Down By the River

Had some free time on my hands a couple of weeks ago and brought Asher to see the Singapore River and check out the Merlion up-close (this was after our helper left, so I was quite pleased to be keeping up his activities).  We've seen the Merlion from the Esplanade on several occasions, but he's not seen the fish-lion in his spitty, scale-y glory.

The little afternoon outing started with an amusing detour - chasing sparrows at square outside Raffles Place MRT.  He did this hilarious little slow creep-cum-tai-chi walk to creep up on the birds before running full-speed ahead.  Yes, he was oblivious to the office people looking on, and amused them with his antics for a while :)  In the end, most of the sparrows escaped from him by perching on top of the entrace to the MRT.

Next, my favourite bridge in Singapore - Cavenagh Bridge.  Besides the bridge, I had brought him there to take a look at the kuching.  He liked those and kept asking to see them after we'd walked away.  We also saw the sculpture of the water buffalo, which he somehow found very amusing and kept laughing whenever he looked at it (??), and also saw the sculpture of children jumping into the water.

It was a scorching day, so we walked to the Merlion by going through the Fullerton underpass, and paused by the fish pond for a little snack/water break to cool down and enjoy the air-con.  We then finished our round by walking under the Fullerton bridge and headed back home by the train again.  Tourists in Singapore :)

Shoes For A Cause



Pass It On

We're playing an unpleasant game of pass on the germs at home.  Jon came back from his trip feeling under the weather, and was down for the next 3-4 days.  He had really high fever, chills, bad cough (worsened by the haze), and a cold. 

Then just as he was getting well, I caught it!  My fever has gone as high as 39.9 degrees!  My face turned red and swelled from the heat.  The first time that happened it took hours to get it below 39 degrees.  Read that if the temperature goes above 38.8 I should call the gynae immediately.  When I did, I was told I should actually try to get the temperature below 38 degrees!!  But again my temperature soared to 39.5 and again it took hours to get it anywhere near 38 degrees even though I had taken panadol (can't take anything stronger), and was sponging myself non-stop.  To give myself some comfort, I ice-packed my belly, but not sure if that really helps cool down baby.

In hope of preventing Asher from catching the potent germs, my parents offered to help watch him yesterday night.  But this morning they called and said he's feverish :(  Poor boy!  If he caught our germs, it gonna be several days of high fever for him!  I want to manja him and take care of him myself, but as Jon rightly points out, I should take care of myself first.  Afterall, other people can help look after Asher, but only I can look after baby inside me...  But I miss Asher already, he was so sweet yesterday.  When I was knocked out in bed getting some rest and Jon was going to bring him out for a while, he kept asking me to come along.  I tried to tell him I was ill and had a fever, and reminded him about how he sometimes had fevers too.  He looked a little sad, and kept wanting me to go along, tugging at my hand, which I thought was very sweet.  Later in the evening when my parents came to pick him up, he again wanted me to go along.  I said that they missed him and wanted to play with him.  I didn't want him to think that because I was sick I didn't want him around. 

But now that he's ill, and I'm still ill, and Jon isn't even fully recovered himself, my parents have offered to watch him another night.  While I'm honestly grateful, and the rational part of me knows that's the best for all of us, me and baby in particular, cos I can get rest and hopefully recover quickly, the emotional part of me just wants Asher back now!  I don't want him to think that cos he's sick, I don't want him around.  Maybe I'm over-thinking things, but I hope he doesn't think that way.  Mummy's sick, she doesn't want to come out with me and Daddy.  Mummy's sick, I go to Gong Gong and Por Por's house.  I'm sick, I'm still away from Mummy/Mummy doesn't want me back.

Maybe he doesn't think like that.  I hope.

Anyway, went for a gynae check-up his morning to make sure baby's ok.  So far, things look fine and baby is still growing well.  Please pray that I'll recover quickly, that the fevers can be controlled below 38 degrees, and baby continues to be protected.  Also pray that Asher will not get it so bad and recover quickly.  And also for Jon too!

Drama

An unexpected development on the home front.  We sent our helper home.  Our instincts proved right.  Won't go into the details here, but suffice to say it was definitely a right decision and we're glad Asher's safe and the house is intact.  It all happened in the span of an afternoon.  So we suddenly found ourselves without help for cooking and other household chores - her areas of responsibility.

