A new challenge

After many months of hesitation, I had finally decided to take that big step. OK. Seb and I made that decision together. I am going to be a SAHM (stay at home mother)..... for a year and half.
I might shock some SAHM mothers but I enjoyed working and having Ah Yi to take care of the boys. I am doing part time so I do spend 50% of the time with them. At the end of the day at home, I am more tired than at work. Futhermore, Ah Yi takes good care of the boys and the boys are learning chinese from her.
Being a SAHM makes me nervous. Will I turn dull? A few pull factors made me take the big leap. Because the boys are getting cuter and it is such a joy to spend time with them. And we are moving to a house and I want to spend time decorating it and do a vegetable plot in a corner of the garden. I want to learn to sew and bake and cook better. Most of all, the government policy allows me to do so.
ALL women or men who have 2 kids or more can take parental leave until the age of three of the last kid and be given an allowance. There are some conditions like a min work period in the company etc...
I am benefiting a few hundreds euros from the CAF (Caisses d'Allocations Familiales) for working 80%. This means I do not work every wed and alternate friday.
If I do take full leave, I would get half a thousand euros from the CAF. This is what I am going to do. We will miss Ah Yi a lot as we would no longer need her service.
Financially wise, there will be an decrease in income but we will be alright since we won't have to pay Ah Yi. Her salary takes a big chunk out of my pay.
Come June, I will be staying at home with the kids. I will have to crack my mind on what to cook for each meal, where to bring them to to play, what language to talk to them in.
My goal is for the kids and I to enjoy this period. After all, it is temporary. Until the age of 17 months, A1 had 100% attention from us. A2 never had this priviledge.  A1 is starting school in Sept so I can have one to one time with A2.
My company is waiting for my return in Sept 2013 when A2 goes to school. I will have time to decide if I want to be a SAHM forever....
Wish me luck and all advise and tips are welcome!

Aquarium de Paris

To celebrate A1's birthday, we headed to Aquarium de Paris to look at fishes. Most tourists do not know or may not be interested to know but there is an aquarium in Paris just in front of Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel tower is taken by the side of the entrance of the aquarium.

The boys went 'oh' and 'ah' when they saw the beautiful fishes. There were all kinds of fishes and even a huge tank with sharks. The tanks were all beautifully decorated with corals, rocks and a mix of colorful fishes. I felt as we were in a submarine looking at nature. 

There was a diver pulling out algaes among the corals. The gardener of the sea.

This aquarium was not big and in about an hour, we finished our visit. We did stay in one mini cinema to watch documentary and kid cartoon about the environment.

This aquarium was a good outing for the kids especially during this early spring where it was windy and rainy. We felt warm in this aquarium and were glad that we dropped our coats at the cloak room. However for Singaporean tourists, this can be a miss. The Underwater World in Singapore at Sentosa is better in terms of variety if my memory does not fail me. The aquarium in Brest is bigger and hopefully we will check that out the next time we go Brittany.

Speech

Since I last wrote about toddler A1's speech, he had improved a lot. As a mother, I couldn't help being worried that my trilingual kid was on the slow side in talking. Everyone I spoke to assured me that it was normal blah blah blah.
Finally I am assured. Toddler A1 talking skill is still not as good as a typical 3 year old french kid. But he can express himself better and adds new words to his vocabulary each day. He can count one to ten in the three languages and even until fifteen in chinese. We usually give him the start by saying 'one' in either french, english or chinese and he would continue in that language. It helps that he enjoys playing 'cache cache' (hide and seek) and prefers to be the one counting and then seeking while I hide.
He loves to sing the ABC song though we can make out only the starting letters 'ABCDEF' and the last few letters 'XYZ'. The tune is there. In between, 'QRS' can be identified too.

As for toddler A2, he talks too. At 18 months old, he says more words than what toddler A1 did at that age.

Tulips festival at Saint Denis

Each year in April, there is a tulips festival at the Saint Denis park. We had never been there as each time, we were away for the weekend when the event took place.
This year, we were at home and decided to drop by to take a look. There were not many tulips around. They took up a small portion of the big park. However, there were lots of things organised. Stalls set up promoting activities, selling local and regional wares and food, face painting for children, plays, clowns etc...

