Christmas Preparation

Few days ago, I dug out our christmas tree and the ornaments from the store room. We then had the kids help us decorate the christmas tree.

After we hang all the ornaments, Samuel asked us about the missing star on top of the tree. Well, there are more ornaments that has been misplaced, since last year. So this year I did not bother to look for it.

Samuel also mentioned that there are no presents under the tree. I then asked what does he wants for Christmas. He said he doesn't know what he wants. He doesn't have anything that he really like at this moment and he feels contented easily.

Facts Denial - Part III

Continue from here.

The next day, I showed her the phone bill. She looked shocked and surprised and DENIED that she made any calls (Even when the Indonesian calls are her husband's number). She saw the listing and said that those time when the calls were made, Jesse was awake. She don't have time to make calls. Instead, she received calls from her hubby but she told her hubby not to call in the morning. She LIED by saying its her hubby who calls and is listed in the bill. Therefore, she now has to pay twice. She also made a fuss saying that if that's the case, she needs to pay for the bill and she doesn't have much money left. I asked her, if she needs to pay if her hubby calls, why the listing only show day calls? Why is it that night calls were not listed as she received many calls from her hubby at night.

Infact, 2 days before we confronted her, she made a call back to Indonesia during the day. I asked her if she made any call during the day, she DENIED. I asked her a few times and she denied. I also asked about the local calls and of course she denied. She said why does she wanna call the agent. Is either she heard me wrongly or she thought the agent number was listed in the bill. We suspected that she has been calling the agent.

She is either "less intelligent" or she thinks that we are stupid enough to believe her. Infact, at one point, I believed her. I thought it was some reverse charged calls. But daddy doesn't believe her. The listing of calls are "International Calls Made". Daddy told her that we have camera installed in the house and we saw her pressing the phone. She still denied.

At night, I pressed on the redial button on our phone. Because we never make any calls from our house phone, the last numbers dialed by her was still recorded in the phone. It was an IDD call that dials to Indonesia. It can't get through because I have disconnected our IDD line.

Daddy and i then discussed about her attitude. She can lie to us on this small matter, she can lie to us anytime. We are not comfortable of her lying to us when we needed her to help us look after the kids when we were working.

Daddy then talked to her. He asked why does she want to lie when we already have evidence that she made calls during the day. Not only the phone bill, but her video that we have captured when she used our phone. Daddy asked if she wants us to show her the video on our TV? Immediately she admitted that she made those calls.

Daddy told her that we know that she has been lying down on Jesse's mattress when she was looking after the kids. She was shocked. Yes, we really do have CCTV cameras installed in our house. We do not 100% trust her from the beginning but I trusted that she should know what she should do. That is why we never on the camera when we go to work. But because of this incident, we have to turn on the CCTV cameras when she is with the kid(s) alone.

I think only after daddy told her that we know she lie down on Jesse's mattress she started to believe we have camera installed. She admitted that she used the phone during daytime but she said that the phone NEVER got through. Another LIE. Some of the calls appear too long than not being able to get through.

Daddy explained to her that we trusted her and do not expect her to lie to us. (Be it big or small matters). Daddy also told her that if she continue to lie to us, it will only make us not trust her. How would we be able to trust her with our little ones. She understood and apologized for lying and told us that she will not repeat it again.

Whether or not it is an inborn reflex for the fear of being scolded or not. A mistake is a mistake. We accept the fact that people makes mistakes but we just can't understand why lie and make a drama out of it.

Year End Concert

We attended Samuel's school year end concert last Saturday, 22nd November 2008. As per schedule, the concert will start at 2pm and students need to be there at 115pm. We were there at about 110pm and it was already very crowded. We managed to grab our seats at the front row at the side of the stage.

The concert started 5m earlier than expected. The school was incorporated 3 years ago and because Montessori course was a 3 years program, this was the 1st graduation year with only 6 students graduating. The concert theme was blast to the past.

