No school uniform for her yet :(

Yesterday Teacher Nel has informed my mom that the tailor who is responsible to sew the school's logo embroidery on the uniform, refused to do it only for Smellybutt. You know lah, Teacher Nel has to make a special order for her, a fitting uniform for Smellybutt due to her outstanding petite body figure :P That tailor said that she will only do it with a minimum order of 20 pieces uniform.

Sigh....I'm so sad, my lil gal can't wear school uniform just like her other class/school mates on the 4th Jan 2010 :( So now her school uniform will only be ready together with the school's logo embroidery after the school reopens....don't know have to wait until when. I wonder whether she will ask me or Popo why she doesn't have a school uniform just like the others, when she sees all students in the same attire next week. Cham....

Dream talking quite often lately

I didn't get a proper sleep at night for 3 days berturut-turut, all because of Smellybutt dreams and talks a lot with her eyes closed. She will either mumble something or give us a sharp scream all of the sudden. Not only that, her sleeping pattern is just like a clock. At 1 moment I can see her sleeping beside me. But few minutes later, her body has turned to the position of 12 o'clock, then 3 o'clock, then 6 o'clock. Later on, she will moved back to 12 o'clock. I can feel each of her movement, round the clock!! As a result of this, I have a natural Gothic look for the past few days - big eye bags, dark eye circles. Although I've been displaying my eye bags and dark eye circles for ages, this time around, they appear to be more outstanding and dramatic!

But today, in the wee hour, Smellybutt made me laughed so much. She dream talking again and this is what she has first blurted out " xxxx moi kao chor!!". She said it quite loud too. And the best part came, 5 seconds later....she said "eng-gar-bor-ling-gehhh!!!" LOL!!! That was really funny lah. Before this, she used to say "halo enggaborlinggeh" to us whenever we are sleeping. That's how she wakes us up!

Xmas gift exchange

Teacher Nel has informed us earlier that the school will organize a mini Christmas party for the students on 24th December, which is today. So each student will need to bring along a gift for exchange purpose. Waaa....so young already can experience gift exchange! Your mama so old already, pun belum pernah do this leh. But it will happen tomorrow, on Elisha's wedding!

Barney wrapping paper. Psst...this is a recycle wrapping paper :P Why?? For small kid only ma....and it is still in good condition too. Save the earth!!

The gift - 2 coloring and sticker book with a box of 12pcs Faber-Castell wax crayons. This is the best unisex gift which I could think of, for a 2-3yr old student.

So many stickers inside the book!

I do hope that whoever gets this gift will be happy with it lah. Can't wait to go home and see what my lil girl gets today.

I should keep quiet next time

We have planned to bring Smellybutt back to Ipoh on 26th December, because since last week she has been telling us that "we all go Ipoh ar..." . I told her that we shall go back together with baba this Saturday. Next thing I knew was....she kena biten by the hungry and poisonous mosquito. Check out the mini peta dunia on her leg. Big rashes and very the itchyban ooo!! Poor girl. At first I thought those were her allergic reaction....to don't know what :P I had no idea why did the mosquito only attacked her alone. Popo has so much of juicy flesh, and yet she was escaped from the mosquito bite. But for my case, I have nothing but bones covered by a layer of thin skin. Definately NOT a good choice :) Mosquito also got good taste hor.

Actually, this is not the first encounter. We slowly realized that each time we tell her that we are going to this and that place, she will surely either fall sick or get lots of mosquito bites. Pretty sueh, isn't it? But believe it or not, it WILL happen!! The 2 major "sueh" incidents which took place last time:

• @ 14 month old - our first overseas trip to Guangzhao with her, she had fever for 4days in a row. Fever strikes just 5 days before the traveling day.
  
  
• @ 25 month old - her first trip to Sarawak for Aunty Dory's wedding banquet. She had German measles a week before the traveling day.

Other than the above would be mild fever or the ever famous mosquito bites attack just before we travel to Ipoh. From now onwards, I will not tell her in advance about our travel plans. NEVER. Shall wait and see if the silly sueh "curse" will go away or not.

My most messy Winter Solstice celebration

Each year, December 22 is always a fixed date for Chinese to celebrate the Winter Solstice Day, a.k.a. "Kor Tung Jit". This year, I have my lil iron chef to help me out. The moment I told her that we are going to "chai min fan", means to "play" with the dough, her eyes grew so big and nodded non stop! With her presence, I knew that I've got to do some clean up later. But I was so wrong. It was a BIG clean up for me, because she mashed the dough into tiny little pieces and happily sprinkled them on the floor. I have no time to snap the disastrous condition as I need to rush and prepare for the first batch of tong yuen for my neighbour cum colleague, an Indian family who just stay few houses away only. He told me that before he moved to this taman, his neighbour used to share the tong yuen with his family. Ok, since the left and right of his house is also Indian family, I've decided to deliver my home made tong yuen for him.

Little iron chef was so happy and followed my instruction to pose for my camera with the small bag of colorful dough. My mom bought this ready made rice flour dough from the morning market.

