Autumn/Winter Term

...is coming to an end and the term exams signifies the checkpoint of what Girl has been up to at The Big School.

I only realised how much she has grown (physically) when her outfit all looked a size too small right after the Mothercare sale had ended. Which means having to pay regular prices less only 10% instead of 40-60% off during the sale! Growth spurts happen overnight when she sleeps, I can vouch that much.

Emotionally, she is going through an insecure phase where she feels I spend too much with with Bean while she is away at The Big School. I reassured her that Bean goes to Playschool too, and that I only spend the "extra hour" with him in the morning before he leaves home. This hour is also compensated during afternoon school run when I fetch Girl and it is our daily 1-1 time. We even extend this to include grocery shopping, bath, homework and dinner preparation time. Bean will then come home from his 1-1 time with The Other Half at about 5.30 pm.

Sometimes, Girl cries before bedtime because she feels like staying up a little longer but knows that if she does not get sufficient sleep, she will also feel tired and cry in the morning. In the wee hours, she had been coming in to sleep at the bottom of my bed. Imagine 4 of us on the king size bed? What a squash and a squeeze!

Kids will be kids. If she is going to feel all insecure and count the minutes and seconds she is spending with me, I better appreciate this and reciprocate with quality  and quantity of time before she outgrows this phase and choose to spend her time with her friends or a special someone in future.

For now, syukur alhamdulillah for our mother-daughter time. I shall try my best not to feel suffocated.