Yeah! Holiday!

I have finally done it!

Managed to buy 2 return tickets on promotion and redeem 2 more with Singapore Airlines for the family. With the redemption, I saved S$700!

We will be going to Perth from 28 Sep to 12 Oct to visit Joo, Connie & Jamus. It will be Raeyen's first trip to Perth (and Kieran's 2nd).

Kieran will be just as excited because he has been coaxing me to let him take SQ flight for he has never taken one.

But I don't understand why does the Australian Immigration require visa from Singaporeans? We can now apply online but at A$20 per applicant. Quite expensive, I say, mate!

Photo was taken on 3 Oct 03 with Jamus during our Tree Top Walk

Racial Harmony

Kieran's kindy held the racial harmony mini concert yesterday at the school compound. I applied half-day's leave to attend.

He performed in a Chinese number and here's the clip:


After all the performances, the kids moved into own classes and visited booths of different ethnic groups. He learned about Chinese dim sum, tried calligraphy which I helped him with his Chinese name.

He even had his hand tattooed with Henna, an Indian art. The kids were also rewarded with yummy Indian snacks such as Muruku. Then they learned about Teh Tarik from a volunteered parent at the Malay corner.

The kids had a surprise at lunch as a roti prata man was there to flip their fav Indian "pancakes" dipped into fine sugar. The parents enjoyed the pratas too with yummy curry. The kids were also served with different types of food from the 4 ethnic groups. Then it rained buckets and the poor teachers got to pump up their vocal cords.

His tour ended with ballroom dancing in honour of the Eurasian community to the tune of Edelweiss. It was so heart-warming to see my little boy turned into a waltzing gentleman, funny thing is, he was busy twirling around instead of his partner.



The school ended with a prayer, songs to honour God and the kids went home with a goody bag which includes cha-tek, among others. But Kieran, as careless as usual, lost the whole bag of goodies when he returned home from childcare!

I waited with him and his classmate for a caregiver from his childcare centre to pick them up. Then I risked the rain, walked to the bus-stop for a bus to Punggol MRT and to work.

It was, afterall, a great event organised by the kindy for everyone to enjoy and to really appreciate the peace that we have in this multi-racial country.

Sad

Today I had a whole-day meeting at the office. There was a dinner but I declined due to the kids. The meeting ended at about 7pm. I called home while on the bus to the MRT station. Kieran usually reaches home by 6.30pm and Siti would pick him up at the lobby with Raeyen in tow.

Kieran answered and as expected, he didn't bathe nor take his dinner (because neither Dad or Mom was home in time and he "overrules" Siti by default). I was not happy and told him to bathe and have dinner or I would not attend his mini function at the Kindergarten tomorrow morning (which I took half-day leave). He even raided the fridge for tidbits!

I met hubby at my destination MRT station, got home at almost 8pm and realised Kieran misspelled "shot" and "dot" as "sht" and "dop". He could spell those two along with "hot" and "pot" last evening and this morning! I was upset and even more so after I read a comment from his childcare centre teacher in his Communications book that he tore his classmate's papers because his friend asked him to do so! All these incidents rolled up as triple-whammy to me! I spent my time disciplining him at the expense of spending wee-bit of time with Raeyen, who fell asleep right after milk at about 8.45pm.

I tried my best to get home in time every day, I coached him in his schoolwork, I nurtured him and guided him to love, respect and be nice to people around him, and this is the outcome!

I am sad, no, beyond sad. I don't know what to do. I want so so much to spend more quality time with him and Raeyen, but no matter what I do, it doesn't seem enough or effective.

I don't like this lifestyle, it's unhealthy to me, my kids and my family. I don't like this society - it's unfair, ungracious, costly, too competitive, idiotic, inconsiderate, selfish...

...I'm probably going crazy!

Downstairs or no stairs?

Kieran related his conversation with his classmate to his Daddy.

Kieran: My friend dropped his pencil and he said to me, "Oops, I dropped it downstairs."
Daddy: Oh, then did you say anything?
Kieran: Yes, I said "Where got stairs?"

Raeyen's 2nd birthday bash

It was a very busy day on Saturday 14 July as we celebrated Raeyen's belated 2nd birthday at home.

We were happy that at least the food was great, they had enough to eat and the kids were having fun and fooling around in and out of the playroom. The tiniest guest we got was Zayden, at almost 2.5 months.

