An honest boy

You know the story - a boy found something somewhere and returned it to is rightful owner, earning him the title. I've written a super uncreative version of it back in primary school. And this week, I was reminded of this because of my very honest boy.

It was Monday morning when I was ill. I was in a tee that covered beyond my hips and wearing a pair of culottes that hugged my hips. ZK came into the room after he got changed. Somehow we ended up squatting on the floor. And his honesty shone through:

ZK: 妈妈有 tummy! *poking at my muffin top*
mf: .... 是的。ZK 有没有 tummy 呢？
ZK: No... *looking down at his belly*
mf: 有！每个人都有 tummy！Neh! *rubbing his belly*

T_T

But he redeemed himself the very next day. I just got changed and came out of the room to check on him as he was still having breakfast. He saw me and went, "nice!"

Nice Mama, even without makeup (but I put on makeup for the photo :p)

So honest, right? :)

Play time!

LS reminded me of my childhood.

There was just one basket of toys. It was a big basket, bigger than the pails of stuff from 中元节 celebrations but smaller than the ones you put durians in, if these are any indications!! Anyway, we used to pour all the toys on the floor to play as the basket was too deep to reach in for buried items. I remember a sense of panic that I would never be able to put everything back, hmmm..

I no longer remember everything that was inside the basket. I remember a fake Barbie, some buckets and spades etc, and the rest were probably Happy Meal toys. At some point, we were fighting over Lego bricks handed down from some far relatives. There was also a wooden piano that I loved. And a dog the size of a primary school kid that was on display until Mother started taking care of someone else's kid!

Our kids are much more fortunate - ZK has rail tracks, a police station and a car park at home in addition to a box of toys and some soft toys on his bed, and a whole drawer of cars and buses and construction trucks at Mum's place, among others. ZY has inherited some toys from his brother and he also has a few new items.

But I think ZK's favourite toy is any smart phone. He'll look for the YouTube app, click on it, and ask for "bus" if there isn't already a screen full of videos of bus. I no longer remember how it started but I really regret that day!! Yes, the phone is super useful when he's cranky but I always worry for his eyes and even more importantly, his range of activities.

A case of 上梁不正？*.*

Two Fridays ago when the centre was closed, we went to Mother's place. There were few toys and I didn't whip out my phone. But ZK remembered the boxes and the dog from the last trip there, and I was amazed at how they occupied him for two hours.

Repeatedly opening and closing and stacking the three Russian doll boxes

In the past couple of months, he has been using the vitamin bottles in his toy box at home to make food for us - mooncake, cake, strawberry cake, and even blueberries! He'll bring the bottles to us to taste and answer when we ask him what they contain. We can also order food from him. It was like how we used to play cooking - I loved frying char kway teow using bricks as food and a kiddy chair as a wok, as the latter resembled the setup at my favourite char kway teow stall next to Grams' provision shop! Nowadays I see people selling toy kitchen sets - they would be so enviable if they don't rob kids of the chance to learn how to improvise and be creative with limited resources!

Bear Bear and friends, enjoy your cake while I figure out this skateboard...

We talked about peeing or pooing at some point, and it somehow led to the dog needing the potty! And the biggest box from the makeshift kitchen turned into a potty!

狗狗 shhh shhh...

Because the dog is anatomically the same as ZK!!!

ZK remembered the fish; even ZY was entralled...

I have been observing what occupies ZK besides the obvious phone. He can stay occupied for a longer time at Mum's place on Sundays than at home. I think he only likes his vehicles - so boy *.* He'll move them around, make the trucks crash, move the bus away and sit on his bed, waiting for the bus to arrive, ferry Mr Bean around in the bus. He even brings his excavator and dump truck into the shower!

I'm trying to expand his range of activities at home. He asks for colouring paper and a pen - yes, a pen, not crayons! - sometimes to draw elephants (a stick) or write abc (also sticks), or have us draw buses for him. So I've printed some animal outlines for him to try colouring :)

I draw circle (it was an oval partly hidden by his hand but, getting there!)

