William with his "scoop, pour"

Btw, did you noticed his messy hair? Hehehe... so boyish! He "slept" on it in the car seat. These pictures were taken whilst waiting for Vic to finish school one day.

Oh! The pranks that Victoria does ...

... to her brother William! I was changing William's diaper this afternoon and took out some baby wipes to clean his bum bum up. Then this incident just came to mind and made me laughed thinking back.

It happened when Daddy was taking care of the two kids in the room. William needed a change of diaper and Daddy asked if Vic could help, I think he was really knocked out at that time. Victoria gladly agreed, after all, changing diapers used to be her forte!

All's well until the kids were "giddy-up-ing" on Daddy's back coz Daddy's their official horsey, and then hubs realised that William wasn't himself. He kept pulling on his diaper and putting his hands inside at the back.

Then Daddy's instinct kicked in, and upon checking, realised that, good old jie jie had conveniently left a baby wipe on purpose inside his diaper, at his bum bum.

Poor boy! But we all had a good laugh!

William, next time when you read this, you know your jie jie actually did this to you ;)

William first time in a shirt and tie

Branded shirt and matching tie only 5pounds from UK! : ) Boy boy first time in one. Thank God no resistance! : )

I'm your cowgirl

My 2yo cowboy declares his love for me by pointing to himself, "William cowboy!" and then points at me, "Mummy cowgirl!"

I'm so priviledge, I'm his cowgirl.... *on cloud nine*

Years from now when he has a girlfriend, I hope I'm still his no.1 cowgirl.

Fat thighs

Some time back Vic told me that I should have fat thighs so I can be hands-free when I drive. I said, "Huh?" Well... somehow she got that idea from someone... I won't mention.

This afternoon I was driving and drinking water at the same time, and she blurted, "You see, I told you you should have fat thighs!!"

This girl, ah... can be so funny!

Then she said next time she wants to have fat thighs so she don't have to drive, she can just let her fat thighs do all the driving!!!

The day we almost lost William

Saturday, Jul 24th, approx 6:45pm

It happened when we were having a kite session at Citypark Seremban 2, where Victoria can fly her Ben10 kite with Yeh Yeh, whilst William and I enjoyed a game of frisbee (so-called la) which I bought from the kite vendor for only RM3.50 Daddy went to the shops nearby to tapau dinner for the maid.

When the maid received her dinner, she asked me if it was under the tree where she should sit as there were no benches or other concrete slabs which she could use as a make-shift chair. I hesitated as I feared there might be ants under the tree, and asked hubs what he thought. Victoria came over as nosey as she is, haha... and then we suddenly realised...

William was missing!!

We looked at the field, which was about the size of a football field and couldn't see my darling boy boy! I freaked out! The first thought that came to my mind was that someone had kidnapped my son and I ran quickly to the carpark and road which is just a few metres away... I searched as far as I could see, and saw a woman carrying a boy, but as I looked closer the boy was wearing different sandals. Just as that time, hubs called out to me that he saw William at the other end of the field, where the playground was.

I squint my eyes and then saw William's little head as he has already descended the steps to the playground. A little later and we would not have been able to see him AT ALL!

At this point, the maid was already nearing William and hubs was behind her. I ran as fast I could, and when we caught up with William, he cried! Maybe out of fear, maybe out of disappointment that he's been "caught", I don't know.

But I was super relieved. I cannot thank God enough. Later hubs told me that it was a malay couple sitting under a tree who saw William walked away. Hubs ran back to thank him as I kept a close watch over this escapee.

You know, we never thought this will happen again to us. The first time was in our church when he just walked off and I thought he was with hubs but hubs thought he was with me. Instead he walked past me and out of the sanctuary, down a few steps and by the time we found him, he was nearing the church cafeteria some 40-50 metres away (I think... I'm really bad at gauging distance). Someone opened the glass door leading out to the open carpark and I saw William headed towards the door, just as it closed a few steps before him.

And now, William ran ACROSS a whole field, without as much as a word to anyone, or a goodbye, or any hint... it seemed like he took that very opportunity when he was out of our sight for just that 5-10 seconds, and then he disappeared! It's so scary and serves as a lesson to us!

To William, you please don't run away from mommy or daddy again! I might just become hysterical losing you or Vic!

