Yang's shin scrape aside, September was off to a good start.
Now, I have been watching lots of short reels on Facebook lately. Short funny clips from PRC and Malaysia, food, renovation, kids and pets. Recently, I started getting clips of a psychologist sharing on parenting. I couldn't get enough! I think some points rubbed off on me in ways that Triple P Online couldn't. Maybe it was all in Mandarin and these days, we have a new rule that we must use Mandarin whenever I'm in the same room. I have been very happy to be able to apply those parenting tips!
On Teachers' Day, we had Yakun for breakfast. Yu asked to go to the Pokemon machines and gave me a cute pouty face. Light bulb moment - tell them something nice. I told them that I find it hard to say no whenever they are cute and 乖 :) How do I know this works? Kai laughed. He can be very cynical but he laughed. And he rallied his brothers to be cute so ok, let's go to the Pokemon machines!
Honestly though, I didn't expect many people to be there given the hour. But it was a school holiday! Alas, the machines were out of disks so no one was there. Interestingly, no complaints. I let them walk around the machines for a while and asked them to go to the supermarket with me. COMPLIANT!
As usual, Kai helped with the basket. Yang and Yu put vegetables and milk into the basket. Yu even pulled in a second bottle of milk coz "you always buy two right?" So cute. We stood in front of the fish for a while before getting our last item and paying. They took turns to scan the items, with Kai scanning twice coz he helped with the basket. His brothers agreed! And, no one requested to buy snacks!
Made a collage for the morning :)
MOE distributed a bottle of insect repellant to all kids lately. Yu got his first. Then Kai added his bottle on the shelf. Yang made a space in between for his, which took a long time to reach him. He was so pleased to finally get it!
Yang often holds his repellant in his hands!!!
But such sprays aren't very kid-friendly. One day, Yu tried to spray on his arms and ended up spraying some into his eyes! Yang was with him and brought him to the kitchen sink coz - thankfully - he had read the small print on what to do should some get into eyes! We helped Yu wash his eyes like crazy. Poor boy.
Suddenly, Yu is big enough to reach the "bell" in the playground downstairs?!
Let them run about in the playground and scoot about for a while before we left for our first mid autumn festival activity this year.
Kai discovered Beyblade marks and rallied his brothers to clean up - thanks!
So he got very hungry? Emptied his beef udon and finished up much of Yu's curry rice!
And September holidays started, woohoo! But this also meant the start of revision for Kai... We had a good mix of studying and fun, I think...
We went out on only two days. On Tuesday, we watched a movie - Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank. Yang chose it coz we saw the trailer back in June. We went past AhMa's place to pass her some mooncakes. Kai got his 9-cube before we went to Lido. Maybe coz it was a morning show, we were the only three in the theatre!
Popcorn is a must
Solved that very evening
He was just sitting there quietly working the cube. This boy can stay still and quiet if he wishes to, which isn't often!! *.*
Ended the day with Home Alone 2 so Yu got a movie in as well!
Self check-in available!
Papers for them, book for me
I minimised housework to the necessary during school holidays, i.e. bathrooms, floors and laundry. Which means dusty bookshelves and tabletops etc *.*
On Friday, we went to the Singapo 人 exhibition. I had wanted to go in June but couldn't fit it in somehow. Must go for anything Chinese!!
First, pizza for lunch - two for Kai and one for Yang
These kids really 走马看花 *.* Had to grab them and hold them still if I wanted to show them anything!! I like this place. Lots to read and play. And the IT here is very fun!
Game like Cooking Mama but is more like kopi boy, you know...
This huge touchpad is very fun and interactive! Kai was just playing though *.*
The disk collected info on us as we answered quizzes along the way - I was an observer; the kids - not accurate :p
There was an exhibition on dialects upstairs so we went there too. It was very fun! Again, I was the only one reading *.*
But Yang posed for me :)
I love this!
Lay leo! Haha!
We went to Maxwell hawker centre for a promised drink. CDC vouchers paid for their apple juice while I had rojak all by myself. The best rojak ever! Why did I never discover this when working in the area years back??!
It was way past 5 pm when we finally got Yu. Went to Shilifang for dinner. The kids saw my stamp card and asked if they could get a toy. The lady was very nice - she checked the stamps, said we could get two but she gave us three and asked us to return soon!
My sweet Kai holding his Ultraman
These two monkeying around too
With that, we said bye to the holidays and hi to the last term of the year, woohoo! Exam term, cry... I cry, not Kai...!
