Last year this time

This year this time

half way around the globe

We saw the fireworks

We relished the night skyline of Singapore

We soaked in the atmosphere

Ushering a brand new year with laughter and cheers

Thanks to modern technology

It may be another firework

It may be the same old view

and the same old people

but it is sharing these good old things

with these good old people

that makes this ordinary special day

extraordinary special.

After all the Winter Olympics and penguin skiing videos, Malcolm got really familiar with the sport even though he could barely recall our first ski trip when he was 20 months old.

From the videos, skiing looks deceivingly easy and fun and he would tell me in his most innocent voice that he wants to ski like the penguins. But as if to put things into perspective, I had  to warn him that it is NOT going to be as easy.

I had to be the wet blanket.

On one hand, I may be dying to see my boy put on his skis. On the other hand, there is a part of me that is screaming out for me to hold him back.

Wild thoughts sped through my mind. This wasn’t the first time that such crazy thoughts put me in such a dilemma. It happens each time I let him try new things, something that may cause him hurt  if he isn’t careful.

Times like this makes me feel like cuddling him in my arms, protect him from danger and keep him safe forever. But I need to let go, as if to set him free so that he can spread his wings and experience the many things in life. Many times, I watch with gritted teeth, fearing for the worst. It wasn’t easy.

Malcolm has always been quite timid and careful when it comes to play. Since little, he has this habit of observing other kids play. Sometime he joins in, sometime he doesn’t.  Very often he needs some encouragement and reassurance.

We know that he shunned girls whom are too aggressive and prefer to play picking pebbles and stones than to join in the fighting games.

When he first learned to sit up, whenever he bumped his head on the floor, he would do it again a second time, in slow motion, as if to confirm to himself that THIS REALLY HURTS! It was funny and we were surprised to see him so excited over the ski trip.

He talked about his lesson everyday, he dreamt about it in his sleep and he woke us up EVERYDAY at 6.30, during the trip, for it was TIME TO SKI, when his lesson only starts at 9.45!

We had to ask him to count planes to put himself to sleep cos he just couldn’t stop thinking about skiing. He could barely contain his excitement.

He made friends, he played games, he had yummy snacks, everyone spoke English. It was not hard to see why he enjoyed the lessons so much.

On his last day of lesson, watching him raced down the bunny slope in his skis, swerving and navigating around the cones before making a V-brake with all his might, sent chills down our spines.

It was terrifying. It was nerve wrecking. Half the time, the video ended up filming the snow on the ground for we lost focus each time we anticipated danger. He would flash us his biggest grin. It was all good. It was all in our mind.

And we were beaming with pride when we watched him walked forward to receive his little medals for the race and for completing the 6 days ski lesson.

We are  back from the Alps and I DID IT !

I survived the 6 days snowboarding course !

I am back in a piece

No broken bones

No major injuries

that is a cause for celebration

HO HO HO !!!

My muscles ache like never before and you thought they would go off after the first few days.

NO. THEY DIDN’T!

I woke up EVERYDAY with new aches

I discovered muscles I never knew existed before

The body was exhausted but the adrenaline kept it going

To say that I am fearless

I am lying through my teeth!

I wasn’t much encouraged when half the group were less than 1/2 my age !

The youngest being an eleven year old boy !

Maybe having someone to say that I looked 18 did help to delude myself a little

An 18 year old with a 4 year old kid ?

She must have thought that I was a delinquent mum !

or to put it blatantly, I may look just ‘physically under developed’

At 35,

my gut shrunk

my reflexes retarded

and I tend to work out the movements in the head more than through actions

Doing experiments mentally ?!

Learning to snowboard without falling ?!

It sounds almost absurd !

I watched the teenagers shift and gain balance on the boards each time they lose it

Laugh when they fall

Get on their feet and try again

I wish I can be that agile

and I wish that falling can be that fun !

I can keep on wishing

and probably end up sitting on the bunny slope for the rest of my course

Learning to speed down the slopes without fearing myself crashing

I think my 4 year old can teach me that

Learning to break fall without breaking bones

I know my 4 year old can do better at that

So I ended up crashing and falling

My knees bruised

My butt sore

and my tail bone hurts the most

But I was exhilarated

I was ecstatic

for I MADE IT DOWN THE RED SLOPE !!!

doesn’t matter if I braked more than 1/2 the way down!

the fact is

I MADE IT !

A little bit crazy, a little bit pushing the limit

but I love this feeling of triumph

and I have to hint to my husband

I DESERVE some champagne popping !

for this may be the best way to end my year 2008 !

