Children Archives - Page 8 of 12

Simple art and craft – Rainbow Box

I have not been doing art and craft with my kids for quite some time, mainly because I am usually very tired after work and we have lots of outdoor activities during the weekends with the kids. But, today, I am on leave from work because I need to take care of my baby and my P2 girl since all Primary 1 to 5 kids have 2 days break due to PSLE (Primary School Leaving Examination) Oral. With such a good opportunity to enjoy a day of stay-at-home-mum, I planned so many activities today with XX, I am now rather dead beat while typing this post. However, the thought of sharing my joy of enjoying an afternoon of art and craft, I do have the motivation to write this post and publish tonight.

So, when XX asked what we could do together this afternoon, I quickly searched in my art and craft box for ideas. Seeing a pack of colourful ice-cream sticks, I decided to make a Rainbow Box out of them. Continue reading “Simple art and craft – Rainbow Box”

I remember the day my son got lost: Weekly Writing Challenge

I remember the day when my son, YH was lost in the shopping mall. It was a frantic search for him. He was only 1+ years old then.

We went to an arcade (an entertainment centre) in a shopping mall. My girl, XX, 3 years old then, was playing at some kiddie station. YH was stomping on some step-on-the-buttons station a metre away. We have 6 adults, kel, me and the 4 grandparents around these 2 toddlers. The adults were chatting away while keeping 12 EYES on the kids. The arcade was noisy as usual, a mix of lousy orchestra playing game station music. The little ones were having great fun hitting buttons and stepping on gears away with no tokens being deposited into the machines.

YH was walking about and running his unsteady steps from one station to the next. Everything seemed normal till I suddenly realized that in my sight radar, there was only one toddler moving about. Where’s the other one??

For what seemed like 5 hours, the next 5 seconds were a frantic scatter of all of us searching for YH. My first thought was to run to the main entrance of the arcade in case he ran out. But my worse fear was him being kidnapped by somebody. I imagined a man carrying him with one hand over his mouth while my boy struggled and cried. This thought made me crazy! Then, alas, kel came looking for me 5 minutes later, and told me YH was checking out some station behind a drop down curtain! Whew! I let out a sigh of relief! If you ever have such experience of finding your child lost, you would have been able to imagine my roller coaster emotions! Hearing the good news, I ran back to my dear boy and hugged him tightly. I fought back my tears.

The whole episode was only about 5 minutes but it could have been forever if he was really kidnapped away! Having many people around with 12 eyes on the kids is not as safe as you think it to be. I would have thought you are looking after the kids and you would have thought I am looking after them. In the end, nobody is actually paying attention to the kids’ whereabouts! This incident took place in our home country, Singapore which is one of the safest country in the world. Yet, as parents, we cannot let our guards down when it comes to kids’ safety. Even till now, YH who is already 6 years old, still wanders off in the crowd. It always drives me crazy to search for him. XX will always tell us where she is going if she is going to be out of sight from us. Boys being boys, will always need that extra attention, but I will not let my guard down for my girl too.

Have you ever encountered such a frantic experience of searching for your kids? Share with me!

This post is written in response to Weekly Writing Challenge: I Remember

Check out other great posts here:

Thank you Letter to My Children’s Pre-School teachers and staff

In 2011, I wrote a thank you letter to all the teachers and staff of my children’s pre-school the day before their last day in the wonderful place they call school for the past 4 years (to be exact, 4 years for XX and 2 years for YH). It was my children’s very first school where they spent 8 hours a day for 5 days in a week, while I spend equal number of hours in my workplace. This was a place of fond memories where they learn their ABCs and 123s formally. This was a place where they learn teamwork, sharing with peers, abiding rules of an institution and befriending little friends. I wrote this thank you letter to the school to show my appreciation of them taking good care of my children. At the same time, I want my children to remember they had these great teachers whom they may not remember as they grow up.

