We had a nice week last week. Can’t pinpoint exactly what was nice about it, but I’ve come out of it feeling quite content and quite happy.
Maybe it was Keira “hardly” crying at kindy, Sean giving us huge smiles and gurgling laughter, and a weekend of good food and good friends.
I am definitely alot less stressed now with the extra pair of hands helping around the house.
I only lose my temper once a week, instead of once a day! (Of course in the good ‘ol child free days, I NEVER lost my temper. I was Miss Congeniality. Seriously.)
It’s the school holidays now. Yup, we’ve joined the ranks of parents who are now saddled with the “What do we do with the kids now that they’re home all day” dilemma.
The house is really so peaceful when Keira is at kindy. The moment she steps back into the house, I’m on my feet going to and fro getting her snacks and fruits and telling her not to climb this or throw that… non-stop until bedtime.
No kindergarten means, four extra hours of Keira a day. I sound like a horrible parent don’t I? But I think all parents know what I mean when I say, you need a break from your kids once in awhile!
So, planning a short local holiday this week. Mainly to entertain Keira, and to give us all a treat:)
- taking photos and changing settings like a pro on the camera
- talking about everything
- spelling out her own name
- so playful, so cheeky, so naughty
- loving her little bro with his “cute little round head”
- and I quote “the prettiest girl in the world!”.
So we didn’t have a big party for her this year, but we had several little ones spread out over a few days, which was great as it was like she had a brithday every day for almost a week!
First, Japanese buffet with Ah Gong & Ah Ma:
Then a simple lunch at home with a tiramisu cake, which was just another excuse to let her blow out the candles
Presents from Ah Gong, Ah Ma & Granduncle were opened another night. She loves the shopping trolley!
And finally celebrating at kindergarten with a proper cake:
Keira specially requested this ABC cake from Secret Recipe quite awhile ago, and she finally got her wish.
Our maid has been with us one week now, and I can feel the difference already.
We have been able to sit down together for dinner every night and eat peacefully, while Sean gets what he wants: someone to carry him around.
I am beginning to realise I don’t have to cook one pot meals anymore, and can basically make anything I want, as there will be someone there to either help me with the chopping and cleaning or carrying the baby.
As a result we have been eating in alot more, and eating nicer food
And the most significant difference is that we are spending more quality time with the kids.
Where one week ago, we might have been trying to wash dishes and clean up after dinner, and have to tell Keira: “Wait, wait, we can’t play with you yet.” Now, we can all sit down together and enjoy some family time. It’s wonderful!
Of course it’s not all perfect. The problem is mainly to do with me. I am too nice, and don’t like to tell people to do things. I am automatically friendly to everybody.
So now am having trouble telling the maid what to do and what not to do. Eg. Don’t carry Sean the moment he makes noise because he needs to learn some independence, and I don’t want him to get too attached to her.
Is this something I should control or it can’t be helped because she will be a big presence in Sean’s life for a couple of years? Any Mums with maid experience out there have any advice?
I suppose I feel possessive of my kids and don’t want her to be another “mother”… is that possible?
Had time to make cupcakes with Keira today (while the maid carried Sean and let him watch us). We had a good time together, no stress, no rush. So overall, having the maid is still is a good thing. I think.
Keira’s birthday is coming up this Sunday, and I was thinking of using these cupcakes as the start of her birthday celebration. But they turned out quite ugly, as you can see in the pic above, so have scrapped that idea.
We’re not doing a party for her this year, as Keira has developed a bad case of stranger anxiety (gets very scared when people come to our house). All she wants for her birthday is familiar faces. So it’s just us, ah gong, ah ma and granduncle.
We’re going to a Japanese buffet to celebrate tho. That’s to satisfy my craving for sashimi. hehe. And also Keira loves to choose from the colourful array of cakes, jellies, ice creams and fruits on the dessert table. yumm.
Our Cambodian maid arrived today. For her first day on the job, she performed better than I expected.
She came in, unpacked and immediately started tidying and cleaning up the house without me asking! Her English is pretty good too. She understands everything we say and can answer our questions.
She knows what to do around the house and I’ve also let her carry Sean, and she seemed quite confident with him as well.
So far so good. Now if she can continue like this for the rest of the contract, then we’re in luck!
