Parenting | Hip to be Mom

Girls’ day out with my youngest

Nov 202010

Skye and I went grocery shopping for Thanksgiving this morning. Just the two of us. Raine is cramming for her big exam so we left her at home with a bit of quiet study time. Looks like this will be the first of a good many girls’ days out for Skye and me in the coming weeks while Raine hits the books. Yay!

For Thanksgiving next week, I’m going to roast a large chicken and potatoes, and put together a simple salad. Steev will be celebrating Thanksgiving with his roommate and his parents in California. So without our big eater, we’re just going to cook something simple here.

We set out armed with a long list of ingredients to buy and as usual, we still managed to miss out some items. Sigh! But never mind, that means we get to go out again tomorrow . The perfect excuse for another girls’ day out!

And since Tyson, our playful little beagle, has chewed up practically everything within his reach including his collar, Skye has been wanting to buy him a new one and a few new toys as well. I don’t think he deserves them but she is intent on spoiling him. That’s Skye, our pet lover! No wonder Tyson is crazy about her !

Taking toddlers on trips – is it worth the trouble?

Posted by Clairity 4 Responses »

Nov 192010

… if you can even call it that.

So anyhow the girls are getting all excited about our upcoming trip to Disneyland, CA. The last time we made a trip to Anaheim with the kids, Raine was only 3 years old, Steev was 5 and Skye was a wee babe who was too young to come with us.

One of my girl friends was saying�it’s pointless bringing kids on long, expensive trips when they’re toddlers because well, if they’re like her son, they won’t remember a single thing about the trip so it’s like they never went at all.

I tend to be less concerned about them remembering the trip. I just want it to be an adventure for them, a chance to expose them to new sights and sounds. And the best thing for me, as a parent, is getting a glimpse of our crazy world through their eyes.

It’s always so much fun having them with me (though I darned near broke my back that time lugging two kids around for those 3 weeks ) and just seeing their excited smiles was good enough for me, seriously!

And both Steev and Raine remember our Disneyland trip well. Who says toddlers can’t remember? Raine happily recalls us buying her a princess tiara which she proudly wore as we walked out of the store on Main Street USA!

That tiara is now one of her prized possessions and even now, once in a while, she takes it out of her closet, carefully places it on her head and dances around with it.

Good times! It’s really nice to have those memories and keepsakes to treasure and those photos on our stair wall, of course. If you ask me, it’s totally worth the time, money and even breaking my back .

Disciplining other people’s kids

Posted by Clairity 1 Response »

Oct 272010

After a spicy curry lunch, Raine and I are sitting around chatting for a minute before proceeding to the grocery store. Just then, a mother and her toddler plonk themselves down at the table next to us… which would be fine except then, the child starts bawling and beating the table… which really starts to annoy me!!

I know, I know, being a mom, I should be very used to bawling kids and childish tantrums. Well, actually no, my kids were never like that! So I have an extremely low tolerance for tantrum-related behavior and sometimes I feel like hauling up people’s kids and giving them a good ticking off. Come to think of it, I have .

If I see kids zipping between the racks, running around people’s legs and knocking down cans and�scopes, and their parents are nowhere in sight or pretending not to notice, I would tell them off “Stop running around!!” and give them my killer stare. Yes, I have this killer stare that stops kids (and adults) instantly and freezes them in mid-action, bwahaha!

No, I’m not being mean or interfering, I just don’t understand why some parents don’t, or simply won’t, discipline their kids. I don’t believe in spanking kids either but with some kids, it just has to be done, period!

Gate-crashed my daughter’s graduation

Posted by Clairity Comments Off

Oct 242010

Oh, did I mention we gate-crashed Raine’s high school graduation ceremony (here is what she wore)? Would you believe me if I told you we didn’t do it on purpose?

Well, the deadline for ticket purchase was over by the time I decided to bite the bullet and pay another $15 each for Skye and me to attend, on top of the $50 Raine has already paid the school to receive a bouquet of flowers and a scroll!!

So on the morning itself, Skye and I dropped Raine off at the event. Since we were early, we walked her all the way to the hall. None of Raine’s friends was there yet so we decided to register first, then hang around with Raine till her friends arrived.

The school prefect who was manning the registration desk shoved 2 tickets into my hand and nodded us to the door. Hmm! Why not? I thought. Skye and I would just attend the ceremony and snap pictures of Raine in her graduation robe but we wouldn’t stay for lunch since we hadn’t paid. Fair enough, right?

So yeah, we were pretty pleased with ourselves. Didn’t feel one iota of remorse for what we did as we got some really great shots of Raine for our family album .

What do they call moms like me again?

Posted by Clairity 4 Responses »

Sep 302010

So it seems my bedtimes and mealtimes are still out of whack. After 6 weeks away in California, I’m still in a daze here and getting very little done except enjoying� my girls and cooking their favorite food (which they miss so much!).

Okay, I’m being a bum here, I admit, spending long hours talking to Steev and generally lazing around. One day, we actually talked for 5 hours straight without realizing it. Yes, I miss him and want to know what he’s up to. What do they call moms like me again? Hoverholics?

Well, it’s only been a week since I left. We’re all just now trying to get into our new routines, both him and us. Gimme a couple more weeks and I suspect I will stop behaving like an alien spaceship !

Hard to leave

Posted by Clairity 5 Responses »

Sep 222010

It’s been another busy weekend, one that I wished would go by more slowly. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if time stood still. Looks like my ‘vacation’ is coming to an end and it’s my last weekend here with Steev before I leave.

We went shopping to stock up on food for him and do the last-minute stuff. I’m cleaning up his room and doing the laundry now. I’ll be cooking him a stash of food to last him for this first week at least. I wish I could stay and look after him. It’s so hard to leave him so far away.

But I’m glad I came to help him settle in and I love that we got this chance to spend quality time together, just the two of us. In these past few weeks, I’ve watched him become instantly more independent. Classes are in full swing now and keeping him busy, and he has a good roommate. I think he’ll be okay. Guess I’m just not that good at goodbyes, that’s all .