Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Going Cameron Highlands!No lah... not me and J ler :P
Little Skywalker will be heading up to Cameron Highlands today along with my parents. They will be there until Friday. Is home alone again for me and J. Maybe is time to plan our second one? Oh yeah! Before I forget:
In the car...
E: Say "Si Fat!"
L: Fat!
J: (*gave me a smack on the head) Say "I want cheese!"
E: ????
L: cheeseeee...
J: I want cheese...
L: vaan cheeseeee...
J: I want cheese...
E: ????
L: I vaan...
J: I...
L: Ai...
J: want...
L: cheeeessseee...
E: ooooooooooohhhhh...LOL!
If you still don't get it, then I guessed you probably have not read this (*wink at James)
p/s: read my comments there as well to full comprehend what I meant :P
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/30/2005 01:35:00 PM :: and invited 11 Blah(s):
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Our Tree
It's that time of the year again, only without snow in our country. Since I am a Catholic, I guess Christmas should be one of the biggest celebrations for me. However, most of my Christmas eves are spent in the church for a long mass. Hence, I seldom had a chance to really enjoy the conventional Christmas atmosphere like the rest of my peers (eg. walking down Bintang Walk, have a western dinner, enjoy the lights everywhere etc.).
The Christmas tree that we had at my parents' place was as old as me! It is even taller than me (about 7ft tall!). They bought it from Singapore more than two decades ago and it was still maintained nicely (albeit with a few broken branches). Year in and year out, one of us (me and my siblings) will take the effort to take the tree out of our attic and assemble it together. We would hang up the same age old ornaments since my parents are too stingy to buy new ones until we bought it for the past few years.
J and I decided to get a Christmas tree of our own after Little Skywalker was born last year. Although he was only three months old for his first Christmas and had no idea what is a tree, we still went ahead to get one last minute. We were lucky to do so with a few days to go before Christmas and we ended up getting a 50% off for our tree! I could only bid "suckers!" to those people who bought earlier than us :P
Looking at the fact that Little Skywalker is a naughty little boy (who am I kidding? I used to be the naughtiest kid in my family), we've decided to get a tree that will require no extra lights. Hence, we got a tree with one of those fiber-optics kinda leaves all over the tree. A light will emit from the base unit of the tree, through a rotating colorful plastic (or is it glass) plate, and travel up to the "leaves" of the tree, thereby the tree will be seen like having Christmas lights. This way, Little Skywalker can touch those lights without us worrying that he might get electrocuted. More importantly, we could save money to buy lights and ornaments since the tree is already pretty enough!
I took the tree out of the box last Sunday and put it up. I planned to do it this weekend but Little Skywalker got his first ornament that night. He actually got it as a gift from the staff at the Milwaukee Steak Corner (our usual weekend spot). One of the staff there gave him a big red ball before we left as a gift. Little Skywalker loves the round ornament and I decided to bring our the tree earlier so that he could hang it up. By the way, the decorations and lights at the Milwaukee around this time is really beautiful. I highly recommend you to bring your family and kids there for dinner. However, I must warn you beforehand that Milwaukee will be jam packed during Christmas eve and they only serve 4-5 designated dinner set (without the usual menu items) to speed up the waiting time. The same goes for Valentine's day.
Little Skywalker was very happy to see the tree although this is the second time he saw the tree. He went to touch the "leaves" and almost knocked over the tree a few times as the base was not heavy enough to keep it stable. We also helped him to hang his ornament at the peak of the tree so that it will be obvious to everyone. We put him on his Santa's hat although he was quite reluctant at first. Then we took a few camera shots of him with the tree. Later, we also placed his "terrifying" present beside the tree (since the bike was too big to fit under the small tree) as a tradition. Too bad he is still reluctant to get on it.
Since both J and my brother will be having their weddings dinners on 22-26 December, I guess we will not be having a traditional Christmas dinner at Milwaukee. I thought of bringing Little Skywalker to Singapore (since J's brother's dinner will be at JB) on the 25th but J reminded me that our little boy has yet to apply for a passport. I guess we will just have to wait another year for us to have a "normal" Christmas...Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/30/2005 07:06:00 AM :: and invited 11 Blah(s):
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Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Gifts From VeniceAs I mentioned in my previous post, my sister came back from Venice last Saturday. She was stationed there when she took up her new job in Singapore. I was supposed to pick her up from the airport, but her arrival clashed with J's friend's wedding. Hence, my parents went with Little Skywalker instead although my sister insisted that she will take a cab and claim office expense. I guess we are not so comfortable with the idea of a lady taking a cab at night.
It turned out that her flight was delayed a bit and her luggage did not arrived with her on the same flight. It seems that her luggage was not checked in at Changi Airport where she had a stop-over before reaching KLIA. It was already 11.30pm when they finally arrived at home while J and I were too hungry was having our "yam cha" session at a mamak stall nearby. Little Skywalker was already sleeping like a log in the car.
My sister brought back many souveniors for us (me the most!). Apart from those chocolates which I am not so interested, she got me two items that represents Venice. I told her I needed those stuff to show off to people that I have been around the world! At last, she got me a Venetian Carnical Mask and a wooden gondola. Both of which are hand-made. She also got J a beautiful pink necklace. Little Skywalker was quite terrified by the mask, as well as those people who put it on later. We had to hide it to prevent him getting nightmares now. LOL!
In fact, my sister and I had a huge debate via Yahoo Messenger to decide whether to get made-in-China-and-mass-produced stuff or a locally hand-made items. I was all for whatever that is cheapest and easier to obtain. She was of the opinion that genuine (and expensive) stuff are much worthy because she wanted to help to preserve the local culture there! Below is a detail account a few days before her flight (Warning! Violent contents from here on!):E: where is my boat?
S: no boat ...
E: huh? how come no boat?
S: the one and only hand-make gondola model shop close early... until I reach there after work already close shop... so, mask is enough for u
E: wat? a piece of paper? need boat to fetch (you from KLIA)
S: wait till u c...
E: boat is better lah... first choice of coz is boat!
S: u want I can get u Made in China one? lots of them...
E: got ah? looks real or not? if china one then get one big big one lah
S: looks nothing like the hand-make one ...
E: I mean looks like a gondola or not lah... those so called hand-made also may not be real!
S: u go study the architecture of a gondola... the head of the gondola is very significant one... those made in China one can't even see!
E: as if anyone knows about it in malaysia :P is something to fool people mah
S: u tipu orang also must tipu with facts mah...
E: so this time come back liao no more go back again?
S: yesterday the office manager said I will b spending a few months in SGP... then off to another project which is not in SGP...
E: ic... shit! then go get it lah!
S: I will b coming back here one lah... in future...
E: too late... get the boat!
S: closed shop when I reached there lah... no one come here to buy gondola models one... only u want :P
E: coz those idiots have no taste! and when they are there... they dun notice liao :P
S: coz gondola no more hype thing here lah, bodoh!
