coolest kids ever, picture perfect

Just like Zoo TV, except more fun.

October 18, 2010

We’ve all recovered from that nasty bout of food poisoning, thanks for all the concern you guys! Kirsten basically slept for 20 hours on Friday and woke up on Saturday morning looking her spritely usual self, smiling and toddling around so we knew she was much better. So yesterday, we decided to bring the kids out for a bit of fun at the zoo. Again. Because who can resist a trip to the zoo?

I mean, wild animals + a huge water play area = great success.

During our last trip down, baby girl was still too young to appreciate the awesomeness that is the zoo but this time, she was loving every moment of it. Even the snakes and slimy lizards, which is more than I can say for myself (more on that later).

Oh, here’s a tip if you’re planning to bring your kids to the zoo: Rent the wagon. At $15, it’s a bit pricey but it’s worth every cent, especially if you’ve got 2 kids who are too young to walk long distances and too old to sit still on the pram. It’s easy to maneuver and we managed to get the kids to stay on the wagon for the entire time, which is very impressive considering how my kids seem to have ants in their pants all the time.

In fact, I’m so impressed I’m thinking of buying one so they can sit still during all our shopping trips and excursions. Anyone knows where I can get something like this?

Then when Tru gets bored sitting in the wagon, he can actually get out and pull his sister on the wagon while we stroll on beside him and shout words of encouragement.

There was a lot of peering at animals, pointing at animals, waving excitedly at animals while we pretended to know the difference between leopard and jaguar prints. I was all like, “look at the size of that rosette with spots in the middle – definitely a jaguar.” Then the husband was like “but look at the distinct shape of the skull and the jaw, it’s got to be a leopard. You know, the kind of thing we do to entertain ourselves when staring at cats get a little boring.

The white tigers were pretty awesome though. Kirsten was trying to speak to it in various pitches of roars and Tru wanted to go touch it but seeing how the last guy who tried that stunt got eaten, we weren’t entirely keen on the idea.

The other animals were pretty standard, like flamingos and elephants and scaly reptily lizards and the kids looked on as we took them on a real life National Geographic lesson. They got to learn stuff and we got to sound smart and important. Total win-win situation.

Speaking of lizards, we saw this vile creature displayed on the glass top in the reptile enclosure. So obviously, I stood some distance away and asked the zoo person if it was real or not because come on, it looks like it’s alive and very malevolent.

And the lady was all like “Oh, it’s 90% real because it’s stuffed. Would you like to touch it?” and she brought it closer to me. But then of course all I heard was “it’s real and it’s coming to eat you” and the only thing you do when someone offers you something that looks like that is this. You scream and run for your life and don’t look back. Which I did. At which point the husband fell on the floor shrieking with laughter and the other visitors in my immediate vicinity started smirking.

All I can say is if it was real, my strong survival instincts will make sure that I’m the last person standing while all you other brave souls get devoured by giant lizards. Just saying.

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not feeling so supermom

I like my life without all the drama.

October 15, 2010

I’ve been trying to teach the kids to be thankful no matter what happens but these kinds of life lessons are best learnt through experience. It’s easy to teach thankfulness when life is good, when they get a gummy or a trip to the zoo but when everything seems to go horribly wrong, that’s when being thankful really counts.

Such as days like today, when Tru is just recovering from another “mommy I can’t breathe” lung infection episode. After I just spent the last two nights watching him to make sure he’s still breathing and alive. I doze off for a while and I dream he’s wheezing and I wake up to find that he is actually struggling for air which is a far worse nightmare.

Then we head off for breakfast this morning and everyone gets stricken with food poisoning so severe the husband gets admitted to the A&E at Changi Hospital. And I’m driving the kids home when Kirsten starts throwing up fountains of um, vomit for an entire minute non-stop like a bad spoof of The Exorcist. I mean, I’ve never seen anyone throw up continuously like that for that long in my life. For the next hour or so, she would vomit a handful of yellowish stuff every 5 minutes. It was unreal.

So I rushed her to the doctor and when I got back, I started feeling nauseous and pukey but I was too weak to drag the kids with me to the doctor again so I just stuck my head in the toilet bowl and tried not to pass out. It was all very exciting in a only-when-it’s-not-happening-to-me sort of way.

The husband in hospital, Tru in recovery, Kirsten in a pool of vomit and me, in the toilet. Take that, Korean melodrama.

It’s hard to be thankful on a day like today because it hits you like a freight train and knocks you out with a solid hadouken. But at the risk of sounding like a lunatic, I do got a lot of things to be thankful for.

1. I’ve got the best sick kid ever. The worst thing about having sick kids is that they’re extra whiney, which is understandable and fully warranted. But baby girl is so badass at being sick, she make it look like a walk in the park. She spent the entire day sleeping and looking so sweet and stoned all at the same time. When she’s in pain, she snuggles up on my chest and grabs my shirt real tight, then throws up on me.

2. Tru’s lung infection episode lasted 24 hours, the shortest one yet. He usually takes 3-5 days to recover but this time around, he was up and running after a day. Always a good sign.

3. We’re all on the road to recovery so the worst is over. Hopefully we all get some decent rest tonight, which is the best part about recovering from an illness – enforced rest. Some sleep always makes me feel better.

4. Not technically related but jailbreak for iPhone 4.1 is out. I’ve waited a long time for this and it is awesome.

5. I lost an entire kilo today. Mostly water, I know, but my stomach looks flatter than it has been in a long time. Silver lining, y’all.

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milestones & musings, motherhood, stuff best described as not safe for parents

Yay I get to be the favorite

October 13, 2010

Every now and then, I still think about whether I should have left my job to stay home with the kids. Especially when I’m missing my holidays and I start reading all these studies that show how having mommy at home doesn’t necessarily make them smarter or more successful people and I’m like you’re telling me this now, after I spent the last 2 years thinking that me being home with them would be the reason they are getting into Harvard Law School. (No pressure, kids, Yale or Princeton are ok too)

Honestly, I don’t know how successful they are going to be when they grow up, but that’s not really the reason why I chose to stay home in the first place. The whole point was to be around for them during these years that they needed mommy the most. To clean their poop and fix them snacks and snuggle in bed and read stories after a nap.

Just because I’m their momma doesn’t make me their favorite person in the world. All relationships take time and effort and they’re going to be closest to whoever spent the most quality time with them, whether it’s grandma or the maid or the teachers in childcare.

Like yesterday, Tru woke up from his nap early and he was in a particularly snuggly mood. He made me put aside my laptop and said “mommy don’t do work, mommy hug Truett.” Which I did for a long time. At that point I thought of how immensely sucky it would be if he was home alone with a maid or stuck in childcare all day.

Bad scenario: He needs mommy to snuggle and ends up snuggling with Aunty Mina and one day momma comes home from work all ready for some snuggly time and he’s all like “don’t want mommy to hug, want aunty to hug” and I will go stab myself with a fork.

Worse scenario: He needs mommy to snuggle and goes to Aunty Mina and she’s too busy watching tv so he cries himself to sleep and grows up emotionally shut down and has to spend the next 20 years in counseling therapy.

So yes, I have to put up with all the tantrums and mess and screaming fits but I also enjoy the fun stuff like baby kisses and cuddles and I get to know that they mean it when they say “Mommy FAVORITE!”

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