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Buhbye Lion City! (Singapore Day 6 – Final Day)

August 25, 2007 in Ethan, Vacation | 2 comments

It was time to bid farewell to Singapore and our vacation. After all the adventure and fun we had, we were looking forward to head on home, but yet a little bit sad the vacation had come to an end.

I woke up feeling way much better than I did the day before. The nausea and fever had gone and I was definitely much more energized…but not as energized as Ethan. Hah.

We went downstairs for our usual routine breakfast at the hotel and then hurried back up to our room to pack. We then checked out, left our luggage with the front desk and went for a little walking tour around Little India. It would have been embarrassing had we not at least walk a little around the vicinity when we had stayed in Little India for the past 5 nights! And it was a good thing we had that walking exercise too because we managed to catch a glimpse of the famous Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, Little India’s oldest and busiest temple.

All in all, we walked quite a fair bit and ended up in Mustafa Centre, the famous 24-hour shopping mall, which sells everything from watches, DVDs and handbags to clothes and foodstuff. It was not a very conducive place to bring Ethan to, unfortunately, because the mall was jam-packed with visitors and also, the aisles were so narrow! There was simply no place for Ethan to roam and run around as he wished.

We were already running a little late by then, so we decided to take a cab from Mustafa Centre back to Perak Hotel, instead of walking all the way again. We loaded the cab with our luggage and went straight to Changi airport. After checking in and obtaining our boarding passes, we had lunch at the Soup Restaurant again, starting and ending our vacation on the same note.

And what would a visit to Singapore be without stopping by Bengawan Solo and getting some goodies there? After all, I was craving for the pineapple tarts!  While I was busy choosing and (not) salivating over the cookies and layer cake in Bengawan Solo, Ethan kept Daddy busy by requesting to go up and down the escalators nearby.  He was also very much the shopper as he roamed the surrounding area, in search of a good bargain, maybe?

We finally entered the departure terminal with very little time to spare before we boarded our plane. I quickly looked for the nursing room and breastfed Ethan for a bit. Then Ethan had some time to explore the terminal before we went to the departure gate. There is this fantastic floor game with lights that allowed kids to kick an imaginary ball on the ground. The *ball* would react to the kids’ kicking action. And that kept Ethan fascinated.

Hehe….Mommy rushed to Nuance Watson to get this:

It was all done in super-duper quick time because I already knew what I wanted.

Then we practically ran all the way to our departure gate, which, following Murphy’s Law, HAD to be at the very end of the terminal! The status was already showing as “Gate Closing” and it was really an adrenaline rush for all of us, similar to that experienced by contestants on The Amazing Race, I would think.

Upon boarding the plane, Ethan played around for a while but fell asleep in my arms shortly before the plane took off. He slept right through the entire flight, not even waking up for his meal. The very kind flight attendant, who was introduced to Ethan, took the trouble to provide us with a bag to tar-pow his meal back home.

We took a cab from the Penang International Airport back to our home sweet home. And we could tell that not only Pete and I missed our home, Ethan did too…. he giggled with glee when we entered our apartment lift. Home at last! 😀

Shopping Shortened (Singapore Day 5)

August 20, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Growing Up, Vacation | 4 comments

With 4 days well spent in Singapore, there was only one thing left to do on the fifth day of our vacation.  Yup, you guessed right… S-H-O-P-P-I-N-G!!!

We didn’t have much time to shop to our hearts’ content in VivoCity the day before (or rather, Mommy didn’t have enough time), so we decided to spend our day there again.  We were very much the experts at boarding the MRT now, and VivoCity was an excellent choice because the subway from Little India would take us directly to Harbourfront, where VivoCity is.  By this time, Ethan was really getting the hang of riding in the MRT 🙂

We reached VivoCity before lunch but unfortunately after a little bit of shopping, I started feeling a little uneasy and unwell.  I thought it was because I was feeling hungry, so we decided to have lunch, ending up in Marché again.  Yes, yes, it was THAT good that we simply could not get enough of it  😛  Too bad, my nausea got worse during lunch and I couldn’t eat much, although I know Pete ordered so many many yummy items.  SIGH.  In the end, Daddy had to finish most of it, and Mommy has to be content with well….just these photos…..on the bright side, the blogger in me was satisfied because I managed to take a picture of the glorious Swiss cross buns!