E: their problem... I like the boat! tat's about the only cultural thing left
S: I get it next time...
E: wat next time?
S: told u the shop closed if I go after work lol ...
E: then this time get me a made in china one first!
S: will come back next time one... made in china one really very 'lao ya' wan...
E: dun care lah
S: nothing like the classic black-and-red gondola...
E: can use until you go back next time... just get me at least one of the boat!
S: dowan! damn stupid only!
E: aiyor... not as if you are using it! is for my show off session!
S: not worth it mah! wat for buy made in china thingy?
E: get one lah! here no sell lah!
S: u otak like rock only!
E: yeap! so dun bother argue! just at least one boat back! china punya... need bigger one to convince people!
S: told u... no space to accomodate it! sure break one! u think I only carry ur thing?
E: can one lah! tell them wrap nicely...
S: u stupid wan lah! I c whether I can get one lah... tell u first ... most probably I won't!
E: get it! else you will be walking home :P
S: I take taxi home lah! then I can keep ur mask! then u get nothing!
E: taxi there wait like hell one!
S: I wait ... wait ... wait ... also dowan to buy Made in China thingy!
E: go buy china! must get one!
S: I won't... my instinct tell me tat is stupid!
E: to you stupid only!
S: I donate the boat to the begger also they dowan!
E: too bad! we worse than begger here!
... and too long to continue liao, but you get the idea, right?
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/29/2005 10:13:00 AM :: and invited 9 Blah(s):
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Is This What We Voted For?
I was on my way back to my workplace after my breakfast this morning. On the way, I saw a long queue of cars heading down the single-lane one-way road that leads to the Emergency Department. As I walked further, I saw a black Perdana Executive (due to the XL size of the car) stopping in the middle of the road (blocking everyone on the way). When I saw the front of the car, there was a "Ahli Parlimen" metal badge above the car plate, thereby indicating the owner of the car is someone you (since I am not even a registered voter) voted into office.
At first, I thought someone must be seriously injured and needed immediate medical attention. To my surprise, one "gentleman" with a red tie and white shirt came down the Perdana slowly (he even needed someone to open the door!) with no signs of injury or whatsoever. Another lady came down the other door (also looking well enough to spare a kidney). The entire process took more than 5 minutes! Cars were queuing behind the stupid "Potong" Perdana as far as the main entry!
To add salt to the wound, there was a special lane and parking located just next to the spot where the stupid Perdana stopped! That special parking was meant for public and ambulance who needed to drop off or pick up patients with problems walking (there is a slope for wheel chair users).
This so-called "elected jackass" had the nerve to instruct his driver to stop in the middle of the road when there is a huge spot (huge enough to park two ambulances, so I guess it must be huge enough for his oversized car and ego!) just next to it for him park to his stupid "potong" car! He also had such thick skin and gigantic ego to carry his disabled ass down the car and walked slowly towards the hospital building as if nothing has happened. By the way, he looks like one of those Hindustani film star with a cool moustache and beard in a suit(albeit with a jackass personality). The lady (I presume is his wife or secretary) looked like a typical working woman.
That incident actually attracted many by-standers who were walking by. Many stopped to look at the incident which took place at a peak traffic hour where people are coming in to work and visiting hour is about to begin.
FYI, I have seen Mr. Karpal Singh (the VP of our main opposition party) on a wheel chair a few times already. He is a perfect gentleman indeed. His wife will push him on his wheel chair and down the slope (catered for disabled people) and to his car, which was parked at the passenger pick-up parking. Him I respect! I used to smile to him whenever I pass by him and he would acknowledge with a smile in return, although I can see that he is in pain.
I leave it for you to judge that pompous jackass! Is this "what" we want to represent us to run our country? That mentally disabled Yang-Berbuntut-Keldai should count his lucky stars that I do not have my camera with me (it's upstairs in my bag), otherwise, a video of the entire incident will be all over the internet like the one with the strip-search-and-squat-naked video recently!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/29/2005 08:12:00 AM :: and invited 12 Blah(s):
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Monday, November 28, 2005
Almost A Bad Saturday!Last Saturday was the worst Saturday for me since Little Skywalker was born. It almost turned out to be a disaster evening for me if not for the real good afternoon time with Little Skywalker (will blog about it later as I believe in giving the bad news first).
As I said before, J will be attending her friend's vegetarian wedding dinner at a temple at night. Hence, I have to fetch her to Bricksfield at 7pm and back at around 9 something. I have thought of calling up one of my "girl-friend" to help me fill in the time in between. One of them actually agreed to come along. Unfortunately, she called to cancel last minute as her future in-laws invited her for a dinner. She really left me in the cold!
I was supposed to fetch my sister from the airport, who is coming back from Venice that same night. My parents ended up have to do the job (happily) as her flight arrived at 9pm. They took Little Skywalker along as well and I ended up being alone the whole evening. Sigh!
On the way bringing Little Skywalker to my parents', J and I actually brought up the idea of J dropping off the "Ang Pau" and give some excuse to take off immediately. However, due to my mother's influence, J ended up going to the dinner.
The map printed on the invitation card was kinda lousy and I had to use my super-intelligent brain to navigate through the Bangsar area and finally arrived at the really busy Jalan Tun Sambanthan. It took us almost 45 minutes to reach there because of the Saturday-Night-Fever traffic. It was already close to 7.30pm when we arrived, but the dinner has yet to start although the invitation card printed 6.30pm.
After dropping J off, I was thinking of where to have my dinner. While thinking and driving, I ended up heading back to somewhere near my parents' place again. I finally settled for a out-door food court at Kepong with a Malay supermarket next to it, so that I can have a place to walk about after dinner. It took me about 30 minutes to finish my dinner (due to the hot soup I ordered). After that, I went in the supermarket to check on the prices of some stuff that we wanted to buy. After 15 minutes, I ended up buying some soaps, a toothbrush, a pair of toothpaste and a carton of 100 Plus (RM1 cheaper than those hypermart).
After loading the stuff in the car, I headed back to fetch J. This time there was not much traffic and I managed to arrive within 30 minutes. It was already 9.15pm when I arrived. I called J and she managed to cabut from the dinner so that her husband won't start jumping up-and-down in front of a temple. She was quite happy to see all the stuff that I bought because they were cheap compared to our usual shopping centres.
That ends my lonely Saturday night...
p/s: I actually thought of gate-crashing Twinsmom's birthday party for the Belles, but I forgot to print out a google-map... sigh!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/28/2005 11:50:00 AM :: and invited 12 Blah(s):
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Friday, November 25, 2005
C.S.I.It was a normal Friday afternoon, where me and my colleagues get to have a long lunch break (from 12.15 - 2.45pm). As usual, we strayed away from our usual lunch location to more special place. We chose a restaurant located along Jalan Ipoh (somewhere opposite Tan Chong) to have our lunch. The mee there is really delicious!
