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.