ReNe: hanami

For the past two years, we've gone to view the cherry blossoms at High Park. This year was no exception. The sakuras were late this year; for the past two years, they bloomed in late April. It was much easier this time to go down since we've a car, and we've been going down every day for the past three days! On Thursday, they were partially opened and today, they were mostly open. We'd probably go down again on Monday when they're completely open. 

Somei-Yoshino sakura.

Ryan had a lot of fun too. The sakura trees, which were donated by the Japanese government to Toronto in 1959, lines a paved walkway that leads down to Grenadier Pond. There are also more trees on the large grassy patch beside the walkway. Ryan throughly enjoyed himself wandering around, mostly downhill, though he did go off along the beaten dirt paths too. Unfortunately he discovered that going downhill will bring him to the pond, where there's much water and mud and therefore fun to be had! 

He picked up pinecones and twigs and stones, prodded at the acorn caps that had fallen everywhere and dropped odd stuff that he picked up in the cracks of the sakura trees. 

Walking around, gaze focused downwards for the interesting stuff. He wasn't too interested in the sakuras. 

ReNe: weaned!

When I was pregnant, I thought maybe I'll breastfeed for about six months, until his teeth comes in and he would be able to bite. Later, I thought I'll breastfeed for a year, typical among many mothers here in Canada, where maternity leave is a year long. The initial couple of months were difficult, painful and bloody, but it soon became much easier. 

Six months became twelve, and in the end, I fed him for 22 months before I weaned him. That's astounding. Admittedly, after a year and half, I wasn't really supplying much by way of nutrition and he was feeding more from comfort than anything else -- whenever he fell sick, he would reject all solids and only wanted breastmilk. 

I chose to wean him gradually instead of cold turkey. Besides my concern for Ryan, I wanted to wean gradually for my own comfort as well, as I had too many bad memories of blocked ducts. Many many months ago, I realized the problem was first to get Ryan to accept a milk substitute. We tried a few brands of formula (an expensive process) and cow's milk, even goat's milk. It was all futile, until one day Ryan saw another baby drinking from a bottle and displayed some interest. From that little spark of curiosity, it took me a tremendous amount of effort to coax him to drink more and more. When he started in the August of 2010, at 15 months of age, he would only drink 30ml, maybe once or twice a day!  By early November, he would drink over 100ml each time, totalling 300-500ml daily. His taking to formula was quite crucial in weaning. It also helped him gain more weight than he did in the past many months!

The other thing I was worried about when weaning was getting him to sleep, as he often needed to nurse to sleep. Oddly enough, that problem resolved itself with little work on my part -- coinciding with his increased formula intake, he started to sleep better. He started to sleep through the night by October 2010 and he started to go to sleep by himself as well; I simply put him in his crib and close the door! 

At that time, however, I was still breastfeeding him five times a day! Gradually I started to cut down and by late December, I was feeding him two to three times a day. It was very slow going because whenever he fell sick, he would want more breastmilk instead of solids. It was two steps forward, one step back. Strangely enough, at that point in time, my breastmilk supply dropped easily whenever I dropped a feed, and even when he was sick and wanted to feed many times a day, my supply didn't increase rapidly the way it did when he was a few months old and undergoing a growth spurt. I guess my body really was ready to stop breastfeeding.

I was on the verge of weaning him in late January, 2011 (once a day, occasionally skipping a day) when he broke his tooth. Sigh. Once he recovered though, it took a short time to drop the feeds again, and the first week of March, feeding became intermittent. 

On March 5, just a few days shy of his 22 month birthday, I fed him for the last time. It was a Saturday morning and I remember lying there, knowing that would be the last time and feeling rather sad. Since then he has asked for it occasionally, even pleading with a cute "pwease", but I simply hand him a bottle of milk instead. 

ReNe: winter driving

Very quickly after we got our licenses, especially in my case since I got mine in late November, we were confronted with the issue of driving in snow. Most of the time, since we're living in downtown Toronto, winter driving isn't a big problem. There's not much snowfall here and what falls here either melts quickly or gets cleared quickly. There were a series of other minor inconveniences, such as the fact that since the temperature of the underground garage, and hence the car, is about the same as our fridge, gripping the steering wheel with bare hands when we first set off is quite uncomfortable. 

Then we went on a couple of road trips, first to Ottawa and more recently, to Montreal and Quebec City. It seemed as if the minute we get out of Toronto, it started to snow and continued the entire time we were there until we got back. Certainly it snowed every day, and most of the day, while we were in Ottawa and Quebec City, and about half of the days we were in Montreal. (It really highlighted the lack of snow we get in Toronto, or at least in the downtown core.) We don't have winter tires and our car is not a four-wheel drive, and so we were introduced quite bluntly to the perils of winter driving. 

We have ridden motorbikes through monsoons before and are very familiar with the dangers of hydroplaning and low visibility. Now we are in a car -- I'd thought it would be safer. Hardly. It's a different set of dangers all together. When the snowfall is heavy and the snowplows haven't moved in yet, and there's a mixture of snow and slush on the roads, the ABS on our car comes on almost every single time we brake, especially if we're moving at speeds higher than 30kmh. That's a little disconcerting but we got used to it, since it happened so often. Accelerating from rest also had to be done gently, otherwise the wheels would spin. 

