School Homework

Every Saturday Samuel will bring back his homework. For the past two weeks I noticed his amount of homework has increased. Attending school on a Saturday doesn't give us ample time to coach him. Usually only on a Sunday night we have the time to coach him in his homework.

Samuel usually takes afternoon nap everyday between 1.30pm to 4pm. On a Saturday, we have to wake him at 3.30pm to get him ready for his music class. On a Sunday, we will get him ready at 4pm for his swimming class.

Sometimes we will go for our dinner and weekly groceries shopping after his class. By the time we reached home its late evening, and we have to get him to do his homework.

This week Samuel has alot of homework. He has a page of writing number 1 to 50, writing the alphabeth "m", his full name "Samuel Thoo Jensen", a page of alphabeth "q" and "r" and colouring. He has no problem in writing, but has problem in writing ON the line requested. Moreover, he writes very slow.

Why ?

Why should I be angry when they fight with each other?
Why should I feel irritated when they interrupted me?
Why should I feel like i want to cane him when keep the food in the mouth?
Why should I feel like hes such a “dumbo” when he doesn’t understand what i am explaining?
Why should I shout at them when they don’t listen?
Why should I punish him when he bullies her?
Why should I ignore them when i want to be have some quiet time?
Why should I feel frustrated when they run around the house screaming?
Why should I feel like taping his mouth when he keeps talking and asking me questions?
Why should I feel ignoring her when she wants to drink milk in the middle of the night?
Why should I feel that you are naughty when you want to do the things you want?

Love is patient. I love him and her very much but why do I not have patience? Why?

The Leech

Jesse has been very sticky to mummy since her first maid has left us end of February. Not only she is very clingy to mummy, she also rejected daddy many times.

Most of the time she only wants mummy, especially if we are not at home. Last weekend, we went to a Japanese restaurant. Since it has been awhile we took Japanese food, we decided to go there for a family dinner.

We bought along the portable dvd player, hoping Jesse would sit and watch her show. She only sat for 5 minutes, then she decided climb out from the high chair. I tried to ignore her while the maid carry her and walk around the restaurant.

Very soon, she started to make noise. Although the restaurant is very crowded and noisy, her wailing and screaming will easily attract alot of attention. I decided to carry her while enjoying my sushi.

When she started to see us eating using chopsticks, she started to imitate us and she managed to grab the food with chopsticks.

Stunt for the Little One

Climbing on Samuel's Car Bed
Standing On The Bed Getting Ready To Jump

Jump.... Front View

Jump.... Side View

Jesse picked up this new stunt from Samuel a month ago. She has been climbing and jumping on Samuel's bed every night before we put her to bed.

New Bedsheet With Comforter Set

Blue bedsheet and green comforter cover

We bought a new Aussino bedsheet and comforter cover set while we were in KL. It was certainly cheaper as compared to Brunei. We did not bring Samuel to shop while we bought the cover. But when we told him and showed him his cover, he was very happy about it. However, it was not the case when we put it on his bed.

On the first day of using the new bedsheet and comforter cover, he was okay. The following day he was afraid. He told me that the children will come out. I tried very hard to explain to him and I even named the children after his good friends. Although he understood, he is still afraid of the cover. He would want us to sleep with him.

Instead of sleeping with him, we took another cover just to cover on top of the comforter and he is willing to sleep by himself. When I left him alone with the comforter cover, he wanted to cry.


Last weekend, we decided to get him a new bedsheet and comforter cover set. Not only he loves the new cover, mummy, daddy and Jesse loves it as well :p He has 3 new bedsheet and comforter cover sets and 3 of them are GREEN! His favourite colour, but 3 of them choosen by us.

New Maid

When we came back from KL, we picked our maid from the agent. After 3months of having temporary maid, we finally have our own maid.

Since I was hoping she is the one for us, I took the challenge to train her from scratch. She has been with us for 2 weeks now. At times, she can be very forgetful even after so many reminders and she can talk non stop!

Having said that, I must said that she is hardworking. I hope she will continue to be hardworking. She wakes up at 4am or latest 430am to start her day, and usually by 930pm she will be in her room.

Although she talks alot, she has a good attitude. She will apologise when she knows she is wrong, unlike the temp maid who show us black face when we told her she's wrong. She quickly offer her help when she see us doing things/ carrying things, unlike the temp maid who quickly run away when she know we need help. She will tell us what she needs to do when we were with the kids, unlike the temp maid who just leave the scene, taking for granted we will be there to look after the kids. She gets Samuel ready to go to school every morning, unlike the temp maid who purposely choose not to bother.

