Chinese New Year is just around the corner. Too bad we will still be stucked here, far away from home. Was contemplating whether to fly back but had given up the idea as it is simply too expensive. The tickets itself will cost us close to SGD 4k-5k!!! Hmmm, I can instead use that $$$ for my shopping spree, though it was not a perfect substitute , I guess it is more practical. I justified to myself that anyway we will be back in another 7 more months and I will just channel my energy to packing and getting ready to go home!

For you guys who are lucky enough to spend this special occasion with family and friends back home, here’s something that you might want to consider bringing your kids to. A friend of mine is having a Chinese New Year Art Exhibition on 9 - 11 Feb 2007 at Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce (47 Hill St - Level 2 Exhibition Hall). Check out her studio if you are interested at Rus Art Studio. I must say it is damn cool and inspiring for someone to have a total career switch from IT to Art!

‘Don’t be afraid of the space between your dreams and reality. If you can dream it, you can make it so!’

I had heard and seen too much kids that were addicted to Barney the Purple Dinasuar. I personally find the dinasaur not very appealing, unlike the more classic cartoon character, this dinasaur to me is fucgly, weird and what a colour mismatch to have purple with green! When we started to let Mal watch Barney when he was much younger, he wasn’t at all interested and I thought ‘phew! he will not be one of those Barney fanatic kids’. I will try my best not to let my little boy fall into this purple dinasaur trap!

On a normal day, I will limit TV programmes as much as possible and we can spent days and weeks without the TV on. Nowadays, I will turn on the TV in the morning to let Mal watch some of the cartoon characters that he is familiar as he read them in his bedtime stories. Barney was one of the character that he had never read before and only get to watch on TV.

Recently we realised that some of the DVD were so much cheaper here and we had started on our DVD collections which was almost inexistence earlier on. So far, we limit our purchase to Disney shows and heartwarming family movie, especially those that involve animals. We were also tempted to start our collection after seeing how Mal loves his Charlotte’s web movie.

Just yesterday, we were shopping at Target and some of the DVD were going at 5.50 bucks! I was quick to grab 5 of them and 1 of them was the Barney Movie, which I hesitated for a while before getting. Mal was delighted to see me buy so many DVD and blurted ‘thank you Mummmy, thank you for buying so many DVDs !’ hey, since when he knows that the DVD we bought are for him?? He was especially happy with the Barney movie and it was the 1st show he wanted me to play when we got home! I think I had failed! Mal, like many other kids, just can’t resist the power of Barney! The fact is, this fucgly purple thing can really sing and I think that is what attracted Mal to the show! He loves all the singing and dancing.

Hereby I couclude that I have really under estimated the power of this Fucgly Purple Dinasaur. Whoever that created Barney is a genius. But still, NO Barney stuff in my household…will just limit to just DVDs!

A little happy note to the Sleeping Alone episode, Mal slept from 10.30pm all the way to the next morning 8.30am. He never wake up in the middle of the night, he never whine, never cry, never come over to look for us. Wonder whether is it the Barney movie he watched before bedtime that did the miracle. He was cheerful, happy and chirpy this morning when he woke up and was blabbering away after giving me his morning kiss and hug but requested to watch his Barney movie again after that…didn’t even ask for his breakfast!

so what happened last night after he fell asleep…

He woke up around 3.30am, came over to our room, climbed onto the bed, hoping that we would let him sleep with us. I dragged myself off the bed despite being so tired to bring him over to his room. At the back of my mind I was thinking, I should do this so that all the tears and effort for the past 2 weeks will not be wasted. Obviously it wasn’t easy as he was crying and resisting. Finally after a lot of persuasions, distractions, hugs and kisses, he finally settled down in his own bed. We left to let him fall asleep on his own. It was almost 4 plus in the morning by then.