Victoria's Ben10 kite flying gracefully in the evening sky... and this is part of the field


Sister trying to take a look at the "frisbee" but brother resist
This is how you do it, Mommy!
Vic on the swing
... then the bars (still scardy cat wants me to hold her bum bum in case she falls)
and doing this all the wrong way!
Finally, enjoying a more relaxed moment with Daddy looking at the fishes having their dinner

Wishing he could go to school

William follows me to pick his jie jie up almost everyday of her school day eversince he was 2 months old. Can you believe that? Looking back, he hardly missed a day unless another trusted adult is in the house, else he will dutifully and faithfully join me.

William loves going to his jie jie's kindy, be it the old kindy or the current one. When we dug out his sister's old but new/unused bag and gave it to him as his "school bag", he was naturally elated!

Front view

Back view

What goes into his school bag, you may wonder? Well, they'd be a couple of his favourite story books, some toy cars and maybe some plastic food toys! : ) When he really goes to school, I hope he doesn't stuff these things into his school bag, else his teacher may just confiscate them!

Little Madam and Celtic chocolates all the way from UK!

When I was putting William to sleep this afternoon (reading two story books for him while he drink his milk... most of the time I doze off before the end of the first book and struggle through the second book), Victoria came into the room and asked if Kakak can help her bath - not literally, but helping her to adjust water temperature, and taking off her uniform and rubberband from her hair.

After the little boy slept, I came out from the room just slightly before Vic came out from the shower. The maid, at Victoria's command, stood in waiting just beside the door watching her bath. As Victoria came out wrapped in her towel, I gestured the maid to help dry Victoria up.

Then Victoria said this to the maid, "Today is bath, tomorrow is blow drying my hair."

I said, "Huh? What do you mean?"

Then the girl explained that today she teach the maid to bathe her, and tomorrow is the blow drying the hair lesson.

Hhhmm... she's definitely not wasting time with this maid... Haha.

On another note, this morning Victoria had a special delivery from Mama Yeh Yeh who dropped by when I was out. A church friend of theirs, Aunty Pang, went to UK for holidays and bought Victoria a box of delicious, premium celtic chocolates free from dairy, eggs, gluten and wheat.

I don't want to love you

Yesterday Vic and I had a little tough time in the afternoon, after she consciously, slowly and deliberately tore 1/3 page of her book while we were having a nice mommy-daughter tea time in a corner of the room. The episode couldn't have turned more ugly. I mean, afterall, we were cozy in the air cond room and William just slept, and she had her plate of eggless-chocolate cake and I had my small packet of Cheezels which she gave to me (from her party pack).

So I told her to give me her hand that tore, but then she refused and was about to cry, and I quickly got her out of the room before she wakes William.

In we went into William's room aka the play room, where I reprimanded her for tearing her book, which by now, at 5yo she should know better. But stubborn girl refused to let me "pat-pat" her hand, so she got it on her bum instead.

Then as her "punishment", I said she read the Word Bank on the last page of her book, afterall, she easily wheeze through the whole book before that. Our friend refused of course.

If she was obedient and let me "pat-pat" her hand after tearing the book, then apologized, we could just moved on and continued our little tea time. But no... do wrong already still refused punishment. So...

Finally with some coaxing from Mr R O Tan, she read all 14 words in the Word Bank, and came to the last word, "Happy" which I've earlier on explained to her the sounds of the alphabets and taught her the word. The fact that she can read the 14 words already is such an accomplishment, and that also shows that she knows the words, just refusing to read.

Stuck at the word "Happy, and in between her sobs she muttered "Mummy don't love me" which btw, I have heard before and I am not in the mood to give assurance. That, can be later.

Then, she said it... "I don't want to love you."

Finished. I closed her book and told her she can stay in the room and even have her dinner there.

I left.

Later in the evening, she came out of her room a couple of times and was sent back in, and the 3rd time she really apologized and hugged me.

"Mummy I am sorry, I promise I will not say 'you don't love me again and I don't want to love you.' I said it only because I was angry."

I was still nursing a broken heart even after her apology and she obviously knows. So the remorseful little girl finished her dinner quickly that evening and even wiped the table for me, and also offered to take my plate into the kitchen.

All's well only at night when daddy came home and gave her a good sounding and then we were reconciled.

Don't say this again, Vic...

And we are back to square one, folks!

