BoeyJoey ©

i was...

2012-02-08T15:39:00.001+08:00

the little girl who wondered how is the world like beyond the clouds over the hills
the little girl who marveled at the beauty of rainbows, dewdrops, frogs and walking barefeet on morning grass
who's happy to be sitting on the desk for hours, painting to her heart contend
who skips and dances to the music, without a care in the world
who dreams big
who stays true to herself.

i was...
the young lady who is ridiculously optimistics
clueless about living
but happy with just how things were going.

i was...
the meek new girl who's too shy to go out to lunch with unfamiliar colleagues
writing my dreams, thoughts and ideas for all to see (and steal)
the ambitious gal not afraid of taking chances
the no-nonsense woman typing furiously on her red laptop (the only red in the sea of black in the office)

i was...
bright eyed with love and excited with what's in store
in awe with the bundle of joy i held in my arms
so afraid for my little one, and hoping to be the one who's shoudering it all
relieved to find that it's not as dark as i thought
at my happiest with my perfect little family

those were the yesteryears...

right now...

i am...
the tired woman longing for some alone time
longing for more sleep than possible
longing for a healthy happy brood (and please stay that way)
longing for stability
longing for sureness
longing for calmness...

when will the storm end?

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://boeyjoey.blogspot.com/. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

first day of school, 4th Jan 2012

2012-01-30T21:39:00.002+08:00

Back-dated post. I know it's kind of out of topic when everyone is blogging about CNY now :-), but gotto blog it soonest before my memory fails me :-).

After school orientation on 31st Dec 2011, 4th Jan 2012 was officially the first day of school for HQ. The school allows parents of Primary 1 students to be in the school area for the first 2 days. I took leave for both days and was prepared to spend 6-7 hours in the school each day.

I planned to brief HQ on the first day on timing for different activities, managing and spending his money, where to wait for the Van Aunty, etc. I will supervise on the second day to see how he flares.

Pointers for HQ:
1. Eat breakfast as early as possible once reached Popo's house
2. Take bath at 11.30 am and change to school uniform
3. Eat lunch at 11.45 am
4. Be ready to wait for Van Aunty to come at 12.00 noon.
5. Once reached school, put bag at assembly area and go to toilet. Must get back to the assembly area by 12.45 pm.
6. Break starts at 3.00 pm. Must get back to class before 3.25 pm. During the 25 minutes, he is to eat his packed food, buy anything else to eat if still hungry, and go to toilet.
7. School ends at 6.30 pm. Wait for Van Aunty at bus lane no. 1.

Ready for school :-). He was very excited sitting in the transporter's Avanza as it has 3 rows of seats... haha. I planned to meet him in school, but I only managed to find a parking space after making 3 rounds at the nearby shoplots. When I reached his school, I had missed the van. Luckily the kids were seated at the assembly area according to classes and I spotted HQ easily.

With still 30 minutes to 12.45 pm, I thought of exploring the school canteen with him while it's still not full with students. With his RM 2 pocket money, he bought a Solivite and 3 pieces of fried nuggets. So he spent all his pocket money before school even started! He ate one piece of nugget and added the other 2 into the tupperware where his char siu bun was packed in. I was very surprised on the things that are sold in the canteen; will share more on this in a different post.

School starts
Once the kids got in their classes, HQ started talking amiably with Jason and the kids sitting behind him. I think he enjoyed talking to his new friends very much and told me to wait for him in the canteen at 3.00pm o.O". I just hope he will not be too talkative and playful during class and "earn" some points there.

I chatted with some parents outside the class. While there, I caught HQ looking out of the windows several times and giving me cheeky smiles, and calling out to me on his way to the toilet :-) Doing some colouring. HQ asking permission to sharpen his colour pencils at the dustbin behind. Teacher Lee later asked him to sit down as he started helping his new friend to sharpen his colour pencils too :-)At 2.30pm, I saw HQ held up his hand and told the teacher in Mandarin that he was hungry. Teacher laughed and told him to wait for break time. Just after she has spoken, a plump little boy sitting 2 seats behind HQ took a bun out and started munching away. The teacher took his bun away and gave a lecture about not eating in class.

I have more shocking stories about this plump little boy, and how the teacher reacted. I might write about it in a different post ;-)

Break time
Primary One kids get to go out 5 minutes earlier for break, so a total of 25 minutes for them to eat and go to toilet. Ready with his tupperware of food and bottle of water, he was so sweet to wait at the door for Jason, and held his hand on the way to the canteen. We met halfway and we walked together. Jason joined his Mum and sister.

I've never seen HQ eat this fast before. He walloped the whole char siu bun and 2 pieces of nuggets in 5 minutes flat. Must be really hungry due to early lunch. Then he asked me for another ringgit to buy more food to eat. I wondered if his daily pocket money of RM2 is enough?After putting his tupperware and water bottle in his classroom, he went to toilet. Again he waited for Jason at the toilet before going back to class with him :-).

Class continues
Class continued after school break, and parents continued to hover around the classrooms like vultures... haha. But by this time, we saw the Headmistress who's in charge of afternoon session, walking past all classrooms, calling out to parents to leave their kids alone. Parents are to wait in the canteen. She was waving her CANE while talking to us PARENTS.

By the way, canes do not belong to the classrooms. Canes belong to teachers. Every teacher has one, and she bring her cane to wherever she goes. Reminded me of the wands that each witch/ wizard holds in Harry Potter movies o.O".

In the canteen, I exchanged phone numbers with other mummies. Felt very "housewifey" at that moment :-). Hubs joined me to wait for HQ at about 6.15pm.

Class dismisses
Class dismisses at 6.30pm. Primary 1 students get to dismiss earlier by 10 minutes. Students were grouped into 2 - one to go to Gate A to wait for parents, and the other group to go to Gate C to wait for busses/ vans. On the first day, teachers led the groups.

HQ waited for the Van Aunty at Lane 1 of Gate C. Besides HQ, she is also fetching 4 other kids home and her own son who's in Secondary 2, whose class dismisses at 6.45pm. Once we saw that HQ had followed the group, hubs and I went on our own way. I was surprised that the transporter brought the Primary kids to another location to wait for her son. This worried us. Will write about this more in another post.

So far, HQ is ok in following the schedule. He wears a watch and is mindful of the time for each activity. I'm hopeful that the strict rules in school will train him to be more diciplined, responsible, and better at taking care of himself. I was rather afraid he may feel contrained with all the rules and regulations, however, seeing that he's happy going to school and is still as playful and cheeky, I am rest assured :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://boeyjoey.blogspot.com/. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

happy chinese new year 2012 !

2012-01-28T22:39:00.002+08:00

Chinese New Year came in a flash. We didn't do much preparation, except for buying CNY gifts for family and friends, last-minute cleaning, and very last minute sewing for my kids :-).

This little store has been even more busy this time of the year, as Christmas 2011 and CNY 2012 are just a month apart. I was in a sewing frenzy and in a constant panic... haha. Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart, to my friends and customers for their repeat support. n i v n i v Handmade will not be here without you :-).

We would like to wish all of you a very happy, healthy and prosperous Chinese New Year! May the Year of Dragon brings you all the good things in life!

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

HQ's primary one orientation day

2012-01-09T02:23:00.002+08:00

HQ attended his school orientation day for Primary 1 on the last day of 2011 (31st Dec 2011). Orientation day only lasted 3 hours - 1 hour each for registration in respective class, headmaster's briefing to parents and school tour for kids (done at the same time seperately) and submission of forms and other miscellaneous fees.

Registration
HQ's names starts with B, so we got to be the first person who register... no waiting :-D. After registration, hubs and I went out of the class to fill up required forms. The children were tempororily seated in alphabetical order. There's 48 kids in his class, and 12 classes for Primary One. There's only one kid from HQ's Kindy in his class. HQ quickly made friends with the boy sitting next to him, Jason. Both are English speaking and they clicked together instantly.

I like his class very much for it's the nearest to the toilet and canteen. Empty space on both sides of the class, so it's very windy too :-).

Caught us spying at him from outside the classroom. Jason's Mummy was very interested with HQ's name :-).
Headmaster's Briefing, school rules & security
After registration and filling up some forms, we made our way to the school hall for the headmaster's briefing. We climbed 4 floors to get to the hall *pant pant pant* I expected the place to be crammed with parents, but found that the hall was HUGE and very well aired.

The Headmaster showed some slides on school rules and school map. School rules are very strict... botak hairstyle for boys and boy-cut for girls, no running and making noise in school compound, no visiting the toilet except before class, during reccess and after class. I find the last one too much, but according to my son, he tried asking politely to go to toilet during classes on his first week of school, and the teacher let him go. He told me he just had to get back to class promptly and not loiter around the school compound. Any kid caught not following the school rules will be given points, depending on severity. An accumulated of 40 points results in the kid getting expelled o.O".

I like the school's security and order. The school used to have many doors, but now all are locked permanently for safety, except for 3 main gayes. Anyone foreign (parents included) wanting to enter the school during classes will have to produce an IC and register his/ her details at the guardhouse. Only one gate (B) to come in the school, and 2 gates (A & C) to go out after school. Parents fetch kids from the main gate, and for kids sitting in school bus or private vans, they wait at another gate. This gate is like a bus station, with 10 lanes for the buses to drive in and has a queing rail for each lane. I'm actually very impressed with this :-).

We were quite dissapointed that there's no extra-curricular classes for Primary One kids, except Tee-Kwan-Do. Ah well, will wait for next year then.

School tour
While we were at the briefing, the kids followed their class teacher for a tour around the school. I remembered when I was in Primary One, I was intimidated by the school. I remembered that I got lost too when I went to the toilet on my first day of school. I'm thankful to find that HQ could navigate between the toilet, canteen, class, teacher's room, assembly area before class, and public phone effortlessly.

Here's after the orientation, HQ couldn't wait to give us a school tour :-). Catering at the canteen
I enquired about catering at the canteen. Like other school, catered kids have their own designated seats. I'm quite happy with the fees of RM 50 per month, but was aghast with the menu :-(. Every week the kids are served with fried mee, fried kwei tiew, porridge/ fried rice, chee cheong fun, and instant noodles. I'm happy with fried rice/ porridge. I'm ok with my kids eating mee, kwei tiew and chee cheong fun occasionally, but not every week. And instant noodles! This is definitely a big NO! I thought the canteen should have better options, and since HQ said he prefers to buy his own food too, we obliged. Good for him to learn to manage his money too.

Stretching his legs after orientation. Looks like this would be the only time he could run freely without being caught o.O".
That's the end of my long-winded account of HQ's orientation day. Can see that HQ was happy and excited on that day. Looks like a good start :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

HQ's first trilogy

2012-01-09T02:22:00.008+08:00

Just want to note that 31st Dec 2011 was also the same day where HQ finished reading The Enchanted Woods trilogy (The Enchanted Woods, The Faraway Tree & The Folks at the Faraway Tree).

He now loves to read these books before bedtime every night and every morning after he wakes up. He has been telling us stories and characters of the books very often and very excitedly (I admire his memory!).

He said these are now his favourite books and he will start reading the first book again! This just shows how engaging these books are :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

what's on our tree this year...

2011-12-25T08:02:00.008+08:00

Thanks to HQ :-)

Merry Christmas, peeps! Hope it's a wonderful, happy and very blessed celebration with your loved ones! :-D

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

2011-12-22T02:02:00.002+08:00

This year I've lost 4 people that I know.

My ex-schoolmate was murdered in Amsterdam when she was there for duty. The papers were filled with her news when it happened.

A girlfriend of mine died mysteriously on her bed one night. She was back home in her mum's house, and passed away on the bed that she slept on when she was still single. She left a two year old son.

My cousin was killed in a car accident on his way to attend his elder sister's wedding. I just saw and waved to him the night before he passed away. He was only in his early twenties. It saddened me so much to think that the sister's wedding anniversary coincides with his death anniversary.

And this Monday, I lost a colleague due to pneumonia. The events happened so quickly, and when I learn about her demise on Monday morning, I felt like a bucketful of ice water was thrown on me. Everything was so unexpected. I was in deep shock. We worked together in the same office for 7+ years. She left a much-loved and very precious 3 year old daughter.

Her demise made me suddenly realised how dangerous pneumonia can be. QQ was hospitalised due to pneumonia and bronchitis before, and I had taken everything for granted. It only occurred to me now that it could be fatal.

I hope deep in my heart, that all four of my friends and cousin will rest in peace. I hope they are now at a much better place, with no pain and suffering. You will always have a place in my heart.

Life is short, so unexpected and so fragile. From now onwards, I vow to always treasure my loved ones. I will spend more time with them, be more patient with my kids, and spoil them a little bit more. I will love more, laugh more, and rest more.

Happy Dong Zhi, everyone. Be home early for dinner tonight. I know I will.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

HQ is reading thicker books now :-)

2011-12-15T06:33:00.002+08:00

My Sis presented HQ with a Geronimo Stilton book - Four Mice in the Jungle last Christmas 2010, when HQ was 5.5 years old. He took the book, gave it a fast flip, read probably 2.5 pages, and chucked it aside.

I bought The Enchanted Woods series and presented to HQ for his 6 year old birthday in May 2011. The series comprises of 3 books – The Enchanted Woods, The Faraway Tree and The Folks at the Faraway Tree. I was hoping that I can get the exact library copies that I loved when I was a kid… hardcover large books filled with adoring images. It took me many months to find these books, and when I saw one last torn set selling in Popular Summit USJ, I grabbed it. The one that I managed to find were softcover and loaded with words. Very few black and white images of the characters, drawn rather unattractively. He took the first book, flipped it, read probably 1.5 pages, and gave it back to me.

I knew he can read the books, as he has read National Geographic, and excitedly narrated info that interested him correctly. Although there were big words, he gets the overall picture. And I knew The Enchanted Woods and Geronimo Stilton, filled with exciting and imaginative tales will interest him. But he told me the books were boring… if only he reads further to find the interesting parts!

Anyway, mid October, I think he finished reading his current collection of books, when he reached for The Enchanted Woods. He never stopped reading since then (HQ: 6y 4m old) :-). He was bringing this book around in his little bag, filled with other books to everywhere we go. He was reading in the car, while having meals in restaurants, and at the barber! :-) He often tell the stories to me, and sometimes read to his Meimei :-). As of now, he has finished reading Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Woods, Geronimo Stilton - Four Mice in the Jungle (he said he took 2 days to finish this book!), Geronimo Stilton - Race Across America, Tintin in America, Tintin: The Crab with the Golden Claws and Tintin: Red Rackham's Treasure (yes, he's very into Tintin too!)

