Noah's Ark

Her bed.

That resembles Noah's Ark, minus the animals in pairs. The wall is filled over with decals of animals - mother and child.

Her bed has a menagerie of critters: dog/panda and crocodile bolsters that also serve as barriers; a porcupine, an armadilla and a tiger puppets; four different sizes of Totoros; her Mickey and Pooh pillows; magnetic dog, giraffe and cat (the latter of which is her personal version of Miyazaki's neko-basu); Miffy the rabbit; Senget the cat; baby bolster and pillow.

That's not including the other collection of stuffed toys that can't fit onto her bed and are sitting in one of her toy boxes.

The rascal has too many toys.

The Things That We Do With/To Totoro

We try to feed Totoro while he's on the stove and his blue buddy watches from the side, on his side.

We try to scoop some water from the tap while Totoro is in the sink. Not sure if we want to wash him or not. Note his blue buddy cooking in the pot on the stove.

And we try to feed Big Totoro something while he's in the sink.

Poor thing! Being slow-boiled must not be much fun. Even the carrots and other food don't want to join him in the pot.

A New Love

I love the library. And I like taking the bus there; after all, it's a short two stops away and the bus stop is right outside of our apartment.

I may have passed on this love to the little one when I first took her on the bus (her first bus ride!) to the library a couple of weeks back. She loves the novelty of being in a moving vehicle, having the opportunity to swipe my EZ Link card on the bus and looking out the windows and exclaiming at the trees and everything that passes by outside.

And she loves the library too. Specifically, at this point in time, she loves Ian Falconer's Olivia. We have a couple of Olivia books at home in KL but we don't make it a point to bring books from KL to Singapore and vice versa. So I thought it'd be a good idea to pick out some Olivia books for her since she likes them and she doesn't get to read them if she's not in KL.

We left the library with 3 copies of the exuberant little piggy that day. Of course, after we had our reading session at the library. I read all three copies to her while she excitedly exclaimed over some of the details in the books. Loudly. If there were a hearing-impaired person at the children's section that day, he would have had no problems hearing the little one.

I also assume that there is a no eating/drinking policy at the library (dunno if that's really true or not) so of all the things I had to teach the little one that day, I taught her how to sneak snacks into her mouth as discreetly as possible.

"Leave your snack cup in the Mickey bag, babe. Just take out your snacks one by one and pop it into your mouth."

It was either that or deal with a temper tantrum.

So that went well.

And we've been heading to the library, on average, once a week since then. With the exception of the library being closed for a function that one morning Sasha was here, we've enjoyed our trips to the library immensely.

She makes daily references to going to the library, reminding herself and anyone else who is willing to hear, about going to the library, taking the bus there, and how it was closed, or how we borrowed the Olivia books from the library.

This is one love I wouldn't mind cultivating in the little one. I just have to be ready to explain to her about the libraries (or lack of) at home in Malaysia when we're back there one day. Better yet, I'll just let her visit one herself.

Don't You Touch My Totoro!

Don't you dare, Pixel! You already maul my tiny little Totoro to bits on a daily basis. Paws off my Big Totoro!

Yes, the fat boy seems to have a fascination for the teeny tiny little Totoro (not pictured). No matter where it is, he finds it and treats it like a ball of yarn. Whether it's on our bed, her bed, on the table or lying around somewhere within his sight and reach, he will take it and give it a toss and a swat around the house. When we can't find it, his is the first name we call out. And then we cross our fingers and hope the little Totoro is still intact.

So far, so good.

Messy Hair

Even though I try my best, I can't seem to get her hair just right. Maybe it has something to do with cutting it in the bath. There are too many distractions: water, suds, bath toys, falling clumps of hair....

Luckily for me, she still looks adorable anyways.

Senget, Totoro, Sophia and Me

This is what happens when Sophia gets hold of a pen and before I can get it and the Polaroid away from her on time. The scribbles, not the grimace.

Going in for the kiss.

