Homework Blues

Procrastination rules! It has been doing that for ages, and I'm pretty sure Adam got the bugs in his blood too. The thing about homework is that it's meant to be done much later...preferably closer to the dateline. And Adam is very good at that. Blame it on Mama too. Too much house chores and too many functions to attend to last school break, which means Adam's homework gets the least attention.

As much guilt feeling I have at the moment, I also can't help it either as Adam is also as stubborn as ..? I know it's not Mama because Mama was a very punctilious student. Need to ask Papa if he was a tenacious lot. Perhaps we need to refer to Opah?

And the curriculum need to be blamed too! Hey! Were you expected to do your Karangan when you're in Primary 2? Heck no! We were just learning how to construct sentences if I could remember correctly. And I think this problem is a little too hard on my boy 7 year old... isn't it?

Write the number sentence for 35 + _____ = 48, and what is the missing number?

Cavities Beware!

Cavities beware!
it’s dentist visiting day

big boy most in despair

anxiety in the air

despite countless affair

still seeking his lair

my girl is the valiant kind
fear is last on her mind
the little boy’s first appointment
not to Mom’s disappointment...

I'm glad Amir enjoyed his first visit to the dentist. Unlike Adam, both Aina & Amir are bravehearts. I have no qualms about introducing them to new concepts and ideas. As for Adam, I need a lot of patience and creativity, and this is the part the father is always good at. The trip to the dentist today was an eventful one, with Adam almost screaming at the top of his lungs, but one good thing is that the dentist is now familiar with my kids' character. At least the rapport would be better the next time around he he..

The Sully Treat

Age is definitely catching up when you can no longer stand roller-coaster rides as mild as the ones in the kiddy park in Berjaya Times Square. I'm exeggerating here...but hey, with 3 kids in a place where everything looks like a toy...say no more!

Since I cannot afford a beach get-away or something of that sort, I resorted to bringing Adam, Aina & Amir to the theme park. As long as we're going somewhere - that was my motivation for this school holiday. Initially I wanted to take them to Aquaria, but then Adam & Aina have been there with their Opah (my mom-in-law), not too mention the unbelievably expensive entrance fees. Then I considered the Bird Park, but with bird-flu and HFM and what-other-mutated-diseases these days, I'd rather take them somewhere I think and feel is safe at the moment.

So we ended up at Cosmo's World, and seeing the sparkle in their eyes when I was purchasing the tickets, I knew I made the right choice then. I didn't mind the long queue at each ride, the cotton-candy demands, the zillionth-time sand-art request - they DID have a jolly good time. And to capture them with "Sully" their favorite movie character in that digital moment...priceless!

Being a modern-day mom is not easy, your children are not easy to please anymore. More exposure, extended friends and with high degree of awareness, they've become a real parenting challenge. Somehow I just wish things are as simple we were before - no Xbox, no Astro, no 10-kg schoolbags...and we still turned out fine.

My Angel

This is my little angel, my loyal assistant and my only girl. My mom said she looks exactly like me when I was little. I don't know to what degree that is, but she definitely inherits the father's nose. My nose is flat and ugly...and I'm lucky to have married someone with "hidung mancung", hoping that trait would be soon passed down to the little ones. Naah...only my girl got it...so the boys are stuck with Mama's nose.

One thing I notice about girls is that they tend to mature faster than the boys. At 4, Aina is already reliable in assisting me at home. She would help me fetch the towel, diaper and bath needs for his little brother Amir. She'd even do the chores that I asked Adam to do, which ended up with them fighting. But then, Adam did "dilly-dellying" what ever I asked him to do. Seeing the frustration of me waiting, Aina would voluntarily finish Adam's chores, and that's what I like about Aina - no fuss and no complaints.

On the other hand, the big boy Adam still behaves like a baby. I wonder is it the same with other boys his age? Or is it due to me "manjaing" him so much? He only got his baby sister when he's 3+, while Aina got his baby brother at the age of 2+. I guess the "gap" factor plays a role here, and I think Aina matures faster because of the Amir's arrival.

Frankly, I miss Aina's "babyness" because of the short gap. I couldn't really enjoy her toddder years because of my difficult pregancy. I didn't have much time to cuddle and snuggle with Aina with all the Chicken-pox, dehydration, kidney-stone problems that I had while carrying Amir. And now, she's a big girl, learning the ways of the women in my family from her Wan and aunties; Mak, Atih, Atam & Acik. Most importantly, I know she'll take after her mother, so I need to set really good examples and behavior to prepare her for the world...

We need some magic!

You know when your toddler is sick when:

1. he wakes up a couple of times at night asking for water
2. he doesn't care which channel the tv is tuned to
3. whatever Mama does is not right
4. he insists that Ribena is equivalent to milk
5. he violently objects to Abang & Kakak sitting near Mama (even at arm's length)
6. it is so difficult to persuade him to take his paracetamol but you know he loves all kind of medication and;
7. he clings to Mama all the time (and this is when you feel most appreciated and loved...)

