The Red Eyed Monsters - I

Call it suay, or call it the close bond we share. The small girl's conjunctivitis is so powerful >>

Funny thing is that both children were infected in their right eye. KZ's and mine - left eye. It looks as if KZ and myself just had a face to face.

This morning, Athena's eyes were redder - a surprise to me coz' she seemed alright the day before. Perhaps it was the banana that triggers it? Read this article. So, it's no school for her and get another medication. Dr Teo says it's going to be antibiotics this course (like mei-mei) but coz' I bought my certificate and not 100% certified.
At the PDs, KZ brought the children in first while I went to withdraw $. The reaction from the staffs. "Huh, you also got it?" coz' they saw her and mei-mei (carrying her), didn't know it was for Athena. Then they saw Athena and next question was "so the mummy how?" I came into the clinic looking like a 星妈. They said they kindda expected it.. one of them said she saw me rubbing our cheeks together that day and thought to herself that I'll get it. Wah! Cannot show affection meh?

Athena was given 2 days MC. Any days more, I'll rebel. She was happy thinking that she can go gai-gai.........I don't let my children off so easily. I'm happy too! Coz' it means I can give her more work to do, teach her and mebbe start screaming at her. Okay, you might ask why I rebel then right? Coz' she's always taunting and challenging me, I'll be nagging at her every minute. I'll get my blood pressure up and ..........OMG! I haven't thought what's going to happen to me during the school holidays when she's with me 24/7/24/60/60. Before she kills me; I kill myself. Hee!

Aricia - checked with PD if need to see again, if necessary then I'll take her card out. Said no need. So now, we have to ensure 400% hygiene practice - so that we don't pass the 'ball' around and the whole cycle continues.

KZ and myself saw the GPs too. Hope everyone gets well soon.

Back home :
Chinese - try to continue where she stopped last on Friday. It's 'un' and ün'. She's done this in Berries, so it's a quick lesson on that. She has alot of backtracking to do on her Hanyu Pinyin assessment book. Playful girl lor... for the past 2 weeks refuse to do while waiting for mei-mei and me.

Went through the mistakes she did for the past-year papers.

English? Wanted to reinforce the words that is going to be taught for the new book in class this week. Too tired myself, I want to blog. I want to surf the net, do some mindless things . I shall do it tomorrow.......

Later, she'll have to revise her spelling, chinese dictation, music. Tomorrow's another day - English & Maths. Sigh.........I feel so tired when I think about it.

@#$%

Shucks! Yours truly woke up with a red eye on Saturday.

And if that's not bad enough, KZ also got it in the evening.

Hubby? Well and fine.

Mumblings - My week

PV and updates on Aricia
I am a PV in Athena's school. There were many choices of things which any parent can offer to help. I was tempted to help out in the mornings in the English Learning Support Programme (to help reluctant or less able lower primary pupils to read). But hor......... you think you'd trust me? (ha! I can't believe this mummy who's been corrected is teaching her daughter English at home?!?!) Then, I decided I can't coz' where the heck would Aricia go to then? Drop her in too early is not good for her, that means I spend even lesser time with her.
In the end, I signed up for adhoc volunteering. Occasionally they'd send in emails informing us they need help etc... infact there was something on this Monday (16th). Somehow I wanted to sign up and then I hesitated. Was it a hunch that something is going to happen? True enough, my lil' one woke up with a red eye.
She seemed to be getting better yesterday. But then suddenly she started crying and refused to open her eyes. Frightened me! I assumed it was her hair or eyelashes that poked into her eyes. But she did seem normal to me after that so I thought nothing of it but to observe further.

This morning, decided to bring her to PD for follow up. And ........then was told it spread to the other eye. Argh!! This time she's given gentamicin and oral antibiotics. Actually I've noticed now, the PD don't easily give out antibiotics as she used to.
Have to be more observant, if she don't get well by Monday then I'll have to go down to an eye specialist. I told her I have my own, on second thoughts I asked her about the specialist she's recommending. He's in East Shore. Oh thank God! Mine is in Mt E (too far.. and horrible traffic jams will kill me) and East Shore will definitely be closer for me from che-che's school. Curious, I went into the website and read his credentials - 25 years of experience. Guess, should be a good choice. But I hope I don't need his services.

Will have to check on che-che later on. See if che-che spy on naked boys.

Teacher Aides
When che-che's FT gave us a note on the above subject, I was so tempted to sign up for it. I feel there's a need to work alongside with the teachers to help my child. So, did I sign up in eventually? No, not yet. I'm afraid it will take up too much of my time , and I'll be fighting for more time. But it's still ringing in my head, I will sign up when I'm ready.... maybe by then she'll graduate already. Heehee!

