Ooo... Yet another: Proximidade Award

Thank you to Ling who gave me this award.


She google the word "Proximidade". It is a Portuguese word which means "proximity" or "nearness"- suppose it means this blog or blogging makes us feel close together ?


They all are charmed with the blogs, where in the majority of its aims are to show the marvels and to do friendship;
there are persons who are not interested when we give them a prize and then they help to cut these bows; do we want that they are cut or that they propagate?
Then let’s try to give more attention to them! So with this prize we must deliver it to 8 bloggers that in turn must make the same thing and put this text.


So here is the list of Award - it goes to:
Ann
Fern
Florence
Hissychick
Jlow
Little Prince's Mummy
Mumsgather
Mundane

Oh, How I Miss Thee...

Today we sent Gadget-daddy off to catch the train to the airport.

These were the signs that they boys miss their father without saying so:

As our car drove off from the train station,
Micah: Mommy, I want to go with Daddy.
Mommy: Sorry, darling. Not this trip. Daddy has to work and there's no one to take care of you.
Max: Are we going home now?
Mommy: No, we are sending koh-koh to school.

Before dinner,
Micah: Mommy, come take a video of me telling stories of my trains... (20 minutes later) Now put it on the internet for my friends to see.
Mommy: Sorry, darling. We will have to wait for Daddy to come back to do that. Mommy don't know how to do it.
Poor boy. Disappointed to have to wait a few days.

During dinner, grandpa made an exit to visit someone at the hospital. Hearing a sound at the door,
Max: Oh! Is that Daddy?
Mommy: No, darling. Daddy is away in the Philippines.
Resumes dinner with cartoon on TV.


Bed time,
Max: Mommy, I want to sleep here until Daddy comes back, ok? (crawls down to the mattress where Daddy sleep. Yes, our boys have taken over our bed*, but their days of bed domination are numbered.)
Micah: I also want to sleep down here.
So both the boys are sleeping on the floor tonight. Shall I take the bed for myself or move them up? Hmmm... Oh, If only Gadget-daddy is here to share the bed with me.

Of course, every time Gadget-daddy calls, Max will be the first one on the phone. Micah is not really the one to talk on the phone these days. But they sure miss their Daddy.

We all miss you, Daddy-O.


* We initially put Micah on the mattress on the floor, but that spot is right under the ceiling fan and he cried almost every nigh that he was feeling cold. So Daddy and Micah swapped place. Mommy is now on the bed with 2 boys.
On weekends, when Gadget-daddy is back, the parents will be on the floor, trying to get some cuddle time, until one of the boys cries and she will end up on the bed till daybreak. All kinds of movements through the night.
Our plan is to move them out to another room by year end before the next one comes to take a stake on our bed... Yeap. yet another.

Play Till They Drop

Kids are just so energetic. And They will play till the last drop of their energy.

My sister came by early yesterday and spent the whole evening with the boys till my mom and brother came by after dinner and they left about 11pm.

While Max had napped in the afternoon just before lunch, Micah napped after. So both boys had quite a bit of personal time with their Ee-Ee.

By evening, about 9pm, Max was already feeling a little tired. Came to me to ask to nurse, but then got distracted and ran off to do something with his brother. He actually came by a few times, while Ee-Ee and I were actually watching Amelie (the French movie), while I sat with both the grandmas to chat, while I sat with my bro and sis talking about food at the dining table.

Max's distractions were:
Cars, playing and racing them with his brother;
Playing with the uncooked pasta, doing pouring and scooping with his brother, using small tractors and lorries;
Jumping and rolling around the floor with his brother, pretending to be Ninjas like in Daddy's game (sigh... so this bit play-fighting has started...)
Went out to the back to look at some kittens with his brother while the grandmas were looking at some herbs;
Eating banana cake and muruku with his Ee-Ee;
Studying a Thomas and Friends' catalog with me, and showing the ones he likes to his Ee-Ee.

Finally, my mom and siblings left and Max came up to the room with me. I got him to brush his teeth and get into his pj before he crashed on the bed. He asked to nurse and within 2 minutes he was in dreamland.

