Orientation for didi and me.

What a busy last week of the year. We had to go for orientation for 2 days as didi donned on his brand new sparkling uniform for Pri 1 while in the afternoon, we were away from our home entertaining guests till 11+ at nights for 2 consecutive days. It was truly enjoyable and exhaustive.

Orientation in the mornings turned out to be a long 3 hours lectures by different heads of dept in the school for the first day, and filling out form after form, waiting, passing the bucks, and more waiting then off we go on the second day. It's rather funny to make some observations around too. Obviously some are newbies while some are already used to the drill. Nevertheless, I too pop my head in whichever discussions there were to see if there's anything I do not know of. Guess it's just the same old thing - food catering for the kids, transportation for them...

I feel happy to see 2 kids from didi's kindy there too. One of them recognized me immediately, but she's in another class. The other one is also in the same class with didi. I sure hope they can be able to look out for one another. Meanwhile, I made friends and exchange numbers with the boy's parents, and talk to one or two among the parents waiting outside the classroom.

The class teacher seems to be rather a fierce teacher, already admonishing didi on the first day when we were there to pick him up. Didi was wildly charging around like a wild bull with another "member" and his shirt was hanging out loosely, just like he always love. Oh no.. I shook my head and just walked away ... breathe in, breathe out..

So when it reached our turn as we all queued up to take our offsprings away, the teacher made didi stand in front of her. She told him to tuck in his shirt nicely and she won't let him go home if it's not done to her satisfaction. Didi looked kinda scared of her and I wonder if he was going to cry! But he hang on there, while she continued telling him that he's not allowed to run around while she was busy handling the parents yadda yadda yadda...

Boy! It sure didn't look good... orientation day only leh.. not even the first day of school yet! Can he behave in the days to come? Oh please, I praying harder now..

Meanwhile, on the second day, he turned out to be a sweet little lamb, sitting quietly on his table, and at least, I didn't hear of any complaints from the teacher. Still want to ask meh? lalalum sign out and take him home lor... happy that everything kaotim by 10+.

We are going to have a bbq at CK's home to welcome the new year together. The kids sure gonna love seeing each other again and have some fun. I think I will too. Happy New year lor.

I'm bad, I'm bad. My bad.

Before I became a mom, I knew I wanted some children, not only 1. Around the region of 3-4, ideally 2 boys and 2 girls.

So when korkor was almost 1, I was kinda ready to have make another one, so that they can grow up and play together. My dream was that they have siblings as company in their growing up years.

I guess never did I foresee that the kind of play they love is to make all those noises, bickering, fighting and making fun of one another almost ALL THE freaking TIME It's really kind of a blessed feeling when it happens once in awhile, but when it occurs everyday and especially in a close compound like in a car, things can get really really ugly.

Some of the times, I step in to tell them to be REALLY QUIET. Some of the times, I let them solve their own issues on their own. Some of the times, I side one of them and join in the fun to make fool of the "victim". Some of the times, I just go CRAZY!

Today, I was keeping my cool when didi was making fun of meimei. When things turned sour and meimei was bawling that he scratched her, I just totally lost it. I regretted that I yelled at him and made some scratch marks on his thighs to let him have a taste of his own medicine. We stood outside the pavement next to a main road, while the rest were waiting for their dinner to be served. I wanted to break down that very moment, totally lost on what I have done, and what I am going to do. It was really kinda depressing. The thing about parenting, it's so darn difficult to strike a balance in everything we do.

At the end of the day, I keep reminding myself, that it's their kind of play and bonding. Without these, it's not part of growing up. They are supposed to be noisy and rowdy at this age. And when they grow out of it and starts to shy away and keep things to themselves, I know I will miss these kind of "noise" around me. Just need to be more steady myself. *slap self*

Avatar is ..

..awesome! No toilet breaks from the kids as we watched through the whole movie. But the night was getting way too late, and meimei slept in my cuddle halfway. Didi was very restless as well and fidgeted around on his seat. Kernian-nya, so I told papa to take meimei and I held didi in my arms. It was very nice to be holding and cradling him like a baby again. He stopped moving but didn't sleep though. I doubt he understands what the movie was about, but would watch when the actions were on and he kept asking why it is taking so long. (that's great! more worth it for the tickets we paid)

By the time we were out, it was midnight, almost near to the Xmas countdown. But we didn't hear any. People were still crowding everywhere, I suppose they are the midnight moviegoers. Amazing! City folks really have no "sleeping time".

We had dinner at Sushi King before that and saw some performance were underway at the concourse area at the center mall. Such vibrant colors and cheerful ambience. It was really a merry christmas eve night. But surprisingly the carpark wasn't full and we had no problem finding a parking spot, much contrast to what I thought. I think many people are either at home watching WLT or at the churches attending services.

Christmas day today, papa felt a bit unwell and we stayed home all day. I tapao breakfast and had it at about 11.30am, almost close to lunchtime. We went about doing our own stuffs, forced the kids to do their homework and papa played computer games all day.

I felt a bit sorry that the boys have to do tutoring not only on school holiday, but also a public holiday! So I didn't push them much, only to ensure they complete their Mandarin tuition homework. Then they ja ja dei dei walk around and play with their toys and games. I also ja ja dei dei close both eyes saje.

My hub put on a chinese dvd, with aaron kwok, titled Empire of Silver. Without the english subs, I don't think I will watch through the whole show. Aaron Kwok was very charming, and boy! there were some fleshy scenes as well. I was furiously keeping the kids busy with origami activities while my eyes on the tv.. imagine that!! hehe..I think that one day will come soon when the kids will know what it's all about and won't be distracted so easily from those scenes.

I took them to the pool at 6 while I happily enjoyed myself yoga-ing. By the time we were done with the showers and all, dinner was late, and I was crying in pain with the gastric tummy. Lucky the pain went away after the food was digested for awhile.

We came home after dinner and papa, dunno what weird mood, put up a karaoke dvd. We had some karaoke moment with the xmas carols some days ago, and this time we sang some familiar (our eras) chinese songs. Korkor was saying mommy was singing better and we were like suddenly in a mini "American Idol" competing for his favorable comments. After awhile, he didn't want to comment any further when both of us were flexing our muscles or staring in killer stares asking who's the better singer.. kekeke...

What a weird but easy "christmas" day we had.

Kwismas 2009

... and I say "sha la la la la!" (bum bum bum) sha la la.. in the morrrr ning...

Happy... cos, I baited a silent reader out from the dark! ha ha... *waves* hiyaa, mun!

She really wrote an application letter to me, asking for approval leh! Hah ha.. what she doesn't know, my readers base here is so small, I of course, don't even need to see her in bikini also lalalum send her an invite already.

And my friends yang amat tersayang, you are all so lovely, just love seeing the short notes you dropped to be able to come over and read my nonsense here.

Merry Kwismas, Mun Yee, Kiki, Dawn, Jaclyn, Kok Lan, Zheng Mun and Patrick. (Sharks! I just let you know how pathetic my number of readers are!)

