Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Yay!
Yay! Finally managed to upload photos from my mobility onto the blog after the futile attempts yesterday. Used my laptop to create a picasa web album account and voila....when I uploaded pix on my mobile...it worked. Just thought I'd try it out and it worked...quite an achievement for a super unsavvy IT person! Fingers and toes crossed...this shd mean that I'll be able to indulge in my blog writing once again...
Friday, February 10, 2012
Please bear with me whole I try to work this out....Aisha...HELP!
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
Testing...
Attempting to load a photo off the samseng this time...
Failed tio upload...let me try same posting but without d samseng's photo.
Failed tio upload...let me try same posting but without d samseng's photo.
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
Testing
Fingers crossed...attempting to publish a post fr my smartphone. Think they phone is way too smart for me...but let's see if I can be ion par with it...
Published with Blogger-droid v2.0.4
Monday, October 3, 2011
Utter Madness!
The siren sounded incessantly as Mr T and I were about to leave home to have dinner at Grandad's house early last week. The Whining Queen insisted on taking a cane to school!
"Whatever for?!", was my immediate reply. Apparently, her class teacher had instructed each of her students to bring a cane to school, with their respective names clearly labelled on it so that she can use it at her pleasure when they misbehave. Utterly ridiculous! Though English-educated me has come to accept that Chinese schools have no qualms on using the cane indiscrimately to ensure discipline and to punish those who find it hard to zip up their mouths in class, or those who misbehave, or do not complete their homework or bring their books to school, etc, I sometimes find it unacceptable that the teachers are allowed to just rampantly use the cane on these young children to inflict fear on them when education is supposed to be fun!
Yes, some Primary 1 students may need a little more discipline than other students, but this particular class teacher's addiction to resorting to the cane just goes way over the limit! To Teacher X, every little misdeameanour warrants being caned! If the class is noisy, every student gets caned even if he or she did not contribute to the noise! That to me is insane! And when Teacher X canes, she really canes. It is not a slight tap on their hand. The Whining Queen had on occasions related to me the times when she had to rub her hands to soothe the immediate pain away or to run to the toilet to pour cold water over her hand.
I mentally prepared myself for a showdown with Teacher X.
It was just as well that the Whining Queen fell ill with a very bad throat infection accompanied by a very aggresive fever and was unable to go to school the next day. When I met her class mate, Wei Xin, the next day to collect her homework, he told me that almost the entire class had brought their individual canes as instructed by Teacher X. Like us, his mother refused to get a cane for him to bring to school. I was shocked to hear that this resulted in the class teacher caning him for two consecutive days using several of their classmates' canes! Utter madness!
The Whining Queen had to stay home the rest of that week as she continued to have a raging fever of 104 degrees, despite being on antibiotics. Dr Chin, our paediatrician, recommended doing a blood test on her on Day 4 as her fever just did not subside. He wanted to cross out dengue fever as he commented that in certain cases, dengue may be camouflaged by some other infection if the patient was unlucky enough to be suffering from both ailments. Thankfully, the test came out negative and her fever subsided the day after.
By the time the Whining Queen returned to school, Teacher X had appeared to forget that she had yet to get a cane from us! A blessing in disguise really, as Mr T was already gearing himself up to have a chat with the Teacher X had she still demanded for one as even he felt that she was unable to control her addiction to caning.
When one overuses the cane for even the slightest thing, it serves little purpose as through the young child's eyes, he learns that to get what you want, one must inflict fear and violence. Where does this then lead to? I do not believe that is what the education system is about. Education is not just academic, but it should also focus on teaching children on how to cope with the ups and down of life and how to react and cope when a group of friends suddenly decide to "unfriend" you, and so on.
Another recent example of Teacher X's shortcoming was when she recently let go a smelly "bomb" during one of her lessons. One of the Whining Queen's classmates innocently commented "Peeee-uuuuu.....what is that smell? Who farted?". Though Teacher X admitted that it was her, the way she replied the student wasn't quite the sort of exemplary behaviour that one would expect a teacher to have. Instead, of just apologising for it and seeing the lighter side of things by a simple "Oops! Sorry, it was me - not sure how it escaped me!", Teacher X retorted "It was me. What? Haven't you farted before?!"
Sigh......
