Couple of weeks ago, we experienced an unusual winter storm over here where we live. The wind was massive and so was the rain.  The first storm was on a Sunday.  The boys and I were waiting for Robin in the state library when the wind started to set in.  The trees were swaying wildly, loose materials from nearby construction area looked like they were about to fly off, couple of chairs were “moving” with the wind, the little coffee stand outside the library looked as though its roof was about to fly off too!  The boys and I were at the coffee stand buying coffee for the husband when all these happened.  I was worried while the boys were quite excited(and amazed) upon witnessing the power of the wind.

Here’s a photo of the scene although you may not be able to tell the wind was strong apart from the leaves littered ground.

 Thankfully, we managed to get home safely.  When we arrived home, we saw some emergency workers repairing our  neighbour’s roof. The wind had done some damage.  At work the next day, my colleague announced that her home has been without power since the Sunday storm.  She was without contact with the outside world for a while as there was no radio, internet or phone functioning in her home.  It was scary.

The next storm was the following Tuesday.  We were warned of the powerful wind and rain and possible loss of power.  At work, we were even told to go home early to avoid the storm which was forecast to arrive in the evening.  That evening, the sky looked unusually reddish-orange.  It did look like a big storm was coming.  The husband and I quickly remove loose objects at the backyard and did everything we could except that we did not expect our power to go off too.

Soon after the wind set in, we lost power.  The whole house was in darkness.  We lit candles, hoping that the power will be restored soon. Unfortunately, power only returned the day after which meant we were without power for more than 12 hours!  That was a first. The boys did not go to school the next day after the storm as the school also lost power and some heavy branches have fallen down from trees which could be dangerous for the children.

I stayed home with the kids.  We were all so not used to having no electricity.  We have taken things for granted.  I hope the boys have learnt something.  It was inconvenient to be without electricity, but thankfully, we managed to cook with gas.

I took the boys out for a walk in the afternoon and we saw this huge rainbow hanging in the sky.  That immediately reminded us of God’s promise.

It was Calvin who pointed out that he could see double rainbow!  He was right.

We were all very happy when the power returned and thankful that God has kept us and our home safe. God does keep His promises.

OK, so the other day I found a little mouse in our pantry.  Do I sound real calm?  The fact is, I was really shocked when I actually saw a mouse in my pantry! That was last week.

It was 4pm, and boys had swimming lessons at 4.30pm and I found the mouse in the pantry.  The timing could not be better! I was getting some snacks in the pantry for the boys as they were hungry (as usual before lesson!) when I saw something “grey” flashed across my eyes — I did have a very vague thought that it could be a mouse but I told myself :”it can’t be”.  Then in between 2 baskets, I saw a little mouse sitting there looking at me!  I wanted to scream, but I was worried that the little thing would jumped out and ran wild in the house.  The boys were around me then too.  It took me a while to admit there was a real mouse in the pantry.  I quietly told the boys there was a mouse and all they said was “where? where? Let me see! Let me see!”.  I ignored their request. I tried my best to remain calm, shut the pantry door and yell for help.

The husband, when I told him about the mouse, thought I was joking!  Unbelievable.  Anyway, he came and began to remove things from the pantry one item at a time.  He did not want to scare the mouse/for the mouse to escape. Thankfully, the little thing was still in the pantry, same section where I found it, but in a corner.  The husband took a container and somehow managed to catch it before it had a chance to escape.  Thank God!

The boys were excited of course to see a mouse in the house and that their dad was such a “hero” to catch the mouse.:)   They even wanted to keep it as a pet!  Robin then explained to them that the mouse could bring a lot of disease and so it was a no keeper.  They wanted to know what their dad would do to the mouse …. well, the husband had to get rid of it, unfortunately (cute as it looked).  The boys went to swimming lessons on time (phew!) and they even had time to relate (excitedly) the mouse story to our neighbour next door who had just arrived home.

When I returned home, the husband had removed EVERYTHING from the pantry.  EVERYTHING, I kid you not.  I do have to admit that my pantry was very very untidy and in need desperately for a clean out.  So it was a “good” chance.  We were worried that the mouse had been in the pantry for more than a day or if there were any other mouse because it was common knowledge that there’s usually a few others if we found one!  I was terrified at the thought.  In the end, we did not find any other mouse.  I hope there’s no more.

The husband and I spent the whole night disinfecting the pantry and all the items as well as throwing out expired food stuff (there were several of them!).  He even mopped the floor.  We were so tired, but I guess it was important that we keep the things, especially food items and the house clean for the boys.

