Of creations and more

Most boys are into moving machines - cars, trucks, trains, planes etc.

However, I noticed that Ryan is more into making things e.g. Lego sets, engineering sets etc. He never had a thing for cars and trucks and so, each time I buy him these, it ends up being on the shelf and not noticed again.

Lego sets and his engineering sets are a little different though. Ryan makes things out and tells us proudly what it is. Most of the time, it does resemble something of the real thing.

This image he made is apparently his aeroplane car-car.

By adding in 2 blocks at each end, you will get a truck.

Next, you will see that Ryan has made 2 cranes - one a normal crane and the other a BIG crane.

Then he proceeded to show us how he sees KLCC - complete with 2 buildings and a car.

The next image tops it all (sorry, I don't know how to rotate it), but if you look closely, you will see that Ryan has gotten an eye at the top, and 2 protruding places at the bottom, which is supposedly the building's pen*s and the other is the leg. He pointed to the building's pen*s and said that there is where th building will wee wee on mummy's floor.

We all burst out laughing .... obviously Ryan took that cue to say that he has done a good job - which he has.

Last brestfeeding session - 3

I am not sure if it is the holiday season or that the weather has been crazy, but Ryan has developed a craving for breast milk in the last 2 days.

He has been asking for mummy milk milk yesterday and just now when he is in bed.

Funny, just when I thought he was stopping....

How kids react to mothers and others

I am not sure if this holds true to all kids but I think that kids tend to be more sensitive to their parents (mum especially) than other people.

Case in point.

Ryan has always got a soft spot for me .... I sometimes pretend that I am crying because he does not want to kiss/ hug me. And he will always give in and give me kisses/ hugs. Sometimes I will also pretend that I am sad and Ryan will always come around and try to hug me till I smile. There are also times when I pretend I am in pain (usually when I want to prove a point especially with knives/ scissors etc.) or I cut myself etc. and will cry to show him that it is painful. Every single time I do this, Ryan will end up crying louder and more pitiful that I will. And this is dreadful because it hurts Ryan to see me in pain and so this stunt is reserved for special cases.

Just now when putting him to bed, I'd asked for my kiss and he playfully refused. And I proceeded to be sad. Ryan immediately said "Mummy don't be sad, don't be sad. I kiss you. I give you big big kiss." Naturally I gave in for that wonderful kiss.

Last week when Ryan was at my mum's, my mum decided to play with Ryan and pretended to be sad and cry. Ryan was immediately in anger and this is what he said.
Ryan: You see your mouth. How many times must I tell you, you never listen to me. I take a ruler and smack you ah. You see my eyes, I so angry ah. (Ok, so I talk like this to him, but to have him repeat them logically, wow!)

My mum got a shock. She half expected to be sympathetic and hug her but instead got scolded!

Therefore I am convinced that there is a difference when a child reacts to the mother and when he/ she reacts to strangers, even if it is the identical situation. I am happy that Ryan places my happiness on such high levels now, hope he will continue to be like this as he gets older, especially when he reaches his teens.

Bless that child.

Please don't be angry

Whenver Ryan knows he has upset me, he will ask "Mummy not angry ah?". This is a cue to me that I have to quickly make my anger subside so that I can say "No, mummy not angry". Why? Well because if I insist that I am angry, Ryan will be extremely upset and he will cry till I say I am no longer angry with him.

It is heart breaking sometimes knowing that my emotions matter so much to him that sometimes I cannot bring myself to be angry even when he is at his naughtiest.

Today, this conversation took a twist to show how much Ryan has grown.

Ryan: Mummy not angry ah?
Me: Mummy angry ah .... I told you not to run around and to hold my hand. You never listen, so mummy is angry.
Ryan: No, no, mummy don't angry please, please. Please mummy don't angry please. You must talk nicely ma, don't scream. Please mummy don't angry.
Me: Okla, mummy not angry anymore.

My heart melted. I am convinced he knows what getting angry means and what needs to be done/ said to defuse me. The thing is that because he knows this, it has made it more difficult to be angry at him. Little devil.

Should I? Should I not? Should I?

That was the question that was going through my head 2 nights ago.

It was whether to send Ryan to school or not. Well, actually it is not really a school, but a play school where kids as young as 2 years go to learn and play.

I have been to the selected school twice before just to see if Ryan likes it there and to see how he would react to the whole concept. I am thankful that Ryan seems to like it and has thus prompted me to enrol him.

However, I always compare what I had and what he has. I only went to kindy for 1 year and then went straight to Standard 1 and I survived well and knew all my ABC and 123 before I went to Standard 1. Why then do I need to send him at 2 years and 10 months?

