Out of tiredness caring for 3 demanding girls today, on top of supervising an on-going renovation in the kitchen plus having to deal with some difficult customers, I said this to Baby:
Me – I am so so tired you know? I wish I were a princess and don’t have to do any work but just shop, sleep and eat!!
Baby – And I wish I were a KING!
Me – WHY??
Baby – so that I can scold you!
Me – WHAT?? Say that again?
Baby – errr, no no hahaha! Joking only!
This rascal is getting cheekier by the day. She is very good with her words and very good at manipulating us. Very soon she will have to go to pre school. Yep she has to as she is going to be 4 years old in 1.5 months. Though she knows how to do simple addition from 1-10 with her fingers, knows her ABCs and 123s, I think she still has to start pre school at 4 years old, else she will have a lot to catching up to do next year. The pre school that her 2 che ches used to attend has a tough syllabus (6YOs doing Std 2 Math!), to get the kids prepared for a Chinese primary school environment.
And yep, this rascal is a vain pot too, thank GOD, LOL!! Was so worried that she would turn out to be a tomboy and dislikes dresses and accessories. And she has proven that she’s just as vain as her Sherilyn che che, oh goodie 😀
After close to 2 years in baby ballet class, my princess wannabe is finally ready to sit for Grade 1 of the Royal Academy Of Dancing Exam. The first trial ballet exam was held today. One more trial exam and the actual exam will be held in May or June this year. From a weekly lesson initially, she has been attending bi-weekly sessions for the past 1 year to get herself ready for the exam. It’s stressful for us as we have to chauffeur her to and fro ballet classes twice a week but Sherilyn is enjoying her ballet classes as well as the company of her fellow ballerina friends. Hopefully she will pass this exam. Lessons are still pretty fun now but as she enters into higher grades, lessons will not be that fun anymore as that is when the teacher will become stricter with the students.
I strongly believe that everyone has to take very good care of their body and mind. Guide to Healthcare Schools can teach you how to be healthy in body and mind. Ballet is one good way of exercising and keeping the body and mind healthy. Each time Sherilyn dances, she sweats profusely.
Here are some of the pix taken today:
Last minute practice in front of the TV.. Baby in her princess clogs, observing her che che intently and enviously.
That’s how her ballet teacher wants the ballerinas to put the handkerchief and scarf – on a hanger with a peg.
And that’s how the ballet teacher wants the ballerinas to hold their ballet heels when they enter the class.
This is Alycia after her first pre-primary ballet exam over 3 years ago. It’s a pity that she hates ballet and quit after 1.5 years into the lesson.
Today Sherilyn was green with envy when we went to KLCC without her. We did not leave her out intentionally. It’s just that her ballet class clashed with Alycia’s first appointment with the Orthodontist and she must not miss the class as she is sitting for her Primary 1 ballet exam very soon.  After the doctor’s appointment, we went to KLCC as hubs needed to meet up with his Japanese chef friend at Chinoz, KLCC for some business talk. So Alycia, Baby and I tagged along and had a sumptuous light meal of sashimi and sushi for tea. During the time we were at KLCC, Sherilyn called her daddy and me on the mobile phone over 7 times till we had to hang up on her as she was merely adding up to the phone bill.
After the tea cum appointment at Chinoz, we went to the supermarket at Isetan. There was an on-going Japanese food fair there and boy, Alycia and Sherilyn enjoyed themselves to the max going from booth to booth sampling free juice, smoothies, Japanese snacks and Japanese Udon! I shall post pix of those mouth watering Japanese snacks in the Japanese food fair in my blogspot blog tomorrow. I really need to hit the sack now. I am drop dead tired and my brain is almost shutting down now! I need to wake up early tomorrow to run off those calories I had piled up today and to prepare Sherilyn for her trial ballet exam tomorrow. Nite nite and happy Sunday peeps!
NO, my man would never buy clothes, bags and other stuff for me and my kids from online stores. But yes if it’s done at a physical shop. My man never buys anything online. Well, none that I know of. Ever since I started an online shop 3 years ago, my clothes and my kids clothing are sourced mainly online – from my suppliers – 95% of them. Why not since they are at wholesale price and it’s so convenient for busy mums like me? Even my shoes and some lingerie were purchased online from my suppliers. I have even purchased supplements for Baby from a shop in the UK since 3 years ago and still do.