Then I had some time with Micah and got him settled into bed too. They just want to play till they are completely drained. Then they will sleep.

What You Hear Is Not What He Means

The boys were playing together then I heard Micah say,
"Max, mo-I have a truck?"

But before Max answers, Mommy jumps, in:
"Micah, it's 'may I have,' not 'mo I have'"

We all giggled and laugh as Micah really tried to to correct himself.
He still said "mo-I" a few times, and then we knew he was doing it on purpose.
Then he asked nicely, "Max, may I have a truck?"


-----------

After a while they were playing some other pretend games. This time, Max was going to give a present to Micah. It was actually just an empty box.

Their pretend play ended like this:

"Max, please, give it to me."

"No, wait. You must wom-it first" (holding it between his palms, trying to "warm it").

Micah then bent over at his waist and went "Urrrgh" (pretend to vomit).

Mommy, reading the papers near by, burst into peals of laughter.
Both the boys looked at me and laughed at me laughing.

So I explained to Micah what his brother had mean.

"Oh" he said. "Vomit means must go to the toilet, Max."

Max laughed. "Wait, koh-koh. Let me wom-it first."

And we all laughed again.


---------------


These kids are so funny.

At one time, Max would call
the excavator an exegator,
Mommy was nanny and
"the jungle" came out as "ber-jungle."
Orang-utan sounded like "oh-wan-tan," and
not to forget the kickapoo funny.

Micah, when much younger, would say
"sneeep" for sleep and
"sfmall-sfmall" for small, small.

As much as we need to correct them to speak accurately, we can also enjoy these baby moments.

Old Not-Really-Love Story

This story is specially for my kai-lui, milochel.

So here's a bit more on "something sounding like an extract from a teenage romance novel" from the last post.

So this friend of mine (shall not mention the name, but I don't think you'd be so "blur" not to know, right?) and I were in the same gang that hung out in school. We spend almost every morning before school started and also after school as a bunch of close knit friends. We were crazy about having fun, but serious about helping each other out to be better people as individuals and in the community. (Incidentally, Gadget-daddy was also with us in this gang. Yes, like I said, close-knit friends.)

He and I wrote letters and notes to each other almost every other day, if not every day and we would chat on the phone a lot. We actually got very close because he confided in me about his struggle with parental relationships (he came from a very good home where he felt pressured by parents who are "never wrong").

Eventually we both grew mix feeling for each other.
Through some obvious hints, we let each other know there was a crush on both sides.

He was always kind and encouraging.
He was witty and funny, and sometimes very profound.
The one thing I really appreciated was his respect for me.

It was at this time we both knew I was not ready to be committed in a relationship.
I was afraid.
Afraid that if it failed, I would lose a very good friend.
Afraid that if it failed, I might not survive a broken heart.

So we never actually got "involved" although some people observing us could tell there were some sparks between us.

Eventually he moved to study in another state and we were only in contact once or twice a year.

It was at this time that he was away, that I spent a lot of time with another good friend, now the love of my life (read that real love story here).

So life is such, that some "what if's" would really have ended us up in really different lives from the one we live now.

I am glad for who I am with. Gadget-daddy and I are both so glad.

I am also glad that with him, we are all still very good friends.

I am sure his wife knew about "us" too, as he is the type to not to keep secrets from the one he trusts. So I am glad we are all very good friends.

When we meet we talk about our kids, our parents and siblings. The men talk about financial managements, the wives exchange news about a common friend. We still laugh about some unbelievable incidences we encountered. Occasionally we talk about our funny school tales, but not too much as we do not want his wife to feel left out.

So, we are cool.
Just that having my child carry the same name as he might be a little too close for comfort ...
I'm sure his mom (she knew about "us" too) would raise an eyebrow.

Choosing A Name

I am already having a headache.
I had thought I had solved this problem, but it's come back...

What name to give to this baby boy?

I have Googled this and I have "chosen" a few names I thought with quite good meaning... but the criteria for me for choosing a name comes as such:

1. Good meaning.
2. Sounds good to the ear.
3. Can be pronounced without a problem by our non English speaking relatives.
4. It has to start with the mighty letter 'M'.

