Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

We never used to have helpers all our lives. It was only with the arrival of the second one that we decided to take the plunge. As taking care of the baby is the main priority, these were the criteria I used in doing the selection and some questions that I asked : - have their own children (ideally not too young as they may need to go back often. - have prior helper experience in other countries (like Saudi Arabia or something) , Singapore is ok but it might mean she expects to have 4 off days per month or have certain expectations or habits.  - any prior medical condition like sprained back etc (might mean hard to take care of babies) - tell them you have 2 kids, and need to do a lot of work (lazy ones will scoot upon hearing this) - your expectation of their scope (C ooking? Children? Household ? Pets? Or more? Paint the most realistic picture you can) - ask why she want to work in sg (usually those who work for their children's education are more motivated)  - your expectat...

Cayen and Cayson gets along fabulously well. Cayson will laugh adoringly when Cayen tries to entertain him, and stop crying when Cayen sings for him.  Even if Cayson pulls his hair, Cayen will let him do so without flinching and even laugh about it. Cayen also takes care of baby by rushing in to help sing songs if he hears baby crying.  To achieve this, I think that these 6 steps have helped.  1. Manage expectations When Cayson was still in tummy, we tried to inform Cayen on the upcoming arrival. To initiate him, we bought some storybooks about being a big brother and babies to start the brainwashing.  2. Welcome gift  Before Cayson is borned, I bought some Paw Patrol figures (Cayen's favourite then), and gifted to him on day 1 of Cayson's arrival. It was baby's gift to him! Brownie point scored again!  3. Daily brainwashing   Tell Cayen that Cayson loves him a lot and vice versa. Exaggerate all the small things . "Look! Cayson loves you so much! He al...

Today he wanted to run into the restaurant when we were hanging out at Ion 55th floor.  I told him, you need money and I don't have. So you better go to Ah Pa. To that , Cayen said "Ah pa , I want money to go to restaurant !" I was stunned by his grammar and sentence structure.. School must be doing a good job or he's quite good in absorbing such stuff from our usual conservations. Anyway, we did a SG 50 family portrait before that .. It was rather fun to sketch our portrait .. And be part of the SG portraits ... 

Y esterday we had a family party .. As usual, Cayen had initially responded to newcomers with a "Mai" (no). When changing his diapers , I told him, if you want your "qoo" , then you better say "hello uncle , hello auntie" later on. We walked out and suddenly he was saying hello to all jovially, a complete changed person. 真现实！  For some reason, he suddenly asked this auntie "what's your name?". When she replied Cristina, he gleefully repeated after her.. to everyone's great surprise. And he went in to remember it for the rest of the meeting. There was this other auntie who asked him to call her but he said "I don't know". After that she told him that she's called Mummy and he should call her "Mummy" ... and he did ! All because she promised a whole box of qoo juices for him. This was the same auntie that he said Mai over 10 times when she first arrived. The things he would do for his qoo. 真是有奶就是娘 ...好势力！ Then an...