Coming home to 2 koalas

The moment I stepped out of the arrival hall last Friday night, Kieran gave me a hug... hmm, that's a nice feeling, and he asked, "Mommy, do you have a surprise for me?" - well he expects that after a business trip.

When we reached home at around 9pm, Yani was making Raeyen sleep. Once I stepped into the bedroom, he got up and hugged me like a koala - hmm, that's another nice feeling.

I saw a documentary on Animal Planet or NatGeo over the weekends focusing on koalas in Australia. The person-incharge of the AKF (Australian Koala Foundation) said that koalas cling naturally. A koala's hug is similar to that of a human baby's, so much so that its hug can melt an adult man's heart if he ever gets the honor to be hugged by this cute furry marsupial (and please, koalas are not bears). So imagine how blissful I must have felt when I was hugged by 2 koalas of mine. After Kieran passed his toddlerhood, I began to forget how his babyhood was like until Raeyen came along. Raeyen allows me to reminisce the bond with a baby/infant/toddler.

At 13 months now, Raeyen is into the phase of "learning by seeing", he can roll his hands to the tune of "Wheels on the Bus" and he enjoys Barney! He can toss his head up to emulate that of the elephant's trunk! His goodbye wave is reverse as he waves to himself and that's funny to watch. He begins to have separation anxiety which means we have to KISS (Keep It Short & Sweet) on goodbyes. As he is our 2nd child, we sort of lax a little when it comes to his development. When I was expecting Kieran, we were very excited and followed his development religiously at the Babycenter website.

Yesterday (Sunday), I showed Kieran this blog and he was amazed to see some familiar photos. I told him it's my eDiary and when he grows up, he could read what I have documented. I hope to make this a little keepsake for him and Raeyen. As I was showing him, I saw a comment from his previous teacher, Teacher Kei and I told him about her whom he likes alot during her music and movement lesson. It's because of Teacher Kei that he likes to fiddle on the keyboard and pretend to step on the pedals. I hope he can be as musically-inclined as Gabriel; he now attends the Yamaha Music Wonderland course every week and he likes Ms Liew's class.

Tomorrow, we will celebrate our 4-year koala's birthday at the childcare center and I will surely update this little milestone of his in my blog.

"Cute is when a person's personality shines through their looks. Like in the way they walk, every time you see them you just want to run up and hug them." Natalie Portman

Lullaby to My Angels

I'm on a working trip in KL now and thinking of my 2 little angels at home and of course my hubby.

When making my kids sleep, I usually sing lullabies to them. Personally, I like to change the lyrics and my fav is to the tune of "Rock-a-bye-baby"

Hush a my Kieran/Raeyen, go to bed now
Daddy, Mommy and DiDi/GorGor love you
Go to bed now and make nice dreams
We love you so much go to bed now

The first time I sang this to Kieran, he was in tears and that shocked me. After much probing I realized he was touched by the changed lyrics. Kieran is sensitive and very much emotional. He is still very "manja" and needs alot of assurance that we love him.

I am sure at 2am now, my angels are sound asleep.

Sleep tight my little ones, have a nice dream! Mommy will see you on Friday night!

Family togetherness

Wed, 9 Aug - we were greeted by a nice piano recital by Gabriel as we stepped into Ger's apartment. That was the first time we witnessed his performance and were awed by his talent. He's at Grade 10 and am sure Guan and Lisa made the right decision to move to Canada when Gabriel & Carmen were very small.

Education in Canada is different from Singapore. Children are encouraged to find solutions to problems - this gives them the chance to expand their resources by learning through experience. I wish Kieran & Raeyen get to visit them in Toronto some day.

Sat, 12 Aug - I brought Kieran to a stage show on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other stories at The Jubilee Hall performed by the Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. It was a great show that we enjoyed; "Caterpillar" was not only a familiar story to Kieran but a great time for us to bond before I leave for KL coming Monday to Friday. (This trip comes in an untimely period as it coincides with hubby's reservist. During my absence, he will be in Tekong and that left us in a fix on how to get someone prepare Kieran for school in the morning! Finally we decided on getting my MIL's help. This bad timing had also made us postpone Kieran's 4th birthday celebration to Sat 26/8.) In the evening, we had our reunion again at Mom's place before Guan & family departs next morning. Having forged their relationship during the week, the older kids exchanged emails. We will miss them till their next visit in 2 years' time.

No matter how far we are apart (Ger will be posted to Suzhou coming Monday), our unspoken love as a big family will bind us together through time and tide.

"Happy is said to be the family which can eat onions together. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have a harmony of aspiration." Charles Dudley Warner

A mini reunion!

What a coincidence and a great surprise on Sunday ... we met Guan & family inside MPH (basement of Raffles City). That makes a mini-reunion before we finally meet again when all siblings, except Joo, come together at my eldest brother's (Ger) place this Wednesday to catch up with one another!

Gabriel and Carmen, who are 11 and 9 respectively, have grown taller and trimmer from 2 years back. Raeyen was busy charming them, drooling, tottering and trying to fiddle with those little fragile trinkets displayed at the shelves. Thank God his 2 newly acquainted cousins helped to make sure none would be broken. Unfortunately Kieran was still in a daze as he woke up from his nap. Anyway, he looks forward to listening to Gabriel play some classical and pop pieces on the Clarinova at Ger's place this Wednesday.

