I Have Time to Update!

Worked so hard for clinic and my family, finally I am down with a nasty flu. Was given 2.5 days mc and i spent most of my time napping at home. I feel a lot better now, and I thought it may be a good idea to update my blog again! Hee. Above is a recent picture of my 2 boys who were dressed up for racial harmony day at their childcare.

Gareth has started childcare early this month, and he is getting more adjusted to the routined and disciplined lifestyle there now. He is 19+ months old, still very innocent and sweet. This morning, when he woke up, he held onto the front part of his diaper and went, "Shi shi, mama". I said, "You wana pass urine?" Gareth then quickly ran to the restroom, point at the toilet bowl and said, "Shishi mama, shi shi". Thinking that it's a good step to perhaps start his toilettraining, I led him to the restroom, took out his diaper to let him pass urine into the toilet bowl. He went, "No more". Haha... he has passed his urine into his diaper already. Well, good try. At least he has associated that the toilet bowl is the place one has to go to when passing urine.

Greg, as usual, very inquisitive about things around him. This time, it's about the Superheroes. He loves watching the Justice League. His favourite character is the Green Lantern - that man dressed in green with a ring on his finger that gives him power. He likes Green Lantern primarily for 2 reasons, firstly, he's impressed with the ring. Secondly, the other Superheroes called Green Lantern "G.L" in short, and Greg excitedly went, "Mummy, I am also G.L - Gregory Lim". Hahaha. Yup, he is now curious about why Superman is dressed in such a special way. First, Greg asked, "Mummy, why Superman wears his pants first before wearing his underwear?", "Does he not know how to wear clothes properly?". Then he went, "Oh... maybe he only wears underwear. Why mummy, why does Superman only wear underwear?" He has been thinking hard for the answers. Early this week, he exclaimed, "Mummy, I think I know why. Superman only wears underwear so that it's easier to fly. Pants can be quite heavy." Yesterday, he came up with another answer. He said, "Mummy, I have been thinking about it. I think I know why Superman never wear pants." Honestly speaking, I am amazed at his persistence in wanting to know the right answer. He added, "Because he does not have pants at home lo..." I really had a good laugh.

Long Time No See!

Life remains crazily fast for me. Busy at work, and when home, both my hands are tied down by my two baobei. Greg is now 4 years 4months old and Gareth has now turned 18 months. Greg as usual, is still very inquisitive about things in life... Gareth on the other hand, has become wiser in terms of how to physically defend himself.

Greg
Once we were driving home, Greg spotted the big round moon.
GREG: Mummy, why is the moon following us? (looking at the moon from his side window)
ME: The moon is very high up in the sky.. so high that it looks as though it is following us but actually it is not.
GREG: Daddy, can you drive faster? ..so that the moon cannot catch up with us. (Obviously my explanation was not understood)
Daddy did drive faster. Then our car drove down a windy bridge, and the moon was seen only via the windscreen at the back of the car.
GREG: ok daddy... I think you can slow down now. The moon can't catch up, and is behind us now.


Gareth
Greg loves to irritate and disturb Gareth. Once Greg tried touching Gareth's various facial parts fast, and when nehnehnehpoohpooh. Gareth got really really mad. He hit Greg's body lightly and went "beat beat beat".

Gareth is attending Greg's childcare in July this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed, and hope all goes well. Hopefully Greg can also help me look after his didi in school.

Gota go back to work now. It's saturday today, and I still have to work. Sian~!

Fast pace fast pace...

Gosh.. it has been a long time since I last logged in. Almost forgot my blog address even! It's already the third month in 2009! So many things have happened... Gareth has turned 15 months, and Greg is now 4 years old! How time flies. Gareth is now walking quite independently, saying several one-/two- words. His favourite word now is "Maaaaaah meee". Heehee. Greg has grown too, both physically and cognitively. His reasoning skills have definitely sharpened and there are times I do think he can make quite a good lawyer in future. hmmm...

Myself... busy busy busy. Busy with work. Busy with my 3 boys. Work wise, I am happy so far. Good to be busy.. or at least feel busy because the economy these days are really no good. I have to even give retrenchment and resilience talks to certain companies apart from seeing more people with stress-related issues in my clinic... hopefully my job is a recession proof one. Yup yup.. appeared on the Chinese talk show in February. Gosh... glad that it's over. Think my Mandarin is really not up to standard, and oh well, some people said I have too high expectations of myself.

Oops... my two boys are calling me.... gota go. gosh... pace of life is really going a bit too fast...

Quick update on my 2 "G"s

I was so busy with work and my life in general that I simply couldn't find time to update my blog. If there is time to spare, I would only wish to melt in my bed. Life with my two young boys isn't easy. First is Gareth. Yup, he is turning 1 year old tomorrow! Time flies doesn't it? He's now a lot more aggressive and responsive. When I carry Greg, Gareth will get upset and will want me to carry him. When I carry the two boys (each in one arm), they will try to push the other one off! Oh my gosh! Gareth usually would look for Greg. He is easily excitable by his brother and when Greg is engaged in a game, Gareth is always keen to join him. Gareth could now walk with hands held. He is also able to follow instructions pretty well (e.g., asking him to keep the toys or passing an object to someone etc) and he could even point to the right picture when he was asked the location of the object in a set of picture cards. As he couldn't speak full sentences yet, Gareth gestures to indicate his wants. For instance, if he wants his diaper change, he will point and look at his diaper. If he wants the TV on, he will point to the TV and go "Er...er!". When he sees us eat and he also wants to eat, he will crawl to you and say "MumMum".