For this long school holiday, he has pestered his Papa to buy more Geronimo Stilton books. One visit to Popular book store, and he ended up with four new Geronimo Stilton books. We didn't want to spend so much at one time, but he wouldn't let go even one book. At last, Papa relented. Was HQ happy! At the shopping mall, waiting for Papa to get money from the ATM machine. HQ can't wait to read his new Geronimo Stilton book! His reading habit... he will read a few books at a time. He will read a few pages of one book, then change to another book. Read a few pages of the second book, then continue with the first/ third book. With the help of bookmarks, he's able to continue where he stopped. To my surprise, he doesn't get the stories mixed up, as he tells the story correctly.

Right now he's reading Enid Blyton's The Faraway Tree and Geronimo Stilton - I'm not a Super Mouse at the same time. And he reads in different positions and places too. It is also very usual for him to have a reading marathon for a few days and then chuck them aside, only to continue reading after an interval of a few days. Sometimes not reading anything up to weeks! Such is the reading habit of a kid who gets bored easily :-S.

This was how HQ read the last page of his The Enchanted Woods :-). (C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

western... but not so western...

2011-12-14T06:36:00.001+08:00

It's not often that I cook western food, and when my kids requested for a burger dinner, I did it a mish-mash version :-)

I cooked exactly like how I do usually... Eastern style sweet & sour pork chops (sorry, non-halal) and carrots and french beans.

Instead of serving the food with rice in bowls, I served them with burger buns on plates (this was QQ's portion). Hee hee... kind of cheating yeah :-)

And washed down the meal in a Chinese soup of ribs, lotus root, corn and carrot :-)

Both my kids loved their meals :-). Here's my little munchkin enjoying hers. She couldn't scarf the burger into her mouth as is, so she ate the top bread half first and the rest later as an open sandwich. I was really happy that she polished the whole burger and all the vege! But she complained that she was toooo full afterwards, so she skipped the apples :-).

you-to-be

2011-12-07T06:36:00.000+08:00

Incident hapened in August 2011: HQ was 6y 3m old

The iPad is a god sent on weekends when we need the extra shut-eye but our kids think otherwise. Like any other day, they are up (and active) from latest 7.30am onwards (sometimes as early as 6am! *faint*). And so we chuck the iPad on their faces and we continue our slumber for another 30 - 60 minutes. Lazy parents... :-)

Hubs taught HQ how to do a search on Google. It is now his to go place when he wants to look at cool pictures and read interesting facts about his favourite subjects - dinosaurs and animals. So, when he gets bored playing Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies or other silly games, he'll Google.

Some time ago, he discovered something via Google, and he excitedly told me about it.

It's "You To Be" he said.

I said, "You be what?".

"It's movies on the Internet!" he told me.

And I found out, he actually meant "Youtube"

:-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

our little "date"

2011-12-05T06:39:00.002+08:00

Hubs and I attended Hub friend’s wedding last Saturday at Damansara Heights. It was like a long-awaited “date” for us :-D.

We started the day by explaining to our kids that we needed to go to a wedding dinner. Of course they wanted to follow. But we explained that kids are not allowed, beer and wine will be served (not suitable for kids), bla bla bla. In response to that, my little boy suggested that since they (kids) can’t go, why not we (adults) stay home with them as well? Hubs explained that because they (Hub’s friends) attended our wedding dinner, so we have to attend theirs as well. Luckily HQ accepted that reason… phew!

We have tried bringing our kids to a friend’s wedding dinner before. It was tiring and so unmanageable. It’s different when we attended my brother’s and relative’s weddings where my parents were there as well to lend a hand. At friends’ wedding dinners, we concluded that it’s best just to give ang pow and not to go. Until now, we decided we shall go, without the kids. Hee hee hee. We are very lucky that Mum volunteered to baby-sit. Thanks so much, Mum & Dad! :-D.

So it was an enjoyable evening :-). For once, we can eat in peace and have proper adult conversations with friends. And I can take my time in the washroom :-). I felt so liberated!
My dress that night. I bought this dress online from here, and unlike other miss or hit online purchases, I am very happy with this dress. Thanks so much, Shireen :-). Too bad I didn’t get to snap a full length photo… too paiseh, I seemed to be the only one snapping photos before the dinner :-). We left at 10.00pm right after the dinner and yum seng (no after-dinner clubbing for us) and reached Mum’s place at 10.30pm. Surprisingly the kids were still awake; they’re waiting for us to return! Hahaha… it would be our turn to wait for them to come home when they reach their teens :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

QQ's first kindy concert

2011-12-02T02:21:00.001+08:00

QQ: 4y 3m old

HQ's last kindergarten concert was also QQ's first concert. Unlike HQ who started kindy when he was 3, QQ only started when she was 4. Which is this year.

She was so excited about her concert. Mainly, she's excited about her very sparkly (and sexy) costume. Although she felt uncomfortable in it (she kept scratching her waist while doing her moves on the stage), she loved it to bits. And she's also very excited about putting on make-up. Haha... this was the first time she put on make-up and was the main highlight of her day :-D.

Here's my little vainpot putting on her make-up. She's so afraid that she may smudge her lipgloss and kept her lips pursed; haha!All done! :-DWith korkor :-)
She did 3 dances that day. Here's the video of one of the dances (she's the girl in the middle).

While dancing the other 2 dances, she was communicating with her other friends who were not on the stage. Calling out to her friends, waving, making angry faces, and laughing with her friends... this girl gets distracted very easily... tsk tsk tsk :-)She also sang a solo English song. The teacher chosed a simple song for her. She stammered when she introduced herself; instead of saying "I am here to sing a song named Mary had a Little Lamb", she said "I am here to sing Mary had a Little Lamb". Because of that missed word "song", she stammered and thought she had to say the whole sentence again :-). If you listen carefully, she sang a little faster than the music. And the poor girl got to sing 4 rounds of the same song following the music, over and over again. At the end of it, parents were clapping their hands in tune to the song, and singing along with her :-D

It's ok, mistakes and all, she still enjoyed herself :-). And by going on stage alone, I think she gained a bit more self confidence :-).

She received the Best Reader Award (English), for reading her Peter and Jane series (1a to 3c) well. She was also placed 2nd in her class of 22 students. We were rather surprised that she scored quite high in her Mandarin reading too :-)
Emotionally, her teachers commented that she's an easy-going child, happy, very courteous and always ready to help :-). She's generous most of the time, but if she says no, and kids still snatch her things, she'll retaliate. Her weaker point is although she's very fierce in protecting herself/ her stuffs, she cries easily too (more like tears of anger) :-S.

Good job, Mei mei! We're mighty proud of her :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

HQ's graduation day

2011-11-28T23:33:00.010+08:00

As I see my firstborn happily skipped to his school gate on his last day of kindergarten, wearing his concert uniform and swinging bags of goodies in his hand, I have mixed feelings. I am eager to see him grow and ready for new challenges... he's so excited with the new school! Opportunities to make new friends, new environment, Robotics class, Chinese chess (which he starts to play now), proper self defense lessons and more. I'm looking forward to packing his snacks for school breaks and to hear his stories after school :-D. Yet I am worried to no ends how the new school schedule will affect him.

We attended HQ's last kindergarten concert on a Saturday, 5th November 2011. It was his graduation day as well. His graduation photo... he does look like a big boy, doesn't he? :')
Seeing my firstborn march up the stage as the first kid to give his short graduation speech, made my eyes well with tears.

What he said: "Good afternoon. My name is Bxxx Hxx Qxxx and I am 6 years old. When I grow up, I want to be a Forest Ranger, whereby I can take care of the forest."

Where other kids wanted to be teachers, doctors, polices, nurses, my HQ wants to be a Forest Ranger. Must be too much influence from Nat Geo Wild :-).

But, you know what? He later whispered in my ear that "Mama, let me tell you a secret. I actually want to be a spy. But I cannot tell anyone about this, so I tell them I want to be a Forest Ranger. That's my second choice"

:-). Amazing how little kids think ya? :-)

He started out being really unsure of his Mandarin characters, and we used to spend 1/2 hour every weekend to practice his Ting Xie for the first school term. For the second school term, he's already doing dictation, and he insisted that he didn't need practicing. Yes, he's a lazy little boy and we let him (bad parents :-( ). However, we were surprised when he often comes home with full points for his dictations. During the school concert, he was also awarded with "Best Improvement in Mandarin". His Headmistress told us that he deserves the award :-).He's represented the 6 year olds in telling an English story during the concert... I was listening with all ears, and he did not make even one mistake :-). My chest heaved with pride :-). Here's a video of the story, although it could be much better if the background wasn't that noisy.

I enjoy seeing my big boy doing big things on the stage, and mingles with his teachers and friends. But I couldn't help feeling that he's living his own life now without much assistance and influence from us adults. I feel he is really growing up too fast!

For the past one year, he has grown a whole lot. He has attended this kindergarten for the half day session since 2010 for 5 year old class (he attended another kindy f0r 3 and 4 year old classes). This year, he was placed 5th among 23 other six year olds. Although it is not a top 3 position, I am proud of his achievements. To me, it is not only academic achievements that we need to stress on. Confidence, being comfortable among people he has just met, carrying himself well in public, and courage to do new unfamiliar things count a lot too. I wouldn't say he's perfect in all those; there's still lots of room to grow :-)

I hope he will continue to grow, emotionally and academically, as an individual and as a team member of our little family. Hubs and I are excited for his future, and also very mindful to be better role models to him. Yes, Hubs and I have a lot to learn and improve too. I am sometimes very afraid that we are not sufficient as we are now and may lead him the wrong way... so, do pray for us!

HQ's first concert in October 2008 (3y 5m old)
HQ's second concert in November 2010 (5y 6m old)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

my cutest "birthday letter"

2011-11-22T22:33:00.000+08:00

HQ, my 6 year old firstborn gave me this "birthday letter" on my birthday. Yes, my birthday's today!

I was very surprised and touched by his 2nd sentence, and I was laughing heartily from his 3rd sentence onward :') What a cute and fun way to describe!

My dear dear boy... thank you for the very thoughtful and sweet note. I feel so blessed having you as my son, and I love you very very very much too :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

singapore 2011: day 3

2011-11-19T06:32:00.003+08:00

This is a forewarn that this post has some really unacceptably blurry images. Due to poor camera, poor photographing skills, poor lighting (and any other reasons that I could not think of at the moment :-)).

On day 3 of our Singapore trip, we planned to go Universal Studio at Sentosa Island, but due to the heavy rain in the morning, we decided not to. We don't fancy lugging a whole lot of umbrellas, caps and hats to that place, queuing under the rain and anticipating many cancelled rides.

And so, we decided to use our free coupons instead, complimentary from the resort. We were really tempted to use the tickets for Wild Wild Wet, the water park of the resort. But for the same reason (heavy rain), we ditched the idea.

We used the tickets for the indoor playground instead, eXplorerkid, which was located inside the shopping mall adjacent to the resort, White Sands Shopping Centre. This decision was strongly seconded by my nephew, because he just had his birthday celebration there and it was one of his most favourite place :-D

The indoor playground is HUGE... no kidding. The playstation(Mega Play ) was 3 floors high... and as big as a classroom. Adults have no problem going in too. The kids went ballistic!The lit ball poolThe toddlers' play area
There's also one structure set up for various adventurous activities, which the boys were really eager to try. However, they have to be at least 120cm tall, so none of them got to try it. If we go now, HQ would have just reached that height :-). So the boys climb the cliff instead.I noticed that in playing, HQ prefers to play in a group, while QQ prefers to play on her own. Although HQ do love doing activities on his own like reading, and play pretend with his toys, in this instance, he was playing closely with his cousin and kept encouraging QQ to play with them. He was fabricating a story of spies and baddies and needed QQ as one of his teammate :-)

QQ on the other hand kept running out of the group and exploring the place on her own. Again, although she has no problem playing with friends at other times, in this instance, she wanted to be playing alone.

Funny how kids react at different times :-).

After some really good exercise, we dragged the kids out for a late lunch at a Hong Kong coffee shop. And they doddle on the Boogie Board :-). Click here to read more on how they enjoyed the session :-)

After lunch, Sis and her boys left for her friend's place for a Hari Raya open house. We decided to check out the nearby park & beach. There were lots of facilities available; bicycle tracks, bicycles for rent, a wide clean beach and picnic spots, lots of BBQ plots too, horse rides, fishing spots, etc. After a breezy walk at the beach, we went for dinner. We explored White Sands Shopping Centre next to our resort and crossed the bridge to the opposite mall as well. We ate at Just Acia that offers good healthy food at an amazingly low price... a big bowl of chicken whole leg and chinese herbs soup, yummy seaweed taufu, miso soup, chawan mushi, greens, edamame, tasty panfried salmon, and kimchi. The helpings were pretty generous and the food was fresh. What delighted my kids most is the free flow of drinks and ice-cream :-)After our dinner, we managed to do some shopping. On our way back, we saw a man swirling cotton candy in the cotton candy maker. The kids were fascinated, and wanted to try some. It's really fluffy compared to pre-made ones that we always see at hypermarkets. This is the first time our kids tasted cotton candy, and they loved it.
That's the end of of day 3 tour at Singapore.

The next day we visited Granny again, picked up mum, BIL treated us to a scrumptious lunch, did more shopping and we headed for home. The drive home was smooth, although it did rained quite heavily and we encountered a short stretch of jam at one of the exit to a small town. Forgotten the name of the town, but other than that the drive home was uneventful :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

doodling has never been so fun :-)

2011-11-13T23:13:00.001+08:00

We were having lunch at a Hong Kong coffee shop in Singapore sometime ago. While waiting for our food to come, as usual, our kids wasted no time to doodle on their Boogie Board.

They totally love their Boogie Board as it very easy and fun to use :-).Boogie Board is a LCD writing tablet that is paperless and great for the environment. Great for me too as I just got to slip a really slim and light tablet into my bag when we go out. And no mess of scribbled paper and flying pencil shaves to clean up :-)What's new at Boogie Board is you can now save your images in PDF! (Picture borrowed from Boogie Board Singapore)Isn't that so cool? :-)

Check them out at their Facebook Page :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

singapore trip 2011: day 2

2011-11-13T03:33:00.000+08:00

On our second day in Singapore, we took our time in waking up and by the time we left our room, it was quite late in the morning. We did a quick and simple brekkie at the resort's food court again. After breakfast, Hubs needed to drop by his Singapore office. Again, with the help of our Papago, we made our way. It's a very long stretch of road and by the time we reached Hub's office, QQ has fallen asleep. She must still be tired from the night before.

