Of childhood and parenthood

The loft bed for kids in Festive Hotel, Resorts World Singapore, is a lovely idea. It's a comfortable, spacious cubby hole complete with toddler-size pillows and a cheery, colorful duvet. Kai loved it! The ladder is a little steep, which makes the climb down a little daunting for younger toddlers.

Both Terence and I always wanted a bunk bed when we were kids. It seems kind of fun to climb up to the upper deck, out of sight of the grownups, and look down at the 'world' below. So it was nice to see Kai enjoy the experience, just like we thought we would.

In fact Kai burst out in tears when he was told he couldn't stay the night.

I hope both Kai and Kit have a wonderful childhood. What parents do or don't do, say or don't say to their children as they are growing up leave such an indelible mark and shapes their perception for the rest of their life. What I also realized, over my birthday weekend, is that parenthood doesn't end when your children are grownups themselves. They need their parents, to be their parents still. Our boys wouldn't want a bunk bed when they're in their 30s. But they'd have expectations of me as a parent and I hope I won't disappoint them.

Borrowing what a fellow yogi said and adapting from it: Parenthood (being a good parent) is not a destination. It is a journey of a lifetime.

On the 'wrong side of 35'

So. The rest of my life from now on will be on the 'wrong side of 35'. Where I creep nearer the dreaded big four-zero.

Hmm.

I wonder what new adventures would life bring?

Pooping and teething

Kit is teething with a vengeance. And it's not just teeth which are pushing out. He poops runny stools every single day, always first thing in the morning, sometimes right smack during lunch, and then mid-afternoon.

How can a baby have so much poop? Runny, smelly, poopy poop.

Then I recalled what older folks say: that babies have diarrhea when they teeth.

Really?

Masterpiece

Kai has been drawing/painting quite a bit these days. Trucks were a favorite for quite a while. Then he was drawing happy (and sometimes sad) faces of everyone in the family. I like to keep his drawings (I can't bear to throw them away!) and since he drawn almost every other day, the stack of drawings I have on the table grew, and grew, and grew.

Yesterday I decided it was time to do a 'purge' and threw away all of them except for this. For some strange reason, one day he took an artistic leap and drew a tractor^ and what seemed like fumes coming out of the funnel. He never drew it again.

My 'wakeful' 11mo

At 10.5mo, Kit decided he wants to see more of the world and so he now takes just a one-hour nap a day. This means I have to find more ways of engaging what some call my 'wakeful' baby.

He has four teeth now. He prefers to cruise.

Best of all, he has decided to sleep through the night! This more than makes up for being a wakeful baby in the day.

I still can't believe that I have spent 11 months as a SAHM and breastfeeding Kit. Now I know why SAHMs become SAHMs.

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Why I love FG

Sometime ago, out of a whim, I entered a Film Garde competition where I had to complete this sentence, "I 'heart' FG because...".

So there I was, in Kallang Leisure Park yesterday, and finally taking time to read this wall-length poster for FG that I walk past almost every week. I nearly died. There, right at the top of the poster, was my entry with my name. In big fonts. A summary of Kit's birth story.

My inner rock chick

Terence thinks I should take a photo of my hair after every visit to my hair stylist. What's the big deal, right? The thing is, I go for a trim every one to two months. This means my stylist, Pauline, is kept on her toes all the time.

What a demanding customer I am... :p

But really, I believe every fashion-savvy girl should change her hairstyle as frequent as she shops, i.e. which is like every day (!). And Pauline does a superbly great job giving me a new look each time.

There is a little of a rock chick in me, though seriously, I don't 'feel' or dress like that most of the time. Today, I would give anything to have a metal studded, kick-ass black jacket to complete the look. But here's just me with two recent fashion do-dads: Ray-Ban Aviators and mechanical Soviet watch from Poljot. Love!

My boys and their toys

You know what they say about boys and their toys right? The only difference between men and boys is the cost of their toys.

So here's Terence with his iPhone 4 and Kai with his trains.

And Kit with his spade.

Homemade vanilla ice cream

We saw a recipe for vanilla ice cream in a local magazine, and it looked fantastically simple. And it was! No need for any fancy ice cream making machine, and you can easily find the things you need in the kitchen. Best of all, Kai had fun helping.

Ingredients:

200ml of whipping cream (tasting note: we would recommend heavy/double cream to make it creamier)

200ml of fresh milk

50g of castor sugar (tasting note: you can reduce this to about 30g to make it less sweet)

1 vanilla pod

100g of salt

1kg of ice

Also prepare:

1 quart-size zip lock bag

1 gallon-size zip lock bag

Steps:

1. Cut open the vanilla pod, and remove the vanilla seeds.

2. Mix seeds together with the cream, milk, and sugar. Pour mixture in a quart-size zip lock bag.

3. Put salt together with the ice in a gallon-size zip lock bag, and mix well.

4. Put ice cream mixture, which is in the quart-size bag, in the middle of the ice/salt pack.

5. Continuously knead the ice cream mixture through the ice/salt pack, until it turns firm.

6. Once the mixture is firm, scoop and place in the freezer.

Voila!

An apple a day

Kit has recently taken a liking to apples. He gets upset if he drops an apple, and he'd crane his head over the table looking for the 'lost fruit'. Our little baby is growing into a little boy. :-D