Parenting: Being A Working Mom Sucks

Not all the time...

....it just sucks majorly when you get 'reports' about 

your precious child's major milestones from the maid.

When I got home after work, my maid announced, 

"Mom, mei-mei can crawl already. She crawl to Tiger's mattress and then 

Tiger shout, No, no touch my things"

Arrghh, missed the premier.

I gave a fake smile and asked, "Hands and knees or use stomach?"

Maid: ????? blank look

Crazy mom aka me/blogger:

" Like this?" 

<Crawled on all four>

Maid: "No mom. On stomach. Mei-mei can sit up also"

Oh, great.  Two major milestones.

'______'

I placed Lil Dragon on her tummy and waved a million toys in front of her, 

trying to make her do a demo of her commando crawl.

" Come larrrr, be good"

Obviously, she was too smart to be a circus act and played it cool.

There will only be one clown in the family.

Guess who?

She did crawl after that, 2 days later....

Hmmph....

Last night, she was blowing raspberries, loud ones...

I shall pretend that those were the first ones...

Breastfeeding: Boob talk

 

While shopping for new clothes, I realised that besides getting the

right size, cut, quality, design, price and colour,

my clothes must now fulfil the following criteria:

 

1. Plenty of space for boob expansion.

2. Easy to pull down/side to reveal either boob.

3. Not too short.

4. Hide fat ass

 

Mom, you were right. Life is tough.

 

If boobs could tell a story, it will probably go like this:

 

B1: Right boob

B2: Left boob

(The names are in no way related to Bananas in Pyjamas)

 

Once upon a time, way before breastfeeding days,

B1 and B2 were living on the same area but they have never met.

 Then, the geography started to change with the mysterious event known as pregnancy.

 

Once strangers, B1 and B2 can now 'see' each other.

They started shouting out their greetings across the plain.

 

B1: Helllooooooo! I can see you now.

B2: excited. Hiiiii!!!

 

After 9 months of rapid development and growth,

it started to become crowded.

 

B1: Let's hold our breath and see how big we can go.

Come on, I'll race you.....wahahaha

B2: Pfftt...fine. I bet I'll be engorged first!

B1: Ouch, ouch, ouch....

B2: What a stupid,stupid idea!

 

 

B1: Oooi, scoot over. You are in my space.

B2: Wtf? You are getting fatter by the minute. Oh wait, so am I.

B1: Maann, when are we going to stop fluctuating like this?

B2: Don't worry, let me leak a little and embarrass her.

Wahahaha, there...all done.

B1: You are so clever, let me do the same....woohoo!

 

 

After several months of breastfeeding, B1 and B2 finally accepted

the fact that they are not here for man to ogle at.

They are not here as decorative things.

They are no sexual objects.

They are mean breastfeeding machines.

Like,  Grrrrrrrrr!!!! kind of mean

Now, they want to be known as Righty and Lefty.

Because B1 and B2 are just so juvenile.

 

Righty: Is it me or are getting 'longer'?

Lefty: Yes, we both are. Look at the bright side. We can double as storage now.

Righty: What do you mean?

Lefty: Pfft...and you call yourself smart. Look, she can now hide money 'under' us.

Righty: Oooooo

 

 

Righty: Hey, are you sleeping?

Lefty: Ermm, no. Why?

Righty: Can you feed the slob next? I am still a little sore

Lefty: But the slob likes you more...

Righty: Hence the soreness *roll eyes*

Lefty: Fine but you owe me, big time.

Righty: Alright. Next time we are out in public, I will sacrifice myself.

Lefty: Thanks man, I am still agoraphobic.

 

 

Big Butt: Guys, can you shut up? ##@*  I am trying to get some sleep.

It's tiring trying to be anti gravity all day.

Righty: Yo, watch it man or we are coming to get you!

Left: Yeah, right now we are already at the umbilicus. You just wait! 

 

 

 

No boobs were hurt in the making of this fictional conversation.

B1 and B2 are still well and making lots of milk at blog/post time.

Little Tiger: 2 years 7 months

Hmmm, what can I say about Tiger?

In terms of big brother duties, he kinda sucked.

