Grubbs n Critters

September 4, 2012

The Last Leg Phase II

August felt like such a long month, and for some reason I seem to think that we have been stuck in August for longer than usual.

Not that I minded to be honest – I had such a fulfilling month spending some quality time with my kids and several other mommy friends whom I befriended from my pre-natal yoga class. At the same time, I also managed to juggle some me-time by going for post-natal body works, Pilates, foot massage, manicure & pedicure, as well as the occasional morning coffee or lunch time indulgence all by myself.

August had been nice. However, it makes me wonder if August felt like such a long month as, secretly, I cannot wait to be back in the office ; because when September came a few days ago, I’m being reminded that I am due to go back to the corporate world soon.

Not that I minded either…

My sentiments about going to back to work remained pretty much the same as 2 years ago. While I hate the office politics, I do need that mental stimulation I can get from the corporate environment and the work that I do. Most of all, I actually miss my pay-check!

So yeah. I have mixed feelings about my maternity leave coming to an end. While I love spending time with my kids and having some me-time, deep within myself, I know it is not something I can do for an extended period of time. Besides the fact that we cannot afford for me not to work, I get restless. And one of the reasons I am enjoying all these me-downtime is because I know it will come to an end. Like my work, nothing beats the adrenaline rush of beating the deadline. If I don’t have that deadline, I feel…

…dead.

Besides, being away from the kids actually makes me appreciate them more. On a personal level, I need this space…some sort of a “separate life” – a life that I can call my own and not being wholly consumed to being a full-time mom because I suck at it. Because of this, work-life balance shall always be a challenge.

One thing for sure though, I will certainly miss the weekly meet-ups with a bunch of awesome Mommy friends from my pre-natal yoga class who have babies around Squirt’s age.

Ending playtime

Category: Being Parents

Negotiating with a two year old can sometimes be a pain in the ass; especially when we try to peel Spud away from a playground. There have been days when, despite having given Spud ample lead time of telling her that we have to go, we still have had to haul her ass back to reality with her kicking and screaming as we make our grand exit out of the play area.

It is not always often that happens, but when it does, we have, by now, gotten quite unfazed by it. We do what we have to do – we just pick her up with her screaming in our ears, knowing that she’ll calm herself down in a matter of minutes.

She surprised us recently, though. When we told her that her time was almost up, and that she had 5 minutes more to play (not that she has the sense of time just yet!), thus allowing her 2 to 3 slide- time before we had to go, she looked at us with utmost motivation to play as hard as she can and quickly bolted back into the play area as fast as she can.

And suddenly out of nowhere and even before the actual 5 minutes was up, there was Spud…darting towards us, stopped herself right in front of us, looked at us in earnest, and said, “OK. We go home.”

THAT was music to my ears.

As soon as she said that, she proceeded to the exit area to look for her shoes, leaving both me and silver Bullet in stunned silence as we both looked at each other with a big grin.

That was possibly the sweetest thing I could ever heard from my 2 year old after ending a playground session.

No kicking. No screaming. No need for negotiation. No delays.

Could it be that all the conditioning of ending playtime we have done in the last few months is starting to bear the fruits of our labour? Or is this is just one of the signs that my little girl is indeed growing up?

Baby Swimming: Squirt

Category: Baby Milestones

It looks like it is never too young to start infant swimming. Squirt started his very 1st infant swimming lesson on the day he turned exactly 3 months!

Squirt’s swimming lessons started way earlier than we had expected as his spot was literally confirmed just a few days ago. It was a surprise for us to be able to start this early, really. Even though I did an early registration this time round, it was for the anticipation of having to be in the queue for available spots. That being said, we certainly did not expect them to give him a spot almost right away. I remember that in the case of Spud’s swimming lessons, we had to wait for more than 3 months before they could confirm a spot for us.

But hey! I’m not complaining. His first session was somewhat lukewarm. There were moments where he seemed to be really happy, and there were moments where he got cranky, fussed quite a lot and was a little bit of a Mr. Floppy Head still. In any case, he got out of the pool unscathed.

My take is that it probably is a good thing that Squirt is exposed to such things early. Besides, he has the same fabulous swimming instructor as Spud does. I reckon, with his experience with infants and if we keep this up, we’ll have another water rat coming our way in no time at all.

Here are a few candid shots from Squirt’s first swimming session: