The Bub in the Belly

Here's a Youtube video of Ryan at his swimming class last Sunday. It's about 6 minutes and 40 seconds long.

Over the past few months we have been making a greater effort to make sure that we get him to class (unless we are travelling) so he has been making steady progress lately.

 

Here's a Youtube video of Ryan at swimming class last Sunday. It's less than a minute long. In the second scene in the video, you can see the coach chuckling at him. The children were supposed to choose a toy from the basket and swim across with the toy. The coach was chuckling because Ryan, who is the smallest swimmer in the class, very enthusiastically chose the biggest toy!

 


Here's another video (about 20 seconds long) - Ryan is "surfing"!




The coach is teaching them to do the butterfly stroke in the second video - you can see her guiding Ryan into the motion after he gets off the "surfboard". And yes, you may have notice that Ryan's coach is no longer Coach Dave. The change happened a few months back. We are still at the same time slot; the school just changed the coach. Anyway, we think it's a good thing because Ryan is ready for more serious pool work now so having a change in his coach helps to signal a change in the pool activities too.

Our weekend was a pleasant mix of everything. Ryan went for his swimming and Shichida classes, but otherwise, we spent a lot of time at home, managed to catch up on some zzz's, attended to some errands, and had more home-cooked food than usual.

Between Ryan's classes on Sunday, I squeezed in some fabric-shopping at Spotlight. I haven't been working much with fabric ever since Ryan graduated from PlayClub, and I've missed it, so I was really happy. Just being there among all the bales of textiles set my creative juices flowing. I only have whimsical inspirations right now, but I still bought seven metres of fabric (seven different designs). Let's see what happens!

We also popped in at the Times Bookstore warehouse sale and picked up a ton of books. I was grateful to Alicia and Shann who alerted me about it, so here I am, passing on the info! The last time we went to the Times Bookstore warehouse sale, Ryan was still an infant/barely a toddler and he already had a healthy collection of books at home, so we didn't pick up many books. Now that Ryan is a little older, his available options are much wider so we ended up with a carboot full of books! I wouldn't say that there is a fantastic selection for children under 3, but if you have an older child, it's worth a visit. Besides the ton of books for Ryan, Richard picked up some graphic novels and technical books, while I picked up a cookbook. The books are of much better condition this year, which is something that is important to me, and there was hardly any crowd (we were there on Sunday afternoon about 4 pm). Check it out if you are free, details are easily available on the internet. It lasts till 18 March 2012.

The other thing we did was to set up a new play area for Ryan in the house. We recently got some contractors in to extend our bedroom space by transforming one of the balconies into a sunroom. Over the weekend, Richard starting setting it up, putting in the carpets, moving some furniture around, setting up the rocking horse, etc. It's not finished yet, we still have some ideas for it, but Ryan already loves it. Will share some photos when it's a little further along.

Hope your weekend was great!

I thought I'd post something light today, so here's a photo of Ryan flying into the pool last Sunday!

I remember mentioning a long while back on the blog that I prefer him to dive in head first instead of feet first, but seeing him flying like that... oh my, I wouldn't have it any other way. Just look at his posture and expression! So confident, fearless and joyful! I guess that's the important thing and, probably, the point of the exercise. When Coach actually wants the children to dive in head first, he will use a hoop and tell them to dive through. Otherwise, when it's jumping off the side like this, the children can jump in any way they like and all of them jump in feet first.

Apart from the free-flying posture, the other significant sign of progress is that Ryan was the first to jump in! He used to be the absolute last - he would watch all the others jump in first before he did. Most of the time, he would be pointing at each student as they dove in and saying "Jump!" (I guess he was making mental notes?). Actually, whether swimming or not, he always takes his time to observe carefully how something is done before going for it. The fact that he's not waiting around anymore here, means that he's satisfied that he can do it perfectly. And he did!

After that, we went shopping! Picked up a load of children's clothes at the Club 21 collectibles sale for kids at Forum. Also picked up a load of educational stuff for children at another shop in Forum (great for learning at home). Ryan had a short nap at home, after which we went out for dinner. Richard took us to a new spot - Picardy Garden - where we ended up in Momoya Japanese Restaurant. Enjoyed ourselves there, service was faultless and the food was good.

Here's Ryan (and Richard) playing while they waited for me to finish my food (after they finished theirs).


Back home, we spent hours doing educational stuff with Ryan (both Shichida and non-Shichida stuff). Significantly, we went through more than two hours of deskwork, ie. Ryan remained in his seat for more than two hours without getting up - that boy has really got stamina and focus! Richard and I had to take turns! Richard and I surrendered before Ryan did and we decided to end the night with ... dancing of course! We put Chicka Chicka Boom Boom on the CD player and Ryan got down to serious business with it!

Sunday morning, we finally turned up for swimming class! Yes, after missing five lessons in a row due to travelling and social commitments, we finally found ourselves poolside. And whaddya know - it was Awards Day!

Aquaducks were so concerned at our missing so many classes that they sent me an email last Friday to ask if there was any problem. Sigh. Richard was laughing that, first we kept getting to class late (or missing class altogether), then we got switched to a lower level class (at a later time), then we "ponteng" (that's Malay for "cut class") so many times that we got a letter from the school, then we turn up on Awards Day and "flunked" some of the test exercises! We are really terrible! Heh heh! But look at this photo - who can resist faces like these? Ryan always gets special treatment from Coach because Coach thinks he's so adorable. He gets away with everything!


