Cheeks to Cheeks

After scrambling to figure out how to log-in to my blog and racking my brain to dig for my log-in name and password to it, I’ve realised one thing–Facebook has taken over my blog life. The convenience of facebook-ing has somewhat deterred me from blogging. On top of that, laziness has kick in and the mojo to blog has long gone since the family and I have moved back to Malaysia.

Funny to say, I doubt there is anyone reading this cob-webbed blog of mine anymore. Many events have happened. Some sad and some happy. I’m not gonna dwell on the sad parts but I have to bring it to myself to at least blog about my kids once a week (yea..yea..let’s see how long this will last). After all, the kids are the reason for this blog existence.

So, now for the late announcement. We have a new addition to our family. A rumbustious Elloise Yi-Qin Yan was born on September 5th of this year. In a week or so, she’s turning 3 months old. It would be unfair to her to not have her milestones noted in this blog. Needless to say, which I think it quite humorous,  my resolution for 2012 is to keep my blog active with my kids’ milestones and antics.

Welcome back…to me.

p/s: No proof-reading this time as I’m pressed on time. Belle need revision on her “holiday” workbook assignments.

Hello blogworld!

Friends have been wondering where I went but thanks to Facebook many knew where and what went on in my life. In a nutshell, my family and I have move to Malaysia and we haven’t really settle down yet. Hence, the lack of Facebook status updates and a worse case of blogging block.

Anyway, I want to kick start today’s post with a conversation I had with no other than Miss never-ceased-to-amazed-me Belle. Belle has started kindy in a local Chinese school. I must say I’m very proud of my little girl. She was plunged into this foreign language, albeit her 3 months stint in an US Chinese afterschool, and somewhat managed to stay afloat. She likes her current school a lot and we haven’t heard the “I don’t want to school” complaint…yet. Today, after picking her up from school, we had a light chat over her snack/homework time and the conversation went like this:

Belle: Mommy, I gave my markers to my friends. They are friends from a different class.

Mom: You gave your markers or did you lend it to your friends?

Belle: I gave my markers.

Mom: o_O *zoink*! What?!? Why did you do that?

Belle: ‘Cos I’m very kind, Mommy. My friends are poor, they have no markers. So, I gave them my markers.

Mom: They have no markers because their daddies and mommies did not let them bring markers from home. I gave you those markers so that you can use them during your free time for drawing. *and so the lecture begins…*

Belle: *still insists she did the right thing* But Mommy, I’m being kind. I like to be kind to my friends.

Mom: You can be kind by lending your markers to them when they want to use it. Lending means they have to return those markers to you. Have any of your friends give you anything?

Belle: No.

Mom: Those markers were given to you by your friend, Max, from Bubb school. He would feel very sad if he knows you’ve given away the present he gave you for your birthday.

Belle: But Max is not my friend anymore. I’m not in Bubb school anymore.

Mom: Max is still your friend no matter what school you are at now. The bottomline is you must not give away your things. Tomorrow you need to ask your friends to return your markers. Tell them you didn’t know you were not suppose to give them away.

I have no idea what came over this girl. I appreciate her kind attitude but giving away her stuff?! No way! It’s time to teach her the value of money.

I would love to write more but both of the girls woke up and I have to be with them. Happy blogging, everyone!

Today I’ve witnessed the art of manipulation by a five year-old. This entire conversation took place in the car…

A: Look! Gretel has a little pink on her. Do you like pink, B? It is actually red but it looks like pink, right?
B: *Looked over* Yes, I love pink.
A: I know you like pink, B.
B: Yeah, I do.
A: Here you go, B. I know you like pink.
B: Look what I have here, A. This is blue (Cinderella doll). Do you like blue?
A: Yes, I love blue.
B: You can have mine.
A: OK! You can have mine and I can have yours. *muahahaha in her little head*

In fact, A had wanted B’s doll all along but clever A used– you can call it reversed psychology or mind-game– her choice of words carefully to get what she wanted. Sadly to say, my child wasn’t A. She was B, the one who got sucked into clever A’s manipulation.

This morning while walking to school, my daughter said this,

Mommy, do you know you are the BEST mommy in the world? Thank you, Mommy!

Hearing this makes everything I did worth it. Now, let’s see if she still thinks I’m the best mom during her teenage and adult years. If she doesn’t, I can always whip up this post for her to read.