Happy New Year tooo... (but wait, that will be another post, see got any more applications coming in or not. Maybe I shall put a deadline for application in that old blog url too!) *stick tongue out*

And tomorrow, wait, I mean, tonight, on Xmas Eve, I'll be somewhere out there with my family dining out and then going to watch Avatar before counting down to Kwismas. That's something simple and nice and pleasant to look forward to, instead of staying at home only, eating my boring dishes and watching WLT Gem Of Life. Love it. Merry Christmas to you!

Front of hand is skin, back of hand also skin

Today, I'm stuck in a war between my own mom and dad. Worse when there are no rights and no wrongs, and both are claiming they are right and the other party is wrong. And when this happens, I'm the only sau hoi jeah. Kau meang ahhh....

What happened is my dad wanna buy something, and my mom who is keeping all his fortune, do not want to give him the money. So he said the money is his wor, and she replied "ok lor, I give you back all, and we draw lines from then on...." and hang up on him. Then he called me and asked me to borrow him some money.

Me being the entire opposite whose fortune lies in the hands of my boss, have to ask this favor from him instead. Then he said "Why give all the money to your mom?" *scratch head* (Hello??? Like you, good meh?")

In the end, I'm asking myself this question all the time, am I cleff to be surrendering all my choicharn to a fler and nothing left for my own self? Poor me. Yeah, I'm a real silai.

Family picture in Midvalley

This the picture we took yesterday at Midvalley. I didn't bring along a camera, though I know the decorations around the malls in the city would be fantastic. Lazy? I think so. But I think I don't have that much of xmas mood with me with those huge crowds around. But this picture was taken by someone with Canon. Canon offers to take pictures for anyone and prints out a hard copy for you too, you just need to collect it at their outlet on the 2nd floor. I think that's a very clever idea to have people visiting them.

So we have a family picture of Christmas 2009 in the end. Merry Christmas!

Halfway through the holidays.

Wow! Have I been away that long? Can see the thickness of the dust here.

*blows dust into the air*

Today, I think I had got all the barang-barang ready for "Balik Sekolah 2010" for the 2 boys. Earlier, I took them to choose their own stationeries. And by getting mainly didi's uniforms and shoes, he's all set to go!

To be frank, I'm rather worried of him with his pelik behavior in a brand new environment. This son of mine is making me pulling my hair out, making me almost at wits' end on how to deal with him. I think he's gonna be making frequent trips to the discipline teacher, though I pray so hard that he will not.

I am just trying so many different approaches in parenting him.

1. Strict punishment - I just try not to use this on him as much as possible, as I can see it hurts him so. Too much of negative punishment, would drive him to the corner anot?

2. Then again, when I don't use strict punishments, am I spoiling him? Am I being just too soft on him? That's what others or observers are telling me.

3. Talking to him. Yes, I do that, but how many times can I keep my cool when I have to handle and manage all the things that often come together?

Nevertheless, I'll continue to strive. A few days ago, I went to the library and found a book on hyperactive kids. Reading the book, I believe that he doesn't belong to this category. So what is?

And I google and found this site to answer a set of questions to roughly estimate what kind of a child he is. It says here that he is an Introverted Intuitive Judging person. By reading that article, I think it kinda depicts quite accurately of him. It's like finding a light at the end of a tunnel, or probably some kind of help for me to refer to.

Pray that I am doing the right parenting way with him, so he would be a great person with good morals and virtues.

My image consultant.

This week had been a hardworking week for me. I made a list, in my mind, what I wanted to achieve this holiday.

I threw a lot of junks out finally. Funny, I feel like much lighter after clearing up the cabinets, drawers and wardrobes. It definitely is a feel good thing. I do not know what I was thinking when I stuffed old clothes into the old big luggage in the store room last time, as I took more than half of it out and throw. Yet, I was stuffing the newer old clothes from my wardrobe again. ??!!!????

The past few days, I had my eyes on a blouse in some stalls in a shopping center. But I didn't buy it, because it wasn't very expensive, neither was it any cheap. I would take a look at it everytime I was there, making it about 3-4 times already, before I decided, ok, I'll get that.

Then yesterday, the boys were tagging along with me while I decided to make the purchase. Korkor saw the blouse and said "No la, it looks so *insert some other race*'s". Huh?! Really ah? Then I browsed through the rest in the league. And he commented, "No la, all of it looks so *insert that same race*'s". Bugger! (yau kei chee hai wor) And I decided to... listen to him!

We walked over to the next stall, and I asked him *pointing to that one* "How about that?". He nodded in approval and said "this one much better". OK.... *grinning that I have his approval*. And I further asked for his advice which color to choose. He took a glance and just point to the cream one. I was like the happy kid going home with a new baju. Tee hee!

So, that was the reason why I need to clear the drawers and wardrobe. To make way for new items.

Where to go on a 4d3n Singkapoh trip

Too tired to pack our things up the night before our travel, I woke up early to get all the things packed and everything else in order on that Haji holiday. By the time we were on the highway heading down south, it was almost close to 11am. CK and his family were already 30 mins way ahead of us.

The highway wasn't very jam packed, though there was a stretch before Seremban where the cars were all slowed down. By the time we caught up with CK, they were done with their lunch. We went ahead on, munching buns in the car. Surprisingly, the journey seemed to be very short, in less than 3pm, we arrived the 2nd Link and on the way in to the island.

Google Maps were really helpful, we found our way to our expat friend without any hassle. The guard at the post told us, "Ms. C is expecting your arrival"... wahh.. so glamer macam.

Awed by the place she's staying, we hang around for awhile admiring her home, before moving to the pools for a dip. By then, there were some minor accidents, like her glass teapot's cover was broken, CK's son's glasses fell down inside below the lift from the celah, and his left eye injured by his sis from the slide. Boy! Really hope there wasnt' going to be more in the next few days.

After our shower, we went to dinner by JM's recommendation, the food was real good. She was so relieved when CK himself said it's good, considering how fussy he eats. We took a walk to the West Coast Mall just opposite the road and then back to her home.

She suggested us to take a walk at Keppel Island just right outside her condo, and we did. Turned out it was rather a big round. We walked by the various parks in her condo compound before moving out to Keppel Bay Bridge, and it was really quite a pleasant place to stay in.

Keppel Bay Bridge, just right outside the back door.

Strolling on the bridge and admiring the night view. The kids and the guys were already way in front of us leaving CL and I walking slowly, enjoying the night air and the serenity of it.

By the time we came back home, the kids were so tired. Meimei and didi slept with JM while the rest of the kids camp outside at the living hall. They looked so enjoy the "camp" together.

The next day we set off to Science Center after eating simple breakfast from home. Meimei was crying of hunger by the time we reach there and so, we ate McD before going in. Damn! We only realised the lunch value pack was just 15 mins away, but we were too late as we already paid for the food.

Didn't take any pictures inside the Science Center, just had an equally stressing time making sure all 6 kids do not stray from us. Lucky there are 5 of us adults to see to that. Boy! What an afternoon it was. Felt so relieved to finally sit back and relax in the Omnitheatre. Watched a doc about the ocean underwater, and we nearly fell asleep in that half an hour. tee hee!

We came back home, and made some maggi mee to eat before taking a break and our shower to meet my bro and his family for dinner at the city center. Lucky for the GPS, we found our way without much fuss, but the parking was quite congested at that mall, and so my bro directed me to another one, but we had to walk again for another few hundred miles to the other mall for the Jap "ala Marche" style dinner.

