Random activites and joy

The weather was not good for the last 2 weeks and finally it is warm and sunny. In the first 3 photos, the boys were in long sleeves. While I cooked lunch, the boys would play by themselves either in the living room or out in the garden. Sometimes they had fights and to calm them down and have a piece of mind, I actually made them watch cartoons on the laptop.
One day while I was cooking, I checked on them and saw A1 reading a book while A2 was just resting on the floor. A2 was tired as he woke up each morning at 6.30am.

Another time, I caught the boys playing with sticks in the garden.

As for the photo below, this is the forest that is 100m from our house. The trail brings us to the next village 3km away. The village is bigger and has shops. We took the trail on a cloudy sunday and stopped at the village bar for juice and coffee. We bought bread for the kids at the bakery. It was a lovely walk though A1 was tired on the return trip and did not want to continue on his balance bike while A2 wanted to be carried all the time. On top of that, a storm was brewing and we hurried back home barely missing it. What a close shave. 

As summer temperature returns, the boys are in t-shirts and happily playing outdoors. I pumped up a small plastic pool for the kids with the basic balloon air pump. My brother and mum were watching me working slowly via Skype and teasing me. They had better air pumps in Singapore. Well, it did not take me that long after all but my fingers were aching at the end.

The boys enjoyed themselves in the pool. In the end, it seemed like we were running a nudist camp as the 2 boys were in their birthday suits splashing water around and riding their bicycles. No explicit photo here. :)

Start/Stop button with the comfort access key incident

This is an incident that happened on the day we moved. I wanted to write it down to remind myself and maybe others never to let it happen again.
Seb has a company car and has been driving it for a few months. On the day we moved to this new house, I took A2 with me in our family car to the new house first while Seb supervised the movers in our appartment. In the afternoon, he took A1 with him.

Seb has a BMW 118. Instead of a conventional key, he has a so call comfort access key. When the comfort access key comes into range of the vehicle, a touch on the Start/Stop button will electronically trigger the ignition process. When we use the car, this car key can be in my handbag and just pressing the Start/Stop button will start the car. How convenient. Another 'good' feature is that the car auto locks itself.

On this fateful day, Seb arrived with A1 sleeping in the car. He came out of the car and by reflex, closed the car door. Since there was no car key to remove from the ignition, he did not take out his car key which was sitting in the cupholder. The car was locked with the key in it. The spare key was packed away in a box. It was a hot day and we panicked. We shouted at A1 and banged on the window. A1 woke up with a start. We shouted at him to remove his car seat belt. I knew that it would be impossible as he did not have the strength to press the button. He looked frightened with us shouting at him behind the car window. He then pressed the window switch to lower down the window. Thank God it was not locked! We encouraged him to keep pressing it down. I helped him to release his seat beat and we asked him to go to the front to get his dad's set of keys. He did as we said and with that we managed to unlock the car doors. He was wondering why we hugged him so tightly once he was out of the car and all the praises we gave 'bravo', 'smart boy', 'good job'......

It was long 10mins ordeal. When Seb received the car from the car dealer, we knew we should always have the car key with us when we leave the car as this stupid Start/Stop button system can make us conveniently forget about the car key.

We are extra careful now. We always check that we have the car key with us before banging the car doors.

The trees in the garden

I live in a village where there is no shops. When choosing a house, this was not an important criteria. I wanted to live in a place where there is at least a school. So here we are, in this village, there is a school for young children. In order to keep the school functioning, the village population must have enough school-going children. Depending on the policy of the village mayor, he may decide to close the school when there are too few students or attract young families to settle down. 

In this village's case, the village mayor among other reasons than the one cited above, sold land for housing development. Our previous owner bought a plot of land and had the house built 5 years ago. Our neighbour opposite us actually built his own house. I find that amazing. In this housing development, there were about 15 houses built. This ensures a growth of population and having younger villagers.

The village mayor imposed certain rules for the houses. Since our house was already built, I did not know about the house details (design, style, material, colour). But I was told that there must be at least 3 trees in each garden.    

I mentioned long ago to a friend that my future house should have a cherry tree. When I told her I bought a house, she actually asked if there was a cherry tree. And yes, we do have a young cherry tree though that was not a decisive factor. In addition, we have an apple tree and a prune tree. The trees are not much taller than me. In April, there were cherries. The apples on the apple tree are small and I shall see if they are edible come Oct. As for the prune tree, I have no idea when is its fruit season.

