Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Spooks

Now and again, Chip will tell me how scared he is of the 'spooks'. He meant the ghosts.

He tried to sneak in my bed early this morning, citing the same reason. But I didn't allow him to. On hindsight, perhaps I should just be more understanding.

Again, at bedtime tonight, he reminded me of his fear.

No such thing, I told him.

'You mean ghosts are just something that adults made up to scare naughty children?'  

Even if there were ghosts, why would they choose to come to our house? They wouldn't dare to come near us because they would know that mummy is home. They would be too scared of mummy (because I can be really fierce and the kids know it). Ghosts would only haunt those people who had harmed them before. We didn't harm anyone, so there is nothing to be scared of.

He listened to my words carefully with his wide-eyed innocence. :)

I don't know how assuring my words were but he did go to sleep rather quickly after my goodnight kiss.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Keeping Love Alive

"If you stopped working at your job, you'd probably lose it. The same thing goes for relationships."

The 10th anniversary is just round the corner.

Recently, I can't stop thinking of the time when we first met. How I felt in April 2001 when I arrived in London. The love bank was full.

3 kids and 10 years later, how are we doing?

Are we doing enough to give our marriage the priority that it deserves? Is there sufficient undivided attention to make it possible to meet our emotional needs?

After all, if the marriage suffers, everything else that we value will suffer with it. Keeping love alive takes lots of hard work and commitment.

We devote everything we have to the kids. We work so hard at work. We spend hours on hobbies. We make time for friends. How important is the Spouse in the grand scheme of things? Are our priorities right?

Along the way, we have forgotten much.


Monday, August 27, 2012

Crush

Between the two boys, Chip has always been the one who has more female friends.

When he was barely 4, he announced nonchalantly about his first girlfriend, a classmate called K, whom he played with. She was his best friend, he would often remind me. They would hold hands and giggle together. Very adorable to watch. :)

This cute masak-masak relationship lasted for about a year.

Last year, while in K1, he told me of his new best friend, N, another classmate of his. They would sit together after school, sharing snacks while waiting to be picked up. He didn't mind that we referred to N as his girlfriend. He really liked her because she would share her daily loot of Hello Panda, Oreo, all sorts of chocolate goodies and crunchy titbits with him. :)

A few months ago, he told me N was no longer nice to him. She stopped sharing snacks. So he stopped liking her. Haha.

Recently, we realized he has a new crush!




Yes, the Groo Maiden!!!

I can't stop laughing when I found out. (Sorry my little Chip).

When I first noticed the frequency to which he was seen reading this book, I asked him about it. He would only say that he found it very funny to see Groo giving her flowers instead of fighting.

Then one day last week, I saw him staring at the same two pages for a long time. When I teased him about her, he was so embarrassed. He hid under the blanket and even tried to shoo me away!

He wouldn't tell me why he is so mesmerized by her, though I wonder if it has anything to do with her barely-there outfits. I know, this (comic) is not age-appropriate content. I would not have approved of it, but my objection didn't seem to count in this matter.

I did get a little concerned when he murmured 'sexy' to my persistent pestering, without elaborating. Does he know what 'sexy' mean? Isn't he a little too young to be considering if a girl is sexy?

Oh my goodness! I can't stop thinking of the premature loss of innocence.

On the other hand, I can't stop laughing about his new crush. Hee hee.....






Olivia @ 11 months

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Photos taken in Aug 2012

Friday, August 24, 2012

Question of the Week

"Why does the government collect taxes from its citizens when it has the machine to just print money?"


My nearly-8-years old asked his daddy this question out of the blue last week. Not a bad question, eh?

The dad remarked afterwards that the boy is now asking more difficult questions that he can't answer. Haha!

Well, he may be the scientist. But I am the economist. :)


Thursday, August 23, 2012

Enough

4.5 months. That's how long she lasted.

To be honest, this was way shorter than I had expected.

But I did promise myself when I decided to hire a maid that I shall not be 'held hostage' by a bad maid. Not going to let that happen to me this time.

