Dear Sweet Pea,
We spent a substantial part of March in Perth, Western Australia. We were making up for lost time.
The last time Grandad carried you in his arms, it was his seventieth birthday. In a wink of an eye, maybe 2 winks, we were driving into the familiar car porch again. I have missed my father-in-law because he has always been jovial, entertaining and loves me. Not forgetting he is incredibly talented too! One day, I hope you have the chance to watch his musical, Cruisin, on the stage.
Granddad and Granny Glam set up an inflatable pool for your visit and before long, we saw you dragging every toy out of the basket into the pool. You loved the roasted chicken we had for dinner and had a really hearty appetite that evening. We have always been proud of you being an affectionate child. This time round, you gently patted Mooshie and despite being a bit fearful of his lick, you blew him a kiss. You have never been one to skimp on hugs and kisses.
Grandpa and Granny Glam gifted you a few books written by Pamela Allen and one of them titled "Our Daft Dog Danny" quickly became your hot favourite for the rest of the holidays. You remembered that the name of the main character of the book was "Uncle Peter" and each time you would bug us to read "Uncle Peter" to you. We lost count of the number of times we read the book out loud. The other popular choice was "Papa, please get the moon for me" and you really liked it each time Daddy recited the book. You are truly a Daddy's girl.
Since you have spent your last 2 years in Singapore, your palate was more attuned to Asian food like stir-fried dishes, Chinese broth, rice and noodles. I was getting rather worried about your nutrients intake as you have been eating lesser than usual at meal times. Hence, I was so glad that you developed an appetite for Grandpa's dishes (or rather Granny Glam's recipes!) whenever we visited them. Sensing my concern, Daddy brought me to Yee Seng Oriental Supermarket to get some ingredients to make you a chicken broth so I could freeze it to be used later. During our stay, you also lent a hand to Nanny as she made cream rice and pumpkin soup to cater to your liking. I have to commend you for putting in an effort to prepare for your own meals!
We were so excited to visit Auntie Tina and Uncle Stephen at their balinese inspired house! Looking at the way you gobbled down an authentic Spaghetti Bolognese, we were convinced of your European descent. By the end of the month, you were eating all sorts of bread, sourdough, panini, flat bread and also hearty Spaghetti Marinara. You enjoyed Fish and Chips as much as your parents. We would often remove the batter and offer you the white flesh of the fish while you paired it with french fries and ketchup delightfully. Perhaps due to the slower pace of life here in Perth, you started enjoying your Babycino leisurely too. You would take the time to lick the marshmallow and then sip your Babycino slowly before dunking the marshmallow into it. We got to admit that at one point, having dim sum was inevitable as we missed it so much. You really welcomed the change and chowed down buns and noodles together with us. Dragon Palace became a must-visit for us each time we failed to suppress our dim sum cravings.
Your daily routine at home included watching "Play School", an educational television show for children. You would set up your own cosy corner by first laying down the sheep rug, and then you would go into the bedroom to retrieve your blanket, pillow and soft toys and lay them all on top of the rug before snuggling under the blanket to watch the show in absolute contentment. We started noticing that you were actually a creature of habit as you would keep watching a particular episode featuring bagpipes repeatedly!
The highlight of the trip included going to the Perth Zoo. As Daddy had to work, it was a lovely time to spend some quality mother-daughter bonding time together. As there was a set capacity to the number of pax in the zoo, we had to queue and wait for our turn. It was getting hotter by the minute and I decided to apply some sunscreen for you. You proceeded to squeeze out quite a bit of it and ran across to the elephant statue in front of the ticket counter and started applying it on him. When I finally did catch up with you, you told me that the elephant should be kept away from the sun as you left huge white streaks of sunblock on the poor bronze statue. I had to keep apologising to the zoo attendants!
You had a ball of a time at the zoo and expressed interest in seeing some animals you have learnt in school. For example, you would pinch your nose with one hand and hang your other hand over the arm to imitate an elephant trunk and requested in Mandarin to see the elephants. You adored the Galapagos Tortoise and sat on a statue of it before getting off reluctantly. I was glad to show you Australian animals that you have seen on books, such as Echidna, Koala, Possum and your favourite Tasmanian devil.
We loved to observe the swans at Claisebrook Cove as we had arranged many gatherings near the Swan River Inlet. We would take time to count the number of black swans and their cygnets, watch how they feed on grass and estimate how long they could keep their heads under water.
Besides being a regular at the Neil McDougall Park, we also discovered the magic of Ivey Watson Playground at King's Park. You were able to play on swings, ride on an aircraft and fire engine, navigate obstacle courses and sit on different installations at the playground. We visited both Uncle Phil and Uncle Darren's houses and you had a wild time playing on their scooters, riding around in the toddler toy car and jumping to your heart's content on the bouncy castle with Hugo, Ruby and Harley!
We celebrated Daddy's 40th birthday at Rambla on Swan restaurant. Against the glistening sunset, you were able to sing the entire Happy Birthday song for Daddy, much to his delight! We met up with Grandpa's side of the family and you were introduced to all your cousins. It was astonishing that when I took out the picture a few weeks later to ask if you remembered the outing, you could point out your cousins Holly, Mia and Charlie in the picture! How did you remember their names? We really hope we would get to see them more often with the borders reopening up again.
We took a short trip down South for a short holiday to Balingup! I shall recount our adventures in another blog entry!
When we got back from Australia, we once again expanded the supper menu to include cheese and the occasional yoghurt and bananas. We starting dedicating more time to bed time stories as our parenting skills received an upgrade after spending 24/7 with you for almost a month.
On 6 April, we hit a major milestone. You did your first poo poo in the potty and on 7 April, you were able to do it again! That sweet sense of victory washed over us as Daddy and Mummy high-fived each other.
As parents, we looked forward to broaden our parenting services to include more outdoor fun and play hereon in!
Lots of cuddles,
Mummy and Daddy
