JL's beauty sleep

JL: mum, I didn't have my beauty sleep today.
Me: what? You didn't have what? (I was surprised to hear her using the words 'beauty sleep' cos I've never said that & neither has Damien, so I'm wondering where she picked that up from)
JL: beauty sleep
Me: what is beauty sleep? (I'm wondering if she knows the meaning of beauty sleep)
JL: it's when you go to sleep & wake up beautiful
Me: oh, okay... (well, close enough)

Last dinner with Ad

My best friend, Ad, is going to UK for working holiday..... for 6 months *sob*

We had our last dinner together with Keng, Rita, Mabel and Lap and Zach, Audrey and Paul and Sam at Niko Restaurant on Warrigal Rd, Chadstone.

Ad is excited. I would too if I were her. Wish I could go with her. Then I'll be back to being single again. Yay!!! (yeah, keep dreaming, Sik!)

JL has been quite upset since she knew about her yi yi Ad's leaving her. The first time I broke the news to her, she was crying. poor gal! Her fave yi yi is going away for half a year. She'd better be back for JL's 5th birthday.

This is Ad with the kids.

My two big bosses

JH and pencil sharpener

Here is my boy, trying to demonstrate how to operate pencil sharpener

Werribee Park/Mansion

I know, I know... we just went there last week, but Mirna rang up and asked me if I wanted to go to Werribee Park. I said okay. Anything or anywhere is better than staying at home with these two. So off we went.

The kids wanted to have ice creams, so we bought them ice creams. Being cheapskate, I bought one ice cream and asked JL to share it with her di di.

The adults were sitting in front of the cafe, sipping our hot chocolate and coffee, while the kids were playing on the greens. JH was stepping and pulling the flowers. Oh nooooo!!!!!! Thank God for jie jie. She always rescued the flowers from being damaged by JH. She had to keep carrying JH away from the flowers.

JL and whiteboard

I got this whiteboard/blackboard from Kmart for $30. It's a good $30 that I've spent on JL. She's into writing. So she'll write on this, copying words from the books or just write names or just draw things.

I banned her from using the blackboard though, only because I don't want the chalk/dust falling everywhere on the floor.

Catching up with Ad

Ad had half a day off, so we caught up. We had lunch in Carnegie, then we went to Chaddy so that we could chat in peace while the kids were playing in the small playground.

After they finished playing, we went to get Bubble Tea

Australia Masterchef 2010

It was down to the final 2, competing for the title of Aust Masterchef 2010. Adam and Callum was competing last night for that title. And I sacrificed my sleeping time to watch this Grand Finale. And I am glad to see that Adam WON!!!

Woohoo!!!

They also show the sneak peak of Junior Masterchef. Cooking competition for kids aged 8 - 12 yo. And I was very impressed with the dishes that these kids produced. I'll definitely be glued in front of the TV again for Junior Masterchef later this year.

JH on his fave cushion

JH fighting for phone

This is what happens everytime someone's on the phone. JH just has to have the phone to himself, otherwise he'll hassle and chase you and fight for the phone. I can't talk on the phone in peace nowadays.

This was JL talking on the phone to her xiao yi. But of course, JH, being JH, had to grab the phone, hence him chasing his jie and  screaming, wanting the phone.

Toys R Us, Highpoint Shopping Ctre

We went to Highpoint Shopping Centre. JL insisted on wearing this new dress.

While putting the dress on....

JL: Who gave this pretty dress, Ma?
Me: Ah Ma
JL: Oh, please remind me to thank her the next time I'm on the phone with her
Me: Okay
JL: Ah Ma must love me very much because she bought me such a beautiful dress
Me: Of course!
JL: You said you love me, Ma... but you've never bought me any dresses
Me: I bought you a lot of other stuff. I let you stay in my house. I let you stay in my tummy for 9 months
JL: Oh yeah, mum. I forgot!

Hmm.... how could she forget????

Anyway, we got there... and once we entered Toys R Us, it's very hard to get the kids out. Especially the boy *sigh*

Note to self: if going shopping, enter Toys R Us just before we're about to go home, otherwise we would be stuck there and can't go anywhere else.

Visiting Nura

This is Hanif, my colleague, Nura's baby. Is he cute or what? Nura is on her maternity leave. I went and visited her today. The last time I saw her was when Hanif was just being born, back in February. He's grown so much. Chubby cheeks, big eyes, thick curly black hair.

JL loooooves Hanif. She kept asking me if we can borrow Hanif home. She was quite disappointed when Hanif wasn't coming home with us.

We had lunch there. Nura cooked us yummy butter chicken. Even JL had one big bowl. JH was a bit rough with Hanif. But JL was protecting Hanif from JH's attacks.

She rarely sees black baby. She whispered in my ear, "Mum, this baby is black" I said, "Yes, so???" She paused for a while, then said, "Hanif's mum and dad are black too" I said, "Yes, that's why Hanif is black" She paused again, then said, "I think his Ah Ma is also black" Well... I've never seen Hanif's grandparents, but yeah... I assume his Ah Ma is black too. Just when JL learnt this simple genetic knowledge about black people having black babies, white people having white babies, then 2 days later on the news, there was this British black couples who are having white baby. It's their 3rd child, the baby's 2 older siblings are black. And the doctors tested for Albino. Baby is NOT an albino. It is bizzare to see 2 black people having this white skin, blonde hair, blue eyes newborn in their arms. And yes, the baby is the black father's child. They tested for paternity test.

Anyway, we all had a great time.

This is me with Hanif.... beautiful, beautiful baby.

This is the kids with Hanif

JH - 16 months old

At 16 months old, I decided to start talking to him in Mandarin. I'm not sure how long this will last or how successful this will be. I found it difficult because I have to start from.... zero.

JH already understood some simple basic conversations both in English and Indonesian. To start all over again in another language is a big challange for me. I think the key is persistence. And I didn't have that with JL last time. I'll try my best this time.

Everytime I converse with JH in Mandarin, JL will always say to me, "Mum, he doesn't understand" and he doesn't. When I said in Indon, eg. Ambil kaos kaki (get your socks) or ambil telpon (get the phone), he understood and would do as I say. But when I asked him in Mandarin, he just sat there, gave me the blank look and this frustrated me. The fact that JL not liking it (ie. she can't understand what I said) doesn't help.

So, now I will repeat myself in 2 languages... eg. ambil kaos kaki, then followed by 拿你的襪子. But after a week of repeating the same thing, he still doesn't get it when I just use Mandarin alone for the same phrase. Ah well... hope one day he'll get it. For now, I have to keep reminding myself to keep doing this until he gets it and hopefully his jie will pick it up as well.

Name labels

We went to Laverton Market (again???? yes, again!)

I bought these name labels, $6 for 84 labels. JL chose Hello Kitty for herself and she chose Winnie the Pooh for her didi. And because the sellers are ching chong, they do chinese names as well. :)

JH's only words at 16 mths old

At 16 months old, JH can only say mama, dada (yes, he can say dada eventhough in this video, he refused to say it), nana and eh eh (jie jie). Yes, he is very slow with his speech. Ah well... JL was like that too last time.

Click on the title to watch the video

JH's morning faces

This is a typical morning routine in our household.

My day doesn't start when I get home from work, nor does it start when the sun rises.

It starts when I can hear the crying noise from JH's room. That marks the start of my day. I'll usually let him cry for another half an hour or sometimes an hour depending on how many things I need to get done in the morning. Because, once I start to get him up, that IS it!!!! I can't do anything anymore. His crying is basically like the alarm clock to us. I just kept snoozing it until I'm ready to have him out from his cot.

Then I'll go to his room (or mostly Damien during weekdays) on the weekends, most of the time with JL and his crying will subside when he saw the door slightly opened. Sometimes we played trick on him, we opened the door slightly but not going in. And after few seconds of nobody's entering his room, his cry will grow louder. Then we went in. Greet the big boss good morning. He'll smile... doing a lot of funny faces. Sometimes chewing off the side of his cot. Get told off, then he'll cry. Jie2 tries to comfort him. He'll cheer up again but tears are still flowing down his cheeks. Too funny!!! Then milk, nappy change and off he goes... being released to the outside of his room. Giving me headache.

Here are some of his funny faces captured by me and his jie this morning.

JH's first hair cut

We were visiting my friend, Mirna. And I just asked her to cut JH's hair for me. She took hairdressing course. We initially put JH in the chair, but he couldn't sit still. So we just sat him on the bathroom vanity unit. He still couldn't sit still. Ah well... I was holding him so that he wouldn't fall down while Mirna cut his hair. My mum actually asked me not to cut his hair because it's winter now. Wait until summer, mum said. But his hair was getting long (for a boy's standard, otherwise his jie will protest and say his hair is NOT long, her hair IS long), so finally yesterday he's got his first hair cut since his head was shaved off when he was about 3 months old. Now it looks a lot neater.

Seeing her didi getting hair cut, JL also demanded one. But I only took one photo of her having her hair cut because JH had a smelly poo nappy. So, I had to change him before the smell killed us all.

Here is JL's new hair cut                                                                      

JH loves driving

JH's fave chair

This is JH's fave chair only because it's his most useful tool at the moment. Light enough to drag anywhere he wants and the wider surface (as compared to the stool) makes it easier for him to climb and stand on it. Hence he can reach and grab a lot of things now, thanks to this chair. That contributes to my ever increasing stress level when dealing with him.

Why don't we have time?

I can't believe that some people genuinely thought that SAHM is a very easy job. If I see this person, Tacoma, in person, I'll just hand over my 2 kids and see if she will still ask the question she asked after an hour of having my 2 kids around. Far out, man!

Werribee Park/Mansion

Since 1st of July this year, they stopped charging admission fees to Werribee Park/Mansion (to all parks actually). So today I decided (since the weather wasn't that cold) to bring both of the kids there, just to release their fully charged energy. And to give myself a little break.

Upon entering the Mansion, I read the sign that said no pram allowed. But I thought it's allowed as long as I don't get caught. The thought of having to either carry JH or chase him around scared me enough to break the rule. So I was pushing JH in his stroller and I was explaining to JL that this place used to be someone's house. Someone's rich of course. Look at how big is the Mansion, how many bedrooms in there and if you look at the land. Wow! Massive! We weren't exploring for long when the staff caught me having the stroller inside the Mansion. So I was asked to put away the stroller. And that was when the nightmare began.

He was like a prisoner let loose. Gosh, as soon as I released him from his stroller, he was running, refusing to follow orders. Entering any room he wanted and entering the 'no access' area. I've had enough of chasing him, restraining him with my arms after 10 minutes. So, I said to JL, let's go outside, then both of you can run to your soul's content.

So, we went outside to where the greens are. HUGE area. They ran, rolled around. I don't care if they are dirty. I'll just bath them when we get home. I couldn't be bothered doing the battle of the wills thing. We have happy children and happy mother. It was good. We went home when the boy started to get bored and clingy.

Am I cool or what?

Favourite gal

JL: Who is your favourite gal, dad?


Damien: hmm… let’s see… I like Marion (from Masterchef), I like cici Marni (my neighbor), I like cici Stef too (Marni’s younger sister). I like your mummy, I like your Ah Ma…

JL cut Damien off before he kept listing all the gals he knows

JL: Let me give you a clue. She’s 4 yo

Damien: Stef!

JL: She’s going to kinder

Damien: Stef!

JL: *sigh*( cos she can’t believe her dad can be so dumb after her dropping all the obvious hints. So she dropped the most obvious hint that she probably was hoping not needed) She’s your anak (child)

Damien: CHARLOTTE!!!!

JL: *rolled eyes* YES!!!!! *sigh*

Conversation of two best friends

We were at Werribee Plaza

JL: Hi, best friend!

Me: Hello, best friend! (then we hold hands)

JL: Come, I introduce you to my dad (pulling me towards Damien)… Dad, this is my best friend. Best friend, this is my dad.

Me: Oh, so this is your dad. I’ve never met him before

JL: yeah…. Your first time meeting my dad. Do you want to come to my house later, best friend?

Me: No

JL: why not?

Me: because I heard your mum is very fierce. I’m scared of her

JL: It’s okay, best friend, as long as you are a good gal and listen to what she says, she’s not scary. But if you don’t, she’ll scold you.

Me: So is your mum bad?

JL: Yes, she is really bad

Me: Do you want to swap mums?

JL: Yes, I want.

…….

Just wait until we get home, young lady. You are in BIG trouble.

My new BFF :)

Friday, 9 July 2010

JL sat next to me and said, "You are my best friend"

There you go... I have a new BFF. Yay!!!

We love books

JL and spider solitaire

JL loves playin spider solitaire, on the easy level of course :)

The day I'm not coping

Thursday, 8 July 2010

I slept for 3 hours on Wed, went to work. Came back home. I’m sleepy. I’m tired. I can hardly keep my eyes open. But two kids need me. JL was more understanding of my circumstance. Well… she’s older. JH has no sympathy whatsoever on my energy level.

I told JL, “I’m really really sleepy, but I can’t sleep because of JH” JL offered her help. “Go, lie down, mum. Go to sleep. I’ll look after JH.”

I’m so grateful for this child. But despite her offer, JH just wouldn’t let me lie down. He climbed on top of me, kicking me, hitting me, did whatever that he can to prevent me from sleeping.

So today I wasn’t coping at all. Already tired and so run down as I am, having to cope with JH is just too much. I mean when this little man CONSTANTLY hurt you (unintentionally of course) while I was trying to lie down and nap, how to cope with the pain, it’s just non-stop, from pulling hair, stepping all over you, hitting your face, pinching your nipples, the torture just went on and on. It’s just one after another. Not to mention, when he decided to eat his sister’s art and craft glue, grabbing onto everything he can grab and spill it everywhere on the floor, climbing onto things and dropping things, torturing his sister, going to the bathroom and pouring shampoo (not sure if he poured some into his mouth), transferring all the stuff from one place to another. On top of that the constant crying that is very deafening.

To a point when I was cooking and JH tipped the oats everywhere on the floor and rolled around on it. I just SCREAAAMEEEDDDD. Not screaming at him or his sister, but I just NEEDED to scream, to release my stress and frustration. I screamed so loud that he was scared and went to his jie, looking for some comfort. JL was crying seeing me going like a mad woman, but being a jie-jie, she felt that it’s her responsibility to comfort her di-di. So while she was still crying herself, she put on a brave face and guided her bro to the living room, away from me (in the kitchen, cooking) while cuddling JH and stroking his head.

Afterwards, I just broke down and cried. I mean what else can I do. Two kids, very different in characters. Most of the time, the gal is just sweet, pleasant, understanding. On the other hand, most of the time, the boy is super annoying, super glued to me, super demanding, and such a sook. Although he is a lot better when I can devote my time for him and sit down and play with him (read: when I’m not sleepy and not tired, ie. If only I can afford not to work… I really envy those stay at home mums) When those mums complained about how tough their lives are and not coping with their kids, I feel like swapping position.

Nail painting

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

I always tell JL whenever I need to go to the loo because she can get very panicky when she can’t find me (she wasn’t like this when she was younger). Also so that she can keep an eye on JH since I’m not there to watch him.

Anyway, I told her that I need to do #2. When I finished and came out, she commented “Kok cepet? “(So quick?), which I thought not really. I was quite a while in there. But I just wasn’t commenting anything back at her.

