Baby1 is Going Primary School Soon! (in 4.5 years’ time…) 9 May, 2012
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2.add a comment
Baby1 is going to Primary School, and mummy is suddenly panicky about what to do!
Baby1 is 2 year 3 months old now, and in another 4.5 years, she’s going to Primary School. Let’s ignore the N1, N2, K1 and K2 for the time being – these are not compulsory so I should be able to get a place easily, (I hope!).
Dear1 and Dear2 are not concerned if Baby1 does not enroll into a prestigious Primary School like what most parents are concerned about. Afterall, the both of us came from a humble neighbourhood Primary School just next to our houses. Dear2 proudly recalls herself being the top second student in the school for PSLE result. And both of us eventually graduate from NUS too, Singapore’s top university. So any school for Baby1 which is within walking distance is ok.
But but, with us looking to move house now, the new house’s location is VERY important! Is there any Primary School in the vicinity? It will be nice if the school is a good one, better if it’s prestigious.
And and, what about care of Baby1 after school hours? Will Granny continue to look after her? But Granny is surely not able to coach Baby1 in her homework. Parents and non-parents alike all over are constantly lamenting about how difficult Primary School syllabus has become. Will we be able to provide an answer when Baby1 seeks help from us on her school work, or we will have to resort to googling or desperately asking our friends for help on Facebook? I shudder to think about this.
What about enrichment classes? My little nieces of 4 and 5 years old are already sitting for exams for their dancing class. I’m sure they are attending music and swimming and art and what-have-you classes on Saturdays and Sundays too. But what about us? Mummy and Daddy has been lazy, so it’s either laze in bed on weekends to replenish our much needed rest, or drag ourselves out to somewhere just so Baby1 gets to leave the boring house. Is she missing out on something for her weekends!?
We tell ourselves that we do not want to be mainstream parents – parents who do volunteer work in Schools so that their child gets a higher priority, or parents who spend the whole of their weekends sending their kids to enrichment classes. We want to let Baby1 grow and learn at her own pace, and we want to be able to coach her in her school work rather than let her spend hours in English, Chinese, Maths and Science tuition classes. But when you see all your parent-peers doing exactly what every other parent is doing, you wonder if you are missing out on anything? I keep wondering, and it’s a very scary thought.
Four and a half more years to go. Looks like a long time, but why do I feel so worried about it now….
- Dear2
Barney’s Musical Castle Review 10 April, 2012
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear1, Moving Pictures.add a comment
Earlier this year, we received a brochure from our Maybank Friends and Family card. In it was an early bird 20% discount for the stage performance, Barney’s Musical Castle. We were quite excited and wanted to bring Baby1 to this show. There were 2 motivations leading up to this decision.
Several months earlier, we were having some trouble with Baby1′s bedtime. She was already sleeping through the night. However, the problem was that she liked to stay up late, say 11pm. Our solution was to buy some DVDs with bedtime stories for Baby1 to watch. It would serve 2 purposes. First, to let her learn about the importance of bedtime. Second, as a trigger for bedtime (i.e. once the video ends, it’s time to sleep).
After a brief search, we found this Barney’s bedtime DVD on a spree on Singapore Motherhood Forum and decided to buy it. That was to be Baby1′s first exposure to that purple dinosaur named Barney. And for some reason, she liked it right away. And the bedtime stories worked. We were able to get her into bed at around 9.30-10pm every night.
That was the first motivation, Baby1 liked Barney.
Since Baby1 liked Barney, we were on a lookout for live performances where we could let her see Barney in real life. It happened that United Square was hosting the Barney and friends show over the Christmas period. And so, we brought Baby1 to that show.
There, I perched Baby1 up on my shoulders for about 20 minutes while Barney sang and dance to about 4-5 songs. Baby1 loved it! For the next few days, she would repeatedly tell us about Barney on stage in her own simple language. Come the weekends, she would asked if we’re going to see “big big Barney” again. She really liked it.
That was the second motivation, Baby1 like seeing “big big Barney” in real life.
So when we knew that a Barney stage performance was coming, we decided to bring Baby1 to see it. We had also considered the Disney on Ice show, but Baby1 wasn’t really interested in Disney characters at that point of time.
