Mind Your Language!

It's official. We have a little parrot at home!! And he is quite a talker! He goes on and on and on...sometimes even in his sleep!

The Little Man is at a stage where he quietly listens to what we are saying and then repeats it word for word! Recently his GrandDad praised him for eating his dinner by himself, exclaiming "Good, Man!" whilst giving him a thumbs up. Ever since then, he has been repeating those words, though he initially struggled with giving the Thumbs Up sign.

The Little Man's latest mischief is to label the Little Genius as "Naughty Boy!" everytime someone calls him a "Naughty Boy!". He will faithfully go "San Jie [i.e. 3rd sister], Naughty Boy! Ching Tom, Good Boy!". During Mother's Day celebration, Grand Dad asked "Is Jing Fong a naughty boy?". The Little Man promptly replied "No, Ching Tom is good boy. Mummy naughty boy...scold Ching Tom." whilst cosying up to his Grand Dad. Yes, the michevious little samseng.

When the Little Samseng is in action, instead of wishing "Good night Yeh-Yeh, Good night Nai-Nai" before going home, he will mischeviously go "Good night Pa, Good night Mummy" before dashing out of the TV room where his grandparents are with that little smirk on his samseng face.

The Little Samseng!

I have been faithfully keeping a list of those vocabulary that the Little Man constantly fumbles with. Try and suss it out before scrolling below for the answers.

1. nuan
2. a-cu-me
3. choon
4. pork
5. choom
6. pish
7. con air
8. chweet dreams
9. goon boy
10. bul-do-der
11. kool
12. o-pis
13. sau-kau-po-chee
14. se-nen
15. i luv chu
16. E-zy
17. skua-ty-gad
18. chuating
19. skua-ty-gad
20. chim rom
21. ching tom
22. E-zy

And my all time favourite:
  21.  pipi-det

Whenever I have difficulty understanding what the Little Man is trying to say - especially new words that he has just picked up - his frustration will build up and he will continue repeating it whilst flapping his hands up and down until I somehow manage to work out what he is trying to say...or pretend to understand what he is saying.

It is not unusual for the Little Genius to be able to sometimes work out what the Little Man is trying to say. They are particularly close as apart from his loyal servant here, the Little Man spends the most time at home with the Little Genius during the weekdays when she is back from kindergarten. It is a well known fact that the Little Genius works part-time as the Little Man's translator for her daddy and her grandparents.


His Royal Highness
posing with his
loyal servant & faithful translator

The Little Man got really worked up a few months back when I could not comprehend the following request from him at the dining table ... "Pork choom, Mummy!...pork choom!!". His hands kept flapping up and down and his eyes would go bigger and bigger everytime he had to repeat those words. I tried to keep cool and calm, whilst chiding him that there was nothing to get worked up over as his lunch was about to be served! It took me a while to work out what he was going on about. And when I finally did, there was such a huge sense of relief for us both! He was asking for his fork and spoon! The poor guy.

Another memorable incident happened when I was driving a couple of months ago. He started shouting "Nuan, nuan....Mummy nuan, nuan" and the volume just got louder and louder as he failed to get a satisfactory response from his Mummy. There I was, concentrating on the morning traffic after dropping the Little Genius at her kindergarten, whilst at the same time peering into my rear-view mirrow to study the Little Man's body gestures to try and scramble through my brain to work out what the Little Man was trying to tell me. Talk about multi-tasking! It turns out that the inquisitive Little Man had wanted to know what that odd building structure was along Jalan Duta, just after the Jalan Kuching roundabout. It was the Tennis Stadium!

So now every time we drive past that way, the Little Man would proudly announce : See Mummy, nuan stadium, right? and His loyal servant would reply "Yes, darling. Clever boy."

