my neglected boo

on the morning after the in laws left, the first thing boo did when he woke up was to look for his grandparents in their room. he had sent them off to the airport the day before so he knew that they won't be there but he still went to look for them in case they are there. he's normally very chirpy first thing in the morning but not that morning.  when he came into our room, he was not chirpy at all. he told me he couldn't find gung gung and his eyes started to tear up. it breaks my heart to know how sad he must have felt when he opened their room door to find an empty room. 

the in laws have been coming and going every couple of months since boo was born and every time they left,  he's been fine. we've always told him they've gone on holiday and he's never asked for them once they are gone.

this time around because i've been busy with Charlotte,  he had spent more time with them. for the passed three months,  grandpa has been taking him to daycare and taking him home after. every other day grandpa would take him to the shops to buy lollies, toys,  ice cream and his favourite kinder surprise. 

Bec at daycare spoke to me the other day about her observations of boo's behavior. she asked me if there's been any changes at home because boo's behaviour has changed from a happy little boy who listens and participate in group activities to not listening, getting upset easily and not participating in group activities. i told her his grandparents went away two weekends ago and Bec figured that could be the reason why he's acting up. she's commented he's very sensitive to change and they will help him get through this rough period.  

i feel so guilty as i haven't been able to give boo the attention he needs since Charlotte was born. it was fine when the in laws were here but i think he really felt the neglect once they are gone. so last week, i've been taking him to the shops after daycare. sometimes we would hang out at the toys section at target for a little bit so he could check out the new toys,  sometimes i would buy him a kinder surprise as a treat and last Friday,  i decided to take him to yogurberry for some frozen yogurt. he was very excited when i told him where we're going after i picked him up from daycare. i hope he'll get through this rough period soon and be back to his happy little self again in daycare.

my cheeky boo

my little boo is so neglected these days. whilst he still goes to daycare four days a week and Jim tries to spend as much time as he can with him, he is often left on his own to play with his Legos and his cars. he watches too much TV and spend too much time with the iPad. my Instagram used to be all about him but there less and less posts about him and more and more posts about his little sister. even this blog has been taken over by his little sister. so today i thought i'd write a post about some of the things he's saying these days because they are quite funny and i have no idea where he learnt these lines from. 

so far, he's proven to us that he is quite a caring and protective brother. when Charlotte cries, he will get up to her, give her a pat and say to her, 'Charlotte don't cry, gor gor (big brother) is here' or sometimes he would say 'calm down Charlotte, it's ok Charlotte' and before he goes to bed, he would give her a cuddle and say to her 'good night Charlotte my little sister'. i like how he has accepted Charlotte into the family and he has not shown any signs of jealousy. i hope i haven't spoken too soon.  

when he sees me having a cookie and he would like some too, he would say to me 'i don't have something in my mouth' and open his mouth wide to hint to me that he would like some cookies too.

he has been very understanding of the fact that when i'm busy with Charlotte, i won't be able to play with him and he needs to play by himself but every now and then, he would come up to me and tell me 'mummy i need you, come with me, come play car/Lego with me'. and when we are playing, he would put on his thinking face with his index finger on his chin and he would say 'i have an idea' or 'let me think about it'. it's hilarious.  

as he's been spending so much time watching tv, he has watched all three Toy's Story movies including the shorts which he found on youtube. he knows the name of most of the characters and his favourite character is Buzz lightyear. when he's playing with his buzz lightyear toy, he would say 'to infinity and beyond' and he also like to say to Jim and i, 'i'm buzz lightyear, daddy is woody and mummy is Jessie'. and whenever he wants to watch the shorts, he would say, 'i wanna watch shortcut'. the grandparents don't understand him but lucky we do. 

this boo is too funny. his cheeky little personality is coming through more and sometimes i wish he would be less shy and be his cheeky little self in front of others too. 

