Jaide @ Fidgets

As a reward for a cooped-up Jaide, I brought her to the newly renovated Fidgets to have the space to run around and play as much as she wanted. She totally had a blast there!

My CG mate's son really has a penchant for Jaide and loves to play with her. It's fun watching them interact cos he is very gentlemenly towards her, trying to help her do things and yet she displays the attitude of a modern independent woman who prefers to solve her own problems. It was hilarious when at one point, the boy was chasing Jaide all the way to the other end of the indoor playground! Not that Jaide minds being the recipient of such devoted attention though... LOL

One change in the place that is very inconvenient is that they no longer allow us to bring our prams/strollers in. Furthermore, there are very few cushioned seats available for anyone to put a baby down. It was very crowded that day and I resorted to putting Joram on the runway while I had my lunch with Jaide! Beyond that, I had to carry him in the baby carrier throughout the play time. *ache* If only I could leave him sleeping in the pram somewhere nearby. Sigh...

Pls don't step on me!

Watch Jaide in action!

Hazy Dayz

Last week's haze had been so bad that I refused to let the younger two step out of the house at all.

At least Joash and Jayna still have school to attend and Joram is too young to know any better. Poor Jaide bears the brunt of the cabin fever. She is starting to exhibit strange behaviour such as taking out the dirty laundry to distribute all over the kitchen floor!

In my desperate attempts to entertain the active toddler, I tied a few balloons together for her to walk around the house with.

 

Normally, I would stop her from doing potentially dangerous things but during this period, I took pity on her and allowed her the freedom of assembling and playing in her own make-shift mini playground.

If all else fails, there is always "torturing" 弟弟 as her favourite pastime. She simply can't get enough of stroking, kissing and hugging him. Sometimes, she even wants to wrestle with him and offer toys to him in the hope that he'll play with her! *faint*

Jaide: "Sayang, sayang..."

Joram: "二姐, how many times do you 

intend to do that? A hundred times?"

Jaide is the happiest to see Gor Gor and Che Che come back from school cos she'll finally have more people to keep her gainfully occupied. She is at the stage when she'll want to be a part of whatever the older siblings are doing. 

So while they were completing their homework, she was sorting her colour pencils, when she was actually supposed to be doing some colouring. Haiz...

Haze, haze, go away... little Jaide wants to play.

Batting at objects

Joram has grown so much. I've already upgraded his wardrobe twice since his birth! 

It has been quite tough taking care of him because he has bad reflux problems, something that has never plagued the older 3 kids. He requires frequent and long burping sessions to feel comfortable and I need to do a lot of washing due to his regurgitations throughout the day.

However, it is rewarding to see him becoming more and more interactive each day. During the moments when he finally feels good enough, he is able to enjoy batting at the toys hanging on the arch. He is also able to follow me with his eyes. Sometimes, he can be in the "quiet alert" mode until he catches a glimpse of me doing work nearby and he'll start to call for my attention! *chuckle*

I pray that he'll overcome his difficulties in digesting food soon so that he'll be spared the constant discomfort. I'm also still waiting for his first real smile....

See Joram in action!

Father of 4

Jaide: "My first Father's Day gift to Daddy!"

This year, Joshua is officially a father of 4 children! *fanfare* 

To help him celebrate this memorable day, I made sure that he got to attend the entire church service in the main sanctuary. He has been bringing Jaide to the toddler class while I go to the infant room with Joram on Sundays so I hoped that he could finally have the chance to enjoy time with the Lord, worshipping Him and listening to His word being preached, without interruptions. 

I settled the kids' breakfast and ushered the older two into their respective Sunday school classes before I brought Jaide, along with Joram, to the toddler's class. The teachers taught the little ones to make Father's Day presents. I was pleasantly surprised that Jaide could properly put the stickers onto the mini tie, which was to be placed around the neck of a beverage bottle. After the service, I went to pick up Joash and Jayna and the children all eagerly waited to present their handmade gifts to their father.

To continue with the break from taking care of the kids, Joshua went off on his own in the afternoon while I watched over our brood at my in-laws' place. The children had lots of fun riding the toy car and bicycle. Thankfully, there was enough space for Jaide to hitch a ride with an older sibling in the car or she would have been pretty bored very quickly. As for Joram, he was happy to be on the bed exercising his limbs after being fed and thoroughly burped.