Just a couple of nights ago, Mr T was changing the Little Man into his full-length romper style pyjamas (which is a hand-me-down from his 12 year old sister!). He has 3 main sets of those hand-me-down pyjamas from his sisters; one with a hole large enough for his toe-thumb to stick half-way through, one with small holes and one that is still in a good condition. As his daddy was buttoning him up, he pointed to his toes and said "See Mummy, maw-hole". Whilst half-engrossed in her reading, His loyal servant (who was then on a treasured 10 minute breaktime) automatically went "Mmm..yes...no hole" without really looking at what he was pointing at. His loyal servant had just assumed that he was wearing the hand-me-down pjyamas that was still in good shape.

He then repeated himself "Maw-hole, Mummy"...and my robotic reply went "Mmm..yes...good...no hole". His raised his tone a little and repeated himself again "MAW-HOLE, Mummy". Feeling a little annoyed at being distracted from her 'ME' time, the robotic loyal servant also raised her tone a little and said "Yes, Jing Fong, Mummy heard you...your pyjamas has no hole!" whilst turning to glare at him. Only then did the guilt-ridden Mummy realise that he was pointing at the small little holes at the foot-end of his pjyamas. Durr..Mummy! The Little Man is saying SMALL holes, not no holes! You should have seen the Little Man's relief when he was finally understood and he gave a soft "hmmm..." when his Mummy apologised profusely for misunderstanding him. (Editor's note: I will try to take a clear photo of the maw-hole pjyamas...so far, my attempts for a clear shot have been unsuccessful)

The hand-me-down pyjamas
with breathing space for
the Little Man's toe-thumb



Look Mummy,
Ching Tom can tickle toe here!



The morning after proved to be another mini-challenge. As His loyal servant was preparing to cook lunch, she asked the Little Man if he wanted to watch TV whilst waiting. Here is a snippet of the conversation that took place:

His loyal servant: "Mummy is going to cook now. Do you want to watch TV?"

The Little Man: "Mmm (nodding his head) ... watch E-ZY"

His loyal servant: "Ok, what CD do you want to watch?"

The Little Man: "E-ZY".
His loyal servant: "Yes, I know. Which CD do you want to watch?"
A very frustrated Little Man: ""E-ZY!!".
His blur loyal servant: "Sorry. Mummy doesn't know what you want. You go and show Mummy ok?"
The Little Man then went straight to pick out Sesame Street's Learning your A-B-Cs CD!!

Mr T too has had his fair share of troubles understanding the Little Man.
On one occasion, we had just left the house and were in the midst of conversation when the Little Man interrupted his daddy with the words "Daddy, Pipi-det! Pipi-det!". He just wouldn't give up till daddy did as he was told. As Mr T and I were deep in conversation, Mr T just nodded and said "Ok, Jing Fong...ok". The frustration he felt at not being understood mush have pushed his perseverance even further as the Little Man continued to scream "Daddy, Pipi-det! Pipi-det!". Only when His loyal servant abruptly ended the conversation and uttered the magic words "Dear, he is asking you to wear your safety belt!" were my 2 favourite men friends again.

 

In case you have not managed to suss out the Little Man's lingo, here's what he is trying to say:-

1. nuan  ~  this one
2. a-cu-me  ~  excuse me
3. choon  ~  phone
4. pork  ~  fork
5. choom  ~  spoon
6. pish ~ fish
7. con air  ~  air-con
8. chweet dreams  ~  sweet dreams
9. goon boy  ~  good boy
10. bul-do-der  ~  bull dozer
11. kool ~ school
12. opis  ~  office
13. sau-kau-po-chee  ~  lorry
14. se-nen  ~  seven
15. i luv chu  ~  i love you
16. E-zy ~ ABC
17. skua-ty-gad ~ security guard
18. chuating  ~  sweating
19. chim rom  ~  Swee Rong (aka The Little Genius)
20. ching tom  ~  Jing Fong; he refers to himself as Ching Tom, rather than 'I' 

And my all time favourite:
  21.  pipi-det   ~  safety belt!!

