First kiss

I will always remember this day on 8 July 2014 night, my little gal kissed me on my lip. It was such a sweet little first kiss.

I was leaning over her playpen singing lullaby and trying to get her to sleep. As usual, I asked her to give me a good nite kiss which she would usually turn her head away and ignored me. I asked for it every day thinking maybe one day she will kiss her mommy. She would kissed her doggie soft toy but not me lolx.

On that special nite, she tiptoed on her little toes and kissed me on my lips. It was the first time she kissed me and my heart immediately melted away. She's such a darling.

Ever since I stayed at home to take care of her, our bonding improved tremendously. All these small little things really warmed my heart. It was worth it.

SAHM

Since I made the decision to quit and be a SAHM (Stay At Home Mom) temporarily, I have more free time for my little gal and this really helps to improve our bonding. She can now call me "Ma Ma" and will come look for me to play with her. This may sounds a very simple thing that every child will do with their mother, but for me, it was not. When I was still working, whenever I came home from work, she would look past me blankly and refused to let me hug her. I felt so sad and guilty at the same time that I did not spend time with her and neglected her.

I am also in dilemma making this decision. I have received comments that I should continue to work to earn income to support family. It is all about money in this society now and becomes a norm. We are expected by the society to multitask: care for the family, take care of the kids, and work to earn an income to support the family. However in reality, it is difficult to multitask to do all well. By having both parents working, it means lesser time to look after the kids. The job of looking after the kids becomes other people's business (e.g. caregiver, maid, grandparents, childcare teacher). It is like we give birth to the child but not the one nurturing the child due to the need to work to support the family. But as parents, we are responsible for our child.

Work nowadays is very hectic as well. Work life balance can only happen if the culture of the company truly believe in it and work on it. Sadly, this kinda companies are very limited here. So you need to work long hours at work and when you come home, it's already late night and the child already sleep. The next day morning, you need to wake up and go to work again but the child may still be sleeping or just manage to catch a glimpse of you only. It is sad, very sad. You spent more time with your work then your child.

If we do up some sums, the cost of getting a maid / caregiver could cost a lot too. Furthermore, you are letting someone who you are not familiar with to take care of your child. It will really depends on luck that you find a good maid / caregiver.

For me I do wish to go back to work in the future when she is older and more independent cos we are not really well to do. But for now, I just wish to be there when she is growing up. The joy of seeing her grow everyday is priceless.

The new sports hub

We visited the new Sports Hub last Sun. The place is huge. The major draw to us is the Kallang Wave shopping mall and the new National Stadium. The Kallang Wave mall was not fully operationally. Most of the shops are still under renovation and we are not able to access to the 2nd story. So there are limited restaurants or food options. Nothing much inside the mall except the main centrepiece of the rock climbing which is quite impressive but I don't see a lot of people participating. It reminds me of the one at Orchard Central. 

One thing to note is that to get to the National Stadium, we have to climb the long fleet of stairs up. The escalators and lifts are not functional yet. So we have to carry our baby stroller all the way to climb the fleet of stairs. It was very tiring. Not stroller or wheelchair friendly at all. It was most inconvenient for those with kids and old folks. I saw many old folks were struggling to climb up and down the stairs. The sports hub management should have been more thoughtful about this especially it is new opening. Maybe when the lifts or escalators are functional, it could relieve the situation. However one design flaw is that there are limited shelter to the national stadium. Imagine having to climb the fleet of stairs under the hot sun. 

The National Stadium was quite amazing though. It was huge and with a powerful ventilation system I think. We are walking around the stadium and we could feel the breeze from the stadium. It was linked to 3 MRT stations: Stadium, Kallang and Mountbatten and within short walking distance. 

Our googie was happily exploring the place running around. There is also a playground near to the indoor stadium on the 2nd level and she was having loads of fun. 

Verdict

There is not much reason for us to go there again unless we have participated some events at the Sports Hub which I think very unlikely. The place looks nice with lots of walking area. However there are limited shelter and not stroller friendly. Most of the people are hiding inside the shopping mall cos the heat was too unbearable. So it defeats the purpose of having those facilities too. Such design might be feasible in those temperate countries but not here. In Chinese it means 好看不好吃。 

Googie exploring under the hot sun