Mini Holiday

Greetings from Jakarta!

We tagged along daddy's business trip and are now in Jakarta. Actually I'm napping now so mummy's updating on my behalf. Since mummy's doing that and I don't trust her enough, I shall let the pictures do the talking.

So where are the airplanes mummy been promising? Which way do I go?

I got my map and ready to explore!

Oohhh.. you mean we can actually go and sit in that big plane?

Thanks but I will just have cheezels for dinner

They gave me Skully on the plane. Turns out I really like him alot. He went to bed with me last night 

Disappointment and Bewilderment

With the school holidays this week, I am running out of activities and places to bring B to. We generally avoid indoor playgrounds like a plague because of the crowd and also the higher possibility of the already-high-chance of germs spreading.

So this morning, we drove down to ECP for some sand play. It was really a lovely morning but B decided he had enough after about 30 minutes and started going "mummy carree". That signifies the end of our outing. Haha.

So we drove back home around 10am, taking KPE, which has a speed limit of 80km/h. At this time of the morning heading towards home, traffic is super light. I was on the right lane and driving at 80. About 4-5 cars distance ahead of me was a taxi. Out of nowhere, a black car appeared behind me and started tailgating me. I'm used to idiotic drivers tailgating, they usually just run out of patience and overtake me. This car was so near to me I can't even tell the make of the car, but judging from its headlight, I think it could be either a Mazda or Audi. Not sure.

The middle lanes had some slower moving traffic so tailgater couldn't overtake. All this while I was at 80 and I had my son in the back seat. I've also been caught on camera twice on the KPE for exceeding the speed limit by less than 5km/h, so I'm extremely careful especially near the speed cameras. Anyway, when the fellow finally had the chance to overtake me, he wound down his window and gave me a thumbs up sign, held it there for like 5 seconds and sped off.

Wow.

I was speechless. If you were wondering, no I wasn't angry, but I was really bewildered. What was his point? Does it really make him a lot happier when he did that? Was he trying to prove something?I don't get it.

The fact that these people are on the roads everyday, everywhere. Doesn't it say something about our society? They are other people's children, they could be parents themselves. So when behaving in such a manner, what message are they trying to convey to their children?

Can you see why I'm so baffled? I really do not understand his point. I texted DH and told him about it. He has his theories - he thinks people who behaves this way are generally full of angst, things not going smoothly for them and small actions like these make them feel superior. After that few seconds of self happiness, they are back to being angry people again. Well, perhaps he's right.

I hope that fellow feels happy today about having done that. As for me? I just feel sorry for him.

Playgroup For Bradley

 Finally we found a parent-accompanied playground that's not too far from home, not too expensive and not at an inconvenient time. I don't know why this place didn't pop up before when I was doing a Google search but nonetheless I'm happy we've found it.

Playdays has 2 outlets, 1 at Sunset Way and another at Mountbatten Centre. I knew there were many childcare facilities at Mountbatten Square and Centre area but I had no idea it was THAT many. We went for a trial yesterday and I was pleasantly surprised with the environment. What I liked about Playdays:

• Location - took us 30 minutes with peak hour traffic
• Class starts supposedly at 9:15am but the people starts strolling in around 9:30 and even with that, there is still time for free play. That means we don't have to rush in the morning. When we went for Bibinogs trial, class starts at 9 and we had to leave our home at 7:30 only to get there at 8:30, in time to have breakfast before heading up.
• Teachers were more flexible - if they noticed the kids in class were exceptionally active that day, they will change their program to cater to what the kids might be more interested in. I witnessed what was meant as a storytelling session changed halfway to sing-and-dance because all the toddlers seem to be on a high!
• A good mix of local and expats kids as well  as a local teacher and native English teacher.

I guess the only thing I'd have preferred Bibinogs was its bilingual program, but it wasn't enough to make me want to travel to Bukit Timah every week during peak hour. So, we got ourselves a weekly playgroup which I think B thoroughly enjoyed, and I have to say, I did too.

What Happens When #2 Comes Along

Last night I woke up at 2am for my toilet break and couldn't get back to sleep. This is becoming too frequent. And it didn't help I was worrying thinking about things I probably shouldn't be at 2am in the morning. It was my other worry that I mentioned in the previous post - how B will react when I go to the labour room come July.