So what was the craziest thing you did in year 2008 ?

Will love to hear them !

Here’s a little something from Switzerland for that crazy story.

Don’t worry if you don’t have one, you can still drop me a note if you find this Cailler Swiss Dark Chocolate irresistible.

Here’s wishing you and your family all the wonderful and beautiful things in the brand new year !

LV building at Champs Elysees.

Galleries Lafayette is brimming with festivity.

Their endless panels of window mobile displays attracted huge crowd and they were all in shades of PINK!

They have families of mice, rabbits, ducks, monkeys dancing, marching and flying around to the rhythm of music.

They were all so lovely and sweeeet even for someone like me, who is so not into this color.

Malcolm had fun dodging in and out the crowd, scurrying from one window to another.

One moment you see him, one moment you don’t.

He was obviously fascinated with the displays and it doesn’t matter even if they were all PINK!

Since we will be away for Christmas, we decided not to put up a tree this year.  It is not worth spending all the money when we only get to use it for 1 year.

Malcolm was a little bit disappointed. He would often squeal in delight when we walk past a nursery.

He loves Christmas trees and he likes to hold the pine leaves in his hands and sniff them.

He loves the smell of fresh pine.

Our consolation to him was, there will be lots of pine trees waiting for him up in the Alps !

Nevertheless, for the fun of it, we painted one the other day. One that is as tall as him and just so that we can gather our presents underneath the tree.

We are heading to the Swiss Alps again this Friday, not to hike this time but to ski !

We will be staying in the same apartment as in our summer vacation.

We love the view, we love the quilts. Lucky us, for all accommodations were fully booked.

Malcolm is all excited about the trip as we are planning to sign him up for a 6 day ski course.

The youtube video helps. He is now familiar with how the ski can only be crossed when one is off the ground and pipes that are halved make good slides for skiers.

He has been practicing at home with his Lego skis and anything that can be placed beneath his feet, all decked out in his ski gear. Helmet, gloves, jacket and goggles, then striking a pose and happily chirped

‘Mummy watch! I am skiing !!!’

I have been waiting for this day since our ski holiday in Aspen, to watch my boy put on the skis. Malcolm was too young for the ski school then and my husband and I had to take turn to look after him while the other skied. I had my first stint at snowboarding then.

I must clarify that I am neither an expert at skiing nor at snowboarding, but it is something I wish to be proficient at and hopefully get comfortable enough to glide down the mountains and enjoy the view which one can only imagine.

So guess what ?! This time, I am going for the 6 day snowboarding course!

I am so excited. I am thrilled. I am apprehensive.

I worried that my muscles will ache so bad that I may have problem getting off the bed the next day.

I am not sure how far my fitness will take me. 6 days sounds like damn freaking long, to pay and to be tortured.

What will they teach in 6 days?! Brake and turn?! Bring me up blue slope?!

I don’t know, I am not sure.

But what the heck! this is what I have been waiting for and to learn it together with my boy, I better do it when I still can! or at least when I THINK I still can.

Don’t we all have that special song that makes us reminiscence ?

For us, it is Love Me by Collin Raye.

I stumbled upon this song on someone’s site the other day and it brought back memories.

Memories of our wedding.

Memories of our honeymoon.

Memories before Malcolm came into our lives…

What kind of parent are you ?

Both my husband and myself were raised by authoritarian parents where parents set the rules and expectations. No explanations were given and as children, we obey. Punishment is common and many times without us understanding why. I believe a large part of who we are today, is a result of our upbringing though with self awareness and reflection, we try to ’sieve out’ the undesirable bits in us.

It came quite as a surprise that so far, we have been more of the authoritative parents than the authoritarian ones which we grew up with.  Before Malcolm came along, there was a time where I strongly believe that sparing the rod will spoil the child. After all, we were brought up fearing the rod and learning the difference between a fat and a thin ‘rotan’ through the painful way.  Now, after 4 years of being a parent, I must say that we are doing quite well without the rod and we have learned that, words can do the job much more effectively.

Try spanking Malcolm, and he will probably look at you and ask you in a matter of fact manner
‘Why you hit me?!’ and I can imagine myself replying him with the following
‘Becos you were naughty’
‘Becos you did not listen to what I say’
‘Becos I was angry’
‘Becos I was venting my frustration’
‘Becos I let my anger get the better of me’
‘Becos I am your mother’
Becos becos becos…
But none of them good enough to justify my action. Really.
None of them are lessons that I wish to teach him.
I have no wish to use the rod as a weapon of intimidation and fear, to earn submission nor to drive him towards the path of rebellion.