アンパンマン
I am so tempted to shop for more DVDs for the children, they keep asking me for more. I'm lost for choice, really too many. Worst is every click brings you to something even more interesting. Argh!!!! I so heart アンパンマン, maybe finding myself looking more like him. Heehee! Round and cute.
Ahhhhh...........Check this out! I want to fly to Japan now.

Hee! I think I'm アンパンマン crazy. I think my children would love it if I could bake something like this: - (I doubt my capability though!)

Found this on youtube - Anpanman song :

I am so inspired to play the theme song, that I went to buy the scorebook online.

Then......today Mr Postman came with a parcel, I thought it was an earlier parcel of stuffs from Amazon. Gotta give the Japanese credit, they were so efficient - I received it today. (ordered on 18th night) Now wondering if my other parcel is lost - again?

See! Such a big box hor............? As if I bought the whole chest of treasure

Crazy right? They need such a big box for this

Yay! I'm happy!!! Going to start playing. Shucks! I hate it with all the A(flat), B(flat), D(flat), E(flat) songs
Yesterday, I optimised my time when she nap. I decided to do a checklist for these books. I have Usually I'd leave che-che to do these alone, which I can't monitor on her progression.

And I had to do all these. Tired!

Che-che
Ah doh! Picked che-che up from school and noticed her right eye. Mei-mei also started off with her right eye. I asked if she did touch mei-mei the day before and then rubbed her own eyes blah blah. She said "no, I didn't.. but mei-mei keep wanting to come close to me. She keep touching me, yesterday she keep beating me." Huh?

Happy Birthday!

Baked this cake on 18th while Aricia was sleeping. Manual whisking for cake while I set the buttercream whisked on the stand mixer. I finished my baking very fast.
Decorated it on same day and celebrated the next day - 19th

It's the craze........the whole week we're all crazy over him.

Che-che insisted that I must also write her name on it.

It's Nutella!!

I was so happy when the children asked for 3 helpings. And lil' one had been rejecting cakes recently suddenly ate so much of my baking - so happy I want to DANCE ALL NIGHT

Now, wondering if I should bake for che-che next week.

* will post more photos in their blogs.

My week

Half of the week is gone and I haven't achieved much (for myself) this week. A standstill coz' have to care for that lil' girl.

Somehow I'm happy with this arrangement, with her around in the morning I was able to do her home sessions. Then concentrate on che-che when she comes home. Otherwise it'll be a mad rush for me; and then I get so naggy and grumpy.

Tuesday was a break for me, I had to send hubby's car for servicing. Didn't bring her along, so I had some time to myself. Tempted to paint Orchard Rd red but I had other important thing to so.

This week too, I can't seem to do much with che-che in the afternoons. She seems to be dozing off while doing her work. And on Wednesday, I dozed off too!

Alright, time to finish this entry. Will wait for tomorrow to do my other postings. It's already close to 2am and I have to get up at 5.30am. Bye!

Cookies yum yums

Baked cookies on Sunday. Packed some for her friends in school.

Photos :







For her friends

FYI : they only did the mixing, I did all the hard work. Athena did 2 plates and I sent her to bed after that. At close to 2am, I finished everything. Tiring! Small oven + can only put one tier at a time.

The Mom's Song

A friend sent this to me. Very interesting

Aricia

Aricia is given one week MC coz' she has conjunctivitis. I really don't understand ... when I brought her to a GP on Friday, he did mention something about her having runny nose before and it's connected. I had no idea what he meant. He prescribed normal saline to her and said it's non-contagious.

Days passed and her eyes didn't recover. This morning brought her to PD for a second opinion, and Dr Lee confirmed it's conjunctivitis and no school for one week. That will mean 'happy hours' for me either positively or negatively. I will get to spend more precious time with her, on the other hand I'll get so drained up.
No Ros's today as well, ehh.......sms-ed for homework pages and will do that and continue with my daily home sessions with her. I'm going to add on the TumbleTots songs for her this week - a few songs with bean bags and lummi sticks, she'll probably have some fun. A few days ago, I changed the way in presenting 大きなたいこ with the tambourine. She managed to beat according to the rhythm even when I didn't tell her to. *yay*
As for her class on Thursday, I'm going to see how. If she's okay, then I'll bring her. If not, I might want to bring her out gai-gai to top up our Japanese groceries in Meidiya. I'm dying to get out of the house and be a tai-tai.