Colouring with Papa at Jamie's Italian - killed a few crayons *.*

And I went to Popular the other day to get some materials - planning a little craft session on Sunday morning! :)

One of his last works from playgroup

Our little handyman copying AhYe fixing his toys!

I also hope to get him outdoor more often too. We spend too much time in the malls *.* The other day, we were at Vivocity when it was drizzling just a teeny bit. He walked into the rain accidentally and was a little surprised. He soon got over that though! I recall a video of a child in winter gear, sitting on a grass patch in a light rain, putting mud into his mouth and spitting it out! He was in a childcare centre in I think Copenhagen - that was a study trip my colleagues went on back in October 2007. To them, that's part of exploration. I won't go as far - mud leh!! - but rain is fine. Just need to dry him.

Happy in a slight drizzle at Vivocity

Play for the little brother is limited to his gym and play mat. He can spend a long time at the baby gym, pulling and chewing on the rattles hanging above his head. Sometimes, he falls asleep :p Just now, I also placed Jigajung next to him to encourage him to flip over to get it. No luck even though he can turn all the way to his right already. Oh well, I can wait.

I have switched from the sling to the baby carrier. He isn't too ready for front facing so he's just looking around left and right when in the carrier. Sometimes he faces forward and up, and smiles at me :) Can't wait to carry him facing out so that he can see the world!

I'm not feeling well (again!) - left work at lunch yesterday. Still sneezing away now. Hopefully I can get better by afternoon so that we can go out somewhere in the evening! Time for play, my boys!

First late night out since forever!

AY who worked on the film invited us for the premiere last Thursday, 4 Dec 2014, which was also the opening of the Singapore International Film Festival.

Our tickets for "The Crossing" - 太平轮, part 1

Mum came over to help with the kids as I needed to leave the house at about 7.30 pm to meet Sito for dinner - we had Macs at Lido, hoho! And then it was red carpet time!

Us first, while waiting for stars to show up

Zhang Ziyi showed up first - she's so pretty!

mf: We're both in red but, omg, she's so pretty!
Sito: You're pretty too, just different..

:)

Then John Woo, his wife and his daughter joined her on stage. We couldn't hear very well so we left shortly to get to the cinema.

The stage outside Lido

We were heading for the ticketing area after a trip to the toilet when we realised that Zhang Ziyi was headed our way! We stood aside as the entourage went by - she's really so pretty! :)

We found Sito's friend back at the ticketing area, and got our wristband to get into the guest area. Sito had a champagne - just nice as a celebration of his work stuff that day but being the breastfeeding mama that I am, I had a sip of some gross orange liquid *.*

My wristband, taken downstairs on the way home

Soon AY came over and passed us our tickets. Chatted and waited quite a while there and outside the theatre before the doors opened way after the stated time - there was another premiere, "Unlucky Plaza".

The director's family and Tong Dawei on stage in the theatre before the movie started

"The Crossing" was a love story set in the late 1940s during China's civil war. I liked the love story part more than the battles but I must admit the latter gave meaning to the former. There were a number of characters and despite the short duration of two hours, they were all given depth. And it was not all serious battles and soapy love tales. I particularly liked a scene of three soldiers from two sides sharing a roast rabbit in the forest!

It was, what, 1.00 am when we got home?? So what happened to the kids in between? Well, I kept checking the cameras when we were outside!

ZK had a field day, non-stop videos on our bed! *.*

He eventually got tired and went to bed at 8 plus, phew! But ZY cried and Y brought him to our bed to avoid waking ZK. I saw him there before the movie started and texted Y to make sure he was placed away from the edge.

A littler boy on our bed - and I love our cameras!

I think the last time I came home after midnight was before ZK was born! Goodness... Think I can't do this anymore - the next day after we returned from dinner, I was knocked out soon after I cleaned up, totally KO-ed!

