Growing up - another milestone

 So last week marked another milestone in the girls journey to adulthood and independence

- A took the public bus back home from school on her own. She had camp at school the whole week and I was dropping and picking her up by taxi. Mid week she said can we try coming back by bus so Wed and Thursday i came with her in the public bus and showed her all the landmarks to our place, where to press the button and when to get off. Friday she managed it all on her own. She messaged me from the bus stop, messaged me throughout the bus journey saying where she was, how a strange lady had sat next to her and I was waiting for her at the bus stop when she got off. My little baby, you are growing up so soon!

- S took the taxi home from Sentosa on her own. Her friends have been taking the taxi home for some time but both her and I have been reluctant for her to try it. We figured SG is the best place for her to start, and with a mobile phone and a location we have been multiple times in the past that would be the best time. So yesterday after a friend's birthday party at Sentosa she messaged me about where she was (she was a bit confused but we spoke and we realised she was in the correct location to book a taxi). I was able to book a taxi and share the details with her. This was I could monitor her journey home, have the driver details. I watched the trip on my mobile the whole way and also send her messages every 10 mins. She took the taxi at 5 pm and was home by 5:30, all while it was still bright and sunny outside. So all good!

Sigh, am happy the girls are becoming independent but also slightly sad as they are not my little girls anymore. 

So what did we do in the Summer then

 So the girls agreed (albeit reluctantly) to go for 2 weeks of camp - S did 1 week DT and 1 week football camp and A did 1 week multi-activity and 1 week drama camp.

The hubby and I took a week off and this is what we did  in the one week

- 3 hour boat trip around Sembawan and Pulao Ubin area alongwith visit to fish farm and some fishing. Got more exciting as our boat's engine was damaged halfway through the trip and the driver had to call to tow us back to the fish farm and then he organised a 'bumboat' to take us back to Singapore. I kid you not the name is bum boat. It was high excitement as we were marooned at high sea! Just kidding it was 5 mins and we were 100m from Pulao Ubin shore. 

- Day trip to st John and Lazarus island. Took the 11 am ferry there and the 3 pm ferry back. Super hot and the ferry we took there was very slow (as per S we could have swum there faster). I enjoyed the picnic we had  carried and the 4 hours of no phone/ipad and some family bonding

- Lunch at Changi beach, Had planned to walk around there before lunch but we reached a bit late (after picking up hired car) and the beach wasn't that great, and we had to reach school by 1 pm to drop S for her football camp so we headed straight for a nice lunch at the Bistro there overlooking the sea

- iFly for the girls. A did the intro session and S was brave enought to try the advanced one. Looked super exciting but sadly with my broken arm and hubby's bad back we won;t be trying that anytime soon

-Visits to Sentosa beach and Botanic Gardens with F (our silly dog). He met his cousin in Sentosa beach and was quite happy to be off leash. In Botanic Gardens S went running with her long distance running buddy while I walked with the mum and the hubby and A took F for a walk around his old area. Chilling with F at home, he loves to sunbathe in the balcony!

- Dinners for the hubby and me at Tiffin Room (highly recommended), Sabai Thai, Anand Bhawan (yummy) & at Kazbar (Lebanese food) again yum. Drinks at Lantern Bar. Think I've put on at least 1 kilo after all this extravagance

3 weeks down, 4 and 1/2 to go! S has been meeting friends about twice a week (playdates, trips to WWW and Sentosa) and A might have a pizza party to watch her drama production (Midsummer's night dream where she was Oberon)

Long summer holidays during Covid

 This is the second year we are stuck in Singapore in the summer due to Covid. So far summer holidays have been spent 2 weeks in some location (2017-Japan, 2018-  , 2019-Switzerland) with a month in India with parents. Since the lockdown from March'20 we are not allowed to leave Singapore till who known when.Day to day life has been ok with the kids only spending about 3 months totally doing HBL with the rest of the time back at school, though sports have been severely curtailed. Office has been largely a mix of WFH 3 times a  week and RTO 2 times a week except for when the country goes into lockdown in which time its all WFH.

The problem has been in the vacation time. Last summer we were still enthusiastic, We took 2 weeks off, hired a car and made a daily schedule to go exploring Singapore. The kids did 3 weeks of 1/2 day camps and the long 7.5 weeks holidays went by. This year nobody is feeling the same level of enthusiasm. My worry about when i can go visit parents in India is overshadowing all plans to go explore within Singapore. A boredom and ennui has set in. Cannot visit the Zoo another time. Gardens by the Bay is boring now. No more roller blading. Cycling enough. Hubby and kids are against staycations. Kids are already moaning about the 2 summer camps they are enrolled in at school.

