A post just for P

I only heard of this phrase in recent years - “Daughters are Daddy’s lovers from past lives.” I think it’s so true! This post is specially dedicated to P, who works hard for the family and bears with all sorts of characters and situations, just for us. 

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An exchange between Calista and I just before she went to bathe today...

Ca: Mama, do you know, when people laugh at Daddy, I feel sad. 

Me: Awww.. why would anyone laugh at Daddy? Who?

Ca: Korkor.. when Korkor hit Daddy with the balls and went “Hahaha,” I felt saaaad..

Me: Aw, it’s ok, Korkor was just having fun with Daddy. Daddy was having fun too! You don’t have to feel sad for him. 

       Wait. Why did you suddenly tell me this? 

Ca: Because I think of Daddy all the time, cos he is not home.

💕

Candour

I’ve been telling this story to anyone who would listen..

Was putting Calista to bed one night, and sang her “I Wish You Love”..I was feeling quite pleased with myself after completing the song, and was debating whether to sing “Dream a little Dream” or “Fly Me to the Moon” when she went:

“Mama I can’t sleep…”

I tenderly stroked her hair and told her not to worry, “just close your eyes and i’ll sing you another song until you sleep”.

At that point, she interjected and said:

“Mama stop singing. I can’t sleep.”

My bubble immediately burst and I started fuming –_-“

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Another night, it was Christian’s turn to be utterly frank with me. I was thinking of my boss going to his mother’s house for dinner, and thought to ask Christian “Darling, will you still come and have dinner with me when you are 50 and I 75?”

He hemmed and hawed and I expressed surprise at his hesitation, so he blurted “But what if you die already? So old…how about earlier? When you are not so old?

I burst out laughing at how he was perfectly comfortable expressing that thought to me without realising that it’s taboo amongst adults to talk of death.

The many faces of Calista

Calista seldom shows her multi-faceted personality to strangers. Perhaps it is still early days yet, but it is certainly a pity that others do not see the many expressions she is capable of, but only see a sullen, silent Calista staring at them.

Here’s a few shots taken in December by some unknown person (not me..perhaps the helper?) which I found in my memory card..

Am I biased mum or do you think these are worthy of making it to the cover of a magazine as well?

Updates (Calista)

 

It’s been a while since I last blogged..it’s hard to find the time and energy to do so these days, but the kids are growing up so quickly I feel wistful, and think I need to capture some of this down somehow.

For mothers, making time usually means forsaking sleep, and that is why I am up an hour earlier than usual.

Calista is now 2 years, almost-4 months. She surprises me with how long she has grown, how she speaks in complete (albeit slightly ungrammatical) sentences.

I called home from work yesterday, cos I called earlier to ask my mum something and heard her voice in the background asking “Is it DADdy???” (Typical daughter-father bias.)

When I called to speak with her, she told me “Mama I want you to read storybook to me…! This one..”

1) She thinks I can see the book she is holding, even though I am not there. Everything is still magical and possible to her.

2) Her mandarin active vocabulary is almost non-existent, other than “baobao” (carry). She speaks almost exclusively in English despite me trying my best to speak Mandarin to her.

My brother is so amused by Calista…her cries often disturb his sleep, and when he asked “Who cried earlier?” she would unashamedly do a “mock-cry” for him.

She is ending playgroup soon, and just attended orientation at her brother’s school, in preparation of going Nursery 1 next year. To think that when I first checked out Christian’s school, she was still comfortably ensconced in my tummy! Sigh.

She enjoyed school, and didn’t shed a tear…it appears that boys are usually the more clingy, crying sort when it comes to separation from familiar surroundings / caretakers.

Not much else has changed, except that her appetite increased, she’s grown taller, has longer hair, has larger eyes, and thus a less-prominent nose. Everybody says she looks like a female version of Christian, but I am not quite able to see it which is ironic given that I stare at them everyday, but maybe precisely cos that is the case.