Joshua came back in time to join us for a sumptuous dinner with all of us. It was tiring for me to handle all the kids without my dear husband's help even on a Sunday but I wanted him to be recharged to reward him for all the effort he puts in daily to be an involved father. Other than working and going for army training, he has given the rest of his time to the family. He even wakes up with me to do the night feeds!

I just want to say a big 'thank you' to my darling Bear Bear for being such a wonderful husband and father! *kiss*

Riding away...

Video of Jaide hitching a ride with Joash

Video of Joram doing "tai chi"

Floor Sweeping

Sweeping under the bed

As I had mentioned last week, it is time for the kids to learn how to sweep the floor with the magic clean wiper!

Self-feeding

My third kid, at 19 months old, is starting to feed herself too! Granted a little messy now but I'm confident that she'll be a pro at it in no time, just like her older brother. :) Next up for her will be toilet training. I wonder when she'll be ready for it...

P/S: Can you guess her favourite colour?

Museum Trip

Here's our battle formation to conquer the National and Arts Musuem with our CG mates. One lady organised this trip since it's the school holidays and the museums are having children-focused exhibitions and programs. It was a pity that Joshua couldn't come with us as he had a school event and couldn't take leave.

It was pretty cool that while taking the SMRT, the traffic marshal actually let us get onto the train first and requested for people to give up their seats to us during the morning peak hours. Thank God for wonderful staff like that!

First stop: National Musuem. The place had changed so much since I last went there that I accidentally took the scenic route up fort canning park and went in by the back door. Thankfully, I knew to give lots of buffer time or else we would have been late for the story-telling at 10am.

Babe in Cheong Sum

Assorted Baju

I was impressed with the way they tell the story of our culture. They involved the audience in the plot and the actors were very natural and humorous. We followed each performer from one scene to another in smooth transitions. Even I enjoyed the whole session. Not an easy thing to accomplish, I must say, since I come from a theatre background.

Story-telling

When my CG mate told me that we had to pay $5 for each arts and craft pack, I had thought that it was a rip-off. However, I was pleasantly surprised that they had really good stuff inside the brown paper bag. The materials to make the crown/hat were of good quality and the exercise book had many educational activities for the kids to do. The best part: there were teachers to guide them through the process and that freed the parents to relax and take pictures.

Undivided attention for each kid

Favorite pastime: Drawing

Jaide: "How does this work?"

Jayna: "Ang Ku Kueh, anyone?"

Lovely hats completed!

Next up after lunch: Arts Musuem. I was amazed that Joash recognised the Kopitiam which we went to eat at after going there just once during a seminar we attended more than a year ago. He even remembered that there was a statue of a melted superman at the arts musuem. Too bad it was replaced by a gigantic rabbit balloon.

Posing with the giant white rabbit

Even though there were many "Do not touch" signs on the displays, I guess they were just too attractive and inviting to the children. The kids all couldn't help but fiddle with the exhibits!

Making the bird fly

Colouring

Obssessed with sorting crayons

Babe on pink 'throne'

Princess on another 'throne'

A video of the children playing hoops-throwing.

My favourite exhibit

Star Wars???

Group Photo: Children outnumbered the adults!

We had a fun day although my back ached from carrying Joram in the carrier the whole day. The kids were so tired that, long before Joshua got home from work, all of them were asleep before their usual bedtime at 8.30pm despite the fact that we ate a long dinner at West Mall and I had to get them all bathed without Joshua's help. Thankfully, Joash has learnt to bathe himself so I had one less child to worry about.

I'm so looking forward to more trips like that with the CG people. *beam*

Being Well-intentioned

I have been wanting to post about this for a long time but I've restrained myself since I've always wanted to forgive and forget. However, what happened yesterday had been rather traumatising for my children and so I really want to voice out my frustrations about people who have good intentions but are going about the WRONG way in "helping" me. 

I really do appreciate kind passers-by who give up their seats for my kids while on public transport or give way to me so that I can get on and off trains or buses quickly. Some even help me carry my things so that I can focus on caring for my children. That's what I call helping with brains.