Flame Of Friendship

Thanks to Ginie for this flame of friendship.

START.

The Flame of Friendship. A symbol of spirit of unity. The burning icon of love. Undying picture of hope. The hot symbol of oneness. The Flame of Friendship. And now it's your turn to pass on the flame!


Copy this post starting from the PICTURE ABOVE to the end and add your blog on the list below. Let's start FLAMING!

Tiklaton : We are the witness
Janeth's Vicy's Life JourneyPitstop
Thea is Blogger Happy
Thea is Berry Scrappy Too
Scribbles of My Life
In This Game of Life
Shimumsy's Republic of A
Princess Vien
Our Journey To Life
Life. Love. Family. Work. Travel.
One Hundred And Eighty Degrees
Rocks God's GiftOnly in Silence
Life In France
It's All About Play
Places To Visit, Food To Taste
Shower Your Children With Love - The Right Way
Slavery Bliss
The 4 Thoo

I would like to send this to Michelle, Chinnee and Shireen.

Morning Cry

Jesse cried for mummy again this morning when I left her with the maid. Even daddy couldn't comfort her. I didn't have any choice but to leave her crying again.

I stay 5 minutes drive away from my office and yet every morning I am late to work.

I feel so bad and sad leaving my little princess behind crying.

I'm sorry I can't be with you when you want me
I'm sorry I can't comfort you
I'm sorry I can't kiss you goodbye

Sorry Jesse.... mummy's heart is as painful as yours. I hope one day you will understand that mummy and daddy need to work for your future.

Mix feelings

As usual Jesse woke up very clingy to me. But this morning she was abit too extreme. After the maid changed her she started running to our room. When she can't open the door, she started to cry.

I came out from the toilet, I opened the door for her and she wanted to be carried. After a while, she is willing to let go and I went into toilet again. She came running to the toilet calling "mama" and opened her arms wide wanting me to carry.

My heart really melted when she calls me with her opened arm. I carried her again and this time I can't let go. After I switch on her favourite Mickey Mouse show and gave her alot of toys to play with and try to distract her attention, then only I can put her down.

When I tried to sneak out, she saw me and cried out loud again. But this time I need to go. Its time for me to go to work. I left her with the maid alone screaming and shouting. My heart really broke into pieces. How I wish I could be with her at that moment. I hope she will not feel abandoned.

The Different Ways of Holding A Pencil

Samuel has not been very good in his fine motor skills. He doesn't know how to hold a pencil until he turned 3. He was only able to write in a proper manner when he was at the age of 3.5.

He was abit slow and his writting was very light (you can hardly see), as he doesnt have the strength in his fingers with his right hand. All the while his school teacher has been teaching him with his right hand. Only at a very later stage the teacher notices that he has more strength in his left hand.

Since no one notices that he could probably be left handed and after sometime of right hand training, he is now a right handed. But sometimes without him realising it he will write with his left hand. Only when he starts to realise it, he will changed it back to use his right hand.

A few days ago, his mandarin teacher pointed out to me that he is not holding a pencil in the correct way. We did not notice or realise that he is not holding a pencil correctly.

Can you see the way he holds pencil? His "tallman" is on top of the pencil instead of at the bottom of the pencil.
I tried to change his way of holding a pencil but he complaint that his "tallman" is in pain if he puts it at the bottom of the pencil. Is this an excuse or is it a valid reason ?
Jesse surprises us by holding the pencil the right way since 1. She was able to hold the pencil and scribble hard in her doodle board. We thought that she learned it from Samuel. Only now I realised she must have picked it up from somewhere else.

Mandarin Class

Samuel stopped attending mandarin classes since last February. One of the reasons was because of the inconveniences. It is about 20 minutes drive without jam and his class starts at 430pm on a Monday. As both of us are employed workers, it is really not convenient for us to leave our working place during working hours just to send Samuel to mandarin class.

The teacher recently contacted me and asked if we are still interested in sending Samuel to her class. She has a new enrolment with a few new students. I told her my concerns and she agreed to allow Samuel to attend only 1 hour of the class instead of 2hours.

She has moved Samuel's previous class to an earlier time i.e. 230pm and she started a new class at 430pm, every Monday. Samuel will only attend the class at 530pm. It will be a repetition for Samuel as the children in this class are newbies. It is ok for him to attend this class as I noticed he has forgotten most of the mandarin words and songs when I show him his books.

