It's Halloween!

Spud had her first Halloween today, mainly at the request of her school about a week ago to turn up for the day all dressed up in some Halloween garb. She was quite hesitant with the costume at first, and only when we dropped her off in school, did she allow me to put it on her. Perhaps she was inspired to flaunt her pixie-like looking dress after seeing all her friends with their little fancy costumes!

Her costume was supposed to be that of a witch, but I thought it looked more like what a Little Imp would don. Here's a shot of her I took right after she put on the garb, complete with the witch's hat:

And when I came home, I found a few more shots taken by The Nanny in her impy -looking garb:

At the school's request (and I just cannot NOT obliged!), I made some goodies for the kids in the form of Banana Cupcake. They were painstakingly decorated by both Silver Bullet and me the night before, looking a little messed up and not quite achieving the Halloween effect I had in mind. Fortunately, kids tend to be non-judgmental.

This was one of those days I wish I could hear all about Spud's first Halloween experience. If only she could articulate it to me...but I guess the time will, hopefully come soon enough.

Happy Halloween!

Dark skies in Bangkok

It was 7.30 am...and yet it was looking like it was already 6pm in the evening. The sky looked menacingly threatening.

As Silver Bullet drove us to drop Spud off to school, pitter patter of raindrops started to fall from the sky. There was no lightning bolts or thunder, but just dark, dark skies. Traffic was already bumper-to-bumper. Images from the morning BBC news on Sandy that had happened in New York was playing up in mind. It almost looked like I had walked into a set of a scary movie. It is, after all, Halloween.

It was still drizzling when I walked to work, after dropping Spud off in school with her Halloween costume and a Pumpkin Bucket filled with what looked-like a ghoul cupcake I baked the night before. As usual, I am always one of the firsts to get to the office. And, on days like this, I don't expect most of my colleagues to show up before 10 am.

I love the peace and quiet at this time of the day. With a cup of coffee in my hand, I turned on my laptop and spent a good 5 minutes looking out of the window next to my desk.

The horizon looked eerily menacing; reminding me of some sinister scene from doomsday-like movie. More dark cloud were pooling in, making the scene looked so sombre that I had to still-frame it. I could hear the wind howling against the windows, and passing through the building at such great speed.

Moments later, it began to rain. I could almost smell the rain through the glass panels, putting me in a little bit of a momentary hypnotic state. Snapping myself out of it, I realised that we had triumphed just another chaotic morning at home. Indeed, this morning seemed particularly brutal - the kids were up really early (before 5.30 am!), they were acting up, the cats were in the way and we parents were subjected to highly stressful situation in trying to pull things together so that we can get out of the door in time for one kid to go to school, and then sending ourselves to work.

Still, much has to be done today. My day at work has just begun, but at least we made through another morning unscathed.

Dr. Seuss: Lessons in Life

So.

Dr. Seuss imparted the 5 lessons in life and they are:

#1. Today you are You. That is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.

#2. Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

#3. You have brains in your head. You have feet in in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose

#4. Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind

#5. Today I shall behave, as if this the day I will be remembered

I remember Dr. Seuss' books in my childhood, and to me his books are quite bizarre.  Bizarre in a very good way. I may not have understood it all as a kid, but as I grew older (much older!), and now with kids on my own, I appreciate his talents more than ever.  The funny words he came out with in his books are just out of this world. Most times, they just don't make any sense. The words are all just made up, and the funny thing is, somehow, when you look at it as a whole and with a little bit of imagination, it does makes sense. Like the word, "Youer" than you...how epic is that! 

I found the above to be very lifting. It speaks to me. I have actually printed a copy and have it pasted up on my dashboard in the office; just to remind myself that no matter what an oddball I am to how others perceive me, I do not have to bow down to conformity. 

I have the license to be the oddball me.

From someone else's lens

The walk we did for the Babywearing Week 2012 connected me to a Bangkok-based photographer whose calling is that of a professional child photographer.

She took some random shots of us, and I love how some of the photos turned out. She seemed to have captured the expressions at the right moment, and I can't help but fall in love with such endearing images.

Here are some of the photos I nicked off her FB page (with her permission of course!):

More to come, as I know that there were a few treasures out there tucked in that little SD card of hers. (with a price, of course!)