For some inexplicable reason, he has difficulty saying words starting with F, S, PH!
And he is still trying to master the numbers one to ten. Much to his Mummy's frustration, he has been stuck with one, two, three and straight to senen, eight, nine, ten for the last 5 months! He does not seem to have the patience to repeat the alphabets, but he likes reading books...or rather, to be read to.

As for the Little Man's sisters, recalling the following incidents just cracks me up.
When The Whining Queen had just started Primary Two and was busy labelling her exercise books all by herself. I broke out in hysterics as I checked on her labelling efforts. She had transformed her teachers' names from Ms Pritini to Ms PRETTYNE and Ms Brenda became Ms Banda.

The Whining Queen has had her fair share of difficulties whilst getting to grips with Chinese word recognition. In a moral test question she recently did with her Daddy, the following question was posed to her in written Mandarin:

You only have RM1 with you for your break time. What should you spend your RM1 on in the canteen?
i) buy stickers
ii) buy fizzy drinks
iii) buy sandwich

The Whining Queen very confidently chose (i) as her answer!

As for our First Princess, I can recall a question in a Std 2. English test-paper a few years ago.

John is an orphan. He lives at the _____________.
a) orchard
b) orphanage
c) cemetery
d) factory

I almost fainted when our Princess circled (c) as her answer.

In a Std 2 Moral test (in Mandarin), the following question was posed:
Grandmother is having a headache. What should you do?

a) Play loud music.

b) Bring grandmother's medicine for her.

c) Disturb grandmother from her sleep.

Our Princess wisely chose (a) as her answer!

Bless my little wise angels & samseng who continue to bring much joy, havoc and chaos into our lives!

~ Written from the Heart

by a blessed Mother-of-Four who is living with a little regret in that she did not start a detailed written account of her princesses' early talking days and is now conscientiously encapsulating these precious memories so as to be able to roar with laughter when her zoo members eventually leave The Zoo one day and start a zoo of their own.

I Believe

Sharing some words of wisdom that I recently received from a friend.
Those who know me well, know that I am a collector of inspirational words & motivational thoughts.

I Believe...
That just because two people argue,
It doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue,
It doesn't mean they do love each other.
I Believe...
That we don't have to change friends if
We understand that friends change.
I Believe...
That no matter how good a friend is,
they're going to hurt you every once in a while,
and you must forgive them for that.
I Believe...
That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.
I Believe...
That you can do something in an instant
That will give you heartache for life.
I Believe...
That it's taking me a long time
To become the person I want to be.
I Believe...
That you should always leave loved ones with loving words.
It may be the last time you see them.
I Believe...
That you can keep going,
 long after you think you can't.
I Believe...
That we are responsible for what we do,
no matter how we feel.
I Believe...
That either you control your attitude,
or it controls you.
I Believe...
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done,
when it needs to be done,
regardless of the consequences.
I Believe...
That my best friend and I can do anything or nothing
and have the best time.
I Believe...
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down
will be the ones to help you get back up.
I Believe...
That sometimes, when I'm angry,
I have the right to be angry, but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.
I Believe...
That maturity has more to do  with what types of experiences you've had
And what you've learned from them,
and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.
I Believe...
That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes you have to learn to forgive yourself. I Believe...
That no matter how bad your heart is broken,
the world doesn't stop for your grief.
I Believe...
That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,
but, we are responsible for who we become.
I Believe...
That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret.
It could change your life forever.
I Believe...
Two people can look at the exact same thing
And yet see something totally different.
I Believe...
That your life can be changed in a matter of hours
by people who don't even know you.
I Believe...
That even when you think you have no more to give,
When a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I Believe...
That credentials on the wall
do not make you a decent human being.
I Believe...
That the people you care about most in life
are taken from you too soon.
I Believe...
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything they have.

My Super Milk Tank

What a night I had!

Although the Little Man is 27 months, he STILL demands for his nightly milk feed at different hours of the night! Feeling rather exasperated, Mr T suggested that we increase his last feed at night by 30 ml in the hope that, that added extra will satisfy him for much longer through the night. With that extra 30 ml last night, my fingers and toes were all crossed for long awaited undisturbed night of peaceful sleep.

I was deep in sleep when the King rang his bell demanding for his bottle of milk. Somehow convinced that that it must have been dawn already, I stumbled into the dark to prepare His Majesty's bottle of milk. I peered into the clock and was dumb-founded when the numbers 02:15 stared clearly back at me! ARGHHHH... He had just had his bottle of milk 4 hours ago! I dutifully gave His Majesty his sleep-inducing drug and went back to light slumber whilst waiting for His Majesty to empy the bottle.

I snuggled back into deep slumber next to my equally exasperated husband. In what seemed like a short while later, the King abruptly sounded his bell again..."Mummy, make milk!".  His zombie-like loyal slave grudgingly stumbled back into the dark to prepare His Majesty's bottle of milk AGAIN. And once AGAIN, the zombie eyes peered deep into the clock and was near collapse when the numbers 05:25 stared clearly back at it! I then forced His Majesty to take a pee before giving him his drugs, lest he is going to jolt his loyal slave from her sleep for a toilet break as soon as she gets back into dreamland.

Unbelievable! Our milk tank had swallowed 460ml of milk in a span of less than 7.5 hours!

Come night time, the King is like a newborn demanding for milk every few hours and it is leaving me with disastrous results as I woke up this morning at 07:00 with swollen eyes that are half its usual size, making me look as if I had been crying in the night!

I'm sure Mr T is going to suggest increasing the King's last feed by a further 30ml tonight....let's see what antics the King will have up His Majesty's sleeve then!

~ Jottings from the Heart
by an exasperated Mother of Four who is still trying to keep up with her quasi-newborn's night-time demands!

A new chapter begins.

Alas, I welcomed my new subordinate just over a month ago.

The first week of orientation was rather challenging as my new subordinate, though originating from the Philippines, was not proficient in English at all. At times, my frustration got the better of me as I quietly pondered as to whether I had inadvertently hired a Cambodian maid or not! I had to speak rather slowly whilst using a little sign language, which is rather difficult for me. As my previous boss aptly put it during one of my presentations many years ago, "it sounds like a choo-choo train when you talk!".

In my moment of despair sometime during those initial few days, I made the following analogous comparison between my previous subordinate and my current subordinate. If J was a BMW, my new subordinate arrived at my door step as a Proton Saga! I should count myself lucky...one of my girlfriends has just lamented that one of her earlier maids was akin to a tut-tut!!

Through training and a lot of patience, I am glad to report that my Proton Saga has since been upgraded to a Toyota Vios / borderline Toyota Altis! There's still a lot of room for improvement.
My wish list for our Toyota Altis:
i)  Smile more.
ii) Tune into the same frequency as my little zoo members and interact more with the family.
iii) Be more creative and have greater initiative especially when dealing with my little zoo members.

Contrary to what was written in her biodata, I have since discovered that she had never worked before nor does she know how to cook. She has been blessed with two boys and a husband who does all the cooking at home!

I also noted that our then Proton Saga appeared to be constantly running low on diesel all the time during those two weeks. One incident that really irked me was the morning when I was rushing out to send our Proton Saga to the service centre for its mandatory health check 10 days after arrival before having to dash off to the kindergarten to pick up the Little Genius. As I was strapping the Little Man into the car, I asked my subordinate to get something for me from inside the house as well as to pull in the laundry in case it should rain whilst we were out. The response really infuriated me as she moved at turtle speed to carry out those tasks when it was clear that I was in a rush to send her for her check-up. What ever happened to employees who made sure they were always on their toes so as to stand out and impress the employer during their initial few weeks at their new job?

Yours truly immediately contacted the car distributor (otherwise known as Maid Agency) to do some tweaking, so the proprietor adjusted its programming to the following frequency "In Malaysia, we do things fast, fast". At least now when the ignition key is set at URGENT, our Toyota does travel a gear faster.

