I haven't much to update really. We brought Rachel to the Telok Kurau playground for the first time on Sunday, which she enjoyed very much. Apart from that, her weekend was pretty much the usual.
Babydoll received a "progress report" from Heguru. I was not happy about it. Not that I was unhappy about Rachel's progress (the teacher had good things to say about Rachel and I am perfectly fine with Rachel's progress in any case) but... oh, let me collect my thoughts and then I'll share them with you. Suffice to say for now that the format of the report was not what I would have expected. I think the typical parent would appreciate the format but, for better or for worse, I'm not the typical parent.
Richard has been accompanying Rachel for her Heguru classes and he says that she has settled down and sticks close to him. She doesn't wander off in search of adventure anymore. I guess she's explored every corner of the classroom to her satisfaction.
At home, I continue to offer Rachel opportunities to work with her hands and to improve her fine motor skills. I have also been reading more to her lately. Just simple, very simple books, like a book showing five animals and the puppy says woof and the kitten says meow. In fact, that's her current favourite. I have to read it many, many times in a row before she is willing to move on.
I try to talk to her more nowadays, and try to name things around her to give her more vocabulary. This girl is pretty chatty so, when she is ready to express herself more verbally, I don't want her to get frustrated because she lacks the necessary vocabulary.
Babydoll's love for music is still as strong as ever, which steers us closer and closer to signing her up for classes at Julia Gabriel. Ryan did a year of PlayClub there (and two terms of Edudrama). He enjoyed himself thoroughly, and we have no doubt that Rachel would too. We haven't made a firm decision about it yet. Another "we'll see" on the list.
Rachel has been working hard on her walking. Every chance she gets, she wants to walk. She still takes the occasional stumble but she always gets up without missing a beat and without making any fuss. Her legs are still a little too short for stairs but she insists on walking up and down them (and not crawling up and down), so I help her (a lot) when we come to stairs.
Food-wise, babydoll never disappoints. She has an adventurous palate and is open-minded about trying new things. It is a joy to eat with her. She does eat a lot and I let her eat as much as she wants to. Rachel is far from fat but, having said that, I do not believe that young children should diet or be restricted in terms of food for fear of getting fat. This seems so obvious yet I have come across many mummies who do this. One mummy restricted the amount of milk her newborn drank and actually felt the need to come to the parenting forums to ask if she should top up - my response was, huh?
I have been sewing a lot more recently and I thought I'd sneak some words here and there about the pieces I worked on. Today I'm showcasing Rachel's yellow top with pink butterflies! You may recognise it from our trip to Legoland earlier this month. I used the Ice Cream Dress sewing pattern from Oliver + S, which was excellent. I made the top version (instead of the dress version) in the 12-18 months size and without the notch at the neckline. The fabric is a 100% cotton from Spotlight. I had just enough left over after I cut out a circle skirt for Shann's daughter, Rou Ern sometime ago. I think Rachel appreciated the ease of movement and the lightness of the fabric. She looked very comfortable and happy in it.
On a separate note, notice that there are no photos of me with the children on the blog lately. For whatever reason, Richard doesn't take photos of me. He will take photos of the children, but not when I am with them. He will photograph me only if I ask him to (and I rarely do), but if so, it will be a "smile at the camera" kind of shot - the kind of photos you would take with a relative you see twice a year, those that have little memory of the moment other than "we were here". I wish that I had more photos of me and the children just sharing our little moments, doing our things, photojournalist style. I don't often write about myself in terms of what I do with the children and I guess I expect Richard to appreciate the beauty in those moments and shoulder the responsibility for documenting them. I know different people think differently. Not every person reaches for the camera as often as I do and not every person has the same "photographic eye". But still.
It is a real problem. Looking through the blog, I am annoyed that I seem to be missing from my children's lives. I am annoyed that I come across as an observer and a reporter, but not a participant, which is ironic because, as between Richard and I, he is more of an observer/reporter. I am annoyed that I am documenting every memorable moment, yet the ones that involve me are lost to my children. I am annoyed that someone, long ago, assumed that this blog was written by Richard. Yes, I am annoyed with Richard - I've mentioned this to him before and nothing has changed and I hate to repeat myself (because my philosophy is that if I have to repeat myself, it's a sign that you're not bothered). I have to figure this one out because so many moments have been lost already plus if, God forbid, something should happen to part my children from me, they will not remember what I look like! Any ideas?
4 comments:
Hi there,
I do so enjoy reading your blog btw, and your frequent blogging makes it even better :) Anyway, my husband does EXACTLY the same thing in not taking in-the-moment candid shots of me with my son whereas I deliberately do it for him so that our boy will remember what a hands-on dad he is. I've mentioned it to him to no avail, but what I've come to realize is, that you just have to ask him to take shots in-the-moment. Men don't do it deliberately, they just (really really) need to be reminded. And kids, young as they are, often love repetition anyway. So it's not exactly candid, but better than having none of the shots featuring you with the lovelies :))
Hullo, reading your blog would reveal how incredibly involved you are in the lives of Ryan and Rachel. You chronicle, sew, read, take pictures, mull, hold their hands, breast feed, design costumes and learning activities... what was that about being an observer again? Spontaneous photos are lovely but those I've seen of you looks great too! I hope you'll find a balm for the sore.
I'm usually the photographer, so no shots of me unless I do up the DSLR settings and specifically ask hubby to take pictures of me with the kids. He's more of a video-cam person cos that's quite a no-brainer to use. And many men do need direct requests and reminders. Smile! :)
I think we all mothers share the same problem huh... I resort to self-camera on the phone sometimes but that's only good for close-ups and capturing the 'bigger' moment is very difficult!
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