A very tired FTWM

The past month has been tough - I started work and lost my daytime naps, but night duties continue unabated. In fact, the past two weeks were hell cos ZY suddenly went from one night feed to multiple night feeds!

The second Wednesday after I started work was the ultimate. I was lying next to ZK while he watched some videos after his shower, which was very usual. But I dozed off and only woke when I heard ZY in the next room. I went to settle ZY but guess what? I dozed off there! I came to at about 9 pm and ZK was asleep in his bed *.* I learnt from Y the next morning that ZK went in on his own. As for me, well, I went back to my room and was dead to the world until ZY cried in the middle of the night. I didn't even hear Sito come home.

One day, I decided to have some chicken essence to keep me up at night else I couldn't do work or other stuff at night. Guess what? I still passed out early that night :(

The past week plus was worse due to a running nose. Probably because I dozed off in the kids' room without a blanket and caught a chill. When I got well, Sito came down. And as he got better, I succumbed again! This afternoon was so bad, so bad... I'm better now after some medicine and ginger tea. Wondering if I should drag my sorry ass to work tmr... Maybe I should just work from home and nap during lunch..

I don't recall being this tired when I returned to work after ZK. Must be age *.*

All those pregnancy things...

I have been pretty tired and/or busy after starting work so this took some time - started writing this way back...

I thought I should make a list of the weird pregnancy things - weird as in not just your usual morning sickness or belly being kicked out of shape; weird as in, well, things you don't think much about before pregnancy but are actually pregnancy-related..

1) Ulcers

Remember those darn ulcers of mine while I was pregnant with ZY? Well, they are long gone. They reduced drastically in the days before delivery and after delivery? They disappeared. Good riddance! I thought of going back to the oral surgeon after ZY was born if they persisted but well, I guess they really were due to pregnancy hormones!

2) Not silent, thankfully not deadly too

Just like after ZK was born, I was farting madly. Ok, perhaps less madly than two years ago since I was probably not contracting as well as before, but still, I was super gassy for the first two months plus after delivery. It was not uncommon to hear ZK go "mama 屁屁" *.*

3) The other exhaust

But at least I could more or less control farts. I could not control, um, queefing *.* Thankfully I was less gassy than two years ago like I said, and it was (usually!) quiet.

4) My royal hairiness

I realised some time in late pregnancy with ZY or shortly after delivery that the hair on my calves was near non-existent. I could see only two or three on each calve. I was of course very pleased :)

But reently, I thought the two or three were getting a tad too long for my liking so I took a razor to my calves. Three days later, there was hair all over my calves, wth?! I felt retarded for shaving.

(Might as well go into funny parenthood things:)

5) Potty business

I always know I'll be wiping butts. Cute butts but still, butts full of shit with the possibility of rain projectile pee. But there are related things I didn't know:

a) I'll be smelling butts too *.* possibly shitty butts or clean butts but with the possibility of a smelly fart just as the nose goes near!!

b) Poop can go all the way up the back, very common for ZK

c) Poop can also leak from the diaper to the floor, and sometimes through the mama's skirt, as had happened with ZY

d) Someone should provide outsourcing service for potty training.. How do you make a kid who doesn't want to go in the potty go in the potty?! ZK is fine with pee but not poo.

6) The sleep struggle

I always know I'll be lacking sleep, but I didn't know I'll be this sleep deprived! With ZK, I had to sling him to nap for a long time. Then it would take two hours to make him nap only to have him wake an hour or less later - still happens sometimes! ZY can just doze off on the playmat - oh my angel! - but there are days and nights when he simply can't stay asleep, sighs..

Oh wait, that's not funny...

Um, how about there were days in ZY's early days when I would do things half asleep only to wake shortly after and find myself confused? Once, I suddenly found myself changing him at the changing table, with no idea how I got there or whether he had had milk before that - I record his nursing sessions but sometimes I forget to hit the start button. Another time, I woke up to find him on the bed with me, asleep after nursing while lying down, but I couldn't remember ever picking him up to nurse at all!

