Christmas 2021 Recap

 Time passed fast again. The boys will be celebrating their last Christmas before they enters Primary 1.

We started our celebration about 2 weeks in advance by preparing our Christmas pack, as a Cell Group, for Tampines block 492G under the Riverlife Care's project to spread love during this period. Quite a lot of thoughts and effort was put in to decide what to put and how to pack them.

We then spent one of the weekend with the kids as we split into 2 groups namely Felin and Josiah and Me with Joshua, while we planned to purchase this years gift for each other. Its a good few hours spent with Joshua for me as we discussed and shop for Mummy's and Josiah's gift. We then have a very good meal at Tampines Mall.

On Christmas eve, we went Tracy's house for Steamboat Dinner and open up our Christmas gift at their place.

On Christmas day, we went Marina Barrage and Garden by the Bay to picnic, play and walk. Thereafter Decathalon at Kallang where they spent a lot of time trying to learn cycling, Rollerskating and scootering, etc...

When they are back, Josiah and me decided to go Watch Singapore Vs Indonesia Suzuki Cup. Its the first time Josiah enters the National Stadium watching Football match with me. Think he saw first hand how crazy Daddy could be at Soccer Match and shouted will my voice turn hoarse. 

Singapore lost 4-2 in Extra time for this Semi-Final match but its a match I totally didn't expect Singapore to play well and yet they nearly won. Very proud of them indeed.
But I'm even happier that Josiah spent that evening with me. We were so lucky to get the tickets because I didn't know that tickets are not available on site and online tickets were fully sold out.

Josiah asked me to check with people who passed by us to see if anyone have extra tickets and surprisingly, one couple decided not to watch and passed the tickets to us. It was amazing lucky for both of us. Josiah aren't really that excited to watch the match, maybe he don't understand the rules of soccer and looked blur throughout the match. Lol...

Okay. Other little things to mentioned include my feeling towards the 2 boys. Joshua have been quite headstrong lately and he is testing boundaries and challenging me and Felin more often now. I'm quite worried that his headstrong can possibly goes towards the negative aspect and consequences can be undesirable. Felin and me may need more effort to teach him what is right or wrong. He is an intelligent boy but need motivation to desire success.

As for Josiah, he is a good and pleasant boy but need to exercise self control better. When he is not able to get he wants, he sometimes get a bit violent and try using force to get it. He is not the usual quick learner but I really need to encourage him to learn take up challenge and not give up at the slightest difficulty. I hope they will learn to be discipline and practice hard in achieving what they want.

Both of them seems very much like the type 9 and 5 or 6 type in Emmeagram. Will need to bring about the type 3 and 8 in them. Need to be more fearless, more confident and more focus with stronger desire to achieve success in life.

Blood Test all ended good and surprising good.

Was pleasantly surprised and proud of my boys' bravery during health screening today. They remained cool throughout the process when 4ml blood was being drawn despite being their first time getting poked. Somemore, they can calmly look at the needle and see the blood flow which even we adults sometimes prefer not to see.

I kenna poked 3 times and don't even want to look at the needles anymore when the blood simply refused to come out. Luckily I never cry first and it didn't happen to them.

Rewarded their bravery with a Hai Di Lao set lunch which was really reasonably priced with the attention given to us and the free toys, sweets and ice-creams. Finally let them have a game of Pokemon Tretta which they can only play on rare occasion.

Well done boys!!!

Covid-19 to be Endemic and past 2 months updates

As I'm penning this, Covid-19 cases are rising like 3000+ per day. Minister Lawrence Wong and PM Lee highlighted that it could go up to 5,000 per day soon via a live TV telecast. They told us to respect Covid but not fear it, we need to open up to the world soon as Singapore can't afford to remain shut for too long. Covid-19 is expected to be an endemic soon and no longer a pandemic.

Felin and I are still wary of the Virus and haven't brought the kids to crowded areas like shopping malls for quite a while. We did more outdoor activities like cycling, picnic in park or climbing the Bukit Timah Hill. We are not able to dine out since early September too due to Safe distancing measures. At this point in time, I'm really hoping that our cases will remain low and life can be back to normal as soon as possible.