Last month was quite a turbulence, with Belle adjusting to Kindy and her Chinese after-school program. She came a long way and we’re very proud that she has settle in to the new rules and new expectation. I, on the other hand, has developed an utmost respect for Kindergarten teachers and it totally awed in how resilient kids can be. (Note to Belle: Yay, baby! Mama is super proud of you!)

Just as we thought our miserable days of packing are over, we were hit with another hurdle. Cassie contracted Hand Foot and Mouth Disease from the preschool. We’re very lucky that she got very mild symptoms: spots on belly, bottoms, hands and feet. She still eats like a horse (when comes to her fav food like pizza, pasta, anything non-Asian), very energetic and was very content to be staying home with her Mama. Her spots are diminishing each day and looks like she’s good to go back to school next Monday. I’m delighted!

And talking about packing, I am so done with packing and sorting. After 10 rolls or packing tape, 180 mailing labels and 45 boxes on 3 pallets, we have finally shipped our boxes on Tuesday. I’m so glad this part is over. Now it is getting the chimneys cleaned, touch-up paintings done and house/carpet cleaned. No tenants yet but we’re hoping for the best.

Since I’m on the roll with updates, a Happy Anniversary to my husband. It has been a wonderful 9 years being Mrs. Y and I can’t think of anyone else to spend the rest of my life with. Love you!

I am terribly upset today.

I am so upset that I can’t help but to cry when I called Jon to tell him that a teacher or even teachers think our child is uncontrollable. It is like a big stamp on my forehead saying I fail as a parent. This is how upset I am.

I am not upset with my child but I am so sick of hearing teachers kept telling me, “Isabelle doesn’t listen well.” “Isabelle can’t sit still.” “Isabelle isn’t writing nicely.” “You will have to revise with her on the Chinese characters just so she doesn’t feel left out or has less confidence” “I want to get on with the teaching schedule but by not knowing these simple set of characters I can’t move on.” And then they would contradict by saying, “Oh, she is still young (she is a Nov baby), give her time.” “Oh, we don’t want to push her too hard till she doesn’t like Chinese school.”

It is all BULL SHIT!

At the very beginning, before enrolling her into the Chinese after-school program, I told the teachers my child is not a Mandarin speaker at home. We were also given the impression that we will not need to do ANY revision with her during weekends because they will have ample exposure to Mandarin from Monday to Friday. They had also told us they will separate the English speakers from the Mandarin speakers just so they won’t feel “stupid” for not knowing Mandarin in the first place.

What I’m seeing now is, ALL the Kinder kids are in the same class. It is understandable that some of these kids will excel in Mandarin ‘cos they speak it at home. Majority were brought up by Mandarin speaker grandparents, hence giving them an edge in Mandarin.

I am so angry and upset beyond words. Since school started I have put in so much emphasis on getting my child up to speed with what they expect her to know. I made flash cards of the Chinese characters. Everyday I made sure we had at least 30 to 45 minutes of revision time going over those characters AND on top of that, getting her familiarize with addition.

What I’m feeling now is disappointment. It made me feel as though all those effort and energy spent were not enough for them to appreciate how far along my child has came, especially when she is only into the third week of Chinese school AND not a Mandarin speaker.

Yes, I am upset, angry and disappointed. The reason we put her in this “rigid” environment is to prepare her for the real Chinese kindergarten environment in Malaysia. We want her to get use to a Chinese environment and we thought easing her into it, especially in a US-based Chinese school, would be easier for her. Apparently not. They expect ALL kids to be typical Chinese kids where obedience is #1. What they forgot was my child is not a Mandarin speaker. Majority of the time they would speak to the children in Mandarin and give instruction in Chinese. I know it is to get the kids use to listening to Mandarin but for a non-Mandarin speaker/listener, it means shit. Of course my kid is not going to listen or obey them ‘cos she doesn’t even know what they want from her!

Pure disappointment! I’m so upset I told Jon I can’t speak to the teachers today, he will have to do it. So we will see how it goes. My tummy is growling but I have no appetite to eat anymore.

Friday is here. Yay!!! You cannot believe what a challenging week it has been.

We had to wake up early just so Belle gets to school on time. Apart from that, both Jon and I get interrupted sleep from the older girl ‘cos she insists to have her diaper changed whenever it gets soiled…middle of the night!

