Thursday, 30 September 2010

Interesting week with the kids. Nat's school had a celebration, where they invited the parents to a mini-concert put up by the pre-nursery kids. Although the performance by each class lasted all of 1-2 min only, I thought it was a nice effort. Helps in building up the confidence of the kids and the parents enjoyed watching their little ones perform. Thereafter, there were some scavenger hunt and art and craft activities.

Check out nat's boat, it actually sails, I'm impressed! We rounded off the day with a mini class party and I enjoyed catching up with her classmate's parents, whom I had not seen for a while. We were just reminiscing on how time seems to fly by, wasn't it not too long ago that we were all hanging around the school compound in the first week of school, spying earnestly on our kids to see if they were crying. Now, they have all settled happily in the class.

Didi Lucas has also been enjoying himself. One of his favourite activities is chit chatting with Mummy. Every day, he chatters away, telling me about the characters in his Dora storybooks or pointing outside at the birds in the garden. I also love the way he struggles to keep his eyes open as he keeps peeking, to make sure that you are lying beside him, just before he falls asleep. He loves having Mandarin lessons with Mummy and always declares ever so loudly, that he is reading Chinese, although his accent is really terrible. Frankly, we are still stuck at ren (person) and kou (mouth) at this stage, got to get the accent right before we move on, haha!

In the mornings, we spend some time at the playground, where he never fails to mesmerise the old aunties there, doing their morning exercise. The friendly dude will always say hi, and exclaim loudly "so wet" if he finds the playground equipment still wet from early morning dew or rain the night before. He loves to amuse Mummy with his happy face and angry face act, but this boy is also a terror when he is throwing a tantrum. Throughout the day, he and nat are constantly screaming and yelling, as they terrorise one another. Yet, they still enjoy playing together.

Sunday, 26 September 2010


Haven't been updating my blog as often as I should, will try to be more diligent about it. The kids are growing up so quickly, it's really chaotic bringing them out now. Gone are the nice relaxing strolls down Orchard Road. Super active lucas will be clambering out of the stroller as quickly as you put him in. As for nat, she has a bad habit of taking off her shoes when she is in her stroller. The next moment, she decides to jump off the stroller, she forgets that she is barefooted, and off she trots. Gary and I spent countless moments chasing after her with her shoes. Both kids are extremely talkative as well. We hear incessant chattering from the back of the car all the time. But it's nice to see the siblings interacting. From time to time, nat will give her baby brother a big hug and lucas is ever ready to shower his sis with love and kisses.

It's interesting to watch as the kids move into different phases and milestones. One thing Gary and I agree is that this stage in their lives is one of the most enjoyable for them and for us, and we will enjoy it together with them as best as we can :)

Thursday, 23 September 2010

With my maid on overseas leave, I have been home with the kids, mostly 24/7. I must say it's not been as stressful as I initially thought and in fact there are beautiful moments that I really enjoy.

1. Time to spend one-on-one with both kids respectively. When nat is in school, I spend the whole morning with lucas. Some mornings are spent at enrichment class where he always has a good time. In fact, today the topic was on turtles and luke was totally intrigued by the turtles crawling in the tank. He is speaking a lot more and surprises me every day with words he knows. I also spend more time with nat in the afternoon, after our nap, we have time to do phonics and Chinese lessons. Normally, after work, I am so wiped out that I often forget about her lessons.

2. After a few nights, I have got the hang of their sleep time routine. Although they do not sleep like clockwork at 8:30pm, I no longer feel so irritated. We spend a longer time poring over books and switch off the light and chit chat till one of them or mummy falls asleep first. I am so proud of my kids, they can actually sleep by themselves in the room and do not need me there to accompany them the whole night.

3. With longer hours spent at my mum's place, I have more time to chit chat with her, something I have always enjoyed doing since young.

Well, we are almost halfway through the first week, looking forward to the weekend when Gary will be at home to help me. As usual, we will probably do something really active, to tire both him and the kids out, haha!

Tuesday, 21 September 2010

Bedroom adventures with the kids. Last night, I had such a hard time putting the kids to bed.

8pm: I thought that was a decent time for bed, so made their bottles of milk and shooed them off to bed. Did some light reading with them till 8:30pm.

8:30pm: Lights off! But the kids were still too hyped up, kept talking and talking even though I told them sternly that it was time for bed.

9:00pm: They were still not asleep but I figured that if I got out of the room and closed the door, they would soon get tired and fall asleep on their own, haha, so naive.

9:10pm: Lucas trots out of the room declaring that he needs the potty, nat follows close behind him. Only one potty to share between the two of them, how? Nat used the portable potty while I held Lucas on the toilet bowl. Nat has issues using the toilet bowl when she is reading her Archie comic, because she needs her hands free to hold the book and can't steady herself on the toilet bowl.

9:30pm: We are finally done with the toileting needs. This time round, I separate the 2, nat sleeps in her own room, while Lucas sleeps in my room. Both pretend to sleep on their beds, the moment I get out of the room, I hear the little pitter patter of footsteps and they are sneaking out of their individual rooms. They catch me having a biscuit for supper and demand a piece each. Haha, these two really make me laugh :) I admit I was a little sheepish at being caught by them while being greedy.

10:00pm: Lucas insists on going back to the room to sleep with his sister. He ends up falling asleep on nat's bed, I chit chat with nat for a bit before she falls asleep as well. Phew! What a night.

My best memories for the night was when we were lying in the dark in bed and both babies smothered me with big wet kisses. Such beautiful memories and experiences make all the frustration worth it.

Sunday, 19 September 2010

And so today, marks the first day we are home alone with the 2 kids. My maid has gone off for her overseas home leave yesterday night. How will we survive? Haha, I think the real test is during the weekdays when it's just me and the kids, when Gary's off to work. I do wonder whether I have got so used to depending on my maid and if I can cope alone. Stay tuned!

Wednesday, 1 September 2010

Time flies, I can't believe baby boy will be 2 years old next week. He is a handful, a pocket dynamo and half the time, he is clambering out of the playpen and giving me heart attacks. But, he is still my sweetheart and I love him so. Check out the cool slide I rented just for his birthday. He is quite the little poser now.