Lucas' summer fete at garderie

my favourite book

reading time with Matheo & Plume

Playing with Lou and Plume

Thank you for the leaf, Lucas!

Painting time!

Busy painting with a sponge

Made chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing for the fete

Lucas' school visit

Yesterday was our visit to Lucas' ecole maternelle. He will be starting school in September.

As far as first impressions go, this school is wonderful. The teacher who is also the directrice (Noelle) handled Lucas firmly but nicely. He willingly went to her even though he was grumpy when we left the apartment. She managed to catch his full attention, he even started babbling in baby talk to her - all this within the first 10 minutes!

After explaining school rules to us ( as a non working parent, I will bring Lucas at 8.45 am every Mon, Tues, Thurs and Fri - there is no school on Wednesdays and drop him off in his class. Lucas will have a place to hang his coat and bag, and a change of clothes. The teacher advised me to bring him a snack but nothing too filling. In September Lucas has to be fully toilet trained but accidents may still happen; hence the change of clothes. She advises against the pacifier but says we can leave it in Lucas' bag, just in case. But it is better to start weaning Lucas off the pacifier now. (Lucas is down to his very last pacifier from Mothercare, and it will be interesting once that one breaks and we have to throw it away...)

As Ecole Maternelle Henri Du Parc is a public school, we need to pay only 18 euro a year. We actually considered private schooling for Lucas (39 euro a month) but I am happy to let him stay in this school. Henri Du Parc is less than 10 minutes' walk from where we live - even when we move, its an additional 5 minutes away. The private school for Lucas would have been a nightmare as it is downtown, near Jardin Massey.

Fred & I wanted another choice in case we didn't like the school allocated to Lucas but it looks fantastic, it was clean, the teachers were friendly, there was a huge gymnasium and outdoor play area - for Lucas that is important. There is even a herb garden. I liked that Noelle spoke TO Lucas and made eye contact with him.

Lucas will be in a class of 30 kids - he will have so many friends by September :)

Besides the usual arts and crafts, gym sessions, music classes et al, Lucas will also be taught Occitane - a dialect of this region as part of his syllabus.

Noelle was agreeable with Lucas starting off September with only morning sessions (845 - 12) for him to get used to going to school. If Lucas adapts fast, he will be attending school 845 - 12, I will pick him up for lunch at home and then send him back to school 2pm - 5 pm. For now it doesn't seem practical for Lucas as he is still napping in the afternoons at 2 pm - 4 pm.

My baby is going to school soon... I am happy yet sad at the same time. I will have more time to myself but will miss being with Lucas.

Lucas speaks mandarin

Lucas has been listening to his mandarin CD with 25 mandarin songs for kids, and to my surprise, yesterday, he came into the kitchen and was chanting "yi, er, yi, er, yi" (one, two, one, two, one in mandarin)
Fred was also surprised to hear that Lucas sings along with that CD in mandarin and he knows the song list by hard.
When I was down with a nasty bout of gastro last week and my MIL came to help babysit (yes, things are slowly but surely improving with my MIL) I could hear Lucas asking mamy to "change" the song - his cue of telling her to press the "next" button on the CD player. After mamy finally understood what Lucas wanted, and his song of choice came on, Lucas was dancing in his room and singing to the CD...

I am now trying to teach Lucas 1,2,3 in mandarin...

Lucas and his meds

*sigh* It is still so cold here in Tarbes, it feels like winter is back...

Lucas & I were out in town today as Lucas needed to see the doctor again, this time for conjunctivitis. Its another 7 days of "hell" - Lucas is on 7 days of antibiotics and the icing on the cake? After holding him down and giving him the antibiotics with a syringe (poor baby is crying and keeps saying "all done mama, all done" - his way of asking me to stop) I have to pop the top off sterile solution to wash his eyes - though why would I ever need to do that as he is bawling his eyes out by then, aren't tears nature's way of cleaning the eyes????; after which I have to put 2 drops of eye ointment into his eye.

Both mama and baby were utterly exhausted - Lucas was SWEATING from exertion! And to think... we have 6.5 days to go..., twice a day, morning and night :P

Its already hard for a mom to cope with a sick baby, but when baby is fighting the meds, it makes it all even harder. And Lucas is so strong now I have to literally pin him down.

However, I have to say that there has been improvement on Lucas' part when it comes to taking the meds - he will not voluntarily take the meds and he will cry but now, he swallows the meds instead of spitting it out.

