Archive for the 'About the kids' Category

I wonder if my children will remember their toys the way I remember mine.

When I was young, I fell in love with a princess doll. I l admired it and wanted it so much. It was a princess doll with a beautiful fluffy turquoise gown. I can’t remember whether I ever got that doll but I remember wanting it real bad. Haha.

I remember I had a doll house with little doll furniture. I loved that. I can’t remember whether it came with real working lights. It certainly isn’t as sofisticated as the toy houses we have these days but I loved it all the same.

Those were my favourites. In those days we didn’t have many toys. I also had other toys, which were really my dad’s favourites, like the roullette set. He used to play that one with me so often. Haha. I think he was practising for his occassional Genting trip. lol.

I also had a tricycle and a little car. You had to sit in it and push it along with your feet to make it move but the point is, it was big enough to sit in so it resembled a real car in that sense. That is what makes it exciting. I would not have remembered the car if not for the little old black and white photo of me posing beside it.

I am the last, the baby of the family. So I was more fortunate to have that many toys. My husband always has this remark for the kids.

“You have so many toys. Do you know how many toys your daddy had as a kid”

And the kids would chorus together ”One or Two daddy!”  We do this when reminding the kids to cherish their toys.

I wonder if my kids will remember their toys the way I do. Toys and play are really an important part of growing up and learning. We learn from play. Sometimes we do role play and act out our frustration and anger.

My daughter is very different from me. She is an intellectual who prefers intellectual toys. She does not care for dolls and dollhouses. “What can they do mum?” she asks. “Why, you can change its clothes and comb its hair”  I replied and she gives me a funny look.

She prefers books and crafts and other things you can make and do. I thnk her favourite toy is a drawing block. She loves to collect stationary. She won’t use them. She loves them so much, she will keep them to admire. She prefers to read and draw, write, sing or make up her own stories and uses words to express her feelings. The other day she asks me “Have you ever seen a mother who won’t forgive the whole day?” Oh dearie me…. She likes to make up “Have you ever seen” remarks. She and her brother would ask each other “Have  you ever seen a dinosaur walking in the room”? or something like that and they would laugh at their own ridiculous comments. The more ridiculous the better. Then she asks me “Have you ever seen a mother who would not laugh at my jokes?” Gulp.Yup. She is one litte kid who is very good with her words.

As for the boy, well, he likes cars, cars and more cars. Especially little cars that he can line up along with little people. He often talks or sings to himself as he plays. Sometimes it is really amusing to eavesdrop on him and he would look a little embarrassed and smile sheepishly if I repeat what he said. It is his way of sorting out things in his little world.

Ahh toys… Whenever the man buys a train set or remote control car to play with the kids, I am reminded of my roulette set and the toys my man never had as a kid. Quite often when we are at the toy store, it is as much a pleasure for us to shop perhaps even more so than the pleasure of the kid receiving the toy. Quite often we buy things that we like and never had. There is also the pleasure of imagining the pleasure and thrill that each kid would get when receiving a toy. Too bad, I have no chance to play with the barbie dolls that I never had as a kid with my girl since she scorns them.

Do you remember your toys? What is your kid’s favourite toy? Do you buy too many toys?

Only 2 more days to go before the school holidays. As usual we have grand plans. No, not to go anywhere but we have lots of activities planned for the kids. As usual, mummy will be more busy than ever during the school holidays, so I will take a blog break too.

I hope that the schools won’t dish out too many homework for them. It is only a week’s holiday after all. Minus the weekends, it is only 5 days. That is too little for all the things we want to do. I hope to…

• let them explore the computer more (on mommy approved games and sites only) Hehe. No shooting, racing or other mindless games. There are many educational games that are fun and equally challenging
• brush up their languages by letting them watch more Malay and Chinese cartoons
• let them read stories in 3 languages (learning 3 languages at the same time is tough.) and discuss with them afterwards
• do arts and crafts (which the children love)
• teach them a little bit of English because it has been neglected to make way for learning Chinese and Malay
• let them play ball and skipping and bean bags (we made two to play with this holidays)
• let them practise more piano (I am glad that the kids love the piano. I do not have to nag at them to practise. It is the other way around, they beg me to let them practise but usually there is not enough time, so piano practise is low in priority, unfortunately, unless there is a piano exam around the corner)

That is a tall order indeed. Crafts, Languages, Music and PC Skills plus a little bit of sports. That is our objective this school holidays. Only 5 days to do the things that they seldom get to do during regular school days due to lack of time. What a pity.