We bought 2 adult tickets at the second most expensive zone for $68 each. That works out to be 68 x 0.8 = $54.40 per adult after Maybank discount. We went for the 17 March 2012, 5.30pm show at EXPO.
Over the next 2 months, we prep Baby1 up for the show by letting her watch Barney’s Musical Castle on Youtube. It should be a largely similar production. We wanted to let Baby1 be familiar with the songs and the flow of the show. Partly, this was minimize the chances that Baby1 will throw a tantrum when faced with unfamiliarity on the actual day.
Come actual day, we arrived on time and found our seats. We were quite pleased with our seats as it was near the stage and we had a good view. We also bought a Barney t-shirt for Baby1 which she insisted on wearing right away. :)
Now, about the show. There were several key differences compared to the one we saw on Youtube.
- The actors were adults, not children.
- BJ was too tall.
- Several songs were cut.
- The Sign was much smaller.
- The King’s Crown was much too small.
- The costumes for the bunny, fox and bear looks sloppy.
Nevertheless, Baby1 enjoyed herself and she was able to sing along and also dance along to several of the songs.
Overall, I find the production value of the show to be lackluster. The merchandising booths were also understocked – we couldn’t buy a barney soft toy. However, the important thing was that, as a family outing, it was a resounding success! Baby1 really enjoyed the show and she would talk about it for days to come.
Price wise, it was slightly expensive, 2 adult tickets cost a total of $108.80, and we didn’t even buy a ticket for Baby1. When she grows older, she will need her own ticket and that will make it even more costly. We observed that some children were only accompanied by only 1 parent. That makes economic sense. The other parent can simply visit the other exhibits and event at EXPO while waiting for the show to end.
Seats wise, I was glad we bought the seats nearer to the stage. It makes the entire experience much more immersive, especially for Baby1.
On a side note, we met a friend at the show. She was there with her husband and 2 kids, both younger than Baby1. She would go on to attend the Disney show the next day. She commented that the Disney show was much better and that the Barney show was a waste of money. I wonder. I did not attend the Disney show so I am in no position to compare. But I will say that from an adult’s perspective, I will also think that the Barney show is a waste of money. But from a family’s perspective, we had a great time, and it was worth it.
For many things in life, the people who you share it with is often more significant than the event itself.
-Dear1
Fun @ Polliwogs 4 October, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Leisure & Games.2 comments
Following our extravaganza at three indoor playgrounds recently, our family decided to head down to Polliwogs at East Coast Park for an experience too. We managed to chance upon an empty lot at the free carpark, so it was savings-savings for us, heehee…
At registration, the rates had revised from the earlier $6 for 90mins on weekends to $8 for 2 hours. Extension is $5 for every 30 mins, and the attendant made sure that we understood it was still $5 even if we over stayed for a mere 15 mins.
Into Polliwogs, it’s quite impressive. A big lounge area, a small counter that serves foods and drinks (you can collect your free cup of coffee/ tea here too, not bad for $8!) a big area for infants with a slide and a separate ball area. And we have not even went into the big playground yet!!
We let Baby1 play at the infant area for a while first. After a few attempts in various balls area, she is more confident waddling among the balls now. Walk here walk there, climb here climb there, and it’s off to the big kids’ area.
Here, it’s pretty huge with at least 2 slopes to climb up and 2 slides down. We cajoled Baby1 up the big playground, and got her to slide down the slide herself. Woosh!! At 19 months, she’s still a little too young to control her descend lest her small bottom hits the ground with a thud. The acceleration’s too fast for her too, but we are sure that she’ll love the slides when she gets a bit older.
By 1.5 hours, Baby1 was already tired and restless. We quickly have a tour of the outdoor playground which comprises of 1 large inflatable air structure. This is sort of an obstacle course where the older kids climb up the slope, and go through various obstacles, all wobbly filled with air of course.
Paid the $8, put on our shoes, and we were off enjoying the evening breeze at the beach before heading home for dinner and showers.
