Kid's Amaze @ SAFRA Toa Payoh

Kris first visit to an indoor playground was fantastic! She was jumping and yelling with excitement just watching other kids having fun from behind the glass panels. she kept pointing in as if urging us to bring her in this very second.

The infant play area (suitable for 0 till 36 months) is huge (about the size of a 5 room flat). The room is spacious and brightly lit. There are many different areas such as (1)  2 mini obstacles course for the kids to crawl / roll through mini tunnels, waves and various little humps (2) mini ball pool for kids to practice sitting (3)  huge plastic animals are plaster on the floor for the kids to climb or practice cruising on them (4) a huge tree house cum mini slide (5) many flip boards are also plaster on the walls.

The walls and floors are covered with foamy cushions thus not afraid that the little walkers or crawlers will fall and injure themselves. In the background, music float around the room. Parents can either lounge themselves on the long benches located on either side of the room or roll and dance with the kids around the room.

The moment we entered the playground, Kris wriggled out of my arms and slide down to grab the many brightly colored balls that were littered all around. She spent her time wandering around the room, grabbing and throwing the balls, crawling in and out of tunnels, sliding up and down the slides, flipping the various flip boards and interacting with other kids. She was filled with excitement, screaming and laughing as we rolled on the floor and slides with her. We literately have to drag her out of the facility after 90 minutes. We were exhausted but not Kris!

There is also a well equipped nursing room within Kids Amaze which is fantastic but there is only one arm chair for breastfeeding.  After her milk fix, Kris was soon snoring away smiling.

We will be back sweetie.

Clothings

There are so many choices in the market. I would say that we are spoilt with choices and sadly can't resist the temptation of buying new pieces despite having so many hand me downs from my sisters. 

However, our favorite pieces comes from the many unique dresses, shorts, tops that my sister Jo sews for Kris. They are so lovely that I hope that she will soon start sewing for me too. Kris looks absolutely adorable wearing these pieces. Thank you sister Jo.

Botanic Garden

Decided on a sun filled theme today, so we bought Kris to her first visit to the Botanic Garden.

Upon reaching the garden, she was bewildered by the number of tourists queuing up and snapping all kinds of candid shots with the man-made mini waterfall while her daddy was busy looking out for mini squirrels hopping from tree to tree. We stood there for a good 10 minutes. We proceeded to Halia Restaurant for our lunch, we were given an al fresco area, Kris sat there for a  good 1 hour eating her pumpkin + carrot + apple lunch pouch, munching star bites, bread and feasting on the surrounding crowd. Lunch was a good start!

We decided on a stroll down the symphony lake to burn all the calories. We were admiring at the turtles, fishes swimming in the lake. Children were busy feeding the turtles and fishes, while Kris was busying studying the expressions of the children. This is one of her favourite hobby.

15 minutes later, to our dismay we heard the thunder and felt the drizzle! Urghhh, here goes our excursion! We have to run back to the car while Kris was screaming at the sudden change of plans. We will come again, we assured her. Nothing seem to work except for the bribe of star bites. Kids!

K Birthday celebration

We went to New Majestic Hotel to celebrate my niece, K 2nd birthday. The hotel was an amazing sight located in Chinatown. The hotel lobby was beaming of heritage, design and color. The kids had so much fun with all the chic, odd shaped and brightly colored chairs and to add additional flavor, there is a colorful trishaw that totally caught our attention. We had an amazing time climbing in and out of the trishaw, taking photos and running around the spacious lobby.

The restaurant was located next to the lobby which makes it ultra easy for the kids to run around within the watchful eyes of grand parents and parents. The dishes were all nicely presented and tasted delicious expect that it's a tad salty. Next time, we need to ask the cook to go low on salt!

As Mid-Autumn festival is round the corner, the older folks were busying trying out it amazing line of moon cakes.

Happy Birthday K.

Totally having fun

Sound of Music

Bought Kris to her second trial at Kindermusik, she enjoyed herself tremendously listening to the powerful vocal of teacher S, dancing to the rhythm of the different tunes of songs, touching and playing with the different type of instruments such as shakers, drums etc and most important of all she fitted right into the session the moment we stepped in! 

