Mummy's update - HFMD

3 weeks back, Rye Li had Hands, Foot, Mouth disease (HFMD). There was a girl at Aunty Ng's (daycare), who is also her classmate at kindy had it first over the weekend and we were warned by Aunty to watch out signs on Rye Li.

On Wednesday itself, we noticed one red dot on her left thumb (the one that she sucks on) and didn't think anything of it. The next day, that night itself, she complaint of pain in her mouth and when we looked inside her mouth, we noticed some white spots already and knew that she also had it. So the next day, both her and her mei-mei, stayed at home with their paternal grandparents who were both down from Penang.

Both hubby and I expected her to whine and moan about her condition since this girl cannot stand pain (compared to her mei-mei who had this in July). But surprisingly, as much as she complaint it was painful to eat and drink, she would eat and that's mainly due to us threatening her that if she doesn't eat, she will have to go to the hospital and that she will need drips. This worked since she is so terrified of needles. I guess it's easier when they're older enough to understand to reasoning.

So she skipped school for several days and I wanted to send her back to both school and daycare the following Wednesday or Thursday (since she has recovered by then) when on Monday night itself, Haye Li also had it (poor Haye Li, had it the second time within 3 months!). So the remaining days of that week, they were put up at their maternal grandparents' since Ah Kong and Ah Por had to go back to Penang. Rye Li had so much fun there and she was really happy especially since she gets to eat ice cream everyday!

The other highlight of her being sick is that finally, she can now miss school officially because she is sick. Usually her friends, skipped school when they were sick and she would compare herself to them especially her classmates who also go to the daycare as they would hang out at the daycare. She had tried numerous times with me when she was coughing or had the flu as to why she cannot just stay at Aunty Ng's like her friends when they were sick. I've always managed to reason with her till now. So, she's really happy that she got to miss school! LOL!

As for her thumb-sucking, the little dot on her thumb became a big blister as she was sucking on it in the first few days she had HFMD. So I told her not to as it would hurt. I didn't really expect her to listen to me as she can be one stubborn girl and also old habits are tough to get rid off. But she has not sucked her thumb since then till now! The first few nights I knew it was tough on her as she could not fall asleep without her thumb so I told her to think of happy things to dream off, etc. She was still touching the fabric of her little bolster's cover, another habit of hers while sucking thumb and she used both hands this time round.

I was praising her after over a week of not sucking her thumb and told her that if she manages not to suck her thumb at all till her birthday year end, on top of what I will get her for her birthday present, she will also get to chose another BIG present. So we shall just see if she manages this or not! :D

Camerons - November 2009*

*another very backdated post (and there will be more to come)

We went back to Camerons in November last year although we were there the month before celebrating my mei-mei's 1st birthday. Mummy had a company's trip cum annual dinner so we all decided to tag along but we stayed at my grandpa's apartment.

Since the previous month, we didn't go to the waterfalls, we decided to stop at the waterfalls this round. Papa and mummy had no choice as I kept asking them about it till they gave in. So here are some of the pictures...

and with any other hoildays, i get to eat my junkfood! :D

had to be mummy's model again

We didn't take much pictures after that as the weather up at Camerons were soooo gloomy as it was raining everyday! I did however go to my regular spot which is at the playground. Sorry no pictures as mummy and my mei-mei didn't go as they were stuck at the apartment. Mei-mei was not feeling very well.

Since the weather was so gloomy, we stayed indoors most of the time. Not a place to visit during rainy season. If you want to see more pics of my mei-mei and her updates during this trip, you can visit her blog at http://haye-li.blogspot.com/.

Making Spring Rolls

Remember my pizza making session? Since I had so much fun with it, papa gave me another opportunity at cooking again. Many months back, I helped papa made some mini spring rolls at home. So here's how we did it:-

Note: ingredients and other stuff were prepared by papa.

First, lay out a layer of spring roll/wan ton skin

Second, put some stuffing (in this case, it's minced pork mixed with some secret recipe of papa's) at one side

Thirdly, start folding from the sides

Fourth, fold again till you come to the end

Fifth, line the edges with egg stuff so the skin can be stucked to the body of the spring roll


Sixth, smile for the camera! :D and do everything again till you finish

Ta daaaa! The wan tons were rolled up by papa. Pssst, mummy said I rolled the spring rolls, better than she does.

