Why Are Children So Persistent?

Why are children so persistent? Or is it just my children? LOL. When they want something, they seem to 'die-die' also must have it! Are we just weak parents now? Always seem to give in to their whims and fancies most of the time? Of course, I tried to be strict. I tried to set rules. But sometimes, you'll just get tired and say, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! LOL.

Not all their whims and fancies are specifically bad ones, it's just that sometimes it's at an inappropriate time. Just like the times, when...

1. We were rushing to work and we were already at the door but Elizabeth insisted that she must finish reading her book first.

2. We were rushing to work again and Joseph demanded to wear his socks and shoes just like his papa although he is just going to the babysitter's house.

3. I arrived at the babysitter's house and saw that the children's eyes were glued to the idiot box then I announced that it's time to head home but they protested louder than a lion's roar.

4. I wanted to be done with my mopping as fast as I can because we had plans to go out but Elizabeth said she wants to be a handy helper and help me with the mopping.

5. I wanted to carry on with their bedtime routine but was stopped in my tracks and 'forced' to become a paparazzi to this celebrity.

6. We were travelling in the car and Elizabeth thought that it was too sunny, I had to give up my sunnies after much pestering.

7. Elizabeth wanted to copy nearly everything she saw on the telly and decided to camp in the house. Both children were hell bent in sleeping in the tent that night and I just waited to see how long it will last. Well, guess what? They gave up in the end. LOL.

Mother Dearest

Today is my beloved mother's birthday and too bad I can't be back to celebrate it with her because my hubby couldn't take leave. But I knew much earlier so I already celebrated with her in advanced.

Two weeks back, we went for lunch after church and took her to a restaurant called Good New World in Malacca. It was quite a satisfying lunch although mum said, "aiyo so expensive". But birthday is but once a year right? Anyway, mum was quite pleased.

Elizabeth, Mum and my nephew Benjamin.

Then I wanted a pic with Mummy. Joseph and my another nephew Brandon is in the pic this time too.

Abalone dish. Ordered specially for my Mum but alas she said she couldn't eat much because her teeth are not strong enough to chew.

Xiao Bai Cai. We must have greens because I have a little vegetarian(Joseph).

We can't go wrong with any sweet and sour dish because that is what my nephews love! So sweet and sour pork it is.

Sek Pan fish. It has already been attacked then only I remembered to take a pic. LOL. Four dishes for my family of small eaters excluding hubby and me. Hehe.

After the meal, hubby took a ride around. Something caught our eye and we ended up at The Eye On Malaysia area. We saw people playing kites. Some were really huge. It was a windy day alright but some of the huge kites still has difficulty going up into the sky. We found out that there was some kind of water fest going on by Tourism Malaysia. We also saw a lot of Perodua Alza lining up. Apparently, there was some sort of competition going on. It looked like a competition for modified cars.

We never knew that this existed! Apparently there were some sailing and dragon boat competition that took place here.

I really like sailboats and wonder how is it like to be on one.

Couldn't get a good angle shot but that long kite is actually a giant squid.

The 'kite flyers' are trying very hard to make the kites go up. Quite unique kites which I haven't seen before. Looks like a ring with thorns, a cat and a parachute-like kite.

This was the winner of the modified cars competition. From what I observe, he won because of his effort. It's the most decorated car there.

The interior on the driver's side. So fast and furious right? So much details and there's even decorated lights inside.

At the front passenger's side. Check out the tray for putting wine glasses. But I wouldn't want to decorate my car like that. Just not my style.

Back passengers can watch different movies with their own individual screen and can even play chess. Haha.

Check it out man. While you open your car boot and admire the speakers you can chill by taking a sip of wine.

All the Perodua Alza cars lined up. Some of the cars just modified their engines, added large speakers but not decorated extensively like the winner.

Ok this post was actually dedicated for my Mum. She has been strong and trying very hard to move on. Although I know you break down from time to time, I will always be there for you. Wishing you a beautiful lifetime ahead. And wishing that I can get to celebrate many many more birthdays with you. Happy Birthday Mummy. Love always. XOXO.

The Mak Nenek Part 2

You would be surprised to know that the part 1 for The Mak Nenek that I blogged 3 years ago has the highest pageviews until today. I'm not sure why but you can view it here. Lets see whether this part 2 will have high pageviews also like the part 1.

Recently, the hubby went outstation for 3 days to attend a conference. So when he called to check in on us, the children wanted to have a chat with their papa too. These are two videos here (as if one is not enough) and hope you guys will enjoy it.