When my almost 7 year-old princess re-enacted the scene for me, I had to correct Teacher X's behaviour lest she learns from such deplorable behaviour.
Aside from Teacher X, the other teachers of their commando school are really pretty good with some outstanding ones. And so, as Mr T and I prepare the Whining Queen for her upcoming exams, we continuously motivate her to excel in her studies so that she can move to a higher-tiered class in Standard 2 and escape the cane-wielding hands of Teacher X.
~ Written from the Heart
by a blessed mother-of-four who is fervently hoping that her Little Empress will do well enough in her upcoming exams to escape the clutches of Teacher X next year. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed.
"Whatever for?!", was my immediate reply. Apparently, her class teacher had instructed each of her students to bring a cane to school, with their respective names clearly labelled on it so that she can use it at her pleasure when they misbehave. Utterly ridiculous! Though English-educated me has come to accept that Chinese schools have no qualms on using the cane indiscrimately to ensure discipline and to punish those who find it hard to zip up their mouths in class, or those who misbehave, or do not complete their homework or bring their books to school, etc, I sometimes find it unacceptable that the teachers are allowed to just rampantly use the cane on these young children to inflict fear on them when education is supposed to be fun!
Yes, some Primary 1 students may need a little more discipline than other students, but this particular class teacher's addiction to resorting to the cane just goes way over the limit! To Teacher X, every little misdeameanour warrants being caned! If the class is noisy, every student gets caned even if he or she did not contribute to the noise! That to me is insane! And when Teacher X canes, she really canes. It is not a slight tap on their hand. The Whining Queen had on occasions related to me the times when she had to rub her hands to soothe the immediate pain away or to run to the toilet to pour cold water over her hand.
I mentally prepared myself for a showdown with Teacher X.
It was just as well that the Whining Queen fell ill with a very bad throat infection accompanied by a very aggresive fever and was unable to go to school the next day. When I met her class mate, Wei Xin, the next day to collect her homework, he told me that almost the entire class had brought their individual canes as instructed by Teacher X. Like us, his mother refused to get a cane for him to bring to school. I was shocked to hear that this resulted in the class teacher caning him for two consecutive days using several of their classmates' canes! Utter madness!
The Whining Queen had to stay home the rest of that week as she continued to have a raging fever of 104 degrees, despite being on antibiotics. Dr Chin, our paediatrician, recommended doing a blood test on her on Day 4 as her fever just did not subside. He wanted to cross out dengue fever as he commented that in certain cases, dengue may be camouflaged by some other infection if the patient was unlucky enough to be suffering from both ailments. Thankfully, the test came out negative and her fever subsided the day after.
 |
| Sponging my little patient with ice water in our fight against her very stubborn high fever! |
 |
| Feeling marginally better on Day 3... "Thanks Mum and Dad for the many sleepless nights that you had to endure." |
When one overuses the cane for even the slightest thing, it serves little purpose as through the young child's eyes, he learns that to get what you want, one must inflict fear and violence. Where does this then lead to? I do not believe that is what the education system is about. Education is not just academic, but it should also focus on teaching children on how to cope with the ups and down of life and how to react and cope when a group of friends suddenly decide to "unfriend" you, and so on.
Another recent example of Teacher X's shortcoming was when she recently let go a smelly "bomb" during one of her lessons. One of the Whining Queen's classmates innocently commented "Peeee-uuuuu.....what is that smell? Who farted?". Though Teacher X admitted that it was her, the way she replied the student wasn't quite the sort of exemplary behaviour that one would expect a teacher to have. Instead, of just apologising for it and seeing the lighter side of things by a simple "Oops! Sorry, it was me - not sure how it escaped me!", Teacher X retorted "It was me. What? Haven't you farted before?!"
Sigh......
When my almost 7 year-old princess re-enacted the scene for me, I had to correct Teacher X's behaviour lest she learns from such deplorable behaviour.
Aside from Teacher X, the other teachers of their commando school are really pretty good with some outstanding ones. And so, as Mr T and I prepare the Whining Queen for her upcoming exams, we continuously motivate her to excel in her studies so that she can move to a higher-tiered class in Standard 2 and escape the cane-wielding hands of Teacher X.
~ Written from the Heart
by a blessed mother-of-four who is fervently hoping that her Little Empress will do well enough in her upcoming exams to escape the clutches of Teacher X next year. Keeping my fingers and toes crossed.
