Kids dash #SCSM2017

It's 2 December and the day of the Kid's Dash! The children skipped this run for 3 years, since their first / previous experience in 2014. Look at how teeny J was then!


This year, the t-shirts finally fit them both (I got them the same size) and being the seasoned racers they are, we left for their run with not just bibs on, but game faces too!

Roads were so packed. We strolled to our start point.

It was manic madness! There was no scheduled starts despite the organiser's best intents and by the time we got through, it was a mishmash of everyone who signed up for the run. It was a good mix of children running with parents / sans parents though, and I wonder if the kids will be fine to do so independently next time. After squeezing through crowds and crowds, we waited in the holding area.

Superhero and Princess

SCSM 2017!

One with my princess

Team boy - the hanging bunting's kinda cute

By the time it was our turn to get into the real start pen, the skies were dark.

Finally, we can see the start line.

Her nervous face

His excited face (he has been raving about wanting
to "run on the road" since forever before!)

The children made it to the front of our pen's starting line and it was so amusing to see them all excited/nervous/raring to go. J even wanted to do a proper runner's start (akin in a race on the tracks) and we had to tell him to chill. The husband and I devised a plan for him to race after J as he would be super quick, and me to run after K.


When the bell went off, the kids all DASHED! K really surprised us as she totally took off! They were so super speedy that I lost K for the first 50m of the race. I was able to catch sight of the husband then traced J in front of him speedily; and at some point we switched roles quickly for me to trail J and him to race after K. Phew, I felt all giddy from the stress of being cramped with the crowds, sticking close to the family and taking off so suddenly. I managed to snap some video of J doing what he does best, hi-fiving people for encouragement/fun; he picked this up from our past experiences at races and he does so love to do it. I think he just loves jazzing it up and passing on the love. What an extrovert.


The kids felt accomplished after the race and I made it a deal that they received their very own medals! Then just before we stepped out of the race zone for dinner, we had to take this family shot.

With my champions, on the roads, Xmas season - life is good!

The kids were on such a high after, recounting their race over and over; us giggling over their antics and moments that made them laugh/excited/annoyed.


They also enjoyed drinking H20 ("after exercise can drink this u'noe!") as they felt entitled to it. Ha! So adorbs. As always, it is such a pleasure and joy introducing the children to the fun dash. They are already so used to playing with devices that I am thrilled that they still seek joy in wanting to partake in such runs/outdoor physical activities. It will be impossible to limit/not have them play with devices, but I hope that the husband and I act as good role models for them to at least still appreciate and yearn for outdoor play.


This ends the race that they were looking forward to, and they did so well! I'm so proud of my little champs!

Blessed : timely reminders

The organization has a department that organises sessions with children in a community outreach manner. Since I joined, I have made it a point to participate in at least 1 activity a year. It is a personal desire to help and volunteer, to do my little part to spread joy. Each time, it's been a different type of activity and different experience; but always fulfilling.


This year, the event was to spread joy at the children's hospital. Task is simple: we go there to distribute get-well-soon cards along with toys, as a little form of encouragement to brighten up the children's day. To make it even more exciting, we also go as mascots so the children can take pictures and keep as mementoes. While only the children receive gifts, it's fair to say that staff also feel joyous as they get to snap pics with our mascots too! It's heartening to know that the hospital believes that every staff - from cleaners, to nurses, to parents and patients - everyone deserves to take a pic if they wish to.


I had little expectations of the afternoon, but given that I'd never been a mascot before, I thought it's quite a fun opportunity to be one. So I did.

Transforming to a superhero!

My 'head' was so high I couldn't wear it while walking,
as I wasn't able to cross over the door.

Team volunteers

Spreading joy

Being a mascot was not easy, because it was hot. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat, because the joy and excitement as I hear - children and adults alike - "Batman!" - makes it all worthwhile.


I found it heartbreaking too, to witness the children in wards. There were all types, from those who had a fractured arm (temporary stay) to those who had more serious conditions (longer-term stay) - and it was hard seeing them warded.


I am reminded of the times where my children were warded before, and how such little activities could really make their day. I am also reminded that my family is blessed to not have to be in hospital, and I am so thankful for good health.


I truly hope that the short afternoon spent there brought a spark to the children and their parents (plus the staff) and made their day brighter. I cannot express how thankful I am to have the experience, to be privileged to spread joy.


I have so much to be thankful for. Amidst my own muddiness, it's important that I tell myself that I am truly, truly blessed. This is a timely reminder.