Anyway, back to the topic of my post. The majority of my customers are female shoppers. But when I get a male customer inquiring about a product, I feel doubtful of their intention. How many men will actually comment in a public social networking site to inquire about a ladies wear or a girl dress, right? His comments will be visible by the eyes of the entire world! My doubt will quell when they have paid for the goods that they had earlier asked about. And that’s when I start to feel bad that I had qualms about them earlier.   I must also admit that I have a slight feeling of envious of the customer’s wife. How lucky is she that her hubby takes the time and trouble to shop for her and her kids from online stores. Recently I had a male customer who went through all the albums in my online store in FB for about a week, made over a ‘hundred inquiries’ and spent a few hundred bucks worth of clothes and kids accessories for his daughter and wife. About a month later, he bought from me again and went through the same process again. And he did not even ask for a discount though he bought so much from me. Out of gratitude, I gave his daughter a free gift. Oh, how I love customers like this 😀 I know my man will never ever do that and I know many men will not do that either. But I admire those daddies and hubbies who do that for their kids and wife out of love.
Alycia was feeling a tad under the weather yesterday. She kept asking me to touch her forehead. If my girls ever ask me to touch their foreheads, I know that they feel feverish and unwell. Alycia was having a runny nose and a productive cough. The sound of the phlegm in her throat each time she coughs is a sign that she’s got a throat infection. She must have gotten the bug from her daddy who is also down with throat infection. In fact, #2 and #3 are also recovering from a cold. Alycia’s lips, which are already naturally very rosy since birth were crimson red and her eyes were watery. Her temperature was 37.4, which normally is a sign that a fever is looming. I told her to skip school tomorrow but she was very, very adamant in going ahead to school. Alycia is one girl who hates missing school. Though I scared her a wee bit about brain damage as a result of having too high a fever, she was still steadfast in her decision. She then bawled and said “MUMMY, I WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL!!” When I said “OK, you can go to school if you have no fever tomorrow morning but you cannot stay back for extra curricular activities”, she bawled again and said “MUMMY, I WANT TO STAY BACK!!” To pacify her, I told her that she could go to school tomorrow (today) on condition that she has no fever tomorrow (today) morning. That managed to placate her. That evening, she was very diligent in gulping down cups after cups of water, popped Esberitox, swallowed a teaspoon of thick Manuka honey without water, chomped down a plate of fruits and ate loads of veggie during dinner! Thank God she woke up this morning without any fever and off she went to school this morning and only came home at about 4:30pm. Only God knew how worried I was for her the whole day and kept thinking about her and wondering if she was OK or otherwise. Oh well, this is just a part of motherhood and the infinity list of worries will never end.
On the Saturday that we were home without kakak, the girls and I had a bit of fun. After roping them to do some house work where everyone enjoyed, I wanted to reward them with Magnum ice cream. However there was only 1 stick of Magnum left and all 3 girls wanted the part of the ice cream that’s stuck to the stick. So how? I created a little excitement by getting them to draw lots. Alycia was in charge of preparing the papers for the cast and I put the papers into a container for them to draw lots.
The girls with their cast! WHO, WHO, WHO got the stick??
The sole Magnum almond ice cream cut into 3 equal portions.
Who do you think got the stick? Make a guess, haha!
I never expected to get a bouquet of flowers from my dear hubs this Valentine’s Day. Ever since the girls came along, our Valentine’s Day came and go without much fanfare, except for a cake. And we normally get a cake just so the kids could have fun cutting, blowing the candles (1 candle each for the girls to blow) and eating it, while we capture the occasion on camera and camcorder. No more exchange of gifts from the both of us anymore for I think it is a waste of money. So getting a bouquet of flowers from him this year came as a big surprise, albeit I still do think that it is a waste of money to be spending over RM50 on a bunch of flowers and leaves which will go to the bin a few days later. Yep, I am this unromantic but down right practical… ever since my girls came along! Ever single sen and ringgit we spend unnecessary matters a lot to me now. It ain’t easy to bring up 3 kids in an expensive city, what more sending them to university. Anyway, I am very glad that he took the trouble to try to “sweep me off my feet” again hehe. Actually I had forgotten all about Valentines Day until early this morning when he gave me a peck on the cheek and said “happy Valentines Day”.
I got a shock when I saw Sherilyn’s English homework from the Chinese primary school that she goes to. What has happened to the standard of English? How can it be so simple? I could not believe what I had seen. She had done all these when she was in her first two years of pre school at age three and four! Even my almost 4YO baby girl finds her che che’s homework a no-brainer. With a mfa degree you can get your elementary school education degree. With a school education degree, it would better to home-school your kids yourself.
This was her English homework, which was letter tracing and coloring. There was also coloring of big objects, which any pre-schooler could do without much sweat. Perhaps the MoE wants to lower the standard to give benefit to those who did not attend pre school and do not know the basic ABCs, 123s, shapes and colors? Or is this just a warm up? In fact, I find that the level of English for Standard 2 and Standard 3 pretty simple too.