A Day Of Fun For Lil' Dahling Part 2

Last Sunday, Joseph fell down from an office chair with wheels at home and accidentally bit his lips and it bled. It all happened in a flash when I had my hands busy. I just bathed for Elizabeth and was retrieving her clothes from the drawers for her to put on by herself. Joseph took the chance to start his mischief despite me reminding him many times to be careful and don't climb here and there. And suddenly it happened. It was funny how Elizabeth freaked out and didn't want to witness the 'blood fest', she ran into the kitchen and hid there so long I thought she was gonna camp there throughout the day. She's such a scaredy cat! I couldn't do anything much except stop the bleeding and carress him because it was on the lip and I can't rub any ointment, lotion or cream on his lip. He might lick it and swallow it. So we could only witness how his wound grew bigger, redder and the pus appeared.

So the next day, I was on leave because the babysitter was on leave to go back her hometown for 'Cheng beng' (the day where the Chinese Buddist visit the graves of their loved ones to pay respect). Since Elizabeth had her usual kindy class that day till half day, I seized the opportunity to have a day (almost, half day as a matter of fact) of fun for the other lil' dahling (Joseph) to make him feel better. I rarely get quality time just Joseph and me so I want to take full advantage of it.

I took off early to Bangsar Village. He was a little puzzled at first because he doesn't know what plans I've in store for him. We were quite early so there were ample parking space still. We went straight up to Kizsports & Gym. I wanted to let Joseph play in their Playland. He couldn't wait to go in and was just so ecstatic to be there playing exclaiming, "Fun!"  quite often. The fun didn't end until about 12 noon when I had to coaxed him to leave the Playland. He didn't want to until I told him that his Jie Jie will be waiting for us sadly.

His lips are already better today. Thank God! I guess kids' wounds tend to heal much faster than ours. So I hope he can have his beautiful, sexy lips back soon. LOL.

Start with the area for kids below 2 years of age first.

Then slowly progress to the area for bigger kids.

Balls! Balls! Balls! He is really in love with them. He took me by surprise by sliding down that slide down into a pool of balls. The balls must be the motivation. ;)

Always on the move.

He shouted, "Castle!" and I was impressed.

Joseph explored this whole area and I'm a proud mummy. So brave my boy! His sister might contemplate a few times before trying, I'm sure.

Diaper Less Days Are Here

Yes, diaper less days are here finally. And hopefully it is here to stay and we can all look forward to diaper free days soon. Actually I've started to potty train Joseph since he was about 30 months old. But at that time, he didn't want to tell when he's about to wee wee and we had a few leaky incidents. I confessed I sort of gave up after that because I felt that why force him when he wasn't ready? With Elizabeth, she was easier because she was more co-operative and she started potty training much earlier when she was 1 year plus. Something I'm very proud of. Hehe.

So anyway, with Joseph you could say maybe I've slacked or maybe I have a different thinking now and decided to let him be until he is ready. Now that he can speak better, I gave it a try again at the beginning of this month March. It was a success! Slowly but surely Joseph is able to tell us when he has the urge to pee and the leaky incidents have been reduced. 

However, we still have a problem because he still refuses to do his 'big business' in the potty. He will either do it in his diapers or do it while standing up in the toilet. LOL. So gross because I have to pick his litter up (using lots of tissue of course!). Oh well, again until he is ready to poo in the potty. Keeping my fingers crossed.

After he washes up whenever he poos, this cheeky boy will run out of the toilet and do a little 'PG rated' dance with legs bend and wide apart while shaking his willy. He even has a song for his little dance. While dancing he will sing, "shaker, shaker shaker!" LOL. There is a video of him doing that but too bad it's not for sharing since I do not have a video editor that can blur the censored parts. 

Joseph is also improving in the vocabulary department. His favourite and most overused word is 'too'. Everything is, "too tired, too heavy, too high, too many, too sleepy!" LOL. Recently, he likes to say "Moozee". It's actually "excuse me" whenever he burps, hiccups, farts or wants us to make way for him. LOL.

So these are some updates on Joseph who is 32 months old now. In four months time he is going to turn 3!

4th Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta 2012

I've always wanted to be apart of the Hot Air Balloon Fiesta in Putrajaya and this year we really made it happen. It's our first time and I hope we will be there again next year. We were there on the last day of the event on Sunday so it was expected to be in a crawl as we approach the venue to find for parking.