Climbing the Bukit Timah Hill and finding our Acorn  Pikmins which Mummey don't understand what we are playing. 

Cycling at East Coast Park. Still on the 4 wheelers and hopefully they can go on 2 wheels soon.

Getting them to do some Math questions after their soccer training.

Helping Daddy pack gift items for my clients. Happy that they are quite serious helping me.

All of us are reading really a lot during this time so that we can complete our National Library book bug cards

Many things happened over this period of time too. Our Domestic Helper was diagnosed with Tuberculosis and was warded in hospital for 3 times already. The bill had exceeded the insurance that I'd taken up for her. Its really time consuming bringing her to hospitals and TB centre all these times. 

The whole household will need to be tested via blood twice. This pose a big problem because I'm afraid that the kids will not be able to take the pain for drawing blood especially if the drawing is not too successfully done. This is a big challenge for them and I'll write an update for sure for this. Had promised them a game of their favourite Pokemon Tretta as my bravery reward for them to motivate them. Keep fingers crossed.

Theirs and Daddy's favourite video game. "Pokemon Tretta"

Grandma also just passed on due to Covid-19. This marks the end of the kids Great Grandmother journey with them. Lucky that they had taken some pictures with Ah Ma's before her passing on. At least some memories remains.

Ah Ma. 一路好走

The kids last picture with Ah Ma during her 2019 Birthday Celebration. We can't celebrate with her in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19.

Josiah also recently had an ops on his face to remove a small growth or rather mole like thing on his face. We tried applying alternative treatments and creams for it but it didn't go off and hence we opt to send him to KK hospital to remove it.

2nd time Josiah wearing this and lying on the Surgical Bed.

Josiah awarded with this Bravery Award for completing the surgery.

The last to mention is my birthday in September. I had a great time with the boys as we went National Library with them and ate their favourite ice-cream. We then are joined by Mummy for Dinner and end with a birthday cake of course. But Mummy wasn't happy with Daddy that day because I let the boys played twice on the Pokemon Tretta machines that day and Daddy one time myself. I felt really happy playing the game and I told Mummy pls let me be happy on my Birthday and don't get angry with me just because its an extra game played on my birthday.

How a game of Pokemon Tretta looks like. Recorded this on my birthday.

Just love their always smiling and happy face.

Enjoying my favourite meal. Steak!!! on my birthday.

Oh ya. Last thing to mentioned that I'm really proud of. Joshua was chosen to give the Valedictorian speech for his Childcare graduation. He was so proud about it and even told our neighbours that night. All the best and hope he really seriously practice for the day. Made me excited and look forward for their graduation. 

Wow! Thats a long update today. Will keep you guys update about their progress again.

Final Trip before their Primary 1 - 19 to 23rd Aug 21

We had initially planned for a long trip in 2021 before primary 1 starts for the boys. In future, we just have to pay for more expensive and crowded holidays during peak periods. Think Cruise is probably one of the only choice available for us instead with Covid restrictions still in place.

Our trip this time is to Royal Caribbean's International Quantum of the Seas. 5 days 4 nights trip together with Mum and Dad. I'll say that the boys have been looking forward to this trip for a long time and they were so worried that it will be cancelled due to Covid-19 situation. It cost us about $2.8k for the whole trip of 6 pax with adjoining rooms with balcony.

Its a pretty tiring trip as the boys were really active with endless energy. They enjoyed the swimming simply by going to and fro the small pool and dipping in the warm jacuzzi with us. They enjoyed the i-Fly, Rock Climbing, magic shows, performances, movies, watching TV, X-box, throwing bean bags, Walking on deck to enjoy the breeze, etc... There was a bit of sadness when we left the cruise. 

We also had a good time with my parents. Its seems that Dad is getting old too. He walks slow and concentration level had dropped quite a lot compared to the past. The good thing is he eats really well for now. Mum is still good and able to catch up with our conversations. This trip really enhance relationship between the 6 of us. I really want my boys to love their grandparents too.