No. 3 is really the hardest criteria to fulfill.

Already, when I look at the quite cool sounding names with good meaning... I can imagine how they will be mispronounced and maybe even be made a joke of because it may sound like something else in Cantonese.

My mom, for one, may not make a joke of a 'strange' name, but I shall not torture her with grandchild whose name she cannot call properly, and have the other grandkids, especially my boys, constantly trying to correct her because she cannot twist her tongue in such a way to pronounce certain sounds.

Sigh...

When we had to choose a name for Max it was hard enough.
So we finally agreed that Maxwell, meaning full in wellness, was a good name. Max sound pretty cool too, and no problem for our non-English speaking relatives, especially my mom.

So ...

Actually, I thought of the name Marq, like Marc/Mark.
(thought of this after we decided on Maxwell, that should we have another boy, this would be it.)
Cool right, with the 'Q' in a name?
Also, it's easy for our non-English speaking relatives...

But ...

We, Gadget-daddy and I, are now not so comfortable with the name.

It's to do with a close friend we have, who stays near by.
His parents also stay near by.
We all go way back into school days, and we are all still very good friends (he is also married and has a son.)
We meet up quite often (a few times a year is pretty good for friend we have since school days),
usually either at his place or ours.

The thing is,...
He and I kinda have a past...
something that didn't quite happen, though it was probably just a whisper away...
(Yes, yes, something sounding like an extract from a teenage romance novel. Hahaha...)
which would require a whole different post to tell that story...
(Please pardon my rambling...)

Anyway...
the point is...

Still no name yet.

Pfffhhhh.

The Grouch

Today I got so fed-up of telling the boys a hundredth time to pick up their toys that I started scolding and threatening.

This is nothing new to the boys. They know when Mommy has had it up to her eyeballs, they better do as they are told.

BUT...

Today, I was actually scolding Max who has dumped his basketful of cars all over the main walk way, a bunch of kids' DIY of rubber nuts, and plastic parts all over the TV area and he was ignoring me, pulling a tractor and truck along with a piece of string.

Micah had taken the cue quite quickly and had picked up his Lego blocks from the floor.

I was still scolding and started putting some of Max's toy cars into a plastic bag:
"Max, you don't want to take care of your toys, I'm giving these to children who don't have toys to play with."

"NO. I want. I want." He called back, but not seriously picking up his toys.

Micah observed us from the sofa, then said,
"Mommy. You are grouchy. Like the green monster in Elmo's World."

I was actually amused that he made that link. I made the conscious effort not to smile.

But I just explained sternly bout why Mommy's is now the Grouch....

After that was dinner time...and the grouch had left the room.
Mommy was feeding them chicken rice.

An Announcement

We went for our monthly check up this morning.

Both the boys came along. They either entertained or annoyed the few people in the small crowded waiting area. Some people were waiting in the corridors instead of the Doctor's small suite at the hospital.

We went in, reintroduced both the boys to the doctor who had not seen them since the time he pulled them out of Mommy's womb.

So, this little one that's coming is now 19 weeks and 4 days.
Expected due date: 11 march 2009.

Then the most awaited time for all: Ultra Sound Scanning time.

Both boys were a little restless as they could not quite make out what's on the screen, but Mommy had a string of questions for the Doc.

3D scan?
No need for 3D. The 2D is the only one you can see the structures and organs, etc. 3D sees mostly surface, like if you want to see the features. That's not so important. The 2D can already see if there is a cleft lip, and that all the bones are developing properly. Also can see all the organs functioning well.

Checked for the thickness of the neck?
Looks normal, 2mm. Right for the size/ term.
Good news*.

Gender?

- This he had to take a while to look as the baby was a little shy at first, kept the legs together.

- Ahh... I thought of so many friends, and my sister who have told me they are saving their girls' dresses for us...

- Even some have said a girl would be a good balance for the boys...

- Oh, and Jlow, remember the talk about plaiting your daughter's hair (sorry, which post was that again)?

