The On Going Battle

We were hoping RBA can compensate daddy on the Airasia ticket that he bought due to the reason here.

He sent in the email on the 16th May and on 21st the reply was as follows :

Dear Mr. Thoo

Thank you for your email highligting the inconvenince you had experienced as was not accepted for check in to flight BI874, 10th May 2008 from Kuala Lumpur to Brunei. We are always concerned when the expectations of our passengers are not met. Your feedback plays a vital role in the highlighting any problem areas and enables us to focus our efforts on improvement

May we take the opportunity to explain that the check-in counter for Royal Brunei Airlines passengers at 1120hrs whilst for passengers without baggage, the closing time will be extended to 1150hrs. We regret that they are not able to accept you for check-in at 1205hrs due to the reason previously mentioned.

We had made immediate investigation and revealed that our Check In counter at KLIA for flight BI874, 10th May 2008 was closed at 1240hrs, 35 minutes before its departure time and further delay on the departure of that flight would result in our airline incurring cost. For your kind information, check in counters for our passengers normally open at least two hours prior to departure and close within 35 to 45 minutes before each flight's schedule departure time as to allow final process on flight documentation, passenger and security clearance.

Our airport staff also confirmed receiving your call and alternatively had offered you to travel to the next available flight however you chose to travel with other carrier. We also apologise if they are not able to attend to your call earlier as obviously they are not available at the officer due to attending passengers at the check-in counters, arrival and departure gates. We sincerely apologise if you felt the services provided by them were unsatisfactory, when at no time these were their intention. We find they were just following the customer services procedures and without reasons should they act on their own to practice any discretion.

We hope we have clarified the matters. May we once again apologise for the distress experienced. Nonetheless, we would like to reassure you that any constructive feedback with respect to Royal Brunei Airlies services is highly welcomed. We hope these incidents will not you from travelling with Royal Brunei Airlines again in the near future.

Yours sincerely
For Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd

Before daddy received this email, their customer services staff mentioned that there were remarks in the system informing the RBA check in counter staff that daddy called and he was already on the way. So why do they choose to IGNORE it?

...... alternatively had offered you to travel to the next available flight however you chose to travel with other carrier.

Of coz daddy choose to travel with other carrier, the next available flight is the following day. Does that mean if daddy chose the next flight RBA will bear his cost of staying another day?

We hope these incidents will not you from travelling with Royal Brunei Airlines again in the near future.

(they have missed out the word "STOP" in between the line) I will definately remind daddy to avoid RBA in future. We rather go through MAS or AirAsia. At least we don't need to pay a fortune and get lousy services.

Since daddy received this email, he has tried to call RBA uncountable times. We don't understand why there is no one answering the calls. Daddy emailed them to request them to return call but he did not recieve any reply.

He emailed the customer services officer again on the 23rd to request for an appointment to see the manager. RBA replied and said that daddy can come anytime between 2 pm to 5 pm.

Few days later, daddy called to make appoitnment and the manager was on emergency leave. Is either daddy is not free or this woman is forever not around. Daddy spoken to her staff and made an appoitnment to see her on Tuesday.

We shall see what happen next.

His & Her # 1 Behaviour

Every child has their own unique character and behaviour. We noticed both Samuel and Jesse are very different when they are at the same age.

Samuel feel contented easily. The toys/things that he wanted to play with, which does not belong to him, he is willing to put it back after playing or upon request. We have no problem in bringing him to toys department. He will played and put it back before we leave. He is happy to put the toys back at the shelf where it belongs.

Jesse on the other hand is not so willing to put back. She will scream and cry until we distract her with other things which she has interest on. Else she will continue to cry.

Balloons

Last Sunday, we sent both our children to Sunday School. It has been a month since they last went there. After I brought them to the class, I tried to sneak out when they are not looking at me.

We came back before the class ends and they were having a party with alot of balloons. To my surprise he is pretty ok to see so many balloons. I think I have managed to overcome his fear in balloons.

Few weeks ago when I brought a balloon home, he ran into his room wanted to cry because he was afraid of the balloon. He cried extremely loud when he sees Jesse holds the balloon. He was afraid that Jesse might burst the balloon. For the next few days, I keep showing him the balloon and keep encouraging him to touch and play with the balloon.

Initially he was abit afraid of the big bunch of balloons but after awhile he was ok. Jesse was very happy playing with so many balloons and we brought back the bunch of balloons. And Samuel keeps playing with the balloons non stop.

An Awful Day

I woke up early morning with terrible blocked nose. I can hardly breath. I have not been so sick before. It has been 3weeks since I had running nose and phlegm. I hardly rely on medicine eventhough I have been sick but this time even with medicine I have not recovered.

I decided to check my HSBC internet banking. I found out that they have not waived my annual fees for my credit cards, which I was told they will waive it on the same day.

