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kids in motion

events, kids in motion

These shoes are made for walking

December 1, 2012

The kids had their first ever fashion modeling gig for pediped Singapore at Seb’s Bistro this morning. Together with 6 other little friends, they took to the runway to showcase pediped’s latest Fall/Winter 2012 collection.

None of the kids had ever done this before so it was mildly chaotic but in a super cute sort of way as they walked out in pairs all decked in their gorgeous pediped shoes and stylish outfits sponsored by Elly, a homegrown kids apparel store.

models

group shot

To prepare for this, we gave the kids a pep talk last night and tried to explain the concept of a catwalk.

Kirsten was like “Catwalk? Like this? Meowww…” then proceeded to get down on all fours for an impressive cat-walking demonstration.

“Nice try, but not even close,” I replied, before hastily youtubing some kids fashion show videos for them to watch.

Their reactions couldn’t have been more different. Kirsten loved the idea of dressing up all pretty and being the centre of attention while Truett thought for a moment and said, “Um, I think I’m going to be shy.”

Turned out that they both got really nervous when the show was about to start so Tru gripped his sister’s hand really tight and she got upset at being grabbed so she shrieked and punched him in the arm, which resulted in a bizarre grabbing-yanking-punching exchange the moment they stepped up to the runway. But other than that, everything went really well and it was all peachy in the end. More or less.

Here’s Kirsten in her Flex Maggie White Sandal and Truett rocking the Flex Jett Navy/Red Sneaker.

To celebrate the launch of their Fall/Winter 2012 collection, pediped Singapore will be having a storewide 30% discount off all regular-priced items from now till 3 Dec 2359h. Type in the code FWSEB30 upon checkout to enjoy the discount.

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kids in motion, precious moments

Outdoorsy fun

November 21, 2012

The kids are what I call outdoorsy types. They get cranky when they’re cooped up at home too long, and their restlessness will manifest itself in a remarkable variety of ways. Truett will slump on the floor and look like he’s in actual pain from boredom. Kirsten will stage yet another fashion parade trying on dress after dress before tossing them everywhere. They’ll take turns to stare wistfully down the corridor and ask to be let out of the house.

“Can we bring Mickey down for a walk?”

“How about we go to the playground?”

“I know! We can go swimming, that would be fun right?”

“I think we need to go for an adventure.”

On weekdays, we’re usually too tired or busy to lug everyone out for an adventure but because they love it so much, we try to reserve the weekends for a little bit of outdoorsy time, even if it’s just to the beach or the park nearby.

Truth be told, I’d much prefer to spend my weekends curled up in bed with a good book and a cup of coffee but then I look at their excited little faces and next thing I know, I’m out in the blistering heat chasing after the kids and watching them enjoy little moments. Moments I know I’ll remember years later when I’m curled up in bed because they’d much rather be off hanging out with friends instead.

The way I see it, we’ve got 52 weekends with the kids before another year passes us by. That’s not a lot considering that some of those weekends will be spent on boring obligatory functions or work-related stuff. So we’ll take whatever quality time we have with the kids and make them count.

Hopefully years down the road, they’ll remember it too.

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events, kids in motion

Hello Halloween

October 29, 2012

The kids went for their first Halloween party over the weekend – an Angry Birds Halloween party organized by Singapore Cable Car at Sentosa’s Port of Lost Wonder. We’re not really big on Halloween celebrations because some of the costumes can be a little scary for the kids and as Truett puts it, “I don’t like scary things, only cool and fun and happy things.”

I’m with you on that, young man.

But we figured that since it was an Angry Birds kid’s party, it should be pretty tame, right? Wrong.

We didn’t know what to expect so instead of dressing up in a costume, all they went with were their regular clothes, sparkly personalities and a large dose of naiveté.

I’m not sure if they managed to leave with that last part intact because the moment we arrived at POLW, we saw tiny grim reapers, draculas, skeletons and ghouls running around like they were part of a scene from Night of the Living Dead, well, maybe the slightly friendlier and cuter version. There was also a miniature Hulk, several Spidermen and one little guy I assume is Ironman’s slightly squishy distant cousin who did too much trick or treating.

Kirsten wanted to add some fairy dust to the party so we went to the store to pick out a pair of fairy wings for her, which turned out to be a perfect match for her dress. She caught her own reflection in the store window and couldn’t stop smiling.

Truett couldn’t find a costume that wasn’t undead so he was happy to remain in his sort of pirate-themed tee. Besides, he couldn’t get out of the store fast enough because the guy at the cash register was bleeding from his eyes and nose.

I told him it was just make up – the same kind mommy uses (sort of) and he was all “girls use pretty make up and boys use ugly make up?”

“Well, son, some boys use pretty make up too and I’ve seen girls with make up that makes me want to scream and run but the important thing is that it’s not real ok.”

He didn’t seem entirely convinced but we managed to distract him with some balloons and a ride on the cable car with a soft and fluffy angry bird. Apparently, not all the cable cars have the plushie and we happened to get one with this little feathered (furred?) friend. They were hugging it so affectionately and all I could think of was how grubby it looked or how many germs it has. Not too many, I hope.

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kids in motion, not feeling so supermom

Sharp and pointy all in a row

October 26, 2012

The kids are off school today so we’re doing something constructive like COLORING!!! My level of enthusiasm warrants a caps lock and 3 exclamation points but they didn’t seem too enthusiastic about my genius idea.

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they do it in school everyday or that coloring is in fact, as they call it, “so boring.”

So instead we decided to round up all the blunt colored pencils hidden in various dark corners of the house to make them all sharp and pointy again. And while I was sharpening them one by one, I suddenly realized that I haven’t done this in over a decade. It felt so old school using a tiny retro sharpener. They’ve got all these gigantic electronic sharpeners that do the job in half the time but where’s the fun in that?