We finished everything on the table by 2.15pm and started heading back to the office. We saw a small crowd (about 10 people) along the sidewalk a few steps away from the restaurant. All of them were looking across the busy four lanes Jalan Ipoh. We guessed something must have happened, we thought is was an accident of some sort since that road is really busy! We stopped and could not see anything. Hence, my colleagues continued their way back while I headed to the bank a few blocks down to withdraw some money (to pay to one of the five weddings tomorrow).
Curiosity caught the better of me and I looked back repeatedly to check out what was going on as people were coming out of their shop lots as well. Few minutes later, I saw a small group of After doing my bank business, I headed back to office. On my way, I saw the same crowd again (how lucky?). This time the crowd is much bigger (about 40-50 people) and two police cars were there as well. People (I mean the KPC public) were directing traffic some more. Since I am no cat, so curiosity can't kill me. I detoured and went closer to have a clean look. All I could see were a big crowd surrounding something (I thought someone died as a result of some crime).
Soon, a policeman came out from the crowd with that Indon fella handcuffed to his back. A lady, whose carrying an unusually big handbag (size of a small luggage bag) was following them towards the police car. The girl suddenly cried a bit before they arrived at the car. After that, the KPC crowd dispersed (me included). I went back to the office and bragged about what I saw (while adding some Jackie Chan actions into the story) and teased my colleagues that did not catch any of the action.
According to my C.S.I. (Crime Scene I-come-I-see-I-report) experience, that idiot Indon guy must have snatched the girl’s big handbag under broad day light and was caught by some heroic by-passers (chased down a busy road into some small lorong some more). The girl was not injured as far as I can see except she must be in a state of shock since she only cried before she got on the car.IMHO, you ladies and girls out there shouldn't carry a big handbag like that lah! For your safety sake, carry you purse only when you go out for lunch. Leave the big handbag locked in the office some where lah. It's not like snatch thieves are new in our country. And yet, people still ignorant about news reports and prefer to look trendy instead.
Another thing, that idiot Indon guy was quite stupid also. He is dumb enough to pull such a stunt in the middle of lunch hour, at a location that is surrounded by at least 5-6 There you go, your piece of gossip for the rest of the weekend...
p/s: just look at our little Judge Dred on his cool new bike!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/25/2005 04:08:00 PM :: and invited 13 Blah(s):
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Small Talk
E: 要不要 gai gai? [do you wanna go out?]
L: 要! [yes!] (*keep nodding and went towards the door)
J: 要不要 milk milk? [do you want milk?] (*point to the milk bottle)
L: 不要不要不要 [no no no] (*keep shaking his head)
J: 伟伟乖吗? [are you a good boy?]L: 乖! [good]
J: 有没有乖? [got good boy or not?]
L: 有.. 有.. [got.. got..]
J: Oh.. 坏了.. [spoil already]
L: Ohhhhhhhh..
J: 要不要 repair? [want to repair or not?]
L: pair pair.. (*looking around for a screw-driver)
J: 你要什么? [what do you want?]
L: Nen nen / milk milk
J: 真的吗? [really?]
L: 真! [really!]
J: 一定要吗? [you sure?]
L: 一定! [sure!]
J: Say mummy please first..
L: Mummy!!
J: Please..
L: pee..ssst
J: give..
L: gaaapuuh!
J: give what?
L: Nen nen / milk milk (*already lying down in a breastfeeding position by himself)
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/25/2005 07:35:00 AM :: and invited 14 Blah(s):
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Thursday, November 24, 2005
Stop Sucking!
Little Skywalker has been on breastfeeding since his birth (although the first few days was via a tube directly into his belly). J and I feel that breastfeeding is still the best way to go because he will get all the nutrients he needs. Of course that will save us quite a considerable amount of money as well for buying milk powder (stingy parents huh?). So far, J breastfeed him first thing when he wakes up in the morning and last thing before he goes to bed at night (something like brushing teeth). This is the only thing that remained unchanged since Little Skywalker was born.After a year of fully breastfeeding, we've been wondering how to slowly get Little Skywalker off J's breast gradually until he is fully on formula milk when he is about 18 months or 2 years old. Lately, J and my mother have been feeding him both breast milk as well as formula. However, he seems to dislike the
Yesterday in the car, I was talking to J...
E: I don't think your way of getting Little Skywalker off breastfeeding will work...
J: Really? Why?
E: Because you breastfeed him when he needed the most!
J: Like when?
E: Well... first thing in the morning and before he goes to bed...
J: No choice mah... or else can you stand his crying at night?
E: I understand. To me, breastfeeding is like getting hooked on drugs. How do you get someone off drug if you give him drug when he needed it the most?
J: Like drug ah? You sure? What do you suggest?
E: Well... I think the best time to do it is when we have a long break.
J: When?
E: I think the upcoming CNY is a good time, since we get like about 1 week holidays. Like that we can tahan a bit at night and not end up looking like a panda in the office.
J: Hmmm... maybe you are right!
E: I wonder how other mothers get their children off breastfeeding?
J: Maybe we should ask somebody?
E: Yeah... maybe I will write something tomorrow and get some feedback from other mothers!
So here I am asking, how do you (mothers out there) get your child off
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/24/2005 07:15:00 AM :: and invited 21 Blah(s):
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Wednesday, November 23, 2005
A Gift That Backfired!
Due to the influence of those advertisement sale flyers by Giant (the hypermarket), we went ahead to buy Little Skywalker his Christmas present last weekend. J and I were surprised to see a electric bike selling at RM99 only! We wanted to get one of those for a long time now, but couldn't afford one as they were selling at over RM200 at Jaya Jusco. So, filled with excitement, we went ahead to Giant and grabbed it.
While we were at Giant, we let Little Skywalker to have a test ride on the bike to make sure that he likes it before we do the "$cha-ching$" thing. We put him on the bike and noticed that his legs are long enough to reach the throttle. I pressed on the throttle myself and led him on a slow ride within the toys area. He seemed quite intrigued with it. Hence, we went ahead and bought it. We also bought a big bag of MamiPoko as the price is unbelievable!
We got home and I went ahead to assemble the "made in China" electric bike. It took me more than half an hour to put the whole thing together as the instructions were not clear enough. After screwing the whole thing together, I put in the rechargeable battery and started messing around with it. After making sure everything was working fine, I put Little Skywalker on it for the first time.
He was quite happy sitting on the bike and pressing all the buttons that creates sounds and lights. There was also a siren at the back of the bike which Little Skywalker liked best. Unfortunately, all hell broke loose when I pressed on the throttle! It seems that Little Skywalker is too "chicken" to ride on his new bike. The new and strong battery must have scared him! He cried immediately and started to get off the bike by himself. We tried to calm him down and slowly lead him back on the bike. But all he could kept saying was "不要不要!" (don't want x 2). He just refused to play with his new bike anymore. Sigh!