- "If it's a girl she's going to rule the whole house," so my mum had declared.

- All the cravings for cakes, fruit cake, fruits, salads....

- And then we finally managed to see "it".

- The doctor's words: " You see this? This is "it".

"So it going to be a ...

BOY."

"So another one like these," he said, smiling, pointing at my two cheeky restless monkeys.

Well, we are just so glad it's going to be baby that's healthy and whole.


So, too bad, no playing dress-up/doll-up for Mommy. No plaiting hair for Daddy...
Easy for me to just keep my boys' clothes for another one... No need to buy "new" sets of toys. :)

Just so glad the baby's well.
So so glad.


* On the last check up, we did a blood test. The doctors' office called us back for a review, and we knew it was going to be "bad news". We were told this baby was in the "high-risk" side of Down Syndrome but the results were not conclusive. To be certain, you do an amniotic fluid test. There were risks involved, and the reason why people take the test/risks is that if it's a positive for Down's, they will plan for a termination - more crudely, abortion.

We decided not to take the amniotic fluid test. Prayed that all will be well. Worried and prayed ever so much harder. Told only a handful of people as we did not want news to reach the grandparents, not wanting them to be "anxious over nothing". So Thank God it is ok - confirmed by measuring the thickness of the fetus' neck.

Stories Of My Father For My Children - Part 1

Stories of my Father: The Amputee

My father lost a leg to Diabetes. There was an ulcer on his right foot that would not heal for months and we were in and out of the hospital all those time. We were taught by the hospital nurses how to do a dressing for the wound every day.

Eventually the infection got on to his bone and he had to amputate his right leg below the knee.

For a man who lost a leg, he never lost his sense of humour.

From the time they wheeled him out of surgery, the first thing he said to his anxious family was,
" Now I can join the cacat (handicap) race."

Another time, we were talking about buying shoes. He said he should look for another amputee who wants only a right shoe, then they can save a lot by sharing a pair of shoes.

"But," I said, "That's not so easy, coz you'll also have to find a GUY with the same shoe size."
Hmm.. and we had not even thought of style and colour preference yet. What about those offers where the second pair comes with a 50% discount. Could we just claim for one side for free?

Of course, because of his sense of humour, we would sometimes tease him.

There was a period he was worried about finances and would frequently complain aloud that he had no money. To that my younger sis and I would say, "How about playing your guitar in the pasar malam (night market) and we'll give you a bowl to collect charity from passers-by? You could even have the dog with you to pose as a blind-seeing dog (he was really losing his eye sight too)... or he could just guard over your collection.

An incident he found funny was when he took a trip to a temple in Klang with my mother and brother. While they were inside doing their rituals, my father sat on a bench under a tree waiting for them. A lady came up to him and offered him RM10. He laughed but very politely declined. He laughed for the rest of the day recalling this incident and we teased him that he should go get a lottery ticket.

One things he would say about his amputated leg was it's a "mow-ying-geok". In Cantoneses means "a leg without a shadow". More accurately, it refers to a kung-fu where the kick is so fast you don't even see a shadow of it. And with that he would be moving his stump around, mimicking some kung-fu moves while resting on his bed.

One of my father's lessons on life was to always be brave, to have courage. This was definitely courage in a circumstance of life beyond himself.

May we all find courage in our dark days too, and still be able to see the funny side of life.

Confessions of An Almost Three Year Old.

Scenario:
Getting Max ready for bed. Putting his pajamas on.

Mommy: Did you have good day, Max?

Max: Yes. (Short pause) Remember we had a lot of fun. Remember the party? Next time I want to bring my cars. There was a monster truck there.

Mommy: Which party?

Max: Remember? Bethany was there.

Mommy (doing a quick scan of her memory cells of what party he might be referring to as there was a more party recently at Micah's school...but Max was not there): Oh, you mean the party with the swimming pool?
(That was like 2 weeks ago.)

Max: Yes, with the swimming ppol.

Mommy: Yeah... that's right. And who took you swimming?

Max: Daddy. I love Daddy all the time.

Mommy (wanting to double check that): What did you say, Max?