The food was good, and the kids had fun in the play area. I had a really nice time seeing my nephews and niece too. Happy.

Came back home and discussed where to go the next day. Finally settled on Sentosa, from the various choices like Henderson walk, East Coast Park, Bugis shopping spree.

The next morning, I saw them sprawled on the floor in various styles like this. Meimei cried the night before, begging to let her sleep with them. Poor her! Cried until mata bengkak mommy also don't care. Only made JM can't going to meet her chaukoong then.

We set off by foot to the Vivo City just next street. Had toast and half boiled eggs for breakfast and then the guys went to the counter to bargain for tickets while we took the kids out to wander a bit.

Saw a big Xmas tree outside and shallow little pools around the place.

JM ber-posing dengan amat gayanya.

We discussed what kind of package we would like to have, must make it most fun and best value for money one.

One of those rare moments where they sat obediently and quietly without them all over the place. Foot reflexology ah?

And I had fun snapping their pics away. The papas told us we can go now, and off we went, to the Sentosa station right inside the mall as well. Very very convenient.

By the time we reached Sentosa, it started to drizzle and our first stop of fun, they closed because of it. Our moods also dragged down with it. Never mind, we hopped on to the tram for a ride first. And it took us along Siloso road, looking at the beach, the sand, the people picnicking.

One U-turn back, the rain stopped miraculously. We went on the Skyride first. There wasn't any Q, it was really great.

Meimei, the youngest and shortest of all, passed the height criteria test. *whew*, all can go onboard!

A max of 3 per gondola, so we split up. Hub and didi in the first one, I went with JM and meimei, the 2 boys with CK and CL with her dotter and youngest son at the back.

The view was magnificient as it climbed up. We were enjoying ourselves as much as the kids did.

My son, have a height issue, and CK was seen teasing him here. Hmmph!

Surprisingly, the ride wasnt' as short as we imagined. It took us beyond a little hill and back to the northern side of the island.

Run for your life! The gondola won't stop for you to disembark, just like the cable car system.

We then went to ride on the Sky tower. It was similar to the one in HK's Ocean Park, but the view is different, of course. We saw here the Resort casino development in progress. Reported to be opened in 2 months time from now. Can meh? We think most likely gonna be delayed.

Saw the Luge from that sky view. Gonna go for that next!

And the place where JM stays. Luxurious anot?

Came back down and take a group picture first. It was really a nice weather, after the rain and not so hot.

Then went on a "nature walk". It's an elevated plank walkway along the flora and fauna system in Sentosa. OK ler.. not much of a eco-person we all, we just walked and U-turn balik, polluting the environment with noise as we went along.

Next was the toboggans ride called Luge. Wheee!!!!!!!!!!!!! All the way back to the Skyride station. Fun!

And it was back to the first stop, our Eco-bike who let us down from the drizzle earlier. JM and meimei didn't go. We were trained for a bit at first, and hit "the roads" very soon. Looking at the smaller kids, they were really too cute. Can laugh your heads off watching them heading straight into the bushes.


See here? Didi looked anxious, yet adventurous, yet scared, yet exciting. After that, hopped back onto the Skyride and to Subway for lunch.

The last enjoyment was to Fort Siloso in our ticket package.

2 men and 1 woman with 6 kids. What a fukchap relationship it seemed.


Fort Siloso brings us back to the past history of WWII, but the kids were just running around, climbing up and down the cannons and displays only. Haiyah.

One more group picture. See the yauying pose tak? Hiao doe sei.

Walked back to Siloso beach. Easy and relaxing from now. Just let our breath slow down and enjoy the evening away.

Siloso beach seemed like more popular now, compared to the XX years ago when I was visiting. I guess last time, Sentosa was more focussed on the northern region. As it's making way for the Resort casino, the attractions are shifted to the southern region more.

We walked to the other small island via a plank walkway. The kids played with teh sand while we sat around and drink in the sights and the sounds.

The case of 1 fallen shoe into the sea (didi's one!)

Making dunno what castle and runway.

We took one last ride on the skyride, to and fro, catching the sunset, before heading for home.

We had dinner at Vivo city and took some nite pictures with the xmas deco there.

And that was our trip! Ended pretty soon when you had a lot of fun. But not until that last night, poor meimei and didi, were boycotted in a way. Both of them were so eager to join the rest of the kids in the living hall, so they early early took their pillows out to chup space. Korkor and the other younger boy asked to sleep in their positions, in JM's room, while the older 2 wanna bunk in with their parents.

Their faces that night broke my heart so much. Meimei was softly sobbing while didi was looking up at me with puppy eyes, wondering why the rest didn't want to join them. I told them I gave them the best sleeping spot to them the days before, they gave it up, so the rest of the kids mah happy to take over their place lor. Didi even said "So, tomorrow, I'm gonna sleep back in JM yiyi's room". Poor babies.

I didn't have the heart to leave just the 2 of them alone outside, so I pushed our own beds aside to make way for them in our room at the end.

It was easy peasy finding our way to the Causeway, and on to the highway to KL. On our last pee stop in a smaller rest area, hub was bugged persistently to buy a handphone from a very suspicious-looking-foreigner (or might be local), and realised later it was just a pirated Nokia phone. I was furious with my hub for even entertaining him at the beginning, but later, realised, fortunately nothing far worse happened to us and the kids.

For all I know, he might even had snatched or robbed us since he was just standing just next to hub, blocking the door from closing in his driver seat, and didn't want to take NO for an answer. Come to think of it, it can be considered a robbery, but probably from this tactic, he is saved from being questioned since he can argue it's just a transaction. Boy! Muggers these days are using different tactics really. I'm glad we are not harmed in the end, but RM200+ poorer for a ciplak phone. Hub gave it to korkor and I think it can be used as an alarm clock for him next year on. Quite an expensive one though.

I was so tired that day, I didn't bother to unpack or clean whatsoever, and left everything to be done the next day. And life resumed back to the norm very soon.

Saturday evening adventure

We went to FRIM after all. It was a nice weather, didn't rain a bit, and in fact we should have gone earlier. Initially I was thinking of hiking up a hill, and wanted to explore the area a bit, but we set off a tad too late, about 5pm, as that was the time when I looked up from my laptop. We reached there at roughly 5.45 and the time to close is about 6.30, so we were told.

We just charged to the river, where we had our picnic spot some weeks ago. Such a different atmosphere compared to that time. This time, it was sunyi sepi aje, not many cars were seen, although there were still some kids playing at the river there. We walked up the stairs and hub started to go looking for prawns for our little aquarium. Meanwhile, the 4 of us tried to manage and find our way to where papa was, as the place there was rocky and wet, like a jungle track.

Didi loved the exploration, he said it's an adventure, and it seems like he was truly enjoying himself finding his way around. Meimei needed help, and there I was, with a small tote bag of tidbits, a tumbler and a container to store our catches, tumbling around to make sure she's ok. I was a bit clumsy, but the simplicity of our activity brings so much joy. Korkor was happy too, though he kept saying "told you it's a bad idea", for he had objected to go out while he could stay home to play games.

