The Bub in the Belly

Here are some snippets of the weekend just past. It isn't a complete account of what we did, just some glimpses here and there.

We started our weekend on Friday, because the nanny was on leave. It felt exactly like a weekend, except that Richard was working. He joined us for lunch though.

Here are the littles enjoying playing together. They are painting here. They do squabble and sometimes, when it seems like one is disturbing the other's work, we will offer a new activity. For example, if Ryan is focused on building his train tracks, babydoll may come along and mess things up. I usually let them try to resolve things on their own but if they can't, I sometimes offer babydoll another activity. This only works for about three seconds - Ryan will then hurry over and join in! Well, at least they know that being a duo is more fun than going solo. More and more frequently now, they manage to resolve their little squabbles on their own, because they do want to keep playing together.

Here's babydoll being babydoll. I always get asked if my children are not pure Chinese or if they are some other race/blend. I think it must be their round eyes?

More water time.




Sitting at the sink, brushing their teeth. Up till now, we do not have a fixed teeth-brushing routine! The kids actually love to brush their teeth, they just need me to give them the signal. I must try harder to make this stick!


 Okay, that's all!

Last month, we met up with Ryan's preschool teachers for a parent-teacher conference, to discuss his progress and things like that. He's doing great. The teachers said that he gets along with everyone; he's really easygoing and he is comfortable hanging out with anyone. He reads well, writes well. He likes to draw a lot. His Mandarin, including his Hanyu Pinyin, is good enough such that his Mandarin teacher assumed that we coached him at home (we don't).


In particular, the teachers mentioned a project in which Ryan took the lead. The children were discussing plans to make a charitable donation and they were deciding which charity to donate to. Ryan took the lead: helping to document and tally the votes, writing a letter to the school office to inform the office of the final choice, leading a group of classmates to the office to deliver the letter and explain its message and even using a camera to take photos of the whole thing. I thought that was quite impressive.


Ryan is doing golf as an extra-curricular school activity; something which I think he has a love-hate relationship with. According to the instructors, he is quite good, and when I talk to him about golf, he's happy and enthusiastic. On the other hand, whenever I remind him that he has a lesson, he will tell me that he doesn't want to go (too late though as I'd already paid for the term). I know that he enjoys himself during the lesson (I sit and watch him from the sidelines) so I was a little perplexed at his reluctance. Recently, I realised the reason - the golf lesson is conducted under the hot sun and I know that he really doesn't like being in the sun. When he actually goes for the lesson, he always has a good time and forgets about the heat, but when he's at home and we dissect it, he definitely remembers the discomfort!

Ryan is still taking swimming lessons once a week. Apart from golf and swimming, he doesn't do any classes. I have a feeling we won't do golf next term though! Haha!


Ryan's modelling/acting life is pretty busy. He had a casting call on Friday, followed by an audition on Monday (yesterday) and he has another casting call later this week. Keeping our fingers crossed that he'll be selected for one or more of the roles.


These photos were taken last Sunday at the beach near Parkland Green. We'd finished our meal and Ryan and I ventured out for a walk, while Richard minded babydoll who had fallen asleep. Ryan headed straight for the beach. I was surprised because I thought he wanted to ride his scooter along the path. What surprised me even more was how at ease he was with the sand and the surf, even taking off his shoes unprompted. When he was much younger, he was not a fan of the beach at all - he hated having sand between his toes and he was very uneasy with the surf. Now, he's a pro. I told Richard that it must be because of all the training he got when we went to Bali and to Mauritius!


Ok, that's all!

 

All right. So we got to the beach safe and sound, after using the pedestrian crossing at a couple of big roads and one overhead bridge. The beach was buzzing with activity. Lots of people and lots to see. We made our way to a fast food restaurant for a quick pick-me-up before heading back.


Ryan was searching high and low for a playground, to no avail. He ended up at one of the fitness spots dotted along the park connector. He tried out each and every apparatus before he was willing to go.


Babydoll hadn't slept much all day so she was falling asleep at the wheel on the way back. Luckily her backup transport was ever ready.



Ryan took the opportunity to climb into the buggy for a bit. He still likes it very much, although he also likes the "big boy" feel of the kick scooter.

A pretty good way to end the weekend.