After spending a grand total of about a week living in the NJ house, Jon and I flew with the girls to SG on 11th Dec. As always, he had to leave earlier, and left on 28th Dec. Meanwhile, the girls and I will remain in SG until 15th Feb, enabling us to celebrate both Christmas and Chinese New Year in Singapore. I personally haven't celebrated Christmas in Singapore since I left in 2014 (so the last Christmas would have been 2013), so even though it's not such a big event here, it was nice to be around again.
Anyway, a quick recounting of the days I can recall for the past week (time spent writing it all out a large limiting factor):
17 (Wednesday) - My parents had an important meeting at home with the social workers for Ryan today, so I brought the girls out. My parents dropped us off at Holland V, and I brought the girls to the Artgrounds at the new shopping mall (I don't actually know its name). We were the only 3 people there, and the girls had a lot of fun. Towards the end, they started to get hungry, and after being unable to get hold of my folks (still busy with the social worker), I ended up bringing the girls to lunch by myself. E said she wanted to eat ramen, so we went to Ippudo. Eating alone with the kids, was stressful and an ordeal as usual. They fought over the endamame, which I'm sure they enjoyed because it was very well salted, and the yakult that came with the kids meal.
After that, I managed to manuver them through the hawker centre (2nd teh ping of the day), and through the old Holland V shopping centre and to Island Creamery. There, I got them to try my favourites (Isfahan and Milo Ping Pong), and they really enjoyed them, which felt gratifying. When they finished (somehow making minimal mess!), I managed to bring them up another floor to say hi to the TCM lady I've been seeing, Nana. She and her colleague were very charmed by the girls, and she said she now knows why I am so tired, because M was being naughty as usual. My parents had finished eating lunch nearby at this point, and so they came to pick us up to head home.
18 (Thursday) - Everyone went along to drop Ryan off at his care centre today. My dad left and my mum brought the girls to the playground. Meanwhile I went off to a nearby kopitiam to have onion thosai and teh ping. This time the guy offered me fish curry with my thosai, and it was so deliciously satisfying. The kids played, ate ice cream, and had sugary drinks, and I was unable to intervene or offer an alternative. Around 11:30am, my dad picked us up and we went to a nearby placed to da bao our lunch. I managed to find chicken chop, which I had been craving for a while, so I was happy.
After lunch, I made E do some work for a bit. Then I read some of a chinese book I have been working on. Finally around 2pm, my dad's friend came and we chatted to him for about an hour. When he left, I went upstairs to nap.
19 (Friday) - Took a bus to Orchard Road with M to meet Shu and check out her new place. We met her outside Wheelock Place, and walked to her new apartment with her. There, we hung out for a while, and E got a kick running around in circles. Eventually, she settled down and ended up watching two episodes of My Little Pony, before we left to get lunch. Lunch was at Prive outside Wheelock, and I really enjoyed the crayfish pasta I had, while also marvelling at how spicy the 'mild' level was - I should have known this would forbode bad things.
After lunch, we continued to Toast Box downstairs, where I had a second teh ping (this probably did not help). I hadn't drank much of it however, when I noticed I was starting to get a headache. We walked out with Shu and towards the bus stop, and purposely waited for bus number 7, because E had been talking about wanting to ride a double decker bus for a while. I noticed I was feeling very exhausted. At Holland V, we changed to our regular bus and reached home.
At home I lay down for a bit, and noticed my stomach was starting to feel bloated. My headache got a little bit worse. However, I had already made an appointment with Nana, my TCM lady for 4:30pm, and so even though I wasn't feeling great, I still left the house again. During the TCM session, maybe because I was in so much pain (hello Tui Na, Gua Sha, Cupping, and Bloodletting), I didn't really notice much. When I stood up after the session however, I noticed I was feeling a little faint. My bloating and burping also felt way over the top. Not good. Still, I had also promised to pick up dinner and meet my dad at Holland Close market, and so I walked over there in the drizzle.
It wasn't until the food was obtained and I had gotten into the car however, that I started to feel really, really, really, fucking sick. I was in 6/10 discomfort/pain. I had a pounding headache, and I was nauseous and bloated. I ended up throwing up multiple times, to find that I hadn't digested much of lunch at all, and that my nose now was REALLY FUCKING SPICY. Anyway I spent the rest of the night feeling like death and wishing I could be put out of my misery, and as usual I couldn't fall asleep until past midnight, and so I was awake and miserable, because life sucks.
20 (Saturday) - Ryan's swimming lessons started again this week. We ended up at Clementi, and after my dad took Ryan off for class, I went to the hawker centre with my mum and the girls to have teh tarik and prata. I ended up barely having any prata, because the girls absolutely loved it with the sugar. There was also a point when M knocked a big cup of soy bean milk over and made a huge mess, so that was a small ordeal. We walked through Clementi central, stopping by the CNY market in the middle to buy random items. Then we ended up in the mall for a bit, but a lot of things were still closed, and then it was time for us to meet my dad and Ryan again.
In the late afternoon, Uncle KL came to pick up me and the girls, but E threw a huge tantrum and in the end only M and I went with him. We went to Junction 8 in Bishan to meet Matt for dinner at Genki Sushi, and it's a good thing we ate early, because a formidable line started up around 5:45pm. After dinner, we wandered around random stores for a bit, like Popular and Best Denki, which was nice. Matt has gotten far more pleasant to hang around with than before, a sign of maturity I suppose. Then, Uncle KL dropped M and I home, and we discovered my parents had gone out with E and Ryan. It was nice enjoying the quiet for a bit, before everyone else came home.
