My 20 month old Toddler

THEN.....and NOW.

Much has happened these past 20 months. Miss K has grown so much, not only physically (she is at the 95th percentile of height and weight) but also in other aspects such as speech and gross motor skills.

When I look back at her baby photos, I sometimes wish that she will not grow up so fast....but on the contrary, she is at this age where she has just discovered her independence, so much so that mummy is no longer needed when it comes to:

Putting on (and taking off) shoes
- mummy just need to say "go put your shoes on" and she does it to perfection. Recently am impressed that she could buckle her own shoe!

Feeding herself
- mummy can enjoy her meals while she feeds herself

Washing hands
- well trained from childcare, she washes her hands, (with mummy's and "the stool's" help) before meals

Sitting on sofa watching her favourite show
- mummy does not need to worry about her climbing up and down the sofa as she has mastered the skills of climbing

Rationalising
- Miss K can now understand and is able to reciprocate, thus, reducing mummy's frustration :)

For the past week, she has been obsessed with writing and drawing, and would always have a pen and a piece of paper in her hand.

Drawing lines -check!
Drawing circles -check!


I do not always follow the milestones at babycentre.com, but I just so happen to visit the site and the correlation is uncanny! If you have a 20 month old toddler, take a look at this site.

Welcome note

A special hello to my Buzzy Readers,

A very warm welcome from Miss K.

 

Easter Baking Fun

I hope everyone had a great Easter 2011!

Miss K had her first baking 'experiment' today. As I was clearing my food cabinet 2 days ago, I discovered an unopened tin of Nestum (amongst other things which I had no idea existed in that cupboard!), I had no idea what to do with it, so I decided to make some Nestum cookie.

Well, off I went to google for a nestum cookie recipe, dig for my blender and baking stuff which I have not touched since I last made Miss K's first birthday cupcakes, and excitedly told the hubby and the little one about it.

We had a great time in the kitchen, a little messy, but it was fun. I think the little one enjoyed it too!

The cookies were not as crispy as I thought it would be, but the little one loved it!

Our first project in the kitchen....I hope there will be many more to come.

Flying with Emirates

I have to say Emirates has very good service on board and also throughout check-in and transit. At least, the quality of their service on board the economy cabin which we were in was much much better than Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa (the only 2 airlines which I have flown long distance with a infant/toddler in tow).

My only grouse was, although the little one is below 2 years old and therefore do not need to purchase her own seat, she was too heavy for the bassinet which had a max weight of 11kgs!

We were very fortunate to have empty seats on our SIN-DBX and DBX-JFK route, so Miss K had a seat all to herself. That allowed her to sleep pretty well on both legs of the flight.

On our way back, we had a full flight for both legs, so, we had a really horrible time trying to make ourselves and our little one who has to  (and sleep) on our lap comfortable throughout the whole duration of the flight.

Dubai airport is neat. They have these free Maclaren stroller for toddlers 3 years and below. You will see it at soon as you walk from the aerobridge into the terminal. Very convenient for transit passengers like us.

They also have a transit lounge were passengers on transit (at least in Terminal 1) can sit and have some food and drinks (free of charge) and surf the net (free of charge too). One just has to show their boarding pass.

The range of toys and enterntainment materials for children on board the flight were also more varied. They had bagpacks, colouring and activity booklets, colouring pencils and these hand puppets:

Our collection of the little Emirate "friends".

We were hoping for a cow to complete the collection!

The air stewardess were also going around taking polaroid photos of the kids on board. We had one made into a little booklet (which I have no clue where it is right now, the hubs might have lost it!) and this one which was made into a photoframe.

All in all, very good service with a smile, two thumbs up for Emirates. My airline of choice for now.

My Todd and I in Manhattan

Although Manhattan is not the most child friendly place on earth, Miss K and I managed to fit in some sightseeing, some fun activities and of course not forgetting the many food stops for quesadillas and pizzas along the way.

Central Park was our No.1 spot. We love the lush environment, the cherry blossoms in full bloom, the different breed of doggies taking their walk in the park and of course the ducks and squirrels who made the park their home.

Cherry Blossoms in full bloom.

I stumbled upon this nice park for toddlers at West 68th Street. There are actually many nice playgrounds at Central Park. Should we visit NYC again, we'll definitely explore the other playgrounds at Central Park.

A little too much fun!

A visit to New York will not be complete without visiting the Statue of Liberty. A cheap (free of charge) and less crowded way to see the statue of liberty is by taking the Staten Island Ferry. We had a nice cinnamon pretzel and coffee while waiting for the ferry. Ferry departs every 30 minutes to the hour. It was a nice ferry ride to and back from Staten Island. Miss K was free to walk around the half empty ferry, went out to the deck to look at the low flying seagulls and admired the view within.

