My babysitter is one to split everything, down to the handkerchiefs that she uses on the kids she takes care of. That means, she doesn't do it like I do: grab the first handkerchief that was previously used to rub the saliva off one kid to rub mucus off the other kid (okay, I fess I don't do that but it would be the perfect example if I did, but it would speak tonnes of how irresponsible a mother I am, which I hope, I am not). How I wish all mothers are like that.
How I wish mothers don't sit in one spot to eat, and feed her two kids and a niece her fried rice off the same spoon.
How I wish mothers don't say it's okay to share kiddie spoons because she doesn't have time to go get one for her own kid.
How I wish mothers do more than just call out "sweetie, that is jie jie's water bottle, don't drink from it" but still let them.
How I wish mothers would be more worried when their kids are sick and will do everything to make sure they get better soon, rather than leave a lingering cough unattended for 3 weeks.
How I wish mothers would stop hitting the floor or pillars everytime their kid falls or hits something out of their clumsiness then say "bad floor, bad pillar, why did you make her fall?" - yes, it makes no sense but people do.
How I wish mothers would stop highlighting every single thing their kids CAN do and try to work on fixing what the kids SHOULD NOT do like scream or cry loudly for attention.
How I wish...
Jul 30, 2010
Jul 17, 2010
HAVING HER SAY
Eva is now 14 and and three-quarter months' old. She can hold her own bottle, walk unaided, stand in a very stable manner, wave goodbye and understand that it means you are going away, and manage a few phrases like 'mam mam' for food, 'mm mm' for I need to do big biz (toilet style), 'bu yao' for I don't want (to), 'mei you' for don't have / don't want to, and my personal favourite 'Ah-pah!' for her dad. She refuses to acknowledge my position by name, preferring crying or screaming instead.
Just the other day, at 530 in the morning, she twitched in her sleep, then sat up and without opening her eyes said, 'Mummee, neneh!' translation: Mummy, I need food/milk! I immediately jumped into action and made her milk, which she just as quick finished before passing back the bottle to me, then flipped over to continue her beauty sleep.
I was left beaming with pride and a short bout of insomnia ensued until the next morning.
---
Today she showed me a new 'trick'.
We went to a new Jusco which opened in the Sungai Long area. Having just received RM50 voucher from my workplace for 'good behaviour' [lol], I took Eva to the toy section to pick out a stuffed toy. She really did choose one of the toys based on her taste.
Mickey was more of a - hmm, it's okay although I wouldn't mind another type. Eeyore was a total no-no. She has enough Winnie the poohs at home, and piglet drew no response from her.
In the end, she opted for a weird-looking rat-slash-rabbit with dangerous-looking whiskers (told you it was weird), which I chose not to buy because... well, it looked weird what!
On our way out of the store and back to the car park, she stopped by a DIY store where a row of odd-placed items sat near one of the display windows. There was a fortune cat on display - the type which has a solar-powered flipping arm that continues moving whether you like it or not. Eva stood near the window then waved back at the cat, then walked a few steps in front, slap herself onto the window display and kept pointing at the cat, to no one's attention in particular. She hardly noticed that I was there. After about two minutes, I grabbed her and left the place because ppl inside the store were looking and she kept turning back and pointing at the direction of the cat.
It's going to be a long 18 years before she moves out on her own, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it!
Just the other day, at 530 in the morning, she twitched in her sleep, then sat up and without opening her eyes said, 'Mummee, neneh!' translation: Mummy, I need food/milk! I immediately jumped into action and made her milk, which she just as quick finished before passing back the bottle to me, then flipped over to continue her beauty sleep.
I was left beaming with pride and a short bout of insomnia ensued until the next morning.
---
Today she showed me a new 'trick'.
We went to a new Jusco which opened in the Sungai Long area. Having just received RM50 voucher from my workplace for 'good behaviour' [lol], I took Eva to the toy section to pick out a stuffed toy. She really did choose one of the toys based on her taste.
Mickey was more of a - hmm, it's okay although I wouldn't mind another type. Eeyore was a total no-no. She has enough Winnie the poohs at home, and piglet drew no response from her.
In the end, she opted for a weird-looking rat-slash-rabbit with dangerous-looking whiskers (told you it was weird), which I chose not to buy because... well, it looked weird what!
On our way out of the store and back to the car park, she stopped by a DIY store where a row of odd-placed items sat near one of the display windows. There was a fortune cat on display - the type which has a solar-powered flipping arm that continues moving whether you like it or not. Eva stood near the window then waved back at the cat, then walked a few steps in front, slap herself onto the window display and kept pointing at the cat, to no one's attention in particular. She hardly noticed that I was there. After about two minutes, I grabbed her and left the place because ppl inside the store were looking and she kept turning back and pointing at the direction of the cat.
It's going to be a long 18 years before she moves out on her own, but I'm looking forward to every minute of it!