After taking care of what Hubs had to do in his office, we made our way to Jurong Bird Park. As planned, Sis called us and we met up for lunch. It’s a close fight between Chinese food and McDonalds… in the end Mummies won :-).

QQ with her signature rice on the side of her mouth :-)Here are some pictures taken at Jurong Bird Park.

Here’s how our little Princess enjoyed her tour. Papa, who’s always been her hero, was even more appreciated that day :-D.We enjoyed a bird show at the amphitheatre – Birds are Buddies. The show was filled with pink flamingoes, clever parrots, hornbills and swift eagles.Our kids were really hopeful to be picked as a volunteer…
They really enjoyed the show. Love their happy expressions :-DAt the end of the show, the kids wanted to donate some money to the park, so they made a beeline to the donation box. The place was so crowded I didn't manage to take a photo. After that we moved aside and took a photo with the colourful parrots.Right after “Birds are Buddies”, we went to another show "Kings Of the Skies”. Waiting for the show to start. This show is more informational, sharing the history of birds as predators of different continents. Owls, eagles and vultures. Pretty interesting.Kids insisted to take a photo with one of the “actress” in the show, a noble lady from the Medieval times, with her prized eagle.It was drizzling when the show was over, and we continued with our tour with caps, hats and umbrellas. We went to the lorries station. By the time we left, the park's rangers were already rounding up the place to inform everyone that they were closing for the day. It was dinner time. I remember we were all famished, but I couldn't recall where we had dinner :-(. I asked hubs, and he can't too... Sigh... age is really catching up :-(.

I only recall that that night, while the kids were sleeping, hubs and I got to watch a movie that I've been planning to watch for ages... Pursuit of Happyness, staring Will Smith. It was good :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

singapore trip 2011: day 1

2011-10-14T00:39:00.002+08:00

This year's Hari Raya Holidays coincide with Merdeka Day, and so Hubs and I took 2 days off to enjoy a long stretch of off days :-). We went to Singapore. It was sort of a last minute decision, with less than a week to confirm everything. Very stressful, I tell you!

We heard raves about Costa Sands Resort, and so Sis helped to book a room. We chose this place for the facilities and location. The facilities is superb - there's barbeque pits, a waterpark, a huge indoor kids playground, lots of restaurants and a nice food court within walking distance, a shopping mall and supermarket next door, a 5-minute drive to the beach, bicycles for rent and bicycle tracks. If you're looking for 5-star treatment, this place is not for you. But it fitted our requirements well as a place that's clean, comfortable and very family friendly.

We left at 5.00 am in the morning on Sunday, and the kids were too excited to continue sleeping in the car. The journey was uneventful and very smooth. Stopped at one of the small town in Johor to have breakfast... I've forgotten the name of the town! The kids were still wearing pajamas during their breakfast :-).

We waited for Sis at Costa Sands Resort, and when they arrived, we ate lunch. We're ravenous, so we just ate at the food court at Costa Sands. There's one breakfast + drinks + dessert stall in the food court, and we tried on a few types of dessert after lunch... black glutinious porridge, steamed sago pearls drizzled with creamy coconut milk and fragrant gula melaka, and freshly blended strawberry smoothie... so very yummy and prices very reasonable! Err... sorry, no picture.

After lunch, we checked in. While lazing around in our room, we watched cartoon on tv and ate baby Rafa's snacks of strawberries and blueberries... hee hee. At 4pm, we left for our first tourist destination - the Singapore Flyer. Source

One of the tube Some important landmarks seen while we're on the flyer
Excited kidsWe were already famished before we descended the flyer. The kids especially. Once we're out, we made our way for food at Singapore Food Trial. We had fall-of-the-bone bak kut teh ribs, huge ping-pong-sized fishballs with noodles, yummy rojak, chicken rice, singapore hokkein fried mee, and freshly wrapped popiahs. Again... no pictures!

After we're done eating, we splitted ways... Sis and her family back to her home, and we drove off to Grandma's house with the help of our Papago. Grandma seemed much better in terms of appetite, alertness and skin colour from the last time we saw her. Although she's still bound to her wheelchair, she's quite independant moving around. She has just taken her dinner and was watching television when we arrived. Mum wanted to stay with Grandma for the few days that we're in Singapore. By the time we left it was already very late.

After parking our car at the resort, we had to carry our sleeping kids back to the room. They thought they'll be able to continue with their slumber back in the room, but this cruel mama woke them up to bathe and brush their teeth. Luckily my sleepy kids are angels and did not complain. I think they're too groggy from sleep to make a fuss :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

common

2011-10-13T01:23:00.000+08:00

You know... I have a very common name. When I was younger and schooling, I met people having almost the same name as mine... Pei Ling, Pei Pei, Pei Sin, Sin Pei, Pei Li, Pei Mun, Pei Yin.

This has became more apparent recently.

First.
My family was at Sunway Hospital for our booster influenza jabs, and we took turns to register. I've misplaced my medical card, so I wrote my full name down for the nurse at the registration counter to look into their database for my record. She told me there's 6 people in the database with the exact full name. Same spelling. SIX.

Second.
I was at the dentist waiting for my turn to have my teeth checked. I heard the nurse calling my name, and so I made my way to the dentist room. I was agitated to find another lady following very closely to the same room. In my mind I was saying "Back off, it's my turn!". Turned out it was not my turn, but the other lady. We share the same name... the full surname and given name. How high is the odds meeting another person with the same full name in a dental clinic? With my name, I'd say EXTREMELY high.

Third.
My 6 year old, HQ, excitedly told me that he has a new classmate. And even more excitedly he told me his new classmate name is EXACTLY the same as mine... surname and given name.

So, did the above scenarios prove how common my name is?

Don't believe? For those of you who know my name, and if you have nothing to do, you can try keying in my full name with exact spelling in your FB Search column. Wait for the drop down menu to appear, and click on the last item of "See More Results for {my full name}". When the list appears, keep clicking "See more results".

The list will be extraordinarily long.

GARGANTUAN.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

incoherent

2011-10-11T18:23:00.002+08:00

QQ: 4y 2m old

At bedtime, after HQ has fallen asleep, QQ will still want to play, sing, talk, and do whatever that allows her to escape from sleeping. After awhile, she'll be soooo tired, sometimes she starts talking incoherently.

These are some of the incidents that I find pretty funny. For my future records, I've also noted down where she heard the quote from.
...................................................................................................................................

We were camping at mum's house for nearly a month, when hubby was away at Jakarta. My Mum and Dad were worried about us being at our own home at night without the man in the house, so they insisted that we sleep at their home for the whole time hubby was away. Hubs is already back as of writing and we have resumed our normal routine.

So while at Mum's place, HQ has fallen asleep on his side of the 2 single beds joined together. QQ was fighting sleep... singng on top of her voice and trying to get my attention by poking and pulling my nose. It's already 11.30pm, and I desperately wanted her to fall sleep so that I can do some work. I told her:

Me : I am going to sleep with korkor and not you because you are making too much noise. Only if you agree to sleep quietly, then I will sleep with you.

I moved to HQ's side. She responded (rather rudely, I'm afraid)

QQ : Why you don't want to play with me!?!?! You want to sleep with korkor, right? Ok, here!

She threw my pillow at me.

Then threw my blanket at me. And yelled:

QQ : Here's your rat, cat!!!

!!! I was then in stitches!

You must be as blur as sotong now :-D

Note: She watched too much of this 1944 Tom & Jerry Classic VCD that I bought during my company trip to Singapore in 2006 - The Zoot Cat. There's a scene where Tom the cat presented to a cute but pompous female cat with a box, containing Jerry the mouse. The female cat thought Tom was corny, and after saying a string of sarcastic words to Tom, she flung the mouse and the box to Tom, while saying haughtily "Here's your rat, cat!". So... when QQ was throwing the blanket at me, she said the same phrase haughtily too. *shake head*
......................................................................................................................................

Still camping at Popo's house, QQ was trying to get away from sleeping and begged me to let her out of the room to join her Popo, who's watching TVB drama on TV. I said a firm NO. She responded:

QQ : Pleeeeeaaaaseeee... just a foot? Ok, 8 inches! That's all! Six inches?

Knowing where this came from, I again rolled on the bed laughing. Funny that she said this, instead of her usual "One minute!" or "20 seconds!" although she does not have a good sense of time yet.

Note: My brother presented QQ with a Calvin & Hobbes comic book on her birthday. HQ will read to QQ on evenings when they are good (read: not bickering, fighting or watching tv) and both of them will laugh and laugh. The below is their favourite piece... I'm so lucky to be able to find it in the Net :-). HQ will read, both of them will mimic Calvin's actions, and they will laugh till tears roll down their cheeks :-D. So, that's where QQ's "Pleeeeeaaaaseeee... just a foot? Ok, 8 inches! That's all! Six inches?" came from.
source.

...........................................................................................................................................

QQ and I were tickling and giggling on the bed... me trying to set her happy mood so she'll readily go to sleep. I asked for a kiss... she responded:

QQ: No!!! It's spiiiiicyyyyy!!!

Note: This one came from me, for times when I'm enjoying my instant noodles and she tried to get a bite from me.

So yeah, that's my funny incoherent complicated 4 year old, when sleepy. And I love her so :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

napping

2011-09-26T23:39:00.001+08:00

One weekend, QQ was taking a nap while I was busy cooking. When I asked HQ to take a nap as well, he volunteered to help to fold the laundry. Which he's really good at :-).

After about 15 minutes, here's what I found...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...

Barely started, and he has fallen asleep :-).

Melted my heart seeing him sleeping in this position... he seems so vulnerable, innocent and looks so sweet while sleeping. I carried him to his mattress and he continued with his slumber for another 2 hours until dinnertime :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

growing... a lot faster than i thought...

2011-09-22T18:29:00.000+08:00

HQ: 6 years 3 months old During out short trip to Singapore last Raya holidays (I will blog about this later; yes, I'm so behind with all my blog posts :-( ), BIL treated us to a scrumptious lunch in Oriental Restaurant (or was it Six Happiness? Not sure).

It was at the end of the lunch when we're having dessert that I noticed on the floor around HQ there were pieces of vegetables. I felt that it's funny that a high-class restaurant would "forget" to clean the floor after the previous diner had dirtied it. "Must be a messy toddler who ate here before we came" I thought.

Back in Malaysia, in my mum's home, I noticed the same thing happened again! Pieces of vege strategically dropped and kicked under the chair! *faint* So it is my kid who did this. HQ to be specific.

I was surprised at how discreetly he did it. All of us at the table did not notice him dropping and kicking the vege pieces under his chair *wipe sweat*

When we asked him, he feigned innocence.
"Eh, how come got vege under my chair?"

When we pressed further, in a small voice he asked:
"Did... meimei... do it?" *wearing a guilty face*

He had since admitted his wrong-doing and promised not to do it again.

Big SIGH... where did he learn this from?
....................................................................................................................................

There's a series on Astro now that HQ enjoyed watching... "The Three Kingdoms". After school, HQ will usually rush his lunch, bathe and homework before he's allowed to watch it with Gong Gong. Of course Gong Gong will not let him watch the violent bits.

One day after the show, he casually told my mum:

HQ: Oh... I just remember that I still have one page of homework to do! I'll go do it now!

My mum thought of nothing about this. Until... this happened again the next day!

So... in order to be able to catch the show on tv, HQ is feigning forgetfulness.

Big big sigh...
........................................................................................................................................

I admit, I am rather astonished with his creativity in getting around the "rules". Sigh... where has my "green" little boy gone? Hubs thinks it's no big deal, but I'm really concerned. Would you?

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

cameron highlands 2011

2011-09-12T00:39:00.001+08:00

Our family drove up to Cameron Highlands one weekend for a short break. We tailed each other in 3 cars. This was the first time we travel in a big group, a dozen of 8 adults and 4 kids :-).

We arrived for a late lunch. We quickly stopped by the first restaurant that we spotted, and it happened to be a chicken rice shop. We were lucky to beat 2 other customers in grabbing the last chicken... haha! No picture, too hungry :-P).

After lunch, we stopped by Strawberry Farm. Sis was laughing at the strawberries' puniness, but she bought 3 punnets all the same. The adjacent nursery offered some really beautiful blooms though. We had Magnum ice-creams as snack... according to my Sis, Magnum is more expensive in Singapore, so they always eat lots of it when they're in Malaysia... kiasu :-D. At the entrance, we took a family picture. This is from hubby's camera, so hubby's not in the picture. Next, we headed to Boh Tea Centre for a late tea of fragrant tea and very yummy lemon butter cake. The hike up to this hill was pretty easy, compared to the one that we hiked last time (two different tea plantations).
The weather was cooling and windy, with a storm looming ahead. The views were breath-taking... Boys... QQ and Rafa... QQ was estatic that Rafa is calling her "Jie Jie" now. They both enjoyed each other company :-) After checking in our rooms for the night, we drove to the weekend night market. Bought loads of corns, swet potatoes, vegetables and more strawberries.

QQ fell asleep in the car, and was feeling really lousy when we had to wake her up for dinner. Whinning and crying; I really felt sorry for her. After a full dinner of hot comforting steamboat, our little girl felt much much better :-). The next morning after breakfast, we headed to Robinson's waterfall. It was a long way through the jungle track, which was wet and slippery after the night's rain. I wore the wrong shoes, so I walked barefooted to avoid slipping down the clift and into the gushing river :-D. The river was pretty muddy from all the constructions nearby, so we didn't wade in as planned.
After tracking, we stopped at a nearby playground so our kids can have more exercise :-).
I think HQ looks so "yeng " here... heehee. We had lunch at Uncle Chow's, a charming little family restaurant. Food was great, but QQ only requested for white rice, a hard-boiled egg, bread and butter :-). Even a simple cherry scented lipbalm kept her happy for a very long time. Such simple requests to make a little girl happy :-). On our drive home, Dad stopped to buy loads of durian to eat after dinner. As usual, boys will be boys... here's them goofing around with the durians :-). Albeit tiring, it was an enoyable trip :-). To read about this trip in a different perspective, do hop to nivniv Handmade :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

this one made me smile :-)

2011-08-21T23:22:00.001+08:00

drawn & written by: HQ, age 6y 3m old

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog.