It was assuring to realize that after all, I had managed well enough without any help for 4 years.  So if I had to, I shall not hesitate to 'get rid of the negative energy'.

After tolerating her crappy attitude for 6 weeks and giving her way too many chances, I finally had enough. People like her will reap what they sow.

It has been one hectic week.

With the hubby away on business trip for a big part of the week, it was just me 24/7 managing the
2 boys + 1 baby + housework + daily cooking + my work.

It may not be a walk in the park.  But life is not always rosy anyway. I just have to do what I have to do, with my best.









Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Sweet Memory



A few days ago, two dearest friends went out of their way to make me happy.

Z cooked up a storm in her beautifully decorated home. Sumptuous four-course dinner, made with love. She even bought plenty of organic produce and incredibly yummy Korean citron tea, just to pamper me. I guess this is her way of showing how much she cares for me (and hence my health and well-being).

K brought a lovely cake (the one in picture), so we could sing the birthday song, make a wish, take a photo and have a slice of cake together. The old fashioned way of celebrating my birthday, just the way I like it.

They could be like everyone else who sent a birthday wish over SMS. At least the ones who remembered. But they insisted on celebrating with me, belated or not.

It is really the beautiful thought and lovely gesture that count. For I know, years later, I shall remember the fuss someone had made over me. And it was real sweet.






Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Perspective

Four months, four episodes of mastitis and just as many courses of anti-biotics.

I nearly gave up on breastfeeding.

I have been considering introducing some formula in a bottle, just so that I don't have to deal with mastitis anymore.The bonus: I can go for a vacation sans kids!

But I still can't bring myself to do so after months of contemplating. It's silly I know, but I just can't shake the guilt, especially since my reason stems out of pure selfishness.

A little voice in me kept reminding me that this (breastfeeding) is only going to last a few more months of my life and I have a few decades ahead for such trips. Mastitis can be handled with anti-biotics, so I should not quit just yet.

Putting it all into perspectives, that is what I need.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

My New Baby


My new baby which arrived today - the Nespresso Lattissima+....

The perfect encounter indeed.

Now I can have my Expresso, Latte Machiato, Lungo or Cappucino anytime I fancy, with the touch of just one button!!

Hmm... there is something so appealing about the 16 Grand Crus... simply heavenly.

My first taste this morning. Oh, what a truly exquisite experience!

Just a day old and already I can't bear the thought of ever leaving this baby behind.


The boys collaborated with the dad and drew me appropriate birthday cards to match the theme. Haha.

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Monday, August 13, 2012

White Lies

The boys made a birthday card each for daddy.

M showed me his readily. Simple but sweet. 

Chip refused to show me his and wouldn't tell me why. From afar, I could tell he was really busy adding all sorts of details and was having fun creating the card. 

After some pestering, he revealed 'Mummy, you will be very sad if you see this card. So you can't see it'. But he still wouldn't explain further. My curiosity was piqued and I had to see the card. 

Eventually, he showed me. True enough, I was a little sad. Perhaps hurt too. 

In his way of saying how much his daddy means to him, he added the line 'I love you more than mummy .... '. 

I pretended to sob. He watched my face closely and must have seen that I was indeed a little affected by what he wrote. Immediately, he dropped his pencils, came over to give me a big cuddle and told me 'I love daddy by only one slice. And you get three loafs of love, mummy!' 

He went on to explain that he wrote the line in the birthday card just to make daddy happy. So did he console me now, just to make me happy? 

At this point, M added 'that is why I always say I love mummy and daddy the same'. 

I am sure M means it. He has a sensitive soul and is highly empathic.

As for Chip, I really can't tell. I won't be surprised if he loves daddy more. After all, I am the one who forbids him from watching E play Dark Souls and discourage iPad and iphone games. I am the one who insists on sitting him down to review challenging work. Dad is the one who plays games, reads comics with and he gets all his junk food fix when he is out and about with daddy. 

