Birthday celebrations

We had a joint birthday celebration for Nainai and Daddy two Saturdays ago at Brotzeit, Somerset 313. Christian was the happiest of all thanks to all the pizza and pork knuckle, and kept asking when we were going to get to the cake.

I had lunch with the guy on his actual birthday, and presented him with some macarons designed to be balloons..

We didn’t manage to go to The Coastal Settlement on P’s birthday after all cos I was tired out after putting Calista to bed at 8-something. We ended up just chatting at home as we usually do till bedtime..although there was no fancy celebration, i’m glad we enjoy having ‘dates’ anywhere..as long as we have time and space to talk.

There’s so much to be happy over and grateful for. I hope the next year will be an even better one for you, dear!

the last weekend before term 3 2012

Saturday: Edvox Music Class, Home for lunch and nap, East Coast Park skate scooting, East Coast Hawker Ctr for coconut and chicken wings, sent Calista home for dinner, went Millenia Walk for ramen.

Sunday: National Museum, Tao’s at PoMo for lunch, sent Christian home for nap, attended discussion group on the education system in Singapore, picked kids up for dinner at MIL’s.

Conclusion: It’s yet another hectic weekend for us! P’s highlights of Sunday were -

(i) when our son innocently suggested to the dramatist at the National Museum that the man in the story of the ten sticks (Have you heard about the story where a man teaches his 10 sons to be united by saying that individual sticks are easily snapped, whilst 10 sticks put together are difficult to break?) use an electric saw instead; and

(ii) when our daughter paused in mid-crawl upon hearing some music playing from a toy cd, and started swaying her body and shoulders left-right-left-right to the beat.

^_^

My highlight of the weekend -

P casually asked Ch after ramen at Millenia Walk, whether he'll take the train home himself and allow his parents to chill out at the lounge of Conrad hotel.

Ch got a little anxious and said "No..i want to go to the hotel too." Why? "Because I want to follow mama. I want to go everywhere Mama goes." P said that poor boy doesn’t know that he’s setting himself up for a diatribe from his mum 20 years later, in the vein of “You know, when you were small, you said you’d follow me everywhere I go. Now…because of that girl XXX…..?!???”

^_^

When everything is magical

The Magic Years, the book on which this blog is sort of named after, itself derives its title from Piaget, the Swiss psychologist.

“Piaget once observed his young son watch the moon in the sky at night. As the moon moved across the sky, Piaget's son believed that he himself was moving the moon by his own feelings. This led Piaget to theorize that many children in the 3-6 age group believe that their own internal feelings cause many events in their environment. Piaget called these "The Magic Years." Children are naturally delighted and open to explanations of the world that emphasize creative sources of causation.” – source: America National Catholic Weekly

I was privileged to witness this in my son today. He came home from school desperately needing the toilet. I helped him race to the toilet bowl before standing by and quizzing him -

“Didn’t you go the toilet earlier? When Teacher D brought the children to the toilet?”

Ch was silent and looked up sheepishly.

“Why didn’t you go to the toilet then?”

His eyes grew large and he asked with fascination – “How come you can hear me?”

I thought he may be trying to divert the topic by asking why I didn’t close the door to allow him privacy, so I asked him to clarify.

Ch: “How come you can hear me at school???”

I laughed out so loud. He really believes that it is possible for his mother to be omnipresent. It may seem gullible of him, but it reveals that he is still not tied down by the laws of this world.

Christian has a firmer grasp of Time

3 days ago, I mentioned that school will be starting soon, and that it’ll only be 3 hours, so he shouldn’t worry about leaving us or being alone.

Christian said: “erm 3 hours..I like 3 hours. I want to stay home so long…5 years.”

I laughed and told him “oh Christian, you’ll be with me for much longer than that…hmm..maybe 18 years? 20 years? Ok…20 years.”

Ch: “How about 1000 years?”

*mama chuckles* “That’s too long!”

Ch: “Erm. How about…100 years..”

Me: “Oh, you won’t be with me for so long. When you grow up you’ll want to have your own family..get married and have your own children.”