QQ's 4th Birthday

2011-08-02T06:27:00.011+08:00

QQ's birth date is on 20.07.2007. Special isn't it? :-). HQ's birth date is on 19.05.2005. He was borned right on the EDD. If he could have waited a few hours more, his birth date would be 20.05.2005 :-D. Just some trivial notes on birth dates... hee hee

And so, QQ turns 4 last fortnight on a Wednesday. We decided to celebrate a weekend earlier to accomodate everyone's schedule. Here's the birthday princess in her birthday dress :-).
Posing with her best friend; koko :-).
This year birthday dress has a bit more sentimental value to me... not the design, or the fabric, but it is because this dress was sewn during the interview with Nanyang Siang Pau :-). I decided to keep this dress for my little QQ, and it fits her well for her 4th birthday :-).

What's more important is, QQ loves this dress too. How could she not love fluttering pink and purple butterflies, sweet white hearts on pink shoulder ties, and an eye-catching ribbon with yellow flower button. Of course, comfort does play a big role too :-).

The day started with breakfast at a restaurant of her choice - PappaRich. My kids love this place! Well, I have not known any kid who has been to this place and not love it :-). After her usual fish and chips with a hard boil egg, my little munchkin downed a whole huge glass of Dinosaur Milo. o.O" Next, we went to another of her favourite place, the bookshop. Bought a stack of books for the kids and the cousins. After spending a huge amount of time in the bookshop, we had a lovely lunch of pancakes and ice cream. She has strict orders from her Chinese Sinsei not to take anything cold and eat fried food. But since it's the Princess' wish on her birthday, we obliged. After all, Princess or not, one only gets to celebrate her birthday once a year :-D. And oh, she did enjoyed a few rounds on the mini carousal, while big brother HQ played Animal Kaiser. These piccies are snapped by HQ:HQ fell asleep in the car on our way home, and QQ went down with Papa to choose her birthday cake. She said she wanted a strawberry cake in the shape of a flower. A fruit flan cake with strawberries and lychee arranged in a circle, admist other fruits, did the trick :-).
Our dinner at a favourite neighbourhood restaurant - fish slices with ginger and spring onions, spinach in superior stock, chicken in onion sauce, kung po chicken in yam basket, and marmite chicken wings for the 4 of us. Again, fried and unhealthy food, but these are family favourites. On her actual birthday, which was on a Wednesady, we had another round of birthday songs and candles blowing. The kids were already in their pajamas :-) Thank you Gong Gong and Popo for the ang pows. Thank you Tai Yi for your beautiful and thoughtful presents. Thank you Kiu Kiu and Kiu Ngiong for the interesting Calvin and Hobbes comic book. QQ loves all of them :-).

Happy birthday, sweet QQ. May you grow up healthy, strong and happy. We all love you very much! :-D.

QQ past birthday outfits:
One year old dress
Two year old dress
Three year old outfit.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

dad's and mum's birthday celebration

2011-07-29T01:33:00.004+08:00

Back-dated post

July is a birthday month in our family. The first that we look forward to is Dad's birthday on the 17th. We will either have dinner outside or homemade steamboat prepared by Mum. This year, we ate out.

As Mum's Chinese birth date is just 2 days away from Dad's, like most years, we make it a 2-in-1 celebration. Here's the dinner menu: seafood fried rice with ebiko, marmite pork, steamed fish in thick ginger sauce, house specialty tofu, prawns in salted egg yolk sauce and fried water convolvulus in belacan sauce. HQ is such a funny chap that night... he loved the ebiko fried rice and would eat nothing else *shake head*. In contrary, he picked on the dishes using his chopsticks, placed the food in our bowls, and encouraged us to finish them! We later sang a birthday song and blew candles - mixed fruit sponge cake. On Mum's actual English calendar birthday, my brother got another birthday cake for Mum, chocolate cheese from Miki Ojisan :-). Happy Birthdays to both my wonderful parents, Mum and Dad! Thank you for being there for us always! And may both of you live long, happy, healthy and blessed lives! :-D.

The birthday marathon continues with my nephew and QQ's birthday, which I will blog later :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

nivniv is one today!

2011-07-24T13:23:00.002+08:00

Exactly the same date and time last year, nivniv was launched. Happy Birthday, nivniv! :-D.

We're having a giveaway on our Facebook page to commemorate this day, so do remember to participate in our One Year Old Giveaway before the closing date on 31 July 2011!

Picture source: Pinterest via Filippa Asved.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

:-)

2011-07-20T01:39:00.004+08:00

Here's my little munchkin trying to help me to hang clothes out to dry. I was already done when she ran out declaring "I want to help!", and so I pulled down 2 mismatched socks for her to "help".

I thought she would just plop the socks on the clothes rail like I did, but she fetched down a clothes hanger from the rail instead. I wondered what she's going to do with it? Hahaha... look at her adorable frown... she knew how she wanted to hang those socks, but was obviously flustered by the mechanics of it :-P. After some experiments and changing of the clothes hanger, twice (as if the colour of hanger does matter), she successfully pulled the socks into the hanger and hung them this way :-D. She felt great achievement, and I admired her for her determination. But at the same time, I couldn't help but LOL! I found it hilarious!

My girl? She didn't find it funny one bit, and couldn't care less.

Here's what she thought...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...o.O"

HAHAHAHAHA!

NOTE: The pictures and naration above are only meant for entertainment. No, my girl does not know anything about swearing and offensive finger gestures. She just found her nose itchy... and I found that picture funny :-).

Pictures were taken on 8 May 2011; QQ was 3y 9m old then.

Not forgetting some birthday notes - Gabriel, my nephew, turned 6 yesterday, and QQ is 4 today! Happy birthday, dearies! :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

2011-07-14T23:23:00.004+08:00

My kids adore their cousins. So whenever anyone of us is on the phone talking to my Sis in Singapore, my kids will beg us to let them speak to their cousins.

On one occasion, I was surprised to find that the conversation between HQ and his cousins was more brief than usual. I asked him:

Me: How come you talk so little on the phone this time?

HQ: I don't understand what Rafa said. He's speaking Japanese!

LOL!!! HQ is still not used to hearing Rafa talking (English, but most probably sounds like Japanese to HQ). Rafa's only 22 months old, but he's talking like a parrot already :-D.

HQ: 6y 1m old; Rafa: 22m old

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

dancing class with QQ :-)

2011-07-05T14:33:00.011+08:00

QQ: Are you ready? :-)

QQ: Do this!
Mama: *oh, I can totally do that*
Mama: *no sweat*
Mama: *smirk*QQ: Good! Now, get ready to...

QQ: S P I N !!!QQ: Spin some more!
Mama: *getting giddy*

QQ: Good job! :-D

QQ: Now... do this!

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Mama: * G U L P *

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

photos: pool time at holiday inn, penang

2011-07-05T13:33:00.000+08:00

Back-dated post. Penang trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011. Related posts here , here, here, here and here.

The kids enjoyed a short, but marvelous time at the pool in Holiday Inn, Penang. There's one really small kids pool, and since it's crammed with kids and mummies, hubby brought the kids to the adults pool, at the most shallow section. Which was already reaching HQ's chest.QQ was apprehensive at first, as her legs could not reach the bottom. But once she's confident enough floating in her little "life jacket", she happily bounced along :-). While drinking and spitting a lot of pool water :-).
(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

father's day

2011-06-30T06:19:00.001+08:00

Post-dated post: 18th June 2011 (Saturday)

Father's Day started well with the kids giving Papa some handmade Father's Day Card that they did in school. (In comparison, it's funny that the school did not prepare anything for Mother's Day).

Here's HQ's card all written by himself (I blurred his name). And here's the inside of QQ's card. Teacher helped her with the writing, except her name (which I blurred). I love her drawings, especially the blue elephant! :-).We had plans to go for a simple outing on Saturday, but something cropped up unexpectedly and we only managed to go for the dinner with Mum, Dad, WC and MY.

Braised tofu with minced meat sauce on a bed of steamed egg

Fried fish slices (which I thought I snapped a picture but didn't :-()

But I did snapped this picture of this dish, which is made from the bones, leftover from the above dish. Salty and yummy!Honey ribsPrawns deepfried in fragrant salt

Happy Father's Day, Dad! Thank you for being a wonderful grandpa to my kids :-D.

Happy Father's Day, hubby! Thank you for being a wonderful hubby and Papa! :-).

And Happy Belated Father's Day to all Daddies, and Grandpas out there :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

my little fashionista

2011-06-27T13:29:00.003+08:00

Thank you everyone for the concern and well wishes :-). Although still having slight fever now and then, flu and cough, QQ is much better now. She has not been going to school for a week plus now, and we may be still keeping her at home for sometime.

As she has been cooping in Popo's home most of the days, when Papa said he's bringing us to Old Town White Coffee for breakfast on Sunday morning, QQ excitedly got herself dressed :-).

The place was just around the neighbourhood, but she dressed like she's going someplace special :-).

Except for the tee, she chose this whole assemble on her own. My little fashionista :-D.
(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with permission and links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

fever, vomit, sorethroat, rashes and cough

2011-06-24T01:39:00.003+08:00

Kinda rhymes too ya? :-)

Ya, now I can type :-), but the last few days were nightmares... especially for my poor QQ. (warning - very long-winded article ahead)

She recovered from her mini fever and cough session after the Penang trip, and was all excited to start school, because she knew she'll be celebrating Teacher's Day on Friday. Like other kids, she had an eat-all-you-can session in school consisting of muruku, junk food and potato chips (I asked HQ what they ate). I was mad as I have told the teachers again and again not to allow QQ eat any junk food, and yet no one did anything to control her. I didn't put all the blame on the teachers; this little missy should have known better cos I've been drumming this into her head as well. Sigh...

Anyway, at the wee hour of 2.00am Saturday morning, QQ woke me up to help her in the toilet, and her skin was burning! Quickly took her tempreture (38.8) and fed her milk and Progesic Paracetamol. After she had fallen asleep, I checked on her now and then, and when her tempreture climbed to 39.6 at 3.30am, I quickly inserted a suppository. At 5.00 am, she had a bout of coughing and vomited. After cleaning her up and changing the bedsheet, she feel asleep again. When she awoke again at 7.30am, I found it unusual when she declined her milk. At 8.00am, she vomitted again. This time it was all liquid and not a trace of food. And it's bright yellow! We were shocked!

We quickly got ready and left the house. It was barely 9.00am when we arrived Sunway Medical Centre. When she was at the hospital, she seemed to be her active self again, albeit a bit tired. She only ate a few mouthfuls of the plain bread that I fed her. According to the Pead, it's a bug that she caught. I thought it could be all the heaty junks that she ate during Teacher's Day on Friday, and the bug easily invaded her heaty body.

When hubby was collecting the medicine from the pharmacy, the kids played in the little playroom. After awhile I knew something was wrong when QQ stood very still and her eyes searched for me. I quickly went to her and she told me she's going to vomit. By the time we reached the doorway of the playroom, my QQ vomited bright yellow liquid again. This time, it all landed on her shoes, HQ's shoes and another little girl's shoes :-(.

After cleaning QQ, I took HQ's and the little girl's shoes to clean. By the time I had them cleaned, the little girl's parents were already searching high and low for her shoes. Really felt so sorry for the little girl :-(.

I fed QQ timely with the fever medicine, and she was alright during the Father's Day dinner although her appetite was not good. We then noticed that her skin had red patches on them. Not bulges, but in patches of very tiny red dots.

The next afternoon (Sunday), our little girl started scratching. I tried baby oil, aloe vera gel, and calamine to soothe her itchiness to no avail. The poor girl was literally scratching herself sore! Her skin started breaking too :-(. She seemed very much better when she was soaking in a tub of warm water, so I let her soak for however long she wanted. The water help to keep her fever down anyway. At late noon, when her fever wouldn't budge from the 38+ range, we inserted another suppository during her nap.

After her nap, she seemed to be eating better - half a chicken thigh, half an egg, half portion of fish and lots of soup. Why all half? Cos she only finished less than half of her portion.

That night she scratched herself to bed and only feel asleep at 11.00pm. At 2.30am, she awoke again, scratching and scratching until she looked like a cooked lobster. Even her head, eyes and ears were itchy! My poor poor baby :'(. She scratched and scratched until she fell asleep again at 4.30am.

2 hours of itch! I bet she was really sleepy and she was coughing too. I really marvel her... She did not fuss or cry at all, just scratched, scratched and scratched :'(.

I called the Pead on Monday, who advised that he would want to do a blood test on her just in case it's dengue. However, the blood test can only be done on Tuesday (dengue result will only show after fever of 3 days). I can't go on emergency leave for 2 days in a row as there are urgent things in the office that I needed to look into. As her fever is now under control, I decided to bring her in only on Tuesday. Moreover, the calamine I have in hand is the same as what the Pead will be giving (I was having rashes due to food allergy sometime ago - more about that later).

So my poor Princess had another night of nightmare. She was scratching non-stop. Crying this time too. There were also rashes around her eyes forming 2 bright red rings. HQ said she looked like someone had punched her on both eyes. That night she slept without any clothes on; she seemed to scratch less when the it's cooler.

So, on Tuesday, the Pead stuck a needle in her to draw blood 2 tube of blood for the test. Of course she wailed. But only for a brief moment; my brave brave girl. Truth is, I think the blood drawing session was more bearable than all the scratching. While waiting for the result, we had breakfast, and QQ did managed to eat half an egg and small spoonfuls of rice. Although still scratching, she was active enough to joke when she saw a lady's plumber's crack :-D.

The result came back after an hour and I was relieved to find that it's negative. The Pead percribed the same calamine lotion and a bottle of anti-itch syrup. I tell you, I will trade anything for this bottle of syrup. Yes, it's that precious.

After Tuesday, her condition got better slowly. As of now, QQ is not scratching anymore, but the stubborn rashes still lingers around her eyes, at her arm fold and leg folds. The skin at that area started peeling off slowly. HQ said she looks like a snake changing skin now *slap forehead*.

This was the 7th time she feel sick this year... and it's only June :'(. Despite that, I'm just so glad she's alright now. But looking things at a longer term, how can I improve her immunity? I'm giving her Amway vitamin C, multivitamins, colostrum, spirulina, and bafidus everyday. What else can I do? Mum is suggesting to stop sending her to school until next year when she's stronger. I'm really tempted...

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

penang trip: what we ate

2011-06-23T00:19:00.002+08:00

Penang trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011. Continuation from here , here, here and here.

The thing about traveling with kids is meals have to revolve around them... food has to suit their liking (and meets their nutrition requirements... but I'm pretty slack about this :-S), waiting time is not too long, timing has to be before their battery runs out (especially for dinnertime), and preferably in an air-conditioned or relatively cooling restaurant.