A few hours later, I noticed that she must have painted 5 finger nails of her left hand. I asked her to show me her hand. And asked her “Did you paint this yourself?” She said, “Yes” I can’t recall when she painted it. I was with her all day today and surely if she painted her finger nails, I would’ve known. So I asked her, “When did you paint it?” She refused to answer, but after a few threats, she finally answered me, “When you were in the toilet” hmm… that’s why she said, “So quick???” when I came out of the loo. Because she hasn’t painted her other hand yet and I’m already out.

Hungry Jacks

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

I took the kids to PTC (Point Cook Town Centre) because they are having the spongebob square pants show.

On the way back, I thought of having Hungry Jacks for lunch. I told JL, “Should we have Hungry Jacks?” She got excited and said, “Yes, yes, yes!”

Then I checked my wallet and I haven’t got money. I told her, “Uh-oh… I think we can’t have Hungry Jacks cos I haven’t got money. Sorry!” I was expecting objection from her in regards to the cancellation of the plan. But she was cool and said, “It’s okay, mum. Tonight you are working so we can have money for Hungry Jacks tomorrow” Hmm… she obviously doesn’t know that I only get paid fortnightly.

So I drove on… a few minutes later, she said, “Mum, I think we can have Hungry Jacks today. You know what, mum? It’s okay you don’t have money, you can use your card.”

Anyway, she had her Hungry Jacks for lunch today. She took credit for her ‘brilliant’ idea of using the credit card. *roll eyes*

Do not sell me!!!!

Tuesday, 6 July 10

I read a newspaper article posted by my friend in Malaysia about this man who has gambling debt. And to settle his debt, he decided to sell his 3 y.o. daughter. What is this world becoming to?

I was telling Damien about this. Knowing that JL has eavesdropped (as usual) to our conversation, I purposely (jokingly of course) spoke a bit louder and said, “But, Dammy, we can sell JL if we need some money”

JL striked back, “That’s not a very nice thing to say, mum. Do you want Ah Ma, I mean your mum, to sell you? No? Then don’t sell me!!!”

Damien's blog

Apparently hubby has also started blogging :)

Masterchef

Monday, 5 July 10

This is Alvin Quah, one of the 2010 Masterchef contestants. She’s watching Masterchef only because of him. JL goes crazy about him. She always says that she looooveeees Alvin and one day she’ll marry him. Well… that’s not gonna happen cos Alvin is gay and already in a relationship with his partner. I think she likes him because he’s Asian. There’s Adam Liew too who’s Asian, but I don’t think he’s her type. LOL!

Anyway, last nite Alvin was in pressure test with Peter, Marion and Aaron. They had to make this macaroon tower. None of them did particularly well in this challenge because it is difficult.

At one stage, Adam who was observing from upstairs commented, “No one’s gonna finish making this challenge” Upon hearing that, JL said, “Someone will. Of course Alvin will”

And true enough Alvin came out the best out of those 4 in making that macaroon tower. And JL is happy with that.

Sneaking paper

Monday, 5 July 2010

I went to the east to meet up with Ad. JL drew something for her Yi yi Ad and wanted to bring that along. But from past experiences, any piece of paper that she brought with her will always end up as rubbish that she threw in my car. My car is full of her paper rubbish. So I said, “No, you can’t bring that”

I was expecting her to protest my order, but no… to my surprise she obliged and said, “Okay, mum”

I put JH in the car and when I came back inside to get all the stuff, I saw her rubbing her arm. I asked her, “What’s wrong?” She said, “Nothing!” But I didn’t believe her, so I asked her to come closer and I found that she sneaked that piece of paper under her jacket sleeve.

If she nagged and nagged and nagged to get my permission to bring that piece of paper and used that (sneaking it under her sleeve) as her last resort, then I can understand. But she obviously knows me too well. She must’ve known that there’s no point of her nagging me cos I’ll never agree to it. Therefore she sneaked it in behind my back, hoping that she won’t get caught. But too bad, girly, you get caught!!!