Sad but true

He refuses to share his books or toys with Lil Dragon

(after one teeny incident)

There is a clear distinction between 'his' and 'hers' toys

(whatever's 'hers' IS his as well)

He tells Dragon to go away or "Mama cannot carry mei-mei"

He would tell anyone listening that "No, I no love mei-mei"

Jealousy....

<<<<>>>>

Restoring peace in the house is now a tactical mission.

I have employed cunning words and fake decoys:

For example instead of telling him to share his toys,

I will tell him that mei-mei is sharing with him.

Believe or not,

a simple change in approach can work wonders!

<<<<>>>>

With Lil Dragon's presence, coaxing him to use the potty or give up his pacifier

is a suicide mission.

The potty is stressing him out.

One day, out of curiosity, I asked him,

"What is wrong with using the potty?"

He replied, "I no like."

"Why?"

 " Mama, I scared" he said sadly

And that was it.

 I gave him a hug and told him

"Look, no more potty, alright?

I love you so much.

When you are ready, we will try the potty again"

It may sound strange but I think there was a change in his mood

immediately.

I think he is a little freaked out by the fact that his excrement may dirty the floor;

being the OCD that he is.

<<<<>>>>

Discipline and limits

Yes, it has started...

He has had one public meltdown in 2.5 years.

That was when I refused to buy him the cartoon version of the

alphabet train puzzle from Mothercare.

Mind you, I do expect my 2 year old to have boundless energy

and running all over the place.

That is his job as a kid and

it is my duty to keep an eye on him.

They will fall and therefore, they will learn.

We all have our limits. The rules are:

1. Stay where I can see you (when we are out)

2. Escalators are dangerous

3. Stop and look before crossing roads

4. Do not hit your sister

Learning

He is in his word sensitive phase.

So, we are encouraging reading and word formation



He loves these flower alphabets from ELC

We are also going through Disney's Word, Word, Words from Grolier.

The newer version of Brillkids is a hit as well.

Learning Chinese with me is a no-no

:(

He likes Little Reader Chinese

but

I may have to send him for Chinese classes at Bao Bei earlier than planned.

Tentatively, we are starting in March.

Right Brain Practise

Photographic memory: 5 items

Grid memory:

1. I am starting to use trick card. Only 3 out of 4 items are actually flashed.

2. I place certain items upside down or to the side.

Linking memory: major improvement

Mandala: consistently corrrect with 3 colours.

Math

He is counting up till a hundred but still require some corrections.

He love this Montessori number chips I used (will share later)

Keeps him super focused as it is hands on.

Language

I can listen to him all day long.

Here's his account on his walk at the park

"Nai-nai. Tiger go park with mama and papa.

I sit motorbike (his Ybike) and see tortoise.

Tiger give bread.

Throw inside pond.

And then I push, push, push (his bike) then fall down.

Now my leg paining."

Points to scrapped knee, fake sob...

"The floor so naughty, nai nai go beat the floor"

<<<<>>>>

The patience and love required to handle a 2 year old.

Mothers are almost saints, I tell you...

Full time mothers probably are....

Salute you guys!

Little Dragon: 6 Months Old

Oh my little girl....

 

6 months!

 

That's half a year of sleep deprivation;

 

which is a cause of insanity, you know...

 

 

 

What can I say about this little sweet princess?

 

Forgive me for gushing so much BUT she is just good enough to eat!

 

See....

Grrrrrr

 

 

Even Tiger wants to catch her cuteness with his toy camera

 

Don't be fooled! These two are not the best buddies at the moment.

 

Tiger thinks she is a book destroyer. (She accidentally tore his cook book)

 

Hence, she is only allowed to play with the toys laid out on the playmat..

 

To Tiger, she is also stealing his thunder and mommy-time.

 

 

She looks like this most of the time:

 

Gnawing, gnawing....bubbles.....(repeat cycle)

She sits rather well for long stretches of time and interacts well with

her toys.

 

She especially love the Leapfrog Spin A Letter

 

Otherwise is is busy chewing her teethers



 

She is also practising her crawling stance all the time

 

Sometimes, she cries out in frustration when she lands, face first.

 

 Still in the early stages, she commando-crawls backwards occasional

 

But it looks like she is going to be on all four soon.

 

 

The only similarity between Tiger and Dragon is their lack of hair..

 

Ha ha...

 

Oh, and their super unfriendly nature (stranger anxiety)

 

Good thing too, our country being so unsafe at the moment.

 

 

 

After weeks of torture and trying, she is finally accepting formula milk.

 

Why not breast milk only?

 

I would like to have my boobs back, thank you..

 

No lar, due to the nature of my work and business, sometimes it is

 

just too stressful to keep up with her demand.

 

I do not need a badge to say that I am fully breastfeeding.

 

Six months is good enough for me.

 

I will continue to pump at work and breastfeed her at night

 

but I relish the peace of mind that it gives me,

 

knowing that the formula is there when I am inadequate.

 

 

I tried weaning her last weekend

 

She HATED it...

 

Guess what I did?

 

When no one was looking, I squeezed a little breastmilk into her mashed porridge.

 

Grandma would have been disgusted....

 

Haha....

 

Ermmm, nope, she still did not like it

 

 

 

Oh, want to know a little secret?

 

I really enjoy co-sleeping with her...

 

So much so, I have difficulty sleeping without her delicious smell.

 

Aaahhhhhh....

 

Best relaxation therapy in the world.

 

 

 

Another secret?

 

She fell from the bed, again.

 

First time was with the maid.

 

This time, it was me...

 

She was crawling backwards, like really fast,

 

and slipped off the edge of the bed, leg first..

 

She ended up standing on the ledge of the divan bed for 2 seconds.

 

During that eternal 2 seconds, while I was running towards her,

 

she flashed me a toothless grin (See, mama/boobies, I am so clever!)

 

Then, she fell face first onto the cushioned ledge and

rolled onto the mattress on the floor

 

She cried a little when I was picking her up,

 

A couple of shush shush, I'm sorry

 

 & muaks muaks and she is all smiles again.

 

 

 

I have been blessed with an angel.

 

For that, I am grateful, forever.

 

How can I not fall in love with her everyday?

 

 

 

Tot School: January 2013

We did these from late December to early January 2013.

Play dough Christmas Tree

Prepared a bottle of store bought dough with glitter (tree)

and some bento pick sticks (ornaments)

I helped him shape a tree and he poked away!

The dough was a little too sticky for his liking.

Play dough: Soft stuff from ELC
Jewel bento sticks: Daiso
Tray: Daiso



Christmas Sensory Bin

We kept this for a while because he really liked it.

So much so, he carried it around the house asking everyone to 'scoop' with him.

I made him wear the hat (Thanks, yi yi for leaving it behind...hehe)

He used the christmas tree as a chicka chicka tree and then added alphabets to the bin.

We also read some christmas books I bought from Big Bad Wolf :)

Played some guessing games

Tangrams

He is starting to enjoy this.

Occasionally, he calls the hexagon octagon.

Tangram set from Taiwan
Printables from Confessions of a Homeschooler
These from Preschool Alphabet blog are more complex



Geography and vocabulary

He LOVES this puzzle. It has some holes to place animals from that continent.

(Again, thanks to yi yi, Ashleyprettimommy)

I paired it with a picture atlas.

As he identifies the continents, I just read some facts to him.

Surprisingly, he enjoyed it.

When I put it down, he will tell me, "No, mama read some more"

Puzzle: From Guangzhou
Atlas: From Popular.
Saw the same book in Bookxcess for
a fraction of the price I paid

As the puzzle takes shape,

he pointed to the world map on the wall and shouted,

"Mama, same oh, see?"

"Yes, same. Both are maps". I smile

He gave me a serious look and explained patiently,

"No, mama. This is Earth. Okay?"

Pfft...stubborn-nyeeee

Self-chosen, pre-writing activty

This was around since Christmas week.

He just randomly picked this one from the shelf.

Placed it on the table and went to work quietly.

Two weeks later,

Puzzle from USL Education
Bought during sale.
40% off, I think



Sensorial

I made him 3 pairs of smelling bottles using aromatherapy oil.

Then I used the idea from Counting Coconuts to label the bottom with stickers

for self-checking.

Bottles: From sundry shop. Rm 1 each



Writing/alphabets

Another one of his ga-ga activities.

I think he killed a small tree with the papers he went through.

Then I got the brilliant idea of making him trace repeatedly with different colours.

Oh yea, things like this makes me feel clever nowadays...bwahaha...

See, how serious nerd boy is?

Until this fellow came home and disturb us...

The clowns video-ing themselves

Whenever I try to clean:

"I COME HELP MAMA"

Errrrr, not really...........

Parenting: Confessions

This is really a guilt-ridden post disguised as a parenting one.

 Confession #1:

Firstly, let me remind you that Tiger is a cheeky fellow.

He has a habit of making fun of himself.

Most of the time he is hilarious, sometimes, not so funny.

For example, when we are supposed to be focused for our right brain practise.

He will suddenly find the world map verrry interesting.

Or he will used the icons as paper dolls and walk them around.

With a forced loving tone, "Come on...do fast faaaast"

 Bored look...then...hyena-like laugh

I have been sleep-deprived this week than that meant a shorter fuse. As a result,

"BANG!!!!!!"

I slammed my hand on the table and startled poor Tiger.

He immediately burst into tears and ran over for a hug, like I was in distress...

Feeling defeated and tired, I asked slowly, 

"Your choice, study or you want to go downstairs?"

He sobbed, "Sorry mama. I want study"

@.@

He actually completed his photomemory questions (5 items)

and mandala with perfection.

I feel really bad for expecting so much out of my 2 year old but at the same time

I know he is capable of so much more.

I really need to get a grip.

Here's Tiger, caught mid-hyena-laugh by papa.

 <<<  >>>

One afternoon, hubs called, "Hey, baby...bla bla bla"

"Do you know that whenever you say Hey Baby...

It usually means that you are going to drink with your friends." I complained

Hubby, pretending to be innocent, asked,  "Got meh?"

"Whatever lar...You are calling to inform me only.  Doesn't matter"

Ignoring the sarcasm in my voice, "Bye!"

Here's the thing.

Remember the overpriced, tiny slide/jungle-gym that hubs bought after a drinking session?

No?

Here's a reminder

Guess what?

He did the same thing...haha...cheapskate...I wanted diamonds...cheh..

Grandma said, "Oh...scared that your wife will scold, buy toys to compensate?"

Hubby pretended to be deaf.

Tiger pretended it was Christmas, again

In the box....a stand up microphone.

He sang two songs on repeat, like a broken player.

Hey sexy bey-beh, op op op, Oppa Gang-Man Style (his words, not mine)

repeat 100x

Chicka chicka Boom Boom

repeat 100x

After hubs complained that he only knew 2 songs, he started showing off,

singing Do-Re-Mi, Twinkle twinkle little star, ABC, phonic songs....

Kiasu betul....

Luckily hubby remembered that he has a daughter too...

Confession #2

I should pretend to be irritated more and let hubby buy the toys.

Art & craft: Painting Week Ideas

Like I mentioned on our Facebook page, Tiger's been bitten by the art bug recently.

Here are some of the activities we did:

Painting with Glow-In-the-Dark paint.

 Because normal paint is sooo boring

Just kidding.

I wanted to help him overcome his fear of the dark, so this was a fun way to do it.

Yes, this ELC paint worked and we painted in the dark for 30 minutes.

Paint: Sponsored by Ashleyprettimommy

Plastic bib: free with Pebeo hand paint set

ELC: First brushes and stampers set

Art easel: Fun & Cheer



Stamp a giraffe

If you are not so creative, like me, just get an art idea book and let the child choose.

Yes, there are tons of idea on the internet but we got a nice thick one from the Big Bad Wolf sale.

It is in the background for Tiger's referral since he wanted to make a giraffe.

 He tried, but it ended up looking like a squashed yellow Furby.

Cue: Meltdown, Mama do, Mama do

Okay, okay

So, I painted the giraffe for him (looks like an elongated Furby)

A small cube sponge for stamping and voila!

