Daddy's Little Girl

i love this picture of Noelle and her Daddy

This past year has been a good one for Mark and Noelle. I am so glad to see Mark making strides of progress in his relationship with his little girl, something that did not come easy given Mark's hectic work schedule and Noelle's strong attachment to me as primary caregiver.

I believe it all started with us implementing FDDs (father-daughter days) every Saturday, where Mark would have some exclusive time with Noelle without me being around. Mark makes these times really fun for Noelle, with outings to the pool, the beach or different playgrounds in the vicinity. He also plays with Noelle and often fascinates her with the imaginative ways he plays with her toys. Because he is so adept with his hands and enjoys problem solving, any toy that needs fixing goes to Mark aka Mr Fix-It. Even Noelle knows it. When the music in any toy stops working, Noelle will bring the toy to me and say "sound sound?"..."uh oh, spoil"..."Daddy Daddy?"

I really enjoy watching the two of them play, interact and clown around together.

Now, Noelle's choice phrase isn't just "Mummy! Mummy!", its "Mummy! Daddy!". When she wakes in the morning, she expects her daddy to pick her up from her cot. After Mark leaves for work, she asks for "Daddy!" intermittently throughout the day, and looks forward to hearing Daddy's voice and attempting to talk to Daddy over the telephone if he does not come back in time before she goes to bed.

Of late, I have been feeling down and out-of-sorts with being a SAHM (this happens every now and then, though much less this year). Mark surprised me yesterday by taking the morning off to keep us company, something that is such a rarity. I think he knew that I really needed him to be around then. I am so grateful for his presence and his listening ear. I know it was a big sacrifice because he had a mountain of work waiting to be done, and had to work past midnight that day just to clear it before the next day. He gave me the space to simply let out and process what was going on inside, without judging me or attempting to proffer any band-aid type of advice. After just 2 hours of his being around, I felt loads better and was back to my normal self.

I think Mark's unusual presence this weekday morning also made quite an impression on Noelle. When she awoke from her late morning nap, the first words on her lips were "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! .... Yay!" (with hands raised high). She was beaming and ran around the house excitedly looking for her Daddy. She kept asking me "where is he?". I had to bring her downstairs before it sank in that her Daddy was at work and would only be back that night.

For a brief moment, Noelle actually said "boohoo", furrowed her eyebrows and scrunched up her little face, as if to indicate that she was sad that Daddy had left. She broke into a smile though, soon after she spied the slide at the corner and was off again to go sliding up and down. The only time that I have taught her "boohoo" is when we are singing one of the verses of the "if you're happy and you know it" song, which goes like this "if you are sad and you know it, say boohoo" (and i will furrow my eyebrows and scrunch up my face trying to look sad). So whether Noelle was really sad that Daddy had left or whether she had somehow associated his leaving with the song and reacted accordingly, i thought it would be nice for her Daddy to know that he was missed by the both of us when he left for work at noon yesterday.

Water Play at VivoCity

Jets of water shooting up at Noelle

We met up with Elaine and Elijah recently at Vivo City. The toddlers had a great time at the shallow water play area. With the little aluminium pails that Noelle had picked out earlier at Daiso for herself and Elijah, both kids busied themselves with filling and emptying the pails with water.

Elijah posing for the camera while Noelle is too busy with her pail of water to stop

Fascinating other kids with her pail

Noelle went quite crazy with the spouts of water and showed no signs of fear, getting herself all wet and once accidentally choking on the water when she got a full blast in her face. She was beaming and screaming excitedly, and yes it was those high-pitched screams!

After the kiddos got dressed, it was time to head back. We had gallant Elijah escorting Noelle all the way from the 3rd floor water play area to the pick-up point on the 1st floor. Both of them attracted quite a fair bit of attention as they walked about hand in hand. Of course, they took forever to get to the pick-up point.

Being the ever protective father, Mark has always reminded me not to let Noelle hold boys' hands, or have boys hug or kiss her. He has also said that Noelle will not date any guy until she is 25 and provided that he's the One that she's going to marry. Given Noelle's temperament, I seriously doubt that she will comply with her daddy's wishes, however well intended they are. Well, we will be praying for her and will see how that pans out in the future. Suffice to say that any boy who ends up dating Noelle in the future had better be serious and have pure intentions, because Noelle's daddy will be keeping an eye on him.