Given the choice, I would have done what we did during our previous Penang trips before our precious kids arrived. Gobbled down asam laksa, char kuey teow, hokkien mee, rojak and muar chee at EVERY meal. Yes, I'm hardcore Penang food fan! But because now we have the kids to consider, our food menu differed drastically. Not that I'm complaining, I did get to savor some of the local food :-P.

Some Penang delights...
At the foot of Kek Lok Si Temple...
At Butterworth right before we drove for home...Some everyday (normal) food...
Snack of peanut butter sandwiches at Old Town White Coffee...HQ saw a sign "Roti Canai" at a food court along Batu Feringhi and he insisted to have just that for breakfast. Of course, he got QQ's strong support *shake head*Claypot Restaurant during lunch... sharks in salted beans (yummy!), pork belly and mui choy, and spinach in superior soup. Our yummy breakfast at Gurney Drive... soft fall-off-the-bones pork ribs bak kut teh (the herbs were not over-powering so it's just nice for kids) and steamed prompret and vermicelli (never seen or heard of this before... very healthy and tasty!) Dinner at Bidor before continuing our drive home... sweet sour meat, signature homemade tofu in minced meat sauce, fried baby cabbage.Some Western food...
Dinner time were rushed as QQ was already nodding off due to missed naps. We went to The Ship right opposite our hotel... rib steak in brandy sauce, spring chicken, coffee. The kids were kind of disappointed as they thought we're going to a REAL ship, in the middle of the sea... LOL!Another rushed dinner at Ferenghi Garden (also opposite our hotel)... spring chicken in cheese sauce, Vongole pasta (disappointment... I expected it to be like this one here), dessert. And our kids have been having fish & chips everyday!
At Old Town White Coffee, The Ship and Feringhi Garden. See what I mean about rushed dinners?
QQ has been falling asleep or has fallen asleep in the middle of her dinners :-)
(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

penang trip: toy musuem

2011-06-19T00:23:00.000+08:00

Penang trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011. Continuation from here , here and here.

Do you know that there is a Toy Musuem in Penang? I didn't. I only got to know about it when both my brother and a friend insisted that we should check that place out. I googled and found that it's the largest toy musuem in the world with 100,000 toys!

The place is fairly easy to find. Located at Jalan Tanjung Bunga, in front of Copthorne Orchid Hotel. We went after Botanical Garden and lunch.

After paying for tickets of RM8 per head, we went in. There were a LOT of figurines displayed. VERY impressive. The kids and my Hubs went crazy. They combed the area, aisle by aisle, oohing and ahhing. We heard many excited exclamations here and there by both kids and adults.

Ants... Peter Pan!Pokemon... Chinese orchestra The display shelves are 7 feet high, all filled with toys. There are more than 200 shelves in total, I think! Despite getting excited and all the raving reviews on the net, I was actually disappointed. I definitely give the musuem credit for collecting so many and quite complete sets of toys. However, the place was so poorly taken care of! It was dusty and dirty, with a strong musky smell. Although the toys were pretty cool, they were not well arranged and exhibited. Like this one here... does that look like a display to you? I can't help but got worried that the dust will pose harm to QQ's delicate lungs. We made the tour a quick one and once out of the place, I quickly gave her a puff of her Ventolin with lots of water. (sure enough, she was coughing that night, and developed fever and wheezing the next day :-().

Toy Musuem has so much potential... like a rough diamond. Given some planning and lots of clean up, I'm sure it'll be a shinning gem.

(Sorry for the multiple posts on Penang... I only managed to create short posts, and so they're many of them. Next and the last will be what we ate in Penang.)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-)

penang trip: botanical garden

2011-06-19T00:22:00.002+08:00

Penang trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011. Continuation from here and here.

On the second day, the kids woke up bright and early at 7.00 am (eventhough they were awoke since 5.00am the previous morning, missed their naps the previous day, and only fell asleep at 10.00pm the previous night) 7.00 am is really too early to wake up on a holiday! :-(

What was HQ so excited about to wake up so early? He made this list of thing that he wanted to do on that day:

His 1st item - Monkey was meant to be found at Botanical Garden :-). After breakfast, we reached Botanical Garden pretty early at about 8.30 am. But they had some sort of treasure hunt going on, and the place was very crowded! We had to park very far away among the housing areas and walked a very very long way in :-(.

The sun was blazing, and the day was sooooo hot and humid. We were quickly soaked in sweat, hot and sticky. HQ had a change of t-shirts twice! HQ was still cherry, excited at the prospect of seeing some monkeys, and was very enthusiastic. He sort of skipped the whole way :-).

QQ on the other hand, was a total princess and drama queen. She complained, moaned and cried, pestered us to bring her back to the cozy hotel room, and refused to walk. Hubs carried her most of the way *shake head*

Hubs and I have been to Botanical Garden back in 2004, and we had loved the lush greeneries and cool jungle tracks. We remembered soaking our feet in beautiful waterfalls, and seeing lots of monkeys running around. With the kids this time, we stayed safely on the tarred roads, and only caught sight of a few monkeys. Luckily we did not venture to the waterfalls this time, as after we came back from Penang, we saw in the papers that there's some sort of deadly desease spreading at the exact waterfalls at Botanical Garden, Penang.
Beautiful foliage Worker ants working hard to feed the entire colony
HQ showing us lumps of earthworm poo... charming :-). While we were walking, the weather suddenly did a 360 degrees turn, with looming dark clouds and a threatening storm. Enjoying the beautiful view and comfy breeze at the rest area: She's smiling at last :-) We enjoyed the leisurely breezy walk for sometime, before large raindrops started pelting from the sky. Luckily we're already near the exit, and we seeked shelter under a shaded area, while hubby went under the rain to retrieve the car and drove over to fetch us. Overall it was a very nice trip :-). If the kids are a bit older, I would have let them run, play and splash under the rain. Remembering how fun that was, I would have joined them too :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

typical

2011-06-16T18:13:00.002+08:00

typical me
and typical himmy fastfood junkie :-). he gets to eat and eat and never grow an inch... *jealous*

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

penang trip: where we stayed

2011-06-15T02:23:00.001+08:00

Trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011. Continuation from here.

While we were in Penang for a short break, we stayed at Holiday Inn at their Beach Wing Seaview Room. The check-in time was pretty long; we waited for nearly an hour for our access card!

While waiting, the kids played and watched tv, took pictures:and they took turns to play with the iPad and iPhone:
When we finally stepped in our room, our displeasure was quickly doused. We loved the room! What I really love about it is everything was so new. And it's so spacious and bright!

The room had a floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall length of windows (this photo is dark and blurry cos I snap it from my little cam)...overlooking the street and the sea:Kids getting comfy on the beds watching tvThe bathroom with bathtub and enclosed showerWe slept very well for the 2 nights that we were there. The kids slept on the king sized bed with chairs on both sides to prevent them from rolling over, and Hubs and I took the ~~super single~~ correction: queen size bed. After the kids had fallen asleep, we enjoyed some cold drinks and the beautiful night view. There was even some fireworks display on the first night :-)In fact, QQ loved the room so much that whereever we went in Penang, she'd pester us to go back to the hotel room *slap forehead*. Our conversation:

QQ: I want to stay in this hotel forever and ever!
Me: But if you stay here forever, you will not be able to see Gong gong and Popo...
QQ: I will ask them to come and stay with us then! *grin*

All in all, it was a great experience staying at Holiday Inn Penang. If we didn't have to wait that long to check-in, it would have been perfect :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

featured on nanyang siang pou

2011-06-13T12:18:00.004+08:00

http://nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com/

(C) Lee Pei Yi/ 李珮瑜. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

penang trip: kek lok si temple

2011-06-11T23:23:00.003+08:00

Trip was between 4th June 2011 - 6th June 2011

We made a trip to the beautiful state of Penang last weekend for a 3D2N stay. Hubs got us all up bright and early on that Saturday morning and we were on our way at 5.00am. (kids still in their pajamas!). Good decision, as we didn't encounter any jam along the way eventhough it's a Dumpling Festival weekend. Along the way, QQ fell asleep for another hour, but HQ was wide awake since 5.00am :-(.

Since we did not do much of a celebration for HQ's previous birthday, we let him decide most of the itinerary of this trip. Of course we helped by giving options, and he made most of the decisions. He was happy as a lark :-).Things that he wanted to do:
1. go to the zoo
2. go swimming
3. go to the beach

Items 2 and 3 were easy, but item 1 was slightly tricky. There's no zoo in Penang! And so Hubs suggested Botanical Garden (for monkeys), Snake Temple (for snakes) and Kek Lok Si (for tortoises and fishes). HQ was game :-).

When we reached Penang at 9.45am, our first stop was breakfast at the foot of Kek Lok Si Temple. After which we proceeded to the temple. Eventhough it was still early at about 11.00am, the sun was blazing hot!

The majestic Goddess of Mercy - Kuan Yin, which was just being built when Hubs and I went to this place 6 years ago : There's statues of 12 Chinese zodiacs; the kids snap with a few of them: We did a bit of sight-seeing: There was this man-made pond with lots of colourful koi fishes: We sat in the pagoda in the middle of the pond and HQ lose no time to feed the kois... cheerios :-). QQ joined him too. The kois flocked to where the kids were feeding them; I think they don't get to eat cheerios very often :-)After feeding the kois and having a long peek at huge tortoises (in the pond behind HQ in the picture), HQ was sure a happy boy :-). Next, I will update on the place that we stayed in in Penang.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://boeyjoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

english gone wrong

2011-06-10T01:39:00.001+08:00

QQ was pretending to be a cook and asked for our orders before whipping up some of our favourite dishes. She said:
QQ: I cook food for all of you. I'm a cooker!
She's correct grammatically. However, I told her a cook is called a cook or a chef.

On another occasion, QQ told us:
QQ: I drink apple juice. I'm a drinker!
Correct! Let's hope she sticks to water and juice.

The other day, she said:
QQ: I love talking! I'm a talking-er!
Haha! Try explaining the difference between talking, talker, and talking-er to a soon-to-be 4 year-old *faint*

And yesterday might have top her list of bad English:
QQ: I xiao-pien* everyday! I'm a xiao-pien-er!
LOL!!!

* xiao-pien means "pee" in Mandarin :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

i find this cute...

2011-06-09T01:39:00.000+08:00

This drawing puts a smile on my face :-D. Can you guess what is drawn here? :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

7 years

2011-06-06T23:39:00.001+08:00

That's us 7 years ago... Happy Anniversary, Hubby! :-D

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

Papa's birthday weekend (back-dated)

2011-06-03T23:38:00.004+08:00

Back-dated post: 10th April 2011 (that was more than a month ago :-S)

Turning one year wiser makes me reflective. Today's fast-paced world has made people busier and less willing to commit their time to an education. But, really; there is no excuse given the resources we have at our fingertips. Online schooling is a great answer to finally fulfilling your dreams, perhaps gaining an online account degree. Education, in any form, elevates every society.

Hubby turned one year wiser on a Sunday, more than a month ago from today :-).

We had a fun celebration of going up Genting, watching a fun movie at the cinema, and HQ drew a meaningful card for him. HQ also drew some party hats for us! :-D

Here's some photos taken at Genting:

Gong Gong and HQ... my boy looks so grown up here!HQ at the nearby temple.We were afraid that QQ's cough, flu and wheezing will act up again, so I bundled her up in 4 layers of clothing :-D. We bought unlimited day passes, and the kids went bonkers with the unlimited rides. The pictures taken indoor were all blurry and dark; the ones shown here are some of the nicer pictures taken outdoor.Besides Papa's birthday card, HQ drew party hats for each of us (at another sitting)... yes drew, cos he said it's too tiring to make so many party hats o.O". Maybe I'll sit down with him and make the party hats with him next time; I'm sure it'll be a fun project :-).

He's very much into creating checklist now; I find it cute that he segregates us into a boy and girl lists, and cut off our names after each party hat is drawn :-) Every party hat drawn is a different pattern and at different sizes. He felt like the greatest kid giving out these "party hats" to everyone while we ooohhh and aaahhh. Here's his checklist; the party hat shown in the insert is mine :-). We watched Rio the next day, which was a blast! The kids loved it! We all loved it! We also bought the DVD, and there was one Sunday where the kids watched 3 times in a row! *bad parenting :-S*All in all, it was a wonderful birthday weekend for all. With all the attention and loving, Hubs was pleased as punch :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://nivnivhandmade.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

right now...

2011-06-02T23:38:00.001+08:00

1. Savoring my me-time at the lappie, typing this out. And cannot believe that I still type with only 5 fingers after all these years :-S
2. Planning our short trip somewhere with lots of sunshine, pool, and good food! Yay!
3. Thinking that toothache is probably worse than childbirth. Dreading my next dentist visit now.
4. Scheduling and re-scheduling my sewing jobs... breathe in, breathe out...
5. Weighing options for this little girl's coming birthday dress... no hurry though :-).
6. Laughing at the kids' excitement in packing thier stuffs for the said short vacation at no. 2 :-)
7. Hooked to this and its aps (my Valentine's pressie from sweet Hubs! :-))
8. Loving the intricate details of hand-embroidery... and dreaming of a new project which I may not be able to start anytime soon...
9. Feeling excited (and very nervous) for what's in store tomorrow! fingers-crossed, fingers-crossed, fingers-crossed!

Picture source: Google

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished after notifying me and with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

...

2011-05-31T23:33:00.000+08:00

HQ has fallen asleep while QQ was tossing and turning on her bed. I was on the lappie, Facebook-ing. When QQ descended from the bed to come to my side, I quickly scroll the picture that I'm looking at to the comments.

Me: Meimei, you are supposed to be sleeping. Go back to your bed.
QQ: When I see something beautiful, I must come and see one (she was referring to the picture that I'm looking at just now).
Me: There's nothing beautiful here, Meimei, just words. Now, go back to sleep.

And very quickly, my witty little girl responded:
QQ: Got... I come and see you, Mama! You are the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world!

o.O'

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished after notifying me and with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

kiddos sports day

2011-05-30T00:39:00.002+08:00

Back-dated post: 23rd April, Saturday

The day was sunny and bright... great for a sports day! It was cute watching the kids marching, singing and dancing as a ritual to warm up their little bodies before doing the real sports stuff.

HQ and QQ participated in 1 individual event and 2 team events respectively. From here, I noticed one big difference between them.

HQ is the sporty type. He's nimble. He's fast. And he enjoys removing his shoes and run barefooted like a carefree monkey on muddy ground. He's like his Papa, a natural sportsman :-).

