Date: Tuesday, 18 February 2014
Time: From 3.00 p.m. to 6.00 p.m.
3.00 p.m.: Chauffeuring Whining King home from school
Picked up the Little Man from nursery. He was his usual chatty self, telling me all about his day in school whilst I drove through traffic on the way home. He started talking about his friends' antics.
He moved on to talk about another classmate and that is when the entire drama began.
Little Man: "... there that small boy......what's his name, ah, Mummy?".
Driver: "Huh? Which one?"
Little Man: "There, that one, the small, small, boy. Yesterday that one."
Driver: "Joshua (the only small boy I know in his class as he was born year-end and is really tiny. And he was THE only boy I had bumped into yesterday when I dropped the Little Man at school)".
Little Man: "No, not Joshua."
Driver: "If not Joshua, then Mummy doesn't know."
Little Man: "There, that one, the small, small, one. Yesterday that one."
Driver: "I don't know, Darling".
... and he went on and on and on and on.
The Little Man suddenly got all worked up because his Mum just did not know the name of "that small, small one [boy]". He started kicking the back of my driver's seat and starts whining and crying and whining and crying......all I can hear between his sobs are "There, that one, the small, small, one.". The whining and crying went on endlessly.
I looked into my rear-view mirror and see The Whining King sitting in the Little Man's car-seat. For a moment, I actually wondered if I had picked up the wrong kid!! It was that bad!
Guess there are just no limits for a frustrated, hungry & tired kid!
Annoyance and frustration kicked in for both driver and passenger. Big time.
Chauffeur went into automatic lecture mode.
"LOOK, Mummy only knows 5 of your friends' names. CH (his best friend), M, KY, A and J. Mummy doesn't know anyone else. Why do you want to get angry at Mummy and throw your temper-tantrum? If you don't know your friend's name, just ask your friend or your teacher. Don't throw your temper-tantrum. JUST STOP WHINING."
Apart from the occasional sniff, there was total silence in the car for the remaining 500 metres before reaching home.
Upon reaching home, my helper greeted His Majesty at the doorway. That started off The Whining King again and his siren blared even louder. Whine...whine...whine...whine...whine.
Totally Unbearable.
I told my helper to ignore The Whining King. I regret not recording the entire drama on video. That would have been pure entertainment for you.
He continued to whine, inter-spaced by his sobs. I dutifully and silently served him his favourite Spaghetti Bolognese for his afternoon tea. His siren continued to blare. I gave him the choice of eating, or foregoing one of his favourite meals and going straight to bed. I then walked away to regain my sanity.
A couple of minutes later, I heard the clink-clanking of cutlery. I slowly made my way back into the dining room. Lo and behold, it was the Little Man who greeted me, behaving as though nothing had happened in the preceding 30 minutes. I quickly looked around; there was no sign of The Whining King. Unbelievable. The Little Man licked his platter spotlessly clean.
Needless to say, he fell asleep for his afternoon nap as soon as his head touched his pillow.
Peace. Alleluia.
4.30 p.m.: Chauffeuring 'Princess of the Day' home from school
As soon as the Little Man got to Dreamland, I jumped into my car and zoomed off to pick Kiddo 3 from school. I normally pick the girls together but today was an exception, as Kiddo 3 had an extended 1 hour violin class at an earlier than normal time. With the kids still having their on-off prolonged cough since the start of the year, I wanted to ensure that Kiddo 3 who had the weakest immune system, had as much sleep as she could. If it meant having to make an additional trip to town to chauffeur her home to shower and eat her dinner before her music class so that she could sleep just that one hour earlier, so be it. The alternative would have been for Kiddo 3 to shower 30 minutes before bedtime, hence pushing back her bedtime and risk her catching a chill from showering late at night and worse, risk the dreaded cough from returning with a vengeance. After all, I did decide to quit my corporate job to be a personal chauffeur, amongst others (huh, I must have been insane at the time....blame it on post-natal hormones running haywire)!
Kiddo 3 was as happy to see me, as I was to see her after the earlier drama. We had a lovely mother-daughter chat all the way home. No issues. No drama. For this simple reason, she is the 'Princess of the Day' .