Next step: set up some mouse traps around the house in case there are others.  Also, to ALWAYS keep the sliding door to the backyard shut at all times as a mouse can wriggle its way in no matter how small the gap is.  The boys, including the husband have this habit of keeping the sliding door ajar when they go to the backyard.

Btw, last night, the husband and I were still talking about the mouse incident.  He even “googled” to find the differences between rat and mouse to convince himself it was a mouse we found. And, the “greatest” discovery for me was that he still thought I was joking with him when I told him there was a mouse in the pantry — he actually thought I found a great big spider or cockroach somewhere and made it up to be a mouse! Methinks he was in denial like me when I first found the mouse! 🙂

The other day a friend asked if I do the most at home and sleep the least because I am a mother. That really started me thinking …. well, in some ways it is true.   I do do most of the housework and I only sleep when everyone has slept and I woke up early to get the day started.  I guess, as a mother I always have to make sure everyone is taken care of before I tend to myself.  It is a natural instinct.  I believe God has made women so.  My own mother is the same.  Even up till now when we are all grown up, she is always looking out for us and putting herself last.  This is sacrificial love, I think.  Most importantly, we have a great Teacher and Master who is the best role model for us when it comes to sacrificial love.  I have a whole lifetime to learn.

I believe mothers always put her family’s needs before her own.  If you are a mother, I am sure you will agree with me.  If not, I believe you can see it from your own mother.  Right?

Not too long ago,  Athan told me this:

Athan: Mum, can I please have another brother or sister?

Me: Huh? Why? You already have a big brother.

Athan: No, I want a smaller brother or sister!

Me: Why do you want that?

Athan: Because I don’t want to play with “gor gor” (big brother) all the time. He always want me to play what he wants to play. It’s boring!

Me: LOL!

After thought: And so, Mr A’s wish to have another sibling is so that he can boss he/she around? 🙂

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The very first thing I noticed about Calvin this morning was his missing front tooth!  It has finally fallen off! One can’t imagine how happy I was, I kid you not. Calvin was in disbelief until he saw it himself in the mirror as well as another piece of very *important* evidence — he found some money under his bed this morning and he truly believed it was the tooth fairy who put the money there for him! 🙂

Story behind: This wobbly tooth has been there like forever and Mr Calvin has been very stubborn about it being removed.  Unlike some kids who like to loosen their wobbly teeth and extract themselves, Calvin was very afraid of the pain.  He prefers just to let nature takes it course, in other words, he prefers to let the tooth fall out by itself. At one stage, the tooth was so loose that it has come out of its position — part of the tooth was  sitting on the next front tooth! That’s how bad it was. It looked bad too. I was worried that he might accidentally hurt himself with that tooth and so I tried to pull it off , but it was without success except for getting some extremely loud screaming.  So I resort to making Calvin loosen his tooth everyday by shaking it. Sounds quite cruel of me, but I really have no choice.

Anyway, I am so glad I don’t have to deal with the wobbly tooth anymore — at least for now till the next one. By the way, we have not found the fallen tooth.  It’s no where to be found. No, I do not believe the tooth fairy has taken the tooth or have left the money behind. But then, I did not put any money under his bed either. Strange things do happen for a good reason.  🙂

On our way home from the shops, Athan asked me something:

Athan: Mum, do you remember “picamemu” …..

Me: What’s “picamemu”?

Athan: pi-ca-me-mu!

Me and the husband: *absolutely no idea what that was*

Calvin: He said “despicable me” the movie!

Me: LOL!

So, Mr A was trying to say “Despicable Me” and  somehow it turned out to be or sounded like “pi-ca-me-mu”! Btw, only Calvin can understand his brother — happens all the time. 🙂

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Athan: Do you “le-member” ….

Calvin: its not “lemember”, its re-mem-ber!

Athan: Ok, RE-member!

I could only laugh at them!

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Athan is usually very chatty in the car and at times I just want to drive quietly ….. so I play this little game with them:

Me: OK, let;s see who can keep quiet for the whole journey home.

Calvin and Athan:* immediate silence.*

However, in less than 2 minutes, Athan let out some sound …. and I said —

Me: Ok, Athan you lose.

Athan: No, not fair, I was not talking!  I only made sound! I want to start again!

Me: OK, let’s start again.

In less than 2 minutes, Mr A spoke again!

Me: Athan, you lose!

Athan: Oops!  I forgot!  Can we start again?

Me: LOL!