This fear is real

Getting stuck in a perpetual traffic jam is a pretty common occurrence here. It is also a common phenomenon that no motorists in their right mind would avoid using the emergency lane in their bid to get to anywhere quicker or, even think for a second to give way to anyone else, and God forbid, to an ambulance.

It happens all the time, and apart from feeling absolutely exasperated from the fact that nothing is moving, no one bats an eyelid to whatever that is happening within the surrounding area. Everyone does it.

That being said, if there is one fear whilst stuck in Bangkok is the very fact that if we are stuck in an emergency, there is technically almost no way out. This concern was further fueled by what we saw last weekend as we made our way out of our soi and was halted by a traffic light that lasted for more than 5 minutes…

That arrow in that picture denotes an ambulance with its siren on. We have been waiting for the light to turn green for more than 5 minutes, and Lord knows how long that ambulance had been there. For that whole 5 minutes (and more!), no one had the courtesy to give way to the ambulance. From where we were, I could see that the ambulance was slowly trying to inch its way through, but was unfortunately not making much progress. It was disconcerting. What makes it all more disturbing is the fact that these traffic lights are controlled manually by traffic police officers - that means they are the ones who decide how long the green or red light would last. They are stuck in their little box, and tend to have no clue what is going on outside.

My heart sank at the thought of what poor soul was in the back of the van and that not one vehicle bothered to stop for the ambulance to pass through. The nearest hospital was less than 5 minutes away, but whoever was in the back of the van was losing precious seconds. It was heart-breaking.

It is moments like this that makes me want to get out of this country, for this convinces me that should there be anything unfortunate that happens in the streets of Bangkok, it will be hard to get to the hospital alive. 

This is real, and it is a scary thought.

Learning to let go

Spud has only been to playschool for about 6 months now, and already I have had to sign my very first consent form for her very first school excursion to Siam Ocean World recently. The trip cost me 450 baht, and another 15 baht for this picture here taken after the trip:

When I read the note from the school, it reminded me of all the consent forms I have to get my parents to sign if I were to go for one of those school trips. My parents were always pretty strict with me, but most times, they would allow me to go. And I remember beaming with such happiness once they sign the form for me which was to be returned to my teacher the next day. Fond memories.

Back to the letter from Spud’s school, my first thought when I read it was, “Oh my! This is cool. She should definitely go! It would be fun for her.” And then, just as quickly, I thought to myself, “Wait a minute. She is 2. Isn’t that too young for an excursion?”  I had my first when I was what…NINE?! Even that took quite a bit convincing from my parents I remember.

But, both me and Silver Bullet thought that it was a good idea to let her go. We both agreed that it would be good for her development to get into the dynamics of social settings. One is never too young (or in our case, too old) to learn. Besides, the school reassured us that there would be enough teachers to mind the kids, and that Spud was not the only 2 year old who was going. I even had the teacher’s commitment that she would be the one person to personally mind Spud. 

When the day came, I felt very excited for her very first excursion with her school friends. Oh! How I wish she would be able to articulate her thoughts to me on how her outing when, what she saw, who she spent most of her time with and what her favourite exhibit was. Unfortunately, she is only 2 and there is only so much a 2 year old can tell you.

I know that we’ll probably get the flak for allowing such a young kid to go for school excursions – and judging from some of the comments I received after posting my excitement of Spud’s very first school excursion on FB – I sensed that not everyone is comfortable with the decision we made for our 2 year old. I then realized that this would also be another case of extremes in parenting, wherein we could be labeled as being completely irresponsible and insane for letting a 2 year old joining a school excursion. (Gasp! Horror! Horror!) 

But you know what? Screw what other people think! We both know that Spud was in good hands and we were (and still are!) very comfortable with our decision. 

In the same breath, I’d be lying if I said that I did not feel anxious. I did. But just a tad.  In my head, I had this little paranoia of the “what ifs”…as in, what if she gets lost and could not find her way and what if some stranger took her away and never to be seen again amongst other things. (Well, a mother IS allowed to worry, isn’t she!) I had to remind myself again and again that Spud was in good hands, and that I should not worry over nothing.