After sending Samuel to school and had breakfast I went to the HSBC to settle it. Then I went back and trying to rearrange some photos and exploring iphoto software on my macbook. I accidently dropped the external hard disk. The hard disk consists all our photos (except for some recent one) the scrappings I did, some work related files and others.

Thank God all the photos are backup copies but as for the scrappings, I don't have a backup copy. All my scrappings are gone! It is not alot but at least 50 of them. I am really sad.

In the afternoon, I found out my Nokia N80 has some problem. I brought daddy's E90 for servicing (his phone has some problems about 2weeks ago) but I still have not sent mine. On the way back, daddy told me his Tissot is not functioning well. Probably the battery is weak.

Since it was an unpleasant day and I wanted to release my stress, I brought Samuel swimming. I did not bring Jesse as she is having abit of running nose. Yes, we went swimming again.

The "Broom" Hairstyle

This is how Jesse looks like after we untie her hair from plates. Does she looks like she has just permed her hair?

Many people has mistaken her as being 2 years old. Our friends also commented that our Jesse looks more like a little girl than a toddler. Daddy feels that it is probably because of her hair. She has alot of hair as compared to her peers.

Swim Swim Swim

I have not had enough of swimming on Sunday and decided to bring the kids for a swim again yesterday. We went to the nearest pool, that is at the Polo Club at around 515pm. Both Jesse and Samuel were really excited.

As Samuel just started to go under the water blowing bubbles, I wanted him to practice more. He also kept requesting to jump into the water.

Jesse is pretty good floating with the arm float but she drank alot of water too.

When Samuel was at Jesse's age, he doesn't dare to go into the pool, although he loves to play with water. He was too afraid to dip himself into the pool.

We only swam for about 45 minutes but it was really fun!

Is It Jesse's Turn?

Jesse sitting near the pool waiting for her turn
Splashing the water while waiting
Ready to go into the water with her armbands

While Samuel was attending his swimming lesson, Jesse sat near the pool playing water. She too wanted to swim. But it was not time for her class yet. When I went into the water with Samuel, she was there yelling, she too wanted to go into the pool!


10 minutes before Jesse's class started, I went into the pool with her. I put on the float for her and there she lie down on the float. So relaxed in the water.

One of the things they do during the class was taking the toys laying in the water. Jesse tried to grab as many toys as possible and she especially like the ducks.

She enjoyed herself very much during the class, while Samuel was there running around the pool and making alot of noise.

What Is Wrong With Them

Since the disapproval of our 2nd amah (maid) licence quota, we have been trying to contact the labour officer incharge. We found out from the very first day that there is only one officer who is incharge of applying 2nd amah (maid) licence quota. And most of the time he is not in the office. (Actually it makes us wonder if he ever needs to work). Even if he is in, he is only in the office for less than 1 hour!

We call this officer a few times everyday. Its either there was no one answer or he was not in.

Today I tried to call him several times in the morning, not to our surprise, he was not in. In the afternoon at 3.10pm I called again and one of the staff told me he was in the office. Immediately I told her I wanted to see him. She requested me to hold on to the line and I would have assumed that she checked and informed the officer that I would like to make an appointment. She then told me it was ok and I can come.

I rushed to the Labour Department. REALLY RUSHED! Reached there in less than 15 minutes and the staff told me he was not in! I told her that the person who answered my call asked me to come over.

None of the staff knew where he was and apprently he has left the office at 2pm! Today, he was in the office from 130 to 2 pm only. So who was this woman that I have spoken to that asked me to come over?

Our Little Harmonica-ists

In Jesse's Kindermusic At Home Material, it comes with 2 harmonicas, one green and one yellow. One for the little one and the other for the parent.

Of coz in our case, one is for Jesse and the other for Samuel. As Samuel's favourite colour is Green, he chooses the green one and left Jesse with the yellow. Both of them likes to play with it very much.

Samuel Finally Did It

Samuel jumps into the water

Yesterday, Samuel finally blew bubbles and open his eyes when he went under the water. Finally! This was his 7th lessons, and he finally did it. After his lesson, I requested from his teacher to allow him to continue practicing and I was there to coach him. Samuel and myself enjoyed ourselves in the water.

Not only he blew bubbles and opened his eyes underwater, he even jumped (really high) into the water. Usually when it was his turn to jump into the water, he will just sit and "drop" himself into the water. Today, he stood up tall and jumped like there was no tomorrow.

When I was in the water with him, I continued to encourage him to blow bubbles. I put some toys under the water and asked him to take it and he did it. It was his first time that he managed to grab the toys under the water. In the other classes, he never managed to take the toys because he closes his eyes when he was under the water, even with his goggles on. This was one of the things that Samuel has been afraid off - taking the toys under the water. He kept telling me that he was afraid, but yesterday he surprises me.

Humpty Dumpty. Not!