She is exceedingly vain and has a healthy self-esteem. Loves to dress up and preen in front of the mirror, or show off to us. Made me laugh the other day when she pinched her nose, and moved her fingers to the sofa, saying “I put pretty there ok, you take care”.

Has a soft spot for soft toys and little animals. All I need to do to get her to be quiet is to pretend some soft toy is sleeping. She can usually be tricked into long cuddles by a whine or two from me :)

Her favourite song used to be “Happy Birthday” and I would love at how she valiantly tries to sing the third sentence “Happy BIRTH-day” which goes hiigh up, as if her voice was cracking. The song of the month seems to be the ABC song though. She can remember every bit although she mumbles her way through “LMNOP”.

She’s also into numbers now and can count properly (ie. point to one object at a time as she goes 1 – 2 – 3 –4 ). Can’t recognise the digits yet, but i am in no hurry to try since I know she’ll get there and there’s no point duplicating what the teachers will be teaching her anyway.

Sigh. She is the sweetest darling, who increasingly reminds me of myself when I was young, every day. We are so so glad she chose us to be her parents and decided to come into our lives.

  

Kluang, Part II

I decided to take 3 days off work and bring the kids back to Kluang during the September holidays again.

Considering the options, it worked out best for our situation cos I was not willing to spend on an air ticket for the helper, and air tickets for everyone just to Penang would cost almost a thousand.

We had promised Christian that we would take the train to Malaysia one day, and I took the opportunity to fulfil that promise. Taking the train in was definitely more of a hassle compared to getting my uncle to fetch us, especially since the station had moved from Tanjong Pagar to Woodlands (2 cab rides in the morning to catch the outbound train cost us $60 already). It was definitely a memorable experience for the kids though, who were so excited to be on a railroad train.

It was such a pleasure to get away from the everyday distractions at home and work, and to enjoy the beautiful moments which seem to last just a bit longer in the slower pace of Kluang. I saw Calista as the 2 year old she is now, I witnessed what a true toddler she looks like now, and her cheeky endearing personality that warms strangers towards her.

 

My colleagues probably thought I was wasting my leave in Malaysia, but the trip brought me back to my childhood, when I could laze around and not worry about what I needed to do next. The main activity of each day were – go hiking, go to the hair salon, go for a massage. The time in between those and meals would be spent with the children horsing around in the bedroom, reading or motivating Christian to work on his writing exercises.

Hiking - I enjoyed the cool walk as we ascended the Kluang hill..

We had to leave Calista behind at the foot of the hill with my dad and the helper cos she kept wanting to be carried..Christian, my cousin, my aunt, mum and I proceeded to ascend up till the mid-point of the hill. It was wonderful inhaling the fresh air of the forest, and having the cool air brush against our skin. Christian was also thrilled when my aunt, a regular trekker, showed us the tap from which spring water flowed. The taste of that spring water was so cool and we could feel the energy of the mountain in that gulp.

Christian also loved the job of watering the plants in the garden with a spray can,

climbing up and down the steps with his sister hot on his tails

and horsing around with his granduncles who were so indulgent.

He asked if we could go back next holidays, to climb the stairs in Granduncle’s house and to drink milo.. Gosh. It is sometimes so easy to make children happy.

Uma’s birthday

We went for Uma’s birthday party at Amazonia, Great World City about a month back.

Uma is Christian’s classmate; she happens to be half-Japanese and I think she is a pretty girly-girl :)

It was our first time at Amazonia (most of our visits to indoor playgrounds are a result of his classmates’ birthday celebrations) and it was less impressed than I imagined it to be but Christian disappeared in the play structure the minute we arrived and I enjoyed seeing his exhilarated self playing with his usual playmates outside of their usual venue.

Calista had fun at the baby play area for below-3s..and I spent most of my time watching her watch others. Her favourite activity was to pick up the balls that were strewn all over the floor, and return them to the ball pit. =/

Hopefully his classmates don’t suffer from “indoor playground fatigue” and enjoy his party this Saturday too!

P’s first letter to the children

Why do mama and daddy quarrel?

From time to time, this question is bound to pop up in your innocent minds.

