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 :)

A more happening weekend

We usually stay in the neighbourhood on weekends but last weekend, we were more adventurous!

Yang had a tummyache so we missed music lesson. I almost had to use the second of a pack of enema tubes on him; the first was for him a few years ago. No worries, not expired yet heh! But thankfully, he managed to poop after three trips!

Early morning painting before the toilet trips

Yu was quietly playing playdoh while Yang was in the toilet

That evening, we decided to go to Ikea. We have a direct bus there, yeah! But it tool almost an hour to get there, oops... But it was quite a good ride. Only Kai nagged a lot :p

Yang queued with me while Papa settled the big and the small

We bought a total of 14 chicken wings in two trips! The first eight were taken by Kai (3!), Yang (3!), Yu (1 - enough) and me (1 - also enough). Sito had one there and we brought the rest back for N's dinner and our supper.

Kai was very pleased with dinner

So were his brothers!

Then we walked around a little in the showroom before getting what we wanted - a potty seat. I grabbed some hangers along the way :p

Yu wanted to sit down to read :)

These boys can't help hugging them toys

Let's put monkey in bed

Where's 9?

Yu was happy! But I thought that was one freaky-looking monkey!

Sunday was a long-awaited day - we went to watch Gingerbread Man! Every time I brought it up, Yu would say, "So funny right?" But he was mostly quiet during the show. In fact, near the end, he said he wanted to go home! Later at night, he said that he was scared! Poor boy - think it was the part where the fox tried to catch the Gingerbread Man.

This was a different story. We thought the Kai was like the Gingerbread Man here, and I reminded him of the story that night or the next. He just smiled :)

Yu's first musical and his brothers' third

Cutie pie Yu while waiting for the show to start

Another one!

Kai didn't want to take with Papa *.*

Yang wanted this photo

And catch! Yang had a funny face

Photo with the cast!

We had wanted to go swimming that afternoon to make up for no swimming that morning. But it was raining. Kai refused to believe it was raining, especially when some people downstairs were walking without umbrellas. Unlike Yang and me, Kai couldn't see the ripples on the ground from our window. So I sent him downstairs to see for himself :p He came back saying it was still ok to swim! Um, no.

In the end, we watched Finding Nemo! Some time ago, our neighbour gave us a whole lot of DVDs when they moved. And we bought a new DVD player recently as our old PS3 gave up on us. So we can now watch all the DVDs!

Maybe future weekends less happening? Hoho!

Happy birthday, Sito!

We thought of Swensen's on Saturday - we went there for a number of birthday celebrations already. But it was overcast so we had Macs downstairs. Actually, the kids had Macs; we had leftovers :p

So celebrations started proper on Sunday, and ending Monday when Sito and I took leave to eat and shop :)

"Papa is one year old!" says Yang

Everyone wanted to cut the cake so...

Dinner was at Holiday Inn Atrium. We had so much to eat! Kai ate a lot while sitting with AhMa, good for him! Yang had his standard char siew, some fish and rejected fried rice. Yu had plenty of char siew, dipped in soup, strangely... And he rejected the fried rice until the attendant told him to sit still and eat it! He really did that! When he told me he was full, I told him to tell her and he did too, so funny :p

He did a heart shape :)

And another 

And in the morning at 6.30 am, he talked about Papa's birthday - what a lovely kid :) But he also said the cake was yucky; he liked only his Paw Patrol cake *.*

The older brothers were found in this condition by the time we got home from dinner

And Sito took the picture - hope he would take more pictures haha!

But wait, this is about Sito's birthday, not the kids.. Mama hazard...

So today, Sito and I went out :)

Lunch was porridge at Goodwood Park - we were there three years ago too, with newborn Yu! We were early so took a walk around. It felt and smelled like a museum. In fact, I thought I smelled Brasenose at some point - the part near the library.

Under a random flight of stairs

We didn't overeat even though we had the dessert. I think we didn't have dessert the last time coz we were too full! We ended our meal with tea for him and coffee for me. One thing I like about this place is the friendly staff. We definitely saw the same auntie on our past trips here, and she kept urging us to eat more!

Next was shopping. Got Sito two new shirts for his birthday from Isetan :) Then we headed to Uniqlo at Ion for jeans - just need to collect them after length adjustment later this week, perhaps date night? :) And then we picked up some necessities at Daiso before heading home. We dropped our shopping and went for foot reflexology to rejuvenate our tired feet :p

And then we fetched Yang and Yu - they were so happy to see Papa! Yu came over to hug him, and Yang said something like how come Papa was here, I thought it was only Mama! And Yang held Papa's hand when crossing the road :)

They also noticed Papa was wearing the ghost shirt :p

So there, one day gone. And we're now in the short two months during which we're both the same age hoho!

