Prince Charming has Marriage on His Mind

My Little Man appears to have grown up overnight, for on this day 09-09-15 the Little Man proclaimed his intention to marry!

It was just the two of us in the car during our usual school run, when the Little Man suddenly strikes up this conversation with his beloved Mummy:
(Note that words in italics denotes the inner voice of Mummy and the Little Man)

Little Man: "Mummy, when I grow up, I want to marry you...... (Mummy is obviously taken by surprise and feels rather flattered, but before she could respond, the Little Man continued on....)..... but I cannot right, cause you are already married to Daddy, right... so I think i want to marry Su Yann Wei next time." It was as though he wanted to get it off his chest because he said the entire sentence in one huge breath!

Mummy (in shock): Huh, you are so young.... you want to get married?

LM: NO (don't be silly, Mummy!), not now, next time.

Mum: Ohh.........

Fast forward the next day, whilst on the way to kindie....

LM: Mummy, how old were you when you married Daddy?

Mum: 26 years old.

LM: Ok, next time I want to get married at 25 years old, ok?!
Mum: Huh, so young?
Silence greeted me.


Fast forward a couple of hours when I pick him up from school.... he jumps into my taxi and promptly proclaims "Mummy, today I asked Su Yann Wei already, she said ok, she will marry me!"

Mummy was left speechless.
Utterly speechless.


Just a few days after Prince Charming informs me of his marriage proposal to his classmate, the following exchange took place as I started to apply my lipstick whilst waiting for the taxi engine to warm up before zooming off to school.

Prince Charming: "Mummy, why must you always put lipstick?".
"To add some colour to my lips so that Mummy will look pretty," came my reply.
Prince Charming shot back and said"But Mummy is already so pretty!".
My heart instantly melted at that moment.
As I turned back to look at Casanova with my melted heart, he turned away shyly and half-buried his face into his lap!

Moments of such pure joy that could never be replaced with a big fat salary in the corporate pressure cooker, wouldn't you agree? I constantly remind myself of this every time i ponder whether I had made the right decision to abandon my other career and forego my pay-check. This is a long-term investment where small priceless rewards are regularly provided with the monetary returns only seen many, many, many years later.


~ Jottings from the Heart
by Little Casanova's mother.

The Long Silence

I'm not sure what got into me.

I must have been insane, leaving my small handful of faithful readers in total darkness.
(Aisha, Cheah Huay and Shio Yen, I am so sorry...thank you for keeping faith in me.)

The unimaginable Long Silence of Three Hundred and Fifty Five days ends here today.

I have to put right my guilty conscience.

Young or old, rich or poor, we all have one thing in common.

We only have twenty-four hours in one day.

Somehow though, I feel that my twenty-four hours seem to run faster than most other people's.

Most Other People can still tick off their to-do list with ease and yet have time to indulge in Candy Crush, Subway Surf, etc. (I lose track of those mindless games found on those Not-So-Smart-phones).

I like to think that my To Do list is longer than Most Other People. 

Or maybe I am just not as efficient as Most Other People.

Mr T says the reason I take longer is because I'm a sticker for perfection!

I beg to differ. I am not a perfectionist. 

I am just a firm believer of the principle: If You Want To Do Something, Do It Right. Do It The Best That You Can.

Perhaps the reality is just that my time management skills are lacking, as is my self-discipline and a general lack of will power to sacrifice beauty sleep over flushing out my thoughts on the keyboard. 

In one simple sentence, I have no one to apportion blame to, but myself. 

Here is my list of "distractions" for the last 12 months.

You be the judge to decide if the Long Silence was even a teeny weeny bit justifiable.

1. Chauffeuring duties have become more hectic this past 15 months since the Little Man started studying at his new kindergarten right along the Federal Highway. Every school week, Monday to Friday, I have to literally crawl through 2 massive traffic congestions, one just outside my neighbourhood and the other greets me at the start of the Federal Highway, just to reach the Little Man's kindie. It takes almost 40 minutes to reach his school to pick him up (compared to the normal 15 minutes it takes to drop him off in the mornings). 40 minutes of traffic madness, every school day. What can I say...it's a very long-established and reputable kindergarten so that my little banana boy can learn his Mandarin that his Mat Salleh Mum can't teach him. After sending lunch to school for the 2 younger princesses and taking into account my 15 minutes lunch break, I have just a little over 2 hours 30 minutes to myself. And that's if I don't have errands to run for that day. Most of the 2 hours 30 minutes is now invested on Item #2 below. 
2. In the second quarter of 2014, I had signed up for a 12 months self-study online internet marketing course (which burned a slight hole in Mr T's pocket), and the clock is ticking for me to complete the course... like yesterday! I am still slogging through and trying very hard to find a suitable niche market (:-( that masses of people have not penetrated yet) to focus on.
3. One of my dear SILs celebrated her wedding in Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur in October last year. Being the first family wedding in years, a considerable amount of time was spent searching for the perfect coordinating outfits (for the day and night events) and accessories for not just for Mr T and I, but for my FOUR young bosses too, who were the flower girls and ring-bearer. It took an especially long time for us to find the perfect dresses for our rather skinny First Princess. After many, many hours of shopping and researching over the internet, we finally found the perfect outfits that complemented her bony frame. She looked fantastic.It was a beautiful wedding, really memorable and needless to say, great fun for the kids. (I will post the beautiful snapshots in a separate post.)
4. Then of course, there was also the planning AND COMPACT packing for the entire family for our two week holiday Down Under. We had to prepare clothing for contrasting weather... chilly spring in Melbourne (which greeted us with cold, blustery winds!) followed by the sweltering heat in Gold Coast and Brisbane. The kiasi side of me prepared for every contingency that I could think of, apart from first aid kits, I also packed a variety of western medication as well as traditional chinese medicine for the kids. The medicines came in handy as Nos. 1 and 2 developed a sore throat and a nasty cough in the first week of our holiday! We still had a great, great holiday.
5. My outsourcing service provider went home to Philippines for a one-month break in December. So there was a lot of gotong-royong to be done at the Zoo with the cleaning and endless laundry. The trickiest part was keeping my sanity whilst feeding, entertaining and managing the zoo inhabitants especially when the CFO was hard at work (or perhaps he was just escaping the chaos at the Zoo :-[ ). To manage the potential chaos, we balik kampung to Singapore for over a week ... that was wonderful, precious time spent with my extended family there. 
6. Perfecting my baking skills! A burning passion of mine.... only if I had more time! And less fat, flab and bulges so that I could bake more and enjoy more sinful baking pleasures! It de-stresses me, enriches my soul (and the kids' too!), adds a wonderful aroma to our home and puts me in a happy mood (which is really good for everyone's soul!) unless the baking turns out disastrous which thankfully does not happen very often. In the last few months, I have experimented with numerous sponge cakes, durian cakes, pineapple tarts, almond tart, fortune cookies...gonna try making my own muesli bars filled with healthy organic rolled oats, almonds, walnuts, pistachios and cranberries! I'm sure the kids would gladly have those for breakfast rather than plain wholemeal bread!
7. Other more routine "distractions" include guiding the Little Empress (who is not so little anymore as the Tween is going to be eleven in 7 months) through her Theory Exam last year (and the efforts were thankfully well rewarded as the Tween scored a Merit for her Grade 2 Theory - her mum could only obtain a pass in all her theory exams); and working hard on the Aural Tests together with the Little Empress and the Little Genius for their piano and violin exams respectively. Rather ironic really, for one who always used to fail her aural test dismally ...truly my one weakness...it cost me my distinction for my Grade 8 piano exams all those years ago. Hence my determination to ensure my girls sail through their aural tests!
8. My last "major distraction" was my decision to undertake major spring cleaning at our beloved Zoo grounds during the year end holidays. I packed away those toys that were way past its play-by date as the kids have outgrown them. Soft-toys were also segregated into 2 categories: Category (a): 'Can't Live Without It' cuddly-toys;  and Category (b): Off To A Better Home To Be Better Appreciated cuddly-toys. Both category of soft-toys were lovingly showered and dried before entering a new lease of life! The sweat and toil was worth the effort as our cupboards and shelves had new-found storage space, the kids LEGO Collection had a display table of its own and the kids at the United Learning Centre had new furry-toys, bags, stationery, hand-me-down clothes and the like. Mission accomplished.

That's my short list of excuses.

I am happy to note that having decided to sacrifice my beauty sleep and my thrice a week exercise for the last month or so, I now have more time to invest in my writing and in my internet business self-study course. Of course on the downside, dark eye-bags and extra flab now reflect back at me in my bathroom mirror! C'est la vie.

I have been jotting down my thoughts and snippets of various events happening at the Zoo in my Little Purple Book.  So whilst the memories are still fresh (almost!), I'll be flushing them out here real soon. Trust me.

.....fingers crossed.

Flashbacks.... how time flies...

Big Sis cradling
the newborn Prince

The Little Empress at 6 months

     Little Empress at 6 years,
carrying our Young Prince

The Young Prince

The Little Genius
(can't miss that huge forehead)

...close up shot

Scary Big Sis !!

Simply Irresistable!

Simply Adorable!

Simply Perfect. 

Truly Blessed.

Checking Out His Anatomy!

