Today is a big day for Lucas as he is promoted from infant care to toddler class.
The school had been transiting him for the past two weeks, bringing him to his new class to mingle with his future teachers and classmates during the afternoon snack and to take part in some of the class activities.
We are more relax this time, tasking Xavier to play his big brother role and help Lucas ease into his new environment.
Both boys were all cheerful in that morning. Guess Lucas is still unsure what's gonna happen later.
Xavier is happy to show his little brother where to wash his hands in the morning. Then the little boy realise today is different, very different. Turned on his "koala bear" mode and glued himself to Lilian.
Then the time comes for us to leave for work. The teacher has to "peel" crying Lucas off Lilian. Welcome to the Toddler class Lucas.
Well at least the consolation is he didn't cry for long after we left and blend in with his class well. He does try to run off to see his brother in the other class but that should ease after he gets use to the new surrounding.
Lucas was born with heaps of hair (compared to Xavier which had close to none). Over the four months his hair grew to a very untidy state. I often joked that he looked abit like Chairman Mao.
And so, we decided to shave him botak (bald) so that his hair would be even when it grew again. We went to Junior League and he was very well behaved surprisingly, no crying no fussing.
And he became an instant auntie magnet with his cute level maxed out.
Even Xavier couldn't help but love Lucas even more.
I usually recommend parents to bring their kids to Junior League to have their hair cut at least for the first time. Yes its expensive but the staff there are very friendly and experience and the TV playing Barney or Thomas The Train often distracts the kids from the taunting hair-cutting experience. Then when they become comfortable with hair cuts, you are switch them to the cheaper barbers.
Lucas can now flip from his back to his tummy via his left very well. Way to go boy!
Looks like we gonna be very busy now as we can't leave him alone at a spot and assume he is still at the same spot the next minute. He has been trying to flip at every chance, even as you are giving him a bath on his back or when you are trying to change his diaper. Seems like the fun has just began.
3 1/2 months fly by and it's time for Lucas to go to the infant care centre. I didn't believe its so soon that when Teacher Mala commented on last Friday that she would be seeing Lucas coming Monday, I told her "Not so soon, think it's the following week". Blur sotong...
I remember Xavier's first day at the Infant Care was a lot more drama. Lilian and I both had separation anxiety and were wondering to ourselves if it was the right decision. Xavier on the other hand was all cool and relax, looking around curiously as they placed him on the rocker.
Lucas's first day was the other side of the coin. Lilian and I were all cool and relax as we had gone through it before, but Lucas was restless, very restless. He wouldn't finish his milk in one sitting, constantly needed attention and the teachers had a hard time putting him to sleep. Actually these were his usual behavior and probably not due to change to environment. I hope the teachers can train some routine into Lucas's life.
Xavier had his first visit to the dentist today. There wasn't anything wrong with his teeth. We just wanted him to get a feel of going to the dentist and having his teeth checked.
I brought him to my usual dentist at ToofDoctor. He was apprehensive at first but the mention of watching Barney videos were too good to pass. So they gave him a pair of sunglasses, set him down on the dental chair and checked his teeth.
He is still short of two teeth but they should come soon. They did polishing for him. No scaling needed as they do not have tartar (so lucky). And the dentist even gave him a medal for being so brave and cooperative. He was so proud of his medal that he insist on wearing it to school the next day.
And he can't wait to go for his next dental checkup, as he kept asking when we gonna go again. I on the other hand, dread going to the dentist...
Lucas just turned one month old and we would like to thank all relatives and friend for attending the full month celebration and for their wonderful gifts and hongbaos.
Both Lilian and I have never seen so many hongbaos before.There were also a few very thoughtful gifts, like the "cake" from Rick and Zhen Zhen.They ordered from Baby's 1st Cake and it's baby gifts packed into the shape of a 2-tier cake.
Xavier was very quick to "chope" the big blue truck on the top of the cake and readily announced it's his and the smaller purple car below is for di-di.
We had three sessions this time, as we didn't want to accommodate too many people each session in our tiny house. This also allows us to interact better with our guest. Lilian ordered from three different caterers. Kim's Kitchen failed as their Mango Sago dessert went bad barely after we started the buffet. YSL Catering was not bad, guests liked their "Braised Pork w/ Bun". We find Angeli Catering (bottom left in the photo) tasted the best among the three. Mum also made her own glutinous rice and it was covered with mushrooms.
