CNY Greeting: Another Try

Aiyah, don't know why some of you getting blank screen. Try clicking on the link below and see if it works. If still cannot, I pecat sama itu YouTube.com. Let me know if it works.

http://www.youtube.com/w/?v=qO8cfyFRre0

Special CNY Greeting

Here's a special greeting just for you!

A Mother's Lesson on Modesty

Scenario: My girl playing with her barbie doll in her playroom. Seeing that it might get hot, I left the door open.

The conversation:
My girl: Mom, close the door!
Me: Why? It might get too hot.
My girl: My Barbie is changing lah.
Me: Oh, sorry. (Closes the door and thinks, how insensitive of me. Hahaha)

Special Book Review Video: The Cat in the Hat

Ok, finally decided to make my boy's "show & tell" into a Special Book Review video for my bookstore instead. You can watch it here . Enjoy!

Reading Feeds A Child's Imagination

Dr. Seuss has turned out to be one of my children's favorite authors. Currently "The Cat in the Hat" is among the Top 10 on their reading list. The fact that they saw the movie with the same title has something to do with it. Anyway, here is something my girl said today that I found really funny and interesting:

Me: (Reading the Cat in the Hat and the kids filling in the last words on each sentence)
Girl: Mommy, mommy...
Me: Yes?
Girl: You know ah (almost every sentence nowadays starts with this), when you and daddy and kong-kong go out next time, the cat will come to our house. Then Damus and I will sit with nothing to do and because we don't have a fish, the hamster will talk.
Me: Hahahaha. You are really funny.

If you have ever read the book, you can see how she used the storyline, the concept and even the words to create her own make belief. This is one of those moments that make me glad that I took time out to read to the kids even when I didn't feel like it. Reading is food to a child's imagination.

I was going to include my boy's "show & tell" here but I am in the midst of figuring out the best way to showcase it. Will make it a different blog entry once I know what I'm doing.

p.s. The book is available at my bookstore. It comes with 2 other Dr. Seuss books: Green Eggs and Ham, Are You My Mother? Check out the Dr. Seuss Pack 3

Next Generation Lingo

Scenario:
Karina is talking to Amah on the handphone. The conversation ends and she passes the phone to me and says "Here Mom, Amah has shut down her phone."

Only in this day and age does a kid say "shut down the phone" instead of "put down the phone."

Travel List for Chinese New Year

Once again its time to gear up for our annual trip back to Bukit Mertajam for Chinese New Year. Travelling with kids is no walk in the park. I see many of you nodding your head in agreement? A list is most crucial as it brings some order to chaos. So, let's see what my list will look like this year?

1. Potty. The first thing that will go in the car. Only toddlers have the luxury of travelling with their toilet.
2. Junk food. Not only to keep the kids quiet but also to keep the driver and co-driver awake.
3. Water. If have junk food, definately must have water.
4. Oklah, not all junk food. Cut up some fruits as well.
5. Wet cloth. Oh, this must not be overlooked. Handy for sticky hands and hot faces.
6. Children's VCDs or DVDs. This time round will be Barbie, Jurassic Park, and Jungle Book.
7. Toothbrush and toothpaste. Easily overlooked items when in a rush.
8. Books, books, books. Not just for kids, for mommy and daddy as well.
9. Toys: Blocks, dinosaurs, bingo, dragon.
10. Stationaries: recycled papers, exercise book, pencils, pens, scissors, glue.
11. CAMERA!
12. Medicine bag: panadol, imodium, eno for indigestion, bandaids and most important of all, migraine pills.
13. Hats or window shades. It gets pretty hot when travelling in the day time.
14. Shoes for "kai-kai" and slippers for running around the house compound.
15. Ang pow, ang pow, ang pow.

If I've missed out anything, please let me know.
When I was younger plastic bags was a basic necessity and vital for survival as I got car sick very easily and would throw up. My brothers hate me for that.
Well, for all those that are going to "balik kampung" (return to hometown), safe travelling. Let's try not to travel at the same time and jam up the roads. Hehehe. Don't wait last minute to get your car serviced. Eat plenty, laugh plenty, give and receive lots of "ang pows" and lots of love.
KEONG HEE HUAT CHYE! GONG XI FA CAI! KONG HEE FATT CHOY!