After they have been fried!

Yummy!

When can we cook again papa?!!! Oh, we made some ice cream too some time back but sorry, no pics of that so no updates. Maybe the next time we make ice cream ya!

My first concert

I had my first concert over the weekend and it went well. Mummy and papa said they were very proud of me although I wasn't smiling throughout the whole 5 mins dance. I'll let the following pictures speak for themselves.

my teacher putting on my 'tiara'

a picture with a couple of my classmates (no close up pic of my whole costume since we were rushing around that day)

At the beginning of the dance, going to my spot to dance

At my spot dancing (notice how tiny I am among my classmates)

halfway through the dance, we went to the front to do our thing!



the end of the dance and noticed how nearly everyone waved goodbye but me. i was scracthing my back, a habit of mine

Below is the video, please excuse the quality of it (and I hope you don't get a headache) as my mummy ain't a pro in video-graphy. :) ....Enjoy!

[* Mummy's note: In the last few weeks, Rye Li has been showing us the dance steps and we expected to see that from her. At the concert, we noticed she was at the background dancing while the steps she shown us were actually the girls in green who were dancing in the front. Later, after the concert, we asked her whether she practiced the dance steps during practice and she said no as she was supposed to do different steps. This girl actually learnt along the other's steps. Although her real fame was like 30 seconds of the whole slot of 5 minutes, when she came to the front, we are still very proud of our princess! Well done Rye Li!]

On Bahasa

I've been learning Bahasa Malaysia (BM) in school and was also taught our Rukun Negara. Mummy finds it amusing that I speak BM with a funny accent. I don't exactly know what they mean but I've been learning them anyway and can repeat the Rukun Negara like a broken record.

The below video is of me singing "Burung Kakak Tua" which I have learnt from Aunty Ng's.

I'm becoming more self conscious and do not like Mummy showing people of my videos. She says it's because I'm talented and it is worth showing people how good am I but still. I don't understand what is it with her and the camera. Geez!

Mummy's entry - on giving birth

It’s interesting that Rye Li has yet to ask me about the birds and the bees, not that I want her to also. :D

She knows that a baby comes from the mummy’s tummy and that the tummy will grow bigger and bigger and when it is big enough, the baby will come out. She also knows that the baby will either come out from the tummy or from the vagina but she has never thought about it until recently when I told her one of my good friends has just given birth to a baby girl. And she went:-

Rye Li: Baby T came out from Aunty J’s stomach ah?

Mummy: Yes, Baby T came out from the stomach coz her head was facing up inside the tummy and cannot come out from the pot-pot (our home slang for referring to the vagina)

Rye Li: Oh

Mummy: Rye Li and mei-mei came out from mummy’s pot-pot

Rye Li: Eeeeeyuucks! Disgusting!

Mummy: Well, there’s only 2 ways of the baby coming out. It’s either from the tummy where the doctor will cut the tummy and once the baby is out, the doctor will sew the tummy up. Or the baby will come out from the pot-pot.

Immediately she replied “Next time when I have babies, I want my babies to come out from my pot-pot!”

And I thought she would tell me that she’s never having babies. :D

Mummy’s entry – How vain she can be!

It seems when Rye Li started kindy in January, she has been practicing for their concert which will be held end of this month. I remembered when she first used the word “kompang” (malay for a traditional musical instrument and can also be termed as a drum), I didn’t exactly make out what she was trying to tell me although she told me that she is playing the kompang at class. It was only when I knew that there will be a concert in May, I put two and two together and realized that she has been telling me that they practice their kompang sessions nearly everyday in school (I’m impressed at how early they prepare the kids for the concert).

So naturally, we are all aware at home that this girl with the rest of her classmates will be playing the kompang for their concert and personally, I am very excited for this as this is my first time experiencing such things as a mom.

I did probe with Rye Li whenever I can whether they had practice that day or not. I also asked what does she do with the kompang and she would show me in actions what her steps are and so on. And then I also asked her about her costume and she told me that it’s pink in colour. More than a week back I asked her how her costume is like and she described it being very sexy with a bare back top and I had this vision in my head already. Then few days later, there was a notice in her bag (her kindy got this exercise book in which it is meant for notices to the parents and they’ll make sure that the parents have read and understood it by signing on it) that she’ll need a pair of white socks and black shoes for her concert.