Our little princess, Jesse had her swimming class today. She has been, as usual very happy and excited long before her class started.

When daddy came to see mummy and jesse at the pool, she was already lying down on her float, floating all by herself in the swimming pool while mummy watches closely.

Today's class caught daddy's attention, especially when they were playing "Humpty Dumpty Sat On The Wall..."

My Little Princess is no Humpty Dumpty, alright... hehe... While all the rest of the babies sat by the pool together with Jesse, they all jumped in when "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.. 1.. 2.. 3.." except for our Baby Jesse...

She just sat there kicking the water by the side of the pool happily... :)

Annual Leave

Yesterday, I was abit busy settling some work before I go on leave. I will be off till 2/6/08. I wanted to clear some of my entitlement as my contract will be expiring end of the month. I have requested to carry forward some of my leaves to the new contract.

I still have a balance of 28 working days annual leave. I will try to take off few days in every month to finish up the leave, before HR decided to forfeit my leave.

Since it was a last minute decision, I am still thinking what should I be doing during my off day. We shall see what happen......

The Verdict = Rejected

A month ago, we decided to apply for an additional domestic helper license. Tuesday, daddy went and collect the paper, which we thought has been approved. To our disspointment, it has been declined. No one in the labour department knows the reason of the non approval, as it was not stated. The officer, who has decline our application was not in. The clerk requested us to reapply, and wait for another month!

On Wednesday, mummy went to labour department to "try out the luck" to meet the officer. As what we have thought, he was not in. I spoken to one of the clerks, who was very helpful. She searched for my file and went through the documents in the file. There was a remark on one of the papers which I submmited. The comment was why hire a maid to look after my husband. We are not applying for a new maid to look after daddy but to look after our needs.

There is no reason they reject our application. We have all the means to support the extra maid, we have valid reasons and we have enough rooms for an additional maid.

The reasons we were planning to get another additional maid are:
1. The current maid can't cope with the children and cleaning the house
2. Daddy has allergy and needs a really clean environment (with doctor's letter)

We are actually hoping to get a driver cum maid. Daddy and myself have been taking turns to send and pick up Samuel from school, which has affected both our jobs. The children here are too pampered! 95% of their parents are the drivers themselves, sending and picking them from school and other extra activities.

Due to the reason that our current maid's primary role is to look after the children, our house has not been so clean, causing daddy to be sick very often.

If the house is dusty, daddy will start to fall sick. It is because daddy has dust allergy which will cause sinus. If the condition gets worse, his flu will start to spread to the children.

If we have an additional helper, it will at least ease the current maid. I don't blame her for not making the house clean as I think she has done her best. She usually starts working from 5.15 am till 11 pm. She was actually quite efficient in her work, but still she works till very late at night.
Even if the Labour Department approves our additional license, we will still need to wait for bio data (which we have waited for more than a month and yet can't get hold of any) Even if we got the bio data, we will still need at least 4-6weeks of processing time.

Samuel's Concert - Part II

As I have no confidence to leave Samuel at the backstage alone with other children, I cancelled our concert tickets a day before. I know we wouldn't sit in the hall watching the concert in peace and leaving him behind stage unattended.

As mentioned in Samuel's Concert - Part 1, we were at the backstage since 5.30pm. The concert did not start until its 8pm. When the children were restless, that was the time they were called on stage, ie. around 8.15 pm

Daddy went out first to try to look at a good spot to take some videos of their presentation while I went behind the stage with the children to prepare them before they actually go on stage. But daddy can't get a good spot, so the video is not presentable. (The professional video to be followed)

I felt that it was really necessary to be there with Samuel because before the children went on stage, the walkway is very narrow and dark. The lights were dimmed because there was another performance before it was Samuel and the little children's performance. There were a few children who started crying before going on stage. Thank God, Samuel wasn't one of them.

When Samuel went on stage (Like a SuperStar.. hehe), I quickly came out to the hall to see his performance. Surprisingly, Samuel was pretty confident and he did all the actions and sang pretty loud too. Infact, he was shouting.

Daddy and mummy are both so proud of him.

After his performance, we didn't stay on till the end of the concert. Infact, Samuel was supposed to be there the last part of the concert. It was getting pretty late and we all miss our precious Jesse. We went home and called it for the night.

Credit Cards

Two days ago, I received my SCB credit card bill via email. They have charged me $406 annual fees for both primary and supplementary platinum credit cards. Without hesitation, I called to request for waiver. Yesterday, they called and informed me that they can only waive 50% of the fees. That means, I need to pay $203 for a card which we kept for emergency purposes?

No doubt with platinum cards, we get alot of privileges. But I am not going to pay $203 for the annual fees. Moreover, I have a supplement card from daddy. No point keeping 2 same card with same privileges, unless its free!

