From kids to zombies

Sounds like a scary title :p

I wanted something to indicate Children's Day and Halloween, and chose zombies for the latter on 21 Oct when Yu suddenly started humming the zombie song and gave a loud NOOOO! Just like in the song :p We had a good laugh!

Anyway...

Yan Yan for Children's Day!

I think we're always going to celebrate Children's Day this way - 1 Oct coz Papa and Mama grew up with that, and whatever date theirs falls on. This year, Kai and Yang spent much of Children's Day on their own coz I was away on staycation with Yu :p Compensated with Magnum mini instead of the usual Macs cones.

Chocolate banana muffins - my best yet!

Brought them for a swim the day Sito returned from SHN - I watched them while Sito grabbed dinner. They were so happy to see Papa home! Kai especially went to him a lot to play Rubik's cube :)

Let's race!

HBL continues into the first week of October. The original last day of HBL was Children's Day celebration. Both kids had scavenger hunts on Zoom and came to me excitedly for uniforms, green pens, photos etc. All during my work *.* But they seemed to have fun, which was great. It's already sad that they couldn't be in school with friends.

PE assignment for Kai

Then it was announced that HBL would continue for P1 and P2 for two more days, sighs... Ok at least Kai could go to school. Since it's just him, I let him come home on his own. The whole "coming home on their own" thing gets a bit iffy with the two of them together... Maybe next year...

Yu must always run on the "bridge" to avoid sharks...

Every day, I would sit next to Yu and nag him and Yang to keep eating, coz they're always playing and talking. Can talk, cannot eat. One day, Kai offered to help. Was it the food that day or Kai? They ate more quickly that day!

Kai helping me to get his brothers to finish their food

The boys got their Children's Day presents the week after. Kai first as he ended his HBL first, then Yang and Yu as the child care centre also delayed its celebration. So many new toys in the house within a week! Thankfully, there were also snacks which were now long gone and a Chinese story book.

Playing with the present from school - I love this game too!

Must eat Papa's food though they had just finished their sausage rolls

Hide-and-seek, obviously!

Papa raced with the boys and he won, woohoo! But damn siong haha!

My little chefs preparing to serve their sole customer - moi

After just three to five days back to school, Kai and Yang had a week's break. I had wanted to revise with Kai for his exams but it was cancelled for all P3 and P4! But Kai would still have weighted assessment so I didn't take leave in vain. What I didn't realise was that it was super siong to do revision:

• Monday: Three English papers for each of them
• Tuesday and Wednesday: One Chinese and one maths per kid per day, one science per day for Kai
• Thursday: One Chinese and one maths per kid
• Friday: One science for Kai

I started them at the same time but Yang would always finish first coz his papers were more like mini tests. Then he had to go read, do 习字 or do some English or maths on Reading Eggs. 

When Kai was done, they could play Nintendo for 30 min while I marked. But science papers took me over 30 min to mark. Even though I have the answer sheets, I had to do every question so that I could pick up important stuff to highlight to them, especially when they didn't get the answer.

And then:

Kai: So unfair. He (Yang) finished so quickly. He can play Reading Eggs. He doesn't have science. 

mf: Hello, you didn't have to do papers in P1 and P2. He will do the same P3 papers two years later. Reading Eggs are too easy for you. You also didn't have science in P1!!!

And of course: I hate comprehension/Chinese/maths/science *.*

So in case there's any doubt - it was more siong for me!!

I went back to work on Wednesday morning and Friday. Email revenge. Yes, very siong too...

A little reward for them halfway through

I sat at the next table. They were quite ok on their own though the auntie there helped by reminding them not to fool around :p Then we went grocery shopping. I chose what to buy, Kai put them into the basket, Yang held the basket coz he was strong...

My little helper for two minutes :p

Same two bags then went to Yang

I took one bag off him and he took the other one all the way home, including a detour to grab meatballs coz they did not have any meat with the prata.

COVID fatigue is definitely setting in. Decided to bring them for their favourite breakfast last weekend. Now that Kai is older, I feel bad making him wear PJs downstairs... Though I think I wore PJs to the market for much of primary school!!!

Kai and Yang sat together

Yu sat with me at the next table

The kids kept moving and chatting across the tables. I was so worried we would be chased away!! They were very happy though. Kai even ate eight cut pieces of toast!