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Time to get some toy guns in this house!
13 April 2011
A couple of nights ago, after the girls had all been tucked into bed, Mr T and I were spending some quality time together in the living room, with the Little One playing by himself amongst the many toys that we have accumulated over the years. Out of the blue, the Little One searches and gets hold of the little manicure set that Grandma Ling had bought for the girls a couple of years ago, and creeps up to his unsuspecting father and starts giving him a pedicure! The way he went about painting his daddy's toe nails were quite spot on! He must have learned the tricks of the trade on how to give a good pedicure from his ever so reliable San Jie (i.e. the Little Wizard)!
Needless to say, the manicure/pedicure set was immediately confiscated by Mr T who declared that it was TIME TO GET SOME TOY GUNS IN THIS HOUSE!
So guess where we'll be heading this weekend...
An update...
A trip to Toys R us, bore little fruit. The toy swords and guns were far too advance for the Little One. Instead, we have recharged our old remote-control car and dusted off the dust from its bonnet. During my recent trip to Singapore, I managed to get the Little One his very own remote-control car with flashing lights and disco music too! He was very fascinated, though very frightened, by these very fast 'creatures'. Now his little fingers are getting pretty good at the remote control though there have been a couple of minor traffic accidents at home. But all is good.
~ Jottings by a blessed Mother who continues to diligently segregate girly toys from the more neutral-gender type of toys and who is happy to note that the Little One currently enjoys reading books and is inseparable from Barney.
A couple of nights ago, after the girls had all been tucked into bed, Mr T and I were spending some quality time together in the living room, with the Little One playing by himself amongst the many toys that we have accumulated over the years. Out of the blue, the Little One searches and gets hold of the little manicure set that Grandma Ling had bought for the girls a couple of years ago, and creeps up to his unsuspecting father and starts giving him a pedicure! The way he went about painting his daddy's toe nails were quite spot on! He must have learned the tricks of the trade on how to give a good pedicure from his ever so reliable San Jie (i.e. the Little Wizard)!
Needless to say, the manicure/pedicure set was immediately confiscated by Mr T who declared that it was TIME TO GET SOME TOY GUNS IN THIS HOUSE!
So guess where we'll be heading this weekend...
An update...
A trip to Toys R us, bore little fruit. The toy swords and guns were far too advance for the Little One. Instead, we have recharged our old remote-control car and dusted off the dust from its bonnet. During my recent trip to Singapore, I managed to get the Little One his very own remote-control car with flashing lights and disco music too! He was very fascinated, though very frightened, by these very fast 'creatures'. Now his little fingers are getting pretty good at the remote control though there have been a couple of minor traffic accidents at home. But all is good.
~ Jottings by a blessed Mother who continues to diligently segregate girly toys from the more neutral-gender type of toys and who is happy to note that the Little One currently enjoys reading books and is inseparable from Barney.
Editor's note: Due to an oversight, this draft post was actually first written on 13 April 2011, but due to an oversight never quite made it to publication until housekeeping went in today to clean up all draft postings.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Latest Happenings at the Zoo - Part II
Zoo Member#2
Ahh….Zoo Member#2.
Our little adorable monkey!
It took Mr T and I more than 15 months of hard work, heartache and anxiety to conceive her, but when she finally arrived, she was a beauty! On hindsight, it does seem rather ironic that it took us almost a year and a half to conceive her whilst Big Sister came unplanned, Little Sister was conceived on the 1st attempt and as we all know, Little Brother was a totally unexpected, unplanned blessing (and this, despite taking the necessary precautions!).
When our First Princess was approaching her third birthday, she passed by the neighbourhood park and saw a young mother pushing her baby in a stroller. Very innocently, she asked, "Can we buy a baby? I want one too!". That immediately brought tears to my eyes as Mr T and I had already been working hard at it. Constant temperature checks early in the morning to check the precise time I was ovulating, trips to the fertility doctor to ensure that all was right for Mr T and I, painful tubes inserted here and there, prodding around.... I even had chicken essence soup boiled specially by my father-in-law who was growing rather anxious too. Out of the blue, he made the soup for me three times in that particular week. Like a magic potion, it worked miracles as we were pregnant at my very next cycle!