Polliwogs is fun! It’s big enough to accommodate rowdy toddlers when they are released from whatever birthday parties they were attending in the various functions rooms. 1 child admits 2 adults FOC, so it was a nice family outing for us threesome. Similar to the other indoor playground which we have visited, there seems to be quite a handful of Caucasian kids there too. I like the glass walls of the place which make it bright, though a bit hot too. Finally, free parking (provided you go at the right time)!
Next up, we want to try pitching our tent and our picnic chair. But first, the tent probably needs some cleaning first since it has been ages since we last put it up (hmm… actually just once, LOL).
- Dear2
Fun @ Indoor Playground 11 September, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Learning Training, Sports & Health.1 comment so far
Indoor playgrounds are great places for our little ones. Apart from having a safe (aka soft) avenue for them to learn motor skills through play, climb, run arounds, they are also a great place to learn the first socialisation skills through interaction with other kids. Mummy loves to bring Baby1 to indoor playgrounds!
So far, we’ve only been to three of such. KidsAmaze at Jurong Safra seems to be the largest with the tallest playground with multiple storeys (really!!), but for our 19-month old, this seem to be kinda advance for her yet. We’ve heard of SingKids at Vivocity and T3, but at $18/hr per adult on weekends, it seems a bit extravagant…. There’s also one at (Orchid?) Country Club, but the pictures I’ve seen doesn’t seem very impressive with just 1 tiny ball area.
Let’s talk about those 3 that we’ve been to.
First, parking is free, so plus plus plus points. It’s free entry for kids under 1 year old, and $8 whole day for our 19-month old. Adults go in free, yeah. Among the 3 that we have visited, Fidgets is the largest, with 3/ 4 separate areas including 1 small corner for babies under 12 month. The play area for the older kids is very large, ample space for kids except when the kids are ‘released’ from whatever birthday party they were attending in the function rooms. During this time, you’ve better stay away from the play area until these rowdy bigger children return to their parties.
Go Go Bambini @ Dempsey
Again, parking is free at Dempsey, so horray. $6 for our little ones, and free for us parents. The interior however was very disappointing. First, the staff did not even ask if we want to sanitize our hands. No sanitization for us means none for other parents and kids there too. Hmm… This scores minus points at first impression. Then upon passing the gate, we were unsure if we need to change into socks already.. There were visible shoe prints on the floor, but the play area is just next to it!! Eeks, I don’t want to talk about how someone can walk (shoe or sock, I don’t know) into the toilet which is just round the corner, then go back into the play area.
On the play area, it’s really kinda small and low, and it gets even worse when the kids are released from their party. For a while, we were happily enjoying the exclusiveness to us (it was just us one family there on that Saturday late afternoon), but we had to scramble down to safety when the tods come scrambling up. It was a nightmare to even recall it.
Peekaboo @ Kallang Leisure Park
No free parking at the stadium area, so we put coupons every hourly because we don’t know how long Baby1 will enjoy the place. At $10 per entry, it seems expensive for a play area slightly bigger than that at Go Go Bambini. But despite it’s squeeze, the main playground is fun! Ample of balls in the balls area – that’s what I will really call a Balls Area. There’s even lots of rockers, and a mini slide and a mini swing, a tod-size sink/oven area, and a mini house, all so suitable for our little one. Yeah, truly, until Baby1 reaches 2 when she’s more mobile and confident in running around on her own, big playgrounds and slides don’t attract her as much as these little ones.
Next up, I’ll want to bring Baby1 to Polliwogs at East Coast Park. The parking at ECP is usually horrible at the most popular area where the playground is located, so we’ll see how it goes when we are there.
Have fun!
- Dear2
Baby1′s First Day in School 1 September, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Learning Training.add a comment
It’s 1 September 2011 today, Teacher’s Day, and it’s Baby1′s first day in school!!
At 6am, Baby1 woke up crying for milk. No choice, gotto drag our sleepy bodies up and make milk for her. After that, it was eyes’ wide open and play until we set off for Granny’s house at 7.30, slightly earlier than our usual timings.
