Ikea Tampines & Students’ BBQ

Dearest Little Skyler,

Yet another day that we have to give Mama peace and quiet to study. Thus, Papa decided to take you out to visit Grandma and since today is the Opening Day of the Ikea outlet in Tampines, Papa thought that maybe we could just spend the day there. We went by to pick Grandma up with the intention of having lunch in Ikea.

We managed to get into the car park without too many problems. Papa was quite amused by the fact that they had car park lots meant for families with strollers! Papa had initially thought that the lots were for handicapped drivers but they had a picture of a family with a stroller painted onto the floor!

The place was very crowded as it was Ikea’s opening day. As we were trying to find the way to get in, we bumped into Ah Pek, Che-che Reika and Kor-kor Eujin! They had already done their rounds and were leaving! Anyway, we had to queue for quite some time in the car park before we could make our way into the building proper.

Once we got into the store, we headed straight for the restaurant. It was so overly packed that Papa and Grandma immediately gave up any hope of eating there. The queue just to get into the restaurant stretched beyond what the eye could see! Grandma was already so hungry and Papa felt bad that he had suggested eating there. So, we decided that we should make our way out and head back to Grandma’s place to look for food.

Along the way out, we did a bit of browsing. We realised that the layout was practically the same as the one at Alexandra! There was hardly any difference – even the sequence of the placing of the goods was similar. The only difference was the height of the ceiling; the shelves where the self-collection goods were were so high that Papa couldn’t imagine how the store employees would be able to bring the goods down to the ground level!

Anyway, we finally made our way out and headed back to Grandma’s.

Grandma and Papa had a quick lunch at the coffee shop below Grandma’s block before we headed up to Grandma’s to feed you your afternoon milk feed. After feeding you, Papa was so exhausted that Papa took a nap leaving Grandma to take care of you. It was a nap that Papa needed very badly as Papa had been exhausted bringing you out the whole week for so many hours each day!

After Papa had awakened and fed you your dinner, Papa and you went down to Downtown East Costa Sands Resort to visit his students who were having a chalet stay over and barbecue. They were nearby Grandma’s place so it didn’t take us long to get there.

While we were walking to the chalet from the carpark, guess who we bumped into? It was Che-che Reika once again. Ah Pek had brought both Che-che and Kor-kor there after we had met them at Ikea that morning and they had spent the whole day there.

We finally found the chalet that Papa’s students were staying in and we chatted with a few of them for while. They were totally captivated by you! They kept on playing with you and all the che-ches wanted to carry you and it was so funny because each of them kept on declaring that you liked them the most as you allowed them to carry you! You also played with a couple of the kor-kors. Papa didn’t stay to eat with them as we had to go home by then as Mama was waiting for us for dinner.

As we were heading out of the chalet area, we again bumped into Che-che Reika, then Ah Pek and Kor-kor Eujin. They were also preparing to head home.

After getting dinner, we headed home to Mama.

What a long and tiring day for you, Little One. You experienced so many things that day. And you behaved so well at Papa’s students’ gathering.

We love you, Little Girl!

Papa and Mama

Town ‘Mice’

Dearest Little Skyler,

Mama is still studying for her examinations and we have to give her as much time alone as possible to cover the overwhelming amount of work that she has to plough through. Thus, Papa decided that we would go down to town this whole week. As we had to spend so much time in town, Papa decided that we should take the MRT train down as Papa didn’t want to have to pay so much for parking. And this would also allow us to explore as much as we wanted without having to circle around wherever we would have had to park. :D

On Monday, we went down to Ngee Ann City. This is a big megamall almost in the centre of Orchard Road. There we managed to catch the Carebear and Strawberry Shortcake show. After that Papa had to feed you your milk so we went to the nursery on the third floor. I think it was strange for the people around there to watch me feed you by myself as it is not usual for a father to watch over his child by himself. That is, the children’s Mamas are usually around as well. Another thing that may have been weird for them was that you were using the bottle as a cup instead of using the spout. You are really advanced, Little One. Other babies usually progress through drinking from bottles using the nipples then they go on to spouts using training cups before learning how to drink from cups. You went straight to drinking from a cup! :D

We then walked around a bit at Ngee Ann City. There were several long moments where you refused to sit in your stroller so Papa had to carry you in one arm and push the stroller along with the other! It was so tiring! Especially since you were so wriggly!