Our beloved second princess finally made her long-awaited entry in 2004 as a very fair-skinned, big, bouncy 3.1kg compared to big sister who was considerably smaller at 2.6kg. Not surprising, considering the amount of soya bean I drank and the nasi lemak i consumed for breakfast courtesy of my ex-colleague who used to pamper me. Of course the Coffee Bean tuna puffs that I used to eat for my dinner (as that was just about the only thing that I could eat before my evening sickness came on!) added onto the baby-fat!
Her grand arrival was abit of a midnight drama. I had been put on medical leave by my gynaecologist as I had been experiencing spotting a week before my due date. I grew rather impatient after 3 days of waiting, so on day 4, with a huge protruding tummy, Mr T, our First Princess and I went walking and walking (truth be told, it was more like a a gigantic penguin wobbling) around One Utama shopping centre. I can still recall this elderly lady giving me one of those up-and-down dirty looks as I wobbled my way up the escalator from the car park. I was hoping that the walking would accelerate the labour process. And it did!
Just a little past midnight, I felt sharp contractions. Excitement filled me as my better half snored away next to me in bed. I decided to let him enjoy his sleep before waking him up at about 3.00 a.m. as the contractions became more painful, and more frequent. We then gave a wake up call to the Grandparents down the road who trotted over in their pyjamas to watch over our First Princess before making our way to deliver our Second Princess. The delivery was relatively smooth...no high blood pressure and thus, no need to prick the water-bag (the process of which caused excruciating pain during our First Princess' grand arrival).
The Little Empress - as i used to call her due to her ability to make everyone fall for her just by staring into her marble eyes - was, and still is, absolutely adorable, cheeky and such a cutie with a million-dollar smile to match her big, round eyes. However, unlike her parents and her siblings, she has this uncanny ability to metamorphose into a living, breathing fire engine! It is amazing how she undergoes the transformation with such great ease. When she is unhappy or does not get what she wants, she goes on autopilot and whines, and whines and whines till one gets so fed up and reluctantly gives into whatever she is whining about.
She really is THE Whining Queen.
Once the “ee-yor, ee-yor, ee-yor” siren flares, it really flares! My big brother who labels her as the Fire Engine, had at one stage threatened to evict her from the "Shangri-Ling" resort in Singapore if she did not stop the unnecessary sounding of her siren during our stay there. The peculiar thing about this Fire Engine is that she can quite easily cease the wailing and flash her award-winning smile the very next instant. She just has to flash that smile at her dear Uncle and all is forgotten and forgiven.
Mr T labels her the Oscar-winning actress in the making!
The Fire Engine never really switches off the ignition!
Here are some old images of the Fire-Engine sounding its siren! Seeing is believing...
The smallest thing can set off the whining siren! In recent months, her ignition is most frequently set off during our drives home from school. It starts off with a simple request for her to take a short nap as i sieve our way through the traffic. Mid-way through her negotiations to wiggle out of having to take a nap, there would be total silence followed by the distinct sound of someone snoring, sound asleep. Funnily enough, I do find the snoring somewhat more peaceful and pleasant sounding, in comparison with the loud sirens of a fire-truck!
Alighting from the car is a real problem. Despite her promises to her long-suffering mum and sister that she will not whine and throw her temper-tantrums after her short naps, that is exactly what she does! And it goes on and on and on after we reach home. Her body will go limp in the car and her eye-lids will go on a huge strike when I try to wake her up. After numerous attempts, yours truly here would normally give up and the old recording would play..."Okay, you sleep in the car ok....Mummy is going in the house already....can't wait anymore...byeeee ". As soon as that old recording plays, there would be this horribly painful wailing sound as the Fire Engine blares its siren to the entire neighbourhood as Mummy and Big Sis escape indoors.
The blaring siren is often accompanied by what looks like forceful, involuntary movement of the sleeping Empress who starts doing her kungfu kicks in the air! This continues as the Fire Engine finds her way into the house and throws a big tantrum there too! This temper-tantrum throwing goes on for a further 5 to 10 minutes as everyone around her just goes on with their own business, before the Fire Engine eventually runs out of petrol and winds down at its own pace.