It was lovely.

Miss K's first ferry ride :)

A visit to Brooklyn Bridge was totally unplanned. However, I was glad I got lost while taking the subway, hence ended up at the oldest suspension bridge in USA. It was a really HOT day in Manhattan the day we visited the bridge, too hot to walk the length of the longest suspension bridge in the world!

It was also on the bridge when we saw two NYPD helicopter flying really low, circling around while patroling the city. Yes, the heli kept the little one occupied throughout the 30 minutes walk along the bridge.

A very hot day, little one in a bad mood.

On the day we got lost and ended up at Brooklyn bridge, we got lost again on our way back and ended up at Wall Street where the NYSE is located. A place with high security, not interesting for the little one, however, this picture is just for keepsake.



I'm quite glad to say that this trip is actually not ALL about shopping, really!

Lubber Tote

Miss K picked this bright Phua-Chu-Kang-boots look-a-like bag when we were shopping at Century 21 in Manhattan.

I haven't seen this in Singapore but its a Lubber Tote.



Its pretty cool as it has the same concept as the Crocs shoes, you can add "Lubbs" to personalise the bottom holes, change the straps to funky looking ones and it has a shoe-like bottom.

How cool is that!

I got myself a red one :)

Heatwave in Princeton

Just when I was complaining about the chilly spring weather in Princeton, a heatwave of 86 degrees Farenheit (30 degrees celcius) hit Princeton yesterday!

I had never walked for 1.5 HOUR under a sweltering 30degC heat in Singapore before... but I just did here in Princeton! What was supposed to be a nice and cool walk by the Delaware & Raritan Canal, became an unbearably sweaty and hot walk along the canal all the way to Princeton Uni at Nassau Street. The results of the walk - I had a very nice tan.

Princeton Univeristy's grounds and its halls are pretty similar to those at Oxbridge. However, I still do think that the individual colleges in Oxford and Cambridge carries a more unique charm in comparison.
Princeton University Campus is rather small and convenient as there are shops and eateries around it.
It was a nice "pseudo-summer" day yesterday, so most of the students were out and about enjoying the sun.

We did too!

Mama, can I come to Princeton when I grow up?

My weekend at Philly and Exton, Pennsylvania

The last 4 days at Princeton was pretty non-momentous.
Miss K and I spend our days shopping, pigging out, watching TV in the hotel while J was at work.
It was such a nice change to be able to visit Uncle Ted at Philadelphia over the weekend. The last time I was there was in 1993, so that was really a while ago!

Uncle Ted was such a lovely 'tour guide' for the weekend. We visited the Independence Hall, went for a tour around it (free admissions for all national parks, which was brilliant; but one would need to take a queue number for the timed tickets before the tour), had a glimpse of the Liberty Bell, and had a really nice view of the city from the Philadelphia Art museum.
Had our lunch and dinner at Philly's chinatown, which is supposed to be the 3rd largest in the USA.

 The Liberty Bell

Where George Washington signed the Declaration
of Independence @ Independence Hall



Art Museum. Nice portrait shots from J's D60.

 Uncle Ted lives in Exton, Penn, which is a small quaint town west of Philly. We stayed a night over at his after a long day in Philly and he drove us to Valley Forge National Park the next day before returning to Princeton (which is about 1.5hr from Exton). This park was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.

Thanks Uncle Ted for such a lovely weekend!

with Grand Uncle Ted outside their home in Exton

Brown Coat

Remember my previous post about shopping in usa?

This is my best buy so far, a big brown coat for Miss K.

I misjudged the weather here, its suppose to be spring but a very chilly one.

So, this is what I got for the little one. Guess how much I paid for this faux leather coat.

9.99 USD!!!

Rocky Road Brownie

Chocolate WAS a big no no for Miss K.

I do not want her to get too addicted to sweet things. No other reasons in particular, really.

However, when a toddler throws tantrums in a cafe and insisted on eating MY rocky road brownie, guess what I did - yes, I relented, I gave her a bite of my rocky road brownie.

I totally regretted as she wolf down the brownie and asked for more!

It did not help that she took half the time I took to slowly savour the rocky road brownie, so my planned-to-be a relaxing tea break was more like a brownie eating competition with a toddler.



Wash'em down with some warm milk

And my toddler is crowned the Rocky Road Brownie Champion!

Shopping for the Toddler in USA

Alright. I told myself that I will practise self-control when it comes to buying clothes for my toddler, but in USA, one just can't help but to shop, shop and SHOP!

If you were to compare prices of Gap, Old Navy, Gymboree and Pumpkin Patch with those you get in Singapore, it is about half the price!

So, which are the shops on sale right now?

