5 months in child care

So we placed  the Dinos into childcare  at the beginning of the year hoping to let them be exposed to social activity and also to be more independent. Afterall, grannies will always treat them like babies and wait on them hand and foot.

The initial phase was tough since they were not used going to CC for long hours but we have little choices since we worked long hours too and Popo is not able to handle both at 1 time and therefore not able to bring them back earlier.

They cried so much during dropoff that I also cried.  Its more of mum's guilt I think. Knowing that I need leave them there for 11 hours and that they don't have the luxury and comfort of home. But hey, that's why we chose to send them there in the 1st place!

After they started to settle in then we were hit by a series of virus. Flu, stomach flu etc. If 1 of them is down, the next 1 will follow suit soon. Lucky ( or unlucky) is that we usually have 1 sick kid at 1 time thus allowing us to go work while my mum is activated to help look after unless it requires a trip to PD where I would have to be present for the communication.

The down side is virus had a prolonged stay in our family. Many a times, my mum or me will end up catching it towards the end since we are main caregiver during day and night respectively.  I find it the hardest since am holding a full time day job but also need care for the sick Dinos during night time. Most dreaded would be fever where I  literally had no sleep when it spikes at night and I desperately try to sponge it down and kept waking up to take their temperature.

How I managed to stay sane and alive, I really dunno. But I thank god for my mother's help, Mr Love's support, my brother's weekly visits, my bffs and colleagues' patience to listening to my bitching when things got tough. I also tried to hypnotize myself thatt this is only a phase and we will get over it soon though sometimes I desperately want to know how soon. Haha. 

However, going to CC has its pro too. Dinos actually became more independent from attending CC and also picked up alot of words and improved tremendously in conversing. They would come home and sing nursery rhymes, talk about things they did or see etc. They can also follow simple instructions well now.

Though all these could have been achieved even though they stayed at home but I think going CC hasten the process of learning.  I also like the fact that they get to interact with other kids and gain social skills. This is something staying at home would not be able to provide and since they are twins, they showed little or no interest in other kids. 

We went for a parents teachers meeting session last week and was glad to hear they did mingle around and teachers actually split them into different groups. 

I'm also grateful that Dinos met a great team of teachers to kick start their school life. In fact BD was super clingy to his chinese teacher and he actually sticks to her closely in school initially and only start to warm out to other teachers recently. From  conversations with friends, I realised how lucky we were to have such teachers since they are the ones dealing with our kids during their time in CC and is essential we have a responsible and caring team.

This also goes to show that we can actually not placed our children in those branded CC since mine were placed in the most affordable ones in market and we were  quite pleased with the school.  That said, I usually have no other expectations other than keeping my Dinos safe.

Dear Ah Ma 2018

Dear Ah Ma,

How are you getting on with Ah Gong, Da Jiu and Xiao Bao? I hope everyone is getting well. It had been a busy year with your 3 great grandsons growing up.

For the 1st time in many years after your passing, I dream of you and you carried Lucas in my dream. I would like to think that you are trying to tell me that you saw him when I brought him back to offer you prayers. I would bring Louis back once he recovered fully from the recent flu. Do let me know which Dino you find more cute haha.

Ah Liang's son is also growing up well and good. He's already learning to walk and talk and would often come home to visit mummy.

The way mummy indulges in her grandsons reminded me a lot of you spoiling us when we were young. Many times, I was reminded of the great time we had while staying with you during holidays and how you always got our back. Now that I am a mother, I finally also realised how exasperating it is to deal with a doting grandmother haha.

Our family photo 2018

There are also some good news coming from the aunties and uncles family. Nin Nin had graduated and will be starting her specialist course soon. You will be so proud that there is a doctor in our family. Ah Di has also graduated and will be soon starting work and Serena is now pursuing her studies in London. And Ah Yun is pregnant with her 1st child. Please help to watch over these cousins and let everything in their way be smooth.