At around 6.30am, I was woke up again as he crept into our room again. I woke up in a daze, looked at him and asked, ‘Ain’t you suppose to be in your own bed?’ He quickly added ‘I want to hug and kiss you’ and he leaned forward to give me a hug and kiss before heading back to his own room. It melted my heart and I felt really bad that he had to go through this. Are we too harsh on him? I wonder how long can I bear with this.

He finally woke me up at 8.30am to ask for his breakfast.

Sometimes I wish I could read what’s on his little mind. It had been about 2 weeks since we started to let him sleep on his own. There were times when he is very cooperative and would obediently turn off the light after his bedtime stories. Most of the time he will try his luck in getting me sleep with him. He will whine a little and repeat to me how bored and sad he will be and how he will miss me in the night. There were even times when he will throw tantrum at little little things just before bedtime. Take for example tonight, he insisted that we should make some cards before going to sleep. He cried and whined and screamed when I told him NO that we will make the cards the next morning. I did not give in and finally he gave up. I could tell that he was angry. I got him into bed and read him his stories while hugging tight to him hoping that he will feel better. Surprisingly, before I could finish the stories, he told me ‘Mummy go sleep in your room’. I was puzzled. Wasn’t that what he dreaded most?! What was he up to this time?? Was he thinking of sneaking over to my room again in the middle of the night?? which was what he had been doing the past few nights. He would wake up sometimes in the middle of the night, sometimes close to dawn and sneaked over to our room and refused to return to his own.

Training him to sleep on his own may be just a passing phase, but it sure can be quite draining emotionally and physically for us. Sometimes, I worried whether this may be too traumatizing for him and may cause more problem to his sleeping habits. These few days, he had been napping very little in the afternoon. We would be out in the morning and he would normally doze off in the car by the time we drive home. The moment I tried to carry him from the car to his bed, he would wake up, which was normally not the case before we started him on this ’sleeping alone’ thing. I am afraid that with all these enforcement going on, he will associate sleep with bad feelings and anxieties. The last thing I want is to see him being deprived of his sleep. If only I can read what is going on in his little mind, then maybe we can think of a way to fast forward this sleeping alone episode.

Mal had a pet! It is a virtual pet dog which is a golden retriever. His name is Poogoo. It was a handheld game which can also be plugged into the TV directly. Mal got it as a x’mas present and it was marked on the box that the toy was meant for kids who are age 6 and above. We almost had the box shoved into our closet thinking that Mal will need to wait for a few more years before he can play with it. When Qing Qing was here, they played with it almost every night before going to bed. Mal started off by sitting next to Qing watching her play, then to pestering us to play while he watch, to now, fighting over the controller with us! In order to control the dog he needs to know his Up, Down, Right, Left, A, B buttons which is what he is learning now. Poogoo needs to drink, eat, bath, pee, sleep and play with. So it had become a perfect excuse for Mal to delay his bedtime, as now, before going to sleep, he needs to turn on the game to see how well his Poogoo is doing. Maybe it is a good start to let him know what keeping a pet is all about!

It had been cloudy and rainy for the past few days. It was freezing cold outside and even with the heater on, it felt cold in the house. The cold weather made me just want to hide at home, snuggle and sleep! So nothing very exciting to write…since we were most of the time cooped up at home.

On Friday, after a good afternoon nap, we decided to do something more constructive. We had just finished all the cookies in our cookie jar that day and it was a good time to make some more again. It has almost become a ritual for us to keep some freshly baked cookies in the jar. We all had grown addicted to my cookies…my Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies. I almost gave up on making choco chip cookies until recently, when I found a really good recipe. So now it’s choco chip and choco chip and more choco chip and we don’t seem to get sick of it…at least not yet! With the heat from the oven, the house warmed up a little more as we indulged in the cookies, fresh from the oven! Sinfully yummy!!!

