One day, Tristan took it upon himself to rid traces of tissue on the floor by picking them up and depositing them into the rubbish bin.
Flabbergasted by his sudden civic mindedness, we did what any proud parents would do.
We applauded. (And secretly thanked the heavens he wasn’t picking things out of the bin instead.)
Soon after, used diapers got thrown into the bins with deadly accuraccy. Marvelling at his cleverness, we cheered every time the little guy contributed to keeping the home spick and span.
We must have done something right because, then, other things started appearing in the bin:
1. Unopened bottle of drink
2. Unused packet of green tea
3. Toys
4. Fridge magnets
5. Stray receipts
6. Ball
I’m pretty sure this will all seem hilarious to us twenty years from now when the entire family sits down together to reminisce about times long past, but right now, Tristan’s misplaced civic mindedness reminds us that the line between rubbish and plaything is a lot finer in the eyes of a 15 month old toddler, lol.
I mentioned an excursion to the zoo some time back, with Tristan being excited by the goats at the petting area.
The guy simply couldn’t wait to get down to start touching them.
Our friend saw some other kids feeding him with some leaves and wanted to do the same, so I thought I’d better teach him to do it properly lest his fingers became goat nibbles as well:
After which, it was time for a rest and a much needed drink.
*suck suck*
Perhaps some ice cream too?
AHHhhhhhhh...
More on the ice cream another day, hehe.
If only he’d be this enthusiastic about his regular food. Sigh.
A large, angry bumblebee was spotted attacking a stack of newspapers somewhere in Punggol Central, having escaped its holding room.
*buzz buzz*
This yet-to-be-identified species of bumblebee is aggressive towards newpapers and magazines, and is inexplicably fixated by vitamin bottles and packets of cold green tea.
BumbleBee Plots His Next Move
It is not aggressive to humans and will respond to offers of ice cold Yakult and/or Ribena. It may not have the sting that is typical of bumblebees, but its natural expulsions of gas is a force to contend with.
Bee Needs To Pee
Should this bumblebee be encountered, the use of said vitamin bottles will distract it long enough for authorities to easily recapture it and restore newspaper and magazine order to coffee tables everywhere.
So, Synn and I decided to take our own monkey to visit his cousins at the Zoo last week:
Look At Me! First Time At The Zoo!!
For the most part, the animal exhibits were pretty boring, I’d have to say.
Tristan himself wasn’t too enamoured of the various animals. We’d point out the animals to him with lots of fanfare, but his reactions were always various degrees of nonchalance.
There were ostriches,
Can We Eat Those?
and orang utans,
Uncanny Resemblance
and zebras, among others.
But we were always met with his trademark poker face.
We didn’t have a chance to catch any of the animal shows, and as luck would have it, the water playground was under maintenance.
While I’ve never been a big fan of the zoo (animal exhibits are non-interactive, shows are spaced too far apart, rides are expensive, etc), the main reason we were there was for the kids petting area. We thought Tristan would appreciate some furries around his size.
And rightly so.
We managed to get more grins and laughs out of this small petting area than we did the entire park. Although, he did manage to terrorize a particular brown rabbit while trying his darndest to make friends with it.
Wabbeets!
And while we may be imagining it, but Synn and I could have sworn we hear him say ‘Rabbee’ more than a few times. Also, since he’s come home from the zoo, he’s been better friends with his stuffed rabbit, too.
Oh. Not to mention some guinea pigs as well. Everytime Tristan tried to make friends, they’d squeak in protest, which made him excited, which made him want to pet it even more, which made them squeak even more, which…you get the idea.
Can I Ride Him? Can I? Can I?
And he really enjoyed checking out the ponies.
But it wasn’t until he met the goats that he really went wild:
But that’s a whole other story for another post. *grin*
1. Regular diapers, when brought for a swim, expand to 4 times their original size, and weigh about the same as a baby elephant.
2. The stroller, which is meant for transporting him, is now meant for transporting groceries. With him doing the transporting, and Daddy doing the navigating.
3. Cold packets of drink are great as toys. Once they are warmed up, they are great for stepping on because they can go squishy.
4. Vitamin bottles make better rattles than regular rattles.
5. Watering cans can double as a mini rain shower.
6. Ice cream is the world’s greatest invention.
7. So are milkshakes.
8. Daddy’s statues display cabinet is fair game now.
9. So are Daddy’s statues.
10. Escalators are an endless source of entertainment. Some go up, some come down. Brilliant!
So, over the weekend, Synn and I took the little guy out for some fun at the Marina Barrage.
It opened some time ago, but we decided against going there too soon, because we wanted the novelty to wear off and the crowds to thin before bringing him there.
As usual, we had lunch before the real fun began. Although, our little friend got started early with a strawberry milkshake treat.
*Suck Suck*
We spent some time at Level 3 where people were flying kites:
I Wonder What's In That Picnic Basket
But Tristan seemed more interested in checking out the various picnic baskets people had around the grounds. Synn and I decided it was probably in everyone’s interest that the mysterious items meant to stay within picnic baskets maintained their status quo, so we beat a hasty retreat from that area.
I think one of the coolest features of the Marina Barrage, though, is the Water Playground. I might be mistaken, but this is probably the only Water Playground in Singapore. The other water fountains I’ve seen kids play in don’t seem to have been put there specifically as a playground, but this Water Playground is really something else.
We enjoyed the fountains,
Do Not Disturb: Egg Laying In Progress
Why Doesn't My Bath Tub At Home Do This?!
Disliked the sprinklers,
I Wonder What That Is...
Argh!!! It's In My Eyes!!! Run Away Run Away!!!
And checked out the chicks.
Woah...
And to top it all off, we enjoyed some ice cream of the roadside kiosk variety, but no pictures of those because the three of us were too busy stuffing our faces with it, lol.
All in all, I’d say it was a fun event, and the only thing I’m sorry about was having to haul him out of that playground against his very audible protests. More trips to this fun place are definitely on the cards, hehe.
Note to self: Normal diapers when brought for a swim expand to nearly 4 times their original size, and weigh almost as much as a baby elephant does.
If you don’t already know about Michael Jackson’s passing, you were probably off holidaying on some other planet and just returned.
While I haven’t really been much of a fan of his later work, I did grow up watching a healthy dose of his earlier MTVs and remember being completely amazed at the dance routines.
In the days after his passing, many were reminiscing the various hits he released, and one of the most popular ones mentioned had to be Thriller.
But…not for me. (And Synn. Apparently zombies scare her, lol, the scaredy cat.)
What really left an impression was Smooth Criminal:
Watching this over and over again just made me think about how modern MTVs featuring the Justin Timberlakes and Britney Spears and whathaveyous of the new generation simply don’t create dance routines as cool as the ones MJ did.
I guess, in a way, my generation has lost the Elvis equivalent of our parents’ generation.
One day, Tristan is going to ask me who Michael Jackson was, and when that day comes, I’m going to sit him down at the computer and show him how cool he was.
@mrbrown I want a holiday from mrbrown cos my wife and I need a reason to get away from our terrorist 2yr old, otherwise we'd never go on 1. 15 hours ago