Complaints aside, at least our Zoo grounds are a lot cleaner now and it has freed up our time, allowing us more time coaching the girls in their studies and mucking around with the Little Samseng. AND of course I have time to blog again as well as indulge in baking muffins for the family.
So YIPPEE to my Toyota Altis upgrade and fingers crossed for further future upgrades! I look forward with glee to the day I welcome a LEXUS into our household!

~ Jottings from the Heart
by a blessed Mother of Four who continues to persevere with her resolution to be more patient and to have better anger management skills. I tend to close one eye more, and my reprimands are less harsh than a year ago. I have also learnt to let go of my frustrations or irritation, once the reprimand is given.

Back-stabbed!

Due to circumstances beyond my control, I have been missing from the blogging atmosphere for the last 4 months. The inability to pen down my thoughts and frustrations on my dear blog has resulted in some pretty nasty withdrawal symptoms. The symptoms include being increasingly impatient and losing my temper at the slightest thing. Regretfully, the victims have been my three princesses, Mr T as well as my parents. Aside from not being able to blog, I have had very little time to catch up with friends. Feeling isolated from the world that I once knew so well was both painful and tortorous.

I had zero ME time.

A pin had abruptly pierced through my bubble causing it to burst with a big bang!

Here is my story.


I have always been the one listening to horror stories about maids from family and friends... I never thought the day would come when i would have my own horror maid story to tell. Perhaps it is because we had been blessed with 2 good maids in the past, Asti and Janette, that I never thought our chapter with Janette would have such a distressful and an abrupt ending. Or perhaps, I had just been too naive.

J was a commendable house-keeper and a great nanny to our four children. She definitely loved them (or so it seemed) and she pampered them as much as she could. Having completed her two year contract in early December, she had agreed to extend her contract for a further 2 years. In fact, she had always been telling the girls, Mr T and I, as well as MIL - my mother in law - that she intends to work for us until the Little Man is ten years old. She was particularly attached to and very protective of the Little Man as they share the same birthdate. At times, one could sense her feeling envious when the Little Man was being overly affectionate with MIL's housekeeper. She always seemed to be the one who was proudest of the Little Man's milestones.

J was scheduled to go home on 10th December for a 17 day break over the Christmas period to see her three daughters whom she had not seen for over two years.  Prior to her holiday, we made various trips around town to help J tick off the items on her shopping list. J's main item was a Samsung Galaxy Y for her eldest girl. It had just been launched at that time; hence finding it at the shops was no easy task, as even the Samsung outlets had not received stock of the new phones. We also shopped around for the best possible exchange rate for her ringgit/peso ... surveyed the market for the cheapest imported chocolates that she wanted to buy ... bought her girls girly stationery ... and on and on.

In the days leading to her flight home, she had quietly told the Little Man that she was returning home for a holiday. Everytime she told the Little Man, she would emerge with teary red eyes. And I believe that was no acting; she was an emotional person. She couldn't tell the girls as we had asked her not to. Ying Han was attending a motiviational camp for up-and-coming teenagers so we wanted her to be able to fully concentrate on her camp. As for the 2 younger girls, we did not want them to make a big fuss and become all emotional as our Little Genius was quite attached to J. In fact, the Little Genius had earlier told J that she would be very upset and cry her eyes out if J went home for a holiday. Hence, the joint decision to keep the plans to the adults until after J's departure. Afterall, J was only going back for a 2 week holiday. Or so we thought.

Befor J left for the airport on a midnight flight, I packed her my supply of gastric medicine as I was afraid that the long journey home may bring on her gasric attack. That small step appeared to touch J's heart as she became all teary-eyed as she thanked me for the little bag containing the gastric medication. At the airport, Mr T went searching for the plastic wrapping service so that we could wrap J's luggage in the plastic wrapper to ensure her belongings were not tampered with during the loading and unloading onto the aircraft.