As we were just shopping in the place, we decided to buy Mama something to encourage her in her studies. After considering so many things, we finally decided to buy a “Happy Feet” soft toy. This was a movie that was being shown in the cinemas currently. Mama was quite amused by the characters in the movie so we thought that having a toy next to her while she studied would amuse her. We bought the toy modeled on the main character “Mumbles”. Mama was so amused by it. Thank God! :D

Grandma came to join Papa for dinner later that afternoon so it was a bit of relief for Papa as Grandma could watch over you for a while and give Papa a bit of rest.

On Tuesday, Papa decided to bring you to Marina Square and Suntec City so as to have a bit of variety. Once again we took the MRT but all the way to the City Hall station this time. Then we took a slow walk all the way to Marina Square. Papa wanted to go to Marina Square because Papa and Mama had not really explored it after it had undergone a major refurbishment.

There was a small Little Robots toy fair going on at the central atrium when we got there. Papa decided to buy you a toy there. After that, we just kept on walking around Marina Square until there was little left to look at. Then we walked over to Suntec City.

We also walked all over until we arrived at Carrefour. Mama and Papa have started this practice of introducing fruits to you and this was what we did at Carrefour for a while. Papa let you touch and smell several fruits including Dragon Fruit. :D You were so thrilled by it all. :D

On Wednesday, we went back to Orchard Road. Papa decided that we would be a bit adventurous that day and walk down the whole of Orchard Road. We started our journey at the Orchard MRT station.

We walked over to Wheelock Place to buy Papa a book from the Borders bookstore. (This rounded off the buying of stuff for each of us. :D Mama got ‘Mumbles’, you got your toy and Papa got his book!) After buying the book, we crossed the road to International Building to collect Papa’s spectacles. Papa had to collect his spectacles once more as they had broken yet again.

After that, we started our long slow walk to Plaza Singapura. It was an interesting experience as Papa had not walked down Orchard Road for a very long time. We managed to see most of the Christmas decorations as we made our way down. As we were passing the Istana, the police stopped the pedestrian traffic. Papa was curious so we waited to see who was coming and I think we saw our President entering the Istana gates! :D

We then went into Plaza Singapura. After walking around for a short while, you were very sleepy and Papa took the opportunity to rest. We went down to the basement to look for a place for you to sleep and Papa to rest. We ended up at Carl’s Jr. Papa settled down with a drink to rest and wait for you to wake up. Time slowly passed and you didn’t get up. After almost an hour, Papa started getting a bit worried. It was such a relief when you finally got up!

Papa then had to buy dinner home for both Mama and Papa so we went up to the Kopitiam. While we were in the queue, you did something that made Papa feel both worried and happy. You allowed the aunty who was in the queue behind us to carry you and play with you. Papa was worried because you are so totally fearless in allowing strangers to play with you – what if you got carried off by someone and Papa lost you? On the other hand, being so fearless made things easier for Mama and Papa when we needed to leave you with someone who could babysit you if we were busy. Sigh… dilemmas of parenthood.

We love you, precious one!

Papa and Mama

Skyler Can Clap

Dearest Little Skyler,

Wow! You’ve demonstrated your ability to clap! We are so thrilled!

Papa feels a bit silly as both of us are so extremely thrilled by your demonstrating new skills but we really are! It’s always so amazing to see you do new things!

Keep learning, Little One! Astound us with what you have learnt to do!

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Aunty Serene’s Housewarming

Dearest Little Skyler,

Aunty Serene invited us to her housewarming this evening. Papa decided to bring you along as Mama still had to study for her examinations.

Papa thought that we were late already as we were supposed to have been there at 7.30 p.m. However, when we finally found Aunty Serene’s place, we realised that we were the first from Swiss Cottage there! :D We were brought over to the Function Room where Aunty Serene and her husband had set out the catered dinner. Aunty Serene’s friends were already there having their meal.

You were so friendly that night and allowed everyone to carry you! As Papa’s colleagues arrived, almost everyone took turns carrying you and they all remarked on how well behaved you were and how friendly you were! It was a good thing too as this gave Papa a chance to have his dinner. :D

We finally left at 9 p.m. as Papa wanted to get you home early enough for you to meet your bed time.

