Overcoming the Fear of Swimming Pools Part II

Continuing from my earlier blog post, Overcoming the Fear of Swimming Pools Part I...

Following the first step of overcoming his fear of swimming pools, I decided to bring Blake to the swimming pool on a weekly basis to get him used to the idea of swimming and water play. Besides that, I also brought him to a couple of other places that had water play involved as well.

The first place outside the swimming club we went to for such an activity was the Rooftop Water Playground at Tampines 1.

When we first got there, Blake was very hesitant. He didn't dare to go near any of the water areas, choosing to play only at the dry playground.


After what seemed forever to me (I was ready to give up, pack up and head home), Blake started to venture into the wet areas. Point to note, always be patient when it comes to trying new things with your young ones. Some of them do take quite a while to adapt and get into the mood.




Despite the slow start in enjoying the water playground, Blake eventually warmed up and got really into playing! He had so much fun that day! He only dared to play at certain spots though, but that was good enough for me!


After the trip to the water playground, I went another step further and brought Blake to Wild Wild Wet the very next day. I mean, why wait? It seemed like he was finally going over the hurdle, just needed a little more push! Hehe.


Again, Blake was hesitant initially. I wasn't surprised. Wild Wild Wet was so much bigger, in comparison to water playground he had just gotten used to the day before. I reckon he took about half an hour before he started to enjoy all the rides that he could go on. By this time, I already knew I was pregnant with baby number two, and was in my first trimester, but I still did everything that Blake wanted to do - go on slides, climb to the highest point of the center structure etc. I was very determined to eliminate this phobia once and for all!


At the end of the day, I went home with a really tired, but happy boy. He had so much fun after much reassurance from me, knowing that I'm following him every step of the way, and that I'm always right next to him, holding his hands the whole way J

Subsequently, after our visit to Wild Wild Wet, Blake took shorter periods of time to get used to the idea of swimming and water play.

My baby boy went from this,




To this!








Based on my calculations, it probably took me 1½ to about 2 months to have Blake smiling and get all excited whenever he sees a swimming pool or water playground - that's when I know he was no longer afraid of going for a dip in the pool. Hehe.

Overcoming the Fear of Swimming Pools Part I

This is probably a super long awaited post, considering how I have been mentioning time and again about Blake overcoming his fear of swimming pools, and how he has enjoyed swimming and water play ever since.

Blake's first experience in the swimming pool was probably what got him to fear it in the first place. It was probably too cold for him, and he was too young to know any better. On top of that, we even had him go underwater a couple of times. Haha. Oh, things parents do to teach their children some lifelong skills.

So after dipping Blake underwater over two separate occasions, we decided to give the neck float a try (read about it here), thinking the neck float will give him some sense of security. Boy, were we wrong! After this episode, we decided to stop bringing Blake to the swimming pool.

The sudden thought of aiding Blake to overcome his fear of swimming pools came after we brought him on his first trip to the zoo.

Seeing how he saw other children enjoying themselves at the water playground, but he was too afraid to join in, made me feel that it's about time to do something about his phobia.




Running towards his safe haven, after spotting Sean sitting some distance away from the water playground.
It had been nearly 10 months since we last went near any swimming pools. It's about time, right? Besides, swimming is a relatively good sport to pick up, and almost all shopping centres have a water playground now. On top of everything else, I pretty much enjoy going to the swimming club to relax! Hehe. Yes, one selfish reason on my part.

So the first thing I thought of was to buy a nice float for Blake to sit on. We have to start from square one, with just his legs touching the water, and every other part of him above.

I brought Blake along to find the perfect float - one that was cute enough to attract him to, made of good material, and hopefully, can hold up to weights of 18-20kg. Reason for the last criteria? I had NO IDEA how long it will take me to get Blake to overcome his fear of swimming pools, so I'd rather buy a good sitting float which he can use for a long time, than to buy one after another as he grows.

Luck was on our side, and we managed to find it at our first search stop!