At one point of time, I told him to help meimei and there he was, trying to carry her over. It was such a cute and warm sight, and what a pity I didn't bring a camera to capture that. It'll forever be etched in my memory though. This brother, though he likes to irritate her most times, he still loves his little sis.

And my, what a good catch we had today. We brought home 5 prawns and 1 little baby "siakap". Hope they wouldn't commit suicide so fast though.

We passed by a big park with a big lake, and there was a big open area for kite-flying. It was such a pretty sight, with all the colorful and variety of kites in the sky. I made a mental note to come back here again next time to fly kite with the kids, or maybe with grandpa and grandma too.

The library book I borrowed.

I would like to bore the hell out of you telling the story of our holiday in Singapore, but wait..

These 2 days, I did something which I had not done for N years. Reading a novel! Can I imagine that?

I thought this time taktau how many days need to complete the book, but ding! ding! ding!, surprisingly, I finished the book in less than 24 hours, sleeping time, mealtimes, washing time, bathing time, tuition time, cooking time, all included. Chehwah! I'm so proud of myself.

Then again, I think this book is pretty cool, it has such interesting plots which weaved together at the end. I was so excited to geto to know the ending of the story. The most captivating part of the book is that it really encompass the feelings of a mother, how much is considered enough to care for her child.

Apart from that, I watched a DVD with hub last nite. It was called "Dim Sum Funeral", kinda expected ending since the beginning, but nonetheless, held my attention till the end, even though I was rather sleepy and tired. I always judged a movie watchable or not by this criteria only. So, go watch it! tee hee!

Meanwhile, it's a Saturday, and I have nowhere to go with the family. How pathetic is that! I am thinking of a hiking trail in the evening, but wonder if it will pour later, as it always does these days.

And you know what? I am still on a vegetarian diet. Oh, you don't know about that, hoh? I only put that remark on FB and those people (frens, kononnya) look down upon me and says I won't last till 3 days the max. In fact, it's over 7 days now! Maybe, or sometimes, it's the challenge that drives you at times. The you-don't-think-I-will-make-it?-I-will-show-you-I-will, kinda thing.

But seriously, it's not that which drives me. At first, it was some sort like a protest, you know, like Mahatma Gandhi, but I can't do fasting, I have gastric problems, so I decided to cut out meat only.

After some soul-searching and self-analysis, I decided not to blame anyone for their behavior and embrace the blame on myself, as action causes reaction, no? Thus, the meat avoidance is to remind myself how incompetent I am and I should improve!

It's hard, really hard. When I was making the meals for the kids, deboning the chicken thigh, I almost wanted to sink my teeth into that juicy delicious part I crave for. It was really like calling me to eat it! And also last night when I was deboning the small fried fishes for them. I was really salivating! How I wanted to taste the crunchy and tasty part of those sides! But I didn't succumb to the temptation! I was so proud of myself! Jeez! I shouldn't be cooking so nice food for them anymore, should I? Then again, it would be contradicting the purpose of this idea. And so I persist.

Quite amazingly, I am now more aware of the different food to eat, to replace the protein my body is in need of. It's so far working, but it's pissing the hell out of my hub, as he can't agree with the rationale behind my motive. But the no-meat just keeps me reminding me, I shall be a better person, I shall be....Wonder where this will lead to.. and how long it lasts. I have no idea too.

A short trip with friends.

Summary of a short nearby holiday trip with a friend and family:

Fun. Frust. Packed. Heartpain. Relaxing. Simple. Merry. Noisy. Easy. Uneasy.

So many different feelings all cramped in a 4d3n period. How to handle each and everyone of it? But right now, I'm feeling a little bit of emptiness and post-holiday depression. I guess it's the symptom of a great trip afterall. Lazy to deal with anything. Lazy to clear up the mess. Lazy to have a post mortem.

Some sharing.

My hub was out the whole day on Sunday, after we got back from Genting and the movie 2012 the day before. He was invited by his school friend to attend a preview seminar. The speaker conversed in Mandarin and focused on Chinese business entrepreneurs with numerous case studies.

He came home pretty late, as he had to travel to Putrajaya as well to handle some work matters. When he came home, the children were asleep and we chatted on how the seminar had been.

Some stories he shared with me from the seminar:

1. Chinese are so competitive that in a talent search program whereby the organisers invited people to send in their business proposals, it came in as thick as 3-4 inches each and the number of proposals received was a whopping 250,000!! The judges had no choice but to randomly choose 3000 out and the participants were given 3 mins to present their proposal in person.

100 came out as winners, the first one were given a big lump sum of money to realize their business, with the rest being given significantly reduced but still considered big sum of money for them to kick start their business.

And to think what kind of lapsup talents' shows we have...

2. A smart person, also a Chinese, in a city unknown, bought a big piece of land, like the size of Brickfields probably, built 30 buildings and an exhibition center right smack in the middle and invited 100 business owners to operate their business from there, with rental FOC for 20 years!! So how would he make money?

Smart thinking he is that he would only ask for 1 condition from these business that is to make a deposit of RMB100k with a certain bank only, and the bank would also provide OD facilities for 3times the value, making this business deal look like a win-win-win solution for all. Imagine with the "accumulated power" he has in his hands, banks would also treat him like king!

Furthermore, he just need to control the logistics of all the businesses in the vicinity, and perhaps build a few hotels around the area, there's a whole lots of revenue which can be earned from. As simply put it, build a platform like Google, provide everything free, and earn revenue from the things around it. Pretty ingenious.

Smallsized business success depends on the leadership and ability of the boss. Medium sized depends on the management team, and big ones depends on the business culture. Something to ponder about.

With the culture and competitive edge, hardwork and creativity from that country, I suppose we can all learn more than a thing or two from them and buckle up ourselves to keep that edge.

Spoon story.

For some unknown reason, didi has a favorite spoon to scoop his rice during meals, unlike the other 2 who are not so particular in such a simple routine. He was frantically searching for it today at lunch while we were busy eating hungrily already.

Under different circumstances, my reaction to his weird habit would be:

1. (When I'm in a bad mood) Yell at him to stop creating such a ruckus and eat his meal, else that would be taken away from him that very minute. Result: he would cry and sob like who-and-who died.

2. (When I'm in a good mood) Get up and help look it for him, then hand it over in a killer stare look with that hoe-mm-gum-yun eyes. Result: He's happy and fast fast eat his meal, but me, very the mm-gum-yun lor.

Today, I didn't use both ways. I let him continue with his search and see what he would do next when he can't find it still. He looked all over the place, very determined to find his favorite spoon, but still failed, and he asked me where it is. I said I do not know, maybe his granny is using it?

He went out to check, as granny was having her lunch while watching her favorite show on Astro WLT, and came back to say it's not with her either.

He then asked me to look it up for him, I told him, sorry, I'm busy eating my lunch already. So he sat there and began to sulk.

I then suggested what's his Plan B. He asked what Plan B is. I explained that in life, when Plan A fails, then you would need to think of a Plan B, and if that fails, then Plan C... all the way until you find a solution. Korkor asked me what if Plan Z also fails? I said, then it's back to Plan A, until you find a way out, no matter how.

