Strange Pleasant Encounter

I've never been keen on Mondays. The term ‘Monday Blues’ must be created for a reason. If there is any day I choose to take time off work,  I would take Mondays.

Which I did yesterday. My best friend suggested going to IKEA because she needed some napkins from there. I thought 'Alright...since I have nothing planned. I'll come with you & we'll fetch my daughter at noon when her playgroup ends & take the kids to the indoor playground in Changi"

So after dropping off my daughter & my husband, my son, who is always in his best mood whenever I decided to take time off (thank god!), I went straight to IKEA. Gosh! The car park was almost full & it was just 10 am.

So we went in there & for some weird reason, I ended up with a trolley of things ... And I thought I was just there to accompany my friend

Anyway, I managed to somehow buy a mattress for my son & decided when I collected it at the customer service that it may be the wrong size after all. It was too late to do any exchange anyway. I was supposed to pick my daughter up!

So we went to pick my daughter up & straight to Changi. The "pleasure" of having three little kids with us, we literally went to baby care room 3 times because they needed changing. By the time we were ready to go to the indoor playground, my best friend got a call from her fellow Turkish friends & said she needed to leave soon.

So instead of going to the indoor playground, we just took the kids to the main playground which was free for everyone to play.

We probably spent like 30 min running around the kids and making sure they were alright. (Since there were big kids too)

Anyway, finally it was time to go. The children were tired and cranky by then. We managed to make our way to reach the lift. And a group of ladies held the door for us. We thanked them politely.

Then suddenly, the lady on my left said "You are very beautiful."

A little confused and somehow didn't believe anyone could be very upfront, I answered (stupid , I know) "You mean my children?"

The reason being my children have always been attracting people's attention. No one ever said anything about me. So that came as a big surprise for me.

This lady (probably in her late 40s or early 50s) was with her aunt (an even older lady) and her two daughters who are in their early twenties.

If it was a guy saying that to me, I would probably think he is a freak. But these ladies were decent looking, looks like they come from a proper-simply-polite family...you know like those nice people from the church who annoyingly have everything nice to say about the world.

Well, she said she had been watching us playing with our kids at the playground. I didn't think at that time but now that I was thinking about it I was wondering wow..... how amazing is it that you can be watched without even realising it the slightest bit!

For that split second I was hoping that maybe there was a cute hunk who had also spent time checking me out! Haha

She said she kept saying to her aunt that she wanted to speak to me but didn't ….  since I looked like I had my hands full with my two kids who seemed to enjoy running the opposite direction. :)

"I've been watching the way you handled the kids and the two of you (referring to my best friend) running around with the kids. I figured we would be a nuisance if we come and try to talk to you at that time. But now that I'm even closer, my gosh, you are beautiful. Where are you from? You must be mixed!"

She also said that she loves my best friend accent. She later said that the sight of both of us, 2 young looking mothers, beautiful & polite to other people was just refreshing.

"Most beautiful people are a snob" She added.

We talked a little bit and coincidently we were parking near to each other. These ladies helped us out with our kids and our stuff. It was a little overwhelming but maybe because it is not very usual that someone stumbled into your path and can be SO NICE! Rare , I have to say.

We exchanged numbers and she said again that fate has a way of putting us together. She is very keen to get to know us.

I told my husband about it. And he seemed very suspicious. He was like "You gave your number just like that? "

"She seems nice and she was with her aunt and two daughters"

"How would you know if they are even her aunt or daughters? She's probably a lesbian and can see the beauty that I see or they are a cult and they need a pretty head on their shrine. So be careful! Meet only in public places"

Sheeesh..... talking about being super paranoid! :) My best friend  and I talked about it very briefly. I said my husband was a little suspicious about her intentions.

And she said, " During the whole process, we didn't even realise it but it was flowing very smoothly and they were being nice.... it could be anything but honestly, she was there with her kids and aunt.... maybe it is JUST her being herself. NICE."

So it's still a mystery. We have no idea. She has my number and she will probably be in contact with me very soon. She seems sincere. I'll update you about it.

Meanwhile, let me gloat on the fact that she actually thought that I am VERY beautiful! ;) Oh come on! Just let me be! :)

Potty Training - Not such a glamourous title is it?

The whole truth about potty training is indeed not glamourous. There are some potties whereby your kid would do his/her business on & then you throw it into the toilet bowl. Something like what Kate Gosselin used for her children.

I didn't wanna have to clean that potty. :( Sorry. I can hear some mothers fuming now. ;) Anyway, I used the toy'R'us little girl/boy toilet, bought steps for them to be able to get up there & be able to do it independently.

It took me a full week. I know some mothers did it in a day. Or 3 days. But ya, I'm not a super mom. I had 7 full days.

While there are many ways to train your kids, I went with slowly letting my daughter see what I do at the toilet. Ok, if you count that, then that's two weeks! I basically explained to her what I am doing & why I do it there. Showed her the routine & end it with the flush ( she somehow enjoys the flushing for some weird reason)

After a week of that, I slowly asked her about the idea of not using diaper. Started with half day of no diaper. She didn't understand controlling her bladder concept. I said "tell me when you wanna pee". And she told me when she was actually peeing!

There I was wiping her puddle golden shower! ;) There hasn't been BIG accident - thank god!

From half a day, she began to like the idea of no diaper. She asked for full day of no diaper. I allowed her to do so. Sometimes, I suggested we go to the toilet for her to pee. She did it & got herself a chocolate. If she doesn't pee, I would tell her that the next time she pees there, she will get one. So one is waiting for her.

