notes for Popo

QQ: 3 years 7 months old

My little QQ is a funny little girl... whenever she's at Popo's place, she'll say she misses her Mama or Papa.

But whenever she's with us (her Mama or Papa), she'll say she misses her Popo. Sometimes while we were driving home from Popo's house, sometimes when she's drifting to sleep at home, sometimes the first thing when she wakes up in the morning. Sometimes to the extend of sobbing really pitifully *slap forehead*. There's once she woke up crying in the middle of the night for her Popo *help!!!*

Yes, she's really attached to her Popo... my sweet little sentimental bunny :-).

So... what did I do to subdue her sobbing? I asked her to write a note to Popo. After writing, go to sleep. And when she wakes up the next morning, she can happily bring the note to her Popo. Which often works :-).

So far, she has prepared these:

She asked me to spell the words to her, except her name, which she knew how to spell. Except Y and U, she wrote all the alphabets herself :-). (there's a F there because she wanted to write "from", then changed her mind). A flower. I'm rather impressed that she thought about the petals and the vines on the leaves :-).
A happy picture of flowers, sun and birds. She did this all on her own :-).

And a dress o.O"
LOL! She must have seen me sketching my designs for nivniv. She asked me to help draw the frills on the neckline and the belt. I love her somewhat loopy puffy sleeves!

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without expressed written permission.

two of my favourite girls :-)

We were having lunch in a restaurant with bro's in laws when I asked busy QQ to stop and snap a photo with her Popo. QQ gave a relunctant smile before she ran off to join other kids to play. There's so many kids, all about the same age! QQ was still coughing badly and running a slight fever in this picture. I don't understand... she had already finished her antibiotics, now starting on her third bottle of Progesic Paracetamol, her third bottle of cough mixture... and at the same time taking her Ventolin and Seretide puffs diligently. She even finished her course of steroid pills yet, still not recovered :-(. I just hope her condition will not worsen to a full-blown pneumonia *pray really hard*.

But, my mum does look good there ya :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without expressed written permission.

new bento cases

Note: With regards to my previous article, please be assured that the above article has no intention to bring up any differences between anyone. Conversation was done in Bahasa Malaysia merely because it is our national language and is used to communicate. I've written the article down as a way to vent my frustration as a mother to my precious children, nothing more. Thank you for understanding.
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I was at Daiso the other day, when I saw these very cute bento cases. Blue and green animal themed bento for HQ (he loves animals!) and pink strawberries bento for QQ (she loves strawberries!). Each has 2 tiers of containers, and only cost RM 5 a set! So about a month ago (yes, this is a back-dated post!) I was feeling lazy to cook breakfast, and so I assembled breakfast sets for the kids. Both have the same ingredients, only different bento sets.

This is HQ's set: Piglet buns that I bought from Dragon-i and reheated in the wok before serving
Peeled and seeded grapes
Cheerios
Pineapple tarts - my friend gave us a tin for CNY, which I kept in the fridge and lasted till now!
Walnut biscuits (hap tou sou) - also a gift from another friend and I kept in the fridge

I gave them each a tub of yogurt too :-). And this is QQ's bento set:
I enjoyed preparing the above for them :-). Well, these are easy-peasy assembles only ~ super bento mummies must be laughing at me now... haha! I look forward to have cooked food with rice and dishes next. Wait till my two bunnies recover fully from their cough first :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without expressed written permission.

playground bullies

Warning: A very long rant post ahead

Like every kid, my kids love playgrounds. I love playgrounds too... while the kids are playing, I get some breather :-).

Although my kids have their share of fun and exercise in playgrounds, they get "surprises" as well. From little kids like them. Not many, but we encountered these playground bullies 3 times, on 2 different occasions. I'm often shocked by what these little beings are capable of doing, or saying. And it irritates me to no ends that their parents just sat there, obviously aware of what is going on, but decides to stay mum.

Last CNY, we wanted to exchange some books that we bought from MPH Midvalley, and upon learning that we can do so in any MPH branch, we chose to go Alamanda, as it's the nearest. Sis and her family was going too for her usual back-to-Malaysia-shopping-spree.

After doing what we had planned, we had lunch in Old Town White Coffee. Right outside Old Town, there's a large indoor play area. The kids ate really quickly this time. After their rushed meals, they were running and playing in the playground while we adults enjoyed coffee in Old Town.

After awhile hubby and I went to join the kids... to play on the kiddy slides to snap their pictures. I love pictures snapped while the kids are at play... their grins are genuine and their complexion flushed from the exercise :-).

There was this wheel that was placed against the wall. I don't know how to explain but the kids played with it by sliding into the little compartment between the wheel and the wall. The space is very small, so understandable the space can only fit one kid at a time.

So my QQ was in there, and while she was getting ready to come out, a little boy wanted to go in. I held on to the boy and said "Tunggu ya, biar dia keluar dulu". He flung off my hand and proceeded to go in the little space. Of course both kids suffered like sardines in a tight can. And guess what? Our little friend here got so mad, started shoving, and shouted:

"Awak ****, buat apa kat sini? Balik la!!!"

I was shocked! I think he's only about 4? And smaller sized than my QQ too (QQ is very tall for a 3.5 year old). And in the presence of an adult... me! Can you imagine what could have happen if I weren't there? I asked him "Kenapa KITA tak boleh main sini?" From nearby, I heard a lady calling out to him to go. Not a word of apology, nothing. But of course he did not budge. I helped QQ to squeeze out instead.

I thought this was already dramatic, not enough. As the kids continued to play happily, we sat at the side chatting. Suddenly we heard a piercing scream followed by very loud wails. My QQ was laying on the floor, face down! That small section was a closed area, so I had to climb up the flight of stairs and slide down the long slide before I could get to her. She never cried that loud before! I imagined the worse. My heart was pounding! I was so afraid!

Obviously she fell down badly. But how did it happened? Between her sobs she pointed at a boy and told me he PUSHED her down from the top of the slide. And that slide was a VERY high one! I quickly felt my hands around her, and asked her which part of her body hurts. Luckily it was the knees and elbows that hurt the most. After ensuring she was alright, I looked at the boy who pushed her. Also a very small boy, probably 3+, much smaller sized than QQ. I asked "Kamu yang tolak dia jatuh ya?"

He defiantly looked at me, and ran away. Not feeling sorry at all!

After carrying QQ and handing her to hubby, I learned from Sis that the boy who pushed QQ ran out of the closed area. My Sis and G, my 5 year old nephew glared at him. Guess what happened next?

That boy used both his hands and pushed G on his chest! With my Sis, a grown up standing right there next to G! It's like being defensive of what he had done. The force was so great G had to take 2 steps backwards! G wanted to push the boy back but my Sis stopped him.

The boy ran off to join his family nearby. Again, no apology or anything.

I can hardly believe that kids this young can say such hurtful things and can be this violent. Why are they behaving this way? What saddened me most is their parents seemed to approve this kind of behavior. What is going to happen when these kids grow up? What is going to happen to OUR kids when they have to face this kind of behavior from these kids?

I'm not saying every kid behaves like that. Just a handful maybe, and we were so unlucky to have met 2 that day.

Note: Please be assured that the above article has no intention to bring up any differences between anyone. Conversation was done in Bahasa Malaysia because it is our national language and is used to communicate. I've written the article down as a way to vent my frustration as a mother to my precious children, nothing more. Thank you for understanding.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text cannot be republished without expressed written permission.