Things ain’t that fun during the day too when all I have been doing was packing, filing, packing and more packing. At 1.15pm sharp, I had to be out of the door to pick up the girl and her friend, Abby, for after-school.  Then it is back to more packing and sorting things out for our future garage sale. In between that I will squeeze in lunch. At 5pm it is off to getting the younger one from preschool and head over to the older one’s after-school place.  We would straight away head over to my in-laws’ place for dinner.

After a lot of threatening, scolding, cajoling the kids over dinner time, we would return home by 7.30pm for a quick shower. Then it is bedtime for the kids by 8.30pm. Sometimes I will konk out with them but the book, “The Girl who played with Fire” kept calling out to me. Both Jon and I would hit the sack before midnight and of course, get woken up by Ms. Belle some time between 12am and 7am.

So, yea, I’m glad it is Friday! That means more packing to do on Saturday. Both of us are so dead tired and we can’t wait for this (packing) to be over.

It is 10.30am and here I am reading through a stack of papers of Mandatory rules, parents authorization on technology and media use, and filling out emergency card. Just two and a half hours ago I was in the Kindergarten trying to get my 1st born settle into her new classroom and making sure she remembers all the hundred and one things she must do throughout the day, such as, “Remember to put your jacket in the backpack” “Remember to wash your hands after you use the toilet” “You will have to take your food out for lunch and if you need help, ask your teacher” “There is snack time and remember to take out your snacks from your lunch box.”

Yes, today my first child has promoted to Kindergarten. We are very fortunate to go through this 1st day of school experience with two other families whom have became very good friends. Today Belle, Abby and Tessa started Kindergarten together. The only unfortunate part is Belle will not be in the same classroom as Abby and Tessa. But we know our baby is strong and independent. She can survive in a new environment on her own and she did not cry when we left. She is quite a trooper!

Things have been going crazy in our lives but I will save that in a different post. Today is all about Belle and her first day of Kindergarten. We arrived at school 8am on the dot. If it weren’t for the traffic lights we would have arrived sooner. So, note to myself to leave the house 20 mins before 8am.

Once we got there, we picked up the stack of must-read documents from the school district and did a little name hunt in her classroom. Her teacher Ms. D.M. prepared a list for us, the parents, to go through with the new students.

First we found her cubby hole and above it there are hooks to hang the backpacks. Next, we had to find the drinking fountain which is next to the sink. This is for the students to take a sip if they get thirsty. The last thing we had to do was to find her table and we did that by look at the name tags that were pasted on the tables.

We picked up Belle’s name tag and proceeded to an easel where she had to write her name. After that the list stated that she has to choose a book from the book shelves and go back to her seat to read that book quietly. There are 25 students in her class and the classroom barely fits everyone (kids and parents).

After a few minutes of watching the teacher doing roll calls, Jon and I proceeded to the coffee table that was set up by the school. There we chatted with Abby’s and Tessa’s parents. Jon and I didn’t leave school until 9.30am.

I’m so excited and nervous for my little one. I do hope she is going to enjoy Kindergarten and making new friends. I guess I will have to wait till 1.30pm to hear all about her day. In the mean time, I should get back to the stack of papers from the school.

Fifteen minutes ago I was in the shower with the girl and my wise 4.5 year old gave me this piece of advice…

Mommy, you have to exercise more to get your nen-nen (boobs) up.

Mommy’s reaction: Speechless.

Oh, my dear daughter, I wish it is that easy.

Last night I was in bed reading the girls a couple of story books. Then Belle struck up a conversation that went (somewhat) like this:

Belle: Mommy,  look at this picture. The illustrator write (draw) it.
Mom: Draw it (tried to correct her when she said write).
Belle: Ok, draw it. The illustrator is good.
Mom: Yes, she sure is. That is a very big word you used: Illustrator. Who taught you that?
Belle: Nobody.
Mom: Really? Was it your teacher?
Belle: I dunno.

Oh well, it doesn’t matter who taught her but I’m amazed that she has begun to use big words. I don’t think I have ever used that word when I was four and a half. Lately, we have been borrowing the book series, Fancy Nancy, from the local library. Fancy Nancy introduces kids to fancy words and I’m guessing it is rubbing onto the girl. For what I know, she may start to speak a word or two in French.