Ellery’s Dedication

Ellery was dedicated to the Lord today, and it was quite different from Asher’s dedication.  Ellery was all chirpy and animated before the ceremony, then just as it was about to begin he fell asleep and slept right through it!  Asher, on the other hand, was chatty throughout :)  We then had a post-dedication mini-celebration with Jon’s Dad, JJSB, and Epoh.

Daddy & the boys

Managed to snap a family pic! Asher was actually hiding behind the chairs :)

Hugging before the service started

 

Hmm...Hugging or wrestling?

Excited!

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Of Visits & Arson

Sheila was in town for about a month and Asher had a blast playing with her and talking about all his favourite topics.   It was nice that we could squeeze in a few little outings during her holiday here.  I think he really liked that someone was really listening to what he was saying and following him into his world of imaginative play.  I’ve never seen him take so quickly to someone, and develop a bond so strongly so quickly too. Till today he still mentions her, and says he wants to visit her in London and see the little foxes in her garden :)

Anyway, one of the Saturdays we went for a Lantern Festival celebration together with Sheila, my parents, aunts, my brother and his family.  The highlight of the night was the lantern walk and playing with sparklers.   We realised then that we had little arsonists on our hands.  The minute Asher and Aidan got hold of the sparklers they started to test whether the bushes would catch fire :/  We tried showing them how waving them about created nice patterns, but they still went back to try and recreate the burning bush scene…

Cuddling with Pati

Asher doing some 'fishing' with Sheila

A very oversized t-shirt on a chocolate eating boy. He had gotten his other shirt dirty and the only other shirt we could find in my in-law's place was a shirt Jon's dad had bought for Asher to wear when he's older :)

Arsonists

 

At the Hort Park in their 'house' I think :)

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More Random Pictures

Like Daddy?

Quick picture before boarding the bus

Wheeee!!

Less space for groceries…hmm…

The one in front mouthing things…the one behind cheekily imitating

He’s got the long lashes too… *jealous*

Get readyy…

…then I pounce!

Squish Gor Gor!

Ahhhh!!!

Hmm…what are these white things in Asher’s mouth?

Brothers :)

Peekaboo!

One of those laughy days :)

Eating feet!

Giggly boys

They swopped pants! Asher had stripped Ellery of his pants and put them on.

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Tough Cookie

Tonight we were reading a book which showed the picture of an older brother sharing a last cookie with his younger brother.  The older brother had broken the cookie and given the larger piece to his younger brother.

Me:  If Ellery wanted the last cookie will you share it with him?

Asher:  Yes

Me:  Will you give Ellery the big piece or the small one?

Asher:  The small one because I like seeing him eat the small one so much.

Me:  Oh, but it’s nice to give the big piece.  It shows how much you love him.

[Some elaboration] 

Me:  So will you share the cookie with Ellery?

Asher:  Yes.  I will break it and give Ellery the big piece, and I will give you the small piece…

[feeling proud of my boy for understanding the wonderful concept of sharing and giving more to your brother, and in fact, feeling surprised that he was willing to give up the cookie altogether and not have any]

Asher: …(without pausing) and I will take another big cookie and eat the whole thing by myself.

[I can almost hear the sound of glass breaking] : /

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Boy Cot

Asher wanted to go into the cot one Saturday morning and boys had a good time bumping around in that small space :)

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Party Day

What a busy day!  We hurried from one party to another…3 in total!  First was Hannah’s 1-year picnic at Botanic Gardens, then Austin’s 3rd year party, then over to Jon’s colleague’s place for a Hari Raya celebration.  Only managed to take pics for Austin’s party cos we had left our camera in the car for Hannah’s, and I was too busy chasing Asher at the last.

I think Asher’s favourite party of the day was actually the adult’s party.  Since going to Amazonia he’s prefered to be in quieter surroundings.  After both Hannah’s and Austin’s parties he said there were too many children and it was too noisy (although Hannah’s wasn’t that noisy I thought).  And well, I think I know why he wants quieter surroundings…so that he can make noise!  Oh my goodness.  He made a new friend at that house and the two boys were running all over the place laughing, squeeling, giggling :)  The hosts were genuinely happy to have them running about cos “that’s how kids are”, and they felt the kids should be free to do as they please.  But of course me and the other father were following the tots around to make sure they didn’t knock anything over, etc.

Overall it was a fun day for me, and a tiring day for Jon.  We concluded that packed days energise me, but Jon would much rather be taking it slow at home :)

Jon & a butterfly boy

 

This butterfly like fruit

Cool construction site cake. It really looked appropriately messy and muddy.

Eyeing the cake greedily

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Amazonia

Went to check out Amazonia at Great World City with Sharon, Aidan, Heather and my parents.  It was a Teacher’s Day holiday so the boys had no school.  Asher’s not really the boisterous kind of boy so he was quite happy to play with the trucks that were available at the toddler’s area.  He’s very cautious, so it needed some coaxing to get him to explore the ‘jungle’ playground area.  Coaxing and following.  Gosh…I had Ellery in the Ergo carrier while crawling up and around the playground.  No joke man.  Some sections are really narrow, especially at the higher levels.  I was perspiring by the time we were done!  I had wanted to leave Ellery with my parents at first, but Ellery was going to sleep and Asher was already inside and I couldn’t pull him out without going in myself.  And there was no question of leaving Asher alone to wait while I went to find my parents cos he was already quite anxious and almost immobilised by his anxiety.  Yup…so that’s how it happened.  And Ellery slept through it all.

But the second time we went in I made sure to leave Ellery at the table with my Dad.  Asher didn’t like the long wave slide the first time around as it was quite fast (even for adults you’d feel it’s a little fast) and it was long (a good twenty metres?).  But on the second time around he was better, and said it felt less scary.

Happy with the dump truck and monster truck

I’m unlikely to go back there anytime soon though.  Asher’s not keen on exploring the place on his own and is too young to do that anyway.  When we left he said he didn’t like the place as it was too noisy, there were too many children, and he preferred outdoor playgrounds.  Ahh…boy after his Mummy’s heart.  I too feel outdoor is always the better option!!

But besides the fact that Asher wasn’t entirely loving the playground, I found it expensive!  $20 for 2hrs for under 3s, and $30 for children above 3.  I’m not really a fan of this per-hour charging for play concept.  Poliwogs at least charges per entry.  And anyway, they are just 3 and are quite happy with any old toy, free or otherwise.  And this was evidenced by their reluntance to leave the riding toys outside the movie theatre – and we didn’t even put in any coins to operate the rides!

Lunch time

Free entertainment

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Teacher’s Day

So how Teacher’s Day in Asher’s school works is like this: the teachers rest, the parents take over.  Me and a couple of other mummies planned an adventure for the kids to rescue a raccoon!  We went on a raft, then into some range rovers, over the mountain, and to the hedge where raccoon was stuck.  After the activity, we mummies agreed that it’s amazing how the teachers keep the kids engaged and paying attention all the time by themselves!  There were 3 of us, and we were all over the place trying to get the kids together :)

Ah well, it seems like the kids had fun anyway, and the raccoon was a big hit :)

In their 'range rovers'

Going over the mountain

Getting ready to rescue the raccoon

Raccoon staying out of reach from the kids

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