"Play dough to go"

I just read this from Z Recommends and had to share. It's basically a do-it-yourself play dough recipe that you can pack away with your kid to Grandma's house. Sounds easy enough to do.

See here: http://www.zrecommends.com/detail/play-dough-to-go/

We're Back in Singapore

After a full year of being away, we're finally back in Singapore. Yes, home sweet home! It has been along year, yet it felt like only yesterday that we were frantically packing to leave for Denver and DD was only 8 weeks old. She's now almost 14 months old.

We arrived back in the evening of 8th Oct and haven't stopped doing stuff. There's so much to do and so little time! The day after we got back, we spent most of the day shopping for a washing machine and stocking up our kitchen with bare essentials from NTUC. Yes, our 5 year old lemon of a washing machine (never, ever, buy a Thomson washing machine!!!), which has been repaired 4 times in 5 years finally died while we were away. We finally settled on a Fisher and Paykel top loader which we got for a good deal at $560. In the evening, we made a trip to the airport to fetch our domestic helper, who had a one year "holiday" back in the Philippines while we were away. :P Actually, we are grateful that our helper agreed to come back to work for us and was willing to wait a year for us to return from overseas. I am terribly relieved that I need not train a new domestic helper from scratch.

Today, we spent the morning at the Honda and Toyota showroom looking for the right car to buy. Looks like it'll be a long process since we have not even decided yet whether to get a sedan or a MPV. Or a hybrid car or a conventional car. So, this is going to take us a long time.

Alright, off to do more unpacking while the kids are asleep. It's going to be another long day tomorrow. We'll be going to Mazda and Nissan next.

My 2 Kids and the TV

I couldn't believe what was happening here so I had to take a picture. DD has been able to turn on the TV occasionally using the remote control. DS is seen in this picture, coaching her that the "correct" way to use the remote control is to point it directly at the infra-red sensor on the front of the TV! Unbelieveable right? :P

DD Wearing Shoes

Here's our first picture of DD wearing shoes. Because that was the first time DD actually went out with shoes on. Hehe. DD has been walking steadily recently, so I thought it was time to actually let her go out with shoes on (yes, I'm a lazy mummy and putting on shoes IS an extra step before going out!). Here is DD, all sporty-looking since we were accompanying Papa to the gym in our apartment block. She has on her Isabooties, which I absolutely love as first shoes (DS wore Isabooties as first shoes too) because of its super-thin and barely-there soles. You won't be able to find any sole as thin as Isabooties' soles! :)

What Is DD Doing?

Please don't ask me what DD was doing in this video because I have absolutely no idea. She has been "burrowing" her head into the ground quite a bit these days, especially at night when she's sleepy or trying to fall asleep. I don't remember DS doing that when he was a baby!

Grandpa Trying to Set Some Rules

With DD's increased mobility and our current apartment in Taiwan not being child-proofed at all, DD has been taking the opportunity to wander into her favorite room - the kitchen! Funny how most kids love kitchens. Thankfully, Grandpa has been here to help out. It is now hardly possible to cook AND prevent DD from strolling into the kitchen at all. Here's Grandpa trying to "instruct" DD to stay out of the kitchen. How successful do you think Grandpa was? :P