Too Many Cooks...

I'm ungrateful maybe, but I need to rant: I NEED TO TAKE CONTROL OF MY OWN SITUATION!

I have ready food for ER at home all the time: previously prepared stock frozen, purees and now vegetables that I can chop up for ER because he's chewing now.

Here at my parents', my mum insists only on fresh food. That's ideal of course.

But mum doesn't always have fresh food all the time...

She said she would get groceries at the market when I called. But she saw a multicooker on sale and bought it instead of groceries. Her suggestion to me: "Give baby cereals...he doesn't eat much anyway."

That sounds so irresponsible! He doesn't eat much so I don't have to bother about making nutritious food for him? Whatever happened to her high standard of homemade food for kids and her insistence on feeding baby on time to condition him for meals? Her stand on things waver with the winds! Cereals is fine with me of course, but I wonder how those words can come from my mum.....it's not her leh?

On second thoughts, I'm not surprised she said that....my parents are not educated and really, I have to learn to take their words with sprinkles of sugar..sigh..

I asked if she has anchovies in the fridge so I can make stock for his porridge. She said yes but wouldn't allow me to use them because it's been in the fridge for a long time. May have expired...fine. I then suggested I'd give him cereals for lunch. What other choice do I have? The only backup bottled baby food had been opened by mum a few days ago because she thought it was already opened...faint....

Don't you guys think home is still sweetest because you are in charge and chances of such confusion and power struggles, and miscommunication are almost non existing?

I then said I'll go out to get stuff to make stock for his dinner, and some vegetables too. She, like my dad, didn't think I should be bringing a baby out. Arghhhh! She used to bring both of us out!! And Andy and I are only 1.5 yrs apart. I'm onl going to take the LRT to Compasspoint and back with A BABY. We won't die!

She got upset at my suggestion and walked away after whispering: "Go get what you want. I don't know what you want to feed him."

Cool, please let me do it. I do, you also want to do. End up we have too much going on. I let you do, you get distracted and do nothing. Then we have nothing.

This doting grandma then went out.

And then she called. She said she was at NTUC and asked if I want sweetcorns to make stock with. I said ok. I think she felt bad ER has nothing to eat.

Sigh.....

I hope there will be a preschool at Greenwich which should open in about a year. As much as I want ER to be in the same school as AN, as much as I want them to be close to the parents, this arrangement is even more taxing than if I had to do everything on my own.

At least I can ensure the kids have food to eat with having to call my parents one by one to see what the arrangement is, because one is at home and one is out. At least I can make proper use of all the time we have after school, after nap, after meals and baths, to get them to do something productive (be it drawing, writing, reading, practicing on the instrument, or watching educational programs). Here they watch what my parents watch and grow into TV addicts.

How leh? Bonding with grandparents more important, or kids' overall wellbeing?

I can handle the extra work (at most complain here on my big when overwhelmed)....

Or maybe I pray very hard that we will get posted overseas again??

Yeah!