On March 1, 2012, I brought Blake to the swimming pool on my own for a trial. He was naturally frightened, and it took me a while to settle him down. But after sitting him in the float, and giving him a piece of fallen flower to hold onto, he became a little more comfortable. I walked him around the pool a few times before attempting to take photos of this memorable moment.

A really nice maid and the little girl she was with came over to play with Blake while I went to get my camera. It was very sweet of them to help me out. I had told them Blake was afraid of the water, and the maid started to drip water onto the float, which made Blake laugh! Hehe.

She was also very kind to help us take a few photos! She said some shots weren't very nice because Blake wasn't looking, so she just kept taking until she got a shot of Blake looking into the camera. Super sweet, right? Hehe.


After spending about half an hour walking around the swimming pool with Blake on the float, I attempted to sit him in the shallowest part of the swimming pool, but he was still terrified. So back into the float he went, and we walked around for another 30 minutes before heading to wash up.


Job well done!
I could tell that Blake was mighty pleased with himself that day too. Over dinner, he had a good appetite and was in an extremely good mood!




Daddy and Mommy's brave boy J
After this first attempt of getting rid of his phobia, I decided to bring Blake to the swimming pool at least once a week. I also went on to take him to a couple more places with water play to help speed the process up - will continue this journey I had with Blake in overcoming his fear of swimming pools in the next blog post J

Blake’s First Trip to Singapore Zoo

February 2012: We finally made our way to the Singapore Zoo! It took us quite a few weeks, from the time I declared we should go to the zoo, to actually get ourselves there. Haha.

The thought of bringing Blake to the zoo never crossed my mind, until I saw how much he enjoyed playing with all his animal-zoo-related Fisher Price toys.


This is the Fisher Price Little People A to Z Learning Zoo Playset
Blake has a couple more animal-zoo-related toys from the Fisher Price Little People series, but I only took photo of this set. Sean had gone on a Fisher Price Little People toy series shopping spree over Amazon and Ebay last year, over 6++ months. I remember during that period, there was at least one package arriving from USA, every other week!

So anyway, on the day we went to the zoo, the morning stars sort of lined up for us. We woke up early (for some really odd reason), the weather was good, and we were wondering what we should be doing as a family that day. Then it struck us that maybe we should finally get our lazy bums over to the zoo! In a way, it was a spontaneous family outing. Haha.

After having some snacks at home to prepare ourselves for the long bus journey ahead, we left! When we reached Ang Mo Kio Interchange, the first thing we did was to have a good meal at McDonald’s!


We were given a free ice cream cone, I believe it was cos they ran out of curry sauce back then
By the time we finally reached the zoo, Blake fell asleep.


After strolling around for a while, Blake woke up and the first thing he saw was otters!


He was very amused by them. We all were! The otters ran around in a group, from one camera to another, to pose for all the visitors. It was hilarious. We even went back to see them a second time before we left the zoo!

The highlight of the trip has got to be the White Tigers for me. We stayed there for quite a while. It was truly amazing, just standing there, and observing the white tigers.




We proceeded to other animal enclosures, and along the way, we managed to take a family photo when there were no crowds in sight! J





We had planned to catch at least one animal show, and we happened to be in the Elephants of Asia zone when it was nearing the Elephants at Work & Play show time. We made our way in, and managed to get really good seats! Sean and Blake sat in the front row, while I sat in the second row, diagonally across them.


But alas, this moment of awesomeness did not last. The minute the show started, loud sounds coming from the speakers scared Blake. And, when the elephants sprayed water at the splash zone (where we were seated), Blake burst out crying. We tried to calm him down, but when we failed to do so within minutes, we quickly left the show. No point ruining the show for everyone, even though I was looking forward to the show!

We then continued walking, and made our way to the Wet Play Area. Blake was still pretty much scared of water then. He would only stay on the outside of the whole wet area. He probably walked back and forth the wet play area for about 5 minutes tops before clambering for me to get him out of the area.




Once we were done washing up, we went to eat at the KFC nearby to recharge ourselves. There was still a last stretch of animal enclosures to see, before calling it a day.




When we walked out of the zoo, the sun was beginning to set, and we were all super tired. The bus rides home saw both my boys sleeping most parts of the way.

