My 4 year old has been naughty lately.

Today, when I came back from work, I heard from my husband and maid that Adam had been rude and disrespectful this morning while waiting for his school bus.

 

For the past few mornings since last week, I worked the 8.30am shift at my centre, and Adam's school bus pick-up is at 8am daily, so I brought him to wait for his bus every morning.

It happens that there is a patch of mimosa on the grass near the pick-up point (which is at the side of the road) so under my supervision I let him touch the mimosa during our wait.

My rule is - never go to the road-side, and always come back when I tell him to.

 

This morning, I had to reach work at 8am so I let my helper send Adam down.

As usual, he was playing with the mimosa and one aunty happened to pass by and commented that there could be "gao sai" (dog shit in Hokkien) on the grass.
My helper then asked Adam to come back to her side, which he disobeyed.

He replied that dogs will shit at the side near the pavement, not near the road (what is he? 10?!)

As it was a time with morning traffic, I had always warned him to be careful and listen to whichever adult was with him. And he broke my rule this morning.

 

When I came home from work and heard about this incident, I was mad at Adam.

I reprimanded him and removed his iPad privilege for the evening and nagged at him over and over about the importance of safety and the consequences of not listening to his caregiver.

 

Thing is, he is only like this when he is with my helper as he knows that she is not the "boss" nor his Mommy.

I've tried time and time again to make him obey the maid - I talk/ reason/ spank/ threaten.... until I have no more saliva, and it is driving me crazy.

 

I know it is unreasonable to, and I never expect a domestic helper to be a disciplinarian and mother to my children, but these are some of the issues faced by working Moms on a day-to-day basis.

 

And these issues are very real. Issues of your children's safety resting on a non-family member's shoulders, issues of caregiver substituting lifegiver.

It's impossible for me to be there to police his behaviour all the time, and by the time I reach home to do that, it would easily have been 10 hours later.

 

My maid is not worry-free, either.
Not too long ago, slightly before Chinese New Year, we found out (through Adam, horror of horrors!) a photo of her with a Bangladeshi man hugging her from behind.
** I will share about this issue in another post.

 

 

It is a known fact to our friends and relatives that Adam and Ashton are polar opposites in terms of their character and behaviours.

In all due fairness, Adam is a darling who will plant kisses on you, says he loves you, and he is a happy pill who is hardly angry or unhappy. 

He is a very kinetic child, who thrives on being on the move. He is also witty and vocal.

 

Both my kids are different from each other, and I love them differently.

For Ashton, I love him tenderly and affectionately. He is a sweet, quiet little child who is happy by my existence alone. He's the easy baby who makes parenthood a joy.

For Adam, I love him intensively and impulsively. When he hugs, he hugs with all his might. When he laughs, his laughter is etched on my mind for a long time. He is intense and does things never in half-measures.

 

 As I always say, I love my children differently, but I love them all the same.

I just wish parenting could be a wee bit easier. 

My birthday staycation at W. 31 really IS the new 21.

Hubby booked a staycation at W Sentosa Cove for the weekend.

This is the end of my birthday month of celebrations!

The boys were thrilled, despite their expressions.

Some drinks at Woo Bar before check-in.

Hubby had booked the Away Suite which the kids would find entertaining with its whirl pool.

It's official - we have atypical kids.

My Hermes 90cm x 90cm silk scarf worn as a top for the resort look down pat.
The SA was very generous to throw in a pack of knotting cards on the different ways to wear your Hermes scarf.

Here, I am wearing it as a halter with 2 simple knots, possibly the easiest way to wear it.

On Saturday night, a complimentary room service came!



Which really caught me by surprise as you can see, I was dressed in nothing but a robe and glasses.
You know you're old like me when you get ready for bed at 10PM.


On the second morning, breakfast beckons. 

At Kith, Sentosa Cove.
My Hello Kitty power bank is really handy in times where I am on the go all day, especially during the Chinese New Year period last month. I got mine from www.qoo10.com.sg for only $19 shipped.

Hers: Vegetarian sandwich. After all the  sinful feasting, it was time for some greens.

His: Big breakfast.

Ended breakfast with a walk along the Cove.

 

 

Thanks for dropping by to read on my birthday celebrations.

Wishing you a good week ahead!

Birthday celebration - Part 3.

It's not my birthday yet. Not officially anyway, but I have had celebrations with some of the most amazing people on earth for the past coupla weekends.

Today, I celebrate with my own family.

 

At Peach Garden, Thomson Plaza, having Peking Duck dim sum lunch.

 

Adam and my Mum

My cool baby Ashton.

My rosette cake which Hubby ordered from Sweet Perfection. Thanks Hubby. You are too sweet!

Family photo, missing my youngest brother because he is in the hospital nursing an injured leg.

 

 

Thank you, God, for blessing me in so many ways.
I know my life is not worry-free, but it is blessed with the most amazing people I can imagine.

Thank you, Hubby and my family, for loving me, for accepting my flaws and weaknesses as a daughter, a sister, a wife and a mother. 

 

 

Birthday celebrations - Part 2.

It's a super packed weekend for me with my birthday celebrations with friends, my own family, and my in-laws.

My bunch of crazy gals whom I know since Secondary school decided to have a birthday celebration today. We are a group of 5 - Siew Wei and I are born 4 days apart in Feb, while Angeline and I are born 4 days apart with her birthday in March. As for Carol and Huiwen, they are both December babies.

Busy as we all are with our own commitments, we always try to set time aside for one another on birthdays, Christmases, New years and special occasions.

 

I was initially rather worried about not being able to meet my gal friends for our birthdays' celebration due to a hectic work schedule and family engagements.

Thankfully, Hubby did a bit of re-scheduling with his parents and I got off work at 4pm (on a Saturday!) so I quickly rushed home to bathe, change and get the kids ready for our party.

 

Huiwen's boy Liam, She is not pictured at all tonight :( because she was the first to arrive and by the time Angeline came, she was carrying her baby boy Keith to sleep.

Crazy Carol who kept claiming Adam as her boyfriend and asked Andy if we mind having her as our daughter-in-law.



My 38 sisters and I.

 

 

 

Some crazy facts about us:

- We used to call ourselves (Huiwen, Carol, Siew Wei and I) Funkiest Four (in the beginning Angeline, on the right, was in another class and we only got to know one another later).

I was the one who came up with that name! So cheesy now but so cool then Haha.

 

- We used to get into all sorts of trouble together, with the school authorities and with the Ah Lians those days. We still joke about our epic Giordano wind-breaker in bright yellow and white, and had to wear black bra underneath on purpose. OMG!

 

- And those Ferragamo and Fendi headbands, Ferragamo 4-plates belt, orange sharp plastic comb, JPG and Valentino long wallet.... HAHAHAH who else remembers those?!

I wonder where we got the money to afford designer goods last time!

 

- Carol got in trouble when she went to Canto and borrowed Angeline's IC (because Angeline's birthday in March while hers in Dec so she was technically still underage) but she got in trouble with the bouncer because she couldn't remember Angeline's address! She only memorised her IC number.

 

- We always had sleepovers (mostly at my place) and my Aunt used to help us cheat Home Econs sewing.

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And so many other memories which we still remember so WELL! But ask me what I ate for lunch yesterday and I cannot remember ... Hehee..

18 years of friendship and still counting.

From singles to dating to getting married and having kids of our own (except for Carol cos she is the wildest one always don't wanna settle down), we still make it a point to keep in touch and keep our friendship flame burning.

 

This pic was taken just recently during CNY when we had steamboat and MJ session.

We so Aunty and 38 but we love it :)