For now, I have managed to negotiate Mark's restrictions to no hugging or kissing by boys. Holding hands is fine because it is purely innocent at this age with absolutely no mens rea. Besides, its really cute and Noelle will be holding other kids' hands, whether they are girls or boys, in kindergarten.

In this case, to speak a word of defence on Elijah's behalf, it was Noelle who grabbed his hand, and Elijah who followed along happily. Now I'm saying this tongue in cheek, perhaps the person that Mark will have to keep his eye on more, in future, is his own daughter :)

Cat Lover

Noelle is growing into quite an animal lover. For the past 3 months, cats have and continue to hold first place in her heart. She calls them "mao mao" or "meow meow" and will not hesitate to call out to and run after any cat in sight.

We brought her to the East Coast Park one morning and chanced upon a couple feeding the stray cats. There were as many as 7 or 8 cats. As expected, Noelle went quite crazy that morning, running after each cat as they scurried away! Being strays, Noelle understands that she is allowed to look at and not touch these cats.

Whenever we go to Po Po's house every Sunday, Noelle looks forward to her walks with Gong Gong as they go on cat hunts. For awhile now, Noelle has been associating Gong Gong with cats. When she sees him, she calls "Dong Dong" and quickly follows with a "meow meow?"

Cat hunts with Gong Gong usually takes about half and hour, with Noelle being carried pretty much throughout. Despite my dad's arms aching after each session, they always have fun and come back with big grins across their faces. Last weekend, Gong Gong asked Noelle "how many cats did you see?" when they got back and Noelle replied brightly "threeee" (while attempting to hold up 3 fingers).

My sister said jokingly soon after, perhaps Noelle would like to be a vet when she grows up.

Hayao Miyazaki

Noelle is very fascinated with cartoons. Although its an entire world of make-believe, i read somewhere that below 2 years of age, toddlers are not really able to differentiate between reality and fantasy. So we have not allowed Noelle to watch too much TV. She has thus far been restricted to mainly baby and toddler appropriate vcds/dvds. Movies have also been kept at bay.

Despite this, she still loves watching TV. To her, watching TV means having to load a disc first. Sometimes she manages to get her hands on some of our vcds. She would open the cover, take the disc out and attempt to load it onto the dvd player. It usually ends up in between our dvd and cd player. We have found several other discs in the same place, solving the mystery of her disappearing Winnie the Pooh vcds.

Recently however, i decided to make an exception. Our friend Val had lent us two Hayao Miyazaki cartoons, Ponyo and The Cat Returns. They are in my opinion, the most innocent and childlike of his cartoons. Given that Noelle had just received her final booster jab which had caused some discomfort to her upper thigh (where the jab was) such that she could not walk and was quite out of sorts because of it, I decided to allow Noelle to watch The Cat Returns with me. I told her that we would watch Ponyo on another day. Noelle sat through the entire movie with me, fixated and occasionally pointing out the different animals in the movie as they appeared. When the movie came to an end, Noelle danced to the catchy tune of the closing credits and asked "more? more?". Never mind that the entire movie was in Japanese, she clearly enjoyed it, because the next day, she asked for "meow meow", pointing to both dvd cases sitting on the shelf. When i handed them to her, she looked at the pictures at the back and pointed out the various characters she could identify.

A few days later, when I told her that we were going to watch Ponyo, she broke into a big smile, put up her hands and said "yay!" She remembered.

For a Hayao Miyazaki fan like me, this is simply great! Now I have company, and someone who is just as interested. Perhaps when Noelle is older, we can learn and speak some Japanese together. Ah, that would be a dream come true for me :)

Sitting By Mummy's Bedside

Noelle sitting quietly and looking on as Mummy sleeps

Now that I am into my second trimester, my body is adapting to the changes in hormone levels brought about by the pregnancy and returning to normal. My energy levels are stabilising and frequent migraine headaches are becoming a thing of the past. Woohoo!

Its been such a trying first trimester and i feel most for Noelle, as she has had to adapt to an always-sleeping-Mummy on an almost daily basis. That meant significantly less outings and playtime with Mummy. Often, I would find Noelle looking for me, only to find me in bed yet again. She would tug at my hand, call me repeatedly and say "up up!"

