Legoland once more!

It's finally time for Legoland! Booked this right after our September trip :p

Brought two new bags this time - a very spacious suitcase from Mum and a $5 backpack that could hold three brollies, four bottles, three raincoats, a portable potty and a few more small things! So I didn't pull out our usual old diaper bag.

Very happy with fewer bags this time

Ok, now the trip...

Tuesday, 17 Dec 2019

Hungry Yang looking out from the car

Strawberry sticks for snacks when walking to Legoland

Medini Mall looks quite different now! There are now a few play structures and a new supermarket. And it being December, there were decorations and a merry-go-round. The kids were having fun even before we entered Legoland :)

So fun that Yu refused to leave at the end of the day and got deprived of his phone!

Our first photo since Sea Life was up!

Yu wanted to watch his brothers take the small roller coaster

What's so loud??

Love this photo of Kai! 

This time, Yu decided he wanted to go for Ninjago ride! But once the bad guys came out, he cried out loud!!! I had to hug him and console him by killing off the bad guys hoho! Oops, so evil... But he was super cute!

Our score :)

Yang with Master Wu and Kai

Expressions fuelled by ice cream!

Yu wanted a rainbow paddle pop. Yang wanted a cone. Kai had wanted Magnum but chose a rainbow paddle pop coz it was cheaper - so sensible!

Yu had his first drive!

He had been harping about Junior Driving School since or even before his third birthday. Yang was supposed to teach him but he went elsewhere with Papa and Kai. So I taught him how to turn left and right. But I forgot to teach him how to straighten!! Poor boy crashed a lot... But he also managed one nice turn :)

Later, Yang tried to teach Yu on the way to the driving school again

We took this family shot two years ago too! :)

And Yang wanted a picture here

The whole miniland was decorated with elves! On our third day, when Sito was with Kai, they went around taking pictures of all the elves and won ourselves three Santa hats :)

Yu watched his brothers play Beetle Bounce - while he had his personal Papa Bounce!

Happy on the big choo choo train!

It was kind of drizzling parts of the day. Towards the end, it really rained quite a bit. Luckily we had our brollies! We were already quite fortunate that it didn't pour. Last weekend was so wet that we feared it would rain the whole week!

Whole country was covered with rain clouds on Saturday *.*

We let the kids play at the Medini play area while Sito packed dinner. We settled the kids in the apartment and left for our own dinner!

Black pepper crab!

Also took a picture of the shell to show the kids

We used to play a little game at bedtime where I would cut up a crab and fry it into chilli crab or black pepper crab. So I asked the kids whether they wanted to join us for crab, or just to see crabs. But no, they didn't want. Oh well!

Bought some buns for breakfast the next day, and went for our long-awaited massage! I didn't want a head massage so opted to replace that with an extended back massage. But my back was so ticklish that in the end, all I had was 40 min of shoulder massage! I got so sore I had to tell the guy to stop *.*

Found this on our bed when we got back :D

Wednesday, 18 Dec 2019

This apartment has a minion theme. But it came with two or three penguins and a mega bear. Yu kept hugging those toys - don't know how many pairs of hand have touched those, or how much saliva *.*

The mega bear is bigger than Yu!

His brothers were, however, more drawn to the PS4

Ready, steady, go!

Yu is getting braver - he didn't dare to do the red slide last time :) But he didn't want to try the other kiddy slides again. Perhaps next time...

Finally got a chance to float with Kai! But he bullied me throughout by pouring water all over me! T.T

Kai and Yang tried a new ride!

Sito and I were there too. When it was time to jump, I couldn't do it! I eventually took off though, by leaning forward until there was no way back! I knocked my head a little in the tube and screamed my lungs out..

We had beehoon, fried rice and fried lemon chicken sans sauce for lunch! Love packing food from day 1 dinner :p Then we took a nice nap before heading out for dinner.

Three bears greeted us on arrival

They sold me coffee and donut hoho!

Went to see toys and used a trick I learnt from social media - have them pose with toys they wanted and say we would get them another day! :p

Nerf gun for Kai

Bowling game for Yang

Some random thing for Yu - look at that face!!

Old Optimus Prime for Papa, hoho!

They didn't get all that for Christmas btw, oops... Left for dinner at Astons - well, better than Macs?? - and got them some ice cream at the 7-11 nearby. Then we chanced upon a bouncy castle - unlimited play time for RM10 each. So we let them play and have N watch them while Sito and I explored half of the super big floor.

Root beer float!

Mesmerised with ice skating

My daredevil kids!

Kai fell and rolled off to the padded floor after that - terrible! A fellow mum must have seen them climb later coz when we got back to fetch them, she was putting on shoes for her daughter and said to me, "You three boys, I salute you!" I told Kai 别人看到你们这样都可怜我！He smiled and dashed off...

Calling for a cab - such a cute scene!

We kept having difficulty getter grab cars during this trip. No car or long wait. So that day, we got back quite late. The kids eventually went to bed at about 10 pm!

And then we had our supper while watching 三生三世！

Thursday, 19 Dec 2019

So lucky to have clear skies again! We left earlier to check out the merry-go-round we saw from our window and food options for lunch.

Yu tried the stationary merry-go-round

Yang was also happy

The park entrance was filled with Christmas decor!

How many Lego pieces are there?!

Kai was happily running through the bubbles

Hands in the air as we flew!

Posing at the train station

We split up and were supposed to meet on this stretch. Sito took Kai to the roller coasters while N took Yang to the driving school. But Yu insisted on the train. I saw Sito walk by, looking for us, four times from the time we boarded the train until we got back!

Sito and Kai took pictures of the elves in miniland and got us three Santa hats

Then we had a meltdown. Yang refused to head out for lunch. He cried the whole way. Even the merry-go-round couldn't entice him. I was trying to get a seat and order food first at Old Town but he refused to step in. After much threats and persuasion, we finally sat down together.

It took Mega Man to calm Yang down

Mega Man - the game, not the Papa :p The boys had been playing in the apartment. We ended up getting it as a Christmas present.

Sea Life is great after lunch!

Family starfish with all our names :)

Then I coloured N black crabs with various patterns - creepy stuff :p

Look, Dory! (Too much Finding Nemo :p)

Family shot at the entrance!

Then Kai and Yang went for VR again. Yu wanted to go watch them. While waiting for their turn, he had lots of fun with the water bomb right in front of the VR ride. He saw some people press the button and turn around to take a photo with the victory sign and with the water splashing all over them. So he did a 50% copy - victory sign for a split second and ran away from the water!

The yeah!

The run!

Then we went to the playground. Kai was very sweet to his brothers. I asked him to take care of his brothers in the structure. He agreed, saying that he himself got lost in there before - he remembered while I had forgot! Then when Yu was afraid of a rope bridge, Kai went back to get him. Yang also said he was scared, so Kai went to get him too! But after a couple of rounds, he didn't bother anymore *.*

Kai holding Yu across

Kai holding Yang across

Somehow he started doing his concert dance moves on the observation tower...

Time to race their own cars!

It was so difficult to get the kids away from the racing place. And it was yet another challenge to get them out of the park! We had to pass through a large part of the park before the exit and of course we had to take the choo choo train so that they could have some gummy bears...

Yang mesmerised with the video

Kai left with Sito to help pack dinner while Yang and Yu were watching a performance on stage

Dinner was Korean! Instead of BBQ, we had hotpot :) Then we bought some small gadgets at a new gadget shop on our way to massage..

Sito tried cupping and fire treatment this time!

Friday, 20 Dec 2019

Very soon, it was our last day...

Did the fire engine

Yu decided to just play Lego while his brothers played Ninjago

“老爷爷！”

Yang is always the most coordinated boy

Yang and Yu wanted to watch the splash but Yu was hiding behind me

We were back at the playground with the rope bridge when Yu peed in his pants! He had too much fun and forgot to pee. I also forgot to remind him :( So this is now the Yang poopoo playground and the Yu peepee playground!!

Wearing my scarf as a sarong all the way home!

Thought of pulling out old pants from the suitcase but in the end, I didn't bother :p I must remember to bring this useful piece of fabric everywhere!

And now, I shall plan for the March trip! :)

A new sleep routine

We used to watch funny videos, i.e. three minutes of YouTube Kids video per kid, and go into the bedroom by 8 pm. In the past couple of weeks, I decided that I'd had enough of all their nonsense for some 30-40 minutes when we got into the bedroom - jumping around, jumping on me, throwing toys, basketball with my hands as hoops, balancing game, throwing game, guji game, ninja games, don't know what game!

I wouldn't mind if it was just one or even two or three of the above. But often, they wanted to do multiple things, and it was so hard to get them to settle down and turn off the light. By that night, all of them wanted me to lie down with them individually.

So we started a new thing. Or rather, I started it coz they were still asking to play games sometimes. This new thing is that, we will go in and put all the toys nicely, and turn off the light immediately. Then, I'll take turns to lie down with them individually.

We already have a sequence for who gets to choose funny videos first - Kai on Monday, then Yang then Yu; Yang on Tuesday, then Yu then Kai, etc. So we use that to decide who should turn off the light (yes, they even fight about that!) and who would get me first.

They are used to the part about turning off the light. But in the beginning, they kept disturbing their brothers while waiting for their turn or even after they'd had their turn. I used a little chant to make them go back to bed: 大乌龟，中乌龟，小乌龟，谁没有躺在自己床上的就是乌龟！It was 自己的枕头 at first but Kai brought his pillow along so I had to change it. But I think this is starting to lose its effect coz Kai said, "What's wrong with being a 乌龟??"