What was really unnerving, for me at least, was the way the car would skid slightly from side to side, sometimes even fishtailing. The first time I took a left turn (in North America, that would mean crossing the road with opposing traffic, and hence meant at higher speeds than a right turn), I fishtailed like crazy but fortunately got the car under control after a few seconds. Also fortunately there were no other traffic in the vicinity. However, it wasn't only during turns; sometimes while travelling in a straight line, we could feel the car skid from side to side. 

However, I think a lot of the above problems could be alleviated by winter tires and having a four-wheel drive vehicle -- the province of Quebec actually makes it mandatory for its residents to switch to winter tires in winter. 

Another hazard resulting from all the snow on the roads was that the lane markings would all be covered up. Coupled with the snow banks at the curbs, three- or four-lane roads would often reduce to two- or even one-lane roads. That is all right, since drivers slow down and are generally quite considerate (which reminds me of all experiments of places with no or little traffic rules show traffic flow is actually improved and accident rate is reduced). However, more than once I've turned into a one-way side street, only to realize it was the wrong way because I couldn't see the markings on the road. 

ReNe: quebec city road trip (2/2)

Quebec City Road Trip, 5-11 Feb 2011

Besides the carnival, we also went around Quebec City. We didn't do much, just drove around and admired the snowiness of everything.

Ryan in a park. Actually he wasn't too happy to be trudging through the deep snow and couldn't wait to get back to the car.

Day 7 (11 Feb, Friday)

Fun at the biosphere. Originally built for Expo 67, Environment Canada bought the site in 1990 to turn it into an interactive museum showcasing and exploring the water ecosystems of the Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence River regions.

The geodesic dome, by Richard Buckminster Fuller. Originally an enclosed structure, a fire in 1976 bruned away the building's transparent acrylic bubble but the steel truss structure remained.

View from Mont Royal. The Biodome and 1976 Olympic Stadium is in the distance.

On the way back, we stopped at Montreal for the night and disaster struck. Ryan slipped in the bathtub and shattered his front upper left tooth. Initially we thought a fragment chipped off but by the next morning, we noted with dismay that the tooth had turned greyish and moved down and back. It was a tough decision -- to hurry back to Toronto as planned or to seek immediate dental attention in Montreal. We called our insurance and weighed the likelihood of getting an appointment with a pediatric dentist on Friday afternoon, and decided to look for a dentist in Montreal instead. Turned out that the earliest appointment we could get with a dentist nearby was 2 in the afternoon, an inconvenient time as it meant it would be too late to drive back to Toronto after that, so we got a room at Delta (besides the fact that the room we were staying in really, really sucked, we simply couldn't stay in that room where the accident occurred).

To cut a very long, agonizing story short, the dentist in Montreal basically said she couldn't do anything and that we would have to see a pediatric dentist when we get back to Toronto. In the meantime she prescribed antibiotics for possible infection. When we got back to Toronto the next day, the tooth was getting worse so we went to an emergency dentist, who took an X-ray and then yanked out the loose fragment, which he said was irritating the gum further. On Monday we went to a pediatric dentist and he took another X-ray and said he couldn't do anything as Ryan was too young, and referred us to Sick Children Hospital. We were astonished and aggrieved at that, as he was supposed to be the pediatric specialist; who better to deal with young kids? On Tuesday we went to Sick Children and they pulled out the tooth under local anesthesia; basically in a similar process to any adult extraction except that I had to help hold him down. No specialized equipment was used; I think all the previous dentists just didn't want the possible liability. It turned out that the tooth had shattered all the way to the root. One large fragment fell out in the bath and the other large fragment was hanging by a thread and yanked out by the emergency dentist. However, there were still small fragments and the root embedded in the gum, and those had to be extracted, a messy procedure.

[Post-op: His gum healed quite quickly after that; kids tend to heal much faster than adults. Within a day the bleeding stopped, and within a few days he could eat normally. In two weeks the gum had almost completely healed over. He noticed his lack of tooth for a while and kept counting his and our teeth, but after a while, got used to it.]

ReNe: quebec city road trip (1/2)

Quebec City Road Trip, 5-11 Feb 2011

The last time we visited Quebec City was in April of 2005, and the conclusion was that two days was entirely too short and we must go back one day. It's like a slice of France, transplanted. Later, experiencing my first winter in Canada, I was quite taken with winter and snow and was doing all sorts of random reading about it. I read a statistic that Quebec City has one of the highest snowfall in all of Canada, and immediately my first thought was that I would like to re-vist Quebec City in winter. We finally got around to doing so in February, 2011. 

Day 1 (5 Feb, Saturday)

Quebec City was about 800km from Toronto, a nine hour drive, so we decided to break it up and overnight in Montreal, which was about 540km (6+ hours) from Toronto. The hotel we stayed at, The Hotel Celebrities, was quite memorable. Our room did not look as sleek and urban as the sample photos online; instead, the 'Cedar Room' was rather rustic-log-cabin-eclectic meets 'there-I-fixed-it'. That said, the room does work. We slept comfortably and showering in the closet-like space was fun. Definitely a memorable room.

The mirrored closet next to the room door. There was a large crack in the mirror where the door knob had hit it and repaired with a wooden board nailed over the crack.

'There, I fixed it.' Sawn away boards to allow for the toilet door to open.

The closet-like shower and toilet. In the shower, a T-shaped pipe connected two shower heads in a cheap and innovative idea. 

The irritating and useless wooden structure in the middle of the room. Not only was it slightly dusty, there were pointy bits to bang the shins against.

First time we parked the car outside. It snowed and required some digging out, especially since we parked in the snow plow route. 

