It's not easy, even now

My Victoria finished her first term examinations in a Chinese school a couple of weeks back.  Easily a month before her exams or more than that, she started her revision at home, with practices in workbooks coupled with Popo's dedicated visits (mostly by taking the train up to PJ) to revise with her. 

She sat for two Chinese papers, two Malay papers, one English paper, one Science paper, one Mathematics paper and one Moral paper making a total of 8 papers spread out over 2 weeks. 

When she got her marks back, we got a big shock for most of the papers.  Chinese marks were really low, and she could have done way better for English and Science if not for the numerous careless mistake.  She did well for her Malay papers (not surprising as this is one of her strong subject) and Mathematics was alright.  I know I should not be Tiger Mom nor should I emphasize only on marks which are at the end of the day, only marks.  It has no indication of a child's future success but I'd like to note how shocked we were that after all her revision, the results were unexpected, similar to the recent GE13 result. 

Just as we were deciphering why and even before we recovered from our shock, she gets an invite to Kidzania for a birthday party the day before her last paper.  We let her go, after a lot of talk, but only allowed her half the time stated in the invitation card. 

The following week, she gets another invite to another birthday party at Jungle Gym.  In between all these, there was an incident where she forgot to copy something from the blackboard because she forgot to bring her book.  Eventhough the "something" she forgot to copy down was irrelevant to her studies, we felt she could have the common sense to copy into another book, or use her Message book, or get a piece of paper from a friend.  After sounding her, the next day she came back without the "thing" she was supposed to copy... aiyooo!! So heart sick not because she did not copy or find out, more of why doesn't she have the street-smartness or the common sense to act without being told to?

After two weeks of stress, I had a talk with hubby and we decided to realigned ourselves.  A big PHEW for Vic, I guess. 

I find that she's also rebellious in her little ways.  So fast?  She's only 8.  From years back, she'd go into stone mode whenever she gets scolded, and then she'd do what you tell her to do... in the slooowwwwesstt possible way, or in the wrong way, or just anyway except your way, simply to irk you I guess.  But I can't be sure if she's aware of this, doing it consciously, mindfully, and intentionally or just blur. 

Now she does this...  She gets me all upset when she'd deliberately erase off a whole question (with many parts) only because I asked her to check her answer for the mistake which I refuse to tell her where.  My point is, have the habit of checking your answers and don't rely on other people to point it out for you. 

But I applaud Vic for her forgiving or maybe "tidak-apa" attitude.  Because no matter what happens, she still gets over it, and will not drown herself in her tears or mop around the house.  I only wish she can build up her confidence ten notches higher, because I did a mommy-daughter time with her yesterday with some drawing, and before finishing her piece, she already exclaimed how ugly her work is. 

I mean, it's not the best art piece around, but neither is it the worse.  It's art, come on... so who can judge the beauty of an art piece?  Isn't this the reason why Designers and Art Directors earn obscene salaries? 

Back to Vic.  I love her to bits.  The only problem is she's not expressive like her brother.  We don't hug or kiss as much as I wish we could.  We don't share our feelings like BFFs would just by picking up the phone, and a normal question like "How's your day?" won't crack her up.  She will give you monosyllabic answers, and I'm still hoping one day we can talk about anything, anyone, anywhere, anytime. 

Another invite to a friend's house with private pool next week.  And a date with a girlfriend to pierce their ears (let's see first...) and have I mentioned the birthday party at Jungle Gym?  Oh wait, there's suppose to be a play date with a former class friend but nothing concrete... mummy can't handle... too many!  Thank God William's social calender is zilch at this moment, lol! 

Happy holidays to all... I'm so looking forward to my little escape with hubby to another country.  Just the two of us... la la la... with bargain shopping and cheap food! 

Another round of vet visits

Our pet tortoise Tom has fallen sick again slightly more than a month back.  We noticed this by her drastically reduced appetite and lack of activity.  Tom is by nature an "extrovert" judging by her frequent waddling in her container whenever she sees us, like an excited puppy coming to greet her owners.

After a few weeks of Tom going on hunger strike, we brought Tom to the vet again.  This is her second visit after her first bout of illness.  The vet, the same nice, friendly and ever-smiley lady who treated Tom previously, suggested bi-daily sunbath, prescribed oral antibiotics (this is what I hate most, as it's tedious and almost impossible to get her to eat it) and soaking in vitamin water.

After one week of zero success in feeding Tom the antibiotics or even getting Tom to eat anything at all, we brought her back to the vet.  The shrimps which previously worked did not work now, nor did any kind of vegetation (she doesn't like vegetables anyway).  So I told the vet that and also my observation that there were little bubbles out of Tom's nostrils.

I guess that was the clue to the vet's diagnosis.  She explained that Tom could be suffering from some kind of respiratory infection (my understanding ok) like a flu and this can happen to anyone or any tortoise.  So the good and bad news was it's nothing we did wrong that could have been avoided.

