Squelch Squirch Squelch Squirch

9 Feb

Another school excursion - this time to Sungei Buloh Nature Reserve Park. Unsurprisingly, S.P. was more excited about taking the bus than the visit itself:

Notice those yellow Wellingtons the boy in the background wore? Remind me of the ones I used to have when I was attending kindie. They were kinda popular back then together with the school bags which resembled suit cases (the hard case kind). Now I'm tempted to replicate that look for my 2 sons. Well, nostalgia strikes the old more often.

The park hasn't changed much since the last I visited decades ago. I suppose that means the park has been successful in achieving its goal of preservation. Wish I could show you a photo .. a gentle reminder to my girlfriend who owes me the digital copies of those old photos of years passed. Same covered and well maintained walkways built unobtrusively over swampy grounds, allowing visitors to be close to the natural state of the swamps, without getting any mud on them. Well, almost, for most except one visitor. This was me before I climbed over the fence and jumped onto (or rather sink my feet into) swampy soft mud to retrieve S.P's water bottle which fell from the side pocket of his bag - surely, they could have made the side pockets tighter to secure the bottle.

Y-U-C-K-S!!

This is a photo to capture the mud skippers and not exactly the place where I landed (which thankfully, did not have any water) but just to give you an idea ...

Nice and clean ...

And safely hanging over his neck .. just can't trust mummy anymore ..sigh

Nearly forgot to mention how his classmate, Tyra repeatedly told everyone, "S.P's mummy fell into the mud". That for me, was THE highlight of the trip! "Pray God, please let her forget before we returned to the school," I silently prayed. And the biggest challenge was not the climb up the high platform from the swampy mud. I assure you that the walkway did not look as high above the ground before I made the decision to "rescue the bottle". That was how Tyra's teacher so kindly explained to her that I did not fall into the mud. I really liked the way she put it - gives it a ring of debonair like a gentleman to the rescue of a damsel in distress. The biggest challenge was - NOT to spout any expletives!!!

For the rest of the group whose experience was less eventful, this was the highlight - a monitor lizard in our path at the exit of the park as we were walking towards the carpark:

Remember this game?

9 February

Blow wind blow
Blow what?
Blow all those whose names contain the letter "C"

And Peanut together with some of his friends ran into the centre of the ring.

Blow wind blow
Blow what?
Blow all those wearing pink clothings

And most of the girls ran into the centre of the ring.

Blow wind blow
Blow what?
Blow all those who have ten toes

There was a visible pause amongst all. Don't ask how many or who were counting their toes in their little minds. Then most, with a few who stood still, ran towards the centre.

Don't you miss some of these simple outdoor games we used to play as kids?

Family Treasures

Peanut is fond of drawing and a few times he has surprised me with gifts of what he drew in the day whilst I was at work. Each piece of artwork, needless to say, is much treasured.

Rarely, I'm able to correctly decipher the subject matter, like this piece:

Mostly, they are kind of abstract. But still, I always try to give it my best shot. "Boa constrictor", I confidently said. What do you think it is?

Did I hear you say a map? You are as brilliant as my No. 1.

What you can do with old woollies

This is what I wore to work today - the morning after. A colleague asked, "Is that a new skirt?" It was only then did I realize my skirt had been irreversibly altered; not only had it shrunk in length revealing a new 'frill', it has acquired a new shape - it is no longer semi-flare!! (Wati must have dumped my woollen skirt into the washing machine.)

I better go get that much needed cup of coffee to last me through the working day. It could have been worse, I could have worn it inside out which was what I did with my T-shirt on Sunday for marketing, with all the seams showing and the label sticking out at the side.

Now I have gotten myself a new skirt without spending a cent or even lifting a finger. How's that for saving in a recession? Now you know what to do with your old unwanted woollies. Have fun.

Guess who had Insomia last night

And it wasn't me. Although I do suffer from it from time to time, less often of late. Think I'm finally breaking from the habit of waking up in the middle of the night wide eyed and totally alert for an hour, if I'm lucky, and sometimes lasting for as long as 3 hours. Suspect it was caused by the pattern of having to get up for night feeds, followed by a period when Peanut was being toilet trained and used to get up at 3 am to go to the toilet to relief himself. Toilet training with Sweet Potato was surprisingly straightforward. He has much better bladder control. Plus I am wiser (so not true, but rather stems from a long restrained desire to have quality sleep); he wears his diaper to sleep as a precaution. This by the way is discouraged by some literature I read on toilet training which generally says that the child should be allowed to feel the wetness and discomfort should he failed to hold his liquids. Whoever wrote that should come stay the night with us and observed the morning ritual of a diaper-clad toddler 'dancing' on the bed to hold his bladder, saying, "My wee wee going to come out already" whilst waiting for his still sleepy mum to fully appreciate the dire situation. We rushed to the toilet to pull down his dry diaper and pants in one go, just in time.

Last night, it was Sweet Potato who had sleeping difficulties. So the night went like this:

1.30 to 1.45 - I carried him, rocked him and walked the house to lull him to sleep
1.45 to 2.15 - We watched the school concert on DVD
2.15 to 2.45 - Mr M relieved me and they continued to watch the school concert
2.45 - Sweet Potato climbed into bed with me
3 - S.P went to the toilet, then declared that he was not tired
3 - 3.30 - We watched 'Charlotte's Web'
3.40 - S.P finally fell asleep after drinking his milk

Ah, the privilege of being a parent ...