Ethan was getting hungry and fidgety too, so after lunch we took him to the nursing room and I breastfed him till he slept.  Pete and I then decided to call it a day, seeing that I was feeling queasy already.  I carried the sleeping Ethan and we headed towards the MRT station.  However, before we could even walk out of the mall, my stomach decided to do a major churn and I threw up all over the nicely polished VivoCity floor.  Of course, before the throwing up incident, I managed to call out frantically to Pete and pass Ethan to him!  Thankfully there was a cleaner just nearby and he proceeded to quickly clean up the mess I made.  I hurried to the washroom as fast as I could.

After cleaning up, we made our way back to our hotel, where we all fell asleep the whole afternoon.  I could only pray that Pete and Ethan were not affected by whatever virus or bacteria that had chose to attack me.  I awoke with a fever of 38.1°C, and took two Panadol tablets, slept for a little while longer and then mustered up whatever strength I had to go for dinner.  Our plan was to go to Tony Roma’s in Suntec City for dinner again, but we had to kiss that plan goodbye because I was just too weak.  In the end, we walked to the nearby Foodmore foodcourt, a stone’s throw away from our hotel and had pan mee for dinner.  There was no baby chair available, so Ethan had to sit on two stacked chairs. 


Scrap Elements from Anita’s Designs

It must have been the excellent company I had for dinner, because I definitely felt better after that.  Isn’t it apparent from the picture above?  After dinner, all I could do was to breastfeed Ethan so that he would get all the antibodies to prevent him from succumbing to the illness I had.

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.

The Orchard Experience (Singapore Day 3)

August 1, 2007 in Ethan, Shopping, Vacation | 8 comments

The third day of our Singapore trip itinerary was initially planned as a half-day shopping experience in Orchard Road followed by a visit to the Singapore Night Safari at night.  However, because we were tired out after our zoo adventure, we decided to forgo the Night Safari for now, because of the distance we had to travel and also because of …. ahem…. slight fatigue. 😛  Well actually the main reason was because we felt our Ethan Boy would be uncomfortable travelling that long distance at night, especially since we anticipated that we would leave the night safari at about 11pm, at the very earliest.

So Day 3 was to be a *rather* relaxing day for us.  Or so we thought….

After breakfast, we took the MRT to the Orchard Rd station.  Ethan was beginning to get used to the MRT now and was not as fidgety as before.  In Singapore, we were offered seats on the MRT almost immediately upon entering the subway because we had Ethan along.  And I was very impressed by this.  Ethan however preferred to be carried by Pete while standing.  Here he is, *in action*…

It only took us less than 20 minutes to arrive in Orchard Rd despite having to switch MRT lines at Dhoby Gaut.  We walked around Wisma Atria for a while before meeting Aunty Susan and Uncle Edward there.  It had been a while since they had seen Ethan and so they were amazed at how much he had grown.  They brought us to Newton Food Center where we tarpowed lunch consisting of Singapore Laksa, Duck Rice and a supposedly popular Singaporean dessert called tau-swan. 

 

I later learnt that tau-swan is made from the green beans used to make ang-koo, and is cooked in sweet syrup and served with ewe-char-koay.  Oh yes, it is as yummy as it sounds.  We had our packed lunch at Uncle Edward’s son’s house, where we got to say hi to Christina and her 6-month-old son Lucas.  I didn’t manage to take any photos because I was so hungry!

Well, Ethan made himself comfy in Christina’s house almost immediately.  He had fallen asleep when we arrived so I put him in a toddler chair, which was something like the one he had.  And when he woke up and had had lunch, he discovered that there were many similar toys in the house that he was accustomed to.  Of course he had to climb the stairs as well – how could he miss that!

Uncle Edward then dropped us off at Paragon Shopping Mall in Orchard Rd after lunch, where we hung out and walked around, navigating the surrounding malls, like Tangs and Takashimaya.  It was hard work with Ethan insisting every now and then that he wanted a ride on the escalators or just to roam around, but thankfully we managed!

I had a chance to check out the breastfeeding facilities too.  The nursing room in Paragon was okay, but was nothing compared to the one in Takashimaya.  In Takashimaya, the nursing room consisted of 7-8 changing stations, 2 high chairs for feeding, hot water, a sink and a separate breastfeeding room where men were strictly NOT allowed.  Of course, there was a comfortable waiting couch prepared for the daddies too 🙂

Finally it was time for dinner and we settled on a cosy restaurant in the Food Cellar in Paragon called My Mum’s Cuisine, which served tasty food that tasted like homecooked food.  We ordered Assam Fish (Siakap fish deep fried and delectably prepared with tamarind sauce), Oyster Omelette and Spinach with Mushrooms. 

