I’ll take this grumbling any time as opposed to a toddler who screams her guts out to wake the dead each time she wakes up from her nap…
January 19, 2013
My Me Day
Category: Random
“Mama, Happy Birthday, Mama!” said my 2.5 year old daughter with a big smile on her face as she gave me a slobbery kiss right after she got out of the shower and ambushed me while I was still in bed. I reckon she did that at Silver Bullet’s instigation.
It was a sweet wake up call.
It was in the middle of the week, it was a working day and it was incredible to be able to start the day by not being in the office. The prospect of not having to do any work or having to deal with anything that remotely resembled work just for one day (while being acutely aware that my colleagues are busting their ass off!) was appealing.
It was a “me day”, and I had taken a legitimate birthday leave as granted by my organization to just dedicate the day to myself.
Apart from getting 3 new releases of Green Day CDs from my other half as my birthday gift, there was absolutely nothing special planned. I took the day easy by having a nice little breakfast by myself, going for a post natal consultation and followed by a 1.5 hour foot and back massage. I treated myself to a mandatory chai tea latte from Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, then spent pretty much of the afternoon just walking around town with no agenda before heading home to tend to the kids. I tried doing some shopping, but I gave up because I got bored and I couldn’t really find anything that I like. I was tempted to go get myself another round of foot massage – but I didn’t have time for that.
While I enjoyed the day to myself, I was also looking forward to see the kids later and then spend a little bit of time with Silver Bullet in the evening.
I don’t care for much as I mostly like my birthday celebrations low key and fuss free. That being said, my 36th birthday was probably one of the most low-key birthdays I ever had. As soon as I got home from my “me day”, I tended to the kids, put them to bed and settled up all the prep work or the kids that needed to be done for the next day.
Silver Bullet only arrived home slightly before 7.45 pm as he had left the office late, and by the time we had dinner, it was 8 pm. We ate left-over noodles (maggi mee noodles which I had cooked the day before) and had our nice little fancy meal in front of the TV. I then had to pump, clean the pump and prep my pump up for the next day. By the time I was done, I was beyond exhausted. I was in bed by 9.30pm.
It turned out to be one of the most memorable fuss-free birthdays I could ever have had – and eating some left-over home-made fried noodles made by me was quite a nice touch to my own fuss-free birthday “celebration”.
It was simply…epic.
January 18, 2013
Toddlers and snacks
Category: Being Parents
While minding a 3 year old toddler for a fellow mom acquaintance at Spud’s swimming class as she had to go into the pool with Kid #2, I encouraged Spud to share her bowl of snacks which she was eating at that time with the toddler. I thought that it was a good way to encourage some interaction as well as keeping both kids occupied.
Besides, when it comes to snacks, Spud is usually very willing to share hers. She can be so kind with food that I have been told by her teachers several times that most times, she forgets that the snacks were hers and give them all to those who she was sharing with…leaving herself with nothing.
And that was exactly what she did when I told her that she could offer her snacks to the other kid if she wanted to. The 3 year old soon ate alongside Spud as soon as she offered her bowl of snacks to her. Watching the dynamics from the side, I quickly noticed that the kid was quite happily munching away on Spud’s snacks as Spud has forgotten about her snacks altogether while they shared an iPhone screen. Needless to say, most of the snacks were eaten not by Spud, but by the 3 year old and another toddler who joined in later. (Not that I minded to be honest!)
When we had to leave, I had to laugh when the 3 year old came up to me and said, “ I don’t like it” as she returned the almost empty bowl of snacks and shoved it in my hand.
Toddlers are really funny creatures.