On the morning after, we explained to the two younger girls that their Aunty J had gone home to the Philippines for a two week holiday and that we had kept the news from them as it was a surprise for Aunty J's family. We reassured them that they would be seeing their beloved Aunty J in a little over 2 weeks. As Ying Han's camp had ended the 3 hours before J's departure, she was able to say good bye to Aunty J after a quick explanation of the situation.

When J did not call us by noon on the day after her departure as we had asked her to, Mr T and I became rather worried. We tried calling J's Mum to check on the status, but there was no answer. We became increasingly worried as it was a long journey home. A flight back to Manila, and then a connecting flight to Davao, followed by a 10 hour bus journey to get home to a far-away province. Almost 21 hours later, she finally rang to say that she had safely arrived. She sounded esctatic and had asked about the kids. We were relieved.

Next came the physical exertion. The Zoo Manager had to work doubly hard to ensure all housekeeping needs were adequately met, including the laundry. I more than made up for the lack of exercise that I have done (or not done!) for the past year!  God bless my little helpers who tried their best to help me out as best as their little hands could manage! As always, Mr T was very hands-on in helping out in every way that he could too.


 

The Little Man with his armour
...the humble vacuum cleaner



        

Hard at Work

    

My faithful Si Bongkok was a
great help washing & drying dishes

Two days following J's departure, Mr T and I packed everyone into the car and sped off to Hard Rock Penang. We had planned it out beautifully. The holiday was perfect...full of relaxation & rejuvenation. Reality hit me hard when we reached home and emptied all our luggage! SIX people's laundry multiplied by FIVE whole days! Arghhhhh.......it took me 4 days of beautiful sunshine to get through all the laundry!

All dirty and smelly!

Sigh...the ironing is
always the harder part!

As I stood by the ironing board with sweat dripping profusely down my forehead, feeling overpowered by the sweltering heat and high humidity, I made a resolution that I had to tone down my temper and impatient behaviour once J returned from her holiday! For if she was not the one helping me, I would have to be the one slogging over all that, every single day!

Just before Christmas, a typhoon had hit Philippines. We called J to check if she was alright. Even my Mum called from across the Causeway with a similar concern. We heaved a sigh of relief when J told us that they were fine, though they were forced to go to an evacuation centre as their home was flooded. We checked on J a couple of days later and she told us they were busy cleaning up the mess that the typhoon had caused to their house. She enquired about the kids... on hindsight, she still sounded normal with no indication of what may have already been looming in her mind.

We made a call to J on Christmas Day as we all wanted to wish her Merry Christmas. Her mother answered our call in a rather matter-of-fact manner and informed that J had gone out and had not brought the phone with her. When I asked her mother to convey our christmas wishes to J, she reacted in a rather distant manner and the lack of Christmas spirit was clearly felt down the telephone line.  Being the pessimist, my immediate gut reaction was to go "Oh, oh! ... something doesn't sound right". That lasted for like 2 seconds before I laughed it off aloud to the ever positive Mr T.
As it turned out, my gut feel was right!

A whole 48 hours later - on the morning that J was to return to Malaysia - we called J to check that she was on the bus from her village to Davao city to catch her connecting flight to Manila on route to Malaysia. We received a big jolt to our system when J answered the phone with "Hi, Ma'am. I am sorry but I cannot come back to Malaysia...my 2 girls have been admitted to hospital with dengue." I was totally unprepared for that and did not know how to respond save to blurt out "WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! So When can you come back? Are you coming back??!!!". Those were my last ever words to J before I passed the telephone to Mr Cool T. J told Mr T that she did not have anyone to care for her girls as her mother was unwell too and her father was nowhere to be found. J then told Mr T that she would try and change her flight (though we knew that was impossible as she was travelling on a low-cost carrier) before calling us back. She then hung up.

