Lightspeed: That's how time flies

Time flies, people say. It's never been truer for me in these past 3 weeks. Here's why:-

1. I signed up for a freelance job translating subtitles for tv shows. Money, got some but most importantly, I think, is that I enjoy it. I'm pretty good at it, too. But don't know how long I can keep this up cos quite time-consuming and deadlines quite tight.
2. I started attending a talk in a buddhist association. It's sorta like an intro to the teachings of Confucious, nothing religious about it. It's Confucian teachings on what constitute good behaviours. It's been quite an eye-opener, though I'm not totally unfamiliar with the content. I'll write about them in my coming posts.
3. Shopping! Not xmas shopping. Shopping for clothes: cny clothes (children's only, not enough time to shop for self and hubby) and school supplies (for my eldest, who's starting Primary one next year). Not really enjoyable with 3 boisterous kids in tow. Hubby and I took turns as body guard in the toy dept while the other browsed through the piles and racks of clothes. Would really love to park them somewhere but can't as we were shopping for them. Maybe when we shop for ourselves, we'll park them...somewhere.

Since the translation job started, it took up quite a lot of my computer time. The result is that blogging has been demoted (temporarily, I hope) in my priority list. CAOF, remember? Children, husband, translation (since this one got income), housework (this is not important but urgent) and then blogging (since this is not income-generating, yet, and it is not urgent). Me is lost somewhere between husband and translation.

I'm lucky it's still school holidays and I can squeeze in one post in this ungodly hour (hubby will turn hostile if he finds out). Once the school year starts and my eldest gotta wake up early, I have to turn in early to get enough rest. Or my time will fly in a hospital :)

Maybe situation is not that bad. After all, I have the option of sending my little girl to kindy. So heartless of mommy to send baby away at the tender age of 2. Well, heartless mommy better than mommy-less baby. Mommy's gotta keep her sanity, y'know. Got a feeling daddy will ban mommy from translating if mommy can't cope. Sigh... you can't win them all. In the meantime there's CAOF to keep me sane.

Battle of wills: Time to show them who's the boss.

['Taking care of the caregiver' has been held back in view of yesterday's battle.]

Trouble started when Jien (Mommy's no.2) refused to pick up his toys citing 'I don't know how'.

'Yes, you know how,' Mommy tried to give him some confidence. 'You've done it before.'

He wailed, 'I don't know how. It takes too long. I want my nen nen (his milk in a bottle)!'

'You'll get your nen nen after you pick up the mess you made.' There! She'd said it and she knew she had to stick to her guns if she wanted to remain the Boss. When he refused again, Mommy set it out step by step, 'You take this toy bin downstairs. Put the toys back in. Pick up the ABCs (large styrofoam tiles). Then, you'll get your nen nen.'

'No, I don't want to pick up. Why kor kor can have his nen nen?'

'That's because kor kor picked up the mess he made.'

Mommy braced herself for his assault which can be noisy. True enough, he cried and wailed, 'I want nen nen' until her ears were ringing. She ignored him until his wails died down (imagine a CD player ran out of batteries) after what seemed like eternity. He had fallen asleep! Right there sitting on the sofa! At last peace and quiet! But she was determined not to give in and left the mess as it was.

Alas, after an hour the heavens opened and eternity started again! He picked up from where he left off immediately after he came to! Someone must've replaced the batteries! Mommy repeated her rule again and the cries got louder. The onslaught was renewed. Her mind was racing, trying to come up with a solution where she didn't appear to have given in.

Then, Mommy got the bin from upstairs (1 point for Jien) and put it in front of him. She held his hand to grasp a toy but his finger wouldn't close. So, she wrapped his fingers around the plastic and dropped it in the bin. She repeated this for a number a times before his fingers grasped the toys themselves (1 point for Mommy). So, she moved his hand, he grasped, she moved hand to bin and he let go. That was how they filled up the bin.

The ABCs were a bit tricky. They were scattered and some of letters fell out of their tiles. Sigh... Mommy gathered them together (1 point for Jien) and did the same like before. She moved his hand, he grasped, she put it in a stack and he let go. She even held his hand to fit the letters back into the tiles. She felt like Remy in Ratatoille. Only, Linguini was meekly quiet and not protesting. Mommy's little CD player didn't subside one bit! (New batteries, remember?) 'I don't know how! I want nen nen now! This is taking too long! I don't want to pick up!...'

Finally, no mess and the CD player stopped. Just in time, too. Mommy didn't know how much longer her eardrums could stand the assault. She kept her word and gave him his nen nen.

Battle ended with both parties suffered heavy losses. Thank goodness conditions were favourable for Mommy or else she would have lost her will and gave in. What conditions? Kor kor and mei mei didn't attack Mommy with demands of their own! But victory was not certain until we arrive at the next potential battle scene... which presented itself before bedtime.

The battle scene was recreated by the same culprit as Mommy went about her evening routine. To her relief and pride, the mess was promptly picked up and stored away before 'I want nen nen.' Yay!!! Victory for Mommy!

CAOF - A time management strategy for an over-stretched mom

"How you manage-ah, without a maid?"

This is a frequent question I get when people discover I take care of 3 kids (aged 2, 4 and 6) and a house without the help of a maid.

I smile and say, "CAOF : Take care of those that can cry first."

If you're wondering, CAOF is Cry-Able Ones First. Kids can cry, so take care of them first. Dirty dishes and laundry don't cry, overgrown grass don't cry, crumpled clothes don't cry... you get the idea. These will be done after the kids are settled and when I have time for them. (The longest I've left dirty dishes was until the next morning. I had to wake up early to wash them.)

Once my hubby asked me why the living room was in a mess. "The kids-lah, who else made the mess." "Why didn't you clean in up?" My answer was, "I can cry, too, you know." It had been a particularly long day.

Yes, I am also one that can cry. So, I rate my sanity above housework. Wouldn't you? Take care of the caregiver so that she's able to give care to others :) I'll tell you more about this in my next post.

"Why torture yourself?" you ask. " Get a maid." Well, I'm proud to say that I'm "maid-less" by choice. A few reasons: save $$$; privacy in my own home (ie no need to worry about leaving valuables carelessly about); I don't want to feel helpless when maid leave; and most of all, hubby and I are not entirely comfortable with the idea of a stranger's influence on the kids. They do drive me to hell and back but I love them and they'll only be young once.

As for my personal time, 2 am in morning, when my little girl takes her nap (like now), ... that's it. Sometimes my little girl participates in my bath, be an audience when I use the toilet (I'm not kidding). So, this blog is sorta like an escape for me, when I can entirely be away from them... well, not entirely, since I'll write about them, hehe!

Creation

Yes, it's done! My very own blog! I'm very excited about this. So excited that I don't know what to tell you first!

Let's start with a bit of what's my "word". My word today is "Creation". I think it's apt considering my blog is created today. I knew that people write blogs but I had never consider starting one myself. Not until I discovered that a friend had a blog. When I asked her about it, she sounded modest about the whole thing. Next thing I discovered, she has three! First question in my mind was, "How does she find time to write so much?" (I think Time is a good word for my next post, don't you think?)

So, I decided that if she can do it, so can I! Thank you, Suzette, for being such an inspiration. :) You can visit her at thesuzette.com

Incidently, today is my little girl's second birthday. Happy birthday, darling! Now my little blog shares her birthday. :) Just like watching my little girl grow day by day, I'm looking forward to watching my little blog grow and sharing with all the people who'll come to visit.

Cheers!