I wanted to be a kiasu and arrive there as early as 7.30am to purchase the tickets for the hot air balloon tethered rides but alas we couldn't make it because hubby wanted to fill up his tummy first. Sob sob. :( In the end, we arrived close to 9.00am and the tickets were all sold out already! Disappointed. But since we're there we just joined in the crowd and it turned out to be an enjoyable outing after all despite the scorching weather. I got me self a sunburn can you believe it? Sob sob. Now I have a triangle shape on my back. LOL.

Elizabeth was really looking forward to the hot air balloon tethered rides and I had a lot to explain to her. Kids can really be a pain when they refuse to accept any explanations. :P We walked around finding for some activities and the kids were attracted to the giant inflatables. Then Elizabeth was attracted to the Zorbing ride. There were many people eager to try this ride out so we found ourselves waiting in line for nearly half an hour. I was so proud that Elizabeth was brave enough to try out Zorbing although halfway through I saw her panic striken face. Still she made it through. My hubby said he won't be trying Zorbing anytime soon after that experience. He said it was so hot and stuffy inside the ball, he couldn't breathe. LOL.

Initially, while we were queing for the Zorbing ride, we made plans to try out other rides but after that Zorbing ride, hubby called it quits. The weather was really hot. On our walk back to the car, the children saw a train ride and Joseph literally pulled me to it. They got the train ride and were happy campers.

We will try to be back next year and this time we must be more well prepared and arrive there as early as possible.

We can only soak in the view of the hot air balloons since we were too late for the rides.

And they're up. The same blue and white hot air balloons now up in the sky.  

More colourful ones. Lucky people. I'm so jealous of them because they got to ride on it.

Joseph, Elizabeth and me. I guess the more fancy hot air balloons will only make an appearance later in the evening.

Putrajaya lake and that beautiful bridge across it.

We saw people playing water orbs.

Powered parachutes in the sky.

Giant inflatables. Joseph wanted to give it a try.

Elizabeth was afraid at first but was tempted to try in the end. Bravo!

The Zorbing ride. Joseph enjoyed pushing the giant ball.



Elizabeth and Joseph having a train ride and then playing with bubbles.

Another Year Older!

When I was a child, I used to be very excited and happy to celebrate my birthday. The cake, the presents all seem very appealing to me. I just celebrated my birthday not too long ago. Although I'm still excited and happy to celebrate my birthday, it is the aftermath when reality sets in that I realised I'm another year older. Aiyoh..getting older! But nevermind, I tell myself that we have to embrace our age with open arms and age gracefully..:)

I received two handmade cards on my birthday. One was from Elizabeth and the other one from my nephew, Brandon (with some help from Joseph) :P Handmade cards are always so precious right? Takes me back to my old memories of me making cards for my mum or dad for their birthdays. My sister and me always competing with each other to make the nicest card. I will keep the cards just like how my parents kept them. It will be touching for them just like how I was touched to know my parents kept them over the years.

This is the front of the card from Elizabeth. It was raining when she drew the card I guess. I asked why am I not on the card and she said because I'm looking at the card. LOL. The three figures depicts her father, brother and she herself.

This is the back of the card from Elizabeth.

She wrote this in the card.

This is my nephew, Brandon's card to me.

Brandon is my 14 year old nephew. He said Joseph also helped in making this card by pasting some of those hearts and scribbling on it. LOL.

This is what Brandon wrote in the card and since Joseph helped to scribble the card again, he wrote Joseph's name down on the card too. LOL.

This is the strawberry monster (Joseph!) who ate every strawberry on my birthday cake!

Fish Craft

I haven't been doing any art and craft with Elizabeth for quite a long time until recently she pleaded with me many times to do one with her. She sounded like a broken record, repeating non stop every few minutes, I had to relent in the end for my own sanity. So while Joseph was having his afternoon nap, we did a fish craft together. It's pretty easy and I got the idea from Disney Junior's website and improvised a little.

You need felts. I didn't have enough felt for the fins and spots so I used foam paper for that. Draw the fish, lips, fins and spots.

Fold the purple felt to cut two fish shapes. Cut the rest too.

Place some cotton wool on one of the fish shape.

Carefully put the fins and lips at the correct part of the fish shape. Apply glue on the other fish shape and stick the two fish shape together (with the cotton wool, fins and lips in between).

Then apply glue on all the spots and stick on both sides of the fish's body.

Lastly, glue two wiggly eyes on each side of the fish. Poke a hole on the upper fin to put a ribbon through and tie a knot to it. Wala! You have a fish to carry or hang it around. See my girl so happy to finally do a craft. It's been so long.