Once we arrvied, we headed for the food place. Seb got us white wine and I ordered half a dozen of fresh oysters. I had a craving when I saw them. Not something I expected to find in a park. The queue for the crêpes were too long so we bought fries and shared with the kids.
As usual, there were balloons sellers and Seb bought each of the boys a Barbapapa balloon. A2 was too young to appreciate it.

The boys played at the playground for a while and we viewed the tulips and also saw poneys and horses. Too bad they were still too young to take the rides.

Here was A1 trying to smell the flowers.

I'm glad we visited this festival and park in the 5 years we stayed here. This is the first time and would be the last time since we will be moving out of this area in a few months time.

Lots of exciting things happening at the moment. Will update more as and when it happens.

Spring time

It is spring time. We spent the weekend at the grandparents'. The kids went for a stroll with their grandmother and toddler A1 picked these flowers for me. So sweet of him.
With the good weather, the boys spent their afternoon outdoors shooting balls into the basket. Toddler A2 enjoyed playing with balls. He could play by himself with a ball for long hours. At one point, he missed the basket a few times. He then tried to adjust the basketball stand hoping to lower the basket. Smart boy. We told him no as we prefered the boys to stretch themselves a little.

After many months of cold, this sunny time is so welcomed.

Ricotta and courgette Quiche

I am never a cream and egg mixture person. So quiche is the last thing I would order for lunch. I have been thinking of cooking new dishes for the kids. And everyone told me that quiche is really easy to do and well accepted by kids.

I checked out a vegetarian recipe and indeed, it was not difficult. I bought the pastry crust, cooked the courgette and mixed it with fresh cream and 2 eggs and some cheese. Poured the mixture into the pastry crust and baked for 30mins. That was it.

The verdict? I did eat it and found that it was not too bad. A1 won't touch it. A2 ate it. The thing is, I think I started A1 too late on western food. He did not like lasagne which I had started to make since last month. A2 took it well.

A1 is going to school come Sept. I hope he will get used to canteen food as everyone is served the same food (western food). Unlike in Singapore where we can choose from many stalls what we want to eat.

So here's a pic of the quiche before going to the oven.


And here is the one when it was baked. I think my oven was too hot.

Crabby

Each time I go to the chinese supermarket nearby my place, I would see these little crabs in a big tall bin. And there would always be people bending over the bin to select some crabs.

Well, these little things seemed to be so popular with the mainland chinese that I decided to take 4 to try last weekend. And they were as expensive as durians. 1kg was going for 20.60€. Wow. A china man told me these crabs worth gold in China. Even with money, they couldn't find it. So he was happily selecting them. My 4 crabs cost me 7.50€.

I washed them a little and put them in a pot of water and boiled until they turned red. The verdict: I was conned. There was hardly anything to eat from these little things. I really wonder what is all the hooha about this chinese crab.

Mixed languages

Things have been quiet over here. The boys are sleeping well, playing togather and just growing. Life is such a routine thus there is not much updates over here.

This morning, I went into A1's room when I heard him calling for us. He shitted and I could smell it once in his room. I picked him up and asked "What did you eat, man?" referring to his stinking poo. He replied me "Ge ge no pas encore eat". I burst out laughing. This was the first time he actually made a sentence. Usually it was just adjective and noun. Like "big tree", "big bus", "small ball" etc...

OK. It was not a complete correct sentence. There were a mix of 3 languages. Ge ge = big brother in chinese which he was referring to himself. Pas encore = not yet. So he actually meant that he had not eaten anything and was pointing his finger to his mouth.

Just yesterday, the nanny told me that she commented on A1's socks saying they were very nice. The nanny only speaks chinese to the boys. A1 replied "mouse" as that was the design of the socks. The nanny does not understand english and thought that A1 was saying "moche". Moche is ugly in french. I explained that A1 did not know about this word yet and was saying mouse. What a misunderstanding. Actually, he finds the socks nice as he wears them and does not want to take them off even for bedtime.

Come Septembre, A1 will be going to school. I hope the teacher will be understanding with him when he starts mixing languages.

Durian

Saw fresh durian at the chinese supermarket. 13.50€ per kg. They smelled so good that I succumbed to temptation and bought one without knowing how to open it.