Day 2 (6 Feb, Sunday)

As the drive from Montreal to Quebec City was quite short (less than 3 hours) and the hotel's check-in time was 4pm, we decided to swing by Montmorency Falls first. From quebeccitykiosk.com:

Measuring 83 meters high - 90 feet higher than Niagara Falls - the Montmorency Falls are an amazing attraction for all ages. Take the short 15 minutes trip to see this natural wonder. The Montmorency Falls are located in front of the Island of Orleans and were named by Samuel de Champlain for his patron, the duke of Montmorency. Though higher than Niagara, they are far narrower.

The waterfall is surrounded by the provincial Parc de la Chute-Montmorency, where you can stop to take in the view and perhaps have a picnic lunch. The park and falls are accessible year-round. In winter, the plunging waters are particularly impressive: The freezing spray sent up by the falls builds a mountain of white ice at the base called the pain de sucre (sugarloaf), which sometimes grows as high as 98 feet!

We weren't planning anything ambitious at first, though we thought we should at least walk the bridge the spanned the top of the falls. Somehow we ended up walking down the stairs down the cliffs to the bottom of the falls. We admired the vast expense of the snow covered landscape at the bottom of the falls; the area was completely covered in snow and we have no idea was lay beneath. It could be a grassy park or even a lake. We then walked over to the station where we took a cable car back up to the parking lot. 

On the bridge over the top of the falls.

Walking down to the base of the falls. The gate at the top (and bottom) was closed but that didn't stop a few people, including us. If the stairs in the photo look treacherous, they are. I was clutching the chicken-wire sides the entire time. The steps were packed with snow and it didn't help that Ryan kept leaning to the side to see, which severely off-set my balance.  

View of the Montmorency Falls from the base. Note the pain de sucre at the base. And yes, there were people ice-climbing the frozen part of the falls.

Days 3-6 (7-10 Feb, Monday-Thursday)

Our accommodations for Quebec City was Hotel Clarendon. It has the distinction of being the oldest hotel in Quebec City and has good reviews online. Somehow, even though it was peak season, I managed to book rooms for $98 a night.

Four nights in Quebec City, and we were there for mostly one attraction: the Quebec Winter Carnival. Admission, given in the form of plastic effigies that people usually hang on their jackets, was only $12 per person. That's astoundingly cheap since it covered the ice sculpture exhibits and most of the rides in the carnival, for the entire duration of the carnival! In fact, the cost of parking was more than the effigy, working out to about $7 a day, as we parked right beside the entrance.

Most of the activities we were interested in took place at the Plains of Abraham, which wasn't a large area, and the carnival grounds were easy to navigate. The ground was entirely snow-covered, quite thickly packed at parts, and the carnivals grounds were a blinding white. Because it was so cold (temperatures averaged -15°C to -20°C), the snow didn't melt and turn slushy, and because there was so much snow on the ground, our boots were clean by the time we walked from dirty snow in the parking lot to the carnival grounds. Quebec City certainly lived up to its reputation as one of Canada's snowiest cities. It snowed almost the entire time we were in Quebec City and we kept comparing the sheer amount to Toronto's poor showing.

On the first day, I carried Ryan around in the carrier, a terribly cumbersome way of carrying him around. Then I noticed the sleds and found out that they could be rented for free at the entrance. They were a far better of lugging Ryan, and Mike's camera bag, around, and really added to the entire wintry sports vibe.

The first day, we tried out the Desjardins Snow Slides, ducked into a covered tent to hide out from the chilly winds and look at some ice sculptures, shared a beavertail and took a ride on the Ferris wheel. Unfortunately it was extremely cold that day, with temperatures dropping to -20°C, and definitely lower than that with the wind chill. By the time it was our turn to get onto the Ferris wheel, we were too frozen and tired to enjoy ourselves, especially Ryan. And if we thought it was cold and windy on the ground, it was worse up in the unsheltered carriage of the Ferris wheel.

Top of the Desjardins Snow Slides. First activity we tried. High enough to give a decent rush but not too high that it's tiring to walk back up for the next round. As it is, dragging the tube up every time is quite a workout already.

Ryan didn't like it too much, whether I sat him facing in or out. The tube tends to spin on the way down so I guess it can get quite dizzying. Or maybe he doesn't like the bite of the winter air on the face as we slid down.

Bonhomme's Palace. Bonhomme is not merely the carnival's mascot; quote, Upon his official arrival in the Capital, the Mayor of Quebec gives him the keys to the city, making him the undisputed master of the kingdom.

The next day, we rented a sled. We took turns on the Natrel Ice Slide while the other dragged Ryan up and down the snowy paths. Then Mike tried the Zipline while I took Ryan to the Kraft tent to play. There was such a long line at the very popular Zipline that he took about 40mins, and in the end I didn't get to go. The games at the Kraft tent were really meant for older kids so I spent all my time chasing Ryan around the tent. After that, he fell asleep on the sled so we took a walk around the carnival.

As mentioned, the main part of the carnival was held on the Plains of Abraham. We walked uphill, away from the carnival site and towards the Dufferin Terrace. The snow was extremely deep, fluffy and pristine. There was nobody else up on the terrace so it was very quiet and private. The winter scenery was really lovely; as I looked out over the partially frozen St Lawrence river, I could feel goosebumps that had nothing to do with the temperatures.