I blogged about Vic's special diet sometime ago. Her allergy drops has ran out just this week and we made an impromptu decision to bring her and William down to Tangkak again to recheck her allergy status and get more drops. Yeh Yeh drove us down this morning as hubs had a meeting he could not miss. Thanks Yeh Yeh for helping us again, truly appreciated!!

Today
We arrived Tangkak around 11am and there were 3 patients before us, thank God the wait wasn't long as the kids are naturally restless after the 1.5hour drive and like to run and jump around, and touch everything in the clinic! I brought the normal food items that Vic has been taking, and some new organic snacks/cookies/crackers and also a few item which we are unsure and which Vic was keen to eat eg coconut ice cream and marshmallow.

In summary, Vic's allergy has shot up from May when all her allergies were ZERORISED. Today, her scores read:

Yeast - 15 (this is most shocking and upsetting)
Eggs - 6
House dust mite - remain zero
Dairy - remain zero (we suspected dairy as she was taking quite a lot of these the past few month)
Candida - 6

Now, I don't remember her scores for any of her allergies to be ever higher than 15, though 15 is not the highest, and I am personally disappointed (not at Vic) and frustrated. As for Vic, she's ok whatever goes. All she wants to know is what she can eat and what she can't.

The allergy drops

Ba chang, nyonya kuih and coconut ice cream
The "good news" from today's visit was that she can eat coconut ice cream, no allergies to dairy or her favourite ba chang and ang ku. Isn't it weird that all of us take these for granted and here, my little girl has to depend on what the doctor says before she can eat and some food can only eat in small quantity?

Priceless
But today, we received a wonderful blessing from a wonderful friend, Aunty Jo, who made a special eggless-dairy-free chocolate cake for Vic. It was still warm when we collected it from her house at 2pm and Vic had that for her tea time! Butterless and margarine-free cake? Can that be true? I found out from Jo that she used vegetable oil. The only other place that we know sells eggless chocolate cake (or whatever eggless cake for that matter) is from Tenji or Schokolart which doesn't come cheap, by the way. Can you imagine, since 2008, the last time and the only time that Vic really had a real cake (not jelly) was during William's birthday this year after we discovered the eggless cake from Tenji, which led us to their source.

Home made eggless-dairy-free chocolate cake from Aunty Jo - tastes super yummy!!!

My personal aim is for Vic to heal before she enters primary school. Already it's hard enough for her to see her friends celebrate birthdays in school, and not being able to share their cake or take home party packs filled with junk food (why do mothers give junk food to kids at this age, I wonder?) and not able to enjoy them?

Does she sulk? Does she cry? Does she ask, "Why me?" No, no, and no!! But does that mean she's not sad, she's not curious and she's not impatient? No, no, and no!

Why?
As a SAHM, I have answered her many questions, and I have explained many times to her, assuring her only in my own will power, that she will be healed one day. But when exactly? I don't know. I honestly thought I did. When she was first zerorised at 4yo (she had Barney jelly cake), I told her she will have a normal cake at 5yo but sadly, that didn't happen. So, she had Ben10 jelly cake. With this latest development and going back to square one again, I don't know if we can give her a normal cake at 6yo.

Sad, I am. Which parent would not be? But during these times, I saw and am touched by family and friends who lifted prayers for Vic, who went for overseas holidays and came home with precious food stuff for Vic, who sacrificed time to bake for Vic despite their own personal commitments and time constraint and most importantly, for loving and accepting our Victoria simply for who she is.

Giving thanks
Yet, we thank God for the perfect child He gave to us. Because Victoria and William are healthy and not suffering, and they are active and eat well and at home.

Don't pity Vic. She is strong, matured and a happy girl. We are proud of her. Tremendously.

But pray for her. Only God heals.

I went to pee yesterday afternoon...

... and saw the whole toilet roll is wet! Someone who took her bath just an hour before must have mischieviously and deliberately sprayed water at it!

I have a baby girl???

This was William two days ago after taking bath, with nothing to do and he saw his sister's rubberband. I cheekily asked him if he wanted me to tie his hair, and he sportingly obliged... Hahaha!! Does he look like girl or boy?

Solemn look

Messy hair look
William, don't bite!
Can I take this off now, mummy?
Pretty girl or pretty boy??? : )
When William is older, I hope he don't get angry at Mummy for putting up these photos.

Learning about cars at 5

At 5 years old, Vic has widen her interest in cars by learning the brand and models of certain cars on the road. A few months back, she learnt about the gear and different engagement and used at what situation. Eg, D for Drive when the car is moving, and P for Park when the car is stationary.

