they've been getting along very well lately.

and she's getting really creative in terms of poses...

this is her usual "bellyrina" stance, borrowing the term from otty ;)

our first abookapart that we preordered has arrived a few days ago. ari and i have been taking turns reading... i think the book looks cute and the way it's written is super easy to read. well, i haven't finished the book, so no review yet.

but we made use of the packaging that the book arrived with:

don't you love paper diorama? it has a frog, a turtle, the pond where they play around, a little hut for the frog, a tree, some grass, fish with their food (that red thing that scattered around)...

the fun thing about this diorama is it's foldable into a small box the size of the HTML5 book for easy storage. and aina get to cut and glue the pieces :D

today, the school is having a Family Day, which is pretty much a bazaar along with fun rides and good food. so we came. the food was awesome...and, to our surprise, aina had soooo much fun! she was very curious and wanted to try all the rides and games... too bad that some are only for 4 years old and above.

she really wanted to go into that plastic ball on the water, but unfortunately, it's only for older kids.

but that's okay. there is an ice cream balloon to cheer her up...

...and there are more bouncy things she can play with.

oh no, it looks like our little fish pond has become a frog nursery. there are hundrends, of not thousands, of little tadpoles swimming around with our little guppies.

the last time it happened, we found the eggs before it hatches and took them all out of the water, preventing the invasion.

does this mean we'll have thousands of little froggies in our backyard? aina seems to like that idea, though...

good: since last night, aina has been super excited that we are going to go swimming after lunch. she helped me packing for bathing suits and towel. she couldn't wait to try her new swimming goggle. we went out for lunch and she carried her inflated floater everywhere, even in the restaurant. she finished her lunch as quickly as possible.

bad: when we got to the swimming complex, the gate was locked. WTH? it turned out that the swimming pool is being used for the Youth Olympics and will not be open until September. aina was so sad and her eyes were brimming with tears. she tried not to cry, though.

good: we took her to a nearby playground to cheer her up. and let her play with water and her small inflated pool once we got home. it did cheer her up.

bad: on the way to orchard to do washing machine shopping, EZ-Link card acted up... it refused to scan. i wonder why...

good: couldn't decide on two washing machines with the same exact spec: an LG, which i trust, and a Samsung, which is $150 cheaper than the LG. then, the sales lady told us that the LG comes with 10 years warranty on the motor (which was busted on my current washing machine this morning)... along with extended 5 years warranty on everything. well then, LG it is... and then, more good things come: it turned out that they wrote the price tag wrong. it was supposed to be $30 cheaper. AND another typo on the sign: the $30 delivery charge on this particular machine is waived. woohoo!

so, the day ends well :)

then, we saw a maroon car parking right smack in the middle of the path that the worker is working on.

for a while, they tried to work around it, while waiting for the car owner to show up. but no one showed up, even after lunch... this means, they can't finish they just have to work around it. and this also means, we're gonna be awaken by the same sound again tomorrow morning, thanks to the maroon car.

damn you, maroon car.

anyways, the whole construction thing soon became family spectacle... aina keeps singing, "Bob the Builder... CAN WE FIX IT! Bob the Builder... YES WE CAN!"

the usual monthly birthday collage, from june '09 (top left) all the way to may '10 (bottom right). from these picture, she doesn't seem to change much. in real life, though, there are heaps of changes:

• she got a lot taller.
• she talks so much, it's hard to keep up.
• she has started to speak in two languages: english and indonesian.
• she can count to 10.
• she knows all the alphabets and currently learning how to write them.
• she goes to the bathroom by herself, using potty and step stool.
• she's learning on how to brush her teeth by herself.
• she's learning on how to take shower by herself.
• she has mastered her running bike.
• she draws and cooks (with her playdoh) everyday.
• she choose what to wear.
• she can put on her clothes by herself (although sometimes, they're backwards or inside out).
• she loves accessories: necklaces, bracelets, sunglasses, hats, watches... you name it.

she's growing. yep.

happy birthday, my girl. we love you.

as usual, it's a free pattern available in Ravelry, called Meret - Mystery Beret. it's a pretty easy pattern, although you have to be able to use DPNs and circular needle.

i had to improvised a little, though:

• since i want to be able to wear it on Singapore weather, i chose a thinner yarn... for babies.
• i only have 4mm needles for DPNs and circular (which i used to make aina's cardigan), so, i had to make it larger by going for the largest size -- adding stitches -- and knitted extra, extra slouch by going for 4 repeats.

since the hat turned out to be very slouchy, i had to use my big salad bowl to block the damn hat! none of my dishes are large enough...

but i looooove the way it turned out: it's very soft and super slouchy. and it's not too warm to be worn in Singapore weather.

i think i have succeeded in recreating the Muji hat... at least the way i want it to look.