We spent the next few hours trying to coax him into playing with his new toy, but he just kept mumbling "不要不要!". Instead, he went on to ride on his old and leg-powered car. Normally he does not play with that car a lot. I guess he did it as a sign of protest to us putting him on such a killing-machine. He did not even wanna play with those noisy buttons anymore. Nothing we did could change his mind on the bike. I guess this will be remembered as one of those bad childhood memory huh?
Later, I was messing with the bike in order to attract his attention. Suddenly, an idea came to mind - reverse psychology (激将法). Whenever Little Skywalker came close to the bike, I kept pushing him away and signaled to him that the toy is not for him. It worked! He kept wanted to get near the bike and I kept him away from it. Before we knew it, he was already sitting on the bike. I did not dare to start the engine again, thereby allowing him to play with those noisy buttons and siren only. He also kept his feet as far away from the throttle as possible (see pic).
Just as we thought that everything was going fine, Little Skywalker accidentally stepped on the throttle and the bike moved forward a bit! He got shocked immediately and wanted to get as far away from it as possible (again!). After that, nothing else worked anymore. Whenever we tried to get him near the bike, he will pushed J in front of him and asked her to play with the bike instead. It was quite funny the way he used J as his shield from the killing-machine.
I thought of another trick later, that was to put some of his "friends" on the bike and pushing them around the living room in order to arouse Little Skywalker's sense of jealousy. Just like the other psychology tricks that I've pulled earlier, it didn't go through. All Little Skywalker did was pulled his "friends" one-by-one off the bike. He still refused to be coaxed into riding it. We were totally all out of ideas by then.
Presently, the bike is sitting at my parents' place as Little Skywalker spends majority of his time there than at our house. We hope that he would be brave enough to get on it one day. Otherwise, it would just be remembered as one of those bad gifts. Too bad our local retail store does not offer a return policy. Or maybe we should just read the statement printed on the box that goes something like "not for children below 3". Sigh! But at least we know he won't put on some dangerous stunt with his car or bike when he grows up...Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/23/2005 09:15:00 AM :: and invited 20 Blah(s):
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Tuesday, November 22, 2005
God's Debris
I bought (actually I did not pay for it as J's brother sent it back from US) "God Debris" by Scott Adams a few months ago. I finished it almost immediately since the book actually traveled a few thousand miles across the Atlantic Ocean to my house. It was really interesting to read something different from the usual Dilbert comics from the author. I got to know about this book when I was browsing Amazon.com last year. Unfortunately, the book was not available at local MPH and I had to special order it to send to my BIL's place in US.This morning, I read in Scott Adams' blog that the e-book version (PDF file) of God's Debris is being offered FREE of charge. I quote Scott's logic behind the surprise move:
I’m giving it away because I found out that most people who read it end up either recommending it or buying the paper version as gifts for other people. Why not get a copy for your laptop, so you have something to read next time you’re traveling? You can’t beat free.
As you can see, good things will sell itself no matter what! I hope the movie, music and software industry can take cue from the Dilbert's creator. If I want to enjoy a really good movie with superb sound and special effects, I would definitely go to the cinema (and even buy an original copy to keep if I can afford it). If I know of a really good music album, I would want to get hold of an original version (like the Elvis CD I got).
I fully recommend "God's Debris" to anyone who likes to indulge in what Scott Adams call "a thought experiment". In other words, everyone who is eat-full-nothing-to-do are welcomed to read the above mentioned title freely. Furthermore, you can look up the sequel book "Religion War" if you like "God's Debris". I doubt our government will allow "Religion War" to be sold at local bookstore as they are too dumb to differentiate between fiction and non-fiction. However, I do have a copy with me. I bought it together with "God's Debris".
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/22/2005 11:10:00 AM :: and invited 6 Blah(s):
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Dancing With Wiggles
I was sitting with Little Skywalker in the living room (with a camera in hand as usual) watching his favourite TV channel. I think the Wiggles is on and I took the following video of Little Skywalker's action as the show was about to end with it's theme song playing. I was so fascinated by Little Skywalker's dance moves to the extend that I forgot that a video should not be shot at a vertical position. If you are really interested to see the following video, you would have to tilt your head 90 degrees clockwise. Also be warned that this video takes a long time to load if you have a slow connection.
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/22/2005 09:27:00 AM :: and invited 8 Blah(s):
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Ka Pong Ka Pong...
L: Ka pong ka pong ka pong...
J: What are u saying??
E: Kepong ah? (*such clever boy!)
L: Ka pong ka pong ka pong
J/E: Ok ok.. ka pong ka pong (*scratching head thoughtlessly)
Then one day, J watching Network Wiggles with him at home and right after the show, "Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong..." (Astro Showing Tiny Planet)L: Ka pong ka pong...
Finally we knew where Little Skywalker learnt that "Ka pong" word from, it's from the lyrics of the theme song of Tiny Planet:
Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong
Heroes of the Universe
Adventure every day, from their home in space
Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong, Bing and Bong
There's a tiny planet calling
A new exciting day, and we're on our way (our way)
FYI, this is still his favourite TV show although it's only about less than 8 minutes for each episodes. Well, like they say "good things never last"!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/22/2005 09:03:00 AM :: and invited 6 Blah(s):
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Monday, November 21, 2005
Something Very Important - ProtectedYeah right! As if Blogger started providing Protected entries :P
Well, at least I figured a simple way to do this!
Click here to read further if you are one of those eat-full-nothing-to-do people. The password you can obtain from me via email, yahooIM or MSN.
Entry criteria: non-two-five-people (二五仔) and people outside my work
p/s: if you break the circle of trust and betrayed me, I am gonna make sure Little Skywalker make you pay!!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/21/2005 11:43:00 AM :: and invited 4 Blah(s):
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My Favourite Astro Channel!
Channel 999: Playhouse Skywalker
Imagine And Learn with Playhouse Skywalker Channel – a brand new preschool channel designed to engage and stimulate the naughty imaginations of your little ones. Targeted specifically at kids aged 1 – 5, without their parents and caregivers' supervision. Playhouse Skywalker Channel features age-non-appropriate, award-winning programmes and internationally hosted activity segments that help develop your child’s early naughty and self-destructive skills.
As a special treat for all our young viewers, Playhouse Skywalker Channel presents an afternoon of movies, kicking off with Huff Huff Huff: How to Pee As You Wished at 1pm, followed by the Dummies Guide to Make Your Parents' Life Miserable at 2:30pm. Then it's off to more adventures at Making Them Pay for Having Fun in Bed at 3:30pm!
Subscribe NOW to this channel for RM99.95!
To subscribe, call 03-9543 9999 or click SUBSCRIBE NOW to order online.
