What I Like Is Not What She Likes

I have written this in my book page 52. 2 years ago, what I wanted to buy for Jaimie was not what she wanted. 2 years later, this still applies. I think this is applicable for the entire lifetime.

I wanted to get for Jaimie this Lego set because she has been quite keen on her building blocks lately. But she was not said NO when I asked her!

I wanted to buy this impressive toy kitchen set for the young chef to replace her cheap one at home. She didn't give a damn.

Doll up Strawberry Shortcake! Tie her hair! Not only she has a surprise tatoo on her cheeks, she smells of berries too! This would be my dream doll when I was young! Jaimie couldn't care less.

A magnifying glass to look at ants! Learn the theory of converging the rays of sunlight by burning the ants! Oops. No no, just joking. Little Missy wasn't impressed.

She was quite keen on this Disney Princess Laptop which I thought was boring.

And she said this was her perfect birthday cake. She asked us to get this for her. No way!

And this toy is for babies, baby!

In the end, we left Toys R Us without buying anything.

There was an event in United Square to celebrate International Childhood Caner Day (which falls on 15 Feb, which is also our Total Defence Day, btw). Jaimie did her part by drawing a picture to express her support for those less fortunate children.

Being a parent myself, I can fully understand how heartache it feels if our children have to fight for survival at such a tender age. Many survivals of the childhood cancer patients came on stage to perform and even host the mini concert. I felt so touched. Wishing them the best of health and may they have a vibrant and beautiful life like these beautiful lanterns.

Do Not Judge A Book By Its Cover

Jaimie was still crying today although today was her 6th or 7th swimming lesson. Sigh.

On the other hand, she is progressing well. Today she managed to balance herself on the swimming board and kicked herself across the pool with minimal help from Mr Lee. :) She was even able to make a U turn by herself!

After the swimming lesson, Jaimie spent some time playing in the pool while Mr Lee chatted with me. Some of the readers commented on Mr Lee's appearance but friends, let me tell you, Mr Lee is an ARTIST! He graduated from Nanyang School of Fine Arts in the 80s and he does oil painting. He only teaches swimming on weekends and one of the weekday while he spends the rest of his time painting. His dream is to have his very own art exhibition! A retired army officer, Mr Lee used to teach swimming in the army. He used to trained divers.

The more I found out about Mr Lee, the lower my jaws dropped. I seriously thought he was an old ah-beng swimming instructor.

In this swmming lesson, I learnt not to judge a book by its cover.

"New Look"

I need to put a bandage over my infected area to keep it clean and to absorb the pus that might just ooze out from the swell any moment. (GROSS!!!)

I hope I do not look too weird! The good news is, the pus is coming out and it is drying up. I hope it'll be much better after this weekend. I am quite sick of seeing a three-eyed monster every time I look in the mirror.

Random Pictures Of Jaimie @Sch and @Play

Jaimie's teacher happened to be bringing the class to the playground behind the school when I wanted to fetch Jaimie home the other day. The girl requested me to wait for her to finish her playtime with her friends so I took these pictures while I was waiting for her. That is quite a rare opportunity for me to take photos of her @school!

Too nice a weather to stay indoors so we were off to Lot One Roof Top Garden to play at the water playground!

Sakae Sushi (again) after play. Jaimie helped herself to menu on the computer. The waitress who was serving us tea looked at Jaimie with her jaws dropped. Jaimie is now an expert with ordering food in Sakae Sushi.

My Friend who was on Page 85

Side Track...
Not much improvement from the night before but I am still going to meet my friends today!

If you have read my book, you might remember I wrote in one of the articles how I deal with people I do not like (page 85)-- I imagined them to be a pile of shit. This philosophy was shared by a very, very good friend of mine, Ah Hui. We were ex-colleagues when I taught in a secondary school some 1o years ago. Then, I moved to JC while she transferred to Chinese High to teach the gifted students. She quited teaching and took up a course in pre-school education, and upon getting her certificate, she dropped everything to go back to her hometown in Taiping, Malaysia, to start her own childcare centre and runs the school the way she thinks how a school should run. And her hubby dropped everything in Singapore to support his wife's decision!

Seriously, if she sets up her childcare centre in Singapore, or if I were in Taiping, I will not hesitate to send Jaimie to Ah Hui's school.

Anyway, we have not met since I left that secondary school. It has almost been 10 years! We kept in touch through letters (yes, handwritten ones!) and we're always updated on each other's life. There was so much to share, so much to talk... we're still so comfortable talking and sharing and it seems like we have missed nothing from the 10 years we didn't meet. We could just talk and talk and talk...

Jaimie enjoying her kid's meal at Swensens with us. (btw, we shared a topless 5~. The ratio of us sharing the topless 5 is 4:1. Er... I really do not have to tell you who ate 4, right?)