If life were better when I was young, I would have learned to play the piano. For many, kids nowadays go for all sorts of enrichment classes. I hope they appreciate these little extras (and not taking them for granted) are things that many of their grandparents could not give to their parents. As parents, we give what we can at our utmost - things that we didn't have as kids - but not to spoil them. We give them the tools to grow and learn, with fun and loads of love of course.

"Music is well said to be the speech of angels." Thomas Carlyle

Jab & Family Gathering

Raeyen is almost 13 months and had an immunisation jab for Hepatitis A this morning. He tottered into the paediatrician's office and Dr Tan was amazed that he could walk so well. We proudly announced that he could walk couple of weeks before he turned 1, just like Kieran. After the injection, he did not cry - just like Kieran. Yes, you can tell that we were beaming proud.

This evening, we celebrated Jenard's sweet 16 (my eldest sis' daughter) hence it could be regarded as another family gathering. But my second brother Guan and family missed as their flight from Toronto was delayed due to typhoon in Hong Kong. This will be the first time they meet Raeyen as their last visit was 2 years ago. In addition, my third brother Joo returned to Perth on Thursday for 3 months on work assignment. Otherwise, this birthday celebration-cum-family reunion would have been complete!

"Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city." George Burns

Confession of a Working Mom

A working mom is a juggler who multi-tasks as time is never enough! She rushes home every workday to see her brood. She is guilt-striken when she has to work overtime or travel; she feels the same when she has to apply urgent leave to mind her kids. She is afraid to be seen as being not committed to work by her superiors and peers. She tries relentlessly to perform at work and at home. She is ... me.

At Kieran's kindergarten Principal-Parent Meet early this year, one SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) said that her stress for staying at home way surpassed that of a working mom. She put 101% to her family and kids' well-being and when her child fails her, she becomes depressed and felt all that she has done were not rewarded or appreciated. While I was never a SAHM, I can relate to what she was saying and couldn't agree more.

I told hubby that if we were loaded, I would like to have 4 kids, be a SAHM and have 2 domestic helpers. It is of course wishful thinking. Some may say it is still possible to have 4 kids - just make do with whatever we have. But it is easily said than done for 1. we are not young anymore and 2. our quality of life will head South.

Being a working mom and having no other relatives to help mind the kids, Yani becomes a great help to us. Our kids adore her and she dotes on them. Yani is from Indonesia, joined when Kieran was 6 months old, she could barely speak English then! Almost 3.5 years now, she can converse in English pretty well and some of our friends thought she's from the Philippines. However, she plans to return home soon and it will be hard for us to find someone as good as her. While Kieran goes to a Kindergarten and childcare centre on weekdays, Yani minds Raeyen all by herself. So to get another trusty helper is going to be really tough! Like they always say, cest la vie! Till then, we will just take one step at a time.

"That fact is that child rearing is a long, hard job, the rewards are not always immediately obvious, the work is undervalued, and parents are just as human and almost as vulnerable as their children'" Benjamin Spock

Kids say the darnest things!

When Kieran was 3 and playing his trucks & all those wheelie stuff, I urged him to clean up before tucking him in. He bargained for 5 more minutes and I reasoned that his toys would wait up for him when he returns from childcare the next day, afterall, they have no "legs" to run away from home. He rebutted that "but Mommy, they have wheels!" Gosh, was I tongue-tied? I was astounded and I hope that chapter stays in my obsolete CPU (my brain) for as long as I want.

Kieran is a doll, well not literally. His Kindergarten principal told me that he is a sensitive and passionate boy. When he sees his teacher "holding" her tummy, he asked her "Miss Foong, are you having a tummy ache?" or when he sees his friends not drinking their water, he would go "you have to drink, or else you will fall sick!"

Since birth, Kieran has been sleeping with hubby & I in the master bedroom. On the night I returned home from the hospital after delivering Raeyen, he said to me "Mommy, I will sleep with kak-kak in the orange room today ok?" Kak-kak means "sister" in Bahasa Indonesia, she is Yani - our domestic helper and caregiver to the kids. I had mixed feelings after hearing that - 1. our first born has grown up; 2. if he would feel that we are "ditching" him? I am pleased to report that Kieran has since been sleeping in his own orange bedroom (but he still wears pull-ups!).

"When kids hit the age of one, they're like miniature drunks. You have to hold them. They bump into things. They laugh, then two minutes later they're crying. They drool." Johnny Depp

Yearning for a holiday!

My current work is making it difficult to go for a holiday with my hub & 2 angels. Our last holiday was in May to Krabi - a sleepy place in Thailand but the hotel we stayed was very sweet and thoughtful.

And so, I told hubby that we go for a short trip in November to the Land of Smiles again! Yes, you have guessed it, Thailand is our fav spot to chill-out before and after our angelic kids came along! This time, to Chiangmai ... I've been there thrice but none for hubby & kids. This will be Raeyen's (who just turned 1) 2nd trip overseas. Kieran (who's going 4) likes Thailand too, he is fascinated by the stomping elephants! Our Krabi trip gave our kids a close encounter with this big grey friendly mammal. You see, there is a resident baby elephant at Sheraton Krabi and her name is RaRa. While Kieran was hesistant going near RaRa, Raeyen was thrilled to feed her bananas! Boy, was it fun until our digital camera went "kaput"!

A holiday with the family is certainly a MUST-DO every year.
I wish we could do this at least 4 times a year but we need the dough and time!

"Vacation used to be a luxury, however, in today's world, it has become a necessity." Unknown