This morning when I checked my HSBC credit card bill online, I was charged $125 annual fee each for my Gold Visa & Master Primary Card and $75 for Gold Visa Card supplementary.
I don't remember both the annual fees for both HSBC and SCB credit cards due on the same months.

I then headed to the nearest HSBC branch to request for the waiver, after I have spoken to the credit card call centre. The call centre is not providing me good services.

While I was in the bank waiting, after taking the number, one of the staff was very helpful asking for her assistance. She then lead me to customer service staff and without any questions she said NO PROBLEM! She will waived all the annual fees by today.

Thumbs up HSBC!!

Swimming Again

Pool full with parents and babies

A week before we did not bring Jesse for her swimming class as she has just recovered from fever. Last week, mummy was so excited to be in the pool with her again. Although it was mummy who was sick, I still wanna accompany her in the pool hehehe.... Don't worry daddy, I will give you a chance to be with her, probably the last class :p

Each class, she will dare to try something new. Last week, she finally walks on the big float. The first few classes, she only crawls as she was afraid to walk on the float. After few classes, she can now float by herself, blow bubbles, walk on the float and go under the water. Soon, she will be swimming hahaha.....

Fillipino Maid

A very close church friend of ours recommended her ex-fillipino maid to us. She was my friend's maid for 8 years until she decided to settle back in Phillipines 9 years ago. She came back recently to visit her husband who is still working here. Since her daughter is now 9 years old, she is planning to look for a job here.

Since we are still looking for a maid, I called her and met her for a short interview. She told us her requirements:

1) Off at least once a month - go off Saturday afternoon and be home by Sunday afternoon
2) Husband will come and visit her Saturday afternoon, stay in and leave on Sunday evening during the weekend when she has to stay with us
3) Husband can come anytime in the evening to meet his wife

Daddy was actually OK with her requirements. But mummy was NOT. Daddy's reasons:

1) She was highly recommended
2) Married and husband is here, she will not try to do funny business
3) The maid has the motherly look, should be able to look after our children
4) Daddy feels that her husband just want to see his wife

Mummy has no doubt in her capability in taking care of the children and doing the housework. But mummy is not comfortable with the idea of a MAN STRANGER walking in and out of our house, especially when we have a girl at home! Its a NO! NO!

Hong Kong Trip Day 6

We stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui on our last day of our trip ie. 11/12/07. Making full use of our time, daddy and mummy went out for a simple breakfast near the our hotel (Regal Kowloon) and bought some food back for our babies.

Daddy and mummy went out for last minute shopping at the Hong Kong Peninsula. After that, daddy and mummy quickly went to Harbour City to check out the children's department. Daddy and mummy bought a Robot dog (called Lucky) from Toys R Us for Samuel and rushed back to the hotel.

We packed and checked out of the hotel and left our luggage at the concierge while we went for another last minute window shopping with both Samuel and Jesse before leaving for the airport. We just went walking nearby the hotel cause it wasnt easy for us to walk anywhere far with both Samuel and Jesse.

Hong Kong is such an unbelievable shopping haven. When we went to the airport, we spent all our time at the Disneyland shop, shopping! AGAIN! Since we still have HK$, we actually tried to shop till we finish the HK$. Gosh, it is not a good idea to have so much cash on hand.

We have 3 extra bags with us when we left the shop. We have not been shopping like mad for a long time. We then boarded our flight back to Brunei.

We came back with a LV handbag and some Tees for mummy, some ties and Tees for daddy, some dresses, shirts, skirts, pants, handprints, toys and socks for Jesse, some shirts and toys for Samuel, food, photo frames, key chains and alot of Disneyland sourvenirs.

Mickey and Minnie bought in Disneyland Hotel
Mickey and Minnie bought in Airport and Goofy in Disneyland
Seven drawfs bought in Disney Hotel Winnie and friends bought in Disney Hotel Mickey and gang bought in Disneyland
Mickey and Minnie magnet, now hanging at our living room stand lamp
Goofy, Pluto and Donald magnet hanging at our stand lamp
Chip and Dale bought in Airport

Disneyland Photo frame bought in Disneyland

Clean Freak?

Daddy and mummy noticed that Samuel has been very fussy with cleanliness. A little small spot, the size of a sesame seed, on anything, Samuel will ask "whats that?" and he will refuse to go near it. It is as if it is sooo dirty that going near it is like throwing himself into a garbage bin.

When in situations like this, daddy and mummy will have to either remove the little spot (if removable) or replace whatever the spot is on (eg. chair, cloth, etc..). Otherwise, Samuel will keep on whining like a CD that has skipped tracked (over and over again) "Daddy, mummy, whats that? Whats that? Is it dirty?"

Daddy and mummy is not sure if it is common with other children his age, but for Samuel, it is a big no-no if ever there is a little spot of dirt near him.