I don’t dare to imagine what she would be like when she’s a teenager

JH - 15 months old

This is how JH looked like at 15 months old. He still walked like a penguin and often fell over. He's not very good at climbing. He can't even climb on to the sofa (which is not very high from the ground) by himself. He's still into biting and pulling hair, especially his jie's one. He was used to stick to me as if he's being glued to me. But I think this is his turning point. He still sticks to me, wanting to be carried and entertained and all that, but for a reasonable period of time, he was now happy to play by himself or with his jie. He's got 12 teeth (4 back ones (2 on top, 2 on bottom) are still growing out of the gum, but can see the teeth now). He's now a fussy eater. He's got sweet tooth. He's still sooky. And he has started throwing his tantrum.

We went to library last week. He just ran and screamed anyhow he liked. He also pulled out all the books of the shelf. The children books are easy to put back. but the books in the adult sections... they have to be put back according to the catalogue code, so it wasn't fun at all when he just pulled them off the shelf. I dragged him back to the children section and he threw the biggest tantrum I've ever seen him doing. He stood there and stomped his feet, screamed on top of his lung in frustration, his hands were closed in fists and his face was red as tomato as he strained. Gosh, it's too traumatic for me to take him to the library. Librarians and those people reading in the library certainly didn't appreciate what he did. So, we went home before we were kicked out from the library. That would be embarassing!

In the supermarket, he now prefers to walk and wander off by himself rather than sitting in the trolley or his stroller. And those little legs are incredibly fast when I try to chase him *sigh*

He's also cheeky. When I want to change his nappy, he will run off then he will stop to look back over his shoulder to see where I am and he'll stand there, waiting for me approaching him, and when he is within my reach then he'll laugh and run off again.

He loves his bath time. When he hears me saying "pom pom", he'll head straight to the bathroom and wait for me there. Once he's in the bath, it's a struggle to get him out. And once I put his clothes on, he'll run off without nappy. Yesterday, as usual, he ran off after bath to the living room and when I got there with the nappy, I found him standing with a puddle on the floor. Damn!!!! He just did a wee wee. Luckily I've changed my carpet to laminate floor. At least, it's easier to clean

He can point to mama, dada, jie jie. His words include mama (that's me!), dada (that's his dad), eh eh (that's jie jie), nana (that's banana). He finally knows how to nod and shake his head to indicate yes and no.

And that is the update of JH that I can think of.

#3???

Saturday, 3 July 2010

We are considering (only considering, the discussion hasn’t reached any conclusion yet) to have #3. Am I crazy????? I don’t know…. Maybe…

JL has been bugging me for quite a while now that she really really wants a baby sister. I told her she can have her own when she’s grown up and married. She asked me when is that. I said it’s still quite long. So there’s no point of talking about it now. With that, we’re back to the bugging and nagging. Muuuuummmmm, can you give me a baby sister???? AAARGGGHHHH!!!!!!

Before going to bed, Damien overheard JL praying, “Jesus, I really really really really want a baby sister. Can you please give me a baby sister? My baby brother is naughty, so I want a baby sister. Thank you, God. Amen!”

If (and I say IF!!!) we decide to go for #3, then it will take place either this year or next year.

Fierce Mother

Thursday, 1 July 2010

We went to visit my friend, Mirna. Her son is Matthew. Mirna’s MIL from Indonesia happened to be here for a visit.

On the way there, I was lecturing JL to behave and to share toys and to give in to Matthew because he’s younger. And to scare her off, I told her that Matthew’s grandma is here and she’s fierce. So she’ll tell you off if you don’t behave. FYI, Matthew’s grandma is a lovely friendly lady. I just said that so that JL would behave.

JL: Oh, that’s a bit like my Ah Ma. My Ah Ma is also very fierce.
Me: Really? Ah Ma is not that fierce
JL: Yes, she is. She always scolds me
Me: Then in that case, I’m very fierce.
JL: Well… sometimes
Me: Really? Not most of the times?
JL: No, Ma… sometimes
Me: Okay then.
JL: But I love you, mum.
Me: Even though I scold you all the time???
JL: Only sometimes.
Me: Okay then… sometimes.
JL: But it’s because you love me, right Ma?

God, I love this gal.