We all thought that we have a big piece of gula melaka or brown candy (or "phin thong", just get to learn this term from Chinnee!) in the fridge...after searching high and low, bayang pun tak nampak! Knowing that the Chinese medicine hall already closed by noon, my only choice was to head on to the nearest Indian kedai runcit and get a piece of gula melaka. As for the ginger, we don't have any in the fridge either!! OMG, this year is the most unprepared year for the making of tong yuen. My mom was so selamba when I told her that I can't find the ginger. She said "go outside and 'harvest' the ginger from the flower pot lah...organic ginger tau!". Waseh....I didn't realized the existence of the ginger plant at home!

So my sister went to dig it out gently. The moment it was uprooted from the soil, we immediately smelled the ginger! Initially, I thought that it might be a very small and lousy ginger plant. But hey! This home grown organic ginger was superb lah!

See....that is my mom's very first organic ginger :) Smells good. Taste good.

By the time I was done snapping the above pictures, the camera's battery died. Grrrrrr....so not able to share the picture of my Ugly Betty Tong Yuen over here :P

Mild stomach flu attack

Last Thursday, HubB came back from Cameron Highland and bought 2 boxes of strawberry. Smellybutt loves it and she ate quite a lot too. On Thursday night, she poo twice, and again on the next morning. She didn't complaint for stomach pain and she was still very active. We all thought that she might have taken too much of strawberry thus she has to pass motion so many times. On Friday , she poo for the 2nd time in the evening. The texture of her 'output' was very lembik type, and I still can see the 'sausage shape' (sorry for being so graphic :P). Still we didn't suspect anything as she still can eat and drink as usual.

Then on Saturday 1am, she had fever measuring 38 degree. Her fever subsided by 10am. Phew....We really had no idea why did she get fever all of the sudden and the poo poo action before that. Could it be due to the strawberries? Hmmm....

On Sunday morning, she woke up at 7am and first thing she told me was she wanted to poo. She poo quite a lot and released lots of wind too. Luckily it wasn't a watery poo , and she didn't have any stomach pain. Later in the morning, I took her to the Pediatric Clinic. Doc Tan said she had some virus infection on her intestine. It was stomach flu, also known as viral gastroenteritis.

Doc Tan has advised that I shouldn't give her any cow's milk if she continues to poo a lot, meaning if it turns watery. Also she can't take any fiber food, eg fruits and vegetable. He gave me a few sachets of Isomil Plus sample pack. She can only takes soy base formula if symptom persists. Smellybutt was prescribed with this.



According to the nurse, this powder wasn't a child-friendly taste ubat. Texture is thick after mix with water and taste like 'pasir'. Aiyah, hard to describe lah. When I tried on it, indeed it was suckolingam lah. The nurse advised me to mix it with the soy milk or porridge. First attempt with the soy milk was a failure, as she doesn't like the flavor of soy milk, moreover with the mixture of the 'pasir' feel liquid too. This 'pasir liquid' is to clean her intestine. 1 sachet twice a day. Pengsan :O

See, the white powder never dissolved in the water immediately. The moment I stirred it, it will look like a small patch of sticky cement mixture :P The right hand picture shows the pasir liquid mixture with 1/2 capsule of Lingzhi powder

All I can do was to mix it with some Lingzhi, at least to cover the pasir taste. FYI, this premium Lingzhi has high content of triterpenoids, which makes it taste super bitter. It is 100x bitter than the bitter gourd. Seriously bitter!! While sipping her favorite Lingzhi this round, she paused a while and asked me "meh lei keh?", meaning what was that?! I told her it was your favorite Lingzhi lah, faster finish it! which she did :P



Doc Tan also prescribed her a small packet of pro biotic capsules. This is to promote good and healthy bacteria growth in her intestine, just like how Vitagen/Yakult functions.




Her appetite was pretty good yesterday. She ate rice with stir fried chic cubes for lunch, and mee hoon with chic cubes for dinner. Glad that she still can take solid food like usual despite to this stomach flu attack. She poo once in the afternoon, it was a normal poo with shape :)




Due to this, she was on medical leave yesterday, declared by mommy. So no school for her on Monday :) Better to monitor her another day, and make sure that she is fully recovered before we send her back to the pre-school. I was a bit worried that she might pass the virus to other kids too, just in case lah.

Really thank God that it was just a mild stomach flu attack.

My new piggy template

It's fresh from the oven! This piggy represents Smellybutt too, who was born in the year of pig!

The main purpose for changing my blog's template is all because of the poor picture quality which I've been experiencing. Well, with this new template, it doesn't bring much difference either, except that the picture quality is a little bit better than before, if I were to upload it straight from my camera, without any editing via PhotoScape.

Jingle wedding bell

This December 2009 is a very "ong" month for couples to tie their knot. My 2 close friend will be getting married too, Elisha on 25th Dec 09 and....Teacher Nel on 18th Dec 09, that is tomorrow!!