Kai has been rather into 4x4x4 cube lately. But one afternoon, I found him sobbing on the floor in his room, holding a broken cube with small bits on the floor! It took me a while but I finally managed to fix everything back.

But it happened again a few days later! And more pieces dropped out! It was a nightmare... It happened one more time a week later but thankfully that was just one piece, and Kai could solve the cube before he let me fix the piece back - that's necessary coz I had to remove one more piece to fix the original back and there's a chance of more pieces dropping out...

From second time - 3x3x3 cube for colour position reference, and a pair of tweezers to adjust small bits

I also think it was single parenting - Papa would have been the go-to for Rubik stuff!

I was thinking about bringing them to Ichiban for dinner on helper's rest day so that I didn't need to wash dishes and clean tables - rather spend time with them than clean *.* But while Kai could finish his udon, Yang had to share his udon with Yu, and Yang and Yu cannot sit together on their own! In the end, decided to pack easy things from the coffeeshop.

The playground at the coffeeshop is fun. We call it "hurt-my-knee" playground :p But Kai thought it should be "hurt-our-knees" playground coz they had all hurt a knee there!!! So the plan was to let them play there while I packed food. But it rained! And we realised it only when we got downstairs. So we went to the kiddy rides at B2 instead. 

Can't remember what happened now - think Yu was throwing a tantrum so we went home soon. They passed by the tikam area and wanted to buy Beyblades. Told Kai and Yang to go buy on their way home the following week.

After they were showered and settled in front of the TV, I left them home to pack food. First time leaving three of them home alone!! Closed the door and told them not to open it. Call me in an emergency. Even Yu knows how to call me now...

They asked for steak but the western food didn't have it :( So it's chicken rice for Kai and Yu, and cai png for Yang and me. Only spoons to wash, yeah!! :p

Yang's first cai png in a box, Kai and Yu's first time eating off greased paper :)

Finally got steak for them yesterday - took a trip to Bangkit for that. While waiting, I checked out the market - still a lot of people at that hour! Fruits and vegetables were still on sale! I wanted to stay there man haha! 

Anyway, they got Beyblades from the tikam machines this week. Glorified tops, I call them. I should add lousy too. After just one day, Yang's broke *.* So Kai was badgering me to get a new one for Yang, while Yu kept asking for one too! And today, Kai's broke too! Maybe I should get them the real thing...

It being Halloween today, I wanted to get some cakes for tea. I saw a few Halloween cakes at Chateraise a couple of weeks ago but they were all gone by now. Found Halloween cupcakes though, yeah! But Kai didn't want to try - he only ate an eye :p

Making faces

Zombie eyes, says he!

And there goes October!

Can't wait to say bye bye to helper!

After the incident with Yu, we had a health scare.

On 15 Sep, A told me in the morning that her neck was swollen. I couldn't see any swelling but since she felt a swelling, I gave her $100 to see the doctor in case of throat infection or something which might need antibiotics which would be expensive. When she came back, she returned $70 and a referral letter to do ultrasound. 

Ultrasound?? But wait, before I got distracted, where is the receipt? Then she brought the receipt out - it was for $25 consultation. I asked her why she returned only $70. It was small money but obviously, she purposely didn't want to give me receipt?? Told me she bought goreng pisang. Major eye rolling moment. Even though it was only $5, but what makes her think she could spend my money without even asking?? 

As I wrote the above, I thought of another incident some time ago. I let her use my credit card for groceries at NTUC. One Saturday, I was doing online banking and saw seven or eight expenditures at NTUC in the past week. But she goes only Monday to Friday. So I checked the receipt box and found fewer receipts than expected that week. When I asked her, she couldn't tell me what she bought in those missing receipts of $20-$30 each. Now I check the receipts against online banking every Saturday. 

I think I don't trust her anymore...

Anyway, the ultrasound referral was for thyroid. I called the private clinic in Woodlands to find out more. But no one could tell me what could potentially be the issue - have to do ultrasound and see the doctor to know. I thought private setting might be more ex so I checked with nearby CCK polyclinic which said they had to refer to hospital for thyroid ultrasound but first, see doctor at polyclinic. The lady also reminded me that foreigners wouldn't get subsidised fees. 

