We usually go to the Gardens By The Bay as a family. Today, I took the kids there on my own to meet Jessy and her girls for a playdate. At their age, I'm not sure it's still called 'playdate' but we did arrange to play there today. We took the cab so we arrived slightest earlier. There was a bad traffic jam on CTE due to some vehicle breakdown. Again, I usually don't take pictures when I'm out with the kids without CK. Today, I thought I didn't feel too stressed out… yet.
The kids were somehow always drawn to any opportunity to penning down their thoughts or making their marks. I was quite glad to see that Alfee's handwriting has improved a lot. And he enjoys drawing monsters, which is fine as long as they look like monsters.
The kids wanted to go to the water play straight away but I told them to play at the playground first. My strategy is always to do water play last so that they can wash off any sand or dirt. Sorry, I hate sand in the house, especially in the bathroom. It takes forever to get rid of sand.
The kids soon found this spinning red seater and got hooked on it. On one hand, they enjoyed the spin and begged for more. On the other hand, the spin was frightening and they couldn't hold on for more than a few seconds. At this point, I started to melt under the heat so I retreated to a shady spot and sat there.
The kids never cease to amaze me with their creativity in free play. They found a hole on the red seater for draining off the sand. And suddenly, the spinning seater became a cement mixer and the hole became a cement dispenser.
Finally, the kids had company. Sophie was as happy as a lark to see Xiao Ci and Yun Er. She was literally jumping around in excitement. It was then I remembered I didn't tell them the girls were going. My bad. They played together at the sandy area a while more before heading off to the water play.
It was quite fun to watch them play. When they were tired, they just sat down and rested. Of course, Alfee was simply thrilled to run amok and do cartwheels.
I had imagined great pains in cleaning and washing them up when the whole thing was over. Surprisingly, it was alright. They were washed and changed very quickly and we all went to Bakerzin for lunch. It's nice to feel relatively stressless at lunch now that the kids are older and more independent.
The kids slept in the cab on the way home. I carried Alfee back and he continued to nap but Sophie was up and about. She finished her Christmas tree picture while waiting for Alfee to play with her.
After Alfee woke up, the kids decided to play cafe with their toys. I was so tickled that Alfee put the little lion on a booster seat. He can be such a sweetie pie, all thoughtful and loving, yet he has such a challenging time regulating himself sometimes.
As I see it, it's been a good day today. I was tired but that didn't stop me from going out with the kids. I did think about cancelling the playdate because I didn't want to be all stressed out and zapped though. Fortunately, I didn't. Maybe it won't be that tough anymore.
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