Giving away his pet

Most kids would have dogs, tortoises, fishes or even cats for pets.  But my son, William, he has a rather unique one, however I can't say it's exotic.

Here's a little history

Some of you may know that we rear fishes in the houses.  We started humbly with this then upgraded to this, which was a beautiful aquarium bought for me by my husband when he was courting me.

And here is an old post when one of Vic's fish, fondly named Skinny swam to fish heaven.

When the old aquarium motor started to break down, we decided to buy a whole new aquarium instead of fixing the motor (as with these days, it's not worth repairing if a brand new model costs only a little more).

We had for a good time, 8 or 9 beautiful gold fishes that survived until one started to die, and we added a new one, and then the rest of the community started to go belly up on us one by one.  That's when we decided to go for different breeds of fishes (because the kids loved choosing different fishes from the pet shop).  Sometimes we find one or two fishes mysteriously disappeared and then discovering only skeleton bones in a corner.  Yes, fish can carnivorous too! 

And now...

Slowly, we decided to just focus on guppies, supposedly more hardly and breeds fast.  I was rather ambitious, thinking we can save some ringgits by breeding our very own guppies. 

Picture downloaded from the internet

Breed we did, but it was not easy as sometimes there'd be miscarriages, or if we were too late to separate the would-be mother, the baby fries were eaten by the other fishes. 

The guy in black

With the guppies, came a scavenger for the aquarium.  We had a couple of scavengers that died during its tenure of service with us, and one that mischievously ate up the other fishes and ended up back at the fish shop thereafter!  From the beginning, William has claimed that the scavenger is his pet, not the fishes.  He would proudly carry the bag of scavenger home when we buy one.  We found it cute, because he was only 3-4yo then. 

Now that William's 4.5yo, and hardly speaks about his scavenger anymore, I thought it'd be easy to give away the fishes (and scavenger, of course) and put away the aquarium altogether.  This is because the new sofa is longer than the old, and therefore we had to move the side table that holds the aquarium to another part of the living room - temporarily. 

Like giving away something closed to us, we wanted to find the fishes a good home, preferably with kids and good owners who will give them clean water and some decorations to swim in / with.  We had a few offers, and finally decided to pass to a good friend.

I remembered having told William previously that the fishes will have to go now that the new sofa is in.  We can't keep them there forever because that corner is not really a place for an aquarium, moreover the Christmas tree will have to come up soon. 

Last night, when we finally put our intention to action, William was fine when we transferred the fishes to a container, until it came to the scavenger.  HIS scavenger.  

We did not expect him to be this emotional.  And I got emotional too.  Because I so wanted to clear that corner, and here my son... my 4.5yo son was being overly sentimental (oopss, sound like me?) over a scavenger.  We toyed over various options including giving away just the fishes, and keeping the scavenger alone in another container outside the house (but that literally meant a slow death for him as there will be no waste for him to eat).

For the first time in his life, he really protested against my decision.  Vic was fine giving away the pets and just sat watching the two of us.  Hubby decided to let the two of us work things out.

After a good 10 minutes of tears (from him, NOT me) in protest of giving away his pet, I gave in. 

Sigh.  Sacrifices of a mother. 

I sulked for a bit until hubby successfully put a smile back on my face.  : )  But the aquarium is still going ok...



  

And this is our new sofa...

So here's our new sofa... fits all our specs and makes the livingroom look more spacious because it's a L design, unlike the previous day bed + 3 seater.

The dimensions are just right, without customization. However, this shop does all sorts of customization if you prefer different legs, length, firmness and even dimensions (which means a whole new look). I understand they charge a customization fee of RM500 but as with all things in Malaysia, this is negotiable.

This L shape is 10.5feet in length and the L measures up to 6.5ft. The beautiful part is it comes with 6 stools - 3 on each side of the arm rest so it saves space. When we have many guests, we just pull out the stools, voila!

Besides the stools, I like the armrests.  It measures around 8inches, and just nice for my laptop and ipad to rest as I do my work.

I'd say the kids' favourite would be the headrest.  As with many sofa these days, it's adjustable.  So that suits us very nicely.  If pushed all the way down, it becomes flat and that's where the kids lay or sit (yes, they have taken the sofa to greater heights).

Another version comes with extendable seats but we didn't want that.

So all in, after haggling... I think we got quite a good bargain considering the quality and workmanship is commendable... and comes with 10 year warranty too - even the armrest!

The kids can now put their bags on the sofa, and Vic can sit on the sofa with her soiled uniform after school, WITHOUT the mother screaming at them.  Maid is happy too that she don't have to vacuum and wash the covers anymore.

Changes in Victoria.. and the new boy

No... she has not grown breast yet... LOL!  OK, silly joke. 

But seriously, I have been noticing that my little girl is more matured these days.  She speaks differently, unlike the very innocent, kindy kid she once was.  More of peer influence, or just growing up. 