Thinking back about it, while the journey to and fro the zoo was really long, and we did not get to watch any animal shows, it was still quite a fun, spur-of-the-moment family outing J

Blake’s First School Excursion

*Super long post ahead!*

On the morning of 25 October 2012, I woke up earlier than usual. I was too excited! It was Blake’s first ever school excursion, and we are going to Jurong Bird Park!

We quickly rushed out of the house, as we had to be in school earlier than usual, and my dad was already waiting for us downstairs, along with my mom and sister.

Blake knew that there was something special going on that day, and he was excited to get to school! Perhaps it was all the talk I have been giving him days leading up to 25th. I kept telling him about a place we were going to see a lot of beautiful and colourful birds! I had given him his school’s excursion backpack to carry around, and he got even more excited. Hehe. In his little backpack were his raincoat, my disposable poncho, and a set of his clothes.


When we reached his school, Blake could not sit still. He wouldn’t sit to have his breakfast, and was in a “why am I waiting?” kind of mood. He was restless. He kept saying, “Bye! See you!” , throughout the time in school, while we waited for all the other children and their parents to arrive. During this period, the teachers and kitchen staff were all busy packing our lunches too.


When we were finally lining up in the school’s front yard, waiting for the buses to arrive, Blake got even more excited, and rushed towards the gates.


He really couldn't wait any longer. Hehe.
But it was a while before we boarded the bus, as we took the second bus, and were the last to board. So in the midst of all the waiting, photo-taking time! J



Blake’s teacher took this shot for us. Hehe.
Finally, we boarded the bus, and we’re off! Blake was so excited, he wow-ed at everything he saw outside the window. Hehe. Lucky bugger got the window seat.



Halfway through the journey, Blake got bored and he started to play with the curtains on the bus. He was playing peek-a-boo with the world outside the windows. That entertained him for quite some time, and before we knew it, we’ve reached the bird park! J



While waiting for the school’s principal to get all our tickets, everyone lined up to take photos with ‘Birds of Play’ signboard. According to one teacher, “This is proof that we came to Jurong Bird Park!” Haha. It was quite funny.


The littlest of the lot. Hehe.

With their form teacher, Teacher Meng


Me and my baby! J
When the principal returned with our tickets, the whole school was more than ready to invade the bird park in their sunshine school uniforms! Hehe.

First stop, the penguins!



Blake saying, “Hi!” to the penguins

Teacher Meng was so-called assigned to assist me whenever I needed help cos of my heavily pregnant belly.
We then moved onto the owls. Blake refused to walk on his own through his section, not cos it was dark, but because he couldn’t see the owls! I was wondering why he asked me to carry him all of a sudden! I had thought it was the darkness and eeriness of the place, but he was doing fine when we were at the penguins’. But the moment I picked him up, he turned to where the owls were at, pointed at them, and went, “Wow!”. Haha. That’s when I knew.



After two cooling attractions at the start of our bird park outing, we braved the sun and heat to look at the other birds.


Yup, being carried cos he couldn’t see the birds. Haha.
When we reached this particular section, Blake struggled to get down.


And the reason behind the struggle to get down? He could see the birds clearer, and freely, when he’s on the ground. Haha! He was so excited at this attraction that he ran up and down, left and right, yelling, "BIRD!"


After this, the children were starting to be a little tired and hungry. So we headed over to Pools Amphitheatre, where everyone can sit down and have their lunch, while waiting for the show to start.



With his trusty water bottle, patiently waiting for something to happen


Snacking away from the goodies the school packed. And yes, silly mommy forgot to remove his backpack until halfway through the show.
I didn’t take any photos of the show as I was too busy attending to Blake, and feeding myself. Haha. I was initially gearing myself up to struggle with a crying toddler (the last time we went to an animal show in the zoo, Blake cried so badly we had to leave), but Blake surprised me when he sat through the whole show, enjoying every moment of it! He let out cries of, “Wow!” when the birds flew past us, and clapping whenever the crowd clapped. I was thoroughly amazed, and proud of my little boy. Hehe.