Why do 2 persons who are clearly in love with each other, whose interests are aligned in most respects, get into squabbles that sometimes turn furious?

The answer is simple: The basic reason that people argue is that not everyone thinks or sees things in the same way.

Differences in perception tend to get magnified by differences in personalities.

And differences in personalities are, fortunately or unfortunately, what draws two people together (either in friendship or in love) in the first place. Hence the popularisation of the term: “opposites attract”.

Your mama is an observer, and your daddy is a thinker.

Mama is good (very good) at paying attention to, and remembering, what is said or done. That is why she makes a good blogger – not everyone can remember in minute detail and render in vibrant colours the mundane happenings of the day. Her heightened sense of observation causes her to be sensitive to perceived inadequacies/ineptitudes (e.g., Why are you so slow/forgetful? Get on with the program!), vulnerable to praise/insults and eager to hold others to their promises.

Daddy is adept at generating ideas (both good and bad ones). Like many men, his mind tends to focus on problems and solutions rather than people, words, events, dates or emotions. Very little is taken at face value, almost everything perceived by the senses is associated, classified and analysed (e.g., You must be slow/forgetful because you suffer from some deficiency in minerals. Let me find some way to remedy that.). A minor observation (Mama saying that Christian was inattentive in class today) can lead to a thesis on what the problem is likely to be, what root cause of the problem is, and what we need to do as parents.

As you must be aware by now, neither of your parents are do-ers by nature. This is an obvious source of grief for Mama (who constantly berates daddy for his obvious lack of interest in planning his life on an hour-by-hour basis) and Daddy (who gets into a lot of anguish whenever he remembers ideas that were neglected or not implemented).

It is important to recognise the effect that differences in personalities can have, because we have found that, from as early as birth, Kor Kor is a thinker (like Daddy) and Mei Mei is an observer (like Mama).

Christian’s personality explains why he is inattentive (daydreams) in class and loves to talk about the impossible or the future – “I am Flash! Zooooom!” “When I am a Daddy, I will call my son Eric” “When I grow up I will stay with Mama and give her all of my $$$”. Son, a piece of advice: The great danger in always speaking about the future (not that you can help it) is that your Mama the observer will recall everything you say (to us, only an expression of our sincere hope) as a PROMISE/GUARANTEE.

Mei mei’s personality explains why she loves to be a spectator. Her favourite phrases include “I want play the playground!” (euphemism for people-watching) “I want to see the children” “I want see meow meow” and “I want to see birds”.

Identifying and understanding your differences in personalities is key to many aspects of managing your lives. For starters, Daddy anticipates that you will experience a lot of frustration with each other in the future, even though (like Daddy and Mama) you love each other very much. This is because Mei Mei will see more at the skin-deep level (which Kor Kor does not care about), whereas Kor Kor will tend to over-analyze things (which Mei Mei does not get).

It may seem counterintuitive, but the differences in personalities also explain why Calista “prefers” the company of Daddy and Christian wants to be near Mama. There is affinity between observers and thinkers because observers are amused and entertained by the antics of the thinkers, whereas thinkers find the stability and companionship of observers attractive. Ironically, it is more difficult for two persons of the same personality to be comfortable with each other, because they occupy the same space and find less room to express themselves.

By observing the two of you in your most guileless, unrestrained and larger-than-life forms, we have learnt much about ourselves and each other. It is almost as if God has given us a time machine to see ourselves as you are.

Because of our own experiences in life, knowing that you guys share our personalities helps us as parents, in terms of understanding, managing and developing you. In striving to treat you as fairly and equally as possible (however unrealistic this might be), we have to be mindful that you stand to benefit most from activities that are suited to your different personalities.

Our observation is that Christian is happiest when engaging his creative/imaginative side (e.g., constructing Lego models, making “cake” or “chocolate”, going for art classes). We will try to let him have more exposure to activities involving design and initiative.

Calista enjoys observing, internalising and retrieving – traits well suited for music/dance and speech and drama. We will try to let her engage in activities that make good use of her memory and eye for detail.