The following exchanges recently took place during the Little Man's shower time.

Mr T was showering the Little Man when something triggered off the Little Man declaring to his Daddy, "this one [pointing to his boyhood] when 3 year old is called  "ku-ku-bird", when 4 years old, is called penis right, then when big years old also called penis!".

Fast forward a few days....

As I was soaping the Little Man, he suddenly scooped up the little organs behind his penis, checked them out and asked, "Mummy, what is this thing behind my penis called?!".  The question momentarily stunned me and I quickly debated between "Balls" and "Testes". If I told him those were balls, it would be like his old teacher telling him that the penis was a bird. This would confuse the poor guy thinking he had balls and a bird following him everywhere. In a rather calm tone, I told him those were called 'testes'. "Oh, testes"....came the reply. Satisfied with the answer, he moved on to a different topic of conversation for the remainder of the shower time.

I quietly hoped that he did not remember a time many, many moons ago, when I told him those were for making babies when he becomes a man! On hindsight, that was a mistake to reveal too much information to a young boy.

The little man is growing up fast.
Since turning four, he has tried to assert his independence in many ways. One of which is during toilet visits....gone are the days when he would let his Mummy or Daddy assist in directing the flow of his output into the toilet bowl.  Now, he will push my hands away if I try to help and gallantly say "I CAN DO MYSELF!"

~ Jottings by a blessed Mother.

Bitter Sweet Moments

Publisher’s Note: This is yet another embarrassingly long overdue posting of my jottings that was first written back in 9 November 2012.  Do stick with me whilst I dust off all my old writings that had been abandoned in the Draft folder and dig out precious old memories.

This just proves that time flies by in the blink of an eye, and if one puts off till tomorrow what one can do today, before one knows it, the subject-matters of the posting would have grown up considerably and one would have to live through embarrassing moments like this. ;-)

My baby girl's last day at kindiegarten

Milestones of a Different Kind

9th November 2012......a bitter sweet day.

On this memorable day, my oldest princess graduated from Primary School, whilst my youngest princess graduated from Kindergarten and to make it even more historic, the Little Man started his Montessori playschool this week for trial lessons. How time flies in just a blink of an eye!

It wasn't all that long ago when our First Princess started Primary School. I can vividly remember that very first morning when we left the house before 7 o'clock. As we stepped out of the house and into the car, our First Princess commented "Wah! Mummy..... it is still so dark. Are you sure it is morning already?". That was the start of many beautiful mornings when the First Princess and her Mummy would chit-chat along the way to school whilst admiring the gorgeous early morning skyline with its beautiful tinges of orange, peach, purple and blue.

Fast forward... and almost 6 years later.....Mr T has now taken over to be the primary chauffeur for the morning school runs whilst I run the later shift to take the Little Genius to kindergarten.

It was a rather sentimental drive to the Little Genius' kindergarten this morning as it began to sink in that it would be my last time to chauffeur my little girl to kindergarten. It would be our last kindergarten assembly together...I will miss listening to the carefree children singing their chinese nursery rhymes.They all somehow grow up too fast especially when they reach their primary school years. Sadly, this is also the time when even the slightest tinge of their baby smell totally dissipates to be replaced instead by smelly perspiration! 

Equally unbelievable is that our First Princess is graduating from Primary School. It doesn't seem all that long ago when I would rush to get out of the pressure-cooker that I was then in, to weave through the evening rush-hour traffic to pick my Princess from school. Sheer guilt would set in when I finally reach her school after 6 p.m., where very often, I would find my little girl obediently finishing up her school work in the canteen. Ex-colleagues used to brandish me for sending my kid to a Commando school that had longer hours than a normal working person with 9 - 5 hours! The school hours were officially from 7.30 to 4.15, with only a pathetic 30 minute lunch break. A large number of students would then have extra-activities or tutoring classes from 4.30 until 5.45. Over 10 hours of pure torture especially for those 7 - 8 year old's who had just graduated from kindergarten where life was so much more carefree! 

Needless to say, I have great pity for the young ones having to endure such extremely long hours as I originated from a "Malay national school" where school was for a maximum of 6 hours with little homework to contend with! It does sadden me that the Little Genius will now be leaving behind her carefree kindie days and entering the Commando school. However, Mr T favours the Commando school as he believes that it gives the younger ones very good discipline and toughens them up for the real world later. 

I digress. 

Today was also a historic day for another reason as my Little Man stepped out of his comfort zone when I packed him off to a nearby Montessori playschool for a week of trial lessons for a couple of hours each morning. The Little Man is approaching three years and clearly has an abundance of energy to burn off.  Him sticking to me like a blood-sucking leech all day and dancing & jumping all over me to burn off his excess energy was testing my patience and driving me a little insane. I badly needed some quiet ME time at home...with no kiddo going "Mummy this... Mummy that...! Mummy, Mummy!"