So I told him to think about it and what he wants to do next. Does he want to sit there and sulk? Does he want to use his hands to eat? Or perhaps he would like to use another spoon???

There.. he thought for awhile and decided he has to use another spoon..

And the episode ended without him crying his eyes out or me feeling mm-gum-yun. Both sides happy. Tee hee!

Bunking in and out.

When korkor came into our lives, he has been sleeping beside me in a playpen-made-babycot till he was 1. After settling in Brunei, he slept in a double bed mattress on the floor beside ours. Can't wait to move him to his own room, we made him unreluctantly slept by himself in another room when he was about 3. We wanted him to move over so that when didi came along, he won't be awakened by the baby's cries in the middle of the nights. He didn't want to sleep all alone, and it took sometime to make him settle down and accept the change.

Poor boy, there was once I saw him standing at the door of my bedroom in the middle of the night, quietly sobbing and calling me. He didn't dare to come over for I told him fiercely I would scold him if he still cries to come to our room. I went over to him and felt his shivering, immediately sensing he has fever at that time. I honestly felt very sorry for him, I still remember that moment like forever.

So, there was a time, 3 of us in 1 room while only korkor was the only one in the other room. And he was only about 3+. Looking back, he was still just a little baby at that time and it seemed so awful to chuck him aside on his own for the nights.

Didi was an easy baby to handle, and very soon, he has to move over too when meimei is about to come into the picture. It was easier this time, for he has a brother to accompany him and korkor was more than happy to have a company too. He was 1+ only. So, from then on, both the brothers slept on their own in their room while meimei sleeps with us, even till now. And she's already coming to 5 in 2 more days. Definitely the most fortunate one.

It's a nice fuzzy feeling watching them sleep. Meimei would make herself comfortable on our bed until papa retires for the day and carry her to her own mattress right beside us on the floor. Sometimes when she's still not asleep when he wants to sleep, he would tell her to go back to her own bed. And she would crawls and drops over.. very the cute.

Somehow, I don't have the feeling of urgency to move her out of our room this time. In fact, on the contrary, I would tell the boys to come over and camp with us once in awhile and they would happily bounce in, cheering shouts of hooray. The boys love it even though it's just a makeshift bed of a thin comforter, I wonder why. Perhaps they still love the closeness of sleeping near to us. Especially didi. I wonder if it's because we moved him out at the youngest age. He always pleads with me to let them sleep over. And my heart would go weak and say ok..

When papa goes away for work for days, I would tell the kids, everyone in 1 room, and they would be so thrilled. Meimei and didi would fight to sleep on the bed with me, and I have to settle their little fights, fairly telling them 1 for each night. As for korkor, he has no chance because he always kick me till I wakes. Tee hee! It's such a blessing to hug them to sleep right beside me.

The younger little 2 are still sleeping in cute poses and watching them gives me sheer pleasure. I would plant a wet kiss on their cheeks before going to bed myself and tell them I love them in their ears. Waking up early in the morning and watching meimei comfortably in slumber is just the perfect way to start off the day. It's even cuter to see her rising up and semi-dazed answering me when I call her name. Kids. Last time I always wish they would grow up soon, but now I am missing those days when they are just babies and cute adorable toddlers.

Alarm turned to OFF

Yay! Tomorrow no need to wake up at 6+. It's the start of the school holidays, 1 day earlier than predicted. One good thing about school holidays is definitely the morning part, can sleep until own self says enough for the night, not the alarm. I hope these 6 weeks can cure the dark rings round my eyes and make me look not so charn. Of course, it still won't help if I don't sleep earlier.

We'll be heading for a short break tomorrow, and I have also bought tickets to watch 2012 at the cine on Sat evening. Kind of looking forward to it. The kindy taught them about earthquakes and tsunami this week and I hope that they would be interested watching this movie too.

Gosh! Simple stuffs like these are giving me a holiday mood already.

Year end school report

The day before we left KL for our homecoming reunion, we stopped by at the kids' preschool for the last parent-teacher meeting of the year.

Our first meeting was with meimei's teacher, and she has every nice things to say about meimei. She gave her a "Interpersonal intelligence" award, which is described as friendly, nice, always sharing and that makes her quite a favorite among her classmates. I was really beaming with pride hearing all these nice comments from someone who sees her every morning for almost 2 years now.

As for her development, she has been able to relate what has happened to her teacher in proper sentences, with a flow, and even able to provide some suggestions or solutions at times. In other words, I suppose she's qualified as a 8-kwa-mui or a nga-jim-jui-lei-mui. Tee hee! I like.

Academic wise, there's a lot of room for improvements, but to me, no hurry. Let her enjoy her childhood first. Then again, her assessment in the different subjects has been encouraging so I'm not too worried. Although she might seem not to be as good as her brothers in this area.

We then popped over to didi's class after waited for sometime, like patients waiting to see the doctor in a clinic. One good thing about the teachers here, they are pretty chatty about the children's development, always relating to the parents what they do, how they behave and initiating in constructive suggestions to us on how to further develop and guide them.

Didi is observed to be an intellect person, always thinking ahead of the rest, just for an example, when the teacher was telling about a rocket, he was already thinking about the space. She said he's not interest in simple questions, always challenging her with tougher questions when she asks him on the simple ones. She gave him the description "Logical Mathematical Intelligence" award, but emphasizing to us that it's not the only area he's good in, but the best, to her knowledge.

Quite co-incidentally, that's what my elder brother observed and told me too during the few days we were together. He suggests to us that he has potential and it is a pity if he's not exposed to brain development courses to further develop him. I'm not quite sure, is there any reliable and good brain development centers actually?

Though didi is ok in the academics, I am pretty sure about that observing him since young too, but he's definitely not very in good in controlling his own emotions or behavior. In fact, I'm very concerned on this more than anything else, and there had been various suggestions like letting him release his energy into sports or other activities. My brother suggested that things too simple might be boring him, and thus making him restless. But he noticed that when he's exposed to something new or interesting, it can hold his attention and make him very eager to keep trying in perfecting some new skills or learn new things.

Nevertheless, he's still like a little baby, in need of attention and love. His teacher says that he would be jealous when the teachers showers another boy with more attention. And she noticed that he behaves better when he's given some "responsibilities" or "tasks", like being a teacher assistant, helping her to keep check on his classmates behavior. My brother relates to me that he seems to like it too when my sis in law chats with him and asks him questions without anyone else around. He suggests I should probably be spending one on one time with him everyday for about an hour or so, which is really not the first time I hear of. I think I ought to work on this harder. OK, next year's resolution.

Sometimes I feel I really have not enough time and energy for all 3 of them, but I think I could do try harder. Each of them has their own weaknesses and strengths, and equally deserves for attention and love. Just that every one of them needs to apply a different strategy and method, and I think I'm still using the try and error method, as it changes too in the different phases of growing up. But I'm not complaining.

Weekend homecoming

We went home for the weekend to meet up with my elder brother and his family. A nonstop chattering dinner with some relatives, an afternoon at the Camerons and another round of yumcha with the same group of relatives again summed up those few days.

But the smiles on both my parents', there were no words for it. Can see how so very happy they were. Though the days were hot and wet, it didn't dampen our moods, as we braved the wind and rain to overcome the winding and narrow road to the tea plantation, pick fat juicy strawberries to the children's delight, ate Tuck Kee fried noodles even though it was pouring. I enjoyed myself very much.