When it was Samuel's turn to present, I was very disspointed to see Samuel not properly dressed. When he was on stage, his tie was not properly put on and his shirt was not tuck in. As I was sitting at the front row, I would have walk to him and dress him before they started. But because I was carrying Jesse and daddy was holding 2 cameras, it was not convenient for us to walk to him.

Before the grand finale, I dress him up properly. Jesse was very excited to see her kor kor. As he was standing below the stage together with all the students during the finale, Jesse went to kor kor and hug him. She also join them in the finale dance. The concert ended 30m earlier than expected.

http://www.brudirect.com/DailyInfo/News/Archive/Nov08/231108/nite08.htm

Facts Denial - Part II

Continue from here.

Last week, I got a shocked to see the IDD phone listing. Not only she has been using our phone without our knowledge, she has attempted to make calls while Jesse was awake (leaving her alone). Usually we leave the house at 745am while Jesse is already awake. She will only nap at 930am to 1130am.

Because the bill was sent to my office, I did not confront her immediately. Instead, I called daddy and discussed it with him. She knew it very well that, should she lie to us, we will send her back to Indonesia. So, what do you think she is up to?

First thing we did was to cancel the IDD line. As for the local calls, I really have no idea who she contacted. It is not because of that few cents, we are more concerned on the people that she is in contact with. We were thinking to get the local call listing from TelBru to find out who she has she called.

When I came back during lunch hour, I talked to her. I asked her to think carefully before answering. I asked if she has tried to call Indonesia during the day when we were not at home. Within a second, without even thinking, she said NO. I asked her again and again to think and if she lied, her God will know. She DENIED and started crying.

The drama has started! She cried and ask us to send her back to agent immediately. She doesn't want to work with us. She said she did not make any calls but the phone bill kept appearing in the IDD calls. She made us felt as if we accused her for making the calls. Both of us were really furious.

Daddy told her that we will not send her back to agent because she still owe us $900. Every month we will deduct $200 from her salary as a repayment of loan. She likes it or not, she still needs to work for another 4 months. Infact, at that point in time, I really felt like sending her back, but we can't, we need to plan before hand. If she really hurt the kids we will DEFINITELY send her back immediately.

We were angry not because she used the phone during the day. We really do not understand the reasons of her denial and she sounded as if we acussed her. What she did was wrong and yet she asked us to send her back to agent (as if she wanted to quit on us because we accused her).

After that she agreed that she will leave on the 8th month, we left her alone.

After a while, she told me that she doesn't want to send the money back to kampung. She has changed her mind. A week ago, she told me that she wanted to send the money back to her family in January. Initially I thought that she doesn't want her balance salary because she wanna leave earlier, so she will use her balance salary to repay her loan. I was wrong. She said she wants to hold her money. Do you think that she wants her money so that she can runaway (without her passport) anytime?

I told her to talk to daddy about her salary. I told her that if she is so concern about her money why does she want to leave after 4 months. If she goes back to agent, she needs to pay agent 1 month of her salary as a penalty.

It takes her 7.5 months for her to repay us the loan and another month as a penalty to the agent. On the 9th month only she will get her full pay. She started crying and asked me where can she go then? Another soap opera started again!

We were standing while we talked and when she started to cry she sat down. She cried so pitifully saying that we have been so nice to her and she doesn't know how to appreciate us. So many nice things. She felt "malu" to be working for us... bla bla bla.....Then...... she was on bended knee asking me to forgive her. She hold my hands and said sorry. I can give her the best drama queen award of the year!

She promised that she will not request us to send her back to agent and she will continue to work for us. If needed to, we will send her back to Indonesia instead of agent. I told her that forget about the whole incident and in future, if she wanted to make calls, do let us know.

I thought she said sorry because she lied and indirectly telling us that she had make calls without our knowledge. I was soooo WRONG.........

To Laugh or To Cry ?

