I can’t believe it is already end of February! What did we exactly do in this month that seemed to fly by in a jiffy?
Birthday Celebrations…
February is full of celebrations with 4 birthdays including my lunar birthday too. Missy 11 is, well, 11 years old this year. She had a simple celebration together with just the 5 of us. No big parties for the first time. She made my day when she asked me to bake her favourite New York Cheesecake and we baked her cake together. We treated the kids to Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, a comedy, in celebration of her birthday.
One on one date…
I dated Missy 11 one on one a few days after her birthday. I asked her what she would like to do on our date and she replied,”I want to go to Timezone!” We went to the archade at Plaza Singapura and had a fun-filled afternoon. I had not had such a good time playing in the entertainment centre for a good many years. It was very special to go with your own daughter and play together. I did not have to keep watch on other kids. It was easier to go out with one child and we had a good chat over MacDonald’s fries and sundae and there was no distraction. We even took a “neoprint” together and we happily kept the photos in our wallet display compartment. Due to work commitment, I am unable to do a regular date with each of the children. I really hope to be able to have frequent dates with each of them, we’ll see how to make this happen.
I dated my mum too for her birthday. Missy 11 has the same birthday as my mum and that makes February extra special. I made it a point to date each of my loved ones during their birthday month and I must say this is one of the best thing that I have done to show them that I love them and I enjoy the sole attention with each of them.
Diaries to my children…
I have been writing diary to my gal for a few years. It is our special window to our inner thoughts and sharing of secrets. Through this diary, we get to know each other more as sometimes written words are easier to reach to the other person than spoken ones.
There are many differences writing to your children vs writing my own diary in private or on the blog. No correction of spelling/grammar errors. No extensive lecturing on life’s lessons. No one way direction of asking and not sharing your own life.
On the last day of February, I started one with my boy. I was half expecting his lukewarm response to such diary writing to his mum, but how wrong I was. When I returned home from work and walked to my room, I saw the diary hidden half under my pillow. Like an excited little girl, l slowly turned the page to his 9 year old handwriting. He replied to my diary to him! Among the words he wrote, this was what he told me:
“I’m happy to talk to you because I can share everything with you.”
Oh! I am really looking forward to reading what he will share with me! Likewise, I am going to share with him about me! This is going to be such a wonderful experience and bonding activity! I am so happy that I started with Missy 11 and now I am going to do the same with Master 9 and in future with Master 4!
Bonding with 3 generations…
We found a great place for Master 9 to practise his skateboard skills. And we headed to this place on a beautiful Sunday morning. We took along a volleyball, kick scooters and Master 9’s kiddy car. The grandpa joined us when he bought us some breakfast. The kids had a good time with their favourite grandpa. I am happy that my children love their grandparents’ company from both paternal and maternal sides. I always believe that having grandparents to bond together with grandchildren is a bliss. I hope my children will bond with Kel and I when we are grandparents ourselves in the future.
Safari Zoo Run, our first family run…
We had our first family run together in our favourite place, The Singapore Zoo! It was an awesome day walking, jogging, running the 2.5km together and having lots of distraction along the way as we stopped to watch the white tigers, new baby giraffe named Jubilee, Zebras, Orang Utans, and many more. We had our cute medals at the end of the fun run and re-entered the zoo again. We went to the Rainforest Kidzworld for the water play before heading to the our favourite restaurant, KFC. After that, with the complimentary entry to the River Safari, we visited JiaJia and KaiKai, the two giant pandas for the very first time. Due to the height limit, Kel took the 2 elder children to the Amazon River Quest Boat Ride.
Nature + Family Bonding = Happiness. What’s more can I ask for on a Sunday? 🙂
Making time to watch my girl’s volleyball match…
The thing with FTWM is that we have to apply for leave for every single school engagement even in the midst of heavy work commitment. Well, I must say that I would never miss an important school event like watching my girl’s volleyball finals even if the CEO wants to meet me. What can be more important than being there to give moral support to my child? Definitely not work commitment. I could tell how proud Missy 11 was when her friends said,”So good! Your mum came to support you!” and I was beaming from ear to ear too. Kel came in between his Training class to show his support even if it was only 15 minutes. Master 9 was also an avid supporter too!
Missy 11 was consistent in her performance and I must say she and her team really had a good and tough fight with their opponent team. Even though they lost the tough match and came in third in the end, I was still super proud of her when she went up stage to collect her well-deserved trophy. Come the inter-school volleyball national competition, I will certainly be there to support her again!
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February wraps up perfectly with so many happy events that I am looking forward to more family bonding activities in March. I will be bringing the children out during the one week March school holidays. There are already 2 class playdates in the planning with bowling and movies coming up. It will be a relax and fun month again before it gets busy with academic revision in April and May for the first semester examinations. Meanwhile, let’s just enjoy the non-exam days!
How was your February? Ever since I started doing wrap ups and reflections on the rounding up of the month, I realize we had done quite many things as a family and there was much to be thankful for and reminisce. Even if you are not a blogger, you should try to do a simple wrap up on facebook post or in your private diary, etc, etc. The idea is to think back on what you have done good to remember or done not so good to reflect and learn.
You’ve had so much on in Feb! How cool to read you feel good about the time you’ve organised to spend together as a family. I always enjoy the one on one dates as well. Our kids can ask for them too, so they must love them too. But the diary is an awesome idea for when my kids are older. I’ll remember that one!
You can start diary writing now! Use simple language or with pictures with little ones. Let me know if you do try it 🙂
I may have to see if I am ready to regularly come up with such ideas… but I did draw some pics to them with short messages and they loved them!
I just knew you have ideas! Short messages with pictures are good and suitable for younger kiddos. Now thanks for that. I may start it with my 3.5yo son 🙂
What a wonderful period to celebrate! Love the bonding time shared with each loved ones and am gonna try the diary with my 8 and 7yo! Thanks for the push! You’re doing great as a ftwm! Jiayou and God bless!
You are doing the bonding one to one very well! I have seen your posts on facebook and I think you are a wonderful mum!
For me, I find it hard to do it so often, but I am trying to increase the frequency than 2,3 times a year.
Thanks Christy, we try our best in whatever capacity we have ya?And you have the journal secret weapon…lol. I work part time so still can afford more regular times. But definitely good to plan for the increase in bonding time! Let’s Jiayou!! : )
What a beautiful February y’all had!! Just love how much you are there for your kids and the love and support you show them!
I hope March will be a good month for us too! Thanks for reading Kate!
Looks like you have a fun filled and rewarding Feb. I like your diary with your kids, it sounds fun and good. I hope I can do it with my kids when they are older and can write independently.