Where Every Child Matters

I first saw the logo of Saint James' Church Kindergarten on a school bus many years back. It left a deep impression in my mind, a little girl and a little boy, holding hands. I thought to myself then, what a happy place for a pre-schooler to be in.

Years later, when my eldest girl Natalie came along and was of schooling age, I did some intensive research on pre-schools, and lo and behold, guess who appeared before my eyes again? :) Our 2 little friends!
Saint James' Church Kindergarten is really a great place for kids to be in. The teachers, especially those in the pre-nursery classes are nuturing and loving. I have fond memories of hiding behind the bushes, watching my kids laughing and having fun in the playground, trooping to the little toilet cubicles for the first time (showing their first signs of independence), indulging in sand play. Our school in Harding exudes warmth and happiness amidst natural surroundings and this is exactly what drew me there in the first place.

Just this week, the school held its annual open house for parents. Throughout the term, the children from nursery-kindergarten  have been working hard on their respective themes. Natalie's class focused on the topic on Spots and Dots and Lucas' class focused on Flowers. I was really impressed by what I saw. The children had done lots of art and craft, stories and songs related to the theme. Looking proudly at my kids doing their song and dance performance, I felt a deep appreciation towards the school and teachers. The kids in this school are given many opportunities throughout the year to "perform", building up their self-esteem and confidence.

My youngest, Samatha will commence her schooling years here in 2014. I pray hard that she too will be blessed and able to enjoy the beautiful experience just like her sister and brother before her.

Getting old

The 20s seemed to have breezed by and we are already in our 30s. 30s brings a lot of new reflections in life. You have a brood of young ones to look after, older parents to worry about, and suddenly one feels lots of responsibilities.

I have been thinking a lot about 2 things recently. Firstly, about helping others. The other day, I saw a TV show about a man who did volunteer work delivering food to needy old people. It struck a chord in me and in the last half a year,  I have roped in Gary to help me with volunteering, once a month. As you go about being absorbed in your daily life, you don't realise just how blessed you until you see these lonely old people in their small and dark little homes. Is this something I would have done when I was younger? I don't know, but what I do know is that down the road, I hope to bring my children with me when I do volunteering, so that they can see for themselves that life does not just revolve around oneself and new toys only.
The other thing that I have been toying with is renewing my interest in music. My mum started me on music lessons (organ) when I was young and although I have not become a great concert organist, I have learnt to appreciate music better. It is also very therapeutic and I remember the hours my mum and I spent on Saturday mornings playing songs at the organ. Nat has recently started piano lessons and practising with her has re-sparked my own interest.As for Lucas, I did bring him for a trial violin class and he seemed to like it :) so I may start him on that later in the year.

I printed the piano sheet of a song that I like and I hope to practise and learn to play it well in maybe half a year. That would be a good personal achievement for me.  Music to me is something that is good to learn at a young age, it helps one calm down and relax and appreciate music. Whether they decide to pursue it down the road would be really up to them and I will support them, whatever their decision.

childhood toys

I had a russian doll when I was young, which amused me for hours. I used to take the dolls out one by one till I got to the smallest one, and then put it all back again, till everything was inside the big doll, and then start the process all over again. The concept of one doll in another was just so interesting. The other day, we happened to come across an image of this doll on the computer and nat was totally intrigued. Since then, she has been hankering after it. However, I must say these dolls are really quite hard to find. I happened to see one through the window of a toy shop last weekend and luckily for me, the price was affordable, so nat got her wish of owning a russian doll. She has been carrying it with her everywhere and loves taking it apart and putting it back together. It is quite nice to see your own kid playing with the same thing that kept you amused so many years ago.

Daddy's girl

It's been a while since we went for a date with our firstborn. So yesterday, with her 2 younger siblings still recovering from a nasty bout of fever, we decided to bring our baby girl to Hort Park. How she has grown. I remember taking pics of her here as a little toddler, and now this little girl, all of 5 years of age, successfully managed to walk the whole length together with us from Alexandra, all the way to Vivocity! I know she enjoyed herself, walking hand in hand with both Daddy and Mummy, and having our full and undivided attention.

Bringing kids out to enjoy nature is such a wonderful experience. I know the weather in Singapore is super hot but seriously, at the end of the walk, you feel super recharged and energetic. Mid-way through, our "terrible duo" were all ready to hop onto the cable car at Mount Faber and meet Mummy dearest at Vivocity, however, I stopped them and we continued on our walk :) Phew! At Vivocity, we had a wonderful Japanese meal and nat wolfed down almost a whole bowl of soba and chawamushi.

One thing I am glad for is that even though Gary is busy at work, the kids are still close to him. Just look at these pics of Daddy and his girl and it warms your heart. When he comes home from work, it is always his firstborn who rushes out with a squeal and gives him a bear hug.