No prize for guessing who is the winner. 🙂

This is Calvin’s birthday cake.  Who would imagine “The cat in the hat” can be made into a cake”?  Amazing isn’t it? A very dear friend of ours made this cake for Calvin as a gift to him.  How kind of her!  I really do appreciate my friend’s effort.  She has done such a great job so  much so that every adult/parent present at the party wanted to order their cake from my friend! Besides this cake, my friend also made matching cupcakes for all the kids!  How wonderful is that?  I could only thank God for such a wonderful friend.  As for Calvin, he was amazed at his cake.  He could not say a word when he saw it. :)  By the way, the cake was really yummy although we were really very reluctant to cut it.

The other day at about lunch time, the husband rang me up at work to tell me something.  (As usual)I thought of the worst possible news.  However, he had something really interesting to tell me.

Apparently, Athan wanted to eat a lolly before his lunch.  The father told him he could only eat half of the lolly and he was to put the other half back into the wrapper (and wrap it up).  I  kid you not, the boy would do anything for lolly — even if it was only half of it! And so, he quickly took a bite of the lolly and put the remainder back into the wrapper.  However, his chubby little fingers could not do the job properly as the lolly kept falling out. He then took a piece of tissue, wrap the whole thing up and even use sticky tape to tape around the tissue in case the lolly fall out again.  After that, Mr A took the wrapped up lolly to the fridge and put it in.  Job done. I believe he was so proud of himself. 🙂

The husband witnessed all the action.  He found it so amusing that he had to ring me up to tell me the story.  Yup, the husband rang me up just to tell me about Athan.  Nice.

Btw, the wrapped up lolly is still sitting in the fridge!

Getting back to normal routine after a nice holiday is not an easy thing. This is especially so for little kids — well at least this is true for mine! Mr A cried quite badly at his day care when he first went back after the trip. I felt bad for him even though I knew he would be fine after a little cry. I even rang to check on him at work to make sure he was OK. He was. He was very happy when I picked him up after work. The interesting thing is that he asked to go to his “little school” (3 year-old kindy which he goes once a week) and not day care. Thing is, he has always been very clingy at his little school, and so I was surprised he asked to go there. Anyway, I am happy to report that Mr A really did not cry or was a least bit clingy to me at his little school! That was really good news, like a breakthrough for him (and me!). Maybe he is ready for school? I think I better take things one step at a time because kids at his age can be unpredictable. They are going to have a little concert in 2 weeks’ time and I can’t wait to watch my little boy perform for me! 🙂

Still on Mr A, I am also happy to report that he has stopped crying at his swimming class! What a breakthrough! We enrolled him for swimming lesson at the local pool in a program called the “toddler transition” class. Parents are only allowed to accompany the child for the first 2 lessons and after that the child is to stay with the teacher. Mr A was *h-o-r-r-i-f-i-e-d* whenever I was about to leave him with his teacher. He screamed and screamed and clung to my hip for his dear life! For quite a few lessons, we had to leave before the class ended. No choice. I almost wanted to withdraw him totally from the class. Somehow, I decided to persevere on. And, for the last 2 weeks, Mr A has shown great progress in terms of his independence as well as his ability to listen and follow instructions. The teacher has even commented on him and has “promoted” him to the intermediate class next term!

Last Sunday after church, I saw Mr A dash to the kids’ table for his morning tea. I was talking with a friend and at the corner of my eye, I saw my boy helping himself with the food — what looked like a piece of chocolate cake in one hand and a handful of biscuits in the other. I also saw him going to the adult table looking for food! And, when I asked him later what he ate at morning tea, he said (with a big smile) to me “ummmm, I ate this, and this and this and that!” What a funny boy!

Calvin has been asking to go back to Singapore every single day since we came back from our trip. He said he wanted to play with his cousins and he was worried that his cousins would miss him! Yup, he is such a sensitive boy. *sigh* I have to say that he is happy to go back to his school, but I can also tell that he really misses his cousins. He had such a great time with them, especially with my niece who is of his age. The two of them were inseparable. I am very sure they will meet again, but at the meantime, they can call each other on the phone and write letters. 🙂

Calvin’s class and the other pre-primary class will be performing at next Friday’s assembly. Each class will be performing an item. Calvin’s class is performing a dance. The dance lessons started while we were in Singapore and so the boy has missed about 3 lessons. As a result, he has some trouble catching up with the actions and ….. he is very worried. On Monday when they had the dance lesson first thing in the morning, Mr C did not want to go! He told me he was worried the teacher would scold him because he could not follow all the actions! I was taken aback because he never told me about this at home. I tried to calm him down and even brought him to have a chat with the dance teacher. The kind teacher was very re-assuring and in the end Mr C went for the lesson. Calvin gets very upset when he thinks someone is angry at him. He is very sensitive to such things. I have to take time to explain the situation to him in the hope that he will understand and learn to manage his emotions better. Not easy. Anyhow, after school that day, Mr C was chirpy and was proud to announce to me that he loved the dance class! Why? Because he could follow all the actions! What a pleasant surprise for me. Besides that, I found a note in his school bag the other day that said “Calvin has been selected to speak a sentence at the assembly”. Another surprise for me and another morale boost for my boy. He has to say a simple sentence to introduce the item to be performed by the other class. The boy has been diligently practicing the sentence daily. 🙂

