Pandas and Laundry

Apologies for being silent for longer than usual... It's been a busy few days.

After all the excitement of Chinese New Year and the family madness that goes along with it, we have now reached a stage of calm and can relax for the rest of our trip.... Although we have a string of friends that we need to spend time with. So much so that Papa has now organised a spreadsheet that lets us know where we are supposed to be at any point during the day... With gaps for 'recreational activities'. We have also organised a 'get together' on Friday night in honour of Papa's 40th birthday, so hopefully, a lot of our friends will be able to come to that. It will be great to see everyone!

The past few days have seen further deluges of rain, interspersed with blazing hot sun. So the kids get to run down to the pool in the morning and swim (well jump in and out) for about an hour before we head off into town or to the Botanic Gardens to meet whomever we have planned to meet. Poor TJ gets a bit confused with all the people we are seeing, so we are constantly reminding him and reassuring him that; a, he will like the food and, b, there will be a toilet. He is obsessed with toilets, as you know, but at least in Singapore they are pretty much clean enough to meet his high standards. With the exception of Marina Bay Sands, Singapore's casino and shopping destination... Their toilets were so filthy even TJ didn't want to use them, which surprised us.

Today we went our separate ways. KC and I went to the Singapore Zoo, which has been revamped and is a lovely destination. Last time we went the cages were all very small and the animals seemed really unhappy. But now it's much better. And there are pandas. You have to pay extra but it was really worth it, just to see KC's face when he saw a panda for the first time. TJ opted to go with Papa instead (he's not a big fan of zoos) I don't know how happy he was when he learned he was going shopping, but I think he was placated with a trip via the sweet shop. He was certainly buzzing when we met up later!

Tonight we realised that we had run out of clean clothes. Our serviced apartment doesn't have a washing machine (which is a bit silly) and we actually used up everything. I bought new clothes ( like I needed an excuse) but the kids were beginning to smell... It was Grandma to the rescue. She told us to come over and she old do our washing (well the maid would) and she would make us all dinner! So being the dutiful son, papa took us and his washing home to mother... It doesn't matter how old you get, mother will always help you out... I imagine one day that TJ will be bringing his washing to us! Hopefully!

Back to School....

Finally...

The little darlings went back to school today... and I get my life back - well, from 9 till 3 each day anyway!

It's already been a year of changes. I handed back my business on Dec 31st and am now officially a student again - with a little bit of blogging and writing thrown in. As well as being a full time stay at home parent... which is the hardest work I think I have ever done!

Christmas and New Year went by really quickly. We had such a lovely time. To finish everything off we took the children up to London over the weekend. My sister was in town having her fitting for her wedding dress and we agreed to meet her and my Mum in Chinatown for dinner afterwards. Lobster noodles - lovely! Then they headed back home on the train and we took the boys to Oxford Street to see the Christmas lights - via Hamleys, of course... and every toilet in every department store. I'm sure TJ is some kind of toilet geek in that he has to visit every one in every store/restaurant/cafe whatever - whenever we enter a new environment his first question is always, 'Is there a toilet in here?' I don't know if this is some throw back to his previous life with his birth family or a desparate need to make sure he isn't caught short and thus wets himself. Anyway, at first it was amusing - now two years in its just annoying! It may seem a little mean spirited to describe your child's behaviours as annoying - but this constant need to visit the bathroom drives me mad. We are always late to meet people and if we go out shopping I know we will spend at least a quarter of the day visiting various conveniences. You may think he just likes hanging out in toilets... (lets not go there) ... but no, everytime we go in he will give a running commentary on the cleanliness of the establishment and of the previous users. I'm sure he has a spreadsheet somewhere detailing the best toilets to visit in the UK. He was always impressed with the toilets in Singapore and can't wait to go back and visit them.

Yesterday was the mad rush to get everything ready to go back to school - then Papa decides he wants to go to Ikea... On a Sunday!!!!! But off we go. We are only going to get some shelves, we will not be swayed by the extra bits that we don't need, we will head straight for the shelves and leave.... so we ended up with the shelves... plus a wardrobe, coat hangers for the wardrobe, new cushions, hooks for the shelves, a sopa dish, three mirrors and storgae box for under the bed. As Papa was putting the shelves up he realised they don't give any screws or fittings... But as he pointed out, my late Father had a huge selection of screws and they are all in the tool box my Mum gave us. In 6 years we have never had to purchase a wall fitting, screw or nail. I was a little emotional when Papa said, 'I never met the man but I have so much respect for your Dad - how anyone was this organised is incredible.' And indeed he was. My Dad died at 53 from an aggressive cancer that killed him within 3 weeks of diagnosis and as I get nearer his age I'm convinced that I will go as well. It doesn't help that I am the world's biggest hypochondriac and only have to get a mouth ulcer to be convinced that my days are up. But I digress - needless to say Papa had all the shelves and mirrors put up before the kids went to bed and then we put up TJ's wardrobe. I was exhausted by the end of the day.

TJ informed me last night that he was not returning to school - no he was running away. I asked him where he would go as he packed his sports bag with the necessary toys - 'I shall go to Granny's,' came the reply. I asked if he wanted a lift. 'No I shall walk.'
'But Granny lives over 200 miles away,' I told him, 'That's a long walk.'
'Then I shall run,' he said quite matter of factly and went to bed.

This morning he ran to school as if the previous evenings conversation had never happened!!!!!