The other day I was sending Vic and her BFF home after school and these girls were chatting about their class teacher (not the best around, fyi).  Vic said, "XX lou shi didn't come to school today, I think she's pregnant" and the two girls burst out in girly giggles!  Then her BFF commented, "Oh my goodness!  I tell XX lou shi you said that!" then more giggles...

I couldn't help smiling to myself.  Close my eyes and I wouldn't know these are 7 yos chatting.  For sure, I did not talk like this when I was 7.    

For one, she is more courageous to speak her mind.  Not vocal, not aggressive nor pushy.  She still retains the demure, shy part of her, but when push-comes-to-shove, she has on a few occasions voiced out her frustrations. 

For example, during piano practice the two of us can get quite emotional, with her ending up in tears or a sour face, and the mother raising her voice.  In between sobs, she'd tell me her frustrations.  I think I like this.  I like it that she doesn't just keep quiet in her own thoughts, and cry and just absorbs what others says. 

She's also more expressive -  sometimes telling me her feelings.  Other times, she'd just say, "Nothing."  (Sounds familiar, especially to the men?)  When I was upset once, William came around to hug me and asked me why.  I said, "Nothing" and the boy immediately commented, "Why nothing?  You sound like Jie Jie."

Like mother, like daughter I guess.  Or just a girl thing.

Victoria cries when she feels she has been unfairly treated or blamed, and unable to express those feelings in words, her tears fall.  I feel her.  I know her this much.  I've known why her tears fall even without her saying why.   Yet, even though I feel we have been closer, there are times when I feel the challenges of breaking through to my little girl. 

Victoria's always been eager to help, whether in the kitchen or at school.  She's been a teacher's helper during the first semester, carrying books up to the teacher's room with a few other friends.  But she's stopped that now based on our advice, after missing out on copying her Ejaan from the blackboard.  I told her yesterday, "It's ok, next year you help out again, just make sure you get your work completed first."

And the interesting part... who's the new boy? 

Title:  Who's he?  
(my amateur attempt at poetry)

I mustn't reveal his name, though I've not sworn an oath, nor did we make pinkie promises, but I know this is our little secret; 
I'm putting this down only because I'm afraid one day I will forget, and she too, so this is her little crush, or the boy's. 

He's a caring boy, the way she say; 
When she's out of class to the little girl's, he helps take her books out from her bag,
Even her color pencils too, and chooses the colors for her. 

He's been offering her his snacks, and now I understand why Vic isn't keen to bring hers to school anymore; 
Not that she eats his, because she knows she can't due to her allergies; 
She's this obedient, I tell y'all;
So she turns down his kind offer each time, and once, took only a cherry tomato from his snack box;  So I'm impressed, that this boy eats cherry tomatoes too, that's a brownie point from me to him. 

And he speaks Chinese quite well too, whilst Vic speaks in the Queen English,
So he helps her with her Chinese work and vice versa.

Once as I was attempting to fix Vic's mechanical pencil (by the way, she has a collection of them),
Vic said, "No worries, Mummy... because xxx can help me too, he has fixed my other pencil before."
Oh I see... and I looked at Daddy, giving him the wink that he's not the only Fixer in her life now. 

And this boy tells Vic that she's his best best BEST friend in the class,
Vic says the same of him, together with a couple more names of course,
For the record, just so we don't keep guessing in the future,
He sits beside her and his name starts with a "T"
But DO NOT ASK HER about him, ok?

~the end~

So there... my little girl, and her "other" good friend.  For this, she is glad that next year there will be no shuffling of classes, yet she wished that this girl Heather will be out. 

Oh well, Vic... we can't control how others behave, but we learn to adapt ourselves to our environments, and pick the good, leave the bad. 

Can you believe that it's close to year end now, and wasn't it just a few blinks ago that the kids started their first day at school?  I need to recount my white hair now. 

Bye Bye Sofa...

The last few days we have been making do with sitting on foldable chairs and the floor as our good ol' fabric sofa was given away.

Although this was a decision we made quite easily as we wanted to change to leather so there would be less dustmites exposure for Victoria, we still had some sadness as we all had good memories with and on that sofa. For one, this was the sofa that William practice his climbing skills on when he was an infant, and for me, I'm just a pure sentimentalist.

This morning in the car, William had the following conversation with Daddy.

William: Daddy, why do we have to give away our sofa?
Daddy: Because in the sofa, there are dustmites.

William: *deep thought for a few seconds* What are dustmites, Daddy?
Daddy: Dustmites are very small creatures that live deep inside the sofa and on fabrics and cushions.

William: Why can't we just kill the dustmites?
Daddy: Because it is not easy to kill them.

William: So how?
Daddy: So that's why we have to buy leather sofa lor!

To the old sofa,

I have no regrets choosing you 4 years ago, to replace the good-for-nothing LDP furniture 3-2-1 seater.  You did not sank on us, neither did you break.  Your wood was as solid as the manufacturer's warranty.  