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/21/2005 09:10:00 AM :: and invited 8 Blah(s):
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Friday, November 18, 2005
Our Little Fatso!Our friends and relatives always refer me as the skinny one, and they probably wonder Little Skywalker will turn out like me. For the record, I was known as the chubby one when I was a kid, I think it must be all the sports and games I got involved during my school days that slimmed me down. Sigh! J also kept saying that I need to put on more weight. Heck! I even want to get fat. I thought of starting on beer but I hate the bitter taste.
Anyway, during our trip back to JB during the DeepaRaya holidays, I was shocked to discover some graphical proof that Little Skywalker used to be fat as well. I mean, look at the fatso's double chin! Is like he got some 1kg of fat hanging on his neck!
He really makes us proud!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/18/2005 02:41:00 PM :: and invited 10 Blah(s):
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Sing Along... - Part 2
Act 5E: Humpty dumpty sat on the..
L: Wall!
E: Humpty dumpty had a great
L: Fall!
J: Wah! 酱厉害啊! teach mama! mama 不会!
One day, while we were thinking hard in the car what other songs to teach him, I suddenly remembered this song and J start singing two times to him. He listening interestingly and sang along the third time.
Act 6
J: London bride is falling..
L: Dong!
J: Falling..
L: Dong!
J: Falling..
L: (pause…gave J a "your-recorder-stuck-already-why-repeat-so-many-times" look) Dong………!
J: London bride is falling..
L: Dong!
J: My fair..
L: Lady lady lady! (repeated few times since mummy likes to repeat the same line too!)
Act 7
J: Ba ba black sheep have you any..
L: Wooooooooooooo!
J: Yes sir Yes Sir (Little Skywalker already nodding head) Three Bags..
L: Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
J: Eh Egghead, what’s the next line ah?? I can’t remember the lyrics ler!
E: Don’t know.. ask Ah Wei :P
J: de de de...
L: terrrrrrrrr..
J: de de de...
L: mannnnnnn!
J: de de de de de de de de de...
L: ????
J: I need to go for nursery rhymes’ classes!!
L: ????
E: *ROTFLMAO
Act 8
J: Old McDonald had a farm..
L: Ieya Ieya Ieya Ieya Ooooooooooo!
J: And on the farm he had some cows..
L: Ieya Ieya Ieya Ieya Ooooooooooo!
J: And a moo moo here.. (*tickling L here and there)
L: Hahahahahhaa…….! (*Laughing hard and rolling on the bed)
J: And a moo moo there.. (*tickling L here and there again)
L: Haaaaaaaaahahaaaaaaaahaa! (*Laughing harder and kicking here and there)
J: Here moo there moo every mooo mooo..
L: Haakaahkakkaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa (*Laughing even harder and rolling and kicking and sweating all over)
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/18/2005 11:41:00 AM :: and invited 8 Blah(s):
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Sing Along... - Part 1
The following post was contributed by J (she wrote this before I could)...
My parents (J's PIL) have been singing many nursery songs to Little Skywalker for a long time now. The first ever song that Little Skywalker picked up was "客人来" and "伟伟, 不要怕". Then one day, Little Skywalker and her granny were singing the "Hickory Dickory" song (which J never heard when she was a kid, as her parents only taught her those mandarin rhymes) and J went looking for more nursery rhymes to teach him. Sometimes, we are quite proud when we found out some of the songs we are trying to teach only to find out later that Little Skywalker already knew it and already started to sing along. Whenever Little Skywalker is in a good mood (either in the car or on the bed), we would have a little sing along session with him...J = J, L = Little Skywalker, E = me
Act 1
J: 客人来, 看..
L: 爸爸!
J: 爸爸不在..
L: 家..
J: 我请客人先坐..
L: 下!
J: 再敬一杯..
L: 茶.............
E: Yeah! 伟伟乖! (*clap clap while Little Skywalker give a kembang look!)
Act 2
J: 伟伟不要..
L: 怕!
J: 你是好..
L: 娃娃!
J: 自己..
L: 跌倒
J: 自己..
L: 爬...... (or did he meant 怕?)
J: Ni kan san sang wei ni kai man hong 你看山上, 为你开满红
L: 花......
J: 我们是好..
L: 娃娃!
J: 要自己..
L: 跌倒!
J: 自己..
L: 爬......!
E: Yeah! 伟伟厉害! (*clap clap while Little Skywalker give a kembang look!)
Act 3
J: Twinkle twinkle little..
L: Tarrrrrrrr!
J: How I wonder what you..
L: Arrrrrrrrrr!
J: Up above the sky so..
L: Haiiiiiiiiii!
J: Like a diamond in the..
L: Kaiiiiiiiiiii!
J: Twinkle twinkle little..
L: Tarrrrrrrr!
J: How I wonder what you..
L: Arrrrrrrrrr!
E: 酱厉害啊?
Act 4
J: Hickory dickory..
L: Doc!!
J: The mouse run up the..
L: Clock!! (while looking around to find the cuckoo clock on the wall)
J: The Clock strike one..
L: Donggggggggggggg
J: And the mouse run down the..
L: Clock!!
J: Hickory dickory..
L: Dock!!
E: Yeah… 伟伟厉害!
to be continued...
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/18/2005 11:15:00 AM :: and invited 10 Blah(s):
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Lost A War (打败战)
I've been on running nose the whole of yesterday. The number of tissues I used up are countless already. The sound of me blowing my watery nose can be heard throughout the whole office as I could care less when I am not even thinking straight. I guess the fact that no one came to hit me was that they were afraid of catching the flu themselves.
Back home, I was still blowing my nose, this time onto my son's diaper as the tissues are making my nose look like Rudolph. My mood swings are at their peak with me getting angry and frustrated easily when Little Skywalker refused to listen to anything I've said. I also gave J a hard time (so sorry) as she need to look after Little Skywalker's demands as well as doing the chores. Normally I will keep Little Skywalker away from disturbing J with either the TV or some mindless tricks that only he would laugh at.
The worst came when we were going to bed. I found out that I can hardly sleep lying down without all the nose saliva back-flowing to my throat. Hence, I had to sleep in a sitting position. Since Little Skywalker and J are not very heat tolerant, we kept the fan running as usual. I had to wear a jacket to prevent my condition from getting worse. I woke up around 4 something when my nose is already dried up. Finally I could lie down to have a couple of hours of sleep.
As I was about to lie down, I heard some sound coming from Little Skywalker's breathing. I guess he must have caught the flu from me as well. I didn't knew it was possible as I was keeping myself away from him all evening. I even faced the other direction when we slept. Poor little guy was another victim of nose problems.
I could hardly wake myself up this morning if not for J. I thought of taking MC for the day, but I remembered I need to attend "something very important" (will blog about it later if the outcome is positive) today after work. It would be foolish for me to cancel although I am having a red nose. So, here I am sitting in the office, half awake and writing this to help myself from being snoring away...
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/18/2005 08:33:00 AM :: and invited 9 Blah(s):
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Thursday, November 17, 2005
UPSR... Exams... Dollars and Cents...
