Hello! Today Junya turns 4 years 7 months, and Sakura turns 2 years 8 months.
It’s a long holiday!
Junya had a 3-week break from school so we spent quite a bit of time together. Took a one-week trip to Bali and spent our new year there!
For Junya
Read Junya’s 1st month , 2nd month , 3rd month , 4th month , 5th month , 6th month , 7th month, 8th month, 9th month , 10th month , 11th month , 12th month , 13th month , 14th month , 15th month , 16th month , 17th month , 18th months , 19th month , 20th month ,21st month , 22nd month , 23rd month , 24th month , 25th month , 26th month , 27th month , 28th month , 29th month , 30th month , 31st month , 32nd month , 33rd month , 34th month , 35th month , 36th month , 37th month , 38th month , 39th month , 40th month , 41st month , 42nd month , 43rd month , 44th month , 45th month , 46th month , 47th month , 48 months , 49th month , 50th month , 51st month , 52nd month , 53rd month and 54th month here.
Hair
Ok so.
His hair grew really really long, so long that it’s totally blocking his eyesight and it seems annoying (gets into soup/stew and pizze sauce when he bends over to eat) so nowadays he mostly had his hair tied up. And I’m really envious of his natural wave that seems so… effortless. I have to spend 30 minutes on curler to achieve that lol. There’s no particular reason for me to have his hair kept long, I just thought that if he was to try a long hair style it’s probably now, since it would be better to have neat, short hair once he enters elementary school. It’d be really nice if he looks back at this photo 20 years later and be like thanks, mom.
Also, all the cool surfer boys in California and Gold Coast have loooong hair lol.
Swim Swim
Speaking of surfers.
He doesn’t like the sea because he said “wave is scary”. Well, looks like no surfing for him! Pool surf is his limit for now.
But he really loves the pool. His recent achievement is diving under the pool to pick up rocks.
Compared to other talented young swimmers of course it’s not a big deal but considering he was once a toddler who cries when his feet touches the pool water and that I used to be so envious of all the angmoh kids who just naturally love water so so much like a fish and I tried to reverse his resistance to water and spent monthsssssss to get him to finally put on his goggles – this is a BIG milestone.
No matter what I think boys should be active in at least in one type of sports so I’m really hoping that he can maintain his interest. Then next only do soccer or baseball haha. Captain Tsubasa!!
JunJun Says
1.Mama watching TV and the kids playing alongside.
Junya: Mama look I show you magic.
Mama: Ok.
Junya: This is a car color machine. I put the silver car inside and turn turn turn then it becomes purple! *pulls out car and squeals excitedly* (see above pic)
Mama: … *puzzled* It’s still silver.
Junya: No Mama, *serious* just pretend only. Pretend it’s purple.
Mama: Oh. I thought magic fail.
2. At the breakfast table.
Junya: Mama I have morning mare.
Mama: What is that?
Junya: Because it’s morning time so it’s not nightmare it is morningmare.
Mama: Oh I see. What kind of morningmare did you have?
Junya: Today I woke up and I thought I was cutting the broccoli.
Mama: Oh oh. And then?
Junya: The end.
3.At lunch table. Junya picks up a piece of garlic from stir-fry vegetable and eats it.
Mama: Junya why do you like garlic? (Cuz I actually thought it’s quite rare for a young kid to like it)
Junya: Because it taste a little bit like garlic (?). Soft, and then there’s a hole, and then I bite it it’s crumby (?) and then it’s nice so I like it.
Mama: Thanks for your food review.
4. Junya comes back from school and walks through the door.
Junya: Hmmmm smells like daikon soup!
It *is* daikon soup. I thought he’s really quite observant.
For Sakura
Read Sakura’s 1st month, 2nd month , 3rd month , 4th month , 5th month , 6th month , 7th month , 8th month , 9th month , 10th month , 11th month , 12th month , 13th month , 14th month , 15th month , 16th month , 17th month , 18th month , 19th month , 20th month , 21st month , 22nd month , 23rd month , 24th month , 25th month , 26th month , 27th month , 28th month , 29th month , 30th month and 31st month here.
Hair
For the first time in her life she gets to tie a pair of really tiny pig tails, and her hair at the front grew enough to be called fringe finally.
While niinii is keeping his hair long, I am planning to cut her hair short cuz I think it suits her better and she’d look cuter in short hair. ^^
Also, she is growing quite chubby!! She’s still really, REALLY small-sized (she’s barely 10KG, seriously where did all the onigiri and pizza go?!?) but I don’t remember Junya being this fleshy at 2.5. He lost all his baby fat by 1 :(. Sakura is also eating more than Junya.
Swim Swim
I’m fortunate because… sibling rivalry.
I once saw a variety show in Japan that testified a theory that most Olympic athletes are the youngest child in the family. The logic is that younger siblings tend to pick up sports at a younger age which their elder siblings are playing, and that they also get to practice sooner and earlier than their elder siblings and have their elder siblings as the opponent who are already better than them and hence spark the kiasuness which drives them to want to be better than their big brother or sister.
To some extent it makes sense. Well Sakura picks up physical activities faster than Junya (scooter/swimming, but totally super behind Junya when it comes to brain stuff like puzzles and books). She swims without any fear unlike Junya (scared cold la scared water into eye la scared deep la), and she is soooo chilled about it. Just give her a pair of arm floats and she can chill in the pool for an hour. She has never ever complained that the water is cold, in fact she squeals in delight when it’s cold lol.
Anyway boys should excel in sports but for girls it’d be nice if they do too. But if not it’s ok too. She can learn taiko hehe. With me. She’d be the coolest girl!
