Archive for January, 2008

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My Night Out.

Thursday, January 31st, 2008

I went out last night. With my girlfriends. Came home at 11.30pm. Yup, you heard me right, 11.30PM. When I arrived home, Robin was still up and he said to me “wow, you are home late! You must have enjoyed yourself.” He said it in a nice way, and I knew he was happy for me. In fact, he was the one who encouraged me to go out with my friends and was willing to take over the bedtime routine for Calvin. Good, huh? I am thankful.

I can’t remember the last time I got home so late on a night out. I am hardly out at night ever since I had Calvin and Athan. Even if I get to go out on a date with Robin, we are always home by 10pm so that our baby-sitter can leave on time. And so, last night was really special, and what more? I have thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thanks to Flora, my good friend from church, the girls night out organiser.

Eight of us ladies met at a Japanese restaurant for dinner last night. The food was excellent and the company was even more so. We caught up with a friend who has just come back from overseas and caught up with some others whom we have not seen in a while. Most of us have become mothers-of-young-children and so you can imagine how much we shared in common and how much we talked.

We talked. We shared. We listened. We understood. We laughed. No judgement. That’s the beauty of it and I love it. I felt relieved, in a way, because I knew I was not alone in my daily battles and struggles. Everyone of us faced similar encounters everyday. Of course we also shared about all those beautiful moments we had with our family. Thank God that we are all Christian women and mothers and we can rely on God for strength and grace everyday.

After dinner, we adjourned to a nearby cafe for coffee. We had another round of chatting and laughing. As the night drew to an end, we said to each other that “we have to do this again!”. I hope it will be in the near future. 🙂

 

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Drama Monday.

Monday, January 28th, 2008

As today is a public holiday, we could not do our usual food shopping at the local supermarket. And so, we decided to get our fresh produce at a fruit and vegetable market instead — together with the boys. We thought they might like to be in the midst of the hustle and bustle of a market for a change. So we, all 4 of us set off to the market early in the morning.

The market was already busy when we arrived. Calvin found the crowd a little daunting. He was uncomfortable when someone came too close to us, or gave him a little push. He wanted to sit in the trolley! Too pampered? Well, he is too used to the comfortable and nice big supermarket with trolleys, I say. He needs to get out more!

On the other hand, little Athan who was being carried by Robin in his carrier was very excited. He was happy to be in the crowd and excited to see so many people. He is the most comfortable! The drama started when we were ready to leave the market.

We were all in the car ready to go, but our car would not start. We suspected a flat battery. So, Robin took the starter cables out and had someone to help us, but the car just won’t start. He kept trying but his efforts was futile. By this time, it was getting hot and the boys were screaming in the car. Athan was hot and tired (missing morning nap), and Calvin was hot and hungry. Stress was mounting …….

Then we decided that we had to call roadside assistance. The problem was that we were not members and we had to sign up on the spot before they could send someone out to help us. The signing up took so so long, and the lady had problem locating where we were. It was quite frustrating talking to her at some point, I have to admit. Thank God she finally knew where we were and promised help within the hour.

We took the boys out of the car and decided to have lunch at the market. Athan even had a little sleep in his pram after lunch. He was so tired. Poor little man. Our help finally came and started the car! Truly, we had a very very flat battery that needed to be changed immediately. The guy had commercial grade cables that helped start the car. We had to leave immediately as the car won’t start again if we stopped it.

We called up the service centre again in the afternoon to get someone out to change the car battery for us. It was all fixed within the hour and man, I was so relieved! It has been quite an *eventful* day for us, but thank God that we are all fine.

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Weekend Boys.

Sunday, January 27th, 2008

By the way, Calvin might look like he was *crying* or upset in the photos, but really, he was laughing away while playing with Athan. They were having fun.

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Beach.

Friday, January 25th, 2008

Today turned out to be another rather hot summer day. The boys were at home whole morning and afternoon, and by late afternoon, they were getting restless and *bored* — so was I! And so, after the boys had their dinner, Robin announced that we should all go to the beach to cool ourselves down. At the mention of the word “beach”, Calvin jumped with excitement and little Athan seemed to know something good is happening, and he too, was squealing in delight. Funny.

The beach proved to be quite a popular place today. Lots of people were swimming in the sea, lying on the beach,walking along the beach, having dinner at the grass area etc.

Calvin used to be quite upset when the sea is a little choppy. He told us he was afraid of the waves and the sea ….. well, that was when he did not have his floating ring. Now that he has one, he is so much happier and he enjoys himself a lot more. I think he feels *safer* having the float around him. Athan loves to be in the water. He is such a natural when it comes to kicking his legs in the water. We could see his little legs working hard under water.

The boys were still in very good spirits when we left the beach. Both of them were making happy noises at the back of the car throughout the journey home. We are happy to see them happy. I hope they will sleep really well tonight. 🙂

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Birthday Party.

Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008

I brought Calvin to a birthday party this morning. It was the birthday of his friend, Benjamin from church. Benjamin is now 3!

Benjamin is a big fan of Thomas the Tank Engine, and so is Calvin. Check out his birthday cake — it was a “Thomas” cake beautifully decorated by his very talented mum. I was so impressed.

The party was held at a park with a children’s playground. It had lots of grass area for the children to run and lots of big trees for shade. Thank God for that because it turned out to be a very hot day. Nevertheless, the birthday boy and the children had a very enjoyable time. There’s even a lolly bag for each child at the party.