Max: I love Daddy all the time.

Then he went on to talk about Daddy loves playing games. Daddy is at work now, in Jakarta...
Busy chatting on and on with Mommy, while his eye lids were obviously getting heavier and heavier. Then...

Max: Mommy, I want nan-nan now.

He closed his eyes almost immediately as I got him to nurse and was far far away in dreamland within 5 minutes.

This is such a sweety boy.



Ahhh... contentment.


That's a record for you, Dear.

Yikes!!

6pm.

I was feeling sleepy but made sure Micah did not fall asleep.

*****
Max fell asleep in front of the TV at 4.30, watching cartoons.
I had earlier tried getting him up to the room and maybe let him nurse and get him to sleep, but he refused.
Playing with his brother and fussing around downstairs was more interesting.
Then sleep overpowered him on the couch:
One moment he was talking to me, saying he did not want a snack and the next "light out".

****

Micah was happily playing with the cars in the room, doing a race by himself and talking to me.

The my sis started calling me on the chat, and I was mentioning how I need to keep Micah up while I was actually half asleep. Talked about how I should take him to the park, but my foot still hurts a little when I walk.

Then as I finished my chant I noticed a silence in the room.

Yikes! Micah fell asleep!!

He actually JUST fell asleep.

I talked to him, tickled him and shook his body a bit. He giggled, eyes still closed, and said,
"Mom, I'm sleepy now."

That's it.

Now I am worried...really worried.

I don't know what time he will wake up.
I don't know what time he'll sleep again after that.
If he sleeps right through to tomorrow (though I think not) he might wake up like at 5am.

Max is still asleep.
Yesterday he fell asleep at 5pm and woke up at 7.30pm. Then with a lot of coaxing, slept at about 12am.

Maybe I should sleep now too.
Since everyone is on a crazy clock timing...

The thing is now, after trying to wake Micah up, I am wide awake.
Sigh...


Oh, I hear Max stirring...
Gotta go.

Red Rose Award

Oh, a nice surprise for Mommy today:
Received this Red Rose Award from Little Prince's Mummy

The rules of the award are:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls and boys you've nominated.

Would like to pass it on to:-
1. Ann
2. Mummy-yeoh
3. Hissychick
4. Florence
5. Lia
6. Tracy
7. Fern


Have a good week, ladies.
Hugs and Kisses from my boys to you too.

Might As Well

My family have this thing about trying to do as many things along the same line as possible.

It is a phrase called "soon-sau" in Cantonese, meaning "along the flow of the hand".

For example, if we were going down town to the market, my mom will bring along her utility bills to pay at the post office near where we park the car. It's also at this time she will call a friend if she wants fresh eggs from a certain egg seller. Sometimes, on the way back, we will do a short detour to get nice egg tarts from a certain pastry shop famous for their egg tarts and puffs.

The same rule runs in the house. If you're heading to the kitchen we pick up cups and dishes that needs to be washed. Sometimes, along the way, we will pick up crumbs of tissues dropped by the kids. Similarly, a quick stop is made on the track to the kitchen to wipe a spill on the floor along the path.

Gadget-daddy's brain, when it comes to chores or running errands, is not wired this way. He is "very focused" and will only think of the one thing that needs to be done and go do it.
Need to go down to the bank to drop off a check.
That's it.
I wonder why he does not think of making another drop off at the same area of town, or if you're heading to your office, you could also, along the way, drop by the mall and get "that" birthday gift.

Or, since you're already in town, why not just have lunch at this place good for steam fish then head home (he'd just think of something simple to take away near by our place).

I am sure this has all to do with the way our own family functioned... maybe also a little bit of gender bias-ness. As in the way our brains are wired and how boys and girls have been brought up differently - to look out for things that needs to be done, and what is expected of you.

I remember my mom would call out,
"Don't just walk past that paper on the floor. Pick it up."
"Since you're washing up your cup, might as well wash up the other two in the sink too."
"Since you're already dirty, might as well come help move this flower pot before you wash up."

