The boy and his long hair

For a long while, the son has been obsessed with the cartoon Tangled, a sort of a re-telling of the classic story Rapunzel whereby the girl has very very long hair who's trapped in a tall tower by her evil stepmother.

I don't exactly remember when we let him watched it but after the first time, it was what he wanted to watch EVERYTIME. He calls it the 'Princess' show.

Whenever we asked him what movie he would like to watch or when we suggest watching a movie to distract him, he will always go, "I want to watch Princess!"

"Sorry, Princess is not free right now darling, why don't we watch another show?" would be my reply. But then the son would go, "Huh? Princess go where Mama?" And then I would go, "Hey look! Its *pa poi! Let's watch pa poi shall we?" Sometimes it works, most times it doesn't. Only Princess can save the day.

His obsession lies entirely in the hair. He would often re-enact some scenes in the cartoon and uses props like his blanket, towel and even my shawl to pretend that it is his long hair. So much so the husband has banned him from watching the cartoon anymore. I think he secretly deleted it from his hard drive.

Am I worried, am I concerned?

Well yes and no actually.

I think it is a phase he is going through although it has been going on a tad longer than it should be and partly also the fact that he had watched it repeatedly before. Although at times in the moment of play, he would address himself as the Princess and I would have to correct him that because he is a boy, he should be a Prince instead. But he would go, "But Mama, girls have long hair, boys no long hair!" Ah well, girls have more fun with their hair ain't it.

He does have his share of boys toys like cement trucks, aeroplanes, racing cars and his precious Thomas and Friends train engines. He enjoys a good shout now and then, enjoys a good jump and enjoys running very much.

Well, who knows maybe after all he might become a very talented hair stylist in the future.

*pa poi: those funny sounds the minions made in the cartoon, Despicable Me.

GIVEAWAY

{GIVEAWAY}

Hello! I am hosting a giveaway of my own and this is my first time doing it with my own stuff!

Reason being, well, I have alot of beauty products and samples given by my sister or friends or from sampling boxes that I've signed up with. So much so I have no room to use them all on my face, ha.

So I thought it will be nice to just share with you all!

And its really simple to join. Just leave a comment with your name and email and I'll use a random generator to pick the winner! Easy as peasy!

For this week's giveaway, it is a sample size L'egere Cream Base and 2 sample size SKII Whitening Spots Specialist.

The L'egere Cream Base works like a BB cream and you can layer it with your foundation for a more polished look. Or you could also just dust some loose powder for a more natural look or pressed powder to set it. This is what I would usually do for my daily make up.

And the SKII Whitening Spots Specialist helps to lighten any dark spots or marks you might have. Personally I have not used this at all, but I have been using their pitera essence and facial wash and I like it! The essence does help to shrink my pores and really gives my skin a nice dewy glow!

Do join in this giveaway and share it with your friends too! I have more giveaways line up!

Giveaway ends on the 3rd May 2013. Open to Singapore residents only.

*Disclaimer: The above opinions are strictly my own and I was not approached by either brands for any review. All products are my own. Users, please use with discretion. 

Sorry. easy to spell, difficult to say.

I yelled at MY mother the other day. The woman who raised me up, sacrificed her body for me, the woman who worked late hours just so we are fed and clothed. The exact same things I'm doing for my sons now.

I went over to her place few days back and as usual when it came to feeding the kid, it was all screams and tears. So I took the kid to the bedroom and tried feeding him again. All was fine till he decided to start crying and screaming. And I continued to feed regardless of all the tears, screams and perspiration from him. I think he lasted for a good ten minutes before my mum came into the room and took him away.

"If he doesn't want to drink, then don't force him! He will be scared one and will get traumatized you know?!" she said.

I was also angry and had been quite down for a while precisely because of this problem and so I yelled back at her.

"You are also not feeding him proper meals, and now he's not drinking milk, how is he going to grow!" I yelled. Ok I screamed back.

Wow, yelling and accusations, well done girl.

And this coming from someone who understood what it was like to look after two active kids for the whole day.