On to Keira @ Kindy. This is her third week there. Last week was quite bad cos she woke up crying everyday, she was so scared.
This week, she still cries, but it is getting less and less. Today she managed to hold the waterworks in all morning, all the way in the car and only burst into tears when we stepped into the kindergarten door.
The teacher says she stops after I leave tho, and is quite OK after that. Altho she is still timid about joining in with the other children.
And when I come to pick her up, she is happy and cheerful. So when she says “Mummy, I don’t want to go to kindergarten… pwease mummy, I don’t want to go to kindergarten…” Do I believe that she really doesn’t like it?
The happy thing about kindy is that after observing her, the senior teacher told us that Keira is a very capable girl, and speaks very well (but speaks so fast they can’t catch what she says!) And she is mature enough to follow the older kids’ classes.
It’s nice to get validation of what we already knew about this special little girl of ours
I’ve just left her crying away at kindergarten again. Gosh, I feel quite bad, and now I’m wondering if she doesn’t enjoy herself there, what’s the point?
This is the second week of kindy. in the first week, i stayed with her everyday to get her used to the place, she was abit clingy but pretty happy.
This week, we started to leave her there after trying to get her settled in. But the moment i start to go… waterworks.
And today, she cried all the way there in the car saying: ‘’Mummy please don’t leave me, mummy please don’t leave me..'’
Each time she says that I am sooo tempted to stay with her. but then i see that when i’m there she sticks close to me and always looks to me for guidance instead of the teachers. so if i really want her to settle, i should leave.
The teachers also tell me to go and that it is normal, and she will get used to it after awhile.
I hope so! But knowing Keira, who is a stubborn girl and who has her own mind, I’m not sure if she will ever decide that she is OK with kindy. I don’t want her to be scared like this everyday… sigh
Hmm, I foresee that in the near future I might have some free time away from these two cute little monkeys. Actual chunks of time when I can go out and do things… like get a haircut… am in urgent need of a haircut.
Keira is going to start kindergarten on Monday! we finally found a little Montessori kindy near our place that suits us, informal and flexible, with very nice teachers. Took Keira in for an hour yesterday and we could see she was fascinated with what the kids were doing. She said she wanted to go back there again!
So now the next hurdle towards freedom is to be able leave her there on her own. We’ve discussed with the teacher and have agreed to settle her in slowly. So I’ll be there with her for a few days first to get her used to the place, and then after that, for four hours a day, everyday, I’ll be FREE!
Wait a minute, I forgot about Sean, the every two hour breast feeding milk monster. Sigh! But this brings me to the next topic. We will also have a maid arriving in a few weeks.
She is a Cambodian with a little work experience, so can speak abit of English.
This will be the first time I have a stranger living in the house with me who is there to help me do things. I hope she will be worth the trouble.
I have heard so many bad stories of maids stealing, being moody, lazy, disobedient, running away, unhygienic, demanding… I just hope this one we’re getting will be a good one.
Now I have to figure out what I want the maid to help me with, how to accomodate an extra person in the house for two years and how to behave towards her?
I also don’t know if I can trust her with the kids, so I think she will only be doing housework first, until I teach her the ins and outs of the kids’ routines.
After all that, then, just maybe, I will have time to do some non-kid or house related work. And with the extra pair of hands I can take Keira and Sean out anytime without having to wait for the weekends for CY to be free.
The kids are doing well tho. We’re coping. So then why do we need a maid? I suppose because with a maid we can do better than just cope. I’m sure I will scold and scream alot less and the kids will cry less, if I’m not frazzled trying to cook, carry Sean and comfort Keira all at the same time.
Fingers crossed, hope it works out.
BTW, Sean just gave me a huge baby laugh out loud moment when I was bouncing him on my lap. So Cute!
He can also raise his head up 90 degrees when on his tummy and turn left and right non-stop trying to see what’s going on around him. The boy is growing and growing:)
Keira has been enjoying the company of her other cousin, Liem, who is back for the holidays, for the past two weeks.
Liem is also from Australia, which means this is the first time they’ve actually played together properly, which is sad. Why are all of Keira (and Sean’s) cousins in Australia?
Sigh. But we’ve made the most of the time that they are here, and the kids have been having a fantastic time going places and doing things together!
