School was closed 31 August to 4 September. This must be the longest stretch ever - Teachers' Day, Haji, Saturday closure, Sunday, Monday closure.
On Thursday, it was just me and N against three kids. N looked shocked when I said we were going to the Botanic Gardens without Mum :p Forgot Yu's bib and my whole purse so N went back twice along the way to the train station. Oops, that's for going out understaffed for the first time...
Monkeying around most of the morning
Had a date with Na who had help from her mum. But our kids didn't interact beyond a very curt "how old are you" by Mr Kai *.* They watched squirrels and roosters together but that was it. Yang decided to stay in the stroller meant for Yu the whole time while Kai whined as he trotted alongside me. Yu took a little nap despite the heat.
Squirrel up the tree!
The adults didn't have much of a conversation amid the child care! We started out late but tried to keep to an early lunch so the kids could nap. Lunch was miserable coz the table was small and Yu was needy and Yang was naughty and Kai was whiny. At least I got to squeeze HX's chubby thighs - 10 kg against Yu's 8 kg just 10 days apart!
"More Gerber puffs!"
Kai and Yang went down at 130 pm. I headed out for bubble tea and to buy bread with Yu before setting him down for his nap. I didn't get a chance to nap coz Kai woke soon after Yu went down :( And then the other two woke.
A painting activity with a lesson on primary and secondary colours, which Kai already knew some of
Turned the nanny on - sounds wrong, hoho! I meant the TV.. Somehow we survived until Mother arrived. I did some work while there was an extra pair of hands :p And then it was playground time! Yang ditched his scooter once we got there. Kai asked him like we asked them before - then why do you bring your scooter down??? :p
Dinner was just downstairs at La Mian. I overate coz their fried rice was huge!!! The boys had their wish after that - ice cream at the daily scoop.
I agreed to premium cones...
Kai finished first so N took him back to shower first. Yang took his own sweet time savouring his ice cream. Oh, he had zero warm-up time today - he said "hello 外婆" without prompting and then "look, (some TV thing)", and at the end also said bye bye properly.
As we walked home with Yu sitting quietly in the carrier, Yang started telling me a story about a boy who was alone and there was a ghost, ending with "that's my story of the ghost" :p I was so curious and asked him to tell me his ghost story again. Well, he gave me a brand new story, about the boy kicking the ghost and the ghost ate the boy!! There were a couple of other lines but I forgot. I asked him and it seemed like he thought of the story himself. So cute :)
But I was so tired I slept at 915 pm!
Day 2 was better. N was off but Mum and Dad were with us at River Safari, and it wasn't too hot. And we were lucky - we saw both pandas even though we were told Jia Jia might stay inside! Kai Kai even walked towards us and sat down roughly for a snack. His girlfriend was so much more demure. Or less of a brute? Heh!
Fake boat
Yu looked at fish
Kai touching a crab - forgot the name!
With the fake panda
Kai Kai reaching for his snack - carrot, I think
Jia Jia snacking on bamboo
Kai was very happy that he could take the Amazon boat ride while Yang couldn't coz it became the big boy ride for him. Yang looked so sad that Sito got him an ice cream but he didn't like it coz it had nuts! Ah well...
Just before he found the ice cream-in-lieu-of-boat-ride yucky!
After the boat ride, Kai was getting tired. When Yang left the stroller, I think, to pee, Kai rested on the stroller. He didn't want to get up and Yang was upset. I coaxed him up saying he was too heavy for the stroller. And this boy bravely stood up but he was on the verge of crying. I managed to stop the flood with the promise of a nice drink at lunch. He was still upset so I had a chat with him about how primary school kids no longer nap so take this as practice... the "grown-up talk" worked like a charm! Despite all his whining, he's really understanding :)
Lunch was very late at two plus. The older boys napped less than 30 min in the car and that was it. They went down really quickly at night, yeah!
Yu didn't nap after his short nap while Kai was on his boat ride. He was very active. At one point, he stood up in front of me on his own! I was so pleasantly surprised! He was so pleased with himself too :) He had a good day, eating a wassant when he shouldn't have haha! Close two eyes by the third kid :p
What a happy day!
Saturday was almost usual except that the boys were in the whole morning. Sito wasn't well and went to see a doctor late morning, leaving me and N with three. But Yang somehow fell asleep while snuggling in my bed - at 11.15!! Kai wanted to nap with him but he also wanted lunch so he had lunch before an early nap at 12.30 pm. Amazingly, Kai woke at 2.30 pm and Yang at 2.15 pm!
