Refusing the Childminders

Last week
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One evening, last week, when I picked her up, her eyes were looking to the floor and she said this to me :

Mummy, I am very sad ....

Naturally, I asked Boon Kor Kor and I also saw none of the kids were at the living room.
Boon said the kids were fighting over a toy, a green soft toy snake from Ikea, the one that curls round the neck.

Amber wanted it.

The other 'older' kids also wanted it.

Screaming ensued, Boon asked the kids to give it to Amber as she's the youngest (the rest were 5,6 &7). The rest got angry and went upstairs to play, 'marginalizing' her.

So, the poor kid was left alone with a long green snake and a sulking face. She felt no one wanted to be friends with her and no one wanted to play with her.

I explained to her during the drive home, about sharing etc , bla bla bla...

During bedtime, we 'pillow talked' , again she said "Mummy, Amber very sad" .
Amber sad because YY kor kor, MS cheh cheh, YY cheh cheh angry with me,
They don't want to play with me!

Haish...she's still not over it. I thought kids have very short memory ? I feel so sorry for her.. cuddled her, assuring everybody loves her, the cheh-cheh's and kor-kor's don't mean to be angry with her.. etc..

Pillow talk so long till I almost fell asleep but the little fart was still wide awake, pondering over the evening's incident !

Then.. comes more and more complains about not wanting to go to Boon Kor Kor's....


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This morning
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Mama, can you stay home ?

These words uttered by her, with innocent eyes this morning broke my heart. It all started over the weekend.

On Saturday, she wakes up and whimpers... I don't want to go Boon Kor Kor there !
That's easy, it's a Saturday and we had to check up her lungs (by the way, her lungs are cleared but coughing persists).
So, I told her.. Ok. today is Saturday, we stay home, later we'll see a doctor and evening, we'll go to Uncle Collin's. She understood and was very well behaved for the rest of the day.

Sunday came, same thing, wake up and whimpers (eyes closed) I don't want to go Boon Kor Kor there ! I explained again, it's Sunday and she'll stay home with us or go wherever we go. Saturdays and Sundays are stay home days coz Papa & Mama don't work.

I 3 days don't want to go Boon Kor Kor !! (shows me her index, middle and fourth finger,, 1,2,3). She knows Sat & Sun is only 2 days, now she tells me she wants to stay home for more days.

Poor girl, close to tears, I distracted her attention by switching on some Disney cartoons and asked her why she doesn't want to go to the childminders, a place she's so happy to be until recently. Then she said :

Coz I scared Uncle Bulldozer !
Coz I don't want to eat !

Uncle Bulldozer was a bulldozer guy driving near Boon Kor Kor's place. One day when Boon took Amber for a walk, they met Uncle B. Boon stopped to talk to him but Amber was very frightened. I found out today, the other kids were frightening her with Uncle B. If she don't finish her meals, Uncle B will sweep her away.

Haish ! My poor girl !

So this morning, she said in a clear sentence to me :
Mama, can Papa go to work first ?
Mama, can you stay home and take care of me ?

So pitiful ! I sent her to the childminders, brought her in and talked to the other kids, there's no Uncle B to be afraid of. Uncle B is Boon Kor Kor's friend. Then I went to the toilet for a while. When I came back, she was in tears already. The other kids keep teasing her.

What should I do ? I can't scold the kids. After all kids are just kids ....

I told Boon the situation and not to let the other kids frighten her with Uncle B anymore. Boon said he'll play Bob The Builder video today and show Amber bulldozers and such, and there's nothing to be afraid of.

I hope she'll get over this soon. Every morning, I have to deal with her " I Don't Want to go Boon Kor Kor's " *sigh*

CNY - Everybody's Birthday

Chor Chat or Yan Yat - 7th day of the Lunar Calendar is everybody's birthday and we loh-sang for prosperity and longevity.
Hubs invited his schoolmated from Tunku Besar School, Tampin for a gathering at our home. Playing host, what to cook leh ? Scratching my head as my 'menu' is rather limited but my itchy hands were eager to try out the braised mushroom recipe I've learnt earlier.





My menu : Lap mei fan, lor bak, mixed vege and braised mushroom with chicken feet.



The most difficult dish was the chicken feet. I long so much for my mom's chicken feet with mushroom. After her passing 14 years ago, I have never tasted or come across any dish as good as hers. So, I hope the relive the moments of digging in a good 'tong koo kai keok dish'. Eat eat, chew chew and spit out the bones! Disgusting hor ? hahahaha....



Being very adventurous, I deep fried the chicken feet myself. I bought the chicken feet from market, dried them in the sun but aiya, no sun, so I chucked in the oven, with the fan and low temparature mode to dry it. Then.. deep fry, this is the tricky part. Frying the chicken feet is like an 'explosion' in the wok. I've been warned by my aunt and therefore I quickly lowered the feet to the hot oil and covered with wok. I can hear 'explosions' in the wok. Can you imagine what'll happen if I did not use the wok? However, I did place the wok chan or spatula at the side to lift up the wok cover a little so as not to let steam accumulate in the wok.



Once fried, soak the feet in icy cold water. This will enable to skin the puff up before braising with the mushrooms.



Lor bak was the easiest dish, marinate meat, sear in oil with cinnamon stick and star anise. Chuck in pot and leave to slow boil for 90 minutes. It's done when the fatty skin turns soft and melting.. yummmm..



Mixed vege - also an easy and sure pass dish. Just fry and toss with abalone sauce



Lap mei fan - will post later with photos as I'll do another one for Chap Goh Mei gathering.




Hubs schoolmates .




Preparing the loh sang. I added shredded carrots, green apples, teochew mandarins, pomelo bits and lots of grounded kacang. Hubs mixed the sauce from creamy peanut butter, plum sauce and honey.

While we chatted, the kids chilled out...

Later in the afternoon, we went to Amber's former babysitter's house. She celebrates her birthday on the 7th day of the New Year. Amber miss her por-por very much and skipped her afternoon nap. She was all excited and singing Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! all the way to por-por's house.

I think she was most excited when we cut the cake, as though it was her birthday.

She even helped por-por to blow the candles !! lol !!!

It's a fun Chinese New Year for us. We've been catching up with friends, relatives and dear ones.