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Little Miracles · Our Blessings from God…
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A Nightmarish Weekend

August 13, 2007 in Breastfeeding, Ethan, Food & Feeding, Growing Up, Parenting | 11 comments

All I can say is that we made the right decision to postpone our trip to KL last weekend.  SIGH.

Last Thursday night, Ethan developed a fever, so we gave him a dose of the Paracetamol suppository.  He was also coughing with traces of phlegm.  The next morning, he still had a fever, so I gave him another dose.  His body was slightly warm when we left him at the baby sitter’s though.  We told Mrs Tan that we would come by to see how he was doing during lunch.

When we got there, I took his temperature and it read 37.8°C!  So we told Mrs Tan to give him the suppository and that we would come and take him home at around 4:00-ish.  When we arrived at 4:30p.m., Ethan’s body felt really hot, and although I was already panicking on the inside, I tried not to let it show.

5:30p.m. I took his temperature and it was a horrifying 39.4°C!  Since we had already run out of the PCM suppository, we had to force a dose of the oral PCM down his throat.  I breastfed him and could only pray that the fever would subside soon.  Dr Jessica’s night clinic would only be open at 7:00p.m. so we had to wait till then.

At GMC, Ethan’s temperature had subsided somewhat, although when the nurse took his temperature, it still read a relatively high 38.9°C.  Despite nursing a fever however, Ethan was still very interested in the escalators at the hospital.

The diagnosis?  Ethan has an infection in his throat and left ear, Dr Jessica said.  When she inspected, his left ear and throat were red, but thank goodness there were no white spots in the throat yet (white spots meant trouble, I had read somewhere).  The initial throat infection probably had spread to the ear.  Besides the infection, he was also suffering from a runny nose and of course, was coughing too.  He was prescribed Paracetamol (for fever), Rhinathiol (for cough), Polaramine (for flu), Azithromycin (antibiotics) and Iliadin (nasal drops).  All familiar names to me by now, because Ethan had been on the same range before.

We went to Old Town for dinner where I was very thankful that Ethan took a bit of the koay-teow.  We took him back home, and practically had to force the medicine down.  His fever was also monitored closely.  That night proved to be a highly trying night for us.  I had to give him the PCM suppository every 4 hours because throughout the night, his body temperature hovered around the 39.2°C mark.  It was a sleepless night for all three of us.  Ethan decided he wanted to wake up in the middle of the night to watch Baby Einstein and walk around the house, I had to wake up with him, and Pete, being a light sleeper, could not get any sleep as well.  Ethan finally went to sleep but was still rather feverish in the morning.

Saturday morning, I reported to Dr Jessica that his fever was still on the high side, and she assured me that it would take about a day or two for the antibiotics to react.  Thankfully, Ethan’s fever subsided throughout the day.  Pete and I also decided that we should see our doctor to get some medicine ourselves since we were both also sick, with somewhat similar symptoms.  We then had Japanese food for lunch.  Japanese food is always our *comfort* food whenever any one of us is sick.  And since all three of us were feeling under the weather, the choice was obvious.

Sakae Sushi provided us with a booster chair instead of a high chair, and that was really good because then, the chair would not block the pathway.  Ethan enjoyed his chawan mushi and rice, as usual.  And we were glad that he was eating, at least.

After lunch, Ethan fell asleep and when he woke up, he seemed very listless and rather pale.  He rejected my breast and would not even drink any water, instead preferring to walk around aimlessly.  When we offered him his favorite Yakult yogurt drink and his Calci-yum yogurt, he angrily rejected them too!  I even tried mixing a feed of formula for him, but this was met with just plain disgust.  I offered my breast again and again, but again and again he made a face and pushed me away.  This was very unlike him and very odd indeed, as he has NEVER EVER rejected my breast before.  “Could this be the start of him being weaned from my breast?” I thought to myself.

Come dinner time, he didn’t even want a single strand of the spinach noodles I had prepared for him.  We managed to get him to drink a few sips of water and he did nibble on a few grains of Rice Crispies and raisins, but that was all. 

Then it was time for his medicine.  Pete would usually give him the antibiotics first, followed by Rhinathiol and then Polaramine.  This time, after his force-feeding of the Rhinathiol, as I was carrying him away, he suddenly threw up on the floor!  There was very little vomit only though, because our boy had hardly eaten anything since 3p.m.  And that was the first time he threw up ever 🙁   We finally managed to feed him the medicine and gave him a shower after that, although he was very upset.  Our boy was very sleepy by then, and he also looked very tired and weak, because he had not eaten or drunk anything much.  After his shower, he fell asleep immediately.  No comfort suckling at the breast, I just put him in his cot and he was out like a light.

Then at about 3:30a.m. Ethan woke me up.  I took him to the kitchen to get some water because I could tell he was thirsty, and he vomited again!  I cleaned up the kitchen floor, and gave him a few sips of water (he was still not interested in breast-milk at that time).  He fell asleep after that, but woke up about half an hour later and threw up again on our bed and on me…..   🙁  It was extremely worrying as I knew he was probably dehydrated, but there was nothing we could do… we could only let him sleep.

The next morning (Sunday), when he woke up before 8:00a.m., I tried to breastfeed him again, and I was so overjoyed that he FINALLY drank the milk.  I could tell that he was VERY hungry then and was craving for it so badly.  My heart ached to see him suffering the night before when he rejected the breast.  It was as if he knew he had to refrain from drinking breast milk because  *knew* that if he did, he was going to throw up. 

He fell asleep again after his feed and only woke up after 10a.m.  His appetite seemed to have returned somewhat, although he would only take breast-milk for breakfast and lunch, and throughout the day.  But at dinnertime, he took some koay-teow too!