On one of the Saturdays when Mark was around, he saw Noelle coming over to my bedside again. After telling her that Mummy was sick and needed to rest, Noelle stopped calling out for me. Instead, she brought her chairs from the living room and arranged them by my bedside in a fairly straight line of course. She then took her wombat and doll and placed them by my pillow (she usually has a soft toy by her pillow too when she sleeps), while sitting her teddy bear and herself down on each chair (see picture above).

According to Mark's eyewitness account and as captured by the above picture, Noelle then started to "pray" with her hands clasped and head bowed, ending it with an "Amen!" She then sat quietly for awhile by my bedside, no easy task for her. Really makes me appreciate her and the bond that we share.

Now that I'm feeling much better, i am spending as much time as possible with Noelle. Part of it is because i know that she has been missing me alot during this time and the other is my realisation that she is growing up so quickly (she will turn 2 years old in 3 months' time!) and that my time with her will be divided when no.2 comes along next year.

I really appreciate being able to stay home and devote most of my time to Noelle since she was born. It has been so rewarding to see her grow, develop and form strong attachments first with me, then her Daddy and now moving to the wider family circle of her Po-Po and both Yi-Yis. With each new experience of a new place or of meeting new people, I see Noelle stepping out confidently and further each time, with no qualms of saying bye to me to head off in another direction which has captured her curiosity and interest. Once done though, she returns happily to hold my hand and usually hugs me in greeting. So sweet.

Waiting with determination for "Winnie the Pooh" to come on

Mark told me recently: "How ah? I can't stop thinking about Noelle...even when i'm at work!" He quickly added that he thought of me at the same time too. I told him not to worry lah, as I think about Noelle fondly all the time too, even when I see her throughout the day!

This little girl has, in so many ways, with her ready smile and laughter, quirks and antics, stolen our hearts :)

cheese!

Little House

We bought a tent from Ikea for Noelle recently and boy was she pleased with it! After Mark set it up, Noelle got busy making it a cosy home. It was a hive of activity as Noelle carried our cushions, her soft toys and her kitchen set into the tent.

She had also arranged her chairs in front of the tent and placed her doll and wombat on each chair, as if to allow them to watch everything that was happening.

Before long however, she decided that the chairs had to go into the tent as well. No more spectators, everyone and every piece of furniture that she could lay her hands on was going into the tent!

Finally, a very satisfied Noelle sitting down among her soft toys in her new makeshift little home. For $12 a piece, the tent is a great investment.

Besides the tent, Noelle is also very interested in miniature houses. At the doctor's office the other day, she sat on my lap quietly playing with his toy house for almost the entire consultation, before she was given her jab. At the principal's office too, she spied a castle bigger than her on the very top of the shelf, pointed to it excitedly and said "house house!" Interesting to see the kinds of toys that Noelle is attracted to, they are usually miniature versions of what we have in the adult world.

Pretend Play

Noelle sitting on her swim float and pretending that she is rowing a boat

Noelle is very much into pretend play nowadays. Its fun to watch her play, as she turns her toys and various household items into a world of make-believe. I'm not sure if she deliberately sets out to do so. It could be that she interacts with these items simply out of curiosity and in the process of exploration, discovers that they can actually be used for other things.

Take the swim float for example. Noelle has been pulling it out of its corner and sitting on it since she was 15 months old. It has only been recently where she would bob up and down on it gleefully and say "boat boat" as she sits on it.

The umbrellas stacked at the corner of my room have also been turned into a large makeshift tent big enough for her to crawl in and out. She takes them out, slides the plastic cover down and pulls open the velcro strap. She would then attempt to press the knob so that the umbrella would spring open. I usually help her at this point as she struggles to press down the button hard enough for the umbrella to open.

Tada! My umbrella tent

Noelle and her new bear

Noelle and her new favourite Jellycats "bear bear"

We have managed to wean Noelle off her favourite dog which she calls a bear. It now sits in second place after her Jellycats bear, bought by her Yi yi from the UK. We had to do this "heartless" deed because her soft toy was shedding fur and I would find her after her naps and in the mornings, with fluff on her lips, eyelids and hair. Not a good thing to happen given her sensitivity to dust and the like.