On Saturday, we woke up to another cloudy day. I was a bit restless as the house was in quite a mess. You see, I had already started packing some of the stuff in the house, yeah getting ready to go home!!! and was planning to have a garage sales to get rid some of the unwanted stuff. It was supposed to be done last week but, due to our laziness, it was procrastinated. So when I woke up on Saturday morning, though the weather wasn’t perfect, as in sunny and bright, I was determined to get it done! I shoved Daddy off the bed to get him to put up the garage sales sign. We were in luck as our neighbour was doing too thus we could save a lot of work putting up signs. Sale wasn’t too good cos I think a lot of people were like us, prefer to stay indoor with such weather.

I planned to get rid some of Mal’s things during the garage sales and I realised that the most difficult part for this is to get through Mal. Whenever he saw us bringing out his toys, he would go ‘Mummy, I want! I want that toy! Can you don’t sell?!’ Now I know, his participation is required for our future packing as we need to get the consent of this little boss!

How you like the new banner for the site?? Should it stay or should it go???

This was about a month before christmas. We were in a card making frenzy as this year, we decided to make our own christmas cards. The craft shops here were HUGE and their stuff just made you want to try your hands on all the crafts. Mal and I had fun shopping for all the materials used for the cards and we spent hours and days making them. Sometimes, Mal had fun just watching me made the cards. Hopefully it won’t be long before you get a card made just by him!

What kind of person do we want our kids to be when they grow up? What values should we instill in them? Are we teaching them the right thing now? Is it important to become what the society deem as norm and successful? How can they not be caught up in the rat race? When should they know their ABCs and 123s? Should they be put in schools early? Must they go to the best schools? The questions are endless…

All parents want the best for their kids, but what is best? Do we know? Should we know? How can we know? Do we have to wait for another 20 years to see the result…if so, that may be too sad and painful…cos we had made our most precious little ones our guinea pigs. As I was thinking about all these, I chanced upon this beautiful poem.

I Took His Hand and Followed

My dishes went unwashed today,
I didn’t make the bed,
I took his hand and followed
Where his eager footsteps led.

Oh yes, we went adventuring,
My little son and I…
Exploring all the great outdoors
Beneath the summer sky

We waded in a crystal stream,
We wandered through a wood…
My kitchen wasn’t swept today
But life was gay and good.

We found a cool, sun-dappled glade
And now my small son knows
How Mother Bunny hides her nest,
Where jack-in-the-pulpit grows.

We watched a robin feed her young,
We climbed a sunlit hill…
Saw cloud-sheep scamper through the sky,
We plucked a daffodil.

That my house was neglected,
That I didn’t brush the stairs,
In twenty years, no one on earth
Will know, or even care.

But that I’ve helped my little boy
To noble manhood grow,
In twenty years, the whole wide world
May look and see and know.

It was time again to retrain Mal to sleep alone. We can’t remember when was the last time Mal fell asleep in his own bed! It used to be us reading him bedtime stories and he would toss and turn before falling asleep in his own bed. After ?? came, this routine was changed as ?? was there to share the room with him for a few months. After that was the visit of ?? and more where Mal was spared to sleep alone in his own room as he needed to let his room out. He was more than happy to sleep with us in our room. Then came Daddy’s overseas detachment, and I was not disciplined enough to sleep in my own bed as the bed seem extremely huge and cold without Daddy around! Both me and Mal would hug each other to sleep when Daddy was away. With all these events, Mal was even more used to having someone else sleep with…actually to be more specific, is to have Mummy to sleep with him. Like what Daddy had said, and also from the book we read…Mummy is Mal’s association with sleep! He would wake up crying and come looking for me if he found me not in his bed in the middle of the night. It is hard to blame him cos Mummy was there when he sleep but missing when he woke up and he couldn’t fall asleep again cos Mummy wasn’t there. He need Mummy to be there to help him sleep cos he had associate me with sleep. Thanks to all the the bad sleeping habits we had taught him. Sometime it is so natural to take the easy way out.

