’ve never tasted root beer that good before…. Oh, and Pete also *discovered* the Swiss cross buns, which looked like the regular potato buns, but taste really soft and fresh. They went oh-so-well with the mushroom soup. And what did Ethan have? Why, a little of everything of course! Except the root beer la. His favorite was the mushroom soup, the paélla and the Swiss cross buns. Yeah, he’s a carbs kinda guy.

A dinner that was a fitting end to a spectacular day.

18th Month Visit to the Doc

August 6, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones, Parenting | 5 comments

Ethan turned 18 months (1.5 years old) last Tuesday (July 31st). And just how did we commemorate this occasion?

We took him for a visit to Dr Jessica’s.

Ethan was due for his JE jab and we had planned to share the dosage with Charlotte because the jab will only need half a vial of the vaccine. Unfortunately, even though both Ethan and Charlotte were there at the hospital, Charlotte was not feeling well, so Dr Jessica advised her against taking the jab. At first we wanted to go ahead with the JE for Ethan, but then Dr Jessica said we could take the Hib, Polio and DTaP jab instead, which was exactly what we did. This was the first booster dose. Ethan had his Polio vaccine via OPV, i.e. orally, which contains a live weakened strain of the virus and is supposedly more effective compared to the IPV method which contains the dead or inactive strain of the virus. As usual, as a precautionary measure, Ethan was given a dose of PCM, which he angrily protested to. When Dr Jessica finished giving him his jab, Ethan looked really angry, and didn’t even want to wave goodbye to the good doctor. When he came into her room, he was delighted with the array of wooden blocks and toys he could play with, but immediately after the jab, when we tried to pacify him with a wooden block, he angrily threw the block on the floor! What a temper our boy had!

Dr Jessica did comment that he was not gaining enough weight though. He now weighs in at 9.8kg, and gained only 300g from the previous visit when he was 14 months old. The doctor said he should have gained double that amount by this time. She attributes this to probably Ethan being a lot more active than normal, and she gave us the green light to feed him more.

Another concern was that he is still not able to communicate in actual words with us. According to Dr Jessica, Ethan ought to have known about 30-50 words by now, and although he is able to motion to us when he wants to go out (holds our hand, motions to us, runs to the door and puts his hand on the door), tell us what he wants (points to the raisin boxes when he wants to eat them), and say a few simple words like “Mommy” and “Deh-deh” and babble the rest of it, the reason he has a slight “language problem” could be because he is watching too much TV. TV is considered one-way communication, and the doc advised us to speak to him more (maybe each one speaks in one language only). Actually we are communicating with him, and I am trying to limit his TV intake to shows with two-way communication, like Baby Einstein DVDs, Little Einstein and The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Well, let’s pray his blabbering will result in actual words soon 🙂

We have another appointment in a month’s time. Let’s see what his progress is then.

Of course, the next day after the doc’s appointment, we went shopping at Queensbay Mall again 🙂 Here’s a look at our precious Ethan Boy: all of 1.5 years!

Encounter in the Wild (Singapore Day 2)

July 28, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones, Vacation | 12 comments

Our second day in Singapore promised tons of excitement because today was Zoo Day!! The Singapore Zoo is hailed to be one of the most beautiful zoos in the world, rivaling even the San Diego Zoo, which I didn’t get to visit the last time I was there. So we were all pretty hyped up about the adventure that awaited us.

After breakfast we walked to the Little India MRT station armed with a trusted map and some zoo brochures, and took the subway to the next stop: Dhoby Gaut. From there we got off and switched MRT lines and boarded the one headed towards Ang Mo Kio. The entire MRT journey took us a mere 20 minutes, but Ethan was restless and uncomfortable throughout. He was especially distressed when the subway went into the dark tunnels, and although only the exterior was dark and the interior of the MRT had lights on, he still continued crying. But as soon as the train hit sunshine, he perked up, open his big brown eyes, looked at us and said “ooooh…ohhh….oooo…eggya???” (whatever that means :p ). Well, we just nodded along to whatever he said … kekeke. Upon reaching the Ang Mo Kio MRT station, we took a bus direct to the zoo. The bus ride was approximately 30 minutes, and you guessed it, Ethan could not sit still either.

