New Additions

(If you think this is going to be a post heralding the arrival of another Ling, you will be sorely disappointed.)

I am pleased to announce that we are now proud parents of (used to be 8 T.T now) 6 Neon Tetras, 2 Mickey Mouse Fish (which I just bought from Clementi) and 2 Sucker fish ^^

Can you see them swimming HAPPILY in our newly acquired fish tank?

On ANY other occasion, I wouldn't want anything to do with keeping pets, let alone keeping fishes . Honestly, the thought of having to clean the tank, feed them, and make sure they STAY ALIVE is not something I relish.

But then, a fellow colleague at Oldham Hall, who was leaving, offered us his BIG fish tank...together with filter, a water plant, gravel and FISH!

And then the little girl LOVES fishes...or rather anything that swims and/or comes from the sea (dolphines, "nemo" clown fish...you name it she likes it). Actually, we have been toying with the idea (for some time already) of keeping a fish tank for her sake. I even talked to a good friend of mine and reserved a SMALL fish tank with him for this very purpose. But because of time and reasons stated above, we held back.

So now, with a free tank at our disposal, we decided to bite the bullet. Despite my earlier reservations, knowing that Janine will most definitely have endless hours of fun with them and in the glorious name of "education" and "exposure", we adopted the fish tank.

We probably will add MORE to our current brood ^^ I mean, won't they get LONELY swimming in that BIG tank? Must get more fishies ^^

Let the craze begin!!!

Edit: One of my Mickey Mouse fish JUST gave birth to more babies!!! Ohhh! What a thrill!

Bullies Beware!

I just learnt TODAY that My daughter has succeeded in GIVING her first black eye.

Yup. And she hasn't even started school yet. She's a prodigy that way *roll eyes*

The unfortunate recipient? Her mama (my mom)!

I think ever since her fall from our bed at 8 mths old, her cranium must have evolved into metal. It at least explains why she seems unaffected by any knocks she gets.

It's really no joke when she runs HEADLONG, at FULL speed, into your legs or somewhere below the waist. And get off the bed when she starts throwing herself around on the bed!!! Too slow and you will suffer a similar "fate" like my mom or a bleeding nose like me because of that iron head of hers!

It heartens me to know that when she DOES go to school, she has some (natural) self defence mechanism in place so she won't get bullied that easily. On hindsight, as IF she will let herself be bullied in the first place. Eeeps! I am already mentally preparing myself for calls from school with regards to her future playground escapades!

My Number One

People who think Christian music consist of (only) hymns or the slow moving (in other words BORING!) variety obviously don't have the Hillsongs Kids "Tell The World" DVD playing (on an endless loop) in their car.

Here's a SMALL dose, a clip of one of the songs (of the same title), from the collection.

So vibrant and so much ENERGY!

THIS is for KIDS. Can you imagine what us (most definitely cool and hip) GROWN-UPs would be listening to? We are such happening people. Really! Well, at least we try to be lah! Hahaha!

Now THIS is MY favourite take from the DVD and since I am the one with the car more often these days, it'll be no surprise if that track gets worn-out faster than the rest! Lol

Great way to get my engine going in the morning ^^

Disciplining In Public

This post comes after our shopping trip to Takashimaya yesterday in which my dear daughter succeeded in bringing down one of the manequins in the store and breaking it to pieces!

You can imagine my rage, embarressment and dismay. I just turned my back on the little girl to pick something out in those trolleys displaying their wares and then in that few seconds of neglect, there was a thunderous sound of something crashing to the floor. I turn around to see the girl visibly stunned with the pieces of the manequin scattered at her feet.

My first reaction was to scream at her. "Janiiiine!!!! What did u do!???!" I was standing there deciding whether to smack her good and proper there and then or continue to rage at her. Then the nice salesgirl who was assisting me tells me, " It's OK madam, kids are like that, don't scold her in public"

A lot of thoughts coursed through my mind immediately by her that one statement

"Kids are like that"

WHAT!! You mean to tell me that that its OK for children to go around breaking things in shopping centres / public places? That such errant behviour in children is excuseable?

