Big Red Non-Wiggles Car

About a month ago, i bought Ayisha her first DVD. It was a kidsongs DVD that has all your favorite kiddies song but it's very old school - kids wearing short shorts and rollerskates and the mothers/teachers wearing big hair and padded blouses.

Squeaky LOVES it. I wasn't sure about letting her watch TV at all at first. Felt a bit guilty for using it as a babysitter when Im around to look after her. But I guess we both need time off each other and after seeing our friend put 'Beauty & the Beast' for her son, I went looking for more. :p

She's not into Disney movies yet tho. I bought Cinderella cos that's my favorite but she got scared of the screaming mouse. So we kept putting the same one over & over till Michael couldn't stand waking up to 'Lou Lou Skip to my Lou' in his head anymore and we went looking some more.

I figured maybe she likes real people & real kids so we tried HI-5 and Wiggles and of course, she loves em. Especially when the Wiggles are riding in their Big Red Car & go 'jalan-jalan'.

Coincidentally, the week that the wiggly wiggly world fun began, we also finally got a car and lo & behold - it's a Big Red one!!!

After about 3 months of being conveniently driven around in Bluebird taxis all over Bali we decided that it'd be much more convenient to have our own car to drive around and explore Bali with.

We weren't sure at first because the monthly cost would end up being about the same. Furthermore, the Bluebird taxis have been so reliable and good, plus we're being chauffeured around & waited on without having to face the crazy motorbikes & traffic of Bali which can be quite intimidating.

We did get our international licenses organised when we're back in Oz, just in case, as you DO need an international one if you're not local. In the end, the deciding factor was the freedom that comes with having your own car, to just get up & go whenever and wherever.

Ok, NOW im ready to go

Where's the Wiggles songs?

So we rented a Toyota Avanza - a very popular choice here, no Kancil sized cars to be seen and we (ok, me lah) faced our fears of knocking those hundreds of motorbikes and powered thru the roads of Bali. Well, i've powered thru the roads of Sanur, so that's a start. hehe. It's not that bad actually. Kinda like in Malaysia, but lots more smaller roads and heaps more motorbikes. They even have special lanes for them (not used so much!) and a big red square up front dedicated for them at major traffic lights.

The thing with the drivers here is that they're quite courteous. They don't always follow the rules but they're not road bullies. Whenever you hear a honk, it's not an angry honk, it's more like a lil nudge, a gentle warning to tell you 'Im taking over' or 'Im right behind you' or 'get out of the way!' - in the nicest way of course :p

I've only driven our Big Red Car to take Ayisha to school and it's a pretty easy, no traffic drive. Her term started last week and am still taking her twice a week and staying with her for the whole 3 hours/day. She's getting less clingy and seems to be happy playing by herself or with her friends. She's also familiar with the teachers and the place. So Im thinking soon I'd try leave her and see how she goes and at the same time getting Michael to check to see how Im doing :p

I know it's gonna be 10 times harder for me. Im so paranoid.

There's lots of new kids starting with the new term and it can get pretty busy so i'm all worried that no one would notice her falling off the chair or getting lost in the woods (super paranoid, the school only have about 3 trees).

I would also feel sad if there's no one to attend to her during snack time and wouldn't notice when she couldn't reach her water bottle or if she needs more cheese. And what if she gets knocked down by the bigger kids during free play? I was with her the other day when this big bully (well, cute lil 3 year old boy) rammed a trolley straight at her (probably an accident, but who knows!) and made her fall.

But it has to be done. Some newer mums have already left their kids after 1 week and they thought I was new! Other mums have been asking me when we can hang out & have coffee after dropping off their kids. I have to be strong!

trying to jump!

with good mate, Teagan

color, color, color

She is bigger now and has quite a personality and developing about 10 new ones everyday. She's sulking. Lately, when she sulks, she'd hold back hear tears, pouty lips and all, holding back, holding back, then much later on the screaming would come. It's not that bad actually but i was a bit torn between wanting to laugh at her big pouty lips or getting teary eyed myself from her truly sad watery eyes building up.

The other day, she was supposed to be in bed but she kept on playing with her dolly and sitting up doing her own thing whilst i pretended to be asleep. Then Michael came in and the moment she heard the doorknob turning, she jumped back into bed and closed her eyes PRETENDING to be asleep!!

watch out!

I know a lot of people say this, but man, she's growing up too fast. They also say to enjoy every single moment as they're only gonna be this small for a short period of time. So, tomorrow our adventure continues on our Red Car and this time we're exploring outside Sanur, to drop Michael off at his work in Renon, which is actually a lot closer to our place than her school but hey, there's a whole lotta different motorbikes there! ;)