I have managed to find the toy animals again, this time much cheaper then the high class Scheich ones I bought earlier. The animals come in a few series, like Zoo Babies, Farm animals, Dinosaurs and creepy crawlies, etc. Safari is the brand, and one box of about 12 animals cost $12.90. Not exactly making me chirping cheap cheap cheap, but $1 per figurine compared to $6 for a piece? No complain unless I can find better ones. Though not as well made, it is a sure more affordable.

I got it at a place which I am sure I would never drop by if not because of mother’s day. That’s it, OG (Albert), the department store we associate our mother’s generation with. Hey, it is not that auntie after all (or maybe because I have joined the auntie gang to think like that), and it has a rather big children section where I found the animals.

I am beginning to picture going there again. The husband can enjoy himself at Sim Lim Square without my ultra black black face bothering him (it is in my hate list), while I cross over to OG to kill time. A convenient place which will probably please the two of us.

I also need to go back for more of my favourite LOTTE cream cakes that I happened to find at OG too. A weird section of Korean and Japanese food that was set up in the middle of the children section.

I have dismantled the cot and let the kid sleeps on a mattress beside our bed for about a month. I should have done it earlier to pamper myself with more sleep and rest. It solved many of her sleeping problems, and it compliment night feeding perfectly.

I don’t have to remove her from the cot if she wakes up crying during the night anymore. I don’t need to have her in between us to prevent her from waking up repeatedly. I don’t have to worry about her banging her head against the railings or jamming her hands and legs between them, which won’t hurt her in anyways, but cause her to act up begging for comforting hugs. The mattress provides all the space for her to turn and toss and not hitting anything. No more worries that she would roll off the bed, and no more stiff back resulting from being banished to the border of the bed by the kid.

Transferring myself to her mattress allows me more more sleep. It is already fully automated and integrated into my sleeping subconscious. On the slightest hint of her crying, my body will magically transfers itself down to her mattress. Almost every morning, I woke up trying to recall when I did the move. Such perfect execution that I don’t remember. Too bad for the husband who wakes up and couldn’t find the wife by his side.

Well, we have officially joined the league of parents who sleeps separately. But we also managed to remove the queen who persistently park herself between us night after night.

Amber and Yauyau were having a Cheerios party last Thursday, well, what else can they eat? The carrots were probably too hard for them, the ice cream too sweet. Cecelia happened to be a “la sap” mama just like me, whatever (dry)snack dropped onto the floor will be gathered back into the container again (probably with some dust to spice them up). Or we just let them eat from the floor. She assured me the floor has been vaccumed and mopped, very clean. No worry, I did the same at home, and mopped the floor only before playgroup session, like once or twice a week. So far so good, Yauyau only had diarrhoea once.

Yauyau wasn’t particular happy that day, she was very moody in fact. I think it was because of the unfamiliar environment, and the strange people she met there. Amber’s grandma and great grandma are the strangest people in the world, there are tall, big size, grey haired, golden haired, trying to speak to Yauyau in weird English. I think she was terrified of those peculiar looking Caucasian old folks and started crying whenever she was near them. Thank goodness they weren’t offended by my baby’s behaviour.

I was thinking of a vacation to Europe in July, if she is going to be so afraid of caucasian old folks, then it will be a big headache to me.

My two boxes of Cheerios should be awaiting for me under lock and high security now. Little Ryan, the big size heavy weight boxing champion, shall be the bouncer and send suspicious character to Pluto if any ever tries to get near them.

The Cheerios are up on shelves again! My informant number one, my friend the holy father Glenn, sent me an sms at around 5pm last evening with an urgent classified tip-off that they were sighted at Cold Storage Jelita, and even provided me the number to call up for reservation. I didn’t call to make order, I thought I might make a trip there instead (I have a problem with telephone; I don’t like to make phone calls, too shy lah).

Then informant numbers two, Dory the blur fish with partial amnesia, sms me at around 8pm, also informing me of Cheerios sighting at Jelita. As Ryan was agreeable to allow the Cheerios boxes settling down in his shopping cart, my tedious hunt for the snack finally ended happily.

