As they grow

The other day, Ben brought home from school a green bean plant that had started out as a seed. He had helped water it, and observed its growth and development with pictures he drew in a growth journal.

In the same vein, as parents we do what we deem is best to nurture our children. And it's not just the key milestones we want to capture and savour, but also those everyday "Kodak" moments as well. Before the kids grow up too fast, too soon!

Now family life, as you know it, too, has its highs and lows -- the fun and laughter, and frustration and tears also. And every family has its own days that are plain crazy!

At the end of which, nothing like a good hug to make everything all better already. And for me also, telling those three little words to the people I love the most, and yes, it's especially nice to hear them say the very same thing to me (without any prompting, of course)!

Sunday, Mother's Day...
I woke up to more than just nice big hugs. My three guys' extra special ways of telling me, "I love you"! The husband included, who normally prefers for special days other than our boys' to be played down, and I wasn't expecting anything, really.

Jon had been hiding this lovely pot and heartfelt note every day since he brought them home from school, so as not to spoil the surprise for me!

And I believed him totally, when he told me how much work it was to get the paint on, without it dripping all over the place!

Ben's pretty flower painting came with strict instructions from the teacher for us mothers not to unwrap the packaging until Sunday!

And I too believed him, when he said he had no help brushing on the strokes. His teacher told me she had shown the 3- and 4-year-olds the basic techniques of cleaning and dabbing the brushes to change colours, and left the rest all up to them!

I have so much to thank God for, as a result of being on the mommy track! And now, with my growing belly, more so than I'd imagined!


It's no secret that recently, I wrote off a chapter of my life, when I said goodbye for good to my employer back home. That wasn't as easy as it looked though, knowing this move spelt "No turning back" (for now, at least). And to be honest, one part of me was pining to breathe PR work again -- that was my job for a decade, up till before we came here.

But we can't always have the best of both worlds. And with all due respect to working mothers (and I was proud to be one before), there's probably no more important job in the whole wide world than devoting ourselves to care for the kids, husband, and house, and whatever else we try and fit on our plates as at-home moms! Yeah?

That said, I know, too, there's a season for everything. And just as I treasure the lessons learnt and friendships with wonderful people at the workplace, I do what I can to give my best to the much I'm blessed with now.

And as we watch our children grow...

and learn to see the world through their eyes, isn't it to some extent, like us having a second go at childhood? Only, at the same time, how can we play our mentoring role, like Ben's teacher does hers so well -- to show our young ones the way, and yet always leave room for their own creativity and imagination to flourish?

Can we grow with them, as they grow?


On Mother's Day, too, it was a wonderful gesture on the part of the Chinese school to end the schoolyear with certificates and awards for all the students, to spur them on in their learning journey.

Jon came out tops among his classmates in an oral competition, and we're happy he's more interested in picking up Chinese now than in the beginning. I know there's more I should be doing to fuel my children's interest in our mother tongue, and it will really make this mom's day when they can eventually carry out a proper conversation in Mandarin!