The journal continues on…

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Evidently, I had maxed out my storage space and found myself being unable to upload photos to the blog. I had a few options:

1. Delete old photos to make space
2. Pay $99 a year to upgrade disk space
3. Register a new account for 3GB of free space

Option 1 sounded sad and unproductive.

For convenience, I wanted to go for option 2. However, I was only maintaining the journal for personal logging’s sake. I was not using this for commercial’s purpose and I was reluctant to pay. One year was fine, but what about subsequent years?

Hence, I decided option 3 would be the best way forward. Catch me at the new journal site where the daily rambling would continue, as well as the upcoming backdated posts on the 17N/16D Japan trip.

Printed Itinerary for Z

When I was younger, I used to gloss over the itineraries provided by travel agencies. Fast forward to today, since most of our trips were free and easy, there was no itinerary except for a trusty excel template.

Z asked many questions and repeated questions about the trip. So much so that I decided to make him his very own version of the itinerary. It would save my breath from telling him what we would be doing from day to day, where we would be staying and more.

I was so happy whenever he asked me anything about the trip that I could tell him, “Go read your itinerary!”

A 2pp Tri-fold itinerary   

 

The feedback for this from a parent’s point of view was awesome. Z stopped asking me repeated questions and had a very good idea of the itinerary. He went as far as to tell his preschool teacher and friends about it. His teacher noted that he remembered many details by heart. It showed how he was able to grasp a big picture when he was passionate about something. Didn’t we always? 

Terrible Three wannabe

In the month leading to X turning 3, he was an absolute nightmare to bring out.

He would have noodles and no rice. If you served him rice, he gave hell.

He wanted things done to his pleasing immediately.

He had a particular milk bottle and declined the rest. 

He was always crying about one thing or other, as well as sprawling on the floor.

He demanded the brother to follow his actions.

He refused to go toilet when he needed to and peed in his pants several times.

And more.

His behavior was particularly bad when Mr H was with us.

If Mr H was not around, X was much better behaved. 

One day, I overheard Z telling X, “Daddy is not with us. Only Mummy is with us. You better not make her angry.”

When I heard that, I was pleased with Z’s teaching to his brother.

The next statement that followed was, “Mummy is very fierce one.”

Arranging for ski lessons

I talked about how hard it was to book ski lessons despite making my intentions known very early. We eventually sorted that out but I thought I would like to record the ski lessons’ booking schedule and costs.

1. 22nd Dec: Private lesson for 4 of us, Tomamu resort, English instructor, 9-11am, 42K yen

2. 23rd Dec: Private lesson for 4 of us, Tomamu resort, Japanese instructor with basic English, 12-2pm, 40K yen

3. 25th Dec: Class lesson for Z & X, Rusutsu Shin Crayon Ski school, 945-1515 including lunch, 16K yen per child

*We were on waiting list for the 1030am English class.

4. 26th Dec: Class lesson for Z & X, Rusutsu Shin Crayon Ski school, 945-1515 including lunch, 16K yen per child

*We were on waiting list for the 1030am English class.

Pre-holiday weekend – Part 2

On Sunday, Z could barely crawled out of bed. Our cleaning auntie reached at 8am so Mr H and I had to be up early. In order to clear stocks in the fridge, I made ham, mushroom & cheese omelette for breakfast. My egg was too small and i did not add water so it was very hard to fold my omelette. My success rate was 1/3 for presentation. 

Mr H had also bought me a pizza float but I let the kids test run in the morning. X loved it.  

It looked like X was on patrol.
  

The kids played till the skies rained on them. After a home-cooked lunch, we headed out to the family hairdresser. We spent more than 2 hours there as I had to dye my hair.

After shopping errands for the trip & Xmas were completed, we took photos around the prettily decked out areas.  

We had a simple dinner before rushing off to USS for the evening programs. We were just in time!

The 713pm Christmas Lights show

  

The 720pm Fairytale remix performance 
The 740pm Sesame Street Xmas show  
 

Z even squeezed in a ride before we heading home on a drizzling night. 

Random fact of the day – I found out that X knew how & when to switch his Aircon on or off. 👍🏻