We didn't do much on the last day. We took a ride on Kraft Snow Raft, which was quite an adrenaline rush. It was even more of a rush than a roller coaster, because you know there was also a tiny chance the raft could flip. Our faces were also frozen; the raft churned up quite a bit of snow as it went down and our faces were sprayed, at high speed, with snow. I don't think Ryan enjoyed it, in fact I think he was a wee bit terrified, but he didn't cry. I wanted to try the zipline but the queue was amazingly long, so I just went a few rounds on the Snow Slides and we walked up to the terrace again. We also thought of trying the dog sleigh rides, but for $10 and maybe 3 minutes of fun, it didn't seem like a good deal. 

Overall, the carnival was fun, though Ryan didn't enjoy himself as much as we did. And if he's not enjoying himself, we can't really enjoy ourselves. Unfortunately, it wasn't terribly suitable for kids of Ryan's age so mostly he got lugged along as cargo. Some of the rides we could bring him along with us, but I think he wasn't too thrilled. It was also troublesome having to take turns on the rides that have an age/height limit. The winter scenery was beautiful but I don't think Ryan appreciated it as much as we did as well. He liked tromping around in the snow well enough but his hands got wet and cold very quickly, so any playtime in the snow was fairly short. Worse, Ryan caught the flu just before we left so he really wasn't a happy kid; he just wanted to go back to the hotel room to 'watch', i.e. watch cartoons on the TV.

On the Dufferin Terrace; the St. Lawrence River is in the background.

Sleeping on the fluffy snow. It wasn't unbearably cold but the feeling of snowflakes falling and melting on your face is rather distracting. We're amazed Ryan managed to fall asleep so easily. Ignoring the sight of the city buildings in the distance, doesn't the deep snow and lamp post give a Narnia-esque atmosphere? 

We were surprised few people came up to enjoy the fabulous view but we weren't complaining. 

Ryan's cheeks are prone to chapping in winter, even with liberal usage of vaseline. However, I've discovered that using my thin neck-scarf really helps.

The sled is a really great way of lugging around a heavy baby and a heavy bag of camera gear. 

ReNe: ottawa road trip

Ottawa, 16-19 Dec 2010

We've been in Canada for over three years and we even have a Canadian in the family, so we thought it was high time to visit the Canadian capital. I found a really good deal at Minto Suites Hotel: three nights for the price of two, which worked out to only $60 a night! As you can see from the photo below, that's a fantastic rate for a very good room. (This was a winter promotion and the usual rack rate is much higher, closer to $200.)  Even the crib and high chair were free upon request. Even as I type this, I'm once again struck by how good a deal it was and am raving about it to Mike.

The best part of the room was the kitchenette. With a picky eater for a toddler, this was extremely convenient.  Not to mention the amount we save by not having to eat out all the time.

Day 1 (16 Dec, Thursday)

We set off at almost 11am and reached Ottawa around 5pm. The distance wasn't far, about 450km, but we took a couple of longish breaks for Ryan to come down and run around. Those were quite time-consuming. The scenery was initially rather boring -- flat open lands, mostly -- but it got a little rockier and more interesting as we neared Ottawa. It also started snowing just as we left the boundaries of Toronto. In fact, it practically snowed the entire time we were there and only stopped when we re-entered Toronto.

As it was a Thursday, the Canadian Museum of Civilizations had free admission from 4-8pm, so after we checked into the hotel, we brought Ryan there to let out some energy after a day cooped up in a car seat. He loved the children's museum section.

Ryan was really into buses at this point in time and love this brightly decorated bus from Pakistan. 

Day 2 (17 Dec, Friday)

First stop, Parliament Hill. It was very difficult to find a parking spot. Eventually we gave up and drove to Byward market instead, which was beside Parliament Hill and the second stop on our itinerary. After parking at a multi-storey lot at Clarence Street, we realized that it was in fact quite close to Parliament Hill and walked over. The guided tour was 45mins long and we didn't think Ryan would stay quiet for that long, so we simply went up the Peace Tower.

The Canadian Parliament was quite welcoming towards visitors. There were security checks, of course, but the gates and grounds were open and the guards were friendly. The buildings are quite remarkable, and with a coat of glistening snow on the copper-green rooftops, overlooking the Ottawa River, made for a very picturesque scene.

From the Canadian Encyclopedia:

As the seat of Canada's federal government, the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa are a remarkable and visually striking complex of buildings located on a promontory overlooking the Ottawa River. ... the picturesque Gothic Revival style was chosen because it was thought to best represent parliamentary democracy. ... Officially opened on 6 June 1866, the original Centre Block and the two administrative blocks were exceptional examples of highly developed Victorian Gothic revivalism in Canada. ... Each of the Parliament Buildings was designed to incorporate Gothic elements, including pointed arches, lancet windows and tracery, spires with crockets and rubble-course stonework. 

Canadian Parliament Hill, Peace Tower. 

Canadian Parliament, Memorial Chamber.

Then it was onto Byward Market for lunch. It is a very famous tourist destination but I suppose we didn't quite know what to do once we were there. We found it quite touristy (in other words, a bit of a tourist trap like St Lawrence Market in Toronto), though still a pleasant place to wander around for a bit, but not as interesting as, say, Kensington Market (in Toronto).

 Day 3 (18 Dec, Sat)

A lazy morning. Also a wasted one. Ryan, for some unknown reason, woke up in a bad mood and was crying and crying. We finally left past 11am and reached the Canada Science and Technology Museum about half an hour later. By the time we parked (11:40pm), Ryan was fast asleep, and he remained asleep until 1:40pm. The museum was all right, a little small, though that makes it easy to navigate. When Ryan woke up, his eyes just popped open when he saw that he was in an interesting place and he demanded to let down to go play immediately.