(By the way, in case any of my other under-aged employers are reading this, 'Princess of the Day' is not a fixed term for Kiddo 3. It just so happens that there was no drama surrounding her for today and we had a "yabba-dabba-doo"time.)
The Powers Above were really kind to me today. Traffic was unusually smooth ... no traffic build-up near school. Managed to do a round trip within 40 minutes during school peak hour. Very, very unusual.
5.15 p.m.: Picking Sulky Teen from school
After dropping Kiddo 3 home and giving my helper strict instructions to ensure that Kiddo 3 showers immediately followed by early dinner, I zoom off to pick Kiddo 1 from school. The onward journey from Kiddo 1's school to Kiddo 2's school started of well... that is, until I asked her about lunch. When I heard that Kiddo 1 only picked out tofu, pak choy, cabbage and egg for lunch from a wide range of dishes, I immediately visualised a pathetic plate of plain white rice, with little bits of tofu, pak choy, cabbage and egg. It would surely have been just a small portion of what she would normally eat. I almost went ballistic.
She admitted that apart from processed meat (Mr T strongly discourages the kids from eating processed meats. Sausages are the biggest NO, NO.), there was actually meat in the choice of dishes available but "I just didn't feel like it". So that was it. My old, faithful voice-recorder went on auto-pilot and started playing again and again ...."you must have a balanced diet, cannot be choosy, don't like also must eat, just carbs with no protein will not help you to grow taller, put on weight, reach puberty, blah...blah...you are desperate to put on weight, right? so you must have a balanced diet, cannot be choosy, don't like also must eat,........". Needless to say, as soon as the good ol' voice-recorder went on auto-pilot, I had a sulky teen, pouting away in the passenger seat next to mine.
Why did I go ballistic? Yes, perhaps on hindsight, I did react a little Over.The.Top.
Perhaps it was all that zooming around town in the sweltering heat.
Perhaps I caught The Whining King's bug.
Or, perhaps I was just being an overly concerned mother.
You see, Kiddo 1 is very thin. Chopstick thin. There have been many a time when I have been interrogated by well-meaning strangers as to whether I actually feed Kiddo 1! The truth is she does eat. She eats a lot actually. But she IS an extremely fussy eater! Perhaps that is why she just can't put on any weight. She only eats what she is accustomed too and is not at all adventurous when it comes to food! That's a NO to a lot of the super foods out there, including NO mushrooms, NO sea cucumber, NO white/black fungus, NO fat (she will diligently scrape off all fat found lingering on chicken & pork pieces) and definitely nothing gooey nor suspicious looking.
As Kiddo 1 is in her vital growing teenage years, Mr T and I have been reminding (borderline lecturing!) her the importance of having a balanced meal which includes the Super Foods, to ensure that she receives all the vital nourishment during this time as that is when she will experience her growth spurts, develop her womanly curves and reach puberty. She has also expressed her anxiety at the fact that she is one of the last of her friends to reach puberty. I have consulted my gynaecologist on this and she assures me that there is no need to worry until and unless one does not have her first menses by the time one turns 16. Only then will they investigate. Nonetheless, it is a cause for concern.
So, if you have any ideas on how to "FIX" my fussy Chopstick and help her to attain puberty, drop me a note! Anxiety levels are peaking as her 14th birthday fast approaches.
She admitted that apart from processed meat (Mr T strongly discourages the kids from eating processed meats. Sausages are the biggest NO, NO.), there was actually meat in the choice of dishes available but "I just didn't feel like it". So that was it. My old, faithful voice-recorder went on auto-pilot and started playing again and again ...."you must have a balanced diet, cannot be choosy, don't like also must eat, just carbs with no protein will not help you to grow taller, put on weight, reach puberty, blah...blah...you are desperate to put on weight, right? so you must have a balanced diet, cannot be choosy, don't like also must eat,........". Needless to say, as soon as the good ol' voice-recorder went on auto-pilot, I had a sulky teen, pouting away in the passenger seat next to mine.