Since it was impossible to feed Tom the antibiotics orally, he had to go for the injection dose plus two rounds of drips also through injection to give him a boost in recovery.  After that, we brought him home, followed by a dose of antibiotic injection every 3 days.

By the 2nd dose, she regained her appetite and by the 4th dose (the final dose), Tom was discharged. 

Total bill:  RM40 + RM40 + RM20 + RM15 = RM115

The nightmare I had

Thank God it's not very often that we have nightmares.  In fact, I don't have a habit of dreaming bad dreams, but the other night, this dream came to me so real...

People say that if you have a nightmare, you need to share it with someone so "ward" it off, so here I am, sharing it with the whole world so that it will never, ever come true. 

I dreamt of William a few years older than he is now, maybe around 10-12 years old, and he stopped talking and sharing things with me.  He even refused to walk together with me.  He was like a pre-puberty boy wanting to be in his own world and with his own friends.  I think there were more details but I can't recall everything now. 

The crux of it came with the tears falling from my eyes in my dream and then I woke up and felt real tears on my cheeks.  That was probably nearing 6am or 6am-ish and the feeling miserable.  I went to my sleeping boy and stroke his hair, then looked at him a little longer before daring myself to lie down again. 

So there!  That's off my chest and hopefully never, ever to come true. 

On another note, today I walked my boy into class based on his request.  As he was settling down, I spoke to his class teacher.  The other kids were lining up in single file.  Then William squeezed in between his friends to reach me and said, "Mummy I want to hug and kiss you first.  I love you Mummy."  Just like that, without any prompting.  : )

Two pecks on my cheeks later, I was floating on my way back to my car...


XOXO

William's Birthday Parties

We had two celebration for William's birthday this year.  This boy is quite decisive over what he wants.  He requested for a celebration with his friends at kindy, even months before his birthday, and as for the family celebration, he said it should be at the same place as the previous years.

His actual birthday fell a Monday, which was coincidently a school outing day.  So we had to choose the Thursday before.  I bought a simple cheese cake, ordered some pizzas and spent most of the remaining budget on the party packs!  Each child received a page of stickers, UHT milk, junk food, a healthy biscuit and depending on the gender, Transformer mini toys or a 7 piece stationery Princess set, together with a color printed slip saying, "Thank you for making my day special."

The delivery boy couldn't find his school and Daddy had to wait at the guardhouse to wave him down if the boy happen to drive past!  The pizza arrived just in time, as the kids settled down after their PE lesson.  The pizza however, was not piping hot as it should be.  But kids are thankfully not choosy at this age, as they gobbled down the pizza excitedly after the song singing and cake cutting ritual.

William got to say "grace" before the food was served, and he was so happily proud when he said it.

Cutting his cake.  Looking on is Chrissy and Eviana

The "King" and I

Family Celebration

We have pictures taken every year at Souled Out on his 2nd, 3rd and 4th birthday and nicely framed up in the complimentary paper frames from the outlet.  I noticed that in the last two years birthdays, William wore the same viking hat so for this year, it would be nice if the restaurant could provide a different hat.

Failing to obtain the lady boss' contact, I told hubby I'm leaving it to him if he can source it from his "cables".  Hubby did the easiest - to drop a note in their Facebook page, and voila... the rest they say is history!  The manager liaised with us, and asked William to choose his favourite hat or costume for his birthday.  William chose the Pirate hat and the management generously obliged us.

The kids enjoyed the complimentary helium balloon decorations, and William had pizza for his meal, complimentary from the management.

The rest of us had the following...

Crunchy kurma chicken

Braised lamb shank

Sirloin steak

Prawn tauhu balls

Something pasta

Tenderloin steak

Salad

Salmon in creamy sauce fettucine

Nachos with mozzarella and salsa dip

Carbonara with bacon strips

Pan seared garoupa with rice

Spicy hot dog

Pepperoni and pineapple pizza

 

Pirate William's brand new hat, courtesy of Souled Out.  Thank you Mr Ali for the special arrangement!

Picture taken a few hours before officially turning 5

Dear William,

I love you more each day.  Truly you multiply the joy in our family with your ever generous laughter, and ever ready smile.  I pray for God's protection, blessing of health and good friends, to surround you every day of your life.  May you seek and receive wisdom and realize your dream that builds on your creativeness.  Mummy will continue to cuddle, hug and kiss you as you will forever be my little boy, my boy boy.

Things the kids did during the 1 week March holiday

This is an outdated post, but since I took some nice photos, might as well put them up...

Over the one week school holiday in March, we spent 4 days in Penang, a swimming play date with Vic's BFF and a pizza outing.

Here are the pictures:

Feeding fishes at the condo grounds before the girls went for a swim.  Girl in the middle is Vic's BFF with the same chinese name as her

Learning how to make cheese sticks?  Or just waiting to eat?

Two hands in!  William over enthusiastic to sprinkle ingredients on the dough

Vic with some big jie jies also joined in the fun

More on his peculiarities

I forgotten to add to my earlier post, that William has also the following peculiarity (if I can call it that) to:

1.  Draw according to the sequence of pages in his drawing book.  No scribbling on pages here and there.

2.  His new Spider Man phonic books has 12 in a series.  When he has finished reading them, he takes his time to put them back according to the number on the book.  Again, no jumping numbers. 

He can't wait for his birthday obviously.  One at school, and another over the weekend at this restaurant that he has been celebrating his past 3 birthdays at.  We were told that they will specially prepare a costume hat of William's choice... sssshhh, let's see first. 

William approaching the BIG 5

William wants to be a BIG BOY now, and he just can't wait to be 5.

He reminds me very much of Victoria when she was at his age, only that Vic was definitely more matured in thinking (girl mah) and serious.  Yes, she was playful and laughs and jokes but if I have to compare, William laughs a lot more, plays a lot more, and cries a lot less!

Having said that, William is one joyful child to have.  He still adores his sister like nobody's business, if I may say that.  Just a couple of days back, he insisted to hug AND kiss his jie jie with his oily mouth during lunch time.  Then yesterday when I picked him up from kindy, he checked the back seats in such a cute manner.  I asked him if he was looking for Kakak and he said yes, and also Jie Jie.  That was quite weird, and funny because he knows Vic studies in the afternoon and NEVER picks him from school.  Maybe to cover his mistake, he got into a small sulk and insisted that jie jie has to pick him from school!

When we were packing the party packs for his oncoming birthday celebration in school, he quickly reserved a Little Mermaid sticker for Vic, not knowing that Vic has already taken another piece for herself.  : )

He's also quite a sweet talker, saying things like "Mummy, your hair is so smooth." I seriously have NO IDEA how he learned this because my hubby never says this to me.  : ) Yes, he definitely knows the way to my heart, even when I reprimand him I have to put in effort to keep a straight face and the worse part is, I believe he knows it.  He'd try to smile and laugh and say something funny just to break me up.  A few times I had to look away, or drink some water just so I can keep my stern face on but hubby definitely can see through me.  The solution I believe, is to totally avoid eye contact with either men.

A couple of months back I realized his first streak of OCD (also known as obsessive-compulsive-disorder) whilst driving him to school.  I offered him his sunglasses due to the glaring noon sun.  A normal child or person would immediately put the glasses on but no, not William.  He took the piece of clothe in the casing and starting wiping his sunglasses, both frame and lenses over and over again in case he missed a spot.  From the corner of my eye, I saw him checking for any missed-out spots and then quickly reminded him that we are nearing school!

Shortly after that incident, he asked me in the car one day if he could have permission to rearrange my CDs in the album.  So I said, OK, just be careful not to scratch them or Daddy will kill us.  I was amazed that he took the CDs out a few pieces at a time, not all, and started to sort them according to color code!  I checked, and he did quite an impressive job there!

This reminds me of when he was a toddler of 2 or 3, and arranged his clothing on the bed just the way one would wear them.

I like the way he unashamedly display his sensitiveness and care for all his little soft toys which he fondly call them his "children" and he names each one of them creatively.  Yet at the same time, he shows so much boyishness and playfulness.  His laughter is contagious, and it's hard not to smile or laugh when William is around.  Just yesterday after bathing, he jumped onto his sister's bed naked and pretended to be SpiderMan spraying his webs at make-belief villains!

William and his frog toy that we bought from Pavillion for him when he was still a baby.  He held on to it and refused to put it back.  Today, he call fondly calls the frog, "Ra bek"

With cousin Grace

He talks passionately about the Bumblebee character from Transformers - his current craze!  He counts every single yellow car and truck on the road this week and calls them Bumblebee.

This boy can be dirty in his own way - wiping his oily fingers on his shirts, getting grains of rice stuck on his clothings, and his most irritating habit is the length taken to finish his meal!  Oh, this really test my patience.  Imagine, rushing the kids for tuition and school.  At least Vic response to my time checks, while he remains oblivious, until I start my car engine - almost literally! 

William and Victoria share a little love-hate relationship for certain vegetables.  He, for one, loves, and loves is an understatement because he goes crazy ga-ga over pumpkin especially make into soup (Mummy's signature soup, ahem!) and lady fingers.  He loves wolfberries and tomatoes whereas Vic shares no common love for these.  However, his fancy for onions has rubbed off on his sister, so whenever we order thosai or roti, it has to include onions (or eggs, at least)!

Well, that is William for now.  Almost 5, he is truly a blessing, a wonderful addition to our family.     

Always fascinated with sharks