The Singapore Zoo is based on an open concept where the animals are not enclosed in cages but rather kept in spacious and beautifully landscaped enclosures. Of course the animal areas are separated from the visitors by either a fence, a moat or in some cases, glass. We only had to get two tickets because Ethan got to enjoy free admission into the zoo 🙂 In fact, throughout our Singapore trip, we didn’t need to pay any admission fee for Ethan at all. We only paid 10% for his flight ticket. And because we utilized our SIA Boarding Pass Priviliges, we also got the unlimited Zoo Tram Rides thrown in for free!

We were all immediately enthralled by the animals that we saw in the zoo.

There were flamingos, polar bears, kangaroos, giraffes, and of course, the orang utans.  And Ethan was fascinated with ALL of them.

We also managed to attend several shows that were held in the zoo. The first one we attended was the Wonders of The Wild Show in The Shaw Foundation Amphitheatre, where we got to see the very strong orang utan, a huge python and an *orang asli* wannabe showing off his hunting skills.

During the show Ethan demonstrated another one of his latest milestones: clapping along with people. Nowadays, whenever he sees someone, anyone, clapping, he will clap along, accompanying it with the widest grin ever, showing off his 8 teeth! Before we left for Singapore, he did it in church too and I have noticed that he also does it when he sees people clapping on the telly. So you betcha we had a good time!

I was a little bit worried that Ethan was not getting enough to eat, because he was still recovering from his sore throat at that time and when we had lunch at the Jungle Tandoor cafe (rice with butter chicken), he wasn’t very interested in the food too. Soon I could sense that Ethan was getting hungry and was craving for milk. I was all ready to breastfeed him and it was really the most sensible thing to do, instead of making up a feed of formula, since we were in the zoo and all! I went all over to look for a nursing room, but was sorely disappointed that there were NONE! For a zoo of this magnitude, not having a nursing room or area is definitely something to be frowned upon, especially since most visitors would spend the entire day there! So we tried to distract Ethan by going to see the polar bears, and a few meters after that, by the grace of God, we discovered a beautiful shed overlooking the sea. It wasn’t really secluded, but it was shady and cool and it would have to do for nursing.  God heard our call and pointed us to this spot.  So I breastfed Ethan then and there 🙂

Ethan fell asleep very soon after, and while carrying him, we rushed to Splash Safari Show.

 

Would you believe it, Ethan slept soundly throughout the entire performance?!

 

I had half expected him to suddenly rouse from his sleep and start clapping, but he was the perfect picture of an angel asleep. We took the tram for a short ride around the zoo and then visited the Australian animals with Ethan fast asleep still.

We then walked towards our next stop: The Elephants at Work and Play show.

By the way Ethan was still asleep when we got there but suddenly woke up, looking very rejuvenated indeed. He enjoyed the elephant show and although it started raining halfway through the show, our spirits were certainly not dampened one single bit. Nope, especially not Ethan’s because after the show, he began climbing up and down the stairs, oblivious to the pouring rain.

We left the area soon after and visited a few other spots (including taking the tram ride to the Animal Friends show),…..

 and wowed at the beautiful white tigers.

Soon it was time to bid a fond farewell to the zoo animals. 

 

We took our final shots with the camera, bought some souvenirs and then waited for the bus to arrive. Ethan was already very restless and looked very hungry. It was after all, already dinnertime then.  So when the bus finally arrived, Pete and I decided to have dinner at the bus station itself when we reached Ang Mo Kio. We had a quick dinner at the food court there and after dinner, we spotted the Yogurt Place.

There was a “Buy 1 Free 1” promotion going on, and we bought ourselves some yogurt, which all three of us enjoyed immensely.  I tell you, it was possibly the best yogurt I had ever tasted in my entire life!  And I am pretty sure Ethan agrees with me too! 

We took the MRT back to Little India and then it was back to the hotel. Ethan must have been very tired too, because that lil fella knocked out at 9:45p.m., after his shower, considerably early for his standards.