We started with CY’s birthday:
Then lot’s of playing at home, at restaurants and playgrounds. They hardly stayed still, meaning most of the photos I took had one cousin or the other, or BOTH, all blurry because they’re jumping or waving or wriggling around. Like this!
Sean also scored himself some cousin time:)
One night we went out for some chinese fine dining at Gu Yue Tian. Lovely food presentation. Lovely food!
Here’s the starter, from left to right, mango roll with fried fu chuk, giant clams with watermelon, and chicken in rice paper roll.
We also had this pork spare rib with mushroom sauce, cooked to tender perfection.
And managed to capture a lovely shot of the kids posing with Ah Gong:)
Then Sean got upset, so the cousins tried to cheer him up. hehe.
Yesterday was Liem’s birthday party and we had another celebratory get together.
SIgh. Only a few more dinners before Liem goes back… then Keira will lose a cousin again. Gosh, I wish we had a bigger family and everyone stayed together in one place. I can see how happy Keira is when she is with family, and I wish she could have it all the time…
Family reunions always start off so wonderfully, but why do they have to end?
What can I say? When she’s happy, she is so happy. She screams and she giggles. she gives you big cheesy grins, and she lights up our lives.
But when she’s upset, she becomes inconsolable.
Unfortunately, Keira gets scared quite easily. She’s scared of thunder, of strangers, of new situations, new places. And when she’s scared she cries and cries, and nothing we do can make her stop.
I’m quite worried about this because we want to send her to kindergarten soon. But how when she bursts into tears the moment we step into a new place and then clings onto me like a limpet?
It’s not like I’ve locked her in the house all her life and she is a frog in a well. Ever since she was 6 months old, I took her to Gymboree, Caterpillar music and playgroups… Each time she cries and it takes her months to get used to the class.
We bring her out all the time and she meets all kinds of friends and relatives. But she continues to be shy and timid. She is queen in the house but a mouse outside.
Actually I know why she is like that. Because I was the same when I was young! So it’s my own fault isn’t it? I don’t know how I grew out of it, I think I just had to grow up. So maybe I have to wait for Keira to grow up too? what else can I do?
Hai…
In other developmental news:
Toilet Training
I have been toilet training Keira, and after the initial hurdle… that is get her used to doing it on the toilet, it is going well. Keira cried at first sitting on the toilet, until she discovered she could do it, and then she was quite proud that she could. Soon we won’t need to buy two sets of nappies anymore!
Counting
She is learning to count. But like me her math isn’t that good (Hmm.. did she inherit all my bad traits??!) she can count up to five things quite well, but gets abit confused with more than five, because she tends to repeat her counts, which means she hasn’t quite grasped the concept yet.
Drawing
She drew her first coherent picture the other day. She drew a circle, two eyes, a mouth, legs, hands and hair! And the figure looked like Mr. Potato! I was so proud.
Going Green
She loves colours. Her favourite colour is green. (Hey, my favourite colour is green too!) In fact, Keira is obsessed with the colour green. Everything we buy for her must be green. Drinks must be green, jelly must be green, toys must be green, plate, spoon, cup… even our dishwashing liquid…all green!
Storytelling
I tell her bedtime stories everynight, and now she can tell stories too. Last night she started a story which went something like this: “Once upon a time, there was a little fish that lived in the sea. One day, a monster came and the fish ran away. But the monster was a moon monster and he said hello little fish, I’m the moon monster, I want to be your friend!“
She likes stories, just like me!
So, even if my daughter doesn’t look like me on the outside, maybe, just maybe, on the inside she is alot like me
So, Keira doesn’t have an afternoon nap anymore. She stopped about one month before Sean was born, and seems to be surviving on an 11 hour sleep at night, from 10pm to 9am.
What this means is that she is awake, active and demanding for 13 hours of the day. Pretty much non-stop.
So I have to think of ways to entertain her. Playing tea party and building blocks with her make my eyes glaze over with boredom after about 15 minutes. I can’t let her watch Pingu and Mickey Mouse all day, I’m not ready to driver her out on my own with the baby and we can’t even go outside the house because of the sweltering sun.
So, the Rainbow Jelly Project. An activity both Keira and I can enjoy doing together during those long, hot afternoons when we start going stir crazy from the heat and the boredom.