The durian was slighly more than 2 kg and it was really good. From the photo below, one can tell how I massacred it. Seb helped out too since he had more force than me. Mum always made it look so easy when she opened durians. Now I knew better. Durian opening is really a profession. I guess I would need more experience but the price is steep. I paid 28€ for this durian and thank God it turned out good. If it had been otherwise, gone were the money and effort in opening it.

Oh, A2 loved it while A1 did not even want to smell it. As for Seb, he told me to eat all up ASAP as the fridge was smelling of durian.

Galette des rois

Despite missing Chinese New Year in Singapore, I do enjoy other festive celebrations in France. I love Christmas in France. Right after Christmas and New Year, there is the tradition of having a galette des rois (Kings' cake). Normally, we have the galette on Epiphany which is the 6 January. But we can buy the galette des rois from the bakeries and supermarkets throughout the month of January.

Last Friday, our company organised a galette des rois party. We had cidre with the galette. In each galette, there was a trinket hidden. The person who had that trinket would be the king or the queen of that day and had to wear a crown. We had 5 galettes des rois that day and ended up with 3 kings and 2 queens.

Below are some photos. First, of the whole galette. This one was overburnt. Second photo showing a trinket found. And lastly, the king with his crown.

Come February, there will be another celebration, the Chandeleur. I tried Wikipedia and the english translation was "Presentation of Jesus at the Temple". This time, we would have to eat crepes. I tried to make some last year at home but it was not well received by the family. I think I will give it a pass this year.

Next, I'm looking forward to Easter. The kids will have fun collecting eggs at their grandparents' garden.

Happy Chinese New Year

Happy chinese new year to all of you celebrating it.
As Seb left on sunday for a work trip, we had our reunion dinner a day earlier. We had steamboat as usual. The electric stove was used once a year for this occasion. This was the first time in France I spent Chinese New Year without my hubby. Well, at least I had the 2 kids. Chinese New Year season made me missed Singapore. I missed watching fireworks at Marina area. I missed staying up late and visiting Chinatown for last minute deals. I missed collecting Ang Bao and stuffing silly with goodies. I missed the visitings. I missed the chinese music.

This morning, I gave the kids red packets when they woke up. A2 was oblivious to it while A1 was happily waving the 2 red packets and running around with them. I quickly took out the money I put in and gave back the empty red packets to A1. I did not want him to destroy the cash.

Below is a pic of them watching Sesame Street on the laptop yesterday. They are playing togather now and like to run around the apartment. Sometimes A1 would plant kisses on his brother. Still, there are times when they fight over toys. Looking at them, I realised that A2 has grown a lot. He is no longer a baby and I love toddlers at his age now. I told myself to really treasure this moment. Already, he would push our hands away when we try to aid him. He is starting to be a little "independant" boy; just like his brother.

One pacifier gone. One more to go.

Since 23 Dec 2011, A1 has stopped using a pacifier. I would not have thought it would be so easy.

Once the boys reached a year old, we would leave the pacifier at home when we went out. They could nap in the car seats without a pacifier. But at home, they were allowed to use their pacifier any time though I prefer to limit the usage to bedtime.

Since toddler A1 had full set of teeth, he had been biting his pacifier. I had to change his broken pacifier so often that I tried to make him stop using it. I explained to him that he was a big boy; his teeth would drop if he uses a pacifier (this worked for a friend's son) etc. But each time, he cried for one. And since there was always spare at home, I would sterilize a new one for him.

Last Nov, I told him that the new red pacifier was the last one he was going to get. If it was broken, there won't be a new one. I was not sure that he would abide to my rule. On 23 Dec, I discovered a tear on his pacifier and told him that it had to go to the rubbish bin. He obeyed and threw the pacifier into the bin. I told him that he won't get a new one. He was sad but said nothing. And he never asked for a pacifier from me after that. I was apprehensive when it was bed time but he went to bed with his comfort toy "OB" and slept easily. He had asked for a pacifier from his father and the nanny but each of them told him that he did not need it. He had on a few occasions used his brother's pacifier. I guess it was more for memory sake and not a need because he removed it after a short while.