Slowly...very slowly, she was grasping the concept of "getting the chocolate" -yup, not really the potty training part! Sometimes, when she remembers she would wailed out, and we would rush her to the toilet, have her pee successfully on the toilet, and she gets her chocolate.

Whenever she forgot about the reward, the accident would happen. Yes, it happened so many times, it's too easy just to give up & just stuck a diaper on her. Especially when I also have a one year old to run after. EXHAUSTION is the key word here. But I didn't give up.

Somehow, the number of times of her running to me announcing (to the world - yes she was that loud) that she wanted to pee slowly became more than the accidents. Eventually, it didn't happen anymore. We (My husband & I) celebrated it -well, maybe we just wanted to open that bottle of champagne so bad!  ;)

Today, she only wears diapers when she is sleeping. Fair enough. I thought since she is not aware yet while she is sleeping, that can be another step.

Another reason to pop the bottle open! ;)

Losing That Baby Talk

Today I came into my daughter's room & she squealed "Mommy, stars!!!"  She pointed at the new lamp with stars on it. I suddenly realised that she said it right "Stars!"  She used to say it "Chi-Cha" As in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star - She shortened it to "Chi-Cha" for the whole sentence & had since referred to star as "Chi-Cha" .... until recently.

And I also realised that when she wants something she goes "Please, mommy, please, please!"  As if to show me that "Hey, you want me to be polite. I'm polite now. How come I still don't get it my way?" :)

I somehow felt she is growing too fast. Maybe it's pretty normal. She is able to tell the maid that she doesn't want cold milk but instead wants it warmed up, but not too hot, just warm. 

She has a whole lot of opinion over lots of things. It does make it more difficult these days jsut to get out of the door because she may not be too happy with the dress she is wearing, or her hair clip or the shoes didn't go .... Whatever.

She's only 2! I wonder how it would be at 16. These days when she is upset, the whole world can tell. Having said that, she is my first born and I did cultivate & invest more time with her. I guess secretly I expect her to be a whole lot better.

My 1 year old son - yes he is one but I feel like he is still a baby. My daughter might have grown up quicker since she knows there's another baby coming or maybe the myth about girls maturing earlier could be true.

I found myself missing my daughter's baby talk. We have never encouraged baby talk. When she said "Chi-Cha" we would gently corrected her "That's right sweetheart, it's a star." And yet, now that she said it right, I was like "Aaaw, she grew up too fast!"

Mothers! You can never please them can you?! :)

Anyway, I'm watching her grow ... and last night when both kids were giggling and laughing under the shower, I squeezed my husband's hand and whispered "Well done, hon!  We did it. Those are our 2 notorious little kids. And they are going towards independence."

It's scary. The feeling like they don't need you anymore becomes more apparent. It's little things like my daughter pushing me away at play school saying "Mommy, go home. I want friends"

Sob! Sob! Sob!  Haha ...drama queen .... i think if I am watching Mamma Mia again, (to that part whereby Meryl streep was combing her daughter's hair before her wedding & she reminisces her daughter growing up) I would probably break down in tears. Now I know how that really feels.

To be a mother. To have a part of you embedded in one (or two or more) of those tiny creatures called children.


I love them unconditionally. Whether they will love me back when they are older .... we'll see....

Mommy's Curse!

The children could be a handful. They are the best thing in life but they do have personalities now which means it can get difficult. I'm THAT sensitive now during one tantrum session, my daughter screamed "I don't like u!"

I felt it sharp & curt - like a stab in my heart. I know she doesn't know better - she was just saying that to tell me that she was upset but it came out that blunt. But it got me thinking -  she's only 2, imagine her words when she's 16. Can I take it then?

When I know she understands her  words quite well- what excuse am I gonna feed my heart? Of course, that is if she turns out that horrific. If not, I'll have a better heart to spare. Woes of a mommy.

I know the peak is yet to come, she'll one day come to me & tell me "Mommy, I'm gonna do sky diving! Or bungee jumping!"

So far we are adopting the story that I never did all those because I don't know how to explain to her why she shouldn't do it while I did those stuff when I was 18. (Which happened to be not too long ago ;))

I mean she should go for it ..really. But this annoying maternal gut thing which screams "She might get hurt!! You have to protect her!" Yet how do you even try to make her understand that - that I was just worried about her. Even I didn't understand that kind of invisible bond before I became a mom myself. So why would she.

One thing I resent this title of being a mommy is the worrywart badge that comes with it. You WORRY about your children ALL THE TIME. I don't enjoy that & I hate the fact that I'm going through that now. I'm struggling to keep the balance.

I'm pushing my kids to do what they can while holding them back when I sense danger. That's maternal stuff because I realized even daddies do not understand that.

Daddies in general are more relaxed about children upbringing. It could be because they know that the children are in good hands & therefore they don't need to work that hard since they know the worrisome mommies would go their extra mile to make sure that everything is more than ok anyway.

Sometimes the more relaxed attitude bothers me but more because I resent the fact that they are able to be relax and I can't. I'm not saying I'm one of those obnoxious mothers who are smoldering their kids big time.

In general I want my kids to explore the world & get down & dirty,exploring all possibilities. I've seen parents who buy knee socks so their children do not get sore knees when they are crawling. I want my kids to rough it out & if it means they will have sore knees, that's part of growing up. I survived it. I'm sure they will too.