Do parents of this day and age subscribe to this kind of mentality that damaging a few things along the way is OK because "kids are like that"? And then if I don't agree with that kind of thinking does that make me a weirdo? Already as it is, I find myself being overly strict with the little girl. Like I will scold her if she takes too long to follow my intruction or smack her hands ever so often when she takes things other than her toys to play. Am I being an overly strict and fiercesome mother because I expect and demand that my daughter (and other children in future) to behave themselves in public (like no running around like some wild thing, no touching or pulling things down from the shelf)?

"Don't scold her in public"

Am I making a scene of myself if I were to discipline her there and then? And then I wonder about all the other times in the past when I scolded / smacked her in public for her misbehaviour. Do I look like some horrible, bad tempered, impatient, mad, deranged, unloving mother?

Am I hurting her pride (like what all those good parenting books will caution us)? Will such incidents scar her for the rest of her life? Is she going to grow up with some serious emotional hang ups all because her mommy lost her cool and smacked her in front of strangers?

But then if you don't address the issue there and then, then when? I don't expect a 2 year old to relate the punishment that she will be receiving at home to the incident that happened a few hours ago. I just feel that such method of disciplining just won't be effective enough.

And then, if I were to subscribe to that mentality that "its ok, kids are like that" and not discipline her, will I become a mother who can't control her child? I could already feel the looks of disapproval from the salesgirls who tried to piece the broken manequin together. I can almost hear them going "aiyoh...this mother ah, dunno how to control her child, tsk tsk". It totally didn't help that one of the sales girl, while picking up the pieces, kept looking at Janine @.@

After what that sales lady said, all I could do was just to glower at the little gir. I restrained myself from going further into a screaming rage (which in any other circumstances would definitely have happened).

To her merit, the little girl KNEW she did something wrong because once she got her senses back she was apologising rather profusely "Sorry mommy, I'm sorry mommy, sorry sorry..." and then as if wanting the reassurance that she was forgiven, she kept asking to be carried "carry mommy, I'm sorry mommy, carry carry".

Thankfully I wasn't asked to pay for the broken manequin. But I am left somewhat perplexed by the whole incident. I am still reflecting on my actions / lack of action for yesterday and wondering just how in future I should react if the girl misbehaves again (which I am sure WILL happen). I am also wondering if I did / not do something for the girl for her to be misbehaving like that?

Sigh...the woes of a mommy.

Random Conversation ...A Prologue

I have a little planner that sits on my table that gives me little nuggets of parenting secrets everyday. One day (Mar 28) suggested that we "keep a journal of the funny things your children say. You may think you'll remember them - but the odds are you won't"

So I am going with the odds.

But I'm not going to just remember the funny ones, but those that capture the sad, happy, profound, difficult or light-bulb moments. To me, they will be like a little window that gives us a little peek into that particular time in our life as we watch our child(ren) growing up.

And maybe if there's enough, I can compile them into a book and publish them and make BIG bucks and retire early and travel the world and ...OK I digresss :P

Yup. That's the sentimental (calculative) mother for you! ^^

Now We Know

This morning, the princess (got) woke(n) up earlier than usual and kicked up a racket when she realised that I was already up and getting ready for work (read: going to leave her for the next 9 hours). I, the hard hearted mommy, resolved not to let her crying get to me and carried on putting my things together, leaving the girl to wail and writhe in her Papa's arms.

After a few minutes of tolerating the seemingly anguished, distraught and heartbreaking cries of a little girl who obviously have separation issues, my sleep deprived husband rouses from his sleep and admonishes the screaming one with the promise of the "rotan (cane)" if she keeps this up.

With the battle clearly not in her favour, she, slumped on the bed, tries a (rather weak) last attempt to collaborate with her father in an effort to detain me at home.

J (in a small clear voice) : I want to bully Mommy, Papa, I want to bully Mommy.
KY (half asleep but evidentally highly amused but not wanting to show it): Why you want to bully Mommy? You bully Mommy you bully yourself you know. You already got a sore throat. Your voice already so low.
J (after a short pause): I want to disturb Mommy, Papa. Please. I want to disturb.
KY: ...

The truth is out, people! Looks like we've been taken on a ride all this while!

Dunno whether to reprimand or laugh at her.

Well, before I left the house for good today I snuggled her and gave her a big kiss, along with the promise to be back early to play with her (which she returned with a forlorn look and a small whimper).

My early morning entertainment. The sun is shining a bit brighter today and the monday not so blue ^^

I am sooo PISSED!

Not at anyone. Just MYSELF!

Although I woke up at the same time I normally do (which is already way too early for me), I still ended up half an hour LATE for work because just as I was about to leave the house, I realised my access card was nowhere to be found which would translate into me being unable to get out of the compound. So I wasted like 15 minutes trying to find the darn card which was actually IN MY BAG all this time! (argh)

And then, when I FINALLY got myself through the door and was about to step into the lift, I remembered I left my lunch behind. So I made a detour back home to get my lunch which I find out later when I was already downstairs that it was NOT my lunch that I grabbed from the fridge but a bag of fruits! (argh)

And then when I was in the car about to drive off, I remembered I left my diving book UPSTAIRS at HOME! And so because I will need them when I go for my diving theory lessons later this evening, I made yet ANOTHER another trip back home. (argh)

And then, by the time I FINALLY REALLY drove off to work it was like 7.25am...the perfect time for a jam to form just outside our place because boys nowadays must be made of paper and can't walk an extra cm and need their parents to drop them EXACTLY outside the school gates! (argh)

And then while making a left turn, I think I almost knocked down some poor pedestrian at the zebra crossing because he was blocked by this monster of a bus that was next to my car. (argh)

And then, as if the day couldn't get off to a worser start, because I left my office pass in the car and in the process of retrieving the card from the car, I SCRATCHED MY NEW CAR!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!

All this happened in the first 2 hours of waking up today.

I fear for the rest of my life.

Edit: Ok the day didn't end as disastrous as it started. It was Ben & Jerry's FREE CONE DAY TODAY so the afternoon was a much better affair. PLUS, I managed to squeeze in a spot of shopping with my mommy before I went for my dive class ^^. So its NOT all blue today. God MUST have His reasons!

The Princess

As seen through a good friend's (expert) camera lens.

And from the looks of things, she is a "princess" to a tee...from the porcelain complexion right down to the "dao" (lordly) expression! Oh...and don't get me started on how, at this stage, she prefers to be carried around or how her cherry tomatoes/strawberries/grapes must be cut to bite sizes or how she wouldn't tolerate a miniscule grain of sand in her shoe or...!

I think her father and I are going to have our work cut out for us in the years to come O_o

P/S - Yes, the curls are NATURAL (Kin Yew's genes we think). It's NOT permed nor do I sit her down with a curling iron every morning. Its not like she will sit still long enough for something like that (going to a saloon and getting a perm) or, rather, her mommy doesn't have that kind of energy in the mornings or see the necessity to do such "wuliao" (redundant) things. Honestly, there are already so many OTHER things to be done. Curling / Perming my daughter's (if it was straight) hair definitely isn't a priority.

I Scream For Ice Cream

OK lah...I exaggerate. She doesn't exactly scream for ice cream. The princess just repeats her request like 1000000 times until she gets a reaction from you (either getting her ice cream or doing the screaming for her to pipe down). "Mummy! I want ice cream! Ice cream mummy! I wan ice cream. I want ice cream. Iwanicecreamiwanicecreamiwanicecreamiwanicecream..."

And ice cream the princess gets (today) because mummy just luuurves her curly hair and cheeky smile. Actually it's because mummy is out with a with dear old (ok YOUNG!) friend for some good "girls only" time that's why she gets to enjoy the special treat. ^^

Anyway, here she is with MY cup of ice cream because her strawberry ice cream (which she picked herself) was "sour" and she figured mine was better. Sigh! So girl! Lol

Thanks "Aunty" Angela for the nice treat! Best! ^^

The 3 Musketeers

Janine, Zoe and Asher.
(photo courtesy of Aunty Sharon)