In the car, Baby1 fell asleep while Mummy and Daddy were chatting away. Oh no, will she sleep past the 9 o’clock school time? But no choice again, better let her sleep a bit now rather than have her tired later. 15 mins of cat nap and Baby1 was wide awake again, ready to play. Throughout the whole morning, Mummy and Daddy and Granny keep telling her that she’s going to school today and she’s going to play with many Gor Gor and Jie Jie, hee hee…
At 8.35, Baby1 held onto Mummy and Granny’s hand, with Ye Ye walking behind, and we walked all the way to the school premise. The 2 hours Little Learners Playgroup is located in one of the void deck in the RC, a good 10 mins walk from Granny’s house. For the very first time, Baby1 walked all the way on her own without carrying! Good job, baby!
From afar, we saw a few toddlers in the same yellow and blue uniform. The teachers were still inside preparing the class, so every one was just sitting around. To prep Baby1, Mummy and Granny kept showing her “there’s Jie Jie and Gor Gor, later go play with them”. Ye Ye was seated a little behind the void deck, so during the 10 min wait, Baby1 was running between Ye Ye and Mummy, as well as occasionally leaning over Jie Jie’s bottle to see what she was drinking.
At 9, the teachers, set up 2 small chairs at the door and began distributing thermometers. We had already taken ours at home using the specially-bought forehead thermometer. One by one, the students lined up and the teacher began inspecting their tongues, palms and feet with a torch light. We let most of the students go in first, and Baby1 had her turn next. Oh no, Baby1 started to get frightened when the teacher tried to get her to open her mouth. Oh no, will this begin her tantrum-throwing when everything was so-far-so-good until now? The teacher managed to perform a quick inspection and temperature recording and we were off into the room.
Inside, the Gor Gors and Jie Jies were quietly sitting around the tables and playing among themselves. By now, Baby1 was more interested in playing outside, then being inside the room. Luckily, one slightly older Jie Jie came along and began staring at Baby1, probably because she’s a new face. That helps to warm things up a little and Mummy was frantically ushering her to go play with Jie Jie. Soon after, another bigger Jie Jie with an Apple tag on her shirt came along. She take a badge from the box on the table and pinned it to Baby1′s t-shirt. Surprising, Baby1 didn’t protest at all!
Class was almost about to start by now, but Mummy was still worried, will Baby1 cry later when Mummy and Granny leaves the room? But no sooner than this thought, the teachers started to urge the earlier older Jie Jie to come play with Baby1. Supposedly she is the ‘Monitress’ as we have heard from the teacher. Baby1 was led further into the room to mingle with a group of kids, and we only manage to pick her out as she is the shortest and fairest in class. Seeing that she was nicely mingled with the other students, Mummy and Granny quietly sneaked off and the teacher closed the door to start the class.
Granny decided to hang around since we have to pick Baby1 in an hour’s time. The class usuallylasts from 9 to 11am, but the teacher advised an hour’s lesson for the first few lessons until the students gets more familiar. We went to the nearby Community Centre to blow air con, and when we returned 45 mins later, Ye Ye was still sitting outside the class. Hee hee, Ye Ye was worried that Baby1 will cry in class, so he decided to ‘standby’ outside, sounds to me like typical Daddy Dear1. :p
At 10, the door opened and Baby1 was ready to go home carrying her own bag and a paper fish in her hand. And she seemed happy, not at all crying! Horray, seems that Baby1 had an enjoyable time in school today.
Mummy, Granny and Ye Ye walked Baby1 all the way home, stopping at the playground to play a little while.
It was Baby1′s first day in school, and I am glad that it was a happy one. Tomorrow is Teacher’s Day holiday, the whole of next week is School Holidays, the following Monday is Polling Day off-in-lieu, so it’s gonna be some time until her next lesson. Hope the second and third and subsequent lessons turn out well for Baby1 too. :)
- Dear2
Korea 2011 – Baby1 20 August, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Travel & Discovery.add a comment
Dear1 and Dear2 can’t bear not to bring Baby1 along if we go on holidays. 7 days is a long time. What if she misses us during this period? What if she can’t sleep without mummy and daddy around? So, when mummy and daddy goes on a holiday to Korea, Baby1 comes along.
