Not sure why I am blogging thru a phone rather than the laptop!

Ah and I had a peaceful sunday night. I got to watch the devil wears prada and both of us enjoyed a home made fondue with fruits. All cos adam slept early at 7. Must have been tired out from this morning’s water play and short nap.

While we enjoyed the couple time, we didnt deny that it was quiet and we kinda missed having that little toddler fuss around, playing with his toys and have us say ‘No!’ every few seconds.

Ahh, the bitter sweetness of parenthood.

Scooting Sunday

At first it was just a trip to the playground without the scooter.
After some time, Adam asked for his new scooter toy so we went back to get it.
Luckily the playground was quite well-cushioned. That’s about the only place you’ll play on until
we get a helmet for ya, okay!

We went to the airport for a quick dinner with Adam’s aunts & cousins too and he sure had a fun time
running “races” up and down a quiet stretch of slope near T2. It did look a bit funny tho – he was the smallest one running all his might among the 3 bigger kids. Not that he cared one bit of course. Could tell from his endless laughter and cackles.

The language divide

While Adam started speaking rather late, his vocab & speech have developed quite rapidly over the past few months.

He speaks more Malay than English, most likely because he’s under the care of my mom, who is a strong advocate of speaking in Malay. While she reads and is well-versed in English, the idea of little kids not knowing how to speak in English just makes her cringe. I guess that’s why she’s on this mission to ensure Adam speaks Malay well. And yes, Adam has had his fair share of Alif, Ba, Ta too (or rather, A-, Ba- Ta- in Iqra’ terms). As for me, I try to do the A-B-C bit.

Personally for me, I think I speak more Malay than English too. I speak Malay most of the time even at work and I’m quite proud to say that I am able to speak Malay well enough to save my life! As such I’m quite comfortable speaking in Malay to Adam most of the time. However, I do speak to Adam in English at times too, and read English books to him. His Ayah speaks more English to him, so I guess that’d suffice.

Anyway, actually I was just going to blog about this. Adam has a neighbour who’s about 3 mths older than him. Just a while ago, after collecting a tennis ball he threw out of the window, Adam actually called out to him, “Bye Daniel!”. I heard Daniel’s mother greet Adam and say,”Adam, where are you go-ing?” And Adam explained, “Take ball outside! Throw outside at tingkap!” And Daniel’s mom went, “Oh, Okay!”.

I was amused, and so was Adam’s ayah. I guess he attempted to speak English well enough but couldn’t quite find the word for tingkap in English. Or maybe he thought his language is universal and everyone would understand what he said, haha!

Someone once commented why Adam spoke so much Malay. Actually I was tempted to answer, why not? Wasn’t it good to be well-versed in one’s own mother tongue? What’s the big deal about being able to speak in English when grammar is out of the window anyway?
And I think it’s quite sad when a kid can’t even give a decent reply in Malay, or responds in English when an answer is being asked in Malay.

But me being me, I just smiled. Inside me I was happy Adam could speak Malay & understand or speak when needed when spoken to in English. I believe he’s progressing the right way as long as we keep speaking to him as much as possible (both in Malay & English) since this is the age they absorb language to their best ability.

Plus, with Singlish almost everywhere these days, I guess I won’t need him to speak Queen’s English anytime soon!

of cough and sniffles

I’m down with mild flu & cough again!
It’s frustrating coz the cough is the sort which makes
you want to take your throat out, give it a good scratch before
you put it back in.

On Thursday night, the “itch” was so bad that I got up at
midnight and had a spoonful of Adam’s promethazine.
I felt slight guilt in me, coz I was worried on whether the baby
would be alright if I consumed that. The cough subsided slightly
but the whole night seemed to last forever as I consciously felt for baby’s movements.
She did move but in the morning, I decided I’d get proper cough medicine
from the gynae coz most GPs would prescribe those with codeine, something
I know my gynae wouldn’t approve of.

