Ezra goes to Tokyo!

This is Ezra's 3rd trip overseas and this time it's our favorite - Japan!

Overall, it was really tiring cos we choose not to bring the stroller and carried him in a carrier or in our arms the whole time. My boy is getting heavier, that's a rather good piece of news! Besides that, I think we handled the cold weather pretty well (in fact, it was hot when I carried him). Ezra was decked out in the cutest outfits (by my standards, hah!).

Bringing kids for travel really feels different from when we were single. Besides the extra baggage (luggage and the baby!), priorities are different as well; I didn't mind forgoing some shopping (which I kinda regret now, hah!). We discussed that future trips will have to be planned around the children more. At this age, Ezra has to follow us wherever we go, but I think he will have his own preferences when he is older. Edna said a very awe-inspiring statement with Wivi asked if she was ok not being able to do things that she wanted and her answer was that her objective is to spend quality time with her kids. Well, in my case, it will be a time to spend quality time with the family.

Since we traveled in a large group, there were so much waiting, something i definitely don't mind missing out on! I am sure we could have done lots more without all the waiting; go where we want to, eat what we want and splurge if we wanted to, but I did enjoy their company anyhow. Overall, I am thankful for this partially sponsored trip cos we saved more than $2k for the transport and accommodation expenses. As usual, our money disappeared and i really didn't think we bought or spent much on food. As least we didn't bust hundreds on a single meal!

Anyway, here's the *almost* complete photo album :)

Can't wait to go to Japan again, and this time, other fabulous parts of Japan!

A week shy of 15 months...

The last 2 months passed in a whirlwind.

Ezra started to walk without help at about 13.5 months, in a very wobbly fashion. Within about 3 weeks or so, he could walk rather steadily. The books said that 1.35 months was the average and boys usually start slower than girls, but a few people I have talked to so far said Ezra was very advanced! My little genius!

He also started off with a few words like 'Ball', 'Star' (besides Mama and Papa) 'Car' and 'Bye Bye'. He could also say 'Fish' but not so well, at least he could recognize it when asked. As of today, he has added 'Yes', 'No', 'Bear', 'Door', 'Bag', 'Milk' (cow's milk in a cup or pack), 'Nai Nai' (his bottled milk), 'Gai gai', 'Flower' (his 1st 2 syllable word on 7 Jan!), 'Bow' (for rainbow, on 8 Jan), 'Man-man' (for Ultraman) to his vocabulary. I think that's alot of words for a 15 month old! There are other words that he blurted out just after hearing us ask him to say it once. He briefly said 'Please' and refused to say it again subsequently.

I realised he actually knew the meaning of the words, he knew that different looking cars are still cars. When I asked 'Do you want nai-nai?"; he would actually nod his head to say yes.

We gathered that Christmas is his favorite time of the year because there were balls and stars all over the place! He went crazy saying "Ball! Star!" when we went down Orchard Road one weekend.

It is his little actions that melts people's hearts. He would sometimes tilt his head and look at a stranger innocently and would usually say 'Bye Bye' to people around him. When Papa is resting, he would sometimes snuggle up to him and give him hugs and kisses. He would run up to us and call "Papa" or "Mama" in an unresistable tone, hug our legs and asked to be carried. How can anyone refuse that?

Oh, my little one is so cute! I love him so much... and so does everyone around him!