And this is Vic's version of Grace

Haiyoo, if this was William's thanksgiving prayer, this is what Vic said over lunch today...

"Thank you God for the food, that mummy can tapau for me (hands over the eyes and peeping through the fingers), thank you God that mummy don't have to cook and tapau everyday, because I like tapau food with MSG!! In Jesus' name, Amen."

Hhmmpk.

On another note, this girl always think outside food is better than home cooked. Why ah? Last night I cooked stewed baby pork ribs with radish and carrot and star anais, and stirfried bayam (her favourite) and boiled lotus pork soup, and just after I scooped two spoonful of dishes onto her plate, she said "No thank you" I didn't understand what she meant, and she said rather loudly, "That's enough!"

Because it didn't sounded right from the tone to her words, I gave her a lesson of what children with lesser means would feel... let her eat only white rice, but after she said she wanted to eat, I gave her only one spoon of each dish, together with a piece of my mind.

Throughout all these, I have not heard a word of apology from her. Only after dinner and putting her plate in the kitchen sink, did she walked up to me and apologize. Still hurt inside, I hugged her and told her to help herself with the vege and pork, but no rice.

Gymboree for the first time

A couple of weeks back, Adrine and I met up together with our two kids (almost the same age, both born in April 2008) at Gymboree. We were there for a complimentary trial lesson courtesy of Adrine. Since it was the school holidays, I brought the whole troop including the very important assistant along (knowing how the kids would run around like escapees), to the shopping mall where the Gymboree class was held, and met up with Adrine and her lovely daughter Elyssa. Before that, we did a quick marathon in Carrefour to pick up some groceries, dropped them back in the car, then run upstairs just in time for class. Now and then, I reminded William that this was "school, but not really school, because real school next year will NOT be in a shopping mall"... need to manage customer expectation, what! Less said, here are some pictures of William enjoying himself. After class and lunch, Elyssa and William sharing a toy car at the mall. If I sound like a jakun(outdated hermit) please forgive me. This is because it's also my first time in a Gymboree class, after hearing about it so many times. There were many activities and William totally doused himself into the programme! I was pleasantly surprised that he wasn't sticky to me, and I took the opportunity to observe him a little further and further from him. He loved the music, the jumping around and all the equipments there, the friendly instructor and we are shortlisting this for his pre-kindy preparation.

Grace

Most of the times William is excited to say grace, but ends up with a simple, "thank you God for the food, in Jesus name, Amen." and then I will add on.

The other day William said a different prayer that surprised me. It goes like this, "Thank you God for the soup, and the fish and vege, and thank you God for mummy, jie jie, daddy and kakak. In Jesus name, Amen."

: )

FINALLY... I found it!!! You may not see this again

When I wrote about my ex last month, Eugene asked for a picture of my wedding picture... I was going to oblige him, until the tragedy happened that very evening and then all the sadness came coupled with the fact that I couldn't find the CD provided by the bridal shop.

Whilst I was in my email account this afternoon, my eyes spotted a "Wedding" folder and blowing away the virtual dust, I opened it and found some old wedding photos taken at the studio. But sorry guys, those days the shop had to stamped "Sample" on the photos that we brought back to choose, so you will see it here too.


See how un-me I was? My old maid cracked a silly joke when she was new in her job, and cleaning my bedroom, she asked my hubby who the lady in the wedding portrait was (another picture, not this). Hubs replied her, "Dare I put another woman's picture with me in our masterbedroom???" She gave a sheepish smile. DUH!!!

Aaahh, the miracles that happens with digital imaging!

More buns for Victoria

This morning I went to Woods Macrobiotics' lab (bakery) to pick up some buns for Victoria. It has been sometime since we last bought, the last being before CNY and some mornings I scratch my head on what to prepare for her breakfast. Normally I rotate between Orgrans' Apple Cinnamon pancake, organic oatmeal, organic soya milk with gluten-free cereals, fruits, ba chang, nyonya kuih and chapati with dhal.

With fresh supply of buns, I have already settled at least 2 of her breakfast and school snack for the next week (freeze what is not to be eaten within 2 days of purchase to maintain freshness)

The lab in Mont Kiara is a simple bakery place by the pool side, visible from the guardhouse and nothing glamarous or fanciful about it. You might even pass it by without even a second glance if not knowing the background.

Today I bought a banana bread, two tofu doughnuts (beats me why they call it this, but it's actually cinnamon doughnut - totally awesome!), a sesame seed bun and another bun with raisins and something else in it. All very healthy, very delicious food!


