My quirks!
It’s been soooo long since I last posted. Thought I’d post something short to get my butt off the ground and get going!
Me : Wow! Cool! Darth Vader!
Barista : Erm… It’s not Darth Vader… It’s a minion…
Me : Oh! Erm… Cute… Hehehe *sheepish laugh*
I scrutinized it when I brought it back to the table.
I still think it looks like Darth Vader leh….
We have a no-gadgets rule when we are around the children at home. I can totally understand the agony a drug addict goes through when he goes cold turkey. Thank goodness it’s not for the whole day. Initially, when the children demanded my attention, I would be thinking,” Aiya… Hurry up! Go and sleep! So that I can get back to my cyber life on the phone!” Bad Mommy here!
The good news is, it only takes a few days of conditioning before I was weaned off that attitude. They grow up so very quickly. My little 宝贝口水妹 will be attending primary school next year and my 小小宝贝 has already turned two! Where has all the time gone!? 小小宝贝 giggles and rolls around when I tickle him. It’s still a novel sensation for him. 宝贝口水妹 pushes me away and glares at me, “Mama! I don’t like it!” She used to giggle and roll around when she was a tot. Sigh…!
So now, I treat every experience like it’s the last, because they outgrow it so very fast!! One day, he will stop caressing my face and pepper with it with kisses. He would probably say,”Ewww…! That’s so sissy!” Or something like that. Soon they will be too big for me to cuddle and hug, they will probably tower over me in a few years. Not a difficult feat, considering my dwarven size…
When I came across this poem, it felt so apt! It’s not fantastic in grammar and neither does it look very “chim”, but I’m sure all the parents can appreciate it. So, taking the words from Robin Williams’ Dead Poets Society – Carpe Diem!
The Last Time
From the moment you hold your baby in your arms,
You will never be the same.
You might long for the person you were before,
When you had freedom and time,
And nothing in particular to worry about.
You will know tiredness like you never knew before,
And days will run into days that are exactly the same,
Full of feedings and burping,
Nappy changes and crying,
Whining and fighting,
Naps or a lack of naps,
It might seem like a never-ending cycle.
But don’t forget,
There is a last time for everything.
There will come a time when you will feed
your baby for the very last time.
They will fall asleep on you after a long day
And it will be the last time you ever hold your sleeping child.
One day you will carry them on your hip then set them down,
And never pick them up that way again.
You will scrub their hair in the bath one night
And from that day on they will want to bathe alone.
They will hold your hand to cross the road,
Then never reach for it again.
They will creep into your room at midnight for cuddles,
And it will be the last night you ever wake to this.
One afternoon you will sing “the wheels on the bus”
and do all the actions,
Then never sing them that song again.
They will kiss you goodbye at the school gate,
The next day they will ask to walk to the gate alone.
You will read a final bedtime story and wipe your last dirty face.
They will run to you with arms raised for the very last time.
The thing is, you won’t even know it’s the last time
Until there are no more times.
And even then,
It will take you a while to realise.
So while you are living in thee times,
remember there are only so many of them
and when they are gone,
you will yearn for just one more day of them.
For one last time.
~ Anonymous
It’s been dinosaur years since I’ve some “Me” time. This peaceful hour comes at a price. I’m down with flu with a sneaky fever that goes away in the day but creeps back at night.
I fetched my Dad and 小小宝贝 to his accompanied class but I couldn’t join in for fear that I might infect the rest of the toddlers. So here I am. At the East Coast beach.
It’s a totally different place on a weekday and on a weekend.
I don’t get my eardrums burst by the incessant screaming of children. ( I even get to hear the clash of the waves.) I don’t get run over by the cyclists or scootists (the ones on scooters).
Sigh… Life is good.
I even see this!
I can really get used to this. The thought of doing this full time has crossed my mind. Oh well! Just this moment of indulgence!
Just enjoy the present and the cool sea breeze.
I wanted to blog about 小小宝贝 but my phone memory is down to 0mb. Can’t take anymore photos with it. ? So I’m clearing my photo backlog.
Nat gave me 2 tickets to the AAF. Turned out that the person who was supposed to go with me couldn’t make it. Tried asking the people around me.
1. Wanted to go but not in SG or had prior appointment.
2. Eee! Simi Lai eh?! Art fair?? – cultural desert – you know who you are. Don’t want to name you niah!!
So I went there on my own. I used to wander into art galleries (well, pre-children days). Now I hardly have the chance to do that. So I thought I should take a day off. And maybe buy an art piece or two since it’s supposed to be affordable.