This is also the beginning of the end for child care. I'll be glad though! Been in the child care system since Dec 2012 and this is the first time I heard of herpangina. Like HFMD but in the mouth only. What a name! And painful ulcers sounds horrid.
Fancy attire to school for activities, via the recycling bin :p
Crackers soaked in Milo? Definitely my boy!
But he needs to eat more!! How about ribs? :p
Every day when they come home, it's loud, messy, playful, sometimes funny
Sito and I have been overeating since the week before
Mid Autumn Festival - New Ubin Seafood, then Beng Hiang, then Oppa BBQ, i.e. three consecutive weeks! Oppa BBQ happened after the Science Centre.
Yu's turn to like this :)
Fortune telling which direction to go
Yang was the first to do the fortune telling thing but I didn't manage to capture a shot. He let go of the section of pool noodle and.... it stood upright! Hilarious!!!!
The four who give me grief in real toilets, cleaning fake toilets
Kai: You are not scared, you just want to be carried right???
He was scared la... =(
Later, we had to convince him to watch a show on engineering coz he was afraid it would be scary. Sweetie pie - come let brave Papa carry!
Testing reaction time - Sito said it was siong!
We spent three hours at the Science Centre. Very tiring for the parents. The kids were energetic and running about. Time for some Oppa BBQ!
They experienced hotel buffet breakfast before where they got their own food but that was too long ago, pre-COVID. So this was like their first time at a buffet where they really helped themselves to the juices! Every so often, one or more boys would bring a cup to get more juice. Or they would follow Papa to get more meat. I showed Kai that there was rice and he took some for himself. They had so much fun! In particular, Kai was smiling so much :)
Cooking prawns which they did not eat *.*
They all tried their hands at cooking one meat or another. Kai and Yang also wolfed down quite a bit of meat.
Happy boys!
Kai's new creation - very carb heavy!
What are they chatting about?
I love to see them walk together :)
Sito and I had to massage our legs when we got back. I whipped out the portable machine from JY - so shiok... The kids also dropped off to dreamland very quickly...
The next day saw us get back late as well - went to Ikea and walked through all the rooms! Kai broke a container in a bathroom so we waited a while for the staff to attend to it. Sito talked to them about this in the car on our way home. Don't know how much went in...
Yang was posing :p
He told me to take again, with another book :)
The three of them wanted to carry the mattress pad *.*
Unrolled it that very night to slot under the covers for the upper bunk bed to make it more comfortable. Kai said it helped, yay!
September did not end too well, with
four of us down with flu. After Kai and Yang went back to school, Yu stayed home until Friday to nurse his cough. That's after spending one week home to avoid herpangina (what a name!) which is similar to HFMD. A mild fever returned on Wednesday and Thursday, and he was quite lethargic. He even came over to sleep with me on Thursday night, as he felt unwell. Poor thing.
He didn't eat well for days. On Friday, when
I was very stressed, I snapped when he refused his lunch after two bites again. He sobbed silently :( Later, I apologised when he was playing games on the iPad. He continued to look down but I saw him wipe a tear off! I also wanted to cry with him!
Playing with book bugs cards on his own
He also borrowed ebooks on the iPad to read. Always the same few read-along books but he likes them. This week, the kids have been reading more coz we got two new Real Pigeons books last weekend! They even pulled out the old books to read.
Arranging his babies nicely
Ninja! He said :)
That was a 10yo piece of cloth, I think. One of those square towels from Ikea that I bought when Kai was an infant. Thanks to the auntie at the mixed rice stall, I started pulling a towel between the crook of my arm and my baby's neck so any sweat was quickly drawn away, keeping us dry and comfortable.
I kept them aside once Yu stopped breastfeeding but brought them out again when the school changed from showering to wiping down after Covid appeared in our lives. Now it's used for the occasional wipe-down at home when they're feverish or sweaty.
Playing simplified mastermind
Oh ya, he was in PJs past few days when he was lethargic. Great for nua-ing on sofa! Changed him out yesterday evening as we went out for dinner. He was also sweaty after a nap. Anyway, he finally ate more! Had Torigo downstairs. I think the regular staff remembers us now - the family with kids who want apple juice. We took two of their last three cans yesterday! Kai now wants coke *.*
So September is gone now. Kai has gone through oral exams. The next month will be the remaining papers. All viruses, stay away!