アンパンマン
Daily she's been asking me for アンパンマン - Anpan man. I'm going to bake one cake for her this week - to celebrate her turning 29 months. Wow! Going to be 2 and a half soon, and she's still so small. Somehow I am beginning to worry although sometimes I pretend not to worry about her size.

Cute!
Things that make us laugh at this girl. These photos were taken the week after the CNY break, she suddenly developed fever and stayed home.

KZ asked her to smile, normally she would oblige, but that day she felt grumpy - refused and pouted her lips. The unexpected thing happened next, she turned to look at Alex (lion) and saw his grinning teeth and covered his mouth.
The next shot, she decided to smile. Thus she let go of her hand. It's amazing how she can think beyond that. BTW, these are all her chummy friends - her bear bear, paaaa-po (hippo). Friends who endured her cruelty. I don't understand why she loves lion so much, she took che-che's lion ( a BD present from brother) and claimed its hers. Of course che-che don't really fight with her coz' she has her own smelly bear to hug. She's seen dragging Alex by the tail, tickling her own nose with it, WWF with it, talking to it.

One of her favorite pretend-play toy would be the cleaning aids. She'd take the broom and pan and try to sweep our house, keeping herself busy (sooner or later KZ might lose her job).

This is what we saw today.............. she imitated how KZ put the cleaning aids.


Good things must share
Just a few days ago, she declined to sit down during my home session. I asked her to bring lion & sit dow together on the highchair; she refused & put lion on highchair. She didn't just throw it there, positioned it nicely and said "raion,读书读书 and she made sure he paid attention to me. Kept looking at me, then it. Finally after some time she decided to sit down. Cuddled lion; stroked lion. A thought came into her mind, she turned lion to face me and said 读书 读书. Haha!

Should I say I'm amazed (or I should be expecting this result from her)? She could read the colour words, did Ros's Colours homework all by herself. I'm so proud of her..... my efforts paid off! Still not like other children who can read a book at 2. Hmm... maybe I should just try and see if she can read. She might surprise me.........??

Receptive vs non-receptive
She's very receptive to stimulus. The 2 non-receptive things that she simply refuse to do are :
1) pacifier
2) potty train

1) We did try to wean her off and only give to her during her bedtime. But lately, I have no choice but to give it to her to keep her quiet. Let me share with you my daily highly drama life.
In the mornings when I bring the 2 of them to school, Aricia asks for pacifier which I refuse. Slowly, she kicks the HK tray table which is directly behind me and throws tantrum behind. Shaking her head left and right vv; cries loudly. I get irritated and then I decided to throw her the pacifier.
Then in the afternoons, I fetch her - she asks for her food. And the most frustrating thing is when we pack bread; she asks for bun and vv. She kicks and retaliates with the slightest delay. After eating, she automatically asks for pacifier. I refused and she kicks up hell behind. So to keep myself cool and clear-headed (coz' it's a real distraction to have someone throwing up fits behind) I give pacifier to her. It might take longer time to wean her off, hopefully the time when she understands. But then, she understands what?! So I guess it's time to do my cruel act - put chilli on her pacifiers.

2) Potty train - We started this quite some time back. She simply refuse to sit on the toilet seat, potty - also refuse but difficult for us to hold her down. But when she's been forced to sit on the toilet seat; she refuses to pee/poo. Cries loudly for her chummy pals to help her - real hilarious! So.. you'd kindda expect to know that she only manages a drip of urine, a small blob of poo inside and she cries ...?? like as if we abused her.
Then we tried another method - she goes naked. Still refuse, once she crossed her legs trying to control her urine - we quickly brought her to the toilet seat and she refused to pee. After some time we have no choice but to wear her diapers for her, it immediately felt so warm. ??? Very tough huh? Any volunteer to help me train her??

MIA

All the posts are really late, anyway I've talked about taking a short hiatus with my blogging. I think I can't; I'm addicted to this. Yet again I find my blog is getting boring and boring each day. Well... I'm not Xiaxue bringing in hundreds of readers each day ( I think or maybe it's more) and I am not a good writer - I am only good in complaining about everything else except myself that's because I'm a Saint.. Hee! I have alot of things which I want to write about, but it means alot of linking here and there; alot of reading up on my part = more time taken up. And I'm already so exhausted each day. I will try to do my best so I will not let my fans down. K? So please continue to support meeeeeeeeeeeee.

