I Feel Redundant at the Zoo :)

DD trying to read the Zoo map

DS and DD discussing where to go next

And off they go, with DD trying to navigate with the help of the map!

Maybe soon, I'll be able to drop them off at the zoo and go have afternoon tea with some friends! Haha.

June School Holidays! Monday, 28 May.

OK, I give up. I could not finish blogging about the March school holidays before the June holidays started. Oh, how I wish there were 72 hours in a day!!! Oh well, nevermind, we shall look ahead and blog about the ...drumroll please ... June school holidays! This being DS's first year in primary school, he was pleasantly surprised to find out 2 weeks ago that the June holidays would be 4 weeks long! Yay!

We celebrated the first day of the June school holidays by going to the Singapore Zoo. We have been to the zoo more than 10 times since DS was born, about 2-3 times a year in recent years and I think we've still not done all the activities nor seen all the animals. We would probably go more often if the Zoo was closer to our home!

One of the first few animals we saw was the White-faced Saki monkey. I'm always amazed at how these monkeys and some other animals do not need to be caged. Yet they stay in the trees and not jump on some human being trying to snap a picture of them! I didn't bring a camera to the Zoo this time and this shot was taken using my iPhone 4. The monkey was barely 1.5m away from me.

Another animal found near the entrance to the zoo is the otter. We usually don't go around the enclosure to see the otters underwater, but today, we did just that. Look at how cute the otters are swimming underwater!

The Singapore Zoo has 2 white tigers and every time we visit the tigers, one would be pacing back and forth, and another would be sleeping. I'm wondering if it's the same tiger pacing back and forth. It sure does look hungry as it eyes the visitors looking at it from the opposite side!

Animal feeding! DS's favorite activity at the zoo! Today, he got to feed the giraffes and the white rhinos for the first time. Look how long the tongue of the giraffe is! A giraffe's tongue is about 45-50cm long. Another interesting fact is that the number of bones in the neck of a giraffe is the same as that of a human being (7!), even though a giraffe has such a long neck.

Look at the giraffes curling the tip of their tongue to get the piece of carrot stick DS is holding. DS later told me that he enjoyed getting his hand covered in the giraffe's saliva while he was feeding them!

A picture taken from afar showing how tall the giraffes are. I think it's really ingenious that the platform was built to allow visitors to be able to feed the giraffes.

This is the first time we watched the Animal Friends Show at the zoo. The show goes on for half hour and the kids really enjoyed it! Guinea pigs, cats and dogs were featured and children get to pet the dogs at the end of the show.

Petting the dogs after the show. :)

Ah Meng memorial to remember our beloved Ah-Meng, the orang utan.

DS feeding the white rhinos. The white rhinos' nose and mouth were dripping wet with mucous. I was so worried that one might sneeze or snort and DS will be covered in mucous! Haha! DS later told me that he could feel the strong "suction" created by the rhinos' mouth as it was trying to suck the fruit from DS's hand.

And finally, this is actually a video of the back view of the pygmy hippos. I found it interesting to see the fish eating dead skin and other deposits off the back of the pygmy hippo.

School Holidays - Monday (12th March)!

DS has enjoyed visiting museums ever since DH started bringing him there a few years back. There would be times in the past when DS was home and I had to put DD down for her nap. DH had suggested that he brought DS to a museum (DH loves museums!) so that DD would not be distracted by her brother during naptime. I was skeptical the museum would keep DS entertained, but it did!

This time, we brought the kids to The National Museum of Singapore. The kids had a fun time identifying local fruits and animals from the pictures displayed at The William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. DS also spent a very long time in the Singapore History Gallery, looking at the exhibits while listening intently to the audio guide provided. This was the first time he was actually listening to the audio guide while following the exhibits being explained. We think he is more interested now because he has learnt a bit about Singapore's history in school.

We ended the trip with lunch at Novus Cafe, situated in the museum. Our outings are getting longer because we do not need to rush home to put DD down for a noon nap anymore! The cafe served simple, but good, cafe food, and the ambience was great! I can foresee that we'll be back again during the next school holidays!

School Holidays - Sunday (couple time for a change!)

After the kids' playdate with R, we dropped them off at their grandparents' place. DH and I managed to eat a nice lunch together before running some errands. We went to one of our usual haunts, Tampopo Japanese restaurant in Ngee Ann City. The food is good (we see many Japanese eating there, so it should be authentic!), price is reasonable and service is great.

School Holidays - Sunday (11th March)!

This is the first term break school holidays for DS since he started Primary One this year. In Singapore, we have a 1-week break after 10 weeks of school term, then a 4-week break in June, another 1-week break in September, and finally, a 6-week break in November/December.

We started off the holidays by going over to R's home for a playdate. R attended kindergarten together with DS, and R's mum and I have been friends prior to that.

The kids always have a ball of a time playing together. :)

Here was the 1st tooth!

After blogging about DS's 4th tooth that dropped off, I guess I should blog about the more important teeth milestone - the dropping of the first tooth, his lower left incisor!

Well, it happened on 18 April 2011. As his adult tooth had already grown out behind the baby tooth, there wasn't much of a noticeable gap in his teeth after the tooth fell out.

Here's the tooth. DS intends on keeping all his baby teeth, so we have been washing them clean and placing them in a small, transparent container for his viewing pleasure. :)

Here's how he looked after the tooth fell out. Not much of a hole in his teeth since the adult tooth was already almost fully grown out!

4th Tooth for the Tooth Fairy!

Finally, after almost 2 months of being loose but refusing to drop off, two weeks of gum infection due to the loose tooth, and being unable to bite into apples and other hard foods, DS loses his 4th tooth! Yep, it's his right upper incisor that fell off. He's now a happy camper, waiting for his adult tooth to come in.