Yearly Archives

2012

motherhood

Letting go of the cute

November 2, 2012

I used to have a theory that the optimum age of cuteness for kids is between 2 to 4 years old. Ever notice that 3-year-olds get away with anything?

They do the boogie in nothing but their underwear? Maxed out cuteness.

Smear food all over their face and hair and furniture? Gross yet adorable.

Make politically incorrect observations about people? Hilarious.

Shred important work documents and try to eat them? Distressing but still cute.

Sure, they’re compulsive and prone to dramatic outbursts but their level of cuteness makes up for it. In fact, if I had a choice, I’d want the kids to remain toddlers forever. But because I still haven’t managed to invent the pill to make them stop growing, I have 2 kids who are rapidly outgrowing the cute and innocent toddler phase.

Truett has been telling me that he wants to be 10 years old like a big boy while I’m trying to hold on to his babyness for as long as I can. Ok who am I kidding, this kid has no more babyness to hold on to.

He’s crossed over into big boy territory sometime in the last year while I wasn’t looking and a part of me has been mourning that a little bit.

But then last night right around bedtime, I was getting Finn ready for bed when Truett came over to kiss him goodnight. What usually took 3 seconds somehow turned into an unexpected 30-minute conversation, just me and him. We talked about nothing or everything, depending on how you look at it. It wasn’t a life-changing conversation and I doubt either of us will remember it several years down the road but for the first time, I felt like I was having a proper conversation with my kid, one I really enjoyed. I didn’t have to consciously talk at his level or feel compelled to teach him something.

I realized that the kids are changing almost on a daily basis and at every stage, there’s a new discovery to be made and more fun to be had. I’ve got to embrace the change and enjoy the ride, whatever it brings.

Suddenly, cute seems overrated. I’m totally going to enjoy having a big boy.

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picture perfect, precious moments

Smile and the world smiles with you

October 30, 2012

This is what baby Finn does when he wakes up in the morning. Or after drinking his milk. Or during a bath. Or when he’s asleep. This is pretty much what he does throughout the day.

He’d be yelling for milk and when one of us picks him and smiles at him, he’ll stop and flash us this killer grin that makes my heart explode from too much love.

He smiles at his siblings and they’ll be all “awwww…baby Finn likes me SOOOO MUCH, he’s smiling at me!” I didn’t have the heart to tell them that baby Finn smiles at everyone but yes, he does like you so much.

He smiles at random strangers and some will stop to fuss over him. One lady even wanted to carry him but it suddenly occurred to me that she might grab him and run because he’s too cute. (Ok, it wasn’t likely but this is how babies get abducted, y’all.)

He’ll be a heartbreaker, this one.

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events, kids in motion

Hello Halloween

October 29, 2012

The kids went for their first Halloween party over the weekend – an Angry Birds Halloween party organized by Singapore Cable Car at Sentosa’s Port of Lost Wonder. We’re not really big on Halloween celebrations because some of the costumes can be a little scary for the kids and as Truett puts it, “I don’t like scary things, only cool and fun and happy things.”

I’m with you on that, young man.

But we figured that since it was an Angry Birds kid’s party, it should be pretty tame, right? Wrong.

We didn’t know what to expect so instead of dressing up in a costume, all they went with were their regular clothes, sparkly personalities and a large dose of naiveté.

I’m not sure if they managed to leave with that last part intact because the moment we arrived at POLW, we saw tiny grim reapers, draculas, skeletons and ghouls running around like they were part of a scene from Night of the Living Dead, well, maybe the slightly friendlier and cuter version. There was also a miniature Hulk, several Spidermen and one little guy I assume is Ironman’s slightly squishy distant cousin who did too much trick or treating.

Kirsten wanted to add some fairy dust to the party so we went to the store to pick out a pair of fairy wings for her, which turned out to be a perfect match for her dress. She caught her own reflection in the store window and couldn’t stop smiling.

Truett couldn’t find a costume that wasn’t undead so he was happy to remain in his sort of pirate-themed tee. Besides, he couldn’t get out of the store fast enough because the guy at the cash register was bleeding from his eyes and nose.

I told him it was just make up – the same kind mommy uses (sort of) and he was all “girls use pretty make up and boys use ugly make up?”

“Well, son, some boys use pretty make up too and I’ve seen girls with make up that makes me want to scream and run but the important thing is that it’s not real ok.”

He didn’t seem entirely convinced but we managed to distract him with some balloons and a ride on the cable car with a soft and fluffy angry bird. Apparently, not all the cable cars have the plushie and we happened to get one with this little feathered (furred?) friend. They were hugging it so affectionately and all I could think of was how grubby it looked or how many germs it has. Not too many, I hope.

