Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

As I was trying to clear work, go for some courses to sharpen the saw, recovering from a cough and also to take the year end trip  this December , I had not updated this blog for one month ! That's really the longest hiatus I have had from writing in the last few years. Nonetheless, 18 months is a big milestone for Cayson as he would be going to school next Tuesday. Here's what he has been up to this month.  They say travelling widens the horizon. I believe so for I think his spoken repertoire has increased leaps and bounds in just one month. Or perhaps it's because there's a lot of  rattling and commentary from me as he sits in my carrier , so he has absorbed more vocabulary along the way.  Now his increased vocabulary includes 弟弟 (which he thinks is Cayen as Cayen likes to scream 弟弟 every day when  he comes home) ，姨姨，阿zang，阿yen (Cayen), auntie (the cleaning auntie), fish , pig, bo (Hokkien for " don't have"/ "no more") , 屁屁 (diaper change time)

With a trip in between, this month really flew past. Cayson took his first flight to Hong Kong and I guess he passed with flying colours .. well , for most of the flight.  He seemed to have understood the concept of flying , as we watched so many airplanes take off while being delayed at the HK airport. And now one of his favourite books involves an airplane flying higher and higher. Earlier tonight, whilst standing at the balcony, he shrieked when he saw a plane take off into the dark sky. When asked if he wants to take a plane again, his little head would nod furiously.  This month, we discovered that he's quite a vegetable eater. He devours and repeatedly asks for extra servings of vegetables from long beans to 丝瓜 and celery. Strangely, he would refer to them as "ba" (hokkien for meat). Well, as long as he likes and eats his greens, he can call them whatever he wants.  Also, this month, we were amused by his Hokkien prowess. Ah Po was just mentioning in Hokkien  to Ah

Just before our trip, I heard loud banging noises coming from the washing machine. My mum said it has been like that for a while. But since we were travelling last week, we didn't get a chance to get someone to take a look.  After we returned from our trip with a big load of clothes, Mum wanted to try the washing machine again, with a small load just to test.  In the meanwhile, I just went to call up the official service hotline to enquire on the potential reasons for the noise. The diagnosis didn't sound fatal and probably require a change of part , so I made another call to another service company to compare prices. Before the service person could arrive, I realised that my laptop was not charging. In fact,  the electricity had short circuited and tripped. Not a good sign.  When the service man came , he took a quick look and gave his judgment. No point repairing , would cost too much relatively. Why?  He replied that because the constant pressure had caused something inside

I realised that while Cayson's spoken vocabulary range is limited, his comprehension skills is very good , across English , Mandarin and even Hokkien. These were the incidents where he impressed me with his comprehension and even his sense of direction. Whenever ....  1. Cayen said he want to poop or when we talked about toilet - Cayson would go to the toilet , pick up the potty and deliver it to Cayen.  2. We talked about going to YiYi 's room to get something , he would walk and bring us to Yiyi's room in the corner. 3. We talked about "getting ready" and "going out", he would go to his bedroom , and get his clothes , pick out his shoes and try to put them on. If he can't reach his shoes, he would climb up the rocker and try to reach it - no qualms about height. If we mention swimming or if he wants to go swimming, he would go to the drawer to take his swimwear. If he saw us getting dressed up, he would point to himself and signal that he wants to

On Saturday , we went to the funfair at the Bishan Community Centre. It was a fun experience as they have worked with many volunteers and also some external vendors to set up many games stations where kids can try their hand at different occupations. They pretty much filled out every level of the community centre with stations and it's quite fun as kids can go already earning stamps for trying or each occupation and they get to redeem the stamps for some presents at the end of the day.  I felt quite impressed by the scale of the events as the stations were very fun (from sports on inflatables to robotics and balloon sculpturing) and many of which I have not encountered before at other events. Furthermore, I was a student councillor before and I know that organising such events with limited budget and manpower is no mean feat. Best of all, entrance ticket was merely $5. As such, we had a whale of fun there the entire afternoon. You can check out my Instagram for videos and pictures.

Cayen's 5 years old ! Time flies. Can't believe it has been so long already. Well, I must say that this year has been quite good for him in many aspects so here's the laundry list of milestones. 1. School  Less complaints from teachers, less brushes with other kids. Still have good days and bad days but overall a lot more improved. According to teacher, he enjoys exploratory class like Fast-track and Maths and he also helps to bring learning to a higher level by being able to suggest the right answers. For instance, recently he was asked why the droplets comes down when it rains, he replied "gravity". Despite feeling shy, he managed to complete the school concert. Outside of school, ability to focus has also improved as he transitioned from being unable to sit through a one hour Bobobear class (with movement breaks) to being role model in a 1.5 hour class now.  2. Music  Had his first formal Yamaha lessons. Survived the recital & performance - I think he did a

Yesterday I read an article appealing for  boyhood  and it really struck a cord. I have observed that little girls play completely different from little boys. Little boys tend to be very active , more cheeky and more likely to play a bit rougher and act on impulse.  That day, we went downstairs to play with lanterns. The playground slides were all wet after the rain. Cayson went directly for it, touching the wet slides , the floor, the fallen leaves . I didn't stop him as I think it's great sensory play. He was also amazed and delighted at what he's touching.  As Cayen was having a cough , I didn't want him to run immediately after dinner, I gave him some bubbles to blow. So he was blowing bubbles non stop. This other little boy who joined us later was excited and started to try catch the bubbles. I was totally cool with that but I could hear the mum's disproving tone about him being all over the place, especially when he almost tripped and fell. He tried to play on

At the grand age of 15 months old, he's already running and climbing up the beds and chairs. He also has no problem balancing on the skate scooter. I can see him skating really soon. On the slide, he's fearless and just zoom down without support.  He can signal the drinking sign to indicate that he wants to drink his milk and put his finger in his mouth to signal that he wants to brush his teeth. For all other things, he would point and make a "Er er" sound. So it's quite easy to understand what he wants. When he wakes up in the morning, he would point to the TV and says "okto okto" to ask us to turn it on.  From a food perspective, he's like a bottomless pit. He can eat every two hours. Now apart from eating anything that we give to him, he's getting more discerning. Plain bread doesn't interest him much, but tastier breads/cakes do. He is able to feed himself with hands and with a spoon with some guidance.  For his lack of verbal words, he

Ah Pa went for a short trip over the weekend . Cayen woke up on Friday and said he wanted to send Ah Pa to th airport. To his horror, Ah Pa was gone already. Hot tears rolled down his cheeks. He was inconsolable .  In order for me not to be completely late, I decided to FaceTime Ah Pa with him so that he could at least try to start his routine. Little did I know that the crying became even louder as he realised that Ah Pa was leaving without him. But at least he started his routine and so we continued to FaceTime Ah Pa through the toilet and breakfast routine too.  So on Saturday, to make it more fun for him, we went to s friend's house for play date and also 2 playgrounds at night. I thought he had occupied himself sufficiently to forget about Ah Pa.  But the moment he came home, he asked me if we could FaceTime Ah Pa .. Ahz.. what a sweet little boy. Then on Sunday , we went to the airport to be picked up. We first met Caleb at the indoor playground at T3, and asked the daddys to