Adam goes for swimming lessons

Adam has been attending weekly swim lessons and enjoying himself.
This is the only extra-curriculum activity he is having at the moment. Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against parents who sign their children up for back-to-back enrichment classes - I'm just not too jazzed about subjecting my children & I to the logistics and costs involved, and burning everybody's weekends (we tried GUG for 1 term and are not going back. Too troublesome to hurry Adam to get ready, drive there, wait for parking lot, be on time for lessons, wait an hour, fetch him, go home for nap, precious Sunday burnt. ZZZzzzz). Having been through Monday-Friday of rigid routine, weekends are for leisure!
Not to mention, I think Adam is not musically inclined, prefers painting at home to his own imagination, and has zero interest in being confined in classrooms on weekends, albeit air-conditioned and expensive ones.

Adam, however, loves the water and he was the one who said "Yes" to swimming lessons when I asked him before signing up.
Besides, swimming is a very useful skill to acquire. It can save lives!


For the initial few lessons, one parent is advised to accompany the child into the water to reduce seperation anxiety.
Well, Andy wouldn't, for the life of him, show off his hunky figure (looking somewhat like Santa minus the white hair) so it doesn't take long to figure out who is the next (and only) option.
My problem is - I don't have suitable swim wear!! Holy macaroni! (a Mummy of toddler without swimwear - unimaginable).
Although my husband adores my breastfeeding jugs, I doubt the same can be said of parents of the other children.
Also, I can't bring myself to don one of those hideous looking one-piece spandex things which show off the camel toe, so..... I decided the next best thing to do would be to pull a T-shirt over my bikini and hope it passes off as appropriate "swim wear".

Baby Ashton is also having a whale of a time. My happy baby! We enlisted the help of my MIL and helper to join us at the pool. Part of the village who are helping to raise my children!

It is crowded on a Sunday morning. So many happy little swimmers!

The Water play area, which Adam is more interested in than lesson proper. Pfft.

You need to be at least 1.2m to go on the big water slide.

My wild water baby is confident enough to go without his arm floats now, though it'll be some time before he can really swim like a fish.

Our pig-out after work-out. Shared between Hubby, Adam & I. We are HUNGRY.

I love my prata with sugar. Fat die me.

Couldn't decide whether to eat Bak Kut Teh or Claypot chicken rice, so ordered both. Greedy me!

 

 

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By the way here's an amazing video I wanna share with you. Swimming is an important skill for all children. It can save lives!

Indoor playground: Fidgets

Located in Turf City, we heard Fidgets is the biggest indoor playground in Singapore.

Where: Turf City Level 3
Parking: FOC, ample parking lots in open area.
How much: $8 unlimited hours for children under 2; $15 unlimited hours for kids 2 and above. Adults and infants go in for free.
** Please bring your socks, even for adults!

 

Fidgets have their own cafe selling snacks, some western food, and drinks.

I like that it has a large seating area for families. There's another side with many sofas. Ample space to lounge around.

There's a smaller play area for younger children

We left the kids with our helper while Andy & I relaxed at the cafe, sipping coffee and enjoying some peace.

Got the moves like Jagger? Pictured on left: Sofas on the other side of the cafe for tired caregivers.

 

P.S. Fidgets is really huge and provided Adam a great workout because he was sweating despite the aircon! Too bad it's too far from us but nonetheless another kid-friendly place for West dwellers.

As Turf City is under construction right now, the place is quite difficult to access, therefore if you're thinking of going there, I would reccomend you wait a few months unless of course, you don't mind that there is only 1 cargo lift and the building is quite messy / dusty.

 

Adam's Show-and-tell in School

Adam did Show-and-tell in school this week. The topic was "My Family".
As I quote his teacher, he "showcased confidence and pride in his work" and in speaking in front of the class and teachers.




Adam is confident in show-and-tell to his classmates and teacher and articulates every member of the family well. I am so proud of him!

This is the art work which he had done with the help of his teacher with some family photos I printed.

 He also depicted drawings of his parents, ie. Andy and I.

