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Getting all sentimental now Happy days Milestones and growing up Nat Kao

My baby is one!

February 22, 2013

My youngest turned one just a few days ago and I am getting really sentimental. I miss holding the baby that was him at one month old.

He no longer has that sweet baby breath to smell.

He no longer whimpers and looks helpless.

He’s learned to walk (run, almost!) and yell and act like he is the king of drama.

He’s beginning to assert his independence by pointing where he wishes to go, pushing you away when he wants to get down to walk, and throwing a fit on the floor when he needs you to carry him.

He’s a funny one to watch, too. He goes around kaypoh-ing and disturbing his older siblings when they are reading / writing / drawing / playing, and gets really excited when they start bullying him. He absolutely loves it when they stick tape on him, stamp ink all over his arms and colour his legs.

On his birthday, he smiled at everyone who gathered around him at school and clapped along to his birthday song, before blowing out his own candle – huffing and puffing with all his might. (Ok, he couldn’t in the end so I helped him out.)

Thanks for being the happy, funny you, Nat. Happy birthday!

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Everyday fun! Re: learning and child training The Kao Kids

Sticky business

February 22, 2013

A roll of sticky tape can keep three kids entertained for a long time. Here’s how:

You can get the kids to pick up dirt and hair if you haven’t had time to vacuum the floor…

You can give it to the baby and watch him spin the roll and pull tape out. Then laugh when he can’t remove his fingers from the tape…

You can pass it to the older kids who could then use it to tease the baby and bully him by sticking tape all over…

There you have it, the usefulness of the scotch tape.

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Everyday fun! The darndest kid quotes and antics The Kao Kids

Kid-in-the-box

February 21, 2013

For the video, visit Motherkao’s fb page.

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Invites & Tryouts

Rise & Shine, let’s picnic! [In support of the Rise & Shine Carnival]

February 19, 2013

Shall we do breakfast together?

Join us, and many other families, at Singapore’s largest picnic event next Sunday, as we aim for the Singapore Book of Records for the largest ever picnic breakfast at The Lawn @Marina Bay on 3rd March.

Besides 4 hours of sunshine and picnic fun, there will also be bouncy castles for the kids, a series of sports try-out, stage performances by young people from our schools and community, nutritional food demos, engaging craft activities, pediatric massage and a best dressed Mummy and Baby contest with shopping vouchers and Philips Avent prizes — in store at the fiesta.

Not to mention precious moments of family time and lots of open space and fresh air. Picnic mat included (first 1000 to register will receive a picnic goodie bag worth $100) but bring your own food though.

Or we could share our sandwich. Just look out for the family with the most rowdy kids.

*Giveaway*

The organisers of the Rise & Shine Carnival are giving away 2 sets of 2 adult tickets to 2 readers of this blog (that’s one pair of tickets for one lucky reader each).

All you need to do is ‘LIKE’ the Rise & Shine Facebook page and ‘SHARE’ the Rise & Shine Carnival Event Poster . After you’ve done so, drop me a mail at elizabeth@motherkao.com so I can get back to you. Fastest fingers first! (I will update this space once the tickets are given away.)

UPDATE: The 2 pairs of tickets have been given away! Thanks for liking and sharing, and see you at the picnic!

More details of the Rise & Shine Carnival:

The registration fee costs $8 per adult, plus 7% GST. Free admission for children aged 12 and below. Every paid participant will receive a set of play coupons worth $10.
Get a goodie bag worth $100 if you are the first 1,000 to sign up.
For more information, connect with Rise & Shine on their FB page or website.

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Nat Kao Thunderstorm days

More thunderstorm days

February 18, 2013

After the meningitis scare, I’d thought I could finally shake some legs. I even promised Ben some ‘special time’ – just me, him and Universal Studios.

Who would have guessed that the bubbly littlest one would come down with a stomach flu so bad we had to rush him to A&E and almost had him warded for an IV drip. The baby who’s turning one in a few days’ time had severe vomitting and high fever on Saturday night and could not even keep medicine and water down.

I think we used up all our Dettol these two days scrubbing the tiles every time after he wretched. There’s also baskets of laundry to rinse by hand before we could throw them into the machine. On Saturday night alone, between fatherkao and I, I think we took a total of seven baths after having vomit soak through our clothes, underwear and hair.

We also had to endure the sight of a bawling baby in constant discomfort.

I can’t wait for the worst to be over soon cos’ the boys’ birthdays are around the corner and I want to be partying instead of taking baths.

(P/S: There was no child abuse. I had to take this while he was wailing for me to carry him because he needs to know when he’s older that my heart ached everytime he cried like this.)

6 Comments

Thunderstorm days

A fever, a headache, and a worried mother

February 16, 2013

We had a little scare a few days ago. On the 3rd day of CNY, my eldest, Ben, complained of a headache after watching Word World on tv, and munching on some papadum. Within an hour, he developed a high fever.

That night, he barfed in his sleep and shivered the whole night long as his fever hovered around 38.9 deg C. We rushed him to the pd in the morning, who said that we’ve gotta monitor him for viral meningitis – because when the symptoms of fever and headache come together, that’s quite a serious thing. She would have associated the bright lights from the tv and salt from the papadum as the triggers of the headache, but ruled that out because it came with a fever. She also mentioned that the way to confirm the meningitis diagnosis, if the condition persisted, was to do a lumbar puncture.

