Hello, Summer... already?!

School's out for over a week now, and when it's not pouring, it gets hot and muggy! Sure feels like summer's here, although spring's not officially over yet!

But with forecast after forecast of storms, some severe enough for a tornado watch or warning, the boys and I have stayed indoors more than going outside to play to work off some of their energy!

The only time last week when Ben, Jon, and I went outside for some fun in the sun...


So then, it was really nice, after Vern's brief out-of-town engagement over the last two days, that we all went to the pool this afternoon! That's a place I won't take Jon and Ben on my own, simply because I can't swim, even though for now, this mom can still get away with walking in the water! Jon has a swimboard to dog-paddle his way around, and I just have to hold Ben as he tries to do the same with the help of a swim-noodle!

Jon must have burnt off enough energy at the pool, at dinner he ate three of these chicken drumsticks (quite easily done -- just coat with Italian breadcrumbs and use the "fake-it" way to roast in the oven)!


At the start of the school hols...
Vern had Jon write out a schedule. But blame it on me, I have been more "free and easy" with our time, and mostly will do whatever comes to mind, and depending on how the boys are. And among the usual must-do's, mealtimes are the one sure thing I've adhered to day after day! ;p

Lunch...
... whatever's simple enough to whip up!

Dinner...

... I've been doing more stir-fry, not just trays in the oven and all-in-one pots of goodness that are typical of schoolnight fare when larger quantities are deliberately meant to spill over to the next day's lunch.

If the boys will let me...
I'm happy to sit and read with them all day long!

And if I'll let them...
they won't mind being couch potatoes, or be playing those free online games!

But there's more they need to occupy their time. And boys being boys, kids being kids, you can imagine there's a lot of running, jumping, and screaming, day in day out! It can be quite a mad, mad house! Especially when I have to take the icepack out from the freezer to soothe their knocks and bumps, that's the result of their roughhousing, if not, when either one of them thinks he's been wronged and "shows" it, rather than uses his words, and the other thinks it's OK to hit back =(.

Some of the other things we've been up to -- the saner moments, when we are sitting down to something together...

"Hanging Ten" with some moonsand...

but (don't say I didn't warn you) it is a tad messy!

Not quite done with these simple appreciation cards that the boys worked together on, I'll like to add pictures of Ben's classmates at his birthday before mailing them out...


and don't those stones mostly painted by Jon (while shirtless, hence, his face is not shown!), rock? =) The moonsand and rock-painting set are gifts that we didn't get round to earlier, and just wonderful they made for some creative fun now!

"Own Time, Own Target"?
OK, so I let the boys play, and play! Probably I should try and do more "academic" stuff with both of them.

And if you have seen that ST article on
"Oh boy, no break for tots, too?" last weekend, you'll know that in this respect, I'm doing a lot less than what Singaporean parents are doing for their children.

In that article, the mom who's sending her 5-year-old to six enrichment programs this June hols, was quoted as saying that on the only day of the week, Sunday, when her preschooler does not have a class to attend, the child is still expected to do her own writing, (and in the mom's words), "at her own time, own target"!

Have I been too laidback?

My worry always is, and that's the "kiasu" parent part of me talking, that our children will lag behind their peers in Singapore.

Ben isn't writing his numbers and letters the way kids back home who turn 4 this year can do really well by now, partly because preschools here don't expect this milestone till later, and there's no drill and rote learning.

That's no excuse for me, however, not to be encouraging him to work on them at home. Just as I look forward to when Jon will not need to have some motivational incentive before he'll sit down to some Math and writing, besides just reading that's thankfully, become easier to get him to do, this summer!

Of course, these are considered but just the basics in the Singaporean parents' dictionary. Still, we all know it's not easy to balance everything.

But now, letting kids play is a good thing, no? At the same time, I just would like to have enough energy to keep up with my two little guys who keep me pretty occupied, as you can see!

Like most kids, our boys love pretend play...
Above, inset: "Flying" around as caped crusaders, and

Bottom, right: Our couch is a fortress one moment, a Humvee the next. And mostly, Jon and Ben have been using it as an Abrams -- Jon is the gunner, Ben is the commander! OK, boys will be boys, but I think their daddy shouldn't let them watch too much of the military channel!