So there we have, the 3 trees in my garden.

Gardening and parasol

The first weekend at the new house, we set to work on the garden. Though we had limited tools, we tried to tidy up. A1 helped by staying beside his dad and giving him moral support. There were many rubbish (bricks, wooden planks, heaps of dead leaves) behind the garden shed and Seb was cleaning up that area. I was pulling out weeds and A1 came and helped too. He insisted in wearing his rain boots though the ground was hard and dry. But well, he did had that gardener look with that attire. 

When we visited the hardware shop, we bought a big parasol. It was too hot to dine in the garden without any shade. We are all spotting a tan just after a few days in the garden. This parasol is huge and covers almost the whole table. Next in our list is a BBQ. Let's hope the weather stays sunny so that we can eat outdoors and do BBQ often.

Moved

We moved from our appartment to the house a week ago. These were the boxes in the living room and there were more in A1's room. We had a total of around 60 boxes and I had emptied almost all of them. The last 10 were really headache as we did not have space for the contents in them. Yeah, it sounded weird that I mentioned a lack of space since I moved from 80m² to 140m². In the old appartment, there was more storage space since there were built in cupboard in all the rooms. Now, I need new furnitures to contain these stuff. New cupboards and drawers for A1's room, new wardrobe for our room, a cabinet in the dining area for our glasswares and plates.

Before we got these furnitures, we bought a basketball stand instead for the kids. They had so much fun running in and out of the house to play in the garden. The weather was nice and warm so far. 

 This is the backview of the house. The kids adapted really well and slept soundly from the first night. Each morning, the kids woke us up early at 6.30am and each night, Seb and I slept past midnight trying our best to put things in order. We visited the hardware store ever so often to get things for the house and the garden. We were exhausted.

With the good sunny weather and a few showers once in the night and twice in the morning, the grass were growing at lightning speed. Seb ordered a trimmer and a lawn mower and it was delivered this afternoon. He had left for a work trip and would only be back on Sat evening. Living in this small village, I can't help feeling that our neighbours are checking out on us. Prior to moving in, on 2 occasions, 2 neighbours came and informed us that the outdoor lights were left on for 2 days. Until Seb mows the lawn this weekend, this would be the only house with an unsightly garden in this neighbourhood. For the moment, I can live with that.  

Improvised hockey

Whenever I cook in the kitchen, the boys would explore the kitchen drawers. Last week, A1 found a spatula and A2 found a kitchen soup ladle. With a ball, they played hockey in the small kitchen. They passed ball to each other and made lots of noise.

The two boys were laughing away as they had so much fun. They play togather more and more often and day like this made me so happy.

Jardin d'Acclimatation

This was our third visit to Jardin d'Acclimatation and as usual, the park was crowded and we enjoyed ourselves. This time round, we took time to visit the whole park.

There was a Korean style park.

There were a few playgrounds planted all over the park. The boys had fun in this well designed playground. The setup was a maze and the kids could go under or climb over to get around.

Beside the playground was a water park. It was a hot day and there were many kids but I did not bring extra clothes for the boys. So they just wet their hands and legs at the bank of the water park.

 We then walked around to visit the animals in the park.

There were donkeys, the one above was huge; sheeps, cows, goats and lots of different kind of hens.

A2 had taken over his brother's tricycle while A1 was on his balance bicycle.

One of the big attractions of the park was the village of fun rides. There were many choices for young kids like merry-go-rounds, mini roller-coaster, bumper cars etc... A1 is not a fan of such rides so we could easily walk past this area.

SAHM

I'm a stay at home mom since 6 days. Things are looking bright.
I vacummed the floor everyday after the boys had their breakfast with biscuits or bread crumbs all around. Now, I made them sit at the dining table for breakfast so that I could just cleaned up that area after.

I cooked lunch and dinner and most of the time, A1 finished his meals while A2 took only a few spoons. A2 was more interested to play with his food. He tried to drink everything including thick yoghurt, porridge etc.. He loved to hold the bowl and put it to his mouth. He loved soup. I remembered A1 had this phase too when he was A2's age. I did not force A2 to eat nor did I feed him extra food(biscuits, cheese) which he liked. He will eat when he is hungry just like what A1 did before.

This evening, I made a quiche and A2 finished his food while A1 preferred to eat the left over from lunch; rice and salmon fish minus the stirred fried spinach. He did eat lots of spinach for lunch. My boys; one prefers ang moh food while the other prefers chinese. Good thing, both love soup.
I can understand my mum's headache when her kids were young. It must not be easy to cook for a family with different taste buds.