A giraffe, I think.... 

Times like this, it is the thought that counts, so we gushed over his painting.

Bathroom art

Nowadays, Tiger awaits my arrival home from work eagerly.

So that he gets to 'play art' in the shower.

Can't share the pictures here cause of nudity issues and mama's still not so hot.

Gimme another 3 months....phew-weet....i can dream right?

We have tried painting with texture brushes, toothbrushes (papa's),

stamping with bath toys/ducks, water gun BUT his fav is this:

WATER SPRAY CAN

Water spray can: Daiso
Paint: Crayola Finger paint- diluted



Outdoor

Sidewalk chalk is fun on walls too.

Especially when you don't have lots of space.

Washes off easily with a spray of water. (very important)

He made: Raining, Thunder, Rainbow, the finally it was Fireworks.

Fickle-minded, this one.

Then, he helped with WEEDING

According to him that was fun too...hoohoo...we will see in another 5 years time.

Shirt: Pasar malam Oppa Gangnam
Chalk: Crayola
Potted plant: in need of fertiliser.

   

Linking up to Tot School @ 1+1+1 = 1

&

Tuesday Tots

Life: Hello?? Monogamy??

I posted this very long status onto my personal facebook page yesterday after I found out about a friend's infidelity. I was obviously pissed:

"Dear married men, what does being married mean to you? Someone to wash your underwear and iron your clothes? Wait, that is the maid. Someone to take care of you when you are sick? Or you got hitched bcoz you needed a person to impregnate because you obv don't have the super power to carry a child selflessly for 9 months? How about this...the thoughts of an ideal man: When I decided to marry the love of my life, I will CHERISH, LOVE, and PROTECT. I will APPRECIATE the woman who sacrificed her future, body and dreams so that I can have mine. I will RESPECT my wife and never take her for granted. I will stay COMMITTED because I believe our marriage is work in progress and it will only become better and stronger with time. Since the Mayans did not end the world in 2012, I will not destroy hers by not keeping my dick inside my pants. If you have the need to f*** around, please, be a man and at least have the decency to do it discreetly. It is nothing to be proud of, you immature scum..Pfftt"

Since I did this without mentioning or tagging anyone, the first people to read this were quite alarmed, thinking that the scumbag was my dear hubs. First to call was of course, my kay poh chee sister:

Sis: What the hell did your husband do?
Me: Huh? No la....not hubs...a friend of the family. If its hubs, he no need to count down to 2013 already. I tapau him.
Sis: Aiyo..scared le. Everyone is going to think it is your husband.
Me: He he...ya...Help me comment quickly it is not him. I am out for lunch.
Sis: Okay Okay

Five minutes later:

Sis: Can I copy and paste this onto my fb page so that people think it is my husband too?
Me: @.@ Don't be crazy la....


What is it with men and their inability to control their peeing/reproductive organ? Is it an innate need to spread their sperm around?

I can bet you a gazillion dollars that you know a man with a mistress, second wife or a girlfriend.
Well, if you are from middle-upper class of a typical Malaysian Chinese community like I am, you will. Typical conversation after meal:

"Oh, Dato so-and-so have three wives you know. His company made so much money this year...change car, change house." (Apparently wife also can change)

Btw, nobody will be shocked by the 3 wives fact. It is the norm.

People of the Chinese community, I cannot accept this trend. Is it a sign of wealth and power? Does it make you feel great to hurt the woman you promised to love for a life time? You are not a Muslim. You cannot marry 4 wives ranging from 17 to 50 years old and ask them to stand in a row to be pictured in the national newspaper while you grin like a jackass on crack. (Can I virtual spit here? Sigh, too ladylike, me, can't do it) I am not a racist but I thank the laughing Buddha everyday that I am not Muslim. *People who have read the Holy Book of Quran will know why is polygamy legal in Islam. I will not discuss it further here*

I can share my food, my drink, my money but I will not share a husband. *stamp feet*

Like hubby said, my family is too perfect. Daddy being monogamous and all. Of course..pfftt...how else could I turn out to be such a wonderful child and produce such cuties? Yes, I think hubby is very lucky....unless he cheats on me..