I am super excited for them, especially the day when the groom picks up the bride from the bride's house in the morning. For Chinese, there is always a "game" session before the groom gets to see the bride. That is the best part! It's fun and nice to "torture" the groom first. Muahahahaha!!

Tonight my 2 other close friends who just came back from Bangkok and Singapore will meet up Teacher Nel and 3 of us shall ZzzZzz at Teacher Nel's house! We want to have a good chat together as well as to plan for the game. We'll see what is the torturing level that the bride allows. Hehehe. We want it to be a once-in-a-life-time torture, so it has to be a good one!

I'm still thinking whether to tag along Smellybutt for tomorrow night's dinner. I've asked her before whether she wants to have a "yum seng" session with Teacher Nel or not? She said yes. Want to know what is holding back my decision? If I bring her along, I may not be able to stay back after the dinner for a bizarre photo session with the newly wed and my other close friends. I may not be able to talk to my other friends too much, coz each time I talk to other people, Smellybutt will definitely say "mama, faster talk to Qing Qing!!". If I ignore her twice, she'll yell at me instead (to facilitate her deaf mama). She will cry when a stranger talks to her, especially a male stranger. Tomorrow night, there will be at least 1 male sitting on the same table with me, that is my ex-school mate's husband. And I'm so worried that half way through the dinner, she might start looking for Dun Dun or Popo. Bring or no bring? Haiih... See how first lah.

She needs a tailor made uniform - size XS

I've already confirmed to Teacher Nel that I'll be sending Smellybutt to her pre-school next year. So the other day, Teacher Nel took out a sample of the pre-school uniform for Smellybutt to try out. It was size M, no more size S. Ok lah, just try with size M first and see how it goes. While putting on the uniform, Teacher Nel told my mom that it's Ok if it is slightly bigger, can wear longer ma.

Sekali dah pakai uniform tu....waaa....the size M made her look like wearing a jubah!! It is suppose to be a knee length dress. But it turned out to be a maxi dress for Smellybutt. The shoulder part has dropped to her arm level too! Muahahahaaha!! Can wear a few more years with it! See ar, size M already reached her feet. So we don't see any difference with size S then. Teacher Nel called the tailor to discuss about it. In the end, no choice but to tailor made the uniform KHAS for Smellybutt. Very cheap ooo...just pay extra RM2 and Smellybutt will get a nice fitting uniform :) As for the sports wear, the short pants was Ok but the t-shirt's sleeve has to be folded up lah. Else it'll be a 3 quater sleeve t-shirt for her.

According to Teacher Nel, this is the first time her student needs a tailor made uniform. So now you can imagine how small size my lil girl is. In fact, my mom told me that whenever they were all seated on the mat to play toys, they all looked the same size. But the moment they stood up for the assembly, there were times where my mom couldn't see Smellybutt at all!! One more thing is, Smellybutt needs to sit on 3 chairs stacked up together in order for her to be able to write and do other activity on the table comfortably. Hebat isn't it??!!

Yesterday's lesson : About Family

I was chatting with Teacher Nel yesterday afternoon thru MSN, while she was having a lunch break. She told me that yesterday morning, she talked about family subject to the students. To cut it short, she told them that they need to greet their parents and grandparents. Example, good morning to grandfather and grandmother. Guess what? Teacher Nel saw Smellybutt wiping away her tears after she mentioned about grandparents. Aiyooo...poor girl. She must be thinking of Popo and Dun Dun again.

I have to be very careful when talking to her about family and animals, whichever refers to only single counting and not in pair. If she only saw a baby or a dog, without any companion, she will start to cry and keep asking me where is his/her mama even though I've explained to her where about is his/her mama. Example of the sobbing dramas from her :

• At night before put her to bed, I will wash her hands and legs at the toilet sink first. While washing her hands, she spotted a tiny little lizard at the wall. She would tell me "oooo mama...see, baby lizard wor". Then the lizard will go further up to the wall. Smellybutt asked me "where did baby lizard go?". I said baby lizard has to go home now to look for her mama. It's late already, need to go to bed". And this is when she started to cry while asking me non stop "baby lizard go home find mama. Mama! Baby lizard leh??". This Q&A session would go round and round for at least 6x.
  

• Same goes to the the puppy which we saw outside the restaurant last Saturday. That little puppy was sitting outside the restaurant. She asked me "mama, what is puppy doing?". Sigh, I was thinking what to answer her, in order to avoid the same drama again. Then I said "puppy is just playing there". She then continued asking "where is her mama?". Geezz...looks like whatever I say, she will still ask me that soalan cepu mas. I told her that her mama is preparing food for puppy, and will look for puppy after this :P She nodded. BUT after that she asked me repeatedly the same question, with her eyes flooded with tears!! "Where is her mama??"!!!
  

• Couple of weeks ago, we were in Ipoh watching a cartoon DVD, "Up". Have you watched it? I like it very much, but unfortunately I couldn't finish watching it because......Smellybutt cried for that movie!! She kept asking me, "Dun Dun leh? Where is that Dun Dun going?". Then...."OUR Dun Dun leh?"!!! OMG, I mau pengsan liao. Asked me about her real Dun Dun and the cartoon Dun Dun. That movie talks about an old man, whose wife has passed away. So the old man is staying alone in the house. The old mad looked sad in that movie. That's all I can tell, for staying less than 15mins in front of the TV.
  