By the way, did you know this which I just found out from their website that some well known celebrities are also on macrobiotics diet, such as John Trovolta, Madonna, Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Playing UNO

Vic has taken on her latest craze of playing UNO. I bought her her first deck of UNO cards for only rm5 and taught her the fundamentals of the game. Fast forward to last weekend, she got her daddy to sit down and play with her, not knowing that daddy was so good at the game. Even I was surprised.


On Monday, she invited me to a game and seeing that all the cards were decked out, she sitting expectantly and flashing me one of her convincing smiles, I obliged. After I threw down two Draw Twos, she threw hers down as well and I ended up taking more cards instead of her. Another Draw Four card from her had me suspecting that something is not right. Mother instinct, you can call it. Within these four walls, I dare claim to be quite a pro at UNO. Ahem!

Cut the long story short, Vic was holding a bunch of power cards and if I counted correctly, four Draw Four cards, and obviously she won the game! Cheater. At night I complained to hubby, and he just smiled.

Never mind, almost every other day we play UNO after she has completed her homework. Anybody want to challenge her? ; )

Picnic-cum-pool birthday party

Pictures from the new S95, taken on Saturday March 12th, at Vic's classmate's birthday party. It was supposed to be picnic by the pool side but it rained very heavily in the evening, and we ended up with picnic in the hosts' tastefully decorated unit.

Then we proceeded down to the pool side when the rain subsided, and those who wanted to swim had a blast in the pool! My fault for not bringing Vic's swimming suit as I thought swimming was cancelled due to the weather.

This was a nice opportunity to meet up with Vic's classmates and their parents, and like the host said, this is the kids' final year in kindy... will be quite nostalgic. Also a pleasant surprise to "bump into" a fellow blogger mummy, A Mom's Diary too.

Games time
At this age, still too innocent... can sit together on the see-saw
Happy Birthday to you...
William with his loot from the pinnata
Victoria and her loot...
Happily wet. One boy shot me with his water gun and almost wet my new camera, half my head and part of my shirt got wet though. But the shot was worth it, seeing Vic's smile!

If you are the moon, I am the stars that surround you...

No, no... my little boy boy didn't say that to me. Neither did the hubs. Nor another man. Hahaha!!!

But William did say the following:

1. Looking at my wedding portrait on the wall, William exclaimed, "Mummy you are Cinderella (he meant I looked like Cinderella in the gown, not that I work hard like Cinderella lar!)" I smiled, quite pleasantly surprised and then asked him who is my Prince Charming, thinking he would say Daddy (obviously Daddy was the handsome man beside me).

William thought for a while and then answered, "William!" Ohhhh, how smart! Me his Cinderella, and he the Prince Charming!

2. Remember when his vocab was just less than 20 words and he was so amazed with the horse and being a cowboy? Anyone who wears a hat was a cowboy to him! But he, William would say he's the ultimate cowboy! And who's the cowgirl, I asked him? "Mummy!" :)

3. He wants to be the pilot, and he says I be the pilot with him (too young to use the word co-pilot). If he says he's the doctor, then he says "Mummy is the nurse"

4. He says he is Bob the builder, and I am Wendy. :)

My dilemma

Last night I had dinner with my ex client.

Before I left my last job in 2008, he has offered me to jump ship for a procurement role in his company. But timing was not right as I was 6 months pregnant with William then.

A few months after William was born, he asked again if I was keen, but I had to turn him down with regrets (and fear that he might have taken offence).

Three years down the road, he is now holding a bigger portfolio and overseeing a staff count of a hundred times more than when I was servicing his account.

Keeping in touch with him and my ex colleagues and bosses has been random and few, and we try to make it a point to meet up over a meal, so to stay in touch with the ongoings of the industry. Aaahh, but how I have rusted because it is totally impossible to, with all my priorities now on household and upbringing of the kids and the property market.

Last night over our meal at The Curve, he wasted no time but asked if I knew of anyone who could help him with this role which he then proceeded to explain. I shook my head, and quietly thought he must be crazy, because I am not working lar and would be the last person to recommend anyone, being out of the market for so long, so is he joking or what?

Then the question became, would I be interested to take on this challenge? It's no longer a procurement position, but one that involves competitor analysis. Part time. Work time flexible. Job scope as he describe it sounds pretty easy but knowing him, there must be more and for this reason, I am paranoid.

Do I take on this challenge, and if I do but fail, will our friendship end? Will my ex client think less of me, or if word has gotten to my ex bosses, would my ex bosses think less of me? What if I make a complete fool of myself? What if my quality time with my kids have to be sacrificed? Is all these worth it?

