Saturday, May 5, 2007

Mass update

I'm so addicted
when I buy Athena her Princess magazine & Pooh magazine , it's because I want to read it first & I want the goodies. I love anything cute, pretty and fairytale-like. (Pity I'm not living a fairytale life)

Athena likes self-inking stamp and I love it too. I buy it even when she don't asks for it, coz' I want it. I bought her two Disney Princess on Saturday, and today I found two of Dora the Explorer & her cousin Diego by chance. What do you think I did? Buy lah! Now she has a boxful of stamps.

Love it! But I've not reached to the stage where I'll open up the box and stamp on a plain paper when she's not looking.

Promegranate leaves
Remember last week I blogged about plucking promegranate leaves from mom's place? I didn't explain to mom why I did that, and when I did she told me "do you know that you're not supposed to pluck it when you're having your menses. Coz' this one very pan tang. It will wither."
I felt bad and apologised for it. And true enough part of it withered.
Coincident? Or really pan-tang?

Ch8 drama serial : Mars Vs Venus
I hardly have the time to catch serials, but since the first episode was telecast, I made the effort to watch it. Heck Athena's studies, I need a drama that will lighten me up. A drama that speaks the truth about couples, what's the difference about men & women (which explains the title of the drama)
The couple that I like are played by Huang Biren & Tay Ping Hui. Biren very ah-soh and of course you see their behaviour is unlike the other lovey dovey couples.
One scene speaks so real of men :- they want to see a well-groomed lady and well-behaved kids blah blah when he opens his house door. But in reality when he did, what he saw was a frumpy-looking Biren caning her children. Made me laugh so loud, coz' I feel like she's playing me.
Really.. I really wonder why is it all men expect their wives to look and dress up for them. If they look frumpy, they'd look elsewhere.. and if they stray they blame it on their wives.
Don't they realise that if their wives don't scold their children (as for caning, it all depends on individuals' belief) how they'd bring up good children. Do they think that children are born to know everything; to be mature and sensible. Point is, men want everything good to look on the surface but don't understand the effort to put in. And about looks.... where will you find the time to curl your hair; dress nicely to welcome the men home?? Umm... anyway....

Small little Aricia
During the examination, I brought up the topic of Aricia's size to her. Her question to me in return was,"what is it that you're concerned about?" After explaining to her about my concerns, she did assure me that Aricia is doing fine and it's just that she'll be on the 3 percentile line. You know the thing I liked about Dr Tan is that she'll take her time to listen to your questions, no doubt we always have to wait long to see her but she explains things to you in details and won't chase you out of the room asap.

Anyway, she assured me that there's really nothing to worry about since Aricia is developing well in her motor skills; agility; alertness and generally a very happy baby. The only time I should worry is if she suddenly drops from her normal 3 %tile (eg. also for other children who suddenly drop from their %tile). Only then will she do a blood test on thyroid (which based on her birth TSH level is okay); check on liver & kidney. But as for now, she's doing well in her own ways.
Her weight should be 6.5kg at 9 months and 7kg at one year,based on her birth weight. Currently she is 6kg, hopefully she gains that 0.5kg soon.

Hubby said "she's cute what?!" Mom and everyone said the same thing. True, I don't deny that being small is cute, especially when she looks over hubby's shoulders (when carrying her) and I thought she looked like a little meerket. But.... frankly speaking we can say she's cute now, 10 years down the road - am I suppose to say she's cute? People will in turn ask him if she has any health problem.
Mom also remarked, "isn't it good that she doesn't put on weight even though she eats so much?" How I wish I have that high metabolic rate myself.. Yay, I don't deny she's damn lucky to have such good genes. From who? Definitely not me!!

This explains why I'm quite worried about her size.

