I marked 5 start day for our Saturday!
I prepared new yum food for the family, finished the book (my thoughts below), took long walks with the girls to the bookstore and got Sofia the english version of “the Prince”, watch 1/2 movie with hubby after girls went down for the night. I love everything about our day. But what I love the most were the conversations we had with the girls.
1. Money decision: Sofia’s STEM class was offering magic show for an extra fee yesterday. I asked Sofia if she wanted to watch it.
Dad: if you want to watch it, you have to pay for it. (It was Php500 (10USD) for two magic shows)
Sofia thinking for 30 sec: I have money, I can pay for it.
Dad: great. then Lizzy can watch it with you.
Sofia: then Lizzy needs to pay half of it.
Lizzy: but I don’t have money
Sofia: what time is the show?
Mom: 6-7pm
Sofia: but that means I have to eat dinner at 7pm (we usually eat at 6), then we won’t have time to read before bed (8pm).
Mom: well, it’s your decision.
Sofia: better not then. I’ve seen magic shows in birthday parties, I’ve also played magic show in Wenxin’s (her friend).
Mom thought: how quick she learns to self-justifying whatever decision she makes.
2. Living alone in college.
Mom: you know when you go to college you get to live by yourself
Sofia: but I don’t want to live by myself.
Mom: but it’s fun, you’ll learn to be independent
Lizzy (almost crying): but I want to be with Jiajia (sister in shanghainese)
Sofia: but I want to live with my family, I want to be with my mom.
Mom: well… when you get older, you’ll prefer to spend more time with your friends than with your family.
Sofia (looking very sad): I will ALWAYS prefer my family and my mom over my friends.
Mom thought: I will believe it when I see it 🙂
3. COVID time
Mom: some of your friends’ mom don’t work and spend a lot of time in school with their kids. Do you prefer me working or not working?
Sofia (not sure): not working so you get to spend more time with me.
Mom: when you grow up and have your own kids? do you want to be a stay-at-home mom?
Sofia: no, i will have to work. Well… actually I like how we are now.
Mom: so you prefer me to work then?
Sofia: actually i like this time (covid pandemic and quarantine at home), we spend so much more time together.
Mom thought: so true! pre-covid when I go to office and the girls go to school, I probably spend less than 3 hrs with them. Now, we are together 12+ hrs a day! How lucky we are! 🙂 This time is a GIFT!
Few pics of our day: I made chinese buns, some plain, some with a sweet lentil filling.
Lunch
Sofia loves her savory pancakes. I made it with cream corn and shredded carrots.
Afternoon walk. First time in three weeks as the kids were not allowed to go out when we were in MECQ.
Bookstore is probably our fav shop now!
I finished it!!! I started it on Thursday and finished 2/3 left yesterday. It was such a beautiful story. My heart ached reading Kya’s story, surviving all by herself when she was at Sofia’s age. Then the longing for connection, love, acceptance, all those things that come so easily to most of us. Then her relationship with Tate. What Tate did for and with her, good and bad. And the ending? wooo! so unexpected. I also loved how the author introduced similarities and differences between animal kingdom and human behavior. It’s a book about love, resilience, being different, and human kindness. Definitely 5/5 rating!
Gratitude: I am grateful for how much the girls want to spend time with me, really doing whatever I am doing. I know it won’t last forever, not even for long, but I remind myself everyday to enjoy it as long as it lasts.
Our New Journey 
I was close to my parents as I grew older, and friends NEVER were preferable to family time 😅 even in college, high school, and now. My friends were quick to leave their families, but I couldn’t imagine it. I hope that your daughters feel the same way they do now in the future!
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I hope my boys stay as close to us as they are now. They are already getting to the age that sometimes they prefer doing other things (playing outside, video games…) to hanging out with us, but overall they still seem to like spending time with us. I’m super close to my parents, too- we travel with them a lot and see them very often too. Besides my husband, they are definitely the people I am closest to in the world. We have always been close but I feel got really close once I hit my late 20’s/early 30’s. There was a stage when i was in college when we weren’t as close, I think just because I was first “out on my own” and they were both busy still working/ enjoying the empty nest life! But once I had kids, we really reconnected. I’ve always been close to them, though, including very much so during my high school years.
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Yes, I think once I had Kids I appreciated my parents so much more especially my mom who took care the first year of by girls. I wish we live closer. At least girls FaceTime with grandma everyday!
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