A little visitor on the balcony

6 weeks

Technically there are still eight weeks to go but today the doctor advised that I stop working in six weeks. Oskar was one week early. Apparently the second one comes sooner than the first one so to be safe, I should stop working in six weeks. 

While I knew that Pikachu would eventually come out (and right now I'm thinking the sooner the better as my belly gets bigger and bigger), the fact that she mentioned six weeks made it very real. Weeks are flying lately and six weeks almost feels like tomorrow.

It's time that we get ready at home and as Wolfram mentioned that I pack my suitcase because it can be any time from now on :) 

Oskar is not a baby anymore

Oskar has been growing and developing quite steadily in the past 22 months to our biggest pleasure and amazement.

With Pikachu coming, we have started to transition him to being more and more a toddler and less and less a baby.

He started school... twice... But this time after only two weeks, we start to see some of the influence of it.

He does not want to lie down to be changed. What used to be a nice nice and smooth ride is now a battle and a contortion exercise to get him in and out of clothes and change the diaper. They change kids standing at school so we've decided to buy pull-ups until he is potty train to simplify our lives.

He does not want to sit in the high chair anymore. At school he eats at the table with the other kids. He wants to do the same at home. Except our table is not a table for kids and with its normal height it makes it hard for him to see what he is eating and ensure the food gets in his mouth. Of course, he prefers not to wear the bib because they don't do it at school. They simply change clothes after lunch. Clearly they are not the ones washing all these clothes.

For two nights, he now sleeps in a big bed and so far it has work out fine. Once asleep he stayed there the whole night. Getting him to sleep there can be a bit more challenging especially during the day. At night he is tired and it's dark. In the afternoon, it's another story. Why would he sleep with so many toys and books around?

He has an opinion and makes it clear to us. No he does not speak yet but trust me who needs words when you can scream? We have recently discovered the lovely period of tantrums. It's exhausting and pushing us to our limits but apparently it's a phase we have to go through and he will outgrow it. Let's hope and until then, we just ignore him until he calms down. 

Oskar is still very attached to me (koala style) but we can see him developing his own personality. It's both great to see and exhausting to live as he experiments with us and the limits. Can't wait until he can speak :)

It's hot

I know I live in a country with summer weather all year long. Actually that's one of the reasons I wanted to live here.

BUT when I'm pregnant, especially in the third trimester, the heat is unbearable. Despite all the air conditioning of the world, I still feel hot and hotter. I have to take two showers a day and the cool feeling lasts only five minutes after them. Even in the office where everybody complains that it's too cold (I was one of them), I find myself over heating. Carrying Oskar is like adding a warm pillow to an over heated body. He does not seem to care that I sweat on him but I fell bad about it. Soon I will have to start using his cream for the heat rashes :(

The only place where I feel good right now is the swimming pool. Luckily, I have one at home :)

 

Still eight weeks to go...

Communication booklet

Every day Oskar's teacher writes down what he did, what he ate and whether he pooped. 

It's really nice and useful to get such an update. It also makes us feel like they really care to keep us informed of what's happening in Oskar's life when we are not there. 

 I'm curious to see how next week will go. It will be the first time that he goes full week. Hopefully he will enjoy himself enough to forget his parents.

Oskar is starting pre-school again

After the not conclusive experience at Caelum pre-school, we decided to take Oskar somewhere else.

Last Friday Oskar and I spent a couple hours there and it was day and night. 

Oskar enjoyed himself so much that he wanted to stay for lunch. 

 

So today he is starting at MMI Thomson. Poor Oskar who will have to go through the painful experience of starting school twice. But this time we have a good feeling, a much better one now that we tried it out first. 

Same as last time, I get to stay with him the first morning. He seems to be enjoying himself more and only comes to me when he's confused someone wants to clean his nose or change his diaper

Appreciate how far away I can stay. Well tomorrow there will be drama once I leave but today it's nice to see him entertained.

I did leave him for 30min to take care of the paperwork. There was crying but apparently stopped after 10min. I found him back having lunch. Food must be better because he finished the whole thing. There is hope.

Morning ended with some stories. Oskar was a bit unsettled since I left him but overall much better than previous school.

 

Last day in paradise

Oskar is enjoying his milk in a very big chair.

Last half day of beach and calm before heading back to the city life. 

Breakfast, pool time, massage for Wolfram, the routine in Telunas :)

Wolfram and Oskar enjoying the construction toys before lunch.

Boys will always be boys when it comes to toys.

Then back to Singapore. It was short but really great to disconnect from everyday life.

We should do this more often.

Second day in paradise island

We woke up early by the singing birds around us. We watched the sun rising over the sea from the bed.

Later in we went for breakfast enjoying the view over the sea. Everything here is very open so you can blend in easily. 

After that I opened my birthday gifts (finally). Although this trip was supposed to be my gift, Wolfram got me a new case for my iPad and tickets for Singing in the rain musical that will show soon in Singapore. On top there were gifts from my parents. I'm truly really very lucky.

Rest of the day was a combination of swimming pool and beach. 

Oskar showed us that he likes fried rice and even more chocolate ice cream. It's vacation so we can indulge a bit :)

I had the only massage a pregnant woman can get: head and face. That was great. I wish I could have had a leg massage as well but that will have to wait until the last weeks when I'm eager to get Pikachu out.

The proudest part of my day: zero active minutes as per the Apple watch. Might have to do with the fact that I did not wear it most of the time. But anyhow, given the biggest activity of the day was to climb the stairs to the restaurant, I don't think it would have made a difference to record it.

Objective relaxation: achieved!

Morning song

Petit escargot 

Porte sur son dos

Sa maisonnette 

Aussitôt qu'il pleut

Il est tout heureux 

Il sort sa tête

Performance by Oskar and his father 

Morning sun and morning smile

A trip to Telunas

For my birthday this year I wanted to get some time away. We booked at Telunas resort on a private island in Indonesia.

Getting there was a bit cumbersome with first one hour of ferry and then 90min of long boat. 

But half a day later, we were in paradise. The staff was very welcoming and attentive to us and our little one. In no time we were all set in our villa and ready for the pool.

We enjoyed 2 hours of pool and beach watching Oskar eating his first biscuit full of sand. In my family that's a classic.

Enjoy the view from the terrace of our villa.

Perfect spot for discovering our new set of Duplo toys.

Later on after getting rid of all the sand, we watched the sunset and tried to take pictures of it.

Dinner was a bit messy because Oskar and tomato spaghetti are setting you up for lots of fun. The food was ok but no more in this all inclusive formula. I guess you cannot expect a 3-star Michelin in the middle of nowhere.

We turned in pretty early exhausted from our trip, from the sun and the short night after the dinner at Rhona's  the night before.

Note that Wolfram did ask whether they turned off the sea as he could not hear it anymore.