After the show, it was time for the activity that all the children were waiting for – Water play!

We made our way to the water playground, found a nice shady spot to put our things and get changed, and it was off to the waters!


The water was definitely a huge welcome on such a hot day, and with Blake so in love with water now, he couldn’t be happier to see the water playground!



The teachers were all pretty taken aback by Blake’s enthusiasm in water play. They came up to me, one by one, telling me how great it was to see Blake in his element. Hehe. At one point, a few of his teachers surrounded Blake, and begin to splash water on him. Blake was laughing non-stop!


The teachers kept egging Blake to run towards them, and to play with them. Blake happily obliged, and had so much fun with all the teachers!

Madam Teo (his class’s assisting teacher) had came to tell me that Blake was such a delight to have around, because he doesn’t splash water on anyone on purpose, not even when the other children attempted to provoke him into doing so, or when the teachers told him to splash back, in the name of fun! Haha. Definitely a proud mama moment for me there J

When children started to leave the water playground to wash up, Blake’s school principal, Ms Elle, came to me and asked if Blake had gone onto the slides. I told her I couldn’t bring him up as it was kind of dangerous for the both of us. The staircase leading up to the slides had been taped off, and the only other way up was to climb up a net structure – not exactly something a heavily pregnant woman with a toddler should be attempting.

Ms Elle then offered to take Blake up, while I waited at the bottom for him. She said it would be such a pity if Blake didn’t go on the slide at least once, seeing how much he enjoyed everything else at the water playground. I agreed readily, cos Blake had been trying to get me to bring him up the slides, but I kept dragging him away.

Blake was more than happy to have someone take him up to the slides, and with another teacher catching all the students at the bottom, I managed to take a video!


So glad Blake had so much fun, and so super happy that the teachers were all more than happy to get themselves all wet (none of the teachers brought any change of clothes!), just so all the children can have all the fun J

After Blake washed up, we played for a little bit at the dry playground.


Then, Teacher Meng approached us, and told me that there is a cooler spot to play, and that his classmates were all waiting there. So I picked Blake up and walked him over to the shaded area. He was super happy with this place, cos not only was it much cooler, but it had all his machine ride-ons! Haha.


There was even a mini arcade, which Blake kept trying to push the door open to get into. I let him in, only because there was air-con. Something we both very much needed. Hehe.

When everyone was done washing up, it was time for the tram ride. We waited to get a whole tram to ourselves, and we named the tram “The Honey Tree Tram”!

Blake started to become cranky at this point as it was time for his afternoon nap, so I popped his pacifier into his mouth, and carried him throughout the rest of the journey.



Tried to get everyone within the two rows in, but Blake was too low, and two of the children behind got blocked by me…
After the tram ride, everyone was exhausted, but we still had 30 minutes to go before we could leave. We had to wait for the buses to arrive.

I took this time to bring Blake to the souvenir shop, to get a little reward for him. He behaved so well, I was so proud of him! That and because, I cannot leave anywhere without buying anything, when I’m determined to buy something home. Haha.

I got Blake two soft toys (he chose them) in the form of a Toucan and a Cockatoo. I had planned to get only one for him, but this boy of mine liked these two so much, he wouldn’t let go and carried them all around the shop. He did put them down when I told him to, though. I had to find Teacher Meng before I can make any purchases, as she was carrying our bags (so sweet, right?). So as a bonus reward, for not struggling or throwing tantrums when I put the toys back and left the shop, I got them both for him. Haha.

While Teacher Meng watched him, I went into the shop quickly to make the purchase, and returned to surprise my boy.


Look at how smitten he is with the Toucan



Blake fell asleep shortly after he got hold of his new toy
Soon, the buses arrived, and we were on our way back to school.


Just before he laid down on my lap to rest on the journey back to school
When we were back in the school, Blake drank his milk while waiting for my dad to pick us up. When he was done, my dad called (perfect timing!), and we left for home.


Blake’s new feathered friends
Ending this super long post are more pictures of Blake with his new feathered friends, and his duckie, the morning after our first school excursion: