Just words

Wen changed her hairstyle again. This time, I seriously didn't recoginise her. And the photo on her friend's blog too. I was like ... eh? And when I saw her ... I had to blink blink my eyes a few times. Maybe I need Lasik too. Haha.

So much for her belated birthday present. Heh. And I thought it was a good idea since it was the next best thing to Tods and Tiffany which I know she likes. And I thought it would go very nicely with her hairstyle. Not until I saw her. Cheh. Well, I'm not sure if it is a Korean thing to have a fringe, but she looked tooo cute and soooo sweet. Damn made my hair stand on ends. Didn't get a chance to have a nice chat with her. Carrying a 9kg baby girl is no joke. Not at all.

My girl is starting to crawl on her hands and knees as opposed to on her belly. She really copies what her brother does. Like making the same sort of noise, refusing to drink from the bottle etc. And the best part, according to my mother, is that she doesn't sleep for long stretches of time. Half and hour and the power nap is good enough to give the girl energy to tear the house down plus make grandma pull her hair in dispair. Everyday when I come back, I get a earful of how naughty both of them are. Ah well, looks like I'm not going to be able to go back to work in July, especially if there's no one to take care of the kids.

Did I mention that my girl has now three teeth? Her top left tooth finally came out a few days ago, fortunately there was no fever. Lots of runny nose though, but it seems to have all cleared up now. She loves to eat her porriage, and since I'm not working, I've been making delicious porriage for her. Haha. One spoonful of rice plus Japanese daikon cooked with ikanbilis, mashed them together (minus the ikan bili), and sometimes add fish or carrots. It's a joy to feed her, she eats very fast, unlike the son (at his age too). And the best part is that after she finishes her porriage, she'll sleep like a pig. Hmm, I wonder why my mom can't handle her. Maybe it's because I have a sarong at home, and when she stirs, we just rock her back to sleep. Yep, that must be it. All the more reason why my mom should come stay at my place instead. haha.

The son just came back from a cruise with my parents. They told me he enjoyed himself super duper much. Had two servings of main course, which led to the waiter asking them if they are sure he (the son) could eat that much! How rude. After all, the son had to pay full ADULT fare tax. Humf. My mom told me that he didn't even cry or ask for me, although the first thing he asked for when he got off the ship was to revert back to his 'I-want-mummy' state. Duh. So dear son ate so much and pooed so much and enjoyed himself so much, that he was telling everyone that he wants to go on a cruise again. He enjoyed all the walking on the ship and loved being in the cabin. He enjoyed jumping on the bed apparently. He didn't get to swim because he told my father that he was too scared to try the slides. Ah well, one little step at a time.

I spent some time with my son at school last week, and spied on what he was doing. It was quite heartening to see that he participated in the class activities and has gotten very well with his classmates. They went to the playground that day, and he was going up and down the slides. Heh. I guess he just needed the company, he doesn't like to do things by himself. Dear boy was so funny. He saw a bird and yelled at it. "Bird! Bird!" And he was running a lot and laughing a lot. Heh heh. Now that is what I want my child to be. Happy.

Today, he told me that they had a birthday party and everyone had a balloon. They had a balloon war and someone's balloon burst and everyone laughed. It's quite funny when he told me over the phone, because you can hear his excitment and how hard he was trying to contain it, and trying to tell everything all in one go. I think kids in nursery shouldn't be given homework, because at the end of the day, they won't be doing it, but the parents. It's quite silly then to give kids homework huh.

However, they have started practising handwriting, and I was given feedback that the son, when it comes to writing, tends to be very lost and spaced out. Hmm. I was then asked to practise with him at home. My thoughts were like that:

1. Sure, we'll practise writing together. In fact I went to buy a few workbooks since then and we had done a few 'writings' together at home. We usually write only one letter a week, writing the letter 3 or 4 times each time. Also I'll spend some time reading a simple book together, after which we'll practise the violin. I think the whole 'lesson' takes less than 30 minutes.

2. The son just started writing this year, one can't expect him to be writing like a pro yeah? And if he knows what to do already and is perfect in what he is doing, then he doesn't need to go to school anymore, does he?

So I'm not too worried about all these. Yet. But that is the problem with our education. You can't have perfection right from the start. Otherwise where is the learning? We should not make our kids do well so as to reflect that we have been doing our work. That is : if my kid gets 100, that equates to me being a great mom or me being a great teacher. BS. But some people have started to think of it like that. And I was reading about the primary school teacher who changed her students' scripts. Tsk tsk. Unfortunately, that is just how they see it. How else to judge your performance in your job right? And with that kind of thinking enroached in everyone's mind, the stress level just went up one notch.

I can't find any good books to read nowadays. Thrillers are so predictable. Mysteries are also so predictable. Comedy romances are also so predictable. And not really funny. I think I've been completely spoiled by Japanese animes/mangas. It's their style, their outlook and their imagination. Simple and elegant.