Top 10 Reasons Not To Do Homework

This top-10 lists are real excuses from my 4 year old. How come I never thought of these when I was younger? Oh yeah, I didn't have homework at that age. Hahahah. Anyway parents, read up and get prepared.

Number 1
Me: Why have you stopped writing?
Girl: I lost my pencil. I don't know where it is?
(No joke, she really did lose it. Even I couldn't find it. Of course a parent must always be prepared with many spare pencils)

Number 2
Me: Can you start your homework now?
Girl: (Takes out her book, sits down. Writes one letter then gets up). Mom, I'm hungry. Let me eat something first ok?

Number 3
Me: Hey, where are you going? You haven't finished your work yet.
Girl: Thirsty lah.

Number 4
Me: What are you doing? Why stop again?
Girl: I'm stretching my hands.

Number 5
Girl: (With her head on the table) Mom, can I do later, I'm tired. I want to sleep.

Number 6
Girl is doing her homework. Suddenly she just falls out from her stool and starts crying.
Me: What happened? How come you can fall down?
Girl: Boo hoo. The chair push me down.
Me: Huh? The chair push you down?
(I suspect she was playing with the stool, rocking it on two legs and then fell backwards. Really hilarious. You just had to be there. Of course as her mother I tried not to laugh. HAHAHAHA. She has a tendency to blame the inanimate objects for her accidents. E.g. Mom the wall hit my head.)

Number 7
Girl: (Stops doing homework. Scissors in hand, cutting at her pants).
Me: What are you doing now?
Girl: My pants is scratchy (pointing to the label)

Number 8
Girl: (Fiddling around with the pencil sharpener for the 10th time)
Me: I wonder your homework finish first or your pencil finish first.

Number 9
Get ready for the in between news updates and broadcasts.
Girl: (Writes one letter) Mommy, you know ah, in school etc....
Me: Ok, can we continue with your work?
Girl: (Writes another letter) Mommy, you know ah, Damus etc....
Me: I see. Let's keep writing.
Girl: (Writes another letter). Mommy, afterwards don't forget etc....

Number 10
Me: Why are you not writing?
Girl: Because you are not counting for me!
(One way I motivate her to write is to count how many seconds it takes her to write one letter/word/character. We then see if the next one takes her less time, more time or the same).

Good luck parents!

I'm A Boy!

Venue: Post Office

Post office lady: How old is he? (Referring to my son sitting on the counter top)
Me: Two plus.
Post office lady: Boy or girl?
Me: He's a boy (Huh? Not obvious enough ah. )
Me: Damus, are you a boy or girl?
Damus: I'm a boy. I have koo-koo (referring to his manly thing).

I'm glad to see our first biology lesson had been well learned.

Karina's Message: School Blues and Chinese New Year

Karina is Value Bookshop's update specialist. Here is an update that might be of interest to parents with young children:

Karina's Korner!
(10th January 2006)

How was the first week of school for everyone? I hope it was exciting making new friends, meeting old friends, and getting to know your teachers. But I bet some of you are still pretty stressed about going to school, including parents. Well, here's 7 Stress-Saving Tips for Parents on how to beat those school blues.

Another exciting event that's coming up is Chinese New Year. GONG XI FA CAI everyone. Doesn't matter if you are not chinese, celebrate it anyway. Here are some interesting things you can do to gear up for it:

1. Paper lanterns to hang around the house.
2. Fireworks craft coz' it's illegal to play the real thing.
3. Tissue Paper Flowers to brighten the house.
4. Origami Dog to usher in the Year of the Dog.

My mom will soon be posting some books (on the bookshop) to help my young friends with their ABCs and 123s. Do check back or even better, sign up for the bookshop's newsletter (if you haven't yet) and you will know as soon as its available. By the way, if you tried signing up the last few weeks and it didn't work, please try now. We were moving server and now it's ok.