But Baby1 is a fussy baby. At 18 months, she sleeps less and wants to do more things rather than just stay still. And at 10.4kg now, Beco-ing her along is not a light affair anymore. Hence Dear1 decided that this Korea trip will be more free and easy – Dear1 listed down all the possible attractions that we might want to visit, but which day do what, we’ll decide accordingly on the day itself.
First, let’s talk about the flight. We took the bassinet seat for Baby1. Yes, she can sleep better in the bassinet, provided that it is not during take off, landing and when the seat belt sign is on which happens quite frequently. And having the screen right next to the bassinet on the Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight means that we cannot watch any movie during the 6 hours flight, cos we don’t want the flickering screen to disturb her. No movies is fine actually, except that Dear2 don’t dare to sleep either. What if Baby1 gets abducted while I have my eye shut!? I’d better keep an eye on her! So it was taking turns to sleep for Dear1 and Dear2….
Next, on the hotel. Cleanliness and spaciousness is really important, and here I am very pleased with the Ibis Seoul Ambassador hotel which we stayed in. Plenty of storage and table space in the room, and the shower area in the bathroom is spacious enough for Dear1 and Dear2 to comfortably bath Baby1.
Now, on sight-seeing with Baby1. During our Taiwan trip, she slept quite a bit in the Beco as we went sight-seeing on foot. She practically fell asleep everytime we put her in the Beco. We attributed that to the weather being cold, and she was only 1 year old that time. On this trip, she slept quite a bit again. Hmm… Was she bored by the walking? When she woke up, I made sure to let her walk about a bit so that she gets enough circulation and breeze.
Being a fussy girl, Baby1 has never let us eat in peace in restaurants. Usually before the food is even served, she’ll start crawling out of the feeding chair already. This was one big problem that we already foresaw before the trip. To get around this problem, we either (1) take turns to eat while the other parent brings out her to walk, (2) eat while she fell asleep in the Beco. Interestingly, we had some restaurants that have bench-style seats, even with cushions, or the typical floor style in Korean restaurants, so Baby1 was able to have some nice sleep and mummy and daddy enjoy our meals in peace, or (3) eat cup noodles or buy take aways to eat in the hotel. :(
Seoul is a rather baby friendly place, unlike Hong Kong. Here, baby wearing is very prevalent, maybe because some of the pavements are not exactly wheels friendly, and also because there’s so many stairs in the subway stations. Strollers are commonly available for rent in the malls though. We exchanged our passport for free rental of the stroller at COEX Mall and at the N Seould Tower Observatory. At Lotte World, it was rental at 3000 won for an Iglesia. We wanted to rent one at the Baby Fair too, but alas we found out too late, and the queue for the Iglesia was so very long because of overwhelming response.
On taking transport, this again is a headache for our fussy one. She hates being still, so it was MRT once she hits slumberland so that she don’t fuss in the train again. On buses and taxis, pray that the vehicle continue motion, else it was very much “uncle drives” and “almost there” to stop her fuss. Haiz…
Baby1 fell sick on day 5 of our 7 days holiday. We wanted to bring her to see the local doctor, but the nurses can barely understand English to attend to us, much less the doctor. And even if we manage to see the doctor, do we dare to feed her the medicine or allow a jab? So it was a scramble to return to Singapore as soon as we can so that she can see someone familiar. Meanwhile, I had packed 2 pieces of the cool patch (and left the remaining 2 more at home), and a new bottle of paracetamol. This experience taught me to bring all available medication and first aid in preparation, because it was so hard to get that 1 more pack of cool patch because the Koreans in stores can’t speak English!
The flight to and fro was a near disaster too, so one lesson that I’ve learnt is “never take over night flights if you don’t want to chance into wailing babies to disturb your sleep”. Before the plane takes off, Baby1 will usually keep her eyes wide open, be it already 12 midnight, long past her usual bedtime. She can even spot the far away mini playground in the boarding area of T3 while waiting for boarding! We took the experience from the first flight and keep her entertained with stickers from the toy pack provided by SIA. Phew, it was hard to make her keep sticking the stickers on mummy, den on daddy, den on herself and over and over again during the 30min descend. But we made it. :)
We love Baby1. Though she is fussy, but we still love her nonetheless, and it makes all the hard work more worth it when she smiles at us.
