New Year's Resolution 2015 and so much more

We kept it simple for En Xi's 7th Birthday.  Just a simple stay at home cake cutting.

If you notice, Ah Zhor is carrying a broken arm.  She fell at home recently, but is all good now.

Your aunties and grand-aunties are all so nice, never fail to celebrate your birthday.

Another year has past and our 2014 resolutions were not fulfilled yet again.  Sometimes, you get the feeling that the whole New Year resolution is just a waste of time.  So, for 2015, we thought, it might be best to write down our resolutions on paper, laminate it and display it prominently in our bedroom.  We want to wake up everyday and be committed to achieving it.  Unfortunately, this proved to be extremely difficult.  Getting a 7 year old and 3 year old to patiently pen down their goals were not that easy.  Not to mention, the crazy Dec 14 and equally hectic Jan 15 to celebrate En Xi’s birthday, coping with En Xi’s Primary 1, adjustment to routine to be made, preparing for CNY, Valentine’s Day in early Feb 15 and the list goes on and on, blah blah blah.

Gong Xi! Gong Xi!

Ok, all these are excuses, so other than the perennial resolutions, I’ve 1 big resolution for 2015.  That is to lead a healthy lifestyle and train up for competitive track and field event, specifically 800m masters.  I signed up for SAFSA track and field meet and was scheduled to run on 25 Feb 15.  Trained hard for it and never felt better than before.  I almost felt 10 years younger and could feel the wind beneath my wings (erh, not quite actually). Looking through the 2014 results, made me confident enough that a medal finish is easily within grasps.  So, I did a time trial the week before the actual event.  Raised my arm and had a good look at my watch at the finish line.  I couldn’t believe what I saw.  I clocked an astonishing 45s off my personal best time.  How could this happen?  Everything felt right.  It was supposed to be like how I used to do it in my younger years.  The pace was right.  My heart pumped at the same intensity as before.  The lactic acid build up and fatigue was just about right at each phase of the run.  The stride was the same and I kicked at the same point that never fails to leave my rivals in my trail.  Perhaps, I’m just no longer 21 years of age and 36 years old this year.  15 years is indeed a lot of difference.  Still, I did not give up and told myself that it is because I’m not running with fellow competitors during my time trial.  And so, I patiently wait for the eventful moment.  Regrettably, I did not participate in the SAFSA 800m masters.  I suffered a severe strain to my right calf during the time trial.  How ironic.  Mental note: Edwin Ong is no longer 21 years old and have to read your body better.

Anyway, here's the Family Ritual Photos for 2014

2014 New Year's Resolution

Another year has passed and reviewing 2013 resolutions, I see that we had managed to achieve most of our targets except spending more time as a couple.  Taking breaks on the 4th of each month was tough to schedule and there is always guilt of leaving you guys with your grandparents and to a certain extent, guilty of loading Ah Ma all the time.  And you know how Ah Ma is, always so caring and compromising.  Anyway, this year's new year resolution remains the same for all of us, with the addition of me, getting fitter and practicing my magic often.

About En Xi.

You seem to have grown up suddenly.  You are such a tall girl now and is taking up more responsibilities as an elder sister to your brother.  Its funny how you can be so caring, nurturing and patient with En Jun.  Then, out of no where, start your whining about En Jun not sharing again.  I love the way you smile.  Always so dainty, shy and princess-y.  You continue to be very creative in your artwork and have an imagination that spans no boundary.  We hope you find where your interest lies in, and for now, we think you might like to attend SOTA in future.  K2 is such a demanding year and like most parents, I can't stand our education system.  There is so much spelling to do in K2 for both English and Chinese.  Pre-schoolers are expected to be able to form a sentence with 7 words.  How times has changed.  I used to read ABCs only in K2.  What really makes matters worst is that P1 teachers are not going to slow down and help kids who develop later.  Really can't understand why this mad rush to learn when its now time to play.  Not to worry at the moment.  We are both helping you with your spelling and getting external help for phonics.  Don't worry, we are not loading you with tons of enrichment classes.  Just an hour of phonics and your favorite arts and craft class on Sat mornings. We are still having fun most of the time as a family.  In fact, we just did a Sunday picnic and soccer at the Botanical Gardens.

About En Jun.

The naughtiness in you surfaced after the Taiwan trip and we guess it must be your cousins, Shou Rei and Shou Cong that have influenced you.  Mummy misses the adorable side of you, but you are still as cute and most of times, just plain silly and comical.  In fact, you and En Xi make a great pair!  School has been great for you.  You have acclimatised well to the environment.  The not so great part?  Your eating and constant harassment of girl classmates.  You are growing up so much like Shou Cong.  Your teacher in N1B, Elosia says that you are a strong will child.  I told her, she haven't met your sister yet.

2013 New Year's Resolution

As a Family:

1.  Venture into water-play at the beach, theme parks and zoo.

2.  Enhance sibling relationship through structured playtime.

3.  Build social and communication skills through structured games with other kids.

En Jun has started running and we think that we are ready for more adventurous stuff.  Lately, we started noticing the start of sibling rivalry and we do hope this can be addressed with more playtime together.  Lastly, to build confidence and various life skills, we will be getting both of you to learn how to play with other kids.