And I DID worry over nothing. She came home tired, but happy. I was not surprised at all when her teacher told me the next day that she was very active during the outing, seemed to “know the place really well and headed straight down to the penguins”. The best news for me was when the teacher told me that Spud, in a social setting such as that, kept to the group for most of the time and generally can listen to instructions rather well. 

I guess that was all a mother needed to hear. But in a way, I can’t help but felt a little bit peeved – how I wish Spud would listen to us at home the same way as she does in school! Gahhh!

So, the question is – are 2 year olds too young to join in a school excursion? All things considered, I think not. In a way, it was also a learning curve for me as a parent because it was my very first experience of learning to “let go”. 

And that was the first of the many “letting gos” in the years to come. 

Bit bittersweet, ain’t it.

Oh! My Chai.

2 months later since my last post on my favourite beverage joint and, look what just opened up right in the heart of Bangkok:

Yes!!! The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf is now officially opened in Central World.I have been waiting a long time for this.

It is a small joint, with very limited seating area. While there were 6 staffs behind the counter (I counted!), the service rendered was pretty slow. We had to wait for more than 10 minutes to get our Chai Latte to-go made. And, even though both orders were the same, we were given our lattes one by one - as it seemed that they had forgotten that they had two orders.

I guess we'll cut them some slack, given that yesterday was their very first day of operation. The teething challenges seemed apparent.

Despite the glitch, I am glad to report that the Chai Latte tasted as good as I know it from back home. Oh! How I miss their Chai! I certainly will be back for more, and I truly hope their service will be better and faster in the next time around.  

Our Laughing Buddha

Since clipping his hair short, Squirt's been looking so much more rounder these days. When he laughs, the fats on his face and hands and legs jiggles. And when he is propped up on a Bumbo-like seat while giving us his precious smiles and laughter, he reminds me of The Laughing Buddha.

Well...only cuter!

Potty training

Spud’s now potty-trained. Yay!

[And, when she is 15 years old, she probably will die of embarrassment or hate her mother if she ever finds out that I had posted her very glam picture here]

But, before you go judging on me being all smug and bragging about it, let me qualify, that, first, she only pees in the potty. For some reason, she refuses to let go of her poo in there.

Second, I claim no credit to her being potty –trained. While we have had the intention to start potty-training earlier by buying her own little potty when she was less than 18 months thinking that she has shown “signs that she is ready”, it was mostly a half-hearted effort on our end. No doubt that there had been moments when we thought that she just might be ready…well…she did not seem like she was.

And so, we continued to put her in a nappy, mainly because we were plain lazy to follow-through for most part of the day. It felt like it was all too much work to not only keep hounding her every 10 minutes if she needed to pee/poo or her telling us every 5 minutes that she has to do her deeds, but also having to take her to the bathroom THAT often and then came to the conclusion that she didn’t want to do either.

It was tiring and it can get quite frustrating. With little baby Squirt around, it all seemed like such a big effort. At that point, neither Silver Bullet nor I have a lot of energy left to deal with such things. The only times I would really encourage Spud to use the potty and make it a big deal when she succeeded was before her morning and evening shower. It seemed to be the only time where she could pee on cue and on target. Other than that, she is in a nappy 24/7.

So anyway, when I hear stories of other mommy friends putting in the effort to get their toddlers of about the same age to be toilet trained, and some who claimed with pride that their 16 month toddler is completely off nappies (I’m exaggerating here! But could be just as true), and then asking me if I started potty training my little tot yet; and if I haven’t yet, I should, it made me feel like I am such an incompetent Mom.  

I know I tried, but I also knew that I was not trying hard enough. In that respect, I was somehow convinced that Spud probably would still be in diapers when she is 5 or 6 years old. It could all jolly well be my fault, and to a certain extent, I could live with the thought.  I just did not have the energy to battle through this one. 

So, all this potty-training-crap when she is 2 years old was somewhat quite accidental.  

It happened because the school which we sent her to started her on it. It happened because, as I was told by her Homeroom Teacher, each time the older kids were being asked to line up to go to the bathroom, Spud would get curious. She‘d have this curious but unhappy and sad look on her face that questioned why she was being excluded from the activity.  Her observant teacher then included her in and got her to be diaper free for half a day in school so she can join in the use-the-potty queue. Spud somehow got into the groove of it quite quickly. I was then asked if it was OK to allow Spud to do that, and if I could please bring extra underwear for her from now on, just in case of “accidents”.

