Flight Of The Dragons: School Holiday Day 1

Today is the official start of the December school holidays. I thought Sophie had some Chinese enrichment this week but I was told it wasn't just a couple of days ago. Phew! How embarrassing! I had wanted to start the holidays on a positive note, so I bought some nice ice-cream and tidbits over the weekends. Sophie was obviously happy to chomp at the cookies, biscuits and ice-cream but Alfee was only lukewarm. He doesn't really fancy cold stuff.

Anyway, Papa was down with flu so he was on medical leave today. I deliberately took both kids out to mail Sophie's birthday invitation cards and thought of stopping by the playground as well. Papa could sleep a bit more. Unfortunately, we were rudely attacked by big, red ants on the way there. They were on the pavement and we stood right in their way. I didn't notice them at first because I was trying to see a banner, just across the road, about the shuttle bus service to Greenwich. Suddenly, I just felt pain on my legs and it was then I saw a few red, angry ants biting me.

Sophie screamed while I was sweeping them off my leg. I panicked, thinking she was bitten so I checked her. I found one crawling under her shirt. Then she cried out that she saw another on Alfee. I quickly found and removed it from him. Ouch! I was bitten again. I quickly pushed Alfee's pram further away and ushered Sophie to safety. When I asked her, Sophie said she was bitten. She was just terrified. Alfee was quite shaken as well so he kept saying 'I don't want ants... I don't like ants!'.

The atmosphere remained tensed even after we successfully mailed our cards and took a breather at the playground nearby. It was more like taking refuge there while I figured out how to walk home without encountering those ants again. I was also still looking around the kids to make sure they were free from any red ants. In the end, we detoured and walked back after 30 minutes because my friend wanted to drop by to deliver the loot I had ordered from Amazon.

By the time we got back and washed up, Papa was awake. He was just in time to enjoy some sausage puff made by Sophie and me. Sophie learnt how to make them in school so she had been asking me for the ingredients. Of course, I cheated with frozen puff pastry, but who cares? She enjoyed the process anyway and we ate with gusto too!

After the heavy snacks, we took the kids to the playground for some more running around. I think they need the outdoors as much as I need my space. In the past, I stopped Sophie from climbing up the slide because the playground rule is 'up the steps, down the slide'. However, I read that it might not be a bad idea to let kids climb up the slide once in a while. It allows them to 'go against the odds', 'take chances', 'face challenges' and hopefully, 'overcome obstacles'. It also give them the opportunity to 'be flexible' especially if there are other children at the playground. For instance, they will learn to step aside and wait for their turn if someone is coming down the slide. They also have to face criticisms from others who really prefer to be conventional and want them out of their way.