I am glad to report that Noelle has taken very well to her new soft toy and particularly enjoys doing stuff with it. She enjoys sitting her bears on chairs arranged in a relatively straight line, and is quite particular about this. The bears also have to "sit up" on the chair. She will re-arrange them if she finds them sloppily seated!

I was amused to find her "praying" with her "bear bear" one day, holding its hands together like we do hers, attempting to close its eyes and ending with an "amen!" Looks like whatever we do with her has been making quite an impression, as we see some of these everyday actions and activities being replayed by Noelle and her soft toys. Its such a joy to be able to witness this :)

Royals Cafe

Its funny how after having kids, we frequent places that we never used to go as a couple without kids. Any eating venues will be considered not as much based on food quality or ambience, but on whether they provide high chairs, have kids' corners or adjoining playgrounds so Noelle can run around safely once she is done with her food. Family outings typically include areas with wide open spaces (for an active toddler to run around and explore), and preferably with a playground or water play area.

We went to one such cafe with a neat little play corner for kids. We met Val and Shan Shan there for breakfast. The girls were amply occupied and we mums could enjoy catching up over breakfast.

Enjoying the play area and each other's company

Sharing a cup of mixed berries ice-cream

Sticking her tongue out after licking the ice-cream off her spoon

Trip to the Zoo

It's been ages since we've been to the zoo and I've been puzzled by all my friends who have this carpark label that says "Friends of the Zoo" (I think that was sometime ago). Who would want to be a Friend of the Zoo? I mean, how often can you actually go there to see the animals? I had vague recollections of going on school trips in primary school, under the sweltering heat and didn't remember that it was particularly interesting.

"Wait till you have kids", my friends used to tell me, "the zoo will be your best friend".

Not wanting to miss out on a good thing, we finally brought Noelle to the zoo when she was about 18 months old, together with our friend Elaine and her two boys.

Wow! The zoo's really changed. It's really well-organised and very tourist-friendly. Very much like many of the well-packaged attractions we've visited overseas. The first thing we did was to get the Radio Flyer Pathfinder Wagon. It's a really spiffy red wagon that seats 2 kids and let's you stash a whole load of stuff. Noelle and Ethan happily sat in it while Jon opted to stay in the pram.

the intrepid explorers ready for a day of activity

Off we went. The day started at about 9, and we were thinking we would get out of there before the midday sun hit us. We started with the otters, then the beautiful white tigers and started working our way towards the kids world. I think Angelyn got a pretty good workout pulling the two kids in the wagon, and we pulled over for ice-cream just to cool down the mums.

you guys weigh as much as a hippo!

that's it, i need some ice-cream

Noelle seemed to recognise some of the animals because they were in her favourite "Poppy and Max" book- tigers, kangaroos, flamingos, giraffes. There were also many strange ones that she couldn't quite make out- like mongooses, warthogs, baboons and polar bears. I think her favourite exhibit that day was the cow- yes the one outside Ben&Jerry's. She had a whale of a time bouncing up and down on it and cracking up all by herself.

noelle's favourite exhibit

Jon showing Noelle the white mice

Fortunately, she was asleep when we reached kids world so she didn't get to see the ser-ious-ly-huge water play area. We didn't bring her swim stuff and she would have been very disappointed if she were awake. She's probably a tad under-aged to be running around with the much older kids. I think the giant bucket of water would have swept her away each time the bell rang. Ethan went pretty crazy in the water park.

this would have washed noelle away

ethan having a splashing good time

She got a chance to feed the kangaroos and gave it a good pat.

feeding time

That's about it for the day. We didn't get out till about 3pm and we were very pooped by then. I think we had only covered about half of the zoo though.

lots of work for the mums

I now understand why people become Friends of the Zoo. It's an effortless way to spend a day and to keep the kids entertained and off your back for a while. Interacting with nature and with all the animals is also a better way to spend an afternoon then vegging at home. Pity it's a little far from home. Noelle's still a bit young to really appreciate many of the things that she saw, but I guess we will be making a trip back again when she's older. Maybe we can consider being Friends.

mums and babes

dad and babe