When we got home, Mama had missed you so much once again and we played with you until you were sleepy so we tucked you into bed.

We love you, Little One.

Papa and Mama

A Series of Aunties

Dearest Little Skyler,

Poor Little One! Papa and Mama were so busy this week that we had to ask several of Mama’s friends and Kow-mo to help us take care of you. Mama was very busy studying for her exams and Papa was very busy at work this week. We hope that we won’t have to go through all this again.

On Tuesday, we asked Aunty Candy to come. Aunty Candy has little experience with taking care of little children but she was courageous enough to try. She found you so easy to care for, Little One. Bravo! :D

This was also the day you showed your ability to do “twinkle, twinkle little star” with your hand! It was so cute!

On Wednesday, we had Aunty Bili come down. Aunty Bili is one of Mama’s best friends all the way from when Mama was in Secondary School. Aunty Bili is quite used to taking care of babies as her mother used to help babysit other people’s children. Aunty Bili also helps to care for her nephews. It was simply amazing watching Aunty Bili go around the house with you in one arm and helping us clear up the house with the other! She packed our place up with you in one arm! That was so cool! Aunty Bili had specially taken that day off to meet up with Mama and she spent it watching over you and packing our house! Thank you, Aunty Bili!

On Thursday, we got Kow-mo down to help once again. We are so glad that you like Kow-mo so much. But, on that day, you were so fussy so you made it very difficult for Kow-mo to care for you. But she managed to endure your fussiness until Papa got back that day to take over.

So sorry that we had to put you through so many different care-givers hands, Little One. But thank God that they were more than able to care for you. And that Mama has such great friends who were willing to spend their precious time helping us out! Thank you, Aunties!

We love you, Little One.

Papa and Mama

Promil Gold

Dearest Little Skyler,

Mama and Papa have started trying to wean you onto formula milk.

We tried to feed you different kinds of formula but you kept rejecting the first few we tried. Finally, you took to Promil Gold. We can’t blame you as it does taste quite nice indeed. Sigh… formula is really expensive though.

Another problem was that we realised that you cannot use milk bottles to feed from. You seem to dislike the use of the milk bottle nipples. Thus, we tried feeding you straight from a cup and you took to it! This prompted Mama to buy you a cute little chick mug to drink from and we have to say that it has worked very well indeed.

Bottom’s Up, Little One!

Papa and Mama

Drypantz

Dearest Little Skyler,

We have been trying to figure out what kind of diapers to use with you as we’ve been finding that your diaper seems to be wet after one night. As we’ve been using Pampers all this while for your night diaper, we were at a loss as to what else to try as it is said that Pampers is quite good for an overnight use.

Our answer was given via free samples at the Point over the weekend! People were giving out Drypers Drypantz samples outside the Point on both days of the weekend. As they were free samples, we decided to try them with you to see how well they worked. They worked really really well.

This diaper is almost like a pair of adult underpants (that’s why it’s called ‘pantz’). It is quite absorbent and seems able to handle your overnight wetting without any discernible leakage. This was the answer to our question!

Thus, thanks to their brilliant marketing tactic of free samples, the company who sells these diapers has made us believers thus we bought a whole bag for your use! We are even considering using these diapers all the time even though they are a bit expensive.

However, as long as your Pampers diapers remain slightly cheaper and the quality does not drop (they are very good diapers; though relatively expensive), Papa would still prefer that you use them as Papa thinks that they are more “breathable”. :D

We love you!

Papa and Mama

Childcare Leave

Dearest Little Skyler,

Poor Little Baby Girl! You were suffering from a very bad cold the whole weekend.

It was so bad that you could hardly breathe, poor Darling. Your nose kept getting blocked and no matter what we did to unblock it, it remained so. As a result, you were so totally unable to sleep as you would keep waking up from your blocked nose i.e. you couldn’t breathe. You also had a fairly high fever thus Mama and Papa got so worried! We immediately informed your Godpa and Godmas to pray for you as well.

We had no choice but to take you to see your doctor (your balloon uncle) who prescribed some medicine for you to take. We immediately gave you the medicine but it took a very long time to act. In the meantime we continued to be very worried.