Skipping naps
She’s such a good napper and can sleep early even after a long nap. But recently she’s growing out of her only nap in day time and I’m in dilemma. Sometimes this is what happens at dinner about 5-6pm. T_T. To wake her up for shower or not??? Brush teeth or not? It’d be sweet heaven if she sleeps through though!
Mama’s girl
They always say Mommy’s Boy, Daddy’s Girl, right?
Sakura is 100% mama. In a way it makes things a lot easier, and it makes it seem like she is soooooo much easier a child than Junya because:
1.She will never run around or make noise (if Junya is not around to play with her) when we go out BECAUSE all she wants do is to stick to me like a koala, which means that I can bring her out even for meetings and she will just sit there (usually expressionless) until I finish my stuff. She just want to be next to me (like physically stuck to me).
2. She is not as “stubborn” as Junya – in the sense that she softens down, or compromises very easily, either with coaxing or threatening. (Haha yeap I was once the parent who swore not to use threats on my child. Nah. Forget it.) So I can be stern with her and she will immediately back down because she is so afraid to lose me or my affection. I’ll just have to nonchalantly tell her “ok if you don’t wanna wear your shoes then it’s fine. You stay home and I’ll go out with niinii. You can wait for me to come back?” and she’ll 扁嘴 and put her shoes on lol.
I remember Junya her age… omg T_T. I had such a though time because empty threats will NEVER work on him, in fact it will just mean I’m cooking a pot of hot shit to pour it on myself because when I say the exact same thing “Ok if you don’t wanna wear shoes then it’s fine.You stay home and I’ll go out with Sakura. Wait for me to come back.” and he’ll literally JUST WAIT THERE (and cry, sometimes). Die also don’t want to wear shoes. Die liao lo, how??? Obviously there’s no way I can leave him alone at home, and there’s also no way I could make him believe that I’d really keep my words. So basically I just becomes this powerless liar who cannot stick to her words fml. I spent hours and hours fighting with his relentlessness feeling like a complete failure.
When Sakura does something she’s not supposed to and I make her promise not to do it again she will immediately nod eagerly and say “yes yes” and stick out her pinky for promise without even me asking. If it’s Junya, he would look like me like I have 冤枉 him and his whole family while trying to hold back tears, “no, I won’t promise you. I will (do an even worse version of what I just did).” Or just say “I don’t want to play with mama anymore. I don’t want hug and I don’t want to go to school and I don’t want to eat my dinner.” walao summore can dig out all the irrelevant stuff damn passive aggressive ok.
Sigh.
*looks at the sky and throws hands in the air*
So yea I won’t deny it, that Sakura is waaaaaay easier then Junya at this stage of life.
She is also very very 空気を読む（can read the air). If she observes that I’m grumpy (sometimes I didn’t even realize it), or that I’m about to explode and can sense that she is about to kena scolding, she would come close to me, make me look at her while she looks at me doe-eyed and gives me a smile and a hug. And sometimes even a kiss!!! Basically to cease my angst for her own good. Waaaa confirm my fire extinguished ok! So end up no scolding, I just talk to her nicely and she would promise me the sky and the moon. Drama over.
She’s smart at this. I can’t count how many times little things she did had saved me (and herself) a bad day.
I’m also not sure if it’s a boy/man thing, they are sooooo KY (Kuuki Yomenai 空気読めない – cannot read the air) and numb. When Junya sensed that something disastrous is brewing and can smell an impending explosion, he just… shuts off. Or worse – continue doing something that ticks me off. It makes me so mad omg. Are all men like this? -_-
For Mama
Last month I totally said that I wanted to be away from the kids.
But once I really spend some real time with them without work, without being glued to my phone most of the time, I think I liked it again. I guess as cheesy as it sounds, it’s about balance. I know, I also screamed There’s no such thing as balance! F*** balance!!!! at one point, but I also guess this is what parenthood is – full of contradictions and irony. We all just have to live with it.
I think the problem is me.
It’s so crazy because when I’m in a bad mood, things they do are less adorable. I’m just like LEAVE ME ALONE I NEED TO REVISE A DRAFT URGENTLY BEFORE THE CLIENT EXPLODES. I have no love to spare.
Once I stop obsessing about work and social media, everything they do are adorable and I find myself a kinder person. I blame social media.
I spent a week just being lazy, ordering only room service, not having to cook. (But the price to pay is a two-week upset stomach lol. Now I’m not sure worth it or not.)
Picking and collecting frangipani.
Romance a bit with my baby.
Just stare at the sky and stars and moon and fantasize about our dreamy future…
Well that’d go into an IG caption perfectly.
Real life : got bitten by mosquitoes like f*** and sweated like pigs.
All these nice photos you see are solely for likes on IG only la (which not many of you entertained you guys are totally assholes, only save my posts for your own reference but no give likes – I KNOW WHO YOU ARE! Just kidding.). The last few days in the villa I was practically in my pyjama the whole day, no make up lol.
I wasn’t even consciously trying to have a social media detox. In fact the thought of scrolling Instagram alone made me nauseous (maybe is Bali Belly syndrome hor) and I really just used my phone for a couple of scheduled postings and swiped out without looking at any other nonsense.
At this rate I think I’ll soon disappear from Instagram. But I’m ok. This blog is mine, and I can write anything I like here without it forcing me to look at some stupid ads or other people flaunting their Insta-worthy life or telling me that I’m not enough and that I better have a more photogenic and entertaining life. But I think I’m okay to just allow myself to be myself for now.
