Turns out, I am retiring in a couple of months to care for both ‘em juniors. Am excited despite it seeming to be a daunting task. The mandate is as such:
- The kids are fed with healthy, nutritious food
- The kids are learning, especially the toddler
- The kids have outdoor time, daily
- The house is clean
Seems easy when I put it in bullet points but the devil is in the details. The care for an infant and a toddler is quite different. I’ve not-too-distant memories of CocoJr #1 as an infant, it is a bit hazy but I do recall that the lil fella calls the shots! Keeping the house clean – that includes the whole suite of activities from the floors, the laundry and the kitchen.
Mr. C is an eternal optimist, I love him for that. He hears me out and goes – am sure you can manage dear. Just do little chunks of the housework along the day and do the cooking in 20 mins. Mr.C seems to have forgotten coming home after work at 8pm back when CocoJr #1 was younger and saying – this place looks like a war zone! He would be picking up toys and helping me wash up before we both plop on the couch at 10:30pm, tired! Anyway, am not one to immediately say no so I thought about it for a good 2 days then told Mr.C that he’s outta his mind that cooking can be done in 20 mins! 😀 He laughed and agreed!
However I think having a child has made me a better person, I feel a whole lot more efficient with my time and capabilities. I agree with Mr.C that I can pull this off! My biggest issue is the sleepless nights with feeding the child as I tend to have trouble going back to sleep when I’m woken up. So I tend to be awake after feeding the child, only to fall asleep minutes before the child wakes up for the next feed. I end up with a few hours of sleep at night, on a good night! The sleep deprivation alone is like a torture camp technique!
Assuming being a mombie (zombie + mommy) is a state I take to easily, I predict a great deal of planning to get my days going as smoothly as possible. 2 of the main areas:
- Meals
- Activities / learning
I’m going to start compiling a list of my quick, healthy and amazing meals to whip together for both breakfast and main meals. I find having a list saves a lot of time thinking and whipping something on the fly out of what is in the fridge. I have lived like that these few years and it works great, however with 2 kids and no nearby meal option other than delivery (which isn’t cheap, certainly not something I will be doing!), I think I need to get my act together. Living life spontaneously is exhilarating but living life with no meals on the table is my version of hell.
Next up, planning the toddler’s activities and learning program. Whilst a lot of learning at this age is through play, some of the learning has to be deliberate or you’ll find it has been months since you did any Mandarin with the child (as an example!). Bam, he forgets what he already knows. The infant, on the other hand, is like a sponge. He can learn via the toddler’s learnings and we can task the toddler with teaching his sibling re shapes, numbers, colours. I think he’ll enjoy it, I’ll come back with the update on this wishful prediction 😀 I almost feel like I need to put up a curriculum for a 4 year old and take the homeschooling seriously. What is the joy in that though? 😀 The idea is to have fun with the kids so as it is with everything on the SippingCoconut’s lifeplan, this will be fluid as well. I predict I will have a rough plan and we’ll be winging it daily based on it. I am the principal and the teacher as well as the examiner in the end 😀
I care to want to provide a well rounded exposure, and not only what I like or am comfortable with. A good example of this is that in recent months we have realised that CocoJR #1 can’t catch a ball. He can throw but he can’t catch. It is probably because we never played catch! We’ve tried kicking ball with him but that is also another area he doesn’t seem interested at all – probably because we’ve done it only a handful of times. One needs to know how to catch?! Mr.C started specific catching drills at home in the evening which has been fun, Jr giggles the entire time, and sure as the sun will shine CocoJr #1 is getting much better at catch!
I suppose now that I have some time on my hands, I should be compiling my plan of attack as I certainly do not foresee much leisure time when the baby is born and when CocoJr #1 is out of school. So that’s a good idea, however not as good as making some chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. Future me will thank present me for making it right now, am sure.
An hour later, the cake is baked and the cream cheese frosting is done. A combination of my photographic incompetence and my frosting impatience almost led to a insta-worthy picture impasse. You’ll just have to take my word for it that what the cake lacked in appearance, it made up for in taste!
Author: Ms.K
Ms.K is everything that Mr.C is, without the natural interest in investing and company financials! The activity planner for the family, the driver of random ideas and soon to be ‘retiring’ in to full time motherhood – Ms.K has no idea what she’s in for but remains super excited!