- Dear2
Korea 2011 – The Sights 19 August, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear2, Shop till you drop, Travel & Discovery.4 comments
Dear1, Dear2 and Baby1 went on a 1 week trip to Seoul, Korea last week over the National Day holidays. We flew on Sunday, and was supposed to return on the following Sunday for our 7 days free and easy trip, but came back earlier on the Friday overnight flight as Baby1 caught the cold bug there. I shall split our Korea experience over the next few posts, so let’s talk about the sights that we have visited there.
Lotte World
There’s a reason why Lotte World gained numerous awards – it’s really cool!! Big, or I would say, so EXTREMELY big is the interior once you enter. You can’t even see the far end of the building. There are hot air balloons cruising overhead, there’s a huge ice skating rink right in the middle below (though this is not part of Lotte World), there’s lots of kids and families, lots of attractions, and a huge stage on the other far side – all seen when you enter. And we have not even went outside for the outdoor park, and inside the various holes for more attractions, and upstairs where there are more rides and even the Folk Museum outside. Lotte World is simply fun!!
A section of the indoor part of Lotte World, there's also an outdoor part of similar size.
However, do note the limitations for the Passport ticket. This supposedly include all attractions, but excludes Game Attractions and rides which indicates that children under certain age needs to pay.
Gyeongbokgung Palace, Insa Dong and Dongdaemun
On Wednesday, we took subway Line 3 to the palace, and after the 1 hour English guided tour which starts at 11am, it was a short walk to Insa Dong. The palace is huge – really like the mock up we saw at the Folk Museum the day before, except for its real stone paths and sand walks. And no jokes about the stairs, it’s really steep. Insa Dong was lively, and we walked the way to Dongdaemun in the hope of getting some lunch along the way. Surely there must be food from all the shops I see ahead? We walked until our legs nearly gave way before we finally found a Korean food eatery. Luckily for us, Dongdaemun was just round the corner after we finished our meal.
Gyeongbokgung just outside the main entrance where the guard changing ceremony was taking place.
One of the more famous buildings in Insadong, we saw a miniature of this building in the teddy bear museum too.
Inside the Dongdaemun shopping complex.
Dongdaemun is a market, a wholesale market from what we gather. Shops and shops that sell clothes to metal poles to buttons to plastics, all in various shapes and sizes. The Cheonggyecheon Stream runs up here too, so we took the stairs down and strolled along the stream like the other local Koreans. There was a grateful breeze down here where you can hardly hear all the noise and bustle upstairs.
Baseball Match @ Jamsil Sports Complex
We took a cab from our hotel to the stadium. It was the Doosan Bears (home ground) versus some other team. Dear1 says that watching a baseball match is what a Korean packaged tour will never bring you to, so here we were. We spotted 2 Ang Mos buying tickets, and went up to inquire on the ticketing. First, you need to determine which team you are supporting, cos that determines which side you sit. Then you point to the grid and say which seat you want. Paid, and bingo we went searching for the entrance in the huge complex. Before going in, the Koreans will buy a pair of cheering ballons (1000 won each for the reused ones sold illegally outside, 2000 won each for the authentic new ones sold in the stores) and a box meal for the 3 hour match.
Go Doosan Bears @ Jamsil Sports Complex.
The game was exciting, more so becos of the mood and atmosphere. We left at 4 of 9 rounds, and the game ended only at about 11pm while we watched it live in the hotel room. Keke.
Namsangol Hanok Village and Namsan Park
Next morning, we took a subway to the village. Unfortunately on this day, the rain came back again (the typhoon was still looming on Monday when we reached Korea, and cleared the next 2 days after). Hence a brief tour of the village and we were off to Namsan Park on Bus 2. First time taking a Korean public bus, we were very nervous, but off course you’ll just alight when everyone alights on this tour bus. After alighting, what next? Just follow everyone uphill!! It was a steep uphill climb and we reach the bottom of the Observatory very soon.
A glimpse of N Seoul Tower from Namsangol Hanok Village.