During the short CNY holiday, I bought new water tumblers for the girls. I change their water tumblers once every 2 months or whenever I see too many scratches or stains on the bottle. When I bought them, Alycia and Sherilyn were not together with me. They were at the book store with their daddy. I had chosen pink ones for Sherilyn and Baby and a blue one for Alycia. I know Alycia hates pink. She loves blue, so I chose a blue one for her BUT I made a mistake. Albeit the tumbler had a blue cap and blue pictures, the pictures were that of some cute smiley giraffes on it! When I was choosing the water tumbler, it did cross my mind that Alycia would not like motif of cute animals printed on her tumbler but I bought it anyway as I was in a hurry. She dislikes anything that is too babyish looking. Yep cute giraffes are more for babies and toddlers, aren’t they?
When she saw the new blue tumbler with cute giraffes on it, she gave me a “yucks, I hate it!” look! But I forced her to use it. I knew what was on her mind. She was imagining that she would draw stares and queries from her friends (esp. boys) on why she was using a cute tumbler meant for babies. It would be very obvious as she removes her tumbler from her school bag and holds it whilst in the van, to and fro school. Barely a week after using it, this girl who has a good track record of keeping things and seldom looses things told me one day after school that she had lost the tumbler! When she announced her lost, I could as if read what’s in her head… that she had deliberately misplaced it so that she did not have to use it anymore! LIE, she told me a white lie so that she does not have to hold the tumbler with cute giraffes on it ever again! But I did not reprimand her knowing how super sensitive she is. I asked her jokingly if she had purposely lost it and she let out a defensive “NO” with a chuckle. Nah, I knew she was lying but then again, I told her that I would give her a benefit of doubt but in my heart, I knew she had deliberately misplaced it. A mother almost always knows best what’s on her daughter’s mind!
Lesson learned for me. In future if I have to get Alycia another tumbler or just about other stuff, I better bring her along with me and let her have the call.
I was waiting rather anxiously the whole of yesterday for their return from school. I could not wait to hear from them what they did in their first UCMAS class, how they liked the UCMAS teacher, did Alycia loose the money that I gave her for her to pass to the teacher and what they bought from the school canteen to eat for lunch. Sometimes I am ‘thankful’ that my life is on the fast lane. Time passes by so quickly that I do not have the time to worry about minor problems. Before I knew it, it was already 4pm and the entire house is filled with their noisy chatter again. I was so happy and relieved to hear from them that they liked their first UCMAS class. The first lesson was pretty simple, which was to count the number of beads on the abacus. They were so proud that they had to teach their mummy the abacus! I was never taught the abacus during my time in the early 1980s. All of Alycia’s fears and worries were unfounded. I could see a big relief on her cheery face. Alycia told me that she had finished the food that I packed for her and bought a skewer of fish balls to share with Sherilyn. Alycia and Sherilyn regaled me with what transpired during their time in school – who squabbled with who in class, who got punished, who ate what, etc. I was happy to hear that they are having some kind of fun being with each other during recess everyday. And Alycia is very pleased that Aidan and her are good friends 😀
Overall, I am very happy that Alycia and Sherilyn have each other as company during recess time everyday and when they stay back after school. And Sherilyn is loving school (albeit not liking having to wake up at 6am every morning) as her best friend Berlyn is sitting in the same van as her and in the same class with her as well. Berlyn is even sitting next to her during UCMAS class. They share food with each other everyday.
I am hoping that Alycia and Sherilyn will continue to enjoy their UCMAS class even when it gets tougher over time.
Yesterday was the first day that Alycia had to stay back after school for compulsory extra curricular activities. Ever since the incident last year where the van driver left her out in school and told me that she did not know where she was upon reaching our condo (GOSH, I almost fainted!!), I have this paranoia all the time that the same thing will happen again. Whenever the van arrives late at our condo after school, my mind begins to stray and all sorts of negative thoughts would play tricks on me in my mind. I have been praying to God everyday to bring Alycia and Sherilyn safely to school and to bring them home safely to me everyday.
I have enrolled Alycia and Sherilyn for UCMAS (Mental Arithmetic) class conducted after school and the first class will begin today. Alycia has been very unreceptive over my steadfast decision in sending her to UCMAS class. She gives me all sorts of lame excuses to avoid attending the class, like she does not know which class the lesson will be held at, she does not want to climb the stairs to the 3rd floor to attend lesson, she does not like Math and a whole load of other unreasonable excuses. Whenever I raise the subject of UCMAS, she will whine and be teary eyed and beg me not to enroll her for it. Yep, this girl is super sensitive and tears easily. I know she feels very insecure and probably frightened of her own unfounded fears. Blame it on the Calligraphy teacher who instilled fear in her 2 years ago (the teacher threatened the Year 1 pupils that if they did not write nicely, they did not have to attend class anymore and said some harsh words to the pupils to scare the sh*t out of them). She had just turned 6YO then and being a December child, had to enter into Std 1. What an outright wrong way for the teacher to teach, which back-fired. I had blogged about this 2 years ago.