The Little Man was rather excited to go to school as it made him feel like he was a big boy like his sisters going to school. We walked around the playschool and checkout the facilities together. When I explained to him that I could only stay with him at school for a short while to read my newspapers after which I had to go home to prepare his lunch, he began to have second thoughts and the initial excitement quickly subsided. 

Needless to say, my blood-sucking leech held on to me for dear life for the good part of an hour whilst I hung around the playschool to ensure that my poor little leech would not be too traumatised by not having any of his mummy's blood to suck on for the 2 hours that he would be at playschool by himself. I virtually ignored him and just read my newspapers in a little corner of the playschool. My little leech did eventually wander around the playschool area to check out the rabbits in their cages, the wide array of toys as well as the other kids. At times, he wandered off a little further before suddenly realising that his host-parasite was no longer within his visibility and smelling-range. That was when he would come running back to check that I was still sitting in the corner with my newspaper. 

Just under an hour later, I made my escape. I thought I had succeeded in making a discreet exit through the main door of the house, but alas, I heard his screams "Mummy, Mummy, I want my Mummy!" as I opened the school gate to hop into my car. I sat in my car which was parked my the side of the school to ensure all was well before driving home. The hysterical screaming stopped after a few minutes but was instead replaced by heart-wrenching sobs from my Little Man.

He survived the 90 minutes along and I enjoyed the strangely quiet time at home.

My little leech survived the trial week largely unscathed. It was the same old story everyday during the trial week and during the one month holiday program. I'd eased his separation-anxiety by showing him that Mummy was going to park the car under that big tree right next to his playschool and read my newspaper in the car whilst waiting for him to enjoy himself in school. Of course, the intelligent little leech would always ask to see my stack of newspapers in the car for reassurance (which I always had handy); at times he would even remind me to bring the papers along just as we are about to leave home.

After attending the holiday program for about a week, the separation anxiety was much better...no more screaming...just a little teary eyed. The toughest part was to get him to leave the house as he would complain of being very tired and not wanting to change out of his pyjamas. Mid-way through the holiday program, I was able to just drop him at the gates, as he could see the other children saying goodbye to their Mums & Dads at the gates. Though a small part of me pined for the little baby that had just grown up in a few blinks of an eye, I definitely treasured the peace and quiet at home for the entire 3 hours!


Fast forward further to January 2013......

As the Little Genius has just entered the Commando School, my lunch partner has now reduced from a table for three, to a table for two. After picking the Little Man from playschool and freshening him up with a cool shower, the Little Man and I will settle down for lunch. If he is his usual happy self, we will have an enjoyable lunch for two. If he is overly exhausted and is in his whining, tantrum-throwing mood, then it'd be silence at the lunch table and my replacement lunch partner will be the faithful old newspaper.

I dread to think what it would be like in the next 3 or 4 years when the Little Man too enters the Commando School when it'll be a really sad & lonely table for one then.  I really missed my lunches and my interesting conversations with the Little Genius for those initial few weeks ...... like they say,  YOU JUST NEVER KNOW HOW TO REALLY TREASURE WHAT YOU HAVE UNTIL YOU HAVE LOST IT.

So now I really treasure my lunch time with my Little Man. Mr T voices his "enviousness" at the Little Man having the company of yours truly all for himself during lunch.

The Little Genius first few days at the Commando School went smoothly. Though she enjoyed herself as she was now in the same league as her older sister, she did complain about the extra long hours when she lamented "I keep looking at my watch, then think why so long the school bell still haven't ring yet...because I very sleepy in the afternoon. I wait and wait for the school bell to ring!".  Poor lil' girl.  Poor lil' girl who loves her afternoon naps.

Her severely depleted batteries would instantly go into recharge mode when she gets into the car and her personal chauffeur would have a real hard time waking her up once we reach home.

Recharging......spot the blackened knees from
a myriad of activities in school!

The highly popular mobile recharging unit

Fast forward further to January 2014......

I spoke too soon. Just one year on, my lunch company is already reduced to just me, my shadow and the faithful newspaper! We enrolled the Little Man in the same renowned Chinese kindergarten as the one that Mr T had gone to 39 years ago! As enrolment for the first session was already filled up when we registered, we enrolled the Little Man for the 
second session which starts in the late morning to mid-afternoon. This works to our advantage as the first session would have meant struggling to get the Little Man out of the house by 7.30 every morning.The late morning session allows the Little Man to get his beauty sleep, have a good, hearty breakfast, a little play time and a refreshing shower before taking a relaxing drive to school.