But, boy! Was I wrong! I should go to EAAF (extremely affordable art fair) not just AAF. Still out of my budget. ? I still can’t see myself forking out a few grand for a piece of art. I need to work harder and make more money. Nevertheless, I saw some paintings that I liked, some interesting ones and some which left me wondering, huh?! Like that also can?!
This was the “huh! Like that also can?!” Expand it on your screen, yes, you are right! It’s made up of Lego figurines! And guess what was the price tag?? A whopping 10 grand!!! I counted. 330 figurines. I’ve already started my Lego figurine collection. Soon I’ll have my $10k art piece framed and hanging on my wall. Cool yah?!
This one?? Just kidding. It’s an art piece by 小小宝贝.
That’s the little artist hard at work. But… Kid you not! Some pieces really looked like that! I could have it up for sale and market him as the prodigal baby artist and make him work for his education fund.
Or else an abstract piece like this by 宝贝.
Anyway, here are some which I liked or found them interesting.
I like round and colourful things. This fits very aptly. Nice right? But I can’t afford it. So I snapped a photo of it for memory’s sake.
This interesting dress was made out of a map on the contours of the Himalayas.
Robot faces made from tin. Very retro!!
That’s the joker on his motorbike. Muahahahah!
Abstract looking Big Bird.
What? I like kiddy stuff?? Ok mah! Relieving my childhood!
Colourful dog sculpture!
Rush hour! Kind of reminded me of raffles place during peak hours. I like the layering of the pieces and the bold red and black colours.
I like these 4 paintings depicting famous scenes in Singapore. The paintings were made up of only vertical and horizontal lines. Dabbed to form the images. Cool right? Within my budget but too bad.. Sold by the time I got there. I particularly liked these 2.
Now this one… I really liked it a lot.
It’s a marker drawing with clean lines. The central figure pushed past all obstacles, people to emerge from within. That’s my interpretation. I stood in front of it for the longest time ever. I went off to dutifully cover the grounds and then I came back again. But I couldn’t see myself shelling out 7 grand for that. I took a photo of it and forwarded to hub “nice or not?” “7k leh”
The reply was “you siao arh?! 7k for that?! You come home now! I draw one for you!!” So story over Loh….
Still, I’m looking forward to AAF 2015!
My first time on Swiss Air, probably my last time. Unless, it’s on a business trip and it happens to be the only suitable airline. Or else… NAH AH!!
I have never taken Swiss Air before, although I have taken quite a many other ones. Due to the recent air disasters, my company decided to split the whole group of us into 2 different flights – Swiss Air or Singapore Airlines. Obviously, everyone wanted the Singapore Airline flight…. so we had to “lucky draw” the air ticket. Lucky me ended up with Swiss Air. (That’s precisely why I stay away from casinos!) I just thought that, since it was a pick between the 2 airlines, the quality and standard of the 2 airlines should be pretty close. Although my brother warned me about Swiss Air, having taken it last year.
And Boy! I was utterly WRONG in my assumption. It’s far from the standard of Singapore Airlines.
Listing my reasons in descending order of importance :
9. Earphones?!
The first that struck me when I boarded the plane was, huh?! Earphones?! That’s so 20th century! Most of the flights which I have taken in the recent years have since switched to headphones. And why am I picking on such nitty gritties? Well, a plane’s a plane. I can’t inspect the engine so I can only pick on the small stuff. That’s what makes the whole consumer experience right?
8. No overnight bag
This is the FIRST airline. FIRST! That doesn’t provide an overnight bag for a long overnight flight! Serious! Luckily, I remembered to bring my own toothbrush.
7. No socket for gadget charging
Ok, this is a very recent thingy. I have only seen this in the planes which I have taken this year. That’s why it’s low on importance, yah?
6. No moisturiser or amenities in the toilet.
So far, all the airlines that I have taken (except for Scoot, Asia Air, not counted lar!! Budget airlines!! Budget leh!) have moisturisers in the toilets. So giam siap meh?? It’s not like we are paying peanuts??
5. Call buttons are for show
You can press the call attendant button for the entire flight and no one will appear. I highly suspect that they are simply put there for decorative purposes.