And the biggest question? Where do I put William when I work? If I work from home, he will want my time. If I go to office, I can't leave him alone in the house with the maid. Hubs and I have initially toyed with the idea of starting William with part-time kindy to adjust him to being away from me, so could this be our big break?

So is this my chance of a lifetime, maybe my last chance... should I or shouldn't I? I asked William and he immediately said, no. Why? Because "I want you in my house, play with me" but Vic told me it's up to me.

I'm praying and looking for clues and hints and signs of His direction. What do you think, fellow mommies and friends? How I wish I can just flip the coin for an answer. I have over the weekend to give him an answer. The job starts a.s.a.p... aaaah, typical of this client.

The big brother comes along

My dad... he is such a darling!! When I wrote about my loss, he called me the next day, and told me he will get me a new camera. I said "No, Pa... coz I don't want another camera just yet. Let me get over this first."

But that afternoon itself, he went ahead to buy me the newer PowerShot model, Canon S95.

I took sometime to use it, but during Vic's classmate's recent birthday party last Saturday 12th March, I took the S95 out for its first official duty. This will be my new partner in blogging.

I am blessed.

Not only the S95 have joined the family, but my hubby have actually ordered another anniversary gift for me besides the anniversary diamond! Vic was totally excited over the Ipad 3G 32Gb and once I successfully downloaded some games, she took over. I now use this as a reward for her good behaviour or once she's completed her homework, because Ipad does have many educational games! My only complain is our wifi speed is waaaaayyyy too slow. Haha!

Btw, I am looking for a stall to print my contact details on really mini stickers to place on my camera and other possessions... if anyone knows of any, please pm me.

What happens when "birdie" flies away?

I was trying to get this bottomless William to wear his diapers one night, as he tries to wriggle away, and make me catch him on the bed.

When I finally got him pinned down, I told him, "William, if you don't quickly wear your diapers and put on your pants, your bird bird (aka the little "thing") will fly away."

Then he replied me, "When my bird bird fly away, I get a pek pek, like jie jie!"

Whoaaaahahaha! That reply shocked me and left me laughing in stitches!

Why are you getting more independent, boyboy?

My boy boy, the small one... who once I knew was learning to crawl, walking with a stumble, couldn't speak in sentences let alone pronounce his words well, needed to be held on to and watched him like a hawk every other minute... he is wanting his independence now. Well, of course he's not moving out, silly! He's only nearing 3!!!

William's birthday falls (NOT) coincidently on the future king of England, the ever so charming, Prince William's wedding date with Kate Middleton... April 29th. Nearing 3, now he wants to wear his own socks, can get into and pull up his own pants (albeit he looks rather funny having pulled it too high up like a "ah pek"), brush his own teeth, button his own shirt, sometimes just doing whatever he pleases by himself.

Last night I wanted to take a prune out from the bag for him. Oh noooo... he no longer wants mummy to do it for him, he said, "I want to take it by mysseeeeelllff." Fine.

As for brushing teeth and wiping his own face with the wet towel, he's always wanted to do this himself, and I have to coax or trick him to help him. Happy? Ok lar... but at this stage I thought I should be THE ONE doing it, also because I'm a "yim jim por" aka perfectionist when it comes to hygiene of my kids.

Fearing that he and I may experience withdraw symptoms / separation anxiety when he starts school next year, I am already giving him pap talks. I told William boy boy that he will go to school himself (emphasing that word) and Mummy is not allowed to sit beside him. He tells me ok, that "mummy wait outside for me." Yea, I think I will. I probably might just be the weirdo peeping through the glass windows from the carpark, or be a nuisance to the administration by hanging around even after class starts. Or, maybe I would be the mummy crying outside the door while my boyboy jumps around in class and plays with his friends.

It is at this age between 2 to 4 yo that our kids "grow up" so fast and surprises us with many things. When William sings the nursery songs I teach him, he will say this at the end of the song, "Yaaaayyyy, clap hand!!!" and clap his hand, and expect all of us audience to applause too. So perasan, kah?

Well, that's him my boy boy. Maybe one day he will not want me to call him boy boy anymore? Just like how at 12, my bro stopped us all from calling him boy, hahaha, and totally ignored anyone who did.

At least he still wants to hold my hand now. ; )

Allergic to jeans???? What the????

I mentioned somewhere in my previous posts about Vic's allergy symptoms manifesting into red spots around the abdomen and upper thigh area.

During that time, we highlighted this to Dr Yadav (who does her blood test) and he confirmed that this is a form of allergy symptoms, and it is particularly around that area due to the tight pants that she wears which puts pressure on her skin. My Chinese thoughts initially were, "These are toxins popping out from her body, and more so around the kidney area because that's where the toxins come out, right?"