In times when one or both of you experience anger, frustration or hurt with each other, we hope that you will have a chance to read this and remember how you are made differently, and be able draw on Mama and Daddy’s experience in overcoming each other’s differences.

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Editor’s / Mama’s note: Boy was I impressed when your Daddy sent me this. So insightful and what an interesting read. Your Daddy and I do complement each other, and if he keeps this up, our blog will be a nice mix of blog posts narrating the everyday, and thought-provoking posts like the above. I only have one point to add though, and that is a word of caution – Nobody is one dimensional, and nobody can get through life simply by being a Thinker, a Doer or an Observer.

So, we need to be mindful that we cannot hide behind personality labels and use that as an excuse for avoiding things that do not come so naturally to us. Labels only help to identify our natural inclinations, but we need to work at developing our weaknesses after they are identified.

For example, I come up with lots of to-do lists at work and also when managing personal errands. This helps me to keep track of things and trains me to be more of a doer by giving me a sense of accomplishment whenever I tick a task off the list.

Oh well you are probably tired of this letter by now. Thank you for reading this far and hopefully some of this will get you thinking about personalities, relationships, and attitude in life.

Lots of love,

Daddy and Mama

Mama sing a song for me

My 2 year old daughter had a request when I was putting her to sleep today. She said

“mama sing song for me”.

I was a little taken off guard and made an internal note of how her sentences are becoming more complete with each passing day.

She turned her back to me and hugged her bolster when I told her I would sing her a song only if she closed her eyes.

I sang her “Fly me to the moon” and she immediately turned back to face me - “what is that mama?” She had never heard that one before..I had been mostly singing nursery rhymes to her.

I sang her “Lover’s concerto” next and she listened contentedly to it. It really has the perfect slow rhythm suitable for lulling one to sleep. As I sang, it occurred to me that this was Christian’s favourite bedtime lullaby. He used to request it all the time, sing it together with me and fall asleep in mid-song. Ahhh…i can’t remember if we ever managed to record his singing, and even if we did I doubt I’d be able to locate that amidst thousands of videos.

Here’s the lyrics for you son, if you are reading this sometime in the future -

So gentle is the rain

That falls gently on the meadow

Birds high up in the trees,

Serenade the clouds with their melody

Oh! See there beyond the hills

The bright colours of the rainbow

Some magic from above

Made this day for us

Just to fall in love

You hold me in your arms

And say once again you love me

And if your love is true

Everything will be just as wonderful

Love,

Your “Daisy”

(Daisy is Ch’s term of endearment for me..when asked why, he said “like Daisy the cow in Jack and the beanstalk, remember? –_--)

Daddy’s girl

2 nights ago, I was messaging P and he got inspired to sms his sister as a result of what I told him. He gave me permission to reproduce the sms-es cos he thinks it would be useful for our children to understand our philosophy as parents, in future.

Here’s what he said to his sis:

“Calista had a high fever and vomited today. She was mostly silent, but when E (i.e. me) tried to sayang her and told her she loved her, her reply was “Where is Daddy?”

Having a boy and a girl has made me realise that boys instinctively look to mothers for comfort, and it is the other way round for girls.

I feel really sorry for dad, he did not know how to cherish his daughter. He wasted the special gift that God gave him…the opportunity to develop that special relationship, that unbreakable bond with another person. I also felt sad for you, you missed out on the special love between daddy and daughter Unfortunately for dad, he shows no signs of having learned to love, as evidenced by his lack of interest in his own grandchildren.

My greatest fear for him is the regret that he will feel on his last day.my greatest wish for him is that he can one day reconcile with you, and cure your hurt. Sad to say, this has to come from him, and I do not see it happening.

As a dad i’ve come to realise that children are extremely sensitive to the tenderness of their parents. They really appreciate it when we do for them what the maid usually does. Doing the mundane things in a tender manner, like wiping their backside after they poo and sponge bathing them, makes them feel special and loved. During the weekends, I try to bathe and clean the kids myself as much as possible

It is such a joy to see the delight on their faces when we do simple things for them that seem magical to them, like frying an egg for Christian the foodie.

