Update

Our holidays - Part 3 is up.


Apart from a little traveling, we had some activities at home as well. If you wish to know what we have created, click here.


A little update:


The fever is gone (touch wood) and it's such a relieve that this time around, the fever stayed only one day. Hooray!

Wordless Wednesday - Darlings, This Is Not A Toy

Thank You For Your Suggestions

Remember my previous post? I know you do. Well, I managed to capture some more photos - the more extreme positions. Do you think I should correct him or leave him alone?

Many of you suggested getting him a smaller chair. Here's how he sits on a stool.

Difficult to change, eh?

Here are some suggestions which I have not tried.

Tammy suggested a booster seat.

Kellan suggested putting a pillow on the chair.

Laskigal suggested having him make a special seat cushion so that he would be more incline to sit on it.

Alycia suggested putting some things on the side of the chair to make the space just enough to fit his butt.

The New Parent suggested telling him and showing him several times the position we want him to sit in.

Thank you everybody for all your wonderful suggestions. I will try them out and let you know the result.

Wordless Wednesday - Which Is Whose

Say No to Negativity

*Push away negative "chi", as LB label it.*

*Open arms wide to welcome positivity and your hugs*


Sorry for that negative post yesterday. I read somewhere that blogging is a way to let out stress and I do believe it now.


Laskigal, thank you for asking me to blog it out. It'll definitely help but I'm happy now and I don't want to even think about that issue anymore.


Today is indeed wonderful and my frustration has been left behind. Well, there is no point sitting on it and make myself unhappy, right?


People - we just can't expect too much, like Miche says, nobody is perfect!


Somehow, with all your love, I wanna shout out loud:

"I'M JUST GOING TO BE ME and WON'T EXPECT TOO MUCH."

This is what made me happy today:



~ to be able to spend some time with my little ones. Can you guess what we did or where we go? Do drop by later for an update.


I'll be visiting your blog in a day or two.

Children Love To Be Grown Ups

See what I mean?

Please hop over to my blog on fun learning and my other blog on dining to see what's up. I need your support.

Please click here to go to "It's All About Play"

Please click here to go to "Places To Visit, Food To Taste"

Thank you, my dear friends.

They Can Twist

Don't get me wrong. They don't twist or rock and roll.


Read on.

My little daughter loves apples.

She asked for fruit juice for breakfast, apples for lunch and apples for dinner when she was sick.

One day, I taught her: An apple a day keeps the doctor away and told her the meaning of it.

Her big brother doesn’t like apples. He likes pears.

So, with a little bit of twist, he changed the proverb to:

“A pear a day keeps the doctor away.” And he asked: “Mummy, can I say that? Is it correct?”

Well, why not? It’s not the original but pears are good for health too and they do make one healthy, don’t they?

Then, the middle child said:

“Mummy, how about a mango a day keeps the doctor away? Mango is my favorite fruit.”

Children! They learn pretty fast!

How Do I Solve This Problem?

Sometimes it is like this, sometimes he hangs there with half of his butt not touching the chair and the other half touching the edge of the chair. It is never in the middle.



Any idea, anyone? I seriously need some advice and suggestion.

A New Way Of Communication

Communication is by far the best parenting tool for many people. For me, communication is important and is never a problem because my children, all three of them, love to talk. They never run out of idea and they CAN’T stop talking.

One day, the seven year old came back from school and talked to me, in a very different way and I call this a new way of communication.

Never had I expected this and I had to listen very carefully to understand what he said.

M.O.M.I.C.A.N.T.B.A.T.H.E.B.E.C.A.U.S.E.D.A.D.D.Y.I.S.I.N.T.H.E.B.A.T.H.R.O.O.M.

Can you figure out what he was trying to say? He was spelling out the whole sentence letter by letter without a stop!

Weird, isn’t it? Well, if I see it positively, he is just practicing his spelling skill. It’s not that bad after all.