Though there's more work to do now that she's gone, the vibe of the house feels better, and I'm feeling happier, even though more tired.  So far even though I still bring Asher for outings, I've managed to cook dinner still, both Asher's and ours, and we're managing to keep up with laundry and the house feels decently clean.  It takes a bit more planning and effort, but so far we're ok.  I usually clean the house after Asher sleeps.  Cooking time involves Asher.  He helps to wash the rice, scoop seeds out from the papayas, etc.  When he can't help directly, he gets to 'mix flour' with empty containers, and 'chop fruit' on a chopping board.  Laundry time also includes Asher.  He enthusiastically helps put the laundry into the machine, and helps to transport the clean, dry clothes to our bed for folding.  Found it adorable seeing him run to and fro the kitchen and bedroom carrying little piles of clothing :)  Think this is healthy for him, but I do wonder if and when the novelty will wear out for all of us. 

We have inevitably had to tweak one house rule - no entering the kitchen.  Since I now have to be in there preparing food and cooking, I can't possibly keep an eye on him when he's running around the living room.  So he joins me in the kichen, either munching on snacks or helping out. 

He does get a bit upset when I can't play with him immediately cos I need to clean up a bit, but I hope he'll get used to it, and I hope I can come up with an even more efficient way of handling things so that such times are minimised. 

The past few days have been challenging, but not unpleasant.  Jon's overseas for a few days, so it's just me and Asher.  Thank goodness his trip straddles the weekend, so I could take a bit of a breather from things cos we usually visit Jon's Dad and my parents.  Even then, I had to head home on Saturday while Asher was napping to clean up the house (I just can't stand a dusty house!).

Not sure what the plan is for when Baby number 2 comes, but in the meantime we're looking around for a part-time cleaner who can also help with ironing (I hate ironing!!!) and perhaps a tingkat service for some of the days.  Of course if all else fails, we could always do what we used to do before we had kids - get food from the market. 

Please pray for energy, strength, ingenuity, and lots of patience!!

Phototaking Day

Phototaking day.  Asher doesnt't actually have his own set of the uniform, but thankfully our neighbour's son had a set she could spare us for the day.

More "growing up" moments ;)

Doing splits on the way to school =)

 Happy in his borrowed uniform

The Kingdom Under My Bed

We arranged for an extended family outing to the Esplanade for the kids catch a PLAYtime! production called "The Kingdom Under My Bed".  I didn't realise that PLAYtime! productions were put up by various theatre companies.  This time around, it was Teater Ekamatra, a different group from the one which did The Magic Island.  I felt that it was not as good as The Magic Island.  The storyline was complicated, there were very many characters, the actors sometimes spoke too quickly and with poor pronunciation, and some characters (one in particular) seemed to scare plenty of the kids (they started wailing and crying when that character came out!  Aidan let known his opinion by simply raising his hand and saying, "Stop!").  The parts that appealed more were probably when there were songs, and when they showed some shadow-puppetry.  Ironically, the character that stuck the most in Asher's mind was the bunny rabbit, who was actually a character created to allow the backstage guy to bring props on and off the stage. 

Next time, I'll make sure to find out who is putting up the PLAYtime! performance before deciding to go for the show.

After the performance, we had lunch together before hanging out by the bay area.  Good thing there were 6 adults, and we could take turns making sure the kids didn't trip on the steps and tumble into the water! :)  And as it was a super hot day, and ice cold fruit slushes from Chill Out! were the perfect remedy.  I like that the slushies are made from pure fruit juice, so even though they are a little bit pricey, you feel like you're having a healthy option while cooling down.

There's the merlion!  (But they're pointing in diff directions, hmm)

Making sure they don't topple into the bay :)

The IR looming behind

Merlion in the distance

We should be paid for these series of pics!  Free advertising - endorsement by kids!

Stuck to their straws.  Anya looking very demure here :)

 Stripey Father & Son :)

Toybox

Brought Asher for a Toybox performance at Loewen Gardens with Del & Anya.  We had just gone there over the weekend for the farmer's market, and I was looking forward to the outing cos I like the place.  There was a tent set-up over the formerly open area specially for the event, and mats laid on the ground as seating.  Quite a cosy set-up.  And it was packed! 

The duo, Reuben and Mark are animated and funny, and I felt they put up a good performance filled with engaging action songs that really got the kids moving.  Anya was absolutely adorable!  She moves to any beat, and was bouncing and bobbing away to the music :)  Asher was looking for Incy Wincy now and then after the performance, cos the little spider had climbed up to the top of the tent during one of the songs, but there was no mention of it coming back down :)

Think the kids enjoyed it.  Very happy we went!

"The ants go marching one-by-one, HURRAH!"

Checking out the Bob the Builder mat after the show