Eat Clean!

I was having lunch with Matthew and Sarah at the dining table and we were all finishing up at about the same time.

Matthew took a mouthful and declared, "I've finished!"

I looked over at his bowl and saw food still scattered about inside. I told him,

"Matt, there's so much food left! Scoop it up and finish it all nicely. Kids, if you want your husband or your wife to look nice next time, you mustn't leave any bits behind. Otherwise next time your husband or your wife's face will be full of spots and holes. Is that nice?"

"No," they chorused.

Obediently, Matthew scraped together the last bits in his bowl. Suddenly, he asked,

"Mommy, you always finish everything, but how come Daddy's face is a bit like that?"

Pause.

"Just a bit," he added.

"That's different, Matthew! Daddy's are chicken pox scars."

"I hope I won't be like that next time," Matthew said. "I don't want to be exactly like that," he grinned.

Poor Sean! He wasn't too pleased when I told him. Ha ha.

How does one celebrate?

Over the weekend I bought a pair of jeans from Giordano. I can't fit into any of my old ones anymore! Happily, they gave me a $20 voucher. So last night we thought we'd go to the mall to return the library books and use up the vouchers at the same time. There was a little polo dress I really fancied for Sarah.

After some time at the library where Sophie kept running away from me, thankfully silently in her rubber soled shoes on thick carpet but pulling books from the shelves (Argh!), we finally went and got the dress. SO cute. White terry cloth with a simple rainbow belt. Sarah called it a towel! We also picked up a groovy lightweight windbreaker for Matt to keep in his schoolbag - he gets cold in the train home.

As we were strapping the kids back into the car, it came to my mind what a family friend told us, that we should celebrate happy events like promotions and raises as a family, highlighting to the kids the importance of hard work etc. I recalled that Sean just had his salary adjustment announced. So, to sort of justify my spending spree, I told the kids, "Y'know, Daddy got a raise at work, so this is a way of celebrating."

Matt asked quizzically, "Buy more clothes?"

Sophie Zò Guí Táo

Our littlest is now ringleader of the three.

At bedtime prayers, she'll find that it's fun to bounce herself up and down on Matt's bed, in prone position. The older ones seeing her glee will follow suit. All three of them lying face down and bouncing up and down like dolphins breaching a mattress, squealing and giggling away.

Told to "Stop it and sit up properly!", they'll gather and sit nicely on the edge of the bed. Sophie must then discover that it's fun to bounce on the edge of the bed while sitting on her cute little diapered butt, and all three start bouncing up and down once more, looking at each other, laughing their heads off.

Winnie The ...

Sophie was discovered one afternoon last week in a, shall we say, "compromised" situation. No one else was home and Consuelo had opened her bedroom door at her usual end-of-nap time to wake her up. The little girl was found stark naked sitting in her cot, clutching a turd in her right hand, with poo smeared everywhere, including her face. No baby bath gel could sweeten her little hand for the rest of that day.

When Sarah was at about the same age, I had opened a door to find her in a horribly stinky room at my mom's place one Sunday afternoon, when I noticed that she had been sleeping in there quietly way too long. Throwing back the curtains to let in a flood of light, I found her and her bedding smeared with poo, a used diaper come unwrapped on the floor, and a significant portion of the contents (I remembered cos I had changed her and inadvertently left the diaper in the room within her reach) missing! After some frantic scrabbling among the bedding, I finally lifted a pillow to find the lump squashed underneath. The little girl was carried off at arm's length by my mom to a great washing down in the kitchen bathroom while I held my breath and choked back gags as I cleaned out the room.

We are very grateful to Matthew for sparing us any such excitement throughout his toddlerhood. It was only when he was in kindergarten that he had to go (big one, no less) in the car while we were stuck in an awful jam on the way to school. I happened to have a plastic bag handy. The rest is, er, no need to mention.

Good Habit or Bad Habit?

On the way home from ballet yesterday, Sarah and I got to talking about habits. She had spoken to me rudely in the car, and I warned her that if she didn't check herself, it would become a habit.

"What's a habit?"

"A habit is something that you always do, and it's hard for you to change. Like, sucking your thumb! That's a bad habit, right?"

"Ya..."

"There are also good habits. Like brushing your teeth. So if you keep talking rudely, it'll become a bad habit and you'll always talk rudely."

"Okay..."