Till next time, have a fantastic and happening family reunion this Chinese New Year season.

Oh No, I've Been Tagged.

Thanks to Geetha for including me in her tagged group. So nice to be remembered in times like these. Hehehe. I'll start off by listing the 5 people I'm going to tag next in case they never make it to the end of this posting.
1. Min
2. Tyler
3. Twin
4. Lia
5. Maya


The Rules: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom spot.
1. My All
2. All About Zara/Mom2ashley
3. Allyfeel
4. Essence of Love
5. Mamas Bag Of Tricks

Then you select five people to pass the love on to.

1. What were you doing ten years ago?
Freezing my butt off in Provo, Utah as I start a new semester at Brigham Young University. Probably preparing for a tournament as well. Oh yeah, I also remember the 6am aerobic session. Walking in the snow at that ungodly hour was peaceful and beautiful if there was a snowfall the night before ... everything white you know, but the cold was far from peaceful or beautiful.

2. What were you doing 1 year ago?
Oldest girl just started kindy. Changing younger boy's diapers.

3. Five super fatty and high cholesterol snacks you enjoy:
1. French fries
2. Pringles / Jackers
3. Jelly sweet
4. Cheese cake
5. Goreng pisang

4. Five songs to which you know all the lyrics off your head right now:
1. I Am A Child of God
2. Families Can Live Together Forever
3. The Wise Man Built His House Upon the Rock
4. Skinnermerink
5. Itsy Bitsy Spider
(First 3 are church songs)

5. Five things you would do if you were a millionaire (a millionaire doesn't mean having only 1 mil..but millions...)
1. Use it to generate more either through investments, business etc....
2. Buy land, build my own house with a place for food storage, panic room, play room, library, garden of vegetables and a few farm animals to achieve self reliance status.
3. Hire people to take care of my house and little farm.
4. Take care of my parent's needs and wants.
5. Help the poor and the needy, the sick and the afflicted.

6. Five bad habits:
1. Bite or tear at nails.
2. Lazy to exercise
3. Forget people's names.
4. Spending too much time reading blogs
5. Sleep late, wake up late.

7. Five things you like doing:
1. Going out for supper
2. Golfing after a long lay-off.
3. Family trips
4. Digital Scrapbook
5. Listening to my children talk about life.

8.Five things you would never wear, buy, or get new again
1. Bikini
2. Proton Tiara
3. Snakes or lizards as pets
4. Barbie Dolls
5. Smelly Toufoo

9. Five favorite toys
1. My laptop / PC (whichever and whatever my DH puts on my table).
2. DVD player
3. Oven
4. Digital Camera
5. Golf Clubs

Looking Back at 2005: December and more

Finally, here is December's scrap page. DH played Santa this year. Karina has gotten over her Santa phobia whereas Damus hasn't. So fearful was he that at one point he would rather forego his gift than approach Santa. We even took him backstage later to show him who Santa really was. He was surprised but remain skeptical.

So far the scrap pages have mostly highlighted what's happening with the kids. Here are two more showcasing highlights for us adults. Here is DH and his hamsters. He says it's therapeutic.

Here is a picture of me and my long lost buddies. I have very few pictures of me these days coz' usually I am the one behind the camera. Anyway, this was a long overdue reunion. Siew Ai and me golfed together since we were juniors. Good friends but fierce rivals. She obviously continued on with her golfing journey, turning pro and being the first Malaysian women to play on the LPGA in the US. Siew Ai, Cindy and me formed the Asian Games golf team way back in 1994. Now Cindy has also decided to have a go at the Big Money too starting with the Futures Tour. Mei Yin also golfed during the junior years although not as serious. So you can see in this picture "pro golf" mingling with "pro kids". Heheheh.

Looking Back at 2005: October and November

Do your kids love to make paper hats? Before I found out how to origami a nice paper hat, I just swirled a piece of paper up into a cone and stapled it. But try the origami paper hat and use half of a newspaper to get it big enough to fit their heads (and yours). Plus you can turn it into a nice boat too.

