Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

2020 started with a Big Bang (on the floor) for Cayen where he fractured his arm during basketball training. That meant 2 months plus of cast and repeated trip to the hospital for replacement of the bandage / cast. This also meant that he further ballooned from the 18kg in Jan 19 to the current 29kg given the lack of activity and continued appetite from his double plates of chicken rice/pasta and chicken patty during recess.  Albeit being restrained in his cast, he took part in the Maths Kangeroo competition which was held online this year where he scored a Gold and qualified for the Singapore International Maths Olympiad Challenge where he scored 1 individual bronze and 2 team bronze. Unfortunately, the lockdown meant that he has too much dosage of Youtube particularly minecraft / preston and he also learnt how to manuvoer the laptop (as a result of all those home based learning) to download more free games to play.  Thankfully he re-ignited his interest in internatioanl and Chinese c

In a year of Covid19, time flies faster than ever. We had our second parent meet teacher Teams session recently. As usual, Cayson received glowing compliments for being a good boy in school and above average mandarin skills (amongst mostly expatriate friends haha). And I also learned that he has planning and patience as well. Here’s why.  Usually to start the day, he would have milk at home. Then on some days when he requests (since his school provides breakfast and we don’t want to waste), we would pack some small “fish” snacks or small piece of bread to bring to school. What we learned is that other kids may sometimes pack their own afternoon snack to school (though school provides). As Cayson also wants his own snacks during tea, he would ration what he brought for breakfast , and leave a tiny morsel behind for tea. Teacher observed it, was rather amused and asked him to finish the morsel during breakfast as it’s a real small piece to start with but he mustered all his willpower and

Cayson and Cayen were at the river safari last week with Godma. When they came back, there were all having some kind of leg pain. They eventually feel asleep  at 10pm  but getting them to wake wasn’t easy, especially for Cayson. When I dropped him off at school today, he didn’t want me to leave after the goodbye hug. In fact it got tighter and soon he started bawling. That’s very unlike him as he’s a very easy child to handle even in the mornings. Finally his teacher came back and carried him upstairs. Teacher was nice enough to send me a note 15 minutes later that he’s already gone and enjoying breakfast with his friends so I should not worry.  Apparently in late afternoon, he went to teacher and apologised to the teacher for crying. He told his teacher he was sorry he cried during morning drop off because he never slept well last night. What a wonderfully sensitive and self aware child he is at 4 years old!  —— On the other side, Ah Pa came back with freshly coloured hair. Apparently

Cayson after tasting very sour blueberries... Cayson: Ah Pa, try some. Ah Pa tried it but it was a tad sour.  Cayson: Do you like it ? Ah Pa: Yes ...  Cayson: ok, you can have it. Haha..  —- Today, I was washing dishes and my hands are full.  Cayson: Ah Ma, can you cut me some oranges? Me: I don’t know how to Cayson: Oh, first you open the fridge. Then you go to the bottom, then you pick up the orange. Then you cut it into small pieces, so I will not dirty my shirt because I bathe already.  Whoa! He sure knows his facts very well where food is concerned. 

Cayson had his first dental visit 2 weeks ago to investigate a funny gap in his teeth. Unfortunately, it’s the start of a cavity so dentist advised that some filling might be needed but perhaps on another day so he doesn’t get completely traumatised. For a first trip, he was quite apprehensive for the initial minutes but he acclimatised shortly, after we let him play computer games to distract him.  And so here we are, 2 weeks later, for the filling and we hope it works else we would need to transfer to a specialist if he’s not cooperative. Dentist was trying to get him to endure the filling for 5 counts, 7 counts and 10 counts progressively and he did it somehow.  He’s so brave and cooperative (though I know he’s scared). Perhaps the free lego toy from last trip and the minecraft YouTube playing on screen now helped to distract him a bit as well. Kudos to the dentist who remembered his preferences from 2 weeks ago! The YouTube channel was set up for him before he even start arrived. 

Day 1  Cayson ( to Ah Po): I want to have 5 pieces of oranges, 2 for Ah Yen and 3 for me.  Ah Gong: How about me? Cayson: Ok, I want 6 pieces, 1 for Ah Gong.  Day 2:  Cayson (without prompting): I want to have 6 pieces of oranges, 1 for Ah Gong, 2 for Ah Yen, 3 for me.  Such is the kind nature of this four year old. Always looking out for his big brother , always willing to share and always remembering the small stuff that melts people’s heart.  Just like that, he graduated from a toddler to a four year old, facing the COVID-19 situation heads on, donning on mask for hours in school and understanding what it means by social distancing and the term coronavirus.  So naturally, he empathised whenever someone is in trouble. So selflessly, he intuitively shared all nice things with his big brother. So effortlessly, he charmed everyone with his appetite for good food and his master attempts to mimic Ah Po’s Hokkien.. “Diam4 Diam4” he said to the cats when they are too noisy and pestering fo

Relative to Cayen, Cayson is harder to teach at 3.5 years old as we’re still trying to get him to know the alphabets and numbers 1-10. I also observe that during our weekly Shichida lessons where the other kids seem to be memorising the flash cards readily while Cayson is usually silent. (It was not always like that in the last semester but he’s less engaged and quieter in this one. Not sure if it’s due to change in teacher or that his best friend is no longer attending).  So just to spice it up, Ah Pa Cayson for a trial lesson for Kumon and they gave him some papers that includes simple maths like addition of single digits. To our great surprise, he wrote the answers on his own and scored with flying colours even though he attempted K1 papers.  When Ah Pa came back with the news, Ah Po wasn’t surprised. She said that he already know maths when he’s negotiating with her whilst sharing the orange. Usually we don’t want them to eat too much as it promotes phlegm so Cayson negotiated. Cay

Ah Pa was not feeling well as he’s got food poisoning and seemed to be running a fever as a result.  Little Cayson was very sweet and asked Ah Pa in the morning if he’s feeling alright , before adding that “oh .. Ah Pa has Coronavirus!” While it’s probably not true, it’s quite an astute judgment from him at this young age, making that correlation.  ——- Ah Pa was trying to teach him the alphabets but this had been proving extremely challenging, especially for the letter “U” . Every time the finger lands on “U” , Cayson would burst into tears immediately despite having gone through many rounds already. At such point, I don’t know whether to laugh or cry as he genuinely was very upset. But thankfully, after many days of repetition, he’s finally got the hang of “U” and forgot a few others ... haha  ——- I like to tell the kids bedtime stories about my day. And because some of my days were quite crazy, it made great bedtime stories.  Hence, now Cayson would ask me “How’s my day? Is it good o

Cayson has very high sense of empathy. Recently, Cayen fell sick after first day of school (I wonder if he’s allergic to school??!) and this is what Cayson said. On first day when Cayen’s sick  Cayson: Are you ok Ah Yen ?  On second day when Cayen’s sick Cayson: (first thing in the morning) Are you feeling better Ah Yen ?  (Right after breakfast) Cayson: Can I have Vitagen? Ah Po: No, it’s too cold to take in the morning. Cayson: But I don’t have cough!  Me: Ah Yen is having cough. Must be he has had too much Vitagen.  Ah Po: Let’s not buy anymore. Cayson: Haha I buy already (he just bought from supermarket the previous night) ———- This bedtime ... while he reads his book, I start the new year with a new book too.  One hour later  Me: Let me share with you something that I have read. It offers you tips on how to persuade people effectively.  Cayen: So you mean I can ask you for Minecraft  Me: No, cox I have read the book, this doesn’t work on me. But you should learn the tip anyway. Yo