1 to 1 with Nicholas and one of those days...

Despite my best efforts, I have come to terms that it is not possible to spend as much 1-1 time with Nicholas as I had with Marcus when he was small. I do try hard though, especially when Marcus is in school and during his naptime. I play with Nicholas, talk and read to him and I sing all day long when I am with him.



But child-minding can really take a big toll on me sometimes, especially after dealing with both boys together for a few hours. On some days, I find myself giving in to temptations. I get the maid to play with Nicholas or take him for a stroll while I have my 20 min breakfast, showers and my 10 min power nap (once in a while). It does help to give me some much-needed time to recharge before I deal with more stresses. My energy level usually dips a lot by 4pm if I didn't have a good rest the night before. And I can get annoyed very easily if both boys cry murder at the same time, which also happens frequently. Stopping their toys snatching fights, dealing with their attention-demanding behaviour concurrently and Marcus' T2 (which I used to refer to it as Terrific 2 phase, but now I openly declare it the Terrible 2) do drive my blood pressure up and on those real bad days, I wonder what life would be like if I am child-free. Like today...

Today is one of those days... I took them to a mall with a plan -nice lunch, light shopping, a cuppa leisurely, boys get to play and look around a bit.

In the end, I had to take Marcus to dirty toilets thrice for false alarms, dealt with Marcus who fussed throughout his lunch, and Nicholas who cried till his face went red throughout the times I handled Marcus' toileting (15min x 3 times), useless maid who couldn't pacify baby (caught her admiring her reflection while baby was crying) or take Marcus to toilet without risking dropping him into the toilet bowl and a baby who refused pram, wanted to be carried and yet struggled and climbed on me *all* the time when I carry him. Lunch wasn't enjoyable, rushed through coffee as Nicholas woke from nap screaming, had to deal with Marcus pushing me away and repeatedly saying "I don't want mama, I want Auntie R (maid)" when I told him it's time to go home. Had to deal with his crying and tantrums and no shopping at all. Urrggghh!

Tomorrow shall be a simple day. The plan is not to have any plans. Do nothing other than their routine.


Boys are not fighting. Just some gentle cuddling which turned into friendly wrestling. Picture taken by KK. :)