Selfmade Bib

She caught me by surprise one day with her "See Mummy, See" call.
  If you've been with Amber, you'd know my attention seeking child is always asking me to see, hear and look at her until it's almost impossible to get something done without her interruption. 

This 'See Mummy, See ! Look' call is worth noting.

She took a plastic bag, strapped it on her arms but did some twist. I forgot how she twist the plastic bag but it was firm and tight enough not to fall off. She made a bib and said it's good to wear when she's eating to catch her falling food..

or when she feels like vomitting she has a ready bag.. *faint*

Like this ?

Happy Weekend !

Little Ms Launderer

Guess what Ms Busybody is up to ?

She helped me do the laundry and handwashed her own clothes. I have the habit of handwashing new clothes. They look too pretty and nice to be sent to a tumultuous and maniac spin in the washing machine. but after 2 or 3 washes.. hantam-lah. .masuk washing machine jor !

She was a pile of her own CNY clothes for handwash and got herself busy. I let her be. Happy mommy and happy kid.

 

LLB  - look like busy...

 

but she's actually having fun getting herself all wet !

Wonder if she'll still want to help me to the laundry when she grows up ?  

I'll be happy if she can do her own laundry. My mom made me wash my own clothes since I was in secondary school. She said all girls should know how to iron and wash clothes. She also thinks it'll make me a better wife. That's the exact thoughts of my very traditional but doting mom. 

Of Passing Away and Death

Back in January, Amber attended a wake for the very first time. Her childminder's brother passed away suddenly. Amber had fond memories of him and hubs and I thought she should attend the funeral.

We knew it's not going to be an easy night. She'll ask lots of questions, neverending whys..

I explained to her gently, her friend, Wan Teng's father had passed away.
She asked why and the conversation went like that. ..

why pass away ? he sick ah ? die already ah ?

Yes, he passed away already. Oi oi already. Cannot wake up. Very sad.

Ahhh.. I know i know ! (earnestly).. there.. you send him to the hospital ah.. they put the oxygen thing.. then cannot die lor.

No, too late already. he has passed away.
why never send him to the hospital to put the mask ? (oxygen mask)
 Too late Amber. sometimes it's too late to send someone to a hospital.

Then ah.. pray to guanyin ma lar.. she will help him.

No, not that he didn't pray or guanyin didn't help but if a person is too sick, he will pass away.

take medicine la.. cannot help ah ?

cannot..  (at this point,, I kinda regretted telling her.. her 'CPU' was processing everything I say but a 4 year old cannot comprehend death)
so how, he oi oi cannot paii ah ? (paii is wake up in our hinghwa lingo)
yes, he will not wake up anymore, we'll bring you to see him and please don't ask anymore ok ?

During the wake, hubs asked Amber if she wanted to see Uncle Ah Keong for the last time. She wanted and so hubs carried her up. The little fart was not affected at all, probably still didn't quite understand death means eternity. Eternal loss.

All went well, sent our condolences and went home. I told her Uncle Ah Keong will be buried. Buried as in dig a hole and the box .. aka 'coffin' will be placed inside.

Days later.. she asked me..

Mama, Wan Teng's papa (Ah Keong) become skeleton already or not ?

Mama, Wan Tent's papa become like the Michael Jackson song Treeler already or not ??

*SLAP HEAD*
she thought all buried humans will turn into zombies !

Such is the innocent (or not innocent) 4 year old !

This Belongs to Me !

I caught her at work one day ... writing down her name on her book..

I realised my little fart is growing up. She's very protective of her own stuff, her stationery, books and toys. 

She even knows where to write her name.

Please don't grow up too fast !

Sharpeners

 One of the very annoying habit Amber has is continuously sharpening her pencils. . with the conventional twist pencil sharpeners. The pencil lead gets sharpened, they break with her carelessness and she sharpens again, then break and she sharpens again... WITH DELIGHT !!!

I have a big pencil sharpener but I never let her use it, otherwise no amount of pencils will be enough. I stopped myself short at yelling another 'NO' when she wanted to use the big sharpener. I was reminded of myself, me, at primary school and how I yearned to sharpen pencils with a proper sharpener.

 I taught her how to use the sharpener and left her to the device. She had a good time, sharpening ALL her pencils and color pencils.

Do you allow your kids to sharpen their own pencils and color pencils ?