4. Not allowed to pick seats during online purchase of air tickets.
I have been buying my air tickets online. Heck! I have been buying almost everything online!! I am an avid online shopper! This is the first time, in recent years, that when I buy air tickets online that I am unable to pick my seats. Especially when I am buying a ticket that has a child no-seat ticket attached to it. Usually the front row seats can be picked. But to give the airline the credit, they did give us a front row seat for that particular ticket at the “manual” check in counter at the airport.
3. No baby food prepared
Of course Scoot didn’t have that… Budget airline. I took SQ for the past few times when I was travelling with a baby. They even gave us a few jars of baby food to pick from and even warmed them up for us. Ok ok… don’t compare with SQ huh?? So discriminating arh? Ok ok… I try not to..
2. Only one cup of milk
I asked for milk for my girl. The flight attendant whipped out a little 250ml bottle of milk and starting to open it to pour it out into a glass. I told her, “Thanks, but you don’t need to pour it out. She can drink it out of the bottle directly.” Her reply really caught me off-guard.
“Sorry! I can’t give you the whole bottle of milk. Other people may want milk too. I only have 4 bottles.” What the heck?! 4 bottles of 250ml of milk for half the plane?! That’s a miserable 1l of milk?! I took a sip of the milk. Nothing special leh. In fact, Meiji milk tastes better. Giam ganah to the max!!!
1. This is the BIGGEST reason that put me off Swiss Air flights! ATTITUDE!!!
Waaa! When I think about it now, as I’m blogging about it, it gets me worked up again. Chill chill! Or else high blood pressure ya?
What do you do when you press the decorative call button for forever and no one comes, while your toddler is screaming his head off, with the hub struggling to contain and prevent him from kicking the dinner tray over, trays on the pulled-out table, and your preschooler suddenly declares, in the midst of the chaos that she MUST go to the toilet now, or else….!!!
So, while I was trying to balance 3 overflowing dinner trays and trying to clear a path for my daughter to visit the toilet, I spied a recess between my seat (I was sitting on the last row) and the wall. Instinctively, I stacked the 3 trays on top of one another securely on the floor in that recess. Ok.. problem solved. Hub was still struggling with screaming toddler, but that’s his problem as he was sitting in the section behind us, separated by a wall. Preschooler was safely back in her seat, after her toilet expedition.
The flight attendant (the same one who refused to give me milk, but ok, that’s not her fault, it’s logistics) came by with her food trolley to clear all the trays. Obviously my tables were empty. In her school teacher voice, she asked,”Where are your trays?”
“Behind me.” I pointed to the neatly stacked trays on the floor behind my seat.
She glared at me, for at least 1 minute (I thought her eyes were going to pop out from their sockets under the pressure), huffed and pushed her trolley away without clearing the trays. Oh well, I thought, don’t want to clear, not my problem…
A while later, she came back (probably after depositing her trolley). She stood over me and glowered at me, “next time don’t put your trays there!” It was the tone and the words which got to me. I gave her my look-at-her-up-and-down look and said,”My daughter needed to go to the toilet and there was nowhere else to put the trays.”
She continued with her laser-glare while she picked up the trays.
Wa lau eh! That’s the worst service I have ever received!! Super pissed off! The plane can be void of amenities, but bad service is something that gets my hackles up! Come to think of it, I should have taken the cutlery and cups and dishes apart and lay them on the floor so that she had to pack everything together before she could clear the trays. But then again, I won’t be setting a good example for my daughter. Sigh! How I wish I am not a mother and I can do all these nasty things! Couldn’t even swear at her! Must preserve my good mother image… What a sacrifice!
Ok… That’s it. Rant over! On with my wonderful holiday! Just no more Swiss Air for me after this trip! Don’t let me see her on my return flight siah!!! Or else… I will…. keep pressing the call button and make her serve me 100 times! Hey wait! The call button is gei one… Must think of something else to torture her with!
Say say only lah…
I was in two minds, whether or not to blog about this. But, with the exuberant encouragement from JH, I have decided to embark on this perilous project and pray that I don’t get unfriended. Haha.
I just had dinner with 2 long time friends. Well it was supposed to be 5 of us. But one flew our aeroplane ✈️ (double booked and decided to bail out on us) and we flew an aeroplane on another one because of a science test (or was it maths?? Never mind…).