Scene 1 Daddy with Samuel

S : Mummy, Jesse and Samuel’s face the same. Daddy's face is not the same.
D : Why daddy face not same?
S : Daddy's face got hole.
D : *speechless*

Scene 2 Daddy with Jesse

Jesse was hugging daddy’s bolster. Daddy’s bolster cover has Noah’s Ark picture.
D : Where is the giraffe ?
J : There... (pointing at the baby giraffe).
D : Kiss the giraffe.
J : (Jesse kisses the giraffe)
D : Where is another giraffe
J : There... (pointing at the other giraffe)
D : Kiss the giraffe
J : (Kisses the giraffe)
D : Where is the elephant
J : There... (pointing at the elephant)
D : Kiss the elephant
J : (kisses the elephant)
D : Where is daddy? (Daddy was hoping that Jesse will kiss him after pointing at him)
J : There.... (pointing at the pig)
D : *speechless*

Snoopy

This was once mummy's McD snoopy collection. It is now the children's toys.

Among all the 28 snoopies, this is Jesse's favourite. Since she started playing with snoopies few months ago, when she has the chance, she will grab this among all. I'm still trying to figure out the reason why she likes this best for sometime but I still have not gotten the answer.

Facts Denial - Part I

Sometime 3rd week of September, I received August house phone bill and found out that my maid has been using our phone to call Indonesia without our knowledge. Besides International calls, she also made some local calls. Only she knows where she has been calling.

We never used our house phone to call anyone. The bill includes mobile calls (she used to call me), landline in Bandar-Muara and Tutong-KB districts and her Indonesia calls. She denied making any calls. When we confronted her she said she NEVER made any personal calls but she will pay for the Indonesia calls. It was not because of the money. We need to know who has she been calling locally. She kept denying and we threatened her that we will ask for the phone listing and should we find out that it was her who made the calls, we will send her back to Indonesia immediately.

After a long conversation, she admitted that she tried to make A local call. Yes, 1 time only and when the other party said no such person she never attempted to make other calls. How can we believe her when the phone bill listed 2 different districts when she only made 1 call. And based on the cost of the calls, she has at least made few calls or spoken on the phone for at least 10 minutes.

We told her very clearly that should she try to make calls without our knowledge, we will send her back to Indonesia immediately. We will not restrict her from calling but she needs to inform us before using the phone. She acknowledged what I have told her BUT she doesn't follow our instructions.

A week later, she made calls to Indonesia AGAIN without informing us.

The Result

Posted by daddy.

After the exam, Samuel's music teacher, Teacher Vengie met up with us. She gave us the results. He had made 2 mistakes. He was confused between the sound of a trumpet and the saxaphone.

Samuel,
Daddy and mummy is so proud of you.

We received Samuel's "Certificate of Promotion" into the next level.

Samuel's 1st Music Examination

Posted by daddy.

Its been many many years since i sat for my music exam. As Samuel is in his music class taking his exam, i am writing this blog.

Samuel,
When you are bigger and if you are reading this, daddy & mummy wants you to know that we will give you all the moral support in whatever you do.

Recovering

Thank you for all the get well wishes and prayers. After 3 days of fever, Jesse is alot better now, although she is still having running nose. She has lost appetite for the past few days. We hope that she can fully recover and gain her appetite again soon.

Feeding her medicine was not really a big issue. Sometimes she does fuss about it but as compared to when she was younger, it is definitely much easier. She used to puke either during or after she took her medicine because she struggles and cries each time we fed her medicine.

Our Little Girl is Sick

Jesse has been having running nose for about a month. Because her conditions was not very serious, we only fed her flu medicine (liquid actifed) without consulting doctor.

Last week, she has bad running nose and phlegm in her throat. I brought her to the clinic and the doctor prescribed her with antibiotics since she has been having running nose for 3 weeks. Actually I was abit confused on the antibiotics prescription. The nurse asked me to give her 5ml 3 times a day, as stated in the bottle. Besides the 5ml, it was also stated 1 teaspoon. 5ml is equavalent to 1 table spoon (not teaspoon). It was also stated that the antibiotics is for 1 week.

The antibiotics finished within 10 feeds. It was either we have overfed her with antibiotics everyday or she hasn't provided us with enough antibiotics. Since her condition was better after 2nd day, I did not really bother much about her not taking antibiotics after the 3rd day.