Perhaps it was all that zooming around town in the sweltering heat.
Perhaps I caught The Whining King's bug.
Or, perhaps I was just being an overly concerned mother.
You see, Kiddo 1 is very thin. Chopstick thin. There have been many a time when I have been interrogated by well-meaning strangers as to whether I actually feed Kiddo 1! The truth is she does eat. She eats a lot actually. But she IS an extremely fussy eater! Perhaps that is why she just can't put on any weight. She only eats what she is accustomed too and is not at all adventurous when it comes to food! That's a NO to a lot of the super foods out there, including NO mushrooms, NO sea cucumber, NO white/black fungus, NO fat (she will diligently scrape off all fat found lingering on chicken & pork pieces) and definitely nothing gooey nor suspicious looking.
As Kiddo 1 is in her vital growing teenage years, Mr T and I have been reminding (borderline lecturing!) her the importance of having a balanced meal which includes the Super Foods, to ensure that she receives all the vital nourishment during this time as that is when she will experience her growth spurts, develop her womanly curves and reach puberty. She has also expressed her anxiety at the fact that she is one of the last of her friends to reach puberty. I have consulted my gynaecologist on this and she assures me that there is no need to worry until and unless one does not have her first menses by the time one turns 16. Only then will they investigate. Nonetheless, it is a cause for concern.
So, if you have any ideas on how to "FIX" my fussy Chopstick and help her to attain puberty, drop me a note! Anxiety levels are peaking as her 14th birthday fast approaches.
5.45 p.m.: Picking up Ms What,lah! from school
Straight after picking up Sulky Chopsticks, the Chauffeur's next assignment was to pick up Ms What,lah! from school. Ms What,lah! is the new pseudonym given to Kiddo 2 after she relinquished her Whining Championship title to her brother. Since turning 9, she has learnt to answer back more, and is very defensive in her response to almost anything. Before one has a chance to finish speaking, she would almost always have something to say to rebut whatever one may be speaking about. And when she is unable to provide a fast enough response, she would just blurt out, "WHAT,LAH!?". Needless to say, this has scored her many one-to-one lectures especially with her dear Daddy.
I digress.
After exchanging pleasantries with Ms What,lah!, we began talking about her day at school and she immediately lamented on how hungry she was at lunchtime. "Huh?...Didn't Mummy pack enough food for you?" came the Chauffeur's reply. Ms What,lah! then explained that her Class Teacher had kept many of the students back during the pathetically short 30 minute lunch break as she wanted them to re-do their Mandarin spelling until they got it all correct.
As a result, Ms What,lah! who together with a few of her friends, were the last in the queue to get their exercise books marked, missed the entire 30 minute lunch break, as the Teacher wanted to mark their work and ensure their spelling was all correct before allowing them to fill up their rumbling stomach with some much needed food! It was only when the bell rang to signify the end of their lunch break that they were allowed by Ms Psycho to go for lunch!! I was fuming mad! Really fuming mad.
I asked Ms What,lah! what happened to those of her classmates whose parents did not send lunch over to school as the canteen would surely have run out of food by then. She told me of her best friend who ended up eating just a couple of biscuits that she had in her school bag for her lunch. Upon hearing this, my blood started to reach boiling point.
Needless to say, I conveyed my displeasure to politically correct Mr T and asked him to convey our displeasure in a gentlemanly manner as I knew I would lose my cool if I approached Ms Psycho myself. Mr T agreed and conveyed our strong views on depriving the poor students of their lunch to Ms Psycho the next morning when he sent the girls to school. He suggested to Ms Psycho that the students should be allowed to have a quick lunch first, before going back to the class to re-take their spelling test.
Ms Psycho must have taken note of the matter as since our complaint, Ms Psycho has allowed Ms What,lah! and her classmates to have lunch for a full 600 seconds before summoning those who did not score full marks for their spelling, back to the classroom. Once they have re-taken their spelling test, and score full marks for it, they are allowed to resume their lunch break for whatever remaining lunchtime that is left. This happens every single school day! I pity those poor 10 year old school kids!