She also learnt about indicators and when to use them, the usage of the hazard light (if met with an accident and in need of help), how to turn on the lights and wiper, and then (what I'm most unwilling to teach) is the accelerator and brakes.

Now whenever the little girl sees a Mercedez on the road, she will shout out the class, and can different an old E-class from the new model. She also knows Proton, Perodua, Honda, BMW, Mitsubishi and Audi. Oh, and of course Toyota!

Versatile Blogger Award

Here's an award I picked up (thanks for tagging me) from a great blogger mommy, Lee Yen.

To accept this award you must:
1. List 7 random things about yourself
2. Share the award with up to 15 other bloggers
3. Link to each of the recipients and let them know they've won via comments on their blogs
4. Thank and bring the love back to the person you won the award from by linking back to them.

So, here are 7 random things about me:

1. My eyes have been lasered on in year 2000 (or was it 2001). I used to wear spectacles since Primary School and was very embarrased by it in the beginning. When I came back from my overseas studies, my right eye got infected and had corneal ulceration which almost caused me my sight.

2. My favourite cartoons when I was a child was Tom & Jerry, He-Man and Smurf.

3. I would have loved to be an air stewardess if I had not been wearing glasses, didn't know how to swim and was not so skinny when I was a teenager! (Vic tells me now she wants to be an air stewardess and William says he wants to fly the aeroplane. Why? Paid to sit aeroplane, that's why! And maybe get to go back to UK!)

4. I loved horses even when I was a kid, just like Vic and Will now. I even told myself that I will own one when and IF I become a millionaire. Hahaha! How silly! Coz I have a list of other things that I'd want to do IF I become a millionaire, like donating money (teacher teach us to be noble, mah!)

5. I didn't know how to operate a washing machine until I was married. Nor did I know how to drive to SS2, PJ. (shy, shy!) I still laugh at myself when I think back and hubs have gotten me a GPS recently so I can stop calling him (esp when he is in a meeting) whenever I make a wrong turn.

6. I love tartar sauce and mayonaise. Anything creamy and white! I love home decors, laces, embroideries and pretty little knick knacks!

7. I was never good at saying good byes, whether it's short ones or permanent ones. My own popo left us more than 10 years ago and until today, she stays alive in my heart. I only wish hubby and my kids had known her.

So there you go. A little sneak peak into Irene. : ) Now I would like to tag the following wonderful mommies / daddy:

1. Adrine
2. Eugene
3. Shireen
4. Priscilla

Stickers everywhere!

From water bottles and walls and Vic's school bag, to drawers and table tops and chair legs, my handphone and then this... on my wedding portrait above the bed! (obvious the latter is doing of the sister since she's the only one can reach that height from our bed)

The cowboy that likes to read

Yeeee-haaawww!!!
My William has been so into these Barney cowboy episodes (from Victoria-baby-days) that he so MUST watch them every day! Not once, not twice, but almost at every opportunity. I once thought how nice it was that my two kids are not TV-addicts, and they only watch the tellie less than 30 minutes a day.

But no, I figured eversince I went maidless and had to rely on the tellie to babysit my boy whilst I quickly finished up some chores, that could have got him addicted. On top of the fact that he's crazy into horses and likes hats. Totally opposite of Victoria when she was a baby - she refused to wear anything on her head ie no hairbands, no scarfs, no hats, no caps!

Potty horse
The other day we were digging out some stuff from the store under the staircase and he saw an old but new unused potty with handles on the side. He immediately adopted it as his horsey, and sat on it, pulling the handles up and down while shouting, "Giddy-uppp!!"

"Read!!!"
But thank God this little cowboy loves story books. He keeps telling me to read for him, from morning when he wakes, when waiting in the car, afternoons before and after he naps, at night before he sleeps or anytime other time that he fancies. Sometimes I have to read the same story day in day out 4 times a day!

Am I complaining? Well, I'd wish he is more open to a variety of stories, instead of just the wolves stories. Almost everytime I read myself to sleep (not him), and then rudely awaken by the little boy who looks up at me, and demands, "Read!"

Silver lining in the cloud - well, maybe he will be able to read faster than his sister?

This afternoon I thought I was deceived...

... but I thought wrong!