The downside is that I have lost my lunch company! The lunch table is now strangely quiet. Though it took a little getting used to after years of noisy lunches, I now use this time to catch up on reading my papers as well as meeting up with friends for lunch. And of course, it also provides me with treasured ME time, where I get to indulge in blogging and baking time!

Just like how it was with the Little Genius, the Little Man will have lots to update me with when I pick him up from school.  Stories that his teacher told him, who said what, and who did what to him in school, who was naughty, who cried, etc. Though the school does provide the Little Man with lunch, he always comes home asking to eat lunch, which by that time, really is afternoon tea. He literally gobbles down the food before he is sent to his bed for a short nap to recharge.

The day goes by so fast as the evening is then filled with chauffeuring the girls home from their Commando School and listening to their respective updates on their commando training for the day, whilst weaving through evening rush-hour traffic. As soon as we arrive home, I remove my chauffeur's hat and replace it with the no-nonsense time-keeper's hat! ..."...hurry up, shower,...hurry up, do your homework, ...hurry up, get ready...time for dinner, ...hurry up, finish your homework, ...hurry up,  pack your bags, ...hurry up, brush your teeth, ...hurry up, go to bed...".  I am always telling the girls that I really just ought to get a voice recorder that I can just switch on every day without having to work myself up!

Though I complain, I know that soon enough, all the chaos will soon end to be replaced by a different set of problems brought on by the teenage years, which Mr T and I are already getting daily doses of, courtesy of our First Princess. In years to come, the posting will probably just read Forgettable Moments. Till then, I will treasure these bitter sweet moments.


~ Written from the Heart
by a blessed Mother of Four who despite her complaints, is savouring all the bitter sweet moments.

The Untold Perks of The Job

Although my current multi-tasking job as a chauffeur, personal chef, food stockist, tutor and disciplinarian brings me zero income compared to what I used to earn in the corporate pressure cooker, this current job does bring me many moments of unexpected joy and laughter, and precious memories of my Little Man hitting his various milestones. I would not have been able to share and enjoy these milestones on a daily basis if I was still stuck in that horrid pressure cooker.  In fact, I missed many of those daily moments of pure laughter, joy and mini milestones with my older two princesses. Those moments were limited to the evenings and the weekends when I would be trying to recuperate and rejuvenate my knackered self.

Let me share the recent moments of pure laughter with the Little Man...

1. Sometime in October 2012, the Little Man [LM] at 33 months' old calmly declared:
"I don't like this".  Here's the story.
LM was sitting down at the shower room whilst his Loyal Slave [LS] was busy soaping his body.
 LM: Out of the blue, he points his finger down at his private area and firmly declares "I DON'T LIKE THIS". 
LS: Trying to maintain my composure, I calmly asked what it was that he did not like.
 LM: He started pushing and inspecting his "balls" around left and right, left and right and said "THIS ONE, I DON'T LIKE THIS. See..."
LS: I calmly replied "Why don't you like it? That is your testicles...it is for making babies next time" whilst cracking up inside. I didn't make it a big deal and continued scrubbing him clean. [I don't encourage calling a boy's genitalia birdie and balls, hence without any hesitation, I decided to teach him the correct name.]
LM: The Little Man just responded with an "Ohhhhh......." and he never raised the subject again of not liking his testicles!

2. A couple of months after the above exchange. I was waiting for him to pee before dinner at his grandparents home one day, when he suddenly declared "I LIKE MY TESTICLES" to the utter shock of his Loyal Slave, who was quietly amazed that he could still remember what the organ was called after just being taught that one time. I just stood there in shocked silence, whilst trying not to smile, so as not to illicit any further reaction from him. With the Little Man, the more you smile or laugh, the more he will repeat that same line or behaviour again and again. Heavens forbid, I wouldn't want him telling that to anyone else! A professional entertainer in the making.

Moving on from the reproductive organs to matters of the heart.....

3. Just recently, As I pick the Little Man from school one day, he suddenly blurts out "Mummy, she pretty right?". I quickly looked at who my little darling was staring at. Her name is Isabelle, his classmate in the Smart Reader playgroup that he was in. The teacher and staff there immediately remarked "Comel, lah, mereka dua!" (translated to mean, the two of them are really adorable) and told me that the Little Man often hangs out with Isabelle, they would queue up and go to the toilet together and then hang out with each other after school whilst waiting for their transport home, etc. Not sure who is more obsessed.... the Little Man or his teachers with this notion of "Ohhhh, so sweet."

As for the Loyal Slave, it was another of the Little Man's classmates that had me curled round her little finger. Her name is Avery. She had huge, big round eyes with the chubbiest cheek ever! She would always save her sweetest smile for me.