Value these moments with your kids, they do grow up so fast!

Two peas in a pod

How alike do you think your kids look? I did see some similarities in my girls, but I did not realise just how much they looked like one another until today, when I managed to capture both of them sleeping. Sent the pics to my husband and he thought it is the same kid. I love watching the kids sleeping, sweet, peaceful and most important of all quiet ... just enough time for me to catch some shut-eye, reflect and spend some me-time thinking.

Feeling old

Just the other day, I was at my friend's house and her son and his 11/12 year old friends came trudging in and said awkwardly to me "Hi Auntie!". For a while there, I had a case of deja vu. Wasn't that the scene of me and my friends hanging out at someone's house and calling their parents. And yet, today, I am the auntie. Even as a mother of 3 already, I am still not used to it.

Being a mother to 3 beautiful active kids is surely not a walk in the park. Nat and Lucas are going through a stage where they can love each other to bits at one moment and fighting tooth and nail the next. Half the time, I am breaking up fights, managing sulks and tantrums. Interestingly, Nat says she wants to marry someone like Lucas next time, haha, her requirement is simple, to have "flat hair like didi's". So for those who have spiky hair, tough luck, you are not in her list.

I have so much more to blog, but today, the inspiration is not flowing ... so a short entry for today.

We survived the first week, phew!

One week has almost gone by and we are still surviving, quite well in fact. It's been nice actually, I get to do a lot of things for my kids that I normally "outsource" to my maid. We have even had time to continue our daily lessons of English and Mandarin. Haha, no I have not become a supermum overnight, just that we are kind of camped over at my mum's house in the day, so I don't have to worry about the children's meals. Truly, I am thankful for this.

The kids have been real sweet. Nat is my most affectionate kid, always ready to come to me with a kiss. Recently, I started telling her how much I loved her (adapted from a story book about a big rabbit telling a little one how much he loved her). I love you all the way to the moon and back I would say. Then one day, Nat replied with I love you all the way to the carrot that the rabbit in the moon eats. Haha, I was quite pleasantly surprised. Looks like she remembers stories that I tell her after all, this particular one was a folk-tale about a kind-hearted rabbit who lived in the moon.

Lucas is progressing well on his wushu, something which I started him on a few months ago. My little man has come a long way since his first lesson, when he would just plop on the floor and refuse to respond to instructions by his "Master". These days, he is enthusiastic and listens intently during lessons. While I am not trying to tranform him into any kungfu expert, it has certainly improved his concentration and focus and even agility (poor little man is a bit of a klutz, haha, he is our only kid who has fallen off the bed numerous time since babyhood).

Sam, the youngest has quietly entered into toddlerhood as she turned 1 year old in March. Our happiest baby amongst the 3, she is always ready to give a big smile and toothy grin. Yet, this spoilt little baby is also the one who always wants our attention. We often get a laugh observing her as she whines, then looks around to see if anyone is looking. If everyone is busy, she actually plops down in her cot and contently plays with her toys. If she makes eye contact with you, she starts to whine, even conjuring up big fat tears at will such that you have no choice but to carry her. She loves big sis the most and often I see both of them in the cot (nat always freaks me out by jumping into her cot, with her inside). Nat will be reading and Sam will be drinking her milk, side by side. It is a sweet scene and one which I hope to capture on my iPhone and post on the blog.

It's been nice starting my blogging journey again. Not easy though, words seem to flow more easily in the past. But try, I will as I do want my kids to have some interesting stories to read of their childhood days.

2 week break, no maid in the house!

And so, for the next 2 weeks or so, we are on our own. Is it a case of phew, finally ... or yikes ... what am I gonna do? I forsee a tiring fortnight ahead. Yet, ironically, I am also looking forward to it. I have been surfing the net for interesting receipes to cook for the kids. After all, when my maid is around, I am usually too lazy to do anything in the kitchen. I have grand plans to pack up the house, organise my stuff a bit (although I am highly doubtful that I will have the energy to do this). I do intend to continue bringing the kids out to our usual hangouts like the parks, malls, etc. Let's see how it works out, maybe I will thrive or maybe I'll just lock the kids at home, stay in bed and not creep out till my maid returns from her holidays.

A long break from blogging!

I have certainly taken a long break from blogging. In that time, my firstborn has turned 5 years old, my middle child has gotten a whole lot more chatty and my baby has moved from babyhood to become a walking, tumbling toddler. Life has certainly been busy as I still pack weekends with lots of fun and outdoorsy type activities for the family. I hope I will be able to get back into the groove of blogging soon, lot of thoughts running through my head, just need the time to pen it down in my blog.

My darling Sam is going to be 7 months real soon and she is a real sweetheart. She is babbling quite a bit and sometimes I can just make out the word mama :) pleases me to no end. She is always licking her lips and pursing her lips, looking exactly like tweety bird, so cute and lovable, I can't help but reach into the cot to pick her up. She loves peering at her sister and brother and tries to join in the fun. She is eager to crawl and tries to raise her butt in a crawling motion. Her hair that used to be all unkempt, is finally starting to grow out and this pretty little gal is looking more feminine. Life as a mum of three is tiring, yet I have no regrets at all.

That said, I think it is important to spend time as a couple. Last night, we left all 3 kids at mum's place and had a relaxing date night. We went shopping, curled up in bed watching TV and I finally had a good night's uninterrupted sleep. Definitely rejuvanating and you feel closer as a couple, a feeling that is so easy to forget when you get caught up in the daily need to balance kids and work.

Learning to let go is never easy, especially for a hands-on mum like me, but it is something I am learning to do with my firstborn. Normally, when we arrive at our abacus class, I will park the car and nat and I will walk up a short flight of stairs to her classroom on the second level. Recently though, she has been asking me to let her walk up on her own. I still park my car and stand at the side watching her. When she gets to the second level, she waves to me. Then she proceeds into her classroom. As she is rather short, I can't quite see her entering, I only see the door opening. The paranoid nature in me is always tempted to go up and check whether she has truly entered the centre, but I resist the temptation.

This afternoon, I arrived to pick her up 5 minutes late and lo and behold, she had trotted out of the classroom and was waiting for me downstairs. Freaked me out for a minute, I explained to her that it was much safer for her to wait for me in class. I guess moments like this will continue to surface as she grows older. After all, one can't be by your kids' side 24/7. The trick is to teach them what to do when they are on their own, for example, in this case, to always wait at the staircase and highlight how to be safe on the road.

An evening at the Hort Park, something I have been meaning to do for a long time now. Lying on the green grass, kicking a ball, playing with bubbles and watching the world go by. The kids are thrilled and so are we. Next stop, we are going to attempt the Southern Ridges, with all 3 kids. Wish us luck!

Blogs are nice because you can always read back on older posts and reminisce. I just did that and I'm amazed how much my baby girl nat has grown. As always, daddy and his girls share a special bond. Check out the 2 pictures, the top one is daddy and nat and the second one is daddy and sam.While Gary is a lot busier at work, I am glad for the moments he carves out just to spend time with the kids and me.

Happy 6 months, baby sam. Time seems to have just flown past. Baby sam who came into our world so fast and furiously has completed our family and is truly a joy. Nat as a baby is cute but a bit of ms grumps, Lucas is mr foodie and Sam is a sweetie, always ready to give you her signature smile. Her eyes are very expressive and twinkle when she is in a good mood. She adores her big sister who likes to try different ways to amuse her. Big bro is mostly bo chup but in the right mood he will bestow a peck on her forehead. My fave moment of the day is at night just before sam falls asleep cradled on my chest. Even after 3 kids I still enjoy watching them sleep, and hearing that little sigh of contentment as they snuggle to get comfy. Priceless!

Meet my little milkmaid, the only one of my kids who knows how to massage the breast so as to increase her own milkflow. It's really cute and amazing to watch her do it. She also suckles so strongly recently, that when I let her suckle on my arm, I end up with "love bites" from my little baby.

I love being a mum of 3 kids. You enjoy such different experiences with each and every one.

For Nat, I must admit that she is really precocious for her age. Often, I find myself having adult conversations with her and yet at other times, she is still that little baby who yearns for your love and praises. It's hard maintaining a fine balance sometimes, over-praise her and she gets too proud and complacent. I find that recently, she has been rather angsty, displaying angry and rude behaviour at times, resulting in me being very stern to her. Yet, at the back of my mind, I know that for this little girl of mine, the reasoning approach may work better, especially as she grows and matures.

My baby boy, Lucas is going to be 3 in a week's time. How fast time has flown. His latest craze is the Diego cartoon and he loves everything relating to this character. He is at such a cute age, as his character starts to emerge and his vocabulary starts to grow. Like his sister, he loves role playing and he was so thrilled when my mum rolled up a towel into a cape and placed it on his back. He ran around the house declaring he is Superboy. He is super cute when he is angry, just like yesterday, when little Sam attempted to nibble his hair. He demanded "Mei Mei, why are you biting my hair?" and little Sam was oblivious to his anger and continued showering him with saliva. When he is upset, he will sit in a little corner and pout.

Baby Sam is 5 months old and brings great joy to all of us. Her wild maned hair is finally beginning to settle down and give her another one to two months, she could even start to look more feminine. She loves rolling all over our big bed and is also attempting to get on all fours and imitate a crawling motion. She still loves it when we chat with her and your heart melts when you look into her big adoring eyes. She likes to listen to music and on nights when she has difficulty sleeping, I will dance her to sleep playing music from my iphone. Breastfeeding her has been quite a breeze and I have made it past the 5 month mark, and going strong. Come 6 months, we will start her on semi-solids, that should be fun!