Jul 10, 2010
THE FATHER'S SIDE
Times are changing. Let me count the ways:
1. More and more couples are becoming working couples. Each family or household need breadwinnerS.
2. Houses are getting more and more expensive. In-laws are bound to stay with you - there are pros and cons but don't shoot down the idea yet.
3. Women are losing the art of housekeeping, cooking, sewing, laundry-ing and child upbringing because they are trying to get in touch with the feminist side - in short, they are turning into men! (For the rest of us, it's usually just an excuse to not have to know all these things just because you are female. I blame my mother... who blames hers.)
4. LIfestyle requirements are getting more materialistic but tables are turning and people are going back to trying to figure out what 'family values' really mean. It's a trend that is becoming outdated as we speak.
5. Fathers are getting awesomer and awesomer.
Celebrating father's day.
It's common knowledge that Mother's day is the second Sunday of May but rarely do people know or remember that Father's day is the third Sunday of June. Actually, when they started celebrating Father's day back in the early 1900's during Sonora Smart Dodd's time (She was the person responsible for the popularization of the Father's day idea after she and her five siblings were brought up single-handedly by an awesome father after the death of his wife when Smart was 16), some actually laughed at the idea of celebrating their beer-bellied fathers during the weekends when they were actually home.
Time's a changing.
Eva's dad can make porridge for her, change her diaper, bathe and wash her bum bum when she poops, play with her, give her naps, make her milk, chocolate or water at the right temperature of her liking for her and still have time for his work, his wife and Facebook.
While I can still see many friends of his shunning the idea with helping out in parental duties' like checking the diaper when they smell something sour in the air, the winds of change is starting to take care of that. Nowadays, I see more fathers pushing the pram while their wives' shop in the departmental stores for the latest trend and baby fashion available, and there were times when I saw a father feeding the baby on the seats outside Jusco stores.
Even when they can't - or prefer not to - help out with the chores, there are many things that they are doing for the sake of the family.
Some give up smoking upon becoming a father, others frequent pubs and mamak stalls less to spend more time at home. Others are more sensitive to their wives, taking the time to actually sit down and play with their kids while the wife experiences the rare luxury of a proper bath that lasts longer than 5 seconds.
No longer are fathers of today allowed to declare 'bringing the bacon home' the only thing fathers can do, and do best. A new game is at hand and if you want to celebrate your Father's day full-blown next year, get your head in the game and play your part. You will love it, I promise.
To fathers!
1. More and more couples are becoming working couples. Each family or household need breadwinnerS.
2. Houses are getting more and more expensive. In-laws are bound to stay with you - there are pros and cons but don't shoot down the idea yet.
3. Women are losing the art of housekeeping, cooking, sewing, laundry-ing and child upbringing because they are trying to get in touch with the feminist side - in short, they are turning into men! (For the rest of us, it's usually just an excuse to not have to know all these things just because you are female. I blame my mother... who blames hers.)
4. LIfestyle requirements are getting more materialistic but tables are turning and people are going back to trying to figure out what 'family values' really mean. It's a trend that is becoming outdated as we speak.
5. Fathers are getting awesomer and awesomer.
Celebrating father's day.
It's common knowledge that Mother's day is the second Sunday of May but rarely do people know or remember that Father's day is the third Sunday of June. Actually, when they started celebrating Father's day back in the early 1900's during Sonora Smart Dodd's time (She was the person responsible for the popularization of the Father's day idea after she and her five siblings were brought up single-handedly by an awesome father after the death of his wife when Smart was 16), some actually laughed at the idea of celebrating their beer-bellied fathers during the weekends when they were actually home.
Time's a changing.
Eva's dad can make porridge for her, change her diaper, bathe and wash her bum bum when she poops, play with her, give her naps, make her milk, chocolate or water at the right temperature of her liking for her and still have time for his work, his wife and Facebook.
While I can still see many friends of his shunning the idea with helping out in parental duties' like checking the diaper when they smell something sour in the air, the winds of change is starting to take care of that. Nowadays, I see more fathers pushing the pram while their wives' shop in the departmental stores for the latest trend and baby fashion available, and there were times when I saw a father feeding the baby on the seats outside Jusco stores.
Even when they can't - or prefer not to - help out with the chores, there are many things that they are doing for the sake of the family.
Some give up smoking upon becoming a father, others frequent pubs and mamak stalls less to spend more time at home. Others are more sensitive to their wives, taking the time to actually sit down and play with their kids while the wife experiences the rare luxury of a proper bath that lasts longer than 5 seconds.
No longer are fathers of today allowed to declare 'bringing the bacon home' the only thing fathers can do, and do best. A new game is at hand and if you want to celebrate your Father's day full-blown next year, get your head in the game and play your part. You will love it, I promise.
To fathers!