My mum might not be the best cook, best teacher, best anything, but she is doing me a favour now by looking after my two kids.

And so, after I 'complained' to the husband, he said the most wisest thing ever, "I think you better apologized to her."

And it truly reflected upon me, that this is the time to walk the talk. To man up and shoved all ego away. To truly put into lesson what I've always teach the son.

To say sorry when you're in the wrong.

And so, I did. Sort of. I text her.

"Sorry for being rude to you last night."

Be it parent, child, husband, wife or whoever, saying sorry really seems to be the hardest word, whether you're three or thirty years old.

More often than not, it is the hardest when they're the closest to your heart.

IHappy

Recently the son had been quite disobedient and even to the point of being defiant. And he's only three years old.

Whatever we asked him to do and mind you, we always asked him politely too, has been met with a 'No' followed by a shaking of his head. Its driving me nuts. The husband and I talked about it and we conclude that it might be due to us not giving him enough attention.

And so, I decided to spent a weekend alone with him. Just us two.

We went for a MacDonald's breakfast, watched a movie and brought him to Sunday school where afterwards we met one of my friend for dinner. She gave him a Thomas sticker book and he was so happy!

him with his favourite 'jie jie' lol
love his cheeky look here.

And the best best part of it all was just before he slept last night, he turned to me and said, "I love you Mama. I happy."

Priceless.

The otherside of motherhood

I used to pride myself as an able housekeeper. I say able only because I'm just an okay at keeping my house neat and tidy, average at folding the clothes, slightly above average at magic wiping my floors, excellent at toilet cleaning but horrendous at ironing.

And all these were before the kids came along and my mother-in-law moved in with us.

So naturally, you would have thought that after the kids came along, all these skills by now should have went a notch higher right? Wrong.

Instead, they regressed. 

Okay, for the first son, I took an entire year off to care for him. So of course him being the first child and me being a first time mother, everything was on the ball. 

Food dropped on the floor? Uh huh, so not going to eat that. A little dust on the floor? Magic wipe it away immediately. New toys? Clean and sanitised before use. New clothes? Washed and folded neatly before wear. New food to try? Check for any allergies before introducing new food again. New anything? It all goes through rigorous checks from me before I give the approval.

But now with the second kid and me being back to work after my maternity leaved ended, lets' just say all those rules are well, meant to be broken.

Food dropped on the floor? A little dirt is good for him. A little dust on the floor? It will improve his respiratory system. New toys? What cleaning and sanitising? The older one will get to it first. New clothes? Chucked into the drawer and forgotten. New food? Anything goes, so long as it comes out from the other side. New anything? Whatever goes. 

Plus! Now with my mother-in-law staying with us, I do not have to do much cleaning, folding and that horrible torture called ironing! I truly don't know how she does it, but all her clothes are folded so sharply that it even looks ironed. True story.

And apparently after going to the washroom, I do not know how to end this post. 

So goodbye and have a good day!

The travelling husband's wife

That's me.

My husband recently got a sales job that requires him to travel often. And often means 3 weeks out of a month, he'll be out there, somewhere, selling equipment to his clients.

At first, we thought it would be hard for both of us to adapt to this change. We also thought it would be unhealthy even, for the kids to not see their father on a daily basis. However, the kids and I have proven ourselves wrong.

For a start, I told myself not to get too sentimental whenever the husband's away. After all, the world doesn't stop spinning just because he's away. So, I made myself visit the kids often at my mum's place, sometimes even staying over, went on a regular swimming routine with a friend, do some light window shopping after work, catch a movie, do some housework, whatever it takes to keep myself occupied.

And then there's technology. We chat on Whatsapp, the kids will Skype him and when time and day permits, we would even go to the airport to pick him up. And I'll also remind the kids everyday that their Daddy loves and misses them very much.

So far, we are all coping well with this arrangement. It's just that sometimes in life there is a trade off for certain things. It is our part to manage our expectations to better deal with it. And then there are "well-meaning" people who will always say certain things they think are "well-meaning" but ah well, you know better.

To all the other travelling husband's wives, you are all strong and independent women. Don't let people tell you otherwise.