Yoga fun with my baby girl

Last Saturday evening, we had no activities planned. The girl was restless and I was feeling lethargic and needing some exercise (none for that day - opted for a movie date with the husband instead). So when the husband brought the son out for a haircut, I had an idea of doing some stretching yoga with the daughter.


I took the phone out and started googling for images of 'mother and child'... boom. Found plenty!



Referencing images

We successfully tried many, many poses

It was pretty fun! I broke out in a bit of sweat from moving about and stretching parts of the body where I needed it, the girl had fun (and so did I), and most of all, we giggled and had fun together. Win win win!

Birthday celebrations this October

The sister and her busband celebrate their birthday in October. Their birthdays are only 3 days apart, so we combined their birthday meal together. This year, the sister requested for the Mother's super steamboat meal and her wish was granted (as was ours - my mom's steamboat meal is legendary). We had this meal some weeks back, as the newlyweds are now away on their honeymoon, and I thought it's about time to put this up given that today is the actual birthday of my new little brother.


The evening was simple, noisy, full of happy bellies, laughter and love as we all gathered together to be with one another - nothing beats being with family.


To add to the fun of the evening, the sister (as per her usual brilliant suggestions) thought of this fruit theme and I helped her execute it. Simple prep, great output! Here are some of the silly, fun-filled pictures we took of this night.

Our silly, fruity family

Everyone say LIMEEEEEEE

That cake - matcha chocolate cake from Cedele - was quite the bomb!

And this marks the last of the birthdays in our family, for the year. Our next celebration will be Christmas, which is exactly 2 months away. What a year, 2016.


Happy happy birthday to the sister and her busband, such a happy and celebratory year for you both; and I wish you both the best of health, wealth and happiness - doubly happy now that you both have each other.

Jake and his brilliant smile

Love this pic. Our little bundle of dynamo, full of energy,
loud beyond necessary, forever curious and adorable to bits.

Lego Family Day, year 2

How quickly time flies... it felt not too long ago that I invited my family to the office for the first time last year. In this  year, I've gone through quite a lot at work; both in terms of learning as well as challenges and learning to deal with life... but yes; I digress. This is about the lovely afternoon where the family had the chance to have fun, together.


Oddly, while there's a change in our schedules for Saturday, it turned out that J and I ended up going to the office together alone, again.

In the lifts, going up!

After collecting our name tags and door gifts (the children received a t-shirt each, such a lovely gift for them!), J and I headed off to explore.

First game station - ball dart

Second play station

Third playstation

As J and I arrived on the dot, there was little crowd and this made the game play very smooth. We managed to try several counters all within half an hour.

Kill the alligator!

At about the half hour mark, the husband and K arrived. We went to meet them, and took our family picture :)

LEGO Family Day, 2016

The girl was keen to get started on play, and the husband and I swapped roles to cover boy/girl team respectively.

Colouring station

Last year, I was so frantic trying to run from station to station (FOMO, yo) that I was exhausted (yes, I tired myself out). This year, I reminded myself that this was an experience for everyone, and there was no real need to rush, or 'conquer'; just enjoy. So when the girl opted for a colouring station (which I thought was boring), I obliged as this was as much, if not more a time for her; and so we sat down. I also took a sheet to colour.


When she was ready, we moved to the other play room where we got to play with bricks...it was a simple game. Build anything you want and test it on the ramp to see if it'd work! Simple genius.

Testing her vehicle

In between play, we took pictures, ate our lunch and spent most of the time back at the building room as the children enjoyed building, rebuilding and testing their vehicles.


After 2 hours, it was time to leave. Here's our parting shot:

Nothing not to love with children and pets

The children are familiar with the office this time, having been here before, and they were so comfortable roaming about. I also loved how it was a simple afternoon where the family got to be together in a different activity than usual.


So thankful for this opportunity to share this lovely space and play-time with the family. Hopefully, until next year!

A momentous occasion: the husband graduates!

4 years. That's the amount of time it took for the husband to complete his undergraduate studies; and after accompanying him through the journey of his classes, tutorials and late night assignments, he is finally done with school. Everyone say, HOORAY!