Aside from her whining, the Whining Queen can be a real angel if and when she wants to be. Her smile, her words and her actions can really steal your heart away at times! Many have fallen victim to her smile and affectionate ways...only to run off in the other direction when the siren wails!
Since starting commando-style training at her primary school this year, she has coped relatively well with the long hours and volumes of homework. Her initial language struggles with the Malay language and Mandarin has gradually improved. Very gradual with lots of work in progress.
Somehow, "bersih" and "besar" sounds the same to her and thus, mean the same thing!
And so do the words "kotak" -v- "kotor", "emas" -v- "kemas" and "suka" -v- "sukan"!
To give her credit, her Bahasa teacher did compliment her for her enthusiasm to learn. If only she could remember the words without first having to repeat it for the hundredth time...
Here's a prime example of her struggles. She just sat for her Malay writing paper in school this week. When I met her for lunch in school, she gave me a little note that she had written...
Needless to say, Mummy was blamed for not teaching and drilling the word "memotong" into her during our preparations last weekend. Sigh....
A couple of years ago, as the Little Empress was still learning to grapple with the English language, the following exchange of words took place.
Mum to Princess #1 (with The Little Empress in the background): Is it still raining?
Princess #1: You BET!
The Little Empress promptly butts in and says: No, Mummy is not BAD! She is good.
Ahhh.......her sweet innocence.
I've encountered many lovely little surprises packing her school bag in the evenings. She would leave me notes here and there especially if something particular has bothered her during the day.
Here are some examples...
Apart from these little messages from the heart, the Little Empress has given me a present that no other person has ever, and will ever give me in my lifetime. At the young and tender age of 3, she bestowed me with three little gold nuggets, each the size of a grape. It was in the early hours of the morning when this prized "possession" was handed to me in my sleepy state. At that time, the Little Empress was sleeping in a cot that was placed next to my side of the bed. She gently poked me and called for me. As I got out of bed in my sleepy state, my hand instinctively reached out to her hands as I could see that she wanted to pass something to me in the darkness of the night. I took it from her and for some odd reason, decided to smell it to see what it was that she wanted to give me at that unearthly hour.
Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!
Those weren't valuable gold nuggets!
Those were self-made dark brown little nuggets with a very distinct smell and a rather dry texture, often as the result of not consuming enough water during the day! The Little Empress had apparently scooped up those nuggets from her pyjamas as the discomfort had clearly interrupted her sleep.
It was like winning a lottery! Just that this was a different kind of lottery ticket!
Though those gold nuggets were immediately flushed down the toilet bowl, i do treasure the memory which always makes me chuckle whenever I think of it.
Here is our Little Empress through the years....
~ Written from the Heart
by the lucky lady who was chosen to be the mother of the Little Empress and who impatiently awaits for the day when the whining comes to a complete halt. Both she and Mr T continue to hope and cross their fingers that this metamorphosis process is not contagious as the Little Man observes the very different ways of his 3 jie-jie's.
Ahh….Zoo Member#2.
Our little adorable monkey!
It took Mr T and I more than 15 months of hard work, heartache and anxiety to conceive her, but when she finally arrived, she was a beauty! On hindsight, it does seem rather ironic that it took us almost a year and a half to conceive her whilst Big Sister came unplanned, Little Sister was conceived on the 1st attempt and as we all know, Little Brother was a totally unexpected, unplanned blessing (and this, despite taking the necessary precautions!).
When our First Princess was approaching her third birthday, she passed by the neighbourhood park and saw a young mother pushing her baby in a stroller. Very innocently, she asked, "Can we buy a baby? I want one too!". That immediately brought tears to my eyes as Mr T and I had already been working hard at it. Constant temperature checks early in the morning to check the precise time I was ovulating, trips to the fertility doctor to ensure that all was right for Mr T and I, painful tubes inserted here and there, prodding around.... I even had chicken essence soup boiled specially by my father-in-law who was growing rather anxious too. Out of the blue, he made the soup for me three times in that particular week. Like a magic potion, it worked miracles as we were pregnant at my very next cycle!
Our beloved second princess finally made her long-awaited entry in 2004 as a very fair-skinned, big, bouncy 3.1kg compared to big sister who was considerably smaller at 2.6kg. Not surprising, considering the amount of soya bean I drank and the nasi lemak i consumed for breakfast courtesy of my ex-colleague who used to pamper me. Of course the Coffee Bean tuna puffs that I used to eat for my dinner (as that was just about the only thing that I could eat before my evening sickness came on!) added onto the baby-fat!
