At Changi Airport

It’s so fun to go to Changi Airport this Christmas. Mickey and Friends’ posters are everywhere and Caden loves it!

In the Lounge

Caden loves a specific noodle (and I love it, too) that I bought near Ii Ani’s house. He ate quite a lot considering that he never wants to eat any kind of noodles before.

We bought 12 of them to Singapore and Caden asked to eat it while we were in the lounge. So there were Daddy and Caden eating noodles together before we take off.

2 Years 2 Months

• Talk (really) a lot!
• Very very attached (beyond imagination) to mommy


• 14.8kg


• 98cm


• Eat once a day (at 5pm)
• Sleep about 12 hours a day
• Very active - run everywhere


• Milk intake about 1000ml/day


• Hate snacks (bread, cookies, etc)


• Start to like French Fries *


• Much more hair


• Imitating people's words and actions


• Loves music

*He knew it from a friend's birthday party. I gave it to him because I thought he won't eat it as usual. But there is something in french fries that attract children so much. I remember one time I was laughing as a bunch of mothers were have to spell the word F.R.I.E.S as their children would ask for one right away and I think I have to becareful, too now!

@ Lollipop's (again)

Sasya was not on the mood of going out yesterday and since I had promise him that he can play in his favorite indoor playground in Jakarta (well, this is the only one that we know actually), we are back to Senayan City again --- without Sasya.

Inside the playground, Caden patiently wait to hop onto his green car. Once he is in it, he stay there for a some time.

We played for about 1 hour then do some grocery shopping then we went home.

Senayan City

Yey… Ii Ani was not working today so she can come and join us for the fun.

We ate our lunch at Sushi Tei, not bad!

Caden finished his third bowl of Chawanmushi in a split second.

At one point, baby Sasya cried so loud. It was the loudest high-pitched cry I ever heard. And because of it, we have to cut short our trip there.

My weirdies encounter at a mall --- I was taking some pictures at the 3rd level (1st picture). While I was trying to make Caden look at the camera and Suster was trying to get a good shoot of us, there was this security guard approached us and told us to stop taking pictures as there was no photography allowed in the mall.

And I was like, HUH??? (2nd picture) and laughed. It was a really weird encounter. I never heard that we are not allowed to take pictures at a mall before.

While we were waiting for the driver to come and pick us up, we took a picture of the 4 of us. Thank God Sasya was sleeping soundly in the end.

Shopping at Carefour

Off we went to Carefour to buy some supplies for us in Jakarta and for our home in Singapore.

[Though we are staying in Singapore, we still use some Indonesian ingredients for our home cook meal]

I like to do grocery shopping in Jakarta because they have this car trolley for shopping. Kids love it! Caden loves it!

The car is the regular Little Tikes car but they closed up the part where kids can push the car forward or backwards with their legs. So the pushing is all handled by the adults.

Christmas ornaments are everywhere (even in Singapore). Can’t believe that it’s almost Christmas again!!

PS: Ii Ani was working, so it was only the three of us (mommy, baby girl, a big boy), and 2 nannies. ^_^

Meeting Sasya...

We made a sudden plan to go to Jakarta today so see Ii Ani and baby Sasya for 5 days.

The plane ride was smooth (although all of us had to wake up really early as we were taking the first flight to Jakarta – at 7.45am).

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But the car ride from Jakarta's Airport to Ii Ani’s house took almost 2 hours (half an hour with no traffic).

Grrrr……I hate Jakarta for the traffic!!!

Fortunately, we met Sasya right away after we arrived. Fell in love with her again. She is getting so much bigger since the last time we saw her in October.

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Caden was trying to be a good big brother right away by showing Sasya which one is dump truck, cement mixer, and digger from his favorite book.

How we wish that we can meet up more often. Caden loves Sasya (in fact all babies) so much…makes me wonder if this is the right time to give him a real brother/sister.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

With a few friends, we went out to watch a few stories from one of a very well known children author, Eric Carle. One of the stories is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, which is known to be his best-known book.

It has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 47 languages and sold over 29 million copies.

Caden used to be afraid of the darkness in a theater. But I had bought him The Very Hungry Caterpillar book from Borders a week before (the one that has the CD with original Eric Carle’s voice).

With those, I made efforts to read it together with Caden three or more times a day.

And it works wondrously!

Throughout the show, Caden keep looking for the Caterpillar which was shown at the very last, after The Mixed-Up Chameleon and Little Clouds.

It was a very nice and interesting show for all of us.

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PS: I hate it for the fact that I forgot to bring my new SLR with me that day!

@ Bottle Tree Park

We went to the Bottle Tree Park today to do some fishing. It was fun. For $10, we were allowed to catch the fishes as long as we want.

In the end, we caught more than 30 fishes. Caden didn’t catch anything, though. Hehe… Suster, who is often catch some fishes back in her home at her village near the sea, caught all of it.