Finding Nemo and Up, or even Chicken Little, all out! I guess we can only sit together and watch movie with happy scenes from the beginning until the end. Which movie ar?

She's on chopstick!

Yesterday was a surprising day for us. Popo, Smellybutt and myself, went to Mid Valley to check out their Christmas decoration. It all started at Teppanyaki Restaurant...

She saw Popo using the chopstick. She pointed at it and I just gave it to her. At first I thought that she was just playing with it, so I didn't bother much and continue eating. After a while, she was still very quiet, then I turned to her and saw her using it! My lil 26th month old daughter knows how to use a pair of chopstick. Amazing!!

Close up on her gripping technique...she could hold it so well, until she can....

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FEED HERSELF by using a pair of chopstick!! Check out her gripping again.

Then at night, we went out for dinner with HubBy's cousin and family. Smellybutt cried the moment si cousin say Hi to her :P Bei ka liao....she then refused to sit on the high chair. I have to put her on my tummy and sit facing me. So my sister helped me to feed her a bit (using chopstick again). Half way through the feeding, she wanted to use the chopstick. So by then we managed to con her back to the high chair. See, she had another attempt on the chopstick and it went so well too.

Practising on an empty bowl first....



BEST SHOT ever!!! You know, I can't hold the chopstick like she does. And sorry for the blurry photos, coz I need to catch her in action :)

P/s : Last week, Teacher Nel told me that she refused to learn to hold a jumbo pencil. But now she can hold the chopstick leh. Hmmm....

Another thing is, the above pictures might show that she was holding her chopstick in crossing style. But it wasn't actually. When she has managed to "kepit" the food, the real position of the chopstick was correct, not in crossing style. Hehe.

Pasar Pagi & Pasar Malam

Here's what this lil makcik loves to do early in the morning, and also at night. Lil makcik operates indoor morning market as well as night market too.

Always....ALWAYS want to be handful, and then she would say "hou chung ar" (very heavy ar). That stainless steel container is her favorite. One day, she saw Popo busy looking for something from the kitchen cabinet. She went there and sibuk for a while. So the big stainless steel container has caught her attention. Apa lagi...she quickly grabbed it and ran away. Oh, actually she was courteous enough to ask first, "Popo, can take?". But before Popo gets to answer her soalan cepu mas, she already fled off with it. Vrrroooooooommm....

Then she tapau-ded all her stuff and get them hung on the tricycle. Soooo many bags of "goods" for sale.

All ready to start her morning market business IN the house :)

At night, this would be her GATED gerai menjual alat alat (or rather sampah sampah) terpakai. Don't know why she just love to be in that swimming pool lah. Dun Dun must sit inside with her, else sure heboh. This is also the best time for me to feed her milk while she busy in the pool. At least she would not move her butt an inch for 10mins.

Check out the items which she loves to tapao.

Dun Dun is always her loyal customer. See the exchange of (invisible) money between them? When asked her which bag is for Dun Dun? She would point and say "this 1 for Dun Dun keh...that 1 for Dun Dun keh". Apparently, all the bags are for Dun Dun :)

Normally, Dun Dun will clean up the mess at the end of the day. She wants Dun Dun to be her customer, and also the DBKL officer :)

So eager to go there?

Yesterday night she slept at 10.30pm without much protest. Suddenly she woke up at 1.30am and she was telling me "mama, later we wake up then we go kindergarten ar". What?? Did I get you wrongly?? Offering yourself to be sent to the kindergarten?? She has said that twice some more. Waaaaa...really unbelievable lah. I wasn't dreaming, and she was wide awake when she made that statement.

Geeezz....I really hope that she is THAT EAGER to go to the pre-school everyday. In fact, she already has a close friend. According to Teacher Nel, there's a girl named Thung Thung who likes to play with her. Like kawan baik konon. Sit together, play together and chit chat together. Thung Thung is also 2yr old, so I thought that they could understand each other better. Hang on. Thung Thung speaks Mandarin, whereas Smellybutt speaks Cantonese. How do they click actually? Smellybutt can understand a little bit of Mandarin, as she speaks a few words of it too. But Thung Thung speaks full Mandarin, so does she understand what Smellybutt has said to her? Only God knows :)

Day 8 at the pre school - Hualala!!

This is the day I'm waiting for...her shed-no-tears day at the pre school, and even at home. So today is the day!! I'm so happy that she has finally stopped crying, totally stopped crying TODAY.

• When reached the pre-school this morning, she got down from the car and she didn't cry.
• During the lesson, she saw my mom at the sofa and my mom only waived at her once. Thereafter covered her face with the newspaper, and Smellybutt couldn't waive at her anymore...also never cry.
• After lunch, my mom picked her up, she didn't cry
• When I brought her up to the bedroom just now (10pm), she did try to protest but I've managed to distract her a bit with some lousy joke :P Put her on bed, and she demanded not to turn off the light. Ok fine. Again didn't cry.
• She dozed off at 10.30pm. WONDERFUL!!!

