the weekend 23 September

It was Friday, the 22 Sept.  Hubby asked the usual question on the way to work.  “What are we doing tomorrow?”

And I gave the usual answers, Safra playground?  Swimming? Go Carrefour? Botanical Gardens?  Wild Wild Wet at Pasir Ris?  Dear hubby rejected all of them and asked again after a pause.   “So what are we doing tomorrow?”  In  the end, we decided that Singapore is too boring.

At CP that night, we chanced upon bicycles for sale at the atrium.  Hubby was thrilled to death!!  And immediately bought two (for Kyla and Ariel) though Ariel at only 3, could barely reach the pedals.  He was tempted to get one for Elkan but I insisted that he at 1 year old, will be able to balance at all.

So it is to Botanical Gardens to the next day, Sat morning.  Kyla had a wonderful time there.  Poor Ariel, was not so good at her motor skills and was nearly in tears after 20 min of gentle pressure from Daddy.  I gave her the permssion to walk instead and she looked so relieved.  And Elkan seized the opportunity and plonked himself on the pink girlie bike and I had to pushed him along.  And after that was feeding the fish, swans, birds, turtles at the swan lake.

Finally we reached the ginger garden and the ice cream kiosk.  Of course the kids would want ice cream after the walk.  But I nudged at hubby, pointing at the price.  Can you believe it, they are charging $4.20 for one scoop of Magnolio ice cream.  Ridiculous!  I can buy a 1 litre tub with that!  Anyway, hubby managed to convince them to the Cold Storage for ice cream.

Afternoon was my niece Alison’s 4th birthday.  Had a great time, catching up with lily and Ronald, my sis in law friends whom we meet twice a year for the kids parties!  The kids had a great time too, playing with the girlie stuff and games. 

All in all, I must say it is a great day!

the 3 musketeers

Ying, SW and me met when we were in the hostel.  SW and me were room mates and somehow Ying came into the picture when she offered us her room to watch the 7pm soap series at channel 8 at the time.

After graduation, we parted ways and settled down with our jobs and families.  Time together is scarce as the jobs and families demanded much of our time.  Ying went on to be a senior person at IDA and SW became Asst VP in a big bank.  And I, stayed on in retailing.  At the same time, Ying went on to have 2 gals, SW has 1 boy and 1 girl and me, 2 girls and a boy. 

Ying had to give up her high flying career when Adrian, her hubby was posted to the States for 2 years.  It came to a big shock for her, who usually left the kids to her trusted maid for everything.  Suddenly, she is all alone with the kids the whole day and she had no one to delegate the task to.  She is so used to having her time alone surfing the net, reading the papers, doing her office work whenever she is at home.  So she was so overwhelmed with all the housework, the cooking and the child minding tasks that were required of her.  But knowing her, she managed to adapt well to the changes.

SW also decided to quit and be a stay home mom when they could not find a suitable child care arrangement for their second baby Darren.

And me, will join them soon, next year. 

And suddenly, we talked much more via e mail and kept very much in contact and exchanged views on upbringing of the kids, household tips, how to maintain our sanity after a long day of work at home etc…

I am so glad that I have this support system and knows that they will fully understand what is happening at home as we are all stay home moms.  Hooray!! 

a baby no more

Elkan is officially a toddler and no longer a baby. 

 This happened just this week when I received a note from the childcare saying that Elkan will need his set of uniforms for school as he is now in playgroup. 

It came as a shock to me as in my eyes, he is still a baby.  Can he adjust to the new environment, new routine, new teachers?  The teacher was much more confident than me.  She said that Elkan enjoys the music and is able to follow all the required actions for the songs.  He loves storytime too and would sit through many sessions.  I was sceptical as he is more known for tearing apart books than interested in time.  So last night, I tried.  Hey, he sat through all the three books that I read and was asking for more!!  Indeed my baby is a baby no more.

I guess all the signs were there.  I was probably ignoring them.  Like he will purposfully walk away from me to explore that new flower/grass/insect/animal/person whenever we go out.  Like he will play hide and seek with me whenever I call out to him.  Like refusing to hold my hand when we are outside and prefers to walk on his own.  Like able to tell me that he has passed motion.  Like insisting to feed himself and make a mess out of everything. 

Soon he will grow up and grow away.  No longer dependent on me for all his needs, he will gradually make new friends, adjust to new environments, explore new places, make new adventures.  I will miss my baby.  And I better cherish all the time I can spend with him, before he grow into those moody teenager, prefering the company of his friends/computer/games/TV/ipod than his mommy.