I regret that I did not call the doctor for more clarification. I should have acted on it when I do not understand there were descrepencies in the presciptions. Jesse's virus was not fully "killed", infact it came back and became worst.

Besides having fever, Jesse had bad red throat. Yesterday night she was crying and wailing the whole night. Daddy did not sleep until close to 4am and mummy was awake at 4am looking after Jesse. Her tempreature did not shoot up midnight. It remains at 37.3 till the next morning, before we decided to give her panadol.

Our poor little girl is now down with fever and red throat.

Concert Costume

Samuel's school will be having year end concert soon. Last year, we need to tailor make his Korean custome as he was presenting a Korean song.

This year, he is presenting a P. Ramlee song, Bunyi Guitar. We need to get him a black vest with white lines, white long shirt, black long pants, black tie, surban (red hat that looks like a slimmer version of a songkok with some strings on the top) and a wooden guitar. We found something which is closest to what they required at a very reasonable price, around $25. It comes with a coat, white long shirt, black vest and pants and a coloured tie.

Since they required black white line vest and black tie, we went to tailor to have his tie tailored made. At the same time, we alter his pants because it was too long. This costed us another $10. We thought of just drawing his vest with white marker instead of buying him another vest. Thank God, one of the parents offered to lend her girl's guitar to Samuel.

We brought his costume to school a week ago, as requested. The teacher said its alright with the vest, they accepted black vest. They also accepted the coloured tie! Other parents who are requested to get the same custome for their child bought the same suit of attire did not bother about the black tie. We being the "obedient" parents try to oblige to their requirements. Since other children are using coloured tie, we will have to put aside his black tie.

As for the surban, one of the parents got it from Dubai! We need to order from him to get this surban which will only be used once.

Alot of parents have been complaining about this year end concert because all the children needs to buy required costume, which cost quite a lot and will only be used once.

Is Samuel Gifted or Talented in Music ?

All the while daddy has been telling mummy that Samuel is a musician. The main reason daddy feels that he is a musician is because of his fear of loud sounds (Sensitive to sounds). Most musician wants perfect tone and sound. But I have never taken daddy seriously as I'm more concerned about his condition than him being a musician.

We sent him to Kindermusik when he was 2.5 years old but it was so stressful for us. He was there for a term and he cried every lesson. It was so stressful for us. When the class starts he starts to cry. He was very shy and did not dare to have eye contacts.

When he was 3+, we brought him for a trial class and then decided to enroll him into Expression Music School. They have their own syllabus for ages 3-4, Expression Music Genius (EMG). It is a 44weeks program. During the 1 hour lessons, not only they learn music and singing, they also learn cutting and pasting (artwork). They even have a playarea and a slide for them to play during their classes.

Daddy wanted him to start to learn instruments and since his program is going to end this week, we thought of stopping him and enrolling him into Yamaha Music School.

Last Saturday, daddy went and pick Samuel from his music class after his physiotherapy. Daddy was there before the lesson ended. The receptionist told daddy that Samuel has perfect pitch. He was very shy but he got all the tone right. Daddy was not very convinced until the teacher came to him even before the class is over to tell daddy that Samuel has perfect pitch!

They were very happy that Samuel has perfect pitch. He is the first who got perfect pitch in the music school at age 4. Now that they have made daddy so happy, he has 2nd thoughts of stopping him from the school and let him continue with the next program and at the same time send him to Yamaha. *drop jaw*

Sister in law is actually gifted in music but only found out when she was 16. I wonder if Samuel is just memorising the tone or he is actually talented. Anyway, from the bottom of our hearts, we wanna say that, we are really proud of Samuel! Once again, he made us so proud of him!

Daddy (Pain in the Neck)

Because of this daddy was in pain. Before he tried to re-adjust the pool, he has complaint that his neck and shoulder were in pain. Right after doing this, daddy had difficulties moving his neck at all.

