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 :)

Up, Up and Away...

...on the Singapore Flyer on a lovely Sunday evening.
I was glad the weather was good and we managed to catch part of the sunset.
Miss K had a great time running around the capsule shouting "mama there" "bird fly away" "car" and she was all chatty that evening.
I have quite a major height phobia. Everytime Miss K goes near the clear glass door, my heart will skip a beat.
In situations like this, J often reminded me of our trip up Eiffel Tower;  He will never forget the fact that I wanted to get down 5 minutes upon reaching the top after queueing for 3hrs in the freezing cold weather!

Well, verdict of the Singapore Flyer....hmmm, I feel that the night scene would be much nicer as the City usually looks lovely at night with all the lightings and such.
I still prefer the view up the London Eye...I guess there are more 'history' and sites to behold in London.

Here are some snapshots of our 'trip' up, up in the sky. 


Miss K enjoying the view from the Flyer



The Cove - Week 1 and 18 months milestones

First Week at the Cove :)

I missed her 18 months update as it was the falling ill cum madness at work cum trial week at the Cove all jumbled up and things going haywire in between...but this is her vital stats at 18 months:

Weight: 11.8 kgs
Height: 84.5 cm
Head circumference: 47 cm
Got this done as she took her DPT booster on the 25th of Feb, just before she turned 18 months.

What Miss K achieved at 18 months:
 - Able to feed herself without food flying onto the floor (feels so good to be able to eat and not feed her half the time during dinners!)
- When I say " go put on shoes", she is able to go towards her shoe rack, grab her shoe, sit on her stool and put on her slip-ons with the correct side on each foot.
- No longer afraid of grass and sand.
- Walk the dog (with us guiding her) and give a little tug and say "wait" to our westie.
- Finish her A to Z puzzle, fitting every single letter in exactly where it's suppose to be.
- Finish one pot of yoghurt by herself without messing up her top or her hands.

Well done, little one!

I am happy with Miss K's (settling in) progress at the Cove.
I am happy Miss K has two wonderful Teachers, Miss Cynthia and Lin Laoshi.
I am happy she has nice friends at the Cove.
I am happy that the food at the Cove is sooooo yummy.
AND
I am very happy we are now free or should I say fully acquired immunity against those nasty germs!

Miss Cynthia and Lin Laoshi keeps a weekly blog update of the Junior Toddler's activities. I received the first invite to the blog and am very impressed with the information and the quality of the write-up for each child, the details in the activities and happenings throughout the week, and how these activities and happenings relate to each child's unique developmental milestones.

Finally, I could breathe a sigh of relief.

Have a Good Weekend, everyone!

Japanese Tsunami, Japanese Dog, Japanese determination.

The latest Tsunami in Japan sent a big jolt to the rest of the world.
I admire the Japanese spirit, I admire the close knit Japanese community, I admire their determination.
Watching scenes unfold each day on the media, makes me appreciate the abundant blessings in life.
Sometimes I take things for granted.
I grumble.
I forget God.

Does it take a Tsunami to make us cherish our loved ones? Our live? Our Blessings?

This video of the Japanese Dog really touched me. I am glad both dogs are now rescued. I hope that they will go to a nice home soon.