There is a mistake in the certificate that Ryan is holding - it says Level 3 but Ryan passed Level 3 long ago and got his Level 4 in June 2011. We'll get the correct certificate next week... if we turn up. Heh heh. This programme consists of 6 levels. At Level 6, the children will be able to swim the length of the pool independently. Ryan is nearly there!

Anyway, the present time slot does not seem to be working out for us, given our other commitments, so I am looking into switching time slots. We are definitely going to keep plugging away at the classes because knowing how to swim is a must. It is a skill that could ultimately save a life (it is actually the only sport that can do that) and there are a host of other practical benefits, which I won't go into because I'm sure everyone knows how important learning to swim is and nobody can reasonably deny its value.

For lunch, we went to one of our regular hangouts - PappaMia at River Valley - and, coincidentally, our friends, Ee Fann, Shann and their daughter, Rou Ern, were there having lunch - what a nice surprise! The parents chatted and gossiped while Ryan and Ern had fun playing together. I am always amazed at how children this age naturally gravitate towards each other and play happily (whether with or without toys). Their happiness multiplies simply by virtue of being together.

After lunch and an errand, we went for Shichida class. Ryan was in such a good mood throughout the class - I think it must have been an effect of his unexpected playdate! After class, we went for a walk around the Esplanade shops, then it was back home. Ryan didn't want to nap so it was off to the park!







From the park, we went straight out to dinner. We drove out and Richard and I were chatting away in front, when Richard looked towards the back ... this was what he saw.


Richard and I had a good chuckle! We didn't want to disturb him so we got some takeaway and ate in the car, chatting softly while parked in an open air carpark as dusk turned to night - romantic eh?

As I am typing this, Ryan is sound asleep upstairs in our bedroom, Richard is watching footie and I am ready to hit the sack. It was a great weekend for us. In particular, I think Ryan had a fabulous Sunday - it was packed with his favourites - swimming, noodles at PappaMia, a surprise playdate with a member of the "Ern gang", Shichida, McDonald's French fries after class, a visit to the park - a wonderful, wonderful Sunday.

Here are some photos taken last year (10 December) before the weather turned soggy. It was a pleasant evening so we spent it in the pool at our condo.

This is the children's pool, which is basically a wading pool. Ryan just walks up and down and up and down and up and down.



After that, it was into the big boy's pool! Some serious swimming here!


We had the pool all to ourselves, which was nice (since the pool isn't large at all).





We came across a group of children having fun with bubbles. Ryan jumped right in.

Yes, I know I took twice as long a break as I said I would. All in the name of good things!

Rest assured that the absence of blogging in the past two weeks translates directly to the presence of lots of hearty living. Some highlights of the past two weeks:

- I was interviewed via phone by Young Parents Magazine on my thoughts on enrichment classes for little ones. No claims to fame - I was only one of many parents interviewed. Will share when I see the article in print.

- On 7 November (which was a public holiday), we went to see the musical Jack and the Beanstalk by SRT's The Little Company (still showing up till 11 Dec 2011). Ryan enjoyed that very much.

- Ryan is getting noticeably taller and heavier so we dug out the stroller from the storeroom to see if he might have any interest in sitting in it. He never did and still doesn’t.

- Richard and I took two days off work last week and had some couple time. Spent a day running errands and the next day at the movies. We watched Hugh Jackman do his stuff in “Real Steel”.

- After missing swimming class for three weeks, Ryan finally got into the water last Sunday and he was all smiles. He’s probably the student who has made the least progress in his class but, as long as he’s flashing that dimple, who cares.


- I’ve been reading food and cooking blogs and getting inspired. We finally checked out the ToTT store at Dunearn Road last Sunday (we had lunch at the Bistro) and after walking through all that cooking and baking goodness, I’m more than inspired now.

- Artwork continues in all mediums. Looking at these two pieces, I'm starting to understand why abstract art is so valuable. As an adult, I can never paint like this. "It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child" - Pablo Picasso.



- Like most children his age, Ryan is still ambidextrous. He did this using both hands simultaneously. This piece is strangely psychedelic - staring at it for a while makes me go into 3D mode.


- Ryan has also become very interested in writing – here’s something he wrote recently. Can you decipher it?


(It's the word RADIO)

- And yes, I'm making something! This little project is extremely energy-zapping! I’ll share it with you when it’s a little further along. At the moment, it looks nothing like the end-product.

Hope you've been living it up!

I find Ryan's expression just hilarious here - so serious! He's supposed to relax and lay on the mat. He doesn't like this exercise at all; he fidgets about a lot. This was actually the first time that he laid still, waiting for the cue to spring up. (Usually we don't use the mat - the children just float on the water.)

Last Sunday, it was me in the pool with Ryan. Here he is doing a dive with Coach Dave to retrieve a green toy from the bottom of the pool.







After lunch, we had some time to kill before Shichida class, so we dropped in at the children's play gym in Great World City, which is called Amazonia. Lots of climbing and sliding for Ryan and he enjoyed himself thoroughly!