So, day 8 at the pre school and she has stopped crying. Under estimate her liao. I thought that she would have the same crying drama for this whole week at least. Glad that OUR nightmare has ended. I really hope that she will not cry again from now onwards. Amen.

My eyes are half closed while typing this. Luckily still sempat to post this wonderful news here, today. Hari Ini Dalam Sejarah :)

Lost World of Tambun

Last Saturday, we went back to Ipoh together with my mom as we all wanted to visit the Lost World of Tambun theme park. Thinking that Smellybutt can understand so many things now, thus she should be able to enjoy herself there with the animals and splashes of water too. My mom read an article from The Star newspaper couple of weeks ago, about their Petting Zoo. Sounds very interesting, so it is a MUST to visit that theme park. Saturday wasn't enough time for us to go there, so we've postponed it to Sunday morning.

We had our breakfast with my in laws family at Fusan Dim Sum restaurant. We saw a lot of balloons for sale right in front of the restaurant. So....Smellybutt's Mah Mah and Yeh Yeh (my MIL and FIL) asked her to pick her favorite design. We all helped Smellybutt to choose, and she agreed to take this aeroplane balloon. We asked her where did you travel to with the aeroplane? She happily said "to Sarawak, to Guangzhao, to Cameron!". Muahahahaa! This type of helium balloon is not cheap. This AK Fusan 2009 aeroplane cost us RM7. Erm...not "us", it was Yeh Yeh who bought it for her. Lil MM was there too, and her choice was a Minnie design at RM6. Smellybutt said "Thank you Yeh Yeh ar". Hehehe.

Lost World of Tambun is just 15mins drive from my in law's house. We reached there at about 10.30am. Parking lot was still quite empty. The weather was good, a bright sunny Sunday morning.

HubBy went to que for the tickets. Then I saw this notice board near the ticketing counter. Phew...Smellybutt's height haven't reach 90cm yet, so it's free for her. Adult fee is RM36 per head. Not very cheap actually. Even children below 12yr old is RM24 per head. That theme park is not very big. Not like our Sunway Lagoon size ya.

Before we get to enter into the theme park, there were people at the entrance there waiting for us to strap the ticket on our arm. They did a spot check on our bags too, because outside food is not allowed in the premise. I only have some cheese buns in my bag, for Smellybutt. The guy gave us the green light, so no problem. You see the above picture lah....I saw this while waiting for HubBy to buy the tickets. Check out the basket full of food container with other bags of food too. I wonder whether the staff let them picnic in the premise or not...

First, we headed towards the Petting Zoo. Quite a distance walk from the main entrance. We'll pass by the water theme park while on the way there.

From the main entrance of the Petting Zoo, we saw birds and rabbits. Look at the signage, I like it very much...very cute.

My favorite shot! It's not easy to catch her smile in front of the camera :P

That snake ar....I could have stepped on it if I was blur enough that day. It was lying there, motionless, (except for it's yukky tongue going in and out) in between the walkway. Then we moved on to the iguana station. This ugly super sized lizard-look animal reminds Smellybutt of the iguana pet, Tom, at her pre-school.

They have longkang fishing activity as well. At first I thought that there were berudu in that nice and clean longkang. Nah...that was a high class longkang, so no berudu. They have small white and pinkish fishes there. Kids love this, even the adult too. But it seemed to be impossible to catch any of the fish with the netting provided by them. The fishes were all hiding at the inner part of the longkang. Tangan also tak cukup panjang ma....

This part was very nice as we walked through this glass tunnel with lots of big snakes surrounding us, on top our head and below our feet. At first Smellybutt was a bit hesitant to walk walk me. I told her to walk in the middle, following the black color metal strip on the see through flooring :)

See...these are the snakes which we can see very clearly from the glass tunnel. Yukkkssss...At the end of the tunnel, we saw some medium sized crocodiles. Or was it aligator? I can't tell which is which.

Lastly, we saw some cute little hamster and guinea pigs. I asked Smellybutt whether she wanted to touch it or not. She said yes. I reminded her a few times not to squeeze it, just hold it gently. Soooo worried that she might killed that lil fella lah. Actually there are still other animals there, just that I didn't upload the pictures here. Check it out yourself, together with your kids ya, it's a nice place to visit. My colleague told me that Sunway Lagoon also has Petting Zoo. I didn't know about it. This is a great place to spend the school holiday with your children :)

After we have toured the Petting Zoo, we moved on to the water theme park. This is the first time Smellybutt get to experience herself with big big pool of water in the public. See...she loves her swimsuit very much :)

The water was a bit cooling, thus I've put her on a long sleeve baju. Better cover up a bit, coz I was worried of her catching cold after this. I've forgotten to bring along her duck float. Haaaiihh...lousy me. Else she could play further in the water while sitting on the float.