just mummy and boo and bump #2

a couple weeks ago, i got Jim to take some photos of boo and me and baby bump #2. i had some bump photos taken when i was pregnant with boo and i wanted some photos of me with bump #2 too. i'm actually not very keen of taking photos when i'm pregnant because i don't look my best. i feel like the size of a house, i look tired and i have double chins and my face is rounder than a full moon. but i also realised the round face and the double chins are all part of the experience of being pregnant and expecting a child is such a magical experience. even though i may not look as good as i did on my wedding day, what i look like when i'm pregnant is still worth documenting. 

not only do i want to have  photos of me with my 37 weeks bump, i also want some photos of me and boo when he is still the only child. when he is still the centre of my universe. when i can still give him my undivided attention and all of my love. 

at first i suggested to Jim that we take these photos at Centennial Park but Jim had a better idea. he suggested that we take these photos at home to make it seem more real. i'm quite happy with what we managed to achieve. 

are you my best friend?

that's the question i get asked over and over again everyday. 

few weeks ago, mummy can only be boo's best friend because everyone can only have one best friend. mummy can't be daddy's best friend because mummy is boo's best friend. 

then when gung gung and mama first got back, gung gung became boo's best friend and all of a sudden, mummy can be daddy's best friend. but that changed very quickly, in a matter of days, gung gung is not boo's best friend anymore so mummy became boo's best friend again. for a few days, i tried to explain to him that i can be boo's best friend and daddy's best friend too so now, mummy, daddy and Joby are all boo's best friend. amazing how his little mind works. 

this little boo of mine is definitely not so little anymore. he is going to be a big brother soon. in a matter of weeks, he is not going to be the only child. he will not be getting 100% of his mummy and daddy's attention anymore. he will be sharing his parents love with another baby.

i was going through the videos i took of him on my iPhone. some taken when he was just weeks old. one of them was when he was 4 months old where he stayed up past his bed time , the crazy hormones kicked in and he couldn't stop laughing. one of them was of him splashing water happily in his little bath tub and another one when he first started walking. i can't believe all these videos were taken at least 18 months ago. the little baby who woke me up three times a night during the first few months of his life, the little baby who needed his mummy to do everything for him is now a little boy. he could do a lot of things by himself, he can listen and follow instructions and i'm hoping he'll be my little helper when the baby comes. 

i wonder what question i'll get asked next once he gets over his current favourite of "are you my best friend?"

Sydney Aquarium and Sydney Winter Festival

two weekends ago we finally got off our lazy bum and took boo to the Sydney Aquarium.  it was a sunny day except it was a little bit windy.

we parked our car close to Jim's work and on our way to the aquarium,  we stopped by the Sydney Winter Festival and did a quick look-see. Jim was right when he said we won't be able to spend a morning/an afternoon there. it was still early when we got there so the place wasn't crowded yet but there wasn't many or i should say any activity suitable for boo. so we decided to take some photos and made our way to the aquarium.

boo was quite excited when we first got there. as Jim lined up to sort out our pre booked tickets, he spotted a giant shark statue and he was very curious. he got even more excited when we told him we'll get to meet the octonauts soon.

it was really dark in the aquarium so it wasn't easy to take photos and we didn't take many. nevertheless, we got to see different sea animals. not only did we see shark eggs for the first time, we also got to touch one. boo was a bit hesitant when it comes to touching the shark egg or the sea cucumber but he loved watching the sharks swim around us as we walked down the shark tunnel like section.

the part boo enjoyed most at the aquarium was meeting kwazii the pirate cat from octonauts. when he first saw kwazii, he was a little hesitant to get close to him to take a photo but Jim went with him and he was happy. he was even happier when we bought the printed photo of him with daddy and kwazii.

by the time we finish checking out the whole place,  it was almost lunch time. we bought two photos of us from the souvenirs shop (yep, we're suckers for touristy photos) and headed off for some fish and chips.

