SKYNI

We were really hoping to go home for Chinese New Year. However, Nichlas can’t take time off work, and the air-tickets were just ridiculously priced. I really miss my national carrier. Bringing my kids alone on a 18-20 hour flight with no good inflight entertainment system is quite a scary thought. Well, you can say that there is always the Ipad. But I have 2 kids who can’t quite ‘share’. I think there will be too many ‘angry birds’ on the flight.

So we are not going home this time round. We will definitely miss our Singapore family and friends, the Reunion dinner and all the Chinese New Year goodies, the friends gathering. And also the Yu-sheng. Thinking of the food just makes me salivate. Thanks Hock Yam for sending some pineapple tarts to me. It is really wonderful and kind of you.

So here’s wishing you my family and friends… Kung Hee Fatt Chai! Eat, drink and be Merry!

After a rather long and hard week, we are enjoying a very nice weekend. One of these rare weekend when we had sunshine. With the snow glitters in the sun, it can be really beautiful.

We went to Tom Tit (Swedish Science Museum). The kids really enjoyed themselves, specially Jon. Think it was a bit of a sensory overload for him. Linn and I baked her first cupcakes and she really enjoyed it. The problem is that she only wants to eat the icing but not the muffin. The kids then went out to the snow to play.

If you are wondering why there are so many photos of Linn but not Jon….the answer is because Jon always look away just when I am about to take the picture. Linn will happily pose. Hence, we don’t have many good pictures of Jonathan.

Thanks Chien for your very good response and sharing the hardship of motherhood. It is definitely more than a full time job requiring 24/7 focus and attention…and lots and lots of patience.

I agree with you totally about those ‘self help’ book on how to raise the perfect kid. I stopped at the ‘What to expect Toddler’ book and never was motivated to buy any other book. I prefer to read some chic fic – more entertaining and light-hearted. I also stopped watching Super Nanny because it only shows these success stories within minutes. I am unsure about the time-out naughty corner. I think my kids have a different interpretation of ”naughty corner”‘….they sit there and think of more naughty things to do.

Linn has just been impossible these days. Maybe because she is very constipated but she disagrees and finds fault in everything. She whines all the time with “I don’t want this …”..or ‘”not like this'”. The princess wants everything to be done in a certain way. Her Way. When I lost my temper and told her loudly to give me a break…her retort is ‘I don’t want you to shout at me’. Really impossible.

And 1 + 1 is not equal to 2. Today, when I brought Jonathan for an assessment on his fine motor skills, he was the perfect angel, following instructions and completing his tasks. He is really fantastic when he is not with Linn. Somehow, together, they create more chaos!

Ok, enough of my whining. My kids drive me insane but I love them dearly and can’t live without them. These days, I just eat ice cream to cool myself down and to nurse my sore throat.

I am seriously wondering if there are any mothers out there who can get their kids (3-6 years old) to obey and do exactly what they are told PROMPTLY without shouting and without repeating the instructions. My kids just don’t listen and I have tried almost everything.

These days I have a ‘3 times’ rule. I will not repeat myself 3 times and after that, I will take away their toys or candy if they don’t listen and obey. I have also confiscated Jon’s iPad indefinitely. Sounds cruel? Yes, but i am going mental listening to my own voice.

Linn says she wants to be a ‘good’ girl but when I asked her to describe a good girl, she replies innocently ‘I don’t know’. As for Jon, I am seriously thinking of creating videos of myself and playing in front of him repeatedly. It seems like he can only pay attention to
ýoutube videos. He can remember and repeat the video script but not hear a word I am saying.

I have been reading some of the comments about Amy Chua …and don’t worry, i do not think I can use the same method, unless I don’t mind being banned from my Swedish community. But this is how my own mother brought me up. My sisters and I used to live in fear of offending her. We have a very strict Ámy Chua’ upbringing.

Of course, I want my kids to grow up in a loving environment and I want them to be happy. How can they be happy if they keep getting punished for disobeying and not listening? I really don’t want to shout. BTW, where can I get more patience?

Maybe I just need a good microphone and a good recorder!

Apologies for the long silence. We have been rather busy with the chickenpox and we have been visiting farmor in Köping over the weekend. The weather has been kind to us and finally we got a few days of sunshine.

Some of the snow started to melt due to the 1 degree temperature and but what is not so nice is that the melting snow and rain has caused a layer of ice on the road. Imagine walking around on ice and it is extremely slippery. The kids and I have slipped a number of times and it is really difficult to get out of the house.

Linn’s chickenpox subsided after 5 days (thanks to the chicken pox vaccination in Singapore….Sweden does not have this vaccination) but we stayed out of school for 7 days as per childcare’s requirement.

Just when I thought all is clear and I can continue with my swedish classes, the school called me today to inform me that they suspect Linn has a stomach flu and she needs to stay at home for the next 48 hours. I can only bring her back to the childcare on Thursday. And that is not all…I need to do the same for Jonathan as well as siblings may have the same illness and hence, should be kept out of school.

I know it is impossible to control these illnesses but I just wonder how is this possible if I am working and cannot stay at home with the kids. If i had been working, I would have to take at least 2 weeks off to take care of them in the past 2 weeks. That is why I think the swedish moms here are really super moms. They can work full time, do housework, spend quality time with their kids and come home in time to prepare all meals. How do they do this!!!! Maybe I am just spoilt!