But Caden did help here and there, like throwing back the fishes onto the container that was given. And oh…he did help Suster to catch some fishes, too!! Hehe…

Unfortunately, most of the fishes died when we arrived at home. Caden had been giving the fishes a good shake here and there by bringing it everywhere. Not to mention the ride home in the car and also, there was too much fishes in Caden’s small green tank thus they didn’t get enough oxygen.

Poor fishy… but we did transfer some of the healthy ones to our fish tank at home and they looked very happy in their new home! ^_^

Memorable Zoo Trip

We were planning to go to Jurong Bird Park today but on the way there, Caden suddenly said, “mau (means ‘want’) Zoo”

I was surprised as this was one of the first times that he expressed his feeling to go somewhere. Usually when I said that we are going out to somewhere. He will just keep quiet and follow me anywhere.

Then I continued to ask him, “What are you going to see in the Zoo?”

“hipotamus” (hippopotamus). He replied

“Hippopotamus? And then what else?” I said.

He thought for a moment and said, “Uu aa” (imitating the sound that monkeys make).

I smiled sooo biggg….Caden has gotten to much older in physical and emotionally. He can interact with us so much more. He expresses most of his feelings to us which make him less frustrated in trying to get our attentions to do something for him.

One thing that makes me even happier in this Zoo trip was that, he was willing to hop onto the pony for a short 5 minutes ride. He even let the pony keeper to carry him unto the pony.

Oh my gosh…I was in cloud nine!!! I smiled all the way…calling his name (like a mad mother) to look at the camera so that we can get a good shoot of him on the pony.

[I tried doing the same thing a few months but he was so scared of the pony and he was even more scared when the keeper tried to bring him up onto the pony]

Last but not least, Caden finished 4 small KFC mash potato (with very little gravy of course) today! He loves it so much!

This was one of the most memorable Zoo trip ever. ^_^

PS: Do you see the mosquito patches that on Caden’s t-shirt? Hihi…I usually put as at least 3 patches every time we go to any outdoor activities. I am scared of any related mosquito diseases and plus Caden has allergy reaction with its bite.

When 3 boys are playing...

Caden: "Let's do something special for Nathan on his birthday!"

Noah: "OK!"

Nathan: "Noooooooo.........mommyyy...." (apparently mommy was busy distributing the gifts)

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In the end Nathan was crying and rescued by Auntie Claudia.

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Sorry Nathan!!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

Central Fire Station

We went to Central Fire Station today! Caden was sooooooo happy to see all the fire station in up close and personal.

We can touch it, we can ride it, we can act like we were driving it, we can try out the little fire man outfit + the hat, and many more.

We definitely will come back another time to visit the fire station!

Christmas Party

Today is the last day of Term 4. We were having a party and since Christmas is coming, we celebrated much earlier than the real day!

Caden had fun being a Santa Clause today and mommy had fun seeing him so cute in his Santa outfit.

PS: I must make him wear the outfit often this December cos’ soon it won’t fit his growing body anymore.

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More photos here.

Silly moment...

Caden is talking much more now and oh my gosh!!! He is super talkative! My mom said, he is more talkative than a girl.

He likes to imitate whatever we say and get it at the first time he heard it! Scary! This means, I cannot say anything inappropriate in front of him anymore!

I sometimes told him that he is a “silly boy…” when he is being silly or do something funny!

One day, a few days back when the nanny was being funny (according to him), he said to her, “silly boy, Cus…” (Cus is what he called the nanny with).

We all laugh so hard!!

Free Holiday Program

...by Tante Henny!

We did some painting, dancing, bubble time, cutting, glueing, coloring, etc.

Fun Fun Fun!!!

Thank you, Tante!! Must do this more often!!! =p

Treasuring the time...

Ii Ali now has less and less time to play with Caden. She has many other own things to do and she has her own friends to go out with. But when she is up to play with Caden, Caden will just stick to her like a glue.

Here, he insisted for ii ali (ONLY) to push the cart while we were shopping.

By the way, Caden loves to go (grocery) shopping. When I tell her that we are going shopping, he immediately says, "push push please..." which means he wants so sit and be pushed in the shopping cart .

The story of meal times continues...

Check out the video:

Madagascar Show

This year shows are not as good as last year’s. Maybe is due to the recession that seems to hit every big country in the world.

We went to the Madagascar show at Takashimaya today. And oh my gosh, we were only being entertained by Alex, the Lion and his 2 Penguins best friends who were only dancing for about 10 minutes. THAT’S IT!

No entertainer(s) from overseas and no story whatsoever!

They were only plainly dancing with the “I Love to Move It” song.

The good thing is, they give out Madagascar’s soft toy for the first 30 children at each shows. And Caden received Alex the Lion today! Yey…

Now he keeps saying, “I like to move it move it…” and called Alex “move it move it” hehe…

Passion in Music?