Ch: “Oh..when i’m a daddy then…I want to give my children names..N i dunno what to call them!”

*pause*

“When I’m a daddy then daddy will be a yeh yeh..then you will be nai nai?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dad was helping to put Christian to bed 2 nights ago and told us that he had asked Christian whether he could go to our new house after we move. This is what Christian said:

“Yes. Gonggong you make me sleep for 20 years.”

Gonggong (highly amused and thinking he’ll be 80+ then): “Oh? What happens after 20 years?”

Ch: “After 20 years no need already, I’ll be big already.”

Art Garden at the SAM

I was clearing the last of my childcare leave last week and made full use of the time to bring Christian out since his holidays are drawing to an end.

Our first outing was to the Art Garden at the Singapore Art Museum.

It’s an annual event which exhibits arts suitable for children, and they also included a screening of short films and animation. I had lost my car keys and was a little hesitant about bringing Christian out after he woke from his nap at 3.30pm, but decided to just do it. Taking public transport meant we reached there at 5pm, which was rather late, but the upside of that was the almost-empty museum.

Christian & I had such a great time!

The first exhibit “Echoes-Infinity-The Forest” was not such a hit, but the “Everyday Wonders” where we guessed which part of everyday objects like clothes pegs and keys were used to make imprints on clay flowers was interactive and allowed us to join in the creativity. The museum even gave a clay flower magnet to every visitor, for us to have a try at making our own artwork with paper clips etc.

Christian also enjoyed the Activity Room, where he engaged in some stamping and coloring.

The Moving Image Gallery  where the movies were screened, was on the 2nd level. I loved how there were two couches, and a wide open place with very broad gentle steps for children to sit on. It’s a place where toddlers can view a show in a dark room without fear of being ‘shushed’.

I had to coax him out of the Moving Image Gallery with the promise that we’d be back. (It was getting late and I wanted to ensure that we viewed all the exhibits first!) We proceeded to the 3rd floor where there was an interactive installation of recyclable cardboard boxes. We took 2 small cardboard boxes out of the exhibit, I drew a picture of Christian and Mama whilst he made some scrawls which he insisted was a fish, and we put the cardboard boxes back.

The “Dress Me Up” room was a hit with Christian. There were panels with an outline of a Boy/ Girl/Man/Woman, and we were to take a selection of heads, shoes, and clothes and stick it on the wall panel. It was such a creative take on dressing up and reminded me of the paper dolls I used to play with.

My personal fave was the “Let’s Dance” work by Emilie Fouilloux cos I got to be silly with Christian! We were first directed to a small white room where a facilitator played some funky dance music and we boogied for a minute. After the minute was up, we walked out into the larger dark room where our moves were projected on the wall alongside videos of other participants. Christian was thrilled and had such fun trying to track our video amidst the ever-changing collage of videos. F-U-N!

I also thought the “Reactive Wall” was brilliant. We were invited to step in front of a microphone, facing a wall of images and icons projected on a screen. The images would move when sound was captured by the microphone. The greater the volume, the larger the images. Christian kept repeating “Lightning McQueen” when I prompted him to say something, and amused the museum guide so. I sang into the microphone to demonstrate how the images would get blown up, until another group of visitors came by.  

The last exhibit we visited was the “Grow the Garden in the Dark”, where a museum guide taught us to fold a paper morning glory, and we got to stick it in the room where the fluorescent inked paper flowers and leaves glowed. It was like a surreal secret garden.

We tripped back to the Moving Image Gallery to catch the last of the animated screening. Christian was so intrigued by the last film that was showing then – Lost and found by Philip Hunt of the UK..I wished we could have caught more of the films.

Since the Art Garden runs till 12 August, perhaps we’ll return another day just to catch the animation. At $9 for an adult ticket (after a 10% discount for NTUC members) and given the free admission for children below 6 years old, I think it’s a great place to visit when we have a few hours to spend.

1 month to 1!

Dear Calista

We are only one month away from your 1st birthday!

Your growth has taken on a life of its own in the past month…Daddy’s and Mama’s night-time conversations are filled with observations about how you’ve started ‘awakening’ from your baby-stupor, how you are increasingly more aware of everything that goes on in this family.. (of course, your brother’s antics and declarations of the day are also the mainstays of our conversations.)

Personality!

The major difference between the last month and this is your newfound ability to ‘manipulate’ others into giving you what you want. You have discovered various ways of getting your way – wailing, whining, pleading with large eyes, snatching, not giving up and performing a left-right-left approach when thwarted, and being manja.

Popo told me of how you were crawling towards your brother one day, and he’d put his hand on top of yours to stop you from advancing further. You immediately collapsed onto the floor and dissolved in sobs. She said it was fortunate for your kor kor that she’d witnessed the entire episode from start to finish, else she would surely have berated him for bullying you.

Oh, and the fights.. the fights have started. Your brother was in my lap the other day and you came crawling over to us, jealous. You stared for a moment, then used your tiny fingers to scratch/maul your brother’s forehead. My goodness. If he takes anything away from you, the two of you get into a tug-of-war which ends up with you scratching his leg. *shakes head*

It seems like whatever your brother does, touches, is in, is the best. It’s nigh impossible to read to him when you are around, for you will as-sure-as-the-sun-rises come over to grab the book. I was pleased to see that he tried to distract you and resolve the conflict peaceably by proffering 4 other picture books and asking me to whisper-read to him instead. Alas, that tack only worked for about a minute before you gave a mental-shake of your head and scrambled over to grab our book instead.

You are increasingly vocal…it is not an exaggeration to say that our neighbours can probably hear your “WAh bah a-bah dah dah” in the mornings. (Why is it that you are often the loudest in the morning that I sleep in??) I am “Meh-meh” / “mah meh”, Ida is “Da”, Daddy is “Bah”.. you try to mimic Daddy when he repeats the word “Bird” after showing you the animal on your early-morning walks, but all that comes out is a “Bah” too. Hahaa.

You whine for me to carry you the minute I step in the house from work, and the whine will escalate into a loud protest if I ignore you to go wash my hands first. Oh..your father has already predicted that you will be twirling him around your little finger when you grow older. You are the cutest too, when you sway your baby hips to whatever music that comes out of the radio, keyboard or toys.

Memory

I realise your long-term memory has improved leaps and bounds. You are no longer afraid when we go visit the MIL at her house. However, your eyes were large and curious when we visited P’s grandma and you bawled in protest when we put you down on the floor and encouraged you to crawl. You scrambled into our laps whenever you felt insecure there.

I also noticed that you cocked your head to peep over my shoulder at the hamster cages outside MIL’s neighbour’s door. I think it’s because you remember us staring at the many hamsters there on a previous occasion. I was impressed, but your Daddy thinks it’s cos you might just think cages are generally interesting objects.

-_-

Aesthetics

It’s been a fun time in terms of dolling you up…your hair has finally grown a little longer and you are starting to look more like a girl. Ida has so much fun putting little clips and tying your little wisps of hair into little bunny ears. =7

 

The basics

As for the basics – your sleep is erratic..you usually nap a total of about 3 – 4 hours in the day, and fall asleep at night at 9pm. Beyond that, you can wake up any of times between 1 – 5 times a night. Sigh. I am trying to train you to stop relying on me as the human pacifier. So far, I’ve only succeeded in not nursing you to sleep when I put you to bed at 8.30pm. Every time you wake up in the middle of the night though, I have to be there, and you will wail most piteously if I refuse to nurse you. Daddy and I have had tiffs over my approach of hoping that you’ll give up and comfort yourself back to sleep. I hope you’ll grow out of this soon.

You have a very healthy appetite though..and finish cereal / oatmeal / mashed sweet potato in the morning, a medley of fish/meat/pumpkin/vege porridge in the afternoon, a snack of banana / avocado in the afternoon, and porridge again in the evening, on top of 3 milk feeds a day. It’s been a long time since we weighed you but one thing’s for sure, everybody’s unable to carry you for long before groaning about arm / back / waist –ache.

It’s amazing that it’s been almost a year since you arrived in our life. I even need to start checking out the playgroups in the area in the next week! Sigh…the past has flown by too quickly and the future will be challenging, given your grandparents' extended holiday and the departure of Ida..but I am looking forward to spending many many days at home with you nonetheless.

XOXO,

mama

Linking up with:

Rebuttal

I was explaining to Christian today that his holidays were going to end soon, and that he’d be going back to school soon. I took the opportunity to remind him that Gonggong and Popo were going to go on holiday soon and he immediately started clamouring to go with them.

“I want to follow Popo…why I cannot follow Popo…I want to follow Popo..”

I patiently tried various tacks in helping him to understand why he cannot go, but for each explanation I proffered, he had a ready comeback.

Mama: “You cannot follow Popo to Switzerland for 3 months..You’ll have to go to school.”

Ch: “I don’t want to go to school.”

Mama: “Popo and gonggong need a break too. Do you want to leave mama alone behind?”

Ch: “Mama go too.”

Mama: “Mama can’t go. What about Calista? And daddy?”

Ch: “They can go too..”

Mama: “There won’t be space in Grand-Aunt’s house for all of us. You have to stay in Singapore with me. A family stays together..you are my child Christian and you have to follow your parents. Popo and Gonggong are not your parents.”

….

*Christian pauses for the slightest second*

….

Ch: “Then Mama follow Gonggong, and Christian can follow Mama on holiday!”

*Mama bursts out laughing and Daddy shakes his head at how I’ve been defeated by a 3.5 year old. I launch into an explanation of marriage and how adults no longer need to follow their parents around."*

Taking into account our previous exchanges, it seems like it’s Christian - 2, Mama - 0.

Photoshoot 2012

The photos we took at Christian's old school (as mentioned in my previous post on his last day at the school) have finally arrived after a long long wait...!

Our last family photoshoot was when Christian was 8 months old and we felt bad that Calista was nowhere to be seen in the pictures hanging around the house. So I bought some photography sessions on Groupon, and hit upon the idea of using Christian's old school as the backdrop, so that he may have a memento of his first school.

It took me some time finding the right software that would allow me to create collages and thanks to the mummies in the Singapore Mom Bloggers group, I was introduced to PicMonkey..! I forgot whose post I read that suggested using Picmonkey, but if you are reading this, thank you so much. It is a fabulous program! 

Anyway, here goes.. pardon the deluge of photos..

My wants vs their needs

We brought Christian to Suntec City for lunch after his music class at Edvox on Saturday.

I thought Christian might like to have a look at the massive man-made fountain before we went home, and so we made our way there.

(He remembered that we did not bring him to the water fountain as promised during the last Mother's day outing at Marina Square and asked me about it.. "Why mama? Why we didn't go yesterday..? No..a looong time ago?? Why we didn't come here?")

Anyway, I had to entertain his million "Why?"s and "Mama"s the whole morning..even P laughed at the "Mama.." "Mama..." which repeated itself every 2 minutes (this is not an exaggeration). I decided to let my ears take a break and sit down at the bench while Christian and P ran the circumference of the fountain...but they came running back in a flash without completing the circle. I raised my brow at P, and he said "When he realised you weren't trailing behind us, he insisted on running back to sit with mama.."

=7

Later when we were at the Koi Garden, and Christian was going "Mamaa. can we eat the fish, mama where is the drain for the water to go down, mama is the fish food going to get stuck? etc etc", P looked at me upon hearing the nth "mama" and asked.. "Are you sure you will be able to stay at home?"

I laughed and confessed that I had the exact thought running through my mind..I might go crazy with the million questions and million attempts at getting my attention..but hearing him say "Mama" so often also underscores how much he needs me at home, to be there to answer when he looks for me.

Parenting makes me realise that a large part of love is sacrifice..and what I want is no longer so important. Rather, it's what they need right now.