Because the whole point of sharpening is to make the longest unbroken twirl of wooden pencil shavings, amirite?

Plus now I have a row of pointy colored pencils for the kids to go do their thing.

My job is done here.

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kids in motion, side effects of motherhood

A good boy

October 23, 2012

I’m really enjoying this phase that Truett and Kirsten are in. They’re adorably inquisitive, somewhat self-sufficient and really great company.

But there’s one thing about kids this age: they just do stuff. Sometimes good stuff, sometimes bad stuff, mostly crazy stuff. In other words, they’re uncontrollably compulsive.

Like they go to the beach and start flinging sand all over themselves, even though they’re going to regret it when the sand ends up in their eyes and other body parts that sand should not be in.

Or they see an anthill and feel the need to stick their fingers in it, even though they’ll feel the wrath of a thousand angry ants descending upon their tiny fingers.

Or they’ll compulsively twirl a dangling wire around their fingers, even though that wire is attached to an iron that’s waiting to fall on them.

Which explains why parents of preschoolers are so naggy and prone to episodes of seemingly random outbursts. We have to tell them “don’t do this, don’t do that…STOP POKING THE CAT IN THE EYE and PICK UP YOUR LEGO PIECES and HEY TURN OFF THE TAP I CAN HEAR YOU PLAYING WITH WATER IN THERE” like eleventy-thousand times on any given day.

Last weekend, we were out shopping with the kids and Tru was fiddling with his water bottle while walking when he dropped and broke it. Mildly annoying, but no biggie because clearly he didn’t mean for it to happen. A little later, we got a cup of Coke to share and Tru insisted on holding it while we walked. It was like an accident waiting to happen but he was all “please, please, let me hold it.”

“Ok, fine, just be careful with it.”

We took several steps out of the shop and sure enough, he dropped the cup, spilling the Coke everywhere. Again, it wasn’t a big deal in the scheme of things but just annoying enough to warrant a sharp word.

“Tru, I just told you to be careful. If you can’t hold on to a cup of coke properly, then you won’t be allowed to hold it anymore, understand?”

He nodded quietly.

On the way home in the car, he turned to us and said “I wasn’t a good boy today, right? I did two wrong things. I broke the bottle and spilled the Coke.”

OUCH. That was like a solid hadouken of mommy guilt to the gut.

“Sweetheart, listen to me, YOU ARE A VERY GOOD BOY. It was an accident and we love you no matter what, ok.”

I hope he knows that.

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kids in motion, literally a crappy post

Handy Little Helpers

September 12, 2012

While there’s still an element of novelty about it, I’ve been getting the 2 bigger kids involved in helping to take care of the baby. It keeps them occupied while I’m occupied and the little help they can provide does come in quite useful.

So when I’m giving Finn a bath, I’ll get them to stand around to watch, maybe help fill the tub with water or squeeze a dollop of baby wash onto his body. Or when I’m burping him, I’ll let them help pat his back until they get bored or tired, which is usually like about 5 pats in.

They’ve been enthusiastic about everything except poop-cleaning.

“It’s so gross, later the poo poo come onto my hand,” they’ll say while pretending to gag.

Yesterday, I managed to convince them to just observe while I gave a running commentary on how to clean a poopy diaper. They crowded in real close as I laid out the wet tissues, cotton balls and diaper cream in preparation for THE MOST FASCINATING DIAPER CHANGE EVER.

“Ok, first, we take a wet tissue and fold it into half…”

“Ewww, why is the poop yellow? How come it’s so soft? Baby Finn got diarrhea? It’s so smelly!”

Well, at least they seemed fascinated by the process so mission accomplished.

Finn must have sensed there was an audience because while they were peering at his bottom, he decided to unleash a fresh jet of poop right in their general direction. I managed to block most of it with his soiled diaper as Tru jumped back 3 steps and held his nose in horror. I turned to make sure Kirsten was poop-free and she was gagging involuntarily, making the most priceless series of vomit faces I have ever seen. I think a little vomit must have come back into her mouth in the process.

“Are you ok, princess? The poop didn’t get onto you right?”

She managed to regain some composure, then stomped out of the room muttering “I cannot do this, I’m outta here…”

Maybe I’ll give it some time before their next poop-cleaning lesson.

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coolest kids ever, kids in motion

Serial planker

August 24, 2012

A big part of parenting is being able to identify your kids’ talents and develop them at a young age.

Sometimes, these talents are obvious, like an angelic voice or fancy footwork. Other times, they’re less apparent and it takes a bit of effort to discover them. In some cases, it may not even look like a real talent at all and that’s where some foresight is required.

Truett’s special ability: planking.

We’re not quite sure how this started because we’ve never introduced the concept of planking to him but one day, he just walked up to a ledge and started doing it. He planks in the car, at McDonald’s, at the pool, on sofas, on a plane…pretty much on every surface he can find. To date, he’s planked on at least 30 different surfaces in 3 countries.

And you may think that planking is so 2011, but synchronized swimming is so 1900 and people are still doing it for some bizarre reason.

To develop this unique talent, we’re on a mission to complete the Green Eggs and Ham checklist.

Could he do it on a boat?
Could he do it with a goat?
Could he do it in the rain?
Could he do it on a train?
Or in the dark? Or in a tree?
Or in a car? Or at the sea?
Could he do it in a box?
Could he do it with a fox?
Could he do it in a house?
Could he do it with a mouse?
Could he do it here or there?
Could he do it ANYWHERE?

Why yes, yes he can.

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