Though Alycia is already in Std. 3, I still worry a lot about her whenever she is in school. My worry includes Sherilyn who is a very curious, daring and fearless 7YO. I worry that she will get herself into some major trouble because of her boldness, rashness and naive ness. Baby is another child whom I worry a lot. She is now safe at home and I am not ready just yet to ‘release her’ because of what she had gone through as a baby. She still has a slight post-op issue with her urinary tract (which is the reason why I am delaying pre school for her), which I hope time will heal it (says the surgeon). I know my worries are only the small tip of the ice berg and there are way more for me to deal with when they are in their teens. It does not help that I am a chronic worrier who worries unnecessarily over every little thing.
As I am typing this post, my eyes keep glancing at the clock on my desk. I am counting down every minute to my girls’ return from school. This will be my routine for many, many years to come until they leave their nest.
Feeling soppy now and shall step down from the soap box..
Baby was bickering with her eldest che che over some trivial matters. When the squabble got out of hand, Baby took out her toy magic wand and ‘casted a spell’ on her che che like a witch…
“Magic wand, TURN HER INTO A FROG NOW, TING!” and chanted this ‘spell’ several times until I burst into a fit of laughter, which in turn made the 2 bickering sisters rolling on the floor laughing out too wahahahahahaha!!! I had to laugh really hard when I heard her saying “TING” at the end of casting her evil spell, as if after the ‘TING’, her che che will really turn into an ugly frog LOL!!
My 2 fashionistas!
Baby with the cheap cheap made in China Angry Birds bubbles that daddy bought from the toys wholesaler in Petaling Street. My princess wannabe, the ever creative fashionista hung the 2 One Piece character key chains to each side of her sunnies 😀
Cassandra at 3Y 9M
Sherilyn at 1 week shy of her 7th birthday
Our helper has followed my mil to the market early this morning. Over breakfast just now, I roped the 2 older girls to help out after breakfast. They helped to put back the jam and butter into the fridge, bring the dishes and cups to the sink to wash, wipe the table, sweep the floor and re-arrange the kitchen top. Alycia also helped to make the beds. I asked the girls if they would prefer to have kakak or without a kakak. I told them that if we have no Kakak, all of them would have a fair share of household chores to do. After a few seconds in deep thoughts, all 3 gave me the same answer, which is a resounding “NO KAKAK!” They told me that they liked doing house chores. We all agreed that the house is more peaceful and quieter without kakak’s naggings and scoldings. Yep, she drives me bonkers everyday with a term I call ‘step-mothering’ the kids by scolding them and quarelling with #2 all the time. It’s hard to get maids ever since our neighboring countries banned their supply of maids to our country. With an online store running and 3 young kids, I definitely need a helper. If I am left without a maid, I am quite willing to give up my online store to be a full time SAHM. I think I will be happier this way… or maybe not. It’s hard to predict sometimes. She adds a big percentage to my Stress Bag. I know I will also be stressed without her help. But I know my stress will also be erased if I don’t hear anymore of her naggings, rude answers and don’t have to deal with her temper tantrums (she bangs things and answers back with disdain and sarcasm all the time). Maybe my girls and I will be closer without her for we will all share out the house chores. I know Alycia will be more pleased than ever to help. Sherilyn – it depends on her mood. For a start, she will think it’s fun to do house work but after a few days, I can already anticipate her reaction. Having said all these, I am still unable to make up my mind now. To have or not to have a maid?
A few nights ago, my eldest was so happy that she could not sleep. Daddy came home and told her that he had gotten her a surprise, which is something that she likes very much. Today he gave the bag of surprise to Alycia, which is a bag of One Piece figurines bought from China Town at only RM20 for 6 different figurines. What is One Piece? Go ask your school-going kids la, they will know better 😀 I had no frigging idea what One Piece was until I saw Alycia google searching this character from the laptop and drawing them. She would lock herself in her room and draw them for hours! The One Piece characters look like some scary looking Japanese manga warriors and hooligans. I wasn’t surprised or shocked to see her drawing stuff like these as she has always been a fan of similar scary looking creatures and characters. She once liked Animal Kaiser, Plants vs Zombies (I have banned her from playing this game or drawing them, lest she turns into one living zombie!) and Angry Birds. Now her obsession is with One Piece *roll eyes and shake head*
I wonder why she does not like Princesses, Barbie, Hello Kitty and other girly characters. I am truly disappointed. But I am hopeful that this is only a temporary phase, which she will eventually get over and done with. Pictures of Alycia’s toys collection up next…
