Wooden Toy Trains and Railway

The very first railway set I bought for mini J was the Emergency Services HQ from Hape, when Isetan was having a sale. Back then, mini J was only 14 months old, while the toy packaging says suitable for 3+ years old. I finally decided to opened it after mini J turned 18 months old. I was sure he would like it (because he loves anything transportation), but I wasn't sure if it would be age-appropriate, although I've kept away the small parts like the human figures and other small accessories. It seems to be a natural instinct that the vehicles should roll on the tracks. I didn't have to demonstrate and mini J figured this out immediately.





Gradually, I added more trains, tracks and accessories from Ikea and Brio (as well as some items from China). I didn't expect mini J would be afraid of the battery-operated train moving on it own. Thankfully, he got over the fear when he was 21 months old. I was puzzled because before turning 1 year old, he was always disturbing the automated vacuum cleaner until it was damaged. We never took it out again after it returned from repair.




When approaching 2 years old, he started joining the tracks and trains randomly. Currently at 2.5 years, his pretend play is limited to people getting up and down the transportation, vehicles going for car wash, and aeroplane flying in the sky. It hasn't evolve into elaborated stories yet, which is perhaps the other reason why theme-based railway sets are for 3+ years old kids.



There are some drawbacks when combining train tracks and accessories from different brands. For example, the human figures from Brio are slightly bigger than Hape's. Since Brio's are larger, the figures are too wide to pass through Ikea's orange bridge. Also, the wagon and load for the cargo trains are of slightly different length for Brio and Hape.

Baby Books

"Never Touch a Monster" was the first touch-and-feel book I bought for mini J when he was 8 months old. Since he liked it, I bought another two more in this series, "Never Touch a Dinosaur" and "Never Touch a Shark". The colourful rhyming sentences are always on the left page and the cute illustrations and textures on the right. There are many more in this series but I was afraid he might outgrow them too soon, so I limited my purchase to just three. Surprisingly, at 2.5 years old now, he would sometimes pick out these books from the bookshelf for bedtime story.



I used to wonder how library books become so torn. Now that I have a destroyer at home, I witnessed for myself how a 1 year old took out a page from the spine of the board book. Gradually, the inside pages were detached from the covers.



Another series that mini J enjoys a lot, is the shaped flip books from Milly & Flynn. While he generally do not get attracted to animal-themed books, he probably like these because of the "noisy, red tractor", "shiny, yellow submarine" and "dusty, orange truck". As with many children's books, the stories are predictable and similar to each other. Papa J joked that he could guess it's going to be ""Wait for me!" called Little Frog" in the last title we bought.



My home library of baby books wouldn't be complete without some sound books. The first that I bought was "The Wheels on the Bus" from Igloo Books. I'm quite disappointed with this series because the electronic part spoiled so quickly. These books could have had a longer milestone if the music still plays.



While trying to expand my collection of baby books, I wanted the books to be attractive enough for mini J, who was a very active baby (and still is a very active toddler now). So I thought slider books would be fun and I bought "I thought I Saw a Bear!" and "I thought I Saw a Penguin!". It's like the animals are playing play-a-boo. When the books were new, the slider don't work very well and mini J had difficulty moving them. Over time, the pages become seasoned, yet able to survive mini J's rough pulling.




I've considered buying pop-up books, but I knew that mini J would quickly destroy them. True enough, I tested with a hand-me-down pop-up book and he tore almost every single pop-up.

Here are some Youtube links for some of the books listed above:
- Never Touch a Monster by Let's Read Some Books
- Never Touch a Dinosaur by Read Aloud Books
- Never Touch a Shark by Waternut
- Milly & Flynn Shaped Flip Books
- The Wheels on the Bus by GJS Channel
- If You're Happy and You Know It by GJS Channel
- Twinkle Twinkle Little Star by Inspiring Books
- Old MacDonald Had a Farm by Inspiring Books
- I thought I Saw a Bear by 키즈북세종kidsbooksejong
- I thought I Saw a Penguin by HPL Kids

These books (and much more) can be found from local online bookstores:
- Groovy Giraffe
- Owl Readers Club

Pan Pacific Hotel

Our original plan was to make use of the SingapoRediscovers voucher, but KB did some comparison and concluded that our cash output is less if we book directly through the hotel's website. Yes, direct booking is cheaper than using the authorised websites after deducting the $100 voucher.

This is the first time we went on a staycation without an occasion to celebrate. We chose Pan Pacific hotel because it is connected to Marina Square, where Kiztopia is located, because mini J wouldn't appreciate lazing in the hotel room all day.



It's always nicer when there's a Nespresso coffee machine in the room.



KB likes having a separate living room because he could watch TV all night (and maybe sip some tea) while mini J and I were asleep.



The beautiful night and day views of the city from our room on the 17th floor.

Once Upon a Time on The Orient Express

Taking a short walk in history... onboard the original Orient Express train carriage.

Shangri-La Hotel Singapore

This is our staycation at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore. It's been a long while since KB and I last had a staycation, because I found it too troublesome to bring along all the baby stuff, plan his meals and milk feeds. Now that I'm more okay with feeding him outside food and he's drinking formula / packet milk, I'm less overwhelmed by the packing list. I chose Shangri-La because there's a really nice buds indoor playground and a newly built Splash Zone.

On check-in day, we waited for little J to wake up from his nap before heading down to the hotel. Hence, by the time we reached, which is slightly pass 3pm, there was no crowd at the lobby; everyone else has already checked in! But being late also meant that most slots for buds and Splash Zone were already taken up, because we could only make our bookings after we got our room number.


Hotel lobby Christmas decorations


Our room in Garden Wing


View of the pool from our room balcony


Baby cot and kid's goodie bag


Yummy logcake and chocolate from the hotel


Toddler area within buds by Shangri-La at 9am

Jurong Lake Gardens Festival of Lights

Organised as part of the President's Challenge, “A Better Tomorrow” Festival of Lights bring to light the unity, determination and resilience of Singaporeans. (Source: NParks)

The displays are located in two areas of Jurong Lake Gardens, "It's a Small World" is near the North carpark and "Lucky Zodiac" is near the South carpark. At the North carpark, the traffic control officers were there, so were the safe distancing ambassadors. Thankfully, there's plenty of HDB carparks on the opposite side of the road. In contrast, there wasn't any restrictions at the South carpark.

It's a Small World Lantern Displays

Lucky Zodiac Lantern Displays

Since it's the Christmas season now, it wouldn't be complete without some Christmas theme light-up, isn't it.