Gadget-daddy's probably never got such reminders hollered at him umpteen times till it's ingrained into the system.

I think this explains why sometimes it takes me longer to get from point A to B, which would be a little agitating to Gadget-daddy.

And sometimes I just can't understand why he does not get D and E done on the list when it's just "right beside" A, B and C.

Hmmm...

The good thing I suppose is that neither of us are very insistent on how things should be done, and really give way to each other's weaknesses/ differences.

So we might have to go down an extra trip down town tomorrow. OK... guess that'll give us something to do.

So we are delayed a little in going out, but at least when we get back, the room is not a mess or the laundry will be ready for the trip tomorrow.

Well, folks. Have a good weekend.

No Sleeping On the Job

When we got home today, after settling some stuff, got myself some noodles for lunch (both boys nibbled off Mommy's bowl too), we headed up to the room do a little reading.

After a while, the boys were back to playing with their cars (continue from yesterday), and I fell asleep. Now and then, they yelled for my attention to look at what they were doing. Then they turned on the computer and said they wanted to look at some Ferrari on YouTube.

By then I had had some 40 minutes of no-uninterrupted sleep.

When I sat at the computer to check my mail, Micah said,
"Mom, are you done with your nap?
Now come play LegoCity with me."


Hah! That's my 4 year old checking on me on the job.

Then Max came in with a baby rattle he found in a toy box and said,
"Mommy, this is to wake you up..."
And he danced and shook the rattle with all his might.


Well, that tells how much Mommy's present presence means to them.

Feeling Strangely Bare

Today, as I was going to get the boys into the car to send Micah to school, Max decided he would stay at home and play with the trains.


So Micah sat in the car seat at the back, all by himself. Usually Grandma and Max would be there with him, and Grandma would be fussing, trying to get them to take some breakfast and Max would be busy chatting away to himself and occasionally calling for Mommy's attention. There would be a friendly competition of who spots a train first or yelling out what characters of Cars they see on the road.

Today's ride was rather quiet. Micah would now and then ask about something that came to his mind, nothing really of what's on the road. Then we got Ee-Ee (my sister) and she help give Micah some porridge the rest of the way to his school.

My sis and I took our time over breakfast and then leisurely browsed a supermarket. I bought the boys some cereals and a packet of chips for Gadget-daddy's welcome home snack (to go with a kickapoo float while watching a movie tonight).

Picked Micah up from school at 12pm. He fed himself some porridge leftover from breakfast and then had his milk. By the time he finished his "lunch" we were at our street. Home sweet home.

While my sis were enjoying our no-fuss breakfast, Gadget-daddy called. I told him of Max staying home and I felt strangely bare without my little attachment.

Hahahaha... Looks like Mommy's having separation anxiety.

Yes, I missed my little one this morning. It was out of our routine.

He was glad to see me too, when we got back, but declared he did not cry for me.
Ahh... he's growing up so fast.

Then I asked him if he'd like to go out with us tomorrow or stay home and he said,
"Go out with us (you)."

There is comfort in routines for little ones as well as for Mommies. :)

Today: Almost Perfect Kids

It was unbelievable how almost prefect a day I had with the boys. They played together.

I mean TOGETHER.

Not just side by side, not taking turns on a certain toy or the computer, but they were playing happily together.

Each boy had a car and they were doing a race together. They also did stunts, calling each other to check out a "stunt" the car could do in their hand, and sometimes they copied each other and sometimes they did the opposite. And they commended each other's "great feat"!!

WOW!

They played for hours. Somewhere in between Micah came to me, gave me a hug and said,
"You were right, Mom. It's so much better playing together."
Then Max came close to me, grinning from ear to ear,
"Koh-koh (older brother) is sharing with me."
I gave him a hug and he want back to play.

Then they went to the other room and played with trains TOGETHER!!

There was one dispute, which I then went to investigate (was folding the clothes in our room) and Micah apologised immediately for crashing his brother's train, but that was it.

Then we spent a bit of time watching TV (Bob the Builder) while the boys took their dinner.

After that they washed up (a little protest and dawdling from both boys) and Micah asked for milk. He fell asleep on the couch at 7.30pm (did not nap today).