Now, there is only toddler A2 using a pacifier. Hope he will get rid of it once he has his full set of teeth.

string Sick_leave = NULL;

I was looking at how many days of leave I have left for the year when I came across the information of our development team days of presence. We are a team of 8. For last year, 5 of us including myself did not take a single medical leave. The 3 others took a day, two and three respectively. I find this quite a record. Of course I did consult the doctor last year but nothing serious enough to be confined at home. I thank God for good health.
I remembered when I first came to France, my mum was worried as I was often sick in Singapore. I think living in a less stressful environment makes me healthier. Working overtime like crazy in Singapore makes one weak. I have friends who are sick now and then in Singapore. They are sometimes "sick" of going to work and I guess the body responds to the mental state.
I just hope that I will continue with this record for this year.

New year's day

On new year's day, we ended up in Paris 1st arrondissement as we would like to visit the exposition of Babar. However, the Art and Deco museum was closed like the rest of the museums nearby including the Louvre.

We walked to the nearby courtyard at Palais Royal. Les Deux Plateaux, more commonly known as the Colonnes de Buren, is an art installation in the courtyard of the Palais Royal.

The boys had fun discovering the colonnes and even climbed up on those small ones. We played with them chasing them around and amused ourselves until it started to drizzle. We had to call it a day. Nevertheless, the boys enjoyed themselves.

Below is the entrance of the metro station Palais Royal. It is pretty unique isn't it?

Christmas day is over.

Christmas 2011 was as usual spent at my in-laws'. This time round, toddler A2 was walking and awared of the happenings around him. He was a curious boy and when his grandfather started the fire at the fireplace, he was looking on nearby. Toddler A1 being the wise one stood at a distance. He does know that fire is hot and dangerous.

This was Christmas eve and we had an elaborate apperitif. Champagne with fingerfood. Toddler A2 had his dinner and was still stuffing himself with cheese cubes, cherry tomatoes and crackers after. We were amazed and afraid that he would suffer a tummy upset.

The next day, we prepared for the feast. Rather, the kids' grandparents. As usual, the grandfather opened up the fresh oysters and laid them up nicely on the silver plate. The grandmother prepared a vegetable starter for Seb among other yummies. One relative brought along his homemade foie gras, spice bread and log cake.

Here is a pic of toddler A2 all dressed up and playing with the TV remote control. I got him new clothes for christmas as he often wore hand-me downs. He is really no longer a baby.

And the presents waiting to be opened. In this family, we opened the presents on the afternoon of christmas as that was when everyone got togather. In France, normally, kids would wake up in the morning and rushed down to the christmas tree looking for the gifts that Santa left behind. Well, we would have to find an explaination on why we are different to toddler A1 soon as this year, he was bombarded with so many stories of Santa Claus. I think he is a big fan of that man now though he avoided one at the garden shop the other day. Yeah, Santa with his huge white beard can look scary to young kids.

And this last pic showed toddler A1 playing with his brother's toy. It is SMARTMAX and is a set of magnetic bars and balls. With imagination, one can build lots of things with it. All the kids at the house were playing with it.
The lunch was great except for a hiccup when toddler A1 threw a big tantrum. Seb and I took turns to be with him. Seb was away from the table most of the time and he mentioned that this was the christmas where he drank the least. Poor father cos' great wine was served.

We stayed in Chartres until Boxing day before heading back home and getting on with the usual routine.

Christmas went and a new year is here already. I sincerely wish everyone a happy new year 2012.

Spectacle at Bercy Village

Just the weekend before christmas, we headed to Bercy Village for a walk. Before having kids, Seb and I used to come here to watch movies with our friends. This place used to be an old warehouse for wine and there is a mini railway track in the middle of the pavement. Now, it has been redevelopped and the 2 rows of warehouses host boutiques and restaurants.

During the month of december, everywhere we went, we came across spectacles and shows. It was lively here as the 4 elfes were trying their best to make their reindeer move forward. They spoke in their elfish language among themselves; they spoke to the reindeer to motivate him to move; they danced; they made music; they bounced around. Finally the reindeer moved.

Everyone was delighted. Children and adults alike.

End year season

In Nov, toddler A2 and I spent 2 weeks in Singapore. We went there for my mum's birthday and though it was a short stay, it was a good trip. I did not tell many friends that I was back because the whole idea was to spend time with my mum. To keep a low profile on that, I shall not put any photos of that trip here.

