milestones & musings

86, the magic number

July 27, 2010

My grandma turned 86 over the weekend, which was reason enough for the entire family to gather for a massive celebration. This sort of shindig only happens 3 times a year – on Chinese New Year, my grandma’s birthday and Christmas. We had 4 generations in 1 chalet at Downtown East, now that’s what I call a par-ty!

I also finally managed to get a chance to jam on Rock Band (because despite my awful psychomoto skills, I’ve always wanted to be a drummer and if I wasn’t doing the whole kids thing, I’d run away on tour and be a badass drummer, or maybe just a bad one)

I think my grandma was happy though, with the whole family around. When I turn 86 (oh that’s a scary thought!), I’ll throw a blowout party and make everyone dress up as the Brady Bunch (with the hair and everything), it’ll be so much fun. For me.

That’s the whole family right there.

We don’t really do posed group shots but it was nice to finally get a picture of all the cousins (Gen 3, we call them) together. Here we’ve got Gen 1, 3 and 4, like some cheesy new age Chinese action movie.

Some great shots of the kids with their great grandmother.

One word: priceless.

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literally a crappy post

The adventures of Captain Poopypants

July 23, 2010

So I’m a little behind on the toilet training. Which is to say that both kids are still safely clad in their nappies all day and all night. Its not for a lack of trying either, especially since I’m not exactly a huge fan of the diaper-poop-cleaning business.

I’d much prefer to have them to do their stuff straight into the toilet bowl and then just press a little button to see it all disappear like magic.

I’ve read up on all the toilet training techniques and I’ve tried them all. Making Tru sit on the potty, asking him if he needs to go poop, giving him stickers to incentivize successful toilet sessions, but he hates the potty. Every time I put him on the potty, he says “all done” before his rectal muscles even have a chance to contract. So I do what every good parent does – lead by example. I once half-squatted on the potty (I wasn’t sure if it could support my weight and it would be embarrassing to break his potty during my brilliant demonstration) for a good 5 minutes showing him how it’s done and the whole time he was laughing his ass off saying “mommy funny“. So much for leading by example.

I waited for another few months and upgraded him to a training seat over the toilet bowl. This time, he was happy to sit on the training seat for a long time but for all the wrong reasons. He would alternate between yanking out the roll of toilet paper and reaching over to flush the toilet a hundred times because well, it is kind of therapeutic. See, I wouldn’t mind trading a few flushes if he actually managed to do his thing on the training seat but 10 minutes and not a drop. Yeah, trust me, I checked.

Some folks say that the only way is to bite the bullet and let them go diaper-free, which I also tried. So far, all I’ve gotten for my efforts are pee puddles on my floor. Most days, I’m glad to find the puddles because the alternative is to locate the foul-smelling dried patches of pee after 2 days. That’s possibly worse than having to clean poop off the diapers if you ask me.

Anyway, the point is, I think I’m ready to start toilet training. If not, my son will set the record for being the oldest kid clad in diapers five years from now. In other words, what I’m really trying to say is HELPPPPP!! You’re welcome to take my kid over for a week-long toilet training boot camp or if you have a secret toilet training method, let me know and I’ll do it.

Well, except sitting on the potty again. That, I’ve already done thankyouverymuch.

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not feeling so supermom

And so I live to fight another day

July 22, 2010

I need a happy picture today because its been one crazy week. (Which one isnt, right? Do I hear an amen, mommas?) But it’s always exceptionally tough when the kids are sick. Don’t ask me how I survived the last 3 days with Tru quarantined at home, spreading his germs and general irritability. He’s like my Siamese twin whenever he’s sick, extra clingy and stuck to my hip all day. Now that they’re finally getting better, the husband is down and I’m barely holding out.

I’m glad today is Thursday, because that means my weekend starts tomorrow-ish. The whole family is going to gather for my Grandma’s birthday bash (a 3-day affair) so that’s going to be fun. Plenty of people to fuss over the kids while we sneak off to chill out by the beach. Or catch a movie. Or sleep. I miss sleep. Sleep is good.

Yesterday, baby girl woke up early from her nap because of the sniffles, feeling all miserable and looking the part. I’ll admit, I was pretty bummed because it was supposed to be my only clear-my-crazy-schedule quiet moment in the day, on the very day that I had a ton of emails to answer, work to clear, laundry to fold and of course, who’s forgetting the mountain of unwashed dishes that are threatening to eat up my kitchen.

But there she was, looking at me with those baby eyes, like “I need you now mommy!” which is my cue to drop everything and snuggle in bed with her until she feels better.

These are what I call crunch-time moments, the motherhood-defining ones. Moments like these, I literally stop and remind myself why I’m at home in the first place. Sure, I could make better use of my time to earn a few extra quid or keep the house spick and span. Or I could be a mom and be there for them when they need me now because I know in a couple of years, they’re not going to want to snuggle and it will be weird for me to blow raspberries on their thighs and kiss them all over a thousand times.

All this time I’m thinking that I make them feel better but truth is, they make me feel a whole lot better too.

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