One of the dilemmas that we had as parents was how to be strict and kind at the same time towards our child. Does being strict mean never giving in to their whims and fancies and teaching them the tough part about life ? How can we be kind to them at the same time ?

One of our tests arrived when Malcolm woke up one day whining and crying and not wanting to go school. Daddy was quick to reprimand him for trying to get out of school but soon realized that he might have been too harsh on him.  After some encouragement, Malcolm confided in him the problems he faced in school.  Daddy offered some comforting words and solutions although their eventual effectiveness were questionable.  Malcolm calmed down and went to school. Everything turned out fine that day.

We learned that by asking and giving Malcolm a chance to explain and speak out his fears, we satisfied his needs for his problems to be heard and recognized.  But equally important was that, we stayed firm that tantrums were not acceptable.

Most people are somewhere in between certain parenting styles and do not fall clearly into any category. Probably, to answer the question on what kind of parents we want to be, we should first look at what kind of adult we want our child to grow up into.

I used to think that parenting is like the toughest job on earth and I still think so today. Authoritative and authoritarian are only a few letters apart, but they can mean very different things and it is a challenge for us to tread between being kind and yet strict to our child.

Rachel also shared some information on the different parenting styles in her blog.

I must confess that we have been stinging quite a bit on gift wrapping this season

As if to rid the permanent mountain of junk sitting in the kitchen

we are busy churning out gift boxes from our glorious collection

So if you will to find your present wrapped in a gift box

which looks more like a cross between a cornflake box and a tissue box

PLEASE DON”T HATE US

Malcolm says that the polar bears in Manitoba will be happy

cos you have helped to save the ice

We swore never to do it again

But our memories too short

Our mind too frail

We had forgotten how laborious the task was

1 kg of sugar

3 pint of coconut milk

18 eggs

6 hours of monotonous stirring

It was painful

It was sinful

But it tasted so good

the texture was simply puuurfect

We were proud

Malcolm was delighted

for this is his favourite spread for bread

Nutella can only come second

and of course

he had to lick every  single pandan leaves dry

when we fished them out from the pot

Ingredients

3 eggs

2 egg yolks

150g sugar

250ml coconut milk

4 pandan leaves

Method

1. Blend eggs and yolks together

2. Stir in sugar until dissolved

3. Combine coconut milk and mix well

4. Add pandan leaves

5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, till desired consistency

6. Cool and bottle

Mal : ‘Mummy, I love you’

Me : ‘I love you too’

Mal : ‘I love you more!’

Me : ‘I think I love you more’

Mal : ‘NO! I love you MORE!’

‘I LOVE YOU from Paris to Italy to Singapore to Mars to Venus to Uranus to Pluto to Earth to the atmosphere to the Sun to Orion to Halley’s Comet to the Milky Way !!!’

Me : ‘hmmm…..ok’

That’s how a 4 year old define MORE.

I am not sure how many of you are aware of this but the annual Blogger Choice Awards 2009 is ON. This event is sponsored by IZEA, Inc and they have numerous award categories for you to vote your favourite blogs. There are The Best Parenting blog, Best Blog Design, Best Photography Blog, Hottest Mummy Blog, Hottest Daddy Blog, just to name a few.

Some may find the word ‘BEST’ rather daunting. It is a big word and it seem to me rather impossible to determine the ‘BEST’ based on the limited number of blogs I visit each day. There are always better, nicer and cooler blogs waiting to be discovered. It was because of this, I voted for none last year.

This year, however, I have convinced myself that the ‘BEST’ shan’t be a hindrance for me to support some of the bloggers whom I think deserve a pat on the shoulder for delivering wonderful stories, beautiful photos, inspiring thoughts and many many more to readers like myself. I am participating and casting my votes this time and I feel good !

One of the blogs that I voted for under The ‘Blogitzer’ Category is Cheesyskepticism by Regina Escobar

Regina is an ASEAN scholar from the Philippines currently studying in NUS. I enjoy Regina’s bold writing style both in form and substance.  She dares to speak her mind on issues that may not be too mainstream or may even be a little controversial. It takes courage for what she is doing especially when you are putting your face on the Internet.  For that, I admire her guts. Furthermore, I think she write beyond her years, at least in my opinion. It is definitely a good break from the really exciting topics of parenting and kids.

Some new mummies’ blogs that I have nominated and voted are Raefootprints, Mumspotting, HappyHomeBaking and AllAboutYourChild. Do check them out!

So come on, hop on over here to support your favourite blogs now !