I may have highlighted this to Dr Wong (her allergist doctor) over the phone when I panicked, but after it dried up when we next brought her to him, we totally overlooked. Only at the recent and latest visit to Dr Wong on the way down to Singapore for CNY, did we had a chat with Dr Wong regarding her red spots and that some of her ezcema on her arm folds appear more like pimply lumpy spots, instead of the usual red spread out rashes.

On first check, Dr Wong said this is likely due to chromium and nickel allergy, then he tested her with my handphone that had chrome rings on the handle. Positive! Then he tested her with the little tubes and sure enough, that confirmed his suspicions.

Well, why this and why now? Dr said it's normal for allergic kids to show various forms of allergy from time to time, apart from the main allergies that they have.

All her other allergy points went down...

House Dust Mite = Zero (bear in mind, for blood test, this is her highest IgE level)
Egg = Zero
Candida = Zero
Yeast = Zero

This must be her third time being zerorised, and after all the roller coaster ride, we are happy for her, yet I am secretly pessimistic. I hope she stays clear of her allergies for the next one year, so that she can eat normal food again in Primary One.

What's her nickel and chromium points? Eleven. That means, no jeans, no trousers or clothings with metal buttons. If really die die need to wear, then wear for short while in air conditioned environment and tuck in shirt to avoid direct contact.

We also showed the doctor the corner of her lips, where there seems to be angular stomatitis, which was what her paed diagnosed. Another friend's 4yo son also occassionally gets this, and the same paed diagnosed the same. Apparently, this is caused by lack of vitamins? I have doubts that Vic is suffering from lack of vitamins, because she's tall and big for her age, and eats well, and takes supplements and other than the allergy, has been in good health (praise God).

Dr Wong said Vic's lips was caused by allergy to something in her toothpaste. This is the same Chico strawberry-flavoured toothpaste that she has been using the past 2 years, eversince he said she has allergy to mint, and not able to use normal minty toothpaste like Colgate. But now, Dr is recommending that she try a particular Colgate toothpaste which contains the lowest mint content. Vic was so happy, because she's always wanted to use our minty toothpaste! So now we've changed Vic to that.

This jeans allergy is for sometime, like Elaine, I'm not too bothered that Vic has this allergy to nickel and chromium, so long as it's not any more food allergies. We've gone shopping and bought her more tights, and this jeans-girl seem to have no qualms about putting her jeans aside for sometime. Maybe it's time for her to wear more skirts??? (Wooohoo!!)

Homemade pizza

When we were in Singapore for CNY, we chanced upon a box of Orgran pizza dough mixture which we have never seen in Malaysia before, not even on an online Orgran website.

This is the reason why when we are overseas we always check out their grocery section hoping to find some healthy goodies for Vic.

Here are pictures of our homemade pizza, comprising of bacon strips, tomato paste, red onion and chicken bits. Vic excitedly lay them on after I mixed and rolled the dough into shape. Quite messy, to be honest, and the final product doesn't taste like our typical Dominoes or Pizza Hut, but the kids loved it!

Fooling around with a piece of pizza in her mouth
The raw form, before putting it into the oven
That's a forced smile from Vic, coz she didn't want to be interrupted in such an important job


One box of pizza multimix can bake two 12" pizzas, thin-based. We went back to Singapore two weeks after CNY and stocked up on two more boxes. Of course, the other place to get a good yeast-free, allergy-free pizza based which is already baked is from Woods Macrobiotics which I think taste better than mine : )

Now I can happily satisfy my craving for pizzas and not feel guilty!

Woody & Buzz Lightyear in da house!!

William with his current favourite character... the way he says it - Bbbuuuuuuzzzz Lightyear! If you ask him why, he'd probably tell you because Buzz can fly, and he likes all the buttons and laser stuff that Buzz has. Typical boy!
Wish I could record their scream... deafening!
Both pjs belong to William as Daddy couldn't find one in Vic's size, but little brother is more than willing/happy to loan to his sister, only that he's more possessive over his Buzz pjs! He's such a darling, that he'd thank me even for letting him wear his Buzz Lightyear pyjamas... aaawwww!!

Bird shit and a kick

Two things crossed my mind on our way back home after picking Vic up from school, and put more than a smile on my face. As I related these incidents to Vic, both of us shared a good laugh.

Bird Shit

Spotting a bird shit on my driver side window, I exclaimed surprise and then I shared with Vic what I remembered happened to me many years ago during my work days.

