Revolving stars

 H celebrated his birthday at the new school, Blossom Blissparkle Centre. Due to Covid, we bought cupcakes for his classmates so that there is no need to share and reduce the chance of contracting the virus. Yes, I know it's a bit too much but it's better to be safe than sorry. We were impressed and touched by the school's efforts. H got a very pretty handmade card from the school which captured all his classmates' names and some pictures of how the celebration went, since parents were not allowed in school.  We did another 2 rounds of celebration with the immediate family members, both my parents and the in laws side. I hope that he would love his time at this new school :D

 H has been enrolled in Sunflower Preschool @ Clementi for about 2 - 3 months now. As I was not able to find much information about this preschool when I enrolled him, I would like to share my experience and opinion so that parents are able to have an informed choice. *Disclaimer: I am not paid for this review* Sunflower Preschool @ Clementi is located at Clementi Ave 3, near to the Phoon Huat shop, if you are familiar with the place. It takes up the space of a full shop, with 1st and 2nd level. Level 1 is reserved for IFC while 2nd level is for PG to K2. The CC is quite small and I think there are not probably not more than 25 - 30 kids from infants to K2. Do note that this may change as the centre is now under the POP scheme and their school fees are comparable to Sparkletots and MFS (actually cheaper because the centre is not GST-registered from Jan 2021.) As H is only in IFC, I can only review for the IFC portion. Pros: Low teacher -student ratio - When I first enrolled H in, t...

H officially enters toddler stage! He will be entering infant care from Nov 2020 onward as my parents' health do not allow for them to continue taking care of him. He is proving to be a handful as he tries to climb anywhere and everywhere all the time.  With this active kid, I'm super grateful that he is growing well and there were not much mishaps, except for the time when he was rushed to A&E after falling off the bed. His Developmental Milestones Started cruising at 10 months Doing mixed crawling - belly and classic Standing independently for about 5 - 10 seconds Walking 1-2 steps before falling Using his legs to come off the bed (sometimes still need to remind) Saying baba and mama Holding a toy and redirecting it to where he wants it to go Roll and throw a ball

  Time Activity Remarks 8am 1 st milk feed 180ml 8.30am Shower time   9am Free play   10am Breakfast Usually cereal and fruits 10.30am Morning walk   11am 1 st nap   1pm Free play   1.30pm Lunch Porridge with fish, meat and veg 2pm Free play   4pm 2 nd milk feed 180ml 4.30pm 2 nd nap   6pm Reading time   6.30pm Evening walk   7pm Dinner Porridge with fish, meat and veg 8pm Shower   8.30pm 3rd milk feed  240ml 9pm Sleep    

Being a FTM, I find myself worrying about every single thing that H does. One thing that I struggle with everyday is his exposure to digital devices. It is a growing trend for parents to expose their kids to digital devices. Personally, I think it's too young to start kids on digital devices as they get addicted to them. I see those kids who have their faces stuck to the Ipads or phones even during meal times and i worry for their eyesight.  To be honest, I totally understand the urge to let H watch videos, especially when I'm tired after work and he is creating a havoc in the house. I admit that sometimes I give in and just let him watch a little on TV (youtube videos) in my parent's house.  But, on better days, I try to read with him or to him, depending on how you look at it. The key difference is that digital devices do not require parental involvement but reading and playing with H requires a lot of effort. Just getting him to be still and listen is a huge chore in its...

Having a child is a costly affair. My dear baby cost me about $20k just for the delivery and hospital fee. I was quite taken aback by the cost even though there were some $$ allocated to new parents aka baby bonus. And I wasn't even staying in a single bedded room! After such a deep hole in our pocket, we strived to keep our budget and cost for Hunter down.  Below are the 10 things that we did: 1) Hand-me-downs You would be surprised by the number of hand-me-downs you can get if you just open your mouth. I have gotten tons of items of neighbours, friends and relatives. And mind you, they are not just any old items. They can be pretty new clothes that were worn once or maybe even new ones!  In this category, toys, strollers, bassinets and clothes are best as baby outgrows them quickly. 2) Carousell I do a lot of shopping on Carousell. I believe in zero waste parenting and I want my kid to understand the consequences of overbuying. If we can play a part by reducing waste, why no...

I did an unthinkable thing, which is to head over to JB for confinement. When I first suggested that, everyone around me warned me against it. They cited the lack of healthcare should I or Hunter is unwell and the inconvenience caused by the distance. I wasn't deterred and pushed forward with it and I didn't have any regrets. I enjoyed my time there tremendously and would go back there again if not for my insistence that I would not have a second kid. All that being said, there are definitely some cons but they are minor issues in my opinion. An unassuming front  Pros: Amazing food As everyone knows, food in JB tastes better and the confinement centre is no exception. 5 meals are provided a day with unlimited milo and biscuits should you be hungry. (Trust me, breastfeeding is hungry business). The timings are 9am (breakfast), 12pm (lunch), 3pm (teabreak), 6pm (dinner) and 9pm(supper). As you can see, I was really well taken care of in the food department when I was there. Huge ...