"Mummy, Happy....Happy....Happy."

This is my girl's favourite phrase. She uses it in the following circumstances:

• When she's afraid, for eg. when I leave her in the bedroom to sleep on her own, even if baby brother is sleeping soundly beside her. I usually sleep with them but sometimes when I'm busy, I leave them on their own for a little while. Before I leave the room, she'd say "Mummy, happy....happy...happy." and insist that I say it "Happy....happy....happy." back to her. Then she'd be satisfied and go to bed or play on her own happily, fear gone for the moment. Sometimes when I come back to the room and she's still not asleep but hiding under the blanket she'd tell me that she was afraid and thats why she was hiding under the blanket. Poor little thing but she's learning important skills of consoling herself, I feel.
• When she knows that I'm angry or impatient with her. She'd go "Mummy, happy....happy...happy." then I'd snap back impatiently "Yah, yah, ok. ok. happy! happy! happy!" and she'd say "No, mummy. Haaappppy......haaaappppy....happpyyy." (she'd say it slowly to remind me not to be angry and insist that I repeat after her "haapppy...haapppy....haapppy" slowly in return. (That usually stops me in my track of being angry or impatient. Smart girl. Its like taking a deep breath and counting to 10) or she'd say "No, mummy. Say okay. One time only. Not. Ok. Ok. Ok!" and she usually isn't satisfied till I repeat after her "Okay" in a calm controlled voice preferably with a smile instead of snapping back impatiently OKAY!" or worse still "OKAY LAH!" to which she'd say "Not Okay LAH, mummy, just Okay."
• When she knows that she has done something wrong eg made little baby brother cry.

Now, thats something I should learn from my girl. Whenever I feel myself getting angry, stressed or afraid, I should stop, take a deep breath and say "Happy.....happy....happy."

What about my boy? What have I got to learn from him? Well, one thing which he always does to me when I'm reading, using the computer or watching tv is come up to me, grab my face in both his little hands and turn my face to face him so that I'm staring him in the face, then put his face very near mine, give me a big smile and start babbling and pointing away. It never fails to get my attention. Hahaha. Think I should try that one out on Mr MG one day. ;)

"How many kids shall we have, honey?"

This is one question many couples often do not discuss before they get married. I mean can you imagine asking this question on a date? "Hi, I'm so & so. How many kids would you like to have?" I'm sure the date will be out of the door faster than you can say "door!" So quite often, most people find out only after they are hitched leading to some trouble.

Previously, our parents did not have this dilemma. They just had kids, kids and more kids. These days, I know many couples who cannot come to agreement on this. I have at least 3 friends who want to stop at 1 kid but their husbands would like more. Trouble. I know my own brother would like to have another to add to his bunch of two but sil says no more. This made me think..... "Hmmm how come its usually the men who want more?" "Cos they don't have to do all the hard work. Thats why!" Hehehe. Just kidding lah. My sis is the one who wanted No3. According to her, bil said work took up too much energy from him so he was happy with 2. Sis shared with everyone that she wanted 4 when she was younger and we all laughed at her then. "Are you sure?!!" we asked. She can't remember she said that now and she's happy though often busy and tired out by her 3.

Luckily, Mr MG and I are in total agreement on this (though we didn't discuss it earlier before marriage). There are many things that we cannot agree on but on no. of kids, we both like the idea of having 3. Hehehe. Only, we're not the youngest couple around (we're 40, 40+) so age, health and finances may not permit. :(

MG is kaypoh today. How many kids would you like to have and do you and your spouse agree on this?

MG recommends childrens' sites

Previously I've written about my toddler's favourite folder. Well, she's a pre-schooler now and her favourite folder has expanded. I've put them all on a webpage so that we can easily access them and so that I don't have to search for them all over again as I had to do once when my PC kaput.

These are wonderful sites for children to learn and have fun while learning. They are toddler tested by my girl personally. Ahem! So I'd like to share the link here with other moms and dads with little ones at home. You can try them out with your kids. They will love it. I'm too lazy to write a review on each of the site. Just clink on the links and test it out yourself lah! Hehehe. And if you have an interesting link that your child loves, please, please do share the link with me on my comments page. Thank you!

So, here's the link. My Girl's Favourite Web Sites for fun and learning.

Goldilocks and The Three Bears

One morning, I overheard My Girl "reading" her favourite book to herself ie "Goldilocks and the Three Bears." This is her version of the story....

"Once upon a time there were three bears. They were very happy........... Then Goldilocks said to Mother Bear.. "I don't like your porridge!" (Hahaha. Maybe she's trying to tell me something here.)......Then Baby bear said to Goldilocks... "Go away, Goldilocks! Don't sleep on my bed! Or I beat beat you! I throw you out the window!" (My Girl is very territorial and does not allow anyone to sleep on her side of the bed accept herself!)...... "Mummy says its 9 o'clock. Its time to go to bed." (Since she was "reading" about beds, I think it reminded her about her own mummy telling her to go to bed.) The three bears said to Goldilocks..."This is our house. Go and find your own house!" (Being territorial again) ....... When Goldilocks saw the three bears, she ran down the stairs but cannot hold the side. (Dunno whats that all about. Later I asked her and she told me it was because Goldilocks was running and thats why she could not hold the side of the stairs. She also laughed very hard at her own version of the story when I repeated it to her.)

Now in the actual version, Goldilocks never met the three bears till the end of the story but in her version, Goldilocks has a few conversations with the bears. Hahaha. My Girl is really funny. I love to "listen" to her pretending to read her books. My boy is starting to pretend to read now too just as she did once not too long ago... by turning the pages, pointing and babbling. They're soooo adorable.

Free Kisses and Hugs

Baby is very generous with his kisses now. He loves the Barney "I love You" song and will sing along "Eee Ahh Eeee" ("I Love You"). Sometimes he simply comes up to me and says "Eeee Ahhh Eee" than gives me a hug and a kiss. Hahaha. Thats one affectionate little boy. It is really endearing the way he likes to run up to me than hold me very tightly in his little arms. (Mr MG has a thing or two to learn from baby. Hehehe.) His current favourite word is "Up! Up! Up!" ie "Carry me please!"

My Girl is very affectionate too. She loves to smile at me, hug me and kiss me. She loves to play with her foam numbers in bed. Number 3 is her favourite since she is 3 years old. I told her she will be 4 years old this year so she took No. 3 and No. 4 to bed with her. In the morning when she awoke, she put No. 3 and No. 4 together facing each other, made smacking sounds and said "Look! Thas me kissing you, mummy!" Then she puts her No. 3 and No. 4. together side by side and said "Look! I'm hugging mummy." than she gives me the sweetest smile, comes and puts her head on my shoulder and gives me several kisses.

Ooh! I just love those moments! Muaks! My babies. Smackeroos! Mummy loves you both so very much!

Big Bad Sis

"Baby, touch that decoration."

"Baby go there."

"Baby shake this."

"Baby, come and play with the curtain."

"Baby. Hammer this. Baby, you must hammer! Hammer your own car!" (They each have their own toy hammer to errr... release pent up energy.)

My Girl is often encouraging the baby (her little scapegoat) to do things that she wants to try out but is afraid to or things that she knows she is not supposed to....and when mummy says "Hey! You two don't play with that!" she goes *PIAK!* ie hits the baby and says "Baby! Cannot! Mummy say cannot!"

This morning, I caught her telling baby ........ "Baby, put your leg inside" ie inside a small toy box that she has..... and when mummy says "Aw c'mon stop teaching your baby brother all the wrong things." she went "Baby, come baby, lets run away before mummy scold me." Aiyoh! That girl ah! (*shakes head*) dunno whether to laugh or cry.

Funny Things My Girl Says

"Mummy, why are you cycling so slowly? Can you cycle faster than slow?" - This she says to me when I am on my exercise bike dreaming instead of cycling. Hehe.

"Mummy, is the rain heavy? Mummy is it drizzling now? Can I wear my hood? Mummy, I wanna wear my hood. Faster! The rain will stop soon." - This one is because we told her she can wear her hand-me-down jacket with a hood only when it drizzles, so its the only time she rushes us instead of us rushing her to leave the house.

"Mummy, the roof got rain (the roof is wet). Mummy the rain want to eat up the roof.... but the rain got no face..... the rain got only line, line." - This one must be due to her overactive imagination. :)

"Mummy, I smell the hotel!" - This one said in amazement, wonder and delight, when kiasu mummy used leftover hotel hair conditioner. hehehe.

"Mummy, the tissue box say it likes to wear this clothes. Its very pretty." - This one when I tried to remove the silk tissue box holder after Chinese New Year.

Super Glue

"Nothing you could say

Could tear me away from my mom,

Nothing you could do

cause I'm stuck like glue to my mom

I'm sticking to my mom like a stamp to a letter
Like birds of a feather, we stick together
I'm tellin' you from the start
I can't be torn apart from my mom"

Lyrics Above: Borrowed from the Song "My Guy" by Diana Ross

SuperGlue: I've got two of those strong stuff at home... in the form of a sweet little girl and a mischievious little boy who follow me around all day. My two precious kids are like super glue. They are stuck to me all day long ie they're very, very clingy. No one else will do, not even daddy, not to mention a stranger or a relative. Poor daddy often (though not all the time, luckily) gets rejected by the little ones, shaking their heads vigorously and running away from him or crying really, really hard and trying to reach out to me when he tries to carry them. They would not let him carry them even when he's seating right beside me. (*rolls eyes*)

Their daddy says its my fault they are this way. He says I have the unfair advantage of being with them all day. Grrr.... You think its fun meh? Now I just wish they'd stick to him for once, so that I'd get to eat my meal slowly, read the papers silently without anyone stomping on the pages or go to the toilet without interuptions.

Sometimes they are not even satisfied with me sitting right beside them while they are playing or watching a vcd. They'd insist on sitting on my lap and push at each other to get to the favoured position. I wonder when they'll outgrow this clingy or separation anxiety age? Hmmm... I suppose I should just enjoy it for before I know it, they'd be rejecting me for their own friends instead.

A Time To Wean

I'm planning to wean my almost 2 year old soon. And to imagine that he took 2 completely whole months before he learned how to breastfeed directly, now he won't let go. He is extremely attached to his milk bottle cum pacifier ie ME! Gosh. This will be a hard time for both of us.

So here I am, reading up all the literature, forums etc on weaning and a few things that sounds practical for me to try are:

• Don't Offer, Don't Refuse
• Start with the middle of the night one first by offering water instead (gosh, this will be hard on lil' ole me cos its so much easier to just feed him and everybody goes back to sleep soundly. Now, I'd have to get up to get the water and thats sure to keep me awake for at least 1-2 hours after that as I often have trouble falling back to sleep after getting up at night. I haven't tried offering water before but I have tried just patting him back to sleep but it does not work. He'd sit up and point to the breastfeeding pillow and if I still didn't get the message, he'd go and drag the pillow to me himself and cry very, very hard. Aiyoh! Susah loh!)

Hubby says I have to not only wean him off the "pacifier" but I'd have to make sure he gets other sources of milk. Haha. Now, why didn't I think of that? Silly! So far he has rejected the formula milk. He loves drinks, any form of drinks and takes all of the fruit juices I prepare for him but when it comes to formula milk, he turns his face away in disgust and tries to spit it out. Susah loh. Susah.

Last night I tried to offer him some again. At first he looked delighted when he saw that he also had a bottle similar to his sisters. (He loves to copy her in everything that she does) but after taking one sip he takes his hand and tries to push the bottle away but at least he didn't look as disgusted as before. Hahaha. Thats a start. I'll continue offering him for awhile and hopefully he'll get used to the routine and the smell and taste of it. We'll see.

Right after this strategy, I will drop the morning feeds first as its easier to distract him then. The naptime and bedtime one will be the hardest. My Girl was so easy to wean, it went like a breeze but somehow for My Boy, I have a feeling its going to be a lot harder. Wish me luck!

"I want to do it myself!"

My Girl is at the stage where she wants to do everything by herself.

"I want to wear the shoes myself!"

"I want to give you the cup!"

"I want to turn off the tap myself!"

"I want to do it myself!"

These are some of the stuff I get to hear everyday.

The most prevalent one is the wearing of shoes by herself and insisting that she gives me her finished milk bottle at the kitchen sink (and nowhere else) and insisting that I say "Oh! Thank you!" when she does.

Now if she doesn't get to do any of those things by herself, she'd throw a tantrum. Aiyoh! Really headache! Especially when we are in a hurry to go out. We'd wear her socks and shoes for her and she'd remove them again just so she could wear them by herself thereby delaying us even further. I try to give her opportunities to do things by herself and when I remember, I'd let her start wearing her shoes 1/2 hour before leaving the house.

We show her how to wear her shoes and socks correctly and she often asks "Is it ok?" or she'd asked for help when she can't manage so I guess we should remember to exercise more patience with her. Still..... sometimes..... really cannot tahan when she throws her tantrum and tries to undo things that have been done to redo them again by herself.

I suppose its just another passing phase in the life of a little one who's growing up very quickly.