Ok, that's not funny either - that's downright scary!

7) Breastfeeding rocks - sometimes...

No period! Need I say more? :p

But breastfeeding doesn't always mean:

a) no period or spotting - Mother said she had her period after the first month every time despite direct latching us. I keep spotting the first two months with ZY - gynae said it's normal.

b) no fertility - Read the forums. So many people become pregnant while breastfeeding!

c) you'll lose weight - I have found it to be debatable.. It worked very well the first time; it isn't working very well now!! Moral of the story - don't binge while pregnant *.*

I knew I would be pumping but I didn't know pumping would be such a drag! It's a love-hate relationship. I stopped pumping two months after starting work with ZK. I started pumping earlier this time hoping to stash more milk away. I want to give ZY full breastmilk for as long as possible but I also want to stop pumping asap. So now the freezer is full of milk! Would have been fuller but the past couple of weeks, ZY has been waking more at night and wouldn't go down without a go at his milk milk so I'm all flat in the morning, nothing to pump!

Updated 28 Dec 2014

8) "Big ones"

I saw a remark next to the diaper change section in ZY's daily sheet in school - "big one", referring to his bowel movements. That's normal since this boy doesn't poop every day. But the "big one" I hear about the rest of the time refers to something else altogether - ZK's snot, and ZK has a lot of green snot!

I believe I crossed another parenting milestone when I dug out lots of green bits from his nose. Not the first time I did this but last time, it was all dry and not as much. Not a pretty feeling *.* But he won't let me take them out with a cotton bud or tissue so...

Under one roof for five years :)

We last danced on 5 Dec 2009 at our wedding :)

This year, we took leave to go out - just the two of us :) But before that, check out what's on my office desk!

Oink! Meh! Moo!

First flowers from Sito since Kellogg :) It's not practical - we both know - but it's still such a sweet gesture! And a surprise no less - normally I don't return missed calls from unknown numbers but I found three missed calls on my phone on Thursday from a mobile number so I called back. The deliveryman very unromantically told me that he called many times to deliver flowers from my hubby hoho! He came to the office at lunch time, of course no receptionist to open the door la!

I contemplated bringing it back but it was too heavy so I left it on my desk - to show off, as colleague AT suggested. Colleague CSL said, "是传说中的 Sito 送的吗？" ^.^

On Friday, we were on our way to Daiso when we saw that there was a M1 distributor shop in ION. Time to redeem Sito's present!

Made this e-voucher for Sito when he complained about his dying phone some days ago

He's now playing with his new Samsung Galaxy Note 4, right next to his elder son who's watching kiddy videos on YouTube *.*

Lunch at Sushi Ichi

It was a 16-course lunch! It was a mix of items from the chef counter and the kitchen. We had tofu skin to start with - silky soft and yummy. Then we had flower crab with some vinegar sauce, served with a bamboo chunk, a tomato wedge and edamame.

The crab meat was nicely placed in a shell - no crabby fingers!

Flounder sashimi for wrapping the onions and chilli, to be dipped in soy sauce

Conch sashimi and chutoro were next - the Japanese chef showed us an empty conch shell when he saw that we didn't understand him!

Next from the kitchen, we have this wonderful platter that we were supposed to eat from left to right. The wagyu was amazing!

Crab and ikura, wagyu, prawn, pepper tempura, gingko nuts on some fish, and sweet potato

The next item was also from the kitchen - shark's fin atop some fish or crab, forgot :p Then the sushi started! We had snapper, abalone and bluefin tuna, served one after the other. The abalone was unlike others I've had before - I don't really like abalone but this one was yummy!

Chirashi with gold flakes! And I had uni for the first time!

The soup came in a tall soup cup, not too salty. And then we were ready for more sushi!

Ootoro! It melted lor *drool at the thought*

Chef Keisuke Ohno at work - we like him, such a nice and friendly chap :)

We were getting full by then but there were still Japanese tiger prawn, eel, tamago and some gourd thing. We were very full in the end...