K, so the updates of what the heck I've been doing - the past 2 weeks (almost coz' of all the late entries). I'm practically alone, had the most boring weekends. Really! Okay, apart from Ignatius's birthday party on the 7th I only had another weekend - which is today. Why boring? I've been such a good girl, basically head off to mom's place after I drop the kids in school. Download the books and print out etc.. and after I pick Aricia up - she naps and I staple the books up etc.. when the children come home they both give me hell.(infact chaos starts in the car - will detail that later on) I can't do much of printing at home coz' printer head is probably spoilt. I do other things, I sleep late. The cycle goes on day in; day out.

Tuesday - 10th
Athena came back home and told me "mummy, on Friday I want to buy you a cookie. A heart-shape cookie. You must give me $2." Of course I didn't oblige her, told her if she wants to get me something- a Valentine cookie; it must be from her not me. She whined "but I have no money... you always ask me to ....." "Alright, you don't have to put your money in the piggybank from today onwards till Friday. Let's see how much you can save from today onwards." She has $1 left from her allowance today.

Wednesday - 11th
The best part of me being so hardworking daily is that I manage to do quite alot (but still alot more to do) of printing in such short time; the worst part is I FELL SICK!! Yah lor.... all the lack of sleep gives me the heatiness (the things that mom always tell me) then sick lor. I fell sick for 2 days. And when I'm sick, home sessions still continues. Actually, I should have seen the symptoms of my "mental illness" this afternoon, I was already tired but was given the strength to continue on nagging at Athena; going through her assessment books with her. KZ helped me with all the homework that Aricia needs to do for both Shichida and Ros's. Really thanks to her help! But I feel so guilty that I can't spend time doing that with Aricia. But I don't trust her with Athena either. How? How to spilt myself into 2?

Thursday - 12th
Thursday,the long day, I was flat out but I perservered on. Somehow things took for the worst during Aricia's Shichida class. I suddenly felt so giddy and that girl had to sweep her hands across the table when we were doing LM - 10 cards all over the place. Woah! That was it! I think I must have faked my giddiness coz' how the heck I knew what was going on right?? But no, mind still ok and then I couldn't take it and just carried her from my lap and stand her on the floor. Her reaction was very subtle but her tears just trickled down immediately... now when I think back, I feel so heartpain. Apparently not only that, one other activity she did made me lose my patience.
End of class, sensei suggested to the whole class to do 5 mins suggestion. Ehh......not that I don't know I'll probably konked out even before the 5 mins is up - I was that exhausted. She did ask me later when she saw me outside the class. Infact J did ask me too, they probably felt I was very grumpy (PMS) old lady or just not my usual cheery self. I needed the rest badly but my shift is not up, still have OT to do. Thank goodness Athena did co-operate with me @ Berries (though she still continued to cling onto me) sigh...... and while I try to shake off that girl; another girl kept yakking in her sharp voice "mummy take out socks; mummy take out socks" and clinging onto me to get my attention. Argh!!!! Now I've got two kids koalas clinging onto me. Honestly, I wonder if anyone has got such interesting and highly drama life as I do have. Thanks to Annie who always come to my rescue.

Brought Aricia back home, did home session with her. I used my another MP3 player to play the CDs.. iPhone still in hubby's office- the session is so smooth without her getting fidgety. Had some time to play some games with her. She's so much better now, she used to fight with me in class. I went to buy her a 6-grid to get her interested, she was. Started playing on first day and now picks up the book herself to do. Today, she decided to pick this 12-grid to do all by herself. So proud of her. Actually I still have my other almost similar toys which I will let her play and then subsequently (when she do not know) introduce her the Math and English ones.

Aricia didn't want to follow me to Berries so I left to pick her up alone. Athena asked to go to the playground. And I obliged her coz' I don't intend to do anything with her at home later except to revise her 听写. One grandma spoke to me while we were waiting for the children at the playground, and I thought wow! this is a high class ah-ma coz' she's really well groomed (which puts me to shame) and she speaks really well. Then I found out that her grand-daughter is also in an IJ school and she herself was also an IJ girl. No wonder she spoke so well! She related so many things to me about "her time" in the pinafore which I found it hilarious. Oh, I remember asking her if her granddaughter went in by Phase 2B - religion - why didn't she try for IJ Toa Payoh or St Nics, the better schools. She said there will be ballotings (based on past years') so they didn't want to try. Wah... I thought it's more or less a guaranteed space?? Isn't it heart-stopping just to enrol your child for a school in Singapore? Still, I must thank my blur/ illiterate (then English-illiterate) mom and their neighbour's (who is now my brother's Godma)help so that I am able to put my children in. Like what MH said,"paving way for our next generation". Then again, we wouldn't know if next time the school enrolment phases would still be the same. ??
During my brother's time :
Mom was lucky, hers was probably the last phase of the dunno how many phases. (don't ask me to ask her, she wouldn't have any idea herself). And she was lucky to get balloted. And at that time, they were staying closeby in Frankel or was it Pulasan Rd? - so I don't know if that was factored in as well or they just ballot everyone.
And then when it came to my "attempted murderer" sister, she was registered in the first phase coz' of the brother (St Stephen) and sister (IJ Katong Primary & IJ Opera Estate) school. *note: it's a slight deviation with the current Phase 1 coz' St Stephen had been an all-boys school all along*