Her grand arrival was abit of a midnight drama. I had been put on medical leave by my gynaecologist as I had been experiencing spotting a week before my due date. I grew rather impatient after 3 days of waiting, so on day 4, with a huge protruding tummy, Mr T, our First Princess and I went walking and walking (truth be told, it was more like a a gigantic penguin wobbling) around One Utama shopping centre. I can still recall this elderly lady giving me one of those up-and-down dirty looks as I wobbled my way up the escalator from the car park. I was hoping that the walking would accelerate the labour process. And it did!
Just a little past midnight, I felt sharp contractions. Excitement filled me as my better half snored away next to me in bed. I decided to let him enjoy his sleep before waking him up at about 3.00 a.m. as the contractions became more painful, and more frequent. We then gave a wake up call to the Grandparents down the road who trotted over in their pyjamas to watch over our First Princess before making our way to deliver our Second Princess. The delivery was relatively smooth...no high blood pressure and thus, no need to prick the water-bag (the process of which caused excruciating pain during our First Princess' grand arrival).
The Little Empress - as i used to call her due to her ability to make everyone fall for her just by staring into her marble eyes - was, and still is, absolutely adorable, cheeky and such a cutie with a million-dollar smile to match her big, round eyes. However, unlike her parents and her siblings, she has this uncanny ability to metamorphose into a living, breathing fire engine! It is amazing how she undergoes the transformation with such great ease. When she is unhappy or does not get what she wants, she goes on autopilot and whines, and whines and whines till one gets so fed up and reluctantly gives into whatever she is whining about.
She really is THE Whining Queen.
Once the “ee-yor, ee-yor, ee-yor” siren flares, it really flares! My big brother who labels her as the Fire Engine, had at one stage threatened to evict her from the "Shangri-Ling" resort in Singapore if she did not stop the unnecessary sounding of her siren during our stay there. The peculiar thing about this Fire Engine is that she can quite easily cease the wailing and flash her award-winning smile the very next instant. She just has to flash that smile at her dear Uncle and all is forgotten and forgiven.
Mr T labels her the Oscar-winning actress in the making!
The Fire Engine never really switches off the ignition!
Here are some old images of the Fire-Engine sounding its siren! Seeing is believing...
 |
| Award-winning smile before the transformation |
 |
| But I want it! ... The Little Sister looks on in awe. |
 |
| I'm going to sound my siren NOW! |
 |
| Here it comes...engine starting... |
 |
| The Whining Queen in action. Little Sister is oblivious to the sounding of the siren! |
 |
| and on and on and on it goes... |
 |
| The aftermath... |
 |
| This photo will definitely scare off any potential suitors! |
The smallest thing can set off the whining siren! In recent months, her ignition is most frequently set off during our drives home from school. It starts off with a simple request for her to take a short nap as i sieve our way through the traffic. Mid-way through her negotiations to wiggle out of having to take a nap, there would be total silence followed by the distinct sound of someone snoring, sound asleep. Funnily enough, I do find the snoring somewhat more peaceful and pleasant sounding, in comparison with the loud sirens of a fire-truck!
 |
| Fresh-faced in school... |
 |
| still chirpy! |
 |
| a short while later...recharging her batteries |
Alighting from the car is a real problem. Despite her promises to her long-suffering mum and sister that she will not whine and throw her temper-tantrums after her short naps, that is exactly what she does! And it goes on and on and on after we reach home. Her body will go limp in the car and her eye-lids will go on a huge strike when I try to wake her up. After numerous attempts, yours truly here would normally give up and the old recording would play..."Okay, you sleep in the car ok....Mummy is going in the house already....can't wait anymore...byeeee ". As soon as that old recording plays, there would be this horribly painful wailing sound as the Fire Engine blares its siren to the entire neighbourhood as Mummy and Big Sis escape indoors.
The blaring siren is often accompanied by what looks like forceful, involuntary movement of the sleeping Empress who starts doing her kungfu kicks in the air! This continues as the Fire Engine finds her way into the house and throws a big tantrum there too! This temper-tantrum throwing goes on for a further 5 to 10 minutes as everyone around her just goes on with their own business, before the Fire Engine eventually runs out of petrol and winds down at its own pace.