I guess most of you concern parents out there (especially those with a 12-years old) are already aware that the UPSR results that was released yesterday. I know, I know, Little Skywalker is still too young for me to be worrying about all these. However, my 12-years old little brother just got his results yesterday. He got 1A (I think is for English), a couple of Cs and Bs for the rest of the subjects. He'd even got a grade 1 for behavior (which is surprising to me). He studied in a chinese primary school located along Jalan Ipoh.As I arrived at my parents' to pick up Little Skywalker after work, I completely forgot about the news on the UPSR being released yesterday. I went ahead to have my dinner with J, and was later joined by my grandmother and granduncle who was there for a few days. Just a little background, the relationship between my grandma and my little brother D is not that close. D dislike her very much as she kept complaining about his rebellious behavior. My grandma
So, my grandma started saying that D only managed to get one A in his UPSR results and said that it must be his lack of effort to study hard blah blah blah. I love my grandma very much, even more than my parents, as almost my entire childhood is spent with them. However, I got hit in the head by something and gave a shocking reply to her. I asked her what is wrong with having a single A in UPSR exams? I also said that D is just a 12-years old kid. Why are we giving so much pressure to a kid? I even told her that I honestly did not study at all except the day before my exams.
I went on to explain how bad is the situation at primary school nowadays, which is totally different from my good old days. I used to fetch my brother to school every morning before my dad decided to put him on a school bus last year. On the way, I could see most of the school children with their sleepy heads in the school buses, and my brother is snoring away at the back-seat of my car. I kept wondering, why is that so?
From my point of view, primary schools are meant to be fun and joyful days for kids. They are suppose to learn some basic values, some basic reading, writing and calculations in school. The rest of the time should be spent on more outdoor activities, games etc. Children should feel happy to go to school and happy to come back and tell their parents about it. Instead, I see kids slaving to finish their tonnes of homework. I see them carrying (some wheeling) their 100kg school bags to school with a sleepy and grumpy face. Why?I even went ahead to condemn all the publishers which are trying to sell their products to school children by means of the headmasters and teachers! In fact, I think some of them receive commisions for this! This is most obvious when come the school holidays. All the school children are supposed to buy like 10 exercise books for homework to be finished during the year-end school holidays. That is where the publishers are making tonnes of money for trying to sell them! Let me put it this way, I am under teacher A this year and will be under teacher B next year. Do you think teacher B will be willing to even go through all the 10 exercise books of each student when school reopens next year? No way! In a typical class of over 40 students in a chinese primary school, it will be like marking over 400 books x 20 pages of homework! Show me a teacher who is willing to do that and I will retract my remarks!
I guess our society has come to an uncivilized manner in terms of bringing up our kids in a healthy way. Most of us (working or not working) prefer to let the teachers at school to handle the responsibility of educating our kids. We prefer to keep our kids at school as long as possible (to the extend of 7am to 4pm with the extra class and all) so that we will rest peacefully at home! We kept so much pressure on them so that they will come back with As in their result scorecard. We even went lower by offering money or materialistic prizes as rewards in getting those "color-flying" results. However, we could care less if they are really happy going to school!!
For me, I want to send my children to a chinese primary school if possible. The main reason for doing so is that so that my children will be able to learn to speak and write in mandarin, in addition to BM and English. Unfortunately, the latest development in all the SMJK schools I've come across lately had really pushed me to having second thoughts. I guess some so-called "chinese educationist" and politicians are really going too far in terms of keeping the survival of those SMJK and book publishers in business! They organized concerts, big dinner parties to raise fund for the SMJKs in the name of chinese education. In the end, who will end up as the biggest winners? The publishers!! On the other hand, who are the biggest losers? Not us as parents, not the teachers who are just following orders, they are the children who is sacrificing their childhood in order to fulfill the ambitions of some selfish adults.I bet if you pick a student at random and ask them this question "Why did you go to school and study so hard?", they will either reply you with some concocted answers brainwashed into their brains by their pathetic parents like "So that I can learn more and get a good job" or a more conventional and materialistic reply like "My parents say they will give me RMxxx or a bike or a handphone if I get n number of As". Is this what we really want for our children?
I am sure grandma will be pondering over my long remarks throughout the dinner...
On the way back, J asked me whether I have gone over board with my grandma. Well, I had a simple answer for her, "Well... I guess it is better for her to know something that is true before she passes on". I've also explained to J how many parents (mine included) always push their children into doing something which they had failed to achieve themselves. That was when J interrupted me that I always said I wanted Little Skywalker to be a pilot. Well, I was joking when I was saying that. The truth is, I don't care what Little Skywalker is going to do with his life as long as he don't go burn down a house or kill somebody. I hope he can make up his own mind when he comes to the crossroads. All we (parents) could only do is equipped our children with sufficient knowledge to differentiate between what is right and wrong. The rest of it is up to them to figure out by themselves.Let them live their own lives... and not lives under our shadows!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/17/2005 09:44:00 AM :: and invited 10 Blah(s):
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Wednesday, November 16, 2005
A Day As SAHM - Part 2continue from Part 1...
I planned to bring him to the playground since he and egghead had great fun alone without me the last time. After our playground session, we will go to the shops opposite our taman to buy some breakfast for mummy. After changing, getting ready and opening the gate, I realised it was drizzling a little bit. Arghhh!! There goes my plan again! So I took the umbrella, put down our little ‘sports bag’ well equipped with water bottle, my purse, hand phone and handkerchief. No playground as no one goes to the playground with an umbrella, but we still can go buy breakfast. So I put Little Skywalker on with his cap, took out RM20, the umbrella and handkerchief and off we went to the ‘morning market’.
Little Skywalker liked the idea of walking in the rain a lot (or rather walking with an umbrella because the drizzling had almost stop by now). I hold him in one arm, and hold the umbrella with another. He would ‘help’ me to hold the umbrella all the time and tell me ‘la.. la..’(as in umbrella).
Once we reached the shop lots, I let Little Skywalker down to walk by himself. Being the ‘curious-and-cautious-self’ he is, he walked a few steps, stopped and touched people’s gate (a lot of shops not opened yet), and walked and stopped to look/touch the dirt on the floor. I kept telling him it’s dirty and don’t touch, but he ignored me and wondered off. I let him wander around a little while more before I picked him up and walked to the end of the shop lot where the morning market is. We end up buying some fruits (as dessert after his lunch), fried mihun-mee as my breakfast, a little pack of porridge as breakfast for Little Skywalker (because I suspected my porridge was not as nice and he didn’t want to eat :Þ), one bowl of 'tau fu fa' and two pieces of ‘loh mai chee’ as dessert/lunch for me.