This is the period everyone told me to enjoy. The boys most likely will have their own world once they entered teenage years. The boys characters are slowly being molded. Think Joshua is slightly sharper and likely stronger academically and Josiah have more compassion and active physically. Josiah is more peace seeking and give in to his brother to avoid conflict. 

Still worried about their future resilience and patience with others. They always seek instant gratification and whine whenever they can't get anything. When they do anything wrong, they always find an excuse and not accepting the mistake. They give up quite easily when they find something tough to learn or after failing a few times. Still a lot of things we got to teach them but need to careful not to be overly naggy or impact their future confidence, etc...

Thank God for this wonderful trip as Daddy and Mummy got to work hard again for your future and our Retirement tomorrow onwards again. Love you boys... Recording this trip for your future memories.

The starting point of a 6 years Journey

 

Felin and I had a short scare last week as we did not expect balloting even to Elias Park Primary School for Singaporeans living within 1km in Phase 2C of Primary 1 registration. We thought its not as popular as Pasir Ris Primary or WhiteSand Primary and not likely need to go into balloting box. Our most preferred option is actually Poi Ching Primary which is 1-2km from us but we know its not possible and even to volunteer in the school needs to be interviewed.

Nevertheless, I just like to record this day to be a new start of the boys Primary School journey in the next 6 years.

I will take this chance to emphasize the book I read to you guys yesterday about not being afraid to make mistake in this learning journey. Making mistake is a way of learning and never pass judgement on yourself about your abilities just because you are not able to accomplish some task or achieve certain results in future. Life is a journey of learning. All of us are created differently by God and do not think that you are not good enough for a dream that you hold on to.

At this stage of your life, you are singing "A Million Dream" everyday. Remain steadfast to your dreams and let them keep you excited and fulfilled everyday.  Do you guys know that sometimes I felt that you are so humorous and funny. You bring so much joy in this family and I will hope this love and joy in the family will continue when you get older.

I met an aunty in a lift recently at Whitesand. She told me that she have 4 boys and all are grown up. When the boys are in this age, they are extremely talkative but when they get older, they grew quieter and quieter. I hope it will not be entirely true because I wish that my little Joshua and Josiah remains chatty to us even when they become an adult. Love you guys 3000 and back...

Always learning to be good parents

Time flies. Its nearly 3 months since my last update again. I always tell myself to update more regularly but keep failing at it. There are always things that seems more urgent everytime I thought of writing and at other times, I'll just forgot about it.

The boys are still as active as before. They love playing fighting games and never fail to argue and whine on daily basis. I was thinking why they just can't stop whining for little things they can't get or little things that they think its unfair to each other. Can't stand that they are lacking the resilience on solving their own problems or making mountains out of molehills. Are we too kind to them and accommodating to them more than we need to?

Felin feels that I'm exposing them too much to games. We have been playing the Pikmin games where we need to walk to find food, plant flowers, visits unique places to get the decorated pikmins, etc... Felin is crossed whenever we look at the phone while home or outside looking for direction and big flowers, etc... I'm also collecting Pokemon Trettas as a hobby and I need to test the trettas occasionally to ensure it works before I sell to others. Instead of testing myself, I rather let the kids test it. However Felin simply don't allow them to play the game. My position is we need not close up the world around them. We need to let them know that gaming is always there but we need to teach them that when its time to play, we play. When its time to work hard, we work hard. We teach them not to be addicted to gaming at anytime, today and in future. Need not get so angry just because I let them play that little bit of games.

Sometimes Felin blamed me for their fighting is because I exposed them to shows like Power Rangers or Pokemons. I sometimes accused her of being too accommodating to the kids and trying to contain the future outside world from them. I supposed parental differences are always there because we grew up in different environment when we are young. I play games and she don't. I grew up with little attention from parents but she don't.

