Archive for September, 2009

I can’t believe that my girl is almost completing her Standard One very soon. It seems like just yesterday that I was wondering which school to send her to.

She will be having her final term exams in about 2 weeks. I often hear most parents telling me that they are more stressed than their kids during exams. Strange isn’t it? So do I feel stressed? I suppose so. I feel stressed not because I expect my girl to do well and nothing else is acceptable. No, that is not the reason. I feel stressed because I am worried about how she feels. I am also worried about how she will cope and whether she will be getting enough sleep and rest.

There is revision to do. The teachers have also started to pile up the  homework as they rush to finish off the syllabus. Yesterday she came home with a lot of homework. 12 homework, according to her. Do we still have time for revision? Naturally not. Will we feel stressed if we are not prepared by now? Yes, of course. We just received the exam schedule and syllabus this week. Fortunately we have prepared ourselves ahead of time.

Can a child of 7 be expected to manage to complete their homework, pack their bags for the next school day, study for spelling the next day as well as to revise for tests in 2 weeks time? Errr…. I don’t think so. I think they need lots of parental guidance. I have to give her lots of supervision and suggestions.

I do want to instill in her good study habits for life starting from young and I want her to do well so that she can feel more confidence in herself and in her own achievements. Doing well in studies is just another way to boost her confidence. She is somewhat shy and a bit timid so we want to find as many ways as possible to help her build her self image and confidence.

I want her to know that “studying” is not something that you do last minute just before the exams. “Studying” and Learning is done throughout the year. Fortunately she has not complained too much about “studying” during the school holidays and weekends. I always tell her that “we work hard but we play hard too” and I try to make sure that there is time for fun, rest and relaxation as well. Oh, she does grumble a little when we are doing revision at home but then she smiles from ear to ear when she does well. We remind her that it is a result of her working hard then we give her a little reward for her hard work. Hopefully, we can establish good habits this way.

I do want her to go to a good class next year if possible. (In my girl’s school streaming begins in Standard Two but there are other schools which have assessment tests and stream the kids from Year One.) The reason is because good teachers are assigned to better classes. Thats really strange. I thought that it makes more sense to have better teachers for poorer classes but then… its not how the way things work around here.

Anyway, we do hope that she will get a good teacher next year. I think the class teacher is so important. It really helps if the class teacher is understanding as well as really good at teaching and bringing out the best in the kids. It also helps if they can communicate well with us parents.

She is almost ready for her tests now. After it, she would have almost completed her first year in Primary School and going to Standard Two soon. Time really flies. Our little girl is growing up so fast. We love you sweetie pie. All the best for your tests.

Do you still remember my post about the Custom Credit Card that is uniquely you

I mentioned in my previous post that the You:nique Credit Card from Alliance Bank was running a Sweet Family Moments Photo Contest. If you follow my blog, you will know that I just love contests! Each time after entering a contest I would daydream about winning. I know there are many other blog readers out there who love contests too!

I am sure you are interested to know who won the contest, don’t you? Well, the winner of the grand prize is……………TADAAAAA! Or, I should say AND THE WINNERS ARE…………… ( because Alliance Bank has been generous. They decided to award the grand prize to not just one but two winners who tied for the grand prize.) Wow! That’s really great.

They say a picture speaks a thousand words, so I’m just going to post up the pictures of the grand prize winners here and let you decide for yourself on whether you think they deserve the grand prize. I think they do. Congratulations to the winners!

Grand Prize Winner No 1 with a beautiful family moment captured in time

Grand Prize Winner No 2 with a happy mummy and baby moment

If you missed the first contest, don’t fret because You:nique Credit Card is organising another contest soon. This time it’s the “Perfect Picture Love” contest with a wedding theme. Imagine carrying your wedding picture around in your wallet or purse everyday. That’s sweet! The best personalised design on the credit card with the contest theme wins.