Love is Not Equal

Love is in the Air so must write about love today.

Do you love all of the persons in your life equally? I don't! Top on my list is my spouse, then, my children, followed by my immediate family members. Sorrylah kiddoes. You are the world to me and I love you more than anything and anyone in the world (accept your dad). I love your dad more for without him there would be no you and long after you have grown and spread your wings and left home, he would still be here, hopefully. Hehe. And sorrylah to my own parents, bros and sis. I love you all but my own little family is tops in my heart and in my mind. I know its the same for you too bros and sis for that is the wheel of life.

One often hears mums say that once their children come along, their love for their spouse shifts to the children or dims. Now isn't that sad? To me, my spouse is No 1. In fact, I love him more AFTER the children came along for who can resist a man who is a great father? I was so touched the day I saw him lift my newborn in his arms with the proudest look on his face. My children does not rouse the same passion in me as my spouse does. Although they do receive the most moving and protective love from me ie a mum's love. (There have been mums who have been able to move an entire car off their children in an accident. Such is the wonder of a mum's love.)

However, once the children comes along, it APPEARS that they are getting more love and attention from me. More ATTENTION yes of course for little ones require a lot of energy, attention and love to thrive so poor hubby would often be the last recipient of my attention in my household but more affection? Maybe in appearance only but not in my heart.

So dear, this Valentine's Day, I will do something for you. We don't celebrate the "conventional" or should I say the "commercial" way of giving gifts etc but I will take a little time to think about how to be a better wife to you and try to work on that instead. And since you don't read my blog my dear, this shall be my own little secret! Haha. For no gift is better than a gift from the heart. Giving is richer and more rewarding when you give expecting nothing in return, not even the recipients reaction to your "gift".

So here's my Valentine's Day "gift" to you. For other spouses, it probably requires different ways of loving them but I know you well and I know that to be a better wife to you I need to be (Hmm....hmmm.......MG doing thinking exercise for a couple of minutes):

• more "sai sum" (thoughtful) as you yourself are
• bring up your kids better and be more patient with them
• be more organised and less kelam kabut
• give you more foot reflexology
• establish more family routines, stick to them and enjoy and cherish them with you (I know how you hate my fickle mindedness)

I can sing before I can talk

My Boy has added some new words to his vocabulary in the following order (I think!):

1. Star
2. Car
3. Bark. Bark. ("Dog")
4. Chea Chea ("Elder Sister")
5. Up! ("Carry me please!")
6. Thow! ("Throw!" as in his and his sisters favourite game ie throwing everything they can get their little hands on)

Though his vocab is still quite limited, he can sing! It is simply amazing! Some of the songs I've heard him "singing" include:

1. Barney's "I Love You"
2. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
3. The Wheels On The Bus
4. Mary Had A Little Lamb
5. London Bridge is Falling Down
6. Pop Goes The Weasel

Hahaha. Hey! He can sing as many songs as he can speak! He sounds absolutely adorable when he "sings" in his babble. He would go "Eee Ahh Eee..... Ahh.... Eee....Ahhh..Woh....Ohhh....Eeee" or something like that but he'd get the tune right and I'd know which song he was "singing". Amazing!

The next day ie the 3rd day of CNY

Continuation of Surprise. We managed to extend our stay the next day. Yippee! So we had a little time on the beach in the morning. Then it was time for some lunch with the family.

After lunch, we went to the temple to pay respects to my deceased mum. Mum thought of us before she died. She wanted to be cremated and her ashes kept there so that we need not trod on tall lalang and overgrown grass to see her. Well, mum was very thoughtful and smart indeed. Her place of rest is a tourist attraction so its always well kept and clean!

I secretly "told" mum. "Mum. Look. I brought your grandchildren to see you. You don't have to worry about me anymore. Now I have a good husband and a little family to love." Hubby secretly "told" mum. "Thank you for a good wife." It didn't remain a secret for long coz we told each other soon after. Hehehe. Thats the closest to a declaration of love I will get from hubby. So I shall treasure it in my heart always. Now thats my little Valentine message. Cos I'm sure not going to get anything from him then. Neither will he get anything from me. Hahaha. (I rmember one year we went grocery shopping at a mall and our bill exceeded a certain amout so I could go and collect some free rose from the counter and I teased him about how I had to even go and collect my own rose cos he didn't bother to get it for me.)