Lying on the stroller while waiting for his turn at the PD’s

I became a neurotic mother who kept scanning his head with a thermometer every hour of the day, and asking him to tell me how painful his headache was. The doc taught me to use my hands to give Ben options to describe the pain – with arms stretched wide as ‘very, very painful’, and with two-finger spacing as ‘a little pain’. I also made him look at his stomach and feet a lot to make sure he had no pain in his neck.

I was very blessed to have the advice of some mommy bloggers from SMB who shared their experience and expertise with me. One of them sent me the link to an article, which helped me monitor Ben less neurotically.

It’s Day 4 today. The high fever is subsiding and hovering around 37.8, and the boy is more or less back to his usual self. He’s been so lethargic and whiny, it’s good he is finally laughing and playing with his siblings.

Thank you, Jesus.

P/S: Ben is vaccinated against bacteria meningitis. Gonna also make sure the other two kids get their Pneumococcal vaccine really soon.

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Family life as we know it The real supermom

A sleepy start to a new career

February 14, 2013

I’m officially jobless and paycheck-less.

I like my new title nonetheless. SAHM sounds like an important position, as in like “Oh, the GM is not free but you could speak to our SAHM, she directs all domestic operations here and makes all the executive decisions in the house”.

This February, I’m taking my own break before the kids exit from childcare. I’m gonna be staying home WITHOUT the kids for two weeks (SAHWKM, check that acronym out!). I badly need to catch up on some sleep.

I’m hoping to *finally* just sprawl, laze, watch tv and bake. And shake legs [colloquial phrase for doing nothing]. I’ve not done all of that for the longest time since a full-time day job and child rearing have consumed my entire being.

So excuse me while the SAHWKM go catch a nap. *Yawn*

P/S: Actually, I need to prepare my homeschooling resources and lesson materials, and get some exercise routine going on to lose the kilos I’ve put on since the first pregnancy in 2008. Really.

PP/S: I’m grateful for all the emails and comments to affirm my decision to stay home. Thank you for sending encouragement my way. ♥

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Family life as we know it Milestones and growing up Motherkao loves... The Kao Kids

Gong xi gong xi fun!

February 11, 2013

The days of dong dong dong chiang, bak kwa and pineapple tarts are back!

What’s not to love about Chinese New Year? The kids get to pig out, wear new pjs and pretty samfus, and collect red packets.

This is our first new year with three in the brood. What an awesome time to attend gatherings where free baby sitting is provided and child minders are available to entertain the kids on end.

Happy Lunar New Year! Gong xi gong xi!

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I can't categorise such entries

Adieu FTWM, Hello SAHM

February 8, 2013

I will miss having my own personal space to organise and breathe in.

I will miss being notified by sms of how much money is going into my bank account every month and being able to claim medical, dental and personal development expenses.

I will miss the mindless chatter at the pantry, and the much needed intellectual stimulation from wise colleagues every functioning adult needs.

I will miss the piping hot (mock) fish noodles soup from the vegetarian stall and my milo orr siu dai see [sow peng] (milo with no condensed milk, a bit of sugar, evaporated milk, and a few ice cubes), something only the drinks stall aunty can make for me with perfection.

I will miss pigging out on chocolates with my neighbour.

I will miss seeing 17 and 18-year-olds going “wassup!” with me and then furiously taking down notes whenever I start talking.

I will miss the friends I’ve made over almost a decade (7 years is a long time!) whose encouragement and love never fail to make me feel like sunshine on thunderstorm days. Over the years, I’ve worked with the most dedicated and committed people I’ve ever met and this is what makes leaving this place so hard.

Staying home with you people has gotta be more worthwhile than all these, yes?

*FTWM: Full-time working Mom; SAHM: Stay-at-home Mom

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Becks Kao Ben Kao Family life as we know it Milestones and growing up Mommy guilt The Kao Kids

Mealtime woes: finding new ways to win this war

February 7, 2013

I’m officially raising the white flag in the battle of wills at mealtimes. You see, despite my efforts in making things like these…

…the kids still aren’t very keen to eat or feed themselves. They don’t want to sit at the dinner table and finish their food. They want to play and have me feed them while they are at it. I’ve compromised my standards of table etiquette and manners. For a while now, I’ve stopped making bentos (they didn’t care much for it anyway!) and I’ve allowed them to play with their Lego Duplo every evening while I sit next to them and feed them.

Because they run around with the Lego they construct, I’ve found it really tiring to feed them. Dinner can last as long as an hour. I’m sure if I ran along and chased them, it would take less than that but I’m too lazy and I refuse to set a precedence for that. Instead I’ve settled for the ‘you come for your next mouthful to where I’m sitting when you’re done chewing’ rule.

So I’ve restrategised to minimise my anguish at dinner time for now just so we can get through this. So yes, *gasp*… I’ve turned on the tv and am allowing tv time during dinner time. One episode of Word World every evening. For now.

So far, they’re not gagging and fussing, and with their eyes peeled to the tv screen, they hardly even care what they are eating. I get to sit down without them running around and finish my job of feeding in about 30 minutes. I’ve also managed to shove a lot more “unpleasant” Chinese food into their mouths – things that they dislike – like the luffa, beef stew and chicken. Plus, they are learning how to spell watching the show.

But it’s not a strategy I’m comfortable with and I would be rethinking it as soon as the stay-home gig kicks in in March this year. Research has shown that TV interferes with the natural cues children’s bodies send them about whether they are full, and can lead them to overeat or undereat (Source: http://www.rps.psu.edu/probing/kidtv.html).

I may have lost this battle, but the war ain’t over yet.

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