I am referring to Victoria's reading progress. This afternoon I gave Vic a very thin and simple book, titled "I Can Cooperate" (from The Best Me I Can Be Scholastic series) and sat down with her on the sofa to read the first three pages, whilst the little cowboy-wanabe watches his Barney cowboy episode for the second time today.

As we were moved into Page 3 (each page has two sentences), there were repetitive words from Page 1 and Vic didn't know how to read them. I helped her in the first two pages but felt a little cheated and very frustrated by Page 3 when she didn't know the same words.

So I told her to split up the word into blends, into alphabet phonic sounds and sound them up, to make the sound of the word. I didn't expect 100% accuracy in pronounciation but if she could show effort and say something remotely close, that is a good start, even an achievement!

Alas, that did not happen, and my patience ran thin. I told her to go to the staircase landing, holding her own book and read to me from there. Bath time and nap time can wait. She gets through the 3 pages or nothing else happens.

In the meantime, I got William ready for his afternoon nap in our room. Vic came upstairs with us after awhile, and in the room, she continued to learn reading on her own. Standing. A little discomfort to hasten the process, I thought.

Honestly at that time, I thought to myself that I have been deceived. That the last time when she read Little Red Riding Hood, I had actually thought she was on the way to FINALLY read!

I didn't know if Vic would persevered. Guess she is a tough cookie, probably more like her father who would never say die or give up. She stood there in our room for more than 30 minutes, initially refusing to read at all, but later relented.

In the end, she read. The sentences went like this,

Page 1
"Working together to get something done,
Sharing the work makes it easy and fun!

Page 2
"It's snack time for the class.
My friend and I are going to get the milk.

Page 3
"It's too heavy for me to carry alone.
But together it is easy and fun."

So there you go. She read page 1 nearly 10 times before getting it right and at one point, asked me why she had to read so many times. I told her, "You read until you get it right!"

When she finished all 3 pages, I felt so happy and proud of her. She even told me that tomorrow she will read another 3 pages, on top of her Little Red Riding Hood. Of course, no need lar (3 simple pages took her more than an hour, can you imagine one whole book?!) I'm just amazed at her attitude after reading. She didn't sulk nor cry this time, unlike the many previous times. She felt proud of herself and victorious, and for me... simply relieved!

Our new maid

Some of you may have known that I went maidless volunteerily in April after housing a maid for two months who did almost nothing (well, except vandalism which is something).

That was our Maid No. 4 who could hardly managed half the household chores, did not take care of the kids nor did she made an effort to bond with them, could not cook even the simplest meal (imagine, steam chicken that was not cook, fried fish with cripsy skin but still oozing with blood and raw, stirfry vege that's still raw, the list goes on) and yet within such a short period of time, she has managed to break two cups, blocked two toilet bowls by stuffing something in it, broke a stainless steel spatula and some other small stuff.

Many rounds of teaching and even showing her basic chores, and she still could not or would not get it right. The things which we told her specifically not to do, she'd do it for you. So you see, the day that she left, we rejoiced and yet braced the new life of doing everything ourselves, and also took the risk of hiring a cambodian maid (a lot of negative feedback from internet and friends).

End of June, we picked up our new maid, our Maid No.5

Kea Net who is 19 years old this year and comes from a big family of 9 children (herself included) from Cambodia. In her biodata, her father's occupation was stated as farmer but lately I found out from her that her father catches fish, and that makes him a fisherman, whereas her mother is a typical housewife.

From Day One, she has shown enthusiasm and initiative in her work, which really impresses me (I will tell you why later). She even knows how to switch off the fan before sweeping the floor. She is considered clean for someone from her country, and also has common sense. She picks up fast, except for the occassional forgetfulness but I am not worried about that.

In terms of learning, she does pretty well and follows instructions. If she doesn't, that's only because she doesn't understand our English language, which I can see from her facial expression or body language.

I speak English to her, and she speaks Cambodian to me. I have to do the normal hand language, some exaggerated body language as well, but at least she understands me. I picked up very little Cambodian from her, whatever that's essential.

Tomorrow marks her full 2 weeks with us now, and I can't thank God enough for answering our prayers for a good maid. She doesn't cook yet, but helps me in the kitchen and bonds well with the kids.