For QQ, this is her first sports day.
She, on the other hand, is dainty and fussy. She cringed at the sight of slimy mud... And her moves were oh so feminine...Although my little princess tried all her might (her little brow was all knotted in concentration!), she was still one of the last to finish in the individual event. It's alright, as long as she tried her best :-).What's important is, she enjoyed herself tremendously :-). During prize giving time, she kept asking, "How come I don't get any trophy?". In the end, she did get one Silver trophy for a team event :-). Her first trophy, so proud of my little girl :-). The kids at the end of the event.

And of course, like last year, here's the makeshift toilet for the kids :-). (C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

recently...

2011-05-26T23:23:00.000+08:00

i have been cooking a lot of these...

bland no-rice soupy dishes for my kiddos during their fever days... and to use up all the petai that we bought when we went here, i've been cooking this dish 3 times! glad that hubs loves it as much as i do :-).
(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

a farmosa resort

2011-05-24T18:29:00.002+08:00

The tv has been showing advertisements on A Farmosa Resort in Melaka very frequently, and my curious HQ has been going on and on about checking that place out. I guess it's the animals and the waterpark that interest him :-).

So, hubby, the ever dotting Papa took us all one weekend. It was a few weeks ago, when the kids were well.

The first stop that we planned was the Animal Safari. However along the way, the kids spotted ponies and rides were available for kids!

HQ let QQ go first. She was smiling ear to ear from the start till the end! :-DLook at how pleased she was!
Next was HQ's turn; he kept patting the pony as he rode along. Here, he looks a bit too tall for the pony, isn't it? ;-PThe kids snapped a photo with the pony that they rode on. My little girl and me :-) When we arrived at the zoo entrance, a lady was holding an albino phyton and invited us to touch it. The lady let the phyton rest on Hubs neck, and HQ was most excited. Although he didn't want it on his neck! QQ stayed far far away. LOL! We took the tram for the safari ride. It was terribly bumpy! We saw many animals including tigers and lions out in the wild. Many of them were thin, looked dehydrated and had passed their prime. QQ spotted an old lion resting in a corner, and she exclaimed:

QQ: That lion is so poor thing isn't it? No friends, no children to play with, and no wife. After the ride, we walked around the zoo. We spotted some monkeys, and the kids wanted to feed them peanuts. After lunch at a nearby cafe, we went to the waterpark. Hubs and the kids had great fun playing with water, fountains, slides and waterfall under the blazing sun... while I sat on a beach chair under the shade, hand-stitching some brooches for this little store. It was a quiet relaxing time for me :-). We spotted a petting farm, and the kids had fun feeding rabbits and sheep carrots and long beans. HQ had no problems with the animals... As for QQ, I was quite worried that she will be knocked down by the sheep. They're acted as though they have not eaten for days! They came in a herd of more than 10 and sorround the poor child! QQ felt safer feeding the rabbits, which she loved dearly :-). I heard her talking sweet nonsense to them... very cute!!! Look at how the sheep chased HQ. In the end, HQ decided that instead of him being chased by the sheep, why not...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

he chase them instead!!! LOL!!! With QQ cheering at the background, I really had a good laugh!

All in all, the kids had a great time. After the A Famosa visit, Hubs drove us to Melaka town for a dinner of satay celup (which the kids did not eat much) and later chicken rice balls. It was tiring, but the kids had great fun, especially HQ :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

teacher's day handmade cards

2011-05-23T22:36:00.001+08:00

If there is something that I applaud everytime, it would be HQ's initiative to make something as a gift. I think it is means so much for someone to put his time, effort and love into making something for another person. Be it a card or a drawing from HQ, I am always appreciative :-). He even tried making an origami frog before! Which was based on his own folding design and it really did hop a little :-).

He got to know about Teacher's Day when he saw his friends giving out Teacher's Day cards to his teachers. When he got back from school, he began brainstorming with his Popo in making Teacher's Day cards for his teachers. (I love that he suggested "make" and not "buy". Not that I'm kiamsiap la, but I really love his handmade spirit :-D) He asked Popo to cut some papers into heart shapes, and he wrote on them wishes for his teachers. He made 8 altogether.

Here's the outcome: Although they're pretty simple, I'd prefer this handmade card anytime than those readymade ones picked up from the shelves. And I am very thankful that my Mum is happy to partake in his little project as well :-).

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

my mother's day greatest gift

2011-05-22T02:08:00.002+08:00

HQ: 5y 11m old when the incident happened

HQ, my son, can be quite hurtful in his words sometimes when he's upset. This only shows how frank he is and how well he communicates his displeasure. One thing that I need to teach him though, is to be more tactful and mellow when communicating his dissatisfaction.

Despite this, deep down, he's actually sweet, thoughtful, and caring. Let me relate my recent experience, which really touched me, and I want to document it down so that I can read again in the future.

On the Friday before Mother's Day, I was surprised (and disappointed) that my kids' school had not planned anything for the occassion. No card, no flower, no balloon like previous year. Granted that it's an exam week, but can't the teachers make a little effort as exams has already ended on Thursday? Although I was dissapointed, I did not say anything.

The day before Mother's Day, on Saturday, Hubs and I set-up our first nivniv booth at Pipit Craft Fair. We were exhausted at the end of the day. Exhausted was an under-statement... I actually felt I was going to pass-out... I slept very very little for a few nights before the event.

After Pipit, we went to Popo's house to fetch the kids home. HQ gave me an envelope with drawings inside. I really love what he drew specially for me - on the front, he drew some of his favourite things. There's a crab, pineapple in a pot :-), a plate of mee hoon with fork and spoon, falcon, angelfish and Saturday :-). And on the overleaf, he drew chocolates, handkerchefs and sweets :-D.
If that was not sweet enough, while kissing me and wishing "Happy Mother's Day", my little boy told me:

HQ: Mama, you are my greatest most wonderful mama in the whole wide world.

I saw that he really meant it. My eyes were misty then :'). After all these years being his mama, I have always felt that I do not measure up. That I do not give him enough time, attention or opportunities to maximise his potential. What he told me that night lifted my spirits. I may not be the best mama in the eyes of others, but to my boy, I am his most wonderful :').

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://boeyjoey.blogspot.com/. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

HQ is s6x!

2011-05-19T22:39:00.013+08:00

My little boy turns 6 today :-).

He's at a age where he's really excited about birthdays and celebrations. Not only about his own, but also others' :-) (I will blog about these later).

So this morning, HQ woke up to hugs, kisses, and birthday wishes from all of us. He was mighty pleased with the presents that we presented him, and was busy tearing wrappers soon after. Amongst the myraid of gifts, his favourites were Metal Fight toys from Papa, a Nat Geo compilation of animal articles in hardcopy from Kiu Kiu, a cool dinosaur pencil from Tai Yi, and a 3D animal puzzle from Mama.

As the kids have just recovered from a stubbon fever, and are still having very bad phelgmy cough and runny nose (5th time this year :-(. QQ is also wheezing badly), we did not plan anything extravagant. Hubs and I were discussing on the phone about getting cute little piggy buns from Dragon i so that the kids will not consume too much birthday cake, as eggs are major no-no for cough. You know, we are at a stage where we are very desperate to do just anything to rid of those cough and flu, including scheduling both Western and Chinese medicine into their medicine menu :-(

HQ told me that he would like to invite his best friends over for his birthday next year. I said "Sure!", but told him that I needed his help to plan some activities for his friends. My boy said "That's easy! We'll watch Nat Geo on tv!". I hope his friends are as crazy about animals as he is :-D. We'll see next year then :-).

Here's some photos taken during our simple cake-blowing session: The kids had fun whacking the cake and watching tv. Although it's a very simple celebration, to HQ, it was lovely because he got all his favourite things as presents! :-D.

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

currently obsessed...

2011-05-09T13:33:00.010+08:00

now that her hair is longer, i'm having fun braiding her hair (everyday if she lets me!). got to bribe her with potato chips though... i'm really loving this look on her :-D.

a very happy belated mother's day to all mamas, mothers, mummies, grandmas, and mums to be :-). ours was done at our favourite neighbourhood restaurant over sumptuous dinner and company of loved ones :-). how did you celebrate yours? :-)

(C) Lee Pei Yi. All rights reserved. Originally published for http://BoeyJoey.blogspot.com. All images and text can only be republished with links back to the article/ blog. Thank you :-).

updates on ishinomaki, japan

2011-05-07T23:29:00.004+08:00

Sequel to: For the Children of Ishinomaki, Japan

Sometime ago, I posted an article on Japan disasters and thesleepytimegal's initiative on how we can offer some help. Our little family wanted to send a box of needful things over to Ishinomaki, and I mentioned on my blog that that should our readers would like to include some of their things into our box, we'll be happy to include them :-). I am touched by the responses given by fellow blogger mummies, friends and readers... they contributed some gently used items, but majority of the items collected were newly bought for this drive :-).

The collection process was spread throughout 2 weeks to accomodate logistics and timing issues... but the things collected were great :-)

- Stationaries - fleets of pencil colours (it's funny to note that nearly everyone who contributed includes this item :-)), boxes of pencils, boxes of erasers, a box of rulers, colour pens, a stack of write-erase boards, many stationery sets.

- Clothing - a stack of new tee-shirts, handmade fannel blankets, a pair of pink socks.

- Others - candles (for those nights where electricity is rationed), Dettol soap bars.

- Something to put smiles on the kids faces - boxes of cookies, packets of milk sweets, a stack of sand-art kits, water colour kits, toys and some kiddos' drawings :-).

All the above fitted snugly into this large box and sent to the children of Ishinomaki :-)

Some of the things collected though very useful, are too heavy to post over. It's impractical to spend postage fee that cost more than twice as much as the cost of the item itself. So, with the blessings from these generous contributors, I gave the packets of disposible nappies, bottles of talcum powder, May soap bars and toys to a local orphanage :-).

Many had also emailed to ask for the delivery address to Ishinomaki, and they have sent off the boxes on their own :-).

I would like to thank everyone for their thoughtful contributions :-). a mummy from a not so far away land roped in her friends, and she and her friends contributed a great variety of stationaries. Broccoli Ginger contributed money and this was used to pay for part of the postage fee :-). And to friends for coming all the way to my humble shack to drop off things, sorry, no petrol claims! (inside joke :-P).
The whole activity was really meaningful, and I'm so glad we are part of it :-). Thank you again thesleepytimegal for initiatng this drive. I'm sure the things that we sent over will make life a little easier for these kids in Ishinomaki :-).

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

"happy birthday, baba"

2011-04-21T00:32:00.007+08:00

back-dated post: 8th April 2011
HQ: 5y 10m old

Hubby turned a year ~~older~~ wiser on 10th April 2011. Guess who's the one most excited? :-)

My little boy, HQ :-D.

He knew it was his Papa's birthday on that Sunday, and so on Friday morning, he woke up bright and early at 5.30am on his own! Yes, he can wake up very early if he sets his mind to. We were all still sleeping then.

We always have a reading (yellow) light on throughout the night, right above my sewing table. It has proven to be very useful when our kids want to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (HQ goes on his own).

So, at 5.30am, unknown to everyone, HQ sat there on my sewing table, and drew a birthday card for his Papa :'). He even took a used envelope and slid his card inside. When he was done, he left the envelope on his Papa's work table. (Yes, besides 1 Queen sized bed and 2 single beds, we have 2 tables and a host of other things in our room).

And he went back to sleep :-).

Well, when hubs and I woke up, as usual we rushed with our usual stuffs getting ready for work. Hubby didn't even notice the envelope that HQ placed on his table.

How do we know about all this? HQ woke up later at 7.30am and he told us all what he did at 5.30 am. We were surprised! But we knew that's the only time he could have done it because nobody saw him drawing/ holding any card at any other time.

When HQ took the envelope and presented to hubby, I could see that hubby was very touched :'). Here's father and son, reading the card. HQ (still in pajamas) looked pretty pleased too :-).
HQ's birthday card to hubby: it's a picture of Papa holding a balloon and a kite under a rainbow, a sunny sun, and flying birds. Papa in the picture was on a grassy land, next to a river with fishes swimming by. That's a little bug on the grass. Overleaf are stars for his Papa. I love the message :-D.
The envelope:I'm sure this card totally made hubby's day :-D.

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

for the children of ishinomaki, japan

2011-04-17T23:39:00.006+08:00

(All photos here are of Ishinomaki, Japan.)

I think everyone is aware of the disasters that caused the world crashing and crumbling down on Japan on an early morning 11th March 2011. An earthquake measuring up to 8.9 on the Ritcher scale, followed by tsunami as high as 10m swept many homes away. What's also worrying is the emergency declaration on the state of the nuclear plants... what will become of their future, many generations later? (After the tsunami hit Ishinomaki, Japan. Source.)

When I see the disasters unfold on tv during news at night, I can't help as tears roll down my cheeks. It breaks my heart watching buildings, homes crumble to nothingness and men, women, kids suffering in silent. However, the emotional tremour that I felt in my heart is really nothing compared to the physical pain and emotional sufferings of those who are directly affected. (Japanese coast guards wading through water in search for missing victims after tsunami hit an elementary school in Ishinomaki, Japan. Source.)

I applaud to many efforts put in all around the world to help lessen the sufferings of people in Japan. I believe whatever help you have put in to Japan will benefit human race as a whole. While surfing for news of Japan the other night, I came across this at thesleepytimegal:

"A new Japanese friend of mine has been corresponding with her dear friend in the devastated town of Ishinomaki, Japan. (All of the Japanese photos are from Ishinomaki.) Her friend, Sachiko, is an elementary school teacher in this town. Many of the children of the school have parents that never returned to the school to pick them up. Many of the children, in the cooler weather there, are walking barefooted. Many of these children need our help, we who have so many comforts of life right now."

How heart-breaking it must be for the children waiting for parents who never came... I glanced at my sleeping kids, cozy and safe. And I thought about the kids in Ishinomaki... cold, hungry, helpless, hopeless, and lonely :'(. These children are now residing in the school, waiting for their new school term to start. What is lacking is warm clothing, socks, school supplies, dry food and lots of happiness. (A Self Defence soldier smiles as he holds a four-month-old baby who survived the recent tsunami with her family at Ishinomaki city in Miyagi prefecture on March 14, 2011. Source)

What thesleepytimegal is initiating is sending things that the children of Ishinomaki needs, directly to the people who are looking after these kids. It would be good if we all can contribute to this cause... what's found in our home and gently used is fine. To read more about the effort and to get the delivery address, do hop by her blog .

I've gotten a response from thesleepytimegal on the delivery address, and Hubs and I are going to enlist our kids in this project :-). We're sending a box, probably end of next week, or early following week. If any of our dear readers would like to include some of their things in our box, we will be happy to include them :-). You can leave a comment to this post with your email address, or email directly to boeyjoeyemail@gmail.com and I'll get in touch with you.