However, what I don't need are people who forcibly TEAR my children away from my side thinking that they are doing me a favor despite my kids crying out of fear. How can a child not be screaming when a total stranger carry him/her without permission? In the name of helping me, they bribe my kids with sweets and junk food which I then had to tell them not to eat and appear to be the bad guy and deal with the ensuing tantrum. It is also not helpful when strangers make snide remarks and give useless suggestions, assuming that I'm not able to cope just because I have 4 young children with me. I actually have been doing very well on my own without their "help", thank you very much.

What I DO need is people to simply get out of the way and not crowd around us. At least, they should ask me before trying to help and not insist on doing it their way which mostly makes things more difficult for me.

Most of all, I beseech people to think before they act presumptuously. Sometimes, what others do just don't make sense. While I was pregnant and having fainting spells, I had people who would shove a cup of hot milo into my hands, when I was just recovering from my dizziness, despite my protests. They seemed to think that it would magically cure me of my ailment. In the end, I had very often spilled the steaming contents onto myself or dirtied the floor as my hands were trembling from the ordeal. I ever scalded myself in the process. How was that helpful?

I try to look on the bright side and think that Singapore is becoming a more gracious society with people less apathetic and more willing to help those in need. Yet, I can't help but think that some people are simply plain nosy and just want to feel good about themselves. They only make things worse. Have they ever thought that their bulldozing methods are not entirely appreciated?

I think I'm going to continue to meet both helpful and not so helpful people since there is no way I can avoid bringing 4 kids and taking public tranport all by myself. That is unless, someone blesses me with a car or sponsors us a monthly cab allowance.

Life Skills Training

These days, I can train Joash and Jayna to do more chores around the house since they are older now and I am no longer down with the pregnancy symptoms. For laundry, they used to only help me hold onto the hanging pole and hand it to me each time I need it and put the nicely folded clothes into their drawers. Now, they can sort through the clothes and give me the ones I need plus help me hang up the smaller pieces. I'm teaching them to fold their own underwear too. 

Starting next weekend, I'll be instructing them on sweeping the floor using the magic clean wiper and packing their own bags. After hearing the sermon yesterday about delegating and training up new leaders, I'm all the more intent on working myself out of my job. Hee hee...

Happy to help to earn "4 times"

I Want 4 Times

Sometimes, when we're out, Joash and Jayna will be petitioning to get "4 times" or "5 times". I see the puzzled looks from strangers and I can hazard a guess that it sounds crazy since it is almost as if they are asking to be spanked or something! LOL

Don't worry. It's nothing like that. On the contrary, this is a reward system that Joshua came up with while I was pregnant so as to motivate the children to obey him more. You see, they get to be thrown into the air and caught by their strong Daddy at the end of the day. Each child gets 3 times of that as the standard. If they do something extra out of their own initiative, they get one extra time for each significant act. If they misbehave, they have one time deducted for each misdeed. 

Doing what is expected does not earn them anything: making their beds, wearing their own clothes, putting dirty clothes into the laundry boxes, keeping their toys, throwing their own trash, watching over the younger siblings, cleaning up after themselves, taking care of their own personal hygiene etc. Doing something beyond without being asked will get them their reward: helping to do the laundry, keeping all the toys including the ones played by other siblings on his/her own, pacifying a crying sibling, massaging a parent, bathing on his/her own, washing their own cups etc.

I must say that I'm impressed with how well this system works. It not only helps to build a closer relationship between Joshua and the kids, it also gives him the daily exercise that he needs. LOL But as the children grow older and heavier, I wonder how long more my husband can keep this up. :P

First Real Haircut

Jaide: "My new look"

Jaide has precious little hair. In fact, she has the least amount of hair among the children and she has often been mistaken for a boy because of that. Other than trimming the fringe, I have yet to really given her a haircut. Recently, it is getting more and more obvious that her hair is growing out very unevenly. She's starting to look rather unkempt. Thus, it is finally time to do something about it, no matter how unwilling I am to cut those few longer strands of hair at the back. Thankfully, she is now feminine looking enough to still look like a girl despite the short hair. *phew*

BEFORE

AFTER