-----

At bedtime prayers that night, as the conversation went around to the concept of Heaven, Sarah declared that when we die, we'll go to heaven. Then she asked,

"When will I die, Mommy?"

"I don't know, Sarah. Only God knows."

Matt added, "But it's wrong to shoot ourselves so that we can go to heaven faster, right? Mommy?"

Sarah declared, "That's a bad habit!"

What Money Can Buy

We had gone to Long Beach at East Coast to pick up our Chinese New Year reunion food, and spent some time lazing about on the beach: Matthew playing alone in the warm sand, Sean and I reclining a distance away, enjoying the sound of the waves and the balmy breeze. On our way home, Matt, nearly 7, sat in the middle between us while we drove down the ECP, all sunny and blue and palm fringed.

"How much is it to join Raffles Town Club?", Matt asked.

I paused.

"I'm not sure, Matt. Why? Do you want to join?"

"Just wondering. I really like the bowling and the swimming pool there."

"Yes, it's very nice, isn't it. But I think it's around twelve or fifteen thousand dollars, or maybe even more. But you can always go to Raffles Town Club again when Jia Wei or your other friends invite you next time for their birthday parties."

"But how much is it, really? Is it really fifteen thousand dollars?"

"I don't really know, I'm just guessing, but it's probably about there. I'm not sure. I can check."

The subject dropped and we continued our drive in silence while the sky grew golden.

We had a great reunion dinner that night (of course, Long Beach black pepper crab!!), followed by all the family (aunties, uncles, cousins etc.) plonked in our living room watching American Idol until 11 p.m. At one point during the show we heard Matthew shouting, "Get out!" to his cousin and sister because the two little girls were sitting on his bed in his room refusing to let him sleep. The poor boy had had a long day!

>>Fast forward to the 3rd day of CNY>>

After counting out the kids' angpao takings, we decided that instead of banking everything for them, we'd let them each have a small sum to buy something they'd like with. Especially for Matthew who has started school and grown to be quite independent, what with having to take care of his own lunch before coming home, packing his own school bag, checking for homework etc., and generally being a trustworthy, lovable boy.

I went to him and said, "Would you like to buy anything with your angpao money, Matt?"

"Buy what?," he replied.

"Anything you like. Maybe some toys?"

"Do I have to buy toys?"

"Well, you don't HAVE to buy toys, but if there's anything you want, you can use some of your angpao money to buy it. If not I'll put everything in the bank for you. So, do you want some of the money now or should I bank it all?"

Matt thought for a while.

"Can I have two dollars?"

"Of course! What do you want the two dollars for?"

"To buy my lunch?"

Lazy to post about San Diego.

I should write something about our trip but haven't really felt like it.

Before I forget I'd better put down these words:
- St. Joseph's Cathedral on 3rd Ave and Beech Street (up 5th Ave from Hard Rock)
- Horton Plaza
- Hornblower
- Mary Jane's restaurant at Hard Rock
- Rite Aid drugstore
- Without A Trace
- Project Runway
- cheap cameras
- Aldo, GAP, Wet Seal, Banana Republic, Macy, Ritz
- Bourne Identity
- Never Let Me Go

Photos are available at Sean's facebook profile.

Back again.

I HAVE to just say, it was a very full 4 weeks we had with Consuelo gone home to the Philippines.

Some of the more memorable moments would include Sean being home with the kids, reasoning with a crying Sarah refusing to go to school and Sophie taking the chance to get hold of Sarah's mug of chocolate milk and, yes, sloshing it all over our cream-coloured sofa and low table, dripping into the basket of toys below.

Another would be yesterday (last day) -'s slapfest: Sarah was whining and I promised her I would smack her cheek if she whined again and of course she did and of course I smacked and this went on for 3 or 4 smacks until I stormed off steaming, with Sophie in my arms the whole time. Then Sarah let out another whine, whereupon Sophie promptly struggled out of my arms and toddled back to Sarah and delivered her a smack, her little arm stretched up high in order to reach Sarah's face. I watched with horror at the instant replay of the example I had so definitively set in the last few seconds!

We have all made up lovingly of course. But no thanks for any repeat of such experiences.

And I still think Sean should have taken a roll of red carpet and a dozen leis to the airport to welcome Consuelo back at 1 a.m. last night.

Says Ah Kong...

We were at my parents' place when "Alien vs Predator" started showing on TV. 4-year-old Sarah expressed some fears.

Not wanting to change the channel, my Dad told her, "Oh, this is 'Predator vs Alien'. Not frightening! There are only some aliens, and monsters. Anyway, you can't see anything because the whole show is all very dark! OK?"

A Blessed Christmas

to everyone!

Consuelo has gone home and will only come back to us mid-Jan. We're surviving alright, mostly on Burger King chicken tenders, french fries, and a variety of party foods.

Sophie is "talking" a lot now, and utters some truly intelligible words like jie-jie, kor-kor, Daddee, ma-ma (grandma), por-por (my mom), mee-mee (milk, water, 7-up), I wan(t), and the loudest and clearest of them all, "NO!"

Her "please" is "nair-see". Sarah's used to be "ah-bair". Don't ask me why. They apply it consistently and insistently and you just KNOW that's what they mean.

Sarah will be going to a new kindy. We're still waiting to hear from the school and bus service. No biggie, I'm not fanatical about her starting on the dot on 2 Jan. She'll only be in K1. The important thing is she's registered. They can take their time to let us have the details.

Matthew starts Primary One in just a little over a week! We'll take it in turns to drive him to Barker Road every morning. He has to leave the house by six-thirty. Grandma will take him home by bus and train. We've got all his things, after sitting through a really long orientation in September (that gave me a headache by the end of it), and blowing a Saturday morning on another admin session to pick up books, passes and what-not. I've yet to sew name tags to his shorts. His uniform is so oversized and obviously unweathered on him - haha!

I'm very thankful for everything that's happened this year. The family has grown closer (and upper), we're more empowered as parents, Sean's finally got the subwoofer he's been waiting almost 10 years for, and I have a sea-view room at work. I couldn't ask for more.

New face, same ring to it

Got myself a 'smart phone' without realising it. My contract had come to the point where I could get an upgrade, so I thought, why not? Actually all I was looking for was a Nokia I could use in the US (going for a conference there in Jan). Found two models at the Handphone Shop that looked nice: the 6300 and 6120 Classic. What's the difference between the two, I asked.

"Oh, the 6120 is quadband, while the 6300 is triband," answered the salesman.

"And triband doesn't cover which areas?"

"Japan, Korea and Mexico." Right, so no practical difference for me so far.

"And what else?"

"The 6120 is a smartphone. Which means better web browsing, advanced sms and customizable interface. Oh, and it comes with a free 256MB micro SDcard vs 128MB for the 6300."

"Um, so you're telling me the 6120 is more advanced all-round, AND I don't pay a cent for it, while the 6300 costs $48?"

"Yes, but the 6300 is slimmer."

"Okaaayyy... I'll take the 6120."

I later found out that the 6120 - the 'Classic' designation differentiates itself from an older model of the same name - has an excellent 2MP camera, plus a secondary one for self portraits and video calls. I can also upload my songs onto the memory card for use when I don't have my iPod around. It even displays MS Office and Acrobat documents.

But it's also quite complicated. Smses now look like emails, and you choose your recipient before drafting the message. Even checking for the time of a received sms requires more steps than previously. Oh, and those buttons sure are small!

All in all though, I can't complain. This thing does all that I need it to (and lots more that I don't), while interfaces can always be relearnt., Plus hey, it's free!

Now my mum's up for an upgrade and is thinking of getting the 6120 as well. Why? So she can come to me when it has a problem, of course...

House of Flying Straw

"OK kids, how about we use these three cows since we don't have three pigs?" I said.

"OK!!"

"And the lion can be the wolf," I added.


Sean started with, "The three little cows were great friends. THIS little cow built his house with straw...", wriggling the white cow finger puppet.

Sarah went, "Yay, house of straw, he can DRINK! Sssssluuuurrrrp!"

Proper English, please.

"Matthew, when you talk to Sarah, speak proper English OK? The way you talk to Mommy and Daddy?"

"OK," he replied.

"And don't talk down to her OK?"

"OK."

Sarah added, "Talk high!"

"New" Home II

The kids rooms were rearranged at the same time that we reorganized our living room. We took the opportunity to replace the broken bureaus in the girls' room. The drawer bottoms had all given way under the weight of their tons of clothes. To make way for the new chests of drawers to be delivered, Sean moved the old bureaus out into the corridor.

As usual the kids were all over the place, and it was hairy work getting the two dressers out while watching that the drawers didn't suddenly tip out and knock over the small ones.