While waiting for the clinics to call back, I also asked her if she ate anything different before the swelling. She couldn't say. Her English is also not good so I couldn't catch some points too. I thought she said swelling for two weeks at one point and just found the swelling at another point. So I asked her if she did anything different those two weeks. Then she told me she bought something on her rest day two weeks ago and just finished eating it. She sent me a picture which showed it to be some supplements for whitening skin?! *.*

Anyway, I gave her all the info to decide for herself where she wanted to go. I also told her very frankly that if follow-on treatment after ultrasound would be costly, I could not pay for her anymore and would let her go home to seek cheaper treatment. She said she would think about it. Later, she said no more swelling, and the matter was closed.

This incident highlighted potential liabilities when hiring live-in help. There are liabilities that the usual insurance for helpers cannot cover adequately. Call me heartless but my liabilities should lie with my family, not the help that I had no choice but to get.

The next incident happened a month later, on 15 Oct.

I received a WhatsApp message from an unknown number. I thought it was spam and didn't bother with it until I finished work. Turned out it was from previous helper, N. I hadn't heard from her since early 2020. She sent me a video of Kai and Yang with my current helper A, two videos of Yang and a screenshot of one of the latter. The videos were on TikTok! She asked if I gave A permission to post. Of course not!!!

Damn pissed. I quickly checked with the kids that they did not ask for these videos and then got A to delete from TikTok in front of me. Reminded her of my instructions given to her on day one, in both English and Bahasa Indonesia, that she must not post pictures of my kids.

We used Sito's TikTok (I don't have it) to go view A's account - confirmed no more videos. Also translated the info in the screenshot - the videos were likely all posted in the past couple of days, but with 33 likes and two shares. 33 likes leh - I don't get that many in Facebook in a couple of days, if at all! Wa liao. One of the shares should be by N. The other, I don't want to think about it. 

After almost two years, I don't think A is a bad person. Quiet. Dresses decently on rest days (think helper #1!). Patient with the children. But she cannot learn - clueless? - and is not child-centric. Our clothes are still found on the wrong hangers or in the wrong cabinets after almost two years. Kept insisting on little bit of pepper, coz "not spicy" - indeed so for the adults but the kids could taste it! Soup is still too salty. Kids complained about the taste of her stir-fried noodles but she continued to use the same seasoning until I told her to just cook spaghetti and fried rice! 

There are also things that she could not do as in unable to do, like clean the top of the bookshelf coz she's short. I didn't know until one day I had to retrieve a toy and found that the top had not been cleaned for over a year since N left! So I have to clean that myself from then on. She also has difficulty opening milk bottles *.* Kai has been helping her to open!

And careless. Probably coz she's on the phone a lot including during kids' dinner time (when things spill, when kids take turns to want something), halfway through mopping floor (after dinner when floor is oily with food bits on it) and when ironing (Sito's new pair of jeans has a very obvious burnt iron mark before he had even worn it). Then there are all the stains on supposedly washed bowls and plates and spoons I found every few days. 

Today, she broke a bowl when washing dishes. The pieces jumped from the sink to the floor in front of the schoolbags and main door, and to the dining area. Kept the kids in their seats while she picked up the pieces. Saw her wipe the floor before we all went into my room to watch TV. When we came out later for their pre-bedtime milk, I was shocked to find a 1cm x 3mm shard on the floor in the middle of the walkway between the schoolbags and the dry pantry cabinet! And even more shocked to hear Yu behind me saying he also found a piece on the cabinet!! I rushed over - it was indeed a 5mm flat round piece of corningware!

I can't take it much longer. Counting down to December/January when I will have the choice to not have a helper. Will let her transfer if she wants.

Yu turns five!

Our baby is no longer a baby!! But he's still such a baby :) We think it's coz he knows he IS the baby of the family :)

Last year just before circuit breaker, the grands brought Kai and Yu on a staycation. So I have been thinking of bringing Yu to a staycation for some time. Then there are the SingapoRediscover Vouchers. And I haven't had a break for a while...

But there was no good time for a staycation. Need to make sure they don't miss lessons, need to make sure we keep our date night, need Sito to be around with the brothers, need to make sure I don't leave the brothers too long, need to make sure no clashes with other celebrations, etc...