Up at the ticketing booth at N Seoul Tower.
The Observatory was just very ‘observatory’. The only familiar landmark we spotted was the Hanok Village which we came from earlier. Then we went to the Teddy Museum. Surprisingly, this museum is very cute indeed with all the animated teddy bears dressed like real people in the familiar palace!
This is the miniature of that familiar building at Insadong which is on display at the Teddy Bear Museum.
Before we descended the park, we made sure that we leave a ‘love lock’ locked there too, just like the Koreans. :)
Namdaemun
From the same bus station, we took Bus 5. This bus stops at Namdaemun (2 stops) and ends at Myeongdong. Ermm… “What if we miss the Namdaemum stop, cos there are 2 stops listed?” Dear1 asked. ”Then we’ll just go right to Myeongdong”, I replied. True enough, the first Namdaemum stop doesn’t look quite like a market we want to go, so we alighted at the next one where some teens got off. This market is quite unlike Dongdaemun; it’s more like the Shilin Night market where there are rows and rows of shops selling clothes and local produce and street food. Interesting!!
Namdaemun feels very much like our local pasar malam and Taiwan's night markets.
Myeongdong
From the market, we took a 1 stop MRT to Myeongdong (we learnt our lesson from Dongdaemun, no more walking please). This market is totally mind-blowing. Soooooooo many people, and its extend is soooooooo very huge. Chinatown in KL, and even Mong Kok seems small compared to this. Definitely a must visit if you are in Seoul!!
Myeongdong shopping district is very large, there are people everywhere.
COEX Mall
On Friday, Baby1 started to feel feverish, and so we packed our bags for the night flight home. On this day, we hang around in COEX Mall for the Baby Fair and Aquarium. Though it requires registration and a 5000 won entrance, the Baby Fair was very impressive judging from the crowd already there at 11am. The Aquarium was more disappointing for its 17000 won entrance fee – it’s small and stuffy, though the interesting use of daily household items as tanks for the fishes makes this aquarium different from the rest we’ve seen.
A very large nursing room inside the exhibition hall of the Baby Fair @ COEX.
Though a short trip, it was really interesting and eye opening for us. I shall talk about the other aspects of the trip again.
- Dear2
Toy Animal Zebra 20 March, 2011
Posted by dear1dear2 in Baby, Dear1, Leisure & Games.1 comment so far
See how enthusiastic Cow & Giraffe are in welcoming Zebra!
You have seen our toy animal giraffe and cow for Baby1. Now, here’s the newest addition to the family, toy animal Zebra! Haha…
Actually, we bought Zebra some time back late 2010, just that I’ve never gotten around to write about it.
We were shopping at Forum @ Orchard and chance upon this Mothercare shop there. Of course, we went in to take a look just to see if there’s anything worth buying. As usual, Dear1 will drag carry Baby1 to the toy section to check out the latest promotion.
Giraffe and Zebra were released as part of the same series, the savanna series I presume, since they’re both savanna animals. However, remember that it isn’t cheap, selling at $29 per piece usual price. That was why we only bought Giraffe back then.
Now, the latest promotion priced Zebra at an attractive $20, that’s 31% off the usual price. Wow, great opportunity to pick up Zebra to add to the collection. Haha… Besides, Baby1 will surely love it since they all so cute and cuddly. :P
And so, after much persuasion (guess who is persuading who…), we bought Zebra at the great discounted price. Yeahhh!
So, do Baby1 really love her cuddly toys. Well… She’s quite neutral about them, and they’re definitely not her favourite toys. Back in the days when she was about 6-10 months, she was only interested in grabbing and biting their tails. During 10-12 months, we brought Cow along for our cruise and Taiwan trips and she enjoy ringing the chime inside Cow. Most recently, she took some fondness in headbutting Giraffe and Zebra. I’ll say she’s growing to like them. Gee…
Dear2 often says that I’m buying toys that I want for myself while masquerading as toys for Baby1 (remember Lego?). Hmm… My reply is, Hahaha… well, if a toy can appeal to both Dear1 and Baby1, isn’t it more worth it?
:P
-Dear1
