Dressing Kids Up - Tip #8

Dressing Kids Up Tip #8 - The right jeans.

Big Blood (note: new term for the big brother) recently came back from a US flight with new clothes for the girls. Among them were a pair of jeans each. You see I'm rather particular with jeans so I don't exactly know how to say this without hurting his feelings. But flare jeans for kids are kind of wimpy for now. Not all jeans look cool. They have to be the right wash and cutting. Skinny jeans have been happening for a while now but I don't think they're ready to leave the "scene" anytime soon. D shows you what I mean:


Photo courtesy of Fau.

Give A Little Respect

When I was growing up, I remember constantly being reminded to salam or acknowledge people I come in contact with, esp those elder than me. But these days, the teenagers I come in contact with seem to have no decency for that. They can go googoo gaga over your kids but completely ignore the person whose bleeding p*p*k/vjayjay tore to make way for these babies. Not even an eye-contact, what more a smile.

The 4th Year - Munchkin

We did low-key for her 4th which was just a mini-celebration at school. Aaand we finally got her a bicycle. Tried dissuading her from the pink bikes but it failed (obviously). This was a compromise and of course the psycho mother who was unwilling to disgrace her (imaginary) indie-rock reputation had to pry off every existing tacky sticker found on it. And hoping to replace it with skulls crossbones and lightning bolts. Now can anyone direct me where I can get streamers for the handle grips?

oooh when was the last time I did a panning?

Chatterbox

Munchkin is in a highly fidgetive and talkative phase.

We were at a mall and she insisted on holding on to a disposable chopstick after we had our food. She fidgeted with it and kept dropping it while we walked so the frustrated mom who was gripping her hand on one hand and carrying a plastic bag on the other said "CAN YOU STOP PLAYING WITH THE CHOPSTICK?". The next minute, we were in a shop and the mom accidentally dropped the plastic bag and Munchkin said "Mama, CAN YOU STOP PLAYING WITH THE PLASTIC?".


No, I didn't color-coord for sleeptime. This was coincidental, I swear.

Dressing Kids Up - Tip #7

Dressing Kids Up Tip #7 - The right polo.
I have a love-hate relationship with polo t-shirts. Hate when they're over-sized or when the sleeves appear poofy. Love when they're vintage, snug and striped. Just exactly how Shibly wears it.


Photo courtesy of Natyler.

Family of Black and Red

This thing with colors was inspired by Jarvis Cocker.

extracted from an interview:

Camille: Jarvis did this thing that I love. At first I thought it was weird, but now I like it. When we go out he checks to see what I'm wearing, like the colours or shapes. It's not that he tries to match me but he can dress in the same family of colours. It's this old school way of showing that you belong.

Jarvis: Yeah, but it's not like we wear exactly the same thing. It's not like it's his n' hers.

Camille: No, no, that's not what I'm saying at all. It's just like the same family of colours.

Jarvis: It's about wearing something related.

Red, White, Blue

One of the things I like about having a mini-collective of my own is, they become an outlet for my lunatic obsession with color-coords. Not a fan of identical getups though. It's just colors.

Queue for a Kiddy Show

5yrs ago, I sniggered and rolled my eyes at disgusting crazy-ass parents who'd queue over an hour with/for their kids for a space to watch one of those free kiddy shows in the malls on school hols even tho the kids didn't ask for it.

Karma's a bitch.

1st Fred Perry

If I ever have a boy, he has to have a Fred Perry.

+65 Indie Underground on Channel Newsasia

A history of Singapore's band scene

Well-balanced Weekend.

We arranged for band practice on Saturday so in order not to feel so bad about leaving the kids, I took them out earlier in the day for some fun.

In hopes to tire them out so when they spend the next couple of hours sleeping at home minded by Matriarch and helper, we ran for practice.

When Sunday came, Mister had to sleep in after a graveyard shift but I've gotten used to doing things with the kid/s on my own so I planned to take Munchkin to a Cat Show since the little one is skittish of cats. Taking the almost 4yr old out now is convenient cos I don't have to carry around diapers and milk bottles plus she makes great conversations (at any time there's always someone to say I'm pretty even though I look like a train-wreck). But most of the time, I feel wretched about leaving the 17mth-old at home with the helper. So we waited. As soon as the younger one shut her eyes for her 11am nap, Munch and I got dressed and left. It's less of a heartache when the other one sleeps so she doesn't miss much. By the time we got home, it was the elder's turn to nap so I didn't waste any time, got Pumpkin dressed and off we went to a another heartland mall.

Sense of achievement there when both get equal treatment. Now let me think about ways to manage this with a third kid.

Limelight Thief

Munchkin is turning into that irritating attention-hogger brat who tries to weasel her way into the center. The 5yr old Birthday Girl has always been sweet and giving towards her. Like always, she included Munch in playing together, consoled when Munch sulked about not being able to play with the toy she wanted, making the other kids take turns and letting Munch have the first turn. I was in awe at how sisterly she had become over time. Hope Munch learns a thing or two from her.


Grinning ear to ear like it's her birthday! How do I make her stop?

1st Plant

Munchkin is currently obsessed with flowers and (the act of) planting thanks to Tigger and Friends so Shad's science experiment triggered me to let her try one.

She has been overly excited about it, going "Mama! Mama! Come and see my plant! So tall now!" for the past 2 days when I got home from work.

The BEST part of this is.. I was able to con her into sleeping early so she could see how tall it has grown when she wakes up.


Munch and her 3-day old sprouts.

Dialogue in the Dark

I recently took a tour at Dialogue in the Dark Singapore, the experience of being blind was pretty overwhelming cos admit it, how often do we appreciate the gift of sight? We (a group of 5) were being led by a blind guide to places like a park, city, cafe and boat ride. All in complete darkness. Your other senses are subconsciously maximised to make up for the absence of sight. We were not supposed to hold each other but rely on touching the surroundings, listening to voices and using the cane for help. For once in my life, I felt that the blind guide had sight and I didn't.

Current Girl Band Love - Plastiscines

Latest episode of Gossip Girl set me skyrocket love for Plastiscines (a girl-band love since Sahara Hotnights). Because ALL I EVER WANTED was a RICKENBACKER. I've always loved girl bands but I hate it when girls do it out of some kind of boy-bashing.

Moving Along With Tech

I've been to a couple of talks on digital nation and I highly agree that we need to just go with the flow of technology.

I know many who refuse to succumb to Facebook just cos 'everyone's doing it' or some who can't be bothered to get on Twitter cos they don't see the need. Or for everything/everyone else, we're just plain lazy when it comes to the registration part. But we shouldn't be.

Not that I'm on my toes either but I make the effort to keep up cos I wish to be independent when I eventually become a senior citizen. I do not want to have to depend on my kids to do certain things for me just because I don't know how. And I do not want to be fooled simply because 'old people, they don't know'. Need to update ourselves with latest social media tools just so we understand what they're capable of. So there. Try to keep up. One day we will be having exchanges like "remember how we used to make fund transfers and pay bills and all by i-banking? That was a damn huge hassle for having to carry the device around."

Black and White (and Grey)

This black shift dress from Gap caught my attention.


But I can feel the spouse rolling his eyes at it. I can feel it in my bones. I don't know why.



Before the baby shift dresses came, there were these from my ebay addiction days:

I didn't know they were capable of pro-creating. Probably doing it in the corners of the wardrobe.

What's up, Serenaide?

Its been a while since we did something like this.


Our keyboardist is back in Singapore. Looks like we're going to be a bit busy.

Eid 09

Main culprit for the absence has to be the (not so) new handphone cos my little twitter community enjoys mini-pics and text of less than 140 characters (i love my intimate twitter circle btw cos they're small and consists of mainly girls).

And Eid this year hasn't been very merry cos Matriarch was away for a mini-pilgrimage and was back only on the 2nd day which we then spent catching up and bonding with her and her side of the family who all came to fetch her from the airport and convoyed back to our house (yes we dont call her matriarch for nuffin).

I know I only had one day of visiting so far and it was rather bad of me to be complaining about dragging two fidgety kids from house to house all decked in the traditional outfit and trying to maintain my (not so) poised kebaya and make-up. But I took my words back almost immediately cos I was self-reminded of the less fortunate. There are ppl out there who'd give anything to be able to spend eid with healthy kids.

So yes. I thank God for what I have today.

Letters to The Kids

Don't you have days where you get random thoughts which you wish you could discuss it but when you wait, it disappears or you simply lose the mood? I often have a lot of things to say to my kids but they wouldn't understand it now (I tried to tell Munchkin why she shouldn't go around telling people "Mama got 'pampers' stuck to underwear"). So for not wanting to forget the things I want to say, I resorted to penning it down. Partially inspired by Grey's Anatomy where Mere gets to read the diaries of her deceased mother.

I'm not sure if my kids will eventually read it but at the moment, at least it serves as a backup. I don't know either if my handwriting is legible enough though. And I have not quite decided when will be the best age to hand over. For all I know, I might re-read it in time to come then change my mind about giving it to them. But one thing good about this is (this will come off a bit morbid), juuuust in case if I don't live long enough (ya Allah, jauhkanlah) at least it has a purpose in partially getting my message across. BUT that's not the real reason. The real reason is, it's monologue. If certain issues come off naggy, I don't get a "SHUT THE Ffff UPPP, ALREADY!!!". Sure they can just throw it off to a dusty corner and leave it infested with silverfish and roach's eggs.. BUT we mothers, are well-equipped with the power of delusion so I've decided to just use that for now.