So we finally started doing it again beginning of this week. I was glad that at the same time, I found this rather good book on how to Solve your child’s Sleep Problem. It was on sales and I bought if for like 4 bucks! It was good as it gave me a better understanding on Sleep and also to reassure me that what we were going to do is not going to be too traumatising for Mal.

Today is the 5th day that we started him on this and so far, I must say, there are some improvement. He will still whine and even cry but he knows that I really mean what I say and will not give in to his demand even if he cries. His typical attempt to try to make me sleep with him goes like this
‘Mummy I want you to sleep with me’
‘I don’t want to sleep alone as I will be sad and bored’ and he will continue saying ‘I will be sad and bored’ choking back tears at the same time!
‘I will miss you’
‘I don’t like dark’
‘Can you don’t turn off the light’
‘Can you come and sleep with me later’
my answers to all these requests will be NO! and it was really hard for the first 2 nights. He would cry his eyes out and it made me wonder whether I was doing the right thing! To make things easier, I had chose 2 of his favourite stuff toy to be with him in the bed. It was a monkey and a schnitzel from ?? and sometimes he would hug them to sleep.

The other day, when we were out shopping, Mal actually said Hi and Goodbye to the cashier and flashed her a big smile cos the cashier was commenting on what a sweetie he was. That made a few heads turn. He was quick to flash them his big smile again and waved goodbye to them. It was unusual coming from Mal as normally he would just keep quiet or maybe even hide behind me when strangers talk to him.

When we got into the car and I asked him why was he so friendly today…guess what he told me…
‘I am a big boy now…cos I can sleep on my own!’
I guess we had not wasted the heart aches and tears for the past few days afterall…

Qing Qing ?? was here for a week during her winter holiday break. It was a last minute decision when she decided to stay behind for a week while her parents head home. So for the next few days, the 3 of us, Mal, Qingqing and myself spent all our time together. I had to dig out some of my really small clothes so that Qing Qing could fit, cos she did not bring enough clothes to change. The 2 of them were 6 years apart but it was amazing how they could play so well together. For a while, I felt like a really young mother of 2! It was a very memorable time and so I had specially made this clip for the 2 of them and had chosen a song on one of their favourite disney cartoon character, Pooh. It was a very lovely song and here it goes…

It was a long break for Daddy but with the series of things happening, we did not plan for any holiday trip in advance. Mal was sick for quite a while and as soon as he was feeling better, a check on the internet showed that there will be a storm coming to flagstaff somewhere in the week and snow was expected. So at the very last minute, in fact it was the same morning we left for our trip, we booked for a 1 night stay in flagstaff hoping to catch some snow.
Sure enough, it was snowing as we were nearing flagstaff. Due to the wet and icy condition of the road, there was an accident which held us in the traffic for about an hour. By the time we reached flagstaff, it was dark and cold. We went Sizzler for dinner. The food was so so but the coziness and view more or less made up for it. We had a seat right next to the window so we could watch the snow fall as we had dinner, it was almost the same feeling you get back home when you sit in MacDonald restaurant, on a cold rainy morning for breakfast, where the glass windows fogged up but instead of rain, we had snow this time!
By the time we reached our hotel, it was late and we planned to go for some sledding the next day. Early next morning we made another last minute hotel booking as we decided to extend our stay for another day, hoping for more sledding fun.
Mal was thrilled to see snow and best of all…snowman!!! as somebody had made a snowman in the night right outside our hotel. The sledding was however a bit too scary for him, especially on our first day. On the second day, after some practising at our hotel carpark, he was feeling bold again and urged us to bring him for more sledding up the mountain. All in all, it was a cold, scary, fun and I guess memorable experience for him.

This was Mal’s 2nd white christmas. Last year, we spent christmas at Aspen which was freeeezzzzing cold! I guess this was a more economical way to see snow and less tiring as it was only a mere 2 hours drive from our place but in Aspen, there was enough snow for real skiing!