After so many years of your passing, I realised I didn't really got over you. Every little things in life reminds me of you. I hope that mummy will have this special bonding/effect on my sons next time too:)

Be well and happy Ah Ma. Please watch over Mummy and Papa and blessed them with good health and happiness. Please help me to take good care of XB.

Till the next update Ah Ma.

Missing you lots,

Your eldest Grand daughter, Ah Le.

Dear XB 2018

Dear XB,

Mummy wondered where are you now? Have you already been reborn to a family and leading a better life now? Mummy will never get to find out.

6years on, I still cannot get over you though the pain has healed. I know you will be well somewhere but many times I just hope to know how well you are and whether you are doing good for it's my biggest wish to know you are currently well. But it's  too much to ask for isn't it?

Your 2 brothers are growing up well and fighting cats and dogs daily. They are a joy to be with and I sometimes hope you are here to guide them and help mummy out when I get overwhelmed.

Things are sometimes never meant to be isn't it? I've come to accept it.

No matter where you are now, mummy hope that you are growing up well and healthy and always be surrounded with love and laughter.

Be well my lost child.

I missed you dearly.

Love,

Mummy.

Perfect Mother

On the flight back to SG from TPE, I met a middle age lady while trying to rock BD to sleep at the back of the aircraft. She strike a conversation with me since noticing I have twins. The upside or downside (depending how sociable you are) of having twins and bringing them out is, you tend to have strangers coming up to you to chat about your kids :)

First question she asked is whether twins parenthood is tough.

I pondered for a while trying to give her an answer.

The truth is, I don’t find it tough anymore after going through it for 2 years, instead I found it manageable now. Sure there are some days I feel like pulling my hair out but most of the days I think I am quite happy with things.

She was kinda impressed by me not finding it tough and can have the courage to bring them on overseas trip at this age. But seriously I just feel that we will have to play by ear in any situation that comes up.

It’s not a walk in the park to bring kids overseas let alone twins and some more boys in particular. Haha But I think we (kids and parents) will just have to try and adjust ourselves. The Dinos will have to learn to sleep in places that they are unfamiliar (they can now as compared to the last trip) and we just have to learn and managed their needs and adjust our itinerary.

We moved on to our daily routine where I described to her how we managed our schedule every night. It’s basically a mad rush to settle the Dinos before they turned too cranky and then cannot sleep.

The topic of engaging a helper came up and I confessed I was pretty against it. Perhaps I’m blessed in a way that my mummy still helps me out with some housework and Dinos’ dinner but even without her help, Mr Love and I are determine to make things work even it will be chaotic initially.

The lack of helper means that we will need to do a lot of things on our own and many a times we will find ways to improvised or increased efficiency. We are also forced to learn things more quickly so as to keep up with the Dinos and not to mentioned have greater bond with them. Dinos on the other hand will grow up knowing that since there is no extra help around they would have to be more independent.

Truth to be told, its really tough and I have lost 5kg in a span of 3 months after Dinos attend school. The stress and the rushing took a toll on me and most of the time, I don’t feel like eating dinner since my mind will be thinking of the next chore to complete so that I get to rest earlier later.

Then I’m pretty obsessed with cooking proper adult food for the Dinos on weekend nights and therefore had to plan and decide what to cook and also to see the situation on the day if I can take out how much time to do the cooking. There will be some days when they are sticky to me and I can only do 1 pot rice. On good days, I can whip out 2 dishes and 1 soup using my trusty kitchen appliances.

But despite the hectic schedule we are running on now, I still feel better than before. It might be also due to Dinos being more matured now and can sometimes take instructions or they are more interactive now that its kinda fun to interact with them.

It might also be due to the pride I have knowing that I participate fully during their initial growing up years despite holding a full time job and I survived the 1st 2 years without going crazy or giving up to employ helper. Also I can feel the attachment that Dinos have for me even though I was never a full time Mother after their 4th month. Any parents will know how much effort we have to put in to let your kids formed an attachement to you. For this, I am proud.