The things were so heavy and were in so many small plastic bags. So I became a crazy woman who carried a baby in one arm, taking umbrella, with at least 5 packs of food/fruits in the other hand. It was so heavy that I need to put Little Skywalker down to walk. But he kept wandering off track and stopped at one point when he saw a few kids playing on the corridor. I let him play with them a while before picking him up again. The rain had stop, so I let Little Skywalker carry the umbrella for me. Yes, he is a very strong boy that he can carry a big umbrella for almost 200m of journey.
Back home, we played with toys for a while before we shared our food together. After breakfast, I bathed him, watched some TV, played toys again, ate the porridge I cook at around 11.30am. After his early lunch, I put him to sleep at around noon. I called Egghead to report to him and he told me to ask whether there will be enough room if we were to join them in PD tomorrow after work (Geee... When we were asked whether we wanted to join the trip he said don’t want and not possible, and I already planned things to do and to tidy up during the weekend.). After the phone call I quickly had my lunch – Curry Flavoured Maggi Mee cooked in microwave oven. By the time I finished washing the dishes, he was awake again. Yeah, he sleeps very little in the morning - about 15 minutes to half an hour at most.
We played together again for the rest of the afternoon and I put on the Cinderella DVD for him while feeding him with porridge again. He watched the show with full concentration for about half an hour before he gets bored. He fell asleep again around 3.30pm (maybe because I played too much with him) and I ended up watching the fairy tale while I checked his PD trip luggage that I have packed yesterday night. I took a quick nap together with him after that.
At about 5pm, my PIL came and picked up the sleepy little fellow to PD. He was happy to see them coming and happily followed them up the car. It was when I kissed him goodbye that he started crying and want to get off the car. Holding back my tears, I was thinking whether to go to PD tomorrow (my MIL said there is plenty of accommodation space) while waiting for Egghead to come home around half an hour later (Too bad Egghead didn’t had chance to say goodbye to Little Skywalker).
That ended my one day as SAHM...
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/16/2005 09:13:00 AM :: and invited 5 Blah(s):
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When The Cat's Not Around...
Got a phone call from J when I was attending a conference yesterday (will blog about it later)...
J: Some fella call Melvin left a message on your saybox!
E: So?
J: That message was offensive and degrading to another blogger leh!
E: Is it?
J: Yeah... you better do something about it when you are back tomorrow!
E: Ok! No problem.
Came in this morning and saw that uncivilized remarks about my friend and worse, and her daughter too. The logical guess would be that he/she (or most probably a shim) got offended by my friend and found the need to return the favour. However, my best guess would be that this 'shim' fella could be a sore-loser to my friend in courting my friend's wife during the good old days. Now, he found the need to act like a mental psycho (or is he really acting?) out to attack my friend's daughter. Imagine, a grown up (I assumed, but probably lack of mature intellectual) firing salvo at a 1 year old girl! What a pathetic loser is 'shim'! Pick on someone your age and size lah!Anyway, I did the only possible thing, that is the ban that shim's IP and name from posting anything in my saybox. I'm sorry that this 'shim' managed to attack on one of those rare days that I was away from the office and had no internet connection. I wish to remind any uncivilized minds out there to stay far away from here. There are many parents (*ahem) reading this blog, and I want to keep it that way. If you cannot get someone foolish enough to have children with you, probably you should go see a psychiatric and get some expensive consultation before you start going amok with a knief.
So... shuuuuu!!
p/s: I just heard from Jason that this low-life has been kacau-ing his blog as well as my friend's blog before this also
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/16/2005 08:18:00 AM :: and invited 6 Blah(s):
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Monday, November 14, 2005
A Day As SAHM - Part 1As the title suggested, the following post is contributed by J...
Friday 21st Oct 2005 was a public holiday for Selangor. Egghead was working on that day because his company follows the Wilayah’s public holiday. A holiday for me is very precious since I only have 12 days of annual leave and got to work on Saturday as well. I planned and planned for this long awaited holiday to settle some outstanding matters such as to renew MyKad, to update and claim back some old bank accounts with little money inside, go to my unit trust company to get some new updates and some forms, etc. I also planned of going back to work for half a day to rush up some things as I can finish more work without any interruptions from other people in the office.
I cancelled all the plans that I had in mind when my MIL told me that Egghead’s uncle invited them to PD for that weekend, along with Little Skywalker. Although this won’t be the first time Little Skywalker leaving us for a few days to have fun with his grandparent, we still felt heavy hearted to be separated from him. So I told my in-laws I will take care of Little Skywalker on Friday and they can pick him up when they were ready to take off. Well, you probably know what happenned next.
Egghead woke up at 5.45am as usual to take bath and woke me up for my turn because there is no way I can take my bath when I’m alone with the little fellow and I cannot tahan not bathing for whole day until egghead comes back – I will burst and Little Skywalker will get a lot of scolding and yelling from his ‘hot-mama’.
After my bath I’m all fresh and wide awake. Egghead went to work at 6.15am and I went back upstairs to check on Little Skywalker (who is still in his sweet dreams). I ran downstairs again to put the laundry into the washing machine. Then I ran upstairs again to check on the little guy again because he is such a sleeper who wake up at the slightest noise. Somtimes he wakes up without making any noise and starts climbing down the bed! He is still sleeping like a log, but I needed to start cooking his porridge in the slow cooker. So I ran downstairs again to lay out his little mattress, on the lights, fan and music, and ran upstairs again to bring him down. I walk us down slowly and carefully, in the hope that he will continue to sleep soundly and give me some time to do my work.
Unfortunately, once I put him on his little mattress, he turned and sat up!! I tried to put him to sleep again using my ‘ultimate human pacifier’ (after bringing him to pee in the toilet) but to no avail. He is wide awake!! So I turn on his favourite Astro Channel 63– Play House Disney to entertain him and tell him mummy going to kitchen to cook his porridge. He didn’t answer me as his eyes are all glued to the TV. I thought he will follow me from behind, but to my surprise he didn’t!! He is standing far away from the TV with his body preparing to come towards my direction in the kitchen but his eyes are still glued on the TV. Something must have really caught his interest!!
So, I quickly go to kitchen and start preparing the porridge. I peeked on him after few minutes later and found out he is still in that position – watching the TV standing with his body facing to kitchen’s direction. I put down my things and went to put him in a sitting position on his little mattress and tell him to continue watching the show. So he guai guai sat there watching, occasionally moving his hand up and down, left and right while I was doing my things in the kitchen. I joined him 15 minutes later after gao dim with the porridge and tidying up a bit. Apparently Astro was showing ‘Wiggles Network’ from 6.30am to 7.00am. It was only later that I found out that my FIL also let him watch that show when he arrived at his house wide awake every morning.
Right after that show ended, he became fussy a bit and wanted to go upstairs and kept calling ‘papa papa’. I guessed he must be thinking today is Sunday and papa still sleeping upstairs. I brought him upstairs to show that nobody’s there and told him papa went to work but he didn’t believe me and kept calling papa. So I called Egghead to let Little Skywalker to talk to him. After ‘talking’ to Egghead and confirmed that he was indeed at work, then only the little fellow felt satisfied and stopped calling papa and stop wanting to go upstairs.
to be continued...