For friends and colleagues whom we were not able to invite, we ordered cakes and cookies for them instead. The cakes were from Pine Garden's Cake, the cake shop we got Xavier's 1st year birthday cake from. Lilian liked the message "Of all life's miracles, the biggest ones come in the smallest packages". The cookies were from Happy Bakes.
Lucas is growing well, hitting a weight of 5kg and a length of 52cm now. Looks like he become a sumo baby too, just like Xavier.
I wanted to expose Xavier to music and hopefully he gains an interest it in. So I got him his first instrument, a recorder. Okay I'm not expecting him to be able to play real notes on it now but to get a feel of it. And the recorder is cheap, $5.50.
So what did he think of the recorder?
Think he had fun as he could not stop giggling and laughing everytime he blows into the recorder.
One of the parent of Xavier's schoolmate, Oliver, proposed a Kungfu Panda 2 movie outing for the boys when the movie opens. I thought it would be fun for Xavier so I showed him a trailer of the movie.
Well somehow it backfired as the staring part freaked Xavier out. For the next 2 weeks, whenever the TV was showing the Kungfu Panda 2 movie advertisement, he would run and hide behind my back, shivering in fear. It took me quite a while to change his impression of Bo (the Dragon Warrior) and I did it just before we were to watch the movie. He went from super scare to super like.
As Lilian wants to rest at home, Xavier and I had a boys' movie day. We took MRT to Plaza Singapura and it was also Xavier's first MRT ride. MacDonald were smart to cash in on the Kungfu Panda craze and boys were happily going to the movie with action figurines in their hands.
All the parents went in early as we want to get the booster seat for the kids. Xavier scan the cinema as it was his first time in one. He then point to the curtains at the side of the cinema and asked, "Kungfu Panda inside there?" I laughed and told me no no, it will appear at the screen in front of him. From then on, he stared at the screen very attentively, waiting eagerly for the movie to start.
He was pretty well behaved throughout the movie, although there were a few moments he wanted to sit on my lap instead of his seat. And somewhere in the movie he kept asking where the baby panda went, among other questions. So hard to ask him not to talk in the movie when he didn't understand what's all this fuss about keeping quiet when in the movies.
But I think overall he enjoyed the movie very much. Will definitely bring him to more movies in future.
Our tree is filled with Christmas gifts this year, mostly for Xavier. And he would like to says a big THANKS to all the generous uncles and aunties by doing a song, a dance and some piano playing.
First, a Christmas song. Xavier would sway to the Jingle Bell song and shout out two words of the song.
Next, a "piano performance". We went to my cousin's place for Christmas feast and Xavier seems to be having fun with the piano.
Lastly a penguin dance. We head to my in-law's place to visit the newly arrived nephew (born one day before my birthday). Xavier gamely don the penguin suit and did the penguin dance.
The rooms we booked came with a small balcony. There were coconut trees all over the resort and a small pebble pool near our block. Our room was closer to the main pool whereas Eric's rooms (yes they gave his family 2 rooms as they have 4 occupants) were further away from us. Lilian commented that the rooms looked nicer on my photo than it actually is. There was no bath tub, just shower facilities. But they did provide a tam pui (baby toilet bowl) for toddler use.
We were up bright and early to make full use of the day. Met Eric's family at the restaurant for buffet breakfast. Food and drinks are never an issue in Clubmed. They have buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner and an Ala-carte restaurant for the other times when you want to eat something in between the timings. Plenty of baby chairs upon request and heaps of food to choose from. The kids love this place and who wouldn't when you have unlimited raisins, yoghurts and coco crunch. Even I couldn't resist the humongous food spread ("eating selectively" pledge was thrown out of the window). I rate the spread (in terms of variety) second only to The Line at Shangri-La Singapore. Its just too good to pass.
We went for a guided tour of the resort after breakfast. The GOs showed us where the various facilities are and what we could do. We went back to our rooms to rest after the tiring walkabout as the kids needed their naps. Rest and relax was the order of Day 2. Next program, fun at the pool in the late afternoon.
Its the first time Xavier's going to the pool to play. You can see his excitement in the top left photo. He gathered his bag and rushed off when we said we are going to swim at the pool. Below are three video clips of him having fun with Lilian and myself in the pool.
Sidenote on S95's video capabilities: You can only use digital zoom during recording and not optical zoom. It also doesn't refocus once you start recording. Despite the shortcoming, it shoots in HD (720p) and the recording in stereo is very clear. Afterall, it's a camera that shoots HD video and not a videocam.
