we were supposed to meet up with Shinta and Ninit at Sentosa, but there were a change of plans today and they ended up meeting in Vivocity. ari and i already promised aina a whole day of Sentosa, so we skipped the meeting and went ahead with the original plan.

we started at the Imbiah Lookout, letting aina running around in the sun. then we decided to take a look at the Resort World Sentosa, which turned out really big and rather empty...

we also stopped by at the Universal Studios, which is not open for public yet until the 18th of this month. everyone piled up to take pictures in front of the Universal Globe. so, we did too:

after that, aina insisted that she had to ride the Luge. we tried to distracted her by offering her to swim, or play with sand on the beach... but she persisted: LUGE!

so, luge it is...

the luge line was long and there were something wrong with the conveyor belt, causing delays on the skyride and the long traffic jam on the luge... so it took ari and aina forever to complete one round. by the time they were done, we were all exhausted.

so we took a break and headed for the beach...

aina played with the sand for a little bit, before we went for ice cream. and that was it. it was a long day but fun day. aina slept the whole way home.

more photos in the sentosa 13.03.10 photo album :)

aina couldn't wait for us putting on the sunscreen... she was like, "can i go in now? are you done? how about now, can i go in?"... on and on and on...

and finally, the big grin showed up on her face when we dip into the pool. ahh, so good...

i think we'll be spending more time there if the weather persist. aina even made friends with the girls in the kiddy pool.

more photos at the swimming @ buona vista photo album.

ps: aunty cia, thank you! this is the first time aina wearing this swimsuit! she loves the dots :)

but she still wants to have the Lion (we call it Barongsai). the nearby toy shop sells a small Barongsai for $35, which we thought is rather steep. the bigger one was $56 bucks (no way!). so we are thinking of making one for aina.

well, yesterday, we started with a super small one: an origami hand-puppet version of the Barongsai.

if you know ari well, you probably know that he's an origami extraordinaire... he really likes to fold an A4 paper into... well, anything.

so, this was his first try. didn't look so good. but it's close enough:

so he did another one. aina has fallen asleep by the time the second try was done, but i think this time he has perfected his Barongsai.

the mouth flap works well and there is that hood/blanket thing on the back of it, too. all made from one piece of A4 paper!

it will probably look better if we color it, but we've decided to let aina draw and color it. and being a girly girl, the Barongsai puppet ends up as her baby, being pushed around in her toy stroller...

oh well...

some of your have probably know snowy, aina's beloved security dog. but did you know that snowy's mom has passed away a while back?

on one afternoon a few months ago, i was putting aina to nap when we exchanged stories. i don't remember how the conversation started, but i was asking where is snowy's mom.

"aina, are you snowy's mom?"

"no, snowy's mom is dead, binggi." (she calls me binggi).

"huh? really? how come? what happened?"

"she was bitten by an orca whale."

i was flabbergasted, "oh, no... poor snowy. he must've been very sad..."

"yes, he was crying."

what a sad and tragic story to be made up by a 2 year-old! that story comes up again every now and then. aina usually ends up hugging and kissing her snowy after she finishes telling the story.

yesterday, ari asked for some more information.

"aina, i heard snowy's binggi was bitten by an orca whale and died..."

"oh yea, she was!" aina then ran to get her small whale toy that she usually plays with when she's having a bath.

"see, this is not an orca whale... this is blue. orca whale is black and white", she then explained while poking the whale.

"why do you keep poking the whale?" ari asked.

"oh! you can't do this to orca whales, you know," she explained, "snowy's mom was poking the orca whale in the eye. it made the orca whale angry.... HRRRMPPPHH!!! then the orca whale bit and killed her."

whoa... i really don't know what else to say. yes, you really shouldn't poke whales in the eye. or anyone in eye, for that matter.

this is our daily schedule for the past few months. i just feel like recording it, because i'm sure it'll change in the next few weeks.

