A Day for the Family

Toddler's daycare held a Family Day cum Open House today that lasted from 11am - 3pm.
.
Our family definitely took the time to support because we knew that the teachers had put in a lot of efforts to bring us this Family Day.
.
(While waiting for daddy to fetch the car)
.
Most of the parents have already arrived when we arrive at the daycare. Not long after, everyone was gathered and we proceeded to assemble at the grass area for the first family interactive game called "We're Going On A Bear Hunt".
.
"We're Going On A Bear Hunt" is a fun, interactive story of a family on a journey. Parents, together with their children had to participate in this interactive game since it is a Family Journey. The family started to travel through the deep grass of a meadow,
.
(Standing on the grass meadow)
.
wade through oozy mud,
.
(Wading through the mud with our pants folded up)
.
cross a river,
.
(everyone has to swim cross a river to reach another side)
.
After crossing the river, all of us shook our bodies around to rid-off the water before we next journey through a dark forest,
.
(wow, a dark forest we're in)
.
Then we had to brave through a sudden weather change to experience a snowstorm,
.
(It's freezing!!!)
.
Finally, after braving through the cold snowy weather, we arrive at the pathway leading to the cave.
.
(Here's the cave we've been looking for!)
.
The children found the bear in the dark cave.
.

(Arrgghhhh........scary looking bear is coming after the children!!!)
.
With the teacher's direction, and as the story is read aloud, everyone participated in the story by performing various actions and sounds to mimic the events in the journey. As the pictures sell for itself; We truly enjoyed ourselves indeed!
.
After the game, everyone headed for a lunch-break and some children were settled at the dough play station for a fun-filled play.
.
(At the dough play station)
.
Our toddler proudly displayed his painting skills to our amazement at the Painting Station. We had a chance to see how he paints. It's unusual for dabbing skills and I really liked the result of his dabbing paint-works.
.
(Expression of creativity)
.
After lunch, the teachers' carried on with a few more family tele-matches outdoors hence no pictures can be taken since the House of ANG were busily engaged in the tele-matches. Hee hee....
.
One of the activites lined up was dressing up. The parents were supposed to be creative here. With some materials & fabrics provided to them, they are supposed to dress their child up in the most creative manner as possible. Just look at those parents at work!
.

(Japanese Theme)
.

(Singaporean Theme)
.
Then, it's time for the results of the winner. So the judges have decided that...........the winner is none other than Ms Hana, representing Japan!
.

.
Finally, it's past 2.15pm and Master ANG decided we should be heading home soon for Kiet's afternoon nap. But before we leave, we've decided to present a small gift of appreciation to our favorite head teacher Ms Christine......by writing on her pretty cheeks!
.
(Our dear Ms Christine)
.
PS: Ms Christine will be leaving the daycare and her last day will be on 15 Oct 07. We're going to miss her as she is a proven dedicated teacher full of ideas and creativity. It's really a loss for the centre.

Mid Autumn Best Wishes

It's the 1st Mid-Autumn festival that our toddler TRULY enjoys.

.

Now that he is much older, his Mummy allowed him to play with candle-lit paper lanterns! Goodness........forget those battery ones.

.

(oohhh.....candles....Happy Birthday candle blowing)

.

Oh well, our toddler did not spent a lot of time carrying the paper lantern that is, since we all know he is such an active boy, don't we?

.

(Grandma brought me a lantern but it's an aeroplane not a lantern!!!)

.

After he is done with the paper lantern, he brought out this aeroplane that his grandma got him recently. A battery operated aeroplane.

.

Errr.....the folks have absolutely no problem with the aeroplane except that it was supposed to be an aeroplane lantern but all our growing toddler can reply "No, it's aeroplane". You'll see him tossing the aircraft around instead of relating it to a lantern. We're supposed to do the mid-autumn lantern celebration aren't we?

.

Guess he will only relate better in next year's mid-autumn festival.

;-)

Project B?

Seems like most of the mums' blogs I usually read are either planning for or already into their Project B.

.

I mean Project Baby.

.

Our toddler is now into his 34 months and a lot of people around me are popping the question of when I'll be expecting my number 2. It's not as if this question sounds new and I usually have a good response to it but it recently got into me.

.

My office has recently converted a meeting room into a very equipped lactation room so that nursing mothers can express milk in private. Compared to the time when I was expressing milk, roaming and looking for a space in private. Now, it's easily available.

.

This is a very serious and I think it is something that I've not given a good thought about. "Not ready".......usually is the response but again, what is being ready and when will I be ever ready? I was never ready when I'm expecting Kiet but this time, it actually troubles me a little.

.

Am I just being envious of other mums OR am I thinking of taking up the task to be a new mum to another baby again? Those daily nitty gritties about working & managing starts all over again.....Awww...

.

.

I'm interested to know too.

.