On most days, after lunch, the boys napped and it allowed me to clean up the kitchen, do some chores and even napped for an hour. Still, I hardly had time to surf. On two occasions, I went to the shops and it was just impossible with the 2 boys.  Once to the electronics shop to check out on a fridge and dish washer and the other time to the DIY shop to get a toilet brush and check out paint colors. The boys were distracting, playing.... A2 crying to get out of his stroller so that he could run around with his brother.

Other than that, it is great to be at home with the kids. They make me laugh. A2 can repeat after us and can say many words and be understood. He picked up from A1 saying 'Pas this' instead of 'Not this ' or 'Pas ça'. Well, we do need to work on their mixed french-english.

Yesterday, we played our usual hide and seek. And for the first time, A2 counted from 1 to 10 in english while A1 and I went to hide. Usually A2 either counts with one of us or hides with the other.

During bathtime, the boys played with each other. A1 liked to wash his brother's hair. They teased each other by splashing water and throwing bath toys at each other.

A1 is good at negotiating. Each time I want him to do something he would say "Wait, maman. Encore une fois. D'accord?" and empathise ONE by showing me his index finger. Meaning "Wait, mom, one more time ok?" It could be while he was reading a book, watching sesame street, playing etc... while I asked him to eat, bath, dress up. If I said no, it would be a disaster; him showing me a black face, or running to his bed and me being upset. Now, I always say ok because he would come to me after he had finished his task. Furthermore, it never took him long to finish what he was doing. It seems to be that he did not like to take orders like this but wanted to have a say. So by asking me for a prolong time and me approving it, he feels that he is in control of what he wants to do instead of us "forcing" him. Well, that's my analysis. I could never know if this is true.

I guess my post will see more of my days with the boys. I do keep a journal for each of the boys but had not updated them since a long time. It would be nice to record things somewhere and this is the place for the moment.

Scooter and motos

These are the scooter and motos we have at home. One too many for 2 boys. When A1 was little and starting to walk, we bought him the scooter which could be converted into a walker. When A2 started to walk, we bought A1 a red moto so that he could give the scooter to his brother. Then A2 started to fight with his brother over the red moto, we bought an even bigger moto for A1. What a mistake. This new addition is too big for our appartment. A1 cannot turn smoothly in his big motobike along the coridor.

I wanted to get rid of the scooter but the 2 boys still use it now and then. At least, there is no fight over the motobikes and scooter now.

Dilated fundus examination

In France, we had to consult an ophthalmologist to have our eyes check before going to a optical shop to have the glasses made. The last time I consulted one, she recommended me to do a dilated fundus examination once every two years because I wore glasses. Recently, I did it. Half an hour before the examination, I had to drip eye drops to dilate the pupils. It made my vision blur for 3 hours. I was not able to read anything. The result was good. There was no tear found on the inner surface of the eyes. The best thing was everything as usual was paid by social security and my mutuelle. Vive la France.

Disney Studios

Here we were again at Disney with Lu and his mum. This time round, we stayed almost a whole day. We even watched the 4.30pm parade of cars with Disney characters.

For the first attraction, we went to Playhouse Disney Live! We had the front row but after a few minutes of waiting, A1 insisted on leaving. He started to cry and I had no choice but to leave our friends behind. We could not understand what made A1 so upset as he had already seen the show last year. Maybe there were too many people and I guess he hated crowds.

We had lunch after that and he had chicken nuggets and fries. The last time we came, he did not even want to touch them nor the burgers. I had since made chicken nuggets at home so that they won't be strangers when we visited fastfood places.

After lunch, we took a studio tram tour to discover the secrets behind the magic. We saw props used in movies and experienced an earthquake with water gushing down on us. We also saw the ruins of London after a big disaster. It was a pleasant ride.

 

We walked around Toyland and were deciding which ride to try when A1 got upset. He might have been frightened by the moving dog and started calling for his dad. I had a hard time calming him down.

Ended up, we went to watch the Motos Stunt Show. This time round, it was Lu's mum who calmed down A1 when he saw the crowd. The stuntmen did a great job and we enjoyed the show. There was even Flash McQueen and Lu asked for the red car to return when the show was over.