Aside from her whining, the Whining Queen can be a real angel if and when she wants to be. Her smile, her words and her actions can really steal your heart away at times! Many have fallen victim to her smile and affectionate ways...only to run off in the other direction when the siren wails!
Since starting commando-style training at her primary school this year, she has coped relatively well with the long hours and volumes of homework. Her initial language struggles with the Malay language and Mandarin has gradually improved. Very gradual with lots of work in progress.
Somehow, "bersih" and "besar" sounds the same to her and thus, mean the same thing!
And so do the words "kotak" -v- "kotor", "emas" -v- "kemas" and "suka" -v- "sukan"!
To give her credit, her Bahasa teacher did compliment her for her enthusiasm to learn. If only she could remember the words without first having to repeat it for the hundredth time...
Here's a prime example of her struggles. She just sat for her Malay writing paper in school this week. When I met her for lunch in school, she gave me a little note that she had written...
Needless to say, Mummy was blamed for not teaching and drilling the word "memotong" into her during our preparations last weekend. Sigh....
A couple of years ago, as the Little Empress was still learning to grapple with the English language, the following exchange of words took place.
Mum to Princess #1 (with The Little Empress in the background): Is it still raining?
Princess #1: You BET!
The Little Empress promptly butts in and says: No, Mummy is not BAD! She is good.
Ahhh.......her sweet innocence.
I've encountered many lovely little surprises packing her school bag in the evenings. She would leave me notes here and there especially if something particular has bothered her during the day.
Here are some examples...
 |
| upset over being teased and bullied by her classmate |
 |
| upset over being teased and bullied by the class samseng |
 |
| This is what 7-year old kids get up to these days! I love the beauty of pen and paper; you wouldn't get this on your i-PADS, would you?! |
 |
| "I have feaver because Mr Cheok caugh infot my face" |
 |
| Ahh...didn't we all suffer from this same predicament during our childhood days... |
 |
| A Three-in-One note. 1. A note of complaint at being caned by the teacher. 2. A thank you note for her new toothbrush. 3. An apology for claiming that she had been finishing all her water in school for the week, when she had actually been pouring her water down the toilet bowl at school. |
 |
| My all time favourite! |
Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!
Those weren't valuable gold nuggets!
Those were self-made dark brown little nuggets with a very distinct smell and a rather dry texture, often as the result of not consuming enough water during the day! The Little Empress had apparently scooped up those nuggets from her pyjamas as the discomfort had clearly interrupted her sleep.
It was like winning a lottery! Just that this was a different kind of lottery ticket!
Though those gold nuggets were immediately flushed down the toilet bowl, i do treasure the memory which always makes me chuckle whenever I think of it.
Here is our Little Empress through the years....
 |
| Chubby cheeks at 8 weeks |
 |
| Enthralled by the Little Empress |
 |
| Loving the limelight at 6 months! |
 |
| Finding her favourite companion in Osaka, Japan Aged 3+ years |
 |
| Super manja with Daddy ~ taken at Tokyo Main Train Station |
 |
| Cute and cuddly at 3+years |
 |
| The Princesses in 2008 |
 |
| "Let's drive Mum crazy!" Taken at 'The Zoo', in 2008 |
 |
| Twins? |
 |
| In full concentration... entasked with the resposibility of feeding little sister |
 |
| At the bird park for Ta Jie's birthday party ~ July 2009 |
 |
| He ain't heavy... he's my brother! |
 |
| Looking cool with Ta Jie and Uncle Ling Langkawi, December 2010 |
 |
| See the resemblance? |
 |
| My toothless grin |
 |
| I love the chaos! |
 |
| Just how we like it... a home full of love, laughter and chaos! |
 |
| Er Jie, is this how I should pose for the camera? I saw you posing with your eyes and mouth wide open in the other picture. Note the proud father in the background, seemingly oblivious to all that chaos! |
~ Written from the Heart
by the lucky lady who was chosen to be the mother of the Little Empress and who impatiently awaits for the day when the whining comes to a complete halt. Both she and Mr T continue to hope and cross their fingers that this metamorphosis process is not contagious as the Little Man observes the very different ways of his 3 jie-jie's.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)