Counted her $, I told her she has $3.10. If she wants to get 1 or 2 cookies? If 2, then I'll deduct 90c from her Friday's allowance. That greedy girl asked to buy 2, KZ gave her $4 to buy 2 for her.
After that, I went to bed at 8.20pm. Really knocked out, I heard the kids fighting for less then 10 mins and I only woke up when my alarm clock rang. My record - 9 hours of sleep. Wo ho!

Friday-13th
Not completely well, spilting headache mebbe from the 9 hours of sleep. I noticed Aricia's right eye is much smaller & redder. The previous day it was a little red, I thought it was her scratching accidentally so brought her to school. But since it didn't get better, I brought her to the doc at mom's place. It's not sore eyes and there's no need for antibiotics. Good thing I didn't bring her to school - so that I can do massive printing and downloading for that 6 hours straight.
This time, I picked Athena up at 4.15pm only to see the "no cars". Oops! Some kids around the gate area still - but I saw her grumpy face and her always complainy self "mummy, why are you so late? All my friends go back home already!" Okay, I shall time myself again next Friday. The previous week, there was a massive jam even at 4pm and I only reached the school gate at 4.11pm.
I asked her about the cookies and she said that she is only allowed to buy 1 cookie. And she was so happy continued rattling "and mummy I bought something from the bookshop. My friends asked me to buy.".......goash if I have a weak heart, I'd get a heart attack. All the interrogation and her miscalculation, I thought she used KZ's money to buy the plastercine. Mummy preached out all the wisdoms nagged (as usual).Nope, she didn't use her money at all, but she used the other $2 to buy the plastercine. Should I be pleased with what she did? Hmm... still young, don't understand.

In the morning, I remembered I was suppose to ask KZ something. The day before, she helped me to clean the car interior when hubby came back. I helped him dish out his dinner, and that's when I saw my stove turned on with slow fire, heating up the soup.
I asked her,"did you leave the stove on yesterday." She either feigned ignorance or tried to delay time by answering me pretended didn't understand me and tried to clarify with me. And then her excuse was "oh... that time I went to clean the car, I forgot to turn off." I told her off immediately that she shouldn't lie to me coz' mom had told me she saw her leaving my stove on - esp for soups - and then the water gets lesser and ingredients gets mashy and very saltish etc.. Think she didn't expect me to say this out. And then she said," I keep the soup hot for Sir."
"How would you know what time Sir is coming home. If he comes home late, are you going to leave the stove on for that long? First, it's dangerous. If a plastic bag or paper is blown into the fire, you'll burn my house down. You know we always like to leave the plastic bags around that area for you to fold and keep. Second, you're wasting our gas which is money. You want to keep the soup hot, put it in the slow cooker. But let me tell you, there's no need to put soup in slow cooker. You can always turn on the stove and heat up the soup; dish out the rice first and by then the soup will be hot." Her reaction? - stun. Didn't expect a lie to be uncovered so soon from me.

Slept early again, not as early as last night but not too bad considering that I had 12 hours of sleep. Which means I haven't been checking my emails for the past 3 nights? Athena begged me to let them sleep in the room but I gave her my reasons.

Saturday - 14th
Remember I mention about my lonely days?? Has been happening for quite a while already, if hubby is not outstation he's at home busy working. I'm really saddled with my kids, and if I was looking forward to getting a break from the kids - it's a strict no-no. I want to throw the kids to him, he throw them out of the room coz' he's working. When he's not in SIN, Athena pretends by telling me "I want to sleep with you coz' you'll be scared in the room." *ahem ahem*, I throw them out of the room too coz' I want to do my printing in the room.
And so, I know this weekend is a goner as well and I'm dying to go out. And what Valentine's Day?? I spent my Valentine's Day showing my love to Athena by telling her off, keeps telling me "so difficult, I cannot" when practising her piano. And I am so sick of hearing this sentence from her, don't know why she lacks confidence. No wonder Master Tan says this girl needs alot of "pushing". Buay tahan, every time I "push her" my life shortens. Athena made a card for all of us. So touching...