Ok. Back to the topic…. I was never a very “children” person. Before I had one of my own, when I went out with my “mom status” friends, by the time they were 10 minutes into kids’ talk, my mind had wandered off and my eyes glazed over. Ya. I was THAT bad. I’m happy to say that, now that I’ve my own children, I’m a lot better. My attention span on such topics has greatly improved.
Well, what can 3 Mommies talk about over dinner?? Obviously, kids lah! This time it’s about education!
Boy oh boy! The very much controversial topic. Yes. We may have different views on it but still friends, ya?!
I’ve read about tiger moms, heard about tiger moms, and a friend has even jokingly called me “tiger mom” (ha! If you are reading this, you know who you are!) But I swear that’s because they haven’t met a REAL one!! I’m at most a kitten mom. *blush* ☺️
Anyway, I’ve come to realise that it requires a lot of dedication, perserverence and of course vitamin M to qualify as a tiger mom. So I truly respect her for being to achieve it, on top of being a working mom whose job requires a fair bit of overseas travelling.
Her no 1 has taekwando classes 3x a week, learning lab science 1x a week, piano 1x a week, Chinese at berries 1x a week, ballet 1x a week, swimming 1x a week, and some tuition a few times a week (sorry, I kind of lost track because by then my eyes had already glazed over at the descriptions and I’m sure I’ve got most of it down).
Her no 2 has ballet, shichida, music and swimming (I think).
On top of all these, she coaches them on their studies, practises piano with them. When she’s on business trips, she sets them tasks and calls home to make sure that they stick to it.
Seriously, I doubt I can ever attain that kind of tiger mom nirvana. I’ve neither the patience nor the dedication.
That’s why I am at most, a kitten mom. I’ve restricted my no 1 to 3 enrichment classes and I thought I was already very hardworking! Hahahaha! Little do I know…. And I’ve totally given up on putting my no 2 in enrichment classes. He just amuses himself by pushing his stroller around the mall while his sister attends her 2 classes on sat. The lazy mom (me) just watches him indulgently, while he’s doing his weekly exercise.
The education topic discussion was adjourned as cat mom (because although her children have enrichment classes and tuition classes but fewer than eh hem, you know who.. ) needed to go home to coach her no 1 on a science/maths test.
Somehow “tiger mom” has a negative connotation to it. But it doesn’t have to be so. Just like not everyone can be the prime minister of a state, being a tiger mom is not for everyone. Every parent wants the best for their children. I just hope that all children will recognise the love that every parent has for them. It’s also a matter of choice.
I love my freedom too much to want to give it up and dedicate all my time to my children. No matter how much I love them, I still need time and space for myself so that I don’t lose my own identity. Besides being a mom, I’m also a wife, a daughter, a grand daughter, a sister and my own individual being. And yes I need 8 hours of sleep a day or I’ll become a snappish alligator the next day. (Be forewarned!)
Meanwhile I need to work on my tiger mom characteristics though I doubt that I’ll do very well in that aspect. But like my mom always says, it’s good to have aspirations! ROARRRrrrr!!! ?
*image kindly sourced and provided by JH*
*special request from tiger mom* eh! I’m not so selfless leh! I still take time off for monthly facials, dinner with friends, once a month take leave for a date with hubby and I watch Korean dramas after the children sleep!!
Ok ok! So I conclude…. She’s not just tiger mom, but…. Super Tiger Mom!!! Tee Hee!!
It just so happened that when I opened my Facebook this morning, the first piece of news that I read was the death of Robin Williams. Initially I thought it was a hoax (some bo Liao people start death hoaxes about celebrities all the time) and I googled about it. To my dismay, the major news channels were reporting it.
“The world has lost a great actor” was the headlines of most news articles (with slight variations). I grew up with Robin Williams’ movies. It was during my “age of freedom” (the beginning of the time when parental approval was freely given to go out with my friends) so I watched a lot of movies and that was the peak of Robin Williams’ acting career. As a result, I watched a lot of his movies, from comedies to inspirational ones.
My favourite Robin Williams’ movie would have to be “Dead Poets Society”.
I love his rousing performance as John Keatings who inspired his students to think, to feel, to live! Perhaps it was because I could identify with the impressionable youths as I was one myself at that time. It was exhilarating to see a literature teacher being so unconventional (I was petrified by my very fierce English teacher at that time. I hope she’s not reading this…). It also helped a lot that the movie had some really good looking actors. I was quite enamoured with Ethan Hawke at that time.