But I am surprised by the white lies. My little boy has grown up. 

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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Mimic

Olivia started mimicking this week.

1. Filing
After watching daddy filing her nails with a nail file, she got the idea!  We found out by chance when E handed a file to her the next day, just to distract her for a while, when she started fussing in his arms.

This video was made a few days later, purely for our amusement.   *.*




Video taken in mid August. Bun @11 months 


2. Elephant and Crocodile
During a reading session, I showed her an illustration of an elephant and concurrently demonstrated  (with a raised arm near my nose) how it waves its long trunk. She picked it up immediately and ever since when she heard anyone of us say 'elephant', she would raise her arm near her face and waved it around! Just like an elephant's trunk!!

A day later, E taught her to open her mouth big and say 'ahhhh' when he was reading a book on Crocodiles. By the end of the reading (which means he probably repeated the 'ahhhh' a few times), she mimicked. When she did that on cue, I showed her a hand gesture of outstretching my arms and slapping two palms together (pretending to be the croc closing its jaws). The next day, she would go 'ahhh' and slap her palms together whenever she heard us say 'crocodile'!

3. Hairclip
When handed one of my hairclips, she would place it on her head immediately.

4. Blow
She witnessed me blowing into some steaming hot food one day. Gave me a grin and mimicked me straightaway. Sometimes she would look a bowl, regardless if there is food in it or not, and started blowing at it.

I am sure there are a couple more funny things that she started mimicking but I can't recall them at this point. Will add the photos later. :>







Saturday, August 11, 2012

To Kill or Not?

The boys spotted a house spider dangling from its silky web, just outside our door. 

Chip's immediate reaction was to pick it up with his fingers and squash it. 

M intervened loudly. "Leave it alone! It hasn't done you any harm. Don't kill it! Don't touch it!'

"But why not? I want to kill it. Why can't I kill it?" The whole time, Chip never took his eyes off the spider, all ready to just 'pounce' on the spider.

As the boys carried on the tiff, Chip had his arms outstretched and even attempted to kick the spider off its web while M was pulling him away with all his might. 

The above scene lasted barely 30 seconds, until I told Chip to leave it alone. When he protested, I insisted that they get into the house immediately.

Then I heard him murmuring,"I will come back later to squash you, little spider"

A few minutes later, M asked for permission to transfer the spider to somewhere safe, though I told him it wasn't necessary.

A classic example of how different the boys are. Despite my teaching them the same way about living things and cherishing lives etc.... they would react so differently.





Thursday, August 9, 2012

Hesitant

The months before I turned 35, I considered throwing a party. 35 is a milestone. Life was good and I wanted to celebrate.

Instead of the usual quiet and cozy family affair, I wanted a noisy and crazy party, complete with booze and beautiful dresses and gorgeous food.

The idea of making THE DAY a memorable one for me was just so fascinating. How nice would it be to remember 'ah... on my 35th birthday, it was very different.... I had an awesome party....' .

But it did not happen. Having the vision was the easy part. The challenge was in the execution. The key problem, I think, is my lack of motivation to spend the time/effort planning the party for myself.

There were so many other priorities that required my attention and energy.

I was a wee bit disappointed but life carried on and the grand idea was shelved indefinitely.

This year, I thought I wanted to do something different. Again, it is about creating memories and accumulating exciting experiences. One of my ideas is to go on a vacation without kids. Maybe on my own to places that I have never visited before. Or maybe with just one or two good friends. I just feel a strong yearning to feel and experience something new and to connect and rediscover myself.

But the more I think about it, the more I realized I couldn't do so. Or maybe I just wasn't ready to go all the way to satisfy my desires.

Now, just days away from being another year older (and hopefully wiser), I just know I am a little annoyed with myself.

Sigh.

Where had all my spontaneity gone?

But the wiser and more down-to-earth side of me also knows that, with an infant and as a mum-of-three, the chances of materializing my ideas are low. At least for now.

Spontaneity will have to take a backseat.






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