On the left, Miss Yip. On my right, Ah Hui. The 3 of us were, and still are very good friends. FYI, Miss Yip was Clement's secondary 2 Chinese teacher. Hurhurhur. I will just shout "YIP!!" when I see her but Clement will bow a little and call her "Miss Yip" respectfully.

Ah Hui's daughter, Wenjie. She is one year older than Jaimie and the 2 girls hit off instantaneously.

After lunch at Swensens, they came over to my place to continue with the catchup. The small girls had great fun playing toys and watching Doraemon together while the big girls talked about everything and anything, just like what we used to do in Delifrance after school 10 years ago.

Meeting up with old friends is such a nice feeling.

The Ugliest Moment In My Life

Idy had her ugliest moment while I had mine TODAY!! THE FIRST DAY OF CHINESE NEW YEAR! HOW SAD!

It started with a pimple on the bridge on my nose due to too much CNY goodies even before CNY. Usually I had no problem squeezing the pimple (my all time favourite hobby, btw) and it'll be okie. Last night, I did the same and I applied some medication on it after squeezing it.

This morning, I woke up with a funny sensation on my face. My left eye felt puffy and when I frown, I felt pain on my face. I looked at the mirror and to my horror, I saw this red swell that spreads from my pimple to my sinus area!! I snapped a picture of myself in the morning when I woke up.

Day one of our CNY is a busy one as we need to visit both sides of our parents and some relatives. I camouflaged the swell with cosmetics although I knew I shouldn't. In the afternoon, the pain and the swell still didn't subside at all. Luckily the clinic opposite my house is opened even on the first day of CNY. The doctor diagnosed that it was infection and I was given a course of antibiotics. I was also not allowed to put on cosmetics until it recovers.

I snapped 2 more pictures of myself in the evening. The doctor asked me to observe the swell and if it doesn't subside by tomorrow evening, I need to see him again as the infection might have gone into my sinus area. If the swelling area gets smaller, I should be ok soon.

How am I going to meet my friends tomorrow with my ugly face. ALAMAK!

童言无忌

故事的开始，是媛媛在Bugis的时候遇到了一个年龄相仿，而且也是说得一口流利的华语的小朋友。两人一见如故，开始谈起了人生大道理...

媛媛：（皱眉）“你要听话！你要知道什么是对，什么是错。人家跟你讲你要听的...”

媛媛：“我们要做好孩子...”

两人谈了许多深奥的哲理后，便开始互相追逐，媛媛还把原本送给我的假花送给了黄衣妹妹（*sob sob*)。

这时，媛媛要回自己的花，黄衣妹妹不肯，两人开始了一场争夺战。拉扯间，花朵的茎歪了。媛媛气呼呼地指着黄衣妹妹说：“为什么你弄坏我的花！”黄衣妹妹不慌不忙地说：“不是我，是她！”只见黄衣妹妹随手指了指刚好路过，完全一点头绪也没有的白衣红裤混血儿妹妹。

媛媛大步走到混血儿妹妹的妈妈跟前，把花递给她，说：“她弄坏我的花！”对方哭笑不得地帮媛媛把花茎弄直，媛媛满意地说了声：“谢谢！”，就走开了。

媛媛啊~~~我该说什么呢？？？

妈妈的心得 之七

好久没有写妈妈的心得了。

最近我们让媛媛学游泳。开始的时候看她哭哭啼啼的，觉得很好笑。后来，到了第3次的游泳课，她还在哭得梨花带泪，我就觉得不是很好笑了。到了第四堂课，她竟然在上午的时候就为了下午的游泳课哭到几乎要呕吐！

老实说，我心里挺难受的。她又不是怕水，她平时去游泳池都是玩得不亦乐乎的。她又不是学不会，游泳老师教的她一学就上手。她又不是怕生，这个游泳老师是她常常见到还主动"teacher! teacher!"的叫人。她又不是一个人，老公每次都在她旁边陪她学。到底该怎么办呢？她哭得那么惨，到底要不要让她继续学呢？

我们问了媛媛她到底为什么哭了之后，她本来也说不出一个所以然。后来才说她怕把头放进水里。要不要为了她说的这个理由放弃呢？

我心里挣扎了很久。老公说，不如考虑暂停一下吧。我其实也同意了。可是看她第四次上课时，其实她学得非常好。她的哭泣“只是”一个心理障碍，我该重视这个障碍，还是该帮她突破这个障碍呢？我如果顺从她的意愿，以后她会不会遇到困难就选择放弃？我如果强迫她继续上课，是不是在揠苗助长呢？

我就在游泳池旁边挣扎了半小时。

后来，我还是觉得要铁了心，让媛媛继续下去。我先付老师下个月的学费，如果她还是没有进步，还是哭得那么悲惨，我就暂停吧。如果有进步，我们就继续吧。跟老公商量了30秒，我们同意这样的决定。

游泳老师也告诉我们，媛媛这样的反应也是正常的，不需要太担心。学游泳的孩子只有两种：会哭和不会哭的。

也对！

想想媛媛刚开始上托儿所，也是哭得稀里哗啦的。现在还会教N1的小朋友不要哭了。呵呵。

游泳老师也说：“你们就不要下水了！她看到你们在旁边，更加会想哭的。我又不会虐待你的孩子，你们放心在旁边看就好。这样她很快就不哭了。”一言惊醒梦中人！

好！就这么决定了！

到了第五堂课，我们陪他到游泳池，老公放她下水交到老师手中后就上来了。我们远远地看着，媛媛当然是哭了。后来，她渐渐不哭了，专心地跟着老师的指示摆动手脚学蛙式的动作。偶尔想起的时候，还是哇哇大哭一阵子。可是眼泪很快就收了起来，让老师从蛙镜里把泪水倒出来后继续学习。

我们在旁，看得满心的感动和欢喜。

下课后，媛媛笑嘻嘻地上岸，高高兴兴地和老师道别，说下次见！

因为我们的坚持，我们也许是帮媛媛克服了某些心理障碍。这样的决定不适用于每次的恐惧与眼泪。但是，很庆幸的，这次，我们好像做对了一个决定。

有时啊，做父母的真的要铁一下心肠，才能让孩子成长！

媛媛在学蛙式

老师在帮媛媛抹眼泪

媛媛勇敢地把头埋进水里


加油，小朋友！

笑嘻嘻！成功了！

Bento #108 -- Straits Times Interview

I was approached by Straits Times to be interviewed for bento making. It is for the students' section which comes along with the Monday papers.

The task for me is to make a healthy bento for Jaimie. I didn't have time to think about what to do except that I will be making cheese sandwich for her. In fact, until I cut out the bunny and bear shapes from the bread, I was still unsure of what to do with them! As I was arranging the bears and bunnies in the box, and putting in the greens, an idea struck me. I shall make a bento called "Friends of the Jungle"! I used my food picks with jungle animal heads to poke onto the fruits and tomatoes. Then, I further decorate it with some accessories with animal theme.

See! You should not just buy what you need. You should stock up your stuff (Read: No Guilt Shopping) and they will come in handy when you need them. :D

This is the bento for Jaimie.

Finally I get to take a picture with Carmen, the person whom I have been corresponding with for the past few months for the bento-making sessions with Health Promotion Board and Razor TV. Thanks, Carmen! It's really nice to know you!

Jaimie and Carmen taking a photo together before Jaimie ran off to polish off the fruits in her bento box. I was rather surprised that she chose to eat the honey cherry tomotoes first.
The next bento-making event should be in June. It is going to be an in-house parent and child bento-making session for an organisation.

It was really beyond my imagination that I will be conducting bento making sessions. It all started off with my book. I merely used my bentos to link up my stories in the book but the attention now is focused on my bentos rather than my writing. Hmmm... in fact, I think I write better than I make bentos. :D

Papa's Birthday (Oh, Really?)

Today is Clement's birthday. The celebration began yesterday evening when I bought him a little blueberry cheese cake with one little candle (fyi, i ate HALF the cake). I didn't buy him any presents or brought him to any good restaurants. The little cake was all I got for him. OOPS!

But Jaimie was more excited about the cake then Clement. She "offered" to blow his candle. Before the birthday man (cannot say birthday "boy"...) could say anything, she huffed and she puffed and she blew off the candle. Now whose birthday is it?!

Clement wanted a date with her girl on his birthday (Read: babysit). I could not take leave today because I had urgent work to do and so Jaimie was more than happy to skip school and went dating with her daddy. Clement brought her to West Coast Park and she had the whole playground to herself.

Apparently, they went for kite-flying too! Jaimie requested for kite flying last weekend but we were too tired to bring her to WCP then. So her wish was full filled on her daddy's birthday! Now, whose birthday is it?

After WCP, the couple went to IMM for more playground and lunch. They had a good lunch at Swensens with 1-for-1 main course and free ice cream for the birthday customer.
Errr... why is Jaimie blowing the candle again?

I kind of missed out on Clement's birthday today and didn't spend the day with him. In fact, I only reached home at around 5.30pm. We went for dinner with his parents and that's it. In the evening, he babysitted Jaimie while I *ahem* surf net and cleared some marking.

Errrrrrrr....

Happy Birthday, Dear!

Bento #107

My Mayday buddy YH came back for her summer break and bought me this unique and oh-so-prettyyyyyyy bento box! I am using it as my fruit box for today's bento.

I made 3 simple bentos for my dept colleagues. They have been so nice to me since I joined the new school. This is just my way of showing appreciation and building friendship.

Last but not least, this is for Clement. Lots of fruits to start off the day healthily. I always love the contrasting colours in the fruit platter.