Ee Rynn's conversation with daddy

Friday, 29th June 2012 - 4 years 7 months old

Ee Rynn: Daddy, how was your day?
Daddy: 'sharing his day'. So how was your day?
Ee Rynn: Good.
Daddy: What did u do in school?
EeRynn: I get to play, drawing n coloring and I have morning circle time. Then teacher Cheryl teach alphabets. Then, we played again.

Ee Rynn: Daddy, daddy, do you know what's the different between humility class (her previous kindergarten) and my school now?
Daddy: I don't know.
Ee Rynn: 2 differences
One, I can wear shoes in humility class and I cannot wear shoes in the school now.
Two, I get to play a lot now but I don't get to play a lot in humility class :-)

This is the different between Montessori and conventional kindergarten.

The conversation continue..

Ee Rynn: Daddy, can I hug you to sleep?
Daddy: Don't u want to hug kitty (her hello kitty)?
Ee Rynn: But kitty is soft, cannot feel.
Daddy: How about hugging your bolster?
Ee Rynn: But I love you daddy!
She hugs her daddy for a while!

She's such an adorable girl. This conversation has melt daddy's heart!

Me from working to stay at home mom

I am a stay at home mom for a year now. Friends commented I have courage to quit a good career to be a stay at home mom. They asked how or when do I decide to stay at home.

These are the few points we have considered together before I decide.

1. Finances

We asked ourselves how it's like if we live in one income? Be truthful to yourself when both of you look into finances. Go through everything from what you are paying for childcare, your gas, your meals, your shopping, your phone bill, your commitment, your loans and so on.

Discuss and look through the numbers to see whether it's possible. Forecast your investment, savings and expenses next 5 to 10 years too.

2. Me - your 'why'

I listened to my calling. I ask why I want to be a stay at home mom. Will you be satisfied to have this title called 'full time mom' instead 'manager/director?

Think through on your role as a stay home mom. Visualize your daily activity and schedule. Do you like to be your family's full time cooks, chauffeur, your children playmate and sometimes their nap warden?

Do not feel guilty if your are not up to it. There are a lot of families out there with working moms and their children turn out fine :-)

3. Your spouse

When you and your spouse work, you split the chores and errands. When your role change, daily responsibility will be likely on your to do list. I remember I hate it so much when I knew I have to deal with house maintenance issue. But I learnt to enjoy it along the way.

Discuss with your spouse on role and responsibility. This will allow both to know what to expect. Both of your will have a new role, you as a stay at home mom and your spouse as a sole provider for the family.

4. Protection

Is your insurance coverage sufficient? How about your children's medical coverage? Compare your coverage given by your current employer and your spouse's employer. Make sure you are arm with clear information before your decide.

5. What's next

As your children grow, what's next for you? It's good to have an idea of what's next so you feel secure and confident.

There will be days when doubt creeps in. Remind yourself on your 'why', at no. 2. Don't worry as your decision is not permanent. If you can't take it as a stay at homes mom, your can always go back to work or start a business.

Live life to the fullest!

Ee Rynn's painting

23rd June 2012 : 4 years 7 months old

Ee Rynn requested to paint today. She said she wants to draw mommy. The spiky hair represent mommy's long hair. Cute :-)

Frontier Danceland at Goodman Arts Centre

Saturday, 2nd June 2012

In conjunction with school holiday and Arts Festival, Frontier Danceland, a non-profit contemporary dance company, provide a free session for children in music and movement. I registered both Huai Shiung and Ee Rynn as I knew daddy and Ee Rynn like to dance.

The dance teacher is Kareen. Nursery rhyme like Eensy Weensy Spider, Hockey Pockey, Wheel on the Bus and so on was played in the class for body movement.

Singapore Art Festival 2012

This is our first time participating in Singapore Art Festival. The country is so friendly that they have Kids Arts Village for kids to have fun.

On 1st June 2012, we visited Kids Arts Village.

The first booth we visited was Tangle. Tangle is the inspiration of Polyglot Theatre, an internationally renowed creator of interactive and experiential theatre for children up to 12 years old. Polyglot has been recognised as one of the Australia's leading children theatre companies.

Children was given one soft ribbon and start to tie the ribbons from one pillar to another. Ee Rynn choose green ribbon.

Ee Rynn had fun as all the ribbon tangled up together. Some children cried because stuck in between these ribbons.

Next we went to Splash Art and Crafts at Artspace. Ee Rynn gets to splash different colours on a big board. She gets fill her world with exuberant colours.

Ee Rynn participated in mural painting. This is her first exposure on mural painting. She had fun.

At the end of the 2 hours journey, Ee Rynn was exhausted and happy! It was a fun exposure for us.

Ee Wern's milestone : Lifting her head (1)

20th June 2012 - 4 months 8 days

Ee Wern can lift her head steadily now. It's great to see her progress.

God Bless :-)

Ee Rynn learns to handle her emotions.

Ee Rynn at 4 years and 7 months.

Today, Ee Rynn has a playmate name Charlotte. She's 4 months older than Ee Rynn. She comes to her grandmother's house who's a neighbour to us.

They played together well. They have disagreement but they don't fight. Ee Rynn is more gentle and she will say apologies if she is at fault.

They play water together today. They both want to mop the floor but only one mop. So they come to me for solution and I suggested paper scissors stone. Charlotte won and Ee Rynn cried. I was upset and asking myself how to handle this.

I hugged her. She felt better. Both of them were wet and I have to send Charlotte back to her grandma's place to change. When Charlotte leaves, Ee Rynn breakdown again.

She wants her friend to shower with her. So I explained to her. Ee Rynn, Chatlotte's mommy wants her to go back and have dinner. This is something we can't control, right? She nodded, still crying.