I thought I should share this with you, so that when your long working hours tire you out and you feel sapped of energy at home, and cannot keep up with the kids’ energy and demands, you can find strength in your love for them, and theirs for you.

I find that aside from this, what really drives me on no matter how tired I am is the memory of my own childhood. For I am determined not to repeat the mistakes of our parents in not projecting their love in a visible way. Although I cannot be there for them most of the time, I hope they can feel that my love is with them. After all, we will be gone one day and all they will have that’s left of us is the love that still resides within them.

And that is the force that will keep them going, through the good and the bad times.”

He shared it with me and I though it was so touching and eloquent.

A night later, I told Calista “I love you…and God loves you too.” Her immediate reply without prompting was -

“I love Daddy.” =7

At MBS

We skipped swim class last Saturday cos Christian was ill. We were at a loss as to where to go, and eventually decided to go to Marina Bay Sands since there was a festival going on that weekend and there would be face painting, balloon sculpting etc.

The children were delighted with the boardwalk at the promenade, and were fascinated with the Oculus. Christian stared at the whirlpool, and we ran to the basement to follow the flow of the water.

We decided to have breakfast at Coffee Bean’s beanstro, where we could watch the waterfall for awhile.

Next, we headed to my office to test out the gym ball I’ve bought together with my colleagues. At one point in time, others could see from the ground floor, my colleagues and I sitting on 3 red balls, all in a row.

After testing out the gym ball to see whether it suited P, we headed over to the museum.

I had read on some mummy’s blog that the Eames Essential exhibition was interesting and had more interactive displays for children. We paid for the kids and I (the proceeds were going to charity that weekend) and explored the life of the makers of the Herman Miller chairs.

This exhibition was definitely not as accessible to children as the Art Garden. Some of what was on display was also beyond me! A lot of it focused on the wonders of mathematics and physics, both of which were definitely one of my weaker subjects back in school. We spent a lot of time at an exhibit which was modeled to look like an outdoor garden.

 Christian had fun playing with the blocks there, and Calista had a good time running around, feeling the “grass”.

There was this machine which simulated the orbit of the planets and the effect of gravity on the speed of orbit. That was a favourite with Christian. We also spent some time at the “House of Cards” exhibit and tried to construct something with the cards available.

The last stop was the activity centre, where we were encouraged to help ourselves to a buffet of material, and construct something out of scrap material. That was fun, and I wish we had more time, but everybody was getting hungry so we did something really simple and headed off for lunch.

We settled on Kraze burgers for lunch. Although it was pretty crowded, we didn’t have queue for a table, unlike Din Tai Fung. It was also near the skating rink so the children were entertained by people watching. We were also pleasantly surprised when a balloon sculpturist approached us and asked if the children would like to have something. Apparently he was hired by the restaurant to offer the service free to guests :) Christian asked for a gun and Calista got a flower..the two of them were most pleased with it and carried it themselves all the way home.

And that, is the end of that very long story of how we spent last Saturday morning.

Lullaby for Calista

I made up a silly ditty for Calista a few weeks ago, and she liked it so much she remembered the song and requested for it on a separate night. I had no idea what she was referring to when she said “sing…cat…” until she hummed the tune and went “kitty cat….”

This is what I made up for her – a simple tune designed to bore, calm and lull.

She will purr and pretend to be a cat as I sing this, sometimes singing it herself. It amazes me that she remembered the exact words of the song I made up and forgot.

Christian overheard this a few nights later, and came up with his version which tickled his sister.

“Kitty cat, time to eat, time to eat, eat corn corn, i feed you..”

His version is so typical of the little foodie.

Nowadays she modifies the song as she pleases too, going

“Kitty cat, time to eat, eat your corn, eat your noodle..eat..what else?”

 

Calista’s cuteness

Calista is cute in an infinite number of ways and it is close to impossible to make a comprehensive list to illustrate her cuteness at this stage.

