25 April 2013: Blake’s school organized a trip to West Coast Park, and I couldn’t be happier to tag along, even if it means bringing Nakayla too!
It was the first time ever for me to bring Blake and Nakayla out on my own (well, sort of). I was excited, yet worried at the same time. Thoughts of What if I can’t cope? and many, many strange scenarios appeared in my head a few days before the actual outing. On top of that, I was mentally adding things to bring. Just the thought of it made me so tired that at one point, I regretted signing up.
Then the day came. Blake was in his usual sleepy mode when we left the house, but when he realized I was walking into the school with him, he perked up!
After the first school excursion together, I remembered to leave Blake alone in the dining hall while he had his breakfast. And he finished everything that was given to him! Hehe. I think not having me follow him around the school brings some kind of school normality to him. He even got a shock when he saw me in his class! The look on his face, pointing at me and going, “Mommy!” was priceless. Haha. During this whole time, I was feeding Nakayla her milk, so I didn’t manage to take much photos. But don’t worry, plenty of photos will follow from here on!
The children got really excited when they saw the yellow bus
Blake was particularly high when he saw the bus, and he almost ran out of the gate, when they let the older children out to board! One moment he was in queue with the rest of his classmates, next moment *poof* at the gate. Fortunately, the principal, Ms Elle, was at the gate, and she pulled him back in time! I spoke to him sternly about it, and he sort of understood cos held my hand throughout after.
Eager to jump queue cos we were the last to board, but still holding onto my hands
And we’re off!
After chit-chatting with the teachers on the bus, and playing with Blake, we arrived at West Coast Park!
When we arrived, the children were all eager to head to the playgrounds. I don’t blame them, there were so many playgrounds there, it’s unbelievable! Not only is there a good variety of playgrounds, but they are also age-specific from ages 2 years and above – even the adults (i.e. me) wanted to play!
Instead of heading for the playgrounds, the school planned for sand play first. I had told Blake’s form teacher, Teacher Sandy, in advance that I won’t be bringing any toys for sand play cos I definitely won’t be able to handle all the necessities for the children and a bag of toys for sand play. She told me not to worry as she will be bringing extra down for Blake. Yay!
In between taking photos of the boy
We hardly take him to anywhere with sand, but he seem to know what to do!
He actually stood up and said, “TA-DAH!” when he accomplished his mission!
He did it all by himself!
He found the first scoop he had a little difficult to handle, so he exchanged scoops with his classmate
Yup! He said, “TA-DAH!” again when he unveiled his master piece. Haha!
As usual, after a while, he got bored. So, Teacher Meng placed her sun-visor on him.
He was amused for a while
Some parts were lost between now and lunch time because I had to deal with an explosion of poo – courtesy of Nakayla. By explosion, I mean spilling out of the diaper, and onto me. No idea how it happened cos it wasn’t much poo, and the diaper was worn well!
In any case, I brought her to get washed up at the nearest toilet available, which had no baby facilities unfortunately. I laid her on a table outside, after laying the big changing mat I brought along. I didn’t bring any extra clothes for her, but there was a t-shirt of Blake’s in the bag (it was his school bag, and it always has an extra set of clothes inside for him). So the little girl wore her brother’s big t-shirt for the rest of the day. She slept so peacefully in the baby carrier after the clean-up.
By the time we returned, it was time for lunch!
I gave Blake a piece of wet tissue to clean his hands, but instead, he took it to clean his shoes! I was so amused, I forgot to take a photo. Ms Elle took the wet tissue from him and helped him remove his shoes. I was still laughing. Haha!
“Why are you taking photos of me and not eating, Mommy?”
The boy was the only child who took the bun of his burger to eat first.
The rest went for the fish fillet first. Hehe.
“Still taking photos, Mommy?”
Finally attacking his fish fillet
After lunch time, it was play time!
“The wheels on the bus go round and round!”
Steering wheel, that is. Haha!
Taking cover cos the sun was too blistering hot!
After playing for a while, I could tell that Blake was tired. Along with another teacher, we walked towards McDonald’s, hoping to get some ice cream. But the queue was super long as it was lunch time. And before we could get into queue, Ms Elle came to tell us that the bus has arrived to take us back to the school.
Shortly after this, Blake battled the afternoon nap monster but eventually fell asleep 🙂
The moment we got off the bus, we said our good-byes and left for home. Got home and bathed for my two babies, and we all fell asleep!