But there's still space for Japanese fruits! So sweet!

That was such a good lunch. The service was impeccable - the lady saw me reaching for my tissue in my bag which was in a basket behind my chair, and came over with a box of tissue serviettes. The staff also changed our cups every time instead of refilling them. Ya, it was the most expensive meal for us both so far but this was the perfect day for splurging, not? :)

But we were late for our movie, not that we missed much la, we realised. Watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1. That was our second movie in less than a day - more of the first movie later...

Then Sito went to check out Kinokuniya while I went to Daiso :p When we met again, we signed up for ION rewards and claimed a free Magnum from the Magnum booth. But it had champagne so I had just a teeny bit...

Went to fetch the kids together - ZK was happy to see us and ZY didn't know a thing haha!

With the kids settled for the night - which means ZY sleeping and ZK happy with videos *.* - we set off for our dinner at Swee Choon!

Outdoor seating with Sito on the sunny side and me on the "rainy" side - those darn aircon!

It was such an amazing dinner! We had so much! And we had this new thing we never had before - mee sua cake - and it was so good!! We didn't feel too full also, which was good. And at $45, it was about 5% of the cost of our lunch!

Jalan Besar is quite an interesting area, we thought. So we took the opportunity to walk around. And soon, we found ourselves relaxing on a chair having foot reflexology hoho! Well, we parked at Jalan Besar Plaza - per entry $1.50 so might as well make full use of it! We got home by 10.30 pm or so. We could really get used to having the convenience of a car - otherwise, we'll just hang around town area.

We got home to find the kids still sound asleep. And very soon, we were too haha! Old already, cannot tahan consecutive late nights.. But somewhere in Orchard that day, we thought it was like our dating days again, with us both younger and walking hand-in-hand :) (as opposed to taking one kid each!)

We could do this again :)

November is a happy month!

My boys have both grown so much while I was at work...

My little ZY turns five months today! :)

Recently, he has been pulling at his clothes - see, so sexy!

He's lifting his legs a lot more, especially when he's lying down, so he'll spin clockwise on his bed. One night, I heard him stir and turned on the camera to look straight into his face, which meant he had dropped off the bed! I rushed in to find him curled up on the floor between the two beds, head resting against his bed and legs stopped by ZK's bed such that he was facing the camera *.*

Attracted by Jigajung, he spins - lifts legs to his right, drops legs with a thump!

Tried unsuccessfully to capture a video of him flipping from front to back on 15 November - he stopped doing it when I started filming! A week later on 23 November at Mum's place, he flipped from front to back a couple of times. This was taken when I was trying to catch a video of him flipping:

I can hold my head up high now!

Later, he was trying very hard to flip when on his back. I decided to turn him to his left instead since he was always turning to his right. But I must have turned too hard - he managed to flip onto his front!! But that was with my getting the ball rolling so I'd watch out for when he does it himself.... Anyway, I took a short video of him flipping back onto his back:

Baby ball!

I attended a course last Monday and Tuesday and had two little cups of tea each day - my first full portion tea since 30-something weeks of pregnancy! I was worried of the effect of caffeine and I might be right - ZY kept waking up soon after going to bed in the evening, every five to 10 minutes for a good hour or so! Sito said it would take about a week for the caffeine to go away, and indeed, he went to sleep yesterday and stayed asleep for hours. Ok, so now I know, a couple of sips of bubble milk tea is fine - guilty of two or three sips so far! - but a cup of tea is not!

Found him asleep on his gym mat after I dolled up for work

ZY even wanted to stand! He can hold some weight on his legs now :)

Papa, I'm standing on soft ground!

I've heard many compliments on ZY's eyes. Mum said when he smiles, they became moon crescents. Tok once told me the same thing about my eyes - so ZY has my eyes? :))))

Sleepy eyes having fun with his bolster - his new and effective sleep companion

小马哥 likes his 小马！

And the big boy? We can carry out a conversation now :) That is, if he's not distracted by Apple - and I don't mean the fruit *.* Last Sunday, he wanted to watch Lion King on the Mac and refused to go to the potty. But he was in his underwear so he leaked a little on the chair and finished up in the shower when Sito washed him!