This morning, Cookiedough the….. disillusioned teacher (?) and now probably a happy cookie baker, also dropped me a comment that Cheerios is available at Cold Storage Gourmet 6th Ave.

Many thanks for all the people who so enthusiastically provided me intelligence on the Cheerios; it was really getting a little bit like a guerrilla warfare. Those who emailed me privately about this matter, thanks a million too!

And please don’t throw Cheerios at me if you happened to read about my desperation for it, bought one out of curiosity and thinks that it is overrated.

It is playgroup session again. Shall I say it was bad business? Because only I turned up at the hosting family in the end. The others were unable to be around due to one reason or another; sickness, vacation, busy….and probably travel distance.

It got me a little worried initially. Have the moms lost their initial interest in forming this weekly play session thing? Are the following sessions going to see fewer and fewer mommies and kids? Or is our playgroup session too unstructured, unconstructive or not educational enough to attract mommies to stay with us.

Those were just my usual attack of worries. Although we have just started the group for barely 3 months, I think the moms in the group shared similar expectations, that is to meet up for socialisation and interaction for ourselves, and for our children. Don’t have to incorporate learning opportunities into everything, including playing, all the time, right!? Different playgroup serve different objectives or vision, I hope ours will remain one that focus more on fun, socialisation and bonding.

So even though we see only two mommies and two kids from the usual group, we have met our purpose. Cecelia lives in a lovely estate, such a nice place to visit. I had a good time just lazing there, though Yauyau was extremely, hopelessly cranky and fussy.

I have bought one of those big plastic boxes to dump all Yauyau’s toys a few months ago. The living room was getting messier as her collection of toys increases. She doesn’t own that many toys, though compared to our deprived younger days, it is still considered a lot. Most of her toys were the non electronic types, and usually comes in a big package of an assortment of smaller toys, which she loves throwing all over the house. It is perhaps her favourite activity.

I discovered that it is really not a good idea having big toy boxes. The box actually kept the toys out of her reach. Unless she digs into the box and pull out the toys, most of the toys will not be able to see daylight again. Only the toys lucky enough to be on the upper layer receive attention from the kid. The box has served us well to keep the living room’s tidiness in check; but it denies the toys of their primary purpose, which is to allow the child to play with. No point having toys when the child couldn’t play with it, so perhaps it is time for me to empty the toys from the box.

The same goes for her favourite books. Her favourite set happened to be non board books. I have no wish to see the books torn and tattered, so I have them kept in drawers and only take them out when I am going to read to her. They are her favourites, how can I keep them away from her? Ever since I took them out of the drawer and leave them around the house, she has been fetching the books to me for a quick story session or simply leaf through the pages herself. The books are in a pathetic condition now, but I think they should be happy books living a worthy booklife.

So it will be open concept for book shelves and smaller containers for toys to allow easy access to books and toys.

We were at Sakae Sushi today. The girl was not with us, we left her at the grandfather home. If she was to tag along, we wouldn’t be able to have a slow, relax, peaceful, stress free meal. It is always a common sight seeing parents fighting with the kids for cutleries and utensils, eating with one hand while pressing the kid down his seat with the other, and sometimes employing the legs to trap the kid too. What a battle ground! And it gets worse when the angry child starts to cry and irritates everyone else.

It requires planning to bring the kid along for meals at restaurants. It always has to be a late lunch or late dinner. The child has to be fed before I can leave home without worries that she will go hungry later, and of course, a hungry kid is always a cranky one. I don’t want to bring a thermos out, it takes up too much space in my small bag. I have seen parents passing baby jar food to the waitresses for warming up and they were always very happy to assist. There are kid’s menu offered in many family restaurants nowadays, but will there ever be a baby’s menu in future?

All I need is some salt, sugar and MSG free, bland and mushy food. The kid can take chawanmushi or udon, how I wish there will be a special version of them for babies without the seasonings. When I have meals at some Chinese restaurants, how convenient it would be if there is special porridge for babies that sweetened naturally. Maybe some healthy low sugar muffin, toast, pudding or overcooked pasta?