Took the longest time to update blog
Can't believe this is the longest time I'm taking to update my blog. Busy busy busy! Busy with what you might ask. Preparing her flashcards, trying to get a headstart in doing a little of the Shichida thing at home. Can't do much, but still able to flash her her GD (better than nothing); still able to squeeze in one short video for her. Then now have to totally rely on helper to put her to nap in the afternoon while I quickly rush through the preparation. Not much time considering that I have to gym in the mornings, and pick Athena up from school. The only time I'm left with is only like 2 hours. How much can I accomplish?? Wonder if I can pay someone money to help me prepare homemade customised flashcards?? This can definitely save time for me siah! I can use the time better for other things.
And once Athena is home from school - totally no time! I have to give Athena her ... okay.. better don't say (I'm already being accused of cramping too much into a 4+ yrs old girl)
Night time, again helper helps to put Aricia to bed while I continue with Athena. No choice, I can't bao-ga-liao (take responsibility for everything) - if I do, the last thing left of me standing is my skeleton. Think everything would be fine as long as Athena goes to bed right? No! The hard part comes in, that girl wants to be put to bed by me, have to sleep next to her etc.. she's scared of dark (ah! that girl's scared of everything lah!) And she always don't want to sleep; try to "disturb" me by telling me she wants milk; wants water, wants etc.... Very frustrating! By the time she sleeps -11pm and I can't do much. All I can do is to try to save some works in the computer to be printed out (hopefully) the next day.
Very slow in producing the flashcards. And I still have so many other things to do leh! Duh! Stressing myself over nothing. Maybe it'll be better to bring up a stupid kid instead?!?!

Helper needed to :
I guess this time no choice, must rope in my helper to help me with the flashcards liao. I'm not a superwoman leh! Anyway, she's seen me preparing the flashcards and she says it's good coz' she can learn. So.... maybe should ask her to help me cut and paste, so that she can learn at the same time hor??
I don't know how much more I'm supposed to prepare with the Shichida method. Gotta find out when Aricia's class starts.
Dunno if it'll be justifiable to just get the laminating machine and pouches. Otherwise what I'm doing now is to paste it on a cardboard and stick laminate them - very time consuming. Maybe should just print on A4 paper, laminate and voila! flashcard!!
Sometimes I really feel like buying and buying flashcards but their price aint that cheap if I add all up. Some DVDs will cost a ridiculous price of USD32 per piece. *Gasp* my heart missed a beat. If I do on my own, it consumes up my time. If I buy, it's only for Aricia's usage so the money is not fully economised there. Sigh......

Tak boleh tahan
Brought Aricia out for a short while at Compass Point yesterday. Was out for only 3hours and I cannot tahan that girl. Wants to be carried, put her in stroller she starts wailing. Was in KFC feeding her her lunch and then I had a quick bite myself. In that 20 minutes she was crying half the time. When I carry her with the baby sling, she keeps arching forward looking down on the floor. I was so afraid she might fall forward head down. Then she keeps bending over to hold onto the stroller handle. Argh!
Helen used to ask me "how did you do it? You are able to cope bringing 2 kids out alone. Is it positive attitude?" I told her, I dunno what it is probably coz' I'm a independent person, but now I guess it's gotta do with the child! I always brought Athena out jalan-jalan alone when she was younger. I want to do just that with Aricia when I can (coz' I'm usually quite busy with 2 of them) in that once-in-a-blue moon time. But she's made me so adversive of her. Dowan to bring her out. Suffer in the end! How to shop for clothes when that girl keeps wanting me to carry her??

LE Mon
This is the MP4 player I bought some time last week. And... I've been throwing up a fuss with them. Why? Apparently when I brought it back home, my piece is a used piece whereas helper's one is a brand new, shrink wrapped one. Okay, then why didn't I check whether mine is shrink wrapped right? I did, they told me they brought it out to show customers only. And guess what?! On Sunday I was trying out the MP4 player, only when I plugged into my computer, I realised that there were songs inside. Apparently someone has been using this set. Maybe the staff?
Of course I'm not at all pleased for giving me a used set. Well on the hindsight, I know that this piece is definitely working but God knows how long the person been using it, and utilising the battery - thus shortening the battery life. I paid the money, I want a new set. If I had wanted a second hand goods, I wouldn't even pay that amount!!
Helper's set was perfectly alright. It was so easy to change from one album to the next. As for mine, no matter how I tried to change and select another album, it keeps jumping back to the same track. There's no way I can change to another album. If I had wanted a player playing the same song over and over again, I can save the money and ask my daughter to sing me a song - anyway she likes to sing the same song over and over again.