Linn likes the snow. She can go for hours out in the snow, (pulka) sliding and making snow balls. Jon on the other hand grumbles and wants to go indoors. It takes a lot to coax him to climb up a hill to do a few slides. He won’t do it unless there is an incentive like candy, chocolate or ice cream. Yes, some of us still eat ice cream when it is freezing cold.

Looks like we cannot go to school for the next 2 weeks.

That boy is totally crazy about Star Wars…he even did a ‘Show and Tell’ in school showing his favourite YouTube Lego videos on his Ipad!

Things we do on weekends…

Dear Lego Toy Company,

Congratulations on a winning collection of Star Wars Lego toys. I have not met a single boy who is not crazy about the collection. Thanks to our kind relatives for their wonderful Christmas gifts, my son has almost the entire collection. Jonathan is really totally obsessed with Star Wars. He not only hums the Star Wars tune when he plays with it but he will also hold the fighter spaceships whilst watching the movie. His obsession is funny and it makes us laugh sometimes.

On one hand, I fully appreciate his efforts to improve his fine motor skills with the collection. On the other, I must say that they are also driving me nuts. You see, my son likes to ask me to ‘help him’ rebuild and look for his lost toys. His autism sometimes get the better of him and he gets really upset when he cannot find his favourite R2D2. My poor back is hurting from picking up all the small little heads, helmuts, eyewear and bits on the floor and also I am most frustrated with re-building some of these really complicated spaceships. And those tiny tiny skinny light sabre…i must say that they are not easy to spot and looking for them is really a test on my very poor eyesight. At one stage, I even tried tying a string around the light sabre to the little Darth Vader’s hands. It somehow does not work. Would you please consider including super strong glue in your products in the future?

Enough of consumer feedback, I must say that you are keeping my son very busy and I am surprised that he is able to sustain the interest for such a long time.

Thank you very much and would be grateful if you can also reduce the price by 50%. Your toys don’t come cheap! It will definitely help some poor stay at home mothers.

Yours sincerely,
A not so good at lego mother

My dear husband got this for me because it has ParkAssist. It will parallel park automatically!!!! wow!!!

We have so much snow that we will build an igloo for our kids. This one is WIP.

Hey….one should make good use of the snow right?

Hmmmm..maybe i should add a table and some more chairs…

After being hit by the worst flu ever for more than a week (yes, i spent Christmas mostly in bed), I am finally starting to taste again. However, I still cannot smell and my ears are still blocked.

It has been a one of the most eventful year for us. I must say, moving from one country to another was certainly not easy. It has been ‘çulturally challenging’. Back in Singapore, we had the luxury of a ‘reliable back-up plan’ to cope when we get sick. For example, we were so sick last week that we couldn’t even get out of bed to send our kids to childcare! I guess we have been really pampered in Singapore and it is hard to adjust when you have to do everything yourself. There are no back up plans!

We will toughen up and appreciate our new environment in time to come.

So here’s wishing our family and friends a very Happy New Year and may all your dreams come true. Enjoy the ride!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas! Eat, Drink and be Merry! God Jul! NIcke, Szeto, Jonathan and Linn

After we came back from London, the whole family have been sick with very bad flu. The kids could not go to school and we were hibernating at home. Their childcare has also been hit by chicken pox and we are keeping the kids away from school. Not so nice to get chicken pox during christmas.

The kids really enjoyed seeing the Singapore cousins, aunts and grandma. Linn threw a big tantrum when she reached home and wanted to go back to London.

Otherwise, we had a great trip catching up with the family and spending quality time together. Saying goodbye wasn’t easy. My heart just cannot take it.

We also came home with alot of additional luggage. We did not buy much but one nespresso and one ipad can still take quite some space. Due to the very weak Pound, shopping in London was quite good. The nespresso machine is a housewarming gift from my sister, Pei Yao. It comes with 280 capsules and cost Pounds 180 (SGD 360)

The weather has been crazy with strong winds and the snow is just mounting high in our backyard. In London, my mother and sister’s family is supposedly to depart last evening but their flight from London has been cancelled due to the snow storm. Healthrow will only reopen on Monday. I wonder if they will be spending their Christmas in London. Thank goodness the accomodation is taken care of by Uncle Poon and Bok who let us stay in their town house centrally located in the heart of London.

But now…i need to crawl back to bed…

Kids…they say the funniest things.

On a rare occasion, I saw that our local supermarket was selling Ferrario Rocher and I happily bought a box for our family. We used to eat alot of these in Singapore. I gave one to Jonathan and was really amused when he asked me really nicely if he can have more chocolate meatballs? I never thought of them as meatballs before.

Linn was playing Cinderalla with me. She wanted to make a dress for me so that I can wear it to the Ball. When I asked her if I am Cinderalla, her response was really quick that I am not Cinderalla but the Ugly Stepsister. How Sweet!

Linn was out playing in the snow in our backyard and she came to asked me for carrots. When she said she needed 2…and i asked her why. She replied that she needed another one for the snowman’s penis. Hmmm….

We are really happy to have our first vistor. Even though she could only stay for 2 days. My best friend, Bertilla braved the snow storms to visit us and had a glimpse of our lives here in Stockholm.

It was really great to have her and to show her around the city. The kids enjoyed her visit as well but I think it made some of us more home sick than ever.

Thanks Bert for your visit. It was certainly short but extremely sweet. Please come again soon.

Whilst Jonathan and Nichlas spend some quality time together, Linn sat on the aisle enjoying something sweet and nice. She has earlier been horse riding with Papa.