Dinner : we headed to HM. I wanted to get a new printer from Harvey Norman. I bought Epson again, coz the cartridge is cheaper than HP and I do massive printing so logically speaking should go for value for money. Will discard my current printer soon. I was eyeing on Samsung laser... the quality print but ahem ahem no money no talk. Now, I'm hoping to download the rests of the books and print from home. Too much shuttling also very tiring, I need to gym soon.

I gave hubby the best best Valentine's present ever!

Anyway, I have cartridges to let go. All brand new, compatible brand (brand name-Parrot) of :
Epson's T0631 - Black x1
Epson's T0632 - Cyan x3
Epson's T0633 - Magenta x3
Epson's T0634 - Yellow x3
Bought at $8 each, willing to let go at $5 each.
*They are not in the box though still in vacumn packed (to save space in my compartment)
These cartridges can be used on Epson Stylus C67, C87, CX3700, CX4100, CX4700
Please leave message here, thanks!

Sunday - 15th
I love my hubby deep deep *smooch smooch* that I passed him my germs. Hahaha!

And I got so pissed off with KZ again. I was woken up by Athena's commotion of trying to puke and saying "soap in the cup" complaining over and over again. I heard KZ saying "there's no soap in the cup, where got?" I went out and asked Athena what happened, she told me "there's soap in her cup of water. Aunty Zet never wash the cup properly....etc..." When she said that, all KZ did was to sit there with her eyes looking at her own food and not caring what happened. And I wonder if she also ignored my poor Aricia that time too. I chose to believe Athena and told KZ to "wash the cup properly next time". Guess what? She never argued with me before, actually said to me "I always wash my cup properly." I was quite taken aback by her response but it's okay... I've handled tough passengers this is peanuts to me. I saw her expression changed and she didn't talk much after that. I tolerated. I didn't bother to ask her if she wanted to go out with us, told hubby to ask her. She said no, and then she's not her usual self. Good! Let us spend some time as a family.

We went to Suntec, but first to Athena's POP EYES (Popeyes) at the Singapore Flyer. That girl waste food again!! Must let her go hungry... she's too choosy.
It was a short 5 hours family time but it equates to my 10 weekdays of house-taming. I didn't do home session with Aricia, neither did I do anything with Athena. Good thing, she picked up her Chinese reader to read. It's such a stress-free day, no wonder none of my friends like to "spoil my relationship with my child" when I talk about mothers being the best teacher for the child.

I had promised to bake with Athena but since we were out most of the day, I told her to do drop cookies instead. With that kind of timing, she was only allowed to do 2 plates and I did the rests - until close to 2am. (typing in room while cookies in oven).

Anyway, in the evening time from the time we got back home she still didn't make the usual noise she normally does. I was mixing the cookie dough when she was feeding Aricia. I didn't see what happened but heard Aricia (sitting in highchair) crying for her water. She sat there oblivious to all the cries and continued spooning Aricia's food and blowing cold the food for her; I stood at the kitchen doorway observing. No response until I got frustrated and went over to pick up. And she said "she purposely throw the bottle", when I saw Aricia struggling to put her bottle of water on the table, I wanted to push her highchair forward and KZ said "she can kick the table and move the chair". I kept quiet, I've seen Aricia doing that before so it's logical that she kept the distance between the table and highchair. But I suppose that's also the reason why Aricia threw her bottle on the floor in frustration earlier after trying so hard to reach the table to place it there. Somehow, I heard the "okay, okay. You come down." - shouting voice at Aricia and she was slamming the highchair. *tolerate*