One day, her beautiful, round eyes suddenly noticed the abnormality in the physical appearance of my toes. You see, I was born with brachymetartasis which means that my fourth toe stopped growing and looks stunted as compared to the taller pinkie toe. This used to embarrass me a great deal and I would hide my toes in public; I would never be seen in flip-flops. In recent years, I realised that there are far bigger problems facing people in the world, so it has stopped bothering me as much now, though i am still very conscious of it when out barefoot in public. This innocent little girl asked me, "Why are your toes like that?". I feigned shock, horror! and uttered "Oh no, Avery....what happened? You must have stepped on Aunty's toes earlier, then they became broken like this!".
Silence.
Just the big, round eyes staring back at me until the Little Man exclaimed "Huh, Mummy? Really, ah? Avery stepped then become like that?"
I looked at the Little Man and responded, "Or was it you JF, did you step on Mummy's toes?"

The poor little darlings. I never did explain to them why my toes look the way it does.
Hope i didn't traumatise these two adorable 3 year olds!


~ Written by a blessed Mother of a little boy who is growing to slowly show appreciation for his human anatomy!
;-)

Author's Note: The Little Man still occasionally looks at my toes and asks "Huh, Mummy....really, ah? Avery step on your toes?" Muhahaha!

The Little Menace and The Joker!

The Little Man has a new name.  The moniker Little Menace fits him perfectly.

He really is one non-stop action three year old boy from the moment he wakes up till the moment he is forced to go to Dreamland to recharge and re-energise! He is forever prancing around up and down the sofa, weaving in and out of furniture, head banging up and down and his voice box going "tong-chiang, tong-chiang"... as he lives out his current dream of being the latest recruit of the Lion Dance troupe. He idolises everything about the Lion Dance [which the Little Man affectionately calls the Tong-Tong-Chiang]. He has watched the Lion Dance 2012 World Competition CD a zillion times...he can even tell you when the Lion is going to fall from the poles and get back up on their feet again. He'll grab any towel that he can find and place it on top of his head and over his back to mimic the Lion troupe before he starts prancing around the house and up and down the sofa, which obviously makes his poor Mummy's heart miss a couple of beats! If he only knew that those Lions' Heads can be bought from Chinatown, he would surely place it on top of his birthday present list! That would result in total havoc at home, as if our home was not noisy & chaotic enough!

Baby Samseng at 13 months

Aside from the Tong-Tong-Chiang, his other passion is mimicking the actions of his favourite contestants in the popular Japanese sports entertainment program "Ninja Warrior" (or Sasuke) where competitors have to complete an extremely challenging four stage obstacle course. All the furniture in our house is somehow visualised and transformed into the many obstacles of the Ninja Warrior obstacle course in the eyes of the Little Menace! Just like in the show, he would bounce off the small indoor trampoline and jump onto the back of sofa and then climb over the cushions to get over the sofa. Except that unlike in the show when the audiences going ooh and aah... and applauding in encouraging the participants, the scene here in KL is different as this little warrior's mother would be screaming her lungs out to "be careful...stop before you hurt yourself ..." His many bruises on his legs are proof of his determination to get through those "obstacles" just like his heroes. The Little Menace has on many occasions proudly told me that "When I big boy, I going to go Ninja Warrior, ok Mummy? I won't fall down in the water, one!"

For those who have never watched Ninja Warrior, tune in to Astro Channel 617 at 1.30...that is his treat for finishing his lunch fast. [Alternatively, click onto www.youtube.com/watch?v=oco3lPfokaU&feature=youtube_gdata_player]. Apart from watching his Lion Dance CD and the National Geographic Wild channel, Ninja Warrior is one of the only other programmes that the Little Menace is allowed to watch. Mr T does not agree, but then he has not really watched the entire program to see how exciting and addictive it can be.

Cheeky Me
(26 months)

 


My Crinkled Nose
(26 months)

The Ninja Warrior Addict
Performing his Balancing Act

      













The Little Menace seems to have an answer to everything. Of late, he is getting rather quick witted with his one-liners! Judge for yourself and let me have your vote if you think the Little Menace deserves his moniker, or would the term Joker be more fitting?!

ACT #1:

Looks can be so, so deceiving!
(at 28 months)

As always, his Loyal Slave has to pretend to snooze with the Little Menace when it comes to his Highness' afternoon nap. He would toss here and there, kick around his cot and make lots of noises just to test his Loyal Slave's patience level. His Loyal Slave has a track record for low tolerance level for nonsense, impatience and quick temperedness. Many a day, I would have to give a little smack on his bottom, or raise my voice, before the Little Menance would realise just how tired he really is, after a hard morning of playing, be it at home or at his playschool. Recently, those little smacks have got harder and harder, and sadly yes, the cane has made quite a few appearances of late.