Calvin has lost his very first baby tooth! The tooth dropped off while he was eating a slice of orange at grandma’s house this evening. That tooth has been wobbly for a couple of weeks now and Calvin was too afraid to touch it or loosen it himself. So you can imagine his reaction when I offered to take it out! In the end, we decided to just wait for the tooth to come off on its own. Guess what he did with the tooth? He wrapped it up in a piece of tissue and put it under his pillow. Why? He said the “tooth-fairy” will come tonight to give him money! Who told him that? A friend. Honestly, I have never heard of the “tooth-fairy” when I was growing up. Who invented the tooth-fairy story anyway?

I was out for dinner this evening with some lovely ladies from church. It was our mothers’ group dinner. We get together for dinner from time to time outside church environment. And, it is usually kids-free, just like tonight.

Not many ladies turned out, but it was a nice group of us. The food was good and so was the company. Our conversation topics ranged from kids to work to hobbies to parenting to friends to kids …. yes we can’t stop talking about our children! 🙂 I have to say, it was good talking with the other mothers at the same stage as me — having young children and working. I am definitely not alone in all my struggles. I really thank God for blessing me with this group of friends.

I am the coordinator of the mother’s group at my church. This has been my ministry since last year. We meet every fortnight for a time of study, sharing and praying. Through time, I have grown to know the ladies well and vice versa. There is a support system going on amongst us. I like that.

Many friends have asked me how I do it — as in, how do I juggle between work, home, kids and coordinating the mother’s group. My answer has always been “God’s grace”. I have to admit that there are times when I feel drained, disappointed and an urge to pass the baton on to someone else. I guess my feelings are not uncommon when it comes to being in ministry amongst people. There is definitely some form of sacrifice. Somehow, when I feel down each time, God teach me a valuable lesson, or He would send a friend to push me on. When I regained strength, I become more sure of myself and the ministry that I am in. And, tonight, seeing all my friends at the table with me having dinner and enjoying themselves, and the friendship that has developed amongst us, I can’t help but have this warmth in my heart and assurance that all my effort has been worth it. 🙂

Hope you all had a lovely Mother’s Day! I certainly did.

The husband and I had a “surprise” date on Saturday evening. Surprise .. because we did not plan to go out by ourselves that night. Somehow my mother-in-law volunteered to have the boys stay over at her home on Saturday night and so suddenly we were free! 🙂 We had a great night out. We also had a little celebration with R’s parents in the evening at their home. It was a very pleasant family time. Thank God for family.

The boys did various gifts for me at school and day care. Calvin gave me a tea towel which he hand-printed and dyed at school. I love it. Athan did a little heart mobile for me — with lots of help pf course. 🙂 The husband bought a pot of flowers for me (I chose it). I feel so special. 🙂 However, one thing that touched me most was what Calvin “wrote” on why he loved his mother.

It was part of the mother’s day activity in class where the kids each have to cut out their own picture and 2 heart shapes. On one of the hearts, they were asked to say/write why they loved their mums. Calvin said and the teacher wrote:

“I love my mum because she goes to work to get money for us. She plays matching game with me and cooks my favourite vegetables.”

Touched because I did not realise he has been observing what’s going on at home on a daily basis. Even though he seems to be only interested in playing with his toys the moment we got home from school or after school care, he is well aware of what’s happening at the background. I think he appreciates that I cook so that everyone can have dinner. He’s always hungry when we get home and can’t wait to have his dinner. However, he has learnt to wait patiently while his mum “cooks his favourite vegetables.” 🙂 And, this morning when I dropped the boy at school, I went into his class with him to spend a little time before the teacher rang the bell. I saw a craft that Calvin did for mother’s day hanging on a string. It was a picture of a big pot of roses where the roses were hand-printed and on the pot, he said and the teacher wrote

“My mum is good at drawing fish. She goes to work and cooks dinner for me. She likes to watch news and play matching games with me. She likes to eat vegetables.”

And so, now I know a little of what my 5.5-year-old thinks of me 🙂 By the way, in a book that the teacher made in class for the kids to say how old their mothers are, my son said I am 77! Gee… the boy used to say I am 15!