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A thank you letter to Ascension Kindercare teachers and staff

Dear All teachers who have taught my daughter XX and my son YH,

First of all, thank you for the wonderful concert last Saturday. The efforts of the teachers and children let all the parents present bring back unforgettable memories.

It’s with a grateful heart that I am writing this thank you letter. Seeing my girl XX in her Kindergarten graduation robe and mortar board, I am so happy that in her 4 years in Ascension Kindercare, she had been in good care. All the teachers who taught her were wonderful! Each year, from N1 all the way to K2, she loved her teachers and I know she is well-taught and loved by all of them.

When she was in N1, Mdm Chia and Mdm Yong showered her with love such that she was accustomed to the childcare quickly and became their great “little helper” where she was given many chances to help the teachers.

In N2, Ms Chew and 姚老师 (both who already left the centre) were good and caring teachers and they quickly became my girl’s favourite teachers.

In K1 and K2, Mdm Louis and 吴老师 played an extremely important role in teaching and preparing her for Primary 1. 吴老师 taught my girl Chinese and Han Yu Pin Yin so well that I have no worries that she go on to her Primary school where Chinese is very much emphasized in school. And thanks to Mdm Louis in instilling discipline into the K2 children and always alert me to any misbehavior in my girl. She always worked with me quickly to nip the discipline problems in the bud. Even though she is strict in class most times, she shows the children her love and fun side too. With both of them as her K2 teachers, I have totally no worries she is in good hands.

For my boy, YH, I would also like to thank his N1 teachers Mdm Chia and Mdm Yong for handling his fragile emotions during his first weeks in childcare when he was only 3 years old. It took a long time for him to settle and me and my family were really glad that his teachers both found ways to capture his heart. By the time he left N1, he was already a favourite boy to his teachers and he enjoyed being with them.

In N2, YH needed to readjust to childcare in a new class again after his comfortable environment in N1. His N2 teacher, Ms Chew found ways to get him talking and open up to her. She succeeded and YH was once again jovial. This is with great help from N2 吴老师 who showed him lots of attention. Later 张老师 and Ms Myra joined N2 Love class and were able to bond quickly with YH. Even though N2 had many staff changes, I was really happy that the teachers were able to bond well with my boy.

There are many other teachers and assistant teachers, helpers to thank. They all have took good care of my children even though they are not the main teachers in their classes. And I also want to thank Ms De Foe for her good guidance in steering the childcare and her care and love for the children.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for both my children. They may not feel the sadness of leaving a place where they have great memories now, but for sure, as their mummy, I felt it strongly. And also it signifies an end of a part of their childhood. I am happy that this part was a memorable and enjoyable one.

Thank you very much, Ascension Kindercare teachers and staff!

Best regards,

Mummy of XX and YH

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After this letter was sent to the school’s principal, she shared my thanks with all the teachers in the pre-school. Many teachers thanked me for the kind letter and I was equally touched. The funny thing is a month later, after trying to put YH in a new pre-school which did not worked out (we changed to a pre-school nearer our house because we had moved house), we were back in this good, old pre-school again. The wonderful thing is that the moment YH was seen walking towards the pre-school entrance, he was immediately welcomed by the principal, the teachers and the school-mates. YH was initially very embarrassed to have bade farewell to all teachers and friends and to be back in the school again. I was surprised that his little ego was affected by this turn of events, just like us adults. However, I was glad that by the end of the day, he was back to his normal self and was never so glad to be back in the same environment and be with his friends again.

Although the travelling from our new home to the old pre-school is some 20 minutes away by bus, we were nonetheless happy that he was comfortable in the old learning environment. It wasn’t easy for anyone to let go of friendship and bonds with teachers after spending 2 years together, let alone for a 4 year old (that’s half his lifetime then!). When the end of the year comes, it will be YH’s turn to put on his little mortar board and graduation robe in the year end graduation cum concert event. I’ll be shedding tears of joy once more.

Have you ever tried to thank someone who took great care of your kids? Maybe you should! The feeling is great!