Max stayed up till 10.30 (he napped). He watched some cars kind of video on YouTube, then watched a few parts of Ant Bully (a few times over), went down and asked grandpa for a snack, came back, brushed his teeth and then had nan-nan and fell asleep.

Oh, if only there were more days like this!!
I hardly had to raise my voice.
Oh, I so love it like this!


On Mommy's side:

The snag I had was after both the boys slept, I felt like having KFC's coleslaw. I went to check our fridge for some lettuce and tomatoes but found none. So I thought I'd change quickly and run out for a coleslaw.

After I changed, I noticed it was almost 11pm. So went online to check for 24 hours' KFC. The closest to me was a 15 minutes drive away with no traffic, and having to pass a toll. Just as I decided I'd take a chance, with both boys asleep, Gadget-daddy called from Jakarta. We chatted about our day and I told him of my craving and attempt for a snack.

Too far, he said. How about tomorrow?

*sigh*
I believe men will never fully understand the word craving.

So I agreed not to go. Ended out talk, and went back to our kitchen again. This time I looked more carefully at the vegetable drawer. Found a small bulb of cabbage and some carrots. Good for a coleslaw. So that was dinner/supper.

The coleslaw was simple, refreshing and yummy.
Hmmm... now I am contemplating if I should go for another round...


Oh, well. Till I decide, Good night.

Shadows Lurking In My MInd

I when Micah was first born, for the first week, I felt terribly overwhelmed by the responsibility of a new parent:
What if I goof up?!
What if I can't do a good job bringing him up?
What if he had a bad accident under my watch?
That sure got me feeling desperate and depressed.

Maybe it was baby blues.
Maybe it was a big chunk of reality in trying to grasp at the whole thing of the responsibility of a parent.

About a week back, a mom at Micah's school mentioned that being a parent sure made her a whole lot more religious:
You just have to pray so much harder because so many things are beyond your control, like who their friends are and what kind of trouble they might get into.

So the other day, while driving alone (I had managed to sneak out in the evening to run an errand), I began to have this cloud hanging over my head.

They were thoughts of doubt, of fear and anxiety. Things beyond my control.
There were so many what if's and if-not's, so many dark thoughts.

It was a short 5 minutes drive from the store to my home, and by the time I reached our house, I just had to brush them all aside, breath a quick prayer of "Have mercy, O Lord," and greet my excited boys, happy to see Mommy with a new supply of milk and juice.

I wonder if my parents worried as much about us while we were growing up.
We had relatively a lot of freedom:

- Walking to kindy and back by myself at 5 (did not involve crossing a road, but had to walk through an alley to get to the block behind our flat in Bukit Bintang. Occasionally they had to send a relative to get me home coz I'd still be playing at the school grounds after everyone had gone back, and sometimes I'd be at a friend's house who stayed on the same block as we did).

- Taking the public bus with only my older sis when I was 10 (she's 2 years older to me).

- Walking home (15 minutes) from a tuition class at 9pm with only my younger sis from age 10 -12 (she's 3 years younger to me).

- Hanging out at a friend's place the whole of a Saturday every week at the age of 12.

- Taking the public bus to school everyday from age 15 -18.

I seriously wonder if I'd be able to give the same kind of freedom to my kids when they come to such and such an age. Maybe things were easier then. Life was not so messy, and not so many crazy people around....

I know my mom now would not let me give such freedom to her grandkids, simply because now there are more bad people out there and people are more desperate then before.

Sigh... so much for progress.

More Of Micah's Dreams

Micah woke up from his nap today and told his dream to his grandparents and uncle, and then me and then his Daddy when he got back from badminton:

I dreamt that Daddy was going to shower me, but he used a hose from a fire engine instead.


I am sure he was thrilled and entertained by his funny dream.

Highlight of This Trip

Usually when we go down to Singapore, my sis will have lots of plans for us: Which restaurant to try out, a new mall to walk about, new activities for the kids, etc.