Last night, I told her to watch the kids after dinner whilst I take my bath upstairs. Vic was having her dinner and William was watching TV when I left them. 15minutes later when I came out of my room, I heard screams of joy and the kids were having lotsa fun downstairs with the maid. As I on my computer, I decided to take a peep and saw to my shock, the kids were BOTH sitting on the maid and making her their substitute "horse" because their official Daddy horse is not around. Hahaha... poor maid!

I'm glad she's with us. She cleans the house well, and sometimes she looks bored without any more cleaning to do. That's when she sits down and studies her picture dictionary. Just awhile ago I told her to clean up one part of my garden after showing her how to, and when she finished, she cleaned up the other parts as well even without being told.

Now I tell you why I am a happy Madam. People say MOST cambodian maids, as in 8 out of 10, are lazy, big eaters, prone to lie and slow. I was expecting to teach a maid who knew nothing, could not understand anything, and learned slow. But no, she has proven to be the opposite and even better than Indonesian Maid No.4 (or maybe I was so traumatised that anyone is better than Maid No.4), except her slowness which is true. She can eat a lot too, but some days she seem to eat even half her normal portion.

I hope she continues to improve everyday, and not like Maid No.1, Maid No.2 or worse, Maid No. 4. And hopefully very soon I can put on some weight after losing my precious kilos in the past 3 months. : )

Vic's reading progress

Yesterday Vic took out her Little Red Riding Hood book (the Level 1 version) and read a few pages out to me. Of course, there were a few words that challenged her, for example, "flower", "stopped" and "want" and I helped her with the blending of the sounds by breaking the word up.

Towards the end, she asked me if she can just read a few pages, instead of the whole book, and I agreed. I told her it's the effort that counts. Then she whispered to me, "You see mommy, if I don't know how to read and you help me, then it's easier."

I knew what she meant. She used to get very emotional and will not cooperate aka freeze mode, whenever she can't read and I tell her to spell and sound the blends herself. I didn't want to spoon feed her. For example, the word "going" should be give her some clues, by breaking the word into two parts, "go" and "ing".

This girl has her moods. I hope yesterday's progress wasn't just from purging the words from memory, which she does very well. I will test her a few more times. And hopefully in a few months time, if she really can read, she can confidently ask her Daddy for her reward... her sneakers with lights! (they had an agreement earlier)

The way to loverboy's heart

Listen up girls.

The way to William's heart is simple. Anything with wolf (yes, as in the big bad WOLF) or heavy machineries like excavators, trucks, cranes will definitely melt his heart and put a smile on his face. You will be his immediate best friend if you offer him a truck to play with, or even a sticker with pictures of an excavator, which he so fondly calls, the "Scoop, Pour!"

Other things that scoops up water or soil or air may also do the trick.

Just like other kids, he loves animals too. Stories with animals, especially where there is a bad guy like the big bad wolf will make it more interesting. Stories such as the Enormous Turnip maybe a little tad too boring for this boy, though. (Unfortunately, this boring category includes Bible stories as well)

Oh, and how can I forget his favourite game of horseriding on Daddy's back or Mummy's tummy, or even on the sofa cushion. He loves only the Barney cowboy episodes and would watch or read anything that has got horses, farmers or cowboys in it!

Well there you are. From Legoman when he was a baby, to cute animals and now heavy machineries and big bad wolves! Oh, and if you girls like playing cooking aka masak masak (but in our home, we call it the Iynkaran Kitchen which I very much would like to rename it) William is game for that too! Btw, he charges a fee for every dish he cooks... and when you ask him how much, he unabashedly replies, "AW LOTTTT!!" (no discount even for mummy)

And that is my boy boy's latest passion for now ; )

Thanks for being around

Today I celebrate my husband for just being the persistent, never say no, never say die, and never give up kinda man.

Thanks for being around, thanks for hanging around, and thanks for not giving up on life.

William in church one day

William playing with one of his favourite toys which he "hijacked" from Popo GongGong's house ie the cowboy and its horse.

Quickly putting a edible color cupcake decorative into his mouth before Mummy could stop him
He's just... superly happy!

William's style of eating fruits

This is one of William's traits of eating fruits. He will bite one small part of the apple or pear, and then leave it back in the bowl, and go for the next one. He does this to almost all the fruit slices in the bowl. If I offer him the slice that he's already bitten, chances are he will not eat it again.

This, my friends... I call boy trait! Like saying, "He's been there" or marking his territory? Haha!

