Lunch at one of the Wineries

Great weather!!! But the food was bad! We need Asian food...!!! ^_^

@ Cuddly Farm Animals

We went to check out a local farm nearby called Cuddly Farm Animal. [Thanks again for GPS, or else, we would not find it]

We had fun there, especially Caden, whom all along is a city boy. He was very busy patting all the animals there and riding the tractor around the farm.

We all were quite scared when it was time to feed the baby cows. The babies themselves were pretty big and they were very aggressive, they showed it very clearly that they were really hungry.

We were told to keep the bottle in ready position for them to drink, even though it’s empty, because sometimes the calf could kick us, thinking that we don’t want to give them their food.

That was a little scary though. All of us were kept screaming and Caden refused to stand up by himself. I have to carry him and the bottle and keep feeding the calf all at the same time.

But it was fun… ^_^

The Margaret River Chocolate Company

No we are not driving all the way to Margaret River.

.

We went to their branch in Swan Valley. Bought a few chocolates for souvenirs and then continue our journey.

Morning of Day 3

Missing my piano at home….

Pretending to play piano while waiting for Sasya to wake up and get ready for our next adventure journey to the Swan Valley.

AQWA

This place is very similar to Underwater World in Singapore.

Two major differences are they have much more variety of marine animals and the colors of them were much beautiful than the one in Singapore.

We saw the scary big white shark (like the one in the Jaws movie). It was really huge!!!

We went to the touch and see section, too. Caden and I touched and felt the texture of a star fish.

Before headed home, we went around the area for a while.

The whole harbor was extremely quiet with only a few people walked pass us. Maybe it was not holiday season yet?

Hillarys Boat Harbour

Since daddy is headed back home to Singapore, mommy had to drive the mini-van all around Perth by herself.

It’s quite a big car, but I really enjoyed driving it. I had actually been nagging Paul to buy me one in Singapore. My current car seems so small compare to this mini-van.

We rented the car complete with a GPS, therefore, we could almost go anywhere that we want within the island of Australia. It was indeed a life-saver. Without it, we would have been stuck in the hotel all day.

Anyway, after Caden took his 1.5 hrs nap, we headed to Hillarys Boat Harbour. We wanted to check out AQWA (something like Underwater World) and the surrounding area as well.

@ Nao's

How lucky we are to have this well-known Japanese noodle restaurant within 5 minutes walk from our hotel.

Travelling with Caden, who is still a very fussy eater, is difficult. If I couldn’t find udon, chawanmushi (Japanese steamed egg) or Chinese fried rice, then that means he will not eat anything for the day.

He ate quite a lot during our two visits to the restaurant.

Caversham Wildlife Park

Today is daddy’s birthday. “Happy Birthday, daddy!!!”

Despite that all of us went home very late last night, we woke up early and went to Caversham Wildlife Park at 8.30am.

[Daddy will headed back to Singapore on a 3pm flight]

It was a relatively small but enjoyable park. All of us had fun there, except daddy with some occasional yawning here and there. ^_^

Caden loved their Kangaroo’s site. It was huge and they had close or maybe more than 100 Kangaroos inside.

There were some big ones, small ones, the one with the Joey inside the pouch, the old one, the hungry one, the timid one, the aggressive one….you name it…

We spent more than half an hour inside.

Then he went to the animal show where they showed us how to cut the lambs wool, how to handle a flock of lambs with the help of a horse and a trained dog.

We were chosen among the few to give some milk to the baby lambs. Caden was a little scared at first, but was fine after a while.

Before we went home, we visited the Koala’s site. We were so disappointed that we couldn’t hold the Koala at this park. So there, we only took some pictures and gently patted the koalas.

It was just in time for us to grab lunch and then send daddy to the airport.

Thank GOD for this Invention

Since I bought this portable DVD player last September, I couldn’t imagine living without this when I am travelling.

When we travelled, I bought it everywhere. To me, it is as important as baby wipes and extra diapers. It is always charged next to my cell phone at night and into the backpack the next morning.

Having a very active and easily bored child like Caden, who always hooked by any DVDs that I show to him, makes my life very dependent on this.

[We never use it when we are back home, though]

This evening, he was a little tired already. It was 7.30pm, passed his bedtime. And the whole reception thing was so boring for him. He was starting to make noises and refused to sit still in his high-chair.

Quickly I took out the DVD player and turned it on.

And…voila….

He was as quite as an ant.

No noise.

Not a single one.

He was sitting still, watching one of his favorite Christian cartoon characters, Hermie and Friends, while I was clapping for the bride and groom to enter the room.

This portable DVD player will always go whenever we travel for sure. It’s the only thing that could calm Caden down at whatever situation.

The Wedding

All of us were very glad for this perfect weeding for my cousin.

Our uncle had recently passed away which made a lot of our relatives couldn’t make it for the wedding.

But everything went so well since this morning and the bride looks very beautiful.

Caden attended the reception for a while and then Paul brought the kids (Caden and Sasya) back to the hotel.

I am so glad that we decided to bring the nanny along, so Paul and I could be in the reception, joining the celebration until it ends at 11pm.

The Church

Very beautiful church. Perfect wedding.

The Next Morning...

Started with breakfast at a coffee shop closeby to our hotel in downtown

Went straight to Sasya's room to wake her up and to help her clean her nose afterwards ^_^

A hug for his sister....

Took the last picture before Caden had to head back to his room to wake daddy up, while Sasya took another nap

Arrived in Perth

At last we survived the 6 hours journey. Caden didn’t stop moving around but thanks to his 1.5 hrs nap time and portable dvd player that makes him sit down for a little while.

Caden was in a good shape when we arrived, too excited I should say.