We were stunned ... in total shock. Mr T went to work in a daze. I tried to keep things normal at the Zoo although the girls knew very well that this was The Day when they were supposed to have their Aunty J home again to spoil and pamper them. Mr T tried calling J in the afternoon only to have J's Mum inform him that she was at the hospital and to call back later in the evening. When Mr T called again in the evening, he was greeted by an operator's voice going "THE LINE IS CURRENTLY OUT OF SERVICE.". Till today, that is the response we get when we call the number. That single act clearly indicates her intention to cut off all contact with the children.

When evening came and the two younger girls kept asking what time Aunty J was arriving, we were at a loss as to how to explain to the girls that Aunty J was not coming back...at least for now. Though we did the best we could, there were tears streaming down their faces and that just broke my heart as I knew the girls looked to Aunty J as part of the family. We had all treated J as part of the family. She would follow us on our holidays to Singapore. When we went out for dinner, we would bring her along too and she would ate whatever we ate. Mr T and I trusted her enough to leave all our four kids with her during our monthly movie date nights. We trusted her and did not hold back any of her salary in her bank account when she returned.

Mr T and I were at a loss for the next few days. It all hit us so unexpectedly as the signs were clear that J did intend to return when she left for her holiday as her much treasured Prince William and Princess Catherine wedding souvenir magazine was in her bedroom, as were her diaries. Mr T was in a state of shock too as he had always prided himself in his ability to read people's character, and oh, how he misread this one.

I could sense that like us, Ying Han felt very hurt by J's betrayal. She loved J and would confide in her on certain things. For some time after, she repeatedly asked why J lied to us and just left us this way. I just did not have any answers for her. Unlike her sisters, she rarely talks about J anymore. The Little Genius was more expressive. On several occasions, she would become all teary eyed and lamented how much she missed her Aunty J. She went to bed one night with Aunty J tucking her in, and the next morning when she awoke, Aunty J was gone. I could feel her pain and it really hurt when I just could not do anything about it. It was especially difficult when she asked me if I thought J would one day come back. Explaining life's complications to a six year old is rather tricky. You need to tell enough so as to satisfy their curious minds, yet you need be cautious of what you say, how much you say and the way you say it so that they do not feel that it is normal for someone that you love to just pack up and desert you without any warning signs.

To ensure I survived unscathed (physically, emotionally & mentally) for the months to follow, I had to take drastic action! As I have never enjoyed an amicable relationship with the vacuum cleaner and old-fashioned mop, I dashed to the shops to buy Scotch-Brit's super sweeper and mop to ensure that the Zoo grounds were as dust-free as possible...in case MIL should pop by unannounced for a spot-check (which she did on the third day of the calamity...I think I passed the test!)

As it was still the year-end holiday, the zoo was at full occupancy rate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This was both good and bad as it meant I had my little helpers with me, though it also meant a very noisy zoo as there were the inevitable squabbles among the siblings over petty little issues. My voice must have roared through the neighbourhood during those times! It is incredible that I managed to retain my sanity to this day!

When the new school year began, there was utter chaos! After getting the 2 older girls ready for school before Daddy Driver chauffeurs them to school, I would rush to hang out the laundry before gobbling down my breakfast and waking the Little Genius up. The early morning school runs to send the Little Genius to kindergarten meant that I had to drag the Little Man out of bed early every morning. Dealing with the grumpy Little Man who threw his temper tantrums at me for distrubing him from his beauty sleep and getting the Little Genius all dressed and fed and reaching the school on time became my daily weekday challenge!

On most mornings, I would somehow managed to sneak in a 15 minute visit to the park on the way home for the Little Man to burn out his energy before tucking him back to bed for a compulsory morning nap so that I could get lunch prepared on time. This arrangement had its perks. The 15 minute visit to the park meant that I could quickly flip through the morning papers. Pretending to sleep, while putting the Little Man to sleep for his morning nap, meant that I could recharge for 10 minutes before preparing lunch.