So, I said, Hell yeah! Go for it! I’ll bring 10 underwear if need be.   

2 days on being diaper-free for half a day in school, and I was told that Spud was doing really well.  I then thought perhaps, it was a practice we should continue at home. And so, after talking to her teacher in trying to understand what they did to make it sound so easy, and did not want to unintentionally undermine the school’s effort in potty-training her, I then told the Nanny to let Spud go diaper-less for the rest of the day when she gets home from school.

Within 3 days, Spud was no longer using any diaper in the day.  These days (it has now since been a month!), she goes to the bathroom herself and pees in her little potty when she feels the need to.

Truthfully, it was something which we did not expect to happen so quickly and so effortlessly. For us, it was such a pleasant surprise. I feel so proud!

The pooing, on the other hand, is a lot more challenging. Somehow, Spud seems scared when she has to go poo in her potty, preferring to keep it inside her for as long as possible. The first time she tried, she got pretty upset as she had pooed in her underpants. I reckon, this pooing-in-the-potty will somehow take a while more for her to master.

Oh well! 

Last day of the term

Spud’s school always organises some sort of a special event on the last day of the term. This time round, they had organised an International Day where parents were asked to please allow their child to dress up in their national costume.

Uhmmm. We had a problem. We did not have any national costume from either Singapore or Holland which we had brought along with us for Spud. Cripes!

Oh well. So I dressed her up in a dress, instead.

It was one of those mornings where we had run a little late – thanks to Spud stalling just before we got out of the house. So, when I was nearing the school grounds, I was not too pleased that I’ll get to the office a little later than usual. I had a very busy day ahead of me, and it irked me that I will not make it to the office before 8.15 am.

When I finally got to drop her off, I noticed that most of the kids were decked out in their national costumes. They all seemed to be beaming with pride, or at least their parents were!  It looked like the kids were going to have loads of fun singing and dancing.  They all looked so cute, and suddenly, part of me wanted to hang around for a bit to watch. Before I left, I had the usual casual chat with her homeroom teacher who was updating me on Spud’s progress, the activity line-up for the day and telling me that I was most welcome to stay for a while. With a sense of regret, I told her I really wish I could stay, but at that point in time, I really had to run off to the office. I was quite bummed. And after the usual kiss and hug with Spud, I left the school ground feeling…well…pretty darn bummed!

As I walked to the office, I somehow kept looking at my wrist watch every few minutes – not because I was trying to beat my before 8.15 am target, but rather, contemplating if it makes sense for me to walk back and watch the first bit of the activity the school had planned out for the day. A huge part of me did not want to walk away, and I have never in my life felt so compelled to want to walk back to her school just so that I could watch my 2 year old acting silly!

Still glancing at my watch every other second, 2 minutes later, I continued walking towards the end of the soi upon which, I gave myself a slap my forehead with a nagging voice that said, “Screw being late for work! I want to get back to Spud’s school and watch the morning activity! My work can wait for a little bit. This was just too precious to miss!”

Just as quickly, I made a U-turn and walked the path back again. I did not want to feel any regret for not making the effort to be there just because I would be late for work.

I got back just in time - they were just about to start. Teachers were herding the kids, amongst them, Spud who was too busy and lost in her own world that she did not notice I was back. When she finally caught sight of me a couple of minutes later, she had a confused look on her face - and just as quickly, she lit up!

The kids’ antics amused me to no end. Some were crying, some were boisterous, some were lost, and some were just genuinely having fun. I hung around for a good half an hour, taking pictures and watching Spud in the moment.  Whenever she caught sight of me in the corner, she gave me her contagious, happy, impish smile.

It was a good morning, and I am glad I went back. Even without her national costume, I felt that it was a special day (she’s been practicing her songs). There’ll be many more International Days but deep within me, I felt that these were moments that I could never get back to for we will never be able to tread this way again.  Spud’s not going to stay 2 forever, and I did not want to look back with regret. 

I was late for work, but it was all worth it.

Getting ready for assembly

Her expression when she caught sight of me!

Lost in her own world and trying to "figure things out"

Hanging around

Singing "It's a small, small world"

And Spud has apparently found herself a very good friend in this Italian boy! (so says the teacher)