(Of course, I am aware that I shouldn't attempt to be a martyr and neglect the Self either, for it will rebel one day, with a vengeance. =7 Everything in moderation..and everything in its time.)

Some overdue notes

Stored some of these incidents in the "notes" section of my phone for blogging but never quite got round to posting these up.

Was reminded of these old posts after an incident yesterday.

I was putting my makeup on in the master bathroom when i heard some sound outside the door. Not taking my eyes off the mirror, i called out "Christian..is that you?"

There was no reply, so I scanned the outside and my eyes fell onto this tiny girl crawling on the floor, and making her way resolutely over the step into the bathroom.

I was late for work so I let her be (the bathroom was clean and dry) and she eventually did her usual stunt of moving until she reached my legs, pawing gently at my shin and lifting her head up to look at the giant (me) above.

Sigh..it melted my heart, but i told her i was running late and couldn't pick her up.. the helper came in searching for her and laughed when she saw where Calista was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old posts...

20th April 2012
Christian says: "Why you go work today? Why you don't want to take care of me?? Who can bring me to school?"

21st May 2012
Christian: "Mama come to school with me. I want to go to work with you. I don't want to do anything...I just want to look at you."

23rd May 2012
Christian: "i don't want to go to school. I want to go to office with you."
Mama: "There's nothing to do in the office. It'll be very boring."
Christian: "I'll bring a book. I won't make noise."
*mama feels guilty*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So glad I won't have to go through this once i stop work on the 19th. At least for a while, till I decide whether to return to work eventually.

the little girl starts her tantrums

It is official. At 10 months, the little girl has learnt to get her way by pouting, crying and wailing.

On Monday, I showed her the Fisher Price animals app on my phone and she was so thrilled to hear the various animal sounds and background music. When I eventually took it away and turned my hands signing "no more", she threw a fit (see pictures above).

I took the opportunity to take some pictures, before handing it back to her.

However, once the phone was in her hands, she did not allow me to touch it so I could retrieve the app for her. And so another round of angry tears ensued. Haha.

I was telling P that I tried hard not to laugh throughout the episode. But seeing her flip the prized possession over, staring hard into the lens of the phone and raising an eyebrow (cos i had been pointing that at her while taking her pictures) was too much for me to hold the laughter in.

Punggol Waterway and Changi City Point

We went to Punggol Waterway on Sunday cos P wanted Christian to get some sun (Vit D) and I had heard lots about the new park / sand play / water play area at Punggol from my colleagues.

Getting there took us some time, cos we were navigating with an outdated map.. Christian kept asking P "Do you know the way Daddy? Are we there? Where are we?" =7

We got there at 10 something and Christian displayed his newfound confidence on his skate scooter.. He scooted down the slope, over the adventure bridge, all the way to the strip of sand. Truth be told, the place was a little underwhelming (the sand strip was really a tiny strip and the water play area was not impressive) and I felt guilty for thwarting P's original plan of going to Sentosa. The place was also very hot, thanks to the insufficient cover by the young saplings around us. Oh well. All in the name of exploration.

It served our purpose for the day.. and we played in the scorching sun till my shoulders got burnt and Christian started turning as red as cooked lobster. 

We decided to adjourn to somewhere air-conditioned for lunch and settled on Eggs and Berries, a place Christian is bound to like since he's so crazy over eggs. It was another first for us that day..we weren't very impressed with it either, since i kept thinking as i perused the menu "i can cook this too!" (other than the poached eggs, which i intend to try out soon).

Anyway, we took a walk around the new mall after lunch. Christian fell in love with the unique airwells which had greenery and calming water features, refusing to leave. I convinced him to go to the water playground on the 2nd level, just to check it out. He peered at it from inside the shopping mall and said he didn't want to get wet anymore..but we had fun at the playground which was a pseudo-obstacle course for children.

And that was the end of a very long morning playtime..We've shifted his Chinese Berries class from Sunday to Thursday evenings. Hopefully this means we'll have more opportunity for family time on weekends :)