After feeding the Little Man his lunch, it's time to zoom off to pick the Little Genius from kindergarten at 12.15. During their afternoon nap is when I clean up the kitchen, then toil over the ironing board to sort all the laundry before cleaning the house and then running into the shower to ensure that I look decent and smell good before dropping the 2 younger kids at my in-laws' house, before picking the 2 older girls from school at 5.00 p.m. There were times when the Little Man was uncooperative and would demand to have his sweaty, smelly mummy put him back to sleep should he awake midway through his nap-time.

Mind you, I could only manage enough energy to clean the floors. For sanity's sake, I decided to allow dust to occupy the shelves in our zoo to which super hygieninc Mr T kindly turned a blind eye too (but when it did get too much, he very kindly cleaned it all up). We even managed to do some spring cleaning to welcome in the new Chinese New Year.

Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines! I lamented to my boss that never in my corporate life have I ever had so many overlapping deadlines that were never ending!

A pat on my head and Mr T's too, for during the 3 months that we had to juggle the zoo to make sure everyone was well fed and taken care of, and that the hygiene standards at the zoo was maintained, we worked really well as a team. Mr T took great effort in ensuring that he got home as early as possible to help out at the zoo. Of course, there were a couple of occasions when yours truly threatened to resign but that was all NATO - No Action, Talk Only.

At the end of all the chaos for the last three months, we survived. WE SURVIVED!

I am ever so thankful for my support network. PIL (my dear father in law), who is also the family chef for our family evening meals has been great at ensuring that he cooks meals that are also suitable for the Little Man. PIL has also been of tremendous help as my back-up driver to pick the 2 older girls from school twice a week. MIL too, has been great in arranging for her maid to come over to help out on certain days to clean the toilets, garage, etc.

I still lay awake at times quietly wondering what happened to J that caused her to betray our family. I am convinced that she must have made up a story of her girls having dengue so that we would not ask any questions. Couldn't she just have returned for that extended one year as agreed before proceeding with any other plans that she may have been harbouring? That way, everyone would be happy and my girls need not have had to suffer this painful chapter in their lives. We could have kept in touch (as we do with Asti, our first maid from Indonesia) and the bond between her and the girls would have remained unbroken. I have no closure and though it really bugs me, I have slowly learned to let go.

The events of the last few months have signifcantly improved my fitness levels. The housework coupled with those buckets load of sweat has done wonders in terms of my slimming progress. The downside has been having to constantly nurse my severely cracked heels and chapped fingers. I now have bottles of my trusted Jergens intensive moisturiser scattered throughout the house; one in my bathroom, one in the kitchen and one in my automobile!


Here is an animated view of A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper from 11 Dec 2011 to 15 March 2012.
[Editor's note: Many thanks to the publishers and owners of the clipart pictures used below.]

So yes...our bubble has burst albeit temporarily. We have succesfully pulled through with no major damage (except to our beloved banker for having to fork out the agency fees for my new assistant). I truly believe that we have each moved up a level.

Ying Han is now a little more domesticated...she is pretty good as my part-time dishwasher ...

The Whining Queen who is 7+, now packs her own school bag and showers by herself ... even the Little Genius who is now 6 is very good at showering herself.

As for the Little Samseng, he now insists on feeding himself which is great...I just have to catch the food that inadvertently falls off between that little gap between the edge of the spoon and his mouth.

And he no longer needs to be PAT, PAT on his upper leg in order to sleep. 

So yes, I couldn't be prouder of my brood.


~ Written from the Heart
by an exhausted Mother of Four who is in dire need of recharging her batteries and who continues to look forward to bedtime at night so that she can finally have some much treasured quiet ME time. Unless the kids are all in la-la-land, there is always a high risk of someone barging into the shower to distrupt her peace just so that she/he can complain about what another sibling is doing, or not doing, to her/him. This blessed Mother of Four continues to count her blessings and is learning to let go of matters that are just beyond her control. Having now written her thoughts and feelings out on the entire event, she is finally able to have some sort of closure on this chapter.

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...

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Testing...upload pix

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Please bear with me whole I try to work this out....Aisha...HELP!

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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.

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