I have started to talk to him and prep him about possibly waking up and not finding mummy and daddy, but Ah Ma and Yi-yi will be around, but honestly I don't think he knows what I'm saying. I'm just worried that I have to check into the hospital in the middle of the night like I did with B, and if that's the case, we'll most probably have to send him to my mum's place before heading to the hospital. If he were to wake up and not see mummy or even daddy, I think it will be all hells break loose. But what can we do? I hope my mum and my brother will be able to appease him quickly. On top of that, he is super particular on who he allows to feed and shower him. Most days daddy is not even allowed to do that, so I'm not sure how my mum will be able to. Just thinking about it makes me sick.

I toyed with the idea of having an induction so we know exactly which day we are going to deliver but DH disagrees completely. He felt that we should not "shortchange" Baby C and that she should be free to decide when she's ready to meet the world. Even if B goes bonkers, it will probably be for a few hours at most. After he said that, I was like, "ya you're right, I'm horrible".

So.... my only hope now.. is to talk to C all the time and tell her to choose the right timing to meet us. Ideally, if we can check into the hospital anytime between 8am to 3pm that would be the perfect scenario. But I know... this sorta thing we can rush nor push nor delay.

Oh boy, what else can I do?

Worry Less Please

One of the things I was going to do differently this year (15 in 2015 post here) is to worry less. A big challenge for a worry wart like me, but I can only try. As of now, there are 2 things that are on my mind which are also my biggest worries: (i) how B will adapt going to school next year and (ii) who will take care of B and how he will behave when I go into labour in July.

Prepping B for school
As some of you might already know, it has always been my concern how he will adapt to school because he's been home with me all this while and despite me bringing him out often, he clings onto me all the time when he's in a new environment or in the presence of strangers. I've been working to get him exposed to classroom environment and meeting new people. For one, we attend The Little Gym weekly at Forum and are onto our 4th consecutive week already. There is such a marked improvement in B's receptiveness to class and the environment and I could tell he enjoys it a lot. But the downside (or really the plus side depending on how you look at it) is, it's mainly just getting the kids to exert their energy and getting spent at the end of the class. Not so much of the discipline you need when you go to school. And it's kinda expensive consider each lesson is only 45 minutes.

Today, I took him to a trial class at Bibinog. Something I've been wanting to do for a long time  but didn't get down to it because of the class timings. I have to say B was much better behaved than I expected, he made it through the 1.5 hour class with almost no meltdown. I say almost because he kept telling me it's time to go ("let's go, let's go, all done"), and when the teachers asked him anything he just goes "no no" and "don't want". But other than that, he actually did pay attention to what was happening. Having a chat with the programme director after class who was also present during the lesson, she gave some very positive feedback on B's behaviour and I was encouraged.

I am so emotional looking at the pictures taken this morning. I bet I will cry when he starts school officially.

Tomorrow, we are going down to make payment and confirm registration for his pre-nursery class next year. We are enrolling him at a church kindergarten based off recommendation from a good friend A, whose kids had attended/will be attending and hopefully B will be classmates with her boy. It wasn't a very difficult decision to make as I thought it would, and I hope I made the right choice. For one, I did visit a few of the more "prestigious" schools and these were predominantly childcare as opposed to purely kindergarten. I would be lying if I said I did not want B to enrol in those schools, but I gotta be honest, the school fees are a killer with only a single income. Should I go back to work, then it is easily affordable but I see no point in me going back to work just so I can afford to send him to these schools and have him in the childcare for the entire day, which defeats the purpose of me being a SAHM in the very beginning. So a 3-hour kindergarten arrangement works best for us (although I don't deny 4-5 hours might be even better for mummy's sanity!).

I like the school's environment. We are not believers but the church brings a sense of peace and serenity every time I go there. The classrooms and its facilities are not fancy but it reminded me of my own kindergarten, some fond memories I had. A has been very helpful in making suggestions on how I could potentially make B's transition easier - by joining her when she sends her daughter to school, so B and her youngest son can have impromptu playdates at the school compound, letting him get used to the environment.

So prepping him, I am doing all I can at this point. I hope when the time comes, it is going to be a lot easier for him. Thankfully the school allows the parents to join them for 2 weeks, so hopefully that helps. I know there will be tears no doubt, but most children go through this phase right?