Daddy:

1.  Chart the family's journey by blogging and taking more photos frequently.

2.  Payback to the society and create awareness to my family through charity work.

3.  Start saving and stop squandering.

Mummy:

1.  Wake up earlier everyday.

2.  Start exercising.

3.  Cook more.

As a couple:

1.  To spend time as a couple without kids on the 4th of each month.

By the way, today is Lunar New Year.  Unfortunately, En Xi contracted HFMD for the forth time and will be spending time at home for this CNY.  Daddy and Mummy are taking turns to keep you company at home for the week.  No worries, it just means that we will be doing more arts and craft, drawing, painting and bonding more at home.  Get well soon, En Xi.  Today, you missed the Reunion Dinner at Great-grandma's place and your boyfriend, Glenn Ong kept asking for you and even drew a get-well card and a little present for you.

En Xi's Passport Photo (5 yrs old)

Review of 2012 New Year Resolutions

At the start of the year, we decided on 3 New Year’s resolutions and the following is our report card thus far.

1. Do more outdoor activities, such as Zoo trips, walks in the parks, camping by the beach and etc.

Numerous Botanic Gardens Trips, Numerous Farm Visits in the West (Hay Diaries, Bollywood Veggies, etc), 1 x Night Safari Outing, 1 x Water Play @ Jacob Ballas, Kite Festival by Act 3 International, a 5-day Vacation @ Club Med, Bintan.

2. More arts and crafts activities when we are holed up at home.

Lantern making, drawing and painting.

3. Sticking to a regular routine and stay at home on Sun evenings to prepare for the week ahead.

Done.

From our report card, it is clear we had done fairly well for outdoor activities rather than indoor activities.  However, En Jun is at an age where more adventurous activities are deemed unsuitable for him.  So, in some way, En Xi is shortchanged in the more fun stuff like going to the Zoo or walks at the Henderson Bridge.  This is exacerbated by the different afternoon nap times for the both of you.  En Xi typically naps at or around 1-2pm, while En Jun struggles from 11am.

Nonetheless, En Jun is growing from strength to strength and is very much stable in his walking.  I think we can do more adventures in the near future soon.  This year also saw 2 vacations for us.  In June, we visited Club Med, Bintan, Indonesia and WOW! What an experience!  En Xi thoroughly enjoyed herself with the mini-club that houses the kids throughout the entire day.  At the same time, this gives us, Daddy and Mummy some breathing space to chill and do some relaxing activities with En Jun.  In fact, we even had a babysitter for En Jun for 3 hours, so that we parents could enjoy a spa treatment massage.  Subsequently, next week in Nov, we will be going on a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Phuket, Thailand.  I’m sure we will have loads of fun since it has a Club Med concept.

About En Xi

Our proud moment.

(We were extremely proud of you, En Xi at Club Med.  You are by nature, what Mummy term as 'closet extrovert'.  i.e. You need to be comfortable with your surroundings before you exhibit your extrovert nature.  You did something extraordinary when the event host asked for volunteers to sing a song on stage, you actually raised your hand enthusiastically despite having no one raising their hands.  Then, the moment came when you muster your courage to sing 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'.)

Your linguistic ability has increased at least by 2 folds in my opinion and our daily conversations go by how our day went by and the many exciting moments you may have had.  Recently, one morning before I head to work in my uniform, the conversation between us went like this:

En Xi: Daddy, today you go shoot monsters with your friends. (Cos I have a badge on my uniform that is a rifle)

Me: Ok, I’ll do that if I see monsters at work today.

En Xi: If your friends don’t want to and you are angry, just walk away. (??? Go Figure.  Mummy taught you how to handle difficult moments with your friends)

Our routine with En Jun is changed now with Mummy taking over patting him to sleep instead of me.  Hence, I now have more time with you, especially at night, where I read to you every night.

You are still into Barbies and fairyland stuff.  Recently, Mummy bought you and Charlene to watch the movie, ‘Brave’.  You enjoyed the experience tremendously and we are toying with the idea of doing this again for your birthday.  In fact, sometimes you introduce yourself as 'Merida' to new friends.

About En Jun

You are getting cuter by the day and walking very well, you seem to be talking better too.  Ah, the wonders of being the 2nd child and having your sister as a role model.  You definitely like to play with your sister and En Xi is still trying very hard to come to terms with you messing her stuff around.  You love ball throwing and pulling toys with wheels on it.  Also, for no apparent reasons, you have this fascination with opening and closing doors (with safety stoppers of course) and sliding windows back and forth.  You can go on and on for a good 15 min.  More importantly, you are sleeping better and only wakes up once in the early morning.  This itself provides a lot more sanity for us.

About Us

We also did a family studio shoot.  We’ll probably do this again in 3 years time or sooner, depending on the rate that my hairline recedes.