Greg, on the other hand, is growing to love his little brother. However, at times he isn't keen to pass his clothes on to Gareth. Look at the picture above. That set of blue traditional costume was worn by Greg when he was a year old. He insisted that he could still wear it and refuse to pass it on to Gareth. Greg tried squeezing himself into that costume and I thought he looked like "Huang Fei Hung"! Haha. He's always quite comical and making me laugh.

Yup! Gareth is turning one tomorrow. We are holding a mini family party for him. Seems like Greg is more excited than Gareth about the party. Hopefully I could do an update on his party this time. =)

Down, Down, Down

I am so tired

Or is my mind badly wired?

Desperately struggling to keep afloat

On a constant lookout for a boat.

How alone I sometimes feel

Akin to climbing a steep, high hill

I know I do not possess any high expectation

Because I know it does not always get me to my destination.

I do not want to talk

Not necessarily will it get me out of the fog

Sometimes it is not about finding someone to confide

I now only wish for a hole where I can temporarily hide.

On the outside a book with thick, strong cover

Inside me, only pages of thin paper

Day in day out I slog like mad

An egg I am, I just hope one day I do not crack.

Am I overprotective?

Greg has been refusing school for the past few days because his favourite teacher (T Roze) took a short vacation to Malacca to celebrate Hari Raya. He got really upset at night just before bedtime, begging me not to bring him to school the next day. I tried probing further and he claimed that some of his school teachers would request him to eat vegetables. Well, Greg has been refusing vegetables no matter how the teachers and I tried (e.g., making his dish look interesting etc). I was so tired of trying that I decided to give him and myself a break. Interestingly, he may eat up those vegetables served if no one nags at him. Apparently, some of his teachers tried encouraging him to consume vegetables by focusing on the benefits of eating vegetables. As Teacher Roze knows him too well, she has not been forcing any veges down his throat. Neither has she been "nagging" (that's what greg called it) about it. He disliked people keep talking about the issue, and because he is a socially desirable boy, he may force himself do something he does not want to do, just to make the other person happy. You see, somehow his behaviour makes his other teachers think that their "verbosity" works and it maintains their behaviour, whereas Greg at the other end, feels upset about having to do something he doesn't want. This boy isn't assertive enough and very often, he gets upset with someone without the person knowing that he is upset with him/ her.

Well, anyway, Greg got really upset on Sunday night. He knew T Roze would not be in school on Monday. He cried and refused to sleep. I had a chat with him after tugging Gareth to bed. He said one of his teachers wants him eat vegetable. I did explain to Greg that there's nothing that the teachers could do if he really refuses to eat vegetables. He said he didn't like them talk and nag about it in class. Anyway, in the end, he was agreeable to go to bed when I promised that I would inform that teacher not to mention anything about eating vegetables in class. The next morning, as usual, he got very upset when he arrived at school. I didn't want to stay long in the premise because the longer I stay, the more he would whine and cry. Hence, I just left the message (about that teacher)with the teacher whom I handed Greg over to, and walked off quickly.

Interestingly, when I picked Greg up that evening, I had this very strong feeling that that teacher would come and clarify things with me. Probably because I somehow know the character of this teacher. True enough it happened. I was glad that she did confront me about Greg's complaint. What really hit me wasn't her clarification. She reminded me of my past. I still remember sharing with my parents about a particular teacher when I was very young. The things I shared were very true, but my parents were generally very protective of I I believe. I didn't expect that they would go straight to the principal about the issue. What happened was that the information was cascaded down to the teacher I spoke to my parents about. Unfortunately that teacher came up to me and threatened me. I got quite frightened. I felt extremely upset. I was angry that my parents told everything to the principal. I was merely sharing with them my day at school. Never did I expect them to act on my complaints. I knew I was not wrong about that teacher but I certainly didn't like that look in her eyes when she confronted me. Well, somehow I was wondering if I did wrong here, in Greg's case. I did as what I have promised him, to reassure him. And in the hope that he could sleep for that night. But on the other hand, I did not wish that he would experience what I used to go through. Perhaps I was too quick to act on his words. I was not trying to single that teacher out. I was trying to reduce his anxiety but I could appear as an over-protective parent. If not done well, I believe I could even hamper his ability to stand up for himself. Anyway, just some thoughts that went through my head. And if you ask me now, I think my parents did that, thinking that it was the best for I. It's just that they would not expect the teacher came looking for I..

What A Thing To Say!

Greg has come up with several 'funny' phrases all of the sudden and I wondered where he has learnt them from. For instance, there was once Gareth was cranky and making a lot of noise when we were having dinner outside. Greg, who was sitting beside Gareth, turned to Gareth without hesitation and said, "Don't make so much noise. You want to eat my motion is it?". I was so shocked to hear that and I told Greg that it was a very rude thing to say to his brother. There was once Greg got upset that Gareth snatched his toy. Despite the fact that I scolded Gareth and gave Greg's toy back to him, Greg said to him, "You are a very very naughty baby. I want to throw you high up into the sky and I do not want to see you anymore!" Gareth simply looked at him innocently and continued his googoogaga-ing, so Greg remained angry, with his little arms crossed. I really wondered where he has learnt those phrases from. School perhaps. From his friends I suppose.

There are times Greg is aggressive towards Gareth during play (e.g., hit Gareth with balls, push him etc) so I will try to ensure that an adult is around whenever the two of them are together. Of course there were also times Greg acted like Gareth's loving brother. When in a good mood, you may see Greg hugging/ kissing Gareth. I really wonder how they will behave towards each other when they grow up. Hopefully they have a good brotherly bond between them and that they will remain close forever.