The week that flew by

It's the last few days before we end this month of May and I cannot, cannot believe it.
Sure, it's been hectic; yes, we've had several exciting things happen in our lives, but still!
Last week, was one of those where time just whizzed by.

Wed: random outing with this girl.
Accomplishments: picked up her passport, attended the parent-teacher-session,
and spent time together, in general.

In between the day, I brought her to the office where she demonstrated some creativity at play.

(L): original fish on the wall. (R): she copied the fish and created more fish on her own.
FYI, the theme was "under the sea" so it looked very nice with more fish!

On the way to lunch.

Thursday, I went for a dinner date with this bunch of girls whom I knew in my previous work life, 10 years ago. It came about quite innocently when we were discussing our past.. and it struck us that it was indeed the 10th year anniversary where we were once-upon-a-time going through a most grueling time of our lives balancing work and this Masterclass. What resulted was this amazing friendship. The moment was topped off by us going back to the original place where it all began.

35 Robinson Road. Masterclass Team O, 2007.

Friday marked the last day of school and while I was at work, the doting grandpa brought the children to the trampoline party. Hooray!

Happy birthday Jaz!

Everyone loves bouncing around.

Look at how tall K is amidst the girls 2 years younger than her!

Saturday was a regular day.. we had class for the kids, errands in the afternoon, and the evening winded down nicely with some lamb that the husband made for us, as supper.

Mmmmmmm.

Truth is, we thought of bringing the kids out to play but the evening did not turn out the way we thought because of bad behavior. We ended up staying in to do some work (damn mathematics!) but after the work was cleared, we ended up doing home karaoke with the children singing songs that they picked.

Sing-along

Sunday was a regular affair of hanging out with the grandparents, I cleared more work-child-errands, then while the sister had suggested a healthy walk, it did not happen. Instead...

Everyone had to do some work. Arghhh.

The good thing is that we all did what we needed to do, but truly, I'd have much preferred to do some exercise.


And that, wrapped up last week. In between all that there was regular work, some drinks with friends, more work... and with that. We welcome the mid-year school holidays!

Bye bye, Hi-5

I was browsing on IG the other day and hi5world popped up. It struck me that I no longer have a need to follow them because my kids have grown out of hi5.

Unfollow.

Wow. When did it happen?


I think it did so slowly, but surely. I brought them to the shows (live) - both paid and unpaid, and it was so adorable while it lasted. I loved watching the kids sing-along, dance (though it was more like mini hops when they were toddlers) and even I got to know the hi5 team and their songs. I truly think that it was one of those shows that the kids grew up watching. I loved how creative the hi5 costumes are, and it was performance-based (by real people) versus cartoon; which was also another 'win' in my opinion.


Oh, hi5 took centrestage in our home for many years, when the girl (and I) first knew of it - she was probably, 2? - till last year when I felt that both the girl and boy have outgrown it. They have stopped watching hi5 on TV, I did not see the need to purchase tickets to live shows. These days, them 2 prefer watching live cartoon and even tween-type shows (dramas by teen actors).


Thank you hi5 for the years of entertainment and education to the children. I had fun too. Oh, what a ride it had been.

Learning mandarin #sightsathome

A year of learning mandarin has seen us collecting many,
many flashcards...

Sometimes, when the husband is free, he will do such fun stuff like laying out our $$ on the ground and having the children read them out.

Enthu-J

There are so many words... he got tired #relaxedstance

We get value for our money when the girl gets to learn the same words too!

Ah girl

I think the husband and I try to not be tiger parents, but it is sometimes hard. I have learnt that having the children better prepared and supported, is not a bad thing at all as it alleviates the stress we all feel when the push comes to shove.


This learning comes in handy not just for them, but a great refresher for both the husband and I as we familiarise ourselves with basic Chinese words that we ought to know.


#JIANGHUAYU #FOREVERLEARNING

A boy and his toys

The children have a lot of toys. The helper and I devised a system where the toys get switched around from storeroom to play room on a random basis. The children forget what they had and always show super enthusiasm at being reunited with  the stored toys - "oh I was looooooking for thiiiissss" (yeah right)


The boy's current obsession of the last 2 weeks, was his LEGO blocks. I'm very proud to be in a very fortunate position to be able to provide plenty of LEGO toys for the children and even prouder that they engage with the building blocks. I truly think it's a great toy to teach them patience (building), and allow them endless creative possibilities (tickling the young mind)... but I digress. The point is, I'm happy that they love the toy.