Since it was kind of vague as to what type of shoes she needed, I thought that I would ask her teacher to confirm the kind of shoes she needs. So I managed to get hold of the principal and asked her about it and she told me that Rye Li would need those dainty black shoes for girls (as opposed to sport shoes – don’t know why sport shoes came into my mind when I first saw the notice!) as she would be wearing a baju kurung (traditional malay costumes for girls). When she mentioned this, I nearly burst out in laughter as it is so opposite to the bare back top I have in my mind. And also silly of me for thinking a sexy costume when I very well know she’s playing the kompang. I did ask Rye Li about it that evening, describing how a baju kurung will look like and she confirmed it as that being her costume. I did tell her that there’s no way anyone would be dressing sexily when playing the kompang and she laughed it off.

Anyway, we also just got to know that there will be a rehearsal next week at school and that the parents were given notices to have the kids attend class in their black shoes and white socks plus some makeup on. The girl was so excited about the makeup part as she has always been pestering me to let her wear makeup (she observes me when I wear my makeup) and I have managed to convince her that she can only wear make when she’s older or that if she’s someone’s flower girl at weddings and she has bought it all this while.

This picture was taken during CNY this year when I met up with my girlfriends and one of them who brought her 2 elder girls along had lip gloss with them and my Rye Li got so fascinated by it. I allowed her to wear it (actually my friend’s daughter was the one who put on the lip gloss for her and I had a tough time explaining to her why they had lip gloss with them later on – I knew she would ask me this question after that).

So now my story has changed that she can only wear makeup at concerts (she also laughed at the idea that the boys also need to wear makeup and I told her only at concerts). She is so excited about this that she has been telling everyone that she meets at the daycare (including some mothers that picked their kids up) about it. See how vain my little one can be. She even asked Aunty Ng (the daycare owner) to tie her one ponytail by the side and let some hair fall out. Geez!

As much as she is excited about having to wear makeup, I am very excited about seeing my baby performing at a concert. I don’t how she will fare but regardless of the outcome, I will still be very proud of her. I hope I can update on it when the time comes….I know, I’ve been such a bad blogger these days and I’ve missed out on so many good posts of the girl already.

Update: Diaper-less at nights mission ABORTED!!!

Mummy was so gung-ho in training me to go diaper-less at nights over a month go, the thing is, it only last for 2 weeks! She realized that it was going to be super duper tough to break the habit as I pee like 3-4 times in a night and I can even sleep peacefully on my wet soiled pajamas and bed. So I’m back to diapers at nights (hooray!) and she said when I start to have dry diapers (if ever) in the mornings, she would look into this again.

As much as I know I won’t be getting my Barbie dollhouse soon, I’m cool about it as I don’t get disturbed by mummy to wake up and pee. I think mummy is happy too that she doesn’t need to worry about me wetting my bed anymore.

Mummy’s entry – training to be diaper-less at nights

Since weaning Haye Li has been so easy, I thought I might as well trained Rye Li to be diaper-less at nights while I still have a helper. Also, it would save us some money as well.

I have been telling Rye Li for months that she is a big girl already and that she doesn’t need to wear diapers at night especially since she does not wear diapers during daytime for quite some time now. But she refused and I also I was too lazy to force her then.

So lately, I took a different approach and told her that her diapers in a year costs me RM400 and with that money, I can buy her a Barbie Doll’s house (actually, I have no idea how much a Barbie Doll’s house costs and whether there is a such thing too). Her immediate response was “Ok mummy, I don’t want to wear diapers already and I will wee-wee in the potty in my room!” (I told her that a potty will be put in the room for her easy access).

We are into the 7th night already training her and how has it been? It’s been a total failure and my sleep disruption is getting worst with not only Haye Li waking me up through the nights but Rye Li too.

First night – I learnt that this lazy bum will not get up to pee so I had to get up to make her pee. She peed 2 times on the bed and 1 time managed to pee in the potty. Of course, we had to change her pajamas too and her bed sheet in the morning.

Second night – I made sure that I will wake up through the nights to make her pee but I failed the first wake up call and she is to blame as who would have thought she would pee after like 1 hour plus into her sleep from her last pee. But the remaining two times were successful. Her pajamas and bed sheet were again changed.

Third night – Only successful night! And I made sure I praised her like mad and I was pretty sure that this is IT to having her fully trained. I woke up 3 times to make her pee; 1st one at 11 plus pm (yes, I sleep that early now coz I’m so sleep deprived), 2nd one at 2 plus am and 3rd one at 5 plus am. She wakes up at 7am and I also made sure she pees first before taking her milk.

Fourth night – She peed once and that was because I couldn’t wake up on time to make her pee. This was earlier in the night and I also put layers of nappy cloth under her so her bed sheet was totally dried up in the morning.

Fifth night – She peed twice and this time she got serious scolding from me as after the first round of peeing and me having to change her and all; the next round when I woke her up, she refused to pee and went back to sleep. And true enough, shortly after that, she peed again. The bed sheet was changed again.

Sixth night – She peed three times! Partly my fault too as I was too tired to get up on time but I was surprised as to how much pee she has in the potty with her 3 attempts at it too.

I am now thinking of not letting her drink any water at nights anymore and only her milk which is like 7oz at her bedtime. And also probably I will need to set the alarm to have me wake up on time to make her pee.

Tonight is the 7th night and I’m so dead tired and as much as part of me wants to go back to letting her wear her diapers, another part of me is also determined to continue this training. I have been psyching her to get up own self but no such luck yet. There has got to be a better way. I’m so envious of my close friend’s daughter who is 2 weeks apart from Rye Li and has not been wearing diapers since she was 1 year plus (she was having dry diapers in the mornings then which led her mom to just let her go diaperless). Rye Li has never ever gotten a dry diaper at all in the mornings and I’m also wondering whether it’s in the genes since I used to wet my bed until I was like 7-8 years old.

Should I just let her wear diapers till she wears it out herself and stop torturing myself further?!!!!

Mummy's entry - Cheng Meng

This is Rye Li’s first visit to the cemetery. Haye Li and I didn’t go as I feel Haye Li is still too young and also she’s not feeling well.

Actually, I do not know what is the right age for kids to visit the graveyard but as far back as I can remember, I know I visited my ancestors graves when I was really young. I had loads of fun then with our annual ritual, visiting my paternal great grandmother’s grave, and then to my paternal grandfather’s before visiting his other 3 wives’ graves (he had 4 wives and my actual grandmother was the last to leave this world when I was 16 years old).

So as you can tell, my dad’s side of the family is huge which is why we kids had loads of fun literary playing around the graves on top of paying our respects to our ancestors. Of course, the last time I did this for my dad’s side was the year before I got married and that time also, wasn’t as fun as before as my girl cousins (we have more girls than boys) were all married already and it was only my brother and I from our generation that was presented other than my uncles and aunties. Anyhow, I still miss the rituals although we have to get up very early in the morning.

Since I married into the Lim’s family nearly 7 years ago, I only visited hubby’s paternal grandmother’s grave once at Ipoh and I got valid reasons as I got pregnant with Rye Li after that and she was too young to visit the grave in her first year. At that time, I thought I would bring her in her second year when a friend of mine told me that it’s not advisable to bring young kids to the graveyard. Last year, when she was just over 3 years old, I wanted her to follow hubby to Ipoh while I will be at home with Haye Li but somehow she wasn’t feeling well and we scraped the idea.

This year we felt Rye Li has matured enough to travel the distance to Ipoh and that it is a good learning experience for her as well. Also, after explaining what Cheng Meng is about, she wanted to go. She was also happy with the fact that I allowed her to use her Barbie umbrella for the first time ever since she got it as a birthday present last year.

So early this morning at 6am, she followed hubby, his parents and brother to Ipoh. Hubby said that she was alright with the journey and the whole experience altogether. I wasn’t too worried about the long journey as she was so well behaved last September when she followed hubby alone in the car to Kuala Besut (for a holiday at Perhentian Island – another backdated post in which when I have the time).

When they returned just now, she reported that she had fun and when I asked her what she did, she went “I went to pai-pai (pray) la”. She also visited a family friend's vegetable farm after that and had some fun at the farm.

Following are the very few pictures hubby managed to take…

freshly wide awake early in the morning in the car still in pajamas

all geared up after that to make the visit

with her barbie umbrella, very happy to be able to use it to good use since it is banned inside the house

with ah kong and ah por

with the joss-sticks, paying respect to great grandmother

at the vegetable farm

posing with the brinjals (eggplants)

papa had to coax her to pluck the coconuts

Guess this is Rye Li’s first and many more to come. I think I will wait till Haye Li is at least 3 years old before we all go as a family.

Learning how to read

I've been learning phonics at Aunty Ng's and now that I have started school, it comes in real handy. This is what I was being taught at school and I had to bring it home as homework for reading.



[Mummy's note: it has not been easy doing her school's reading at home as it definitely takes a whole lot of patience. we have a tougher time with her bahasa when we need to do her sukukata. i don't remember learning how to read in kindergarten my time other than abc's. i only remember learning how to do the sukukata when i was in standard one. so i do feel sorry when she has a tougher time with her sukukata compared to her english phonics as it is confusing to learn both reading at the same time. when i get impatient with her, i had to remind myself that she's only 4 years old]

Year of the Tiger

It's approaching the year of the tiger and see what papa got me from his trip to Singapore....

It's a travel luggage for me

It can also function like this - so when we travel, it's either I ride on it, or papa can pull me along on it.

As for now, we're playing with it at home. Will come in handy for our HK trip next month. My mei-mei also loves it!

I would like to wish all of you a happy roaring Chinese New Year and happy holidays too! May the year of the tiger bring a roaring success to all of you!

Learning how to add

Last year, I was taught at Aunty Ng's on how to do additions. Mummy wasn't aware about the method taught till several months back when she caught me doing my math and she laughed at me! Hmmmph! I don't like it when she laughs at me and she justified it by saying that it's so cute. Huh? How can one be cute adding numbers? I'll let you see for yourself and you tell me if it's cute or not ya?

Mummy's entry - Bloggers Meet

This is the first time ever we attended a blogger’s meet where there were 6 mummies and 11 kids in total. The purpose was to meet up Vien who is back here from the states with her 2 girls. Thanks to Annie, she helped arranged the meet up.

It is my first time meeting Annie, Barbara and Sasha and my second time meeting Vien. The other mum is Twin and I know her personally as her kids go to the same day-care as mine. I only knew that she was a blogger when Rye Li was like nearly a year old and that also I came across her kids’ names on the blogs I frequently read.

Anyhow, these are the happening mamas on blogosphere and I have been following them for quite some time and hence, it was an honour to finally meet up with them and their adorable, infamous kids (yes, our kids are more famous than their mamas).

We met up last weekend and as much as I would have loved to chat more with them, it was nearly impossible as we had to attend to our kids too. So whatever little time we had, we quickly ate and chatted whatever we could in that 2-3 hours meet. All of us agreed for sure that the next time we meet, we will leave the kids behind! Lol!

Here are some of the impossible pictures that I took. It is so tough to take nice pictures of the kids and sadly, I missed out on some of the infamous kids too.

Rye Li (tiara was borrowed from Denisha) with Ashley, Denisha and Darien

this cute boy is Cruz (a pity I didn't manage to take his twin brother, Fearles)

this is Cassie and at the back is her sister, Belle

These are the group shots we managed to take from Annie's camera (minus the 2 babies which is Haye Li and Justin - they were asleep then). You can see their pictures at Haye Li's blog which I managed to take just before they had their nap.

Mummy's entry - Little Ms. Bossy!

My Rye Li is also a little Ms. Bossy. I am aware of this with her behaviour in our household and also when she is with her cousins.

The last 1 month, I have been taking her and 3 of her friends (one boy and 2 girls) from the day-care to school every weekday morning. And boy, having four 4 year olds in the car is no easy task. During the first week of school, I saw Rye Li’s true colour and this is probably how she behaves at the day-care all this while too. She is not happy that her friends got to sit in her car. Since her place in our car has always been at the front, next to me, she kept asking me “why my friends no need car seats?” and “I want to sit behind too”, etc. Of course, I didn’t bother giving in to her and her face, was black throughout the short journey to school.

All of them knows Mammamia soundtrack and hence, the 4 kids would be singing throughout the journey as well. The first day, Rye Li joined in. After that, till now, she refused to let me play the soundtrack and I know it’s because her friends know how to sing the songs. Rye Li likes to show off that she knows a lot of things so in this case, she cannot. I didn’t give in to her that first week and let her friends enjoy the soundtrack for the first 3 weeks till I myself got fed up and now they are listening to my radio. :D

There is one girl who is also very strong in character (I believe stronger than Rye Li’s) while the other girl and boy are softer in nature and will usually give in to Rye Li and this other girl. Everyday, for sure Rye Li and this girl will get into an argument and I had to threaten these 2 to stop fighting or else I will leave them 2 by the roadside to apologize to each other. They have been quoting this ever since when I warned them each time to stop fighting. LOL!

When I asked Rye Li why must she always fight with her, she will say “XX always like to do (bully) me, so I fight with her la”. I’m also guessing Aunty Ng (their caretaker at the day-care) has a role here as she always threaten each of them when they do not want to finish their medicine or food at the day-care, that she will give it to either one of them. By the way, this is also the girl Rye Li slapped before when Rye Li was only 2 and a half years old!.

There was one time in the car, Rye Li was sulking big time for something she didn’t get her way with and I told her off. XX (who also speaks quite well, the best of them all), upon hearing me telling Rye Li off said “Rye Li, you cannot have it your way the whole day, you must take turns” and Rye Li immediately rebutted “XX! This is my car okay and I can have it the whole day!”

These 2 strong-headed girls also fight with each other to get the attention of the other 2 kids. One will show off with one thing and the other will rebut with another thing. When I chose to ignore, the arguments can get quite bad and I just have to shut them off by telling them not to fight and warning them. Sigh!

I didn’t want to make it seem to Rye Li that I’m siding with her friends all the time so when her friends do some wrongs in my car, I will tell them off nicely. XX will get the most, as she loves pushing the other kids one side, to get out of the car first or bully the other kids when they don’t listen to her. The very first time I told her off for this, she was surprised and showed her black face and I made her wait while the others get off first. The next day and after that, she will let them out first and told me “Aunty, I let ZZ out first” as if getting my approval means something to her (all kids are the same, they all want the needed attention and recognition). And just to add, whenever I scold XX off, Rye Li will add “XX (is) always so naughty!” and the other girl, the soft-natured one will add on “Ya, XX (is) always so naughty!” The only boy is always to himself or singing if Mammamia soundtrack is on. I’m guessing he is so used to the girls fighting. LOL!

There are times Rye Li will tell me “I don’t want my friends to sit in my car” or “I don’t want XX to sit in my car”. I have to explained to her why I am sending them as well since I need to drop off her mei-mei to the daycare, her friends are just following us to school as their parents cannot send them. Anyway, this is just until end of February as March onwards, her school will start at 8am and the other kids’ parents will be able to drop them off to school then.

This week again, Rye Li got jealous when I was talking to her friends and told me “I don’t want you to talk to my friends” or when I happened to answer one of them “yes, my dear” when they were calling me to tell me something, Rye Li went “Why you said ‘my dear’?, ZZ is not your daughter okay!”

I bet you that once I have stopped sending her friends to school, this girl will miss her friends in our car.

Mummy’s entry – Little Ms. Smarty pants

Some of Rye Li’s countless comebacks…

When I could not answer her endless questions….”you are 33 years old, you must know!”

When we asked her to do something for us….”why you cannot do yourself? You cannot walk ah?”

When we talk to her at bed time…”can you be quiet, I am trying to sleep”

When we threatened her that she will lie in bed alone at night in her room since we need to do our work outside as she refused to fall asleep …”you go do your work-la” [this used to work when we want her to lie still in her bed].

Actually, reverse psychology doesn’t work on her most of the times. She is a bossy kid and hence, she gets into arguments with some of the kids at the daycare. I found out at one stage last year, she didn’t want to join the kids in the garden during playtime and stayed indoors. And when I asked her why, she said “because my friends don’t want to friend me” and I took the opportunity to tell her that she cannot be bossy all the time and that she needs to learn how to play with the other kids without having to win all the time too in games, if not, no one would want to be friends with her and she would be all alone.. And she responded “I don’t want to play with my friends, I want to be all by myself!”