Nat, the artist, loves to doodle around on pieces of A4 paper that we leave on the document tray. It is positioned at a height that is just right for the kids to help themselves to it and I have trained them not to take more than they need for a drawing session.

Here's her latest piece of artwork. I asked her to explain to me what she had drawn, so here goes:

"The orange and green house belongs to mummy, and it's green because I want it to be green. The purple lady in the picture is mummy and the green man is daddy. They are getting married, mummy has long hair and a ring on her finger (wah, check out that huge rock on my finger.) Didi and me are sleeping in the red tent with a black flag (uh, I think the tent is red in commemoration of national day, since she has been pointing out the national day flags hung up along the roadside.) The blue castle has a hole, so the rain dribbled inside. The blue house has pictures hung on the wall. And the picture right at the end shows Didi and nat packing to go Australia for a holiday. (why Australia? because I told her that we may go there for a holiday at the end of the year)". There you have it, my baby sure has a vivid imagination!

Sometimes, with a brood of 3 kids, one needs to do a lot of juggling and balancing. Making sure the kids are well fed, clothed and entertained is truly a full time job. The day passes by in a flash as you try to spend quality time with each of them. But being human, the brain sometimes fails. I forgot about Sam's pediatrician appointment yesterday. Imagine my surprise when I got a call from the clinic asking if we were coming down soon for the appointment and that was in the middle of sending Nat to abacus class. Of course, we couldn't make it. While it is something small, and appointments can be easily rescheduled, I felt a deep sense of guilt. Sigh, better start getting a notebook to pen down my kids' various appointments, since the memory seems to be going.

It's been a long time since my last blog entry. Lots of interesting things do pile up along the way, which I tell myself to blog about, but with 3 kids in tow, it's really not easy to do that. Some updates:

My house is finally beginning to look less messy. We recently rejuvenated the living room, with a spanking new bookshelf and a ceiling fan. What a great improvement. The area below the bookshelf has become a reading corner of sorts and every night, the kids gather at the carpet to read books, play with jigsaws and blocks. With this arrangement, the kids choose the books they want to read, as the children's books are all strategically placed on the lower shelves. Gary is pretty pleased too, as he gets to arrange his proud collection of wine on the upper shelves.

Natalie has started on abacus lessons recently. I thought it would be good to get her some understanding in Maths and Numbers, which have never been my strongest suit. So far, seems good, she kind of enjoys the lessons and we spend about 10-15 minutes on abacus homework every other day. This little girl of mine loves to role-play. One of her favourite activities is to play the role of a princess, and she will dance and waltz around the house. Along the way, for lack of anyone else, her baby brother gamely plays the role of a handsome prince. It's quite fun to watch the duo together.

Lucas is still my little baby boy, but he has learnt from his sister's naughty ways. When you are stern with him over bad behaviour, he will cross his arms and say "I'm angry, I don't care about you." Very cute at this stage, haha, and sometimes I can't help laughing but of course, we always tell him that this is very rude behaviour and he always apologises after. He loves building blocks and I have recently added more blocks to his small collection. He loves building high with tunnels in the middle and can be quite focused.

Baby Sam is flipping, flipping, flipping. And she loves clutching on to her pacifier, putting it in her mouth, then taking it out repeatedly. She is a real sweetheart and never forgets to give daddy a smile when he comes home from work.

It's real chaotic with 3 kids, especially when we brought all 3 to the wet market this morning. However, as I always say, the rewards surely outweigh all the tiredness and frustration, and all we need is a kiss from nat, a hug from luke or a chuckle from sam for all the tiredness to melt away.

One of the things that change when you become a parent is how you think about the future. For Wei that means squirreling away for all manner of reasons from education to travel, and doing copious amounts of research on good classes from tennis to abacus to swimming, interesting activity lessons, and assorted thigamajigs/widgets/gizmos that may prove useful when the kids get older.

I'd like to think I plan a bit more pleasurably, and for the longer term :)

An interesting quest that I've been on is birthyear wines. Starting with Nat I have accumulated a number of top-notch 2007 wines that will bear significant ageing and will taste superb at her 21st birthday celebration. It was not a particularly exciting vintage in Bordeaux, so I went for German Rieslings and some Burgundy. This practice became full-blown with Lucas when I invested in a range of 2008 Bordeaux First Growths which have reaped significant gains. So I hope Lucas likes red wine! The 2011 vintage has yet to be harvested but I am already thinking of what to buy for Sam. She looks like she will like sweet wines, so I might go with Sauternes if it turns out to be a great vintage, or alternatively Tokaj or Trockenbeerenauslese. We shall see.

Just don't forget to include Daddy when it comes to finally drinking up!