Mothersyay

My first time in six years receiving flowers for Mother’s Day 😆

I’ve been on a “Springcleaning” break since the public holiday on Thursday, and have also taken Monday to Wednesday off.

I’d originally thought I’d need to some time cleaning and packing the girls’ toys and books but I’ve already done those over the Labour Day long weekend.

I decided to go ahead to take leave even though it didn’t make sense to.

I hope I’d be spending the next 3 days wisely. There is work to be done and a call to attend to, but at least I would not be stuck in the chair for a few hours straight calling in for workshops, meetings, discussions and getting caught in somewhat senseless arguments.

For the past 2 months, I’ve been trying to practise what one of my favourite ex-bosses used to tell me – to separate style from content, so as to focus on what is being said rather than how it is being said.

It is super good advice.

But the down sides to this have been:

1) Me wondering where all the good bosses went

2) Me exhausting my mental capacity trying to separate style vs. substance, style vs. substance.. only to realise that after taking out the style, there is no substance.

I feel stressed thinking about all the projects I need to complete by end-June and the stress turns into resentment when I think about what/who caused this.

Hence the net impact and same conclusion: I need a mental break from work.

Home-based learning isn’t a blast either. I’m doing the bare minimum, ensuring that the girls call in for their zoom sessions and that any preparation or homework required are done and shared with their teachers.

Allie does only the zoom sessions and almost nothing else. I’ve managed to give Clarissa some homework outside of her zoom sessions but apart from Mathematics, her interest level isn’t high especially when it involves writing writing and more writing.

So I try not to force it and only give her work when I have time to go through it with her.

I’ve also relaxed the weekend routine because I need the break too. 😂

The girls have been champions in this “new normal”. They do not whine or complain about not being able to go out. They (mostly) play well with each other when both the hubs and I are busy with work.

Allie cracks me up every day with her funny antics and the things she says.

I’ve been wondering why she’s still not eating on her own and when she’d start doing so. When asked why she couldn’t eat her lunch or dinner on her own, she said, without missing a beat, “Because I have a headache.”

She is still not quite sleeping through the night, but her naps are generally good except when she wakes up and goes from 0 to 100 in seconds, crying and inconsolable.

When she eventually calms down she’d tell us she had a nightmare. One day she said there was a crocodile chasing her. The next day she brawled right after her nap and we asked her what was chasing her this time.

“Frog,” she said.

😂😆

Clarissa is the thoughtful and perceptive one, asking for chitchats and cuddles at bedtime, and massages too.

She’s still the one comforting her sister when the adults aren’t able to and also the one who storms away when her sister snatches her toys from the nth time. Yet she’s always quick to forgive and forget, when Allie says the “sorry, Jiejie” that she’s waiting to hear.

My Mother’s Day started super early this morning when Allie zoomed into the room at 530am, requested for a million things and did not go back to sleep.

Still, I’m glad for the me-time the night before, when the hubs did bedtime with Clarissa and I was able to finish reading the remaining two-thirds of a book (“Educated” by Tara Westover) before turning in for the night.

It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to read more than 300 pages in a single day, and it feels good.

Also received greetings from Hyunbin.

And caught up with Lee Minho.

I’m going a little easier on myself this week and hopefully this becomes the new norm too.

❤❤