She is very observant and has started to compare things a long time back. She loves asking us “why mei-mei can…..and I cannot?” and there was one time, her paternal grandmother was in town and when we got back home at night, we made Rye Li shower before we got her ready for bed and she went “why poh-poh didn’t shower and I must shower?”.

The most difficult part is when she noticed naughty kids got away with their wrongdoings and she started questioning on this. It is tough to come up with good reasoning when your kids ask so many questions. Now I know why my parents at times asked me to shut up and not question them when I was young. I have been told off too for being such a busybody. And as much as I’m trying not to do the same to Rye Li, I just find myself doing so especially when I do not have reasonable answers for her endless questions.

Of course I need to add that Rye Li listens to reasoning (we just need to drill it into her). She would rebel initially and only after much explanation, she will accept our answers eventually.

It's tough being a mummy! LOL

Mummy's entry - 1st day at kindy

getting ready for school - ok, was bribed with that gummy worm in her hand

I am pleased to report that there were no dramas from my drama princess this morning. She wasn’t eager to go to school either but at least she was listening to me when I woke her up and got her ready for school [I know I make it sound as if we quarrel a lot, we do actually as she loves defying me and I have turned into a really nagging mom!].

In the middle of the night just some time after midnight, she woke up from her sleep and started coughing and then she vomited twice, all her dinner and milk out. It was strange as she wasn’t coughing badly for over a week now. I was kind of worried especially since she would be starting school in the morning. She wasn’t having any fever and I also wondered whether it was an act of hers (she knows how to pretend to be sick so that she gets away] to probably not go to school but throughout the times we were calming her down and cleaning her up, I refused to mention that I would bring her to the doctors (although in my head I know that if her condition worsens in the morning, I would probably have to). But luckily after that episode, there were no more coughing.

stop taking pictures already, can we go now?!!!!

Anyhow, as I was preparing her this morning, she passed me a crystal bracelet (the cheapo ones you can get for RM5) which she has been wearing for a couple of months now. Over the weekend, I told her that she would not be able to wear it to school and that she would have to keep it at home and probably wear it over weekends. She wasn’t too pleased about it and rejected my suggestion and after explaining to her a little more on why she couldn’t wear it to school, I didn’t pursue it after that even though she still said “I want!”. So when she passed it to me this morning, I was surprised that she gave in to me. This girl really needs a lot of reasoning and she would accept it in the end. Only hubby has the patience (most of the time) for her which was why I didn’t want hubby to take her to school just in case she starts acting up.

on the way to school

being my cheeky self - so happened i look like the tweety bird too

Before we left the house, I told her that I would drop off her mei-mei to Aunty Ng’s first and then I would bring her to school. And she replied “I want me first” and I told her if that’s the case, she will have to wait for me at the school and she seems alright with it. In the end, I had to also drop her off first as we were running late.

I brought her into her class, looking out for the other 3 kids from the daycare that will be in the same class. Found them seated together with their mommies nearby and I brought Rye Li to them. I explained to her clearly again that I am sending her mei-mei off to Aunty Ng’s and that when she finishes class, I’ll be outside waiting for her and she is to listen to her teacher. She was cool about it. Didn’t even show any signs of feeling out of place (and didn’t even react to one of her friends crying – on the way there, I asked if she’s going to cry and she said “Cannot cry, after (wards) teacher will scold!”

When I got back to the kindy after dropping the little one to the daycare, I waited outside the school’s compound and chatted with the moms of the other kids at the same daycare. I couldn’t see Rye Li as her class was upstairs and they have already locked the front door but the other moms told me she was fine after I left.

When school ended, the kids were reunited with their parents/caretakers. Rye Li was happy to see me and she was more interested in playing at the playground at the school’s compound. At first when I asked her if she likes school, she said “don’t like!” but later on she said “I like!”

I am very proud of my baby as I was really expecting her to be a cry baby on the first day of her school. Guess she loves surprising me!

Physical updates a.k.a Drama Queen updates!

I went in for my flu jab yesterday which I wasn’t aware of till it was already too late. I thought it was for my mei-mei’s jab you see so I was happily playing in the doctor’s room. As usual, I insist that my mei-mei sees the doctor first and she was very well behaved when she had her jab. Only a slight ‘WEK” and then she was alright.

I was happily playing with the toys when I realized that I was going to have a jab too and I started screaming and crying like it’s the end of the world. Mummy (who said that I couldn’t have ice cream as I had a slight cough earlier) went “Rye Li, you want ice cream or not? After the injection, mummy will get you some ice cream.”

In all that screaming and crying, I answered “I WANT ICE CREAM!” and continued crying and screaming. I resisted BIG time but papa held me down. Mummy who was carrying mei-mei also had to help to hold me down. Her face was next to my face and she kept telling me that she will get me ice cream after the injection. I was screaming “WAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH” the whole time and then when I felt the pain, I went “OWW OWW OWW” and then “WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH”. And when I realized it was over, I went “I WANT ICE CREAM!!!!” and continued crying! They put the plaster on my arm and I was still crying, thinking of that ice cream that mummy offered me. You can bet on it that I was asking for ice cream in my saddest voice ever till I got my ice cream.

Mummy had to talk some sense into me after that as to why was I crying and screaming like that, after all, the pain was only for that few seconds. She told me that I was not to cry and scream like that again for future injections but I told her I want to cry and scream and that I don’t want anymore injections!

Anyway, I got measured for my weight and height which is 14.5kgs (still petite) and I forgot what my height measurement was. Also, I got told off by mummy as she forgot to ask my doctor about the constant rashes I have on my body (since early this year), especially on one side of my nen-nen which started like a month ago. She thinks it’s the milk I’m drinking and she has tried changing my milk to other brands but I only want my original milk. I am that stubborn as even though I understand that my milk is causing me to have rashes, I told mummy that I don’t want to drink milk anymore if I can’t drink this brand.

Mummy’s entry – Like a beach*

*beach = actually means the other word that sounds like this, you know, the female dog (this is a baby friendly site mah!)

I was whistling the tune of Katy Perry’s song “Hot n Cold” in front of Rye Li and when it came to that part of the song, Rye Li went “Like a beach*”

It caught me off-guard and I went “What you just said?”

She went “Like a BEACH*!”

My response?! = “Yes, you’re right! Like a beach*” and started laughing and she got annoyed at me for laughing at her.

This girl listens to our songs and now she only loves female songs. She used to love Jason Maraz’s “I’m yours” but now will say “I don’t like boy (‘s) songs, I only like girl (‘s) songs!”.

I forgot that when the songs are played on TV and on the radio, they are censored off from those words. But lately, this girl watches these songs on You Tube especially her all time favourite, Taylor Swift’s “It’s a love story” (this girl can sing the whole song!) and recently, the whole Mammamia’s soundtrack!. Anyway, she must have picked this word up from You Tube.

I am now thinking that I should be more careful when I let her watch these music videos on You Tube. She knows how to click those videos herself (once I’ve opened up the website for her).

Anyway, I'm not too worried about this word since she probably thinks it's the actual word of beach which she loves a lot. Ain't life a beach?! :D

Me first, me first!

It’s been some time ever since I had this “me first” syndrome. Everything we do, I always have to be the first one and I will go “Me first, me first!”.

When we reach or leave home, I have to be the first one that enters or exits the house. If I don’t, I will give you my infamous black face and will sulk. My Kakak will give in to me but not my mummy at times, especially when she’s rushing. Mind you, my mummy will just let me cry it out if I burst into tears which is why I will just sulk instead (saves the energy).

When it’s time for my shower, I will get upset when my mei-mei has her bath first and I will complaint and sulk big time after that (to mostly getting either nagged or ignored by my mummy).

This has been annoying mummy a lot lately as she always nag me that there are no such thing as “Me first” but I will still insist as my friends at the daycare always do this to me.

So mummy has been telling me if I like this “me first” business a lot, the next time when we’re at the doctor's, I can go first instead of my mei-mei and I will quickly respond “No, mei-mei first!” and this has always been the case every time we see the doctor together. I hope we’re not seeing the doctor soon.