Jul 1, 2010
ORPHANCARE BABY HATCH
Last year, I saw and blogged about a news clip regarding newlyweds who got married and had to go to jail, read it here so you will understand why I am all for the OrphanCARE baby hatch that was just featured in the news a couple of days ago.
The picture of the baby boy who was the first to be placed in the baby hatch was simply beautiful. It was no surprise that in a day or two later, calls were coming in on wishes to adopt the newborn and give it a good home. Best piece of info so far was the fact that the parents were not sure if they want to let the baby get adopted yet. They asked for two weeks to think about it. I think that that is a good sign because at least for this baby, he knows that he is wanted by the people who brought him into this world.
There are many who express hatred and disgust of the centre because of the message they think it supposedly carry. From what I know, OrphanCARE is there to just provide new parents who didn't plan to be parents in the first place an alternate option for their newborn. And the fact that they need not be pushed to a corner and leave the newborn to die.
Reading some of the blogs out there who are of the opinion that the baby hatch is a horrible idea, they think that having a baby hatch would make people be careless about sex, thoughtless about premarital intercourse and think that well, someone's gonna take care of the baby anyways, that's my safety net to go get laid, get pregnant and endure childbirth, right? Well, news for you. They have been doing it before the baby hatch was around. No reason why they should stop just because the centre was set up, and even less of a reason to blame the baby hatch for trying to do what the parents couldn't.
Besides, this kind of logic reasoning can be likened with the idea that knives, pesticide and gas stoves should not be created because it would 'encourage' people to commit suicide. Why? Well, there were people who used those items/ways to kill themselves before, hence the logic fits.
I wouldn't say they are wrong. They must be educated people to be able to blog about it.
But where possible I would like to remind them, that the baby hatch is just about the only thing that is keeping these unwanted and unplanned babies alive. It beats being left in public toilets, or in a black garbage bag at the side of the road, which was the original ways they were 'handled' by clueless teenagers who did one mistake and is making the newborn pay for their mistake.
The law is no help in these cases and one night's 'mistake' will come out full blown 10 months later; there is no hiding. Society at large also frown upon babies being born out of wedlock, at least our society is still holding on to this 'noble' notion. With nowhere to turn to, these kids/young adults have only one option, to get rid of the only proof of their wrongdoing.
With the only baby hatch in Malaysia, at least these newbie parents have a choice of giving the babies a second chance in life; maybe these kids may even be better off with their adoptive parents who really really want to have kids but did not have the natural privilege to have their own. At least, these babies will have a fighting chance against the norms of society, who preferred that they disappear into the background in the name of moral standings and a unsoiled reputation.
The picture of the baby boy who was the first to be placed in the baby hatch was simply beautiful. It was no surprise that in a day or two later, calls were coming in on wishes to adopt the newborn and give it a good home. Best piece of info so far was the fact that the parents were not sure if they want to let the baby get adopted yet. They asked for two weeks to think about it. I think that that is a good sign because at least for this baby, he knows that he is wanted by the people who brought him into this world.
There are many who express hatred and disgust of the centre because of the message they think it supposedly carry. From what I know, OrphanCARE is there to just provide new parents who didn't plan to be parents in the first place an alternate option for their newborn. And the fact that they need not be pushed to a corner and leave the newborn to die.
Reading some of the blogs out there who are of the opinion that the baby hatch is a horrible idea, they think that having a baby hatch would make people be careless about sex, thoughtless about premarital intercourse and think that well, someone's gonna take care of the baby anyways, that's my safety net to go get laid, get pregnant and endure childbirth, right? Well, news for you. They have been doing it before the baby hatch was around. No reason why they should stop just because the centre was set up, and even less of a reason to blame the baby hatch for trying to do what the parents couldn't.
Besides, this kind of logic reasoning can be likened with the idea that knives, pesticide and gas stoves should not be created because it would 'encourage' people to commit suicide. Why? Well, there were people who used those items/ways to kill themselves before, hence the logic fits.
I wouldn't say they are wrong. They must be educated people to be able to blog about it.
But where possible I would like to remind them, that the baby hatch is just about the only thing that is keeping these unwanted and unplanned babies alive. It beats being left in public toilets, or in a black garbage bag at the side of the road, which was the original ways they were 'handled' by clueless teenagers who did one mistake and is making the newborn pay for their mistake.
The law is no help in these cases and one night's 'mistake' will come out full blown 10 months later; there is no hiding. Society at large also frown upon babies being born out of wedlock, at least our society is still holding on to this 'noble' notion. With nowhere to turn to, these kids/young adults have only one option, to get rid of the only proof of their wrongdoing.
With the only baby hatch in Malaysia, at least these newbie parents have a choice of giving the babies a second chance in life; maybe these kids may even be better off with their adoptive parents who really really want to have kids but did not have the natural privilege to have their own. At least, these babies will have a fighting chance against the norms of society, who preferred that they disappear into the background in the name of moral standings and a unsoiled reputation.
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