Caden loves to sing and dance. He is seen a lot at school looking at his teacher plays the keyboard or the guitar. At home, he plays musical instruments (guitar, bells, keyboard, etc).

Will he be a musician when he grows up? I am curious to know and definitely will support him all the way if he decided to do so.

PS: This is taken today at English class last day of this term.

Looking back

I still remember the times when my sister and I were young. The memories seems like yesterday, yet it was so long ago.

Now both of us already had a child, and maybe one of us will have another one soon. *Let's see who is first!* ^_^

I never realized how fast time flies until I look at old and new photos of me...

Loving the new camera

Pictures turns out to be really great! Much better than the 'old' non SLR camera (even though it is on my armature hands! I regreted it for not buying it sooner!)

Caden enjoying it as well. Here he was just being silly by playing peek-a-boo while suster was taking the pictures.

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PS: The handyplast was just for fashion. Nothing happened behind it! ^_^ And the bells on his neck was for show-and-tell at school.

With My (Weekend) Daddy

Inside Marutama Ramen. Dinner at 5 pm (Caden's dinner time)

After dinner

Same expressions (taken accidentally) ^_^

Waiting for boats to pass by

Being silly with daddy at the mall

Although daddy only comes home every weekend, which means Caden only meet him on Saturdays and Sundays, Caden always looking forward for his special time with daddy.

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Every Saturday and Sunday mornings, the first thing he would do is wake daddy's up from his never-ever-to-be-enough-of-sleeping and straight off they go for play.

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With tight schedules and lots and lots of work, daddy always have so little sleep on the weekdays but he sacrifices his weekend sleeping too for Caden.

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Caden now is older, he can look for daddy when he couldn't come home on one of the weekends (which does happen sometimes). I think he knows that he is not suppose to meet his dad for 5 days before he get full of dad's attention for 2 days. He never look for his dad on the weekdays, but he sometimes says, "call daddy."

Swimming Lesson?

Should I start him again on a swimming class? Caden used to take classes when he was 6 months old for 2 months. The class became boring after a while and after I know how to handle Caden, I believed I could teach him myself.

But he is much older now. He needs much better training than just from his mom. He is very comfortable near the pool – he can play by himself at the big pool without my present next to him. He can dive and pick a toy at the bottom of the pool (although I still have to push him in and pull him out) and he swim at very short distance by himself.

I wonder if he is still too young for a ‘real’ lesson? My aim is for him to do better with the strokes and the breathing.

He is now in the waitlist at Marsden Swim School. Let see if he get a space for trial and I think I will decide from there.

a date

...followed by a date with Erin.

Uncle Ho

Mommy known him for 10 years already. He is a very nice man that mommy know from church. He is someone that mommy used to bug very often for help.

Thank you for all your help in those years, Uncle! ^-^

Almost the end of the term

It's almost the end of the term. And it's time for us to get the all-together-pictures again.
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There were some new faces and there will be a lot more new faces next year as quite a few of our friends will be going to the drop-off school.

Will misses them a lot but excited to see new friends joining us next year.

My First SLR

After more than 1 year thinking of buying an SLR, I decided to buy one today. The reason for this is that the new Canon 450D is so much lighter that I thought!!!
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REALLY!!
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A friend bought it for the Halloween party last Saturday and I was surprise on how light it is for something that usually so heavy. (I tried a few other brands and this one is the lightest).
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And oh my goshhhh....the photo result was sooo muchh nicer!!!
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I am so happy and can't wait to explore the camera soon. Hope this will bring much more brighter color photos of us.

Skipping Nursery 1

My decision on not sending Caden to a drop-off school next year (ie. keeping him in Julia Gabriel) did not come easy.

When I look at Caden now, I think he is not ready for a classroom based type of school yet, where he has to sit down for (what he will think) a long long time and follow quite a few rules.

He is a very active child. He likes to be free, to do whatever he likes to do at that very moment. He likes to run around everywhere, touching this and that, playing with anything that he feel like playing, and get bored easily soon after that.

I am trying everything in my power to help him focus more on things. But I understand that his personality is not like any other quiet, introvert kind of child. He is very outgoing, very friendly, and very extrovert. Making him to sit down for a long time would be like torturing him.

I am afraid that if I send him to a drop-off school next year, he would get scolded often by the teacher for not sitting down and for not following rules. When that happens, I am sure his self-esteem will be affected, which is the very least thing that I want him to experience.

Until he can follow some rules and directions, until I know how to handle him more, until he can sit down and do some work for a while, I will just keep him in a very close proximity to me. I am not going to let anyone do the necessary disciplinary on Caden for my sake.

I hope by mid of next year, he is ready for a drop-off school. If not, then we’re just going to stay here at Julia Gabriel until the end of next year.