On the Monday early morning, 6am to be precise, I was awakened by dad's morning fix, and went along with him to walk up the pathroad on Kledang Hill. When we arrived, ours was only the 3rd car, quite a contrast to my expectation where I remembered last time we can't even find a good parking spot near the foothill. It was so dark and silent, it was freaking the hell out of me. But it would disappoint my dad too much to request him to turn back, so I had to keep telling myself 'ding tit lei, ding tit lei..."

My dad kept talking to me while my mind kept imagining gory situations. I kept flashing the torchlight around, and behind and hoping the sun would come up soon soon soon.. my! that was not what I expected to be. Because ah.. last last time, it is like a partay up at Kledang Hill, many people hiked up and down at those hours one.

Fortunately, nothing of my wild imaginations took place, and we came back down happily. More people were seen when we were descending and I could breathe a little easier. I can see my dad was very happy to have my company though. That really made my day.

And I felt really mm-seh-tuck to leave that afternoon. We had such a great easy time together, I just wish we could have these kind of gatherings more often.

Holidays and new year resolutions.

There were many tasks meant to be done yesterday morning sessi, like, go to wet market la, check out the new kindy somewhere nearer la, get some toys for my nephews and niece for this weekend la, and some others la... but in the end, the whole morning was spent in front of my pc, furiously hitting on the reload buttons on the AA website.

Ya, I wanted to get those free tickets too. My bro called me as I was about to be out of the house to the wet market, so instead of shopping for chicken and fish, I was shopping online for free tickets. But alas, I didn't get any good deals, so there goes my holiday break for next year.

But I did get some toys for my elder bro's kids. It's so damn hard to find what toys to get for them. For yo 10+ kids, I suppose they are not very interested in toys anymore liao. Furthermore, they have quite a good collection of toys themselves from their parents, relatives and friends. So, pening pening. I would not want to get them books though, as I always think books as gifts are so boring. Not from their gugu anyway. Oh yes, in the end I bought them toys. Don't care.

These days, I keep seeing holiday programs and holiday camps leaflets everywhere. It's the season to make money from us parents. The programs don't come cheap. It's almost like courses for adults. I am very eager to send them somewhere for the mornings so I can go for my yoga routine. But just can't find anything peang-leang-jeang. Until today, that is.

As I've mentioned, I wanted to check out a new kindy for meimei, somewhere nearer for both of us. Then fat-yin-ji-kan, I also got to know that the current kindy is opening up a new branch, also nearer to us. So, right now, in a dilemma. Either this new branch or a totally new school for her.

The school system and environment would be almost the same, but the teacher and the friends would also be new. My friend, Jessy, advised me it's not so advisable to change in her last kindy year, as she's so used to how things work around there. I'm also kinda freaking out for little meimei, imagining everything is totally new around. Then again, I think children do have a great ability in adapting to new environment. But that doesn't mean I decide on the new school yet. I just feel a little bit mm-seh-tuck as I've grown to love the school myself, after being such a loyal customer for all my 3 kids.

Ah, back to this holiday program, as I was enquiring with the principal of the new kindy, I asked her if there is any holiday program coming up over here. And she let me on with an arts and crafts workshop for 5 days, 3 hours a day in the morning. Just what I was looking for. But hang on! What's the price first? She told me it's RM120 per person. I just can't believe my ears! My mind quickly calculate the rate for per day, per hour... dem! this is affordable, alright! And I lalalum register all 3 of them. Happynya.... can go for 1 week yoga still during the holidays. Now, have to find other alternatives for the rest of the 3 weeks.

Heiz.. this year, there is NO, NIL, NOTHING in the holiday bags for us. Sien moe? I think we are too pampered, each year would sure go somewhere far for holiday, least criteria must be riding airplane one. This year, I think we can just go Genting and ride those little airplanes that go round and round. But consoling myself, ok la, the flu bug H1N1 is still out on the loose, stay at homebase la, good also.. (sour grape!)

Apart from making some changes in meimei's routine, I had been thinking about next year for didi and korkor too. Pondering if I should be back as the driver for the boys, since it would be double fees to get a driver to send them home. Those fees could be very well better used for their extra curricular activities like sports or their area of interests. Should I? Should I not? Heiz... dilemma, dilemma.

Then I'm also thinking if I should check out a new music center for them to attend class at the same hour. As I've been started on individual piano lessons at home for them just recently, I have this gutsy feeling that a group study learning is probably really better.

Meanwhile, this week had been pretty cool with our home tuitions. In fact, I'm also beginning to enjoy myself as well, being able to learn how to control my temper, seeing korkor a slight change in attitude, albeit slightly, seeing the kids getting the hang of home learning, instead of moesorsisi all the time or watching tv saje, seeing a mark improvement in my own teaching, being able to go progressively, systematically and orderly. (Now, this is NOT the kind of good essay writing format you should follow, korkor!)

And hey, how cool is that, korkor came home and told me he is advancing to another class next year on. From no.7 to no.5 class. Not bad, eh? (All from his own ability wor, not good meh?). Oh, there are 7 classes altogether, btw. (He was in the 7th class because he was transferred over from another school this year, well, not that I care if you think he's that char, but it's a sharing of information jek... dun mispaham.. *grin*)

But next year on, we are going to make him improved. Talking about this, my mom actually said that I didn't care on his schoolwork, as she sees it. I wanted to say, "Ma, last time you also didn't care also wor". But of course, I didn't say that. Ya, it's true. I do think Primary 3 jer mah, need to be so worried on his studies meh? Last time I only seriously started to "flip the books 1 day before exam" when I was Std 4 and my position jumped from 30+ to 10+. Of course, I'm not saying I'm doing very well now. But at least I'm not dead. Meaning to say, char at school also doesn't mean need to die lor.. (smelling sourish grape again)

It's time for some serious studying.

Korkor's exam results are back and sad to say, it's not very good. *tau tap tap*

Don't misunderstand. I don't have high expectation from him. I always tell myself, as long as he doesn't fail in any subjects, it's fine for me, better still, more than 80 marks. Or even more than 90, why not, huh?

Then, when he came home and showed me his BM paper, only 60 and 58 in 2 papers, jeez.. that's not so good, kan? Like it's dangling on the dangerous fence between FAIL and PASS. And instead of scolding and whacking him, I felt awfully guilty myself for not assisting him in this VERY difficult subject. Tuitions?? Nooo... I'm a child-friendly person (read: kiamsiap!), I don't like to see kids who are already spending half the day at school and the other half buried in school books.

I remember I spent my childhood half the day in school, the other half playing with my cousins and the kampung kids around my granny's neighborhood. My brothers and I never had tuitions until we were in secondary schools, like Form 5 or 6. We were so happy.

But then again, how many kids are sent to tuitions those days? I suppose with the standard hovering around the same, we had no problem catching up and facing those exams. These days, I guess most of the kids go to tuitions somehow or rather, like facing their STPM paper, or, I can understand, parents working and can't help sending them to tuition cum daycare centers. That solves their headache to check their homework or catching up with the syllable.