Mommy, these are two fighter jets

Play

Masterpiece - this was a joint effort by K and J; it's an airport & aeroplane

Last evening, he spent 15minutes talking me through another of his creations, and explained to me the breakdown of colours, the characters, the way the builds can connect/disconnect because besides his house, there is a detachable boat, and there was a runway because that's where the airplane is parked!


Love the stories he creates!

This exasperates and amuses me simultaneously

What does? My child does. So, K is the sweetest girl. She is a princess (fussy), and also very sweet and loving. However, her attitude is generally very bochap. She isn't flustered over most stuff, she is not time-sensitive and that's part of the reason why I struggled with her when primary school started. It took her a while to adjust to the routine of school, and I needed to remind myself that she was only a child and needed time to calibrate.


This year, she's gotten off to a good start and I am so proud of her achievements. She has been getting 100% for all her school's weekly spelling since January! This is such a big difference when she struggled to cope last year; and I'll say it again, I am so proud of my girl.


I am not a tiger mom, but there is a 'but' here.


K still isn't bothered by things like filing, or keeping things neat. And that's why, this picture is a perfect encapsulation of the situation with her right now.

10/10 - full marks! - on a totally crumpled and (this takes the cake)
torn paper. There is a 'see me' the teacher wrote, as the teacher
wanted to know why the paper was in .. such a state. Ha!

And for the record, as I was working late that evening, I had to write down a list of questions for her in case I forgot by the next morning.

She brought nail polish to school?!

Ah, interesting daily anecdotes... my sweet little ladida girl.

Tic Tac Toe

I found the boy team in the room, heads together in deep conversation one evening last week. To my amusement, they were deep in discussion about strategy.
Where should you place your mark?
Where will your opponent place his?
How can you place your marks correctly after he places his so that you'll win?

Team strategy

Whoever knew that tic tac toe, the simple game that we learnt to play as children, can become so competitive and complex? The boy learnt it and has been eager to play it - as is the enthusiasm with novelty.


I was half amused, half horrified that a simple game has taken on such a serious spin. Of course, I was also the token 'opponent', to test if J has learnt the 'right' steps/skills to always win.


Ah, little perks of being able to turn everything into an education!

Achivement unlocked - J rides a 2-wheeler

It happened totally unplanned. The most thought that went into it was the husband's intent of wanting to teach the children to cycle on their bikes, minus the set of training wheels. It never happened because (1) their bike wheels went a bit kaput and the husband had to get a pump to mend the wheels (2) he was also looking for some tool to remove the training wheels.


On this Sunday morning, when the husband and I were planning to hit the gym when the kids were out, we spent it discovering this eureka moment instead!


It started because this naughty boy lost control of himself and ended up kicking his sister in the face - first thing in the morning! So, his treat of going out with the grandparents was removed, & he was stuck with us at home. We switched plans from the gym, to having bfast with him along.


Post-breakfast, we went to this playground nearby and there happened to be a boy with a bicycle there. The husband decided there and then to let him try - why not?



Lesson-in-progress

The kind boy who loaned us his bike

Going strong (10 minutes in)

Love his don't-give-up-I'm-trying-attitude

It happened really quickly. Within 15minutes, he seemed to be doing ok... and on this particular trial, the husband put him on the bike, held on, told J to "pedal!" and... stood beside me as the boy launched. I was a bunch of nerves! I couldn't believe the husband just let him go, I tried to hold the phone as steadily as I could (for some reason, I was trembling from excitement/anxiety?!) with one hand, while the other was covering my mouth. I know, it sounds so dramatic but I couldn't explain my thrill and I had to stop myself from squealing out - that'd freak him out and backfire the progress! It was so exciting.

His first time riding 2-wheels on his own!

Look at him!

It was amazing, his progress in such a short period of time, the husband's steady approach in training him, and ah-hem, I'll like to think I contributed by documenting this milestone. Ha!


He was on such a high after, exclaiming "I did it!" and I was so proud of him I told him so, and he parroted it back to me "Mommy, you feel proud of me right?"


Haha, so adorbs. Now, to get the girl on this too!

Jiggle like a jelly and our night routine

Part of the school routine kick-off is homework, spelling and Chinese spelling. I feel a need to highlight Chinese spelling as a separate item because it does take a ton of effort to accomplish that.


