Fun in the sun at Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden

Last Friday, Littlelam had a day off school so I figured I’d plan a outdoor trip for my girls. We woke a little late because, as it always happens before some outing, LittlerLam decided to go a bit bonkers the night before, and refused to sleep from 4-6am! Anyhow, I decided to go ahead with the plan despite being in a bit of a mess. Especially since I had to get the girls to finish their breakfast quickly, while cooking lunch and preparing snacks to bring along.

Jacob Ballas Children’s Garden is actually part of the Singapore Botanic Garden and there’s free entry, if you’re accompanied by a child. Heh. There are opportunities to learn about various plants and the food-making process of plants and sometimes they even hold activities specially for kids.

But on a normal day, the highlight for the kids would be the treehouse, where there is a ladder to climb, and 2 huge, steep slides that give quite an adrenaline rush (I went down a few times myself!). It’s better suited for kids above 3 so I had to sit with LittlerLam in the slide.

After a while it got really hot so we made a beeline for the water play area which mainly consists of several fountains that you can run around under and get wet. Somehow the kids find it very fun. I am not a fan cos of the hassle of having to bring change of clothes etc, and somehow I reckon the water isn’t all too clean. But, I decided to pander to their likes for a change, so we braved the blazing sun for a splash in the fountains. I got awfully wet cos dear LittlerLam was a little to afraid to go on her own, so I had to walk around in the splash, with her stuck to my hip. At the end of the mess, all I can say is I’m glad they enjoyed it and I’m glad that I brought snacks! Bananas, blueberries and biscuits always are great!

Birthday Months

It seems like there are many, many people born in the months of March and April. And as my friend remarked one day on Facebook, “I wonder what was happening in June?”

The girls have also been invited to a slew of birthday parties in these 2 months, and it’s been fun for them and rather tiring for me! Kids birthday parties are getting more and more elaborate and/or expensive, I feel quite bad that I totally had such a small simple 1st birthday for LittlerLam last year. And I did tell LittleLam that I’ve had it planning elaborate themed parties for her past 5 birthdays, so this year I’m just going to keep it simple. Or so I say. I think when the time comes I am likely to conjure up something again.

So anyhow, LittleLam got invited to a birthday party at Amazonia, which claims to be the largest indoor playground in Singapore. As I rarely allow her to go to indoor playgrounds (hotbed of diseases, I tell u!), she was soooo excited about the party that she’d keep taking the invite card and staring at the pictures and telling me, “Mummy, I wish the party was today!” weeks before the party. When the day finally arrived, I must say I was a little let down by the size cos I really thought it was going to be spectacular (see, power of marketing). But the giant slide was definitely a hit and even adults could enjoy a ride down quite easily. It’s a little scary for the younger kids, but I think the above-4yo kids were fine.

The big slide and the “amazon-like” theme

The actual celebration was held in one of the party rooms, and the staff handled everything, from food to photography to games. There were even special disco lights in the room!

In the next birthday party we attended, it was a 1-yr-old boy’s Dinosaur themed party which was the total opposite of the Amazonia one. Doing it commercially requires very little leg- (& arm & mind)- work, but a lot of money. Doing a party at home requires less money, but a lot more effort, time and planning! So it was with the Dino party where the whole extended family helped the Mom to cook, bake and decorate. The whole party was so well thought through, from ideas for food, playareas for the kids and babies and even baby food provided! And the best thing, the boy’s grandmother even sewed a bunch of dinosaur tails as doorgifts for the kids! Here are the girls playing with the tails, and check out the cute Dino homemade cake:

How to make a car out of a box

Littlelam’s school holiday project this term was for to make a craft related to the theme of vehicles. Our first attempt over the Dec season was to use small boxes and turn them into little vehicles like cars and buses, but because everything was too rectangular, the whole fleet started looking like weird buses. Besides, we never got round to creating the base ie: the roads and city. So we sort of gave up halfway. And I forgot all about it.

Fast forward to the 1st day of school. I realize too late that she has yet to complete a project, and I have a brainwave! My neighbor walks by my door about to chuck an old cardboard box into the recycling bin, and I quickly ask her for it instead. And here’s what we did with it:

Sporty baby!

Now that my wordpress app is working properly again, I can happily post pics and blog more often- short and sweet posts, that is.

Since I hardly have any time to write down and nicely scrapbook about LittlerLam’s development and milestones like I did for her big sister, i guess using this blog for quick notes would be better than nothing at all!

This little one is already 10months old and is crawling and climbing everywhere! Besides loving to stand up by holding on to the edge of her big sister’s table, she also loves to play on her sister’s old toys- the Jumperoo and the rocking moose: