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.

Tuesday, 31 August 2010

Last weekend, we went a good friend's wedding. I'm not really one for weddings, would usually give it a miss rather than turn up, haha, but I would definitely not miss this friend's wedding. We have been friends since we were 13 years old and we are now 33 :) Can you imagine? While we may not see each other all the time, the bonds of friendship are strong. And it is especially meaningful to see and feel the happiness exude from her on her special day.

Nat was the flower girl at the church ceremony. Earlier in the week, during rehearsals, my baby had given me grief by throwing a tantrum, refusing to practice the march-in. However, on the day itself, it must have been the whole wedding atmosphere and excitement, she actually came through and played her part beautifully. I guess the beautiful bouquet of flowers that my friend had ordered for the flower girls played a part in enticing her. After the ceremony, she even turned to me and said "I want to get married!" Haha, ok, baby girl, all in good time. I am sure that when the time comes, and we actually read this blog again, we will both have a good laugh.

Friday, 27 August 2010

It's been a while since I have updated on nat's swimming. Over the past year, she has made quite good progress and can swim a short distance on her own. It always feels me with pride when I see her swimming during her lessons. Makes all the hours spent at the pool with her well worth it.

This week, she also started taking the school bus to school. It's been very tiring, braving the early morning traffic daily to fetch her to and from school, and going to work thereafter. I hung on for more than half a year, but finally decided to throw in the towel and let her have a go on the school bus. Seems to have worked out well, for now, she was whiney and I was guilty on the first day, but thereafter, she seems to be fine. As parents, sometimes it is so hard to let go, after all, I keep thinking that she is only 3 years old, isn't it too soon? Guilt, guilt! Not easy emotions to live with.




Parenting is never easy, but the frustrations are also accompanied by the joy we experience with our children.

Saturday, 21 August 2010

My baby boy has learnt the skill of melting my heart :)



All he needs to do is scrunch up his face, like such, and say "mummy", whatever he wants, I'm sold!

He has also learnt how to gain sympathy from willing volunteers like myself, he comes to you and pretends his eyes are painful, and wants you to blow! Do that, and he is one contented little boy! He may be at the height of his tantrums at this age, but he is also at the height of his cuteness :)


Tell me, who can resist the rosy cheeks and impish smile?

Wednesday, 18 August 2010

It's been almost a term since nat started her tennis lessons. Overall, she's found it quite enjoyable. The coach gets along very well with her and she has developed a "mean" backhand. Sometimes, when I look at nat, I see a lot of myself. My mum started me on tennis young too (although, not at age 3.5 haha) and I have really enjoyed the game since. Never really did like it much on a competitive level, but socially, it's quite fun. I have fond memories of when I "challenged" my Caucasian teacher to a tennis match in JC and lost miserably, even with the whole class coming to cheer me on. But hey, what the heck, it was all in good fun! I hope you continue to enjoy the game, baby nat!

Wednesday, 11 August 2010

It has been a while since I blogged. Blogging is all about inspiration, some days, you just can't conjure up the energy to be enthusiastic about daily happenings in life. On other days, it flows in a continuous stream.

The kids are developing fast. Didi is officially in his terrible twos, throwing numerous tantrums a day, screaming, hitting his sister, climbing onto the kitchen counter top by stepping on the kitchen shelves and saying hi from that high vantage point (yes, we nearly had a heart attack!), coming to you with a sorrowful look and tear-stained face. Yet, he is the same boy who will come to you daily, put his face on your lap and say "wuv", the same boy who plucked some bougainvillas from the neighbours next door and gives it to mummy, and the same boy who says "sweet miss" (instead of sweet dreams) every night at bed time.

Nat is no longer a little baby, sometimes I feel she is so grown up. She is totally obsessed with lipsticks and nail polish (the irony is that mummy does not wear make-up much), princesses and barbie dolls. She loves reading (although I still think she is memorising most books) and interestingly, she will pick up my thick small-print novels and pretend to read it for hours. One day, I fell asleep with her doing that and when I woke up half an hour later, she was still "poring" over the book. Recently, I had slackened in my enthusiasm to teach her Mandarin and she came up to me indignantly the other day and said "Mummy, you have not been teaching me Chinese." Haha, who's the mum here? Anyway, I was glad to note that she has picked up some Mandarin from my earlier lessons with her. When we were in Orchard Road the other day, she pointed to a signage on a building and said "That's zhong1 xin1 (I can't seem to write any chinese characters here) and the other one says da4." At that moment, I was really proud of nat, she is actually absorbing what I teach her, instead of just purely memorising it. She kind of likes drawing as well and the picture above, which she vandalised my swing with is her version of a traffic light.

Some days, I think I am reaching a mini "mid-life" crisis here. Some days, I really adore my kids and just love them to bits. On other days, particularly when they are screaming the house down, I look at them and resent the fact that I am so totally bogged down with the responsibilities of parenting. But as always, the negative feelings pass and I end up feeling guilty for having such thoughts. Oh well, who said parenting is easy?

Sunday, 1 August 2010

Haven't been sleeping great recently, so what is one to do when one is wide awake at 4:30am in the morning? Watch cable, haha! And there is much to learn from cable TV.

My 2 favourite shows running at those wee hours of the morning, are Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and Take Home Nanny. Ok, ok, so they aren't the most inspiring or educational shows, but hey it keeps me entertained.

Diners. Drive-ins and Dives features a guy who goes around America searching for interesting and unique food, from pubs, to drive-ins to diners, just about anywhere. Luckily though, watching him devour chunks of tantalising steak, hamburgers and seafood doesn't make me fat, since I'm not big on this kind of food, anyway. Phew!

As for Take Home Nanny, it's about how a professional nanny advises troubled families on how to tame the naughty behaviour of their children. While I realise this is a reality show, some of the tips from the show is quite good, especially since I have been feeling increasingly frustrated with my baby boy as he enters the Terrible Twos.

Some tips to share:
1. Parents to keep calm and talk to the children in a calm and level voice. Sometimes when the kids behave badly, you are so ready to scream and yell at them, but control your emotions.

2. Consistency - When reinforcing a rule or behaviour, consistency is key. If the children realise they can get away with whining and crying, they will.

3. Choices - Sometimes, children want to feel in control. It's perfectly normal behaviour. One option is provide them with limited choices e.g what to wear. Instead of opening the whole wardrobe to them, give them a choice of this or that. They get to assert control within limits.

4. Never let children get away with bad manners. You need to reinforce the idea that as parents, they need to respect you and will and should not get away with rude remarks or hitting.

5. For older kids, it is good to set up a "work-station" for them, a small quiet area where they can have their own space to do homework or light reading.

I guess, that's all I can remember for now, so long, till the next episode, if I happen to wake up early again.

Sunday, 18 July 2010

I have not been updating my blog regularly, not too sure why, uninspired, tired, bored? Life goes on day after day. While walking around Funan mall today, I just remembered how Gary and I used to come to this mall a lot, before we were married, just to check out the new tech stuff on the market. Life seemed a lot more carefree then, no kids, no responsibilities, it was just about having fun. Fast forward, it's just been less than a decade, still the same place but there we were, with our two kids. No more checking out the cool tech stuff at our own leisurely pace, with nat running all over the place and lucas doing the same. They are at this age, when they are superbly mobile and perpetually fighting. Just take your eye away for a second and the duo will be off in a flash.

It's great being parents, but I guess sometimes, one just needs to take a breather. After all, no matter how frustrated you feel now, it all melts away when your baby plants a baby fresh kiss on your face, after you fell asleep on the couch, watching Little Einstein with them for like the hundredth time.

Saturday, 10 July 2010

Just the other evening, we caught sight of a beautiful rainbow in the sky. Every stared in awe at it, then nat turned to me and said " Mummy, why is there a rainbow?". Uh-oh! I was like totally blank for a minute, I know the answer right, or do I? Something about light and water and uh light ... haha ... at the moment, the only answer I could think of was "Uh, baby, did you know you can find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?" Phew, it worked and she was distracted.

Later, I googled to find an explanation for how a rainbow is formed. Basically, sunlight shines onto water droplets in the sky, forming a beautiful spectrum of colours through refraction. Hehe, for the record, when I did explain to nat, I kind of left out the word refraction. Hey, give this poor mum a break, it's the end of the work week and I am tired ... and I sure ain't got an explanation of the word "refraction".

Thursday, 8 July 2010

A little treasure that I found in my archives. What a difference 3 years make!

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

I have been missing in action for a bit, busy running around doing stuff, every day I am so wiped out that I totally knock off in bed.

Some updates on the kids: They are officially best of friends and enemies as well. One moment they are hugging and loving each other, another moment, Lucas comes along and whacks Nat on the head while Nat responds by shoving him away. This goes on till one of us comes along to break up the fight. Leave them alone in the backseat, and you will see Lucas struggling out of his car seat to poke Nat while Nat screams at him. Gary gets very kan cheong when he sees this, as for me, I am already used to it, told him to take it easy, just leave them be.

Time passes so quickly. The other day, I was kinda feeling broody moody, and thinking back on the times when I was much younger and used to sleep with Mum during bedtime. We watched TV, read and chatted till we fell asleep. At that moment, it seemed like growing up took forever. Yet, looking back now, that time has just flown by and I do miss it. It's kinda different now, being someone's wife, and mum to two. No more being mummy's gal, no more squeezing onto her bed, no more long walks at the park together (although I still try to do this once in a while). While I do enjoy motherhood, I realise the responsibility is great and I do miss being on the other side of the spectrum.

Didi Lucas is growing increasingly talkative. He can finally say his own name, after much "tuition" from his big sister. Just like his sister, he loves to dance and sway to music. This boy is growing more and more like his dad. When he first wakes up, he will look around and continue lazing in bed. Then, he will gather his towel (just like nat), take a sniff at it and trot out of the room. Next destination, my loungy chair. Again, he will clamber on, relax and chill out on the chair, and even prop his legs up on the swivel chair beside him. Super relaxed, man, he sure knows how to enjoy life!

There are just some things that only Daddies do, like play Chicken Invaders (nat scoffs when I ask her if mummy can play), catch a butterfly (he really is quite an expert), teach them to fly a kite (mine never lifts off the ground, keeps nose-diving), go down the water slides at the theme park (ok, so I am a scaredy cat), do the airplane with them (comprises some acrobatic moves that includes balancing them on your feet, it never fails to get them squealing). Of course, there is so much more, and the kids know it. You just have to look at how excited they get when gary comes home from work and everyone stops what they are doing to rush out to the front door to give daddy a big hug.


Happy Father's Day!

Monday, 14 June 2010

For those dear friends who are feeling blue, here's my little rapper girl nat, with an old 80's song, to cheer you up and chase away those Monday blues. It sure perked me up :)

Sunday, 13 June 2010

The week-long intensive tennis camp for nat ended on Friday. Both of us enjoyed it and what made it even nicer was that Gary managed to take Friday morning off to attend the last day of the camp with her. I had been sending him pics on the iphone all week, but even he agrees that it is different being there with her.

It's been a good holiday programme, nat definitely has ball sense and enjoys the game. I've picked up some coaching tips and games to play on the courts. We will definitely be playing tennis more often and will probably sign her up for another holiday programme in December. I am so proud of my little girl, she has focused well during the lesson and can hit a mean backstroke. While sitting by the sidelines watching her, I reminisced on the times when my mum taught me tennis, at a young age too. Doesn't seem like that long ago in my mind, but it's actually been more than 2 decades.

In the weekend, we went to the zoo and caught Dora and Diego on stage. Along the way, nat also got herself a little butterfly tatoo, which she was positively mesmerised with. The zoo was totally crowded, I couldn't believe the long queue of cars still incoming as we made our way out. It was a super hot and humid day and we were wiped just after an hour or so at the zoo. Check out didi's cool star wars storm trooper shirt, courtesy of daddy the star wars fan (You do realise that our kids are named after actors/actresses/characters in the show. Hmm ... does Yoda have a nice ring to it or Anakin, maybe? I personally like Leia)

Oh yes, while shopping at the mall yesterday, we chanced upon a Barbie fashion show thingey and stood around watching heavily made-up Barbie look-alike kids dancing on stage. That took like all of 3 minutes, before I got bored and herded the brood back to the car. When we got home, nat told me in all seriousness ,that she wanted to be Barbie and even showed me a few nifty moves that she had learnt from watching the dancers on stage. Then she went on to sing "I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world ..." Oh man, she's too young to be into this. So, instead of encouraging her fascination with Barbie, I distracted her with a baseball bat and ball instead. Phew ... she took the bait!

Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Since Monday, baby girl and I have been spending the mornings on the tennis courts at a week-long tennis camp for tots. Not too many tots in the class, so nat has almost exclusive attention most of the time. I'm really glad to see her enjoying herself during class and pleased that she loves the game as much as me. Every morning, she will ask if she is going for baby tennis and when I tell her we are, she gets very excited.

I don't think I have the time to bring her for regular lessons when school starts, but I thought it was a great idea to join the camp during the June and December holidays. The coach is great and she gets along really well with him. I sit in during the class and give her encouragement. Whenever she hits a nice shot, she will look at me for support. This little miss is really a bundle of energy, just looking at her running and jumping all over the tennis courts makes me tired. Check out the cool forehand, backhand and volley.

It's been exhausting for me though, having to go to work in the afternoon, while nat sleeps off the morning excitement. But just seeing the smile on her face makes everything worth it.