Samuel Is Sick

Samuel is down with fever since Thursday evening, he started taking antibiotics and he was alright the whole night.

He had a slight fever again on Friday morning. He missed his art class yesterday and we did not send him to school today.

On and off he has slight fever even with antibiotics. He has very yellowish mucus when he sneezes and thick phlegm too. I don't think he will be attending his swimming class tommorow.

Samuel's health has always been weaker compared to Jesse. Probably because Jesse was exclusively breastfed for 14 months while Samuel was never exclusively breastfeed. I only managed to breastfeed him for the first 5 months.

Samuel is also allergic to dust, that makes him rely even more on medicines. If he gets allergy, he will start to have running nose and when it gets worst, he will have phlegm and cough. We always have to make sure that his beddings and pillows are clean, otherwise he will start to have running nose again.

It seems that everyone of us in the family is not well. Started with Jesse, Samuel, Mummy and Daddy. Hopefully we will all be well soon.

Unsatisfied with Royal Brunei Airlines

It has been a week since daddy came back and daddy has been extremely busy with work. Only today daddy has the chance to sit down and email RBA to inform them about the dissatisfaction and the inconvenience RBA has caused.

The email was sent as follow :

Dk Haslinda,

I was asked to contact you to express my dissatisfaction with the unpleasant experience I have had with RBA.

My full name is Thoo WL and I am confirmed to board the flight BI874 on 10th May 2008 from KL to Brunei at 120pm. I was informed that passengers are allowed to check in to get our boarding passes at KL Sentral before boarding the train.

On the 10th May, I went to KL Sentral at 11.45am to check in my baggage and to get my boarding pass. Being in the queue, I waited till 12.05pm only was told by the staff on KL Sentral that I cannot check in and get my boarding pass for my flight. They told me to catch the next train to the airport and check in there. The next train was at 12.15pm. I told them that by the time I reach the airport, RBA would have closed the counter for checking in. They insisted that they will inform RBA of my coming and asked me to board the train.

While on the train, I was extremely worried. I called every available RBA numbers available in KL (603 20707166, 603 20706628) but nobody answered the phone. I called RBA's number in brunei to seek for help and spoke to Imelda. She gave me another number, 603 87873664 and again, no answer. Imelda told me that she will leave a message for the RBA staff in KLIA to inform them of my coming. I tried to call all RBA M'sia number that I have continuously including the number given by Imelda but to my dissappointment, nobody answered my call for more than 20 minutes on the train!

When my train arrived in KLIA 12.43pm, I immediately ran to the J counters but the RBA counters were already closed. I asked for some MAS ground crew for help at the counters and they contacted the RBA personnel in RBA and was told that they cant accept me! I thought the KL Sentral & Imelda would have informed them. What happened? I was very shocked and dissappointed that no RBA staff was there to assist me. The MAS ground crew told me that there is no way I can board the flight anymore. How would I feel as a customer?

I had to fly back on the same day and at that time, there was just no RBA staff in KLIA at all. I had no choice but to buy an Air Asiaflight ticket to go back to Brunei. I paid RM377.50 for the flight ticket to go back to Brunei. So on top of paying my RBA flight ticket, I had to buy another flight ticket.

Only after I bought the Air Asia ticket, I manage to speak to Nasir (RBA M'sia) and he told me Mokhtar was not in. I expressed my dissatisfaction and there is nothing Nasir could do. After the whole inconvenience and distress of the whole situation, how would I feel?

Please call me.

Unsatisfied RBA customer,
Alvin Thoo
Mobile 861xxxx

Busy Busy And Busy

Since daddy came back from KL, both daddy and mummy have been very busy. Just when we are looking forward to the weekend, Samuel had fever. Sigh.... first it was Jesse having fever, then daddy and mummy had bad cough and phlegm, now is Samuel's turn.

Mummy has been very tired and probably its time to think of going for holiday or at least take a few days off from work or mc perhaps :p

Samuel's Concert - Part I

Last Sunday, Samuel performed in a concert. This is not the 1st time he performs on stage. He has performed in a few concerts before in his schools.

Because of his fear in sound/ noise, we were very worried about him when he goes on stage. But during that night, we were very proud of him. All the children did very well.

Although we were informed by the management that the assembly time was at 530pm, we only went there at 6pm. The concert, according to schedule will only start at 730pm.

By 7pm, many young children are already very exhausted. Not easy to control so many of them. We were at the back stage with Samuel together with all the performers and some guardians.One of the parents brought a colouring book together with some colour pencils and crayons for her children to colour. And she shared her book by tearing some pages for other children to colour as well.

Only when they sit down to do some colouring we took the opportunity to rest. But once they finish colouring, they are back in actions again.