The kids love holidays even though we seldom go anywhere. They look forward to our own home school holiday program. We usually draw up a timetable together and they look forward to following the timetable of activities. During some school holidays, if there is a test pending afterwards, then we have to do more revision and practise in workbooks. However, this holidays, with the test just over, we can do more fun things.

Science in English has been removed from my girl’s timetable and replaced by English periods. Maths in English is still being taught at this point of time.

At first, I thought I am happy that at last the kids do not have to study the Maths and Science in two languages in school thus reducing their workload. To me, although I preferred the subjects to be taught in English, having it taught in just Mandarin was better than having it taught in two languages both at the same time and having to sit for two sets of tests. However, on hindsight, I think that it has been a good thing.

Although their workloads and bag loads were heavier with the two subjects being taught in two languages, it allowed me to teach my girl the two subjects easily. I taught her in English and then we translated the terms to Mandarin. It was good that way because she thinks in English. Some of the workbooks were bilingual too so it was useful.

I hope that now that the two subjects will no longer be taught in English, those bilingual books will not go too because I find them really useful. It is harder to learn the subjects directly in Mandarin. It was easier for us to learn the concepts in English and then translate the terms into Chinese. Now it will be harder for me to teach my kids.

Yesterday, when I was out buying breakfast and newspapers, my usual newspaper vendor got me to try some Chinese New Year cookies. They were delicious so I ordered some. That means cookie buying is settled. Yahoo! I told the kids about it and they were very happy looking forward to eating those Chinese New Year cookies and delicacies that they remembered.

I don’t normally plan my cookie buying very well. Usually, I just grab whatever I can last minute from the supermarket. That usually leaves me undesirables. So, I am happy to be able to order some in advance this year. Hopefully, they taste as good as the samples. Usually I just get the standard fare like in the picture. Those were from last year if I am not mistaken. I would get just 4-5 varieties at the most. Otherwise, if they are not finished, guess who has to finish them? Yeah, me and my expanding waistline.

I wrote on my Parenting Times blog that I am trying to create excitement for my kids for Chinese New Year. In doing so, I find that, not only the kids but I too am feeling some building excitement. lol.

My spouse does not speak to me nicely. At least, that is what my daughter says. Hahaha. Yesterday, the kids wanted to pick some books to buy from a brochure. I told them that I will have to ask daddy for them first.

“No, let us ask.” the girl said. If we ask, daddy will tell us nicely. “No, you have too many books already…..” etc (she said in a gentle, patient voice) but if you ask…. daddy will grrrrr grrrrr growl growl. (makes imitation of how someone would sound like if replying in an irrate manner.)

She then went on to give her own assumption as to why daddy speaks like that to mummy. “Maybe it is because you have been speaking to him for too many years. We speak to him for only a few years.” Hahaha.

I just had to tell him what the girl said and we both had a good laugh about it.

So, what do you think? Does familiarity breed contempt? Have you forgotten how to speak to your spouse nicely? For the record, actually the spouse does speak to me nicely. He is also very polite and often thanks me, even if I am just bringing him a cup of water. Do you thank your spouse for little things? However, he does sometimes grunt and grumble a little when he is under stress or has a lot of things on his mind. Who doesn’t?

I reminded the kids that they can ask him but they must pick the right time to speak to him. They must ask him when he is free and not when he is in the middle of something. Similarly, when speaking to our spouse, I think we must pick the right time to speak, especially if it is to discuss some important issue. Otherwise, we will end up being growled at and we will be snarling back. lol.

Last year, there was a fair in my girl’s school. There was all sorts of games and food at the fair. The kids had to purchase coupons and use them to play games.

When my girl came home that day, she brought along with her two little fish in a plastic bag. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Although I was amused but secretly horrified (what would I do with two little fish!), the little boy was delighted. He had been reading about pets and was thinking about keeping a fish as a pet. He immediately claimed one fish which his sister generously agreed to.

Their doting dad went out to buy a small tank to keep the two tiny fish. The tank is really small, just nice for two or three tiny fish.