The kind lady praised me for a job well done though I am not sure how well done it was. My parting words to her is that though I am not a perfect Mother, but I am trying my best every day to provide the best environment I can to my Dinos in my context. I was told this shall be sufficient:)

Really comforting to know that I’m on the right track though might not be the best for motherhood is such an ambiguous journey that only yourself can decide the next course of action

Tag team

2018 is the year we celebrate our Tin Wedding anniversary. A decade of marriage just flew by like that. How time flies.

When looking at younger colleague preparing for her wedding now reminds me of our own 10years back. So many details have blurred and I can still remember the excitment.

10years, 2kids and many pounds heavier later, I hope we are still the same. We don't get much chance to chat nowadays since taking care of the Dinos and then housework takes up most of our waking time. It's really not a joke juggling twins parenthood and work by ourselves with occasional help from my family but I would have it another way.

I do realised we have more arguments after the Dinos came along due to different parenting views be it within ourselves or with my mum and over the course of these 2 years we have learnt how to iron out the differences peacefully and also to work on finding the balance. It wasn't easy but certainly a good learning experience.

On the other hand because we have certain similar beliefs and values, it makes this parenting journey a tad easier on most of the issues when sometimes I take the lead and Mr Love follows.

1 thing I've learnt is not to compare and have expectations. An article I once read says that arguments usually arises when your better half did not meet the expectations you set. But if you learnt not to set any, you will learn to appreciate your half better no matter what he or she does and it also minimizes disappointments.

I've learnt not to compare too.  Be it with others or among the both of us on who does what more. The bottom line is if both is committed to make things work then we should try to compromise sometimes. This is something I still need to remind myself frequently especially when I'm dead tired and temper got better of me.

That being said, I see Mr Love changing too. He would now be more proactive instead of waiting for me to give him instructions on what to do. And he would take over certain tasks like bathing and cleaning poo while he throws all packing bags and washing bottles to me.

As we proceed with our parenthood journey, we also learnt more about each other and also try to adjust ourselves to the situation and try make things work. This is essential to keep things going and also to keep our marriage afloat.

But despite all our differences, I am glad that my tag team partner is him but not anyone else.

Dinos 2017 Bangkok trip - Kidzoona @ Ekkamai

I did a research and wanted to bring The Dinos to an indoor playground while we are in Bangkok and to my surprise, there are plenty of choices.

Then I found one that is accessible by BTS and located inside a mall where we can go in and play while my Piggy brother and mummy can go shop.

Decided on Kidzoona located at Ekkamai Mall Level 4 and it is right beside Ekkamai BTS station.

The funny thing is the whole mall opens at 10am and because we reached at 9am plus, we were forced to wait outside the mall under the unforgiving hot Bangkok weather.

The Dinos had fun running around while we took turns to stay guard near them.

For a while I wondered if they will be tired out even before we go in.

Went in at 10am sharp once the mall opens and we are one of the first customers at the playground.

Since it is a weekday, it is really empty except for 1 or 2 expat mothers bringing their children there but both did not stay as long as us,

So basically had the playground to us most of the time. Shiok.

Rates

There's an arcade outside the playground or rather should I say the playground is located inside an arcade. Either way, we did not explore here as all the games need to pay per play.

Super empty arcade

Distracting SD while I pay for the fees

There are also quite a number of lockers located inside the playground, right beside the shoe rack. Need to pay THB 20 as refundable deposit and you will be given a key to lock your belongings up.

We managed to get 2 lockers. Not sure whether it is 1 to each child or there's no limit of how many to how many you can rent.

Lockers

Entrance

Sand Playing area

The first area we saw is a wooden toy play table where The Dinos especially SD rushed to explore the toys. I think they have never seen so much toys in a table before. Haha

SD was madly in love with the toy train set and kept standing there while BD got bored after a while and started to explore the place.

Wooden toys/train play table

Still struck here after 10min

Bored BD

Trying to create a collision

There are quite a lot of things to explore there.

Some were for bigger kids but mostly can allow the younger ones like Dinos to enjoy.