Daddy went to Jag therapy on a Saturday afternoon while I dropped Samuel to his music class before I headed with Jesse to her Kindermusik class. Jag said that if he left his condition for the next 2-3days, he would have bed rested for 2 weeks. His condition was really bad. He has seriously torn his neck muscles. It was caused by a great impact of pulling. Jag thought that he had a car accident recently that could have cause this great impact.

He was much better after his therapy but in the evening, his pain came back. He had difficulties in moving and sleeping at night (even after taking pain killers). His pain was unbearable.

The next morning, before we went to church, we went to Jag therapy again for his 2nd treatment. He feels better and he immediately he could move his head again. Jag asked him to go back again the next day as he needs to teach him to do some exercises and for 3rd treatment.

Playing In The Pool

Finally after the long and tiring setup, the kids got to dip in the pool on Saturday evening. While the kids were enjoying swimming and splashing the water, I was kinda worried. I have to keep an eye not only on the kids, but also the garden. We were informed that for the past few days, they managed to catch 3 cobras which 2 was caught at the backyard of our neigbhour.

The next time we play in the pool again, I will make sure daddy put sulphur around the pool. Theres no way we can spread sulphur in our garden. The garden is too big and the sulphur can easily be washed away by the rain.

New Swimming Pool

We bought a new easy set up swimming pool for the family especially the kids. The pool is 12' x 36" in size and the accessories that comes with it were the pool ladder, a water filter/ pump, water heater, pool cover, pool cleaner (Vacuum/Brush/Filter), seive with its long extended pole, chlorine, pool thermometer, chorine/PH/Acidity Level Tester and Water Filter Refills.

It was actually very easy to setup IF you follow the instructions. Daddy tried to read the instructions and set it up on Friday evening. After 2-3 hours of filling the pool with water, our water tank started to dry. Since it was already late, we decided to continue the next day.

Sandy Water (the black patches everywhere)

The next morning, I got a shocked to see the water fill with sand! The water that we used to cook and drink was actually filled with sand. I can't believe it was so sandy. No wonder the seller said we need to filter it for 24hours.

We continued filling up with water before we left home to send Samuel to school. When we came home, we noticed the pool was not properly setup. The water almost spilled from one side of the pool.

The pool was filled with water. It was at least 1.5' deep although we are expecting 3'. It was very difficult to adjust the pool which is already filled with water. The reason it does not get to the correct position is because during the setup, daddy did not really flatten the base properly.

The "wrinkle"

So what we did was, we tried to pull the "wrinkle" from the base of the pool to the side, then pull the side forward, back to the correct position. It was not easy! It was really really difficult as the pool was filled with water.

Before daddy started with the mission, daddy had neck and shoulder pain. But he wanted continue with the setup of the pool. Daddy tried to pull the base and re-adjust it back for more than 1 hour. It was much better and we could at least have 2" deep pool. We left the water and filter running before we left to pick Samuel from school.

I'm sure the next time we setup the pool, it will be easier for us cause we learnt from our mistakes.

Samuel Understands Our Feelings

All the while Samuel appears to be a little slower in understanding. Simple things that we said he might not understand in full.

Yesterday, something happened and I was upset about the situation but Samuel was there to comfort me.

Samuel : Mummy, what happen, why you not happy?
Mummy : Ya, mummy not happy
Samuel : Why mummy? Why?
Mummy : Something happened and mummy is not happy
Samuel : * his face turned sour * I am sad because mummy is not happy. I hug you mummy. You don’t be sad already ok. I love you.

I was very touched and surprised that he actually knows that I was unhappy and try to make me feel better. Isn't he sweet?

Clean Up

Most of the time, we do not ask the kids to clean up after playing. Only occassionally, I will ask them to do it because they will take their own sweet time clearing up all the toys. Usually its either meal or nap/sleep time. So, instead of them or us, it will be the maid who is clearing and cleaning up all the toys.

Unless, I find it it is necessary to clear up all the toys before they finish playing with it. And this is usually the case when they keep throwing all the balls out of the play area. Few years ago, we filled the playarea with 400 coloured plastic balls but I have no idea how many balls are now left in the play area.