I found out that in New Jersey (where I am right now) there are no sales tax on clothing items! Their goods tax is 7%.

(In USA, different states has different taxes on goods. There is no such thing as "GST-free" shopping here)

New York City is 8+%.
Quite dissapointed about shopping for myself - Their XS is like our 'L' back home. So, to date, I only bought A BELT. How dissapointing. I need to spend more money visiting those boutique stores that carries clothing for 'smaller built' people. Normal high street stores are just way out of my size.
No more clothings for today, I need to visit Babies 'R' Us, Walmrt, Target etc and stock up on California Baby products and other necessities.

My Todd's Travel Diary at 19 months

 

We have been very blessed with opportunities to travel.
Miss K started her air travel when she was 6 months old. We went to Berjaya Hills (Colmar Tropicale) at Kuala Lumpur and then up to Penang by budget airlines Jetstar and AirAsia.
Review on Airasia (SIN-KL-PEN):

Short trip from Changi T1 to Malaysia was rather comfortable.

Stroller was retrieved at the gate when we disembarked the plane.

Milk, water and snacks for infant were allowed on board the plane.

I had to ask for an infant seat belt else am not sure whether I will be given one.



Review on Jetstar (PEN-SIN):

I was given an infant seat belt as soon as I entered the plane.

Air stewardess came to make sure I was familiar with the usage of the infant seat belt.

Drinks and snacks for infant were allowed on board the plane.

Stroller was retrieve only at the baggage claims belt.

At 14 months old, I brought Miss K to Europe and we endured the 16 hours (with 2 hours transit) flight to Berlin. We flew with Singapore Airlines, which was supposed to have the best service in the airline world. However, we did not get very good service then.

Review on SIA (SIN-MUN):

No food for infant until we enquired about it. Food selection (only a choice of 2 types of baby food) arrived after 15 minutes. Took another 30 minutes to heat up baby food. By that time the food came, baby has already fallen asleep, hungry.

Requested for hot water and air stewardess courteously asked for bottle so she could fill it up.

Bassinnet was given as soon as seat belt signs went off. Extra blanket and pillow were also given.

No toys for baby.


We then took Lufthansa for our Munich-Berlin-Munich leg before flying over to london.


Review on Lufthansa (BER-MUN-BER-LHR):

Suprisingly very good service (Travelled form SIN-MUN-SIN once and it was a bad experience)

Baby was given a toy as soon as we board the plane.

For one of the leg, she was also given a cloth book in addition to the toy.

Air stewardess were very friendly with baby.


We took SIA back from London to Singapore. The crew for this flight was much nicer. Service was prompt. Miss K was given a blue soft toy and there were more choices of baby food on board.

It was a pretty smooth ride throughout, just a little struggle to get Miss K to fall asleep on the plane and instances when I had to carry her out of her bassinnet when we flew through turbulence zones, the rest was pretty manageable.

Tonight, we will be flying off to the United States via Dubai on Emirates.

With my 19 month old who is already showing signs of the Terrible Twos, I guess I have to wish myself Bon Voyage (literally) a hundred times over.

Our newly found dogsitter

My colleague, D, has been the best dog sitter ever! She has been taking care of our little westie whenever we go on holidays. Going over to D's is like a holiday for our little westie too! She gets to meet her best schnauzer buddy and go for long walks and outings.

However, D is not in the best of health lately, hence we have to look for another dogsitter this time round. I was so relieved when I found out that our part-time maid agreed to dogsit! She comes and bathe our dog once every week (yes, bathing our dog is part of the task she has to do within that 3hrs she's at our place). Our westie gets along well with her and she loves dogs, so praying that both of them will be best of friend these 2 weeks.

Alright, we are off, and this time round, the destination is Princeton and New York City!

Introducing the Piano to my Toddler

Miss K has been exhibiting an interest in the keyboard at YeYe's home for a while now.

She has also been bobbing along to music during our car rides, often steals a dance during Cbeebies's Boogie Beebies program and her teacher has been commenting that she loves all the sing and dance sessions in school.

The digital piano, which I bought 5 years ago is finally being put into good use.

This week, I started with  middle C.

That being said, we actually spend most of our weekend piano sessions singing and playing 'Twinkle, twinkle little star', 'Baa-Baa-Black Sheep' and a short line from the 'Gingerbread Man' which the little one is rather obsessed with right now.

Miss K seems pretty enthusiastic about the piano. She will hold my hand and guide me towards the piano and says "Mama, play", and when she is seated she will want " Mama play star" (i.e. wants mama to play twinkle twinkle little star)

I started on the piano at 5 years old, Miss K is only 19 months...I am not sure how long this enthusiasm will last!

My Little Pianist :)