April – what goes on in our lives

While I dreaded my examinations in my school days and celebrated the end of it after going through 16 years of being a student, and more than a hundred of examinations, big or small, I have never thought I would be going through it again. Many of you should know by now that I used to be a laid back mum, learnt my lesson, and become a not-so-laid-back-mum. So, naturally, I am doing what many other parents are doing: mugging for examinations along with my children. Ok, maybe mugging is a strong word, let’s just say, reinforcing the basics but at a more intensive pace.

So, April is about preparing the kids for the examinations. Primary school students are too young to know how to prep for exams, aren’t they? I remembered I did not really study for my examinations prior to PSLE. With my wealth of experience, I decided to go through the process of this preparation with the kids, hoping to slowly let go, and let them learn how to revise on their own gradually. As much as I hate it, in this aspect, I belong to the helicopter parent for now. You will be surprised at how at Primary 5, the English examination paper is really quite tough. I need to check the dictionary or sometimes google up the word when the dictionary hasn’t got the word! And we are talking about the Oxford dictionary! And yes, we are talking about primary school standard!

Because of the exams prep, I have been neglecting my toddler as my short hours after work are totally consumed by teaching the 2 elder kids. I know it affects him because he has not been looking at me when I leave the house for work and when I come back home in the evening. All these gestures make my heart ache. I feel so guilty and really hope to make up for it after exams. Bear with Mama ok, baby?

So, while exams are important especially for my gal who is doing PSLE syllabus, I still try to strike a balance on revision and play. I don’t believe in mugging for the examinations for every waking moment. So, we brought the kids out for our usual weekend routine.

Safra Punggol – Little Explorers

Perhaps I am one of the rare parents who give the kids an exam break. On the weekend before the exams, we brought the kids to Safra Punggol for a day of fun.

Birthday celebration

Master 9 turns 9 this month. As usual, when it comes to birthdays, my brain can only work for last minute plans. I decided to host 2 parties on the same day for my boy. One with his close friends and one with our family. I did up a simple picnic party at the playground near our place. However, it rained heavily that day, but we still managed to move the party to another sheltered place outdoors. Although the children could not play at the playground, they had lots of fun playing ball games on their own. In the evening, we had a nice and cosy steamboat dinner with the grandparents and cousins. It was a super tiring day but seeing the birthday boy’s happy face, it was all worth the effort.

NTUC 350 Run

Master 9 is blessed with a group of close friends who are still very much in touch with each other even though they are in different classes now. The mummies of this group of friends are also very close. We decided to sign up our children for run events and NTUC 350 Run is the first run together. The next one with his friends will be POSB Kids Run in September. By the end of this year, Master 9 would have joined 4 runs in all. Healthy lifestyle starts young!

My own preparation for long distance run

At the current count, I would have joined 5 run events this year, 2 of which are family runs and 3 are individual runs. I am training up for my very first 10km run in Race Against Cancer in July. In the same month, I will be running in Mizuno Ekiden which I am part of a team of 4 in a 21.1 km relay run. It is a very interesting run. See below picture for how it works!

While I really worry if I can make it for the 10km run, one of the fellow mum blogger Angelia who is an avid runner shared her post with me. And that opens up a brand new way of running that I had never known before. RUN-WALK-RUN! I always thought that long distance running has to run non-stop, I could not have possibly thought that for safe running, one must do run and walk intervals too. Because of this, I start to do the Run-Walk-Run method to train up for my 10km. Surprisingly, the distance no longer seems so daunting to me. I am really excited about the runs. It is a motivation for me to keep myself fit and also something to look forward to. I do hope I can inspire more mums especially, to pick up running or a healthy lifestyle. Mums are always too busy to take care of themselves. But, it is possible to stay fit in your busy schedule! Will share more on this when I succeed in conquering my 10km!

Early Sunday morning bonding

Missy 11 has been asking to be woken up for breakfast on Sundays which is quite unlike her. Usually she is the one who sleeps in and can even wake up near noon. Since the little missy of the house is so game to wake up early, we have been enjoying our Sunday morning bonding time. On a particular Sunday, we went to our favourite sand playground. I am glad that Missy 11 no longer dreads walking on sand which she did for a short period of time last year. On other Sundays, I took the kids to the playground and I must say with the 3 of them zooming up the pathway on their respective scooters and bike, I was seriously sighing a deep relief when I took them back home safely. You have no idea how my heart stopped momentarily god knows how many times when I saw how that little training bike seem to topple at sharp turns and how the scooters stopped just in time at the traffic lights! I was running like a mad woman far behind.

With me feeling the exam stress, I am certainly looking towards mid-May onwards when the kids would have finished their exams. I am already searching for ideas to bring them out for play! One good post that I chanced upon from Cheekiemonkies is the 10 Best water play in Singapore! Wow! I never knew we have so many public swimming pools that have fun slides and lazy river!! Best of all, the entrance fees are public swimming pool rates! Also, we have a few playdates coming up in June.  Movies, one-on-one dates with each kid and hubby and mum, and more activities in June. Who says staying in Singapore during school holidays is boring?

How did April go for you? 🙂