If you’re a contest lover like me, you’ll want to monitor You:nique Picture Card on Facebook for more details about the contest soon. In case you’re wondering what You:nique Credit Card is about, for your information: You:nique Credit Card is from Alliance Bank. What’s unique about it is you can choose your own terms with the credit card, whether it’s Great Rebates, Fantastic Rates or if you prefer it, Exciting Rewards. It’s all up to you to customize.

This is to certify that MG has successfully completed Alfred’s Basic Adult Piano Course, Level 3 on this day 16th September, 2009. Hehe.

This is the last of the series of workbooks and I just played my last song the “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven. Ahem. Ahem. Yahoo! Yipeee! *Doing happy dance.* A dreamed fulfilled.

Thank you to my darling who bought me a piano for my birthday in 2007,  signed me up for lessons and fetched me to lessons while he watched the kids after work. He has helped me to fulfil one of my lifetime dreams….. ie to be able to play the piano. He is the best!

I had my first lesson sometime in July 2007. Wah! I have learned for 2 years. I am planning to stop my lessons at the end of this year and self learn from there on, just playing for fun. Really no time to practise.

“Its never too old to pick up a new skill. You just have to be thick skinned.”  ;)

The best way to learn to speak a language is to practise, practise and practise!

The kids are being raised to be trilingual. They learn Chinese, Malay and English in School (in that order of priority), we speak to them in English at home and the maid speaks to them in Malay at home.

Their spoken Malay has improved significantly after the maid arrived. Initially, all the 5 year old could say was “Ini ahhhhhh” and point. He would also go “Achoo!” in great exageration to get her attention. It was really amusing. Now he can say “Kereta itu banyak cepat.” Its broken Malay no doubt but still a vast improvement and they are learning each day because they are not shy to speak it and we, the maid and I, will correct them if they are wrong.

I noticed that even the maid’s English has improved significantly. Now she can converse with them in English too. Her English is qetting quite good too. My husband jokingly said that maybe she lied to us about not knowing English but I pointed out to him about how the kids Malay language has improved tremendously. If their Malay can improve so well, why can’t her English improve as well?

Once I remember reading a comment somewhere where the commentor mentioned that she is so annoyed because the maid keeps on talking to her kids in her lousy broken English. Thats a pity because I think the maid is just trying to communicate with the kids. I don’t mind the maid speaking to the kids in English but I prefer it if she speaks to them in Malay so that they can improve their Malay. It really helps.

Now, my biggest problem is getting the kids to converse in Chinese. At the moment, Chinese videos and books still do not interest them. They always request for English tapes and English books instead.

Now that my girl is in school and her lessons in Moral etc teaches her about the different races in Malaysia, she laughs at the time when she is young and called herself “English” simply because she speaks English. She thought she was “English” because she spoke English. Thats sad isn’t it? Even if my Chinese is poor, I better introduce and instil more Chinese culture to and in her.

Ok. I think I better rush out to buy some boxes of mooncakes and lanterns soon for a start. Hahaha. I plan to buy my kids their yearly lanterns this coming Hari Raya Holidays. What about you?

I’m finding it harder to handle my 7 year old now compared to when she was a baby, a toddler, a terrible twos stage (which was never terrible but rather cute and adorable), preschooler etc.

However, now that she is a 7 year old I am lost. I handled the “No!”s stage without going beserk. I came out of the “Why’s” stage still sane. Now we’re at the “How’s” stage and I am lost!

Each day, from morning to night, she would bombard me with “How?” Its not “How” for a new thing mind you. Its “How” for the same thing. Usually its for things like…..

“Mummy, I went to the bathroom and my hands touched the toilet seat and then I touched my face. How?”

“Mummy, I whistled during naptime and didn’t sleep. How?”

“Mummy, I talked in class and didn’t pay attention to what teacher said. How?”

And the list goes on, from morn to night, day in and day out. From the first moment when we wake up to the last thing before we sleep (really! I am not exaggerating) , she would have a statement followed by a “How”. It drives me crazy! I wonder why does she seek approval from me in every little thing she does? Does she lack confidence so? Am I so controlling? Is she seeking attention? Does she want to come to me herself to avoid being scolded? Have I been giving her too many conflicting signals? What? Why? How? Sometimes its for really really trivial things, sometimes its for something really naughty that she did.

