I got back from Bangkok on Monday evening, and fell straight back into the mundane routine of everyday life. Funny how quick a holiday glow fades - I think it's inversely proportionate to the number of days one is on holiday. For me it probably faded while I was standing at the airport luggage belt, silently cursing the hordes of tourists from ( Read more... )

The Bun just left happily with his grandparents about forty minutes ago; they'll have breakfast together, then take him to school. It feels strange to be sitting around an empty flat without the usual whirlwind of questions, demands, and messes surrounding me. I have a spare hour all to myself, and what do I end up doing? One final load of laundry ( Read more... )

In a couple of days I will be flying to Bangkok for a long weekend getaway with a couple of my closest girlfriends. We've been talking about this trip for ages; I had wanted to go earlier in the year but my first trimester fatigue didn't make it seem like a good idea at the time. With Bao's impending arrival, I realised that this could be my last ( Read more... )

J's father turns seventy today! We're going out for a small family dinner, since the big celebration dinner was actually held last Saturday, at the Asia Grand restaurant with about forty relatives and friends. He actually didn't want to have a big bash at all, but J convinced him and organised it all so that all he really had to do was turn up. It ( Read more... )

It occurred to me the other day that the nicknames J and I regularly call The Bun have nothing at all to do with his actual name. All his nicknames are (unintentionally) based on the letter 'b'. Like so ( Read more... )

Earlier today The Bun and I headed out to walk to lunch and to the library, but the moment we stepped out, it began to rain heavily. We quickly turned back and I started trying to brainstorm something to make for our lunch. I hadn't defrosted anything or done much grocery shopping lately, and the other options I could cook seemed kind of boring. In ( Read more... )

The Bun is thirty-four months old today; the big THREE is just around the corner! I missed his quarterly update last month, so this post catches things up. The child simply can't wait to turn three - although he can recite his birth date, he doesn't really understand the concept of time, so he keeps asking if his birthday is here yet. I think it's ( Read more... )

I haven't been online much in the past week or so because all my energies were focused on worrying about The Bun, who decided to go on a food strike. Thankfully, the worst of it is over now, and when I look back upon it I can see how crazily over-obsessed J and I were about the whole issue, but hey, it's understandable. Your kid decides to stop ( Read more... )

It's been a week since I embarked on potty-training The Bun, and we've made good progress. After the first two accident-prone days, The Bun seemed to get the hang of it, going to the potty on his own and pulling down his underwear by himself. With each success we both got more confident and relaxed, which greatly helped the whole training process. ( Read more... )

This term at playgroup has really been great. For one, The Bun has finally seemed to have outgrown that phase where he would scream and sob for ten minutes upon arrival, only to recover and then enjoy the rest of the session with gusto. We had our fair share of mornings where he would crumple into tears upon waking when he realised it was a school ( Read more... )