But me being a full time mom and an educated person myself *clears throat*, I am sure I can guide him, except for mandarin. The last test he had, I promised myself to really "bersungguh-sungguh menjadi guru tiushen". But I didn't.

This time, I really need to. Still not late for that, right? Else, he really would be struggling in this subject even more, just like the time I did when I was at his age.

Thus, I went to the bookstore that very next day, and bought a big pile of books, consisting of BM, English, Science and Maths for both korkor and didi.

And this holiday, there would be a time everyday for the books and exercises to do. I'm throwing in some lessons or two in learning Art as well. "You can draw meh?" I heard you ask. Well, not bad gah.. (who cares!) I'm sure I can do it. I promise I will. I can... I will... can... will... can... can.........

The soft hearted side of korkor

My eldest son seems to be a big bully at times, barking at his little siblings when they kacau him, or complaining when they cari gaduh or when meimei fought with him for her favorite channel when he most wanted to watch his favorite show.

But there are times he showed the soft side of him and those moments gave me a very warm fuzzy feeling. And before I forget what they were, I would put it down for them to remember how nice a brother he is when the siblings were in hot soup.

1. I think the bestest warmest fuzzy feeling he gave me was when he was about 6 months old. He was a very difficult baby, always crying, before he goes to sleep, after he wakes up etc. My hub and I took turns to rock him to sleep all the time, carefully putting him down on the bed after really sure he was in deep deep slumber.

Then came the time, I was pregnant, but was told that the fetus didn't have a heartbeat on my 2nd visit. I was so heartbroken, but hub still need to go back to work in that afternoon and I was left alone with my bb at home, fending my own sadness my own self. He was very tired then, and he would be taking his afternoon nap. Usually I would need to "tham" him to go to sleep, but that time, we both lied on the bed, I was crying, he was looking at me with sympathetic eyes and dozed off to sleep without any fuss. And I thought what he did, though might be unconsciously, was so warm.

2. Fast forward to a few years later when didi is here. Didi was just about 2-3yo and we were making the move back home after being abroad for few years. I was very busy with the house hunting and renovations of our new home, at some times, I had to ask for the favor of a friend's mom to help me keep an eye on them for a few hours. There was this time, she was trying to soothe didi's cries and said nonchalantly "I'll ask the police to come and take you away hoh, if you don't stop crying". The korkor totally freaked out, and he cried himself, begging her not to ask the police to take him away..

3. Last year, during my birthday's at the hotel, we were walking to our car at the carpark basement. It was quiet and there didn't seem to be any cars around, so I didn't hold meimei's hand as would be usually, but still alert of any incoming cars' sound, and making sure she's close to me. When I turned round, I saw korkor holding her hand to ensure she's ok, which was a pretty nice sight. That is because he normally feel shy to hold her hand when I told him to. Aww... that was really quite a sweet thing to do, without me asking him to.

4. Not so long ago, I was punishing meimei for she didn't want to do her homework, and I suppose because I rarely punish her, the boys felt sorry for her. She cried like so "yuen-wong" and kernian-ly, that after awhile, I saw korkor handed her a cup of water (again, without me prompting!) like telling her to "drink this water, stop your crying laa, else mommy would be crazeeeee again laaa...."

5. Yesterday night hoh, this time didi kena punished. For spoiling suk-suk's swinging kitchen door by pushing it too hard. Actually, everyone was saying how naughty he is by breaking people's things one after another, but really, I don't think that was considered naughty laa.. It was not something to be encouraged, but he was just being too active without realizing how fragile things could be. Not like he purposely go and swing it too hard to break it, right? Anywayz...

Papa wanted to cane him, so we were all in the room, and he asked him how many canes he wanted and where he wants to be caned. Of course, didi said no and begged for leniency. I was there to see how things progress. Then papa has the smart idea to say "ok, 4 canes from each of us, and we decide where to cane you!". So, starting with meimei, she was so eager and happy to be the enforcement officer, she even happily shouted "pet pet"! And smack! 1 cane on the pet-pet for him.

Came to korkor.. what do you know! He at first seemed uneasy to be holding the cane, then papa told him to cane anywhere la, he fiddled for awhile, then passed the cane to me and said "nah.. I let mommy cane twice la". In my heart, I think he just can't do it for he really do love his little brother. You tell me, isn't that just soft-hearted he was?

But that little meimei ah... she was so happy to be doing that task on behalf of korkor! And even smack him on the pet-pet with a big grin on her face! (Jeez! I wonder he would have his revenge on her later anot, reading this anecdote from me here?)

So, my eldest son, though sometimes he makes me really frust, remembering these little details reminds me he's actually a very nice and soft hearted kid inside. I love him!

Trick or treat? treat la, of coz, come, stimbot...

We had a "trick or treat" party here at my home on Saturday. "Trick or treat" as in "halloween", as in "shucks! I don't even celebrate Halloween"

What am I crapping here?

The little party we had was planned much earlier, without even knowing it's Halloween season around. I was just thinking of a chit-chat sessi with my girlfriends while steaming over a steaming-boat. That would be so "hot".

Some boys came in trying to scare me and make me piss in my pants...

Of course, they look so darn funny and cute, I was controlling my laughter and trying to "act" scared shit.

We bought all those stuffs and get the soup cooked after breakfast, after hubby came home from his business trip for a week. Boy! It seemed so long he was away.


The guests arrived one by one and we "started fire" around 7.30. I guess everyone ate a hearty dinner that night, we had clams, crabs, thinly sliced pork, among the other usual stuffs. The women just enjoyed yak and yak and yak..

I won't mind doing this another time, it's nice, I love it. But, can someone take the kids away and engage them in some games, leaving us to make the noise ourselves? Kids! They are soooo noisy. *hugs them all*

Responsibilities, his homework.

On a side note, this morning while driving the kids to their "morning playground", didi said almost in a regrettable mood that tomorrow he would need to write weekend journal again. This is one of the school's homework for 6yos to jump start on their career blogging start writing essays, presumably. Noting his non-eagerness, I try to encourage him a bit by saying "Hey! I need journals too, y'know? And it's not a weekends only journal, it's a daily one"

I continued telling them (or myself!) that it's a collection of thoughts of what happened, where we went, what we did, how we felt, and when he's able to read more, he can dig it up and looked back on it. At that moment, I felt so good to be able to do this for them, but hey... seems like I had half abandoned my blog for sometime. It's like a "fu ji jak loi, fei ji jak hui" relationship I'm having with it. Guess I should update more from now on. (come back, come back)

On another side note, I had been sleeping at early hours these 2 nights. I'm so tired during the day but I just can't sleep. So I skipped yoga workout this morning and decided to hang out at the Oldtown for breakfast. Look! I"m blogging from here.. nice!

On one more side note, our aquarium (Oh! I haven't told you about our new aquarium yet, hoh?) is down to 4 miserable fishes now from 10. Even the cute little prawn die mai. Heiz... so sad.

Now, to my main note.

Last night I was very angry with korkor and gave him 2 canings on his palms for neglecting his homework right until the minute he was to pack his bag for next day's school, before his bedtime. I had already told him no TVs, games, toys are allowed until their work is done for the day. And he told me he has no homework, not once, but twice, after I asked him "ARE YOU SURE?" He enjoyed the whole day, doing nothing and watching TV, happy and relaxed only.