 

And Ethan enjoyed every bit of it.  Yup, amazingly, even the sourish tasting fish.  In fact, I think he finished about half a bowl of rice that night!

On the way back to the MRT we stumbled on a beautiful aquarium in Wisma Atria.  Ethan got all excited again and looked eagerly at the fishies swimming around.  Boy was he gonna love the Underwaterworld!  Maybe this could serve as a preview for the adventure the following day? *wink*

So our shopping day in Orchard ended on a definite high.  We didn’t shop till we dropped, but we certainly had tons of fun!  And oh by the way, Mommy also managed to squeeze in a quick purchase at Forever 21, just in the nick of time! 🙂

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.

Home Sweet Home

July 20, 2007 in Ethan, Vacation | 3 comments

We’re home from our Singapore vacation 🙂  And the first thing Ethan did when he stepped into the lift on the way up to our apartment was to giggle joyfully.  Methinks he knows he’s finally back home 🙂

He immediately checked on his toys and when the TV was turned on, he laughed in glee as he watch Little Einsteins, and even clapped along and smiled.  Did he miss home? I would think so!

Watch this space for the lowdown on the exciting and amazing adventure we had in Singapore! 

Land of the Leng Luis

June 2, 2007 in Ethan, Vacation | 1 comment

We made a short trip back to my hometown in Ipoh yesterday to attend Pete’s cousin Tee Bin’s wedding.  We left Penang late Friday afternoon and arrived around dinnertime in Ipoh, just in time for the lao-thiar-meh (Chinese version of the stag night).    Unfortunately, no sooner had we stepped into the porch area where the buffet spread was, Ethan wailed as if in agony!  Amid sobs and sniffles, he clung on to either Pete or me tightly, and we had to take turns having our dinner.  This was extremely strange behaviour for Ethan, as he has always been exposed to huge crowds in the malls, and in church and had no problems being happy and totally at home in crowded areas.  In the end, we had to pacify him by taking him up and down the stairs, and taking him for walks around the swimming pool.  Thank goodness SIL Aunty Pauline was around, and since Ethan has an affinity towards her, Pete and I could finish our dinner (somewhat) in peace.

The next morning during the tea ceremony, Ethan received his first tea ceremony ang pow ever!  Because he was still petrified of the crowd and the loud voices, I had to carry him to collect the ang pow.  We then adjourned to the wedding lunch reception at Hillcity Hotel, where our boy was extremely active (we’re not surprised).  It certainly looked like he had already warmed up to the crowd and was enjoying every second of his exploratory adventure.  Many friends and relatives were thrilled to see him pacing around the hall, but had a hard time trying to carry him!  A relative mistakenly thought his name was “Ivan”, and even called out to him using that name!  Ethan’s primary interest however, was in the fish in the aquarium, which kept him occupied for quite some time.

Pete noticed that Ethan now has a variety of facial expressions and emotions, which he is using in full force.  Here are some rare shots which the camera managed to capture during our trip:

 Congratulations to Uncle Tee Bin and Aunt Wei F’rn!

Trip to Ipoh and Taiping

May 3, 2007 in Ethan, Vacation | 6 comments

Last weekend, we made a trip to our hometowns on Ipoh and Taiping.  It has been quite some time since we went back (I think the last time was CNY), so since there was a long holiday and all, we decided to go first to Ipoh on Saturday and then to Taiping on Sunday.  We had planned on packing on Friday night and leaving as early as possible on Saturday, but Ethan apparently had other plans in store for us.  On Friday night, he decided that he wanted to stay up as late as possible, hence making it impossible for us to pack.  In the end, we had to do everything on Saturday morning itself; we had our dim sum brunch and were on our way about half past noon.  We arrived in Ipoh at about 2:30p.m. and it didn’t take long for Ethan to get acquainted to his Ah Ma and Ah Kong, and of course, the house… see how much at home he is?

There is toy in Ipoh that fascinates Ethan so.  It is actually a dustbin, but Ah Ma bought it not to be a dustbin, but more so to entertain Ethan.  It’s amazing what normal every day things can do to kids, huh?

 

After dinner on Saturday night, Ah Ma and Ah Kong took Ethan across the road to Kinta City for about half an hour, to have a field time at the escalators.  Yes, Ethan is still very much in awe of escalators and we can really feel the force towards the escalators every time we go to the mall.

On Sunday morning, we went to the famous Nam Heong coffee shop in Leech Street, Old Town to have brunch.  This is the shop where the famous white coffee originated from.  Ethan could not take coffee, at least not yet, so he had to make do with the roti bakar.  Yummy yummy…. see how he checked to see what it is before he puts it in his mouth?  Definitely traits of a discerning food connoiseur….