This time we were "very good" according to my mum as we did not do anything too exciting. we really just wanted to be with my sis and her family, and half the time I felt tired, so we missed her big plans of Children's Day at the Esplanade and going to this new pay-and-play park called Explorakids.

We did do one very good thing:
We all got to celebrate Micah's best friend, Bethany's, birthday at her relatives place in Singapore. Her birthday was the day we were suppose to go to the esplanade, but after all the swimming and play, we were quite tired and skipped the other plan.

The relatives stay in a 3-storey house with a pool, and so we had a grand time swimming and the kids had fun playing with other toys too. Micah and Beth were so engrossed at play that they refused ice-cream and cake!

After the party we all went back, rested then went our for dinner.

Here are the shots of some family fun:
Other things we did were just eating out,

(Micah simply adores his little cousin brother)

and taking the kids on a train ride
(Micah declared this was the best part of the trip).


Of course we did a little bit of shopping, but nothing out of the usual.

So that's our 4 days holiday.

Adventures And Misadventures

The first night and the last night in Singapore were the most heart pounding ones for us.

The first night:

Gadget-daddy had to go over to Suntech City to have a dinner-meeting/meeting-dinner (however you put it) with some colleagues in Singapore. It was still not officially a public holiday as yet. So my sister and I decided we would eat at a shopping mall near her place. It's not a very big mall, but the food court has quite good food.

We got some Japanese food (bento box) for the kids. I fed the boys, my sis her kids, while the her hubby and our mom took turn to go get their food.

Done feeding the boys, I decided to get my Nasi Padang.

When I returned, I saw Micah, but Max and my mom were not there. I thought she had taken him for a walk. She suddenly turned up and asked where is Max.

My heart skipped maybe 20 beats and I started on one end while my mom took the other end of the center of the mall (we were on the 4th floor, the middle is like an open area where you could look down to the concourse.) I actually peeked into a video shop and an electrical shop, in case he had wondered into a shop he fancied.

I must have the most worried look on my face because a lady suddenly asked, "Are you looking for your son? He is over there" and pointed further down the path. As I looked, I saw my mum in hurried steps and the caught the last to screams of a terrified boy. But he was at last safe in her arms.

I scolded and lectured him while I held him tight. I suppose I was as frighted as he was.

The story behind the missing boy:

He had run off when I went to get my food. My Mum wen tafter him, and then Micah went after my mum. Somewhere in the middle of their "exploration, Micah, who had caught up to his bro, turned to run baack to the food court. So it was Micah leading the way, followed by Max and then my Mum behind them. Somewhere along the way, Max got distracted, and my Mum did not see the little boy veering off somewhere. Che got back to out table to see only Micah and no Max. She went another time to search for him, and this time when she got back, I was already back with my food. The rest is as above.

After that, due to all the excitement, I was actually gobbling my food down, still in the mode of the adrenalin rush.

The last night:

I had a fall.

To cut the long story short, I was distracted by my crying nephew. I was trying to cheer him up, while I was piggy-back-ing Max and missed a step.
I landed on the floor on all fours and Max slid off my back. He was not hurt but cried out of a shock.

We had gone out to pack dinner back to my sister's because her girl and Micah were still asleep at 7pm (late nap). Gadget-daddy stayed back to watch over Micah while we took a walk to the next block where there were lots of shops and restaurants.

I managed to walk back to her place but by the time I got to her house, My right foot hurt so much I could not even stand. It was sheer pain the moment I put a little pressure on my foot. I suspected I had fractured a bone, but am thankful later to discover it's just a very bad sprain.

Later I was laughing with my sis, saying when I fell the first person I cried for help to was my Mom. She said, "yeah, we still want our Mommy."
Now my Mommy's the one giving me a good rub on my badly sprained ankle.

So that's the Misadventure of the our first and last night in Singapore.

We 'R' Back

Hi, all.
Hope you all had a good week.

We arrived back in KL about 8pm and had dinner with my mom before heading home. We got home bout 10pm and the boys were really glad to be home. They are still busy catching up with their grandparents right now. :)

Will come back and tell you all about our adventures and accidents soon.

Till then,
Good night.