Perhaps I should start a petition with the other school parents that Ms Psycho be allowed to only have 600 seconds to eat her lunch!!!
Editor's note: To be fair, Kid#2 has stopped snapping "What, lah!" for the last couple of weeks. Perhaps I should now label her the Come-back Kid, because on the following day, she scored a perfect score in her Chinese spelling and was able to eat her lunch for the entire 30 minutes.
I digress.
After exchanging pleasantries with Ms What,lah!, we began talking about her day at school and she immediately lamented on how hungry she was at lunchtime. "Huh?...Didn't Mummy pack enough food for you?" came the Chauffeur's reply. Ms What,lah! then explained that her Class Teacher had kept many of the students back during the pathetically short 30 minute lunch break as she wanted them to re-do their Mandarin spelling until they got it all correct.
As a result, Ms What,lah! who together with a few of her friends, were the last in the queue to get their exercise books marked, missed the entire 30 minute lunch break, as the Teacher wanted to mark their work and ensure their spelling was all correct before allowing them to fill up their rumbling stomach with some much needed food! It was only when the bell rang to signify the end of their lunch break that they were allowed by Ms Psycho to go for lunch!! I was fuming mad! Really fuming mad.
I asked Ms What,lah! what happened to those of her classmates whose parents did not send lunch over to school as the canteen would surely have run out of food by then. She told me of her best friend who ended up eating just a couple of biscuits that she had in her school bag for her lunch. Upon hearing this, my blood started to reach boiling point.
Needless to say, I conveyed my displeasure to politically correct Mr T and asked him to convey our displeasure in a gentlemanly manner as I knew I would lose my cool if I approached Ms Psycho myself. Mr T agreed and conveyed our strong views on depriving the poor students of their lunch to Ms Psycho the next morning when he sent the girls to school. He suggested to Ms Psycho that the students should be allowed to have a quick lunch first, before going back to the class to re-take their spelling test.
Ms Psycho must have taken note of the matter as since our complaint, Ms Psycho has allowed Ms What,lah! and her classmates to have lunch for a full 600 seconds before summoning those who did not score full marks for their spelling, back to the classroom. Once they have re-taken their spelling test, and score full marks for it, they are allowed to resume their lunch break for whatever remaining lunchtime that is left. This happens every single school day! I pity those poor 10 year old school kids!
Perhaps I should start a petition with the other school parents that Ms Psycho be allowed to only have 600 seconds to eat her lunch!!!
Editor's note: To be fair, Kid#2 has stopped snapping "What, lah!" for the last couple of weeks. Perhaps I should now label her the Come-back Kid, because on the following day, she scored a perfect score in her Chinese spelling and was able to eat her lunch for the entire 30 minutes.
6.40 p.m.: Walk Kiddo 3 to her music class
After all that drama, I was more than happy to walk the 'Princess of the Day' to her music class and be kid-free for the 8 minute walk back from the music school back to the Zoo. Eight minutes of peace and quiet. Treasured right up to the last second.
So there we have it.
Uncontrollable temper tantrums.
Sulky teen, pouting away.
Starved by an unreasonable teacher.
Growing Pains. Multiply 4 times.
Here's a video I found of the The Little Man when he first started to master the art of whining almost 2 years ago. He has since been crowned champion. Fingers crossed, he will soon relinquish the title to some other unknown kid out there.
P.S. Listen out for Kiddo 3 enjoying her brother's "limelight"!!
After all that drama, I was more than happy to walk the 'Princess of the Day' to her music class and be kid-free for the 8 minute walk back from the music school back to the Zoo. Eight minutes of peace and quiet. Treasured right up to the last second.
So there we have it.
Uncontrollable temper tantrums.
Sulky teen, pouting away.
Starved by an unreasonable teacher.
Growing Pains. Multiply 4 times.
Here's a video I found of the The Little Man when he first started to master the art of whining almost 2 years ago. He has since been crowned champion. Fingers crossed, he will soon relinquish the title to some other unknown kid out there.
P.S. Listen out for Kiddo 3 enjoying her brother's "limelight"!!
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