Before leaving Ipoh, Ethan had some fun at home, playing with Ah Ma and Ah Kong, while Mommy and Daddy packed up.

Ethan did not sleep at all in the car from Ipoh to Taiping.  He was busy checking out the surroundings and what he could see from the car window.  And when we reached Taiping, it didn’t take long for him to find his playmate – a punch-n-bounceback toy!  It was a toy which Aunty Pauline had bought and although it is rather heavy for a kid, our boy can easily put his arms around it and lift it up!

Too bad the mosquitoes in Taiping got a little too close for comfort and gave Ethan 2 little *presents* as soon as he arrived.  But Ethan was still his jolly good self, and since Ethan boy had so much energy, we decided to take a drive to the Taiping Lake Garden in the evening.  Would you believe he actually fell asleep in the car on the way there?  We woke him up nevertheless upon arrival and he immediately wanted to walk around on his own.  No, actually he wanted to walk TOWARDS the lake.  It was dangerous, so most of the time, we had to carry him.


We reached home on Monday evening, tired and missing Penang.  Ethan of course went around our house checking that everything was still there 😛

Actually I had planned on introducing formula to Ethan on May 1st but unfortunately Daddy fell sick, so I had to put my plans on hold, as breastfeeding would give Ethan the necessary antibodies to combat Daddy’s flu.

Weekend in Damansara

April 17, 2007 in Ethan, Shopping, Vacation | 3 comments

Last weekend, Pete and I decided to make a trip to KL at the very last minute.  We had the hotel booking done in a jiffy, most of our packing done on Friday night and believe it or not, we were on our way at 10:00a.m. on Saturday morning.  That’s not bad, considering we had to give Ethan his bath and feed him first before we left.

Ethan fell asleep shortly after leaving the Juru toll booth and slept for about 2 hours straight!  After we passed Ipoh, our tummies were already rumbling, so we decided to make a stop in Bidor for the famous Pun Chun wan ton mee.  I ordered char siew pau for Ethan while Pete and I ate the (very expensive and overpriced) wan ton mee (RM4.50 per plate!) Ethan of course enjoyed his char siew pau a lot and so we left Bidor shortly after.

We arrived in Mutiara Damansara and checked into the Royale Bintang at about 3p.m.  Ethan was enjoying the new environment tremendously and was walking around, no holds barred, much to our amusement.  He was still VERY active when we reached our room and was opening all the cabinets and even checking out the washroom, while waiting for the housekeeping folks to bring the baby cot in. 

So… after a LOOOOOooooooOOOOOOng while of playing around the room, I finally was able to breastfeed Ethan, and he was knocked out almost instantly.  It began to rain too, so all three of us had a much-deserved afternoon nap.

We were only awakened by a phone call from SIL who wanted to make plans to meet up for dinner.  Pete and I quickly got ready and freshened up right before our boy woke up, stretched and gave us a tired but adorable grin, that could only mean “I’ve slept enough…now bring on the adventure!”  We went to the hotel lobby to have our welcome fruit punch (which was quite good, really!) and then hopped over to Mothercare for some…urrmmm….light shopping.  Ethan was the total picture of happiness as he smiled happily when he saw the many many escalators at The Curve.

We had a lavish dinner at Italiannies, an astounding Italian restaurant at The Curve.  I shared some of my Classic Fettucine Carbonara with Ethan, who really enjoyed the pasta to bits.

 

Us adults stuffed ourselves silly with all the fattenning delicious Italian food, including meatball spaghetti, deep-fried calamari and grilled salmon. 

And if that wasn’t enough we had dessert at New Zealand Ice Cream.  I ordered the yogurt sundae which was fat-free and sugar-free (somewhat).  I gave a few spoonfuls to Ethan (it was his first taste of ice cream) and strangely enough, he showed a really sour face!  That being said, he kept coming back for more…

The next morning, we had our buffet breakfast at the hotel and then went to Ikano Power Center for some quick look-see and shopping. 

We went back to the hotel, gave Ethan his bath, then met SIL for lunch and then we were on our way back to Penang.  Ethan slept for about 2 hours again on the way back.  We are so very proud of him for behaving himself all through the journey.  Travelling with Ethan is much easier now that he is bigger, since he can take almost everything we eat.  Also, giving him a bath is a breeze since he can just stand in the shower stall and allow us to shower him down!

This means we can plan more trips outstation from now on 🙂

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