How did Kai Kai and Jia Jia migrate to Singapore?

Mention Jia Jia (嘉嘉) and Kai Kai (凯凯), and the kids know we are referring to Singapore Zoo’s (新加坡动物园) latest attractions. We know Pandas (熊貓) are cute, love to snack on bamboos, but do we know how they travel from China Sichuan to Singapore River Safari?

To help us understand how the Zoo is helping the Pandas to settle down, Singapore Zoo sent us a new picture book for review.

Kids now understand how the bear-VIPs travel from China to Singapore, their bamboo diet and friends, and why Pandas cannot eat Hainanese Chicken Rice (Too bad).

“A New Home For Kai Kai & Jia Jia” is available for sale at $24.50 from the Giant Panda Forest retail shop at River Safari. You might be interested to dig out more details about the Pandas :

–> Panda habitat
–> Wildlife Reserves Singapore fanpage

Judging from our kids’ Panda encounters in Taiwan and Hongkong, Daddy believes our kids will love Singapore’s Pandas too.

What if the man becomes a Stay-At-Home-Dad?

This week, Mummy (CEO and COO of SengkangBabies) is enjoying her Tom Yam in Bangkok with Boon Yi. Daddy has been delegated to keep the house in order until Mummy comes back.

A timetable tells us how Mummy runs our family with clockwork precision and efficiency.

Daddy can handle the kids relatively well, and he thought he understands how challenging it is to be a home-maker, that is until he steps into Mummy’s heels.

Making milk, showering, diapers, fetching the kids from school. Tasks are straightforward but it is a logistics-project to ensure everyone meet the timelines.

Between, we are not talking about house keeping, laundry and cooking yet.
HENG1 ah (lucky), 奶奶 is chipping in to help 🙂

… just imagine, how does nursing mums survive and thrive with lack of sleep? Dads can reduce some of Mummies’ stress, please read our Breastfeeding post.

If any parent ever wish to test their patience, try homework with kids haha. 陪读爸爸 is a tough job for Daddy. Mummy told Daddy to spot-check the student handbooks, in case kids decide to KENG1 (malingering). Yes, our kids are experts at bargaining and twisting their way out of homework and chores.

On the other hand, Mummy’s workload doubles whenever Daddy goes on business trips or even holiday reservist. Mindef can definitely help by allowing Dads to book in later (8 or 9am will be pro-family gesture) so that we can help to bring the kids to school. When Daddy last check, Singapore still need to make more babies.

Did you hear about the recent announcement that Daddies’ competence will be measured? What is BFI (Better Fathering Index) HUH? Daddy Andy need not be Singapore’s best Daddy, he just need to be the kids’ dependable Dad. Hopefully, the feeling is mutual :p

Daddy recommends…
All Mummies out there, book a 4D3N vacation with your girlfriends, and dump the husband behind. This is one sure way for the man to improve his parenting skills, and appreciate his 老婆 (wife) more :p

Here comes the dilemma, Daddy miss the kids when he is working, but to soak in all the family chores, and face the kids for three full days, is another story 🙂
Given a choice, Daddy would prefer to retain his Ministry-of-Fun portfolio, rather then to stay home and mind the kids.

Verdict : Will Daddy support Mummy for another 4D3N trip again? YES YES YES.

Daddy is amazed how Mummy bloggers still find time and brain-juice to blog at the end of the day! Daddy would like to take this opportunity to salute all the Stay-at-home-Mummies, your sacrifices are helping to build a stronger family! KUDOs !

For the guys out there, grab your Mrs, hug her, give her a peck, say some “sweet nothings”. If you need more parenting tips and gossips’ from Daddies’ perspectives, drop by Ai Sakura’s Celebrate Fatherhood series.
BlogFather Winston has a summary of everyone who has spoken out about the BFI.

… meanwhile, Daddy is counting down to reinforcement Mummy’s return.