Singing Toddler

I was thinking about this post on 28 November after toddler E's 3rd birthday. 

He's started singing to himself these days. Usually at bedtime, sometimes with nonsensical lyrics and sometimes he sings the theme songs to the cartoons he watches like Doc McStuffins or Sophia the First.

Cute and silly at the same time.

Although lately he's been on a Kamen Rider binge the past few weeks due to both me and the husband being down with a horrible cough / cold and only back to feeling 100% healthy a week ago so we've been lax in our TV management. It's especially tough keeping E entertained when both parents feel like zombie extras from The Walking Dead so he's been getting a ton of Kamen Rider videos, songs and toys. 

I felt like it was some sort of cruel joke that a virus / bacteria that's kept me and the husband sick for almost a week only kept E out of action for 1 day.

ONE DAY.

E was sick and lethargic (which meant earlier nap and less demands) for all of 1 day. After that he was sick but recovering so he was back to bouncing off the walls albeit with a constantly running nose when the husband and I could barely put one foot in front of the other.

No matter. We are all back to health now and that's the important thing!

Death and Toddler E

We have a neighbour auntie whom E calls 'po po'. He sees her a lot because our backyards share a wall with grilles and she spends a lot of time hanging out laundry and pottering around back there.

She had a bad fall at home and passed away while we were in Vietnam visiting my brother in October 2013, the husband texted me the news. I was worried about how toddler E would handle the news as he knew her quite well and remembers her.

We came back to Singapore and the next time we were in the backyard (the kitchen stove is outdoors by the backyard and toddler E insists on making his own scrambled eggs for breakfast so it was inevitable that he would notice 'po po' was not around). He asked me where 'po po' was and I just told him she's not here any more. 

He seemed satisfied with that answer. I guess I have a couple more years to come up with a more detailed explanation on death and loss of life.

Dancing with Tua Teo-Kong

I'm really grateful that toddler E has a chance to get to know my uncle who helped raise me.

My aunt passed away before I started dating the husband and she never got a chance to meet toddler E. I'd like to think that she knows all about him from where ever she is now and is looking down and chuckling at toddler E's antics.

21 October

Wave your hands in the air

Boogie on down

Run away!

Pretty good dancing for a 79 year old man and an almost 3 year old toddler!

Magic Trick for Lucky

Toddler E was teaching Lucky (auntie W's dog) a magic trick the other day.

20 September

Hold the wand like this

Wave it like this

Magic!

Lucky did not seem very impressed though!

Baking with Thoughtful Parenting

Whenever there's a chance, I take toddler E to playgroups organised by fellow moms which are informal and lots of fun. It's also more budget friendly for us as each session can range between $7 - $25 and there's no pressure to buy a package.

I found Thoughtful Parenting and we've attended several different sessions involving arts & crafts, learning to read and baking.

Toddler E really liked the baking. Everything is set up on the floor (covered by protective plastic sheets) which is great for kids and less worry about toddler E falling off a stool if trying to cook at the regular kitchen counter.

20 September

Slicing bananas

Mixing in the peanut butter

Adding wet ingredients to the flour

Om nom nom!

We made peanut butter & oatmeal drop cookies that had mashed bananas mixed in. Yum!

Mid-Autumn Festival 2013

The Mid-Autumn Festival is known as 'Lantern Festival' in my (not very Chinese) family. According to my very Hokkien husband, 'Lantern Festival' is not the right name for it. Oops.

Toddler E was quite excited to play with lanterns. We went old school with paper lanterns lit with a small candle and a wooden chopstick for the carrying handle.

19 September

In the driveway

I think the camera flash was on

Hello Adam!

The third play in the PLAYtime! series is Hello Adam!

Hello Adam! is a show about movement, toddler E's favourite thing to do! Kids were allowed on-stage before the show started and toddler E was making the most of it by doing his Kamen Rider moves on stage.

4 November

Looking around

After much coaxing, a somewhat decent photo

Playing with the props

Pose!

I did not take many pictures while the show was on because toddler E was really getting into the rhythm of things by dancing & jumping around along with the actors so I was busy making sure he did not jump into the kids around him.

Check out the photo gallery from the PLAYtime! website instead!