The sleep chapter
First chapter - coz sleep is so important to kids.
Bedtime routine is still the same. After showering, I send Yu to bed while Kai and Yang busy themselves with toys or TV or video, depending on the day. When Yu is down, I'll do some reading and send his brothers to bed.
I spend the most time with Yu. We go in when it's still bright. Then he will take some time to settle down before he has his bottle milk. And then he will run around, play, ask for water. Best, he loves to poop after his bottle - happens five times a week minimally!
Looking out at the sunset
Yu bullying me! :(
His brothers also come in to play half the time. The half? He goes out to find them!
Kai loves to baby Yu
Universal design allows children to do it too - at the parents' peril!
Squatting to poop!
He's still nursing. I wonder when he will stop. But recently when he wakes for the first time at night, I can put him back to bed without offering nai nai. Hope that's the start to the end?
"Nai nai is nice" :)
But we're not done yet even with nai nai. He will get back to turn the light back on. And the play continues until he's tired.
Trying to convince Yu that the red light from the camera is nothing fearsome..
And then I'll get to his brothers. Recently they love my renditions of Mo Willems' books - I borrowed the Chinese translations, quite fun to read :) Other times, they may not be interested in reading at all.
Bliss when they compete to give the best massage :)
One day, Kai asked to sleep with his brothers coz he said he liked that, just like how they used to do so in the old house. Awww.. So I let him. But I also realised the poor boy hadn't got over the bees :(
And sometimes, Yang came down to join them
I realised only recently that people used to say that we should not take pictures of sleeping persons. Gosh, I've been doing that since Kai was born! Heck la, they are all so cute in dreamland!
What a pout. I couldn't help staring at him and kissing him!
Some hours later, I woke to find him leaning on Sito
Thanks, baby, for clearing our space my side for me to sleep! :p Coz many nights, Kai and Yang also came onto our bed - our queen bed! Even Sito can feel their presence now that they are big and so many!
The food chapter
With Yu still waking at night for nai nai, and my recent gym (and drama!) routine, I'm so tired that I hand him over to N in the morning when he wakes at 5 plus, and go back to sleep. So it has been some time since I saw them at breakfast.
Breakfast time!
I'm trying to cook and bake more. Some time in April, I cooked dinner coz I was on child MC for Kai - thought I'd accompany him that day. Ended up no kid had dinner - so sad :( My baking efforts meet with better success, as usual.
mf: "Are the muffins good?" Boys: "Yes!"
Yu was looking at Papa with his face full of muffin
"Where's Papa?" When Papa walked to the fridge behind him - he's a daddy's boy :)
The Aikido recce night, we had too much ice cream
Somewhere between moving house and the kids growing up (just a little), we have started eating out with just the five of us, no helper. It can be a challenge, but we can manage. I'm very happy :)
The play chapter
There's plenty of space to play in our new house, as we still call our home. Great for the kids, not so great for the parents who have to find them! The balcony in our bedroom is the best - it connects to Yu's future room so it's like Monsters Inc, you know... They love it.
Kai and his LEGO corner in his room
Very pleased with his latest creation
Showing off some cool parts of his rocket
A big helicopter and more vehicles!
Kai played LEGO when he lost his video privilege
Kai also amazed me with his attention to details. He likes to fold things. One day, he taught me how to fold this amazing boat. Honestly, I forgot the many steps right after!
With our boats :)
Kai was writing something on his flower petals
First play date at our place - watching Frozen or Moana
Third playdate (after BBQ) but only Yu was happy to have his photo taken
Kai learnt about 斗鸡眼 so I taught him how to do it!
Yang wanted to do it too :p
"Wheeeee!"
It's great to live above a mall - so convenient. But the temptations are also great. We can take a long time to get from home to the MRT coz kiddy rides, fishballs, doughnuts, pets, and even decorative Tuk Tuk!
I'm surprised the restaurant never said a word..
My beng beng!
Lagi more beng!
This one looks like a boss...!
We finally rolled out the scooters last weekend! They were collecting dust in the stairwell, oops :p
Yu took Kai's scooter
Cos Kai was busy at the playground
Lazy mama's fave play activity? Watching TV together - quietly. Wow.
Oh, we have another game that we play that is quite manageable even for tired parents. We play this only on taxis. One person will have a number in his/her heart and the rest will take turns to guess the number. Love it when Yang is the one holding the number:
Yang: I have a number in my heart!
Kai: 20!
Yang: Lower!
Mama: 18!
Yang: Higher!
Kai: 19!
Yang: Lower!
Huh?? Eh, we're playing whole numbers! Hoho!
The swimming chapter
This is play too but I think it deserves a chapter on its own.
After much procrastination and search, we finally started swimming lessons in June! Kai is quite confident and willing to learn.
Play time before lesson
Three Sundays ago, Yu didn't want to have his swimming lesson at all, likely after one lesson when the coach said something like, if you don't do this, you can't play that. But we tried every week and last week, he finally did the torpedo himself and proudly showed me!
But Yu had great fun copying Kai! He was putting his face into water here and there. Inadvertently, he drank some water. But he looked like he enjoyed it!
Kai was also keen to teach Yu.. Yup, yaya papaya
Yu could kick around quite a bit
My baby all wrapped up
School chapter
Ever since the HFMD episode, Kai doesn't like to go to school on Saturdays. No choice, I need my Saturdays to do work and house stuff. On Sundays, he says, "No more holiday already? So fast?" Awww... But comes Monday, he is quite happy to go to school. In fact, he will nag me if I'm slow!
But Yang can be difficult on school days. Journeys between home and school can be fraught with cries and frequent stops coz he drags me to a stop. Why? No doughnut. No fishball. No toy. No escalator. But after checking in at school, he still wants a thousand kisses and hugs from me :)
His meltdown melted away when he saw this!
Yang on a good day
Yu also likes this - "cheeeeese!"
Little Yu struggles to get out of the stroller. On days when I let him out, it is super tiring to chase after him. Otherwise, he's a sweet baby. He is contented with a kiss and a hug. And then he walks in with his big bag.
Holding hands :)
宝贝的背影
Running towards home!
We finally live very near a library! Last time, we tried going to the one at Clementi a few times but it was just difficult to go regularly. But I realised that my kids are a terror in the library. More than once, they or us were called out by librarians - yes, they kept running and screaming! In a library!!
First trip - what an illusion
The bookdrop is a huge favourite!
I find it fascinating too...
Yang read a random sentence out in English while pointing to Chinese...
Yu is the one who is most consistent about reading. Even on weekend nights when it was late, he would sometimes insist on books even though I didn't want to.
Hello baby, can you sit up, please?
The random chapter
Why don't you like to have a haircut?! (cutified)
The bag that lived one day - one zip came off that day!
My boys in National Day gear!
I'm glad we managed to stay in to watch the National Day Parade. The boys had watched the 2018 song on TV many times. Our mall started playing NDP songs since June or July. They also sang NDP songs and the Anthem in school. I asked them to stand when the Anthem was playing. On the rerun, Yu told us all to stand at the same part of the show! Just a few days ago, they were still singing to the 2018 song on TV. I'm happy :)
*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***
Once again, I'm trying to make a commitment to blog more regularly. Capture the boys' growing up before they're all grown! Hope I can keep this up!