So anyway, last evening, the girl and I revised her spelling and one of the phrases was 'jiggle like a jelly'. It's pretty known that the sister does a mean jellyfish dance/jiggle and we were talking conversationally amidst the spelling and look what the girl wrote:

Number 7.

That cracked us up for a bit... and as much as I hate to be the naggy (boring) Mom who does work with them always, I think it's just a necessary phase of life.

Ting xie

Seeing the sister on her nightly routine of work in the evenings has set the boy off too. I roped him in to do some work with the primary intent of having him do sit down as he is always running or bouncing off the walls (playing). Turns out, I have discovered the innate drive in this boy who wants to do well. He asks for spelling (basic words from his reading classes) and I am very proud of his abilities!

Life.

Just for the record, here is a snapshot of our usual evenings:


Between 6-7pm: I will reach home
7pm: Dinner (the husband will join in if he finishes work early enough)
7.45pm: Shower


8pm: Work - there is always something to do.
Papers to sign, homework the girl couldn't do on her own (still training her to have the initiative to do what she can in the afternoon), spelling or ting xie to revise. The boy will join in on some days to do some writing (he practises ABCs and in the last 2 weeks I began giving him spelling to reinforce what he learns in class). Some days, we revise Chinese words on flashcards from Chinese enrichment class.


9pm: Head to the room
We have a mix of activities - read some books, play UNO, play minion game, chit-chat or play. It depends on what the children prefer and the amount of time we actually are in the room (there is some variance - some days we go in earlier, some days later)


10pm: Bedtime
I do prefer if this was 9.30pm, because there is still some time before they actually knock out. It's a trying process to get them to sleep and I have been trying to bring their bedtime earlier - since day 1! I shall not give up, and I firmly believe that the earlier they go to bed, the more rested they are. Afterall, the wake-up time is fixed and the only time we can manipulate is this bedtime.


It's nearly the end of January and our routine is pretty accomplished. It will be a bit messed up with Lunar New Year (holidays!) coming up, but that will be a break we all welcome.

Camping for the first time - Pulau Ubin

The husband had ambitions of bringing the children camping. It was in the first half of the year that he bought a tent as he set his mind to do this with them. Now that the year is nearly at the end with him not needing to go to work, I was truly impressed when he said that he will do it.


The husband plotted the possible days the children can go... and the fateful day was picked - to be the Tuesday, 27th December. The weather in December is typically erratic and that was a possible show-stopper. After researching the weather, though, the husband made the decision on the night before that they will indeed go.


That morning, the daughter awoke - probably from excitement - very early; before I climbed out from bed (and I was the only one who had to because I had to work). The husband and the girl headed out to the supermarket to get their needs, and I did not even see them before I left for work. I kissed the sleeping boy and sent a text to the husband to say that I had to go already and requested for pictures.

Food and all their barang

I had a headache just looking at the things they had to pack, but I also appreciated that the children were in the best hands ever with the husband, and I was also thrilled at the night off from Mommy duty.

Look at how excited they are!

Boat-ing to Pulau Ubin

Arrival

Jelutong Campsite

Camp all set-up

At this point, they had rung me 2-3 times. Telling me they were leaving the home, they had arrived, and the last conversation of the day was them saying that they had arrived, set up their tent, it was drizzling and that they needed to pick wood for their campfire later. Besides the fact that 'there are many ants', they sounded in good spirits!

Picking wood

Probably one of the highlights, roasting marshmallows!

Caption of this pic when the husband sent it: Jake and his Godzilla

So the boy must have thought (probably insisted) that the blob in the pic was Godzilla! Love their over-active imagination, hilarious.


While I was out at dinner with my friends, the husband texted me that they had gone to sleep. It was so nice to know that they were experiencing something entirely new, love it!

Asleep - this was probably the highlight of the husband's night.

So, I didn't query how they answered nature's calls, but K did mention 'by the seaside'. HAHA! That really cracked me up; and it's good to know that they are hardy enough to, well, get on with it.


In the night, the rain came down hard - I was actually cold in my bed - but the husband texted that they were fine in the rain. So good to know, that they survived the one night.

Champions!

Waiting for the ferry back to SG

I tell my friends with pride, that the husband brought the children camping. We are firm believers in exposing them to an active lifestyle, and the husband is truly the best person to lead such activities.


The kids may not know it yet, but such experiences are truly amazing and I know that they have grown in their own ways from this, not to mention the special time they spent together with their father.


Thank you, husband for creating such lovely memories of the children. I am so proud of all 3 of you for enjoying this adventure!