(Students of Okawa Elementary School hug each other at a temporary alternate school before the first school day since the earthquake in Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture on March 29. The school was damaged and only 34 students out of a total of 108 survived the disaster.

Thank you all :-).

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

if only money grows on trees...

2011-04-14T22:31:00.006+08:00

QQ: 3y 8m old

QQ knows the concept of money and that we need money to buy things. However, she does not know that some things cost a LOT more than a ride on the carousal. Other than toys, movies and trips, she begun asking for BIGGER things :-S.
...................................................................................................................................

QQ spilled some honey on the floor, and while waiting for me to mop up the mess, she said:

QQ: The floor is soooo sticky, Mama! The ants are coming already! Mama, why don't we buy another house?

What a reason to buy a new house :-). ....................................................................................................................................

Mum brought her to visit her friend one day. QQ was not shy at all, went exploring at every nook, and refused to leave.

QQ: Popo, this Ah Tai house is soooo big! Popo's house is not so big. And my house is sooooo small only. Popo, can you ask Mama to buy a bigger house for me?

We live in a 3+1 bedroom, 3 bathrooms double-storey terrace house, which in my opinion, just nice for the 4 of us. Looks like my little 3 year old thought otherwise :-S ..................................................................................................................................

QQ is very sensitive to smell, and does not like the smell of cars. She often complains when she rides in cars, and pinches her nose most of the time she's inside a car... anyone's car.

QQ: I don't like the smell! Papa, you have to buy another car for me!

She thought a new car will smell better, which I doubt. She pinches her nose too when riding in her KiuKiu's new Honda Insight Hybrid :-S.
..................................................................................................................................

On her dream holiday:

QQ: Mama, let's go to another planet for holiday.

@.@

Me: Which planet do you want to go to?
QQ: The moon.

Alright, the moon is not exactly a planet, but I decided not to argue with her.

Me: How do you want to go to the moon?
QQ: By rocket! Mama, why don't you buy a rocket for me and we go to the moon? We can put the rocket in the car porch.

o.O"

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

i simply cannot resist...

2011-04-12T23:39:00.002+08:00

I received these images from an old friend through an email forward, and I simply cannot resist putting them on this little blog space. Look at each and every one of them... they're so intricately planned and so wickedly cute!

This adorable little girl's mummy is a copywriter in Helsinki, Finland. When she is soundly asleep, her mummy weave magical tales around her. I think these are so precious... what a beautiful surprise to wake up to :-).

Visit her blogsite here - http://milasdaydreams.blogspot.com/.

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

funny mandarin

2011-04-11T23:33:00.005+08:00

QQ: 3y 8m old

Both my kids were brought up in an English speaking environment. Although I can't say their English is perfect :-). When they started kindy, HQ at 3 years old and QQ at 3.5 years old, they speak not a word of Mandarin.

HQ, I noticed, picked up the language by listening intently and asking lots of questions. After being very sure of himself, he begun to speak in full sentences of Mandarin pretty soon.

QQ, on the other hand, begun mixing her speech with Mandarin words right away. Along the way, making up her own Mandarin words. And often made us wondered what some of the words meant. LOL! She's not shy at all :-).

After 2.5 months schooling in a Mandarin environment, although not perfect, QQ's Mandarin improved significantly. These were the few which I found funny :-).

................................................................................................................................

My mum was putting QQ to sleep one afternoon. While singing to her, QQ asked:

QQ: Popo, how to say "fart" in Mandarin?
Popo: "Fang pi"

QQ: How to say "buttock" in Mandarin?

Popo: "Pii gu"

QQ: "Wo fang pi ler. Wo de pi gu hen chou!" (Mandarin: I farted. My buttock is very smelly!)

LOL!
..................................................................................................................................

Sometime ago, HQ was taking a day off from school due to fever. When QQ reached school, I heard her telling her teachers:

Teacher Y: Wei sen me ni de Ge Ge mei you lai sue siao? (Mandarin: Why your elder brother didn't come to school?)

QQ: "Wo de Ge Ge sen ping ler. Fa sau ler. Hen lan tuo!" (Mandarin: My elder brother is sick. Having fever. Very lazy!)

o.O"

..................................................................................................................................

My mum went to the kindy to fetch my kids home every week day. One day, when she arrived, a little boy at the age of 5 greeted my Mum:

Little boy: Aunty!

QQ went to him, pat his head and said:

QQ: Guai hai zi! (Mandarin: Good boy!)

Imagine a 3.5 little girl patting a slightly taller 5 year old boy calling him "Guai hai zi"... everyone had a good laugh!

...................................................................................................................................

My kids often look forward to my uni mate, PP and JH's visit. All of them get along very well and enjoy each other's company :-)

PP: Ni mei bu mei? (Mandarin: Are you pretty?)

QQ: Mei!!! Sui suo wo bu mei?!?!? (Mandarin: Pretty!!! Who say I'm not pretty?!?!?)

"carbotarian"

2011-04-05T15:39:00.001+08:00

My daughter was a meat lover. Meat could be the only dish that went with her rice at every meal. Of course I didn't let her eat meat and rice alone, so I made sure she ate her portions of vege and fish as well. After her meals, she'd sit with us adults while we ate, and pecked on the meat dishes. That's how much she loved meat.

After a bout of infection and a host of medicine cocktail last year, QQ seemed to stopped loving meat. In fact, she stopped loving anything other than rice, noodles and breads. With nothing on them. So it's plain rice, plain noodles and plain bread! She screams murder everytime she catches a glimpse of food in her rice, noodles or bread! And rather go hungry!

So for sometime, she was on a carbo diet. We all called her a "carbotarian".

Mum, who looks after my kids, was exasperated. I was exasperated. I didn't think QQ's daily intake of multivitamin supplement counts up to all her vitamins and minerals daily requirement. So we served her more snacks in between meals... various types of fruits, homemade fishballs, homemade meatballs, cereal drinks and nutritious soups.

QQ, who used to be my little guzzler, who used to eat anything with speed and gusto, turned down most of the snacks we tried to ~~trick/ force~~ coax her to eat. Luckily she still loved her soup. So, it's nutritious soup with rice or noodles at every meal. And more soup after she finished her meals. For breakfast it's porridge with lots of ground meat, fish and carrots dumped in and boiled to a paste (so she couldn't spot them and pick them out). And luckily there's one thing she still loved... eggs. Mum made sure she eats one hard-boiled free-range egg every day.

On one hand I was worried that she's not getting sufficient nutrients. On the other hand, I was wondering if this could be her body natural response that's trying to tell us that its not ready for meat yet?

Anyway.

After awhile when her mood was better, we started adding tiny pieces of vege, fish and meat into her meals. She noticed. If we're lucky, she ate them anyway. But when she fusses and refuses to eat, it's back to soup and rice for that particular meal.

Nowadays, it's a hit or miss during mealtimes with QQ. I hope as time goes by, she will start to eat more. And as time goes by, I hope we don't have to be so paranoid about her getting insufficient nutrients :-).

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

tired eyes

2011-04-04T12:19:00.004+08:00

The Group was rushing to register close to 5,000 local employees for a service roll-out, and to tell the truth, the process was a nightmare. Seriously. It’s very challenging coordinating between HR departments of more than 70 subsidiary companies, the Operations team, the IT team and the Finance Team to come up with a working solution.

Having spent less than 4 hours of sleep each night for the past 2.5 weeks, I suffer badly from acne and dark rings around my eyes. I’m not so worried about acne, as they will usually subside when I start sleeping well again. I’m worried about the dark rings and wrinkles around my eyes. What made my eyes even more tired is that I have to spend more than 10 hours each day looking at the laptop screen. My eyes are so tired I can sleep while standing, I swear!

Having said that, I cannot deny that although grueling, this project gave me a great sense of achievement :-). Now everything is sorted out, and by end of today, everyone will get to enjoy this additional benefit that our Group is providing to all employees :-). I am just very apprehensive anticipating the next nightmare when we’ll be rolling out our service to overseas employees. Maybe I should consider getting some eye serum to nourish my very tired eyes.

kiddos' talk

2011-04-02T22:23:00.008+08:00

The past 2.5 weeks had been crazy... bringing work home every night and only get to sleep at 2.00/ 3.00 am. Even on weekends! My company will be carrying out a new service plan to more than 5,000 local employees next Monday (before we start the next nightmare of overseas employees), so tonight I can at least sleep earlier :-). And blog a little :-).

Today I got to spend some time with my kids too... unlike the past weekends where I was hooked on my laptop all the time. Here are some of my quality time spent with my kids today... they made me laugh so heartily :-D. I missed them so much.
...................................................................................................................................
HQ: 5y 10m old
QQ; 3y 8m old

QQ: I am cooking for my children to eat. My children will eat first, and then only me and my husband eat.
Me: How many children do you have?
QQ: *counting the bowls with spoons in them* Five!
Me: How many of them are girls?
QQ: Just one! I am now feeding our pet dog. I need someone to bring her go out for a walk leh... Korkor, can you bring my dog for a walk? Can you be my husband?
HQ: No, I am busy. (He was playing with the remote car)
QQ: You are busy fixing your car?
HQ: Yes. I will bring our pet dog go for a walk later.
QQ: OK. Remember to come home early for dinner. I'm cooking seafood tonight!
Me: *smiles*
.............................................................................................................................................

HQ: Mama, when Chinese New Year comes next year, can I invite my friends to come to my house?
Me: Sure! Who do you want to invite?
HQ: Hui Sin and Koh Jing Sing.
Me: Hui Sin is a girl? Is Koh Jin Sing a boy?
HQ: No! Both are girls la. Koh Jing Sing is Qing Qing lor.
Me: Oh! Are they your girlfriends?
HQ: Yes *shy smile* When they come to my house for Chinese New Year, I want to take picture with them. Hui Sin stand on my right, and Koh Jin Sing stand on my left *grin*
Me: LOL!!!
.....................................................................................................................................

Me: Do you know that when I was young, there is no shopping centre? (Actually there was one - Sg. Wang)
HQ: Then where do Gong gong and Popo bring you go on weekends?
Me: To playground.
QQ: Did you see any of korkor's classmates?
HQ: Sa Gua! (Silly!). That time, my classmates not born yet! They are still in their mamas' stomachs, yes or not, Mama?
Me: LOL!!!
....................................................................................................................................

QQ: My Teacher Rajesh call my Popo Grandma wor...
Me: That's correct. Grandma is same as Popo.
QQ: She always ask "Why is your Grandma not here to fetch you home yet?"
Me: You can tell her that your Grandma is busy.
QQ: I ask her "Why you call my Popo Grandma wor?" Maybe I cal tell her that Popo is poo-pooing. hee hee. Popo poo-poo when korkor and me in school more easy! When poo-poo ah, no children will come and open the toilet door!
Me: LOL!!!

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

notes for Popo

2011-03-16T18:22:00.002+08:00

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!

two of my favourite girls :-)

2011-03-14T09:34:00.004+08:00

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

2011-03-11T18:19:00.001+08:00

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.
...............................................................................................................................................

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

2011-03-04T13:13:00.007+08:00

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.

such innocence

2011-02-25T00:13:00.007+08:00

QQ: 3y 6m old

One night QQ asked me:

QQ: Mama, when you grow up, which super hero do you want to be?

When you grow up... hahaha! Controling my laughter, I hugged her and kissed her hair :-).

"Which super hero do you want to be when you grow up, meimei?" I asked.

With great assertion, she answered " I want to be Eeeelassssteeeegurrrlll !"

She meant Elastigirl from The Incredibles. I was happy that for once, she did not answer any boy super hero; Buzz Lightyear, Tighten and Spiderman being her favourite :-).

But right now... I think she looks more like a mini Chun Li :-PAlthough I don't think Chun Li will approve on this move:

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...:-D

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

headache

2011-02-17T23:29:00.007+08:00

QQ: 3y 6m old

My QQ is a tempest, a sweetie, and a headache all rolled into one.

From young, she has been good with words, smiles, using her tantrums and charm to get her ways. Often, successfully. Read here, here, here and here.

Ever since she started school this year, we found that she has been getting more and more pampered. With us, and with her teachers. Where other kids just wave goodbye to the teachers before leaving for home, QQ went ahead and hug them, bidding them goodbye in her sweetest voice. And believe me, the teachers were beaming in delight! Even when my kids arrive at the front gate every morning, I notice teachers looking at QQ with that "motherly look"

And she has been getting better with words too. Here's some:
...................................................................................................................................

One morning, QQ saw me applying make-up and she wanted to apply some on herself too. I playfully brushed my blusher brush on her cheeks. She giggling said:

QQ: Now I pretty like mama. Mama is sooooooo pretty.

I floated in the air...
And she continued:

QQ: Teacher Rajes also put make-up. I tell Teacher Rajes: Teacher Rajes is sooooooo pretty that I want to pengsan already.

o.O" No wonder Teacher Rajes so sayang her *shake head*
.................................................................................................................................

During the recent CNY celebration, the kiddos' kindy had a lion dance session on one of the school days. HQ of course was overjoyed! QQ on the other hand, was very curious and wanted to watch, but was terrified. She clung on to her beloved Teacher Rajes and Teacher Rajes carried her throughout the whole session. When school ended, Popo (my mum) came to fetch the kids home, and Teacher Rajes was so happy to announce to Popo (and to many others) that QQ told her this:

QQ: Thank you Teacher Rajes for saving my life!

And I'm sure the above was spoken in her sweetest voice, a pampered expression and probably batting her eyelids too *roll eyeballs*
..................................................................................................................................

When the kiddos made mistakes, HQ will honestly feel regretful and says "I'm sorry for my mistake, mama. I will not repeat my mistake again".

With QQ... I really don't know what to say....

QQ: Wahwawawawawa... Please don't get angry with me mama. I didn't do anything wrong. It's all korkor's fault! Wahwawawawa!

Or...

QQ: Wahwawawawawa... I'm sorry I made you angry, mama. But I cannot control myself from crying. I also cannot control myself from fighting with korkor. Wahwawawawa!

We scratched out heads bald thinking where she learned those lines from...

*headache*

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

chitter-chatter

2011-02-10T00:18:00.003+08:00

HQ: 5y 8m old
QQ: 3y 6m old

Right before CNY, I asked hubby to bring HQ to the Indian barber to have his hair trimmed. When HQ heard what I said to hubby, he being the opportunist, quickly reacted:

HQ: You know, Mama, cutting hair is my most unfavourite thing to do. *sigh*

Before I could reply him, he said:

HQ: But I will still follow Papa to cut my hair. So you have to give me a sweet now for being a good boy *grin*

Hahaha! Of course he got his forbidden treat. How can I say no, right? :-P

...........................................................................................................