Next, we went to the children water spot. You know...the part where they have big ship and lots of slides for the children. She loves to play with the children slide. So I asked her whether she wanted to try it on the water or not. At first, she said no. Then I assured her that I will hold her tight and both of us will slide down together. I told her it is not scary lah. But hor, the moment I sit on top of the slide with Smellybutt in front of me, I was nervous also lah. Muahahahaha...long time never play slide ma. I got to take a few deep breath before I decided to slide down on it...almost chicken out with that less than 2 feet length children slide. Memalukan betul :P Sorry, no picture of us with the children slide. Don't know what did the camera man do.

We left the theme park at around 12.30pm, just nice for lunch at home :) After lunch, we packed our stuff and travel back to KL. Smellybutt was so tired and she fell asleep in the car very fast. Overall, it was a nice visit to the Lost World of Tambun.

Day 6 at the pre-school - bitter sweet!

Yesterday night, she had the same crying drama again until 10.30pm. This morning, suddenly she woke up at 5am and started to cry and looked for Dun Dun. Pening kepala liao....

So the moment she saw Dun Dun, she said "Dun Dun, faster put on your glasses!". Haha! Got time to give instruction lagi, while crying. My mom and I could only sit aside and see her wiping away her tears and slowly she rested her head on Dun Dun's shoulder. 15min later, she dozed off. We thought that it was over, so I asked my dad to bring her back to the bedroom. The moment my dad reached the bedroom, she was wide awake again, and started to cry. Ok, off we went to the living hall again. She fell asleep on Dun Dun's shoulder again 15min later. This round, I gently carried her away from my dad, and I sat still on the sofa with her lying on my chest. I dare not move an inch. After a while, I brought her back to the bedroom and I prepare myself to work. By then, it was already 6.20am.

My mom SMS to me that while on the way driving to the pre-school, Smellybutt started to ask for Mama, Ah Yi and Daddy. She told my mom that she wanted Daddy to drive and fetch Mama and Ah Yi from office and then we all go to Cameron to pick strawberry!! She wanted to go to Ipoh to find her grandparents there (my MIL and FIL). Before she got down from the car, her eyes were red and flooded with tears already.

Smellybutt cried throughout the assembly and wanted Popo to carry her. After the singing and dancing, they will all proceed to the classroom. My mom thought that this time mati lah....sure Smellybutt will not let go her hand again. But to her surprise, Smellybutt agreed to be carried by Teacher Nel to go to her classroom! She was still sobbing all the way, but didn't make a protest at all. Wow! That was a clear indication from her that she loves to spend her day at this pre-school.

This morning, I was just thinking again whether I have make a wrong move by sending her to the pre-school and caused her to be so traumatized lately. I felt so bad actually, and I wanted to cry too. But now, I am very sure that my decision was right. Teacher Nel sent the below photo to me and told me that she was very good girl this morning as she didn't ask about us (Popo, Mama, Dun Dun, Daddy) at all. Except that during the computer lesson, Teacher Nel asked the students to walk to the hall, where my mom was there actually, seated at the sofa reading book. Hahaha. Smellybutt saw Popo and she waived at her with smile. She wanted to go to the sofa but when Teacher Nel said all must be seated at the computer area, Smellybutt did as per instruction and she was facing Popo, with some tears rolling on her cheeks. But she was Ok lah, didn't make a fuss at all. She even finished her lunch too. Her appetite has improved a lot .

Best part was, Smellybutt seemed to be testing Teacher Nel's patient. See the below picture ya...after she was done with the worksheet, she torn it and smile at Teacher Nel. I can imagine her beautiful wicked smile!!

That's all for today, her bitter sweet Day 6 at the pre-school. Bitter in the early morning, and it gets sweeter now :)

Pix courtesy of Teacher Nel

Fear of loosing us

It all started since last Thursday, Smellybutt's 4th day to the pre-school. We noticed 2 major changes in her behavior.

Refused to go to bed at night
Normally we'll bring her up to the bedroom by 9pm, and let her play for a while I feed her a bottle of milk. She'll be off to bed latest by 10pm or 10.30pm. Last Thursday was a nightmare for us. She cried so badly the moment we brought her up to the bedroom. Insisted to go down and look for my dad, Dun Dun. She was like a GPS, navigated Dun Dun up and down the bedroomfor more than 4 times. She refused to be carried by other people except Dun Dun. My poor dad, his back ached so much carrying her so long. Finally the drama ended at 1am! Then she woke up at about 8.20am, thus she was a bit late to the pre-school...and I have informed Teacher Nel about it. Last Saturday, we went back to Ipoh together with my mom too. We've planned to visit Lost World of Tambun (will talk about it in a separate post later). Same crying drama took place and she knocked off at 11.30pm. At bout 6.30am, all of the sudden, she woke up and cried. Again, whenever she started to cry, she will me to bring her downstairs. I tell you ar...after 3 nights with this same sobbing drama episode from her, my mom and I really behtahan liao. No matter what we do, she will not be tricked and will continue to cry.