I look to be of porcine resemblance

whereas Andy looks like something out of Star Wars

Adam used to be a very reserved boy in class, especially during his N1 year, which was last year. His teachers told us he was not confident in expressing himself and did not seem to know how to speak up or answer questions when asked.
I admit that with my second pregnancy and subsequently the birth of Ashton, followed by dealing with Ashton's diagnosis and endless doctors' appointments (from his normal Peadiatrician checkups / vaccinations to the Neurosurgeon; from MAH to KKH; from Ultrasound scan to MRI to Urodynamics study etc), we had neglected Adam in more ways than we had imagined.
I then tried to spend my time between my two children and because they had different priorities / needs,  it was stressful at many points. If you ask me how I managed to keep everything together without breaking down, I seriously don't know.

I did not sign Adam up for any enrichment classes and he does not go to any "branded" preschool (he used to attend Learning Vision when I started working in KKH but he didn't like the environment and was miserable on a daily basis so we switched him back to PCF below my MIL's).
Instead, I spent my free time after work with him, coaching him bit by bit. On weekends we usually go to kid-friendly places and let him enjoy being a child (you can check out our Out and About section).
There is no secret recipe in dealing with your child - the key ingredients are love, patience and the belief that both your child and you can achieve things together.
Today, he expresses himself well in both Mandarin and English and is confident in speaking in front of his class. His teachers at school and swim lessons also tell me he's an enthusiastic learner who raises his hand and offers to answer/ go first. This is more than enough to make my day.
I do not require my children to be Top 10 in school or LKY Scholars, I only require that they try and that they do their best.
I am also not the best mommy in the whole wide world - I scream at the top of my lungs and throw tantrums too - but I try my best to be the best Mom I can be to them.

Having a child is like planting a tree. The more you water and add fertiliser to it, the taller and more beautiful it grows; and the more rewarding it is for you to continue nurturing it.
This is all in hope that one day, your tree will bear fruit and provide shade for all those who come upon it.

Ashton blowing raspberry bubbles

Ashton self-taught himself to blow raspberry bubbles. He goes "Brrrr" and saliva splatters everywhere. Onto your cheeks, your lips, his toys, the furniture, everywhere.

I cannot, for the life of me, believe I forgot how cute this age is!

 

Let me assure you, it isn't always such a stroll in the park with my naughty urchins.

Refer to picture below:

Typical evening when we are loading the children into the car and trying to make our way home.
Specimen A is pictured trying to climb to Row 3 of car. Specimen B is sitting upright in his car capsule just 10 days after his surgery even though we have tried various efforts to make him "lie down and take things easy" as per the doctors' advise. (In fact, I had just tucked him nicely into the car seat and made my way to the other side to close the car door!)
No names mentioned.

Both little urchins keep Mumzilla on her pedicured toes!

 

 

 

Belated post: My Milestone celebration

I recently turned 30. Bummer, I feel terribly old!
It was Saturday, on the eve of the day Ashton has to admit to KKH (Sunday)... My gal pals came over to celebrate, even though I had told them not to!
They asked me how I would like to celebrate my birthday this year and I simply replied them not to spend any money this year, just pray for Ashton's surgery to be a success. But they came over to spring a surprise on me anyway. Feel so touched!
I just got home from work and prior to that had some guests over so I was looking quite unbecoming of myself. But heck. Anyway...

 

 

Charm's boys - Royce and Tommy

Some finger food as I have not had lunch, having came back from work.

My favourite Lychee Martini cake. I'm so aunty like that.



My greedy baby! He thinks every cake is in honor of him. Seriously.

Adam is still hypnotising the cake.

My girls!

My boys :)

 

For my Milestone Birthday, Hubby gave me a watch and upgraded my engagement ring. Ever since my first pregnancy some 4 years ago, I have not been able to fit my ring and hence it has been in storage ever since. We actually had to change the entire band and added some diamonds to it. When I wore it for the first time in 4 years, I felt so blessed and loved and memories of us dating and getting engaged flooded me. Thank you Hubby for spoiling me rotten.

After Ashton was discharged, my family and in-laws came over to our place for a steamboat gathering as a belated celebration and a decent-post-discharge-meal of sorts.
In this life I have been extremely blessed to have wonderful friends, family and loved ones surrounding me. Words cannot express my gratitude and love toward them.
May God bless them exceedingly and abundantly because they are Angels in my life who deserve nothing less.

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And for those of you who recently grew older than you would like...

credit: Lessons learned in life, on Facebook.