Sleeptime

Today I decided to keep Lucas at home with me instead of leaving him at the garderie this morning. He has a slight cold and cough but I thought it would be nice to just rest at home on such a cold and rainy day. We made pancakes for breakfast (Lucas likes his pancakes with nutella, of course) and then Lucas ate his peanut butter sandwich and chocolat chaud for lunch.

In between, I managed to do 3 loads of laundry while Lucas watched Playhouse Disney live on stage on YouTube!

As I type now, I am hoping that Lucas will fall asleep for his nap - I accidentally woke him up when I wanted to put a blanket on him and now he is refusing to go back to sleep.

I noticed that for the past couple of days now, Lucas is not napping so much anymore. However, in the babycenter articles, it is recommended that toddlers at Lucas' age get at least 12-14 hours of sleep a day, which he is not getting and that makes him overtired and irritated. Lucas always gets cranky around 630 p.m. on a daily basis and then he gets hyperactive before bedtime. We have moved up his sleeptime at night to 8 p.m sharp, and even then he will play and talk in his cot til around 830 p.m before he really falls asleep. He wakes up at 630 a.m, but in between bouts of sleep, he still wakes up a couple of times at least.

Maybe its because he is on medication for his cold and cough which is why he is waking up a few times a night.

I hope that after tonight (his last day of meds) he will sleep through the night, as he did before the nightmares and medication...

Getting enough sleep is important for a young child for many reasons, from restoring energy to building brain connections (not to mention giving me a much needed break).

My life as a stay home mom

When I first announced that I was going to quit my job and be a stay at home mom, I had mixed reactions from my friends - some were truly happy for me and then there were the skeptics and the ones who were aghast at my decision. Funny enough, the ones who reacted negatively were working moms who only saw their kids during the weekends (with the maid in tow, of course) and holidays.

There were also those who have tried to be SAHM and then found that they couldn't do it. One of my friends told me that staying home with her 2 kids all day made her irritated and bad tempered. In the end she preferred to go back to work.

In Malaysia, when I was working, I hardly saw Lucas. Although our working hours are stipulated as 9am to 5 pm, no one ever leaves work at 5. The work culture is such that working effectively means long long hours, even though you may be playing solitaire on your computer at work, as long as you are seen to be "working late" means you are a valued and productive staff.

Once I had Lucas, I found that being away from him just made me count the hours til I could see him again. Even then, it was not enough for me. I longed to be Lucas' primary caregiver, not trusting my maid fully with him. So we had to come to a decision and since I was "ready" to be a SAHM, we decided to move back to France primarily for Lucas' education but also because Fred wanted to be nearer to Hugo, his firstborn.

Little did I realize what a struggle it would be, almost like a culture shock for me to make that transition from a working mom with a maid to a SAHM who also needed to cook, do the laundry and clean! But so far, the benefits of being a SAHM far outweighs the bad and knowing my son is receiving all the love and attention he needs because I chose to stay home with him instead of leaving him with someone else. I know that he is learning at a maximum rate because I have all the time to devote to his developing intellect.

I am not feeling rushed all the time and I am not tired from working. I can give him the time he deserves instead of cramming in a little time here and there.

I think being a SAHM is the most important job in the world. I did not want another person to raise my child or see his first step or hear his first words!! I want my values instilled in my child. I want him to know it was me who raised him, that I was there every step of the way.

There are so many benefits to staying at home with your child I cannot begin to list them all. The first thing is that it builds a sense of security for your child. I think security brings and breeds trust. I think because Lucas is secure in our bond with each other it allows him to learn through his interaction with both adults and other toddlers alike. The biggest benefit is the bond that grows stronger each day. This bond is what makes Lucas a confident, secure and happy child.

The best part of being a SAHM is being able to set my own schedule and getting to do fun things with Lucas. Whenever we do something new, I think of it as one more memory we both have of his childhood - whether it's going to the zoo, meeting other kids at Gepetto, reading a book in the library, playing in the backyard, going to the farmers' market or sliding down that giant slide at L'Ormeau. Those are memories that will last a lifetime.

There is no morning rush to get everyone out the door (except some days where we wake up late for Lucas' creche as we do not use an alarm clock) and there are no chaotic evenings where we're not sure who's going to cook dinner or what there is to eat. While the world around us is going a million miles an hour, my child's world is a calm, stable haven of peace.

This is now my life. I have traded in the designer clothes and 3-inch heels for messy hair, jeans and flip flops. Instead of a trip to the cinema, we watch a DVD and have popcorn on our living room floor. I had to learn to cut costs, prioritize household needs, shop at different supermarkets to get the best prices and get really creative in order to stay at home with Lucas. We can no longer decide to take a weekend trip on a whim. Eating out is a luxury.

