Christian’s skate camp

As mentioned in this previous post, Christian’s June holidays this year has been spent in the following manner:

1st week – Spent with P

2nd week – Skate camp

3rd week – Skate lessons with Coach Tang and his schoolmates

4th week – Art class

He went for his 1st art class and he lurved it. Skate camp wasn’t as well received, but he did not give up trying even though it was not easy for him.

Fear is what keeps him behind the other children in his group though. They were zipping around by the 2nd day whilst he cautiously kept his right foot stuck to the ground and skated only with the left. We were a little worried over the lack of risk-taking he exhibited, and wondered how he was going to survive in the primary school system..

I was a little comforted when I found out the following week, that his classmate D and D’s brother (who is 9 years old) were not much better. They cried and refused to skate down the slope..I suppose these things get harder as they grow older and the sense of danger and caution sets in..My dad observed and said at least Christian is steady on the skates now, although not employing the accurate method..and at least he is willing to try new challenges.

I suppose he is right. In the meantime, will just let Christian be and give him lots of time and encouragement to gain confidence.

Hazy Days

The haze in Singapore has reached epic proportions, the PSI just hit a record 401 yesterday. (Just for comparison, 50 would be a good day, a psi of 90 would be a slightly hazy day).

We are suffering indeed. The air conditioners in the living room was removed 2 years ago after it malfunctioned, cos we barely used it, and boy do we regret that decision now. Thank goodness we have 2 air purifiers at home, but even so, poor Calista has been coughing, vomiting and feverish. It pains and worries me to see her like this.

I brought them to the indoor playground at Changi Airport yesterday, thinking it would help release some of their pent-up energy from being cooped up at home, but Calista got worse after the short trip. Perhaps it was the air she breathed for those few minutes between house and car and back. =(

P and I had an argument over bringing Calista out to meet his mum on her birthday. He insisted she will feel better being at a shopping mall and that the endorphins will help her recover faster, rather than being miserable at home. I was so mad at him, especially when he said it’s alright, she doesn’t have to wear a mask on the way to the car, it’s just a few minutes. The PSI reading is now 323!

Argh. I hate the haze. Christian hoped last night “I wish the haze will get better, then it’ll be less smoky and I can go down to the playground and blow bubbles.”

Calista’s new word of the week? “Mokey mokey” (smoky).

Calista’s latest antics

1) Christian has been trying to teach his meimei how to put her thumbs up to signal satisfaction/approval. “Good meimei!”

Somehow, Calista only manages to stick her index finger out. She’ll innocently ask “Like that?” and we’ll burst out in laughter, before her brother patiently wraps her fingers inwards and pushes her thumb up.

2) We were reading together last night, the kids and I, when Rae En suddenly kept going on and on about “butter cake, butter cake..” I was puzzled and asked her if she wanted to eat cake, she repeated herself a few more times, realised she wasn’t getting through to me, and said “Mama come,” pulling my finger and asking me to go towards the bookshelf.

She then made some hand motions and I realised she wanted the book with the nursery action songs..she was referring to one of her current faves “Pat-a-cake”!

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man

Bake me a cake as fast as you can

Roll it and prick it and mark it with a ‘B’

And place it in the oven for baby and me.

Christian laughed and ran to fetch the book for her.

3) A few days ago when I was putting her to nap, she didn’t feel like sleeping and gestured that she would take over the fanning. She grabbed the fan from me, waved it in front of my face, asked “like that? Um.”

She proceeded to ask me seriously “Are you hot? Meimei fan.” before pushing my hair away from my forehead, pretending to wipe my sweat away.

*heart melt*

4) She has started saying “Oh.” “Orh.” “Nrg.” just like I used to when I was young. She also gives the most emphatic, exaggerated, long-drawn-out “YESSSSSSSS!!!” when she is asked if she wants something she really likes, like TV or cookies. Amusing.

What are we to do with her?

The largest oceanarium in the world

I took leave two Fridays ago to be with P and the children..thought of visiting the RWS aquarium since we bought tickets to it during CNY and those tickets were about to expire.

It was certainly very impressive and we could have spent a looong time there. When we first went in, all of us had a sense of wonder at the creatures which were swimming in front and above us. I did not expect there to be so many aquariums either, with so many different species. We saw tanks after tanks of jellyfish lit up in ever-changing colour, dolphins swimming by us, sharks, and lots of others which I cannot name.

It certainly made an impact on both children. Calista told my mum right after she woke from her nap that day “Popo, rae-en see big fish” ^_^

P and I joked that if we were retirees, we would buy an annual pass and just go in to sit and stare the whole day.

Definitely worth a return visit, maybe with the grandparents..

Christian’s Art

We’ve found that Christian enjoys art, colouring and seems to have a knack for multicoloured drawings.

As a way of preserving these early childhood drawings, here’s a post dedicated to his works.

P bought him a jigsaw base from Daiso and had him make a special Mother’s Day gift for me, all by himself. He told me he purposely drew purple petals cos he knows it’s my favourite colour.

Here are two of his multi-coloured creations. One is of Elly the Elephant (based on a book I bought him of an elephant whose of a different colour from all the rest), and he says the other is a castle with a moat and a bird in the sky..

The last two are some watercolour paintings..think he just dabbed colours as he pleased, and came up with the creatures afterwards..P says the first looks like 3 ghouls, and Ch thinks the other looks like a dragon spitting fire.

I think this ain’t too bad for a almost 5 year old..and I know he’s a little upset that he is not able to draw animals / objects in his school’s exercise books (complaining they end up looking like monsters).

And so, I decided to search around for a suitable art class for him this June holidays. I was initially interested in Abrakadoodle and almost signed up cos it was near home, but couldn’t convince myself to settle, after reading the descriptor of their holiday program (seems llike they do some craft, go to the beach etc..) What he really wanted was guidance on how to draw, and so I persevered. Was so happy to find a children’s art studio near my house which had a flexible art holiday program. I could pick which days he wanted to attend (I opted for Tue and Thur in the 3rd week of June, and Mon – Thur in the 4th week) and they would also tailor the program according to his ability. Looking forward to him having a good time exploring this interest..I suppose this is what holidays should be like, exploring interests.. 

Instead of enrolling him in a 9am – 3pm English/Chinese holiday program like I did last December, this June holidays has been all about fun, learning how to skate, and learning how to draw..things he doesn’t usually have time for during the school term..

Hope you are having a happy holidays, son! :)

Sweet nothings

This morning, when we woke up, Christian told me he would protect me and Calista since he was the only boy left..he went further and said “Mama, I will protect you even after I grow up. When I grow up, you will grow old, right? I will still protect you then.”

I went “Awwww…” and told him not to worry, he can take care of me when he grows up by meeting me for meals sometimes, visiting me, and perhaps earning some money and passing me a little. ^_^

In all his innocence, he said “I will give you ALL my money.” I laughed and told him he would need to keep some for himself, to buy food etc. and he said “No need, cos I will still stay with you in the same house.”

Gosh, he certainly knows how to say all the right things, but I am not so deluded as to believe in that and hold him to it. =7 Shall just enjoy his pure intentions for now.

Happy Father’s Day

 

 

This Father’s Day is a poignant one. P will be in Hong Kong by himself as we think of him this Father’s Day and on his birthday (19th Jun)..doing the fatherly thing of doing what he thinks is best for the family, and starting a new job there.

People may think we are being silly for separating the family thus, but it’s not so bad if he comes back every weekend, even though those weekends are only from Saturday mornings – Sundays 3pm thanks to flight timings.

I hope our children know whatever we do is for their best, and hopefully the day when we can all be together permanently won’t be too far away.

I know it’s especially tough on P given that he had spent about a month at home with them, and was constantly hands on, bringing the two out on his own, having fun, being exhausted at caring for them, but ultimately happy to witness their growth every day.

Most of their fun outings took place in June when Christian was on holiday, but P made a concerted effort to entertain the children with balloon sculpting, painting, playdough making, water play at Tampines One, sand play at Sentosa, coaching Christian at skate camp and coaxing Calista on the balance bike..The children love the games he thinks up, and his ability to construct caves / tunnels / tents for them at home just by turning a mattress upside down or this way and that.

He certainly makes a better stay-at-home parent than I, but too bad I am not willing to forge ahead in the workplace so that he may stay home =7

Here are some pictures of the past month..

Us at East Coast Park on the “family vehicle” and pictures of his balloon sculpting efforts..

He brought the 2 kids to Sentosa by himself! (Brave soul, I would hesitate to do so myself.)

They were so tired out by all the morning play he sent me a pic of them conked out in the car which made me laugh out loud.

Pictures of the makeshift imaginary structures he constructed for them, them having fun with the loudhailers and playdoh he bought (both from Daiso..it’s his fav uncle haunt now).

Them having fun at the waterplay area at Tampines1 (P said the mothers looked at him with admiration as he handled both the kids by himself. Ha.)

P sent me a bloomberg article which reported on the annual value of a father. Totalling the average wages of the usual “dad jobs”, insure.com came up with a figure – USD23,344 per year.

I think he’s priceless, and i’m sure the kids will agree.

Happy Father’s Day to all Daddies!

Alphagym

I’ve been meaning to blog about alphagym for the longest time, but was waiting to take more decent pictures of the class before doing so.

Christian started gym class sometime in 2012, after we found that his school report said he needed a lot of encouragement at the high slides, and might need some help with his gross motor skills. So at the recommendation of one of his classmate’s mum, we started classes at the gym at Big Splash and began our weekend routine of gym/berries classes.

It took a long time to follow the teacher’s instructions during warm up, instead of simply standing and observing. My dad once stayed back 15 minutes after the start of class till he could bear to see no more – he came home to report that we were wasting our money cos our son refused to move, and perhaps we should send him to see a counsellor instead.

I consulted with his class teacher for her views, she said some children just need to feel safe and comfortable before they partake in activities they think might be embarrassing. And so we persevered and brought him week after week, trying to let him experience the intrinsic motivation of doing a task well, and the sense of accomplishment that accompanies the acquisition of new skills.

A year later, we are happy to say that his confidence in himself has increased leaps and bounds. He is now one of the first to show off in his class, to jump here and there, to play hopscotch, to swing from bars. The improvement is so stark that his school principal emailed me for the contact of the gym class so she could pass it on to other parents whose children she recommends go for such classes too. And thus, Christian began seeing some schoolmates at gym and was so pleased to be able to interact with them outside of class.

Sadly, we will be stopping gym classes this June.  He seems to have gotten what we set out to achieve in the beginning, and having started swim classes, there isn’t enough time during the weekends to dash here and there. We are going to focus on swim classes for now and maybe a bit later, Christian can decide if he wishes to take up gym classes to learn cartwheels and somersaults

Christian climbs a tree!

Christian’s school organises an “Amazing Race” every year just before the mid-year holidays. Last year, it was held at the zoo and we had lots of fun running around with him, taking pictures and I was also pleased to see that they had follow-on activities in school after the June holidays comprising of animal figurines and a big plastic safari map.

This year, the race was held at the Botanic gardens and P went with him.

The children had a ‘pre-race briefing’ two days before the actual event and his teacher watsapped the parents of the children having fun after the briefing.

Seeing Christian climb a tree with such pride truly brightened my work day. It made me feel “my son has grown up! Oh look at him! is that truly him?” It also affirmed my decision to pick this school for him. It is so important to have teachers who truly care, and who share the same philosophy as you. When goals and thinking are aligned, many less battles need to be fought and things are done without you even having to request it.

Christian’s prize for climbing the highest was a BIG leaf that had just fallen to the ground (big enough to cover his and his sister’s head in case of rain). We tried to persuade him to give the smaller leaf to HW, the autistic child in his class who didn’t go. It was rather difficult for Christian to let go of his ‘prize’ though and we didn’t push him.

On the actual day of the race, Christian and P were the first (from the back). Blur Christian had no idea who came in first or last until P told him, and even then, we took pains to emphasize that what was most important was the learning process. They were slower than the rest because P deliberately let Christian read the map, lead him, according to the instructions. They took time to interact with the man sweeping the leaves, make silly actions and laugh at little things, instead of the winning pair whose mum lost the point of the exercise, grabbed the map and pulled the little girl around. Christian was telling me about the race before he slept, obviously a little disturbed that he didn’t win, but I said as convincingly as I could that it is alright, what’s most important is that he learnt something, he had fun. It’s over so there is no need to think too much about it. It’s a difficult lesson to learn, but hopefully starting young will help.

Grateful to his school for bringing the children close to nature, and taking the effort to bring lessons out of the classroom into the beautiful outdoors.

Calista–22 months old

It’s been a long time since I blogged, mainly cos there is so little time to do so. I get home from work around 8, shower, eat, talk and play with the kids and before i know it, it’s bedtime and time to put them to bed. Sigh. I feel guilty that my Calista has grown so much, so quickly, without me documenting any of it. I have snatches of prose tucked within my brain now and then, but hardly any of it gets transferred onto this blog.

Favourite phrases

Rae-En (as she now calls herself) has grown so much and talks so much too. A few of her favourite phrases these past months are “Where is the Daddy? What happen (to) Mama? Where is it hiding? What is Jiejie doing? Where is it going? Rae-En try!” “Rae-En go school.” She likes school and would ask me to send her to school, after our long hiatus thanks to the Macau trip and her fever/cough last week.

I am also surprised by her vocabulary..pointing at a picture book the other day, I found out she could name most of the items in it. “Bathtub, brush teeth, chair, dog, cat…” She hasn’t quite gotten the idea of colours yet, but i’m in no rush and believe she’ll pick it up in no time. Whenever she hears the word “count” (usually when i’m talking to her brother), she’ll go in a loud and slow voice “1, 2, 3, 7….” ^_^

P would call me at work now and then if Calista requests to speak to me, and it usually makes my heart melt to hear her go “mama..? Mama…? Mama…?! mama….” in a singsong manner. She would tell me what she’s doing “Rae En sleep already. Rae En eating.” and say all sorts of sweet things like “I love you..I miss you, mama.” (this is of course at the behest of the adult by her side).

Strangely, she calls “Mama, mama…mama…maaaaamaaaaa” every night just before she sleeps, and this can go on and on even when i am just lying by her side, and responding to every call of hers. P said she is probably just feeling tender, and i should cherish this phase cos it’ll probably pass quickly. She still hates it when i turn my back around, although now she has found the words to deal with it. “Turn around mama…turn around turn around. Don’t sleep there, don’t sleep there.” i would then have no choice but to turn back, and face her. It’s so amazing to have her little smooth hand in mine as she slowly drifts to sleep. What trust, and what bond. The downside to this is that she senses whenever I leave the bed, and often stirs a few minutes after I wake. We’ve tried having P sleep with her also, but she somehow knows that it’s not me and inevitably wakes in the middle of the night pushing her beloved (perhaps only in the day =P) Daddy away, crying for me.

She is the sweetest sweetest girl right before she sleeps at night, when I lie next to her and she sings “twinkle twinkle little star” to me. Sometimes there’ll be a role reversal and she’ll pat me instead, causing me to burst out in laughter.

I am filled with a sense of wonder as I massage her limbs and stroke her little belly..her arm is the length of my palm, and her entire leg is the length of my arm. She is like a surreal extension of me, a separate entity and yet so intrinsically a part of me.

Food and sleep

She is still a rather picky eater, although she is most willing to eat bread. She dropped to 1 nap shortly after starting school, sleeping about 2 – 3 hours each time. P says she is clearly my daughter, and inherited my ‘piggy genes’, cos she loves to laze about after getting up, and is often the last in the family to wake in the mornings.

she still loves noodles and yogurt..bread is also a preferred option for breakfast, as opposed to oatmeal. Her appetite is really quite small though, and we suspect she’s subsisting on milk. She’s a cookie monster too, just like me (P saw her eyes and whole face light up with a 100 megawatt glow the other day when he offered her a Loacker wafer, and said she is truly my daughter ^_^) but we don’t give her too much of biscuits.

Personality

Her stubborn streak is ever more evident now. She is not open to bribes and is so single-minded in her pursuit, it is becoming increasingly difficult to distract (let alone dissuade) her from anything she wants.

She really picks things up really fast and is a quick learner. One of her new hobbies is to pick up the camera to take pictures. “Take pictures”, is her command for me to turn the camera on. P was surprised that she knew it was necessary to aim the lens at the subject, although we did end up with a lot of ‘artistic’ (i.e. blurred) shots.

I give her ‘errands’ to run now and then…simple things like throwing away a piece of tissue, wiping the table clean of her yogurt, and helping me to bring my dirty clothes to the laundry basket. It is such a pleasure to see her face set in seriousness, as she (or so I imagine) grit her teeth/clench her jaw and carry out the task. She is always pleased to help, or perhaps, pleased to be praised after she helps.

She is a typically vain girl, who would twirl around and pose for us when we wrap her up in a towel. Oh, the pleased look on her face as we all gush over how cute she is, speaks volumes.

She is also highly competitive. They certainly understand fairness and equality at such a young age. Whatever her brother has, she will inevitably demand the same. (Case in point – P got her a helmet and sunglasses after she kept trying to snatch her brother’s.)

It is difficult for us to chide her not to snatch something from her brother, and Christian often has to offer her something else before she will give the toy willingly back to him. Christian often laughs at how easy it is to “trick” her though.

She is not afraid to say sorry, and sometimes apologises even when it is her brother who is at fault, causing him to break out of his sullenness and laugh out loud.

I was amazed the other night, when she saw me put face cream on, and demanded some. I told her it was unnecessary, and she began using her fingers to swipe some from my cheeks to rub onto her own. (!!!!) I gave in and found some baby cream to smear on her cheeks as well, and looking at how she stuck her chin forward, carefully still, made me laugh. She also understood what it was for and said “No touch” after I was done. *rolls eyes*

Our lives are all the brighter with her and her brother in it.

Calista, we love you lots..please grow up happy and healthy and pleasing to God too!