October photos

Ok, I'm getting tardy with posting. Hope to have more time to write when I go on part-time work from December, woohoo!

So, coz I was busy with work, play and reading, I have accumulated a good store of photos that I can't wait to post :)

We went for K2's birthday party on Yu's birthday weekend. It was a pirate themed party at AIA premises coz J is a client there - very smart way of connecting with prospective clients, we think! Kai didn't get to go coz he didn't behave well. Without a rowdy big brother, the younger brothers were very well behaved!

Playing this for the longest time - on their own!

And we played chess!

Kids came over with dough food for us :p

Dinner was kid-friendly with fruits...

... and yummy satay!

Can't tell very well here but Yu could colour quite well within the lines :)

We went to the nearby playground, which was recently refurbished. When we got there, I finally realised that the blue playground that Yu talked about was this! Except that the slide is now pink after the refurbishment.

The boys love doing this - and me too!

They also love cold water chestnut drink!

J organised a tour of Yakult factory on the first day of PSLE marking so I brought Kai on a trek to ulu factory area - which was not too ulu actually. But I think having Yakult in the morning - when the tour started at 10 am - brought about some intestinal movements that didn't sit well with either of us. We really had to go when we got home!! :p

Posing with a big fluffy

Kai wetted his hair one afternoon and combed it - handsome?

Helping to clean grouts! Yang: "We're so hardworking right?!"

Avengers downstairs!

Kai and his Rubik's cube

He tried to teach me but I couldn't see his super quick moves! In the end, Sito taught me. I was so happy! I recall re-sticking the stickers to get it right when I was a child haha!

I solved it for the first time ever!

So surprised to see him reading on his own!

Kai never likes reading much. But two Sundays ago, he suddenly read some books on his own at Mum's place! I was so happy! Hope to bring him to the library more often when I go on part-time. Let him choose the books himself. Really hope he discovers the joy of reading :)

It's been a while, bathtub!

Mmmm... Mini muffins!

Sito saw me bake the mini muffins. When I brought regular muffins to the dining table, he asked in wonder, "They can grow so big?!" No, I really didn't go crazy with baking powder, hoho! Also baked some oatmeal flapjacks coz long weekend - good to have some of these for tea :) But the kids don't like the muffins much, so sad :(

Kai consoled a sad Yu by bringing him his grey bear bear :)

We finally went to the Vivocity train!

This poor boy asked for the train every time he saw Kai's photo in the train. We managed to go to Vivocity in the last weekend of October and gave him a ride :)

Kai wondering when his food would arrive

Yang was patiently doing his activity

Yu did a great job colouring

We were happy!

Hotdog bun for the baby!

Yang likes to push his face into the camera these days

Kai was so pleased with his yummy burger!

I'm so happy to see him eat more. He usually doesn't eat so much. Very picky. He has a second new tooth recently. It came out some time after he dropped his second bottom incisor - the tooth fairy forgot to swop the tooth for a coin, terrible! He came to my bed the next morning, waving the tooth in my face - it's still here! Haha! That's despite (or coz) knowing it was always me...

This is called "enjoy life" - watching TV and eating apple

Hotpot on a cool Sunday!

Yang insisted on having bathtub fun

The kids watched Moana on TV - they haven't watched it for a long time!

Pretending to be a fierce pirate - he hadn't got over the pirate theme party...

Cuddling an empty formula can...

Coz no more papa nainai from Saturday! At bedtime, he asked for it and had to be reminded that he threw the empty can away. And he was still asking for it this evening. Thankfully, no tears or tantrum. Hope he'll get over it soon...

He's really a big boy now. Since 13 Aug when we came back from Cameron Highlands, I tried to leave him in bed, awake, and let him fall asleep himself. He can do it without fuss! But of course, he much prefers if I stay with him. And he still crawls into my bed. These nights, I keep going between his bed and mine coz he likes to move around *.*

Yu directed Papa around - they "took" all the Legoland rides!

Just now when he was on the throne, he couldn't stop talking about Legoland rides. What he could or could not ride. Details of a ride that went boong! Roller coaster, haha! I think Legoland really left a big impression on him. Or it's the only major fun he's had.

Yu loves to do this in the train! And Mama loves to take kiddy pictures :)

I fell asleep with the boys tonight, and woke only at 10.30 pm, just before Sito came home. I feel too...relaxed to do work so decided to do something that should have been done long ago - sign Yu up for StanChart kids dash! But it is sold out! So sad :( He has to wait for next year to get a medal like his brothers did...