We have a playarea in the living room downstairs. Most of the time they are at the 2nd living room upstairs. They will only come downstairs in the evening when we are around.


Their usual evening routine is driving around the living room in their car or jeep. They will go round and round as if they were chasing each other and they will keep shouting and screaming. When they go round and round screaming, its like a police car's siren. After they are bored with the cars, they will go to the play area and play with their bouncing balls. Either that or they will play with all the balls in the play area. They will throw all the balls everywhere.

Usually when the living room is full of balls, I will start to make them put all the balls back. I tried everyday asking them not to throw the balls but they just wouldn't listen. They not only find it fun throwing the balls, they also love picking up the balls.

This is their evening routine and usually before bed we have to either shower them again or wipe them because they sweat alot after playing.

Feeding Her Buddies

Jesse has started to show us her tantrum these days. A little frustration, she will start to scream or shout. I hope this is not the beginning of Terrible Two.

She likes to say No at many occassions. Everything is a No to her and it is pretty cute to see her says no and keep shaking her head. If we take the thing shes holding off her, she will say No and hug the thing tight.

She also likes to play pretend. She loves holding a cup (her cooking toy tea cup) and ask us to drink, and she will make the slurppp sound. She also likes to feed us and she will make the yum yum sound.

Yesterday night, she refuses to lie down as she wanted to feed her bed buddies. Her yesterday bed buddies were Elmo and Barney. I managed to capture some of her photos of Jesse while feeding them.

Making a drink for her buddies

Feeding her buddies

Jesse's New Vocabulary

Some of Jesse's new words:

1. Daa = Daddy
2. Nyet = Cat
3. Niaoo = Meow
4. Og = Dog
5. ka = Car
6. aaeeh = Air (Malay for Water)
7. du = Two
8. dwee = Three
9. oor = Four
10.aii = Five
11.jig = Six
12.ehven = Seven
13.egg = Eight
14.nai = Nine
15.den = Ten

Reading Vs Writing

After we moved to Jerudong, when Samuel turned 3, he started attending Joyful Kids Montessori School. We have had difficulties choosing the right school for him. We didn't have much choices. We wanted a nearby and good school but in the end, we chose a school that isn't so near after all.

The school is very new. It was only one anniversary old when we first enrolled him. When Samuel was at the age of 3, he was still not able to write properly. He can only write with tracing. Now, he writes almost everything and tries to spell any new word he learns.

Samuel actually started reading much earlier compared to writing. Infact, he is considered alot slower than his peers in writing. When he started writing (scratching), we could hardly see the pencil lines. The pencil merely hovers over the paper and we noticed he just didn't have the strength to hold his pencil properly.

Some say its either reading or writing first. If reading comes first, writing will come much later and vice versa.

We are very glad that after he started attending Joyful Kids Montessori School, the teacher actually put emphasis on the hand (fine motor skills) activities to strengthen his hands. Now he writes and writes and writes on his little doodle board. He sometimes falls asleep while writing on his little doodle board too :)

As for his reading, he is pretty good at it now. Most of the time, he can read books (for his age) all by himself. We used the Glenn Doman method on Samuel when he was alot younger. He recognizes words very quickly. When he started attending Joyful Kids, they started teaching him Phonics. Now that he reads so well, we sometimes wonder if it was Glenn Doman or Phonics that has helped him read so well. The only thing we noticed about his reading is that, he may be reading lots but we feel strongly that he still doesn't understand what he reads.

Naked

One of those nights, about 2 weeks ago, I woke up at 430am, after Jesse made some noise. I was shocked to see her naked. Again, she played with her buttons in the middle of the night. During those days, Jesse had a habit of waking up at 4am. She will either make some noise, wake up to lie down on me (or near me) or starts playing!

After sometime waking up at 4am, she wakes up at 3am. She has not been drinking at night for a couple of months but she still does not really sleep through the nights. But at least we do not need to wake up and make milk for her.