The Princess Does Homework

Amber has lots of excuses when it comes to homework. She'll wanna go to toilet, drink water, this, that, this that and this and that.

Lots of this and that.

Once, she wanted to don her princess attire just to do homework. I caught her in this position :

All dressed up, princess costume, tiara, princess shoes and all.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

but almost nodding off. probably spent too much time, energy and effort getting all dressed up. 

That's my Amber.

Looks Like A Duck !

We were at Ikea Cafe and had the CNY special, the roast chicken set. I think it was around RM13 or so, hubs and I love the roast chicken, despite the long queue :)

Amber commented aloud : LOOKS LIKE DUCK !!

 

The thigh and drumstick sure looks like head and neck of a duck ! LOL !

Princess Wannabe

Every little girl wants to be a princess and mine is no exception. Some days she'll be Princess Snow White, some days, Cinderella or Mu Lan.

Her current craze is Princess Rapunzel coz she likes the movie very much. She believes there's a Eugene out there waiting for her.. ... :)

She's princess, I am the Queen, hubs is the King. Her children will be princess too and she will have 'girls'.. never boys because boys can never be princess.

One afternoon, I showered and changed her but I got a shock later when I saw all dolled up as a princess, complete with Barbie necklace and ear-rings from Aunty Annie. 

She put on the necklace and clipped the earrings on her own and put on a pair of new shoes

and asked me to : TAKE PICTURE ! TAKE PICTURE !

 

Princess Rapunzel Amber, at her best behaviour, best polka dress from Shireen's and best smile :)

Ooppss I Did It Again !

Remember my post on overzealous drinking ?

We all had a good laugh when goofy Amber was cupping  a piece of masak masak on her mouth. I was in the kitchen and didn't see it, when I saw, it was too late. Everyone was already laughing at her. Amber,  the attention seeking child, was showing off how she could cup a masak masak on her mouth. You see ! You see ! she asked everyone to see. Hubs, Thomas, Joanne and Sharon, who was visiting all saw but when the masak masak dropped, she looked like this :

Ooopps ! She did it again !  Coupled with a cold sore, her mouth looks very very red.

Being mean, as I always am, I jokingly told her.. her mouth looks like 'monkey backside'.. LOLOLOLLLL !!

Stewpid Act

It happened on Monday. Hubs and I had a long day at work and only got home around 9.30pm. I put Amber to bed close to 10.30pm and she suddenly asked me to clean her ears. I refused as I've already gave her a good cleaning 2 weeks ago. She has this thing about cleaning her ears and it gives her great satisfaction when I dig some gold from her ears.

She insisted her ears were very dirty and I pushed her aside almost wanted to scream "GO TO BED", NOW !!!

I don't know what made me gave in and checked her ears and  lo and behold !!!! a big ball of what seemed like dirt until I checked her ears under much proper lighting, I saw it was a small paper ball, stucked inside.

It's a sticker paper, she claims! I tried to use the ear wax remover stick to dig it out but didn't work. I had to tell hubs and the little one panicked.

Don't want ! Don't tell Papa, I want Mama to take it out for me !  She panicked and freaked out !

I screamed to hubs to come and take a look.

Hubs has 'lou far' and couldn't see properly the little ball inside. I used a tweezer and couldn't get it out either. I didn't want to risk pushing the tweezer further inside and causing a bigger mess and we decided to send her to the clinic.

At this point, hubs was very very angry with her and shouted at her for such a STUPID ACT ! He cannot believe his 4 year old would do such a stupid thing to stuff things inside her ears. Totally stupid !

I think for the first time, the word "STUPID" is shout out aloud at our home.

Apparently, she put it in the ears while taking her afternoon nap, and she had to wait for so many hours before telling someone.

Hubs was fuming and couldn't believe his 4 yr old can do such a thing. Frankly I didn't either. I expected better from her.

We said if the clinic cannot take it out, we'll have to send her to hospital and get her ear cut off to remove the paper ball.. and she'll end up looking like Frankenstein with stitches all over her face and she can never look pretty anymore.

WUAHHHH !!! she wailed and wailed and refused to go to the doctors.

You know how it's like when you have an opportunity to scold and teach her a lesson she'll remember, make sure SHE WILL REMEMBER !!! So... must exaggerate and blow up into a big Oscar winning drama !