Went back to AMK Hub to change it. Call it suay, said no more liao. And the last piece they have is white and the card is corrupted, so I gotta go back home and reformat the card. Siao! Pay the money of course to get a good piece not one crap piece. And who knows that one may be corrupted beyond repair. Asked me to go down to Sim Lim to the service centre to get a new one. What?! And she can't guarantee me that they'll have a piece reserved for me. Then I insisted that she call and make sure a piece is reserved for me. Dunno what the $%^* the recipient was talking about coz' I kept hearing the girl telling her the story all over again. "customer say it's a used set. There are songs inside. No.. not demo but downloaded songs."
The more I think about it, the more frustrated I am. Here I am, wasted one trip down and they can't do a proper after sales. Talk about being professional, I think it's more of a poorly run business! I asked them to do a delivery to my home coz' I don't have the time to go all the way down to AMK or to Sim Lim.
And guess what?! The girl took down my name & address and said someone will contact me. Nobody ever contacted me, and I had to make that call again. The guy told me "no. I'm not sure of this. Let me check with my colleague who's on leave today tomorrow. Maybe Ken Ji spoke to her. I'll give you a call back." 2 days later and no call.?!?! And whatever has happened to Ken Ji, heard she has resigned. Either she couldn't tahan a customer like me or that girl was using her colleague's name.
Damn it! I've had enough of this crap company. They don't call again I'm going to kick up a big fuss, and get my money back. I'm not going to hold on to a crap MP4 with poor after sales service (now already like that, wonder how their service is like during my player warranty period)
Readers, don't ever get this stupid brand LE Mon!

Athena & her raincoat
Athena has been wanting to wear her raincoat, just because one of her classmate wore to school. She asked to bring it for her when I was already in TPE. Ridiculously asked me to turn back home. When I'm already caught in the stupid jam! I promised her I'd bring her raincoat to school when I pick her up in the evening.
I did, but no rain. She still wanted to wear it. So I let her be, she didn't believe me when I told her no rain. Didn't want to dampen her 'drought' mood, so I pulled her to stand under the block where water was dripping down every 7 secs or so. She was happy. Crazy!
Friday morning, insisted on wearing her raincoat to school from home. Ai yoh.. neighbours all looked at her; looked at me like one crazy mother like that. To save my face, I kept telling her "na, it's not raining outside. Why do you keep insisting on wearing raincoat? It's hot!"

Actually kids love to play with rain. Mom said she loves to hold umbrella. So mom deliberately brought her downstairs to play with the umbrella. Speaking of which, it kindda reminded me of myself and Jasmine in my schooldays.
We love to walk in the rain. And when we do, we'd normally deliberately walk the long way from our school to East Coast Rd to take bus no. 10 instead of 31 which is directly outside our school to our home in Tampines & Pasir Ris. Happy memories of my schooldays.

Athena & her 1st drawing class
Was looking forward to it as I wanted to know what they'd do and the outcome of her first drawing.
She went in didn't know what to expect, I was blur didn't know what to do. Noticed the other parents taking out the paints, crayons, pencils etc.. for their children so followed suit.
One mother praised her for being so brave, her daughter has been in the class for quite a while but she stills get so whiny everytime. I reasoned that it could be due to her being in childcare that's why.
The class started and I quickly went off. I didn't get to see her doing everything from beginning. I went back to pick her up about 10 minutes before her lesson ends, had a surprise. She was slowly painting the background and she already had a drawing of something on it.
Then the parents all went in like swarm of bees, helping to keep things etc.. and a few of them were still painting. I went in and first remark "wah.. so nice... (had to compliment her mah!) And then the usual comment from me was "ai yoh... Athena don't put all the water on the paint." I don't even hear any other parents say that to their children. Either their children are very careful or the parents just let them mess up. At that time I felt like slapping myself. Ok... then compliments and disbelief, I asked the teacher "did she do this herself?" "yes" Okay, kick myself hard on my butt. She can follow instructions to draw what?! I'm rather pleased with her.
Then praised her loads more (never praised her so much in half an hour) and said "you see! che-che you can draw what. The dinosaur you drew is so nice.... next time you practice again and draw for mummy." "mummy, it's a kangaroo not a dinosaur." Haha! On closer look, yes it's a kangaroo with a pouch and a joey in it.
Oh well.... better that she draws more recognizable things now.