Nonetheless, I feel an impulse to record what I can, if only to look back later and laugh at these sweet days (this might be of greatest comfort when she turns into a grief-inducing teenager).

1) So..I’ve recently taken to pulling her nose. My mum used to do the same to me, saying my nose was too flat and needed some lifting. I know pinching doesn’t help, but still I do it lightly, out of affection,

She refused to let me pull/pinch the first time i tried, until i told her “Let mama help you…such a flat nose..you want to be pretty?” She immediately paused in mid-air, gave a look of stoicism and let me do as I pleased. Two pinches of her nose later, she pulled away and pronounced herself “peety already, peety.ta-daaaa!” I couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

She made me laugh again last night, when I lay close to her, and we were face to face. She proceeded to pinch my nose, saying in her still-babyish voice “Come mama, come I help you..” and all business-like after 5 secs of tugging at my nose bridge and making her way down to my nostrils “Now mama peety!!”

2) She lURVEs noodles (beehoon, soba, ramen, spaghetti) and has taken to calling them “woondle”. “I eat woondle!” was the first thing she said to me when I got home from work today. She had her beloved noodles for dinner.

3) Today I was horsing around with her before putting her to bed. I pretended to want to chomp down on her tummy after she made up a story of how she ate a bird and it’s now in her stomach. She squealed in protest, then offered her toes instead. I asked to chew on her buttocks instead and she cleverly pointed that she is now sitting down so I can’t reach it. I tricked her into lying down before making a big show of chomping. She matter-of-factly said “Come. Now spit out the bones. Spit. Ok? I throw away.” *pretends to throw something onto her bolster* “See i throw into dustbin already. Don’t touch ok, wet wet..”

?!!?

4) Whenever I snap at her and tell her brusquely to go to sleep, she will pull my hand, kiss my palm and say “I love you,mama…” until I respond to her tenderly. –_- Girls are such emotional manipulators..

Art Garden 2013

I was racking my brains to think of where to bring the children over the looong weekend (where the hari raya and national day public holidays ran consecutively). My mum suggested the Bird Park, but I didn’t think it was worth the effort and money bringing Calista there at such a young age since she is unlikely to remember anything and since I can get free corporate tickets to the Zoo/Night or River Safari/Bird Park, next quarter.

I was reading some mummy’s blog for ideas when I noticed that the Art Garden exhibition at the Singapore Art Museum was still running, till 1 Sep. Off we went!

It was a great idea cos I brought the grandparents and maid along and not a single one of us had to pay admission :) I think it was probably my dad’s 2nd or 3rd time in a museum, but he seemed to enjoy it.

There were a few exhibits which reminded me of our visit in 2012, but I didn’t quite mind cos we enjoyed those.. such as the “The Incredibly Expanding Room”, where we had to shout into a microphone to effect change in the visuals on the wall.. and the “Moving Image Gallery”, where there was lots of short 4 minute films for children.

The children ran around in the “Enchanted Garden City”, where fairytales were given an Asian twist (think the Little Red Nonya with the Big Bad Wolf)

Christian doodled something within a “magic mirror” which was pre-printed on a piece of paper, and his doodle was projected onto this huge wall. He was so excited to see the fruit of his labour (as well as his name) up on the wall. It must have been magical for him.

 

The next room we went to, was called “Around the World in Eighty Days”. I wasn’t quite sure how the activities in the room were tied to the theme, although there was a hot air balloon postcard for Christian to colour..he dedicated that to Daddy.. :)

We had fun sitting on silly chairs, trying to throw hoops onto the targets, and even my parents and helper got in the act by searching for the 6 spiders hidden all over the kaleidoscopic wallpaper.

The exhibit that really awed me was the “Stellar Cave II” which was inspired by the prehistoric paintings in France's Lascaux Caves. Made entirely of thread and screws, it inspired wonder and we were all silent after the initial “Waaaah”.

 

The last was a rather spooky room full of ghoul-like forms. The only fun factor was the bed which was designed for visitors to sit on. It was attached to a wall that could be swivelled, transporting the visitors to another room. Christian was so thrilled he wanted to go on it again, but it was getting close to Calista’s nap time and I could tell the adults were getting restless so I distracted him.  

I had thought about how I could spend more time with Christian, given Calista’s need for nap at about 1.30pm everyday. It struck me while I was lying on the facial salon bed the other day that I should just get my father to go along (an excuse to drag him out of the house) and my parents and helper could head home after lunch while I went back to the museum with Christian for some mother-son time. So that was what we did. Lunch was at Yet Con at Seah Street..which made my dad happy cos it’s been a while since he ate there. We had helpings after helpings of rice thanks to the delicious chicken and pork chops..

Christian and I went back to SAM for more of the short films which we didn’t manage to catch earlier, and I finally managed to convince him to go for face-painting, which was a special National Day activity for the day. I was so glad he finally said yes, after I told him I’d do it too. I remember the last time we tried to persuade him to get his face painted like a tiger (in Perth, April 2011), he cried..! =7 He was very pleased with the blue car on his arm and red/white merlion on his face after the artist was done.

The last activity we did at the museum was a National Day hat.. using stencils, we traced the outlines onto our cardboard and coloured it. He was in charge of colouring whilst I was in charge of cutting and making the “springs”. The volunteer laughed as he saw Christian taking a photo of me and the front and back of my hat :)

We were tired by the end of all that..and walked to City Hall station to take the train home. That silly boy was so delighted when he heard we were going to take a train and bus home, it being such a novelty to him. We looked at the station names, I made him guess where we were going to alight, and we were fortunate to get the very front seat at the top of the double decker bus. I pretended to nap and asked him to look out for our stop :) He was so proud and happy to be given the task of getting us home.

It was such a great day and I think everybody was happy..I guess one doesn’t have to travel overseas to create happy memories..there are still lots for us to do in Singapore!

Last weekend

Christian’s swim class was postponed last Saturday so we spent the morning at the Botanic Gardens at P’s request. I think he suggested it because he missed out on so much of the previous picnic. 

The kids were happily chanting ‘picnic picnic’ as we left the house, and i’m glad to say that I enjoyed myself immensely this time.

We played catch with a tennis ball and a velcro catcher that Christian received from his school last year as a Children’s Day gift. We had so much fun a tourist couple came up to us and asked where we bought it. We also kicked ball and I laughed and laughed at the bad aims. Er. That is, P and I did the above. Christian did try but was more interested in running around and eating. =7

 

We blew bubbles, went hurtling down the hill again, looked at dragonflies at the pond, and finished off by helping Christian put his skates on and letting him skate about on the paved roads, ogling at the many dogs at the same time.

Everybody was tired and hungry by the time we left the Gardens at around noon. We drove to Somerset 313 to have lunch at Ootoya, where we had the most delicious charcoal-grilled chicken. It was a coincidence that we wandered in, cos it turns out that it was one of the Japanese restaurants i’d been meaning to try for sometime (but forgot)..

The cute genius

She is such a genius..at 2 years 2 weeks, she can -

1) sing the ‘Days of the Week’ song by herself..i am not sure whether she learnt it from her brother, but i sang it twice for her while putting her to bed last night and i realised she could sing it herself when she went

..monday, tuesday wednesday, thursday friday, saturdaaaay…’

I was so surprised i thought it worthy of reporting to P.

2) She can rote count (i.e. recite) up to 10 and count items up to 6…we were eating peas during dinner today (she has 3 rounds of dinner everyday..her own at 5.30pm, another round when my mum or her brother eats, and a round while seated on my lap as i have my dinner) and i thought to burst the pods open to reveal the peas inside. we started counting the number of peas in each pod and she impressed me with how she knew each pea should correlate to a number and managed to count the number of peas accurately. Plucking the peas out of the pod was also good for practising her fine motor skills..

She is the cutest when she fed me the pods after she was done eating all the peas..i gobbled 3 pods in a row and she started admonishing me ‘must chew must chew…must bite bite okaaay…?’

She is also so cute when she says good night and ‘see you tomorrow’ to an imaginary lizard on the ceiling..when she pulls her hand towards her and strokes it gently with her baby fingers, saying ‘i want to sayang mama’, before giving me loud kisses on the insides of my palm. Sigh. These sweeeet days won’t last forever, I know. And that’s why it is important to jot these moments down.

She’s so sharp too..insists that i sleep and lie down next to her. i am not allowed to sit and put her to bed cos i suppose that means i am likely to leave her and not really fall asleep next to her. and so i laid down next to her…but got questioned a minute later ‘why you need spectacles mama?’

Oh i wish i had more time each day to read and sing with you…a lot of the time after work is spent with her brother monitoring his home work, revising his mandarin, reading new books..i feel like there is not enough time to divide between the siblings… =\

Celebrating Calista’s 2nd birthday

My parents have yet to go to MBS together since it opened and I took the opportunity to celebrate Calista’s birthday there last Sunday by visiting the lunch buffet at Rise.

 

It was a rather good deal cos the children ate free and I only paid half price for the adults. :) I was pleasantly surprised by the good service and the range of food..It was the children’s first time at a buffet and they were so entertained by the sights on offer..the chocolate fondue and dessert table being a particular hit with them. There was even a suspended honeycomb dripping with honey!

The waitress also provided colouring activities complete with a free set of crayons so the adults could eat in peace for a while. P declared we should go back more often while Christian declared “I love this lunch!”

Calista seemed to enjoy the new surroundings too, and lasted till 3pm without a nap. Needless to say, she crashed within ten minutes of being in the car.

Happy Birthday darling! We love you lots!!

Magical words

Calista fell ill again and was slightly feverish and oh-so-clingy yesterday.

I felt guilty about leaving the house for work right after she cried “I want mama…” Sigh. Watched over her as she slept last night, fitfully..coughing and woke up crying every 2 hours..it’s as though she is back to her infant days. It gave me empathy for parents of critically ill children though. I thought of the hell they go through and said a silent prayer for them.

In any case, she is much better today and her mood improved so much that she even waved cheerfully “Bye mama” when she saw me approaching the door this morning. That did nothing to assuage my working-mum-guilt. I got into sort of a funk thinking about it during the day, and coupled with the virus i think she passed me, i hugged my bolster and looked miserable when i was home in the evening.

Calista was such a sweet little girl as she went “Hmmm…? What happened?” I got her to play doctor and asked for hugs and kisses from the doctor as well. It was so cute, the way she tried to administer medicine by pouring imaginary potion over my afflicted areas, and the way she resolutely said “Ok!” whenever I wrangled hugs or kisses from her.

My mood was completely lifted a while later, when i was putting her to bed. i put my face close to hers as i patted her to bed. She used her hand to feel my face in the darkness, and spontaneously kissed my face 5x, before saying out of the blue “I love my mama”.

*heart melts*

All the worrying and sacrifice is worth these magical moments and words.

 

At the Gardens

P had to go for a insurance-related medical at Gleneagles 2 saturdays ago, so we decided to make a family outing out of it by waiting for him at the Botanic Gardens. P and I prefer the Botanic Gardens to the newer Gardens by the Bay which seems so manicured and artificial in comparison.

The Gardens was a hit with the kids. They were initially a little lost after having eaten all the food we brought..but I think it is good to let them be bored sometimes and think up their own games. And so..Christian became the commander who charged down the “hill” with his trusty lieutenant (Calista) behind him.. They blew bubbles,

kicked ball, played hide and seek behind bushes and trees,

took pictures of the sky,

chased a monitor lizard,

duelled with fallen palm leaves,

and rolled down the hill on their balance bike / skate scooter

It was hilarious watching Christian bravely hurtling down the slope on his balance bike, almost out of control..he had a stunned look on his face, but said he was not at all scared when I asked him.

All of us really enjoyed the time in the sun, and Christian even proclaimed that he prefers it to the beach! Well, I definitely prefer it to the crowded malls, so hopefully we’ll be able to find more Saturday mornings to go back and laze around.