After that, I asked her to the room and talked to her. "Do you have anything you want to tell me? Anything that you want to say about what happened this morning." she kept quiet and shook her head.
"Fine, I have something to tell you. I am really disappointed in your behaviour this morning, you argued back (perhaps being in SQ, you expect your subordinate to eat the humble pie and apologise) at me when I told you off. You showed me a black face and you didn't behave like you normally would. I can always hear your laughter and voice but today you chose to be quiet tells me that you're not happy with me. Correct? (she kept quiet)
You've been with me for 2 years plus and this is the first time I'm going to talk to you and I hope it's the last. I never had this problem with you before, normally I tell you off you'll respond back with a "okay mum". I've always trusted you and since you were here, you noticed I've always treated you as a family. I correct you when neccesary and nicely, when my children are rude to you I tell them off. I'm a very fair person, I don't let my children bully you. But today, I choose to believe Athena. You know why? Coz' if Athena were to say there's clothes detergent inside the cup I will tell her she's lying. But she said it's the soap. I think there can be a possibility of some accidents. I know you love my children (reverse psychology) & that you wouldn't do harm and put soap in their cup. But there can be accidents when after you wash the cup, maybe the soap did drip into the cup? Coz' you must remember the space around our sink, you think clothes detergent can go in the cup? I know it's very irritating to hear her complaining all the time, you know she complains all the time. Just let her be, I did scold her earlier on too for complaining too much. But don't you think it's good that it's her who complained? A 7 year-old child, what happens if it's Aricia? Who can't tell you that much in a sentence, she probably drank the soap and something will happen to her.
When I tell you to wash the cup properly, I told you nicely but your argument was uncalled for. It probably made you angry thinking that I'm accusing you of harming my children but it also made me angry when you still don't understand between me 'telling you off nicely' instead of what other employers do - shout. I can shout at my kids but not you coz' you're already 28 and I don't see any reason for me to shout at you. I still want to continue trusting you, unless you want to show me otherwise...
Do you have anything to tell me?"
(shakes head and started crying) - I walked out of the room after that. I choose not to mention anything about the dinner coz' I must admit it's quite a handful when it comes to feeding Aricia but I'll be monitoring her behaviour towards my children.

Did I do the right thing?

*photos uploaded later*

Ignatius is 2-tu-ing - 7th Feb

Fast forward 5 months later after Aricia's birthday is Ignatius's. He had his birthday party @ mom's place.

The children had fun in the small Thomas train playhouse... a few children walking the "train" from inside. Funny to see their legs below and the smallest feet had to be my mei-mei's! Was so worried if she might topple and get trampled inside, but she was as gila as the boys. Sigh...... The birthday boy? He refused to go in.

SIL bought the bubble blower, a hit with the children. And I must admit I kindda like the Gazillion bubbles machine they bought. I was worried about the soapiness and kids tripping on the floor, but it was uncalled for. It leaves no mark at all. Simply marvellous! But I'm not going to tell my kids, coz' they're still restricted to the bathing area when they're playing with bubbles.

I tried to take a few shots of him but he didn't co-operate with me + the lousy camera + the lousy photographer= lousy shots.

Cake time.... the cousins were trying to put out the candles for him. And... I always love to see the expression on mei-mei's face and how excited she is clapping along.

Video :

Mumblings

Allowance
Her daily allowance is $1.50. I would think that's alot of money considering that we were only given 1/3 less. But with inflation, I thought $1 may be too little? She comes back with approx 70-80 cents extra daily. This morning, I gave her $2.50 coz' she has a long day in school. Don't know if it's too much again.. will see how.

Bento
I haven't forgotten this, I stopped coz' I wanted her to learn to eat faster during recess time. I want to bento for her on some days, otherwise all those stuffs I bought online will be a good resting place for ants.
Then again, there's another worry - I can't get up early. Coz' I sleep at 3+, and set my alarm at 5.30 but in actual fact jumps out of bed at 6am. Why sleep late? I have things to do which I can't seem to do much in the day time.

Home sessions
I have this choice of either perservering on or just give up and idle my time away. With my free time, I don't have to get so worked up everyday nagging at Athena to hurry up with her lunch and shower, I don't have to keep looking at the clock. With my free time, I can let them go crazy; run amok without caring much. With my free time, I can simply leave them at home while I go out to enjoy myself. But will I do it? Nope! It's unlike me.
I see the results in Aricia. She's not that superbly smart like some kids who can read books at 2, but she can recognize the words. And I mean words like "big hug", "sad mummy" etc..Woah! Chinese - must work hard on it. She's still very Japanese. Haha! I did cut down on their Anpan man DVD though......can't stand having two kids trying to spout Japanese but the pronunciation is horrible at times.

This week
Entries are very late, as usual. I had been busy printing things; saving files in my thumbdrive at mom's place. I can't seem to do it at home coz' I can 't download them in, server administration problem = STARHUB again! Damn! Any Starhub staff reading this blog? It's giving me alot of problems. I think they hear my voice also try to avoid me.
Okay, so the problem lies with them which is inconveniencing me coz' I paid for the online reading already and have to get them all printed out. I have one year to do it slowly, but it's unlike me to do things half way (rolls eyes.... whatever has happened to me organizing the holiday album??) so I choose to quickly print out everything within 2 weeks. . And with those extra materials I have, it will supplement with my current resources.