As Sean was straightening up and putting the last drawer back in place where the bureaus finally sat by our neighbour's front door (luckily neighbour is grandma), Sarah, who had been following everything with great interest, suddenly asked, "Daddy, now I have to go outside to get my clothes?"

"New" Home

I love our "new" place!

Funny how it's taken us so long to figure out that TV and sound system don't HAVE TO HAVE TO always be positioned en bloc. Breaking this mindset literally opened up our living room so that we now have full access to our floor-length windows.

The whole place is dramatically brightened, no more TV-in-your-face first impact. What we get here is a light, airy, cosy expanse overlooking the rooftop garden. I really look forward to weekend mornings so I can read my paper on the smooth parquet floor, with my cup of coffee and butter-and-sugar toast.

Scary ice-cream flavours

We were at Swensen’s choosing ice cream flavours from the dessert menu when Sarah cried, “I want the purple one!”

“Ugh, that’s yam ice-cream, it’s disgusting,” I shuddered.

Matthew asked, “Why is it disgusting? What is yam?”

Sean gave me a look.

“OK it’s not really disgusting. I just don’t like it. Yam is a vegetable, like a potato. But it’s purple inside. And it’s sweet.”

Matthew gave me a disgusted look. Haha!

Eventually we got our order and were happily helping ourselves when Matthew suddenly said, “Imagine broccoli ice-cream! Haha! That’s disgusting!”

“Or prawn ice-cream!” I said.

“Yucks! How about carrot ice-cream?!” Matthew laughed.

“Chicken ice-cream!” I added.

Sarah piped up, “Or baby ice-cream!”

Allergic!

"Mommy, why does Kimi make us sick?" Matthew asked.

"Kimi has germs!" Sarah swiftly answered.

I replied, "Everyone has germs. You all are allergic to his saliva particles. He has saliva right, and when it dries and floats into the air and settles on your nose or eyes, it makes them red and watery."

"Oh, we are allergic to the cat?"

"Yes, but when you get used to it your body will stop reacting like that."

"Ya, our white blood cells will know what to do."

"Er, it's not really the white blood cells, but your body won't get triggered by the saliva particles anymore. Anyway different people are allergic to different things. Some people are allergic to some types of food, some people are allergic to flowers..."

Sean added, "Ya, I'm allergic to smoke, you know, cigarette smoke."

I put in, "And I'm allergic to beer."

Sarah declared, "I'm allergic to fire!"

Matt Reads

As we were waiting for the traffic lights to change, Matthew told us, "That way goes to the Punggol doctor."

"What Punggol doctor, Matt?"

"There, the sign says Punggol doctor is that way."

Puzzled, I looked around for what sign he could be talking about. And then I saw what he meant.

Right by the traffic light was a green street sign with an arrow pointing to the left and written on it in big white letters were the words:

Punggol Dr

Don't follow strangers!

As we were talking in the car on the way to school, Matt said, "If strangers say 'follow me and I'll give you a sweet', you mustn't do that! Don't listen to them."

"Whey shouldn't you follow strangers, Matthew?" I tested.

"Because they might put you on a chair and tie you up."

The Patent Truth

I was driving the kids to school one morning when Sarah said, “When I grow up, I want to be a dentist."

"That's very good, Sarah."

"What do you want to be when you grow up, Kor Kor?”, she asked.

“I want to be a race driver.”

“Race CAR driver, Matthew,” I corrected.

“Oh ya, I want to be a race car driver.”

Sarah said, “What do you want to be when you grow up, Mummy?”

“I’m already grown up, Sarah!”

“No, what do you want to do, I mean.”

“Er... I’m a patent agent.”

“What’s a patent agent?”

“A patent agent is someone who helps you to get a patent.”

“What’s a patent?” Matthew asked.

“A patent... OK, if you invent something and you don’t want people to copy it, like say Toyota invents a new engine for cars (I pointed at the cars around us) and they don’t want other car makers to copy them, they can file a patent. And they go to a patent agent who helps them to do that.”

“But how does the patent stop people from copying?” Matthew pressed.

Good question.

“Yes, the patent itself can’t really stop people from copying, but if you have a patent, you can take it to a judge who will decide whether the person is really copying, and if he’s really copying, the judge can make him stop or make him pay a lot of money.”

“Oh!” Matthew replied.

Then Sarah piped up, “Kor Kor always copies me!”