Hit me baby one more time
Nah, not me. When she was in Ipoh, she was playing so well with her lil 1yr and 3mth old cousin sister, MM. All of the sudden, she pushed MM away! She has never pushed away any other kids or even rebut toys with the kids all this while. So we were so shocked to see her pushing and hitting MM the other day. The way she pushed/hit MM was very very mild. But still, that wasn't a good sign either. Before this, Smellybutt used to be so afraid of MM. She only started to play with MM a bit about 3 month ago. But 1 thing for sure, due to jealousy. She just couldn't accept my mom or myself to touch or talk to MM. Not even a quick touch on MM for less than 3 seconds! The moment we touched MM, she'll yell "Mama/Popo, cannot!!". After Smellybutt hit MM, I had a talk with her in a quiet room. As I talked to her, I held her tightly. I believed that she understood what I have told her, not to hit/push other small kids, and being a 'tai kar jea' (status yes, physically no :P) she must take care of her little sisters. I have to keep telling her that we all love her very much and we will not leave her behind.

From the above scenario, we all concluded that she is afraid of loosing the 3 Stooges - Popo, Mama, Dun Dun (Pssstt..obviously her daddy is just a watak sampingan only) Sending Smellybutt to the pre-school is indeed a big challenge for ALL OF US. She still love to go to the pre-school, but at the same time afraid of loosing us. Haaaaiiihh....I am having a tough time too, to see her cry at night and the moment she wakes up. I do stress over this matter a lot. You see, she's only attending pre-school and here I am, stressing and freaking out already! It is still a long way for me to go leh...

I had a short discussion with Teacher Nel about this whole incident. She told me not to worry so much as this kind of behavior on new student is normal. She said Monday is always so blue for the kids. Coz they enjoyed so much over the weekend and when come on Monday, start lah all the crying. She told me that there are kids who behaved exactly like Smellybutt too. Nothing new actually. Teacher Nel told me to sit back and relax...she'll take good care of Smellybutt. Yeah, I know you will, Teacher Nel!!

I found her another pre-school

Ok, so quit there then where else to send Smellybutt to? I've found her a new pre-school!! Fast huh? Actually, I should have gone there in the first place, don't know why it didn't come to my mind earlier. That pre-school is actually run by a close friend of mine together with her parents. Sort of a family business lah. She's my secondary school ex-classmate. I will refer her as Teacher Nel here. This pre-school is also using Montessori method, thus it suits my requirement too.

Location wise, it is still very near to my mom's house. Environment is much better than the previous one. Sometimes it's true to say "what you pay is what you get." So the monthly fees is slightly higher. I'm Ok with it. But no, I'm not a richie rich. I'm willing to pay a little bit more, and I'll have a peaceful mind sending Smellybutt to that pre-school. Not because Teacher Nel is my close friend therefore I only say good things about her pre-school. Her's is more to family oriented style. Her parents are there most of the time, cook for the student. When they first launch their pre-school, I was there with Smellybutt too. At that point of time, Smellybutt was just 10mth old.

Picture of us visiting Teacher Lee's pre-school back in Aug 2008

Side track a bit...I know Teacher Nel since we were in primary 3 (I guess!), but not very close. We became closer, together with a few others when we went to the secondary school. Close to the extend that we (about 5 of us) all went to Teacher Nel's house and watch horror movie together at her home theatre room and overnite there as well. Therefore, we all are quite close to Teacher Nel's family member too. When come to CNY, Teacher Nel's house is always our meet up point. Those were the fun days we had together.

Ok, back to Smellybutt vs pre-school challenge result . She went there since Monday, 30 Nov 09. From day 1 to day 4 to this new pre-school, she still cry for Popo. Luckily not a very long winded cry. In fact, on day 4, we saw some improvement already...won't cry for too long after kena 'kidnapped' by Teacher Nel straight from her car seat ^_^. Her crying pattern would be loud + soft + soft + soft + sorrow. It'll be loud the moment Teacher Nel carried her away from Popo. The soft cry would be on and off in the classroom. Final sorrow cry will take place when Popo fetches her home. Even though she has been crying for the past 4 days, she will still say good bye and waives at the teachers. When asked her still want to come again next day? she will say yes. I'm glad she said yes! Teacher Nel's pre-school has a pet. It's an iguana, his name is Tom. Smellybutt will say bye bye to Tom too!

Here's a picture of her on her 3rd day at the pre-school, courtesy of Teacher Nel. She was quite cooperative, and willing to sit and play with other kids. Check out the orange color bag lah...she must have it by her side all time. Her precious school bag ^_^

But Teacher Nel told me that she seemed to 'bully' the assistant teacher. Whenever the assistant teacher talks to her, she will ignore her. Then Teacher Nel noticed it and she asked the same question to Smellybutt....Teacher Nel immediately got the respond from her, in a very soft tone. Haa!! Cannot let a lembik teacher to handle ini budak lah.

I hope that Smellybutt will be happier and feels more comfortable at the pre-school later. And I truly hope that I've made the right decision to expose her on Montessori learning method at this early age.

