Thomas the Train

Conventional Wisdom - Trains are for boys. Dolls are for girls. Girls attend Home Econs, Boys go for Technical.

New Age Wisdom - Boys and Girls go for both Home Econs and Technical.

Ok... the above is a bunch of excuses to buy a train set for Zoe. She saw one in a shop in Taka and kept playing with it. So we brought her to Taka to buy a set of Thomas the train! (~$35)

She really liked it... posing with the train set...

The train runs on batteries and it is fun just to see it go round and round... even when tired...

Looking boyish sitting in the tracks...

She also knows how to toggle the switch to make the train go in big or smaller rings...

A random picture...


We also brought Zoe to the Taka mooncake fair and she had fun trying many different sorts of mooncakes.... and oh... she likes durian!

Eating Out..

We had challenges bringing Zoe when we are eating out. Previously, it was like 10% chance of success. She will get bored of sitting down and want to walk around or get distracted by things around. Now its more 50-50.

Saturday, we went to Ichiban Sushi in AMK for dinner... and ordered a "Football" Kids meal for her...

It was fairly successful. She liked the fries, jelly and Yakult. She didn't want to try the chicken, gyoza and sausage.

But we manage to sit through the entire meal without having to leave our seats to walk her around. So I think it is a success!

Bubbles!

Bubbles are high ROI. A visit to Royce's Gym costs $15/hr. Bird Park and Zoos cost >$15 and they require travel. Bubbles are <$1 and provide kids with an hour of endless fun and you can do it at your void deck.

Zoe had always been a HUGE fan of bubbles. When she was younger, she loved to chase bubbles. Now that she is older... she loves blowing them as well. (and if Daddy chase the bubbles down, it provides additional entertainment)

Last Saturday we started with a 60¢ bottle of bubble and had 30 mins of fun.

Then she requested for BIG bubbles and we had to dig up an old Toy R Us set. She started pouring the solution from the bottle into the "saucepan" like a chef...

Mix mix mix....


The "ladle" is actually the thing that can make big bubbles....

And there you go! Another hour of fun!

Roti Prata @ Caleb's 1st Birthday Party

Went for Shimin's friend - Christina's boy's first birthday party today. They had a Roti Prata man from Casuarina making Roti Pratas on the spot! Zoe got her first taste of Roti Prata (ok ok, we know it is not exactly nutritious, artery clogging and all) and she loved it!

Well, she still doesn't know how to break it into pieces so it's very much put the whole thing in the mouth.


P.S. They have teh tarik as well and eh... she had a sip and loved it too. Can just picture Father and Daughter sitting in a roti prata shop 15 years later having prata in the morning! :)

National Day at Sembawang Park

There was a book that we were reading for Zoe where the girl builds sandcastles at Sentosa and Zoe has been requesting to build sandcastles...

So we brought her to Sembawang park (somewhere not so crowded). She has this thing about getting sand in her shoes so initially, she didn't really want to get on the sand.

In the end, managed to convinced her to go barefoot... Mummy had to demonstrate how to build a sandcastle..



Then Zoe got into the act...

Getting the hang of it...
Job's done. Dust your hands!


And strike a pose.There is also a childrens playground there with nice bucket seats for toddlers..
Mummy and Zoe had fun at the swings!

Polliwogs

Shimin found another Gym near East Coast Park. Seems quite popular called Polliwogs.

The nice thing is that is has a chill area for adults where coffee and tea are complimentary. There are 2 ball pits which Zoe obviously enjoys...
And there's this thing that Zoe likes to climb up...

The top of the world feeling is.... indescribable. And now for the obstacle course...squeezing through punching bags...

Climbing over boulders....Crawling through dungeons...
You guys joining me???and Mummy joins in the fun...

Jumbo Crayons

Zoe loves to draw and the last time, we bought her some standard crayons but she breaks those easily because they are fairly thin...

We noticed that her school has some fairly thick crayons which the brand "Penguin" which are thicker and more suitable for toddlers but could not find them.

However, we managed to find a box of Jumbo Crayons from Crayola. They are thicker than even the Penguin brand and the colors are much brighter.

It is now a very good distraction... give her the crayons and a piece of paper and she can be by herself for a while...

Artist at work...fully focused....
What do you think of my work so far? Nice right?
And now... in full groove...
One thing good that she picked up from school is that once she is done with the crayons, she will pack them up with the papers and return them to the study table.