As usual the crowd at the gynae was crazy but I was 2nd in line.
All I wanted was the cough medicine & a day of rest but Dr A said
he’d like to see if all was OK with the baby so that I wouldn’t blame the
cough medicine if something didn’t go quite right with the little one.
Heartbeat was still strong, and she grew! If last week she was the size of a 29 week old,
yesterday she was already the size of a 31-weeker! Now I know why
I feel my tummy has suddenly ballooned up over the past week
and the kicks have been getting stronger too.

I asked if promethazine was alright too, and apparently it was.
Phew, thank Goodness.

Ouh, and just for the record, I lost weight. A few hundred grams.
Considering baby put on quite a bit of weight, and I lost some,
I guess that’s good!

I only took the medication in the afternoon so that I wouldn’t get
sleepy. There was this phlegm-loosening med he gave that worked too!
There’s no more itch in my throat and I could at least sleep and talk without
coughing every few seconds.

The only bummer is, I gotta put a lot of my appointments and
fieldwork on hold again. Sighs. I hope I’ll catch up soon.

31 weeks….gosh… I hope I have more time left.
There’s still a lot to clear.
I wonder if this little girl will be out at 37 weeks like her brother too.

Companions

Yot, fix new batteries for me please!

Testing 1, 2, 3

Thanks Yot! Now I can play!

Fixing a puzzle

Adam & his Yot spend most of the mornings together. Yot is not getting younger; he has hit 84 already but he tries his best to tolerate bossy Adam. Spoiling Adam is an understatement too; and that little boy knows he can get away with almost anything with his Yot. This morning Yot was a bit fierce though; he gestured to flick Adam when that little chap got too mischievious & I could see Adam backed off a bit. Probably surprised his Yot was capable of getting angry at him too!

The photos show Yot fixing some new batteries into Adam’s remote-controlled digger (if you looked closely, you’d notice the scoop has come off, thanks to Bibik who stepped on it accidentally, haha!). And another photo shows Adam & Yot fixing a race-and-count colour puzzle.

I guess in companionship, age doesn’t really matter.

Fire-gin!

That’s how Adam calls a fire engine, his latest obsession for now.

We brought him to Central Fire Station on early Saturday morning so he could
get up close to fire engines and other rescue trucks.

At first he was quite overwhelmed by the big rescue trucks and the sounds that were surrounding the fire station.
He sorta didn’t quite know what to do, or where to begin.

Just arrived, a bit blur

Then we walked around & he saw a vehicle he liked – motorbike!

Amang’s (Paman – Uncle) skinny motorbike doesn’t even come close to this!

Then we walked around some more & Adam found something he liked as much as a fire engine – the ambulance!

Amateur medic on board.

Now let’s see what we have here. More buttons for me to press & fiddle with?

I got behind some really huge steering wheel. And I thought Ayah’s steering wheels were mean.


Ayah got a tip or two on the differences between the vehicles


Next up, some water training – this is how you put out a fire.


Place your fingers over this and pull backwards. Actually Ibu was quite horrified looking at how much water was used for this exercise.


Next up, a mandatory pic in front of (yet) another fire-gin.

The whole place. Full of curious kids & parents. Bring a hat/cap if you’re going coz it could get reaaallly
warm & sunny. Think Ibu & Ayah almost roasted.

After about 45 minutes, it got really warm & hot outside, so we did what we should – retreat into some air-conditioned place – The heritage museum!

There were plenty of antique rescue vehicles on display & the whole set up was actually quite nice.
Adam got naughty & wanted us to buy him a toy fire-engine but we refused & pulled him away from the shop.
He obviously forgot about the 2 fire engine toys at home!
If we do come back, I’m so going to bring his fire engine toy along.
Anyway, more photos on FB. I guess there are actually nice places for us to bring
our todds to in Singapore, apart from shopping malls after all.

heavy

The gynae’s clinic was unbelievable crowded today. I was 3rd in line and I was so thankful I managed
to see him before he had to run off for 2 deliveries in 2 different hospitals.