Future Saturdays
Felt silly having to wait and wait for her. 10-11am : Speech & Drama, 11+ : quick bite, 12-1pm : Kinderart.
Told hubby that next time I'll bring her alone. So stupid 3 of us had to wait for her. Walked dunno how many times from Yamaha to Heartland Mall vv. One hour is neither long or short, can't do much but better to wait on my own.Today already, hubby & myself like playing hide & seek like that. Buay tahan! Brought her for snack at KFC, then I walked her back to Yamaha and then went back to KFC. Cannot find him & Aricia, walked around the mall looking for him coz' my handphone/wallet with him (can't call him). Then saw him, bumped into ex-colleague Rodney, we chatted. Hubby disappeared again, then look for him again.Commented to Rodney, got no handphone; no money.. how? He suggested selling Aricia away so that I can get home. Found him, this time we brought Aricia around. Less than 10 mins later, I picked Aricia up from the kiddy ride and he disappeared again. Duh! Very sian have to look for him again. Dunno where the heck he walked to? This time I'm only smart in picking up my handphone with me, but no money how to go home?? Irritating! Next time must really hide spare money inside my bra. I ended up walking back to Yamaha with Aricia, coz' needed to pick Athena up already. No more hide & seek games anymore. Yippee!!

Anyway, with Aricia at home with him and helper. I think I can bring Athena to her lessons alone. Well... if she wants to train down, I'll oblige her too! I can probably wait for her with my book & music (finally a time on my own!) and probably walk to shops myself.

Aricia's playarea
No space in our house for her playarea. The place where I used to convert Athena's playarea is where her current bed stands.. so no more space in their room.
So, pushed her easel in between the speaker & electone organ. Pushed back the dining table nearer to our display unit -anyway most of the time it's only 2 people eating at a time. So that we have a walk space & that pathetic space for her. But I must admit, it aint that safe at all. So we gotta keep watch over her when she's there.(anyway I'm always there for my children at every seconds) Try not to put too many toys there so that it's easy to do cleaning up coz' I instructed helper to Dettol-lized the area & foam mats every 2 days. (I'm that careful with my children)
She seems happy in this picture huh?
Oh yes.............zooming in.
She likes the foam mats and then she starts peeling off the mats now. Reminds me of Baby Athena.

Livejournal
I seem to have problem loading the livejournal page. Blogspot isn't a problem at all, but it takes ages to load (if I'm lucky) if not, I can't even get into the page at all.
Messages :
Emily, are you still blogging? I haven't seen your entries at all until the last one on PSI reading.
Audrey, I think you did some slide thingy right? I can't seem to view it.
Hope you gals understand.. not that I suddenly disappeared. But I really have problem reading your blogs.

5 years in June
HDB called to say that we can't try for the BTO. Siao! Make me waste that $10 for nothing coz' our place is not 5 years yet. 2 months short and they're so gniao! Anyway, not that I'm hoping to get a place there.... but like so bloody stringent over this.
Our blocks (7 blocks) here are prime area. Just 5-10mins walk to MRT station. And already we have agents knocking at our doors; calling us at our home phone asking if we're selling this unit.

Iggy
Early in the week was told that Iggy had a shave. Thought he'd look good, anyway boys do look good shaven. Asked me if I want to shave Aricia. Siao! I like her brown tint (like highlighted hair) and curly locks - like Goldilocks.... why would I want to shave her??
Anyway... when I went to see him a day or two later. I thought he really look cute and good. And he really resembled my brother when he was a baby.
Aricia kept pulling his short hair (she always pull hair). Being curious about everything, she'll touch him etc... while he's so guai guai. And she makes the loudest noise.Most of the time, I wished they'd switch places (personality).
Actually mom said I was a very good baby, so I wonder where the traits of my two DDs come from. Doesn't resemble my hubby's traits either!




No comments: