Jia Wen & Jia Xiang

(additional points in green)

I think this post is well overdue. I haven't written anything about my kids lately. Posting pics up is so much easier than writing about what has been happening plus I think pics says a thousand words and I am sure for those who reads my blog knows what my kids have been up to in the recent months. So since the kids are in bed now and Shien Wei is not back from work yet, I'd better get on with it.

Jia Wen

Jia Wen turned 4 and started kindergarten in January. She had a birthday bash in McDonalds and had a beautiful doll cake. She wishes to have her 5th birthday there again on top of a birthday party at Kyle & Kaelyn's house. Why? Let me tell you why. Recently, Jia Wen went to Kyle & Kaelyn's birthday party at their home and as always, they had a clown which Jia Wen always enjoys and remembers of their birthday parties. But this year they had this air-pumped float thingy that kids can go into and jump their hearts out. That was of course the highlight and because of that, right after the party Jia Wen told me that she wants to have her party at Kyle & Kaelyn's house next year. I of course told her that it is not possible, blah blah its too expensive to hire such a thing and you know what she said? "But mummy, you can try to find a cheaper one if thats too expensive. Sure got cheaper one!" Can you beat that?!

At 4 years old, Shien Wei and I have had some pretty interesting conversations with her and it baffles us always. How did she get so smart, how did she get so materialistic, how did she think of such a thing, etc. The recent example of her conversation with her dad about buying a bigger house.

I am not sure whether it is unusual for a kid Jia Wen's age to be thinking of the future. I mean whether or not it is just something the learnt from a passing comment or is it something they really know what it means. Jia Wen has many times told me that she doesn't want to be a mother. She always tells me that she wants to get married but doesn't want to have any kids. And when I ask her why, she'll say - "Its too difficult". I am like "wah". My motherhood must have really made an impact on her and I beginning to fear that it might be a negative impact.

She also knows how to beg for something. Whenever she wants something really badly and when she's in a good enough mood, she'll get down on her knees, put her hands together and say "Puhleeezeee mummy... please please please". Where on earth did she learn that from?

My daughter has always had quite an imagination and her imagination can really overwhelm her at times. She is always telling us that "I'm thinking of bad things". It can be anything and it can really upset her. We try to tell her things to counter this but sometimes it doesn't really work and she'll say "it won't go away". Its really something for us and thats why I am very picky at what she gets to watch on TV and what and how we explain certain things to her. For example the Monsters Inc show, how I explain to her about what the Monsters do is they make kids happy and makes them laugh. I never explained about the beginning of the story where they scare kids for a living. For Jia Wen, she cannot handle such a scary concept which was why I tried to put off letting her watch Monsters Inc but finally decided to let her watch. I sat with her throughout the show and "explained" things to her a simplest as I could.

Jia Wen also has difficulties excepting death. She keeps telling us that she doesn't want to grow old, she doesn't want to be old because to her old = dead. I am not sure where she got this concept from but one day when she told me this, she was really really scared and almost in tears. She told me "Mummy, I don't want you go get old, I don't want daddy to get old. I don't want you all to die". We have never discussed such an issue with her before. That is why I haven't bought her Bambi to watch yet.

Jia Wen may seem like a girl with very strong characteristics which she is very much but there's a very soft spot in her. She's quite the sentimental and does get sad when she misses someone very much. She will cry when she thinks of her "EE" (my sis) and she'll say "I miss her so much, I want her to come home". Another time was when I dropped my mum off at the airport. They had said their goodbyes and after driving away for like 5 minutes, she started crying "I love Ah Ma so much". Oh yes today. We were watching Enchanted (the one with Patrick Dempsey) and there was a part where the princess left her glass slippers behind - she started crying and said "but she left her shoes there"... sobs sobs ... "and someone going to take it away"... sobs sobs. I was like ... staring at her!

Over the recent months, we've been having major problems with her "dilly-dally" issues especially when it comes to meal times. I tell you this is driving me crazy and driving me insane! I am not joking. That girl can really take her time when it comes to drinking her milk and eating her meals! She can take 45 mins - 1 hour to have her breakfast and breakfast is the meal that I really really really need her to be quick as she needs to go to school. Every morning is a terrible morning with lots of "Quickly drink", "Faster drink", "Don't stop", "Don't stare", "Quickly", "Jia Wen, I warn you already ah"... plus a few shouts here and there! It is really stressing me out and it is really driving me up the roof! I have tried everything imaginable. I have tried not to say anything while she's at it, I've tried to reward her, I've tried to be nice, I've tried to sit down with her (which I can't really do), I've threatened her, I've been nice to her, I've driven off to school without her, etc. I have done everything and nothing works. Help me.

Remember how's she's been so attached to me since my I was pregnant with Jia Xiang and after Jia Xiang came about? Remember how she would never leave my sight and how she won't even go with her grandparents back to Melaka like she used to before the whole shebang? Well, I am glad to say that things have changed and she's been going to her grandparents over the weekends a lot lately and have been spending a lot of time with them without my presence. now she looks forward to weekends because she gets to go back to Melaka. Yay for me of course :-P.

As for her school, she seems to enjoy it very much and is learning Mandarin pretty quickly. I believe she does speak to her friends in school in as much Mandarin as she knows how and she's making progress. I think by the end of this year, her Mandarin will be better than my banana mandarin. The only concern we have about her school is how the teachers handle and disciplines the students. From what I have been hearing from her, the teachers there are pretty "old-school" when it comes to handling the kids e.g. rubber bands, rotan, etc. I know this is a debatable issue and I do believe in punishments but to what extent. Its difficult to draw a line. So far, I do not really know whether she's been punished like that before, she won't really tell me but know she's been beaten on the palm with the rotan and when I ask her why - because she was naughty. I wish there were cameras in the school where parents can observe but thats of course being too paranoid I know.

Her school does give homework and she comes home with about 2 homework a day which isn't too much... yet. But on top of her work from school, I run through some extras with her. I'll have her do some Chinese writing, learn Maths, Bahasa Malaysia, Science, etc. She seems to enjoy the workbooks I got her but of course there's a time limit to her concentration and thats when I stop.

Jia Xiang

Jia Xiang oh Jia Xiang oh Jia Xiang. He will be 16 months next month and he's quite the rascal. He is a typical boy who loves to touch things and destroy things. He is the destroyer of things. For many years, Jia Wen has kept her books well with not tears but now, Jia Xiang has destroyed most of the books he can get hold of. Jia Wen calls him the "tearie boy". He loves to tear. Not to mention the toys. He doesn't accidentally spoils the toys, he'll find ways to spoil the toy!

Jia Xiang only started walking sometime during Chinese New Year (February) and is still not very steady yet. He'll walk and momentum will just make him fall. We can't remember when Jia Wen started walking but we certainly do not remember Jia Wen falling down as much. Nowadays, when we take him out shopping, he'll refuse to sit on his stroller and of course rather walk. The problem is, he won't let us hold his hands when walking. He'll pull away and push your hands away. Now I see the reason why parents leash or harness their kids!

Jia Xiang hasn't started talking yet!! At his age, Jia Wen could already say like 20 words. The only word Jia Xiang says is "mamamamamam" which doesn't really mean anything actually. Is this a "boy" factor again? I am pretty disappointed because Jia Xiang as a baby was a very talkative one - always making noises, babbling, but now he isn't speaking. Funny. But this boy can shout and scream and I am not joking! He can really really scream!

Another "boy thing" he does is climbing. I do not recall Jia Wen climbing on top of anywhere but her brother has climbed up the table on his own (ok, not the dining table lah)! Wanna know how he did it? He climbed up the chair and then climbed up the table! And you can imagine his face when he accomplished this. Him grinning away and face full of mischief! You can see his face full of bad intentions and yet, its so cute.

He loves to ransack his toy box and make a mess all over the house and when you clean it up and put it all back into the box, he'll be standing behind you waiting for you to go away before he takes everything out of the box again. His sister calls him "messy boy".

My house is considered pretty child proof and I do not have to worry too much about what he does in hall and the dining. But when he goes to other people's house where it is not child proof, the first thing I'll do is clear out the person's coffee table and make she he cannot reach the remote controls and scan the house for any breakables. There are quite a few breakables in the Melaka house and so far, he's broken a candle holder thingy. Jia Wen has never ever broken or touch any such things when she was a baby nor has she fiddled with TVs or remote controls. Jia Xiang has changed the TV language to Arabic and we have yet to change it back to English.

Typical boy eh? I don't mean to be gender biased and I am sure there are exceptional boys out there but I am saying this because Jia Xiang is worlds apart from his sister!! With Jia Wen, I never had to worry about plug points, computers, TVs, remotes, toys, books. But with Jia Xiang plug points and everything else electronic is his favourite.

Above all that, he is very cute and lovable. He'll come up to me and kiss me on the lips from time to time while he's doing is stuff. Sometimes, he can also "naik geram" and start kissing me. I don't know how to explain this in words but he'll grab my face, squeeze it, make a "geram" face and kiss me on the lips! Wouldn't you just melt?!

My kids are my life!

Jia Xiang's 1st Birthday Cake

Remember Jia Xiang's birthday cake? Well the pics that I took of the cake were actually the "ruins" of the castle. This is the "before" the castle toppled en route to our house.

Thanks Happy Belly Bites!

Lamb Shoulders

This

+

+

+

+

+

=


Tada!

My husband was craving for lamb and asked me to cook this today.

JX

Took these photos while he was sleeping this afternoon. He fell asleep on his own while drinking his milk.

9 March 2008

Jia Wen trying mango pulut
Can anyone tell whether she liked it?

Day Out

My kids love bookshops. They'll just grab a book and sit anywhere and start flipping. Of course with Jia Xiang, you need to make sure he takes books that won't tear! Cos he is a tear-er and the destroyer of all things!


Chek-chek reading to me

Full of enthusiasm!

Daddy, can we have a HDTV? Barney looks better in a HDTV!

A day out with the kids

Look at my son, he actually put his face near to his sister. Could have been a beautiful pic if Jia Wen wasn't making that silly face and if I knew he was going to do that.

JX's Bathtime

He simply loves to play with water

@ Grandma's Office

Yes, can I help you?


Brought my kids to their grandma's office at Cyberjaya. Jia Xiang enjoyed ransacking the place (his full time profession) and Jia Wen took on grandma's job like a pro. Just look at her sitting there looking really like a big girl doing some serious work. Computer by the side, pen and paper, books around her and on the phone too. She was setting questions based on a newspaper article - "Lessons from Warren Buffet's guru".

2 March 2008

Watcha lookin' at?

Materialistic Daughter

My daughter had the following conversation with her father a few days ago while on our way out in the car:

Jia Wen: Daddy, I think you have to work more and longer.
Daddy: Why? Why do I have to work more?
Jia Wen: So that you can buy two houses.
Daddy: Why do we need to houses?
Jia Wen: Because Ah Ma (Shien Wei's mum) has 2 houses (one in Puchong & one in Melaka). So we must have two houses too.
Daddy: OK.
Jia Wen: Next time you buy a house must be big ok? Our Nilai house is too small.
Daddy: OK.
Jia Wen: And we cannot have hard floor. The new house must have wooden floor and the house must be as big as Aunty Pearl's house (a friend of my mum has a HUGE house in Shah Alam)
Daddy: OK.
Mummy: (laughing in silence)

Kids these days!