Wednesday was my major shopping day prior to Athena's music lesson, I needed to shop for Iggy's birthday present; supermarket for a little groceries; a new Ipod ? In the end, I thought I was so dumb... I have an iPhone what?! I went to get a small speaker instead (according to staff, the 3G iPhone can't be used on this) This JBL is a good buy, it was selling for $100+++. I didn't know that Courts had a promotion and it was selling at $99.

I liked this when I saw it many months back so had to lay my hands on it. Athena loves it and asks me to put it in their room. Actually it's not my main purpose. I needed to try to put all the audio tracks into a player and then my home session with Aricia can go smoothly. Usually I need to keep changing discs.. it's making her a little bored now with the time wasted. And it's making me frustrated too! So with the speaker, I can simply press the songs and it plays.

And then all the problems comes.... what .cda format? what .mpg format? I thought I could just bring them into iTunes and then syncronize it. Easy peesy right? No......all the different formats had to confuse me and I had to download free programs to convert; I'm wasting more time instead. Duh!

Then I tried to copy files over into my another MP3 player (btw, I bought another after throwing the stupid LeMon one away) coz' that's easier to do. Also cannot! Format wrong!

Tried again, this time I can't seem to delete the old music files in iTunes. I deleted the program and reload. Managed to get everything in after I figured out how to get the MP3 or WMA format. Click to syncronize and an update notice comes in. I was that blur... afterall I had already spent almost one hour figuring out this IT technie thing.. and I click OKAY. Shucks! Guess what? Updated US software, my bloody phone can't work!! Now will have to wait for hubby to help me bring to office to ask the IT guy to convert it back to SIN for me.(I think he's going to kill me) Have to use my previous phone, I don't mind but coz' I had alot of 'reminders' in my phone for tomorrow. Speaking of which, I am so tempted to download those Games Applications but I don't think we can purchase anything from iTunes right (non US)? So why the heck get a cheaper phone from the US when there's this barrier?

Okay, my suay luck not only ends here. In the afternoon, since I still couldn't get the songs into either player - I used my lappie. It did play though I have to wait for a while for the music to load (too much space taken?) and I thought since I'm using my lappie, I might as well show Aricia the CD-rom flashcards. I've tried plugging it to the TV cable and it can be viewed on TV before, today.......dunno what happened - nothing is projected on screen. Argh! #$%^, it was working fine the last time I used.

Still not enough, need to be even more suay. I need holy water. I tried printing something for mei-mei. And the black & white ink don't come out except for colours. And I guess I've done alot of excessive printing, probably the head is a little spoilt. So, now I'm going to finish the last two stacks of A5 flashcard papers + all the inks I bought. Then I shall change printer. This time round, I think I shouldn't get such a heavy duty paper - 300 gsm. Other than that the scanner is still working fine. Hmm....maybe get a laser printer? Now that I'm printing using brother's computer & printer, I have to buy the cartridge for them. And HP's cartridge is so expensive!! I buy compatible versions for my home computer - afterall I do so much flashcards printing will feel the pinch if I get the original Epson.

Athena

If there's an award Athena should deserve, it should be "Miss Helpful" - too helpful infact!

One day, she tells me "I helped XXX find her jacket. I went with her to the office to find, I help her ask." (don't know how true with that last sentence of hers coz' she always refuse to talk to strangers). Then on Tuesday, she tells me "XX told me she cannot find her wallet, I went with her to find her wallet, then she had to go home.. I continue help her find, mummy tomorrow I have to go to school very early to help her." huh? Miss Helpful is a nicer term, should be Miss Kapo

Twice I praised her for being so helpful but she shouldn't miss class for that reason next time.

Happy that she's so goody..... but then why the heck is she so reluctant to help at home? Why is she always whining at home when we ask her to do something?

I keep forgetting to write this down until Mel's entry reminded me. Many a times when I had to discipline Aricia, Athena will come over to help her; hug her and sayang her. Trying to block for mei-mei. She's nice and probably easy to exploit by her friends with her sensitivity. But then her sensitivity also comes with the extreme opposite behaviour, when she taunts me with the stupidest things. You know what I mean? When I say she was a good baby, she was and can still be - just that most times she decides she wants to anger everyone (and of course to me more since I'm with her all the time) which makes me utterly disappointed in her, coz' she can be a good girl.

Stickers
On Wednesday, she told me that she bought stickers from the bookshop. I bit my tongue when she said that. I wouldn't want her to be a spendthrift.. but then I kept quiet and thought to myself that I shouldn't nag at her this time round.
I shouldn't have done that coz' on Thursday, she told me (again) she bought another sticker. Oi! I told her not to buy it all the time. If she keeps spending, it means that her daily allowance is alot of money so I will cut her allowance.