My cutie pie in my bed
Kai and Yu in the other room
Our activity of the day was fishing at Bugis. It was longkang fishing with a net but Kai wanted a rod so he settled on prawning. The shop couldn't take all of us so Sito sat with Kai and Yang while N sat outside and I went walking around. I bought six towels and four pairs of pants within 20 min :p
Uncle Kai, need a beer??
Got back within an hour coz Yang was getting bored. Turned out they didn't catch any prawn. Sito got the staff to help and he caught one in a minute!! No luck at the end of the hour but got some photos!
They touched it and the bits of chicken heart baits too for sure - plenty of handwashing...
Yu pooped during dinner and we had to change him in the small baby room - smallest I've seen among the newer malls! Job hazard... But Bugis + isn't exactly for families though we saw many. Sito pointed out that they were young so probably more used to this place? I had another job hazard thought from this, heh... Anyway...
There was an important development on the way home. So important I'll record it separately.
Sunday was the usual routine. Sent the boys to Chengzhu and went to the bingsu place downstairs. We had a drink there last Sunday. This time, we shared s bingsu before 11 am :p
Yummy! :p
The baby who fell asleep to K-pop and my aerobic dance steps!
It was the last class of the term so it was open class! This time, I went to Kai's class while Sito went to Yang's class. Kai was very participative! But he was using English to ask questions unless it was part of what he was supposed to do. The teacher was also very good in getting them to participate and weaving in the beginnings of hanyu pinyin.
Spot Kai? :)
Yu was also captivated!
On the other hand, Yang was not participating! He was standing at one side at the end of last term but that was his first term. He was apparently still the same this term. His teacher said he was usually like that *.* But at least there was a video where he said 跳 when asked whether he wanted to 跳 or 转呼啦圈 - that word cost $400!!!
And in this funny video, he slid down and stopped, with his head to the floor!! Super cheeky boy!
And yesterday, Yang ate very slowly and reluctantly at dinner. For some reason, he didn't eat well the past few days. So Sito took Kai and Yu back first. When I was on the way home from Mum's place with Yang, I had a bad stomachache - the kind that would saw me go running for the toilet. But I was in the lift with two stops before ours!
Spent a good 30 min or so in the toilet. Had to shout for the pain a few times. And I was breaking out in so much cold sweat I had to take off my top which was drenched. I almost gave up, wanting to call for an ambulance - like 12 years ago - but I couldn't talk properly to give instructions on milk for Yu! But eventually, the constipation passed and the diarrhoea started - I think that was the reason for all that pain, constipation plus diarrhoea!! IBS??
I took a bottle of bao ji wan and the pain subsided. But the next morning, the pain was bubbling just beneath the surface. By the time we got to IMM, it was started to get worse but no poop. Over lunch, the pain changed to become gastric pain, which I'm more familiar with. I let Mum and N take care of Yu coz I couldn't.
So happy!
Perhaps coz we took Kai out for waterplay a lot more than Yang, he is very happy with waterplay. When we arrived, Yang wanted to go to the playground. When I asked Kai, he said he would go with Yang. But later, he really wanted to go for waterplay so we changed them both. But Yang mostly stayed in the perimeter and out of too much water. Hope this would change when we move...
Kai wasn't pleased he didn't have a turn at this water gun, which shoots higher than the rest
At the end, I asked N to bring Yang out first so that Kai could have a go but he decided to leave as well. I think despite what he said about not liking Yang, he does like him enough to want to be with him. After all, this is the brother who can play with him, even if he doesn't find him cute like Yu!
Monkey at lunch - always trying to climb out!
Gotta entice him with biscuits...
Took two bottles of bao ji wan this time and laid down to rest. Got better as Yu fell asleep. Then I went downstairs to get some buns for their tea time. And the whole afternoon passed very s l o w l y....! But we finally got to me sitting here typing - I survived the long weekend!! :p
It was tiring but there were highlights that I would have missed if they were in child care - Yang's ghost story, Kai's grown-up moment, Kai and Yang applying their new rules, Kai's love for his brothers, Yu standing on his own and more of Yu which I'll detail later. Just spent a couple of minutes watching their videos with Sito - so cute :) Love our boys!
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