Four things in my house that are very American
American breakfast cereal
Giant framed poster of Boston, including Fenway Park (where the Red Sox play baseball)
Bureau or giant US King Bed (because our armoire is overfull)
My 2 year old has her own bedroom (as does the 5 year old)
Four things in my house that are very Singaporean
Elanor’s wall of Mandarin vocabulary cards
Maggi noodles
Dehumidifier
Gandalf is a Singaporean cat (they naturally have those super short tails)
4 pieces of art I had 4 years ago next to 4 new pieces of art
Old–Elanor’s birth announcement (near)
New–Rhi’s birth announcement (far)
Old-street scene from New Orleans
New-Boomerang from Australia
Old-visiting the Taj Mahal
New-Rhi’s baby photo shoot and/or Ellie walking on the beach in CA
Old-Poster for Wicked on Broadway, autographed by original cast members
New-Ellie in the water fountain and/or Claire, myself and the girls at the Dinosaur exhibit at ArtScience, and/or Emily, myself, and kids at the zoo for CNY
Love this! Congrats on your 4 yrs here!
Wow, has it really been four years already?! Thanks for sharing your journey with us. 🙂 I do have a question, though: why is it particularly American for the girls to have their own bedrooms? Do Singaporean children co-sleep with their parents?
From what I understand, it’s typical for kids to share a room with someone (another child, family member, or the helper) until they’re roughly six. Obviously that will vary by family–my friend K said their nanny slept in her room until her brother was born (I think a four year gap) but then slept in his until age 6. The maid contract specifically notes that an appropriate sleeping place is a young child’s room for this reason.
That my 2.5 year old has her own room is met most commonly with surprise from Singaporeans.