I think the most compelling reason is that I want to minimise his time with nanny. Not that nanny is not good, it's just that she does not exactly uphold the values I like and it is difficult to insist on it when it is not natural for her. E.g. I am not agreeable to have kids watching TV whole day ... she had the TV on quite a bit. I do not like kids (nor adults) to be shouted .... nanny does that. I also do not like to have Ryan screaming ... am hoping that school will help him develop emotionally so that he is less stubborn and more accomodating.

After mush deliberation, I finally sent him to the school yesterday and registered him. Total fees including 4 months fees and 2 months deposit plus 3 pairs of uniform came to be about RM3,000!!!! I don't remember my parents spending this on me when I was in kindy, more like when I was in university.

Anyway, I am consoling myself by hoping that school will positively contribute to Ryan's development and hope it will also enforce his interest in learning and reading. I think these 2 qualities are the most important basics to our life long pursue of academic achievements.

Ryan did not let me down either ... he proudly proclaimed that he will go to school next year to make friends.

Here is to January 3rd 2008 - when my baby goes to school!!!

Last brestfeeding session - 2

Just when I thought my baby does not need me anymore, he surprised me yesterday when he wanted to nurse to sleep.

He was a little restless, just as he always is and kept moving around while nursing. Ouch! But then after a while he settled down and continued to nurse till he slept.

It's a great feeling for me, to have him still nursing. Mothers who breast feed will be able to relate well, othrwise people will think I am crazy.

Just now when I put him to bed, I'd asked if he wanted to nurse. He shyly pushed me away and insisted on the bottle.

Sigh ... will yesterday be my last session?

Page vs sheet

What is the difference between a sheet and a page?
Well, this seems basic enough for my son to know, but apparently it is not so.

During my morning paper last Saturday, the head of invigilator was reading out the rules and regulations of the exam to us and then proceeded to break the seal to the exam papers.
After we had obtained our papers, she said to count the number of pages and to make sure we have 16 pages and 60 questions.

We all counted and counted and counted - there were 32 pages. Really, almost 200 people cannot be wrong right?? But she still insist that there were 16 pages. So, (thinking that we ALL made a mistake) we counted again .... still 32 pages ler.

So there were gasps and people saying "WTF???" and then she realised it - It's actually 16 sheets of paper .... not pages ..... aiyo, like this also can be invigilator, so memalukan la. And to top it all, her English was poorly spoken, wrong grammar, wrong pronunciation, wrong tenses, just wrong. Horrible!

15 Dec 2007

That's the date where my last paper of CFP was held.
If I am lucky, I will get a pass in February.
Else, I would be doing it again in June!!!

How was the paper?
Well, to be fair, it was alright.
But I did not have time to complete all the questions in both the papers, so I guess I could have done better.
The plus side is that most of my friends also could not finish.
So, I am hoping they will lower the bar : )

Anyway, the end was a good thing.
I guess I will stop studying for a while and go back to being a normal mum instead of a super busy mum!

How did I celebrate? I went book shopping and later to a movie with hubby.
The next day, I spent 2 hours keeping my notes away - I had strewn all the notes all over the floor, bed, sofa, everywhere!

Pray hard now .... Please God, let me get through this ....

6116

That is my number plate.

And yesterday, it came out as First Prize in one of those 4-ekor thingy.

Did I win anything? NO!
But dad just called and said that he won RM5k from it.
Good for dad and this Sunday we will be celebrating it....on dad of course!

... and I thought when the guards stopped me just now informing me of this, they were joking.
Wonder if any of them bought my number.

WARNING: Gambling and betting is not encouraged - please!

Last brestfeeding session

For the past 2 months, I always wonder when will Ryan's last breastfeeding session be.

Well, his last session was on 2nd December 2007 - that also I coerced him into it. He nursed for about 5 mins and then he got up and shook his head.

Sigh ... wonder if he will take another session again.

Otherwise, this "cow" is officially closed for business after been in service for 2 years, 8 months and 28 days.

Someone should give me a long service award!!

Prices going up!!

Bloody prices of milk powder is going up again next month.

I started buying mega amounts of milk powder since early this year when Ryan decided he wanted bottled milk milk.

The price then was about RM21.xx for 700g of Enfa Grow. Yesterday, I was at the Chinese Medical Hall (supposedly the cheapest place to find milk powder) and guess what?! the price is now RM30.xx! Almost 43% INCREASE in prices in the span of 1 year!!!

Apparently, the prices are due to increase again next month. The reason was because there is a shortage of milk powder globally. I am not sure how that is since I don't think that the birth rate has gone up substantially. Or maybe people are just not rearing these cows anymore??

How does the average family cope with this type of increase?? And of course salary does not increase as much to keep up. Bloody government claim that inflation is manageable and below 2%?? I think they cannot count properly or that their basket of goods is totally outdated!!!

Either way, I am bloody pissed!!

Parents

When we were in primary school, our teachers used to ask us to compose about our family, or my mother, or my father, or my grand parents etc.

I believe we all wrote about how their day is (from our eyes) and how they helped us and how they cared for us. However, I do not think that we really value them, nor do we really know how much they cared for us, nor do I believe that we really understood their plight, situation, conditions etc. Things which we ourselves go through now, be it in our personal or family life.

For e.g. did we really understand their situation where giving better food for us kids meant that they could not get the quality of food that they desire? Did we understand that giving us better clothes meant that they could not buy that evening gown or the khakis they wanted? Could we understand that buying us toys meant that they could not go on that fancy meal or the holiday they so long for? Could we really understand that giving us all the love meant draining them emotionally, well at least to some extent since we all know that parents are just oozing with love all the time? Granted, I am actually talking about parents who are in the middle and lover classes. I think the higher end parents would have it easier ...

I must admit that before I became a mother, I always took all these things for granted. I used to think that being a parent was easy, being the child (in my narrow opinion) was the difficult part. I mean, we had to deal with peer pressure, school, teachers, EXAMS, latest trend in town, latest TV drama series, latest crush, boyfriend, girlfriend, puppy love, EXAMS, parties, PARENTS!!!

Which kid have you met that said "I truly understand my parents and believe that they have the toughest job of all" Who? Who has actually said that being a child? Even now, I have some friends who still think that their parents are old fashioned, bothersome, naggy, horrid, unfair etc. It breaks my heart to hear them say these things, but then I thought, they have to go through this stage in order to better appreciate their parents when they themselves become parents.

Growing up as the elder in the family, my parents always had expectations on me "You are the older one, give in" "You are the older one, set a good example" "You must study hard" "You must go to the university and get a good job" etc. etc. the list goes on. As a child I used to think that I did not asked to be the first one and so I should not be subjected to these expectations and so thought of it as being unfair. However, having gone through it and now having Ryan, I begin to see my parents point of view and their many actions which I now seem to think is reasonable. I mean, I am the older one, if I do not set a good example, how will they teach the younger one right? And if I do not give in, how is the younger one going to learn manners and thus the setting of the good example. And studying hard and getting a sound education seems to make sense now. Althought I am sure Robert Kiyosaki will not agree to the part about going to university and getting a degree! Somehow all these things seem to make sense when I became a mother - am I stupid and inconsiderate all these while? Or am I on the path to maturity - which make me old! Gasp!!

Nett nett, I guess all I am trying to say is that we should take a moment everyday and think about what our parents have given to us and how their love and care have shaped us. Of course they will not be perfect, but at least they have tried their best to provide us with a better life.

I hope that someday Ryan will read this and think of me and his dad as being the best parents there ever were ....

Bumps and more

Just now I fetched Ryan from nanny and he was in an unusually happy mood.
He began to jump and skip and some where along the line, our legs met and he tripped and fell - face down, free fall, really.

Took him about half a milli second before he started to scream and yell.

Then the fright set in for me - he had a bad nose bleed and a big bump on his forehead. Really a lot of blood and really big bump.

He cried for about 1 minute, then he brushed his blood away and told me to "Go away" because he wanted to play.

I tell you, this guy is really scary. He does not seem to know pain, he only feels it for a while and then BAM! back to the usual.

Wonder if he will take all his future challenges this way ...

Of kisses and more kisses

I was watching "Failure to launch" last Sunday with Ryan by my side.
I know, I know, as a good mother, I should not do that.
But like any mother, I am subject to some misjudgements.

Anyway, there was a scene where Sarah Jessica Parker was kissing this Matthew McCougnehey (don't really know how to spell his name!) and Ryan saw that.

He then turned to me and pinned me down by my shoulder and said "I want kiss mummy on the mouth - like che che like that". Think I spent a good 2 minutes dodging him.

Talk about the things kids learn - they are really fast!

I want to go to school!

Ryan has been saying the above for a while now.
Always with the same reasons - to make friends, sing song, sing A-B-C and play Play Dough.

Two days ago, he came up with a new reason - Ryan want to go to school! Ryan got no friends!!

I was a little stunned and so could not reply with a witty answer.
I ended up saying - Why Ryan need friends? This only made him more irritated and he repeated the above till I said "ok, ok, next year Ryan go to school ok?"

"OK"

Phew!