Thanks to Humpty Dumpty

Smellybutt seldom walk/crawl up and down the staircase very often. Most of the time we'll carry her. Faster, easier and safer ma. The other day, she wanted to walk down from the staircase all by herself. Ok, I was there with her. So I told her to grip tightly on the grills and go down very slowly and carefully. When reached to the part where there wasn't any grill for her to hold on, I held her to help her get down safely.

At first, she refused to let me hold on her. She kept saying "I walk by myself la!". I told her that now you can only touch the wall, no more grill for you to hold on to, very dangerous. So mommy has to hold you, in case you slip and fall. She then said this to me " aaaa..mama has to hold QQ. if not...like Humpty Dumpty". Waaakakakkaa. That was a good one lah, and totally out of my expectation. I thought she would say that if she falls, she will in be pain and then she has to go to see the doctor. That is what she usually say to us. This round, she was smart enough to give me such a good example huh.

FYI, she has been watching a sing-along kids song vcd repeatedly. First song is Humpty Dumpty. We will always describe to her what she sees on the tv screen, ie the 'music video' lah. Now proven that she did learn from what we told her about Humpty Dumpty. Don't climb up high, else you will be in deep pain if you fall. Btw, she learnt her previous 2 new songs (1,2 buckle my shoe & rock-a-bye baby) from the same vcd too.

My lil songbird can sing more

Smellybutt is now able to sing a few line of 2 new songs. Here's her version.

Song 1 : 1,2 Buckle My Shoe

1,2 buckle my shoe
3,4 shut a door
5,6 piiiiaaaa stick
teng teng teng!

Muahahaha! I have no idea why she ended it with "teng teng teng". She will continue to sing further, if I sing with her.


Song 2 : Rock-a-Bye Baby

Rock a bye baby on the tree top
Rock a bye....baby...top...
-The End-

She could only sing out the 1st line. Thereafter was just a repetition :)

I felt so touched when she sang that 2nd song to us. Coz that was the first time she sang it out immediately after I sang it to her. Her pronounciation on the whole line of lyric was pretty accurate too, we could hear it clearly. Bravo my lil girl!!

Love the potion no. 9

My lil Smellybutt has finally reached 9kg at the age of 25 month old. It is such a loooong wait for us to see her weight increases bit by bit. Really BIT BY BIT. How little? On average, she only gains 200-300gm every 2-3mth. From the very "ong" number 8kg to 9kg now. Phew...At least my money spent on the expensive milk powder did help to contribute to her weight gain. So what's her "potion no. 9"? She's been taking Pediasure Complete milk powder since end of April 09 until now. I also give her Mamil Gold Step 3, but recently I've switched to Sustagen Junior 1 chocolate flavor. Initially I didn't really trust Pediasure Complete is able to increase her weight. But I was wrong lah. From my not so sure feeling, now I'm very sure that Pediasure Complete plays a big role in helping her to put on some weight. Not to mention, the hair pulling sensation which my mom and I have to bear each time we run after her during milk time. We become slimmer, and she becomes a lil bit fatter ^_^

It's almost impossible to see the below....the way she drinks her milk quietly and peacefully....


As this will only happen once in a very blue and bright moon :)

To get this empty bottle, we need about 20min IF we are lucky. The best speed was less than 2min for a bottle of 5oz milk, due to her super hungry condition. On normal day, which is the usual unlucky day, we need to chase after her for about 30min to finish up her milk. Lately, she can tell us "I'm busy ar" whenever we ask her to hurry up and finish her milk. Busy?? I think, to her...we are so free to kejar her for milk. That was why she claimed herself to be busy.

Here's what we, or rather Popo roughly do everyday with Smellybutt.

Early morning wake up (7am to 8am) - Pediasure Complete 5oz

9am to 10am - a slice of cheese, bread with peanut butter or her favourite biscuit. sometimes she will just lick off the peanut butter and ask Popo to eat the bread thereafter. smart huh.

12pm - VERY LITTLE rice with chicken/fish and green vege. she refused to take more.

12.45pm - shower. then give her 4oz of Sustagen Junior 1 before she's off to bed for her afternoon nap. her "battery" will go off at around 1.30pm

4pm to 5pm - once her battery is fully charged, we'll give her 3-4oz of Sustagen Junior 1. normally Popo will ask her which milk she wants, the white color or chocolate color milk. we let her choose. most of the time she'll choose chocolate color milk :)

6.30pm to 7pm - rice with chicken and green vege. if she takes very little, I'll prepare macaroni and cheese with chicken cubes for her. she will finish all quite fast.

9pm - give her another 3.5-4oz of Pediasure Complete before she goes to bed. if she takes her dinner well, sometimes will skip the milk.

Last week we brought her to the Pediatric clinic for her 2yr old jab. Looking at her weight, Doc Tan said "Ok lah, though she's so small in size, at least she has managed to put on some weight. No worry". Yeah, I'm not that worry anymore. I always remind myself that as long as she's healthy, just close 1 eye on the figure.