Bird Park, we have been

Fortunately the planned afternoon Jurong Bird Park visit was not dampen by the rain in the late morning. The House of ANG kept their fingers crossed, hoping that the rain would stop in the afternoon and IT DID!

.

This visit was not planned initially but since the ANG Mistress managed to acquire the access pass through her colleague, why not. This visit shall be Toddler ANG & his all time buddy Poh Ong's 2nd visit to the park since their maiden one back in March 2006. Compared to the frequent visits to the Singapore Zoological Garden, bird park is more rare as only the ANG Mistress's has 'lobang' to a Corporate Feather Friends pass.
.
(On his maiden visit, still sucking his pacifier)
.
More than 1 year has passed, just compare the 2 photos and you can tell the growth and difference in our Toddler....

.
(Toddler ANG now)
.

We headed straight to the Penguin Expedition located near the entrance since that's the main "star" both toddlers can easily identify. All thanks to the movie "Happy Feet" though.

.

(The Penguins !!!)

.

The penguins were really cute and popular as we noticed other children were also tickled by this exhibit. Some were swimming underwater, some were flipping their flippers for no apparent reason while some others just stood still. Good pose for visitors to take pictures! hah! Our cute toddler duo had definitely enjoyed the vast panoramic view + aircon. Hee.....

.

(The Colouful Parrots)
.
Of course, not forgetting the lovely parrots. Not long after, we proceded towards Flamingo Lake hoping to catch the planned late lunch. Gosh, guess what we found out.
.
The Lodge on Flamingo Lake is no longer open to public!!
.
Oh why?..........AAAWWWW.......will someone please tell them that the lodge is a fantastic place to chill out with the children? Not only the tummies be filled, the children can get a good view of those lovely flamingoes in a cool glass restaurant environment. It's such a disappointment.
.
(You See Kiet, those are flamingoes......)

Without much of a choice, we just had to introduce flamingoes to the toddlers by pointing at the lake from a distance. Then, we had to reluctantly walk back to the main entrance to catch a bite at the Bongo Burger, a new African-themed, air-conditioned restaurant.

.

Fortunately the beef burger patties we ordered did not fail our taste buds thus it somehow compensated to our earlier disappointment. Hmmm....how about toddler ANG? Oh well, he feasted on those french fries and iced milo what else?

.

.
What is a park visit without some entertainment? After lunch, we hurried to the Pools Amphitheatre and got ourselves seated on the top row. At 3pm, the Birds 'n Buddies Show started. We were very entertained for a good 30 minutes with the numberous species of birds especially tickled by Amigo, a lovely parrot who can sing the malay folk song "Rasa Sayang".

.

After the show, we took a stroll around the park that headed towards Lory Loft where we can have the opportunity to buy and feed the birds by hand with nectar! The toddlers were truly amazed as this is the first opportunity they got so close up with birds, moreover to feed them by hand. (Both of them tends to run after the birds in their daycare compound though)
.
(Poh Ong is a little tense)
.
It's approaching late afternoon after we're done feeding the birds. The children rested to take their milk while the adults ordered a nice cuppa Iced Mocha Australian Coffee at the Lory Loft.
.
Finally, we decided to call it a day at the park in order to let the children take their delayed afternoon nap. Till the next visit, the children waved 'bye bye' & said 'see you later' to the birds.
.

.

Jurong Birdpark, We'll be back soon! .

Remembering September 11

Today is the one day of the year where I personally, feel the time could be much better spent remembering and paying homage to all those innocent people who were lost on September 11th six years ago.

.

.
I still remember that day back then, standing under the towers taking its pictures (somehow I had lost the hardcopies through the many home moval but hope I'll find it somewhere in the future).

"Silomat" cough syrup withdrawn by Boehringer-Ingelheim

This is Important!
.
Parents, please take note of the press release regarding the withdrawal of this cough syrup.
DO NOT administer to your children.
.
.
Tue, Sep 04, 2007 AsiaOne
.

.

Cough syrup Silomat has been voluntarily withdrawn in Singapore by pharmaceutical group Boehringer-Ingelheim following concerns that it could increase the risk of an irregular heartbeat.

.
New findings from a clinical study in healthy subjects conducted by the group and analysed in the last few days suggest a "very low" risk of cardiac arrhythmia. However, Boehringer-Ingelheim said it decided to withdraw its clobutinol hydrochloride-containing medications (Silomat) in view of patient safety and the ready availability of alternative treatments.
.
The Health Sciences Authority of Singapore has been informed of this decision and a letter of notification has been sent to healthcare professionals who prescribe or dispense Silomat, said Boehringer-Ingelheim. Silomat is available locally in pharmacies only.
.
The pharmaceutical group also assured the public that the effects of the medication only occur during the period of use so patients who have used clobutinol need not be concerned about potential late adverse effects. Those who were prescribed or dispensed the cough syrup can get a full refund by returning, latest by 30 Nov, the full or partly used packs of Silomat to the place from which they were obtained.
.