Victoria's JMC concert

On Tuesday, 29th June, Vic had her 2nd Yamaha JMC concert. As the classroom was not very big, only the parents were invited, and Mama Yeh Yeh helped babysit William for us at home.

The kids, all 8 of them comprising of 5 boys and 3 girls (is it just Vic's class or are boys now more interested in music than girls?), were to:

1. sing to short melodies played by the teacher as a group (there's a proper term to this but Mummy was not paying attention and too shy to ask the teacher to repeat... ah well)

2. perform on piano/keyboard 2 pieces of song (HoneyBee March and Party In The Sky)

3. group singing 2 songs - Let's Go and Sky Games

4. group dance - Drumming Cat (very catchy song!)

5. solo performance 1 song - Vic chose Frenchfry Bandit

Something went wrong with my videos which I took, somehow during download from my camera to my laptop, the movie files got truncated to only 5 secs each and I am very much baffled and disappointed. Hopefully there's some way to salvage the movie files. Thus, I'm not able to put up any movie files here, except for some pictures.

In July, Vic and her friends begin their 3rd semester in JMC, and well, sometime next year she probably could start drum classes IF she's still interested.

Vic on the keyboard, playing HoneyBee March

From left: George, Shasveena, Soloman, Xanden, Brandon, Vic, Estelle and Darin
The kids with their triangles

A picture with her class teacher Joanne (a wonderful teacher indeed)
When she saw me coming at her with my faithful S90, she quickly went into her relaxed mode and turned away... Aissshhh!! Next time must be more discreet

Victoria's first cinema movie: Toy Story 3

Some of you may remember that I wrote about Vic being scared of Nemo (the first Nemo) because of the sharks and Nemo being caught by the diver. Well, that small little scene can affect this little girl so much that she bursted into tears and begged us to off the TV.

That was sometime last year. Since then, we never got her to watch other movies, as she would not be able to sit through the whole movie or be even afraid of some scenes.

But since the school holidays, I wanted to bring her to watch Toy Story 3, which so happens to be my favourite series as I loved the first and second part. And afterall, I thought, what can be so scary about toys right? She might even love it, and relate to it as she has her doll Heh Heh now whom she play with so much, just like Andy in the movie.

In the afternoon, I insisted that she took her nap, but she didn't want to, until 5pm I gave her the eye mask, which was the ultimate. That and 2 hours later, she woke and quickly dressed, then off we went. Our dinner was meehoon in the car; she ate whilst I maneuvered traffic.

So yesterday we went for her maiden cinema show together at GSC Midvalley. The show was at 9pm and we got there with just enough time to collect the pre-paid tickets and go to the ladies, despite the heavy after-office Friday jam.

We got far left, back row seats, and took out our snacks. Too many advertisements before the show, and Vic kept asking me when the show will start. I gave her a brief introduction of the show when we were in the car, and also reminding her that this is just a cartoon, and there will be a happy ending, so she shouldn't be afraid.

Unfortunately, Vic became scared when the toys wanted to escape the Sunnyside Daycare in the show, and she came over to hug me. I carried her, quite awkwardly as she is such a big girl now, and asked her the dreaded question, "Do you wanna go home?" Of course she said yes. And she added that she missed William.

Mummy bought some time coz the movie was at its peak with the toys making their great escape with Woody... but that was as far as it got. We left and I told hubby that we will just have to buy the DVD.

Oh well. One hour into a movie... that's definitely a big feat for Vic, and a great improvement from Nemo (less than 15 minutes).

Her first exam results

My 5 year old had her first exam just before the school holidays and this being her first academic examination, naturally the parents and all four grandparents were excited (and maybe anxious) for her.

We didn't do much revision, as you know, she's only in kindy. But Vic and I did went through more spelling as that was her weak area. We already have a private home tutor for her Chinese subject and she seems to be enjoying and doing well in this area, much to her banana-parents' joy and relief!

Three days back, I met up with her class teacher after school for our postponed parent-teacher meeting (as we were away over the weekend in Penang). In the half hour discussion, we went through all her markings academic and non academic eg gross and fine motor skills, inter-relationship skills, etc and I noted a few points for clarification, namely:

1. Art & Craft - the craftwork returned to us were hardly "craft" work. They were just pieces of pictures for the kid to color, and I am disappointed as in her previous kindy, they did many creative work which the child really enjoyed. Besides that, we parents also pay additional fees (on top of the monthly school fees) for Art & Craft to the school every semester. The reason given by the teacher was that the 20minutes allocation per week was insufficient for the kids to do any major art & craft work. So what is the additional fees for? Apparently, nearing year end, the kids will be making some interesting craftwork to decorate the school walls... (does this sound ridiculous enough?)