I hope Amir will get well soon. Adam has been sick since his Sports Day, and just went to school for only a day last week. It's the school holidays, and we haven't been anywhere except to Atuk & Wan's house (for a cousin's wedding nearby). Other than that, Mama has big plans of going to the Science Center and Aquaria. But then,

"Mama, apasal mommy orang lain semua cuti...and Mama still go to work?"

Sigh...and Papa can't even consider taking a day off! It's hell at his office. Perhaps Papa can do some "magic" and take time off to be with the kids?

Santa in March

Thin Peruvian Santa was in town on Sunday...bearing gifts from the land of the Incas - translate: my sister KT and her hubby Z just flown in from Peru for their vacation here. And Z the nice Santa has actually lost a lot of weight, and he's proud of it. The happiest ones would be all my children, nephews and nieces as they were showered with lotsa presents from the home-longing happy couple.

The best of all was to see Amir's face lighted up when he got a pair of Spiderman-lit sneakers. His eyes were gleaming with happiness, followed by a trickle of giggles everytime he jumped up and down to trigger the lights on his brand new pair of shoes. I wish I had a video-cam at that moment...that look on his face was priceless...just like that Mastercard advertisement. He wouldn't want to take them off at all!

Aina & Adam also got their dream sneakers. Another pair of Spidey-shoes for Adam and a light purplish-pink Barbie sneakers for the girl...and everybody's eager for our next family trip out to parade their long-awaited gifts from "Mak & Uncle Jack".

Later I lamented to my sister how we were deprived of such gifts when we were that age, even until we went to college - everything was hard-earned. Being in a large family taught us to be responsible and un-selfishly share whatever we got. During those day, when Apak brought home a bag of red-apples or mangoes whenever he came back from an out-stationed trip, we would carefully count the fruits or nicely cut them into little pieces, enough to make everyone felt that they were getting an equal share - hey! 7 siblings for a pack of apples! Can you imagine the pulling and chasing when one felt that his/her share was unfairly divided?

Motivations

What drives me to wake up every morning, fighting the comfort of the cozy bed and the cold of "man-made" winter in the little dwelling that we partly own (with the bank of course)? It's actually those cute chubby faces that I need to shake & quarell with every single morning just to make sure they get ready for school and kindy. Yeah, sometimes I can be a mean mom, but hey, they will only appreciate it when they became parents themselves...perhaps in another 20-25 years?

Somehow, I just can't recall my own mother being mean in the morning...or was it because I was a good little girl, eager to wake up and follow my Apak to school? I remember those days, holding Apak's hands and walked through the school's soccer field, passing the canteen and then to the surrogate-class that Apak made the class teacher agreed to treat me as a proper student. I was barely 5 years old in an all 7-year old class. And because I was such an enthusiastic student, I actually beat the rest of the classes in most subjects. I'm digressing here, but I wish that my children would have that spirit in them, to be able to drive themselves and not depend on Mama to get them prepared for school.

My eldest, Adam, now in Primary 2. It was very difficult to make him wake up in the morning during those pre-school days and Primary 1. But then I realized, when he started to assimilate himself with primary school, and have established a circle of friends, it's no longer a challenge to cue him for school.

Nevertheless, the challenge is now passed to Aina, who just started pre-school at 5 years old. I have ran out of all creative ideas to at least motivate her to open her eyes..gosh..sometimes I just resorted to lifting her up from bed and placing her in the shower, after which I will get so great a resistance that my 2-year old Amir would also end up in the same bathroom. So then, Amir would be first waiting in the car to send her sister off to school, and Mama would have to drive to and fro just to make sure she didn't take Amir to work.

Finally, Mama ends up swiping her access card at the office at 9:30am, thinking of what would motivate her to finish work early so that she would be able to rejoice the achievement of meeting the morning challenge, day in, day out and go home to embrace those cute faces again.

The First Time

Hey! Other people have blogs! I should have one too, so that my kids can read all mama's mumblings here rather than in their ears - they wouldn't remember unrecorded mumblings now anyways. When they grow up, they would find this amusing I hope, as this would be the official documentation of Mama's life now.

Secondly, I'm also paranoid in a way. Life is too short these days. I'm afraid I might go first before my kids get the chance to know their mama better. So perhaps the ramblings here might help to a certain degree. Watching Stepmom (Susan Sarandon & Julia Roberts), really touched deep down there..not to mention the unstoppable tears. So, that actually contributes to the starting of this blog too.

And finally, I'm always envious of those writers out there, who could just conjure up any story they want. I wish to be one of them and this is my training ground, I hope!