And the unfariness of the situation doesn't help. Their friends who are PRs here have flown away to US/UK etc for the summer. They are allowed to travel out and come back and do the quarantine. Strange isn't it. It seems Covid doesn't impact PRs and citizens only EP holders. 

Have to keep myself and the family cheerful and positive and try to enjoy the holidays. Hubby has taken one week off and im plannign to take 8 days off in two stretches. current restrictions for dining out at 2 per table. So if we go out to eat we will have to sit at different tables. Still waiting for my second vaccine and S first vaccine. Fingers crossed i will have something more cheerful to post next time. 

On the positive side, there is one family member who is enjoying the restrictions fully. And that is Fido. He's happy to have us all home, no holidays where we leave him behind and me and the hubby largely WFH. He's better trained in the new house also with this sleep and potty habits. Need to stop his indiscriminate barking - everyone walking past our gate (young kids, familieis, workers) etc are subject to this and jumping/barking at everyone who comes home.

 

Of broken bones

 Its been a difficult last 2 months. I broke my humerus bone from a fall while cycling on the Green Corridor. It wasn't that i was particularly speeding or trying any stunts (as some have suggested) just a fall which in most people (with stronger bones) would have just been a small injury but in my case led to a 3 part fractured humerus. 

The initial X ray suggested that immoblising with a sling would be sufficient but a friend who is an othopaedic surgeon suggested a CT scan which revealed a breakage in the lower tuberosity for which surgery was recommended. The surgery was a 3 hour ORIF under general anasthesia and I was very apprehensive to go infor that so i looked for a second opinion. The doctor saw the CT scan and suggested that natural healing would be fine, but asked me to take a 2nd CT scan a week later. After the 2nd CT scan he suggested surgery. Either he was a fool who didn't see the first CT scan properly, or worse still a thief who wanted to steal my surgery from th 1st doctor. In any case i had kept in touch with my first doctor and went back to him for the surgery.

I was extremely nervous teh night before the surgery and kept imagining the worst outcomes. Touchwood the surgery went smoothly with my last memory being the anathetist injecting me in the OT and then me waking up in my room. The hubby and A came to visit me and they said i kep asking the same questions for the first 1/2 hour. 

The overnight stay was ok. I was on extremely strong painkillers and manaegd to sleep on and off. The nursese were very helpful and attentive and I ended up wishing for a 2nd day in the hospital for a better recoviery as i knew at home there would be so much going on. 

I took the first 6 days off from work and tried to rest as much as possible. The pain was manageable withe the painkiller which i gradually reducd from 4 a day to 1 a day (by 4 weeks). From the 6th week i am on 1 painkiller once in 3 days. PT staretd the day after surgery with the doctor asking me to do basic arm exercises. PT started after the stitches were removed (2 weeks post surgery) and each session she is pushing me further. The doctor has said that i don't need the sling anymore in the night but I still prefer to wear it - think i've just got used to the security of wearing it. During the day i wear the sling less and less, and mostly only for going out. I do stilll need to lie down every few hours and support my arm while sitting.

N is also recovering from a slip disc and we are both unabel to do much physical stuff with the girls. so its been a couple of months of relaxed weekends at home. The girls haev been back to HBL for last 4 weeks so have asked them to go out adn do one physical activity daily- eitehr swimming (mainly playing in the pool), or roller blading, or running or cycling. But nothing particularly exciting. 

With the restrictions on travel for the last 1.5 years the work week is merging into the weekend and a slow monoty and ennui has set in. My first trip will be to see parents in India but no clue when the situation will allow that. Sometimes i get pretty stressed and feel helpless about the situation we are in but in a way this fracture has helped with that. So much of my tiem goes in PT exercises and i know i can't travel till the bone heals so in a way I've come to terms with the situation. Its also helped me slow down considerably. Otherwise between the girls activities, Kuchipudi dance, cycling, walking with Fido and office work it was non-stop with no breaks or time to sit down and reflect. 

Hopefully by my next post i will be typing a lot faster with my left hand!