I also threatened that if she does not get it removed, she'll lose her hearing, she can't listen to Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber anymore. Her world will be 'blank'

I almost wanted to laugh when I saw her pale face, her horrified look but the hubs was otherwise, still fuming from her stupid act.

And so, we went to the 24 hour clinic. We did silly things like ask for the doctors age and his eyesight. Hubs was worried the doctor will have long sighted like him and cannot see the paper ball properly. The nurse also said they weren't sure if they could get it out and we might have to go to a ENT instead. Our better judgment told us to go straight to the hospital instead and by then it was almost close to midnight.

There was a long queue at the A&E and it's not a pretty sight with a room full of very sick patients. The little fart was very quiet and I warned her many many times not to move when doctor removes her mess ! When it was her turn, we made her tell the doctor exactly what happened and the doctor almost wanted to laugh at her innocent horrified face.  He used a very narrow tweezer to pinch the paper ball out. It was soo small, around 0.5cm in diameter.

She was also found to have reddish ear and throat and enlarged lymph nodes, signs of  an infection underway  but not related to the paper-ball-in-the-ear incident. She was sent home with some antibiotics and fever medicine.

I kept the paper ball with me and asked if she wanted it.. maybe to stuff her ears again, stuff her nose *in a jest of course*

DON'T WANT !!!! DON'T WANT !!!!  she wailed.....

... and reached home close to 2 am !

I hope she learns a lesson she'll remember this time !

Mommy's Little Helper

Nothing delights a little girl more than helping her mother. That's the case for Amber. She loves helping me in the kitchen, helping to wash the cups (playing water), helping monitor my butter/sugar whisking in the mixer (playing with my cake mixer, on-off-lowering speed,on again, then increase speed until my mixing goes haywire), sweep the floor (pouring more dust n dirt to the floor), laundry (again, playing with the water hose).

One afternoon, when my mood was little better, I patiently taught her how to hang and dry her clothes. I gave her the little items, hankies, undies and socks and she, also, patiently clipped them up the umbrella hanger.

 

I had a good laugh with her results :

 she folded the face towels to quarters !

Anyway, good job Amber !

The Little Masseur

 

The little masseur at work with the tiny but strong palms and fingers. Volunteering to give Papa a rub down while Papa waited for our noodles to arrive.  Combination of shiatsu, Thai massage and a back rub. Ada gaya betul !

Aitelyu, she's the sweetest thing when she's in a good mood. She'll ask if we want a massage..and asks for feedback too. Nice or not ? Hard enough or not ? Want some lotion or not ?

Home Spa

Our master bath has not been fully utilized. The bath tub untouched and we really should have listened to ourselves when we drew the plan for our bathroom. Having stayed in a condo previously with a tub attached to the master bath - untouched for 8 years, we made the same mistake again by fixing a tub in our home now.

Personally, I find it a waste of natural resources to soak in the bath. Not my style.

She, always asks why she can't swim in the tub and I had to explain to her the whole mother nature cycle thing. Evaporation, rain, water, waste and yadayadayada yada. To placate her, I offered her a tub bath. A luxury and fun time for her, only when Papa & Mama is home on weekends, she gets to have her luxurious play time at the tub with some toys and bath soaps. I save those little bottles that we nicked collected from hotels for her tub-time.

My blue laundry tub has now migrated from laundry area to master bath. Fits her perfectly. With the little teapot, she sometimes play pretend to shower me, pouring the water over my head. :D
Hubs also taught her to make a giant bubble too. Oh, she has so much fun in the tub :

 

She was soooo sooooo happy and excited to form a giant soap bubble, she shouted to me to quickly grab camera and take picture before the bubble 'pops'.

Our 'home spa' is so much fun !!!

Not so good purchase - The Bumbo Chair

We made many mistakes buying baby stuff. Amber was our first baby and we were a sucker for ideas and anything new in the market. Some were so well used like the rocker and some were not touched at all, notably the Ikea changing table, the Anakku jogger stroller, the bottle warmer, the playpad and many many many more.

Another bad puchase we made was the Bumbo Chair. It was very popular then, almost every new mom would get a Bumbo chair. I told my sis I wanted a Bumbo chair when I was preggie. I thought every parent should have it.

Not to be left out, we had to get one too. The instructions said for baby from 3 months and above. 

At 3 months, she was fat and wobbly and didn't look sturdy in the Bumbo at all. Her body was always tilted to one side

We waited for another month or so and tried her on the Bumbo chair. She didn't sit long and was fussing coz her body 'tilted' and she felt unsupported.