We had great memories taking family photos on you, and the movie nights too, 
The kids enjoyed piling your cushions all over the floor, and William did stunts jumping from the coffee table 3 feet away, only to land safely on you!  

Your successor will come from the same factory, only made of imported bovine skin and a little more canggih mechanism.   Don't worry, I will not forget you, because I know where to find you should I crave your comfort again. 

William's Kindy Concert: It's A Small World Afterall

Saturday, 29 September 2012

About three months ago, as I picked William up from school, his class teacher escorted him to my car and informed me that William will be the lion in the year end school concert.  For one moment, I thought he must have got himself into trouble.  Phew!

The weeks that followed, this boy would drop hints of his role as king of the jungle, much to our amusement.  But after sometime, the excitement in him has died down somewhat because he'd refuse to practice at home.

A few weeks before the concert day, we were given his costume to bring home for practicing.  His class teacher wanted to make sure that he did not step on his long lion tail as in one part of his act, he was to make a U-turn.  But this boy only wanted to practice once, and the rest of the time he just played with his lion costume! 

So what do you think a mother's fear would be?  That my boy would accidentally trip on his own tail and end up crying on stage!

On the actual day, we dropped him at school at 815am together with Popo Gong Gong and met up with Mama Yeh Yeh.  There was already a long queue leading to the main auditorium.  This, which I understood later, was because the 6 year olds were asked to arrived at 745am, so there were parents already queuing up.

At 9am, the doors open and we inched our way in.  Sadly, we didn't get good seats unlike previous years during Victoria's concert.  Moreover, this year's arrangement was a little different as the school had designated an area for photographers, so can you imagine 20 odd photographers were clambering in one spot with only a handful getting prime view?  If that was not bad enough, some parents were quite vocal to have the photographers laid low so not to block their view.

Like expecting VVIPs... actually excited parents, grandparents and relatives were waiting for the children to march in


King of The Jungle

William's class Jasmine did a joint dance/play with another class Marigold.  The play was called, "Jungle Life" and was about a group of hunters (boys) coming out from the trees (girls) and doing a dance when suddenly the lion (William) came out to roar at them.  The lion goes around roaring and dancing, then sleeps in the evening and finally wakes up to roar around again (just to make sure the hunters are gone).

William's classmates walking in - two by two - and William walked last with a teacher

The kids sat obediently while waiting for the formalities to end.  Here, the lion spys...

William was originally sitted at the far end of the row.  After a few attempts to take his pictures, the kind teacher put William at this end nearer to us so we can content ourselves with clicking away our cameras, then she asked William to return to his original seat at the other end.

This is how the lion looks like, when William looks down

During the act - the lion sleeps

We were surprised, and humoured - when William took out his lion hat during the play

After the show, we took some pictures

So that's William - his first concert in his kindergarten life and he was given a main role!  Cheehhh--waahhh!!  Mummy Daddy are so proud of him, I couldn't stop beaming the whole time he was up on stage.

When the play was done, the teacher put him back in normal clothes as it was very hot under the lion costume - as you can see from the video, at one part he took off his "lion head/hat" and that make the audience laughed.

Lunch

We had a simple lunch at Kissaten Restaurant where a prior reservation was made.  William had a ravenous lion appetite as he finished his bowl of udon noodles all by himself!  He earlier ordered two ice creams from the waiter himself - one for him and one for his beloved Jie Jie, but I told him that the ice cream will be after the main meals.  That was supposed to be his reward.  Unfortunately, it was getting late and we decided that his ice cream will have to be another time or day.  Poor boy wasn't too pleased!  At night, we gave him a coconut ice cream potong in replacement.

Here are some pictures taken.  My regret that my camera was not set to "low light" setting so the pictures did not come out clear and sharp.  However, do enjoy.  We will be getting the official DVD or photos and videos from the school next month.

Well done, my boy boy! 

William polished off this whole bowl of noodles - except for one last spoon

And I wondered how he learnt to how pose like this...

I like this shot

 

The Lion in da house!! A MUST WATCH

Saturday, 29 September 2012

Here's a video of William as the main character in a joint class presentation for his kindergarten concert cum graduation.

My apologies that the video quality is not HD and rather shaky as Gong Gong and I were standing at a designated photographer section (but not very good view) and hubby sneaked off to the centre aisle behind the teacher. So he got the best view.

I cannot describe how proud and happy I was to see him up stage, for the FIRST time of his life, and taking the lead role.  It was a very ideal role as he always played lion even as a toddler, but apparently he did not volunteer for this, and was chosen by the teacher.

Well done, my boy boy!

Will be writing more on his concert in another post.  Right now... do enjoy!  For everytime I watch this video, my heart goes "thump thump" and I find myself breaking out in a wide smile.

Just so you know...

My darling Vic,
Just so you know,
Today you asked me to stick,
A dollar in your piggy,
I put in an extra dollar without you knowing.

Simply because,
I love you so,
Just so you know,
The amount's not a lot,
But simply because,
It means a lot to you,
I love you so.