Happiness is... feeling like a child again

It's kind of ironic that while parenting drains most of my energy and makes me feel jaded at times, it is also the very thing that rejuvenates me and has the power to make me feel young all over again. After all, I have to read lift-the-flap storybooks, sing nursery rhymes, go on merry-go-rounds and do silly antics every so often.

Well, that's just a superficial way of saying it, I guess. In truth, it goes way deeper than that and it seems like being a mum brings about this plethora of experiences and makes me feel more emotions than I knew I had. Thankfully, most of them are positive ones and like I've said so many times before, having kids is still undeniably the best thing that happened to me.

In March's "Happiness is...", it's all about how motherhood makes me feel like a child all over again.

The March school holidays came and went in flash. I was really looking forward to it as school holidays mean we get to sleep in and wake up late, have breakfast together, go explore new places of interest and basically just spend every moment of our day together as mum and kids.

I had booked our tickets to Disney on Ice over a month ago and even though it was for the cheapest category ($25 per ticket), which by the way doesn't really matter to the kids because they were happy as long as they had the chance to go, all of us were very thrilled when the day arrived!

We don't have much costumes at home but at least we did manage to dress up the big girl as Elsa, the little one as Little Mermaid and the boy as Officer Hopps. Lol. Yup, simple but so much fun to dress up together and head out to the streets. We took the train all the way to Stadium and I must say a part of me was indeed very much looking forward to this mum-and-kids date night. It turned out to be such a blast and although the toddler did fidget aplenty and sat on my lap the whole time, the good thing was they were generally well-behaved that night (phew!) and all of us enjoyed the show pretty much.




During the holidays, I also planned a day out with my parents and the kids and took the whole gang out to Universal Studios Singapore! It's been seven long years since I last took my parents here and I still remembered how my mum was the one who was most enthusiastic about taking the Battlestar Galatica Cylon ride and she and my Dad took the first row seats. Yup, guess I don't have to wonder why my girls are so bold and fearless when it comes to rides!

I was so happy that my parents got the chance to try out the Transformers ride, Puss in Boots, Enchanted Airways, Sesame Space Chaser, Canopy Flyer, Jurassic Rapids and many more. We also took the front row 'SOAK ZONE' seats at Water World, much to my parents' horror, haha, but all of us did it and got drenched together. That's the whole fun of it, right? Thanks for being so spontaneous, Papa and Mama!




Spending time in theme parks with the kids always makes me feel like young again because not only do I get to go on kiddy carousels, flying dinosaurs and boat rides, I also get the chance to relish the thrill of going on roller coasters. This time, for the first time ever, the big girl and I went on The Mummy Ride, Battlestar Galatica Cylon and Batterstar Galatica Human. ALL on first row seats. Yup, my little daredevil has no fear of roller coasters though she is scared of the dark. It was such an awesome experience spending some much needed one-on-one time with her and I'm glad we screamed our hearts out together!


KTV used to be a much loved hobby of mine and although it still is, my friends and I definitely have much less opportunities to do so now. I'm glad I found time to do so with one of my best friends... and all our kids! Haha yes, our kids love to sing too and I guess that's a good thing. They also don't sing nursery rhymes but instead sing Mandarin and English pop songs so we blend well and the adults are usually kept very entertained too. Did you know that Teo Heng lets you da bao food and drinks into the rooms and their rates per room are really very cheap? Yup, glad this has not changed since my secondary school days. Cheers to more kid-friendly karaoke sessions!

I don't remember exploring much nature reserves or spending time at the beach with my family when I was a kid. So, it's really a welcome change now that my kids love, love, love nature and my hubby is one who teaches them how to fish, how to spot insects and bugs and lets them get all sandy and dirty at the beach too. I love being outdoors with the kids even though I don't really like the scorching midday sun, and it's always a fun-filled experience filled with precious family memories to last us for a long time.

We visit the library now and then and bedtimes story is a must in our household. I love the feeling of reading to the kids or hearing them read out loud, and it's nice that I'm learning lots about fairytales and famous children's books as we go along. It's a luxury to be able to read so much and I think they are helping me to make up for what I didn't have as a child. Still, I'm hoping that I can slowly but surely find some time to read some adult picks and make reading a habit for myself too.