Mother's Day Lunch

Mummy's Cookie & Cream Blended
Daddy's Rootbeer
Samuel's & Jesse's Chicken Carbonara Mummy's Grilled Salmon With Fries
Daddy's Truffle Chicken
Mother's Day Special Dessert Daddy & Samuel
Our Little Precious

We did not had dinner together on Sunday as we were attending Samuel's concert in the evening. Instead, we have lunch at Fusion, The Mall, to celebrate Mother's Day. Although it was a short meal, we enjoy every single moment to be together.

Happy 16 Months Old

Jesse turned 16 months yesterday, in conjunction with Mother's Day. She is getting bigger and older each day, although she is still a little baby in daddy's and mummy's eyes.

- Height = 79 cm (looks like she didn't grow taller)
- Weight = 10+ kg (do not know the exact kg)
- Teeth still the same = 4 upper and 4 bottom
- Loves to watch TV, likes most of the cartoon and musical drama
- Catching up with appetite, eating 3 meals a day, 5-6oz of milk each servings and 4oz of prune juice everyday
- Loves to drink soup, most meal either comes with soup or liquidy meal
- Drinking at night is very uncertain, sometimes drink at 12-1am or 3-4am or 5-6am, sometimes drink once, sometimes twice
- Likes to jump especially on bed
- Likes to write/ draw
- Started to speak clearer now instead of babbling - fish, duck, bird, bye, papa, daddy, ma..... etc
- Still very attach and clingy to mummy :p
- Likes to run towards mummy and daddy
- Want to hold our hand when she want to walk with us
- Still bully kor kor by scratching or hitting him, although there are times she will sayang him
- Still enjoy switching on and off the switch even when we give warnings
- Most of the time ignore our "NO" (unlike Samuel at her age)

Jesse Floating By Herself

Every weekend, mummy looks forward to have swimming class with Jesse. Both mummy and Jesse will be very happy playing with water hehehe.... but yesterday, we did not bring Jesse to her swimming class, as she has just recovered from fever on Friday. Mummy was sad as both of us can't play water together :-(

A week before, Jesse was able to float by herself with the float. During our 1st lesson, Jesse doesn't like the float as she was afraid. Now, she can balance herself with the float.

Throughout the 30m in the water, she was really happy and enjoy herself. This makes mummy really happy and keep looking forward to Sunday!

My Mother's Day Gifts

I have an early mother's day gift from daddy.

MacBook

Its the "gift" daddy received for paying $2,900++ to subscribe for our new 3.5G wireless broadband internet services.

Mother's Day Gift from Samuel

To all the pretty mummies out there, wishing you Happy Mother's Day!

Jesse Fell Down

As mentioned earlier, I had a very unpleasant Saturday evening. Actually the most unpleasant situation was, Jesse hurt herself. While we were waiting for Jesse's kindermusik class to start, she ran and fell and hit herself at the side of the door.

I was standing in front of the class, opening the door halfway while Jesse ran to me. She tripped and her head hit right at the side edge of the door in front of me! My heart dropped..... I blamed myself for not being able to catch her on time. Or if only I did not open the door, or open it abit wider or ?? she wouldn't have hurt her head. Mummy felt so bad about the whole situation :-(

An Unplesant Saturday

I woke up happily Saturday morning thinking that daddy will be back in the afternoon. I drove Samuel to school and had some "ME" time before picking him from school at 11.30am.

Daddy was supposed to take the flight at 120pm and daddy called at 105pm to inform me that he can't come back. Mummy was so dissapointed. Daddy wanted to come back and there's only 1 RBA flight per day, so he can't change the flight time. Instead he bought AA ticket, estimated arrival time at 815pm.

At 345pm, I left the house to send Jesse to her Kindermusik class together with Samuel and the maid. Her class started at 430pm and finished at 515pm. Then I rushed to ICC for Samuel's full dress concert rehearsal, which was suppose to start at 530pm. I requested the maid to look after Jesse at the hall while I stayed back stage with Samuel.

According to the schedule, their performance was supposed to be at 530pm but they did not go on stage until 7pm!! I did not bring any food for Samuel and I only have 1 packet of biscuit (only 2 biscuits in a pack) for Jesse. I was so worried and I have to go in and out of the hall to make sure Jesse is alright with the maid. Everytime when Jesse sees me she will cry requesting me to carry her.

Alot of parents were there making alot of fuss. Some children just finished school at 530pm and they rushed for the practise. Most children were very exhausted after waiting so long.

The whole thing was a "boo boo". They don't have anyone to look after the children. There were a group of 30-40 young children from age 3 to 6 and most parents have to be there to look after their own child.

Its a good thing that I requested to go back stage with Samuel. Samuel was there running around and fell down twice. He also wanted to cry when there was a little boy who bullied him and asked him to "SHUT UP" even when he was not talking.

At 645pm, I can't take it anymore and I went and look for the Principal. The reason for them not able to start on schedule was because the Censorship Board was there and they picked the performer group at random. I told her my concerns and she promised that the children will perform at 7pm.