Although when I watched the movie again as an adult, I felt that he was not being totally responsible by being too extreme.
Nevertheless, the movie was inspiring enough that vivid scenes reappear in my mind at the mention of Robin Williams or Dead Poets Society. That is, perhaps, one of the greatest gifts that Robin Williams has given me.
The most memorable scene :
I call it – standing on the table scene.
When John Keatings started standing on the table, reciting, “O Captain my captain!”
“Why do I stand up here? Anybody? I stand upon my desk to remind myself that we must constantly look at things in a different way.” It’s almost as synonymous as Scout Finch “To kill a mockingbird” to wear that person’s shoes and walk around in it.
“Carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”
And the final scene when all the boys started standing on the desks one by one, as John Keatings was leaving the school.
That was indeed a moment of courage and gratitude.
Other less well remembered quotes :
“I always thought the idea of education was to learn to think for yourself.”
“Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all. Thoreau said, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Don’t be resigned to that. Break out!”
Thank you Robin Williams for delivering the lessons of life through your movies. Rest in Peace.
It all started with a few tiny blisters on my palms and my soles. Just mildly irritating but nothing more than that. I started getting worried when more appeared.
The last time I had this, it was HFMD (hand foot mouth disease). But… none of my children was down with it this time. And I had neither fever nor sore throat (well, I did lose my voice and it’s still hoarse because I overused my voice box. Over 10 hours of continuous usage with little chances of water drinking. I need to give myself a gag order!! ?) This time I couldn’t have been so suay or “cannot make it” to get it when no child in the household had it, right?! *rolls eyes*
I googled (no one uses the word “search” anymore. Google has pulverized the usage of search. Even 宝贝 says,”Mama if you don’t know anything, just google loh!!” ?) on the symptoms – red rash, impossibly itchy, blisters on palms and feet soles. The search results turned up with hfmd but only if it’s accompanied with fever and sore throat. Or else it’s dyshidrotic eczema.
Gosh! How I hate this word eczema. It’s been plaguing me (because 宝贝 has it) for years and years. It’s probably due to something I ate. But I’ve been eating all kinds of food everyday so it’s kind of hard to pinpoint it.
I have this once every few years. The last time I had it was probably 5-6 years ago. So rightly, I should be very thankful that it’s so occasional.
I just have to endure the itch and pinprick pains when the little blisters combine. The dastardly things don’t itch in the day, but torment me at night!!! I can now totally empathize with 宝贝 now when she scratches her arms. It’s unbearable for me, as an adult and I’ve pretty high tolerance for pain and itch.
It’s been more than a week. Some of the early blisters have dried up yet new ones have been appearing. They have started to spread to the back of my hand.
It appears to be healing though. I pop the occasional antihistamine when it gets unbearable and I’ve hijacked 宝贝’s supply of anti itch sprays and creams.
Once all the blisters have dried up, the skin will flake and peel off.
So looking forward to that day.
I promise I’ll henceforth, stop giving 宝贝 the frown and impatient look, tsk at her, “ooi! Stop scratching leh!!” On the bright side, maybe I got it so that I can live through for a few weeks of what she’s gone through for years.
She gently takes my hand and strokes it. “Mama if it’s itchy, tell me ok?” Then smiles empathetically with her Bambi eyes. In that very moment, I’m the most fortunate mother on earth and yet I’m so humbled. She will make a better Mom than I am in future. That’s my darling girl…
Even an ordinary day can be a happy day!
Sharing a coconut between the 2 of us… 宝贝 and I.
I know I work too much in a day when
1. I get slapped with the peak hour erp for arriving at the office at 9am.
2. The first time I check my Facebook is at 8pm.
3. I get a headache from a whole day of talking. Boy! For people who know me, it means A LOT of talking.
4. No message from me on all group chats on whatsapp for the whole day.
5. I haven’t logged in to a single game for the whole day. Huh? What’s candy crush?? Can eat wan or not??
6. When I come home, my babies are knocked out already!! ?
I have to take photos of them in the dark and touch up the photos so that their faces are visible.
I have promised my 宝贝 to bring her to the library this week. And yet, my schedule is jam packed with work from practically 9am til 9pm. That’s when I decide to cancel my meeting slots on Friday after 3pm so that my PA won’t fill them up with meetings.
I’m going to the library on Friday afternoon. Work can wait. My daughter’s childhood can’t.