Deep in my heart, I know she wants friend. I continued, let's take shower and have dinner. When Charlotte finish her dinner, she might come back again. She continue to cry.

I know she's sad. I hugged her for a while. When she feels better, she continue with cleaning up.

I guess what I did right was I am there for her when she is sad. I waited her to handle her emotion and allow her to let out her emotions until she feels better. She feels safe to be a real her to me.

By not giving my point of view (she didn't ask anyway), I guess I have allowed her to learn to handle her emotions. One of the important skills to learn.

My journey in Singapore - 3rd Weeks

It is my 3rd weeks in Singapore.

I am still trying to adapt in this new environment. As a mom, I told myself to be tough and strong. As I am the provider to smoothen my girls adaptation here. Thank God EeRynn is adapting well at this moment.

It's a school holiday. Therefore, we have a lot of time together. I am juggling taking care of Ee Wern and Ee Rynn as preschooler and baby needs are different.

Caring for them has toughen me a lot. It teaches me to go on despite circumstances. It teaches me not to quit so easily. It teaches me to focus on my long term plan and handle challenges that comes along the way. It teaches me to handle my emotion myself so they can handle theirs. It teaches me to see experience via their eyes as compare to my own.

I am improving by day.

These 3 weeks, I have met some Singaporean and expatriate. As I waited for Ee Rynn everyday during her drama class, I see a lot of maids. Maids in this country are empowered by their employer to bring children to school. Teacher in the drama class speaks to maid on children improvement. It's an eye opener for me. I feel, parenting should be parents responsibility and not maid.

As I speaks to expatriate, they like the country. They can adapt easily in this country and everything is very convenience. I agreed. I travel around with young children. It's a child friendly country.

As I speaks to Singaporean, they told me one child is enough for them. Parenting demand too much from them. They can't see themselves juggling with more than one children. They want to enjoy life and not going back to sleepless night.

I am glad that God has give me strength daily to cope with my role as a mom. It's tough! But I choose to go on. No resignation!

Talking to people reminds me to instill family value to my children in an early age. As they grow, they will meet different people and family value will keep them from temptation and bad influence.

Thank God for keeping me intact every day. You are always there when I am weak.

Parenting Ee Wern

Our life has changed after our decision of moving to Singapore.

Unlike when Ee Rynn was born, we stayed in apartment and things were in our control. We were able to plan her nap time and her schedule was fixed. We planned our life and movement around Ee Rynn's schedule.

This adventurous journey put my parenting skills at test. Schedules are unpredictable, different country every 3 weeks that lead to different bed and different environment.

Since Ee Wern was a month old, we were in Singapore. I started with no confident of setting up schedule for her as our schedule is not fix. Therefore, I give in and try to fulfilled her needs whenever she cried.

I started to train her to soothe herself to sleep. I know even in different house, sleeping will be the same. So I condition her and prepare the same sets of habits and things for bed time (afternoon and night).

I succeeded and she can sleep on her own pretty well. When we arrived to Singapore on Tues, 29th May 2012, she can soothe herself to sleep in new environment.

I was happy until the real test begin. Singapore is crowded and every where we go, is noisy. Each restaurants are crowded. Unlike in Malaysia, we go everywhere by car. Places we go generally quiet. She sleeps in her stroller easily.

She starts to scream and shout. Her body will jerk and startled at every loud noises around her. I have to sling her on my body at almost every outing. Her weight is 5.75kg (at 4 months) and to carry her around is no joke. My body starts aching especially my leg and waist.

The test now is to help her to learn to soothe herself even in noisy places. I change her sleeping place to a noisy corner in the house. This is at the office room where there are sounds of buses, renovation, people walking and public vehicle. I expose her to sounds of vacuum cleaner too.

I need to be consistent to let her cry to sleep because sometimes I give in to soothe her. I love her so much.

This trip back to Malaysia, she proved that she has the ability to sleep on her own. As we had breakfast this morning, she soothed herself to sleep in her car seat (picture below). All I need to continue I think is to assure her that she can learn to sleep on her own in this new environment, especially during our outing in this crowded Singapore.

Having Ee Wern in my life has challenge me to be flexible in my parenting skills. Approach in my parenting style can be flexible and achieve my objective at the same time. After all, I am dealing with human not robot. LoL

Ee Rynn learns to count coins

Thursday, 7th June 2012 - 4 years and 7 months old

As I was in bookshop yesterday, we bought a book on coins.

I thought of teaching her about money. It's not as easy as I think. Initially, we use workbook and she counts. However, when it progress to bigger number, she seems lost.

So I close the workbook and starts to draw so she can count. It works well. I starts with 10 and 20 cents. Then, she learn addition using different value of 10 and 20 cents.

It was fun.

Ju Shin Jung Korean Charcoal Restaurant

Tuesday, 5th June 2012 at Katong Singapore

This is our second week in Singapore. My husband's colleague recommended us to go to Katong for dinner.

When we arrived, there are a lot of restaurant along the road. As we have decided to have Korean food, his colleague recommended us to go to Ju Shin Jung Charcoal Restaurant.

Food is good. We ordered pork with Kimchi soup, Korean Ginseng chicken and seafood pancake. It's delicious.

We realized the restaurant does not give us tissue. But we realized there are 3 white tablets on the table, as shown on picture below. We saw other customer pour water in it and it became tissue. Fascinating.

Next, they served watermelon in heart shape. EeRynn never liked watermelon. But because it's in heart shape, she eat it for the first time.

We had fun!

Ee Wern's milestone : Lifting her head

5th June 2012 : 3 months 3 weeks old

As I put Ee Wern down on her tummy today, she is able to lift her head temporary. Seeing her grow each day is such an amazing journey.