She kept her promise and they were on stage at 7 sharp. Yesterday they were supposed to have 2 run through rehearsals. First rehearsal starts at 530pm while the other at 8pm. But the whole thing was a mess and I did not bother to stay for the 2nd rehearsal.

I then brought Samuel and Jesse for dinner. But Jesse was very clingy when she saw me. When we were in the car, she cried non stop. She only stopped when I switched on her kindermusik songs. Then only I had some peace driving them for dinner.

By the time we finished our dinner, its 8pm and daddy is expected to arrive Brunei at 815pm. Should I go home or wait at the airport? I decided to wait for daddy as I know he would love to see the children when he arrives.

The plane only landed at 830pm and daddy only came out from the arrival hall at 845pm. When we were in the airport waiting for daddy, I switch on Barney show for them. Both of them were very happy watching Barney while I could rest.. hehehe...

Concert Rehearsals

The instruments for age 3-4

The boys costume for age 3-4

Samuel in action

Samuel's music centre will be holding a concert this Sunday. He has went for few rehearsals. It was a group performance with about 20 children from age 3 to 5.

I was there to observe him during his practises. The first few practises, he was abit blur. He doesn't understand what was happening. After awhile he will start to do some actions, but he still refuse to sing.

Last week when he first attended the rehearsal, he was afraid. Tears started to roll from his eyes as he saw alot of parents. He was afraid of people and the noise. I hope during that night, he will not cry especially on stage !

Super Mummy

Daddy has been away from home since Monday. Mummy has been looking after Samuel and Jesse single handedly. And to make it tougher for mummy, Jesse started to have fever yesterday and is still having fever now.

Jesse has been very attached to mummy and keep on clinging on to mummy. While mummy carries her, she doesn't even want mummy to sit down.

Daddy feels that mummy has transformed to SuperMummy :)

Lil Jesse Is Sick

Jesse is down with fever since yesterday. Not high fever, between 37.2 - 37.6. Yesterday night she had her last medicine at 930pm and the whole night her temperature was up and down. I did not feed her medicine until this morning at 6am.

I am on emergency leave today, staying back to monitor Jesse. Hopefully her conditions improve and the medicine will bring down her temperature.

She was extra clingy since yesterday. She looks more tired than her normal self although in between she can be very playful with mummy.

Afraid of This Picture

Samuel is afraid of this picture. He is not very keen in reading this book because of this dog. Usually when it comes to this page, I will close it with another book. He is afraid of the dog eye. If I cover his eye, he is not afraid.

The dog has a smiley face. He is just closing his eye. I do not understand why he is afraid of his eye.

Does this look scary to children?

Their Playing Time

Yesterday evening, I took some toys for both my children to play. Samuel was very happy playing with Jesse, teaching her the shapes and where to put them. When hes in good mood, he can be an angel and willing to share the toys.

Xenophobia

This morning, while I was driving to school, Samuel keeps telling me that the children laugh. He doesn't want the children to laugh. After I dropped Samuel to his class, I chatted with his class teacher about him.

Last year, his teacher told us about her concern. She noticed that he is afraid of "orang putih", because when the school has Western people to share their ideas or knowleadge with the children in front of the class, he will cry. But from our observation, its not because of that Western people, it is because of that person talking. Its the sound. However, the teacher said it its Asian who is giving the talk, he is ok.

When I talk to the teacher today about his fear in sound, she told me she did some research and found out that he has Xenophobia.

"Xenophobia is a fear or contempt of that which is foreign or unknown, especially of strangers or foreign people" - from Wikipedia

The only foreign thing that is he afraid of is Mannequin. Does your child afraid of Mannequin? He was not afraid of mannequin when he was much younger.

I think the biggest phobia he has is sound. Phonopobia!

Does any of your child afraid of these :
1. Balloon (hes very afraid that it might burst)
2. Laughter
3. Heavy rain
4. Thunder
5. Flushing toilet

A Buzy Week Ahead !

Since daddy won't be around for almost a week, I have to do all the things by myself. Besides sending and picking Samuel from school and art class, I have to send him to concert rehearsals, bring his costume to alter, feed him, bath him and Jesse, read to Samuel and put both to bed. Not to mention I will be late to work and go off early for lunch.

The biggest challenge is to feed Samuel. This really test my patience. Usually the maid will feed him but because I need to make sure he finishes his meal before I leave to work, I will have to feed him during lunch. He likes to keep the food in the mouth since hes 1. Sometimes even with some cane threatening, he still take hours to finish his food.

My other concern is, occasionally Samuel wants me to sleep with him especially if it rains. As he is sleeping alone, he might scream for mummy if it rains especially midnight. If it rains before he sleeps, I will ask the maid to sleep with him. If it only rain middle of the night, I will need him to sleep in my room together with Jesse. Hope non of them wake up each other during middle of the night.

