day 485 | june 27, 2011 | tales of roo: ballerina afternoons

For the first few ballet classes roo attended, I’ve dined out with her either for salad or frozen yogurt as a sort of mommy’s-so-amazed-you’re-doing-something-on-your-own reward. During the succeeding sessions, I tried to wean her off the unintentional dine-out-after-ballet expectation I created.

day 488 | june 22, 2011 | Tanjong Beach Club

as mommarazzi, i had a shoot in sentosa in the early morning, and also wanted to scout around for future shoots since i was already in the island. kidnapped roo and red's cousin, and dragged the whole brigade to my scouting trip as a mixed business-pleasure-playdate trip.  it was my first time at tanjung beach, having only gone to siloso and palawan beaches before. the beach club worked the charm for me with nautical yellow, white and blue colors that helped us get into the chillout groove.

day 479 | july 14, 2011 | of bouncing bunnies and dating anniversaries

"something random turned into something awesome..." - yuna

this weekend, you went neurotic just because i wasn't feeling well. similar to how you neurotically researched car safety ratings because you know for a fact i'm naturally accident prone. thanks for being a kid with the kids. watching you with roo and red is beyond beautiful. thanks for sticking salonpas on me after a particularly tiring shoot, and getting lost driving around singapore for 2 hours just to bring me to a new place, and indulging my odd cravings like having cheng tng by the beach at 11pm. thanks for weaving a language that only the two of us understand, a sacred playful circle we can play in even in the company of others. and most importantly, thanks for holding me close even though sometimes i may be pulling away.

seven years, dearest. congratulations to us! there are rough patches here and there. we both know it's not going to be smooth all over. but here's to keeping the promise to remember the right things and centering ourselves on what matters most. big hugs.

day 478 | july 13, 2011 | cinemagraph babies

my first two tries with creating cinemagraphs. here's the link on how to do cinemagraphs.  if you're planning on doing these, i would highly recommend using a tripod and a still subject. kids aren't really the easiest to ask to stay still. grin. these were both handheld, and that bit gave me some hurdles to jump in the processing.

shooting roo was easy, as she's a naturally contemplative girl. just asked her to sit by the balcony, and the scene was done. red, on the other hand, was a little bit of a challenge. =)

we all had a laugh at this non-stop chewing shot of red. this is so her, the little munchter!

for better examples of cinemagraphs, check these out. =) will likely be playing around with this further.

day 483 | july 7, 2011 | picnic art play date

roo and i have been dating our friends a lot, and it's been great. singapore feels more like home every day because of these connections we make.

day 471 | june 19, 2011 | happy daddy's day!

'A truly rich man is one whose children run into his arms when his hands are empty' (unknown).

This is then addressed to the 'richest' man I know. The 'job' involves kissing baby feet, tickling gassy tummies, dancing even though we all know you can't, monitoring roo's ipad passwords, walking up and down the hallway to put red to sleep, teaching mandarin, changing smelly poop-filled diapers, going along with many play-pretend stories, being everyone's pack horse, and playing on the floor with the little ones even though you're dead tired from work. The smiles I see in roo and red's faces along with the frenetic pitter-patter of feet running towards the door whenever you come back home to us speaks for itself.  It's in the little everyday unappreciated things that love seeps through and leaves an indelible impression on the little ones. Hugs and drooly kisses of appreciation from your spice girls!

To all the awesome daddies I know, happy daddy's day!

day 464 | may 15, 2011 | lim chu kang farm

about to run off for another busy run-around day, and just had to share one of our weekend experiences. when i found out about the lim chu kang farm area, i honestly didn't think there was enough space in little red dot singapore to squish farmlands in, but somehow, they managed to do it. =) in classic singapore style, everything is compact and industrial. wanted to give roo a flavor of 'kampong' stuff i grew up with. as soon as we stepped into the goat farm though, she ran back to the car covering her nose, and demanding that we leave as soon as possible because it's too smelly. this just egged me on further with the idea of sending her to the boondocks for a couple of months for survival training. hmm...

day 461 | may 2, 2011 | singapore flyer

packed the kids and went on a little rainy day expedition to the singapore flyer. H and i checked out the flyer more than three years ago when it was just launched, and they've definitely made improvements. previously, it was just a long walk to the loading area. now, there was much roo could get excited about as they loaded up the path with displays and interactive areas for the guests to find about more about singapore and the flyer enroute to the ride.