My colleagues and I were having lunch at a shack one sunny afternoon. While waiting for the food, I suddenly felt something soft, something cool, something slimey that just landed on my head. You guessed it... bird shit!

Of all places, of all people, and of all timings... it had to be ME, the chosen one! But no, I did not buy 4D after that eventhough my colleagues were encouraging me to, maybe if I did I would have retired earlier, kekekekeke!!!

A kick for daddy

The mohawk hairstyled boy was having his milk fix on our bed two nights ago, leaning against my pillow, whilst Daddy snooze on the side.

I was at the dressing table and suddenly I heard my honey grimace in pain, and my first instinct was right, I looked straight at the culprit. He was snickering away with the milk tits still in his mouth.

Poor daddy, who went to bed early, who tried hard to sleep and finally slept, suddenly got kicked by his son. I'm guilty for laughing too.

Ting Xia

What does ting xia (mandarin, for dictation - correct me if I'm wrong) and stickers have in common?

To Vic, take a look at her ting xia book... (pictures taken with my beloved s90 before the incident)





Well done, Vic! You definitely definitely surprise all of us! This week, she got another full marks and sticker from her teacher again. Thanks also to Mama who has been helping her with her homework.

As her reward and motivatioon to keep up the good work, we ordered and got her a personal name chop, with a picture of a teddy bear holding flowers, and her chinese and english name by the side.

On another note, yesterday Vic got her FIRST "pat pat" on her hand by her chinese teacher because the previous day, little brother William playfully stamped her new chop on her chinese homework. I wrote a note and attached it together with her homework to apologize and explain that it's by accident, and not Vic's fault.

However, Vic told me her teacher gave her a smack on her hand, she was sad as this was the first time she got disciplined (in her 3 years of kindy, ever!) but she claimed she didn't cry.

Oh well... takes too hands to clap... I told her William was wrong, but she also had to keep her homework and chop in a proper place to avoid such a situation again.

I am grieving over my loss

Yesterday night hubs and I went out for a simple dinner celebration at 1 Utama where we also ran our errands. No more time for nice, romantic dinners at secret hideouts or a hundred roses like our first anniversary, but these days we have to be practical and eat where we are familiar and convenient to run some errands. No complaints, because times together just he and i are so rare and precious.

But last night, before I slept, I wept. I was inconsolable, and as I pointed to the words of William's storybook on the bed, I could not open my mouth, because I was too emotional over what we have lost. I cover my wet face with William's storybook as I sob away.

The hour before, hubs and I searched high and low, each armed with a torchlight, in his car for my lost Canon S90. This is my baby that I have loved even before it came into my life, and fate has it that my Canon S90 should stay with us exactly for ONE YEAR 2 DAYS.

We can't find the S90 in the house, and for a short time I thought William played and hid it, but he firmly said no when I asked him. He even suggested, that "maybe Kakak hid it."

I am sad. And that's an understatement. The thoughts of where it could be, the restaurant that we ate in? Or the news agent that we dropped by after dinner to pick up a magazine? We suspect the later, but we called the restaurant as well and thank God someone from another branch answered and helped check for us.

This morning I headed back to the news agent in One Utama, and was already in contact with a guy from their HQ, who has informed the outlet supervisor to check the store and query the cashier. Negative. I filled up a "lost" form at the shopping mall's customer service, and visited the restaurant again. Everyone seemed helpful and assured me of their security based on their CCTV installed.

Alas, the news agent's HQ called in the afternoon to apologize that they are unable to check their CCTV as it was not on at that outlet, and the other cashier (there were two last night) also denied having seen my camera which was in my new Coach pouch (which my bro bought for me from US only last November).

I am sad. I am freaking sad. And as I write this, my mind flashback again to the times spent "together with my S90" and all those wonderful pictures and videos, the memories created together, the times I sit on my bed or laze on the sofa to run through the pictures. The feel of the buttons, and everything about it.

How can this have happened? Losing the S90 hurts me, and you may think I'm crazy, because it's just a camera. Get a new one? I don't want any other cameras to replace my S90, I don't even want another S90. I have pictures and videos still in my camera, what will happen to those pictures? Will they fall into the wrong hands?

This afternoon I shared what happened with Vic as she was sleeping last night and did not know. She offered me her camera but I gently turned down her offer that all I want, was to have my S90 back.

Give me time to grieve over my loss. Maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months. But I rather go pictureless for some time, putting up only those that was taken before this happened.

My heart pains, and I am filled with regrets - please don't talk to me about my camera just yet because I might just break down again.