On Tuesday, I realised that 7-8 Oct would be good coz Thursday swimming was cancelled due to current restrictions! I booked it. Happy to find I had some Klook points which gave me more savings woohoo!

One glitch though - Yu's good friend E was having her birthday celebration in school on 7 Oct. I decided he should stay for that, i.e. until 4 pm. So we didn't manage to check in early enough to catch 3-5 pm happy hour 30% discount for xlb but we got something better - they had a $10 off $20 discount! 

On the bus to town

This boy couldn't sit still. But he had a lot to say! We talked about the sign on the bus about not standing on the upper deck. He found the hammers and asked about them. He found the no eating/drinking/durians/pets signs and asked about them. I also told him about a real animal crossing on the expressway, not the game that GeGe plays :p When we got home the next day, he told his brothers about it :)

Taking my usual photos of the room at Goodwood Park Hotel and this boy came over, "What is this?"

There's a bathtub!

This says "1906" on the licence plate, 110 years before Yu was born :p

As we walked towards Wisma, this boy was wondering why we were going farrer and farrer further and further from the hotel. He wanted to go back to watch TV! But we got to Wisma alright, and he decided he wanted to try cheese xlb. So we ordered six cheese and six original, plus a bowl of plain noodles. 

While waiting for our food, he was toying with the pen on the order chit and broke the clip! I told him he had to apologise to the uncle.

He looked like this the whole time until uncle came with our food

Mama: Are you worried?

Yu: *nods*

Mama: You have to own up. But it's ok. I will be here with you.

Uncle didn't hear his little voice saying sorry. I repeated for him. Uncle said it's ok! And we had our meal happily :) Yu had six xlb in total and most of the noodles - good for him!

I decided to head to Taka food hall to grab some snacks for the night. Along the way, we bought popcorn as promised. Had wanted to watch a movie but he wasn't keen on my little pony and anyway, the timing didn't work for us... We passed by milk tea and coconut drinks which he didn't want. But he walked straight into a candy store and grabbed a jelly drink. There was a deal so I asked him to get one more for WaiPo.

At the Taka food hall, I bought a couple of croquettes for myself and a stick of meatballs for him. Then I thought of getting underwear for him - his underwear are quite worn for some reason. His brothers' underwear never got that worn! And these were his very own, not handmedowns!

Browsing toys at Isetan after getting the "soft ones" for him - my high-maintenance boy likes his bamboo fabric...

I tried not to rush him. Just let him be. He wanted to pee earlier on so it was a matter of time before he moved, heh :p

We passed by the gelato place right outside Isetan. I offered him ice cream. To my surprise, he took a quick look and declined coz he wanted to go back and have his popcorn.

He discovered the lifts at Far East Plaza

Are you taller than the car? :p

Let him find our room - no pools of water nearby for him to fall into :p

Must use bathtub!!!

And he wanted me in too *.* So I did. But coz big boys and big girls cannot see each other, there would be no more baths together! I can't wait to go onsen again in Japan; Sito can take his boys :p

Time for snacks!

Sito brought back the Pocky from his SHN. His friend E gave him the vitamins. The cake was from the hotel. But nope, we didn't finish everything. Brought the Pocky and most of the popcorn and vitamins home.

First cake this year!

He decided to have his jelly drink before his cake

Then he decided not to have cake. I gave him just one little bite before finally giving him the popcorn - he likes the caramel one so I picked them out for him. 

So small on the king bed!

Joined him in bed after finishing the cake all by myself

He also had chocolate milk

His tummy was very round after all that food!! And he just lay on the bed to watch TV. He's a very quiet audience. Sometimes, I thought he might have fallen asleep but nope, he was still awake... Since it was a staycation, I let him stay up. I had no control over the TV so I watched drama on my phone - lucky I brought glasses and Airpods!

But he wouldn't sleep! He didn't even look tired! Finally, I couldn't take it and said we had to sleep by 11 pm when a cartoon segment ended. So we slept. 

Or rather, he slept. I woke a few times to feet in my ribs. Somehow, he went horizontal. Such a big bed and I had less than one arm's length :(

He woke at 7 plus and asked if it was morning. Sighs, I wanted to sleep in!

