Date Night

While we are very much a family focussed foursome, we decided that Saturday would be DATE night. Papa with C, and me with R. And my was it a whole load of fun!

R and I caught Singapore Lyric Opera's Reluctant Dragon & Wind in the Willows at Victoria Theater while Dad and mini went on their own escapade filled with McDonalds, Andersons Ice-cream (i believe they did have some decent food first... hang on, i better quiz him - one can't be too sure about how DADs actually think !) and visits to toy stores (note the plural used here...).

Both J and I exchanged notes and concluded it's really nice taking them one-on-one, and we intend to have this as a monthly affair, and swap kiddos each time. The whole experience i guess... dressing up, staying out at night which is a treat [okay, my girls don't usually get to see much of the night sky as they are in bed on school days by 8pm :) ] and just connecting - gives you a warm fuzzy feeling. More importantly, i think it reinforces to the kid that she/he is special to you as you are to her, and these one-on-one memories reinforce that. Often as we run after our multiple kiddos, things flash by in a blur, and we just play functional mommy / daddy roles.

On a separate note, indulge me as I rave about Children's theatre in Singapore these days. It's EXCELLENT !! And so difficult to do. Actors have to be totally at ease with themselves, with actions exaggerated 100-fold, have perfect comic timing, and love their craft, to actually illicit the spontaneous laughs from these young ones, who half the time are too busy asking 'Mommy, what's he saying" than concentrating on listening. Very hard. And i've resolved to catch all the performances for children henceforth by SRT's Little Company and Singapore Lyric Opera :)

At least after the musical with R last night, i got to touch on difficult topics like Good versus Evil and how Good (usually) triumphs in the end; and the excesses of materialism and comforts of home that were the underlying themes of Wind in the Willows.... "Cheem" stuff that at least portrayed in a hilarious way and through music, had got across the message to the kiddos pretty well in a way that i would not have been able to.