Finally go off

Dinos the builders

The only dangerous play I deemed there are the slides which look pretty high for their age. Luckily for us, Dinos did not know the concept of slides and did not went explore it.

Big slides 

Leaving their hand prints there

Too short to play

So excited to see a ball pit

There are basically 2 ball pits here. First one we came across is in a bouncy castle.

The Dinos were basically swimming in it. Its actually pretty tiring to play here as you need a lot of balancing to walk in the bouncy castle. They ended up crawling through the balls.

Then we came to a supermarket mock up area where tons of veggies and fruits are line up in shelves. Dinos actually thought they are real stuff and want bite into a banana. When they realized they are not edible, they lost interest and moved on to other area.

Choosing his veggies

The pretend play area had quite a few stalls where kids can either done on the uniform provided to be the stall holders or to be the customers.

My 2 boys like being the customers and mess up every single stall they have been to.

Ice cream for you Mdm?

Cake shop

Sushi shop

There was 1 staff who standby there to clear/clean up the mess after the Dinos moved away from the stalls. Another staff can be seen sweeping the floor regularly while we walked about.

Overall they kept the playground clean and tidy.

Papa became the stall owner entertaining them

Back to ice cream stall again

Moving on, we came to an area of mock up emergency vehicles where the it would sound the siren when you pushed the buttons. Dinos were pretty freaked out by the loud sounds and figured out no to push the buttons after all. They were pretty contented to climb in and out of the vehicles.

Fire Engine

Police car

At some point, Papa had to climb in with them as they were still no very calm after hearing the loud sirens.

Then BD saw some cars and got into it while asking Papa to push him around There were like 4 cars available there and because it was empty, my 2 Dinos got on every single 1 to play.

Papa pushing BD along

SD came and wanted BD to give him the car

They got into some pointless fight over the cars at some point and we distracted BD by asking him to climb over the bouncy platform and go over to the big ball pit.

Works like magic and managed to avoid a meltdown there.

There were after all so many things to play with here and my boys wanted to fight over the same car? I would not hear of it.

Picking up the stranded balls

Having fun

1 with Mummy

The ball pit here is much bigger with a slide in the middle of it and 2 trampoline. The balls were pretty full and at some areas, Dinos are having difficulty to walk in it as they were too small sized. Even I have difficulty pushing the balls away with my feet as I waddle around.

Bird's eye view of partial of the ball pit

Wanting to go on the slide on his own

Papa is their best play mate

BD got bored again and requested to get out and he ventured to this big all rolling ball and climbed in on his own. Gave us panic attacks since the ball will roll on its own. He's the more daring 1 and more often then not will try to pull stunts that stun us.

Climbing in on his own

Then out again cause he cannot move it

Here comes Papa and Didi

Then they decided that this is too exciting for them when Papa start rolling the thing along with them inside. SD was super freaked out and nearly jumped off on his own.

They decided to go play the pretend play area again, messing up a 2nd time for the staff. We tried to pack after them leaving the station but with no avail since gotta keep an eye on them when they moved around.

I'm the sushi chef

 

Messing up only

No photos please, says the sushi staff owner

Finally they decided they ran out of ingredients and make a trip back to the groceries area and mess up the place again.

I felt so bad for the staff. My kids went around the same play area twice and mess up big time twice.

Loading to his trolley

We pulled them out of the playground for lunch and was met with cries and screams cause they cannot bear to leave. But the parents were dead hungry.

There was a food court right beside the playground and we sat there to feed the Dinos. Mr Love had wanted KFC and we decided to go down after Dinos' lunch.

Piggy bro and mummy brought Dinos back to the arcade while I changed them 1 by 1 in the rest room. There isn't any baby changing station here and I'm glad I brought pull ups and the Dinos did not take a dump while we were here.

Overall, we had a great time here since the playground was literally empty while we were here. And as it is located inside a mall, Mummy and Piggy Bro could do some shopping while waiting for us. There's also quite a selection of Japanese food in level 1.