Let him watch TV until 9.30 am. Then we went for breakfast.

But check out the pool first :)

Happened to find an ex-colleague at the pool with his kids! Managed a hi before I had to run after Yu who had run off. He had wanted to go to the pool but I guess the TV was a greater draw.

Breakfast time!

Must pose

He had to think about how to pose

But no need to think when it came to playing with bacon swords

He liked the pineapple so we asked for more

He took a picture of me too :)

For some reason, my forehead was shiny... Didn't see this on other photos or in the mirror leh... Anyway, Yu took most of that bacon, a sausage and a slice of toast. After all that fruit, he didn't manage to finish the toast.

Puzzle time!

He would have continued with the TV if I hadn't reminded him that he wanted to bring this. This is quite heavy! We played a few puzzles and went back to the TV until it was time to go. But he decided to go poo when the lift was going down so we went back to the room. And coz there was no potty seat, I squatted in front of him and held his hand - and got a perfect view of his poo dropping into the toilet *.*

On our way to the train station

We read the poster above the reserved seat. He wanted to sit on me to be the baby. But I was carrying a lot of stuff so I told him to carry his bear bear like a baby instead.

Showing me his baby :)

Wanted to get a whole cake but the one he wanted was available only in slices. Mother didn't want a cake anyway so I got a few slices from Pine Garden.

Happy birthday to the 75yo and the 5yo!

I had totally forgotten about it but Yu didn't. He reminded me of the jelly drink so we got it out of the bag and he gave it to WaiPo. So cute to hear him speak Mandarin and so well!

Must have Yakult at WaiPo's place

Then he took over my phone

And made me do funny actions

Then my phone was disabled. When I could use it again, I accidentally hit the wrong key and was locked out again, this time for 15 min! No photos of him playing at the playground...

He wanted to take the train home so we walked to the train station. I had an even heavier load by then coz Mother gave us some biscuits, png kuey and pulut hitam. So sleepy by the time we got to the Downtown Line. Me. He wasn't sleepy at all *.*

But he needed to pee. So I sent him home and went down again to grab ice cream - I promised them ice cream for Children's Day! Also sorry to leave Kai and Yang at home for most of Children's Day, but then again, hard to go out much when we must come home for dinner.

They were all pleased with Magnum mini - who wouldn't? :)

I let them play Nintendo until dinner time so I was too tired *.*

After our date night, I wanted to go peek at Yu on the last day he was four. But I didn't coz we encountered our first big cockroach in this house :( It was above the bookshelf and too high up to reach. I went to bed and dared not come out. Yu came at 2 plus for milk. Hello, 2 plus?! I said no, there's a cockroach outside. In the morning, I learnt that he went to find kakak instead! I was very thirsty before daybreak and found Sito's water in the bedroom instead of coming out to get mine.

So when I next saw him, he was five! Happy birthday!

He asked me sweetly if there would be a delivery (for him). Oh yes! I quickly went to write his name and address and stuck the paper on his present :p When Sito was ready, I pretended to collect something from the door :p

Opening his "delivered" present!

It's a box of magnetic experiments!

He had fun with it; his brothers like it too!

Doughnut cake for the baby!

And so happy to have the five bear bears reunited :))) But only these three weekends, sighs... So milk it! We all went into the pool to play on his birthday - all three like it when we go into the pool with them. Sito became a boat again, and Kai and Yang tried to lift me off the ground in the water; Kai managed to do it.

Yu decided what to have for dinner :p

These two are always playing and talking at meal times. Good to see them have fun with each other but goodness, meal times are way too long!

Yang taught Yu how to hold two magnets with hand in between

Such a sweet smile but Yang wanted to spoil the pic argh...

The grands came over today - just two of them coz of COVID-19 restrictions. They played the new toys for a while after lunch before cake time.

Strawberry cake as requested!

I wasn't in the picture coz helper was out on her rest day. Managed to stand the phone on a tissue box later but little Yu's face was blocked by the candles! :p

With that, we concluded Yu's fifth birthday celebration at home. He'll celebrate with his friends tomorrow. Don't know if I'll get the photos. Will add if I do!

Update 21 Oct 2021

Celebration in school on 11 Oct :)