Multiparenting Cayen & Cayson

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...

Today, we went for the school concert. I was both excited and apprehensive all at the same time. Last year this time, he ran off the stage for the first performance and was distracted for most of the remaining. Hence, this year , though I had done some prep work , I was still not sure if he would be able to do it.  My worries were proven unfounded as he burst into all the right actions from the first song on. While he may not be as animated and natural as his performances at home , it was still a big improvement versus last year. When asked, he said he was feeling shy as there's so many people. But I was glad most of all that he at least tried (instead of escaping) and he was able to go through with all the song and dance.  So I guess these are good things to prepare the kids ahead of the performance if you know they are a bit shy on the stage: - ask him to practise at home, standing on a "stage"/higher ground , and sing for the family  - filming him at home and letting h...

Today, Cayen did the unusual. He was super fast in all the steps in the morning ritual - from breakfast to changing to brushing his teeth. Usually this would take a lot of persuasion and hurrying as he's trying to wake up from his blurry state and will drag his feet.  Pleasantly surprised, Ah Pa asked him why he was so good and fast today. He promptly replied it's because it's holiday today and tomorrow and hence, he's getting ready quickly to watch cartoons on Okto .  Ah Pa told him that it's a school day today but he didn't believe. He said, "we were at the pool just now and I overheard someone say it's public holiday today and tomorrow!"  Haha, he was actually dreaming , literally. There's no poolside conversation - he just woke up.  Perhaps this is a result of the long weekend. What one must applaud is the power of motivation and the power of the dream.