At this point of writing, we are in midst of waiting for primary 1 balloting result for Elias Park Primary School for them on 17th Aug. Hopefully all goes well...
We are going for Cruise on 19th Aug and hopefully Covid situation remains stable and there shall not be covid case on the Quantum of the Sea during the period we travel.

Not much change in height and weight for the boys. Josiah stands at 21.6kg and 118cm. Joshua at 18.4kg and 108cm. We are still struggling with Joshua night potty training. He can simply wet his whole body without waking up at all. No feeling on the urgency to need go toliet when he is sleeping. I'd tried using the sensor method but he usually like to pull off the wire or it ring far too many times at night that simply wake Felin and affect her sleep. She can't sleep well once she wake up from the sensor alarm.

Trying to retake a picture that we too when they are babies.

Exercising together with the stretchable band.

Going for our usual walk in the park and taking photo on the big stone they love climbing up and down.

The Pikmin game that they are excited to see every morning after my night runs.

They started on the reading habit after they start collecting the Library Bug Cards.

One of their good friend Lewis after their weekend soccer game.

Their classmate Li Ziqing's birthday. They are happy to play at her place.

Hopefully next update will be after their cruise... Pray hard that all will be good in the week ahead. 

Circuit Breaker no. 2?

Govt don't define it as Circuit Breaker this time round and called it Phase 2 Heightened measures but its quite close to me. Covid 19 community cases came back fast and furious. We had postponed our 20th May Cruise trip to August and hope it will be better by then. My Reservist is cancelled too.

The boys are now back at home and working from home is compulsory for me and Felin. The boys are harder handle compared to last year as they are now more active and refuse to nap during the day. In short, they have more ability to create havoc in the house. Its very distracting to work from home with them around as we need to occupy their time with proper stuffs to do.

Josiah is now 118cm and 21.1kg. Joshua is 107cm and 18.4kg. Not much change in height but they are getting heavier.

Today, I managed to convince the kids to donate to SATA CommHealth using their piggy bank money. I explained why its a fortune that we can give and how many people out there need help. Glad that they took the message well. Initially only willing to donate $10, they ended up giving me $16 each. Well done boys, I'm proud of you. I had top up the rest to make it $100.

I also walked them to the Tampines Eco Green recently to enjoy the sun and fresh air and expose them more to nature. They seems to like it too. Maybe they are motivated by the Pikmin game that I'd downloaded on the phone to walk as we need to gather food for them while we walk. Hopefully they will not be soft like strawberries in future. What I want them to learn is perseverance and not afraid of being tired or being hot.

Other things to highlight over the months.
* I really dislike Josiah's whining and easy to cry nature. He cries whenever he can't get what he wants. He often pushes responsibility to others by saying, you never tell me or teach me when he did something wrong. Sometimes when I look at him, I felt that I am looking at myself. When my sales is bad or when my recruiting of consultant are not working, I will say because nobody teach me how to do my recruitment or find new business. I only whine and don't find solution. I really hope he don't be like me, hence I need to work harder in this aspect myself. Don't give up...
* Josiah also have a small pimple like growth on his face which we need to do plastic surgery in September to remove it. Hope the growth will go off by itself.

* Joshua still not able to control his bowels at night and making things hard for us at night. He don't wear diaper prior to bed. I'm supposed to bring up toliet at 12mn and wear diaper for him. But I forgotten a few times and ended up a wet bed. Ended I am the one who get scolded by Felin because thats my responsibility.

* My helper had indicated to us that she will like to move and work in other household. She and Felin have some disagreement over her Diet issue. I have to agree that my helper simply ate too little everyday. Our constant call and request for her to eat more falls on deaf ears which really frustrate and worries us. I think the days of doing housework on our own is near. We got to brace for the hard times ahead soon. When I asked her what she ate for the day, I'm shocked to hear "3 Kiwi fruits and water" only. I can't agree that she ate so little

* Felin and I are equally busy with work and if a helper is not around anymore, it will be really tough and challenging times ahead. Just got to pray hard and brace ourselves ahead.

Okay till here and update this space again when time permits... Hopefully can find the time. Lol...