Now This, Later That

When they are sick, they are quiet but when they are well, they talk non-stop.

When they are sick, they play this game (please click) but when they are well, they run and jump.

When they are sick, they eat this and this and porridge too but when they are well, they eat this (Please click).

When they are sick, they promise not to eat crispy food and junk food but when they are well, they demand for those.

When they are sick, they request to do “homework” (activity book) but when they are well, they aim for toys.

When they are sick, they listen to mummy but when they are well, mummy has to nag the whole day.

Are these “creatures” what we call “children”?


PS: The above links are posts in my other blogs. I would really appreciate if I can have your support. Thank you.

Teach Children How To Brush Teeth

Do you have problems teaching your children the proper way of brushing teeth? Do they know the seriousness of tooth decay and cavities? Do they know how to stop tooth decay?



This post is specially written for Laura. Laura left me a message in my shoutbox asking if anybody knows of a DVD that teaches children how to brush teeth. So, I search for it via google and I found a few DVDs as listed:

1. Look Mom No Cavities DVD - This is a DVD for parents who have children aged 6 weeks to 16 years old. It shows how a tooth decay starts and how to stop it, step by step demonstration on ways to brush and floss as well as a program to promote good dental habits at home.

2. Brushing teeth videos for children - There are many videos with children's favorite characters such as Barney, Elmo, Big Bear and Jojo that would boost children's motivation to brush teeth.

Laura, I hope this list helps and to all mothers and fathers out there, if you need to know more about tooth decay, cavities and how to teach your children how to brush their teeth, do click on the link and take a look.

After 2 Weeks ...

No more hot burning body.

No more medicine.

No more cranky children.

No more waking up in the middle of the night.

Happy children *smile*

Outings and fresh air *grin*

Back to blogsphere *laugh*

My turn to fall sick???

No! How can I (touch wood) be ill when all the strength I needed and all the well wishes and prayers my children needed came pouring in from all over Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Canada, US and UK?

I am truly blessed to have all of you by my side when I most needed you. Thank you for your good strength vibration, good mega-vibes, transfer of merits, prayers, well wishes, advices, suggestions and kind words. Thank you very much.

A "Fruitful" Night

She was there, my little baby, with hot burning body, swollen eyes, and some tears too.

One look at her makes my heart painful.

She kept clinging on to me, even when she’s asleep.

She would roll over and rest her head on my lap.

I tried to put her down, on her own pillow but she refused.

So, I asked her, not sure whether she could hear, “Mummy put you down, ok?”

“No” was her only answer.

“Why?” I continued.

“Because I love your lap.”

“Do you love me or do you love my lap?”

“I love mummy and mummy’s lap.” Yes, she could hear me and yes, she could answer and she could even make me smile, this little sick baby of mine.

Waking up when everybody was sound asleep has paid off after all but tonight will be another sleepless night for me.

PS: Thank you for all your well wishes. They, my little ones, have not recovered but I’m going to stay strong to take care of them and I’m going to stay strong to update my blog and to visit yours later. Give me some strength, will you?

My Heart Is With My Two Little Ones

Thank You

*Taking a 90 degree bow*


"Thank you Tammy, Trinity, Hazel, Yenny, Wen, LiLi, Eagles' Wings, Siew Ting, Joeprah, LB, Paik Ling and Shireen for your well wishes for my son who has been sick. At such difficult time, some well wishes can come in as a boost of energy. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much."


Update:

He is much better now and will be going to school for his first term test tomorrow. I do hope he would be fit enough and have a clear mind tomorrow. All the best to you, Karl.

It Brought Tears To His Eyes

We were on our way down south to see our parents and there was NO silence in the car. All three children were talking.

Cast:
Karl – eldest boy in the family
Wayne – the middle child, the most playful child
Nyn – the youngest and only girl
Me – the mother

Nyn and Wayne were fighting over what show to watch on their portable DVD.

