2014 in perspect

This has been a tough year for me no doubt...the emba program, new job and young babies. I swore off work completely on weekends except the occassional email (still bad i know) to be completely with the kids, trying to compensate for every lost hour on the weekday that i dedicate to work.

School is almost done, i graduate in almost exactly a month. While insead had sparked desires of job changes and new ventures, i am keeping those thoughts on the side for now as the current job demands overwhelms. "What for?" Is almost becoming a recurring question and i almost find myself not being able to answer.

But then i digress, this blog is not about me, its about the kids and i managed to not post anything for the last 8 months while there would have had been at least 100 different things to post. I feel terrible of course but no point wasting more time crying over spilt milk so hopefully i get back into a posting routine even if it means doing it on my daily commute to work.

So what happened in 2014 for the kids?
Alyssa has completed her first year at pre-nursery class. Awesome! Not without some ups and downs and run ins with the teacher but still better than we expected. She was definitely a little lady who was smart and knew exactly what she wanted and we had our share from the suffering teachers when she gets upset about not getting her way. But all is well as somehow the little curly haired charmer still manages to always get into the hearts of all the teachers, helpers, and even other parents and kids at the kindergarden. Thank god for that!

Feeding her is still a struggle but she now manages to feed herself simple finger food and get the spoon from bowl to mouth with minimal mess. But since she starts to get picky when left to her own devices, we tend to still feed her mostly to make sure she has all the nutrients she needs.

Her mental ability is leaps and bounds beyond our imagination. She is already grapsing concepts of fractions, percentages,  estimation. Multiplication tables are already excellent with her wonderful memory and she is now able to add and subtract beyond her 10 fingers. Reading and spelling is no issue at all and this year she has started picking up chinese at school.

Her physical development is also coming along well albeit slightly slower. But thanks to ballet class, her basic skills like jumping, coordination and balance are definitely improving. We ended the year also starting her on art classes as we saw her love for aesthetics and drawing. So far, she loves it. I am keen to stick her only in classes she enjoys and no further enrichment at all to hopefully give her the balanced childhood.

Asher is growing up faster than a blink. He is sturdy and strong, soon to be able to fight back his sister now and not just stand and be bullied. He is an active ball of energy, loves sitting on our laps listening to stories and all play. He is all about trains and cars, thomas and frienda and chuggington count as his favorite characters. He recognizes color, numbers 1-10 and shapes. He recently progressed from single words to double words and i look forward to short sentences from him soon. He knows the last words from each sentence of all the nursery rhymes. 

What i love most about our asher boy is that he is always so happy, sweet and lovely. He is definitely one bubbly character although of course he is starting to graduate into the terrible twos phase, so things might change soon before i know it.

I want so much to be able to spend more time with these dear kiddies but work is really draining. Hopefully 2015 will be a year of change. Let's see. In the meantime i thank God for beautiful Alyssa and Asher, and beloved hubby Kwang, who are truly my greatest blessings.