One of Asher's favourite activities recently is pretending to be the doctor and it's really amusing seeing how the kids act out different scenarios. When the Jiejies are not home, he comes to me and pretends to be the patient and asks me to diagnose him. Yup, we spend a good portion of our free time doing this and it's funny how he still loves it every single time. Playing pretend, doesn't that make you feel like a child once again too?

We have been travelling on public transport quite often in the last month and it's good that the kids have gotten quite used to it. You know, they don't get to play on phones or electronic gadgets so when we are on the go, they have to come up with their own games, chit chat, sing or do their own activities which usually included one another. We've been playing games like 205, ABC, Scissors Paper Stone, 青苹果, and more. The girls have even taught their friends in school how to play these games and everyone was so excited to learn, haha. Definitely lots of childhood memories there!




Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street...

My kids don't really know Big Bird, Elmo or Ernie but I remember that I used to watch plenty of Sesame Street when I was a child. So, it was a nice opportunity for me to let them get acquainted with these characters at the Sesame Street carnival in Changi Airport. My hubby was so surprised that I could spend the entire day in the airport with the kids, a total of over 8 hours!

Water play always delight the kids so I made sure we had a few swims and water play sessions in the month of March. I love that it doesn't take more than a bucket, a net and some recycled bottles to keep them happy and occupied for a few hours and helps them to understand that the happiest moments in life are sometimes the most simple ones.

I loved arcade games as a kid and I still do very much, do you too? So, it's always nice to hang out at arcades with the kiddos and find the chance to sneak off to play some of my favourite games. Haha. We went for a couple of sessions and I must say my favourite arcade is the one in Suntec City - Cow Play Cow Moo, because it lets you play with tokens, not cards, and dispenses hard copy tickets, not simply load them onto your card. Plus, they have so many different games that you are usually spoilt for choice. You can get 125 tokens for $20 (cost per game ranges from 1 token up to 14 tokens) but be warned that the whole pile of tokens can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I've been volunteering my services at the big girl's primary school (not because I need to get her in because she is in already, but purely because I want to) and it's been keeping me pretty occupied because I'm now in charge of a couple of projects. To source for inspiration and hunt for resources, I made a trip to IKEA with the two little ones in tow.

I didn't put any of them in Smaland but instead, we explored every corner and tested out the furniture together. Yup, basically they see IKEA as this giant playground and can find endless things to play with. We can never resist the temptation of the $0.50 cents soft serve and I love the feeling of eating ice cream together with my little ice cream lovers.

We've been very selective about the media events that we attend recently and Art-Zoo was one that I thought we couldn't miss. The kids had so much fun bouncing around on the larger-than-life inflatables and I think they wished they never had to leave. Haha. Well, I'm happy that bouncing around is something that I can join in together with them and that evening of non-stop jumping worked magic by making me feel like a little kid with no worries in the world.

Last but not least, we visited LEGOLAND Malaysia over the long Easter weekend and even though it took us over six hours to travel across the causeway (yes, you read right), the kids had such a blast as usual and this remains as one of their favourite holiday destinations. I was stoked that I got to go on a handful of rides with just the girls only (yes, girl power!) and this Aqua Racer - where we raced down the tunnels and slides superman style - was one of our ultimate favourites! I screamed in joy and thoroughly enjoyed that adrenaline rush while knowing that my princesses were beside me enjoying themselves to the max too.

It was also the first time we tried out the Virtual Reality Roller Coaster ride in the theme park and we did it not once, not twice but five times in total! Yup, five! It was a great milestone for Ariel who barely met the minimum height of 110cm (she wouldn't have, if she didn't try to tiptoe) and she was euphoric that she finally got to sit on this ride which was previously Project X.

Talking about milestone, the boy had his too when he went on Beetle Bounce with us for the first time. He was bawling at the start and insisted on sitting on my lap but once we went higher and higher and began to bounce, he couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear too. Awww. this boy just needs plenty of love, assurance and tender loving care from Mama before he dares to try anything new. I'm so glad you did it eventually and enjoyed it, my dear!

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You know, being a mum also makes me feel like a child in the sense that I'm learning every step of the way. I learn to control my temper, I learn to have more patience, I learn what works and what doesn't, I make mistakes, fall and pick myself up, I try to become better and wiser over time. It's definitely not easy and some days will just be harder than the rest, but every bit of effort will be well worth its while.

Yup, emo mama getting emo again. In a few days' time, I'll be turning 35 so let's see if I am able to pen out my thoughts then. Till the next "Happiness is..." post!