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/14/2005 05:02:00 PM :: and invited 4 Blah(s):
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The Three Sisters
Updated:
To
The following post is contributed by J...
My mum has been babysitting my youngest aunt’s three daughters, JN (9), JY (7) & JS (5) since they are one month old, for day and night except for weekends and public holidays. My mum has always been willing to take care of her child for her. She actually offered to baby-sit for day and night, considering my aunt and uncle’s inexperience with baby (when they had their first child), long working hours and they stayed quite far from us and they don’t trust outsiders with their kids. However, this time, she is quite reluctant.Here’s the story...
My aunty and uncle will only fetch the kids back on Saturday evening, and bring them back on Sunday evening. After a one day one night of excessive pampering from the parent, the kids will have their Sunday/Monday blues when they are back at my house. They become very fussy, cried a lot and needs to be carried a lot when they were babies, as they grow older they tend to wake up in the middle of the night to cry, either yelling-loud-cry when they are babies, or cries until you bring them out to living room to watch TV until they fall sleep or silent cry when they grow older. They will be ok again after a day or so.
Back then I just thought that babies will ‘suddenly’ develop funny habits or behaviour. After become a mum myself, I think I know why they cry in the middle of the night – because they miss their parents. Even if they don’t tell you, and even if they say they prefer to stay with us. They still miss their parents.
They are very cute and adorable girls. They love our family a lot and we pamper them a lot too. They will call my parents "papa" and "mama". However, they are even smart enough to avoid calling my parent papa & mama whenever they parent’s around, without having to teach them.
JY’s the worst case with her parent. When she was two months old, her elder sister is only almost two years old. So her parent decided not to bring her home on the weekends because they won’t be able to handle two kids themselves. When they want to bring her back for the first time when she is 4 months old, she already too used to stay with us and cries all the way back to her house and all the way back to my house within one hour time. Since then and for almost a year, she never went back home to stay with her parents. They only had little time together when they come over to fetch her sister. She knows she has a home elsewhere and who are her parents but she is just too scared to go home with them.Now, they no longer calling my parents papa mama, and they understand that their parent needs to work and only able to bring them home during weekends and they are excited to go home. Maybe it’s just like holiday trip back home every weekend to them. However, there is a hidden side-effect of this long-time separation from parent. They tend to worry about things easily & scare easily. I suppose it’s because of the feeling of insecurity.
Having all the above said experience, my mum’s very reluctant to baby-sit for her any more, at least not day and night because it will mean no breastfeeding for the baby. But I don’t think their parent will be able to come and fetch them back every day and send them back every morning. They stay just too far away. My parents don’t mind to have another baby at home to accompany them since all her children are away (I stay in KL, my brother work in US temporary/Penang permanently and my youngest brother studying in Malacca). Actually they feel lucky to have those little girls to accompany them. However, my father thought it's better to take care of the baby like the others for my aunty again because he thought the siblings must grow up together. It wouldn’t be fair to the baby and the kids if my mum continue to take care of the kids but not the baby.
My mum have actually asked my aunty to consider to quit her job and be a SAHM but she isn’t ready for that and think she might go crazy having to take care of four kids and the house all day. (I thought she might be having some problem of being too obsessed with cleanliness and do too much housework). However, it will be really hard for the three kids to go back to their parent’s house because they already start schooling and have their teachers and friends at a nearby school.
I think lots of you would be wondering why want to have kids when you couldn’t handle and take care of them. To be fair to the parents, I need to clarify that they love their kids a lot. They would do anything to make them happy. They actually thought the best place for the kids to grow up is at my parent’s because my parent’s great with little kids and my parent’s kids all grown up to be good guys and have proper education. They don’t trust any outsider baby-sitter will be able to provide good care, good discipline and good education for their kids while they are at work.They think it’s important to have good discipline and good education for their kids because they haven’t got chance to go for higher education. They need to work harder (longer working hour) to earn for a good living for their kids. They hardly spend any money for themselves. They save all the money up for them for their future’s study, buy things for them, bought a big house and renovated nicely for them for their weekends, bought a bigger car to drive them around. They stayed up all night to watch over them when they have every little/serious flu/fever during the weekends. I do think they must have missed them dearly during the weekdays. I think my three little lovely cousins know that too and will understand when they grow older. Funny thing about them is that whenever we tease them to ask their parent to trade house/car with my parenst so that they can stay in a bigger house every day (my parent’s house is only single story with 3 rooms), have a bigger car where my father can drive them to school and go shopping, they just doesn’t agree.
I guess every parent have a different way showing love for their kids, given a different background and living experience.
Anyway, my mum will be babysitting the new baby for a month because the newly found baby sitter for the baby can only start babysitting after Chinese New Year. I really think she will end up babysitting for her again after one month’s bonding with the baby.
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/14/2005 07:20:00 AM :: and invited 10 Blah(s):
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Friday, November 11, 2005
Parenting...On Wednesday morning (around 3am), J's aunty gave birth to a baby boy, in addition to her three daughters. Everyone the family are happy for them as they were trying to get a boy for so long now. We thought she might deliver during our stay in JB last week, but alas, the baby decided to be punctual instead.
A slight background about J's uncle and aunty. Both of them are hardcore workers and seldom go on leave. All the three daughters are currently taken care of by J's parents. J's parents started taking care of them since they were born. The youngest one is already four years old by now. They are one of the reasons I like going back to my PIL's place so much.
As long as I can remember, J's uncle and aunty only fetch their children home every Saturday night (or public holiday eve), and will bring them back to my PIL evening the following day(which is less than 24 hours later). Even during the Raya holidays, the children had only be with them for less than two nights. If my calculations are correct, the girls spend less than 25% of their time with their parents throughout their entire life so far!
From my personal observation, the girls are quite reluctant to go back with their parents. They are even calling my FIL "ah x papa" (as he is very close to them) and their own father "ah y papa". At times, my MIL even use the threat of "we will send you home" in order to discipline them in their daily activities. One of the girls even refused to go home until she was about 3 years old!
With the new baby already born, my PIL refused to take care of another baby as they thought the three girls were already a huge responsibility. Hence, J's aunt had to get another babysitter in two months time before she goes back to her hard worker routine.
From the looks of it, the girls' parents are not afraid that their children grow up without their support and guidance. They are not jealous that the girls are more attached to my PIL. They dedicate their lives to their work and career by sacrificing their time with their own children. In the end of the day, are all those sacrifices worthwhile at all?
p/s: I am sorry for the lack of updates this week as I am all tied down with tonnes of work as my boss want me to complete something that could normally take at least 1 month in less than 1 week. Imagine that!!
Jotted down by Egghead :: at around 11/11/2005 06:41:00 PM :: and invited 12 Blah(s):
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