After a couple of weeks, I noticed a change in the past week. They disturbed their brothers less often. They seem to now understand that they will get their turn. I hope that after some time, they will be happy to wait for their turn. Even the baby who keeps wanting to lie on my belly like he did when he was a tinier baby.

As it's now school holidays, I also hope Kai can sleep in more. But they continued to wake very early. So I also started a star reward system. They get two stars if they wake after 7 am and one if they wake after 6.30 am; nothing before that. It works to some extent!

I also offer one star to Yu if he can stay in his bed the whole night. So far not working *.* Before this, I threatened to take away his funny video if he came to my bed. So after losing a couple of funny videos, he started coming to get me to go to his bed instead! So smart... Boss advised me to use reward system so I changed. He is still telling me, "But I like you..." I melt.. Shall see how this works out. Maybe it just takes a little more time for this baby to grow up :)

10 years since our last dance!

Think we haven't had time to go back dancing since our wedding dinner. We said we would go back as seniors, hoho!

My nose started dripping on Wednesday. I slept early and didn't wait for Sito to return. When we met in the morning, he was feeling unwell too. So we cancelled our BBQ lunch and went to Ritz Carlton for lunch instead - we called and couldn't get a seat but we got lucky when we just walked in!

We started with seafood. So many crab legs! But we are old already - couldn't eat much. And Sito's nose started dripping too. So we grabbed a cab home to sleep.

The place was lovely but we blocked it :p

Kai took a photo of me sleeping

I napped on the sofa so that Sito could get more rest - Kai was very noisy!

We used to take more leave in December to nua. Nowadays with Legoland, we nua less and play more. Looking forward to more date nights!

First week of part-time

An article from 2012, Why Women Still Can’t Have It All, showed up in my feed last month and I took some time to finish reading it.

Flexible work arrangements are helpful but not a solution on its own. I‘m fortunate to have flexible hours for the longest time so that I can send/fetch the kids and do dinner and bedtime with them.

But FWAs are scratching the surface - I still clocked 55-57 work hours most weeks, more than my sleep; the kids still didn't get enough of me coz it was a rush on weekdays and I was mostly too tired on weekends; Kai had zero human interaction when he was home alone with helper and he told me only two Saturday nights ago that kakak ignored him on weekdays.

Last Monday, I started working part-time - 8 am to 2 pm every day. But I started on Monday leaving the office at 5 pm coz of a pre-scheduled meeting with partners. I decided to go since it would be my last time chairing that meeting. I was on leave on Thursday. By the end of Friday, I found that I had worked 29 hours - just one hour shy of my 30 hours for a full week.

I'm still doing handover so I give myself a bit more time to settle into part-time. My colleagues have been most supportive. Let's see whether this is sustainable.

On the home front, I'm happy to report that I managed to read a long-ish story to Kai on Tuesday. He wasn't terribly pleased with this activity but a couple of days later, he told me that he read that story again on his own and he liked it!

Even better, I came back today to find him reading another story on his own. While I was changing, I heard him exclaim, "Oh!" from the book. A short while after I sat down next to him with my own book, he told me that he was reading silently just like me. I'm so proud of him :)

Secretly took a picture of him :p

Last Wednesday, I didn't go home straight away; I went to fetch Yang back. Waited a bit coz he was halfway through his tea and took some time to finish sugarcane juice which he didn't like. We went home to practise some songs coz we missed two consecutive lessons due to his tummy ache and concert.

He did well despite close to three weeks of no playing :)

We had some fun at the coffeeshop playground in the evening before I fetched Yu home. Hope to do outdoor every day :)

Came back early enough to play after dinner and shower!

Brought Kai to try the new bubble tea downstairs and had him pick a lot for fun

He said he doesn't know Chinese but hey, there's English!

The Chinese version is better haha!

Today, we went downstairs to play scooter. Rather, he was scooting around while I was doing arm exercises with his water bottle as weight. Hope to exercise more now that I have more time!

And I no longer dread 9 pm. In fact, I love my nights now. Look, I'm writing happy stuff instead of emails and slides! Heh... I would fall asleep with the boys but I think it's good that Yu doesn't need me to lie down next to him in order to fall asleep now. Anyway, I had a cold last Wednesday to Friday so I scooted out of their room asap to avoid getting too cold.

It's wonderful to spend time with the boys without work at the back of my mind. Actually, it's there but the psychology of part-time is quite different from that of full-time. We set expectations from the beginning. Keep to the hours. Keep performing. Don't expect high performance grades. Part-time allows me to truly compartmentalise my life.

Time spent with Kai in the afternoon isn't the most productive of time. Sometimes, he wants to just play on the laptop. Like this afternoon. So I packed for Legoland - something I could do on weekends too. But when he called me, I was there to listen to all the Candy Crush moves. I could tell that he liked it. And he pretty much told me so when he suddenly told me he loved me while we were waiting for the lift :)