• 7AM - koda wakes me up by sniffing my face, asking me to wake ari up. while i go back to sleep, ari takes koda downstairs to do her business in the backyard. then the two of them go back to sleep.
• 8:30AM - aina, carrying her snowy, walks to our room and glomps on me. i take her to the bathroom to pee and we both go back to my bed, where aina goes back to sleep between ari and i. koda moves out of the bed and lay on the corner of the room.
• 9:30AM - aina wakes ari and i up, tell us she wants to go downstairs to watch Playhouse Disney. ari goes downstairs with her, because he can fall asleep on the sofa. i, on the other hand, am a light sleeper and aina's voice keeps waking me up. before going back to sleep, ari makes aina her breakfast (a glass of milk and bread with nutella or cheese spread). koda keeps me company in the room.
• 10:30AM - aina goes upstairs and wakes me up by screaming my name or jumping up and down on the bed. sometimes, she hasn't finished her breakfast... bad aina. i go downstairs, spend 10 minutes watching TV with aina, and then turn on the laptop to work. koda stays asleep in our room.
• 10:30AM-12PM - i work while occasionally play with aina. aina watches TV, play with her kitchen, work on her toy laptop, drawing/painitng on her working table or bugging the sleeping ari. by this time, koda has woken up and is downstairs.
• 12PM-2PM - ari wakes up and make coffee for the both of us. we then either work, play with aina, or cook lunch. we usually have lunch by 2PM, either at home or lunch out.
• 3PM - aina's nap time. a little book reading and lullabye singing, then off she snooze. when workload is light, ari and i take our nap as well. but during busy times, it's best for working.
• 5-7PM - aina wakes up and is ready to snack and play -- playing outside, bicycling, swimming, going to the playground, drawing on the pavement, stuff like that while eating some fruit, ice cream, or any kind of snacks. we take koda along, if the places permit. on Sundays, we either walk to cycle to the Botanic Gardens to have a picnic.
• 7-9PM - cooking or getting ready for dinner, if we're dining out. koda usually get a visit from her boyfriend, Diesel. the happiest time in her day.
• 10PM - milk and shower time for aina. she takes a shower with either ari or i (the other works), then drinks her milk.
• 10:30PM - bed time. she brushes her teeth with ari then time for bed with me. we both lay on aina's bed, reading some books, singing the lullabye with lots of hugging. turn the lights off and i say bye. she usually asks whether i'm going to be working or going straight to bed... i usually work.
• 11PM-4AM - time for work! sometimes, when the workload is light or during weekends, this is also the time when we could watch movies. koda is at her sweetest, curling either under our desk, right next to our feet when we're working, or on the sofa between ari and i when we're having a movie night.
• 4AM - bed time for the parents and the dog. when the workload is light, sometimes we get to sleep around 3. we turn off the computer, the TV, then the lights. wake Koda up from underneath our working desk. then the three of us go upstairs. take off our contacts, do some wash, then go under the cover. koda then would climb up the bed and squeezes herself between ari and i. zzzz....

so far, the schedule feels good and works well for us...

this is one of them, singing right next to her potty. i personally love the bowing at the end. where did she learn that?

yep, she still can't hold her tunes, but she's getting there :)

last week, ari and i both were so busy that we sort of neglect the kid and the dog. so, today, we took aina to Jacob Ballas Children's Garden to sorta let her do things that she likes to do. since we can't bring dogs in to the children's garden, koda's turn will be tomorrow.

she came prepared, wearing her tankini and brought her towel. we went straight to the water park.

before aina turned 2, i remember how brave she was with water. she didn't care if the water get into her face. she would jump up and down and even go under the water, holding her breath.

strangely, after her 2nd birthday, she's a lot more hesitant with water. she doesn't like it when water splashes on to her face, which makes playing in the pool or in water park less fun.

today, she's a little better. she still grumbles when the small splashes hit her face. but she's curious enough to try to drink from the water fountain. and she likes to get soak under the running water. so, generally, she had a lot of fun.

what i love about Jacob Ballas is that they have cute little toilet and bathroom sink. lately, i've been partial to places with mini toilets. aina always enjoys sitting on the tiny toilet and washing her hands on sinks that she can reach.

oh, and they have a supercool tree house:

anyways, we probably need to go to water park, pool and beach more often to get her used to playing with water again.

ps: pardon the picture quality... it was taken with phone camera, because we forgot to bring our real camera...

now, i'm thinking of dying the hair back to black.

that's a picture of aina's first night sleeping on her big-girl's bed. the picture was taken about 15 minutes ago, in her almost pitch-black room (she sleeps with lights off), quietly, using her old crib as tripod.

thank god for DSLR and Photoshop :)