steam train rides

a warm and sunny day was forecasted last Saturday. there are a few activities we have in mind for boo. we could visit the Sydney Aquarium, check out the Sydney Winter Festival, take an hour drive out of Sydney for some mandarin picking at an orchard or go catch the steam trains run by the Sydney Live Steam Locomotive Society. we opted for the steam train as it is only open from 1:30pm to 4:30pm every third saturday of the month and if we missed it this month, we'd have to wait for next month and who knows if the weather will be nice. 

this is actually not our first visit. we have previously been here back in the Easter long weekend with some friends. both Jim and i had the wrong footwear on so we couldn't go on any rides with boo. lucky he was happy to go with the other kids and their parents. 

there are three miniature railways that offer rides on miniature steam trains. we got there about half past three and the place is packed. everyone was making the most of the glorious weather to be outdoor. the queues to the three train lines were quite long. each of these railways offer different route and scene. some longer than the others and some goes over a miniature bridge. we picked the shortest queue and within ten minutes, boo and Jim got on the miniature train. they have two miniature trains for each railway so the queue moved fairly quickly. boo didn't mind the queue so they went on all the three railways.

this weekend, we're going to the Sydney Aquarium.

today you are two and a half

to my boo boo bear, today you are two and a half

_ you are talking more and more and we can now have proper conversations. some of your pronunciations are still not very clear (to outsiders) but daddy and mummy can understand you just fine. 

_ you love playing with cars and your favourite at the moment is Lightning McQueen. you watch bits and pieces of the movie pretty much every day. you are so familiar with the movie that you can remember some of the lines. we probably let you watch too much tv. 

_ we've just been away in Malaysia for two weeks and you make me so proud on our eight hour flight on the plane. while you didn't napped as long as we have hoped for, you were a dream to travel with. you were not bothered by being confined to your seats, you did not cry or whinge one bit throughout the entire flight there and back. daddy was quite exhausted keeping you entertained though. 

_ you are slowly getting better at managing your anger at daycare. after a few biting incidents, i've had to remind you every morning that you cannot bite other kids. bribing you with the iPad seems to work. it's funny when the first thing you say to me when you see me in the afternoon is "mummy i no biting, i good boy, i play iPad"? 

_ you moved to your big boy room last month and so far you've been quite good. i was worried we might have to train you to sleep by yourself again when we come back from our holiday but you're fine. it's like you can differentiate when we are holiday and when we are home. 

_ nowadays, you like to do some of the things going up the stairs, getting in and out of the car seat and taking your clothes off for bath time. you would say to me "mummy you no touch me, i help myself". i'm not looking forward to the day when you don't need me anymore._ mummy is going to miss the one on one time we have left before your little brother/sister arrives. 

Featherdale wildlife park

as part of our plan to do more with boo before baby #2 arrives, we took him to Featherdale wildlife park. Jim scored a good deal on scoopon, instead of the usual $29 per ticket, we paid $28 for all our tickets (entrance for boo is free). 

the park started off pretty good. as we walked in, we were greeted with wallabies and we got to feed them too. boo was not keen to get out of his stroller because he doesn't like unpaved ground, especially one covered in animal poos but as we spotted a little joey in its mother's pouch, he was distracted and forgot all about the poos and unpaved ground.  

after that, we got to pet a owl like looking bird which i've forgotten the name followed by a koala. boo was very excited when we got to the wombats enclosure. 

most of the wildlife are Australia natives like the Tasmanian devil, kangaroos, emu, echidnas . there's also a farmyard nursery with bunnies, chickens, pigs, sheeps and guinea pig. as we continued to explore the rest of the park, we realised a lot of the enclosure are repeats of the animals we've seen in the other parts of the part and there are multiple enclosures of the same wildlife. we have only arrived less than an hour ago. 

all in all, i think boo had an enjoyable time at the park. whilst the park is nothing like Taronga Zoo, at least he got to see and learn about most of the native animals. 

next up, we wanna take him to either Taronga Zoo or the Sydney Aquarium.