Sometimes she is satisfied with my standard replies of either “Don’t do it again.” or “Don’t worry about it. Its just a small thing.” to which she will ask “So, its ok if I do it again?”

I don’t know how to handle it. I have tried telling her to come to me only if its very important. I told her “Mummy and daddy have taught you what is wrong and right. Now you know that you should not do the wrong things and you should do more of the right things. So don’t come to me AFTER you have done the wrong things and ask me ”how?” to which she would retort. “Ok, then next time I won’t tell you anything even if I did the wrong thing.”

I am reaching my “breaking point”. Cannot tahan anymore. Would somebody tell me HOW?

I have been a YouTube user since December 18, 2006. That’s what it says on my YouTube Channel. I hadn’t realised that. I absolutely love YouTube! You can find a video on just about anything you need in there. What I love the most about YouTube is the playlist. I have created a few playlists and I am allowed to select “Play All” of my playlist which plays the videos on my playlist continuously like a long cartoon, show or music video etc.

I use YouTube for my kids to watch their favourite cartoons. I find educational videos to teach them and as for myself, I have workout videos in parts which I can put together to make my very own workout routine. I also have my favourite free and easy listening playlist as well as 90s music which I enjoy. I also listen to piano pieces that I am learning to help me in my learning process.

So, here it is, My YouTube Channel to share with my blog readers. Go ahead and check it out and make use of it if you like. In my playlist, I have cartoons for boys and girls so you can find videos for your boy or girl without searching hard. I have already done the job for you (I created the playlists from time to time but I only set up my channel this week). I will regularly update the playlists. So enjoy!

At the moment, I have the following playlists:

1. Love Songs (91 videos)
2. Musicals and Disney Singalongs (40 videos) - For the girls and boys too.
3. Christmas Songs (21 videos)
4. Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (32 videos) - For the boys.
5. Chinese Songs and Cartoons for Kids (37 videos) - For teaching kids Chinese
6. Cartoons (15 videos)
7. Dance, Fitness, Exercise, Aerobics (65 videos)
8. Piano and Other Pieces (12 videos)
9. Educational Series (5 videos) - For teaching English Grammar
10. My 80’s (32 videos)
11. Children’s Songs (3 videos)

When you go to My YouTube Channel, all you need to do is pick the playlist you like, then click on the video that you like. The playlist will play the videos continuously starting from that video you clicked. Great isn’t it? Very easy for the kids. They don’t have to do any navigation or surfing and the best part is, its all free!

If you have the time, you can create your own playlist too. If you already have a playlist, why not share it here in my comments box. I’ll post up your playlist or YouTube Channel links right here in this post.

This looks a bit like a sponsored post doesn’t it? It’s not. I wish I was being paid for this though. Jobs are hard to come by this days.

My maid’s salary is RM570 which is a bit higher than the norm because she has had 2 years experience, explained the agent. That amount plus the agency fees and various agency expenses makes the amount we have to foot out every month about RM750 effectively.

That does not include her personal expenses, food, shampoos, soaps, toothpaste, sanitary pads, etc etc. We also give her angpows and gifts etc during festive occassions and on her birthday. However, I think the biggest amount we spend on her is food because we take her out wherever we go and that includes eating out and vacations. Eating out is really expensive so our food and grocery expenses has shot up after we have a maid.

I do not disagree that maid’s salaries should be higher but I do think that like any other job, salaries must match experience, performance and quality of work. At the moment the quality just isn’t there, most of the time. Most of the maids which come with “training” have to be trained from scratch by an employer. Some of them do not even know how to use a rice cooker, iron or washing machine. Some of them are really young and inexperienced.

Perhaps a tiered salary structure would be more appropriate but more importantly, I think the agency fees should be relooked. There are a lot of hidden costs. When someone says they pay their maid RM450 for example, that is not what they are actually paying each month. Effectively, they are paying much more. The process of replacement when it comes to runaway or poor quality maids should also be looked into. Quite often employers lose a lot of money in replacement fees for runaways or poor quality maids.