Senget's trying to escape. It's futile; Sophie's got a death grip on him. And yes, that's how she smiles for the camera; she's not trying to escape.

Note: see how sunken the couch is (it's not because of my weight)? Some thing don't improve with age, and that couch is one of it. I hate that couch. I. HATE. IT.

Something Else To Do

As if trying to perfect the photography isn't good enough. Now I've also gotten myself into a crocheting spin. Already done one amigurumi cat. He's pretty lopsided. I've a good mind to call him Senget. He's red and beige. He now resides on Sophia's bed.

I now have two boxfuls of yarn; one contains the yarn I brought back with me from KL (previous projects which went undone) and one which contains new yarn I bought here. Fingers crossed that at least 80% will be used.

I also checked out a load of books from the library on crochet. The goal is to find projects from those books, make copies and keep them in my library. Crochet books don't come cheap. This is the way to go.

My sewing machine is still sitting in the closet. To remedy that, I went out and bought several swatches of fabric with Sophie's pants in mind. I spent the weekend looking for pants for her (having discovered in the morning that almost all her pants are either too short or too tight) but found only a few that I deemed light enough, nice enough or inexpensive enough. So instead of scouting around, I'm gonna try making her a couple of pairs based on a pair of funky ones I purchased off Etsy.

So many projects. Let's hope I succeed unscathed.

Let's not get ambitious; let's just hope I start...and finish. Especially the pants.

Disputes

"Hi, babe. Were you reading your books?"

"No, mummy. Only looking."

"Oh, really?"

"Sophie's looking at the books, mummy. Not reading."

Loosening The Apron Strings

We went diaperless on our trip to Ikea Tampines today.

We took the train, then waited 30 minutes too long for the shuttle bus to get there. No matter, she thoroughly enjoyed the trip.

And then went bonkers at Ikea, sampling the bounciness of most of the couches, running around barefoot in the children's section, also testing out the firmness of the beds, played hide-and-seek with Jona, tortured us through lunch by eating only fries, and basically enjoyed herself silly that morning.

And had no accidents whatsoever from the moment we stepped out of the house till we got home.

Wow.

Baby girl's growing up.

Artist Or Rapist?

If you don't already know, Roman Polanski was arrested by the Swiss auhorities recently. The crime? The film director drugged and anally raped a 13-year old girl in 1977. The original charge of rape was reduced to sex with a minor. The director then fled the US to avoid sentencing. He has lived abroad in Europe till his arrest recently. The director's 'friends', among the likes of whom are Salman Rushdie, Woody Allen, Milan Kundera, and Isabelle Adjani, are rallying beside him.

Wait a minute. What is the matter with these people? Talents aside, what happened to their decent moral values. Oh hang on. They're stars. They DON'T HAVE moral values. According to Whoopi Goldberg, it wasn't 'Rape-rape'. So Whoopi, what exactly constitutes rape-rape?

A rape is a rape is a rape. The bottom line is, the man committed a heinous, despicable, indefensible act. Enforced upon a young child. Imagine that child to be your daughter/sister/cousin/niece/friend/neighbour or just someone you know. I have a daughter. I cannot imagine her being violated in even the most benign way; the thought of it just sickens me.

For those who feel that Polanski has learned his lesson and suffered enough, take a look at an excerpt of an interview he did with novelist Martin Amis in 1979:

“If I had killed somebody, it wouldn’t have had so much appeal to the press, you see? But… f—ing, you see, and the young girls. Judges want to f— young girls. Juries want to f— young girls. Everyone wants to f— young girls!”

Now people, is that the mind of someone who is sorry for what he's done? Or do you even think that was the first or last young girl that he violated or raped?

Rapists deserve to be judged, treated and sentenced for the crime they have committed. A fugitive child rapist - because essentially that is what this supposed brilliant director is - deserves no less. Just because you make films that people adore doesn't give you a ticket out. It doesn't give you a different set of rules to operate by.

I hope they get him, and that they get him real good.