A side note: Ryan kissed us for the first time today! We've been trying to teach him how to kiss and till now, all he's been doing is pressing wet open lips against our cheeks, but today, he managed a proper kiss!

Playing with the model cars at the Canadian Car exhibition.

Day 4 (19 Dec, Sun)

A quick visit to the Canada Agriculture Museum in the morning before we headed back to Toronto. I thought Ryan would love it since he's crazy about cows. He liked it well enough but he wasn't that impressed. I guess cows are more interesting in books and on screen? Or perhaps because they smell in real-life. Unfortunately the cows and other farm animals were all indoors so the smell was rather concentrated. Fortunately it was winter and the cool temperatures helped. 

In summary, an interesting, informative and easy trip. Not too expensive as it was low season and the only attraction we paid admission for was the science museum. Ottawa is, as someone put it, a 'government city'. Lots of important buildings, grand and meaningful, a little stuffy. Lots of traffic and workers during the day and quite quiet at night. We also got a taste of winter driving; the roads were very snowy and slushly and the ABS activated quite frequently.

ReNe: it would probably be funny sometime in the future

If you've learned driving or riding, you've probably heard of some funny horror stories about the tests. You know, the ones where someone did something amazingly stupid or is just plain unlucky, resulting in an immediate failure. In my case (my test was 20 Oct, last Wednesday), I 'failed' even before I left the parking lot; the car refused to start. For a minute I thought I forgot something stupendously simple and silly, but in the end, it turned out to be a serious problem (some fried electronics).

I called Mike after the test. "The good news is, I didn't fail. The bad news is, I didn't pass either."

My instructor was very apologetic and offered to pay for my lost deposit, and I really couldn't get angry at him or anything since this is really nobody's fault. Still, it was such a disappointment. Mike had passed the day before and we had big plans to rent and drive out to see the fall colors, etc. Plus, I had practice lessons on Monday and Tuesday, and so had a good momentum going. The next available test date is more than a month away! I definitely would need a refresher lesson or two by then. 

ReNe: learning words

Sometime in late August, just before we left Singapore, Ryan started to pick up words. It was slow at first. He started with a more definite and deliberate pronunciation of "daddy" (which he had been able to say for quite a while) and "mummy" (he was only able to say "mama", and not very reliably at that). Then he picked up more words while we were in Kyoto, words like "baby", "airplane" ("eh-pwane"), ice-cream ("ai-kim"). However, it was when we got back to Toronto that his vocabulary really increased. At last count, more than a week ago, he could say over 50 words and understand a lot more. That is to say, he learned over 50 words in a month. Well, he probably understood quite a lot before he started speaking. I read that it's around the 16-18 months mark that babies start to talk.

I noticed some interesting learning behavior:

(1) He roughly has mental groups of words, e.g. parts of the face, and a mental sequence of the words learned. "Nose" was the first he learned, followed by "eyes", "ear", "mouth". And when we attempt to teach him a new part, say "mouth" and he gets confused, he'd start over by going back to "nose", then "eyes", etc. If the new word does not appear to belong to a group, he'd retreat to the ultimate set of 'first words': "daddy", "mummy" and "baby". Those he can say very well and will not forget. I think going back to the words he already knows reassures him. 

(2) Either he cannot or will not pronounce his name. He know very well who Ryan is (we call him Ryan all the time and rarely use some pet name), but he always refers to himself as "baby". When asked, "Where's Ryan's nose?", he won't do anything. When asked, "Where's baby's nose?", he'd point to his own nose. We have no satisfactory explanation for this odd behavior.

(3) He also has his own words for objects. For example, he'd call a train "choo-choo", a cow "moo", or a monkey "na-na" (for banana). We know he does know the correct word because if we ask, "where's the train/cow?", he point to the correct object and go "choo-choo/moo". 

(4) He has learned "no" (very well in fact) but not "yes". When asked, "Do you want a bottle?" "Nooo no no nonono nooo~oo no no no nOOoNo~" and etctera. 

(5) He gets nouns quickly; no surprise there. Numbers and colors are much harder (he can only count to three and not too reliably at that, and the only color he really knows is yellow, maybe orange). Abstract stuff (like letters), he just looks blankly at me when I try to teach him. I guess it means he needs to understand what he's saying and not just repeat, which is a good thing.

ReNe: wasting my time

I absolutely hate the laundry machines here. I can't count the number of times I've gone down and the machine had simply turned itself off, or hung (displays an 'OFF' error) and I have to reload the machine again. With my eczema, I hate dealing with wet soapy laundry and I hate wasting my time; I had planned to leave right after I'm done with the laundry.What if I was rushing for something important?

When I saw the 'OFF' sign again, I slammed the lid and yelled 'FUCK'. Next to me, Ryan echoed, "fwuck!"

Right now the management is painting the building and corridor walls. Why? I look around and the paint looks fine to me. I would much rather they spend the money, and the rent increase, on things that really matter like LAUNDRY MACHINES THAT WORK. Painting probably cost thousands. You can replace all of the washing machines with the money spent on painting.

The rant about how lousy they are, even when they don't turn off, how much lint they leave behind, is another subject all together. ONE wash and ONE rinse cycle. Is that sufficient?! Our linens are getting dingier and dingier. I've had bedsheets that I've wanted to throw because they're linty and oily-looking. I've tried washing and re-washing, adding dish detergent to cut the oil, peroxide, vinegar, everything. Then I brought them to Singapore to use one last time before ditching -- and then they come out as good as new.