Since I enjoy making food, RJP is simple cooking activities Keira can help me with from which we can enjoy the edible results:)
we made raisin oatmeal cookies last week. This week was rainbow jelly.
This is three layers of jelly, the bottom layer made from apple & blackcurrant juice, the middle layer with pineapple syrup and pineapple pieces, and the top layer grapes with pineapple syrup (oh and a few drops of food colouring ).
The syrup from tinned pineapple makes excellent jelly because it gives that sweet and sour flavour you associate with fruit jelly.
Keira loved it and so did I.
Yesterday, we made banana muffins from a recipe my sis recommended. It is so easy, and very very yummy!
I added in a dollop of apricot jam in the middle because my fingers are itchy that way. Delicious:)
Racking my head now to think of what else we can make.
Well, we’ve survived another week. Now, at 1am, in the peace and quiet of the night, it doesn’t seem so bad. I think we can do it.
But of course, just a few hours ago, I was getting frustrated trying to get the baby and the toddler to go to sleep. After two hours of story telling/breastfeeding/tucking in, they fell asleep at the same time!
Actually, Keira has been a fairly happy and good girl this week. I have been OK too, thanks to visits with friends, ah gong & ah ma, and CY working from home more often.
Sean is abit moody tho. He wants to be carried alot, otherwise he whines and cries. Thank god I bought that Baby Bjorn Synergy carrier. It has been put to good use, and it is very comfy to wear. Sean loves it in there, falls asleep immediately.
So quite often me or CY are carrying him around the house/in the car/at the supermarket etc etc!
We took him to see the paediatrician yesterday. He now measures 59cm in length and weighs 5.6kg. He is still on a 2-3 hour cycle, but there was once when he slept for four hours at night.. haha. So that means I haven’t had more than four hours of sleep at one stretch in two plus months.
He is giving us big smiles now, and sometimes I can see one little dimple on his left cheek:) He is a cute little bubby.
We’ve also been slowly catching up with friends here in KL.
Here’s Sofea and Keira playing with Sofea’s dollhouse. Sadly, Sofea and family are moving overseas to work soon, so we won’t be able to see them anymore…
Here’s Keira and JW, playing some funny running game. They wouldn’t stay still so we couldn’t get a good pic at all!
Here’s a girl friend for Sean - little Rui Lin, only a few weeks younger than him.
Oh, and today is me & cy’s 11 year marriage registration anniversary. So we went out for a buffet dinner - which was also our very first proper dinner out as a family of four:)
Well, that’s this week done. What will next week bring?
Just 5 days back in KL and I am exhausted. I’m dozing off even as I type this, but I refuse to sleep. Don’t want to waste any kid-free time on sleep.
I really have to find Keira a kindergarten to attend soon. I’ve been trying to fill the Yong Hao shaped hole in Keira’s life by being her replacement playmate. But I simply don’t have the energy of a two year old!
Trying to think up activity after activity to entertain her is exhausting. Especially so when I’m carrying the baby boy around and trying to breast feed him at the same time…
The humid heat doesn’t make things any easier. Just sweatier. I HATE being sticky and hot and sweaty.
It really makes dealing with a demanding child that much harder.
Yesterday for example, Keira played some games on the computer, did some colouring, made some cookies, played with her toys, cried a few times, read some books, ate and watched abit too much TV.
That’s all fine and dandy, except that the little girl wanted me to be right there with her doing all those things, all the way up to her bed time, where I had to sleep with her, to get her to sleep.
Each time I try to look at my computer, she will squeeze herself in front of me (yes even when Sean is already there) and try to hijack my mouse.
Scolding her just brings on the tears, which stresses me out even more.
Oh, and how many nappies do I change a day? I’ve lost count.
One of the worst things is when Sean cries and Keira, wanting my attention too, starts to cry as well. What do you do when both your kids are sobbing tearfully in front of you? You join in.
To top it all off, I am trying to keep the house clean, so that the ants and cockcroaches don’t invade. And cleaning up after a messy toddler is another full time job. Toys are strewn across the floor, crumbs of food scattered around. It gets messy again almost immediately after you clean up.
CY actually helps out alot, imagine how much more stressed I’d be if he didn’t!