Our Adventure Begins (Singapore Day 1)

July 24, 2007 in Ethan, Milestones, Vacation | 13 comments

 

On the Sunday morning that we were to leave for Singapore, Ethan decided he wanted to sleep in.  This was very unlike him because he was normally an early riser.  I had arranged for the cab to pick us up at 8:45a.m. to go to the airport but Ethan was still asleep at 8:15a.m.!  So I had to *wake* him up by being rather *noisy* (which isn’t difficult for me.. heh).  It worked and he finally woke up.

Unfortunately, our poor boy had a sore throat and sounded like he was about to lose his voice :(.  He had quite a *sexy* voice though, hoarse and all, and no matter how I told him to just not *talk* so much and rest his voice, he kept blabbering onadnon in his own language.  I quickly got him showered and dressed but amid the rush, I accidentally hit his head on the door panel.  O-U-C-H!!!!! A MAJOR bump appeared almost immediately and he started bawling!  I had to put a cold compress to cool it down…thank goodness that worked.  Somewhat.  By that time the cab had already arrived, so we quickly rushed downstairs and headed for the airport. 

Checking in was a breeze and Ethan even had time to explore his surroundings while waiting to board the plane.  I wonder if he knew what an adventure he would be in for, because we were soon on our way to Singapore! 

 

We were allocated the front 2 seats and although there was a space for a bassinet to be put in front of the seats, there was no bassinet in sight….ah well….not that our boy would want to be confined in it anyways.  As expected, Ethan was VERY restless on the plane.  Before takeoff he was wandering along the aisle and checking out everything in sight: seat pockets, magazines, flight attendants….. 😛 

The plane was relatively empty, so we had the adjacent seat available too.  Ethan wasted no time in testing that out. 

 

SIA presented Ethan with a goodie bag with a Dora the Explorer toy, a bib and a couple of diapers… nothing he was impressed with, unfortunately.  I was given the child safety belt, which needed to be attached to the adult lap safety belt and then fastened onto Ethan with him on my lap.  Do you think it was easy to make him sit still?  Absolutely not!  So in the end, I had to breastfeed him during the takeoff and landing (which would help lessen the change in pressure in the child’s ears actually). Ethan must have been reading the guide to travelling by plane with a baby, because he immediately asked to be breastfed upon takeoff and landing!  Haha.

During the flight, Ethan was given the post-weaning meal, which surprisingly consisted of MORE food than an adult’s!  We adults only had a pizza roll and juice, but Ethan had 4 slices of sandwiches, a piece of cake, a fruit tart and a whole box of fresh milk!  He didn’t want any of it though, preferring instead to sip our apple juice.  The fresh milk went to my tummy because Ethan only took a couple of sips.

We arrived in Singapore and Ethan was immediately enthralled by the walkalators and escalators (no surprise).  After filling up the immigration forms we queued up in line, but since Ethan was restless and screaming, the very nice immigration officer ushered us over first.  Talk about priority for those with kids! Hehehe…..

We then collected our luggage and decided to have lunch in the airport.  Our original plan to go to Burger King did not materialize because Ethan was still having a sore throat and furthermore, a quick check in the Burger King outlet showed that there were no baby chairs in sight.  We decided to try a new restaurant instead:  The Soup Restaurant. 

 

Serving a Chinese meal of steamed rice, Samsui ginger chicken, fish and of course boiled old cucumber soup, the meal was absolute perfection!  Ethan too enjoyed it very much, judging by the way he kept asking for more.  He was even given his own plate and spoon!

After the scrumptious lunch, we took a cab to Perak Hotel in Little India, which was going to be our *home* for 5 nights.  I was very impressed that although our cab driver was not familiar with the location, he had a GPS system installed in the cab! Upon checking in, Ethan began checking out the room.  He immediately went over to the full length mirror and kissed his reflection in it!  How cute was that!  He was also very fascinated by the door of the washroom and kept wanting to close it for us.  Believe me, his fascination went on for the entire duration of our stay.  Hehehe…

Unfortunately, another mishap happened in the hotel room.  As Ethan was playing near the side table, his hand slipped and he fell, cutting his chin slightly on the edge of the table.  I was both horrified and mortified to see blood oozing out from his wound!  Quickly I took him to the sink to wash the blood off and yes, I admit it, I was in a state of panic and near-hysteria.  Thank goodness for Pete, who was the absolute picture of calmness, we managed to get the situation in control.  And thank goodness Ethan was all right.  After washing up, surprisingly he remained fearless and kept going back to the site of the *disaster* despite us telling him “NO!”… SIGH.