As I requested that I want him to learn writing as well, she said that after the class, she will make him stay for a while to teach him writing. She would want him to slowly catch up with his previous classmates and to ultimately join them again.

Before we sent him there yesterday, he wanted us to join him in the class. He was afraid because the children like to laugh with the teacher. She is a very cheerful teacher and she laughs alot. This makes Samuel afraid and uncomfortable. He doesn't like people to laugh.

I have convinced him to attend the class. I brought him to the class and the teacher carried him on her lap. Before I said anything, he waved and said bye bye to me. He looked really sad and I can see that he was holding back his tears. At that moment, my heart broke into pieces.

I hope I did not make the wrong decision by putting him in a class where he is not enjoying it. I would have thought he enjoys his class very much as I used to peep at him through the class window 5minutes before the class finishes.

p/s : I managed to coax him to the class because I promised him I will give him a new toy after the class, hehehe....

Having Fun In The Pool

During our trip in KL, we had alot of fun playing in the swimming pool. The hotel's pool was an indoor opened air pool. The swimming pool water was extremely cold, so we played in the jacuzzi instead.

It was to my surprise that Jesse was afraid of going into the water when I first brought her there. As I was alone with Samuel and Jesse, pity Samuel did not managed to go into the pool as Jesse refuses to go near the pool.

With daddy was around the second time, I managed to coax Jesse to go into the pool. After seeing Samuel playing so happily in the pool, Jesse decided to try. Once she tried, she was floating happily.

Constipated Jesse

Since baby Jesse has constipation problem. Eventhough she was fully on breast milk she was and is still going through constipation. She will wail, scream and cry out real loud when she try pass motion.

About 3 months ago, we started giving her prune juice. At initial stage, she was on 2oz of prune juice diluted with 2oz of water every morning. It started to ease her bowel movement. When she started to have constipation again, we increased her prune juice intake to 3oz with 1oz of water.

With 3oz of prune juice everyday, she still had problems with her bowel. She is now on 4oz of prune juice. We have replaced her 4x of milk intake to 2x a day. We substituted her 2x milk with soymilk.

Every morning, around 6+am, we will feed her prune juice. In the morning and afternoon, she will gets her 6oz of Enfagrow milk, before bed and midnight we will give her soymilk. With this changes, her stool has become very soft and sometimes watery.

No Swimming Lessons

Yesterday both Samuel and Jesse are down with running nose. No swimming classes for both of them :(

It was good weather for swimming yesterday. It was a bright and sunny day. Samuel has been complaining that the swimming pool water has always been too cold. He has been very afraid of going to Teacher Isabel's swimming lessons.

Hopefully both of them can recover as soon as possible and be able to swim again.

A Date With Daddy

Daddy invited me to a date yesterday. Daddy had planned for our dinner in the morning. He made reservations in one of the new restaurants in town and had pre ordered our meals.

Mummy's Hot Choc & Daddy's Strawberry Drink
Capuccino Mushroom Soup
Daddy's Lamb Shank
Mummy's Medallion Tenderlion Steak with Fries

Mummy's Creme Brule

After our desserts, the waiter came with a surprise on behalf of daddy. He was holding a bouquet of rosses. How sweet and thoughtful of daddy giving me such surprise. Nope, theres no occassion. Daddy just wanna have a surprise dinner for mummy.

Mummy's surprise roses

Mummy & Roses

Lasik :Part III Post Surgery

Mummy resting in the coach after surgery

After my surgery, it was already 7pm. Many times I tried to open my eyes but I can't. I felt that my eyes were very heavy and I just didn't have the courage or strength to open it. I was asked to rest in a room. In less than 10 minutes, I seeked permission to leave and go back to have a rest.

We actually checked into a hotel in Subang in the morning, knowing that I need to have good rest. Staying in parents or in law's house was not very convenient as we knew I needed to sleep after the surgery.

Mummy with eye shield while sleeping

The doctor precribed sleeping pills. Asking me to take the pill and have a good rest. I should be able to see things clearly in 2hours time.

We went back to the hotel and I rested while daddy fed and took care of Samuel and Jesse. Daddy even fed me dinner. My eyes were not only very uncomfortable, I even experienced some pain. The pain was still bearable but i also had running nose. Everytime I tried to open my eyes, a dash of water keep dripping. Having running nose and watery eyes are the side effects of the surgery.