While Lilian puts Xavier to sleep, I went to shoot the night with my 50D. The party had just started in Clubmed. The GOs were bringing the crowd to a high to the tune of YMCA. They even have a surprise treat with some male GOs dressed as party girls. The free flow of cocktails help gives everyone the party spirit.
Sidenote on shooting party night shots: The S95 did well to capture the poolside bar (top left photo). I steady it by the ledge and used long shutter to soak in the night colours. The rest were shot using the 50D at high ISO of 1,600 and 3,200. I didn't want to use flash so I used high ISO to allow shootable shutter speed. I then used Lightroom 3 to take away most of the digital noise.
If you missed the post of Xavier's first experience on aeroplane, you can read about it on Day 1 post.
More beach and pool fun coming up in Day 3.
More beach fun and squirrels sighting in Day 4 and 5.
Clubmed recently had a Natas 1-for-1 promotion for some of their resorts and we take the opportunity to plan for our first family vocation to Clubmed Bali with the Leong family. As we had to take into consideration flight timings that were more child friendly, we only had 3 full days in the resort although the rooms were for 5D4N.
There are many first for Xavier on this trip, including his first experience on an aeroplane. We were lucky to have an empty seat on our flight there so Xavier had his own seat. He was had "Talking Tom" on iPhone to keep him company so he was in great spirit. Below are some photos on the plane and a video clip of Xavier during the take-off.
We choose Clubmed Bali as it is family and kids friendly and one of the better Clubmed resorts in Asia. By the time we reached the resort it was late night, just in time for us to dump our luggage for dinner before the closing time.
The fun starts in Day 2 with Xavier's first pool experience.
More beach and pool fun coming up in Day 3.
More beach fun and squirrels sighting in Day 4 and 5.
I had heaps of fun with Lego when I was a kid, building, dismantling, building again. I remembered once when I got 1st in class for Maths in Primary 4 or 5 and I got my Mum to buy me this huge Lego castle for $80. $80 then was a lot of money. But I loved it to death, as you could open up the sides to form a long wall and the castle gate had to be open with pull strings.
Naturally, I wanted to start Xavier with a Lego set too, so he could have as much fun as I had. So June this year I got him the baby zoo set as I thought he could identify with the animals and would be able to role play. But it was too early for him and he didn't show much interest in it. So I decided to mimic the setup on the box just to take some photos.
It had 4 baby animals (elephant, giraffe, polar bear and lion) and they all look really cute. But I had to shelf it till recently, after two zoo trips, before he wants to play and have fun with it. Just last month, he started to play with toys by lining toys up or stacking them up. And he found the only way to stack up lego blocks is to fix them together.
He did this just tonight (well not entirely. He had the two bigger blocks on top and it couldn't stand so I show him by putting one of the bigger blocks as base, the structure could stand on its own). He wanted to make the Elephant taller than the Giraffe. These are his two favourite animals at the moment, out of the four animals in the set.
Updated on 02Nov10:
Two videos of him lost in his world of Lego tonight...
Having a rare Saturday alone at home so grab the opportunity to finish up some overdue blog post. Below are some photos from Xavier's first encounter with MacDonald's sometime back in May. And judging from his reaction, I don't think its gonna be the last. ;p
Exactly this time one year ago, Xavier broke Lilian's water bag when she was at her friend's place eating CNY cookies and playing games like "in-between". Time really flies as we celebrate Xavier's Birthday today (actual day is tomorrow).
Initially we wanted to have a party by booking one of those function rooms but we changed our mind after doing up the guest list and realise its gonna be too big to handle. So we decided to just have lunch with immediate families and cut the cake at our place.
We still got him the balloons though.
Happy Birthday Hat Balloon with customisable name.
Huge 1st Birthday Balloon.
The 1st Birthday Bouquet from Xavier's view.
Xavier having fun with his balloons.
Xavier checking out the menu to see what to order at Noble House.
Lilian and Xavier sharing a light moment. Xavier is pratising how to "Gong Xi, Gong Xi" with mandarins.
Pooh Bear Surprise Deco-set and Xavier's 2-Tier cake.
His cake with his one year old candle. The deco-set is pretty cool as all three characters seems to be looking at the candle.
Xavier up close and personal with his cake.
Blow the candle!!!
Happy family.
I will be uploading the rest of the photos onto my Flickr over the next few days so check them out next week. Special thanks to Johnson for helping us with the photo taking at such short notice. You certainly made Xavier's day. See how happy he is at dinner time?