Truth is, the husband has always been so busy with work and/or school that I had nearly forgotten what it was like when he was home just playing the role of husband/father. Random things I remember include revising with him for his exams in the initial years; attending a lesson with him once before (yes, I went into the lecture hall with him), swinging by school for him to pick up his school books, asking for his school schedule so that I'd know when he'd be late in coming home, him taking block leave from work to study for his exams, his coffee-drinking-day-and-night-become-the-same-periods as he studied late into the night and slept in the day, his hibernation periods at the library....


A key take-out I have from him being such a busy person, is that I have grown increasingly independent. Not to say that I enjoy doing things alone, it's definitely better to have a partnership and I welcome the husband back into our daily lives. Not that him being busy has changed... but hey. Small steps in achievements, big results with being flexible and maintaining some sense of sanity in our lives...


To celebrate his graduation, I initiated a dinner for us two. Nothing too fancy, a date night, with a legitimate reason to fill our tummies and enjoy a new experience at a restaurant we had never been to together before.




Celebratory dinner - it was not bad, the food was fine, the ambience was a bit dark, but it was a nice time for us two nonetheless. We planned it for the eve of the convocation.

Celebratory graudation dinner + date night

The convocation was held at the school compounds and it was quite a regular affair. With two tickets only, the husband invited his mom and I to the event with him.

Proud Mom

With me

The convocation itself is just a ceremony, and I felt very proud of the husband for his achievements. Truly, it's not easy balancing everything and for him to accomplish it is definitely commendable. Having said that, I am glad that he's done with this and I am so happy to say, Congratulations baby! Woot!

Sharity Elephant and playing our parts to spread care

Yup, Sharity Elephant - remember him? I do! I remember him as a mascot/carton of sorts, and this jingle that came along with it, encouraging us to share (from the same era of Singa the Courtesy Lion and the worm from the bookworm club...) I digress. So anyway, besides jolting a whole bunch of memories back from my childhood, I quite enjoyed working on this piece of craft with K. It's part of Children's Day, where while the children get to celebrate a day off from school and receive little gifts, they are also reminded that there are children who are not as fortunate who require help.

Building Sharity

The assignment was simple, we had to build Sharity and I helped K with it. That was not the difficult part - what was annoying a challenge was how she had to bring it to school... and those ears kept falling off. Thankfully, besides some disgruntlement and frustration in needing to fix the ears for 300 times, we three made it to school in a piece; no one was hurt.


The other part was a donation and because we had 2 envelopes, I requested for J to make a donation too. How did they contribute? When I first knew of this donation, I told K of it and told her that her savings for 2 weeks will be donated. She was agreeable. At the end of 2 weeks, K had saved $5. I told her that I'd top up the same amount of what she donated and so, she ended up donating $10.

Doing our little bit for charity

The boy doesn't have pocket money, and he did get quite upset, 'Mommy, I don't have money how?!' - so I assured him that I'd help him, and I asked him earnestly if he wished to make a donation to others in need (we read the envelope content of a boy and his predicament) and the boy nodded earnestly. I told him that I'd make a donation amount the same as his sister so that it's very fair; and that when he starts to receive pocket money and save, he will be able to donate his own money.


These activities are quite enforced, but in our busy lives; I cannot truly say that I am doing my part to contribute actively, so I do appreciate these efforts (when they are legitimate). It's also a great opportunity to involve the children and pass on educational life lessons so that they can hopefully learn and become truly good citizens of society.


Happy Children's Day.

Uno obsession

I think it's a set of UNO cards that belongs to the sister. The children started playing it (J being the more blur between the two) at my mom's house, then they became so keen on it they brought the cards back two weekends ago.


Since then, I think they have played it with me/the husband/each other/the helper/anyone they can locate within a radius of 3metres - only like, I don't know, maybe something around the count of 4,852 times.

Another night of UNO

I don't think it's bad. It's an excellent source of entertainment, that takes them away from screen time (be it TV or tablet) which is super. The downside is that they have developed bad habits like cheating (a. they always want the +4 and manipulates the card distribution so they get it; by that I mean they openly cheat by looking at the cards and taking what they want! b. they brazenly peep at others' cards); but after several rounds of severe telling off, they are a bit better. I try to tell them the joy is playing and not only about winning. Tough when truly, the human nature is competitive and we all do wish to win.


From playing UNO, I also see the way their minds operate. J is still young and simple,  he doesn't play it properly always (he messes his cards up because he doesn't see the macro picture) and K is the older one who is way more aware of how the game should be played.


This UNO exercise is very healthy and I quite like it. Even after I have to play it the 4,853th time.

Yummy snack

Tasty, toasty avocado. Yum.

Recovery

The girl has been sick for a week now, and I choose to write about something heartening while our house is covered with gloom from her illness (and whining). Since J's accident, he has been on the mend. Last Sunday, 9 days after his fall, we brought him for a follow-up consultation.

Close up

In good spirits

Surprisingly, the wait was not long (phew) and the boy was still obviously in very good spirits. He was on an adrenalin, bouncing around the waiting room playing with the water dispenser and feeling very pumped up from his last episode; where he did not cry. This boy is truly brave and he is also good at remembering positive experiences.


A nurse came in shortly and said she will be removing the stitches. She told J to lie on the bed while she went around preparing for the procedure.

Slightly serious (worried) face

In-progress

Look at that serious face

The removal was painless (literally) and the entire visit to the doctor took about an hour! Yay to speedy service. We deliberated where to go for our breakfast, then finally settled for something simple. It was a nice, breakfast session I enjoyed with my boy and it felt good to see him feeling fine and eating like a champ.

Peanut porridge and fried bee hoon

So this wraps up the episode of his accident. I was slightly worried that he may scratch the sensitive area as there are no stitches to stop him from being rough with the itch, but it's been 3 days since and all is well.


Hooray!

Anecdotes of J and K

Masterpiece by J
The other evening, we were on the subject of bookmarks and J decided to draw something for me. 'I make a bookmark for you, Mommy' he said.

So, we are holding hands and that (in pink) is a shooting star. He also delighted in writing
my name, and paper-stamping out the star/ribbon shapes.

If you notice, the above piece of paper has a cut-out. The reason why there is a cut out is because he was not happy with something he wrote, and was throwing a fit. In a bid to damage control, I suggested that he remove the supposedly offensive mistake. Then, as if he changed his mind/ had another idea, he picked it up and continued to draw on it; then handed it to me as another bookmark.

I am actually using this. It's quite handy!

Writing by K
K received a card for her birthday from the insurance company. She had been looking forward to a meal at Swensens' with the voucher she received, and we ought to bring her soon. Anyhow, I spotted this the other evening and it made me laugh.

It is me! I am the birthday girl. Me me me!

Truly, she was such a happy child on her birthday and we chatted about her favourite moments of the day, and unsurprisingly, she cited the hours she spent when her friends were around to play with her. She questioned me of my favourite moments and before I could answer, she said, 'I know! It's after my friends left and when all the adults were sitting around, right?' (Such a clever one, this girl)


Instead of lying to her, I said, 'Yes darling, that was one of my favourite parts, because I could relax and hang out with the family. But the other favourite part was watching you and seeing how happy you are. When you are happy, it makes me very happy too.'


Ahh, sometimes they are so sweet and know so much, don't they?

Jake decorates the door

Last week, J excitedly hollered, 'PAPA! MOMMY! COME HERE!'


He stood by the door, with his hand over a particular spot on the door. He waited until we were there and moved his hand away to reveal a picture.

Spot the pic on the door

Close-up

'I put it there! So you can see it! I knew you will like it! (why? we asked) Because you tell me you love me!'


I cracked up hearing his simple explanation of why he chose to put his picture on the door, and how confident he is that we will love it. This boy is full of funny and interesting ideas, and pretty much always confident of himself. This results in a very boisterous and loud boy!