By then, it was already time for the parade. The Disney characters came out in big american cars and they all looked so cheerful. I felt like a kid. After the parade, we went to watch Animagique and by then, A1 was so tired he was shutting his eyes while waiting for the show to start. He was no longer afraid or upset in the dark. After the show, we headed home and my dear boy slept in the train journey all the way home.

We will return to Disney in Sept as the tickets I bought during promotion entitled us 2 visits. So far, A1 had not visited Disneyland yet. We had intended to visit the 2 parks but even this small Disney Studio took all day. Maybe the next time. . . .

First Aid Refresher course

A year has passed since I attended my first aid course. In order to have my first aider card valid, I need to take a refresher's course a year after. So we were back in the training room and facing the same trainer.

It was great to have this refresher course cos' I had forgotten some of the basic things. We went through each scenario and the trainer asked questions and we tried to answer them with demonstrations. 

Last year after the training, I told myself to equip the house and car with first aid kits. Well, I had to admit that I had not done that. So, after this refresher course, I went immediately to the pharmacy and bought a first aid kit. I split the bandages of all sizes and compresses into two bags. One for the car and one for home. As there were scissors at home, I left the one provided in the car. I bought a survival cover (the kind fire fighters give to accident victims to wrap themselves for warmth).

The outstanding things I do need to get is 2 pairs of tweezers, a fire extinguisher, a fire blanket and extra reflective jackets for the car.

Have you equip yourself with a first aid kit at home and in your car? We never know when accidents will happen. Let's just be prepared.

Big fire near my office

Today when I came back to office after lunch, I noticed that it was hazy outside. The silly me thought that the windows were foggy. I looked out and noticed that there was smoke coming from the left. In less than a few minutes, the greyish smoke mushroomed into a huge black smoke. Fire could even be seen. The photo below was taken from the window behind my desk.

This photo was taken at the front of my office building. We were on the 6th floor and the smoke was impressive. It was a BMW motocycle showroom that was in flames. The smell of tyres were strong though the fire was 2 buildings away.  

The fire fighters came within minutes and the road was blocked. After 15 minutes, the smoke grew thicker. We thought it was safer to join the crowd on the ground floor. There were many fire vehicles. A command post was set up just in front of my office parking. When the wind changed direction and smoke came towards us, we decided it was better to stay in office. We went up and tried our best to concentrate on work.

After an hour or so, the fire was put out but the fire fighters continued to splash water. By 5pm, the roads were still blocked. Just 5 minutes before I quitted office, the tent was finally removed and instead of turning right, I had to drive in the opposite direction to get to the junction. 

It was impressive to see the action and thankfully the showroom was closed when the fire broke out. I will check on the news but I doubt there was any injury.

Balance bicycle

For A1's third birthday, we bought him a balance bicycle. It was a bicycle with no pedals. We called it the draisienne (french) and prior to writing this post, I checked internet for its english name and found this rather interesting name 'dandy horse'. It was the first balance bicycle.

We got this as he was too small for a normal bicycle. This was supposed to help him learn his balance and steering. He took to it like a fish in water. With warmer weather coming, he won't leave home without it when we head for the park.

Indoor park

On these rainy days, we were limited in our choice of parks. So here we were, spending a weekend in Chartres and brought the boys to the indoor park. They had fun in the balls pool.

This place is much smaller than the one near our home. And the structure is too high for A1. Guess that would be the first and last visit.

A1 loved jumping into the pool while A2 preferred to take it slowly since he was shorter.

A1's 3rd birthday celebration

Last sunday, we invited friends over to celebrate A1's birthday. I made a yoghurt cake and pasted a Barbapapa edible image which I ordered online. A1 was all excited when he woke up from his nap and saw Barbapapa everywhere from tablecloth to papercups.

Nadia came with Lukas and A1 and Lukas were happily playing togather making lots of noise. A1's laughter filled the living room and at times we had to ask the boys to quiet down and play elsewhere. Lukas is really his buddy.

Anca and family came late but Matteo warmed up easily and was exploring the kids' rooms. Here was A2 showing his friend how to get up on the rocking horse.

 A photo of the boys in A1's room.

Other than the birthday cake, I baked a olive, feta and sun-dried tomatoe cake. Baking is starting to get into me. Among the 5 adults, we drank 2 bottles of champagne and had a good time catching up while the boys played around. A1 was really happy to receive more presents. He must think that his birthday is a month long. We will most probably celebrate it again with his grandparents in mid May. More presents coming. .