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kids in motion, not feeling so supermom

Sharp and pointy all in a row

October 26, 2012

The kids are off school today so we’re doing something constructive like COLORING!!! My level of enthusiasm warrants a caps lock and 3 exclamation points but they didn’t seem too enthusiastic about my genius idea.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they do it in school everyday or that coloring is in fact, as they call it, “so boring.”

So instead we decided to round up all the blunt colored pencils hidden in various dark corners of the house to make them all sharp and pointy again. And while I was sharpening them one by one, I suddenly realized that I haven’t done this in over a decade. It felt so old school using a tiny retro sharpener. They’ve got all these gigantic electronic sharpeners that do the job in half the time but where’s the fun in that?

Because the whole point of sharpening is to make the longest unbroken twirl of wooden pencil shavings, amirite?

Plus now I have a row of pointy colored pencils for the kids to go do their thing.

My job is done here.

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picture perfect

Baby pals

October 25, 2012

This is Finn with Katelyn, my friend’s gorgeous little girl. They were born 5 days apart and both have the same explosive hair to match their chubby cheeks. We don’t do much matchmaking these days but if we did, this would be like a match made in heaven.

They’re probably going to grow up and be all “ew, no way…I saw him eat his booger as a baby.”

But then life has a funny way of working out and just in case they do end up together, this would make the coolest wedding montage photo.

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kids in motion, side effects of motherhood

A good boy

October 23, 2012

I’m really enjoying this phase that Truett and Kirsten are in. They’re adorably inquisitive, somewhat self-sufficient and really great company.

But there’s one thing about kids this age: they just do stuff. Sometimes good stuff, sometimes bad stuff, mostly crazy stuff. In other words, they’re uncontrollably compulsive.

Like they go to the beach and start flinging sand all over themselves, even though they’re going to regret it when the sand ends up in their eyes and other body parts that sand should not be in.

Or they see an anthill and feel the need to stick their fingers in it, even though they’ll feel the wrath of a thousand angry ants descending upon their tiny fingers.

Or they’ll compulsively twirl a dangling wire around their fingers, even though that wire is attached to an iron that’s waiting to fall on them.

Which explains why parents of preschoolers are so naggy and prone to episodes of seemingly random outbursts. We have to tell them “don’t do this, don’t do that…STOP POKING THE CAT IN THE EYE and PICK UP YOUR LEGO PIECES and HEY TURN OFF THE TAP I CAN HEAR YOU PLAYING WITH WATER IN THERE” like eleventy-thousand times on any given day.

Last weekend, we were out shopping with the kids and Tru was fiddling with his water bottle while walking when he dropped and broke it. Mildly annoying, but no biggie because clearly he didn’t mean for it to happen. A little later, we got a cup of Coke to share and Tru insisted on holding it while we walked. It was like an accident waiting to happen but he was all “please, please, let me hold it.”

“Ok, fine, just be careful with it.”

We took several steps out of the shop and sure enough, he dropped the cup, spilling the Coke everywhere. Again, it wasn’t a big deal in the scheme of things but just annoying enough to warrant a sharp word.

“Tru, I just told you to be careful. If you can’t hold on to a cup of coke properly, then you won’t be allowed to hold it anymore, understand?”

He nodded quietly.

On the way home in the car, he turned to us and said “I wasn’t a good boy today, right? I did two wrong things. I broke the bottle and spilled the Coke.”

OUCH. That was like a solid hadouken of mommy guilt to the gut.

“Sweetheart, listen to me, YOU ARE A VERY GOOD BOY. It was an accident and we love you no matter what, ok.”

I hope he knows that.

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milestones & musings

8 weeks…and a milestone

October 22, 2012

It finally happened.

We all went to bed at 12.05 last night and the next time I opened my eyes to check the clock, it was 6.38 am. I couldn’t believe it, so I put on my specs, drew the curtains and it was true. I could see the faint streaks of daybreak making its way across the morning sky.

I thought maybe the lack of sleep was getting to me. That maybe I did wake up in the middle of the night for a feed and forgot about it. But then again, having to haul my ass out of bed in the middle of the night is the kind of wretched feeling I’m not likely to forget.

So I guess that means one thing: Finn has made it through his first night without waking up for a feed.

Oh, what’s that sound? It’s my sleep-deprived mommy brain doing a victory dance after sleeping 6 hours and 33 minutes.

UNINTERRUPTED, y’all!

And right on cue too, because he turns 8 weeks old today. Not that we’re having a competition or anything, but Kirsten did start sleeping through the night at 8 weeks old so it’s the record to beat around here.

Suddenly my life seems so much more beautiful.

PS. From experience, I fully expect him to regress over the next couple of weeks, but there is finally light at the end of my dark and sleepless tunnel.

PPS. Hang on, I’m going to pour myself a glass bubbly to celebrate.

PPPS. A glass of bubbly bubble tea, I mean.

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