She felt stiffy on the Bumbo chair and we finally gave up when her fat thighs were stuck on the chair. I couldn't lift her up from the Bumbo without lifting the Bumbo along.

We had such a good laugh when I lifted Amber and her fat thighs was stuck on the Bumbo. Till today, my in laws make a joke out of it.. really funny.. Fat Amber and the Bumbo.

The Bumbo was never used again after the laughing episode but I did pass it around to other friends whose kids had not-so-fat-thighs and could make good use of the Bumbo.

The Rocker - Our Best Purchase

Where do you place your babies when they were infants ? Baby rocker ? Bed ? Tilam or Sarong ?

Amber 'seat' was the bouncer when she's awake.

 The bouncer did not last long. After 2 months, I couldn't bounce her anymore, her bouncer was touching the floor.  You can see above, the safety strap was sliding away. If I'd leave her in the bouncer unattended, she would have wriggled her way down the bouncer and out.

Then we got her the Fisher Price Infant to Toddler Rocker for a princely sum of RM299 but I can tell you, it's worth every sen. The rocker was where I placed her safely when I need to get things done. The rocker went with us to the kitchen, when I needed to cook :

 

The rocker was also where she discovered her fingers and thumbs. She was about 7 weeks old. I was cooking dinner and I saw her enjoying her new discovery and I snapped some photos.

 

I placed her on the rocker when I need to get some work done, like ironing. She'll give me aimless looks, like 'Why are you not playing with me ?' The pic above was taken on one of her bad eczema attack days. Her cheeks looks red, tired and raw.

I sent the rocker to the babysitter so Amber can have a more comfy chair to play with Por Por and Por Por need not break her back carrying my little pumpkin all day.  We carried the rocker with us everyday to the babysitter's until we got fed up and left it there and got another rocker.. different color. So, we had 2 Fisher Price rockers.

Her rocker was my saviour as she grew too fat for me to carry. I'd just plonk her there and talk to her.. play with her, watch her blow bubbles and giggle giggle..

 

but she's smart too, after a while.. she wanted 100% of my attention, leave her alone for too long she'll wail !

  

We spent many moments with her on the rocker. Coz we were too darn lazy to carry her. and she was too fat and clumsy to climb out of it.

 

We fed her rice cereals - her first solids, on this rocker too.

 

She had her meals on the rocker for quite some time coz she could only sit on a feeding chair at age of 1.

  

4 years on, she has outgrown her rocker and not willing to part with it. 

Both rockers are at home now, one in the living room and the other in our bedroom.

She insists to 'tharn' her milkie on her rocker everynight, watching cartoons: 

 

She has certainly outgrown her rocker. Not willing to give it away, I think she'll use it until the rocking legs gives way !

My daughter and Me

Most daughters will have a very good relationship with their mothers but my Amber has always been a papa's girl. From birth till now, there's no guessing whom she is closer to.

Papa is her playmate

She looks up to Papa

She wants to marry Papa ( I put a stop to that !)

She brings socks to Papa every morning

She dances with Papa

She request to dance with Papa everynight, a trade off before she agrees to go to bed

Papa has the energy to 'wheeeee her up in the air' like this :

She demands plenty of affection from Papa and will not hesitate to say " Love Papa forever" everyday.

With me ?

She doesn't show as much affection with me as she does with her Papa but she'll always look for me, shout for me when Papa fetches her home.
She doesn't shout for hubs if I fetched her home instead.

I still come secondary after Papa. She does not realise we parents are smarter than she think and I know it when she say something in purpose, with hidden meanings.

She'd say things like :

- Love Papa forever, Mama also (notice it's not the other way round, as in Papa also?)

- Amber is Bumble Bee, Papa is Optimus Prime, Mama is Megatron (she thinks I'm st****) -- this one hubs and I die laughing and I'll remember till old.

- Playing doctor, she'll pretend to feed us medicine. Nah Papa, eat medicine, your medicine sweet. Mama's medicine is bitter.

and many many more instances. I've always been placed secondary. I know she loves me very much but she thinks she can get away bullying me. Oh .. and she told her childminder once,. I like to bully my mummy because my mummy doesn't cane me !

