Letter to Jah (4 years old)

Posted in Birthdays, Letters, my thoughts, Our Thoughts, Parenting decisions, Uncategorized by jahbella

Dear Jah,

You have just turned 4 years old a couple of days ago and it somehow feels like our little baby is now a little boy. A big boy you might correct me if you heard this now. Your Papa is still in disbelief because it has suddenly hit him/ us that you will be entering Kindergarten in a month’s time. We long to rewind to the days where you were a little colicky baby or when you were just learning to take your first steps. Ok maybe not so far back..:)

Jah at 4 months old

First unassisted step at 9 months 3 weeks

But we know you are excited to grow up..you talk about entering Primary school and you talk about being 18 or 21. You talk about what you want to be when you grow up. Right now your dream profession is to be a clown. Yes I kid you not! You have gone from a ‘parachute pilot’ to an army soldier to finally a clown. Although you did mention last night that you wanted to be a teacher, just like me but your reason was so that we could go to school together. 🙂

You have become quite a book worm and a Star wars fan

Being 4 years old is proving to be a trying age for both you and your Papa and I. We absolutely love the conversations we have with you and your hilarious antics but sometimes things get a little out of hand. We love that you are so opinionated because it helps us to learn more about who you are but you are also starting to test the boundaries, push our buttons and well really really assert yourself. The past couple of weeks have been a nightmare to say the least because well apparently everything has to be Jah’s way or the highway. Oh wait a minute, Jah hasn’t come home for a few weeks now because he is climbing the beanstalk with Jack. Yes, you have assumed the identity of a little dog called Goldie and you have renamed my stuff dog ‘An’ (he used to be called Goldie). Yes you have become quite the drama king (in a rather cute and amusing way).

We love your tender heart and your need to make sure that everyone is taken care of. We love the compassion that you have and the way you seem to understand the world’s big issues in your own little innocent, compassionate 4 year old way.You are mature beyond your years. You have a level of maturity and magnitude for forgiveness that even some adults may not have. We lost your iPad this last week and instead of breaking down and throwing a tantrum like we would expect any 4 year old or even an adult to for that matter. You said these words in the sweetest kindest voice ever, “Its ok Papa, I think the birthday robber came and took my iPad. Its not your fault Papa, its ok.” Ironically we would probably have felt much better if you had just thrown a tantrum but in that moment it felt like our hearts weighed 1,000 tonnes. Perhaps because it was filled with guilt but bursting with pride all at the same time.

You have just turned 4 years old a couple of days ago and it somehow feels like our little baby is now a little boy. A big boy you might correct me if you heard this now.

But you will always be our little baby.

JahBella’s Mummy

13Jan2015

NSRCC Changi Staycation – Review

Posted in Birthdays, Reviews, Staycation by jahbella

We decided to rent a bungalow at NSRCC Changi to celebrate Jah’s 3rd birthday. We thought it will be a nice way for JahBella to spend the weekend and to ensure enough space for our guests and their kids.

We checked in with Jah at about 2pm after his Transformer outing at the Science Centre. We were entitled to free parking in front of our bungalow and 1 additional lot for our guest at $10 per day (Note that it is for 1 fixed vehicle so not interchangeable). All other guests had to park at the nearby guest carpark E.

The bungalow had 2 levels, with the living room, dining area, kitchen and 1 bathroom on the lower floor and 2 bedrooms and the 2nd bathroom on the upper level. There was also a BBQ pit outside each bungalow (we didn’t use ours as we were catering). Each room had 2 single beds which means you can accommodate four people in the rooms and have the option of adding another 4 mattress sets (at $2 each per night). We ended up renting the additional mattress sets as it started to storm pretty badly after Jah’s birthday party and his auntys and uncles decided to stay the night. Bath towels and toiletries were provided but I would suggest bringing your own.

NSRCC Changi is also home to one of the Jumbo Seafood branches and we headed there for our dinner on the first night. It was a Friday night but relatively empty and peaceful. I have to say that the food was pretty awesome! The kids enjoyed it and so did we! The service was also very good in fact the manager came around several times to check on us and to get our feedback and was very receptive. He also remembered us when we came back the next afternoon for a Dim Sum lunch and the Dim Sum lunch was also pretty good! Although you will definitely have to make a reservation for a Saturday lunch.

Please excuse the half-eaten food

Our unit was just across from the playground and the swimming pool. It poured the morning in the early morning hours and I was worried that the kids wouldn’t be able to go swimming. But as ‘predicted’ by Jah, “the rain will stop in 2 hours!” and it did. Come 9am, the rain went away and the sun was out in full force! There was a children’s pool and a water play area as well as an adult pool (which doesn’t allow kids in floats). The kids were more than happy to play in the water play area which was ankle deep and the children pool which was chest deep for Jah.

After swimming, the kids headed over to the playground to dry off. I loved the playground, it was a pretty decent playground with enough challenging things for Jah to do without us having to worry he would hurt himself while Bella could also enjoy yourself with the simpler task.

Check-out was between 9am to 10am the next day and you will have to call housekeeping before you check-out. The housekeeper will do a simple stock take, sign off on your form and you will have to leave the bungalow immediately while she locks up. The check-out process was efficient and effortless and we were out of there in 5 minutes!

Honest opinion? It may not be your fancy hotel room with a nice plush king bed and white linen but it is definitely a good staycation option with lots of kid friendly activities to occupy. I can’t complain when the bowling alley is just a walk away that some of the adults managed to sneak off for a few rounds of bowling while the kids were sleeping. I will definitely bring our own bikes the next time around so that we can do our family cycle trip along the coast. 🙂

JahBella’s Mummy

7Dec2014

Jah’s Mini Rock Concert

Posted in Birthdays, Videos of JahBella by jahbella

Jah got home after his birthday staycation and immediately wanted to play with his new drum set. What he did next, surprised me and the entire family. Instead of just hitting the drums like he did the day before at the party, he decided that he would sing too!! Given that he usually is quite shy about singing in front of people, I was shocked that he was super into the whole thing.

I say super because he went on to sing several songs, much like a mini Jah rock concert :p and even asked me to help him think of more songs..

So allow me to indulge while I post videos of all the songs he did that morning 🙂 My personal favourites are Five little speckled frog and the wheels on the bus

JahBella’s Mummy

13Nov2014

Jah’s Birthday Weekend (School Celebration and Transformers 30th Anniversary Exhibition)

Posted in Birthdays, Weekend activities with kids by jahbella

Wow! Jah had a whirlwind of a birthday weekend! At least it felt like that to Joel and I. And I don’t even know where and how to begin documenting his 3^rd birthday weekend, with all the photos and videos that we took. I’m resigned to the fact that some of these blog posts may just have to contain photos/ videos only. So if anyone has any questions about any of the activities/ places/ gifts etc, please feel free to ask and I will try my best to answer…

To kick things off, we celebrated Jah’s birthday (2 days early) in school. With his ‘carefully selected’, ‘mind changed many times over’ – Marvel Avengers cake. See my earlier post on this to understand what I mean. Getting 20 kids to sit patiently around a table for cake was quite a feat so I’m sorry that I don’t have a close up of the cake. It was a 2kg Marvel Avengers cake from Bengawan Solo and it was pretty yummy. I’m guessing we managed to feed the rest of his school for tea-break that day. 🙂 The kids were also really excited about their goodie bags, especially the boys who were declaring to me who their favourite Cars character are.