Megan brought Raeyen a cute Winnie the Pooh balloon while she held her kitten balloon. All kids went home with a goodie bag personalised with their names.


The highlight of the party was the cupcakes which I ordered from Cocoa & Butterscotch but it was disappointing. The cakes were dry and flaky and there were no baby blue piping cream on top. Thank God I had poppers to decorate the if not otherwise bare cakes. My 2 sweet nieces, Jenric & Jenard helped to create the heartshaped design for the nutella cuppies. Thanks, girls!

The party started at 4pm but it ended at almost 10pm, we were exhausted but it was all worth it to see our close friends and families came to celebrate our little angel's 2nd birthday.

It was a pity that some kids couldn't come due to enrichment classes or sickness. Nonetheless they had their fair share of goodie bags too.

A videoclip of Raeyen and Kieran busy with the presents the morning after.

Digital Scrapbooking

I've always like scrapbooking but can't find time to do it. Those pretty designs help keep memories alive and make them more precious than ever.

So at 2am, I tried my hands on digital scrapbooking, courtesy of The Digi Chick. Below is my first project with a photo of me (10kg lighter) and hubby before we were married = ages ago!

Raeyen's 2 today!

Our dearie Raeyen turns 2 today, how time flies oh-so-swiftly.

I took leave today to spend his special day with him and hubby joined us in the afternoon.

We took him to Downtown East for lunch and an indoor playground for toddlers and young children. He had a great time exploring the area, playing at the ball pit and making new friends.

In the evening, after Kieran returned from school, had dinner and all, we celebrated Raeyen's 2nd birthday with his favourite Thomas the Engine cake from Polar.

Thanks to all Uncles, Aunties and cousins' wishes!

A videoclip of him at the indoor playground:

Me, a vainpot? Not really

I've been tagged by LZmommy to do this little survey on how vain I am.

Here's my result:

You Are 52% Vain

You're a little vain, but more than anything you have a healthy amount of confidence. Thinking the world of yourself is great. Just don't think less of those who aren't as pretty as you!

How Vain Are You?

I guess I am fine?

Gym

Kieran went for the gym class today for the second time and he went through the one-hour in full force. Hubby had to work at last minute and he missed all his "action".

I was glad he enjoyed the lesson and I hope this is something he wanted.

At the end of the class, his coach said he's strong and could absorb well. She said to let him take 1-2 terms and see if he could proceed to higher level.

I can't wait for hubby to see our little boy taking the gym class next Saturday.

Talking about gym... I have started going to gym at Planet Fitness last week and my legs are aching now. I'm glad I started going to keep myself fit for I have 2 active boys to keep me going.

A father's love

Over the weekend, we rented the DVD of The Pursuit of Happyness starring Will Smith and his cute son Jaden Smith.

It's a heart wrenching movie based on a true story of Chris Gardner, a struggling but smart single father who tried to make ends meet, and eventually became a Wall Street legend.

I first watched this movie on a flight back from Guanghzou but didn't watch the ending as the plane was landing. I thought it's a great movie with a strong message to all men and people who lack determination and perseverance to achieve what they think impossible.

Chris never let any opportunity slip by (carpe diem) and his pursuit for happiness paid off despite hitting the bottoms again and again. I admire his courage and I like a particular line he said to son, something goes "don't let anyone tell you that you couldn't make it. They said so because they couldn't make it themselves."

Dread

Dreadful today because Raeyen contracted with HFMD.

He was playing when I discovered a few faint red dots near his knees, feet and hands. And this morning he was complaining, "Mommy, pain pain" while sucking his water. I asked him to open his mouth and saw tiny white spots at the tip of his tongue. I thought he probably bit his tongue by accident.

Anyway, I alerted hubby and we rushed him to KKH. It was a long wait before we saw the doctor and she confirmed it's HFMD and he has to be isolated between 5-7 days.

The doctor asked if we required child sick leave, I told her there was no such privilege in most companies in Singapore.

This also means that his 2nd birthday party has to be postponed.

Our next fear is whether Kieran may get this dreaded disease from him.

How can working mothers (even fathers) feel good when we have to worry about our sick young child(ren) who needs 1-2 weeks to recover? There isn't child sick leave to ease such worry but to use our annual leave. If all annual leave is used up, which happened to some of my friends due to kids' sickness, then where can we strike a work-life balance or create a pro-family environment to boost birth rate? Sometimes, non-monetary carrots are more rewarding or may I say, effective? Have a heart.