ZK didn't smile as much as ZY when he was an infant. But now he smiles easily :)

We haven't had much luck with potty training unfortunately. He's still not consistent. And he doesn't want to poo in the potty! But his lead teacher told me he asked to pee in the toilet and he did! She snapped a photo of him :)

Was this after he peed on Mum's sofa?? Forgot already..

We had vast improvements on the sleep front. So he has been coming in every night, and when he comes in, we have to turn out the lights else he can't sleep. But point is, he sleeps!

I need to be sheltered from the light..

(He got up five seconds after this photo!)

So he has started going to sleep on his own since my first Thursday at work. Sometimes, it still takes quite a bit of coaxing. Sometimes, he'll say "Mama, no more做工 :(" and insist on my presence. Sometimes, he keeps popping out to coax me in. But I think we're getting there. Except for naps *.*

Mama! :(

He eventually woke and came into our room. Luckily, he fell asleep again. Unluckily, I had to curl into an L with my legs dangling off the bed at the bottom left of the bed.

Spare a bit of space for Mama leh... :(

They never think of me, bleah! Though this is one cute scene :)

8 November - the day he finally wore and used his child concession card! Bought a Doraemon lanyard for his birthday this year but he wasn't tall enough to get a card yet then.

Papa, I'm over 90 cm now, you know?

We came back to our neighbourhood and decided on some ice cream at Wendy's! We had to eat quickly so ZK didn't eat too much *.*

I want I want I want ice cream!

So do I!

We had a parent-teacher conference two weeks ago. Generally good comments - kaypoh boy likes to correct other kids on how to hold crayons "like this!" :p And he likes to sing for his classmates so now we always get him to sing for us.

Singing in his diapers...

Got him to make faces too!

He has done better, especially his surprised face, but he was distracted by my camera... There's another video of him at his "stage", singing for us but that's rather long...

So the teachers said he's ready for N1! I thought he was going to N1 next year but it's next week! As tmr is centre closure day, today was his last day in playgroup, awww... But many of his classmates will go to N1 with him.

Picking up toys with his friends at the end of the day

Also attended a curriculum talk at the centre yesterday. Quite an exciting line-up of  stuff for the coming year - guided reading pilot programme with the British Council, new Chinese curriculum, fun activities.. Managed to chat with his future lead teacher as well - she sounds passionate and fun, good :)

My space boy :)

Last weekend, he decided he didn't want the baby chair... And we ordered a full pasta for him! But I gave a lot to Sito else it was too much for the boy. Finally I didn't have to share my meal with him haha!

My hungry boys :)

ZK took this photo with Sito's help! :)

Twist!

This boy is super cute la.. On the morning of Sito's birthday, I was sleeping next to ZY when I heard ZK wake. I was getting up to go back to my room when I heard him go, "Mama, where are you?" :p Then when I changed into a yellow polka dot dress, he looked at me and went, "Mama so cute" like how I'd say "ZK so cute"!! He made my day man :)

Some time last week, he started asking new questions and expressing new thoughts. You know that song? You want star? I have star! Mama finish, I give you (cereal)... I hap (help la) you!

This morning, I was nursing ZY when ZK was at the play area as usual after his breakfast. He picked up a magazine from his box - the childcare magazine distributed by ECDA through the centre - and said "so many 姐姐" before starting to flip through the book. Then he found another magazine (cos they stuff one into each child's bag) and said his favourite "一样" - he likes to tell me "一样 Thomas", pointing to his water bottle while watching Thomas, or "一样 excavator", "一样 bear bear" etc when he sees similar things, though I'd always say in reply, "对了，跟 bear bear 一样喝 honey" :)

Now that he's starting N1 next week, I can't wait to hear and see more from him!