QQ: Mama, do you know you have to say sorry to Papa?
Me: Why?
QQ: Because you beat Papa's shoulder just now.
Me: But I don't know how to say sorry... *pulling her leg*
QQ: What??? You know how to say sorry wat!
Me: I don't know...
QQ: Say "Sorry, Kelvin!"
QQ: Or say "Sorry, Lou Gong!" *guffawed*

LOL!!! Lou Gong means Hubby in Cantonese. She must have heard me calling hubby that :-).

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

singapore trip: wrapping up

2011-02-09T00:39:00.006+08:00

a very belated post - day 5 of Sinagpore trip: 7th December 2010 (Tuesday). You can read Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4 entries by clicking the links.

Day 5 was the day we made our way back home. Before leaving, my cheeky nephew G wanted to show HQ his favourite playground. So after breakfast, the kids played at the playground, while the men watched over them. Ladies went to the market.
One thing I really love about this place is how family friendly everywhere is. There's at least one playground in every housing area, all within walking distance. These playground are very clean and well-maintained too. In every shopping complex or tourist attraction, there's sure to be small sections dedicated to kids, like indoor playgrounds and even water parks. Best of all, they're free :-). Well, we do have parks and playground back home, but they can really do with a lot more maintenance and cleaning. Here's a water park in the middle of the zoo... definitely a kids' favourite! And for the parents? They can either join in the fun (like my hubby and BIL; LOL!) or stand aside and watch over them. Oh, that's me "watching over the kids". I'm wearing one of Old & New Stuff for Sale's jumpsuit; it's really light and comfortable! I've also bought some other things, and Shireen was so nice to include a pair of shades for QQ. Hop on to their site to view more selections :-). Another thing that really surprised me is the level of security. My sis' kids, the youngest being as little as 16 months old then, were allowed to roam around in shopping complexes, only within their parents' view. With one look people can tell that we're not locals, as we're so kiasi - holding on to our little ones for fear that they may get lost or kidnapped! I was also surprised to find that my sis' place do not have iron grills on their doors and windows throughout the whole house. Maybe high rise condominiums do not need grills as they're closely guarded by guards and not so reachable by robbers, but a double storey semi-detached home? Does that really show that it's a lot safer at the Lion's City?

Ok, back to the original post. After breakfast and the playground, we headed home. But before that, I requested for a detour to another destination... the fabric stores! My lovely Sis insisted that she brings me :-). Rows and rows of very beautiful fabric greeted me; I was the happiest girl in my fabric heaven! Though a lot more expensive than the price that I paid when I shopped in fabric stores back home, there were a lot more variety and the fabric prints were so beautiful! I had to be very mindful and budgetted myself strictly. The fabrics that I've bought are now rinsed, dried, ironed, folded and waiting for me to cut on them! Sigh.. so happy :-). So that rounds up the whole of Singapore trip :-). You can read more on the trip here:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
Day 5

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

lovey-dovey

2011-02-08T00:28:00.001+08:00

HQ: 5y 7m old
QQ: 3m 5m old

When my kids are in the lovey-dovey mood, they can be quite mushy :-). Hugging, kissing and saying the nicest things. Not that I'm complaining :-D.

Here's what QQ has to say:

QQ: Mama, you are the most beautiful girl in the whole wide world!
Me: Oh... thank you! *smile ear to ear*
QQ: You are a billion thousand more pretty than the rainbow!
QQ: You are a billion thousand more pretty than the butterfly!
QQ: You are a billion thousand more pretty than the ribbon!
QQ: You are a billion thousand more pretty than the flower!
Me: *heart melts*

........................................................................................................

Sometimes, QQ can be a real sweetheart to her Papa too:
Papa: *sneezed*
QQ: Papa, are you sick?
Papa: I am going to get sick *cough cough*
QQ: Papa, please don't get sick. I will be so sad if you get sick. Because you are my super hero *snff sniff*
Papa: *heart melts*

.......................................................................................................

One one ocassion, she was sitting on the toilet bowl doing her business, and I stayed with her. While doing her little business, her bumbum hurt and she received lots of sayang from me. She said:

QQ: Mama, I love you soooooooo much! *complete with hand gestures, visualizing "how much"*
Me: I love you soooooo much too, meimei!
QQ: I love you sooooooo much... but not so much as all the elephants on the ball in the Dumbo show... *looked thoughtful*

It's been such a long time since she watched Dumbo, I thought it was funny that she suddenly recalled that scene and compare her love with the weight of these elephants... o.O"

picture source: Youtube

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

school updates

2011-02-07T13:22:00.010+08:00

HQ: 5y 7m old
QQ: 3y 5m old

HQ has been reported being a great korkor to QQ in school. Teachers told Popo (my Mum) that he has been helping his meimei to eat during break time, reserving a seat for her during tv time, and helping her at the toilet :-). He has also been doing his homework diligently without being told, and often helps QQ with her homework. The school has changed the English reading syllabus to Peter & Jane this year, and he's reading Book 9 now. He is finding reading more interesting than numbers nowadays.

QQ, on the other hand, worries me. Popo (my mum) needs to nag, coax, bribe and threaten her to do her homework. Every single time! She takes ages to write a line of capital A, and often ended up crying, feigning sleepy, hungry, hot and what-not. How did she finally get her homework done? HQ holds her hand and write! *slap forehead*

In school, the teachers love her as she has never asked for her mama or popo. They find her cute too as she talks a lot... non-stop in fact, about her gong gong, her papa, her mama, popo, going to the cinema, her classmates, about everything! After awhile, her talking disrupts the class, and now the teachers give her a nickname... Ms. Chatterbox! *slap forehead* She's a clever little girl who learns pretty fast... but only if she keeps her little butt on her chair and her little mouth shut! *sigh...*

I don't understand... I thought she would love homework as before she started school, she loved writing with her korkor. Why the sudden change?

Do you have any of same thing with your kid? How do you handle it?

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

Happy Chinese New Year 2011!

2011-02-02T23:32:00.004+08:00

Here's wishing everyone who dropped by a very Happy Chinese New Year! Let's usher the year of Rabbit with lots of happiness, prosperity, health, and togetherness! :-D.

before bed tonight

2011-01-30T22:39:00.001+08:00

The kids were more "guai" tonight before bedtime... reading to himself and playing on her own :-).

Don't think they're always this peaceful... they're usually jumping, laughing, playing or fighting together most nights. Not tonight because they're down with fever and must be feeling quite blur after their medication... hehe.

Love this quiet time, but not the fever. Hope they get well in time for CNY!

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

little reminders that make me happy

2011-01-28T13:13:00.002+08:00

a blinking ufo... that signals that my favourite dessert is ready... actually i prefer the hot version with more "liu".
the snowflakes branch in pavilion was very accessible from my old office... my instant pick-me up. my favourite pasta, now available from my new office.yards and yards of pretty fuchsia frills. makes me smile imagining the new owner of this dress running her fingers through them :-)movie dates with my hubby, on friday nights, watched from our bed, after our kids had fallen asleep. couldn't remember when was the last time we had one...

my kiddos loving each other... and their happy feet :-)
what are the little things that make you happy? :-)

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

grandma

2011-01-26T03:39:00.005+08:00

My grandma with willpower so strong, is always so sure of herself, and has the courage of a lion. Highly intelligent, she attended school for one year, and later taught herself to read and write successfully. She has a fiery temper yes, but in all 34 years of my life I have never heard one bad word spoken from her mouth. I respect and I admire my grandma. I love her even more.

She fell from a staircase recently. Her knee cap shattered from the pressure, and she had a large swell on her forehead. My sister and cousins in Singapore quickly arranged for an operation.

She is 86 years old.

When I heard the news that day, I imagined the worse. I was so afraid. I was afraid on how she'll cope during the operation. I was afraid of the aftermath... losing appetite, losing weight, the pain. I was afraid of the after op physiotherapy. Can she cope?

I was so relieved that she managed the op alright. She's bed-ridden now. Could barely manage 2 spoonfuls of food each day. My eyes sting with tears thinking of her. Everytime the phone rings, my heart beats faster. I get even sadder thinking of her having to spend her CNY in bed :'(.

She has done many good things in life. Improved the livelihoods of many. Touched many hearts. Why did this have to happen to her? At 86?

Grandma... please get well really really soon...

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

lost another 3

2011-01-19T18:36:00.003+08:00

To date, HQ has dropped 4 teeth altogether.

He dropped his first tooth on the 29th November 2010 while he was munching on bread. It's a lower left middle tooth.

A month later, my 5 year old told us he could feel another teeth growing on his gum. We took a look and sure enough, we could see a teeth sprouting out. While his original tooth was still intact!

HQ has been complaining that two of his upper teeth were wobbly, but we always thought they will drop on its own, like his first. Blame it on us, we should have started bringing him to dentist visits.When we told him Papa will be bringing him to the dentist next morning to remove his tooth (hubby was clearing his leave on the last week of the year), guess how he reacted?

"I don't want to see dentist. I want my teeth to be like this. 2 layers, like a shark!"

He thought that his 2 layers of teeth is cool! o.O"

Anyway, hubby reasoned with him and brought him to the dentist the next morning. This was the first time HQ visited a dentist. According to hubby, HQ was ok sitting on the dentist chair, opening his mouth for a check, and tolerating the bitter anesthetic when the dentist applied it to his gum. But when he saw the dentist holding a pair of pliers and about to pull his teeth out, he blared his lungs out! Even the dentist raised both his arms and took a step backward.

Oh dear.

Luckily hubby was good at reasoning with HQ, and in the end HQ got his two teeth plucked on 30th December 2010. Other than that, his teeth are good with no cavity.So while many people are looking their finest preparing for the new year 2011, my little boy's mouth looked really bare. Two upper teeth and one lower teeth were gone. My heart ache a little everytime I see him smile with that big gap :-(.

As if not enough, last Sunday, 16th January 2010, HQ woke me up bright and early at 5+ morning. On his little palm laid a tooth. After checking I saw his lower right middle tooth dropped off in his sleep. Luckily he did not swallow it. And... I also noticed some white teeth sprouting out from his gum, thus pushing this original tooth out!

He now loves to take photo smiling, showing the big gap *slap forehead*4 teeth gone at 5 years 8 months old. 2 dropped on its own, 2 plucked by dentist. And 2 teeth sprouting before the original ones were out. I really think that's too early!

The other day, I was just chiding HQ to eat properly while gnawing on an ear of corn. Then I realised he had to position his corn sideway because he could not scrape the corn pearls out without his 2 upper and 2 lower teeth! I really felt so sorry for him then :-(. In the end, hubby used a knife and scraped the corn flesh out for him (my kids prefer corn from the cob; must remember to buy corn in cup next time). I really hope HQ's 4 teeth will grow all back before the next starts to drop. Else, how will he be able to bite and chew properly? *praying hard*

At what age your kids lose their teeth?

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

we went on a boat ride

2011-01-13T23:39:00.001+08:00

super back-dated post: 22 August 2010 (yes, very stale!)

We were at Mines Shopping Fair last August and when the kids saw some boats leaving out the canal, they wanted to ride on one too.

So off we went. Hubby and I had gone on one before at this same location when we were dating many years ago. For the kids, it's their first ride. Here's some of the pictures that we snapped.

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

first day of kindy

2011-01-07T18:23:00.009+08:00

On 3rd January 2010 (Monday), the kids happily went to kindy.

HQ was happy to join his friends, and QQ, well, she had wanted to go to kindy for, like forever. So, like expected, she's happy too :-).

HQ
On the first day of school, HQ came back reporting that he was picked on by 2 big kids (in size, not age). I was wondering, beside 1 classmate, who else could be taller than him? He assured me that he's taller than these 2 boys, but they're much meatier.

He was hit at the leg, arm and buttock. A teacher saw them and break them off. I was shocked. Can you believe this? Only 6 years old and ganging up to bully another kid? Well, maybe it's their ways of "playing" but even so, it's too violent isn't it?

We were torn between encouraging him to protect himself, or to tell his teacher. However, we reasoned that knowing how to protect himself is more important than knowing how to tell a teacher. Moreover, as he grows up and joins a big school next year, there won't be a teacher around everytime.

That night, hubby taught HQ some basic ways of protecting himself - raise both arms to protect the face, or when the body was attacked keep hands at waist to protect your organs, where are the important parts of his body, and run if out-numbered. Hubby stressed that it is definitely wrong to fight, but if someone attack you, you have to know how to protect yourself.

So, on the second day after kindy, the 2 kids came for a fight again. When we asked, HQ told us that he told them sternly not to fight. They hit his arms when HQ used them to protect his face. We asked him whether we should talk to his principal about this? (Anyway, we did told the Principal to keep watch on the two boys in case this happens to other kids). He told us "No need. If they beat me again, I will tell Teacher Y."

So grown up already :').

On the third day, when we asked HQ how was school, he told us that these 2 kids jeered at him instead. And ran off when he told them not to that. Good improvement, huh? :-).

HQ said that from day 4 onwards, the 2 kids never even say a word to him. Haha! We feel relieved that HQ is feeling more confident of taking care of himself. And not to be fearful :-). Think it's about time to start asking about self defense classes for him.

QQ
QQ on the first day of kindy.
Although this is the first time QQ attended kindy, she adapted well. The teachers commented that she's very "guai" (well-behaved). Did as she's told, very responsive and generally a very happy child :-). The only thing I'm very worried about is the food that they served her in school. Well, she did cry on Wednesday at school. Why? She said because her teacher took away her half-eaten bread. She only managed to drink a cup of Milo and a bite of bread. And she cried again when Porpor fetched her back, reiterating the incident. Haha! That should teach her to eat quicker next time! :-P

As of this morning, HQ actually groaned because it's Saturday tomorrow and he didn't need to go to school. o.O" Because he said, he has found 2 new friends, who are also his very good friends, a boy and a girl. I hope he will continue liking school :-).

And QQ has caught a flu bug *sigh...* Hope she'll get well really soon.

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

"ah pek" in the making...

2011-01-04T01:19:00.002+08:00

"Ah Pek" eating... "Ah Pek" playing... "Ah Pek" reading... ...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

...

Oh no! Not her too!

Say hello to "Ah Soh".

*slap forehead*

* "Ah Pek" is a term used for an old Chinese man who likes to sit with one knee propped up. "Ah Soh" is the term for female version.