Sometime last week, the Little Menace once again came up with his tricks.  Whilst trying to keep my cool, I calmly said, "Do you think you can please just close your eyes and sleep without Mummy having to scold you to sleep?". The response that the Little Menace's alter ego, The Joker, shot back with his cheekiest look was: "CANNOT! I want everybody to scold me, Mummy, Daddy, everybody to scold me, then only I sleep!!"

ACT#2:

Come...I kiss you...
(at 30 months)

 Knowing how enticing and tempting one's own bed can be and to prevent my eye-lids from experiencing an involuntary shutdown, I would often bring my handphone with me to bed in the afternoon and hide it beside my bolster from those prying young eyes and position myself on the bed in such a way that it would look like I was sleeping but actually the corners of my eyes were straining itself to have a quick read of the world news and of course, my daily dose of Hollywood gossip. Needless to say, I was caught red-handed a few times. I was too engrossed with my reading to realise that a little boy had slowly creeped up from his cot and saw me rendezvousing with the little gadget!

Fast forward to one recent afternoon, when instead of the Little Menace commanding me to "CLOSE YOUR EYES, MUMMY", he very cheekily said with his most bewildered look: "Eh, Mummy....where is your handphone?!", knowing very well that my handphone was most likely stucked somewhere under my bolster.

ACT#3:


Born Joker!
(at 30 months)

One hot, sweltering night, I came out of the shower dressed
in my pyjamas shorts and a spaghetti-strapped t-shirt. As I sat at the edge of my bed, the sneeky Joker scrutinised me from my head to my mid-section and whilst slipping his little fingers to do a quick check under the straps of my t-shirt, he exclaimed: "Eh, Mummy! Why you not wearing bra, one?!".
here's the making of a young Casanova.


ACT#4:
On another afternoon, The Joker started crawling on all fours in our bathroom ......
The Loyal Slave: "Please get up and stop crawling on the bathroom floor. Are you a dog?
The Joker retorted back with just ONE word: "WOOF!"
The Loyal Slave could not help but break out in a smile and a giggle under the comforts of her towel which was quickly placed over her face.


ACT#5:

The Joker with his Enlarged Nostrils!
(at 40 months)

In the past, there have been certain external parties referring to the Little Man's boyhood as "Ku-Ku-Bird" when talking to the Little Man. I have never understood why people call it Ku-Ku-Bird, which is a direct translation from the Hokkien name ("ku-ku-chiau") for that organ [I have never understood the origins of the word ku-ku-chiau either!]. So began my constant educating the Little Man that IT is not called Ku-Ku-Bird and "NO, there is no bird between your legs!"

I knew he had passed the grade as I was changing him one day after his shower as he proudly announced "This one [while pointing to that all important male organ] not Ku-ku-bird, right? Bird fly outside right? This one "ku-ku-chiau.". That all important announcement that he made was greeted with thunderous applause and a round of laughter from his proud Mum. This proud Mother is pleased to note that since then, The Little Man has not made any further mention of the phrase "Ku-Ku-Bird".


ACT#6:
During one of my intelligent chit-chats with the Little Man as I was changing him after his shower one afternoon, he raised the all important question..."Mummy is a girl right? And Jing Fong is a boy.". 
To make it clear to him, I then replied "Yes, that's right. Only girls put lipstick, boys don't. Girls have long hair, boys have short hair."
The Little Man became rather defensive and quickly retorted back: "No, mummy has short hair.  Mummy is a girl. Right?"
My mistake.
I quickly calmed the Little Man with a big hug and an even bigger kiss.

I'm Sulking



Kiss Me Quick!



Okay...I'm happy again!

The Joker has the Last Laugh!
(April 2013)

ACT#7:

On one of the many school day mornings when the Loyal Slave had to drag the Little Man out of bed and hurry him through his usual morning routine before going to school, it was The Joker who greeted her!
The Loyal Slave: "Do you want to eat hard-boiled egg for your breakfast?"
The Joker merely nodded.
The Loyal Slave: "If you want, say "Yes, I want to eat egg", or "Yes, Mummy". Don't just nod your head like that."
The Joker retorted back with his ultimate one liner:
"Yes, Humpty Dumpty!!!!"
The Loyal Slave had little choice but to break out in a spontaneous laughter!

The Little Botak and his Polo
(May 2013)

ACT#8:
To date, I have been informed by the teachers and members of staff of his playschool that over 6 of them have been queried by the Joker each time they fail to respond to his early morning greetings. Sometimes when the Little Joker greets them upon reaching school, the teachers are busy or distracted, can't hear him or just inadvertently forget to respond to him. When that happens, the Little Joker with his 39 months of wisdom and all 88cm of him would apparently file his complain to the relevant teacher/staff by asking: "Why you never say Good Morning and High-Five to me today?"