Initially I was very stressed as I feel that there are alot to do when daddy is not around. But now, I think I will be able to handle it pretty well and I would like to take this opportunity to bond with the children.

Daddy at the Airport

Daddy will be away for work for almost a week. Now daddy is sitting at the airport waiting to board the plane, missing mummy and the babies.

Daddy felt emotional while hugging Jesse at home & Samuel in school but kept the feelings inside. Daddy misses mummy tremendously too. Maybe daddy might not express his feelings openly but deep inside daddy, its not easy to leave mummy, Samuel & Jesse behind. Its like leaving daddy's heart behind.

Mummy, Samuel, Jesse,

Please remember that daddy is thinking of you in everything daddy do. Hugs, Love & Kisses!

Go! Broadband go for it!

We are on 3.5G Broadband! Amazing it is max at 7.2Mbps. Our previous ADSL line was only 512kbps. And now we have mobile internet. Daddy was even suggesting to make his car a mobile internet station hahaha...

Isn't it great to have competing companies? It used to be monopolised by only one internet provider. Now they have 3. A month ago, they launched the first 3G broadband. 2 days ago, another provider launched the same products. And yesterday, we signed up for 3.5G (today, I will cancel the old line). Now we can blog anywhere and it is much faster. It is more than 10x faster. Thumbs up!!!

We also upgraded our handphone services from 2G (GSM) to 3.5G and we can video call. To check on each other hahaha...... Samuel is very excited and happy when daddy calls mummy. He wanted to see mummy in the phone when daddy picks him up from school.

So what is the price difference from switching 512kbps to 7.2Mbps ? We used to pay $98 for 512kbps. 2 months ago, the price drop from 98 to 68. When the other competitor came with an attractive package with 3.5Mbps, we did not think much about it. 2 days ago, daddy brought back some brochures on the other internet provider who has just launched their packages.

There are many different types of packages. We took the Go! Unlimited package. Is either we opt for the free gift or the router. With a 2yrs contact, the router (worth $600) and modem (worth 300) are free. Or we can go for 30 months contract with a free modem and free gift. But since daddy and mummy will be using internet at home, we do not need a modem. We pay additional of $300 in exchange of the modem with the router.

In order to get the free gift, we must also pay an additional of $10 per month for 30 mths contract. In other words, we have to pay $600 for the free gift ($300 additional + $300 for the router). And they are so smart, we have to pay in full! In total we paid$2,915 for 30 months. As daddy was using the the 3G Prima Mobile line, we are entitled for a $5 discount per month for 30 months. So the monthly subscription is $83 ie. 73 (internet) + 10 (free gift). The payment was inclusive of the router, license fee and deposit.

The other attractive part of the package is, it comes with 0% interest on credit card payment. Is either we pay cash in full or credit card or with credit card installments. Of coz we took the credit card installments! 18 months installments with 0% interest hahaha.....

We were currently paying $68 for 512 and now $73 for 7.2. $5 different and at least 10x faster! But we have to pay in advance.

So what exactly is the FREE GIFT. It is not exactly free as we pay $10 per month for it. Can anyone guess what is the gift? (Sorry, the gift is not yours even if you got it right.)

Phonics Vs Glenn Doman

2 weeks ago, Samuel brought back 6 phonics readers books with an audio CD, from his school. Only upon asking the teacher the following day, we got to know that those were part of the books that we had paid for beginning of the year. *slap head*

I think the teacher expects us to teacher our child at home with phonics. As both of us are not good at phonics, we did not really coach him in reading. We only know how the phonics sound but don’t know how to synchronize it. Samuel is not really good at synchronizing the words as well. However, some of the words he managed to get it when he tried to read it through phonics.

He can recognize the words pretty fast and he can read book 1 after teaching him once. However, we do not have the time to continue and the books are now laying around the table for 2 weeks.

The previous school teaches Peter And Jane series and he is able to recognize the words and read one series every month. He was there for 3 months and he was able to read till book 3b. And since then, he has stopped reading Peter and Jane.

We have actually started to teach him using the GD method. Sometimes I wonder which method is better. Phonics or Glenn Doman?

The phonics books focus more on the words which are of the same sound.

Phonics Reader No.1

Story 1 Pat Cat and Tat Rat
Pat Cat
Tat Rat
Pat Cat had a can
A can of jam
Pat Cat sat on a mat
Tat Rat ran to the can
Tat Rat! My can of jam!
Pat Cat got Tat Rat under a hat

Story 2 Pam’s Cap
My Cap! My cap!
Pam ran and ran
Pam’s cap landed on Sam
Pam’s cap! Pam’s cap!
Sam ran and ran
Sam rand and Pam ran
Pam’s cap landed on a ram
Pam ran to the ram
Pam got her cap