I used to love doing laundry, until I came here. Now it's becoming a chore.

Now off to pick up the laundry.

ReNe: back and jet-lagged

We were abroad for three and a half months -- but more about that later -- and came back a couple of days ago. With an eleven time zone difference, there is jet-lag.

But. The jet-lag would not have been so bad if it weren't for a certain boy. We know to keep awake during the day and sleep at night; try telling a baby that. The first night, that is Monday night, he woke up bright and alert at 3am, thinking it's Japan 4pm and wanting to play. It hadn't helped that we flew 12 hours from Japan time 5pm-5am and he slept nine of those 12 hours. We were not that fortunate as to be able to stretch out horizontally; in my case, he was on my lap most of the 12 hours. (I was quite the candidate for deep vein thrombosis.) Then during the day, he fell asleep around 1pm and when we woke him up at 3, he was literally red- and bleary-eyed.

The second day, we made the mistake of napping when he finally fell asleep for his afternoon nap, thinking that we should catch our rest when he does since he interrupted our nighttime sleep. That was at 1pm. Next thing we knew, it was 5pm and we had ALL slept through the afternoon. And then after dinner, he fell asleep again. That was about 9pm. Around midnight, when we were preparing to go to sleep, we heard a "Mummy! Mummy!" and the patter of little feet. The third night was actually the worst so far. We let him play for an hour, then after much screaming, he went to sleep around 1:45am. 2:30am and 3:40am, he woke again. And at 4:40am, he woke and absolutely refused to go back to sleep, crying and screaming until 5:50am when we gave up.

So even though last night was our third night dealing with his jet-lag, it was the worst, and I'm quite sure it was the long, uninterrupted nap through the afternoon that ruined his progress. Today we must make sure he keeps awake!

Monday night: slept from 1-3am.
Tuesday: napped from 1-3pm, 5-7pm. Both times he had to be woken up.
Tuesday night: slept from 10pm-5am, woke at 3am, then again at 5am where he refused to go back to sleep.
Wednesday: napped from 1-5pm.
Wednesday night: slept from 9am-12am, 1:45-4:40am, woke at 2:30, 3:40, 4:40am.

ReNe: 12 months -- walking

Just in time for his first birthday, Ryan learned to walk!


He could stumble a couple of steps for the past week or so, but last Friday (7th May), he took his first few steps. Then, he'd walk from me to Mike and back again, and he always lunges the last couple of steps in impatience.

His initial steps were wobbly and cute; we called him 'drunken baby'. He always threw himself the last few steps when he's walking towards me, expecting me to catch him or perhaps just impatient to get to me? It's just adorable, yet heartstopping too, to see his unsteadiness.

But he improved very quickly. He still stumbles, but now he's already walking from one end of the room to the other, or from room to room, usually even daring to carry a toy. Or a toy in each hand. Which makes his stumbles quite painful... (Yes, that's my cell phone in his hand in the photos above. I occasionally let him hold it, which delights him to no end.)

We were overjoyed and utterly focused on him when he started to walk. Now I wished we had a video of his first wobbly steps, but at least we have the photos.

ReNe: sick again

Ryan and me, that is.

For the longest time, since his third month, Ryan had a rash on his face (and body too, for a time). Then in January, when he was about nine months old, his rash started to improve and we were pretty happy. We thought that perhaps he would start to outgrow it.

Then he fell sick three times in the past three months. Right now, he's having a bad cold with runny nose and a hacking cough. I suppose such illnesses are normal and expected with kids, especially if they have opportunity to interact with other people, especially kids. Fortunately, compared to his rash, he would recover from his cold much more quickly.

But while he's sick, it's exhausting for me. He clings to me, is often whiny and reverts to a three-month old routine, which is to say he naps every three hours and he only wants breastmilk. That is perhaps the most worrying part; if he refuses solids for a day or two, that's fine, but often he'd only nibble a little solid food during the week while recovering as well. He doesn't have much by way of fat reserves so right now, after being sick for six days, he's looking a little skinny already. Well, I've heard of babies who are exclusively breastfed for a year or more without problems, so I shouldn't worry too much and just feed him every couple of hours.

Taking care of him is exhausting though, and I usually fall sick after. With the same bug he passed to me. Right now, I'm nursing a running nose. Arrrragh.

ReNe: pretend play

Ryan engaged in imaginary play yesterday. He probably had been doing it for a while, for example he'd stir a stick in a cup, but I wasn't sure if he was doing it just because he wanted to stir, or insert a stick into something, or because he was imagining something else. But yesterday morning, his actions were very definitive.

We (me, Ryan and Mike) were all lying in bed Sunday morning, and Ryan was nursing. When he was done, he grinned and sat up, and fingers closed in a pincer grip, pretended to feed me something carefully a few times. Then he turned around and pretended to feed Mike as well.

For a few weeks already, he has fed us food (usually food he doesn't want). For example, I was feeding him grapes a couple of days back (giving them to him to feed himself) and when he was full, he turned to Mike and gave Mike the grape instead. When I stopped handing him the grapes, knowing he was full, he opened his mouth instead. So I popped a grape in. And he promptly took that grape out and fed Mike again.

ReNe: 11.5 months -- regarding a growth spurt

It felt like Ryan underwent another growth spurt lately. (Checking 'The Wonder Weeks', a book about growth spurts, yeah, it was about time.)

