How is it that November is close to an end?
November started with anticipation:
Chris came back on the 6th for 10 days so I had reprieve for those days. After being a solo parent for the past 4 months it really seems a breeze to have a partner! Actually, to be honest it also means having 2 opinions (which also takes getting used to again!) I think Chris had to adjust to disturbed sleep and being endlessly busy with the minutiae of life with kids!
While he was back we managed to go out with friends for an adults dinner at Mikuni ( the old Inagiku at Raffles City ), he got to play 2 rounds of 18-hole golf with different friends on 2 Sundays.
We also had another visitor, my cousin WY from KL who was here on a 2 week work assignment. She spent the first week at a hotel and stayed with us for the 2nd week. Her request : to see the Night Safari. I offered to take the other 2 kids with us as well so we had 4 kids between us 3. I think the kids really enjoyed the safari but the biggest draw was the hunky fire-dancing hunks at the entrance of the Safari!
After Chris went back to Germany, it was straight back into life. We had the orientation to primary school for Madison- that took an entire afternoon. After trying on multiple uniforms I decided to tailor make the school uniforms: I remember suffering through uncomfortable poorly fitting uniforms so for the moment Madison will get nicely fitting ones. We got her books for the entire year EXCEPT for the Chinese curriculum which apparently only come out sometime in December ( of course.. just to give me more errands to run, and hopefully before I leave for Europe!) Signed up to find out more about the school bus, which OF COURSE also only becomes available sometime in December.
On the 22nd I took Madison to see Monkey Goes West, a musical production by a local theatre company called Wild Rice. It was surprisingly good! I was quite glad I didn't take Annika along, it was over 2 hours long!
This week I've got tickets to Disney's Three enchanted Fairy tales at the MBS : Annika's turn. She asked that we bring Madison along so I guess Madison gets to see 2 musicals! It's also Madison's graduation this Saturday and I've promised to take Annika as my companion.
In other news: of course I got dropped another bomb. W, my longstanding helper of almost-6 years told me she didn't want to renew her contract next year, and would like to be transferred out. I immediately called the employment agency and was told that in order to avoid going through the chaos of work permit application I would have to replace her 60 days before her permit expired. Which means January 2015. Which means I have to start looking ASAP. Of course. When Chris gets back from Germany everything will have been sorted out and life would be fine and dandy!
Well... its a good experience.. I'm learning and becoming more resilient. Actually, once I started embracing the fact that I can't get everything perfect, and more accepting of the way each kid is, I found that they started behaving better. Of course I'm referring to Annika, and I have to say she has vastly improved over the past few weeks. In a way it's probably good that W is transferring out.. Annika has been having severe tantrums with her and I think it's also partly because of the way that W interacts with her. I'm trying to actively spend more time with her, and also with each of the other children. It's been hard, but I think it works.
One step at a time...
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
Swim meet at SSC and Annika can read!
Firstly:
Madison did as promised.
She participated in her 2nd swim meet and did what she was supposed to do: dive into the pool, start swimming straightaway and touch the time pad at the end.
It wasn't about speed or position. It was just about learning what competition is all about and participating.
They had a warm up session prior to the meet and she had fun with her other friends who were also in the meet. After all the kids had their turn they all got to collect a participation certificate and a pin.
I'll let her decide if she wants to participate in any other meets in future.
Next:
Annika is slowly learning to read! I thought initially she was just reciting the words from memory, but I realized last night that she can identify and ?sound out simple words. She's not yet consistent and cannot sit through an entire small book (eg Peter and Jane series) but she's getting there. I think it helps that she is competitive and when I started doing it with Elizabeth around she tries harder.
Liam:
He was quite unwell the past week. He suddenly started having a fever on a Sunday afternoon and didn't shake the fever for close to a week. I was on the verge of taking him to the emergency department to get some blood tests done but he responded to antibiotics. I figured it could possibly be a mycoplasma infection as Eli has been coughing and febrile just prior. (bad doctor mummy)
ANYWAY... he did get better.. and that's all I want.
He's still drooling like a tank, and STILL not chewing properly. He still has this bad habit of spitting food out, but I guess it's mostly because he's not a big eater and starts doing that when he doesn't really like something. He still has an overactive gag and will gag if he accidentally swallows something firmer. I wonder how long he's going to take to outgrow that!
It's November and this month we have visitors! My cousin is here on a work attachment for 3 weeks and another one is coming midweek for a short holiday. And of course Chris is back for a short visit as well.
Not forgetting the primary school orientation in another 2 weeks. I will have to sort out uniforms and textbooks!
Madison did as promised.
She participated in her 2nd swim meet and did what she was supposed to do: dive into the pool, start swimming straightaway and touch the time pad at the end.
It wasn't about speed or position. It was just about learning what competition is all about and participating.
They had a warm up session prior to the meet and she had fun with her other friends who were also in the meet. After all the kids had their turn they all got to collect a participation certificate and a pin.
I'll let her decide if she wants to participate in any other meets in future.
Next:
Annika is slowly learning to read! I thought initially she was just reciting the words from memory, but I realized last night that she can identify and ?sound out simple words. She's not yet consistent and cannot sit through an entire small book (eg Peter and Jane series) but she's getting there. I think it helps that she is competitive and when I started doing it with Elizabeth around she tries harder.
Liam:
He was quite unwell the past week. He suddenly started having a fever on a Sunday afternoon and didn't shake the fever for close to a week. I was on the verge of taking him to the emergency department to get some blood tests done but he responded to antibiotics. I figured it could possibly be a mycoplasma infection as Eli has been coughing and febrile just prior. (bad doctor mummy)
ANYWAY... he did get better.. and that's all I want.
He's still drooling like a tank, and STILL not chewing properly. He still has this bad habit of spitting food out, but I guess it's mostly because he's not a big eater and starts doing that when he doesn't really like something. He still has an overactive gag and will gag if he accidentally swallows something firmer. I wonder how long he's going to take to outgrow that!
It's November and this month we have visitors! My cousin is here on a work attachment for 3 weeks and another one is coming midweek for a short holiday. And of course Chris is back for a short visit as well.
Not forgetting the primary school orientation in another 2 weeks. I will have to sort out uniforms and textbooks!
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