JEWELLE TAN

For the last few days, my daughters have taken it into their heads to wear their swin suits at home.

They would have worn them all day long too if they did not have to shower and change.

Maybe, you say, they are re-living the times when we took them to the Singapore Zoo Waterpark. This is such a great addition to the Zoo and I wondered if they increased the entrance fee because surely this place costs a lot (with pump maintenance, filters and maybe even water softener). It was also very colourful and interesting that even my second daughter who used to be a little afraid of water forgot all her fears the moment she saw the slides and water fountains.

At that time, we spent one hour at this place and that was enough to make them bone tired the rest of the day.

But the reason for this latest fashion is not because they missed the Waterpark. It is because in their lively imagination, their swimsuits became their ballerinas’ tutu.

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Reading this news article on “Concern over video games“, it reminded of the times when we used to call electronic games, “game and watch”.

When I was in upper primary school, we used to have a neighbour friend who has one of this cool gadget. Despite his sometimes annoying attitude, we remained civil to him because of this - which he’d sometimes lent to us when he was in the right mood.

My parents certainly never got this or any of those gaming gadget for me but I don’t miss not having them. There were too many other things to do!

My childhood was spent mostly outdoors. Walking for miles, exploring places - which when I think back gave me the goosebumps. I had so much freedom and I could only do what I did because I lived in safe places, in a safe time.

Unfortunately, my girls will not get to experience all those that I did - because even though we still live in a safe place, times are different and I can’t even let them play outside the house without supervision and imagination running wild.

Still, I’d rather they do more physical exploring - than having them glued to the monitor or TV.

So even though they’d love to have this kind of game and no matter what kind of benefits this kind of entertainment gadget afforded, they will not be getting any video game any time soon.

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It’s hard to believe that the third term holiday is practically over and school will re-open in 2 days time.

It is equally hard to believe that my little Eu is a school pro of one year and that I will not likely be dealing with first day jitters like we did last year.

My memory of the first few harrowing weeks was having to toughened myself to letting my first born leave home for a few hours to find her way in a strange place by herself.

It then turned into a 5 days a week session of cajoling then demanding her to wake up in time for school.

Not to forget wishing that she will sleep a little later on the other 2 days in the week when she did not have to go to school and theoretically, entitled me to lie in bed longer. But of course, these are the days when she will wake up early without any prodding!

My daily routine changed dramatically too.

Since we have no maid, I run my household single-handedly and sometimes, the longest time I get to sit down in the morning until Eu was home - was when I was driving to and fro her school which was about 20 - 25 mins each way.

I started another parenting job too - supervising her school work.

And last year, I gained an insight of the special skills and personality that a kindergarten teacher must have in order to turn children who knew next to nothing to children who can identify and read alphabets and numbers, write characters, sit still long enough to draw beautiful pictures, learn new songs and dances and all the amazing things that Eu showed us whenever she’s home from another exciting day at school.

I was humbled by her teacher’s patience and fortunately, her father took an active role at helping her with her work.

Especially in her Mandarin which by the way, had become their weapon to attack me from his threats of “You better learn Mandarin before the kids start talking about you in your face” to her demanding that “My teacher said you must learn Mandarin too. So repeat after me…!”

It’s been a year of newly learned words for her too.

Early in the year another parent informed me that Eu was accused of teaching another friend the word “stupid”. It didn’t bother me as we don’t used that word and it was new to her too. Besides I had expected her to be exposed such undesired vocabularies that are beyond our control except to make it clear that such words are not welcome.

I am happy to note that it was the worst word she acquired last year - unlike my nephew who brought home plenty more colourful statements courtesy of his more expressive classmates.

Although we think the world of Eu, my husband and I pride ourselves of being fair parents and we were prepared to be unbiased when it comes to any complaints her teacher might have of her.

So we were very happy to know that far from having any issues with her, she became one of her teacher’s helper from the very beginning. It never failed to amused me that her teacher trusted her enough to send their breakfast bucket to the kitchen all by herself or being asked to accompany other students to the toilet.

Speaking of toilet, early in the year she informed me that she convinced herself that she need not clean anything except her hands after her first bowel movement in the school’s toilet. I am only thankful that nothing unpleasant happened as a result and since then I have insisted that she know what to do.

I knew from her stories that not all of her classmates even made it to the toilet and that’s another thing that I truly respect kindergarten teachers for.

From the first time that she entertained her classmates, an aunt’s prediction that she will be popular with her teacher was coming true when she was chosen to participate in a school dance. However, although she did very well in this group activity, her nerves failed her when she was asked to take part in singing competitions.

Still, her artistic nature was revealed in another way - her drawings.

From her love of colours where she would use all kinds of colours on a single object, she has moved on to sketching moments and events with impressive face expressions and body gestures and could go through uncountable sheets of recycled papers if unrestrained.

It had only been one year of school yet she had definitely learn a lot of things.