When we got back from Philadelphia, he was extra cranky and clingy, and I was worried it was to do with the trip. Perhaps he was upset about all that traveling. Then we noticed he was cutting his upper front teeth and the gums were quite swollen, so we thought that might be the reason instead. Moreover, on top of his crankiness, he was on a solids strike. Definitely teething, we thought.

Now we know it was probably a combination of a growth spurt and teething. Once his upper right tooth came out, he started eating more. His mood improved as well. At the same time, I got him some new toys since he appeared to be bored with the current lot and he became very engrossed in them. More interestingly, he suddenly figured out old toys that he previously didn't quite know what to do with, such as the stacking rings.

Previously he used to only increase entropy (i.e. create a mess) but now he also became interested in stacking things together, or putting objects into a larger container. Oh, he still likes to go around pulling things from shelves or drawers or upturning containers, but he might put back a couple of objects before moving on. He'd hold a stick in one hand and try to slide a stacking ring or a block with a hole through it, or he'd try to slot one object into another. It so happened that after noticing all these, I read that after a growth spurt around this time (~46 weeks), the baby will start to exhibit all the aforementioned behaviors. A-ha.

When he was a newborn, we could see obvious physical growth after a growth spurt. Now, a growth spurt usually meant a mental developmental boost as well. It's weird, but he would almost seem smarter overnight; the mental growth is not linear. It's really fascinating.

Right now, I'm highly amused that he's concentrating very hard on pushing his stacking ring dowel into his sorting toy. Hah.

ReNe: one more month

One more month till we fly to Singapore.

We haven't been back since we left three years ago. And, unsurprisingly, we've been thinking more and more about Singapore. About people and places we'd like to visit, food to eat, things to do, food to eat. Yes, the food is a big part of our memories.

On the less material side of memories, we've been remembering how we felt when we left, and what changed. We had perceptions, preconceptions and a few misconceptions about what it meant to live in a different country. For myself, I'd say I've settled into living in a foreign country better than I expected.

We're very curious; will we feel like visitors to Singapore? Not tourists, but not locals as well? Or will Singapore slip back like an old, comfortable shoe?

What do I miss about Singapore? Food tops the list. Having our own place as well. Sometimes, usually in the depths of winter, I miss the blanketing humidity as well. I imagine my skin becoming dry and stretched and old when the humidity here drops to 15%. I've made some new friends but they tend to feel transient. I do miss the comfortableness of relating to people I grew up with. And, rather surprisingly, I miss the rain. I miss the pouring monsoons and thunderstorms that can go on for hours. Rainwater is never warm in Toronto. I miss the tropical evenings, the warm orangey haziness and the cool that finally settles after a buzzingly hot day. I also miss Orchard Road.

There are a lot of wonderful things about Singapore but these are the specific stuff I miss.

On the flip side, will there be anything we miss about Toronto? Perhaps that should be the subject of a post sometime in the future.

ReNe: easter monday

Some fun at Christie Pits park on Easter Monday. We initially had just planned to walk down to PAT for groceries, but as Ryan was asleep and the weather was fantastic (23C!), we bought a bit of snacks from PAT and went over the park instead.

Of course Mike whipped out his camera. I think I looked rather nice here.

Then Ryan woke up. Here he looks like he's standing by himself -- not really. He stood unassisted for just a few seconds, long enough for Mike to take a shot. And no, Ryan was not offering me a drink. He likes water bottles; he'd shake them and be very amused.

Some fun on the merry-go-round. This girl of about six or seven was pushing the structure round and round. I was amazed that not only was she not tired, she was also not dizzy. After many revolutions, I was pretty giddy but she kept on and on and on.

Ryan held on very well. He wasn't crying but he didn't seem terribly excited as well. I think he was just concentrating hard on holding on!

And some fun on the swings. Just last Saturday (two days prior), I placed him on a baby swing at Kensington Park and he was quite frightened. (The last time he was in such a swing was in fall, when he was about five months old. I'm sure he had forgotten.) He was not comforted even when I sat with him in a regular swing. So we're pleased to see him enjoying himself here. He's not squealing with delight but at least he's smiling.

This is an interesting swing. I'm quite sure it's for the disabled; the tan plastic harness comes down and clips in place to hold one in securely. We found it quite comfortable.

ReNe: easter sunday

The weather this Easter long weekend was fantastically sunny, with temperatures going as high as 22, 23C during the day. That's warmer than the average at this time of the year, apparently, with a warmer than average spring and summer on the cards as well. Also, because of the great weather, it was reported in the news that there were hordes of people going (or wanting to go) to the Toronto islands and at least a fight broke out. The voyeur in us missed that.

Last Sunday, we walked down to the Harborfront. We like going to the Harborfront, which is a little odd. It's a longish walk down (at least 40mins), and dusty and polluted at parts, and there isn't much to do once we're there except sit there and look out at the lake. Sometimes there are events or festivals, but then the Harborfront becomes uncomfortably crowded. Certainly we do not go there for the food; there are cheaper places elsewhere. (Bleh. The food court was closed when we got there so we bought takeaway salad from Sobeys, which was grossly salty.)

However, it is a very nice view from the boardwalk beside the Lake Ontario. And the breeze is bracing. (Actually, the wind's always effing cold year round, except at summer where it's merely refreshing.)

Perhaps that's enough.

Ryan doing his finger pointing thing he likes these days. And that Sith-like robe he's wearing is my sweater. It was a lot colder by the waterside that we had expected.