Alison was at the party too. She and Calvin played together most of the time and I think they had a good time. These 2 are so familiar with each other and it is very natural for them to play with each other whenever and wherever they meet.

As for me, I managed to catch up with a few friends from church. It was good to be out.

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Crawling.

Sunday, January 20th, 2008

Athan has been crawling everywhere in the house. He is indeed getting more and more mobile and independent. One of his favourite games is to crawl after his big brother! Of course Calvin is much quicker and he often wants Athan to *catch* him. Athan, with his short chubby little legs and hands, will give his best to catch up with his brother. There’s always lots of laughter when the *catching game* is on. Some days, Calvin would be a good big brother and slow down to crawl with Athan or he would cheer Athan on . I love that.

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LEGO Wonder.

Friday, January 18th, 2008

Calvin enjoys playing with his LEGO sets. He was given several sets (combined into a bucket) by a friend in church. He likes to build long snakes, tall towers, houses, planes and cars. However, at his current skills he can only manage the first 2. I have to help him with the houses etc. Problem is, I am no good with Lego at all! In fact, I find myself lacking in imagination ….. sad to say. BUT. I try. I try to amuse my boy and help him build his Lego houses and cars with the blocks. Thankfully at this stage he does not complain much about the finished products. In fact, he is always very happy with what I have come up with. I actually like to play Lego with Calvin as it gives us some sit-down time together to do something. It gives me a chance to see his imagination at work as well.

When we were in Singapore, I found out that there are actually Lego classes that one can attend! I was so surprised. Too bad we don’t have such classes here in Perth. Robin ended up buying 2 Lego sets for Calvin in Singapore. They are rather advanced for the boy, but the father reckoned that the sets will be good projects for both of them to complete over time. It’s good for their bonding too, I say.

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Haircut.

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

We gave the 2 boys a haircut each before we left for Singapore so that they could be nice and cool when we were there. I meant to post this picture up before we left, but did not get the time then. So, here it is.

Many friends have commented that Athan is looking more and more like Calvin. I’m not too sure about that … perhaps I see them everyday and can’t really tell the likeness. In any case, their personalities are quite different. More on that at another post.

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The Power Of Language.

Monday, January 14th, 2008

Me: Calvin, it’s time to pack away your toys.

Calvin: Not now!

Me: Yes, now!

Calvin: But I can’t! I can’t!

Methinks he is trying to get away with the packing by saying he can’t do it. He has learnt the “not now” from me. *sigh* I have probably overused the words. Of course I won’t let him get away with it so easily. I decided to be positive and said to him “Yes you can and I’ll show you how”. It worked.

On another occasion ….

Me: Calvin, that’s not a nice thing to do and I’m going to have to discipline you.

Calvin: But I don’t like it!

He probably thought he could escape his punishment by expressing verbally that he did not like to be disciplined. Of course he was disciplined for his misbehaviour. I really wonder where and when has he learnt to use the word “but”? I know he can say “I don’t like it”, but using in this context is a first for me. I’d better not underestimate Calvin’s language ability. 🙂

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A Dose Of Athan For You.

Sunday, January 13th, 2008

Our little darling boy is now 10 months old! In a few months time, he will be 1 year old and he will *officially* become a toddler. How time flies.

I have to admit that I have not been writing about Athan on a regular basis — well, at least not as consistent as when I was bogging about Calvin’s growth, mainly because of the time factor. Everyday passes by very quickly when I am with the boys. They keep me on my toes all the time, even more so now that Athan is crawling. Yup, you heard me right, Athan is now crawling.

He began to crawl when we were in Singapore. He is still learning, but his current skills is enough to get him to many places, especially under table and chairs and the TV unit. He enjoys crawling after his big brother (Calvin would be running!) or wherever Calvin is playing. I often put them side by side at play time with 2 sets of toys. However. The little brother often refuses to play with his own toys — he is more interested in his brother’s. The problem is that he is not able to play at Calvin’s level and always ends up destroying what Calvin has built. This really upsets Calvin and then there will be screaming etc etc. You can imagine the scene.

Athan is a happy baby. He has settled into a basic routine. He naps twice during the day; one morning and one afternoon, and his bedtime is now between 7 – 7.30pm. We won’t hear from him till early morning and at the moment, he will continue to sleep after a brief feed. He will eventually wake up at around 8am. He is eating his solids well, thank God, with his 2 little teeth. He has been drooling a lot lately and I think another tooth is going to cut through soon.

Athan enjoys going out. He likes it very much when we go out for a walk in the evening. He flaps his arms and kicks his legs in delight. He has been quite vocal these days too. We are constantly *entertained* by his ta ta ta and da da da. Looks like this one will learn to call his father first. He goes “mum mum” when he sees his food, and he is NOT calling me!

Some days I feel that I am not good enough to be Athan’s mother, especially when he was a baby. I fail in many ways. Seriously. Motherhood is, in some ways, a work in progress. I am learning very day and by God’s grace, I am able to find strength to keep trying to be a better mother. Better in terms of having more patience, love and care for my boys. Robin has been great in encouraging me in this area. He always tell me that I am the best mother for the boys simply because God has given them to me and so it has to be good for me, and for the boys!

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