So yes, a kindergarten, with lots of activities for the energetic girl would be helpful… Except that she is so clingy, she will want me there with her at the Kindy anyway!
I’m frazzled. To say the least.
Thanks to TV, making cookies etc etc. Keira is relatively happy most of the day tho. In fact, Sean is the one who has become more cranky and grumpy. I don’t think he likes the heat either.
Sigh.
Well, today has been slightly better. Mainly because Keira has been glued to the computer watching episode after episode of Peppa Pig on Youtube. I know she shouldn’t watch so much, but I just don’t know what else to do with her!
Anyway, the kids are asleep now. I have a few hours of blogging/surfing/Glee watching time, before Sean’s next feed. And then I’ll sleep!
I know, I know, I’m asking for it. I should sleep when they sleep right? But what’s more important, blogging or sleeping? Hehehe.
Oh some pics:
Keira being a good jie jie and rocking Sean in the bouncer, while Sean looks up at her
And here’s the big baby, he is two months old now!
I still haven’t come to grips with the fact that we have two children now. Keira and Sean. Sean and Keira. Our kids. Wow.
Keira is a really good big sister so far.
She helps to bath Sean and helps during nappy change times by putting his cream on for him. When he cries, she’ll say, “Sean crying, Mummy give Sean milk”, and when he sneezes, she says, “Sean cold”, and she covers him with her blanket
So far so good. But I have to be a bit pessimistic here, because so far we’re still in the “honeymoon” stage. Reality hasn’t hit her or me yet. When CY goes back to KL this Sunday, and when everyone, including my Mum are at work next week, when it’s just me home alone with two kids both needing attention… that’s when tears will flow and tempers will flare.
Reality will hit home in a few days time. I suppose it’ll be good practice for when we’re back in KL - (btw we have booked to go back in early May). But I am not looking forward to this.
Nappy changing, bathing and feeding two kids… actually that’s the easy bit. The problematic part is Keira and her need to have someone play with her ALL. THE. TIME. How will I explain to her I can’t play with her because the other problematic baby wants to drink milk every two hours, day AND night! There will be tears. Hers, mine and his.
Help.
The confinement period is over. The hard work begins.
But in the end, it’s all worth it. How can these two not be worth it
Caught this on video today - the cousins singing at the top of their lungs with the accompaniment of the cockatoos tweeting in the eucalyptus tree in the backyard.
Precious, precious moments.
Ps. you can also see the plaster on Keira’s forehead where she was hurt.
We’re in the last few weeks before a new little soul comes into our lives, and I personally CAN’T WAIT to get this baby out of here!
Compared to Keira, this boy is making me so uncomfortable.
He kicks and dances and does multiple karate moves inside my belly, almost all day. And then around midnight, just when i’m trying to settle to sleep or have some quiet time, he starts kicking UPWARDS, into my lungs and ribs! Ai Yo.
With Keira, I was as regular as clockwork. Now, I’m constipated.
My legs cramp up when I sit down for too long, my bladder is in love with the toilet and must go visit it all the time, sometimes I am very hungry, and sometimes, when the baby squashes my stomach, I feel sick and have no appetite at all.
There’s 10 kilos of extra weight pressing down on me all the time. I feel old, look haggard and there’s all kinds of strange spots growing on my face.
And I’m sorry to pour all my complaints here. But that’s the pregnancy this time round. Besides the gaining of weight I didn’t get any of the above with Keira, she was a good little foetus, so second time is very much different and harder and more exhausting… Hopefully the boy will come out to be a good baby in contrast!
Anyway onto some nice pictures now
While CY was here for CNY week, we managed to do a few things around town.
First we went to Crown Casino to check out the CNY festivities. Their laser light show featured this huge dragon.
Outside, along the river bank there were lots of stalls selling the usual food and CNY stuff, and rather incongruosly, this little pet farm, where they were letting kids go in to pet the animals.
Here’s CY, Keira and a llama.
Another day, we went to visit a real farm, where the kids got to feed the animals.
The guinea pigs were the cutest!
And the cousins continue to enjoy each other’s company and warm our hearts every day. They are best friends now.
(Hmm.. did she inherit all my bad traits??!) she can count up to five things quite well, but gets abit confused with more than five, because she tends to repeat her counts, which means she hasn’t quite grasped the concept yet.
).
