Didn’t mean to end up only updating 1 a month. But ah wells, life just gets in the way, doesn’t it?
We got sick (except for Quentin!) during the March holidays *roll eyes* so I was pretty much out of action together with Sarah. One morning saw all of us trooping to the polyclinic so that we could have some meds on standby for future occurrences. I don’t fancy waiting in line for close to 3 hours, but I am also too cheap to pay for the charges at a PD. #auntiemode
PSA: Just so you know, you can actually call Singhealth polyclinics to make an appointment so you lessen your waiting time. However, that is on the basis that you are willing to wait a day or so for an available slot. Chances are that when you actually need to see the doctor on the same day, there is no available slots to make an appointment.
Work got insane. My train of thoughts range from..
I need to do the laundry today. The bedsheets haven’t been washed for a month. But the boys are running out of uniform. Darnit. Okay, the bedsheets can wait.
Drop the boys off at school, I need to do a post office run. Need mail bags, then NTUC for groceries.
[at NTUC] What am I supposed to be getting again? *runs through things that may have run out at home* oooo yoghurt. Yoghurt ice cream sounds good *grabs yoghurt* will make that when the boys are home.
The ice cream never gets made. The yoghurt sits in the fridge and expires. The laundry got washed, hung and dry, and it sits in the laundry chair for a week before it gets folded. Anyone that needs anything goes to the laundry chair to dig for it.
I did meal planning. I figured it would be a better way for me to not have to think about what to cook on the day itself. It worked for the first week. Then what was planned, never gets cooked, cos life gets in the way and you just cook whatever that is easiest and fastest.
Amidst work and other projects, I try to rope the boys in the help me with the chores. And in the meantime, I forget to play with them. There is a lot of nagging and frustration. It is so hard to solo parent. I am better at it when Donald is around, he can help to diffuse the frustration a little.
Two weeks ago, I broke down whilst trying to reason with Oliver. It had been a tiring week where he had been modelling undesirable behaviour of a classmate. The classmate is a difficult student and through my interactions with him, as much as I try to remain nice, I find myself getting petty with the 5 year old. Argh. So childish of me, but the behaviour was just so….URGH. And to have Oliver mimic the behaviour was driving me nuts.
I am all about gentle parenting, respectful/mindful parenting. I grew up with the cane disciplining me and I made a promise to myself that I would never cane my kids. Donald begged to differ. However, I am glad I was able to convince him otherwise. It took a while for him to see my point of view and the effect it had on Oliver. He never looked back. Of course there were still instances where we wanted to strangle that kid. I mean..we are humans afterall.
But that night after failing to reason with Oliver, I cried. Donald held me as I tearfully told him that I was sorry for enforcing gentle parenting on him, that I was wrong and that the cane was the word. Fortunately, my husband told me that Oliver just didn’t really understand it and that I was still doing a great job with the kids. I have never been so thankful for that support. It just made me feel that I could plough on with raising this kid of mine.
And…then my period came the next day. Thank you very much hormones. You have such a great sense of humour. FML. *roll eyes*
Things are easing off a lot more now. I am a little busier at work but I do try and make sure that I do some stuff with the boys. Mostly cooking stuff. We make some granola and waffles together. Trying very hard to pick the right battles and not end up emotionally blackmailing the kid. Yes, I do find myself doing it unintentionally. Bad mommy, bad!
Catering to the emotional needs of kids at 3 different phases of their lives. Challenging but we’ll get there. I heard primary school is another ball game altogether! Oh noooooes. We’ll wait and see.