While giving up my career also meant giving up my paycheck, it is not without its rewards. When Lucas is grown up, I know he is not going to remember that he did not always have the newest, most expensive toys and stuff. He is going to remember that I was there, every single day. He will remember that I was the first face he saw every morning, that I was the one who held him tight when he scraped his knees, that I was the one who helped scare away all the monsters under his bed and that I was the one who kissed all his boo boos away. I could not put a price tag on these experiences. The day will come when my son will become more independant. It will not be long before he is off to school, and I am free to pursue other interests.

But for now, suffice to say that I am indeed blessed to be able to share and build a lifetime of memories with Lucas. These are the memories that I will remember, the stories I will tell his children.

I would not miss this for anything.

Lucas @ 32 months

It feels like yesterday that I checked into the hospital to be induced for labor as Lucas decided he wanted to stay in my tummy a little longer... Fast forward to today, Lucas is now 32 months!

I have spent the last 14 months with him, 24/7 and what a wonderful journey it has been for the two of us! Lucas has blossomed into a wonderfully mischievious and happy boy and although I gripe about the laundry (its amazing how a small boy like Lucas can go through as many as 4 changes of clothes in a day...)and the never ending housework ( its true that little boys DO haul dirt...) I would not trade being with Lucas for anything.

A Hundred Years From Now
It Will Not Matter What My Bank Account Was,
The Sort Of House I Lived In,
Or The Kind Of Car I Drove ...
But The World May Be Different
Because I was Important In The Life Of A Child.
- Author Unknown

At 32 months, Lucas' favourite phrases are "where is it?" , "come on, let's go" followed by the french version "on y va", "tired, do-do", "no, THAT one", "open door, light" (when he gets scared of sleeping in the dark). His favourite food is anything with chocolate in it; loves Nesquik and insists on his peanut butter sandwich everyday. Lucas is a real water baby and loves playing in the paddling pool. He loves showertime too and always wants to shower himself. When he disappears and starts hiding, we know he is up to mischief, doing something that is forbidden such as putting coins in his mouth or eating that extra piece of chocolate.

At 32 months, Lucas is still resisting the potty although he will now sit on the potty sans diapers. He absolutely refuses to pee or poo when sitting on the potty or the toilet. In fact when he needs to poo, he asks for his diaper!

At 32 months, Lucas is also very sensitive to sleeping in the dark and now sleeps with the night light AND the door open as he seems to be getting nightmares. I think its because he's been watching Horton hears a Who and so have hidden that DVD from him. Since then, no more nightmares.

Because the days are warm now, Lucas knows approximately when his papa will be home and waits outside in the balcony to catch a glimpse of Fred cycling back. He also asks for his shoes around the time Fred comes home as he knows that Fred will take him for a ride on the bicycle.

Today Lucas & I spent 3 hours in the doctor's waiting room. Lucas was for most of the time well behaved and obedient. In fact I was surprised he managed to last that long (the last 20 minutes I had to put him back onto his stroller and took him outside the waiting area). I find that he understands a lot more than expected and he listens when I tell him not to do something (i.e not to climb onto the chairs and jump). Lucas is also a very sociable boy, and was chatting with all the other patients in the waiting room. He loves talking, especially with adults. At the doctor's, Lucas did not cry when he was being examined except when the doctor put a tongue depressor into his mouth.

Talk to strangers

I was at my neighborhood Carrefour yesterday when the security manager, after greeting me with a smile started a conversation with me. I noticed that he does that with the regulars and I guess I am one, as I frequent that Carrefour a few times a week - I always forget to buy stuff I need (but that is over now, the last trip to CF, I was shopping for the month, and I hope I get everything so I don't need to waste time grocery shopping)

What amazed me was not the fact that he addressed me as "mademoiselle" or when he asked if I was a student... No, I left Carrefour feeling elated because I managed to hold a conversation with someone who simply assumed that I was french and spoke fluent french, and so he did not slow down his speech at all. I understood everything and he did not ask me questions about my migration. He just took it for granted through our conversation that I lived here in France and I spoke the language. (I'd like to think that I spoke it well enough with him that he had no reason to suspect that I've only lived here for a year)

That was a major milestone for me as someone who found it hard to assimilate as I could not even complain when I did not like the service in a restaurant or ask for my jeans to be shortened as I didn't know the french word to use (its "retouche" by the way...). I've learned to be more tolerable, especially when I used to take language for granted and could tell the waiter that I'd like my meat to be well cooked - here in France I haven't been able to send back my steak because I didn't know how to phrase my request nicely. I tried that once and got a glare from the proprietress instead...