We called the fish “Goldie” and something else I can’t remember. I think Goldie died a few days later. So daddy had to go to the pet store to buy two more little fish. They soon died one after another in the following weeks and were replaced by two guppy fish like the one in the picture.

So now we are the proud owners of three little fish. Goldie’s first partner plus his two new Guppy friends. These three are hardy. It has been a couple of months now and they are still well and alive. The guppy fish looks an ugly grey from far but upon closer inspection, they have lovely colourful tails like that of a peacock. Goldie’s original partner has also grown in size.

The kids feed the fish once a day during lunch. Fortunately, kakak helps to clean the tank, otherwise,  I would have thrown out the fish a long time ago.

You know, there is something about pets. At the end of the day, it is always the mum who has the last responsiblity of looking after the pet like picking out cat or dog hairs from the upholstery and rugs, cleaning the fish tank, making sure no one steps on animal poo, bathing the pets and the list goes on. Everyone loves pets but at the end of the day, it is not easy to look after pets. They are living things that require gentle care. So who is the nurturer at home who is good at giving gentle care? Mummy of course!

During the school holidays I allowed the kids to stay up later. When I was tired, I told them they could continue to chit chat after the lights were off. Listening to them really made me laugh.

First they decided what time they would chit chat till. “Lets chit chat till 11.20pm” said the older one. “What shall we chit chat about?” said the younger one.

They decided to chit chat about their day. “Today, we did……” They went on about their day till 11.20pm when the older one said it was time to end their chit chat.

They said their goodnights to each other which is a lengthy one as we usually do “Goodnight. I love  you. Have a Good Night’s Sleep. Goodnight, Sleep Tight. Happy.”

So they went “I love you.” said the small one and “I love you too.” said his older sister…..and then …. silence….

After a while, a small voice said “Cheh Cheh, Why don’t I love you?” followed by “Why do we always fight and argue?”

Cheh Cheh said “Yah, we always argue but then sometimes we are nice to each other too.” The small one said “Ok” and that was that. They both went to sleep while I had a hard time trying to stiffle my laughter.

Afterthought: I know the little one wishes that his sister would love him more. Once he said, “If I had a magic wand, I wish to have a nice cheh cheh who won’t argue with me so much.” It is because cheh cheh is a bit older, in primary school now and sometimes gets a bit impatient with him. They have different likes and dislikes and because of the gender difference as well, sometimes cheh cheh does not like to play the games he likes even though he keeps saying “Please cheh cheh” . However, my girl often laughs at the antics of her little brother. He can really amuse her and make her laugh with much amusement. When they do play games together, I can see that they really do have a lot of fun together.

I’m never short of hugs at home. A hug is the most powerful thing. With just a short hug you say “I Love You and I Care About You” without words. Its a warm lovely feeling to be hugged and to hug and cuddle.

The thing with children is they give their hugs so freely. With two young kids at home, I’m never short of hugs. If I want a hug, all I need to do is put out my arms to one of them and they’ll run eagerly into my arms for a hug. The man is a little bit more restraint than that.

I wonder why people give out hugs so easily when they’re young and then shy away from them when they’re adults? Why do people find it so easy to hug their children but not their parents?

Even if I don’t put out my arms, they’ll usually creep or gravitate towards me somehow. Last night after lights were out and everyone was told to shhhh after a while, one little one crept towards me, hugged me and said “Mummy, you’re a good mummy.” That gave me the warmest feeling ever.

I hope to raise children who will not be afraid to hug. I hope that they will not become shy or afraid to hug me when they grow up so I’m going to teach them that there is nothing to be shy about in hugging and showing someone that you care about them through hugs. How do you teach that? By giving out plenty of hugs naturally.

Hopefully that will keep my hug supply going for many more years to come and not only in toddlerhood or childhood.

I realise this year that our many parenting firsts do not end after baby’s first turning over, first crawl, first tooth, first walk etc. After that, we had first walk, first swim, first fall, etc etc. Along the way, we had first smile, first words, and many other firsts. We also had first holidays, first day in kindy, first concert, first test, first school trip without us, first …..

However, this year, we as parents had our many firsts instead. We went to the primary school to register our kid for the first time. We got to know other equally anxious parents doing their first registration too. We had our first school orientation… all in Mandarin as we sat there in awe not understanding a word.