After dinner, and after his medicine was administered, he again rejected the breast.  And he again fell asleep without being breastfed.  Even more worrying, his temperature shot up again to 38.5ºC!  I gave him the PCM suppository and monitored his temperature through the night, as usual.

Pete and I took the day off today to take Ethan to see Dr Jessica again.  His temperature was going up and down like a yoyo and that was not something we were comfortable with.  Dr Jessica checked his throat and said the infection had cleared up.  However, both his ears were infected now.  So she prescribed another round of antibiotics (a different one, this time: Zinnat), which we were to administer 5ml twice a day for 5 days! I almost fainted… We decided to have Ethan take the antibiotics jab first in GMC, so we could start the *torture session* only tomorrow.  His fever had returned too, so we had to give him a PCM suppository in the hospital as well.  We were instructed to bring Ethan in for a follow-up check after the 5-day-antibiotics-dosage had been completed.

After the Zinnat jab and PCM suppository, we were told to wait for an hour to see if there were any adverse reactions before we were allowed to leave the hospital.  Good thing there was a playroom at the pediatric ward with a Little Tikes house to keep Ethan busy… of course, to add to the drama, our boy chose to poop then and there too, so we had to clean him up.

So….we’re back home now, and Ethan is finally asleep.  This whole experience has reinforced in us that it’s really tough being a parent.  It comes with its ups and downs, I guess.  I pray that God will bless Ethan and grant him the strength to fight against his illness and that he will recover soon.  Get well my darling boy.  I can’t wait to see you back to your cheerful, cheeky self again!

A Baby Einstein in the Making?

August 10, 2007 in Entertainment, Ethan, Growing Up | 6 comments

Just about a month ago, I reintroduced Baby Einstein to Ethan. I had played the DVDs for him before when he was a few months old, but all he was interested in then was the caterpillar that appeared on the screen before the show began. So last month when Charlotte‘s mummy came back from the States, I saw the opportunity it presented and asked her to get me one of the Baby Einstein DVDs. I got Baby Van Gogh, which was all about colors.

When I put the DVD on for Ethan, once again he was attracted to the caterpillar, and giggled as if in recognition. And when the show began, I could tell he was completely mesmerized by the vivid colors and beautiful music. He would sit down (or sometimes stand) transfixed, watching the program. The show lasted a good 30 minutes and I was amazed that he managed to sit through most of it.

Last Friday, I brought the Baby Van Gogh DVD to share with the rest of my Mommy friends in exchange for another one, and ended up with Baby Einstein Numbers Nursery and a Baby Neptune VCD. It turns out Ethan simply LURVES both of these! He especially likes the part where there are kids being shown, and even laughs out loud when the kids are pictured in close-up! Nowadays, in the mornings before we leave for work and when we get home after work, Ethan would point and gesture to the Baby Einstein DVDs and ask us to play it for him. We used to put the DVDs on the TV cabinet, within his reach, but since he began *helping* himself to it, we moved the DVDs up to our wall shelf. Still, amazingly, he knows where it is, and motions for us to get it for him.

Yesterday, even though he was feeling slightly under the weather, even though he was coughing and had a slight fever, he still requested to watch Baby Einstein. Over and over and over again. And you know what? I think the music in that DVD will play in my head for a long, long time.

I’m getting more Baby Einstein DVDs soon 🙂

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.

All Boxed Up

August 7, 2007 in Ethan, Funny Moments | 4 comments

We recently bought two boxes to put Ethan’s toys in. Although these are made of cloth, they were hard enough to stand upright and sturdy enough to hold all his toys in. This made for a neater living room and was the ideal solution for his ever-growing number of toys.

Or so we thought.

Just last week, Ethan discovered that it was fun to hop right into the box and sit with his toys. And if that ain’t enough, he would then transfer the toys in the box he was sitting in into the other box or onto the floor. The result of his experiment is that the boxes are slowly losing shape.

Sometimes Ethan would request for help into getting into these boxes. He would reach out his hand to me asking me to provide support, while he climbs into and out of the box. So how now? Should we get another box for his toys? SIGH.

Looting at Baby Gap

August 6, 2007 in Ethan, Shopping | 4 comments

Aren’t these adorable? Baby Gap is currently having its biggest sale ever, and during the past weekend, HSBC credit card members got an additional 10% off everything that was already on offer. I got this matching pair of collared t-shirts and socks for Ethan. They are a little big for him right now (I bought the 2-year-old sizes), but I’ll keep them till he is ready. Ethan looks really good and so grown up in collared t-shirts, that I couldn’t resist getting these for him. Of course, there’s something about stripes too! 😀

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!

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! 🙂

A-Splishing and A-Splashing

July 31, 2007 in Ethan, Exercise | 7 comments

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…

It’s All about the Salmon

July 31, 2007 in Ethan, Food & Feeding, What's Cooking | 8 comments

Ethan has salmon for his meals almost every week.  If I can help it, that is.  Apart from the DHA goodness, fish is certainly good stuff for growing kids, what more salmon!  Of course, he will still get some pork and/or chicken with his meals at the baby sitter’s, so the salmon is just the icing on top of the cake, figuratively speaking.  He gets his salmon steamed…. psst… I have yet to train him to take it raw a la sashimi style, but that will come later. Kekeke….

So during weekends, we would usually go to Jaya Jusco in Queensbay Mall to do our grocery shopping, getting the salmon and the vegetables for Ethan at the same time.  I hadn’t realized how obvious it was that we were getting salmon week in and week out, until last Sunday when I arrived at the fish section in Jusco and the fish guy said, “Hah…Salmon.  Ini tiap-tiap hari beli salmon.”  I corrected him and said it was “tiap-tiap minggu” 😛

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.

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