Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

Last night, he ran a high fever of 39+ degree so today he was home all day. Day started well as he was doing painting and other games but evening was a disaster. When I asked him to wash his hands, he filled up this container and put soap in instead of just doing a quick wash. As I was asking him to wash up and not to  waste water, he purposely splashed the water every where. I forcefully turned off the tap and tried to carry him away but he got really upset.  I guess he had no appetite as he want feeling well or perhaps as he had some tea time snacks or both. He wasn't in a mood to eat. He took a few mouthfuls and when he saw me drinking a  packet of green tea, he tried to drink but there wasn't any left I told him. He didn't believe, so he jumped up, took a chair , climbed up to try to reach for scissors on the table top. He told me he wanted to cut the packet to see if indeed there was anything left.  Instead of snatching the scissors from him, I told...

(At the restaurant) 四个大人，我不用 baby chair  ------------ Since Cayson was down with HFMD, we decided to stay home. Since life threw us lemons, we decided to make lemonade by singing some karaoke at home.  Me: keep bleeding , keep keep bleeding love ...  keep bleeding , keep keep bleeding love ...  C: what is bleeding ? Me: when you get cut, you bleed. Like if a knife or scissors cut you, blood comes out.. (Resumes singing) Me:  keep bleeding , keep keep bleeding love ...  C: why is she bleeding? Me: someone cut her  (Returns to song) Me: keep bleeding , keep keep bleeding love ...  C: who cut her?? Me: erm .. Someone . I don't know.  (I figure he's too young to start learning  that love can hurt!) ------- He caught a cough after the holiday. It's a pity as I've managed to keep him cough free for three months with cordyceps supplements. Anyway, this time, I think his nightly suppers of biscuits , cheese or milk was causing his phelgm to cont...

For a lazy Sunday morning, I decided to let Cayen take the lead in packing for his short trip. Me:  how much  clothes we should pack.  C: ( Without hesitation) :4! Because we are going for 4 days. 4 shirts, 4 shorts and 4 underwear.  (Pause) And oh, 1 set of pyjamas too!  Whoa, I don't even recall when I said we are going for four days. Anyway, he proceeded to pack clothes and pyjamas. He pretty much got the count right , he only forgot about the swimwear. And I reminded him to pack some extra change of clothes and pyjamas in case he dirties them.  Next, I asked him to help me fold the clothes before packing and he obliged so readily. He was very methodical in his approach. So I can't help but ask.  Me: whoa, you fold so well. Who taught you ? Teachers in school? C: No, YouTube. I watch on YouTube , they teach us folding. So don't need to go to school , just watch YouTube can already.  He said it so matter of factly. C...

Recent reading incidents that surprised us in Dec 16 :  1. He read out the options on the menu:  Soup, spicy, dry  Fish soup  Water  2. In the cab: Don't leave your iPhone and wallet behind (I suspect he memorised it Cox it's Handphone, not iPhone)  Ride - Tap - Earn (after I told him months back)  3. Along the highway on CTE  C: are we going to Changi Airport ? Me: how do you know? C: it's there (points to the signboard)  4. Me: It's around 500+ C: oh, that's near 600.  (Didn't see that coming) Anyway, tips to encourage kids to read without flash cards.  - teach them signs and decals you can find in the taxi / car or road signs (you can keep them still too) - when waiting for meals, read menus. Find games to play like counting the number of symbols etc ("not available", chicken, vegetables, etc) - when doing night time reading, point to the words as you read , and invite them to join in the reading (I.e. read the bigger words or wo...

Since the advent of Grab and Uber, i didn't have to complain anymore about the appalling services of taxis where they will pick and choose passengers during peak hours. In fact, apart from having a good supply of cars and convenience of booking from an app, cost has been lowered since Grabcars costs about 10-30% less than taxis, depending on distance, since they don't have all kinds of surcharges (peak hour, CBD etc). Furthermore, fare is predefined and fixed upfront so you need not fear cost escalations due to traffic jams. Lastly, all these fares you charge to credit card means no more digging for change and accumulating a lot more card reward points or rebates. Yesterday, I tried my first ever Grabshare, which I highly recommend as fare has gone down further! A ride that would have cost $15 is now $10.50 during peak hours if I'm prepared to share with another passenger. And good thing is that if there's no one going my way, the driver who accepted the job will j...

I went through an exercise with Cayen when I asked him to list down what activities he finds boring and interesting. Idea of the activity is to identify those items and discuss how we can make those activities more interesting so they can focus longer. First thing on his boring list is "Sleeping" , and naturally his suggestion to deal with it is to "wake up". * Gasps*  While I already guessed that this item will come up on his list, since he will tell us every other night that he "can't sleep" and it's boring, it still amazes me that he feels so strongly about it. Nonetheless, I think I can't blame him, because I recall that as a kid, I hate afternoon naps too as I think it's a waste of time. Power of genes.  Anyway, because it takes so much book reading to get him to sleep, I usually try to skive by telling him my own made up stories instead, using random themes.  So yesterday I decided to tell him story of Rupert the cockroach getting int...

2-3 weeks ago, we went for our second meet-the-teacher session of the year. I was a bit nervous as he recently had a few brushes with a classmate and even threw her shoe over the fence and her clothes  into the toilet. Not sure what went into him as they usually play together very well.  However, unlike the last mid year review where he still had some issues settling in and sharing , this one went quite well relatively. Teacher said that he's able to play well with his classmates, and he likes to role play and be the teacher and teach the other kids how to read (and teachers were surprised he actually was reading correctly) .  They asked if we sent him to any reading enrichment classes but we didn't. We only had nightly prolonged bedtime reading. (recap: he doesn't like to sleep).  The only exception is with this particular classmate that is very similar to him, who will not give way to him or follow his instructions. So while they will seek each other...

Ah Pa and Cayen were in a crowded lift. As usual, everyone was looking at their phones or looking rather bored or aloof. As Cayen took his exit from the lift, he grandly waved and exclaimed, " Good Day everyone ". Everyone was taken aback. They quickly regained composure and all became friendly and quickly tried to reciprocate his greetings.  I never thought I would see this day. Haha.  There was a long phase where Cayen wasn't so friendly to strangers, particularly in crowded lifts. Somehow I think that phase might just be officially over.  --------------- Today we went for a party . When Ah Pa brought him to say Hi to his friends, he obliged and say Hi to everyone . Then he said , "ok, job done!" And he made himself at home and sank into this corner chair to watch the Nic junior cartoon that was playing on TV.  ----------------- As we're doing bedtime reading today, he suddenly said, " Bobo bear , Bobo bear, what do you see? I see an Ah Ma looking at ...