2nd July 2010 , Posted by Jaime Teo
Activities Post Baby
“Activities” is a very loose term. Two people doing different things in the same room could also be termed an activity, ie: chilling together. BUT, that’s not what I’m referring to. I realized that recently, although we aren’t out doing all the things we used to(ie: playing badminton or poker or at the movies), days pass by quickly. So I thought to take stock of my days. Here are some activities we’ve been up to:
We have quiet conversations. I mean that literally-we whisper. This is at 9ish (that’s her bedtime for now), we’re in a darkened room with a sleeping baby and so we talk in whispers. We typically begin with regular stuff like sharing interesting thoughts about the day, and somehow our conversations run into discussions of the future. And maybe because whispering invites deeper thoughts(who knows, right?), we tend to share more about our feelings on things. The best part about whispering is that everything sounds softer and sweeter. Even if we touch on sensitive topics (most couples have some of those…), when communicated in a whisper it’s just less likely to spark an argument(even if it does, an angry whisper does not do as much damage). Definitely a bonding activity.
All talk and no play can get quite boring, so some days we compete at different iPhone games. Dan wasn’t always a fan of games but has in the last year, taken to a couple of games. Like Bejeweled or Fall Down! Or Blowfish – We’ll take turns to see who can get a higher score. What prizes do we get for winning? Winning is in itself a reward! (As is goading the loser hurhur) There’s also Coin Dozer, which is a really addictive game to see how long we can play the game before our coins go to zero. This is more fun when there’s only ONE iPhone so we are forced to share. In our microwave age, we sometimes forget the joy of delayed gratification sharing.
Darkened room aside, we do little races in the day – it’s actually quite fun to set the clock and see if we can get our to-do list done starting from the time she finishes a feed. We then head out for lunch, do the groceries, sneak in some hand holding time and get back home just in time for her next feed. Oh and feel proud that we were so efficient.
Something we really enjoy doing too, is surfing for holiday destinations. We’ll check out different places, different hotels, and different modes of transportation. And then we’ll bookmark the places so that when Dan gets a week free from work, we have a few places on standby. I’m really looking forward to our trip(s)!
I guess everybody has their preferred thing to do. For us, love of food explains the races, love of travelling, the paragraph after. I think it’s all in the attitude in which we take on these old tasks in new ways. With that, even the most mundane everyday activity can be a fun, bonding activity.
2 Comments
Yi Lin
July 3rd, 2010 at 9:38 am
Hi Jaime, thought I’d drop to note to say hello to my fellow blogger! It’s great to know that you and Dan (your Dan, not my Dan…hmmm) are managing to squeeze in alots of couple time despite being busy with a newborn. Surfing for vacation destinations is a really nice thing to do together. So is talking in bed. I can’t say that our conservations are soft and sweet though. Most of the time we’re guffawing (loudly) over the nonsensical random scenarios he paints in his blog entries. Maybe we should start trying to whisper.
Jaime Teo
July 5th, 2010 at 1:35 am
Hiya Yi Lin! Don’t be in a hurry to start with the whispering – I’m sure you’ll have plenty of opportunities in future. I’m thinking right about a year from now *wink
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