In contrast to the tiny weight gain in Ramadhan, I gained close to 4 kg over the month,
thanks to the hari raya feasting I’m sure. Plus, the sweet drinks I seem to be unable to
go without lately. If previously I was a fan of iced cold plain water, this time round,
that just doesn’t do it. A glass of coke, or basically anything sweet, is the one I’d go for.
Now I can see what nasty things those sweet stuff can do to one. (but erm, the moment I got
home I had lunch & poured a little cordial into my drink). So stubborn eh. Well, am hoping
I would put on less weight next month so that I won’t get another mini-scolding from Dr A.

I’ve got a little sore throat now too. That’s a sign I really should stay off heaty stuff right.
But…how to? First there was hari raya goodies, now, there’s deepavali goodies. Murukku & similar
hari raya goodies within an arm’s reach from my workstation. Sighs, the effect of having nice multi-
cultural colleagues.

Ouh, just for the record, we’re at 29 weeks. Little one inside is about 1.4kg, just about the weight she’s
supposed to be at this time.

Adam is a happy toddler, just that he’s getting especially naughtier these days.
He loves to kick us, though the only person he doesn’t kick is his Yot, who most of the times,
is expressionless when he gets kicked. I guess what Adam wants is attention! All of us are trying hard
to ignore him when he kicks. Which is hard to do.

I’m hooked on looking at toys for toddlers his age too! L/e/g/o/d/u/p/l/o toys are really cool & we recently got him a fire engine. It’s quite versatile and fun to play with, even for Adam’s Ayah! If only there weren’t so expensive and damaging to my sad pockets.

Lunchtime chat

I was having an after-lunch / lunchtime chat
with one of my senior colleagues. He’s about 60 yrs old, and his daughter is currently studying in a uni overseas.

We talked about productivity, work-life balance, the sort of stuff we frequently chat about around here. Then we talked about priorities. I shared with him my thoughts that at 60 yrs old, I just didn’t think it was appropriate for him to work so hard, bring work home etc. He actually agreed with me (whew!).

I told him also that my priority at this time is no doubt, my family. Suddenly my colleague’s eyes brightened up, as he agreed with me. He told me that 20 yrs down the road, we’d sit back and recall how things were when our kids were babies, small. We’d reminisce the times we took him/her to the first movie, the first walk… and before we know it, they’re all grown up.

I found myself having slight tears in my eyes. I didn’t know what for. Perhaps out of gratitude that so far I think I’ve been able to enjoy most of that in Adam’s baby & toddlerhood. Recently, I feel that I probably would join the ranks of other moms who work from 9 am to 6 pm, being parents only at night & weekends soon. There’s just so much work to clear, and I’m not sure if I can work from home anymore. It’s tiring and challenging, but somehow I still feel that I’m still getting to enjoy his toddlerhood no matter how tough it is. I guess I should also thank Adam, coz in the mornings or at night, he’d sometimes insist on holding on to my hand even when we were just walking to the kitchen to make his milk.

Yes, it’s not easy juggling both, but let’s take some time to smell the roses. Life is not just about working our as*es off, making ends meet. As cliche as it may sound, sometimes time with loved ones is all that we need. With so many natural calamities around, one can’t help but wonder if the end is near. When that comes, which would you prefer to have spent your life with, slogging at your desk or, having enough cuddles with who matters most to you?

trial & much error

A feeble attempt at making a simple collage…heh

at home again

I got up with a stuffed nose – just didn’t feel quite right if I went to work. I did go in the end, only to pick up my laptop and some documents. Was given 2 days of rest by the GP. I feel quite stressed up now as I do have quite a lot of datelines to meet and I just don’t have the energy & zest to complete them :S

I just got back from a brief fieldwork though, although I’m on MC. If I don’t go, I’ll run out of time and it’ll be impossible to complete my report. Urgh.

Anyway, just for the record, I put on 200 grams during the fasting month. And baby put on about 400 grams. So technically all my weight gain went to baby! Previously when I wasn’t fasting, I was putting on about 2 – 3 kgs every month! It’s really amazing how the body re-adjusts itself. Mum doesn’t need the fat but baby keeps growing although Mum fasted. Amazing, subhanallah!