Schools and decisions

 S and A have been in international/ private schools their entire life. Since we have moved around so much in the last 11 years, we haven't been able to settle down in any place and adopt the local culture/systems. Keeping this in mind, and having heard so much about the local school system we decided to move S to a local school for secondary. She got into a very prestigious local school through her sports and seemed keen to try it. The hubby was very against it as it meant she would lose a year and move out of the IB syllabus which is more amenable to international postings. I felt the level of studies in her current school was low and she would be among more like minded people in the local school. Also the sports focus was a positive.

S joined the new school first week of 2021. But it didn't go as per our expectation. The level of academics was actually lower than the earlier international school (possibly as she was in the highest band there in the various subjects). The MT in lieu didn't work out as expected, the number of hours spent in school in MT (in which she sat doing Maths/reading a book) was very high while the level of the foreign language outside school (to be done outside school) was very low and we were concerned if she would be able to clear O level in that. On the positive side, the kids in the school were very welcoming and nice and S didn't feel like an outsider at all. She also became more independent, going to and back from school by public transport.

But in the end the negatives outweighed the positives and we decided to move S back to the international system. She starts back at her old school tomorrow. Since her place was given away, she has not been able to go back to all the classes she had. She might grumble and moan that she was in a worse position than when she started. And we have wasted all this money and effort and taken a lot of stress. On the positive side this has been an experience and possibly we can move forward feeling this is the best education we can provide for the girls and they should get the best out of it.

Sadly will have to listen to hubby's I told you so for the foreseeable future!

Of Birthday parties

 So this year we went overboard with the birthday parties to make up for no parties last year (lockdown) and S turning 13.

A had hers first. since she wanted to call only her 3 close friends and her requirements of cake was very simple (just doughnuts) it was not a very complicated affair. We met the kids at Pizza Hut, had a quick lunch and then checked into Wild Wild Wet. I hung around at a table with the bags while the kids went on the slides, lazy river etc. A good 2 hours later (not fun in the hot sun, 35 degrees + even in the shade) we were done. We all got a bubble tea each and took the a cab home. Doughnuts and more play at home and the party wound down at 6:30 pm. The hubby had got air pods for A which turned out to be the perfect present. She listens to songs on her phone with the airpods all the time now. To the extent that i keep calling for her without realising she can't hear. The unintended effect is that she ends up listening to music at the same time that the hubby is doing his 10k run (tries to do every weekend/ public holiday) and they share an apple tunes account so he ends up accidentally listening to the latest Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande numbers!

S had her actual birthday first where i got her Agatha's brownies and the hubby got her Agatha (Christie)'s Poirots. Her favourite pastime is to curl up on her beanbag, or the sofa downstairs with a Poirot in her hand and Fido (sometimes) by her side. She wanted to call 9 friends to her birthday and given current restrictions of 8 max party size she split into 2 parties of 4 and 5. The first one was at Hydrodash - a floating adventure course at Sentosa. We booked a 2 hour session though we thought they would be done in 1.5 hours. Suprisingly they lasted the entire 2 hours though they were exhausted by the end of it. The girls first came home, had pizza lunch, then i escorted them in a mini bus (!!) to Sentosa.  2 hours again in the hot shade and some bubble tea/ ice cream later we returned home. Cake cutting and they left slowly by 6:30. I know parents don;t accompany 13 year olds to parties but i didn;t want the kids alone in the sea in case of any problems. Probably next year i will be redundant. S second party didn;t involve any swimming. The kids wanted to do the luge. I took them there and made myself scarce in a nice AC cafe. 1.5 hours and 4 luge rides and bubble tea later I put them all in a Grab 6 home and found my own way back. 

I had taken two days off from work to organise and be present at these 3 parties. Honestly while i can moan about how tedious and tiring it is, I would not have it any other way. Very soon I won't be asked to organise or attend these, it will just be me and Fido then (speaking of which maybe I should organise a doggie birthday party for him :)

Autumn holidays in the time of Covid

 In the summer holidays we thought by October this craziness maybe over and we can visit Ajja and Ajji in Bangalore in October. But the craziness continues and we were stuck in Singapore for the October break.The hubby took a week off and i had planned to take 2 days off to be with the girls. But work deadlines got in the way and i was only able to take one day off.

The girls were kept entertained as follows

- Singapore Zoo

- Jurong Bird Park

-HeadWave Virtual amusement park

-Rollerblading in ECP

They had a couple of playdates, birthday parties and lots of waking up late to feel recharged. We ate out too much and i had to run 10km on Saturday to recover from the food coma. For some reason i've started feeling really sick whenever i run more than 7-8km. The hubby says i  need to run more often, my solution is to walk more :)