I want to stop hurrying my kids

After reading through the handsfreemama post on “The day I stopped saying ‘hurry up“, I felt so guilty and upset of frequently saying “Hurry up…” to my kids. I am one who is impatient, and one who want to complete many things in my limited time spent with my kids since I am a working mum. The post resonates so much with what I am experiencing, I decided to check myself on how I can right things and stop uttering the “H” word so frequently.

On Saturday mornings when the kids have piano lessons, I hurry my kids to brush their teeth, eat their breakfasts, and change their clothes. When time is running out, I hurry them out the door, ignoring complaints of little feet hurting because of some blisters or dismissing their remarks of forgetting to do their piano theory with “I told you so…” or speaking at top speed of “There’s no time to tie your hair in pleats now. We’ll have to do that in the train or while waiting for the lift. If you had stopped watching tv, your hair would have been tied by now!” all under one breath. It is usually these stressful, late for class moments that the kids will start to go back in the house to find their animal kaiser cards, story books, little pet shop toys, erasers, etc, etc. It gets on my nerves and I’ll be off shouting “1,2,3 out the house” commands, all the time carrying baby YT in the baby carrier. The baby must have felt all the anger, his mummy’s fast heartbeats thumping against his head and the negative ions in the air. At such times, the papa would start to pour in some oil to the fire by criticising my time management.

On weekday evenings, we have dinner at leisurely pace. However, halfway through the meal, my 6 yr old YH will start to leave his chair, walk about, sit or stand (I can’t make out of which is which), and it is this time, Kel and I will hurl out the “H” word to command him back to the dining table . After dinner, during piano practice, YH will dilly dally about. He can play one song, walks about, plays with his dinosaurs, goes back to the piano again, and bangs the keys. At such trying times, I will “coax” him back to proper practice by using the “H” word. I said, “If you quickly (a synonym for hurry) play the pieces well and practise seriously, you can master the pieces quickly (2nd time usage here) and we can go on to do other stuff together earlier (another form of hurry up).” See! I have used the “H” word in different forms here, 3 times in one sentence! Not to mention, I said it in a hurried way too.

As the evening is so short, I try to squeeze in lots of activities into the 2 hours that we have. It became a habit to utter the “H” word conveniently, add in the “H” mood, it truly is not the kind of relax evening I would love to have with my kids.

Then, I decided, to make an evening happy and relax,

I need to slow down my pace.
I need to speak at a slower speed.
I need to forgo multi-tasking to some extent.
I need to plan and prepare earlier for outings.
I need to target arriving at all functions 10 minutes before start time.
I need to stop using the “H” word or its synonyms.

On many occasions, if I can allow more time by planning in advance and like what kel said, to better manage time, or allowing an extra 10 minutes, I need not use the “H” word 9 out of 10 times.

I decided to slow down my pace this week and check on myself for uttering the “hurry up” words. I begin to observe many things that I have never seen before, or rather have forgotten. My boy, YH has such beautiful eyes when he smiles. When I stop myself from interfering with the way he plays with his baby brother (he can be violent sometimes), I realize he is very conscious of whether the baby smiles as a result of his funny actions. He beams with his crescent eyes and toothless grin when YT smiles or claps his hands. When I allow him tantrums during piano practice and do not hurry him, he goes back to the piano on his own after cooling down and plays smoothly without hiccups. When I do not hurry him for bedtime, he produces beautiful drawings and little crafts. He is slow in writing, yet, when I sit down beside him and look at him, forcing myself to throw out hurrying thoughts, I find that he writes with such moving intensity, I could have cried.

I do not tend to hurry my girl, XX, so much. She is more disciplined and independent. When I plan things in advance and remind her from time to time, she does things responsibly and timely. I have learnt to look at her and observe the things that she does. I learn to listen to her with full attention. When I allow her to bathe the baby (with help of course), she can do almost everything that I do, although with double the time I spent. She can wash the baby’s hair, body, change the diapers and help the baby wear his clothes, etc. She loves to have me say goodnight unhurriedly and have me on her bed beside her while recalling what happened in the day. When I stay around in her room for a little while, she flashes her sweet girlish smile and speaks in babyish voice. I love her voice.

