This Is Who I Am

Let's start with my name. Hi there! I'm Wee Leng.

Husband's Kevin and my kids are Lauren and Luke. We're originally from Malaysia, then stayed and worked in Singapore for a bit, and now we're in the lovely Sunshine Coast of Australia.

Us at Caloundra, December 2014

Someone asked Luke, 8 years old, where are you from? And he looked at me instead, asking me, "Am I from Malaysia, Singapore or Australia?" !!!! Boy, what have I done?

So you must be asking why Singapore? Why Australia?

Work and better education brought us to Singapore. Both Kevin and I have worked 20 over years in large global corporate companies, where the pay is good, the lifestyle is...not so great. 7.30am in the office, 7pm home, at earliest. My kids eat their last spoonful of dinner, and off to bed they go with a full tummy. What choice is there, when they have to wake up at 5.45am to catch their transport to school? And being a mom who wants to know what goes in their stomachs, I make sure they eat home-cooked meals. So it's breakfast at home, packed break-time food to school, and home-cooked dinners. Where do I find the time to cook, you ask? During the weekends. My fridge is full of cooked frozen meals to last me the week! More on that another time.

When we received our temporary visas to Australia, Kevin and I decided it was time to say goodbye to our careers in Singapore, and take a leap of faith with our kids. Lauren, you see, has an Autism Spectrum Condition and is fast becoming a teenager. We had done years of therapy in Malaysia and Singapore from when she was 5 years old. Speech therapy, occupational therapy, music therapy...but admittedly, we have slacked on her therapy the last two years in Singapore. Lauren's a great girl! Intelligent, funny, bright but really not the friendliest person. Not because she doesn't want to be, she just isn't very good at being a friend. She's not sure how to. We need to show her.

We've linked ourselves with a great Clinical Psychologist in the Coast, and have a lovely team at school who supports Lauren and her friends with autism. And you know what? Luke is also enjoying his school here (less homework compared to back home!) and now spending more time playing with Lauren on things which they both like, which is so lovely to see!

This blog is about Lauren and Luke. It is about parenting them, about the different support we give them, about the experiences we have had with them in Malaysia, Singapore and now Australia.

Lauren and Luke, clowning around. Nov 2014.

It is Kevin and my hope that for our readers, you find the stories enlightening, informative, sometimes sad, sometimes funny and definitely always inspiring. Especially to parents in these three countries that we have been to and are living in, we want to be a resource for you on how you can support your growing ASC child. We are no experts but we are willing to share our experiences and learnings with you and be part of your journey. We hope you will share yours too with us on this blog.

- Wee Leng -