Suster (the Nanny) was very surprised how super small and minimal work done Perth Airport is. Hehe…She compared it with Singapore Changi, she thought as this is Australia, it should be better than Changi.

The picture was taken while Paul (behind) was completing the paper work for the rental car.

We all can’t wait to start our journey to explore Perth tomorrow.

Perth here we come...

---At terminal 3---

Caden was super excited to know that he was going to fly on an airplane!!

When He Turns 3 Years Old

Today, Mark, the swimming instructor saw Caden for the first time. He said indeed that Caden is very advance for his age in swimming, but let’s wait until he is three for the lesson to start.

By that time, Caden would able to listen better.

Caden now able to swim in short distance and take his breath by himself. I am very happy that now he is able to pull his head up himself to catch that breath.

Caden could also swim by himself in the adult pool without any floating device. Of course the nanny should be at the side of the pool to watch him, just in case.

Mark told me too that once Caden starts his swimming lesson, he will feel that swimming is not as fun as before when he will have a great deal of time playing with mommy.

I agree completely, so let’s wait for his 3rd birthday which will come in 4 months time.

[Woww….how time flies…]

Rare Opportunity

At the Singapore Zoo today, Caden, Suster and I were the only one who was on the boat ride to the Rainforest Kids World.

At first, Caden was told that he could be the co-captain today, i.e. he sat next to the captain.

Then half way through the ride, the captain let him drive the MOVING boat for about 10 minutes…

I was a little bit breathless though as I know when kids are driving, the like to spin around the wheel continuously in every direction.

But the captain was guiding Caden carefully and all of us arrived at the other side of the Zoo safe and sound.

I want MOMMY!!!

I wonder if he knew about my 15 days trip to US without him in July. Caden has been acting so strange this past week. He has been asking for Mommy and only MOMMY!!!

[This similar thing happen last year too when I have to leave him for 14 days]

Mommy has to read the stories for him. Mommy has to put him to bed. Mommy has to play with him. Mommy has to strap his shoes (where he can actually strap it himself). And wherever mommy goes, that’s where I will be!!!

Grrr…at the end of the week, this is starting to get annoyinggg…..

One of this most annoying one is, Mommy has to be inside the class with ME! He cried and wailed for it and refused to go to school and change his clothes if I didn’t say ok. Usually I only said, “We’ll see if your teacher allow mommy to be inside the class”

But once he arrived at the class, he smiles, looks happy and when the teacher told him to say good by and kiss me, he did just that with no hesitations.

*Shaking head!!*

Oma's Effort

It’s been a month since Caden ate his one a day meal. For this past one month, he only eats about 1 bowl of porridge/rice in total.

Oma has this new idea that Caden has to be taken to a psychiatrics as she observed that Caden has a phobia to food.

Hehe…

If someone describe him in two word, it will be NOT GREEDY.

Everything that we offer him (except: cheerios and chawanmushi (Japanese steam-egg) and occasionally noodles, fried rice, porridge, and soup), he will say “NO”

From fruit (banana, avocado, apple, grapes) and meat (chicken wings, shredded meat) to snack (plain bread, bread with toppings, ice cream, muffins, chocolate) – all are big NO for him.

He even almost vomited when he sees the adults eating something (like a chicken thigh).

Oma said Caden has a diamond throat that is very sensitive to things.

But don’t get me wrong, Caden can chew alright. He is just being super picky when it comes to food.

In this picture, Oma was trying really hard to make Caden like yogurt. There was some fruits on this yogurt (Oma didn’t buy the plain ones), so when Caden told her that he wanted to try, Oma quickly separated the yogurt with the fruit.

He tried a really tiny bit and vomited because of that. Caden said, “don’t like”! hehe….

Thank you Oma for your effort.

[Although he is not eating, Caden is actually gaining in weight. His milk intake is shoot up close to 1,5lt per day, not including his fresh milk intake which I always give it to him every time he asks]

Private Swimming Lesson Scheduled

I have been observing Caden for a while and I think he needs a swimming lesson to perfected his swimming strokes.

I have been teaching Caden all the time and I am running out of things to teach him. I don’t even know how to start teaching him for the strokes.

We have tried a class at Marsden Swim School, but he gets really bored. It was too easy, he is much too advance for his age in swimming.

Caden is able to pick up things from the bottom of the swimming pool since November last year. And now, while I am still is the one who push him down to the bottom of the pool, he is now able to push his two feet to bring him back up.

He is also able to swim by himself to the shore after he is jumping (by himself) into the pool.

I thought swimming class, where his friends are around, would be fun for him. But after that one trial, I decided to try on a private one instead.

I spoke to Mark, a regular swimming instructor in our condo today. He said he never takes in kids younger than 3.5 years, but he is surprised to hear about Caden’s swim ability as such a young age. He agreed to give Caden a trial next week.

I am so excited to this. Hope Caden like the teacher and hope he will enjoys his lesson as much as he enjoys playing in the pool.

Drop off School Update

On the way back to the class for snack time from washing their hands

Not too badd!!! Caden is doing very well at school. The teachers said he could participate in class quite well and able to listen to instructions.

One weird feedback I had from his English teacher, Hasannah, today is for some reason Caden likes to sit on other kids’ lap????!!!!

I am speechless and didn’t know what to respond. Both Hasannah and I were just laughing about it.

She told me, the kids would sing a song or playing something on the table and Caden would stand up and suddenly sit on one of the kids’ lap … and of course that will make that kid scream so loud….

I really don’t know why he did that often in school. Yes he likes to sit on my or the nanny’s lap, but I never thought he would do the same to kids his age.

Oh well…. This kid of mine has a mind on his own.