2. Markings of "Satisfactory" - If Vic has done well in her Chinese and Numbers paper exam, and does well in her class work, except for the occassional delay in handing up her homework, how is it that she gets "satisfactory" grading from her teacher? I mean, you can't go better than 100%, right? Apparently, since this is for the 1st semester, all kids, eventhough they are excellent, will only get "satisfactory" markings from the teacher so they will continue to strive for excellence in the coming semesters. And of course, on paper it will look "nice" to see satisfactory to good to excellent, instead of excellent to excellent to excellent. (Errmm... are you following me here? Agree or disagree?)

3. Vic's reading - yes, I know some 5 year olds still do not know how to read at this age, and can only manage simple words. Vic is one of them. We hope by year end she will be able to grasp the phonic blends and sound the word herself. That's called reading, even if it doesn't sound quite right, but getting there is a good thing.


Well, this is about all. Overall, we are truly overjoyed at her exam results. Such a good start, and hopefully she keeps it up. She was not guided by her teacher, and Vic, we are all proud of you! Always remember, there is always room for improvement. Eventhough we are hard on you, that's only coz we want the best for you.

I'm only a child

Just a while ago, hubby asked Vic what was teacher teaching the kids this morning when he dropped her off at school. The teacher was reading a book. Vic said, "I don't remember."

So hubs went into explaining that she must know what teacher was teaching, and then she interrupted, "But daddy, I'm children mah. Children cannot remember."

I was surprised at her reply. Hubs, not to be outspoken, rebutted, "But children should have better memory than adults!"

Special diet for a special girl

Up till now, Vic is still abstaining from food containing eggs and yeast. Last December, if some of you recall, I wrote about her being healed, and that was because we brought her to see a skin prick allergist doctor at a reputable private hospital, personally recommended by the CEO of the hospital. I am saying this, because his results turned out to be true, and that reinforced what Dr Wong from Tangkak has already informed us, that our little girl has NO MORE allergies to eggs or yeast, or wheat or dairy. We tested for seafood and mushrooms and chicken and that was all negative.

We found out later, however, that a skin prick test is the worse methodology for testing food allergies. This doctor at the private hospital even miss the point that one should have a grace period to abstain from allergen food, so to let the body build sufficient immunity before eating the allergen food again.

So, slowly on a weekly new introduction, she was given food which she has so patiently and obediently abstained for more than a year. Lotsa food that many kids out there her age take for granted. But after two months, sometime in January I start to notice her ezcema returning.

In Feb, before CNY and our trip to UK, we brought her back to Dr Wong, with tail in between our legs, and rather ashamed that we have not listened and followed his advice to wait for the 1 year grace period to be up!

She was back on her allergy drops, and at that time, her allergies are confirmed to be eggs, yeast and candida. As you all know, we had a superb holiday and thank God no issues on getting food for her or William. She ate the normal cereals and also had cow's milk. No allergies.

In May when we visited Dr Wong for a follow up, he confirmed that her allergies has ZERORISED, and thus began our 1 year countdown.

Back in April and May, she enjoyed her dairy products. Sometimes she ate more than 2 pieces of cheese slices a day. Some biscuits contained dairy ie butter but no eggs, and that was given to her as well.

In June during her school holidays, her ezcema became worse. So we stopped her from taking cheese and her ezcema healed. Right until now, we have not brought her back to Dr Wong yet, but once her current drops is finished, we will have to see him again. Hopefully her scores are still zero.

These are SOME of the special biscuits, flour and food stuff that were bought for her by Mama Yeh Yeh, their church friends, Daddy and Mummy from New Zealand, Australia and the local stores. Aunty Pang ( a good friend of Mama Yeh Yeh ) even baked muffin breads for Vic with the all-free flour we bought from UK.



Truly Vic is blessed with so many people who cares, and even at 5yo she's considered tall for her age and has a good appetite especially for carbohydrate food. We hope and pray next year she will really be healed.

Missing UK or plain vanity?

This was William this morning when we went out for errands and to pick jie jie from school. Such a super hot day but the little boy insisted to wear this winter hat.