I found it quite amusing that he'd have a picture of himself cut out in this fashion, so I probed and discovered that the teachers at school had prepared Children's Day gifts to the class and the teachers had prepared pictures to be placed on each child's gift. What J then did was to recycle the picture and chose to decorate it on the door.


Ingenius little boy!

Why you have children

So they can scratch the itch on your back

Quote of the day

"For someone who doesn't cook, I watch a lot of cooking shows" - me

Learning mandarin

Little J goes for Chinese lessons. I'm trying to remember when exactly, but it was one fateful evening where I discovered he had knowledge and vocabulary of mandarin at a standard of like, I don't know, sub-zero. Why? Because we do not speak much of it at home and he only knows (broken) English. Sigh.


So, learning from K who is our first-child-experiment, we enrolled him in class. I forgot when we started exactly, but it was probably about a year+ ago; as I discovered our routine from this post of our Saturday routine last year.


The lessons have paid off, and it is so amazing and I feel so proud to observe this boy display his knowledge of mandarin in conversation (still sometimes broken) and more superbly, his ability to identify Chinese words. Love it! We try to revise with him at least once a week, and he has truly accumulated a lot of words.

Revision time

He is pretty good and knows the words like, 90% and now we try to have him form sentences to reinforce his understanding of words.


Just for fun, here's sharing some funny sentences J has formed:

• 他去桌子 - he's probably thinking 'he went to the table' but we had to tell him it's a fragmented sentence that doesn't work on its own.
• 我看桌子 - 'I see the table' - again, a fragmented sentence!
• 我去运动公园 - 'I went to exercise at the park' - literally. Had to switch his sentence structure; though honestly this is such a common problem that we face even in adults (uh, me)
• 我看到五颜六色 - J thinks that 五颜六色 is 'a rainbow' - get it? He's forming 'I saw a rainbow' in this sentence! Had to educate him that the phrase means as colourful as a rainbow, but how he's used it is not right.
  
  

His sentences are pretty funny sometimes, but he will get better and it's all in the fun of learning and improving!


Little K is also on an uphill journey to improve her mandarin. Her advantage with the language is that she was exposed to it younger, though with no formal lessons. Her conversational mandarin is great but the theory of the language is a challenge.


Her struggle this year also includes hanyu pinyin which has been quite a feat. She has improved though which is great, but there is still a fair way to go. Her ability to recognise Chinese words is also a constant challenge; and truly, I don't blame her. It is not easy especially given that we do not practise enough.


So, on this learning journey we keep going!

Singapore Sling last Saturday

Due to our free Saturday afternoon, the husband - on a whim - suggested that we go for a drink. It was luscious.

Peanut snacks, our drinks and the best company in the world

We also introduced the concept of peanut earrings to the children - who were thrilled to no end.

Peanut earrings

Such an amazing and enjoyable time together! Really loving our time together on the weekend as a family. Woot!

The dragon

When I was a child, my mom introduced a view of a dragon statue to my siblings and me. It stood along the expressway and the three of us will crane our necks out to catch a peek of it as we went by this particular stretch of road. Fast-forward 25 years, and for some reason, I pointed the same dragon out to my children some months back. It brought back adorable memories of how in my days, as children, we will also ask for a slower drive-past so that we can see the statue, we will argue or gloat among us if we did or did not manage to see the dragon. I also remember how affected my brother would get if he did not see the dragon - tears would fall!


So after many occasions of playing 'spot the dragon', along came last weekend when we were relatively free and on a whim, we made our way to see the dragon upclose and personal!

J, the enthusiastic, making a run towards the dragon

J was so happy, he marched right up to it and
declared, 'I want to take a picture!'

It was also my first time visiting the dragon and it was quite an interesting experience. Nothing super fancy, but it was something nice that we could share.


PS: am happy to announce that J is none the worse for wear. He has been a super trooper since his accident and besides a stinky head (as he cannot wash his hair to prevent water on his wound), he is fine. I hope that he continues to heal well and encounters no further mishaps to the healing wound.