She was cooperative with no hints of tantrum nor grouchiness throughout the 45 minutes. We were sold! This trial is a far cry from the first one we attended when she was 6 months. 

The session started off with a few of the usual activities: (1) Free play where the kids are given "roaming" time to interact and play with the loosely scattered colored stretch balls. After 5 minutes, the balls are quickly packed away. (2) Everyone will then be sited into a big circle and sing the “welcome” song, where each kid choose its own action style and sing to the tune. Kris absolutely adore this session, she was bouncing, clapping, laughing and staring at teacher S and her newly acquired friends. 

After which, the activities for the week started. This week, we handled egg shakers, drums, colorful pieces of cloth and sing and bounced to Chugga Chugga train and other songs.  I would range the involvement of parents to kid participation as 8: 2. 

The session ended with bubbles blowing which is one of the kids favorite activity. Kris was busy popping the bubbles and was screaming at the sight of freshly formed bubbles. One suggestion though, the studio should invest in an automatic bubble blower instead.

Verdict

The lesson was a cosy session with no more than 8 infants and the good thing is that both papa and mama are able to join. There are some places which only allow 1 parent participation.

Time passes too fast, lesson should be extended to 1 hour instead.

After the session, I didn’t feel as exhausted as I thought I would be.

Kris was still fully engaged after the session, still ready for more.  

We signed up for the village program which is designed for newborns to 18 months, however from my personal opinion registering the child earlier then 7-8 months is not beneficial as the kid crawling skills in not developed to roam around the classroom setting. They will instead rely more on parents during activity time, suckle on their fingers and toes, drool continuously and put everything in sight into their mouth, at least that is what happened to Kris during her first trial. 

Each term consist of 8 lessons and cost $345 + $68 for materials (which I felt is too pricy) + $38 for registration fee. The materials depending on the theme of the term consist of a musical instrument, a board book, flash cards and a CD-ROM consisting of all the songs that will be covered for the term. 

After we went back to the car, we played the CD. Kris absolutely love the music flowing in the background, she sat there quietly listening to the music. Yeah, no more screaming Kris I thought, but urghhh after 30 minutes, she started yelling and yes screaming Kris is back to terrorize us. 

Happy 49th Birthday, Singapore

First National Day

First oversea trip

For Kris first oversea trip, we didn't want to venture anywhere far for fear that we as first time dad and mum cant handle.

So, we decided on a 3D2N short stay at Turi Beach, Batam for a start.

I didn't know what to pack for a baby and so I packed all the needs, wants and "in case" items in our luggage and so that explain a 30KGs trolley luggage for 2 adults and 1 baby.

Lessons learnt from the trip

Check-in has to be immediately when you reach the resort as the baby needs to rest. We made the mistake of taking the earlier ferry thinking that we will have lunch and explore the resort when we reach. BIG MISTAKE. Kris was feeling sleepy, grouchy from the weather and to make matter worst, there are no baby care room in the resort and thus no diaper change. We zoomed right into our room after we got the keys, took a quick shower and Kris was snoring away so was papa.

30 mins later...

 

Bring at least 2 extra days of food, snacks, diapers and clothes for the little one.

Bring some snacks, instant noodles, books, magazines for yourself. The little one might decide to call off the night at 6pm. Room service can be a bore at times.

Bring familiar toys and board books to keep the little one occupied.

Prepare a mini first aid kit for minor cuts and bruises. I suffered a splinter on my toe and couldn't find any first aid kit thus had to request for a mini sewing kit to help extract the splinter.

Bring your own water supply for the little one if you are afraid. I'm not sure whether the tap water sanitation is suitable nor the regular distilled water and so to play safe, we decide to lug over enough water for the little one.  


 

Welcome!

Has been in a dilemma whether to create a blog to document the growing up of chipmunks for a long while. 

So here I am creating my first virgin blog to share/document our roller coaster ride, journey as a parent, play date and friend to them.