Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

I had been very traumatized last month since the advent of giant moths in Singapore in May and was very glad when I could finally stop looking at every corner before I enter a corridor or go into a lift.  Just as I thought the tidal wave of moths has receded, I was rudely shocked over the weekend that they seem to be back again. Unfortunately, this time round, there was yet another victim of a moth in my living room - its hauntingly beautiful wing was torn. I have little doubt that it's the act of the cats as this is not their first conquest. However, this is the only one that has stayed alive after a fight. The moth stayed on the window for the entire day and I fear it may have been paralysed since the wing was torn. However, finally it did fly off when we knocked on the window to check. Yesterday morning, when I was brushing my teeth, I heard an eerie screech. I had a premonition that there's some cat fight going on outside but I didn't dare to check since it could involv...

真是好花不长开，好景不长在 Cayen got complained again. This time , the offence is that he went around to his classmates' tables, turned their water bottles upside down and poured water onto the table and floor.  When the incident was narrated by Ah Pa to Grandma subsequently, Cayen actually had a gleeful look and demonstrated how he poured the water and said "倒”！  Sometimes I really don't want whether to laugh or cry . He's so cheeky , naughty and funny all at the same time. Anyway, the irony is that despite his naughty behaviour, he still had two girl classmates come out and wave him goodbye. Well, perhaps it's really true : 男人不坏， 女人不爱 .. 

I was introduced to this blog train by my very longtime friend and neighbour Wenmei who is behind  ( http://honeymarquise.wordpress.com/ ) I've always been described as highly  energetic and driven, but I figure that Wenmei is one of those rare people who is that and more. She not only is a full time working professional, she also finds time to cook every day, care for her two toddler boys, write a blog, run an online store ( Paley and Love ), do her manicure, attend parties, and visit many places of interests with her family (sometimes all in one weekend)! So as part of this train, I'm supposed to answer four questions about myself and also to introduce four people I'm passing this but alas, I actually don't follow any blogs apart from Wenmei's though I do follow a few Facebook pages so I will introduce some of those instead.  Q: What am I working on?  A: Apart from my day job as a product manager in a bank, by night I will update this blog whi...

June has always been a busy month as there's many birthdays in the family .. Here's to the last one .. YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

When I saw the heart shaped cookie "made" by Cayen , I was quite envious. I only got a card, Ah Pa got a beautifully decorated cookie. Then I got to know the Heart truth. When ah Pa didn't pick Cayen from school, he was a bit disappointed for he had wanted to pass the gift to Ah Pa ASAP. When he finally saw Ah Pa , he had wanted to pass it to him as planned. However, just as he was about to pass the cookie, he did a double take and decided to keep it himself. It was too tempting and delicious (we suspected he tasted some in the making process already) hence, the sudden inertia and 不舍. He ran to a corner with his Heart, hoping no one can find him . After some cajoling, Ah pa managed to get Cayen to pass the heart to him to take a picture. Then Magnanimous Ah Pa decided to give up the bigger heart to Cayen and keep the smaller one so that he could pass to Godpa. Ah Po (grandma) decided to taste a bit to understand what's the allure and she realised that the...

His first real praise from teacher was on 5th June where she said he was a  good boy ( 乖 ) and for the first time he was able to sit throughout the class to listen to stories n songs instead of wa ndering around.. Before I could post an entry to commenmerate that, on the following day, he was up to his antics of pulling stuff down from the board while the teacher was teaching.  Oh well, so it was only a flash in the pan of good behaviour the previous day.  Also, the teacher made a comment that day that he ate two bowls of rice .. And after thinking for a second, she said "come to think about it,  he eats two bowls of rice every day" . While I am not sure where the rice went to (he's only 10.9kg and that's only average) , it's good that he could get more out of school ... (值回票价..haha) Yesterday, he got his second praise from the teacher! (And I thought I better post it ASAP!) She said that cayen is very very obedient nowadays especially durin...

Dedicated to my dearest Ah Pa who will do night duty for me every night , 帮我充电，and read me Dora a thousand times ! YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

They actually automatically created a clip with all my pictures taken for the day while I was sleeping. Cool stuff ! That's over and on top of the usual video creation and editing capabilities ! Sarah , you are the star here! YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy birthday 干妈 ! This is your last one without one son ! YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Yesterday, he turned 20 months. At night he surprised me by reciting 1-10 in Mandarin when he was about to drift off to sleep. (He knew the English version about 2-3 weeks ago I think, just before counting toes). Anyway, before end of day, he was up to his old antics of throwing toys all over the places and throwing them backwards in fact. This was despite my advice to him to "慢慢放”. So without father warning, I scooped him up and parked him into naughty corner for 5 seconds. Then I told him to go pick up his toys ... And put it all back into his bucket. This is what happened . He looked so forlorn as though he was made to 劳改 (reform through labour) on his 20 mth's milestone. But c'est la vie baby .. You gotta be responsible for your actions , every day , any day . YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Ever since the last time Cayen went to a very hot wet market, he's now reluctant to go to the market as he's a bit of a polar bear - doesn't take to heat very well. So this time when we went to the market, he went to the playground next to it instead. He climbed up the stairs for about ten times I think , exhausting his poor mama me. He was also happy to be in the companionship of two little girls who were climbing up and down as well. After the market, we went home but soon proceeded downstairs to play and also swim as Zach and Xavier were going down as well. While Xav was younger than Cayen , he certainly took to the water like a fish and hardly flinched even when he dipped his head into water or sometimes swallowed some water. Cayen, in stark contrast, was mightily upset whenever water was splashed into his face or if he accidentally dunked. Conditioning is all the difference ... Cayen, you gotta practise more. Mama is gonna get ready her sunblock. Thereafter, aft...

I didn't know who is Dora till Cayen repeatedly shrieked every time the advertisement comes up. So we bought tickets and waited one long month for Dora to come .. The songs were quite nice and Cayen was kept enthralled the whole while though I thought the whole thing was a bit short as the performance went on for 20 min, stopped for 15 min and resumed for another 20min. Nonetheless, exposing kids to such performances is far better than TV and iPad so I would certainly continue to bring him to more of such performances. Met up with Becky, Sarah and Kenneth who were there for the show too ! Had a great lunch with 干爹干妈 for lunch at Palio that had very attentive service and quite delicious food. Very kids friendly .. The waiter rushed over with serviettes when water was spilled for instance. I would go there again. http://www.rwsentosa.com/language/en-US/Homepage/Restaurants/Pal...

阿公 ！ YouTube Video - Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Cayen has got his first praise (sort of) in school. Well the class he is currently in is actually bigger than usual as this is an interim solution until the new Form teacher arrives. Hence, they are currently discussing the arrangements in terms of who will migrate to the new class. The current English and Chinese teacher suggested for Cayen to remain since he gets along quite well with his friends in his class and they would like to have continue to have him in their class. According to Ah Pa, they probably like him enough to want him in their class. Or at least that's what they said., According to a skeptical Ah Po, they are just being politically correct and doing this as they are worried that he would spread his antics to the new class and influenced the younger ones negatively ie 有样学样 (remember the 龙头老大 incident of kiddo strikes and food smearing that we suspected that he had a part in leading) Hope Ah Pa is right. And as w...