Holiday tales

Back home, after a whirlwind weekend in beautiful Singapore. Having travelled plenty with Moppet, I have long since ceased to expect anything but the unexpected. Moppet's Papa however, was rather surprised because the holiday was nothing like the holiday we planned. It was better.

We ended up doing very little sightseeing, but got to meet up with several friends, many of whom we had not met in more than 5 years. It was a bit strange - all these folks we knew at B-school, now moms and dads, dealing with the madness that is life with young children. It took some getting used to, but it was really nice to be able to talk about babies, parenting survival tips, and spousal quirks and not feel too old, too frumpy, too out of it, or simply weird :-)

Squiggles and her parents graciously hosted us and took us around town. Contrary to my fears, Moppet was rather well-behaved, with only a few minor episodes - repeatedly decapitating one of poor little Squiggles' dolls, objecting vigorously if I carried Squiggles (which I didn't do much of anyway since Squiggles also made it clear that I was not a preferred carrier), running amok at the Borders bookstore, and attempting to poke a waitress in the butt with her spoon while waiting for her dinner - all quite tame by Moppet's standards.

For all that Squiggles is only 3 months old, she gamely came with us as we drove around the city, despite not being a fan of the car seat. She's a strong-minded little creature who knows exactly what she wants and reminds me so much, temperament-wise, of Moppet at that age. She protested strenuously, but once she realised that it wasn't working, settled in and treated us all to some lovely cooing and gurgling.

We also celebrated Squiggles' 3rd month birthday. Please observe the lip-smacking Moppet hovering around the fresh-cream pastry and Squiggles' wary what's-she-doing-to-MY-cake look. After which, Squiggles Mom demonstrated to Moppet the best way to eat cake - stick your finger into the fresh cream and lick it off. Moppet gave it a tentative try, and then went wild! Some of the cake managed to find its way into her mouth, the rest was on her face, hair, arms, and the furniture. Not to mention what all that sugar did to her later in the evening as she whooped and spun around the room until she finally collapsed in exhaustion sometime near midnight.


Just like our holiday, actually. We got a lovely little taste of Singapore and whooped and spun around until we were beat. A big, big thank you to Squiggles' Mom and Dad for making the whole trip such fun!