Karl: Let’s vote. Wayne, what show do you want?
Wayne: Land Before Time.
Karl: You, Nyn?
Nyn: Hi-Fi.
Karl: Ok, I choose Land Before Time. So, both of us want Land Before Time. We shall watch Land Before Time (about dinosaurs).
Me: Poor Nyn. Two against one. Mymmy will deliver another baby girl so that you would have a partner, ok?
Nyn: Yes, yes, yes. I want baby girl.
Wayne: NO!!! I don’t want mummy to have another baby.
Nyn: I want, I want.
Wayne: *Almost in tears* NO, I don’t want.
Me: Ok, let Wayne talk. Wayne, why don’t you want another baby?
Wayne: I don’t want mummy to have another baby because if mummy has another baby, mummy will have pain and blood. I don’t want mummy to have pain and blood.
Me: So, you love mummy?
Wayne: Yes, I love mummy. I don’t want mummy to have pain. I don’t want mummy to have another baby.
Me: Ok, I will not have another baby. Thank you for loving me and I would be happy if all of you can behave yourselves and be good boys and good girl.

All my frustrations and headaches disappeared at that moment. This is one moment I feel my efforts in parenting not wasted and my love for them is appreciated.

Spelling Headaches

Have you ever had problems teaching your child to write or spell? I do! My middle child just refuses to learn his spelling and the only thing he would do willingly is to write his name. That’s all.


One day, he came home from school and told me that he had ejaan (spelling in Malay language). So, I started teaching him everyday but guess what I get from him? “Mummy, I don’t want to learn today.”, “Mummy, I know how to spell but I don’t want to tell you.” and all sorts of excuses he can think of.


So, what did I do? Hop over to my play blog to take a look.

Cultural Shock!

I had a cultural shock! It happened on 3rd of January 2008 when I first sent my eldest son, Karl, to his school. He is in Primary One now and is attending a Chinese school with 3,000 students. When you think 24 students a class is too much for your child, think again! This school has to place 50 students into a class!


Most of us who send our children to private pre-schools are way too lucky. Why do I say so? Just bring yourselves back to the mornings when you send your child to school. All you have to do is just to follow the flow of the traffic in one direction (planned by the pre-school), drop your child (A teacher would be there to bring your child into the school building) and go for work or breakfast. The same applies during dismissal. The system seems so convenient and easy!


Now, when I send my child to primary school, I had to go earlier than others or I would be stuck in a jam. The traffic flow is terrible! You can see cars moving in every direction making it difficult to move around during peak hours. There are not enough car parks and I have to park my car far from school when I pick my child. So, the other alternative would be to pick my child later than others to avoid the jam and the crowd. Children have to walk in and out of the school gate themselves without a teacher bringing them to the car. They must even be alert enough to listen to the whistle which means “step aside, a car is coming!”

Parents waiting to pick their children

In pre-schools, everything is taken care of by the teachers. The children have to just request and the teacher would do everything for them. In primary school, everything has to be done by your child. There is no more pampering and no more assistance.


Look at those bags! The students each has a trolley school bag where they would drag in and out of school everyday. I tried to carry my son’s bag and it is really heavy! No joke! I wouldn’t want to carry that bag myself! My husband even suggested getting the Asus Eee notebook so that Karl can scan the pages of his books and just bring that notebook to school. Now, what do you think of his idea? I wonder whether it is what the western world practice.

To avoid inconvenience, some parents prefer to homeschool their children but for me, I still prefer sending my children to school.

Maid Or No Maid?

In Malaysia, many people have maids. Every time when I go shopping or dining, I would see families with a maid tagging along. Last Saturday, during our weekly playgroup session, we discussed this issue and we were wondering how people from the other side of the globe (western countries) can afford to live without a maid.


For me, I desperately need a maid but my husband often reminds me that there are many people out there who have five children and do not even have a maid. I have to agree with him but I