What If They Spend Their Whole Childhood Playing?

(This was taken on Saturday night, 10pm, when Ollie suddenly decided not to sleep and dress up for play, all by herself. She put on the shoes and my cap, hopped on her little car and instructed the Papa to take a photo of her, for her.) 

The homeschooling community shared the article:

What If They Spend Their Whole Childhood Playing? 

It came at a time where I asked Laogong if it's OK that I'm not teaching anything school-style and school-way for Ollie. (I just want to make sure he sort of is having the same mentality as me.) I'm just letting Ollie play around, run around, swim, shop and live the daily life we live at the moment. She is not going to school yet and highly, definitely later on, No. I just want Ollie to play. Unstructured play. And wow, she is doing good, by my standards, of course. 

I always face questions about homeschooling Ollie and mainly I'll say that I don't want her to be caught in the rat race (contradicting I know, especially when our family business is highly educational, the Singapore way, but well the business does not equate to parenting ideas). 

I guess the sharing of the article came at the right time, assuring me that it's fine to let Ollie play away. But again, I guess, knowing myself, even without the article, I'm just doing it my way. 

Dear Ollie, 

Childhood is a very precious commodity. 

Being able to be play it away, I think is very important. 

Please enjoy your childhood as much as you can. 

Play, play away. 

Love, 

Mama & Papa. 

Paris 2017 Concluded

It was a trip of a lifetime. Previously I blogged about losing my Kelly in Paris but seriously, believe it or not, we did fine and well. It happened on the first night. We continued on with the trip. Visited Disney Land. Shopped on. Dined on. I guess sometimes people, find it difficult how we can remain so positive in times like that. (I said remain positive, not heartless or emotionless. Of course I'm sad I lost my Kelly and Ollie's backpack and all other stuff, come on, you know the value of the things I use. Of course we knew about the inconvenience without travel documents and remaking everything.) But hey! The Earth continues moving. No one stops for me. We can either choose to move on in Paris or stay in the hotel to cry everyday? Of course, we moved on! 

Yes, we shortened the trip. We needed to get back to settle the travel documents. So, we paid a lot more to be back one day earlier. 

Anyway, that aside, Paris is great. Had lovely friends with us. Love the weather. We kept ourselves very warm (too warm on some days, haha). Love the bread and butter and cheese. We had that almost every meal. How not to love the escargot too. Haha. Thankful that my clothes still fit. Haha. Love the coffee. Absolutely yummy coffee. Love the wine and beer. Cheaper than water! What else but... Love the shopping!!! The shopping rocks in Paris. Thankful I got most of what I wanted. But well, shopping and buying, never enough anyway.  Thankful that Laogong tries his best to make everything work too. I can be a very difficult and wilful spouse at time. 

Thankful for family that know us or me well. I cannot stand nagging. So when they found out about it, they simply kept their messages and concern sweet and short. No nagging. No repeatedly telling us be careful x 100,000. 

Thankful that we are safe and sound and back home. See you maybe in August or maybe in 2018 again, Paris. I still love you. You presented me the worst situation in the best way because no one was hurt and my precious Ollie didn't feel a thing. 

Thank you, Paris. 

I'll just take and keep, the best memories. 

(Updates: Back home, passports made, expedite. Sim card replaced. Phone bought. Mainly back to normal routine. Thank you everyone for your warm welcome back! Lots love for you all)