After the caning, I was still fuming mad, but I knew I need to lecture him and talk to him so he understand why he was punished. And I was telling him, all of us, have responsibilities. We, as parents have huge responsibilities to look after, and he has his own as well. If he can't handle this small little one called homework, then he won't be able to handle bigger ones as he grows up, and soon, he'll be losing trust in people, he can't go anywhere in life (woah!).... bla bla bla...

(oh! For the umpteenth time, I reminded him about sacrificing the cut on my tummy to give birth to him, and I felt heartbroken I'm rewarded with this sort of behaviour! And I was wondering if I should show weep a bit anot for more extra effect! *slap self*)

Sounds rather a "serious" topic to talk about, but I think this supposed to be the way of educating them. On another perspective, I wonder if I should be checking his work everyday or not, but then, sometimes I think it's better for him to learn while stumbling around. I believe children should make mistakes, they can afford to, and learn from it, rather than being protected from being in trouble for not completing their daily homework. ok ok, I admit I'm lazy too la..

Nevertheless, I seriously do not want to use the cane anymore on him, but how else do I tell him what he did was so wrong and unacceptable other than letting him feel the hurt and pain from it? But me yau do not want to check his work everyday laa.. Am I doing the right thing here?

Heiz... (can we go back to side notes?)

Christmas card making day.

OK laaa.. so that wasn't really the Best Mom Award I was presented with on that concert day. But I guess they wouldn't mind presenting me with that too if I had asked..

It was a token of appreciation for participating in their program called "Guest teacher Day" where we are invited to be a guest teacher for an hour or so, unpaid (what you think!) and let us have a feel of handling 20+ kids at one time. Easy peasy, so I heard myself saying. But I never did go as a guest teacher though I promised to. And they put my name in there anyway.

I didn't need to, but somehow I thought I ought to. Mainly just to make my kids happy. And so happened, came along this Hope for Gavin Card Drive word spread by Goolyahma, I thought it might just be the right thing to do with the kids. How hard would that be, anyway? Can do charity as well. So, it would be killing 2 birds with 1 stone.

Oh, how wrong I was! It wasn't easy at all planning and going through it all from beginning to the end. I was having some hard time figuring what cards I should make with those kids, 1 class of 5yo(s), and the other of 6yo, it has to be easy for them to follow but presentable at the same time.

Finally, I decided the simplest form should be some crafty work, some cut and paste jobs instead of drawing and writing. Hence, I set forth to get all the pretty pretty stuffs ready. Choosing the right papers for the work is tough call as well, and I thought if the work isn't that presentable, at least some perfumed card might be a compensation.

The kids are eagerly looking forward to that day. As for me, "huh? easy only nia.." until that night before, I was actually getting panicky! Haha..

In the end, I played along, went to meimei's class first and told them the story of little Gavin. I think they don't quite comprehend what his plight is but anyway, we started making the cards. They were very cooperative, and it concluded after 1 hour, which I thought 10 mins would be able to kaotim. Ha! Think so easy.

I hopped over to the other class. There were over 20 kids in there! And they were soooo noisy! Nevertheless, I felt very happy to be standing there talking to them. Especially seeing didi swelling with pride watching me.

This time, the kids asked more about Gavin. And I would have wanted to tell them more and show more of his pictures, but time was running out.. with that number of kids, I wanted them to complete their (and mine!) task before the school dismiss. Lucky we have another 3 teachers over to help me out, else I would really be knocked out by them.

Things were going on fine.... until....

.... when I told them to sprinkle glitters on their cards!!! Absolutely wrong move!! They went almost wild, man!

Without proper supervision, the glitters were all over the place! And after it's over, I do actually think that before the glitters invasion, the cards looked pretty good! Heiz... *sob*

Anyway, task completed and it was time to go home! I was so relieved.

These cards made by 5yo(s). Cute anot?

Well, what I would do now is to see how to "save" those cards and send them over. Now, where do I send to actually?

Picnic day at FRIM

It's Deepavali today. Instead of sleeping in till the sun shines on our butts, we went for a picnic with 2 other families at FRIM (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) in Kepong.

Each of the family would bring some food and share among us. One of them made sandwiches and a pot of leong-sui! The other brought fried meehoon, charkoay, tarts and milo. I made 2 types of muffins, choc chip and vanilla raisins, together with some fried sausages, boiled eggs, milo and coffee for our picnic pleasure. Not forgetting the rest of the tidbits and junk food we brought along, there were TOO MUCH of food spread on the picnic mat! In fact, more than half of the mat were occupied with these food. I was so over the top when they complimented my muffins and the coffee that I made. It made all the time and effort truly worthwhile.

It was our first time at FRIM, and I found it surprisingly very pleasant and back to nature. The drive was smooth as it was basically empty on the roads, and it wasn't very difficult to locate the place. It took only about a slightly more than 30 mins drive.

There's a guard post at the entrance, passing out our entrance ticket to us. Each car is charged RM5 inclusive of the driver, and additional adult is charged RM1 per head. Quite a fair fees to pay for, which gives a peace of mind to fellow picnickers like us. We can pay at the souvenir center inside the forest, or we can opt to pay as we exit.

There's also a canopy walk somewhere and other attractions probably in FRIM. A lot of joggers were seen creating a very relaxing atmosphere.

We headed straight to the picnic area, following the sign "Tempat Perkelahan Sg. Kroh". My friend had already "chup" one picnic spot for us just a few mins before we arrived, and we get started by spreading all the food around the mat and EAT! I was so busy eating I forgot to take pictures of all the good looking food we had.

The area reminded me so much of the little stream I grew up playing in with my brothers, in my small hometown. The kids played so much of computer games, Wii, at the pools, in nice resorts, that this nature seems so very new to them, but "old and familiar" with me. I just felt like transported back to the old times of dipping in the cold stream, splashing water, playing just-don't-know-what for endless hours there. But we had fun so much so that 4 hours just passed like a breeze.

As for me, I just love taking all their pictures and looking at them over and over again when I'm home. It was pleasant knowing a new friend too, and spending a nice time on a nature outing like this one.

Carrying our picnic box. See how heavy it is? Need 2 people to carry it.

Sun shining on top of our heads but it wasn't hot as
the shade from the trees made the place so cooling.

A pool for dipping. Oh, I didn't get myself wet though, because of, umm.. "inconvenient issues".

It was unfortunate I didn't bring their swimsuits along,
as such meimei was VERY reluctant to get herself wet.
See-la, the difference between our generations.

Teamwork and hardwork gets the job done, that is to play hard.

A visitor came over to our picnic mats. Eewww.. it was so gross,
I was almost sweating in my pants as it came very near to us.

That's the crowd in that little spot of play area.

He had enough in the water, and wanted to change,

but so shy to expose his "privacy" in the forest.
I had so much fun teasing him.

Before we knew it, the whole place was jammed with picnickers like us.
So many people!

That's our territory! Half of the food was "sapu"-ed,
leaving the other half for on and off snacking.

We went up the trail upstream for a little while.

I don't mind doing this another time. Anyone likes to join me?