October also saw Damus down with Hand, Foot and Mouth disease.

Kids love playing dress up too. Below you see Karina and her lipstick attempt. She also got her ears pierced sometime this year and loves putting different ones on. She definately has some girly instincts in her. Damus on the other hand likes to play "macho" guy. With a toy gun tucked at the back, he is ready to shoot down dinosaurs, monsters and bad guys. Violent? Yeah, a little but it seems to be a boy thing.

Looking Back at 2005: August and September

August is always a fun month for the children as they are August babies. I strive to make their birthdays memorable by treating them to a special outing or activity. Also I try to do my own baking. It just makes it extra special for them to know that Mom would mess up the kitchen just for them. Hehehe. Unfortunately this year we were a bit uncreative and opted for the National Zoo again. Aquaria, the indoor aquariums at KLCC just opened then and were having a special discount. So we went to that as well. But like I said in an earlier blog entry (Looking Back at 2005: May), kids will only remember things that excite them.

So let's see how well I did this year on making things memorable.
Me: Karina, what do you remember of your birthday this year?
Karina: You made me a birthday cake.
Me: (Yay! Does a little jig). What else? Do you remember going to the zoo?
Karina: Yeah and the monkey showed us his butt.
Me: No, that was a different trip. How about the aquarium? Do you remember that?
Karina: Yea. I remember they feed the sharks and the shark tried to eat the people.
Me: Ok. (Hmm... a bit distorted her memory as the shark did not try to eat the people.)

So I have learned my lesson. Don't forget to look the eyes of your child. If you're not sure what they see, ask them. I was blinded into thinking I knew what kid's like. Obviously I have forgotten what it is like to be a child.

In September, Damus was an injury after another. For some reason he kept picking his nose and it got raw and started to bleed. He also accidently nicked his eye coz' his fingernails got a little too long. Then he fell down and scraped his knee. It was just one of those months.
Karina had trouble sitting down long enough to finish her homework. I have a strong feeling this problem will reoccur over and over again. (Read my article on homework dilemma).

Looking Back at 2005: June and July

HAPPY 2006 EVERYONE!
I'm sure everyone is glad to have survived through another year. A new year usually brings new hopes and new resolutions. My resolution is not to have any resolution. I'm sure that is easily accomplished. Hehee.
Well, although already in a new year but I have yet to finish my "Looking Back" project. So here are the months of June and July. Here are some fun and no fun times. Kids have an innate talent to draw out various emotions in a parent. Sometimes I get frustrated, bewildered, angry, fed up but in the same 5 minutes, I am also humored, enlightened and bursting with pride and love.
Every July, our church celebrates Pioneers' Day. It's a day for us to remember the legacy of faith left by the early Saints who had to travel West by foot across the American plains. We commemorate their strength, faith and love of God that helped them overcome hardships, sacrifice, trials and tribulations. And not forgetting the support of family and friends.
How important it is for our children to choose friends and also BE a friend that is an influence for good. When they are at such a tender age, teachings on friendship must be instilled. Here is what I taught my children:

To be a friend, you should:
1. Share
2. Help
3. Play nice (no forcing them to do things they don't want)
4. Speak kind words (no teasing, be polite)
5. Compromise

At this stage, the message is that a friend is someone who shows kindness in both words and deed. Life is still simple for young children. When they move on to the world of adolescents, the simple idea of friendship can become complicated and confusing. I believe the greater message then is that a true friend is someone who is an influence for good.

Wisdom of a 2 year old

Setting: Watching the movie "Pearl Harbour".
Scene: Bombing of Pearl Harbour: Ships being blown up and people being shot at.
Concern: My 2 year old engrossed in this violent scene.

Here is the conversation:
Dad: This is a war that happen long time ago. Do you think war is good?
Son: Noooo (shaking head).
Dad: Why do you say it's no good?
Son: They make MESS.

Ah, the wisdom of a little boy.