By 9pm+ I was still not able to open my eyes. I then decided to take half of the sleeping pill. At 11pm, I was much better. By this time, I can see things. It was not very clear but I think its about 70% to perfect vision. Although it took me longer time than what I was expected it to be or being told, I was glad that it was over. I decided to take the other half of the sleeping pill to sleep, hoping that I would be able to sleep better.

Mummy definitely looks better the following day :p

I was glad everything was ok the next day although my vision was still abit blur and the eye drops were stinging. I do not need to wear sun glasses. I went for checkup and the doctor assured me that everything was fine. I can't have any water go into my eyes for 3 weeks.

It has been 2 months since I did my lasik and I have not gain 100% to perfect vision. I had my checkup last week and the doctor told me that it might take me 3-6months to have perfect vision, especially if I sit infront of the computer everyday.

We Are Back

It is always nice to have a break, eventhough it is just a short one. We went back to KL. Daddy needed to attend a training so we tag along for a holiday.

Besides settling some issues and a follow up checkup on my eyes, almost every other day I went shopping. As we are staying in Traders KL, most of the time we only go to KLCC or Pavillion for shopping.

Blog Break

We wil be having a short break. Will be back by mid of August.

Baby Words

When Samuel was younger, he initially impressed everyone when he could say "ok" at the early age of 2 months old. Amazing! Besides "ok" he never said any other things except for "baba" "mamamamama" "dadadada".

He only started (really) talking much later than most of our friends' little ones. He started calling mummy "mummy" when he was almost 2 years old! Actually he knows how to call mummy "mummy" much earlier but he just chose not to.

Some of our friends told us that boys usually develop slower than girls. And girls usually speaks earlier than boys too.

It didnt seem so with Jesse. Jesse is now 18 months old. She still doesnt know how to speak. The only word that she says clearly is "there" and "pooh"

Example 1
Daddy : Jesse, where is mummy
Jesse : There (pointing at mummy)
Daddy : Jesse, where is the fan
Jesse : There (pointing at the fan)

Example 2
Daddy : Jesse, who is this (pointing at winnie the pooh)
Jesse : Pooo

Example 3
Jesse : eeee... aaaa... (whining)
Daddy : What do you want, Jesse?
Jesse : Beh Woo
Daddy : What is beh woo? (scratch head)
Jesse : Beh Woooo (pointing at the balloon)
Daddy : Oh.. balloon... (beh woo pulak) hehehe

Temporary Maid

Since our maid left, we have a live-in temporary maid who helps us with the kids and housework. I must say that she is a good helper. She can do the housework well, cooks well and my children loves her. She is good IF only she wants to be good.

She was with us since 14th April. When she first came, she was very hardworking. She works from 5am till 11pm everyday. After a month, she is not so hardworking anymore. Well, we can't blame her as there are really alot of things for her to do. Besides looking after the children, she has to cook for the children and the family and there are lots of housework waiting for her.

She can be very ignorance at times. She doesn't answer you when you call for her. Things got worsen when we came back from holiday, a month ago. While we were away, we sent her back to the agent.

When we came back from KL, she started to wonder around the garage and the garden every morning and afternoon. Every morning, I have to go out of the house to look for her.

Initially she carries a broom when she goes out of the house but she never sweeps anything. The broom that she brings along with her is just for "show". Even after we told her that she does not need to sweep the compound, she is still out of the house every morning looking at our neighbours. It is obvious that the reason she is out of the house is not to sweep the compound, but to wonder around. At many occassion I can't find her in our garden although she said she was there. Yes, I admit the garden is huge but no matter how big the compound is, I don't think I can miss her if she is there. We are still very curious where she has been every time she is nowhere to be found.

One Sunday when we came back from church, she was not at home or in our garden. When she came home, she had the smell of perfume and was wearing "going out" clothes. Although we were very unhappy, we did not mention a single word. We did not question her as we know she is only our temporary maid.

Since we have confirmed our maid and waiting for the processes, we have to be very patience with this temporary maid. We do not want to get another temporary maid as we know we only need the temp maid for the next few weeks. We do not want the children to keep adapting to a different maid.

Our maid finally arrived Brunei on the 25th July. She is currently staying in the agent's house for training, for at least a week. We will be away for another week and requested the trainer to train our maid more thoroughly.

We pray that the maid has the patience to look after our children especially Jesse who is super cranky most of the time.