Of course, as much as we place more importance in the overall lessons and experiences that she get from school, there is nothing more “fun” than to know that she managed to get sixth place during her first term examinations and improved herself to second place during their final term examinations.

But more than the trophy and certificate that she received at the end of her first school year, we are happy that she made friends easily, endeared herself to her teacher, gained a lot of experiences and most importantly, enjoyed school so much that she is really looking forward to going back.

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Nesting instinct is the state of mind that usually get pregnant women to do extra and sometimes weird household activities just before they were about to give birth. Some embarked on major spring cleaning while others would be cooking like there was a party.

I did something equally ludicrous when I was about to deliver Qi.

Even though we have a washing machine and I don’t enjoy any domestic chores, I decided then that I must wash my clothes and Eu’s BY HAND in my upstairs bathroom.

So there I was, a couple of weeks before I was due, squatting in the bathroom, washing our clothes and carrying wet clothes in bucket down the staircase to the anxiety of my mother - who could not stop me even if she wanted to.

A few days of these and I woke up one morning to some spotting and the first thing that came to my mind was…

“Oh no, I did not read much about Caesarian!”

And that was exactly what I had to go through 3 years ago today to deliver Qi.

I bravely opted for local anaesthetic because I wanted to try it. So while my normal deliver with Eu was quite a breeze with no painkiller, throughout the whole 20-30 mins procedures I was wishing that I had some superpower to transfer what I felt to the doctors so they can tell me again that the what I felt when they cut and sticthed my flesh was really “just the sensation”.

As compared to Eu, I’ve learned to train Qi to have early bedtime from birth and for the first few months of her life, she slept at 5 pm, waking up only for milk.

The ease of settling her down for bed continues and I never had to rock her and very rarely do I need to stay in the room till she falls asleep.

Until today, after a bottle of milk, a bedtime chat and kisses, my husband and I can say good night, close the room and she will usually sleeps within minutes. Of course there are times when she’d still be active enough to sing to herself but 10 mins of this, it will all be silent.

Until 5-6 am the next morning when she will look at the window and decide that it’s brighter and shouts from her room…

“Mama, it’s morning time! I can come to your bed!”

But while it’s easy to settle her for bedtime, she is not quite so straightforward in other things.

She is small but she is loud with a distinctive high-pitched voice. She may be the youngest in the household right now, but she is the undisputed bully and she can easily make Eu and their cousin brother cry or run to us to complain.

She speaks only after she turned two years old but right now, she can out talk anyone.

She is a rebel, has very short patience and while threats usually works with Eu, Qi is the type who will look you in the face and say, “Ok mama, go ahead..”

Yet she also charms everyone easily. In Eu’s school and few shops that we sometimes frequent, the staffs look forward to seeing her.

When she sings, the whole house can hear and it is sometimes hard to keep a straight face when she is about.

Even though she can be a typical girl fond dresses and dressing up, she also has an alter ego and while Eu is always the princess and the good girl, Qi can be just as happy pretending to be “Ultraman Dyna” complete with the fierce expression and stance (and she only knows of this show from advertisements!).

Deduced by her father, her character can be summed up by her favorite Disney Princess - Jasmine with the pants and high adventures.

While Eu prefers soft noises, as explained by Qi herself, she adores “loud noises”. She told us that she wanted a drum - just as if she is not already playing drums with everything else at home.

And best described by my mother in law, whenever Qi is around, we are never bored.

She is another wonderful blessings in our lives and we certainly enjoy seeing her conquering the small world that she moves about right now and in the future.

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5 years ago today, I was awake for 36 hours.

The day before I stayed up till midnight to watch a movie on TV. Then I spent a few more hours reading in bed. Then I started to have upset stomach and soon enough contractions.

By 4 am, I decided that my contractions were regular and short in between and I got my parents to send me to the clinic.

4 hours later, Eu was born!

10 hours later, I was released to go home. The moment I reached home, I slept straightaway. So on that first night that she was home, Eu was cared for by my mother and my husband.

Until I woke up early the next morning to see her already awake, quietly looking around the room.

Eu was an easy child to care for and from early on, she charmed everyone and instinctively learn to smile and laugh even from the very beginning.

Eu was laughing hard when my sister sang to her

5 years later, she is now an articulate and articulate, “facts” dispenser, creative, sings well, smart-talking dealmaker and artistic.

5 years later and she brings a smile to my face when she sometimes ask that I call her “Sayang” and “Baby girl” to remind her and me that she is still my baby.

She has grown to have a distinctive fashion sense (long sleeve inside a dress with a long skirt underneath is one of her favorite combination) but there are times when I wish I can still carry her on my arm.

She can drive me mad sometimes with her “special ways” of doing things but I am also thankful that she is very demonstrative in her affections.

We are indeed blessed to have her in our lives and we look forward to following her journey in life.

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