For example, my sister had a poor quality maid who would go and lie down for siestas in my niece’s room hugging her pillow and dreaming. My sister had to return the maid, but she could not refund her money and had to fork out a lot more money to get a replacement who turned out to be almost as bad. In the meantime she had to pay for temp maids from the agent at a monthly rate. We teased her about her house being a training center for maids but its no joke actually. It almost is like a training center. She has to train each new maid from scratch. On top of that, she has lost quite a lot of clothing and jewellery after the maids left.

The other day the girl came home and said “Mommy, I want to sing a song to you.” Then she started to sing a Chinese song, something about going to the toilet and keeping the toilet clean. It was a song I had never heard before.

Thats one of the “cons” of sending your kid to a Chinese school when you did not attend one. You can’t relate to or identify with any of the songs or rhymes they learn in school. The sound quite alien to me. None of them sound familiar. I could not sing along with her or chant the rhymes along with her. They did not bring back any childhood memories to me.

I think I may have to start learning some new Chinese Children’s Songs and Rhymes. I have quite a few at home. I bought them so that the children could learn to learn Chinese from Singing. They come in little books with audio CDs. The books has lyrics to the songs.

I must remember to put them on for the kids to listen to and learn some of them myself!

In the meantime, I think I will go to YouTube for Children’s Chinese Songs. At least this one below sounds a bit familiar and it even has Pinyin as well as English Translation. Yup. That is exactly what I need.

After a week of school holidays spent with the kids, teaching and playing with them, sleeping in and NOT exercising, I became lazy.

I find it so hard to get back into the exercising mood. I lost all my energy and became lethargic. Usually I will do my 30 minutes of exercise each week day, after the girl goes to school and before the boy wakes up to go to kindy. Thats my window of time.

Keeping fit and staying healthy is hard work. Whoever says it isn’t is lying. :P Trying to eat healthy foods is boring! Exercising is hard work and requires self discipline. Well, for me anyway. There are those who love to exercise. I don’t fall into those category. I don’t love to exercise. I do it because I have to.  So it requires self discipline to keep up with it.

Watching those Miss Universe 2009 Swimsuit Competition videos on YouTube didn’t get me more motivated. I still feel lethargic. However, I must admit that I did feel a little better after seeing Lizzie Miller as featured on the Sept issue of Glamour magazine, with a fat roll or spare tyre tummy clearly visible.

During the school holidays, we took the kids to Putrajaya for an afternoon trip. It was supposed to be an “educational” trip. The kids had learned about some important landmarks in Malaysia in their school books including KL Tower, KLCC and Putrajaya. We didn’t want to take them to the first two because it was too crowded so we went to Putrajaya instead.

It was a nice change. No crowded streets and traffic jams. The buildings were so modern and impressive. The roads were wide and clean. There was so much greenery. Lots and lots of well maintained landscaped parks with beautiful and perfectly manicured lawns filled with lovely flora and fauna.

The government buildings were very impressive and each building had its own design and character of its own. Even the bridges in Putrajaya had interesting architectural design. The lawns were lovely. Did I say that already? Its because I love them. The buildings look befitting of buildings that contain hardworking people governing the country. It is my hope that someday soon that the governing will fit that image that I came away with.

It was a very good visit. Everyone around seems in a holiday mood. There were a quite a number of tourist buses around. People were going around snapping photos. If you love nature, this is a good place to visit. You can visit the parks, rent a bicycle and cycle around with your friends. That should be fun. For families,  you can take a cruise on the boat. Or just drive around like we did just taking in the sights and stopping every now and then to snap a photo or two. There were lots of people doing that.

However, being KLites with kids, when it came to mealtime, we ended up in Alamanda Putrajaya to have a bite of A&W. How boring is that. :P The mall here was crowded with people wearing masks, much more than the malls in KL.

My photographic skills is not as impressive as the buildings. So you can go here to view more images of Putrajaya.