Then we collected our kid’s first report card in primary school. We were nervous when she sat for her first school test, performed at her first piano concert and sat for her first piano exam recently. We were probably more nervous than her worrying that she would be nervous.

At first the firsts we truly enjoyable, the first smile, the first toddler, the first words… But as they grow, the firsts become more and more nerve racking for us. Time flies too and before we know it, we’ll be experiencing their first love, first boyfriend/girl friend, first job, first kid! Help!

Nevertheless, however nerve racking, we love them all. We love all the firsts and we don’t want to miss any firsts at all. We want to be the first to watch and experience the firsts with all our kids because we love them dearly. We wouldn’t miss any firsts, not for anything in the world.

Yesterday, my girl had her Grade 1 piano trial exam. Though it was only a trial, we were more nervous than her, worried about whether she would be nervous. Hahaha. It turned out alright. The examiner said that she was a very musical child and for a first timer, it was good achievement, something like that. My memory is so bad, even as I left the music school, I had forgotten what the examiner said so I can’t blog it. lol. I only remember “musical child’ so we went to celebrate even though we didn’t have the results yet. Hahaha. Anyway, its just a trial, so the “celebration” is to encourage and reward her for her hard work in practising and being brave during the test.

She wanted to have McDonalds, so thats what we had. After I left McDonalds and walked past KFC, I saw a familiar face. It was Small C. (The face was unmistakable) Then I saw Big C. So I looked out for Sasha. By that time we had walked on quite far ahead and the family was far ahead of me as I was turning my head back to look. I didn’t catch a glimpse of cute Lil C though. I wanted to run up to her to say “Hi! I know you but you don’t know me” then walk off with a cackle but then they went up the escalator and my family who likes to race in shopping malls had almost disappeared from view by then so I couldn’t go to kacau her.

Too bad. I would have loved to kacau her. My husband would probably think I am mad going to greet and chat with someone I don’t know like she is a long lost friend. Haha. But that is the thing with bloggers. She feels like a long lost friend even though I have not met her before. No, I think it should be, that is the thing with SOME bloggers. Those whom you connect with. They feel like someone whom you have known for a long time.

Maybe another time and place yah Sasha. Its just as well too because a moment later, the little one said “Mummy, I want to shi shi and mmm mmm” Oh. Oh. So I had to rush him to the toilet. Luckily I didn’t have to use a bottle like Sasha did. Haha. But when we reached the toilet, there was a long queue and the little one started to remove his jeans to get ready and everyone stared. Hahaha. I just smiled at another lady in another queue and said “Dia sudah tak boleh tahan” and the lady smiled back understandingly but no one offered the toilet for my poor boy. Hmm….

We went to the toy store to look at possible presents for the little one who will be 5 in two weeks time. He wants more cars for his birthday. Little cars, he says. Hmm… have to crack head on what to buy for him soon. Next month, have to crack head over what to buy for his sister. “If you all can’t tell me what you would like for your birthday, I will buy you more Maths books” says daddy who is their home Math tuition teacher leading to squeals of “No!” As for me, well, I would very much like to have a WII Fit or an electronic dictionary for my birthday which is in June. Hehehe.

Later on, we went to Cold Storage to get two loaves of bread and two ice-creams for the kids. I brought RM10 with me. When my bill came to almost RM15 I got a shock. Apparently the Mars ice-cream cost RM4.79 each! Siao!

Oh, another thing I wanted to write down but forgot. Last week we got a sofa bed for the study room. Its fun. Now we open up the bed during the weekends so that everyone can laze on it and I can have a good uninterrupted afternoon nap away from everybody. We can all congregate at the study room during weekends, daddy can play a game on the pc, the kids can play a game on the tv and mummy can laze on the sofa bed to read a book or daddy can laze on the bed to watch his kungfu movie, the kids can sit on the floor to read books while mummy uses the pc or the kids can laze on the sofa bed reading or playing, mummy can sit on the floor reading while daddy works on the pc etc. Lots of combinations. Hahaha. The funny thing with us is we spend much more time in our study room then in the living room. I guess that is because our family is small so its just more convenient and more cozy that way.

Lastly, a message to all you bloggers who always post lots of photos on  your blog. You are now a familiar face in public and almost like a celebrity where everyone can recognise you. Hahaha.