21 (Sunday) - My mum and dad went to church in the morning so I watched the 3 kids(?) at home. While hanging up clothes to dry outside, I heard E yelling a lot but decided to ignore her (it was her MUMMYYYY non-urgent yell). By the time I finished almost 20 minutes later, I walked in to see her wrestling a diaper onto a naked M. Apparently M had pooped and E was trying to tell me, but when I didn't reply, thought that I had also left the house and hence decided to change her sister. M however, declined to be as cooparative when it came to putting on clothes, and instead ran away E tried to put clothes on her. Later, all 3 kids ended upstairs in Ryan's room, and they played around him and he lay on his bed and tried to serve him plastic play food.
After my parents came back, I caught a ride with them to Holland V where I was meeting Deni and Ryan (another one, lol), for lunch. I didn't know what was unique and good, so I suggested Xiang Xiang again. The line this time was less forgiving, so by the time Deni and Ryan appeared I was still lining up. I'm glad we stayed though, because they ended up enjoying the food and agreeing that it was unique. Even though I was running thin on time, I couldn't resist grabbing another teh ping from the hawker centre with them. Then I made the mistake of sitting down to chat. By the time I realised the the time, I was going to be late for meeting up with Shu at MBS. Even the cab took a long time to finally arrive to pick me up.
By the time I got into the cab and was on the way to MBS, I realised I should not have had a second teh ping. My stomach felt awful and I didn't feel great. By the time the cab reached MBS, I wanted to run out and look for the nearest bathroom. Anyway, this meant I was exhausted and physically not feeling great, as Shu and I traversed the exhibition halls looking at all the art on display at ArtSG. We were struck by how crowded the place was, and she told me it had been even more packed on Thursday when there was a pre-opening party. On the upside, the B2 exhibition halls were less crowded, and the art appealed to us more. While wandering around there, we ran into a friend of HM, who said this meant we had more expensive taste, because the bigger and more reputable galleries were exhibiting downstairs, lol.
My parents had someone decided to bring the kids out again in the evening, so after MBS, Shu and I took a bus to Marina Square to meet them. I was feeling very drained and not-great-at-all, and after being unable to contact my parents, we ended up just sitting on the stage set up for CNY for a while. When we finally found them at the indoor play area, my mum was so tickled as she kept recounting this story about this little girl who was so fascinated with M that she followed her around the play area. At one point M wanted to ride one of those coin-operated cars, and so she scrambled after M to put coins that she had in a little pouch in. When the car started moving, 5 different other kids all suddenly piled into the car, and then when it ended they all melted into the teeming mass of other manic kids in the play area.
Shu declined to join us for dinner, and we ended up at Chickenboo. The kids loved the food, and my parents were happy, but I could have done without considering I was still feeling like I was dying by the second. By the time I reached the car, I felt so incredibly relieved that I had survived the day intact.
22 (Monday) - My mum and I took a bus to Holland V with the girls to bring them to Artgrounds before meeting family friends (Aunty SF and Uncle HC) for lunch. This time the Artgrounds was more full with lots of mums and their toddlers. E was the oldest kid there by far. While they had fun, by the 1hr mark the girls were bored and hungry. We left early and walked around for a bit before meeting Aunty SF and Uncle HC at La Nonna for lunch. The food was good and enjoyable. I left a little early towards the end with E to pick up a teh ping from the hawker centre and a coconut ice cream, before rejoining everyone else outside La Nonna.
In the end, we finished the ice cream while waiting for Uncle HC to pick us up by car and head to their place. When we reached their place, the girls immediately gravitated towards their pool. Soon they were completely soaking wet, and my mum and I were tired from squatting by the girls to watch them/stopping M for jumping in. Both E and M were manically delirious from splashing at the pool. I haven't seen them so happy and enjoying themselves in a while. After they dried off and had some ice cream, they started playing with the rocks and the flowers in the garden while my mum chatted with Aunty SF. Finally, Uncle HC sent us home when we were done.
23 (Tuesday) - The stated agenda for today was to bring the girls to a water play area. After picking up my new passport at the Ghim Mo h post office, we were headed towards Kallang Wave, only for my mum to find out after a quick look-up that it was closed on a Tuesday. We diverted to the West towards Jurong, and went to the Science Center, only to find out that the water play area was closed for 2 days for maintenance. Lol. We then headed to Jurong Lake, and while there was a nice and large water area, it was very simple. E enjoyed herself nonetheless, while the rest of us waded in. M however, was not having it. She threw a fit and refused to go into the water. Even after I coaxed her in and she relaxed a little, she still wasn't very pleased. Go figure.
We went for lunch at a kopitiam and I shared this really nice but spicy chicken curry with my mum. After that, my parents were still determined to find a 'proper water play place' for the kids (WHY???), and we ended up at Westgate, where they found the water area closed (LOL). I had wandered off by then to walk in circles around the 4th floor, and later found them with the kids doing the window colouring art. I managed to pop into Kiddy Palace and Popular during then, so my inner consumer was satiated.
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Tomorrow M turns 2. Haven't yet quite figured out what to do, but it will probably involve some sort of indoor play area, and a chocolate cake.