We spent too much time driving around cos there was traffic jam everywhere. At night we did manage to jalan-jalan around the bazaar outside the hotel to buy some souverneirs for friends. We got My Boy a cute little Penang T-shirt and shorts suit which we bargained down from RM19 to RM8. My Girl has a little Penang T-shirt with the Penang bridge on it costing RM2.50 just to help her remember the trip cos she was so excited to be on the bridge.

Early the next morning, hubby woke My Girl up early so he could take her to the beach to look at the sunrise. We let baby sleep in for a while. Then it was more beach (the children loves to dig in the sand with their little spades. Pic above is our little sand castle with a handpicked seashell roof and little pine trees lining up the driveway. Hahaha), more lunch with family before the long, tedious journey home. The buffet breakfast at the hotel was scrumptious and I dug in kiasu M'sian style both mornings. Lol. (Forgetting all about my diet!) All in all, we had a wonderful time and now its recorded somewhere in the recess of my mind for reliving and cherishing from time to time. :)

Surprise, surprise!

This year we went back to Penang on the 2nd day of CNY. It was hubby's surprise for the family. He said "Hon, why don't you try to book a hotel room in Penang and we'll drive back with the kids." And so, we rang the hotel one day before our departure and managed to get ourselves a room despite the full bookings. Yip yip hurrah! Muaks! (to hubby).

My Girl was very excited about the trip. She woke up at 4am on the morning and could not go back to sleep. So we gave her some milk, woke baby and was out of the house before 6am. Baby woke up enough to walk himself to the car in his pyjamas but went back to sleep promptly as soon as the car started moving and he slept on for the first 2 hours of the journey. Hehe. My Girl on the other hand was too excited to sleep. She chatted most of the way. "Why is it so dark?" "Why is it so far?" etc etc.

We arrived at 10.30am and went straight to the old house. Dad and aunties were most surprised to see us. Heh heh! Its nice to surprise people. Later bros and sis and their families came over as well.

2nd Auntie is as amazing as ever. She is extremely hospital and never fail to make anyone feel welcome. I am simply amazed at how she can entertain and cook for so many all day long at her age, mid 60s. She even made lunch for the lion dance troop coz her hubby is one of them. So every year we have a special performance at our place. Nice. While the lion dance troop ate their lunch, we messed around with their "equipment" of drums, cymbals and lion dance costume. Everyone had a good laugh.

Later on around 3pm, we went to check in at the hotel. The kids were still too excited to sleep. So we merely rested for a while before taking them out again, to see aunties and dad, went out for Penang hawker food, jalan-jalan at Gurney drive and went to the supermarket to stock up our mini fridge, kiasu M'sian style (The mini fridge at the hotel was empty anyway for that purpose so says a little signboard on it.)

By the time we were done, we had on our hands, two overly stimulated kiddoes, screaming all the way back to the hotel and falling asleep halfway through. Hahaha. It was such a long day for the little ones. A little bit too much excitement for them.

We were supposed to check out the next day, to drive back the next day but thinking that it was much too tiring to do that and having too much fun to leave so soon, we decided to see if we could extend our stay in the fully booked hotel. Unfortunately, it remained fully booked.

Hmm.. this post is getting long. I'll continue later about the next day.

Balik from Balik Kampung

"Snore.......zzzzzzzzz......snore........zzzzzzzz"

"Car! Car!"

"The wheels of the car go round and round, round and round.........."

"Lets play the colour game. Can you see a red car? Can you see a blue car?"

"Which biscuit you want to eat? The rabbit one or the butterfly one?"

"You want to eat some oranges? Mummy peel for you."

"Here! Here's a pen and paper. Draw something....anything."

"C'mon..... stop pushing baby!"

"C'mon you two. Stop fighting."

"Here's a cool drink for you."

"Come. Let mummy wipe your face and neck with this cool towel. You'll feel better."

"Time for a pamper change. Hmm... after that no need to wear your jeans already lah. Its soooo hot."

"Oh, look there's the sunset. Isn't it beautiful? Got pink, orange, blue......"

"Mummy.... why is it dark dark already?"

"Twinkle, twinkle little star......"

"Car! Car!" (Thats baby's second word after "Star", his first.)




And that..... was how we survived a 7 hour balik from balik kampung journey starting at 2pm after lunch and arriving home after 9pm without even stopping for dinner. Only a short stop for toilet break which felt like there was some bazzaar or funfare going on at the rest area the way it was buzzing with people and activities! The kids have been surprisingly good being confined for so many hours in a car.