ReNe: he looks evil because he is

Two cute photos. Here we are, looking quite synchronized. Ryan was actually waving his index finger around and pointing, and I was copying him. Then he put his finger down. So I end up looking a bit silly.

And the back to his onesie, which I like very much. It reads "He Looks Evil Because He Is."

ReNe: fishy drool

The trouble with fish porridge is that Ryan will leave a mess and it's hard to clean. The highchair and tray will smell faintly fishy and soap's needed (for most other foods, I use a wet cloth or a wet wipe). Worse, after I put him down, he likes to hold my legs and go "muah muah", open-mouthed and with lots of fishy saliva, on my thighs. I can smell it. And I can only cringe at the thought of him drooling fishy saliva everywhere, on the floor, toys, furniture....

Auugghh....

ReNe: philadelphia 2010

Philadelphia, March 20-25

It was such a long time since I took a trip! Well, I did go Montreal with Mike and Dez last March but because it was local (4 hr drive, it's like driving to KL), it didn't feel like a huge deal. Though it was a lovely trip, the last I had as a free woman...

This year, Mike was attending the NARST conference in Philadelphia and of course I (and Ryan) must go! I was also eager to see how Ryan takes to traveling, and if we can handle traveling with him. This trip is really a practice run for summer. For example, we could have chosen a direct (more expensive) flight to Philly but we thought to try a stopover. Total flight time including stopover was about 4 hrs each way, not too bad right? After all, we'd be flying 24 hrs to S'pore....

It's Ryan's first trip!

Ryan is a restless flyer. On the first leg there (Toronto to Newark), he passed out because he was woken up too early (6am, for a 9am flight). Then he was awake and curious for the next flight from Newark to Philadelphia. On the way back, he was awake for both flights and very active, often cranky. (Turned out he had a Cheerio stuck on the waistband of his diaper the entire time!) He's an energetic, inquisitive kid and that's great; it's just very tiring for us too.

One problem I didn't foresee was with the hotel room; it's not very baby-proof and it's rather boring. The lack of a high-chair meant chasing him down, literally, during meals. One mistake I made was to take a day off on the third day to decompress in the hotel room. If I was by myself, great. But with a bored baby crawling about, it was anything but relaxing. We were both crawling the walls in frustration by the time Mike got back in the late afternoon. The next day, I brought down to the 'Love Park' a few blocks from the hotel and he loved it.

Ryan looks awfully cute in this outfit.

Yelling in the park.

In front of the famous LOVE statue in JFK Plaza (or Love Park, as it's more commonly called). A requisite tourist shot. We walk through here almost every day since it's so near our hotel (Sheraton) and it's on the way to the Marriott (where Mike's conference is held).

Sitting in Love park, Philadelphia City Hall in the background.

"Arrgh! Stop taking photos already!" Yes, Ryan's had enough.

Philadelphia City Hall. An imposing, majestic structure. Mike says it's ostentatious, vulgar and ginormous.

We didn't know that Philadelphia was the seat of the American Revolution but we do now. There's a lot of America's history in Philadelphia. We joined the tour of Independence Hall (it was free). Though it's short (30mins, plus an additional 10mins to screen your bags), Ryan was bored by the time the tour started. We liked the way the teacherish park ranger who was giving the talk emphasized the important dates and people. "And in seventeen-thirty-two," she'd paused and looked intently while the kids wrote in their Junior Ranger Workbooks. I don't think I learned anything though, with Ryan fussing in my lap.

Independence Hall at the Independence National Historic Park. Here's the room where the Declaration of Independence was signed.

The Liberty Bell with its crack. (Another place where our bags were checked. And between Ryan's stroller and Mike's camera bag, it was rather troublesome.)

One can't visit Philadelphia without trying their famous cheesesteaks. We dropped by Campo's Deli (located in the Old City) after visiting the Independence Park. The cheesesteaks here were great; we're fans now. The soft pretzels (something else Philly is famous for), not so much.

Traveling with a baby was quite a huge change for us (especially me, since Mike would be at a conference most of the time). This time, we traveled with a suitcase (!), we had way more stuff than we normally would pack, and I had to scale back on the sightseeing. I normally love to pack the days and see/do something unusual, if possible, but this time, I had to plan around his nap times and attention span. Transporting him was also a problem. I wasn't too sure if the subways and buses were stroller-friendly (some were, some weren't), but the stroller was a great way for him to nap and extend our trip out. Oh, and for the first time ever, I looked up (and went to) kid-friendly places to see (something I used to actively avoid).

Here we are at the Please Touch Museum (a kids' museum, great place, I highly recommend). Mike was at the conference and I didn't like the thought of wrestling the stroller up the bus so I used the carrier. Not the best idea in hindsight, and I was pretty tired by the end of the day. Ryan was initially a little quiet and hesitant when we got there but warmed up soon enough.

Of all the stuff on this activity wall for babies and toddlers, he liked the button that produces a cricket sound the most. You can't see it but his right hand is continually pressing it. The speaker is just in front of his face.


Most of the stuff at Please Touch is geared towards older kids though, such as the water feature below. Oh well. We'd definitely visit Please Touch if we're ever in Philly again.

All tuckered out after we came back.

Helping us to pack. Somehow he looks chunkier here.

Detroit airport, our stopover on the way back. It's surprisingly impressive. (Yes, for the cheapest flight, we ended up with two different airlines and hence stopovers each way.)