The term 'daddy's girl' is very true and Amber is truly one daddy's girl

She and me, poles apart, we always have differing view and end up arguing. I'd say yes, she'd say no. If I'd say pink is nice, she'd choose purple. If I say strawberry is sweet, she'll insist it's sour. I'd say dress is nice, she'd insist on jeans. I'd say tie up her hair in pony tail, she'd insist pigtails. I'd say pigtails, she'd insist on ponytail !

She's the Opposition Party, always at loggerheads with me. You know what I mean ? Take a look here, this photo describes us perfect :

we can't even agree on directions!!

Many times, it's exasperating having a conversation with her. We'd always end up in a huge argument and yes, she argues, loud and full of words. At 4 year old, she can outdo me !

A couple of time I'd give up and say :
Amber, oh Amber! Wait till you grow up and have a little daughter just like yourself ! *evil grin*

She'd say :
No! My daughter not like me ! My daughter like Princess, Snow White and Barbie Doll !!

Aarrgh !! I want to hang myself !

The Tweety Bird Hair

Amber's kindy is having a photo session today. The teachers left a note for us last week, reminding parents to dress up our kids, wear closed toe shoes and socks and to accessorize their hair. Hairclips and hairbands are encouraged for girls.

I still remembered my kindie photo, those days it was in black and white, now, 30 odd years on, this photo is precious and tucked away in my father's cupboard along with other baby photos of myself and my siblings.

We had a late night yesterday, came home close to 11pm, I hurried her to bed, nagging from the porch to the living, to the kitchen, to the bedroom. Go to bed, go to bed, otherwise you'll have swollen eyes tomorrow, you'll need toothpicks to keep your eyes open, you won't look PRETTY ! Mama need to tie your hair up nicely and neat, because you have to take photo.

Then hubs added, told her how important the photos will be especially when she grows up and have children of her own, she can proudly show them..

As usual, Miss Dilly Dally will sing, count her fingers, or do a shadow play with her fingers, something she so loves doing, and I love watching from afar, before she falls to sleep. We keep a small nightlight on and she twiddles her fingers up in the air, amusing herself with the reflections on the wall.

Finally past 12am, she fell asleep.

This morning, she woke up, remembered the photo session and said, I want to tie my hair like Tweety Bird !

huh ?? Tweety ? I was half asleep , what tweety ? What happened to Princess Snow White, Cinderella and Barbie Doll, her 3 favourites at the moment?

I want like Tweety ! Tweety Bird !

ok,, ok,, don't argue with a 4 year old in the mornings, unless I'm prepared to be late for work with my blood pressure few notches up.

I tied 2 pony tail, gelled her hair in place, hoping it'll stay in place till photo session and clipped up her fringe. I always like her without fringe.. and say.. neh.. you look like Tweety Bird now.

She smiled and strut off to school.

Tweety Bird ? that bird is 'botak', save for the 3 strings of hair.


As I said again, I wouldn't want to argue with a 4 year old who thinks she's right all the time. Would I ?

How She Does Her Homework

Most of the time, she can't sit still. She'll wriggle about, climb over, up and about her chair, go under the dining table and wriggle everywhere.

Hubs the ''teacher with ruler in hand" was in charge of making sure she finishes her homework.

I caught Amber in this position and I had to snap a picture.

Squatting on the chair with toes tip-toed while she did her abacus calculations.

That's my ever restless Amber !

What's going on in the changing room ?

Yesterday, hubs went shopping for some clothes. We had to be with him while he tried on the clothes, giving him opinion and this and that.. and that is really BORING !!!!!

What do you think Amber did ? Stuck in the changing room with her parents ?

.
.
.
.
.
.


She tried on Papa's pants

and laughed... naughty naughty Amber...

tried on the shirts too..

and another pair of pants

and put on more shirts..

What do you expect ? She's bored to the core while Papa shopped.. I was bored too.. so both of us, like monkeys.. created a ruckus in the changing room.

Doodling with Daddy

I found this doodle with cleaning up the room.

Although she likes doodling, she likes it better when we doodle with her, she'll instruct me to draw this and that and my doodlings or drawings are quite horrible. Last weekend, hubs gave in to her whims and fancies and doodled all she wanted.. wrote her name, drew the bees, butterflies and piglet.

Draw nicely for her and then she'll 'conteng' all over the board, as if to pen in her signature.

and.. I'm totally forbidden to erase it away. Nobody can touch, her Papa's doodling artwork !

Erase it and I'll get an earful from her.