The next day, you were still quite bad so Papa got permission from his boss to take Childcare Leave so that Papa could stay at home to help care for you. It was a good thing that things at work had slowed down a bit so Papa had nothing urgent to return to work for that day. This was the very first time that Papa had taken childcare leave. It was an interesting experience because Papa never had to think about such a thing before.

Thank God your temperature gradually came down and you began to be a bit better. Praise God for caring and thank God for caring Godparents who prayed for you throughout your illness.

We love you, Little Girl.

Papa and Mama

ACTS Centre

Dearest Little Skyler,

Today, we decided to try out a ‘new’ church. Actually, it is not really new as we had brought you there for their Friday night activity before. The church is an extension of the church that we have been attending this year. However, as its service started at 9 a.m., we had to leave the house earlier.

We felt so much better here. This church really cared about taking care of little children like you. They had a special Sunday School programme for children below three years of age so it was just made for you. The other church service that started at 9 a.m. didn’t even seem to welcome children your age much less arranged a Sunday School class for you.

This church also went to some pains to ensure that the seating arrangements in the room catered to families with young children – there was space for strollers and you were allowed to make some noise as it was expected that children could not be quiet indefinitely. Thus, all in all, they made us feel a whole lot more welcome than the previous church.

Oh well…

We love you, Little Skyler.

Papa and Mama

Uncle BC / Night Safari

Dearest Little Skyler,

As Mama had to go meet her group for a discussion today, Papa had to bring you out on our own. Papa decided that you should meet up with children about your own age to learn how to play with them so Papa asked if we could visit Uncle Boon Cheng and Aunty Jessie. Uncle Boon Cheng is one of Papa’s good friends from when he was Papa’s colleague. He has transferred to another school for about two years already but Papa still keeps in touch with him. Aunty Jessie was also Papa’s colleague and she also transferred to another school. But she has stopped working for a couple of years already as she wants to bring up her two children by herself – very much like Mama.

Uncle and Aunty have two children already – Kor Kor Joel and Che Che Grace. Che Che Grace is only two months older than you. When we were pregnant with you, Uncle Boon Cheng gave us lots of advice as they already had Kor Kor Joel and Aunty Jessie was then pregnant with Che Che Grace.

Anyway, we spent the afternoon with Uncle Boon Cheng and Kor Kor and Che Che. I think you enjoyed yourself playing with the two of them as they had many toys that they shared with you. I think it was also fun for you as you could play with people your age rather than just with Papa. Uncle Boon Cheng also gave you some bear-shaped biscuits and you enjoyed them tremendously! I think they had apple and cinnamon in them.

Mama joined us later at Uncle Boon Cheng’s in the afternoon after she had completed her group discussion. Aunty Jessie had also come back by then.

After we left Uncle and Aunty, we went over to the Night Safari. This was the first time that we had brought you to the Night Safari.

We got to the Night Safari a bit later in the night and at the entrance we managed to catch the tail end of a performance so we paused to watch it. They featured a few fire-eaters who blew great streams of fire! It was quite exciting. You were totally captivated by the performance.

We decided that we should go join the queue to watch the animal performances as Papa and Mama had never caught it before. The queue was so long! We had to join the queue immediately upon entering as it was a very popular show. Thus, we ended up in the queue for almost thirty minutes. We had to wait for the previous performance to end and for the crowd to disperse before we could go in. Mama and Papa were so worried that the heat generated by the crowd of people would make you uncomfortable but we decided to try. We would have left if you had shown any sign of distress but you were totally fine throughout the wait.

The performance was quite interesting and the host was quite good, I think. We saw many of the nocturnal animals doing their usual things but it was great as we could see it close up. We also had a big owl fly right above our heads and the Night Safari performers had put a big python in the crowd! It was all quite fun.

After the performance, we took a walk around the Night Safari proper. We saw all kinds of nocturnal animals. Some of them were hunting while others were just lazing around. As there were a lot of slopes, it was quite tiring. And as it was quite late, we had to leave half way through. You had already started falling asleep along the way anyway.

It had been a long time since we had come to the Night Safari. It was fun to have brought you along for the trip.

We love you, Little One!

Mama and Papa