Baby Humour

I was putting Calista to bed and got lost in my reverie as I waited for her to calm down and be in the mood for bed. I lay behind her and thought "this is such a precious time...to be with my little one as she slowly drifts off to sleep, when almost all is well in our world and we are happy.."

the warm fuzzy feelings prompted me to sing "you are my sunshine..my second sunshine.." in the softest, gentlest tones I could muster.

I came crashing back to reality when Calista said "Torp." She repeated herself and that was when the word broke through to my consciousness.

"StoP???! You want mama to stop?"

She chuckled at my mock offense and proceeded to show me her palm while repeating the offending word -_-

Growing understandably disgruntled as she tried to needle me for a reaction, I decided to ignore her command and tried to restart the song, but she rudely began humming her own tune and added insult to injury by saying

"torp.....Daaaaddy..Daaaaadddy?"

Children can be the most unappreciative ungrateful creatures on earth.

Christmas Parties 2012

We didn’t do much on Christmas Day this year, the thought of having to wrestle with a restless Calista and hush a loud Christian during service was rather off-putting and so we went cycling instead. =P

We are, however, beginning to form some Christmas traditions as a family.. and a large part of that is meeting up with our friends. I can’t believe a year has passed since I met with Corrine and Michelle in our old house.. so much has changed in a year, and yet it didn’t feel like a whole year ago. This year, we met in Corrine’s new house instead. The kids had so much fun running around in circles, playing with the toys in Ashley’s every-child’s-dream- room, and playing hide and seek.

P and I enjoyed having time to talk to other adults without having to worry too much about having to watch over our kids, cos an adult would always be keeping an eye on them at any one time. The best part about meeting with close friends is knowing that your child is engaged and entertained, and you can sit back and relax for a while. ^_^ Seeing the thoughtful presents that our friends gave our children also makes us realise how loved our children are. Grateful.

Christian enjoyed meeting his godparents and I think he really lapped up the attention Corrine’s husband gave him. Attention is such a rare treasure for him, something he has keenly felt the lack of, since his sister was born =/

We had another gathering with some church friends on Saturday, and wow, it’s amazing the ruckus 8 children and 1 baby (calista) can make. It was fun watching Christian go half-crazy with the other children..after a relatively sedate time of Lego, they decided that rolling someone under the bean bag and going bump was fun. Christian laughed and played so hard he was all sweaty and hoarse afterwards, but we think it is healthy for children to let loose occasionally :)

I hope Christian and Calista will remember that the Christmases they spent during their childhood were filled with laughter, joy, family and love.

Road Safety Community Park

We discovered the Road Safety Park one Saturday, when we had some time to kill before Christian’s gym class. It is right next to the old Big Splash at East Coast and I had a hazy memory of going there with my school many many years ago.

We resolved to go back there with a bicycle, and so we did this morning. It was a great place to spend a Saturday morning..Peter had bought Christian a bike from Toys R Us as we had been renting bikes at East Coast a couple of times.. It struck me on the way to the Road Safety Park that whilst adults enjoy cycling along the coastline, children find it utterly meaningless and the park would be more fun. P agreed, remarking that children need structure.

We walked round and round as Christian and Calista.. whilst it was much smaller than I remembered, it was still impossible for us to cover all the ‘road’ in 3 rounds.

I found the miniature petrol station, bus bay and car parks very amusing. It is a wonder that there is so little publicity over this attraction..P thinks it’s because it’s rather old, but i think the fact that it’s stayed there for so many years is testament to its enduring appeal.

Ponyo Calista

A few days ago, Calista cried to follow us as Peter and I left the house in the morning. I felt so upset at leaving her like this, crying at the gate…and clutched my hands to my heart. Peter suggested Vanessa bring her down for a walk, to the bus-stop, so she could be with us a bit longer.

As I carried her with her chin on my shoulder, she looked back at Peter and he remarked that she looks just like Ponyo. We watched Ponyo on the Cliff quite a few years ago, but that enthralling story still reminds in our (and Christian’s mind).

Anyway, I resolved to find a picture of Calista and put it side-by-side a picture of Ponyo on this blog, just for fun.

Do you think they look alike too?

HESS–Holiday Program Dec 2012

I previously blogged about HESS here. I did enrol Christian for 3 weeks at Hess after all, partly for my parent’s benefit (so they’d get some peace at home and only have to concentrate on Calista) and also for Christian’s benefit (I’m certain he’d have a better time learning something at the school, then monkeying around aimlessly at home.)

The teachers and school more than met my expectations..i was pleasantly surprised by the weekly report they provided and photos they took which were available for download. He took part in the English and Mandarin program which meant that his time there was rather long, from 10am – 3pm, with an hour lunch break in between.  I was initially worried about pushing his nap time back so much, but figured it’s good preparation for his change in school timing next year, which will be from 1130am to 430pm.

They had a good mix of story-telling, art, drama and writing..It wasn’t cheap and cost more than his regular school ($1011 for 3 weeks) but at about $17 per hour, it was one of the most value-for-money holiday programs around. I love that the teachers are all so warm and attentive and that they have native teachers conducting the programs. Christian looked like he had so much fun thanks to the varied activities, and seeing those pictures made me very glad that I didn’t stinge and decided to send him there after all.

Would definitely consider signing him up again next year, if his own school doesn’t have a holiday program.

Lest the readers of this blog (including my own son in future) think i’m such a slave-driver mum, let it be known that he is having 2 full weeks of monkeying-around and doing nothing at all at home.. Pushing all his ECAs (music, gym) to the weekdays so our weekends will be free. Yippee for holidays!

Getaways

We watched Jersey Boys at Marina Bay Sands Theatre the other day, courtesy of a colleague. ^_^

I was scheduled for a hair perm that day but decided to give up my $48 groupon voucher for this instead…P gamely accompanied me since we are a lover of musicals. Felt rather guilty abandoning the kids to the MIL, even though they were going to nap and wouldn’t really notice our absence for the most part.

Jersey Boys was highly entertaining and we really enjoyed the great performance put up. P was so impressed with the lead singer (who apparently wasn’t THE lead singer since the understudy takes the lead during the weekend matinees) that he asked “How did they find this guy??” Such power and pristine crisp voices.

We left the Theatre buoyant and refreshed from the experience, even as we walked briskly hand-in-hand to rush home to the kids. It was a great date, and a precious time away from the children.

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I saw that Rurouni Kenshin had finally been made into a movie and opened in Singapore last weekend. Was determined to catch it and P really indulged me. We didn’t manage to get any tickets for Saturday night, and so we went on Sunday afternoon instead. The whole guilt-trip started all over again as we left the children at the MIL’s =7 We hadn’t caught a movie in the theatre in eons, though I suppose once you are a parent you should stop thinking about things like that or get too caught up on what you are missing out on.

It was an enjoyable movie which brought me back to the days when I was a undergrad who had the time to catch 90+ episodes of the Kenshin anime. =7

Grateful for all these little dates that we have, which somehow make me miss and treasure my kids even more.

 

Hectic weekends

Weekends. They are so precious precisely because they are so fleeting. Sigh.  

A description of a typical, hectic weekend is as follows:

Saturday

7am: Calista and Christian wake up. P entertains them while I sleep.

8am: I wake up, we all finish breakfast, change them, take care of all their toileting needs, pack the diaper bag and we race out of the house by 8.45am.

9.15am: We finish trying to find a parking lot at the horrendous HDB carpark near parkway and run with Christian to his piano class.

9.15 – 10am: We catch a breather and try to put Calista to sleep while we walk around..attempt to feed Calista some breakfast (She’s usually fussy and refuses to eat until we bring her out)

10am: Christian’s piano class ends, we drive over to Big Splash, play at the beach or let Christian practice pedaling a trike.

12 – 1pm: Gym class at Big Splash! Calista would have fallen asleep while slung by P in the Baby Bjorn..

1.30pm: Lunch at Nansuttei, Millenia Walk. P loves the ramen and chemical-free pork, Christian likes the fried rice.

3pm: We collapse out of Millenia Walk and head home for a nap.

3.45pm: Christian finally naps, Calista might still be awake and alert thanks to her earlier nap..Either P or I stay awake to entertain her.

6pm: Our only truly free slot of the weekend where we can plan outings or meetups. (Last weekend, we were at XJ’s bridal studio trying on Christian’s pageboy suit, the week before that, we were at cell group..)

We find someplace to have dinner and get home by 9pm to put the children to bed.

Sunday

7am: Calista and Christian wake up. P entertains them while I sleep. (Muahaha. This sounds terrible of me, but I wake up thrice a night to pacify Ms Wang.)

8am: I wake up, we wolf down our breakfast and change them, etc to race out of the house by 8.45am.

9.15: Drive to church and bring Christian to Sunday class.

9.30 – 11am: I am in the baby cry room while P paces up and down putting Calista to sleep in the Baby Bjorn carrier.

11 – 12pm: We find lunch, and go back home. Sometimes we head to the MIL’s instead, if P and I have something on (went to watch Jersey Boys last Sunday, and caught Rurouni Kenshin this Sunday.)

1 – 3pm: Have lunch, shower the children and put them to nap.

3 – 5pm: We take turns napping..

5pm: Off to MIL’s for dinner.

5 – 8pm: Spend time feeding the baby, and showering the two children at MIL’s before driving home..

9pm: Bed time for the children and finally a little time for P and I to discuss big issues like housing, schools, etc, or do mundane stuff like pay bills.

 

Sigh. My children bring me much joy but I can also fully understand why some people choose not to have children =7 P and I have been thinking about making our weekends less hectic so we spend less time rushing from one place to another and packing them all in a car all the time. He thinks we should get down to the basics and spend time with them to mould their character. This was especially after the parent-teacher conference where we heard some disturbing stories about Christian’s behaviour..and after two episodes where Christian tried to bite me while throwing tantrums. Sigh. I suppose P is right that we should focus on building the relationship while we can, and spend time relaxing and talking to them instead of being a harried parent constantly rushing about.

The problem is, what do we give up? We had long debates over what was essential.. and eventually I gave in. We’ll probably stop music class even though I think music learning should start young. He thinks gym class is essential for fostering’s Christian’s psycho-motor skills and confidence, and I agree that is somewhat lacking in Christian right now. P is also in favour of stopping Sunday school. I really struggled with that, but agree that the long drive to Upp Bt Timah just eats up precious time. It will get even worse next year, cos his Chinese class (currently on Thursday evenings) will be pushed to the weekend starting next year, cos his main school timing will change to 11.30am – 4.30pm from next year and it’ll just be too tiring for him to attend Berries at 5pm on a Thursday.

Sometimes I really do miss the carefree couple P and I used to be, where we could do nothing but lounge at Arab St all day, eating ice cream, wandering about and reading..I miss the me time I had, to explore my interests and the world. But I am reminded of the Biblical concept - “different seasons, different things”.. I suppose when this season passes, I will be wistful for those days when every waking moment was spent on my children too. =7