Anyhow, we rested for a bit and then walked to a nearby bus stop to take the bus to Suntec City Mall.  Pete and I were craving for Tony Roma’s Ribs and we knew there was a branch there. 

 

The last time we had Tony Roma’s was in the States and that was years ago.  We were eager to indulge ourselves yet again and it was on our agenda anyway.  And indulge ourselves we did.  Pete and I ordered the Appetizer Sampler (Fire Wings, Potato Skins and Mozzarella Sticks) and because we were undecided on the ribs, we also had the sampler, i.e. Tony Roma’s Star-Studded Sampler.  Yummylicious indeed!  The Star-Studded Sampler had the Original Baby Back Ribs, Carolina Honeys, Red Hots and Blue Ridge Smokies.  Of the four, the Baby Backs were the best and were absolutely to die for – they were every bit finger-licking and lip-smacking good! 

We were given a table that overlooked a beautiful koi pond, and that helped keep Ethan entertained. 

 

I ordered the Baked Potato Soup for Ethan and he ate it together with his favorite rice 🙂  The soup was a meal in itself, consisting of baked potatoes, Cheddar cheese, bacon and spring onions.  After he has had a mouthful of anything he likes, I taught him to say “Mmmmmmmm….”….and he does it with finesse!  I could tell he really enjoyed his dinner at Tony Roma’s. 

 

He was also given a piece of paper with crayons to practise and learn coloring….. never too young to start, eh?

In fact, the fun did not end at the dining table.  He even had a field time playing with the sensor-enabled paper dispenser in the washroom.

After dinner, Ethan demonstrated his latest milestone achieved: Waving buh-bye on cue.  All this while, he only waved buh-bye to the baby sitter, but now when we say “Buh-bye” he would wave voluntarily, throwing in a cute smile for good measure.  Sometimes we have to prod him to wave by waving along but ultimately he will still wave.  So he waved goodbye to the waitresses and we were on our way.

We window-shopped a bit and then headed back to the hotel.  Fortunately Pete managed to convey the message to the cab driver in his whatever broken Mandarin he could muster and soon we were snoozing away, dreaming about baby back ribs and the excitement the next day would bring.

Window Opening

July 13, 2007 in Ethan, Growing Up, Milestones | 1 comment

A couple of days ago, as we were fetching Ethan over to Mrs Tan the babysitter’s place in the morning, the car window on Ethan’s side suddenly moved down.  We turned to check how that happened, and realized that Ethan had accidentally pressed the “open window” button!  We already had the child lock in place all along but now since Ethan’s fingers (and sometimes toes) can reach the window button, we have to disable that too, knowing how inquisitive he can be!

Thanks goodness our car has that feature! 😀

Nutrition in a Jiffy

July 10, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, Milestones | 11 comments

Before we had a kid in the house, being well-stocked meant having at least 2 packets of instant noodles stashed away in the kitchen cupboard.  And when hunger struck, a “nutritious” meal of instant noodles can be prepared in the flash of an eye.  But now with Ethan around, I have to make sure the meals I prepare are nutritious, without the inverted commas 😛

Just like last Sunday, when we were coming home from Gurney Plaza, Ethan indicated that he was hungry by saying “mum mum”.  So when we reached home, I decided to whip up a quickie meal of noodles (sans preservatives) for a light tea snack.  I had some organic spinach noodles which I had bought some time back.  Now, giving Ethan spinach noodles is really killing 2 birds with one stone because he loves noodles and at the same time, he was getting his greens as well.  The meal was prepared in about 5 minutes and I was glad that our boy enjoyed it so much!  It was gratifying to see him slurp each strand of the noodle and then proclaim “Chiak Pa!!” (Hokkien for “I’m full!”)

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