The Return of the Turnips (Or, Weekend at Rasa Sentosa)

Jordy slept through the self-guided tour of the beautiful grounds where his parents got married

Just came back from an amazing long weekend at Rasa Sentosa.

The last time we were there was for our Singapore-leg of the wedding, almost exactly four years ago! We lived it up in the honeymoon suite (that had a huge balcony which could comfortably fit more than 20 people) and received the most wonderful service. Now, four years later, baby in tow, we returned and quietly marvelled at how our lives have changed since. No more nightlife, for one!

We had three rooms in total, The Turnips in one, gong gong and mama in one, and the Three Musketeer cousins (and parents of course!) in the other. The rooms overlooked the sea, and it was magical watching the merry lights from the ships and boats sparkle on the horizon at night.

Jordy was a major champ, sleeping soundly in the hotel playpen (first time in a bed with mesh walls. He was a bit perplexed at first but adapted quickly), feasting like a hobbit on a mix of home-brought fruit, jarred baby food and to my happiness, some fishball noodles from the foodcourt the first dinner, and most of the chicken and vegetable broth we ordered from room service for lunch the next day. It was quite a milestone (for mummy at least) watching him eat "outside" food for the first time.

The only down side was the early morning waking we had - he woke at 5ish (!) on both mornings much to our dismay. Needless to say, we were one of the first guests at the breakfast buffet each day, haha. Oh yes, and Jordy very much liked the pancakes, waffles, blueberry sauce and fruits from the breakfast line.

In-room dining Turnip style

We made full use of Rasa's great facilities, swimming every day, playing basketball in the games arcade, and Jordy just loved the toddler's playroom. He climbed up the slide and swooshed down, hung out in a police car, and practiced his walking by pushing said police car all over the place. In between that, he loved playing with his toys in our room, and pushing his walker all through the corridors! He amazed us by pushing his walker into a lift filled with guests, standing patiently while the lift descended, then casually pushing his walker out when the lift reached his floor. What can I say, this kid is made for resort living.

"Is there a problem?" Constable Jordy asked.

The other major thing from the weekend was how he's coping better and better when eating out. He hangs out in his high chair for much longer stretches of time now (plied with entertainment of course. Things that work include: favourite books of a vehicular nature, containers and lids, toys that move and make noise like toy phones, plastic animals etc, utensils, teething rings, Cheerios and Gerber Puffs, his Tolo man, and little cars).

He's also sleeping a little later these days, around 7.45 to 8pm as opposed to the 7pm lights out of the previous year! So it was such a novel thing to have dinner with the whole family, and not be thinking something was amiss because we'd missed Jordy's bedtime. Definitely taken a year for me to vaguely relax a bit about the whole sleeping thing, and even then, I still get antsy when he takes a long time to settle (like tonight, about 40 minutes), but the good nights definitely outnumber the not-so-good nights.

Dinner with the whanau

Anyway, had a really restful time at Rasa, and finished reading Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book there as well. Full review to come, but in a nutshell, my favourite Neil Gaiman novel to date! Enjoyed it even more than American Gods! Now I'm back to reading my first "local" fiction in a long time, Suchen Christine Lim's The Lies that Build a Marriage. Fairly excellent so far, thanks heaps to Phil and Sandy for giving it to me. Ok it's 9.36pm and I'm sleepy. Off to bed!