His teachers and staff at his playschool have now learnt to be on high alert when The Joker arrives at school for his good morning rounds!




ACT#9:

Dr Menace
(at 33 months)

Recently whilst I was sending Princess No. 3 to her art class with the Little Man in tow, the Little Man asked for some water which I promptly got for him from the water cooler station at the Music cum Art school.  I warned the Little Man not to touch the water outlet with the red button so as not to scald his finger as the water there would be very hot . With that wise piece of advice, I went off to talk to the art teacher leaving the Little Man to drink his cup of water there.

A couple of minutes later, the Little Man walks over to the other end of the corridor where I was talking to the art teacher, still happily holding on to his cup of water. As soon as I had finished talking to the teacher and said goodbye to Princess No. 3, the Little Man gave me a very smug look and in his softest yet audible voice, he says "Hmmm.....the water so nice and cold!". Sensing something amiss, I immediately took a sip of the water .... it was ICE COLD!!!



I immediately questioned the Little Man, "I thought I told you not to touch the buttons for the water?!"

My politically correct Joker calmly replied, "No, Mummy said cannot touch the red button. I only touch the blue button!!". 

I SURRENDER!!!

ACT#10:
This Little Joker has a really sharp mind as well as ears.  I have been trying to teach him good manners and to speak proper English over the months. For example, it is a BIG NO-NO to say "Nah!" when you want to pass something to someone. The proper way is to say "There you go" and gently pass the thing over to that other person. He has been so good at it, that he has even been correcting his Grand Ma everytime she uses the offending word "NAH!". Another example of Manglish that too many of us use is "Wait, ah!".  I am proud to say that the Little Joker has been well trained to say "Please wait". Of late, the Little Joker has been telling me "It's not 'Please wait', Mummy. You must say 'Please wait, Darling', ok?".


**STARS** all over

Here comes the ultimate one.
How many of us are guilty of saying "Neh-mind" instead of "NEVERMIND"?
Ever since teaching the Little Joker that there is no such word as "Neh-mind", the Little Joker has made it his mission in life to point out and correct anyone and everyone (including his teachers!) who uses the word "Neh-mind". I only had to teach him once before his brain registered it. Unfortunately, old habits die hard for some of us, including his Loyal Slave.  So everytime the word "Neh-mind" accidentally comes out from my mouth even if I am talking to someone else, the Little Joker will somehow be able to catch me using it and come over to give me a little slap on my hand whilst reprimanding me "Hor, Mummy! You said "Neh-mind"!". Of course, the Loyal Slave is rather intelligent herself! So to save face, she convinces the Little Joker that she really did say NEVERMIND but that she said it so fast that it sounded like Neh-Mind! It is the truth. REALLY.
   

He has caught his Big Sister, his Daddy and his teachers saying "Neh-mind" and he has even faulted the Radio DJs. We were listening to Richard and Sarah on the Lite Breakfast show on the way to school this morning when Richard was relating a story and he used the offending word "Neh-mind". Before I even realised it myself, the Little Joker had already highlighted it to me "Mummy, the Uncle said "Neh-mind", but the Aunty very good...she didn't say "Neh-mind"!!"
 


 So vain!
(March 2013)

   

Party Animal
(April 2013)



With One of My Babes
(April 2012)

    

Squashed by the Ladies
(Nov 2012)

 

Completing my 1st puzzle - solo
(1 May 2013)





Recharging for my next Adventure



On my best behaviour with Grand Dad!

Returning the favour ... my turn to spoil Grand Dad
(Grand Dad's birthday, 2013)



Help Me, MUM!
(27 months)



MUM, I'm Being Tortured!

              

Torture Session is Over....
Handsome d!





 

The Joker on his 3rd Birthday!

 


All that Fooling Around has Tired Me Out!

 

Another Grooming Session with Dad
... being cute sure is hard work! (32 months old)

Overgrown Bush ...... I Need Grooming BADLY!

Who Can Resist Me?
MOOOOOO....ACKKK!

Chick Magnet!

 

Looking Cool and Suave!

  ~ Treasures of  a blessed stay-home Mum-of-Four

who despite the challenges thrown daily at her by the Little People,

truly is thankful for being able to experience the day-to-day joy of being

humoured, challenged and entertained by her Little Joker cum Menace,

and who reminisces about the younger days of her Three Princesses,

when she was unable to devote as much time to them as she was
still stuck in the pressure-cooker of the corporate world then.