With christmas coming soon, we had been busy in december. 2 weekends ago, we headed down to Opera area. As a tradition, we brought the kids to view the display windows at Galleries Lafayette. This year's theme was on Rock and Mode. It was not very interesting. Just dolls playing rock instruments in all the display windows. It was so crowded that I left with toddler A2 to shop for christmas gifts. Furthermore, he was in his stroller and could hardly see the window.

We had lunch at the chinese restuarant on the last floor of Galleries Lafayette. After that, we decided to walk around. We crossed the street to avoid the crowd. Printemps was just beside Galleries Lafayette and it was just as crowded.

We walked around the Madeleine area and I dropped by GAP for kids clothes as there was a 30% discount sale that day.

I took pics of chocolates displays during our walk. Christmas is such a big event in France and chocolates are a must. I love the chocolate representation of Santa Claus at the last pic.

How we travel with the kids

In France, car seats for children are mandatory and the law is strictly abided. I rarely see young children not buckled in one.

However, in my short visits in Singapore each time, I saw on many occasions mothers who held their kids on their laps sitting in the front passenger seat. Or even kids not buckled up playing at the back of the car. This is disturbing for me. I had experienced minor car collisions twice in my life and the impact was strong even if there was no big damage done to the cars. Having a seat belt helped. If a child is not properly buckled on, in the event of an accident, he can be seriously injured. I questioned my friends and they said 'Oh, it's just a short distance.' Still, if you don't bang other cars, these other cars might bang yours. We never know.

Recently, a friend put on facebook a video of her 2 year old singing in the car. The father was driving, the mother was in the front taking video of her daughter who was standing in the middle and holding onto the two front headrests as support. I can't imagine how they could allow that.

OK, critics aside. If I had to travel in a car without a car seat (taking a taxi or my mum's car in Sg), I would sit at the back of the car, put my kid on my lap and buckle him with me. That won't replace the car seat but I was doing my best.

The photos below were taken during our trip in Lyon. Toddler A1 was in his comfy car seat. As usual, he did not want his photos to be taken. Toddler A2 was in his baby coque. He used this since birth. Soon, he will be upgraded to a road facing car seat as he is getting too big. We will be getting a bigger car seat for A1 and as usual, A2 will use the hand me down of his brother's.

A1's joke

Yesterday at home, A1 shouted 'caca, caca'. That meant that he pooed. I asked if he did it already in his diaper, he nodded and started to walk like a duck. He seldom walked like that so I had the impression that he did a big one and he was in discomfort. Since it was near bath time, I told Seb to run the water in the bathtub.
I put A1 up on the changing table and started to unchange him. I expected the worse and when I opened his diaper, there was nothing. I said 'but you did not do caca'. He looked at me and started to smile and then laughed. He was pulling my leg. I shouted for Seb to come take a look. It was too comical. Our little boy of 31 months is starting to play jokes on us.
This was not the first time but this was the most beliveable.
Not too long ago at the Chinese supermarket, he told me the same thing. I told him I would change him at home. But when we reached home, there was nothing.
I don't think I will fall for his little trick the third time. Let's see if there will be new joke up his sleeves soon.

Advent calendars

December is already here. Seb was recently in London and I told him to get something for the kids. Among toys, he bought advent calendars.

There are 24 windows on each advent calendar; one for each day of December leading up to Christmas Day. Since the first of december, each evening before sleep time, the kids would open a window corresponding to the day. Inside would be a little message and a small chocolate. After eating the first one, A1 asked "Encore." We told him to be patient and that he was allowed only one a day. A2 shared his chocolate with me. Yeah, he had no choice cos I felt that he was still young for chocolate yet I did not want him to miss out the fun. When I broke the chocolate, he would want to take the big piece. So young and already having notion of big and small.

This advent calendar is a fun one for kids. So the messages are like "Is it snowing yet?", "Have you wrap up your gifts?". When they are older, I will get more meaningful advent calendars.

After Christmas eve, I hope the boys won't think that a chocolate before bed time is normal. Maybe the Christmas presents they receive will make them forget about this advent routine.