My kids tend to sleep late and have a thousand and one things to do before lights out. I used to hurry them to dreamland so that they have enough sleep and so do I. Now, when I do not hurry bedtime so much, they settle down better and I got to enjoy the perfect bedtime ritual of kissing them goodnight before I leave the room in peace.

I love my kids. I want to enjoy time being with them while they still want me by their side. The dishes can wait, the dirty floor can wait, even the me-time can wait. My kids are growing up everyday and soon, I will have lots of time by myself and probably too much time on hand to spend. When that time comes, I wouldn’t want my kids to hurl back the “H” word to me. I would equally want them to enjoy time with me at a leisurely pace.

(Thanks to handsfreemama Rachel whose beautiful write-up causes me to stop and re-look at my hurried pace. You can check out her blog here, she writes beautifully and so true to what we parents experience.)

My baby’s 10th mth milestone

Baby YT is getting very mobile these days. When I woke up this morning, I found him sleeping in the living room, thoroughly enjoying the cool floor. Luckily I mopped the evening before.

He is no longer satisfied sitting in the high chair while everyone busied themselves.

He is no longer content in the playpen playing his toys alone. His brother and sister take turns gladly to squeeze inside to accompany him.

He no longer wants to lie down when I change his diapers. He just springs back up repeatedly when I push him gently to a lying position. He can sit up at his own will now.

At 10 months, he loves to:

– “fly” all around in his walker to wherever he wants to go, or follow me wherever I go, stopping only at the bathroom door

– go out of the house and cry when he sees me leaving the house or sees his favourite grandpa going home.

– watch “Charlie and the numbers” and “Tricky Tracks” on Baby TV.

– put one finger into his mouth, taking care the finger goes right to the side where his molars are still dormant.

– explore the base of anything, even finding great interest in the wheels of his new walker cum wagon, often toppling it over.

– eat his favourite Gerber graduate puffs

At 10 months, he still wakes up for night feed or simply cries out loudly for some reasons that we fail to understand. We just have to be patient, and gradually getting used to. Now I no longer dare to let him fall asleep on his own while I close the door and leave the room. As he is so mobile, I am constantly afraid that he may crawl out of his floor mattress and explore behind the door. The older kids may open the door suddenly and forcefully, not knowing he is there and he may be hurt badly. Thus, I have to check on him very often if I were to leave the room or I simply accompany him till I see him close his eyes.

YT is feeding on 4 times formula milk and 2 main meals a day. I am officially off breastfeeding and have no reasons to eat as much as I like now. Breastfeeding used to be a great excuse for me to indulge in many high calories food, but not now. I will put on weight quickly if I am not careful.

Many people say that a breastfed child will not fall sick in the first year of age. But it doesn’t seem to work for all my 3 children. YT fell sick 2 times within this year, the first was a cold at 7 mths, and the second was a virus that causes high fever for 4 days at 10 mths. Poor boy, all of us gave him extra tender loving care and he is back to his old happy self now.

The little boy is experiencing stranger anxiety at full force. He is not comfortable with a roomful of well-meant uncles and aunties cooing over him. He takes time to warm up and will bury his head into my chest if he is overwhelmed. And I am enjoying the kind of trust he places on me, and loving the fact that I am needed and able to protect him.

YT is outgrowing many of his clothes now. He is now 9.82kg when he was having high fever. I choose to believe he is already 10kg at his healthy state. There is a myth that says babies should not wear shoes before his first birthday. Well, because of this, many baby gift shoes have been outgrown before he even has a chance to wear. I will be shopping around for his first pair of shoes very soon.

In 2 mths time, he is going to reach his 1 year old milestone. I am very excited by it and yet want to plan a cosy party for him (just like his brother’s 6 year old party). A party that he will not get overwhelmed. After all, he is the star of the party, he “calls” the shot.

I love you babe!